DUM AND DUMMER
Sens. Cruz, Manchin introduce bill opposing gas stove ban

ITS A LIE, THERE IS NO BAN

Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., introduced legislation that would prohibit the government from banning gas stoves. File photo by A.J. Sisco/UPI | License Photo

Feb. 2 (UPI) -- Leaders from both sides of the U.S. political spectrum joined forces on Thursday to try to bar the federal government from banning gas-fired stoves, saying it was an example of federal overreach.

Richard Trumka Jr., a commissioner of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, said in January that gas stoves are a "hidden hazard," potentially releasing anything from carbon monoxide to formaldehyde into people's homes.

U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, introduced legislation that would prohibit the safety commission from receiving federal funds to regulate new or existing gas stoves or for classifying stoves as a hazardous product.

The text of the two-page bill was published first by NBC.

RELATED Natural gas from cooking stoves contains hazardous air pollutants

Both leaders were quoted by the network as saying any proposal to limit consumer options was an example of federal overreach.

Manchin was quoted as saying the government has "no business" dictating how people cook at home, while Cruz said it was an example of some of the fringe proposals offered by what he considers his more liberal counterparts on the opposite side of the political spectrum."

Make no mistake, radical environmentalists want to stop Americans from using natural gas," Cruz said. "The Consumer Product Safety Commission's proposed ban on gas stoves is the latest egregious scaremongering by the far left and their Biden administration allies."

RELATED Study: Carbon monoxide deaths soar during power outages

About 35% of households in the United States use indoor gas stoves. As much as 13% of current childhood asthma in the country can be attributed to some of the chemicals associated with gas stove use, according to government statistics.

Samples, meanwhile, taken from the Boston area found at least 21 hazardous air pollutants, including benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene and hexane that could be linked to gas stoves.

Eric Lebel, a senior scientist with PSE Healthy Energy in Oakland, Calif., said the risks, however, may carry some caveats.

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"There are many other compounding sources of nitrogen dioxide," Lebel said. "If you live next to a freeway, that's a big source of nitrogen dioxide. So it's hard to know how much of an issue that gas stoves are, in terms of the total impact on health concerns like asthma."

The White House is on the record as saying no plans exist to ban gas stoves, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission has said it wants to study the risks, but has no short-term plans to pursue a moratorium.

US Labor Department launches campaign to educate workplaces on rights of nursing mothers


The Department of Labor is launching an effort to inform workplaces of new protections for nursing mothers under the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act.

File Photo by Draw/Shutterstock

Feb. 2 (UPI) -- The United States Department of Labor announced a new effort to alert workplaces of the rights afforded to nursing mothers under new legislation.

"Research shows women of color and women rural communities suffer significantly higher rates of maternal mortality and morbidity than their white and urban counterparts," reads the text of a press release from the Labor Department Thursday.

The Providing Urgent Protection for Nursing Mothers Act or "PUMP Act" requires workplaces to provide time and a private space for nursing mothers to pump breastmilk.

The legislation is designed to beef up protections under the Fair Labor Standards Act, which already has provisions requiring employers to allow employees to pump breastmilk.

The PUMP Act extends protections to millions of women who previously weren't covered under the FLSA, allows women to take legal action against workplaces that do not comply, and specifies that employers must pay employees for time they spend pumping breastmilk.

The Labor Department's Wage and Hour division is in charge of enforcing the PUMP Act and has launched a website to explain worker protections under the legislation.

Menstrual symptoms hurt workplace productivity, study finds


Nearly half of American women report taking days off from work due to menstrual symptoms, according to a new study that found digital health apps could help workplace productivity. Photo by unknownuserpanama/Pixabay

Feb. 2 (UPI) -- Nearly half of American women report taking days off from work due to menstrual symptoms, according to a new study that found digital health apps could help workplace productivity.

The University of Virginia School of Medicine Health survey found that 45.2% of women reported menstrual symptoms that impacted their work. Those symptoms included reduced energy, mood and lack of concentration.

"This study demonstrates that menstrual symptoms have a significant effect on women's lives," Dr. Jennifer Payne, the study's senior author and director of the Reproductive Psychiatry Research Program at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, said in a statement.

"I think these results demonstrate just how resilient women are -- they are able to continue to work and be productive despite the significant impact that menstrual symptoms have," Payne added.

RELATED Various treatment options may ease symptoms of menopause

Researchers tracked responses from 1,867 women who used the Flo app, which helps women track their menstrual cycle and symptoms, as 91% of the women reported cramps, 85% reported fatigue and 81% reported bloating.

According to the study, many of the women who reported menstrual symptoms said they did not feel supported by their workplace, with 49.7% saying they did not feel comfortable talking freely about their cycle with their manager

Researchers found those women, who used digital health interventions such as the Flo app, were better equipped to manage their period symptoms. More than half of the women surveyed in the study said the app helped them prepare for and be aware of their body's signals.

RELATED Symptoms of menopause may emerge well before menstruation ends

According to the study, the app users said they were 18% to 25% less likely to report that their menstrual symptoms affected their work productivity. They were also 12% to 16% less likely to take days off.

"Organizations would do well to pay attention to this study and promote environments where women can feel comfortable in addressing needs surrounding the menstrual cycle," Payne said.

"Women are already doing the hard work of coping with menstrual symptoms on a monthly basis. Digital interventions geared toward minimizing women's symptoms and maximizing coping skills are one way organizations can support their women employees."

Lawmakers gather to celebrate 30th anniversary of Family and Medical Leave Act

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks in the East Room of the White House Thursday at an event marking 30 years since the Family and Medical Leave Act.

Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo

Feb. 2 (UPI) -- Lawmakers gathered Thursday to mark the 30th anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act, a landmark piece of legislation U.S. President Joe Biden said affords "dignity and security" to millions of families.

Former President Bill Clinton returned to DC to help Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris celebrate the occasion in the East Room of the White House.

"Let us be clear, in America in the 21st century, every worker should be able to take time off to care for themselves or the people they love," Harris said in opening remarks.

"When they are able, our entire nation benefits," she said. "Consider for example, women are 40% more likely to need family or medical leave because they are more likely to take on caregiving responsibilities, and studies have shown that when women receive the leave ... they are more likely then to stay in the workforce, which means a stronger economy, raising wages for workers overall."

In his remarks, the president thanked the lawmakers who had advocated for the Family Medical Leave Act, citing by name former President Clinton and his wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton, whom he said was "as tenacious an advocate as there ever was for this law."

"Because of the years of work and tenacious advocacy of many of you who are here today," the FML Act has provided "dignity and security for millions of families," Biden said. "Because, finally, finally, for the first time in history, the majority of working Americans [can] take time off work, care for somebody they love, to care for themselves, without fear of losing their job."

Former President Clinton spoke, recounting the feedback he's received since his administration make the act into law in 1993.

