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JPMorgan: Boss 'regrets' saying bank will outlast Chinese Communist Party

IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES

JP Morgan boss Jamie Dimon has apologised after saying his Wall Street bank would outlast China's Communist Party.

The comments, made at a US event, sparked anger in China, with experts warning they could jeopardise the bank's ambitions in the country.

Mr Dimon said: "I regret and should not have made that comment," in a statement issued on Wednesday.

He added he was only to trying to "emphasise the strength" of the bank.

Academics suggested the quick apology was aimed at containing the fallout.

In August, JP Morgan won approval to become the first full foreign owner of a securities brokerage in China.

'I bet we last longer'

Mr Dimon made his original remarks at Boston College on Tuesday, where he was taking part in a series of interviews with chief executives.

"I made a joke the other day that the Communist Party is celebrating its 100th year - so is JPMorgan," he said.

"I'd make a bet that we last longer," he told the event. "I can't say that in China. They are probably listening anyway," he added.

It sparked a swift reaction, with Hu Xijin, editor of the state-backed Global Times newspaper, saying on Twitter: "Think long-term! And I bet the CPC [Chinese Communist Party] will outlast the USA."

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at a news conference on Wednesday: "Why the publicity stunt with some grandstanding remarks?"

'I regret my comment'

Mr Dimon apologised on Wednesday, saying: "I regret my recent comment because it's never right to joke about or denigrate any group of people, whether it's a country, its leadership, or any part of a society and culture.

"Speaking in that way can take away from constructive and thoughtful dialogue in society, which is needed now more than ever."

• Can Western brands recover in China after backlash?
• UBS economist reinstated after China 'pig' comments

Global executives typically choose their words carefully when discussing China, where foreign companies have occasionally been subject to a backlash for perceived offences.

Swiss bank UBS ran into trouble in 2019, after a remark by one of its senior economists about food inflation and swine fever was interpreted as a racist slur.

He was suspended for three months and UBS lost a lucrative financial contract with a state-backed client.

Earlier this year, Swedish fashion giant H&M and US-based Nike faced pushback from Chinese state media and ecommerce platforms after expressing concern about allegations of forced labour in Xinjiang.

Eswar Prasad, a professor at Cornell University, said Mr Dimon's swift apology was designed to mitigate any damage.

"Dimon's apology shows the degree of deference foreign businesses have to show to the Chinese government in order to remain in its good graces and maintain access to the country's markets," he said.

In State Legislatures Nationwide, Republicans Are Consolidating Power

Barricades are seen in front of the State Capitol in Madison, Wisconsin, on January 17, 2021, during a nationwide protest called by anti-government and far-right groups supporting US President Donald Trump 

By Matt Shuham
December 26, 2021 

Congress gets most of the national attention in the redistricting wars, but state legislatures are key battlegrounds that deserve some scrutiny.

For one thing, there are thousands of state legislative districts — all the more opportunity for a sneaky gerrymander to slip by unnoticed.

Also, state legislatures, as we’ve seen over the past year, hold immense power in the democratic process — including setting election rules and responding (or not) to the 

Here are five of the most dramatic examples of state-level gerrymandering we’ve seen this year.

Texas

Texas Republicans’ redistricting maps, which were signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott (R) in October, have attracted their share of lawsuits, including the Justice Department’s only redistricting lawsuit so far this year.

The DOJ sued over the congressional and state House maps, alleging that the legislature had “eliminated Latino electoral opportunities in the State House plan through manipulation or outright elimination of districts where Latino communities previously had elected their preferred candidates.”

The suit highlights House District 118, which had a solid Latino majority leading into the redistricting process. The Texas House adopted an amendment to alter the district over the objections of the majority of the Bexar County delegation, the suit noted, and the change allegedly resulted in a 10 percent decrease to the Latino citizen voting-age population in the district.

