At VW home base, Germany’s Scholz vows to revive economy


By AFP
January 17, 2025


Olaf Scholz pledged to boost investments to get Europe's biggest economy back on track - Copyright AFP Jade GAO

Pierrick YVON

Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday laid out his vision to revitalise Germany’s ailing economy at a campaign event in the historic home base of crisis-hit auto titan Volkswagen.

In front of a crowd of supporters, Scholz defended his government’s record on the economy — which has been battered by an energy crisis, high inflation and a manufacturing slump — while pledging to boost investments.

The embattled chancellor, facing a general election next month, spoke in Wolfsburg, home to the historic headquarters of Volkswagen, whose rapidly fading fortunes have come to symbolise the broader crisis pummelling Europe’s traditional industrial powerhouse.

How to rekindle Germany’s beleaguered economy, which shrank in 2024 for the second straight year, has become a key campaign issue ahead of the February 23 vote.

Scholz, from the centre-left SPD, conceded the economy faced “challenges”, in particular because it was “globally interconnected”.

But he said this contributed to Germany’s economic strength, adding: “We have to defend it by investing here in Germany.”

“We need new growth that gives us the opportunity to have jobs throughout the country,” Scholz told the roughly 1,500 supporters who turned up.

Scholz outlined ways he planned to bolster the economy, such as greater investments in green industries, more renewable energy generation and a reduction of red tape.

He also called for an overhaul of Germany’s so-called debt brake that limits government borrowing, which critics say has prevented much-needed spending in a vast range of sectors in recent years.

Scholz, frequently criticised for his apparent lack of charisma, faces an uphill battle to win re-election.

The three-party coalition he headed was riven by infighting and imploded spectacularly in November amid a row over the budget, paving the way for next month’s snap election.

His Social Democrats (SPD) are languishing far behind in opinion polls on around 16 percent.

That compares to around 30 percent for the conservative opposition led by Friedrich Merz — who is widely expected to become the next chancellor — while the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) is second on about 20 percent after a recent surge in popularity.

Scholz took aim at Merz’s CDU party, saying it wanted to introduce “tax cuts for the wealthy” rather than focus on investing more.

– ‘No one has a plan’ –

Despite the chancellor’s upbeat message, the mood in Wolfsburg, a city of 128,000 people in Lower Saxony state, was bleak.

After three months of bitter negotiations, management and unions struck a deal last month that will see 35,000 VW jobs cut by 2030 as Europe’s biggest carmaker seeks to drastically reduce costs.

VW — hit hard by high manufacturing costs and fierce competition in key market China — ultimately pulled back from a threat to shutter factories in Germany for the first time in its 87-year history.

Kathrin Kuehne, a pensioner who worked for 27 years at the automaker, lamented that the days when the group “brought us prosperity” were long gone.

The current crisis at the automaker, whose 10 brands range from namesake VW to Porsche and Seat, was “a catastrophe”, the SPD activist told AFP as she attended Scholz’s event.

In his speech, Scholz insisted that his government had rescued jobs at the carmaker while calling to keep “moving forward” with ramping up production of electric vehicles.

Sales of EVs have been slowing, hitting carmakers worldwide, while VW in particular has been criticised for a mismanaged shift to electric, with critics contending it has allowed Chinese competitors to gain ground.

Peter Harweg, a Wolfsburg resident who works for an auto supplier but was not at Scholz’s speech, sounded disillusioned with politics in general.

“The CDU was in power for 16 years with (former chancellor Angela) Merkel. What have we done in 16 years?” asked the 51-year-old.

“No one really has a plan”.

PUTIN'S POLITICAL PRISONERS

Russia sentences Navalny lawyers to years behind bars


By AFP
January 17, 2025


Igor Sergunin, Alexei Liptser and Vadim Kobzev at their sentencing on Friday - Copyright AFP/File Daniel Munoz

Russia on Friday sentenced three lawyers who had defended Alexei Navalny to several years in prison for bringing messages from the late opposition leader from prison to the outside world.

The case, which comes amid a widespread crackdown on dissent during the Ukraine offensive, has alarmed rights groups that fear Moscow will ramp up trials against legal representatives in addition to jailing their clients.

The Kremlin has sought to punish Navalny’s associates even after his unexplained death in an Arctic prison colony last February.

Vadim Kobzev, Alexei Liptser and Igor Sergunin were found guilty of participating in an “extremist organisation” by a court in the town of Petushki.

