After the terrifying earthquakes, it’s women and girls in Turkey feeling the aftershocks

Elif Shafak
Wed, 8 March 2023 

Photograph: Eloisa Lopez/Reuters

In Turkey’s southern province of Hatay, one of the most ravaged cities in the recent earthquakes, 25-year-old Alev Altun, the mother of two young children, became homeless in one night, like thousands of others. Having nowhere to go, she agreed to take refuge in the house of her ex-husband, on his invitation, assuming it would be safer to stay with the father of her children than alone in a tent or in a building at risk of collapse.

While she was sleeping, her ex-husband allegedly poured scalding water all over her, shouting she should be grateful that he had not killed her. She remains in intensive care at a local hospital, with severe burns to her head, face and body. Hers is one of the many harrowing stories of women and girls in crisis zones.

Women suffer disproportionately in the aftermath of disasters. While tens of thousands of people have lost homes and jobs, women continue to work ceaselessly in makeshift tents and containers set up for displaced survivors – finding food or trying to cook, washing or cleaning where water is available, constantly providing for others. In traditional, patriarchal societies, the entire burden of looking after extended families is on their shoulders. According to organisations on the ground, a large number of women were found dead – and occasionally pulled out alive – in children’s rooms buried under piles of rubble. When the tremors began, they ran to save their children and babies. Unicef says the number of children who have died in the earthquake “is likely to be in the many thousands”.

There are 356,000 pregnant women across the earthquake-affected areas. Of these, an estimated 39,000 are expected to deliver babies in the coming weeks. For every affected woman and girl, but especially for pregnant women, the lack of toilets and cleaning facilities is a major source of distress.

Growing up in Turkey, I have been told many times to be quiet about and ashamed of the female body, and especially menstruation. Still to this day, one of the widespread definitions of the word “dirty” (kirli) in Turkish dictionaries is “a woman who is menstruating”. When I was younger, often when I bought a sanitary product from a market, I would watch the cashier immediately wrap it in some old newspaper, hiding it as if it was a scandal. Once, in Istanbul, I was scolded by a male grocer when I asked out loud in front of everyone where the period products were. He used a word I have never forgotten, ayip – shame.

‘There are reports from human rights organisations that it is harder to find a tent or access aid if you are a single woman.’ Tents for earthquake survivors in Adiyaman, Turkey, 25 February 2023. 

Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

In this sexist culture, female survivors of earthquakes find it very difficult to ask for sanitary pads. There is an assumption that within the broader picture of devastation and destruction, such matters are a trivial concern. They are not. Action Aid has said that the situation for women and girls and marginalised communities “is becoming increasingly alarming”. In times of war and disaster, the rights and freedoms of women and minorities always become casualties to the “more important and urgent issues” of realpolitik. The humanitarian organisation Plan International has reported that, “Our experience shows that children, especially girls, women and the poorest families, are most at risk of exploitation in a disaster like an earthquake. Women and children in the disaster zone will be at risk of exploitation and abuse, should they find themselves once again displaced.”

LGBTQ+ communities find the situation extremely hard. Sexual harassment and violence is a growing threat for many who remain vulnerable in homophobic and transphobic environments. There are reports from human rights organisations that it is harder to find a tent or access aid if you are a single woman. Hate speech is never far from the surface.

Wars, disasters and earthquakes also disrupt education. In Turkey and Syria, girls are much more likely to be pulled out of school. Turkey already has one of the highest rates of child marriage in Europe. Yet instead of helping women and minorities by implementing the Istanbul convention – the treaty designed to combat violence against women – the government under Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has done the opposite, withdrawing from the convention and targeting both feminists and LGBTQ+ activists. Erdoğan has repeatedly said that women cannot be equal to men and gender equality is “against nature”.

Crisis times bring out both the best and the worst in humanity. While we have seen a profoundly moving outpouring of help and support from civil society, there is a correlation between the lack of democracy, lack of accountability and high levels of corruption and nepotism in a country and the scale of suffering in natural disasters. Turkey’s AKP under Erdoğan is not only antidemocratic and authoritarian, it is also blatantly macho and misogynist.

Sadly, anti-refugee rhetoric has also proliferated in Turkey after this crisis. In Mersin, Syrians staying at a dormitory were kicked out, saying they had to make way for Turkish citizens. Refugees have been put on buses and dumped on the streets. Even those who were trying to help with rescue efforts have been assaulted in some places. In times of distress, instead of questioning the incapacity and structural mistakes of a government, it is easier to turn to the next vulnerable group and take it out on them.

Related: A month on, relatives still search for earthquake victims in Turkey

Meanwhile, on the other side of Turkey’s border in Iran, girls are being poisoned. In at least 26 elementary and high schools, more than 1000 girls have reportedly been targeted in chemical gas attacks. Women and girls have been the leading voice in demanding social change, equality and freedom in the country. The bravery of Iranian women is remarkable: this is why they are being targeted by the regime.

We often hear that the world is presently suffering from multiple crises and therefore relief and aid efforts cannot be expected to continue for too long in one place. It is, however, possible to look at it from a different angle. Whether in Turkey, Syria, Afghanistan, Iran or war-torn Ukraine … as we mark International Women’s Day, women and girls and minorities across the world are suffering and struggling disproportionately.

Gender-based relief efforts are essential to rebuild better and fairer societies. Studies show that when women are given financial aid and psychological support, they use this leverage primarily for their families, their children and their communities. There never has been a more urgent time for global solidarity, and especially, global sisterhood. There never has been a more urgent time to say out loud that we can both dearly love and care for our own countries or our adopted countries and at the same time be citizens of the world, citizens of humankind.

Elif Shafak is a novelist and political scientist

SCOTLAND
New misogyny law to criminalise messages about rape, sexual assault or disfigurement


Andrew Learmonth
Wed, 8 March 2023 

Barrister Baroness Helena Kennedy KC.

NEW legislation could see sending threatening or abusive messages to women and girls which refer to rape, sexual assault or disfigurement becoming a specific crime.

