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Varieties

300 Artists Sign Open Letter Opposing Israel Participation in Venice Film Festival

Of Dogs and Men (AE Content)
Of Dogs and Men (AE Content)
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300 Artists Sign Open Letter Opposing Israel Participation in Venice Film Festival

Of Dogs and Men (AE Content)
Of Dogs and Men (AE Content)

Around 300 filmmakers have signed an open letter opposing two Israeli films set to screen at the Venice Film Festival, held from 28 August to 7 September 2024.
Among the signatories are Italian filmmaker Enrico Parenti, actors Niccolò Senni, Simona Cavallari and Chiara Baschetti, in addition to a number of Arab filmmakers and actors — including two-time Oscar-nominated filmmaker Hany Abu-Assad and actor Saleh Bakri.
It seemed awkward to show two Israeli films at the Venice Film Festival while the war in the Gaza Strip was still in full swing, particularly that the festival administration had earlier opposed Russian participation because of the war in Ukraine.
The letter by filmmakers and artists is aimed at Dani Rosenberg’s Hebrew-language film Al Klavim Veanashim (Of Dogs and Men). The director is known for films that address the issue of the relationship between Palestinians and Israelis. His new film is set against the backdrop of the ongoing war in Gaza.
The second is Amos Gitai’s Why War. The latter stars French actors Irene Jacob, Mathieu Amalric and Micha Lescot. It is a fictional movie filmed against the backdrop of current events in Gaza. However, reports said that it does not address it directly.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the open letter is entitled No Artwashing at 81 Mostra Del Cinema di Venezia.
“We, the undersigned artists, filmmakers and cultural workers, reject complicity with the Israeli regime of apartheid and oppose the artwashing of its Gaza genocide against Palestinians at the 81st Film Festival in Venice,” the letter said.
It added, “Two films screening at the Festival—Of Dogs and Men and Why War—were created by Israeli production companies that are complicit in whitewashing Israel’s oppression against Palestinians.”
In another paragraph, the letter said the Venice Film Festival has remained silent about Israel’s atrocities against the Palestinian people.
“This silence outrages us deeply. As art and film workers around the world, we call for effective and ethical measures to hold apartheid Israel to account for its crimes and system of colonial oppression against Palestinians,” it wrote.
The festival has not issued any reaction or comment. But any response will likely include denying the festival’s support for what is happening in Gaza and its adhering to the separation between art and politics.
In recent years, the Venice festival had faced similar but less important protests when it decided to screen films by directors Roman Polanski, Luc Besson and Woody Allen, who have been accused of sexual harassment on multiple occasions.
At the time, Venice Film Festival boss Alberto Barbera defended his decision, stating that he is “a festival director, not a judge.”
But the protest by filmmakers opposing the screening of two Israeli films constitutes an uncommon development. Therefore, the festival must find justifications beyond those mentioned earlier.
Danny Rosenberg's Of Dogs and Men is about a young girl searching for her missing dog in the midst of the ongoing war.
Amos Gitai's Why War, a movie considered by some Arab critics to be a left-wing anti-government film, is said to be more of a backstory than a report on the present events although it builds on them.

 

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Varieties

Australia to Detain Tourists Who Overstay Visa, Minister Says

A ferry passes in front of apartments in Sydney, Australia, August 18, 2026. (Reuters)
A ferry passes in front of apartments in Sydney, Australia, August 18, 2026. (Reuters)
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Australia to Detain Tourists Who Overstay Visa, Minister Says

A ferry passes in front of apartments in Sydney, Australia, August 18, 2026. (Reuters)
A ferry passes in front of apartments in Sydney, Australia, August 18, 2026. (Reuters)

Australia will detain tourists who overstay visas to send a message of deterrence under new rules aimed at reducing levels of migration, a minister said on Friday.

Australia's ruling Labor party has denied it is tightening visa rules in response to the rise of the far-right One Nation, which has become one of the country's most popular parties this year with pledges to drastically slash migration.

Under reforms announced Thursday, Australia will stop family members accompanying students, introduce ballots for working holiday makers and crack down on overstayers.

Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs Matt Thistlethwaite said on Friday that tourists would be put in immigration detention to reduce the level of visa overstayers, which has risen to 77,000.

"Once the word gets around, 'hey, I overstayed on my tourist visa for a couple of weeks, I got picked up and I spent a couple of weeks in immigration detention, it's not a nice place, I'm going home'. Once that gets around, then we think that obviously that deterrence will ensure that people abide by the conditions," he told broadcaster News24.

People who don't have the right to remain in Australia will face a "consequence" and be removed, he added.

Since 2015, Australia's immigration detention centers have swelled with people with criminal convictions awaiting deportation after a policy change that saw mandatory cancellation of permanent visas for certain criminal offences.

Immigration Minister Tony Burke, announcing the new policy on Thursday, said the government would open 250 beds and add 100 compliance officers to house the visa overstayers in different facilities.

Australian Tourism Industry Council chief executive Erin McLeod said talk of detaining tourists was not good for Australia's image.

"I don't think it does our reputation as a welcoming destination any good and can become quite damaging -- tourism is an important part of the Australian economy," she told AFP.

