London police face backlash after dragging mourners from vigil for murdered woman








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London police face backlash after dragging mourners from vigil for murdered woman

FILE PHOTO: Metropolitan Police Commissioner Cressida Dick leaves after a meeting with Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson at Downing Street in London

Ben Makori and William James
Sun, March 14, 2021

LONDON (Reuters) - London police faced a backlash from the public on Sunday and an official inquiry into their actions after using heavy-handed tactics to break up an outdoor vigil for a woman whose suspected killer is a police officer.

The disappearance of Sarah Everard, 33, as she walked home on the evening of March 3, has provoked a huge outpouring of grief and dismay in Britain at the failure of police and wider society to tackle violence against women.


Police had denied permission for a vigil on Saturday evening at London's Clapham Common, near where Everard was last seen alive, citing regulations aimed at preventing the spread of the coronavirus.

But hundreds of people, mostly women, gathered peacefully at the park in defiance of the ban to pay their respects to Everard throughout Saturday, including Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge.

Later on Saturday dozens of police officers marched into the crowd to shouts of "shame on you". Scuffles broke out and officers dragged women away from the scene.

"Last night people were very, very upset, there was a great deal of emotion, completely understandably, and the police, being as they are operationally independent, will be having to explain that to the Home Secretary," safeguarding minister Victoria Atkins told Sky News.

London police chief Cressida Dick backed her officers and said that they needed to make a very difficult judgement.

"We're still in a pandemic, unlawful gatherings are unlawful gatherings, officers have to take action if people are putting themselves massively at risk," Dick told reporters.

Asked if she was considering resigning, she said: "No, I'm not."

Home Secretary Priti Patel, the minister in charge of policing, described footage of the incident as "upsetting". Her office said she had ordered an independent inquiry after an initial police report left some questions unanswered.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan also said he was not satisfied with police chiefs' explanation of the events and said officers' conduct must be examined.

"WOMEN DON'T FEEL SAFE"

An image of officers handcuffing a woman on Saturday night as she lay on the floor was widely shared and condemned on social media.

The woman, Patsy Stevenson, told LBC radio: "The main point that everyone was trying to get across when everything happened is that women don't feel safe, they don't feel safe walking down a street and that's the bare minimum we should feel the freedom to do."

She said she was fined 200 pounds ($278) for breaching COVID regulations

Everard's murder has resonated with woman across the country, prompting thousands to share on social media their experiences of violence and sexual assaults perpetrated by men, and vividly describe the daily fear they feel.

On Sunday, hundreds gathered outside police headquarters and marched to a grassy square outside parliament where they lay down en masse in calm protest. Some carried anti-police placards, while others protested against violence against women.

Separately, a steady flow of quiet mourners continued to visit the site of the vigil, placing flowers around a bandstand.

"I feel very angry that they think that they have the right to dictate how we mourn and how we react," 24-year old student Lilith Blackwell told Reuters at the bandstand.

A police officer charged with Everard's murder appeared in court on Saturday. Police discovered her body on Wednesday in woodland about 50 miles (80 km) southeast of London. The court heard that her body was found in a builder's refuse bag, and identified using dental records..

($1 = 0.7183 pounds)

(Reporting by William James, Ben Makori, Will Russell and Natalie Thomas; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky, Angus MacSwan and Edmund Blair)

Smartphones can do you physical harm, Israeli study finds


James Rothwell
Fri, March 12, 2021

THE TELEGRAPH UK


The Ultra-Orthodox community uses so-called kosher phones that are not connected to social media, suffering fewer physical downsides as a result -Oded Balilty /AP

Browsing social media apps on smartphones makes you more likely to grind your teeth, sleep poorly and suffer from jaw pain, an Israeli study has found.

The Tel Aviv University study of 600 Israelis compared the behaviour of regular smartphone users to those with so-called kosher phones, which are stripped of social media and other forbidden apps.

Kosher phones are widely used by Israel’s ultra-orthodox community, allowing them to make phone calls and in some cases basic internet access without falling foul of strict religious practices.

According to Tel Aviv University, 24 per cent of regular smartphone users experienced teeth grinding during the day, compared to just six per cent of kosher phone users.

The study also reported that 29 per cent of regular smartphone users reported jaw pain, compared to 14 per cent of kosher phone users.

Kosher phone users also appeared to get much better sleep than regular smartphone users, with only 20 per cent complaining that they keep waking up during the night.

“We believe these symptoms are related to FOMO, fear of missing out,” Dr Pessia Friedman-Rubin, a scientist at Tel Aviv University’s dental school, told the Times of Israel.

“People are constantly using their phones because they are worried they will miss something, and check WhatsApp, Facebook and other apps,” she added.

“We didn’t just find differences between the groups, but also clear patterns showing that the more you use your smartphone the more likely you are to hurt from jaw pain, grind your teeth, and wake in the night,” Dr Friedman-Rubin said.

She said she hoped that the study would make people more aware of the fact that technology can be damaging to a person’s physical health, as well as their mental health.

“We are of course in favour of technological progress, but as with everything in life, the excessive use of smartphones can lead to negative symptoms,” she said.

Smartphones can be bad for your mental health - but a new study says they can also damage physical health - Jonathan Brady /PA

“It is important that the public is aware of the consequences it has on the body and mind.”

The study is due to be published in the peer-reviewed journal Quintessence International. All of the participants in the study were aged 18-35.

It is by no means the first time that researchers have found that social media can be bad for your health.

In 2019, a study of 6,000 children aged 12-15 found that those who heavily use social media were far more likely to suffer from depression, loneliness and increased aggression.

In 2017, Facebook, one of the world’s largest social media networks, admitted that it can harm people’s mental health.

The social media network said “passively consuming information” could leave people “feeling worse”in a blog post.

However, not all the research says that extended smartphone and social media use is harmful.

One study last year by Lancaster University measures the amount of time Android and iPhone users spent on their phones and examined their mental well-being.

But “surprisingly,” the researchers said, the amount of time spent using smartphones was unrelated to a person’s mental health.

