Online safety a key part of Ottawa's new gender plan — and to world peace, says envoy

Story by The Canadian Press • 

OTTAWA — Authoritarian countries are leveraging social media to set back progress for women worldwide, a Canadian special envoy says, as Ottawa refreshes its cross-government gender policy.

Canada's ambassador for women, peace and security, Jacqueline O'Neill, says these threats require supporters of gender equality around the world to work together. 

Western countries must help buck a global trend of strongmen leaders seeking to prevent women from having meaningful roles in public life, she said in a recent interview. 

"Authoritarian governments are very much cracking down on space for communities to organize, for the media to have free speech and for women's rights activists to pursue their work," said O'Neill, who advocates for women both abroad and at home.

She pointed to research such as that of Harvard University professor Erica Chenoweth, who has documented how resistance movements are more successful when they integrate women in leadership and frontline roles.

One way that governments are trying to stifle such opposition is by using social media to support, spread and even fund a narrative that women's rights are a foreign import meant to challenge traditional values, O'Neill said.

She calls it technology facilitated gender-based violence.

Women in Canada are no strangers to online harassment. 

Gov. Gen. Mary Simon convened female politicians, activists and journalists last year to strategize on how to deal with vile online abuse. 

And Global Affairs Canada has started adding security expenses to grants it gives to human-rights activists abroad, O'Neill said, for everything from physical office locks to training on digital hygiene so people can protect themselves online. 

The department says Liberal ministers approved the third national action plan on women, peace and security in December.

The recently approved policy is meant to provide guidance across the government — from its approach to diplomatic summits to how it conducts domestic policing and welfare programs.

Though it has not been released publicly and O'Neill said she can't share the details, she suggested it will address online harms.

She signalled it will also include considerations around how climate can affect women's security. 

"We're seeing a lot of armed groups around the world taking advantage of climate disruptions to both recruit women into their forces (and) to abduct girls to be, effectively, sex slaves," she said.

She noted that natural disasters and other climate emergencies, such as drought, can cause families to pull their girls out of school so they can work or be part of forced marriages. 

As part of her role, O'Neill was in East Africa last month taking stock of the situation for women in countries that recently experienced conflict but have since lost global attention. 

"We wanted to convey that they're equally important to us now, and that we're equally engaged," she said.

There, too, she heard activists speak to an increasing chill on their freedom of speech. 

O'Neill visited the Tigray region in Ethiopia, where a terrible war ended in late 2022. Hundreds of thousands of people died and there were widespread accounts of rape. 

There, she said she met with women who were receiving help because of Canadian aid as they recovered from sexual violence perpetrated by militants. 

"They did things like inserting objects in women's wombs that would prevent them from ever having babies again," she described. 

Many survivors said they’d been knocked out during these attacks, and only learned what happened years later when an infection emerged or they couldn't get pregnant, and medical tests found evidence of foreign objects such as nails or rocks. 

"There was an ethnic dimension to this in wanting them to never reproduce," said O'Neill, emphasizing that systemic acts such as those go beyond domestic or gender-based violence.

"It’s equally horrific, but it also requires a different kind of response, and it requires justice on a different level."

The Canadian envoy said she saw a concerning lack of services to reintegrate women in the country — meaning efforts to allow women to resume employment, including in politics, rather than being left to provide basic services and support to their communities in the wake of war. 

In Mozambique, O'Neill saw that reintegration has been a major part of the effort to help reach a lasting peace following a long civil war. 

The success of the country's 2019 peace treaty depends in part on making sure female combatants are included in reintegration efforts, she said. 

In Kenya, O'Neill visited a training centre for peacekeepers that tries to reconcile the roles of police, military and civilians in conflict areas. 

She said the curriculum included information about how to find signs of sexual violence on a systemic level. 

The training might help Kenyan police officers on a planned deployment to Haiti, O'Neill said, as part of a mission that aims to stabilize the Caribbean country for which Canada announced a $80.5-million contribution on Thursday.

O'Neill is not the only envoy in the international community with a title focused on women, peace and security. 

But the Canadian version of that role is unique, O'Neill said. 

In addition to advocating for women abroad and telling their stories to Canadians, she is also tasked with seeing what Canada can learn from how countries rich and poor are making gains for women. 

"Every country in the world has something to share about what they're doing," O'Neill said — and "so many things to learn."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 25, 2024.

Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press

Ottawa to create regulator to hold online platforms accountable for harmful content: sources

Story by Naama Weingarten •

Sources confirm a new regulator to hold tech giants accountable for harmful online content is part of impending federal legislation.© Manan Vatsyayana/AFP/Getty Images

The Online Harms Act, expected to be introduced by the federal government on Monday, will include the creation of a new regulator that would hold online platforms accountable for harmful content they host, CBC News has confirmed.

