By dancing, Rodrygo and Vinícius make stance against racism

By TALES AZZONI

 Real Madrid's Rodrygo, left, celebrates after scoring with his teammate Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior the opening goal during the Spanish La Liga soccer match between Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid at the Wanda Metropolitano stadium in Madrid, Spain, Sept. 18, 2022. With a goal and a dance, Real Madrid's young Brazilian forwards made a strong statement against racism in soccer this weekend. With their samba-like moves after a goal in the derby against Atletico on Sunday, Rodrygo and Vinícius Junior made it clear they are not backing down.

 (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)


MADRID (AP) — With a goal and a dance, Real Madrid’s young Brazilian forwards made a statement against racism in soccer this weekend.

With their samba-like moves after a goal in the derby against Atlético Madrid on Sunday, Rodrygo and Vinícius Júnior made it clear they are not backing down from the racist language from their critics or by the racist chants from the opposing fans.

“Dance wherever you want,” Vinícius wrote on Twitter in a message directed at Rodrygo after Madrid’s 2-1 win at Atlético in the Spanish league.

“White and BLACK dance,” Rodrygo posted not long afterward, along with the photo of the young Brazilians celebrating together.

Rodrygo had just scored Madrid’s first goal in a derby whose buildup had been surrounded by controversy over Vinícius’ recent goal celebrations.

Vinícius, who is Black, was upset when a guest on a television sports talk show used racist language to criticize his dances. The 22-year-old Brazilian, who is set to make it to his first World Cup in November, said his actions on the field were “being criminalized,” and that his success as a Black Brazilian man in Europe was “annoying” to some.

The controversy continued just before Sunday’s match as online videos showed some Atlético fans outside the Metropolitano Stadium chanting “Vinícius is a monkey.”

“This (derby) was even more special because of everything that happened during the week, and we answered on the field,” Rodrygo said.

Some Atlético fans threw objects toward Rodrygo and Vinícius as they celebrated the goal near one of the corner flags.

The talk show where Vinícius was criticized for “acting like a monkey” had apologized by saying the expression was “unfortunate” but not racist, because it said those words are normally used in Spain to talk about someone doing “silly” things.

Madrid had issued a statement supporting Vinícius and condemning racism, and coach Carlo Ancelotti also defended Vinícius, although he also contradicted the Brazilian by saying he didn’t think there was that type of racism in Spain.

It wasn’t the first time Vinícius was subjected to racist taunts, though. It happened last year during a “clásico” against Barcelona at the Camp Nou.

There were also cases against other players, including Athletic Bilbao’s Iñaki Williams.

Among those who came out to publicly support Vinícius was Pelé and current Brazil forward Neymar, who told Vinícius to “keep dancing.”

The duo’s celebration on Sunday was widely shared online and was praised by many in Brazil and Latin America. Some players in Europe also showed their appreciation.

There will certainly be more of the same going forward.

“I repeat it to you racist: I will not stop dancing,” Vinícius said. “Whether at the Sambódromo, at the Bernabéu or wherever.”

MADRID’S MOMENTUM

With the win over Atlético, Madrid remained the only perfect team to start the season in the top five European leagues.

“We wanted a start like this before the international break,” Ancelotti said. “It’s an unusual season because of the World Cup and nobody really knows what’s going to happen. Things can change very quickly.”

Madrid is being closely followed by a revamped Barcelona team, which has won five straight after opening with a home draw against Rayo Vallecano.

The only other Spanish team with at least five wins is Real Betis, which defeated Girona 2-1 at home on Sunday.

Betis rival Sevilla — fourth last season behind Atlético, Barcelona and Madrid — is struggling with only one win, while Atlético has three victories from its six matches.

Almería, Valladolid, Cádiz, Espanyol and winless Elche are the teams closest to the bottom of the standings.

