PETTY PURGE
O'Toole asks House to investigate toxic workplace allegations against Tory MP Shannon Stubbs

Stubbs' staff say they felt pressured to paint her house, but the MP says she is being targetted for calling for a leadership review of Erin O'Toole

The Canadian Press
Stephanie Taylor
Publishing date: Dec 06, 2021 • 

Shannon Stubbs, Member of Parliament for Lakeland, in a 2019 file photo. 

Greg Southam-Postmedia


OTTAWA — Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole has asked the House of Commons to probe allegations that one of his MPs, Shannon Stubbs, created a toxic work environment for her staff.

But the move has prompted other Conservatives, including those who want O’Toole ousted as leader, to come to the defence of the Alberta MP, who had called for a review of his leadership following the party’s election loss in September.

O’Toole said Monday he learned of the allegations, first reported by the Globe and Mail, last week while touring in Quebec. The Canadian Press has confirmed one allegation in the report, that some of Stubbs’ employees felt pressured to paint a room in her house.

Stubbs’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but she told the Globe the house-painting was a gift. She denied any wrongdoing, saying she felt targeted for calling for a review of O’Toole’s leadership.

David Parker, a former staffer who worked in Stubbs’ office for almost a year beginning in 2016, told The Canadian Press it was clear that for the MP, “nothing was good enough, ever.”

I’ve set an expectation on all my MPs that we will have a professional and respectful workplace environment

Three other former staff members, who spoke to The Canadian Press on the condition of anonymity because they feared reprisals, alleged that Stubbs would openly criticize colleagues in the office, send texts overnight and make belittling comments.

The Canadian Press has not reviewed those alleged communications.

O’Toole said Monday he asked the House of Commons to look into the matter because the allegations are of a serious nature, and he expects his MPs to behave professionally.

“As I’ve been leader for a year, I’ve set an expectation on all my MPs that we will have a professional and respectful workplace environment,” he said in response to the allegations.

Others, however, came to Stubbs’ defence.

Gregory Loerts, who currently works in her office, tweeted Monday that Stubbs is “wonderful to know personally.”

“The work has been challenging, but extremely rewarding.”

Former Conservative cabinet minister Gerry Ritz tweeted Monday that “Shannon is a great MP.”

Jordan Paquet, a former staffer who worked in Stubbs’ office for four months beginning in October 2020, told The Canadian Press he had a positive experience. While it was a busy, he said, the pair got along well and that Stubbs displayed a passion for her work, behaved respectfully and would offer feedback that was constructive.

Stubbs has so far been the lone Conservative MP to publicly call for O’Toole’s performance to be reviewed by party members within six months.

Outside their first post-election caucus meeting in October, Stubbs said O’Toole flip-flopped on some key Conservative policy positions and that the grassroots deserved to have a say if the leader intended on making more changes to the party.

Alissa Golob, co-founder of anti-abortion organization RightNow, which has been fiercely critical of O’Toole walking back promises he made to protect the conscience rights of health-care professionals, tweeted Monday that the leader was embarking on a “witch hunt.”

Australia live news update: NSW education minister says teacher strike ‘disingenuous’

Elias Visontay (now) and Matilda Boseley (earlier) 

NSW teachers strike closes nearly 400 public schools

Thousands of New South Wales public school teachers have rallied at NSW parliament as part of a campaign of statewide industrial action to push for better pay and conditions.

Teachers from Sydney, Newcastle, Wollongong and the Blue Mountains gathered at Hyde Park in Sydney’s city centre on Tuesday, before marching to parliament.

Many of those on strike were wearing red T-shirts and carrying placards supporting the NSW Teachers Federation, which organised the action that closed almost 400 state schools for 24 hours.

The teachers say the government has failed to address unsustainable workloads, uncompetitive salaries and staff shortages.

They want a pay increase up to 7.5% a year to reverse the decline in teachers’ wages compared with other professions.

