Florida TD Bank manager masterminded $30 million COVID loan fraud and kickback scheme

Jay Weaver
Fri, January 6, 2023

Daniel Hernandez held a key position at TD Bank, overseeing 80 employees at 27 branches in Miami-Dade County.

But the regional manager’s job also gave him the opportunity to fleece a massive U.S. government loan program meant to help struggling businesses survive the COVID-19 pandemic — by exploiting his bank from the inside, federal authorities say.

In less than a year, authorities say, Hernandez lined his pockets with kickback-like “commissions” as he collaborated with TD Bank customers, a former bank employee and other associates to submit falsified paperwork for more than 80 loans worth $30 million under the Paycheck Protection Program — all guaranteed by the Small Business Administration. Hernandez also directed others to apply for another $7 million in pandemic benefits from the Small Business Administration under its Economic Injury Disaster Loan program.

In total, Hernandez and his illicit network received more than $17 million in fraudulent loans approved by TD Bank and one of his previous employers, Bank of America, as well as by the SBA itself — in one of the most brazen pandemic relief cases involving two major U.S. banks, authorities say.

The 50-year-old Hernandez, who was fired from his TD Bank job before his arrest in August, pleaded guilty to a wire fraud conspiracy charge in December and now faces up to 10 years in prison at his sentencing in March. He is among dozens of pandemic hustlers in South Florida and thousands nationwide who have been convicted of fraud since Congress approved the $813 billion loan programs just after the coronavirus swept the country in March 2020.

In a report released last year, the SBA’s inspector general found there were about 70,000 fraudulent PPP loans totaling $4.6 billion nationwide, calling the trend “unprecedented” — but that those figures were based on an analysis in August 2020. The level of COVID-19 relief fraud in the SBA’s loan programs is now believed to be much higher.

In Hernandez’s case, a federal criminal affidavit accused the former TD Bank manager of masterminding an inside job to recruit bank customers to apply for PPP loans and to help them fill out their applications with fabricated information about the number of employees, payroll expenses and gross revenues. He allegedly used his position at TD Bank to try to ensure that their business loan applications were processed by his employer, though he was not directly involved in approving them.

“In return, Hernandez received a commission on every loan issued,” according to the affidavit filed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s Office of Inspector General.

New Jersey-based TD Bank, which is in the process of acquiring First Horizon Bank, said it investigated Hernandez’s misconduct and assisted federal investigators and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami.

“To protect our customers and the bank, TD has strong processes in place to identify, investigate, and deter potential fraud,” the bank said in a statement provided to the Miami Herald on Friday. “In this matter, we initiated an internal investigation, cooperated with law enforcement, and terminated Mr. Hernandez prior to his arrest.”

Hernandez’s defense attorney, Henry Bell, said that his client had never been in trouble with the law before his fraud offense and accepted responsibility early in the process by pleading guilty just months after his arrest. “You can rest assured he will never again involve himself in anything like this again,” Bell told the Herald.

Three of Hernandez’s co-conspirators in the TD Bank fraud case have also been charged by prosecutor Eli Rubin in the U.S. Attorney’s Office:

▪ Armando Ariel De Leon, a former TD Bank employee in Miami-Dade, admitted in his plea agreement that he conspired with Hernandez to help customers open accounts at TD Bank and apply for phony PPP loans from the bank as well as other benefits from the Small Business Administration. De Leon received kickbacks from customers and Hernandez, court record shows. De Leon, 51, who was fired from TD Bank in 2021, pleaded guilty to a wire fraud conspiracy in October.

▪ William Alexander Posada Sandrea, president of Autenticos Auto Sales Corp. in Miami-Dade, also collaborated with Hernandez and others to file falsified PPP loan applications for his company and other businesses. Posada, 43, pleaded guilty to a bank fraud conspiracy in July but failed to show up for his sentencing in November, court records show. He’s at large.

▪ Erich Javier Alfonso Barata, the president of two Miami-Dade companies, Black Hookah Inc. and EJ Networking & Security Service, is accused of collaborating with Hernandez and submitting bogus PPP loan applications. According to court records, Barata, 49, is expected to plead guilty to a wire fraud conspiracy.

The Paycheck Protection Program approved by Congress in 2020 was designed to help businesses following shutdowns caused by the rapid spread of the coronavirus. The program, under the CARES Act, allowed for the loans to be forgiven, as long as borrowers followed criteria laid out by the SBA to use the funds for payroll and other overhead.

Determined to inject money quickly in the faltering economy, the U.S. government waived many traditional requirements that lenders normally check before issuing business loans — and that policy, according to the SBA’s inspector general, led to an “unprecedented level of fraud activity” because of the lack of controls.

As the nation’s No. 1 fraud capital, South Florida has led the financial crime wave that followed the passage of the CARES Act, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

After losing billions of dollars in COVID-19 relief funds due to phony claims, the U.S. government in September started deploying investigative teams in South Florida, California and Maryland to zero in on criminal organizations that are suspected of stealing from public programs offering small business loans and unemployment insurance. The strike forces are working out of U.S. attorney’s offices.

Valesky Barosy, 28, pictured here on his Instagram page, was convicted of fraudulently obtaining pandemic-relief loans to buy a Lamborghini, among other luxury goods.

Meanwhile, federal prosecutions of individuals and their businesses continue unabated in South Florida.

This week, Derek James Acree, an attorney in Palm Beach County, was sentenced to nearly 3 1/2 years in prison for submitting fraudulent loan applications seeking more than $1.6 million under the SBA’s pandemic relief programs. Acree, 47, who pleaded guilty to a wire fraud conspiracy in October, filed the bogus loans for companies he owned: National Financial Holdings Inc., NFH Florida LLC, DBA Finova Financial LLC, and National Financial Holding Technology LLC. The loans misrepresented the number of employees, payroll and revenues, authorities said.

After obtaining the loan proceeds, Acree transferred some of the money to others and used another portion to make a down payment on his home and repairs on his boat.

Also this week, Alexander Blaise of Plantation and his brother, Dumarais Blaise of Georgia, pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy charges in Fort Lauderdale federal court stemming from a bogus $356,000 PPP loan application for a South Florida business, Acute Care Coordinating Systems PA. Alexander Blaise admitted that he was assisted by his brother, Dumarais Blaise, a tax preparer, in obtaining the pandemic loan and that the proceeds were deposited into another business, Blaise Podiatry, court records show. The brothers then split the illicit funds.

Last month, a Miami man charged with swindling millions from the government’s PPP loan program was found guilty of nine counts of wire fraud, money laundering and aggravated identity theft. Now, Valesky Barosy, 28, faces 20 years or more in prison at his sentencing in February.

Barosy was not shy about showing off his exploits while ripping off the SBA’s pandemic program, posting social media shots of himself driving an exotic Lamborghini and flying on a private jet.