Germany to buy Fortum's Uniper stake, inject 8 billion euros

Tue, September 20, 2022 
By Markus Wacket and Tom Käckenhoff

BERLIN/DUESSELDORF, Sept 20 (Reuters) - Germany is set to buy Fortum's stake in Uniper and inject a further 8 billion euros ($8 billion) as part of a nationalisation of the gas importer, Uniper said on Tuesday.

The capital injection, which would come via a capital increase subscribed only by Germany's government, would bring the total package of loans and equity used to stabilise Uniper so far to at least 29 billion euros.

A final agreement has not yet been concluded Uniper said.

Fortum, which owns a 78% stake in Uniper, said that the deal will include the "return of the financing Fortum granted to Uniper" which the Finnish group has put at 8 billion euros.

A firm agreement of the nationalisation of Uniper, which has been hit by soaring gas prices and a cut off in supplies of Russian gas, will be unveiled on Wednesday, sources have said.

Uniper shares were 1.7% higher.

"We need the state as the main shareholder in order to survive the gas crisis and to master the energy transition in the long term," Uniper's works council chief Harald Seegatz told Rheinische Post.

($1 = 1.0019 euros) (Reporting by Markus Wacket and Riham Alkousaa in Berlin, Tom Kaeckenhoff in Duesseldorf and Christoph Steitz in Frankfurt, editing by Rachel More)

#BDS 
Israel Says It Will Fight Booking.com Over Planned Safety Warning On West Bank Listings

By Dan Williams
09/20/22 

Israeli Tourism Minister Yoel Razvozov arrives for a weekly cabinet meeting at the prime minister's office in Jerusalem, March 14, 2022. 

Jack Guez/Pool via REUTERS

Israel said on Tuesday it would fight a plan by online travel agency Booking.com to add a safety warning to listings in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which its tourism minister condemned as a politically-motivated decision.

A senior Palestinian official welcomed the move, provided it applied to Jewish settlements only.

The West Bank, which Israel captured in a 1967 war, is among territories where Palestinians seek statehood. Most nations deem Israel's settlements there illegal. It disputes that, describing the West Bank as a Biblical birthright and defensive bulwark.

A spokesperson for Amsterdam-based Booking.com said on Monday that it planned to "display ... banners and notifications to customers related to relevant local safety considerations" for listings the West Bank, similar to current labels for Ukraine or Cyprus.

Violence in the West Bank has surged in recent months after Israel stepped up raids into the territory following a spate of deadly Palestinian street attacks in Israel.

On Tuesday one man was killed in clashes between Palestinian gunmen and Palestinian Authority security forces in Nablus which broke out after the arrest of two militants.

The Booking.com spokesperson did not provide any indication that the company, whose website describes the West Bank as "Palestinian Territory", was taking a position on the territory's status.

Still, Israeli Tourism Minister Yoel Razvozov said he had written to Booking.com and threatened "diplomatic war" by his government to reverse the decision, which he condemned as "political".

He played down the possibility that the West Bank, parts of which have has seen a surge in Israeli-Palestinian violence in recent months, might be dangerous for foreign visitors.

"Millions of tourists visit Israel, including this area," he told Ynet TV. "In the end of the day, there is no problem."

The Palestinian Tourism Ministry withheld comment, saying it had not been formally informed of the Booking.com decision.

Wasel Abu Youssef, a senior official with the umbrella Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO), voiced conditional approval.

"If there is such a decision, it must focus on the colonial settlements of the Israeli occupation," he told Reuters.

The spokesperson for Booking.com, a subsidiary of U.S. company Bookings Holdings Inc., said the final details and implementation date of the listings warning were still being discussed by the company.

In 2018, Airbnb said it would delist settlement properties, but backed off following protests by Israel and legal challenges in some U.S. states.

