‘Unnecessary’: Lethbridge teacher speaks out against new registry

Eloise Therien - Yesterday - Global News

On Sept. 1, the Alberta government launched a new online teacher and teacher leader registry that includes around 162,000 educators.


Laurie McIntosh is a Lethbridge teacher.© Eloise Therien / Global News

According to the province, the purpose of the registry is to list every certificated teacher, along with all their legal names, the type of certificate they hold and the dates those were issued dating back to 1954.

The province said the registry includes details about whether the teacher or school administrator is deceased, has been disciplined or has had their licence suspended.

However, some teachers are speaking out about just how much of their personal information is being included.

Read more:

Alberta to start online registry of teachers, school administrators this September

Laurie McIntosh, a kindergarten teacher in Lethbridge, said seeing her information online Friday came as a shock.

"(I expected to see) my current legal name and saying that I had a certification," she told Global News.

"It included my first name, middle name, maiden name, a previous married name from a traumatic relationship about 20 years ago -- a name I never taught with as a teacher -- and my current legal name."

McIntosh said the documentation she was provided in June regarding the launch of the registry didn't make it clear previous names would be included.

Those documents also state "the granting of an exemption by the Registrar will be rare and determined on a case-by-case basis."

She said the issue has raised alarm bells for her safety and the safety of others in similar situations.

"I think so many people didn't apply for exemptions (beforehand) because they didn't expect for deadnames, previous married names, maiden names to be listed," McIntosh said, adding that applying for an exemption would rehash previous traumatic experiences for some.

"I think this is an unnecessary program."

McIntosh said after a thread she posted to Twitter gained some traction, all her previous names were mysteriously removed from the site. As of Tuesday morning, she said she had not yet heard back from the province on whether or not to apply for an official exemption.

Jason Schilling, president of the Alberta Teachers' Association, said there appeared to be a lack of information provided to the association and teachers in general prior to the launch.

"There's a big difference between saying, 'We're going to have a registry,' and telling somebody about it (versus) actually having an in-depth conversation about what it looks like, what will it include and what will it be when it rolls out," Schilling explained.

Video: Students, staff excited for new school year in Lethbridge

"The ministry made this decision to put this registry in place and they're the ones that are going to have to fix the issues.

"It's my hope that they do it sooner than later because this is one thing teachers don't need on their plate right now."

The Ministry of Education declined a Global News request for an interview and instead provided a lengthy statement.

"Information provided was clear that the registry would include all legal names as reflected in the information that was sent to all teachers when they received notification about the online registry in June 2022," said press secretary to Minister LaGrange Katherine Stavropoulos.

"Previous names are not searchable in the registry because we understand these names are no longer used and that teachers may want to leave them in the past," the statement continued.

"At the same time, to help preserve some level of relevance and usability for people whose teachers have changed their name, a search of current legal names will also show a person’s previous legal names. This way, users whose teachers have changed their name still have some way of confirming their teacher’s professional status."

'Chronically ignored': Alberta police reform legislation ready to go fall session

Jonny Wakefield - Monday

Edmonton Journal


Alberta Justice Minister Tyler Shandro answers questions at a news conference, in Calgary on Friday, Sept. 3, 2021. Criminal defence lawyers escalated job action Thursday in an ongoing dispute with the provincial government over the amount of compensation paid by Legal Aid Alberta.© Provided by Edmonton Journal


Legislation to update Alberta’s Police Act will be ready for debate this fall if the UCP’s new leadership makes it a priority, says the province’s justice minister.

“It’s been needed for many years and chronically ignored,” Justice Minister Tyler Shandro said in a recent interview. “We have done our review … it’s at least available for the legislative agenda for the future government to consider. We’re ready for it to hit the floor of the legislature this fall, and I hope that the next government allows it to be debated and voted on.”

Alberta’s Police Act has not seen a full-scale update since 1988 , when it was passed to govern the operation of municipal police services. Community and policing leaders have repeatedly called for changes to the Police Act, saying it no longer meets the needs of modern policing.

United Conservative Party members will elect a new leader and Alberta’s next premier Oct. 6. The next legislative session is scheduled from Oct. 31 to Dec. 1. Shandro — who is also promoting the controversial idea of an Alberta provincial police service — said there are no guarantees the new premier will ask him to remain in the justice role

The NDP government under Rachel Notley began consultations on Police Act reforms in 2018 but did not implement any changes prior to the 2019 election. In June 2020, amid outcry over the police U.S. murder of George Floyd, then-UCP Justice Minister Doug Schweitzer he would “ accelerate ” reforms to the legislation. Schweitzer’s replacement — Edmonton MLA Kaycee Madu — said in September 2020 he would “make sure that work is expedited and completed,” but did not produce any legislation before being shuffled out of the ministry in February following a phone call to Edmonton’s police chief over a distracted driving ticket.

