Alberta legislature resumes: Government focuses on economy, Opposition on COVID-19
EDMONTON — The first day of the Alberta legislature's fall sitting signalled the government's intention to focus on the economy and the Opposition determined to hold the United Conservatives to account for mismanaging COVID-19.© Provided by The Canadian Press
NDP Leader Rachel Notley accused Premier Jason Kenney and his cabinet of negligently downplaying the fourth wave of COVID-19, then disappearing in the summer as cases soared, resulting in hundreds of deaths and pushing hospital capacity to the breaking point.
“The premier went on vacation. He left Alberta without leadership,” Notley said in question period Monday as she pointed across the aisle at Kenney and his cabinet.
“Where was your health minister? Your deputy premier? Your finance minister? A single solitary adult over there? Where were they?”
Kenney responded that every jurisdiction has had COVID-19 hard times and the NDP’s criticism is not helpful to solving the crisis.
“They (the NDP) have always craved an Australian-style hard and brutal lockdown, the consequences of which would require turning this province into a virtual police state,” said Kenney. CHEAP SHOT RED BAITING EXCEPT AUSTRALIA IS A NEO LIBERAL TORY REGIME LIKE UCP
The premier has said he didn’t react with renewed rules to address the soaring summer case numbers until Sept. 3, because he didn’t believe a COVID-19-weary population would follow them. NOT ALBERTANS BUT HIS WEARY ANTI MASK ANTI VAX UCP BASE
The numbers have been dropping slowly in recent weeks, but there are still 182 people infected with the virus receiving intensive care.
The health system has had to double its normal amount of ICU beds, forcing the cancellation of thousands of non-urgent surgeries, and call in the military to handle the surge.
Kenney said there will be a review eventually of how his government handled the COVID-19 pandemic. He rejected the NDP’s call for an all-party committee with subpoena powers to get to the bottom of what happened over the summer.
Now is not the time to pull medical staff away from their duties, he said.
The legislature is to sit for five of the next six weeks through to the beginning of December. There's to be a one-week break around Remembrance Day.
Government house leader Jason Nixon said there will be 18 to 20 bills focused on creating jobs and diversifying the economy.
“I will be putting forward a very robust legislative agenda inside the legislature. And we will be going very quickly around the clock — morning, noon and night — to be able to fulfil that agenda for Albertans,” Nixon said.
Kenney introduced the first bill Monday to streamline how professional requirements are processed for those from out of province.
“Occupations are regulated inconsistently across Canada, creating a patchwork of credential recognition that holds back skilled and certified workers,” Kenney told a news conference.
The bill would affect more than 100 regulated professions, including nurses, accountants, real estate agents, firefighters, paramedics, engineers, insurance adjusters and horse jockeys.
Professional bodies would have to make a decision on an application within a month of receiving it and establish timely appeals for those rejected.
They would also have to make available online a breakdown of what documents are required to apply and the fees involved.
Kenney said the legislation, coupled with low taxes, high oil prices and COVID-19 receding, would help Alberta’s bottom line rebound.
“We are moving, I believe, probably into a strong and sustained cycle of economic growth,” said Kenney. “(But) we are hearing about labour shortages, not just in Alberta, but across the economy in North America, (so) this is going to become an emerging challenge.”
Infrastructure Minister Prasad Panda introduced legislation to codify how capital projects are given a green light and a 20-year strategy for capital planning.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 25, 2021.
Dean Bennett, The Canadian Press
Monday, October 25, 2021
'Never going to be ashamed:' Métis, two-spirit NDP MP wants to rebrand Alberta
EDMONTON — Blake Desjarlais says he represents what Alberta is truly about and it's not what the rest of Canada might think.
EDMONTON — Blake Desjarlais says he represents what Alberta is truly about and it's not what the rest of Canada might think.
© Provided by The Canadian Press
Believed to bethe first two-spirit member of Parliament, the 27-year-old says his ancestry and Métis identity tell a juxtaposed story about the Prairies.
"We have this terrible reputation across the country for being this redneck, Texas-like state," Desjarlais says in a recent interview while sitting in a hotel lobby in central Edmonton'sBoyle Street neighbourhood.
"(Alberta Premier) Jason Kenney has done an incredible job damaging our credibility across the world ... my family founded this province. We fought for it. We shed blood. We know first and foremost what this province is."
Desjarlais worked for Metis Settlements Alberta and chaired Alberta’s Indigenous climate leadership summits before he jumped into federal politics for the first time this year as an NDP candidate. In the September election, he unseateda Conservative in the Edmonton Griesbach riding.
Desjarlais says his roots stretch back centuries in the region, including the North-West Rebellion in 1885. His ancestors fought alongside Metis leader Louis Riel because they felt that Canada was not protecting their distinct culture.
Born in Edmonton, he says obstacles he faced as a child forced him to grow up fast and prepared him for politics.
"My courageous biological mother, Brenda, was a victim of the '60s Scoop and made the difficult decision to ask her sister, Grace, who she barely knew, to raise her son, as she faced her own traumas," Desjarlais says.
"I grew up hating this idea of being ... abandoned. But I quickly realized that it was the opposite of what actually happened."
While his mother struggled with substance abuse and tried to survive as a sex worker, Desjarlais grew up with his aunt and seven other children on the Fishing Lake Métis Settlement northeast of Edmonton.
Indigenous communities have had kinship families for centuries, he says.
"That's why Albertans are some of the hardest working people, who can teach the world a lot about community building and unity."
His riding office is located on 118Avenue, a well-known strip north of the downtown where his mother worked in the sex trade.
"(It's) really like the Indigenous street where new Canadians and people of colour feel at home, and that's where my mother felt at home," he says, adding he still bumps into elders in the area who worked with his mother, who fell ill and died about a decade ago.
The elders tell him stories about how they took care of one another, never knowing what their real names were.
"They had all these nicknames and ways of surviving in this community, and I'm part of it," Desjarlais says.
"I'm never going to be ashamed of that."
Since his election win, Desjarlais says he has also been thinking about his father, who was called Chully.
Chully worked as a carpenter and put smiles on people's faces when he handed them keys to new affordable housing units in Alberta. He died when Desjarlais was 12.
It's why Desjarlais wants to continue building.
"There's three kinds of building I want to do," Desjarlais says.
