Met

Nathaniel was shy in our first encounter a few months ago, if not a little wary. He took a step back when I approached to say I liked the way his violin music turned the clatter around downtown L.A.’s Pershing Square into an urban symphony.

“Oh, thank you very much,” he said politely, apologizing for his appearance. He had gone through a couple of recent setbacks, Nathaniel said, but he intended to be whole again soon and playing at a higher level.

Next time I saw him, he had relocated to the mouth of the 2nd Street tunnel near Hill Street.

“Well, first of all, it’s beautiful here,” said Nathaniel, 54, who told me he had been diagnosed many years ago with schizophrenia. “And right there is the Los Angeles Times building. New York, Cleveland, Los Angeles. All I have to do is look up at that building and I know where I am.”

Classic stories from the Los Angeles Times’ 143-year archive

Nathaniel had an orange shopping cart that contained all of his belongings, including a huge plastic water gun, a single black boot and his violin case. We were practically in the shadow of the new Disney Concert Hall, and although Nathaniel said he wasn’t sure where it was, he had written the following on the side of his shopping cart:

“Little Walt Disney Concert Hall — Beethoven.”

Nathaniel plays classical music, some of it recognizable to me, some of it not. One day, I asked if he could play jazz, and he tucked the violin under his chin, closed his eyes in anticipation of the ecstasy that music brings him and began to play “Summertime.”

He doesn’t always hit every note, but it’s abundantly clear that Nathaniel has been a student of music for many years.

Ayers drags his belongings in a shopping cart he calls “Little Walt Disney Concert Hall” on the streets of Los Angeles’ skid row.

(Los Angeles Times)

“That was Ernest Bloch,” he casually told me after one piece, spelling out Ernest and then Bloch. “Opus 18, No. 1.”

I was more than a little impressed, especially when it occurred to me that Nathaniel’s grimy, smudged violin was missing two of the four strings.

“Yeah,” he said, frustration rising in his brown eyes. “This one’s gone, that one’s gone and this little guy’s almost out of commission. You see where it’s coming apart right here?”

Playing with two strings wasn’t that hard, he said, because he began his music education in the Cleveland public schools, where the instruments were often a challenge.

“If you got one with one or two strings,” he said, “you were happy to have it.”

I noticed an empty bag from Studio City Music in Nathaniel’s violin case and gave the store a call to ask if they had a homeless customer.

“Black man?” asked Hans Benning, a violin maker. “We do have a guy who plays with a badly beaten-up fiddle. He comes here every so often. He’s very kind, very gentle and very proper. He’s a delight.”

I told Benning his name is Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, and he seems to know a thing or two about music.

“Yes, he does,” Benning said. “He talks about the Beethoven sonatas and then slips back into another world.”

The reason he used to hang around Pershing Square, Nathaniel told me, was so he could study the Beethoven statue for inspiration.

“I’ve never seen anything in my life that great,” he said. “I’m flabbergasted by that statue because I can’t imagine how he’s there. I don’t know how God is operating.”

When I asked more about his training, Nathaniel told me he had gone to Ohio University and Ohio State University. He also said he’d played many times at the Aspen Music Festival, and he’d gone to Juilliard for two years in the early ‘70s.

Juilliard? I asked.

“I was there for a couple of years,” he said, as if it were nothing.

While waiting for a callback from Juilliard, I called Motter’s Music House in Lyndhurst, Ohio. Nathaniel told me he had bought many instruments there over the years, including the Glaesel violin he now owns.

“He’s an outstanding player,” said Ron Guzzo, a manager at Motter’s. He saw a lot of Nathaniel over a span of 20 years, because Nathaniel’s instruments were often stolen from him on the streets. He would work at a Wendy’s or shovel snow to save up for another.

“As I understand it, he was at Juilliard and got sick, so he came back home. He’d sit out in our parking lot on a nice day playing the cello, and we’d wonder where the heck that was coming from. It was Tony,” Guzzo said, using Nathaniel’s nickname.

Cello? Yes, it turns out Nathaniel started on the bass, switched to cello and has never had any training on the violin. He switched to the latter after ending up on the streets, because it fits more neatly into his shopping cart.

Everything he had told me about his life was checking out, so I figured Juilliard must be for real too.

Sure enough.

Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, who sleeps on the streets of the city, takes his meals at the Midnight Mission and plays a two-string violin, attended the acclaimed New York City music school on a scholarship.

Ayers looks at the calendar outside Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles.

(Los Angeles Times)

Nathaniel told me a bass player named Homer Mensch was one of his mentors at Juilliard. Mensch, 91, is still teaching, and he immediately recalled Nathaniel.

“He had the talent, that was for sure,” said Mensch, who remembered that Nathaniel had suddenly disappeared, never to return. I told him Nathaniel’s illness had begun while he was at Juilliard and he was now a homeless violinist in downtown L.A.

“Give him my very best,” said Mensch. “I would certainly like to hear from him.”

Nathaniel has memorized the phone numbers of the people who inspired him. To recall the numbers, he writes them in mid-air with his index finger. One day he gave me the home phone number of Harry Barnoff, a bass player and former teacher who recently retired after 46 years with the Cleveland Orchestra.

Barnoff was in tears at the memory of Nathaniel.

“Please,” Barnoff pleaded, “you have got to go tell him how much I think of him and that I still remember what a wonderful musician he was.”

Barnoff says Nathaniel was a bit of a slacker when he was in junior high and taking lessons at the Cleveland Music School Settlement. But with encouragement, Nathaniel set the highest possible goals for himself.

“During the riots, he was in the music building, practicing. He really worked at it and got to where he knew I had gone to Juilliard, and he wanted to go, too. … Next thing I knew, he got a scholarship.”

Nathaniel had the potential to play with any of the major orchestras in the United States, Barnoff said. He tried to help Nathaniel through his most difficult times, offering him work around his house and taking Nathaniel’s calls from mental hospitals and the streets.

Nathaniel was often in a state of distress, Barnoff says of his former student, until they began talking about music. And then everything was right with the world.

“He once sent me a card saying he would give his left hand for me,” Barnoff said.

I got hold of Nathaniel’s sister, Jennifer Ayers-Moore, at her home in Fayetteville, Ga. She was relieved to hear that her older brother is OK but disturbed to know he’s on the streets — again.

He was never the same after he got back from New York, Ayers-Moore said, and he has been in and out of hospitals and group homes for three decades. Time after time, he has tested the patience of the people who love him.

