U.S. Exposes Hackers’ Helpers to Punish Russian Cyber-Attacks

IS THAT LIKE HAMBURGER HELPER


Michael Riley and Ryan Gallagher, 

Bloomberg News Apr 15, 2021


Vladimir Putin Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg , Bloomberg


(Bloomberg) -- In punishing Russian hacks and election meddling, the Biden administration on Thursday revealed new details about Russian intelligence’s vast disinformation and cyber-operations, including the names of companies that allegedly help facilitate cyber-attacks and websites accused of spreading false claims to damage the U.S.

The information release is designed partly to damage Russian intelligence services by blowing the cover of its support network, including companies that provide essential services and, in one case, the location of a technology park near the Black Sea used by spies for Russian’s military intelligence directorate, the GRU.

“This is how you roll up people’s networks,” said James Lewis, senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. “You identify them, so that they have to rebuild their tradecraft and rebuild their cover. It’s cheap for us but can be very costly to them.”

The names of companies and individuals, including a deputy chief of staff to Russian President Vladimir Putin, were officially released in relation to U.S. sanctions imposed Thursday, but the larger harm may come from being associated with Russia’s spy operations, experts say.

According to the U.S. Treasury Department, a Russian cybersecurity company called Positive Technologies hosts large-scale conventions that are used as a recruiting pipeline for Russia’s intelligence agencies, the Federal Security Service (FSB) and the GRU. While the U.S. didn’t identify the name of the conference, one annual event held by Positive Technologies -- which names Societe Generale, UniCredit and Enel as clients on its website -- is called “Positive Hack Days.” In 2019, it hosted 8,000 people, and participants competed to hack into cash machines and a Tesla car.


The disclosure about the company’s alleged links to Russian intelligence comes just after reports that it was considering an initial public offering, which Kommersant newspaper reported in March, citing an unidentified person familiar with the plan. The company earned 5.6 billion rubles ($73 million) in 2020 and was targeting a valuation of between $2 billion and $4 billion, the paper said.

Positive Technologies didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

The U.S. also sanctioned ERA Technopolis, a research center and technology park located in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, which is near the Black Sea. U.S. officials alleged that ERA Technopolis “houses and supports” units of Russia’s main intelligence directorate, the GRU, which it said was responsible for offensive cyber and information operations.

The technology park had been publicly linked to the Russian Ministry of Defense, which claims that the facility combines scientific and educational functions. But the fact that it’s now known to house GRU units will likely be an inconvenience for an agency that thrives in secrecy.

Russian officials have repeatedly denied allegations of hacking, election meddling and spreading disinformation in the U.S.

It’s likely that many of the details about the intelligence agencies’ support networks were classified until recently, but Lewis said the decision to release them was a result of an internal U.S. government debate about how to impose stiff costs for what the U.S. calls “malign behavior.”

Those activities include aggressive efforts to influence the outcome of U.S. presidential elections in 2016 and 2020, the poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, and the recent hack of U.S. government agencies and private firms through software made by Texas-based SolarWinds Corp.

“The debate is over how to impose costs on the Russians, as well as whether those costs will be enough to get them to change their behavior,” Lewis said. “Some of these companies go to a lot of effort to establish cover and to build business networks. They can try to restart that process, but it won’t be easy.”

The Biden administration also disclosed new details about how Russian intelligence agencies have used disinformation outlets and companies to secretly try to influence U.S. voters and spread false claims about candidates and elections.

“Private and public sector corruption facilitated by President Vladimir Putin has enriched his network of confidants, who used their illicit business connections to advance Russia’s campaign to undermine the 2020 U.S. presidential election—and to give Russia plausible deniability in its disinformation activities,” according to the Treasury Department.

The FSB operates several disinformation outlets, including SouthFront, which is registered in Russia and attempts to appeal to military enthusiasts, veterans and conspiracy theorists while hiding its connections to Russian intelligence, according to the Biden administration. Following the November U.S. presidential election, SouthFront allegedly published content alleging voter fraud had taken place during the election.


