It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Wednesday, December 29, 2021
Riot Games to Pay 2,000 Former and Current Female Employees $80M Over Gender Discrimination
Riot Games, publisher of the popular League of Legends video game,
will pay $100 million to settle a discrimination and harassment case
Video game publisher Riot Games will pay $100 million to settle a gender discrimination and harassment case in California, pending approval by the court.
On Monday, the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing announced that Riot Games — publisher of the popular League of Legends video game — will pay at least $80 million to more than 2,000 former and current employees who identify as female to settle the class-action lawsuit brought against the Los Angeles-based company in 2018.
"This historic agreement reflects California's commitment to strategic and effective government enforcement of the State's robust equal-pay, anti-discrimination, and anti-harassment laws," DFEH director Kevin Kish said in a statement.
"If entered by the court, this decree will compensate employees and contractors affected by sex discrimination and harassment, ensure lasting change in this workplace, and send the message that all industries in California, including the gaming industry, must provide equal pay and workplaces free from discrimination and harassment," he added.
In August 2018, video game news website Kotaku published a report on Riot Games that alleged sexism and a "bro culture" that made it near impossible for women to enter leadership roles at the company. It also alleged an interview process some female job candidates went through that sought to prove they played video games and fit into the company's culture.
"I hear people comparing two candidates of different genders, and both the candidates can be of the same caliber, and interview the same way, but be described differently," one woman told the outlet.
Three months after the report's publication, a group of former employees launched their lawsuit against the company, USA Todayreported.
With $80 million of their $100 million settlement going to former and current employees, the remaining $20 million will be used for legal fees and other expenses, Riot Games said in a statement.
"While we're proud of how far we've come since 2018, we must also take responsibility for the past," the company said in part on Tuesday, following the agreement.
"We hope that this settlement properly acknowledges those who had negative experiences at Riot and demonstrates our desire to lead by example in bringing more accountability and equality to the games industry," Riot Games' statement continued.
According to the New York Times, it originally appeared the company would pay a $10 million settlement, but the DFEH and Division of Labor Standards Enforcement agencies intervened in 2020 and argued the company should pay over $400 million.
Riot Games is owned by Tencent, the Chinese Internet-based platform company.
Some Minneapolis workers, including snowplow drivers, could go on strike
After IUOE Local 49 voted down the city's latest deal, the door was open for a strike on Tuesday.
Author: Devin Ramey
KARE 11 Updated: December 28, 2021
MINNEAPOLIS — A local charter of a construction worker union announced that the union, including some snowplow drivers, could soon go on strike if a deal can't be reached between them and the city of Minneapolis.
On Sunday night, members of the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 49 voted down the city's last contract offer and filed an intent to strike with the Minnesota Bureau of Mediation Services.
A union spokesperson told KARE 11 Monday morning that the workers would not go on strike on Tuesday as originally planned. The union now has meetings set with the city for Jan. 5 and the Minneapolis Airports Commission on Jan. 11.
The IUOE clarified Monday afternoon that the union filed the intent to strike two weeks ago and its members will vote again on a deal with the city on Jan. 5 and no strikes will happen before then.
The charter represents more than 110 equipment operators and mechanics in the city. The workers help build and maintain everything from water treatment plants to the roads and traffic lights, including plowing the roads of snow.
The union said in a statement that, "Our members, in conjunction with other frontline workers, deliver the services necessary for Minneapolis to function."
IUOE Local 49 Business Manager Jason George said that the union's members stayed on the job during a global pandemic and civil strife and ongoing negotiations is about respect for those workers.
“We are evaluating our options to ensure our members get the respect they have earned," he said in a press release.
IUOE Local 49 members who work for the Minneapolis Airports Commission also voted last week to authorize a strike, which could begin as soon as Jan. 25.
"While management was working from home, our members were on the job, ensuring the airport stayed open and running. Management needs to step up and deliver fair compensation for their employees," the union wrote.
On Tuesday, the Minneapolis Airports Commission released the following statement:
“The Metropolitan Airports Commission continues to negotiate in good faith with the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 49, and we are confident we can reach an agreement. While the union’s news release indicates members’ pay was frozen early in the pandemic, the fact is that members received a 3 percent pay increase.
We look forward to continuing discussions with union representatives during mediation meetings on January 11.”
