Tag: Press Release

  • Amnesty Releases Report on Taliban's War Crimes in Panjshir

    As this article reports, Amnesty International has published a new report that claims “[t]he Taliban have committed the war crime of collective punishment against civilians in Afghanistan’s Panjshir province.” 

    The area has a number of “members of the security forces of the former Afghan government” who “fled to Panjshir with equipment and arms, and joined the National Resistance Front (NRF).” 

    This has led to a retributive crackdown in the area by the Taliban resulting in “torture and unlawful killings,” “[m]ass arbitrary arrests and detention intended to intimidate local population,” and detainees being “subjected to extrajudicial executions.” 

    As the article states:

    “While many of the acts taken by Taliban forces individually constitute war crimes, the entirety of those acts – plus the additional arbitrary detentions and restrictions on the civilian population – also constitute the war crime of collective punishment.”

    Read the Amnesty International article covering the report here. Read the full original report here.

  • FAO Facilitates Japanese Aid to Boost Paddy Production in Sri Lanka

    According to this report, the Government of Japan, “through the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO),” is to provide $ 4.6 million “to strengthen the production capacity of smallholder paddy farmers in identified districts of the Dry and Intermediate Zones of Sri Lanka.” Reportedly, “[s]mallholder farmers are amongst the most vulnerable rural communities, predominantly cultivating rice for self-consumption.” 

    This comes in the wake of recent food shortages in Sri Lanka. According to the report: 

    “Together with its partners, FAO in Sri Lanka is addressing urgent food security needs, protecting the livelihoods of vulnerable farmers and fishers in the most affected districts while promoting agriculture, including in urban settings.”

    Read the full report here.

  • Better Understanding Photosynthesis

    According to reports in multiple science publications, such as this one, “researchers from the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, together with collaborators from Uppsala University and Humboldt University and other institutions” have been able to shed more light on “how Photosystem II, a protein complex in plants, algae and cyanobacteria, harvests energy from sunlight and uses it to split water, producing the oxygen we breathe.” 

    As the report goes on to state:

    “Using SLAC’s Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) and the SPring-8 Angstrom Compact free electron LAser (SACLA) in Japan, they captured for the first time in atomic detail what happens in the final moments leading up to the release of breathable oxygen. The data reveal an intermediate reaction step that had not been observed before.

    The results, published today in Nature, shed light on how nature has optimized photosynthesis and are helping scientists develop artificial photosynthetic systems that mimic photosynthesis to harvest natural sunlight to convert carbon dioxide into hydrogen and carbon based-fuels.” 

    Read the full report here.

  • Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Starbucks in New York For Collecting Biometric Data and Sharing It with Amazon

    According to this press release put out by Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P) on May 4, 2023: 

    “Today, a Starbucks customer, the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (S.T.O.P), Peter Romer-Friedman Law PLLC, and Pollock Cohen LLP filed a proposed class action lawsuit claiming that Starbucks illegally failed to notify customers that Starbucks’ stores using Amazon’s “Just Walk Out” technology in New York City collect biometric data on customers. The class action also claims that Starbucks illegally shared those customers’ biometric data with Amazon. Two Starbucks stores in Manhattan use the “Just Walk Out” technology to track each customer’s movements and purchases in the store’s lounge and marketplace. They also take palm images of customers who enter those areas of the stores with a palm signature. The case was filed under New York City’s 2021 biometric notice law, which requires businesses to post signs warning customers whenever their biometric information is being collected or shared and prohibits sharing customers’ biometric information for anything of value.”

    In addition to the parties listed above, the class action suit was filed on behalf of “a proposed class of tens of thousands of Starbucks customers.” 

    Starbucks did try to take some steps belatedly, but apparently, they do not cover all legal grounds: 

    “On March 13, 2023, Starbucks allegedly took the additional step of posting signs that state that it only collects biometric data from customers who opt into the optional palm scanner program that Starbucks operates at two of its stores. However, as the lawsuit alleges, Starbucks collects and shares biometric data on all customers who enter the gated area of the store that includes the lounge and marketplace, even those customers who refuse to use the palm scanner, namely information on the shape and size of each customer’s body.” 

    Read the full press release here.