WHITE SUPREMACIST AMERIKA
Missouri prison ignores court order to free wrongfully convicted inmate for second time in weeks
Christopher Dunn, right, listens to his attorney Justin Bonus from New York City during the first day of his hearing to decide whether to vacate his murder conviction, Tuesday, May 21, 2024, at the Carnahan Courthouse in St. Louis. A Missouri judge on Monday, July 24, 2024, overturned the conviction of Dunn, who has spent more than 30 years in prison for a killing he has long contended he didn’t commit. (Laurie Skrivan/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP, Pool, File)
St. Louis Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore, left, speaks at a news conference on Tuesday, July 23, 2024, in St. Louis, after a judge overturned the murder conviction of Christopher Dunn. At right is Dunn’s wife, Kira. (AP Photo/Jim Salter)BY JIM SALTERUpdated 2:37 PM MDT, July 23, 2024ShareST. LOUIS (AP) — For the second time in weeks, a Missouri prison has ignored a court order to release an inmate whose murder conviction was overturned. Just as in the case of Sandra Hemme, actions by the state’s attorney general are keeping Christopher Dunn locked up.St. Louis Circuit Judge Jason Sengheiser on Monday tossed out Dunn’s conviction for a 1990 killing. Dunn, 52, has spent 33 years behind bars, and he remained Tuesday at the state prison in Licking. “The State of Missouri shall immediately discharge Christopher Dunn from its custody,” Sengheiser’s ruling states.Dunn wasn’t released after his conviction was overturned because Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey appealed the judge’s ruling, “and we’re awaiting the outcome of that legal action,” Missouri Department of Corrections spokeswoman Karen Pojmann said in an email Tuesday.The decision to keep Dunn incarcerated puzzled St. Louis Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore, whose office investigated his case and determined he was wrongfully convicted, prompting a May hearing before Sengheiser.“In our view, the judge’s order was very clear, ordering his immediate release,” Gore said at a news conference Tuesday. “Based on that, we are considering what approach and what legal options we have to obtain Mr. Dunn’s relief.” He declined to specify what legal options were under consideration.RELATED STORIES
Missouri judge overturns the murder conviction of a man imprisoned for more than 30 years
Appeals court orders release of woman whose murder conviction was reversed after 43 years in prisonBailey’s office didn’t respond to Tuesday messages seeking commentDunn’s situation is similar to what happened to Hemme, 64, who spent 43 years in prison for the fatal stabbing of a woman in St. Joseph in 1980. A judge on June 14 cited evidence of “actual innocence” and overturned her conviction. She had been the longest-held wrongly incarcerated woman known in the U.S., according to the Midwest Innocence Project, which worked to free Hemme and Dunn.But appeals by Bailey — all the way up to the Missouri Supreme Court — kept Hemme imprisoned at the Chillicothe Correctional Center. During a court hearing Friday, Judge Ryan Horsman said that if Hemme wasn’t released within hours, Bailey himself would have to appear in court with contempt of court on the table. She was released later that The judge also scolded Bailey’s office for calling the Chillicothe warden and telling prison officials not to release Hemme after he ordered her to be freed on her own recognizance. It wasn’t clear if the attorney general’s office similarly called prison officials at the prison where Dunn is housed.Dunn’s wife, Kira, said they would hold off really celebrating until he’s out of prison.“We are overjoyed, and at the same time, we’re also afraid to really exhale until Chris actually takes his first free steps and feels the free ground against his feet,” Kira Dunn said at the news conference. “When that happens, I think all these feelings we’ve been holding onto for so long will finally erupt.”Dunn was convicted of first-degree murder in the 1990 shooting of 15-year-old Ricco Rogers. Gore filed a motion in February seeking to vacate the guilty verdict.After weighing the case for nearly two months, Sengheiser issued a ruling that cited “a clear and convincing showing of ‘actual innocence’ that undermines the basis for Dunn’s convictions because in light of new evidence, no juror, acting reasonably, would have voted to find Dunn guilty of these crimes beyond a reasonable doubt.”Lawyers for Bailey’s office said at the hearing that initial testimony from two boys at the scene who identified Dunn as the shooter was correct, even though they recanted as adults.A Missouri law adopted in 2021 lets prosecutors request hearings when they see evidence of a wrongful conviction. Although Bailey’s office is not required to oppose such efforts, he also did so at a hearing for Lamar Johnson, who spent 28 years in prison for murder. Another St. Louis judge ruled in February 2023 that Johnson was wrongfully convicted, and he was freed.Another hearing begins Aug. 21 for death row inmate Marcellus Williams. Bailey’s office is opposing the challenge to Williams’ conviction, tooThe hearing comes with urgency. Williams is scheduled to be executed Sept. 24.St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell filed a motion in January to vacate the conviction of Williams for the fatal stabbing of Lisha Gayle in 1998. Bell’s motion said three experts determined that Williams’ DNA was not on the handle of the butcher knife used in the killing.Williams narrowly escaped execution before. In 2017, then-Gov. Eric Greitens granted a stay and appointed a board of inquiry to examine innocence claim. The board never issued a ruling, and Gov. Mike Parson, like Greitens a Republican, dissolved it last year.The Missouri Supreme Court ruled in June that Parson had the authority to dissolve the board and set the September execution date.