Shandro said the new legislation will address concerns about the police disciplinary process. With the exception of cases in which police officers kill or seriously injure someone, or face accusations of criminal wrongdoing, police discipline in municipal departments is handled by each service’s chief through a professional standards branch. Under the current legislation, chiefs lay misconduct charges and select the judge to preside over the accused officer’s hearing, which some say creates the potential for bias.

Some, including the Edmonton Police Association, have called for an independent third-party agency, like the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT), to handle Police Act charges. Shandro said consultations on the new act raised questions about whether “we need a … professional standards section, in every service to do the code of conduct reviews?”

He also said code of conduct reviews for RCMP officers should fall under provincial legislation, though “we would obviously need the federal government to agree to that.”

Other potential changes relate to HR and performance issues. “There’s a bit of a vacuum right now with HR and performance issues and how they’re not addressed in the Police Act.”

Shandro added there is talk of expanding ASIRT’s mandate but did not go into details.

“This is, at least from from our perspective as current government, in the pipeline for it to hit the floor this fall,” he said.

jwakefield@postmedia.com

twitter.com/jonnywakefield

ALBERTA FIREWALL

Kenney says won't stay quiet as possible successor pitches separation plan

COMES BACK TO BITE YA

Tue, September 6, 2022 


EDMONTON — Premier Jason Kenney says his party was founded on a strong Alberta within Confederation and he won’t sit idly by while one of the candidates vying to replace him pitches a "risky, dangerous, half-baked" and "banana republic" plan for more provincial independence.

Kenney was commenting Tuesday on a promise by Danielle Smith to immediately introduce what she calls an Alberta sovereignty act this fall, promising her government would ignore federal laws and court rulings it deems against Alberta's best interest.

“The so-called sovereignty act would effectively take us to the brink of separation from the Canadian federation, would shred the rule of law and would do devastating damage to jobs, the economy and the prospect of pipelines,” Kenney said at a news conference in Calgary.

Kenney said while he shares the frustration of some Albertans with federal policies under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, “I have always been unapologetically a Canadian patriot."

“I’m not about to become spineless on my patriotism or my support for the rule of law because somebody in a leadership campaign disagrees.”

The Alberta sovereignty act is the signature platform promise of Smith, the former Wildrose party leader.

Smith announced the plan in June, grabbing headlines and large crowds at party events. She has since been the focus of attacks from most of the other six candidates, leading to the perception she is the front-runner to replace Kenney as United Conservative Party leader and premier when the votes are counted Oct. 6.

Ballots began being mailed out last week.

Smith has said the bill is needed to declare a shock to a “lawless” federal government passing policies she claims are profoundly undercutting Alberta’s energy development.

Alberta announced last week it expects to take in a record $28.4 billion in non-renewable resource revenue this budget year.

Smith, in a statement earlier Tuesday, reiterated that her government would only use the sovereignty act sparingly, subject to a free vote in the house, in situations where it believes its constitutional rights have been violated.

She said if the federal government doesn’t like it, it can take Alberta to court.

The plan, she said, is not about leaving Confederation, but in fact saving it.

“The restoration and reassertion of provincial rights across our country will protect all provinces from the destructive outreach of Ottawa, and is likely the only viable way for Canada to remain a unified nation," she wrote.

Government house leader Jason Nixon and Kenney have questioned whether the act would even pass in the house. Lieut.-Gov. Salma Lakhani said last week she is duty-bound to refuse to sign into law any bill offside with the Constitution.

Smith has accused Kenney of breaking his promise to be impartial in the leadership race, but Kenney said he is simply defending his government’s policies.

Two law professors say Smith’s plan would be a fundamental betrayal of the rule of law — and an unnecessary one.

Martin Olszynski, with the University of Calgary, said provinces have the power now to challenge the federal government through the courts, and can seek immediate remedies and injunctions if necessary while the cases move through the legal system.

“We don’t decide the constitutionality of laws by vote — popular or otherwise. That’s not how it works in a functioning democracy,” said Olszynski, with the University of Calgary.

“That’s fundamentally what Smith rejects. She rejects the idea that an independent court would make these decisions.

"She wants to make these decisions.”

Eric Adams, with the University of Alberta, said if the province wants to start ignoring the Constitution, then the issue becomes one of separation or sovereignty-association, and should be addressed as such.

“Those are issues that should be put honestly, squarely, and directly to the Alberta public,” said Adams.

“The idea that an individual who wins a leadership race takes control of a party and then places a particular province on the road to a kind of quasi-independence is just so completely unprecedented in Canadian constitutional history.

“In my view, (it’s) deeply undemocratic.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 6, 2022.

