Microsoft and Activision Blizzard file responses to the FTC's antitrust lawsuit

The companies stated their case for why Microsoft should be allowed to buy Activision for $68.7 billion.


Anadolu Agency via Getty Images


Kris Holt
·Contributing Reporter
Fri, December 23, 2022 


Microsoft has filed a formal response to a Federal Trade Commission antitrust lawsuit that seeks to block it from buying Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion. It pushed back against the agency's claims that the takeover would harm competition in the gaming industry. The company argued that consumers would benefit. "The commission cannot meet its burden of showing that the transaction would leave consumers worse off, because the transaction will allow consumers to play Activision’s games on new platforms and access them in new and more affordable ways," Microsoft wrote.

The FTC asserted earlier this month that, should the deal close, it "would enable Microsoft to suppress competitors to its Xbox gaming consoles and its rapidly growing subscription content and cloud-gaming business." The agency pointed to Microsoft making some titles from Bethesda (whose parent company ZeniMax it bought last year) exclusive to its own platforms.

In the filing, Microsoft acknowledged that it planned to make three future Bethesda titles exclusive to Xbox and PC. The names of those games were redacted, but Starfield and Redfall will only be available on Xbox, PC and Xbox Cloud Gaming, while the FTC claimed in its complaint that Microsoft plans to make Elder Scrolls VI an exclusive as well.

One of the major sticking points about the deal is the future of Call of Duty. In an attempt to appease regulators, Microsoft has pledged to keep Call of Duty on competitors' platforms for at least 10 years if the acquisition closes, and to bring the blockbuster franchise to Nintendo consoles. Sony hasn't taken Microsoft up on that deal, however.

"The acquisition of a single game by the third-place console manufacturer cannot upend a highly competitive industry. That is particularly so when the manufacturer has made clear it will not withhold the game," Microsoft wrote. "The fact that Xbox’s dominant competitor has thus far refused to accept Xbox’s proposal does not justify blocking a transaction that will benefit consumers."

Microsoft and Activision Blizzard both claim that keeping Call of Duty away from other platforms wouldn't make sense. Activision said in its own filing that making the franchise exclusive "would be disastrous for Xbox," as it would lose billions in game sales and give up "a massive portion of the gamers that Activision has worked so hard to attract and retain." It added that "in a world with nearly unlimited gaming alternatives, making Call of Duty exclusive is not a plausible outcome."

Both companies took issue with the FTC, with Microsoft claiming that its procedures are unconstitutional. "The structure of these administrative proceedings, in which the commission both initiates and finally adjudicates the complaint against Microsoft, violates Microsoft's Fifth Amendment Due Process right to adjudication before a neutral arbiter," Microsoft said in reference to the agency's decision to file the complaint in its own administrative court, rather than in a federal one. The company also argued that hearing the case in the FTC's administrative court "violates Article III of the US Constitution and the separation of powers."

Activision asserted that by disregarding the supposed benefits to consumers and focusing "on supposed harms to Xbox's deep-pocketed competitors," the FTC was straying from the "underlying purpose" of antitrust laws to protect competition instead of competitors. It said the agency was "blinded by ideological skepticism of high-value technology deals and by complaints from competitors" and that it "lost sight of the realities of the intensely competitive gaming industry."

Nevertheless, Microsoft wants to agree on conditions with the FTC and other regulators that will lead to them rubberstamping the deal. “Even with confidence in our case, we remain committed to creative solutions with regulators that will protect competition, consumers and workers in the tech sector. As we’ve learned from our lawsuits in the past, the door never closes on the opportunity to find an agreement that can benefit everyone,” Microsoft president and vice chair Brad Smith said.

"There is no sensible, legitimate reason for our transaction to be prevented from closing. Our industry has enormous competition and few barriers to entry. We have seen more devices than ever before enabling players a wide range of choices to play games," Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick said in a statement to Engadget. "Engines and tools are freely available to developers large and small. The breadth of distribution options for games has never been more widespread. We believe we will prevail on the merits of the case.”

The deadline for the acquisition to close is in July. If it hasn't done so by then, Microsoft and Activision will need to renegotiate the deal or abandon it — Microsoft would then face a breakup fee of as much as $3 billion. As Axios notes, though, the FTC's antitrust case is set to go before its administrative court on August 2nd. In the meantime, the agency could still seek a preliminary injunction in federal court to stop the deal from closing.

The proposed acquisition is also facing scrutiny from regulators in the UK and the European Union. The jurisdictions' respective competition agencies are expected to issue rulings on the deal in the first half of 2023.