He wants to build infrastructure to help Alberta grow and create jobs. He wants to build intellectual power by investing in new technology to prevent brain drain in the region.
Lastly, Desjarlais says he wants tobuild a better brand for Alberta.
He wants it to be a province that embraces the history of its diverse groups, including some of its first immigrants from Lebanon, he says.
"People of colour ... their contributions continuously just get washed away. That's what I mean by rebranding ... how do we truly represent who we are as a province? By being honest with ourselves."
He says he also wants Alberta rebranded as environmentally friendly.
"There's only a finite amount of resources, so we have to diversify."
Desjarlais says he's excited for what the future holds.
Although he still has a lot to learn, he says he may consider running for prime minister one day — if enough people ask him to.
"I'm not terribly ambitious," he says with a laugh.
"I'm more of an 'oskapewo.' It's the Cree word for ... someone who helps medicine people with healing.
"I go where I'm told to."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 25, 2021.
---
This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.
Fakiha Baig, The Canadian Press
Believed to bethe first two-spirit member of Parliament, the 27-year-old says his ancestry and Métis identity tell a juxtaposed story about the Prairies.
"We have this terrible reputation across the country for being this redneck, Texas-like state," Desjarlais says in a recent interview while sitting in a hotel lobby in central Edmonton'sBoyle Street neighbourhood.
"(Alberta Premier) Jason Kenney has done an incredible job damaging our credibility across the world ... my family founded this province. We fought for it. We shed blood. We know first and foremost what this province is."
Desjarlais worked for Metis Settlements Alberta and chaired Alberta’s Indigenous climate leadership summits before he jumped into federal politics for the first time this year as an NDP candidate. In the September election, he unseateda Conservative in the Edmonton Griesbach riding.
Desjarlais says his roots stretch back centuries in the region, including the North-West Rebellion in 1885. His ancestors fought alongside Metis leader Louis Riel because they felt that Canada was not protecting their distinct culture.
Born in Edmonton, he says obstacles he faced as a child forced him to grow up fast and prepared him for politics.
"My courageous biological mother, Brenda, was a victim of the '60s Scoop and made the difficult decision to ask her sister, Grace, who she barely knew, to raise her son, as she faced her own traumas," Desjarlais says.
"I grew up hating this idea of being ... abandoned. But I quickly realized that it was the opposite of what actually happened."
While his mother struggled with substance abuse and tried to survive as a sex worker, Desjarlais grew up with his aunt and seven other children on the Fishing Lake Métis Settlement northeast of Edmonton.
Indigenous communities have had kinship families for centuries, he says.
"That's why Albertans are some of the hardest working people, who can teach the world a lot about community building and unity."
His riding office is located on 118Avenue, a well-known strip north of the downtown where his mother worked in the sex trade.
"(It's) really like the Indigenous street where new Canadians and people of colour feel at home, and that's where my mother felt at home," he says, adding he still bumps into elders in the area who worked with his mother, who fell ill and died about a decade ago.
The elders tell him stories about how they took care of one another, never knowing what their real names were.
"They had all these nicknames and ways of surviving in this community, and I'm part of it," Desjarlais says.
"I'm never going to be ashamed of that."
Since his election win, Desjarlais says he has also been thinking about his father, who was called Chully.
Chully worked as a carpenter and put smiles on people's faces when he handed them keys to new affordable housing units in Alberta. He died when Desjarlais was 12.
It's why Desjarlais wants to continue building.
"There's three kinds of building I want to do," Desjarlais says.
He wants to build infrastructure to help Alberta grow and create jobs. He wants to build intellectual power by investing in new technology to prevent brain drain in the region.
Lastly, Desjarlais says he wants tobuild a better brand for Alberta.
He wants it to be a province that embraces the history of its diverse groups, including some of its first immigrants from Lebanon, he says.
"People of colour ... their contributions continuously just get washed away. That's what I mean by rebranding ... how do we truly represent who we are as a province? By being honest with ourselves."
He says he also wants Alberta rebranded as environmentally friendly.
"There's only a finite amount of resources, so we have to diversify."
Desjarlais says he's excited for what the future holds.
Although he still has a lot to learn, he says he may consider running for prime minister one day — if enough people ask him to.
"I'm not terribly ambitious," he says with a laugh.
"I'm more of an 'oskapewo.' It's the Cree word for ... someone who helps medicine people with healing.
"I go where I'm told to."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 25, 2021.
---
This story was produced with the financial assistance of the Facebook and Canadian Press News Fellowship.
Fakiha Baig, The Canadian Press
Harvard professors warn that war-torn countries will miss global vaccine goals in 2022
Some 50 million people live under armed, non-state groups, with another 100 million living in volatile areas, according to the Red Cross.
WHO's global vaccine initiative COVAX aims to provide free Covid shots to struggling nations that will cover at least 20% of their population.
The program, however, faces logistical difficulties of administering multiple vaccine doses in conflict zones.
Some 50 million people live under armed, non-state groups, with another 100 million living in volatile areas, according to the Red Cross.
WHO's global vaccine initiative COVAX aims to provide free Covid shots to struggling nations that will cover at least 20% of their population.
The program, however, faces logistical difficulties of administering multiple vaccine doses in conflict zones.
© Provided by CNBC Taliban members gather and make speeches in front of Herat governorate after the completion of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, in Herat, Afghanistan on August 31, 2021.
War-torn countries will miss the World Health Organization's goal of vaccinating 70% of their populations against Covid-19 by the middle of next year, health leaders from Harvard said at a conference hosted by the university on Monday.
Health-care systems and public infrastructure have been devastated in nations of conflict over the course of the pandemic, said Claude Bruderlein, a lecturer at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Some 50 million people live under armed, non-state groups, with another 100 million living in volatile areas, according to the Red Cross.
"We're talking about 70% for mid-2022," Bruderlein said of the WHO's target. "There is simply no way that the countries in conflict will reach any of these goals."
Bruderlein called on the international medical community to reevaluate COVAX, a WHO initiative that aims to improve the production and distribution of Covid vaccines in the developing world. COVAX aims to provide Covid shots for at least 20% of countries' populations, but Bruderlein said the program was unsustainable due to the logistical difficulties of administering multiple vaccine doses in conflict zones and the lack of long-term outbreak protection offered by just 20% vaccination coverage.