The maps protect GOP incumbents in the state and their legislative majorities. And despite people of color making up 95% of Texas’ population growth over the past decade, there are no new Latino-majority districts in the new state House and Senate maps, nor new Black-majority districts. The House map actually decreases the number of districts with Black or Latino majorities.
North Carolina

Amid the multiple lawsuits over North Carolina Republicans’ state legislative and congressional maps, the state’s Supreme Court postponed primary elections, citing “the great public interest in the subject matter.”

It’s not hard to see why people are interested: The maps passed by the state legislature would give Republicans 24 safe Senate seats, as opposed to 17 safe seats for Democrats, the News Observer reported. In the House, the balance of safe seats is 55-41 in Republicans’ favor.

The Princeton Gerrymandering Project, a nonpartisan group that scores redistricting proposals, gave the state House and Senate maps “F” grades overall, as well as Fs for partisan fairness.

Ohio

Donald Trump won Ohio’s presidential electors with 53% of the state’s vote to Joe Biden’s 45% in 2020, up a few points from his 51-43% win over Hillary Clinton in 2016. Before that, Barack Obama won the state in back to back presidential contests.

And yet, the maps approved by Ohio’s redistricting commission, on a party line vote, would effectively give Ohio Republicans 64.4% of the legislature, the Columbus Dispatch reported — a 62-37 House margin and a 23-10 Senate margin. This despite Ohio voters passing two initiatives over the past decade to rein in partisan gerrymandering.

Presidential margins are a rough metric, but what Republicans on the Ohio redistricting commission used is perhaps more bizarre: Republican candidates won 13 out of the 16 last statewide elections, or 81%, they said, and the vote proportion in those elections went for Republicans 55-45.

“Thus, the statewide proportion of voters favoring statewide Republican candidates is between 55% and 81%,” the commission said in a statement. In the words of the Columbus Dispatch’s editorial board: “Huh?” By this logic, New York, which always elects Democrats to state-wide office, would be justified in drawing a map with 100% Democratic districts, noted an analysis on Democracy Docket, the website from Democratic election lawyer Marc Elias.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R), a member of the redistricting commission, voted for the maps even though he later acknowledged, “What I am sure in my heart is that this committee could have come up with a bill that was much more clearly constitutional. I’m sorry that we did not do that.”

Wisconsin

Wisconsin is a perfect example of how redistricting wins in years past can build on themselves: In 2011, Republicans controlled the state’s legislature and governorship, and they passed a redistricting map heavily slanted in their own favor. This year, with Democratic Gov. Tony Evers in office, things weren’t going to be so simple.

Typically, the partisan split would result in courts drawing the districts, Wisconsin Public Radio noted. But this time, the right-wing Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty sued, calling for the court to pursue a “least changes” map — that is, incorporating the fewest number of changes to the previous, Republican dominated map. The state’s Supreme Court not only agreed with them, it said the new map wouldn’t necessarily have to change on account of being disproportionately Republican.

The state doesn’t have its final map yet: Watch this space. But things are not looking good. Evers has submitted his own proposed “least changes” map to the court, but it’s improving on a heavily gerrymandered state, and as such, can only go so far.

Georgia

Republicans control both the legislature and governor’s mansion in Georgia, and the party will reap the rewards.

The effect will be especially clear in certain districts: Joe Biden won 59% of State Sen. Michelle Au’s district in 2020, for example, but the map set to be signed by Gov. Brain Kemp would make the area a 52% Trump win.

There are also issues of racial representation that open the state up to lawsuits — which are expected en masse. House Speaker David Ralston (R) acknowledged earlier this month that “abusive use of the political process” was just part of redistricting, and pointed to Democratic perpetrators like Illinois and New York to make the case that both sides do it.

“You never hear those talked about — the blatant abusive use of the political process — but it’s a part of the process, and I don’t know how you take it out,” Ralson said. “I think the maps, notwithstanding the rhetoric, are fair. They very carefully followed the law. They follow the Voting Rights Act. Now we’ll see what happens.”

