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Gabon's Loango national park: Public observation of gorillas resumes after shutdown

After two years of a total shutdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the executive secretary of the National Parks Agency (ANPN) has decided to resume public observations of Gabon's gorillas, hoping the iconic species will serve as a "loss leader" to boost niche tourism.

Cereal killer: Kellogg's challenges UK over obesity strategy


The UK government is introducing new rules to reduce the prominence of sugary foods in English shops from October (AFP/Daniel LEAL)

Wed, April 27, 2022, 3:54 AM·2 min read

Cereals giant Kellogg's said Wednesday it had launched a legal challenge against new rules that will limit the prominence of sugary foods in English shops as part of a new campaign against obesity.

The government's strategy only calculated the fat, salt and sugar content of cereals when eaten dry, not when taken with milk, the US company said in a statement announcing the judicial review.

"We've tried to have a reasonable conversation with the UK government over the past 12 months about making this change, but to no avail," Kellogg's UK managing director Chris Silcock said.

"All of this matters because, unless you take account of the nutritional elements added when cereal is eaten with milk, the full nutritional value of the meal is not measured," he said.


The new regulations, which take effect in England in October, will also ban television advertising of unhealthy foods before 9:00 p.m., to try to limit children's exposure.

The state-funded National Health Service (NHS) estimates that some 10 percent of four- and five-year-olds are obese, and it is double that figure for those aged 10 and 11.

It adds that one in four adults are obese, with cheap, high-calorie foods blamed in part.

The government said it would resist the challenge by Kellogg's, noting that obesity costs the NHS more than £6 billion ($7.5 billion) a year and is the second biggest cause of cancer in the UK.

"Breakfast cereals contribute seven percent -- a significant amount -– to the average daily free sugar intakes of children," a health ministry spokesman said.

"Restricting the promotion and advertising of less healthy foods is an important part of the cross-government strategy to halve childhood obesity by 2030, prevent harmful diseases and improve healthy life expectancy, so we can continue to level up health across the nation."

jit/phz/kjm

Pakistan separatist group warns China of more deadly attacks

Ashraf KHAN
Wed, 27 April 2022

Three Chinese teachers and a Pakistani driver were killed near the gate of a Confucius Institute at Karachi University, when a bomber detonated explosives next to their minibus

(AFP/Rizwan TABASSUM) (Rizwan TABASSUM)

A Pakistan separatist group warned Wednesday of more deadly attacks on Chinese targets, a day after a woman suicide bomber killed four people -- including three teachers posted from Beijing.

The Baloch Liberation Army -- one of several groups fighting for independence in Pakistan's biggest province -- claimed responsibility for Tuesday's blast, saying it was the first time a woman had "self sacrificed" for the group.

Chinese nationals and interests have regularly been targeted by separatists in Balochistan, where Beijing is involved in lucrative mining and energy projects.

"Hundreds of highly trained male and female members of the Baloch Liberation Army's Majeed Brigade are ready to carry out deadly attacks in any part of Balochistan and Pakistan," spokesman Jeeyand Baloch said in a statement published in English.

He threatened Beijing with "even harsher" attacks unless the neighbouring country halted its "exploitation projects" and "occupying of the Pakistani state".

Three Chinese teachers and a Pakistani driver were killed near the gate of the Confucius Institute at Karachi University, when the bomber detonated explosives next to their minibus.

A security official at the university told AFP he had previously raised concerns about the safety of 15 Chinese staff on the campus.

"Reports emerged in February that an attack might be carried out on campus," the source, who asked not be named, told AFP.

The bomber was named as 30-year-old Shaari Baloch, a married mother of an eight-year-old girl and four-year-old boy, the BLA said, adding that she was a science teacher studying for a master's degree.

Police confirmed the details.

Suicide attacks by women are very rare in Pakistan, reported only four times in recent years.

China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged Pakistan to ensure the safety of all Chinese citizens and interests in the country and to launch a full investigation.

It also advised citizens to "take strict precautions, and do not go out unless necessary".

China is upgrading energy links and infrastructure as part of a $54 billion programme known as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, with both nations wary of security threats to the projects.

In April 2021 a suicide bomb attack at a luxury hotel hosting the Chinese ambassador in Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, killed four and wounded dozens.

The ambassador was unhurt in that attack, which was claimed by the Pakistan Taliban.

In July last year, a bus carrying engineers to a construction site near a dam in northwestern Pakistan was hit by a bomb, killing 13 people including nine Chinese workers.

