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Triple Threat: Pakistan apos;s Mango Growers Face A Sticky Season

2020-07-10T09:39:23Z

KristianHodson4:

By Peer Muhammad ISLAMABAD, June 18 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A combination of a coronavirus-spurred trade slowdown, locust attacks and odd weather have created a nightmare year for growers and exporters of Pakistani mangoes, with both production and demand plummeting this year, they said. Domestic and international markets for the sought-after sweet seasonal fruit have been hit as harvests and exports have dropped by at least a quarter, they noted. Muhammad Ansar, a small-scale grower from the Sanghar area of central Sindh province, said his mango production had fallen 30% this year as a result of locust attacks. It was unusual for a broad belt of Pakistan's mango-producing areas to be hit by the pests, he added. "We face double problems this year: the low production followed by less demand in markets due to the prolonged lockdown because of coronavirus," Ansar said. He usually sells about 500 crates of mangos, each weighing 10kg (22 pounds), but this year has harvested only 200 crates and could "hardly find any demand for export". That shortfall has cost him between $2,000 and $2,500 in income, he said. WILD WEATHER Pakistan is the world's fifth-largest mango producer, after India, China, Thailand and Indonesia, according to Pakistan's Chambers of Commerce and Industry. But Abdul Waheed, a top mango grower and exporter and head of the All Pakistan Fruit and Vegetable Exporters, Importers and Merchants Association, said erratic weather linked to climate change was taking a toll on mangoes and a wide range of other crops in Pakistan. Yields are falling and harvest seasons are shifting, he said, noting that "this change in weather conditions has weakened the resistance of mangoes to fight diseases". "It ultimately damages mangoes at large scale," he said. Punjab, which produces about 70% of Pakistan's mangoes, has seen production fall more than 35% this year, mangro growers and traders estimate, [https://tarvelzone.bookmark.com/top-5-largest-city-in-india-by-area tarvelzone.bookmark.com] while Sindh province's harvest is down 15%. Finding markets for the mangoes that are harvested is another problem. Suspended flights and high freight charges this year related to coronavirus lockdown restrictions are likely to reduce the country's mango exports substantially, officials said. Ahmad Jawad, chair of the agriculture standing committee for the chamber of commerce, said Pakistan's mango exports, which last year stood at 130,000 tons, may drop by 30,000 tons this year. In the south London neighbourhood of Tooting, where mango stands run by vendors of Pakistani descent are a seasonal highlight, prices for most varieties have doubled this year - and profits are down. "You cannot sell it," said Asif Khaliq, standing over a big display of the golden fruit. "We can't convince the customers to understand" why prices are so much higher than last year, he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. With air freight prices triple those a year ago, a box of a dozen mangoes that last year sold for 12 pounds ($15) is now going for 22 pounds, just a little over the wholesale price. "At the end of the day, the profit is nothing," Khaliq said. "We just want to continue the business." The pandemic has hit sales in Pakistan too, as widespread closures disrupt transport, hotels, restaurants and markets, Waheed said, and domestic shipping fees skyrocket. "We are seeing such a bad, uncertain situation in this field for the first time in three generations of my family business," he added. Freight charges to send mangoes to European countries and Britain have more than tripled since last year, and costs have doubled for exports to the United States and Gulf countries, Waheed said. Tariq Khan a large-scale mango grower in Multan, a city in southern Punjab province, said Punjab had lost as much as 40% of its production this year, in part because of an unusually long and cold winter. Last year, the country saw record mango production of 1.8 million tons but growers fear this year they will produce no more than 1.1 million tons. Taj Naseeb Khan, horticulture director for the National Agriculture Research Council, said a long winter combined with strong thunderstorms early in the season hurt production in most of the country's mango-growing areas. This year's locust plague also hit young mangoes, though the worst damage could come next year if the pests are not eliminated before they breed, he said, urging "wide-ranging spraying to control them". One local benefit of the collapse in mango exports is more - and cheaper - availability of the fruit at home. Safeer Abbasi, a vendor in downtown Islamabad, said mangoes of all qualities are about 25-30% cheaper this year. "It seems that the closure of big hotels and markets help to bring their prices low. We hope they will further come down in coming weeks," he said. (Reporting by Peer Muhammad, additional reporting by Laurie Goering in London ; editing by Laurie Goering and Megan Rowling : (Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters. Visit website

Members Of The Scouting Movement Have Today Braved The Wind And Rain To Salute A Statue Dedicated To The Group s Founder Robert Baden-Powell As Council Workers Began Boarding It Up In A Bid To Protect It From Protesters

2020-07-10T02:23:26Z

KristianHodson4: Created page with "Members of the Scouting movement have today braved the wind and rain to salute a statue dedicated to the group's founder Robert Baden-Powell as council workers began boarding..."

