Australia's Albanese reveals referendum question on Indigenous recognition

Credit: REUTERS/DAVID GRAY

March 22, 2023 
Written by Renju Jose for Reuters ->

SYDNEY, March 23 (Reuters) - The Australian government on Thursday revealed the question it wants to put to a vote in a proposed federal referendum later this year to constitutionally recognise its Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Australians will be asked to vote between October and December on amending the constitution to create a consultative committee in parliament called Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. It would provide non-binding advice to parliament on matters that affect First Nations people.

"For many ... this moment has been a very long time in the making," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said during a televised media conference.

"Yet, they have shown such patience and optimism through this process and that spirit of cooperation and thoughtful, respectful dialogue, has been so important at arriving at this point in such a united fashion."

"If not now, when??", a visibly emotional Albanese said, pausing several times while reading a prepared statement.

Albanese said the referendum question to be put to Australians will be: "A Proposed Law: to alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. Do you approve this proposed alteration?"

Albanese has staked much of his political capital on the referendum. Since Australia became an independent country in 1901, there have been 44 proposals for constitutional change in 19 referendums, and only eight have been approved.

Five things to know about Australia's planned Indigenous referendum

Feb 24, 2023 at 6:24 

By Praveen Menon

Feb 23 (Reuters) -Australia's government plans to hold a referendum between August and December this year on recognising the nation's Indigenous people in its constitution.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, who represent about 3.2% of Australia's population, are currently not mentioned in the constitution.

Here are five things to know about the referendum:

PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE CONSTITUTION

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has proposed adding these three sentences to the constitution:

* There shall be a body, to be called the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.

* The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice may make representations to Parliament and the Executive Government on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.

* The Parliament shall, subject to this Constitution, have power to make laws with respect to the composition, functions, powers and procedures of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.

WHAT IS THE PROPOSED REFERENDUM QUESTION?

Albanese has said the referendum question to be put to Australians should be as simple and clear as: "Do you support an alteration to the Constitution that establishes an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice?"

The question has not been finalised and more clarity on this is expected in the coming months.

HOW DOES THE REFERENDUM WORK?

The government will introduce a bill in parliament in March outlining the proposed changes to the constitution.

This will be scrutinised by a parliamentary committee.

Once approved in parliament, it will be sent to the Governor General, the local representative of the British monarch, who issues a writ for a referendum.


HOW MANY VOTES ARE NEEDED?

To change the constitution, the government must secure what is known as a double majority in the referendum.

That means more than 50% voters must vote in favour nationally, plus a majority of voters in a majority of the states must back the change.

Votes of people living in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), the Northern Territory regions, and any of Australia's external territories, count towards the national majority only.

Poll turnout will be high as voting is compulsory.

HOW HAVE PAST REFERENDUMS FARED?

There have been 44 proposals for constitutional change in 19 referendums, and only 8 of these proposals have been approved.

In the last referendum in 1999, Australians voted against changing the constitution to establish the Commonwealth of Australia as a republic with the British monarch and Governor-General being replaced by a President appointed by a two-thirds majority of members of parliament


Reporting by Praveen Menon; Editing by Himani Sarkar

NOTHING TO DO WITH  NATIONAL SECURITY

Utah governor signs bill to curb children’s social media use

The sweeping restrictions aim to curtail kid and teen use of social media apps such as Instagram and TikTok

By Naomi Nix, Cat Zakrzewski and Heather Kelly

WASHINGTON POST
Updated March 24, 2023 

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (R) signed two bills into law Thursday that would impose sweeping restrictions on kid and teen use of social media apps such as Instagram and TikTok — a move proponents say will protect youth from the detrimental effects of internet platforms.

One law aims to force social media companies to verify that users who are Utah residents are over the age of 18. The bill also requires platforms to obtain parental consent before letting minors use their services, and guardians must be given access to their child’s account. A default curfew must also be set.

The Utah regulations are some of the most aggressive laws passed by any state to curb the use of social media by young people, at a time when experts have been raising alarm bells about worsening mental health among American adolescents. Congress has struggled to pass stricter bills on online child safety despite bipartisan concern about the effects social media has on kids.

The two bills previously passed in Utah’s state legislature.

Americans have concerns over TikTok, poll finds

“We’re no longer willing to let social media companies continue to harm the mental health of our youth,” Cox tweeted Thursday. “Utah’s leading the way in holding social media companies accountable — and we’re not slowing down anytime soon.”

The bill’s passage coincided with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew’s first appearance before Congress, during which he faced extensive grilling by lawmakers who say they are worried that the extraordinarily popular video app is hurting the welfare of children. They also said the company represented a national security threat because it is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance.