OLDE FASHION CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

China suspends social media accounts of COVID policy critics
 

A vendor wearing a face mask checks her smartphone at her store selling Chinese Lunar New Year decorations in Beijing, Saturday, Jan. 7, 2023. China has suspended or closed the social media accounts of more than 1,000 critics of the government's policies on the COVID-19 outbreak, as the country moves to further open up. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

Fri, January 6, 2023

BEIJING (AP) — China has suspended or closed the social media accounts of more than 1,000 critics of the government’s policies on the COVID-19 outbreak, as the country moves to further open up.

The popular Sina Weibo social media platform said it had addressed 12,854 violations including attacks on experts, scholars and medical workers and issued temporary or permanent bans on 1,120 accounts.

The ruling Communist Party had largely relied on the medical community to justify its harsh lockdowns, quarantine measures and mass testing, almost all of which it abruptly abandoned last month, leading to a surge in new cases that have stretched medical resources to their limits. The party allows no direct criticism and imposes strict limits on free speech.

The company “will continue to increase the investigation and cleanup of all kinds of illegal content, and create a harmonious and friendly community environment for the majority of users," Sina Weibo said in a statement dated Thursday.

Criticism has largely focused on heavy-handed enforcement of regulations, including open-ended travel restrictions that saw people confined to their homes for weeks, sometimes sealed inside without adequate food or medical care. Anger was also vented over the requirement that anyone who potentially tested positive or had been in contact with such a person be confined for observation in a field hospital, where overcrowding, poor food and hygiene were commonly cited.

The social and economic costs eventually prompted rare street protests in Beijing and other cities, possibly influencing the party's decision to swiftly ease the strictest measures.

As part of the latest changes, China will also no longer bring criminal charges against people accused of violating border quarantine regulations, according to a notice issued by five government departments on Saturday.

Individuals currently in custody will be released and seized assets returned, the notice said.

The adjustments “were made after comprehensively considering the harm of the behaviors to the society, and aim to adapt to the new situations of the epidemic prevention and control," the official China Daily newspaper website said in a report on the notice.

China is now facing a surge in cases and hospitalizations in major cities and is bracing for a further spread into less developed areas with the start of the Lunar New Year travel rush, set to get underway in coming days. While international flights are still reduced, authorities say they expect domestic rail and air journeys will double over the same period last year, bringing overall numbers close to those of the 2019 holiday period before the pandemic hit.

The Transportation Ministry on Friday called on travelers to reduce trips and gatherings, particularly if they involve elderly people, pregnant women, small children and those with underlying conditions.

People using public transport are also urged to wear masks and pay special attention to their health and personal hygiene, Vice Minister Xu Chengguang told reporters at a briefing.

Nonetheless, China is forging ahead with a plan to end mandatory quarantines for people arriving from abroad beginning on Sunday.

Beijing also plans to drop a requirement for students at city schools to have a negative COVID-19 test to enter campus when classes resume Feb. 13 after the holiday break. While schools will be allowed to move classes online in the event of new outbreaks, they must return to in-person instruction as soon as possible, the city education bureau said in a statement Friday.

However, the end to mass testing, a highly limited amount of basic data such as the number of deaths, infections and severe cases, and the potential emergence of new variants have prompted governments elsewhere to institute virus testing requirements for travelers from China.

The World Health Organization has also expressed concern about the lack of data from China, while the U.S. is requiring a negative test result for travelers from China within 48 hours of departure.

Chinese health authorities publish a daily count of new cases, severe cases and deaths, but those numbers include only officially confirmed cases and use a very narrow definition of COVID-related deaths.

Authorities say that since the government ended compulsory testing and permitted people with mild symptoms to test themselves and convalesce at home, it can no longer provide a full picture of the state of the latest outbreak.

On Saturday, the National Health Commission reported 10,681 new domestic cases, bringing the country's total number of confirmed cases to 482,057. Three new deaths were also reported over the previous 24 hours, bringing the total to 5,267.

The numbers are a fraction of those announced by the U.S., which has put its death toll at more than 1 million among some 101 million cases.

But they're also much smaller than the estimates being released by some local governments. Zhejiang, a province on the east coast, said Tuesday it was seeing about 1 million new cases a day.

China has said the testing requirements being imposed by foreign governments — most recently Germany and Sweden — aren’t science-based and has threatened unspecified countermeasures. Its spokespeople have said the situation is under control, and reject accusations of a lack of preparation for reopening.

Despite such assertions, the Health Commission on Saturday rolled out regulations for strengthened monitoring of viral mutations, including testing of urban wastewater. The lengthy rules called for increased data gathering from hospitals and local government health departments and stepped-up checks on “pneumonia of unknown causes."

If a variant emerges in an outbreak, it is found through genetic sequencing of the virus.

Since the pandemic started, China has shared 4,144 sequences with GISAID, a global platform for coronavirus data. That’s only 0.04% of its reported number of cases — a rate more than 100 times less than the United States and nearly four times less than neighboring Mongolia.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong also plans to reopen some of its border crossings with mainland China on Sunday and allow tens of thousands of people to cross every day without being quarantined.

The semi-autonomous southern Chinese city has been hard-hit by the virus and its land and sea border checkpoints with the mainland have been largely closed for almost three years. Despite the risk, the reopening is expected to provide a much-needed boost to Hong Kong’s tourism and retail sectors.

 

Chinese-made mRNA vaccine starts trial production


China's vaccine specialist CanSino Biologics Inc in Tianjin


Fri, January 6, 2023 

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China's CanSino Biologics Inc has entered "test production phase" for its COVID-19 mRNA booster vaccine, the company said in a post on its social media account late on Thursday.

The vaccine, known as CS-2034, targets new Omicron variants of the virus, which are responsible for the vast majority of infections that have swept across China since the country began dismantling strict COVID curbs last month.

Until now, China has relied on nine domestically-developed COVID vaccines approved for use, including inactivated vaccines, but none have been adapted to target the highly-transmissible Omicron variant and its offshoots that are currently in circulation.

The CanSino booster vaccine is one of China's first home-grown potential vaccines based on mRNA technology similar to that employed in vaccines produced internationally by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.

On Thursday, CanSino also reported "positive" interim data from a mid-stage clinical trial in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange.

According to CanSino, the first phase of its mRNA vaccine production could produce 100 million doses.

(Reporting by Casey Hall; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)

POSTMODERN MCARTHYISM 

DeSantis seeks conservative overhaul at Florida liberal-arts college

Rebecca Blackwell/Associated Press


Ana Ceballos, Jeffrey Solochek
Fri, January 6, 2023 

Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed a group of hard-line conservative loyalists Friday into leadership positions at the New College of Florida, a move that comes as the Republican governor plots a remake of the state’s higher education system.

Several of the appointees are vocal opponents of gender- and race-related education issues that have fueled the right’s culture wars in schools. They were picked as DeSantis, who is eyeing a potential 2024 White House run, vows to fight “philosophical lunacy” in the schools.

The new appointees will now help oversee the Sarasota college, which has a reputation for being one of the most progressive higher-education institutions in the state.

Of the six appointed by DeSantis, the marquee names are Christopher Rufo, a conservative activist who helped turn critical race theory into a conservative rallying cry, and Matthew Spalding, a government professor at Hillsdale College, a conservative Christian college in Michigan.