The criminal law is one of five being proposed by the Scottish Government following a wide-ranging review by barrister Baroness Helena Kennedy KC.

Others include measures to criminalise misogynistic behaviour, misogynistic harassment, and an offence of stirring up hatred against women and girls.

The government are also seeking to bring in a statutory aggravation concerning misogyny. This would allow the court to take a misogynistic motive into account when deal with a crime such as assault, criminal damage/vandalism or threatening or abusive behaviour.

Baroness Kennedy’s review was commissioned by ministers following criticism that the SNP administration’s controversial hate crime legislation did not explicitly offer protection for women and girls.

Launching the consultation on the new proposals, Justice Secretary Keith Brown said her work had been "stark in its assessment of the level of misogyny that exists in Scotland."

He added: Women and girls are routinely humiliated, touched, groped, undermined, trolled and objectified both online and off, and subjected to threats, harassment and abuse about their looks or desirability – stopping them from fully participating in society.

“Although there are already a range of laws that can be used to prosecute aspects of misogynistic harassment and abuse, these do not accurately identify the particular harm caused by misogyny.

“They also fail to adequately respond to problems faced by women, which is why we are consulting on further criminal reforms.

“And while criminal law reform alone cannot be expected to eliminate misogynistic abuse, or the attitudes which perpetuate it, these specific criminal protections are an important step in challenging society’s - and particularly men’s - tolerance of misogyny.

“I encourage everyone with an interest to consider what is proposed and offer their views.”

Baroness Kennedy urged “as many women as possible to participate in this consultation.”

She added: “For too long the law has not been drawn from the experience of women. It is time to hear from girls and women about what they think should be included in law so that they can be treated as equals and live free from abuse and denigration.”

In 2021, there were calls for the Scottish Government to add a sex aggravator to their controversial Hate Crime Bill, alongside race, religion, disability, sexual orientation and transgender identity.

However, an attempt to amend the bill by former Labour MSP Johan Lamont was defeated.

Instead, the then justice secretary Humza Yousaf urged his colleagues to give “the working group the time that it needs to explore the issue, come forward with recommendations and create, potentially, a world-leading approach.”

First of its kind law centre honouring 'feminist titan' to be launched in Glasgow

Caroline Wilson
Wed, 8 March 2023 

The University of Glasgow is to launch a new law clinic that will provide free legal advice to victims of sex crimes

A new law centre which aims to increase conviction rates for sex crimes is to be launched by a Scots university in honour of a 'titan of the feminist movement'.

The University of Glasgow has been given funding to establish a first-of-its-kind service that will provide free independent legal advice and representation by practising Scots solicitors,

The clinic is being named in honour of Emma Ritch, a pioneering campaigner for women’s rights and graduate of the University, who died suddenly in 2021.

As well as offering legal advice the Emma Ritch Law Clinic will offer provide "innovative" teaching for the next generation of lawyers.

Research that aims to provide insight into the difference that specialist legal advice and representation can make to complainers’ experiences of prosecution" will also be a focus with data gathered to better understand why cases might fail to reach, or progress, through the criminal justice system.

The Emma Ritch Clinic could be transformative for rape complainers

The Clinic will also work to increase awareness of trauma-informed lawyering, and the practice of criminal law, an area with longstanding issues in terms of recruitment and retention.

READ MORE: Feminist campaigner honoured by Scots university after sudden death

It will be led by three Co-Directors, Mr Eamon Keane, Dr Jacqueline Kinghan and Professor Nicole Busby with complementary expertise in legal practice, education and research respectively.

Seed funding to establish the clinic has been provided by the Sam and Bella Sebba Foundation, with additional support provided by the Scottish Government.

It will operate in partnership with Rape Crisis Scotland, and other referral agencies, to target unmet legal need in Scotland through the provision of specialist legal advice and representation.

Rape and attempted rape have the highest of all acquittal rates in Scotland, at 48%, followed by sexual assault at 29%.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said:“Emma Ritch was a champion of justice and equality, and a passionate advocate for women’s rights.

"Having a law clinic set up in her memory is a fitting tribute to a remarkable woman and a titan of Scotland’s feminist movement.

HeraldScotland:

“I am pleased to announce the Scottish Government’s commitment to support and work with the Emma Ritch Law Clinic at the University of Glasgow.

READ MORE: Tributes paid to leading Scottish feminist after sudden death

"The research carried out here will allow for enhanced provision of trauma-informed legal advice, and representation for victims of sexual offences and other forms of gender-based violence to be explored.

“Aligning with the Scottish Government’s Vision for Justice in Scotland, the Clinic will produce valuable research, and is an important step in providing an insight into the difference that specialist independent legal advice and representation can make to complainers’ experiences.”

Sandy Brindley, of Rape Crisis Scotland, added: “The Emma Ritch Clinic could be transformative for rape complainers seeking justice in Scotland.

READ MORE: Neil Mackay: Rape should carry a mandatory life sentence

“We know that many survivors feel as though they are at the margins of the justice process and unprepared for the experience of going to court.

"It can also be hard for survivors to meaningfully access their rights because of difficulties accessing suitable legal advice and representation.

"Having access to a lawyer who understands the system can make a huge difference to somebody’s experience.

“The Emma Ritch Clinic will help Scotland lead the way in improving rape survivors’ access to justice.

"Emma Ritch was a long-time member of the Rape Crisis Scotland Board of Directors and was passionate about improving rape survivors’ position in the justice system.

"We’re very grateful to the University of Glasgow for naming the clinic after Emma. We can’t think of a more fitting legacy.”

Professor Sir Anton Muscatelli, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Glasgow, said: “The Emma Ritch Law Clinic represents the continued commitment to develop social change legal education at the University of Glasgow.

"The Clinic joins a series of initiatives designed by the School of Law to support our students and academics to use the law and their legal skills to make a positive difference to society.

“The University of Glasgow is a civically-minded institution, and we are therefore very proud to partner with the Scottish Government, Rape Crisis Scotland and the Sebba Foundation to host this valuable and much needed service. We hope the Clinic will help shape the national development of legal advice for survivors of sexual offences into the future.”