Tech companies have been facing increasing scrutiny by lawmakers and advocates over the effect of their services on adolescents. Last year, California state lawmakers passed the California Age-Appropriate Design Code Act, which requires digital platforms to vet whether new products may pose harm to minors and to offer privacy guardrails to younger users by default. But the tech industry group NetChoice sued to block the law, arguing that it violates the First Amendment and that tech companies have the right under the Constitution to make “editorial decisions” about what content they publish or remove.

Efforts to bolster federal rules governing how tech companies handle minors’ data and protect their mental and physical safety have stalled. Late last year, Senate lawmakers attempted to urge Congress to pass new online privacy and safety protections for children as part of an omnibus spending package.

Under the new Utah measures, tech companies must block children’s access to social media apps between 10:30 p.m. and 6:30 a.m., although parents would be allowed to adjust those limits. The platforms also must prohibit direct messaging by anyone the child hasn’t followed or friended, and they must block underage accounts from search results.

The Utah restrictions additionally bar companies from collecting children’s data and targeting their accounts with advertising. The effort also attempts to prohibit tech companies from designing features in their services that would lead to social media addiction among kids.

Privacy advocates say the bills go too far, and could put LGBTQ children or kids living in abusive homes at risk.

“These bills radically undermine the constitutional and human rights of young people in Utah, but they also just don’t really make any sense,” said Evan Greer, director of digital advocacy group Fight for the Future. “I’m not sure anyone has actually thought about how any of this will work in practice. How will a tech company determine whether someone is someone else’s parent or legal guardian? What about in situations where there is a custody battle or allegations of abuse, and an abusive parent is attempting to obtain access t a child’s social media messages?

Common Sense Media, a media advocacy group for families, has a mixed reaction to Thursdays news. In a statement on its site, the group says it supports one of the laws Utah passed, HB 311, which requires design changes to protect minors. The group does not support the second law, SB 152, which gives parents monitoring capabilities and requires parental consent to create social media accounts.

“Unfortunately, Governor Cox also signed SB 152 into law, which would give parents access to their minor children’s posts and all the messages they send and receive. This would deprive kids of the online privacy protections we advocate for.”

Industry groups have signaled that they have First Amendment concerns about the rules. NetChoice vice president and general counsel Carl Szabo said the group was evaluating next steps on the Utah law and was talking to other allies in the tech industry.

“This law violates the First Amendment by infringing on adults’ lawful access to constitutionally protected speech while mandating massive data collection and tracking of all Utahns,” Szabo said. In the past, NetChoice has teamed up with industry groups to challenge social media laws in Florida and Texas.

Social media platforms have been increasingly facing scrutiny for exposing young people to toxic content and dangerous predators. Earlier this year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that nearly 1 in 3 high school girls reported in 2021 that they seriously considered suicide — up nearly 60 percent from a decade ago. And some experts and schools argue that social media is contributing to a mental health crisis among young people.

It’s unclear how tech companies would be able to enforce the age restrictions on their apps. The social media companies already bar children under the age of 13 from using most of their services, but advocates, parents and experts say kids can easily bypass those rules by lying about their age or using an older person’s account.

Tech companies such as Meta, TikTok and Snapchat have also increasingly been tailoring their services to offer more parental control and moderation for minors.

Meta global head of safety Antigone Davis said in a statement that the company has already invested in “age verification technology” to ensure “teens have age-appropriate experiences” on its social networks. On Instagram, the company automatically set teens’ accounts to private when they join and send notifications encouraging them to take regular breaks.

“We don’t allow content that promotes suicide, self-harm or eating disorders, and of the content we remove or take action on, we identify over 99% of it before it’s reported to us,” Davis said. “We’ll continue to work closely with experts, policymakers and parents on these important issues.”

Snap declined to comment.

Utah Law Could Curb Use of TikTok and Instagram by Children and Teens

The law, which prohibits social networks from allowing minors to have accounts without parental consent, may come as welcome news to many families even as it raises privacy concerns.

In January, Lucy Loewen, 13, testified in a hearing in Salt Lake City about social media use among youths.

Credit...Jeffrey D. Allred/Deseret News

By Natasha Singer

NEW YORK TIMES
Natasha Singer, a technology reporter, has covered children’s privacy since 2012.
March 23, 2023

Gov. Spencer J. Cox of Utah signed a sweeping social media bill on Thursday afternoon that could dramatically limit youth access to apps like TikTok and Instagram, potentially upending how many minors in the state use the internet.

The Utah Legislature passed the measure this month, despite opposition from tech industry groups and civil liberties experts. It is the first state law in the nation that will prohibit social media services from allowing users under 18 to have accounts without the explicit consent of a parent or guardian.

The new measure will also require social networks to give Utah parents access to their children’s posts, messages and responses. And it will require social media services to block Utah minors from accessing their accounts from 10:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m., a default setting that only a parent or guardian will be able to modify.

Michael K. McKell, a Republican member of the Utah Senate who sponsored the bill, said the statute was intended to address a “mental health crisis” among American teenagers as well as protect younger users from bullying and child sexual exploitation.

