Madagascar’s president, Andry Rajoelina, who first came to power in a coup in 2009, has condemned protests calling for his resignation, saying that demonstrators were trying to trigger a coup and were funded by unspecified foreign governments and organisations.

Youth-led demonstrations on the Indian Ocean island started on 25 September, initially driven by outrage over water and power cuts, but have grown into demands for action against corruption and reform of the political system. At least 22 people have been killed by security forces, according to the UN, which officials denied.

In recent weeks, national and local politicians who oppose recognition of uncontacted Indigenous peoples’ rights have mounted a series of attacks:

• A proposed reserve known as Yavari-Mirim for uncontacted peoples in NE Peru which proceeded through various stages of approval for the last 20 years was blocked at the final stage. Key ministries — which should have been present — boycotted the final vote.
• A proposed law has been introduced to Congress that would allow for the “review” of all existing reserves for uncontacted peoples every 6 months. A new “review commission” could reduce or cancel any of Peru’s 8 such reserves. This would be a fatal blow to Peru’s whole system of protection for uncontacted peoples’ territories — which has existed for decades.
• Another proposed bill would open up all protected areas to oil and gas drilling. There are about 18 such areas in Peru where uncontacted Indigenous people live.
• One of Peru’s leading anti-Indigenous politicians, Congressman Juan Carlos Celis Mori, has denied the existence of uncontacted peoples in the northern Loreto province, even though their presence there has been comprehensively documented over decades.

The people of Zurich have had enough of the noise of leaf blowers. Voters have banned petrol-powered machines with a 61.7% majority.

There is also a new restriction for battery-powered models. They may only be used from October to December. Use in other months is only permitted in exceptional cases, for example for street cleaning after the Street Parade.

We all kind of knew this was happening but good to show how widespread this sort of manipulation is.

Surbaban ;)

Long-term exposure accelerates the development of Lewy body dementia and Parkinson’s disease with dementia in people who are predisposed to the conditions.