The new regulatory body is expected to oversee a digital safety office with the mandate of reducing online harm and will be separate from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), sources say

Two sources, including one with the federal government, with knowledge of Monday's legislation confirmed the creation of the office, saying it will require Canadian websites to uphold a "duty to reduce harm" and comply with federal law. CBC News is not identifying the sources because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter before the bill is tabled in Parliament.

It's not clear whether the regulator will have power only over online platforms hosted in Canada or over all websites accessible by Canadians.

The Canadian Press first reported that a new regulator would be part of forthcoming online-harms legislation. The government is also planning to establish a new ombudsperson whose job would be to field concerns from members of the public who encounter problematic material or scenarios online, CP previously reported.

Sources say some components of the new bill will be modelled on the European Union's Digital Services Act. According to the European Commission, its act "regulates online intermediaries and platforms such as marketplaces, social networks, content-sharing platforms, app stores, and online travel and accommodation platforms.

In an interview on Sunday, Michael Geist, Canada Research Chair in Internet and e-Commerce Law at the University of Ottawa, told CBC News there's a need for some kind of governance structure to tackle harmful online content, but "the devil will be in the details" of what regulations will entail.

"The government already saddled the CRTC with many issues that fall beyond its expertise," he said. "It's hard to judge the new governance structure until we see it, it's actually a bit of a wild card."

The government's proposed legislation will focus on protecting children and youth from the dangers of the internet, according to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

"We need to do a better job as a society of protecting our kids online the way we protect them in schoolyards, in our communities, in our homes across the country," Trudeau told reporters in Edmonton on Wednesday.

Privacy concerns around age verification

Monday's legislation by the government is expected to present an alternative to Bill S-210, proposed by Independent Sen. Julie Miville-Dechêne. That bill requires Canadians to verify their age to access porn online, with the establishment of a digital ID verification system as a potential method.

A House of Commons committee is set to study S-210, as the owners of Canadian adult website Pornhub said they won't rule out blocking Canadians from the site if measures to verify the age of users are passed.

"We will never, ever take the private identifying information of our users," Solomon Friedman, a partner and vice-president of compliance at Ethical Capital Partners, which owns Pornhub's parent company, said in a previous interview.

Trudeau said his Liberal government is opposed to age-verification systems for porn websites, an option endorsed by Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre last week. Poilievre's office later clarified that the Conservatives oppose any kind of digital ID as a method of doing so.

When age-verification laws passed in Utah last summer, Pornhub blocked access to its site, and demand for Virtual Private Networks surged by 847 per cent, according to Top 10 VPN, which analyzes spikes in VPN demand. Montana, one of the states where age-verification laws passed last year, saw a 482 per cent increase in demand for VPN, which is used to hide people's location online.

The possibility of age-verification systems rang alarm bells among privacy experts, who worry about the risks of Canadians sharing their personal information with external sources.

The regulations echo the online harms bill that Trudeau's government proposed ahead of the 2021 election. It would have created a digital safety commissioner as a watchdog for social media companies, required to weed out child pornography and other harmful content.

Public consultations for these rules were met with strong criticism from privacy experts and civil liberties groups, who said a proposed measure giving companies 24 hours to remove flagged harmful content would encourage platforms to be overly cautious and result in suppression of free speech. The bill ultimately died on the order paper when the Liberals called an election.

Trudeau then said he would table an online harms bill within 100 days after the election, a years-old promise that faced mounting pressure with the rise of online hate speech and multiple reports of teenagers who died by suicide after being victims of online sextortion.

Overworked and unheard, South Korean doctors on mass walkout say

Ryu O. Hada, 25, holds his white coat in front of the hospital where he worked in Seoul. REUTERS/Kim Soo-Hyeon© Thomson Reuters

By Ju-min Park and Minwoo Park

SEOUL (Reuters) - Ryu Ok Hada always wanted to help people, but now the South Korean trainee doctor has walked off the job and stands outside the hospital where he worked, holding his medical gown in his hand.

Park Dan, who recently realised his childhood dream of being an emergency physician, is also one of over 7,800 interns and residents who have resigned in a confrontation with the government, which threatens to arrest them.

Ryu and Park say the junior doctors, a crucial cog in South Korea's highly regarded medical system, are overworked, underpaid and unheard.

Hospitals have turned away patients and cancelled surgeries after about two-thirds of the country's young doctors walked off the job this month in protest.

The young doctors say their pay and working conditions should be the priority, rather than the government's plan to boost the number of physicians. The authorities say more staff are needed to increase healthcare services in remote areas and meet the growing demands of one of the world's most rapidly ageing societies.




