Hawaii wildfires: How climate change contributed to starting the Maui blaze

Ben Adler
·Senior Editor
Updated Thu, August 10, 2023

With at least 53 people dead and hundreds of buildings damaged or destroyed, the dramatic and deadly wildfires on the Hawaiian island of Maui are a grim reminder of how climate change is increasing wildfire risk.

According to the National Weather Service, the fires on Maui are fueled by dry vegetation, strong winds and low humidity.

Wildfires are not common in Hawaii — the Guardian called the current ones “unprecedented” — because places with a wet, tropical climate do not typically have the dried-out vegetation to provide the fuel. But rising global temperatures are changing that. According to the organization Global Forest Watch, fires do not naturally occur in tropical rainforests, but as climate change has dried out forests, tropical forest fires have become more common, increasing by about 5% per year since 2001.

Heat

A large part of the historic town of Lahaina has been destroyed by wildfires. (Dustin Johnson/Reuters)

Average global temperatures have risen 2 degrees Fahrenheit since the Industrial Revolution, and this summer has been particularly scorching. Last month was the world’s hottest on record.

Hot weather dries out vegetation, effectively making it more vulnerable to fire. Extreme heat waves have recently contributed to unusually severe and early wildfires in Canada, which sent smoke across the northern United States.

In recent summers, the Pacific Northwest and Europe have also seen extreme heat and record-breaking wildfires, and this year is no exception.

“The situation in Hawaii recalled scenes of devastation elsewhere in the world this summer, as wildfires caused by record-setting heat forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of people in Greece, Spain, Portugal and other parts of Europe, and western Canada suffered unusually severe fires,” Reuters reported.

“Climate change in many parts of the world is increasing vegetation dryness, in large part because temperatures are hotter,” Erica Fleishman, director of the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute at Oregon State University, told the Associated Press. “Even if you have the same amount of precipitation, if you have higher temperatures, things dry out faster.”

Drought

An aerial of Maui on Wednesday. (Vince Carter/via Reuters)

When hotter air increases water evaporation, it pushes the water cycle towards extremes of heavy rainfall and droughts, both of which have become more intense in recent years.

A 23-year megadrought has left the Southwest at the driest it is estimated to have ever been in 1,200 years. Last summer, Europe experienced its worst drought in 500 years.

Even normally rainy areas such as the Northeast saw extreme droughts last year, while the area also experienced record-breaking extreme rainfall events and above normal precipitation months later.

Hawaii was in the midst of its own drought — an extremely rare occurrence for the tropical state — which raised wildfire concerns last fall. According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, moderate drought now covers more than one-third of Maui, with severe drought in some areas.

Hurricanes

The wildfire around Tatkin Lake in British Columbia, Canada. July 10. (BC Wildfire Service/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Studies have also shown that warmer ocean waters caused by climate change help strengthen hurricanes. In this case, Hurricane Dora, which passed south of Hawaii this week, increased the difference in air pressure to create “unusually strong trade winds,” according to the National Weather Service.

By Thursday evening, Dora had spent 122 hours as a Category 4 hurricane, the most of any Pacific hurricane on record.

“When those strong winds hit, if you already have the heat and the dryness and if you have a spark, a wildfire becomes more likely to grow rapidly,” Fleishman told CNN.
Other human factors

A wildfire in Kihei, Hawaii late Wednesday. (Ty O'Neil/AP)

When Europeans established farms in Hawaii, they brought fire-prone invasive grasses that now cover 26% of the state. The grasses grow quickly during the rainy season and then rapidly dry out if there is a drought.

“When we get these events like we’re seeing these past few days — when the relative humidity really drops low — all those fine fuels become very explosive,” University of Hawaii at Mānoa fire ecologist Clay Trauernicht told Wired.

Population growth and development are also increasing the number of places where forests and buildings sit side-by-side, increasing the deadliness of wildfires.

A window into the future

Haze from wildfires in Canada diminishes the visibility of the Empire State Building in New York City, June 7. (David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)

A 2022 report from the United Nations Environment Programme projected extreme fires to increase up to 14% by 2030, 30% by 2050 and 50% by 2100 if humankind continues on its current path of burning fossil fuels.

Unless nations swiftly and dramatically reduce the greenhouse gas emissions causing global warming, the recent increase in wildfires is just a small taste of worse things to come, experts say.

“This is our new reality,” Mike Flannigan, research chair for predictive services, emergency management and fire science at Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia, told Al Jazeera in June, about the Canadian wildfires. “We’re on a downward trajectory. Things are going to get worse and worse and worse.”

WORKERS CAPITAL
Exclusive-Canadian pension funds explore $6 billion sale of renewables firm Cubico -sources
KEEPING THEIR HYDROCARBON INVESTMENTS

Thu, August 10, 2023
By Isla Binnie and Andres Gonzalez

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two of Canada's biggest pension funds are exploring options including a sale of Cubico Sustainable Investments that could value the renewable energy firm at about $6 billion or more, including debt, according to people familiar with the matter.