Related: NSW teachers strike as train and bus services services hit by industrial action

FIFTH WHEEL

Switzerland Approves Assisted ‘Suicide Capsule’

Barbie Latza Nadeau

Mon, December 6, 2021

Switzerland has just legalized a new way to die by assisted suicide. The country’s medical review board has just given authorization for use of the Sarco Suicide Pod, which is a 3-D-printed portable coffin-like capsule with windows that can be transported to a tranquil place for a person’s final moments of life. 

Conventional assisted-suicide methods have generally involved a chemical substance. Inventor Philip Nitschke of Exit International told the website SwissInfo.ch that his “death pod” offers a different approach. “We want to remove any kind of psychiatric review from the process and allow the individual to control the method themselves,” he said. “Our aim is to develop an artificial-intelligence screening system to establish the person’s mental capacity. Naturally there is a lot of skepticism, especially on the part of psychiatrists.”

The pod can be activated from inside and can give the person intending to die various options for where they want to be for their final moments. “The machine can be towed anywhere for the death,” he said. “It can be in an idyllic outdoor setting or in the premises of an assisted-suicide organization, for example.”

To qualify to use the pod, the person who wants to die must answer an online survey that is meant to prove whether they are making the decision of their own accord. If they pass, they will be told the location of the pod and given an access code.

Once inside, the person intending to end their life will have to answer pre-recorded questions and press a button that will start the process of flooding the interior with nitrogen, which will quickly reduce the oxygen level inside from 21 percent to 1 percent. “The person will get into the capsule and lie down,” he said, adding, “It’s very comfortable.”

He said the person will likely feel disorientated or euphoric. “The whole thing takes about 30 seconds,” he said “Death takes place through hypoxia and hypocapnia, oxygen and carbon dioxide deprivation, respectively. There is no panic, no choking.”

In 2020, around 1,300 people died by assisted suicide in Switzerland, almost all by ingesting liquid sodium pentobarbital, which puts a patient into a deep coma before killing them. Assisted suicide is also legal in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Canada.

The Sarco Suicide Pod is expected to be operational in 2022. The company has made three prototypes, but one was not “aesthetically pleasing” so it will not be used, it says. The company has not yet announced how much it will cost to use the service. 

Coral reefs of western Indian Ocean at risk of collapse: study


The findings warn that reefs along the eastern coast of Africa and island nations like Mauritius and Seychelles faced a high risk of extinction unless urgent action was taken (AFP/TONY KARUMBA)

Nick Perry
Mon, December 6, 2021

Rising sea temperatures and overfishing threaten coral reefs in the western Indian Ocean with complete collapse in the next 50 years, according to a groundbreaking study of these marine ecosystems.

The findings, published in the journal Nature Sustainability on Monday, warned that reefs along the eastern coast of Africa and island nations like Mauritius and Seychelles faced a high risk of extinction unless urgent action was taken.

For the first time, researchers were able to assess the vulnerability of individual reefs across the vast western reaches of the Indian Ocean, and identify the main threats to coral health.


They found that all reefs in this region faced "complete ecosystem collapse and irreversible damage" within decades, and that ocean warming meant some coral habitats were already critically endangered.

"The findings are quite serious. These reefs are vulnerable to collapse," lead author David Obura, founding director at CORDIO East Africa, a Kenya-based oceans research institute, told AFP.

"There's nowhere in the region where the reefs are in full health. They've all declined somewhat, and that will continue."

The study, co-authored with the International Union for Conservation of Nature, assessed 11,919 square kilometres of reef, representing about five percent of the global total.

Reefs fringing picturesque island nations like Mauritius, Seychelles, the Comoros and Madagascar -- popular ecotourism destinations heavily reliant on their marine environment -- were most at risk, researchers said.

- 'Double whammy' -

Coral reefs cover only a tiny fraction -- 0.2 percent -- of the ocean floor, but they are home to at least a quarter of all marine animals and plants.

