The Price of Stardom
NEED TO KNOW
The Price of Stardom
ALBANIA
“Impossibly blue skies, a wild and dramatic coast, and warm Mediterranean waters lapping at your feet – welcome to Albania,” gushed Condé Nast Traveler this month.
Come, experience the Maldives for £25 ($32) and get that “Bora Bora feeling” enticed British tabloid the Mirror in mid-August.
Isolated during the Cold War and its aftermath until the 1990s, Albania has long been an afterthought by tourists who crowd into nearby Croatia or Greece, partly because for years it was seen as a relic of Soviet-era dictatorship that descended into blood feuds and civil war in 1997.
Not anymore – it’s ripe for development, say Albanian officials, setting off a fight between conservationists and those pushing for economic development.
This tug-of-war centers on an area in southern Albania, specifically the isolated island of Sazan, once an Albanian military base during the Cold War. The son-in-law of former President Donald Trump, former White House official Jared Kushner and his Saudi-backed equity firm, Affinity Partners, are looking to invest $1 billion in new luxury resorts, starting with this region, Bloomberg reported. The firm is also focusing on the Zvërnec Peninsula, part of the Vjosë River delta ecosystem that is not only Europe’s last wild river but also its most intact and critical river delta, environmentalists say.
Kushner’s interest in Albania came from a visit in 2021, where he became “intrigued” by the region, he told Bloomberg. He added that the project of 10,000 hotel rooms and villas would respect the environment and be “very sustainable.”
Albania, one of the poorest countries in Europe, and one where many young people leave to find jobs abroad because of a lack of opportunities at home, says it needs more investment.
Some locals, like the southern coastal city of Vlorë’s mayor Ermal Dredha, want the development to move forward: “Without the investments, how we are going to attract all these people coming here, choosing Vlorë?” Other supporters say it would be great if the development would restore and revitalize the area.
But not everyone here is happy about this new development. “I know tourism brings growth,” said Kostaq Konomi, the head of the nearest village to the delta. “But if you are building something new, you are also destroying something.”
Opponents worry because this region is loved by locals for its quiet, pine forests, olive trees and walking trails hosting the endangered Albanian water frog and loggerhead turtles on its sand dunes, while flamingos and pelicans stop for breaks here on their migration routes, Reuters reported.
“We are constantly getting requests from visitors to visit these zones, but if this zone is turned into another urban area, there will be nothing special here but just another area turned into concrete,” said ornithologist Jon Vorpsi of Protection and Preservation of Natural Environment in Albania, the country’s first environmental organization, in an interview with the newswire.
Locals worry that Kushner’s “Trump villas,” as locals call the development, will also open itself to other projects in the unspoiled area and destroy its cultural heritage, too. Already a new international airport is under construction on the salt marshes nearby to accommodate what officials hope will be up to a million tourists arriving annually. It’s set to open next year in spite of environmental lawsuits against it.
The Vjosë River delta’s survival is largely due to environmental activists who have for years prevented the Albanian government from building large hydroelectric dams on the river. Last year, the Albania government created the Vjosë Wild River National Park and said it was off-limits for development, Yale E360, an environment publication, reported.
Now the government says the protection doesn’t cover the delta and changed the law this year to allow it to bypass environmental protection provisions in the area.
Regardless, Prime Edi Minister Rama blasted his environmental critics, saying they are “raving about the destruction of an imaginary national park that has never been a protected area.”
And, he added, get used to it: “Albania is the new rising star of tourism in the Mediterranean.”
THE WORLD, BRIEFLY
Bubbling Over
PAKISTAN
Separatist militants killed more than 70 people in a series of “coordinated” attacks in Pakistan’s restive province of Baluchistan, authorities said Monday, marking one of the most widespread assaults by ethnic insurgents in the country for years, Reuters reported.
The violence began over the weekend with militants of the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) targeting civilians and policemen across the resource-rich province.
In one of the deadliest incidents, the insurgents stopped vehicles on a major highway, identified passengers based on their ethnic background, in this case from the province of Punjab, and executed them. At least 35 vehicles were set on fire.
Separately, BLA fighters attacked police and security stations in multiple districts, including Kalat, where 10 people were killed.
The armed group also targeted crucial railway infrastructure, with blasts on a rail bridge linking Balochistan’s capital, Quetta, to the rest of Pakistan and neighboring Iran. Rail traffic was suspended following these attacks and six bodies were found near one of the attack sites.
Government and security officials condemned the attack, adding that 14 soldiers and police officers and 21 militants were killed fighting after the highway attack.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi described the assaults as a “well-thought-out plan to create anarchy in Pakistan.”
The BLA attacks specifically targeted ethnic Punjabis this time, who are the largest ethnic group in Pakistan and are perceived as dominating the military, Agence France-Presse wrote.
The group has intensified its attacks on Punjabis, whom they accuse of exploiting Baluchistan’s resources, including targeting and killing Punjabi laborers and barbers in prior attacks. But the group also targets foreigners such as the Chinese, working in the region. The aim is to hurt the province’s economic situation.
Baluchistan is Pakistan’s largest province by area, rich in natural resources like gas and minerals, and home to major China-led projects, such as the strategic deepwater port of Gwadar and gold and copper mining interests.
The BLA and other insurgent groups accuse the central government of exploiting these resources and have called for the province’s secession.
The region has seen an escalation in militant attacks since the Taliban returned to power in neighboring Afghanistan in 2021, with a significant increase in attacks on security forces and civilians.
