Friday, November 19, 2021

Tamil Rights Group takes Fight for Justice to the International Criminal Court

The Tamil Rights Group (TRG) is seeking Justice for Eelam Tamils at the International Criminal Court (ICC). The group, together with the Tamil Refugee Assistance Network (TRAN) has submitted an application requesting a preliminary investigation to crimes committed by Sri Lankan officials, including deportation, and persecution.

The application is under article 15 of the Rome Statue in the International Criminal Court (ICC), which deals with aggression on a state level, including war crimes . "Twelve years have passed since the United Nations first started trying to hold Sri Lanka accountable for its gross violations of human rights, and international humanitarian laws," Tamil Rights Spokesperson Katpana Nagendra said. The complaints date to the end of the 26-year long civil war. Approximately 25,000 people were internally displaced according to the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR).

"The current regime has not only unilaterally withdrawn from the United Nations Human Rights (UNHC) Council Resolutions that the state itself co-sponsored in 2015, but President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has also publicly vowed to protect the armed forces from any domestic or international accountability measures," Nagendra added. The application argues that ICC would have jurisdiction to investigate crimes against humanity based on a precedent set in a previous ruling on case between Myanmar/Bangladesh, where Myanmar was not a party to the statue, while Bangladesh was. They're arguing that the crime of deportation ends at the final destination. Many Eelam Tamil refugees have fled to Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada, which are all countries that are party to the Rome Statue

The Tamil Rights Group are being represented by David Matas, and Sarah Teich.

To read the full communication visit their website

Laura Steiner, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Milton Reporter, Milton Reporter

Thursday, November 18, 2021

Sudan, Protests continue after deadliest day since military coup

english_Alyurae November 18, 2021

Street clashes again shook Sudan’s capital on Thursday, a day after security forces shot dead 15 protesters in the bloodiest day since the military’s October 25 takeover.

Wednesday’s killings were condemned by UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet who said statement that “it is utterly shameful that live ammunition was again used yesterday against protesters.”

Since Thursday morning, police fired tear gas to disperse dozens of anti-coup protesters who had stayed on the streets of north Khartoum overnight, witnesses said, braving an intensifying crackdown that has drawn international condemnation.

Police tore down makeshift barricades the demonstrators had erected the previous day.

Later in the day, dozens of protesters returned to rebuild them and police again fired tear gas in a bid to clear the streets, witnesses said.

“Protesters responded by hurling stones at the police,” said one of them.

On October 25, top general Abdel Fattah al-Burhan — Sudan’s de facto leader since the April 2019 ouster of longtime autocrat Omar al-Bashir — detained the civilian leadership and declared a state of emergency.

The move upended Sudan’s fragile transition to full civilian rule, drawing international condemnation and a flurry of punitive measures and aid cuts.

“We condemn violence towards peaceful protesters and call for the respect and protection of human rights in Sudan,” the US State Department’s Bureau of African Affairs said on Twitter.

Appeal to international community

UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Association Clement Voule said he had “received alarming reports of increased use of lethal force by the military against peaceful protesters”.

He called on the international community to “put pressure on Sudan to immediately stop the repression against civilians and respect their rights”.

Burhan insists the military’s move “was not a coup” but a step to “rectify the course of the transition” to civilian rule.

Thousands took to the streets on Wednesday in Khartoum and other cities but were met by the deadliest crackdown since the coup.

At least 15 people were killed, most of them in north Khartoum, doctors said, raising the toll since the coup to 39 dead.

Police said they had recorded only one death among protesters in north Khartoum. Another 30 had suffered breathing difficulties from tear gas inhalation.

They said they had fired no live rounds and used only “minimum force”, even as 89 officers were wounded, some of them critically.

The latest demonstrations were organised despite a near-total shutdown of internet services and the disruption of telephone lines across Sudan.

By Thursday morning, phone lines had been restored but internet services remained largely cut.

Bridges connecting Khartoum with its neighbouring cities reopened and traffic returned to many of the capital’s streets.

Last week, Burhan formed a new Sovereign Council, the highest transitional authority, with himself as chief and military figures and ex-rebel leaders keeping their posts.

He replaced members from the Forces for Freedom and Change, Sudan’s main civilian bloc, with little-known figures.

Call for ‘peaceful protests’

The FFC is an umbrella alliance that spearheaded the protests which led to the ouster of Bashir in 2019, and its mainstream faction has supported the anti-coup protests of recent weeks.

Sudan’s largest political faction, the Umma Party, condemned the use of force by the security forces and called for peaceful protests to continue “until the coup is brought down” and those who have committed crimes against the people have been held accountable.

Since the coup, Burhan has removed clauses referring to the FFC from the 2019 power-sharing deal between the military and the civilians from the bloc.

This week, US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Molly Phee met with the generals and the ousted civilian government in a bid to broker a way out of the crisis.

Phee has called for the reinstatement of ousted Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, who is effectively under house arrest.

Burhan has vowed to hold the planned elections in 2023, reiterating to Phee on Tuesday that his actions aimed to “correct the trajectory of the revolution”.

