Canopy Growth to sell Tweed, Tokyo Smoke stores to OEGRC and Four20 owner

The Canadian Press   Sep 27, 2022

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Canopy Growth Corp. is getting out of the cannabis retail business with two deals to divest its Tweed and Tokyo Smoke stores.

The Smiths Falls, Ont. cannabis company announced Tuesday that it sold all of its stores outside Alberta, as well as the intellectual property for Tokyo Smoke, to OEG Retail Cannabis (OEGRC).

OEGRC is run by the Katz Group, which owns the Edmonton Oilers hockey team and previously had a licensee deal to own and operate all of Canopy's franchised Tokyo Smoke stores in Ontario.

The new deals will see OEGRC, which already owns 64 Tokyo Smoke stores, take control of 23 Tokyo Smoke and Tweed stores across Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador and force the rebrand of any Tweed stores. 

420 Investments Ltd. will acquire another five stores in Alberta that will be rebranded under its Four20 retail banner.

Canopy did not share the value or financial terms of either deal.

However, it framed the agreements as part of its push to reprioritize the premium segment of cannabis and reduce costs, which the company has been tackling through job cuts and facility closures during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are taking the next critical step in advancing Canopy as a leading premium brand-focused CPG cannabis company while furthering the company’s strategy of investing in product innovation and distribution to drive revenue growth in the Canadian recreational market,’’ David Klein, Canopy's chief executive, said in a statement.

The retail segment of the cannabis market that Canopy is exiting has become tough to compete in as the number of pot shops has ballooned, driving competition.

Ontario — Canopy's home province — has 1,333 stores alone, including many that cram Toronto's Queen Street West. The stores hawk the same items from the same province-backed supplier, meaning standing out has never been tougher. 

Cannabis companies in both the retail and production space have also struggled to reach profitability because they keep slashing prices to compete with the illicit market and rival stores.

The average price for cannabis was $11.78 per gram at the start of 2019, shortly after legalization, but fell to $7.50 per gram in 2021, a November report from Deloitte Canada and cannabis research firms Hifyre and BDSA said.

The average price for vape cartridges has similarly fallen by 41 per cent from $32.02 per gram around legalization to $19 per gram a year later.

OEGRC has yet to reveal what pricing strategy it will take on, when it nabs Tokyo Smoke's intellectual property, but chief executive Jürgen Schreiber position the agreement as part of the "advancement" of the cannabis industry.

“OEG Retail Cannabis and Canopy Growth have been partners for many years now and we are committed to a smooth transition for employees and customers of the newly acquired stores as we await final regulatory approval in the coming months,” he added, in a news release.

Staff working at acquired locations will keep their jobs and Canopy will continue to own and operate its Tweed brand of flower, pre-rolls and other products.

The company will also terminate a master licence agreement dating back to 2019 that allowed convenience store giant Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. to operate a Tweed branded shop in London, Ont.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 27, 2022.

Companies in this story: (TSX:WEED, TSX:ATD.B)

CANADA

Labour shortage, pandemic savings to soften blow of short-lived recession: report

Nojoud Al Mallees, BNN Bloomberg   

Sep 28, 2022

A tight labour market and elevated savings during the pandemic will cushion the impact of a recession on Canadians, says a new report from Deloitte.

Deloitte’s most recent economic outlook report forecasts Canada will enter a short-lived recession by the end of the year.

The report says while rising interest rates will cause a significant economic slowdown, the accumulation of inventories will push the economy into a technical recession.

However, because the job market has been so tight, Deloitte chief economist Craig Alexander said unemployment might not rise as much as it typically would during a recession.

For Canadians, that's what will matter most, he said.

“Nobody eats GDP. From a point of view of Canadians, what really matters is what happens to their jobs and their income,” Alexander said.

According to Deloitte's forecast, the unemployment rate will tick up to six per cent in the third quarter of next year before falling again.

Canada’s unemployment rate was 5.4 per cent in August, up from a record-low of 4.9 per cent.

Alexander said businesses he’s spoken to are still concerned about ongoing labour shortages.

Given the existing hiring challenges, he said employers won't be inclined to lay off workers even if there is an economic downturn so long as it's expected to be temporary.

“If a recession hits, [businesses] are likely to still want to hoard labour because of how difficult it has been to find workers that have the skills that they need,” he said.

While economists are split on whether Canada will enter a recession, an economic slowdown is widely expected because of rising interest rates.

The Bank of Canada has raised its key interest rate five times since March, bringing it to 3.25 per cent. While inflation slowed to 7.0 per cent in August, the central bank is still expected to hike interest rates again in October.

As the Bank of Canada works on bringing the inflation rate down to its two per cent target, higher interest rates will feed into higher borrowing costs, which should slow economic activity.

There have been some early signs that a slowdown is already underway, including falling housing prices and three consecutive months of job losses.

The report from Deloitte says household consumption will fall as the slowdown continues but for households that accumulated savings, their spending won’t be impacted as much

According to Statistics Canada, households saved more than a quarter of their disposable income during the second quarter of 2020. In comparison, the savings rate was just two per cent a year prior.

While the household savings rate has since fallen, it remains elevated compared to pre-pandemic levels.

Households with higher incomes are generally considered to have higher savings rates.

“The inflation environment that we're in right now is absolutely punishing on low-income Canadians. So, there's a very big inequality dimension to [it],” Alexander said.

“But at the middle- and higher-income households, what we're likely seeing is that the cost of living is going up for them, but they can easily afford it and continue spending.”