INSIGHT-As war, drought hit global crops, Argentina gambles on GM wheat

Tue, September 20, 2022
By Maximilian Heath

PERGAMINO, Argentina, Sept 20 (Reuters) - In fields near Argentine farm town Pergamino, spiky green shoots of wheat stretch in neat rows to the horizon, a crop developers hope will boost yields of the grain thanks to a single gene borrowed from sunflowers helping it better tolerate drought.

Reached along a dusty farm track, the field is one of dozens of sites growing a genetically modified (GM) wheat strain called HB4, developed by local firm Bioceres and state scientists. Argentina, the world's No. 6 wheat exporter, gave commercial planting approval to HB4 in 2020. It was the first GM wheat strain in the world to receive such approval.

Its backers say HB4, also modified to tolerate the herbicide glufosinate-ammonium, could help ward off food shortages at a time when climate change has led to severe droughts in China, North America and Europe, and a war between major growers Russia and Ukraine has snarled food supply chains.

Many environmental and consumer groups have resisted GM wheat, fearing unforeseen side-effects from changes to the genome in a grain used in bread, pasta and other staples. Genetic modifications have long been used in soy and corn, used predominantly for animal feed.

Bioceres is leading the way globally towards commercializing GM wheat, Reuters found from interviews with the firm and importers, documents on U.S. field trials obtained through a freedom of information request and a rare visit to the Argentina test fields.

The firm has gained varying levels of approvals in Brazil, Nigeria, Australia and New Zealand. It is using blockchain and georeferencing to avoid contamination with regular wheat, a risk local farmers fear could prompt import bans.

"There is some ignorance about what transgenic is, it is not a monster," said Raquel Chan, biochemist and researcher at the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET) who led development of the strain, now licensed to Bioceres.

She explained the plant was "almost indistinguishable" from normal wheat, but that it could better tolerate a lack of water due to an extra gene edited in from the sunflower plant.

"It's something that could have happened in nature and has in fact happened in other instances... Normally it takes thousands of years. We just did it faster."

HB4 could improve crop yields 20% versus regular wheat under dry and warm conditions, according to a 2020 academic paper, published in Frontiers in Plant Science and on which Chan was a co-author.

Even with Argentina's approval, Bioceres has yet to start selling the GM wheat for commercial use in the South American country. It is also testing it in neighboring Brazil.

GM WHEAT: STILL TABOO?

In the Bioceres laboratories in Argentina's inland grains port hub of Rosario, on the banks of the Parana river, Reuters saw scientists working on strains of soy, a GM crop long established in the global food supply chain.

GM wheat, however, has long been taboo.

"The main concern is the possibility that GM wheat and non-GM wheat could end up mixing," said Julio Calzada, chief economic analyst at Argentina's Rosario grains exchange.

"This could spark bans in international markets and Argentina needs these $4.5 billion dollars in exports. They're key at such a complicated moment for the country's economy."

No other global seed company has publicly endeavored to develop GM wheat since 2004, when giant seed maker Monsanto, now owned by Bayer AG, dropped plans to develop GM wheat that could withstand its weed killer Roundup. Consuming countries were threatening bans of U.S. wheat, even though the company has long sold corn and soy whose genomes were changed to withstand Roundup, or glyphosate.

In 2020, Bayer agreed to pay billions of dollars to settle lawsuits by people who claimed they were harmed by its weedkiller.

U.S. Department of Agriculture records show agribusiness companies BASF SE, Biogemma USA Corp, and Pioneer Hi-Bred International, owned by Corteva Inc, received permits for GM wheat trials in the United States in recent years.

BASF told Reuters it discontinued the trials in 2019 and is developing wheat through traditional breeding methods. Corteva said it does not intend to commercialize wheat from its trials. Biogemma conducted field trials only for research and development, according to owner Limagrain. Bayer said it is not working with GM wheat.

Bioceres has said it is trying to get commercial approval from the U.S. and Australian governments for planting HB4 wheat in those countries.