The attack, which went unclaimed, frayed relations between Islamabad and Beijing, and Pakistan later paid millions in compensation to the families of the Chinese workers killed.

zz-ak-sjd/ecl-fox/axn

A mother of 2 and wife of a doctor, Karachi suicide bomber held a master's degree

The Karachi suicide bomber, who carried out a blast, killing four persons, including three Chinese nationals, was a highly educated woman and the mother of two children. She had been associated with the militant organisation, Balochistan Liberation Army for two years.



Gaurav C Sawant Ankit Kumar

Karachi

April 27, 2022

Karachi suicide bomber Shari Baloch.


The woman who carried out the Karachi suicide bombing — that killed four persons, including three Chinese nationals — was a highly educated mother of two.

The suicide bomber, 30-year-old Shari Baloch from Niazar Abad in Balochistan’s Turbat, had completed MSc in zoology and was married to a doctor.

ALSO READ | 3 Chinese nationals killed as mother of two blows up van outside Karachi University

She was pursuing M Phil and was a practising science teacher according to a statement released by the Afghanistan-based militant organisation, Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), which claimed responsibility for the attack.

Shari Baloch joined the special self-sacrifice squad of the BLA’s Majeed Brigade two years ago. The BLA said that she had been offered the option to opt-out of the squad because of her two young children, but she refused. Majeed Brigade has now threatened to target more Chinese nationals and China’s interests in Balochistan and Pakistan

“Baloch Liberation Army’s Majeed Brigade targeted Chinese officials in an attack on Tuesday in Karachi. Three Chinese officials Huang Guiping, Ding Mufang, and Chen Sai were killed in the attack, whereas, Wang Yuqing and their security guards were injured,” the BLA statement read.

“Today’s mission was successfully carried out by Majeed Brigade’s fidayeen Shaari Baloch alias Bramsh, resident of Niazar Abad Turbat,” it added. The BLA said that as a student, Shaari was a member of the Baloch Students’ Organisation and “was aware of Baloch genocide and occupation of Balochistan”.

ALSO READ | 2 suspected suicide attackers killed in Jammu, made-in-Pak medicines recovered

Following the Majeed Brigade’s procedures, she was given time to revisit her decision. During these two years, Shaari rendered her services in different units of the Majeed Brigade. Six months ago she confirmed that she stood by her decision of carrying out a self-sacrificing attack. After that, she was actively involved in the mission.

BLA spokesperson Jeeyand Baloch said: “Targeting director and officials of Confucius institute, the symbol of Chinese economic, cultural and political expansionism, was to give a clear message to China that its direct or indirect presence in Balochistan will not be tolerated,” the BLA said. The BLA said that it had warned China several times to “refrain from looting Baloch resources and aiding Pakistan militarily and financially in carrying out Baloch genocide”. “However, China continues to be involved in its expansionist designs in Balochistan,” he said.

ALSO READ | Pakistan: 57 killed, nearly 200 injured in Peshawar mosque blast during Friday prayer

Warning China of “harsher attacks”, Jeeyand Baloch said: “The Baloch Liberation Army once again warns China to immediately halt its exploitation projects and refrain from aiding the occupying Pakistani state. Otherwise, our future attacks will be even harsher.”

He said that “hundreds of highly trained members” of the Baloch Liberation Army’s Majeed Brigade are ready to carry out deadly attacks in any part of Balochistan and Pakistan and asked Pakistan to “peacefully withdraw from Balochistan, recognizing its independence”.
Live TV

Female suicide bomber kills three Chinese teachers and Pakistani at Karachi university

A suspected female suicide bomber killed three Chinese teachers in Karachi on Tuesday, police and officials said, drawing strong condemnation from Beijing, in the first major attack this year against nationals of long-time ally China working in Pakistan.

The scene at the university in Karachi shortly after the attack.

 Photo: AFP

The three were among passengers on a minibus returning to Karachi university after a lunch break when the bomb exploded at the entrance to the university's Confucius Institute, killing the Chinese teachers and a Pakistani national, police and officials said.

A separatist group, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) based in southwestern Balochistan province bordering Afghanistan and Iran, claimed responsibility for the blast, adding in an email to Reuters the attack was carried out by a woman suicide bomber.

It shared in the email a photo of her clad in a long shawl sitting with two children. The photo could not be verified independently by police or other officials.

