Young, Black patients at higher risk of death in the first year after a heart transplant

Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.Feb 2 2021

Young, Black adults are more than twice as likely to die in the first year after a heart transplant when compared to same-age, non-Black heart transplant recipients, according to new research published today in Circulation: Heart Failure, an American Heart Association journal.

Research has consistently shown that Black heart transplant recipients have a higher risk of death following heart transplantation compared to non-Black recipients. Black patients have a higher prevalence of cardiovascular disease at younger ages, and therefore, they may need heart transplants at younger ages.

Researchers hypothesized that studies focused on disparities among Black heart transplant recipients may be missing an even greater disparity – younger Black patients.

Generally, older patients are at a higher risk of having worse outcomes following a major procedure. Organ transplantation, however, is a complex operation that requires lifelong, specialized medical and surgical care. Continued access to the health care system and financial resources such as insurance may be unfairly limited in younger patients, potentially leading to worse outcomes."

Errol L. Bush, MD, Study Senior Author and Associate Professor of Surgery, and Surgical Director of the Avanced Lung Disease and Lung Transplant Program, Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore

Researchers analyzed the outcomes of almost 23,000 adults (median age 56, 25% female) who had a heart transplant between Jan. 1, 2005, and Jan. 31, 2017. Patient information was obtained from the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients, a registry that includes data on all transplant donors, wait-listed patients and recipients in the United States.

Risks of mortality were compared between Black and non-Black transplant recipients in four different age groups (18-30 years, 31-40 years, 41-60 years, and 61-80 years).

The researchers found that when compared to other heart transplant recipients:

• Across all age groups, Black heart transplant recipients had approximately a 30% higher risk of death.
• However, when examined by age groups, the risk of death among Black heart transplant recipients was 2 times higher among recipients aged 18-30 years and 1.5 times higher among recipients aged 31-40 years.
• Among Black heart transplant recipients aged 18-30, the risk of death was primarily during the first year after transplant, with Black recipients having 2.3 times higher risk of death in this time period.

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"Our study is the first to highlight young, Black recipients as a subgroup at a higher risk of death during the first year after a heart transplant," said Hasina Maredia, M.D., first author of the study whose interest in health disparities inspired her to initiate and lead the project as a medical student at Johns Hopkins. "Our findings indicate clinical research moving forward should focus attention on young, Black recipients during this high-risk period so that longstanding racial disparities seen in heart transplant survival can be improved."

In the study, young, Black heart transplant recipients differed from young, non-Black recipients in several ways, including being more likely to have diabetes and/or high blood pressure; have a weakened heart muscle (cardiomyopathy), and be insured by Medicaid rather than a private insurer.

More serious illness and additional medical problems prior to surgery might increase the risk of death from surgical complications, and financial constraints might make it more difficult for younger recipients with limited insurance to access specialized care and take the medications needed to prevent organ rejection, according to the researchers' discussion of possible mechanisms for the disparity.

"The high risk associated with Black race is not specifically due to race itself; it is a marker of systemic racism and inequities that have resulted in significant health care disparities," said Bush and Maredia.

The American Heart Association recently published a presidential advisory that addresses structural racism as a cause of poor health and premature death from heart disease and stroke.

The advisory, titled "Call to Action: Structural Racism as a Fundamental Driver of Health Disparities," reviews the historical context, current state and potential solutions to address structural racism in the U.S. and outlines steps the association is taking to address and mitigate the root causes of health care disparities.

Source:

American Heart Association

Journal reference:

Maredia, H., et al. (2021) Better Understanding the Disparity Associated With Black Race in Heart Transplant Outcomes. Circulation: Heart Failure. doi.org/10.1161/CIRCHEARTFAILURE.119.006107.

Amazon's Jeff Bezos stepping down nearly 30 years after founding company

Will be replaced by Andy Jassy, who runs Amazon's cloud business

The Associated Press · Posted: Feb 02, 2021 

Amazon's Jeff Bezos is stepping down as CEO nearly 30 years after founding the company. Launched in 1995 as an internet bookseller, Amazon was a pioneer of fast and free shipping that won over millions of shoppers who used the site to buy diapers, TVs and just about anything. 

(Cliff Owen/The Associated Press)


Amazon said Tuesday that Jeff Bezos is stepping down as CEO later this year, a role he's had since he founded the company nearly 30 years ago.

Amazon said he'll be replaced in the fall by Andy Jassy, who runs Amazon's cloud business. Bezos, 57, will then become the company's executive chairman.