Last year alone, there were at least 170 militant attacks in Baluchistan, resulting in 151 civilian and 114 security personnel deaths.
In Through the Out Door
GERMANY
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz vowed to tighten knife laws and step up deportations in the country, a few days after a deadly stabbing attack by an asylum seeker in western Germany reinvigorated the debate about migration and security, the Associated Press reported.
On Friday, a 26-year-old Syrian asylum seeker killed three people and injured eight others at a festival in the city of Solingen. The attacker turned himself in to the police a day after the incident.
German media said the suspect had his asylum application rejected and was to be deported, but that failed to occur because he disappeared for a time. Federal prosecutors believe the alleged perpetrator is a member of the Islamic State terror group.
The terrorist organization released a video Sunday that allegedly showed the suspect pledging allegiance to the extremist group.
On Monday, Scholz visited Solingen, saying he was “furious and angry” about the attack and describing it as “terrorism.” The chancellor pledged to strengthen knife laws, up the rate of deportations of rejected asylum seekers and reinforce border checks.
His statements come a few months after a knife attack by an Afghan immigrant in the city of Mannheim left one police officer dead and four others injured. At the time, Scholz announced that Germany would start deporting those identified as criminals from Afghanistan and Syria.
Analysts told Politico that the incidents had intensified the debate over migration and security in Germany.
Opposition parties have criticized the ruling coalition’s migration policy as insufficient and called for stricter measures. Friedrich Merz, the leader of the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU), called for a halt to asylum seekers from Syria and Afghanistan and an increase in deportations for those with rejected claims.
Since 2015, more than one million migrants and refugees have arrived in Germany from Syria, Afghanistan and elsewhere.
The concern over the issue among the governing coalition is rising ahead of upcoming state elections in eastern regions where the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is gaining traction. The anti-immigration party is expected to perform strongly and could benefit from public concern over migration-related violence.
Commentators warned that if mainstream parties fail to effectively address public safety concerns, the radical right would gain more support.
Black and Blue
ARGENTINA
Argentine authorities have accused former President Alberto Fernández of physically and psychologically abusing his former partner and former First Lady Fabiola Yáñez during his term in office, a case that has sparked outrage in the Latin American nation, the New York Times reported.
Last week, prosecutors said the former Peronist leader had done “grievous bodily harm” and made “coercive threats” against Yáñez. They alleged that he repeatedly slapped his partner and, in one instance, punched her in the face, leaving her a black eye.
Court documents also showed that Fernández allegedly kicked Yáñez in the stomach, despite suspecting she might be pregnant. Yáñez also claims Fernández controlled her movements and forced her to have an abortion in 2016, when abortion was illegal in Argentina.
The allegations came to light through photos found on the phone of Fernández’s former secretary, María Cantero, during an investigation into an unrelated embezzlement case.
These photos, showing Yáñez with a black eye and bruised arm, were leaked to the media, prompting her to file a judicial complaint against Fernández and give interviews detailing the abuse.
Cantero testified that Yáñez was a victim and confirmed the authenticity of a number of chat messages between her and the former first lady, according to the Buenos Aires Times. However, she maintained that she never directly witnessed physical violence.
The allegations prompted anger and condemnation across Argentina, including from both political allies and opponents of Fernández.
Fernández has denied all allegations, countering that he has “never hit a woman.” He acknowledged that he and Yáñez had arguments, but denied claims of violence.
The scandal has also increased public scrutiny against the former president, who remains deeply unpopular over his handling of the country’s economic crisis.
His successor, Javier Milei, has criticized Fernández for ineffective government spending on domestic violence initiatives.
DISCOVERIES
The Rock Gallery
Since 2017, archeologists have been studying the Cerro Azul Hill, a free-standing tabletop hill in Colombia’s part of the Amazon rainforest that includes extensive rock paintings depicting animals, humans – and hybrids of them.
Although the exact date of the work isn’t known yet, evidence around the area suggests the area served as a gallery as far back as 10,500 BCE.
Now, in a new paper, an international research team has cataloged more than 3,200 images created using red ochre pigments to portray a wide variety of creatures, including deer, birds, lizards and tapir.
The diversity of the depicted animals shows that the ancient people had a wide knowledge of the various habitats in the region, as well as possessed the skills to hunt animals and harvest plants.
Meanwhile, his relationship was extended beyond sustenance, explained co-author Mark Robinson.
Some images depict transformations between human and animal forms, which provide insights into the cosmological aspects of these Amazonians’ lives. The presence of hybrids underscores the complex mythology surrounding these creatures, which were not only a source of food but also revered as supernatural entities.
This idea of transformation is still present in modern Amazonian communities and reflects the deep-rooted spiritual and mythological significance of animals in their culture, the Independent wrote.
The team also noted the absence or minor presence of some animals.
For example, depictions of fish were limited to only a few panels, although fish remains were found abundantly in the archeological digs. Meanwhile, apex predators, such as jaguars, also did not appear which suggests that the artists were selective in what they chose to depict, possibly due to spiritual or cultural taboos.
“The context demonstrates the complexity of Amazonian relationships with animals, both as a food source but also as revered beings, which had supernatural connections and demanded complex negotiations from ritual specialists,” said Robinson.
The researchers believe that further research could provide some crucial insights into how the Amazon’s inhabitants adapted to such a challenging environment.
They also hope that the discovery can raise awareness about preserving these sites for future generations.
Archeological research in the Colombian Amazon had been hindered by the country’s decades-long conflict. The 2016 peace agreement between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) group opened the way for new scientific investigations.
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