Seattle woman gets probation for massive Capital One hack


Tue, October 4, 2022 at 8:10 p.m.·2 min read

SEATTLE (AP) — A former Seattle tech worker convicted of several charges related to a massive hack of Capital One bank and other companies in 2019 was sentenced Tuesday to time served and five years of probation.

U.S. District Judge Robert S. Lasnik said sentencing former Amazon software engineer Paige Thompson to time in prison would have been particularly difficult on her “because of her mental health and transgender status,” the Department of Justice said in a statement.

U.S. Attorney Nick Brown said his office was “very disappointed” with the sentencing decision, adding prosecutors had asked for Thompson to serve seven years in prison.

“This is not what justice looks like,” Brown said in the statement.

In June, a Seattle jury found her guilty of wire fraud, unauthorized access to a protected computer and damaging a protected computer. The jury acquitted her of other charges, including access device fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Thompson, 37, obtained the personal information of over 100 million people — a data breach that prompted Capital One to reach a $190 million settlement with affected customers.

The Treasury Department fined the company $80 million for failing to protect the data.

Thompson’s attorneys argued at trial that she struggled with mental health issues, never intended to profit from the data she obtained, and said in court papers “there is no credible or direct evidence that a single person’s identity was misused.”

Federal prosecutors said she didn’t just steal the data, but also planted software on servers she unlawfully accessed to steal computing power to mine cryptocurrency.

“Ms. Thompson’s hacking and theft of information of 100 million people did more than $250 million in damage to companies and individuals,” Brown said. “Her cybercrimes created anxiety for millions of people who are justifiably concerned about their private information. This conduct deserves a more significant sanction.”

Thompson was arrested in July 2019 and remained in Jail until November of that year, The Seattle Times reported. The amount of restitution Thompson will have to pay victims will be determined at a December hearing.

The Associated Press

CEO of election software firm held on ID info theft charges

Tue, October 4, 2022 



LOS ANGELES (AP) — The founder and CEO of a software company targeted by election deniers was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of stealing data on hundreds of Los Angeles County poll workers.

Konnech Corporation's Eugene Yu, 51, was arrested in Meridian Township in Michigan and held on suspicion of theft of personal identifying information, while computer hard drives and other “digital evidence" were seized by investigators from the county district attorney's office, according to the office.

Local prosecutors will seek his extradition to California.

“We are continuing to ascertain the details of what we believe to be Mr. Yu’s wrongful detention by LA County authorities," Konnech said in a statement that ended: “Any LA County poll worker data that Konnech may have possessed was provided to it by LA County, and therefore could not have been ‘stolen' as suggested."

Konnech is a small company based in East Lansing, Michigan. In 2020, it won a five-year, $2.9 million contract with LA County for software to track election worker schedules, training, payroll,and communications, according to the county registrar-recorder/county clerk, Dean C. Logan.

Konnech was required to keep the data in the United States and only provide access to citizens and permanent residents but instead stored it on servers in the People’s Republic of China, the DA’s office said.

The DA's office didn't specify what specific information allegedly was taken. But officials said it only involved poll workers, not voting machines or vote counts and didn't alter election results.

“But security in all aspects of any election is essential so that we all have full faith in the integrity of the election process,” District Attorney George Gascón said in a statement.

“With the mid-term General Election 35 days away, our focus remains on ensuring the administration of this election is not disrupted,” said a statement from Dean C. Logan, the LA County registrar-recorder/county clerk.

There wasn't any evidence that any election worker was bribed or extorted and an investigation was pending into whether any of the data went into inappropriate hands, the DA's office said.

Konnech previously said that all the data for its American customers were stored on servers in the United States, the New York Times reported Monday.

The paper reported that Konnech and Yu, who was born in China, became the target of claims by election conspiracy theorists that the company had secret ties to the Chinese Communist Party and had supplied information on 2 million poll workers.

There wasn't any evidence to support those claims, but Yu received threats and went into hiding, the paper said.

Konnech also has contracts with Allen County, Indiana, and DeKalb County in Georgia, the Times said.

On its website, Konnech said it currently has 32 clients in North America.

The Associated Press

The AP Interview: Ukraine aims to restart occupied reactors


Tue, October 4, 2022



KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine is considering restarting Europe’s largest nuclear plant to ensure its safety just weeks after fears of a radiation disaster at the Russian-occupied facility, the president of the company that operates the plant said Tuesday.

The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant has emerged as one of the most worrying flashpoints of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It has been damaged in fighting, prompting international alarm, and its head was detained by occupying forces through the weekend before his release Monday.

Ukrainian state nuclear company Energoatom shut down the last of the plant’s six reactors on Sept. 11 because Russian military activity had cut reliable external power supplies for cooling and other safety systems, threatening a potentially catastrophic meltdown.

But now the company faces a different problem.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Energoatom President Petro Kotin said the company could restart two of the reactors in a matter of days to protect safety installations as winter approaches and temperatures drop.

“If you have low temperature, you will just freeze everything inside. The safety equipment will be damaged,” he said in his office at the company’s Kyiv headquarters. “So you need heating and the only heating is going to come from the working reactor.”

The plant’s last operational reactor was placed into what is known as “cold shutdown” last month, reducing the likelihood of a dangerous meltdown.

But there is still a risk as long as there are nuclear fuel assemblies inside, Kotin explained. Intentional damage to the reactors or the safety and cooling equipment, or a failure of those systems due to cold temperatures, could still lead to disaster.

“You have residual heat and you should constantly provide the coolant for these fuel assemblies. If you stop cooling, then you will have meltdown. And that is how it works,” he said.

Russian troops occupy the plant and the surrounding area, including the nearby city of Enerhodar, while thousands of Ukrainian workers continue to maintain the facility. The plant is the city's only source of heat, Kotin said.

Energoatom could make a decision as early as Wednesday to restart the reactors.

“We, at the moment, are evaluating all the risks. And this depends on the weather. And actually, we don’t have much time to do that,” Kotin said.

At the time of the forced shutdown, Ukrainian officials warned it was only a stopgap measure and, as such, unreliable.