Montreal-based Public Sector Pension (PSP) Investment Board and the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTPP) are looking to appoint a financial advisor in the coming weeks, the sources said, adding the sale could take several months to complete.

The sources, who requested anonymity as the matter is confidential, cautioned a deal is not guaranteed and is subject to market conditions.

Cubico's owners are aiming for a valuation of about 10 times its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) of $641 million in 2022, the sources said.

Ontario Teachers' and PSP declined to comment. Cubico did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The potential sale of Cubico comes at a time when renewable power developers and other service providers focused on energy transition have become attractive acquisition targets for infrastructure investors and corporate utilities.

Ontario Teachers' currently manages net assets worth C$247.2 billion ($184.31 billion), while PSP oversees roughly C$243.7 billion of assets.

PSP has a portfolio of hydroelectric, wind and solar assets worth $1 billion in Canada, and has invested in offshore wind development in the United States, Europe and Asia.

Ontario Teachers' has invested alongside major U.S. utility NextEra Energy in the United States, and struck a deal to finance offshore wind development with Australia's Macquarie Group.

In 2015 the two funds partnered with Banco Santander SA to launch Cubico, and became equal owners after buying out the Spanish bank's stake the following year.

Cubico operates wind and solar farms in 12 countries in Europe and America, as well as concentrated solar power and transmission line technology operations with a capacity of 2.8 gigawatts (GW).

The company is also developing and constructing over 2.2 GW of additional capacity, according to its website.

($1 = 1.3412 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Isla Binnie in New York and Andres Gonzalez in London; Editing by Anirban Sen and Chris Reese)

DESANTISLAND
Florida leprosy cases may be here to stay. Do I need to worry?

Rebecca Corey
·Writer and Reporter
Updated Wed, August 9, 2023 

Leprosy, also known as Hansen’s disease, is rare in the U.S., but cases are on the rise in Florida. (frank600/Getty Images)

Leprosy may sound like an affliction from a bygone era, but the disease — which historically also carries a strong social stigma — may be more present in the U.S. than you might expect, a new report indicates.

What's happening

A recently posted research letter in a journal published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says there’s evidence that leprosy, also known as Hansen’s disease, has become “endemic,” or regularly occurring, in the Southeastern U.S., particularly in central Florida, where reported cases have more than doubled over the past decade.

The authors of the letter note that about 34% of new cases in the U.S. from 2015 to 2020 appeared to be locally acquired, and that several patients weren’t exposed to “traditional risk factors,” such as close, prolonged contact with someone infected with leprosy, interaction with armadillos (which can be carriers of the disease) or having traveled to an area where the disease is common.

Leprosy is an infection caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium leprae. It manifests as lesions and darker or lighter patches on the skin that may be reddish in color if inflamed, and lumps, particularly on the earlobes and face. If it's left untreated, nerve damage can occur that can cause tingling and eventual paralysis of hands and feet, loss of sight and eyebrows, and deformity of the nose, as nasal cartilage collapses.
Do I need to worry?

“The CDC has been clear that because the risk of leprosy in the United States remains very low, and because most people do not develop the disease following exposure, this should not be a cause of widespread alarm,” Dr. Jose Lucar, an infectious disease physician at the George Washington University School of Medicine, tells Yahoo Life. “[The CDC] also noted that a travel alert is not necessary to the parts of the country where local cases of leprosy are being reported, including central Florida.”

Here’s why experts say you shouldn’t stress.

Leprosy doesn’t spread easily. Transmission still isn’t completely understood, although it’s believed to spread primarily through respiratory droplets. But while illnesses such as influenza or COVID-19 are easily acquired through droplets, the bacterium responsible for leprosy is so slow-growing that only extensive exposure will result in an infection. “Because it's so slow to reproduce, very prolonged close contact with untreated leprosy over several months is really needed to acquire the infection,” Lucar explains. “And we know that people don't get leprosy through casual contact, like hugging, shaking hands or sitting next to someone with the disease.”

Most people have natural immunity to leprosy. The mycobacteria responsible for it are closely related to other bacteria, Dr. Nutan Gowda, a dermatologist at UMass Memorial Medical Center, told Yahoo News. “There are different mycobacteria in the soil, in the water, in the air that we’re exposed to on a daily basis, without even being aware of it. And that's how we develop immunity.”

Some people are more susceptible to infection than others. Lucar says genes may also play a role. “We know through a number of studies that there are genetic factors related to the immune system, to its response to infections, that can make some people more susceptible to the infection than others," he notes. "So people who develop leprosy may have genes that make them more susceptible to infection.” But that accounts for a relatively small percentage of the population, with the CDC saying that over 95% of people worldwide have natural immunity. Each year, about 150 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with leprosy, and even health care workers rarely contract the disease.

Treatments are extremely effective. Leprosy is curable, especially with early diagnosis and treatment, which involves a combination of antibiotics. But while the completion of antibiotic therapy takes anywhere from six months to two years, a person is no longer contagious within days of starting treatment.

