Political leader in Ecuador is killed less than a week after presidential candidate's assassination

REGINA GARCIA CANO
Mon, August 14, 2023 



 Luisa González,

GUAYAQUIL, Ecuador (AP) — The unprecedented violence shaking Ecuador claimed the life of another political leader Monday, bringing the number of politics-related slayings within the last four weeks to three, including that of a presidential candidate.

The fatal shooting of Pedro Briones, a local leader of Revolución Ciudadana, the party of former President Rafael Correa, was confirmed by Luisa González, the frontrunner in Sunday's special presidential election and member of the same party.

The shooting happened in the northern province of Esmeraldas. Details were not immediately available.

“Ecuador is experiencing its bloodiest era," González tweeted. "A heartfelt hug to the family of colleague Pedro Briones, fallen by the hands of violence."

The killing of Briones, who was a political leader in a rural area of San Mateo de Esmeraldas, came less than a week after the South American country was rocked by the assassination in broad daylight of presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio, who had a famously tough stance on organized crime and corruption. Villavicencio was killed at the end of a political rally in Quito, the capital, despite having a security detail that included police and bodyguards.

Their slayings followed the July 26 fatal shooting of the mayor of Manta, Ecuador’s third largest city. Agustín Intriago, 38, had recently been re-elected to a term that began in May.

Thousands of people have been killed over the past three years in Ecuador as the country has transformed into a major drug trafficking hub and cartel-aided local gangs battle for control of the streets, prisons and drug routes. Crime and violence have dominated the discussions around Sunday's election.

In an interview with The Associated Press, González said she revamped her security detail following Villavicencio's killing but continued to refuse to wear a bulletproof vest, arguing that she is a Christian woman.

"I have faith in God; he is the one who takes care of us,” she said.

Should she become president, she said she plans to take a tough stance on crime, cleaning up police forces, increasing control along the country's borders, and investing in equipment for law enforcement.

González criticized the government of President Guillermo Lasso for lacking control inside detention facilities, which she said prisoners and organized crime have turned into their productive and recreational centers.

At least 400 inmates have died since 2021 during various riots.

On Saturday, authorities moved the leader of one of the country's most powerful gangs, Los Choneros, into a maximum-security prison. Villavicencio had accused the group and its leader, Adolfo Macías, alias “Fito,” whom he linked to Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, of threatening him and his campaign team days before the assassination.

The gang boss was moved out of a jail with lighter security into a maximum-security prison in the same large complex of detention facilities in the port city of Guayaquil. The transfer occurred after about 4,000 soldiers and police officers raided the jail where Macías was being held and seized weapons, ammunition and explosives.

In response, jail inmates on Monday protested and hung signs demanding Macías be transferred back.

“We want peace return Fito,” read one of the signs visible from the road outside the complex, which dozens of police officers and members of the armed forces guarded after supporters of Macías arrived on motorcycles to protest his relocation.

Authorities have not disclosed a motive for Villavicencio's killing. An Ecuadorian judge on Friday ordered preventive detention for six Colombian men described by authorities as being suspected of involvement in the slaying. The FBI is assisting in the investigation.

Authorities did not immediately release details of Briones' slaying.

The country’s National Police tallied 3,568 violent deaths in the first six months of this year, far more than the 2,042 reported during the same period in 2022. That year ended with 4,600 violent deaths, the country’s highest in history and double the total in 2021.

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Associated Press writer Gonzalo Solano contributed to this report from Quito, Ecuador.

LIBYA

Tripoli clashes widen overnight in worst fighting this year

Reuters
Tue, August 15, 2023

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - The Libyan capital's most powerful armed factions battled in several districts overnight and into Tuesday morning in the city's worst violence this year, raising fears of a wider escalation.

Dark smoke hung over parts of the city early on Tuesday and the sound of heavy weapons rattled through the streets, a Reuters journalist in Tripoli said. Residents and local media reported fighting in different parts of the capital.

The clashes between the 444 Brigade and the Special Deterrence Force, which both backed the interim Government of National Unity (GNU) during brief battles last year, shatter months of relative calm in Tripoli.

Libya has had little peace or security since a 2011 NATO-backed uprising and it split in 2014 between warring eastern and western factions.

An assault by eastern forces on Tripoli, in the west, collapsed in 2020 leading to a ceasefire that has halted most major warfare. Turkey, which backed the Tripoli government, maintained a military presence in Libya.

However, there has been little progress towards a lasting political solution to the conflict and on the ground armed factions that have gained official status and financing continue to wield power.

Last year factions backing a rival government declared by the eastern-based parliament launched a doomed attempt to oust Dbeibah, leading to a day of heavy clashes in Tripoli. Sporadic fighting has also this year rocked the city of Zawiya, west of the capital.

On Monday the Special Deterrence Force, which controls the capital's Mitiga airport, seized 444 Brigade commander Mahmoud Hamza as he attempted to travel, a source in the brigade said.

Flights to and from Mitiga have been diverted to Misrata, a city about 180 km (110 miles) east of Tripoli, airlines and airport sources said. Clashes erupted near Mitiga late on Monday and early Tuesday, a Reuters journalist said.

A resident of the Tarik Shok area of southern Tripoli said he could hear fighting when he went to bed at 1:30 am and more strongly when he woke up at 7:30 am.

"We can hear heavy gunfire since early morning. My family lives in the Khalat Furjan area about 7km (4 miles) away and they also hear clashes," he said.

