Tourists beaten by 434 runs in third Test and trail 2-1 in series Captain raises fresh concerns over Hawk-Eye after India’s win Ben Stokes complained about the technology after England’s defeat. Photograph: Gareth Copley/Getty Images Ben Stokes insisted England will not let their bruising defeat against India in the third Test eat up his side for the remainder of the series, even if, for the second loss in a row, the captain left the ground unhappy with the technology. The latter did not relate to a turning point given the nature of this reversal; Yashasvi Jaiswal’s brutal unbeaten 214 and Ravindra Jadeja’s five wickets having inflicted a 434-run hammering – England’s second heaviest by way of runs in history. If anything, the grumbles from Stokes about Zak Crawley’s dismissal – lbw to Jasprit Bumrah and the ball projected to be grazing the leg stump bail by a whisker – were more a symptom of his side being rolled for 122 all out. It was their second collapse in the match after losing eight for 95 on a ruinous third day. “I’ve played 100 Test matches now and I know that thinking too deep can send you on a downhill spiral,” said Stokes, whose side now trail 2-1 with two to play. “Whenever I speak after we lose it’s what we do next that counts. Games are lost in the head. If we carry anything over we’re already going into next week with a disadvantage. I mentioned in the dressing room, we must make sure all the emotion and disappointment is left in there and all the focus goes into the fourth Test.” While Stokes believed Crawley’s lbw on the final day in Visakhapatnam was simply “wrong”, this latest complaint – one that prompted Stokes and the head coach, Brendon McCullum, to speak to the match referee, Jeff Crowe – was based on confusion over a Hawk-Eye projection that, in his eyes, showed the ball was missing. Stokes claimed he was told the calculations were correct but the graphic produced was not and the projected contact was, at best, minimal. But all this risked sounding like deflection from the shortcomings of his team over the four days. “I don’t know what to make of it,” Stokes said regarding his version of the conversation with Crowe. “I think when people are in charge of it say something has gone wrong, that is enough in itself. “My personal opinion is if the ball is hitting the stumps, it is hitting the stumps. They should take away umpire’s call. I don’t want to get too much into it because it sounds like we are moaning, saying that is why we lost the Test.” ‘He knows what he’s doing’: Ben Stokes shrugged off questions over Joe Root’s form with the bat. Photograph: Gareth Copley/Getty Images That much was true. More relevant was the dropped catch by Joe Root on day one, 27 runs into Rohit Sharma’s eventual 133, or the first-innings collapse that left bowlers barely recharged. Root cut a bereft figure all match, his much-debated dismissal to the reverse scoop on day three summing a disappointing tour so far. “Who am I to question a guy who has 30 Test match hundreds and nearly 12,000 Test match runs. I think he knows what he’s doing,” Stokes insisted, also pushing back at suggestions his predecessor’s bowling demands are affecting his batting. Stokes revealed he is now mulling a return to bowling himself at some stage in the series, having previously promised the medical staff he would not push things following knee surgery last November. “I had my first bowl [in practice] at 100%,” he said. “As a person, I like to jump the gun a little bit too much. I have to get my whole body to get used to bowling, so I am not saying no but I am not saying yes either.” https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/feb/18/england-will-not-let-thrashing-by-india-affect-rest-of-series-says-ben-stokes

Controversy in West Bengal centres around Akbar and Sita, named for a Hindu deity, being placed in the same enclosure A Bengal safari park on the outskirts of Siliguri has attracted the ire of Vishwa Hindu Parishad Photograph: Diptendu Dutta/Zuma Press Wire/Rex/Shutterstock An Indian Hindu nationalist organisation has launched a court petition to stop two lions named after a Hindu deity and a 16th-century Muslim emperor from sharing a zoo enclosure. Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), a prominent rightwing Hindu organisation, went to court in the state of West Bengal after reports a lioness named Sita had been put with a lion called Akbar. Akbar was a Mughal emperor who extended Muslim rule over much of the Indian subcontinent, a time Hindu nationalist groups consider to have been a period of slavery. “Sita cannot stay with the Mughal emperor Akbar,” the VHP official Anup Mondal said on Sunday, suggesting it would offend religious sentiments in the Hindu-majority country. “Such an act amounts to blasphemy and is a direct assault on the religious belief of all Hindus,” the VHP said , after having lodged a plea on Friday calling for a name change. Critics say religious intolerance has been growing in the world’s most populous country since the Hindu nationalist government of Narendra Modi, the Indian prime minister, came to power in 2014. General elections, likely to be held in April, are expected to secure Modi a third term in power. Mondal said the lion called Akbar had previously been named after the Hindu deity Rama when he was in the neighbouring state of Tripura, which is controlled by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party. But the lion’s name was changed when he was brought to West Bengal, which is controlled by the opposition Trinamool Congress party. The VHP petition calls for a ban on using religious names for animals in zoos. A West Bengal forest department official, Dipak Kumar Mandal, said “the lion and the lioness are now kept separately”. The case is scheduled for a hearing on 20 February. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/18/hindu-nationalists-court-lion-named-after-muslim-emperor-india