Computer illustration of Mycobacterium leprae, the rod-shaped bacterium that causes leprosy. (Kateryna Kon/Science Photo Library/Getty Images)

What can I do about it?

While leprosy doesn’t present a major health threat, simple measures such as treating people who have the disease so they aren’t contagious and avoiding contact with armadillos (or wearing gloves and washing your hands if you do have contact with them) are important steps, Lucar says.

But more broadly, Nutan, who worked and trained at a leprosy clinic in north India, where the disease is endemic, points out that this news from Florida may also be a cautionary tale of the collective effort needed to fight global warming as more diseases emerge in unfamiliar places.

“We have infections that are appearing in areas that we never used to see before — not because of travel, but because the bacteria and viruses have new areas where they can thrive because of global warming,” Nutan says.

“Usually you don’t see leprosy in temperate climates," she adds. "We see it around the equator belt and where it is much warmer. But nowadays, we see bacterial illnesses that we used to see more in hotter parts of the country up in the Northeast, just because it's so much warmer now. So is that playing a factor? I don't think we have thought about that.”
The main takeaway

The researchers’ findings mean that clinicians or public health authorities in the U.S. may now consider Florida when conducting contact tracing for leprosy cases in the U.S. But it also illuminates gaps in leprosy research in the U.S. — especially regarding how the disease is spread.

“This essentially raises the need for further research into what other environmental sources may be playing a role in the transmission of infection,” Lucar says. “But this should not be a cause for public concern in general.”

HAPPY THE ZIONIST MURDERER
Israeli settler accused of involvement in killing of Palestinian moved to house arrest




Elisha Yered, 22, center is led handcuffed by officers during an appearance at the Jerusalem District Court on Tuesday, Aug. 8, 2023. Yered is one of two Israeli settlers arrested on suspicion of involvement in the killing of a Palestinian man in the West Bank on Friday. 

(AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)


ISABEL DEBRE
Wed, August 9, 2023 

JERUSALEM (AP) — An Israeli settler suspected of involvement in the killing of a 19-year-old Palestinian man in the West Bank last week was released from detention on Wednesday and transferred to house arrest, a Jerusalem court said.

The Israeli judge said there was insufficient evidence to extend the detention of the radical Jewish settler, Elisha Yared. The court also ordered a second Israeli settler accused of shooting and killing the 19-year-old Qusai Matan to remain in custody while being hospitalized for wounds sustained during the attack last Friday on the Palestinian herding village of Burqa.

For Matar's family and other Palestinians, Yared's transfer to house arrest seemed to underscore the sense of impunity enjoyed by Jewish extremists in the occupied West Bank.

“They did something that is so horrific, so immoral,” said Matan’s 34-year-old uncle, Hamam. “We can only expect these attacks to continue.”

The killing of Matan near the West Bank city of Ramallah enraged Palestinians and drew condemnation from human rights groups and foreign diplomats. In a rare statement, the United States Office for Palestinian Affairs denounced the killing of Matan as a “terrorist attack" — a phrase typically reserved for Palestinian attacks on Israeli civilians — and urged “full accountability and justice.”

A mob of armed Israeli settlers stormed into the West Bank village last Friday, torching at least two cars and opening fire at Palestinians who thronged the street. Matan was killed and four other Palestinians were wounded. The Israeli military said that Matan was shot after an altercation between Palestinians and Israeli settlers escalated, leading Israeli settlers to open fire and Palestinians to hurl rocks and fireworks.

The episode added to an intense surge of violence that has gripped the West Bank and Israel in recent months.

Matan's family on Wednesday said that the court decision to place Yared under house arrest diminished their already grim expectations for justice.

“That they could shoot a young, innocent man in the neck and walked home, that tells you everything about the occupation," his uncle said.

Matan was “shy and good-humored,” Hamam added, and had dropped out of high school to work at a spice shop in Ramallah and support his family. He was recently engaged to be married. “Our whole country is grieving," he said.

Police have accused the two Israeli settlers — Yared and Yehiel Indore — of causing death, obstructing justice and committing a nationalistically motivated arson attack. The defendants claim that they were acting in self-defense.

Yared, wearing a lime-colored knitted skullcap, long Orthodox hair locks called payots and a green T-shirt, grinned as he entered the courtroom. He left the hearing singing and dancing down the stairs, videos showed, surrounded by clapping supporters.

The case has also stirred controversy in Israel because Yared worked as a spokesperson for a lawmaker in the far-right Jewish Power party led by Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

Ultranationalist settler leader Ben-Gvir, known for his anti-Arab rhetoric and stunts, helped propel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to power late last year and continues to exert pressure on his right-wing government.

In recent months, groups of radical Jewish settlers have increased their attacks on Palestinian towns and villages, attacking civilians and vandalizing property. Netanyahu's government has vowed to take a harder line on Palestinians and assert greater control over the occupied West Bank.

“A Jew who defends himself and others against the murder of Palestinians is not a murder suspect, but a hero who will receive my full support,” Ben-Gvir wrote on Twitter this week about the arrests of Yared and Yehiel.