Members of the Scouting movement have today braved the wind and rain to salute a statue dedicated to the group's founder Robert Baden-Powell as council workers began boarding it up in a bid to protect it from protesters. Civic chiefs had previously agreed to take down the 5ft tall bronze statue in Poole Quay amid fears it would be targeted by Black Lives Matter supporters. But the proposal sparked an angry backlash from Scout leaders and members of the public who sought to protect it, including from two former Scouts, who camped overnight to ensure it wasn't touched by council workmen or protests. A petition to save the statue has also attracted more than 25,000 signatures. Last night bosses at Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council put 24-hour security in place to protect the statute. It came after Lord Powell's statue featured on a website called 'Topple The Racists', which includes a hit-list of 78 statues and monuments that 'celebrate slavery and racism'. The website claims Lord Baden-Powell had homophobic views and Nazi sympathies. The monument to Lord Baden-Powell us completely hidden from view after workmen boarded up and fenced off the statue today Work has begun on the boarding-up of Lord Baden-Powell's statue in Poole Quay following concern that protesters might target the figure. Metal fencing has been put up around the statue, while workmen are now erecting wood around it Wooden boards have also gone up now as workmen continue to board-up the Lord Baden-Powell statue at Pool Quay As the statue was being boarded-up, members of the Scouting network came to show their support with a salute to the statue Scouts have come out in support of Lord Baden-Powell. Pictured here a member of the Scouting network, in uniform, give a Scout salute to the statue of the founder of the organisation Members of the scouting network, media and passers-by have gathered around the statue while work is taking place. The area is fenced off with metal fencing while the boards are put up more videos [# ] [# 1] [# 2] [# 3] [# ] [/video/news/video-2203556/Video-Drone-footage-shows-house-Ghislaine-Maxwell-arrested.html Watch video Drone footage shows house where Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested] [/video/news/video-2203858/Video-Mother-elephant-helps-baby-jump-barrier-join-rest-family.html Watch video Mother elephant helps baby jump over barrier to join rest of family] [/video/news/video-2204236/Video-Trump-vows-Mt-Rushmore-stand-forever-amid-cancel-culture.html Watch video Trump vows Mt Rushmore will 'stand forever' amid 'cancel culture'] [/video/news/video-2203886/Video-Incredible-Turkish-paraglider-straps-couch-parachute.html Watch video Incredible Turkish paraglider straps his couch to a parachute] [/video/news/video-2203644/Video-Baby-stop-laughing-mum-juggles.html Watch video Baby can't stop laughing at his mum as she juggles balls] [/video/tvshowbiz/video-2203266/Video-Ashley-Graham-dances-skimpy-bikini-works-out.html Watch video Ashley Graham dances around in skimpy bikini and works out] [/video/femail/video-2203558/Video-Simple-hack-making-towels-look-like-5-star-hotel-home.html Watch video Simple hack for making towels look like 5-star hotel at home] [/video/femail/video-2203030/Video-Jane-Moore-says-Prince-Harry-acknowledge-past-mistakes.html Watch video Jane Moore says Prince Harry should acknowledge 'past mistakes'] [/video/sciencetech/video-2203170/Video-Siberian-apartment-splits-two-permafrost-thaws-heat-wave.html Watch video Siberian apartment splits in two as permafrost thaws from heat wave] [/video/femail/video-2203498/Video-Polyamorous-throuple-seen-club-shopping.html Watch video Polyamorous throuple seen out together at the club and shopping] [/video/pepguardiola/video-2203480/Video-Pep-Guardiola-delighted-sides-4-0-against-Liverpool.html Watch video Pep Guardiola is 'delighted' by his side's 4-0 against Liverpool] [/video/sciencetech/video-2203080/Video-Experts-warning-eye-watering-56-3-megatonnes-e-waste.html Watch video Experts warning over eye-watering 56.3 megatonnes of e-waste] DM.later('bundle', function() DM.molFeCarousel.init('#p-31', 'channelCarousel', "activeClass" : "wocc", "pageCount" : "3.0", "pageSize" : 1, "onPos": 0, "updateStyleOnHover": true ); ); A statue dedicated to the founder of the Scouting movement Robert Baden-Powell will remain in place, but instead will be boarded up, as council chiefs look to protect it from protesters threatening to tear it down Civic chiefs had previously agreed to take down the 5ft tall bronze statue in Poole Quay amid fears it would be targeted by Black Lives Matter protesters Following a 24-hour stand off between council chiefs and former scouts, the council has now agreed not to remove the statue, but board it up instead. Mark Howell, the deputy leader of BCP Council, said: 'It is not as secure as taking it away but we want to assure people that it is going to be there in the long term. 'Poole is proud of its links with Robert Baden-Powell and the state will stay I the town. 'Some demonstrators might be determined enough to get at it still but we believe people would prefer to take the risk. Overnight, two men have camped out next to the statue of in a bid to protect it from protesters. Using tents, as so many who have been part of the Scouting network have done over the decades, the two men, themselves former Scouts, stayed the night in close proximity to the statue. Dan Davies and fellow camper Stephen today roused from their make-shift accommodation to make a hot drink having guarded the statue, which is said to be a target for protesters due to Lord Baden-Powell's supposed Nazi sympathies and views on homosexuality. It came as last night, council chiefs brought in 24-hour security to protect the seaside statue after dramatically abandoning plans to remove it. Mr Davis, 37, from Poole, said: 'I am a former cub and scout and spent many happy summers on Brownsea Island. 