Israeli foreign minister says he will summon Brazil’s ambassador for a reprimand over the remarks which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described as ‘disgraceful’. Buildings stand in ruin amid Israel's war on Gaza [UNRWA/Handout via Reuters] Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has accused Israel of committing “genocide” against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and compared its war on Gaza with Adolf Hitler’s campaign to exterminate Jewish people. “What’s happening in the Gaza Strip isn’t a war, it’s a genocide,” Lula told reporters in Addis Ababa where he was attending an African Union summit on Sunday. “It’s not a war of soldiers against soldiers. It’s a war between a highly prepared army and women and children,” added the Brazilian president. “What’s happening in the Gaza Strip with the Palestinian people hasn’t happened at any other moment in history. Actually, it has happened: when Hitler decided to kill the Jews.” Led by Hitler, the Nazis systematically killed six million Jews during World War II. Lula said Israel’s war on Gaza was a ‘genocide’ [Ricardo Stuckert/Brazilian Presidency via AFP] Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said he would summon Brazil’s ambassador for a reprimand over the remarks. “No one will compromise Israel’s right to defend itself,” Katz said on X, adding that the envoy would be summoned on Monday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the comments as “disgraceful and grave”. “This is a trivialisation of the Holocaust and an attempt to attack the Jewish people and the right of Israel to self-defence. Drawing comparisons between Israel and the Nazis and Hitler is to cross a red line,” Netanyahu said in a statement. Lula, 78, had condemned the Hamas-led October 7 attack on southern Israel as a “terrorist” act the day it happened. But he has since grown vocally critical of Israel’s retaliatory military campaign in Gaza. At least 1,139 people were killed in the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel, mostly civilians, according to an Al Jazeera tally of Israeli official figures. Hamas members also took about 250 people captive, 130 of whom are still in Gaza, including 30 who are presumed dead, according to Israeli authorities. Israel’s retaliatory assault on Gaza has killed at least 28,858 people, mostly women and children, according to Palestinian authorities. Lula criticised Western countries’ recent decisions to halt aid to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, after Israel accused some of its employees of involvement in the Hamas-led attack. Lula, who met with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh Saturday on the sidelines of the summit, has said Brazil will increase its own contribution to the agency and urged other countries to do the same. “When I see the rich world announce that it’s halting its contributions to humanitarian aid for the Palestinians, I just imagine how big these people’s political awareness is and how big the spirit of solidarity in their hearts is,” Lula said. “We need to stop being small when we need to be big.” He reiterated his call for a two-state solution to the conflict, with Palestine “definitively recognised as a full and sovereign state”. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/18/brazils-lula-compares-israels-war-on-gaza-with-the-holocaust

The anti-corruption campaigner and leader of the Russian opposition leaves behind a legacy of ‘the struggle for Russia’s better future’. Flowers and a candle are placed next to a portrait of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny following Navalny's death as people gather near the Russian embassy, in Paris, France, February 16, 2024 [Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters] Alexey Navalny, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most high-profile nemesis, has died in a penal colony inside the Arctic Circle. He was 47 years old. The authorities’ seeming reluctance to let his family collect his body has aroused suspicions around the circumstances of his death. The announcement was made by Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service on Friday. Navalny rose to fame as an anti-corruption campaigner, rallying massive demonstrations over the 2011 elections, which were widely believed to be rigged. He and his team released exposés of officials and business