Steven Arndt, president of the American Nuclear Society, said U.S. power plants often use heaters to prevent equipment, particularly refueling water storage tanks, from freezing. He did not have enough information to say whether restarting reactors at the Zaporizhzhia plant was necessary.

“Those heaters run on electricity, which need not come from the reactors, if the plant has a grid connection or backup generators in lieu of off-site power supplies,” Arndt said by email.

The power plant sits within one of four Ukrainian regions that Russia has illegally claimed as its territory. The plant’s director general, Ihor Murashov, was seized and blindfolded by Russian forces on his way home from work on Friday, hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed treaties to annex the areas.

Murashov reported that he did not experience beatings or other abuse, but he was forced to make false statements on camera before his release, according to Kotin.

“I would say it was mental torture," Kotin said of the baseless false confessions. “He had (to) say that all the shelling on the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant was made by Ukrainian forces, and that he is a Ukrainian spy and he is in contact with Ukrainian special forces.”

Murashov was eventually let go at a checkpoint at the edge of territory Russia controls and had to walk about 15 kilometers (9 miles) across a no-man’s land to Ukrainian-held areas, according to Kotin.

Enerhodar Mayor Dmytro Orlov said he had since spoken with Murashov, who reported "he spent two days in solitary confinement in the basement, with handcuffs and a bag on his head. His condition can hardly be called normal.”

The International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, said Tuesday that it “understands that Mr. Murashov is now with his family in territory controlled by Ukraine and will not be continuing with his duties at the ZNPP.”

“It is not yet clear who will replace him in this role,” the agency said.

The U.N. agency said its own director general, Rafael Mariano Grossi, plans to travel to Kyiv and then to Moscow this week to pursue an agreement on a “nuclear safety and security protection zone” around the Zaporizhzhia plant.

Russian forces occupied the nuclear power station, which ranks among the world’s biggest, early in the war. Both sides blame each other for shelling that has damaged power lines connecting it to the grid.

Kotin on Tuesday renewed his call for the establishment of a “demilitarized zone” around the plant, where two experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency are currently based.

___

Yuras Karmanau in Tallinn, Estonia, contributed reporting.

A quarter of Canadians are looking to cash out their investments, survey finds

Tue, October 4, 2022 



About a quarter of Canadians are losing confidence in the stock market and are now looking to cash out their investments, a new survey has found.

The survey, conducted by personal finance comparison website Finder, found that those looking to cash out amid recent market volatility may also be doing so because they're feeling a pinch in their budget.

Romana King, a personal finance expert with Finder, said Canadians are feeling the pressure when it comes to rising costs and may be looking to increase the amount of money they have on hand to make ends meet.

If Canadians have high interest loans, for example, they may be looking at their budget and wondering where else they can find money to lower their debts, she said.

Jason Heath, managing director of Objective Financial Partners Inc., said he wasn’t surprised that some Canadians have lost confidence given that the TSX is down about 10 per cent over the past year and the S&P 500 is down about 17 per cent.

"Some of the high-flying tech and meme stocks from 2021 have had a terrible year in 2022," he said.

He explained that investors can often make the mistake of being emotional or reactive to short-run performance as opposed to investing for the long-term.

“These findings are supportive of the idea that stock investing success generally requires patience and a five-plus-year time horizon. But short-term losses tend to cause some investors to panic,” he said.

The report said that of those looking to cash out, lower and middle income households made up the majority.

The findings also differed along generational lines. The younger the investor, the more certain they are that the market will go from bear to bull again, the report found. They were also more confident they would earn a profit in 2022, regardless of current conditions.

Baby boomers, on the other hand, had less confidence that they’d be able to meet or exceed their investment return projections for the year, and were more likely to want to cash out.

In this scenario, older investors may also be looking to make retirement withdrawals.

For Canadians planning to stay in the market and navigate a downturn, their top three investing strategies are to buy and hold (41 per cent), income investing (nine per cent), and index and a few select holdings (seven per cent).

If stock market volatility makes investors uncomfortable, Heath said they may need to assess their asset allocation and consider having less risk in their investment portfolio.

“Times like this are a good test for investors,” he said. “If you have a long-term time horizon, I would avoid panicking and trying to sell and buy back in at a lower level."

"It can be hard enough to be right once, let alone twice, with market timing. Even the experts tend to do a poor job of wholesale moves in and out of stocks.”

Young investors should consider whether there is a buying opportunity to get stocks at a lower price, he said.

“Others should remember that North American stocks returned over 25 per cent in 2021, which is like three good years of investment returns in a single year – so, arguably, we have just given back some of that temporary wealth.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 4, 2022.

Leah Golob, The Canadian Press

UK
Passengers facing more travel chaos as rail workers again take industrial action

ALAN JONES, PA INDUSTRIAL CORRESPONDENT

4 October 2022

Rail passengers are set for more travel chaos on Wednesday due to another strike in the long-running dispute over pay, jobs and conditions.

Members of the drivers’ union Aslef and the Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) will walk out, causing huge disruption to services.

Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan told the PA news agency the dispute would continue until the Government intervened.

He urged Transport Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan to “lift the shackles” from train companies so they could make a pay offer to workers.

Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said the dispute would continue until the Government intervened (Dominic Lipinski/PA)

“The message I am receiving from my members is that they are in this for the long haul and if anything they want industrial action to be increased,” he said.

Ms Trevelyan, speaking to the BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme, indicated that she now sees “more clearly” the perspective of the railway workers after meeting with Mr Whelan and RMT general secretary Mick Lynch.

She said she met the pair “because I really wanted to understand where they’re coming from”.

The train drivers’ strike will affect Avanti West Coast, Chiltern, CrossCountry, East Midlands Trains, Greater Anglia (including Stansted Express), Great Western, Hull Trains, LNER, London Overground, Northern Trains, Southeastern, Transpennine Express and West Midlands Trains.

Members of the TSSA will strike at CrossCountry and take other forms of industrial action at several other operators.

The TSSA is also planning industrial action on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, while members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union at more than a dozen train companies and Network Rail will strike on Saturday.

Passengers are advised to check before they travel on Wednesday and allow extra time for their journey.

Train companies not involved in the strike will be running trains, but these are expected to be busy.