Another disinformation outlet, NewsFront, is based in Crimea and allegedly worked with FSB officers to attempt to undermine the credibility of a news website that advocated for human rights. NewsFront was also used to distribute false information about the Covid-19 vaccine, “which further demonstrates the irresponsible and reckless conduct of Russian disinformation sites,” according to the Treasury Department.

In addition, SVR directs an online journal called the Strategic Culture Foundation that created “false and unsubstantiated narratives” about U.S. officials involved in the 2020 presidential election, while GRU operates InfoRos, which used a network of websites to spread false conspiracy theories and disinformation, according to the U.S.

One of the companies outed Thursday is based in Pakistan, but it seems to have provided Russian intelligence agents with an essential -- if illicit -- service. The Treasury Department sanctioned the company for creating and selling fake identities to Russian intelligence, including documents to help companies and individuals evade sanctions. Since at least 2012, Second Eye Solution, also known as Forwarderz, provided digital copies of fake passports, drivers licenses and bank statements to help verify social media and financial services accounts, according to a Treasury Department statement.

An archived version of the Second Eye Solution website advertised the sale of illicit documents to support verification for banned or suspended accounts on sites including Facebook, Amazon.com, Google Wallet and CoinBase. “We provide high-quality, real-looking documents through which many of our clients get restored their accounts,” reads the now defunct website.

The site, accessed using the Wayback Machine web archive, now reads, “coming soon.”

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.

OLYMPICS 2022 PERHAPS

Tokyo Olympics 2021: With 100 days to go, 70% of Japanese don't want games to go ahead, poll finds

Coronavirus infections are rising in many parts of Japan and many will not be vaccinated by the scheduled start in July.

The mascots for the Tokyo Olympic Games, Miraitowa (L) and Someity are unveiled

Martha Kelner

Sports correspondent @marthakelner
Wednesday 14 April 2021
Sky News

The Tokyo Olympics mascots were unveiled today to celebrate the 100 days-to-go milestone amid mounting public opposition to the Games taking place this summer.

But British Olympic Association chair Sir Hugh Robertson said he believed it was not a matter of if the Games happen, but how.

"I'm very confident it will go ahead," he told Sky News.

The countdown clock starts on the last 100 days before the Olympics begins

"I think the fact they have decided on no foreign spectators, now makes it more likely it will happen. They're taking the measures necessary in order to enable the Olympics to go ahead safely in July."

Coronavirus infections are rising in many parts of Japan and the country only began its vaccination programme this week, meaning vast swathes of the nation will still be unvaccinated when the Olympics are slated to begin on 23 July.

A newspaper poll this week indicated that 70% of Japanese people don't want the Games to go ahead.

"I'm not surprised that the polling figures are like that," Robertson said, "if you're a country in lockdown and then somebody proposes hosting an Olympics you're bound to think that this probably isn't the ideal.

"It's also the case that in every single country that ever hosts the Olympic Games, that the public is generally somewhere between hostile and not very keen, right up until the last moment and then it flips about.

"I think when it actually gets right up close to the games the Japanese will want to do what they're really well known for doing which is lay on a fantastic Games and welcome as much of the world as is safe to do."

Tokyo Olympics mascot Miraitowa and the famous rings

Subscribe to the Daily podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker

The Olympics was awarded to Tokyo seven and a half years ago because it was considered a safe choice.

Since then a sexism scandal which led to the resignation of the head of the organising committee, a bribery investigation and a pandemic have coloured things differently.

Many experts think the risk to public health is too great to hold the Games, which under the current advice from the Japanese government would see an estimated 90,000 people flocking to Tokyo this summer, including 15,000 Olympic and Paralympic athletes.

"We are seeing sicker people than before, in ICU and the number of people infected surging, very rapidly," Professor Kentaro Iwata, infectious disease specialist at Japan's Kobe University, told Sky News.

"It is mainly in the west side of Japan called Kansai area but the east side, including Tokyo also has the increase in the number of people with infection. So, we are in a really critical period.

"I'm very pessimistic in holding the Olympic Games safely," he added, "Particularly, when people talk about inviting all the audiences domestically, that will be extremely dangerous to have."