Bezos, who started the company 27 years ago as an internet bookseller, said in a note to employees posted on Amazon's website, "As Exec Chair I will stay engaged in important Amazon initiatives but also have the time and energy I need to focus on the Day 1 Fund, the Bezos Earth Fund, Blue Origin, The Washington Post, and my other passions."

He added, "I've never had more energy, and this isn't about retiring."

Launched in 1995, Amazon was a pioneer of fast and free shipping that won over millions of shoppers who used the site to buy diapers, TVs and just about anything.

Andy Jassy, seen here in October 2016, will take over as CEO of Amazon.

 (Mike Blake/Reuters)

Started online retail business but not sure what to sell

Under Bezos, Amazon also launched the first e-reader that gained mass acceptance, and its Echo listening device made voice assistants a more common sight in many living rooms.

As a child, Bezos was intrigued by computers and interested in building things, such as alarms he rigged in his parents' home. He got a degree in electrical engineering and computer science at Princeton University and then worked at several Wall Street companies.

He quit his job at D.E. Shaw to start an online retail business — though at first he wasn't sure what to sell. Bezos quickly determined that an online bookstore would resonate with consumers. He and his wife, MacKenzie, whom he met at D.E. Shaw and married in 1993, set out on a road trip to Seattle — a city chosen for its abundance of tech talent and proximity to a large book distributor in Roseburg, Ore.

While MacKenzie drove, Bezos wrote up the business plan for what would become Amazon.com. Bezos convinced his parents and some friends to invest in the idea, and Amazon began operating out of the couple's Seattle garage on July 16, 1995.

Bezos wrote up the business plan for Amazon while on a road trip with his wife at the time, MacKenzie. (Patrick McMullan via Getty Image)

Pandemic translated into big business for Amazon

Since the start of the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S., consumers have turned increasingly to Amazon for delivery of home staples and medical supplies. Brick-and-mortar shops closed their doors, while Amazon, the world's largest online retailer, instead recruited over 400,000 more workers and posted consecutive record profits.

With its warehouses open, Amazon had another record holiday, beating estimates for online store sales, subscription sales, third-party service sales such as warehousing and other sales to merchants on its platform.

The company reported its third-consecutive record profit on Tuesday, and quarterly sales above $100 billion US for the first time.

Canada's Competition Bureau investigates Amazon.ca

EU charges Amazon in antitrust lawsuit, alleges unfair competition

Andy Jassy's Amazon Web Services (AWS), traditionally a bright spot, fell slightly short of expectations. While the cloud computing division announced deals in the quarter with ViacomCBS, the BMW Group and others, it posted revenue of $12.7 billion US, short of the $12.8 billion analysts had estimated.

A boost in revenue came from moving Amazon's marketing event Prime Day — usually in July — to October, lengthening the holiday shopping season.

Amazon is one of the last of the tech giants to have a founder as CEO. Google's co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, relinquished their executive positions in parent company Alphabet in 2019. Oracle's Larry Ellison stepped down as CEO in 2014.

Bill Gates was Microsoft's CEO until 2000, kept a day-to-day role at the company until 2008 and served as its chairman until 2014. Gates left the board entirely last year to focus on philanthropy.


With files from Reuters

U.S. billionaire buys SpaceX flight for 1st all-civilian space mission

Children's hospital to benefit with donors entered in draw for seat on spacecraft

The Associated Press · Posted: Feb 02, 2021

Jared Isaacman plans to take three people with him to circle the globe in a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft later this year. 

(St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital/The Associated Press)

A U.S. billionaire who made a fortune in tech and fighter jets is buying an entire SpaceX flight and plans to take three "everyday" people with him to circle the globe this year.

Besides fulfilling his dream of flying in space, Jared Isaacman announced Monday that he aims to use the private trip to raise $200 million US for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., half coming from his own pocket.

A female health-care worker for St. Jude already has been selected for the mission. Anyone donating to St. Jude in February will be entered into a random drawing for seat No. 3. The fourth seat will go to a business owner who uses Shift4 Payments, Isaacman's credit-card processing company in Allentown, Pa.

"I truly want us to live in a world 50 or 100 years from now where people are jumping in their rockets like the Jetsons and there are families bouncing around on the moon with their kid in a spacesuit," Isaacman, who turns 38 next week, told The Associated Press.

"I also think if we are going to live in that world, we better conquer childhood cancer along the way."