Services are likely to be disrupted into the early morning of Thursday as workers return to duties.

The disruption will affect football fixtures and the final day of the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham.

Daniel Mann, director of industry operations at the Rail Delivery Group, said: “These strikes disrupt the travel plans of millions of passengers and undermine businesses who continue to struggle with rising costs and this continued action will only further damage the railway’s recovery.

“While some rail companies are not involved in the strike, services are likely to be busy, severely disrupted or in some cases not running, so passengers should check the latest travel advice before setting off.

“Passengers with advance, off-peak or anytime tickets affected by the strikes on 5 October can use their ticket on the day before the booked date, or up to and including 7 October.

“Passengers can also change their tickets to travel on an alternate date or get a refund if their train is cancelled or rescheduled.”

TSSA general secretary Manuel Cortes said: “We saw only last weekend that our strike action was rock-solid across the country. Our brilliant members remain determined to see their demands met in the shape of a just settlement.

A Department for Transport spokesperson called on union bosses to ‘reconsider’ the ‘divisive action’ (James Manning/PA)

“We do not strike lightly but are prepared to dig in as we seek a fair deal on pay, job security and conditions in the face of cuts, economic collapse and a cost-of-living crisis at the hands of this chaotic Tory government.

“With more strikes and wider industrial action in the offing this week, it’s time for ministers to get wise and act now to deliver a fair deal which will halt a winter of rail misery across the network.”

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “It is incredibly disappointing that for the second time in five days we face disruption on our railways, with businesses once again being affected, thousands of people at risk of being unable to travel to work or school, and doctors’ appointments being missed.

“Our railway is in desperate need of modernisation but all more strikes will do is punish the very people unions claim to stand up for and push passengers further away.

“We urge union bosses to reconsider this divisive action and instead work with their employers, not against them, to agree a new way forward.”

Canadian MP says Iran carries out collective punishment against Kurds

“It is also part of the collective punishment the regime in Tehran continues against Kurdish people in all parts of Kurdistan.”

 
 Wladimir van Wilgenburg 

Canadian Conservative Party MP Tom Kmiec (Photo: Kurdistan 24)

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Canadian Conservative Party MP Tom Kmiec told Kurdistan 24 on Monday that the bombing campaign carried out by Iran in the Kurdistan Region is a “collective punishment” against the “Kurdish people in all parts of Kurdistan.”

“The bombing campaign using missiles and drones is a violation of Iraqi territorial sovereignty,” he said

“It is also part of the collective punishment the regime in Tehran continues against Kurdish people in all parts of Kurdistan.”

The Canadian government has recently imposed sanctions on Iranian officials in response to the crackdown by Iran on protests and the death of Jina (Mahsa) Amini at the hands of Iran’s morality policy.

Also the Canadian government earlier strongly condemned Iran’s missile and drone attacks on Sept 28 against Iranian Kurdish opposition parties in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, "which have resulted in multiple civilian deaths and injuries.”

Nevertheless, Iran has continued to bomb the Kurdistan Region's border areas for the eleventh consecutive day amidst the widespread protests in Iran.

MP Tom Kmiec said he supports the “limited measures the Canadian government has taken so far under the Special Economic Measures Act but more must be done.”

“The spear of the autocratic regime in Tehran is the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) and they must be listed as a terrorist organization.”

“Conservatives in Canada have been calling for years for the IRGC to be labeled officially as a terrorist group in Canada,” he said.

“This would allow criminal charges to be laid against its agents in Canada and direct our security agencies to treat them the way we do other terrorist organizations. Canada's security agency CSIS found the IRGC responsible for the downing of the civilian flight PS752.”

‘In 2018, Conservatives passed a parliamentary motion calling for the IRGC to be labeled a terrorist group and the federal government in Canada has ignored it since then.”

Moreover, he said Canada “should stop referring to the Iranian regime as elected, review the decision to grant economic sanctions relief in light of Iran's violations of the P5+1 nuclear deal, and finally the Canadian government should begin a campaign at the UN Commission for Women to have Iran ejected from that body because of its systemic violation of women's rights.”

During a passionate speech in the Canadian parliament on Monday, MP Tom Kmiec also said that the “response of Tehran to massive protests at the murder of Jina (Masha) Amini is a collective punishment of the Kurds Rojhlat (Iranian Kurdistan), and the persecution of Iranian protesters for simply demanding their rights be respected.”

Read More: 2,000 Kurds arrested, 23 killed in Iranian Kurdistan during Iran protests: Hengaw

“Over 2000 arrests have followed beatings, hangings and a bombing campaign across Bashur and Rojhlat, hitting civilians in places like Koya, Osnaniveh, Mariwan and sites in Iraq, including areas near Erbil and Sulaymaniyah,” he said.

He added in his speech that recently also 50,000 Canadians took to the streets in Toronto and all across Canada “to rally for free Iran and democratic rights.”

“Millions worldwide have joined in solidarity demanding justice for Jina Masha Amini, meaning the tip of the autocratic spear of oppressing the people of Iran and Rojhlat (Iranian Kurdistan) is the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. There is only one moral ethical choice for Canada to list the IRGC as a terrorist organization in Canada.”

‘Weaknesses and shortcomings’: Iran’s president tries to assuage anger as protests continue

October 5, 2022

Dubai: Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi appealed for national unity and tried to allay anger against the country’s rulers, even as the anti-government protests that have engulfed the country for weeks continued to spread to universities and high schools.

The recent disappearance and death of a 17-year-old girl in Tehran, however, has unleashed an outpouring of anger on Iranian social media.

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.

CREDIT:AP

Nika Shahkarami, who lived in the capital with her mother, vanished one night last month during the protests in Tehran, her uncle Kianoush Shakarami told Tasnim news agency. She was missing for a week before her lifeless body was found in a Tehran street and was returned to her family, Tasnim reported, adding relatives had not received official word on how she died.

Foreign-based Iranian activists allege she died in police custody, with hundreds circulating her photo and using her name as hashtag online for the protest movement. The prosecutor in the western Lorestan province, Dariush Shahoonvand, denied any wrongdoing by authorities and said was buried in her village Monday.