The Olympic torch relay was diverted from the centre of Osaka this week and proceeded largely in private amid rising coronavirus cases in the area.

The torch is lit by a member of Japan's women's national soccer team

Athletes are still unsure when they will be able to get into Japan for qualifying events and preparation for the Games.

Mallory Franklin is a world champion canoe slalom racer and will make her Olympics debut in Tokyo as one of Team GB's best gold medal hopes. She says she is trying to ignore the undercurrent of controversy.

"I'm not actually that engaged with the news, generally, which isn't great for me but it means I don't see things like that and I think that it allows me just to stay focused on my training," she said.

"I wouldn't do anything differently, I'd still turn up to train and I'd still try and be the best athlete I could be and whether or not the games does or doesn't happen."

For many athletes this will be their only opportunity to go to an Olympics, for others it could be their swansong and, amid a whirl of unknowns, there is one certainty; this will be a Games unlike any other.

SAINT JOE NEEDS TO 'EVOLVE'

Biden’s blunt opposition to marijuana legalization

As his own party moves ahead on the issue, the president remains opposed to legalization.

By German Lopez@germanrlopezgerman.lopez@vox.com 

 Apr 16, 2021

This month, something unusual happened: Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer took a stand against President Joe Biden.

The New York Democrat, typically a strong Biden ally, has transformed into one of the Senate’s biggest advocates for marijuana legalization, which Biden continues to oppose. But Schumer said he’ll move forward with his legalization bill anyway.

“I want to make my arguments to him, as many other advocates will,” Schumer said. “But at some point we’re going to move forward, period.”

Schumer is likely worried, at least in part, about a primary challenge from the left in the future — something Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) has openly discussed.

But there’s a bigger issue here for Biden. Increasingly, the president is out of step with not just his party but the country and perhaps even most Republicans on marijuana legalization.

Marijuana legalization is extremely popular. Gallup and the Pew Research Center, two of the country’s leading polling organizations, have consistently found at least two-thirds of Americans back legalization.

Support is so high that, at this point, a majority of Republicans — who are generally more skeptical of drug policy reforms — may support it. Pew found 55 percent of Republicans back legalization. Gallup found a slim majority of Republicans supported it in 2017, 2018, and 2019. That reversed in 2020, but the difference between support and opposition among Republicans was still within the sampling margin of error. And, at any rate, a solid minority of 48 percent were behind it.

Support among Democrats, meanwhile, is in the high 70s and 80s across polls.

Maybe Biden doesn’t entirely trust the polls — after 2016 and 2020, many of us don’t. But there’s real-world evidence legalization is very popular, too.

For one, 17 states have now legalized marijuana, most recently New Mexico. Among the 15 states where marijuana legalization has been put in front of voters since 2012 (when Colorado and Washington state first legalized), it’s won in 13.

Even more impressive is marijuana’s recent record in Republican states. Since 2012, marijuana legalization has come up for a vote in four states that former President Donald Trump won by double digits in 2020. It’s won in three of those states (Alaska, Montana, and South Dakota), and lost in one (North Dakota). Weed is 3-1 in deep-red states.

So what could explain Biden’s opposition? Based on his public remarks, he seems genuinely conservative on the issue — arguing only for decriminalization (in which the threat of jail or prison time is removed for possession, but sales remain illegal), and calling for “more scientific investigations” into the issue, particularly whether pot is a “gateway drug.”

Biden, after all, not just supported but spearheaded many of the country’s current drug war policies. During the 1980s and ’90s, he backed and helped write bill after bill that toughened federal criminal penalties against all sorts of drugs. Biden has since admitted to going too far in at least some respects, but this is where he built his early political career.

Of course, the failure of these policies to stop major drug problems — the country is currently mired in its deadliest drug overdose crisis ever in the opioid epidemic — and these policies’ punitive nature are reasons the public has shifted toward backing marijuana legalization. And the real-life evidence of legalization suggests it works fine, even leading governors in legalization states to regularly flip to supporting it.

But Biden is not convinced, even as his party moves ahead without him. With a veto pen in hand, it could make the president the biggest barrier to legalization.