The council represents thousands of small tourism businesses.

Refugee Council of Australia director of policy Rebecca Eckard said the move raised safety and legal concerns.

"It is being framed as punitive to change behavior. The use of punitive detention is not permitted under Australia's immigration act," she told AFP.

"There has been a major problem with immigration detention," she added, pointing to concerns raised by the government ombudsman over insufficient staffing and healthcare access.

Varieties

Baby Orangutans in India Expose 'Frightening' Scale of Trafficking

This handout photograph taken on September 8, 2026 and released by the Odisha Forest Department shows orangutans sitting next to bananas upon their rescue by officials at the Ranakatha Protected Reserved Forest in Balasore district, in India's Odisha state. (Photo by Handout / Odisha Forest Department / AFP)
This handout photograph taken on September 8, 2026 and released by the Odisha Forest Department shows orangutans sitting next to bananas upon their rescue by officials at the Ranakatha Protected Reserved Forest in Balasore district, in India's Odisha state. (Photo by Handout / Odisha Forest Department / AFP)
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Baby Orangutans in India Expose 'Frightening' Scale of Trafficking

This handout photograph taken on September 8, 2026 and released by the Odisha Forest Department shows orangutans sitting next to bananas upon their rescue by officials at the Ranakatha Protected Reserved Forest in Balasore district, in India's Odisha state. (Photo by Handout / Odisha Forest Department / AFP)
This handout photograph taken on September 8, 2026 and released by the Odisha Forest Department shows orangutans sitting next to bananas upon their rescue by officials at the Ranakatha Protected Reserved Forest in Balasore district, in India's Odisha state. (Photo by Handout / Odisha Forest Department / AFP)

Five baby orangutans abandoned in an Indian forest have exposed a "massive" exotic wildlife trade, with traffickers smuggling increasingly rare species into the country, experts say.

They warn of a growing multi-million-dollar trade in endangered animals, including apes smuggled through war-torn Myanmar to feed demand among wealthy Indians seeking exotic status symbols to flaunt on social media.

"There have been several instances of exotic wild animals being found or seized across the country, said Sumanth Bindumadhav of Humane World for Animals India. "The scale is massive."

Critically endangered orangutans are native only to Indonesia's Sumatra island and Borneo, which it shares with Malaysia and Brunei.

Yet the five tiny orangutans were found by rangers in Balasore, in India's eastern Odisha state.
Aged around one-and-a-half years old, they are being cared for at a zoo. Indonesia has requested their return.

Bindumadhav's group, in a June 2026 report, detailed what it called a "rising trade in exotic wildlife", demonstrated by a "steep increase in seizures" that reflected a "surge in illegal trade".

The report estimated India's exotic-pet market at $42.6 million in 2024.

Orangutans and gibbons, small apes, were being "increasingly trafficked into India" from Southeast Asia's rainforests, it added.

A senior official at India's Wildlife Crime Control Bureau said "thousands of social media influencers" were promoting exotic species as pets online, fueling demand among followers.

"It is a huge market," said the official, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. "Rich people keep them in their homes."

Under a government voluntary disclosure scheme, more than 40,000 people had registered exotic animals by February 2021, government data shows.

The figure is likely only a fraction of those in private hands, analysts say.

"This is a figure from only those who registered themselves, so the true volume of it is potentially much larger and remains unknown," said Bindumadhav.

"The true scale of it is actually quite frightening."

Former India head of global anti-wildlife-trade group TRAFFIC Shekhar Kumar Niraj said the surge in trafficking was also linked to a "rising number" of animals held in private hands.

"Private zoos have violated laws at a very alarming scale across the country," said Niraj.

"Primates are very popular in zoos because they are very intelligent, like to interact with humans, the kind of thing zoos want."

Indian federal authorities did not respond to AFP's requests for comment.
The World Wide Fund for Nature-India (WWF-India) documented 56 seizures involving about 4,000 exotic animals in 2022 alone.

In October 2025, Mumbai customs officers arrested a passenger carrying two endangered gibbons stuffed inside a checked bag.

Other seizures in Mumbai last year included lizards, tree-climbing possums and dozens of venomous vipers.

In 2024, forest officials recovered a trafficked orangutan from a flat in Maharashtra state.
But such seizures represent only a fraction of the trade, experts warn.

"The scale of it is much, much bigger than what we see actually based on the seizure data," said Jimmy Borah of the environmental advocacy group Aaranyak.

Experts have previously raised concerns over Vantara, a vast wildlife rescue and conservation center in Gujarat founded by Anant Ambani, son of billionaire Mukesh Ambani, over its intake of endangered species.

Vantara has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

In August, it said it was taking "bold steps to reset its operations", had withdrawn all applications to import live animals, and named former head of the global wildlife watchdog CITES, John Scanlon, to chair its governing council.

Exactly how the orangutans were brought to Odisha -- more than 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) by sea, and 7,000 kilometers by land (4,500 miles) -- is not clear. Police have launched a criminal investigation.

Experts say that in addition to airports and formal cargo routes, the land border between Myanmar and India's northeast is a key trafficking route.