Instead, Bruderlein called for health authorities to assess the nations most vulnerable to evolving Covid variants and invest in vaccine rollouts in hopes of immunizing up to 60% of their populations against the virus. COVAX is also running low on vaccines, further impeding the fight to control the virus in conflict zones, Harvard School of Public Health visiting scientist Madeline Drexler said.
"Really the biggest hurdle is this vaccine shortage," Drexler said. "The COVAX facility, which is distributing vaccines to low-income countries all around the world, is desperately short of doses. So really there's a global equity problem right now."
WHO officials have for weeks called on high-income nations to transfer their surplus Covid vaccines to poorer countries to help alleviate the strain of global immunization disparities. The organization set a target to vaccinate 40% of every country's population by the end of the year and 10% of their populations by the end of September, but 56 nations missed the September goal.
Misinformation, political lies and the global spread of the anti-vaccine movement have increased the difficulty of administering vaccines in conflict zones, Drexler said. And the destruction of war makes it even more challenging to fight the pandemic, said Esperanza Martinez, head of the Covid-19 crisis team at the Red Cross.
"The protracted nature of conflict generally weakens health systems, and key parts of the health system that are needed for vaccination are rendered dysfunctional," Martinez said.
"Additional elements to the health system – for example, infrastructure, roads, bridges, water and electricity to run the cold chain – is often not there," she added.
War-torn countries will miss the World Health Organization's goal of vaccinating 70% of their populations against Covid-19 by the middle of next year, health leaders from Harvard said at a conference hosted by the university on Monday.
Health-care systems and public infrastructure have been devastated in nations of conflict over the course of the pandemic, said Claude Bruderlein, a lecturer at Harvard's T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Some 50 million people live under armed, non-state groups, with another 100 million living in volatile areas, according to the Red Cross.
"We're talking about 70% for mid-2022," Bruderlein said of the WHO's target. "There is simply no way that the countries in conflict will reach any of these goals."
Bruderlein called on the international medical community to reevaluate COVAX, a WHO initiative that aims to improve the production and distribution of Covid vaccines in the developing world. COVAX aims to provide Covid shots for at least 20% of countries' populations, but Bruderlein said the program was unsustainable due to the logistical difficulties of administering multiple vaccine doses in conflict zones and the lack of long-term outbreak protection offered by just 20% vaccination coverage.
Instead, Bruderlein called for health authorities to assess the nations most vulnerable to evolving Covid variants and invest in vaccine rollouts in hopes of immunizing up to 60% of their populations against the virus. COVAX is also running low on vaccines, further impeding the fight to control the virus in conflict zones, Harvard School of Public Health visiting scientist Madeline Drexler said.
"Really the biggest hurdle is this vaccine shortage," Drexler said. "The COVAX facility, which is distributing vaccines to low-income countries all around the world, is desperately short of doses. So really there's a global equity problem right now."
WHO officials have for weeks called on high-income nations to transfer their surplus Covid vaccines to poorer countries to help alleviate the strain of global immunization disparities. The organization set a target to vaccinate 40% of every country's population by the end of the year and 10% of their populations by the end of September, but 56 nations missed the September goal.
Misinformation, political lies and the global spread of the anti-vaccine movement have increased the difficulty of administering vaccines in conflict zones, Drexler said. And the destruction of war makes it even more challenging to fight the pandemic, said Esperanza Martinez, head of the Covid-19 crisis team at the Red Cross.
"The protracted nature of conflict generally weakens health systems, and key parts of the health system that are needed for vaccination are rendered dysfunctional," Martinez said.
"Additional elements to the health system – for example, infrastructure, roads, bridges, water and electricity to run the cold chain – is often not there," she added.
In France, Trump-like TV pundit rocks presidential campaign
By JOHN LEICESTER
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By JOHN LEICESTER
1 of 9
FILE - In this Sept.23, 2021 file photo, French far-right media pundit Eric Zemmour poses prior to a televised debate between French far-left leader, Jean-Luc Melenchon in Paris. Eric Zemmour is a rabble-rousing television pundit and author with repeated convictions for hate speech who is finding large and fervent audiences for his anti-Islam, anti-immigration invective in the early stages of France's presidential race . (Bertrand Guay, Pool Photo via AP, File)
PARIS (AP) — A survivor of the terrible journey to Auschwitz remembered how the youngest wailed. There were 99 children squeezed among 751 adults gasping for air, crazed by thirst and hunger, aboard convoy No. 63 that departed Paris at 10 minutes past midday on Dec. 17, 1943.
The 828 murdered at the death camp from that trainload alone included 3-year-old Francine Baur, her sister Myriam, 9, their brothers Antoine and Pierre, 6 and 10, and their parents Odette and André.
All born in France, their French citizenship proved worthless under France’s wartime Vichy regime that teamed up with the country’s Nazi occupiers and their extermination of Jews.
So when André Baur’s great-nephew, a Paris mayor, was catching up on his Twitter feed recently and saw a claim reported in French media that Adolf Hitler’s Vichy collaborators safeguarded France’s Jews from the Holocaust, he was revolted. Worst still in the eyes of Ariel Weil, mayor of the French capital’s city center, was that the debunked assertion came from a potential contender for the French presidency who is himself Jewish.
That person is Eric Zemmour, a rabble-rousing television pundit and author with repeated convictions for hate speech who is finding fervent audiences for his anti-Islam, anti-immigration invective in the early stages of France’s presidential race. He is packing auditoriums with paying crowds and filling supporters’ heads with visions of a Trump-like leap from small screen to the presidential Elysee Palace when France votes in April.
Although not yet officially declared as a candidate, Zemmour has so far dictated the course and tenor of the campaign. With climbing poll numbers, now consistently in double digits, and a Trump-like knack for generating buzz — recent video of him pointing a sniper rifle at journalists is racking up millions of views — Zemmour is sucking airtime from declared contenders.
He has also destabilized them by hammering on about immigration and the mortal danger he says it poses to France, making it harder for mainstream rivals to steer campaign conversation back to themes — combating climate change, post-pandemic rebuilding and suchlike — they want to focus on.
Zemmour is acting as a presidential contender in all but name. Supporters are soliciting funds and the backing from elected officials that candidates need to run. Shown the rifle at a security show by an exhibitor who said, “When you are president, Mr. Zemmour,” he interjected, “Yes.”