Matt Shuham (@mattshuham) is a reporter in TPM’s New York office. Prior to joining TPM, he was associate editor of The National Memo and an editorial intern at Rolling Stone.

Sao Paulo stock exchange removes bull statue


A man makes a selfie with a replica of the "Charging Bull" (known as the Wall Street Bull) statue outside Sao Paulo's Stock Exchange headquarters in NOvember: the bull has now been removed following protests (AFP/NELSON ALMEIDA)

Wed, November 24, 2021

The Sao Paulo stock exchange has taken down a statue of a bull reminiscent of the one on Wall Street after being hit by protests and a fine for installing it without authorization.

The one-ton "golden bull," as it was dubbed, was installed last week in the heart of Brazil's economic capital.

But it immediately became a target of graffiti, with messages such as "Tax the rich" painted on it, as well as protests over inequality, including one in which anti-poverty activists held a barbeque beside it for the homeless.

That was followed by a ruling Tuesday that the stock exchange failed to obtain the necessary permit from the city's Urban Landscape Protection Commission.

The bull "was primarily advertising or promotional in nature," and should not be installed on a public sidewalk, the commission ruled.

On Tuesday night, a crane removed the three-meter (nearly 10-foot) tall bull, which was wrapped in plastic.

Installed on November 16, the statue drew immediate comparisons with "Charging Bull," the famed bronze sculpture by Italian artist Arturo Di Modica installed in New York's financial district in the wake of the 1987 stock market crash.

However, the Sao Paulo stock exchange said the New York statue was not the inspiration for the Brazilian work, which was created by artist and architect Rafael Brancatelli.

Brazil is one of the world's most unequal countries, a problem that has deepened with the coronavirus pandemic, whose economic fallout has hit hardest among the poor.

The Sao Paulo stock exchange is the largest in Latin America.

mel/jhb/jh

31 die in deadliest migrant boat tragedy between France, UK


President Emmanuel Macron said France would not allow the Channel to become a 'cemetery' (AFP/FRANCOIS LO PRESTI)

Bernard BARRON with Sylvie MALIGORNE and Stuart WILLIAMS in Paris
Wed, November 24, 2021

At least 31 migrants died Wednesday crossing from France to England when their boat sank off the port of Calais, French authorities said, the deadliest disaster since the Channel became a major part of the migrant route.

President Emmanuel Macron, saying France would not allow the Channel to become a "cemetery", vowed to find out who was responsible for the tragedy as prosecutors opened a manslaughter probe.

"It is Europe's deepest values -- humanism, respect for the dignity of each person -- that are in mourning," Macron said.


The French leader also called for an emergency meeting of "European ministers faced with the migration challenge", with his Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin urging a "tough international response".

Darmanin announced that four people suspected of being "directly linked" to the accident have been arrested.

Prime Minister Jean Castex is to convene several of his ministers for a crisis meeting early on Thursday, his office said.

French officials said earlier three helicopters and three boats had searched the area, uncovering corpses and people unconscious in the water, after a fisherman sounded the alarm.

The victims were among around 50 people aboard a vessel that had set out from Dunkirk east of Calais, according to the police.

On the other side of the Channel, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was "shocked, appalled and deeply saddened by the loss of life at sea", following a crisis meeting with senior officials.

The disaster, the worst single loss of life since at least 2018 when migrants began using boats en masse to cross the Channel, comes as tensions grow between London and Paris over the record numbers of people crossing.

Britain has urged tougher action from France to stop migrants from making the voyage.

- Winter warning -

Pierre Roques, coordinator of the Auberge des Migrants NGO in Calais, said the Channel risked becoming as deadly for migrants as the Mediterranean which has seen a much heavier toll over the last years of migrants crossing.

"People are dying in the Channel, which is becoming a cemetery. And as England is right opposite, people will continue to cross."

