Women deal with added burdens of Turkey's quake disaster

Fulya OZERKAN
Tue, March 7, 2023


The shelves of the makeshift clinic -- little more than an orange storage container -- offer everything women are too shy to ask for on the streets of Turkey's quake zone.

From underwear to period and contraception products, doctor Meltem Gunbegi reconnects women with the basics they feel uncomfortable discussing in the crowds of mass aid distribution centres.

She also offers a receptive ear, helping the women of southern Turkey's destroyed city of Antakya to start processing the grief and death they have been subjected to in the past month.

The toll from the 7.8-magnitude earthquake now stands at more than 46,000 in Turkey and at nearly 6,000 in Syria, making it one of the world's 10 deadliest of the past 100 years.

A top United Nations official said on Tuesday that the damage alone amounted to more than $100 billion, with extra money needed for recovery costs.

"Many are shy when it comes to asking for basics, such as bras, wax bands and tweezers, so they come and visit our container," said the 33-year-old doctor.

More women are having genital issues because of poor hygiene conditions in the tent cities set up across the 11 quake-hit provinces, Gunbegi said.

But she also sees women who are clearly still in shock and too traumatised to start thinking about their own bodies -- even when they are pregnant.

"They experienced a lot of death, a lot of destruction," said the doctor. "They really don't seem to think about the baby. They are in a state of trauma."

Semire Duman, 51, an earthquake survivor who has been living in a tent for a month, said women have a lot of needs.

"We have no shower, no toilet, no water, nothing," she told AFP, and then almost whispering: "We don't have underwear."

Gazele Sumer, 57, complained of lack of privacy in tents.

"We are six people in one tent," she said. "We sit here, we eat there, we sleep here," she added.

- 'Insecure' -

Selver Buyukkeles, an earthquake survivor who works with the Mor (Purple) Solidarity, said women bore the brunt of daily burdens -- such as doing chores and taking care of family -- even before the February 6 quake.

Now, they are trying to do the same while dealing with personal pain and an acute sense of insecurity that comes with life out on the streets.

"Women queue to get food at distribution centres. They cook, they take care of the children and the elderly. They do the dishes. They do the laundry," the 28-year-old said.

"Women feel responsible for their family's situation. They fear a new earthquake and the communal life in tents makes them insecure," she said.

At this stage, activists and doctors interviewed by AFP have not observed more cases of domestic violence or abuse, despite Turkey's poor record on the issue.

Fidan Ataselim, secretary general of the We Will Stop Femicide Platform, has called for "safe shelters" and "prevention centres" to be set up for women in damaged regions.

We Will Stop Femicide publicises the murder and abuse of women in the mostly Muslim but officially secular state.

In 2022, at least 327 women were killed and 793 injured, according to data compiled by the platform.

- 'Safe zone' -

Back at Antakya's Dostluk (Friendship) park, not far from Gunbegi's makeshift clinic, volunteers work in shifts making sure that some 200 women sheltering in dozens of tents are safe.

Others are keeping vigil outside toilets and shower cabins.

"Safe zone for women and LGBT+ here," proclaim posters in Turkish and Arabic.

The Arabic is a nod to the millions of refugees and migrants who have been living across stretches of southern Turkey since the start of the civil war in neighbouring Syria 12 years ago.

"We have a security system for both women and LGBT+, who are more vulnerable in such disasters," said Aslihan Keles, 23, one of the volunteers in the park.

Turkish women often join marches on March 8 -- the official International Women's Day -- demanding better lives and protection against domestic violence.

But this year, things are different in the quake zone, Keles said.

"Here, there is an emergency," she said. "This time, we are in field -- but for a very good cause."

fo/zak/ea

As Turkey's earthquake death toll grows, so does anger at government



Elif Ince and Leila Sackur
Sat, March 4, 2023 

GAZİANTEP, Turkey — The government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been accused of contributing to the devastation caused by last month’s earthquakes by undermining long-established construction safeguards, which allegedly helped to pave the way for the disaster that unfolded.

The death toll in the massive Feb. 6 earthquakes stands at more than 45,000, according to Turkey’s disaster management agency, making it the worst national disaster in a century. Some 214,000 buildings containing 608,000 apartments either collapsed or suffered heavy damage, Erdogan said, as quoted by the state-run Anadolu news agency.

The tragedy has brought to light decades-old urbanistic mismanagement and placed the ruling AK Party under intense pressure.

“The most important reason why this disaster caused such great destruction is the government not showing the will to bring the fragile building stock up to safety standards,” said Gencay Serter, the president of the Chamber of Urban Planners, a powerful association that has clashed with Erdogan and the AK Party in the past.

NURDAGI, TURKEY - FEBRUARY 13: A man walks past a destroyed building on February 13, 2023 in Nurdagi, Turkey. A 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit near Gaziantep, Turkey, in the early hours of Monday, followed by another 7.5-magnitude tremor just after midday. The quakes caused widespread destruction in southern Turkey and northern Syria and has killed more than 30,000 people.

 (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images) 

While the Ministry of Justice has arrested more than 230 people —mostly contractors — in connection with the building collapses, many have focused and cast the blame on existing building regulations. Of particular note is a 2018 “amnesty” law legalizing hundreds of thousands of structures across the country that did not have planning permission or had disregarded building codes, including earthquake safety measures.

Under the amnesty law, the owner of an unauthorized construction could just pay a fee and have it legalized without extensive inspection. In other words, according to critics, the new regulation allowed builders to skirt building codes while the government collected fees and fines.

The government collected 23 billion Turkish lira (about $4 billion at the time) after the 2018 legislation went into effect, Murat Kurum, the minister of environment, urbanization and climate change, told parliamentarians in 2019.

“The amnesty is murder,” the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects said in a 2021 statement. “It should be assumed that all buildings legalized under this amnesty have not received any engineering services, and should be inspected,” the organization added.

Professional chambers, which defend the interests of some 650,000 engineers, architects and urban planners, play an important role in Turkey, with the Constitution stating that the organizations “function as public institutions” in order to “protect professional discipline and ethics.”