“We think social media is a contributing factor,” Senator McKell said in a phone interview on Thursday. “We want to tackle that issue.”

While the measure may come as welcome news for many parents, civil liberties experts and tech industry groups said it raised significant privacy and free speech concerns. Some warned that the new law, which will require social networks to verify users’ ages and obtain parental consent for those under 18, could cut off young people in Utah from major online platforms and infringe on parental rights to decide how their children used the internet.

Governor Cox also signed a second bill on Thursday that will prohibit social media companies from employing features or design techniques that could cause a minor to form an “addiction” to their online platforms.

The Utah measures come at a moment of heightened public concern and political action over powerful social media algorithms that may entice young people to spend hours online.

Over the last few years, popular social networking services have come under scrutiny for recommending content on self-harm to young people and exposing children to predators. Instagram, TikTok and other companies have responded by increasing controls for parents, including time limits and messaging restrictions.

Efforts to minimize online risks to young people have attracted widespread, bipartisan support. In his State of the Union address last month, President Joe Biden called on Congress to pass legislation restricting how tech companies may track teenagers and children online.

State legislatures have already introduced a number of bills intended to limit mental health and safety risks that social networks, multiplayer video games and other online services may pose to some children and teenagers. Last year, California enacted a sweeping online safety law that will require many social networks, video games and other services to install the equivalent of seatbelts and airbags for younger users.

Among other things, the California measure will require such services to turn on the highest privacy settings by default for users under 18. It also requires social networks and other services to turn off features by default that could pose risks to younger people, like “friend finders” that allow adult strangers to contact children.

But the Utah law far outstrips the California online safety effort, imposing broad constraints and enabling parental surveillance that could alter how many teenagers in Utah use the internet. Sarah Coyne, a professor of child development at Brigham Young University, in Provo, Utah, warned that the measure could inadvertently boomerang, exacerbating youth mental health issues by cutting off vulnerable young people from important sources of information and support.

“We know that marginalized youth, such as L.G.B.T.Q. kids, use social media in some really important ways to find belonging and support, especially when they don’t have family support,” said Dr. Coyne, who has studied how time spent on social media affects adolescents.

“So if you’ve got a 17-year-old who is really struggling with mental health turning to social media to find a place to belong, and their parents are cutting it off or looking at their messages, that can have a really significant negative impact,” she said.

Senator McKell said that the bill was intended to help parents protect their children online and that potential benefits far outweighed potential drawbacks. In addition to requiring parental consent, the bill will prohibit social networks from allowing strangers to message young people, ban targeted advertising and limit companies’ collection and use of young people’s personal data.

“If a parent wants to give their kids free rein online, under our bill they are going to have the ability to do that,” Senator McKell said. “But we want parents to be involved in the process, and we’re not going to apologize for that.”

The Utah measure, which applies to social networks with at least five million account holders worldwide, is scheduled to take effect on March 1, 2024.

The Arkansas Legislature has introduced a similar bill that would require social network platforms to verify users’ ages and obtain explicit parental consent for people under 18.

 A bill introduced in Texas is even more stringent: It would ban social media accounts for minors.

Natasha Singer writes about technology, business and society. She is currently reporting on the far-reaching ways that tech companies and their tools are reshaping public schools, higher education and job opportunities. @natashanyt

A version of this article appears in print on March 24, 2023, Section B, Page 1 of the New York edition with the headline: Utah Limits Social Media For Youths.

The Rise of TikTok

 

The popular video app is changing social media, one quick video at a time.

If you’ve constantly heard TikTok mentioned by your friends (and children) but have been unsure how it works, this latecomer’s guide is for you.

The app is known for its viral dance challenges and catchy trends. But its algorithm has been blamed for amplifying misinformation and harmful content.

Sabrina Brier is finding success on TikTok by parodying the life of a 20-something in New York who’s trying to shed her basic suburban past.

Governments around the world have escalated efforts to ban TikTok. Here’s why.

In a corner of the platform sometimes known as #DatingTok, young women are finding comfort and cachet by turning dating mishaps into viral content.

As tech workers continue to get laid off, some have turned to TikTok to vent about their former employers, expose perceived wrongdoings and find their next gig.

A new vocabulary has emerged on TikTok as creators try to get around algorithms and strict content moderation. They call it algospeak.

ROXHAM ROAD CLOSED
Biden, Trudeau reach deal to stop asylum seekers at unofficial border crossings

The pact is likely to be announced by Biden during his Ottawa visit

Web Desk Updated: March 24, 2023

WEARING PARTY COLOURS

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden pose for members of the media as they arrive to visit with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau at Rideau Cottage in Canada | AP

United States (US) President Joe Biden and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have reached a deal to reject asylum seekers at unofficial border crossings.

Biden had arrived in Canada on Thursday for talks with his Canadian counterpart on various global challenges including the war in Ukraine, climate change, trade, migration and assertive China.