“A person’s daily smartphone pickups or screen time did not predict anxiety, depression, or stress symptoms,” said Heather Shaw, the leader author of the study at Lancaster University’s Department of Psychology said:

“Additionally, those who exceeded clinical ‘cut off points’ for both general anxiety and major depressive disorder did not use their phone more than those who scored below this threshold,” she added.

Emily Maitlis says lockdown was probably 'quite a lovely experience' for the middle classes

Jessica Carpani
Sat, March 13, 2021


People on their way to work in SE London passing a mural on the first day of an official lockdown - Heathcliff O'Malley

Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis has said the lockdown was probably “quite a lovely experience” for the middle classes.

The journalist was discussing the disproportionate way that Covid-19 has affected communities in the UK.

Speaking at Women of the World Festival 2021, she told Vanessa Kingori, publishing director of British Vogue, that Boris Johnson’s narrative that we’re all in it together at the beginning of the outbreak was “a slightly naive one”.

On March 22 2020, the PM had said: “We will get through this together, and we will beat the virus.

“To win this fight, we need everyone to follow our advice: as far as possible, we want you to stay at home. The more effectively everyone does this, the faster this country will recover.”

But Maitlis criticised the message, arguing that it had been harder for certain groups of people, including frontline workers, people with lower incomes and members of the BAME community.

“Yes, technically, we were in it together. And yet, it quickly became clear that some parts of our communities were suffering much, much more intensively than others.

“Lockdown if you're a celebrity on a yacht is not the same as if you're in a tower block, which is still covered in dangerous cladding.

“I think that ‘aren't we all going through the same thing?’ was a sort of comforting narrative at the beginning, until we realised it really wasn't the same,” she said.

Maitlis said it was important to her that Newsnight make the distinction between people’s lived experience of lockdown and how it had differed depending on circumstance, adding that “it was probably quite a lovely experience for some people”.

She continued: “It was a wonderful fairy tale that we told ourselves but bluntly, if you were richer, and you had a nice big, warm house, and plenty of room for your kids to run around, it was a totally different experience, and probably quite a lovely experience for some people.

“And if you had no room and you weren't working from home, and you couldn't afford to self-isolate, because you couldn't afford to lose the money then it was a totally different Covid.”

Rodrigo Duterte Is Using One of the World's Longest COVID-19 Lockdowns to Strengthen His Grip on the Philippines

LONG READ 
Aie Balagtas See / Manila
Sun, March 14, 2021


Restaurant workers watch Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte as he delivers a speech on TV about the COVID-19 virus situation in metropolitan Manila on March 12, 2020

Restaurant workers watch Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte as he delivers a speech on TV about the COVID-19 virus situation in metropolitan Manila on March 12, 2020 Credit - Aaron Favila—AP

Edd Gumban sleeps on a foldout bed in an office in central Manila. The 57-year-old photojournalist has a wife and a home in Bulacan, part of the commuter belt 14 miles north of the Philippine capital, but he is too afraid to go there. The Philippines began imposing stay-at-home orders last March, in a bid to halt the spread of COVID-19. There are confusing variations in rules from locality to locality, however. The armed police that man checkpoints have also, at times, been encouraged by President Rodrigo Duterte to shoot lockdown violators dead.

At the very least, Gumban risks being detained, or even beaten, if he finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. So rather than commute each day, he only risks the journey every few weeks, when he needs to pick up some things or grab new clothes. The rest of the time, home is a corner of the press office of the Manila Police District. But even there, it seems, he can get no clarity.


“Everything is confusing,” Gumban tells TIME. “There are no clear cut policies to follow. The national government says one thing and local governments impose another.”

Such is life in what must now be one of the world’s longest and strictest lockdowns. The first community quarantine, as it is locally called, was imposed on the island of Luzon on Mar. 16, 2020, when its 53.3 million people—including the capital’s 12.8 million residents—were ordered to stay at home. Since then, community quarantine orders of varying severity have been rolled out across the other islands of the Philippine archipelago.

Under the highest tier, so-called Enhanced Community Quarantine, residents must stay indoors unless they can produce a pass that enables them to go out and buy essential items. Non-essential businesses close and there are curbs on transport. Under lower tiers, certain businesses are allowed to open, but some groups—such as the elderly and the very young—must remain indoors at all times. Bewilderingly, local districts, known as barangay, can apply variations in lockdown rules to an individual street or block.

To Duterte’s critics, these lockdowns appear to be more than a public health measure. They say that the pandemic has fulfilled the strongman’s dream of placing the country under armed rule and point to the worryingly high proportion of senior military figures now advising the president on managing the pandemic. Human rights, already threatened by Duterte’s bloody war on drugs, appear to have worsened further, say experts. Under the cover of coronavirus, says rights lawyer Jose Manuel Diokno, “There is a clear effort from some quarters in the government to shrink the democratic space and free discussion that is essential to a democracy.”

In the meantime, the livelihoods and personal lives of many ordinary Filipinos are deteriorating. “I have to endure the pain of living far from my family,” Gumban says. “At some point, you’ll cry it out in one corner, and say ‘Please, Lord, enough already.’”

Police check vehicles in Manila during the coronavirus pandemic on March 18, 2020

.Jes Aznar—The New York Times/Redux

Human Rights in the Philippines Under COVID-19

With its weak public health system, COVID-19 has presented a major challenge to the Philippines. The country logged over 616,611 coronavirus cases and more than 12,750 fatalities from the beginning of 2020 to Mar. 13, 2021 —the second-highest figures in Southeast Asia. Undoubtedly, lockdowns have prevented Philippine hospitals from being overwhelmed. But they also constitute what the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet described as a “highly militarised response” to the pandemic.

William Hartung, the director of the arms and security program at the Washington D.C.-based Center for International Policy, says the approach is eerily similar to Duterte’s much criticized war on drugs, with its emphasis on armed enforcement and punitive measures. “The regime has more tools now to crack down on people than when it started,” he tells TIME. “Now, they’ve got a crisis that allows them to tighten its grip on power.”