Steve Bannon's 'We Build the Wall' fundraising trial set for December
HOPING FOR A TRUMP VICTORY
Steve Bannon, former White House adviser to former President Donald Trump, will stand trial on Dec. 9, for allegedly defrauding donors in the 2018 crowdfunding campaign called "We Build the Wall." Bannon is currently serving a four-month prison sentence for contempt of Congress. File Photo by Jemal Countess/UPI | License PhotoJuly 23 (UPI) -- Former Trump White House strategist Steve Bannon will stand trial in December for allegedly defrauding donors in the 2018 online crowdfunding campaign called "We Build the Wall" to erect a permanent boundary along the U.S. southern border.Bannon, 70, who is currently serving a four-month federal prison sentence in Danbury, Conn., for contempt of Congress and is scheduled to be released in October, did not attend Tuesday's hearing.Manhattan Supreme Court Judge April Newbauer announced the trial will begin Dec. 9, after Bannon's attorneys asked the judge to push back the trial date so he could prep once he is released from federal prison.Bannon, who has pleaded not guilty to charges of money laundering, conspiracy and scheming to defraud investors, asked the court in January to dismiss the case. Newbauer said she would rule on that request at the end of next month.Related Steve Bannon reports to federal prison for contempt of Congress
Bannon launched the "We Build the Wall" campaign, which pulled from a central theme of former President Donald Trump's 2016 presidential run, to bring in more than $25 million in donations.
According to prosecutors, Bannon defrauded donors by promising that none of the money would go to the nonprofit's president, Brian Kolfage.
Bannon is accused of laundering hundreds of thousands of dollars through third-party entities and funneling it to Kolfage, who financial records show received $100,000 plus monthly payments of approximately $20,000.
Kolfage, who lost his legs and right hand in a 2004 rocket attack in Iraq, is serving a 51-month prison sentence for his role in the fundraiser.
If convicted, Bannon could face a maximum of five to 15 years in prison.
CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
U.S. recovers cash, artwork in $85M 1MDB civil forfeiture
By Mike Heuer
The superyacht Equanimity arrives at Port Klang, Selangor, Malaysia, on Aug. 7, 2018, and is among many assets seized from suspected 1MDB embezzler Low Taek Jho in recent years. Photo by Ahmad Yusni/EPA-EFE
July 23 (UPI) -- The Department of Justice recovered nearly $85 million in cash and artwork allegedly paid for with money embezzled from 1Malaysia Development Berhad.
Federal prosecutors also recovered diamond jewelry and artwork by Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh, Diane Arbus and Jean-Michel Basquiat, it announced Tuesday.
The works of art and jewelry were allegedly possessed by Low Taek Jho, who also goes by Jho Low, and his co-conspirators after embezzling billions from 1MDB, which is Malaysia's sovereign investment fund.
Low and his co-conspirators are accused of embezzling more than $4.5 billion from 1MDB from 2009 through 2015.
RelatedCardinal Angelo Becciu sentenced to prison after Vatican embezzlement trial
U.S. sanctions former Lebanon central bank governor for international corruption scheme
Former Art Institute worker pleads guilty to $2M embezzlement scheme
1MDB former general counsel "Jasmine" Loo Ai Swan agreed to help the Department of Justice recover artwork by Picasso and money from a Swiss bank account.