Also in 2021, a parliamentary report found that close to 8 million buildings constructed before the year 2000 were very vulnerable to earthquakes.

Erdogan, who cultivates a pro-business reputation, campaigned on the amnesty legislation.

At an election rally in 2019 in Hatay, one of the cities that suffered the most damage in the earthquakes, he said, “We built 8,000 residential projects and solved the problems of 205,000 Hatay residents with the amnesty,” a reference to the amnesty granted to unlicensed buildings.

According to Kurum, more than 7 million units were legalized thanks to the amnesty.

Neither Turkey’s Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change nor Erdogan’s office responded to requests for comment on this story. On Feb. 8, during a speech in Hatay, Erdogan said it was “not possible to be prepared for a disaster this big.”
Building boom

Turkey’s central government and local municipalities both play a role in shaping cities. The reason the ruling AK Party has come under so much criticism is that it holds the most seats in Parliament and can pass critical legislation such as the amnesty. It also controls the public housing authority, which carries out urban development projects.

Local municipalities, some run by the ruling party and some by the opposition, also play a major role, as they are responsible for creating zoning plans that determine building rights, such as deciding which areas are open for construction and imposing floor area caps and height limits. Additionally, municipalities are responsible for inspecting construction projects in their districts and issuing permits if they are up to code.

Laws like the 2018 amnesty fueled the building boom, giving developers throughout the country hope that the government would support the sector, experts say.

“Turkey’s economic growth since the late 2000s has relied heavily on construction,” said Bengi Akbulut, associate professor of geography, planning and environment at Concordia University in Montreal.

“This is reflected in the growth rate of the construction sector between 2002-2014, which has exceeded the rate of GDP growth, and even doubled it at times,” added Akbulut, who has written widely about Turkey’s economy and government.

Massive development projects, wide highways, bridges and airports have been showpieces of the AK Party, advertised during rallies and covered by pro-government media.

Construction workers are seen at the top of a building under construction during their weekend shifts in Ankara on April 22, 2018. Turkey prepares to go to the polls for the early presidential and parliamentary elections on June 24. ( Altan Gocher / NurPhoto via Getty Images file)

Construction peaked after the introduction of another much-debated law in 2012, which addressed the transformation of areas at risk from natural disasters. While the government promised to use the legislation to rebuild unsafe buildings, the new regulations granted the government expanded powers to designate entire neighborhoods as “at risk” and forcefully seize property through eminent domain.

Renewing old and unsafe building stock has been one of AK Party’s most well-known pledges over the years. But, despite the expanded powers granted by the 2012 law, critics like Gencay Serter, from the Chamber of Urban Planners, say authorities did not focus on rebuilding older structures to make them earthquake-safe and instead gave priority to new construction.

Also, allegations of widespread corruption that undermine building safety have long dogged the construction sector in Turkey.

Building regulations, enforced at a local level, have often not been followed because of “cozy relationships between construction firms and the government,” according to Howard Eissenstat, an associate professor of Middle East history at St. Lawrence University in New York.

Another factor that contributed to a lack of proper supervision was a building inspection system put into place in 2011 and in force until 2019, according to the Union of Chambers of Turkish Engineers and Architects. Under this system, contractors could choose any inspection company they wanted and pay the inspectors themselves.

This “led to some illegality in the system,” said Mustafa Erdik, a professor in the department of earthquake engineering at Istanbul’s Bogazici University.

The law was revised in 2019 so that the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change began assigning inspectors to contractors. Announcing the revision, the ministry wrote the most important goal was to eliminate “shortcomings in inspections” caused by “illegal commercial ties established between building contractors and inspection companies,“ something “all actors agreed was the biggest problem of the system.”

Zoning changes made by central or local government authorities were also an issue.

“Areas that were not safe for construction, such as river beds and other unstable areas, underwent zoning changes and were opened up for construction,” said Serter.

Over the years, the Chamber of Architects and the Chamber of Urban Planners have sued the government many times objecting to the safety of construction projects. They have won in some of the cases, delaying projects and angering Erdogan himself.

“These chambers, their names are architects, engineers,” Erdogan said in 2016. “But their goal is to demolish, not to build.”

Two outspoken critics of the government’s construction policies, architect Mucella Yapici and urban planner Tayfun Kahraman, have been jailed since April over their involvement in the Gezi park protests, which were sparked by the government’s plan to build a shopping mall in what is now a park in Istanbul.

Yapici, a vocal proponent of rigorous earthquake proof standards, asked her lawyers to send a tweet from her account on Saturday.

“After the search and rescue is over, prosecutors and experts must come to each wreck,” Yapici wrote. “Concrete/iron etc. samples must be taken as evidence from the wreckage!”

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

‘Erdogan is responsible’ – resignation calls grow after Turkey earthquake


Nataliya Vasilyeva
Sat, March 4, 2023 

Recep Tayyip Erdogan (foreground) has had to make an unusual admission of guilt while visiting areas affected by the earthquake - Murat Cetinmuhurda/Reuters

As residents of Turkey’s once prosperous south east waited for help amid the rubble of their own homes in the immediate aftermath of last month’s horrific earthquake, there was one question that kept coming up: “Where is the government?”

The disaster on Feb 6 killed nearly 45,000 in Turkey alone, left millions homeless and wiped out buildings across an area almost as large as Germany.

In the days and weeks that followed, fury at the government’s slow pace of assistance and the lack of properly enforced building regulations has spread well beyond the earthquake zone and increasingly focused on the country’s strongman leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Last weekend, fans of the two country’s two major football clubs – including the president’s favourite team – chanted “Erdogan resign!” and “lies, lies, lies” at games in Istanbul. Hundreds of soft toys were thrown onto the pitch for disaster victims at one match.

The two teams have since been ordered to play to empty stands, but the scale of the anger in the country is clear.

With elections due in May, Mr Erdogan is clearly worried.