Dean Bennett, The Canadian Press

Danielle Smith releases overview of proposed Alberta sovereignty act

Anna Junker  Edmonton Journal

UCP leadership candidate Danielle Smith’s promised Alberta sovereignty act has “dubious constitutionality,” law experts say.


UCP leadership candidate Danielle Smith speaks at a campaign rally in Chestermere on Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2022.

On Tuesday, Smith released an overview of the proposed act, which she says would be used to defend the province from “Ottawa’s continuous economic and constitutional attacks.”

“The majority of Albertans are frustrated with the ineffective letter writing campaigns and empty rhetoric employed by past premiers in dealing with attacks on Alberta by our federal government, and want effective action to deal with the ‘Ottawa Problem’ without further delay,” Smith said in a news release.

“Tens of thousands of Albertans have embraced the idea of the Alberta Sovereignty Act, and many more are open to learning more about how it could be practically and effectively deployed.”

According to the overview, the act would affirm the authority of the legislature to refuse provincial enforcement of specific federal laws or policies “that violate the jurisdictional rights of Alberta” under the Constitution of Canada or Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The act’s objective is not to separate from Canada but to assert Alberta’s constitutional rights “to the furthest extent possible by effectively governing itself as a nation within a nation.”

Related
Alberta's Lt.-Gov. says she's willing to toss Smith's sovereignty act if unconstitutional

Rachel Notley: The Sovereignty Act is a dangerous distraction that threatens Alberta’s future

University of Alberta professor and constitutional law expert Eric Adams has concerns with the proposed legislation.

“I think the concept in and of itself, is of dubious constitutionality,” said Adams.

“It’s all well and fine for Ms. Smith to declare that it is constitutional, but any time you have one level of government claiming that it has the power to refuse the lawful enactments of another level of government or to be the institution in charge of determining what’s constitutional or not, then you raise a number of constitutional problems that the details probably can’t save.”

If the federal government institutes a law or policy that appears to violate Alberta’s jurisdiction rights, according to Smith’s overview, the Alberta government may introduce a “special motion” for a free vote of all MLAs.

The special motion would identify the law or policy believed to be in violation of the Constitution or Charter, include an explanation of the harms it would inflict on Albertans, and detail specific actions the province and its agencies will take to refuse or otherwise oppose enforcement in Alberta.

The special motion would also declare that by the authority of the act, the law or policy in question will not be enforced within Alberta, as outlined in the motion. Finally, she said, a review and debate of whether or not to amend, end, or continue the actions outlined in the special motion would be scheduled within two years, or within 90 days of a court order staying the special motion or declaring it unconstitutional itself, whichever is sooner.

While invoking the act will “likely be done relatively sparingly,” the overview outlines a number of areas where the act could be used. This includes federal mandatory vaccination policies, the use of the Emergencies Act to jail and freeze accounts of peaceful protestors, and mandatory emissions and production cuts to Alberta energy companies.

Smith ‘wildly incorrect’ says law professor

Adams said Smith is claiming the party has the power of a court of law to determine what is or is not contrary to the Charter.

“It points to, I think, the danger of a politician claiming that she has the authority and the monopoly on determining which laws she says are constitutional or not,” Adams said. “We have a process to do that in our system of government, and it’s the courts.”

University of Calgary law professor Martin Olszynski said Smith is “wildly incorrect” about the Constitution, the Charter and the division of powers between them. He said provinces can already use the courts to challenge laws believed to be unconstitutional and seek a temporary stay on the law in question.

“There’s absolutely no merit to what Ms. Smith is saying or suggesting, it is not the case that the federal government can act unlawfully and wait for years to have its comeuppance,” he said. “It just means that you have to use the tools that are available to you.”

He notes it is also concerning that if the act is passed and found unconstitutional, Alberta could use the same act to ignore the court’s decision.

“We would be a failed democracy at that point. We would be a lawless state,” Olszynksi said. “Governments and legislators can’t just ignore the courts. You’re no longer dealing with a democracy and the rule of law at that point.”

Political scientist Lisa Young said the proposed act is appealing to many of the worst fears of Smith’s supporters.

“What Danielle Smith has done here is to take us another step further on this path to fantasy federalism, where she now claims that there are threats out there and that the Alberta legislature can somehow neutralize these threats,” she said. “Both of those things are not true.”

During an unrelated press conference Tuesday, Premier Jason Kenney commented on the sovereignty act as first proposed by Free Alberta Strategy , saying it is “catastrophically stupid” and would lead to Alberta becoming a “banana republic.”

Kenney, who recently returned from a trip to South Korea to promote investment in Alberta, said such legislation would be “kryptonite” for investors. He would vote against the bill if it comes forward in the legislature.