Besides anchoring marine ecosystems, they also provide protein, jobs and protection from storms and shoreline erosion for hundreds of millions of people worldwide.

Obura said healthy reefs were "very valuable" and their loss would prove "a double whammy".

"For biodiversity, but also all sorts of coastal economies that depend on reefs," he said.

Climate change posed the biggest threat to coral health overall in the western Indian Ocean, where scientists say seawater temperatures are warming faster than in other parts of the globe.

Oceans absorb more than 90 percent of the excess heat from greenhouse gas emissions, shielding land surfaces but generating huge, long-lasting marine heatwaves that are pushing many species of corals past their limits of tolerance.

But along the east coast of continental Africa from Kenya to South Africa, pressure from overfishing was also identified in this latest study as another major scourge on reef ecosystems.

This underscored the need to urgently address both global threats to coral reefs from climate change, and local ones such as overfishing, Obura said.

"We need to give these reefs the best chance. In order to do that, we have to reduce the drivers, reverse the pressure on reefs," he said.

In October, the largest ever global survey of coral health revealed that dynamite fishing, pollution but mainly global warming had wiped out 14 percent of the world's coral reefs from 2009 to 2018.

np/amu/yad

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
Sampdoria president resigns after arrest in bankruptcy case

Mon, 6 December 2021

Massimo Ferrero has resigned as president of Serie A club Sampdoria. (AFP/MARCO BERTORELLO)

Sampdoria president Massimo Ferrero has resigned after his reported arrest on Monday for alleged involvement in fraudulent bankruptcy cases, the Italian Serie A club announced.

"We learned with great surprise of the arrest of Massimo Ferrero (...) for bankruptcy cases which date back many years," Genoa-based outfit said in a statement.

"It is important to clarify that these matters have absolutely nothing to do with the (club) management."

"To protect at best" the interests of Sampdoria, Mr. Ferrero "intends to resign immediately from all his functions and make himself available to investigators," the statement added.

According to Italian media, Ferrero was arrested on Monday in Milan and taken to a prison in the northern Italian city.

The 70-year-old is accused, along with five others who have been placed under house arrest, with fraudulent bankruptcy and other alleged financial crimes.

According to his lawyer, quoted by the daily newspaper Il Corriere della Sera, the arrest was linked to the bankruptcy of companies with headquarters in the southern Calabria region.

Sampdoria are currently in 15th place in the Italian top-flight.

ljm/glr/ea/iwd

Lula, Brazil’s popular ex-president, battles for 2022 political comeback

David GORMEZANO 

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Brazil’s president from 2002 to 2010, embarked upon a triumphant European tour worthy of a head of state in November. Cleared of corruption charges by Brazil's Supreme Court in April, he gathered support from the European left and honed his message ahead of Brazil’s 2022 presidential election. His strategy to unseat President Jair Bolsonaro is based on the appeal of his personality and his ability to negotiate with Brazilian politics’ kingmakers.

© Andrew Medichini, AP

‘Back in the Champions League of international leaders’

Is Lula planning on running in the 2022 Brazilian presidential elections? “I’ll let you know,” the former president replied calmly, when questioned in a grand Parisian hotel, where he was being awarded Politique Internationale’s Prize for Political Courage on November 17.

True to form, the former steelworker who was released from prison in November 2019 declared his love for the “good, democratic, generous, hard-working” Brazilian people, who are “much better than the ignorant people currently in power”, and defended Brazil’s mission to become an economic and regional power for the good of the planet. A few hours later, he was received by French President Emmanuel Macron for lunch at the Élysée Palace.

The interminable judicial ordeal that, beginning from 2011, saw Lula convicted in cases of corruption, embezzlement of public funds and obstruction of justice, seems to be over. The former president is "back in the Champions League of international leaders”, says Gaspard Estrada, director of the Political Observatory of Latin America and the Caribbean at Paris’ Institute of Political Studies.

