44 2GM Saturday October 17 2020 | the times
Wo r l d
Sarkozy accused of
conspiracy in election
France Nicolas Sarkozy has been
charged with criminal conspiracy
over allegations that he funded
his 2007 election campaign with
cash donated by Colonel Gaddafi
of Libya. It adds to the charges of
passive corruption, benefiting
from embezzled public funds and
illegal campaign financing for
which he was already facing trial.
Mr Sarkozy, 65, who was
president from 2007 to 2012, has
denied any wrongdoing and has
argued that there is no legal basis
in France for prosecuting
someone for misusing funds from
a foreign country. However, after
investigating the allegations for
seven years, prosecutors say they
have enough evidence.Turkey defies US by
testing Russian missile
Turkey The military appears to
have test-fired its Russian-made
S-400 air defence system off the
Black Sea coast. After Turkey
issued notices restricting airspace
in the area, a video was published
showing a missile in the sky near
the city of Sinop. The decision to
buy the system from Moscow has
angered Nato allies and the US
had threatened “consequences” if
the system was activated. (Reuters)Philippines lifts ban on
ocean oil exploration
Philippines The government has
ended a six-year moratorium on
oil and gas exploration in the
disputed South China Sea, raising
the prospect of more tension over
Chinese claims of sovereignty
there. The Philippines, which has
falling energy reserves, includes
Reed Bank in the contested sea,
where its energy companies have
complained of harassment by
Chinese vessels. (AFP)Nuclear plant to empty
tainted waste into sea
Japan More than a million tonnes
of treated radioactive water will
be released into the sea from the
Fukushima nuclear plant over the
next 30 years, despite opposition
from fishermen. It is running out
of space to store the water, which
cooled the station after it was hit
by a tsunami in 2011. It contains
tritium, which is harmful only in
very large doses. The release is
likely to start in 2022. (AFP)Runner carries student
to her Olympus dream
Greece Eleftheria Tosiou, 22, a
university student who has used a
wheelchair all her life, achieved
her long-held ambition of
reaching the 2,917-metre summit
of Mount Olympus carried on the
backs of three friends, working in
rotation. Marios Giannakou, 28,
an endurance runner who covered
the toughest stretches, said: “I
have never done something more
beautiful.” (Reuters)‘No cover-up’ pledge as
US arrests ex-minister
Mexico President López Obrador
promised to suspend anyone
inside his government implicated
in the investigation following the
arrest on drug charges in the US
of Salvador Cienfuegos, who was
Mexico’s defence minister under
the previous administration until- The president backed the
present heads of the army and
navy and said: “We won’t cover
up for anybody.” (Reuters)
Keeping a small farm going is a chal-
lenge when the hard autumn rain is
horizontal and shows no sign of easing
after days of downpours.
But Ismael Mewada, 38, looked
cheerful while huddling in a shed near
Rome as water dripped through the
cracked roof on to crates of freshly har-
vested garlic, onions and potatoes.
“What makes this so satisfying is that
I am finally working for myself,” said
the farmer from Benin who runs a
17-acre plot with seven other African
migrants and sells the produce in street
markets in Rome.
The team is part of a growing number
of migrants in Italy whose hard work
was highlighted this week by a study
showing that their taxes pump
€500 million a year more into govern-
ment coffers than the state pays to
support them with healthcare, educa-
tion and council housing.
For Mr Mewada and his colleagues,
starting the farm at Lake Martignano
finding work. But Sidiki Kone, 25, a
Malian member of the co-operative,
said that the farm was a start. “If we can
expand we can give work to more
people in difficulty,” he said.
The rise in the number of legal immi-
grants in Italy — from 3.65 million in
2010 to 5.26 million today — may have
fuelled the rise of right-wing populism,
but has also resulted in foreigners pay-
ing tax on €29 billion in earnings a year.
“Migrants should be seen as a money
machine,” said Shaza Saker, 45, a SyrianItaly reaps the reward as migrant
workers plough their own furrow
was not just a matter of getting a busi-
ness loan from the bank. First they had
to escape from slave-like conditions in
mafia-dominated fruit groves in Ros-
arno, southern Italy, where they toiled
a decade ago. “There was no contract,
just €25 for working dawn to dusk then
sleeping in abandoned houses,” he said.
When the migrants fled Rosarno
after rising up in revolt at the shooting
of a fruit picker in 2010, Mr Mewada
joined a group heading for Rome,
where one of them started a yoghurt
business.