Rufo and Spalding have backed DeSantis’ proposals targeting critical race theory, a 1980s academic legal concept holds that racial disparities are systemic in the United States, not just a collection of individual prejudices.

DeSantis also appointed:

▪ Charles R. Kesler, the editor of the conservative Claremont Institute’s publication, The Claremont Review of Books;

▪ Eddie Speir, the superintendent of Inspiration Academy, a private Christian school in Bradenton that has as its mission to “cultivate, nourish and inspire students, using a mentorship model to develop an integrated life of faith from the inside out, in an environment of family, care and love.”

▪ Mark Bauerlein, a pro-Donald Trump English professor at Emory University, whose latest book, “The Dumbest Generation Grows Up,” casts a critical eye on education for giving up on the classical canon and instead allowing students to choose for themselves what they want to learn.

▪ Debra Jenks, a New College alumna who currently is a securities mediation lawyer in Palm Beach County.

These individuals were picked, in part, because New College needs a new direction, DeSantis spokesperson Taryn Fenske told the Herald/Times in an email.

“NCF needs new leadership that sends a clear and attractive signal to students, throughout Florida and nationwide, that this is an institution intending to remain humble in size yet nation-leading in its approach to ‘innovation’ and ‘excellence,’” Fenske said.

Rufo celebrated the appointment by declaring: “We are recapturing higher education.”
‘Recapturing higher education’

As DeSantis kicked off his second term in office on Tuesday, he made clear that he plans to focus on reshaping the state’s higher education. In particular, he said, he wants to make sure his administration eradicates “trendy ideologies” from the classroom.

“We must ensure that our institutions of higher learning are focused on academic excellence and the pursuit of truth, not the imposition of trendy ideology,” DeSantis said during his inaugural speech at the steps of the historic Florida Capitol in Tallahassee.

Then, DeSantis’ office made public a memo that it had sent out to state colleges and universities asking the for information about resources they are putting into activities and program related to diversity, equity and inclusion and critical race theory.

“As the Executive Office of the Governor prepares policy and budget proposals ahead of the 2023 Legislative Session, it is important that we have a full understanding of the operational expenses of state institutions,” Chris Spencer, the director of DeSantis’ Office of Policy and Budget, wrote in a memo Dec. 28.

The information need to be submitted by Jan. 13. It remains unclear exactly what will be done with the information once it is collected.

Signs of a major shake-up

As word spread of DeSantis’ appointment to New College on Friday, reaction from academics came swiftly via social media.

“Terrible news,” tweeted Ohio State University political science associate professor Benjamin McKean. “DeSantis is aiming to destroy New College.”

Acadia University politics instructor Jeffrey Sachs wrote, “With leadership like this, how could college NOT educate freethinkers?”

Rufo lives in the Pacific Northwest with his wife and three sons, according to his website. He caught the attention of national figures, like DeSantis, during the pandemic after frequently appearing on conservative media outlets to criticize the concept of critical race theory.

Eventually, the ire against the theory became a rallying cry for conservatives, many of them in Florida. And DeSantis tapped into those ideas to build a reputation as a warrior. He has often declared that Florida is where “woke goes to die.”

When Rufo tweeted his enthusiasm for the appointment, he drew a barrage of congratulations from conservatives, including Erika Donalds, the wife of U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, who was nominated this week for U.S. House speaker.
Hillsdale connection

Spalding’s appointment to marks another instance in which Hillsdale College is helping DeSantis reshape the state’s higher education system.

“I am honored by the appointment and look forward to advancing educational excellence and focusing New College on its distinctive mission as the liberal arts honors college of the State of Florida,” Spalding said in a statement Friday. “A good liberal arts education is truly liberating and opens the minds and forms the character of good students and good citizens.”

Hillsdale President Larry P. Arnn called DeSantis “one of the most important people living,” during the Hillsdale National Leadership Seminar in Naples last February. And the Times/Herald found that the private Christian college was among several national groups that helped the governor develop a civics education training program for teachers that some educators said was seeped in “Christian fundamentalist” overtones.

READ MORE: DeSantis’ ‘full armor of God’ rhetoric reaches Republicans. But is he playing with fire?

DeSantis chief of staff James Uthmeier told the National Review that the administration intends to convert the college, which has under 700 students, to a classical model akin to that of Hillsdale College.

Twelve years ago, Hillsdale College set out to reshape public education through the growth of charter schools and in recent years has expanded its reach in Florida’s education system.

And in Florida, Hillsdale’s influence has been seen in the state’s rejection of math textbooks over what DeSantis called “indoctrinating concepts,” the state’s push to renew the importance of civics education in public schools, and the rapid growth of Hillsdale’s network of affiliated public charter schools in Florida.

Arnn, Hillsdale’s president, was appointed by Trump to chair the president’s Advisory 1776 Commission, which was formed to “advise the president about the core principles of the American founding and to protect those principles by promoting patriotic education,” according to Spalding, who Trump appointed as the commission’s executive director.

Spalding is also the vice president for Washington operations and the dean of the Van Andel Graduate School of Government at Hillsdale’s Washington, D.C., extension

Hillsdale’s digital digest, Imprimis, features the writing of conservative thinkers like Christopher Rufo, who has worked with DeSantis to combat issues like critical race theory and gender identity. The publication also includes articles with titles, like “The January 6 Insurrection Hoax,” “The Disaster at Our Southern Border,” “Gender Ideology Run Amok.” “Critical Race Theory: What it is and How to Fight it,” and “Who is in Control? The need to Rein in Big Tech.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis seeks conservative overhaul at Sarasota’s New College of Florida


Ana Ceballos, Jeffrey Solochek
Fri, January 6, 2023 



Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed a group of hard-line conservative loyalists Friday into leadership positions at the New College of Florida, a move that comes as the Republican governor plots a remake of the state’s higher education system.

Several of the appointees are vocal opponents of gender- and race-related education issues that have fueled the right’s culture wars in schools. They were picked as DeSantis, who is eyeing a potential 2024 White House run, vows to fight “philosophical lunacy” in the schools.

The new appointees will now help oversee the Sarasota college, which has a reputation for being one of the most progressive higher-education institutions in the state.

Of the six appointed by DeSantis, the marquee names are Christopher Rufo, a conservative activist who helped turn critical race theory into a conservative rallying cry, and Matthew Spalding, a government professor at Hillsdale College, a conservative Christian college in Michigan.


Rufo and Spalding have backed DeSantis’ proposals targeting critical race theory, a 1980s academic legal concept holds that racial disparities are systemic in the United States, not just a collection of individual prejudices.

DeSantis also appointed:

▪ Charles R. Kesler, the editor of the conservative Claremont Institute’s publication, The Claremont Review of Books;

▪ Eddie Speir, the superintendent of Inspiration Academy, a private Christian school in Bradenton that has as its mission to “cultivate, nourish and inspire students, using a mentorship model to develop an integrated life of faith from the inside out, in an environment of family, care and love.”

