Military coup puts Telenor's future in Myanmar on the line

By Victoria Klesty, Gwladys Fouche and John Geddie 

REUTERS 6/5/2021

©

 Reuters/INTS KALNINS FILE PHOTO: Telenor flag flutters next to the company's headquarters in Fornebu

OSLO (Reuters) - Since Myanmar's military ordered telecoms operators to shut their networks in an effort to end protests against its February coup, Telenor's business there has been in limbo.

As one of the few Western companies to bet on the South East Asian country after it emerged from military dictatorship a decade ago, the return to army rule led to a $783 million write-off this week for Norway's Telenor.

The Norwegian state-controlled firm, one of the biggest foreign investors in Myanmar, must now decide whether to ride out the turmoil, or withdraw from a market which last year contributed 7% of its earnings.

"We are facing many dilemmas," Telenor Chief Executive Sigve Brekke told Reuters this week, highlighting the stark problems facing international firms under increased scrutiny over their exposure in Myanmar, where hundreds have been killed in protests against the Feb. 1 coup.

While Telenor plans to stay for now, the future is uncertain, Brekke said in a video interview.

Although Telenor had won praise for supporting what at the time was a fledgling democracy, activist groups have long voiced concerns about business ties to the military, which have intensified since the army retook control of the country.

Chris Sidoti, a United Nations expert on Myanmar, said Telenor should avoid payments such as taxes or licence fees that could fund the military directly or indirectly, and that if it cannot be independently determined that Telenor is "doing more good than harm" in Myanmar, then it should withdraw.

However, Espen Barth Eide, who was Norway's foreign minister at the time Telenor gained a licence in Myanmar in 2013, told Reuters that Telenor should stay and use its position as a well-established foreign firm to be a vocal critic of the military.

A spokeswoman for Norway's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Fisheries, which represents the Norwegian government as a shareholder, said on Thursday that "under the current circumstances Telenor faces several dilemmas in Myanmar".

"From a corporate governance perspective the investment in Myanmar is a responsibility of the company's Board and Management. Within this framework the Ministry as a shareholder keep a good dialogue with Telenor regarding the situation," the spokeswoman added in an emailed response to Reuters.

The Myanmar junta, which has said it seized power because its repeated complaints of fraud in last year's election were ignored by the election commission, has blamed protesters and the former ruling party for instigating violence.

And it said on March 23 that it had no plans to lift network restrictions. It has not commented on the curbs since and did not answer Reuters calls on Thursday.

NEW MARKET

Telenor is no stranger to operating under military rule in both Pakistan and Thailand, where it challenged the Thai junta over what it said was an order to block social media access.

At around the same time, Telenor was signing up its first customers in Myanmar.

Its then-CEO, Jon Fredrik Baksaas, told Reuters that Telenor had thought "a lot" about the risk that Myanmar's experiment with democracy might not last.

"But we argued at that time that, when we get in a western company that delivers telecommunication in a country, we stand also with some responsibility, and a bit of a guarantee that things are done correctly," Baksaas said.

Its position had support internationally at the time after Barack Obama became the first U.S. President to visit Myanmar in 2012, the year after a military junta was officially dissolved and a quasi-civilian government installed.

For its part, the Norwegian government, which owns a majority of Telenor, had long supported democracy in Myanmar, hosting radio and TV stations reporting on it under military rule.

And in 1991, the Norwegian Nobel Committee gave the Nobel Peace Prize to Aung San Suu Kyi, who spent 15 years under house arrest in Myanmar before leading a civilian government which retained power in last year's election.

Suu Kyi was detained after the coup and charged with offences that her lawyers say are trumped up.

While Norway was supportive of Telenor's Myanmar venture, the government also warned of the risks, Barth Eide, Norway's foreign minister at the time, said.

"We told them that it's a complicated country which had a harsh military dictatorship. Telenor was very much aware of it ... It's not like they were novices," he added.

Telenor was one of two foreign operators granted licences in 2013, alongside Qatar's Ooredoo. The other operators in Myanmar are state-backed MPT and Mytel, which is part-owned by a military-linked company.

About 95% of Telenor's 187 million customers worldwide are in Asia and it has around 18 million customers in Myanmar, serving a third of its 54 million population.

(Graphic: Telenor subscribers worldwide, https://graphics.reuters.com/MYANMAR-POLITICS/TELENOR/qzjvqbqyrpx/chart.png)

(Graphic: Telenor's earnings in Myanmar, https://graphics.reuters.com/MYANMAR-POLITICS/TELENOR/xegpbdndqpq/chart.png)

'NO DIRECT LINKS'

For Telenor, doing business in Myanmar had its challenges, including trying to avoid commercial ties to the military.