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"After all these years, I still have more people mention the Family Leave Act to me than any other specific things I did," Bill Clinton said. "And no one talks about what gets all the press coverage -- you know, the political process, how long did it take, who got derailed, what went up, what went down."

Bill Clinton introduced healthcare advocate Natasha Jackson, who shared her personal story of losing her job because of a lack of protections like those in the Family and Medical Leave Act.

"When I was three months pregnant, and the only woman working at a local rental furniture company, I asked my employer if I could do less heavy lifting. I thought it would be an easy ask. Instead I lost my job," said Jackson.

"I was our primary bread-winner at the time, we had just made a down payment on a house, but without my income we had to back out of all of it. We then ended up homeless and needing emergency public housing, all in a matter of months," Jackson said.

"I have two daughters and I also have nieces and I am so grateful that they and millions of workers won't have to choose between starting a family and keeping their jobs," she said.

Biden also touted recent legislation granting further protections to workers, including women who are nursing.

"I'm proud to say that under our administration we've made additional progress. In December, as we mentioned earlier, we passed the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act," Biden said. "We filled an important gap in federal protection by requiring employers to make reasonable accommodations for pregnant women and new moms, like letting them have water breaks, bathroom breaks, sit down to work breaks."

"This event is a moment to recognize the difference that the Family and Medical Leave Act has made and continues to make for millions of Americans, ensuring that they can take up to 12 weeks of leave to care for a new child, a sick family member, or themselves, without risk of losing their jobs or health insurance," Gender Policy Council Director Jennifer Klein, said in a phone call with reporters marking the 30th anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act.

"We'll continue to fight efforts by Republicans in Congress to strip away the historic funding for childcare secured in the year-end omnibus bill, or to use critical policies for working families as bargaining chip," she continued.

At the White House Daily Press Briefing Thursday Klein outlined the legacy of the Family and Medical Leave Act.

"The Family and Medical Leave Act came about after years of work by advocates and members of Congress, including support by President Biden as a senator and from an historic number of women trailblazers in Congress," Klein said.

USDA announces $9.4 million for plans to limit waste in landfills


The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced an investment into the Compost and Food Waste Reduction program that furthers the American Rescue Plan’s climate change directive. File Photo by Stokpic/Pixabay

Feb. 2 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced an investment into the Compost and Food Waste Reduction program that furthers the American Rescue Plan's climate change directive.

The USDA is investing $9.4 million into CFRW agreements, which are granted to local and municipal governments that exercise efforts to limit waste in landfills and promote sustainable practices. The agreements are funded with American Rescue Plan dollars.

"These Compost and Food Waste Reduction projects play important roles in building resilient, local food systems, including strong food recovery networks and food waste reduction solutions that benefit farmers and communities," said Terry Cosby, chief of USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service.

"With an estimated 4% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions attributable to uneaten food, local strategies and tools like these are important climate solutions."

RELATED USDA announces $2.7 billion for rural electric grids

The USDA has been supporting composting and food waste reduction activities in this way since 2020, contributing to projects across the United States. Farmers, community gardeners and communities at large have benefitted from the projects through CFRW cooperative agreements.

Among the recipients of funding is the Miami-Dade County 2022 pilot project that will scale up three local composting companies. The aim of the project is to increase the capacity of the companies by 50% in one year, according to the USDA.

A Tuscon, Ariz., pilot project will build composting infrastructure for the Tucson Unified School District in 2022 and provide education to students about food reclamation and the economic benefits of composting. The USDA said the infrastructure will soil health and support the school district's community garden which provides nutritious food for members of the larger community.

Michigan's second-largest city gets powered by its waste stream

A waste-to-energy facility in Michigan's second-largest city is keeping trash out of area landfills. Photo courtesy of Kent County Department of Public Works.

Feb. 2 (UPI) -- New leadership is taking over operations at a facility that can supply one of Michigan's most populated cities with gas sourced from the decomposition of organic waste, partners announced Thursday.

Vicinity Energy established a new partnership with the public works department in Kent County to operate a new waste-to-energy facility in Grand Rapids, Mich. The company is taking over operations at a facility that keeps an estimated 190,000 tons of waste from going into landfills each year and yields enough energy to power 11,000 homes in the area.

Grand Rapids is the second-largest city after Detroit, with a population in the greater metropolitan area of around 1 million people.

Vicinity estimates that customers receiving the gas would have an annual carbon footprint that's 38% less than those that rely on more conventional forms of power.

Characterized as a renewable form of energy, companies are looking to utilize the decomposition of organic matter such as the manure from the cattle industry and waste that would normally wind up in a landfill to yield a substitute for conventional natural gas.

Decomposition of organic matter results in the release of natural gas in the form of methane, which can be purified to remove harmful compounds and increase its potency. That product can then be put through conventional pipelines for delivery to end users.

Though advancing along with the transition away from conventional fossil fuels, county officials said they've utilized this form of energy for more than 30 years.

"We're continuing to invest in the waste-to-energy facility, and this new partnership with Vicinity will ensure it operates safely and efficiently for years to come," Dar Baas, the director of the Kent County Department of Public Works, said.

HUD awards $315 million to cities to address homelessness


Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Marcia Fudge announced $315 million in grants to cities across the country to help address homelessness. File Photo by David Maxwell/UPI | License Photo

Feb. 2 (UPI) -- The Department of Housing and Urban Development announced $315 million in grants to help cities across the country address homelessness.

The funds will help 46 cities and localities expand housing options, expand healthcare services and provide for short and long-term rental assistance. HUD is seeking to reduce homeless by 25% over the next three years.

"Homelessness is a crisis, and it is solvable. Housing with supportive services solves homelessness. That's why, for the first time the federal government is deploying targeted resources to meet the needs of people experiencing homelessness in unsheltered settings or in rural areas," said HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge. "With these grants and vouchers, HUD is filling this gap and giving communities the resources and tools to improve housing and health outcomes for people on the streets, in encampments, under bridges, and in rural areas."

Chicago will receive a $60 million grant to help strengthen homeless outreach and provide access to permanent housing. Dallas plans to use its $22.8 million grant grant to invest in the expansion of homeless street outreach, permanent housing options, supportive services, and overall system improvements.

Los Angeles and Miami will receive grant money to help transition people to interim and permanent housing, while the state of North Carolina will be given money to address rural homelessness across seven counties.

HUD also announced that the 105 municipalities, states, and tribes who have joined the House America Initiative, have collectively housed more than 100,000 households experiencing homelessness and added over 40,000 affordable housing units into development.

PG&E to be arraigned on involuntary manslaughter charges over Zogg fire

PG&E will be arraigned on involuntary manslaughter charges Feb. 15, according to the Shasta County, Calif. District Attorney's Office. The charges are related to the company's role in allegedly causing the Zogg wildfire that killed four people. Pictured is the Dixie fire near the PG&E Rock Creek Power House July 21, 2021. PG&E said then its equipment may have sparked the Dixie fire. 