That is a horrifying scenario for French Jews who are appalled by Zemmour’s sugarcoating of the Vichy regime that was led by World War I hero Marshal Philippe Petain. He was tried and sentenced to death at World War II’s end, subsequently commuted to life imprisonment.
That Zemmour is himself a descendant of Berber Jews from Algeria, a family history he talks about proudly, deepened the hurt for Jews who lost relatives to the Holocaust.
“Just because he is Jewish, he is doing something that nobody else can do, and that is just disgusting,” Weil told The Associated Press in an interview. “History is complicated but this is very simple: Petain did not protect the French Jews.”
The frightened men, women and children herded aboard convoy No. 63 swelled what, by World War II’s end, became a shameful count of 74,182 Jews deported from France. Most were sent to their deaths in Auschwitz, in Nazi Germany-occupied Poland, where more than 1.1 million people perished.
A Paris court in February acquitted Zemmour on a charge of contesting crimes against humanity — illegal in France — for arguing in a 2019 television debate that Petain saved France’s Jews from the Holocaust.
In its verdict, the court said the deportation of foreign and French Jews “was implemented with the active participation of the Vichy government, its officials, and its police.” Zemmour’s comments negated Petain’s role in the extermination, the court added.
But in acquitting Zemmour, it said he’d spoken in the heat of the moment. It also noted that during the trial, Zemmour made a distinction between saying that “some French Jews” were saved (using the word “des” in French), which he maintained was true, and saying “the French Jews” were saved (using the French word “les”), a generality which he said he disavowed.
Yet last month, Zemmour employed “les” when expounding again on Vichy in another broadcast interview, saying: “I say that Vichy protected the French Jews and that it handed over the foreign Jews.”
“It’s abominable, because these poor people died,” he added.
Lawyers who contest his court acquittal plan to cite that interview as evidence when their appeal is heard in January.
Politically, most threatened by Zemmour is French far-right leader Marine Le Pen. Since losing the 2017 presidential runoff to winner Emmanuel Macron, she has watered down some of her policy proposals in hopes of broadening her appeal. But Zemmour is chipping away at her base, seemingly poaching Le Pen voters who suspect she’s gone soft. Some polls suggest they are neck and neck. But both consistently trail Macron, who is expected to stand again.
While both portray immigration as a threat to French identity, Zemmour uses language that Le Pen balks at and which his critics say positions him at the extremes of the far right. In a country that officially regards itself as colorblind and where public discussion of race is sometimes frowned upon, Zemmour is rare among political figures in openly distinguishing between skin colors. At a recent rally in Versailles, he described woke culture as a plot to make “white, heterosexual, Catholic” men feel “so full of guilt” that they willingly abandon their “culture and civilization.”
On Vichy, Zemmour has sought of late to draw a line under that topic. “I am no longer discussing historical points that are discussed by historians,” he said in Versailles.
But for French Jews, the damage is already done. Some fear he has muddied decades of work by Holocaust researchers to indelibly document the horrors.
“He is denying something that was evident, that cannot be denied,” said Eugenie Cayet, 84, whose father was deported from Paris to Auschwitz and killed.
“What’s his goal? To rally all of Le Pen’s votes behind him.”
Ariel Weil holds in a library in Paris city hall on Tuesday, Oct.12, 2021 a photo of his great-uncle Andre Baur and all of his family who were deported together from Drancy and murdered in Auschwitz. When André Baur's great-nephew, a Paris mayor, was catching up on his Twitter feed recently and saw a claim widely reported in French mainstream media that Adolf Hitler's Vichy collaborators had saved France's Jews from the Holocaust, he was swept with anger and revulsion. Worst still in the eyes of Weil, was that the debunked assertion came from a pretender for the French presidency who is himself Jewish. That person is Eric Zemmour, a rabble-rousing television pundit and author with repeated convictions for hate speech who is finding fervent audiences for his anti-Islam, anti-immigration invective in the early stages of France's presidential race. (AP Photo/John Leicester)
PARIS (AP) — A survivor of the terrible journey to Auschwitz remembered how the youngest wailed. There were 99 children squeezed among 751 adults gasping for air, crazed by thirst and hunger, aboard convoy No. 63 that departed Paris at 10 minutes past midday on Dec. 17, 1943.
The 828 murdered at the death camp from that trainload alone included 3-year-old Francine Baur, her sister Myriam, 9, their brothers Antoine and Pierre, 6 and 10, and their parents Odette and André.
All born in France, their French citizenship proved worthless under France’s wartime Vichy regime that teamed up with the country’s Nazi occupiers and their extermination of Jews.
So when André Baur’s great-nephew, a Paris mayor, was catching up on his Twitter feed recently and saw a claim reported in French media that Adolf Hitler’s Vichy collaborators safeguarded France’s Jews from the Holocaust, he was revolted. Worst still in the eyes of Ariel Weil, mayor of the French capital’s city center, was that the debunked assertion came from a potential contender for the French presidency who is himself Jewish.
That person is Eric Zemmour, a rabble-rousing television pundit and author with repeated convictions for hate speech who is finding fervent audiences for his anti-Islam, anti-immigration invective in the early stages of France’s presidential race. He is packing auditoriums with paying crowds and filling supporters’ heads with visions of a Trump-like leap from small screen to the presidential Elysee Palace when France votes in April.
Although not yet officially declared as a candidate, Zemmour has so far dictated the course and tenor of the campaign. With climbing poll numbers, now consistently in double digits, and a Trump-like knack for generating buzz — recent video of him pointing a sniper rifle at journalists is racking up millions of views — Zemmour is sucking airtime from declared contenders.
He has also destabilized them by hammering on about immigration and the mortal danger he says it poses to France, making it harder for mainstream rivals to steer campaign conversation back to themes — combating climate change, post-pandemic rebuilding and suchlike — they want to focus on.
Zemmour is acting as a presidential contender in all but name. Supporters are soliciting funds and the backing from elected officials that candidates need to run. Shown the rifle at a security show by an exhibitor who said, “When you are president, Mr. Zemmour,” he interjected, “Yes.”