Eamon Keane, Co-Director & Principal Solicitor, said:“The Emma Ritch Law Clinic represents an exciting developing in the Scottish legal landscape, with real potential to ensure that the legal rights of complainers in sexual offences cases are adequately protected, via the provision of independent and specialist legal advice.”

'Disrespect for the people': Merrick Garland issues scathing report into LMPD practices


U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland delivers the Department of Justice findings on the Investigation of the Louisville Metro Police Department and Louisville Metro Government, at Louisville Metro Hall on Wednesday, March 8, 2023. WIth Garland is Vanita Gupta, associate attorney general.


Andrew Wolfson and Phillip M. Bailey, Louisville Courier Journal
Wed, March 8, 2023 

Three years after Breonna Taylor was shot and and killed in her apartment, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland released a blistering report Wednesday finding that the city and its police department have violated the constitutional rights of its citizens, particularly Black people.

Garland also announced Louisville has agreed “in principle” to forge a consent decree that will be enforced by a federal judge who will monitor the city’s progress in adopting reforms.

The department, for years, "has practiced an aggressive style of policing that it deploys selectively, especially against Black people, but also against vulnerable people throughout the city," Garland said during a press conference at Metro Hall. "LMPD cites people for minor offenses, like wide turns and broken taillights, while serious crimes like sexual assault and homicide go unsolved.

"Some officers demonstrate disrespect for the people they are sworn to protect," he said, adding the department found incidents of officers calling Black people “monkey, animal and boy.”


The 90-page report from the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice found LMPD:

Uses excessive force, including unjustified neck restraints and unreasonable use of police dogs and tasers


Conducts searches based on invalid warrants.


Unlawfully executes warrants without knocking and announcing.


Unlawfully stops, searches, detains and arrests people during traffic and pedestrian stops.


Violates the rights of people engaged in protected speech critical of policing.


Discriminates against people with behavioral health disabilities while responding to crises.

The report also offered 36 remedial measures it says LMPD should adopt on serving search warrants and other areas identified as deficiencies.

Garland said the police's behavior erodes trust in the department and is an “affront to the people of Louisville, who deserve better” and to officers who respect the law and Constitution.

DOJ police department investigations:Are Department of Justice investigations a path to police reform or 'a war on cops'?

Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg promised to cooperate with the DOJ.

“To those people who've been harmed, on behalf of our city government, I'm sorry,” said Greenberg, who took office two months ago. “You deserve better.”

The investigation spanned the years 2016 to 2021, when Greg Fischer was mayor. He issued a statement Wednesday defending his administration and noting that federal officials lauded his "proactive leadership."

"Today’s findings – paired with those from the independent audit by Hillard Heintze that I initiated in 2020 – presents Louisville with an opportunity to be a national leader and a model in building a truly just public safety system. I believe good police officers will welcome this report as an opportunity to more easily meet the oath they swore to protect and serve our community and improve their daily job performance and profession."

Consent decrees in other cities have placed police departments under federal review for as long as 10 years.

The report was the culmination of an investigation announced 23 months ago.

Garland said investigators interviewed hundreds of police, citizens, clergy, defense lawyers, judges and others, and reviewed thousands of hours of police body camera videos.

Garland noted LMPD has already instituted some reforms, such as banning “no-knock” searches.

But he and his deputies said LMPD continues to stop drivers, especially Black motorists, on pretexts and is twice as likely to search them as whites.

They also are twice or more likely to be stopped for having only one working headlight or excessively tinted windows.

Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta said consent decrees have dramatically reduced use of force by police in Seattle, Albuquerque and Baltimore.

Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general for Civil Rights, said in the wake of Taylor’s death and subsequent national protests, Americans across the country are demanding greater accountability and reforms for law enforcement.

“People in Louisville deserve constitutional policing,” she said. “They deserve policing that is fair and non-discriminatory.”

Clarke outlined a bleak picture of how the Louisville police department operates and how elected officials charged with overseeing the department failed to do their jobs as well.

She said, for instance, Louisville police selectively targeted Black people compared to their white counterparts.

“Our investigation found that the police department and city government failed to adequately protect and serve the people of Louisville, breached the public's trust and discriminated against Black people through unjustified stop, searches and arrests,” she said.

The investigation found that Black residents were disproportionately impacted for various infractions such as loitering and traffic stops, in which federal officials said they were 50% more likely to be searched than white drivers.

“This pattern of racial discrimination fuels distrust and impedes the community's confidence in LMPD and their law enforcement operations,” Clarke said.

DOJ indictments in Breonna Taylor case:Experts predict who has the edge, the feds or the charged officers

The FBI also has been investigating Taylor’s killing separately. The DOJ also has charged several Louisville officers in separate cases since 2020, including four former LMPD personnel in early August on charges either of lying on the warrant obtained to search Taylor’s home, obstructing investigators or — in the case of ex-Detective Brett Hankison — firing bullets that entered a neighboring apartment.

Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, previously tweeted that “I can’t wait for the world to see Louisville Police Department for what it really is,” in response to the DOJ’s announced investigation.

Breonna Taylor fact check:Separating the rumors from the facts

No officers were directly indicted and prosecuted by Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s office for Taylor’s death, though several were later fired or submitted resignations. Hankison was charged at the state level in 2020 with wanton endangerment for firing bullets that went into an apartment neighboring Taylor's that was occupied by three people, and a jury acquitted him in March.

City officials estimated in 2021 that reforms at LMPD prompted by the DOJ investigation could cost Louisville up to $10 million annually, and the city directed some federal American Rescue Plan funds to that area. The changes have already included a new Accountability and Improvement Bureau at LMPD and launch of an early warning system for officers after years of delays.

Interim LMPD Police Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel vowed to make the department the most "trusted, trained and transparent" in the United States.

Greenberg, in an apparent reference to the city's rate of murders and other crimes, said: "We need our officers to solve crimes while treating people with dignity and respect."

He called the report a "painful picture of our department's past" and promised to change "how we recruit, train and manage our more than 1,000 officers."

