MONOPOLY CAPITALI$M
Amazon deprives competitors of critical mass: FTC Chair Lina Khan

Amazon’s antitrust suit culmination of years of work from FTC’s Khan


Alexis Keenan
·Reporter
Wed, September 27, 2023 

A day after the US Federal Trade Commission and 17 states filed a landmark antitrust case against online retail giant Amazon (AMZN), the agency’s chair Lina Khan said Amazon.com is depriving online superstore competitors of the critical mass needed to compete.

“In short, Amazon has a policy that punishes sellers or retailers that lower their price anywhere other than Amazon,” Khan said in an interview Wednesday with CNBC. “At the same time, Amazon is also steadily hiking the fees the seller pays. Sellers have to inflate their price not just on Amazon, but also across the rest of the internet.”

The novel argument is expected to be a tough one for the agency.

FTC filed an antitrust case against Amazon on Tuesday. (Paul Sakuma/AP Photo)

Antitrust law, designed to protect consumers through open competition, regards low prices as evidence that consumers' interests are served. While the agency admits that Amazon's policies push sellers to offer their products at the lowest prices on Amazon, it argues Amazon’s prices never dip as low as they would in a genuinely competitive market.

The company’s scale, the FTC claims, ensures that some sellers must sell on Amazon.com to survive. And with the market cornered, it slowly increased fees charged to sellers for each sale, according to the agency.

“The consequences of that are very serious for sellers who now pay one out of every $2 to Amazon,” Khan told CNBC. “So this is effectively a 50% tax that businesses pay to Amazon to reach shoppers. And that, in turn, leads prices and it inflates prices across the internet.”

The FTC says Amazon is illegally monopolizing two markets: online superstore retail — where consumers shop for products — and online superstore retail services — where sellers list, sell, and ship their items.

Amazon responded to the FTC’s complaint saying the agency's theory is wrong.

“The practices the FTC is challenging have helped to spur competition and innovation across the retail industry, and have produced greater selection, lower prices, and faster delivery speeds for Amazon customers and greater opportunity for the many businesses that sell in Amazon’s store," David Zapolsky, Amazon senior vice president of global public policy and general counsel, said in a statement.

"If the FTC gets its way, the result would be fewer products to choose from, higher prices, slower deliveries for consumers, and reduced options for small businesses — the opposite of what antitrust law is designed to do.”

At Amazon's request, portions of the FTC's claims were redacted from the publicly filed version of its lawsuit. In her interview on Wednesday, Khan said the complaint contains direct evidence of Amazon hiking prices and steadily increasing fees charged to its third-party sellers.

Alexis Keenan is a legal reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow Alexis on Twitter @alexiskweed.

Judge assigned to US antitrust case against Amazon recuses himself

Reuters
Wed, September 27, 2023 



(Reuters) - The judge assigned to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's antitrust lawsuit against Amazon.com has recused himself from the case, according to a court document filed on Wednesday.

Senior Judge John Coughenour was assigned to the case on Tuesday, when the antitrust lawsuit was filed against Amazon in federal court in Seattle. Coughenour, an appointee of Republican former President Ronald Reagan, did not cite a reason for dropping off the case in the court filing.

The case has been re-assigned to U.S. District Judge John Chun based on rotation, according to the document.

Chun was nominated by President Joe Biden last year. He was previously a judge for the Washington State Court of Appeals.

The FTC in its lawsuit accused Amazon of abusing its power in the retail market as an ecommerce giant by unfairly giving preference to its own products and punishing merchants that want to sell products for lower prices on other platforms.

Amazon is facing a series of similar but smaller private consumer cases filed in recent years that are pending in the same U.S. federal court with Judge Ricardo Martinez and the FTC has argued its case should be assigned to the same judge to avoid duplication or conflict.

(Reporting by Abhirup Roy and Mike Scarcella; Editing by Leslie Adler)

Factbox-Amazon antitrust lawsuit latest in US efforts to rein in big firms' clout

Reuters
Wed, September 27, 2023 


(Reuters) - U.S. antitrust regulators on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against Amazon.com accusing the online retailer of harming consumers with higher prices, the latest in a long history of tough action against monopolies that can be traced back to the breakup of Standard Oil.

More recently, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulators have targeted Big Tech including Alphabet's Google and Meta Platforms' Facebook.

Here is a list of attempts by regulators to split up big companies:

Standard Oil (1911)- Regulators alleged John Rockefeller's Standard Oil held the monopoly in the oil business by using aggressive pricing to eliminate competition. Standard Oil was broken up into 34 companies. Some of these independent firms now include ExxonMobil and Chevron.

Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa) (1945)- The Justice Department charged Alcoa with illegally monopolizing the aluminum market and demanded the company be dissolved. The case lasted years and the government sold aluminum production plants built during the war to Reynolds Aluminum and Kaiser Aluminum, creating a competitive market.

Paramount Pictures (1948) - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a landmark antitrust case, also known as "Paramount case" or the "Hollywood antitrust case," that film studios could not legally own their own theaters, hitting the vertical integration of companies. It forced Paramount to cleave theaters from the studios.

IBM (1982) - The U.S. government initiated an antitrust investigation into the dominance of IBM that lasted for 13 years. The case was later withdrawn and the IT software and services provider remained intact.

AT&T (1984) - In 1974, the U.S. government filed an antitrust lawsuit against AT&T because it had a monopoly on telephone lines. After eight years of litigation, the two sides reached a settlement that led to AT&T giving up control of its regional operating companies, or "Baby Bells".

Microsoft (2001) - A U.S. District Judge ordered a breakup of the company over antitrust claims but appellate judges rejected it. The Justice Department and Microsoft reached a settlement in November 2001.

Meta Platforms (2023) - An appeals court ruled in favor of Meta by refusing to revive a lawsuit filed by states against its Facebook unit over alleged antitrust law violations.

Both the FTC and the states had asked the court in 2020 to order Facebook to sell Instagram, which it bought for $1 billion in 2012, and WhatsApp, which it bought for $19 billion in 2014.

(Reporting by Jaspreet Singh and Zaheer Kachwala in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila and Josie Kao)

Factbox-FTC's Amazon complaint zeros in on seller prices, logistics

Reuters
Wed, September 27, 2023 


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission filed a lawsuit against Amazon.com that accused the online retail giant of overcharging customers and independent sellers on its platforms as the $1 trillion company sought to illegally maintain monopoly power.

These are the specific allegations included in the FTC's 172-page complaint:

ONLINE SUPERSTORE, SERVICES MONOPOLIES

*The agency alleged that Amazon had a monopoly in an online superstore market. In 2021, Amazon had 77% of the market, Walmart had 13% and Target 2%.

*The agency also said that Amazon had a monopoly in the online marketplace for services, where Amazon has more than 70% of the market. The FTC said that more than 160 million people in the United States visit Amazon's website each month.

PUNISHES SELLERS FOR LOWER PRICES ELSEWHERE

* The complaint alleged Amazon uses a sophisticated network of web crawlers that identify which of its sellers offer their products more cheaply on other platforms. Amazon allegedly punishes those sellers, who make up about 60% of Amazon's sales, by making them harder to find on its platform.

"Because Amazon's anti-discounting conduct punishes sellers who offer lower prices at rival online stores with lower fees, many sellers set their price on Amazon- high fees and all - as the price floor across the internet," the FTC said in the complaint.

REQUIRES USING AMAZON LOGISTICS

* Amazon requires sellers under Amazon's Prime feature to use the company's logistics and delivery services even though many would allegedly prefer to use a cheaper service or one that would also service customers from other platforms where they sell.

CHARGES HIGH FEES

*The complaint alleges Amazon raised average fulfillment fees to sellers about 30% between 2020 and 2022, as well as requiring them to pay for referrals and advertising. The FTC alleged that between sellers paying for search placement, fulfillment and other charges that Amazon takes nearly half of what sellers make on their sales.

MONITORING PRICES

* Amazon used the Project Nessie pricing system as an unfair method of competition. A description of Project Nessie was heavily redacted. An Amazon blog described it as "a system used to monitor spikes or trends on Amazon.com."

(Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Jamie Freed)

The FTC just hit Amazon with a major antitrust lawsuit


Taylor Hatmaker
Tue, September 26, 2023

Image Credits: Sheldon Cooper/SOPA Images/LightRocket / Getty Images

The Federal Trade Commission made its big move against online shopping giant Amazon on Tuesday, accusing the company of illegally stifling competition on its way to becoming a ubiquitous retail presence and one of the world's most valuable companies.

Attorneys general from 17 states joined the FTC in the lawsuit, alleging that Amazon leverages a "set of interlocking anticompetitive and unfair strategies" to maintain a monopoly. The states that signed onto the FTC's action are Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Wisconsin.

"The complaint sets forth detailed allegations noting how Amazon is now exploiting its monopoly power to enrich itself while raising prices and degrading service for the tens of millions of American families who shop on its platform and the hundreds of thousands of businesses that rely on Amazon to reach them," FTC Chair Lina M. Khan said. "Today’s lawsuit seeks to hold Amazon to account for these monopolistic practices and restore the lost promise of free and fair competition."