That is a horrifying scenario for French Jews who are appalled by Zemmour’s sugarcoating of the Vichy regime that was led by World War I hero Marshal Philippe Petain. He was tried and sentenced to death at World War II’s end, subsequently commuted to life imprisonment.
That Zemmour is himself a descendant of Berber Jews from Algeria, a family history he talks about proudly, deepened the hurt for Jews who lost relatives to the Holocaust.
“Just because he is Jewish, he is doing something that nobody else can do, and that is just disgusting,” Weil told The Associated Press in an interview. “History is complicated but this is very simple: Petain did not protect the French Jews.”
The frightened men, women and children herded aboard convoy No. 63 swelled what, by World War II’s end, became a shameful count of 74,182 Jews deported from France. Most were sent to their deaths in Auschwitz, in Nazi Germany-occupied Poland, where more than 1.1 million people perished.
A Paris court in February acquitted Zemmour on a charge of contesting crimes against humanity — illegal in France — for arguing in a 2019 television debate that Petain saved France’s Jews from the Holocaust.
In its verdict, the court said the deportation of foreign and French Jews “was implemented with the active participation of the Vichy government, its officials, and its police.” Zemmour’s comments negated Petain’s role in the extermination, the court added.
But in acquitting Zemmour, it said he’d spoken in the heat of the moment. It also noted that during the trial, Zemmour made a distinction between saying that “some French Jews” were saved (using the word “des” in French), which he maintained was true, and saying “the French Jews” were saved (using the French word “les”), a generality which he said he disavowed.
Yet last month, Zemmour employed “les” when expounding again on Vichy in another broadcast interview, saying: “I say that Vichy protected the French Jews and that it handed over the foreign Jews.”
“It’s abominable, because these poor people died,” he added.
Lawyers who contest his court acquittal plan to cite that interview as evidence when their appeal is heard in January.
Politically, most threatened by Zemmour is French far-right leader Marine Le Pen. Since losing the 2017 presidential runoff to winner Emmanuel Macron, she has watered down some of her policy proposals in hopes of broadening her appeal. But Zemmour is chipping away at her base, seemingly poaching Le Pen voters who suspect she’s gone soft. Some polls suggest they are neck and neck. But both consistently trail Macron, who is expected to stand again.
While both portray immigration as a threat to French identity, Zemmour uses language that Le Pen balks at and which his critics say positions him at the extremes of the far right. In a country that officially regards itself as colorblind and where public discussion of race is sometimes frowned upon, Zemmour is rare among political figures in openly distinguishing between skin colors. At a recent rally in Versailles, he described woke culture as a plot to make “white, heterosexual, Catholic” men feel “so full of guilt” that they willingly abandon their “culture and civilization.”
On Vichy, Zemmour has sought of late to draw a line under that topic. “I am no longer discussing historical points that are discussed by historians,” he said in Versailles.
But for French Jews, the damage is already done. Some fear he has muddied decades of work by Holocaust researchers to indelibly document the horrors.
“He is denying something that was evident, that cannot be denied,” said Eugenie Cayet, 84, whose father was deported from Paris to Auschwitz and killed.
“What’s his goal? To rally all of Le Pen’s votes behind him.”
Ariel Weil holds in a library in Paris city hall on Tuesday, Oct.12, 2021 a photo of his great-uncle Andre Baur and all of his family who were deported together from Drancy and murdered in Auschwitz. When André Baur's great-nephew, a Paris mayor, was catching up on his Twitter feed recently and saw a claim widely reported in French mainstream media that Adolf Hitler's Vichy collaborators had saved France's Jews from the Holocaust, he was swept with anger and revulsion. Worst still in the eyes of Weil, was that the debunked assertion came from a pretender for the French presidency who is himself Jewish. That person is Eric Zemmour, a rabble-rousing television pundit and author with repeated convictions for hate speech who is finding fervent audiences for his anti-Islam, anti-immigration invective in the early stages of France's presidential race. (AP Photo/John Leicester)
PRIVATIZED SCHOOL FAIL
Leader of charter school to quit following hedge fund losses
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The founder of a St. Paul charter school that lost $4.3 million in a hedge fund investment is quitting as superintendent and chief financial officer, the Hmong College Prep Academy board said in a posting on its website.
The board said it plans to meet Monday to vote on Christianna Hang’s letter of resignation, which was submitted days after the state auditor’s office determined that the school failed to follow state law and its own policies when it invested $5 million in the hedge fund.
State Auditor Julie Blaha said her office was not assigning blame to anyone for the school’s losses, although the office sent its findings to the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office for possible action, the Star Tribune reported.
The school opened in 2004 with 200 ninth- and 10th-graders, according to its website, and since has undergone several expansions on what now is a sprawling grades K-12 campus.
The school is the top destination for families who decide against sending their children to St. Paul Public Schools. It had been looking at financing for a new middle school when it made the hedge fund investment in 2019, according to federal court documents filed by school and the hedge fund, Woodstock Capital LLC.
The school sued the hedge fund alleging fraud and negligence. Woodstock Capital attributed the losses to the pandemic.
Leader of charter school to quit following hedge fund losses
ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — The founder of a St. Paul charter school that lost $4.3 million in a hedge fund investment is quitting as superintendent and chief financial officer, the Hmong College Prep Academy board said in a posting on its website.
The board said it plans to meet Monday to vote on Christianna Hang’s letter of resignation, which was submitted days after the state auditor’s office determined that the school failed to follow state law and its own policies when it invested $5 million in the hedge fund.
State Auditor Julie Blaha said her office was not assigning blame to anyone for the school’s losses, although the office sent its findings to the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office for possible action, the Star Tribune reported.
The school opened in 2004 with 200 ninth- and 10th-graders, according to its website, and since has undergone several expansions on what now is a sprawling grades K-12 campus.
The school is the top destination for families who decide against sending their children to St. Paul Public Schools. It had been looking at financing for a new middle school when it made the hedge fund investment in 2019, according to federal court documents filed by school and the hedge fund, Woodstock Capital LLC.
The school sued the hedge fund alleging fraud and negligence. Woodstock Capital attributed the losses to the pandemic.
‘Forever chemicals’ crackdown could hit Conn. manufacturers
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — The Biden administration’s proposed crackdown on so-called “forever chemicals” used in products from makeup to cookware could have a wide-ranging impact on Connecticut manufacturers.