'We have set up camp here and are going to keep an eye on it in case any activists turn up. 'I am prepared to stay here for as long as it takes. I am a chef and have been furloughed so I don't have anywhere else to be.' Yesterday a war of words broke out between Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council and local police, after the council claimed it had decided to remove the statue on the advice of Dorset constabulary. more videos [# ] [# 1] [# 2] [# 3] [# ] [/video/news/video-2203556/Video-Drone-footage-shows-house-Ghislaine-Maxwell-arrested.html Watch video Drone footage shows house where Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested] [/video/news/video-2203858/Video-Mother-elephant-helps-baby-jump-barrier-join-rest-family.html Watch video Mother elephant helps baby jump over barrier to join rest of family] [/video/news/video-2204236/Video-Trump-vows-Mt-Rushmore-stand-forever-amid-cancel-culture.html Watch video Trump vows Mt Rushmore will 'stand forever' amid 'cancel culture'] [/video/news/video-2203886/Video-Incredible-Turkish-paraglider-straps-couch-parachute.html Watch video Incredible Turkish paraglider straps his couch to a parachute] [/video/news/video-2203644/Video-Baby-stop-laughing-mum-juggles.html Watch video Baby can't stop laughing at his mum as she juggles balls] [/video/tvshowbiz/video-2203266/Video-Ashley-Graham-dances-skimpy-bikini-works-out.html Watch video Ashley Graham dances around in skimpy bikini and works out] [/video/femail/video-2203558/Video-Simple-hack-making-towels-look-like-5-star-hotel-home.html Watch video Simple hack for making towels look like 5-star hotel at home] [/video/femail/video-2203030/Video-Jane-Moore-says-Prince-Harry-acknowledge-past-mistakes.html Watch video Jane Moore says Prince Harry should acknowledge 'past mistakes'] [/video/sciencetech/video-2203170/Video-Siberian-apartment-splits-two-permafrost-thaws-heat-wave.html Watch video Siberian apartment splits in two as permafrost thaws from heat wave] [/video/femail/video-2203498/Video-Polyamorous-throuple-seen-club-shopping.html Watch video Polyamorous throuple seen out together at the club and shopping] [/video/pepguardiola/video-2203480/Video-Pep-Guardiola-delighted-sides-4-0-against-Liverpool.html Watch video Pep Guardiola is 'delighted' by his side's 4-0 against Liverpool] [/video/sciencetech/video-2203080/Video-Experts-warning-eye-watering-56-3-megatonnes-e-waste.html Watch video Experts warning over eye-watering 56.3 megatonnes of e-waste] DM.later('bundle', function() DM.molFeCarousel.init('#p-36', 'channelCarousel', "activeClass" : "wocc", "pageCount" : "3.0", "pageSize" : 1, "onPos": 0, "updateStyleOnHover": true ); ); Two men have camped out next to the statue of Scout movement founder Robert Baden-Powell (pictured) in a bid to protect it from protesters Dan Davies and another man, named Stephen, last night set up tents next to the statue, which is said to be a target for protesters Dan Davies and fellow camper Stephen today roused from their make-shift accommodation to make a hot drink having guarded the statue, which is said to be a target for protesters due to Lord Baden-Powell's supposed Nazi sympathies and views on homosexuality Last night council chiefs brought in 24-hour security (pictured) to protect the seaside statue after dramatically abandoning plans to remove it Police are also by the statue of Lord Baden-Powell at Poole Quay today. Here they are pictured speaking to council-funded security staff The decision by BCP council, run by an alliance of Lib Dem, Labour, Green and Independent councillors, has descended into farce having claimed they took the decision after Dorset Police advised them to remove it 'to minimise the risk of any public disorder or anti-social behaviour' following chaos in Bristol when a bronze of slave trader Edward Colston was torn down on Sunday. But the force later hit back by saying it only provided safety advice after the council approached them saying it was a 'potential target' for a BLM protest - while the Scout Association suggested it had no knowledge of the council's plans until after a decision was made. A Dorset Police spokesman said: 'The decision on whether to remove the statue was not one for the police and no advice was given to remove it.' Council leader Vikki Slade, a Liberal Democrat, appeared to blame her officials for the mix-up and tweeted: 'I acted on the advice I was given that discussions had been had with the police'. And this afternoon she received a hostile reception when she briefly visited the statue this afternoon. She was confronted by a group of local residents who accused her of acting without public consultation before she left the scene. Local MP Conor Burns, who called the Baden-Powell plan a 'huge error of judgement', said following the postponement: 'It is now abundantly clear that the statement issued by @BCPCouncil yesterday saying Baden Powell's statue was being removed on advice from @dorsetpolice was not true. Who wrote it? Who signed it off? After events in London and Bristol it isn't acceptable to undermine Dorset cops'. Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Councillor Mark Howell said they would be paying for round the clock guards after it appeared on a hit list of monuments to be toppled by Black Lives Matter protesters. Former Scouts, some from more than 100 miles away, had rushed to Dorset and formed a ring of steel around the bronze monument fending off a disposal crew in Poole Quay at 7.30am as the campaign to remove 92 historic monuments in Britain hurtles on. Meanwhile a petition named 'Defend Poole's Lord Baden-Powell Statue' petition was set up on change.org on Wednesday night following reports that BCP Council planned to remove the statue temporarily. By Friday morning, it had attracted more than 25,000 signatures. Meanwhile, Mr Howell said that the removal was stopped yesterday because contractors didn't want to work in a 'circus', adding: 'We will be providing 24-hour security until it is either removed or the threat diminishes. It is possible we might not take it away at all'. He said a decision to temporarily remove the statue had been made following the 'listing of the statue on a website detailing potential targets for protesters.' He added the aim would be to return it to the Quay 'as soon as the threat level subsides.' Lord Baden-Powell was honoured with a statue in Poole 12 years ago because he founded the world Scout Movement that has helped tens of millions of children - and the bronze monument looks out to Brownsea Island where he held the first Scout camp in 1907. Former Queen's Scout Len Bannister, 79, was among those guarding it today and declared: 'If they want to knock this down - they'll have to knock me down first'. He told ITV News: 'It's absolutely crazy. Who's it that actually wants to do it? I'll fight them off. I'm actually very angry - and I'm not a protester. I've had a lot of enjoyment because of him in my life because of him'. Mr Bannister added: 'He is the reason I am still here, the pleasure he gives to so many people, they shouldn't take it down'. Black Lives Matter supporters, led by Jeremy Corbyn's Labour candidate at the 2019 general election, added the Poole statue to its 'topple the racists' list claiming was enthusiastic about Nazism and an admirer of Hitler's Mein Kampf and his Hitler Youth movement - although his biographer Tim Jeal has said this support was more about his distrust of communism. He became a British national hero during the Second Boer War in South Africa for defending a garrison town for 217 days from 5,000 Boer troops - but after his death in 1941 some modern historians branded him racist because he starved locals so he could feed his own soldiers. Baden-Powell also mounted an attack on masturbation and homosexuality, [https://tarvelzone.bookmark.com/top-5-largest-city-in-india-by-area tarvelzone.bookmark.com] linking them to sexual and moral dissipation. As debate rages over the future of many of Britain's most famous monuments, it has also emerged: Paint has been thrown at a statue of Lord Nelson at Deptford Town Hall in South East London;A plaque commemorating 17th slave century trader Captain Thomas Phillips has been removed from Brecon in South Wales; The statue of Edward Colston, which was toppled on Sunday and sparked the campaign, has been dragged from Bristol harbour; Oxford University's vice-chancellor Prof Louise Richardson has claimed Nelson Mandela would not have taken a 'simplistic solution to a complex problem' like removing Cecil Rhodes' statue from Oriel College;ITV's Saturday Night Takeaway latest TV show to be removed and hosts Ant and Dec issue apology for 'impersonating people of colour' as footage of those sketches are taken down;In America Donald Trump has refused to rename Army bases linked to the Confederacy as Richmond' Virginia's statues of Jefferson Davis - former president of the Confederacy - is ripped down overnight; Rover Scouts Chris Arthur (left) and Matthew Trott (right) pose in front of a statue of Baden-Powell on Poole Quay today after a removal team was blocked from taking it away Councillor Vikki Slade, leader of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council talking with the crowd at the statue as she was accused of ordering its removal without any public consultation and blaming the police Former Queen's Scout Len Bannister, 79, is guarding the Baden-Powell statue yesterday declaring: 'If they want to knock this down - they'll have to knock me down first' - and hours later the council postponed it Local residents and scouts show their support for a statue of Robert Baden-Powell, including one woman holding his hand - and now it appears they have won a reprieve Scout Matthew Trott, 27, told MailOnline he had travelled over 100 miles from his home in Cwmbran, Monmouthshire, to Poole to salute the statue Local residents gather by a statue of Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Scout movement, at Poole Harbour yesterday A 'hit list' of 78 statues and memorials to some of Britain's most famous figures has been created by an anti-racism group urging local communities to remove them because they 'celebrate racism and slavery' RELATED ARTICLES [# Previous] [# 1] [# 2] [# Next] [/news/article-8401703/Priti-Patel-reads-riot-act-police-chief-ALLOWED-protesters-tear-statue.html Rank and file police officers are 'furious' they were...] [/news/article-8401767/Nigel-Farage-blasted-inciting-racism-comparing-Black-Lives-Matter-group-Taliban.html Nigel Farage is blasted for 'inciting evil racism' after...] [/news/article-8402167/Racists-caught-camera-hurling-shocking-abuse-Black-Lives-Matter-protestors.html 'Go back to Africa!': Racist is caught on camera hurling...] [/news/article-8401687/Georgia-state-trooper-declines-Black-Lives-Matter-protesters-demands-knee.html 'I only kneel for God': Georgia state trooper declines Black...] [/news/article-8407797/78-statues-monuments-risk-torn-Topple-Racists-campaign.html Statues in the firing line: Map reveals the 78 'racist'...] Share this article Share Officials from Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council yesterday said it was still their intention to remove the statue of Lord Baden-Powell - but there plan will be to return it when a 'threat diminishes'. <div class="art-ins mol-factbox news halfRHS" data-version="2" id="mol-8f0b3df0-abf4-11ea-a849-07e2ddc8aa07" website in salute to Baden-Powell statue as it is boarded-up by council