“They’re interested in political stability, not political chaos,” he said. “They’re interested in a jurisdiction that respects the rule of law and the authority of the courts.”

ajunker@postmedia.com
Twitter.com/JunkerAnna

New British PM Truss makes history with non-white top appointments

The new British Prime Minister Liz Truss on Tuesday selected a cabinet where, for the first time, a white man will not hold one of the country's four most important ministerial positions.


New British PM Truss makes history with non-white top appointments© AFP

Truss appointed Kwasi Kwarteng – whose parents came from Ghana in the 1960s – as Britain's first Black finance minister while James Cleverly is the first Black foreign minister.

Cleverly, whose mother hails from Sierra Leone and whose father is white, has in the past spoken about being bullied as a mixed-race child and has said the party needs to do more to attract Black voters.

Suella Braverman, whose parents came to Britain from Kenya and Mauritius six decades ago, succeeds Priti Patel as the second ethnic minority home secretary, or interior minister, where she will be responsible for police and immigration.

The growing diversity is in part thanks to a push by the Conservative Party in recent years to put forward a more varied set of candidates for parliament.

British governments have until a few decades ago been made up of mostly white men. It took until 2002 for Britain to appoint its first ethnic minority cabinet minister when Paul Boateng was appointed chief secretary to the Treasury.

Rishi Sunak, whose parents came from India, was Kwarteng's predecessor in the finance job and the runner-up to Truss in the leadership context.

"Politics has set the pace. We now treat it as normal, this diversity," said Sunder Katwala, director of non-partisan think-tank British Future, which focuses on migration and identity. "The pace of change is extraordinary."

However, the upper ranks of business, the judiciary, the civil service and army are all still predominately white.

And despite the party's diversity campaign, only a quarter of Conservative members of parliament are women and 6% from minority backgrounds.

Track record

Nevertheless, the Conservatives have the best track record of political firsts among the main political parties, including appointing the first Jewish prime minister in Benjamin Disraeli in 1868.

This is despite the fact ethnic minority voters are much more likely to back the opposition Labour party and the ruling party has faced accusations of racism, misogyny and Islamophobia.

Former Prime Minister Boris Johnson apologised in 2019 for describing Muslim women wearing burqas as looking like letter boxes.

The Conservatives have elected all three of Britain's female prime ministers, Margaret Thatcher, Theresa May and now Truss.

The first lawmaker of Asian descent, Mancherjee Bhownaggree in 1895, also came from the Conservatives.

Johnson assembled the youngest and most ethnically diverse Cabinet in history when he elected prime minister in 2019. His three finance ministers included two men of South Asian origin and one of Kurdish background.

The changes followed a years-long effort by former leader and Prime Minister David Cameron.

When he took over in 2005, the party had just two ethnic minority members of parliament out of 196, and he set out to ensure that his party more closely resembled the modern Britain it hoped to lead.

The next year, Cameron introduced a priority list of female and minority candidates to be selected, many for safe seats in the House of Commons. Truss was a beneficiary of this push.

"A key part of ensuring the strength and resilience of any group, including a political party, is the avoidance of everyone thinking and acting in the same way – the avoidance of group-think," said James Arbuthnot, a member of the party board's committee on candidates when Cameron introduced the changes.

But Kwarteng has played down the significance of his ethnicity. He has said that, although he experienced racist insults growing up in the eighties, he does not see himself as a symbol of anyone other than his constituents in Spelthorne, which borders London's south-west suburbs.

"I actually think that it's not that much of a big deal," he said after being appointed as the first Black Conservative front-bench minister. "I think once you've made the point, I don't think it's something that comes up that much."

(Reuters)

‘Man of the Hole’: Last known member of uncontacted Amazon tribe dies

By Snejana Farberov
August 29, 2022

The last known surviving member of an Amazon tribe — dubbed “The Man of the Hole” — has died in Brazil, after resisting any contact with the outside world for nearly 30 years, officials said.

Brazil’s National Indian Foundation, FUNAI, announced the tribesman’s passing on Saturday.

“(FUNAI) informs, with immense regret, the death of the indigenous known as ‘Tanaru Indian’ or ‘Hole Indian,’ who lived in voluntary isolation and was monitored and protected by Funai through the Ethnoenvironmental Protection Front. Guaporé, in the state of Rondônia, about 26 years ago,” the agency said in a press release. “The indigenous man was the only survivor of his community, of unknown ethnicity.”

Known as “The Man of the Hole,” the last known surviving member of an Amazon tribe has died in Brazil.Funai-Fundacao Nacional do Indio

FUNAI reported that the man’s body was found in his hammock inside a hut last Tuesday by officials tasked with monitoring the remote Tanaru Indigenous Territory in Rondônia state in the western Brazilian Amazon, where he had been living in “voluntary isolation.”