Israel captured the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Mideast war. Palestinians seek those territories for their hoped-for future state.

Rights groups say the settler enterprise leads to a deep power imbalance in the West Bank, where Palestinians are prosecuted in military courts with an extremely high conviction rate, while Israelis are charged in civilian ones, if at all.

The Israeli human rights group Yesh Din reported in February that out of more than 1,500 investigations of violence, property crime, seizure of Palestinian land and other offenses allegedly committed by Israeli citizens against Palestinian civilians since 2005, only 7% had led to indictments.

Exclusive: A veteran FBI agent told Congress that investigations into Giuliani and other Trump allies were suppressed


Mattathias Schwartz
Updated Thu, August 10, 2023 

The J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building in Washington, DC.Alex Brandon/AP

An FBI veteran said his superiors suppressed investigations of Trump, Insider can exclusively reveal.


"Are we going to do public corruption or not?" the whistleblower said to Insider.


He said his boss ordered him to stop investigating Giuliani and the Trump White House.

A veteran FBI counterintelligence agent says his supervisor told him to stop investigating Rudy Giuliani and to cut off contact with any sources who reported on corruption by associates of former President Donald Trump, according to a whistleblower complaint obtained by Insider.

The agent, who served 14 years as a special agent for the bureau, including a long stint in Russia-focussed counterintelligence, claimed in a 22-page statement that his bosses interfered with his work in "a highly suspicious suppression of investigations and intelligence-gathering" aimed at protecting "certain politically active figures and possibly also FBI agents" who were connected to Russian and Ukrainian oligarchs.


Those figures, the statement claims, explicitly included "anyone in the White House and any former or current associates of President Trump."

The statement, which was prepared for staffers of the Senate Judiciary Committee, was apparently leaked and posted in mid-July to a Substack newsletter. Insider has independently obtained a copy of the complaint and verified its authenticity but has not corroborated all of its claims.

In an interview with Insider, the whistleblower said he was motivated by a desire to improve the FBI, which he says is "essential, as imperfect as it is," because of its sweeping power to hold "policymakers accountable, whether they're on the left or the right."

"This is a decision point," he said. "Are we going to do public corruption or not?"

Insider is withholding the name of the whistleblower because he has made claims about retaliation from the FBI, where he remains an employee, and because he is now seeking whistleblower protections from Congress.

"It's highly unfortunate that this statement wound up being leaked and published," said Scott Horton, an attorney representing the whistleblower. "We're in the preliminary stages of a confidential process. I'm unable to make any other comment."

The whistleblower told Insider that he was finally ordered to stop investigating Giuliani and the rest of the Trump White House in August 2022, after months of what he said were persistent efforts to frustrate his work, at a meeting with three FBI supervisors at a bureau field office. Insider was able to support the agent's account of the meeting with a second source who had knowledge of what took place.

He said the meeting had been called to discuss the 14-year veteran's job performance. As one of the bureau's few Russian-speaking counterintelligence specialists, he maintained a network of overseas sources that had been utilized by agents across the country to investigate everything from money laundering to political corruption, his statement said. He said his work had been recognized with eight consecutive years of "excellent" or "outstanding" performance appraisal reports running from 2010 to 2018, and he had been tapped to help verify information obtained by investigators working for Robert Mueller during his time as special counsel.

But in the August 2022 meeting, he was called onto the carpet to discuss "performance issues and concerns" and was given suggestions for how to improve, the agent's account provided to lawmakers said. The directions he received included a strict prohibition on filing intelligence reports relating to Giuliani or any other Trump associate.

The agent said the 2022 meeting was the culmination of a yearslong effort to frustrate his investigations into potential wrongdoing by political figures in Trump's circle, stretching back to Trump's stint in the White House. He said in January 2022, he filed an internal complaint under the Whistleblower Protection Act alleging "numerous acts of intelligence suppression of my reporting related to foreign influence and the Capital riots, retaliatory acts and defamation of my own character."

In one case, the statement said, the agent developed information from confidential informants that Giuliani had done paid work for Pavel Fuks, a Ukrainian oligarch and "asset of the Russian intelligence services." (That charge was previously reported by Rolling Stone.) The whistleblower also said he looked into claims that Giuliani had fraudulently raised money from investors to produce a never completed film about Joe Biden in the months before the 2020 election.

The agent's reporting on Giuliani wasn't received well in the bureau's New York field office, his statement said. "In the midst of my reporting involving Giuliani, which had previously been identified by my supervisor as 'high impact,' my management told me they received a call from a supervisor in NYFO, who they did not identify," the statement says. "This supervisor had taken issue with my reporting."

The whistleblower said he didn't know who the upset supervisor was. But he blamed "a group of people surrounding [Giuliani] with existing or historical ties to the bureau" for a pattern of "retaliatory action." The statement points to Charles McGonigal, the now-indicted former head of FBI counterintelligence in New York, as one possible source of the apparent "suppressive efforts."