“It got to the point where he didn’t want to talk to anybody and didn’t want to be in reality. I couldn’t watch the movie ‘A Beautiful Mind,’ because every stitch of it reminded me of Nathaniel.”

As do so many schizophrenics, Ayers-Moore says, her brother would improve with medication but then refuse to take it and slip back into his tortured world.

“It was very difficult for my mother, because he would curse her out, call her names, threaten her. When we went to visit her in the nursing home on her birthday, she looked at me and said, ‘I miss Tony.’ He was her pride and joy, and she did everything she possibly could to help him.”

Nathaniel talks often of his mother, expressing his love in his own way.

“She was a beautician,” he said. “That’s beauty. And music is beauty, so I guess that’s why I started playing.”

Nathaniel came west after his mother’s death five years ago. He hooked up with his estranged father and other relatives but soon found the streets.

“It’s an absolute dream here, and I notice that everyone is smiling,” Nathaniel said at 2nd and Hill, where he sometimes steps into the tunnel to hear the echo of his violin. “The sun is out all day, and the nights are cool and serene.”

Nathaniel often takes a rock and scrawls names on the sidewalk.

“Oh, those,” he said. “A lot of those are the names of my classmates at Juilliard.”

One day I asked about his hopes and dreams.

“Oh, that’s easy,” he said. “I need to get these other two strings, but I don’t have the money right now.”

He had no use for a house, he said, or a car or anything else.

“All I want is to play music, and the crisis I’m having is right here,” Nathaniel said, pointing to the missing strings and calling out the names of Itzhak Perlman and Jascha Heifetz, as if the renowned violinists might hear his plea and send along the strings.

Nathaniel refused to accept money from me or freebies from Studio City Music. I suggested he go back to Pershing Square, where passersby often dropped money in his violin case, but it didn’t seem logical to him.

When I brought him a new set of strings from Studio City Music, I had to insist that he not pay me for them. He had trouble attaching the strings because his violin is in such bad shape. But by the next day, he had jury-rigged them and was happy to give me a show at his Little Walt Disney Concert Hall.

I had invited two staffers from Lamp Community, a service agency for homeless, mentally ill men and women. Maybe they could get his trust, I figured, and determine whether they could help him at some point.

But as Nathaniel began to play, I doubted there was anyone or anything that could deliver the same peace that music brings him. He was in his sanctuary, eyes half-mast in tribute to the masters.

As cars roared by and trash flew off a dump truck, Nathaniel was oblivious. He played a Mendelssohn concerto, a Beethoven concerto and the Brahms double concerto for violin and cello, his bow gliding effortlessly as it sliced through the madness.

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The columnist can be reached at [email protected]

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested two women on Tuesday outside a West L.A. courthouse after a hearing in a local criminal case, marking the first instance in recent weeks of the Trump administration using a tactic that has drawn condemnation from the legal community.

Adriana Bernal, 37, was detained by ICE agents after appearing in the Airport Courthouse on La Cienega Boulevard late Tuesday morning, according to Jennifer Cheng, public information officer for the L.A. County Alternate Public Defender’s Office.

Video from the scene shows law enforcement agents, most in all black clothing, leading a woman toward a black truck outside the courthouse with tinted windows as one onlooker screams, “Oh my god, oh my god,” repeatedly. The agents had previously been waiting in the 3rd floor courtroom where Bernal and two other defendants were scheduled to appear, according to Cheng.

“Our client walked out of the courtroom and was followed by these individuals. Once our client was outside the building, these individuals (who were not in any uniform), handcuffed her, put her into dark a colored SUV and drove away,” Cheng said in an e-mail to The Times. “We were absolutely blindsided by what happened. These purported ICE agents detained our client without notice or explanation. We received no advance communication, no opportunity to advise our client, and no information.”

Advocates, defense attorneys and even some prosecutors have long sounded the alarm about the problems that could arise from ICE using state criminal courts as staging grounds for federal immigration enforcement. When ICE engaged in similar behavior across California, Oregon, New Mexico and Colorado in 2017, during Trump’s first term in office, prosecutors in some states reported having to drop cases because undocumented immigrants would no longer serve as witnesses.

An ICE spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

L.A. County’s Presiding Judge Sergio C. Tapia II said the courts did not receive advance notice of the arrest operation and confirmed ICE had not taken enforcement actions inside county courthouses yet this year.

“Federal immigration enforcement activities inside courthouses disrupt court operations, breach public trust, and compromise the Court’s constitutional role as a neutral venue for the peaceful resolution of disputes,” Tapia said in a statement. “These actions create a chilling effect, silencing victims, deterring witnesses, discouraging community members from seeking protection and deterring parties from being held accountable for their crimes or participating in legal proceedings critical to the rule of law.”

Bernal was slated to appear for an early disposition hearing in a case where she and two other defendants were charged with organized retail theft, grand theft and possession of burglary tools, according to court records.

One of Bernal’s co-defendants in the case was also detained by ICE agents, according to two sources with knowledge of the case, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Cheng said the alternate public defender’s office is “looking into whether local law enforcement or members of the District Attorney’s Office played a role in what happened,” though she admitted to having no evidence to support the idea that prosecutors tipped off ICE.

L.A. County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman said his office had no advance notice of ICE’s actions and would not notify federal officials about the immigration status of anyone they are prosecuting.

“As a general proposition, I don’t want anyone deported until I’ve got them sentenced. And if they’re sentence is jail or state prison I want them to serve their sentence,” he said in an interview. “That is the punishment they receive for committing crimes in my county. It doesn’t help that objective to get them through the criminal justice system, get them punished in our system, by having them deported before they’re done with what’s going on here.”

Hochman described the defendants in the case as part of broader organized retail theft “organization” with members from South America.

While ICE once directed its agents to avoid making arrests in so-called “sensitive locations” including schools, places of worship and hospitals, Trump shifted that policy shortly after he took office, rescinding the 2011 Obama-era memo that restricted such actions.

ICE officials have previously claimed courthouse arrests were necessary to keep agents safe from dangerous criminals — since those entering state courts must pass through metal detectors and are presumably unarmed.

But a recent Times study of statistics collected by the Deportation Data Project shows that 69% of the approximately 722 people arrested during the first week of the Trump Administration’s California immigration raids had no criminal record.

The California Supreme Court previously rebuked the federal government during Trump’s last presidency for “stalking courthouses” and using the justice system as “bait,” effectively punishing undocumented people for showing up to court.

In recent months, the Trump administration has been routinely arresting people at regular immigration hearings and federal court appearances.

Cheng said Tuesday’s actions by ICE were a dangerous escalation by the agency in Los Angeles.