Reporter Billy Kobin contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Breonna Taylor case: DOJ releases investigation into Louisville police

Louisville police discriminate against Black people, US Justice Dept says


Four current and former Louisville police officers arrested over 2020 shooting of Breonna Taylor

Wed, March 8, 2023 
By Sarah N. Lynch and Rami Ayyub

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Louisville, Kentucky, police force routinely discriminates against Black residents, uses excessive force and conducts illegal searches, the U.S. Justice Department said on Wednesday, following a probe prompted by Breonna Taylor's killing in 2020.

The department's findings come nearly two years after U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland launched the civil rights probe into the department, whose officers shot Taylor dead after bursting into her apartment on a no-knock warrant, as well as the Louisville-Jefferson County government.

The probe found a wide-ranging pattern of misconduct by police, including using dangerous neck restraints and police dogs against people who posed no threat, and allowing the dogs to continuing biting people after they surrendered.

At a news conference, Garland said the department had reached a "consent decree" with the Louisville police, which will require the use of an independent monitor to oversee policing reforms.

"This conduct is unacceptable. It is heartbreaking. It erodes the community trust necessary for effective policing," Garland said. "And it is an affront to the people of Louisville, who deserve better."

It is the first probe of U.S. policing begun and completed by the Biden administration, which had promised to focus on racial justice in law enforcement after a spate of high-profile police killings of Black Americans. The deaths of Taylor and George Floyd, in particular, drew national outrage and sparked the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020.

"I don't even know what to say today. To know that this thing should never have happened and it took three years for anybody else to say that it shouldn't have," Taylor's mother, Tamika Palmer, told a news conference after the findings were released.

The investigation found the police department used aggressive tactics selectively against Black people, who comprise roughly one in four Louisville residents, as well as other vulnerable people, such as those with behavioral health challenges.

Police cited people for minor offenses like wide turns and broken taillights, while serious crimes like sexual assault and homicide went unsolved, the probe found, adding minor offenses were used as a pretext to investigate unrelated criminal activity.

Some Louisville police officers even filmed themselves insulting people with disabilities and describing Black people as "monkeys," the Justice Department said. It also found that officers quickly resorted to violence.

Louisville Mayor Craig Greenburg told reporters the Justice Department's report brought back "painful memories" and vowed to implement reforms.

"Our city has wounds that have not yet healed and that's why this report... is so important and so necessary," he said.

MORE INVESTIGATIONS

Taylor, a 26-year-old emergency medical technician, was asleep in bed with her boyfriend on March 13, 2020, when Louisville police executing a no-knock warrant burst into her apartment.

Her boyfriend fired at them believing they were intruders and police returned fire, fatally shooting Taylor.

The killings of both Taylor and Floyd prompted the Justice Department in 2021 to open civil rights investigations, known as "pattern or practice" probes, into the police departments in Louisville and Minneapolis to determine if they engaged in systemic abuses. The results of the Minneapolis review have not yet been released.

Under Garland's leadership, the Justice Department has sought to reinvigorate its civil rights enforcement program, an area civil rights advocates say was left in tatters by former U.S. President Donald Trump.

During the Trump administration, for instance, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions moved to curtail the use of consent decrees with police departments, saying they reduced morale.

The Justice Department has since restored their use, and launched multiple civil rights investigations into police departments, local jails and prisons across the country.

The department's 90-page investigative report recommended 36 measures for Louisville police, including revamping policies on search warrants, new use-of-force training for officers, requiring body-worn cameras to be activated, documenting all police stops, and improving civilian oversight.

In 2021, Garland also announced new policies for federal law enforcement agencies including the FBI, which now prohibit them from conducting "no-knock" entries like the one used against Taylor by local police.

In August, federal prosecutors charged four current and former Louisville, Kentucky, police officers for their roles in the botched 2020 raid.

One of those, former Louisville detective Kelly Goodlett, pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges that she helped falsify the search warrant that led to Taylor's death.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch, additional reporting by Rami Ayyub and Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Scott Malone and Deepa Babington)

'The time for terrorizing the Black community with no repercussions is over.' Reactions to LMPD investigation

14
Lucas Aulbach, Louisville Courier Journal
Wed, March 8, 2023 

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland spoke Wednesday alongside several officials from Louisville and the Department of Justice to reveal findings from a nearly two-year investigation into the city's government and police department.

The 90-page report details issues and violations the department found in its review of Louisville Metro Police, along with recommendations for moving forward.

Live updates:Findings of federal investigation into LMPD after Breonna Taylor's killing

More reactions:DOJ's report into Louisville police: How people are responding on social media

Here are some key moments and quotes from the Wednesday press conference and from community members about the findings.

Merrick Garland, US attorney general

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland delivers the Department of Justice findings on the Investigation of the Louisville Metro Police Department and Louisville Metro Government, at Louisville Metro Hall on Wednesday, March 8, 2023.

“This conduct is unacceptable. It is heartbreaking. It erodes the community trust necessary for effective policing, and it is an affront to the vas majority of officers who put their lives on the line every day to serve with honor – and it is an affront to the people of Louisville.”

"To the officers of LMPD: The Justice Department is acutely aware of the integral role that law enforcement officers play in our society and the dangers you face to keep your community safe – so it is imperative that your police department sets you up for success."

Vanita Gupta, associate attorney general

Vanita Gupta, associate U.S. attorney general, speaks at a press conference where the Department of Justice delivered findings on the Investigation of the Louisville Metro Police Department and Louisville Metro Government, at Louisville Metro Hall on Wednesday, March 8, 2023. WIth Gupta are U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, left; and Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general for civil rights.More

"LMPD’s ability to serve and protect the people of Louisville has been compromised and the findings are deeply troubling and sobering. So we are committed to working with Louisville on a path forward to constitutional policing and stronger police-community trust."

Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general

"These findings are not based on any one incident or event. They turn on evidence showing long-standing dysfunction at LMPD. The pattern or practice of unlawful conduct compromises LMPD’s ability to serve and protect safely, constitutionally and effectively. Instead, LMPD has practiced an extreme, misdirected and counterproductive style of policing."