This week, while visiting affected areas in the city of Adiyaman, the Turkish president hugged children and stopped politely to listen to tearful old ladies. He even made an unusual admission of guilt by asking the locals for “helallik”, an Islamic term loosely meaning “to forgive and forget”.

Last month’s horrific earthquake has led to anger in the aftermath at the government’s slow pace of assistance - Orhan Cicek/Anadolu/Getty

During the 20 years he has ruled Turkey as president and prime minister, Mr Erdogan has built an image of himself as a hands-on strongman with a broad mandate to fix the country, regardless of what the international community thinks.

But the earthquake has exposed his government’s fatal failings, and with many seeking to hold him personally culpable, he is facing the most serious challenge to his grip on Turkey yet.

“Erdogan is responsible for this disaster because he wanted to be responsible for everything in this country,” said Sera Kadigil, an Istanbul lawmaker from the Workers’ Party of Turkey.

“He told us: I will be in charge of everything, just give me power. Now you see the results.”

Ms Kadigil has been living in the badly affected region of Hatay for over 20 days, coordinating volunteer efforts seeing the devastation first hand.

Speaking by phone from Antakya, she said the government response had been chaotic and insisted the only option was for Mr Erdogan to either resign or be beaten at the ballot box.

“We spent 20 years with this person. We don’t have any patience. We need to put our cities back on their feet,” she said.

“We have to change this system, we have to replace Erdogan. This is the most urgent task for us right now.”

She is not alone: every prominent opposition politician has sought to pin the disaster on Mr Erdogan personally.

This week, the Workers’ Party of Turkey filed a criminal complaint with the Prosecutor General’s Office, seeking charges on 14 different counts, including murder against 24 top officials, including the Turkish president.

Former interior minister Meral Aksener (pictured) is backing Mansur Yavas, mayor of the capital Ankara, as an opposition candidate - AP

“The Turkish public is devastated and in shock because there’s a sense that the system is crumbling but there is no guarantee that it can be replaced by anything else,” Asli Aydintasbas, a visiting fellow at Brookings Institution, told The Telegraph.

“Erdogan’s Islamist-nationalist coalition, its hyper-centralised decision-making system, autocratic powers – all of that is no longer delivering for the Turkish public.”

But converting that widespread dissatisfaction and disillusionment into an electoral defeat for Mr Erdogan and his AKP party remains a huge task, particularly given the fractured state of what is left of Turkey’s opposition.

Even before the earthquake, various political groups mounted a rare campaign to unite in the face of the upcoming presidential elections on May 14, which are widely seen as a make-or-break moment for Mr Erdogan.

The so-called Table of Six brings together the leaders of six opposition parties – from one accused of pushing a xenophobic agenda to a party standing up for the marginalised Kurdish minority.

But they have been unable to agree on a joint candidate to challenge Mr Erdogan at the polls.

Kemal Kilicdaroglu is seen as a safe choice as opposition candidate, despite criticism that he lacks the charisma needed to rally the country behind him - Adem Altan/AFP/Getty

The front-runner had been Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the Republican People’s Party. An elderly, old-time party functionary, he is seen as a safe choice, despite criticism that he lacks the charisma needed to rally the country behind him.

On Friday, however, one of the other candidates, former interior minister Meral Aksener, unexpectedly refused to back him, saying a popular regional leader such Mansur Yavas, mayor of the capital Ankara, would be a better choice.

Ekrem Imamoglu, the charismatic mayor of Istanbul, who has a strong following across the country, has been officially barred from running after a Turkish court convicted him in December of insulting public officials.

“The problems that the opposition faces – in terms of uninspiring candidates and difficulty of pulling the Table of Six together ideologically – were always there,” said Ms Aydintasbas of Brookings.

On Saturday, Mr Erdogan dismissed the threat posed by the opposition.

"We have already set our goal," he said. "Whatever they do, we continue to work on our plan, on our road map."

With vast swathes of the country still in ruins, some have suggested it would be prudent to push the election back, something Mr Erdogan has vowed not to do.

Opposition hopeful Mr Kilicdaroglu this week agreed, saying Turkey could not lose any more time with Mr Erdogan and his party in power.

“We don’t have a year, not even a day to give you,” he said. “We can’t endure any more of your incompetence.”

Aynur Tekin has contributed to this report

Walmart, Target, Kroger, and more major retailers go head-to-head in an escalating 'labor hoarding' war over hourly employees

Dominick Reuter
Sat, March 4, 2023 

Walmart increasing its minimum wage to $14 per hour was followed by an avalanche of similar moves from other retailers.

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

As companies of all stripes tighten their budgets, retailers are still spending big on hourly workers.


Big hourly wage increases of the past three years are here to stay, and more are in the works.


Kroger is the latest to join other major brands like Walmart and Target in the "labor hoarding" war.

There's a quiet war being waged among America's largest retailers, and the winner might be the previously under-appreciated hourly worker.

Slower sales growth, rising interest rates, and increased uncertainty are compelling companies of all stripes to tighten their operations and hunt for cost savings.

Tech employers have shed more than 120,000 workers this year alone – per a count maintained by Layoffs.fyi – in order to boost profitability and satisfy investors, but the word coming out of retail C-suites this past earning season paints a strikingly different picture.

Retail executives are saying that the substantial investment in their front-line workforce of recent years is here to stay, and that any cost savings will have to be found elsewhere. Many are even doubling down with billions of dollars in commitments to further improve compensation, extending the ongoing trend of "labor hoarding" in the industry.

Labor hoarding is when an employer keeps workers they might otherwise cut in a downturn, since hiring and training replacements could lead to missed opportunity or market share when things start to improve.

And that's exactly what's happening here.

Supermarket giant Kroger announced Thursday it would spend $770 million on raising wages in 2023 after having previously spent $1.9 billion on hikes since 2018. CEO Rodney Mullen pointed out that the company's average hourly rate is now more than $18 following a 6% increase in 2022.

Costco, which came into the pandemic era already paying industry-leading wages, delivered three off-cycle wage increases in the past 15 months, CFO Richard Galanti said during that company's earnings call, also on Thursday.