Kobzev, the most high-profile member of Navalny’s legal team, was sentenced to five and a half years, while Liptser was handed five years and Sergunin three and a half years.

The sentences drew outrage in the West.

The trio were almost the only people visiting Navalny in prison while he served his 19-year sentence.

Navalny, Putin’s main political opponent, communicated with the world by transmitting messages through his lawyers, which his team then published on social media.

Passing letters and messages through lawyers is a normal practice in Russian prisons.

Navalny’s exiled widow Yulia Navalnaya said the lawyers were “political prisoners and should be freed immediately”.

– ‘New low point’ –

The United States, France, Germany and Britain all criticised the sentences.

“This is yet another example of the persecution of defense lawyers by the Kremlin in its effort to undermine human rights, subvert the rule of law and suppress dissent,” US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.

France’s foreign ministry called the court ruling “yet another act of intimidation against the legal profession as a whole”, while Germany said that “even those meant to defend others before the law face harsh persecution”.

Britain’s foreign minister David Lammy called on the Kremlin to “release all political prisoners”.

The lawyers were sentenced after a closed-door trial in Petushki — about 115 kilometres (70 miles) east of Moscow — near the Pokrov prison where Navalny was held before he was moved to a remote colony above the Arctic Circle.

“We are on trial for passing Navalny’s thoughts to other people,” Kobzev said in court last week, the Novaya Gazeta newspaper reported.

A statement from the court said they had “used their status as lawyers while visiting convict Navalny… to ensure the regular transfer of information between the members of the extremist community, including those wanted and hiding outside the Russian Federation, and Navalny”.

It said this allowed Navalny to plan “crimes with an extremist character” from his maximum-security prison.

In his messages, Navalny denounced the Kremlin’s Ukraine offensive as “criminal” and told supporters “not to give up”.

Navalny was himself a lawyer and was known for his sardonic speeches in court, attempts to sue officials and long legal tirades defying prosecutors.

He had denounced the arrest of his lawyers in October 2023 as an attempt to further isolate him.

Kobzev last week compared Moscow’s current crackdown on dissent to Stalin-era mass repression.

“Eighty years have passed… and in the Petushki court, people are once again on trial for discrediting officials and the state agencies,” he said.

– ‘To scare you’ –

The OVD rights group that monitors political repression in Russia said the sentences showed Moscow was now intent on making defending political prisoners — a practice that is still allowed but becoming more difficult — outright dangerous.

“The authorities are now essentially outlawing the defence of politically persecuted people,” the group said, a move that “risks destroying what little is left of the rule of law”.

Last week, Navalnaya said Russia had refused to remove her husband from its list of terrorists and extremists despite his death.

She published a December letter from Russia’s financial watchdog Rosfinmonitoring addressed to Navalny’s mother that said her son was still being investigated for money laundering and “financing terrorism”.

“Why does Putin need this? Obviously not to stop Alexei from opening a bank account,” Navalnaya said.

“Putin is doing this to scare you.”

COLLABORATORS

Netherlands grapples with painful past as WWII archives go public

Issued on: 17/01/2025 

Eighty years after the end of World War II, the Netherlands' largest war archive is going public. No longer classified, it contains the names of hundreds of thousands of people who were investigated for collaborating with the Nazis. The release has sparked a great deal of interest, but also public debate. Just weeks before the full archive containing 30 million documents was supposed to go live, the Dutch data protection authority intervened, citing privacy concerns. Our correspondents Fernande van Tets and Alix Le Bourdon report.

By:
Fernande VAN TETS
Alix LE BOURDON

WAR IS RAPE

In China, rare voices seek to break taboo over 'comfort women' raped by Japanese army

14:50

REVISITED © FRANCE 24

Issued on: 17/01/2025 -

During World War II, the Japanese imperial authorities abducted, coerced, tricked and sometimes recruited hundreds of thousands of women from Japan's colonial empire to become sexual slaves for soldiers. Sometimes minors, these women were called "comfort women" and were raped repeatedly in brothels near the front lines. With only a handful of survivors still alive in China, our reporters met one of them: 95-year-old Peng Zhuying. She is determined to share her story in a country where the subject remains taboo.

Being a "comfort woman" was long considered shameful. As a result, the exact number of victims remains unknown. Between 1932 and 1945, hundreds of thousands of women – around 200,000, according to historians – were abducted from the four corners of Japan's colonial empire. These Korean, Chinese, Taiwanese, Filipino and Indonesian women, some of them minors, were made available to Japanese soldiers in brothels near the front lines.