Super Bowl ad will publicize mission

He has bought a Super Bowl ad to publicize the mission, dubbed Inspiration4 and targeted for an October launch from Florida. The other passengers aboard the SpaceX Dragon capsule — what Isaacman calls a diverse group "from everyday walks of life" — will be announced next month. SpaceX founder and chief executive Elon Musk expects the flight to last two to four days.

Isaacman's trip is the latest deal announced for private space travel — and it's No. 1 on the runway for an orbital trip.

"This is an important milestone toward enabling access to space for everyone," Musk said during a press conference Monday from SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif. While expensive, these initial private flights will drive down costs over time, he noted.

Last week, a Houston company revealed the names of three businessmen, including a Canadian, who are paying $55 million US ($70 million Cdn) apiece to fly to the International Space Station next January aboard a SpaceX Dragon. And a Japanese businessman has a deal with SpaceX to fly to the moon. In the past, space tourists had to hitch rides to the space station on Russian rockets.

Isaacman would not divulge how much he's paying SpaceX, except to say that the anticipated donation to St. Jude "vastly exceeds the cost of the mission."

While a former NASA astronaut will accompany the three businessmen, Isaacman will serve as his own spacecraft commander. The appeal, he said, is learning all about SpaceX's Dragon and Falcon 9 rocket. The capsules are designed to fly autonomously, but a pilot can override the system in an emergency.

SpaceX says the crew of four will go into space from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., 'no earlier than the fourth quarter of this year.' (John Raoux/The Associated Press)

A "space geek" since kindergarten, Isaacman dropped out of high school when he was 16, got a GED certificate and started a business in his parents' basement that became the genesis for Shift4. He set a speed record flying around the world in 2009 while raising money for the Make-A-Wish program, and later established Draken International, the world's largest private fleet of fighter jets.

Isaacman's $100 million US commitment to St. Jude in Memphis is the largest-ever by a single individual and one of the largest overall.

"We're pinching ourselves every single day," said Rick Shadyac, president of St. Jude's fundraising organization.
Crew to be taken on mountain expedition

Besides SpaceX training, Isaacman intends to take his crew on a mountain expedition to mimic his most uncomfortable experience so far — tenting on the side of a mountain in bitter winter conditions.

"We're all going to get to know each other ... really well before launch," he said.

He's acutely aware of the need for things to go well.

"If something does go wrong, it will set back every other person's ambition to go and become a commercial astronaut," he told the AP over the weekend from his home in Easton, Pa.

SpaceX sets record for most spacecraft shuttled to orbit in a single mission

Isaacman said he signed with Musk's company because it's the clear leader in commercial space flight, with two astronaut flights already completed. Boeing has yet to fly astronauts to the space station for NASA. While Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic and Jeff Bezos's Blue Origin expect to start flying customers later this year, their craft will just briefly skim the surface of space.

Isaacman had put out space flight feelers for years. He travelled to Kazakhstan in 2008 to see a Russian Soyuz blast off with a tourist on board, then a few years later attended one of NASA's last space shuttle launches. SpaceX invited him to the company's second astronaut launch for NASA in November.

U.S. astronauts discuss 'humbling experience' aboard SpaceX craft

While Isaacman and wife, Monica, managed to keep his space trip hush-hush over the months, their daughters couldn't. The girls, ages 7 and 4, overheard their parents discussing the flight last year and told their teachers, who called to ask if it was true dad was an astronaut.

"My wife said, 'No, of course not, you know how these kids make things up.' But I mean the reality is my kids weren't that far off with that one."

Canadian among private space crew paying $55M US each to fly to station

The first private space station crew has been introduced a year ahead of the planned launch

The Associated Press · January 27,2021

This combination of photos provided by Axiom Space shows, from left, Larry Connor, Michael Lopez-Alegria, Mark Pathy and Eytan Stibbe. On Jan. 26, Axiom announced they will be the first private space station crew, a year ahead of the planned launch. (AP)

The first private space station crew was introduced Tuesday: Three men, including a Canadian, who are each paying $55 million US ($70 million) to fly on a SpaceX rocket.

They'll be led by a former NASA astronaut now working for Axiom Space, the Houston company that arranged the trip for next January.

"This is the first private flight to the International Space Station. It's never been done before," said Axiom's chief executive and president Mike Suffredini, a former space station program manager for NASA.

While mission commander Michael Lopez-Alegria is well known in space circles, "the other three guys are just people who want to be able to go to space, and we're providing that opportunity," Suffredini told The Associated Press.