The International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 49 was founded in 1927 and the charter ranges from Minnesota to the Dakotas. The union represents more than 14,000 workers, mainly in the construction industry.
Extreme cold weather hits Western Canada with the temperature falling below -51° Celsius |
WION
Dec 29, 2021
A cold war in a hotter world: Canada's intelligence sector confronts climate change
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Canada needs to 'step up' its intelligence 'game' to prepare
Migrants take shelter along the Del Rio International Bridge on Sept. 19, 2021. This fall, the U.S. government warned that tens of millions of people are likely to be displaced by 2050 because of climate change — including roughly 143 million people in South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America. (Adrees Latif/Reuters)
Our planet is changing. So is our journalism. This story is part of a CBC News initiative entitled Our Changing Planet to show and explain the effects of climate change and what is being done about it.
Since its birth during the Cold War, Canada's spy agency has occupied itself with three primary threats: terrorism, espionage and foreign interference in domestic politics and business.
Now, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service is pointing to a disruptive new player on the field: climate change.
CSIS says it's trying to get a handle on how climate change will disrupt national security. It has even acknowledged that effort publicly — something intelligence agencies rarely do.
"This is something that will absolutely have profound impacts on Canadians and it will have impacts on our national security. I think it's important that we are going to be in that space," Tricia Geddes, deputy director for policy at CSIS, told an intelligence conference last month.
Have questions about climate science, policy or politics? Email us: ask@cbc.ca. Your input helps inform our coverage.
"I obviously think this is another one of those big shifts that's obviously been happening for a long time, that we're on the watch for, and I think there will be a significant contribution from the service."
Vincent Rigby, who was until recently Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's national security adviser, said climate change is a cumulative threat. A single mudslide doesn't make a national security crisis — but floods and slides increasing in severity over time due to the warming climate could threaten the security of the entire country.
"[Extreme weather events are] becoming not just more widespread, but the impact is quite, quite, quite damaging and quite, quite, quite severe. That does start to have national security implications," he said.
"It's a threat to our economy. It's a threat to our social fabric to a certain extent, and it's a threat to how we deploy our resources."
Climate change is also likely to drive geopolitical instability and mass migration.
This fall, the U.S. government warned that tens of millions of people are likely to be displaced by 2050 because of climate change — roughly 143 million people in South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America alone.
The vulnerabilities that are in our society are clearly being exposed by more extreme weather, and we're not prepared for it.- Prof. Simon Dalby
"As time goes on, you'll see greater disagreements, greater conflicts, potentially over water resources, for example," said Rigby, now a senior fellow with the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.
"We're already seeing that in countries like Ethiopia and Egypt, that are having disagreements. But this could get even worse, I think, as we head into the future."
Arctic concerns
There are dangers in the Arctic as well, he said, with geopolitical rivals seeking to control the region's resources as the ice retreats. Russia's reactivation of its northern Cold War-era bases, coupled with China's clear interest in the region, could be creating the conditions for great power confrontation.
In March 2020, the Russians deployed three ultra-quiet nuclear subs to simultaneously break through the Arctic ice at the same location — a demonstration that set the defence community on edge.
"You will have greater competition over minerals, over oil and gas, over fishing. Countries like China are increasingly interested in the region. Russia obviously is seeing opportunities as well," Rigby said.
"As that competition potentially heats up, countries will want to protect their perceived rights and their interests."
Geddes said the spy agency must invest in understanding all of those elements by, among other things, hiring its own climate experts.
Three Russian nuclear submarines broke through several feet of Arctic ice at the same time in March of 2020. (Russian Defence Ministry)
"Those are important pieces of the puzzle for us to put together in order to be able to understand where those threats are going to emanate from," she said.
"That's something the service needs to continue to invest in ... anticipating the next threat and then properly understanding that environment."
The Communications Security Establishment, Canada's electronic spy agency, said it too has a role to play with "constantly evolving intelligence requirements."
"We continue to provide the government of Canada with the most comprehensive information available related to Canada's intelligence priorities, directly furthering Canadian safety, security, and prosperity," said spokesperson Evan Koronewski.
"As climate change continues to have a global impact, our intelligence and strategic insights will continue to be valued by government partners and senior decision-makers."