According to the French authorities, 31,500 people attempted to leave for Britain since the start of the year and 7,800 people have been rescued at sea, figures which doubled since August.

In Britain, Johnson's government is coming under intense pressure, including from its own supporters, to reduce the numbers crossing.

Natalie Elphicke, the Conservative MP for the British Channel port of Dover called the sinking "an absolute tragedy" and demonstrated the need to stop the crossings at source.

"As winter is approaching the seas will get rougher, the water colder, the risk of even more lives tragically being lost greater," she said.

- 'A business' -

France's top maritime official for the northern coast Philippe Dutrieux told AFP in an interview last week that the numbers trying to cross had doubled in the last three months.

He blamed the "cynicism" of the traffickers "who throw migrants into the water as it is a business that makes money".

"It has been years that we have been warning about the dangers of the situation", said Charlotte Kwantes, head of Utopia56, an association that works with migrants in Calais.

She put at "more than 300" the number of migrants who have died since 1999 in the area.

"As long as safe passages are not put in place between England and France, or as long as these people cannot be regularised in France... there will be deaths at the border," she told AFP.

In Britain, the chief executive of the Refugee Council, Enver Solomon, said the deaths were "heartbreaking" and safe routes were needed for those "in desperate need of protection".

According to British authorities, more than 25,000 people have now arrived illegally so far this year, already triple the figure recorded in 2020.

The issue has added to growing post-Brexit tensions between Britain and France, with a row on fishing rights also still unresolved.

sm-gd/jxb

Migrant tragedy is biggest loss of life in Channel

By Alex Therrien
BBC News
Published10 minutes ago

Thirty-one people headed for the UK have drowned in the English Channel near Calais after their boat sank.


The International Organization for Migration said it was the biggest single loss of life in the Channel since it began collecting data in 2014.


Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was "appalled" by what happened, adding the UK would leave "no stone unturned" to stop human trafficking gangs.


Five women and a girl were among the dead, France's interior minister said.


Gerald Darmanin also said two people were rescued and one was missing.


Four people had been arrested near to the Belgian border, he added, saying: "We suspect that they were directly linked to this particular crossing."


LIVE UPDATES: Rescue operation in Channel as migrants drown
What happens to migrants who reach the UK?


A fishing boat sounded the alarm on Wednesday afternoon after spotting several people at sea off the coast of France.


French and British authorities are conducting a rescue operation by air and sea to see if they can find anyone.

A French volunteer sea rescue organisation boat carrying bodies of migrants arrived at Calais harbour


Mr Johnson said the deaths were a "disaster", adding that it was vital to "break" the people trafficking gangs which, he said, were "literally getting away with murder".


Speaking after chairing an emergency Cobra meeting, the prime minister said more needed to be done to stop criminals organising crossings.


"It also shows how vital it is that we now step up our efforts to break the business model of the gangsters who are sending people to sea in this way," he said.


He also admitted efforts so far to stem the flow of migrants crossing the Channel in small boats "haven't been enough" and that the UK would offer to increase its support to France.



The UK has pledged to give France €62.7m (£54m) during 2021-22 to help increase police patrols along its coastline, boost aerial surveillance and increase security infrastructure at ports.


Home Secretary Priti Patel tweeted that the deaths were "starkest possible reminder" of the dangers migrants face attempting to cross the Channel.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said five women and a girl were among those who died


French President Emmanuel Macron said: "France will not let the Channel become a cemetery."


He promised to "find and condemn those responsible" for the tragedy.


Mr Macron also called for an "emergency meeting of European ministers concerned by the migration challenge".


He said since the start of this year 1,552 smugglers had been arrested in Northern France and 44 smuggler networks dismantled.


Despite this, 47,000 attempted Channel crossings to the UK had taken place this year and 7,800 migrants have been rescued, Mr Macron added.

Emergency services are taking part in the rescue operation at Calais harbour


A number of people are believed to have reached the UK in small boats on Wednesday, with people seen being brought ashore in Dover by immigration officials.