Amazon predictably pushed back against the FTC's allegations, which could amount to an existential threat to the company's market dominance.

"If the FTC gets its way, the result would be fewer products to choose from, higher prices, slower deliveries for consumers and reduced options for small businesses — the opposite of what antitrust law is designed to do," Amazon General Counsel David Zapolsky said. "The lawsuit filed by the FTC today is wrong on the facts and the law, and we look forward to making that case in court.”

The FTC and its state partners allege that Amazon has violated antitrust law in two distinct areas: its vast online storefront for shoppers and its seller-side marketplace. Amazon's practice of punishing sellers that offer lower prices away from Amazon and its strategy of aggressively funneling sellers toward obtaining Prime status for their goods are among the anti-competitive tactics the FTC named in the lawsuit.

"Amazon is a monopolist that uses its power to hike prices on American shoppers and charge sky-high fees on hundreds of thousands of online sellers," Deputy Director of the FTC Bureau of Competition John Newman said. "Seldom in the history of U.S. antitrust law has one case had the potential to do so much good for so many people."

The FTC accuses Amazon of 'monopolistic practices' in long-expected antitrust suit

It claims the retailer prevented vendors from selling products for less elsewhere.

Will Shanklin
·Contributing Reporter
Tue, September 26, 2023


The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed an antitrust lawsuit against Amazon today in Western Washington district court, with 17 states joining the federal agency. The case isn’t surprising (the FTC was reportedly nearly ready to file in late August), but its specifics weren’t yet known.

The FTC accuses the online retailer of monopolistic practices, including preventing merchants from offering lower prices on other platforms and forcing them to use Amazon’s logistics service if they wanted to be included in customers’ Prime shipping perks. Those anticompetitive practices allegedly led to higher prices and an inferior shopping experience.

The suit describes “Amazon's one-two punch of seller punishments and high seller fees” that forces vendors to “use their inflated Amazon prices as a price floor everywhere else.” The complaint reads, “Amazon's punitive regime distorts basic market signals: one of the ways sellers respond to Amazon's fee hikes is by increasing their own prices off Amazon.”

“Today’s lawsuit seeks to hold Amazon to account for these monopolistic practices and restore the lost promise of free and fair competition,” said FTC chair Lina Khan, according to The New York Times.



“Amazon is a monopolist,” the lawsuit reads. “It exploits its monopolies in ways that enrich Amazon but harm its customers: both the tens of millions of American households who regularly shop on Amazon's online superstore and the hundreds of thousands of businesses who rely on Amazon to reach them.”

The 17 states joining the FTC include New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island and Wisconsin.

The FTC has had its eye on Amazon for several years. This is the fourth action the agency has taken against the company this year. Amazon settled a previous lawsuit (for $30.8 million) filed in May over Alexa children’s privacy concerns and snooping with Ring cameras. In June, the FTC sued the retailer again, claiming the company tricked customers into signing up for Prime subscriptions and then made it hard to cancel them.

Amazon claimed that the FTC’s actions are out of line. “Today’s suit makes clear the FTC’s focus has radically departed from its mission of protecting consumers and competition,” said David Zapolsky, Amazon's Senior Vice President of Global Public Policy and General Counsel. “The lawsuit filed by the FTC today is wrong on the facts and the law, and we look forward to making that case in court.”

The media’s narrative about the suit will likely frame it as a long-awaited title bout between Khan and Amazon. The FTC chair gained prominence by publishing a 2017 Yale Law Journal paper arguing US antitrust laws fell short of adequately reining in the tech giant. That helped begin a national conversation about whether the nation’s anti-monopoly laws were prepared to handle modern Silicon Valley behemoths.

But more important than one-on-one championship fight framing, the showdown will serve as a test for Washington regulators and Amazon, as the federal agency tests its authority and the retailer faces its most consequential political fight to date.

FTC, 17 states file antitrust suit against Amazon

Clarissa Hawes

FreightWaves
Tue, September 26, 2023 


The Federal Trade Commission and 17 state attorneys general filed suit against Amazon.com on Tuesday, alleging the e-commerce giant used its monopoly power to “inflate prices, degrade quality and stifle innovation for consumers and businesses.”

The 172-page complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, alleges Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) engages in a course of exclusionary conduct that prevents current competitors from growing and new competitors from emerging.”

The FTC lawsuit, which follows a four-year investigation into the Seattle-based company, states that it’s not the size of Amazon that violates the law, but the the company’s alleged “anticompetitive conduct” — which includes its “online superstore market that serves shoppers and the market for online marketplace services purchased by sellers.”

“Our complaint lays out how Amazon has used a set of punitive and coercive tactics to unlawfully maintain its monopolies,” FTC Chair Lina M. Khan said in a statement on Tuesday.

“The complaint sets forth detailed allegations noting how Amazon is now exploiting its monopoly power to enrich itself while raising prices and degrading service for the tens of millions of American families who shop on its platform and the hundreds of thousands of businesses that rely on Amazon to reach them.”

In the suit, the FTC alleges Amazon has harmed its competition by requiring sellers who want their products to be Prime-eligible to use its logistics platform, Fulfillment by Amazon, which it claims makes it substantially more expensive for sellers on Amazon to also offer their products on other platforms.

Another issue outlined in the FTC suit alleges that Amazon engages in anti-discounting conduct, which “algorithmically punishes sellers” if Amazon discovers they are offering lower-priced goods elsewhere.

“Amazon can bury discounting sellers so far down in Amazon’s search results that they become effectively invisible,” the FTC said.
Amazon responds to FTC suit

In a statement, Amazon denied the allegations outlined in the FTC’s lawsuit.

“Today’s suit makes clear the FTC’s focus has radically departed from its mission of protecting consumers and competition,” David Zapolsky, Amazon’s senior vice president of global public policy and general counsel, said in a statement. “The practices the FTC is challenging have helped to spur competition and innovation across the retail industry, and have produced greater selection, lower prices and faster delivery speeds for Amazon customers and greater opportunity for the many businesses that sell in Amazon’s store.”

In his statement, Zapolsky said: “If the FTC gets its way, the result would be fewer products to choose from, higher prices, slower deliveries for consumers and reduced options for small businesses — the opposite of what antitrust law is designed to do. The lawsuit filed by the FTC today is wrong on the facts and the law, and we look forward to making that case in court.”

The company has about 500,000 independent businesses selling goods on its platform in the U.S., which have created 1.5 million jobs, Zapolsky said.

He said that since Amazon opened its business model nearly 20 years ago to include third-party sellers, more than 60% of the company’s sales are from independent sellers, consisting mostly of small and medium-size businesses.

“The FTC’s allegation that we somehow force sellers to use our optional services is simply not true,” Zapolsky said. “Sellers have choices and many succeed in our store using other logistics services or choosing not to advertise with us.”

The states included in the lawsuit are Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Wisconsin.

Click here to read more articles by Clarissa Hawes.


Amazon has deep bench of defense lawyers to fight US FTC lawsuit

Amazon faces FTC antitrust suit alleging anticompetitive practices


Tue, September 26, 2023 
By Andrew Goudsward and Mike Scarcella

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s monopoly lawsuit against Amazon.com filed on Tuesday poses perhaps the biggest legal test so far for the platoons of lawyers who have defended the technology giant for years against allegations of antitrust and consumer protection violations.

The long-awaited FTC case against Amazon, joined by 17 state attorneys general, accuses the company of abusing its dominance as an online retailer to thwart competitors and harm sellers and customers that rely on its platform. The company vowed to fight the lawsuit, saying its practices have spurred competition and innovation.

Kevin Hodges, a partner at law firm Williams & Connolly, was the first member of Amazon's defense team identified in a court document in the case. His partner Heidi Hubbard will lead the team, which also includes attorneys from law firm Covington & Burling, according to a person familiar with the hires.

Hubbard and Hodges, who is a former managing partner of the Washington-headquartered firm, are also representing Amazon in an ongoing antitrust lawsuit by California's attorney general accusing the company of forcing artificially high prices on consumers.

Williams & Connolly, known for its focus on litigation, in April successfully defeated a separate private lawsuit accusing the company of curbing competition for shipping and fulfillment services.

Hodges represented state attorneys general who joined the U.S. Justice Department's historic antitrust case against Microsoft in the 1990s and defended BP in lawsuits following the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, according to court records and his firm's website. He did not respond to a request for comment.

Williams & Connolly is also a lead defense firm in another major antitrust case targeting Big Tech. Partner John Schmidtlein heads a team comprised of several big law firms defending Alphabet's Google in an ongoing landmark trial over the company’s alleged monopoly power in online search.

An Amazon spokesperson did not immediately respond to questions about its legal team. The company is likely to rely on multiple law firms to defend the FTC case.

Amazon General Counsel David Zapolsky, a 24-year veteran of the company's legal department, can turn to a stable of top outside law firms that already represent it.