▪ Mark Bauerlein, a pro-Donald Trump English professor at Emory University, whose latest book, “The Dumbest Generation Grows Up,” casts a critical eye on education for giving up on the classical canon and instead allowing students to choose for themselves what they want to learn.

▪ Debra Jenks, a New College alumna who currently is a securities mediation lawyer in Palm Beach County.

These individuals were picked, in part, because New College needs a new direction, DeSantis spokesperson Taryn Fenske told the Herald/Times in an email.

“NCF needs new leadership that sends a clear and attractive signal to students, throughout Florida and nationwide, that this is an institution intending to remain humble in size yet nation-leading in its approach to ‘innovation’ and ‘excellence,’” Fenske said.

Rufo celebrated the appointment by declaring: “We are recapturing higher education.”
‘Recapturing higher education’

As DeSantis kicked off his second term in office on Tuesday, he made clear that he plans to focus on reshaping the state’s higher education. In particular, he said, he wants to make sure his administration eradicates “trendy ideologies” from the classroom.

“We must ensure that our institutions of higher learning are focused on academic excellence and the pursuit of truth, not the imposition of trendy ideology,” DeSantis said during his inaugural speech at the steps of the historic Florida Capitol in Tallahassee.

Then, DeSantis’ office made public a memo that it had sent out to state colleges and universities asking the for information about resources they are putting into activities and program related to diversity, equity and inclusion and critical race theory.

“As the Executive Office of the Governor prepares policy and budget proposals ahead of the 2023 Legislative Session, it is important that we have a full understanding of the operational expenses of state institutions,” Chris Spencer, the director of DeSantis’ Office of Policy and Budget, wrote in a memo Dec. 28.

The information need to be submitted by Jan. 13. It remains unclear exactly what will be done with the information once it is collected.
Signs of a major shake-up

As word spread of DeSantis’ appointment to New College on Friday, reaction from academics came swiftly via social media.

“Terrible news,” tweeted Ohio State University political science associate professor Benjamin McKean. “DeSantis is aiming to destroy New College.”

Acadia University politics instructor Jeffrey Sachs wrote, “With leadership like this, how could college NOT educate freethinkers?”

Rufo lives in the Pacific Northwest with his wife and three sons, according to his website. He caught the attention of national figures, like DeSantis, during the pandemic after frequently appearing on conservative media outlets to criticize the concept of critical race theory.

Eventually, the ire against the theory became a rallying cry for conservatives, many of them in Florida. And DeSantis tapped into those ideas to build a reputation as a warrior. He has often declared that Florida is where “woke goes to die.”

When Rufo tweeted his enthusiasm for the appointment, he drew a barrage of congratulations from conservatives, including Erika Donalds, the wife of U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, who was nominated this week for U.S. House speaker.
Hillsdale connection

Spalding’s appointment to marks another instance in which Hillsdale College is helping DeSantis reshape the state’s higher education system.

“I am honored by the appointment and look forward to advancing educational excellence and focusing New College on its distinctive mission as the liberal arts honors college of the State of Florida,” Spalding said in a statement Friday. “A good liberal arts education is truly liberating and opens the minds and forms the character of good students and good citizens.”

Hillsdale President Larry P. Arnn called DeSantis “one of the most important people living,” during the Hillsdale National Leadership Seminar in Naples last February. And the Times/Herald found that the private Christian college was among several national groups that helped the governor develop a civics education training program for teachers that some educators said was seeped in “Christian fundamentalist” overtones.

READ MORE: DeSantis’ ‘full armor of God’ rhetoric reaches Republicans. But is he playing with fire?

DeSantis chief of staff James Uthmeier told the National Review that the administration intends to convert the college, which has under 700 students, to a classical model akin to that of Hillsdale College.

Twelve years ago, Hillsdale College set out to reshape public education through the growth of charter schools and in recent years has expanded its reach in Florida’s education system.

And in Florida, Hillsdale’s influence has been seen in the state’s rejection of math textbooks over what DeSantis called “indoctrinating concepts,” the state’s push to renew the importance of civics education in public schools, and the rapid growth of Hillsdale’s network of affiliated public charter schools in Florida.

Arnn, Hillsdale’s president, was appointed by Trump to chair the president’s Advisory 1776 Commission, which was formed to “advise the president about the core principles of the American founding and to protect those principles by promoting patriotic education,” according to Spalding, who Trump appointed as the commission’s executive director.

Spalding is also the vice president for Washington operations and the dean of the Van Andel Graduate School of Government at Hillsdale’s Washington, D.C., extension

Hillsdale’s digital digest, Imprimis, features the writing of conservative thinkers like Christopher Rufo, who has worked with DeSantis to combat issues like critical race theory and gender identity. The publication also includes articles with titles, like “The January 6 Insurrection Hoax,” “The Disaster at Our Southern Border,” “Gender Ideology Run Amok.” “Critical Race Theory: What it is and How to Fight it,” and “Who is in Control? The need to Rein in Big Tech.”

New College of Florida campus

DeSantis aims to create 'Hillsdale of the south' with conservative overhaul of a Florida college's board


Zac Anderson
Fri, January 6, 2023 

New College of Florida

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis overhauled the board of Sarasota's New College on Friday, bringing in six new members, including prominent conservative activist Christopher Rufo and a dean of conservative Hillsdale College, in a move his administration described as an effort to shift the school in a conservative direction.

"It is our hope that New College of Florida will become Florida's classical college, more along the lines of a Hillsdale of the south," DeSantis Chief of Staff James Uthmeier told the conservative Daily Caller website.

The shakeup of the 11-member board is certain to create major tensions at New College, an institution that started as a progressive private school before becoming the state's liberal arts honors college. The small school's student body and faculty have a reputation for leaning left politically.

Turning New College into a Florida version of Hillsdale would amount to turning it upside down, a wholesale transformation that many current students and faculty are likely to resist.

Rise of Christopher Rufo:How critical race theory went from conservative battle cry to mainstream powder keg

Rufo:What I discovered about critical race theory in public schools and why it shouldn't be taught

Rufo has gained prominence for his activism on transgender and racial issues, making him a leader in the new wave of conservative culture wars. He joined DeSantis when the governor signed HB 1557, the Parental Rights in Education Act, which is derided by critics as the "Don't Say Gay" bill.

'Woke mind virus'? 'Corporate wokeness'? Why red America has declared war on corporate America

Rufo recently applauded DeSantis on Twitter for requesting information on diversity, equity and inclusion and critical race theory at all Florida colleges and universities.

"Gov. DeSantis is going to lay siege to university 'diversity, equity, and inclusion' programs," Rufo wrote.



Joining Rufo on the New College board is Matthew Spalding, a professor of constitutional government at Hillsdale College and the dean of the college's graduate school of government in Washington, D.C.

Hillsdale is a small Christian college in Michigan that has been active in conservative education politics.

"As Gov. DeSantis stated in his second inaugural speech: 'We must ensure that our institutions of higher learning are focused on academic excellence and the pursuit of truth,'" DeSantis spokesman Bryan Griffin told the Daily Caller. "Starting today, the ship is turning around. New College of Florida, under the governor's new appointees, will be refocused on its founding mission of providing a world-class quality education with an exceptional focus on the classics."