Footage circulating on social media, which Reuters was unable immediately to authenticate, showed Tripoli residents blocking roads with burning tyres.

(Reporting by Reuters Libya newsroom, writing by Angus McDowall, editing by Angus MacSwan)

Maui residents had just minutes to flee from wildfires. Now they’re desperately searching for pets left behind

Bevan Hurley
Mon, 14 August 2023

Roman suffered burns to his paws, legs, back and body, in the Maui wildfires. He has since been reunited with his owners (Maui Humane Society)

When wildfires swept through Lahaina without warning last Tuesday, residents were forced to grab what they could and flee.

At least 96 residents have been killed, more than 2,000 buildings were destroyed, and an estimated 1,000 people remain unaccounted for.

Hundreds of families who escaped the inferno have begun the desperate task of searching for pets that were left behind in the chaos.


Facebook groups have been inundated with photos of cats, dogs, rabbits, horses and exotic birds, and many remain missing nearly one week on from the deadliest wildfire in the United States in more than a century.

“I am absolutely heartbroken,” one pet owner wrote on the Lost & Found Animals of Maui Fires group along with photos of her cats Lily Jupiter, Puma and Tiger.

“Please if there’s any chance they are alive and out there, I’m begging please help me find them… My heart hurts so much.”

“I’m missing my cats Gobi and Bear — couldn’t get them when I fled Lahaina,” another pet owner wrote. “My house is completely burned down. So worried.”

Thousands of Maui residents have responded by offering to help locate the missing pets or make financial contributions. Many have posted photographs of pets spotted roaming around the ashen remains of Lahaina.

Among the agony and grief, extraordinary survival stories are also emerging.

Sarah Woods Willhour’s dogs Rocket, a Pomeranian, and Roman, a labrador, were with a dog sitter in Lahaina when the wildfires erupted.

The dog sitter’s only hope of survival was to jump into the ocean, one of dozens of Lahaina residents forced to try to shelter in the choppy seas, according to the Maui Humane Foundation.

Ms Woods Willhour only knew that Roman and Ricket ran off down the main waterfront street of Lahaina in the direction of the fires, and asked residents to “check in holes in rocks and other places” where the dogs could have holed up.

Roman was found two days later by construction workers, and handed off to a good samaritan who took him to Maalaea Harbour.

Animal welfare workers then transported him to the Maui Humane Society where he was treated for burns to his paws, legs, back and body.

Roman ran off when his dog sitter jumped into the ocean to escape the flames. (Maui Humane Society)

Roman was microchipped, and was reunited with Ms Woods Willhour over the weekend.

On Friday, she shared that Rocket had also been found safe.

The Maui Humane Society said it had been flooded with thousands of emails, phone calls and requests for information from worried pet owners.

It expected to treat hundreds of pets for smoke inhalation and burn injuries, and has appealed for help.

Teams of volunteers and veterinarians from the non-profit have been touring burned out areas documenting every deceased pet that they find.

A fundraiser set up to assist the Maui Humane Society had raised just under $500,000 by Monday afternoon.

The Maui community was showing strong solidarity in helping to save the island’s beloved pets, the animal charity said.

Franklin Trejos, 68, died while trying to save his friend’s beloved golden retriever Sam (Shannon Weber-Bogar)

Beyond Hawaii, pet and animal shelters around the US are pledging to do whatever they can to help out.

In Utah, A New Beginning Animal Rescue said it was ready to send teams of trained vets to Maui to assist with the recovery effort.

Lahaina resident Isabelle Alexander managed to escape town with her husband Miguel and 10-year-old daughter Shiloh, but her two pet birds flew off when their house caught fire.

“Please help us find our 2 babies, we lost them as we were evacuating our home in Lahaina, we are devastated,” Ms Alexander wrote in a post on the Missing Pets of Maui Facebook page.

Another poster Nicole Rockett said on Thursday that her two horses were missing from the upper Loniapoko area. She later reported that they had been found safe, and credited the efforts of good samaritans on social media with helping to locate them.

Franklin “Frankie” Trejos, 68, had lived for several years in Lahaina with his friend Shannon Weber-Bogar and her husband, retired Maui fire captain Geoff Bogar.

When the fires came, Mr Trejos and Mr Bogar remained in the home to try to save the house and help neighbours, Ms Weber-Bogar told ABC News.

As the flames grew closer on Tuesday afternoon, the friends tried to escape in separate cars.

Mr Bogar’s vehicle failed to start, and he broke a window to escape and was rescued by police and taken to hospital, he told the Associated Press.

A burnt out car lies in the driveway of charred apartment complex in the aftermath of a wildfire in Lahaina, western Maui, Hawaii on 12 August (AFP via Getty Images)

When the family returned the next day they found Mr Trejos in the back seat of the burned out car on top of the remains of the couple’s beloved three-year-old golden retriever Sam, according to Ms Weber-Bogar.

It appeared he had been trying to shield Sam from the flames when he died.

“God took a really good man,” Ms Weber-Bogar told the AP.

On Friday specialist search and rescue units with cadaver dogs arrived on Maui to go door-to-door to check burned out homes for bodies.

Just a small fraction of destroyed houses had been searched by Monday, and Governor Josh Brown has warned the loss of life is likely to rise significantly.

UK
Milton Keynes' asylum seeker hotel is raking in up to £24,000 per DAY, government figures suggest


Sally Murrer

MILTON KEYNES CITIZEN
Mon, 14 August 2023 

Harben House Hotel in Newport Pagnell (Photo: Jane Russell)

As the first asylum seekers settle into the controversial Harben House hotel in Newport Pagnell, the owner has refused to comment on how much money he is making in the Home Office deal.

