FDA WAR ON VAPING IS DISTRACTION FROM TOXIC TOBACCO

New survey suggests little progress against U.S. teen vaping

By MIKE STOBBE and MATTHEW PERRONE

October 6, 2022

n this Jan. 31, 2020 photo a woman holds a flavored disposable vape device in New York. A government study on adolescent vaping, released on Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022, finds more than 2.5 million U.S. kids were using some form of e-cigarette in 2022, suggesting there’s been little progress in keeping vaping devices out of the hands of teenagers. 

(AP Photo/Marshall Ritzel, File)


NEW YORK (AP) — The latest government study on teen vaping suggests there’s been little progress in keeping e-cigarettes out of the hands of kids.

The data seems to show more high school students vaping, with 14% saying they had done so recently, according to survey results released Thursday. In last year’s survey, about 11% said they had vaped recently.

But experts cautioned that a change in the survey makes it difficult to compare the two: This year, a much higher percentage of participants took the survey in schools, and vaping tends to be reported more in schools than in homes.

“It continues to be difficult to assess (vaping) trends since the pandemic,” said Alyssa Harlow, a University of Southern California researcher who studies youth e-cigarette use.

Despite its persistence, vaping appears to be less popular than it was: In 2019, 28% of high schoolers said they had recently vaped.

Educators say vaping is still a big problem.

Anecdotally, the 2021-22 school year was worse than it was before the pandemic, said Mike Rinaldi, principal of Westhill High School in Stamford, Connecticut. That school year was the first when most kids returned from remote learning following COVID-19 lockdowns, noted Rinaldi, who speculated that many kids may have taken up vaping as they dealt with mental health issues or stress related to the pandemic.

Kids vaping in school bathrooms and stairwells remains “a constant battle,” said Matt Forker, principal of the nearby Stamford High School.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers authored the new study, which is based on a Jan. 18 to May 31 online survey of about 28,000 U.S. middle and high school students.

The study asked about use of e-cigarettes and other vaping devices in the previous 30 days. In addition to the 14% of high school students who said they vaped recently, about 3% of middle schoolers said they had done so.

Of those who vaped, about 28% said they did it every day.

Nearly 85% of the youth who vaped used flavored products. Favored brands included Puff Bar and Vuse, followed by Hyde and Smok.

The Food and Drug Administration on Thursday took action against the makers of both Puff Bar and Hyde following months of urging from congressional lawmakers and parent groups.

The agency sent a warning letter to Puff Bar manufacturer EVO Brands, stating that the company never obtained U.S. permission to sell its products and that they are being marketed illegally. Only a handful of vaping companies have received FDA clearance for their products, which must demonstrate a health benefit for adult smokers.

The agency also said it ordered Hyde manufacturer Magellan Technology to remove its products from the market, after rejecting its application for FDA authorization.

The FDA has struggled to regulate the sprawling vaping landscape, which includes both established companies and smaller startups. Regulators have been pilloried by Congress and anti-vaping advocates for missing multiple deadlines to issue decisions on millions of vaping products submitted by companies.

In the last three years, federal and state laws and regulations have raised the purchase age for tobacco and vaping products, and banned nearly all teen-preferred flavors from small, cartridge-based e-cigarettes.

Some kids also may have been scared away by a 2019 outbreak of vaping-related illnesses and deaths — most of them tied to a filler in black market vaping liquids that contained THC, the chemical that makes marijuana users feel high.

Leaders of one advocacy group said they worry the battle to diminish youth vaping is not going well.

The numbers “may not reflect the much larger reality of youth e-cigarette use that we hear about on a daily basis from parents, teachers, pediatricians, and prevention specialists who are experiencing this urgent and ongoing adolescent public-health crisis,” the group, Parents Against Vaping E-Cigarettes, said in a statement.

The FDA tried to ban the leading e-cigarette maker Juul’s products earlier this summer, citing questions about its potential health risks. But it’s been forced to put that effort on hold following a court challenge.

In this year’s survey, about one-fifth of teens who vape reported recently using Juul, though it was no longer a favorite brand. That’s a big shift from 2019, when more than half of teens reported Juul as their usual brand.

Instead, many young people have migrated to e-cigarettes delivering laboratory-made nicotine — including Puff Bar — a loophole in FDA’s oversight that Congress closed this year. Despite gaining new authority over those products, the FDA missed a mid-July deadline to issue decisions on the vast majority of those products.