DYING ART

Colorful coffins lighten mood at New Zealand funerals

By NICK PERRY

1 of 14
This photo provided by Ross Hall, shows a cream doughnut shaped coffin for the funeral of Phil McLean outside a church in Tauranga, New Zealand on Feb 17, 2021. Auckland company Dying Art makes unique custom caskets which reflect the people who will eventually lay inside them, whether it's a love for fire engines, a cream doughnut or Lego. (Ross Hall via AP)

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — When the pallbearers brought Phil McLean’s coffin into the chapel, there were gasps before a wave of laughter rippled through the hundreds of mourners.

The coffin was a giant cream donut.

“It overshadowed the sadness and the hard times in the last few weeks,” said his widow, Debra. “The final memory in everyone’s mind was of that donut, and Phil’s sense of humor.”

The donut was the latest creation by Phil’s cousin Ross Hall, who runs a business in Auckland, New Zealand, called Dying Art, which custom builds colorful coffins.

Other creations by Hall include a sailboat, a firetruck, a chocolate bar and Lego blocks. There have been glittering coffins covered in fake jewels, a casket inspired by the movie “The Matrix,” and plenty of coffins depicting people’s favorite beaches and holiday spots.

“There are people who are happy with a brown mahogany box and that’s great,” said Hall. “But if they want to shout it out, I’m here to do it for them.”

The idea first came to Hall about 15 years ago when he was writing a will and contemplating his own death.

“How do I want to go out?” he thought to himself, deciding it wouldn’t be like everyone else. “So I put in my will that I want a red box with flames on it.”

Six months later, Hall, whose other business is a signage and graphics company, decided to get serious. He approached a few funeral directors who looked at him with interest and skepticism. But over time, the idea took hold.

Hall begins with special-made blank coffins and uses fiberboard and plywood to add details. A latex digital printer is used for the designs. Some orders are particularly complex, like the sailboat, which included a keel and rudder, cabin, sails, even metal railings and pulleys.

\

Depending on the design, the coffins retail for between about 3,000 and 7,500 New Zealand dollars ($2,100 and $5,400).

Hall said the tone of funerals has changed markedly over recent years.

“People now think it’s a celebration of life rather than a mourning of death,” he said. And they’ve been willing to throw out stuffy conventions in favor of getting something unique.

But, a donut?

Debra McLean said she and her late husband, who was 68 when he died in February, used to tour the country in their motorhome and Phil loved comparing cream donuts in every small town, considering himself something of a connoisseur.

He considered a good donut one that was crunchy on the outside, airy in the middle, and definitely made with fresh cream.

After Phil was diagnosed with bowel cancer, he had time to think about his funeral and, along with his wife and cousin, came up with the idea for the donut coffin. Debra said they even had 150 donuts delivered to the funeral in Tauranga from Phil’s favorite bakery in Whitianga, more than 160 kilometers (100 miles) away.

Hall said his coffins are biodegradable and are usually buried or cremated along with the deceased. The only one he’s ever gotten back is his cousin’s, he said, because he used polystyrene and shaping foam, which is not environmentally friendly.

Phil was switched to a plain coffin for his cremation and Hall said he’ll keep the donut coffin forever. For now, it remains in the back of his white 1991 Cadillac hearse.

As for his own funeral? Hall said he’s changed his mind about those red flames. He’s emailed his kids saying he wants to be buried in a clear coffin wearing nothing but a leopard-pattern G-string.

“The kids say they’re not going,” he says with a smile.

MANWOMAN WOULD APPROVE

The pandemic’s impact on our world is only just beginning

The US intelligence community says the coronavirus will impact you for years to come, even if you didn’t get sick.

By Alex Ward@AlexWardVox

alex.ward@vox.com 

VOX

 Apr 14, 2021

A woman is arrested by Met Police during a “Worldwide Rally For Freedom” protest over the coronavirus on March 20, 2021, in London, England. Hollie Adams/Getty Images


Even though life is beginning to return to some semblance of normal in parts of the world thanks to the success of vaccination efforts, a new report finds that the Covid-19 pandemic will continue to severely impact the world.