(AFP)

Another ‘Mass Killing’ in Khartoum, as Burhan and Hamidti Janjaweed and security forces open fire on peaceful protesters

english_Alyurae November 17, 2021

At least 10 Sudanese protesters were shot dead and dozens more wounded, medics said, when thousands rallied Wednesday against last month’s coup, chanting “no to military power” amid clouds of tear gas.

The fatalities – all in Khartoum, especially its northern districts – raised to 34 the death toll from unrest since the military seized power, a pro-democracy doctors’ union said. Hundreds more have been wounded.

Several rallies broke out across the capital, even though telephone lines were cut and internet services have been disrupted since the power grab, AFP journalists reported.

Security forces fired tear gas, injuring several more protesters, witnesses said. The medics union also reported “dozens of bullet wounds”, while security forces deny firing live rounds.

“The people choose civilian rule,” demonstrators chanted, also shouting slogans against Sudan’s ruler, top general Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.

Demonstrations also erupted in Port Sudan, an AFP journalist said, against the coup which halted a democratic transition that followed the 2019 toppling of longtime dictator Omar al-Bashir.

Efforts to stem the protests have seen hundreds arrested, including activists, passers-by and journalists. Qatari network Al Jazeera’s bureau chief was arrested Sunday and released Tuesday.

The Central Committee of Sudanese Doctors has said security forces have also arrested injured people inside Khartoum hospitals.

The Sudanese Professionals Association, an umbrella of unions instrumental in the 2019 protests, denounced “immense crimes against humanity” and accused the security forces of “homicide”.

One protester in Khartoum said the “repression has been fierce”.

“There has been a lot of violence, continuous tear gas and sound grenades,” 42-year-old Soha told AFP, adding that she saw one person with gunshot wounds and that there were many arrests.

Restore ‘legitimacy’

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on a visit to Kenya on Wednesday urged Africans to watch out for rising threats to democracy.

He told Sudan’s military the country stood to regain badly-needed international aid if it restores the “legitimacy” of civilian government.

Washington has suspended some $700 million in assistance to Sudan since the coup.

“If the military puts this train back on its tracks and does what’s necessary, I think the support that has been very strong from the international community can resume,” said Blinken.

Prior to 2019, Sudan had been under some form of military dictatorship for much of its modern history.

Burhan has declared a state of emergency, ousted the government and detained the civilian leadership, derailing a transition to full civilian rule and drawing international condemnation.

Burhan insists the military’s move “was not a coup” but rather a push to “rectify the course of the transition”.

‘Trajectory of revolution’

US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Molly Phee has been shuttling between the generals and the ousted civilian government in a bid to broker a way out of the crisis.

Phee has called for the reinstatement of ousted Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok, who is effectively under house arrest.

The few remaining free members of his cabinet continue to describe themselves as the “legitimate” government and refuse to negotiate with the military leaders.

While some of the civilian leaders have been freed since the power grab, new ones have been arrested.

Burhan last week announced a new Sovereign Council, the highest transitional authority, with himself as chief and all nine military members keeping their posts.

Its four civilian members were replaced.

Burhan has also removed a clause in the transitional constitutional declaration that mentions the Forces for Freedom and Change, the key group behind the protests that toppled Bashir.

He has continued to promise elections will go ahead as planned in 2023, reiterating to Phee on Tuesday that his actions aimed to “correct the trajectory of the revolution”.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

Kim Kardashian and Leeds aid Afghan female footballers' flight to Britain

Issued on: 19/11/2021 -

London (AFP) – Members of the Afghanistan women's youth development football team have been airlifted to the UK in an evacuation flight funded by US celebrity Kim Kardashian.

The 35 female footballers and their families, a total of 130 people, arrived at Stansted Airport, east of London, in the early hours of Thursday morning, according to the ROKiT Foundation.

The squad had been in Pakistan on temporary 30-day visas since escaping from Afghanistan following a takeover of the country by the Taliban but risked being sent back when their asylum period expired if no other country was prepared to take them in.

But a charter flight brought them to the UK, where they will spend 10 days of a coronavirus quarantine in a hotel before starting their new lives.

A representative for Kardashian, best known as a star of reality television, told Britain's PA news agency the flight was funded by her and her SKIMS brand.

Siu-Anne Gill, chief executive officer of the ROKiT Foundation which helped organise the footballers' escape from Afghanistan, said she was "extremely humbled by the courage shown by these girls".

"That's inspired us to ensure that their efforts in getting over the border don't go to waste," she added.

Since their return to power on August 15, the Taliban have said that women can play football but only under strict conditions -- namely barred from playing in public.

Other Afghan female players have fled to Portugal

Leeds United are among the organisations offering to help the footballers who have arrived in England, with Andrea Radrizzani, the owner of the Premier League football club, saying in a statement: "We are delighted the Afghan Women & Girls Development Football Team and their families, led by their brave, former captain Khalida Popal have landed safely in the UK, following extensive efforts by a number of partners.

"We are honoured to have played our part and grateful that the UK government has enabled their resettlement in the UK."

He added: "This demonstrates the power of football and sport in general, as a force for good and shows how the football community is able to collaborate and mobilise to save lives.

"Through Play for Change Charitable Trust and Leeds United we stand ready to support the girls and their families in building an inclusive and prosperous future. We can't wait to see them playing football again."