In The Blackest City In America A Fight To End Facial Recognition

2020-07-10T01:15:48Z

KristianHodson4: Created page with "id="article-body" class="row" section="article-body"> Protesters in Detroit have been calling for police ref..."

id="article-body" class="row" section="article-body"> Protesters in Detroit have been calling for police reform and an end to the city's facial recognition contract. Seth Herald/AFP via Getty Images Activists in Detroit have been waiting a long time for July 24. Since the city's contract with DataWorks began in 2017, community members have been pushing to stop the software company's facial recognition services from expanding in their neighborhoods. On that day, Detroit's $1.2 million contract with DataWorks is set to expire -- unless the City Council votes to renew the deal for another two years for an additional $219,934.50. After years of privacy concerns, issues with technology's racial bias, evidence showing that surveillance doesn't reduce crime in Detroit and a [ damning wrongful arrest from a facial recognition mismatch], activists want to make sure that the technology is kicked out of the city for good. When the renewal came up for a vote on June 16, the City Council had been expected to vote in favor of extending the contract. It's since delayed the vote due to public outcry, and community organizers say they're doing everything they can to swing the vote against facial recognition. CNET Daily News Stay in the know. Get the latest tech stories from CNET News every weekday. "Even the manufacturers of this technology are pulling back and rethinking things, and we're renewing. It makes absolutely no sense," said Tawana Petty, director of the Data Justice Program for the Detroit Community Technology Project. "In the Blackest city in America, while the rest of the world is crying racial injustice and asking for overhaul, we're doubling down." A weekly public report by the Detroit police department showed that the department has used its [ facial recognition primarily on Black people] in 68 out of 70 cases this year. The vote in Detroit, which hasn't been scheduled yet but is expected to happen before July 24, is part of a growing national debate over the use of facial recognition, and some of the inherent flaws found in the technology when it comes to identifying people of different ethnicities or even gender. Now playing: Watch this: From Jim Crow to 'Jim Code': How tech exacerbated racial... 16:42 Calls for police reform after the May 25 police killing of George Floyd have sparked demands to end facial recognition surveillance used by law enforcement. [ ], and members of Congress proposed legislation that would [ ]. Companies like [ ][ ][ ][ ] and [ ], have also banned the tech, and Petty understands the significance of ending facial recognition in her city. "Detroit is 80% Black, and we have high levels of quality-of-life crime," Petty said. "Our City Council -- their main argument is that community members want to feel safe. My argument is that I live in Detroit too, and I want to feel safe too." Facial recognition is known to have racial and gender bias, with multiple studies that've looked at how the technology is more likely to misidentify a person of color than a white man. For Robert Williams, a Black resident, that bias wasn't just a data point in a study. Thanks to an error in Detroit's facial recognition system, he was arrested by city police and in custody for nearly 30 hours -- for a crime he didn't commit. False alarms Williams was arrested in January, in front of his family, and accused of stealing about $3,800 in watches from the Shinola store in the city. Surveillance footage caught a photo of the thief's face, and DataWorks' facial recognition tech matched the image to Williams' driver license photo, according to court documents. Robert Williams was wrongfully arrested by Detroit police after facial recognition mismatched him as a potential suspect in a robbery. ACLU Williams' case is the first known US occurrence of a facial recognition mismatch leading to a wrongful arrest. But if police continue using the technology, it won't be the last, said the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan. "This technology is particularly inaccurate when it comes to people of color, older people, younger people and especially women of color," said Phil Mayor, the ACLU of Michigan's senior staff attorney. "It's just not plausible with using this inaccurate and racist technology that there haven't been other false arrests, false convictions and false plea bargains." Todd Pastorini, DataWorks' executive vice president, said the company wasn't at fault in Williams' arrest, pointing out that the company only implements facial recognition software from providers like NEC and Rank One. He noted that the wrongful arrest came from errors related to the surveillance footage's grainy quality, as well as a security guard for the Shinola store who selected Williams' photo from a lineup of pictures. "When a probe from a surveillance video like the one in question is given to the system, our product results back to the users about 250 candidates," Pastorini said. "A human is always involved in selecting the most appropriate results." However, Williams' photo wouldn't have been in the lineup if the DataWorks software hadn't flagged him as a potential suspect, according to court documents. And Williams wouldn't have known that faulty facial recognition landed him in police custody if an officer hadn't remarked that "the computer must have gotten it wrong" before releasing him, according to Mayor. Detroit [ has limits on facial recognition], saying it can be used only in cases involving violent crimes. The crime Williams was falsely accused of didn't warrant using the technology, and he was tipped off by that police slipup, his attorney said. Detroit's police chief, James Craig, apologized for the wrongful arrest, blaming the mistake on "[ shoddy investigative work]." At a City Council hearing on June 29, Craig stressed that the department didn't rely on facial recognition alone, and that police need analysts and detectives