"Our efforts were exhaustive. We talked to hundreds of people across the city. We rode with officers in their cars on patrol. We spoke with city and union officials, judges and attorneys, advocacy groups, religious leaders and community members from different walks of life. And along with our experts, we've reviewed thousands of documents regarding LMPD’s enforcement activities, and we watch thousands of hours of body-worn camera footage."

Craig Greenberg, Louisville mayor

Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg made remarks as he was joined by U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, left, and Assistant Attorneys General Vanita Gupta and Kristen Clarke, right, as they announced the findings of a sweeping investigation of the Louisville Metro Police Department at Metro Hall in Louisville, Ky. on Mar. 8, 2023.

"I know some people are surprised and horrified to hear stories about certain officers operating in ways that are so counter to our values as a community. All of this is really hard to hear and hard to accept. It's infuriating. I understand that.

"I also know there are people who are not surprised to hear the findings in this report, because they see this report as confirmation of complaints they've made about their own interactions with law enforcement, sometimes for years. Many of those spoke out and felt dismissed or devalued. Now, the United States Department of Justice is essentially saying 'Yes, in many cases, you were right. And you deserve better.' That's a powerful thing. I understand that, too.

"And I know there are people who will look at this report, and they'll be eager to find some way to minimize it. or dismiss it. They'll say it's all politics, or that you could find examples like this in any city. No – this is not about politics or other places. This is about Louisville. This is about our city, our neighbors and how we serve them."

Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel, interim LMPD chief

Interim LMPD Chief Jacquelyn Gwinn-Villaroel speaks during a press conference to announce that the department will begin removing the firing pins from weapons used in crimes.

"This is an extremely challenging and pivotal point for our city, our department and for our officers. Now that the DOJ has concluded their investigation and presented their findings, we will continue our efforts in improving public safety in this beautiful city called Louisville and making LMPD the premier police department in the country."

Tamika Palmer, mother of Breonna Taylor

Tamika Palmer, right, and her sister Bianca Austin listened to speakers at Jefferson Square Park following the announcement that the police officers involved in the killing of Breonna Taylor will face federal charges in Louisville, Ky. on Aug. 4, 2022. Palmer is Taylor's mother.

"What was confirmed today is that I should still be able to to pick up the phone and reach my oldest daughter Breonna. It took us having to fight day in and day out for years simply because I deserved justice for my daughter’s murder to kickstart this investigation, but today’s findings are an indicator that Breonna’s death is not vain. Our fight will protect future potential victims from LMPD’s racist tactics and behavior. The time for terrorizing the Black community with no repercussions is over."

Ben Crump, civil rights attorney who represented Breonna Taylor

Attorney Ben Crump pumped his fist in the air at Jefferson Square Park following the announcement that the police officers involved in the killing of Breonna Taylor will face federal charges in Louisville, Ky. on Aug. 4, 2022.

“The family of Breonna Taylor is encouraged by the findings released today by Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division revealing a pattern of biased policing and a long list of constitutional violations by the Louisville Metro Police Department.

“These findings, and LMPD’s expected cooperation with the DOJ’s recommended remedial measures, will help protect the citizens of Louisville and shape its culture of policing. It’s steps like these, and involvement of the Attorney General and the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, that will move our nation forward and prevent future tragedies like the one that took the life of Breonna Taylor and the countless others who have been killed unnecessarily by law enforcement.”

Greg Fischer, former Louisville mayor (2011-2022)

Former Mayor Greg Fischer on Dec. 23, 2022.

"Today is another important inflection point to honor the pain of 2020 by further acknowledging – and continuing to act on – the fact that our community deserves a new era of public safety. This era requires the leadership of the many good officers who have dedicated their lives to keep us safe and are committed to working in partnership with the community to develop a new form of constitutionally sound policing embraced by all our city’s residents.

"Since the summer of 2020, I have emphasized that public safety in Louisville and across America is at an inflection point. Without fundamental and widespread changes in police culture, resources, resident involvement and resulting police-community legitimacy, our city and nation will continue to needlessly endure tragedy after tragedy. National events since the summer of 2020 bear witness to this conclusion."

Hannah Drake, Louisville poet and activist

Poet Hannah Drake speaks Friday afternoon at Jefferson Square, one year after the first protest for Breonna Taylor, the former emergency room technician, who was killed by LMPD during a botched raid in March 2020. The anniversary and tributes continue through Saturday.

"The reform is only as good as the people executing them. So here’s my question that I really want to know. ... how many of those same officers are still employed at LMPD? What changes? Are those people going to magically go home and say you know what, let’s stop calling Black people monkeys and animals."

Tim Findley Jr., pastor at Kingdom Fellowship Christian Life Center

Tim Findley Jr.

“Locally, what people have been saying for years has now been elevated on a national stage."

“What I found most interesting was that they talked about Black people. They didn't say Black and brown. They didn't say other communities. Black people were targeted and terrorized. And that is a huge, huge reality that leadership, that the FOP must deal with, that Black people have been terrorized in Louisville for a very long time.”

Sadiqa Reynolds, former CEO of the Louisville Urban League

Sadiqa Reynolds made remarks at Jefferson Square Park following the announcement that the police officers involved in the killing of Breonna Taylor will face federal charges in Louisville, Ky. on Aug. 4, 2022.

"It is what we said it was and worse. We know every officer is not corrupt but we recognize that the system is, so even the good ones do harm in their attempts to stand behind the shield in silence. The system does not allow for the humanization of Black people. There is nowhere in this city where we can be safe, not even in our homes. Policing itself is flawed but this department worked hard to go backward over the past several years. It works against Black residents, and authorizes and condones our abuse. There have been no significant consequences and no real accountability. There can never be justice without truth. And for many of us, the unrest has settled into our souls because we could not get anyone to give us the full truth. There must be some sort of racial reckoning for the Black community in Louisville. We deserve acknowledgment and accountability from the leaders in this city. I think I speak for many Louisvillians when I say, I am thankful for this thorough investigation and report. Now, I look forward to the hard work of change."

