NOONE IS ILLEGAL

Poland passes law to allow continued ban on journalists and NGOs at Belarus border

NOV 30, 2021 | MEDIA, POLITICS | 

Shortly before a state of emergency on Poland’s border with Belarus was due to expire, President Andrzej Duda has signed into law a bill that authorises the government to effectively extend the measures, which include a ban on the media and NGOs entering the area.

The legislation was rushed through parliament today, with the lower-house Sejm, where the government has a majority, overturning all amendments suggested by the opposition-controlled Senate. Senators had, among other things, called for journalists to be exempted from the ban.

Soon after the bill was signed by Duda this evening, the interior ministry announced that it would move immediately to extend for a further three months restrictions on all parts of the border where they are currently in place.

Since early September, the area along the border has been under a state of emergency, implemented in response to attempts by tens of thousands of people – mostly from the Middle East – to cross into Poland from Belarus. The crisis has been engineered by the Belarusian regime, which helps the migrants reach and cross the border.

Under the Polish constitution, the initial 30-day state of emergency can only be renewed once, for a further 60 days. That extension took place on 1 October, meaning that the measures would expire at the start of December.

Unable to implement a new state of emergency, the government has instead moved to introduce similar powers into the existing law on protection of the state border.

Those measures, approved by the Sejm and now signed into force by Duda, allow the interior minister, after consultation with the head of the border guard, to issue a temporary ban on entry to areas on the border deemed to be “particularly vulnerable”, reports TVP Info.

Those exempted from the ban include people who live and work in the area, emergency services, police officers and soldiers on duty, as well as anyone “dealing with official matters or taking part in religious worship”.

Anyone else is only allowed to enter if they receive special permission from the commander of the border guard. The Senate had proposed exempting representatives of the media and NGOs dealing with humanitarian, medical or legal aid from the ban.

However, that amendment was rejected by the Sejm, along with seven others. Those included a requirement for the interior minister to report to parliament on border bans every 30 days and another amendment requiring that the provisions enabling a ban expire three months after entering force.

The banning of media and NGOs from the border amid an unprecedented humanitarian and security crisis has led to widespread criticism. The government, however, has argued that it was a necessary measure to allow the armed forces to respond to the threat at the border.

The new measures signed into law this evening will in theory allow journalists to return, but only with the permission of – and under conditions stipulated by – the authorities.

“One of the objectives of the law is the possibility of journalists entering this zone, but in an orderly manner, in a manner specified by the border guard,” said deputy interior minister Maciej Wąsik, quoted by TVN24.

“We want for journalists to be safe and for their work not to interfere in any way with the work of the border guard, the army and the police,” he added.

But the opposition has argued that the restrictions on the media are not only a violation of press freedom, but also counterproductive. It says that they help Belarus – which has allowed many international outlets access to its side of the border – to influence the media narrative.

“We will not win the propaganda war with Lukashenko and Putin if Polish journalists do not operate in the border zone,” warned Robert Tyszkiewicz, an MP from Civic Platform (PO), the largest opposition party.

“We are in favour of the border being protected, absolutely, but this law changes little when it comes to border protection,” said Arkadiusz Iwaniak, an MP from The Left, who suggested it was just a means for the government to “circumvent” the constitutional limit on how long a state of emergency can last.

The most severe pressures at the border have now eased. Many of the migrants in Belarus have opted to take repatriation flights to the Middle East and EU pressure has led major airlines to stop flights bringing new migrants to Minsk.

But there continue to be efforts every day by people to cross the border illegally. On Saturday, the Polish border guard reported that a group of over 100 people had forced their way over the frontier with the help of Belarusian forces, leaving two Polish soldiers with minor injuries.

Main image credit: Irek Dorozanski / DWOT (under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Daniel Tilles

Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. 

He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, 

including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik 

Gazeta Prawna.

Polish parliament rejects unlimited media

access to Belarus border

FILE PHOTO: Lithuania's Interior Minister Agne Bilotaite visits Lithuania-Poland-Belarus border point

Tue., November 30, 2021
By Alan Charlish and Anna Koper

WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland's president on Tuesday signed into law legislation that will limit the access of aid charities and journalists to its border with Belarus as the country grapples with a simmering migrant crisis.

The law is a blow to the opposition parties that advocated for unlimited media access, an amendment approved by the upper house of parliament on Friday but rejected by the lower house.

Under the state of emergency declared in the border region in September and ending at midnight, the media and aid charities were completely banned. The opposition said the ban was intended to cover up rights abuses and had sought unfettered access.

The government said the restrictions were necessary for security reasons.