Former CEO Baksaas said for the first couple of weeks after it began operations in Myanmar, staff had to sit on the office floor because Telenor refused to pay bribes to customs officials for furniture which it had imported.

He also said they had to navigate corruption risks when acquiring land to build mobile towers.

Then there was dealing with the military, whose economic interests range from land to firms involved in mining and banking. The military has faced allegations of human rights abuses including persecuting minorities and violently suppressing protests going back decades. It has repeatedly denied such allegations.

Activist group Justice for Myanmar said in a 2020 report that Telenor had shown "an alarming failure" in its human rights due diligence over a deal struck in 2015 to build mobile towers that involved a military contractor.

Another report by the United Nations in 2019 said Telenor was renting offices in a building built on military-owned land.

The report said firms in Myanmar should end all ties with the military due to human rights abuses.

A Telenor spokesperson said in an email on April 9 responding to Reuters questions that it had addressed the matter of the 2015 deal, without elaborating, and that its choice of office was "the only viable option" given factors like safety.

"Telenor Myanmar has been focused on having minimal exposure to the military and have no direct links to military-controlled entities," the spokesperson said.

Since the coup, Telenor has cut ties with three suppliers after finding links to the military, the spokesperson added.

BALANCING ACT

On the day of the coup, the military ordered Telenor and other operators to shut down networks. Telenor criticised the move but complied. Services were allowed to resume but there have been intermittent requests to close since, and the mobile internet has been shut since March 15.

Ooredoo has also said it "regretfully complied" with directives to restrict mobile and wireless broadband in Myanmar, which hit its first quarter earnings. It declined further comment on the outlook for its Myanmar business.

Like other operators, Telenor paid license fees to the now military-controlled government in March, which critics argue may help it finance repression of public protest.

Telenor said in the emailed response to Reuters that it made the payment "under strong protest against recent developments".

One of its major shareholders, Norway's KLP, said it had been in a dialogue with Telenor after the coup to ensure it was identifying the human rights risks.

"It is a challenging situation because Telenor cannot choose what it can and can't do. They get their directives from the authorities," said Kiran Aziz, senior analyst for responsible investments at KLP. "It is difficult to assess how positive Telenor's contribution can be in this context."

Weighing up human rights is just one of the dilemmas Telenor now faces, said CEO Brekke, alongside safely serving its customers and maintaining network access for them.

"We work on that balance every single day," he said.

And although that balance, for now, is tilted to Telenor staying in the country, it is not a given.

"We make a difference like we have done since we arrived. But with the situation being this unpredictable, it is impossible in many ways to speculate about the future and how this will develop," Brekke added.

(Additional reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis in Oslo, Poppy McPherson in Bangkok and Saeed Azhar in Dubai; Editing by Alexander Smith)

In Colombia, death toll following protests mounts as unrest continues
Carmen Sesin 

Colombia entered its eighth day of national anti-government protests, with police firing tear gas at crowds in the capital, Bogotá, after they attacked a police station.

 

© Provided by NBC News

There have been 24 confirmed deaths so far, about half of which have been linked to police violence; some independent groups say the death toll is as high as 37. Colombia's Defensoría del Pueblo, its public ombudsman, has said 89 people were missing following the protests. International organizations, like the European Union and the U.N. human rights office, warned about the use of excessive force.

The demonstrations were ignited by a plan for tax reform that has since been canceled. But the protests continued, morphing into calls on the government to address growing poverty, inequality and police violence.

The tax increase that President Iván Duque insisted is necessary to fix the country’s economy has been scrapped, and Duque said he would seek a new one. The Andean country’s economy fell by almost 7 percent last year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Colombia anti-government protest death toll rises as unrest continues

The pandemic-related lockdowns have aggravated Colombia’s inequality, with 42.5 percent of the country’s population now living in poverty.

Duque has said his government will create “spaces” for civil society groups, political parties and the private sector to meet with government representatives. Some groups say he failed to deliver on similar promises during protests in 2019.

BS
In a video Wednesday, Duque repeated claims by other government officials that criminal organizations were hiding among the protesters. “The extreme vandalism and the urban terrorism that we are observing is financed and articulated by narco-trafficking mafias,” he said.

Colombia is a close ally of the U.S., making the situation a delicate balance for the Biden administration to address.

© Sebastian Benavides Protesters gather around a statue of Simon Bolivar in Bogota on Wednesday. (Sebastian Benavides / NBC / Telemundo)

Juan S. Gonzalez, who heads the National Security Council’s Western Hemisphere Affairs Bureau, struck a diplomatic tone in a tweet Wednesday.