Karachi police chief Ghulam Nabi Memon said of the victims: "The reports we have got say they're Chinese."

He added they were teachers at the Confucius Institute, a Chinese language and cultural centre.

"The information we've got is that the female bomber was most probably a student at the university," Memon told Geo News TV.

Police officers examine the van. Photo: AFP

A guard and another Chinese citizen were also wounded in the minibus.

China's Foreign Ministry strongly condemned the attack and "demanded" Pakistan punish the perpetrators, protect Chinese citizens and prevent such incidents from happening again.

"The blood of the Chinese people should not be shed in vain, and those behind this incident will surely pay the price," it said in a statement.

Media showed CCTV footage of a woman dressed in black wearing a backpack standing close to the bus shortly before the bomb went off and sent up clouds of fire and smoke.

Police did not verify the footage.

Pakistani media also showed the wrecked minibus dotted with shrapnel holes, and witnesses said the explosion was so big it rattled the windowpanes of other buildings on the sprawling campus.

The bombing was the first major attack against Chinese nationals in Pakistan since July last year when a suicide bomber blew up a passenger bus in northern Pakistan that killed 13 people, including nine Chinese working on a hydro-power plant.

Other attacks on Chinese working in Pakistan have taken place in Balochistan province, where separatist militants have waged an insurgency against authorities for decades.

Balochistan houses a deep-water port in Gwadar city which Beijing is developing under the China Pakistan Economic-Corridor (CPEC) project as part of President Xi Jinping's Belt and Road initiative to expand trade linkages.

Major challenge for new PM

The incident poses a major challenge to Pakistan's newly elected Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif who took power this month. He condemned what he called a cowardly act of terrorism.

"I am deeply grieved on the loss of precious lives including of our Chinese friends in the heinous attack in Karachi today," Sharif said in a statement. He promised a speedy investigation.

The Baloch separatist guerrillas, who say they are fighting for a greater share in regional resources of mines and minerals, usually attack gas projects, infrastructure and the security forces.

They also attack Chinese projects and workers despite Pakistan's assurances that it is doing everything it can to protect the projects.

Islamabad blames neighbouring India for backing the insurgents, a charge New Delhi denies.

_Reuters

Factbox-Who are the Pakistan separatists behind attack on Chinese citizens?

Tue, April 26, 2022

A security guard walks after a blast near a passenger van at the entrance of the Confucius Institute University of Karachi


(Reuters) - The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), which claimed a deadly attack on Chinese citizens in Karachi on Tuesday, is the most prominent of a number of separatist groups operating against the Pakistani state in the southwestern province of Balochistan.

BLA's stated aim is complete independence for Balochistan, Pakistan's largest province by territory but the smallest in terms of population given its arid mountainous terrain.

The province has seen a decades-long insurgency against what separatists call the unfair exploitation of resources in the mineral-rich region.

Balochistan borders Afghanistan to the north, Iran to the west and has a long coastline on the Arabian Sea. It has Pakistan's largest natural gas field and is believed to have many more undiscovered reserves.

It is also rich in precious metals including gold, the production of which has grown over recent years.

Most of the separatist groups operate independently, but some recent reports in local media have pointed to increasing cooperation between them.

Pakistani security forces have been their main focus, but in recent years they have also targeted Chinese interests, given Beijing's increasing economic footprint in the region.

Among China's major projects in Balochistan is the port of Gwadar, strategically located near the Strait of Hormuz - a crucial oil shipping route in the Arabian Sea. Chinese engineers working at the port came under attack from an operation claimed by the BLA last year.

A Chinese company also operates a major gold and copper mine in Balochistan.

The security of its nationals in Pakistan has become a major issue for Beijing, especially since it launched the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which envisages development projects worth more than $60 billion.

The BLA says it attacks Chinese nationals because Beijing ignored warnings not to enter deals and agreements regarding Balochistan before the province had been "liberated". Reuters has not been able to verify its claims independently.

The group demands that all Pakistani security forces withdraw from Balochistan and has suggested negotiations in the presence of an "international guarantor".

It claims its "Fidayees" (guerrillas) are made up of young, educated Baloch who are disillusioned by hardship and being sidelined from economic development.

Under its current guise, the BLA was led by Balach Marri, scion of an influential Baloch family. Security officials said Marri was killed in neighbouring Afghanistan in 2007, where he had established a base and hideout.

After initially being hampered by Marri's death, the BLA has accelerated its attacks, particularly in the last year.