Covington & Burling, another major Washington firm, worked with Williams & Connolly in 2021 in an unsuccessful attempt to force FTC Chair Lina Khan, a vocal critic of Amazon, to recuse from matters involving the company. Thomas Barnett, co-chair of the firm’s antitrust practice and a former senior Justice Department official, was involved in the effort.

Covington is also representing Amazon in another pending lawsuit brought by the FTC accusing the company of enrolling customers into its paid Amazon Prime service without their consent and making it difficult for them to cancel. The company has denied the allegations.

Covington advised Amazon in two consumer privacy settlements with the FTC in May related to the company’s Alexa voice assistant and Ring home security service.

A Covington spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on whether the firm is defending Amazon in the FTC antitrust case.

Amazon has also turned to U.S. law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison to navigate government scrutiny. Paul Weiss secured the dismissal of an antitrust lawsuit brought by Washington, D.C.’s attorney general. An appeal remains pending.

The firm joined Covington in negotiating a $25 million Alexa child privacy settlement with the FTC.

(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward and Mike Scarcella in Washington; Editing by David Bario, Matthew Lewis and Marguerita Choy)

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

DOJ says eBay sold thousands of illegal, poisonous, and polluting products

Harri Weber
Wed, September 27, 2023 

Image Credits: Sean Gallup / Getty Images


The Department of Justice raked eBay over the proverbial coals today, accusing the online retailer of "unlawfully selling and distributing hundreds of thousands" of products that threaten the environment and public health.

In a statement on Wednesday, the DOJ said it's suing eBay for distributing restricted and mislabeled pesticides, defeat devices that mess with vehicles' emissions controls, and paint thinners that contain methylene chloride.

The agency's lawsuit alleges that eBay did so in violation of the Clean Air Act and other laws that regulate toxic substances. It was filed on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency.

The DOJ's statement on the suit is chock full of specific figures, alleging that eBay sold, "offered for sale," or distributed more than 343,000 defeat devices and 23,000 restricted, mislabeled or restricted pesticides.

In response, eBay said it "intends to vigorously defend itself" against the lawsuit. The retailer did not immediately respond to an email requesting more information on how it moderates the types of listings cited by the DOJ.

U.S. sues eBay over sale of harmful products


Wed, September 27, 2023 

The eBay app is seen on a smartphone in this illustration taken

By Jonathan Stempel

NEW YORK (Reuters) -The U.S. government on Wednesday sued eBay, accusing the online platform of violating the Clean Air Act and other environmental laws by allowing the sale of several harmful products, including devices that defeat automobile pollution controls.

EBay could face billions of dollars in penalties, including up to $5,580 for each Clean Air Act violation, according to the government's complaint filed in the federal court in Brooklyn, New York.

The Department of Justice said eBay illegally allowed the sale of at least 343,011 aftermarket "defeat" devices that help vehicles generate more power and get better fuel economy by evading emissions controls.

EBay was also accused of allowing the sale of at least 23,000 unregistered, misbranded or restricted-use pesticides, violating a 2020 "stop sale" order from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The San Jose, California-based company also allegedly distributed 5,614 paint and coating removal products containing methylene chloride, a potentially lethal chemical linked to brain and liver cancer and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

"EBay has the power, the authority, and the resources to stop the sale of these illegal, harmful products on its website," the complaint said. "It has chosen not to; instead, it has chosen to engage in these illegal transactions."

In a statement, eBay called the lawsuit "entirely unprecedented" and said it would defend itself vigorously.

"Maintaining a safe and trusted marketplace for our global community of sellers and buyers is a fundamental principle of our business," it said. "Indeed, eBay is blocking and removing more than 99.9% of the listings for the products cited by the DOJ, including millions of listings each year."

EBay shares were down 1.6% at $42.79 in late morning trading.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Sharon Singleton and Bill Berkro)


DOJ sues eBay for selling environmentally hazardous products

Vehicle emissions ‘defeat devices’ and illegal pesticides allegedly appeared for sale on the site.


Will Shanklin
·Contributing Reporter
Wed, September 27, 2023 

picture alliance via Getty Images


The US Department of Justice sued eBay on Wednesday for its role in the sale of products that harm the environment. It accused the online retailer of selling or distributing hundreds of thousands of products that violated the Clean Air Act (CAA), the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The complaint was filed in a federal court in Brooklyn, NY.

The DOJ’s complaint accuses eBay of selling, offering for sale or causing the sale of over 343,000 aftermarket “defeat devices,” which bypass vehicle emission controls. The devices, familiar to many from Volkswagen’s “Dieselgate” scandal, allow vehicles to cheat emissions tests, making them appear up to par on EPA standards when they aren’t — all in the name of a little performance boost.

“Aftermarket defeat devices significantly increase pollution emissions – including carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter and nonmethane hydrocarbons – that harm public health and impede efforts by the EPA, states, Tribes and local agencies to plan for and attain air quality standards,” the DOJ wrote today.

The complaint says eBay also unlawfully distributed or sold at least 23,000 pesticide products that were unregistered, misbranded or restricted-use. The DOJ says the EPA issued a “stop sale” order in 2020 (amended in 2021), after which eBay continued to violate it. “Examples include a high toxicity insecticide banned in the United States, restricted use pesticides that only certified applicators may apply and products fraudulently claiming to protect users against the SARS-CoV-2 virus,” the DOJ wrote.

The filing adds that eBay distributed over 5,600 products violating the TSCA Methylene Chloride Rule, a banned (potentially deadly) chemical used in paint and coating removers.

In a statement, eBay said it blocks and removes more than 99.9% of listings for products cited by the DOJ. “And eBay has partnered closely with law enforcement, including the DOJ, for over two decades on identifying emerging risks and assisting with prevention and enforcement,” the online retailer wrote. “The Government’s actions are entirely unprecedented and eBay intends to vigorously defend itself.”

The DOJ asserted that EPA standards will be enforced. “Our nation’s environmental laws protect public health and the environment by prohibiting the unlawful sale of defeat devices; unregistered, misbranded and restricted use pesticides; and unsafe products containing toxic chemicals such as methylene chloride,” said David M. Uhlmann from the EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. “The complaint filed today demonstrates that EPA will hold online retailers responsible for the unlawful sale of products on their websites that can harm consumers and the environment.”

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
Lawsuit claims H&R Block, Meta, Google used spyware to illegally share consumers' financial data

Alexis Keenan
·Reporter
Wed, September 27, 2023

Google (GOOG, GOOGL), Meta (META), and H&R Block (HRB) are facing a proposed class-action lawsuit alleging they illegally coordinated to use spyware to collect and share taxpayers’ sensitive financial information.

A similar lawsuit was brought against Google and H&R Block in July, on the heels of a congressional investigation into a data collection technology known as "tracking pixels" used to generate lucrative targeted ads. The case alleges the companies conspired to collect and exploit data on hundreds of H&R Block customers without their consent.

Tracking pixels operate quietly in the background of millions of websites, some tracking visitors’ entries in real time. Companies like H&R Block that handle entries containing sensitive financial information are required by law to refrain from sharing that data with third parties unless they’ve obtained their customers' consent.

Accounting offices of H&R Block in New York. (Newscast/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

According to the suit, H&R Block tried to circumvent federal racketeering and other laws by misleading consumers using vague language in their customer consent agreements and programming agreements with Meta and Google. Meta and Google for their part, the plaintiffs claim, conspired with H&R Block and misled consumers about the types of information that website developers like H&R Block could access.

“Defendants knew that by concealing their involvement with one another … [they] could acquire and share [personal tax data] in contravention of the law for defendants’ own financial gains,” the complaint states.

Google spokesperson José Castañeda said in a statement that the company has "strict policies and technical features that prohibit Google Analytics customers from collecting data that could be used to identify an individual."

"Site owners - not Google - are in control of what information they collect and must inform their users of how it will be used. Additionally, Google has strict policies against advertising to people based on sensitive information,” the statement said.

H&R Block and Meta did not immediately respond to Yahoo Finance's request for comment.

Data scooped up in the alleged operation included taxpayers' names, Social Security numbers, addresses, adjusted gross incomes, filing statuses, refund amounts, deductions, dependents, income properties, birthdates, health savings account contributions, education expenses, and other information in their prepared returns.

The complaint filed in US District Court for the Northern District of California alleges the companies also violated federal privacy and wiretapping laws, and the Internal Revenue Code.

"The suit seeks to hold the three firms accountable for using pixels that tracked virtually all information submitted by customers through HRBlock.com,” lawyers for the plaintiffs said. The group is seeking an injunction to stop the companies from collecting the sensitive information using pixels, as well as punitive damages, and to disgorge the defendants of value gained from their use.

Meta’s pixels

In their complaint the plaintiffs said H&R Block illegally deployed Meta’s Pixel software, which tracks in real time the information that tax preparers enter into their online tax preparation portal. Every H&R block online tax software user, they said, is assigned a unique digital identifier that allows the spyware to track their activity both on the H&R Block website, and on every other website they visit containing Meta Pixel.