“We have seen throughout our community how ICE agents often detain and seize people simply because they fit a particular profile, without any regard to the person’s immigration status, or the status of any immigration process that a person is currently going through,” she wrote. “When there is widespread fear that ICE is going to snatch you if you go to court – whether you are charged with a crime, a victim of crime, or a witness to crime, people will stop going to court.”

Times Staff Writer Andrea Castillo contributed to this report.

June 23 (UPI) — Britain’s Met police banned a pro-Palestinian protest in front of the Houses of Parliament in central London scheduled to take place on Monday to “prevent serious public order,” property damage and disruption to elected representatives.

Met Commissioner Mark Rowley said in a statement Sunday that while he could not stop the demonstration going ahead, he was using powers under public order legislation to impose an exclusion zone preventing protestors from assembling in a roughly 0.5 square mile area around the Palace of Westminster and restrict the duration to between noon and 3 p.m. local time.

The We Are All Palestine protest was being organized by Palestine Action but backed by around 35 other groups, including the Stop the War Coalition, Cage and Muslim Engagement and Development.

Calling Palestine Action “an extremist criminal group” with members awaiting trial on serious charges, Rowley said he was frustrated that he lacked legal authority to ban the protest outright.

“The right to protest is essential and we will always defend it, but actions in support of such a group go beyond what most would see as legitimate protest,” he said.

Rowley added that criminal charges faced by Palestine Action members, including allegedly attacking a police officer with a sledgehammer and causing millions of dollars of damage, represented extremism of a type that the vast majority of the public found abhorrent.

Palestinian Action responded by moving the protest, telling supporters in a post on X early Monday that it would now go ahead in Trafalgar Square, which is just outside the northern edge of the exclusion zone.

“The Metropolitan police are trying to deter support from Palestine Action by banning the protest from taking place at the Houses of Parliament. Don’t let them win! Make sure everyone is aware of the location change to Trafalgar Square, London. Mobilize from 12 p.m.”

The move came as Home Secretary Yvette Cooper updated lawmakers on plans to proscribe Palestinian Action as a terrorist organization after members of the group claimed responsibility for damaging military aircraft Friday after breaking into an RAF base northwest of London.

They also allegedly damaged the offices of an insurance company, which the group claimed provided services to Elbit Systems, an Israel-based military technology company and defense contractor.

Activist Saeed Taji Farouky called the move to proscribe the group a ludicrous move that “rips apart the very basic concepts of British democracy and the rule of law.”

“It’s something everyone should be terrified about,” he told the BBC.

Cooper said in a written statement to the House that she expected to bring a draft order amending the country’s anti-terror legislation before Parliament next week. Proscribing Palestine Action would make membership or promotion of the group punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

Palestinian Action, escalated from targeting arms producers to vandalizing the two Airbus refuelling tanker aircraft because Britain was, it claimed, deploying aircraft to its Akrotiri airbase on Cyprus from where it can “collect intelligence, refuel fighter jets and transport weapons to commit genocide in Gaza.”

The attack at RAF Brize Norton, the British military’s main hub for strategic air transport and refuelling, including flights to RAF Akrotiri, came the same day a British man appeared in a closed court in Cyprus on charges of planning an “imminent terrorist attack” on the island and espionage.

The suspect was arrested by Greek anti-terror officers on a tip-off from a foreign intelligence service claiming he’d had the RAF Akrotiri base under surveillance since April and had links with the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

He faces charges of terrorism, espionage, conspiracy to commit a felony and other related offences.

RAF Akrotiri is the U.K. military’s largest base for the Middle East region and a key waypoint en route to its giant Diego Garcia base in the Chagos Islands, 3,800 miles to the southeast in the middle of the Indian Ocean.

THE MET Office has issued a fresh warning for thunderstorms this weekend, with up to 50mm of rain expected to fall in just a few hours.

The alert signals the arrival of severe weather, bringing the risk of flooding, hail, and lightning strikes across the UK.

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Brits are urged to be prepared as intense storms are set to hit several regions, sparking concerns of widespread disruption.

The weather warnings will affect several areas, including London, the South East, and the East of England, until 5am Sunday morning.

There is also a follow-up amber warning that continues until 5am on Monday.

The Met Office has highlighted the risk of “fast flowing or deep floodwater” that could endanger lives, with some communities potentially becoming cut off due to flooding.

During the thunderstorms, some parts of the UK could receive up to 50mm of rain in just a few hours.

This will bring major disruption, including road closures, train cancellations, and power outages.

The Met Office also warned of the potential for strong winds, reaching up to 50mph, which could exacerbate the impact of the storms.

Met Office meteorologist Alex Deakin commented that the day would start off “hot and humid,” with some areas of the country potentially seeing temperatures climb as high as 30°C.

However, conditions will soon change, with thunderstorms beginning around 2pm in Wales and the South West, spreading to other areas later in the day.

Parts of southern England, including London, could see temperatures remain as high as 28°C on Friday evening, though the heat will quickly give way to more unsettled weather.

With 30–50mm of rain expected in some areas before the storms ease early on Saturday, residents across Greater London, Plymouth, Bath, Brighton, Norwich, and parts of the South East are advised to remain alert.

Cardiff and other southern regions could experience the heaviest downpours, with some areas possibly receiving up to 80mm of rain.

This level of rainfall is likely to cause significant surface water flooding, making driving conditions dangerous and leading to the risk of accidents.

The situation has already caused significant flooding in parts of the South West, particularly in Plymouth, where local residents battled knee-deep water.

The storms have already resulted in closures, with some roads, such as Gdynia Way and Kings Street, shut down due to flooding.

The Theatre Royal in Plymouth has also closed its doors as a result of flood damage.

James Mackenzie-Blackman, Chief Executive and Artistic Director of TRP, stated: “The torrential rain has required us to close the Theatre Royal today as we continue to deal with a significant flood into our basement.

Our priority is the safety of our staff, our artists, visitors and participants.”

In addition to the potential flooding, strong winds of up to 50mph are expected to cause problems along coasts and hills, further complicating the situation for drivers and emergency services.

Local authorities have advised caution when travelling, particularly in affected areas, as there may be delays and possible cancellations to train and bus services.

The disruption could continue into the weekend, particularly in areas where floodwater lingers.

The Met Office has issued a warning about the increased risk of power cuts, especially in areas where storms bring lightning strikes.

Residents are urged to be prepared for the possibility of service interruptions, with some homes and businesses potentially losing power due to the extreme weather.

