SIR KEIR'S LABOUR PARTY

No Room in the Party – Another Jewish Member Expelled by Starmer Regime
Right-wing’s disproportionate targeting of Jewish left-wingers continues

By Skwawkbox

December 29, 2022

Z Article

Artwork by @agitate4change

The Starmer regime has expelled yet another Jewish member – and another former elected officer. Stephen Marks, a left-wing member of Labour’s National Constitutional Committee until he was suspended by the right – a standard factional tactic to ‘nobble’ officials elected by members – has been kicked out of the party for signing petitions.

According to Jewish Voice for Labour, Marks was expelled for signing petitions calling for the end of the use of antisemitism as a smear – a phenomenon already recognised, no doubt to Keir Starmer’s unending frustration, by the QC-led Forde Inquiry he reluctantly commissioned. Labour did not even bother responding to Marks’s challenge to the party’s pretext for suspending him.

According to Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL), Marks:

wrote to the Party challenging the grounds for his suspension, but never received a response to that or subsequent attempts at communication.

Until last week, 19th December 2022, when he received a notice of summary expulsion.

Bindmans has written a letter on his behalf to the EHRC which is monitoring Labour’s implementation of its Action Plan against Antisemitism challenging the entire procedure.

They point out thatall actions pre-dated Stephen’s election to the NCC
he was one of a large number of signatories to these public documents and that other signatories have not been investigated by the Labour Party
the charge of undermining the Labour Party’s campaign against racism, which in view of Stephen’s strong anti-racist actions and beliefs, is in fact an example of the Labour Party conflating legitimate criticisms of the Israeli government (expression of which is protected by Article 10 EHRC) with antisemitism.

It goes on to cite words written by Stephen in response to the charges:

“There is a principle of natural justice here, the right to speak up for others subject to accusations which is relevant to all three petitions. I have confirmed with other NCC colleagues that a signature on a statement or petition would not normally be accepted as evidence in a disciplinary case, being merely an expression of legitimate opinion, unless the petition itself contained racist or sexist expressions. Also it is illegitimate not to show ALL signatories as this representation singles me out.”

You can read the full letter here.

Marks is at least the third Jewish member – and the second elected by members at a national level – expelled by Labour in just the last couple of weeks, during the Jewish festival of Hannukah, preceded by National Executive member Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi and Heather Mendick on similarly trumped-up ‘charges’.

Wimborne-Idrissi wrote of Marks’s expulsion:

There is clearly ‘no room in the inn Keir Starmer’s party’ for ‘the wrong type of Jew’ as the deeply-racist right-wing regime continues to reveal its real nature.

Starmer accused of taking Blairite line on health service strikes

UK workers concerned about lack of support as nurses prepare first walk out in 106-year history


Labour leader Keir Starmer accused Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of going 'into hibernation' during strikes. AFP

Laura O'Callaghan
Dec 14, 2022

Labour leader Keir Starmer and shadow health secretary Wes Streeting have been accused of adopting a New Labour line on UK healthcare reform, sparking fears from workers of a lack of political support as they take strike action.

As Britain braces for historic strikes among workers in the National Health Service, Mr Starmer continues to accuse the Conservative government of failing to negotiate with unions demanding pay rises.

At the same time, Mr Starmer has not abandoned his stance that the 19 per cent pay rise being sought by nurses is unaffordable.

For the first time in the Royal College of Nursing’s 106-year history, members across the country will stage a walkout on Thursday and again on December 20 after Rishi Sunak’s administration rejected their request for a 19 per cent pay rise.

READ MORE
UK strike dates in full, from rail staff to nurses and airport workers

On December 21, about 10,000 ambulance workers across nine NHS trusts in England and Wales will take part in industrial action in a dispute over pay. The Unite union said the most recent offer of a pay rise under the Agenda for Change scale amounts to a real terms pay cut because inflation is at a 40-year high.

During Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, the Labour leader said Rishi Sunak “has curled up in a ball and gone into hibernation” while “winter has arrived for our public services”.

He said the Prime Minister was “pretending everything is fine”.

“Try telling that to those on waiting lists or those that can’t afford to pay for a next-day GP appointment,” he added.

“After 12 years of Tory failure, winter has arrived for our public services.

“If he can’t act on behalf of patients or nurses, or everyone who wants these strikes called off, then surely the whole country’s entitled to ask what is the point of him and what is the point of the government he is supposed to be leading?”

Sir Keir Starmer's approach to leadership has been likened to Tony Blair's. PA

At the Institute for Public Policy Research’s health conference in London last week, Mr Streeting blamed “Conservative mismanagement of our public services over the past 12 years” for the “doom spiral” gripping Britain.

The shadow health secretary has incurred the wrath of the British Medical Association with his calls for NHS reform. In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, he claimed the doctors’ union was “hostile” towards Labour’s plans for the health service because the party wanted to improve standards for patients, which could mean different working hours for GPs.

“Whenever I point out the appalling state of access to primary care, where currently a record two million people are waiting more than a month to see a GP, I am treated like some sort of heretic by the BMA — who seem to think any criticism of patient access to primary care is somehow an attack on GPs,” he said.