Photo by Peter DaSilva/UPI | License Photo

Feb. 2 (UPI) -- Pacific Gas & Electric Co. will go to trial on involuntary manslaughter and other charges stemming from the deadly 2020 Zogg wildfire in California, according to the Shasta County District Attorney's Office.

PG&E will be arraigned Feb. 15.

"Following a 7-day preliminary hearing, Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) was held to answer today for multiple felony and misdemeanor criminal charges for its role in starting the Zogg fire in 2020," the Shasta County District Attorney's Office said in a statement posted on Facebook. "In the Zogg fire, four people died, over 200 structures burned, and more than 50,000 acres were consumed in Shasta and Tehama Counties. Among the charges PG&E is facing are four counts of involuntary manslaughter and three counts of recklessly starting a fire."

Prosecutors filed 11 felony criminal charges and 20 misdemeanors against PG&E in September of 2021 for the fire that left four people dead and burned some 56,000 acres.

In June 2022, PG&E pleaded not guilty to four involuntary manslaughter charges from the Zogg fire in Shasta County.

Shasta County District Attorney Stephanie Bridgett told reporters at the time that a PG&E electrical line sparked the fire when a tree fell on it.

In 2020 PG&E pleaded guilty to 84 counts of involuntary manslaughter in the 2018 Camp Fire in California. The company admitted then that its neglected equipment sparked that fire.

PG&E filed for bankruptcy in 2019 as they were being investigated for the role PG&E played in wildfires that killed dozens of people.

'Risky gamble:' NDP urges Alberta government to end fixation with pulling out of CPP

Story by The Canadian Press • 


EDMONTON — Alberta's Opposition leader says Premier Danielle Smith’s government needs to end its fixation with pulling the province out of the Canada Pension Plan.


'Risky gamble:' NDP urges Alberta government to end fixation with pulling out of CPP© Provided by The Canadian Press

NDP Leader Rachel Notley says her party would not pursue an Alberta Pension Plan, which the United Conservative government has been studying for almost three years without resolution.

Notley says the idea does not make economic sense and is opposed by a majority of Albertans, adding the government needs to release its long-promised report into the pros and cons of Alberta going it alone on pensions.

“We are very concerned that this UCP government is sitting on a self-interested report that they are hiding from Albertans because they don’t want this to be an election issue, but they still plan to go ahead with it should they get elected,” Notley told reporters Thursday.

“If this UCP government is continuing to toy with this risky gamble to undermine the security of Albertans’ pensions, then they have an obligation to come clean on that.”

Alberta voters head to the polls May 29.

Smith's office said work continues on a third-party analysis of an Alberta pension plan.

“While the initial analysis looks favourable, the Office of the Chief Actuary of Canada recently tabled updated asset figures for the CPP, and the third-party expert authoring the report requires additional time to update its findings,” spokeswoman Becca Polak said in a statement.


Global News Feds step up funding for for-profit child care centres in Alberta
2:41

Polak stressed the report would only be the first step and Albertans would have the final say.

“The government of Alberta will not replace the CPP with an Alberta Pension Plan unless Albertans first vote to do so in a provincewide referendum," she said. "It's Albertans' pension — it must be Albertans’ choice.”

The report stems from a May 2020 Fair Deal panel report urging Alberta explore the idea as a way to help assert itself more within Confederation.

The panel reported that given Alberta's young population, a separate pension plan could be a multibillion-dollar net benefit. The panel recommended the idea be explored even though 42 per cent of the respondents in its survey thought it was a good idea.

In response, then-premier Jason Kenney ordered a review into the feasibility of such a plan. In March 2021, Kenney said work on the report was almost done and his government was just weeks away from announcing next steps.

Smith, taking over from Kenney in October, asked Toews to continue with the pension report. In December she said she hoped a referendum might be possible with the May election, but has since said that likely won’t happen.

She has said Albertans are over-contributers to CPP and need to explore an alternative that could leave more money in the hands of Alberta seniors.

The Alberta pension plan is among a suite of measures being explored by Smith’s government as a way to carve out more independence for Alberta within Confederation.

The province is also researching its own provincial police force to replace the RCMP and tax revenue collecting agency.

In December, the Alberta Chambers of Commerce conducted a survey that suggested a majority of business owners believe leaving CPP for an Alberta plan would disadvantage them over the next three to five years.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 2, 2023

Dean Bennett, The Canadian Press

Australia's new $5 banknote will not feature British monarchy


The Australian government said Thursday that it will replace the British monarch on its $5 banknote with an First Australians design. File Photo by Paul Miller/EPA

Feb. 2 (UPI) -- Australia announced Thursday that the image of King Charles III will not be included in a redesign of its $5 bill, the last of the Commonwealth's banknotes to feature the British monarchy.

The Reserve Bank of Australia said in a statement that it will replace the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II with a design "that honors the culture and history of the First Australians."

The design for the new banknote will be decided in consultation with the country's indigenous population known as First Australians and will take several years to be designed and printed, it said, adding the other side of the note will continue to feature the Australian Parliament.

"This decision by the Reserve Bank Board follows consultation with the Australian government, which supports this change," it said.

Treasure Jim Chalmers told reporters during a press conference that the monarch will continue to be present on Australia's coins.

"This decision ... is an opportunity to strike a good place here," he said. "The monarch will still be on the coins but the 5$ note will say more about our history, and our heritage and our country, and I see that as a good thing."

The new design will include a First Australian design instead of a person, he said.

The announcement comes after the British queen died in September at the age of 96 following years of serving as head of the Commonwealth, which includes 54 countries.

The Royal Australian Mint has said that it intends to announce the design of the first King Charles III coins soon with plans for them to be released prior to the end of the year.

"Naturally, existing Australian legal tender coins bearing the Queen's effigy will remain in circulation and remain legal tender forever," it said in a release late last year.

The last 5$ note depicting the queen was issued on Sept. 1, 2016.

Mick Lynch Declares 'The Working Class Are Back' In Powerful Picket Line Speech

Graeme Demianyk

HUFFPOST
Wed, 1 February 2023 

Mick Lynch, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union and Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, join striking members and supporters on a march on Westminster.

Mick Lynch, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union and Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, join striking members and supporters on a march on Westminster.

Union boss Mick Lynch has told striking workers “we are the working class, and we are back” in a rousing speech on a day of widespread industrial action in the UK.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union general secretary, speaking at rally for the National Education Union (NEU) in Westminster on Wednesday, insisted “every worker needs a square deal” as he hit out at the government for “trying to ban the working class”.

“Walkout Wednesday” was described as the country’s biggest day of strike action in a decade, with workers walking out in increasingly bitter disputes over pay, jobs and conditions.