Under the new rules, the interior minister can limit access to the border zone after consulting with the head of the Border Guard. However, journalists and NGOs may be able to enter at the discretion of local Border Guard heads.

Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski said on Tuesday night he would order a temporary ban on entering areas around the border.

The European Union accuses Minsk of engineering the migrant crisis to hit back at sanctions. Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko accuses the EU of deliberately provoking a humanitarian crisis.

Poland's Human Rights Ombudsman has criticised the new law, saying it gives the interior minister the right to limit freedom of movement and to limit access to information about what is happening on the border indefinitely.

While the situation on the border has calmed since mid-November, when Polish security forces fired water cannon at migrants throwing rocks, there are still nightly attempts by groups to force their way through barbed wire fencing on the frontier.

The Polish Border Guard said there were 134 attempts to cross the Belarus border on Monday.

(Reporting by Alan Charlish, Anna Koper and Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk; Editing by Alison Williams and Lisa Shumaker)

NOONE IS ILLEGAL

Human Rights Watch blames Belarus and Poland for “abuse” and “instrumentalisation” of migrants

NOV 25, 2021 | SOCIETY | 

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused Poland and Belarus of “shared responsibility for abuse” of migrants at their border. It also says that authorities in both countries have “cynically instrumentalised the migration issue”.

The NGO’s report, which is based on interviews and testimony gathered by its researchers during visits to both sides of the border, reveals accounts of migrants being beaten and abused by Belarusian officials. It also notes pushbacks by Polish border guards, as well as the separation of families.

HRW calls on the European Union to ensure that all migrants and asylum seekers are treated with dignity. It also wants Brussels – which has so far backed Warsaw over its response to the crisis – to pressure Poland to stop pushbacks and to end its ban on aid organisations and media at the border.

“I crossed many times to Poland but was pushed back to Belarus every time,” a 20-year-old Syrian, Abdul, told HRW. “I was in the forest for eight days…I didn’t have food or water.”

He spoke of the brutality of Belarusian forces, who have been orchestrating the border crossings. They “hit us with batons, kicked us, stepped on our necks to the point that we cried…They told us: ‘You have a choice. You either die here or you go to Poland’”, said Abdul.

HRW also spoke to a man who witnessed his companion drowning after being forced by Belarusian guards to cross the Bug river on the border in a rubber raft: “The boat turned over. None of us could swim…Ahmed was thrown into the middle of the river and I could see him go under. He cried and pleaded for help.”

The report notes that Polish border guards routinely push migrants back across the border to Belarus “without due process”, a practice that many argue violates international law.

Pointing out that Belarus is not a safe country, the report calls on the Polish authorities to “immediately halt all summary returns and collective expulsions to Belarus”. It also wants Warsaw to lift the state of emergency that bans journalists and aid workers from visiting the border area.

HRW appealed to the EU to not only to press Poland on those issues but also to consider a temporary relocation mechanism that would enable migrants arriving in Poland to be transferred to other EU states, where “their needs” can be “fairly assessed”.

HRW notes that “the injured or sick” are taken by Polish border guards for medical treatment and receive a temporary six-month stay on humanitarian grounds. But this can result in families being separated, it adds.

A 40-year-old Kurdish woman from Syria, referred to as Awira, told WRH her 14-year-old daughter collapsed after spending a week in the forest and was taken to a Polish hospital.

“The Polish border guard said that only one person can stay with her,” she said. “The guards put my son and the rest in a military van and drove off. I don’t know where. Since then, I haven’t been able to reach my son.”

HRW blames both countries for the way the crisis is presented. “Polish and Belarusian authorities have cynically instrumentalised the migration issue,” reads the reports, whose authors point out that both countries disseminate recordings and photos in an effort to prove the wrongdoing of the other side.

This week, in response to the army’s detention of three reporters near the border, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), another NGO, accused Poland of “treating journalists as if it were a military dictatorship”.

“Although it is legitimate for the Polish state to address security risks in the border area, the media must be able to cover police and military operations and migration, which is a public interest issue,” noted Pavol Szalai, the head of RSF’s European Union and Balkans desk.

The Polish government argues that it is taking necessary steps to tackle a “hybrid attack” on its borders orchestrated by Belarus with Russian backing. It says it has an obligation to prevent illegal crossings onto its territory.

“Poland grants international protection to people whose life and health are at risk, as exemplified by the assistance provided to Belarusians persecuted by the Lukashenko regime and the evacuation of around 1,300 refugees from Afghanistan,” Poland’s interior minister, Mariusz Kamiński, said last month.