BBC Newsnight's policy editor, Lewis Goodall, said he understood about 25 boats had attempted the crossing so far during the day.


It comes amid record numbers of migrants making the crossing from France to the UK. More than 25,700 people have made the dangerous journey to the UK in small boats this year - more than three times the 2020 total.


The Dover Strait is the busiest shipping lane in the world and has claimed many lives of people trying to cross to Britain in inflatable dinghies.


It is thought at least 10 other people had died in the past few weeks while attempting to make the crossing.

Will hydrogen energy help decarbonise the economy?

Douglas Fraser

BBC
Business/economy editor, Scotland

GETTY IMAGES
The Hindenburg airship tragedy brought a sudden end to the age of the airship

BRING THEM BACK THEY ARE ECO FRIENDLY AIR TRAVEL

The most common of the elements is seen by some as a magic bullet for next generation energy: by others as an excuse to keep drilling for gas: and by some as a distraction from the real challenge to decarbonise the economy

There are differing opinions on what hydrogen can do best. It could be the fuel that helps the 15% of the economy reckoned to be hard to decarbonise, rather than being for home-heating and cars

However, the owner of Scotland's gas pipeline network has cooked up an £11.6bn plan to pump hydrogen into most homes and businesses through mostly existing pipes, and using others to gather, capture and banish carbon to a grave far below the North Sea.


The use of hydrogen in transport hit a spectacular snag in May 1937, when the Hindenburg airship caught fire while trying to moor on a high mast in the wake of a New Jersey storm.


As the tragedy gained a lot of media attention, and as people realised that the gas filling those vast and glamorous trans-Atlantic craft was highly flammable, it brought a sudden end to the age of the airship.


But 84 years later, we've learned a bit about air safety, the impact of burning aviation fuel on the environment, and about hydrogen.


So it's back. And this most common of elements is being greeted (by some) as a magic bullet in the great energy transition.


It's very plentiful and recyclable, and the simple chemistry looks attractive. Split water into its two elemental components, with no emissions, then put the hydrogen into a fuel cell and hit the accelerator. Again, no harmful emissions. Only a return to water.


The catch is that electrolysis is expensive, and it is only now heading towards a commercial scale. The young company ITM, based in Sheffield, has taken over a former airfield to build a vast factory.

One of its early orders is from Scottish Power, to install a 10 megawatt unit at the Whitelees wind farm on Eaglesham Moor.

IMAGE SOURCE,PA MEDIAImage caption,
The green hydrogen facility will be based at Whitelee Windfarm in East Renfrewshire


That helps build supply ahead of demand - and in the hope of stimulating demand. At up to four tonnes of hydrogen per day, maximum production from phase one should be sufficient to get buses from Glasgow to Edinburgh, or the return journey, nearly 250 times.


Phase two is expected to be the same scale, and to follow on quickly, at a lower unit cost.


Scottish Power, however, quietly admits it isn't all that interested in buses. It believes they would be better run on batteries.


It sees hydrogen as offering the fuel density and rapid refuelling that is important to shifting heavy loads, especially across long distances. Bin lorries in the city of Glasgow don't travel that far, but they require a lot of energy, they carry a lot of weight, and they are on course to be first customer for Whitelees' green hydrogen.

Energy's chain links


And this is where the question arises for hydrogen. In the words of Edwin Starr: what is it good for?



Heavy goods transport, almost certainly. Maybe shipping. In the coldest climates, where batteries fail. And perhaps fuel-hungry industries.


Keith Anderson, chief executive of Scottish Power, reckons that it could work for much of the 15% or so of the economy that is going to be particularly hard to de-carbonise.


So while ITM would like to see its electrolysis become part of the journey towards hydrogen cars, the utility boss is against that.


Cars have taken the battery route, and hauling them back to restart on a hydrogen future would expose some inefficiencies.