Scotiabank taps Finning CEO to succeed Brian Porter, surprising Bay Street

By Noah Zivitz

Noah Zivitz

Managing Editor, BNN Bloomberg

Follow|Archive

The Bank of Nova Scotia announced Monday that Brian Porter, its president and chief executive officer, is retiring next year — and the choice for his successor caught Bay Street by surprise. 
In a press release, the bank said Porter’s last day in the roles will be Jan. 31, 2023.

He will be succeeded by Scott Thomson, who is currently the president and chief executive officer of Finning International Inc., and a member of Scotia’s board of directors. He isn’t a stranger to the finance industry, having served as a vice-president at Goldman Sachs earlier in his career.

“I was surprised that the Bank of Nova Scotia actually went outside its own executive ranks to choose a new CEO. … I was surprised as well that they had actually gone outside, which shows that the potential CEOs, the people that had been groomed internally to be potential successors, weren't the same quality as they were able to find outside,” said Anish Chopra, a partner and portfolio manager at Toronto-based Portfolio Management Corp. — which owns Scotia shares, in an interview.

Thomson will initially move into Bank of Nova Scotia’s management ranks as president on Dec. 1. Shortly before Scotia’s announcement Monday, Finning announced Thomson’s pending exit, while naming Kevin Parkes, the Vancouver-based heavy equipment-dealer’s chief operating officer, as its next president and CEO.
“Scott is an exceptional leader and a seasoned CEO with a history of delivering results across the Americas and in international markets through a strong focus on operational excellence, talent development, and digital transformation, and a proven track record in effective capital allocation and investments in strategic capabilities,” said Aaron Regent, Bank of Nova Scotia’s chair, in the release.

Porter took the helm as Scotia’s president and chief executive on Nov. 1, 2013, after succeeding Rick Waugh, who led the bank through the global financial crisis. 
Under Porter’s leadership, Scotia made an aggressive push in 2018 to expand its wealth management line of business. In that calendar year, the bank first announced it was buying Jarislowsky Fraser for $950 million; it later acquired MD Financial Management for $2.59 billion in cash, the bulk of which was financed in a share issuance.

While Porter helped to reshape Scotia, the bank has underperformed in the market during his reign.

Through the close of trading Friday, Bank of Nova Scotia’s shares rose 8.9 per cent since Porter became the bank’s CEO. The TSX’s banks industry subgroup (which includes the Big Six, as well as Laurentian Bank of Canada, Canadian Western Bank, Home Capital Group, and the parent company of Equitable Bank) rose 55.2 per cent over that same span. On a total return basis, which includes dividends, Scotia rose 62.5 per cent under Porter, and the banks subgroup more than doubled for investors with a return of 122.6 per cent.

Scotia’s sprawling international banking operations have been a persistent source of concern for Bay Street. Most recently, a slight deterioration in that unit’s profitability in the fiscal third quarter prompted a single-day drop of 5.25 per cent for Scotia’s common shares and a slew of analyst downgrades.

“While the broad strategy is likely to stay intact, we believe the new CEO will look to improve the bank's execution, particularly with [Scotia’s] share price having materially underperformed its Big Six peer group over the past five-year period,” stated Mike Rizvanovic, an analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, in a note to clients Monday that also called Thomson’s selection “a surprise leadership change.”

Although the investing community was taken aback by the succession, Bank of Nova Scotia’s next chief executive was lauded by one of the country’s best-known business leaders.

“I think they made an excellent choice,” billionaire entrepreneur Jimmy Pattison, the chair and chief executive officer of The Jim Pattison Group, told BNN Bloomberg in a phone interview. “I’ve known him for years. He’s got a lot of good, common sense,” Pattison added. 

Thomson currently serves as a director on The Jim Pattison Group’s board of directors. Pattison first met Thomson when he was serving as a director of Bell Canada, where Thomson previously worked as an executive vice-president.

With a file from Jon Erlichman

BNN Bloomberg is a division of Bell Media, which – like Bell Canada – is owned by BCE Inc. 

The mystery of Agatha Christie’s vanishing act – as solved by a TV sleuth

ByCraig Simpson
October 1, 2022 

The mystery over an event in the private life of Agatha Christie has remained as intriguing as one of her own whodunnits.

The crime author once disappeared for 11 days – an episode that made international headlines in 1926 and even saw speculation that she had been killed or had taken her own life.

Agatha Christie seen in 1946 with her husband, Max Mallowan, whom she married after her first marriage collapsed.

The incident has perplexed biographers ever since. However, television historian Lucy Worsley believes she has cracked the case, arguing that the disappearance – which Christie claimed not to remember – was the result of a rare psychological disorder caused by emotional trauma.

Worsley has said Christie entered a “fugue state”, in which sufferers lose all sense of self while experiencing amnesia and setting off on journeys to unexpected locations.

She researched the event for a biography and told BBC History magazine: “By 1926, Agatha was a successful novelist and under a lot of pressure to keep producing books. But her mother died that year and she went into what today would be described as a depression.

“She reported forgetfulness, tearfulness, insomnia, an inability to cope. Her mental state became so bad she considered suicide. She then entered, I believe, into a fugue state. This is a very rare condition, causing you to adopt another persona, so that you don’t have to think about the trauma you’ve been experiencing.”

Agatha Christie, centre, creator of the reliable Miss Marple (Geraldine McEwan) and Hercule Poirot (Kenneth Branagh), is inspiring a new wave of crime fiction.

