Charges no longer proceeding against journalists arrested at B.C. pipeline protest

JOURNALISTS SHOULD CHARGE FALSE ARREST

PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. — Charges are no longer being pursued against two journalists who were arrested last month while reporting on the RCMP's enforcement of an injunction at a pipeline construction site in northern British Columbia.

Documents filed with B.C. Supreme Court this week show the company building the Coastal GasLink pipeline filed notices to discontinue the proceedings against photojournalist Amber Bracken and documentary filmmaker Michael Toledano.

The pair had been charged with civil contempt of court and were conditionally released by a judge three days after they were arrested along with members of the Gidimt'en clan, who oppose the construction of the natural gas pipeline in Wet'suwet'en territory.

Bracken and Toledano are no longer required to appear in court in February or to comply with the terms of the injunction first granted in December 2019.

Opposition among Wet'suwet'en hereditary chiefs to the 670-kilometre pipeline sparked rallies and rail blockades across Canada last year, while the elected council of the Wet'suwet'en First Nation and others nearby have agreed to the project.

The pipeline would transport natural gas from Dawson Creek in northeastern B.C. to a processing facility in Kitimat.

It is more than halfway finished with almost all the route cleared and 200 kilometres of pipeline installed, Coastal GasLink has said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 24, 2021.

The Canadian Press

Concordia University of Edmonton faculty association to strike in new year

Concordia has recorded surpluses of more than $7 million for the past two years.

Madeleine Cummings

Faculty at Concordia University of Edmonton will be on strike in the first week of January unless their union reaches a deal with the school's bargaining team over the next two weeks.

The Concordia University of Edmonton Faculty Association (CUEFA) submitted a formal strike notice to the university's administration on Wednesday morning.

The strike, which would be a first for faculty associations in Alberta and affect more than 2,500 students, would start on January 4 at 9 a.m.

After months of negotiation, according to the websites for both parties, the school and faculty association have signed off on more than half of 41 articles of a new collective agreement.

CUEFA interim president Glynis Price told CBC News on Thursday that both sides have now agreed on faculty workload — should the new agreement be ratified, faculty will be expected to teach fewer courses to make up for an increase in research.

But the association is still concerned about discipline and job security, workload for non-faculty staff members, and salaries, among other issues.

"We are seeking fair compensation for our members that is comparable to other universities," Price said.

© John Shypitka/CBC 

Concordia has recorded surpluses of more than $7 million for the past two years.

According to the university's most recent annual report, the school recorded a net surplus of $11.5 million in March and a $7.8 million surplus the previous year.

Price said Concordia administration had received approval to take lockout action against the faculty association but it would need to give 72 hours notice.

Strike and lockout actions must go through the Alberta Labour Relations Board.

An emailed statement from the school's bargaining team said it remains hopeful a fair agreement can be reached and it "will maintain a constructive approach at the bargaining table in the hope of avoiding a strike."

Student support group formed

Ashley Callahan, a third-year student studying history at Concordia, started a student group that supports the faculty association.

As of Thursday afternoon, 70 people had signed her petition expressing support for faculty.

Callahan said she understands and shares fellow students' concerns about the effects of a strike but she also feels an obligation to support her teachers.

"Our faculty has done everything possible to get us through the last two years of this pandemic and the least that we can do is stand by them to negotiate a fair wage deal," she said.

Callahan said she and her peers took note of students' recent advocacy at the University of Manitoba, where some students protested in support of a striking faculty association. That five-week-long strike ended earlier this month and semesters were extended to make up for lost class time.

Callahan said students in her group plan to participate in more solidarity movements if talks between Concordia and the faculty association deteriorate.

Price said bargaining will continue over the holidays.

More than 50 Apple employees have reportedly walked off the job on Christmas Eve and urged customers to boycott the iPhone maker

htan@insider.com (Huileng Tan,Juliana Kaplan,Sindhu Sundar) 

 An Apple store. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

A group of more than 50 Apple retail employees reportedly walked out on Christmas Eve, demanding better work conditions.

The group's demands include a more respectful workplace and paid sick time.

Most Apple stores in the US are open until 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve and closed on Christmas Day.

A group of Apple employees has walked off their jobs on Christmas Eve and are urging a customer boycott on the day — when much last-minute holiday shopping takes place.