The group says it is currently led by a man named Bashir Zeb Baloch, the organisation's shadowy commander-in-chief about whom little is known.

The BLA has claimed a number of major attacks in recent months, including a simultaneous storming of two paramilitary bases in Balochistan earlier this year.

Most of the attacks take place in Balochistan or in the southern city of Karachi, Pakistan's commercial hub located close to the province.

The BLA claimed attacks there on the Pakistan Stock Exchange Building in 2020 and the Chinese consulate in 2018.

(Reporting by Gibran Peshimam; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)

SEE LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for BALOCH 

Chip start-ups using light instead of wires gaining speed and investments




Clean room at Ayar Labs in Santa Clara

Mon, April 25, 2022
By Jane Lanhee Lee

(Reuters) - Computers using light rather than electric currents for processing, only years ago seen as research projects, are gaining traction and startups that have solved the engineering challenge of using photons in chips are getting big funding.

In the latest example, Ayar Labs, a startup developing this technology called silicon photonics, said on Tuesday it had raised $130 million from investors including chip giant Nvidia Corp.

While the transistor-based silicon chip has increased computing power exponentially over past decades as transistors have reached the width of several atoms, shrinking them further is challenging. Not only is it hard to make something so miniscule, but as they get smaller, signals can bleed between them.


So, Moore's law, which said every two years the density of the transistors on a chip would double and bring down costs, is slowing, pushing the industry to seek new solutions to handle increasingly heavy artificial intelligence computing needs.

According to data firm PitchBook, last year silicon photonics startups raised over $750 million, doubling from 2020. In 2016 that was about $18 million.

"A.I. is growing like crazy and taking over large parts of the data center," Ayar Labs CEO Charles Wuischpard told Reuters in an interview. "The data movement challenge and the energy consumption in that data movement is a big, big issue."

The challenge is that many large machine-learning algorithms can use hundreds or thousands of chips for computing, and there is a bottleneck on the speed of data transmission between chips or servers using current electrical methods.

Light has been used to transmit data through fiber-optic cables, including undersea cables, for decades, but bringing it to the chip level was hard as devices used for creating light or controlling it have not been as easy to shrink as transistors.

PitchBook’s senior emerging technology analyst Brendan Burke expects silicon photonics to become common hardware in data centers by 2025 and estimates the market will reach $3 billion by then, similar to the market size of the A.I. graphic chips market in 2020.

Beyond connecting transistor chips, startups using silicon photonics for building quantum computers, supercomputers, and chips for self-driving vehicles are also raising big funds.

PsiQuantum raised about $665 million so far, although the promise of quantum computers changing the world is still years out.

Lightmatter, which builds processors using light to speed up AI workloads in the datacenter, raised a total of $113 million and will release its chips later this year and test with customers soon after.

Luminous Computing, a startup building an AI supercomputer using silicon photonics backed by Bill Gates, raised a total of $115 million.

PHOTONIC FOUNDRIES

It is not just the startups pushing this technology forward. Semiconductor manufacturers are also gearing up to use their silicon chip-making technology for photonics.

GlobalFoundries Head of Computing and Wired Infrastructure Amir Faintuch said collaboration with PsiQuantum, Ayar, and Lightmatter has helped build up a silicon photonics manufacturing platform for others to use. The platform was launched in March.

Peter Barrett, founder of venture capital firm Playground Global, an investor in Ayar Labs and PsiQuantum, believes in the long-term prospects for silicon photonics for speeding up computing, but says it is a long road ahead.

"What the Ayar Labs guys do so well ... is they solved the data interconnect problem for traditional high-performance (computing)," he said. "But it's going to be a while before we have pure digital photonic compute for non-quantum systems."

(Reporting by Jane Lanhee Lee; Editing by Stephen Coates)

Indian capital engulfed in smoke after landfill catches fire












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Smoke rises from a fire at the Bhalswa landfill, in New Delhi, India, Wednesday, April 27, 2022. The landfill that covers an area bigger than 50 football fields, with a pile taller than a 17-story building caught fire on Tuesday evening, turning into a smoldering heap that blazed well into the night. India's capital, which like the rest of South Asia is in the midst of a record-shattering heat wave, was left enveloped in thick acrid smoke.

 (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)More

ANIRUDDHA GHOSAL
Wed, April 27, 2022

NEW DELHI (AP) — Acrid smoke hung over New Delhi for a second day on Wednesday after a massive landfill caught fire during a scorching heat wave, forcing informal waste workers to endure hazardous conditions.