Simon Dalby is a professor of geography and environmental studies at Wilfrid Laurier University who researches the intersection of climate change, environmental security and geopolitics. He said Canada's national security strategy is badly in need of an update to take climate change into account.
"The vulnerabilities that are in our society are clearly being exposed by more extreme weather, and we're not prepared for it," he said.
"We're in a situation where we need to rethink quite dramatically, looking at both our vulnerabilities in terms of climate change, but also thinking long and hard about what kind of an economy we build that no longer makes us vulnerable."
Canada 'scrambling,' says prof
Earlier this month, the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) think tank released a report calling on Ottawa to re-think its approach to national security in order to address emerging threats.
It recommends that the federal government establish a new cabinet committee on national security, chaired by the prime minister, which would have input from the public safety, defence and global affairs departments.
"It's the kind of long-term planning that we clearly need to be doing rather than just scrambling every time there's an emergency because we simply keep getting caught not prepared," said Dalby, who is cited in the CIGI report.
To the south, the U.S. director of national intelligence issued an assessment on climate change in October that concluded it "will increasingly exacerbate risks to U.S. national security interests as the physical impacts increase and geopolitical tensions mount about how to respond to the challenge."
Military members arrive in Princeton, B.C. on Wednesday, November 24, 2021 to help cope with the aftermath of extreme flooding. The increasing severity of floods across the country could have national security implications. (Maggie MacPherson/CBC)
That warning was part of a series of documents issued by the U.S. National Security Council and the departments of homeland security and defence. It was the first time American federal security agencies came together to warn policymakers about the security implications of climate change.
Rigby said Canada's intelligence community needs to "step up [its] game" on assessing the danger presented by climate change, both in the short and long term.
"When we think of our intelligence agencies, we often think of spooks working in the shadows and people in trenchcoats looking around the corner of buildings and those sorts of things," he said. "The fact of the matter is that modern day intelligence is very much analysis and assessment, using open sources and looking at broad trends over the horizon, long distance.
"I'm not sure we're doing enough of that in Canada right now."
With files from Murray Brewster and the Canadian Press
Hong Kong news site closes amid national security raid, journalist arrests
The arrests and raid are condemned as a further assault on the city's rapidly dwindling press freedom.
By Gigi Lee and Cheng Yut Yiu 2021.12.29
Stand News chief editor Patrick Lam is brought to the news outlet's office building in handcuffs after police were deployed to search the premises in Hong Kong's Kwun Tong district, Dec. 29, 2021. AFP
Police in Hong Kong on Wednesday arrested seven people linked to a major pro-democracy news website for "sedition" under a national security crackdown ordered by Beijing, and froze its assets, prompting it to shut down on the same day.
Police arrested a former chief editor of Stand News, Chung Pui-kuen, and acting chief editor Patrick Lam, as well as former pro-democracy lawmaker Margaret Ng, Cantopop star Denise Ho, Chow Tat-chi and Christine Fang, all of whom have served on the board of directors.
In an operation involving more than 200 plainclothes and uniformed police, officers also searched the home of Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) president Ronson Chan, who also worked as a senior editor at Stand News, although he wasn't arrested.
"Police arrested a number of senior and former senior officers of the company this morning, took a number of people in to help with enquiries, and seized a number of computers and some documents from the newsroom," Stand News said in a statement on Wednesday.
"Given the circumstances, Stand News is ceasing operations with immediate effect, with all online and social media content ... to be removed within the next few days," it said. "Acting editor in chief Lam has resigned and all staff will be laid off with immediate effect."
"Stand News has always been committed to protecting the core Hong Kong values of freedom and democracy, human rights, justice and the rule of law," it said. "Thank you to our readers for all of their support."
A Hong Kong national security police officer (L) and a worker carry boxes of evidence from the offices of Stand News in Hong Kong after police raided the office of the local media outlet and arrested six current and former staff, Dec. 29, 2021. Credit: AFP
'Seditious publication'
The HKJA expressed concern over the raid.
"The Hong Kong Journalists Association expresses its deep concern over police arrests at a prominent media organization and raids of its offices, the latest of several within the past year," it said.
"[We] call on the government to protect press freedom in accordance with the Basic Law," it said in a reference to the city's mini-constitution which enshrines Beijing's promises to preserve Hong Kong's traditional freedoms.