This follows Friday’s amber weather warning for thunderstorms, hail, and lightning strikes.

The public is encouraged to monitor the weather closely and take precautions to protect themselves and their property.

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AS Andrew Drury made his way through a Syrian camp looking for notorious ISIS bride Shamima Begum, his mind began to race.

Although the intrepid filmmaker had been in far more perilous situations – his nerves started to get the better of him.

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But when he was introduced to Begum – who left the UK aged 15 to join ISIS a decade ago in 2015 – he was taken aback.

“She was very shaky, very nervous, very shut, emotional, tearful,” Andrew told The Sun.

Father-of-four Andrew met Begum, who grew up in East London, for the first of six times at the Al-Roj camp in Syria in June 2021 while filming for a documentary, Danger Zone.

He initially felt sorry for Begum, then 21, and became a close confidant of the Jihadi bride – even securing a Bafta-nominated live interview with her for Good Morning Britain.

In less than two years his view of Begum – accused of serving in the feared IS “morality police” and helping make suicide vests – completely changed, however.

He saw a colder side when she talked about how the death of her three children no longer upset her and even expressed support of Manchester Arena bomber Salman Abedi.

Extreme adventurer Andrew, who has made treacherous journeys to North Korea and Iraq, said at first Begum was a “thin, ill-looking, sad character” who was “very apologetic”.

“We took a long walk around the camp, She started to relax, and she said she used to take this regular walk right around the perimeter of the camp to clear her head,” he said.

“After the interview finished, we walked back to the room. Normally she’d go off to a tent, but she wanted to come back to the room to get a cold drink.

“Then I didn’t want to insult her at that point, I wanted to say goodbye – I thought I’d never see her again.

“I said, ‘Can I shake your hand?’ and she asked for a hug.

“So she gave me a hug and started to cry.”

Andrew, from Surrey, said he felt they had formed a connection and believed she regretted turning her back on Western society to join the murderous death cult.

“At that point I kind of believed that she was sincere,” he said.

I actually don’t think the death of her children actually bothered her in the slightest. She was not at all affected by it

Andrew Drury

“I kind of felt sorry for her. I thought at that point she’d been radicalised online, sent out as a prescribed bridge to somebody.

“She said she’d made a real bad mistake and really regretted what she’d done.

“She owned up to being this person that everybody hates in the UK.

“And I felt sorry for her, I’ve got young daughters, not a lot of difference in age, so I thought people do make mistakes, and I should give her a chance.”

Andrew – whose book Trip Hazard details his experience in dangerous areas – returned to the camp months later after GMB asked for his help to get an interview with Begum.

The author, who has exchanged hundreds of messages with Begum, said he noticed a “subtle change” in the former Brit.

Begum, who was stripped of her British citizenship in 2019, appeared to have undergone a more “Western” makeover – ditching her hijab and abaya.

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“She had changed as a character,” Andrew said.

“She was more short. She wasn’t this nervous-cry sort of character.

“She looked assured, and she didn’t seem such a waif character, and she seemed to be in control of herself and her emotions.”

Andrew told how Begum spent the night before the live interview “rehearsing” with three of her friends In the camp, which is controlled by armed guards.

He added: “Her friends said they’d had their music playing and they were tutoring Shamima what to say.

“They seemed pretty together about what she should say, and they were schooling her.”

Begum married an IS fighter soon after arriving in Syria and went on to have three children, none of whom survived.

Andrew – who said he had formed a “bond” with Begum – told how after the interview, Shamima opened her purse and showed him photos of her children.

The tragic loss of his own brother Robert as a child made him sympathise with Shamima’s plight.

“One of them was a scene where the child must have been eight, nine months old, had chocolate around his face,” he recalled.

“I said, ‘What’s that?’ and she said, ‘Oh we used to like baking cakes’.

“And it actually makes me quite sad. It was really quite sad knowing the child had died.

“She made it sound like an honour that she had shared these pictures with me, which I guess it probably was, because she hadn’t shared them before she said.”

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But it was Begum’s attitude after Andrew returned to the UK that shocked him – and began to shatter their relationship.

“I said to her, ‘Those pictures you showed me really upset me, I hope you’re okay’,” he said.

“She messaged back and said, ‘Oh, they don’t bother me anymore. That doesn’t make me sad’.

“I thought, was that because she’s been traumatised so badly?

“But I think she is that hard. I think she’s calculated.

“I actually don’t think the death of her children actually bothered her in the slightest. She was not at all affected by it.”

After meeting Andrew a couple of times, Begum started asking him to bring stuff into the camp for her – including clothes.

The dad said he felt “at a crossroads” about whether to take what she wanted.

“I felt bad and guilty that I’d be taking somebody that carried out what could have been some atrocities, clothes,” he said.

“But then, probably on the soft side of me, and the fact is, she was a young girl, so I was playing with these emotions, but I took her the clothes from Primark.

“We had a bundle of stuff, we took some toys for the children because it’s not their fault.”

But then Begum’s requests started turning into demands, Andrew said.

“The messages continued,” he added.

Camps breeding next ISIS generation

Exclusive by Henry Holloway, Deputy Foreign Editor and Alan Duncan

A CHILD no older than eight draws his hand across his neck in a chilling throat-slitting gesture – the message is clear, “You are not welcome here”.

Other kids hurl stones, shout and scream – while one exasperated camp official shows us CCTV of two youngsters hurling a firebomb.

Welcome to camps al-Hol and al-Roj in northern Syria – the fates of which remain uncertain after the fall of tyrant Bashar al-Assad.

It is warned these stark detention centres are now the breeding ground for the next generation of the bloodthirsty cult.

And much of this new wave of radicalisation is feared to be coming from the mothers inside the camps.

Senior camp official Rashid Omer said: “The reality is – they are not changing. This is not a normal camp – this a bomb.”

He went on: “They are saying it was ISIS who ‘liberated’ Damascus – and soon they will be coming here.”

“And then they want to spread to Europe, to Africa, and then to everywhere.”

The two sprawling sites hold a total of nearly 60,000 including ISIS fighters, families and children.

At least 6,000 Westerners are still held among them – including infamous jihadi bride Shamima Begum, the 25-year-old from London.

READ MORE HERE

“This time they became slightly more angry, slightly more direct.”

Before he planned to return to Syria again, Begum told him she wanted two books – Guantanamo Bay Diaries and Sea Prayer – which is inspired by the Syrian refugee crisis.

Andrew said she was also being schooled by her lawyer about her media presence.

He added: “What she declared by then is that she was hostage in a prison camp – where they were legally held.