"The northeast is important for seizures of live exotic animals, linked to cross-border movement from Southeast Asia," AFP quoted Dipankar Ghose of WWF-India as saying.

Authorities have seized other exotic primates in the region in recent years, smuggled on jungle routes across the frontier.

"We are talking about miles and miles of a very porous border," said Borah of Aaranyak.

Varieties

New Cat Species Identified in Bolivia, 1st in Over a Century

A Leopardus tilcayo cat, a newly identified species through research led by National Geographic Explorer Paola Nogales Ascarrunz, walks at the Senda Verde animal refuge in the Yungas region, Bolivia, September 1, 2026. Fernando Faciole/National Geographic/Handout via REUTERS
A Leopardus tilcayo cat, a newly identified species through research led by National Geographic Explorer Paola Nogales Ascarrunz, walks at the Senda Verde animal refuge in the Yungas region, Bolivia, September 1, 2026. Fernando Faciole/National Geographic/Handout via REUTERS
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New Cat Species Identified in Bolivia, 1st in Over a Century

A Leopardus tilcayo cat, a newly identified species through research led by National Geographic Explorer Paola Nogales Ascarrunz, walks at the Senda Verde animal refuge in the Yungas region, Bolivia, September 1, 2026. Fernando Faciole/National Geographic/Handout via REUTERS
A Leopardus tilcayo cat, a newly identified species through research led by National Geographic Explorer Paola Nogales Ascarrunz, walks at the Senda Verde animal refuge in the Yungas region, Bolivia, September 1, 2026. Fernando Faciole/National Geographic/Handout via REUTERS

A diminutive wild cat that inhabits Bolivia's cloud forest has been identified as a previously unknown species, marking the first time a new living cat species has been formally named and described in more than a century.

The cat, called Tilcayo by local communities, is part of a group called tiger cats found across much of South America.

It was found in Bolivia's lush Yungas forest, a mountainous region where forests are often covered by clouds and surrounded by high humidity, according to researchers. It measures about 18 inches (46 cm) long and weighs around 3 pounds (1.4 kg), making it smaller than the average domestic cat, Reuters reported.

Researchers used genetic data to confirm that the cat is a new species, and gave it the scientific name Leopardus tilcayo, retaining its local name.

"Its fur is light brown ... with irregularly shaped rosettes across its body," said Paola Nogales-Ascarrunz, a National Geographic Explorer and one of the authors of the study describing the newly identified species published on Thursday in the journal Current Biology.

Little is yet known about ⁠the cat's biology ⁠and lifestyle. Remains of small rodents in scat samples suggest they may form part of its diet, while camera-trap evidence indicates it could be more active at night, Nogales-Ascarrunz said.

Tiger cats are so-called cryptic species, meaning they cannot easily be distinguished merely by appearance, said evolutionary biologist and study co-lead author Jonas Lescroart of the University of Antwerp in Belgium.

Tiger cats previously had been considered a single species, but genetic studies decades ago suggested the existence of multiple species.

Referring to the new species, Lescroart said, "Our information at this moment is limited to the two live individuals that we examined, and a small number of camera-trap records."

One of the live cats is ⁠a 10-year-old male that now lives in Senda Verde Wildlife Sanctuary after being kept by a local family in their home.

Observing the Bolivian cat drew interest because "its characteristics did not match the descriptions, most of them based on Brazilian cats," Nogales-Ascarrunz said. "This made us wonder: what tiger cat do we actually have in Bolivia?"

The team analyzed DNA from 38 cats sampled across several South American countries, including eight museum specimens. The study found that tiger cats are in fact five genetically distinct species.

"We never expected this Bolivian tiger cat to be a separate species, and no one had ever proposed it as a different animal, subspecies or otherwise," Lescroart said.

Genetic analysis suggested that the Tilcayo lineage separated from other tiger cats about 1.4 million years ago.

"The more differences in their DNA, the longer the time that we estimate those lineages to have been physically separated," Lescroart said, adding that such a gap is generally considered a species-level divide in cats.

The research team also described ⁠a new tiger cat subspecies in ⁠Peru's Yungas, naming it Leopardus tigrinus antisuyo after Antisuyu, the region of the old Inca Empire that included the area it inhabits.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature, or IUCN, Red List tracking the status of species currently treats tiger cats as two "vulnerable" species with declining populations.

The researchers have shared their findings with the IUCN, whose upcoming review will assess the five lineages separately. That could give a more accurate picture of risk, Lescroart said, and species such as the Tilcayo could potentially be considered endangered when assessed on their own.

The need for a clearer assessment is particularly acute in the Yungas, one of the region's most threatened ecosystems.

The mountain forests face growing pressure from deforestation, agricultural expansion, human-caused fires and mining, Nogales-Ascarrunz said.

Restoring forest patches damaged by fires, protecting remaining native forest and maintaining connections between habitats are urgent priorities, Nogales-Ascarrunz added.

"Showing the general public that even in a flagship group such as cats ... there are still new species to be discovered may transmit an important message," said Eduardo Eizirik, an evolutionary biologist at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil and senior author of the study. "There are many undiscovered species out there in the world, and they are at risk of disappearing before we even discover them."