In Indonesia, top buyer of Argentina's wheat behind Brazil, the head of the wheat flour mills association Ratna Sari Loppies played down contamination worries, but said millers there would not yet buy Argentina's GM wheat to avoid a "negative" impact on their own exports of consumer wheat products.

Brazil, which hopes to boost its own wheat harvest and exports of the grain, appears to have softened its stance. Rubens Barbosa, president of the Brazilian flour millers association Abitrigo, said he believes Brazil might approve HB4 wheat. In 2020 he had threatened to halt wheat imports from Argentina after its government approved Bioceres' GM wheat. Brazil approved flour made from HB4 wheat in 2021.

"The seeds that will come and be planted in the north of Cerrado will have higher yields," he said in August, referring to the GM strain. "All of these factors justify optimism related to output and Brazil's self-sufficiency in wheat production."

THE 'MESSI' GENE

In the Pergamino test fields, Reuters crossed regular farm gates and fences to access the growing area estimated at some 80 hectares where the GM wheat strain was planted.

Bioceres said it has taken strong steps to avoid cross-contamination, including using blockchain technology in a "preserved identity production system" to ensure traceability of the HB4 strain.

The crop is audited at planting and harvesting. Planters must georeference in a computer system the areas planted with HB4 and any work done in those fields. Growers receive financial incentives to ensure compliance and regular inspections are carried out, Bioceres said. Seeds stored in silo bags are monitored until shipment and paperwork documents the chain of custody of the seeds and grains during transport.

Federico Trucco, Bioceres chief executive, said these steps help win over doubters. A new landmark is the recent approval in Nigeria, the only country to fully approve imports of HB4 wheat grains. He said the firm was pushing in Indonesia and Vietnam, as well as North Africa. In Brazil consumers and millers were warming up to GM wheat, he added.

"Approvals are happening much faster than anticipated," Trucco told Reuters in Rosario, where at a nearby laboratory HB4 wheat was being grown to produce seeds, with tall golden heads of the cereal in a specialized greenhouse.

Trucco said Russia's invasion of Ukraine and severe droughts in Europe and China had shifted the needle on drought-tolerant GM wheat. The United Nations has warned https://www.undrr.org/gar2021-drought that droughts could be the next "pandemic" as global temperatures rise.

Chan, who helped develop HB4, cited Argentine soccer great Lionel Messi to explain how the sunflower gene could help as drought events increased worldwide.

"Wheat has a regulatory protein for response to water stress but it is not as good," she said. "It's like the sunflower lends it a good gene. Imagine yourself as a team of soccer players... if you add in Messi to the mix you will obviously do better."

 (Reporting by Maximilian Heath; Additional reporting by Ana Mano in Sao Paulo, Sarah El Safty in Cairo and Bernadette Christina in Jakarta and Tom Polansek in Chicago; Editing by Adam Jourdan, Caroline Stauffer and David Gregorio)

'We've reached a crisis point': Edmonton Public Schools desperate for new schools amid growing enrolment

Edmonton Public Schools says the time is now for the construction of new schools in the division amid an “unprecedented” growth in student enrolment.


Edmonton Public Schools' Centre For Education.

Kellen Taniguchi -  Edmonton Journal

Around 110,000 students currently attend a school within the division — about a five per cent increase from last year’s student population, said Trisha Estabrooks, Edmonton Public Schools board chairwoman, during the board’s first meeting of the 2022-23 school year.

“This kind of growth is great for Edmonton Public Schools, we’re welcoming new students, families and children into an amazing school division. But, on the other hand, this increase in students really does exacerbate the space crunch,” she said, adding the approval of new schools in the division is the board’s top ask of Education Minister Adriana LaGrange and the provincial government.

The board unanimously voted to approve a recommendation to its three-year capital plan for 2023-2026 on Tuesday which moves a proposed K-9 school in the Edgemont community from priority four to priority two within the division’s aggregated list of properties and new construction list of properties — a list that includes five proposed schools, including a Grade 7-12 school in Glenridding Heights which remains the board’s top priority on both lists.