The climate of fear is undeniable. TV operators in the Philippines used to reserve late-night slots for crime tales and horror shows. These days, they allocate the time to equally grim fare: weekly COVID-19 “updates” from Duterte, shown at the head of a table of military top brass.

The broadcasts have become a pulpit for the president’s verbal attacks against those who disagree with him. In a recent tirade, Duterte wished death upon Leni Robredo, the country’s vice-president (who, under the Philippine system, is chosen in a separate election and may come from a different party). Lobredo had called out the country’s delayed vaccination program—held up, critics say, by the administration’s lack of urgency and foresight.

During another, he ordered police, military and local officials to arrest unruly quarantine violators after hungry protesters demanded food. “If they fight you,” he said, “shoot them dead.” At other times, Duterte rambles incoherently, or advocates unsafe practices, such as encouraging people to disinfect face masks with gasoline.

Philippine military personnel stand in a formation during a send off to different parts of Metropolitan Manila after president Duterte ordered a lockdown to contain the novel COVID-19 virus on March 14, 2020 in ManilaJes Aznar—Getty Images

On the streets, emboldened local authorities appear to have free rein. There have been reports from rights groups of children stuffed inside coffins for violating curfew and other regulations. Adults have been beaten up or thrown into jail, some in dog cages.

Against this backdrop, Duterte and his henchmen have moved against longstanding political enemies. Last July, with the country grappling with a dearth of accurate information on the coronavirus, Duterte’s allies in Congress refused to renew the franchise of the ABS-CBN television network, which had earned the president’s ire for its critical reporting. The Philippines’ biggest broadcaster was simply forced off air.

In June, a Manila court convicted prominent journalist and editor Maria Ressa, one of TIME’s 2018 Persons of the Year, of “cyber libel,” sending more shivers through the media establishment. Ressa continues to face a slew of tax evasion and other suits that she says are vexatious.

Philippine social media has also become fraught. A new law has criminalized the spreading of “false information” with up to two months in prison and a fine of one million pesos ($19,600)—a fortune to ordinary Filipinos—and at least 17 people have been subpoenaed by the National Bureau of Investigation for expressing discontent online.

In November, Lt. General Antonio Parlade, the head of a military task force against the country’s ongoing communist insurgency, made attacks on Facebook against Filipina actresses Angel Locsin and Liza Soberano, and against Miss Universe 2018, the Filipina-Australian Catriona Gray. The three women are vocal on social and political issues. Parlade discouraged them from having links with leftist groups and warned that this could cost them their lives.

The lawyer Diokno, who chairs a team of legal professionals offering pro bono services, and who himself as been attacked in one of Duterte’s televised harangues, describes the situation as unprecedented. People “are afraid. They don’t know what to do,” he says. “It seems that the long arm of the law is reaching out to them.”

Read more: Duterte Is Assassinating Opponents Under the Cover of the Drugs War, Rights Groups Say

The centerpiece of Duterte’s new machinery of repression is a sweeping Anti-Terrorism Act, rushed through Congress last June. The measure is the most contested law in the country’s recent history, the subject of 37 separate petitions filed before the Philippine Supreme Court asking for it to be struck down. It allows for detention without warrant for 24 days and gives the executive vast powers to interrogate and detain anyone it deems a terrorist. Opposition leaders, rights groups, church groups and former government officials say the measure violates the constitution and warn that it will open the door for more abuses.

Their fears appeared to be realized on Mar. 7, when nine activists were shot dead by security forces in raids around Manila. Authorities say the nine were hiding caches of arms and killed because they resisted arrest, but many are skeptical. In a statement Monday, Vice-President Robredo described the events as a “massacre.” The killings came days after Duterte reportedly appeared on television saying “I’ve told the military and the police, if they find themselves in an encounter with the communist rebels and you see them armed, kill them.”

Says Hartung: “The United States shouldn’t be arming this regime at this point.”

Washington is one the major exporters of arms to the Philippines, its oldest military ally in Asia. Back in November, Manila took delivery of $30 million worth of weapons from the States. More recently, in January, the Philippine Air Force acquired two Lockheed C-130 aircraft. Continuing to sell arms to Duterte, Hartung says, “would be a kind of stain on U.S. foreign policy.”

Ela Atienza, a political science professor at the University of the Philippines, warns that Duterte’s continued reliance on the armed forces sets a dangerous precedent. “When you have a president who feels they need to get the support of the military and the police to impose their preferred policies,” she says, “that further encourages certain people in the military to exert their authority and their influence.”

A crate containing Sinovac Biotech COVID-19 vaccines is loaded into a truck upon arriving at Ninoy Aquino International Airport on Feb. 28, 2021 in Manila. Sunday's delivery marks the first time the Philippines received official coronavirus vaccines, the last country in ASEAN to do soEzra Acayan—Getty Images

Filipinos Are Struggling in the Pandemic

Despite its mounting case numbers, the Philippines has been the last country in the region to start a vaccination program, rolling out Chinese-made CoronaVac jabs only at the beginning of March. Limited investment in labs, equipment and manpower has also hampered the expansion of contact tracing and mass testing. That continues to leave lockdowns as the government’s main tool in fighting the pandemic.

The hardship faced by Filipinos, undergoing their country’s worst economic contraction since World War II, has meanwhile been exacerbated by the chaotic distribution of food and financial subsidies. People have been forced to violate lockdowns in order to provide for themselves and their families.

In Manila, Sarah Celiz, 56, routinely dodges the cops to pick up laundry from neighbors. The meager income from washing clothes makes her the sole breadwinner in her family, where there are 12 grandchildren to feed. Waiting for government aid is not an option. “We would die of hunger,” she says.

Duterte’s war on drugs has claimed the lives of two of her sons and the loss has made Celiz deeply distrustful of the authorities. Ironically, she doesn’t believe in the existence of COVID-19, regarding it as a government ploy to starve the population into total submission.

