CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M CHARTER SCHOOLS
Former Obama White House adviser arrested for allegedly stealing over $200,000 from charter schools he founded

By Sonia Moghe, CNN 

© C-SPAN/FILE Seth Andrew speaks about charter schools on C-SPAN in 2017

A former White House senior adviser for the Obama administration who helped found a network of charter schools is accused of allegedly stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from the schools and attempting to launder the funds in order to get a lower interest rate on a mortgage for a Manhattan apartment, according to federal prosecutors.

Seth Andrew was charged by prosecutors in the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York with wire fraud, money laundering, and making false statements to a bank.

Prosecutors say Andrew helped create a network of charter schools based in New York City in 2005, and left the network in 2013 for a job at the US Department of Education, and later became a senior adviser in the Office of Educational Technology at the White House, where he continued to be paid by the charter school network. Prosecutors say Andrew left his role in the White House in November 2016 and cut ties with the school network in January 2017.

Andrew was taken into custody Tuesday in Manhattan and released on a personal recognizance bond after an initial appearance, SDNY spokesman James Margolin said. Andrew's attorney, Michael Yaeger, said Andrew will plead not guilty and is reviewing the government's case. No plea was entered Tuesday, Margolin said.

Andrew was the founder of Democracy Prep Public Schools, a network of more than 20 public charter schools from Harlem to Washington, DC, according to an email sent to Democracy Prep families and alumni Tuesday morning that was released to CNN.

CEO Natasha Trivers said that Democracy Prep alerted the appropriate authorities once it learned about the unauthorized withdrawals.

"Seth left our network in 2013. His alleged actions are a profound betrayal of all that we stand for and to you and your children, the scholars and families that we serve," Trivers' email said. "To be clear, at no time did the alleged crimes pose any risk to our students, staff or operations in any way."

Trivers also added that the activity did not have "any adverse effect on our scholars or the functioning of our schools" and that the school system has since instituted financial safeguards, which lead to the discovery of the withdrawals.

According to a criminal complaint filed on April 20 and unsealed Tuesday, prosecutors allege that between March and August of 2019, Andrew used his former association with the network of schools to allegedly steal $218,005 of the school's reserve money by using his email address affiliated with the schools to email a bank employee and convince them that he was still associated with the school, which he was not.

The complaint states that after allegedly stealing the school network's money, Andrew "attempted to conceal the source of the stolen funds ... and make it appear that the stolen funds belonged to a non-profit organization that Andrew founded, and currently appears to control."

Prosecutors allege Andrew misrepresented that he "lawfully controlled" the money in order to obtain a discounted mortgage interest rate to buy an apartment in Manhattan.

This story has been updated with additional reporting.

Sustainable engineers Kenoteq are reinventing the brick

Rebecca Cairns, CNN 

4/27/2021


Although we're surrounded by millions of them every day, most of us don't think about bricks too often. For thousands of years, the humble clay-fired brick hasn't changed. The building blocks of modern suburban homes would be familiar to the city planners of ancient Babylon, the bricklayers of the Great Wall of China, or the builders of Moscow's Saint Basil's Cathedral.

© Kenoteq Gabriela Medero, co-founder of Kenoteq, came up with the idea for the K-Briq over a decade ago.

But the brick as we know it causes significant environmental problems, by using up raw, finite materials and creating carbon emissions. That's why Gabriela Medero, a professor of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering at Scotland's Heriot-Watt University, decided to reinvent it.

Originally from Brazil, Medero says she was drawn to civil engineering because it gave her passion for maths and physics a practical outlet. As she became aware of the construction industry's sustainability issues, she started looking for solutions. With her university's support, Medero joined forces with fellow engineer Sam Chapman and set up Kenoteq in 2009.

The company's signature product is the K-Briq. Made from more than 90% construction waste, Medero says the K-Briq -- which does not need to be fired in a kiln -- produces less than a tenth of the carbon emissions of conventional bricks. With the company testing new machinery to start scaling up production, Medero hopes her bricks will help to build a more sustainable world.


The problem with bricks

Although they're made from natural materials, there are problems with bricks at every step of their production.

Bricks are made from clay -- a type of soil found all over the world. Clay mining strips the land's fertile topsoil, inhibiting plant growth.

In conventional brick production, the clay is shaped and baked in kilns at temperatures up to 1,250°C (2,280°F). The majority of brick kilns are heated by fossil fuels, which contribute to climate change.