Park Dan, head of the Korean Intern Resident Association, speaks during an interview with Reuters in Seoul, South Korea, February 25, 2024. REUTERS/Daewoung Kim© Thomson Reuters

"The current medical system in South Korea, which is a great one, is run by making cheap trainee doctors keep grinding," Ryu, 25, told Reuters.

Senior doctors and private practitioners have not walked out but have held rallies urging the government to scrap its plan, with 400 gathering in Seoul on Sunday.

But the government's plan to boost medical school admissions is popular, with about 76% of respondents in favour, regardless of political affiliation, a recent Gallup Korea poll found.


Medical workers walk at The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul ST. Mary’s Hospital, ahead of the protests by doctors against the government's medical policy, in Seoul, South Korea, February 25, 2024. 

REUTERS/Kim Soo-Hyeon© Thomson Reuters

TORN BETWEEN PATIENTS, POLICY

Intern and resident doctors in South Korea work 36-hour shifts, compared to shifts of less than 24 hours in the U.S., according to the Korean Intern Resident Association. It says half the young U.S. physicians work 60 hours a week or less, while Korean doctors often work more than 100 hours.

Ryu said he worked more than 100 hours a week at one of the country's most prestigious university hospitals, for 2 million won to 4 million won ($1,500-$3,000) a month including overtime pay. A first-year U.S. resident averages about $5,000 a month, according to American Medical Association data.




Ryu O. Hada, 25, one of the thousands of South Korean trainee doctors who resigned en masse to protest the government's medical policy, holds his white coat in front of the hospital where he worked in Seoul, South Korea, February 25, 2024

. REUTERS/Kim Soo-Hyeon© Thomson Reuters

Hospitals have not processed the resignations of the protesting doctors, who say they are not on strike. The government has ordered them back to work, threatening to arrest them or revoke their licenses, saying their collective action cannot be justified and people's lives must come first.

Park and other doctors say the order is unconstitutional, forcing them to work against their will.

The doctors on walkout represent just a fraction of South Korea's 100,000 doctors, but they can make up more than 40% of staff at large teaching hospitals, performing crucial tasks in emergency rooms, intensive care units and operating rooms.

Emergency rooms at South Korea's five biggest hospitals were on "red alert" on Sunday, meaning they were running out of beds. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said on Friday that public hospitals would stay open longer and on weekends and holidays to meet demand.


A patient is wheeled at The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul ST. Mary’s Hospital, ahead of the protests by doctors against the government's medical policy, in Seoul, South Korea, February 25, 2024. 

REUTERS/Kim Soo-Hyeon© Thomson Reuters

Park, 33, who heads the Korean Intern Resident Association, wants the authorities to bring doctors into essential disciplines such as paediatrics and emergency departments at large hospitals.

Doctors want better legal protection from malpractice suits and changes to a system where many hospitals rely on a low-paid workforce and off-insurance services to stay afloat in a country often praised for providing universal quality medical coverage affordably, Park said.

He said he was torn between his patients and a government enforcing policy without listening to the doctors, but that he had little choice."With pride to save patients I came this far. As many doctors say, it was heartbreaking and difficult to leave patients behind," Park said. "But the current system is distorted, so we need better than that."

($1 = 1,329.9500 won)

(Reporting by Ju-min Park and Minwoo Park; Editing by William Mallard)

LILLEY: Lynx Air, like Flair, owes millions in unpaid taxes to Ottawa

Opinion by Brian Lilley • TORONTO SUN

An airline passenger passes by the new Lynx Air Boeing 737 on the tarmac at the Calgary International Airport in Calgary 

Jim Wells/Postmedia© Provided by Toronto Sun

When Lynx Air announced they were shutting down late last week, their court filings showed they owed more than $25 million in GST for importing aircraft. The news came as The Toronto Sun reported exclusively that Flair Airlines owed more than $67 million in GST for the same issue before the feds came knocking.

It seems that owing significant tax money to the federal government is something the airlines shared as they looked to merge recently.

Some details of the merger plan and the names of high-profile investors like Mitch Garber, minority owner of the NHL’s Seattle Kracken and a longtime Liberal donor, and Stephen Bronfman, Justin Trudeau’s chief fundraiser.

Combined, Lynx and Flair owed $92 million in GST payments before both companies eventually entered into repayment agreements.

While Lynx Air is shutting down, Flair struggles on.

According to the repayment plan Lynx agreed to with the feds, the airline was required to pay $100,000 per month at the start of December, January and February. On March 1, the payment was scheduled to increase to $200,000 and on April 1, to $700,000 per month.