The landfill in northern Delhi’s Bhalswa is taller than a 17-story building and covers an area bigger than 50 football fields. Waste workers who live in nearby homes had emptied onto the streets on Tuesday evening. But by Wednesday morning, the thousands of people who live and work at the landfill had begun the dangerous process of trying to salvage garbage from the fire.

“There’s a fire every year. It is not new. There is risk to life and livelihood, but what do we do?” asked Bhairo Raj, 31, an informal waste worker who lives next to the landfill. He said that his children studied there and he couldn't afford to leave.

The Indian capital, like the rest of South Asia, is in the midst of a record-shattering heat wave that experts said was a catalyst for the landfill fire. Three other landfills around the Indian capital have also caught fire in recent weeks.

The landfill in the latest fire was planned for closure more than a decade ago, but more than 2,300 tons of the city's garbage is still dumped there every day. The organic waste in the landfill decays, resulting in a build-up of highly combustible methane gas.

“With high temperatures, this spontaneous combustion will take place,” said Ravi Agarwal, the director of Toxics Link, a New Delhi-based advocacy group that focuses on waste management.

A  van drives past a raging fire at the Bhalswa landfill, in New Delhi, India, Wednesday, April 27, 2022. The landfill that covers an area bigger than 50 football fields, with a pile taller than a 17-story building caught fire on Tuesday evening, turning into a smoldering heap that blazed well into the night. India's capital, which like the rest of South Asia is in the midst of a record-shattering heat wave, was left enveloped in thick acrid smoke. 

(AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Several fire engines rushed to the landfill on Tuesday to try and douse the fire. At night, the landfill resembled a burning mountain and it smoldered until early morning.

March was the hottest month in India in over a century and April has been similarly scorching. Temperatures crossed 43 degrees Celsius (109.4 F) in several cities Tuesday and are forecasted to continue rising.

“India's current heatwave has been made hotter by climate change,” said Dr. Friederike Otto, senior lecturer in climate science at the Grantham Institute in Imperial College London.

She said that unless the world stops adding greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, such heat waves will become even more common.

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AP journalist Rishi Lekhi contributed to this report.

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The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Record-breaking heat wave gripping India and Pakistan threatens crops, leaves millions sweltering

David Knowles

·Senior Editor

Tue, April 26, 2022, 

A spring heat wave is scorching parts of India and Pakistan, with record-breaking April temperatures of 120 degrees Fahrenheit forecast along the border of the two countries in the coming days. The extreme heat threatens the health of millions of people as well as the harvest of wheat at a time when climate change and the war in Ukraine have sparked a global food crisis.

The Indian Meteorological Department warned this week that a heat dome, similar to the one that sent temperatures soaring over the Pacific Northwest last year, had formed over the region. Millions of people in the areas of India and Pakistan where temperatures have remained in the triple digits are now at risk of illness and death from the heat.

“It’s become impossible to work after 10 o’clock in the morning,” Sunil Das, who works as a rickshaw puller on the outskirts of Delhi, told Quartz India.

A man riding his bicycle in New Delhi on Tuesday. (Anushree Fadnavis/Reuters)

Following an exceptionally dry month of March, which also set a new temperature record, cities and towns across India’s wheat-growing region have been reporting temperatures over 100 degrees Fahrenheit this week. When April arrived, so did the heat wave, putting the wheat harvest at risk.

“The heat spell occurred very fast and also matured the crop at a faster pace, which shriveled the grain size. This also resulted in a drop in yield,” JDS Gill, the agriculture information officer in the state of Punjab, told India Today.

Meteorologists predicted that the temperature average for April would likely fall across large portions of India and Pakistan. Such severe heat waves aren’t normally registered in the region until May and June, but scientists have long warned that because of climate change they will become more common earlier and later in the coming decades.

Workers at the government grain market in Chandigarh, India. (Ravi Kumar/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

On Tuesday, the temperature hit 116°F in the city of Dadu, Pakistan, tying a record for the warmest day in the Northern Hemisphere on that date. Temperatures are expected to keep rising this week.

The formation of a heat dome over India, Nepal and the Himalayas also has potentially worrisome long-term consequences, according to climate researchers. The consensus among scientists is that climate change has sped up the melting of glacier ice in the Himalayas. That's significant because after Antarctica and the Arctic, the region holds the world’s third-largest amount of glacial ice. Its loss would dramatically impact the supply of water to people in the region.