Once made, bricks must be transported to construction sites, generating more carbon emissions.

Globally, 1,500 billion bricks are produced, every year. Laid end-to-end, they would stretch to the moon and back 390 times.

The environmental footprint of different bricks reflects multiple factors including the type of kiln, fuel, and transportation. But with so many produced, their impact adds up, says Medero.

Enter the K-Briq. To make it, construction and demolition waste including bricks, gravel, sand and plasterboard is crushed and mixed with water and a binder. The bricks are then pressed in customized molds. Tinted with recycled pigments, they can be made in any color.

© Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg/Getty Images

 A brick kiln in West Sussex, in the south of England.

Earlier this year, Kenoteq won its first commission -- to supply bricks for the Serpentine Pavilion 2020 in London's Hyde Park (although the project has been postponed until summer 2021 due to the current pandemic). Designed by architectural studio Counterspace, the building will incorporate K-Briqs in grey, black and 12 shades of pink. The Pavilion's lead architect, Sumayya Vally, says that as a recycled product, the K-Briq appealed to her. It "embodies" the past through its use of old materials, she says, adding that because the bricks can be customized, they allow "the designer to be a part of the construction process of the material," creating unique opportunities in architecture.


Why can't old bricks be re-used?

In the UK, around 2.5 billion new bricks are used in construction every year -- and about the same number of old bricks are demolished. A seemingly simple solution to the brick production problem would be to re-use old bricks.

© Jorge Guerrero/AFP/Getty Images A clay quarry in Andalusia, Spain

But it's not that straightforward. According to Bob Geldermans, a climate design and sustainability researcher at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, reclaiming bricks is an expensive and "labor-intensive process."

According to the UK's Brick Development Association, old brick structures need to be carefully dismantled and the bricks cleaned of mortar with hammers and chisels. Reclaimed bricks are used to help renovate historic buildings or for other specialized projects but for mass construction, the process is too costly.

An additional barrier is that there's no standardized way to check the strength, safety or durability of reclaimed bricks.

Medero says that K-Briqs could solve both these problems.

According to Medero, the K-Briq will be comparably priced to conventional bricks. Additionally, as a new product, the K-Briq has been subjected to rigorous assessment at the materials testing lab at Heriot-Watt University, and is in the process of being certified by regulators. Medero claims that K-Briqs are stronger and more durable than fired clay bricks, and provide better insulation, too.

Scaling up

Kenoteq currently operates one workshop in Edinburgh, which can produce three million K-Briqs a year. Medero is looking at scaling up -- but it's hard to create a revolution in construction.

Geldermans says that the industry is notoriously slow to change -- adding that legislation often lags far behind innovation, so construction companies are not incentivized to adopt sustainable practices and materials.

Stephen Boyle is the program manager for construction at non-profit Zero Waste Scotland which, along with organizations including Scottish Enterprise and the Royal Academy of Engineering, has provided Kenoteq with funding. He attributes the industry's conservatism to a "chicken and egg" situation. Innovative startups need large contracts to allow them to scale, he says, but struggle to become competitive without a large operation already in place.

But despite the challenges, Kenoteq is far from being the only company trying to make construction more sustainable. Other innovators include Qube, an India-based startup creating bricks out of plastic waste, and the ClickBrick which eliminates the use of cement through modular stacking (think real-life Lego).

There are signs of change. In Scotland, the government is reviewing a circular economy bill which encourages businesses to think creatively and economically about how they reuse and recycle materials. Boyle says that there are "contractors who would use [K-Briqs] tomorrow," if they were being produced on a large scale.

Over the next 18 months, Medero plans to get K-Briq machinery on-site at recycling plants. This will increase production while reducing transport-related emissions, she says, because trucks can collect K-Briqs when they drop off construction waste. "We need to have ways of building sustainably, with affordable, good quality materials that will last."

3 SLIDES © Kenoteq

Gabriela Medero and Sam Chapman, co-founders of Kenoteq, say they have created a sustainable alternative to traditional fired clay bricks.

China to report first population decline since 1949 despite relaxing one-child policy

Financial Times 4/27/2021


China is set to report its first population decline since records began in 1949 despite the relaxation of the government’s strict family planning policies, which was meant to reverse the falling birth rate of the world’s most populous country.

© Provided by National Post China’s birth rates have weakened even after Beijing relaxed its decades-long family planning policy in 2015, allowing couples to have two children instead of one.