Payments were supposed to continue and increase until the total value of $25,030,382 was paid in full by November 2026. It’s unclear what will happen to the monies owed now that Lynx has sought creditor protection.

The arrangement between CRA and Lynx, filed with their creditor protection pleadings, states that the amount owing was for the period between May 4 and Sept. 14, 2023. It was signed and dated Nov. 17, just six days before CRA got a court order to seize and sell Flair’s planes and other assets to recoup the $67 million it owes for failing to pay GST.

Readers who are also business owners were in shock at Flair being able to have $67 million owing in GST over several years.

“This is crazy, I own two restaurants and have had my account frozen three times over 10Gs in HST owing,” Tom wrote via email.

Others told stories of aggressive collection methods used by CRA that clearly did not apply to Flair or Lynx.

In their application to the court under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, Lynx interim chief financial officer Michael Woodward stated that the company owed various creditors $599 million but had just $429 million in assets. Listed among the creditors is a deferred tax liability of nearly $24.5 million, the remaining GST debt.

Whether that money will ever be collected, like the Flair money, remains to be seen.

Deep inside the CRA court filings submitted Thursday are some of the details of the rumoured merger between Flair and Lynx. The way the deal is described by Lynx, the plan sounds more like Lynx would be taken over by Flair and the money from the transaction would be used to pay off investors in Lynx, in particular the bridge financing loans provided.

Lynx was backed by Indigo Partners, an American firm headed by Bill Franke that has built and run low-cost airlines Frontier, JetSmart and Wizz Air. The Canadian investors included Torquest Partners, a Toronto-based venture capital firm, as well as Stephenson Management controlled by Mitch Garber, and Stepworth Holdings controlled by Stephen Bronfman.

Start-up airlines in Canada face a number of problems in getting up and running, including — as has been recently documented — outrageous taxes and fees charged by governments in Canada as opposed to other parts of the world.

The federal government will collect nearly $500 million in airport rents this year, which gets passed on to consumers in the form of higher ticket prices. Canada’s taxes on jet fuel are significantly higher than in the United States, even before the carbon tax and GST are added on top of the higher tax.

Security charges per passenger in Canada are also higher and are about to go up 33% on May 1.

There are many ways that the Trudeau government could act to make low-cost carriers viable in this country, but they haven’t shown a desire to do so.

'A white man's war': Calgary military museum focuses on Black Canadian soldiers

© Provided by The Canadian Press

CALGARY — Oral Virtue first met Newfoundland-based Canadian soldiers as a child growing up in Jamaica, never forgetting their friendliness, openness and the way they spoke this “funky foreign language.”

More than five decades later, Virtue, 61, recalls a lifetime of service as a soldier while viewing the Black History Month exhibition at the Military Museums in Calgary.

"It never left my heart. Up to this day, I can still remember seeing those first Canadians (in Jamaica),” Virtue said in an interview.

“They are so polite, so nice. But we can't understand a single word they're saying because they're speaking this funky, foreign language," he said with a laugh.

Memories of the Maple Leaf meshed with Virtue’s family history and his innate love of all things military.

His father served in the Second World War with Great Britain.

Virtue and his family moved to Ontario, and Virtue eventually joined the Canadian Armed Forces, serving on deployments in Cyprus, Bosnia and elsewhere in Europe before retiring in 2007 from the Lord Strathcona's Horse armoured regiment.

Virtue said while everyone was supposed to serve as equals, shoulder to shoulder, he signed up with his eyes wide open as a Black man.

"I wasn't blind to what was happening," Virtue said.

"I was definitely aware of the racism.

“When I joined, there were a couple of guys that were from the Caribbean, and they talked to me about what I should expect. Their experience paved the way for me."

Allan Ross, a volunteer researcher who curates the Black History Month exhibit, said the roots of military service for Black Canadians dates back two centuries — helping the British fight off the Americans in the War of 1812 and assisting in stopping the rebellion in Upper Canada in 1837.

Canada’s first Black physician, Anderson Abbott, served in the U.S. Civil War, he added. Abbott was also an attending physician to U.S. president Abraham Lincoln.

Ross said any underlying racism became glaringly obvious during the Boer War in South Africa from 1899 to 1902 — a conflict that saw 7,000 Canadians volunteer for service alongside British forces.

Ethnic soldiers, said Ross, were eager to enlist but were turned away, given the prevailing sentiment that they would not fight or would falter when bullets started flying.

"We first hear the term, 'It's a white man's war' in the Boer War,” said Ross.

As Canada’s participation in conflict continued, discrimination marched in lockstep.