Professor Atienza explains that there has been hardly any effort to educate people about coronavirus. The priority, she says “is more on people having to obey lockdown procedures instead of [ensuring] that people will be healthy or health will be protected. People should be educated why they need to stay at home and why certain facilities have to close down.”

A police officer reminds homeless people to practice social distancing as they queue to receive free meals distributed by members of the Society of the Divine Word (SVD) on Dec. 15, 2020 in Manila.Ezra Acayan—Getty Images

That’s easier said than done. When health workers went public over mounting patient numbers that were forcing hospitals to choose which patients should be put on ventilators and which should be left to fend without, Duterte was furious. He used his television soapbox to accuse doctors of fomenting revolution.

Physician Tony Leachon, who used to be part of Duterte’s team of medical advisers until he blasted the administration for its incompetence, says medical workers are simply too afraid to speak out. “I am really frustrated,” he says. “If your opinions run contrary [to the government’s], you will be assaulted verbally … you will cower in fear.”

For now, Filipinos continue to endure the political uncertainty, harsh restrictions and unprecedented social isolation that comes from their government’s draconian response to COVID-19.

Afraid that he might spread the virus on one of his infrequent visits home, the photojournalist Gumban only meets his wife outside his front gate, where they exchange bags. These days, he adds, even his dogs have become suspicious.

“They used to greet me with wagging tails,” Gumban says. “Now, they just bark as if I’m a stranger.”

THIRD WORLD USA

Some residents of a Florida City-owned trailer park have lived there for decades. They have until Wednesday to leave


David Goodhue
Sat, March 13, 2021

About 70 residents of a low-income trailer neighborhood in Florida City could be homeless by Wednesday because they are being evicted by the city.

Florida City has owned the 15-acre lot at Krome Avenue and Northwest Seventh Street for decades and is working to close a $6.8 million sale with developers the Treo Group, according to the city’s mayor.

The last stipulation of the contract, Mayor Otis Wallace said, is to make the land void of its occupants as well as their trailers, campers and recreational vehicles.

“The deal can’t close until the campsite is empty,” said Wallace, who’s been mayor of Florida City since 1984.

Since the residents aren’t being told to leave because of their inability to pay rent, they aren’t likely to be helped by the federal moratorium on evictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which the Biden administration has extended until the end of the month.

Although the community is called the Florida City Camp Site and RV Park, most of the people there are permanent residents, and many have been for more than a decade. Many are elderly and have physical and mental health problems that make it difficult, if not impossible, to work.

Some of the younger people have small children, including Lisette Ruiz, 35, who is raising seven kids alone on government assistance.

“She has seven children and she has to find an apartment, and we can’t find one,” her teenage daughter, Jamie Ruiz, said.

The city sent letters Thursday to residents stating that they and their homes had to be gone from the property by March 17.

“Please be advised that the Florida City Campgrounds has been sold to a private owner and is closing down. As a result of this sale, the City will be no longer operating the Florida City Campsite/RV Park,” the letter, signed by City Attorney Regine Monestine, reads.

“All residents, guests and visitors must vacate the property immediately along with your property, including RV’s motor vehicles, and personal property.”

Monestine said that anyone still on the property after Wednesday will be deemed to be “trespassing on private property and subject to removal under law.”

Residents pay around $450 a month to live on the campground. This includes their utilities. Some trailers and campers are more habitable than others, but no one in the community is living in what most people would deem comfortable standards.

Beverly Diaz, 58, has lived on the Florida City Camp Site for nine years with her 70-year-old husband. They live off his Supplemental Security Income checks, which haven’t been enough to fix the damage done to their trailer by Hurricane Irma in September 2017.

“How are we going to pay lights, water and rent? My trailer’s no good anyhow. Irma destroyed it. My trailer inside is completely full of mold,” Diaz said.

The residents say they were blindsided by the letter.

Yamil Soltura, 17, is a senior at John A. Ferguson Senior High School in West Kendall. He moved in with his father, who has the same name, about a year ago to take care of him after the elder Soltura had a complete digestive system transplant.

“And, he just can’t do any job because of his health, and I can’t just just do any job. We just can’t come up with the money to go somewhere else on such short notice,” the younger Soltura said. “If they gave us 90 days, at least we’d be able to work with that, and we could figure out what we’re going to do, work some overtime or something, I don’t know.”

No one in Florida City Camp Site is anywhere near well off, but some say they appreciate they are not suffering as much as some of their neighbors.

“There’s 20 families in here that are just so poor, and their trailers are so,” Barbara McDonald, 81, said, trying to find the right words. “I don’t know how they stand up.”

Residents of Florida City Campgrounds and RV Park gather beneath an umbrella Friday, March 12, 2021. Florida City, which owns the campground, told residents it has been sold to a private developer and they must leave by Wednesday, March 17, 2021.

Wallace maintains the city has been telling Florida City Camp Site residents to make other living arrangements since 2019, and that the only reason the evictions haven’t happened sooner is because talks with the developers have been delayed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said the city — one of the poorest in Florida, with 40% of its residents living in poverty, according to the U.S. Census — needs the money.

“I’m very sympathetic to the campers, but as the mayor of Florida City, I’m sympathetic to the taxpayers, too,” he said.

Wallace said the Treo Group plans to build a mixed-use residential/shopping complex with market rate rental apartments. Representatives from the Treo Group cold not be reached for comment.

The mayor acknowledged that the recent letter was the first time the city informed residents that there was a set date in which they had to be gone. He maintains, however, that no one should have been surprised.

“This was not something that just popped up all of a sudden,” Wallace said.

Wallace said he met with residents several times in the past two years, warning them that they’d eventually have to leave the campground.

A sign hangs on the entrance to Florida City Camp Site and RV Park that says it has been sold.

But, residents say the last official communication with them on the matter was a Nov. 13, 2020, letter signed by Wallace in which he said the city still planned to sell the property. That letter, however, stated the city was giving residents “as much time as possible” to find other homes.

Wallace said in the letter that he sent it because of rumors going around that the plans to sell the land had changed. At that time, however, the deal was not finalized, according to the letter.