Police said all seven arrestees were being held for "conspiracy to publish seditious publication," a colonial-era charges under the city's Crimes Ordinance, while Stand News' assets were frozen under a draconian national security law imposed on the city by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from July 1, 2020.
"A total of three men and four women, aged 34 to 73, were arrested in the operation so far," a police statement said. "Searches of their respective residences are under way."
Ronson Chan said police confiscated his computer, mobile, tablet, press pass and bank records during an early morning search of his home.
The raid on Stand News came after the website and its journalists were denounced by a number of CCP-backed news organizations and high-ranking Hong Kong officials.
Secretary for Security Chris Tang, a former police chief, had taken issue with its criticism of conditions at the Tai Tam Gorge Correctional Institution, as well as "inciting hatred of the police."
'Already tattered press freedom'
Margaret Ng and Denise Ho have been repeatedly targeted by pro-China media after they set up the "612 Humanitarian Relief Fund" to fund bail payments for people arrested in connection with the 2019 pro-democracy protests.
The fund announced its dissolution in November 2021 in spite of receiving high levels of public donations.
"Conspiracy to publish seditious publications" carries a maximum jail term of two years for the first conviction.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned the arrests, which it called "an open assault on Hong Kong's already tattered press freedom."
"Authorities must release the six and drop all charges against them immediately if Hong Kong is to retain any semblance of the freedoms that its residents enjoyed only a few years ago," CPJ Asia program coordinator Steven Butler said in a statement.
China remains the world’s worst jailer of journalists for the third year in a row, according to the CPJ.
It said 2021 marked the first time Hong Kong journalists were also imprisoned for doing their jobs, it said, in a reference to the arrests of founder Jimmy Lai and senior journalists at the now-shuttered pro-democracy newspaper, the Apple Daily.
Lai and colleagues are currently awaiting trial on charges of "collusion with a foreign power" under the national security law after the paper called for international sanctions on Hong Kong and Chinese officials.
Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Hong Kong: Police arrest reporters over 'seditious publications'
Pro-democracy outlet Stand News has announced it will stop operating after police arrested several of its current and former staff for "conspiracy to publish seditious publications."
Stand News editor Patrick Lam, second from left, is seen arrested by police officers
Police in Hong Kong arrested seven senior current and former staff members of online media organization Stand News on Wednesday.
The group was arrested for "conspiracy to publish seditious publications," the government said in a press release.
The official police statement did not identify those who were arrested but said they were three men and three women, aged 34 to 73.
News agency AFP reported that Stand News acting editor-in-chief Patrick Lam was being led away in handcuffs.
Former editor-in-chief Chung Pui-kuen and four board members who resigned in June were among those arrested, according to local media.
Later Wednesday, Stand News announced its closure.
Police raid office, houses
The national security police were seen hauling boxes from the Stand New office around lunchtime Wednesday, AFP reported.
Hong Kong police said in a press release that they had conducted a search against an "online media company," deploying over "200 uniformed and plainclothes police officers."
DW correspondent Phoebe Kong told DW that the more than 200 officers deployed to search the office of Stand News confiscated materials and documents.
She also said officers of the Hong Kong police's national security department searched the home of Hong Kong Journalists Association chairman Ronson Chan.
Chan, who is also a deputy editor at Stand News, said that police confiscated his computer, mobile telephone, tablet device, press pass, and bank records during the early morning raid.
He was taken away for questioning but was later released, his organization said.
"Stand News has always conducted professional news reporting, this is beyond doubt," Chan told reporters. "Criminal charges won't change this fact."
Police said in a statement that they were conducting a search with a warrant authorizing them "to search and seize relevant journalistic materials."
Stand News posted a video on Facebook of police officers saying they had a warrant to investigate the "conspiracy to publish a publication of seditious publications."
Police were also searching the homes of Chan's colleagues from Stand News, according to Kong.
A 'dangerous precedent'
Eric Lai, Hong Kong law fellow at Georgetown University's Center for Asian Law, told DW that the arrests were a "dangerous precedent" as the government can arrest people "retroactively."
"The charge of seditious publication was also used to charge the unionists who published the children's book a few months ago," Lai said, referring to five people being detained in July for publishing a book called "Defenders of the Sheep Village."
"It was quite disturbing because seditious law in Hong Kong is a kind of speech crime that the government can use whenever it needs once they interpret any expression or publications that are anti-government."