But the Citizen has used government data to work out how much money hotel accommodation costs the Home Office per asylum seeker per day.

And the result is staggering.

The skip is piled high with discarded furniture and bric a brac (Photo: Jane Russell)

In February this year the government published figures stating there were “more than 45,500 asylum seekers in hotels” and it was costing £5.6 million a day.

That equates to £123 per person per day.

In Harben House there are 140 rooms but there will be at least 200 asylum seekers housed there. Some will be families and share rooms while others will be single people, the gender of which has not been confirmed.

Two hundred multiplied by £123 equals £24,600 per day. However, the figure could be reduced if people are sharing.

The Citizen today (Monday) questioned Harben House owner, 42-year-old Siddharth Mahajan who runs Tulip Hotels and Real Estate Ltd about how much he was being paid.

"I can’t answer that. I do not know,” he said. “I am just the landlord and I employ Countrywide Hotels to run the place...I do not have that information.”

Mr Mahajan , who bought the hotel just two weeks ago, said Countrywide had been running the hotel for the past two years, when it housed refugee families from Afghanistan.

"It was already being paid by the government. I cannot say how much I will get,” he said.

The company last accounts, filed in November last year, show £761,685 in tangible assets and investments, £178,005 in debtors and £8,009 cash in the bank.

Previously the BBC has reported how private firms are making large profits as the government pays millions of pounds a day to put up asylum seekers.

They say documents show one booking agency used by the Home Office trebled its pre-tax profits from £2.1m to £6.3m in12 months last year.

Mr Mahajan says his hotel is one of just over 400 used for such purposes in the UK.

The Home Office says the asylum system is under "incredible strain" and they are aiming to cut down on the use of hotels.

Recently Home Secretary Suella Braverman said asylum seekers would roomshare across hotels, which will save £250 million a year

“I have been clear that the unacceptable number of people making frankly illegal and dangerous crossings must stop,” she said. “That’s why we are taking immediate action to deliver alternative accommodation, bring down the asylum backlog and use new technology in Dover.

“We will continue to crack down on the abuse of our asylum system, ultimately saving the British taxpayer money.”

Meanwhile at Harben House, Mr Mahajan’s company has carried out a swift refurbishment to greet the new arrivals. Photos show a skip at the back of the hotel piled with discarded furniture and mattresses.

A security guard is positioned at the entrance and staff can be seen going in and out. But the guests so far are staying firmly behind closed doors.

Government urged to cancel Milton Keynes' asylum seeker hotel contract due to owner's criminal conviction

Sally Murrer

MK CITIZEN
Mon, 14 August 2023 

Harben House hotel in Newport Pagnell (Photo: Jane Russell)

Council leaders are urging the government to cancel a contract to accommodate asylum seekers in the city’s Harben House hotel – because the place is owned by a man with a criminal conviction.

And they are asking for a full inquiry as to why a Home Office contract was awarded in the first place.

The hotel, which is in Tickford Street Newport Pagnell, is owned by Tulip Real Estate Ltd and the company is majority owned by Mr Siddharth Mahajan, say MK Labour.


Today (Monday) the group issued a statement saying Mr Siddharth Mahajan was convicted in 2019 of serious offences under the Proceeds of Crime Act which included perverting the course of justice and forging documents.

The matter was in relation to illegal HMO accommodation and he was jailed for 12 weeks.

The Citizen was aware of the matter and discussed it with Mr Mahajan last week, just before the first asylum seekers moved in to the hotel.

But because the conviction happened just over four years ago, it was legally ‘spent’ and could not be reported.

However, a press statement from a political party carries legal privilege and can be printed in the public interest.

Cllr Pete Marland, Labour leader of Milton Keynes City Council, has now written to Rt Hon Robert Jenrick MP, Minister for Immigration, to ask that the contract with the company be terminated immediately.

He has stated that the Home Office, responsible for law and order, should not be giving taxpayers money to a convicted criminal.

Cllr Marland has demanded that the Conservative government set up an inquiry to find out why the contract was awarded. He has also asked that the Home Office publish how much money the contract was worth, if any other property owned by Tulip Real Estate Ltd or Mr Siddharth Mahajan is being used by the Home Office and if any other people convicted of criminal offences have been awarded lucrative funding to house asylum seekers.

Last week the Citizen revealed Mr Mahajan’s company had bought Whately Hall Hotel in Banbury in April. This has been used to house asylum seekers through the Home Office since early last year.

MK Labour has additionally written to Ben Everitt MP for Milton Keynes North to ask that he support the call to end the contract and set up an inquiry into the Conservatives government’s handling of the matter.

Cllr Pete Marland, Leader of MK City Council said: “The Conservative asylum shambles has reached yet another new low as it is revealed that the Conservative government has been giving a convicted criminal’s company taxpayers money. It is incredible that the department responsible for law or order is allowing a man who perverted the course of justice and forged documents in relation to a housing matter to get rich.

"The government must terminate the contract immediately and set up an inquiry into another chaotic decision.”