to interpret the results. "If we were to just use the technology by itself to identify someone, I would say 96% of the time, it would misidentify," Craig said at the hearing. "When our analysts are doing their work, they're methodically going through each of the photos, and many times they've found the right pick is down the list. We know the technology is not perfect, it's an aid only." Civil rights advocates say facial recognition plays a big part in causing investigative mistakes. "I think it creates [that shoddiness]," Mayor said. "We're taught to trust the newest technology, and it's a natural and unsurprising instinct that when a computer tells a police officer 'that's the guy' they then undertake an investigation assuming it's him." Facial recognition's racial bias creates a real danger in Detroit, a majority Black city that [ once had the highest rate of fatal shootings by police], activists said. A federal investigation in 2000 prompted [ Detroit to undergo major police reform] on its use of force, but citizens are still concerned about racial profiling, and facial recognition's flaws could make it worse. "Depending on the crime, there could be a false positive in which the police are approaching someone who they believe is a violent criminal, and they're going to be on edge and may approach innocent citizens as potentially violent criminals," said Dawud Walid, the executive director of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations. "That's a very dangerous scenario, especially in somewhere like Detroit." Calls for reform Over the last three years, the fight against surveillance has been an uphill battle in Detroit. The city's surveillance program, [ Project Green Light], has grown from eight cameras to 700 since 2017. All those cameras can use DataWorks' [ Face Watch Plus] real-time facial recognition technology, while it's against Detroit Police Department's policy to do so currently. Project Green Light cameras are the third most popular source of images for facial recognition searches, said Aric Tosqui, a captain with the Detroit police. A map showing Project Green Light's expansion in Detroit from 2016 to 2019. Detroit Community Technology Project/Cyrus Peñarroyo Detroit's City Council members backed facial recognition in 2017, believing the technology would help reduce crime in their communities. Three years later, there's been no evidence to support that notion, activists said. Crime trends tend to fluctuate, and facial recognition technology hasn't been shown to have a direct impact for Detroit. Though violent crimes dropped overall in Detroit from 2018 to 2019, [ both homicides and nonfatal shootings have risen], according to statistics released in January. Craig said Detroit's facial recognition investments have paid off, helping solve homicide and theft investigations in the past. The majority of facial recognition searches haven't led to positive matches, Craig said, with 75% of searches leading to no arrests from May 29 to June 18. Activists are arguing that the money devoted to facial recognition, like the $1.2 million already spent and [https://tarvelzone.bookmark.com/top-5-largest-city-in-india-by-area https://tarvelzone.bookmark.com/top-5-largest-city-in-india-by-area] the nearly $220,000 to renew the DataWorks contract, would be better used to reduce crime by investing in resources for the community, such as after-school programs and job training. That's an argument many supporters of the [ "Defund the Police" movement] have backed. "Communities that are better resourced are those same communities with lower crime rates," said Rodd Monts, the ACLU of Michigan's campaign outreach coordinator. "You're going to have less crime and less need for police." The activists in Detroit have found a growing voice against facial recognition since the tech first came to town. Petty had been among a handful of people arguing against the technology in 2017, but it's grown into hundreds of critics showing up at City Council meetings. "Our City Council -- their main argument is that community members want to feel safe. My argument is that I live in Detroit too, and I want to feel safe too." Tawana Petty, director of the Data Justice Program at the Detroit Community Technology Project But the most important change still needs to come from local lawmakers. Detroit's City Council members were silent after Williams' case made national news, and activists are concerned that they'll vote to renew the city's facial recognition contract. When the contract renewal came up for a vote on June 16, only two members were expected to vote against it, and it needs no five votes to expire. Letting the facial recognition contract expire won't be the end of surveillance in Detroit, however. Activists are also hoping to pass the Community Input Over Government Surveillance ordinance, which would allow for public input into any surveillance technology purchased by the city. The ordinance was introduced by Detroit City Council Member Mary Sheffield, who also plans to vote against renewing the facial recognition contract. "The importance is having community input and strong oversight and transparency for any type of surveillance technology, especially facial recognition," Sheffield said. If the contract expires, Detroit would no longer have a facial recognition subscription, but it could still reach out to partners like the Michigan State Police to run searches with the technology. Activists are hoping to convince the city's Board of Police Commissioners to issue policies preventing facial recognition from being used. That could also lend momentum to an eventual statewide ban on the technology, starting from Detroit. "It would be a great statement for one of the Blackest cities in America," the ACLU of Michigan's Mayor said, "to be a leader in opposing the use of this racist technology instead of a leader for using it to surveil its own residents." [#comments Comments] [/topics/politics/ Politics] [/tags/privacy/ Privacy] [/tags/government-surveillance/ Government surveillance] [/tags/facial-recognition/ Notification on Notification off Facial Recognition]