Axiom's first customers include Canadian financier Mark Pathy, CEO of Montreal-based Mavrik Corp.; Larry Connor, a real estate and tech entrepreneur from Dayton, Ohio; and Israeli businessman Eytan Stibbe, a close friend of Israel's first astronaut Ilan Ramon, who was killed in the space shuttle Columbia accident in 2003. 

"These guys are all very involved and doing it for ... the betterment of their communities and countries, and so we couldn't be happier with this makeup of the first crew because of their drive and their interest," Suffredini said.

Each of these first paying customers intends to perform science research in orbit, he said, along with educational outreach.

The three men will be on the first private flight to the International Space Station. (NASA)

Lopez-Alegria, a former space station resident and spacewalking leader, called the group a "collection of pioneers." 

The first crew will spend eight days at the space station, and will take one or two days to get there aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule following liftoff from Cape Canaveral.
Space tourism becoming big business

Russia has been in the off-the-planet tourism business for years, selling rides to the International Space Station since 2001.

Other space companies like Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin plan to take paying customers on up-and-down flights lasting just minutes.

These trips — much more affordable with seats going for hundreds of thousands versus millions — could kick off this year.

Virgin Galactic signs NASA deal for commercial space flights

Where does outer space begin? That's up for debate after Virgin Galactic flight

Tom Cruise was mentioned last year as a potential crew member; NASA top officials confirmed he was interested in filming a movie at the space station.

There was no word Tuesday on whether Cruise will catch the next Axiom flight. Suffredini declined to comment.
Private crew to get 15 weeks training

Each of the private astronauts had to pass medical tests and will get 15 weeks of training, according to Suffredini.

The 70-year-old Connor will become the second-oldest person to fly in space, after John Glenn's shuttle flight in 1998 at age 77. He'll also serve under Lopez-Alegria as the capsule pilot.

Axiom plans about two private missions a year to the space station. It also is working to launch its own live-in compartments to the station beginning in 2024.

This section would be detached from the station once it's retired by NASA and the international partners, and become its own private outpost.

US to restore aid to Palestinians, says State Department

Assistance was suspended by Trump administration





The US State Department on Tuesday announced its intent to restore humanitarian aid to the Palestinians after it was suspended by the administration of Donald Trump.

State Department Spokesman Ned Price said restoration of aid was in the interest of the US and “not a favour” to the Palestinians.

“The US does intend to restore aid to the Palestinian people. We are not doing that as a favour, but because it is in the interest of the United States to do so,” Mr Price said.

He argued that the suspension of aid under the previous administration had neither produced political progress nor secured concessions from the Palestinian leadership.

The Trump administration cut in 2018 nearly $200 million in economic aid to the Palestinians and suspended another $350m in funding to the Palestinian Authority and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which assists hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees.

Mr Price said the newly appointed deputy assistant secretary of state for Palestine and Israel, Hady Amr, had already established contact with Palestinian and Israeli officials.

Political communications between the Palestinian Authority and the Trump administration came to a halt in 2018 after former president Donald Trump moved the US embassy to Jerusalem.

President Joe Biden has not called either Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas since assuming office. When asked why he has not yet communicated with the Israeli leader, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said, "[Mr Biden] hasn't called every foreign leader yet."

"I expect he'll continue to have additional engagements in the weeks ahead," she added.

Mr Price also said the administration of President Joe Biden had not had any contact with Iranian officials.

He said the focus for newly appointed envoy to Iran, Robert Malley, is on contacts with “allies, partners and members of Congress.”

“[We will be] consulting with our allies, consulting with our partners, consulting with Congress, before we're reaching the point where we're going to engage directly with the Iranians and willing to entertain any sort of proposal,” Mr Price said.

The new US administration has voiced its intention to return to the nuclear deal that Mr Trump abandoned in 2018, but only if Iran showed full compliance.

"The United States would do the same thing and then use that as a platform to build a longer and stronger agreement that also addresses other areas of concern", a State Department official said last week.

Later on Tuesday, the State Department announced that Mr Blinken held a call with Swiss President Guy Parmelin. Switzerland has played the role of protector of US interests in Iran since relations were severed in 1979 and has played the role of mediator and humanitarian channel between the two countries.

“Secretary Blinken thanked President Parmelin for Switzerland’s continuing commitment as the Protecting Power for the United States in Iran,” the statement said. Bilateral relations and “their joint commitment to multilateralism, including on human rights, climate change and global health” were also discussed.


Updated: February 3, 2021

QAnon Is Jealous of Myanmar’s Military Coup

“TFW you learn that Myanmar’s military can’t come over to arrest your politicians, too.”

