NS Paramedic speaks out about strain of ‘hallway medicine’ on front-line workers

Story by Megan King and Rebecca Lau • 

Nova Scotia paramedic Scott Sturgeon is speaking out about the conditions on the front lines of health care.© Megan King/Global News

Nova Scotia paramedic speaks out about working conditions

A Nova Scotia paramedic is speaking out about the conditions those in his profession are facing as paramedics are becoming essential to "hallway medicine" amidst a strained health-care system.

Scott Sturgeon, an advanced care paramedic, has been with Nova Scotia Emergency Health Services for 23 years. In that time, he's seen dramatic changes to the job, including a growing problem with offload delays at the province's emergency rooms.

"I've seen colleagues and done it myself where I've gone in (to the ER) with my first patient on a run of a 12-hour shift and stayed in the hallway with them for 12 hours," he said.

What's even more shocking, he says in some cases, is that he'll "hand off" the patient to a night crew and then "sometimes inherit that very same patient again 12 hours after that."

This form of so-called hallway medicine is leaving paramedics like Sturgeon with what he describes as "moral injury."

"To hear something of an acute nature, of an emergent nature, go out and not have there be any resources, not to be able to do anything about it -- it's difficult for us to handle," he said.

Video: Nova Scotia EHS worker says paramedics’ hands tied amid ER crisis

Not only is it difficult mentally, but physically as well.

Paramedics are being faced with a growing increase in calls, which leaves them no time for personal care.

"When I clear a call, I am assigned to get another call. And my only chance to go to the bathroom even is to stop at a gas station while I'm en route to yet another residence," he said.

"I don't get my lunches, I'm quite often in overtime. It's just a pace that people can't ... they can't keep up."

Earlier this month, the province unveiled a slate of actions they say will improve emergency care, after the stories of two women who died following seven-hour-long waits in ERs shook the province.

Deaths of 2 Nova Scotia women after ER wait shakes trust in system

The health department says it will begin assigning physician assistants and nurse practitioners to provide care in emergency departments.

It will also have teams led by doctors focusing on getting patients out of ambulances and into ERs faster, and will add care providers and patient advocates in waiting rooms.

But there are questions about whether the plan will work if there aren't enough health-care workers.

Their union says it's a problem that has been building for a number of years.

Kevin MacMullin, business manager for International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 727, says there is a shortage of paramedics. There's a global demand for them, he says, and many have retired or left the province for work.

"Our professional paramedics have done an outstanding job in this province. And that's why they're sought after so highly by other provinces. That's why they want them. They're doing an astonishing job under the worst circumstances you could find," said MacMullin.

He believes what's key is more attention paid to employee retention.

"If you don't retain your employees, then you're just playing catch up all the time. And if you retain your employees, give them good benefits, give them good money, they'll spread the word and somebody who has left will probably come back. A lot will probably come back."

Video: Nova Scotia EHS worker says paramedics’ hands tied amid ER crisis

The shortage of family physicians and primary care providers in the province also contributes to the problem.

Sturgeon says being a paramedic is a rewarding job when they do what they're "designed to do": intervene in emergency situations.

"But the reality is that the ambulance is being used by a large portion of the population to fill in gaps for primary care," he said.

"So we're being used kind of like a physician, and we're not physicians ... and we're being asked to do that with regularity."

Meanwhile, Sturgeon says the situation is difficult and currently, rural communities are paying the price.

"As those ambulances are held in offload, the rural communities that normally have an ambulance end up being pulled into our geographical area. Because statistically, that's where the next call is going to be," he explained.

It's a ripple effect that Sturgeon says needs to be addressed with infrastructure and community support to ensure that when the public needs paramedics, they can be there.

- with a file from Karla Renic

Postmedia shuffles editors day after announcing 11 per cent of staff to be laid off

Story by The Canadian Press 


TORONTO — A Postmedia Network Corp. memo obtained by The Canadian Press shows the newspaper publisher has shuffled editors of its Prairies papers a day after it announced 11 per cent of staff would be laid off.