Last week’s EPA announcement covers per- and polyfluorinated alkyl, substances known as PFAS that are considered long-term health threats in food and water supplies.
The issue was raised in Connecticut recently after a spill of firefighting foam into the Farmington River and a dozen contaminated wells found in Killingworth.
State lawmakers earlier this year passed some of the toughest regulations in the nation regarding PFAS, banning their use in most firefighting foams and food packaging, the New Haven Register reported.
The EPA’s proposed action would go further and require manufacturers to report how many PFAS chemicals their products contain and, potentially, pay for environmental cleanup.
Experts tell the Register that will place a particular burden on smaller manufacturers who will have to analyze and identify whether their products contain PFAS, and in what amount.
“It’s time consuming, it requires an expertise that most small manufacturers don’t have,” Sabina Beck, vice president of Torrington-based electronics manufacturer Altek, told the newspaper. “That’s not to say it’s not important or that they shouldn’t be doing it, but it’s a costly administrative burden.”
Beck said groups like the Small Manufacturers Association of Connecticut can connect companies with resources to fulfill regulatory requirements.
The EPA has said exposure to PFAS chemicals has been linked to some cancers, decreased fertility, impaired immune systems and low birth weights.
“We have more to do of course, we need to get (PFAS) out of textiles and rugs and all sorts of things,” Susan Eastwood, state chapter chair of the Sierra Club, told the Register. “But this will back us up.”
A DEEP spokesperson said last week the department was reviewing the EPA’s announcement.
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — The Biden administration’s proposed crackdown on so-called “forever chemicals” used in products from makeup to cookware could have a wide-ranging impact on Connecticut manufacturers.
Last week’s EPA announcement covers per- and polyfluorinated alkyl, substances known as PFAS that are considered long-term health threats in food and water supplies.
The issue was raised in Connecticut recently after a spill of firefighting foam into the Farmington River and a dozen contaminated wells found in Killingworth.
State lawmakers earlier this year passed some of the toughest regulations in the nation regarding PFAS, banning their use in most firefighting foams and food packaging, the New Haven Register reported.
The EPA’s proposed action would go further and require manufacturers to report how many PFAS chemicals their products contain and, potentially, pay for environmental cleanup.
Experts tell the Register that will place a particular burden on smaller manufacturers who will have to analyze and identify whether their products contain PFAS, and in what amount.
“It’s time consuming, it requires an expertise that most small manufacturers don’t have,” Sabina Beck, vice president of Torrington-based electronics manufacturer Altek, told the newspaper. “That’s not to say it’s not important or that they shouldn’t be doing it, but it’s a costly administrative burden.”
Beck said groups like the Small Manufacturers Association of Connecticut can connect companies with resources to fulfill regulatory requirements.
The EPA has said exposure to PFAS chemicals has been linked to some cancers, decreased fertility, impaired immune systems and low birth weights.
“We have more to do of course, we need to get (PFAS) out of textiles and rugs and all sorts of things,” Susan Eastwood, state chapter chair of the Sierra Club, told the Register. “But this will back us up.”
A DEEP spokesperson said last week the department was reviewing the EPA’s announcement.
Critics question utility’s bitcoin-mining data center
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Missouri’s largest utility has set up a data center at the site of one of its coal-fired power plants that it is using to mine the Internet for bitcoins.
Ameren Corp. officials say the data center could also help stabilize demand for electricity that could help it avoid ramping production down and back up again, which is inefficient.
Ameren officials told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch they believe the utility is one of the first regulated U.S. utilities mining cryptocurrencies. The company has already collected more than 20 bitcoins, valued, as of Friday, at more than $60,000 apiece.
But critics question the $1 million project because they say it serves to artificially heighten demand for energy from coal and the utility could put the resources to better use elsewhere such as by pursuing technology like battery storage or electric vehicle charging stations.
“This really increases demand on the system, and therefore, demand for coal energy,” said local Sierra Club official Andy Knott with the group’s Beyond Coal Campaign. “I think what they’re trying to do is avoid having to ramp down their generators.”
Officials with the utility say they envisioned the high-powered computers as a flexible and controlled way to help manage the electrical load.
“The objective here is to help fill in valleys,” said Warren Wood, the vice president of regulatory and legislative affairs for Ameren Missouri. “That helps run the system more efficiently.”
The company said it is open to other uses for the computing power. “A data center can do a lot of different things of value,” Wood said. “Bitcoin just happens to be one of them.”
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Missouri’s largest utility has set up a data center at the site of one of its coal-fired power plants that it is using to mine the Internet for bitcoins.
Ameren Corp. officials say the data center could also help stabilize demand for electricity that could help it avoid ramping production down and back up again, which is inefficient.
Ameren officials told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch they believe the utility is one of the first regulated U.S. utilities mining cryptocurrencies. The company has already collected more than 20 bitcoins, valued, as of Friday, at more than $60,000 apiece.
But critics question the $1 million project because they say it serves to artificially heighten demand for energy from coal and the utility could put the resources to better use elsewhere such as by pursuing technology like battery storage or electric vehicle charging stations.
“This really increases demand on the system, and therefore, demand for coal energy,” said local Sierra Club official Andy Knott with the group’s Beyond Coal Campaign. “I think what they’re trying to do is avoid having to ramp down their generators.”
Officials with the utility say they envisioned the high-powered computers as a flexible and controlled way to help manage the electrical load.
“The objective here is to help fill in valleys,” said Warren Wood, the vice president of regulatory and legislative affairs for Ameren Missouri. “That helps run the system more efficiently.”
The company said it is open to other uses for the computing power. “A data center can do a lot of different things of value,” Wood said. “Bitcoin just happens to be one of them.”
Toyota testing hydrogen combustion engines in race cars
By YURI KAGEYAMA
One advantage of hydrogen engines is that minimal adjustments are needed from regular internal combustion engines, except for the fuel piping and injection systems.
The use of hydrogen as fuel comes with some risk concerns, but hydrogen fueling stations are operating across Japan, with no major accidents so far.
Sakamoto said hydrogen is as safe as any other fuel on roads today, noting lithium-ion batteries used in EVs have caused fires, and hydrogen tanks are made of carbon fiber.
The latest hydrogen technology is being tested on a Yaris with a 1.6 liter engine for racing, according to Toyota.