DeSantis spoke at Hillsdale's National Leadership Seminar last year and has tapped the school to help reshape Florida's education system.

At least seven states have passed laws restricting the teaching of critical race theory at institutions of higher education. The portion of Florida's law affecting colleges is temporarily blocked, but some professors who teach the subject are canceling those courses, ProPublica reported this week. Penn State abandoned plans made following the murder of George Floyd to create a Center for Racial Justice when its leadership turned over last year.

Critical race theory: What is it and how did it become a political dividing line?

What is wokeness? What does it mean to be 'woke,' and why does Florida Governor Ron DeSantis want to stop it?

The other new board members at New College are Charles Kesler, a professor of government at Clermont-McKenna College, Mark Bauerlein, who teaches at Emory University, Debra Jenks, a New College alum and attorney, and Jason "Eddie" Speir, the co-founder, chairman and superintendent of Inspiration Academy, a Christian school in Bradenton.

The new DeSantis appointees make up a majority of the board and will be able to control the school's direction.

New College routinely ranks well on higher education "best of" lists, having been singled out as a good value and among the best public liberal arts colleges. It is known for attracting accomplished students to an intimate setting that blends academic rigor and quirky experimentalism.

DeSantis’ targeting of race and diversity at Florida universities seen as political ploy

Gerren Keith Gaynor
Fri, January 6, 2023

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona dismissed Gov. Ron DeSantis’ latest action as “an attempt to get a national name for himself.”

Democrats are slamming Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ recent targeting of critical race theory (CRT) and diversity, equity and inclusion programs at public universities, and have dismissed his latest action as a ploy to boost his political ambitions.

DeSantis, in continuing his “Stop W.O.K.E. Act” despite a court injunction limiting its reach, has requested state public universities to submit a “comprehensive list of all staff, programs and campus activities,” including funding, associated with diversity or CRT. The Florida governor has become a leading national Republican figure for his very public condemnations of issues he believes are rooted in “trendy” and “woke” ideologies influenced by the political left.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at a November rally in Orlando in November before his reelection. In his first term, the Republican signed bills restricting classroom lessons. Now he is targeting public university programs. (Photo by Octavio Jones/Getty Images)

Since taking office in 2019, DeSantis, a former two-term Republican congressman, has signed bills restricting instructions on race and LGBTQ+ identity in school classrooms. Similar bills have been introduced or passed by Republican-controlled legislatures across the country since late 2021. What’s more, the targeting of race, sexuality and gender identity in academia has been analyzed as a political strategy used by Republicans to win elections.

During a recent sit-down interview with theGrio, U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said he believes the latest move by DeSantis, who is reportedly mulling a run for president in 2024, is “an attempt to get a national name for himself.”

Cardona said that rather than “supporting efforts to limit universities from doing what they do best,” DeSantis and other Republican governors should be more focused on working with the Biden-Harris administration to make sure that universities “have what they need to get students back into the classrooms, learning at high levels and graduating without tremendous debt.”

Florida State Sen. Shevrin Jones warns that DeSantis’ continuous aim at race and diversity in the classroom could have impacts that extend beyond simply earning political points.

“Governor DeSantis and his team are on an all-out national marketing campaign. And all of it is being done at the expense of people’s lives,” Jones told theGrio. “What this confusion is doing is creating havoc within university systems.”

The Florida governor’s office has not disclosed why they are seeking information from public institutions of higher education or what they plan to do with it; however, Jones said he would not be surprised if DeSantis used that data to penalize institutions that offer coursework or programs related to race and diversity.

Florida A&M University is the only HBCU in Florida. State Sen. Shevrin Jones said he is especially concerned about its programs in the face of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ efforts. / AdobeStock

“If they’re looking for controversy in DEI and CRT, which is taught at our university system, then they’re going to find it, and they’re going to cut the funding for that. I will bet you that that’s the route that the [state] department of education and the governor’s office is going down,” he said.

The Miami-Dade lawmaker, who has been a vocal critic of DeSantis since taking office, said he is especially concerned about what impact any blowback could have on Florida A&M University, which is the state’s only HBCU that is a public university and offers programs on African American studies.

“Deans and presidents are now confused themselves on what can be taught and what can’t be taught, and teachers don’t want to teach it because they don’t want to get in trouble,” explained Jones. What’s worse, he said, “They’re creating this chaos and havoc within these systems, because they can.”

But Jones cautioned that this recent action from DeSantis is only the beginning from him and Republicans, both within the Sunshine State and nationally.

“What Gov. DeSantis and the Republicans are about to do in this next legislative session, mark my words, they are going to try to set a national tone not just here in Florida when it comes to our university systems — all across the country,” he said. “This will now become the Republicans’ next issue to harp on.”

Christopher Rufo in Seattle, Washington.

Contributing: Nirvi Shah, USA TODAY
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Gov. Ron DeSantis wants conservative overhaul at Sarasota's New College of Florida

Gov. DeSantis asks Florida universities for names of all staff, programs linked to diversity and CRT


TheGrio Staff
Thu, January 5, 2023 

Faculty union officials said they are concerned that any material provided by institutions in response to the governor’s request could be used to retaliate against educators, particularly those who teach about race.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wants colleges around the state to produce a detailed list of all personnel, programs, campus activities and funds associated with critical race theory and diversity initiatives.

While a DeSantis spokesperson said to “stay tuned” when asked why the state requested the material, the governor has vowed to fight against what he views as “woke” philosophy in higher education, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

“We must ensure that our institutions of higher learning are focused on academic excellence and the pursuit of truth, not the imposition of trendy ideology,” DeSantis said at his second inauguration Tuesday, according to the Sentinel.

A Dec. 28, 2022 memo — written by the governor’s budget director Chris Spencer and forwarded to Chancellor Ray Rodrigues of the State University System of Florida and Education Commissioner Manny Diaz — says the governor’s office needs the information for budget planning.

It also references the governor’s controversial “Stop Woke Act.”

Universities that disobey the law’s prohibition against teaching that someone is “inherently racist, sexist, or oppressive” because of their gender or ethnicity, whether knowingly or unintentionally, risk losing state support.

Last month, Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker granted a preliminary injunction to suspend the “Stop Woke Act,” declaring it to be “positively dystopian” and in violation of the First Amendment. The state challenged Walker’s decision, asking that the injunction be suspended.

Faculty union officials said they are concerned that any material provided by institutions in response to the request by the governor’s office could be used to retaliate against educators, particularly those who teach about race.

University of Central Florida union chair Robert Cassanello, who joined one of the legal actions opposing the “Stop Woke” ordinance, said some faculty members already have revised their course material or decided not to teach specific courses because they fear retribution, the Sentinal reported.

He said he anticipates that the school will flag a spring class he is teaching about Jim Crow in the United States.

“What it sounds like to me is Gov. DeSantis plans to punish universities over what they may or may not be teaching in classes or through programs or initiatives,” Cassanello said, according to the Sentinel.