Many Black Canadians were turned away from serving in the First World War, although they were eventually allowed in — not to fight but to work in service roles.

An all-Black battalion, the No. 2 Construction Battalion, was formed in Nova Scotia and was dispatched to France in 1917 to provide lumber for trenches, roads and railways.

In the Second World War, air force and navy officials feared Black soldiers would struggle aboard ships and planes, said Ross.

"They thought the tight confines of an airplane or in a ship might cause conflict or disagreement with some of the other men."

Ross said acceptance was better in later conflicts in Korea, the Baltics and Afghanistan. The will of Black Canadians to serve has remained strong throughout.

"Why did these men want to fight?” said Ross.

"They wanted to say, ‘We're Canadians as well. We're all in this together and we want to prove we are part of this greater group.’”

Virtue said history, in some ways, still repeats itself.

Female soldiers later experienced what Black soldiers went through when it came to combat roles, he said.

"When I was in (CFB) Cornwallis, we had females in our platoons, and they were promised combat roles. Not a single one of them got it," he said.

"Years later, I went to Europe and I came back, and then we had the very first females inside our vehicles.

“They did end up having a very, very hard time,” he added.

“Discrimination is discrimination."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 25, 2024.

Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press

The colour of farmed salmon comes from adding an antioxidant to their feed, with benefits for everyone

Story by Stefanie Colombo, Canada Research Chair in Aquaculture Nutrition, Dalhousie University • 

Salmon's distinctive colour comes from carotenoids in their diet.© (Shutterstock)

Abarrage of messages from social media influencers, along with other online blogs and articles, have claimed that farmed salmon are bad for you because the fish are fed dyes to turn their flesh red.

Some have claimed that farmed salmon is naturally gray, suggesting they are malnourished, and consumers should avoid eating it for this reason.

These claims are utterly false and perpetuate a myth that can confuse or scare salmon consumers. The truth is that the colour of salmon fillets is red due to naturally occurring molecules called carotenoids, such as astaxanthin. This is part of a natural diet of wild salmon, and is added to the food for farmed salmon.

Carotenoids are common in the natural world among different plants and animals. Salmon have it in their diet from eating algae, krill and other small crustaceans. Carotenoids are essential pigments produced by bacteria, fungi, algae and plants. Animals cannot make carotenoids on their own, so those found in animals are either directly accumulated from food or partly modified through their own metabolic reactions.

The colour of salmon fillets is from the same pigment that we see in shrimp, lobsters and even flamingos.



The colour of wild salmon’s flesh comes from naturally occurring carotenoids in their diet, which needs to be added to the feed of farmed salmon.© (Shutterstock)
Why are salmon red?

The red colour of salmon flesh — their muscle tissue — is a unique trait in several types of salmon. It’s an evolved genetic trait that likely occurred as an evolutionary mutation and distinguishes salmon from other types of fish.

While the flesh colour is a direct result of carotenoids in their diet, there is also a unique genetic component The gene beta-carotene oxygenase 1 is responsible for carotenoid metabolism, and most likely explains flesh colour variation in salmon.

Carotenoids, including astaxanthin, can be manufactured and added to the diet of farmed salmon. These can be produced synthetically on a commercial scale, or from natural sources, such as algae; the freshwater green microalgae, Haematococcus pluvialis, is a popular source. H. pluvialis is an excellent source of astaxanthin for farmed salmonids like rainbow trout.

More importantly, astaxanthin is a health-sustaining molecule that plays a critical role in fish health and survival, and has benefits for humans too.
Health benefits to fish

Astaxanthin is a potent antioxidant, meaning it prevents some types of cellular damage. Antioxidants have multiple health benefits for both fish and humans.

Astaxanthin’s antioxidant activity is 100 times higher than vitamin E, which is a popular antioxidant in human supplements. In fish, it has many important functions related to immunity and reproduction.

Research has shown that astaxanthin has a significant impact on reproductive performance in many different fish species, like egg production and quality, sperm quality, fertilization rate and survival of newly hatched larvae.

Salmon eggs are red or orange in colour because of the accumulation of astaxanthin, which plays a beneficial role in protecting the eggs.


Salmon eggs in the Adams River, B.C. — the carotenoid astaxanthin gives the eggs their distinctive colour.© (Shutterstock)

Astaxanthin plays an important role in immune function and enhances the production of antibodies and the proliferation of immune cells. It improves liver function in fish, increases defences against oxidative stress, serves as a source of vitamin A and boosts its activity in fish.