The latest Chinese census, which was completed in December but has yet to be made public, is expected to report the total population of the country at less than 1.4 billion, according to people familiar with the research. In 2019, China’s population was reported to have exceeded the 1.4 billion mark.

Trade minister dodges questions on whether Canada has curbed potential forced-labour imports from China

The people cautioned, however, that the figure was considered very sensitive and would not be released until multiple government departments had reached a consensus on the data and its implications.

“The census results will have a huge impact on how the Chinese people see their country and how various government departments work,” said Huang Wenzheng, a fellow at the Center for China and Globalization, a Beijing-based think-tank. “They need to be handled very carefully.”

The government was scheduled to release the census in early April. Liu Aihua, a spokesperson at the National Bureau of Statistics, said on April 16 that the delay was partly due to the need for “more preparation work” ahead of the official announcement. The delay has been widely criticised on social media.

Local officials have also braced for the data’s release. Chen Longgan, deputy director of Anhui province’s statistics bureau, said in a meeting this month that officials should “set the agenda” for census interpretation and “pay close attention to public reaction”.

Analysts said a decline would suggest that China’s population could peak earlier than official projections and could soon be exceeded by India’s, which is estimated at 1.38 billion. That could take an extensive toll on the world’s second-largest economy, affecting everything from consumption to care for the elderly.

“The pace and scale of China’s demographic crisis are faster and bigger than we imagined,” said Huang. “That could have a disastrous impact on the country.”

China’s birth rates have weakened even after Beijing relaxed its decades-long family planning policy in 2015, allowing all couples to have two children instead of one. The population expanded under the one-child policy introduced in the late 1970s, thanks to a bulging population of young people in the aftermath of the Communist revolution as well as increased life expectancy.

Official data showed the number of newborns in China increased in 2016 but then fell for three consecutive years. Officials blamed the decline on a shrinking number of young women and the surging costs of child-rearing.

The real picture could be even worse. In a report published last week, China’s central bank estimated that the total fertility rate, or the average number of children a woman was likely to have in her lifetime, was less than 1.5, compared with the official estimate of 1.8.

“It is almost a fact that China has overestimated its birth rate,” the People’s Bank of China said. “The challenges brought about by China’s demographic shift could be bigger [than expected].”

A Beijing-based government adviser who declined to be identified said such overestimates stemmed in part from the fiscal system’s use of population figures to determine budgets, including for education and public security.

“There is an incentive for local governments to play up their [population] numbers so they can get more resources,” the person said.

The situation has led to calls for a radical overhaul of China’s birth control rules. The PBoC report suggested the government should “completely” abandon its “wait-and-see attitude” and scrap family planning entirely.

“Policy relaxations will be of little use when no one wants to have [more children],” the paper said.

TOPICS FOR YOU

Credit Suisse must face lawsuit over U.S. 'volatility' crash

By Jonathan Stempel 

4/27/2021

© Reuters/ARND WIEGMANN FILE PHOTO: Logo of Swiss bank Credit Suisse is seen in Zurich

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday revived a lawsuit accusing Credit Suisse Group AG of causing huge losses by defrauding investors in a complex product for betting on stock market swings that lost 96% of its value in a single day.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said investors could try to prove Credit Suisse intended to collapse the market for its VelocityShares Daily Inverse VIX Short-Term Exchange-Traded Notes ("XIV Notes") through just 15 minutes of its own trading of futures contracts.

Set Capital LLC and other investors in the proposed class action claimed they lost $1.8 billion, while the Swiss bank reaped at least $475 million in profit at their expense.

The 3-0 decision adds to problems facing Credit Suisse, which recently lost $4.7 billion when the hedge fund Archegos Capital Management collapsed, and has been sued over its ties to Archegos and another client, the failed supply chain financier Greensill Capital.

XIV notes imploded on Feb. 5, 2018, when the Standard & Poor's 500 dropped 4.1% and unexpected market turbulence punished investors betting on low volatility.

Circuit Judge John Walker said investors could pursue claims that Credit Suisse manipulated the market for the notes while downplaying the risks in offering documents.

"The complaint plausibly alleges both motive and opportunity to commit a manipulative act, as well as strong circumstantial evidence of conscious misbehavior or recklessness," he wrote.

Credit Suisse spokeswoman Candice Sun declined to comment.

Michael Eisenkraft, the investors' lawyer, said: "We look forward to prosecuting these claims vigorously."