Back in 1991, a 67-year-old Korean woman named Kim Hak-soon publicly shared her story of being forced to live in a military brothel as a teenager. Soldiers raped her multiple times a day. Her trailblazing testimony led to many others speaking up and eventually a civil society movement was born, focused on bringing justice to "comfort women". Decades of campaigning in South Korea means that there is now widespread awareness of what happened to the "comfort women".
Only eight known Chinese victims still alive

But in China, the issue remains taboo. Most of the victims were from rural and traditional regions, where rape has long been a shameful topic. The Chinese Communist Party also considers history to be extremely sensitive and decides top-down on how to remember the past. In state media, different facets of wartime atrocities are highlighted according to Beijing's relations with Tokyo at a given time. School textbooks barely mention the crimes. With little to no feminist activism to help approach the topic with sensitivity, the issue has often been cast aside.

Despite these difficulties, a handful of Chinese scholars and volunteers want the wider public to care. They have devoted their careers, and sometimes their lives, to this cause. But time is running out to collect the testimonies of rape and exploitation of these women, who are now very elderly. In June of last year, one of the last surviving victims passed away. Only eight publicly known Chinese victims are still alive.

Our reporters met one of them: 95-year-old Peng Zhuying. She was a visually impaired teenager when soldiers dragged her to a brothel and raped her repeatedly. The former "comfort woman" told FRANCE 24 about the trauma she endured. She would now like younger generations to know what happened during this painful chapter of China's history.

By:
Yena LEEFollow
Jasmine Ling
Andrea Verdelli
Yorben den Hartog

Frauenkultur.co.ukfrauenkultur.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Against-Our-Will.pdf

Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape - Frauenkultur

... Against. Our Will. Men, Women and Rape. SUSAN BROWNMILLER. Fawcett Columbine • New York. Page 5. Sale of this book without a front cover may be unauthorized. If ...

PRESSGANGED

African troops 'forced to Ukraine frontlines' while Russians stay in camp

A large number of Africans have joined the Russian army since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. While some have voluntarily taken up arms via private companies under contract with the Kremlin, others were lured by false promises. One Cameroonian, who thought he was going to Russia to work as a caretaker, reveals the extent of this human trafficking.

LONG READ

Issued on: 17/01/2025- RFI

Russia is accused of exploiting African recruits as frontline fighters in Ukraine, with claims they are being sent to dangerous missions with minimal support while Russian troops remain in safer positions. AFP - FILIPPO MONTEFORTE,-

"Tomorrow, they want us to go on a suicide mission. I'm going to drop the gun so I don't have to go. I'll probably be tortured and sent to prison, but I'd rather save my life."

This was one of the last messages Samuel (first name changed) sent RFI, in mid-December.

A few weeks earlier, when we first made contact with him, he was in the infirmary of his unit's camp in a region of eastern Ukraine, which we will not specify for security reasons. He was suffering yet another injury, having recently also been treated in a military hospital for a serious arm wound, following a drone attack.

But, Samuel told us: "Here, as soon as we can walk, they send us to the front. And the Africans are on the front line. The Russians stay in the camp, sending the blacks and internationals to the front to occupy and advance. But every time we win, there's a cost, especially the mines, which decimate us."

‘A trip to the valley of the shadow of death'

Samuel's story began in May 2024. Trained as a scientist and having worked for the Ministry of Lands, Cadastre and Land Affairs in Cameroon, he received a call from one of his friends, with whom he had shared his dreams of working abroad.

"Patrice [first name changed] asked me how I was doing, if I still wanted to leave the country and work abroad." Tired of his poorly paid job in Yaoundé, he didn't hesitate. "In my room that day, I didn't know that I had just accepted a trip to the valley of the shadow of death."

"[Patrice] told me it was in Russia but that he didn't have any details, apart from the salary, which was promised to be enormous," said Samuel. "He was in contact with a woman who was taking care of the paperwork, so all I had to do was send a photo of my passport. She told me that once I was in Moscow they would exchange my passport for a Russian passport that would allow me to travel and work."

He continued: "She explained that it was in a military camp, and that I would be like a caretaker with tasks like cleaning and cooking. When she told me about the salary and bonuses, my eyes lit up. My mother and I put together 2.5 million CFA francs [€3,830], and I left with Patrice, who had also quit his job, and three other people."