New Canadian research is underway to investigate the role of dietary astaxanthin in inflammatory control and immunity in Atlantic salmon. Overall, studies have consistently found that dietary astaxanthin is an important nutritional factor in stimulating growth and maintaining health and survival of aquatic animals.
Health benefits to humans

In humans, astaxanthin’s antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects have been shown to protect against stress-associated and inflammatory diseases. There are also potential effects on various diseases, including cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes and obesity.

Additionally, pre-clinical trials predict that astaxanthin may regulate intestinal microbiome and glucose metabolism. People can get astaxanthin in their diet by eating salmon or other salmonids like trout as well as shrimp, crab, krill or supplements.

Astaxanthin in farmed fish feeds is not only for pigmentation, but is also a necessary nutrient for health and reproduction in fish. In turn, it increases the nutritional value of the fish fillets for consumers.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts.

Read more:
The science and politics of genetically engineered salmon: 5 questions answered

GM salmon may be safe but they’re not coming to a store near you just yet

Stefanie Colombo receives funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada, and the Ocean Frontier Institute through an award from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund. She is affiliated with the Aquaculture Association of Nova Scotia.

Joel Kim Booster Says AI Would Be Better Suited to Replace Executives Rather Than Creators

© Provided by Hollywood Reporter

Joel Kim Booster is sharing his thoughts on the future of artificial intelligence as a creator in Hollywood.

Ahead of the 2024 Film Independent Spirit Awards Sunday afternoon, the writer-actor-comedian spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about the controversial technology that had sparked fears across the entertainment industry (and beyond) about AI displacing people from their jobs.

"I think if anyone's job should be replaced by AI, it should be the execs, you know, in terms of the skill sets," the Fire Island star explained. "I think it aligns a little bit more with what AI is able to do in terms of just sort of distilling algorithms and what can be bought and sold and things like that."

Booster, who has worked in all facets of the industry, including writing, producing and acting, said that he is "absolutely" scared about what's to come with AI.

"I think it's nerve-wracking, and I think the advances that we're seeing, it's happening quicker than I think we're able to adjust to it," the Loot actor added. "But I think at the end of the day … listen, our jobs, what we bring to it, what human beings, what artists bring to the work, I think is undeniable and I think people can see through it and sense like the real heart. And I think especially awards like the Indie Spirits really demonstrate that, like what the power of human storytelling can bring to art."

Artificial intelligence has been a hot-button topic in the entertainment industry in recent years, as well as a sticking point during the writers and actors strikes last year. While both the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA were able to secure protections against the technology in their contracts with studios, there are still many unknowns about what the future of AI looks like.

A recent study surveying 300 leaders across the industry also estimates that nearly 204,000 positions will be adversely impacted by AI over the next three years.

The 39th Spirit Awards, hosted by Saturday Night Live alum Aidy Bryant, are taking place on Sunday. Check out the star-studded red carpet arrivals here.

MONOPOLY CAPITALI$M
Alcoa makes $2.2 bln offer for Australian aluminum peer Alumina

Story by Investing.com • 

Alcoa makes $2.2 bln offer for Australian aluminum peer Alumina© Reuters

Investing.com-- Alcoa Corp (NYSE:AA) said on late-Sunday it made a $2.2 billion, all stock offer to take over Australian aluminum producer Alumina Ltd (ASX:AWC) and potentially create one of the world’s largest bauxite and alumina producers.

Pittsburgh-based Alcoa said Alumina shareholders will receive 0.02854 Alco shares for each Alumina share, representing a per-share value of about $.076 based on Alcoa’s last close.

The figure values Alumina at about $2.2 billion, and represents a nearly 13% premium to the firm’s close on Friday. Shares of Alumina rose 4.4% to $1.065 in Australian trade on Monday.

Alumina’s board said that it, along with the top leadership, intend to recommend the takeover offer to shareholders, and that the firm had entered a 20-day exclusivity period with Alcoa for the deal.

The two firms are already part of the the Alcoa World Alumina and Chemical (AWAC) joint venture, which accounts for about a quarter of the world’s alumina supply. Alcoa is the main operator of the venture and holds a 60% stake in the venture.

“Alcoa has been a proven operator of AWAC, and we recognize the value creation opportunities possible under a simplified ownership structure,” Alcoa President and CEO William F. Oplinger said in a press release.

Under the proposed deal, Alcoa will take up a secondary listing on the Australian Securities Exchange. The firm has also entered an agreement with Allan Gray Australia, Alumina’s biggest shareholders, to buy an up to 19.9% stake in Alumina.

Thousands protest against the far right in Germany

Story by DPA International • 

People hold flags during a large demonstration for democracy and against right-wing extremism at Neumarkt. Sebastian Kahnert/dpa© DPA International

Tens of thousands of people gathered in Hamburg on Sunday ahead of a march through the inner city to demonstrate opposition to right-wing extremism in Germany.