"Competitive compensation continues to be table stakes," Best Buy CEO Corrie Barry said Thursday, adding that the electronics giant has raised hourly pay roughly 25% over the past three years. She too gave no suggestion that any of those costs would be rolled back as demand falls for expensive TVs and other high-tech products.

Indeed, Barry spoke about the key role front-line teams play in the success of the company.

"Sometimes I want very rapid fulfillment of my product — I want to pick up in store and have the confidence of grabbing that product. Sometimes I want a deeper, more immersive experience," she said of the brand's shoppers. "It's why we are investing more in our front line associates who are the ones who are right there, meeting the customer in the moment."

These companies have plenty of incentive to hoard all the labor they can, as the battle over labor translates directly to the larger war for market share.

"Customers also decide where to shop based on the freshness of product and the friendliness of associates. And that's part of the overall value equation." Kroger's Mullen said. "I really think it's important for you to look at all those together."

Kroger, Costco, and Best Buy join a list that previously included Walmart, Target, Home Depot, and Lowe's, who have expressed similar sentiments this earnings season.

In January Walmart announced it would increase its minimum wage from $12 to $14 per hour, bringing the US average hourly wage up to $17.50.

Then in February, Home Depot said it will spend $1 billion to increase wages for hourly workers, bringing its starting wage to at least $15 an hour nationwide. The company said it would pay commensurate raises to current employees.

Lowe's followed this week, reporting that employee compensation increased by $3 billion since 2018, and would grow by another $1 billion over the next three years.

And while Target did not announce a pay hike, the company said cuts to "the best team in retail" were off limits as the company hunts for $2 billion to $3 billion in operations cost savings over the next several years.

With two job openings per unemployed worker, staffing the front lines has become a zero-sum game for retailers who say they've learned hard lessons about how sales suffer when stores are short-handed.

To be sure, the pay is still comparatively low, the work often physically demanding, and the hours inconsistent, but these developments reflect a major change in the way retail employers think about their workforces.

It's not yet clear which company will get the edge in this battle, but it's workers who are poised to win in any case.

Kroger to spend $770 million more on employee pay and benefits this year amid ‘labor hoarding’ trend


Lauren Justice—Bloomberg via Getty Images

Steve Mollman
Fri, March 3, 2023 

Last month we learned that Kroger has been texting and emailing former employees who had quit their jobs to ask them to come on back. Now the supermarket giant says it will spend $770 million more this year to raise hourly wages and improve health-care benefits for its workers.

Kroger made the announcement Thursday after surprising Wall Street with strong fourth-quarter results, partly a result of streamlining its supply chain to reduce costs.

Kroger isn’t the only retailer upping wages and benefits. Faced with the lowest unemployment rate in more than 50 years, Walmart, Home Depot, and others are also paying workers more.

The pay boosts are part of the “labor hoarding" trend, in which companies, afraid they’ll be unable to fill positions if workers leave, try harder to keep them.

And companies have reasons to be fearful. The latest jobs report showed the retail sector adding about 30,000 jobs in January. Nonfarm payrolls overall increased by 517,000, crushing the market estimate of 187,000, and wages posted solid gains as well. The leisure and hospitality sector alone added 128,000 jobs.

In other words, workers stocking shelves or helping customers in a Kroger or Home Depot have plenty of options if they decide to leave—and companies know it.

Home Depot said last month it’s spending $1 billion on wage increases for workers in North America. Walmart, the nation’s largest private employer, said in January it would raise its minimum wage for store employees from $12 to $14 an hour.

Of course, fears of a looming recession remain; interest rates and credit card debt in the U.S. are rising while savings dwindle amid high inflation; and many Americans are struggling to make their car payments. Headlines about mass layoffs at big-name firms, meanwhile, have been inescapable in recent months.

Those layoffs, however, have often been concentrated in the tech industry, where many companies over-hired to meet surging demand for their products and services during the pandemic. In January Amazon began firing 18,000 people, Microsoft let go of 10,000, and Google parent Alphabet slashed 12,000 jobs.

More broadly, “We are still in a jobs market where labor demand far outpaces supply, with 3 million fewer workers than before the pandemic,” Becky Frankiewicz, president of ManpowerGroup, the world’s third-largest staffing firm, told Fortune last month. “Pandemic paranoia has set in with employers who remember how hard it was to bring back workers.”

This story was originally featured on Fortune.com

Opinion

Fox News lied about election fraud. Why didn't Trump Nation voters notice – or care?

Mike Kelly
Sun, March 5, 2023

Six years ago, as Donald Trump was settling into the White House, my editor told me to take a road trip.

Get away from the “Blue State” bubble of New Jersey and New York, he said. Drive out to the farms of Pennsylvania, the coal mines of West Virginia, the rusty steel mills of Ohio. Talk to Trump supporters. Find out what the mainstream media missed.

So began my trek into what I have come to describe as “Trump Nation.”

That first journey to document Trump’s remarkable rise led to other trips in each of the years of the Trump presidency — all culminating in the historically consequential 2020 election.

It turns out that America’s media — including me — missed plenty. America was clearly hurting in places like the faded steel town of Mingo Junction, Ohio, where the loss of jobs that were sent overseas turned a once-bustling community of white and Black residents into an empty hulk. Or Keyser, West Virginia, where far too many young people struggled with opioid addiction and a lack of health care. Or Hazleton, Pennsylvania, where the older ethnic white families wondered how they will get along with new Dominican immigrants. Or Pottsville, Pennsylvania, where generations of coal miners lamented the loss of their jobs amid the push for “clean energy.”

In some ways, it was a tragedy that cut across class, ethnic, religious and racial lines. And yet, distinct lines emerged.

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Trump voters told me they resented being called "deplorables" by Hillary Clinton. They said they felt that "coastal elites" looked down at their religious faith, their desire to own guns, their feeling that America was no longer "great." Those trips I took were a window into middle-class grievance — a loss of hope in the American Dream.