The recommendation said that students in the Edgemont community are being bused to a number of different schools — elementary and junior high students being transported to three different schools and high school students in the community attending two different schools.

Related video: Communication important in working through back-to-school jitters: Experts

Duration 1:53 View on Watch

The recommendation tabled during Wednesday’s meeting also states students in the Edgemont community have the longest average bus rides this month, with elementary students riding for an average of 20 minutes and junior high students on board for 31 minutes.

Board vice-chairman Nathan Ip said he supports the recommendation, but emphasized all five schools listed as a year one priority urgently need to be built.

“In the not-so-distant future, Edmonton is projected to have a population of two million people. We currently serve a student population larger than the population of Red Deer, we’ve grown by 5,000 students this past year. While we’re talking about moving the priorities up, frankly, the reality is we need all of these schools and we needed all of these schools a long time ago,” Ip said during Tuesday’s board meeting.

“I do think that we’ve reached a crisis point. When you have a community like Edgemont being bused to three different designated schools.”

Following two school years that included online learning at some point, Edmonton schools are back to in-person learning, although, the division is still being cautious about COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses. The division’s superintendent, Darrel Robertson, said five of its schools currently have a respiratory illness outbreak.

ktaniguchi@postmedia.com

twitter.com/kellentaniguchi

Judge certifies $16M class action in deadly E. coli outbreak in Edmonton

Wallis Snowdon - 20/9/22

A judge has certified a $16-million class action alleging that contaminated pork sold by a central Alberta Hutterite colony led to a deadly E.coli outbreak in Edmonton four years ago.

The lawsuit seeks compensation for people who suffered damages as a result of buying or consuming contaminated pork products from The Meat Shop at Pine Haven, a meat-packing and retail operation at the Pine Haven Hutterite colony near Wetaskiwin.

The suit, certified Friday by Court of King's Bench Justice James Neilson, alleges that the shop and its operators — the Pine Haven Hutterite Colony and the Hutterian Brethren Church of Pine Haven — failed to prevent and contain the outbreak.

One person died and 42 others fell ill in the outbreak in the spring of 2018. The cases were linked to pork products contaminated with O157:H7, a potent strain of E.coli.

Among those who fell ill,14 people were hospitalized and five developed hemolytic uremic syndrome — a disease that affects the kidneys and blood-clotting functions.

About half of the cases involved people who had eaten at Mama Nita's, a Filipino restaurant in southeast Edmonton which has since closed. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency traced the pork products to The Meat Shop at Pine Haven.

"The defendants owed a duty of care to the plaintiff and other class members to ensure that its products were safe for consumption and that ingestion of those products would not cause illness or injury," the plaintiffs say in their statement of claim.

They seek compensation for physical injury, mental anguish, medical expenses and lost wages. The suit also seeks refunds on behalf of consumers who bought the recalled meat.

In total, the plaintiffs seek $15 million in damages and another $1 million in special damages.

The suit also seeks a declaration that the recalled pork sold by The Meat Shop was contaminated and that defendants were negligent in its manufacturing, processing and packaging.

None of the allegations have been proven in court.

About 45 people are part of the suit, said Edmonton lawyer Rick Mallett, who represents the plaintiffs. He expects it could take up to two years to reach trial.

Edmontonian Nora Romero, 67, is the representative plaintiff.

A day after dining at Mama Nita's in March 2018, Romero developed severe stomach cramps, fever and gastrointestinal distress. She was hospitalized and diagnosed with E. coli.


She spent two days in hospital, often relying on a morphine drip. It was the most severe stomach illness she's ever had and the most painful experience of her life, she said.

"I don't like to remember because it was very sad and very painful," Romero said. "I felt like I was going to die."