The organizers said that more than 50,000 people to marched under the slogan "We are the firewall – together against right-wing extremism." Police said they would issue its estimate of the crowd's size after the rally ends.

The demonstration was the third of its kind in Hamburg since the start of the year, and cities across Germany have seen regular marches since it emerged that members of the far right had met to discuss mass deportations of millions of people living in Germany.

The Hamburg hip-hop electronic band Deichkind played at the protest and chanted "We don't want any Nazis and no AfD" in their final song.

The Hamburg demonstrations on Sunday were just one of at least 12 protest events planned in as many German cities all over the country, including in the capital Berlin and in south-eastern city of Dresden, where several thousand people gathered for a large rally against the right.

A spokeswoman for the organizers said around 20,000 people attended. The police initially did not name the number of participants.

Speakers included prominent German climate activist Luisa Neubauer from the Fridays for Future movement. "You don’t have democracy. You live democracy," Neubauer said, calling for people to stand up against indifference.

People also took to the streets in other East German cities near Dresden on Sunday - for example in Zwickau, Bautzen, Görlitz and Meissen.

Protests erupted across Germany after investigative journalists reported on a meeting by extremists in Potsdam, near Berlin, in November.

At the meeting, members of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the ultra-conservative Values Union (WerteUnion) discussed plans to deport millions of people who had migrated to Germany.

The wave of protests come ahead of elections in eastern states this year in which the AfD is predicted to do well.


People take part in a large against right-wing extremism stand in front of the Frauenkirche on Neumarkt square in Dresden. Sebastian Kahnert/dpa© DPA International


The band© DPA International

Maja Goepel, transformation researcher and political economist, stands on the stage next to a sign reading© DPA International


The band© DPA International

Thousands gather in Hamburg for protest against German far right

Story by DPA International • 

Participants walk behind a banner reading© DPA International

Tens of thousands of people gathered in Hamburg on Sunday ahead of a march through the inner city to demonstrate opposition to right-wing extremism in Germany.

The organizers are expecting some 30,000 to march under the slogan "We are the firewall – together against right-wing extremism." Police had not yet put a figure on the number attending shortly after midday.

The demonstration was the third of its kind in Hamburg since the start of the year, and cities across Germany have seen regular marches since it emerged that members of the far right had met to discuss mass deportations of millions of people living in Germany.

A local Hamburg band played as the demonstrators assembled at Dammtor to the north of the centre before marching along the Inner Alster Lake. The Hamburg hip-hop electronic band Deichkind is set to play at the protest.

The Hamburg demonstrations on Sunday are just one of at least 12 protest events planned in as many German cities all over the country, including in the capital Berlin and in south-eastern city of Dresden.

Countrywide protests erupted after information about a meeting by extremists in Potsdam near Berlin in November at which members of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the ultra-conservative Values Union (WerteUnion) discussed plans to deport immigrants.

The protests come ahead of elections in eastern states this year in which the AfD is predicted to do well.


People take part in a demonstration against right-wing extremism in Hamburg. Axel Heimken/dpa© DPA International


The band© DPA International

NBC editor slams CPAC after group denies Nazis attended: 'The Nazis introduced themselves'

Story by David McAfee • 

Donald Trump, Matt Schlapp© provided by RawStory

Donald Trump headlined at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) where there were several Nazis reportedly in attendance, but the group has emphatically denied it. Still, an editor at NBC is ready to debunk the group's false claims using photos.

The news outlet reported the Nazi allegation on Saturday, saying that they "mingled openly at CPAC" while they spread "antisemitic conspiracy theories" and find allies.

"The presence of these extremists has been a persistent issue at CPAC, and in previous years conference organizers have ejected well-known Nazis and white supremacists such as Nick Fuentes," according to NBC's report.

CPAC's Matt Schlapp hit back on Sunday, saying "NBC’s claim that there was a Nazi presence at CPAC 2024 is false, misleading, and grossly manipulative—especially coming from a writer who has carried the water for Hamas in much of his reporting on the Israel-Gaza war.”

“CPAC has made it absolutely clear that we stand with Israel and the Jewish people…and against the hatred of Jews," he wrote. "Our board and international partners unanimously passed a resolution this week reiterating that strong, clear, and unequivocal position. We hosted a special event at CPAC in celebration of and solidarity with Israel, and we are leading an ongoing initiative as an organization supporting Israel.”

He concluded:

“When we come across someone at CPAC peddling any kind of anti-semitism, we deal with them immediately. Knowing this, NBC weaved together lies and fabrications to create a false perception, and we won’t stand by idly while NBC engages in willful misinformation.”