figures close to Putin’s inner circle – even Putin himself, accusing him of hiding an extravagant palace by the Black Sea. “It won’t be easy for the opposition to find someone who could stand in Navalny’s place,” said political scientist Gulnaz Sharafutdinova. “Nonetheless, Navalny’s political goal will survive and his name will remain as a symbol of struggle for Russia’s better future.” A woman lays flowers at a monument to the victims of political repressions following the death of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, in Moscow, Russia, February 16, 2024 [Stringer/Reuters] Controversial, but undoubted opposition leader Navalny was a controversial figure. Early in his career, he made hateful remarks about Muslims, immigrants and Georgians, and walked alongside the Russia March, an annual procession attracting monarchists, ultranationalists and far-rightists of all stripes. He later took back some of his comments, was one of the few prominent Russians to support Black Lives Matter, and spoke out against systemic discrimination against Muslims in the prison system. After a suspected poisoning attempt in 2020, Navalny was flown to Germany for treatment but nevertheless returned to Russia in January 2021, where he was immediately arrested and handed a 30-year term for “extremism” and other charges. “Navalny was undoubtedly the leader of the Russian opposition,” said Alexei Krapukhin, a member of the Moscow branch of the centre-left Yabloko Party. “Even after he was poisoned, he remained the leader, and even after he wound up in prison, he maintained his irreproachable authority.” Krapukhin attended Navalny’s rallies and campaigned for him during his bid for Moscow mayor in 2013 (Navalny also ran for president in the 2018 elections). “He was a hero and he inspired me a lot,” said Arshak Makichyan, an environmentalist and anti-war campaigner. “What happened just now is not about what he said 10 or 15 years ago, it’s what he’s been doing for the past three years. When he returned from Germany to Russia, it was very brave and inspirational for us in Russia to continue our struggles.” What will the opposition do now? So, what does Navalny’s death mean for the Russian opposition? Opposition to Putin is broad. There are the ultranationalists and neo-Nazis with whom Navalny has flirted in the past, who believe that by welcoming Muslims and immigrants, Putin is a traitor to their ideal of a white Slavic ethnostate. Hundreds of them have volunteered to fight for Ukraine, though conversely, there are neo-Nazi militias fighting for Moscow as well, for whom the idea of a Greater Russia trumps any misgivings about Putin. Leftists and communists are similarly split – the leadership of the Communist Party has cheered Putin’s invasion, alienating their grassroots members. While liberals are almost universally against Putin and the war, they are few in number, are mostly abroad, and squabble amongst themselves, with Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation and exiled tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky forming two separate camps. Anarchist cells have proactively sabotaged the war effort. Finally, there is dissent within Russia’s far-flung regions and ethnic republics such as the largely-Muslim Bashkira, where protests erupted in January after activist Fail Alsynov was jailed for inciting ethnic discord and discrediting the army, including questioning the war effort and its aims. Nearly 20,000 Russians have been detained for anti-war activities and hundreds have been convicted following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. They include Navalny’s ally Ilya Yashin, imprisoned for eight and a half years for livestreaming about alleged war crimes in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, which the authorities deemed to be spreading misinformation, as well as the Russian-British Vladimir Kara-Murza, sentenced to 25 years for treason. Like Navalny, Kara-Murza has survived two suspected poisonings that have left him suffering from a rare nerve disorder, and his wife has voiced fears that he may not survive the harsh prison conditions. While Yashin and Kara-Murza are liberals, Igor Girkin – aka Igor Strelkov – definitely is not. A former Russian intelligence officer, Strelkov arguably started the Russo-Ukrainian war by leading the original insurgency in east Ukraine in 2014, and had since reinvented himself as a blogger criticising Moscow’s war effort for not being waged fiercely enough. Last year, he was arrested on extremism charges and has since been handed four years’ confinement. Russian prominent nationalist, former military commander and Kremlin critic Igor Girkin, also known as Igor Strelkov, who is charged with inciting extremist activity, sits behind a glass wall of an enclosure for defendants before a court hearing in Moscow, Russia, January 25, 2024 [Maxim Shemetov/Reuters] On Telegram, Strelkov’s wife expressed her fear of Navalny’s death setting a precedent, a sentiment shared by the Kremlin’s liberal opponents. “Kara-Murza and Yashin and other anti-war, anti-Putin leaders are in danger, because now that Putin established the reputation of