For example, when an H&R Block customer logs into Meta's Facebook or Instagram, their unique identifier is delivered to the user’s device with a “dossier” containing the user’s online activities. The technology, the suit says, allows Meta to provide its marketing partners with "deep insights" into the user’s online activities.

Google's pixels

Google’s separate pixel system, Google Analytics, which is installed on H&R Block and more than 70% of online websites, the plaintiffs say, allows companies that are less tech savvy to collect and send back to Google default user information, such as a user’s closest city, gender, and general interests. For more sophisticated companies like H&R Block, they allege, Google offers another pixel product, Google Tag, that collects more intimate details about a web page visitor.

According to the complaint, H&R Block illegally collected and sent to Google taxpayers’ names and certain health savings account contribution information, as well as their inquiries on H&R Block into scholarships, and education expenses, and visits to web pages related to dependents, certain types of income, and certain tax credits or reductions.

The plaintiffs say e-commerce industry players like H&R Block, Meta, and Google understand that the type of highly sensitive personal financial data such as the data entered into H&R Block’s site is a form of currency.

In 2022, Meta’s annual advertising revenue of $113.6 billion made up almost all of the company’s total revenue of more than $116 billion.

Google's search advertising generated more than $160 billion in revenue for Google in 2022. That's more than half of the company's $280 billion in total revenue for the year.

Alexis Keenan is a legal reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow Alexis on Twitter @alexiskweed.

Ex-coach of Spain women's team under investigation over World Cup kiss 

SEXUAL ASSAULT scandal

Graham Keeley
Wed, 27 September 2023 

Jenni Hermoso (left) with ex-manager Jorge Vilda - Alex Pantling/Getty Images

The former manager of Spain’s women’s football team has been placed under investigation for allegedly forcing Jenni Hermoso to sign a statement supporting Luis Rubiales over the World Cup kiss scandal.

Jorge Vilda must now appear at the Audiencia Nacional court in Madrid, Spain’s top criminal court, on Oct 10 over the case.

Mr Vilda, who was sacked in the wake of the controversy, has previously denied reports he pressured Ms Hermoso to put out a statement exonerating Mr Rubiales, the ex-president of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF).

But Judge Francisco De Jorge, who is investigating the Aug 20 incident, expanded the scope of a sexual assault probe on Wednesday to include Mr Vilda over the claims.

Judge De Jorge also said he was investigating Albert Luque, the director of the men’s squad, and Rubén Rivera, the RFEF’s head of marketing. The pair had initially been summoned as witnesses in the case.

THE SEXUAL ASSAULT

Luis Rubiales kissing Jenni Hermoso - Noemi Llamas/Eurasia Sport Images

Mr Rubiales is facing sexual assault charges over last month’s allegedly non-consensual kiss at the World Cup final in Sydney, which sparked an international debate over sexism in football and a revolt by the national team.

He was RFEF head at the time but has since resigned, making his first appearance in court on Sept 15, when Judge De Jorge imposed a restraining order on him.

The order forbade Mr Rubiales from communicating with or coming within 200 metres of Ms Hermoso.

Ms Hermoso had initially added her name to a statement supporting Mr Rubiales but later said she did not consent to the kiss and it left her feeling “vulnerable and a victim of an aggression”.

Mr Rubiales insists the kiss was consensual.

Judge De Jorge’s investigation will determine if a trial should be held.

Under new legislation introduced last year, Mr Rubiales could face a fine or a prison sentence of up to four years if found guilty of sexual assault.

Mr Rubiales is also facing coercion charges after Hermoso said she “had suffered constant ongoing pressure by Luis Rubiales and his professional entourage to justify and condone” his actions, court documents show.

Mr Rubiales initially attempted to brush off the scandal provoked by the kiss after the team’s 1-0 victory over England.

But as pressure increased football’s world governing body Fifa moved to suspend him, prompting his mother to embark on a short-lived hunger strike at what she called the “inhumane and bloodthirsty” persecution of her son.

In the wake of the scandal, 39 Spanish players went on strike demanding changes in the RFEF including “zero tolerance” for anyone infringing on the dignity of women’s football.

 

Judge says ex-women's World Cup coach Vilda under investigation

AFP
Wed, 27 September 2023 

Jorge Vilda (R) is known for being close to Luis Rubiales (L) (Saeed Khan)

Spain's controversial former women's coach Jorge Vilda is being investigated as part of the legal probe into Luis Rubiales over the World Cup kiss scandal, court documents showed Wednesday.

Vilda and two others have been "summoned as suspects" to appear before investigating judge Francisco de Jorge on October 10, said a statement from Spain's Audiencia National court.

It identified the other two as Albert Luque, director of the men's national team, and Ruben Rivera, marketing director for the Spanish football federation (RFEF).


The court did not clarify precisely the nature of the suspicion surrounding Vilda.

Rubiales is facing sexual assault charges after kissing midfielder Jenni Hermoso on the lips after Spain beat England in the final on August 20.

He was RFEF head at the time but has since resigned, making his first appearance in court on September 15.

Rubiales is also facing coercion charges after Hermoso said she "had suffered constant ongoing pressure by Luis Rubiales and his professional entourage to justify and condone" his actions, court documents show.

Luque and Ribera had initially been summoned as witnesses but the judge has since named them as being under investigation.

- Judge changes tack -

The change came after the judge heard testimony from Hermoso's brother and one of her friends, who confirmed the midfielder's statements that she did not consent to the kiss and had been under pressure to justify Rubiales' actions.

According to Spanish media reports, her brother told the judge she had also been pressured by Vilda, who was sacked on September 6.

Vilda was known for being close to Rubiales.

At his court hearing on September 15, Rubiales once again maintained the kiss was consensual, a judicial source said.

But Hermoso's lawyer Carla Vall said it was clear to everyone that it was not.

"Thanks to this video, everyone can see there was no consent whatsoever and that is what we will demonstrate in court," she told reporters outside the court.

The kiss sparked a global backlash, and a major crisis within Spanish football, with most of the World Cup winners demanding more heads roll at the scandal-hit RFEF.

The judge will on Thursday hear testimony from Patricia Perez, head of public relations for the women's squad, and from Miguel Caba, the recently-sacked head of transparency for the RFEF.

On Monday, two-time Ballon d'Or winner Alexia Putellas and two other Spain players, defender Irene Paredes and goalkeeper Misa Rodriguez, will also give testify before the judge.

str-gr/hmw/ds/bsp

US surgeons are killing themselves at an alarming rate. One decided to speak out

Christina Frangou

THE GUARDIAN
Updated Wed, September 27, 2023

LONG READ

Carrie Cunningham puffed out her cheeks and exhaled. She looked out at the audience filled with 2,000 of her peers, surgeons who were attending the annual meeting of the Association of Academic Surgery, a prestigious gathering of specialists from universities across the United States and Canada.

Cunningham, president of the organization, knew what she was about to reveal could cost her promotions, patients and professional standing. She took a deep breath.

“I was the top junior tennis player in the United States,” she began. “I am an associate professor of surgery at Harvard.

“But I am also human. I am a person with lifelong depression, anxiety, and now a substance use disorder.”

The room fell silent.

Cunningham knew others in the room were struggling, too. Doctors are dying by suicide at higher rates than the general population. Somewhere between 300 to 400 physicians a year in the US take their own lives, the equivalent of one medical school graduating class annually.

Surgeons have some of the highest known rates of suicide among physicians. Of 697 physician suicides reported to the CDC’s national violent death reporting system between 2003 and 2017, 71 were surgeons. Many more go unreported.

For years, no one in surgery talked publicly about mental distress in the profession; surgeons have long experienced a culture of silence when it comes to their personal pain. They have a reputation as stoic, determined and driven. They are taught, throughout a decade of grueling training, to dissociate themselves from their body’s natural cues, telling them that it is time to rest, eat or urinate.

The patient’s needs always come first – that’s part of what makes a good surgeon. But this approach can have consequences for a surgeon’s own mental health.

Cunningham had already lost one friend to suicide. She decided that if her job was to save lives, she would begin with her own and those of her colleagues.

She started to tell her story.

•••

When Cunningham was seven, her stepfather put a tennis racket in her hand and discovered a prodigy. She quickly became a star, competing in international tournaments barely three years after she’d first hit a ball.

By 12, she had her own psychologist and nutritionist. She was put on a 3,330-calorie-a-day diet, aiming to gain 3lbs each month on her 4ft 7in frame. She’d run so hard that she’d hyperventilate. Her legs bore constant bruises from banging her racket against them.

She was praised for being scrappy and mentally tough, for being a perfectionist.

Carrie Cunningham at the US Open in 1992. Photograph: colaimages/Alamy

In 1987, when she was 16, World Tennis Magazine named her the top junior female player of the year. The next year, she made her debut as a professional player. In one of her first major tournaments, the teenage Cunningham faced the top-ranked Steffi Graf in the Australian Open and lost, but barely.

A psychologist taught her to hide her feelings from her opponents. Never let them know you are struggling, went the mantra. So Cunningham mastered the art of disguising her emotions. An outside observer would see a determined athlete; inside, Cunningham felt riddled with anxiety.