“The city is still in the process of selling the park and you must make living arrangements elsewhere. The city has been very reasonable in this matter, and we are giving you as much time as possible. Please use the time we are giving you to make alternative living arrangements,” Wallace wrote. “If you hear any rumors to the contrary please contact the Park Manager, Kathy Hale. “Should anything change, you of course would be the first to know.”

Cherie Terracas, 62, has lived on the site for 14 years. She said she came there to retire because 45 years working as a hairdresser left her with carpel tunnel syndrome, nerve damage, arthritis and back problems.

“My hands don’t work,” Terracas said, showing how they shake when she holds them out in front of her.

She and other residents who have been living there for more than a decade thought they’d never have to leave. Most residents the Miami Herald spoke with last week said they were told when they moved there that the land’s original owners deeded the property over to Florida City before they died in the 1980s with the agreement that it would stay affordable housing for 100 years.

“I’ve saved a little bit of money, but not enough to go anywhere,” Terracas said. “Plus, I’ve looked and looked, and no one wants to take anyone in now because of the pandemic.”

A headstone for George F. Cole, one of the original owners of the land that is now the Florida City Camp Site and RV Park remains on the property.

The Miami Herald was not able to immediately verify if there was such an agreement between the city and the original land owners, George and Mildred Cole, who died in 1984 and 1982, respectively. Their gravestones are located on the property.

Wallace said no such agreement exists.

“I have no idea what they are talking about,” he said.

For now, residents desperately hope that something will happen between now and Wednesday that will at least give them more time to find another place to live.

One woman, who did not want to give her name, suffers from severe mood swings due to bipolar 1 disorder. She said Florida City Camp Site is far from the slice of paradise that comes to mind when people think of South Florida. But, it’s the only home she and her husband have known for years and the one they thought they’d live in for the rest of their lives.

“This is the last place we want to be, but it’s all we can afford,” she said.

FACTUAL NEWS CALLED FAKE
Malaysia Uses Emergency Powers to Impose 'Fake News' Law

By Zsombor Peter
March 13, 2021

FILE - Journalists are seen gathered outside the National Palace, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Feb. 27, 2020.

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia is using new powers under emergency rule to increase jail time for spreading what authorities call fake news about the coronavirus pandemic or the emergency itself, sidestepping the usual route through Parliament.

The government says tougher penalties are needed to fight off mounting misinformation about the pandemic, which has hit Malaysia harder than most of its neighbors.

Lawyers, reporters and rights groups fear the tougher penalties portend a crackdown on government critics, calling the measures “dangerous” and “draconian.”

Malaysia joins several other countries with similar regulations.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic more than a year ago, 17 countries have added or beefed-up penalties for “fake news,” according to the International Press Institute, often amid claims from critics of abusing the term to stifle honest dissent. Of the eight countries in Asia, four are in Southeast Asia alone. Malaysia makes it five.

“This is a trend that we’re seeing more and more, especially … associated with the rise in social media and the sort of proliferation of expression online,” said Matthew Bugher, Asia program director for Article 19, a British rights group that advocates for freedom of speech and information.

Devil in the details

Malaysia’s fake news ordinance sets a jail term of up to three years for publishing or sharing any “wholly or partly false” information about either the pandemic or a state of emergency that took effect in January. Jail terms can double for those who help fund the publication of that information. Fines for each offense top out at about $24,000 and $121,000, respectively.

Lawmakers had no say in the new rules as the state of emergency King Al-Sultan Abdullah decreed at Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s request suspended Parliament until August 1. The government announced the new rules Thursday and put them into force Friday.

Public backlash has been swift and strong.

Lawyers and rights groups say they are alarmed both by the details of the order and by the lack thereof. They say the rules are missing a clear definition of fake news and in effect let authorities ignore the standards for prosecuting an alleged crime set out in the country’s Evidence Act.

“That means it would be very easy for them to basically charge anyone under this law,” said Ding Jo Ann, an adviser to Malaysia’s Center for Independent Journalism.

By imposing fines and jail time on anyone who refuses to give passwords or encryption codes to authorities investigating related cases, the ordinance “will create a climate of fear,” Lawyers for Liberty, a local rights group, said in a statement.

The Bar Council of Malaysia told local news outlet Free Malaysia Today that the ordinance lets authorities ignore several fair trial rules, making it a “highly dangerous piece of legislation which has the potential to be abused.”

State-run news outlet Bernama also reported that authorities cannot be sued over how they enforce the ordinance, even for any mistakes they make “in good faith.”

FILE - An armed soldier stands guard at a roadblock on the first day of a movement restrictions in downtown Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Jan. 13, 2021.

Controlling the narrative

Bugher said the wide berth the new rules give the government to define fake news is a recipe for abuse.

“It sort of allows the government to be the final arbiter of truth. And what we see regularly is that when the governments are given the power to decide what is true and what is false, those powers usually end up in the targeting of government critics,” he said.

Muhyiddin’s government has plenty of those, said Ding, who worries the new rules have more to do with “controlling the narrative” than fighting fake news.

“This government has faced tremendous criticism from the very day they took office, from the manner in which they took office, and henceforth every single day of how they have conducted themselves. People are very critical of the way they have handled or mishandled the COVID-19 pandemic,” she said.

Muhyiddin was appointed prime minister by the king in February 2020 after a sudden shift in political alliances brought the sitting government crashing down, bringing him and his cabinet to power without an election. When Muhyiddin asked the king for the state of emergency, to help him rein in a COVID-19 surge, many saw a prime minister with shrinking support in Parliament desperate to hold on to power by averting the threat of a snap election.

Despite early success keeping the pandemic at bay, Malaysia has now racked up the third-most infections in Southeast Asia, with more than 320,000 confirmed cases.

The prime minister’s public relations office did not answer VOA’s calls or respond to a request for comment by email.

The government defended the fake news ordnance at a press conference Friday.

Communications Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said existing laws were ill-suited to keep up with the spread of fake news on social media and that the new rules would make law enforcement more agile.