Drought worsened by climate change and Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine have brought the Horn of Africa to the brink of famine. Many African nations import wheat from Ukraine, but the conflict has halted those shipments. Earlier this month, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured President Biden that India was “ready to supply food stock to the world,” but that pronouncement came just as the current heat wave was beginning to take hold.

“[Wheat] prices will be driven up, and if you look at what is happening in Ukraine, with many countries relying on wheat from India to compensate, the impact will be felt well beyond India,” Harjeet Singh, an adviser with Climate Action Network International, told NBC News.

While the overall toll on the wheat harvest remains unclear, the next few days in India and Pakistan will provide a more immediate trial run for how human beings will cope with a hotter future. For now, schools have been closed in several cities in India, workers have been advised to avoid exposure to the sun and the governments of both countries have warned of blackouts as the demand for electricity is expected to surge.

Delta to begin paying flight attendants during boarding


DAVID KOENIG
Tue, April 26, 2022

Delta Air Lines, which is facing another attempt to unionize its flight attendants, will begin paying cabin crews during boarding, a first for a major U.S. airline.

Across the airline industry in the United States, hourly pay for flight attendants starts when all the passengers are seated and the plane’s doors close.

Delta said the change will start June 2 on all flights.

In a memo to flight attendants, Delta’s senior vice president of in-flight service, Kristen Manion Taylor, said the new pay “further recognizes how important your role is on board to ensuring a welcoming, safe and on-time start to each flight.”

The rate of pay during boarding will be 50% of regular wages.

The change comes as Delta plans to increase the boarding time for single-aisle or “narrow-body” planes from 35 minutes to 40 minutes, which the airline expects will increase the percentage of flights that depart on time.

Manion Taylor said that after a test last fall, and getting comments from flight attendants, she promised not to impose the new boarding times without providing additional pay for the cabin crews.

Delta said the new boarding pay would be on top of 4% raises for flight attendants that it announced in March and which take effect later this week.

Atlanta-based Delta has successfully campaigned to defeat several attempts to organize its 20,000 flight attendants. The Association of Flight Attendants — which has been gearing up its latest organizing effort at Delta for more than two years but has not yet amassed enough support to force a vote — took credit for the boarding pay.

“This new policy is the direct result of our organizing,” the union said in a statement posted on its website. “As we get closer to filing for our union vote, management is getting nervous.”

The union represents flight attendants at United, Alaska, Spirit and about a dozen smaller airlines. Delta said none of those airlines pay their cabin crews for boarding time.

Unions represent between 82% and 86% of workers at American, United and Southwest, but only 20% of Delta's 83,000 employees, according to a regulatory filing. Delta's 13,000 pilots are represented by the Air Line Pilots Association. Flight attendants at Delta's Endeavor Air regional-flying subsidiary are unionized.

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David Koenig can be reached at www.twitter.com/airlinewriter

Credit Suisse Posts Worse-Than-Expected Loss on Legal Woes

Marion Halftermeyer, Bloomberg News

A sign on the roof of the Credit Suisse Group AG headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland, on Tuesday, April 19, 2022. Credit Suisses’s chief executive officer at its securities venture in China is stepping aside after less than two years on the job, becoming the second top executive at a major foreign lender in the nation to quit this month. , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Credit Suisse Group AG reported a second-straight quarterly loss, as the lender struggles with a growing burden of legacy litigation costs that continue to batter its reputation. 

The Zurich-based bank had a net loss of 273 million Swiss francs ($284 million), more than the 114.9-million-franc loss estimated by analysts for the January to March period, driven by 703 million francs in total legal expenses as well as a 206-million-franc charge related to Russian exposure. 

In wealth management, the bank posted a before-tax loss of 357 million francs, worse than the estimated 22.7 million francs. The bank said volatile market conditions, client risk aversion and its own reduced risk appetite contributed to the loss along with the litigation costs. The bank saw net new client asset inflows of 7.9 billion francs, according to a statement on Wednesday.  

The sustained losses signal that executives face an uphill battle to make 2022 a period of transition to stability, following last year’s multi-billion dollar hits linked to Archegos Capital Management and Greensill Capital. That’s prompting further blood-letting, with the departure of Chief Financial Officer David Mathers, chief counsel Romeo Cerutti as well as Asia head Helman Sitohang announced on Wednesday.