Samuel shared with us the name and telephone number of the agency in question. He also shared a photo of a group of people wishing him a "bon voyage" behind the agency's banner at Yaoundé airport. On its Facebook page, created in January 2024, this agency offers a wide range of assistance for visas to several destinations, including Russia, "without a language test" and "at affordable rates".

But once in Russia, Samuel was in for a surprise. Instead of cooking utensils and cleaning products, he was given a Kalashnikov – which he accepted very reluctantly. In the camp, where he stayed for a few weeks of classes, he rubbed shoulders with many North Africans and sub-Saharans.

Embassy 'covering up' human trafficking

Samuel found himself in uniform without knowing exactly who he was fighting for, or in which unit. "The contracts they made us sign are doctored. We don't have a copy of the document, so we don't get the salary we were supposed to. Apparently, the Russian commander who made us sign gets part of it back, so it's a whole chain."

Samuel said he contacted the Cameroonian embassy to discuss his situation, to no avail. "They deny any knowledge of our presence here, even though there are so many of us. They're covering up human trafficking."

He considers his country's diplomatic service complicit, and pointed out that India has obtained the repatriation of 45 of its citizens who were victims of similar deception, after publicly denouncing this type of recruitment. "Our governments don't give a damn about us and they'll never come looking for us."

Contacted by RFI, the Cameroon Ministry of External Relations has not yet responded to our request for comment or further details.

First in training and then at the front, Samuel befriended other Cameroonians and forwarded us messages from the wife of one of them, who begged him for news of her husband.

When we spoke to her by phone, as she held a baby not yet a year old in her arms, she explained: "His parents had major health problems, so he wanted to leave to try and find ways of helping his family. He found an agency that told him about a job in Russia. He left in June, without giving any further details.

"Then I realised that he'd been offered a job in the army, and that he'd signed a one-year contract. He was supposed to do four months of training, except that at the end of July he told me that he was in Ukraine and that he was going on a mission for 10 days and that he'd let me know when he got back. He told me to pray for him. I haven't heard from him since."

‘If you back out, you're tortured’

Samuel described several photos showing him in small groups with "Malians and Gambians" in one photo, and between "two Egyptians" in another. "One died in a bombing, the other I don't know what his current situation is."

Finally, he told us what became of Patrice, "his friend of many years". He had also died, "leaving behind four children". Samuel added: "His wife calls me, I don't know what to tell her, he was like a brother, it hurts so much."

Of the group of five who boarded the same plane in Yaoundé, three had died and another escaped after sustaining an injury.

The reality of the fighting came as a shock to a man who says he "never fired a shot in my life before I came here".

The Ukrainians, Samuel said, are avoiding contact in order to save their forces, against a Russian army that has no qualms about sending foreign auxiliaries into the fray. "I've never seen a Ukrainian since I've been here. I know people who have been here for two years, they've never seen a Ukrainian with their own eyes, they've never fired a bullet at anyone, there aren't even any enemies. They [the Ukrainians] are hiding, they're running away from us, they're sending us drones with huge bombs, that's what kills you, along with the mines."

He continued: "And we have to move forward, we're not allowed to retreat. The Russians don't back down, they say. If you back out, you're tortured. We have to move forward to occupy the ground. But we're very poorly equipped. The Russians have machines to jam the waves of drones, but they keep them to themselves. They send us to fight and die with nothing at all."

Although it is difficult to verify the figures for human losses in the Ukrainian conflict, the ratio is clearly unfavourable to Russia and its "cannon fodder" strategy. The United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence estimates that 45,680 Russians died in November 2024, more than during any other month since the war began.

‘I hid among the dead to avoid drones'

Pushed to the front line by their officers, in paramilitary groups contracted by the Kremlin, gun in hand but themselves at gunpoint, African "recruits" are taking desperate measures to save themselves. "I've seen people shoot themselves in the hand to avoid going to the front and get to hospital," said Samuel. "I even hid among the dead to avoid the drones. We spent weeks without food, hiding. That's why I'm speaking out."

How many have found themselves in this situation, lured under false pretences? An exact figure is impossible to ascertain, but multiple reports are emerging.

In May last year, a Ukrainian intelligence report on Moscow's recruitment of foreign citizens to its army – including those from Nepal, India and Cuba as well as Somalia, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo and Uganda – was published by the news site Kyiv Independent.