___

Perrone reported from Washington, D.C.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Philadelphia apologizes for experiments on Black inmates

Edward Anthony speaks of his time at Holmesburg Prison in Philadelphia and the tests in which he participated while an inmate, pictured here on Oct. 24, 2007. The city of Philadelphia issued an apology Thursday, Oct. 6, 2022, for the unethical medical experiments performed on mostly Black inmates at its Holmesburg Prison from the 1950s through the 1970s. 

(Michael Bryant//The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP, File)

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The city of Philadelphia issued an apology Thursday for the unethical medical experiments performed on mostly Black inmates at its Holmesburg Prison from the 1950s through the 1970s.

The move comes after community activists and families of some of those inmates raised the need for a formal apology. It also follows a string of apologies from various U.S. cities over historically racist policies or wrongdoing in the wake of the nationwide racial reckoning after the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer.

The city allowed University of Pennsylvania researcher Dr. Albert Kligman to conduct the dermatological, biochemical and pharmaceutical experiments that intentionally exposed about 300 inmates to viruses, fungus, asbestos and chemical agents including dioxin — a component of Agent Orange. The vast majority of Kligman’s experiments were performed on Black men, many of whom were awaiting trial and trying to save money for bail, and many of whom were illiterate, the city said.

Kligman, who would go on to pioneer the acne and wrinkle treatment Retin-A, died in 2010. Many of the former inmates would have lifelong scars and health issues from the experiments. A group of the inmates filed a lawsuit against the university and Kligman in 2000 that was ultimately thrown out because of a statute of limitations.

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said in the apology that the experiments exploited a vulnerable population and the impact of that medical racism has extended for generations.

“Without excuse, we formally and officially extend a sincere apology to those who were subjected to this inhumane and horrific abuse. We are also sorry it took far too long to hear these words,” Kenney wrote.

Last year, the University of Pennsylvania issued a formal apology and took Kligman’s name off some honorifics like an annual lecture series and professorship. The university also directed research funds to fellows focused on dermatological issues in people of color.

EXPLAINER: Fewer people cross Mediterranean; many still die

By NICOLE WINFIELD

yesterday

1 of 7

Migrants swim next to their overturned wooden boat during a rescue operation by Spanish NGO Open Arms at south of the Italian Lampedusa island at the Mediterranean sea, Aug. 11, 2022. The back-to-back shipwrecks of migrant boats off Greece that left at least 22 people dead this week has once again put the spotlight on the dangers of the Mediterranean migration route to Europe. 

(AP Photo/Francisco Seco, file)

ROME (AP) — The back-to-back shipwrecks of migrant smuggling boats off Greece has once again put the spotlight on the dangers of the Mediterranean migration route, the risks migrants and refugees are willing to take and the political infighting that has thwarted a safe European response to people fleeing war, poverty and climate change.

Here’s a look at the migration situation across the Mediterranean Sea:

WHAT HAPPENED TO TWO SMUGGLERS’ BOATS OFF GREECE?

Bodies floated amid splintered wreckage off a Greek island on Thursday as the death toll from separate sinkings of two migrant boats rose to 22, with about a dozen still missing. The vessels went down hundreds of miles apart, in one case prompting a dramatic overnight rescue effort as island residents and firefighters pulled shipwrecked migrants to safety up steep cliffs.

The Greek shipwrecks came just days after Italy commemorated the ninth anniversary of one of the deadliest Mediterranean shipwrecks in recent memory, the Oct. 3, 2013 capsizing of a migrant ship off Lampedusa, Sicily, in which 368 people died.

WHAT ARE THE TRENDS IN MEDITERRANEAN MIGRANT ARRIVALS?

So far this year, the International Organization of Migration has recorded around 109,000 “irregular” arrivals to the Mediterranean countries of Italy, Spain, Greece, Cyprus and Malta by land or sea. This has made immigration a hot political topic in those European Union nations.

U.N. refugee officials note that overall numbers of migrants seeking to come to Europe this way has decreased over the years, to an average of around 120,000 annually. They call that a relatively “manageable” number, especially compared to the 7.4 million Ukrainians who have fled their homeland this year to escape Russia’s invasion, and were welcomed by European countries.

“We’ve seen how quickly and how rapidly a response was mounted to deal with that situation in a very humane and commendable way,” said Shabia Mantoo, spokesperson for the U.N. refugee agency in Geneva. “If we can see that happen very concretely in this situation, why can’t it be applied for 120,000 people that are coming across to Europe on a yearly basis?”

Others see Europe’s harsh response to Mediterranean migrants, who often come from Africa, and its welcoming of Slavic Ukrainian migrants as racist.