“Foreign enemies have tried to create a tense atmosphere after this incident,” he told the Hamshari daily, without elaborating on what happened.

President Raisi acknowledged on Tuesday that the Islamic Republic had “weaknesses and shortcomings,” but repeated the official line that the unrest sparked last month by the death of a woman in the custody of the country’s morality police was nothing short of a plot by Iran’s enemies.

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‘Say her name’: Melbourne’s Iranian community protests over Mahsa Amini death

“Today the country’s determination is aimed at cooperation to reduce people’s problems,” he told a parliament session. “Unity and national integrity are necessities that render our enemy hopeless.”

The protests, which emerged in response to the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini after her arrest for allegedly violating the Islamic Republic’s strict dress code, have embroiled dozens of cities across the country and evolved into the most widespread challenge to Iran’s leadership in years. A series of festering crises have helped fuel public rage, including the country’s political repression, ailing economy and global isolation.

The scope of the ongoing unrest, the most sustained in over a decade, remains unclear as witnesses report spontaneous gatherings across the country featuring small acts of defiance — protesters shouting slogans from rooftops, cutting their hair and burning their state-mandated headscarves.

People hold signs and chant slogans during a protest against the death of Iranian Mahsa Amini and the government of Iran in Istanbul, Turkey.

The hardline Kayhan daily on Tuesday tried to downplay the scale of the movement, saying that “anti-revolutionaries,” or those opposed to the Islamic Republic, “are in the absolute minority, possibly 1 per cent.”

But another hardline newspaper, the Jomhuri Eslami daily, cast doubt on government claims that foreign countries were to blame for the country’s turmoil.

“Neither foreign enemies nor domestic opposition can take cities into a state of riot without a background of discontent,” its editorial read.

Iran’s security forces have sought to disperse demonstrations with tear gas, metal pellets, and in some cases live fire, rights groups say. Iran’s state TV reports that violent confrontations between protesters and the police have killed at least 41 people, but human rights groups say the number is much higher.

An escalating crackdown on the press, with dozens of journalists arrested in the last few weeks, has stifled most independent reporting on sensitive issues such as the deaths of protesters.

As the new academic year began this week, demonstrations spread to university campuses, long considered sanctuaries in times of turmoil. Videos on social media showed students expressing solidarity with peers who had been arrested and calling for the end of the Islamic Republic. Roiled by the unrest, many universities moved classes online this week.

The prestigious Sharif University of Technology in Tehran became a battlefield on Sunday as security forces surrounded the campus from all sides and fired tear gas at protesters who were holed up inside a parking lot, preventing them from leaving.
In one video on Monday, students at Tarbiat Modares University in Tehran marched and chanted, “Jailed students must be freed!” In another, students streamed through Khayyam University in the conservative city of Mashhad, shouting, “Sharif University has become a jail! Evin Prison has become a university!” — referring to Iran’s notorious prison in Tehran.



Iran
‘Did you clean your phone?’: The question that could be life or death for Iranian protesters

Protests also appeared to grip gender-segregated high schools across Iran, where groups of young schoolgirls waved their hijabs and chanted “Woman! Life! Freedom!” in the city of Karaj west of the capital and in the Kurdish city of Sanandaj on Monday, according to widely shared footage.

The response by Iran’s security forces has drawn widespread condemnation. On Monday, President Joe Biden said his administration was “gravely concerned about reports of the intensifying violent crackdown”.

The British foreign office summoned the Iranian ambassador in London.

“The violence levelled at protests in Iran by the security forces is truly shocking,” said British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly.

Security forces have rounded up an untold number of demonstrators, as well as artists who have voiced support for the protests. Local officials report at least 1500 arrests.

Shervin Hajipour, a singer who emerged as a protest icon for his wildly popular song inspired by Amini’s death, was detained last week. His lawyer said he was released on bail Tuesday and rejoined his family in the northern city of Babolsar.



Hundreds protest after death of woman in Iran


Hundreds have taken to the streets today to protest in support for

 women's rights after the death of a 22-year-old woman in Iran under police custody.

In his somber ballad, “For the sake of,” he sings of why Iranians are rising up in protest.

“For dancing in the streets,” he intones. “For my sister, for your sister, for our sisters.”

Raisi’s claims echoed those of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who blamed the United States and Israel, the country’s adversaries, for inciting the unrest in his first remarks on the nationwide protests on Monday. It’s a familiar tactic for Iran’s leaders, who have been mistrustful of Western influence since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Iran has also blamed the unrest on Kurdish opposition groups in the country’s northwest that operate along the border with neighbouring Iraq. On Tuesday, Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard bombed three bases belonging to Kurdish militant groups in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish region with drones and artillery, the semiofficial Tasnim news agency reported, without elaborating on casualties. It was the latest in a wave of Iranian bombardments that killed at least nine people last month.

AP

Iran: Teen protester Nika Shakarami's body stolen, sources say - BBC News

Oct 4, 2022

Iranian security forces stole the body of a 16-year-old protester, and buried her secretly in a village, sources close to the family have said.

The family had planned to bury Nika Shakarami on Monday, but her body was snatched and buried in a village about 40km (25 miles) away, the sources said.

Nika went missing for 10 days after protesting in Tehran on 20 September.

Unrest in Iran was triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman who fell into a coma after being detained by morality police on 13 September for allegedly violating the law requiring women to cover their hair with a hijab, or headscarf. She died in hospital three days later.

Monday Briefing: As Iran’s protests spread, the regime pursues “maximum suppression”

October 3, 2022


Abdolrasool Divsallar
Non-Resident Scholar

The one-year-old Raisi administration pushed forward a controversial set of ultra-conservative social policies that increased the division between state and society and played a role in fueling the recent protests.

Islamic Republic leaders are choosing to move up the ladder of escalation rather than step back and revise their policies, believing they can make the protests too costly to continue.

The tragic death of Mahsa Amini, an Iranian women arrested by the Islamic Republic’s so-called “morality police,” incited nationwide protests on Sept. 17. Like in previous incidents that sparked popular demonstrations, including after Iran’s downing of a Ukrainian airliner in 2020, the authorities initially denied responsibility for triggering the crisis. Instead, the state’s propaganda machine launched a fierce disinformation campaign, blaming Mahsa’s underlying health conditions for causing her death. But when protests refused to die down, the Islamic Republic adopted what has become its classic response: “maximum suppression,” utilizing all means of violence and imprisonment to stop the rallies.