A British government spokesperson said: "Like others we have brought to the UK from Afghanistan, the Afghanistan girls' football team will receive a warm welcome, support and accommodation,"

The Islamist Taliban banned women from sporting activity or even going to a match when they last ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to the 2001 US-led invasion that followed the September 11, 2001 Al-Qaeda attacks on the United States.

© 2021 AFP

ROBOTS TO THE RESCUE

Waymo will help UPS ship parcels this holiday season with autonomous trucks
Sean Szymkowski 12 hrs ago

This upcoming holiday season is set to be chaotic due to supply chain bottlenecks and a rising demand for shipping services. UPS and Waymo both know this, so the latter announced Wednesday it'll aid the shipping giant along the way. Waymo's Via trucking service is stepping in with its prototype autonomous trucks to help UPS ship packages through the end of the year

Beep beep, packages coming through on a self-driving truck. Waymo

The autonomous vehicle company said this is a "natural step" following successful local deliveries with UPS amid an ongoing partnership. This next step will see Waymo deploy its Class 8 semi trucks equipped with the fifth-generation Waymo Driver, the autonomous system's name, for trial shipping runs. As long as the trucks don't prove to be a headache, it'll be much needed help for UPS in the coming months.

While it's good news UPS will get some backup, this won't be a nationwide program. Instead, the self-driving Waymo trucks will haul goods between the Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston areas. From there, UPS will load goods meant for air freight and get them to their final destinations. Through it all, Waymo hopes its prototype autonomous driver learns even more along the way. Additionally, the company wants to keep putting its tech and services in the field as it builds out an autonomous shipping ecosystem for the future. Everything like safety, efficiency, scalability and more is still ripe for lessons in these early days.

With that said, some of your holiday gifts may at some point ride on an autonomous semi truck this season.

Migrants fear ruse behind Mexican residency offer
AFP

Immigration agents lined a highway in southern Mexico offering hundreds of migrants temporary residency if they abandoned their march. Exhausted, some accepted, while others kept going, afraid of being deported.

© CLAUDIO CRUZ Migrants traveling in a caravan board a bus after accepting an offer from the Mexican authorities of a one-year residency permit on humanitarian grounds

The offer of residency cards has split opinion and sowed suspicion within the caravan that set out three weeks ago from near the border with Guatemala to demand refugee status.

© CLAUDIO CRUZ US-bound migrants traveling in a caravan walk along a highway in Mexico's southern state of Oaxaca

Promises of food, water and an airconditioned bus to take them to a shelter while awaiting a one-year permit on humanitarian grounds were enough to persuade several migrants.

But many others were unconvinced, despite suggestions that the card could smooth their passage to the United States.

"Lies -- they're going to deport us!" men and women shouted angrily at the dusty checkpoint in the southeastern state of Veracruz, where immigration agents worked hard to try to persuade them to stop marching.

Elena Raudales, a migrant from Honduras, showed AFP a document called a "visitor's card for humanitarian reasons" with her name and photograph that she was given earlier this year.

"Even so they detained me two months ago and sent me back" to near the border with Guatemala, she said.

"We're not going to believe anything anymore," she added.

According to officials, around 1,500 people have accepted the temporary residency offer, reducing the caravan's size considerably since it left the southern city of Tapachula on October 23

© CLAUDIO CRUZ Migrants wait on a bus in southern Mexico after accepting an offer from the immigration authorities to apply for a one-year residency permit on humanitarian grounds

Around 800 people remain in the group, mostly Central Americans fleeing violence and poverty.

- 'Lied to us' -

Many migrants are reluctant to accept the residency offer because they fear being tricked and deported, said Christian Joel, a 22-year-old Honduran.

"They lied to us already," he said, complaining of a lack of assistance from the immigration authorities since he arrived in Mexico a year ago.

He is making a second attempt to return to the United States, where he lived for 18 years from the age of two with his family until he was deported for driving without a license, he said.

But some other migrants went willingly with the authorities in the hope of getting legal documents.

"We're going to try.... We've already come a long way and we're very tired," said 30-year-old Salvadoran Walter Ceron as he prepared to board a waiting bus.

The offer was also tempting for Vilma Escobar, 26, who was getting ready for another day pushing her two-year-old son's stroller along the highway under the beating sun.

Sometimes she thinks "I would like that card, but it means taking a risk," said the 26-year-old Guatemalan, unsure if going with immigration would take her closer or further from her goal of reaching the United States.

- 'No legal value' -

US President Joe Biden's arrival in the White House has led to increased flows of undocumented foreigners arriving in Mexico hoping to be allowed into the United States.

More than 190,000 irregular migrants were detected by Mexican authorities between January and September this year, three times more than in 2020.

Some 74,300 have been deported.

The United States meanwhile registered more than 1.7 million people entering illegally from Mexico in the year to September, a new record.

Mexican officials have said they will not stop the migrant caravan as long as the migrants travel on foot, while also trying to persuade them to give up.

Irineo Mujica, a Mexican activist accompanying the caravan, is also skeptical about the cards being offered to the migrants.

In reality they "have no legal value" and cannot be used to travel freely or find a job, he said.