In the same year as losing her mother, Christie, then 36, discovered her husband Archibald was having an affair. Worsley believes all this was sufficient to trigger a fugue state.

In December, Christie’s car was abandoned near Guildford, Surrey, and police began a search that involved up to 15,000 volunteers.

Rumours began to circulate that Christie had killed herself. Others speculated that the vanishing was a publicity stunt, a claim angrily denied by the author’s secretary.

Detectives consulted Christie’s own work in a bid to ascertain her motives, but the author eventually turned up in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, with no memory of what she did or who she was. The writer had booked into a hotel under the name Tressa Neele. Years later, Neele was revealed as the surname of her husband’s mistress.

The reference to her love rival led some to speculate that Christie had staged a stunt to spite her cheating husband or frame him.

Worsley disagrees. “That’s not framing your husband for murder, that is a really serious mental-health condition,” she said.

A few months after Christie’s ordeal, she filed for divorce. Two years later, she remarried and her ex-husband married Ms Neel

Zimbabwe Court Finds Author and Activist Tsitsi Dangarembga Guilty of Inciting Violence


ThisisAfrica
Tsitsi Dangarembga.

29 SEPTEMBER 2022
Deutsche Welle (Bonn)

The 2021 winner of the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade was among scores of people arrested during anti-government protests in 2020. Tsitsi Dangarembga has been given a suspended prison sentence.

Zimbabwean author and activist Tsitsi Dangarembgaon Thursday was found guilty on charges of inciting violence.

Her husband, Olaf Koschke, confirmed the ruling to the German press agency DPA.

The author was handed a six-month suspended prison sentence as well as a $120 (€123) fine.

The author, activist and playwright was among a number of people arrested in July 2020 for joining demonstrations against government corruption.

Why was Dangarembga convicted?

She was arrested and charged, alongside another friend and journalist Julie Barnes, with incitement of violence, breaching the peace and bigotry.

The two argued in court that they had been exercising their freedom of expression.

But the judge, Magistrate Barbara Mateko, said the pair were intent on provoking violence.

"Clearly they wanted to pass a message. It was not peaceful at all," Mateko said in her judgment. "They were expressing opinions, and it was meant to provoke."

The trial had dragged on for many months, with Dangarembga having already made dozens of court appearances.

Rights groups have said the charges are part of President Emmerson Mnangagwa's attempt to clamp down on opposition figures.

Dozens of opposition supporters, political activists, journalists, trade union members and church leaders have faced similar charges.

Dangarembga's artistic achievements

Dangarembga was the recipient of the 2021 Peace Prize of the German Book Trade.

She was the first Black woman to win, with the judges praising her as "not just one of her country's most important artists but also a widely audible voice of Africa in contemporary literature."

The author found her first success aged 25 with the novel "Nervous Conditions" in 1988. This was followed up by two other books in a trilogy, with the most recent one coming out in 2018.

ab,kmb/jcg (AP, dpa, EPD)

Nigeria: GMOs Flood Nigerian Markets, As Federal Govt Urged to Examine Biosafety Guidelines


Pixabay
(file photo).

29 SEPTEMBER 2022
Leadership (Abuja)

Over 30 different products mostly imported from USA, China, India and South Africa, labelled to be produced with genetically modified ingredients are in the Nigerian market, a research has showed, even as stakeholders have urged the government to re-examine the entire architecture of biosafety in this country, to protect Nigerians from consuming unwholesome foods.

Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are products of genetic engineering which is also known as genetic modification (GM) or modern biotechnology. This technology allows scientists to create plants, animals and micro-organisms by manipulating genes in a way that is not possible via traditional or natural processes. A survey by Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), carried out in nine major cities in Nigeria and at least 10 shops/supermarkets, revealed that over 30 products including vegetable oils, cereals, noodles, ice cream, salad creams and food spices, labelled to be produced with genetically modified ingredients are in the Nigerian market.

While these products may be cheap, stakeholders told me that crops are genetically modified to act as pesticides against target pests or to be resistant to herbicides, hence GMOs are accompanied by heavy doses of chemicals which are highly toxic and linked to serious health defects. Programmes manager, HOMEF, Joyce Brown said, genetic manipulation of crops poses grave concern for food systems, human and environmental health. For instance, glyphosate, a major component of roundup ready herbicide which accompany a majority of genetically modified products, has been said to be a possible-causing agent, Brown said.

She disclosed that several countries have taken a stand against genetically modified food products because they have found that these products do not give the benefits or show characteristics that they are acclaimed to possess. To regulate GMOs in Nigeria, the programmes manager said the federal government sets up a regulatory agency called the National Biosafety Management Agency; however, the agency has approved several genetically modified food products to be imported into the country.

"As at 2020 when we counted, there were over 20 approvals. We have written to the agency to see the report of the risk assessment conducted on these products before it was approved for importation and we found out that for some products, the assessment was on environmental implication like how crops interact with other crops, but there was no research done in terms of how GMOs affect human health in the long run. Nigerians are being ambushed into using genetically modified products," Brown revealed.

The other issue is that of labelling, environmental justice and food sovereignty activist, Nnimmo Bassey tells me, adding that, "Though the agency said the GM products are labelled, to enable Nigerians decide whether they want to consume them or not, it is not possible for labelling to work in Nigeria, because of the way we sell and consume food. We have foods being sold in basin and baskets in the common market where majority of Nigerians buy their products. How can Nigeria detect beans that was preserved with GMOs? As a country, we need to take a stand against these products."