But something else emerged, too. These varied narratives and the enthusiastic Trump supporters were connected by a common thread: Fox News.
A right-facing Bible

Across Trump Nation, Fox News had become a Bible of sorts — a cable TV message board in an echo chamber that hungered for “news” that a once-great nation was in decline or at least being forced to change in ways that threatened old-fashioned values.

Every coffee shop seemed to have a TV tuned to Fox News. Every bar. Every motel lobby. Every gym.

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The cable network had become a unifying voice, a cultural hub that brought together the stories that gave credence to an increasing belief among Trump supporters that America’s well-educated progressives were taking over the nation and pushing an agenda that demeaned religion, hard work and traditional families while promoting gender equality, high taxes, lax immigration rules and an ever-expanding welfare state geared to non-whites.

But now we know that voice — that echo chamber — was filled with lies.

From left, Tucker Carlson, host of "Tucker Carlson Tonight," Laura Ingraham, host of "The Ingraham Angle," and Sean Hannity, host of "Hannity" on Fox News.

Fox News' all-star lineup of anchors, including the hugely popular and influential weeknight triad of Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, all promoted the false belief that massive voter fraud propelled Democrat Joe Biden to victory over Trump in the 2020 presidential election.

Such was their on-air message, anyway. In private, Carlson, Hannity and Ingraham harbored all sorts of doubts that the election fraud story was true. They were joined by no less than Fox Chairman Rupert Murdoch.

And yet, all these doubts were kept private. Fox News' executives feared that the Trump Nation audience of viewers would bolt for more conservative networks if Fox News expressed serious doubts about election fraud. In other words, Fox News promoted lies to keep high TV ratings and profits.

Fox News chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch on Nov. 1, 2017, in New York City.

Indeed, while many Fox News stars felt that Trump was wrong and reckless to keep telling the false story of election fraud, they continued to essentially act on camera as cheerleaders for this comedy of errors.

And even when some Fox News journalists raised concerns about the truthfulness of Trump’s claims, the network’s executives and anchors did not speak up for the truth. The goal seemed to be to keep the profits rolling in.

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Promoting lies of election fraud over facts

Consider what took place when Fox News White House correspondent Jacqui Heinrich fact-checked one of Trump’s claims of election fraud and found that the former president was circulating lies. Instead of supporting Heinrich’s dogged research — or at least reporting it — Tucker Carlson sent a text message to his partner-in-lying, Sean Hannity.

“Please get her fired,” Carlson wrote to Hannity. “Seriously … what the f**k? I’m actually shocked … It needs to stop immediately, like tonight. It’s measurably hurting the company. The stock price is down. Not a joke.”

Fox News host Tucker Carlson

Sadly, it wasn’t a joke. Heinrich was not fired. But her tweet reporting her fact-checking was deleted. Simply put: Fox News promoted the false tales of election fraud so its audience of Trump supporters would not get upset and the stock price would not plummet.

Later, when Fox News host Neil Cavuto cut away from a Trump White House press briefing where election falsehoods and misinformation were being promoted, Fox News leaders were told such a move presented a “brand threat.”

Adding to the mystery is the fact that some Fox News executives complained behind the scenes about the promotion of falsehoods.

Fox News President Jay Wallace said “the North Koreans” did a “more nuanced show” than then-host Lou Dobbs, who barely disguised his support for Trump. Jerry Andrews, the executive producer of “Justice with Judge Jeanine,” referred to host and former Westchester County Prosecutor Jeanine Pirro, another Trump supporter, as “nuts.”

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In page after page of court filings, released as part of a lawsuit in which a firm that manufactures computerized voting machines accused Fox News of defamation, the network’s most famous players seemed intent on lying to keep its audience — and revenues. This wasn’t journalism. It was consumer fraud at its worst. The desire for money trumped truth.

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Where's the correction?

If Ford or General Motors lied about the brakes in their cars to bolster profits or stock prices, the federal government would intervene with all sorts of regulatory complaints, perhaps even criminal charges. But because Fox News calls itself a journalistic enterprise, the best that can be done is a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit by Dominion Voting Systems. The lawsuit’s trial is expected to begin next month in a state court in Delaware.

Amid the pressure of deadlines and our own human foibles, journalists make mistakes — sometimes too often. We mess up the math on budget reports. We misspell names of criminals, star athletes — even historical figures. We predict good weather, then realize a hurricane is looming. We sometimes offer misguided context. Certainly, this columnist is guilty of his share of miscues over the years.

But credible news organizations correct themselves.

Fox News hasn’t taken such a step.

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Some members of Trump Nation regularly write to me when I offer any sort of criticism of their man. In recent months, I’ve taken to merely telling them to “stop watching Fox News.”

Some have done exactly that.

They’ve moved on. But many gravitated to even more misguided right-wing platforms such as Newsmax or Breitbart News Network, which traffic in all sorts of falsehoods about the 2020 election, not to mention the COVID-19 pandemic and the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

Welcome to Trump Nation.

Sadly, this is America.

Mike Kelly is an award-winning columnist for NorthJersey.com as well as the author of three critically acclaimed non-fiction books and a podcast and documentary film producer. Reach him at kellym@northjersey.com.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Fox News lied about 2020 election fraud. Will Trump voters care?

EXPLAINER-Biotech corn and soy widely used, consumers still wary of GM wheat

Fri, March 3, 2023
By Julie Ingwersen

CHICAGO, March 3 (Reuters) - Nearly all corn and soybean acres in the world's largest exporting countries are seeded with genetically modified varieties, but that is not the case for wheat, a crop grown primarily for human food.

Biotech varieties of corn and soy, used for animal feed, biofuels and ingredients like cooking oil, were introduced in 1996 and soon came to dominate plantings in the United States as well as Brazil and Argentina, the world's top suppliers.

But genetically modified wheat has never been grown for commercial purposes due to consumer fears that allergens or toxicities could emerge in a staple used worldwide for bread, pasta and pastries.