The aim is "not to help migrants, but to dissolve the caravan," added Mujica, 50, who emigrated to the United States as a child and has dual citizenship.

He shrugs off criticism from the Mexican government as well as suggestions from the US ambassador to Mexico that his actions have enriched people smugglers and criminals.

"It doesn't bother me because I'm not a politician," Mujica said.

"I have a moral responsibility, nothing more," he added.

jg-dr/jh

Ignore 'hysterical people' — inflation is not here to stay, economist says

Elliot Smith 19 hrs ago

U.S. CPI inflation came in at an annual 6.2% in October, its steepest climb for more than 30 years.

The persistent high inflation and continued pressures such as supply chain bottlenecks have led many economists to question the Federal Reserve's long-held view that the spike will be "transitory."

A breakdown of the latest U.S. data indicates that inflation is confined to certain sectors and will not pose a threat to the recovery, according to Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics.

U.S. CPI inflation came in at an annual 6.2% in October, its steepest climb for more than 30 years.

Energy, shelter and vehicle costs led the gains, which more than wiped out the wage increases that workers received for the month.

The persistent high inflation and continuation of pressures such as supply chain bottlenecks have led many economists to question the Federal Reserve's long-held view that the spike will be "transitory."

However, stronger-than-expected October retail sales and industrial production figures this week have indicated that the broader economic recovery may well be on track, even as inflation drives prices skyward.

Weinberg told CNBC's "Squawk Box Europe" on Wednesday that with industrial output and GDP back to pre-pandemic levels, the U.S. economy has essentially recovered. He argued that the labor market lagging is "typical for economic recessions," with unemployment following the 2008 global financial crisis taking around a decade to fully recover.

That said, November's jobs report indicated that the labor market was now gathering steam, with nonfarm payrolls increasing by 531,000 in October and driving the unemployment rate down to 4.6%.

"We have a problem related to specific sectors of the economy, not the economy overall. I was surprised to read those industrial production and manufacturing numbers, but they are what they are, and we are doing it now with 5 million fewer people working than before the pandemic, so this tells us that productivity ought to be up by maybe 3% or more compared to then," Weinberg said.

He suggested that the market needs to keep productivity gains in mind when looking at wage increases, which are "tolerable with steady, stable prices as long as they are offset by productivity gains."

Citing High Frequency Economics' aggregation of data across the component sectors within the CPI reading, Weinberg estimated that around one third are falling while half are growing at less than 2%, which he argued "is not inflation."

"The rise of selected categories, scattered categories of products within CPIs are making those averages of the basket price move higher, but that doesn't mean that all prices are moving higher along with all wages," Weinberg said.

"Inflation is a process of spiraling wages and prices, it is not a one-time event, an off-time shock to prices coming from an understandable supply shock."
Ignore 'hysterical people'

Weinberg cited Milton Friedman to make the case that Fed intervention based on these individual pockets of spiking inflation would likely do "more harm than good." He also highlighted comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell and Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey, both of whom have suggested that tightening policy in response to inflation resulting from temporary supply shocks would be counterproductive.

"Let's not be influenced by hysterical people like Larry Summers, who are telling us that inflation is taking off. Let's listen to what the people who actually are making policy are telling us," Weinberg said.

Summers was contacted for comment by CNBC. The former U.S. Treasury secretary has in recent weeks called on the Fed and the Biden administration to tackle rising inflation, and argued that the "transitory" label had run its course.

© Provided by CNBC Larry Summers at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Despite having long advocated for more expansionary fiscal and monetary policy, Summers, now president emeritus of Harvard University, said in a Washington Post op-ed earlier this week that he had changed his view in the face of the evidence. He also challenged the notion that inflation was confined to just a few sectors.

"In October, prices for commodity goods outside of food and energy rose at more than a 12 percent annual rate," Summers said.

"Various Federal Reserve system indexes that exclude sectors with extreme price movements are now at record highs."

'We don’t deserve this': Inflation hits Turkish people hard

ISTANBUL (AP) — Market-stand owner Kadriye Dogru makes do with stale, sesame-covered bagels, known as simit, for lunch these days. The widowed mother of two says she goes without lunch so she can put food on the table for her family later in the day.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

The money that the 59-year-old earns by selling sweatpants and other garments at Istanbul's Ortakcilar market no longer lasts, and she is struggling to buy food, let alone anything else.

“I had never experienced such a deplorable life. I go to sleep, I wake up and the prices have gone up. I bought a 5-litre can of (cooking) oil, it was 40 lira. I went back, it was 80 lira,” she said. “We don’t deserve this as a nation.”

Many people in Turkey are facing increased hardship as prices of food and other goods have soared. While rising consumer prices are affecting countries worldwide as they bounce back from the coronavirus pandemic, economists say Turkey's eye-popping inflation has been exacerbated by economic mismanagement, concerns over the country’s financial reserves and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s push to cut interest rates.

He claims lower borrowing costs will boost growth, though economists say just the opposite is the way to tame soaring prices. The Turkish lira has been tumbling to record lows against the U.S. dollar as the country’s central bank has slashed interest rates, fueling concerns about its independence.

Caught in the middle are everyday Turks trying to make ends meet.