It saw thousands of schools closed for the day because of action by the NEU and picket lines were mounted outside railway stations, schools, government departments and universities across the country.

Lynch addressed thousands of striking teachers gathered outside Downing Street.

“Welcome to Westminster, the house of fools and the house of the corrupt,” he said.

“Last year, Grant Shapps, remember him? He’s still around. Lurking around all of these buildings here, running the government, telling Rishi Sunak what to do, trying to ban the working class.

“He was telling the media that the railway workers have got no friends, that we would be back at work, and how dare we ask for a pay rise when teachers can’t afford to live, when nurses are more deserving cases, when public-sector workers can’t get a pay deal.

“Our message then, as it is today, is every worker needs a pay rise, every worker needs a square deal.

“And our message is sod this, we demand, and we are united. We will not be divided on the basis of who we work for. We will not be divided on the basis of our belief, or the colour of our skin, or the part of the country we are from.

“We are the working-class, and we are back. We are here, we are demanding change, we refuse to be bought, and we are going to win for our people on our terms.”

The NEU estimated that around 85% of schools across England and Wales would be affected by the walkouts, with potentially 300,000 union members joining the picket lines across the country.

Organisers believe 40,000 striking teachers and workers march through central London.

The TUC also held a series of protests against the government’s controversial plans for a new law on minimum levels of service during strikes.

Related...

Mick Lynch Claims Government Wanted Rail Strikes To Go Ahead

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UK

The Guardian view on strikes: Sunak needs a better plan
Editorial
Wed, 1 February 2023 

Photograph: Jacob King/PA

To the extent that Rishi Sunak has a plan for dealing with the biggest wave of industrial action in Britain for a generation, it seems to involve waiting for public opinion to turn against the strikes. To hasten that process, ministers cast trade unions as self-serving militants, causing harm to citizens who rely on the services that are being disrupted. The plan isn’t working.

About 500,000 workers took part in industrial action on Wednesday. That was inconvenient for millions of others, but for the time being it is the government that takes the greater portion of blame. Deservedly so, when ministers have responded to legitimate grievances with high-handed disdain.

The teachers’ strike on Wednesday was especially difficult for parents who had to make childcare arrangements or miss work. For many, it stirred stressful memories of home schooling during the pandemic.

That doesn’t mean teachers were wrong to leave the classroom in protest at inadequate pay, nor that parents all blamed them for a decision that most could see was taken as a last resort. As with striking nurses and ambulance drivers, there is a bedrock of public recognition that people who provide essential services do so from vocation, not to get rich. They expect remuneration and working conditions that are adequate, and that allow them to do the job safely.

The degradation of those services over years of budget cuts is evident to those who rely on them. Parents do not want their children to be taught in underfunded schools or to be treated by demoralised nurses in overcrowded wards.

Everyone is feeling the same long-term squeeze on their incomes. Well, almost everyone. A small minority enjoys sufficient wealth to be insulated from pressures that weigh on ordinary people. That lucky social segment happens to be disproportionately represented in Mr Sunak’s cabinet. This might explain some of the political miscalculation around industrial unrest, although a lack of strategic competence also plays its part.

Mr Sunak has an argument against strikes, which he seems to think is the same as a negotiating position. The government view is that pay rises above inflation are unaffordable and that they would stoke inflation further. That is a highly partisan and tendentious account of the underlying economics. Teachers’ pay has been falling in real terms for years, leading up to the present spike in inflation, so their salaries can hardly be the cause. Nurses are not to blame for Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent pinch on energy supplies, nor did they negotiate the Brexit deal that raised import costs, tightened the labour market and snarled up supply chains – the actual drivers of inflation.

In reality, the government is making a political choice not to pay public sector workers enough money, because the prime minister’s fiscal priority is an election war chest of tax cuts for later in the parliament. As a campaigning tactic, that might work, but it relies on voters putting up with prolonged chaos, and on public sector workers losing the will to fight for decent pay. That is not only a political gamble, but also an abdication of responsible government. Mr Sunak is not popular enough, nor does he have the moral authority to stake so much on a confrontation with people whose public service credentials are much better than his own. He needs a new plan.

Parents join teachers on demonstrations despite school closure disruption

Eleanor Busby, PA Education Correspondent
Wed, 1 February 2023

Parents have joined striking teachers in demonstrations across the country as many schools closed their doors to pupils, a union boss said.

Teachers in England and Wales, who are members of the National Education Union (NEU), took part in the first national strike since 2016, which threatened disruption to more than 23,000 schools.

Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the NEU, said he believes “more than 200,000” members have staged walkouts on Wednesday, adding that the strike has been “really effective”.

Groups representing parents have released a joint statement in support of members of the NEU in their demand for “fair pay” despite the disruption.

(PA Graphics)

Mr Courtney told the PA news agency: “We know there were parents on the demonstrations.

“I have just spoken to a parent who came to a demonstration in Birmingham because she’s so outraged about the way her child with special needs has been treated and is on our side.”

The NEU has estimated that around 85% of schools in England and Wales have been affected – either fully closed or partially closed – by the action.

Mr Courtney told PA: “We think a big majority of schools will be closed to more than half the children in the schools.”

Some parents have been forced to work from home and take leave due to school closures.

The NEU will launch “the biggest ever programme” of parental engagement on Thursday to bolster support for further planned strikes, Mr Courtney said.

He told PA: “If I was government I’d be really worried about our ability to reach parents.

“We intend to start the biggest programme of parental engagement there’s ever been and talking to them about the truth about the crisis in our schools.”

Walkouts by teachers took place on Wednesday – the first of seven days of strikes in February and March – after talks with Education Secretary Gillian Keegan failed to find a resolution.

Mr Courtney added: “I think we can keep parental support, but we will be working to keep parental support.

“And even parents who don’t support the strike can support the demands that we’re putting forward that could end these industrial disputes.”

Mr Courtney and Mary Bousted, the joint general secretaries of the NEU, have called on Ms Keegan to “step up with concrete and meaningful proposals” on pay to prevent further strikes.

In a statement on Wednesday, the NEU bosses said: “Today, we put the Education Secretary on notice. She has until our next strike day for England, February 28, to change her stance.

“NEU members do not want to go on strike again. They want constructive talks that deal directly with the long-standing concerns they experience in their schools and colleges every day. So that they can get back to doing what they do best, working with pupils in the classroom.

“However, be in no doubt that our members will do whatever it takes to stand up for education, including further strike action, if Gillian Keegan still fails to step up with concrete and meaningful proposals.”

Jason Elsom, CEO of charity Parentkind, said: “The reality is stark: right now, parents support these strikes and they support teachers in their bid for an inflation-related pay rise.