Ted Shouse, Louisville attorney

Ted Shouse has been a criminal defense lawyer for 21 years.

"Systemic racial discrimination by LMPD is recognized and proven in this report. Many of us had known this for years and today that knowledge is validated and respected. ... It is only through the recognition of these facts, that we can hope to have any path forward."

Morgan McGarvey, U.S. congressman for Louisville

Senator Morgan McGarvey speaks during a rally to support Ukraine on front of Metro Hall on Friday, February 24, 2023.

“Excessive use of force and racial profiling in the Louisville Metro Police Department will continue to plague our community until we take decisive action to create true, lasting change. We simply cannot afford to wait."

“Today’s report is a long overdue step in the right direction to hold our law enforcement accountable, but it does nothing to undo the centuries of systemic injustice Black communities have endured. We must commit to change, accountability, and justice for Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Tyre Nichols, Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, and the far too many others who were killed by police.”

Shameka Parrish-Wright, VOCAL-KY director and a protest leader

Louisville mayoral candidate Shameka Parrish-Wright spoke in Jefferson Square Park on the two-year anniversary of Breonna Taylor's death at the hands of Louisville Metro Police officers. March 13, 2022

"It really felt good to be acknowledged, to be heard, and all that gaslighting they've been doing to us – to have the their boss's boss, the top of policing, acknowledge that Louisville has done us wrong for so long ... LMPD, we believe, needs a whole complete overhaul, but a consent decree is a step in the right direction to start dealing with that."

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Former drug firm exec sentenced to more than 2 years for illegal opioid sales


Laurence Doud III, former CEO of Rochester Drug Co-Operative, exits the Manhattan Federal Courthouse in New York

Wed, March 8, 2023 
By Brendan Pierson

NEW YORK (Reuters) -The former chief executive of Rochester Drug Co-operative was sentenced to more than two years in prison on Wednesday for conspiring to distribute opioids illegally, in the first criminal opioid trafficking case against a drug wholesaler and its executives.

U.S. District Judge George Daniels sentenced Laurence Doud, 79, to 27 months at a hearing in Manhattan. Daniels said Doud's crime was serious and "motivated solely by profit," but that the government's requested sentence of 15 years was more than needed.

Daniels ruled that Doud may remain free on bail while he appeals his conviction to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

"Laurence Doud cared more about his own paycheck than his responsibility... to prevent dangerous opioids from making their way to pharmacies, drug dealers and people struggling with addiction," U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement.

Robert Gottlieb, one of Doud's attorneys, called the sentence "very thoughtful and appropriate."

Gottlieb had argued during the sentencing hearing that Doud should avoid jail entirely because he did not intend drugs to be sold illegally.

Doud himself, before being sentenced, told the judge that he had "no desire to see anyone be hurt."

"I recognize what a lousy job I did," he said. "I am forever sorry for the problems that have occurred because of this."

Rochester Drug Co-operative (RDC), Doud and another executive were charged in 2019 with conspiring to distribute illegal narcotics and accused of ignoring clear red flags that the drugs were being sold illegally, such as large bulk orders of pills and payments in cash.

Doud was convicted in February 2022. The other executive, Chief Compliance Officer William Pietruszewski, pleaded guilty and testified against Doud. He is scheduled to be sentenced on March 29.

RDC, which filed for bankruptcy in 2020, agreed in 2019 to pay $20 million to settle criminal and civil charges related to its opioid sales.

More than half a million people died from drug overdoses in the United States in the period from 1999 to 2020, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

(Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Bill Berkrot)

Pentagon accused of blocking effort to hand Russia war crimes evidence to ICC

Julian Borger in Washington

THE GUARDIAN
Wed, March 8, 2023 

Photograph: Tom Brenner/Reuters

The Pentagon has been accused of blocking the sharing of US intelligence with the international criminal court (ICC) about Russian war crimes in Ukraine.

The Biden White House and state department have been a proponent of cooperation with the Hague-based ICC, as a means of holding Russian forces accountable for widespread war crimes, but the defence department is firmly opposed on the grounds that the precedent could eventually be turned against US soldiers.

Related: Russia unlikely to make major Ukraine gains this year – US intelligence chief

The New York Times quoted current and former officials as saying Pentagon resistance was the obstacle. It reported that the national security council (NSC) convened a meeting of senior officials on 3 February to try to resolve the dispute, but that the defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, did not budge. Joe Biden has yet to give a final decision.

The Republican senator Lindsey Graham, who was behind a congressional resolution urging US support for the court over Ukraine, also blamed the Pentagon.

“DoD [Department of Defence] opposed the legislative change – it passed overwhelmingly – and they are now trying to undermine the letter and spirit of the law,” Graham told the New York Times, in remarks confirmed to the Guardian by his office. “It seems to me that DoD is the problem child here, and the sooner we can get the information into the hands of the ICC, the better off the world will be.”

Asked for comment, the NSC spokeswoman, Adrienne Watson, said: “Russian forces have been committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine, and the Ukrainian people deserve justice.”

She added: “The United States supports a range of investigations to identify and hold accountable those who are responsible, including through the Office of the Ukrainian Prosecutor General, the United Nations, the expert missions established under the OSCE’s [Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe] ‘Moscow mechanism’, and the international criminal court, among others,” Watson said.

A senior defence official said only: “The defence department believes we should hold Russia accountable.”

US legal experts helped draw up the Rome statute, which created the ICC. It was signed by Bill Clinton in 2000, but not ratified by the Senate, and Clinton’s successor, George W Bush, took the unusual step of withdrawing the US signature.

US opponents of the court argued that it could be used by America’s enemies to prosecute US soldiers fighting in foreign wars, despite safeguards written into the statute stating that the international court would only have jurisdiction if the courts in a suspect’s home country were unwilling or unable to prosecute.

Related: Ukraine urges ICC to investigate video appearing to show Russians killing PoW

Speaking at the Munich security conference in February, Kamala Harris said the US had determined that Russia had committed crimes against humanity in Ukraine.

The vice-president added that the US “will continue to support the judicial process in Ukraine and international investigations, because justice must be served”.