Andrew Gothard is president of the United Faculty of Florida, a union representing more than 25,000 faculty members across the state. He wants colleges and universities to disregard the state’s request, which he believes builds on previous threats by the governor to cut funding to organizations that do not support his values and interests.

“It continues his efforts to chill the freedom of speech rights of faculty, students and staff, especially those who disagree with his ideological viewpoints and stances,” Gothard said, according to the Sentinel.

The University of Florida and UCF officials said they were working on the state’s request, which Board of Governors spokesperson Renee Fargason said all 12 state universities still needed to fulfill. They have until Jan. 13 to respond.

“Our hope is that the institutions don’t comply,” Gothard added, according to the Sentinel. “At some point, we as citizens of a democratic society have to stand up and say, ‘That’s enough.’ You can’t just target people and antagonize and brutalize them because they disagree with you. That’s not democracy. That’s not America. And it shouldn’t be Florida.”

In ‘free state of Florida’ dodgy COVID-19 research is welcomed, critical thinking muzzled | Opinion



The Miami Herald Editorial Board
Thu, January 5, 2023 

In the “free state of Florida,” academics have plenty of freedom to contest the efficacy and need for COVID-19 vaccines, but they are muzzled if they question the belief that America is a color-blind society where systemic racial injustice doesn’t exist.

This double standard is the inevitable result of a state government that handpicks the kind of speech that’s allowed at state universities and colleges. The same state government that, under the heavy hand of Gov. DeSantis, complains about “censorship” of conservatives by privately run social-media platforms, yet engages in the same tactics it decries.

Florida has ordered its public colleges and universities provide “a comprehensive list of all staff, programs and campus activities related to diversity, equity and inclusion and critical race theory.” The latter is an academic theory that, among other things, studies how racism is embedded in American institutions and laws. Conservatives have turned CRT into a scarecrow to repel anything that makes white people feel they are personally blamed for racism.

The state’s request comes as the governor’s office prepares its budget proposals ahead of the 2023 legislative session. The message is clear: CRT courses and diversity initiatives can put a university’s state funding on the chopping block.

This chilling effect appears to be the intent of DeSantis’ promise to end “wokeness” in Florida. And it’s working. A University of Central Florida sociology professor told ProPublica he’s canceled courses on race, which included a reading on the “the myth of a color-blind society,” out of fear he might lose his job. UCF’s provost blatantly told faculty the school would take disciplinary action against professors who repeatedly violated Florida’s “Stop W.O.K.E. Act” to avoid losing funding. The law prohibits classroom instruction that purportedly makes students feel guilty for past discrimination by members of their race (a subjective standard, to say the least). It also bars portraying racial colorblindness — which the law calls a virtue — as racist.

This is a blatant attack on free speech and academic freedom. Not surprisingly, a federal judge barred the law from being enforced in public universities, calling it “positively dystopian.” The DeSantis administration is appealing the case, ProPublica reported.

While CRT is treated as the abomination that Florida must root out, our university system continues to bankroll Florida’s chief vaccine denier, Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo. Appointed by DeSantis in the midst of the pandemic, he has peddled debunked treatments for the virus, such as hydroxychloroquine, and describes the scientific community as intolerant to different points of view on pandemic response. It turns out the administration he works for lives in a glass house.

Ladapo, a tenured professor at the University of Florida College of Medicine, recommended men aged 18-39 do not get mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. The guidance was based on a study by the Department of Health, which answers to Ladapo, on the health risks of the vaccines for men in that age group. A seven-page report authored by a committee of UF College of Medicine professors criticized the study, calling its research of “highly questionable merit” and relying on cherry-picked data to support an anti-vaccine hypothesis.

UF has no plans to investigate the study, the Tampa Bay Times reported this week. Its vice president for research, David Norton, told the Times that Ladapo oversaw the research in his role as surgeon general and not as a faculty member. Then, perhaps not sensing the irony, Norton said via a statement that his office “continues to strongly support the freedom afforded to university researchers to independently pursue topics and present findings.”

Those who toe DeSantis’ line appear to have ample freedom to pursue their academic and research interests, no matter their questionable methods or the harm they may cause. Those who question DeSantis’ belief on race and racism aren’t so fortunate.

In the end, the real losers aren’t university professors who are often vilified as leftist indoctrinators. The real losers are students, adults who should have the option to take a college course on critical race theory.

The state of Florida acts as if it’s protecting students from what DeSantis labeled “trendy ideology.” But it’s more like a helicopter parent who prevents their children’s exposure to perhaps uncomfortable truths. In doing so, Florida denies young people the tools to question their place in society and have their own beliefs questioned.

Perhaps keeping them in the dark is exactly the end game.

-Putin praises Russian Orthodox Church for backing troops in Ukraine


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Putin issues congratulatory Orthodox Christmas message

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Hails Russian Orthodox Church as important unifying force

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Praises its support for 'military operation' in Ukraine

Andrew Osborn
Sat, January 7, 2023

Jan 7 (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin on Saturday praised the Russian Orthodox Church for supporting Moscow's forces fighting in Ukraine in an Orthodox Christmas message designed to rally people behind his vision of modern Russia.

The Kremlin issued Putin's message after the Russian leader attended an Orthodox Christmas Eve service on his own inside a Kremlin cathedral rather than joining other worshippers in a public celebration.

In his message, accompanied on the Kremlin website by an image of him standing before religious icons, Putin made it clear he saw the Russian Orthodox Church as an important stabilising force for society at a time he has cast as a historical clash between Russia and the West over Ukraine and other issues.

"It is deeply gratifying to note the enormous constructive contribution of the Russian Orthodox Church and other Christian denominations in unifying society, preserving our historical memory, educating youth and strengthening the institution of family," said Putin.

"Church organisations prioritise ... supporting our warriors taking part in the special military operation (in Ukraine). Such massive, complex and truly selfless work deserves sincere respect."

On Friday, Putin ordered a 36-hour ceasefire for the celebrations, but Kyiv rejected it as Moscow's ploy to buy time and regroup and Russian and Ukrainian forces exchanged artillery fire after the announcement.



Many Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas on Jan. 7, but the Russian Orthodox Church's backing for Moscow's war in Ukraine has angered many Ukrainian Orthodox believers and splintered the worldwide Orthodox Church.

Of 260 million Orthodox Christians in the world, about 100 million are in Russia itself and some of those abroad are in unity with Moscow.

Others are strongly opposed, however, and reject Moscow's assertion that its Feb. 24 invasion last year was an essential pre-emptive strike to defend its own security and that of Russian speakers in Ukraine.

Ukraine has about 30 million Orthodox believers, divided between the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate and two other Orthodox Churches, one of which is the autocephalous, or independent, Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

In a service on Friday, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow criticised Ukraine for cracking down on the branch of the Orthodox church with longstanding ties to Moscow.

Mercedes and Chargepoint team up to build 400 North American charging hubs

They'll be available to all EVs with Benz drivers receiving added benefits.




Andrew Tarantola
·Senior Editor
Thu, January 5, 2023 

In July, GM announced that it was partnering with EVGo to establish a "coast-to-coast" charging network for its electric vehicles. On Thursday, Mercedes Benz announced that it will be building a network of its own — at least, in partnership with Chargepoint — that will be accessible no matter what make or model of EV you drive.