Spokespeople for Giuliani, Fuks, and Trump did not immediately respond to requests for comment; nor did attorneys representing Fuks and McGonigal.

The FBI's national press office declined to comment.

Not only did the complaint and other documents reviewed by Insider say the agent's superiors ordered him to stop working on these leads, but they also said the superiors ordered, in early 2022, that the FBI informant who had provided the best intelligence on Giuliani's activities be "closed" — cut off from further FBI contact. The statement said the order came from the FBI's Foreign Influence Task Force, a headquarters-based unit established by Director Christopher Wray in 2017 and charged with combating foreign influence.

It remains unclear how much of the friction described by the whistleblower's statement stems from left versus right as opposed to field versus headquarters. The month the whistleblower says his bosses ordered him off Trumpworld investigations was a pivotal one for the Bureau's investigations of the former president. On August 8, their agents executed a search warrant on Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, recovering more than 100 records with classified markings that became key evidence in his first federal indictment; a special counsel-led prosecution led to a second Trump indictment in early August over efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Giuliani too was raided by the FBI, in April 2021, although that probe concluded without charges in late 2022.

The agent said months before he was told to stop looking at Giuliani and the rest of Trump's circle, he met with the same high-ranking supervisor to pass on information he had received from his confidential sources about Hunter Biden and his ties to Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company that had paid Hunter Biden $83,333 a month to sit on its board. "My supervisors were delighted that I had collected this information about Burisma," the agent wrote in his statement.

But the agent said when he tried to talk about what their sources had to say about Giuliani, his boss's reaction was very different. The supervisor "forcefully interrupted" him and ended his presentation, he wrote.

The whistleblower's story offers a different perspective from the ones laid out by three other FBI whistleblowers who testified before the GOP-led Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, some of whom have admitted accepting financial support from right-wing groups. Those whistleblowers complained that the bureau was biased against Trump and his supporters, that the crackdown on January 6 insurrectionists went too far, and that they had faced retaliation from the bureau for their conservative views.

In the interview with Insider, the new whistleblower said that he had approached the GOP subcommittee, led by Rep. Jim Jordan. But when the subcommittee's staff learned from the whistleblower that the Hunter Biden information had been handled appropriately, their interest dwindled, the whistleblower said.

"The FBI made a diligent attempt to run the Biden material to the ground," the whistleblower said. "It wasn't slow-played. Chairman Jordan should not be using this as an example to show that the FBI is biased against the right."

Russell Dye, a spokesperson for Jordan, denied the whistleblower's allegations that the committee was cherry-picking witnesses who claimed to be able to implicate Biden.

"We would under no circumstance ever tell a whistleblower that we weren't interested in their story," Dye said. "We have had plenty of whistleblowers come forward about issues not relating to the president," he added. Dye said the committee was still weighing what to do with the information that the whistleblower had given them.

Even before the emergence of this new whistleblower, there had been ample evidence of individual FBI agents with pro-Trump partisan sympathies. Jared Wise, an FBI supervisor who left the bureau in 2017, now stands accused of joining the insurrectionists on January 6, 2021, breaking into the Capitol, and shouting, "kill 'em! Kill 'em!" at rioters as they attacked the Capitol Police line.

Further up the chain of command, bureau leadership — perhaps intimidated by Trump's "deep state" rhetoric and his treatment of former senior FBI personnel such as James Comey and Peter Strzok — has resisted investigating the former president. A Washington Post investigation found that more than a year passed before the bureau formally opened a probe into connections between the Trump White House and the January 6 violence. Other reporting by the Post showed that senior FBI officials attempted to push back on plans by Justice Department prosecutors to search Mar-a-Lago without Trump's permission. Some FBI agents were reportedly satisfied by an assertion made by Trump's legal team that he'd turned over all his classified documents, and wanted to close the Mar-a-Lago government records investigation down.

The FBI is ideologically diverse and decentralized, with 35,000 employees spread out across 56 field offices from Anchorage to San Juan. The glimpse of one field office provided by the new whistleblower could be more indicative of a risk-averse bureaucracy struggling to balance its law-enforcement duties with its increasingly fragile public image than a politically motivated cover-up.

The whistleblower recounts how one of his sources, code-named Genius, won the trust of racist extremists whom the bureau investigated for their role in the January 6 violence. Genius was able to do so because he had credibility on the far-right political fringe. Nevertheless, the whistleblower claims, the FBI ordered that the source be closed, supposedly for making the same kinds of "inappropriate" comments on social media that had earned him access to some of the leaders of the insurrection.

The agent's decision to make a formal statement to Congress appears to have been a last resort. He said he previously approached the FBI's internal ombudsman with his concerns. He said in December 2021, he submitted an official whistleblower complaint to the head of his field office. Under federal law, that complaint should have protected him from internal reprisals. But his account said his superiors responded with punishments, disciplining him for errors in paperwork and reassigning him to a new post outside of his longtime area of expertise, one that required a multi-hour commute from his home.

Those experiences, he told Insider, are part of what compelled him to share what he knows with Congress, not to harm the FBI but to improve and correct public misperceptions.