Chris Curtis, Labour spokesperson for MK North, said: “The MK Labour Party are also calling on Ben Everitt MP to fully back the call to terminate this shocking and inexplicable state of affairs. He needs to support a full inquiry into how a lucrative contracts are being awarded and what background checks have been done on who the Home Office are giving contracts to. People moving into the hotel are subject to background checks, as Ben pointed out last week, so he now needs to show that the same standard applies to those that are getting rich on the back of his Conservative government’s incompetent handling of the asylum

Cllr Marland concluded: “The events around how the Conservative government have handled the asylum hotel shows that they are in chaos and incapable of governing properly. They have failed to stop the boats, the asylum application backlog is at a record high and now they letting convicted criminals profit from lucrative Home Office contracts. This total and utter mess must end.”

Meanwhile Mr Mahajan was uncontactable this afternoon. But he told the Citizen last week: “I am a good man…. I served my time and I learned lessons from it...You are not allowed to publish it. You can talk to my barrister if you wish,” he said.

He is using Countrywide Hotels to manage Harben House but earlier refused to reveal how much money he was earning from the Home Office contract.

But based on government-published figures stating that the cost of accommodating more than 45,500 asylum seekers in hotels is £5.6 million a day, the cost works out at £123 per person per day.

In the case of the 140 bedroom Harben House, where 200 asylum seekers are allocated, this equates to £24,000 per day. But it could be less because some of the asylum seekers could be sharing rooms.

We asked Mr Mahajan earlier how much he was being paid. He said: "I can’t answer that. I do not know. I am just the landlord and I employ Countrywide Hotels to run the place...I do not have that information.”

He said he bought the hotel just two weeks ago but Countrywide had been running the place for the past two years, when it housed refugee families from Afghanistan.

"It was already being paid by the government. I cannot say how much I will get,” he said.

I use a reputable company, Countrywide, to run my places. They are well-run and very professional and people need for worry,” he said.

Photo that solves Sgt Pepper McCartney mystery up for auction

Steven Morris
Mon, 14 August 2023 at 

Photograph: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

A vivid image of the Beatles and a memo from their record company’s PR manager busting a myth that Paul McCartney was not present at the photoshoot for one of the most famous album covers of all time are coming up for auction this week.

The photo shows McCartney with the other three Beatles posing together in 1967 for the Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band shoot, which produced the famous cover featuring the band in front of lifesize cut-outs of actors, writers and other figures.

It is up for auction in a 39-year-old press pack that also features a memo from Brian Southall, a former general manager public relations for EMI, who says the image disproves the theory that McCartney was not at the session.

After the release of the album, often cited as one of the greatest ever made, there was a rumour that McCartney did not attend the shoot in Chelsea, south-west London, because of tensions within the band and that because of this his image was added into the front cover. Another photo used on the album’s back cover featured a figure looking like McCartney but shot only from behind, adding the theory that he was not present.

The press pack being auctioned was produced by EMI in 1984 to promote a planned collection of unreleased tracks, and includes a version of this back cover image but with McCartney in profile – which auctioneers say prove he definitely was there.

As well as the images it includes a question and answer guide to help record label staff at EMI bat away questions about the reasons it decided to release the collection, including tricky: “Do you not think you are guilty of exploiting/ripping off the Beatles by releasing tracks they never intended for release?”

The suggested answer was: “Bootleggers and counterfeiters are guilty of ripping off the Beatles, not EMI who are the legal owners of this material.” In the end, the collection was not released.

Martin Hughes, of Wessex Auction Rooms in Chippenham, said “the jewel in the crown” in the press pack was the image clearly showing McCartney at the shoot.

There are other photos showing McCartney was present – and accounts of his being at the studio that day. The image with McCartney in profile also appears with some reissued versions of the album.

Hughes said: “It had long been rumoured that Paul McCartney was not at the Sgt Pepper’s sleeve photo shoot because the back of the album only showed him from behind.

“This image showed the side of his face which would prove that he was indeed there on the day. Beatles fans from around the world – and there are a few of them – will be queuing up to bid on this.”

The online auction is taking place on Friday 18 August and the press pack is estimated at between £5,000 and £7,000.

UK

Pay talks are closed, Government tells junior doctors as four-day strike ends

Ella Pickover, PA Health Correspondent
Tue, 15 August 2023 


The Government has insisted there will be no more talks over pay as the latest strike by junior doctors in England drew to a close.

As the four-day walkout ended at 7am on Tuesday, health minister Will Quince insisted that negations on pay are over but said he is “open” to discuss other issues including working environments.

It is the fifth time junior doctors from the British Medical Association (BMA) have staged industrial action in England amid the ongoing dispute over pay.


NHS officials have suggested that the action will have led to thousands of appointments, operations and procedures being postponed.

Hospital consultants are set to stage their own strike later in the month.

Mr Quince told Sky News: “It’s hugely disappointing that both the junior doctors of the BMA and the consultants are still taking industrial action.

“And that’s despite the Government having accepted in full the recommendations of the independent Pay Review Body.

“Take junior doctors for example – we accepted the recommendation, which is an average of 8.8% (rise for average junior doctors) or 10.3% for new doctors just starting out in training.

“The Prime Minister has been really clear that the discussion on pay is now closed.

“My door remains open to discuss other issues around working environments and conditions, but pay is closed and I think that’s the right decision.”

In July the Government announced that junior doctors will receive pay rises of 6%, along with an additional consolidated £1,250 increase, and hospital consultants will also receive 6%.

BMA junior doctors committee co-chairmen Dr Rob Laurenson and Dr Vivek Trivedi said in a statement during the strike: “This Government and the Health Secretary have grown increasingly intransigent, belligerent and unwilling to talk about how we can end this dispute, and indeed are now expending more energy on making spurious claims about the reasons for our legitimate campaign than they are about settling the dispute.