The worker advocacy group, Apple Together, called for a walkout on Thursday. Its demands include a more respectful workplace and paid sick time. More than 50 retail employees across several states have already participated in the walkout, according to a HuffPost report.

Apple Together also urged customers to boycott the company during the walkout period. "Don't shop in stores. Don't shop online," the organization tweeted. Information on Apple's website said most stores in the US would be open until 6 p.m. local time on Christmas Eve and closed on Christmas Day.

In a follow-up tweet, the group outlined requests that included protections from abusive customers, COVID-19 safety measures, and hazard pay.

One worker at an Apple Store in Jacksonville, Florida, told Insider that about 15 people walked out of his store on Friday, motivated partly by the company's response to recent aggression by customers.

"Last week, a customer came in and spit on one of our team members," this person said, adding that the customer was then serviced by the store's leadership despite the incident. These types of events have continued, despite calls to leadership for new policies, he said. "There needs to be a different protocol."

An Apple spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

The walkout is the latest employee action in a year that has seen unprecedented activism from Apple workers, who have called on the company to change certain working conditions for both corporate and retail employees.

One key issue has been worker safety amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Employees at Apple's corporate offices have pushed back on the company's mandatory return-to-office policy, which has been delayed several times this year, and was most recently planned for January. Last week, the company delayed its return-to-office plan indefinitely, citing the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant. Apple retail workers have also spoken out against unsafe conditions at the company's stores, with several telling NBC News that employees who were feeling sick were forced to work Black Friday, despite COVID-19 prevention policies.

Employees at the iPhone maker have also publicly organized around other working conditions. This summer, a group of 15 Apple corporate and retail employees created #AppleToo, a website for employees to share their stories of mistreatment at the company. Apple then fired two of the employees involved in those efforts. In October, it reportedly fired Janneke Parrish, a leader of the #AppleToo movement, and in September it fired Ashley Gjovik, who had spoken out about harassment and sexism at Apple.

Apple employees plan to walk off their jobs on Christmas Eve, urge customers to not buy anything amid the last-minute shopping rush

Huileng Tan
Thu, December 23, 2021, 10:33 PM


A group of Apple employees is planning a workout on Christmas Eve, demanding better work conditions.


Most Apple stores in the US are open till 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve and closed on Christmas Day.


Their demands include a more respectful workplace and paid sick time.

A group of Apple employees is planning to walk off their jobs on Christmas Eve and are urging a customer boycott on the day — when much last-minute shopping takes place.

The worker advocacy group Apple Together called for a walkout on Twitter. Their demands include a more respectful workplace and paid sick time.

It also urged customers to "demand that Apple upholds its image with your wallet. Don't shop in stores. Don't shop online."

According to information on its website, most Apple stores in the US are open until 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve and closed on Christmas Day.

The Apple Together tweet also informed workers who walk off that they can apply for strike funds via the Coworker Solidarity Fund, a nonprofit. According to the fund's webpage, it's now accepting only waitlist applications for stipends of up to $5,000.

The tech sector faces increased employee activism around toxic work conditions and environments.

In June, about 80 Apple employees pushed back after the company announced its return-to-office policy would require them back in the workplace by September, The Verge reported. The company last week pushed back its return-to-office indefinitely due to the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.

And in August, a group of Apple employees launched a website for coworkers to share their experiences of mistreatment at the tech giant.

Apple didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

Young Iraqi film students tell their own stories from Mosul




ln the war-ravaged northern Iraqi city of Mosul, 19 students 

are getting a chance to make their first short films 

(AFP/Zaid AL-OBEIDI)

Tony Gamal-Gabriel
Thu, December 23, 2021

A budding Iraqi filmmaker yells "action!" as an actress clambers over rubble in Mosul's Old City, proud students of a nascent film school in the former jihadist bastion.

Mosul still bears the scars of the brutal reign of the Islamic State group, who overran the northern Iraqi city in 2014 and imposed their ultraconservative interpretation of Islamic law.

They destroyed everything from centuries-old churches to musical instruments, before being routed in a devastating battle in 2017.

Now, in a collaboration between the Mosul fine arts academy, a Belgian theatre company and UN cultural agency UNESCO, 19 students are getting a chance to make their first short films.

"We live in Mosul, we know everything that happened," said 20-year-old theatre student Mohammed Fawaz. "We want to show it all to the world through cinema."