By David Gilbert
2.2.21


As the details of a military coup in Myanmar were still emerging on Monday morning, QAnon world was going into overdrive, linking the military takeover to its long-held belief that former President Donald Trump would lead a similar takeover in the U.S.

For QAnon supporters, the similarities were uncanny: a November election, claims of widespread fraud against the conservative party, and the courts siding with the “liberals.”

So when the military moved in, as QAnon supporters have been promised would happen in the U.S. for years, it was too much to ignore.

Almost instantly, QAnon believers drew American “elites” into the conspiracy theory, posting photos of Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi shaking hands with former President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and Jewish billionaire philanthropist (and a general bogeyman for most conspiracy theorists) George Soros.

A 2018 report about child trafficking in Myanmar was also boosted as somehow more evidence that this was all “part of the plan.”

One major QAnon account dredged up an old tweet from the voting machine company Smartmatic, kicking off more conspiracies about it and Dominion Voting Systems being involved in election fraud, just as they had been accused during the U.S. election — again without any evidence.

Failed Republican candidate Angela Stanton King, who has voiced support for QAnon in the past, asked why something similar wasn’t happening in America.

Jordan Sather, who is one of the biggest influencers in the QAnon community, flagged on his Telegram account comments from former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo suggesting they showed the coup in Myanmar was all part of the plan, and that something similar was going to happen in the U.S.

 

A poster on one of the most popular QAnon message boards even posted a version of a viral video of Myanmar woman Khing Hnin Wai dancing to “Ampun Bang Jago” while the military coup unfolds in the background.

The QAnon version, naturally, features a dancing Donald Trump:

Over on Patriots.win, a rabidly pro-Trump message board that was formerly called TheDonald.win, one user lamented the fact that Myanmar’s army could not also be used to oust President Joe Biden. 

“TFW you learn that Myanmar's military can't come over to arrest your politicians too,” Monsieur_Novembre wrote in one of the site’s most popular posts on Monday.


But not everyone was convinced by the completely baseless attempts to shoehorn Myanmar into the QAnon mythology.

Under a post showing photos of Aung San Suu Kyi meeting Obama and Soros, one user on the GreatAwakening forum commented: “[I’m] just tired of random photos with no context. Yes, we know the wealthy elites all mix together, but what is happening here, and what is the significance of it?”

Another said: “Yeah I don't get it... what are we looking at?” while another added: “Nuthin to see here....Zzzzzzzz.”

Following Trump’s defeat in November’s election, and Biden’s inauguration two weeks ago — both events QAnon followers were told would not happen — the cult has tried to find a path forward that doesn’t include Trump as president.

After a brief period of unrest within Q-world, the movement quickly got back on track by embracing aspects of the sovereign citizen movement and predicting that Trump would become president once again on March 4, the date of presidential inaugurations until 1933.

Co-opting the coup in Myanmar into part of “the plan” is simply another attempt by the influencers within the QAnon world to keep the conspiracy movement relevant and ensure their hundreds of thousands of loyal followers keep the faith.

Unraveling viral disinformation and explaining where it came from, the harm it's causing, and what we should do about it.
SEE MORE →

Surreal Dance Video Accidentally Captures Myanmar Coup As It Happened

OSINT experts agree that the video of a woman dancing while the military takes over the democratically elected government behind her, is probably real.

By Matthew Gault
2.2.21




Khing Hnin Wai just wanted to dance on a Monday morning at the Royal Lotus Roundabout in Yangon, Myanmar. As she danced in place, the road to Myanmar’s Presidential Palace and Parliament behind her, a convoy of armored vehicles rolled through a roadblock behind her. She had accidentally captured a military coup on camera.



It was a surreal image. A woman in bright yellow clothes, wearing a mask, danced over electronic music. Her routine is practiced and she moves in time with the music, an electronic horn dooting as armored vehicles appear in the scene. Khing never breaks, unaware of the coup playing out behind her.

February 1 was supposed to be the first day of a new government in Myanmar, but the military took over the government in a coup. It announced its intentions on its television station then deployed a mix of police and soldiers to secure parliament. Head of state Aung San Suu Kyi is under house arrest and the military has said it will take control for one year.

Myanmar is not a country people in the west know a lot about. Aung San’s relationship to the military is complicated, the reasons for the coup and its methods are in dispute, and no one is really sure what’s going on.