Now, growing concerns about a possible global food crisis being triggered by climate change and war in Ukraine may be chipping away at opposition.

Argentine biotech company Bioceres is shaking up the status quo by developing wheat genetically modified to better tolerate drought, positioning itself ahead of larger global companies that are still steering clear.

Brazil has become the second country in the world after Argentina to approve the cultivation of genetically modified wheat, after a request from a Bioceres partner.

Because wheat is traded in a global marketplace, the threat of trade disruptions due to GM fears can be significant, as U.S. and Canadian wheat growers know well.

Two decades ago, Monsanto Co was working to commercialize wheat bred to withstand treatments of its weed-killer Roundup, but the company halted that effort in 2004. International buyers had threatened to boycott U.S. wheat if the product was introduced to the marketplace. Monsanto was purchased by Bayer AG in 2018.

Monsanto's experimental wheat was supposed to have been destroyed or stored securely. However, small patches of Roundup-resistant wheat plants emerged years later in several U.S. states, including Oregon in 2013, Montana in 2014 and Washington in 2016 and 2019 as well as Canada's Alberta province in 2017.

The findings prompted importers, including Japan and South Korea, to suspend imports of North American wheat until they could confirm that no unapproved strains had entered commercial channels.

Attitudes toward genetically modified crops vary around the world. China, a top world buyer of soy and corn, allows GM crops in imported feed grains but only recently began to approve GM varieties for cultivation.

Germany, home to seed giants Bayer and BASF, imports GM soy. But domestic opposition to biotech crops is strong enough that these companies conduct their crop research abroad.

Australia grows and exports GM cotton and canola, and the country in May approved Bioceres' biotech wheat for use in foods.

Mexico, among the largest buyers of U.S. corn, has said it will halt GM corn imports for human consumption, but walked back a deadline to ban the corn for animal feed.

In the United States, some producers and wheat industry leaders have expressed interest in using biotechnology to boost wheat's profitability and appeal to farmers.

In the quarter-century since genetically modified corn and soybeans were introduced, overall U.S. plantings of those crops expanded by 13% and 37%, respectively, while U.S. wheat plantings fell by 37%, hitting the lowest in more than 100 years in 2020, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data.

The majority of biotech corn and soybean crops are modified for insect resistance and herbicide tolerance, traits that some wheat growers would like to access. Bioceres' drought-tolerant wheat, known as HB4, adds another element to the mix.

Recent disruptions to global wheat supplies have brought a new degree of urgency to the debate over biotech wheat.

Two trade groups, U.S. Wheat Associates and the National Association of Wheat Growers, support "the eventual commercialization" of biotech wheat, according to their websites, provided that plans are implemented to minimize market disruptions.

 (Reporting by Julie Ingwersen; Editing by David Gregorio and Sharon Singleton)

Photographer captures lightning strike on Christ the Redeemer: 'Like a dream come true'

Fernando Braga went viral recently for his stunning photo of lighting striking Rio de Janeiro's iconic statue.

Garin Flowers

·National Reporter and Producer

Tue, March 7, 2023 

Lightning strikes on the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. (Fernando Braga)

Not everyone can look outside their window and have a direct view of a wonder of the world. But that’s the reality for Rio de Janeiro resident Fernando Braga.

The Brazilian lives with his wife and kids and a direct view of the nearly 100-foot Christ the Redeemer structure, which portrays Jesus Christ with his arms open wide.

But Braga’s view isn’t the reason he went viral a month ago. It was his determination as a photographer, capturing a stunning time-lapse video and screenshots of lightning striking the sculpture, after more than 30 attempts.

“It was unbelievable at first. Like a dream come true, since I was trying for a long time. At that moment, I was expecting to get some lightning around the frame, but not like this one,” Braga told Yahoo News.

The Christ the Redeemer monument sits atop Mount Corcovado in Rio in the Tijuca Forest National Park, a rainforest within the city’s boundaries.

The breathtaking sight was caught during a flash storm that rocked the Brazilian coast on Feb. 10. The bolt of lightning struck the statue's head, making it the perfect moment to catch fire on social media.

Notably, the Christ the Redeemer monument, the biggest representation of Jesus in the world, is more than 2,000 feet above Rio.

“Photography for me is just a hobby. I love to spend my spare time photographing," Braga said. "At home, I have a really nice view of Christ the Redeemer, so I took a lot of photos of it. In sunsets, sunrise[s], with the moon, the sun, airplanes, helicopters, birds, etc. ... So I decided to get one with lightning too.”

Social media reaction

Braga’s photo lit up social media. He made several posts on Instagram and Twitter but the most popular one garnered more than 171,700 “likes” and over 3,200 comments on Instagram.

“I wasn't expecting that much reaction, since technically, this is not a difficult kind of photo,” he said.

His post includes three photos, one a close-up with lightning striking the head of the statue, illuminating it like a halo.

“I am completely in awe of this.. 🙌,” wrote @sweetygrace2.

@Barbaramarchon said “FOTOS PERFEITAS! To arrepiada!❤️,” which translates to “PERFECT PICTURES! I got goosebumps.”

“Fantastic shot 🙌❤️❤️❤️ Hello from the USA,” said @wanderingnotlost88.

User @hen_ry5463 added: “God has sent the world a message!!”

Fun facts about Christ the Redeemer

According to Britannica, the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro commissioned the statue and proposed that it be built atop Mount Corcovado so that citizens could see it from anywhere in Rio. The idea was first suggested in the 1850s, but it wasn’t until 1921 that the church introduced the proposal.

Construction started in 1922, and a ceremony to lay the foundation stone of the base was held on April 4 of that year.

“Polish-French sculptor Paul Landowski created the statue. Brazilian engineer Heitor da Silva Costa built the statue in collaboration with the French engineer Albert Caquot. Romanian artist Gheorghe Leonida created the statue’s face,” according to enjoytravel.com.

The website continues: “The original sketch was of Christ carrying a large cross in one hand and a globe in the other. The statue earned the nickname ‘Christ with a ball.’ In the end, after surveying the land, a design was decided upon of Christ with his arms wide open in an Art Deco style.”