Reusing a proven electoral strategy

Lula’s European tour demonstrated that, unlike Jair Bolsonaro, he isn’t a pariah in the eyes of the international community – a clear difference that the former president hopes will win back the hearts of the Brazilian electorate.

Upon his return to Brazil, and ahead of an upcoming trip to the United States, Lula will continue to make full use of the electoral strategy that won him the presidency in 2002: Talking to a variety of people, and negotiating with and rallying political forces beyond his Workers’ Party (PT), particularly from the centre of the political spectrum.

"Lula has no competition on the left, but after Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment (Editor’s note: in 2016), the PT’s political orientation has turned more towards the left. In the 2018 presidential election, the PT’s candidate chose a running mate who was further left than him. But historically, the PT only wins with a vice president from the centre-right," Oliver Stuenkel, professor of International Relations at the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Sao Paulo, points out.

The unavoidable ‘Centrao’: The soft and corrupt underbelly of Brazilian politics

Indeed, since Brazil’s return to democracy in 1985, all presidents have had to form alliances with a multitude of small, conservative parties in order to govern. Acting as representatives of conservative, “deep” Brazil, they are known by Brazilians as the “Centrao” (“big centre”).

Divided into different groupings – 25 parties currently have elected members in Congress – these coalitions determine whether legislation can move through Brazil's parliament. "You can't govern Brazil without the Centrao. Its members will always be in government, and they don't care who wins the election. It’s a peculiarity of the Brazilian political system," explains Stuenkel.

It is therefore likely that Lula wants to "return to the happier times of his presidency and put an end to political polarisation” in the form of "Lulism", a synonym for “conciliation and acceptance of the realities of Brazilian political life", explains Armelle Enders, a historian of contemporary Brazil at Université Paris 8.

“The left has reproached him for having personal ties with many right-wing or centre-wing personalities whom they consider unattractive," Enders says. But in 2022, these parties will probably be less picky, as they aim to put former army captain Jair Bolsonaro out of office for good.

Reconnecting with the military

Another challenge for the great conciliator will be to reconnect with the military: a popular institution among Brazilians that aligned itself with Bolsonaro after his 2018 victory. "Lula tried to open a dialogue with the military hierarchy through his former defence minister, Nelson Jobim, but apparently without success. The establishment of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission by Dilma Rousseff in 2014 has created a rift between the PT and the army," explains Stuenkel.

In Paris, Lula appeared uncharacteristically unconciliatory as he spoke about this issue. "The role of the Brazilian armed forces is well-defined by the Constitution: They defend the sovereignty of our country. (...) They are at the service of civil society. That is what our Constitution says. Today, there are 8,000 military personnel in positions of civil responsibility and trust. They will have to leave, and we will replace them with non-military personnel. There is no problem, but I don't want to talk about elections with the military," he told journalists on November 17.

Uncertainty ahead of a decisive election

In a Brazil hit hard by unemployment and the pandemic, with hunger resurfacing in some parts of the country, Lula, who has been leading in the polls for months, wants to focus his campaign on reconciliation, on celebrating Brazil and on reassuring the Brazilian people.

Yet a Lula victory, hoped for by many Brazilians as well as leaders in Europe and Latin America, is not a foregone conclusion. Although the former president has been cleared of all convictions, his name remains synonymous, for a part of Brazilian public opinion, with political corruption. A polarised contest between the former president and the incumbent can therefore be expected.

"Lula will have a hard time winning back the business community,” says Enders. “In 20 years, many things have changed. A new, highly libertarian right wing has gained strength. It is looking for a third way, between a Lula who is too far left and a Bolsonaro who is too unpredictable. It could instead look towards Judge Sergio Moro [Editor’s note: Moro jailed Lula, was appointed minister of justice and public security after Bolsonaro was elected, and resigned in April 2020], which could bother Bolsonaro.”

"Currently, Jair Bolsonaro is keeping a low profile, as he was threatened with impeachment after trying to stage a coup in September. But he is not out of the running – anything is possible.”