HOW DANGEROUS IS THE MEDITERRANEAN?

So far this year the IOM has reported 1,522 dead or missing migrants in the Mediterranean. Overall, the IOM says 24,871 migrants have died or gone missing in the Mediterranean since 2014, with the real number believed to be even higher given the number of shipwrecks that never get reported.

“The voyage toward Italy has been confirmed to be the most dangerous,” said the ISMU foundation in Italy, which conducts research on migration trends.

The Central Mediterranean migration route that takes migrants from Libya or Tunisia north to Europe is the deadliest known migration route in the world, accounting for more than half of the reported deaths in the Mediterranean that IOM has tracked since 2014. The route has Italy as its prime destination.

WHAT ARE THE DEADLIEST KNOWN SMUGGLING SHIPWRECKS?

On April 18, 2015, the Mediterranean’s deadliest known shipwreck in living memory occurred when an overcrowded fishing boat collided 77 nautical miles off Libya with a freighter that was trying to come to its rescue. Only 28 people survived. At first it was feared the hull held the remains of 700 people. Forensic experts who set out to try to identify all the dead concluded in 2018 that there were originally 1,100 people on board.

On Oct. 3, 2013, a trawler packed with more than 500 people, many from Eritrea and Ethiopia, caught fire and capsized within sight of an uninhabited islet off Italy’s southern island of Lampedusa. Local fishermen rushed to try to help save lives. In the end, 155 survived and 368 people died.

One week later, a shipwreck occurred on Oct 11, 2013, further out at sea, 60 miles south of Lampedusa in what has become known in Italy as the “slaughter of children.” In all, more than 260 people died, among them 60 children. The Italian newsweekly L’Espresso in 2017 published the audio recordings of the migrants’ desperate calls for help and Italian and Maltese authorities seemingly delaying the rescue.

WHAT ARE OTHER MEDITERRANEAN MIGRATION ROUTES TO EUROPE?

The Western Mediterranean route is used by migrants seeking to reach Spain from Morocco or Algeria. The Eastern Mediterranean route, where the shipwrecks occurred this week off Greece, has traditionally been used by Syrian, Iraqi, Afghan and other non-African migrants who flee first to Turkey and then try to reach Greece or other European destinations.

Greece was a key transit point for hundreds of thousands of migrants and refugees entering the EU in 2015-16, many fleeing wars in Iraq and Syria, though the numbers dropped sharply after the EU and Turkey reached a deal in 2016 to limit smugglers. Greece has since toughened its borders and built a steel wall along its land border with Turkey. Greece has also been accused by Turkey and some migration experts of pushing back migrants, a charge it denies.

For its part, Greece says Turkey has failed to stop smugglers active on its shoreline and has been using migrants to apply political pressure to the whole European Union.

HOW HAS MIGRATION DIVIDED THE EU’S 27 NATIONS?

Mediterranean countries have for years complained that they have been left to bear the brunt of welcoming and processing migrants, and have long demanded other European countries step up and take them in.

Poland, Hungary and other Eastern European nations refused an EU plan to share the burdens of carrying for the migrants.

Human rights groups have condemned how the EU in recent years has outsourced migrant rescues to the Libyan coast guard, which brings the migrants back to horrific camps on land where many are beaten, raped and abused.

“Over the years, the routes have changed but not the tragedies,” said the Sant’Egidio Community as it commemorated the 2013 Lampedusa anniversary this week. Working with other Christian groups, the Catholic charity has brought more than 5,000 refugees to Italy via “humanitarian corridors” and has called for more safe passages to be organized so migrants don’t have to risk dangerous Mediterranean crossings with smugglers.

___

Follow all AP stories on global migration at https://apnews.com/hub/migration.

https://monoskop.org/File:Hardt_Michael_Negri_Antonio_Empire.pdf

File:Hardt Michael Negri Antonio Empire.pdf - Monoskop 

Jul 28, 2012 ... File:Hardt Michael Negri Antonio Empire.pdf ... Hardt_Michael_Negri_Antonio_Empire.pdf ‎(file size: 1.33 MB, MIME type: application/pdf) ...

https://selforganizedseminar.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/hardt_negri_multitude.pdf

multitude war and democracy in the age of empire 

Multitude war and democracy in the Age of Empire /. Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri. p. cm. Sequel to: Empire. Includes index. ISBN 1 ...