Allyson Pollock, a clinical professor of public health at Newcastle University, told The National that Labour’s approach to the NHS is not constructive because it largely ignores the root causes of the service’s problems.

She said politicians across the political spectrum too often blame the Covid-19 pandemic for years of mismanagement.

She likened the opposition party’s line to that adopted by New Labour. The term refers to the period in the mid- to late-1990s under the leadership of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, when Labour was presented as a reformed party.

“I think the most surprising thing is that neither Keir Starmer nor Wes Streeting have pointed to the 30 years of progressive dismantling of the NHS,” she said.

“I would have expected them to set out what they mean by reform. I was dismayed because they are missing the fundamental critique of what’s happening to the NHS. They have failed to articulate the real problems with the system.

“It is clear that new legislation is needed to reinstate the NHS. The workforce problems are a consequence of the running down of the NHS and failure to undertake workforce planning. This was all predicted and predictable.

“It appears that Keir Starmer is adopting the New Labour line which is it doesn’t matter who provides the services so long as there is public funding. But the evidence shows privatisation leads to waste and inequality.

“Labour needs to take a long, hard look at the system and how it’s being dismantled and destroyed. They should be much stronger in their analysis of why the system is breaking.

“There has been a long-term ideological shift away from belief in public services and a belief in markets since New Labour and the Blair government, with the exception of the short period when Jeremy Corbyn was the leader of the Labour opposition.”

Ms Pollock said laying the blame for the NHS’s problems on the Covid-19 pandemic was a mere diversion tactic used by politicians. She argued that many problems affecting the health service today existed years ago and have only continued or worsened.

She said it was “not good enough just to say the NHS is underfunded” without taking into account where money has been channelled to.

“The real story is where is the money going?” she said. “Many billions of pounds are flowing out in contracts with bankers, equity investors, shareholders and director's remuneration — billions of pounds are flowing out to the private sector. It’s all unscrutinised and there is a lack of transparency.

“The NHS has become inefficient because of the way money is leaking out of it and the way money is being diverted to commercial contracting and commercial providers.”
Nurses on strike in the UK — in pictures















Members of the Royal College of Nursing on the picket line outside Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, as nurses in England, Wales and Northern Ireland strike over pay. PA
Updated: December 15, 2022, 4:17 a.m.

NEVER HEARD OF THE SOCIAL GOSPEL

Religious liberty concerns raised as Texas governor seeks to investigate groups helping migrants

‘The reality is that the majority of the work that is done on the border, the humanitarian work, the reception of refugees and migrants, is done by faith-based organizations,’ said Dylan Corbett, executive director of Hope Border Institute.

Gustavo Banda, center right, pastor of Templo Embajadores de Jesus, Tijuana’s largest migrant shelter, speaks with migrants at a shelter, Oct. 13, 2022, in Tijuana, Mexico. The Biden administration’s policy shift on Venezuelan migrants may pose an enormous challenge to overstretched Mexican shelters. The U.S. has coupled plans to let up to 24,000 Venezuelans apply online to fly to the U.S. for temporary stays with a pledge to immediately turn back Venezuelans who cross the border illegally from Mexico. (AP Photo/Elliot Spagat)

December 15, 2022

By 

Alejandra Molina

(RNS) — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has asked the state attorney to investigate nongovernmental organizations that he claims have assisted with “illegal border crossings” along the U.S.-Mexico border near El Paso, raising religious liberty concerns among faith-based groups and religious organizers helping migrants with medical needs and shelter.

Abbott, in his Dec. 14 letter to Attorney General Ken Paxton, didn’t identify any organizations or offer evidence of NGOs “unlawfully orchestrating” border crossings on both sides of the border. The governor urged Paxton to investigate the “role of NGOs in planning and facilitating the illegal transportation of illegal immigrants across our borders.”

Abbott’s office has not returned a request for comment.

Catholic activist Dylan Corbett said that Abbott, with this move, is seeking to intimidate “the very people who are working to address the fallout of a broken immigration system at the border.”

“The reality is that the majority of the work that is done on the border, the humanitarian work, the reception of refugees and migrants, is done by faith-based organizations,” said Corbett, who is the executive director of Hope Border Institute. “We do this as an expression of our faith. We do this as an expression of our commitment to building a more just world because we are people of faith.”

---

RELATED: As policies shift, Protestants and other faith groups join Catholics in helping immigrants at the border

---

Added Corbett: “It raises serious questions about the abuse of office, and I also think it raises serious questions about religious liberty.”

Corbett said organizations such as his are not engaging in criminal acts by helping migrants along the border. In fact, he said, Hope Border and similar groups are “working to build legal pathways for people to migrate legally.”

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks during an election night party Nov. 8, 2022, in McAllen, Texas. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Abbott’s letter comes days before a Trump-era policy, known as Title 42, is set to end Dec. 21. The policy denies migrants rights under U.S. and international law to request asylum on public health grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19. Immigrant rights advocates have said President Joe Biden expanded this policy to apply to Venezuelan migrants seeking asylum. 