Over a four-month course, students get a taste of everything from writing and shooting to acting and editing, according to Milo Rau, artistic director of Belgian NTGent theatre company who is behind the initiative.

Cameras and microphones in hand, the students are now hitting Mosul's streets to tell stories from their wounded city.

- 'Stone Age to modernity' -

An actress dressed as a bride searches for her husband, only to discover he has stepped on a land mine.

Children and other residents crowd around curiously, while a neighbour refuses to turn off a noisy generator.

"We're losing the light," one of the instructors reminds students, as the December sun goes down.

Studying at the fine arts academy after the IS defeat was a bit like "passing from the Stone Age to modernity", said student Fawaz.

A fan of blockbuster movies like the Marvel and "Fast and Furious" franchises, Fawaz spent several of his teen years at home with no television or schooling under the extremists, learning English through books and thanks to a neighbour.

He and some classmates have already decided "to make films on Mosul and its war", Fawaz said.

After a month-long intensive session in October, the students have been trying out different roles as they pair up to make their films, said Belgian instructor, cameraman and filmmaker Daniel Demoustier.

All the equipment like lenses and sound gear brought in from abroad will stay, he said, with the goal for the students to "pick it up again and start making their films on their own".

Even if only three or four do so, "that will be a great success", he said.

- 'Longing for childhood' -

Tamara Jamal, 19, said the course was her "first experience" with cinema.

Her short film tells the story of a young girl whose father beats her mother, while others have looked at issues including early marriage.

"Most of the students prefer to talk about stories where children play the main role," said Susana AbdulMajid, an Iraqi-German actress and teacher whose family is originally from Mosul.

Young people in the city "have gone through a lot of difficult and horrible things... there is a kind of longing for childhood, and also for a time of innocence", she said.

The students' nine works, each lasting up to five minutes, will be screened in Mosul in February before being presented to European festivals, said Rau.

His production of "Orestes in Mosul" -- an adaptation of Aeschylus's ancient Greek tragedy -- was produced in 2018-2019 with the participation of local students.

The goal now is to secure funding to keep the cinema department running, he said.

The next step will be "to have a small Mosul film festival... continuing what we started".

tgg/lg/pjm

Two more Hong Kong universities remove Tiananmen artwork
 

STALIN SCHOOL OF FALSIFICATION; 

NOW YOU SEE THEM , NOW YOU DON'T

This combination image shows where the 'Goddess of Democracy' statue once stood on the campus of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (AFP/Daniel SUEN, Bertha WANG)


Thu, December 23, 2021

Two Hong Kong universities on Friday removed sculptures marking Beijing's 1989 crackdown on Tiananmen Square democracy protesters, as authorities steadily erase all remaining traces of the deadly event from the southern Chinese territory.

The removals come a day after Hong Kong's oldest university took down a statue commemorating the bloody crackdown, sparking outcry by activists and dissident artists in the city and abroad.

Hong Kong was for a long time the only place in China where mass remembrance of Tiananmen was tolerated, with thousands gathering each year to mourn democracy protesters killed by Chinese troops.

The city's university campuses marked the crackdown with statues commemorating the events in a vivid illustration of the freedoms the semi-autonomous territory enjoyed.

But early Friday, the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) removed the "Goddess of Democracy" from its campus.

The sculpture by Chen Weiming -- a six-metre (21-foot) replica of the giant statue that students erected in Tiananmen Square -- was a potent symbol of Hong Kong's democracy movement.

Around the same time, the Lingnan University of Hong Kong removed another relief sculpture marking the Tiananmen crackdown, also created by Chen, and painted over a wall bearing an image of the Goddess of Democracy.

The removals took place on Christmas Eve, when many students were on break and away from campus.

The US-based artist Chen expressed "regret and anger" at the removal of his works, adding that the universities behaved "illegally and unreasonably".

"They acted like a thief in the night", Chen told AFP. "It was the opposite of being clean and above board... They were afraid of exposure and of a backlash from students and alumni."

Chen said the works were only on loan to the schools and that he would hire a lawyer to take legal action if the sculptures were damaged.

CUHK said it removed the "unauthorised statue" after an internal assessment, adding that the groups responsible for moving it to the campus in 2010 were no longer functional.