The price of XIV notes plunged as low as $4.22 from $108.37 during the collapse. Credit Suisse later redeemed them at $5.99 each.

When dismissing the case in September 2019, U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres in Manhattan adopted a magistrate judge's findings that Credit Suisse had simply taken advantage of market conditions, and was not trying to defraud investors.

The appeals court returned the case to Torres.

The case is Set Capital LLC et al v Credit Suisse Group AG et al, 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 19-3466.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Matthew Lewis)

DC police officer: 'It's been very difficult' seeing elected officials trying to whitewash brutal insurrection

By Paul LeBlanc and Caroline Kelly,

 CNN 4/27/2021


A DC Metropolitan Police officer who was brutally assaulted while defending the US Capitol during the January 6 insurrection said Tuesday evening that it's been difficult to watch some elected officials and others "whitewash" the episode in its aftermath.

© Brent Stirton/Getty Images Trump supporters clash with police and security forces as people try to storm the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC.

Michael Fanone, who was stun-gunned several times and beaten with a flagpole during the attack, told CNN's Don Lemon on "CNN Tonight" that "some of the terminology that was used, like 'hugs and kisses,' and 'very fine people,' is like very different from what I experienced and what my co-workers experienced on the 6th."

Though Fanone didn't name Donald Trump specifically, the former President falsely claimed in an interview with Fox News last month that the pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol behaved properly with law enforcement and there was "zero threat" to the building.

Trump also claimed that some of the rioters "went in, and they are hugging and kissing the police and the guards."

His false account conflicts with reams of video evidence of the violence that broke out on January 6, criminal charges filed against participants, law enforcement officials' testimony, police officers' accounts of the violence and lawmakers' descriptions of the fear they experienced that day.

Fanone suffered a heart attack and a concussion during the insurrection and is now dealing with a traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder.

"I experienced the most brutal, savage hand-to-hand combat of my entire life," he said Tuesday. "Let alone my policing career, which spans almost two decades. It was nothing that I had ever thought would be a part of my law enforcement career, nor was I prepared to experience."

Federal prosecutors have filed charges against Thomas Sibick, who allegedly participated in the assault of Fanone. Prosecutors said Sibick was seen in police body-camera footage assaulting Fanone while he lay on the ground outside the Capitol during the riot.

During the brawl outside the Capitol, Sibick allegedly grabbed Fanone's badge and radio, and he later posted a photo of himself holding a police shield on Facebook, court filings say.

"I want people to understand the significance of January 6," Fanone said Tuesday. "I want people to understand that thousands of rioters came to the Capitol hell-bent on violence and destruction and murder."

Living in Myanmar during a military coup like a ‘dystopian world order,’ woman says

Emerald Bensadoun 

For 25-year-old Thet, each morning in Myanmar brings a constant barrage of what sounds like gunshots, and, more recently, grenades. Yangon, Thet's home as well as the country's largest city, "looks like a wasteland now." If she were to look outside her window, Thet said some parts would resemble a ghost town, while others "look like battle zones."

© Provided by Global News Anti-coup protesters standing behind barricades standoff with a group of police in Yangon, Myanmar Thursday, March 4, 2021. Demonstrators in Myanmar protesting last month's military coup returned to the streets Thursday, undaunted by the killing of at least 38 people the previous day by security forces. (AP Photo)

"It feels like a dystopian world order," she says during an interview conducted over Signal, an encrypted messaging service. "The city that I lived in and grew up in is no longer the city that I know anymore."


Global News has agreed to identify Thet by only her first name due to fear of reprisal from Myanmar's military. Global News has also agreed to keep social media accounts run by Thet and other members of the country’s resistance movement anonymous to protect her identity.

Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has undergone three military coups since gaining its independence from the British Empire in 1948. The most recent began on Feb. 1, after the Tatmadaw leadership refused to accept election results that declared civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi the winner. The military detained National League for Democracy leaders, cabinet and chief ministers, opposition politicians, journalists and activists.

Since the recent coup d'etat, Thet said it all too common to hear about protesters who end up in jail, some of whom she claims are beaten and tortured before being released back home. But some don't come home.

"We do not know if they're alive anymore or whether or not they have been buried and their bodies cremated," she says.

"Lately, we've been hearing about cases of people being burned alive."

Video: Myanmar protests: Demonstrators burn tires, Chinese flag as military continues crackdowns

Government forces have killed at least 753 protesters and bystanders since the takeover, according to the most recent briefing from the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, which monitors casualties and arrests. The group says 3,441 people, including Suu Kyi, are in detention.