In the event of a second-round defeat, the current Brazilian president, a great admirer of former US president Donald Trump, does not plan on going down without a fight – especially if Lula emerges victorious.

This article was translated from the original in French.

Israel lays down law on cyber exports, after Pegasus spy scandal


Apple sued the Israeli maker of Pegasus spyware seeking to block NSO Group from targeting the more than one billion iPhones in circulation (AFP/JOEL SAGET)
GET A BLACKBERRY THEY ARE ENCRYPTED

Mon, December 6, 2021

Israel laid down the law Monday on the use by foreign governments of its cyber exports, after the private Israeli developer of Pegasus spyware became engulfed in scandal abroad.

The defence ministry-linked agency for military exports, in a statement, specified that a foreign state seeking a cyber or intelligence system must only use it to combat terrorism and "serious crimes".

Smartphones infected with Pegasus spyware developed by the private Israeli firm NSO Group are essentially turned into pocket spying devices.

This allows the user to read the target's messages, look through their photos, track their location and even turn on their camera without them knowing.

US authorities last month blacklisted NSO by restricting exports to it from American groups over allegations the Israeli firm "enabled foreign governments to conduct transnational repression".

An updated Israeli end user certificate issued Monday, to be signed by buyers, listed terrorism as including offences committed with the aim of "seriously intimidating a population" or "unduly compelling a government" through crimes such as hostage taking and potentially fatal attacks upon a person's life.

"An act of expressing an opinion or criticism, as well as presenting data regarding the state, including any of its institutions, shall not, in and of itself, constitute a Serious Crime," or terrorism, the certificate says.

Violation of the provisions would result in the spyware being restricted or disconnected, the agency warned.

"The system shall not be used, under any circumstances, to inflict harm on an individual or a group of individuals, merely due to their religion, sex or gender, race, ethnic group, sexual orientation, nationality, country of origin, opinion, political affiliation, age or personal status."

The military exports agency said the provisions follow "a series of measures" taken in the last few years in which Israel "approves the export of cyber systems solely to governments for the purposes of investigation and prevention of terrorism and crime."

In the latest in a string of commercial cases, Apple last month sued the Israeli spyware maker, seeking to block NSO Group from targeting the more than one billion iPhones in circulation.

NSO has consistently denied any wrongdoing and defended use of its software.

In July a collaborative investigation by The Washington Post, The Guardian, Le Monde and other media outlets raised privacy concerns and revealed the far-reaching extent to which the NSO software could be misused.

They investigated a data leak of up to 50,000 phone numbers believed to have been identified as people of interest by clients of NSO since 2016.

The numbers included those of activists, journalists, business executives and politicians around the world.

alv/hc/it

Prosecutor criticizes school over run-up to mass shooting

By RICK CALLAHAN and DAVID EGGERT

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Oakland County prosecutor Karen McDonald addresses the media in her office, Friday, Dec. 3, 2021, in Pontiac, Mich. McDonald filed involuntary manslaughter charges against Jennifer and James Crumbley, the parents of 15-year-old Ethan Crumbley, who is accused of killing four students at a Michigan high school. (Eric Seals /Detroit Free Press via AP)


LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The prosecutor overseeing the case against the student accused in last week’s deadly Michigan school shooting and who took the rare step of charging his parents left open the possibility Monday that school officials could also face charges, saying “in this case, a lot could have been done different.”

Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said the investigation’s findings will determine whether school officials will be charge d in last Tuesday’s attack at Oxford High School.

But she noted that three hours before Ethan Crumbley allegedly opened fire, killing four fellow students and wounding six others and a teacher, the 15-year-old was sent back to class after a meeting between school counselors and his parents over a drawing a teacher found on his desk that included a bullet and the words “blood everywhere.”