The Department of Justice also obtained civil forfeiture orders on assets allegedly obtained by Low using embezzled funds, including the aforementioned diamond jewelry and works of art.
Instead of using 1MDB funds for their intended purpose of promoting economic development in Malaysia through direct foreign investment and global partnerships, the Department of Justice says Low and Loo conspired to embezzle the money.
Instead of improving the well-being of Malaysian people, the Department of Justice alleged the pair and others conspired to engage in international bribery and money laundering to promote their own well-being at the expense of the Malaysian people.
Loo agreed to surrender a Picasso work of art and $1.8 million in cash. The agreement still leaves Loo liable for potential criminal charges.
Low also agreed to forfeit the many works of art he allegedly bought using embezzled funds from 1MDB.
In June, he agreed to a $100 million asset forfeiture.
The combined assets forfeited by Loo and Low amount to about $85 million.
The asset forfeiture was done through the U.S. District Court for Central California.
The Department of Justice previously secured a combined total of about $1.4 billion in assets and returned them to Malaysia.
The assets were associated with the international embezzlement, money laundering and bribery scheme in which Loo, Low and others allegedly participated.
Low also is charged with conspiracy to launder billions embezzled from 1MDB and violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by allegedly bribing Malaysian and Emirati officials.
He also is accused of concealing foreign campaign contributions made during the 2012 presidential election in the United States.
The additional criminal charges against Low are filed in the U.S. District Court of Eastern New York.
More Americans with diabetes are using marijuana
By Ernie Mundell, HealthDay News
Photo by Adobe Stock/HealthDay News
As marijuana loses much of its stigma and laws around its use relax, Americans are increasingly consuming it medically and recreationally.
Americans with diabetes are no exception, a new study finds.
The number of adults with diabetes who said that they'd used cannabis at least once over the past month jumped by a third between 2021 and 2022, the new report found.
This surge in use means that "clinicians must discuss with their patients with diabetes the potential harms of cannabis use on diabetes-related outcomes," even as the merits of marijuana for diabetes care remain unclear, wrote a team from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD).
RelatedMarijuana use during pregnancy might increase risk of complications
Problem marijuana use increasing among seniors
Many Americans cite health reasons for using marijuana
The findings were published Monday in the journal Diabetes Care.
The new study was led by Dr. Benjamin Han, associate chief of research in the Division of Geriatrics, Gerontology and Palliative Care at UCSD.
His team looked at federal data from the 2021-2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.
During that time, about 9% of adults with diabetes said they'd used cannabis at least once over the prior month, and the rate rose from 7.7% in 2021 to 10.3% in 2022, a 33.7% rise.
Users tended to be younger: "Nearly half [48.9%] of the people with diabetes who used cannabis were under age 50," the team noted.
Use was nearly three times more likely if people lived in a state where marijuana was legal, and a history of major depression also increased the odds that a person with diabetes would use the drug.
Use of illicit drugs or heavy alcohol use also heightened the odds that a person with diabetes might use cannabis, Han's team found.
That could prove to be a toxic mix for people battling diabetes, the researchers warned.
"In addition to cannabis, use of some substances, including tobacco and excess alcohol use, are established risk factors for cardiovascular disease and could impact glucose metabolism," they explained. "Additionally, cannabis may complicate diabetes management, adversely affecting glycemic control and self-management behaviors."
All of this means that doctors need to ask patients with diabetes about their use of marijuana and other substances.
"Our results emphasize the importance of comprehensive substance use screenings in diabetes care, with a specific focus on cannabis," Han and his colleagues wrote.
More information
Find out more about the care of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes at the American Diabetes Association.
Meta removes 63,000 Nigerian Instagram accounts in sextortion crackdown
Meta said Wednesday it has removed around 63,000 Instagram accounts in Nigeria attempting to target people in financial sextortion scams. Meta also took down 1,300 Facebook accounts including 5,700 Facebook Groups and 200 Facebook pages based in Nigeria. File photo by Terry Schmitt/UPI | License Photo
July 24 (UPI) -- Meta said Wednesday it removed tens of thousands accounts based in Nigeria in a crackdown on sextortion schemes stemming from the country.
The company said it took down 63,000 Instagram accounts in Nigeria, including a smaller coordinated network of roughly 2,500 accounts linked to 20 people.