“Steve Barclay has singularly failed to make any significant steps towards ending this dispute and, as he continues to posture and pontificate, the waiting list goes up and more patients see their treatment delayed.

“What he and the Prime Minister should be doing is getting back round the table with us to find a way of ending this dispute.”

UK
Ministers’ attacks on civil servants ‘damaged Whitehall staff retention’

Rowena Mason and Matthew Weaver
Mon, 14 August 2023

Ministers’ disparaging public attacks on civil servants have damaged staff retention and morale in Whitehall, the government’s ethics watchdog has said.

Government officials have been accused of being “obstructive and furthering their own agenda”, according to the committee on standards in public life, which pointed to an erosion of the normal conventions that govern civil servants’ relationship with ministers.

In its submission to a parliamentary inquiry on Whitehall leadership and reform, the committee – which is chaired by a former head of MI5, Jonathan Evans – said ministers should be mindful of the power imbalance as public disparagement had consequences.

It also said there had also been a rise in anonymous briefings from within the civil service, with some officials opposed to the government’s “willingness to test the boundaries of legality”.

“In recent times there has been an erosion of the conventions that have governed the relationship, with public criticism of civil servants becoming increasingly disparaging in tone and an increase in anonymous briefings by civil servants to the media,” the committee said in evidence to the Commons public administration committee.

“During and after our review, we heard examples of low civil service morale. There will be a range of factors to explain this, but public accusations of civil servants being obstructive and furthering their own agenda is undoubtedly damaging for staff retention and is unlikely to attract the very best people to work in the public sector.”

The submission outlined findings from the committee’s report on leadership in public life, published earlier this year, which said it had heard that the government’s “willingness to test the boundaries of legality in challenging policy areas” had been difficult for some civil servants who had “struggled to reconcile their work with their own personal values”.

It said ministers were right to expect high standards of their officials. It had been suggested to the committee that in some cases civil servants may mistake a feeling of “dislike or discomfort” over policy choices for ethical considerations that could constitute a breach of the civil service code, the submission said.

The watchdog said civil servants must serve the government of the day impartially and if they felt unable to do that they must move roles or departments or leave.

The committee was set up in 1994 under John Major. It advises the prime minister on upholding standards of conduct across public life in England.

Its members include Lady Arden, a former supreme court justice, Dame Margaret Beckett, the former Labour minister, Ian Blackford, the former Westminster leader of the SNP, Lady Finn, a Conservative peer and former deputy chief of staff to Boris Johnson, Ewen Fergusson, a City lawyer, and Prof Gillian Peele.

Evans is nearing the end of his five-year term at the helm, telling Sky News recently that he thought there should be more transparency about the source of political donations and suggesting a ceiling on the amount MPs can earn from second jobs.

The inquiry on civil service leadership and reform was opened by the Commons public administration committee after a torrid period for relations between ministers and Whitehall, with relations hitting a low last year.

In February 2022, Jacob Rees-Mogg, then the Cabinet Office minister, outlined huge job cuts and left “sorry you were out” notes on the desks of civil servants working from home. Since leaving office, Rees-Mogg has claimed “idle”, “workshy and snowflakey” civil servants frustrated his efforts to scrap EU laws.

In April this year, Dominic Raab quit as deputy prime minister after he was found to have acted in an intimidating way towards civil servants. He then claimed to have been the subject of a concerted campaign by unionised officials trying to undermine him.

Relations have also been strained by protracted pay disputes and strikes, as well as the sacking of Tom Scholar as the Treasury’s permanent secretary by Liz Truss during her brief time as prime minister.

Simon Case, the cabinet secretary, defended the civil service in July, saying criticism of officials had been “insulting and dehumanising”. He said any minister labelling the civil service with terms such as “the blob” would be engaged in “self-defeating cowardice”.

Case, appointed under Boris Johnson, said relations had improved under Rishi Sunak since November but added: “The last five years or so have seen, I think, an increased number of attacks on civil servants individually and collectively by significant political figures which has undoubtedly undermined the good functioning of government.”

Some quarters of Whitehall previously felt Case failed to defend them sufficiently after Raab’s attack on “unionised officials” and when some civil servants were under fire during the Partygate scandal.

Earlier this year, the Institute for Government found that political turmoil had contributed to record levels of staff turnover and declining morale in the civil service.

Lucille Thirlby, the assistant general secretary of the FDA union, said: “Civil servants have no right of reply to the accusations levelled at them by certain politicians, and also have no effective means of raising concerns about ministerial behaviour when the prime minister remains judge and jury on any complaints.

“Our own survey of senior civil servants found over 17% had witnessed unacceptable behaviour by a minister, across 20 government departments, and nearly 70% said they did not have confidence that, if they raised a complaint, it would be dealt with fairly.”

She said ministers must “heed the warning and seek to rebuild trust with civil servants, end the negative briefings, and ensure the civil service is able to recruit and retain the most talented people to deliver our vital public services.”

Mark Serwotka, the general secretary of the PCS union, the biggest civil service union, said: “The best way for ministers to improve the morale, efficiency and productivity of civil servants is to treat them with the respect they deserve and give them a fair pay rise to help them through the cost of living crisis and beyond.”

Asked about the committee’s submission, a government spokesperson said: “There is and always should be a professional and productive relationship between ministers and civil servants. The civil service continues to work closely and collaboratively with ministers to deliver for the public on the government’s priorities.”