Postmedia shuffles editors day after announcing 11 per cent of staff to be laid off© Provided by The Canadian Press

The memo says Lorne Motley, vice-president of editorial for the west and editor-in-chief for the Calgary Herald and Sun, will become a regional editor-in-chief. The new position will put him in charge of the Calgary Herald and Sun, Edmonton Journal and Sun, the Saskatoon Star Phoenix, Regina Leader Post and Winnipeg Sun.

Under Motley, Monica Zurowski will serve as a deputy editor in Calgary, while Dave Breakenridge in Edmonton, Ashley Trask in Saskatoon and Mark Hamm in Winnipeg will be managing editors.

Colin McGarrigle, editor-in-chief of the Edmonton Journal, will move to become a managing editor in Regina under Motley.

The memo also shared that Russell Wangersky, editor-in-chief of the Regina Leader-Post and the Saskatoon Star Phoenix, will leave Postmedia.

Postmedia said it would not comment on internal memos.

The memo comes a day after an audio recording of a Postmedia town hall obtained by The Canadian Press revealed cuts would be made to the company's roster of 650 journalists.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 25, 2023.

The Canadian Press

Groundbreaking new solar panels can generate electricity in the dark

Story by Joshua Hawkins • BGR


Solar power is a promising avenue for clean energy. Unfortunately, solar panels have one major weakness – they can’t generate electricity in the dark. However, this weakness could soon change as scientists at Stanford University have now created a solar panel that works in the dark.

The researchers published their findings on the new type of solar panel in the journal Applied Physics Letters back in April of 2022. While they discovered a way to make solar panels work in the dark, they also discovered that already erected solar panels could be modified to generate power at night, too, saving businesses and homes from having to upgrade to new panels.

The process used to make older solar panels work in the dark is called radiative cooling. When the sun sets, the Earth cools down, releasing heat into the air. This helps to create a temperature difference between the air and the surface of the panels. Then, researchers say that we can install thermoelectric generators onto the panels, allowing us to harness the power generated by radiative cooling.



solar panels on house, transparent solar panels could be build into windows© Provided by BGR

This isn’t the first time we have seen this idea put forward. Back in 2020, researchers with the University of California did something similar with what they called an “anti-solar panel.” Photovoltaic solar panels already take advantage of this radiative cooling to generate electricity after the sun sets, allowing those solar panels to work in the dark.

So why haven’t we heard more about this if it makes solar panels generate electricity even after the sun sets? Well, that’s because it doesn’t generate tons of electricity. Instead, some estimate it only generates around 25 percent of the energy a solar panel can generate in a typical day. But that’s still clean energy that you didn’t have before, so it’s worth harnessing while you can.

Other advancements in solar power have also seen solar panels that don’t need sunlight to generate electricity. You can read more about those in our previous report, but they essentially work by using the same rays of ultraviolet light that fruits and vegetables rely on to create their energy.

Egyptian archaeologists tout rare discoveries unearthed in Luxor

Story by Ahmed Shawkat • 

Egyptian archaeologists inspect mummified remains found in a newly discovered burial site in Luxor's Dra' Abu el-Naga' Necropolis, which they said was the first ever found in the area dating back to ancient Egypt's 13th Dynasty, between 1803 BC and 1649 BC. / Credit: Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities© Provided by CBS News

Cairo — Egyptian archaeologists announced Wednesday the discovery of the first burial site in the city of Luxor that dates back to the ancient Egyptian 13th Dynasty. That means the sarcophagi, remains and artifacts found at the site, in Luxor's Dra' Abu el-Naga' Necropolis, date back almost 4,000 years, to sometime between 1803 BC and 1649 BC.