Nora Romero was hospitalized after she suffered an E. coli infection in the spring of 2018. She is the representative plaintiff in the class action lawsuit.© Travis McEwan/CBC

The Meat Shop at Pine Haven denies the allegations. It has filed third-party proceedings against Mama Nita's, alleging the restaurant should be held liable.

An investigation by Alberta Health Services found that 22 of the lab-confirmed cases were linked to the restaurant.

Investigators found 35 of the 43 people who got infected with E. coli had direct or indirect exposure to food from a facility that purchased pork from The Meat Shop.

A summary of the investigation by AHS, obtained by the plaintiffs, details how inspectors uncovered food safety concerns at Mama Nita's and The Meat Shop.

At the restaurant, inspectors detailed issues with sanitation and refrigeration, including evidence of a mouse infestation.

At the Hutterite colony, inspectors noted three areas of concern: a lack of record-keeping, inadequate handling of ready-to-eat product; and inadequate slaughter procedures.

Ready-to-eat products were prepared with the same equipment as raw product. Procedures didn't effectively minimize the risk of cross contamination and equipment had visible residue build-up, the investigation found.

The Meat Shop denies that its pork was contaminated or that the plaintiffs consumed its products. It blames Mama Nita's for failing to properly cook the pork to ensure it was safe for consumption.

Mama Nita's denies all allegations and disputes its liability. In a statement of defence, the restaurant says The Meat Shop failed to properly inspect its pork and denies the ongoing medical losses suffered by the plaintiffs.

Escherichia coli are a large group of bacteria commonly found in the environment, foods and the intestines of animals and humans. Most strains are harmless. The specific strain E. coli O157:H7 is dangerous to people, producing a powerful toxin that can cause severe illness.

The main symptom of E. coli infection is diarrhea, which can be bloody. Serious life-threatening symptoms can develop, including strokes and seizures.

Tracing the outbreak

Cases began emerging in the Edmonton area in March 2018. Alberta Health Services and federal investigators began investigating. The investigation pointed to The Meat Shop as the primary source of the outbreak.

On April 24, 2018, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency issued a mandatory recall that covered all pork products sold and distributed by The Meat Shop at Pine Haven between Feb. 19 and April 24.

According to the statement of claim, The Meat Shop was negligent with quality control, monitoring and processing, storage, distribution and sale of the product that was later recalled.

The suit alleges that The Meat Shop failed to test its products rigorously and also failed to adequately clean equipment or properly train its staff in safe food handling.

It also alleges that The Meat Shop failed to recall all of the tainted pork immediately upon learning that people were becoming ill.

Liberals and NDP waste no time in attacking Poilievre at the opening of fall session

The NDP put out an attack ad on social media timed to get their message across just before Poilievre took the floor of the House of Commons

Author of the article:

Catherine Lévesque
Publishing date:

Sep 20, 2022 • 

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre rises during question period 

in the House of Commons on Sept. 20, 2022.

PHOTO BY ADRIAN WYLD/THE CANADIAN PRESS

The Liberals and the New Democratic Party (NDP) wasted no time in attacking new Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre on the first day of the fall session in Parliament.

In a rare move, the NDP put out an attack ad on social media on Tuesday responding to Poilievre’s claims that he is fighting for the people and instead attempting to portray the new leader of the official opposition as being cozy with the elites and “big business.”

“He’s not in it for you,” reads the script in the 29-second long video two times.

Melanie Richer, director of communications for the NDP, told the National Post that the goal for the party was to get their message across just before Poilievre took the floor of the House of Commons as leader of the Conservatives to talk about inflation and the cost of living.

“I think that Pierre Poilievre has been trying to reframe himself as somebody who’s in it for people. And we’ve seen clearly that that’s not true,” said Richer.

“He’s never going to go after corporate greed and he’s never going to make your salaries better. So he says a lot of things, makes a lot of noise, but he’s not actually doing anything concretely to make things better for people,” she added.