Two hydrogen tanks fit in the back seat area of the racing car, although that is likely to change for commercial models.
Hydrogen may offer some advantages. Batteries for EVs require various minerals, while hydrogen is relatively plentiful in the environment and can be readily stored and transported.
Hydrogen can be created from water by electrolysis, often carried out in school chemistry experiments. Hydrogen can also be converted from solar energy for storage. But depending on how widespread such fuel may become, it could be a lot cheaper to fill up your car than gasoline, whose prices fluctuate wildly. Toyota also said it was producing hydrogen at a geothermal power station in southern Japan.
But the hydrogen engine is not 100% zero emission, emitting a tiny bit of carbon dioxide from the engine oil. Toyota said it has developed technology to purify its nitrogen oxide, or NOx, emissions.
___
Yuri Kageyama is on Twitter https://twitter.com/yurikageyama
By YURI KAGEYAMA
This photo released by Toyota Motor Corp., shows a hydrogen engine car being refueled during the five-hour-long Super Taikyu Race at Autopolis in Hita, Oita prefecture, southern Japan on July 31, 2021. Toyota said Monday, Oct. 25, 2021 it is testing hydrogen combustion engines in race cars as it works toward using the technology in commercial products. (Toyota Motor Corp. via AP)
TOKYO (AP) — Toyota said Monday it is testing hydrogen combustion engines in race cars as it works toward using the technology in commercial products.
Such engines burn hydrogen as fuel instead of gasoline, much like rockets. The Japanese automaker said testing the technology in race cars will allow it to collect data and try to fix problems on-site.
Toyota Motor Corp. announced earlier that it was developing a hydrogen combustion engine, which Ford Motor Co. and other automakers have also developed. Vehicles powered by such engines are different from fuel cell vehicles that use hydrogen to create electricity, and from electric or hybrid vehicles.
“We want to propose multiple options to meet regional needs,” Naoyuki Sakamoto, chief engineer of the hydrogen-powered engine Corolla model, said in an online news conference.
Sakamoto declined to say when the hydrogen combustion engine may become a commercial product, acknowledging further development is needed to address its so far limited driving range. Infrastructure for fueling such vehicles is another obstacle. Toyota has not released the range or mileage for the technology
TOKYO (AP) — Toyota said Monday it is testing hydrogen combustion engines in race cars as it works toward using the technology in commercial products.
Such engines burn hydrogen as fuel instead of gasoline, much like rockets. The Japanese automaker said testing the technology in race cars will allow it to collect data and try to fix problems on-site.
Toyota Motor Corp. announced earlier that it was developing a hydrogen combustion engine, which Ford Motor Co. and other automakers have also developed. Vehicles powered by such engines are different from fuel cell vehicles that use hydrogen to create electricity, and from electric or hybrid vehicles.
“We want to propose multiple options to meet regional needs,” Naoyuki Sakamoto, chief engineer of the hydrogen-powered engine Corolla model, said in an online news conference.
Sakamoto declined to say when the hydrogen combustion engine may become a commercial product, acknowledging further development is needed to address its so far limited driving range. Infrastructure for fueling such vehicles is another obstacle. Toyota has not released the range or mileage for the technology
One advantage of hydrogen engines is that minimal adjustments are needed from regular internal combustion engines, except for the fuel piping and injection systems.
The use of hydrogen as fuel comes with some risk concerns, but hydrogen fueling stations are operating across Japan, with no major accidents so far.
Sakamoto said hydrogen is as safe as any other fuel on roads today, noting lithium-ion batteries used in EVs have caused fires, and hydrogen tanks are made of carbon fiber.
The latest hydrogen technology is being tested on a Yaris with a 1.6 liter engine for racing, according to Toyota.
Two hydrogen tanks fit in the back seat area of the racing car, although that is likely to change for commercial models.
Hydrogen may offer some advantages. Batteries for EVs require various minerals, while hydrogen is relatively plentiful in the environment and can be readily stored and transported.
Hydrogen can be created from water by electrolysis, often carried out in school chemistry experiments. Hydrogen can also be converted from solar energy for storage. But depending on how widespread such fuel may become, it could be a lot cheaper to fill up your car than gasoline, whose prices fluctuate wildly. Toyota also said it was producing hydrogen at a geothermal power station in southern Japan.
But the hydrogen engine is not 100% zero emission, emitting a tiny bit of carbon dioxide from the engine oil. Toyota said it has developed technology to purify its nitrogen oxide, or NOx, emissions.
___
Yuri Kageyama is on Twitter https://twitter.com/yurikageyama
Wife of jailed Turkish activist says case is ‘inexplicable’
ISTANBUL (AP) — The wife of a jailed philanthropist at the center of a diplomatic crisis between Turkey and 10 Western nations described her husband’s imprisonment as inexplicable Monday.
“There’s no way this situation can be explained either logically or legally,” Ayse Bugra said in comments published on Halk TV’s website. Her husband, Osman Kavala, has been in prison for four years awaiting trial on charges many view as unfounded.
Last week the ambassadors of 10 countries, including the U.S., Germany and France, called for Kavala’s release and the swift resolution of his case.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned their joint statement and announced on Saturday that he had ordered the envoys to be declared persona non grata, paving the way for them to be removed from Turkey.
Kavala, 64, was acquitted in February last year of charges linked to nationwide anti-government protests in 2013, but the ruling was overturned and joined to charges relating to a 2016 coup attempt. He faces a life sentence if convicted.
The European Court of Human Rights called for his release in 2019, saying his incarceration acted to silence him and was not supported by evidence of an offense. The Council of Europe says it will start infringement proceedings against Turkey at the end of November if Kavala is not freed.
Since Erdogan’s announcement, there has been no further official comment on action against the diplomats, who also include the ambassadors of the Netherlands, Canada, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway and New Zealand.
Several of the states have said they have received no formal communication from the Foreign Ministry. Erdogan is due to chair a Cabinet meeting later Monday, when the crisis is expected to be discussed.
Although Kavala’s continued incarceration has been widely criticized abroad, Turkey maintains he is being held according to the rulings of its independent judiciary.
Bugra, a professor of political economy, said the president’s comments, in which he compared her husband’s imprisonment to the treatment of “bandits, murderers and terrorists” in other countries, contradicted the principle of judicial independence.