GLOBALIZED OUTSOURCING
Kenya to list skilled refugees for online work

POST FORDIST PROLETARIAT

SATURDAY OCTOBER 01 2022

Students at a school in Dadaab Refugees Complex in northeastern Kenya.

By MARY WAMBUI

Kenya plans to start a programme to list skilled refugees in a digital database to enable them get work from international organisations interested in outsourcing services.

The Ajira Digital Programme will be implemented by the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) and funded by the MasterCard Foundation, both of which say they will help push for adoption of refugees into legal work by also providing constant training opportunities.

Read: CLEMENTS: Kenya’s generosity towards refugees is impressive

Also read: How refugees bring along their music and culture, creating a melting pot

KEPSA, with the Amahoro Coalition, a platform of private organisations in the region, will target refugees in Kakuma and Dadaab, Kenya’s refugee centres that host more than 400,000 people.

Nairobi is taking advantage of the programme to entice refugees to leave the camps once they get legal work.

Kenya has traditionally allowed refugees to stay out of camps if they prove they can afford basic needs on their own.

But the refugee camps have had security issues in the past with Nairobi promising to close the two camps down on several occasions, citing terror threats.

Read: Kenya plans to close world's biggest refugee camp Dadaab: document

Also read: Kenya revises refugee camp closure to June 2022

Last year, however, Kenya’s Interior Ministry agreed to stagger the closure of the camps based on voluntary departure as well as gradual programmes to enable refugees live normally in the country or find work abroad.

Officials did not indicate how many refugees will initially benefit from the Ajira programme, but they said that many refugees in camps may face challenges due to lack of adequate skills, limited movement, limited access to formal education, and lack of a form of identity.

“We have a lot of talent waiting to be tapped among the refugee population in Kenya,” said Dr Ehud Gachugu, Project Director- Ajira Digital Program and Youth Employment at KEPSA.

Read: Kenya targets easier integration of refugees

“We have seen many examples of bright but marginalised young people delivering quality work to global clients through online platforms. Our aim is, therefore, to help grow and harness this talent to also deliver work for our local businesses, thus creating even more opportunities for refugees to add value not only in their local communities but also nationally.”

Ajira Digital Programme initially only served Kenyans with beneficiaries now at 1.9 million people since 2020 when it was launched for Kenyans.

A study dubbed ‘Private Sector Digital Outsourcing Practices in Kenya’ further indicates that 59 percent of the private sector in Kenya are currently outsourcing digital services with another 75 percent intending to outsource in the future.

Read: Education still elusive goal for refugees even with Uganda’s open door policy

Another study by the Amahoro Coalition and the International Trade Center (ITC) on “Kenya’s Private Sector Digital Outsourcing Landscape and Its Potential to Support Refugee Economic Inclusion” indicates that a lack of awareness of the skills and potential available among the refugee community is the greatest barrier to companies working with refugees. This is despite companies that had previously worked with refugee freelancers expressing satisfaction with their ability to deliver quality, timely and cost-effective work.

Kenya’s two refugee camps are located in Turkana and Garissa counties, some of the driest areas in Kenya. They host refugees from Somalia, Ethiopia, South Sudan, DR Congo and Burundi.

Protesters rally across Iran in third week of unrest over Amini's death

October 2, 2022

Iranian protesters march down a street on October 1, 2022 in Tehran, Iran. Protests over the death of 22-year-old Iranian Mahsa Amini have continued to intensify despite crackdowns by the authorities, The 22-year-old Iranian fell into a coma and died after being arrested in Tehran by the morality police, for allegedly violating the countries hijab rules. [Getty Images]

Protesters rallied across Iran and strikes were reported throughout the country's Kurdish region on Saturday as demonstrations ignited by the death of a woman in police custody entered their third week.

The protests, sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old from Iranian Kurdistan, have spiralled into the biggest show of opposition to Iran's clerical authorities since 2019, with dozens killed in unrest across the country.

People also demonstrated in London, Rome, Madrid and other Western cities in solidarity with Iranian protesters, holding pictures of Amini, who died three days after being arrested by the Islamic Republic's morality police for "unsuitable attire".

In Iran, social media posts showed rallies in large cities including Tehran, Isfahan, Rasht and Shiraz.

In Tehran's traditional business district of Bazaar, anti-government protesters chanted "We will be killed one by one if we don't unite", while elsewhere they blocked a main road with a fence torn from the central reservation, videos shared by the widely followed Tavsir1500 Twitter account showed.

READ: Iran security forces were ordered to 'mercilessly' crack down on protests, leaked documents show

Students also demonstrated at numerous universities. At Tehran University, dozens were detained, Tavsir1500 said. The semi-official Fars news agency said some protesters were arrested in a square near the university.

A video posted on social media appeared to show protesters giving flowers to members of the riot police in Tehran, a recreation of Iranians winning over the military to their side in the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Reuters could not verify the social media reports.

The protests began at Amini's funeral on Sept. 17 and spread to Iran's 31 provinces, with all layers of society, including ethnic and religious minorities, taking part and many demanding Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's downfall.
Hundreds injured

Amnesty International has said a government crackdown on demonstrations has so far led to the death of at least 52 people, with hundreds injured. Rights groups say dozens of activists, students and artists have been detained.

In London, about 2,500 people, many of them Iranians, staged a noisy protest in Trafalgar Square. In Paris, a crowd of several dozen people held Iranian flags and pictures of victims who have died in the protests. In Madrid, an Iranian woman cut her hair during a protest attended by dozens of people, echoing demonstrations in Iran where women have also been waving and burning their veils during demonstrations.