US intelligence agencies released their unclassified Annual Threat Assessment report on Tuesday, offering views on global challenges ranging from tensions with China to nuclear diplomacy with Iran to the dangers of domestic violent extremism.

But the most troubling part of the 27-page document, which top intelligence officials are presenting to Congress on Wednesday in open and closed sessions, is the section about how the coronavirus pandemic will define our world for years to come.

In the near term, the economies of hard-hit and lower-income countries will suffer, and access to adequate health care for the most vulnerable will decline. In the long run, great powers like China, Russia, and the US will jockey for global influence, potentially driving them apart instead of closer together at a time when the world most needs cooperation.

Simply put, it’s a grim picture.

How the coronavirus will shape our world in the short term

The most immediate impact will be economic calamity.

“The economic fallout from the pandemic is likely to create or worsen instability in at least a few — and perhaps many — countries, as people grow more desperate in the face of interlocking pressures that include sustained economic downturns, job losses, and disrupted supply chains,” the report reads. “Some hard-hit developing countries are experiencing financial and humanitarian crises, increasing the risk of surges in migration, collapsed governments, or internal conflict.”

Reflect on that for a moment: That’s the US intelligence community, one of the greatest collections of spies and analysts in the world, saying the financial hardships brought on by the coronavirus could foment or deepen “instability” in “perhaps many” countries. “The economic and political implications of the pandemic will ripple through the world for years,” they write.

Former top intelligence officials I spoke with agree with this assessment. “It is a hard truth,” James Clapper, who served as the director of national intelligence from 2010 to 2017, told me. “This development — coupled with the impacts of climate change — make for a not very rosy future unless mankind gets its act together, and soon.”

The economic part certainly rings true: The world economy shrank between 3 and 4 percent last year, as we were bombarded with images of closed-up restaurants, stores, and factories. Per the International Labour Organization, about 114 million people worldwide lost their jobs last year.

The damage in the US was so large that it led Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden to propose, and Congress to approve, trillions of dollars of economic relief just to keep the American economy afloat. Millions around the world won’t get such a lifeline from their governments, though, and they may eventually demand more from officials than the governments can provide. When that happens, usually a crisis follows.

“Many poorer countries are reaching the limit of what they can do with regard to using debt-fueled stimulus and social policies to cushion that continued fallout from the pandemic,” said Thomas Bollyky, a senior fellow for global health, economics, and development at the Council on Foreign Relations. “Something has to give.”

We’re already seeing the effects of this economic pain. The pandemic “has driven food insecurity worldwide to its highest point in more than a decade,” the report says. “The number of people experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity doubled from 135 million in 2019 to about 270 million last year, and is projected to rise to 330 million by year-end.”

Another immediate concern is that those who require medical attention may not get adequate care because so many resources are devoted to the pandemic.

“COVID-19-related disruptions to essential health services — such as vaccinations, aid delivery, and maternal and child health programs — will increase the likelihood of additional health emergencies, especially among vulnerable populations in low-income countries,” the intelligence community assesses.

One specific example in the report is how millions in Sub-Saharan Africa have experienced disruptions to HIV/AIDS treatments, along with a downturn in polio and measles vaccination campaigns “in dozens of countries.” Such lags in medical support will likely persist well into the future: The coronavirus doesn’t have to infect everyone to threaten their health.

How the coronavirus will shape our world in years to come

The US intelligence community also assesses there will be longer-term impacts that spell trouble for our world.

“States are struggling to cooperate — and in some cases are undermining cooperation — to respond to the pandemic and its economic fallout, particularly as some governments turn inward and question the merits of globalization and interdependence,” wrote the US intelligence community. “Some governments, such as China and Russia, are using offers of medical supplies and vaccines to try to boost their geopolitical standing.”

This is an important, maddening point. Instead of nations working together to solve a global problem, countries vying for influence went their own way.

They’ve engaged in two phenomena: “vaccine nationalism” and “vaccine diplomacy.” The “nationalism” part is when a nation’s leaders prioritize their own people for vaccination, even to the point of hoarding vaccines, to the detriment of the rest of the world. The “diplomacy” part is when countries share their vaccine supplies with other countries less out of pure goodwill and more to gain political and diplomatic favor with the recipient state.