“In this case, a lot could have been done different. I mean at that meeting he was allowed to go back to school,” she said Monday during an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

“We know that he either had that weapon with him or someplace where he could have stored it in the school. But he had it in the school, there’s no question. And leaving the decision to parents about whether he goes home or not ...” she added, not finishing the sentence.

Tim Throne, superintendent of the Oxford school district, said Crumbley and his parents met with counselors on the day of the shooting. He said counselors found the teen “calm” and didn’t believe he would harm others.

The parents, Jennifer and James Crumbley, were asked to take their son home but “flatly refused,” Throne said.

Throne said a third party will investigate the events that occurred before the school shooting in Oxford Township, a community of about 23,000 people roughly 30 miles (50 kilometers) north of Detroit. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said her office could conduct the probe and did not rule out investigating even if the school district declines her offer.

“We’re better suited to do this than a private actor like a security firm or a law firm or anything of that nature,” she told The Associated Press on Monday. “When the institution is serving as a client and they hire a private agency, many times that is only sort of to cover up for any mistakes that might have been made as opposed to really getting to the truth of what occurred.”

Nessel said she is not looking to blame the school district. A review of the tragedy, she said, will show what happened, identify possible violations of protocols and provide lessons so students are kept safe.

Asked whether school staffers may be charged, she said: “I’m not going to rule anything out. But we’re going into this with the hope that we can discover best practices, best policies, best procedures and make recommendations to schools around the state, possibly to the Legislature for laws that should be implemented and to ensure the safety of schoolchildren around the state.”

Ethan Crumbley has been charged as an adult with murder, terrorism and other crimes in the attack. And McDonald filed involuntary manslaughter charges against his parents, saying they failed to intervene on the day of the tragedy despite being confronted with the drawing and its disturbing message.

McDonald said Monday that Crumbley’s parents did not mention during the meeting at the school that Ethan had access to a 9mm semi-automatic pistol. Authorities say he used the gun to carry out the attack, and that his father bought it for him at a local gun shop on Black Friday as an early Christmas present. Although the gun was legally sold to James Crumbley, minors in Michigan cannot possess guns aside from in limited situations, such as when hunting with an adult.

“You can’t even in an airport mention anything that even remotely indicates that there might be some sort of violence on a plane. You’ll be immediately extracted. And yet we have a kid who is ... saying some pretty concerning things and he was allowed to go back to school, and neither parent mentions that he had access to a weapon,” McDonald said.

McDonald said prosecutors have evidence suggesting that the couple “purchased that weapon for their 15-year-old and bragged about it online — thought this was some joyous occasion as a present.”

And she said the teen had access to the gun “whether it was locked or not” at his family’s home.

The parents were taken into custody early Saturday after they were caught hiding inside in the Detroit studio of artist Andrzej Sikora. The artist’s attorney said Sunday that he is cooperating with investigators and didn’t know the couple was facing charges or that they had stayed overnight at his studio while authorities were searching for them.

The couple’s attorneys have said they didn’t intend to flee.

In a message to students posted on the school district’s website Monday, Oxford High School Principal Steve Wolf said formal classes aren’t expected to resume until at least January, after the winter break. Wolf also said staff spent the weekend sorting backpacks and other items left behind at the school and plan to organize time to pick those up.

“We truly miss you and can’t wait to see you soon,” he wrote. “It has been extremely difficult working through this tragedy, and seeing many of you at our various community events has helped in the healing process. It’s been healing and helpful to share stories, cry together, give hugs and just be together.”

___

This story was updated to correct the spelling of Tim Throne’s name, which was misspelled “Thorne” in one instance.