The Southwest border has been experiencing a record number of immigrant encounters, many of which are repeat encounters, according to the news site El Paso Matters. Border enforcement agents in El Paso and New Mexico are encountering up to 2,500 migrants daily, the news site reported.

This has led organizations to work overdrive in assisting migrants in need. 

The Hope Border Institute, in a recent report, detailed how Biden’s expansion of the Trump-era policy “represents a significant burden on an already strained safety net for migrants and refugees expelled to Mexico,” particularly Ciudad Juárez, a Mexican city on the Rio Grande, just south of El Paso.

The Hope Border Institute, in partnership with Bishop Mark Seitz of the Diocese of El Paso, has invested over $100,000 through its Border Refugee Assistance Fund to “respond to the ongoing arrival of migrants and asylum seekers to the US-Mexico border, including the recent Venezuelans population,” according to the report.

With the expulsion of Venezuelans to Ciudad Juárez, Hope Border Institute helped offer food, clothing and shelter. It established a program with medical professionals from El Paso who volunteer their time to provide primary care to migrants. The organization has also worked with groups in Ciudad Juárez “to ensure that people on the move and in shelters have access to both basic medicine and mental health services,” according to the report.

Said Corbett: “We’re not intimidated. We’re not afraid. We’re going to continue to do our work. We know that our partners along the border are going to continue to do their work.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

GAMING ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIVISM
Video game developers can educate gamers on the real-time climate crisis in virtual reality


By Adam Smith for Thomson Reuters Foundation
28 Dec 2022 

Video games can make climate change real for players. More video games are about climate change issues. Games can have beneficial behavioural effects on players, but games can also create a false impression of easy fixes.

The ice caps have melted. Continents have been reduced to a handful of islands. Survivors seek to rebuild what is known as the Floodlands.

That’s the premise of a video game released this year which represents a new approach developers are taking: using games to educate players on climate change, and what might happen if they fail to rein it in.

In an earlier game, Eco, the land is still vibrant and human society is growing. Eventually, an asteroid strikes, but the inhabitants do not know that yet.

Eco and Floodlands approach climate change differently – the former as imminent doom, the latter as its aftermath. Both are part of efforts by the $200-billion gaming industry to be a part of the growing discussion on climate change.

“The game shows the worst-case scenario,” Kacper Kwiatkowski, Floodlands designer and head of game studio Vile Monarch, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation over email.

“Our early research indicated that a realistic rise of sea levels is several metres. We decided to assume 10-15 [metres] in the game for more dramatism. Now it seems that this dramatic scenario is not necessarily an unlikely one,” he said.

Globally, there are about 2.6 billion gamers. Activists and governments are hoping they can encourage behavioural change among gamers through green “nudges”, where points are awarded for protecting the environment in consumer games, or explicitly educational, interactive play.

The goal is to close the psychological gap between what people know and what they resonate with, said Hamid Homatash, a lecturer on computer games at Glasgow Caledonian University.

“You can be told all this information that the ice caps are melting, but what does that really mean? It’s quite alien in a way, because you can’t really comprehend that experience,” he said over a video call.

At the 2017 United Nations climate summit in Germany, COP23, and at COP24 in Poland the following year, Homatash presented a game called Earth Remembers, in which players fight the effects of global warming based on an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change model showing the temperature rise.

“The people in the room playing it had audible gasps,” Homatash recalls.

“They were actually shocked and horrified when they saw it happen in front of their eyes.”

Visit Daily Maverick’s home page for more news, analysis and investigations
‘Damaging understandings’

In the United States, only 42% of adults believe dealing with climate change should be a top priority, according to the US-based data and polling organisation Pew Research Centre.

In Israel and Russia, about half of people believe global climate change is a minor threat, or not a threat at all, it found.

British gamer Ewan Dineen said playing Eco made him more aware of the climate crisis.

“I was aware of climate change before, but didn’t really take much notice of my own environmental impact,” said Dineen (19), an engineering student at University of the West of England in Bristol.

Since putting more than 500 hours into the game, Dineen says he thinks more about his climate footprint – walking instead of taking a car ride, eating less meat, and carrying his own water bottle.

But while video games can encourage beneficial behaviour like Dineen’s, experts say they can also instill bad practices.

In Nintendo’s popular Animal Crossing game, players can sustainably plant fruit trees or harvest the island of all its resources by mercilessly chopping them down.

Research shows the game made players feel positively about their choices, no matter whether the action was considerate or exploitative of the natural resources.

In another game – Civilisation VI’s Gathering Storm – players must consider how cities prepare for survival as increased carbon dioxide emissions cause rising sea levels, droughts and extreme weather.

This includes defences like flood barriers, but also new and controversial technology such as carbon capture and storage (CCS).

While the game can help gamers grasp the damaging effects of climate change, it also shows technologies like CCS being implemented with relative ease – which can have damaging real-world impacts.