"Financial sextortion is a horrific crime that can have devastating consequences. Our teams have deep experience in fighting this crime and work closely with experts to recognize the tactics scammers use, understand how they evolve and develop effective ways to help stop them," Meta said.
Meta also removed Facebook accounts, Pages and Groups it said were run by Yahoo Boys, a loosely organized group of cybercriminals operating largely out of Nigeria. Those accounts are banned under Meta's Dangerous Organizations and Individuals policy.
RelatedMeta won't release advanced AI in the EU due to stronger user data protections
Meta lifts restrictions on Donald Trump's Facebook, Instagram accounts
EU says Meta ad-free subscription breaks antitrust rule
According to Meta those accounts were trying to "organize, recruit and train new scammers."
The removed Nigerian Instagram accounts targeted primarily adult men in the United States. Those accounts were identified using new technical signals Meta has developed to spot accounts engaging in sextortion.
Meta also removed approximately 7,200 Facebook assets, including 1,300 accounts, 200 Facebook pages and 5,700 Facebook Groups based in Nigeria that were allegedly providing tips for how to conduct sextortion scams.
"While these investigations and disruptions are critical, they're just one part of our approach," Meta's statement said. "We continue to support law enforcement in investigating and prosecuting these crimes, including by responding to valid legal requests for information and by alerting them when we become aware of someone at risk of imminent harm, in accordance with our terms of service and applicable law."
In April, two people in Nigeria were arrested and charged in the sexual extortion case of an Australian teen who died by suicide.
The boy took his own life after threats that intimate pictures he shared online with someone he thought was a female would be sent to family and friends.
The term sextortion refers to the act of getting victims to create and send sexually explicit material, then demanding money for not releasing that material.
Also in April, Meta tested new features to fight sextortion by automatically blurring nude images in Instagram by default on accounts for users younger than 18.
Meta said then that it had spent years working closely with experts to understand how scammers use sextortion to find and extort victims online.
North Korea dismisses Trump's claims of friendship with leader Kim Jong Un
By Thomas Maresca
North Korean state media said Tuesday that the relationship between former U.S. President Donald Trump and leader Kim Jong Un led to no "substantial positive change." Trump and Kim met briefly in June 2019 at the Korean Demilitarized Zone. File White House Photo by Shealah Craighead/UPI | License Photo
SEOUL, July 23 (UPI) -- North Korean state media commented on the U.S. presidential race on Tuesday, dismissing the likelihood of dialogue no matter which candidate wins and saying that former President Donald Trump's high-profile relationship with leader Kim Jong Un did not bring about "substantial positive change."
"The [U.S.] political climate, which is confused by the infighting of the two parties, does not change and, accordingly, we do not care about this," an unsigned column in state-run Korean Central News Agency said.
The column referenced comments Trump made about his relationship with Kim in his nomination acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention last week, saying they represented a "lingering desire" for improved U.S.-North Korean relations.
"I got along very well [with] Kim Jong Un," Trump said during his remarks Friday. "It's nice to get along with someone who has a lot of nuclear weapons or otherwise."
"We stopped the missile launches from North Korea," Trump added. "Now, North Korea is acting up again. But when we get back, I get along with him. He'd like to see me back too. I think he misses me, if you want to know the truth."
Trump and Kim held summits in Singapore in 2018 and Hanoi, Vietnam in 2019 but failed to secure a nuclear deal. Trump later boasted that Kim wrote him "beautiful letters" and said the two "fell in love."
"It is true that Trump, when he was president, tried to reflect the special personal relations between the heads of states in the relations between states, but he did not bring about any substantial positive change," the KCNA commentary said.
Trump's former national security adviser H.R. McMaster said Monday that he believed Kim would try to resurrect their "bromance" if the former president were to return to the White House.
"I think if Donald Trump is elected president, what you're going to see right away is Kim Jong Un trying to rekindle their bromance," McMaster said during an online event hosted by the Washington-based Hudson Institute.
McMaster speculated North Korea would offer to limit its nuclear program and end its long-range ballistic missile program in exchange for U.S. forces leaving the Korean Peninsula.
"He's going to hope to get something like an Iran nuclear deal -- a terrible deal for the United States," McMaster said. "He won't get that from a Trump administration, but he's posturing himself for that."