"We have discovered more than a thousand burial sites before in Luxor, but this is the first time we find one from the 13th Dynasty," Dr. Fathy Yaseen, Director General of Antiquities of Upper Egypt, told CBS News about the site, which is more than 50 yards wide and 70 yards long.
4,200-year-old queen's identity among remarkable new finds in Egypt

Among the discoveries in the burial site was a complete sarcophagus made of pink granite, weighing about 11 tons, inscribed with the name of a minister named Ankho, who lived during the reign of King Sobekhotep II during the 13th Dynasty.

There were also some "Ushabtis," small statuettes, made of wood and painted white to imitate limestone, that stuck out to the experts.



Egyptian archaeologists tout rare discoveries unearthed in Luxor© Provided by CBS News

"I've been working in this field for more than 25 years now, and this is the first time I see Ushabtis with scriptures written in Hieratic instead of Hieroglyphs," Yaseen told CBS News. Hieratic was the common written form of ancient Egyptian between the third millennium BC and the mid-first millennium BC.

Related video: Egyptian Crocodile Mummies Discovered By Spanish Archeologists (Cover Media) Duration 1:03  View on Watch

A "complete city" unearthed

Archaeologists also announced this week that they had unearthed a "complete city" dating back to the Roman era in eastern Luxor.

The Egyptian Archaeological Mission said Tuesday that the city is located near the Luxor Temple.

It was described in a statement by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities as "the oldest and most important" residential city on the eastern bank of Luxor. It is believed to be an extension of the city of Thebes.

"It is important because it shows us more about the life of regular Egyptians at this time," Yaseen told CBS News, adding that scientists had "unearthed only the northern part of the city so far."

The discovery includes some residential buildings, workshops and two pigeon towers, used to house pigeons or doves, dating back to the second and third centuries, the statement said.

BIGFOOT, YETI, SASQUATCH ARE RACE MEMORY
Fossils reveal the mysterious primate relatives that lived in the ancient Arctic

Story by Ashley Strickland • CNN

Analysis of fossils found in the far north of Canada has revealed that two previously unknown species of ancient near-primates lived above the Arctic Circle some 52 million years ago, according to new research.

The now-extinct creatures belonged to a part of the primate family tree that branched off before the ancestors of lemurs diverged from the common ancestors of monkeys, apes and humans, said study coauthor Dr. Chris Beard, a distinguished foundation professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Kansas and senior curator at the university’s Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum.

The two sister species lived on what is now Ellesmere Island in northern Canada. They are the first known primatomorphans, or primate relatives, to have lived in latitudes north of the Arctic Circle, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE.

The two species have been named Ignacius mckennai and Ignacius dawsonae.

“To get an idea of what Ignacius looked like, imagine a cross between a lemur and a squirrel that was about half the size of a domestic cat,” Beard said. “Unlike living primates, Ignacius had eyes on the sides of its head (instead of facing forward like ours) and it had claws on its fingers and toes instead of nails.”

When researchers analyzed the fossil fragments, the jawbones and teeth of Ignacius seemed different from other primatomorphans that lived in North America’s more southerly reaches.

“What I’ve been doing the past couple of years is trying to understand what they were eating, and if they were eating different materials than their middle-latitude counterparts,” said lead study author Kristen Miller, a doctoral student at the University of Kansas’ Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum.

The Arctic primatomorphans evolved special features in their jaws and teeth to chomp on harder foods, like nuts and seeds, as opposed to their preferred diet of ripe fruit. This physical adaptation was likely because for half of the year, the species lived in the darkness of Arctic winter, when food was much more difficult to find.

“That, we think, is probably the biggest physical challenge of the ancient environment for these animals,” Beard said.

These findings could also be used to understand how animals adapt and evolve amid periods of climate change — as with species facing the human-driven climate crisis today.

Northward bound

Researchers believe the primatomorphans descended from an ancestor species that trekked north from the more southerly regions of North America. Similar fossils have been found across Wyoming, Texas, Montana and Colorado, according to Miller.