Microsoft's Response to the FTC's Antitrust Lawsuit by Kris Holt on Scribd

Activision Blizzard's Formal Response to the FTC's Antitrust Lawsuit by Kris Holt on Scribd

Robocall company may receive the largest FCC fine ever

'The largest robocall operation' ever faces a $300 million penalty.




Steve Dent
·Reporter
Thu, December 22, 2022 

The FCC has proposed a $299,997,000 fine against "the largest robocall firm" it has ever investigated, the regulator announced. It would be the FCC's largest fine ever, and targets a firm that made over 5 billion calls in three months, enough "to have called each person in the United States 15 times," it wrote.

The operation is run by Roy Cox, Jr. and Michael Aaron Jones via their Sumco Panama company, along with other domestic and foreign entities. In July of this year, the FCC issued its first ever "K4 Notice" and "N2 Order" directing all US telephone providers to stop carrying traffic related to the car warranty scam calls. "This resulted in a massive, 99 percent drop in the volume of such calls since June, according to [spam blocking app] RoboKiller," the FCC wrote.

The FCC proposed its largest-ever fine because it found the robocallers met the criteria for "egregious violations." Consumers described the calls as "incessant" and "harassment," and the robocallers used dirty practices like calling health care workers from spoofed hospital numbers. The firm also violated multiple FCC rules, like failing to identify the caller at the start of a message.

In the calls, a message would open with something like "we've been trying to reach you concerning your car's extended warranty," and prompt you to speak to a scam "warranty specialist." Robokiller advises users to avoid the calls in the first place if possible, not follow prompts, and above all, never provide personal information like banking details.

FCC proposes largest robocaller fine in history



Zach Schonfeld
Thu, December 22, 2022 


The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Wednesday proposed a record-breaking fine of nearly $300 million for an alleged robocall scheme that involved billions of calls about auto warranties.

The agency said its proposed $299.997 million fine follows the largest robocall operation the FCC has ever investigated, alleging Roy Cox Jr., and Michael Aaron Jones made more than 5 billion robocalls designed to sell vehicle service contracts deceptively marketed as car warranties.

“Maybe it happened to you this last year,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement. “You picked up the phone and someone you don’t know, who you didn’t ask to call, tells you they have been trying to reach you about your car’s extended warranty. It’s a scam.”

The commission claimed the two individuals, through their Sumco Panama company, violated federal anti-robocalling and spoofing laws.


The pair allegedly began making the calls as early as 2018, placing 5.19 billion calls to 550 million phone numbers between January 2021 and March 2021.

The individuals allegedly spoofed the phone numbers of hospitals for some of the calls, which were placed during the pandemic, leading confused people to call the hospitals to complain. Other alleged calls originated from foreign entities but were spoofed to make the caller ID appear local to the U.S.

“The calls then misrepresented the product or service being offered and made false or misleading statements to induce call recipients to purchase goods or services,” the FCC said.

Cox and Jones could not be reached for comment.

The FCC said it took initial action against the operation in July by directing U.S.-based voice service providers to stop carrying traffic related to the auto warranty scam calls, an action the agency said led to a massive drop in volume.

“We will be relentless in pursing the groups behind these schemes by limiting their access to U.S. communications networks and holding them to account for their conduct,” FCC Enforcement Bureau Chief Loyaan Egal said in a statement.


U.S. FCC proposes record $300 million fine for 'auto warranty' robocalls



Wed, December 21, 2022 
By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on Wednesday proposed a $300 million fine against an auto warranty robocall campaign, the largest-ever penalty proposed by the agency over unwanted calls.

The FCC said that in the scheme run by two California men, Roy Cox, Jr. and Michael Aaron Jones via their Sumco Panama company and other entities, more than 5 billion apparently illegal robocalls were made to more than half a billion phone numbers during a three-month span in 2021 "using pre-recorded voice calls to press consumers to speak to a 'warranty specialist' about extending or reinstating their car’s warranty."

A lawyer for Cox did not immediately comment. A lawyer for Jones could not immediately be identified.

"We will be relentless in pursing the groups behind these schemes by limiting their access to U.S. communications networks and holding them to account for their conduct," said FCC Enforcement Bureau Chief Loyaan A. Egal.

It was the latest government action targeting the robocall operation.

In July, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost sued Cox and Jones and others alleging they orchestrated an "unlawful and complex robocall scheme, at times besieging consumers with more than 77 million robocalls a day to generate sales leads" -- often for fraudulent auto warranty extensions. Cox denied the allegations in a court filing.

The FCC noted that under a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) actions both Jones and Cox are prohibited from making telemarketing calls.

In 2017, a U.S. judge in California approved default judgments against Jones and nine companies the FTC charged with "running an operation that blasted consumers with billions of illegal telemarketing robocalls."