Warsaw has received support for its efforts from a number of allies, including Germany, the European Commission, and NATO. There has also been widespread condemnation of Belarus’s actions, including by the US State Department.

Main image credit: Irek Dorozanski / DWOT (under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

Agnieszka Wądołowska is managing editor of Notes from Poland.
She has previously worked for Gazeta.pl and Tokfm.pl and contributed to Gazeta Wyborcza,Wysokie Obcasy, Duży Format, Midraszand Kultura Liberalna

NIGERIA
JUST IN: Abuja Primary School Teachers Suspend Strike After Two Weeks

Primary school teachers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have suspended the strike they embarked upon on November 18, 2021....

Dobi Primary School, Gwagwalada Area Council, Abuja

By Adam Umar
Wed, 01 Dec 2021 

Primary school teachers in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have suspended the strike they embarked upon on November 18, 2021.

They had suspended teaching over the failure of the area councils in the FCT to implement their promotional allowances.

But on Wednesday, Comrade Ameh Baba, Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Kubwa chapter, told Daily Trust that pupils were expected to resume classes immediately.

The union had initially started with a five-day warning strike, which elapsed on November 24, when its secondary schools’ wing suspended its own.

Baba said the decision to halt the strike was achieved following an intervention made by the FCT Senator, Philip Aduda, and Muhammad Musa Bello, Minister of FCT.

He said they promised to resolve the issue in a different way.

He said the development was unfortunate but the teachers were “left with no other option”.

Twitter may remove private images shared without consent under new policy

Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Twitter said Tuesday it will ban private images shared without consent, with some exceptions, including images in the public interest, amid growing concerns about online harassment.

The social media giant introduced the new ban as an expansion of its private information policy, which already bans sharing information related to a private individual's identity documents, such as government-issued IDs, and location information.

The ban will not apply to tweets featuring public figures or tweets that are "shared in the public interest or add value to the public discourse," according to an official Twitter Safety blog on the expansion of the policy.

"There are growing concerns about the misuse of media and information that is not available elsewhere online as a tool to harass, intimidate, and reveal the identities of individuals," the Twitter Safety blog said. "Sharing personal media, such as images or videos, can potentially violate a person's privacy, and may lead to emotional or physical harm. The misuse of private media can affect everyone, but can have disproportionate effect on women, activists, dissidents, and members of minority communities."

Though Twitter can now take down unauthorized use of private images used to harass people when it receives a report from the person whose image was used, it also elaborated on some exceptions.

"We recognize that there are instances where account holders may share images or videos of private individuals in an effort to help someone involved in a crisis situation, such as in the aftermath of a violent event, or as part of a newsworthy event due to public interest value, and this might outweigh the safety risks to a person," the blog said.

In particular, Twitter will look at whether the image is being covered by mainstream, traditional media sites, as part of determining whether or not it should be removed, according to the blog.

Twitter spokesperson Trenton Kennedy urged people not to speculate on how this will affect future posts, The Verge reported.

"We're going to evaluate things in the context in which they're shared, so I would encourage folks not to draw too many conclusions from past instances or hypotheticals," Kennedy told The Verge. "The general rule around our private information policy is that if this is available and easily accessible off of Twitter, we're not going to take action on it on Twitter."

On Monday, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, 45, announced his resignation, and Parag Agrawal, who has served as the company's chief technology officer since 2017, replaced him as CEO.

Last week, a new study found social media was linked to increased risk for depression.

Twitter bans sharing photos, video of people without their consent

The social media site may allow images if they're newsworthy but says it'll "try to assess the context."

Sean Keane, Queenie Wong

CNET
Nov. 30, 2021 

People who want images or video of them removed from Twitter can contact the site.

James Martin/CNET

Twitter on Tuesday banned the sharing of photos and videos of private individuals without their consent, the company said in a blog post. The update to its private information policy notes that people can contact the microblogging platform to have such media removed.

The ban doesn't apply to public figures if the media and tweet are of public interest, but content featuring those people may be removed if the site determines it's been shared "to harass, intimidate, or use fear to silence them."

"We will always try to assess the context in which the content is shared and, in such cases, we may allow the images or videos to remain on the service," it said.

If the image or video is publicly available, is being covered by news outlets, or "adds value to the public discourse," it may be allowed to remain on the site, Twitter said. In its blog post, the company points out that people might share images of private individuals in a crisis situation to help them, and that could outweigh the safety risks.

The move is an expansion of Twitter's private information policy that the company says is meant to protect people from physical or emotional harm. The policy already bars Twitter users from sharing people's home addresses, government IDs and other sensitive information. Twitter says sharing someone's age or job, or sharing screenshots of text messages doesn't violate its rules. The company also has a separate policy that bars users from posting nude photos of people without their consent.