According to reports, the two nations reached an agreement to update rules for migrants seeking asylum.

The pact will be officially announced by Biden during his Ottawa visit on Friday.

The US has seen a rise in migrant crossings there from Canada.

Reportedly, the migration deal eliminates a loophole under the existing rules that will allow both countries to turn away asylum seekers at the borders. It has made thousands of people cross through the unofficial checkpoints into Canada from US and seeking asylum.

As part of the agreement, Canada is expected to announce that 15,000 migrants from the Western Hemisphere will be given slots to apply to enter the country, reported Associated Press (AP).

The new policy will apply to people without US or Canadian citizenship and those caught within 14 days of crossing the border between the two nations.

After the Chinese spy balloon incident last month, national security and air defences are top priority.

Canada plans to update its radar systems and has agreed to an accelerated timeline for spending billions more on military upgrades for NORAD, which monitors the skies above the continent, according to the senior Canadian government official, reported AP.

As pet the 2002 agreement between the US and Canada, people seeking asylum must apply in the first country they arrive in. Migrants who go to an official crossing are returned to the U.S. and told to apply there. But those who arrive in Canada at a location other than a port of entry are allowed to stay and request protection, as has been happening on Roxham Road between Champlain, New York, and Quebec, reported AP.

According to John Kirby, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, the visit is about taking stock of the relationship between both the nations. “We're going to talk about our two democracies stepping up to meet the challenges of our time,” he added.

Among other matters of discussions would also include tapping critical minerals that will enable the production of electric vehicles, and military and economic commitments at a moment that observers say is the most dangerous since World War II.

Biden will address Parliament and Trudeau will host him for a state dinner Friday evening. Since Biden became president, it's his first visit to Canada.

US due diligence firm Mintz Group says staff detained in China after office raid

24 Mar 2023 

WASHINGTON :U.S. corporate due diligence firm Mintz Group said on Thursday its Beijing office was raided by authorities and five Chinese staff were detained, stoking worry among foreign companies in China just as its capital hosts an international economic forum.

News of the raid and detentions comes as Sino-U.S. relations have spiraled downwards following months of diplomatic tensions, including over the U.S. military downing in February of a suspected Chinese spy balloon and a planned U.S. transit next week by the president of Taiwan, the self-governed island China claims as its territory.

"We can confirm that Chinese authorities have detained the five staff in Mintz Group's Beijing office, all of them Chinese nationals, and have closed our operations there," the company said in an emailed statement to Reuters.

The company said it was ready to work with Chinese authorities to "resolve any misunderstanding that may have led to these events", and that its top concern was the safety and wellbeing of colleagues in China.

"Mintz Group has not received any official legal notice regarding a case against the company and has requested that the authorities release its employees," the company said.

A source at the New York-headquartered firm earlier told Reuters on condition of anonymity that the company's local legal counsel said the raid occurred on the afternoon of March 20, and that the employees were being held incommunicado somewhere outside of Beijing.

The Chinese foreign ministry and the Beijing public security bureau did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

'RED ALERTS'

As per Mintz Group's website, the Beijing office is its only one in mainland China. The website says the company specialises in background checking, fact gathering and internal investigations and has 18 offices around the world and hundreds of employees.

Randal Phillips, a partner at the firm who heads its Asia operations but is based outside of China, is listed on its website as the Central Intelligence Agency's former chief representative in China.

Phillips worked in Beijing for years after leaving the CIA. There was no indication the incident was related to him.

The news of the raid and detentions comes as Beijing is gearing up to hold the three-day China Development Forum from Saturday, where executives from multinationals and representatives from international organisations will be among the more than 100 overseas delegates present.

One U.S. business community person told Reuters the Mintz Group incident sent a "remarkable signal" that Beijing wants foreign money and technology but that it won't accept credible U.S. firms conducting due diligence on Chinese partners or the business environment.

"Red alerts should be going off in all boardrooms right now about risks in China," the source, who did not wish to be identified due to the sensitive nature of the matter, said.

Western due diligence companies have gotten into trouble with Chinese authorities before. British corporate investigator Peter Humphrey and his American wife Yu Yingzeng, who ran risk consultancy ChinaWhys, were detained in 2013 following work they did for British pharmaceuticals giant GSK.


Source: Reuters

World Athletics Council excludes transgender women from female events

Ruling applies to athletes who have transitioned after puberty

Levels of permitted plasma testosterone also reduced by half

Sean Ingle

THE GUARDIAN

Thu 23 Mar 2023 

World Athletics has voted to ban transgender women from elite female competitions if they have undergone male puberty, in a decision the governing body said had been taken to “protect the future of the female category”.

Speaking after the ruling, which comes into effect on 31 March, the World Athletics president, Seb Coe, accepted that the decision would be contentious but said his sport had been guided by the “overarching principle” of fairness, as well as the science around physical performance and male advantage.