When she was 18, she lost in the French Open. The defeat sent her into her first major depressive episode. She sat in a Paris hotel room, alone with shades drawn, and hardly ate for a week.

After graduating high school, she climbed to No 32 in the world. She appeared to be thriving, but she was racked with loneliness. She did not earn the kind of income that allowed her to travel with family or friends. In an era before cellphones and widespread email, she was on her own. Her closest friends were her fellow competitors – people who understood what her life was like, but not people she could talk to about her struggles or doubts.

Just after she turned 20, she injured her wrist and took six months off to rehabilitate and take university courses. By the time she was healthy enough to return to play, she did not want to go back on the road and decided to retire.

She spiraled into another bout of depression – again, undiagnosed. She’d lost her identity. Cunningham dealt with her feelings the only way she knew how: busying herself with everything but her distress.

She moved to Ann Arbor to study at the University of Michigan, loaded her schedule with extra classes and began training for a marathon.

“I was awake for weeks,” she says. “I don’t remember sleeping at all. But yet, I would still work out in the day.”

She does not believe her depression was perceptible to anyone else. She got high marks, dated and went to parties. But she often felt that she was separated from the rest of the world. “It’s like being alone in a room full of people.”

She was drawn to medicine, with its intellectual challenge and the satisfaction that came from making a difference. She graduated in 2001 and married one of her classmates. The same skills that made her a tennis phenom made her an excellent doctor. Together, she and her husband were accepted for residency training at one of the country’s most prestigious programs, at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City. After that, they moved to Harvard Medical School in Boston to do fellowships.

Cunningham was on her way to becoming an endocrine surgeon who could care for patients with diseases affecting their thyroid, parathyroid or adrenal glands. She loved the action of the operating room and working with her hands; she thrived in the long hours and fraternity of people who were taking on the seemingly impossible.

On the outside, Cunningham was winning.

Inside was another story.

•••

In medical school and residency, doctors in training work around the clock. They eat or sleep when they can. Often, they are pushed to their limits.

“They feel miserable,” says Jessica Gold, a psychiatrist at Washington University in St Louis School of Medicine who specializes in physician wellness. “We basically think that feeling bad is part of medicine, and we can’t identify that we’re doing poorly, or that we should take time for ourselves and figure out that we actually might be depressed.”

Surgery, especially, has always been cruel to its practitioners, who suffer high rates of burnout, ergonomic injuries, miscarriages and infertility. They are trained in an apprenticeship model that lasts a minimum of five years, but usually seven or eight. Residents begin as juniors and progress up the hierarchy, adopting the skills and behaviors of those who came before them.

See one, do one, teach one is shorthand for this system. It’s how surgeons develop their technical skillset, but also how they conform to the cultural norms of the profession.

The training system was developed by William Halsted, a pioneering surgeon who worked at Johns Hopkins hospital in the late 19th and early 20th century. Halsted battled addiction throughout his career, even as he revolutionized surgery by developing new surgical techniques, advancing anesthesia and promoting infection control. He became hooked on cocaine in 1884 while conducting experiments with the drug. Using morphine to help wean himself off cocaine, he developed a new addiction that plagued him until his death at 69. He became erratic and withdrawn, sometimes disappearing for weeks at a time. His oddities, though, were tolerated because of the enormity of his achievements.

“This man created a culture where you lived in the hospital,” says Michael Maddaus, a retired surgeon who developed a narcotics addiction while working as a professor of surgery at the University of Minnesota. “Part of the ethos of that is you don’t complain … You just do your work and shut up and have discipline to be strong and pretend you’re OK when everything’s not.”

In 2003, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, which oversees medical training in the US, ruled that trainees could work a maximum of 80 hours a week in clinical care. The first time that any national limit had been set on trainee work hours, it cut into the 100-hour-plus weeks that were often the norm for surgical trainees. But many surgeons protested that the reduced schedule did not leave enough time to adequately train surgical residents. (When an 80-hour workweek for residents was first rolled out in New York state in 1989, surgical trainees were exempt.) In response, most surgical trainees now add one or two extra years of fellowship training after residency in order to get in more hours in the operating room before embarking on their own practice.

Surgery is a high-stakes endeavor; patients’ lives hang in the balance. Small mistakes have catastrophic outcomes. One of the first lessons of surgery is that surgeons are expected to take responsibility for what happens to their patients. The American College of Surgeons, in a document for medical students that outlines the skills needed to become a surgeon, says: “At the core, surgeons must be able to accept responsibility.”

The heightened sense of responsibility comes at a personal cost. Surgeons often fall into a trap of feeling like what they do “needs to be superhuman because they are the last line of defense, if you will, for a patient”, says Colin West, a professor of medicine at Mayo Clinic who specializes in physician wellbeing. When a patient does poorly after an operation – especially when there has been a mistake in their care – surgeons suffer emotional turmoil, anxiety, sadness, guilt and shame. In a 2017 study, an anonymous surgeon described the aftermath of an error: “We all hide our grief, suffer in silence. The pain can be close to debilitating.”

On Cunningham’s first night as an intern, three of her patients died. Their deaths were expected, but the losses still hurt. “I didn’t know how to call out a death certificate or even pronounce someone dead,” she recalls. “And I was like, ‘I’ll guess I’ll get used to it.’”

•••

Then, in 2012, death hit very close to home.

Cunningham first met Christina Barkley during medical school at the University of Michigan, where Barkley was a few years behind. They met up again at Harvard, when Barkley arrived to start a surgical residency. Their partners were good friends and they became friends.

In her last year of residency, Barkley had a mental health breakdown. She saw a psychiatrist at her hospital who started her on medication, and Barkley quickly returned to work. “She felt pressured by everyone around her to just finish her residency program,” says her sister Jill Barkley Roy. “That was the resounding message from everyone in her life – probably me included.”

Six months later, a neighbor found Barkley at home with a self-inflicted wound. Barkley’s colleagues believe she’d tried to take her life, but her sister is convinced that Barkley’s intention then was not to die. She says Christina told her that she’d just wanted to end her surgical career.

For the next two years, Barkley cycled in and out of hospitals, oscillating between depression and mania. In April 2012, three days after being discharged from hospital, she ended her life.

“I felt very angry for a very long time at the medical field,” says Barkley Roy. “My sister was so fearful about ramifications to her career and ramifications to her job and her reputation.”

Cunningham was shocked by Barkley’s death. “We imagined a lifetime of incredible things she’d continue to do not only as not only as a surgeon, but a wife, and a daughter, a sister and a friend,” she says.

Over the next decade, Cunningham’s career soared. She became an associate professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School and received a grant from the National Institutes of Health to investigate thyroid cancer. She was appointed to the executive council of national surgical organizations. She gave birth to two children and also had a terrible miscarriage, which led to thoughts of suicide. Depression came and went, repeatedly. She saw therapists off and on, but didn’t always have time.

When her mental health was bad, she buried herself a little more deeply in work.

“But the busier I was, the better,” she says. “Going on vacation was just torture for me … because when I sat still, all the internal stuff just percolated.”

Then the pandemic brought upheaval. After 25 years of marriage, Cunningham moved out of the family home. She and her ex-husband, also a surgeon, remain good friends. But the split was crushing. She felt like she was failing as a mom. She had frequent panic attacks, which she hid from her colleagues. A few friends questioned her about her mental health, but she pushed them off.

At night, she’d come home from work and open a bottle of wine. She looked forward to the way alcohol could prevent her from dwelling on the things that hurt. She drank to escape her anxiety and depression, but alcohol worsened both. So she drank more, and then more.

On a Friday night in spring 2022, Cunningham joined some colleagues at a local bar for a friend’s birthday. After a few drinks, Cunningham started openly talking about her depression. “I don’t even know exactly what I said, but I was talking about feeling suicidal,” she says.

The next day, a co-worker called Cunningham’s boss and told him that they were concerned. Her boss called her immediately and said he was coming to visit her at home. He told her that she needed help and she could take time out if she needed. The department would stand by her. She listened without protest. “It didn’t surprise me,” she says. “It was time.”

The following day, she flew to Orlando to take the helm as president of the Association of Academic Surgeons. That week, she white-knuckled her way through her talks, feeling awkward every time she saw one of her colleagues.

When she got home, she volunteered for a five-day professional evaluation from the Massachusetts Medical Society’s physician health services, which provides confidential assessments, referrals and monitoring of physicians. She expected to be connected with resources that would set her back on track. She was ready to throw all her willpower into recovery.

The results stunned her: Cunningham, who’d never had a DUI or any problems at work, was deemed unfit to practice medicine. She would have to participate in rehabilitation and then a monitoring program in order to return to work.

•••

Fifty years ago, in a landmark report called The Sick Physician, the American Medical Association declared physician impairment by psychiatric disorders, alcoholism and drug use a widespread problem. Even then, physicians had rates of narcotic addiction 30 to 100 times higher than the general population, and about 100 doctors a year in the US died by suicide.