a politician who kills to stay in power, he has less to lose,” economist Konstantin Sonin told Al Jazeera. “He can kill more, with no new damage to his reputation. Yet neither of them is an immediate threat to Putin as Navalny was because he was very po[CENSORED]r. “Girkin will be at risk if his ideas would become more po[CENSORED]r, which I do not expect to happen.” The outbreak of full-scale war was accompanied by a mass exodus of anti-war Russians and draft dodgers. However, even there they are not always safe from Moscow’s reach: dissidents who’d moved to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, have been harassed, arrested and even extradited back to Russia. Between mass imprisonment and exile, there’s no one left of Navalny’s stature to rally around. “I think Navalny was a uniquely po[CENSORED]r Russian politician, more po[CENSORED]r than anyone else, including Putin,” said Sonin. “For the opposition, his death leaves the void that will be hard to fill.” One of the last remaining notable Kremlin critics neither incarcerated nor exiled is Yevgeny Roizman, the po[CENSORED]r ex-mayor of Yekaterinburg, an industrial city in the Ural mountains, famed for his colourful social media tirades. Last year, Roizman narrowly avoided confinement after being repeatedly convicted of “discrediting” the armed forces and was slapped with a 260,000-rouble ($3,250) fine instead. Since then, he has kept a lower profile. “I’m certain there’ll be a new wave of repression now,” Krapukhin predicted glumly. “The authorities will stop at nothing. The resistance will continue – some from abroad, some within Russia – but there is also fear, so it remains to be seen how active this resistance will be. Since 2022, the laws have become much tighter and many people are sitting in cells. Our duty is that one day there will be a statue to Navalny and his murderers are punished.” “I think Putin gave us a reason to be more radical because peaceful protests, which Navalny was promoting, don’t work anymore,” added Makichyan. “We need to be more effective against Putin’s regime,” he said, “and we need to change our strategy.” Supporters of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny gather to mourn his death, in Beverly Hills, California, the United States, February 16, 2024 [Jorge Garcia/Reuters] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/18/hard-void-to-fill-navalnys-death-poses-challenges-for-russian-opposition

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Available in 342-hp A-Spec, 459-hp A-Spec AWD, and 500-hp Type S forms, Acura's first electric model is more expensive than its GM sibling, the Cadillac Lyriq. Acura has released pricing for the new 2024 ZDX electric SUV. It starts at $65,745 for the rear-wheel-drive A-Spec model and $74,745 for the more powerful Type S version that comes standard with all-wheel drive. The ZDX will go on sale in the U.S. starting in early spring. UPDATE 2/16/24: Acura has released the destination charge for the ZDX, so we've added that mandatory $1245 fee to the prices listed here. Acura also now says that the base A-Spec makes 342 horsepower and that the A-Spec AWD makes 459 horsepower. Acura is getting a little help from its friends in kickstarting its electric-vehicle lineup: the 2024 ZDX is the brand's first EV effort, and it's based on GM's Ultium platform that also underpins the Cadillac Lyriq. We now know how much the ZDX will cost, and its starting price of $65,745 is higher than the Lyriq's, which starts at under $60,000. Similar to the Cadillac, the Acura ZDX lineup starts off with a rear-wheel-drive, single-motor configuration producing 342 horsepower. The base ZDX A-Spec trim level is also available in a dual-motor, all-wheel-drive configuration for an extra $4000, which offers 459 hp. The ZDX A-Spec has a 102.0-kWh battery pack estimated to provide 325 miles of range in the RWD version and 315 miles in the AWD version. ZDX A-SPEC The Type S turns up the wick with a 500-horsepower dual-motor powertrain, starting at around $74,745. Its range estimate is lower, at 288 miles. The sportier Type S features an upgraded height-adjustable air suspension with adaptive dampers, plus 22-inch wheels and larger Brembo brakes. There's an optional set of summer tires for an extra $1000. Included in the purchase of a ZDX is a choice of one of three charging packages. They all include 60.0-kWh of free charging at Electrify America stations, plus various options such as a home charging station, a portable charging kit, an installation credit, and credits at EVGo charging stations. The ZDX will start arriving at U.S. dealerships in early spring. https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a46486119/2024-acura-zdx-price/