“Decisions are always difficult when they involve conflicting needs and rights between different groups, but we continue to take the view that we must maintain fairness for female athletes above all other considerations,” he said. “We believe the integrity of the female category in athletics is paramount.”

However Coe also stressed that he would set up a working group that would consult with transgender athletes and review any fresh research that emerged. “We’re not saying no forever,” he said.

Sports have been increasingly wrestling with the thorny issue of transgender participation in recent years, notably when New Zealand weightlifter Laurel Hubbard qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in having transitioned in her 30s.

Since Tokyo, the majority of sports have opted to allow trans women to compete if they lower their testosterone to 5 nanomoles per litre for 12 months. However emerging science showing that transgender women retain an advantage in strength, endurance, power, lung capacity – even after suppressing testosterone – had led World Athletics to propose a lower testosterone limit for at least 24 months in January.

However, Coe said there was “little support” for such a policy, with athletes and federations making it clear they wanted to prioritise fairness for female sport over inclusion.

“We entered into a consultation some months ago because we wanted to provoke debate,” he said. “It was really important that we heard from all our stakeholders, including the athletes, the coaches and member federations. And my goodness, we heard from them.”

Athletics becomes the latest sport to ban transgender women from female sport, following World Rugby in 2020 and World Swimming and the Rugby Football League last year. Swimming’s decision came shortly after Lia Thomas, who had been a moderate college swimmer as a male competitor in the United States, won an NCAA national college female title in 2022.

World Athletics’ decision is likely to be opposed by LGBTQ+ groups such as Stonewall. Speaking last month they urged sports to be as inclusive as possible. “The trans population may be small, but they have every right to participate in sports and enjoy the many physical, mental and community benefits of sports,” it said. “The scientific evidence base on trans people in sport is developing but is far from conclusive.”

However the move was welcomed by the campaign group Fair Play For Women. “It is the right thing for women and girls, in line with all the scientific evidence and common sense,” it said. “We now expect to see national federations follow the lead given to them by World Athletics, to restore the talent pathway for girls and young women, and to reinstate fair sport for women of all ages.”

In another significant decision, World Athletics also announced that all athletes with a difference in sex development would be barred from competing internationally in all events unless they reduced their testosterone to 2.5 2.5 nanomoles per litre for a minimum of six months.

Until now athletes with a DSD, who include former Olympic women’s champion Caster Semenya and Christine Mboma, the silver medallist in the 200m at the Tokyo Games, have been allowed to compete without medication except in events ranging from 400m to a mile.

However in 2019 the court of arbitration for sport ruled that 46 XY 5-ARD individuals with a difference of sex development, such as Semenya, “enjoy a significant sporting advantage … over 46 XX competitors without such DSD” due to biology.

Coe said that athletes with a DSD would now have to lower their testosterone for at least six months, which means they will miss this summer’s World Championships in Budapest.

“We have been prepared to take these issues head on,” added Coe. “In the past they would have been allowed to drift or be kicked into the long grass. That is not the nature of my leadership and it is certainly not the instincts of my council.”

In another statement, Lord Coe said that Russian athletes would remain barred from track and field “for the foreseeable future” because of the country’s invasion of Ukraine – despite the International Olympic Committee exploring a pathway for Russian and Belarusian athletes.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M 

Hindenburg Takes Aim at Dorsey's Payments Firm Block, Shares Plunge

By Reuters

|

March 23, 2023, 

Hindenburg Takes Aim at Dorsey's Payments Firm Block, Shares Plunge

More

The logo of Cash App is seen at the main hall during the Bitcoin Conference 

2022 in Miami Beach, Florida, U.S. April 6, 2022. 

REUTERS/Marco Bello

By Manya Saini

(Reuters) - Hindenburg Research on Thursday disclosed short positions in Block Inc and alleged that the payments firm led by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey overstated its user numbers and understated its customer acquisition costs.

Block vowed to fight back, saying it would explore legal action against the short seller for its "factually inaccurate and misleading report" that was "designed to deceive and confuse investors".

"Hindenburg is known for these types of attacks, which are designed solely to allow short sellers to profit from a declined stock price," the payments firm said, adding that it would work with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Block's shares were last down 15% at $61.67, paring some losses after a 22% plunge earlier.

Hindenburg, which was behind a market rout of over $100 billion in India's Adani Group, said in its report that former Block employees estimated that 40% to 75% of accounts they reviewed were fake, involved in fraud, or were additional accounts tied to a single individual.

The move is seen as a challenge to Dorsey, who co-founded Block in 2009 in his San Francisco apartment with the goal to shake up the credit card industry, and is the company's largest shareholder with a stake of around 8%.

The NYU dropout was just until two years ago splitting his time between the payments firm and Twitter, his other venture that went private in 2022 in a $44 billion buyout by Elon Musk that Dorsey supported.