Iran's currency neared historic lows reached in June as desperate Iranians bought dollars to protect their savings, amid little hope Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers would be revived and concerns over the economic consequences of the unrest.

The rial fell to 331,200 per U.S. dollar, compared with 321,200 on Friday, according to the foreign exchange site Bonbast.com. The currency had plummeted to an all-time low of 332,000 per dollar on June 12.

Iranian authorities say many members of the security forces have been killed, accusing the United States of exploiting the unrest to try to destabilise Iran.

The Revolutionary Guards said four members of its forces and the volunteer Basij militia were killed on Friday in attacks in Zahedan, capital of the southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan province.
Zahedan Shootout

State television had said on Friday that 19 people, including members of the security forces, had been killed in Zahedan after unidentified individuals opened fire on a police station, prompting security forces to return fire.

Authorities blamed a separatist group from the Baluchi minority for starting the shootout in Zahedan. State media said two prominent militants linked to that group had been killed.

IRNA posted a video showing destroyed cars, an overturned and burning trailer or bus and fires in burnt-out buildings and shops, describing it as footage of "what the terrorists did to people's shops last night in Zahedan".

Reuters could not verify the footage.

Protests have been particularly intense in Iran's Kurdistan region, where authorities have previously put down unrest by the Kurdish minority numbering up to 10 million.

READ: Iran threatens celebrities supporting Mahsa Amini protests

Shops and businesses were on strike in 20 northwestern cities and towns in protest against attacks on Iraq-based armed Kurdish opposition parties by Iran's Revolutionary Guards, the Kurdish rights group Hengaw reported.

Fearing an ethnic uprising, and in a show of power, Iran launched rocket and drone attacks on targets in Iraq's Kurdish region this week after accusing Iranian Kurdish dissidents of being involved in the unrest.

Iran's Tasnim news agency reported new attacks by the Revolutionary Guards on Iraqi Kurdistan on Saturday.

A senior member of Komala, an exiled Iranian Kurdish opposition party, told Reuters that two party offices in Halgurd mountain in Iraq's Erbil were struck in Iranian shelling.

A Kurdish security official said Iranian artillery also shelled Choman district in Erbil.

The Iranian woman whose death led to mass protests was shy and avoided politics.

Protesters rally across Iran in third week of unrest over Amini's death


Protest over the death of Mahsa Amini, in Tehran

Sat, October 1, 2022 

DUBAI (Reuters) -Protesters rallied across Iran and strikes were reported throughout the country's Kurdish region on Saturday as demonstrations ignited by the death of a woman in police custody entered their third week.

The protests, sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old from Iranian Kurdistan, have spiralled into the biggest show of opposition to Iran's clerical authorities since 2019, with dozens killed in unrest across the country.

People also demonstrated in London, Rome, Madrid and other Western cities in solidarity with Iranian protesters, holding pictures of Amini, who died three days after being arrested by the Islamic Republic's morality police for "unsuitable attire".

In Iran, social media posts showed rallies in large cities including Tehran, Isfahan, Rasht and Shiraz.

In Tehran's traditional business district of Bazaar, anti-government protesters chanted "We will be killed one by one if we don't unite", while elsewhere they blocked a main road with a fence torn from the central reservation, videos shared by the widely followed Tavsir1500 Twitter account showed.

Students also demonstrated at numerous universities. At Tehran University, dozens were detained, Tavsir1500 said. The semi-official Fars news agency said some protesters were arrested in a square near the university.

A video posted on social media appeared to show protesters giving flowers to members of the riot police in Tehran, a recreation of Iranians winning over the military to their side in the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Reuters could not verify the social media reports.

The protests began at Amini's funeral on Sept. 17 and spread to Iran's 31 provinces, with all layers of society, including ethnic and religious minorities, taking part and many demanding Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's downfall.

HUNDREDS INJURED

Amnesty International has said a government crackdown on demonstrations has so far led to the death of at least 52 people, with hundreds injured. Rights groups say dozens of activists, students and artists have been detained.

In London, about 2,500 people, many of them Iranians, staged a noisy protest in Trafalgar Square. In Paris, a crowd of several dozen people held Iranian flags and pictures of victims who have died in the protests. In Madrid, an Iranian woman cut her hair during a protest attended by dozens of people, echoing demonstrations in Iran where women have also been waving and burning their veils during demonstrations.

Iran's currency neared historic lows reached in June as desperate Iranians bought dollars to protect their savings, amid little hope Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers would be revived and concerns over the economic consequences of the unrest.

The rial fell to 331,200 per U.S. dollar, compared with 321,200 on Friday, according to the foreign exchange site Bonbast.com. The currency had plummeted to an all-time low of 332,000 per dollar on June 12.

Iranian authorities say many members of the security forces have been killed, accusing the United States of exploiting the unrest to try to destabilise Iran.

The Revolutionary Guards said four members of its forces and the volunteer Basij militia were killed on Friday in attacks in Zahedan, capital of the southeastern Sistan-Baluchistan province.

ZAHEDAN SHOOTOUT

State television had said on Friday that 19 people, including members of the security forces, had been killed in Zahedan after unidentified individuals opened fire on a police station, prompting security forces to return fire.

Authorities blamed a separatist group from the Baluchi minority for starting the shootout in Zahedan. State media said two prominent militants linked to that group had been killed.

IRNA posted a video showing destroyed cars, an overturned and burning trailer or bus and fires in burnt-out buildings and shops, describing it as footage of "what the terrorists did to people's shops last night in Zahedan".