The court permanently banned Jones and the companies from all telemarketing activities and imposed a $2.7 million penalty.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Mark Porter and David Gregorio)

BOOM GO BUST

CarMax’s Woes Renew Concerns About Shaky Used-Vehicle Market




Ed Ludlow
Thu, December 22, 2022 

(Bloomberg) -- CarMax Inc. stumbled through another difficult quarter, dragging down stocks across the automotive industry and deepening concerns over the unsteady US used-car market

The auto dealer cited high inflation and low buyer confidence among the factors that are cooling the once-hot sector. CarMax on Thursday reported third-quarter earnings and sales that fell well short of Wall Street’s already depressed expectations.

“Vehicle affordability remains challenging due to macro factors stemming from broad inflation, climbing interest rates and continued low consumer confidence,” Chief Executive Officer Bill Nash said on a conference call with analysts. The latest results “reflect the continuation of widespread pressures across the used-car industry.”

CarMax shares fell 7.2% at 10:56 a.m. in New York after an earlier decline of 12%, the biggest intraday drop since Sept. 29. That dragged down peers such as Carvana Co., which tumbled 9.7%, as well as auto manufacturers, with Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co. and Stellantis NV each sliding more than 3%.

The issues stoke concerns over the used-vehicle market, after prices soared early in the pandemic while supply-chain snags stalled new-car production. This year, they’ve been ratcheting down rapidly as shortages eased and buyers balked at high sticker prices.

Carvana has been hit by the same pressures, forcing the online automobile seller to explore ways to rework its debt amid solvency concerns. It also has heightened concerns about a spillover into the broader car market, something AutoNation Inc., the largest new-car dealer chain in the US, has warned about.

CarMax on Thursday reported adjusted profit of 24 cents a share in the fiscal third quarter, significantly below the 65-cent average of analysts’ estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Net sales in the period were $6.5 billion, the Richmond, Virginia-based company said in a statement, also missing analysts’ projections.

What Bloomberg Intelligence Says:

“A gradual backslide in elevated used-vehicle values hasn’t prevented consumers from heading for the exits, prompting a precipitous drop in unit volume for CarMax and motivating a shift toward older vehicles.”

— Kevin Tynan, transportation analyst

It was a “challenging quarter across the board,” Steven Shemesh, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets, said in a note. “Between a deteriorating macro backdrop and cost-cutting initiatives the near-term is likely to remain volatile.”

The results echo those from the prior quarter, when Nash warned that consumers had shifted their spending away from large purchases amid challenges around affordability. The company’s second-quarter profit miss also weighed on peers and dragged the broader market.

Combined wholesale and retail units sales in the third quarter fell almost 28% year-on-year. Wholesale volumes were hit by CarMax’s move to shift some units to its retail stores to meet consumer demand for low-priced cars.

Wholesale vehicle gross profit tumbled 46% as the per-unit measure was hurt by a “steep market depreciation,” CarMax said.

--With assistance from Sean O'Kane.

Trump Asked About Troops to Quell Racial Protests, Esper Told Jan. 6 Panel



Billy House
Thu, December 22, 2022

(Bloomberg) -- Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper testified that he and others had to dissuade then-President Donald Trump from using active-duty military troops to quell the racial protests breaking out in the summer of 2020.

Trump was upset about the civil unrest around the country in the wake of the murder of George Floyd in Minnesota, believing it made the US look weak, Esper said, according to a transcript of his April 1, 2022 deposition by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.

The committee has been releasing transcripts of some of its interviews in batches this week and plans to release more in coming days. It is also expected to release its final report on what it learned over a probe that took a year and a half and included interviews with more than 1,000 people.

Esper, a graduate of the US Military Academy at West Point, was named secretary of the army in 2017 and acting defense secretary in 2019. He left the administration the next year.

Esper said he and other top officials, including then Attorney General William Barr, were able to convince Trump there was no adequate predicate for the potential use of the military, including in response to tensions in Lafayette Park across from the White House.

Trump never seemed to have “embraced” the concept that the military should have a secondary role, particularly, for domestic disturbances, he said. “I don’t think he ever embraced it because we would, at subsequent meetings, come back with his inclination to use, again, the military first, the Guard later.”

In another transcript released Thursday, an Ohio carpenter who entered the Capitol with the mob on Jan. 6 said he wished the president had told the crowd to go home earlier than he did — hours after it had broken into the building to try and prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s win.

Stephen Ayres, who pleaded guilty to entering the building, blamed Trump’s “fiery tweets” for stoking the passions of the crowd that day that led to the riot in the Capitol. “It probably helped build and added fuel to that fire,” he said.