Triple Threat: Pakistan apos;s Mango Growers Face A Sticky Season

2020-07-10T00:48:56Z

KristianHodson4: Created page with " By Peer Muhammad ISLAMABAD, June 18 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A combination of a coronavirus-spurred trade slowdown, locust attacks and odd weather have creat..."

By Peer Muhammad ISLAMABAD, June 18 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - A combination of a coronavirus-spurred trade slowdown, locust attacks and odd weather have created a nightmare year for growers and exporters of Pakistani mangoes, with both production and demand plummeting this year, they said. Domestic and international markets for the sought-after sweet seasonal fruit have been hit as harvests and exports have dropped by at least a quarter, they noted. Muhammad Ansar, a small-scale grower from the Sanghar area of central Sindh province, said his mango production had fallen 30% this year as a result of locust attacks. It was unusual for a broad belt of Pakistan's mango-producing areas to be hit by the pests, he added. "We face double problems this year: the low production followed by less demand in markets due to the prolonged lockdown because of coronavirus," Ansar said. He usually sells about 500 crates of mangos, each weighing 10kg (22 pounds), but this year has harvested only 200 crates and could "hardly find any demand for export". That shortfall has cost him between $2,000 and $2,500 in income, he said. WILD WEATHER Pakistan is the world's fifth-largest mango producer, after India, China, Thailand and Indonesia, according to Pakistan's Chambers of Commerce and Industry. But Abdul Waheed, a top mango grower and exporter and head of the All Pakistan Fruit and Vegetable Exporters, Importers and Merchants Association, said erratic weather linked to climate change was taking a toll on mangoes and a wide range of other crops in Pakistan. Yields are falling and harvest seasons are shifting, he said, noting that "this change in weather conditions has weakened the resistance of mangoes to fight diseases". "It ultimately damages mangoes at large scale," he said. Punjab, which produces about 70% of Pakistan's mangoes, has seen production fall more than 35% this year, mangro growers and traders estimate, while Sindh province's harvest is down 15%. Finding markets for the mangoes that are harvested is another problem. Suspended flights and high freight charges this year related to coronavirus lockdown restrictions are likely to reduce the country's mango exports substantially, officials said. Ahmad Jawad, chair of the agriculture standing committee for the chamber of commerce, [https://tarvelzone.bookmark.com/top-5-largest-city-in-india-by-area tarvelzone.bookmark.com] said Pakistan's mango exports, which last year stood at 130,000 tons, may drop by 30,000 tons this year. In the south London neighbourhood of Tooting, where mango stands run by vendors of Pakistani descent are a seasonal highlight, prices for most varieties have doubled this year - and profits are down. "You cannot sell it," said Asif Khaliq, standing over a big display of the golden fruit. "We can't convince the customers to understand" why prices are so much higher than last year, he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. With air freight prices triple those a year ago, a box of a dozen mangoes that last year sold for 12 pounds ($15) is now going for 22 pounds, just a little over the wholesale price. "At the end of the day, the profit is nothing," Khaliq said. "We just want to continue the business." The pandemic has hit sales in Pakistan too, as widespread closures disrupt transport, hotels, restaurants and markets, Waheed said, and domestic shipping fees skyrocket. "We are seeing such a bad, uncertain situation in this field for the first time in three generations of my family business," he added. Freight charges to send mangoes to European countries and Britain have more than tripled since last year, and costs have doubled for exports to the United States and Gulf countries, Waheed said. Tariq Khan a large-scale mango grower in Multan, a city in southern Punjab province, said Punjab had lost as much as 40% of its production this year, in part because of an unusually long and cold winter. Last year, the country saw record mango production of 1.8 million tons but growers fear this year they will produce no more than 1.1 million tons. Taj Naseeb Khan, horticulture director for the National Agriculture Research Council, said a long winter combined with strong thunderstorms early in the season hurt production in most of the country's mango-growing areas. This year's locust plague also hit young mangoes, though the worst damage could come next year if the pests are not eliminated before they breed, he said, urging "wide-ranging spraying to control them". One local benefit of the collapse in mango exports is more - and cheaper - availability of the fruit at home. Safeer Abbasi, a vendor in downtown Islamabad, said mangoes of all qualities are about 25-30% cheaper this year. "It seems that the closure of big hotels and markets help to bring their prices low. We hope they will further come down in coming weeks," he said. (Reporting by Peer Muhammad, additional reporting by Laurie Goering in London ; editing by Laurie Goering and Megan Rowling : (Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters. Visit website