___

Callahan reported from Indianapolis. Associated Press writer Kathleen Foody contributed from Chicago. For more of the AP’s coverage of the Michigan school shooting: https://apnews.com/hub/oxford-high-school-shooting

Dems: Discovery, AT&T merger will hurt diversity, workers

By ASTRID GALVAN

FILE - Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, speaks during the House Committee on Foreign Affairs hearing on the administration foreign policy priorities on Capitol Hill on Wednesday in Washington, March 10, 2021. A group of House Democrats is raising concerns that the proposed merger of Discovery and AT&T's WarnerMedia, a $43 billion effort to conquer the world of streaming, could impact diversity efforts in Hollywood and particularly hurt Latinos, who are already deeply underrepresented. Led by Rep. Joaquin Castro of Texas, 33 members of Congress wrote a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice on Monday asking it to consider whether the merger will hurt competition, workers and diversity efforts in the entertainment industry. 

(Ken Cedeno/Pool via AP, File)

Congressional Democrats are raising concerns that the proposed merger of Discovery and AT&T’s WarnerMedia, a $43 billion effort to conquer the world of streaming, could affect diversity efforts in Hollywood and particularly hurt Latinos, who are already deeply underrepresented.

The Democrats, led by Rep. Joaquin Castro of Texas, wrote a letter to the Justice Department on Monday asking it to consider whether the merger will hurt competition and workers and diversity efforts in the entertainment industry.

Castro has long championed diversity in media, which can include everything from Hollywood movies to book publishers to news organizations. Last year, Castro and members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus tasked the government’s watchdog agency with investigating Latino representation in media. The Government Accountability Office, which released its findings in September, found Latinos are vastly underrepresented in all aspects of media.

“Part of what’s different about our argument is that we also center around the exclusion of many people of color in these companies as employees and often times in terms of content,” Castro said.

Castro said Discovery in particular has a poor record of hiring Latinos in front of and behind the camera, concerns he expressed to company representatives during a meeting recently.

“I was clear that if you continue to exclude people from your company, then you don’t deserve to merge and it’s not in the country’s best interest to allow for concentrated exclusion,” Castro said.

In May, Discovery announced it was absorbing WarnerMedia from AT&T, combining giants like HBO, CNN and HGTV, along with Oprah Winfrey’s network.

Experts have questioned whether this will hurt consumers, who may end up spending more money on streaming services in the long run.

In a news release, Discovery said the Warner acquisition will increase investment and capability in original content and programming and “create more opportunity for under-represented storytellers,” although the company hasn’t laid out how.

John T. Stankey, president and CEO of AT&T, addressed the concerns about antitrust violations expressed in the letter during a virtual global conference on Monday, according to a transcript of the call.

“Not to say that we won’t get the dialogue and have a constructive conversation for people to understand that I think what’s been articulated in those letters is really unfounded,” Stankey said. “And I believe the context of our discussion with regulators up to this point have centered around those issues, and we feel very good about the data we’ve put on the table that it’s clearly indicated that there’s nothing unusual about this transaction.”

Darnell Hunt, the dean of Social Sciences at UCLA who has spent years researching diversity in Hollywood, said the merger would be particularly troubling for diversity in executive level positions.

“Bigger is usually not better when it comes to these types of mergers, and there’s less competition, there’s less opportunity for access, because there are fewer gatekeepers. And that’s not a good thing in an industry that’s already exclusionary and very insular,” Hunt said.

Mergers mean job cuts, leaving an even greater void for people of color to work in high-level positions in the industry, Hunt said.

When Comcast and NBC announced a merger in 2009, Hunt publicly opposed it, and says promises by executives to create more minority-owned networks largely fell flat.

He doubts the Discovery acquisition will result in more diversity.

“I would love to hear their plan for that, if they’re thinking about it, but it doesn’t sound like they’re thinking about it,” Hunt said.