Girl, 13, gives birth after she was raped and denied abortion in Mississippi


Lauren Aratani
Mon, 14 August 2023 

Photograph: Rogelio V Solis/AP

A 13-year-old girl in Mississippi gave birth to a boy after she was raped as well as impregnated by a stranger – and then was unable to get an abortion, according to a Time magazine report published on Monday.

The mother of the girl, who uses the pseudonym Ashley in the report, was looking to get an abortion for her daughter but was told the closest abortion provider was in Chicago – a drive of more than nine hours from their home in Clarksdale, Mississippi.

Related: ‘Ohio saw through the con’: abortion rights advocates celebrate Issue 1 result


Ashley’s mother, referred to as Regina in the report, told Time that the cost of getting an abortion in Chicago was too expensive when considering the price of travel, taking time off work and getting the abortion for her daughter.

“I don’t have the funds for all this,” Regina told Time.

The report is the latest in a series of horrific personal accounts that have surfaced after the US supreme court overturned the nationwide abortion access rights which had been established by the Roe v Wade precedent. Since the decision, titled Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization, 14 state laws banning abortion have gone into effect, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights.

The women’s health clinic that was at the center of the case was the last abortion provider in Mississippi until it closed last summer after the Dobbs decision.

Last summer, just a week after the ruling, a local newspaper in Ohio reported that a 10-year-old who was raped had to travel to Indiana for an abortion because of restrictions in her state. A man was found guilty last month of raping and impregnating the girl in that case, and he received a sentence of life imprisonment.

Other stories detail how women nearly died because doctors had to wait until their life was at risk to perform an abortion – or that many women now have to travel long distances to get any kind of reproductive healthcare. An estimated 25 million women ages 15 to 33 live in states that have abortion restrictions.

With respect to Monday’s Time report, Ashley discovered she was pregnant after her mother took her to the hospital for uncontrollable vomiting. Regina noticed that Ashley was behaving differently, staying in her room when she used to enjoy going outside to record TikTok dances. Upon receiving bloodwork showing Ashley was pregnant, the hospital contacted the police.

“What have you been doing?” a nurse asked Ashley at that time, according to the report. The hospital ultimately directed Ashley to the Clarksdale Women’s Clinic, which provides OB-GYN services. The clinic did not respond to requests from the Guardian for comment.

“It was surreal for her,” Dr Erica Balthrop, Ashley’s physician, told Time. “She just had no clue.”

Before Dobbs, Balthrop could have directed Regina to a Memphis abortion clinic that was a 90-minute drive north, or to Jackson Women’s Health, which is a 2.5-hour drive south. But Mississippi – along with all the states surrounding it – has banned abortion.

Mississippi, along with many other states that also ban abortions, technically make exceptions for when the pregnancy is from rape or is life-threatening. But abortions granted under these exceptions are extremely rare and poorly tracked.

In January, the New York Times reported that Mississippi made two exceptions since the state’s abortion ban went into effect. The state requires that a rape be reported to law enforcement in order to qualify for a legal abortion.

Two out of three sexual assault cases in the US are not reported to the police, according to Rainn, or the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, an anti-sexual assault nonprofit. Even if an exception is made, a person must travel out of their state to get an abortion procedure if their state bans it.

The laws exacerbate longstanding health inequalities in Mississippi, where Black women are four times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications compared with white women, according to the state’s health department. According to the Guttmacher Institute, 60% of women who seek abortions are people of color and about half live below the federal poverty line.

Regina said she filed a complaint with the Clarksdale police department after she learned Ashley was pregnant. She told Time that her daughter ultimately opened up about what happened: a man came into their front yard while she was making TikToks outside while her uncle and sibling were inside and assaulted her. Ashley said she did not know who the man was and that no one witnessed the attack.

The police department confirmed to Time that a report had been filed. But the agency declined to comment publicly on the case since it involved a minor.

After 39 weeks of pregnancy, Ashley gave birth to a boy, whom they nicknamed Peanut. Ashley told Time the birth was “painful”.

“This situation hurts the most because it was an innocent child doing what children do, playing outside, and it was my child,” Regina told Time. “It still hurts, and is going to always hurt.”

A 13-year-old who couldn't get an abortion is now starting 7th grade as a mom, report says

Gabby Landsverk
Mon, 14 August 202



A young girl in Mississippi gave birth after being sexually assaulted by a stranger outside her home, Time reported.


Because of the state's strict abortion laws, the nearest abortion provider was 9 hours away.


Her doctor said the girl had "no clue" what was happening and didn't understand pregnancy.

A 13-year-old from Clarksdale, Mississippi will start seventh grade as a new mom after being sexually assaulted and unable to get access to an abortion, Time reported.

The girl, referred to by the pseudonym Ashley in the report to protect her privacy, was raped in autumn of 2022 and told no one for weeks, her mother Regina (also a pseudonym) told Time.

Regina had noticed something was wrong when Ashley lost interest in her usual hobbies, like TikTok dances, and had symptoms such as nausea. Regina said she hadn't even talked to her daughter about how babies are made because she felt Ashley was too young to understand, according to Time.


Despite severe trauma that left Ashley almost unable to speak, Regina later learned that Ashley had been assaulted by an unknown man while she had been outside their house.
Ashley was already 10 weeks pregnant by the time her pregnancy was discovered

Regina told Time that she brought Ashley to the emergency room on January 11, 2023 because she couldn't stop vomiting. While they were there, bloodwork showed that Ashley was 10 or 11 weeks pregnant.

"She just had no clue," Dr. Erica Balthrop, a provider at the Clarksdale Woman's Clinic and the OB-GYN on call, told Time.