"There are people in the FBI who are biased," he said. "We aren't robots. But the bureau itself has integrity. It's necessary. Despite the scars that I bear, I believe that the majority of my colleagues are doing the right thing."

Mattathias Schwartz is Insider's chief national security correspondent. He can be reached by email at schwartz79@protonmail.com

'A dangerous decision': Canadian news is disappearing from Instagram, Facebook

Tech experts warn that this move will make it challenging for Canadians to determine if the news they are consuming on social media is from a factual source or misinformation


Corné van Hoepen
·Contributor, Yahoo News Canada
Thu, August 10, 2023 

Canadians are no longer able to access news on social platforms Instagram and Facebook as tech giant Meta has followed through on their promise to block news on their platforms. While the ban officially went into effect on Aug. 1, it has been steadily rolled out across Canada over the past two weeks.

Meta signalled this move would be coming as a response to the federal government passing its Online News Act, Bill C-18, back in June.

Google followed suit shortly after by announcing they would be removing links to Canadian news from Canadian Search, News, and Discover products if an agreement with the Canadian government cannot be reached by the time obligations under the Online News Act come into force.

With the news blackout already in effect on Instagram, and Facebook soon to follow, news links and content posted by news publishers and broadcasters in Canada will no longer be viewable by people in Canada.

"In the future, we hope the Canadian government will recognize the value we already provide the news industry and consider a policy response that upholds the principles of a free and open internet," Rachel Curran, Meta's head of public policy in Canada, said in a statement




Expert unpacks Meta's decision to pull news content

Ottawa law Prof. Michael Geist says there's very low economic value to Meta for having news content on its social media feeds. 'Facebook is far more important to the news sector than the news sector is to Facebook,' Geist says.
How will the Meta ban impact Canadians?

Instead of being able to access news stories on Meta platforms, Canadians are now being greeted by a placeholder reading "People in Canada can't see this content."

Screenshot of Yahoo Canada Instagram after Meta news ban

News links to articles, reels — which are short-form videos — or stories, which are photos and videos that disappear after 24 hours, have also been affected by the block.

Tech experts warn that this move will make it increasingly challenging for Canadians to determine if the news they are consuming on social media is from a factual source or misinformation.

Ahmed Al-Rawi, head of the Disinformation Project at Simon Fraser University says the inability to authenticate news provided by a verified news source could lead to an increase of fake news.

He says losing the ability to share credible news links will lead to an increase in the sharing of screenshots, which could be easily doctored using editing software or AI.

Police forces across Canada are also sounding the alarm on how the Meta ban will negatively impact the way they share information.

A spokesperson for the RCMP’s national headquarters told media that Facebook and Instagram have been utilized by the force as a means of sharing critical information with the public.

Unsure yet of just the extent the Meta ban will have on police operations, new ways of distributing public safety messages are currently being explored.
Unpacking Bill C-18

So what exactly is Canada's Online News Act, also known as Bill C-18?

Introduced by the federal government in April 2022, Bill C-18 was announced as a means of forcing tech giants such as Meta and Google, to fairly compensate news publishers for posting content on their platforms.


It was introduced in an effort to support an industry that has struggled to stay afloat since the transition from print to digital news.

Data released by the Canadian government shows that over 450 news outlets have closed since 2008 with 60 of these closures occurring in the last two years alone.

"Journalists and newsrooms are not earning what they should from their work," said Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez during his introduction of Bill C-18.

Some features included in bill are:

A new legislative and regulatory framework that would mitigate bargaining imbalances between digital platforms and news outlets over the way digital platforms allow news content to be accessed and shared on their platforms.

Digital platforms would have an opportunity to reach fair commercial deals with a wide range of news businesses outside the scope of the legislative framework before they are required to go to arbitration.

News businesses could be sure that negotiations with digital platforms would be fair and transparent through additional measures, such as a code of conduct and undue preference provisions.

Bill C-18 received Royal Assent on June 22, 2023 and obligations for tech giants in accordance with the act are expected to come into force within the next six months.
Meta claps back

In a statement shared online one year ago, the tech giant shared its concerns on the draft legislation issued by the Canadian government.

"We believe the Online News Act misrepresents the relationship between platforms and news publishers, and we call on the government to rethink its approach to help create a more fair and sustainable news industry in the long-term," reads the statement.

Over the course of the past year, Meta says they have been transparent and made it clear to the Canadian government that the legislation misrepresents the value news outlets receive when choosing to use their platforms.

"The only way we can reasonably comply with this legislation is to end news availability for people in Canada," the statement goes on to say.

What now?

Multiple Canadian media outlets have come together and are urging the Competition Bureau to do something about Meta blocking news content.

Canadian media ask Competition Bureau to investigate Meta's news ban

Multiple Canadian media outlets are urging the Competition Bureau to do something about Meta blocking news content. It's in retaliation to the Online News Act, also known as Bill C-18, which calls on tech giants to compensate the media for their journalism. Australia tried something similar in 2021, but people in that country can still view content on Facebook and Instagram. Touria Izri looks at the standoff here, and how Australia was able to resolve the conflict.