The US, for example, was guilty of vaccine nationalism under the Trump administration, refusing to contribute to global vaccination efforts by keeping vials for exclusive use by Americans. That has changed somewhat under President Joe Biden, as he’s committed billions of dollars to support a worldwide, cooperative vaccination drive and pledged 4 million vials to Canada and Mexico. (Some argue the US could be doing more, however.)

And as cases quickly spike in India, New Delhi decided to curtail its vaccine exports to ensure it has enough at home.

Many countries are using vaccine diplomacy for their own interests. As The Verge noted last month, China and Russia have both developed their own vaccines and are using them to bolster alliances around the world. This could be a problem for global protection against the coronavirus, particularly in Beijing’s case. A top Chinese official admitted that its domestically produced vaccines aren’t quite as effective in preventing Covid-19.

There are also ramifications for US foreign policy. For example, the US has long had close ties with Latin America, but Beijing and Moscow are flooding the region with vaccine so governments there align closer to them, instead of Washington.

The toxic cocktail of “vaccine nationalism” and “vaccine diplomacy” will only further erode trust among nations and likely increase tensions, experts and the US intelligence community say. That, to put it mildly, is a big problem.

“This dire assessment on the Covid-19 pandemic should be yet another signal to political leaders that going it alone in his pandemic is going a course that is at their nations’ peril,” Bollyky told me.

The Food (MEAT) We Eat Is Contributing to the Rise of Superbugs, Report Suggests

Aristos Georgiou 

AFP

4/16/2021


Researchers have detected the building blocks of superbugs—bacteria resistant to the antibiotics used to fight them—in the environment near large factory farms in the United States.

© BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images) 

A pig farm in Illinois on January 25, 2020.

An investigation conducted by global animal welfare non-profit World Animal Protection (WAP) identified what are known as "antibiotic resistance genes" (ARGs) in waterways and soils near these farms that could pose a significant threat to public health, according to a report shared exclusively with Newsweek.


In October 2020, investigators took 45 water samples and 45 soil samples from eight sites in eastern North Carolina both downstream and upstream of industrial pig farms. These samples were then analyzed to identify whether 23 target ARGs were present.

The area from where the samples were taken features a heavy concentration of large pig farms, which discharge waste into waterways and spread pig waste on local crop fields.

Factory farms—where large numbers of animals are confined to cages or barren concrete pens—routinely use antibiotics to mask poor welfare conditions and prevent stressed animals from getting sick. But this overuse of antibiotics can lead to the emergence of superbugs, which are considered one of the most significant global health threats.

The WAP researchers found that all the water and soil samples they tested returned a positive result for at least one ARG. In addition, 92 percent of samples displayed positive results for three or more different ARGs.

The presence of ARGs in the samples does not definitively confirm that antibiotic resistant bacteria were present, but it does indicate the genetic potential for resistance.

"ARGs are genetic elements that allow a bacteria not to be as easily killed by a particular type of antibiotic that it previously had been sensitive to," Michael Hansen, senior scientist on the WAP report told Newsweek.

"ARGs can occur naturally or can be created via mutations. In addition, these ARG often occur on mobile genetic elements, called a plasmid, which allow them to be readily swapped between bacteria."

Essentially, antibiotic resistant bacteria originating on farms can spread their resistance genes to harmful bacteria already present in the surrounding environment, with the genes persisting beyond the viability of the bacteria themselves.

"When antibiotics are used, they tend to kill the bacteria that are sensitive to them, so that the surviving bacteria are less sensitive to the antibiotic because the population as a whole has become more resistant to that antibiotic. This means that a higher level of antibiotic is needed to kill those bacteria."

Bacteria originating on farms that are still susceptible to antibiotics can then pick up resistance to important drugs if ARGs are widely present in the environment.

Video: Armed with giant testing swabs, a group researchers are testing camels in the Kapiti natural reserve, in southern Kenya, in a bid to better understand Middle East Respiratory Syndrome. MERS is a far deadlier cousin of Covid-19 which has long circulated in camels, that scientists fear could cause the next global pandemic if it mutates into a form which is more contagious to humans. (AFP)

Hansen said the use of antibiotics on farms often leads to various bacteria releasing plasmids with antibiotic resistance genes on them.