“No primate relative has ever been found at such extreme latitudes,” Miller said. “They’re more usually found around the equator in tropical regions. I was able to do a phylogenetic analysis, which helped me understand how the fossils from Ellesmere Island are related to species found in midlatitudes of North America.”

The common ancestor of the two Ignacius species likely reached Ellesmere Island around 51 million years ago, Beard said. At the time, it was a peninsula jutting into the Arctic Sea from adjacent parts of North America.

Ignacius mckennai and Ignacius dawsonae are named in part after two of Beard’s former colleagues and mentors, he explained: the late paleontologists Dr. Mary Dawson of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh and Dr. Malcolm McKenna of the American Museum of Natural History in New York, both of whom worked extensively on Ellesmere Island.

Greater physical size for survival

During these ancient times, the Arctic Circle was a warmer, more hospitable place for life. Global warming had caused the region to be much warmer and wetter, with a swamplike environment. The warmer temperatures during this period likely encouraged Igancius’ ancestor to venture north.

“Winter temperatures may have gotten as low as freezing for short periods of time, but we know that there were hardly ever any sustained freezing temperatures because crocodilians have been found on Ellesmere Island, and they cannot survive long freezes,” Beard said. “In the summertime, temperatures reached about 70 degrees Fahrenheit.”

Despite the warmer temperatures, the primatomorphans still had to adapt to survive in their unique northern ecosystem. They grew bigger than their southern relatives, who resembled squirrels; such growth commonly happens in mammals living in northern latitudes because it helps them maintain the needed core body temperature, Beard said.

“(The findings) tells us to expect dramatic and dynamic changes to the Arctic ecosystem as it transforms in the face of continued warming,” Beard said. “Some animals that don’t currently live in the Arctic will colonize that region, and some of them will adapt to their new environment in ways that parallel Ignacius. Likewise, we can expect some of the new colonists to diversify in the Arctic, just as Ignacius did.”

 CNN.com

Archaeologists stunned at ancient moat, handprints found in Jerusalem

Story by By JOANIE MARGULIES • 


An ancient moat surrounding the Old City of Jerusalem was recently uncovered by archaeological experts from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA). The discovery was made as a contracting company prepared for planned infrastructure work in the capital.


The carved hand on the moat wall© (photo credit: IAA)

Construction revealed the ancient moat, which measures approximately 10 meters (33 feet) wide and between two to seven meters (6.5-23 feet) deep. The moat surrounded the Old City of Jerusalem in its entirety. The 1,000-year-old moat was accompanied by handprints adjacent to the structure.

Zubair Adawi, director of the excavations at the IAA, uncovered the moat and handprints underneath Sultan Suleiman Street. The street runs adjacent to the city walls, leading experts to believe that the moat was built to prevent enemies from breaking into Jerusalem and invading it.

“Moats, usually filled with water, are well-known from fortifications and castles in Europe, but here the moat was dry, its width and depth presenting an obstacle slowing down the attacking army,” Adawi said.

The city walls we see today in the Old City were erected in the 16th century by Turkish Ottoman Sultan Suleiman I.

surrounded the ancient city


The site of the excavation on Sultan Suleiman Street 

IAA Jerusalem regional director Dr. Amit Re’em said “The earlier fortification walls that surrounded the ancient city of Jerusalem were much stronger. In the eras of knights’ battles, swords, arrows and charging cavalry, the fortifications of Jerusalem were formidable and complex, comprising walls and elements to hold off large armies storming the city.”

Related video: Images of construction in Western Wall Plaza in Jerusalem (AFP)

Duration 0:58   View on Watch

Why would ancient Jerusalem need a moat to defend itself?

The moat is believed to have kept the First Crusaders from breaching the city. Historians writing during the age of the First Crusade placed the fighters at the walls of Jerusalem in June 1099. It took the fighters approximately five weeks to cross the moat after tedious strategic planning, archaeologists involved with the excavation said.