“Nobody wants schools to be closed and nobody wants children to lose days of learning, and so it’s in this vein that parents across the country want the Government and the teaching unions to work together to achieve a fair and lasting settlement to the question of teacher pay.

“Only then can disruption to children’s education be kept to a minimum.”

UK
Fresh strike by Royal Mail workers over jobs and conditions

Alan Jones
Thu, 2 February 2023 

Members of the Communication Workers Union on the picket line in Birmingham last year (Jacob King/PA) (PA Wire)

Royal Mail workers are to stage a fresh strike in the long-running dispute over pay and conditions.

Members of the Communication Workers Union (CWU) will walk out on February 16, threatening more disruption to mail deliveries.

The strike was announced despite talks last month at the conciliation service Acas aimed at breaking the deadlocked row.

In announcing further damaging strike action, the CWU have shown they are not interested in resolving this dispute and continue to focus on damaging our business further

Royal Mail

A series of strikes were held last year, including in the weeks running up to Christmas.

A Royal Mail spokesperson said: “We entered facilitated talks through Acas in good faith, believing that the CWU were serious in their claim that they wanted a resolution.

“In announcing further damaging strike action, the CWU have shown they are not interested in resolving this dispute and continue to focus on damaging our business further.

“The CWU’s misguided belief that further industrial action will remove the need for change and force an improved offer is misleading its members and risking their long-term job security.



“Their 18 days of industrial action have resulted in £200 million losses in the year to date, cost our people around £1,800 in lost pay and inconvenienced our customers.

“We need to agree on changes to make our business more competitive. That is the only way to secure well-paid, long-term job security for our people.

“In a materially loss-making company, with every additional day of strike action, we are facing the difficult choice of whether we spend our money on pay and protecting jobs or on the cost of strikes.

“We remain committed to talks and urge the CWU to withdraw these strikes for the good of our customers and our people.”

Project to save Scots oysters from brink of extinction reaches first landmark

Ema Sabljak
Thu, 2 February 2023

The project aims to breathe new life into the Firth of Forth’s once-thriving oyster habitats (Image: PR)

It was once the home to enormous oyster beds which were fished into near extinction more than 100 years ago.

Now, community efforts to restore seagrass habitats and native oyster populations in the Firth of Forth have reached their first landmark.

The Restoration Forth project has now reached its first full year and project leaders are now expecting to plant the first seagrass seeds in the coming weeks.


More than 4,000 locals have become involved in the project, managed by the World Wildlife Fund, during its first year, which focused on laying the foundations for the restoration work.

This included the preparation of 40,000 seeds which were carefully collected in Orkney and readied to be planted in the Forth.

Project manager Naomi Arnold said the interest and engagement from the local community has been “inspiring”.


HeraldScotland:

“The enthusiasm of our partners and funders but also, crucially, from members of the many communities that line the Forth, showcases how a project like this can work for both the marine environment and the people who live by it,” she added.

“Restoring the seagrass meadows and oyster beds of the Forth brings a whole host of benefits, from improved water quality and increased biodiversity, to storing carbon and reduced coastal erosion.

“After a year of hard work and preparation, we are excited that this spring will see the start of seagrass planting and oyster deployment – a start that will help breathe new life back into the Forth.”

The project aims to restore up to four hectares of seagrass and 10,000 oysters per year by the end of 2024. Experts say native oysters provide benefits to the ocean’s health, including filtering pollutants from the sea and acting as an important habitat for marine wildlife.

It is anticipated to cost £2.4 million to carry out the extensive restoration work, with the first funding coming from the ScottishPower Foundation which has supplied up to to £600,000 over three years.

The funding was granted by the foundation’s Marine Biodiversity Fund which was created to mark the Cop26 climate summit held in Glasgow.

Huge oyster beds, or scalps, once ran from Hound Point on the south shore of the Forth up to Golsford in East Lothian.

The scalps also stretched north across to Aberdour and Burntisland in Fife, covering over 50 square miles of the river banks with shellfish.

In the 1790s, as many as 30 million of the shellfish were harvested from the Forth in a single year, but overfishing saw oysters reach terminal decline.

But before the project can begin to bring the Forth back to its former oyster glory, project leaders have focused on unveiling the best locations for the restoration work to take place.

The locations chosen are suitable for growth but also because they are accessible for the community.

It is hoped that the residents will be able to engage with the project but also eventually take it forward in the long-term.

An appointed team of citizen scientists have also been working in partnership with Seawilding on the west coast of Scotland to establish processes to source native oysters for Restoration Forth.

The team has been scrubbing oysters to prevent the introduction of any harmful organisms during the project, in line with NatureScot and Marine Scotland guidelines.

Efforts have also been made to ensure that non-native species are not introduced into the Forth, and care was taken to ensure that only the east coast variant of seagrass was collected in Orkney.

More than 100 events, including talks and seed-processing days, have taken place in an effort to involve school pupils, university students, researchers, fishing communities, and an array of local groups.

The reintroduction of both species is expected to reap several benefits for both the eco-system and as a method of tackling the climate crisis. Melanie Hill, executive officer and trustee of the ScottishPower Foundation, said: “It’s so exciting to see the progress across the year of our first-ever Marine Biodiversity Fund project.

“Restoration Forth is supported by the biggest-ever grant awarded by the ScottishPower Foundation, and is a shining example of how we can take action now to tackle the climate emergency.

“Thriving marine environments are vital if we’re to have any chance of addressing the biodiversity and climate crises we all face.”

She added: “ Restoration Forth helps to do this and more, by engaging with the local community to educate them on the importance of these habitats to the wider ecosystem and our future.

“This collaborative approach can help provide the blueprint for further marine restoration projects across the country, with ScottishPower Foundation funding supporting future generations for years to come. I can’t wait to see what comes next.”

A group of partners are collaborating on the multi-million project including Edinburgh Shoreline Project, Fife Coast & Countryside Trust, Heriot-Watt University and the Marine Conservation Society.

France's contested pension reform bill headed for parliamentary debate

RFI
Wed, 1 February 2023

© Jean Francois Badias/AP

A French parliamentary commission ended its examination of the government’s contested pension reform bill on Wednesday evening without having reached the end of the text because of thousands of proposed amendments. The original text is to be debated in the full chamber starting Monday.

The members of the Social Affairs commission had been meeting since Monday morning to examine the government’s proposed pension reform and the 7,000 amendments proposed by the opposition.

By Wednesday evening's deadline, they had gone through two articles and not reached article 7, the key part of the reform, that proposes raising the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64 years old.

A few minutes before the 8 pm deadline, with 4,997 amendments left, commission president Fadila Khattabi, of President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party, ended the session with “regret” that most of the text had not been examined, despite 28 hours of debate.

The Nupes proposals to find other resources, including re-instating the wealth tax or increased taxes on investments, were rejected.