Another month of solid US hiring suggests more big Fed hikes

By PAUL WISEMAN

yesterday

1 of 3

A sign advertises for help The Goldenrod, a popular restaurant and candy shop, Wednesday, June 1, 2022, in York Beach, Maine. The number of available jobs in the U.S. plummeted in August 2022 compared with July as businesses grow less desperate for workers, a trend that could cool chronically high inflation. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)


WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s employers slowed their hiring in September but still added 263,000 jobs, a solid figure that will likely keep the Federal Reserve on pace to keep raising interest rates aggressively to fight persistently high inflation.

Friday’s government report showed that hiring fell from 315,000 in August to the weakest monthly gain since April 2021. The unemployment rate dropped from 3.7% to 3.5%, matching a half-century low.

The Fed is hoping that a slower pace of hiring would eventually mean less pressure on employers to raise pay and pass those costs on to their customers through price increases — a recipe for high inflation. But September’s job growth was likely too robust to satisfy the central bank’s inflation fighters.

Last month, hourly wages rose 5% from a year earlier, the slowest year-over-year pace since December but still hotter than the Fed would want. The proportion of Americans who either have a job or are looking for one slipped slightly, a disappointment for those hoping that more people would enter the labor force and help ease worker shortages and upward pressure on wages.

The jobs report “was still likely too strong to allow (Fed) policymakers much breathing room,” said Matt Peron, director of research at Janus Henderson Investors.

Likewise, Rubeela Farooqi, chief U.S. economist at High Frequency Economics, said she didn’t think September’s softer jobs and wage numbers would stop the Fed from raising its benchmark short-term rate in November by an unusually large three-quarters of a point for a fourth consecutive time — and by an additional half-point in December.

On Wall Street, stocks tumbled Friday morning — a sign that investors foresee more aggressive Fed rate hikes ahead. The S&P 500 index sank 1.9% in early trading. And the yield on the 2-year Treasury note, which tends to track expectations for Fed actions, rose to 4.31% from 4.26% late Thursday.

The public anxiety that has arisen over high prices and the prospect of a recession is also carrying political consequences as President Joe Biden’s Democratic Party struggles to maintain control of Congress in November’s midterm elections.

In its epic battle to rein in inflation, the Fed has raised its benchmark interest rate five times this year. It is aiming to slow economic growth enough to reduce annual price increases back toward its 2% target.

It has a long way to go. In August, one key measure of year-over-year inflation, the consumer price index, amounted to 8.3%. And for now, consumer spending — the primary driver of the U.S. economy — is showing resilience. In August, consumers spent a bit more than in July, a sign that the economy was holding up despite rising borrowing rates, violent swings in the stock market and inflated prices for food, rent and other essentials.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell has warned bluntly that the inflation fight will “bring some pain,” notably in the form of layoffs and higher unemployment. Some economists remain hopeful that despite the persistent inflation pressures, the Fed will still manage to achieve a so-called soft landing: Slowing growth enough to tame inflation, without going so far as to tip the economy into recession.

It’s a notoriously difficult task. And the Fed is trying to accomplish it at a perilous time. The global economy, weakened by food shortages and surging energy prices resulting from Russia’s war against Ukraine, may be on the brink of recession. Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, warned Thursday that the IMF is downgrading its estimates for world economic growth by $4 trillion through 2026 and that “things are more likely to get worse before it gets better.”

Powell and his colleagues on the Fed’s policymaking committee want to see signs that the abundance of available jobs — there’s currently an average of 1.7 openings for every unemployed American — will steadily decline. Some encouraging news came this week, when the Labor Department reported that job openings fell by 1.1 million in August to 10.1 million, the fewest since June 2021.

On the other hand, by any standard of history, openings remain extraordinarily high: In records dating to 2000, they had never topped 10 million in a month until last year.

Last month’s decline in unemployment was widely shared across demographic groups. The jobless rate for Hispanics tumbled to 3.8%, the lowest level in government records dating to 1973. Unemployment for Black Americans also fell, from 6% in August to 5.8% in September, still above its record low of 5.1% in November 2019.

In September, restaurants and bars added 60,000 jobs, as did healthcare companies. State and local governments cut 27,000 jobs. Retailers, transportation and warehouse companies reduced employment modestly.

Many Americans appear to have decided that there are still plenty of jobs available and that they can take their time accepting one. Among them is Jenny Savitscus of Columbus, Ohio, who recently earned a technology certificate at a program run by Goodwill. Savitscus, 45, who’d like a job in high technology, said she’s willing to hold out for an employer that will offer flexible hours and work-at-home options.