Lingnan University said it had taken down its statue after having "reviewed and assessed items on campus that may pose legal and safety risks to the university community."

- Students cry 'shame' -

On Friday afternoon, flyers with the Chinese character for "shame" were spotted in Lingnan University where the relief used to be, as well as at other locations on campus.

Two young women told AFP they were Lingnan alumni responsible for putting up the flyers, saying that they were angered by the school's move.

"They are erasing history... I don't want to be forced to forget," said a woman surnamed Tsang, who said she was from mainland China.

Georgetown Law School scholar Eric Lai said the removal of CUHK's Goddess of Democracy statue reflected a "further kowtowing of local (university) authorities to the national security regime."

Lai was the president of CUHK's student union when the statue was moved to the campus in 2010.

"As my student union folks and I insisted, the New Goddess of Democracy was installed in CUHK campus with estimated 2,000 students and citizens witnessing, amid the school management's rejection," Lai tweeted, adding that the statue became a landmark of student protest events.

CUHK's student union, known for its active role in Hong Kong's democracy movement spanning 50 years, disbanded in October.

Meanwhile, the statues' removal was celebrated by some of the 90 politicians elected to Hong Kong's legislature on Sunday under Beijing-imposed "patriots only" rules.

"There were many political hacks who manipulated populist sentiments and incited hatred using the banner of democracy and freedom. Today, Hong Kongers can finally breathe easy and return to normal life," wrote Horace Cheung, vice chair of Hong Kong's largest pro-China party DAB.

Beijing is remoulding Hong Kong in its own image after democracy protests two years ago and commemorating Tiananmen has effectively been criminalised.

An annual candlelight vigil to mark the June 4 crackdown has been banned for the past two years, with authorities citing security and pandemic fears.

In September, police raided a museum commemorating Tiananmen and seized exhibits, under a sweeping national security law that Beijing imposed on Hong Kong last year to curb dissent after huge and often violent democracy protests.

The museum had previously been shuttered as authorities said it lacked the relevant licence.

Leon Trotsky: The Stalin School of Falsification (1937) (marxists.org)

Mongolian doctors trek to remote areas to give herders jabs




Mongolia's vaccination programme has seen huge take-up with more than 90 percent of adults receiving two jabs (AFP/Byambasuren BYAMBA-OCHIR)

Khaliun Bayartsogt
Fri, December 24, 2021, 12:38 AM·3 min read

Nurse Sodkhuu Galbadrakh clutches a box of Covid-19 vaccines on his lap as he journeys along a bumpy track through a remote region of the Mongolian steppe, going home to home to offer booster doses to herders.

The country of three million has taken some of the world's toughest and most enduring measures against the coronavirus pandemic, shutting schools for much of the last two years and closing borders.

Its vaccination programme has seen huge take-up with more than 90 percent of adults receiving two jabs.

But the booster programme is seeing patchier success among nomadic communities thanks to both online misinformation and the sheer logistical challenge that comes with reaching remote communities in such a vast nation.

Mongolia is one of the most sparsely populated countries in the world and about one-third of the population are nomadic.

"During the first wave, people were queuing outside (for vaccines) and I was working until 9pm," said Sodkhuu. "There were days I didn't go home. Now, only five to six people come to get the booster shot per day."

He said he calls herders daily to try and arrange the third shot but often can't get through, especially with poor phone reception in pastureland.

This meant health officials had no choice but to go to the herders, he added.

- Mixed results -

After finding several ger homes empty, Sodkhuu -- accompanied by doctor Enkhjargal Purev -- met 37-year-old herder Enkhmaa Purev, who received the booster.

"I was planning on getting my booster shot the next time I visited the soum (town) centre," the herder told AFP, saying she had driven 160 kilometres earlier this year with her husband to get their first doses.

Another herder, named Badamkhuu, couldn't get the jab due to high blood pressure -- a common problem among herders due to a high cholesterol diet.

"I had extremely high blood pressure after the second dose [of Sinopharm], so I don’t want any more vaccines," said 65-year-old herder Dulamsuren Gombojav, who also declined the jab when offered by Sodkhuu.

According to Mongolia's health ministry there have been 667,391 Covid cases and nearly 2,000 deaths.

Cases have plummeted since vaccines were rolled out, and Ulaanbaatar is anxious progress is not lost through jab hesitancy.