After finally crossing, Crusaders were met with force and bloodshed by Jews and Muslims defending the city.

“Armies trying to capture the city in the Middle Ages had to cross the deep moat and behind it two additional thick fortification walls, while the defenders of the city on the walls rained down on them fire and sulfur,” Re’em said.

“As if this wasn’t enough, there were secret tunnels in the fortifications, some of them uncovered by the Israel Antiquities Authority archaeologists in previous excavations, whereby the city defenders could emerge into the moat and attack the enemy by surprise, and then disappear back into the city.”

“In the eras of knights’ battles, swords, arrows, and charging cavalry, the fortifications of Jerusalem were formidable and complex, comprising walls and elements to hold off large armies storming the city.”Dr. Amit Re’em, Jerusalem regional Director at the Israel Antiquities Authority

As for the handprints, they remain a mystery.

“Does it symbolize something? Does it point to a specific nearby element? Or is it just a local prank?” one of the archaeologists asked. “Time may tell.”

NAME THEM AFTER DESANTIS

Aggressive Frog-Eating Fish That Breathes Air Found in New Part of Florida

Story by Robyn White • 

An aggressive frog-eating fish that breathes air has been found in new part of Florida, raising concerns over the amount of damage the invasive species could do.


A stock photo shows a snakehead fish, an invasive species to the U.S.© 3D_generator/Getty

The goldline snakehead was unexpectedly discovered in a freshwater pond in Manatee County by scientists from the University of Florida's Museum of Natural History. This is the first time the fish has been found in the Gulf Coast region.

Snakeheads are freshwater fishes native to Asia and Africa. It is believed they came to America through aquarium dumpings and fish market releases.

The large-mouthed species is predatory and can even breathe air and live outside of water for around four days. While on land, it is also capable of traveling short distances.

The species is considered invasive as it has the potential to destroy and threaten native ecosystems. A snakehead can also carry as many as 50,000 eggs, meaning they have the potential to reproduce in vast quantities.

The species is also especially aggressive to other species, meaning they can wipe out large quantities of native fish.

This newly discovered population is not the only one to live in Florida—another known population has lived in Broward County since 2000.

Since they were introduced to the environment, they have slithered into waterways and spread to other areas like Miami-Dade and Palm Beach.

This latest discovery, which was detailed in a paper published in the journal Aquatic Invasions, was a surprise to scientists, considering the distance between this population, and ones that are already established.

For this reason, scientists do not believe they did this on their own. It is more likely due to human interference, the study said.

After the discovery, officials with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission removed almost 400 of the animals from the pond to prevent them doing more damage to the ecosystem, the Florida Museum reported.

The scientists also observed a surprising behavior in this particular population of snakeheads.

In 2020, scientists observed these snakeheads emerging onto the riverbank where some green tree frogs were active. The fish struck at the frogs and returned with its prey to the water. This is another example of how the fish can be a disturbance to the ecosystem.

Robert Robins, ichthyology collection manager at the Florida Museum of Natural history and co-author on the study, said in a press release: "Any reproducing non-indigenous species has the potential for deleterious effects on the environment to which it has been introduced. Most never become invasive, but some do."

So far, there is no evidence that the snakeheads spread any further from this pond but more research is needed to ensure this.

Why British homes are at risk from ‘Trojan Horse’ smart devices

Matthew Field
Tue, 24 January 2023 

A Chinese flag hangs near a Hikvision security camera outside of a shop in Beijing, Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2019. The United States is blacklisting a group of Chinese tech companies that develop facial recognition and other artificial intelligence technology that the U.S. says is being used to repress China's Muslim minority groups. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) 

Across the US, websites began to stutter, stall and go offline. Error messages showing “404 page not found” popped up across popular sites including Reddit and Twitter as they went down.

In the largest internet blackout of its kind, the US web found itself under sustained attack by a vast “botnet”, which fired millions of requests per second at internet servers until they collapsed under the strain.