“There are opportunities out there,” she said. “Employers and job seekers are trying to find the right balance’’ between work and home life. She said she can afford to wait for just the right position because she has two part-time teaching jobs.

Friday’s government report underscored how resilient the job market remains even if it may be slowing.

“The U.S. labor market continues to decelerate, but there are no signs that it’s stalling out,” said Nick Bunker, head of economic research at the Indeed Hiring Lab. “Payroll growth is no longer at the jet speed we saw last year, but employment is still growing quickly.”

Radial, a company that powers the online businesses for Lucky Brands, Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein, is one employer that is hiring more cautiously. The company plans to hire 15,000 seasonal workers at its 25 warehouses — 7,000 fewer than a year ago — and 2,000 at its customer-service centers, said Sabrina Wnorowski, chief human resource officer for Radial, based in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania.

Wnorowski said the company’s more moderate approach to hiring reflects a renewed focus on adding workers closer to the peak of the holiday season to make them more productive. She noted that online sales growth is slowing and that the tight job market appears to be weakening a bit. Peloton, for example, the maker of high-end exercise equipment, announced Thursday that it is cutting 500 jobs — 12% of its workforce.

Yet some companies continue to plow ahead with hiring. Walt Rowen, president of Susquehanna Glass Co. in Columbia, Pennsylvania, said the company, which makes decorative glass products, needs around 15 seasonally workers along with a full-time staff of 40 to 45. Rowen has raised entry-level pay from around $9 an hour before the pandemic to $14 an hour and yet still struggles to fill vacancies.

“It’s getting harder and harder,” he said. “You used to be able to interview 10, bring in five and keep three. Now we’re interviewing 20, getting five and keeping one.’’

____

AP Business Writers Anne D’Innocenzio in New York and Christopher Rugaber in Washington contributed to this report.

Disputing Iran’s version, mom says teen was beaten to death

yesterday

A woman rides bicycle front of a mural signed by Clacks-one and Heartcraft_Street art, depicting women cutting their hair to show support for Iranian protesters standing up to their leadership over the death of a young woman in police custody, in a tunnel in Paris, France, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022. The mother of a 16-year-old Iranian girl has disputed official claims, Friday, Oct. 7, that her daughter fell to her death from a high building, saying the teen was killed by blows to the head as part of the crackdown on anti-hijab protests roiling the country. Nika Shakarami has become the latest icon of the protests, seen as the gravest threat to Iran’s ruling elites in years. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)


DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The mother of a 16-year-old Iranian girl has disputed official claims that her daughter fell to her death from a high building, saying the teen was killed by blows to the head as part of the crackdown on anti-hijab protests roiling the country.

Nasreen Shakarami also said authorities kept her daughter Nika’s death a secret for nine days and then snatched the body from a morgue to bury her in a remote area, against the family’s wishes. The bereaved mother spoke in a video message Thursday to Radio Farda, the Persian-language arm of the U.S.-funded station Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

Nika Shakarami has become the latest icon of the protests, seen as the gravest threat to Iran’s ruling elites in years. Attempts by authorities in recent days to portray the teen’s death as an accident could signal concern that the incident is fueling further anger against the government.

The protests, which enter their fourth week Saturday, were sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in the custody of the morality police. They had detained Amini for alleged violations of the country’s strict Islamic dress code.

Young women have often been leading the protests, tearing off and defiantly waving their headscarves as they call for toppling the government.

The protests quickly spread to communities across Iran and have been met by a harsh government crackdown, including beatings, arrests and killings of demonstrators, as well as internet disruptions.

Human rights groups estimate that dozens of protesters have been killed over the past three weeks. On Thursday, the London-based group Amnesty International published its findings about what appears to be the single deadliest incident so far — in the city of Zahedan on Sept. 30.

The report said Iranian security forces killed at least 66 people, including children, and wounded hundreds, after firing live rounds at protesters, bystanders and worshippers in a violent crackdown that day. Iranian authorities claimed the Zahedan violence involved unnamed separatists. More than a dozen people have been killed since then in the area, the report said.

Meanwhile, Nika Shakarami’s mother pushed back against attempts by officials to frame her daughter’s death as an accident.

In her video message, she said that the forensics report showed that Nika had died from repeated blows to the head.

Nika’s body was intact, but some of her teeth, bones in her face and part of the back of her skull were broken, she said. “The damage was to her head,” she said. “Her body was intact, arms and legs.”

Earlier this week, Iran’s police chief, Gen. Hossein Ashtari, claimed that the teen had gone to a building “and fell from the upper floor at a time of gatherings.” He said that “the fall from that height led to her death.”