Only around 45 percent of adults have had a booster vaccine.

"Young people spread rumours or have a perception that Covid is just like flu, and they can recover easily, like the flu," Sodkhuu told AFP on the outreach drive.

"(They) think that they don't need vaccines or boosters."

On the day AFP joined the medical team, they had hoped to administer booster shots to six herder families. Only three accepted.

But Batbayar Ochirbat, the official leading the vaccination programme, said trust is gradually improving in the third jab.

Since September when daily cases peaked at more than 3,000, numbers have rolled down to an average of 200 daily cases, which he says is partly down to boosters.

"People started to build trust after they saw vaccinated people have booster shots, develop no symptoms, and not get sick," he said.

str-rox/jta/reb

A NIHILST NOT AN ANARCHIST
'Unabomber' Ted Kaczynski transferred to prison medical facility

Ted Kaczynski, known as the "Unabomber," was transferred to Federal Medical Center Butner from a Supermax facility in Colorado on Thursday. 

File Photo by Laura Leigh Palmer/UPI | License Photo

Dec. 23 (UPI) -- "Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski was transferred to a federal medical center in North Carolina, the Federal Bureau of Prisons said Thursday.

The BOP said Kaczynski, 79, was transferred to the Federal Medical Center Butner on Dec. 14 from a Supermax facility in Florence, Colo., but details about his health were not immediately released.

"For safety and security reasons, we do not discuss the specific conditions of an inmate's confinement, to include medical information or reasons for transfer/redesignation," BOP said.

Kaczynski's brother, David Kaczynski said he had been told recently by someone who corresponds with his brother that he had been transferred to a different facility but was not told why, The Washington Post reported.

Kaczynski is serving eight life sentences after pleading guilty in 1998 to sending bombs in the mail that killed three people and injured 23 others from 1978-1995.

Renovation project in Scotland uncovers message in a bottle from 1967


Workers doing renovations at the Victorian Market Hall in Inverness, Scotland, found a message in a bottle from a man who worked on a previous construction project in 1967. Photo courtesy of the Highland Council

Dec. 23 (UPI) -- Workers renovating a market hall in Scotland found a message in a bottle from a mason who worked on the building in 1967.

Jo Murray, manager of the Victorian Market in Inverness, said workers doing renovations at the Victorian Market Hall found a message from a man who worked on the last set of major renovations, which were completed in 1967.

"We expected to find some interesting things at demolition stage of the build, and we were not disappointed. Following the last major piece of work done in 1967 we found a message in a bottle from a proud workman," Murray said in a news release from the Highland Council.

"In an empty quarter bottle of vodka, neatly buried underneath the floor, was a note written by J. T. T. Thomson, a mason from Shetland. The note reads 'J. T. T. Thomson. Mason. Murness, Uyeasound, Unst, Shetland. Inverness address 40 Deny St. Age 41. Finished building and tiling 20.6.67,'" Murray said.

The renovation project began in January 2021 and is expected to be completed by mid-2022.

Myanmar rescuers call off jade mine landslide recovery operation


Rescuers in northern Myanmar called off the search operation after a landslide at an illegal jade mine with dozens still missing and presumed dead (AFP/Handout)


Fri, December 24, 2021

Rescuers in northern Myanmar said the confirmed death toll from a landslide at an illegal jade mine had risen to six on Friday as they called off the search operation with dozens still missing and presumed dead.

Scores die each year working in the country's lucrative but poorly regulated jade trade, which sees low-paid migrant workers scrape out gems highly coveted in neighbouring China.

Authorities had initially estimated at least 70 people were feared missing after the torrent of rocks and earth swept into the lake early Wednesday, but later said that they were still trying to confirm that figure.


"We called off the search at 4:30 pm today. With two recovered today, six dead bodies in total were recovered," Ko Jack of Myanmar Rescue Organisation told AFP.

He said his team would no longer conduct diving operations as the bodies of those still missing were likely buried underneath soil and rubble.

The miners at Hpakant come from across Myanmar to scratch a living picking through the piles of waste left by industrial mining firms in hopes of finding an overlooked hunk of jade.

Determining how many people were working when the disaster struck would be difficult, rescuers said, with families hesitant to admit their relatives were there and survivors unwilling to come forward.