Duckett produces innings of his life with rapid-fire 133 runs India’s Ashwin becomes ninth bowler to take 500 Test wickets Ben Duckett celebrates scoring his century for England against India. Photograph: Punit Paranjpe/AFP/Getty Images After the innings of his life, Ben ­Duckett left it to others to sing his praises and perhaps understandably so. The opener was unbeaten overnight, a rapid-fire 133 runs on the second day of the third Test ending with the promise of more to come. Instead it was over to Ravichandran Ashwin and Mark Wood to appraise the innings, the former having dominated Duckett back in 2016 – a brutal first taste of Test cricket – only to sit among the spinners taken down on the day. England had responded to India’s 445 all out by racing to 207 for two in just 35 overs. England's Ben Duckett (right) plays a shot on the way to a blistering 133 not out off 118 balls on day two against India. Duckett’s 88-ball century leads England fightback in third Test against India Read more “Ben Duckett is a phenomenal ­talent so credit to him, he’s made a wonderful hundred today,” Ashwin said after stumps, his 500th Test wicket secured. “I wanted to clap, but the hardcore competitor in me didn’t allow me to. But I’m very happy for him. A couple of the shots he hit, especially the slog sweeps, were really special.” Wood was simply “over the moon” to have his feet up after figures of four for 114 in England’s earlier toil. Not that his teammates higher up the order are likely to offer too much respite, their blistering approach unlikely to be throttled back. “To be that far behind in the game and go out and play like that showed real bravery and skill,” said Wood, glowing about Duckett’s counterattack. “The way India changed the field and then he’d hit it somewhere else, it was just such a skilful innings against a good attack. He’s a nightmare to bowl at in the nets – we try to get him to leave the ball but he never leaves any. “It’s been hot, he’s spent all that time in the field [130.5 overs]. He had that capability to then go out there and play with the freedom and clarity of mind, to play those shots and pick the right ball and still be there at the end. Ravichandran Ashwin is congratulated after taking his 500th Test wicket. Photograph: Gareth Copley/Getty Images “ Maybe he hasn’t gotten the accolades that he would like with big scores but this was his day and it was amazing to watch, especially as a bowler that’s just bowled plenty of overs.” While Duckett had enjoyed his best day to date as a Test cricketer, his old rival had locked down immortality. Ashwin, who removed Zak Crawley during a frenetic final session of 176 runs and two wickets, became the ninth bowler to reach 500 Test ­victims and the second for his country after Anil Kumble. “I’d be lying if I said 500 doesn’t mean anything. It probably does. At the moment, it hasn’t sunk in,” said the 37-year-old, before explaining how the pandemic changed his perspective. “It gave me a really good reflection of where I stood in life, what I wanted to play for. This game is all I love and I think I had lost some of that love before that and I managed to rediscover it.” Ashwin was the centre of another talking point on the day, becoming the second Indian player officially warned for running down the pitch during his innings of 37 – a breach of the laws – and incurring the lesser-spotted five-run penalty from the umpires Joel Wilson and Kumar Dharmasena. He added: “They clearly warned some of our batters yesterday for running on the pitch. I was aware of it, but my poor motor skills didn’t allow me to get off the pitch in time. If the English media and players think it was on purpose, it wasn’t. If that’s how they want to treat it, so be it. I don’t think that pitch is breaking up.” https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/feb/16/ben-duckett-ravichandran-ashwin-mark-wood-england-india-cricket

‘Rule one is good communication.’ Composite: Getty/GNM Design You don’t have to spend a fortune to have fun with someone you adore – especially if you stop measuring yourself against other couples For the three years my partner and I have been engaged, we have tiptoed around the financial elephant in the room: how much should we spend on our wedding? We’re both freelance and our finances fluctuate, so for a long time we did what any tension-averse introverts do and didn’t talk about it. Eventually – a few months ago – we had The Chat, decided we didn’t need anything flashy to show how in love we are and settled on a small register office affair followed by a party upstairs in a pub. The point is, rule one of keeping a long-term relationship alive when financial burdens hit is good communication. “The most important thing is transparency,” confirms relationship psychotherapist Vasia Toxavidi. “There needs to be open communication and support and understanding.” Pent-up financial worries, Toxavidi says, can create “anxiety, stress and then depression, which can become almost like a loop” that is difficult to escape from. Societal pressures and the catalogue of manufactured dreams that is Instagram also play their part, leading to distorted expectations of what your relationship should be like, an illusion brought into sharper focus by money troubles. “People see certain things happening on social media and they go home and say: ‘Why aren’t you providing for me?’” says Michelle Bassam, a psychological therapist at Harley Therapy in London. “It helps not to have any expectations of each other apart from our basic self-care and being open and truthful. Then why, in moments of financial