To report someone for violating this policy, Twitter users can click on the three dots in the upper right corner of the rule-breaking tweet, select Report Tweet, click on "It's abusive or harmful," and select "Includes private information."

First published on Nov. 30, 2021 at 6:34 a.m. PT.

1. May legal definition of May
   https://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/May

   2019-05-01 · may. v. a choice to act or not, or a promise of a possibility, as distinguished from "shall" which makes it imperative. 2) in statutes, and sometimes in contracts, the word "may" must be read in context to determine if it means an act is optional or mandatory, for it may be an imperative. The same careful analysis must be made of the word "shall."

2. 
   

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M 

Man gets prison for buying Lamborghini, Rolex with COVID-19 relief funds
By UPI Staff

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland established a task force in May to look into fraud in COVID-19 relief funding. File Photo by Michael Reynolds/UPI | License Photo

Nov. 30 (UPI) -- A man who fraudulently acquired more than $1.6 million through the U.S. government's coronavirus pandemic Paycheck Protection Program was sentenced to 9 years and 2 months in prison.

RICH WHITE GUY
Lee Price III, 30, of Houston, was sentenced Monday after pleading guilty in September to wire fraud and money laundering, the Department of Justice announced.

Price amassed over $1.6 million in the scheme, some of which he spent on a Lamborghini, a Ford F-350 and a Rolex watch. He also spent $2,000 at a strip club, $700 at a liquor store, and paid off loans on a residential property.

The DOJ seized $700,000 of the money.

Officials said Price got the funds by falsely submitting the number of employees and payroll expenses in each of his PPP loan applications, as well as fraudulent tax records and other materials.

Price also applied in the name of an individual who died shortly before the application was submitted.

According to the complaint, Price misrepresented information for three different businesses. He said that one of his small businesses, Price Enterprises, had 50 employees and an average monthly payroll of $375,000. In reality, the business had no employees or payroll.

In May, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to fight fraud. Over 150 people have been prosecuted for fraudulently obtaining PPP funding in over 95 criminal cases.

More than $75 million in cash has been seized by the DOJ in fraudulently obtained funds, along with real estate properties and luxury items purchased with the proceeds.

Coffee may help lower odds for Alzheimer's disease, study suggests

By Cara Murez, HealthDay News

New research suggests coffee could help lower risk for Alzheimer's disease. 

File Photo by stokpic/Pixabay

Coffee lovers know a steaming cup of java can quickly deliver energy and mental clarity every morning, but new research suggests it may also guard against Alzheimer's disease in the long run.

"Worldwide, a high proportion of adults drink coffee every day, making it one of the most popular beverages consumed," said lead researcher Samantha Gardener, a post-doctoral research fellow at Edith Cowan University in Western Australia.

"With Alzheimer's disease, there's currently a lack of any effective disease-modifying treatments. Our research group is specifically looking at modifiable risk factors that could delay the onset of the disease, and even a five-year delay could have massive social and economic benefits," she added.

For the study, Gardener and her team investigated whether coffee intake affected the rate of cognitive decline over 10 years in more than 200 people who were part of the Australian Imaging, Biomarkers and Lifestyle Study.

RELATED Coffee, tea may lower stroke, dementia risk, study finds

The investigators found that people who had no memory impairments and who consumed higher amounts of coffee had a lower risk of transitioning to mild cognitive impairment.

This stage often precedes Alzheimer's disease. Those participants also had lower risk of developing Alzheimer's disease during the study period.

In the study, higher coffee intake appeared to be slowing the accumulation of amyloid protein in the brain, as well as being linked to positive results in the areas of executive function and attention.

Drinking coffee could be an easy way to delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease, Gardener suggested, but more research is needed.

"This is, obviously, preliminary data and it needs a lot more research before being recommended, but it's really positive, and hopefully in the future it can be incorporated as a modifiable lifestyle factor that can delay Alzheimer's disease onset," Gardener said.

It's not clear what component of coffee might make the difference.

RELATED Coffee could fight Parkinson's disease, study says

The study did not differentiate between caffeinated or decaffeinated coffee, whether it was prepared at home or purchased outside the home or whether the coffee drinker added milk or sugar.

It could be that the benefits are derived from caffeine or from what's known as "crude caffeine," which is the byproduct of decaffeinating coffee.

The latter has been found in previous research to be effective in partially preventing memory impairment in mice. Other animal studies have found that other coffee components -- cafestol, kahweol and Eicosanoyl-5-hydroxytryptamide -- have had an impact on cognitive impairment.