“That’s how she started to see herself. All apologies had gone.

“She’d done a documentary with the BBC and was on the front of The Times magazine.

“She’d become a celebrity and was loving all the attention. She’d read all the newspaper articles.”

Andrew – who returned to the camp with a friend and no crew – took some clothes for Begum with him.

I could see things in her I didn’t like. I didn’t trust her. Her behaviour was poor. She was angry and aggressive

Andrew Drury

But it was his decision not to take the books she had demanded that revealed her true colours.

“I did go back again, but my feelings were already changing towards her,” Andrew said.

“It was a little boy’s birthday, and I felt so sorry for him.

“He wanted a Superman outfit, so I would have gone just for that, because I spend a lot of time in refugee camps. It’s not fair for these kids.

“I didn’t take the books Shamima wanted because I didn’t want to. I didn’t want her to have that opportunity to what I saw as studying how to be a victim.

“She opened the clothes, said she didn’t like them. I mean, this is a girl in a prison camp.

“She said, ‘I didn’t really care about the clothes, it was the books I wanted’. So she became quite aggressive in her nature.”

Who is Shamima Begum?

ISIS bride Shamima Begum, who was born in Britain, was stripped of her British citizenship on February 20, 2019.

Begum’s attitude then worsened when Andrew became interested in another girl’s story.

It was one of the final nails in the coffin in the bond Andrew believed they had initially formed.

“Shamima had a tantrum that the attention had been taken away from her,” he said.

“She was like a child that was pretending they were ill.

“So during this period of time I was beginning to feel like the connection was gone.

“It was broken, and I was beginning not to like her.

“I could see things in her I didn’t like. I didn’t trust her. Her behaviour was poor. She was angry and aggressive.

“I had found out from other girls what she was accused of, and they told me the same thing that I had heard before, like sewing suicide vests

“Things were ringing in my head like she said early on that the Manchester bombing was legitimate because of what happened in Iraq and Syria.

“So I didn’t trust her.”

Andrew’s last contact with Begum was around two years ago in a fiery text exchange.

She accused Andrew of “selling her out”, to which he shot back: “You’ve sold your country out.”

Begum last year lost her final appeal challenging the removal of her British citizenship.

She can now no longer fight to overturn the revocation of her citizenship within the UK legal system.

Andrew said: “I think she’s a danger for what she stood for, and I don’t think she could ever come back.

“I think she needs to go on trial in Syria for the crimes she committed against the Syrian people.”

A yellow warning for thunderstorms has been issued by the Met Office for large parts of England and Wales.

The warning, which covers the majority of southern England, parts of the Midlands and most of south Wales, comes into effect from 09:00 BST on Saturday and lasts until 18:00.

Around 10-15mm of rain could fall in less than an hour while some places could see 30-40mm of rain over several hours from successive showers and storms, the Met Office says.

The UK’s weather agency also warned that frequent lightning, hail and strong, gusty winds would be additional hazards.

After a record-breaking spring, the weather has been distinctly unsettled since the start of June with wetter, windier and cooler temperatures than what is typical for the start of meteorological summer.

On average, England experienced just 32.8mm of rain last month in what was its driest spring in more than 100 years.

Now, it appears, there could be more rainfall on Saturday than there was in the whole of May in some places.

It can be hard to predict where thunderstorms will turn up because they are small-scale weather features.

Not everywhere will get a torrential downpour or a thunderstorm – most parts will see a shower but some may stay dry and avoid the rain completely.

The weather agency has warned that in places that do experience heavy showers there is the potential for disruption to transport, with driving conditions affected by spray and standing water, leading to longer journey times. Train services could also be delayed.

It also said that some short-term loss of power and other services was likely, and potential lightning strikes could cause damage to buildings.

While the storms are expected to occur for much of the day, they will ease off in the west from mid-afternoon.

A yellow weather warning is the lowest level of warning issued by the Met Office. Warnings are issued on the probability of severe weather occurring as well as the impact it could have.

There will be showers in other parts of the UK on Saturday, but not as heavy as in the south.

Michael Zervos embarked on a trip around the world, visiting 195 countries in 499 days and asking hundreds of people exactly the same question – what was the happiest day of your life?

What is the happiest day of your life?

That’s the question Michael Zervos asked hundreds of people during his record-breaking, mammoth trip around the world.

Last week, the Greek-American globetrotter returned to Detroit, his goal of reaching all 195 countries in the shortest time ever completed. He stopped the clock at 499 days.

The former movie maker was not just motivated by the glory of becoming the speediest nation-visiting completist but also by a desire to understand what makes people tick in different parts of the world.

Some similar themes quickly emerged.

“There were a lot more similar answers than different ones. Many of them fall into particular themes, of connection, of relief or release from pain or agony. Many were mixes of sadness and happiness, like a knot. Sometimes, it was people coming through a period of sadness after a great event,” Michael told the Mirror.

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“Specifically, about 10% of people who responded would say motherhood, fatherhood, or marriage.”

Amid all the expected answers were some more unusual gems, highly specific to the person and place.

“In Russia, I interviewed six people. One was a 65-year-old woman who was at an art museum with her children. Her happiest moment was seeing her grandkids’ artwork being exhibited alongside her own. Another time, a guy told me that his happiest day was at college when he met his idol, a rockstar of the Moscow mathematics scene. He met him and was given some words of wisdom,” the traveler explained.

Michael embarked on his project in the hopes of connecting with people across the world, in a way that would let him scratch a little beneath the surface. If, he had realised, the question was ‘what makes you happy?’ he’d be inundated with short, repetitive answers. ‘Family’. ‘Friends’ ‘Money’.

However, ask people what the happiest day of their life was, and the answer is likely much more personal and considered.

During our conversation, Michael suggested a quick-fire quiz. I’d name a country, he’d give me a ‘happiest day’ anecdote. We start with Samoa.

“There was a fella named Christopher. A big, friendly, jovial guy. He was so proud of their heritage. Christopher’s happiest moment was the time he got his entire heritage tattooed on himself. It is an extremely important decision for Samoans. You are taking upon the past traditions, heritage and the stories of your people on your body. It is very painful and traditionally takes place over long, long periods of time. You can’t take any pain killers. You can’t drink at all. It’s 10 hour sessions, day after day. His happiest moment was when he completed it,” Michael recalled.

Next up, Sierra Leone – a country that typically finds itself at the bottom of global development indexes.

“I got more interviews in Sierra Leone than in any other country. People lined up to be interviewed by me. There was a guy on the street talking about being a child soldier. This guy told me his happiest moment was running away, escaping (from the army).”