Nasreen Shakarami said her daughter left her home in Tehran in the afternoon of Sept. 19 to join anti-hijab protests. She said she was in touch by phone with Nika several times in the next few hours, pleading with her to come home. They last spoke before midnight. “Then Nika’s mobile was off, after she and her friends were shouting names of forces while they were fleeing,” she said.

The following morning, the family searched for Nika at police stations and prisons, but had no word of her whereabouts for nine days. Authorities finally handed over the body on the 10th day and the family headed to the city of Khoramabad for burial, she said. Authorities repeatedly demanded to take possession of the body, which was in the meantime stored in the Khoramabad morgue.

On the day of the planned funeral the family learned that the body had been snatched from the morgue and was taken to a remote village for burial, under heavy security, Nasreen Shakarami said.

Since the confirmation of her death, Nika has emerged as another icon of the protests, alongside Amini. A photo of Nika, wearing a black T-shirt and sporting a stylish two-tone bob haircut and eyeliner, has been widely circulated on social media.

Authorities arrested Nasreen Shakarami’s brother and sister. The sister, Atash, later said on Iranian TV that her niece fell from a high building.

Nika’s mother said she believes her siblings had been pressured to echo the official version.

Iran has a long history of broadcasting forced confessions.

Also Friday, the official IRNA news agency quoted the coroner’s office saying examinations found that Mahsa Amini died of cerebral hypoxia — in which oxygen supply to the brain decreases. It said she suffered multiple organ failure but “her death was not led by blunt force trauma to the head, organs and vital parts of the body.”

It said Amini suffered heart arrhythmia, hypotension and loss of consciousness before been taken to a hospital.

Amini’s family rejected the coroner’s report, because authorities had failed to consult with medical specialists as requested by the family, BBC Persian reported. Mahsa Amini’s father has previously said her corpse showed clear signs of being bruised and beaten.  

PLEASE INVADE US

Haiti’s leader requests foreign armed forces to quell chaos

1 of 6

A protester carries a piece of wood simulating a weapon during a protest demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, in the Petion-Ville area of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Oct. 3, 2022. Haiti's government has agreed to request the help of international armed forces as gangs and protesters paralyze the country and basic supplies including fuel and water dwindle, a top ranking Haitian official told The Associated Press on Friday, Oct 7. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph, File)


PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haiti’s government has agreed to request the help of international troops as gangs and protesters paralyze the country and supplies of water, fuel and basic goods dwindle, according to a document published Friday.

The document, signed by Prime Minister Ariel Henry and 18 top-ranking officials, states that they are alarmed by “the risk of a major humanitarian crisis” that is threatening the life of many people.

It authorizes Henry to request from international partners “the immediate deployment of a specialized armed force, in sufficient quantity,” to stop the crisis across the country caused partly by the “criminal actions of armed gangs.”

“It is imperative to restart activities to avoid a complete asphyxiation of the national economy,” the document states.

It wasn’t clear if the request had been formally submitted, to whom it would be submitted and whether it would mean the activation of United Nations peacekeeping troops, whose mission ended five years ago after a troubled 11 years in Haiti.

On Friday, the U.S. Embassy warned that “U.S. citizens should depart Haiti now in light of the current health and security situation and infrastructure challenges.” It also authorized the temporary departure of government personnel and their families.

U.S. State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel said earlier in the day that the U.S. is considering a request for a humanitarian corridor to restore the distribution of fuel within Haiti and coordinating with Haiti’s prime minister and other international partners to determine how best to provide additional support.

“We strongly condemn those who continue to block the distribution of fuel and other necessities to Haitian businesses,” he said.

Patel would not address the issue of where the troops to enforce the corridor might come from, saying that consideration was still in an early stage.

The petition comes after Luis Almagro, secretary general of the Organization of American States, met Thursday with officials including U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Haiti Foreign Affairs Minister Jean Victor Généus to talk about the country’s worsening situation.

Almagro tweeted late Thursday that Haiti “must request urgent assistance from the international community to help resolve security crises, determine the characteristics of an international security force.”

Many Haitians have rejected the idea of another international intervention, noting that U.N. peacekeepers were accused of sexual assault and sparked a cholera epidemic more than a decade ago that killed nearly 10,000 people.

“I don’t think Haiti needs another intervention,” said Mathias Pierre, Haiti’s former elections minister. “We have been through so many, and nothing has been solved .... If we don’t do it as Haitians, 10 years forward, we’re going to be in the same situation again.”