One catch is that the process is not as efficient as others. If you want to fuel a battery with renewable power, that's just what you do.


But with hydrogen, the wind turbine fuels the polymer membrane in ITM's electrolysis stack.



The gas then has to be stored securely and transported to its point of use, at which point it powers a fuel cell, which then operates a battery-electric engine. Each link in that chain comes with a loss of energy.

Keeping on drilling


So in answer to Edwin Starr, perhaps hydrogen is not as big an answer to oil and gas as some would like to think. Indeed, some have hopes that it could be the saving of oil and gas. For its critics, that would be a disaster.


Green activists are concerned that hydrogen is rarely green, through electrolysis, but mostly blue, derived from natural gas. That can be done much more cheaply, and the produce is used across industry, from refining to metals to food processing and NASA's rocket fuel.

Elementary energy: The case for hydrogen


Splitting the gas molecules produces carbon dioxide alongside the hydrogen. Among greenhouse gases, that is the prime suspect for climate change, so a climate-friendly solution has to be carbon capture and storage.


That, in turn, is a very expensive way of solving our climate problems. Indeed, it is proven in theory and in trials, but hasn't yet been proven at a commercial scale.


But it appeals to the hydrocarbon industry, as it allows for continued drilling for natural gas, and production of it, producing a fuel which has a lot more supporters than oil or gas currently do.

Scottish cluster


A further part of the hydrocarbon industry has its own special interest in adopting hydrogen. SGN, owner of the gas pipeline network, is looking into the 2030s and beyond, and wondering if its asset will be getting redundant.


It commissioned Wood, the former oil services group which now does consultancy work on other energy, to look into the Scottish prospects for heating homes through piped hydrogen.


Its report details initial conversion of Aberdeen home energy to reach 100% hydrogen by the end of this decade. At first, it would be 2%, rising as a mix to 20% - currently seen as the highest practical or safe level for a mix - and eventually 100%, making Aberdeen "the world's first hydrogen-powered city".


A lot of that would be blue hydrogen, through the Scottish cluster of businesses wanting to link its production to carbon capture and storage, with a major industrial site around the St Fergus gas terminal, north of the city.

IMAGE SOURCE,WOOD GROUP


That is where natural gas has long made landfall, and from there, the pipelines stretch offshore with which to banish the treated carbon to subsea storage.


Its failure to win a UK government funding competition has left participants baffled and deeply frustrated.


Greg Hands, the Energy Minister, was at Whitelees wind farm this week, to confirm £9.4m support for the hydrogen project (just under half the total cost), and he told me the two Tier One projects, that did secure backing, were under way already, and that at least four such clusters were envisaged by 2030.


"I don't want to prejudge where the second phase will go," he said,"but I think the Scottish cluster will be in a good position. It clearly passed the eligibility criteria, it did well on the evaluation criteria for the first tier, and has a good chance in the second tier."

Carbon network


Under the SGN/Wood plan, the rest of Scotland's gas network could be converted to hydrogen only 15 years later than the Aberdeen target, in 2045. Wood throws in an extended pipeline network to gather in carbon dioxide from around the country for treatment and storage.


The total cost, at today's prices: £11.6bn. Of that more than £3.4bn is in continued and expanded blue hydrogen generation, and £2.6bn would be required for the green variety, most of that for electrolysis.


Some £1.1bn would prepare the SGN pipeline network for hydrogen, while £500m would buy a gathering network for carbon.


A further £3.3bn would pay for conversion of appliances in homes and business premises.


No-one said it was going to be cheap. But it could bring quality jobs and business opportunities.


It's just one set of ideas, while the alternative - of doing nothing to decarbonise energy use across the economy - isn't a long-term, cheap solution either.