Discontent in the Islamic Republic has been on the rise for at least the last decade. But a year into Ebrahim Raisi’s presidency, his administration, which represents the 1979 revolution’s ultra-conservative elements, pushed forward a controversial set of social policies that played a role in fueling the latest round of protests. Namely, amid the failure of the government’s economic policy as well as Iran’s continued international isolation due to its uncompromising stance in the nuclear talks, the administration sped up the implementation of a social engineering plan that included creating a “national internet” and the “restoration of the hijab” as its top priorities.

These ideas have long been discussed among Iran’s hardliners, such as those at the Center for the Islamic-Iranian Model of Progress and the Office of the Supreme Leader. But what made these policies so seminal to the present situation is their implicit dismissal of the values held by the majority of Iranians, who fall outside the conservative camp. Rather than recognizing the heterogeneity of Iranian society, the authorities have pushed to unify the whole population around a state-driven ideology and way of life. The result has been a further restriction of social freedoms in Iran since the start of Raisi’s presidency.

Consequently, the Islamic Republic now faces a previously unseen level of division between the state and society, with the state’s influence over the population rapidly declining. Discontent has spread and hope in the prospects for change has waned, while the core of supporters of the Islamic Republic has shrunk. Street protests are now widely seen, especially by the new Generation Z, as the only viable way to achieve change.

Nonetheless, the Iranian security elites continue to judge their traditional techniques of suppression as effective. They follow a simple rationale: no matter the context, whether facing international condemnation of their nuclear program or a domestic crisis, the leaders of the Islamic Republic choose to ascend the ladder of escalation rather than take a step back and revise their policies. They believe keeping up the pressure will raise the costs for their opponents to the point where it is irrational to continue opposing Tehran. In the streets of Iranian cities, this obdurate approach has resulted in dozens of Iranians killed and thousands violently attacked by security forces. Meanwhile, the prospects for change within the Iranian leadership will remain highly limited so long as its members continue to see their current strategy as key to ensuring their hold on power.

Monday Briefing: As Iran’s protests spread, the regime pursues “maximum suppression” | Middle East Institute (mei.edu)

Students in Iran continue to defy police crackdown and demonstrate against government

By Euronews with AP • Updated: 04/10/2022
This video is not available in your location

.
Protest over Iran unrest

- Copyright Richard Vogel/AP Photo


Students in Iran continued to defy the government and security forces on Tuesday, by protesting for more social freedoms in the aftermath of the death of a young Iranian woman in September.

Twenty-two-year-old Mahsa Amini died after being arrested by Iran's so-called morality police for allegedly wearing her mandatory Islamic headscarf too loosely. She died in hospital several days after being released from police custody.

Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi tried to relieve anger against the country's theocratic regime, as anti-government protests spread to universities and high schools.

Iran’s security forces have sought to disperse demonstrations with tear gas, metal pellets, and in some cases live fire, human rights groups say. Iran’s state TV reports that violent confrontations between protesters and the police have killed at least 41 people, but human rights groups say the number is much higher.

An escalating crackdown on the press, with dozens of journalists arrested in the last few weeks, has stifled most independent reporting on sensitive issues such as the deaths of protesters.

The recent disappearance and death of a 17-year-old girl in Tehran, however, has unleashed a renewed outpouring of anger on Iranian social media.

Human rights expert Hadi Ghaemi told Euronews that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's decision to blame the US and Israel for masterminding the protests was devoid of logic.

"To call them agents of Israel and America was a very tired rationale that Iran's supreme leader has used to justify his brutal rules, so many people thought it's really the last words of a dictator who refuses to acknowledge reality and wants to relate everything to a foreign-based enemy," Ghaemi, Director of Center for Human Rights in Iran said.

Mahsa Amini: Iran's security forces violently disperse protesters at Sharif University in Tehran

Mahsa Amini: Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamene blames unrest on foreign plot to destabilise Iran

Solidarity with Iran as worldwide protests staged over death of Mahsa Amini

There has been criticism of the US and the EU’s response to the Iran crisis. Ghaemi believes both powers are being too passive in addressing the repression of protests, which have left dozens of people dead.

"Europe and US have been very timid in reacting to the events unfolding. And it's clear to me that they're trying to gain a political point for their own purposes in the negotiations, toward a nuclear deal, which has been stalled. Let's remember for nearly two years. There is no rush to sign that deal right now. And give legitimacy to the Islamic Republic," Ghaemi said.

Officially, at least 1,500 people have been arrested since protests erupted on 16 September.

Among those was Shervin Hajipour, a composer and singer of a song in support of the protests that became an anthem for the demonstrators. He was released on probation on Tuesday.

Iran schoolgirls remove hijabs in protests against government

IMAGE SOURCE,TWITTER
In Shiraz, dozens of schoolgirls were filmed blocking a main road while waving their headscarves in the air

By David Gritten
BBC News

In an unprecedented move, schoolgirls have joined the protests that have swept Iran since the death of a woman detained for breaking the hijab law.

Videos verified by the BBC show teenage students in uniforms waving their headscarves in the air while shouting slogans against clerical authorities.

The chants echoed those heard at the wider protests over the past two weeks.

In Karaj on Monday, hijab-less girls were filmed forcing a man thought to be a local official out of their school.

The footage shows them shouting "shame on you" and throwing what appear to be empty water bottles at the man until he retreats through a gate.

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In another video from Karaj, which is just to the west of the capital Tehran, students are heard shouting: "If we don't unite, they will kill us one by one."

In the southern city of Shiraz on Monday, dozens of schoolgirls blocked traffic on a main road while waving their headscarves in the air and shouting "death to the dictator" - a reference to the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters.

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Further protests by schoolgirls were reported on Tuesday in Tehran and the north-western cities of Saqez and Sanandaj.