The man, thought to have been about 60 years old, was found dead in one of his straw huts in Tanaru Indigenous Territory in Rondônia state.Survival

The lone tribesman got his nickname for his habit of digging deep holes to trap animals — or hide from outsiders.Survival

There were no signs of violence or struggle, and it appears “The Man of the Hole” — so nicknamed after his habit of constructing deep holes — died of natural causes. He was thought to have been about 60 years old.

Brazil’s Federal Police will perform an autopsy on the man’s body and produce a report on the findings.

According to the non-profit organization Survival International, the “Man of the Hole” was the only inhabitant of Tanaru territory, which it described as “as a small island of forest in a sea of vast cattle ranches.”

It is also one of the most violent regions in Brazil.

The organization said that the rest of the tribe had been massacred in a series of attacks allegedly perpetrated by land-hungry cattle ranchers since the 1970s, with the last six members being exterminated in 1995.

The man was last seen on video in 2018 hacking at a tree with an ax-like tool.Funai-Fundacao Nacional do Indio

The last of the man’s tribe was killed in 1995, and he had resisted all contact with the outside world for the past 26 years.

Funai-Fundacao Nacional do Indio

But little is known about the wiped-out indigenous community because the sole survival of the massacre had resisted all attempts to contact him.

“The Man of the Hole” was last filmed by a government team in 2018, when he was seen using a sharpened tool resembling an ax to hack at a tree.

Monitors had not encountered him again after that time, but they came across his straw huts and deep holes bristling with spikes that he dug to trap animals, or hide from outsiders.

Evidence at the scene suggested that the lone tribesman survived by planting corn and papaya.

“No outsider knew this man’s name, or even very much about his tribe – and with his death the genocide of his people is complete,” stated Fiona Watson, Survival International’s director of research and advocacy.

“For this was indeed a genocide – the deliberate wiping out of an entire people by cattle ranchers hungry for land and wealth.

“We can only imagine what horrors he had witnessed in his life, and the loneliness of his existence after the rest of his tribe were killed, but he determinedly resisted all attempts at contact, and made clear he just wanted to be left alone,” she said.

CRYPTO IS THE DARK WEB
ISIS, Other Terror Groups Might Use NFT For Funding, Propaganda: Former US Intel Officials


By Nica Osorio
09/07/22 

An unloaded Twitter website is seen on a phone without an internet connection, in front of a displayed ISIS flag in this photo illustration in Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Feb. 3, 2016. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic


Intelligence officials and national security experts raised a red flag over the appearance of an NFT, which, according to them, was designed and shared by a "terrorist sympathizer," noting that the emerging blockchain technology could propel the spread of terrorist propaganda and messages and could be used as a tool for raising funds for global terror groups.

The NFT dubbed "IS-News #01" was spotted via pro-ISIS social media accounts by Raphael Guck, one of the founders of Jihadoscope, a firm monitoring jihadist activities across social media and the internet. The said Non-Fungible Token was reportedly created by a supporter of the terror group that praised the "army of the Caliphate" for attacking a place in Kabul.

In a report that came out over the weekend, The Wall Street Journal mentioned that the NFT could be an indicator that the Islamic State as well as other terror groups are maybe prepping to use Non-Fungible Tokens to avert efforts, especially that of the Western countries to destroy the groups' online messaging and fundraising.

According to the report, former U.S. intelligence officials commented that the NFT was made perhaps as an experiment to try a new way to reach out and raise funds for the Islamic State. Regulators and security officials reportedly expressed their concern about the possibility that terrorists want to exploit new technologies and markets, including NFTs.

"It's very much an experiment [...] to find ways to make content indestructible," Gluck, the one who discovered the "IS-News #01" NFT, said. Apart from this particular NFT, the supporter also made a couple of other NFTs on Aug. 26, according to Mario Cosby, a former federal intelligence analyst who specializes in the blockchain.

One of these shows a person garbed in a lab suit and gas mask, which many think is a portrait of an ISIS fighter teaching followers how to make explosives. The other one appears like a campaign condemning cigarette smoking.

None of these NFTs were ever traded and after OpenSea, an NFT marketplace, discovered the listing, it immediately took down the listing and closed the account of the one who posted them. Despite this, security experts think it could be a start.

"It was only a matter of time," Yaya Fanusie, a former CIA economic and counterterrorism analyst said. Cosby, meanwhile, noted that the mere existence of these tokens should be a cause of concern since "it's as censorship-proof as you can get," adding that "there's not really anything anyone can do to actually take this NFT down."

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Juul agrees to pay $438.5M in a record settlement, while a newer vape maker gains steam


Connie Loizos
Tue, September 6, 2022 

Juul has long argued that it's trying to save lives; meanwhile, its own existence seems precarious at times.

Right now is one of those times. As reported earlier today by numerous outlets, the once high-flying e-cigarette company just agreed to a $438.5 million settlement with 33 states that alleged the company marketed its product to underage users.