The video seemed too surreal to be true, and people on the internet began to speculate it was faked. People online speculated that the shadows in the image were wrong and Khing has filmed the whole thing on a green screen. Khing Hnin Wai described herself as a physical education teacher on her Facebook profile and has posted several videos dancing in the same spot. One of her recent posts is a roundup of the different times she’s danced there.

Aric Toler at Bellingcat, journalists who use open source investigation tools to report on war and conflict, chimed in. According to Toler, the video was real and the shadows looked strange because Khing is at the top of a set of stairs. The shadows fall off as the stairs give way.

Khing said she took the video in the morning, claiming in her Facebook post that she went out before seeing the coup announced on the morning news. She’s facing east, the shadows stretching behind her, and the sun in her eyes. You can see her squint. Satellite imagery of the roundabout shows her location at the intersection and the probable path the military convoy took as it drove past her. Online OSINT researchers agree that the video is likely real.

By all accounts, the coup was over fast. The democratically elected government put up no resistance and the military took control so quickly that many didn’t feel its shock in the moment. Associated Press photos show people doing their morning yoga routine in a nearby park.

US government labels events in Myanmar a military coup, mandating assistance cut

Civil society groups and humanitarian aid organisations will still receive aid


Police keep watch at a guesthouse where members of parliament reside in the capital Naypyidaw on February 2, 2021. AFP / STR

The US government determined on Tuesday that the events in Myanmar constitute a coup d’etat and thereby warrant a cut in US aid to the new government.

The State Department decision, announced on a call with reporters, is the first major foreign policy declaration by the Biden team on Asia since President Joe Biden took office on January 20.

“After a careful review of the facts and circumstances, we have assessed that Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Burma's ruling party, and Win Mynt, the duly elected head of government, were deposed in a military coup on February 1,” a senior official said. Both leaders have been detained.

"A very small circle of Burma's military leaders have chosen their own interests over the will and well-being of the people,” the official added.

The determination was made after a legal and factual review of the events on the ground, in which the country's military took power after claiming the November election was fraudulent. The determination now triggers an immediate cut to US assistance to the government. But this cut will not impact aid to civil society groups in the country or to the Rohingya refugees.

Start of Myanmar coup captured in dance instructor's video

UN Security Council plans to meet amid fears for Myanmar Rohingya after coup

"The coup restrictions apply to US foreign assistance for the government of Burma, and we will continue programmes for the people of Burma that benefit them directly, including humanitarian assistance to the Rohingya and other populations in need,” the senior official said.

The US is also reviewing the possibility of placing sanctions on those responsible for the so-called coup. “We will take action against those responsible, including through a careful review of our current sanctions posture as it relates to Burma's military leaders and companies associated with them.”

Myanmar’s army chief Min Aung Hlaing, who is now in charge after the military seized power, has already been subjected to sanctions and a visa ban by the United States.

But it is unclear how much leverage the US holds by cutting foreign assistance to the government, as it makes up only a small portion of US aid to the country. A US official described it as “very little”.

Officials denied that there has been any contact between the Biden administration and the military leaders who seized power on Monday. For the time being, the US is co-ordinating with its regional allies such as Japan and India, the State Department explained.

By calling the events a coup d'etat, the Biden administration is taking a symbolic pro-democracy stance in its policy towards the region. This immediately pits it against China’s position on the developments. China shares a long border with Myanmar, has strong relations with the military and has refrained from calling it a coup.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin urged the country’s leaders to “properly handle their differences" and "maintain political and social stability.” When asked about China’s role in Monday’s events, the US official did not have any comment.

The US removed some of its sanctions on Myanmar following the 2010 elections that saw the country’s transition to a more democratic system. But in 2017, as a military crackdown went into effect and as the Rohingya refugee crisis intensified, some of these sanctions were reimposed.

Amazon Will Pay Gig Workers $61.7 Million for Stealing Their Tips

A Federal Trade Commission investigation found that Amazon baited drivers with promised earnings, and then secretly slashed wages by pocketing tips.

By Lauren Kaori Gurley
2.2.21



Amazon has agreed to pay $61.7 million to settle allegations that it stole its Amazon Flex drivers tips over a two-and-a-half year period, the Federal Trade Commission said on Tuesday.

"Today, the FTC is sanctioning Amazon.com for expanding its business empire by cheating its workers," FTC Commissioner Rohit Chopra wrote in a statement. "Amazon stole nearly one-third of drivers’ tips to pad its own bottom line."

The $61.7 million represents the total amount that Amazon allegedly withheld until it became aware of an investigation by a Federal Trade Commission in 2019.