The commission did approve the creation of the senior index, which the opposition dismissed as ineffective. It also approved the first article, which would eliminate most special pension schemes, including those for Paris metro workers, electricity and gas workers and the French central bank.

Parliamentary debate

In order to get the bill passed, Renaissance, which does not have a majority, will depend on votes from other parties, likely the centre-right Republicains.

(with wires)

SOUTH AFRICA

Okavango Delta farmers hoping to reap benefits from carbon credits

Thu, 2 February 2023 

(Bones)

By Boniface Keakabetse for Okavango Express

Farmers in the Okavango Delta will soon trade in carbon markets courtesy of the climate smart project being implemented in the area by conservation organisation, CLAWS Conservancy.

The Okavango Delta is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and home to one of the most important core lion populations in southern Africa. In 2013, 50% of the known lions were killed through poisoning and shooting in retaliation for devastating livestock losses.

Following this, CLAWS Conservancy established a community engagement programme called

‘Pride in our Prides’ to mitigate this conflict and develop innovative approaches to promote

coexistence between communities and lions.

Dr Mudongo, the ecologist for the project, told The Okavango Express that they are working closely with the arable farmers practising rain-fed agriculture in the area. The CLAWS project arranges with the farmers to move livestock from its communal herding programme into the farms after harvest season so the cattle can eat the residue.

“We kraal (enclose) the animals inside the ploughing fields so they help to fertilise the fields which further put carbon into the soil to improve fields productivity,” he said

Dr. Mudongo explained that they want to go step further by selling carbon credits.

“With good implementation farmers will benefit from the carbon footprint we are targeting to achieve in the area,” he said. “The plan is to quantify this carbon that we put into the soil to sell in the carbon markets.”

People or organisations whose activities mean more carbon has been stored in trees, soils, or even the oceans, or less carbon has been emitted, than would have happened without their activities, can add up the tonnes of carbon they have sequestered, reduced or avoided being emitted. These credits can then be sold on the voluntary carbon market with other global entities who want to offset their own emissions The money received can be further utilised for sustainable activities, thus earning more carbon credits to be sold.

Further Dr. Mudongo reiterated that the approach of herding by moving cattle together is a climate smart way of livestock farming.

“As the herds move together they open up areas with large unpalatable grasses normally not grazed by animals. People usually used controlled burning as a strategy to control growth of unpalatable pastures. But we know fires have a big negative impact on the environment. You can burn all pastures and if there are inadequate rainfalls given unpredictable rainfall pastures farmers lose all grazing which leads to drought, impacting livelihoods.”

According to Dr. Mudongo the large herds of livestock improve the soil quality as the collective dung serves as organic matter that improves the soil fertility.

“When it rains, the grass is fertile and more grass can grow which improves the grazing pastures,” he said.

The cattle do not only deposit nutrients into the soil, but also put in organic matter which has a lot of carbon. That’s a helpful and efficient way of removing carbon in the atmosphere and depositing it back into the soil along the wetlands. As we know carbon is one of the biggest greenhouse gases contributing to global warming.

Since rolling out this programme farmers have been motivated to participate, enticed by the many benefits. CLAWS also plans to expand the herding programme from its base in Eretsha to the neighbouring village of Gunotsoga before June this year. In Gunotsoga farmers have pledged 400 cattle to participate. In Beetsha there are 700 cattle waiting to enrol in the project.

Dr. Mudongo said future plans are to begin signing conservation agreements or rangeland stewardship with the farmers to help monitor actions of the participants and issues of environmental protection compliance while also maximising the benefits by farmers.

“This will be a voluntary contract not legally binding enforceable by the community itself.”

This article is reproduced here as part of the African Conservation Journalism Programme, funded in Angola, Botswana, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe by USAID’s VukaNow: Activity. Implemented by the international conservation organization Space for Giants, it aims to expand the reach of conservation and environmental journalism in Africa, and bring more African voices into the international conservation debate. Written articles from the Mozambican and Angolan cohorts are translated from Portuguese. Broadcast stories remain in the original language.

Brown gold: the great American manure rush begins💩💩💩

Jessica Fu

THE GUARDIAN
Thu, 2 February 2023 

On an early August afternoon at Pinnacle Dairy, a farm located near the middle of California’s long Central Valley, 1,300 Jersey cows idle in the shade of open-air barns. Above them whir fans the size of satellites, circulating a breeze as the temperature pushes 100F (38C). Underfoot, a wet layer of feces emits a thick stench that hangs in the air. Just a tad unpleasant, the smell represents a potential goldmine.

The energy industry is transforming mounds of manure into a lucrative “carbon negative fuel” capable of powering everything from municipal buses to cargo trucks. To do so, it’s turning to dairy farms, which offer a reliable, long-term supply of the material. Pinnacle is just one of hundreds across the state that have recently sold the rights to their manure to energy producers.

Related: Have we reached ‘peak meat’? Why one country is trying to limit its number of livestock

Communities around the world have long generated electricity from waste, but the past few years have seen a surge in public and private investment into poop-to-energy infrastructure in the US. Though so far concentrated in states with dominant dairy sectors, like California, Wisconsin and New York, Biden’s landmark climate law passed last summer stands to unleash additional billions to support further development nationwide. The sector’s boosters describe it as an elegant way to cut emissions from both livestock and transport; but critics worry that the nascent industry could raise more issues than it resolves by entrenching environmentally harmful practices.

Animal agriculture is the nation’s single biggest source of methane, a greenhouse gas that climate scientists call a “super pollutant” due to its high short-term warming potential. The gas is released from animals when they burp, and through the decomposition of manure when collected in open-air ponds, a common livestock industry practice.

But those emissions are also a potential moneymaker. Methane from animal waste can be purified into a product virtually indistinguishable from fossil fuel-based natural gas. Marketed as renewable natural gas (RNG), it has a unique profit-making edge: in addition to revenue from the sale of the gas itself, energy companies can now also earn handsome environmental subsidies for their role in keeping methane out of the atmosphere.

In early 2020, an energy firm called Aemetis inked a 20-year contract to capture methane from Pinnacle’s manure and turn it into RNG. Aemetis installed a digester on the dairy, which collects the farm’s waste in a concrete-lined pool and captures the gas it releases. The company plans to upgrade it into renewable natural gas at its nearby refining facility, before transporting it to gas stations across the state.

“This is something that’s going to be on every dairy in the future,” said Jessica Cardoso, project coordinator at Aemetis.

Cardoso was raised on a dairy farm in California but, growing up, had no idea about the potential of cow manure. She predicts that natural gas and dairy production will soon go hand in hand.

Over the past few years, energy giants like Shell, BP and Chevron have all announced similar dairy industry partnerships. In California, the country’s top dairy-producing state, officials estimated that over a hundred publicly supported manure digesters were slated to go online by the end of last year. Less than a decade earlier, in comparison, just six such projects were in the works. Nationally, the number of planned and operational RNG production facilities at livestock and agricultural operations jumped by over 36% in 2021 compared to the year prior.