Connecticut Attorney General William Tong announced the deal, noting that in addition to the financial terms, the settlement will force Juul to adhere to specific marketing and sales practices, including refraining from depicting anyone younger than age 35 in its marketing in film, on billboards or in social media, or to sell Juul-branded merchandise.

The company also agreed to never again fund education programs in schools, even while it spiked this short-lived practice years ago under pressure from regulators. (In 2018, Juul sponsored a summer camp in Baltimore, among half a dozen other initiatives that came to a halt that same year.)

The new settlement -- to be paid out over six to 10 years -- is by far the biggest to which Juul has agreed, though it's one in a growing string. Since last year, as noted by the WSJ, Juul agreed to pay a total of $87 million in settlements with four other states that brought lawsuits against the company. Meanwhile, Juul is still facing thousands of other lawsuits, including cases brought by nine other attorneys general.

That the company has not dissolved into a poof of smoke itself is something of a miracle. The company's sleek, rechargeable vaping devices and nicotine pods with sweet flavors like cucumber, mango, mint and crème brulée became hugely popular with teenagers soon after Juul was launched in 2015. But by early 2018, the outfit was being sued by customers who said they had become addicted owing to the product's high nicotine levels.

Still, with sales soaring, and investors knocking on its door, Juul's executives repeatedly denied that it was targeting teenagers, even while earlier ads showed attractive and seemingly very young men and women with Juul devices in hand. The company -- arguing that its products were designed for adult smokers looking for a safer alternative to combustible cigarettes -- instead ramped up its lobbying efforts in Washington.


Image Credits: Juul

It underestimated the growing concern of the FDA and the agency's then-commissioner, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, who by the fall of 2018 declared youth vaping an "epidemic."

Indeed, that same fall, the agency gave Juul, along with numerous other vape makers, a deadline to submit "robust" plans to prevent youth vaping, and the FDA hasn't since been satisfied by Juul's purported efforts to pull its market away from teenagers. In fact, in late June, the FDA ordered Juul to pull its products from the U.S. market. It later suspended the ban while Juul appeals the decision.

Juul obviously hopes this enormous new settlement will help it regain the trust of regulators and to move forward. But even if the outfit -- which sold 35% of its business to the tobacco giant Altria for $12.8 billion in late 2018 -- dissolves into vapor under the weight of all these settlement agreements and unresolved lawsuits and continuing opposition, it's seemingly too late to stop what Juul started.

In addition to others of Juul's earlier rivals, a new product is now taking the market by storm. This time, it's a disposable e-cigarette brand called Puff Bar. According to the WSJ, the two-year-old Los Angeles-based company overtook Juul a full year ago as the most popular e-cigarette among U.S. high-school students, many of whom are still puffing away.

Though about 20% of high schoolers said they had used an e-cigarette at least once in a 30-day period in 2020, based on a national survey conducted online, around 11% said in that same survey in 2021 that they used e-cigarettes at least once over the previous 30 days.

Astonishingly, Puff Bar features even more flavors -- 16 in all -- including banana ice, cool mint and strawberry.

Its ads are also eerily reminiscent of Juul's early ads, portraying in one case a young woman obscured by smoke and, in another, encouraging users to take a "solo break" to "escape...from parental texts."

Reportedly, Puff Bar has been able to sidestep the FDA because it says its nicotine isn't derived from tobacco but relies instead on synthetic nicotine. Meanwhile, the FDA told the WSJ last fall that it's considering how to handle the company and other makers of synthetic tobacco.

No doubt current and former Juul executives are watching with great interest to see what happens next.

Mercury pollution makes ducks more likely to get bird flu: study

Vu(m) AFP|Update: 07.09.2022 


Ducks are believed to be superspreaders of bird flu in part 

because they travel so far as they migrate 

 © GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File

Ducks contaminated by mercury pollution are significantly more likely to get bird flu, a study found Wednesday, pointing towards another way that human-driven changes to the natural world increase the risk of viruses spreading.

Bird flu rarely infects humans but persistent outbreaks in the US and UK among other countries have led to millions of poultry being culled so far this year.

Wild waterfowl such as ducks are believed to be superspreaders of the virus in part because they travel so far as they migrate, potentially infecting other birds along the way.

For the new study, scientists shot down nearly 750 wild ducks from 11 different species in California's San Francisco Bay, which is in a migratory path that stretches from Alaska to Patagonia.

They then tested the ducks for mercury contamination and whether they were infected with bird flu -- or had antibodies for the virus in their system.

The results, published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, showed that ducks contaminated with mercury were up to 3.5 times more likely to have had bird flu at some point over the last year or so.

The study's lead author, Claire Teitelbaum, a quantitative ecologist at the USGS Eastern Ecological Science Center, said mercury contamination "can suppress the immune system, and that might make infection with anything -- including influenza -- more likely".