As these plasmids move between bacteria, they can pick up more ARGs, so that certain plasmids may contain numerous ARGs conferring resistance to three or more classes of antibiotics. Some plasmids have five or more ARGs on them. Superbugs are defined as bacteria that are resistant to three or more classes of antibiotics.

According to the report, the presence of ARGs in the environment around these farms suggests that they may be playing a significant role in the spread of antibiotic resistance to the environment, while placing nearby communities at risk.

"Bacteria carrying these genes can reach people via several pathways," Cameron Harsh, Farming Campaign Manager with World Animal Protection, U.S., told Newsweek.

For example, manure stored in lagoons or sprayed on fields can leech into groundwater and public waterways. Particulate matter released into the air can settle on the soil and vegetation nearby. Meanwhile, farmworkers, insects, rodents, wild birds, and farmed animals headed to slaughter may all carry ARGs or superbugs with them.

Harsh said the results of the report raise "concerns that multi-drug resistance is common in this environment. Multi-drug-resistant bacteria pose significant health threat as they are able to survive treatment with several antibiotics. Genes indicating resistance to critically important medicines were also found in several samples."

Genes conveying resistance to a class of antibiotic drugs known as tetracyclines were identified in nearly all the samples taken for the study.

"Tetracycline-resistance genes have been detected in some previous studies testing in the region, but the high rate of positive results is particularly significant," Harsh said. "We know that the pig industry is the largest market for tetracycline antibiotics sold to farmed animals in the U.S., and farmer surveys have indicated frequent reliance on these drugs."

Harsh said that surveillance of antibiotic resistant bacteria occurs in human health settings on certain retail meats, and on farmed animals at slaughter in the United States. But the monitoring of resistant bacteria in the environment at this time is limited.

Superbugs already kill seven hundred thousand people around the would every year, and experts predict that this figure will rise to 10 million deaths annually if nothing is done to address the issue, causing an estimated $100 trillion in global economic losses.

The WAP investigation also conducted similar testing of water and soil samples collected near factory farms in farms in Canada, Spain, and Thailand. These studies also detected the widespread presence of ARGs.

In light of the report, Harsh said factory farms can reduce the risk of contaminating the environment with antibiotic resistant elements by reducing their use of antibiotics, although this must be accomplished alongside improvements to the welfare and living conditions for the animals.

"Raising animals with more space, with enrichments in their pens like straw for pigs and perches for chickens, and with more robust genetics—instead of the high-growth genetics of conventional breeds—are all management practices that can reduce reliance on antibiotics and provide farmed animals with good lives," he said.

"The U.S. government should also set regulations requiring reduced use of antibiotics in farmed animals, not just medically important antibiotics, and phase out use for disease prevention."

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Suncor fined $100K for gas release at Edmonton Refinery
CBC/Radio-Canada 

4/16/2021

© Jason Franson/The Canadian Press The release of hydrogen sulphide at Suncor's Edmonton Refinery took place in July 2018.

Suncor Energy pleaded guilty to one count of breaking Alberta's environmental protection law after a release of a poisonous gas at its refinery just east of Edmonton.

A provincial court fined the Calgary-based energy giant $100,000 for the unauthorized release of hydrogen sulphide gas on July 18, 2018.

The gas release took place when a valve in the refinery's coker unit was not fully closed during the steam drying phase, a news release from Alberta Environment and Parks said Friday.

Hydrogen sulphide is a poisonous flammable gas that smells like rotten eggs and can cause chest pain, difficulty breathing, vomiting and headaches.

Most of the fine will go to a "creative sentencing project" with the Strathcona Community Hospital Foundation for the purchase of long-lasting respiratory support medical equipment, the release said.

Suncor was scheduled to appear in Sherwood Park Provincial Court on Friday to face seven charges under the Environmental Protection and Enhancement Act related to the 2018 incident.

The company pleaded guilty to one count of breaching an approval requiring that no unauthorized air effluent streams be released into the atmosphere.