Gonzalez, who was born in Colombia, said that “the right to peaceful protest is a fundamental freedom," adding: "Needless destruction is not. Violence that endangers lives is not. And proper observance of use of force standards is NOT negotiable.”

THEY LIE
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., took a swipe at Colombia’s leftists, echoing the Colombian government's claims, as the affinity between Colombia’s right wing and some in the U.S. Republican Party appears to strengthen.

In a tweet Thursday, retweeted by former Colombian President Álvaro Uribe and conservative Colombian Sen. María Fernanda Cabal, Rubio wrote, “Behind much of the violence occurring in #Colombia this week is an orchestrated effort to destabilize a democratically elected government by left wing narco guerrilla movements & their international marxist allies.”

The country is intensely polarized as its presidential elections approach next May. Socialist candidate Gustavo Petro, a former guerrilla, is leading in recent polls.

On Tuesday, the U.S. State Department said in a statement about the situation in Colombia that “all over the world, citizens in democratic countries have the unquestionable right to protest peacefully."

"Violence and vandalism is an abuse of that right,” it said.

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#FREEPALESTINE      #BDS

Beefed-up Israel police clash with Palestinians in Jerusalem

JERUSALEM — Israeli police on Saturday clashed with Palestinian protesters outside Jerusalem's Old City during the holiest night of Ramadan in a show of force that threatened to deepen the holy city's worst religious unrest in several years. Earlier, police blocked busloads of pilgrims headed to Jerusalem for prayer at Islam's third holiest site.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Police defended their actions as security moves, but these were seen as provocations by Muslims who accuse Israel of threatening their freedom of worship. Competing claims to east Jerusalem, home to major shrines of Judaism, Islam and Christianity, lie at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and have triggered serious violence in the past.

The unrest came a day after violence in which Palestinian medics said more than 200 Palestinians were wounded in clashes at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound and elsewhere in Jerusalem. Friday's violence drew condemnations from Israel’s Arab allies and calls for calm from the United States and Europe and the United Nations. The Arab League scheduled an emergency meeting on Monday.

Early Sunday, the Israeli military said Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired a rocket at the country's south that fell in an open area. In response, aircraft struck a military post for Hamas, the militant group ruling the territory. There were no reports of casualties in either attack.

Police chief Koby Shabtai said he had deployed more police in Jerusalem following Friday night's clashes, which left 18 police officers wounded. After weeks of nightly violence, Israelis and Palestinians were bracing for more conflict in the coming days.

“The right to demonstrate will be respected but public disturbances will be met with force and zero tolerance. I call on everyone to act responsibly and with restraint,” Shabtai said.

Saturday night was “Laylat al-Qadr” or the “Night of Destiny,” the most sacred in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Islamic authorities estimated 90,000 people gathered for nighttime prayers at Al-Aqsa, the third-holiest site in Islam.

A large crowd of protesters chanted “God is great” outside the Old City's Damascus Gate, and some pelted police with rocks and water bottles. Police patrols fired stun grenades as they moved through the area, and a police truck periodically fired a water cannon.

Palestinian medics said 64 Palestinians were wounded, mostly by rubber bullets, stun grenades or beatings, among them a woman whose face was bloodied. Eleven people were hospitalized, medics said.

One man with a small boy yelled at the police as they marched by. “You should be ashamed!" he said.

Earlier, police reported clashes in the Old City, near Al-Aqsa, and in the nearby east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah, where dozens of Palestinians are fighting attempts by Israeli settlers to evict them from their homes. Police reported several arrests, and said one officer was struck in the face with a rock.

Earlier Saturday, police stopped a convoy of buses that were filled with Arab citizens on the main highway heading to Jerusalem for Ramadan prayers. Israel’s public broadcaster Kan said police stopped the buses for a security check.

Muslims fast from dawn to dusk during Ramadan, and travellers, upset that they were stopped without explanation on a hot day, exited the buses and blocked the highway in protest. Kan showed footage of the protesters praying, chanting slogans and marching along the highway toward Jerusalem. The road was reopened several hours later.

Video: Israeli police, Palestinians clash at Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque (cbc.ca)


Ibtasam Maraana, an Arab member of parliament, accused police of a “terrible attack” on freedom of religion. “Police: Remember that they are citizens, not enemies,” she wrote on Twitter.