“[It] can create a sense, without all the politics involved, that there is a technofix that can solve the issue of a warming planet,” said Elliot Honeybun-Arnolda from the University of East Anglia’s School of Environmental Sciences.

“The ways in which it portrays technologies without politics, and politics without conflict, may lead to quite damaging understandings of possible climate change solutions.”
Dystopian games

There is little data tracking games that feature climate change, and the number of those games is likely still low.

However, the number of dystopian video games has risen over the past years, and is about 3% of the industry now, according to the industry tracking platform, VG Insights.

But not all of these are related to the climate crisis. Many feature pandemics and other catastrophes.

Platforms like YouTube and Twitch have encouraged some climate researchers to experiment with streaming to attract viewers, but with mixed results.

In 2018, Henri Drake, then a doctoral student in physical oceanography at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, started the channel ClimateFortnite to stream the popular video game Fortnite on Twitch. As he played, guests spoke about politics and the environment.

Several major publications covered the channel, but Drake shut it down after a few months.

ClimateFortnite went “predictably viral”, Drake said in an email. But he said the format was not an effective way to talk about science due to the game’s fast pace and the focus required to be effective.

An attempt to pivot to games like Eco and Civilisation VI, which were better for climate-based discussions, came at the cost of less engagement from viewers, he said.

“These games are excellent and effective at communicating both the problem of climate change (and, crucially, its solutions), but they unfortunately are not very appealing for live streaming,” Drake said.

“The fundamental difficulty in making climate exciting (in gaming and in reality) is that it is a gradual, incremental problem caused largely by an invisible gas.” DM/OBP

This article was originally published on: https://www.context.news/climate-risks/video-games-can-make-climate-change-real-for-players-heres-how

Reporting by Adam Smith, @adamndsmith; editing by Yasir Khan.

The Thomson Reuters Foundation is the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters. Visit https://www.context.news

At a French factory, the newest employees come from Ukraine

 

4 SLIDES
Alexander Dubitsky arrived from Kharkiv at the end of August.
CREDIT: ELEANOR BEARDSLEY/NPR


BY Eleanor Beardsley
DEC 29, 2022 

NPR

SEMUR-EN-AUXOIS, France — In a factory on the edge of the medieval town of Semur-en-Auxois, French isn't the only language being spoken these days. Over the whir of sewing machines, the sounds of Russian and Ukrainian can be heard as well.

The factory has been turning out leather handbags for French luxury brands since the 1970s. Maroquinerie Thomas' CEO Thierry Thomas says he's hired about 25 Ukrainians this year.


"I hired the first five and then more started coming," he says. "Cousins, sisters-in-law. They work hard, they adapt fast. At first I put them all together. That way if one understood, he could teach the others."

Thomas says it's not charity. He can't find enough French workers.

He offers the Ukrainians long-term contracts without having to go through a trial period, "so they can open bank accounts and rent apartments," he says.

How does he communicate with them?

"Google Translate," he says, laughing.

Europe is being transformed by the war in Ukraine. Even places far from the conflict are feeling the effects. And the longer the war continues, the more lasting those effects will be.

France has taken in more than 100,000 Ukrainian refugees, according to the French government. They have the right to stay and work and receive a small monthly stipend. Ukrainian children are learning in French schools all over the country and many French families are hosting Ukrainian families.

Thirty-three-year-old Alexander Dubitsky is working on a row of handbag handles. He came from Kharkiv at the end of August. When asked if he will return, he says, "It's not a question of rebuilding after the destruction in Ukraine. That doesn't bother me at all. I would gladly help. But we are always in danger. Even if the war stops, Russia will collect its forces and attack us again three or four years later. This has been our reality for centuries."

Oksana Zoubko is touching up bag straps with black paint. She was a baker in Kharkiv and says she loves working with her hands again.

"It's a wonderful place to work," she says. "A very wholesome atmosphere and our French colleagues are welcoming."

Zoubko says she'd like to go back to Ukraine, but thinks her nine-year old, who attends the village school, probably has a brighter future in France.

Across the work table, French colleagues Ines Chapovaloff and Maud Duvignacq say they feel lucky to share their savoir-faire and learn from the Ukrainians. They praise the Ukrainians' courage and ability to show up for work with a smile despite worries about the war back home.

Yevdokiia Bila, 36, who goes by Julia, tamps down some stitching with a small hammer. She was one of the first Ukrainians hired here last March and is from Vovchansk, right along the Russian border outside Kharkiv.

Thomas has such faith in Bila that he let her supervise a small crew of Ukrainians when their French coworkers all left for their August vacations.

"I was shocked, but in a good way," she says. "All these French workers could go on vacation together. We don't do that in Ukraine."

She says other things have surprised her in France, even the mail.

"Yes, letters and envelopes," she says. "In Ukraine, everything is online. And here I get mail from the school, from the bank. I've gotten back into the habit of checking my mailbox again!"

Bila recently had to return to Ukraine to bury her mother, who had gone to the hospital when her town was under Russian occupation — but there were no doctors. After the town was liberated, her mother was finally diagnosed with a ruptured appendix, but it was too late. She died at age 61.