Under the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden, Washington has repeatedly offered to meet with North Korea without preconditions, but Pyongyang has shown no interest in returning to the negotiating table as it continues to develop its nuclear and missile programs.
The KCNA column said that such "sinister" offers of dialogue from the United States are prompted by an "ulterior intention" to weaken the North Korean regime.
"Through the decades-long relations with the U.S., the DPRK has keenly and fully felt what the dialogue brought to it and what it lost," the column said. "The fair international community has already come to a conclusion that the U.S. is a perfidious country which does not fulfill its promises."
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea is the official name of North Korea.
"The U.S. had better make a proper choice in the matter of how to deal with the DPRK in the future, while sincerely agonizing the gains and losses in the DPRK-U.S. confrontation," the column added.
Prominent Baptist pastor released from Myanmar jail
Dr. Hkalam Samson, a Kachin Baptist pastor, was released from a Myanmar prison on Monday. File Photo by Diego Azubel/EPA-EFE
July 23 (UPI) -- A prominent Baptist pastor and religious freedom advocate, jailed since late 2022 in his native Myanmar by the military junta for his religious activity, has been released, a peace advocacy group said.
Dr. Hkalam Samson, a Kachin Baptist pastor, was released Monday at 11:30 a.m. local time, the Peace-Talk Creation Group said in a statement reported Tuesday by Burma News International.
"While details are still unclear, we can confirm that he is now back home," the statement said.
Samson was initially arrested by junta authorities in early Dec. 4, 2022, on charges stemming from his religious activities. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom listed reasons for the persecution included, attending a religious gathering, participating in a religious activity, being a religious figure and maintaining a leadership role, as well as advocating for religious freedom.
He was then sentenced to six years' imprisonment in April, 2023, following what the State Department called in its annual report on Myanmar for that year a closed-door trial in which no lawyer was present. The State Department has described his charges as "military-led" and "manufactured," stating they included terrorism, unlawful association and inciting opposition offenses.
Samson was then released in April along with 3,302 other prisoners at the Mytikyina Prison, but was re-arrested the following day.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Tuesday that the United States "welcomes his release."
"We are pleased that he is finally able to return home to his family and continue his important work," Miller said in a statement.
Myanmar has been under junta rule it seized control from the Asian nation's civilian-elected government in a coup on Feb. 1, 2021.
According to the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners non-profit organization, more than 27,000 people have been arrested since the coup, more than 20,000 of whom remain behind bars. The junta has also killed more than 5,400 people, it said.
Miller in his statement said that while Samson's release is welcomed news, the Biden administration reiterates its call for the military regime to end its repression of religious actors, communities and sites and homes of worship in Myanmar.
"We continue to urge the military regime to immediately release the many individuals it has unjustly detained, cease its violence against civilians, allow unhindered humanitarian access, and respect the people of Burma's aspirations for inclusive, representative democracy," he said.
New Zealand report documents widespread abuse in state care institutions
New Zealand released a report on abuse and care facilities for children and adults Wednesday. File Photo by Mark Evans/EPA-EFE
July 24 (UPI) -- A report released Wednesday by an independent New Zealand commission said that many who received care in its state-run and faith-based institutions suffered "widespread" abuse at the hands of staff from the 1950s to 2019.
The New Zealand Royal Commission report, which was sparked by an earlier investigation of how institutional care abused children, sought to look at a wider range of victims. Officials called the report's findings a "national disgrace," involving the abuse of children, young adults and the elderly.
The report estimated that about 200,000 of the 655,000 children, young people and adults in state and faith-based care were abused over the time of the report and even more were neglected.
The commission said the true number will never be known because of lost and destroyed records and incidents where no records were created.
Related Rays' Wander Franco charged with sexual abuse against minor in Dominican Republic
Missing child operation recovers 200 children nationwide, U.S. Marshals say
In D.C., Paris Hilton calls for better oversight of for-profit youth facilities
"These gross violations occurred at the same time as Aotearoa New Zealand was promoting itself, internationally and domestically, as a bastion of human rights and as a safe, fair country in which to grow up as a child in a loving family, " said the report, which has 16 volumes and 2,944 pages.
Some on the commission called for a "total system overall." Judge Coral Shaw, who chaired the investigation, said the abuses described in the report must never happen again.