The current wave of protests broke out at the beginning of Ramadan three weeks ago when Israel restricted gatherings at a popular meeting spot outside Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel removed the restrictions, briefly calming the situation, but protests have reignited in recent days over the threatened evictions in east Jerusalem, which is claimed by both sides in their decades-old conflict.

Other recent developments, including the postponement of Palestinian elections, deadly violence in which a Palestinian teenager, two Palestinian gunmen and a young Israeli man were killed in separate incidents in the West Bank, and the election to Israel’s parliament of a far-right Jewish nationalist party, also have contributed to the tense atmosphere. One right-wing lawmaker, Itamar Ben-Gvir, briefly set up an outdoor “office” in the heart of a Palestinian neighbourhood last week, infuriating residents.

On Sunday evening, Jewish Israelis begin marking “Jerusalem Day,” a national holiday in which Israel celebrates its annexation of east Jerusalem and religious nationalists hold parades and other celebrations in the city. On Monday, an Israeli court is expected to issue a verdict on the planned evictions in Sheikh Jarrah.

Israel captured east Jerusalem, along with the West Bank and Gaza — territories the Palestinians want for their future state — in the 1967 Mideast war.

Israel annexed east Jerusalem in a move not recognized internationally, and views the entire city as its capital. The Palestinians view east Jerusalem — which includes major holy sites for Jews, Christians and Muslims — as their capital, and its fate is one of the most sensitive issues in the conflict.

The Al-Aqsa mosque compound is the third holiest site in Islam. It is also the holiest site for Jews, who refer to it as the Temple Mount because it was the location of the biblical temples. It has long been a flashpoint in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

In recent days, protests have grown over Israel's threatened eviction in Sheikh Jarrah of dozens of Palestinians embroiled in a long legal battle with Israeli settlers trying to acquire property in the neighbourhood.

The United States said it was “deeply concerned” about both the violence and the threatened evictions. The so-called Quartet of Mideast peace makers, which includes the U.S., European Union, Russia and United Nations, also expressed concern.

Egypt and Jordan, which made peace with Israel decades ago, condemned Israel's actions, as did the Gulf countries of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, two of the four Arab countries that signed U.S.-brokered normalization agreements with Israel last year. The UAE expressed “strong condemnation” of Israel's storming of Al-Aqsa.

In a call to Palestine TV late Friday, President Mahmoud Abbas praised the “courageous stand” of the protesters and said Israel bore full responsibility for the violence. Abbas last week postponed planned parliamentary elections, citing Israeli restrictions in east Jerusalem for the delay.

Israel's Foreign Ministry had earlier accused the Palestinians of seizing on the threatened evictions, which it described as a “real-estate dispute between private parties,” in order to incite violence.

Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip and opposes Israel's existence, has called for a new intifada, or uprising.

Late Saturday, several dozen protesters gathered along Gaza's volatile frontier with Israel, burning tires and throwing small explosives. Israeli forces fired tear gas at the crowd. No injuries were immediately reported.

In an interview with a Hamas-run TV station, the group's top leader Ismail Haniyeh warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to “play with fire” in Jerusalem.

“Neither you, nor your army and police, can win this battle,” he said.

___

Akram reported from Gaza City, Gaza Strip.

Josef Federman And Fares Akram, The Associated Press

Blaze rips through London tower with same cladding as Grenfell

AFP

Medics treated 44 people on Friday after a fire tore through a London tower block covered in the same cladding blamed for the 2017 Grenfell Tower tragedy that killed 72.

© Tolga Akmen Firefighters brought the blaze in east London under control

London Fire Brigade said the blaze in Poplar, east London, was under control but two men were taken to hospital with smoke inhalation and a further 38 adults and four children treated at the scene.

Twenty fire engines tackled the fire at the 19-storey block of flats near the Canary Wharf financial district, with reports that parts of the eighth, ninth and 10th floors were alight.

The blaze evoked memories of the 2017 tragedy, when Grenfell Tower in west London was completely gutted after the cladding on the outside of the building caught fire.

Around 20 percent of the facade of the tower block in Friday's fire features aluminium composite material polyethylene cladding panels, which were found to be a key factor in the Grenfell fire.




Survivors and relatives of those who died at Grenfell said Friday that "enough is enough".

"The government promised to remove dangerous cladding by June 2020 -- it has completely failed its own target and every day that goes by lives are at risk," support group Grenfell United said in a statement.

"Today more people have lost their homes in another terrifying fire."

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said it was "vital that government, developers, building owners and regional authorities work together to urgently remove the cladding from every affected building."