“Everything is so expensive, I cannot buy anything,” Suheyla Poyraz said as she browsed food stalls at the Ortakcilar market in Istanbul’s Eyupsultan district.

The 57-year-old homemaker has voted for Erdogan’s party and called on the government to act to end inflation.

“If you are the government and if we are voting for you to put things right, why aren’t you intervening? Why aren’t you stopping the rising prices?” Poyraz said.

High inflation has been hurting the popularity ratings of Erdogan, whose early years in power were marked by a strong economy. Opinion surveys indicate that an alliance of opposition parties that have formed a bloc against Erdogan’s ruling party and its nationalist allies are fast narrowing the gap.

The Turkish government says inflation rose nearly 20% in October compared with a year earlier, but the independent Inflation Research Group, made up of academics and former government officials, put it close to a stunning 50%. In comparison, U.S. prices rose about 6% from a year ago — the most since 1990 — and inflation in the 19 European Union countries that use the euro exceeded 4%, the highest in 13 years.

Turkey's currency, as a result, hit an all-time low of 10 against the U.S. dollar last week and has lost some 25% of its value since the start of the year. That is driving prices higher, making imports, fuel and everyday goods more expensive. While some argue that a weaker lira makes Turkish exporters more competitive in the global economy, much of Turkey’s industry relies on imported raw materials.

There are concerns about Erdogan's influence over monetary policy. He's appointed four central bank governors since 2019 and fired bankers who are said to have resisted lowering interest rates. The bank has decreased rates by 3 percentage points since September and will release its latest decision Thursday.

In contrast, central banks in other pandemic-hit countries have been raising rates or considering doing so in the months ahead as backups at ports and factories, labor shortages and soaring energy costs have pushed up prices.

Foreign investors have been dumping Turkish assets, and Turks have been converting their savings to foreign currencies and gold.

“There has been a massive selloff in financial markets just due to this intervention to the central bank’s independence,” said Ozlem Derici Sengul, an economist and founding partner of the Istanbul-based Spinn Consulting. “There are several factors that move both inflation and financial market prices ... (but) the dominant factor is the central bank’s policy.”

She estimates more than half of the population “is struggling in terms of income.”

Erdogan, meanwhile, insists that the economy is strong and that the country is emerging from the pandemic in better shape than others.

“Shelves in Europe are empty, they are empty in the United States. Praise to God, we are continuing with plentitude and abundance,” he has said.

His government has blamed exorbitant food prices on supermarket chains and ordered an investigation that has resulted in fines. He also has ordered agricultural cooperatives to open a thousand new shops across the country in a bid to keep food prices low.

Earlier, he accused a group of students who slept outdoors in parks to protest high housing and dormitory prices of “terrorism.” Meanwhile, rents have skyrocketed and prices for home sales, mostly pegged on the dollar, are increasing.

In a bid to alleviate suffering, Labor and Social Security Minister Vedat Bilgin said this month that the government was working to adjust the minimum wage to protect workers against rising prices.

“We are working to remove the issue of minimum wage from the agenda — I can already say that it will provide a relief,” he said.

Economists say it's not enough.

“The inflation and low income and uneven income distribution will have more side effects in 2022 and 2023 if the government continues to insist on low interest rates, loose monetary policy and election preparations,” Sengul said.

Musa Timur, who owns a grocery store in Istanbul, said rising prices make it hard for him to replace products.

“Any product that we sell — we cannot get them in at the same prices,” he said.

He said his customers are no longer able to afford a variety of food and mostly buy bread, pasta and eggs.

___

Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey. Associated Press journalists Zeynep Bilginsoy and Ayse Wieting in Istanbul contributed.

___

This story was first published on Nov. 16, 2021. It was updated on Nov. 17, 2021, to correct that Turkey’s central bank has decreased interest rates by 3 percentage points since September, not increased them.

Mehmet Guzel And Suzan Fraser, The Associated Press

Walmart and Target clash with investors over strategy to keep prices low despite inflation

Melissa Repko

Investors are selling off shares of Walmart and Target after the discounters pledged to absorb some higher costs rather than passing it on to consumers.

Both Walmart CEO Doug McMillon and Target CEO Brian Cornell say they are playing the long game to win new customers, deepen loyalty and keep up sales momentum.

"It's all about market share, market share, market share," Brian Yarbrough, a retail analyst for Edward Jones. "And typically when you're focused on market share that can come at the expense of profitability."

© Provided by CNBC

Walmart and Target put up strong third-quarter performances this week, beat Wall Street's expectations and spoke of holiday shoppers already starting to splurge on gifts and gatherings this season. Yet the investor response was swift: A brutal sell-off.

Target shares closed down about 5% Wednesday. Walmart closed down nearly 3% on Tuesday, after its earnings report. Shares continued to drop Wednesday, erasing all its gains year-to-date.

The two sides are at odds on the retailers' strategy of absorbing some of the rising costs of shipping, labor and materials rather than passing them on to customers with higher prices. Both Walmart CEO Doug McMillon and Target CEO Brian Cornell have drawn a clear line. Their strategy: Keep prices low in a bid for customer loyalty — even if it means a hit to profits.