___

Galván reported from Phoenix. She covers issues impacting Latinos in the U.S. for the AP’s Race and Ethnicity team. Follow her on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/astridgalvan

Emmett Till investigation closed by feds; no new charges

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS and MICHAEL BALSAMO 

 This undated photo shows Emmett Louis Till, a 14-year-old black Chicago boy, who was kidnapped, tortured and murdered in 1955 after he allegedly whistled at a white woman in Mississippi. The U.S. Justice Department told relatives of Emmett Till on Monday, Dec. 6, 2021 that it is ending its investigation into the 1955 lynching of the Black teenager from Chicago who was abducted, tortured and killed after witnesses said he whistled at a white woman in Mississippi. (AP Photo, File)

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Ollie Gordon, Emmett Till's cousin, speaks to reporters and students, during a press conference at Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism where members of Till's family commented on the final investigation report of his murder, Monday, Dec. 6, 2021, in Evanston, Ill.  (Tyler LaRiviere/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The U.S. Justice Department said Monday it is ending its investigation into the 1955 lynching of Emmett Till, the Black teenager from Chicago who was abducted, tortured and killed after witnesses said he whistled at a white woman in Mississippi.

The announcement came after the head of the department’s civil rights division and other officials met with several of Till’s relatives.

Till’s family members said they were disappointed there will continue to be no accountability for the infamous killing, with no charges being filed against Carolyn Bryant Donham, the woman accused of lying about whether Till ever touched her.

“Today is a day we will never forget,” Till’s cousin, the Rev. Wheeler Parker, said during a news conference in Chicago. “For 66 years we have suffered pain. ... I suffered tremendously.”

The killing galvanized the civil rights movement after Till’s mother insisted on an open casket, and Jet magazine published photos of his brutalized body.

The Justice Department reopened the investigation after a 2017 book quoted Donham as saying she lied when she claimed that 14-year-old Till grabbed her, whistled and made sexual advances while she was working in a store in the small community of Money. Relatives have publicly denied that Donham, who is in her 80s, recanted her allegations about Till.

Donham told the FBI she had never recanted her accusations and there is “insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she lied to the FBI,” the Justice Department said in a news release Monday. Officials also said that historian Timothy B. Tyson, the author of 2017′s “The Blood of Emmett Till,” was unable to produce any recordings or transcripts in which Donham allegedly admitted to lying about her encounter with the teen.

“In closing this matter without prosecution, the government does not take the position that the state court testimony the woman gave in 1955 was truthful or accurate,” the Justice Department release said. “There remains considerable doubt as to the credibility of her version of events, which is contradicted by others who were with Till at the time, including the account of a living witness.”

Tyson did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press seeking comment Monday.

Thelma Wright Edwards, one of Till’s cousins, said she was heartbroken but not surprised that no new charges are being brought.

“I have no hate in my heart, but I had hoped that we could get an apology, but that didn’t happen,” Edwards said Monday in Chicago. “Nothing was settled. The case is closed, and we have to go on from here.”

Days after Till was killed, his body was pulled from the Tallahatchie River, where it had been tossed after being weighted down with a cotton gin fan.

Two white men, Roy Bryant and his half-brother J.W. Milam, were tried on murder charges about a month after Till was killed, but an all-white Mississippi jury acquitted them. Months later, they confessed in a paid interview with Look magazine. Bryant was married to Donham in 1955.

The Justice Department in 2004 opened an investigation of Till’s killing after it received inquiries about whether charges could be brought against anyone still living. The department said the statute of limitations had run out on any potential federal crime, but the FBI worked with state investigators to determine if state charges could be brought. In February 2007, a Mississippi grand jury declined to indict anyone, and the Justice Department announced it was closing the case.

Bryant and Milam were not brought to trial again, and they are now both dead. Donham has been living in Raleigh, North Carolina.

The FBI in 2006 began a cold case initiative to investigate racially motivated killings from decades earlier. A federal law named after Till allows a review of killings that had not been solved or prosecuted to the point of a conviction.

The Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act requires the Justice Department to make an annual report to Congress. No report was filed in 2020, but a report filed in June of this year indicated that the department was still investigating the abduction and killing of Till.

The FBI investigation included a talk with Parker, who previously told the AP in an interview that he heard his cousin whistle at the woman in a store in Money, Mississippi, but that the teen did nothing to warrant being killed.

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Balsamo reported from Washington.