The cyber attack was particularly unusual. An army of hackers were not behind the botnet; rather it was around 600,000 hacked home internet devices, such as routers and security cameras, that were spamming the web. Even digital water pumps and ovens were used to overwhelm websites.


Known as Mirai, the virus hijacked the growing network of smart gadgets in the 2016 cyber attack.

The incident was one of the first examples of so-called “Internet of Things” (IoT) devices being weaponised, prompting a wave of concern about the security of these devices and their possible misuse.

Now, fears are growing that IoT technology could pose another previously overlooked security risk: as “Trojan horse” spying devices.

Alarm is being raised about the possibility of the newly muscular Chinese state harnessing the potential of the vast pools of data collected by internet connected devices ranging from cars to smart metres.

“The most game-changing advantage of technology is that it enables the accumulation of massive amounts of data,” Charlie Parton, a former British diplomat serving in China wrote in a report on the technology published this week.

“The [Chinese Communist Party] views data as a strategic resource. When processed and aggregated, data can support its interests across military, economic, political, cultural and other domains.”

Concerns are rising as manufacturers increasingly make devices - ranging from your car to your fridge - that are connected to the internet by default. The push to make everything “smart” is partly driven by a desire to keep people spending on newer, shinier gadgets that promise to talk to each other and help people live like the Jettsons.

Many of these gadgets are gathering vast quantities of data, from petabytes of security camera footage that is stored in internet databases to more mundane information on what is in your fridge that day.

Other devices, designed for industry, track the passage of goods across continents or monitor industrial machines to ensure they are still working. Electric charging infrastructure, critical to net zero, is increasingly connected to the internet.

TIANJIN, CHINA - MAY 20: People visit the Huawei booth during 5th World Intelligence Congress (WIC) at Tianjin Meijiang Conference and Exhibition Center on May 20, 2021 in Tianjin, China. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images) - 

Researchers are now raising questions over whether this vast array of IoT devices, evolving with little security oversight, poses a national security risk thanks to the potentially huge volumes of data scooped up. Smart gadgets, cameras and chips are largely manufactured in vast quantities within China. By oversight or by design, millions of IoT devices could have security flaws that create a risk to consumer data.

Jake Moore, global cybersecurity advisor at Eset Security, says devices could be “utilised by a hostile state such as China to influence, pressure or threaten an individual, company, or even an adversary”.

The vast majority of IoT devices are mundane in nature. They could monitor the contents of a fridge, the status of a washing machine or the location of a shipping container.

But others, including CCTV cameras, can connect to the wider internet, or even perform facial recognition functions. Smart doorbells with cameras attached or baby monitors that are connected to the web can also hoover up visual data. Vehicles are being fitted with devices that connect to the web too and can collect information on individuals’ movements.

Whether or not devices are intended as spying devices can be irrelevant. A report last year from the US Cybersecurity Infrastructure and Security Agency warned of a Chinese-made GPS tracker, fitted in millions of vehicles, came with a default password of “123456” that made it trivially easy for hackers to infiltrate.

After the Mirai botnet attack, one Chinese manufacturer recalled more than 4.5m security cameras that had an easy-to-guess default password.

Prof Alan Woodward, a cyber security expert at the University of Surrey, says: “The bottom line is that any networked IoT device can form part of an attack surface. China has become the de facto source for such devices because they are built to a very attractive price point.

“The trouble is you tend to get what you pay for: security is an afterthought, if it’s a thought at all.”

The British Government has started to wake up to the potential threats of these cheap and cheerful internet-connected gadgets.

Last year Parliament passed the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act, which forces makers of smartphones, TVs, speakers and routers to meet minimum cyber security standards and tell customers at the time of purchase when their new items will stop receiving security software updates.

The Government departments have also been ordered to strip out security cameras made by Chinese companies Hikvision and Dahua. The cameras notoriously caught snapshots of former Health Secretary Matt Hancock embracing an aide in his office, which later leaked to the press.