Sweden's 1st female prime minister quits hours later following budget defeat

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Magdalena Andersson's resignation comes after coalition

 partner left the 2-party minority government

The Associated Press · Posted: Nov 24, 2021 

Social Democratic Party Leader Magdalena Andersson attends a news conference after the budget vote in the Swedish parliament in Stockholm Wednesday. Hours after being approved as Sweden's prime minister, Andersson resigned after the government's budget proposal was rejected in favour of one presented by the opposition. (Pontus Lundahl/TT/The Associated Press)

Hours after being tapped as Sweden's prime minister, Magdalena Andersson resigned Wednesday after suffering a budget defeat in parliament and coalition partner the Greens left the two-party minority government.

The government's own budget proposal was rejected in favour of one presented by the opposition that includes the right-wing populist Sweden Democrats, Sweden's third-largest party that is rooted in a neo-Nazi movement. The vote was 154-143 in favour of the opposition's budget proposal.

Andersson, leader of the Social Democratic Party, decided it was best to step down from the post more than seven hours after she made history by becoming the first woman to lead the country.

"For me, it is about respect, but I also do not want to lead a government where there may be grounds to question its legitimacy," Andersson told a news conference.

Andersson, who was finance minister before briefly becoming prime minister, informed parliamentary Speaker Andreas Norlén that she is still interested in leading a Social Democratic one-party government.

Norlén, the speaker of Sweden's 349-seat parliament, says he will contact Sweden's eight party leaders "to discuss the situation." On Thursday, he will announce the road ahead.

Andersson said that "a coalition government should resign if a party chooses to leave the government. Despite the fact that the parliamentary situation is unchanged, it needs to be tried again."

Sweden's Green Party spokespeople Per Bolund, left, and Marta Stenevi address a news conference after the budget vote on Wednesday. (Pontus Lundahl/TT News Agency/AFP/Getty Images)

Budget defeat prompts Greens to pull support

Even though the Green Party pulled its support for her government, it said it is prepared to stand behind Andersson in a new vote to tap a prime minister.

But the Greens said it was in the best interests of the party to pull support for her after the budget defeat.

"We have a united party behind us saying we cannot sit in government that implements a policy (the Sweden Democrats) negotiated. We must look our voters in the eye and feel pride," said Marta Stenevi, Green Party spokesperson as the party chose to resign from the government.

Per Bolund, the other Green Party spokesperson, said "that is something we deeply regret."

Earlier in the day, Andersson said she could "govern the country with the opposition's budget."

The approved budget was based on the government's own proposal but of the 74 billion kronor ($10.3 billion) that the government wanted to spend on reforms, just over 20 billion kronor ($2.8 billion) will be redistributed next year, Swedish broadcaster SVT said.

The approved budget aims at reducing taxes, increased salaries for police officers and more money to different sectors of Sweden's judiciary system.

Earlier in the day, lawmakers applauded after the vote in which Andersson was appointed Sweden's new prime minister. (Erik Simander/TT News Agency/The Associated Press)

Milestone marked earlier

Andersson's appointment as prime minister had marked a milestone for Sweden, viewed for decades as one of Europe's most progressive countries when it comes to gender relations, but which had yet to have a woman in the top political post.

Andersson had been tapped to replace Stefan Lofven as party leader and prime minister, roles he relinquished earlier this year.

Earlier in the day, 117 legislators voted yes to Andersson, 174 rejected her appointment while 57 abstained and one legislator was absent.

Under Sweden's constitution, prime ministers can be named and govern as long as a parliamentary majority — a minimum of 175 legislators — is not against them.

Sweden's next general election is scheduled for Sept. 11.

GOOD NEWS

Environmentalists threaten Alberta Premier Kenney with lawsuit over inquiry remarks

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'If Premier Kenney doesn't follow the good advice of his

 lawyers, he will be served'

Bob Weber · The Canadian Press · Posted: Nov 24, 2021

Alberta Premier Jason Kenney speaks to the media while attending the Global Business Forum in Banff, Alta., on Sept. 26, 2019. A coalition oft environmental groups is threatening to sue Kenney for defamation. (Jeff McIntosh/Canadian Press)

A coalition of at least eight environmental groups is threatening to sue Alberta Premier Jason Kenney for defamation if he doesn't retract and apologize for statements saying a public inquiry found they spread misinformation about the province's oil and gas industry.