The San Francisco Bay is also a "significant hotspot for mercury contamination in North America... largely from historical gold mining, where mercury was part of that process," she told AFP.

The ducks however tested negative to the highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu strain that has been detected in many parts of the world.

- More bird flu likely -

Teitelbaum said that bird flu outbreaks in the United States had slowed down during the summer "because many of the wild birds are up on their breeding grounds" farther north.

But "as they're starting to come back down, we're probably going to see a lot more activity", she warned.

The spread comes as researchers increasingly sound the alarm that climate change, deforestation, livestock farming and other human-induced factors raise the likelihood of viruses crossing over from animals to humans.

Teitelbaum said that "there are just so many ways in which humans have historically altered and are continuing to alter the natural environment."

How pollution and contamination affect the risk of diseases spreading is "just another link that we need to add in to our more holistic view of what's going on in the world," she said.

Daniel Becker, a biologist at the University of Oklahoma not involved in the research, hailed the "impressive" study.

"There is surprisingly little work looking at contaminant concentrations in wildlife and their relationship to infectious disease," especially for viruses that can cross over to humans like bird flu, he said.

Heatwaves and wildfires to worsen air pollution: UN

Author: AFP|Update: 07.09.2022 

A blistering heat wave is baking the western United States, the latest to blast the northern hemisphere in a summer that has brought extreme temperatures across Europe, Asia and North America / © AFP

More frequent and intense heatwaves and wildfires driven by climate change are expected to worsen the quality of the air we breathe, harming human health and ecosystems, the UN warned Wednesday.

A new report from the UN's World Meteorological Organization (WMO) cautioned that the interaction between pollution and climate change would impact hundreds of millions of people over the coming century, and urged action to rein in the harm.

The WMO's annual Air Quality and Climate Bulletin examined the impacts of large wildfires across Siberia and western North America in 2021, finding that they produced widespread increases in health hazards, with concentrations in eastern Siberia reaching "levels not observed before".

Tiny particles with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometres (PM2.5) are considered particularly harmful since they can penetrate deep into the lungs or cardiovascular system.

"As the globe warms, wildfires and associated air pollution are expected to increase, even under a low emissions scenario," WMO chief Petteri Taalas said in a statement.

"In addition to human health impacts, this will also affect ecosystems as air pollutants settle from the atmosphere to Earth's surface."

- 'Foretaste of the future' -

At the global scale, there has been a reduction over the past two decades in the total burned area, as a result of decreasing numbers of fires in savannas and grasslands.

A French firefighter uses a water hose, as light from the setting sun is filtered through smoke during a forest wildfire, near Gonfaron, in the department of Var, southern France / © AFP/File

But WMO said that some regions like western North America, the Amazon and Australia were seeing far more fires.

Even beyond wildfires, a hotter climate can drive up pollution and worsen air quality.

Taalas pointed out that severe heatwaves in Europe and China this year, coupled with stable high atmospheric conditions, sunlight and low wind speeds, had been "conducive to high pollution levels," warning that "this is a foretaste of the future."

"We expect a further increase in the frequency, intensity and duration of heatwaves, which could lead to even worse air quality," he said.

This phenomenon is known as the "climate penalty", which refers to how climate change amplifies ground-level ozone production, which negatively impacts air quality.

In the stratosphere, ozone provides important protection from cancer-causing ultraviolet rays, but closer to the ground it is very hazardous for human health.

The Brazilian Amazon recorded its worst month of August for forest fires since 2010, with an 18 percent rise from a year ago, according to official data / © AFP/File

If emission levels remain high, this climate penalty is expected to account for "a fifth of all surface ozone concentration increase," WMO scientific officer Lorenzo Labrador told reporters.

He warned that most of that increase will happen over Asia, "and there you have about one quarter of the entire world population."

The WMO called for action, stressing that "a worldwide carbon neutrality emissions scenario would limit the future occurrence of extreme ozone air pollution episodes."

The report points out that air quality and climate are interconnected, since chemicals that worsen air quality are normally co-emitted with greenhouse gases.

"Changes in one inevitably cause changes in the other," it said.

Air quality health fears rise as 

heatwaves and wildfires sweep 

planet

Air quality health fears rise as heatwaves and wildfires sweep planet

Samuel Webb

Tue, September 6, 2022 

An anticipated rise in the frequency, intensity and duration of heatwaves and in wildfires this century is likely to worsen air quality and harm human health and ecosystems, according to new research.

Pollution and climate change will impose an additional “climate penalty” for hundreds of millions of people, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Air Quality and Climate Bulletin 2022.

In 2021 hot and dry conditions exacerbated the spread of wildfires across western North America and Siberia, producing widespread increases in particulate small matter levels harmful to health.