Frank Konyn Dairy farm in Escondido, California. 

Photograph: Ariana Drehsler/AFP/Getty Images

But some watchers of the biogas boom worry that monetizing avoided emissions could backfire. Environmental justice and animal welfare groups are campaigning against subsidies for the industry and raising questions about the challenges posed by digester technology. For one, digesters can and do leak. They also only mitigate about half of the methane problem posed by the dairy industry. While digesters capture emissions from manure, they do nothing to resolve the issue of emissions from cow burps, which, in California, produce roughly the same amount of methane emissions as manure.

But the heart of their concerns is the question about whether or not renewable natural gas generated from dairy farms is truly carbon negative. The answer depends on how you tell the story of its production.

Under California’s clean fuels policies, energy producers must reduce the carbon footprint of transportation fuel every year. Where fuels – such as gasoline and diesel – exceed the targets, producers have to buy credits to offset their excess emissions. Producers whose fuels are deemed to have extremely low carbon footprints can generate and sell valuable credits for every ton of emissions they help avoid.

The biggest winner under this system is RNG from dairy farms, which consistently receives not only the lowest carbon footprint scores across all fuel types, but also some of the only negative ones. Carbon-negative fuels are considered to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.

It’s on this flattering grading system that energy producers like Aemetis can earn avoided methane credits for every unit of energy produced from cow manure. The more they produce, the higher the payoffs.

When assigning a carbon footprint to RNG fuel, regulators don’t factor in any of the emissions associated with producing manure in the first place, such as the transport and raising of animals. This is not the case for many other renewable fuels, whose assigned carbon footprints take into account all greenhouse gases released during their production.

Related: The food emissions ‘solutions’ alarming experts after Cop27

This discrepancy is rooted in the assumption that manure is not produced deliberately; it is an inevitable byproduct of the dairy industry. So, the thinking goes, when energy companies intervene to capture methane and convert it into fuel, that process results in a net reduction in emissions.

But not everyone sees it this way. Some agricultural economists point out that existing climate policies have turned manure into a revenue source in and of itself, similar to cheese or butter. By giving manure its own inherent value, climate regulators have turned it from waste into a commodity.

“Once you pay a cattle producer for their manure, you are effectively subsidizing the production of that manure,” said Richard Plevin, consultant and former researcher at the University of California, Berkeley. “You’ve altered the economics of cattle production.”

Some climate researchers worry that incentives for methane capture have become so generous that they may increase manure production in the long run. Taken to an extreme, some worry dairy farms could end up turning into feces farms that happen to also produce dairy.

Kevin Fingerman, an associate professor on energy and climate at the California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt, published a study in 2022 – commissioned by science advocacy group, Union of Concerned Scientists – that scrutinized the risk of these unintended consequences in California.

He found that revenue from methane capture alone could, in some cases, make up almost 40% of total profits for mid- and large-sized dairy farms in California. When revenue from methane capture begins to eclipse that from dairy production itself, the study warned, it could end up incentivizing farms to increase herd sizes to produce more manure.

Biogas, methane collected from dairy farms, is piped into a cleaning facility at the Calgren facility in Pixley, California. Photograph: Mike Blake/Reuters

The study only looked at California’s clean fuels policies, but most dairy RNG producers can also profit off a parallel federal program – the Renewable Fuel Standard, which requires transportation fuel producers to meet certain renewable fuel targets, either through producing it themselves, or buying credits off those who do. Benefiting from both gives energy producers a valuable financial cushion.

Were California climate regulators to recognize manure as an intentionally produced material, like corn grown for ethanol, then its carbon intensity score would increase significantly to reflect everything from the greenhouse gases involved with producing feed to the emissions released from cow burps.

The California Air Resources Board (Carb), which oversees the state’s clean fuels programs, defended its approach. Dairy digesters are responsible for a significant share of methane emission reductions in the livestock sector, Dave Clegern, public information officer for the agency pointed out. He added: “We do not have any evidence that shows the [policy] is causing a higher amount of manure to be produced in California.” (One reason there may not be any such evidence yet is because the RNG industry is still in the early stages of development.)

At the same time, the agency has indicated an awareness that its subsidies might be overly generous. Last November, it sought feedback on the future of its clean fuel policies, including the possibility of eliminating avoided methane credits for dairy-based RNG by 2040. The suggestion sparked vocal outcry from energy industry representatives, who warned that it would unravel the sector’s progress toward climate targets. In contrast, environmental justice groups welcomed such a phaseout, though some like the Union of Concerned Scientists worried it might be “too little too late”.

The sharply divided response underscored the ongoing tension that arises when climate solutions attempt to balance environmental benefits with industry bottom lines.

Related: An Indigenous reservation has a novel way to grow food – below the earth’s surface

Looking ahead to 2023, some policy analysts are skeptical that the agency will significantly overhaul its own clean fuel policies. “There are so many vested interests,” Plevin said. “There are billions of dollars on the line if the numbers are changed.”

It also may not matter. Carb’s policies have already been replicated by other regions and countries, setting off a frenzy for more manure-to-energy projects that now extends beyond California.

Back in the Golden state, energy producers are still moving forward with digester development. Aemetis, for example, is in the midst of building out a biogas labyrinth in its corner of California’s Central Valley. The company plans to construct digesters on dozens more dairy farms over the next few years, all daisy chained together and connected to HQ via a private pipeline.

When I visited Pinnacle Dairy in August, the farm’s digester was still under construction, and its manure ponds were uncovered. Before we left, I leaned over to get a closer look at one of them, watching as tiny gas bubbles rose to the murky brown surface. Some of them clumped together and others floated alone. Eventually they all popped, releasing the methane into the hot afternoon air.

This story was reported with support from the UC Berkeley-11th Hour Food and Farming Journalism Fellowship

Tweet makes false claims about Nigerian presidential candidate Rabiu Kwankwaso's PhD



Fikayo OWOEYE,

 AFP Nigeria
Wed, 1 February 2023 

Political disinformation is spreading in Nigeria as voters prepare to elect a new president in February. A social media post casting doubt on the academic credentials of presidential candidate Rabiu Kwankwaso has sparked debate. The tweet insinuates that he does not hold a doctorate and claims he never published any research papers. But this is false: public records of an Indian university show Kwankwaso graduated with a PhD in engineering. He was also the lead author of a research paper published in an academic journal available online.

“Kwankwaso in March 2022, claimed to have bagged a Ph.D in Water Engineering from Sharda private university, India. A check on the varsity (sic) site shows it has no PhD. program in Water Engineering. A PhD. holder with no published academic paper(s)?” reads the tweet published on November 21, 2022, which has been retweeted more than 1,000 times and drawn 2,300 likes.