Bila has rented a newly renovated apartment in the center of the cobblestone town, right across from the church. The Christmas lights from the village square light up her living room.

Several of Bila's friends and family members are also in Semur-en-Auxois and they often gather for meals at her long kitchen table. On the fireplace, she's hung a Ukrainian flag she brought with her — it was part of a celebration of Ukraine's Maidan revolution back in 2014.

Her brother Timur Romanchuk and his wife and daughter arrived in Semur-en-Auxois in June. The family had a farm and stayed as long as they could to protect it and the expensive breed of goats whose milk they used to make cheese.

They kept hoping they wouldn't lose their farm. Romanchuk says he thought he could stay under the Russian occupation. But when the Kremlin orchestrated referendums to annex Ukrainian territory this summer, he knew it was no longer possible.

"Because I knew we'd all be forced to take Russian passports," he says. That's when they decided to abandon the farm. They gave their goats to neighbors.

When asked if there are any circumstances under which they could live normally in Vovchansk, they're not so sure.

"If there was a big garden in the place of Russia," Bila says. "With sunflowers and wheat. We always imagine the problem is Putin, but Putin is not the reason, Putin is a consequence. There was also Stalin and there's always something. Is there anybody with a conscience in Russia to wake up and change and be different?"

The Ukrainians take French lessons every week at the factory. Thirty-nine-year-old Andriy Pryputniev, a former coal miner, follows along closely. His family got out of Kharkiv in March, and he followed them to France in September.

"My children study in a French school," he says. "My son plays football and another son plays guitar and music in the school."

This year wasn't the first time Pryputniev has had to flee to a new place. In 2014, he arrived in Kharkiv from his home in Luhansk, after fighting there between Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces.

He had always thought he would spend the rest of his days in Luhansk. "I thought I'd collect my pension there," he says.

Nowadays, "Sometimes when I drive the car back home after work, I think in my head, 'Where am I?'" he says with a laugh. "I'm in France? Seriously?"

Pryputniev takes his French lessons seriously. With two destroyed houses behind him, he says he's not going back to Ukraine. [Copyright 2022 NPR]

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

JPMorgan Chase sued for allegedly benefiting from Jeffrey Epstein


"Human trafficking was the principal business of the accounts Epstein maintained at JPMorgan," the filing stated.

By Madeleine Hubbard
Updated: December 29, 2022 

The U.S. Virgin Islands attorney general filed a lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase for allegedly receiving financial benefits from Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking activities and failing to report suspicious banking activity.

"Over more than a decade, JPMorgan clearly knew it was not complying with federal regulations in regard to Epstein-related accounts as evidenced by its too-little too-late efforts after Epstein was arrested on federal sex trafficking charges and shortly after his death, when JPMorgan belatedly complied with federal law," U.S. Virgin Islands Attorney General Denise George said in a complaint, CNN reported Thursday.

"Human trafficking was the principal business of the accounts Epstein maintained at JPMorgan," the filing stated.

JPMorgan Chase is being accused in the lawsuit of failing to make filings that could have notified government officials about Epstein's alleged trafficking of minors through the U.S. Virgin Islands, where he owned private islands.

The attorney general also argued that the Wall Street bank should have paid closer attention to Epstein after he pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution with a minor.

Epstein died in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019.

A JPMorgan Chase spokesperson told CNN that it did not have a comment on the lawsuit Wednesday evening.

Two anonymous women who accused Epstein of abuse filed lawsuits last month against JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank, claiming the financial institutions enabled and benefited from alleged trafficking.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Virgin Islands attorney general settled with Epstein's estate for more than $105 million and the estate agreed to sell Epstein's two islands there and cease business operations.

New Mexico seeks changes to US rules for wildfire claims

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN

FILE - New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas talks during a news conference on Feb. 26, 2019, in Albuquerque, N.M. Balderas is asking that changes be made to rules proposed by the U.S. government as it processes damage claims from a historic wildfire sparked by forest managers.

 (AP Photo/Susan Montoya Bryan, File)


ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas is asking that changes be made to rules proposed by the U.S. government as it processes damage claims from a historic wildfire sparked by forest managers.

Balderas filed comments on the Hermit’s Peak-Calf Canyon Fire assistance regulations this week, outlining concerns over limitations on damages, the lack of a clear appeals process and leadership of the team that will oversee the claims process.

Numerous missteps by the U.S. Forest Service resulted in prescribed fires erupting this spring into the largest wildfire in New Mexico’s recorded history. The blaze forced the evacuation of thousands of residents from villages throughout the Sangre de Cristo mountain range as it burned through more than 530 square miles (1,373 square kilometers) of the Rocky Mountain foothills.

The fire forced the Forest Service to review its prescribed fire polices before resuming operations in the fall, and experts have said the environmental consequences will span generations.

Balderas, who is term limited and will be leaving office at the end of the year, is requesting the Federal Emergency Management Agency appoint an independent claims manager who has experience practicing law in New Mexico to oversee the review of claims.