Britain Today Announced Just 15 More Covid-19 Deaths In The Lowest Daily Toll Since 10 Days Before Lockdown Was Introduced As The Outbreak That Once Terrorized The Nation Continues To Fizzle Out

2020-07-09T03:40:28Z

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Britain today announced just 15 more Covid-19 deaths in the lowest daily toll since 10 days before lockdown was introduced as the outbreak that once terrorized the nation continues to fizzle out. Department of Health statistics show 42,647 Britons have now died after testing positive for the coronavirus — but the actual number of fatalities has already topped 50,000 when all suspected fatalities are taken into account. And official statistics show just 958 more cases of the disease were diagnosed in the lowest 24-hour jump since Boris Johnson imposed the draconian restrictions to halt the outbreak on March 23 (967). It comes as the Prime Minister gets prepared to unveil a major loosening of social distancing rules tomorrow and is expected to announce an expansion of social 'bubbles' where people can mix freely. The move is only possible because of the low levels of coronavirus, with Matt Hancock tonight saying only one in every 1,700 people are currently infected — down from one in 400 just weeks ago. The Health Secretary also revealed fewer than 5,000 coronavirus-infected Brits were in hospital for the first time since the peak of the crisis and said: 'We are clearly making progress.' In tonight's Downing Street press conference, he said: 'Thanks to the patience and sacrifice of everyone watching, infection rates are falling, the NHS is restoring and the virus is in retreat.' The increase in deaths is the smallest one-day rise since March 13, when just one fatality was announced. Fifteen Covid-19 deaths were also registered across all settings in Britain two days later on March 15. Scotland has recorded zero deaths on six occasions in June, including no victims for the last two days. Northern Ireland has had no fatalities for 72 hours and [https://tarvelzone.bookmark.com/top-5-largest-city-in-india-by-area tarvelzone.bookmark.com] the East of England today saw no new victims. Separate analysis today showed more than 100 NHS trusts in England have now gone 48 hours without recording a single Covid-19 death — the equivalent of almost 80 per cent of all hospitals. Although the number of deaths is always lower on Sundays and Mondays because of weekend delays to records, experts are convinced the virus is fading in the UK. One top scientist predicted last month that deaths were on track to hit zero by July, while a study published today suggested daily new confirmed cases could fall to nought within three weeks. In other developments to the coronavirus crisis in Britain today: The long wait for family reunions could be coming to an end as it was revealed that the Prime Minister is preparing to announce a dramatic easing of lockdown this week;Tube passengers on the Jubilee Line were still flouting face mask rules a week after it became law to wear them on public transport; Spain appealed for British tourists to visit, with a minister insisting the country was now a 'particularly' safe place and that holidays will not be 'radically' affected by temperature checks and health forms;Three quarters of Britons want Boris Johnson and senior ministers to take a pay cut in solidarity with millions of workers hammered by the coronavirus lockdown;The government could have effectively gone bust if the Bank of England had not bailed it out at the start of the coronavirus crisis, governor Andrew Bailey said;House viewings may be stopped and the property market moved back into lockdown as buyers and sellers fail to take adequate safety precautions, an industry boss warned;World Health Organization figures revealed 183,020 Covid-19 infections were recorded on June 21, marking the worst day of the pandemic since it began in December;Disneyland Paris will begin a 'gradual' re-opening on July 15, the resort announced today with the theme park having been closed since March because of the coronavirus pandemic. 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2020-07-09T03:39:05Z

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