The third country causes more pause for thought, and links to another reason Michael landed on his question. It is Finland, recently ranked as the happiest country in the world by the World Happiness Report for the eighth year in a row.

“It was immensely difficult to get interviews out of Finns. Did I find them to be more happy? No, no I didn’t.”

The more people Michael spoke to, the more he questioned the metrics used to measure happiness in the Report. He found them “somewhat Westernised” and unable to get to the core of what people want and what they’re about.

While he admits his work is limited by being so anecdotal and interpretive, Michael felt he got to the heart of some countries and what brings joy to the people there.

“The Pacific Islands seemed the happiest region to me. There is a high level of community and support. It is a high trust society with tight cultural norms. They’re in the here and now. We’re here today and tomorrow and the rest is a dream. That is how people think of their realities there. They build together.”

Other places remained a mystery.

“It was hard in some countries, especially Japan. There were things that seriously disappointed me and some that surprised me. I was walking through Tokyo, which I had imagined as the city of the future, a cyberpunk world. When I visited, it was hard for me to separate the metal from the living, undulating mass of people and concrete. The humanity and dignity of people somehow faded. It can be very isolating, immensely lonely, and amazing at the same time. The overstimulation in Japan. It can be extremely difficult to penetrate and interpret.”

Now Michael is back home he is working through his interviews, which are uploaded to his Instagram account. Soon, he will turn his investigation and travels into a book for Penguin Random House.

Whether he gets to the bottom of what makes people happy, or the ingredients for a happy life, once all of his notes have been read through and interviews rewatched, remains to be seen.

HOLLYOAKS star Caroline Koziol has tied the knot in a stunning countryside wedding.

The actress, well known for playing Katja on the Channel 4 soap, wed businessman Phil Thornett in front of family and friends.

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Rory Douglas Speed – who played Joel Dexter on the show – was amongst those there to watch her happy moment.

Caroline is thought to have met Phil on a plane and fell head over heels – choosing to keep their romance out of the limelight.

The actress’ first prominent role was in 2019, when she appeared as Mariana in Line of Duty.

Caroline then played a Polish immigrant smuggled into England on Hollyoaks for a number of months in 2021.

She became close to Rory during her time in the village and describes him as her ‘brother from another mother’.

Since then she has appeared in over 20 Bollywood films and she has become a TikTok sensation – with millions of views per video.

On Hollyoaks Caroline was the unsuspecting van driver of the laptops that Brad King, Warren Fox and Felix Westwood were planning to steal. 

She was directed into a garage as part of their ploy – where she was tied up, leaving her terrified. 

In a scuffle Katja managed to escape and jumped in the van – but managed to reverse it into Maxine – knocking her unconscious.

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Hollyoaks – cast member cull

HOLLYOAKS beauty Chelsee Healey has dropped the biggest hint yet she’s been axed from the soap – yet what’s happening at the Channel 4 show?

Earlier this year, the Channel 4 soap was forced to address the cull of cast members.

It came after The Sun was first to report Hollyoaks bosses plan to kill off a whopping 20 cast members.

Now Chelsee, who recently took time away from her role as Goldie McQueen to give birth to her second daughter, has now made a cryptic move on X.

The Manchester lass, 36, re-posted a picture of her character crying to her page.

It came after Stephanie Waring, famed for her 28-year-long role as Cindy Cunningham, confirmed that soap bosses had axed her as part of the 20-person strong cast cull.

Another big name set to quit for good is popstar turned soap star Jamelia.

The soap’s resident hunk and TV favourite Owen Warner has also left the show amid the cuts with fans left devastated to say goodbye to his character Romeo Nightingale.

Jamie Lomas has also quit the show and will depart his Warren Fox role soon.

Haiesha Mistry famed for her role as Yasmine Maalik has also left after seven years.

FIVE protesters have been arrested after they allegedly targeted the filming of Gal Gadot’s new movie.

The demonstrators disrupted production at several locations across London in recent weeks, the Metropolitan Police said.

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The force said the protestors targeted sets “solely because an actress involved in the production is Israeli”.

Gadot, 40, who served in the Israel Defense Forces, previously showed support for Israel’s invasion of Gaza after the October 7 Hamas attacks.

The Palestinian Campaign for the Academic & Cultural Boycott of Israel (Pacbi) has since argued people who support their group should boycott Gadot films.

Gadot is understood to currently be filming an action thriller called The Runner in the capital.

Police were called to a set location in Westminster on Wednesday.

Officers detained five people on suspicion of harassment and offences under Section 241 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations Act.

Two of the arrests were in relation to previous protests, while three were in response to incidents that unfolded on Wednesday.

All five remain in custody.

Supt Neil Holyoak said: “While we absolutely acknowledge the importance of peaceful protest, we have a duty to intervene where it crosses the line into serious disruption or criminality.

“We have been in discussions with the production company to understand the impact of the protests on their work and on any individuals involved.

“I hope today’s operation shows we will not tolerate the harassment of or unlawful interference with those trying to go about their legitimate professional work in London.”

The Runner, produced by David Kosse, stars Gadot as a lawyer on a mission to rescue her kidnapped son.

Gadot has been pictured back on set this week, despite the protests.

Demonstrations also followed the actress to her Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony after her role in the latest Snow White movie.

A Pro-Palestine group stood outside the ceremony carrying signs reading: “Viva Viva Palestina”.

In a Variety interview earlier this week, Gadot said: “After October 7th [2023], I don’t talk politics — because who cares about the celebrity talking about politics?

“I’m an artist. I want to entertain people. I want to bring hope and be a beacon of light whenever I say anything about the world.

“But on October 7th, when people were abducted from their homes, from their beds, men, women, children, elderly, Holocaust survivors, were going through the horrors of what happened that day, I could not be silent.

“I’m not a hater. I’m a grandchild of a Holocaust survivor who came to Israel and established his family from scratch after his entire family was erased in Auschwitz.

“And on the other side of my family, I’m eighth generation Israeli. I’m an indigenous person of Israel.

“I am all about humanity and I felt like I had to advocate for the hostages. I am praying for better days for all.

“I want everybody to have good life and prosperity, and the ability to raise their children in a safe environment.”

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HIS leg twitching as he described to me his savage crimes, violent paedophile Rafael Josef admitted a nine-year-old girl was “terrified” when he raped her.

Then, he calmly revealed that after being released from prison for that act of barbarism, he’d bludgeoned and forced himself on an older woman who later died.