The pushback they're hearing is: Why not charge shoppers more? Americans have had a ravenous appetite for shopping. They socked away money during the pandemic and the holiday forecasts are rosy.

McMillon said Walmart must uphold its reputation for value — or risk scaring away customers who feel sticker shock. He invoked the big-box retailer's founder in an interview on Tuesday with CNBC's "Squawk on the Street."

"We save people money and help them live a better life," he said. "Those are the words that came out of [Walmart founder] Sam Walton's mouth. He loved to fight inflation. So do we."

Cornell said Target is playing the long game, too, even as that means swallowing extra costs.

"We are protecting prices," he said on a call with reporters. "It's as important to our guests this year as safety has been throughout the pandemic."

He and the company's team of executives defended that strategy, even as they were peppered with questions by analysts on an early Wednesday earnings call.
'All about market share'

Target and Walmart have seen significant sales gains during the pandemic, as consumers avoided the mall, bought more groceries and sought out items for more time at home from puzzles to loungewear.

Target, in particular, has seen eye-popping numbers that make for tough comparisons. The company's 2020 sales grew by more than $15 billion — greater than its total sales growth over the prior 11 years. And its stock, even with Wednesday's selling, is up more than 43%, putting its market value at more than $123 billion.

Target has touted its market share gains frequently on calls with investors. It picked up about $9 billion in market share in the fiscal year ended Jan. 30, based on research by the company and third-parties. It said it gained another $1 billion in market share in the first three months of this fiscal year.

Now, both retailers face new complexities. Consumers are juggling added expenses, from commutes to the office to vacations and meals at restaurants. They are spending through the extra cash that they saved up during the earlier part of the pandemic or received from stimulus checks. And they are seeing the price of groceries, gas and more jump. At the same time, the retailers are deciding to spend more on transportation — going so far as to charter their own ships, to make sure shelves are well stocked — and they have had to raise wages and sweeten benefits to ensure warehouses and stores are staffed and running smoothly.

Steph Wissink, a retail analyst for Jefferies, said after Target and Walmart's outsized gains in the last 18 months "giving up that momentum is hard to do."

"Price is one lever they have to continue to honor their customer promises and to aggressively defend their share," she said.

The unusual environment has led to mixed signals about consumers' mindset and potential behavior, according to Wissink.

"In the U.S., hyperinflation isn't something we regularly navigate so there's no precedent, recent experience, or muscle memory to tap into," she said. "We can observe other markets of the world as proxies but the U.S. economy is uniquely consumer-driven."

With the move to keep prices low, Target and Walmart have signaled the companies fear losing customers and sales if costs are passed through, she said. That's why, the retailers are "strategically putting their own margins on the line to ensure consumerism continues to advance," Wissink explained.

Brian Yarbrough, a retail analyst for Edward Jones, said it will take time to see if Walmart and Target are making a smart bet or a terrible mistake.

"It's all about market share, market share, market share," he said. "And typically when you're focused on market share that can come at the expense of profitability."

Inflation at a three-decade high

Inflation hit a three-decade high in October, according to the Labor Department. The consumer price index, which includes a mix of products ranging from gasoline and health care to groceries and rents, rose 6.2% from a year ago, the most since December 1990.

Some categories have seen a bigger jump than others. Fuel, for instance, surged 12.3% for October. Used vehicle prices rose 2.5% for the month. And food prices grew by 0.9% — with meat, poultry, fish and eggs collectively increasing 1.7%.

Food is a big category for Walmart and Target. Walmart is the largest grocer in the country by revenue. Target has used its grocery business as a traffic driver.

On a Wednesday earnings call, Target's Cornell called growth of its food and beverage category "one of the real success stories within our business over the last few years." He said pantry-stocking trips have inspired customers to toss a variety of other merchandise into their shopping carts and driven higher online sales as people get a gallon of milk through curbside pickup.

Cornell and McMillon said they are not seeing signs of price-sensitive customers, such as trading down to smaller packs or cheaper brands.

Katie Thomas, lead of the Kearney Consumer Institute, said some costs are easier to pass on to shoppers. With food, she said, a price hike is risky.

"Grocery is more complicated because consumers are going to feel it in their everyday," she said. "Even in the pandemic, we all felt like prices were already going up because people were buying more and they were taking less frequent [store] trips. People are very aware of it."

With other categories, she said, retailers can get away with bumping up price. The tricky part, she said, is for retailers to figure out where shoppers will pay a premium and what may spook them.

"Even in a period of a recession or of inflation, consumers are just going to make trade-offs in certain categories instead of trade downs across the board," she said. For instance, she said, some people are willing to buy off-brand grocery bags or ketchup — but are unwilling to buy a lower quality steak or skip a trip to the hair salon.

Big Tech's Biggest Lobbying Arm Loses Microsoft and Uber as Priorities Splinter
Mack DeGeurin

The trade organization once central to Big Tech’s intensive lobbying efforts appears to be slowly fading into the background as companies increasingly opt for a go-it-alone approach. That decline escalated this week with a new report from Axios revealing Microsoft and Uber, among two of the group’s largest members, are jumping ship

© Photo: Justin Tallis (Getty Images)

Founded in 2012, the IA at one point included Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Facebook (now Meta), and has served as the main vessel for pushing through favorable legislative outcomes for the companies. The IA has played a pivotal role in numerous policy decisions in recent years, including a deal to create a version of the controversial 2018 FOSTA-SESTA law that was arguably more favorable to tech companies. The group’s influence has waned since then though, especially as tech firms fret over looming antitrust legislation, an area the IA has so far opted to stay away from.