Construction was completed a little less than 10 years later, and it was dedicated on Oct. 12, 1931. Weighing 635 metric tons, it is the largest Art Deco statue in the world.

In 2007, people from all over the world voted Christ the Redeemer onto the list of the New Seven Wonders of the World, through a campaign launched by the Swiss-based New7Wonders Foundation. With hundreds of millions of votes, it made the cut, from 21 finalists.

“A symbol of Christianity across the world, the statue has also become a cultural icon of both Rio de Janeiro and Brazil,” the foundation said.

The monument, made of reinforced concrete and soapstone, is accessible by train or car. It now has elevators and escalators to reach its feet, but previously, the only option for visitors was to climb the 220-step staircase.

Lightning strikes are not uncommon

Lightning quite frequently hits Christ the Redeemer, reinforcing Braga’s point that it was not a difficult shot. Lightning rods have been installed to divert strikes that could damage the statue. In fact, lightning struck right before the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, damaging the statue’s head and a fingertip. Officials rushed to repair it before the first game kicked off in Rio.

“I just want to say that people who try to take lightning photos [should put their] own safety first. I was shooting at home. ... Protection and safety should always be [a priority]. Once you get that, give it a try! It's really not difficult to take some great shots,” Braga said.

UK
Leather-clad biker Freemasons accelerate membership drive


Patrick Sawer
Sat, 4 March 2023

Members of the Buckinghamshire Motorcycle Lodge, a branch of the Freemasons, gather with their bikes - Christopher Pledger/Telegraph

For centuries the Freemasons have been regarded as a secretive society with ancient and arcane initiation ceremonies, whose adherents rarely discuss their membership.

But a surge in enquiries from people hoping to become initiated into the order is being spearheaded by a very unexpected group of Masons – leather-clad bikers.

Among the most high-profile and colourful of the Freemason’s specialised lodges are those on two wheels. Their powerful machines and dramatic appearance along Britain’s roads have helped drive up the number of enquiries about joining the Masons from 12,000 in 2020 to 18,000 in 2021.

There has also been a significant hike in the number of visitors to the website of The United Grand Lodge of England (UGLE), up from 65,000 in 2020 to 83,000 in 2021 – a rise of almost 30 per cent.

Among the most high-profile and colourful of the Freemason’s specialised lodges are those on two wheels like the Buckinghamshire Motorcycle Lodge - Christopher Pledger/Telegraph

The Widows Sons Masonic Bikers Association (WSMBA) said: “Our chapters have helped to increase Masonic membership through our presence and visibility during public motorcycle events and rallies.”

There are nearly a dozen motorbike lodges, gathering together to support charitable causes and raise awareness of the order among other bikers.

These include the Mike Hailwood Lodge in Warwickshire, named after the world champion Grand Prix motorcyclist and racing car driver killed in a road traffic accident in 1981; the Freewheelers Lodge in Lincolnshire; and the Chevaliers de Fer in Leicestershire and Rutland.

Their initiatives included distributing food to vulnerable members of the community during the Covid pandemic.

But the motorcycling Masons are at pains to point out that although they wear patches and other identifying regalia on their leathers they are not biker gangs.

“They are bound by the Masonic Book of Constitutions and are expected to represent the fraternity positively at all times,” said the UGLE, the governing Masonic lodge for the majority of Freemasons in England, Wales and the Commonwealth.

Ian Chandler, a former police detective and now provincial grandmaster of the Surrey Lodge, told The Telegraph: “Motorcycle lodges might be a long way from people’s idea of the Freemasons, but it’s the reality now.”

Other specialised, trade- or hobby-based lodges include those for the armed forces, classic-car enthusiasts, farmers, golfers and rugby players.

Biking leathers have been added to the traditional garb of Freemasons - Christopher Pledger/Telegraph

The growing interest in membership comes as the organisation urges existing Masons to be open about their affiliation and encourage others to join.

Jonathan Spence, pro grand master of the UGLE, said: “We want to be a thriving membership organisation that people aspire to join.

“We have only recently been recording the number of enquiries given our new use of social media and this year was higher than last year, and we are extremely pleased with the volume we have received.”

There is a waiting list of 6,000 people expecting to become members of UGLE, with more than 8,800 membership enquiries received in less than three months.

Mr Spence added: “We have been experiencing, post-Covid, an increasing trend of new joiners. We are certainly seeing the positive impact of converting enquiries into actual memberships.

Today’s Freemasons insist the organisation’s reputation for secrecy is far from the truth and is simply a hangover from the 1930s, when Freemasons were persecuted under the Nazis and maintained a low profile for self-preservation.

“We are not a secret society. We are about getting the best out of yourself as a human being while at the same time contributing to society at large,” said Mr Spence.

New George Michael documentary tells how the singer was outed

Miranda Norris
Sat, 4 March 2023 

George Michael (Image: NQ staff)

A new documentary explores how Oxfordshire resident George Michael bravely defended his sexuality with 1998 single 'Outside' and became a gay icon.

The superstar, who had a home in Goring, was arrested in 1998 for a lewd act in a LA public toilet.

The two-part documentary to mark the quarter-century since the story broke tells the story of "how a potentially career-crushing event became a defining moment for gay liberation".

The singer stood up to the press and told CNN in 1998: “I’m a very proud man. I want people to know that I have not been exposed as a gay man.

“I feel stupid and I feel reckless and weak for having allowed my sexuality to be exposed this way, but I don’t feel any shame whatsoever. And neither do I think I should.”

The same year, he released the hit song Outside which satirised his arrest and had a video set in a men’s toilet with Michael dressed as an LAPD police officer.

This summer George Michael fans will flock to the Oxfordshire village the singer loved to celebrate what would have been his 60th birthday.

The Wham! star, who had a 16th century £3.4million home by the river, died on Christmas Day in 2016 aged 53.