A number of students were also photographed standing in their classrooms with their heads uncovered. Some were raising their middle fingers - an obscene gesture - at portraits of Ayatollah Khamenei and the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

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The protests by the schoolgirls began hours after Ayatollah Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters, broke his silence on the unrest and accused the United States and Israel, Iran's arch-enemies, of orchestrating "riots".

He also gave his full backing to the security forces, which have responded to the protests with a violent crackdown.

The unrest was triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman who fell into a coma after being detained by morality police on 13 September in Tehran for allegedly violating the law requiring women to cover their hair with a hijab, or headscarf. She died in hospital three days later.

Her family has alleged that officers beat her head with a baton and banged her head against one of their vehicles. The police have denied that she was mistreated and said she suffered "sudden heart failure".

The first protests took place in Kurdish-populated north-western Iran, where Ms Amini lived, and then spread rapidly across the country.

Islamic Republic’s Misogyny Sparked Women-Led Uprising In Iran – US Envoy

Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism Deborah E. Lipstadt (left)

US envoy for battling antisemitism says the entire world as well as the Iranian people know that Islamic Republic’s inherent misogyny has sparked the current women-led uprising.

Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism Deborah E. Lipstadt said late Monday that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei "can blame ‘Zionists,' the US, or anyone else, but it’s clear to the world and the Iranian people that his regime’s violent misogyny ignited these women-led protests.”

She was referring to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s first reaction to ongoing unrest on Monday, saying that the protests were planned and not staged by "ordinary Iranians…I am saying explicitly and clearly, riots and insecurity were planned by America and the usurper, fake Zionist regime,” said the aging 83-year-old Khamenei who has ruled for 33 years.

Echoing Khamenei’s remarks, Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi said on Tuesday the ongoing protests – triggered by the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini -- are a riot organized by the US and Israel in order to prevent the Islamic Republic’s progress.

Also on Monday, US Congressman Brad Sherman (D-Calif) said that “Today the Ayatollah erroneously tried to blame the US and Israel for Iran’s protests.”

Referring to a bipartisan and bicameral resolution to commemorate Mahsa Amini's death and to convey US support for the protests, the representative added that “through resolutions like this, the world is showing that the truth behind the protests is clear, and that the support behind those calling for equality and justice in Iran is resolute.”

Qatar 2022: Paris joins big screen boycott of World Cup over human rights claims

The decision announced by the deputy mayor of Paris in charge of sports means it follows similar moves by other French cities, despite the country going in as the defending champion.

Tuesday 4 October 2022 

France supporters react in a fan zone at the Hotel de Ville before the World Cup semi-final in 2018

Paris will not broadcast World Cup matches on giant screens in public fan zones amid concerns over rights violations of migrant workers and the environmental impact of the tournament in Qatar.

It follows similar moves by other French cities, despite the country going in as the defending champion.

Pierre Rabadan, deputy mayor of Paris in charge of sports, said the decision is due to "the conditions of the organisation of this World Cup, both on the environmental and social level".

He said in an interview with France Blue Paris that "air-conditioned stadiums" and the "conditions in which these facilities have been built are to be questioned".

Mr Rabadan stressed that Paris is not boycotting the tournament, but explained that Qatar's "model of staging big events goes against what (Paris, the host of the 2024 Olympics) wants to organise".


The move comes despite the city's football club, Paris Saint-Germain, being owned by Qatar Sports Investments.

A growing number of French cities are refusing to erect screens to broadcast World Cup matches to protest Qatar's human rights record.

The mayor of Strasbourg, the seat of the European Parliament and the European Court of Human Rights, cited allegations of human rights abuses and exploitation of migrant workers in Qatar as the reason for cancelling public broadcasts of the World Cup.

"It's impossible for us to ignore the many warnings of abuse and exploitation of migrant workers by non-governmental organisations," Jeanne Barseghian said in a statement.

"We cannot condone these abuses, we cannot turn a blind eye when human rights are violated."

The World Cup is being held in Qatar in November and December. 

Pic: AP

Arnaud Deslandes, a deputy mayor of Lille, said that by cancelling public viewing of matches, the northern city wanted to send a message to FIFA about the irreparable damage of the Qatar tournament to the environment.

"We want to show FIFA that money is not everything," Deslandes told The Associated Press in an interview.

Read more:
England and Wales reflect football's delicate approach over rights violations in Qatar
Just how much Qatar 2022 might have cost

As for residents' reactions to the city's decision, he added: "I have yet to meet a person in Lille who was disappointed by our decision."

The gas-rich emirate has been criticised for its treatment of migrant workers, mostly from south Asia, who were needed to build the stadiums, metro lines, roads and hotels.

However, Qatar has denied these accusations and has repeatedly rejected allegations that the safety and health of 30,000 workers who built the World Cup infrastructure have been jeopardized.

Amnesty International UK

UK: Home Secretary’s Conference speech ‘frighteningly anti-human rights’

© Amnesty International

In response to the Home Secretary’s speech at the Conservative Party conference today, Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International UK’s Chief Executive, said:

“Suella Braverman’s speech was frighteningly anti-human rights and offered a vision of a Britain which rides roughshod over our basic rights and freedoms. 

“Threats to weaken the Modern Slavery Act and human rights laws, to double down on the unlawful Rwanda deal and bar anyone crossing the Channel from sanctuary in the UK, would be a shocking failure to behave lawfully let alone with compassion.

“The draconian Public Order Bill will introduce yet more restrictions on the right to peaceful protest, with protest banning orders and widespread stop-and-search powers even without suspicion - doing serious damage to any reputation the UK has for upholding the rule of law and protecting free speech. 

“Instead of defending the completely discredited Prevent programme, Braverman should be working on measures that can restore confidence and trust in all our communities.

“The Home Secretary’s suggestion that the UK should fail to comply with the European Court of Human Rights is dangerously discreditable, would reduce people’s rights and damage the international human rights system as a whole.

“Overall, it looks as if the cruelty and intolerance of recent Home Office policy on asylum, policing and the right to protest are set to intensify under Braverman’s stewardship.”