Mercedes and Chargepoint plan to establish 400 new charging hubs throughout the US and Canada — that's 2,500 new DC fast chargers in all — "in key cities and urban population centers, along major highway corridors and close to convenient retail and service destinations," according to Thursday's announcement. The automaker and MN8 Energy will finance the scheme while Chargepoint will supply the hardware and infrastructure. Chargepoint in 2020 partnered with NATSO for a billion-dollar project to install its chargers along rural highways. Those effort continue.

The hubs and DC fast chargers will all be accessible by EV drivers of all stripes, regardless of their vehicle type — the inverse of Tesla's proprietary network. But since Mercedes is pulling the purse strings, its customers can look forward to a few extra perks when they pull into a hub. That includes being able to reserve a space ahead of time and automatic vehicle-station handshake authentication.

Each charger can deliver up to 500V of power, allowing 400V-architecture vehicles like the Rivian R1T to take full advantage of the increased power transmission while 800V vehicles like the Audi A6 e-tron, the Porsche Taycan, Hyundai's Ioniq 5 and Kia's EV6 will see improved charge times though not the upper limit of what their electrical systems can handle. The company notes that these chargers are, "designed to easily scale to meet future demand as EV adoption and vehicle capability grows."

Macron to overhaul France's struggling health care system







French President Emmanuel Macron delivers his New Year speech to medical workers at the Centre Hospitalier Sud Francilien Hospital in the southern Paris suburban city of Corbeil-Essonnes, Friday Jan. 6, 2023. Emmanuel Macron visits a pediatric hospital and gives a new year's speech to medics, amid protests and anger over long-unresolved funding and hiring issues in France's health care system.

( Ludovic Marin, Pool via AP)

Fri, January 6, 2023 

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron announced an overhaul of France’s struggling health system Friday, including new funding methods for doctors and hospitals, more hiring and other organizational changes.

Macron’s speech came as many hospitals in France have reported major difficulties in recent weeks, with emergency units overwhelmed by patients with flu, COVID-19 and bronchiolitis infections.

Family doctors also went on strike during the end-of-year holiday to call for an increase in their consultation fees — currently set to 25 euros ($26) — and better working conditions.

In a speech at a hospital in Evry, a southern suburb of Paris, Macron vowed to “respond to the concerns of many of our fellow citizens (who want) to get health care within a short time ... and to the concerns, anxiety, tiredness of health care professionals.”

He announced the recruitment of thousands of medical assistants to help doctors.

“Our collective challenge in the short-term is to free up some time for doctors to take care of patients ... both in private practice and at hospital,” he said.

Macron announced major changes in the way hospitals get funding so that they are not penalized anymore when they do complex, time-consuming activities.

He also vowed to increase fees of doctors on condition they are involved in ensuring the continuity of health care in their area and accept new patients. Details of the changes are to be worked out in the coming months, he said.

Talks are also to be held by June about working time rules in hospitals, he said, saying the current system is inefficient.

Considered one of the best in the world, the French health care system has for many years years suffered from a shortage of doctors and other professionals, a situation aggravated by the COVID-19 crisis.

Recent changes allowed the country to train more doctors and nurses, yet it will take years to see the impact of such measures, Macron stressed.

France's health care system involves a state-funded health insurance that reimburses patients most of the cost of consultations, medical interventions and medicines prescribed by a doctor. In addition, the French can also apply to private insurance to increase their health coverage.

GOP JUDGES
Court goes against Texas inmates questioning execution drugs


These images provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, shows Texas death row inmates, from left, John Balentine, Robert Fratta, and Wesley Ruiz. Texas plans to use expired and unsafe drugs to carry out executions early this year in violation of state law, the three death row inmates allege in a lawsuit. Prison officials deny the claim and say the state’s supply of execution drugs is safe.

JUAN A. LOZANO
Thu, January 5, 2023

HOUSTON (AP) — Texas’ top criminal appeals court has barred a civil court judge from issuing any orders in a lawsuit by three death row inmates who allege the state plans to use expired and unsafe drugs to execute them.

Attorneys for inmates Wesley Ruiz, John Balentine and Robert Fratta had asked a civil judge in Austin last month to issue a temporary order to stop the state from using the allegedly expired execution drugs. Fratta, who was not initially part of the lawsuit but later intervened, is the first of the three set for execution, next Tuesday. Balentine and Ruiz are scheduled for execution in February.

Prison officials deny the lawsuit’s claims and say the state’s supply of execution drugs is safe.

The Texas Attorney General’s Office had asked the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals to stop the civil judge from taking any action in the lawsuit, arguing the criminal appeals court has exclusive appellate jurisdiction in death penalty cases.

The appeals court affirmed that argument and ruled against the inmates on Wednesday. The court has issued the same decision in previous similar challenges to the state’s lethal injection protocol, and inmates in those cases were ultimately executed.

In a dissenting opinion, two judges on the appeals court questioned whether Wednesday’s ruling “creates a Catch-22 in which death row inmates have a civil remedy to pursue claims regarding the method of execution but may not stop the execution to raise them.”

Attorneys for the inmates planned to appeal the ruling.

“A divided Texas Court of Criminal Appeals ... is wrong in barring the Texas civil courts from deciding whether the state of Texas is violating its own statutes by using expired drugs to execute prisoners. ... We will continue to push for our clients to have their executions conducted according to Texas law,” said Shawn Nolan, an attorney for Balentine and Ruiz.

Nolan has criticized Texas’ secrecy in matters related to its execution procedures. State lawmakers banned the disclosure of drug suppliers for executions starting in 2015. The Texas Supreme Court upheld the law in 2019.

There has been a history of problems with lethal injections since Texas became the first state to use this execution method in 1982. Some problems have included difficulty finding usable veins, needles becoming disengaged or issues with the drugs.

Like other states in recent years, Texas has turned to compounding pharmacies to obtain pentobarbital, which it uses for executions, after traditional drugmakers refused to sell their products to prison agencies in the U.S.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice says its lethal injection drugs are within their use dates and have been properly tested.

But Michaela Almgren, a pharmacology professor at the University of South Carolina and an expert for the three inmates in their lawsuit, alleges “all the pentobarbital in TDCJ’s possession is expired, as it is far beyond” the specified beyond-use date.

Attorneys for Fratta, who is on death row for hiring two men to kill his estranged wife in a murder-for-hire plot in 1994, have several other appeals pending in his case. Ruiz, who is set to be executed Feb. 1, was condemned for fatally shooting a Dallas police officer in 2007. Balentine, set for execution on Feb. 8, was condemned for fatally shooting three teenage housemates in Amarillo in 1998.

___

Follow Juan A. Lozano on Twitter: twitter.com/juanlozano70

THEY MIGHT MAKE A NUKE😝
Gaza says Israel not allowing in enough X-ray machines for medical care


Thu, January 5, 2023
By Nidal al-Mughrabi

GAZA (Reuters) - Gaza's Health Ministry accused Israel on Thursday of delaying the entry of several X-ray machines needed to treat patients in the blockaded Palestinian territory.