NDP deputy leader Alexandre Boulerice said that Poilievre talks a lot about the price of food going up, rightly so, but that he would never dare to speak up against big corporations in the food industry which are making “record profits” right now on the backs of consumers.

“Pierre Poilievre will never have the courage to stand up against those grocery store giants,” said Boulerice.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, so his first confrontation in question period against Poilievre will not happen before Thursday.

But that didn’t stop his ministers, who were up against Poilievre for the first time since he became leader. They spent the better part of their first question period touting “real solutions” to the cost of living crisis but the were in turn ridiculed by Poilievre.

Minister of Families, Karina Gould, spoke about the agreements on child care made with all provinces and territories which would save families “thousands of dollars that are going to help them with the high cost of living.”

“Those are real solutions,” she said.

Poilievre shot back right away. “Canadians can’t even afford to have a family in the first place,” he said. “They can’t get out of their parents’ basements or the 400 square foot apartments after housing prices have literally doubled in this country under this prime minister.”

Housing Minister Ahmed Hussen also chimed in that the Liberals had proposed “real solutions” — like the housing accelerator or the first-time homebuyer tax credit. But Poilievre countered that Canada had the “second worst housing bubble of any country on planet Earth.”

Randy Boissonnault, Associate Minister of Finance, said that Canadians would see “two competing visions” during the fall session between the Liberals and the Conservatives.

NDP leader Jagmeet Singh pointed fingers to both parties during question period for the cost of living crisis, saying Liberals kept saying it was worse in other countries.

“And then we’ve got a leader of the opposition who thinks you can magically opt out of inflation by buying cryptocurrency which ended up tanking and hurting people,” he said.

Afterward, Poilievre’s spokesperson did not immediately comment on the attacks toward the new leader.

But a written statement put out by the Conservatives earlier in the day offered three solutions to stop inflation: cap government spending with a Pay-As-You-Go law, axe the carbon tax and “remove red tape and gatekeepers” to help businesses and workers.

Biden pushes election 'dark money' disclosure bill doomed to fail in Congress

Trevor Hunnicutt and Alexandra Alper
Publishing date:Sep 20, 2022 •

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday made a plea for Congress to pass a bill that would require super PACs and certain other groups to disclose donors who contributed $10,000 or more during an election cycle, a measure doomed to fail due to lack of Republican support.

“There’s much too much money that flows in the shadows to influence our elections,” Biden said at the White House, noting that advocacy groups can run advertisements supporting or attacking a candidate “right up until election day” without disclosing who paid for it.

“I believe sunlight is the best disinfectant,” he added, calling on Republicans to join Democrats in supporting the bill.

The measure is slated for a Senate vote this week, top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer said on Monday, as Democrats seek to boost election transparency ahead of the November midterms after failing to pass more ambitious voting rights legislation earlier this year.

The legislation does not have the support of 60 senators necessary to overcome the Senate’s vote threshold for ending debate.

Still, the bill represents one of many fronts on which Democrats are warring with Republicans over laws governing elections following the 2020 presidential race won by Biden but which his predecessor, Donald Trump, disputes with false claims it was stolen.

Election experts worry the next presidential election in 2024, in which Biden may seek re-election and Trump may run again, could be even more bitterly disputed.

Republicans, including Texas Senator Ted Cruz, have argued that companies have the right to express themselves through anonymous donations. Democrats say such ‘dark money’ donations have warped the political system, resulting in laws that do not reflect the majority of Americans’ views.

“There is no justification under heaven for keeping such massive contributions hidden from the public,” Schumer said.

The measure, known as the DISCLOSE Act, was initially included in Democrats’ voting rights bill that sought to counteract voting restrictions in Republican-led states. That package passed the House in January but died in the Senate under Republican opposition.

The DISCLOSE ACT, if approved, would also require groups spending money on judicial nominees to disclose their donors.

After long championing broad political spending reforms, Biden took heat from Democrats and good-governance activists when he dropped his opposition to outside political spending groups during his 2020 presidential campaign.