 UK to propose asylum ban on English Channel migrants

By Andrew MacAskill and Kylie MacLellan

REUTERS - Yesterday 

Migrants arrive into the Port of Dover onboard a Border Force vessel after being rescued while crossing the English Channel, in Dover

© Reuters/HENRY NICHOLLS

BIRMINGHAM, England (Reuters) -British interior minister Suella Braverman set out plans on Tuesday for new powers which would ban migrants who cross the English Channel from claiming asylum and said it was her "dream" to see a government flight deporting asylum seekers to Rwanda.


British Attorney General and Conservative leadership candidate Suella Braverman attends the Conservative Way Forward launch event in London

© Reuters/HENRY NICHOLLS

The government has been under pressure to deal with the rising number of people making dangerous journeys despite plans to deport those arriving illegally to Rwanda.

More than 30,000 people have made the crossing in small boats so far this year, already surpassing last year's record. Government officials have warned the total could reach 60,000 by the end of 2022.

Braverman used her speech to the governing Conservative Party's annual conference to commit to looking at new legislative powers so the government can deport those who come to Britain illegally.

"We have to stop the boats crossing the Channel. This has gone on for far too long," Braverman said.

"I will pledge to you today that I will bring forward legislation to make it clear that the only route to the United Kingdom is through a safe and legal route."

The new powers would go further than existing legislation and were designed to create a blanket ban on anyone who enters Britain illegally, including on small boats across the English Channel, from claiming refuge, a government source said.

'BARBARIC'

The charity Care4Calais called the government's proposals "barbaric, untruthful and unnecessary" and said most asylum seekers who come to Britain are genuine refugees. LIKE HER FAMILY WERE

This "is blatant victim blaming of incredibly vulnerable people, simply for the purpose of grabbing headlines," said Clare Mosley, the founder of the charity.

The previous prime minister Boris Johnson had hoped that a plan to deport those arriving illegally to Rwanda would act as a deterrent to those arriving in dinghies and small boats, but numbers hit record levels over the summer.

The first planned deportation flight in June was blocked by a last-minute injunction from the European Court of Human Rights.

Braverman said earlier at an event on the fringes of her party's conference that she will work to prevent the court from overruling the British government in future, but does not expect any planes to take off until after Christmas, because of continuing legal challenges.

She said seeing a flight leaving to take asylum seekers to Rwanda is her "dream" and "obsession".

The U.N. refugee chief has called the policy of deportation to Rwanda "catastrophic" and the entire leadership of the Church of England denounced it as immoral and shameful.

Braverman said she wants to stop migrants from using slavery laws to avoid deportation.

Braverman, whose parents arrived in Britain in the 1960s from Kenya and Mauritius, said in her speech that the government will continue to help genuine asylum seekers. But she will say that changes are needed to stop it being abused.

"It’s not racist for anyone, ethnic minority or otherwise, to want to control our borders," she said. "It’s time to tackle the small boats – no ifs, no buts."

(Reporting by Andrew MacAskill and Kylie MacLellan; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa, William Maclean and Grant McCool)

Home Secretary's desire for UK to leave European Convention on Human Rights branded 'worrying'

Tuesday 4 October 2022 


Campaigners have condemned the Home Secretary's new solution to the Channel crossings crisis as "barbaric and unnecessary". ITV News' Correspondent Rachel Younger reports

Home Secretary Suella Braverman has broken with party policy to call for the UK to leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) as she urged a crackdown on illegal migration.

She said it was her personal view and acknowledged government policy was to work within the boundaries of the convention, which is interpreted by the convention.

But it is another sign of indiscipline within Liz Truss’ administration at the Tory conference in Birmingham

.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman leaves the stage after speaking at the Tory party conferenceCredit: Aaron Chown/PA

A senior Government source told the PA news agency: “As Suella acknowledged, her personal views are contrary to Government policy and if she wishes to make those views known within Government she should do so in a more appropriate setting.”

Ms Braverman campaigned on the issue when she stood for the Tory leadership in the contest won by Ms Truss.

She told a Spectator event at the Tory conference in Birmingham on Tuesday: “I was pretty blunt about this issue in my leadership campaign.

“My position personally is that ultimately we do need to leave the European Convention on Human Rights.

“That is not government policy, I should say, government policy is to do everything we can within the convention, within the boundaries of the convention.

“But if that doesn’t work, then we will have to consider all options.”

Home Secretary Suella Braverman seen during the Conservative Party annual conference at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham.Credit: PA

She added: “I don’t think we need to be subject to an institution born out of the post-war era which is a bit analogue in the way that it operates, which has centralised power, which is distant and which is politicised, which is pursuing an agenda which is at odds with our politics and our values.

“I don’t think that’s the direction that the world is going in, that’s not the direction that people called for with Brexit.”

An intervention by the European court contributed to the grounding of the first flight under the Government’s policy of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda.

In her main conference speech, Ms Braverman said migrants crossing the Channel will face a ban from claiming asylum in Britain.
Home Secretary Suella Braverman vows action to end ‘abuse’ of immigration rules
Leaked document raises potential legal issues of Rwanda asylum seeker policy

The new laws – which go further than the Nationality and Borders Act which came into force in June – will impose a blanket ban on anyone deemed entering the UK illegally from seeking refuge.

The announcement marks the latest attempt by the Government to curb the growing numbers of Channel crossings after its flagship policy to send migrants on a one-way trip to Rwanda stalled amid the legal challenges.

So far this year more than 33,500 people have arrived in the UK after making the journey from France.


Liz Truss to claim disruption worth it for a ‘new Britain’

Liz Truss refuses to rule out scrapping 45% tax rate for top earners in future

Ms Braverman told the conference in Birmingham the law “simply isn’t working” and legislation was being “abused” by people smugglers, people making “multiple, meritless and last-minute claims” and – taking aim at lawyers – by “specialist small boat-chasing law firms”, adding: “This cannot continue.”

“I will look to bring forward legislation to make it clear that the only route to the United Kingdom is through a safe and legal route … So if you deliberately enter the United Kingdom illegally from a safe country, you should be swiftly returned to your home country or relocated to Rwanda. That is where your asylum claim will be considered.”
Liz Truss to claim disruption worth it for a ‘new Britain’

Campaigners condemned the plan as further “attacks” on “genuine refugees” and branded them a “blatant breach” of Britain’s international obligations under the Refugee Convention.