“Our interest is in fighting COVID-19 and we will do whatever it takes,” he said. “We take cognizance of the fact that we have to be fair, we have to be just in carrying out our duties.”

Fact from fiction

Ding said the government would be better off countering fake news by doing more to help Malaysians separate fact from fiction online and urging the social media giants to keep misinformation and disinformation from going viral.

Bugher suggested the government step up its own fact-checking and fact-sharing operations rather than risk stifling news that could actually help.

“What’s worrying about laws like these is that it can sometimes tamp down good-faith discussion of issues that need to be discussed, because if people don’t feel that they have the ability to say something wrong without going to jail then they’re not going to discuss matters,” he said.

“In the context of a pandemic, for example, you really want people to share concerns if they think there may be an outbreak or if you think that the government is not doing what it should to address an outbreak in a certain area,” he added. “These types of laws can really chill that type of speech.”

Rubio Is First US Republican Senator to Support Union Push at Amazon
By Reuters
March 12, 2021

Senator Marco Rubio's backing is noteworthy as Republicans traditionally favor businesses and investors looking to squelch unionizing efforts.

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Marco Rubio on Friday became the first high-profile Republican lawmaker to support a growing push to unionize Amazon.com, Inc., workers in Alabama, after several Democratic lawmakers visited the company's facility last week.

In an opinion piece in USA Today, Rubio wrote that Amazon has "waged a war against working-class values" and is "looking to crush the union vote" in Bessemer, Alabama.

"Here's my standard: When the conflict is between working Americans and a company whose leadership has decided to wage culture war against working-class values, the choice is easy, I support the workers. And that's why I stand with those at Amazon's Bessemer warehouse today."

Rubio's backing is noteworthy as Republicans traditionally favor businesses and investors looking to squelch unionizing efforts.

Amazon workers at the Alabama facility began voting by mail in February on whether to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) and become the first group of U.S. Amazon employees to unionize. The union's President Stuart Appelbaum welcomed the support from Rubio and said this fight "should not be a partisan issue."

President Joe Biden also recently expressed support for the Amazon warehouse employees and defended workers' rights to form unions.

Last week, Democratic U.S. Representatives Andy Levin, Jamaal Bowman, Cori Bush, Terri Sewell and Nikema Williams visited the facility and met workers and organizers.

An Amazon spokesperson said, "when Senator Rubio says Amazon is 'waging war on working class values,' does he mean our $15 starting wage, comprehensive benefits, or the paid parental leave we provide for hourly workers?"

Rubio's column did not address Amazon's wages or benefits. It said Amazon "uses anticompetitive strategies to crush small businesses, bans conservative books and blocks traditional charities from participating in its AmazonSmile program."

Amazon offers $15 an hour minimum wage to its workers and has continued to advocate for the federal minimum wage to be raised to that level.

Rubio has clashed with Amazon before, as part of a group of conservative lawmakers who wrote to the online retailer in February after it stopped selling a book that Amazon said framed transgender and other sexual identities as mental illnesses.

The pressure on Amazon has also continued to mount from other areas in Washington. On Friday, Senator Bernie Sanders invited Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the world's richest person, to appear before his Senate Budget panel for a hearing on income and wealth inequality.

Amazon, Union Battle for Undecided Workers in High-Stakes Vote

By Matt Haines
March 14, 2021 03:48 AM


People hold a banner at the Amazon facility as members of a congressional delegation arrive to show their support for workers who will vote on whether to unionize, in Bessemer, Alabama, March 5, 2021

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA - After shrinking for decades, America’s private sector labor unions could get a shot in the arm later this month as 5,800 workers for one of America’s biggest employers, Amazon.com Inc, vote by mail on whether to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU).

The outcome could have far-reaching implications, not just for workers at the Amazon Fulfillment Center in Bessemer, Alabama, but also for the company as a whole and the growing U.S. e-commerce sector that so far has fended off most labor organizing.

While Amazon touts higher wages and more generous benefit packages than those offered by many other service industry employers, worker Dale Richardson told VOA he voted to unionize.

“They treat us like we’re just a number — like we’re nobodies,” he said. “I’ve been there for almost a year now, doing the best work I can do, and nobody — no manager — asks me about my goals. They don’t care about us.”

Richardson points to Amazon ending worker hazard pay in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. He says he has seen coworkers reprimanded for talking during their shift and fired for taking too long for bathroom breaks.

“They give us two 30-minute breaks over a 10 or 11-hour shift, but it can sometimes take 10 minutes of that break to walk across the facility,” he said, noting the massive fulfillment center is the size of 16 football fields. “It’s not uncommon to walk all the way to the bathroom on your floor to find that it’s not working, or that it’s closed for cleaning. Now you have to walk to another floor’s bathroom, most of your break is used up and you might get fired if you don’t get back in time. It’s a lot of stress.”

Last-minute shift changes are also not uncommon, according to Richardson, who hopes joining RWDSU would improve conditions for workers.

“If they can help us get a little more job security, so they can’t fire us whenever they want,” he said, “and help organize us and represent us to advocate for equal opportunities for promotions and pay increases — that’s why I’m voting to unionize.”

Amazon didn't address those specific concerns, but spokesperson Owen Torres emphasized communication between managers and their employees.

"Direct dialogue is essential to our work environment in which we encourage associates to bring their comments, questions, and concerns directly to their management team with the goal of quickly improving the work environment and challenging leadership assumptions," he said.

A unique moment

Ballots were sent to employees on Feb. 8 and must be completed and received by the National Labor Relations Board by March 29. What is unfolding is one of the most closely watched unionization efforts in decades as RWDSU and Amazon jockey to persuade undecided workers how to vote.

Amazon insists it does right by its workers in Alabama – and everywhere else.

“We opened this site in March and since that time have created more than 6,000 full-time jobs in Bessemer, with starting pay of $15.30 per hour, including full health care, vision and dental insurance, 50% 401(k) match [for retirement savings] from the first day on the job,” the company said in a statement provided to VOA. Amazon said it provides “safe, innovative, inclusive environments, with training, continuing education, and long-term career growth.”