Biden had initially struggled to match Trump’s fundraising might and that of his Democratic rivals and used the outside funding to support a campaign running on a shoestring budget.

Under federal law, super PACs can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money, unlike candidates, but cannot coordinate their efforts with a candidate’s campaign.

The House of Representatives is separately considering a proposal by Republican Liz Cheney and Democrat Zoe Lofgren clarifying a 135-year-old law to show that the vice president’s role in certifying elections is purely symbolic.

The proposal is a response to the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters, who were trying to stop certification of Biden’s victory, and to pressure from Trump himself on his Vice President Mike Pence to overturn Biden’s election win by decertifying certain slates of electors.

House Republican leadership is urging party members to vote against that measure. 

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt, Alexandra Alper and Moira Warbuton; Editing by Heather Timmons, Edmund Klamann and Bill Berkrot)

EU countries want option to claw back coal plants' revenues - draft

09/20/2022 

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Coal power plants could be subject to the European Union's plan to cap energy producers' revenues to raise cash to bring down soaring energy bills, a draft document seen by Reuters shows.

The European Commission last week proposed a package of emergency measures to curb energy prices, including windfall profit levies on energy firms for governments to recycle into cushioning businesses and citizens from sky-high energy bills this winter.

Diplomats from EU countries are negotiating the proposals and trying to find deals that all will be willing to approve at a Sept. 30 meeting of EU energy ministers.

A draft of the countries' latest negotiating document, seen by Reuters, would allow countries to subject coal plants to a planned EU cap on power generators' revenues.

"Member States may allow the regulatory authority to maintain or set a specific cap on the market revenues obtained from the sale of electricity produced from hard coal," said the draft, which could still change before the Sept. 30 meeting.

The Commission had proposed a 180 euros ($179.64) per megawatt hour cap on revenue earned by power generators with the cheapest running costs - including wind, solar and nuclear plants - since those plants can earn the largest profit margins from soaring power prices.

Coal plants were left out because the Commission said their running costs were above 180eur/MWh, so the revenue cap could make them uneconomical.

But EU countries plan to get around that by capping coal plants' revenue at a higher level if their running costs are above 180eur/MWh, according to the document drafted by the Czech Republic, which holds the EU's rotating presidency.

Countries could also impose a higher revenue cap on other plants with higher running costs, to ensure they can keep running and recover a "reasonable profit margin", it said.

EU member states are also considering a proposed EU windfall profit levy on fossil fuel companies.

Countries like Italy that already have a windfall profit tax on energy firms should be able to keep their national measures instead of applying the EU one - so long as it generates proceeds at least equal to those expected from the EU scheme, the draft document said.

($1 = 1.0020 euros)

(Reporting by Kate Abnett; Editing by Susan Fenton)

By Kate Abnett

© Reuters 2022

Rampant Nigeria oil theft is 'treason', House Speaker says

ABUJA (Reuters) - Crude oil theft in Nigeria, which is blamed for throttling output and exports, is tantamount to treason that should be punished by the stiffest possible penalty, the Speaker of the House of Representatives said on Tuesday.

Refinery workers are reflected in polluted stagnant water at an illegal oil refinery site near river Nun© Reuters/AKINTUNDE AKINLEYE

Oil production fell below 1 million barrels per day in August, figures from the regulator show..

Femi Gbajabiamila said Nigeria's crude exports were at their lowest in two decades, blaming it on crude theft that he described as "treason against our country".

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"Those who seek to impoverish our country in this manner have declared war against the Nigerian people," he told legislators when reconvening the House of Representatives after a two-month break.

"The government's response must be sufficient to convince them of the error of their ways and deter others who might be tempted to join in their treason."

President Muhammadu Buhari last month expressed concern over large-scale theft of crude oil, saying it was affecting the country's revenue "enormously".

(Reporting by Camillus Eboh; Editing by David Goodman)