"Our 2-year investigation has concluded that Block has systematically taken advantage of the demographics it claims to be helping," Hindenburg said in a note published on its website.

The report comes at a time when the outlook for the payments industry has been clouded by worries over the strength of consumer spending in the face of elevated levels of inflation and expectations of an economic downturn.

Those concerns triggered a more than 60% slump in Block's shares last year.

Hindenburg said that Block "obfuscates" how many individuals are on the Cash App platform by reporting "misleading transacting active metrics filled with fake and duplicate accounts".

Reuters could not verify the claims raised in the report.

Cash App allows users to transfer money through a mobile application and is touted by the company as an alternative to traditional banking services.

The app had 51 million monthly transacting actives, a 16% year-over-year increase during December 2022, Block said in a fourth-quarter earnings letter.

The short seller added that co-founders Dorsey and James McKelvey collectively sold over $1 billion of stock during the pandemic as the company's share price soared.

Other executives including finance chief Amrita Ahuja and the lead manager for Cash App Brian Grassadonia also dumped millions of dollars in stock, the report added.

"What I am really concerned about is the Cash App, accusations of fraud, multiple accounts, opening accounts and fake names. And it doesn't seem like that would be something that they would allow," said Christopher Brendler, senior analyst at D.A. Davidson & Co.

"(There is) some evidence in the report that this is happening. So, you know, I think that's the most damaging part of the report," he added. (Graphic: Year-over-year gross profit growth in Block's Cash App, https://www.reuters.com/graphics/BLOCK-CASHAPP/CHART/znvnbljajvl/chart.png)

Based on the session's 20% price move, as of 9:55 a.m. ET, short sellers have made over $400 million in paper profit, according to data from financial analytics firm Ortex. Short interest was 27.96 million shares, or 5.21% of free float.

The company's ticker was the top trending on retail investor-focused forum StockTwits.

Block has also taken a hit from the upheaval in the cryptocurrency industry that forms a large chunk of its revenue base.

The company offers point-of-sales systems and an app that allows people to trade cryptocurrency.

Last month, Block said it was "meaningfully slowing" the pace of hiring this year to control costs.

Founded in 2017 by Nathan Anderson, Hindenburg is a forensic financial research firm that analyses equity, credit and derivatives.

Hindenburg invests its own capital and takes short positions against companies. After finding potential wrongdoings, the company usually publishes a report explaining the case and bets against the target company, hoping to make a profit.

Short sellers typically sell borrowed securities and aim to buy these back at a lower price.

(Reporting by Manya Saini, Akriti Sharma, Mehnaz Yasmin and Jaiveer Singh Shekhwat in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee, Sriraj Kalluvila and Shounak Dasgupta)

Copyright 2023 Thomson Reuters.

Sanofi and Regeneron reveal data on ‘blow-out’ drugs for smokers’ lungs
Alexandra Ross

March 23, 2023

The drug met the primary and all secondary objectives in the COPD study

The previous peak sales estimate of €13 billion was made excluding COPD

The drug could be the first new COPD treatment in over a decade

March 23 (Reuters) – Sanofis (SASY.PA) asthma drug Dupixent has met all targets in a study aimed at treating ‘smoker’s lung’, potentially boosting the French drugmaker’s growth prospects by billions but also increasing its heavy reliance on its best-selling drug underlines.

In a late-stage study, Dupixent, co-developed with Regeneron (REGN.O), resulted in a 30 percent reduction in moderate to severe acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a potentially fatal disease characterized by a progressive decrease in lung function is marked.

Shares of Sanofi and Regeneron rose after they said in a joint statement on Thursday that a Phase III study of 939 current or former smokers also showed improvements in lung function, quality of life and respiratory symptoms.

The French group’s stock rose 5.2% by 1205 GMT, hitting a seven-month high and far outperforming the barely changed STOXX Europe 600 Health Care Index (.SXDP).

Regeneron is up 8.6% in U.S. premarket trading and was expected to open at a record high.

Also read: US government, Pfizer and others side with Sanofi and Regeneron in Supreme Court patent case - Endpoints News

“COPD is an urgent global public health concern and, due to its heterogeneity, a notoriously difficult-to-treat disease for which no novel treatments have been approved for more than a decade,” said George Yancopoulos, Regeneron’s Chief Scientific Officer.

Sanofi added that its “bold” decision to forgo earlier-stage COPD clinical trials has cut development time by years.

JP Morgan analyst Richard Vosser said the test update provides “blow-out data” for investors and that the market consensus for Dupixent’s €15.7 billion in 2027 sales is likely up €1-2 billion will be increased.

“We see Dupixent’s data on COPD exceeding all market expectations for utility,” said the analyst.

Jefferies analysts said the update had “perhaps the best efficacy” for treating the disease.