Harris did not specify cooperation with the ICC, but last week, Beth van Schaack, US ambassador-at-large for global criminal justice, told a conference in Lviv: “The international criminal court occupies an important place in the ecosystem of international justice, and the United States supports the investigation by the ICC prosecutor.”

Experts debunk 5 common myths about abortion

Korin Miller
Tue, March 7, 2023 

There are several abortion myths, which experts say can be difficult to dispel. (Getty Images)

Abortion has been a hot-button topic in the U.S. for years, but debate about the consequences of having an abortion ignited again last year after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark ruling that guaranteed the right to abortion in America.

Now, nearly 60% of American women between the ages of 13 and 44 live in a state that's considered hostile or extremely hostile to abortion rights, per the Guttmacher Institute. Given how much abortion is debated and discussed in person and online, it can be tough to know what's real and what is a total myth.

But why is there so much misinformation out there about abortion? Many "facts" about it have been repeated so many times that people think they're real, Andrea Miller, president of the National Institute for Reproductive Health, tells Yahoo Life. "People who are opposed to anyone having access to abortion care simply state something about a lack of safety as fact with no facts to back it up," she says. "Anti-abortion extremists have spent decades trying to create stigma and shame around abortion. It means that these kinds of lies work their way into the zeitgeist and become difficult to eliminate."

How can you tell myth from reality? These are some of the biggest falsehoods about abortion that continue to circulate.

Myth No. 1: Abortion can impact your future fertility

"There's no evidence to suggest that abortion affects future fertility — it's a common myth," Antonia Biggs, associate professor and social psychologist at the University of California, San Francisco's Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health, tells Yahoo Life. Abortion is "one of the most common, safest medical procedures performed in the U.S.," she says. "There is no impact of an abortion procedure — whether through medication or aspiration abortion — on future fertility," Biggs says.

What can affect your fertility is having an abortion through unsafe means outside of a medical setting, she says. According to the World Health Organization, up to 13.2% of maternal deaths worldwide can be attributed to unsafe abortions.

Consider this too: "The majority of patients who have an abortion and do not start on hormonal contraception following their abortion will return to their prior menstrual cycles within the next three months — and many within seven weeks — indicating the likely ability to get pregnant," Dr. Rebecca Simon, family medicine physician in Pennsylvania and fellow with Physicians for Reproductive Health, tells Yahoo Life.

Myth No. 2: Abortion increases your risk of mental health issues and suicide

Research has repeatedly debunked this myth, but it still persists. A recent study published in the Archives of Women's Mental Health analyzed data from nearly 7,200 women who had an unplanned pregnancy within the past year, and found that "psychological distress" was the lowest for people who had a baby that they wanted. It increased for people who had an abortion, gave their child up for adoption or had an unwanted birth.

But the study found that abortion was linked with lower distress scores than those for people who engaged in adoption and unwanted birth. "Compared to the wanted birth, adoption and unwanted birth showed significantly higher levels of distress," the study reads.

On the flip side, however, research has found that not having access to abortion care can raise the risk of mental health issues.

The University of California, San Francisco's Turnaway Study found that women who are denied access to an abortion and have to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term are four times more likely to live below the federal poverty level. These women are also more likely to experience anxiety and loss of self-esteem after being denied access to an abortion.

"The myth that abortion causes mental health harm is something that has been propagated by anti-abortion groups," Biggs says. "But we have very good evidence to dispel that common myth."

Myth No. 3: Abortion is linked to eating disorders

The data on this one is a little muddled. Research has found that people with anorexia nervosa are more likely to have unwanted pregnancies, but there's nothing that states that having an abortion causes an eating disorder.

As Simon points out: "Carrying a pregnancy to term can worsen chronic medical conditions, including eating disorders." According to the Guttmacher Institute, "there is still no conclusive evidence directly linking abortion to subsequent mental health problems."

Myth No. 4: Abortion isn't safe

This is simply "not true," Dr. Lauren Streicher, a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, tells Yahoo Life. "It is far more likely for a woman to die during pregnancy and childbirth than from having an abortion," she adds.

There is a lot of chatter right now about mifepristone, one of two medications used in a medication abortion, now that anti-abortion advocates have filed a lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) asking it to remove its approval of the drug, despite the fact that mifepristone has been approved for 23 years and has a long-standing safety record. Meanwhile, there's another lawsuit filed by 12 states with the opposite goal: to get the agency to drop some restrictions on mifepristone. "Medication abortion is exceedingly safe and effective," Miller says. "The FDA has reviewed extensive data for years" about its use.

"Abortion is very common and, because of this, we also know it is very safe," Simon says. "Abortion is safer than continuing a pregnancy to term — especially in the U.S., where the maternal death rate is higher than any other high-income country."

Myth No. 5: Women often regret having an abortion

Research has found the opposite is true. A University of California, San Francisco study published in the journal Social Science & Medicine analyzed five years of longitudinal data, collected one week postabortion and semiannually for five years, from women who sought abortions at 30 American clinics between 2008 and 2010. Women were asked about their emotions and whether they felt that abortion was the right decision for them over five years.

After five years, the researchers discovered that more than 95% of women in the study said getting an abortion was the right decision for them.

"This myth that women regret an abortion has been perpetuated and is not evidence-based," Biggs says.

Overall, experts stress the importance of knowing the facts around abortion and abortion care. "These myths can be very hurtful," Biggs says. "Not only do they misinform policies, but people internalize these myths and are misinformed about the safety of abortion — that can impact the care that they receive."

Wellness, parenting, body image and more: Get to know the who behind the hoo with Yahoo Life's newsletter. Sign up here.

Women enlist in Colombia's army for first time in 25 years







Female voluntary recruits attend a three month training program at a military base in Bogota, Colombia, Monday, March 6, 2023. After a 25-year ban, the Colombian army is once again allowing women to join its ranks through voluntary military service, which is a requirement for men. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)

ASTRID SUAREZ
Tue, March 7, 2023 

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Dressed in camouflage, Zulma Stefania Perez reflected on her first weeks of training at a military base in the capital — and on her life as one of Colombia's first female recruits in more than two decades.

