International
UNESCO meeting discusses threats to cultural heritage
AFP
Unequal access to new technologies, illicit trafficking and other threats to cultural heritage were among the issues on the agenda for international culture ministers who met Wednesday in Mexico.
Representatives of around 160 UNESCO member states were participating in the three-day World Conference on Cultural Policies and Sustainable Development in Mexico City.
The goals of the final declaration to be adopted on Friday include guaranteeing artists’ rights and regulating distribution platforms, UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay said.
It also aims to ensure culture is included in international discussions on climate change, notably through traditional and Indigenous knowledge systems.
“Our cultural heritage is threatened very directly by global warming,” Azoulay said.
The Covid-19 pandemic has shown that culture is vital for public health, according to conference coordinator Pablo Raphael.
“No one would have been able to survive the confinement and stress… without books, music and cinema,” he said.
But the health crisis also laid bare technological inequalities between different communities, Mexican Culture Minister Alejandra Frausto said.
One of the meeting’s objectives is to find ways to guarantee artists access to technologies to share their work.
The final declaration is expected to include a call to recognize culture as a “global public good” that benefits all of the world’s citizens.
“I really hope that the final declaration will be a renewed roadmap to ensure that cultural diversity is recognized as humanity’s greatest wealth, thus erasing racism and discrimination,” Frausto said.
Two issues on the agenda — defending communities’ intellectual property and the restitution of cultural property — are of particular interest to Mexico and other Latin American countries.
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has criticized foreign auctions of items that form part of other nations’ cultural heritage as “immoral.”
Since 2019, Mexico has managed to retrieve thousands of pre-Hispanic archaeological pieces from abroad that were in private collections or set to be auctioned.
Some were handed over voluntarily, while others, such as items in Italy, were recovered in police raids.
“Let’s unite in our efforts to stop once and for all cultural appropriation, illicit trafficking and commercialization of cultural goods — practices that have violated the dignity of peoples,” Frausto said.
Mexico regularly denounces what it calls plagiarism by foreign fashion houses of the motifs, embroidery and colors of its Indigenous communities.
The Latin American nation has lodged complaints of alleged violation of intellectual property against major clothing brands including Zara and Mango in the past.
The government of war-torn Ukraine was due to participate by video in a session about “heritage and cultural diversity in crisis.”
International
Man arrested after deliberately driving into seven children in Osaka
Japanese police arrested a man on Thursday after he rammed his car into a group of seven schoolchildren in an apparent deliberate attack in the city of Osaka.
The children, who were on their way home from school, sustained injuries and were taken to the hospital. All seven remained conscious, according to local authorities.
An Osaka police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the suspect is a 28-year-old man from Tokyo. The officer shared statements the man made after his arrest: “I was fed up with everything, so I decided to kill people by driving into several elementary school children,” the suspect reportedly said.
The man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.
The injured children, aged between seven and eight, included a seven-year-old girl who suffered a fractured jaw. The six other children—all boys—suffered minor injuries such as bruises and scratches and were undergoing medical evaluation.
Witnesses described the car as “zigzagging” before hitting the children. One witness told Nippon TV that a girl was “covered in blood” and the others appeared to have scratches.
Another witness said the driver, who was wearing a face mask, looked to be in shock when school staff pulled him from the vehicle.
Violent crimes are rare in Japan, though serious incidents do occur from time to time. In 2008, Tomohiro Kato drove a two-ton truck into pedestrians in Tokyo’s Akihabara district, then fatally stabbed several victims. Seven people were killed in that attack.
Internacionales
Clashes erupt during may day protests across France amid calls for better wages
May Day protests in France were marked by a heavy police presence and clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement in several cities.
In Paris, Lyon, and Nantes, thousands took to the streets to demand better wages, fairer working conditions, and to voice their dissatisfaction with President Emmanuel Macron’s government.
While the majority of the demonstrations remained peaceful, isolated confrontations broke out in some areas. Protesters threw objects at the police, prompting the use of tear gas and resulting in several arrests.
Videos showing police crackdowns circulated widely on social media, drawing criticism from labor unions and human rights advocates, who denounced the authorities’ response to the protests.
International
Kristi Noem credits Trump for mass migrant deportations by mexican president
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem claimed that Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has deported “more than half a million” migrants due to pressure from former President Donald Trump.
During a cabinet meeting highlighting the “achievements” of Trump’s administration in its first 100 days, Noem asserted that under the Republican leader’s influence, “Mexico has finally come to the table” to negotiate on migration and fentanyl trafficking.
“The president of Mexico told me she has returned just over half a million people before they reached our border,” Noem stated, criticizing media reports that suggest the Biden administration deported more migrants than Trump’s.
“I wish those deportations were counted,” Noem added, “because those people never made it to our border—she sent them back because you made her.” She went on to thank Trump: “They never made it here because they got the message—because you were so aggressive.”
Noem has made controversial claims about Sheinbaum in the past, prompting the Mexican leader to refute them.
On April 1, Sheinbaum responded to one such statement by declaring, “The president answers to only one authority, and that is the people of Mexico,” after Noem said on Fox News that she gave Sheinbaum “a list of things Trump would like to see” and that Mexico’s actions would determine whether Trump granted tariff relief.
Man arrested after deliberately driving into seven children in Osaka
Clashes erupt during may day protests across France amid calls for better wages
Kristi Noem credits Trump for mass migrant deportations by mexican president
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