--With assistance from Bill Allison, William Turton, Mike Dorning and Erik Larson.

EXPLAINER: Forest carbon credits aim to offset pollution



Climate Carbon Credits Explainer

Flames and smoke rise from a burn zone near the Chambira community, in Peru's Amazon, Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2022. Forest carbon credits aim to protect forests by allowing companies, individuals and governments to cancel out their emissions by paying to plant trees or preserve forests that would otherwise be cut.

 (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)More

SUMAN NAISHADHAM
Thu, December 22, 2022 

WASHINGTON (AP) — For years, airlines have offered passengers concerned by climate change an option: For an extra cost, cancel out the carbon dioxide pollution from their share of a flight, by paying to protect trees.

That’s the idea behind forest carbon credits. Trees absorb carbon from the atmosphere. Forest carbon credits are promises that companies, individuals and governments can purchase to counteract their emissions by paying to plant or protect trees. Here’s a look at this type of carbon credit.

WHAT ARE FOREST CARBON OFFSETS?

Picture a forest at risk of being cut down to make pasture for livestock or fields for crops. A broker arrives and promises to pay the forest owner — which could be a government 

The land gets formally designated a carbon credit project. After that the trees are not supposed to be cut or destroyed by fire. The developer sells these promises and keeps a cut of the money. Far away, a polluting company buys the credits instead of reducing its own emissions by a certain amount.

Trees store carbon in their tissue, which means that the taller and healthier a tree grows, the more carbon it can store. Soils and vegetation also store carbon. When a tree is chopped down, the carbon stored within it is often released into the atmosphere. If the trees are milled into large timber pieces, some of the carbon remains stored.

HOW DO THEY WORK?

One forest carbon offset, like any carbon offset, is equal to one metric ton of carbon dioxide that is avoided, removed or absorbed. A typical passenger car emits about 5 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Forest carbon offsets are a subset of the multibillion-dollar carbon ‘offset’ market.

Three main types of forest carbon offsets exist: credits that sequester carbon by replanting trees, those that protect trees at risk of being chopped down, and others that promise to improve a forest’s management and increase its carbon storage.

HOW DO TREES SEQUESTER CARBON?

Trees absorb carbon through their leaves, which makes them crucial for maintaining a livable climate. Via photosynthesis — the process within plants that turns sunlight into chemical energy — they breathe out oxygen as a byproduct. Carbon is permanently stored in a tree's fibers until it dies and decomposes.

Deforestation accelerates climate change in a couple of ways: It halts plant photosynthesis, so the trees are no longer taking up carbon. It's also often accompanied by burning, which releases lots of carbon dioxide.

WHAT ARE SOME ISSUES WITH FOREST OFFSETS?

The same problem facing all types of carbon offsets: Do they actually work?

The market for forest carbon offsets has ballooned over the past decade, with many policy makers seeing them as a way to combat climate change and even finance a transition to renewable energies. However, environmental groups, scientists and other experts say offset programs can be misleading.

“The issue here is that most voluntary carbon markets are self-regulated,” said Arnaud Brohe, chief executive officer of Agendi, a climate consulting firm, and an expert on carbon markets.

Assessing the climate benefit of a credit is often hard. For a forest carbon credit to be viable, it must do something for the environment that wouldn’t take place otherwise, a crucial concept known as ‘additionality.’ Credits are valid only if those trees were at active risk of being chopped down. If the trees were already protected, the offsets are meaningless.

Another issue is leakage, which is when the protection of one stretch of forest leads to deforestation in another. There are also sometimes problems of double counting, when the same credits are tallied in two different ledgers. For example, with limited regulation, credits issued for trees protected in one place might be counted by that country plus the country that bought the credits, or some other entity.

Experts say sellers of forest carbon offsets often exaggerate the benefits to the environment.

“Even though projects might end up protecting and conserving some lands, the question is how much?” said Danny Cullenward, a California-based energy economist and lawyer who studies carbon emissions.

___

Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Burgers, fries and robots: McDonald’s opens 1st mostly automated location in Texas

Story by Sarah Do Couto •

The first mostly automated McDonald's restaurant is currently 

being tested in Fort Worth, Texas.© Getty Images

Robotic supply chain: How automation impacts the food you eat

Duration 2:09
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CBS DallasMcDonald's is testing a new to-go format in North Texas
0:37

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0:17

NewsweekInside America’s First Robot McDonald’s
0:29

At one McDonald's location in Texas, robots are now serving up Big Macs.

Amid a growing desire for fast food giants to automate their processes, the first mostly robot-run McDonald's restaurant is currently being tested in Fort Worth, Texas.