"The people who were taken into care were babies, they were young children, they were young people and they were adults who needed care," Shaw said, according to The Guardian. "They were taken under the guise of being supported and protected but instead they were abused and harmed."
A formal national apology was part of some 95 redress recommendations and another 138 additional changes. Another recommendation was to create a Care Safe Agency to funnel reports of abuse.
200,000 people were abused in New Zealand institutions that failed for decades to stop it
People arrive at Parliament in Wellington, New Zealand, on Wednesday, July 24, 2024, for the tabling of a wide-ranging independent inquiry into the abuse of children and vulnerable adults in care over the span of five decades wrote in a blistering final report. (AP Photo/Charlotte Graham-McLay)
People arrive at Parliament in Wellington, New Zealand, on Wednesday, July 24, 2024, for the tabling of a wide-ranging independent inquiry into the abuse of children and vulnerable adults in care over the span of five decades wrote in a blistering final report. (AP Photo/Charlotte Graham-McLay)
New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon speaks to supporters at a party event in Auckland, Oct. 14, 2023, following a general election. Luxon said on Wednesday, July 24, 2024, that it was too soon to divulge how much the government expected to pay in compensation to abuse victims identified in a wide-ranging independent inquiry into the abuse of children and vulnerable adults in a blistering final report that the country’s state agencies and churches failed to prevent, stop or admit the abuse of those they were supposed to look after. (AP Photo/Brett Phibbs, File)
BY CHARLOTTE GRAHAM-MCLAY
July 24, 2024
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — New Zealand’s wide-ranging independent inquiry into the abuse of children and vulnerable adults in care over the span of five decades released a blistering final report Wednesday that found the country’s state agencies and churches failed to prevent, stop or admit to the abuse of those they were supposed to look after — even when they knew about it.
The scale of the abuse was “unimaginable” with an estimated 200,000 people abused in seven decades, the report said. Scrutiny of state and faith-run institutions was lax and predators rarely faced repercussions.
In response to the findings, New Zealand’s government agreed for the first time that historical treatment of some children in a notorious state-run hospital amounted to torture, and pledged an apology to all those abused in state, foster and religious care since 1950. But Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said it was too soon to divulge how much the government expected to pay in compensation — a bill the inquiry said would run to the billions of dollars — or to promise that officials involved in denying and covering up the abuse would lose their jobs.
The publication of findings by the Royal Commission — the highest level of inquiry that can be undertaken in New Zealand — capped a six-year investigation that followed two decades of similar probes around the world, echoing other nations’ struggles to reckon with authorities’ transgressions against children removed from their families and placed in state and religious care.
RELATED STORIES
New Zealand's inquiry into systemic abuse follows 2 decades of similar probes worldwide
The results were a “national disgrace,” the inquiry’s report said. Of 650,000 children and vulnerable adults in state, foster, and church care between 1950 and 2019 — in a country that today has a population of just 5 million — nearly a third endured physical, sexual, verbal or psychological abuse. Many more were exploited or neglected, the report said. The figures were likely higher, though precise numbers would never be known because complaints were disregarded and records were lost or destroyed.
“These gross violations occurred at the same time as Aotearoa New Zealand was promoting itself, internationally and domestically, as a bastion of human rights and as a safe, fair country in which to grow up as a child in a loving family,” the inquiry heads wrote, using both the Māori and English names for the country.
“If this injustice is not addressed, it will remain as a stain on our national character forever,” read the 3,000-page report.
Hundreds of survivors and their supporters filled the public gallery Wednesday in New Zealand’s Parliament, where lawmakers responded to the findings.
The report lambasted some senior figures in government and faith institutions, who it said continued to cover up and excuse abuse throughout public hearings into the matter. Many of the worst episodes had long been common knowledge, it said, and officials at the time of the abuse were “either oblivious or indifferent” about protecting children, instead shoring up the reputations of their institutions and of abusers.
The inquiry made 138 recommendations across all areas of New Zealand law, society and government. It adds to dozens of interim recommendations in 2021 that urged swift redress for those abused, some of whom were sick or dying — of which little has been enacted.
The government pledged Wednesday to supply answers by the end of the year about plans for redress, although the inquiry decried the scant progress made by successive governments to date.