The report called for better support for physicians who were struggling with mental health or addictions. Too many doctors hid their ailments because they worried about losing their licenses or the respect of their communities, according to the medical association.

Following the publication, state medical societies in the US, the organizations that give physicians license to practice, created confidential programs to help sick and impaired doctors. Physician health programs have a dual purpose: they connect doctors to treatment, and they assess the physician to ensure that patients are safe in their care. If a doctor’s condition is considered a threat to patient safety, the program may recommend that a doctor immediately cease practice, or they may recommend that a physician undergo drug and alcohol monitoring for three to five years in order to maintain their license. The client must sign an agreement not to participate in patient care until their personal health is addressed.

In rare and extreme cases, the physician health program will report the doctor to the state medical board to revoke their license.

Physician health programs are designed to address the myth that illness automatically means impairment, says Chris Bundy, the executive medical director of the Washington Physicians Health Program and the immediate past president of the national federation that oversees the state programs. An addiction or mental illness may require a physician to take time off, but does not justify an automatic revoking of someone’s license.

“People can function at high levels within their profession very expertly with depression, with anxiety, with substance use issues,” he says. He says the key is to get a physician to treatment early before their condition becomes severe enough to affect patient care.

A psychiatrist, Bundy developed a severe alcohol use disorder and was in monitoring for five years, during which time he joined the VA system as chief of mental health. He approached his state physician health program for help. He likes to quip: “I’m not only the hair club president, I’m also a client.” He has now been sober for 15 years.

But these programs remain shrouded in stigma. Doctors worry that, if they seek help, they will lose their license or the trust of their communities – so much so that they often stay away from treatment.

Lorna Breen, an emergency room doctor in New York, died by suicide in April 2020, after telling her family that she worried she would lose her medical license, or be ostracized by her colleagues, because she was suffering anguish from her work on the front lines of the Covid-19 crisis. Her family and friends started the Lorna Breen Foundation, which wants to see changes to the medical licensure process. The foundation wants licensing bodies to limit their questions on physicians’ health to current issues and not previous mental health diagnoses.

So far, only 21 states meet this standard. Meanwhile, physicians continue to suffer. In Medscape’s Physician Suicide Report 2023, 9% of male physicians and 11% of female physicians said they had suicidal thoughts. The study authors noted that they felt that physicians were under-reporting their distress because of privacy concerns.

•••

Cunningham was shocked and furious at the results of her evaluation.

“I wanted to throw up when I read that the first time,” she says. “I was angry because I hadn’t done anything that was illegal or harmed a patient or anything.” The one consolation was that her license was not revoked. The program recommended that she undergo rehab, and then return to work with routine monitoring including breathalyzer tests and random drug testing. She’d never even tried the drugs she was being tested for, she says.

Cunningham decided she was going to recover with the same drive she’d once poured into tennis and surgery. She’d check the recovery box and back to work. “I was still in that fierce mode of ‘I’m gonna prove everyone wrong. Screw you.’”

She spent four weeks in rehab, the first time in 20 years that she’d taken more than a week off. She thought about her to-do list: research projects waiting for her attention, and lectures that she was supposed to deliver at universities around the world. She finished the rehab program a day early to rush back to Harvard, where she interviewed candidates for fellowships in the coming year.

At the end of the day, she sat in her car in the parking lot and cried.

One week later, she relapsed. She called the physician health program and told them. Then, she left for a seven-week intense rehab program in Illinois designed for physicians and other professionals.

She calls recovery the hardest thing she has ever done. “It felt like being forced through a wall of fire, terrified of walking through it and having no idea what was on the other side,” she says.

She kept her illness and rehab secret to all but a few. When she returned to work, she did so slowly. In order to maintain her license, she needs to prove her sobriety three times a day with a breathalyzer test for three years. She participates in multiple recovery meetings and goes to therapy every week. It’s been excruciatingly hard, but worth it, she says.

“I’m a better doctor now. I’m more connected with my patients,” she explains. “And look, if you feel badly enough, if you’re not alive, you can’t be a surgeon anyway.”

As her year as president came to a close, Cunningham started to think about what she would say in her outgoing speech to her colleagues. She knew the potential consequences of revealing what she’d been through in her year as president. Patients might refuse to see her. Her colleagues might be afraid to refer patients to her. She was a strong contender to become a chair of surgery one day, and she’d be putting that at risk, too.

But she felt that she could make a difference. And she’d be honoring Barkley, whose name had disappeared from conversations after her death, like many who die by suicide.

“I could not stand up there and act like everything was fine,” she says. “If there was a reason I [am] on this planet, it is for me to give that speech.”

With Barkley’s sister in the front row, Cunningham told her story in full, describing her tennis career and depression, and showed an image of the online message saying she’d been found temporarily unfit for practice.

She urged the audience to put their health first. Surgeons should encourage colleagues to seek help before they become so sick that they are reported to a medical licensing board or they end up taking their lives, she said.

“I will never know what would have happened if those friends had not intervened. But I am sure I would have spiraled further with much worse consequences,” she said.

“I wish I could get those of you in this room that are struggling the courage it takes to seek help. But I can’t. I can promise you that people will show up for you as you would for anyone else who asked for help,” she said.

“I have to accept that I will always have tough days. I can expect recurrent bouts of depression throughout my life,” she said. “It is a disease, not a character flaw. It does not define me.”

Surgeons in the audience gave her a standing ovation, and her talk has been watched 29,000 times – nearly 30 times the figure for most lectures posted by the same organization.

“It’s a real watershed moment in that particular profession to be able to say it’s OK for us to talk about these things, and let’s change the subculture of surgery,” says Bundy, who was in the audience.

Since then, none of the terrible consequences Cunningham feared about going public have come to fruition. The only negative effect has been that she was turned down for life insurance.

Cunningham’s phone has been ringing off the hook since her talk. Surgeons from around the globe call her to share their stories and thank her for speaking out. She tells them what she told the audience: “I do not have all the answers. I do know that it won’t get better unless we talk about it openly and honestly.”

• In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

Tens of thousands of UK women dying needlessly from cancer, says report

Sky News
Updated Wed, 27 September 2023 


Tens of thousands of women are dying from preventable cancers every year in the UK, according to a report on gender inequalities and the disease.

Researchers say 24,000 women aged 30 to 69 are losing their lives unnecessarily - and that six in 10 could be avoided through earlier diagnosis and prevention.

They suggest the other four in 10 could be averted by improved access to timely and quality treatment.


Cancer causes and risk factors are also under-recognised and poorly understood, according to the study in The Lancet Global Health journal.

It says only 19% of women at breast cancer screenings in the UK know alcohol is a risk, for example, while being overweight and smoking are among other preventable factors.

Women are dying in the prime of life, the study adds, with more than 5,000 UK children orphaned in 2020 due to the disease.

Overall, researchers say about 2.3 million women die prematurely each year in the 185 countries they looked at.

They say 1.5 million deaths could be prevented by early detection and prevention, with 800,000 avoided if all women could access gold-standard care.

A "myriad of factors" can restrict women's chance to avoid cancer risks, and get a quick diagnosis and quality care, according to the study.

Researchers claim "patriarchy dominates cancer care, research and policy-making" and want gender considered in all policies and guidelines as part of "a feminist approach to cancer".

"Globally, women's health is often focused on reproductive and maternal health, aligned with narrow anti-feminist definitions of women's value and roles in society, while cancer remains wholly under-represented," said Dr Ophira Ginsburg, co-chair of the Lancet Commission examining the issue.

Co-author Professor Nirmala Bhoo-Pathy added that "women are often expected to prioritise the needs of their families at the expense of their own health, sometimes leading to the postponement of seeking healthcare".

INDENTURED SERVITUDE

Greece will use migrants to build metro and airport

Nick Squires
Tue, 26 September 2023 

Migrants aboard a boat at the town of Paleochora in Crete following a rescue operation in 2022 - Costas Metaxakis/AFP

Greece is to put undocumented migrants to work as builders as it struggles to complete major public projects such as a subway system and an airport in Crete.

The government plans to officially sanction an estimated 300,000 migrants who are either undocumented or whose residence permits have expired, Greece’s minister for migration said on Tuesday.

The move is aimed at tackling labour shortages in tourism, building, agriculture and other sectors.

It comes as Europe is facing a fresh wave of migration, fuelling political friction between EU member states, including Germany and Italy, and giving rise to concerns over what to do with the growing number of refugees on the continent.

Speaking during a visit to the US on Tuesday, Suella Braverman, the UK Home Secretary, warned uncontrolled migration poses an “existential challenge” to the West as she called for the rewriting of the decades-old United Nations refugee convention.

Greece’s migration minister admitted that providing a path to legal work for migrants who had arrived in the country might encourage illegal migration but said it was necessary given the scarcity of workers in a number of key industries.

“We do not want to create new incentives for further illegal flows because that is the danger,” said Dimitris Kairidis, the Greek migration minister.

“On the other hand, we want to go … from undeclared to declared labour to boost public revenue with employment taxes and contributions and help address dramatic shortages in certain sectors.”