Reuters could not verify the footage.

Protests have been particularly intense in Iran's Kurdistan region, where authorities have previously put down unrest by the Kurdish minority numbering up to 10 million.

Shops and businesses were on strike in 20 northwestern cities and towns in protest against attacks on Iraq-based armed Kurdish opposition parties by Iran's Revolutionary Guards, the Kurdish rights group Hengaw reported.

Fearing an ethnic uprising, and in a show of power, Iran launched rocket and drone attacks on targets in Iraq's Kurdish region this week after accusing Iranian Kurdish dissidents of being involved in the unrest.

Iran’s Tasnim news agency reported new attacks by the Revolutionary Guards on Iraqi Kurdistan on Saturday.

A senior member of Komala, an exiled Iranian Kurdish opposition party, told Reuters that two party offices in Halgurd mountain in Iraq's Erbil were struck in Iranian shelling.

A Kurdish security official said Iranian artillery also shelled Choman district in Erbil.

(Additional reporting by Ali Sultan in Sulaimaniya; Christian Hartmann and Anthony Panone in Paris and Yann Tessier in London, Marco Trujillo and Elena Rodriguez in Madrid; Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Nick Macfie and David Holmes)

GUNRUNNERS

Germany approves new arms exports to Saudi Arabia despite ban since 2018

September 30, 2022 

An image of Saudi Arabia's Prince Ben Salman depicting him with bloody hands full of US Dollar notes buying arms and missiles from Donald Trump and Theresa May which are used against Yemeni people on October 29, 2019 in Belfast, United Kingdom. [Kaveh Kazemi/Getty Images]

September 30, 2022 

Germany's coalition government has approved new arms export deals to Saudi Arabia, despite the ban imposed as a result of its involvement in the war in Yemen.

According to DW News, Germany's Economy Minister and Vice Chancellor, Robert Habeck, confirmed in a letter to the German federal parliament that several deals on arms exports had been approved by Chancellor Olaf Scholz before his trip to Saudi Arabia.

The export licences are part of a joint programme with Italy, Spain and Britain, according to the letter.

Riyadh will be able to purchase equipment and ammunition for Eurofighter and Tornado jets worth €36 million ($35.2 million), reported Der Spiegel.

READ: Saudi women take up shooting after change in gun ownership laws

The European cooperation project will also supply spare parts for the Airbus A330 MRTT worth €2.8 million ($2.73 million).

The decision to approve new arms exports comes after Saudi Arabia criticised Germany's arms embargo, earlier this year, describing the act as a "very wrong signal."

The Saudi Foreign Minister, Faisal Bin Farhan, told DPA that the kingdom was "in need of weapons to defend itself against Houthi attacks from neighbouring Yemen."

"We do not need weapons to be aggressive but, rather, to be able to protect our country and people," he said, adding that the kingdom had been cooperating with Germany on armament "for a long time".

In November 2018, the former German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, had halted arms exports to Saudi Arabia. The incumbent government, led by Olaf Scholz, the Social Democratic Party, the Green Party and the Free Democratic Party, recently said they would continue the embargo.

The German government had previously allowed some exceptions for joint NATO projects, under which it had issued export licences to Saudi Arabia.

READ: US State Department approves billions of dollars' worth of arms sales to Saudi Arabia, UAE

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NAVIGATING THE HIGHS AND LOWS OF PSYCHEDELIC THERAPIES

Regulators face new challenges over whether — and how — to allow people to receive mind-altering drugs to treat mental health conditions.


By Helen Collis

POLITICO
SEPTEMBER 28, 2022 

LONDON — David was paralyzed by fear. The only thing stopping him from falling was his rigid fingers gripping to the rock face. The worst part was knowing he had to hold on for another five hours.

That was how long he knew it would take before his LSD trip would wear off and he could finally abandon the pretense of clinging on to some sense of his perceived self through what felt like an unbearable feat of endurance.

David, who asked that his true identity be concealed to allow him to speak freely, is not alone in having sought out illegal psychedelics to self-medicate a mental health condition. He’s also not alone in having had a bad trip.

His experience, and others like it, serve as cautionary tales, as drug companies develop psychedelics like magic mushrooms and acid to help people with some of the hardest-to-treat mental illnesses.

With clinical research into psychedelics in its early stages, and a rapidly growing and unregulated industry of therapeutic psychedelic retreats, there’s much researchers still have to learn about how to prevent harm from potentially paralyzing experiences like David’s.

“There’s way too much hype, way too much enthusiasm [for psychedelic therapies],” said George Goldsmith, executive chair and co-founder at COMPASS Pathways, which is developing a psilocybin therapy, derived from mushrooms, for mental health disorders. “It doesn’t help anyone.”

Still, Goldsmith believes psychedelics have the potential to help people with mental health disorders who have not responded to other treatments.

“What we’re really focused on is: what does preparation [for a trip] look like? And how do we know to the highest level of certainty that someone is really ready?” said Goldsmith.

Ultimately, with the right counseling and support before and after the trip, his company wants to prevent a bad trip from ever happening with its psilocybin treatment.

Wrong time, wrong place

Researchers are working to fine-tune a suite of before- and after-care for those participating in clinical trials of psilocybin | Cole Burston/AFP via Getty Images

David’s experience with LSD took place about a decade ago when he was in his 20s, after a long period of social anxiety and depression that started in his teens and, despite trying antidepressants, persisted through university. He was looking for a magic bullet — and psychiatry had failed to deliver.