In an email, IA’s SVP of Global Communications and Public Affairs Christina Martin told Gizmodo the organization still has nearly 40 members and has every hope Microsoft and Uber may rejoin in the future. “It is always unfortunate to lose a member, but business decisions related to time and resources are to be respected,” Martin said. “Microsoft and Uber have been great supporters of IA for nearly a decade.” Microsoft meanwhile told Gizmodo in an email that the company periodically reviews its trade association memberships to “ensure alignment with our policy agenda.”

Microsoft and Uber’s departures may mark the first major companies to leave the IA, but the group has been in decline for some time now. According to a July Politico report, the IA had lost nearly one-fifth of its personnel in just over a month. Though other heavy hitters like Google, Amazon, and Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta have so far stuck with the IA, they’ve reportedly planned to significantly cut their spending to the trade organization.

Though Big Tech’s most influential lobbying firm may be on its way out sooner or later, that doesn’t mean internet giants themselves are spending any less on lobbying. Meta spent nearly $5.1 million on lobbying in the third quarter this year according to Open Secrets, the second most it’s spent of any quarter in 12 years. That’s only behind Q1 2020 (an election year). Overall, Meta alone spent 14.7 million in the first three quarters of 2021. Amazon spent the second most amongst tech firms in the third quarter, shelling out $5.04 million and $15.3 million for the year so far.

A separate report from the advocacy group Public Citizen determined Facebook and Amazon were the two biggest corporate lobbying spenders in the US last year, beating out Comcast, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Raytheon.

So, why are the world’s largest tech firms starting to go it alone? In many ways, they are competing against one another with similar product offerings but through significantly different business models which could mean a more fragmented lobbying approach could make sense. Though Apple and Meta, for example, will likely square off over the next decade in AR and VR applications, the two are miles apart in terms of how they monetize user data, and on their general underlying philosophy to personal privacy.

Some firms, with Meta being the most pressing example, also face far more regulatory scrutiny and public opposition, which would likely swell their lobbying check more than other less controversial companies. Tech firms are also at odds over what types of regulatory concessions they’d find palatable. Meta, Amazon, and Microsoft, for example, have all spoken in favor of new rules and standards around data privacy, but smaller firms have pushed back, claiming such rules would disproportionately benefit the top players. Conflicts like these may make tech firms simply too at odds to comfortably reside under one unified lobbying roof.

“When the Internet Association was started, you could see there was common ground, issues of principle and issues of policy that these companies all came down on the same side,” University of Washington professor Margaret O’Mara told Politico earlier this year. “Now, it’s quite different.”

And it’s not as if these mega-companies lack the financial resources needed to take lobbying into their own hands. With at least three tech firms already valued at over $2 trillion dollars, these giants can afford to go it alone and tailor their lobbying spending to suit their own individual needs.

In other words, don’t worry: Big Tech’s monetary assault on laws and governance isn’t going away anytime soon.

Book about Sackler family and opioid crisis wins UK prize

LONDON (AP) — A book about a wealthy American family whose actions helped unleash the United States’ opioid epidemic — described by its author as a “story of hubris” — won Britain’s leading nonfiction book prize Tuesday.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Patrick Radden Keefe’s “Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty” was awarded the 50,000 pound ($67,000) Baillie Gifford Prize during a ceremony at London’s Science Museum.

Keefe’s book chronicles the billionaire Sackler clan, owner of Purdue Pharma, whose members used their fortune to fund museums and art galleries around the world. A reckoning has come with the revelation that much of that fortune was based on OxyContin, a powerful prescription painkiller that the company developed in the 1990s and marketed aggressively to doctors.

“Empire of Pain” traces the rise of the family’s fortunes under three doctor brothers and their children, and its downfall in a web of lawsuits and bankruptcy proceedings.

Keefe said it was “a portrait of three generations of one family behaving very badly, but also on a deeper level a story about systems and about impunity.”

“I think in some ways it’s a story about hubris,” he said. “In a lot of ways it’s a story about denial."

Amid protests over its role in the opioid business, the Sackler name has been removed in recent years from wings and galleries at institutions including the Louvre in Paris and the Serpentine Gallery in London. Institutions including Britain’s National Portrait Gallery and the Tate galleries have stopped taking the family’s donations due to its role in the opioid crisis, which has been linked to more than 500,000 deaths in the U.S. alone since 2000.

Some opioid deaths have been attributed to OxyContin and other prescription painkillers, though most are from illicit forms of opioids such as heroin and illegally made fentanyl.

Sackler family members have denied wrongdoing, although their company has pleaded guilty twice to federal crimes over their opioid practices. In September a U.S. federal judge gave conditional approval to a settlement that would remove the family from ownership of Purdue and reorganize the business into a charity-oriented company whose profits would go to government-directed efforts to prevent and treat addiction.