Work to replace the cladding was already "under way", according to building developer Ballymore.

jwp/phz/bp

NO SURPRISE HE IS A WHITE SUPREMACIST

Maxime Bernier uttered racist slur about Jagmeet Singh, according to statement filed in court

Elizabeth Thompson 

CBC 7/5/2021

© Adrian Wyld / Canadian Press People's Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier is suing political strategist Warren Kinsella for defamation.

People's Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier once discounted NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh's chances of winning a seat in the House of Commons by saying he'd "never get elected with that rag on his head," according to an affidavit filed recently in an Ottawa court case.

In a separate affidavit, however, Bernier says that he's not a racist and that the affidavit is the only eyewitness account of him "supposedly saying something racist" filed by the lawyer for political strategist Warren Kinsella.

Bernier said Kinsella was hired to paint him and the People's Party of Canada as racist to draw support away from his fledgling party during the last election.

The allegations and counter-allegations are part of hundreds of pages of affidavits and exhibits filed recently in Ontario Superior Court in an acrimonious defamation suit that pits Bernier against Kinsella.

In October 2019, it was reported that Kinsella's Daisy Group had been hired in the months prior to the 2019 federal election to mount Project Cactus, a campaign to draw attention to xenophobic or racist comments made by People's Party of Canada (PPC) candidates or their supporters.

At the time, a source said that Daisy Group had been hired by the Conservative Party of Canada. In a recent affidavit, however, Kinsella said the client was a lawyer who was a member of the Conservative Party — not the party itself.

In February 2020, Bernier sued Kinsella and Daisy Group for defamation, alleging that the campaign damaged his reputation.

In an affidavit filed by Kinsella's lawyer dated April 15, former Conservative communications adviser Matthew Conway describes what he said was an incident involving Bernier in February 2018, when Bernier was still a Conservative Party critic.

Conway said he was standing with Bernier in the House of Commons' foyer, waiting for him to go on television to comment on the budget, when Singh walked by.

 Ben Nelms/CBC NDP leader Jagmeet Singh celebrates after his election victory in Burnaby South on Oct. 21, 2019.

"When Mr. Singh entered the foyer, Mr. Bernier said, referring to Mr. Singh, 'Il ne se fera jamais élire avec ce torchon sur sa tête,'" wrote Conway. He translated the phrase into English as, "He'll never get elected with that rag on his head."

The affidavit claims that, a few minutes later, Bernier asked what Singh was "doing with that knife," referring to Singh's kirpan — the sacred ceremonial dagger that observant Sikhs are supposed to wear at all times.

"Both of these comments made me nervous," Conway wrote in his affidavit. "Not only did I consider them to be offensive and racist, but I was concerned, in my role as a communications adviser, that members of the press who were nearby may have overheard the comments

In an affidavit dated May 3, Bernier calls into question Conway's account.

"This is the only eyewitness account of me supposedly saying something racist ever offered by Mr. Kinsella, and it comes from someone connected to the party that paid Kinsella for 'Project Cactus' and stands to benefit if Mr. Kinsella is vindicated," Bernier wrote. "It is the only eyewitness claim of me making a racist statement that Kinsella has included in his motion material."

The statements made by both sides in the dispute have not yet been tested in a court of law.

While Bernier went on to lose his seat in the Quebec riding of Beauce in the 2019 election, Singh won the British Columbia riding of Burnaby South.

Bernier's lawyer Andre Marin declined to comment when reached by CBC News.

The documents filed recently in court are the latest twist in a tale that began in October 2019 when a source told media outlets about Project Cactus.

At the time, a source told CBC News that the campaign was funded by the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) — something that then-Conservative leader Andrew Scheer refused to confirm or deny.

In his affidavit dated April 15, however, Kinsella said that "Daisy was not hired by the CPC."

"Rather, for a six-week period ending June 29, 2019, a lawyer who was a member of the CPC paid Daisy to supplement work Daisy was already doing about the PPC," Kinsella wrote. "Daisy did not take direction from the lawyer or submit any work for his review or comment."

By wrapping up the work by June 29 — the date after which pre-election spending would have to be declared — the money spent to hire Daisy Group did not have to be reported to Elections Canada.

© CBC/Lisa Xing Political strategist Warren Kinsella is asking the Ontario Superior Court of Justice to throw out a defamation suit launched by People's Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier.

In a recording of a Daisy Group meeting — which was leaked to CBC News in November 2019 by a source who attended the meeting and asked not to be named — Kinsella said "Hamish and Walsh" would start to ask what Daisy Group was delivering if they don't start "spilling some blood."

Hamish Marshall, who was the Conservatives' 2019 federal election campaign manager, has a background in marketing. John Walsh, a former president of the Conservative Party who was co-chair of the 2019 election campaign, is a lawyer.