“While we disagree that the historical way we reported pay to drivers was unclear, we added additional clarity in 2019 and are pleased to put this matter behind us,” Deborah Bass, a Amazon spokesperson told Motherboard. “Flex delivery partners play an important role in serving customers every day, which is why they earn among the best in the industry at over $25 per hour on average.”

Amazon Flex Drivers, who are independent contractors, deliver packages and groceries for Amazon and Whole Foods in more than 50 U.S. cities. As independent contractors, workers provide their own vehicles and do not receive healthcare benefits, sick pay, overtime pay, worker's compensation, or other benefits guaranteed to Amazon employees.

When Amazon launched its Flex program in 2016, the company regularly advertised that independent contractors who deliver packages in its Flex program would receive "100% of the tips" they earned and would be paid between $18 and $25 an hour, according to the FTC complaint. But shortly after it launched, Amazon quietly changed course and began slashing its payments to drivers and cutting into their tips to make it appear as if it was still paying the promised hourly rate, according to the FTC.

"This theft did not go unnoticed by Amazon’s drivers, many of whom expressed anger and confusion to the company," Chopra wrote. "But, rather than coming clean, Amazon took elaborate steps to mislead its drivers and conceal its theft, sending them canned responses that repeated the company’s lies."



According to the FTC complaint, drivers who complained about their earnings received formulaic email responses—falsely asserting that Amazon had continued to pay drivers 100 percent of their tips. Amazon used this model until 2019, when the company received notice of the FTC's investigation. At that time, it began to give drivers a breakdown of both their pay and tips.

In addition to the $61,710,583 Amazon must pay to compensate shorted drivers, the company will be prohibited from misleading drivers about their expected pay, the percentage of their tips that will go to them, and what qualifies as a tip.

Do you have a tip to share about Amazon Flex? We’d love to hear from you. Please get in touch with the author at Lauren.gurley@vice.com or privately on Signal (201)-897-2109.

Last year, Motherboard reported that Amazon was running a social media monitoring program to spy on the private social media groups of its Amazon Flex drivers in the United States and Europe, and collect data on their posts. The company promised to discontinue the program following Motherboard's report.

Amazon isn't the first tech company to come under heat for pocketing its gig workers tips, though it may be the most profitable. Last year, the food delivery platform DoorDash paid $2.5 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that it had stolen drivers’ tips and misled customers to believe their tip money was going to drivers, and Instacart came under federal scrutiny for its tipping policies.

Amazon Will Pay Gig Workers $61.7 Million for Stealing Their Tips (vice.com)

An All-White Panel on German TV Decided Racism Wasn’t a Big Deal

The show is facing a backlash after one guest had described how

dressing up in blackface as Jimi Hendrix at a costume party had helped him understand how black people felt.

By Tim Hume
2.2.21

THE LAST RESORT. PHOTO: WDR/ MAX KOHR

German TV personalities have apologised for taking part in a controversial chat show discussion of racism, in which an all-white panel dismissed calls to rename a meat sauce that uses a pejorative name for Roma people.

The discussion on WDR’s “The Last Resort” — which originally aired last year but was rebroadcast on Friday night — featured guests dismissing calls to rename “Zigeunersoße,” or “gypsy sauce.” The show has sparked a huge social media backlash, fuelling a wider discussion about how race is debated in 


In response to the controversy, German broadcaster WDR issued a statement saying the criticism was warranted, and that the panel should have included people who were directly affected by racism.

“With such a sensitive topic, people who bring other perspectives with them, and/or are directly affected by it, should definitely have been involved,” read the statement from the producers of the show, which bills itself as a forum for celebrity guests to air controversial opinions.




“We will learn from it and do better.”

In the broadcast, the four celebrities discussed the push to rename “Zigeunersoße,” the name by which a popular spicy sauce of tomato paste, paprika, bell peppers and onions has been known for more than a century.

The term “Zigeuner” is viewed as a derogatory slur by the Roma community, who have repeatedly called for the name of the sauce to be changed. Last year, those calls gathered momentum as the Black Lives Matter movement triggered a global reckoning around racism, and in August, the German food giant Knorr said it was renaming its version of the product “Paprika Sauce Hungarian Style.”

But during the discussion on “The Last Resort,” when asked whether the end of Zigeunersoße was “a necessary step,” the four guests — author Micky Beisenherz, entertainer Thomas Gottschalk, actress Janine Kunze and pop singer Jürgen Milski — all answered no.