Such statements don’t impress RWDSU President Stuart Appelbaum. Nor does Amazon’s backing for a national $15 hourly minimum wage, up from $7.25 currently.

“Society is celebrating essential workers like the ones who work at Amazon,” Appelbaum told VOA. “But then we’re also going to cut their hazard pay? That doesn’t make sense, and I think Americans understand we need to celebrate them by rewarding and supporting them.”

Appelbaum added, “We’re in a unique moment in history, and I think that’s why people across the country and around the world are watching how we do.”

Without specifically mentioning Amazon, President Joe Biden recently urged “workers in Alabama” to exercise their right to organize and “make your voice heard.”

"Unions lift up workers, both union and non-union, but especially Black and brown workers," Biden said in a video posted to Twitter.

Casting labor unions as a promoter of racial justice resonates with Jennifer Bates, one of many people of color working at the Bessemer fulfillment center.

“You have a workplace where 85% of the employees are Black, and you literally see policemen in the parking lot with their lights on when you arrive,” she said. “What kind of message does that send? It feels like a prison. We’re working for the richest man in the world [Amazon founder Jeff Bezos]. You can’t give us hazard pay? You can’t provide more opportunities for raises so we can afford to live in safer housing?”

'A seat at the table'

Opinion among Amazon workers is far from uniform.

“I’m not against unions,” explained J.C. Thompson, who has worked at the Amazon facility in Bessemer since April last year, less than a week after it opened. “I’ve been in unions, and I think they can do good things. I just don’t think we need it here.”

He said he understands everyone’s experience is different, but he said he feels he is treated fairly at Amazon and is impressed with the package of benefits the company provides him. He also values the direct communication he says workers have with Amazon managers.

“My dad used to tell me, ‘You’ve either got a seat at the table, or you’re being eaten for dinner,’” Thompson said, “And I feel like I’ve got a seat at the table here. Not that I’m some superstar worker or anything, but when I message a manager, I always get a response back. Every time.”

Thompson said he’s worried that if a union comes in, he’ll lose his ability to advocate for himself and to reach out to management without having to go through the union first.

“Everything they say they want from a union, we’ve already got by working directly with Amazon,” he said.

Another Amazon worker, Carla Johnson, agreed. She was diagnosed with cancer shortly after beginning her job at the Bessemer facility and said Amazon has provided her with essential support throughout the process.

“They’ve been so wonderful, I just don’t see what some of those voting for unionization are seeing,” she said. “I guess if you’re going to the bathroom or talking so much you don’t get your work done, then you’ll get fired, but that’s the case at any workplace.”

“I work hard here, and I think I’ll be rewarded for that,” she added. “I don’t want a union to get in the way if they’re prioritizing people with seniority.”

2014 vote failed

This is not the first push for collective bargaining at Amazon. In 2014, machinists at a warehouse in Delaware voted more than 3-to-1 against unionization.

The current effort now has bipartisan backing in Washington, a rarity for union efforts. Writing in USA Today on Friday, Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio said, “Amazon has waged a war against working class values” and that “workers are right to suspect that its management doesn’t have their best interests in mind.”

“Unions haven’t seen this kind of support in many decades,” said Natasha Zaretsky, professor of history at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

She said America’s unions were at their strongest in the 1940s and ’50s, when 33% of workers were unionized, many in the steel and automobile factories of the time. Today, that number has dropped to 12% as jobs have shifted from manufacturing to the service industry.

It’s no accident that Bessemer is ground zero for what could be a watershed moment for unionizing in America, according to Zaretsky.

“Nobody should be surprised about what’s happening in this part of Alabama,” she said. “African American workers have a rich history of unionizing here that goes all the way back to Reconstruction [after the U.S. Civil War] in the 19th century. And after everything that’s happened over the last year, we might be seeing a new chapter in a long history of unionizing here.”

The final stretch

As the days count down to March 29, Applebaum says Amazon is resorting to strong-arm tactics to influence workers.

“They put anti-union materials in the bathrooms, and they hold mandatory meetings where they tell workers why unions are bad for them and how it could cause Amazon facilities to close,” he said. “We set up outside the facility to talk to employees when they leave work, but then Amazon asked the county to change the cadence of the traffic lights so they wouldn’t be stopped there anymore. This isn’t normal.”

For its part, Amazon says workers must know what is at stake.

"If the union vote passes, it will impact everyone at the site and it's important all associates understand what that means for them and their day-to-day life working at Amazon,” the company recently said in a statement. "We don't believe the RWDSU represents the majority of our employees' views. Our employees choose to work at Amazon because we offer some of the best jobs available everywhere we hire."

J.C. Thompson said there are lots of employees who haven’t decided how they will vote, and many that are still trying to understand how unionization will affect them. When they ask him, he said he tells them why he’s against it, but also acknowledged there are plenty of people voting yes.

“It’s gonna be close,” he said, “and I know a lot of people are watching to see how it turns out.”

REMEMBER FELLOW WORKERS UNION DUES ARE 100% TAX DEDUCTIBLE

SO THEY PAY FOR UNION SERVICES AND GIVE YOU YOUR MONEY BACK

Russian Star Wars fans build ‘Mandalorian’ spaceship in Siberia

IT'S COLD AND DARK FOR SIX MONTHS OF THE YEAR

WHAT ELSE DO YOU DO IN SIBERIA

By David Meyer

AFP

March 14, 2021 | 

Enlarge Image

Ayaal Fedorov and his friends built a replica of the Razor Crest ship featured in Star Wars 'The Mandalorian'INSTARimages.com

Star Wars’ “Mandalorian” has touched down in a location far, far away.

A group of fans of the iconic sci-fi franchise rebuilt a life-sized replica of the Razor Crest –the starship used by the show’s titular main character — and plopped it in the east Russian city of Yakutsk, Siberia.

The 46 foot-long craft weighs over a ton, cosplayer Ayaal Fyodorov told Russian state-run news agency TASS.