difficulty, do your expectations of your partner have to change?” There are also practical ways of lightening the financial burden. “In terms of saving specifically, one of the first things you can look at is where you’re spending the most money,” says Vicky Parry, content editor at moneysaving website Money Magpie. “For a lot of people, aside from rent or mortgage, that would be food. Look for ways in which you can get food cheap – go to Lidl, get a £1.50 veg box, freeze food, use the food-saving apps, create meal plans together.” If you’re staying in more, the urge might be to load up on even more streaming platforms, but Parry suggests using the LittleBirdie app that “goes through all your subscriptions and finds out which ones you’re using the most. My partner and I cut down £100 a month using that.” She also recommends the channel Talking Pictures TV, which specialises in classic films, for a romantic night in. “Or, if you want a day out, there are so many good things you can do for free – go to museums, go to the parks. Just be a bit creative.” In fact, creativity is key when living on a budget. “We don’t need to go out to have fun,” says Bassam. “Being together should always be enough. Have times with no telephones, no television, just each other. Have an indoor picnic, enjoy a shower together, run your partner a bath.” These small acts of kindness can be a great way of showing that you’re in it together. Another way of cementing that togetherness is to open a joint account. While there are risks involved – both parties are equally responsible for any withdrawals, which could cause problems if one person has a different attitude towards spending, and credit ratings can also be affected – it’s a way of putting that all-important transparency into action. “Joint accounts work very well because you’ve both got visuals on what’s going on,” says Stephen Page, a chartered financial life planner with Serenity Financial Planning. Joint accounts used as a way of saving, even in small increments, mean you can still have something to look forward to when financial hopes for the future take a knock. One way to have fun with your partner, for free, at home, is of course to have sex. But as lovely as that can be, financial stresses can quash libidos and dampen sexual appetite. For Bassam, it’s about focusing on intimacy rather than sex. “Intimacy is important because we feel loved and respected and needed at a time of difficulty,” she says. “It’s about enjoying each other’s company and each other’s bodies. It doesn’t have to be sex because stress can cause problems on both sides. It’s about being present: if you are with your partner, it’s not being half on your phone and half with them. It’s remembering the things you used to laugh about and things you want to share in the future.” Keeping a relationship healthy when money is tight is about recalibrating expectations, being creative, focusing on what’s important and finding fun together. But honesty is the key to unlocking all of the above. “There are three taboos – death, sex and money – and if you’re open and face that conversation about money with your partner then it leads to a deeper and more rewarding relationship,” says Page. “It takes another fear off the table.” If you’re worried about all the budget chat, the spreadsheets and the cashback apps being the antitheses of romance, then Page has a question for you: “Why wouldn’t being financially secure be sexy?” https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/feb/16/how-to-keep-love-alive-when-money-is-tight

Georgia residents and animal rights activists unhappy at proposal to house long-tailed macaques in sprawling complex A long-tailed macaque. The plan is to house a 30,000-strong mega-troop of the species, which is native to south-east Asia, in Bainbridge, Georgia (po[CENSORED]tion: 14,000). Photograph: Rahman Roslan/Dokumen Studio/The Guardian A plan to establish the largest monkey-breeding facility in the US, which would allow 30,000 macaques to roam within outfitted warehouses in Georgia, is facing a furious backlash from animal rights groups and some local residents. The sprawling, 200-acre complex would house an unusually large number of monkeys, which will then be sent out to universities and pharmaceutical companies for medical research. Over the next 20 years, the facility will assemble a mega-troop of about 30,000 long-tailed macaques, a species native to south-east Asia, in vast barn-like structures in Bainbridge, Georgia, which has a human po[CENSORED]tion of just 14,000. Safer Human Medicine, the company behind the new $396m simian metropolis, has said the monkeys will be kept in highly secured conditions, will not spread disease in the local area and will be fed fresh local produce. “We all depend on these critical primates to save the lives of our loved ones and ourselves,” the company said in an open letter to residents that featured a mocked-up picture of monkeys joyfully cavorting with toys in a light-filled, apartment-like room. But the plan faces fierce opposition, with some Bainbridge residents calling on local authorities to block the construction of the proposed primate