Fascinated by stories of psychedelics from South America, he finally plucked up the courage to try LSD with his friends.

“It was a really bad idea,” he said. “I had an absolutely horrible time, a really brutal time. And so much so that I thought afterward I had broken my brain.”

In the weeks and months that followed, he started having flashbacks and panic attacks “out of nowhere.”

Researchers at Kings College London (KCL) are working to fine-tune a suite of before- and after-care for those participating in clinical trials of psilocybin, to reduce the risk of harm. Some of these steps have been borne out of participant demand.

Psychiatrist James Rucker, of KCL, worked on a safety study — of psilocybin in healthy volunteers — for Compass in 2018.

The researchers did some preparatory work with the participants beforehand, and offered some support after their trip, “but it wasn’t enough for some people,” said Rucker. Some participants needed more support in the weeks after their treatment, even though they did not have a mental health diagnosis.

So Rucker set up monthly “integration” sessions, open not only to trial participants but also members of the public who are curious about psychedelics or who wanted to share their own experiences.

“We wanted a forum for people to be able to get advice and to talk about their experiences in a safe and confidential way,” said Rucker. This allowed people to speak openly about an activity that was otherwise shrouded in stigma, he said.

Every month, new and old faces join the sessions, opening up on the often life-altering experiences they have had — and have struggled to comprehend. People listen and then offer their thoughts.

For many, it’s the support they need to move on

Letting go

David was one of the participants of Rucker’s integration sessions who had not taken part in a study. He participated virtually in a session in 2020 and found it to be a breakthrough.

“What would have happened if you’d let go of the cliff?” he recalled another participant asking him.

This is how psychedelics differ from other psychotherapies, he concluded. They’re not supposed to suppress your emotions and numb the pain; you’re meant to let go and explore them.

Scientists have learned that during psychedelic trips, the brain becomes more neuroplastic, opening up neurological pathways that have been dormant, or suppressed, for years. This flexibility can endure for weeks — even months. It allows people to see things differently, and often in a more positive light.

But even as they develop these chemicals for treatment-resistant depression and other mental health disorders, researchers admit frankly that they are not a miracle cure.

Still, in COMPASS’s Phase 2b clinical trial testing psilocybin therapy on people with depression for whom no other treatments had worked, the company found that 24 percent of participants responded well. That’s a significant outcome in a particularly hard-to-treat illness.

It’s that type of result that has ignited an explosion of interest in these chemicals from a much wider audience.

Each reported study has lifted an ingrained taboo slightly more, inspiring people who are simply curious or who are desperate to find a healing therapy to give them a try. Psychedelics are becoming so mainstream that author Michael Pollan, best known as a food writer, has presented a Netflix series that delves into LSD, psilocybin, MDMA and mescaline.
Wild West

No one should be prevented from choosing to expand their consciousness, but the world of retreats can become “the Wild West” | Brent Lewin/Getty Images

That surge in demand has been met with a range of offerings, despite the limitations of the early data.

Psychedelic retreats have sprung up in Portugal, Spain and the Netherlands, countries where the rules on their use are lax.

Portugal decriminalized possession of all drugs in 2001, allowing individuals to consume and possess small quantities of psilocybin mushrooms. The Netherlands allows personal consumption of psilocybin truffles that have a similar effect to the mushrooms, which remain banned. And in Spain, possession, production and distribution of psilocybin is illegal, but its consumption in private places is decriminalized.

People are also traveling to Jamaica, where psilocybin is legal, as well as seeking ritualistic experiences with indigenous tribes in South America.

To Goldsmith, at COMPASS, no one should be prevented from choosing to expand their consciousness, but he cautioned that the world of retreats is like “the Wild West.”

Some retreats are set up with ethically sound intentions and run by trained therapists — including those with advanced research experience and academic qualifications. But others are run by profit-hungry opportunists with little training to help people navigate through challenging experiences. They promise to transform lives, misappropriating early clinical trial data from companies as evidence that psychedelics work.

While COMPASS’s Phase 2b data is compelling, it also showed that “well over 50 percent didn’t respond,” Goldsmith said. “I don’t quite hear those numbers when I look at retreats.”

According to Rucker, at KCL, the retreats industry needs checks and balances. And currently, there are none.

“I’ve had some reports of people over the years who’ve had terrible times at retreat centers but also reports of people who’ve had wonderful times,” he said. The main concern is the promises made: “There’s a fine line here between what is personal development and what is treatment.”

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Others, like Myles Katz co-founder of the Synthesis Institute, a Dutch center offering psilocybin therapy with truffles, argue that retreats are vital to expanding access to people who need it.

“The only place psychedelic medical treatment is currently available is in clinical trials, which are incredibly rare and notoriously difficult to get into,” said Katz. Retreats are a more accessible option, he said, “for people wanting to have a legal, professionally facilitated, psychedelic experience.”

Synthesis “thoroughly” screens applicants prior to accepting them, he said. Many retreats in Europe are attempting to align their screening protocols with the medical research that is available on psychedelics, Katz added. This in itself is an evolving process given the limited research available.

With so much variation across the sector, a lack of transparency over the benefits and the risks of the experience, and little data, if any, on the rates of traumatic trips and how they are managed, some people would like to see retreats formally regulated.

One idea being floated is for retreats to vet people who are most vulnerable, and to exclude those with a history of treatment-resistant mental health disorders — those who may be most vulnerable to bad experiences without the right support, but also most likely to seek to cure their illness through psychedelics.