The fresh recommendations include seeking apologies from state and church leaders, including Pope Francis, for the abuse of children and vulnerable adults and for disbelieving decades of accounts. The inquiry also endorsed creating dedicated offices to prosecute abusers and enact redress, renaming the streets and monuments that are currently dedicated to abusers, reforming civil and criminal law, rewriting the child welfare system, and searching for unmarked graves at psychiatric facilities.
Among investigations worldwide, New Zealand’s inquiry was notable for its scale — the widest-ranging such probe ever undertaken, according to those leading it. It examined abuse in state institutions, foster care, faith-based care, and medical and educational settings, interviewing nearly 2,500 survivors of abuse.
Children were removed arbitrarily and unfairly from their families, the report said, and the majority of New Zealand’s criminal gang members and prisoners are believed to have spent time in care.
As in Australia and Canada, Indigenous children were targeted for placement in harsher facilities and subject to worse abuse. The majority of children in care were Māori, despite the group comprising less than 20% of New Zealand’s population during the period examined.
The average cost of abuse in a survivor’s lifetime is 857,000 New Zealand dollars ($508,000), the inquiry found. Health care and other government-funded measures account for less than a quarter of that cost, while the remainder quantifies the toll on the survivor of their pain, suffering, lost opportunities and early death.
Those abused have had little recourse under New Zealand law to sue or seek compensation, with some accepting small out-of-court settlements. As recently as 2015, New Zealand governments rejected the need for such an inquiry and government agencies argued that abuse had not been endemic.
Tu Chapman, a survivor and advocate, attended Parliament on Wednesday, where she told The Associated Press that immediate action was needed on redress to prove that the government took the findings seriously.
“Announce the redress system as soon as possible,” she said. “Further delay is just impacting survivors even more who have waited 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 years.”
In comments to reporters Wednesday ahead of the report’s release, Luxon said the government now heard and believed survivors, and that he had been shocked by the findings.
“New Zealanders just don’t think this thing would happen, that abuse on this scale would ever happen in New Zealand,” the prime minister said. “We always thought that we were exceptional and different, and the reality is we’re not.”
Luxon said that when survivors tried to speak up with “horrific and harrowing” stories of abuse, the people charged with protecting them “turned a blind eye.” The findings marked “a dark and sorrowful day” for the country, Luxon added.
While he could not yet say which recommendations he would commit to enacting, he said the government would formally apologize to survivors on Nov. 12.
Following Luxon’s speech, hundreds of survivors stood and sang a Māori song in an emotional scene.
Karen Chhour, a lawmaker for the libertarian ACT party who grew up in state care, told Parliament that New Zealand had “tolerated rape and abuse of vulnerable people and the abuse of power” for too long.
“It’s time we faced this poison that is rotting our nation from the inside,” said Chhour, whose party is a member of the governing bloc.
Children and vulnerable adults were “devalued and dehumanized,” said Chris Hipkins, leader of Labour — New Zealand’s main opposition party, which commissioned the inquiry while in power. The episode was “a nationwide intergenerational shame” that was far from over, he added.
Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, an opposition lawmaker and co-leader of the Māori Party, said she did not accept the government needed time to digest the report.
“What the hell has changed for us?” Ngarewa-Packer asked Parliament on Wednesday, referring to what the inquiry said was continuing abuse of people in care — and current government crackdowns on gangs and youth offenders, many of whom spent time in care.
The report singled out churches — particularly the Catholic Church — as failing to address or prevent abuse. As many as 42% of those in faith-based care by all denominations were abused, according to a report produced for the inquiry. The Catholic Church said in a 2020 briefing to the commission that accusations had been made against 14% of its New Zealand clergy during the time covered by the inquiry.
In one recommendation, the inquiry’s authors exhorted an investigation into priests from one Catholic order who had been sent to Papua New Guinea to evade accusations of abuse in Australia and New Zealand, adding that little was known about “the nature and extent of abuse and neglect there or the needs of potential survivors.”
Senior Catholic figures in New Zealand said in a written statement Wednesday that they had received the report and “will now read and review it carefully.”
NOAA, United Airlines to measure greenhouse gases during domestic flights
An instrumented Mooney research aircraft passes over the Northern Rocky Mountains in Montana during NOAA’s 2023 NOGAP aerial mission to capture atmospheric profiles of greenhouse gases in a series of flights across the United States. Photo courtesy of Anna McAuliffe/Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences
July 23 (UPI) -- The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is teaming up with United Airlines to measure greenhouse gases and pollutants in the sky during domestic flights.