He called on the U.S. government to help reduce the amount of ammunition and guns flowing to Haiti and also to equip police officers so they have more weapons and the ability to run intelligence on gangs.

He also worried about the situation that an international security force would encounter.

“It’s not an army they’re facing,” he said. “They’re facing gangs located in poor areas and using the population as shields to protect themselves.”

Haiti’s National Police has struggled to control gangs with its limited resources and chronic understaffing, with only some 12,800 active officers for a country of more than 11 million people.

The gangs have only grown more powerful since the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse.

As Henry’s administration agreed on the request for foreign troops, his office issued a statement saying the prime minister had not resigned, rejecting what it called fake reports circling on social media that prompted hundreds of Haitians across the country to celebrate in the streets late Thursday.

“It is purely and simply strategies of fabrications, intoxication, orchestrated by ill-intentioned individuals, aiming to sow more trouble and confusion,” his office said.

Protesters and increasingly powerful gangs have helped plunge Haiti into an unprecedented level of chaos, with the country paralyzed for nearly a month after gangs surrounded a large fuel terminal in the capital of Port-au-Prince, refusing to budge until Henry steps down.

As a result, crews have been unable to distribute about 10 million gallons of diesel and gasoline and more than 800,000 gallons of kerosene stored on site.

Protesters also have blocked roads ever since Henry announced in early September that his administration could no longer afford to subsidize fuel, leading to sharp increases in the price of gasoline, diesel and kerosene.

The document signed by Henry and other officials stated that such actions are having “catastrophic consequences.”

Gas stations are shuttered, hospitals have cut back on critical services and businesses including banks and grocery stores have curtailed their hours.

On Wednesday, the U.N. Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Office in Haiti proposed a “humanitarian corridor” to allow fuel and aid to those in need. It noted the country is also dealing with a new cholera outbreak, with several deaths reported and dozens of patients being treated.

“The most vulnerable people are the first to suffer from the blockage,” the U.N. said.

At least 13 U.S. congressional leaders have demanded that the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden stop showing that it is backing Henry and suspend all deportations “given the extreme physical security risks and dire humanitarian situation.”

It called on the U.S. government to support “legitimate efforts to create a transitional Haitian government that respects the will of the Haitian people, and should make it clear to Henry that it will not support him as he blocks progress.”

Henry has stressed that he has no interest in holding on to power and plans to organize general elections as soon as the violence quells.

___

Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Associated Press writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

MONOPOLY CAPITALI$M

British regulators eyeing Google, Amazon, Microsoft in antitrust investigation

Specifically in the crosshairs of the British antitrust inquiry are Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud, all of which dominate global cloud storage services. 

File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

 (UPI) -- Media regulators are looking into whether large U.S. tech companies including Amazon and Google have formed a monopoly over cloud computing in Britain, officials said Thursday.

Britain's media watchdog agency Ofcom announced the investigation and said it will look into whether the two companies and Microsoft may have an unfair competitive advantage in the cloud services industry.

"Because the cloud sector is still evolving, we will look at how the market is working today and how we expect it to develop in the future -- aiming to identify any potential competition concerns early to prevent them becoming embedded as the market matures," the agency said in a statement, according to the Evening Standard.

Specifically in the crosshairs of the inquiry are Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud, all of which dominate global cloud storage services -- a powerful tool that allows businesses to store data on remote servers accessible from anywhere as opposed to localized hard drives.

Depending on the findings of the investigation, the agency could take further action to rein in the corporate behemoths.

Other popular digital tools are also on the watchdog's radar, including Meta's WhatsApp, Apple's Zoom and FaceTime and virtual assistants like Amazon Alexa -- services that so far have seen little, if any, regulatory oversight.

Ofcom estimates that global companies spend nearly 20% of their budgets on cloud services -- but Amazon, Google and Microsoft take the lion's share (more than 80%) of the profits.

Selina Chadha, Ofcom director of connectivity, said the agency is taking an objective approach with its investigation, which could take as long as a year to gather information.

"The way we live, work, play and do business has been transformed by digital services," Chadha said according to CNBC. "But the number of platforms, devices and networks that serve up content continues to grow, so do the technological and economic issues confronting regulators."

The watchdog's final report will list any antitrust concerns and make recommendations to fix them.

The British investigation is part of a broader effort by London to implement new controls in broadcasting and telecommunications and to clean up the digital economy. The Competition and Markets Authority is looking into U.S. tech companies in several separate antitrust investigations.