A Hikvision camera caught Mat Hancock kissing his aide at his Whitehall office

Hikvision has called concerns about its technology “unsubstantiated” and a “knee jerk reaction”.

There are concerns that China’s dominance of technology runs deeper than just consumer gadgets.

Ministers previously ordered telecoms companies to strip technology made by China’s Huawei from mobile and broadband networks by 2027, amid concerns it represented a national security risk, something the company always denied.

Three Chinese companies, Quectel, Fibocom and China Mobile, make up roughly half of global shipments of IoT cellular modules, according to data from Counterpoint Research. While these historically only processed tiny packets of data over 2G networks, increasingly they are picking up and transmitting more information over 4G and 5G mobile networks.

The proliferation of these IoT modules means that bugs or backdoors, whether left in by design or by accident, are a risk. Concerns have only mounted after a concealed tracking device was found in a government car, believed to have been planted in a part imported from China, the i reported.

Under Chinese law, the CCP can compel companies to aid intelligence gathering operations and provide customer data.

Parton has gone as far as to call for a ban on the sale and installation of new Chinese IOT kits that connect to cellular networks.

Parton, the former diplomat, who now works for the consultancy OODA, writes in a report sent to government officials: “[Chinese Communist Party] policy documents show the strategic importance of IOT technology to the party.

“In line with CCP industrial policy to promote global champions in new industries, IOT companies have benefited from the creation of a domestic market which excludes international competition.”

For now, the main risk presented by IOT technology appears to be weak security practices and cheap, hackable gadgets. But as China’s dominance continues to grow, a more strategic threat could be emerging.

A government spokesman said: “We are legislating to protect consumers' connected devices, such as smartphones, TVs, speakers and routers, through new laws to strengthen their privacy and security.”

"It will ban sales in the UK of smart devices with poor cyber security and get rid of easy-to-guess passwords which are often included as standard with consumer tech."

Nadhim Zahawi tax row: What did the Tory MP do?


Nuray Bulbul
Wed, 25 January 2023 

Labour called Nadhim Zahawi’s position ‘untenable’ (Victoria Jones / PA Wire)

Despite calls for his resignation by the Labour Party and an investigation by the Prime Minister, following the revelation of data surrounding a multi-million pound tax battle, Nadhim Zahawi is adamant he will continue as chairman of the Conservative Party.

While Zahawi was chancellor, he paid a penalty to HMRC over unpaid tax, and described the error as “careless and not deliberate”.

Penalties are applied if someone does not pay the correct tax at the right time.

Labour is pleading with Rishi Sunak to “come clean” about his knowledge of the deal and called Zahawi’s position “untenable”.

Who is Nadhim Zahawi?

Nadhim Zahawi, a former child refugee who left Iraq with his parents in the 1970s, is the co-founder of the prosperous online polling company YouGov.

After winning the 2010 election for the Conservative Party's Stratford-on-Avon seat, he is currently regarded as one of the wealthiest members of the House of Commons.

He became well-known for his work as the pandemic's vaccines minister, and he eventually held the position of education secretary.

Following Sunak's resignation, he became chancellor under Boris Johnson from July to September 2022.

He was appointed chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, minister for equalities, and minister for intergovernmental relations before Liz Truss took over as prime minister.

Rishi Sunak will come under fresh pressure over Nadhim Zahawi as he resists firing the Tory Party chairman

What’s the Zahawi tax row about?

After it was revealed that the former chancellor, who still attends the cabinet, agreed to pay millions to HMRC in December following a settlement with the tax agency, he has been extensively questioned in Parliament and the media in recent days.

The Guardian reported Zahawi agreed to pay a penalty of £5m to HMRC as part of a seven-figure settlement over his tax affairs.