At the time, Walsh refused to comment on Daisy Group's work on Project Cactus. Walsh did not return a phone call from CBC News this week.

Bernier's defamation suit is seeking $325,000 in damages. In his affidavit, he encourages the court to "curb dirty political tricks."

"My reputation suffered serious harm," Bernier wrote, adding he needed a chance to clear his name in court so that voters will know he has "been a target of paid defamation and dirty tricks."

Kinsella has applied to have Bernier's defamation lawsuit thrown out, arguing it is a "strategic lawsuit against public participation" (SLAPP) suit. SLAPP suits are those used to intimidate or silence critics.

The motion to dismiss the case is scheduled to be heard by the court in June.

Elizabeth Thompson can be reached at elizabeth.thompson@cbc.ca.

Jagmeet Singh Responds To A Former MP Allegedly Calling His Turban A 'Rag'

Lisa Belmonte 

It has been alleged that Jagmeet Singh's turban was called a "rag" by a former MP, and the NDP leader responded.

© Provided by Narcity

He posted a series of tweets in response to that allegation and said he's "no stranger to hate" but this isn't about him, "it's about systemic racism in the halls of power and having the courage to confront it."

Singh noted that the situation runs deeper than allegations of racial slurs, and that the problem isn't that someone called his turban a rag.

"It's about how we treat one another," he said. He continued by saying that, for this reason, he will "never back down" or stop fighting.

In 2019, Singh was told that he should cut off his turban to "look more like a Canadian." He responded by saying, "I think Canadians look like all sorts of people. That's the beauty of Canada."

THE NEW COLD WAR/RED SCARE 2.0

China-based chain says rows of surveillance cameras in Canadian restaurants for security, not spying

Tom Blackwell 

The photos posted online show rows of surveillance cameras, their apparent focus the dining area of Canadian restaurants owned by a popular China-based chain.

© Provided by National Post Surveillance cameras — about one per table — can be seen on the ceiling of a Haidilao Hot Pot restaurant in Markham, Ont.

The company, Haidilao International Holding, says its video equipment is there to ensure everyone’s safety and security — not, as a recent report suggested, to track staff and customers on behalf of authorities in Beijing.

But the cameras, installed by a business whose home government employs surveillance pervasively, are sparking concern among Canadian critics of the People’s Republic, and interest from the federal privacy commissioner.

Haidilao may intend to use the equipment just for security purposes, said Ivy Li of Canadian Friends of Hong Kong. But Chinese law requires its companies to co-operate with security services if requested — and makes all firms subject to the controversial “social-credit” monitoring system, she noted.

“The possibility that someone (in China) could take that data and use it, that is a concern,” said Li. “We have (Chinese) businesses here that operate directly subject to the corporate credit-score system. They become, whether wittingly or unwittingly, part of the Chinese security system.”

In fact, a 2018 Canadian Security Intelligence Service report on an academic workshop warned that under the social-credit system “data can be collected on companies and individuals abroad, posing a challenge for countries not wishing to be part of a Chinese system of social control.”

The federal privacy commissioner’s office has not looked into the matter, but will “follow up” with Haidilao, said spokesman Vito Pilieci this week after being contacted by the National Post.

Meanwhile, Haidilao, which has four outlets in the Toronto and Vancouver areas, strongly refuted the article by a Canadian journalist and a military-intelligence veteran alleging video from the cameras was being sent back to China as part of the social-credit program.

“There is no audio recording and no facial recognition function,” said Haidilao spokesman Yang Xibei. “The recorded video is stored on-site only and does not get transmitted or backed up to anywhere outside Canada. Haidilao Canada has no connection with China’s social credit program.”

The article, which quoted a manager of the Vancouver location as saying the two cameras per table were there to “people track” and “punish” errant employees, was defamatory, the firm charged. Haidilao abides by all applicable laws here, Yang said.

But freelance journalist Ina Mitchell and the recent article’s co-author, Scott McGregor , a former military intelligence officer and intelligence advisor to the RCMP, said they stand by their story. It was based on a formal, recorded interview with the restaurant manager, a follow-up call and “other testimony,” said Mitchell.

For security reasons, Yang said he could not comment on the quantity or location of the video gear. But photos on a website for the Markham, Ont., restaurant — some of which have now been removed — show what appear to be at least 25 cameras in the ceilings, about one per table below.

Even if they are just meant to prevent theft and other crimes as the company maintains, that seems like “overkill,” said Cheuk Kwan, spokesman for the Toronto Association for Democracy in China.