The European Union has previously hit Google with billions of dollars in penalties for suspected antitrust violations and Apple and Amazon are suspected of similar practices.

All three companies have faced similar antitrust scrutiny in the United States.

In mid-2020, several tech CEOs including Amazon's Jeff Bezos, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and Google's Sundar Pichai testified before a House subcommittee on antitrust.

Kentucky football players sue police over false burglary accusations



"This lawsuit is another tragic example of the damage caused by corrupt policing in America," one of the players' attorneys said.

 Photo courtesy Loevy & Loevy/UPI

 (UPI) -- Five current and former University of Kentucky football players are suing police for their handling of a burglary investigation last year that falsely suspected them of being involved in the crime.

The players are suing Lexington police, arguing that the investigating officer sought to "frame and defame" them after fraternity members at the party subjected them to racial slurs and instigated a fight.

Kentucky players Reuben Adams, JuTahn McClain, Andru Phillips, Devito Tisdale and Joel Williams filed the legal complaints, which say police officer Cory Vinlove made up false charges without probable cause and the ordeal led to "a torrent of social media and other public abuse."

The players are Black and Vinlove is White. Phillips, McClain and Tisdale are still on Kentucky's football team.

All five players were later cleared of the burglary charges by a grand jury. The University of Kentucky football team suspended them during the investigation and allowed them to return when they were cleared.

"This lawsuit is another tragic example of the damage caused by corrupt policing in America," attorney Elliot Slosar, who filed the suits, said in a statement. "It is shocking how Officer Cory Vinlove, in spite of objective evidence and the University of Kentucky's thorough investigation, damaged so many lives.

"As the lawsuits demonstrate, these five young Black men were targeted by a White officer with an axe to grind and determined to make a name for himself."

Police officer Donnell Gordon, Lexington Police Chief Lawrence Weathers and the Lexington-Fayette County Urban Government are also named as defendants in the lawsuits.

A police spokesperson said that the department will let the legal process play out before they comment on the accusations.

This season, Kentucky is 3-0 so far and ranked No. 9 in the USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll and No. 8 in the Associated Press Top 25.

CRIMINAL CAPITAL$M
Walmart, 3 other companies agree to pay fines over discriminatory job listings


Federal investigators said four companies, including Walmart and Capital One, had posted discriminatory job listings on college job boards online. 

File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo


(UPI) -- Four companies including mega retailer Walmart have settled a dispute with the Justice Department and agreed to pay a fine over job postings that discriminated against non-U.S. citizens.

The department said Walmert, Capital One, Carmax and Axis Analytics LLC had created the job postings on college recruiting websites.

The settlement stems from a federal investigation that found at least one job announcement from the companies that excluded non-U.S. citizens on one recruitment platform for the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Officials said the investigation found dozens of other discriminatory listings on Georgia Tech's platform and others operated by colleges across the United States.

The department fined the companies hundreds of thousands of dollars each.

"With these four new settlements, the department has now held 20 companies accountable this year for hiring discrimination against students based on their citizenship status," Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Kristen Clarke said in a statement.

"The Civil Rights Division is committed to enforcing the law to ensure that job seekers -- including lawful permanent residents, U.S. nationals, asylees and refugees -- are not unlawfully excluded from job opportunities for which they are qualified."

The department said all four companies are also required to provide anti-discrimination training to its employees.

The companies must also refrain from including specific citizenship or immigration status designations in their campus job postings unless the restrictions are required by law.

"These four agreements add to the department's recent settlements with 16 other companies to resolve similar claims in June 2022, bringing the total civil penalty amount for all 20 employers to over $1.1 million," the department added.

GIMME SHELTER 

'Godzilla' lizard found climbing on Florida home's window

 (UPI) -- A Central Florida family captured video when they had an unusual visitor -- a large monitor lizard climbing on a window.

Jocelyn Penson, who posted the video to Facebook, said the footage was filmed at the home of her son, Frank Crowder, in Apopka, Fla.

The video shows the lizard climbing on the window in an apparent attempt to find its way into the house. The reptile ends up flopping off the window and down to the ground.

"Looks like Godzilla to me!" Penson wrote.

Penson's family initially said the animal appeared to be a tegu lizard, but Ron Magill, a wildlife expert with Zoo Miami, said the reptile is a monitor lizard from Sub-Saharan Africa.

"It's a lizard that could be anywhere between 3 and 5 feet, generally speaking," he told WSVN-TV.

Magill said the lizard was likely a former pet that either escaped or was abandoned into the wild by its owner.