Regina was told that the closest abortion provider was a nine-hour drive away in Chicago. But the family couldn't afford the cost of gas, food, or lodging along with the procedure itself and time off work to complete the journey.

Instead, the family did their best to disguise the fact that Ashley was pregnant with oversized clothes until it was too obvious to hide. Then they removed her from school, saying she needed surgery for an ulcer, Time reported.

Ashley completed sixth grade on her laptop, and gave birth to her son, nicknamed Peanut, on a Saturday when she was 39 weeks pregnant. Her mother told Time that she's working to get Ashley permission to start seventh grade from home, too.
Strict abortion laws disproportionately affect high-risk mothers, experts say

Mississippi's abortion laws are some of the most restrictive in the nation. On paper, they allow exceptions in the case of rape or if the mother's life is at risk, but the process for obtaining exemptions isn't clear, Time reported.

Mississippi also has high rates of poverty and maternal mortality. Black women in Mississippi are four times as likely to die from pregnancy-related complications as white women, according to state Department of Health data. And pregnancy-related health complications are on the rise as a result of stricter bans on abortion, the Washington Post reported.

There are also few providers available in regions of the country where states have banned abortion, including Texas, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Alabama, following the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade in June 2022.

Meanwhile, stricter laws are leading to significantly more births. But most people don't even realize they're pregnant until week seven, which is already too late to get an abortion in a dozen states.

A Mississippi Nurse Questioned 13-Year-Old's Responsibility After She Got Pregnant From Rape

Caitlin Cruz

JEZEBEL
Mon, August 14, 2023 

Close-up of examination table in doctor's office

A 13-year-old girl in Mississippi gave birth this month after she was raped last fall, and just weeks before she will start 7th grade. When the pregnancy was first discovered at an emergency room earlier this year, her mother told Time magazine that a nurse reportedly asked the child, “What have you been doing?”

Ashley (a pseudonym to protect her privacy), is Black, and her story illustrates the horrific effects of abortion bans in already disadvantaged areas. She was raped last fall while filming a TikTok video in the yard of her family’s house in Clarksdale, while her relatives were inside. Her mother, who goes by the pseudonym Regina said, according to Time, that Ashley said “a man came down the street and into the front yard, grabbed Ashley, and covered her mouth...He pulled her around to the side of the house and raped her” and that the “assailant was an adult, and that she didn’t know him. Nobody else witnessed the assault.”

At the next appointment, Regina broached the subject of abortion. But it was early 2023: The world of abortion access is the South was already at a humanitarian-level crisis. The closest abortion provider was in Chicago. “I don’t have the funds for all this,” Regina told Time, referencing the need to take off work, pay for gas, food and lodging—as well as the abortion.

Ashley and Regina’s position is horrifically not unique: There are nearly 2 million people of reproductive age who live in a county without abortion or maternity care access, according to a new analysis from ABC News and Boston’s Children’s Hospital. If you zoom out a bit, to include counties that only have “low access” to maternal healthcare, these healthcare deserts now include 3.7 million women.

Obviously, Ashely didn’t get the abortion; that’s why you’re reading this story. She joined the growing number of people who are simply unable to make true choices of bodily autonomy. Having a child—even as a teen—should be a choice. Instead, Ashley was raped and forced to become a mother at age 13.

Ashley’s story is the inverse of a 10-year-old Ohio girl who was raped by Gerson Fuentes in summer 2022. That girl was able to travel across state lines to Indiana to receive a medication abortion before she reached seven weeks. (Of course, she was forced to travel because Roe v. Wade was overturned, and her home state of Ohio implemented a six-week abortion ban shortly thereafter.) After the girl’s pregnancy from the rape was discovered, child protective services got involved. A child abuse doctor reached out to Dr. Caitlin Bernard, the abortion provider in Indiana. They made travel plans, and the girl received her abortion. Ashley was not so lucky.

She also experienced the all-too-common “adultification” bias, which treats Black children as more grown up than they are and, in this case, presumes immense responsibility when the nurse asked, “What have you been doing?”

Even though Regina filed a police report, and the family gave the name of a possible suspect, little has been done for Ashley’s case. Police only collected a DNA sample from the newborn child after Time made multiple inquiries. Time reported that the Clarksdale Police Chief Vincent Ramirez essentially shrugged when asked about the delay. “It’s a pretty high priority, as a juvenile,” he told the magazine. “Sometimes they slip a little bit because we’ve got a lot going on, but then they come back to it.”

This seems like a pretty big slip—especially because Ashley’s life has already been irrevocably changed.

UK
OPINION - Could voters see Rayner as a Trojan horse for the Left?

James Kirkup
Mon, 14 August 2023 

Deputy leader Angela Rayner with Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer (Peter Byrne/PA) (PA Wire)

“John Prescott in a skirt.” That’s Angela Rayner’s well-practised line to describe her relationship with Sir Keir Starmer. The words are carefully chosen, intended to remind people of Tony Blair’s long-serving deputy, a word-mangling former trade unionist whose loyalty to Blair underpinned the New Labour project for more than a decade.

But Rayner isn’t Starmer’s Prescott. Her relationship with her leader is fated to be much more complicated. Prescott is 15 years older than Blair and abandoned any hope of leading Labour when the younger man beat him to the top job in 1994. Angela Rayner is 43, some 17 years younger than Starmer. Prescott saw his role as deputy leader and deputy prime minister as the end of his career. No one at Westminster thinks that this is Rayner’s last job.