Kirk Rutter was one of the few who got accepted onto a psilocybin study in the U.K. after being diagnosed with treatment-resistant depression. Before his mental health deteriorated, he had tried ayahuasca, a South American plant-based psychedelic, at an underground retreat in England. He didn’t enjoy the experience but nonetheless has no regrets.

“I didn’t feel as safe,” he said. “I didn’t know the people who were going to be looking after me. We were basically out in the middle of nowhere.” Compared with his psilocybin trip, “it was a much darker experience,” he said.

Given the opportunity of taking a psychedelic again, he would opt hands-down for the controlled clinical approach, “for the feeling of safety.” That’s because he knows exactly what would happen, what dose he would receive, who would be with him, and where he would be. He underwent extensive medical vetting and questionnaires before and after the trip and had doctors and psychotherapists on hand throughout the experience. “I got a lot of reassurances,” he said.

For Rutter, the treatment also worked. Seven years after the trial he remains free of depression. He’s even become a poster child for COMPASS’s research — albeit reluctantly.

Imperial College, which led the trial, asked him to talk to the press about his experience. His immediate reaction was: No! “Talk about depression? And psychedelics? They’re both really taboo, really uncomfortable subjects,” he said.

But then he realized, if he couldn’t share his experiences, then society would never get over this stigma and others wouldn’t have the opportunity to benefit like he did. So he relented.

Training society

As the anticipated arrival of the first medical psychedelics nears, no one yet knows what impact this will have on the retreats industry | Fabrice Coffrini/AFP via Getty Images

On top of the calls to regulate retreats, some are also concerned about the need to prepare health systems and society for the anticipated arrival of the first psychedelics in Western medicine.

Medicines regulators in the U.S., the European Union and the U.K. are working with companies to ensure that the development of these therapies fits within the parameters of tried and tested measures demonstrating that the benefits outweigh the risks. The U.S. said this summer that it anticipated the first psychedelic medicine to be approved within two years.

One major hurdle however is the critical suite of before- and after-care to minimize potential harm from traumatic trips. The COMPASS trial showed that 3.8 percent of participants had suicidal behaviors in the aftermath of the study — a behavior the company noted could be more likely among people with treatment-resistant depression.

“The regulatory authorities … were set up to regulate drugs,” said Rucker at KCL. “They were not set up to regulate psychotherapy, and they are not interested in regulating psychotherapy … Our point is that you can’t give the drug without the psychotherapy.”

Companies are in talks with regulators over the possibility of licensing a package that defines that the drug must come with preparation, dosing, day support and integration, “because otherwise, the therapeutic effect you’re looking for is in jeopardy,” said Rucker.

Adding to the complexity, “that package of care, if licensed, would require optimization over time,” said Liam Modlin, psychology and psychotherapy lead in psychedelics, also at KCL. “That’s an ongoing, long-term process.”

Health systems also need to prepare for such a step change in psychiatric treatment. “Psychiatrists and psychotherapists are going to be administering psychedelics if they are licensed,” Modlin said, adding they would need governance bodies to provide professional, standardized training and oversight.

Some people are working with patient groups to try to raise awareness and cut through the stigma of these therapies, ingrained by decades of illegality.

Chris Jenkins, at consultancy OEV, is working with police and firefighters who have among the highest rates of post-traumatic stress disorder in any profession, at around 20 percent. He’s hoping to break down the multiple stigmas that might prevent them from seeking treatment with psychedelics: from speaking about mental health, perceptions of masculinity and weakness, and taking psychedelics.

“We’re working to try and engage with the police and say, ‘Look, this is something that can really benefit you,’” said Jenkins. But overcoming these multiple stigmas requires work and preparation now, he said.
Fork in the road    

Psilocybe mushrooms at the Numinus Bioscience lab in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada | James MacDonald/Bloomberg via Getty Images

As the anticipated arrival of the first medical psychedelics nears, no one yet knows what impact this will have on the retreats industry.

The pharmaceutical sector is highly regulated and will provide treatment for a narrow cohort of people with mental health disorders; retreats are an unregulated sector providing broader access but at greater risk and cost.

“I would hope that this is one of those situations where there’s coexistence,” said Goldsmith, at COMPASS, as opposed to fueling conflict between the two.

For Tadeusz Hawrot, founder and policy lead at the Psychedelic Access and Research European Alliance (PAREA), it could be an opportunity for the two industries to work together.

He sees a day when doctors could triage patient care based on the severity of mental health concerns. The most serious, treatment-resistant cases could be referred for clinical therapy with psychedelics, in a controlled setting, with standardized before- and after-care, and doctors and psychotherapists on hand. People with less severe mental health worries could be referred to a retreat and might prefer to seek help outside of the medical model.

This would require retreats to be regulated, he said, underscoring the importance of accurate data collection and transparency. “Perhaps there could be a network of licensed retreats,” he said, providing real-world evidence to add to the body of knowledge on these therapies.

For people who, like David, have experimented independently with psychedelics, this approach would provide more of a safety net in case of a bad trip.

As it happened, it would be a decade after his LSD experience before David would experiment again, in a second attempt to self-medicate for his mental health conditions. This time it was with psilocybin and just one close friend. It was a much better experience, but there’s still more work to be done to let go, he said.

With the support of the integration sessions and armed with a new understanding of psychedelics’ effect on the mind, he’s confident they can now help him, not least in opening his eyes to how he needs to change his life.

It’s a process that for the Davids of the future may come with less trial and error: a licensed, safe treatment and more professional and peer support.

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