“Our Instagram followers helped us. When we called for assistance, they helped us raise the needed funds,” Fyodrov said, according to the Moscow Times.

“The Yakutsk IT park, a [local] private company, helped us rent a hangar, the only place where the structure could fit.”

Fyodrov and crew meticulously painted their replica to match the design of the original ship.

The real-life Razor Crest also includes a seat specifically designed to fit Baby Yoda, the star of the Disney+ TV series.

Fyodorov told AFP the model cost more than 750,00 rubles, or $10,200. Besides fundraising, the Star Wars fan said he dipped into savings and sold his car to make his dream a reality.

Ayaal Fedorov and his friends built a replica of the Razor Crest ship featured in Star Wars 'The Mandalorian' INSTARimages.com

“We were very much motivated to make it. As if we were inside the TV series and rebuilding the ship,” he said.

“This is the only such cosplay ship in the world.”

The model ship has now become a major attraction for locals, AFP said.

The exterior of the ship replica from The Mandalorian



The interior of the replica ship

Baltimore Sun deal sets up major test for nonprofit news mode

After years of staff cuts, shrinking budgets and declining readership, the Baltimore Sun finally has some good news to report about itself: a deal for a new nonprofit group to take over, and potentially revive the struggling newspaper.

© JIM WATSON Baltimore Sun reporter Jean Marbella holds up the newspaper's front page that headlined its potential take over by a nonprofit group during an interview on March 11

The plan unveiled in February comes in response to an extraordinary movement -- supported by civic and business leaders, sports figures, journalists and others -- to rescue the 184-year-old newspaper and bring it back to local ownership.

© JIM WATSON The Baltimore Sun has moved its newsroom to this headquarters building with its printing operations, but journalists have been working remotely during the pandemic

The nonprofit Sunlight for All Institute, led by businessman Stewart Bainum, struck the tentative deal to acquire the Sun and affiliated newspapers for $65 million as part of the sale of parent firm Tribune Publishing to Alden Global Capital.

© JIM WATSON Baltimore Sun reporter Liz Bowie (C) wears a “Save Our Sun” facemask at a gathering with other journalists gathering March 11 outside the headquarters of the newspaper which has a tentative deal to be acquired by a nonprofit organization

The agreement represents a major new test for the nonprofit model which has gained momentum in recent years in response to the deepening crisis in the sector.

Newsroom employment at newspapers fell by half between 2008 and 2019, according to Pew Research Center, with more cuts reported during the pandemic.

The idea had been circulating in Baltimore for years but gained steam with the "Save Our Sun" campaign launched last year by journalists, union and civic leaders and others.


"There was a huge amount of community support," said Sun journalist Liz Bowie, one of those behind the campaign.

Bowie said Baltimoreans appeared to understand the value of the longtime news organization and what might happen if it failed or was hollowed out.

"That void can't be filled by a digital startup," she said.

Ted Venetoulis, a former county executive and gubernatorial candidate who joined the campaign, said the initiative drove home the notion that the newspaper was the "soul" and "conscience" of the community.

"They're watchdogs, they keep people honest, but they also are cheerleaders. They magnify the good things about our society," Venetoulis said.

The "Save our Sun" campaign got more than 7,000 signatures and was endorsed by prominent locals including baseball icon Cal Ripken, TV producer David Simon and film director John Waters.

© JIM WATSON Like other daily newspapers, the Baltimore Sun has seen shrinking revenue and print circulation as more people turn to digital news

The deal for Bainum's group to buy Sun Media Group would depend on Alden's acquisition of the rest of Tribune Publishing, including the Chicago Tribune, Hartford Courant and other regional dailies.

- Going nonprofit -

The nonprofit model has been growing in recent years in the United States, and now includes some 300 news outlets, according to University of Illinois professor Brant Houston, a founder of the Institute for Nonprofit News.

Nonprofits have made inroads during a crisis that has seen many local newspapers disappear and others consolidated by big chains and hedge fund owners, most of which have cut staff and coverage.

"The business model for newspapers was just not working," Houston said.

"If you have an organization beholden to stockholders, you end up with a business model of laying people off and cutting coverage," Houston said. "That's not a strategic plan."

The Sun has won 16 Pulitzer prizes including one last year for a story on a corruption scandal which led to the resignation and prosecution of mayor Catherine Pugh.

But it has been reeling like many of its peers, with print circulation has fallen to just 43,000 on weekdays and 125,00 on Sunday, a fraction of the level from its peak years. Newsroom staff has been slashed over the years, and is now less than 100.

Sun journalists expressed hope the new model could help reverse the newspaper's decline.

"We were blown away and psyched by this," said reporter Colin Campbell.

Health reporter Meredith Cohn said she hopes the deal will lead "getting more reporters and covering the community," including areas neglected in recent years.

- Philadelphia experiment -

One hopeful sign comes from Philadelphia, where the Inquirer newspaper has been under nonprofit ownership since 2016 when owner Gerry Lenfest donated his stake to the Lenfest Institute along with a $20 million endowment.

Since then, "there has been an outpouring of community financial support" for the daily with some $7 million in grants in 2020 alone, said Jim Friedlich, chief executive of the nonprofit group.

The Inquirer has been able to maintain a newsroom staff of 200, far bigger than most of its peers, said Friedlich.

The Philadelphia group offered informal advice to Bainum, who has not publicly discussed his plans for the Baltimore Sun, he added.

Bainum, chairman of Choice Hotels, "has become something of a student of the news business and has been inspired by and is replicating the Lenfest nonprofit model," Friedlich said.

John Schleuss, president of the NewsGuild which represents newsroom staff and helped organize Save the Sun, is optimistic that the Sun can open the door to similar deals.

"I hope we can get back to publications which are accountable to the community, and not just interested in short-term profits."

Schleuss said he was disappointed that similar efforts failed at other Tribune dailies which will be taken over by a company "with a history of cutting a large number of jobs."

"It's good that people in Baltimore stepped up," Schleuss said. "We need that to happen all across the country."