Metro delays

The difficulties of finding enough workers was hindering some major public works projects, he said, including a new airport on Crete and the construction of a metro system in the northern city of Thessaloniki.

The metro system has been delayed by the decade-long Greek financial crisis, which began in 2009, and by numerous archaeological discoveries that were made as engineers dug deep beneath the city.

On Crete, meanwhile, the planned construction of a new airport outside Heraklion, the island’s main city, has been set back by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mr Kairidis said at the weekend that while the government was determined to crack down on illegal migration and trafficking gangs, it wanted to also boost legal migration routes.

He said the agricultural sector needed 110,000 farm labourers and there was also an acute need in hospitality, tourism and construction.

A survey in May by the Greek Exporters Association found that more than 90 per cent of the companies surveyed said they face labour shortages and difficulties in finding skilled workers.

The plans were announced amid a recent surge in the number of migrants reaching Greece from neighbouring Turkey.

So far this year, more than 18,000 migrants have arrived, an increase of 106 per cent on the figure for the corresponding period in 2022.

In the first seven months of this year, more than 176,000 unauthorised migrants have entered the EU according to Frontex, the bloc’s border security force. That is an increase of 13 per cent compared to the same period in 2022.

A rise in arrivals has also been registered in Germany, where Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s administration plans to halve the federal aid allocated for states to cover the expenses of receiving and integrating refugees next year.

At a meeting with the country’s 16 states on Monday, the federal government said it would slash such funding from €3.75 billion this year to €1.7 billion in 2024 as part of belt-tightening amid soaring inflation and an economic slowdown.

“We emphasise again that the states must provide their municipalities with the necessary financial resources,” a spokesman for Germany’s finance ministry told Reuters after the meeting.

‘Societal powder keg’

The meeting ended in an impasse after the two sides were unable to agree on a financing package ahead of a planned consultation with Mr Scholz in November.

Critics of the federal government’s move accused it of fuelling a “societal powder keg” after official figures showed more than 200,000 migrants had entered the country this year.

“Instead of increasing funds and decreasing migration figures, they are doing exactly the opposite: less money, rising refugee figures and no real solutions for how to control illegal migration,” said Gordon Schnieder, party secretary for the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party in the southwestern state of Rhineland-Palatinate.

“Can’t the cries for help from the municipalities up and down the country be heard in the capital? Many municipalities have their backs to the wall... The cries for help from the municipalities grow louder every week, every day.”

Meanwhile, Luigi Pantisano, a Stuttgart city councillor for the hard-Left Linke party, warned that slashing aid would strengthen the anti-immigration, hard-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which has seen its support surge in recent months.

Others, though, argued that state-level leaders were also shirking their responsibilities.

‘Hole in our finances’

Wolfgang Pieper, mayor of the town of Telgte near the Dutch border, said that the state government in North Rhine-Westphalia hadn’t raised the level of its refugee aid spending since 2017.

“In this year alone we will have a hole of two million [euros] in our finances,” he said, adding that authorities have had to turn two local sports halls into temporary shelters due to a lack of available housing options.

The cut in federal financing, if implemented, would bring federal aid to its lowest level since at least 2016.

During the tenure of Mr Scholz’ predecessor, Angela Merkel, it was not unusual for federal aid to local governments to exceed €6 billion.

But, after years of huge spending packages to deal with the consequences of the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Mr Scholz is keen to bring his budget back in line with Germany’s strict public spending limits.

The increase in migrant arrivals has come at a time when Germany is already coping with the consequences of housing and schooling a million refugees from Ukraine.

Polling shows that Germans have little faith in the government’s ability to cope with the migrant crisis.

Mr Scholz’s centre-Left Social Democrats have fallen to third place in national opinion polls, behind the AfD, in second, and CDU, which is currently the most popular party.

UK
Elton John and Ian McKellen lead backlash over Braverman’s call to crack down on gay asylum seekers

Rod Ardehali,Adam Forrest and Kate Devlin
Wed, 27 September 2023 

Sir Elton John has accused Suella Braverman of comments which risk“legitimising hate and violence” as he and Sir Ian McKellen led a fierce backlash against her controversial remarks about gay asylum seekers.

Senior Tories also warned the home secretary’s incendiary claims would cost the party votes at the next general election, as the outcry intensified.

Ms Braverman sparked outrage with a speech on Tuesday in which she said “simply being gay” should not be enough to gain protection under international law.

Despite the barrage of criticism she doubled down, claiming there were “many instances” of asylum seekers pretending to be gay in order to “game the system”.

But she was challenged to provide evidence after Home Office statistics showed sexual orientation formed part of the basis of just 1 per cent of all asylum claims in 2021.

Opposition politicians and campaigners also accused her of trying to distract from her government’s failings on migration.

Her claim came after Sir Elton and his long-term partner David Furnish released a statement saying they were “very concerned” by her comments and calling for “more compassion, support and acceptance for those seeking a safer future”. Ms Braverman risked “further legitimising hate and violence”, they warned.

Elton John and husband David Furnish have condemned the home secretary (Getty)

They were joined by acting legend Sir Ian, who told Channel 4 News Ms Braverman’s remarks were “laced with a good dollop of prejudice” and part of a tilt at a Tory leadership bid.

Ms Braverman was accused of “picking on” gay people and “throwing [them] under the bus” – with senior Tories warning that she had alienated the LGBT+ voters and revived the “nasty party” reputation.

Suella Braverman called for reform of the UN Refugee Convention (PA)

One former Tory cabinet minister, who claimed the Conservatives had won the support of almost all gay voters after making same-sex marriages legal in 2013, told The Independent that Ms Braverman had torpedoed the party’s LGBT+ credentials.

“In one speech this has cut off the gay vote to the Conservative Party,” they said. “It is a constituency which has been in one swoop alienated.”

The senior Tory added: “The damage to the party is one thing; but the international trashing of Britain as a fair and humane place for those who are persecuted has taken a horrendous backward step.”

Former justice secretary David Gauke described her claims as “incendiary” and “not supported by the evidence” and said they would harm the party at the election. “The Conservative Party should be better than this,” he said. “This is the type of rhetoric that will only further damage its reputation with large parts of the electorate.”

Another senior Tory, a former minister, told The Independent: “Gays are being thrown under a bus. It’s a sizeable vote to dismiss.”

Ms Braverman has called on world leaders to make major changes to the UN Refugee Convention, arguing it had become too generous. “We will not be able to sustain an asylum system if in effect simply being gay, or a woman, and fearful of discrimination in your country of origin is sufficient to qualify for protection.”

Responding to criticism on Wednesday, while still in the US, Ms Braverman said it was “flippant” to suggest that her speech was aimed at boosting her leadership credentials. “I am here working as home secretary,” she told the Press Association.

The cabinet minister, grilled on Sir Elton’s criticism about her comments on gay refugees, rejected claims she was lacking in compassion. “I don’t think that is true.”

Doubling down, Ms Braverman later told ITV’s Peston: “People do game the system – they purport to be homosexual in the effort to game our system, in the effort to get special treatment. That’s not fair. It’s not right. I’m afraid we do see many instances when people purport to be gay when they’re not actually gay.”

Andrew Boff – a leading Tory London Assembly member who is patron of the LGBT+ Conservatives group – told The Independent that Ms Braverman was indulging in “dog whistle” politics to appeal to the right.

Mr Boff warned that Ms Braverman could revive the ghost of the “nasty party” on LGBT+ issues. “We had not too a good record in years gone by, but we have a more proud one in recent years – we introduced equal marriage, we are heading towards zero new HIV infections. So the home secretary’s comments are not helpful or accurate,” he said.

Braverman has suffered huge backlash to her ‘cruel’ speech (AP)

Jayne Ozanne, the Tory government’s former LGBT+ adviser, told The Independent that the Tories could lose millions of votes over its rhetoric and policy.

“I’m appalled that Braverman picking on a small minority of claims from LGBT refugees – she is scapegoating a community. What concerns me is the silence from so many LGBT Tory MPs – that’s deeply distressing.”

She added: “The Tories will pay a price for this. The government has shown it no longer cares about the pink vote. They’ve undermined all trust from the LGBT community – and their friends and allies. It’s no longer a small minority group. Millions of voters care about these issues.”

The leading campaigner, who quit her role and the Tory party in 2021 over the failure to implement a ban on conversion therapy, added: “It looks like they have no intention of bringing in the ban. They have shown cowardice and moral failure.”

Culture secretary Lucy Frazer has declined to commit to keeping the UK in the UN Refugee Convention. Pressed repeatedly, she told Sky News: “What [Braverman] was talking about is whether those sorts of conventions should be reformed.”

Downing Street confirmed that Rishi Sunak signed off on Ms Braverman’s controversial speech. No 10 said the address “went through the normal process”.

But Tory peer Lord Hayward said it was up to Ms Braverman, rather the PM, to justify her remarks. “She has to show that avenue of the system is being abused – the burden rests on her, not other people in the party.”