Reporting by the Associated Press found nearly all of the protests have been nonviolent, but as police and soldiers have increased their use of lethal force, some participants have armed themselves with homemade weapons such as hunting rifles and gasoline bombs for self-defence.

Southeast Asian leaders said Monday that an agreement had been reached with the junta chief to end the crisis in Myanmar, but no consensus was reached that would put an end to the killing of civilian protesters.

Phone and internet service has been suspended in major cities. In Yangon, where Thet lives with her family, the internet is shut down at 1 a.m. and comes back up at around 8:30 a.m.

"Then we hear about what will happen, what happened in parts of our city, the people they kidnapped, the people they shot, the people they killed during the night," she says.

Read more: Up to 3.4 million in Myanmar face hunger after military coup, United Nations says

Thet's experience is all too common for those living in Myanmar. Burmese Canadian Si Thu Naing, who lives in British Columbia, says it's been difficult to connect with his family in Myanmar due to the shutdowns, and fears for their safety.

His brother is a journalist, which he says has made his family a target for the military junta.

"A lot of the media personalities are on the run. They are not living in their own houses or places anymore. They are usually separated from their family because of what they are doing," he tells Global News.

"If they want to arrest somebody, they go into their house and if they can't find the person they are looking for then they just grab one of their family members."

Unable to ignore the news as conditions in Myanmar worsened, he started a petition. On March 23, NDP MP Laurel Collins brought that petition to the House of Commons floor urging the international community and federal government to "act firmly to reject the coup and put pressure on our allies and Asian partners to stop providing arms to the Myanmar military."

"Canadians want our country to be a leader when it comes to standing up for human rights," Collins says in an interview with Global News. "It's really important for Canada to condemn violence, to condemn military coups that undermine democracy, especially when there is escalating violence against civilian protesters and media blackouts."

Naing's petition also demands Canada bar all businesses from exporting arms and tech to the Myanmar military that can be used against the public.

"We're trying to push and put pressure on the government and western countries to do differently this time and hopefully resolve this so that there will be a whole lot more stability over there," Naing says.

Video: Myanmar protests: Mother of military crackdown victim mourns loss of son during funeral

Since the military coup began, Canada has imposed sanctions on nine Myanmar military officials and has urged Canadians doing business with Myanmar-related entities to comply. Foreign Affairs minister Marc Garneau also "unequivocally" condemned the junta's use of force in a statement on Feb. 28, adding that Canada was considering more measures.

Global Affairs Canada reiterated that the federal government condemns "the coup and the violence being perpetrated against civilian protestors" in an emailed statement to Global News, adding that they have "demanded the restoration of the democratically-elected government and the release of all members of the civilian government, activists and civil society leaders."

"We have also urged the Tatmadaw leadership to provide immediate and unfettered access to Myanmar to the UN Secretary General's Special Envoy," the statement read.

Aung Naing Thein, who heads the Alberta Alliance for Myanmar Democracy, has also requested Canada's government take more aggressive against Myanmar's military. His petition was put to the House floor on April 14.

Garnett Genuis, the Conservative MP who brought the petition forward, recalled Canada's call to action against the Rohingya genocide more than one year after Prime Minister Trudeau’s Special Envoy to Myanmar published his 2018 report detailing multiple accounts of mass rape, killings, separation of families and torching of homes and villages.

"Let's not make the mistake that the government made on Burma in the past," he says. "Let's be prioritizing this in discussions of multilateral fora now and pushing for coordinated actions in terms of sanctions against individuals and other measures that will force a change in behaviour."

But for Thein, the petition is personal. Like Thet, Thein was born and raised in Yangon. He said he wrote the petition in the hopes that it would draw attention to what is happening in his hometown.

"Every day I get a phone call or internet call, the first question we ask is not, 'How are you?' Our question is, 'Are you still alive? Are all of my family members still alive?'" He tells Global News. "I never thought that could be a normal conversation."

Both of Thein's parents live in Yangon, as well as his grandparents, aunts and uncles. He says he's scared for his family.

"The military and security force, they come to the streets and then they randomly shoot people indiscriminately," he claims, when asked what he hears from his family about the state of Yangon.

Unable to return home, he asked himself: "As a Burmese Canadian here, what can I do?"