A source familiar with the payment told the paper a penalty was triggered as a result of a non-payment of capital gains tax due after the sale of shares in YouGov, the polling company Zahawi co-founded in 2018. He could have been subject to larger penalties had he not reached a settlement towards the end of last year, the source claimed.

Based on the capital gains tax incurred by the selling of successive tranches of shares in YouGov, valued at more than £20 million, which resulted in transfers of money to Zahawi, experts estimate the tax owed was around £3.7 million.

According to reports, HMRC added a 30 per cent penalty to the £3.7 million, making the total amount owed £4.8 million. This is thought to have increased the final payment to more than £5m when combined with interest fees that HMRC also assesses on taxes owing.

However, Zahawi’s spokeperson has denied these claims.

In reference to the total amount paid to HMRC, the spokesperson said: “Nadhim Zahawi does not recognise this amount… As he has previously stated, his taxes are properly declared and paid in the UK.”

The BBC reported the dispute was resolved between July and September last year.

Zahawi was in charge of the UK’s tax system in his previous role as chancellor, during which time he said he made great efforts to ensure that taxes are paid in full and on schedule.
How does HMRC deal with wealthy taxpayers?

HMRC defines wealthy people as having incomes of £200,000 or more.

The interactions that very affluent persons and their agents have with HMRC differ noticeably from those of regular taxpayers or accountants, who frequently encounter lengthy waiting times via understaffed helplines. Mail backlogs have also made it difficult for people to understand if they need to file a self-assessment return or resolve tax disputes.

Zahawi's representative received a fast-track path with a direct case manager within HMRC, as is typical for other rich individuals. It is believed that this manager is a member of the Wealthy Team at HMRC.

How have the Tories reacted?

The Conservative Party demanded an investigation earlier this week to determine whether Zahawi violated the ministerial code or deceived the public about his tax troubles.

On BBC Radio 4 last week, Michael Gove defended Zahawi, saying: “My firm understanding is HMRC have no quibble with Nadhim. He’s paid everything that he should, and people paying their taxes, that’s not a story – people not paying their taxes, yeah that is a problem.”

Last week, Labour Party Chair Anneliese Dodds wrote to Sunak stating that, if Conservative Party Chair Zahawi does not adequately explain why he paid millions of pounds in tax to HMRC, then there should be an enquiry.

This week, the Prime Minister has opened an investigation into whether Zahawi breached the ministerial code - which Zahawi has welcomed and says he looks forward to “explaining the facts”.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

BNP Paribas Frankfurt office searched in cum-ex probe

Wed, 25 January 2023 



BERLIN (Reuters) -BNP Paribas said on Wednesday that prosecutors were searching its Frankfurt premises as part of an long-running investigation into a multibillion-euro tax fraud scheme known as "cum-ex" and that it was cooperating fully.

German prosecutors said they have been conducting a search at a banking institution in Frankfurt since Tuesday in relation to cum-ex, without naming the bank.

"Like we already have done since the beginning of the investigation in 2017, we continue to fully cooperate with the public prosecutor according to legal requirements," a spokesperson for the bank said.

The prosecutors said their investigation also involved searches of private residences in three German states and is focused on 58 suspects who were or are professionally active for the bank.

The measure is aimed at finding relevant emails and written correspondence, they said.

Around 130 police officers, public prosecutors and tax investigators are involved, they said.

The cum-ex trading scheme, which flourished after the 2008 credit crisis, involved the rapid dealing of company shares around dividend payout days, blurring stock ownership and allowing multiple parties to claim rebates.

The scandal has blighted German political and financial circles, with lawmakers claiming it has cost taxpayers billions of euros.

A large number of banks have been searched by prosecutors investigating possible wrongdoing, with German branches of Barclays, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley among those raided in recent months.

Government officials say the investigation involves some 100 banks on four continents and at least 1,000 suspects.

(Reporting by Marta Orosz; writing by Miranda Murray; editing by Madeline Chambers, Alexandra Hudson and Jason Neely)