At this location, there are no human cashiers in sight. Even the restaurant itself is smaller and has no seating, designed to serve the grab-and-go crowd, rather than sit-down diners.

Read more:

‘Dirty’ jobs for robotic hands — Inside the quest to automate food supply chains


Upon entry, digital tills take customer orders and robots push food through on conveyor belts in designated pick-up areas.

Customers can order through the drive-thru, the company's mobile app or the touch screen kiosks in-store.

A TikTok video showing the new automated location is already on the way to virality. As of this writing, the video has been viewed 1.3 million times.

A McDonald's spokesperson told The Guardian that though the new store is highly technical, it “is not fully automated." There are still human workers employed in the restaurant, though interaction between customers and human employees is very limited.




The spokesperson claimed that “enhanced technology" is in place to allow "the restaurant team to begin preparing customers’ orders when they’re near the restaurant." This is ideal for McDonald's orders picked up by delivery couriers, or for customers who have ordered through the mobile app.

Read more:
Concerned neighbour calls police over ‘Cousin Eddie’ Christmas display

McDonald's said the goal of the test location is to serve customers with improved speed and accuracy.

Despite the company's enthusiasm for the new automated location, many people are not 'McLovin'' it.

In Texas, minimum wage workers — like those who are employed by McDonald's — make US$7.25 ($9.87) an hour. The living wage in Texas is $16.41 an hour.

Many people on social media felt the automation is a way for fast food giants to avoid paying employees higher wages, a request that has been made by McDonald's workers for years now.

William Melek, the director of the RoboHub at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, said the food supply chain is “one of the most exciting new application areas of robots we’re seeing today.”

Read more:
Conversations with Alexa — How robots are helping Canada’s aging population connect

Melek confirmed that today’s advanced robotics have indeed risen to the point of taking over some jobs.

Robots in the food service industry have been designed to handle repetitive tasks and excel in areas where labour shortages are constraining production capacity in the supply chain, Melek noted.

A 2021 Institute for Policy Studies study found that McDonald's was one of 300 companies with the lowest median worker wages in all of the U.S.

— With files from Global News' Craig Lord

Two years after EU exit, UK business feels Brexit blues

Olivier DEVOS
Thu, December 22, 2022 


Two years after Britain's departure from the European Union, bosses of UK businesses are reeling from the cost of Brexit, including some who voted to cut ties with Brussels.

"It's cost, cost, cost with no benefit," noted Adrian Hanrahan, chief executive of a small chemicals company, Robinson Brothers, based in central England and for which the EU remains a key market.

The problem is not the customs duties, largely eliminated by the post-Brexit free trade agreement between London and Brussels, but rather a mountain of new regulatory paperwork.

"We've added probably 25 percent extra now on our administration costs just to cope with the changing paperwork... of getting stuff in from the EU and out of the EU," Hanrahan told AFP.

The company employs 265 people, producing chemicals used by various sectors featuring food, electronics, pharmaceutical and other firms.

Robinson Brothers exports around 70 percent of its products, of which more than half go to the EU.

-'Nothing to help them' -

The company is far from alone in struggling with the consequences of Brexit, with 56 percent of UK businesses facing difficulties adapting to new trading rules, the British Chambers of Commerce said Wednesday.

"Businesses feel they are banging their heads against a brick wall as nothing has been done to help them," said BCC director general Shevaun Haviland.

"The longer the current problems go unchecked, the more EU traders go elsewhere, and the more damage is done."

The government of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said it believes the UK economy has entered a recession on fallout from sky-high inflation.

While it repeatedly blames this on Russia's invasion of Ukraine fuelling energy prices, analysts claim Brexit has also pushed up costs.

"There's good causal evidence that the depreciation of sterling immediately following (the 2016 vote for) Brexit led to higher inflation, specifically for goods we import a lot of," London School of Economics researcher Nikhil Datta told AFP.

He added that new trade deals, such as the one struck with Australia, "have been tiny".

Bank of England monetary policy committee member Swati Dhingra told MPs last month that Brexit was to blame for "a much bigger slowdown in trade in the UK compared to the rest of the world".

According to King's College London economist Jonathan Portes, "there is a reasonable degree of consensus that Brexit has reduced UK trade by perhaps 10 to 15 percent compared to a no-Brexit scenario".

The government's own economic forecasting body, the OBR, estimates that Brexit will reduce the country's long-term output by around four percent.

- EU workers -

Complicating matters has been the loss of EU workers in sectors such as health, hospitality and agriculture, even if some of those returning home have been replaced by staff from non-EU countries.

Witnessing the fallout, some high-profile bosses who voted for Brexit are calling on the government to relax the new and tighter immigration rules.