Lai warned that charges of seditious publication would have an "unprecedented" and "chilling effect" throughout the city.
"It would force the newspapers in Hong Kong to decide if they still want to act independently and critically of the government," he added.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) described the raid as "an open assault on Hong Kong's already tattered press freedom" and called for charges to be dropped.
A crackdown on dissent
This is not the first time Hong Kong police have conducted raids on journalists.
DW's William Yang in Taipei contributed to this report.
mvb, sdi/dj (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)
Hong Kong police arrest 6 journalists
amid crackdown on dissent under
national security law
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Raid raises concerns about media freedom under law
imposed by Beijing in 2020
Thomson Reuters ·
Stand News deputy assignment editor Ronson Chan, centre, is shown after being arrested by police in Hong Kong on Wednesday. He is also head of the Hong Kong Journalists Association. (The Associated Press)
Hundreds of Hong Kong national security police raided the office of online pro-democracy media outlet Stand News on Wednesday and arrested six people, including senior staff, for "conspiracy to publish seditious publications."
The raid further raises concerns about freedom of speech and that of the media in the former British colony, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997 with the promise that a wide range of individual rights would be protected.
Police said in a statement that they had a warrant authorizing officers "to search and seize relevant journalistic materials."
"Over 200 uniformed and plainclothes police officers have been deployed during the operation. The search operation is underway," the statement said.
Sedition is not a crime under the sweeping national security law imposed by Beijing on the city in June 2020.
But recent court judgments have freed authorities to use powers conferred by the new legislation to deploy previous sparsely used colonial-era laws, including the Crime Ordinance that covers sedition.
June raid led newspaper to shut down
Authorities say the national security law has restored order after often-violent pro-democracy unrest in 2019 and that it does not curb rights and freedoms. But critics say the legislation is a tool to quash dissent.
In June, hundreds of police officers raided the premises of the pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, arresting executives for alleged "collusion with a foreign country." The newspaper subsequently shut down.
Hong Kong broadcaster TVB said the six people arrested on Wednesday included former board members Margaret Ng, a former democratic legislator and pop singer Denise Ho, a Canadian raised in Montreal. Acting chief editor Patrick Lam was also arrested.
Patrick Lam, centre, the acting chief editor of Stand News, is arrested on Wednesday. Hong Kong police say they have arrested several current and former staff members of the online media company for 'conspiracy to publish seditious publications.' (Vincent Yu/The Associated Press)
Stand News posted a video of police arriving at the residence of Ronson Chan, its deputy assignment editor, who is also head of the Hong Kong Journalists Association.
"The charge was conspiracy to publish seditious publications. This is the court warrant and this is my warrant card. Your phone is obstructing our work," an officer is seen saying.
Police said in a separate statement that they had arrested three men and three women, aged 34 to 73, and that searches of their homes were underway. It did not name those arrested, in line with its usual practice.
The Stand News bureau, in an industrial building in the Kwun Tong working-class district, was partially sealed off by dozens of police, according to a Reuters reporter at the scene.
A police media liaison officer on the 14th floor said entry to the office would not be permitted given an "ongoing operation." He declined to give further details.
Four police vans were parked downstairs as dozens of officers milled around the lobby.
Stand News earlier this year said it would suspend subscriptions and remove most opinion pieces and columns from its website due to the national security law. Six board members had also resigned from the company.
Denise Ho, singer and pro-democracy activist, was among those arrested in Hong Kong. Above, Ho speaks during a Congressional-Executive Commission on China hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. in September. (Al Drago/Bloomberg/Getty Images)
Benedict Rogers, co-founder and CEO of the non-governmental organization Hong Kong Watch, said the arrests are "nothing short of an all-out assault on the freedom of the press in Hong Kong."
"When a free press guaranteed by Hong Kong's Basic Law is labelled 'seditious,' it is a symbol of the speed at which this once great, open, international city has descended into little more than a police state," he said.
The arrests come as authorities crack down on dissent in the semi-autonomous Chinese city. Police charged former newspaper publisher Jimmy Lai with sedition on Tuesday. His Apple Daily newspaper shut down after its assets were frozen. He was already facing charges under the national security law.
Police have not disclosed which Apple Daily or Stand News articles they considered seditious.