Clare Mosley, founder of refugee charity Care4Calais, said the proposal was “barbaric and unnecessary” while claiming the Government’s rhetoric on Channel crossings was “simply false”.

More migrants arrived in the UK on Tuesday after Channel crossings

Credit: Gareth Fuller/PA

Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, branded the proposals “deeply worrying and out of step with the majority of the public who support giving refugees protection”.

Zoe Abrams, executive director at the British Red Cross, said: “We need more safe routes for people at risk. The vast majority of people that make it to our shores go on to have their asylum claim approved.”

Setting out her intention to ensure UK immigration policy is not “derailed” by modern slavery laws, the Human Rights Act or the European court, Ms Braverman also said she would “work closely with the French to get more out of our partnership”.

How to help victims of Hurricane Ian in Cuba

World Oct 4, 2022 PBS

A vintage car passes by debris caused by the Hurricane Ian as it passed in Pinar del Rio, Cuba, September 27, 2022. 

REUTERS/Alexandre Meneghini/File Photo

By — Gabriel Pietrorazio

In the week since Hurricane Ian made landfall in Cuba, leveling buildings and knocking out the island’s electrical grid, protests have erupted in the streets over lingering power outages, resulting in food spoilage and further civil unrest.

Ricardo Torres Pérez, a Cuban-born economist and faculty fellow at American University, said the Category 3 hurricane that tore through the island’s western region has been a crushing blow to an already struggling economy.

“This is a tragedy for thousands of Cubans. There’s no way to underestimate this,” Torres Pérez said. “It’s not catastrophic because it’s not the entire country, but it’s a severe impact on the very weak economy.”

Tobacco production, in particular, has come to a grinding halt in the Pinar del Río province, according to Torres Pérez.

“It’s an industry that was already having troubles,” he said. “All of the infrastructure associated with the industry is gone, so they have to start from scratch. That’s a major impact and will be felt this and next year in terms of those revenues.”

Michael Doering, the Latin America liaison at World Help, went to Cuba to meet with the Christian humanitarian organization’s network of congregations and house churches, numbering in the thousands islandwide.

“The stories that I was hearing were just disastrous,” Doering said. “Basically entire villages that were destroyed, and none of the crops survived. There’s really no other way to describe it.”

Delivering disaster relief to the largest island in the Caribbean can be difficult in the face of sanctions, embargos and political tensions between the U.S. and Cuba.

Manolo De Los Santos, co-executive director of the New York City-based People’s Forum, spent six years at Global Ministries’ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Center in Havana. He stayed connected with the Cuban religious institution after returning stateside, and a partnership between the center and the People’s Forum has grown to include thousands of grassroots organizers across the island. Despite these connections, they still face limitations in getting and delivering aid to the largest island in the Caribbean.

“The center is definitely taking donations, but they have a major challenge, which is the bank they use, for example, in Cuba is sanctioned by the U.S. government,” said De Los Santos. “We’re scratching our heads trying to figure out how to get resources directly to them.”

Members of the United Nations General Assembly have continued their calls for the U.S. to end its economic blockade on Cuba through consecutive resolutions for nearly three decades, since 1992.

Earlier this year, the State Department lifted caps on donative remittances, allowing anyone from the U.S., regardless of Cuban origin, to send an unrestricted amount of money to individuals on the island. The Biden administration made the announcement in May, and the policy went into effect at the beginning of June.

Torres Pérez said the move can alleviate financial burdens incurred amid humanitarian crises, including Ian.

“It happened in a timely fashion,” he said. “People have their right to help their relatives, by all means. They will have new channels to legally transfer funds to their close friends in Cuba.”

The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control authorizes the necessary licenses to send disaster relief to Cubans. Although an embargo is still in effect, there are exemptions allowing for certain forms of humanitarian aid to the island, including food and medicine.

“The aid that we have been sending has to be channeled officially. It requires getting permission to import the containers,” Doering said.

Even when aid does arrive at the island, distribution can also be a challenge.

“Cuba today is still a totalitarian society where the state is the sole provider of emergency or humanitarian assistance,” said Sebastián Arcos, associate director of the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University. “Even when assistance is offered by foreign governments, entities or Cuban exiles, the Cuban government prefers to collect and distribute any such help.”

The Wall Street Journal reported that Cuba’s government has asked for assistance from the U.S. in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian.

Arcos said the distribution of disaster aid is considered to be “a highly political issue” by the Cuban government and “a threat to its absolute control of society.”

“The only exception to this rule is the Cuban Catholic Church,” Arcos added, “which has been able to channel humanitarian assistance in a limited manner.”

Catholicism plays a prominent role in Cuba. The Conference of Catholic Bishops of Cuba once estimated baptizing 60 percent of the island’s 11 million residents.

Over the course of two decades, Catholic Relief Services has cultivated relationships with the Cuban Catholic Church and its humanitarian arm, Caritas Cuba, said Haydee Díaz, who oversees aid responses in the Caribbean for Catholic Relief Services.

The international humanitarian faith-based organization is shipping non perishable food items, like rice, beans, oil, pasta, sardines, salt and sugar, as well as hygiene items, like soaps, detergents and diapers, to Cuba.

“We’re essentially trying to make sure that we can support the Cuban Catholic Church by getting these very basic supplies to help people deal with the first few days after the disaster,” Díaz said.
Here are some ways to help

Catholic Relief Services is working with Caritas Cuba to distribute non-perishable food, water and hygiene items to Cubans in need. Online donations support these efforts, as well as fund long-term shelter repairs to strengthen the island’s fragile housing infrastructure.

World Help is raising funds to ship food, clean water and clothing to Cuba in the coming days and weeks.

The People’s Forum is seeking donations to fund the purchase of roofing materials in Mexico, which can be shipped directly to their Cuban partners on the ground.
How to avoid charity scamsDetermine whether the organization, nonprofit or group has a proven track record of delivering aid to those in need.

Identify local initiatives and efforts that are based within the areas most affected by the natural disaster.

Beware of phone calls and emails soliciting donations.

Avoid unfamiliar agencies and websites. There is a history of scammers creating websites that look like donation pages after a major tragedy, but in reality were scams.

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