The ministry, run by the Gaza Strip's ruling Islamist group Hamas, said requests in the past 14 months for eight different types of X-ray machines and spare parts to repair existing equipment had been rejected or delayed.

Dozens of other X-ray machines were allowed into the impoverished coastal enclave during the same period.

Israel, which together with Egypt maintains a blockade around Gaza citing security concerns, says it is worried about militant groups commandeering such machines for military purposes.

Health Ministry Director Medhat Abbas said the equipment was funded by international relief and medical institutions on behalf of hospitals in Gaza. "Holding back the entry of that equipment caused a delay in providing medical services to thousands of patients," Abbas told Reuters.

Responding to his remarks, Israel's military-run COGAT liaison agency accused Hamas and other militant groups of "systematically and cynically taking advantage of humanitarian and civilian shipments of equipment and goods for terrorist purposes".

Requests for such equipment, COGAT told Reuters, are examined on a case-by-case basis.

Abbas said Israeli assertions about the medical equipment having dual uses were a lie.

At Gaza City's Shifa hospital, Nalat Zeino, 51, said she had been waiting 45 days o have an X-ray done for her kidneys. Doctors blamed the delay on the withholding of equipment.

"As if the pain I am feeling wasn't enough - waiting has been another form of torture," the mother of four told Reuters outside the X-ray unit.

Hamas, deemed a terrorist group by Israel and much of the West, took control of Gaza in 2006, a year after Israel withdrew soldiers and settlers.

The ensuing blockade limiting the amount of goods crossing in and out has crippled Gaza's economy and health care system, which suffers from a chronic shortage of hospital beds and medical equipment.

(Writing by Nidal Almughrabi; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

HI-TECH SWEAT SHOP BOSS
Jack Ma: tycoon who soared on China's tech dreams grounded by regulators

Matthew WALSH
Sat, January 7, 2023 


Jack Ma, the unconventional billionaire founder of tech giant Alibaba and the totem of China's entrepreneurial brilliance, has stepped out of the limelight since a Communist Party crackdown that chopped back his empire.

The most recognisable face in Asian business, Ma has seen his fortune fall by around half to an estimated $25 billion after authorities pulled what would then have been the world's biggest-ever IPO in 2020.

Chinese regulators torched the planned listing of Ma's Ant Group in Hong Kong and Shanghai, and the following year hit Alibaba with a record $2.75 billion fine for alleged unfair practices.

A reshuffle of Ant's shareholding structure will now see Ma cede control of the fintech giant he founded in 2014.

He will hold just 6.2 percent of the voting rights as the company moves to ensure "no shareholder, alone or jointly with other parties, will have control over Ant Group", the firm said in a statement Saturday.

It is the latest humbling of China's former poster boy for enterprise, who in recent years has retreated from the public eye he once so relished.

A Communist Party member, Ma's rags-to-riches backstory came to embody a self-confident generation of Chinese entrepreneurs ready to shake up the world.

Charismatic, diminutive and fast-talking, Ma was cash-strapped and working as an English teacher when someone showed him the internet on a 1990s trip to the United States -- and he was hooked.

He toyed with several internet-related projects, before convincing a group of friends to give him $60,000 to start a new business in 1999 in China, then still emerging as an economic giant.

Alibaba was the result, an e-commerce behemoth founded from his bedroom in the eastern city of Hangzhou that started an online shopping revolution and grew into a fintech titan.

The company changed the shopping habits of hundreds of millions of Chinese people and catapulted Ma to international stardom.

"The first time I used the internet, I touched on the keyboard and I find, 'Well, this is something I believe, it is something that is going to change the world and change China'," Ma once told CNN.

In 2014, Alibaba listed in New York in a world-record $25 billion offering.

Ant is still the world's largest digital payments platform, with hundreds of millions of monthly users on its Alipay app.

But any future listing appears a long way off, with fears persisting that its personal finance products reach too deeply into the pockets of ordinary Chinese.

- Crossed the line? -

Ma long enjoyed an image as the benevolent and unconventional billionaire.

Sometimes referred to in China as "Father Ma", he was praised for his self-deprecation -- he recounts being rejected by Harvard "10 times".

He is also known for lighting up company events with song-and-dance appearances as Lady Gaga, Snow White and Michael Jackson.

As his fortune grew, Ma rebranded as a philanthropist, in 2019 retiring from the business to focus on giving.

But he has faced his share of travails over the years in a country where getting rich risks catching the attention of the powerful.

MA'S SWEATSHOP IDEOLOGY

Eyebrows were raised when the state-run People's Daily newspaper revealed that he is a member of the Communist Party -- something Ma has never fully commented on.

He had previously indicated he preferred to keep the state at arm's length, telling the World Economic Forum in 2007: "My philosophy is to be in love with the government, but never marry them."

Days before Ant's IPO was pulled, a swaggering Ma launched a stinging public broadside against Chinese regulators, accusing them of stifling growth.

He is far less outspoken these days, rarely featuring in the headlines save for appearances at charity events and occasional sojourns overseas.

Chinese billionaire Jack Ma to relinquish control of Ant Group


Jack Ma, billionaire founder of Alibaba Group, arrives at the "Tech for Good" Summit in Paris, France


Fri, January 6, 2023 

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Ant Group's founder Jack Ma will no longer control the Chinese fintech giant after the firm's shareholders agreed to implement a series of adjustments that will see him give up most of his voting rights, the group said on Saturday.

The move marks another big development after a regulatory crackdown that scuppered Ant's $37 billion IPO in late 2020 and led to a forced restructuring of the financial technology behemoth.

COMMENT:

ANDREW COLLIER, MANAGING DIRECTOR, ORIENT CAPITAL RESEARCH, HONG KONG

"Jack Ma's departure from Ant, a company he founded, shows the determination of the Chinese leadership to reduce the influence of large private investors. This trend will continue the erosion of the most productive parts of the Chinese economy.


"Despite official comments, Ant posed little risk to the financial system and was effective in arranging loans for small businesses, one of the main drivers of economic growth."

DUNCAN CLARK, CHAIRMAN OF INVESTMENT ADVISORY FIRM BDA, BEIJING:

"Yes, it's obviously significant if he is no longer the controlling shareholder. This in theory should pave the way for an IPO assuming the other key issue - oversight/ownership of data - is also resolved.

"With the Chinese economy in a very febrile state, the government is looking to signal its commitment to growth, and the tech/private sectors are key to that as we know. At least Ant investors can (now) have some timetable for an exit after a long period of uncertainty."

WEIHENG CHEN, PARTNER AND HEAD OF GREATER CHINA PRACTICE AT LAW FIRM WILSON SONSINI, HONG KONG

"If these voting arrangement changes are deemed as a change-of-control event under the A share and/or Hong Kong listing rules, Ant Group's IPO process could be further delayed."

(Reporting by Kane Wu; Editing by Sumeet Chatterjee and Jacqueline Wong)