The fact that she could one day take the top job means some tension between her and Starmer is inevitable. That tension is only heightened by the fact that Rayner is more charismatic and, frankly, interesting than her leader.

Labour’s deputy leaders are always important figures in the party because they’re not hired — or fired — by the leader but elected by the members. That means they have a mandate and a power base of their own. Such a power base needs to be carefully maintained though, for instance by making sure your allies and supporters get selected for winnable seats. Starmer’s team have been working hard to ensure such seats go to loyal, centrist allies, much to the chagrin of the Labour Left.

Some Left-wing Labour members and trade unionists hope Rayner will be their champion at the top of the party. She’s a former care worker and union organiser who came up on the Left of the party and backed Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.

Right now, though, the most important audience for Labour isn’t those Left-leaning activists. It’s the floating and undecided voters and soft Tories the party needs to win over if it is to achieve any sort of majority in the Commons. Will former Tory voters in places such as Stevenage and Milton Keynes warm to a blunt-spoken Mancunian who repeatedly backed Corbyn and has described Tories as “scum”?

Conservative election planners hope not. A key plank of Tory election strategy is to paint Starmer’s Labour as unreformed socialists intent on taxing and spending and waging a Corbynite war on wealth and aspiration.

On paper at least, Rayner should be perfect fuel for the Tory campaign PR machine — living proof that Labour hasn’t changed and that Starmer is just a front for old-school Corbynism.

Rayner, after all, was a consistent backer of Corbyn and his policies. She joined his shadow cabinet in 2016 when many Labour moderates turned against him, and remained part of his top team as voters overwhelmingly rejected Labour in the 2019 election. Of course, much the same is true of Starmer, who served in that same shadow team and once called Corbyn a “friend” who would make a “great prime minister”.

Labour’s leader today wants to distance himself and his party from Corbyn. The more voters see of a self-described “socialist” deputy leader who was a prominent part of the Corbyn team, the more open they may be to claims that she is a Trojan horse meant to let the old Labour Left into power.

In reality, she is a much harder target for Tory spinners, because of the striking discipline she is showing in remaining on-message with the Starmer agenda. When he surprised his colleagues by announcing that Labour would keep the Conservatives’ deeply controversial “two child limit” on welfare claims, it would have been unsurprising to see Rayner expressing doubts. After all, she has previously described the policy as “obscene” and cruel.

Yet when Labour MPs raged about Starmer’s position at a recent meeting in the Commons it was Rayner who took the flack for the leadership. Likewise when Starmer hardened Labour’s line on trans issues to declare that a woman is an “adult female”, Rayner, an outspoken advocate of trans rights, could have played to the Left-wing gallery by dissenting. Instead, she kept quiet.

Will she toe the line all the way to the election? No one should be surprised by her discipline and professionalism. You don’t go from being a teenage mother on a depressed council estate to Parliament and the shadow cabinet without formidable drive and determination. And Rayner can count. Today, Starmer leads a party that’s 20 points ahead of the Tories in the polls. This is not a time to be seen challenging the boss. Better to knuckle down, and maintain your base in the party for the future.

If she’s moved to a new position in the shadow cabinet at a reshuffle next month, bet on her accepting the move graciously rather than publicly resisting a switch as she did in 2021 when Starmer was in a much weaker position.

The real tests for the Starmer-Rayner relationship will come if and when their party takes power. A Starmer government may lack a big Commons majority and expects to have very little money to spend, meaning a cautious safety-first agenda. That’s a recipe for discontent among Labour activists hungry for boldness and looking for someone to champion their cause in government, perhaps in the hope of taking over in due course. Angela Rayner isn’t Keir Starmer’s John Prescott but she could become his Gordon Brown.

James Kirkup is director of the Social Market Foundation

AUSTRALIA
Vandals damage Indigenous birthing tree sacred to Victoria’s Djab Wurrung people

Adeshola Ore
Tue, 15 August 2023 



A sacred Indigenous birthing tree that was once at the centre of large protests in western Victoria over Aboriginal cultural heritage rights has been vandalised with a pro-highway message and had three drill holes cut into its trunk.

Police are investigating after the tree – sacred to the Djab Wurrung people – was vandalised near Buangor, about 180km west of Melbourne. The Djab Wurrung people have been fighting for four years to prevent the destruction of the birthing trees as part of a major state government road project.

Eastern Maar Aboriginal corporation, responsible for the western Victoria region, has offered a $10,000 reward for information that will lead directly to a prosecution and conviction for the alleged offence.

The corporation’s chief executive, William Briggs, said it was “deeply saddened” by the vandalism.

The vandalism, believed to have taken place last week, included spray painting that read “build the road”. Three drill holes were also discovered in the tree’s trunk, prompting allegations from traditional owners it had been poisoned.

The independent Victorian senator Lidia Thorpe on Tuesday said the attacks had caused great pain for Djab Wurrung elders, matriarchs and women.

“Our maternity trees have sheltered the birth of countless generations of Djab Wurrung babies,” she said.

Thorpe, a Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung woman, visited the site on Saturday.

The trees were due to be destroyed for a project to duplicate the Western Highway that was due to be completed in 2020, but it has been halted after lengthy legal battles.

In 2021, Victoria’s supreme court dismissed a Djab Wurrung-led case to protect the trees after the state government lawyers said they would no longer rely on a cultural heritage report approved by the relevant Indigenous body in 2013.

A new cultural heritage plan is now being prepared for the project. It is unclear if the new route will protect the sacred tree.