It reported that these troops "are being recruited as assault troopers by a specially created unit of the Russian Defence Ministry," adding: "The mercenaries are lured by a starting payment of $2,000 for signing a contract, promised a monthly allowance of $2,200, health insurance, and Russian passports for them and their families."

In September, the same media outlet published video testimonies by a Somali and a Sierra Leonean taken prisoner by the Ukrainian army.

The same month, a Ghanaian TV channel broadcast the testimony of a group of 14 Ghanaian nationals who claimed to have been deceived into joining the Russian army by one of their compatriots, a former footballer. They arrived in Russia expecting to take up security jobs, and instead had their passports confiscated and were forced to sign contracts written in Russian.

In another report by Jeune Afrique, published in October, a Central African who managed to flee to Latvia claimed to have been recruited in Bangui by Wagner mercenaries while in police custody. A paramilitary allegedly "bought" his release for several hundred thousand CFA francs, in exchange for his signing a contract for a "security company".

In December 2023, he flew to Russia with other Central African ex-detainees, as part of a group of 300 to 400 sub-Saharan Africans, according to his testimony.

His account prompted condemnation from the Central African Republic's public prosecutor's office, which declared the information it contained was "devoid of any plausibility or legal basis" and stated that there had "never been any recruitment of persons in police custody in the Central African Republic's judicial police units".
‘No more Africans coming here to die’

Alongside recruits lured to the front line under false pretences, there are also reports of volunteers – such as Jean Claude Sangwa, a Congolese man studying in Lugansk, in a region of eastern Ukraine occupied since 2014.

Then there are those who were involved in rebel groups in their home countries. In March 2022, Nigerian journalist Philip Obaji wrote in US publication the Daily Beast that some 200 so-called "Black Russians", ex-rebels from the Central African Republic who had switched allegiance and been trained by Wagner, had been sent to Russia.

Obaji also claims that Central African detainees, including those guilty of serious crimes, have been released to serve on the Ukrainian front, following the example of mass recruitment from Russian prisons by the Wagner Group.

Voluntary or not, conditions for these fighters remain perilous on the Eastern Ukrainian front. And there's no question of complaining: Russian mercenaries do not hesitate to publish videos of what happens to deserters, including death by sledgehammer, the favourite tool of Wagner's men.

Samuel knows that if it is discovered he has spoken out, he will be killed. But he is prepared to take the risk.

"What I want is to mobilise the Africans who are travelling to Russia, so that they understand that they are being used. I want to tell people what's going on... so that it stops, so that Africans stop coming here to die. I've lost loved ones. We come here to die in a war that we don't know where it came from or why it started. I'd like to tell my part of the story when it's over."

Nigeria admitted as partner country of multinational BRICs bloc

Nigeria has been admitted as a partner country to the BRICs bloc of developing economies, adding one of Africa's largest economies to the growing alliance of emerging market countries. Brazil, the group's chair, said Nigeria's interests converged with other members of the group.


Issued on: 18/01/2025 -  RFI

View of Lagos, the economic capital of Nigeria – which has become a partner of the Brics bloc. © Olasunkanmi Ariyo / Getty Images

Brics was formed by Brazil, Russia, India and China in 2009 as a counterweight to the Group of Seven (G7) leading industrialised nations. South Africa was added in 2010.

Last year the bloc added Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates.

Nigeria becomes the ninth Brics partner country – joining Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Thailand, Uganda, and Uzbekistan.

"With the world’s sixth-largest population – and Africa’s largest – as well as being one of the continent’s major economies, Nigeria shares convergent interests with other members of Brics," Brazil's Foreign Ministry, known as Itamaraty, said in a statement Friday.

"It plays an active role in strengthening South-South cooperation and in reforming global governance – issues that are top priorities during Brazil’s current presidency."

With Brics expansion, China seeks a global counterweight to US

Brics now represents over half the world’s population and more than 45 per cent of global GDP, signalling its growing clout on the international stage.

As one of the world’s top oil producers, Nigeria brings significant economic weight to the group.

Last year President-elect Donald Trump threatened 100 percent tariffs against Brics if they attempt to undermine the US dollar. The bloc's leaders say they're committed to introducing an alternative payment system that would be independent of the dollar.

France's TotalEnergies to invest billions in Nigeria

The partnership status, created in October 2024, allows Nigeria to participate in Brics meetings and events, but does not grant full membership privileges such as voting rights.