manse. “They’re an invasive species and 30,000 of them, we’d just be overrun with monkeys,” claimed Ted Lee, a local man. “I don’t think anybody would want 30,000 monkeys next door,” added David Barber, who would live just 400ft from the new facility. Animal rights groups are also calling for the plan to be scrapped, arguing that breeding primates for medical tests is cruel and provides little benefit in coming up with new treatments for humans due to differences between the species. “This move not only further threatens the survival of these primates in the wild, it perpetuates a cycle that we should be breaking away from,” said Kathleen Conlee, vice-president of animal research issues for the Humane Society. “We urge local officials to reject the proposal to build this facility and the federal government to prioritize science that will ultimately save both human and animal lives.” The vast majority of medical testing on animals involves rodents, with only about 1% requiring primates, but the practice of conducting experiments on humans’ closest relatives has long been controversial. The National Institutes of Health said in 2015 it would no longer support biomedical research upon chimpanzees and welfare groups have called for a broader ban alongside a switch to alternative methods, such as using new technology like artificial intelligence. About 70,000 monkeys a year are still used across the US in tests for treatments to infectious diseases, ageing and neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s, with researchers warning that the US is running low on available primates for tests. Safer Human Medicine has said its planned monkey mini-city will help alleviate this, while also creating more than 260 local jobs to care for the new residents, which will not be taken from the wild. The monkeys weigh about 5 to 7lbs and, as their name suggests, have very long tails. “There can often be a lot of misinformation surrounding animal research,” a spokeswoman for Safer Human Medicine said. “Our goal is to provide the Bainbridge community with the facts and accurate information about our purpose and the new facility’s operations. We still believe Bainbridge is the right place for this project and we plan to move ahead with the facility’s plans based on the approvals and support we received at the project’s outset.” The facility initially secured tax breaks ahead of construction, although those have now been withdrawn ahead of a decision by local authorities over whether to allow the project. Safer Human Medicine has said it will press on with the monkey containment plan even without the tax breaks. Edward Reynolds, the mayor of Bainbridge, was contacted for comment. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/16/georgia-monkey-animal-testing-facility

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah’s warning comes days after 10 Lebanese civilians were killed in Israeli air raids. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah delivers a televised speech warning Israel that it will 'pay in blood' for killing Lebanese civilians [Al-Manar / AFP] Hezbollah’s leader Hassan Nasrallah has said that Israel will pay a price “in blood” for killing Lebanese civilians, signalling the conflict across the Lebanon-Israel border could intensify. Israeli air raids on Wednesday killed at least 10 civilians, including five children, in southern Lebanon. Three Hezbollah fighters were also killed. In a televised speech on Friday, Nasrallah said, “The response to the massacre should be continuing resistance work at the front and escalating resistance work at the front.” “Our women and our children who were killed in these days, the enemy will pay the price of spilling their blood in blood,” Nasrallah said. He also highlighted that the killings had increased Hezbollah’s determination and said the group would increase its “presence, strength, fire, anger” and expand its operations. Israel “must expect that and wait for that”. Shortly after Nasrallah’s speech, Hezbollah said it had targeted an Israeli army facility in Shebaa Farms, occupied territory that Lebanon regards as its own, with missiles, adding that casualties were inflicted. ‘Lebanon will also pay a heavy price’ Hezbollah has been trading fire with the Israeli military across Lebanon’s southern border in support of its Palestinian ally Hamas, which launched a cross-border assault from the Gaza Strip into Israel on October 7. This was followed by heavy Israeli bombardment of Gaza from the land, air and sea. The cross-border attacks have killed at least 200 people in Lebanon, including more than 170 Hezbollah fighters, as well as 10 Israeli soldiers and five civilians. Hezbollah officials have said they will stop attacking Israeli military posts when Israel’s assault on Gaza ends. But there are growing fears of another full-blown conflict between Israel and Hezbollah with tens of thousands displaced on both sides of the border and regional tensions soaring. The United Nations secretary-general’s spokesperson Stephane Dujarric has called for the violence to stop and countries like France have also delivered a written proposal to Beirut and Israel aimed at ending hostilities and settling the disputed Lebanon-Israel frontier. But there are few signs that those efforts will bear fruit in the immediate term. On Friday, at the Munich Security Conference, where world leaders and security analysts have gathered to discuss solutions to solve global crises, Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, urged calm and said attacks on civilians needed to end. “Just two days ago, a family of seven innocent individuals was targeted in south Lebanon. The killing and targeting of innocent children, women, and older adults is a crime against humanity,” he said. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz told the conference that Hezbollah was just a proxy that Iran was manoeuvring as it saw fit and that Israel would not let instability in the north continue endlessly. “If a diplomatic solution is not found, Israel will be forced to act in order to remove Hezbollah from the border and return our residents to their homes,” he said, referring to some 70,000 displaced Israelis. “In such a case, Lebanon will also pay a heavy price,” he warned and called on world leaders to pressure Hezbollah and Iran to stop the attacks. At a news conference in Beirut last week, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-abdollahian told reporters that Iran and Lebanon’s position was that “war is not a solution.” However, he noted that amid Israel’s attacks on southern Lebanon, “Hezbollah and the resistance in Lebanon have courageously and wisely carried out their deterring and effective role.” Amir-abdollahian added that Tehran will continue “its strong support to the resistance in Lebanon, as we consider Lebanon’s security as the security of Iran and the region”. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/16/hezbollah-warns-that-israel-will-pay-in-blood-for-killing-civilians

The delay threw Senegal, usually seen as one of the most stable West African countries, into political turmoil. Senegal's President Macky Sall addresses the 35th ordinary session of the Assembly of the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on February 6, 2022 [File: Tiksa Negeri/Reuters] Senegal’s top election authority on Thursday voided the government’s postponement of a presidential election scheduled for February 25 and its rescheduling for December, ruling that the moves were unconstitutional. The constitutional council cancelled the decree signed by President Macky Sall earlier this month that postponed the election, according to a judgement approved by seven members of the body and seen by the Associated Press. The National Assembly’s decision on February 5 to reschedule the vote for December 15 also was “contrary to the constitution,” the judgement said. “The constitutional council, noting the impossibility of organising the presidential election on the date initially planned, invites the competent authorities to hold it as soon as possible,” it added. The constitutional council also reiterated the fixed nature of the five-year presidential term. Opposition figures praised the court’s ruling on Thursday. “This is a decision that puts Senegal back on track. I’m not surprised because everything that was happening was too big,” former prime minister Aminata Toure, who has joined the opposition, told AFP. The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) had urged Sall to stick to the election timetable and sent a delegation to meet with him earlier this week. The postponement has thrown the country, usually seen as one of the most stable in West Africa, into political turmoil, with three people killed and dozens arrested during protests. Opposition and civil society groups have issued new calls for demonstrations and a peaceful march organised by a civil society collective is planned for Saturday. The council’s decision was published as several jailed government opponents were released from prison in an apparent effort by Sall to appease public opinion. “Most of my clients in politically motivated cases have been released,” lawyer Cheikh Koureissi Ba told AFP, adding that this concerned several dozen detainees. A list of several released opposition figures was given to AFP by another lawyer, Moussa Sarr. The list included Aliou Sane, coordinator of the citizens’ opposition movement “Y’en a marre” (I’m fed up); Djamil Sane, mayor of a Dakar neighbourhood; and several members of the dissolved opposition party Pastef, which is headed by opposition figurehead Ousmane Sonko. “As a result of international pressure, President Macky Sall is ordering some releases,” said Souleymane Djim, a member of a group of families of political prisoners. Sonko – who is one of Sall’s leading opponents – and his second in command, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, have been imprisoned since 2023. There is currently no news of their possible release. Several hundred opposition members have been arrested since 2021, when Sonko began a standoff with the government that sparked deadly unrest. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/2/16/senegals-top-court-reverses-salls-election-delay-bid

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