“This is beyond having CCTV going in and going out of a restaurant,” he said. “This is people maybe holding hands under the table, or whatever they’re doing, and not wanting other people to find out.”

Citing the rise in anti-Asian hate incidents recently, Kwan stressed that the issue concerns a China-based chain, not restaurants run by Chinese Canadians.

B.C.’s information and privacy commissioner can’t comment on specific situations in case they become the subject of a complaint, said spokesman Noel Bovin. But the province’s Personal Information Protection Act requires businesses to obtain consent before collecting, using or disclosing personal information, he noted.

Overt video surveillance should only be used as a last resort after trying less intrusive options, says a commission document .

“Organizations need to consider whether video surveillance will achieve the intended purpose and whether the concerns are serious enough to warrant implementing this highly invasive technology.”

With headquarters in Beijing, Haidilao International Holding Ltd. owns 935 restaurants from Australia to the U.S., cheerful places where diners cook meat and vegetables in pots of bubbling broth

© Peter J. Thompson/National Post “The recorded video is stored on-site only and does not get transmitted or backed up to anywhere outside Canada,” a spokesman for Haidilao says.

But it was born in a country where the government uses technology to monitor people on a massive scale. China employs an estimated 200 to 600 million closed-circuit cameras, producing eight of the 10 most surveillance-heavy cities in the world, according to the consumer research site Comparitech .

The omnipresent video is coupled with widespread use of facial recognition software. The People’s Daily tweeted in 2018 that the government’s “Skynet” facial-recognition system could scan China’s 1.4 billion people in a second.

Then there is the social-credit system Beijing is building, where citizens are given ratings based on their “trustworthiness,” with privileges like access to train tickets denied for those with too many demerits. Video and facial-recognition is expected to play a part, while private companies like Haidilao are already subject to a more advanced, parallel social credit system for corporations.

The Canadian writers’ article in the Indian newspaper Sunday Guardian quoted a manager of Haidilao’s Vancouver restaurant as saying its cameras were part of social credit, used against staff who didn’t follow corporate standards and to people track.

The company’s B.C. operation did not respond to a phone message from the Post.

From corporate headquarters, Yang said the story was false and the employee misquoted. The company has hired lawyers to look into the matter, he said. The video equipment is to protect staff and customers from robbery, theft and vandalism, said Yang.

“Closed circuit camera systems are standard in almost every business directly serving the public, and there are video surveillance signs posted throughout the restaurant.”

(Modified May 7 10:14 a.m. to clarify nature of CSIS report.)

• Email: tblackwell@postmedia.com | Twitter: tomblackwellNP

ABOUT TIME
Alberta gets court injunction against planned anti-COVID-19 health order protests

EDMONTON — The Alberta government says it has taken legal action to stop any planned protests of COVID-19 public health orders, including one at a central Alberta cafe that was closed for not following the rules.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

On Wednesday, Alberta Health Services closed the Whistle Stop Cafe in the hamlet of Mirror until its owner can demonstrate the ability to comply with health restrictions.

The agency says it had received more than 400 complaints against the business since January.

Alberta Health Services says it has been granted a pre-emptive court injunction against a planned protest by the cafe owner and supporters.

It says it also has received a court order against all other organizers of advertised illegal gatherings and rallies breaching COVID-19 public health orders.

There is an ad promoting a rally this weekend at the cafe in Mirror called "The Save Alberta Campout Protest."

The ad says the event is a response to "harmful restrictions" imposed by Premier Jason Kenney, Health Minister Tyler Shandro, Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta's chief medical officer of health, and "the United Conservative Party caucus' ongoing attack on the rights and freedoms of the people of Alberta."

Video: Alberta promises more enforcement of public health rules (cbc.ca)

Alberta Health Services says the court order restrains the cafe owner and others from organizing, promoting and attending the event.

"AHS has taken this step due to the ongoing risk to Albertans created by those breaching COVID-19 public health restrictions and advertising social gatherings which, if held, breach current and active CMOH Orders and pose a risk to public health," the agency said in a release Thursday.

"AHS strongly condemns the intentional disobeying of COVID-19 public health restrictions,"

The agency says with COVID-19 cases increasing in the province, including the more easily transmitted and potentially more severe variants, there is urgent need to minimize spread to protect all Albertans.

Last weekend, hundreds of people gathered near Bowden, also in central Alberta, for a pre-advertised maskless "No More Lockdowns'' protest rodeo.

Days later, the premier announced stronger restrictions and doubled fines for scofflaws

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 6, 2021

The Canadian Press

Long-time Edmonton politician Amarjeet Sohi hasn’t decided if he will run for mayor in the upcoming election, contrary to a news report Thursday.