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It was utterly stomach-churning to listen to this depraved monster, who was seemingly beyond redemption.

Yet, Josef’s doctor was convinced he wouldn’t reoffend when he walked free from the secure psychiatric unit where he was being held in the Czech Republic.

That’s because the former labourer – like dozens of the central European nation’s most dangerous sex offenders – had been castrated.

In a 30-minute operation, he had part of his testicles removed to repress his paedophilic urges.

Josef had even volunteered for the operation himself – and advised offenders in Britain to undergo the same process.

Speaking through a translator, he told me: “I wish I had been castrated years ago and would advise other repeat violent sex offenders to have the operation.

“It was painful but afterwards I felt calmer, more balanced. I was able to think more about my life and how sorry I am for my crimes.”

Despite the self-confessed violent paedophile choosing to undergo the op, human rights advocates have labelled the procedure “degrading” for the prisoner.

Never mind the rights of the nine-year-old who was raped or future victims that an uncastrated Josef might have later attacked.

Expect a similar outcry from liberal lobbying groups as Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood ponders mandatory castration for the most serious sex offenders in Britain.

A chemical – rather than physical – castration method will be used here. Some will undoubtedly believe that the worst of the worst deserve to go under the knife.

Making the procedure compulsory would be deeply controversial with the British medical profession, where consent is a long-standing principle of treatment with any procedure.

But chemical castration is mandatory for some men in several US states, including California.

‘Dangerous deviants’

Locked inside the Havlickuv Brod psychiatric clinic, 60 miles south-east of Prague, I was met with the beady-eyed glare of other paedophiles and rapists who had also volunteered to be castrated.

The Czech Republic is the only country in Europe to surgically castrate sex offenders. Dr Zelmira Herrova had overseen around 40 operations at the time of my 2009 visit.

The medic revealed: “Surgical castration is only carried out on dangerous deviants who have to request it themselves.

“They find castration a relief. The rate of re-offending among my patients is zero.”

Yet when the Council of Europe anti-torture Committee (CPT) visited the Czech Republic last year, it called for an end to physical castration.

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Its report said: “The number of approved applications for surgical castration continues to be relatively low, in comparison with the number of interventions actually carried out some two decades ago.

“However, that in itself cannot remove the Committee’s fundamental objection to surgical castration, which could easily be considered as amounting to degrading treatment.

“The CPT once again urges the Czech authorities to put a definitive end to surgical castration as a means of treatment of sex offenders.”

For too long, we have turned a blind eye to the threat sex offenders pose, considering the solutions too difficult or unpalatable

Government source

In Britain, a voluntary chemical castration pilot scheme in the South West will be expanded to 20 prisons in England and Wales ahead of a planned roll-out nationwide.

Drugs are used to inhibit the action of the sex hormone testosterone, which aims to lower sex drive.

Studies have shown using drugs to dull sex urges can slash offending by up to 60 per cent.

A government source said: “For too long, we have turned a blind eye to the threat sex offenders pose, considering the solutions too difficult or unpalatable.

“Shabana isn’t squeamish about doing what it takes to protect the public.

“As always, she will grab this problem by the proverbials.”

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Emmerdale viewers are convinced another character will turn out to be the biological father of Ross Barton’s brother Lewis Barton, after actor Bradley Riches teased the truth

Viewers of Emmerdale think they have worked out the real father of newcomer Lewis Barton, after a hint by actor Bradley Riches.

The character debuted recently as the secret son of late villain Emma Barton, making him the brother of Ross Barton. Ross had no idea he existed, and faced difficult questions when they met for the first time.

With Bradley Riches’ character wanting to know all about Emma and what she was like, Ross was torn over whether to spill the truth about her killer actions and her fate. During their chats it was confirmed that Lewis and Ross did not share the same father.

It wasn’t known who Lewis’ biological fas was with him given up for adoption after he was born. With Lewis seemingly in the dark about his father, fans immediately suspected the identity of the mystery man.

Viewers predicted he would at some point show up in the village, or at least be identified. Bradley did nothing to cool the speculation either, with him posting the eyes emoji in response to a fan asking about Lewis’ dad on Instagram.

It was clear he was either hiding something or that he was hinting more was to come. With that fans began speculating the father was a character already on the show, past or present.

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Some fans questioned whether it was a Dingle who fathered Lewis, despite him being born before Emma even went to the village. It didn’t stop fans speculating though, suggesting “it’s always a Dingle”.

One fan questioned: “Is it Sam Dingle?” as another said: “Eli Dingle.” A third fan posted: “Bound to be a Dingle,” as a further suggestion said: “A Dingle not Cain though.”

Other fans were more convinced a different character no longer on the show, with a link to Emma, could be revealed as the father of Lewis. It would be a blow to Moira Dingle, Ross’ aunt and Emma’s killer, amid her fearing her secret will be exposed.

Viewers think her late husband John Barton, the brother of Emma’s murdered husband James Barton, could be Lewis’ dad. Given James and Moira had an affair, fans wondered if Emma and John had their own fling out of revenge.

Some fans wondered if Emma fell pregnant with John’s child, and the betrayal is what led to Lewis being adopted. Taking to social media, one viewer guessed: “John Barton,” as another said: “Maybe Emma had an affair with John Barton like Moira did with James.”

A third fan commented: “Moira’s husband,” as another agreed: “John, Moira’s first husband.” The theory was shared by others too, as another comment read: “Moira’s first husband,” as another said: “I wondered that, Moira cheered with James so why not Emma with John as a revenge thing. This could by why she had Lewis adopted.”

Emmerdale airs weeknights at 7:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX, with an hour-long episode on Thursdays. * Follow Mirror Celebs and TV on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .

May 20 (UPI) — Rising sea levels caused by man-made climate change will see hundreds of millions of people forced to flee inland from coasts even if the rise in the global temperature stays within the 1.5 degrees Celsius target of the Paris Climate Agreement, a British and American team of scientists said Tuesday.

With an estimated 1 billion people around the world living less than 33 feet above sea level and around 230 million at 3 feet 3 inches or less, even 8 inches of rise by 2050 would result in average global flood losses of $1 trillion or more a year for the world’s 136 largest coastal cities, according to their study published in the Communications, Earth and Environment journal.

The scientists from the universities of Durham, Bristol, Wisconsin-Madison and Massachusetts Amherst synthesized multiple lines of evidence to show that a 1.5 degrees Celsius would result in unmanagable sea level rise and that even if it remained at the current 1.2 degrees Celsius of heating a rise of several meters could be expected in the coming centuries.