“Word spread and by 2014 we needed
a bigger place to make the yoghurt so
we came here,” he said.
Setting up shop by a tiny volcanic
lake in the fields outside Rome, the
team were offered a revenue-sharing
deal to plant fields by a local farmer.
“We knew how to farm, so we jumped
at the chance and now we are paying
taxes and putting some value into the
economy,” Mr Mewada said.
For every group of Africans starting a
business in Italy, there are scores more
begging outside cafés with little hope ofwoman raised in Rome who hired new-
ly arrived refugees from Syria in 2017 to
start Hummustown, a successful home
delivery service for Syrian food that
thrived during Italy’s lockdown.
“I thought about setting up a charity
but then decided we should make
money, not beg for money,” she said.
“We have now employed three Italians,
and the Syrians in the kitchen are
learning Italian from them and feel
more rooted here. Plus it’s a way to help
Italians and give something back.”
The study into how much tax mi-
grants pay, by the Leone Moressa
Foundation, found that 23 per cent of
foreign workers live in the industrious
northern region of Lombardy.
In Brescia in Lombardy, 42 per cent
of the 18,000 building workers are
foreign-born, Ibrahima Niane, head of
the local construction chapter of the
union GIL said. “These people are
under 40 and paying for the pensions of
Italians with their taxes,” he said. “I
hope they have the right to a pension
here one day otherwise they are going
to feel they have been taken for a ride.”Italy
Tom Kington Rome
Ismael Mewada and Sidiki Kone run a
farm in the countryside outside RomeI
n Thailand it is
drunk from a
glass, with sweet
condensed milk, in
Taiwan it is iced
with beads of tapioca
and in Hong Kong it
comes hot with a
spoonful of sugar. Now
the cup of tea has
become the badge of
co-operation between
young democracy
activists and an emblem
of opposition to
authoritarian leaders
across the region (Richard
Lloyd Parry writes).
Having begun as a
Twitter hashtag, the “Milk
Tea Alliance” has brought
together activists in
Bangkok, Taipei and Hong
Kong, united by their
struggles against the
Chinese Communist Party
and a Thai government
dominated by former
generals. At rallies in
Bangkok this week
demonstrators brandished
the flags of Hong Kong and
of the campaign for an
independent Taiwan, along
with banners denouncing
King Maha Vajiralongkorn
and Prayuth Chan-ocha,
the prime minister. “Our
brave Thai friends now defy
the new law and flock to
streets to protest against
tyrannical rules,” the Hong
Kong activist Joshua Wong,
24, wrote on Twitter. “We
should not let them fight
alone... #MilkTeaAlliance
could create a ‘pan-Asia’
grassroots movement.”
There were further
demonstrations yesterday,
despite the declaration on
Thursday of a state of
emergency under whichgatherings of more than
five people are banned.
Parit “Penguin” Chiwarak,
22, a Thai protest leader,
said before his arrest on
Thursday: “The show of
solidarity between different
pro-democracy groups in
Asia reflects a greater
intensity and camaraderie.”
The Milk Tea Alliance
originated in April in a
trivial spat on Twitter,
when a Thai celebrity
couple were accused by
internet users in China of
supporting independence
for Hong Kong and Taiwan.
When young Thais came to
their defence they were
joined by Hongkongers and
Taiwanese. Milk tea is the
beverage that young
activists in all three
countries typically drink
while hunched over their
laptops and smart phones,
agitating and organising
online. Thai activists
returned the compliment by
marking China’s national
day with protests in front of
its embassy in Bangkok.
“We understand that
political systems are
integrated, like networks,”
a statement read aloud said.“In the spirit of the Milk
Tea Alliance, we show our
solidarity with the people of
Hong Kong, Taiwan, Tibet
and the Uighurs, who suffer
under Xi Jinping’s
oppression.”
What all this means inpractical terms is not clear.
The activists understand
that success or failure can
depend on support and
intervention by
democratically minded
foreign governments, and
that by making a collectiveappeal to the world’s
conscience they are more
likely to command global
attention. Time will tell if
they sustain their common
ground and whether, as the
hashtag says, MilkTea
IsThickerThanBlood.Milky tea is symbol
of protest across Asia
DIEGO AZUBEL/EPA; JORGE SILVA/REUTERSProtests demanding curbs
on the power of King Maha
Vajiralongkorn, top, were
met with water cannon