"In respect to immigration, it's definitely not the Brexit I wanted," Simon Wolfson, head of clothing giant Next, told the BBC last month.

Tim Martin, boss of pubs group J D Wetherspoon, is of a similar opinion.

For Hanrahan, Brexit fallout has led questioning whether his company can survive.

"If this continues, then we have no other option but to shrink our offering to remain in business.

"We've had two or three very large German customers tell us that they're no longer going to come to us because it's too complex for them to work with anybody in the UK."

ode-bcp/rl/ach

FORTRESS EUROPA

Greece: EU’s external border is hardening, attitudes are too



















2 / 19
A boy fishes as police border guards on a boat patrol along the Evros River that forms a natural border between Greece and Turkey, on Sunday, Oct. 30, 2022. Greece is planning a major extension of a steel wall along its border with Turkey in 2023, a move that is being applauded by residents in the border area as well as voters more broadly.

(AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)

DEREK GATOPOULOS
Fri, December 23, 2022 

LYKOFI, Greece (AP) — Accompanied by a cloud of mosquitos, Police Capt. Konstantinos Tsolakidis and three other border guards set out on a boat patrol along the Evros River that forms a natural frontier between Greece and Turkey.

The route takes them through a maze formed by tall reeds, past clusters of flamingos and boat trippers visiting a nature reserve where the river fans out to meet the Mediterranean.

The Evros — called the Meric River in Turkey — runs through one of the remotest parts of Europe. It’s also becoming one of its most militarized as Greece and the wider European Union work on ways to prevent migrants from entering the country from Turkey.

In 2023, Greece plans to triple the length of a steel border wall. The five-meter (16-foot) high structure, made with sturdy steel columns, has foundation supports up to 10 meters deep and is topped with razor wire and an anti-grip metal scaling barrier.

In army-controlled areas on the Greek side of the border, the EU is funding and testing an advanced surveillance network that uses machine-learning software and an array of fixed and mobile cameras and sensors to detect migrants trying to cross the border.

Critics of the measures argue that Greece is toughening authoritarian policies against migrants and asylum-seekers, operating in the shadows in border areas that are under military control and where outside civilian monitors are denied access. A visit by Associated Press journalists to the Greek-Turkish border area took place under military and police supervision.

Police and border residents say they are just happy that the wall is working.

“It’s impossible to penetrate,” says Tsolakidis, who supervises patrols along a southern section of the border. “It’s been built in areas along the Evros where crossings were most frequent. And the deterrence capacity is 100%.”

In a post-pandemic surge of activity, more than 250,000 migrant crossings have been prevented this year at the land border between Greece and Turkey through late November, according to Greek authorities. During the same period, more than 5,000 people were detained after making it across the river.

Border guards, who use sniffer dogs, loudspeakers and powerful spotlights on patrols, say multiple incidents involving up to 1,000 migrants aren't uncommon in a single day during the summer and early fall when water levels along the Evros hit an annual low.

Small islets, some straddling the midpoint of the river where the border technically lies, seasonally reappear, making crossings easier.

Completed in 2021, the wall currently spans 27 kilometers (17 miles) in three separate sections but is considered to be effective over an additional 10 kilometers (six miles) because of ground conditions. Authorities plan to add up to another 100 kilometers (60 miles) of the steel barrier to cover most of the 192-kilometer (120-mile) land border.

When wall building started at the border a decade ago, it was met with heated political debate and public demonstrations backed by left-wing parties and Greek human rights groups.

Reaction this time around has been muted.

With little discussion, parliament recently passed an emergency amendment sanctioning the extension, with rules for commercial tenders and cost control safeguards both waived through June 30, 2023.

A poll published by private Antenna television found that nearly two thirds of Greek voters support tougher measures to control migration, with just 8.1% arguing that policing needs to be relaxed. Backing for the tougher measures was reported across party lines, and includes more than 60% of voters from the left-wing main opposition party — which officially opposes the wall extension.

The October survey was conducted by the Marc polling company for the private Greek channel.

At one newly built section of the wall, buds of cotton from nearby farms are caught in the razor wire, while wild goats, cut off from their usual grazing grounds, scour the riverbank for something to eat.

A few hundred meters westward, 41-year-old farm worker Stavros Lazaridis tosses bales of hay onto a truck. He says the extension can’t come fast enough.

“Before the wall went up, we had a lot of trouble. More than 200 or 300 (migrants) could cross through the village in a single day. It was out of control,” he said.

The local police station has retrieved pickup trucks stolen by smugglers in border villages and abandoned near a bus station in the northern Greek port city of Thessaloniki. Piles of clothes, dumped by migrants traveling with just a small backpack, are often found near highways in the area.