WMO Secretary-General Professor Petteri Taalas said: “As the globe warms, wildfires and associated air pollution are expected to increase, even under a low emissions scenario.

“In addition to human health impacts, this will also affect ecosystems as air pollutants settle from the atmosphere to Earth’s surface.

“We have seen this in the heatwaves in Europe and China this year when stable high atmospheric conditions, sunlight and low wind speeds were conducive to high pollution levels.”

Projected changes in surface ozone levels due to climate change alone in the late part of the 21st Century if average global surface temperature rises by 3.0 °C (WMO)

He added: “This is a foretaste of the future because we expect a further increase in the frequency, intensity and duration of heatwaves, which could lead to even worse air quality, a phenomenon known as the “climate penalty.”

The “climate penalty” refers specifically to the climate change amplification effect on ground-level ozone production, which negatively impacts the air people breathe.

The regions with the strongest projected climate penalty – mainly in Asia - are home to roughly a quarter of the world’s population. Climate change could exacerbate surface ozone pollution episodes, leading to detrimental health impacts for hundreds of millions of people.

If greenhouse gas emissions remain high, such that global temperatures rise by 3C from preindustrial levels by the second half of the 21st century, surface ozone levels are expected to increase across heavily polluted areas, particularly in Asia.

This includes a 20 per cent increase across Pakistan, northern India and Bangladesh, and 10 per cent across eastern China.

Most of the ozone increase will be due to an increase in emissions from fossil fuel combustion, but roughly a fifth of this increase will be due to climate change, most likely realized through increased heatwaves, which amplify air pollution episodes, the bulletin adds.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
French rugby boss Bernard Laporte's graft trial opens

French Rugby Federation President Bernard Laporte (left) will go on trial from Wednesday over corruption and influence-peddling charges revolving around his relationship with billionaire Montpellier owner Mohed Altrad (behind right). | AFP-JIJI


BY JEREMY TORDJMAN
AFP-JIJI
Sep 6, 2022

PARIS – Bernard Laporte, a towering figure in French rugby, goes on trial on Wednesday on charges of corruption and influence-peddling, in a high-profile case making big waves only a year before France hosts the World Cup.

The 58-year-old former France coach is accused of favoritism in awarding a uniform sponsor contract for the national team to close friend Mohed Altrad, the billionaire owner of Top 14 champion Montpellier.

The five officials in the dock also include Claude Atcher, who was recently suspended as managing director of the 2023 Rugby World Cup organization, and French Rugby Federation (FFR) vice-president Serge Simon.

The trial is scheduled to conclude on Sept. 22.

“The accusations against Bernard Laporte are completely trumped-up, notably because everything he did was in the best interest of the federation,” said his lawyer, Jean-Pierre Versini-Campinchi.

But PNF, France’s financial crimes unit, disagrees. Its investigation into the dealings of Laporte, who was minister for sports in president Nicolas Sarkozy’s government from 2007 to 2009, concluded that he was guilty of illegal influence-peddling and passive corruption, mostly for the benefit of Altrad.

The two mens’ friendship and business links are at the heart of the case, which goes back to February 2017 when they signed a deal under which Laporte, then head of the FFR, agreed to appear in Altrad group conferences and sold his image reproduction rights in return for €180,000 euros (then around $190,000).


‘A fighter’

But while that sum was indeed paid to Laporte, prosecutors claim that he never actually provided the services he signed up for.

He did, however, make several public statements backing Altrad and, in March 2017, signed a €1.8-million deal with the businessman, making his eponymous firm the first-ever sponsor to appear on the French national team’s jerseys.

Even now, Altrad’s logo features on team’s shirts thanks to a follow-up deal negotiated by Laporte in 2018, which prosecutors say bears all the hallmarks of corruption.

Laporte is further accused of intervening with French rugby’s federal disciplinary commission, which reduced a fine against an Altrad company from €70,000 to €20,000 after a call from Laporte.

While prosecutors see this and several more incidents is proof of illicit favoritism, Laporte himself claimed that there was no “cause-effect relationship,” and said he himself canceled the contract in the summer of 2017 when press reports began to question the nature of the relationship between the two men.

The trial will also examine the links between Claude Atcher and the FFR from 2017 to 2018 when Atcher’s company, Sport SV, won contracts for four missions, mostly linked to the French bid for the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

Prosecutors say one of those missions, worth €21,000, was never carried out, but Laporte still signed off on a bonus payment to Sport XV of €30,000.

Prosecutors say the deals swindled the FFR out of an estimated total of €80,000.

Five years of investigation have shaken the French rugby world, and hurt Laporte’s reputation, but he still got himself re-elected as FFR boss at the end of 2020.

“He is confident,” his lawyer Versini-Campinchi said. “His mindset is that of a fighter.”