The groups, in a letter obtained by The Canadian Press, have given the premier a week before they say they would file a statement of claim against him.

"If Premier Kenney doesn't follow the good advice of his lawyers, he will be served with a lawsuit some time by the end of next week," said Paul Champ, a lawyer for the environmentalists.

The letter, delivered to Kenney's office Monday, is signed by the Dogwood Initiative, Environmental Defence Canada, Greenpeace Canada, Raincoast Conservation Foundation, Sierra Club Canada Foundation, Sierra Club of British Columbia Foundation, West Coast Environmental Law and Research Foundation and the Western Canada Wilderness Committee.

They point to Kenney's reaction to the inquiry, headed by Steve Allan, which looked into whether environmental groups were conspiring to landlock Alberta oil by spreading misinformation about its environmental impacts.

'Designed to undermine'

Allan's report, delivered in October, found that "no individual or organization ... has done anything illegal. Indeed, they have exercised their rights of free speech."

But the groups accuse Kenney of deliberately twisting Allan's findings in public statements, social media posts and government websites. Specific documents are referenced in the letter.

"These statements are defamatory as they assert that our clients have spread 'misinformation,"' the letter says.

"Your statements were designed to undermine the groups' reputations and credibility in the eyes of the public by falsely asserting that the Alberta Inquiry found that the groups were spreading misinformation."

• Foreign funding played role in anti-resource campaigns, but Allan inquiry can't say how much

• VIDEO
  Inquiry finds no wrongdoing in foreign funding of anti-energy campaigns

• OPINION
  $3.5-million provincial inquiry into 'anti-Alberta' activities struggles to find a bad guy

The letter gives Kenney until Nov. 30 to retract and remove the statements as well as apologize. If he doesn't, Champ said, a statement of claim against him is almost complete and will be filed.

Kenney's spokesman Harrison Fleming responded in an email.

"We are not surprised that an organization which routinely pursues political activism through the courts is again threatening legal action. We will of course vigorously respond in court, if and when necessary."

A defamation action has to prove three things, said Fred Kozak, an Edmonton media and defamation lawyer. It has to show the offending comments identified the complainants, that the statements were published and that they would damage their reputation.

"[Those elements] would appear to be pretty straightforward," he said.

Commissioner Steve Allan's report, delivered in October, found no wrongdoing and could not determine how much of a role foreign money played in cancelling resource projects. (CBC)

Kozak said Kenney can argue that his comments were either true or fair comment based on the truth.

"The comment has to be grounded in fact. It's often the case where people get into a dispute over what's comment and what's fact."

Kozak said the complainants also have to show they've been harmed by the statements.

We rely on our good name in order to do the work that we do.- Tim Gray, Environmental Defence

"We rely on our good name in order to do the work that we do," said Tim Gray of Environmental Defence. "Having a senior political leader deliberately mischaracterizing what we do, making accusations that are unfounded, clearly is meant to undermine our effectiveness."

Some members of the complaining groups have allegedly suffered more direct damages, said an email from Keith Stewart of Greenpeace.

"Some of our activists have had to turn their social media accounts over to a friend to report, block and delete the hateful comments and commenters. Prominent climate advocates ... regularly get death threats."

Gray said the promised lawsuit is intended to stop political leaders from using their office as a bully pulpit.

"I think it's really dangerous to have senior political leaders doing this kind of thing against civil society. We just want it to stop."

It's an unusual case that both sides can use to drum up support, Kozak said.

"I don't think either side is interested in resolving this through an apology or clarification."

If a lawsuit is ultimately filed, Kozak said it would likely to take years to resolve.