As a member of the Council of Europe Turkey is bound by the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights. Bugra said she regarded the ambassadors’ statement as an effort to curtail possible action against Turkey.
“The Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers said it would impose sanctions if Osman is not released at the end of November,” she said. “This is something serious. I interpret the envoys’ initiative as a well-intentioned attempt to prevent things from becoming this way.”
The Turkish lira plummeted after Erdogan’s statement, hitting an all-time low of 9.85 against the dollar on Monday morning. The currency had been under pressure following interest rate cuts last week amid inflation that stands at nearly 20%.
Increased tensions with the West are likely to scare off foreign investment, further harming Turkey’s beleaguered economy.
ISTANBUL (AP) — The wife of a jailed philanthropist at the center of a diplomatic crisis between Turkey and 10 Western nations described her husband’s imprisonment as inexplicable Monday.
“There’s no way this situation can be explained either logically or legally,” Ayse Bugra said in comments published on Halk TV’s website. Her husband, Osman Kavala, has been in prison for four years awaiting trial on charges many view as unfounded.
Last week the ambassadors of 10 countries, including the U.S., Germany and France, called for Kavala’s release and the swift resolution of his case.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned their joint statement and announced on Saturday that he had ordered the envoys to be declared persona non grata, paving the way for them to be removed from Turkey.
Kavala, 64, was acquitted in February last year of charges linked to nationwide anti-government protests in 2013, but the ruling was overturned and joined to charges relating to a 2016 coup attempt. He faces a life sentence if convicted.
The European Court of Human Rights called for his release in 2019, saying his incarceration acted to silence him and was not supported by evidence of an offense. The Council of Europe says it will start infringement proceedings against Turkey at the end of November if Kavala is not freed.
Since Erdogan’s announcement, there has been no further official comment on action against the diplomats, who also include the ambassadors of the Netherlands, Canada, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway and New Zealand.
Several of the states have said they have received no formal communication from the Foreign Ministry. Erdogan is due to chair a Cabinet meeting later Monday, when the crisis is expected to be discussed.
Although Kavala’s continued incarceration has been widely criticized abroad, Turkey maintains he is being held according to the rulings of its independent judiciary.
Bugra, a professor of political economy, said the president’s comments, in which he compared her husband’s imprisonment to the treatment of “bandits, murderers and terrorists” in other countries, contradicted the principle of judicial independence.
As a member of the Council of Europe Turkey is bound by the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights. Bugra said she regarded the ambassadors’ statement as an effort to curtail possible action against Turkey.
“The Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers said it would impose sanctions if Osman is not released at the end of November,” she said. “This is something serious. I interpret the envoys’ initiative as a well-intentioned attempt to prevent things from becoming this way.”
The Turkish lira plummeted after Erdogan’s statement, hitting an all-time low of 9.85 against the dollar on Monday morning. The currency had been under pressure following interest rate cuts last week amid inflation that stands at nearly 20%.
Increased tensions with the West are likely to scare off foreign investment, further harming Turkey’s beleaguered economy.
#FIGHTFOR15
UK to increase low-wage workers’ pay by more than inflation
LONDON (AP) — Millions of low-pay workers in Britain will get an inflation-busting pay increase next year after the government said Monday it will legislate to raise the National Living Wage to 9.50 pounds ($13) an hour from the current rate of 8.91 pounds ($12.25).
UK to increase low-wage workers’ pay by more than inflation
LONDON (AP) — Millions of low-pay workers in Britain will get an inflation-busting pay increase next year after the government said Monday it will legislate to raise the National Living Wage to 9.50 pounds ($13) an hour from the current rate of 8.91 pounds ($12.25).
MISNAMED NOT A LIVING WAGE AT ALL
Britain’s Treasury said the 6.6% increase, which will apply to workers age 23 and up starting in April, means a full-time worker making the living wage would get an increase of more than 1,000 pounds ($1,374.90) per year.
The increase is around double the current rate of inflation, which has gone up sharply in recent months following a big spike in energy costs, including at home and at the pump.
For workers ages 21 and 22, the government said it would increase the minimum wage to 9.18 pounds an hour ($12.62) from 8.36 pounds ($11.49).
Given that inflation is set to rise further in coming months and with a benefit top-up introduced at the start of the coronavirus pandemic withdrawn, there are concerns as to whether the increase will be enough for people trying to make ends meet.
Nye Cominetti, senior economist at the Resolution Foundation think tank, noted that the headline increase would in fact be a “smaller real rise than some recent years” given that inflation is likely to be over 4% by April. Cominetti added that “there will be little protection for low income families from the cost of living crisis facing them this winter.”
The wage increases were announced as Treasury chief Rishi Sunak is preparing to release a budget statement on Wednesday, which could see further measures to address the high cost of living.
Sunak has little wiggle room though given the deterioration in the public finances during the pandemic. However, he is expected to announce another 5.9 billion pounds ($8.1 billion) to help the National Health Service deal with a backlog that has swelled during the pandemic.
Britain’s Treasury said the 6.6% increase, which will apply to workers age 23 and up starting in April, means a full-time worker making the living wage would get an increase of more than 1,000 pounds ($1,374.90) per year.
The increase is around double the current rate of inflation, which has gone up sharply in recent months following a big spike in energy costs, including at home and at the pump.
For workers ages 21 and 22, the government said it would increase the minimum wage to 9.18 pounds an hour ($12.62) from 8.36 pounds ($11.49).
Given that inflation is set to rise further in coming months and with a benefit top-up introduced at the start of the coronavirus pandemic withdrawn, there are concerns as to whether the increase will be enough for people trying to make ends meet.
Nye Cominetti, senior economist at the Resolution Foundation think tank, noted that the headline increase would in fact be a “smaller real rise than some recent years” given that inflation is likely to be over 4% by April. Cominetti added that “there will be little protection for low income families from the cost of living crisis facing them this winter.”
The wage increases were announced as Treasury chief Rishi Sunak is preparing to release a budget statement on Wednesday, which could see further measures to address the high cost of living.
Sunak has little wiggle room though given the deterioration in the public finances during the pandemic. However, he is expected to announce another 5.9 billion pounds ($8.1 billion) to help the National Health Service deal with a backlog that has swelled during the pandemic.
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