Border village residents, Lazaridis says, used to be sympathetic to migrants, many of whom are fleeing wars in the Middle East to seek asylum in Europe, but they have grown tired of the nightly disruptions.

“There are old people who live in these villages, many living by themselves, and they are scared to leave their homes,” he said. “It’s quiet here now, but further north where there’s no (wall). things are still crazy.”

Polling data suggests residents of other EU frontier states, including Poland and the Baltic nations, have also become more security conscious as threats like Russia's war in Ukraine draw closer to the bloc’s external borders.

And a flareup in a spat between Greece and Turkey over maritime boundaries and drilling rights has darkened disputes over migration.

Greece has made a series of international complaints after border police in October found 92 male migrants, stripped of their clothing, and accused Turkish authorities of deliberately pushing them over the border.

Turkey has repeatedly accused Greece of carrying out clandestine deportations, known as pushbacks, of potential asylum-seekers, and putting their lives at risk.

Athens is also under fire from major human rights groups, United Nations and EU refugee agencies, and even a government advisory panel that says hundreds of credible accounts have been gathered suggesting that often-violent pushbacks have been occurring at the Greek-Turkish border for up to 20 years.

The U.N. and EU agencies are demanding the creation of an independent border monitoring body, a request that Athens has so far failed to act upon.

Disputes with countries bordering the EU, and the often legitimate security concerns they generate, have reduced attention on migrants in need of international protection and are tempting European governments to adopt hard-line policies, argues Begum Basdas at the Center for Fundamental Rights at the Hertie School in Berlin.

“The militarization of migration is disabling us from seeing the issue as a human rights concern ... and what is really worrying me is the creeping in of authoritarianism through migration management in the European Union,” Basdas said.

“People are not really critical of the securitization or wall building at the borders because they don’t really see the connection between migration and the decay of democratic values in their own environment, in their own rights,” she said.

“But, you know, those walls are literally being built around us.”

 

___

Costas Kantouris contributed to this report from Thessaloniki.

___

Follow AP’s global migration coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/migration

Cross-Channel migrants in UK decry Rwanda deportation plan

Caroline TAIX
Fri, December 23, 2022 


If the UK government has its way, the tens of thousands of migrants arriving on England's southeastern shores each year, after crossing the Channel in small boats, will face swift deportation to Rwanda.

Although the controversial plan is on hold amid legal challenges, some of those who have completed the perilous journey said they are spooked by the prospect.

"It's really terrifying," Abdulhakim, a 24-year-old Ethiopian who arrived in April, told AFP outside a London hotel where he has since been staying.

"In April, we used to talk about it," he added, noting all the migrants in the discussions were "terrified" by the stalled policy which would be "devastating" for them.

"Rwanda is not a safe place -- there was a genocide there!"

The UK government insists such views of the eastern African country, which saw a genocide in 1994 by Rwandan Hutu extremist groups against the Tutsi population, are outdated.

Ministers claim it is now a safe destination, but hope that the plan will act as a significant deterrent for those considering trying to reach Britain by small boats.

A deal costing more than £120 million ($145 million) with Kigali, agreed in April by former prime minister Boris Johnson, will see all those who arrive illegally on British soil sent there.

They will be flown to east Africa before consideration of their asylum claims has even begun and, if eventually granted refuge, they will remain in Rwanda rather than return to the UK.

The policy will apply irrespective of where applicants hail from.

- 'Nervous' -

On Monday, the High Court in London ruled it was lawful following a legal challenge by migrants and campaigners, prompting the government to say it hopes to start flights as soon as possible.

Despite further legal action by opponents looking likely first, the mood among migrants already in Britain is fearful.

Mohammed, a 24-year-old Sudanese man who arrived by boat two years ago, said he "can't sleep anymore" as the court battle unfolds.

"This plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda is very scary," said Iranian Kurd Amir, another asylum-seeker living at the London hotel -- which sits in the shadow of the financial district's gleaming towers -- while claiming asylum.

"It makes people nervous in the hotel. What can they do there?"

He arrived in the UK four years ago, stowed away in a lorry, and is confident that the policy will not impact him. The 24-year-old expects a decision on his status soon.

But after spending so many years surrounded by migrants who have fled war or persecution, he is sceptical the threat of being sent to Rwanda will stem the flow of illegal arrivals.

"It's not going to stop them. They will still come," Amir said.

In 2022, a record of more than 45,000 people crossed the Channel -- one of the world's busiest waterways -- on small inflatable vessels, ill-suited to the rough conditions often seen there.

Earlier this month at least four died when their boat capsized, while dozens drowned a year earlier in another tragedy.