© Provided by Edmonton Journal Former member of Parliament and Edmonton city councillor Amarjeet Sohi said is considering running for mayor in the upcoming Edmonton municipal election, but hasn't made a final decision.

Sohi, a former member of Parliament and city councillor, told Postmedia Thursday afternoon he was surprised to see an article by The Hill Times citing anonymous sources that he would be officially entering the race to be Edmonton’s mayor race this month.

Instead, Sohi said he is “seriously considering” a run for mayor but hasn’t made a decision. He said he is continuing to engage with residents on what they would like to see in a leader and has no timeline for an announcement either way.

“I’ve lived in Edmonton for 40 years and I love our city and we have faced a number of difficult challenges over the last few years, particularly over the last 14 months living through a pandemic and we’re still living through that. But I also believe that coming out of this pandemic we will continue to face significant challenges as well as opportunities, so that is why I’m seriously considering to run to be Edmonton’s next mayor,” Sohi said. “It’s a huge, huge responsibility and I want to continue to engage with more Edmontonians over the next while to understand their priorities and what their ambitions are about our city. But I am deeply committed to our city and I want to play my part in providing that leadership.”

Sohi was elected as Ward 12 city councillor for three terms starting in 2007 before resigning in 2015 to run federally. He then served as the Liberal member of Parliament for Edmonton Mill Woods and took on the roles of minister of natural resources and minister of infrastructure and communities before losing his seat in the 2019 election.

If Sohi does enter the mayor’s race, he will join three other candidates who have served on Edmonton city council. Mayor Don Iveson announced last November he would not be running for a third time leaving an open race for the mayor’s chair. Current Ward 11 Coun. Mike Nickel is running for mayor for the third time ADVERTISING IN THE FAR RIGHT RAG WESTERN STADARD and former councillors Kim Krushell and Michael Oshry have confirmed their candidacy.

Cheryll Watson, Diana Steele, Brian Gregg, Rick Comrie, Abdul Malik Chukwudi and Augustine Marah have also registered, bringing the number of confirmed candidates to nine.

Aspiring candidates for both mayor and the 12 councillor seats have until Sept. 30 to officially register. Edmontonians will go to the polls on Oct. 18.

duscook@postmedia.com

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USA DUMPING

Millions of Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses made at a Baltimore plant are reportedly being held across Europe, Africa, and Canada as a precaution

acooban@businessinsider.com (Anna Cooban)  

© Photo by Tasos Katopodis / Getty Images Emergent BioSolutions disposed of 15 million doses of J&J vaccine in March Photo by Tasos Katopodis / Getty Images

Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses are on hold in Europe, Africa, and Canada, the New York Times reported.

The doses were produced in a Baltimore plant around the time some batches were contaminated.

Emergent BioSolutions had to discard 15 million J&J doses in March after the incident.

Millions of doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine are sitting unused across three continents as national regulators assess their safety, The New York Times has reported.


Health officials across Europe, Africa and in Canada are reviewing batches of the J&J vaccine manufactured at a Baltimore plant after some were found in March to be contaminated by portions of a harmless version of the virus that is used to make the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is also manufactured at the plant.

Emergent BioSolutions, the biopharma company running the facility, had to dispose of up to 15 million doses after the incident.

An estimated six to nine million doses are on hold worldwide because they were manufactured during the time of the original contamination in February, according to the NYT.

Regulators in the EU, Canada and South Africa have said there was no evidence to show the doses they received were contaminated, but they required further testing. Some doses from a batch produced at the site are being used in Europe.

The Food and Drug Administration has not approved doses produced at Emergent's plant for use in the US, and did not say whether it had helped ship doses to other countries when asked by the NYT.

"In general, individual importing countries determine if a product meets that country's standards for importation," an FDA spokeswoman said in a statement to the NYT.

The pause threatens to slow down the vaccination programs of countries relying on the J&J vaccine, such as South Africa, which stopped using AstraZeneca's vaccine in February after a study suggested it offered "minimal protection" against a COVID-19 variant spreading through the country.

South Africa has one of the lowest vaccination rates of any country, while Europe and Canada also use vaccines by AstraZeneca, Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech to make up for a shortfall of J&J shots.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Researchers work to authenticate Titanic passenger’s message in a bottle

Duration: 01:49 


A message in a bottle found on a beach at the Bay of Fundy in 2017 could actually be a letter written by a 13-year-old girl who was on the Titanic. Experts are studying it to confirm, but they believe it's possible the letter is authentic.