(with newswires)

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

American Express agrees to $109 million fine for deceptive marketing


Attorney General Merrick Garland pauses as he speaks at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC in 2022. Pool Photo by Carolyn Kaster/UPI | License Photo

Jan. 16, 2025 / UPI

Jan. 16 (UPI) -- American Express has agreed to pay nearly $109 million in fines related to deceptive marketing and false account allegations, the Justice Department announced Thursday.

A release from the Justice Department said the company settled claims that it deceptively marketed credit card and wire transfer products and entered "dummy" Employer Identification Numbers in the credit card accounts of its affiliate bank.


"When financial companies engage in deceptive sales tactics or falsify information to cover up a failure to follow applicable regulations, they threaten the integrity of our financial system," said Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton, head of the Justice Department's Civil Division.

"We cooperated extensively with these agencies and our regulators and took decisive voluntary action to address these issues, including discontinuing certain products several years ago," American Express wrote in a statement about the settlement.

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American Express went on to say that the company conducted an internal review, disciplined employees and bolstered training and compliances measures. All told, American Express said it paid more than $230 million "to resolve these matters."

From 2014 to 2017, American Express allegedly used deceptive practices to market credit cards to small businesses, including by misrepresenting rewards programs, fees and not making it clear whether credit checks would be done without a customer's consent.

American Express also allegedly submitted falsified financial information for prospective customers, such as overstating a business's income.

The phony EINs were entered when American Express sold a card to a small business to replace a co-branded card that was being discontinued.

"American Express employees used 'dummy' EINs such as '123456788' in opening small business credit cards in 2015 and the first half of 2016," the Justice Department release said.

The Justice Department said American Express allowed the EINs to remain on the new cards for as long as two years.

American Express also allegedly deceptively marketed the company's wire transfer products known as Payroll Rewards and Premium Wire between 2018 and 2021, making false claims about their tax benefits.

"American Express allegedly would wire money for an above-market fee that was far in excess of that offered by competitors in the marketplace and award the businesses or the business owners credit card membership reward points," the Justice Department said.

DoubleTree violated Civil Rights Act, Justice Department says


Undated photo of Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. Photo courtesy of the U.S. Department of Justice

Jan. 17 (UPI) -- The Justice Department has reached an agreement with the owner of the DoubleTree Hilton Hotel at SeaWorld in Orlando for allegedly discriminating against people of Arab descent by canceling a conference at the hotel, officials announced Thursday.

The hotel canceled the conference to be held by the Arab America Foundation, a non-profit educational and cultural organization, in November 2023, just a week before it was scheduled to begin, which the Justice Department said violated the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
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"No one may be denied the right to use hotel facilities because of their national origin," said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division," in a statement released by the Justice Department.

The Justice Department said the hotel's decision to cancel the conference was not based on any legitimate, non-discriminatory reason. The hotel claimed that it canceled the conference due to security concerns, but the Justice Department said in the release that the hotel had reported no such threats or conference-related risks.

"Rather, the decision to cancel was based on the national origin of the Arab America Foundation's members and the conference attendees," the Justice Department said.

The settlement requires the DoubleTree to issue a statement to the Arab America Foundation that all guests are welcome, including members of the foundation and its guests, retain a compliance officer for two years, craft new anti-discrimination policies, and provide related employee training, among other directives.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Justice Department sues Walgreens over opioid drug prescriptions


 The Justice Department has filed a civil lawsuit against Walgreens, accusing the 124-year-old pharmacy chain of dispensing millions of unlawful prescriptions over a period of several years. File Photo by Billie Jean Shaw/UPI

Jan. 18 (UPI) -- The Justice Department has filed a civil lawsuit against Walgreens, accusing the 124-year-old pharmacy chain of dispensing millions of unlawful prescriptions over a period of several years.

The Justice Department claim was filed earlier in the week and names Illinois-based Walgreens Boots Alliance, Walgreen Co. and several of its subsidiaries.

Justice department officials claim that starting in 2012, Walgreens pharmacies wrongly filled millions of prescriptions for addictive opioid drugs and then claimed financial reimbursement for many of those prescriptions through government healthcare programs.

The complaint says the company pressured individual pharmacists to ignore warnings and fill prescriptions quickly and without checking into a patients or prescribing doctor's background.


"This lawsuit seeks to hold Walgreens accountable for the many years that it failed to meet its obligations when dispensing dangerous opioids and other drugs," Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian Boynton, who heads up the Justice Department's Civil Division, said in the agency's statement.