Others desperate to reach Britain also stow away in lorries headed there from mainland Europe.

- Legal routes 'impossible' -

Opponents of the Rwanda plan argue it fails to tackle the biggest problem: a lack of safe legal routes for asylum-seekers and refugees to come to the UK.

At a parliamentary committee hearing earlier this week, the UK's right-wing Home Secretary Suella Braverman insisted the country was "very generous" in its refugee policies.

"We do have to have a limit on our capacity in the UK to accept people who are fleeing difficult circumstances," she said.

But Braverman struggled to detail how those fleeing war and persecution could reach Britain legally without family members already present.

A senior official flanking her noted routes offered by UN agencies were one option.

But the migrants at the hotel were doubtful.

"It's impossible to come legally," said Abdulhakim.

"Perhaps with a student visa, but I couldn't afford to study," he added, noting he also didn't have a passport.

Amir said it was impossible to claim asylum in his homeland Iran.

"I'm Kurdish, do you think Iran will give me a passport?" he said.

Although Rwanda garnered little support, Mary, a 23-year-old Iranian who left the country with her husband two years ago, said she would still prefer it to her country.

"If I went back to Iran, I would be arrested," she said.

"I know nothing about Rwanda. I only know it's in Africa"

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UK
Asylum seekers get 10 per cent cost of living boost, after Home Secretary loses high court case

Charles Hymas
Thu, December 22, 2022 

Home Secretary was advised by officials to uprate asylum seekers’ support to meet the rising cost of living - Jessica Taylor/Reuters

Asylum seekers are to get a 10 per cent cost of living boost after Suella Braverman was found by the high court to have acted unlawfully in failing to give them the increase.

Internal documents reveal the Home Secretary was advised by Home Office officials in the summer to uprate asylum seekers’ support to meet the rising cost of living or risk breaching the Government’s legal duty to ensure asylum seekers were not left destitute.

In a damning high court ruling seen by the Telegraph, Mr Justice Fordham said the Home Secretary had acted unlawfully by failing to increase the subsistence allowance from £40.85p a week to £45 a week after inflation spiralled from three per cent to more than 10 per cent.

The judge took the unusual step of issuing a “mandatory order” forcing the Home Secretary to implement an immediate increase in the rate of asylum support to £45, which will affect at least 85,000 asylum seekers at a cost to the taxpayer of £18 million a year.

Mr Justice Fordham said: “The failure to consider this issue and make any decision was unlawful. In public law terms this, in my judgement, was an abdication of function.

“It was a failure to take into account relevant matters; a failure to consider matters; a failure to take into account a significant factor which the [Secretary of State] was bound to take into account.”

The disclosure comes just a day after internal emails revealed the Home Office acted illegally in keeping up to 500 asylum seekers in the Manston processing centre beyond the statutory 24 hours. The Home Office defended its action on the basis that they had a responsibility to prevent them falling into destitution.

The case was brought by a 32-year-old Nigerian mother of three children aged six to eight who sought asylum in November last year after fleeing domestic violence. Her eldest child suffers cerebral palsy and sickle cell disease.

She was granted asylum support of £163.40 a week (based on £40.85p each for her and her children) and housed in a two-bedroomed home in Liverpool where the children attended state school.

She spoke of having to choose between buying Calpol or food for her children, which child to buy clothes for, not having enough money to pay for household cleaning products, basic educational items or sanitary products for herself.

“I’m going without the clothes, toiletries, and food that I need, to try to give as much as I can to the children. When I speak to my friends at the church, they tell me that they are facing the same problems,” she said.

‘Choose between Calpol and food’

In the nine months to July 2022, the inflation rate jumped from 3.1 per cent to 10.1 per cent, prompting Home Office officials to carry out a review. In written advice to ministers dated Aug 31, they said it had been done to meet their “legal duty to ensure asylum seekers are not left destitute by providing support”.

They set out three options including an uplift or one-off payment of £96.24p but no action was taken. It coincided with the departure of Priti Patel as Home Secretary and Mrs Braverman taking over but the judge said the changeover “cannot provide a lawful basis for the failure”.

Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said it was “very concerned” the Government had “overlooked” its legal obligation, affecting a backlog of up to 147,000 asylum seekers awaiting a decision.

“The claimant’s distressing experience of having to choose between Calpol and food and not having enough money for her children’s essentials is representative of countless others who are stuck in limbo in the asylum system,” he said.

“Over 140,000 people are waiting for a decision on their claim, banned from working and so dependent on the Home Office for accommodation and financial support. The Home Office must increase these payments to reflect actual need, and prioritise clearing the backlog so people can start rebuilding their lives.”