Rescuers said increased pressure from the weight of dumped soil and rock had pushed the ground downhill into the nearby lake.

Jade and other abundant natural resources in northern Myanmar -- including timber, gold and amber -- have helped finance both sides of a decades-long civil war between ethnic Kachin insurgents and the military.

Civilians are frequently trapped in the middle of the fight for control of the mines and their lucrative revenues, with a rampant drug and arms trade further curdling the conflict.

Last year, heavy rainfall triggered a massive landslide in Hpakant that entombed nearly 300 miners.

bur-rma/ssy

Success of online medical portal Doctolib highlights the French state’s failure to digitise

by David Bird
December 24, 2021
in France

Issued on: 24/12/2021 

French company Doctolib’s website and app allow users to book medical appointments through an online portal. They boomed in popularity during the Covid-19 pandemic – allowing many to access both vaccinations and consultations with relative ease – and the company now plans to expand to Italy and Germany. But the emergence of a private firm to fill a gap in France’s public health sector also highlights the country’s failure to modernise the medical services industry.

The French government’s latest Covid-19 announcements are always followed by a mad rush to the Doctolib website and app, with people rapidly filling all available time slots. When it was first announced that a health pass would be required to access restaurants and public venues back in July, some 1.35 million people raced to book a vaccine appointment, crashing Doctolib’s site.

In the 24 hours after Health Minister Olivier Véran announced that a third jab would be required for the health pass to continue being valid from January 15, more than 1.2 million people rushed to Doctolib to book a booster.

With 60 million users and an estimated turnover of between €150 million and €200 million in 2020, Doctolib has established itself as a French tech success story.

This French “unicorn” – meaning a start-up whose valuation has exceeded $1 billion without going public – has seen its payroll triple since it was set up in 2013. With more than 1,700 employees, the company has continued to expand: It currently has more than 250 job offers posted on its website for locations in France, Germany and Italy. In October, it acquired an Italian company performing the same service, Dottori.it.
Data stored by Amazon

Doctolib has become a key player in vaccination in France ever since Covid-19 emerged, offering access to nearly 90 percent of French Covid vaccination centres, according to Le Monde.

Competitors have emerged – including Maija, Allodocteur and Vitodoc – but Doctolib’s rapid development and its continuing position as a near monopoly in the online medical appointments field raises some difficult questions.

“Healthcare is a sensitive area of the economy because of the personal data recorded; and storing this data safely is an essential public service,” said Frédéric Bizard, an economist specialised in public health, to FRANCE 24.

Doctor and patient associations raised some of the issues relating to Doctolib at France’s highest court for administrative law, the Council of State, in March. They argued that because Doctolib was storing patient data on Amazon Web Services – the cloud computing arm of the US behemoth – then Amazon, as a US company, would be required to comply with any demands for information made by US intelligence agencies.

The court ruled in Doctolib’s favour, saying that “safeguards” were already in place in case US authorities request French patient data from Amazon. Doctolib also noted that it encrypts its data.

But an investigation by France Inter radio in March found that Doctolib’s data was not encrypted once it arrived in the Amazon Web Services cloud. Moreover, Doctolib’s German branch found itself embroiled in controversy over data usage in June, when media outlets accused it of sending information about local users to Facebook and the Internet marketing company Outbrain. Information on searches people performed on the Doctolib site had been sold to the two firms along with their IP addresses.

Doctolib immediately back-pedaled, deleting those cookies from its German version and promising never to sell such data again.

“Above all, Doctolib is a private company whose aim is to make money and to expand quickly; the French government mustn’t forget that,” said Bizard.

The government had left a gap in public services that was then exploited by Doctolib, Bizard said, adding that the company’s runaway success was due to France’s own “failure to digitise the state health system”.

“The UK and Spain don’t need an equivalent of Doctolib because they have succesfully digitised (the health sector),” Bizard said. “The UK put £3 billion into digitisation a decade ago whereas France invested a mere €150 millon back in 2005.”

French doctors are also reluctant to use the digital tools offered by the state social security system, Bizard said. They are much more willing to use Doctolib because it “offers them assistance to make the technology very easy for them to use”.

Doctolib’s popularity has soared with doctors as well as patients as a result, with the number of healthcare professionals registered on the site quadrupling from 75,000 to 300,000 over the past two years.

This article was translated from the original in French.