Read more: Myanmar anti-coup protesters stage ‘silent strike’ to mourn over 700 dead

Thein's petition differs slightly from Naing's, in that it calls on Canada to impose sanctions against members and businesses who are chaired and assembled by Min Aung Hlaing, the senior general in Myanmar and de facto leader following the Feb. 1 coup.

When asked about this distinction, Thein says "the more money they have, the more weapons they will buy and then the more atrocities will happen in Myanmar."

Even if his petition receives no traction, Thein says he will continue to push for a future where Myanmar is a democratic state.

"As long as this military are in power, in control and killing people, I cannot stop what I'm doing here because that's not fair for those people in Myanmar who are suffering," he says.

Video: Dozens killed in Myanmar in one of the deadliest days since military coup

For some living in Myanmar, like Thet, the future remains uncertain. Last month, Thet says her neighbour's home was raided by Myanmar militants. She claims her neighbour was taken, and still doesn't know where he is or if he's still alive.

So far, she says she has been lucky. To her knowledge, none of her friends have died. Living with her family has eased her anxiety — at least this way, she knows where they are. But for Thet, every day is a dangerous waiting game, each passing moment more uncertain than the last.

"So much has happened and yet everything feels so achingly slow at the same time," she says. "At this point, I feel less that I'm living and more that I'm surviving and existing."

At 25 years old, Thet has accepted that her life could end.

"I want to be as dispensable as possible," she says.

"Whatever happens: if I go missing, if they end up killing me too, I know the movement will be able to go on as if nothing happened. They may mourn for me, for my friends and family. But the movement itself will be able to continue on because our movement is a leaderless movement."

Read more: Myanmar security forces kill 82 pro-democracy protesters in single day, reports say

Her actions today may not be the tipping point that sets Myanmar back toward democracy, but Thet says anything that could help future generations of activists is a risk she's willing to take.

"Right now my rights no longer matter. I cannot speak out about what my opinions are without fear of being killed. Police and military can come into our house at any time and kidnap us. This is not the type of life that I want for myself and for other people in my community, not just the youth who will have to carry us in the future, but also the elders too," she said.

"For me, the fight is worth it. Risking my life is worth it because we deserve to live in a free Myanmar, a really inclusive Myanmar as well. So that is why I keep organizing in the ways that I can. We must when we have no other option not to. We have already lost so many people. We cannot make their sacrifices go in vain."

-- With files from Reuters and The Associated Press

Women of color make up 1 in 4 hourly workers at Walmart, but less than a tenth of executives

insider@insider.com (Allana Akhtar) 
4/27/2021

© Joe Raedle/Getty Images People of color make up roughly half (47.3%) of all hourly workers at Walmart locations in the US. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Women of color made up 26.8% of all US hourly employees in 2020, Walmart said in a new report.

Meanwhile, 74.5% of executives and 52.3% of hourly workers at Walmart are white.

"We're investing in change," Ben Hasan, global chief of diversity and inclusion, said in a release.

Women of color are doing much of Walmart's hourly work, yet are responsible for few executive-level decisions.

Women of color - or workers who identify as Black, Asian, Latina, or Native -made up 26.8% of all US hourly employees, according to a new report. People of color make up roughly half (47.3%) of all hourly workers.

Though they represent about one in four hourly workers, women of color make up just 8.4% of people at the "officer" level, or people with president or vice president in their titles. Women of all races make up 32.8% of officers at Walmart's US operations.

Read more: A top Walmart healthcare exec is leaving the retail giant

Black and Latino people account for 39% of hourly workers at Walmart, but 14% of US executives. The majority of Walmart employees are white, making up 74.5% of executives and 52.3% of hourly workers.

"Representation matters, education is the foundation of progress, and we're investing in change," Ben Hasan, Walmart's senior vice president and global chief diversity and inclusion officer, said in a release.

Hasan said women representation in upper management stayed roughly the same between 2019 and 2020, but Walmart increased management promotions for women by 4.4%.

CEO Doug McMillan said, "We remain focused on building teams that are diverse and inclusive, and on fostering an environment where people have the opportunity for continued growth and development."

Walmart, the country's largest employer, had 1.5 million total workers in the United States last year.

SURPRISE, SURPRISE; FOX LIES 

A  Fox News anchor admitted on air on Monday that his show was inaccurate when it claimed on Friday that President Joe Biden is trying to require Americans to sharply reduce their consumption of red meat

.