Claims for damages will be assessed under state law, and a background in New Mexico law will be imperative to properly assessing and compensating residents, he said.

“We’re taking action today to begin recovery from a tragic wildfire that never should have occurred, and we are fighting for the federal government to acknowledge the gaps in the FEMA process that have historically ignored the unique needs of communities,” Balderas said in a statement issued Wednesday.

Many residents were either uninsured or underinsured and have complained that FEMA workers don’t understand northern New Mexico. They have described the claims process as overwhelming.

A final public meeting to comment on the proposed FEMA regulations will be Jan. 5 in Mora.

Top state officials have said the regulations need to account for the uniqueness of the region — a mountainous rural expanse where culture and tradition are intertwined with the landscape.

The fire resulted in what the attorney general’s office called significant tree and erosion losses. Balderas said New Mexico law has previously allowed for recovery of the full value of any trees destroyed on a person’s property and this should be no exception.

Congress has approved nearly $4 billion in assistance for the wildfire victims, including $1.45 billion that was part of the massive spending bill passed last week.

U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández, whose district includes the fire-ravaged region, said the latest funding marks another step in the right direction while acknowledging that recovery will be challenging.

“This additional funding is what justice looks like — the federal government is taking responsibility for the harm it caused and answering the stories, voices, and calls for help to rebuild,” she said in a statement. “My promise has always been to pursue every possible opportunity to seek justice.”

The latest federal measure also includes separate streams of funding for forest restoration and watershed protection work.

The New Mexico attorney general’s office also has filed a notice of loss that seeks compensation for billions of dollars in damages suffered by local and state government agencies as a result of the wildfire.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
U.S. Sues AmerisourceBergen Saying Distributor Fueled Opioid Epidemic

By Nate Raymond and Jonathan Stempel
12/29/22 

The U.S. government on Thursay filed a civil lawsuit accusing the drug distributor AmerisourceBergen Corp of contributing to the deadly U.S. opioid epidemic by repeatedly failing to report suspicious orders of prescription painkillers.

In a complaint filed in Philadelphia federal court, the Department of Justice said the drug distributor and two units violated their legal obligation to resolve suspicious activity in customer orders, or alert the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to suspicious customer behavior.

The complaint said AmerisourceBergen since 2014 had repeatedly refused or negligently failed to flag suspicious orders by pharmacy customers when it had reason to know that opioids were being diverted to illegal channels.

The lawsuit said AmerisourceBergen, one of the country's three largest drug distributors, intentionally altered how one of its units monitored orders, dramatically reducing the number of controlled-substance orders that underwent internal review.

The Justice Department said company's systematic failure to report suspicious orders to the DEA contributed to the opioid epidemic. It is seeking billions of dollars in penalties.

"For years, AmerisourceBergen prioritized profits over its legal obligations and over Americans' well-being," Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta told reporters.

Conshohocken, Pennsylvania-based AmerisourceBergen in a statement said the lawsuit focused on five pharmacies it shipped drugs to that were "cherry picked" out of the tens of thousands it works with and that it ignored the DEA's own failures to act.

"In fact, AmerisourceBergen terminated relationships with four of them before DEA ever took any enforcement action while two of the five pharmacies maintain their DEA controlled substance registration to this day," the company said.

Opioids have contributed to more than 564,000 overdose deaths from 1999 to 2020, according to U.S. government data. Nearly 107,000 Americans died of drug overdoses last year, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported last week, up 16% from 2020.

The case came after AmerisourceBergen agreed in 2021 to pay up to $6.4 billion to resolve thousands of lawsuits accusing it and other drug distributors of ignoring red flags indicating the prescription painkillers were being diverted for improper uses.

IBT Fast Start - Let the best of International News come to you
Sign up and stay up to date with our daily newsletter.
You can unsubscribe at any time. By signing up you are agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.

It agreed to that deal as part of a broader, $26 billion settlement resolving more than 3,000 lawsuits by state and local governments against the company, its two primary distributor rivals -- McKesson Corp and Cardinal Health -- and the drugmaker Johnson & Johnson.

Thursday's lawsuit is latest in a series of criminal and civil actions the Justice Department has pursued against companies accused of fueling the opioid epidemic.

Other companies targeted by the Justice Department include OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, which pleaded guilty to criminal charges in 2020 over the handling of the addictive painkiller, and Walmart Inc, which is fighting a lawsuit alleging its pharmacies unlawfully distributed opioids.


© Copyright Thomson Reuters 2022. All rights reserved.

Turkish court upholds life sentence for philanthropist Osman Kavala

By Euronews with AFP • Updated: 28/12/2022 

Osman Kavala was initially detained for four years after his arrest in 2017

. - Copyright HANDOUT / ANADOLU CULTURE CENTER / AFP, FILE

A Turkish court has upheld the life sentence of civil rights activist and philanthropist Osman Kavala and seven other defendants.

The eight suspects were all found guilty in April of "attempting to overthrow the government" and imprisoned for 18 years without parole.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Kavala of financing mass anti-government protests in 2013. He has always denied the allegations.