Getting the brain benefits may be as simple as pouring another cup. Increasing coffee intake from one cup to two could potentially lower cognitive decline by 8% over 18 months and decrease amyloid accumulation in the brain by 5%, Gardener said.

"We couldn't in this research find the maximum number of beneficial cups, so there will be a point where you can't just have five cups and continue to get more beneficial effects. That's something for future research as well, to find the ideal number of cups of coffee to have these positive effects," she added.

The findings were published in the November issue of the journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience.

A number of studies have suggested that coffee may have a protective factor, said Dr. Howard Fillit, founding executive director and chief science officer of the Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation in New York City, which provided some funding for this study.

"I think we continue to find really interesting ways to prevent and treat Alzheimer's, and it's a very exciting time in the field. I think this is probably, in my read, one of the most well-done studies of coffee and its prevention of cognitive decline and dementia that I've seen so far," Fillit said.

A number of lifestyle choices besides drinking coffee also seem to have a protective effect against Alzheimer's disease, he said, including a Mediterranean diet and exercise.

Fillit thinks the near future will include routine blood tests that can help a person determine their risks for prevention and treatment of the disease.

For the future of coffee research, he'd like to see a large, randomized trial that tries to pinpoint the impact while also further teasing out what component of coffee might be making the difference.

Heather Snyder, vice president of medical and scientific relations for the Alzheimer's Association in Chicago, which also provided some of the funding for the research, said the study was intriguing because it suggests higher coffee intake is associated with less buildup of beta amyloid in the brain, a hallmark brain change in Alzheimer's.

This is an association and not a cause-and-effect link, she cautioned, and more research is needed to understand what this association may mean.

Testing risk reduction strategies, including nutrition, is a pressing need with more than 6 million Americans living with Alzheimer's and dementia, Snyder said. The Alzheimer's Association has launched a two-year clinical trial meant to do just that.

"Today, there isn't a single food, ingredient or supplement that -- through rigorous scientific research -- has been shown to prevent, treat or cure Alzheimer's or other dementia," Snyder said.

"The Alzheimer's Association, based on evidence to date, encourages everyone to eat a healthy and balanced diet -- one high in vegetables and fruits and low in saturated fats -- as a way to potentially reduce the risk of cognitive decline as we age."

More information

The U.S. National Institute on Aging has more on Alzheimer's disease.

Copyright © 2021 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

British antitrust watchdog says Facebook's owner must sell Giphy

"Both consumers and Giphy are better off with the support of our infrastructure, talent and resources," Meta said in response to the order Tuesday.

Meta completed the acquisition of Giphy 18 months ago, but has been required to hold it as a separate business since June 2020 pending the outcome of the investigation. 

File Photo by Gian Ehrenzeller/EPA-EFE

Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Britain's antitrust watchdog on Tuesday blocked Facebook's parent company from owning the GIF-sharing platform Giphy, saying that the acquisition would give the platform too much social media power and stifle competition.

The Competition and Markets Authority ordered Meta to sell Giphy following a lengthy investigation.

CMA said Meta's acquisition may affect both the supply of display advertising in Britain and social media services worldwide.

"By requiring Facebook to sell Giphy, we are protecting millions of social media users and promoting competition and innovation in digital advertising," Stuart McIntosh, head of the independent inquiry group that conducted the investigation, said in a statement.

The watchdog said the Giphy acquisition would reduce competition by removing the GIF sharing platform as a potential challenger in the display advertising market.

Meta completed the acquisition of Giphy 18 months ago, but has been required to hold it as a separate business since June 2020 pending the outcome of the investigation.

The CMA concluded that allowing Meta to keep Giphy would deny other platforms access to it and drive more traffic to other Meta-owned sites. WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook already account for 73% of user time spent on social media in Britain, it noted.

The CMA found that prior to the acquisition, Giphy launched innovative advertising services that were expanding to countries outside the United States. But Meta has since ended those services and, thus, restricted competition, the watchdog found.

The CMA fined Meta more than $57 million last month for violating an enforcement order during its investigation into the Giphy merger.

Meta responded to the order on Tuesday by saying that it's reviewing all possible options to move forward with its purchase of Giphy.

"We disagree with this decision," a Meta spokesperson said in an emailed statement to UPI. "Both consumers and Giphy are better off with the support of our infrastructure, talent and resources.

"Together, Meta and Giphy would enhance Giphy's product for the millions of people, businesses, developers and [app] partners in the U.K. and around the world who use Giphy every day, providing more choices for everyone."