“I am confident that we are well positioned to build a stronger and client-centric bank that puts risk management at the core to deliver sustainable profit and value for investors, clients and colleagues,” Chief Executive Officer Thomas Gottstein said in a statement. 

Credit Suisse last month warned that it may need set aside more than $500 million for a Bermuda case involving a local insurance unit. The bank also signaled approximately 350 million francs in losses related to a decrease in value of an 8.6% stake in wealth-tech platform Allfunds Group. 

In the investment bank, which houses the business of advising on mergers and acquisitions, Credit Suisse reported $124 million in pretax profit, missing estimates. The bank had already warned that capital markets activity had slowed in the quarter.

Weak Outlook

“This market environment, in combination with the cumulative effect of our newly defined risk appetite as executed during 2021, has led to an adverse impact on client activity in our wealth management division as well as a reduction in the level of capital markets issuances within our investment bank,” Credit Suisse said in the statement. “We would expect these market conditions to persist in the coming months.”

The negative results and outlook come just ahead of the bank’s annual general meeting on Friday, at which some shareholders are set to increase pressure for more transparency into the collapse of a group of supply chain finance funds run with Greensill.

Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, one of the largest shareholders in Credit Suisse, seven Swiss pension funds, and the Ethos Foundation, a shareholder advisor, have petitioned the bank to appoint an external auditor to look into the matter.

Investors are also being advised by ISS and Glass Lewis, shareholder proxy advisers, to vote against discharging the board of directors of legal liability for mistakes made in the run-up to the collapse of Archegos.

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.

Senate report suggests military housing company’s fraud continues

The company, Balfour Beatty, pleaded guilty to fraud in December for falsifying repair records

Paula Cook and Richard C. Taylor, executives at Balfour Beatty Communities, look on as Army Capt. Samuel Choe testifies about health problems his daughter developed while living in a Balfour Beatty home. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)


By John M. Donnelly

Posted April 26, 2022

Senators from both parties asked Tuesday whether a top U.S. military housing contractor that pleaded guilty last year to defrauding the government should keep its job, amid signs the company may be continuing to allow military families to reside in shoddy, even dangerous homes.

The company, Balfour Beatty Communities LLC, pleaded guilty in federal district court in Washington in December to defrauding the armed forces by falsifying housing repair records from 2013 to 2019 in order to receive higher performance awards. The company paid $65 million in fines and restitution.

According to the plea agreement between Balfour Beatty and the Justice Department, the company doctored data in a work order database so as to appear to be promptly and effectively handling repair requests at military homes while, in reality, problems such as mold and rodents had continued to fester. Top executives were not convicted, though two lower-ranking company officials were.

A bipartisan report made public Tuesday by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations suggests Balfour Beatty has been engaged since 2019 in similar and “ongoing mistreatment” of military families. The panel’s probe covered homes at Fort Gordon, an Army base in Georgia, and Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas.

At a hearing of the subcommittee on Tuesday, senators heard stories from military personnel who lived at those bases and who were unable to get the company to remove what the residents said was dangerous mold in their homes.

Sheets covered in blood

Army Capt. Samuel Choe, for one, testified that his young daughter developed a potentially fatal dermatitis only after living in a Balfour Beatty home at Fort Gordon that he said was plagued by mold.

He described his daughter as resembling a burn victim when the dermatitis would flare up, and he said sometimes her sheets would be covered with blood from her scratching.

Choe said he had no support for months from the Army or from Balfour Beatty in his effort to get out of the lease and leave the house.

“It will haunt her as well as us for the rest of our lives,” Choe said.

Rachel Christian, founder and chief legislative officer of Armed Forces Housing Advocates, said the problem of unresponsive housing companies is systemic across the military, not just at Balfour Beatty homes. A legislative overhaul of the military services' housing oversight procedures in the fiscal 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, including a requirement for a Tenants Bill of Rights, “is not working,” she said.

Richard Taylor, president of the Balfour Beatty division that oversees military housing, said the company has improved its internal controls since the 2013-2019 period of the Justice Department investigation.

“We are not perfect,” he said. “We have taken this very seriously.”

But Georgia Democrat Jon Ossoff, the panel’s chairman, asked: “Why should a company convicted of major criminal fraud that engaged in a scheme to defraud the United States remain in a position of trust, responsible for the safe housing of heroes, the servicemembers and their families, on installations across the country?”

New Hampshire Democrat Maggie Hassan said Balfour Beatty manages the homes for sailors and their families at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in her state.