Oxford Mail:

Three lifelong fans have collaborated with tribute artist Steve Mitchell to put on a celebration event at Goring Village Hall this June.

All the money raised by the GM60 event will go to the Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity, a charity which George supported.

Rachel Alderton, from Bury, Lancashire, said: “Many of the fans meet in Goring village every year but this year we wanted to do something special and not only celebrate George’s 60th birthday together but raise money for one of his charities.

"He was an exceptionally generous man and his charitable work meant so much to him, so it’s important for the fans that we continue to do this for him.

"It was also important for us to thank the lovely locals for welcoming us to Goring, so we decided to make a donation to the Goring Village Hall fundraising appeal in support of the local community.”

A limited number of tickets can be purchased at www.gm60.co.uk

George Michael: Outed airs at 9pm on Channel 4 on March 6 and 7.

Women's World Cup 2023: FIFA in talks for One Love armband solution

Sat, 4 March 2023 


England captain Leah Williamson could be allowed to wear a One Love armband at the Women's World Cup after FIFA President Gianni Infantino revealed he is trying to find a solution to the dispute that dominated the start of Qatar 2022.

England abandoned plans for Harry Kane to wear the multicoloured garment highlighting LGBTQ rights at the men's World Cup in November after being threatened with sanctions by FIFA.

But when asked about them being worn at the Women's World Cup, Mr Infantino said today in London: "We are looking for a dialogue and we will have a solution in place well before the Women's World Cup. I hope so."

Williamson said she wants to be allowed to wear the One Love armband in Australia when the European champions open their World Cup campaign in July, saying it would be a "great stage and a great time to promote the values we believe in so much".

Unlike Australia and New Zealand, Qatar has laws prohibiting same-sex relations and some fans were blocked from having rainbows on their clothing during the World Cup.

England and Wales were among seven nations that announced last September they wanted to wear One Love armbands in Qatar.

Read more:
England to face Denmark and China at Women's World Cup

But there was no clear response from FIFA for two months until the days before their opening games when they were warned "sporting sanctions" could be imposed because the armbands were not an approved piece of equipment under the World Cup tournament regulations.

"I think we all went through a learning process there," Mr Infantino said after a meeting of football's lawmaking body.

"What we will try to do better this time is to search and look for dialogue with everyone involved - the captains, the federations, the players generally, FIFA, from all over the world - to capture the different sensitivities to explain, to exchange and to see what can be done in order to express a position, values or whatever feeling that somebody has without hurting anyone else in a positive way."

The Women's World Cup features openly gay players - something that has never been the case at a men's tournament.

Williamson wore the One Love armband while playing for England in the Arnold Clark Cup - a mini-tournament not organised by FIFA.

Football Association chief executive Mark Bullingham said: "I think nobody enjoyed the circumstances we had at the men's World Cup.

"That was difficult for all of us. We have started a conversation to make sure we can resolve the situation a long time before the [women's] World Cup and we will absolutely be involving a broad range of people in that conversation. But the intention is to agree something."

Mr Bullingham was attending the meeting of the International Football Association Board (IFAB) that sets the laws of the game.

The IFAB was formed 137 years ago by the FAs from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland who still feature on the board alongside FIFA.

At the Qatar World Cup, England and Wales said they were prepared to "pay fines that would normally apply to breaches of kit regulations" but they could not "put our players in the situation where they might be booked or even forced to leave the field of play".

A statement added: "We are very frustrated by the FIFA decision which we believe is unprecedented - we wrote to FIFA in September informing them of our wish to wear the One Love armband to actively support inclusion in football, and had no response."

Cameroon charges tycoon in reporter killing case

Sat, 4 March 2023 


A prominent Cameroonian businessman was charged on Saturday with complicity in the torture of a journalist who was murdered in a high-profile case that has rocked the country, his lawyer told AFP.

Jean-Pierre Amougou Belinga, reputedly close to ministers and senior officials, was arrested on February 6 and brought before a military court in the capital Yaounde on Friday before being remanded, his lawyer said.

A source at the court confirmed the report to AFP on condition of anonymity. The authorities did not respond to requests for comment on the charges Amougou Belinga faces.

Radio journalist Martinez Zogo, who was kidnapped and brutally murdered in January, was outspoken against graft and financial sleaze and had often faced threats over his work.

Amougou Belinga, owner of L'Anecdote media group, "was arrested... at dawn" last month, the company said.

The tycoon has holdings in banking, finance, insurance and property, as well as L'Anecdote, which owns a daily newspaper of that name and several pro-government TV and radio stations.

Belinga's lawyer said his client was "not charged with the murder of Martinez Zogo", adding: "It is only an indictment, the judicial investigation has only just begun".

Belinga "was placed under a detention order... at the main prison in Kondengi" after being "presented before an investigating judge at the military court," a media group he owns said in a statement.

- Suspects -

Several people suspected of involvement in the case were also brought before the military court on Friday evening, according to an AFP reporter on the scene.

Leopold Maxime Eko Eko, head of the General Directorate for External Investigations (DGRE) and its director of operations, Justin Danwe, are among those suspected, a communication ministry official told AFP on condition of anonymity, alongside other official sources who also requested confidentiality.

Denis Omgba Bomba, head of the National Media Observatory, a unit attached to the communications ministry, previously confirmed the arrest and said the tycoon had been "named a suspect in the killing of Martinez Zogo".

Zogo, 50, was the manager of the privately-owned radio station Amplitude FM and host of a daily show called Embouteillage (Traffic Jam).

He had frequently named Amougou Belinga in his corruption accusations.

Zogo was abducted on January 17 outside a police station in the suburbs of the capital Yaounde, and his mutilated corpse was found five days later.

Just days before he was killed, he had told listeners about threats he faced.

The murder sparked outcry, including a protest by 20 leading Cameroonians over the government's "long tradition of trivialising impunity and accepting atrocities."

RSF's Press Freedom Index ranks Cameroon a lowly 118th out of 180 countries.

The government has insisted Cameroon is "a state of law, where liberty is guaranteed, including the freedom of the press".

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