“The physical drills we must endure are the same” as those for men, she said. “Being women doesn’t make us less capable. In fact, there are many skills and strengths we have that men may not have.”

Perez, 24, is part of a cohort of 1,296 women who enlisted in Colombia’s army in February, when the South American country opened military service to women for the first time in 25 years.

Colombia has long had compulsory military service for men ages 18 to 24. The army relies heavily on those young recruits to staff bases, protect infrastructure and carry out administrative tasks, while its professional soldiers confront drug trafficking gangs and rebel groups.

This year, officials allowed females in the same age range to voluntary join the military, in what the army says is part of an effort to “strengthen the role of women” in its ranks.

Recruits must live on military bases for several months and earn a monthly stipend of only about $75, but some of the women in the new program hope it helps them build a career in the armed forces. They see it as a chance for a stable job and educational opportunities.

“I like the lessons we get here about human rights, and international humanitarian law, because that’s my field of expertise” said Perez, who a has a law degree but has struggled to find work in the legal profession.

She said that after her basic training she will likely get a job in the military’s judicial affairs department.

First, she must undergo three months of basic training, waking up each day at 6 a.m. and being given only one minute to take a cold shower. She has also learned to run while carrying a 3-kilogram (6 1/2-pound) rifle.

“The toughest thing has been to adapt to all of this exercise” she said. “As a civilian you live a sedentary lifestyle.”

Others said they decided to join the military because being in law enforcement runs in their families.

“Since I was small I always wanted to wear this uniform with pride, discipline and honor” said Yariany Alvarez, a 20-year-old recruit in Bogota who has a police officer uncle.

She said she was not afraid of being a soldier in Colombia, where the army is still struggling to free some rural pockets of the country from the grip of drug gangs and rebel groups.

“This is a dangerous job” she said. “But if we learn our drills and follow instructions, I think we will be able to stand out.”

Colombia’s army has around 200,000 soldiers. Around 1% are women, who until now joined after attending military universities or applying for administrative jobs.

Every year, the South American country drafts around 50,000 men into the armed forces for 12 months of compulsory military service.

It is a practice criticized by human rights activists and some politicians, who complain that most recruits are men from low income urban neighborhoods or rural areas, while wealthier Colombians who graduate from private schools find ways to avoid service.

The new push to allow females to enlist comes as Colombia’s congress debates a bill that would eliminate compulsory military service and enable young men to replace it with internships in educational programs, environmental projects or human rights initiatives.

Military officers in Colombia have opposed this legislation, saying it would diminish the army’s capabilities.

Yellen warns climate change could trigger asset value losses, harming US economy

Tue, March 7, 2023 
By Andrea Shalal

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Climate change is already having a major economic and financial impact on the United States and may trigger asset value losses in coming years that could cascade through the U.S. financial system, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will warn on Tuesday.

Yellen will tell a new advisory board of academics, private sector experts and non-profits there has been a five-fold increase in the annual number of billion-dollar disasters over the past five years, compared to the 1980s, even after taking into account inflation.

"As climate change intensifies, natural disasters and warming temperatures can lead to declines in asset values that could cascade through the financial system. And a delayed and disorderly transition to a net-zero economy can lead to shocks to the financial system as well," she said in remarks prepared for delivery at the advisory board's first meeting.

She said severe storms and wildfires in states like California, Florida, and Louisiana, tornadoes across the South and intensifying storms on the West Coast show how climate change is accelerating.

The U.S. government in January reported that 2022 tied 2017 and 2011 for the third-highest number of billion-dollar disasters, with a total price tag of at least $165 billion.

There were 18 weather and climate disasters each costing at least $1 billion in the year, including two tornado outbreaks in the south and southeast in March and April, and massive wildfires across the west.

Yellen said the new Climate-related Financial Risk Advisory Committee, set up last October by the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC), would boost U.S. efforts to mitigate the risks that climate change poses to financial stability.

“The CFRAC is a clear indication of the seriousness with which U.S. regulators are taking the threat of increasing climate-related risks in the financial system,” said John Morton, Yellen's former climate counselor who rejoined Pollination, a climate change investment firm, in January.

With its broad range of experts, the board would advise FSOC as it grappled with what it has identified as an ‘emerging risk to the stability of the U.S. financial system,' Morton said.

The meeting comes amid a slew of new regulations on climate-related risk management issued by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC)and the Federal Reserve after FSOC, a top U.S. regulatory panel, first identified climate change as an "emerging threat" to U.S. financial stability in October 2021.

The Federal Insurance Office has also issued a proposal to collect data from insurers to assess climate risk, and the Fed in January said it would conduct a pilot climate scenario analysis to study the bank's climate risk-management practices.

And in April the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is due to release a new rule on companies' climate-related disclosures.

But the Biden administration is facing stiff challenges from Republicans, who say the agencies have written rules outside of the legal process. Republican leaders want to use their slim control of the U.S. House of Representatives to constrain administrative oversight of climate rules and other issues.

Yellen said climate-related events had already prompted insurers to raise rates or stop providing insurance in high-risk areas, which could have devastating consequences for homeowners and their property values. That in turn could spill over to other parts of the financial system, she said.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Stephen Coates and Andrea Ricci)

U.S. job openings fall less than expected; prior month's data revised higher


Job openings advertised at businesses in Cambridge

Wed, March 8, 2023 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. job openings fell less than expected in January and data for the prior month was revised higher, pointing to persistently tight labor market conditions that likely will keep the Federal Reserve on track to raise interest rates for longer.

Job openings, a measure of labor demand, had decreased by 410,000 to 10.8 million on the last day of January, the Labor Department said in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS report, on Wednesday. Data for December was revised higher to show 11.2 million job openings instead of the previously reported 11.0 million.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 10.5 million job openings. Fed Chair Jerome Powell told lawmakers on Tuesday that the U.S. central bank would likely need to hike rates more than expected and he opened the door to a half-percentage-point increase this month to combat inflation after a recent raft of strong data.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Paul Simao)