The refinery is located just west of Anthony Henday Drive in Sherwood Park.

 

Canadians don't see the high performance and innovation in the oilsands, says Shell Canada boss

  

Opportunities in hydrogen and biofuels for Shell Canada

Outgoing president Michael Crothers says the company will continue to invest in renewables and low-emission sources of energy

Democratic lawmakers call for USPS to implement essential banking services


Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and other Democratic lawmakers on Thursday called on their colleagues in Congress to include pilot programs for USPS to provide essential banking services in the 2022 fiscal bill. Photo by Tasos Katopodis/UPI | License Photo

April 15 (UPI) -- A group of Democratic lawmakers on Thursday called on Congress to implement postal banking pilot programs in rural and low-income urban neighborhoods.

Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., along with Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., and Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, called for Congress to implement the programs as part of the Fiscal Year 2022 appropriations bill and to include $6 million in funding to carry out the programs.

Under the program, the U.S. Postal Service would provide check cashing, money wiring and other essential banking services to Americans who live in so-called bank deserts that force them to turn to check-cashing companies and other predatory institutions.

In a statement, Gillibrand noted that 63 million Americans are considered underbanked, with 90% of zip codes lacking a bank or credit union located in rural areas. Additionally, 46% of Latino households and 49% of African American households are also considered underbanked.

"Mainstream financial institutions and predatory lenders often take advantage of underbanked Americans with high fees and interest rates that keep them in a cycle of poverty. As families across the country try to recover from the economic crisis, establishing postal banking pilot programs would ensure these communities have financially safe and reliable banking services," said Gillibrand.

During a press conference Tuesday, Ocasio-Cortez described the impact that a lack of proper banking services has on New York's low-income communities.

"They'll show up to a check cashing place and imagine cashing your stimulus check ... and having 10% to 20% of that check taken away from you," she said. "Those are diapers, that's baby formula and that's food that is taken out of the families just to cash a check. And by the way, it's not because families don't want to be banked but it's because banks won't bank them because it's not profitable enough to bank certain communities."

Pascrell criticized efforts by former President Donald Trump and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to cut funding to USPS, stating postal banking could give the service a boost.

"The current Post Office leadership has failed miserably and must be replaced to begin the work of rebuilding our beloved Post Office," Pascrell said. "But postal banking is essential to that rebuilding and will help this beloved institution flourish into the next century."

Justice Department sues Roger Stone over $2 million in unpaid taxes

Michael Balsamo
Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department sued Donald Trump's ally Roger Stone on Friday, accusing the conservative provocateur and his wife of failing to pay nearly $2 million in income tax.

The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It alleges the couple underpaid their income tax by more than $1.5 million from 2007 until 2011 and separately alleges Stone also owes more than $400,000 for not fully paying his tax bill in 2018.

The suit alleges that the couple used a commercial entity known as Drake Ventures to “shield their personal income from enforced collection” and to fund a “lavish lifestyle.”

“Despite notice and demand for payment, Roger and Nydia Stone have failed and refused to pay the entire amount of the liabilities,” the lawsuit says.

Stone, a longtime confidant of the former president's, calls the lawsuit “politically motivated.”   

Stone was charged by the Justice Department in special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation and convicted at trial of lying to Congress, tampering with a witness and obstructing the House investigation into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to tip the 2016 election. Trump later commuted Stone's sentence and pardoned him.

Stone boasted during the 2016 campaign that he was in contact with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange through a trusted intermediary and hinted at inside knowledge of WikiLeaks’ plans to release more than 19,000 emails hacked from the servers of the Democratic National Committee. But Stone denied any wrongdoing and consistently criticized the case against him as politically motivated.


“The Internal Revenue Service is well aware of the fact that my three-year battle for freedom against the corrupted Mueller investigation has left me destitute,” Stone told The Associated Press. “They’re well aware that I have no assets and that their lawsuit is politically motivated. It’s particularly interesting that my tax attorneys were not told of this action, filed at close of business on a Friday. The American people will learn, in court, that I am on the verge of bankruptcy and that there are no assets for the government to take.”

Associated Press writer Jill Colvin contributed to this report.