Sanofi previously forecast that Dupixent would post sales of up to 13 billion euros ($14.2 billion) in its best year as it seeks to expand its use into several inflammatory diseases, but it has excluded COPD from its revenue target .

Sanofi said Thursday it was too early to update its sales estimate for the product, which is also used to relieve eczema.

The anti-inflammatory drug accounted for €8.3 billion last year, or more than 19% of the French group’s total sales of €43 billion. That was a currency-neutral increase of 44% over the prior year.

Sanofi announces combined global sales of Dupixent from its alliance with Regeneron.

The companies said full efficacy and safety results would be presented later. They added that a second late-stage COPD Dupixent study is underway, with the first data read expected next year.

The overall adverse event rates in the study reporting results were 77% for Dupixent and 76% for placebo.

Shares of Sanofi took a hit after disappointing study results in August 2022 with a once-promising drug candidate for breast cancer.

Legal claims that heartburn drug Zantac causes cancer have also weighed on the stock.

The group, led by UK CEO Paul Hudson, this month entered into an agreement to acquire Provention Bio Inc (PRVB.O) for $2.9 billion to continue its work on a US-approved type 1 diabetes therapy – Boost therapy.

Analysts have said that the expected market debut of two new products this year to offset dependence on Dupixent would be a major test of the company’s marketing and development prowess and a chance to regain investor confidence.

These products are Altuviiio, for hemophilia A treatment, which requires fewer injections than standard therapy, and Beyfortus, from a partnership with AstraZeneca (AZN.L), which is a prophylactic injection for the common RSV respiratory infection in infants.

Sanofi and Regeneron announced Tuesday that the European Commission has approved Dupixent for the treatment of severe atopic dermatitis in young children. The drug was also previously approved in Europe to treat a type of esophagitis.

($1 = 0.9168 euros)

Reporting by Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt and Juby Babu in Bengaluru; Editing by Mark Potter and Jason Neely

Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

WHITE FOLKS HAVING FUN
Rattlesnake Roundup: A Texas tradition runs into criticism
MARCH 22, 2023PUBLISHED AT 8:15 PM

Members of the Jaycees skin rattlesnakes at the World's Biggest Rattlesnake Round-up in Sweetwater, Texas 
Reuters

SWEETWATER, Texas - The Texas town of Sweetwater claims fame as home to the world's largest annual "rattlesnake roundup," where thousands of pounds of slithering venomous snakes are forced out of their dens and put on display.

The rattlesnakes are rounded up in the second weekend of March and then taken to a coliseum, where tens of thousands of visitors watch organizers milk their venom. They rattle, show their fangs and stun the crowd with their force before they are skinned for leather goods.

But the Sweetwater Rattlesnake Roundup, which dates back to 1958, is drawing criticism - not just for the killing, but also for the method employed to draw out the snakes: Hunters inject gasoline into rocky crevices where the serpents spend the colder months.

"We'll put about a quarter of a cup, maybe a half a cup of gasoline in the back and they don't like the fumes," said rattlesnake hunter Jeffery Cornett.

"So what's going to happen is, you know, they'll come out to kind of get a breath of fresh air. And as they start moving towards the front, you know, we'll start snatching them."

Matt Goode, a rattlesnake expert and research scientist at the University of Arizona, said such roundups were "absolutely horrific."

Hunting can be a good way to manage animal populations but needs to be properly regulated, he said, adding that putting gas in dens could hurt other wildlife.

The Rattlesnake Conservancy director of operations Tiffany Bright said Texas could learn from other states that regulate rattlesnake roundups, like Pennsylvania.

"So, hunters have a limit to how many rattlesnakes that they can collect," Bright said. "Whereas in Texas, there's no oversight or regulation to hunting these animals. You can go out, you can pour gasoline into the environment and you can collect as many rattlesnakes that you find."

ALSO READ: A fifth of world's reptile species deemed threatened with extinction

Human rights court begins review of high-stakes El Salvador abortion case

Delmy, the mother of a woman known only as Beatriz, speaks during a session of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) where she is calling to condemn El Salvador in a case brought a decade ago by her daughter, who in 2013 was forced to carry a pregnancy although the fetus could not survive, in San Jose, Costa Rica March 22, 2023. Beatriz' health deteriorated and she died four years later, aged 26. 

REUTERS/Mayela Lopez reuters_tickers

This content was published on March 22, 2023 

SAN JOSE/SAN SALVADOR (Reuters) - The Inter-American Court of Human Rights on Wednesday began hearing the historic case of a Salvadoran woman who was denied an abortion in 2013 despite doctors' calls to terminate her high-risk pregnancy.

The case of the woman, a domestic worker known only as Beatriz, became a symbol of El Salvador's blanket ban on abortion, which punishes with prison time those who undergo the procedure and those who perform or assist in it.

Experts say the court's ruling at the end of the year could have far-reaching implications on reproductive health across the continent.