Accepting the prize, Keefe thanked “all of the many lawyers who advised me about what to do with all the incoming mail” when facing threats from the Sackler family during his work on the book.

“It wasn’t a situation where I ever thought about bailing, particularly under pressure from the family,” he told The Associated Press. “If anything, some of the pressure that I got persuaded me that I was probably on the right track.”

The Baillie Gifford Prize recognizes English-language books from any country in current affairs, history, politics, science, sport, travel, biography, autobiography and the arts.

“Empire of Pain” beat five other finalists: Cal Flyn’s environmental exploration “Islands of Abandonment”; Harald Jähner’s “Aftermath: Life in the Fallout of the Third Reich, 1945–1955”; Kei Miller’s essays on discrimination, “Things I Have Withheld”; John Preston’s media mogul biography “Fall: The Mystery of Robert Maxwell”; and Albanian writer Lea Ypi’s memoir “Free: Coming of Age at the End of History.”

Jill Lawless, The Associated Press

When billionaires battle: The fall of Seagram sheds light on the role blood plays in family-controlled firms

By Howard Green

Special to the Star
Sat., Nov. 13, 2021

THE BRONFMANS

Every family is a delicate ecosystem. But a family-controlled business can be akin to a one-party state. This has been playing out in full view on the nasty channel between members of the Rogers family over control of the company built by the late Ted Rogers.

Family behaviour also reveals corporate governance limits, as it can certainly put boards of family-controlled companies to the test. Governance school can’t possibly teach directors to subdue mudslinging between brother, mother and sisters.

The late Sam Bronfman used to say “blood counts” in reference to the importance of family at Seagram, the liquor colossus he built and controlled. Eventually, a much more private family clash than the Rogers’ feud led to Seagram’s sale and disappearance. A blue-chip board supported what the family ultimately wanted.

Note that Seagram had just one class of shares versus Rogers’s dual-class structure. The latter setup is one that many argue is shareholder unfriendly. By the way, the Bronfman saga didn’t come into sharp relief until the third generation. At Rogers, earlier generations are breaking the good china.

In the latter’s case, observe how blood does and doesn’t count. On one side, Edward Rogers, son of Ted, wanted to replace the CEO. On the other, his mother and sisters, stood by the status quo as the company tries to acquire Shaw Communications. While each side fought for the founder’s legacy, meaning blood counts, each side went at the other, meaning it doesn’t.

Billionaire family blowups aren’t new. The roots of dysfunction are deep and tangled. At Seagram, the disintegration was borne of Sam Bronfman’s iron grip on the company, and his legendary temper. At one point, he forced his brother out of the business (blood didn’t count). When it came time for “Mr. Sam” to pass the baton, he handed it to his eldest son, Edgar (blood counted). His youngest, Charles, became an equal owner. He and Edgar got 60 per cent of the family holding, while sisters Minda and Phyllis got 40.

But Charles didn’t want to be CEO, even though he held the same voting power as Edgar. Although Edgar ran Seagram for years, Charles recounted how his brother was often thwarted by their father who couldn’t let go. (Disclosure: I co-authored Charles’ memoir, “Distilled.”)

Eventually, Edgar anointed his second son, Edgar Jr., as his successor (blood counted) and, according to Charles, gave him “carte blanche.” Governance types would be aghast to learn that Edgar Sr. made Seagram’s succession plan public via Fortune magazine, without informing the board of directors or Charles, his co-chairman (blood didn’t count).

Cue family culture. Charles recalled a lifetime pattern of deferring to Edgar Sr. Ultimately, he went along with his nephew and domineering brother to avoid a family war (blood counted). He wasn’t alone. The rest of the board also went along. While his era had long passed, Sam Bronfman once said board meetings consisted of declaring a dividend and having a drink.

There are two business decisions Charles deeply regrets. Although he tried, he wishes he could have prevented the 1995 sale of Seagram’s holding in DuPont. (Interestingly, with the help of professional management, the du Pont family managed to maintain control for almost two centuries). But Charles’ protests were ignored and he would only push so far. The distiller was the largest shareholder of the storied American company that garnered hundreds of millions in dividends per year for Seagram.

The sale of DuPont led to Seagram’s U-turn into entertainment, with the subsequent purchase of MCA, which became Universal Studios. This would have infuriated Sam, who’d admonished Edgar Sr. for personally buying a piece of MGM in 1968.

Meantime, five years after the purchase of MCA, as the media and technology sectors lurched towards convergence, Seagram sold itself to Vivendi for shares in Vivendi, which began a downward spiral. Not only did Seagram disappear and gobs of money evaporate, Charles called it “devastating” for family, employees, shareholders and his own self-image. For the second time, Charles hadn’t gone to war with the two Edgars (blood counted). In a posthumously published book, Edgar Sr. expressed regret for not consulting his brother.

So, which is more important, money or blood? Sam Bronfman would likely have been aghast at the rupture in his family and the loss of Seagram. One can only imagine what Ted Rogers would think of what’s happened.

A board can be expected to deal with money matters. But when a family controls a company, family matters can overwhelm money, even when billions are at stake.

Howard Green is a Toronto-based author.

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