The multi-year agreement, announced Tuesday, will equip a Boeing 737 with an instrument package to improve monitoring of carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases. The equipment will also improve the accuracy of weather forecasts in the United States.
"This collaboration represents a significant leap forward in U.S. efforts to monitor and mitigate greenhouse gas emissions," said Sarah Kapnick, the NOAA's chief scientist.
"If we can harness the capabilities of commercial aircraft, we will be poised to make rapid advancements in the understanding of greenhouse gas emissions that can inform policies."
The NOAA's Global Monitoring Laboratory already operates a network of 60 sampling sites around the world, using private pilots to collect airborne samples.
"This new partnership with United is the first step in establishing a Commercial Aircraft Greenhouse Gas Monitoring Program," said GML director Vanda Grubišić, "which will add valuable greenhouse gas measurements near large urban areas where most of greenhouse gas emissions originate."
Tuesday's agreement with United Airlines, which was announced during the White House Super Pollutants Summit in Washington, D.C., would test the potential for a larger network of commercial aircraft to increase the number of airborne samples collected.
"We'll be collecting data over multiple cities multiple times a day, in different seasons, and under varying weather conditions," said Colm Sweeney, who leads GML's commercial aircraft program.
"This will allow scientists to more accurately measure U.S. emissions at sub-regional scales, which is one goal of a national greenhouse gas monitoring strategy announced earlier this year, and at just 1% of the cost of deploying research aircraft," Sweeney added.
United Airlines is hoping the NOAA's air-monitoring equipment will help clear the skies by reducing wispy contrails, the white streaks from planes.
Water vapor measurements could improve weather forecasts for regions prone to high-altitude contrail formation, which can trap heat. That information would allow airlines to alter flight paths and reduce contrail formation.
Injuries from electric bikes, scooters soaring in United States
By Ernie Mundell, HealthDay News
More and more Americans who use "micromobility" transport, such as electric bikes and e-scooters, are motoring their way straight into the ER, new data shows. Photo by Adobe Stock/HealthDay News
More and more Americans who use "micromobility" transport, such as electric bikes and e-scooters, are motoring their way straight into the ER, new data shows.
In fact, the rate of e-bike injuries among Americans doubled each year between 2017 and 2022, reported a team led by Dr. Adrian Fernandez, of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).
There was a concurrent 45% rise in injuries linked to e-scooters.
This steep rise in accidents "underscores an urgent need for added safety measures," Fernandez said in a UCSF news release. His team published its findings Tuesday in the journal JAMA Network Open.
Related
Biking to work confers great health benefits
As the researchers noted, the use of tiny motorized means of getting around has surged 50-fold over the past decade in the United States.
E-bikes and e-scooters are not only much easier on the environment than cars, but they are relatively cheap, convenient and can reach speeds of up to 28 miles per hour.
But there's a downside: Accidents.
Fernandez and colleagues used data from U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's National Electronic Injury Surveillance System for 2017 through 2022.
While 751 injuries on e-bicycles were reported in 2017, that number had spiked to 23,493 just five years later, the team found. At the same time, e-scooter injuries rose from 8,566 to 56,847.
Compared to folks riding conventional, pedal-powered bikes, those who opted for electric bikes or e-scooters tended to be reckless more often -- for example, driving while drunk or going without a helmet.
They were also a bit older: The average e-bike user seen in the ER was 39, compared to an average age of 30 among conventional bike users treated for injuries.
"Our findings stress a concerning trend: helmet usage is noticeably lower among electric vehicle users, and risky behaviors, such as riding under the influence, are more prevalent," said study co-first author Kevin Li, a medical student at UCSF.
What can and should be done to help lower injury rates?
"As micromobility vehicles become more embedded in our daily lives, understanding and addressing the safety challenges they pose is critical," said study senior author Dr. Benjamin Breyer, chair of the UCSF department of urology.
"This not only involves adapting our urban landscapes but also fostering a culture of safety among riders," Breyer noted. "By doing so, we can harness the full potential of micromobility to create more sustainable, healthy and safe urban environments."
More information
There's tips on the safe use of e-bikes and e-scooters at the National Fire Chiefs Council.