“I am deeply concerned by the testimony we have heard today and the impact that similar misconduct may have on my constituents," Hassan said.

And Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, the subcommittee’s top Republican, said: “I would fire these people, but there has to be something to replace them.”

The fiscal 2020 defense law that aimed to protect tenants “didn’t work,” Johnson said. “We better figure out something better to do.”
'Jeopardized health and safety'

U.S. military family on-base housing — which the armed services formerly owned and maintained — was privatized starting in 1996, with the goal of improving housing by outsourcing it to companies that specialize in such work.

Each of 14 housing companies has separate arrangements with local bases. The companies lease the land from the government for 50 years, and then the companies, not the Defense Department, own and operate the homes, according to testimony last month by Elizabeth Field, the Government Accountability Office's director of defense capabilities and management.

As such, the Pentagon’s leverage over the housing companies is not as great as it is with traditional contractors, Field suggested at a House Appropriations Military Construction-Veterans Affairs Subcommittee hearing.

According to the Senate panel’s new report, the product of a bipartisan eight-month investigation, Balfour Beatty “failed to properly respond to both repairs and environmental hazards such as mold” at some of the company’s 1,700 homes at Fort Gordon and Sheppard Air Force Base.

“Balfour’s failures in these instances exposed military service members and their families living on these bases to hazards that jeopardized their health and safety," the report said.

“Despite the company’s pledge to improve its housing services, Balfour continued to provide deficient services to military families at Fort Gordon,” the report said. And the company “failed to ensure the accuracy of its work order data” at the base, “even while under investigation for the same failures at other bases.”
'Inaccurate or incomplete' records

Balfour Beatty is one of the largest of the companies that operate on-base housing for U.S. military personnel and their families. The company runs 43,000 residences for 150,000 U.S. military family members in 26 states, the subcommittee report said.

A Reuters investigation in 2019 revealed the allegations of not only substandard upkeep of the company's homes but also that the company had maintained two separate maintenance records: an accurate one listing leaks, asbestos and the like — and a falsified one for the Pentagon.

Those reports led to multiple investigations culminating in the December 2021 conviction of Balfour Beatty based on its actions through 2019.

But the subcommittee report documents “multiple instances” since 2019 of work order data that was “inaccurate or incomplete.”

Air Force Tech. Sgt. Jack Fe Torres, for example, testified Tuesday that his complaints about mold in his home at Sheppard Air Force Base were referred to as “painting” in the company’s written reports on the work.

A former Balfour Beatty employee told Senate investigators that two successive Balfour Beatty facilities managers at Fort Gordon routinely told maintenance personnel to urge residents not to file requests for repair work online, where they would be part of a formal record, but instead to convey them verbally — and the requests were then ignored in some cases.

The report concluded pointedly that Paula Cook, a vice president at Balfour, “was aware of work order data discrepancies and data integrity concerns in 2020 and 2021, but she did not ensure that the issues were properly investigated or that appropriate corrective actions were taken.”

Asked Tuesday about one internal company email about problems at Fort Gordon, Cook said that she forwarded it to her colleagues.

Taylor, the company president, said he was not aware between 2013 and 2019 of the fraud that was happening at the time, but he said he was now.

Ossoff asked why the Senate should believe that statement "from a company that for six years defrauded the government."

DEMOCRATIC CENTRALISM

China, African Francophone countries hold virtual seminar on democracy

IS DEMOCRACY IN NAME ONLY

(Xinhua) 10:42, April 27, 2022

BEIJING, April 26 (Xinhua) -- China on Tuesday held a virtual seminar with 22 Francophone countries in Africa under the theme "Exploration and Practice of Democracy in the Legislatures of China and Africa."

Ding Zhongli, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress (NPC), attended and addressed the two-day seminar's opening ceremony. He said that the spirit of China-Africa friendship and cooperation has forged an unbreakable brotherhood and built a partnership of full coordination between China and Africa. It will also open up bright prospects for a China-Africa community with a shared future in the new era, he said.

The NPC is willing to uphold the spirit of China-Africa friendship and cooperation, communicate frankly with the African side, learn from each other, build consensus and gather strength, and jointly explore the road of democracy in line with their own national conditions, said Ding.

He added that the NPC is ready to work with African legislatures to contribute to realizing true democracy and good democracy in relevant countries, continuously improving the welfare of people of all countries and promoting the democratization of international relations.