Enter Ben Goggin, deputy tech editor at NBC.

"The Nazis introduced themselves to me at a mixer and said they were national socialists, started talking about skull measurements and pushing the conspiracy theory that all races were being controlled Jewish people," he said. "They were posting about their presence at CPAC online."

Goggin also included "a post from one mentioned in my piece wearing a cpac badge."

"In the next video, he’s giving a Nazi salute in the lobby of the conference hotel. There was a notable presence at the conference whether CPAC was aware of it or not," he added Sunday. "Either CPAC is lying about having no idea about this, or they simply don’t have a grasp on who they approved to come to their conference."

UBI
Oregon is giving homeless young people $1,000 a month to get back on their feet. Here's how it's going.

Story by kniemeyer@insider.com (Kenneth Niemeyer) • 1d • 


An outreach supervisor speaks to a person in a tent in Portland, Oregon. Getty Images© Getty Images
Oregon is giving some of its homeless youth $1,000 a month.
The state's DHS says recipients report spending money on housing and food.
The program is among dozens nationwide trying to alleviate poverty with a guaranteed basic income.

Oregon has a severe homelessness problem.

It's home to the third-worst homeless rate in the country, according to a federal count published in December. And it has the highest rate anywhere of unaccompanied homeless youth.

As state leaders scramble to address the problem, one solution is showing some promise: Give those young people $1,000 cash every month, no strings attached.

The Oregon Department of Human Services launched its Direct Cash Transfer Plus Pilot in February 2022. The program targets homeless people between 18 to 24 who have an "intention to become housed," the DHS wrote last year in a report on youth homelessness in the state.

So far 120 young people across the state are receiving the direct cash payments, the report says. About 75 of the recipients are in Multnomah County, home to Portland. Initial payments for participants in the program started in February 2023 and are scheduled to run until January 2025.

Participants receive payments of $ 1,000 a month. They can also receive a one-time $3,000 "enrichment fund" payment. The program started implementing the larger payment after conversations with participants who said they still had "significant financial obstacles" after receiving initial payments from the program, the document says.

The only qualification for the program is to be a young person who is unhoused, though there are other factors — like being a member of the LGBTQ+ community — that can give applicants priority. There are no limits on how participants spend the money.

Recipients said they spent the funds mostly on housing, repairing vehicles, furniture, and moving costs, the DHS says.

While more than 65% of the participants said they were unhoused when the payments began, after six months about 63% of them said they had found housing, the report says. About 85% of recipients reported still needing "at least occasional assistance" with getting access to food.

Point Source Youth, a national nonprofit focused on addressing the problem of youth homelessness, partnered with the state to help design, plan, and structure the program. The nonprofit has helped with similar programs in other cities and states nationwide.

Anjala Huff, a senior director at the organization, told Business Insider that enrollees have been able to obtain housing, enroll in school, and purchase cars since receiving payments.

The program's team has helped about two-thirds of the participants find housing. The goal is for the program to act as a sort of "housing intervention" that can be funded with public money in the future, Huff said.

"It's not just about obtaining housing. We are helping to navigate creative housing conversations on how to maintain housing beyond enrollment in the program," Huff told Business Insider. "After receiving the cash for one year, we are seeing youth who are interested in furthering their education to jump-start their careers."

The program also helps the young participants with other strategies to ensure long-term housing, like reducing debt, sharing housing, finding higher paying jobs, and accessing community resources, Huff said.

Oregon lawmakers, meanwhile, are considering a bill that would provide 12 monthly payments of $1,000 to people who are experiencing homelessness, at risk of homelessness, severely rent-burdened, or earn at or below 60% percent of median area income.

Several other states and cities nationwide are experimenting with guaranteed basic income plans, which are different than universal basic income plans because they target specific groups of people, but are similar in that they are direct cash transfers with no limits on how recipients can spend it.

The Baltimore Young Families Success Fund, for example, gives young parents in the city $1,000 a month. Tonaeya Moore, director of policy of the CASH Campaign of Maryland, previously told BI that surveys suggest participants mostly spent their money on the same general necessities, such as housing and food.

In Denver, the city recently extended a basic income program offering some residents up to $1,000 a month after participants reported increased housing security. And researchers in Austin found that most participants in a similar program there spent most of their funds on food and housing.

Despite the apparent success of these small regional experiments, not everyone is on board. Lawmakers in Iowa, South Dakota, Arizona, and elsewhere have proposed bills that would prevent such programs from taking place.

In January, Texas state Sen. Paul Bettencourt sent a letter to the state's attorney general asking him to declare unconstitutional a program in Harris County, which includes Houston, to give low-income residents $500 a month.