The post was posted by a Twitter user who goes by the name of Ike Ihiala. The account often shares content in support of Labour Party candidate Peter Obi.

The same claim also appeared elsewhere on Twitter and Facebook.

A screenshot showing the false tweet, taken on January 31, 2023

Kwankwaso of the New Nigeria People’s Party is one of 18 contenders vying to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari in a national ballot on February 25, 2023.

The tweet features a picture of him speaking at London-based think tank Chatman House, where several Nigerian election officials and presidential candidates gave talks in recent weeks.

In his appearance on January 18, 2023, Kwankwaso claimed he was more qualified for the top job than Obi.

“I'm a PhD holder in civil engineering; ask your candidate what he has,” he said. “I've been a civil servant for 17 years and not a trader.”

Kwankwaso, 66, is a two-time governor of Kano state in northwest Nigeria.

But the claim labelling him an academic fraud is false.

Doctorate from India

Using keyword searches for “Rabiu Kwankwaso and PhD”, AFP Fact Check found an official list of candidates awarded PhDs from Sharda University in India.

On the list is "Mohammed Rabiu Musa" who bagged his doctorate in civil engineering from the university in 2022.

Kwankwaso’s profile on the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) list of contestants shows his full name as "Musa Mohammed Rabiu Kwankwaso".

An affidavit submitted to INEC by Kwankwaso shows that he is officially known as “Musa Mohammed Rabiu Kwankwaso” and formerly "Musa Mohammed Rabiu".

The title of his thesis was "Design and Construction of Irrigation System in Northern Nigeria", according to the university's website.

Local newspapers, including here and here, also reported that Kwankwaso was awarded a PhD from an Indian university in March 2022.

A picture from his PhD defence was shared by a Facebook page that supports Kwankwaso, with a caption congratulating him on his successful presentation.

The same picture was also published on Kwankwaso’s official Facebook page.

Academic lead author

By searching for Kwankwaso’s name and PhD topic, AFP Fact Check found a research paper titled “Design Optimization of Water Lifting Device in Kano, Nigeria” on which he was the lead author.

It was published in November 2020 in the International Journal of Advanced Research in Engineering and Technology (IJARET) and remains available online.

Disinformation has dogged campaigning ahead of the polls. You can find AFP Fact Check's election-related coverage here.

UK Watchdog looks into £220,000 public funding for Johnson Partygate defence

Aubrey Allegretti,

 Political correspondent

THE GUARDIAN
Wed, 1 February 2023 

BO JO

Photograph: Victoria Jones/PA

Officials at the government’s spending watchdog are examining the controversial decision to provide £220,000 of taxpayers’ money to fund Boris Johnson’s legal defence for the inquiry into his Partygate denials.

The National Audit Office (NAO) has yet to decide whether to mount a formal investigation, but one of its directors is planning to speak to the Cabinet Office about it.

On top of the six-figure budget already established, sources have also indicated more money could be set aside to cover the former prime minister’s legal advice, given the privileges committee’s investigation could drag on into next month.

The revelations came as Johnson issued a fresh defence of his actions as PM during lockdown, insisting: “I thought what we were doing was within the rules.”

Keir Starmer laid into Johnson for relying on taxpayers to foot the bill incurred during a long-running investigation into whether he misled parliament by denying any Covid rules were broken in No 10, before swathes of fines for illegal parties were handed out.

The Labour leader said he “couldn’t quite believe it” and urged Rishi Sunak at prime minister’s questions on Wednesday to “put his foot down” and tell Johnson that as “he made the mess, he can pick up the bill”.

The Cabinet Office gave the green light to an initial £129,000 contract for legal advice in August 2022 with the firm Peters & Peters, which Johnson has used to help defend himself since the start of the privileges committee’s investigation last summer.

Due to delays getting the government to hand over information requested by the seven-member committee, which has a Conservative majority but a Labour chair, the contract has been extended until 28 February and the budget raised to £220,000.

Tom Brake, the director of Unlock Democracy and a former Liberal Democrat MP, wrote to the NAO asking if it was within its remit to investigate whether the spending had been a “sensible and legitimate use of public money”.

In a reply seen by the Guardian, the NAO director with responsibility for the financial audit of the Cabinet Office said they had contacted the the department to “request a meeting to obtain more information about any arrangements for the legal services”.

The meeting was scheduled to take place this week, and the NAO director said they would review any relevant documentation provided by the Cabinet Office and provide a fuller response afterwards.

Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, said it “rings alarm bells” and accused Sunak’s government of “writing a blank cheque for the disgraced prime minister’s legal fund”.

She added: “Ministers must come clean on the nature of this murky legal contract, and explain both who this arrangement was agreed by and why it has been allowed to continue unchecked.”

Brake said there was “strong evidence” Johnson misled parliament over Partygate.

He told the Guardian: “In these circumstances, and with public finances under huge pressure, the taxpayer shouldn’t underwrite his open-ended defence legal costs. Fortunately for Johnson, thanks to his recent extra-parliamentary activities, he can afford to pay for them himself.”

An NAO spokesperson said a query had been received from a member of the public relating to its audit of Cabinet Office accounts. “We are seeking further information in response to the correspondence and will be considering the matter as part of our audit,” they added.

The Cabinet Office defended the idea of taxpayers footing Johnson’s legal advice costs, saying: “There is an established precedent across multiple administrations that former ministers may be supported with legal representation after they have left office when matters relate to their time and conduct as a minister.”

Sources have indicated that the £220,000 budget for Johnson’s legal advice could be increased again, given the contract expires on 28 February but the privileges committee has yet to finish collecting all oral evidence, begin public hearings or start writing its report.

Johnson on Wednesday said he was being “respectful” of the privileges committee, as it continues to look into his denials from the dispatch box that any Covid rules were breached before confirmation of law-breaking parties came from Scotland Yard.

He gave a rare interview to one of his fiercest supporters, the Conservative MP Nadine Dorries, for a new show on TalkTV she will front.

Johnson said: “Anybody who thinks I was knowingly going to parties that were breaking lockdown rules in No 10, and then knowingly covering up parties that were illicit that other people were going to, that’s all strictly for the birds. And if anybody thinks like that they’re out of their mind.”

He admitted he had to “wait for this thing to conclude”, and added: “What I would say is that we all thought what we were doing – or certainly, I thought what we were doing – was within the rules. And what we certainly thought was that we were working blindingly hard on some massive priorities for the country.”

Pointing to the government’s work during Covid, Johnson said he had been focused on “getting that vaccine rollout organised” and “thinking desperately about how to … ramp up testing and all the rest of it”.

After leaving No 10, Johnson has seen his income rocket due to joining the speaking circuit, an advance payment for his memoirs and other visits and articles. Since October 2022, he has declared earnings of £2,296,905 – on top of his MP’s salary