"Our complaint alleges that Walgreens pharmacists filled millions of controlled substance prescriptions with clear red flags that indicated the prescriptions were highly likely to be unlawful, and that Walgreens systematically pressured its pharmacists to fill prescriptions, including controlled substance prescriptions, without taking the time needed to confirm their validity. These practices allowed millions of opioid pills and other controlled substances to flow illegally out of Walgreens stores."

Authorities contend Walgreens' actions violated the False Claim Act and contributed to the rising opioid epidemic. "Any person who knowingly submits, or causes to submit, false claims to the government is liable for three times the government's damages plus a penalty that is linked to inflation," the legislation states.

More than 2.5 million American adults have opioid use disorder, while there were over 81,000 overdose deaths involving opioids in 2023.

The Justice Department has collectively received more than $2.9 billion in settlements or judgements related to violations of the False Claim Act.

If found liable under the CSA, Walgreens could face up to $80,850 in civil penalties per individual case involving filling an unlawful prescription.

Founded in Chicago in 1901, Walgreens and its affiliates operate over 8,000 pharmacies across the United.

"As alleged in the complaint, Walgreens continually disregarded its obligations under the Controlled Substances Act and False Claims Act by illegally dispensing powerful controlled substances and unlawfully seeking reimbursement from federal healthcare programs," Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Morris Pasqual said in the Justice Department's statement.

"These laws are critically important in protecting our communities from the dangers of the opioid epidemic. Our office will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to ensure that opioids are properly dispensed and that taxpayer funds are only spent on legitimate pharmacy claims."

In December, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit contending pharmacy chain CVS engaged in similar practices.

CDC wants more, faster testing for bird flu as outbreak grows

By India Edwards, HealthDay News
Jan. 17, 2025 

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory, issued Thursday, recommends that health care providers perform a second test for bird flu within 24 hours of hospital admission for any patient suspected of having seasonal or H5N1 avian influenza. Adobe stock/HealthDay


The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is urging health care workers to accelerate bird flu testing for patients hospitalized with flu symptoms, as the H5N1 avian influenza outbreak continues to grow in the United States and Canada.

The advisory, issued Thursday, recommends that health care providers perform a second test for bird flu within 24 hours of hospital admission for any patient suspected of having seasonal or H5N1 avian influenza -- otherwise known as bird flu.

It also emphasizes immediately starting antiviral treatment, such as Tamiflu, without waiting for test results.

Delays in diagnosing bird flu can complicate public health investigations, delay treatment for exposed individuals and affect hospital infection control, according to a report in the The Washington Post.

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Patients who are not tested promptly may struggle to remember where they may have been exposed seven to 10 days before becoming sick, as well as others they may have exposed, said Dr. Nirav Shah, the CDC's principal deputy director.

"The more time that passes, the more [a patient's] memories fade," he told The Post.

Bird flu has sickened more people in the ongoing outbreak.

Earlier this month, a Louisiana man became the first U.S. resident to die from bird flu, and a Canadian girl spent two months hospitalized with severe illness. Public health officials have also confirmed an increasing number of bird flu infections in domestic cats linked to raw pet food or raw milk exposure

Who's most at risk? The CDC continues to stress that the risk of bird flu is low for the general public.

However, an updated public health risk assessment notes that certain groups face a higher risk, including: farm workers handling sick animals or by-products; owners of backyard flocks; animal care workers; veterinarians; and public health staff working on avian flu outbreaks

Seasonal flu cases remain high nationwide, making it essential to distinguish between standard influenza and avian influenza quickly.

Most hospitals lack the capability to test for bird flu on-site and must send specimens to public health labs, which can delay results.

"By the time test results come back, the patients may already be discharged and their household contacts may no longer be candidates for effective antiviral treatment," Shah explained.

As of Thursday, 67 people have been infected by bird flu, most of them dairy or poultry workers, all of whom recovered. However, the Louisiana man who died had direct contact with sick birds in his backyard flock.

The CDC recommends the following measures to curb the spread of bird flu: accelerate testing for hospitalized patients with flu symptoms; avoid direct contact with sick or dead wild birds, poultry and other animals; ensure healthcare workers use protective equipment when treating suspected bird flu cases; and send specimens for H5N1 testing to public health labs immediately.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides guidance on bird flu prevention.

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