People in Canada can continue to access news online by going directly to news publishers’ websites, downloading mobile news apps, and subscribing to their preferred publishers," Meta reassures in their statement.

Public response

Canadians are reacting strongly to Meta's decision to ban news on its platforms, however many of the reactions point to generalized confusion to the implications of the ban.

Several posts seem to suggest that the ban only applies to certain leanings within the Canadian media landscape. One social user was quick to point out that this ban applies to all Canadian news companies.

Another user, who seems to be unfazed by the ban, tells other users that "If its not worth your time to go directly to the information, how valuable is it?"

One user expressed concern over if Meta announced a news ban, how likely is it that perhaps other platforms may follow suit?

Other users remain hopeful that this may only be a temporary halt as negotiations between tech giants and the Canadian government are taking place.

One user is going so far as to call Meta's ban a "dangerous decision."

Some social media users suggest alternative means of accessing Canadian news.

The occasional post shares a supportive perspective of the Meta ban.

 Toronto Police Service spending on fallen K9 funeral raises eyebrows

The decision to honour fallen K9 Bingo sparks criticism over spending, forcing animals to serve


Corné van Hoepen
·Contributor, Yahoo News Canada
August 2, 2023·

A lengthy motorcade consisting of Toronto Police Service (TPS) vehicles passed through downtown Toronto on the morning of July 27 as a tribute of honour to their fallen service dog Bingo, who had tragically been killed in the line of duty.

On July 25 at approximately 8:40 p.m., Sgt. Brandon Smith and his K9, Bingo, of Police Dog Services were searching for a reported armed suspect in the vicinity of Kipling Avenue and Dixon Road in Toronto, according to a media release.

Police allege that officers and the suspect had an interaction and Bingo was tragically shot and killed.

The suspect was shot by police and transported to hospital, and currently is in custody.

“As an animal lover, I was very saddened to learn about the passing of Bingo, a Toronto Police K9 dog who was killed in the line of duty while keeping his handler and other officers safe yesterday,” Ontario Premier Doug Ford said after news of Bingo's death broke.

K9 Bingo and Sgt. Smith
Toronto police held large procession for fallen K9

A media release shared by TPS alerted the public that the force would be holding a procession as a means of honouring their fallen service member.

Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw called the service dog's death senseless and tragic while highlighting the critical role K9's play on the police force.

“They provide an additional resource to our members to help keep communities safe, whether it is tracking a suspect, apprehending violent suspects or tracking and locating evidence, some of which is incredibly dangerous,” Demkiew said in a statement.

Bingo was known as a high-energy dog who bonded well with his partner in the short time they were together, said Staff Sergeant Eric Hembruff in a statement. “He has had a few successes in his seven months and was very good at his job. He made the ultimate sacrifice, taking a bullet that might have been meant for one of our officers.”

“It was unnecessary and absolutely heartbreaking for the handler and the entire Service,” added Superintendent Colin Greenaway, the Police Dog Services Unit Commander.

The procession, made up of Police Dog Services, the Emergency Task Force and and the Motor Squad departed from the Emergency Veterinary Clinic and proceeded to Guelph University for end of life veterinary services.

Video captured of the procession shows a long line of Toronto Police Service vehicles with amber lights flashing proceeding through downtown Toronto.

Procession held in honour of Toronto Police Service K9 Bingo, tragically killed in the line of duty

On July 27, Toronto Police Service held a procession for police dog, Bingo, who was killed in the line-of-duty. Credit: Toronto Police Service

A heart-rending video posted from outside the Toronto police headquarters showed the moment Bingo's lifeless body was carried out of the detachment on a tiny stretcher.

While the public outpouring of support for Toronto Police Service and the loss of their service dog was evident, advocacy groups were quick to point out the significant cost coming from taxpayer's pockets for the fallen K9.

LIKE FATHER LIKE SON

Justin Trudeau, Sophie Grégoire Trudeau separation likely won't impact prime minister's image

"It’s not as if Sophie has been a huge factor in his public appearances," historian and professor Robert Bothwell said


Jermaine Wilson
·Writer
August 3, 2023

Canadian Prime minister Justin Trudeau and wife Sophie Trudeau arriving ahead of the coronation ceremony of King Charles III and Queen Camilla at Westminster Abbey, central London. Picture date: Saturday May 6, 2023. (Photo by Jacob King/PA Images via Getty Images)

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie Grégoire Trudeau made a shocking announcement on Wednesday that they have decided to separate.

After a memorable 18-year marriage, the prime minister took to Instagram to share a statement about the couple's decision, including asking for privacy for himself and his children.

“As always, we remain a close family with deep love and respect for each other and for everything we have built and will continue to build,” the statement reads, which was also post on Grégoire Trudeau's Instagram page.

“For the well-being of our children, we ask that you respect our and their privacy. Thank you.”

The couple have three children, 15-year-old Xavier, 14-year-old Ella-Grace and nine-year-old Hadrien.