The 65-year-old was arrested in 2017 and was detained for more than four years until his trial despite international criticism.

The Council of Europe has repeatedly called on Turkey to immediately release Kavala after a European court ruled that Ankara had violated his human rights.

Germany initially summoned Turkey’s ambassador to Berlin to protest against the conviction.

Osman Kavala: Turkish philanthropist handed life sentence by Istanbul court

Osman Kavala: Germany summons Turkish ambassador to protest activist's life sentence

Kavala was initially acquitted in February 2020 of charges that connected him with the 2013 protests.

But, as supporters awaited his release, he was re-arrested on charges linked to a 2016 coup attempt, which the Turkish government has blamed on a network of US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen.

This acquittal was later overturned and the cases were merged.

The European Court of Human Rights said in 2019 that Kavala’s imprisonment aimed to silence him and other human rights defenders.

Kavala's conviction can still be appealed to the Turkish Court of Cassation.

US calls on Turkey to release jailed philanthropist Kavala

By

 SCF

 -

December 29, 2022

Osman Kavala

The United States on Wednesday called on Turkey to release Osman Kavala, a prominent businessman and philanthropist, after a regional appeals court’s decision to uphold a conviction and aggravated life sentence.

”The United States is deeply troubled and disappointed by a Turkish court’s decision to uphold the conviction of Osman Kavala today. As we have said before, his unjust conviction is inconsistent with respect for human rights and the rule of law,” US Department of State Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said in a press statement.

An İstanbul court on April 25 sentenced Kavala to aggravated life and his co-defendants to 18 years each on charges of financing the anti-government Gezi Park protests.

The April decision of the 13th İstanbul High Criminal Court was appealed by the defendants’ lawyers. After considering the appeal, the 3rd Criminal Chamber of the Istanbul Regional Appeals Court rejected the lawyers’ request on the merits and upheld the convictions.

”We again call on Turkey to release Osman Kavala, in keeping with European Court of Human Rights rulings, as well as to free all others arbitrarily incarcerated. The people of Turkey deserve to exercise their human rights and fundamental freedoms without fear of retribution,” Patel added.

Turkey has refused to release Kavala despite a 2019 European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruling that found his detention was in pursuance of an “ulterior motive,” that of silencing him as a human rights defender. The non-implementation of the ruling prompted the Council of Europe’s (CoE) Committee of Ministers to launch an infringement procedure against Turkey in February, which is still ongoing.

Kavala earlier said in a written interview he gave through his lawyers with the pro-opposition Halk TV that his detention was unlawful and that the Turkish government was still holding him in prison to lend credibility to the Gezi Park case.

Kavala pointed out that his detention violates Article 18 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which concerns limitations on the use of restrictions on rights, although dozens of international organizations and political figures have publicly called for his release. He stated that the aim of his imprisonment is to send a deterrent message to those who have participated in mass protests against the government by sentencing people like him to harsh punishment.

Kavala, who had been behind bars since October 18, 2017, was acquitted in February 2020 of charges of attempting to overthrow the government through involvement in the 2013 Gezi Park protests.

Kavala was rearrested the same day of his release on charges related to a 2016 abortive putsch in Turkey in a move described by his lawyers as a tactic to circumvent the court’s 2019 ruling to free him.

Take a second to support Stockholm Center for Freedom on Patreon!

What the United Nations’ 6th Climate Assessment tells us about the Mediterranean’s climate future

December 19, 2022
Gökçe Şencan


World leaders gathered recently in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, for the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (27th Conference of the Parties, COP27) to discuss their commitments to climate change mitigation and adaptation. This year’s conference came on the heels of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) 6th Assessment Report. The IPCC report details the alarming changes that Mediterranean countries will experience in the coming decades. Below are some report highlights in three critical climate areas — warming and droughts, declining ecosystems, as well as socioeconomic and public health risks.

First, the Mediterranean region has been warming faster than the global average, and this accelerated warming trend, along with increasingly recurrent droughts, will continue as climate change worsens. More intense, more frequent, and longer heat waves will accompany this shift throughout the region. Precipitation is expected to decrease 4% for every 1°C of warming in central and southern parts of the region in all seasons. Current trends point to global warming of 2.7-3°C, possibly higher in the Mediterranean. While the northern part of the region will experience decreased precipitation mostly in summer, it will also see a higher risk of extreme rain events and flash floods as well.

In parallel to decreased overall precipitation and higher evaporative demand due to warming, both surface water and groundwater availability will decrease. Many lakes could potentially dry out completely without interventions. These forecasts point to a significantly drier Mediterranean region with heightened risk of more intense and frequent droughts under all climate change scenarios, which will be even more severe without mitigation.

Second, the Mediterranean Sea is acidifying rapidly due to the absorption of excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. As the sea gets warmer and more acidic in the coming decades, its marine ecosystem will suffer greatly. Many native species will either migrate north or face extinction, and some will be replaced by invasive species. As the risk of marine heat waves climbs with warming, there will be a greater possibility of mass mortality and ecosystem collapse events.

Terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems are also at peril due to climate change. A more arid climate will lead to the degradation of wetland and forests ecosystems. Wildfire risk will escalate due to more frequent and severe dry conditions, including heat waves and droughts. In the absence of forest management policies, average burned forest area will expand and recovery of these areas will prove more challenging. Desertification and forest dieback will become more widespread, particularly in North Africa.

Third and finally are the associated socioeconomic and public health risks. Along with other water users, agriculture’s water demand will increase due to warming and extreme heat risks. Reductions in available water will increase pressure on food production. Water scarcity is also expected to heavily impact energy production, especially hydropower and thermoelectric plants, reducing generation by up to 33% with 2°C of warming and possibly more at higher warming levels.

Heat waves will be the major source of climate-related health problems; in the northern Mediterranean, 53-93 million people are likely to be exposed to very high heat stress by 2050. Under worst-case climate scenarios, excess mortality due to extreme heat could increase six-fold under a 3°C warming scenario. Reduction in food availability due to climate change could increase malnutrition-related deaths by more than 20,000 in 2050.

Not all parts of the Mediterranean will experience climate change in the same way, but the IPCC report paints a bleak picture of the region’s climate future, even under moderate CO2 emission scenarios. However, the report also discusses various mitigation tools and makes it clear that it is still possible to stave off the worst consequences of climate change. Investing in the following areas will be essential for both mitigation and adaptation efforts:

Marine, freshwater and terrestrial ecosystem management

Forest and wildfire management

Increased water use efficiency on farms and in cities

Less water-intensive, renewable energy types

Heat resilience in cities and on farms

Some examples of such investments include conservation and restoration projects like marine and watershed protected areas, prescribed burning to counter wildfires, expansion of water recycling, drip irrigation infrastructure and leak repair programs, added energy generation from solar and wind, and advanced heat warning systems.

COP27 provided a unique opportunity for leaders from the Mediterranean to discuss these solutions and chart a course of action to prepare for a hotter and drier future. The new Loss and Damage Fund created at the end of the conference, if managed properly, could be a valuable financing tool to implement these solutions. Solutions that can contribute to both development and climate resilience, such as solar and wind energy, water recycling, drip irrigation, and leak repair programs, can deliver climate adaptation and mitigation benefits while simultaneously supporting economic development. As climate change is already progressing, such multi-benefit solutions can play a critical role in alleviating the worst impacts — that is, if the region’s leaders choose to prioritize climate action to safeguard the Mediterranean’s future.

Gökçe Şencan is a research associate at the Public Policy Institute of California's (PPIC) Water Policy Center and a non-resident scholar at the Middle East Institute’s Climate and Water Program.

Fadel Senna /AFP/Getty Images

The Middle East Institute (MEI) is an independent, non-partisan, non-for-profit, educational organization. It does not engage in advocacy and its scholars’ opinions are their own. MEI welcomes financial donations, but retains sole editorial control over its work and its publications reflect only the authors’ views. For a listing of MEI donors, please click here.

UAE to deport Egyptian-American activist who called for Cop27 protest

Egyptian-American activist, Sherif Osman [@FreeSherifOsman]

December 22, 2022 

The UAE is to deport an Egyptian-American activist who was detained in Dubai after calling for protests during the Cop27 climate conference in Egypt. Sherif Osman is a former Egyptian army officer and an outspoken critic of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi. He was arrested at a Dubai restaurant last month having travelled there with his fiancée to visit his family.

"[UAE officials] didn't present an arrest warrant or explain to him or his distraught family the reason for his arrest, and he was taken away in an unmarked car," explained Amnesty International. "A month later, Emirati officials told his lawyer that they had acted in response to a request from Egypt."

His arrest has raised concerns with other rights organisations that his deportation to Egypt runs the risk of Osman facing torture and imprisonment. Over 20 groups have signed a petition calling for his release.

READ: Egypt: Prosecutors freeze assets of blogger on fraud charges

"We, the undersigned organisations, urge the authorities of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) not to deport Sherif Osman to Egypt, where he would be at high risk of being subjected to torture and other human rights violations," said the signatories. Details of the petition were posted yesterday by ALQST for Human Rights on its website. "We further urge the UAE to release Osman immediately."

Yesterday, the Guardian reported that in early October, Osman began posting videos on his YouTube channel, which has over 35,000 subscribers, urging Egyptian citizens to protest on 11 November, "joining other demands for protests that day to show discontent with the rising cost of living and the crackdown on civil rights in Egypt."

One Emirati official was quoted in the report as saying: "As in each detention case, the UAE strictly adheres to all internationally accepted standards, including regular consular access and legal counsel. The UAE continues to work closely with relevant authorities to secure the requisite legal documentation required in preparing the extradition file."

Officials in the UAE have not said whether they plan to extradite Osman to the US or Egypt. A US State Department spokesperson was quoted by Middle East Eye as saying that Washington is aware of Osman's arrest and "is watching his case closely and providing appropriate consular support."