John Roberts, co-host of the afternoon show "America Reports," made the Monday concession after CNN and other media outlets published fact check articles explaining that Biden does not have any plan to restrict red meat consumption.

Roberts acknowledged Monday that "a graphic and the script" from his Friday show "incorrectly implied" that a 2020 academic study about meat-eating and greenhouse gas emissions is "part of Biden's plan for dealing with climate change."

"That is not the case," Roberts said.

Roberts had falsely claimed on Friday that the study -- which is not connected in any way to Biden's actual policies -- found that people need to "say goodbye to your burgers if you want to sign up to the Biden climate agenda." As Roberts spoke on Friday, Fox aired a graphic that claimed "Biden's climate requirements" are to "cut 90% of red meat from diet, max 4 lbs per year, one burger per month."

The graphic went viral online; it was amplified on Twitter by Donald Trump Jr., the Republican governors of Texas and Idaho and others. But it was entirely wrong.

Biden has not put forward any proposal to force Americans to change their diets. And the study Roberts cited -- which was published before Biden had even won the Democratic presidential nomination -- was not about Biden at all.

The study from scholars at the University of Michigan and Tulane University looked at what would happen to greenhouse gas emissions if Americans hypothetically decided to reduce their meat consumption to four pounds per year. It said nothing about a government-mandated reduction to four pounds per year -- and did not even mention Biden's name.

The Daily Mail, a British tabloid, baselessly linked the study to Biden in a Thursday article. A series of Fox personalities then did the same thing on Friday and Saturday.

Fox News hosts Jesse Watters and Ainsley Earhardt also pushed false claims about Biden and red meat. So did Fox Business host Larry Kudlow, the former Trump administration economic official.

Carly Shanahan of Fox's media relations department declined to comment on Monday when asked whether these hosts would also acknowledge they were inaccurate.

ROARING TWENTIES REDUX

A second cryptocurrency exchange has collapsed in Turkey, adding to the country's crypto woes.

© Ozan Kose/Getty Images Turkey's government is planning to crack down on cryptocurrencies.

Analysts said the abrupt closure of the exchanges highlighted the risks of cryptocurrencies.

Many have turned to bitcoin and other assets to try to hedge against the country's high inflationn rate.

The cryptocurrency market has been dealt a major blow in Turkey after a second exchange went down on Friday. The closures have left hundreds of thousands of people without access to bitcoin and other assets, which many had bought as a hedge against rampant inflation.

Analysts said the events were a reminder to cryptocurrency investors everywhere to be sure to do business with reputable companies.

Vebitcoin, a Turkish crypto exchange which had around $60 million in daily trading volumes, announced it had stopped all of its activities on Friday. It put a message up on its website blaming financial strains.

The Turkish financial crimes watchdog then blocked all the exchange's bank accounts in the country later that day, according to the state-run Anadolu news agency.

Vebitcoin's announcement came days after rival Turkish crypto exchange Thodex stopped operations and its founder fled the country. The exchange had around 390,000 active users, according to reports.

The abrupt closure of the exchange was one catalyst for bitcoin's dramatic fall below $50,000 from recent highs close to $65,000, analysts said.

"The collapse of two exchanges in Turkey sent a warning to many cryptocurrency traders who have gotten into crypto with unreputable companies," Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda, said.

Turkey's cryptocurrency woes have been tied up with government efforts to crack down on the market.

Last week the country's central bank backed a ban on crypto payments. It said using cryptocurrencies for payments could cause "non-recoverable losses" for the parties involved.

But many Turks have turned to cryptocurrencies as a hedge against inflation, which stood at 16.2% in March.

"People like the idea of cryptocurrencies because they're unconstrained by the government," Marshall Gittler, head of investment research at BDSwiss, said. "But that freedom comes with costs - it also means there's no insurance and limited regulation."

Philip Gradwell, chief economist at Chainalysis, said: "The troubles at Turkish exchanges illustrate the importance of clear and stable regulation for cryptocurrency."

He added: "Investors in the USA and Europe are fortunate to have reputable cryptocurrency exchanges that operate within a strong regulatory framework, so the events in Turkey should not reduce their confidence."

cbc.ca

Relief efforts underway after La Soufrière volcanic eruptions
Duration: 00:36 

While no deaths have been reported following a series of volcanic eruptions over the past two weeks, large swaths of the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines are left covered in ash and dust. Local agriculture has been devastated and infrastructure compromised, hindering search and rescue efforts.