'She wasn’t all that prominent a figure'

With the unexpected separation from his wife, many Canadians are left wondering if the separation will impact the prime minister's image.

Historian and professor at the University of Toronto, Robert Bothwell, indicated that as of now, the separation won’t help Trudeau image, but nor will it hurt him.

“It’s not as if Sophie has been a huge factor in his public appearances, she wasn’t all that prominent a figure,” Bothwell said.

“I really don’t think it’d be much impact on Liberal party faithfuls or the politicians around him, and I’d be really doubtful if it had much impact on the general public. She’s just not that prominent a figure.”

Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and his wife Margaret walk along a street on the small French territorial island of St. Pierre Tuesday, August 4, 1971. The Trudeau's made a short unofficial visit to the island, which is off the east coast of Canada, during a tour of Canada's eastern provinces. 

(CP PHOTO/Peter Bregg)

Throughout Canada’s history, Trudeau is the second prime minister to announce a separation while in office, following his father.

As Bothwell recalls, Pierre Elliott Trudeau’s image actually improved following his separation from Margaret Trudeau. The couple announced their separation in 1977 and filed for divorce in 1983.

“I remember being at a Liberal convention and polls were done around '78 or '79, and somebody said, you really won’t believe this, but his popularity has gone up since the split," he said.

While details around the current prime minister's separation remain unknown at the moment, the public's reaction is unmistakably visible, judging by the thousands of comments flooding Trudeau and Grégoire Trudeau's Instagram pages.

'Intense vitriol and attacks': Trudeau separation draws backlash, sympathy from Canadians

Canadians are showing a wide range of emotions after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Sophie Grégoire Trudeau formally announced their separation.

Corné van Hoepen
·Contributor, Yahoo News Canada
Updated August 3, 2023·

Canadians reacted with a flurry of social media posts in the wake of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie Grégoire Trudeau's formal separation announcement on Wednesday. The pair announced on social media that they were officially separating following 18 years of marriage.

"Hi everyone, Sophie and I would like to share the fact that after many meaningful and difficult conversations, we have made the decision to separate," reads a statement posted by Trudeau on social media.

An official statement released by the Prime Minister's Office said Trudeau and Grégoire have "signed a legal separation agreement" and the pair "have worked to ensure that all legal and ethical steps with regards to their decision to separate have been taken, and will continue to do so moving forward.”

Public reaction to the Trudeaus separation

The prime minister and his wife's formal announcement of separation made headlines around the world and garnered a strong buzz on social media.

Some kinder messages offered up words of support for the family, as separation is a difficult process for anyone. Others pointed to how any marriage would be made difficult given all the hardships that the prime minister faced throughout his time in office.

One social media user highlighted the overwhelming amount of hate tweets and conspiracy-based responses Trudeau's announcement received, by stating "all the hate and accusations towards the Prime Minister of Canada during difficult times is just pathetic & not the country I grew up in."

Others put it more simply: "It's none of our business."

Following the news, founder and leader of the People's Party of Canada (PPC) Maxime Bernier posted a tweet stating the notice of separation doesn't matter, and what matters is "he leaves the office of the prime minister."

Others simply stated that they felt absolutely "no sympathy" for Canada's leader, along with his family. Instead, some pointed to their own suffering.

It continues a wave of hate that's followed the prime minister, sometimes displayed through the "F*** Trudeau" flag.

no sympathy

he chose power and more enrichment

he could have been a private individual and been a father using his wealthy inheritance

Canada will be better without him

if he resigns then he could be a father to his children using his great fortune

— Gif_Whisperer (@TheGifWhisperer) August 2, 2023

Amid all the sympathy and backlash, one social media user offered up the question if news of the separation will influence the impression the public has of the prime minister.

And amid the major news that's dominated headlines, others are also looking to shine on light on important issues in the day-to-day lives of Canadians.

A look back at the Trudeau marriage

Trudeau, 51, and Grégoire, 48, officially tied the knot in a Montreal church in May 2005 and during their 18 years of marriage, had three children together — two sons, Xavier, 15, and Hadrien, nine, and one daughter, 14-year-old Ella-Grace.

Grégoire, a former media personality, stunned the public when they first laid eyes on the glowing bride — dressed in a simple low-cut floral gown with a long veil trailing behind her. Trudeau was dressed in a gold tuxedo with gold silk stripes and upon emerging from the ceremony in the chapel, stepped into a 1959 Mercedes 300 SL, formerly belonging to Trudeau’s father.

Justin Trudeau, son of the late Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, leaves with his new bride Sophie Gregoire in his father's 1959 Mercedes 300 SEL after their marriage ceremony in Montreal Saturday, May 28, 2005.(CP PHOTO/Ryan Remiorz)

While the prime minister and his wife portrayed a united front to the public, Grégoire said in an interview with Global News in 2015, that “no marriage is easy,” and that she was “almost kind of proud of the fact that we’ve had hardship,”

The pair's last public appearance together was during Canada Day 2023 in Ottawa.