"The case will be the first where the high court could rule on the conventionality of the absolute prohibition of a pregnancy's voluntary interruption," said Julissa Mantilla, a commissioner for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights(IACHR).

Doctors diagnosed Beatriz, who suffered from lupus and other ailments, with her second high-risk pregnancy in February 2013, and said the fetus would not survive the pregnancy.

They recommended an abortion but would not perform the procedure given El Salvador's severe prohibition.

Beatriz appealed to the Supreme Court and the IACHR, but the Salvadoran court rejected her request and in June 2013 she underwent a C-section. Her daughter died hours later.

Beatriz died in 2017 from complications from a motorcycle accident that occurred en route to a medical appointment.

The court's public hearing, which is being held in San Jose, Costa Rica until Thursday, was marked by both anti-abortion protests and demonstrations of support for Beatriz.

"What I hope (is) that Beatriz's image is restored and that what happened to Beatriz does not happen again to any other woman," her mother said.

(Reporting by Alvaro Murillo in San Jose and Nelson Renteria in San Salvador; Editing by David Gregorio)

Delmy, the mother of a woman known only as Beatriz, speaks during a session of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) where she is calling to condemn El Salvador in a case brought a decade ago by her daughter, who in 2013 was forced to carry a pregnancy although the fetus could not survive, in San Jose, Costa Rica March 22, 2023. Beatriz' health deteriorated and she died four years later, aged 26. 

Candles are seen lit as women hold a candle vigil outside the Inter-American Court of Human Rights as they call on it to condemn El Salvador for the case of a Salvadoran woman, known only as Beatriz, who in 2013 was forced to carry a pregnancy although the fetus could not survive, in San Jose, Costa Rica March 21, 2023. Beatriz' health deteriorated and she died four years later, aged 26. 

REUTERS/Mayela Lopez

After Iran, Saudi Arabia to re-establish ties with Syria, sources say

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Picture: Reuters

SummarySaudi Arabia, Syria cut ties more than a decade ago

Agreement on reopening embassies follows Saudi-Iran deal

Syria and Saudi Arabia have agreed to reopen their embassies after cutting diplomatic ties more than a decade ago, three sources with knowledge of the matter said, a step that would mark a leap forward in Damascus's return to the Arab fold.

Contacts between Riyadh and Damascus had gathered momentum following a landmark agreement to re-establish ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran, a key ally of President Bashar al-Assad, a regional source aligned with Damascus said.

The re-establishment of ties between Riyadh and Damascus would mark the most significant development yet in moves by Arab states to normalize ties with Assad, who was shunned by many Western and Arab states after Syria's civil war began in 2011.

The two governments were "preparing to reopen embassies after Eid al-Fitr", a Muslim holiday in the second half of April, a second regional source aligned with Damascus told Reuters.

The decision was the result of talks in Saudi Arabia with a senior Syrian intelligence official, according to one of the regional sources and a diplomat in the Gulf.

The Saudi government's communication office, the kingdom's foreign ministry and the Syrian government did not respond to requests for comment.

The sources spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the subject.

The apparently sudden breakthrough could indicate how the deal between Tehran and Riyadh may play into other crises in the region, where their rivalry has fuelled conflicts including the war in Syria.

The United States and several of its regional allies, including Sunni-led Saudi Arabia and Qatar, had backed some of the Syrian rebels. Assad was able to defeat the insurgency across most of Syria thanks largely to Shi'ite Iran and Russia.

The United States, an ally of Saudi Arabia, has opposed moves by regional countries to normalise ties with Assad, citing his government's brutality during the conflict and the need to see progress towards a political solution.

Arab League Suspension

The United Arab Emirates, another strategic US partner, has led the way in normalising contact with Assad, recently receiving him in Abu Dhabi with his wife.

But Saudi Arabia has been moving far more cautiously.

The Gulf diplomat said the high-ranking Syrian intelligence official "stayed for days" in Riyadh and an agreement was struck to reopen embassies "very soon".

One of the regional sources identified the official as Hussam Louqa, who heads Syria's intelligence committee, and said talks included security on Syria's border with Jordan and the smuggling of captagon, an amphetamine for which there is a thriving market in the Arab Gulf, from Syria.

Syria was suspended from the Arab League in 2011 in response to Assad's brutal crackdown on protests.

Saudi's foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud earlier this month said engagement with Assad could lead to Syria's return to the Arab League, but it was currently too early to discuss such a step.

The diplomat said the Syrian-Saudi talks could pave the way for a vote to lift Syria's suspension during the next Arab summit, expected to be held in Saudi Arabia in April.

The United Arab Emirates reopened its embassy in Damascus in 2018, arguing Arab countries needed more of a presence in resolving the Syrian conflict.

While Assad has basked in renewed contacts with Arab states that once shunned him, US sanctions remain a major complicating factor for countries seeking to expand commercial ties.