Gottschalk, digging himself deeper, went on to explain how he had once dressed up in blackface as Jimi Hendrix at a party, and it had been "a kind of awakening experience" that made him understand for the first time how black people felt.

While the episode attracted little attention when it first aired, the repeat airing generated a massive backlash on social media, with viewers slamming the guests for their thoughtless and tone-deaf defence of racist terms, and the monocultural makeup of the panel.

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“This is by far the most ignorant, arrogant and discriminatory thing I've seen on German TV for a long time!” wrote one Twitter user. “Four white people who explain how exhausting and silly it is to deal with criticism of racism.”

Germany’s Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency condemned the “unspeakable statements,” while SPD politician Saskia Esken tweeted that she was “lost for words.”

“This is really [something] to be ashamed of,” she wrote.

Roma advocate Zeljko Jovanovic, director of the Open Society Foundations’ Roma Initiative, told VICE World News that of the various words used to describe the Roma community across Europe, the German term was the most offensive, because of its close association with the Nazi genocide of the Roma.

“No other slur is so strongly associated with the genocidal experience of our people,” he said.

“This is why when the racial slur is used in German language… it resonates deeply. We as Roma, we feel it in our bones, in the bones of our ancestors, as something that is horrifying.”

He said that while some Roma in parts of Europe used terms like gypsy or tzigane to refer to themselves, “this is far from being an adequate rationale for all of us being called this way.”

“You don’t say to somebody that he or she is a gypsy, tzigane or Zigeuner because you respect the person,” he said.

“When people want to humiliate us, consider us as moral unequals, or subordinate us, they communicate in this way. Then they want to respect us and regard us as moral equals, they call us the way we call ourselves, which in our own language is Roma.”

The controversy has prompted a wave of apologies and vows to do better from those who appeared on the show, with host Steffen Hallaschka writing on Facebook that he despised racism and was devastated to learn the discussion had been received by so many as “massively hurtful and racially discriminatory.”

“I understand well that many have long been tired of this kind of careless everyday racism,” he wrote. “The bitter lesson: In terms of society, we are obviously not yet where we thought we were the year after ‘Black Lives Matter’.”

'Bad Date’ Reporting Tool for Sex Workers to Launch in Canada

The first province-wide database of its kind in Canada will allow sex workers in B.C. to report violent encounters and access information about alleged offenders.

By Anya Zoledziowski
TORONTO, CA
2.2.21

Community groups in B.C. are building a “bad date” database that will allow sex workers to report violent encounters and access information about alleged predators.

Experts say the “bad date reporting system,” the first of its kind in Canada, is built for and by sex workers who already rely on informal networks to spread information about predators.

According to Alison Clancey, the executive director of SWAN Vancouver, a nonprofit supporting migrant and immigrant sex workers involved in the project, there is a “100 percent chance” SWAN clients won’t go to police if they experience violence.

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“Criminal justice is woefully inadequate,” Clancey said. “Reporting to police is just not an option for these women.” VICE World News previously reported how authorities detain and deport migrant sex workers under the guise of anti-trafficking raids, which makes them unlikely to report to police.

The newly announced system will be developed over the next three years, with a focus on making it as accessible as possible. Considerations include language barriers, and access to in-person resources for people without the internet or smartphones.

Heather Paddison, a community health educator with Positive Living North, an advocacy group that covers northern B.C., said the tool will not only help sex workers bypass the RCMP—it will ideally help them protect themselves from temporary workers at mines, pipelines, and other resource extraction sites who are known for violently targeting Indigenous women.

“Someone could be working in Fort St. John, then sent out to camp closer to Fort Nelson, travelling all over this oil and gas region, and there’s no way at all to track a predator right now,” Paddison said.

A centralized list that includes locations of the incident as well as detailed information about the (perpetrator) will change that, she said.

Organizations in Vancouver already have various bad date reporting systems. SWAN, for example, offers an online abuser alert tool in multiple languages because it caters to migrants specifically, Clancey said. Sex workers file a report that outlines who the abuser was—a client, police, or bylaw officer, among others—as well as the type of abuse, Clancey said. Then, notifications go out to other women. 

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But there is no resource in Canada that connects all sex workers, with various accessibility needs, across a massive geographical area. In the U.K., National Ugly Mugs offers a country-wide database that allows sex workers to report incidents and receive alerts about offenders.

An anonymous group in the province and Law Foundation of B.C. are funding the $1 million project, which will include input from more than 20 sex work advocacy group.

Follow Anya Zoledziowski on Twitter.