With the melting ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica now exceeding thermal expansion of the oceans as the main driver, that level of sea rise would cause extensive loss and damage to coastal populations and make adaptation measures, which have long lead times, more challenging to implement.

Analysis of previous periods when the Earth was in a warming phase, recent audits of ice-sheet mass and numerical modeling indicate that even current temperatures could “trigger rapid ice sheet retreat” that would push to the limit any mitigation from adaptation measures.

Even the current 1.2 degrees Celsius of warming might generate “high” rates of sea level rise — categorized as greater than 0.4 of an inch a year — sufficient to create problems that would be very difficult to adapt to.

A cooler global mean temperature was therefore imperative to maintain ice sheet equilibrium because a rapid collapse of one or more ice sheets would result in a sea level rise of several meters with “catastrophic consequences for humanity.”

“To avoid this requires a global mean temperature that is cooler than present and which we hypothesise to be at or below 1 degree Celsius above pre-industrial, which is similar to the 1980s when ice when ice sheets were broadly in balance, but further work is urgently required to more precisely determine a ‘safe limit’ for ice sheets,” said the study.

The scientists said some of the worst impacts could be avoided by cutting carbon emissions to rapidly reduce global mean temperatures to below +1.5 degrees Celsius, which the average surface air temperature reached in 2024 for the first time.

However, the study found that even overshooting temperature thresholds temporarily could result in sea level rises of several meters, referencing another piece of research that found that even under a “net zero” emissions scenario sea level rise in the year 2300 would be 1.6 inches higher for each decade the the temperature stays above 1.5 degrees Celsius.

At the Mount Hagen Festival in Papua New Guinea, Janet met a community of people with a living connection to one of the darkest aspects of Papua New Guinea’s recent history – cannibalism

A dark tourist who has travelled to the furthest corners of the Earth met a tribe with a cannibal past at one of the “craziest, weirdest” events she has ever been to.

In recent years, Janet Newenham has really been clocking up the miles. The 38-year-old from Cork leads groups of women to strange and largely inaccessible places, including the alien-treed Socotra Island off the coast of Yemen and the ultra-advanced Chinese city of Chongqing.

However, few places could prepare her for the Mount Hagen Festival in Papua New Guinea, where hundreds of tribes from all over the island come together to showcase their traditional clothing, dances and games. It is a riot of colour and movement, unlike anything else in the world.

There, Janet met a community of people with a living connection to one of the darkest aspects of Papua New Guinea’s recent history – cannibalism.

By all accounts, the practice no longer occurs in the country, with the last well-documented incidents taking place in the 1960s. One of the last reported cases unfolded in the malaria-infested swampland of Sepik, a 45-minute plane ride from the city of Mount Hagen.

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It “was in 1964 when a group of men raided a neighbouring village for meat – as their ancestors had for thousands of years. All seven offenders were hanged by ‘kiaps’ – Australian patrol officers who were the law of the land until PNG’s independence in 1975,” wrote Ian Neubauer in 2018 following a visit to the region.

One tribe that also partook in cannibalism in the same decade is the Asaro people, who are known as the Asaro Mud Tribe.

“If people did them wrong or tried to steal their animals, often they would kill a member of the opposite tribe as punishment,” Janet told the Mirror following her visit. “They stopped more than 50 years ago. They said all tribes stopped in the 1960s.

“We did also meet other tribes that touched on it. And explained it was only ever to honour their family or to exact revenge on another tribe if they had killed someone.”

The timeline means that there are a handful of older members of the Asaro living today who were involved. “It wasn’t scary (to meet them), but the more you think about it, it is crazy to think that they have eaten people,” Janet added.

The reputation of the Asaro stretches far beyond the borders of Papua New Guinea, and not just because of their unusual past. Their cultural dress has also caught the eye and inspired many copycats. “They are covered in mud and they wear these really heavy masks designed to scare away their enemies,” Janet explained.

The history of the look is mired in confusion, but it is unlikely to be as ancient as one might suspect. In fact, some historians believe it had its origins in the 1950s.

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“According to one theory, some time ago, Asaro people were hiding from their enemies from another tribe near a riverbank of white clay. The Asaro got covered in clay and mud, and their appearance frightened the opponents, as in the traditions of the tribes, only the ghost can be white. But the legends of the Asaro people still do not explain why this tradition became so important for them, or how they got bamboo claws on their fingers,” writes the Journal News.

“Another version says that once, during a wedding of one Asaro, one man came in a strange costume with a terrible mask and clay on his body. Everyone thought he was a ghost, so they fled.”

According to research conducted in September 1996 by Danish anthropologist Ton Otto from Aarhus University, the Mudmen tradition is an invention of the Asaro people. Its current elaborate form evolved from a 1957 cultural fair, when the Asaro debuted the look, Otto claims.

Over the years, the tribe has used events such as Mount Hagen to show off and perfect their costumes and dances. However, this has given others the chance to copy the striking get-up.

Recently 29-year-old subsistence farmer Kori from Komunive village told the BBC of his concerns over plagiarism.

“The government does not recognise or protect our ownership rights and everyone in the highlands is now claiming to be a mud man,” he says. “But it’s our story and the others have copied it from us. It is a big worry for us because we don’t have any copyright protection.”

James Dorsey visited the Asaro five years ago and heard how an older member of the tribe relocated to a different part of the highlands in the late 20th century, which brought him into contact with other groups. From them, he learned the practice of bakime: using a disguise to take revenge on an enemy.

The returning elder introduced the method of covering one’s face with white tree sap as a disguise. This then morphed into girituwai, whereby a light wooden frame with a mud-soaked bag covering it engulfs the entire head. These were a part of the inter-tribe “spearing raids to capture pigs and women” that were common until the mid-20th century, Geographic Expeditions reports.

“In an effort to curb this cultural violence, in 1957 local organizers put on what was called the “First Eastern Highlands Agricultural Show,” and they invited the Asaro to participate. The tribal chairman at that time, Ruipo Okoroho, saw an opportunity to put the Mud Men on the tourist map. Organizing all of the local headmen, he had them wear, for the first time, the prototypes of today’s Papua New Guinea masks, large, surreal, and weighty,” the publication continues.

“The story goes that the day of the first Sing-Sing, as the show is popularly called, over 200 masked Mud Men stalked slowly onto the grounds, driving a screaming and terrified audience before them. No one had seen anything like them, especially not in such numbers. The Mud Men took first prize for tribal representation that year and the following two years, prompting an end to all such competitions in the future.”