The polling expert played down the prospect that Ms Braverman would lose the Tories lots of votes. “The party’s reputation on LGBT+ issues has turned around. One set of comments doesn’t change that. I would be more concerned about the [delayed] policy on conversion therapy. It could have more impact.”

In an unusual move, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) rebuked Ms Braverman’s speech after she claimed global leaders had failed to reform asylum rules because they fear being called “racist”. The international body said the 1951 Refugee Convention “remains a life-saving instrument”.

The UNHCR also rejected Ms Braverman’s claim that asylum seekers should face more than just discrimination for being gay if they are to qualify as a refugee. “Where individuals are at risk of persecution on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity, it is crucial that they are able to seek safety and protection,” it said.

UK
Rosebank oilfield: Fury as £3.75bn tax break ‘hidden in the small print’

Poverty campaigners have criticised the decision to award developers including Norwegian oil firm Equinor £3.75 billion in tax relief to develop Rosebank

Harriet Sinclair
·Trending News Reporter
Updated Wed, 27 September 2023 

Development will secure country against 'tyrants', energy secretary says

The move comes after Rishi Sunak watered down green policies

Campaign groups say they may have a legal case against government's decision on Rosebank

Climate activists have condemned prime minister Rishi Sunak's plans to 'max out' North Sea oil and gas reserves. (Alamy Live News)

Campaigners have hit out at multi-billion-pound tax breaks for oil giants they claim are "hidden in the small print", after the government green lit plans to develop the Rosebank oil and gas field in the North Sea in a move critics have described as "obscene".

On Wednesday, the government said it was putting energy security first as it gave the go-ahead for its largest new development in the North Sea in years – despite furious opposition from environmental campaigners.

Energy security minister Claire Coutinho said: "The jobs and billions of pounds this is worth to our economy will enable us to have greater energy independence, making us more secure against tyrants like (Vladimir) Putin.


"We will continue to back the UK’s oil and gas industry to underpin our energy security, grow our economy and help us deliver the transition to cheaper, cleaner energy."
'People are suffering'

The move prompted an immediate backlash, with End Fuel Poverty Coalition coordinator Simon Francis criticising the decision to award developers including Norwegian oil firm Equinor a reported £3.75bn in tax relief to develop Rosebank.

"Hidden in the small print of the deal is that this project can only go ahead thanks to a massive tax break the government is giving to international oil and gas giant Equinor," Francis said.

“Households struggling with their energy bills will be shocked that the new energy secretary has chosen to hand a multi-billion pound tax break to this Norwegian firm, rather than help people in the UK suffering in fuel poverty."

Rosebank. (PA)

Development of Rosebank, the largest proposed new oil field in the North Sea, has proved to be a hugely divisive issue. 

(Andrea Domeniconi/Alamy Live News)
Read more:

Untapped Rosebank oil and gas field north of Scotland approved for development (Sky News)

Largest untapped British oil field approval sparks climate backlash (The Telegraph)

Green campaigners angered as Rosebank oil field worth billions gets go-head (PA)

Rosebank’s owners say its development will create 1,600 jobs during the peak of its construction and 450 over the long term, while producing £6.3bn that could be invested in UK businesses. The oil and gas industry currently supports tens of thousands of jobs in Scotland.

But Francis said the tax breaks – which come in the form of an investment allowance for new oil and gas developments introduced by prime minister Rishi Sunak as well as the elapsing of the windfall tax – could have been used to provide additional support to help disabled households, those living off the gas grid and the elderly.

He added: “The government’s major drive to keep the country hooked on fossil fuels will be for little reward. Figures show that more North Sea production will only give us an extra year of domestic gas, which will be charged to struggling households at global market prices.

"This is a political choice and households will remember this decision at the general election."

A rig move of Equinor's oil platform Njord Alpha inside the Norwegian fjord Breisund. The company's development of the Rosebank oil field will see it net huge tax breaks from the Uk government. (Alamy)

'Direct investment'

Green Party MP Caroline Lucas was among those who hit out at the decision to develop the oilfield, describing it as "morally obscene". She pointed out that the move would not equate to cheaper energy bills for consumers - despite the subsidy given to developers Equinor and its partner Ithaca Energy.

“Giving the green light to this huge new oil field is morally obscene. This government must be held accountable for its complicity in this climate crime," she said.

She told Yahoo News: "This climate crime will be financed by the Treasury gifting Equinor – which recently announced record 2022 global profits of £62bn – a tax break straight from the public purse, worth £3.75bn.

"This giveaway is the result of an egregious loophole in the windfall tax, meaning that for every £100 fossil fuel companies plunge into yet more climate-wrecking oil and gas, they can claim £91.40 back from the Treasury.

Caroline Lucas MP has described the move to develop Rosebank as 'obscene'. 

(UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor/Handout via Reuters)

How much revenue the government generates from North Sea oil and gas. (Statista)

"Energy security and cheaper bills aren't delivered by allowing highly-subsidised, foreign-owned fossil fuel giants to extract more oil and gas from these islands and sell it overseas to the highest bidder.

They come from grasping the opportunities of unblocking and upscaling abundant and affordable renewables, and properly insulating the nation – ensuring clean air and water, thriving nature and wildlife, and high-quality skilled and stable jobs in the process," she added.

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said: "According to Equinor’s estimates, the Rosebank project represents a direct investment of approximately £8.1bn, of which £6.3bn is likely to be invested in UK-based businesses, with the developer also estimating that at its peak the field producing 69,000 barrels of oil and 44 million cubic feet of gas per day."
Sunak waters down green policies

The government's move on Rosebank came a week after the prime minister announced changes to net zero goals that included an extension on the timeframe to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars, among an easing of other environmental policies.

The move has been read by many pundits as electioneering, following a byelection win in former prime minister Boris Johnson's old constituency of Uxbridge and South Ruislip, which came on the back of a campaign focused on the controversial Ulez charge.

Net zero is not a widely understood concept in the UK. (Statista)

Sunak appears to be hoping that his direct opposition to Labour's stance on the issue (the party has pledged to ban new domestic oil and gas developments) will be a vote winner.

But by pushing back decisions on the climate and backing new oilfields in the North Sea, Sunak may be causing further problems for himself - with campaign groups warning of legal issues over Rosebank.

Tessa Khan, executive director of campaign group Uplift, said: “By approving Rosebank, Rishi Sunak has confirmed he couldn’t care less about climate change.

She told Politico: “There are strong grounds to believe that the way this government has come to this decision is unlawful and we will see them in court if so."

Ineos founder condemns UK’s ‘irresponsible’ lack of energy policy


Paul Cargill, PA Scotland
Wed, 27 September 2023

In this article:
Jim Ratcliffe
British chemical engineer turned financier and industrialist


Ineos boss Sir Jim Ratcliffe has hit out at what he sees as the UK’s “total lack” of an energy policy, which he branded “completely irresponsible”.

The billionaire owner of the chemicals group accused the UK Government of seeking to discourage local oil and gas production and making the country reliant on supplies from overseas producers.

He made the remarks as he revealed his company’s Forties Pipeline System (FPS) has seen North Sea oil flows drop by 40% over the last six years.


The FPS moves 40% of the UK’s oil from the North Sea through to Grangemouth, where it is processed for distribution throughout the UK.

Ineos has been forced to close a third of the system’s processing capacity as a result of the recent reduction in oil flow, Sir Jim said, potentially threatening hundreds of jobs that depend on it.

He blamed the decline on a combination of windfall taxes and “negative signals” he claims politicians have been making about the future of the North Sea in recent times.

Sir Jim argued the “worrying” decline puts UK consumers “at the mercy” of foreign producers and is causing huge volatility in energy prices, pushing ever increasing numbers of people into fuel poverty.

Expanding on his themes, he said the main reason for the recent decline was a lack of investment in new oil and gas fields caused by companies having less cash after paying new windfall taxes.

Sir Jim said the problem was made worse by “mixed messages” coming from UK politicians, which he said further undermine companies’ willingness to invest in the North Sea.

He said: “The UK’s total lack of an energy policy is completely irresponsible.

“Whilst the rest of the world is encouraging local oil and gas production, the UK seems intent on destroying it through high taxes and disincentives, making us totally reliant on overseas supplies and losing billions in potential revenue.

The Ineos refinery in Grangemouth (PA)

“The rest of the world has understood that we will need oil and gas for the next 30 years and is incentivising production through sensible taxation.

“The UK is doing the opposite and seems intent on rapidly destroying North Sea production through a mixture of negative comments and punitive windfall taxes.”

Sir Jim made his remarks on the day it emerged the North Sea Transition Authority had granted production and development consent for the Rosebank oil field north-west of Shetland.

The field is believed to contain up to 350 million barrels of oil and is currently thought to be one of the largest untapped finds in UK waters.

Energy Security Secretary Claire Coutinho said: “The jobs and billions of pounds this is worth to our economy will enable us to have greater energy independence, making us more secure against tyrants like (Russian President Vladimir) Putin.

“We will continue to back the UK’s oil and gas industry to underpin our energy security, grow our economy and help us deliver the transition to cheaper, cleaner energy.”