San Francisco:

Lawsuits are flying in a dispute between two California airports over the right to use the name “San Francisco” — despite neither of them being in the city.

San Francisco International Airport (SFO) is suing the recently renamed San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport (OAK), insisting the similar sounding names might confuse potential passengers.

Their lawsuit has been met with a counterclaim from The Port of Oakland asking a judge to rule its airport’s new moniker — which replaced “Metropolitan Oakland International Airport” — is not a copyright infringement.

“Changing ‘Metropolitan’ to ‘San Francisco Bay’ in Oakland Airport’s name accurately describes OAK’s geographic location on the Bay and presents the airport as an additional choice for travel into the San Francisco Bay Area,” said port attorney Mary Richardson on Thursday, announcing the lawsuit.

The San Francisco city attorney’s decision to pursue litigation “is an attempt to stop consumer education, prevent expanded air travel options for Bay Area residents and visitors, and is a misguided use of San Francisco taxpayer dollars,” she added.

The legal turbulence began in April when officials in San Francisco sued for copyright infringement, claiming the name change was a customer grab and an effort to poach business.

“The Metropolitan Oakland International Airport seeks to increase passengers and profits by rushing to unlawfully incorporate San Francisco International Airport’s trademarked name into its own,” the suit says.

Passengers could easily mix up the two destinations, the suit says, and end up stranded.

“The potential for confusion will be particularly acute for international travelers who may not speak or read English,” it says.

“Travelers will very likely be confused and book tickets to the unintended airport, thinking that the ‘San Francisco Bay Oakland International Airport’ is SFO and arrive in the wrong place, a mistake leading to missed flights and connections, among other problems.”

Despite the lawsuit, officials in Oakland voted unanimously to adopt the new name on Thursday, in a move that will not affect the “OAK” designation used on baggage tags.

The two airports sit just 10 miles (16 kilometers) apart, on opposite sides of San Francisco Bay.

Neither of them is actually in San Francisco — SFO is in San Mateo County while OAK is in Oakland.

Both airports are a 20-40 minute taxi ride to downtown San Francisco.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Alexander Vinnik, a 38 year old Russian man suspected of running a money laundering operation using bitcoin. File
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

Alexander Vinnik, a Russian suspected cybercrime kingpin who was arrested in Greece in 2017, convicted of money laundering in France three years later and is now awaiting trial in California, has pleaded partially guilty, TASS news agency cited his lawyer as saying on Saturday.

The lawyer, Arkady Bukh, said that as a result of the plea bargain he now expected Vinnik to get a prison term of less than 10 years.

“He pleaded guilty on a restricted number of charges,” TASS quoted Bukh as saying, adding that Vinnik had faced life imprisonment.

“The culmination of the negotiations was a deal with the prosecutor’s office. We expect that the prison term will be up to 10 years.”

Vinnik, accused of laundering more than $4 billion through the digital currency bitcoin, was arrested in 2017 in Greece at the request of the United States, although Moscow has repeatedly demanded he be returned to Russia.

He was extradited to France from Greece where he was sentenced to five years in prison for money laundering before he was sent back to Greece and then on to the United States in 2022.

The U.S. Department of Justice has said Vinnik “allegedly owned, operated, and administrated BTC-e, a significant cybercrime and online money laundering entity that allowed its users to trade in bitcoin with high levels of anonymity and developed a customer base heavily reliant on criminal activity.”

The maximum penalty for the U.S. charges against Vinnik is 55 years in prison, according to the U.S. Department of Justice website.

Around 11 couples in the United States are suing an in vitro fertility (IVF) provider saying it implanted “dead” and “toxic” embryos despite knowing they were non-viable. According to ABC News, in a joint lawsuit filed on Tuesday, 9 couples allege that workers at Ovation Fertility in California exposed the embryos to lethal amounts of “poison”. They revealed that they underwent implantations of the embryos this year in January, but none of them were successful. 

According to the suit, the couples blamed themselves and their bodies in the days and weeks after their failed pregnancies. Some even underwent medical procedures to find out what went wrong. However, in February and early March Ovation Fertility started to reveal to their physicians that something had gone wrong in the labs, the outlet reported. 

The suit alleges that the fertility centre only disclosed something had gone wrong when several fertility doctors questioned why there was a 0% success rate for the embryos that had been thawed over a two-week period when the success rate is normally 75%. It also says that Ovation tried to “trick” patients into signing waivers of their claims and non-disparagement agreements. 

The nine couples came forward after two other couples had announced a similar lawsuit last week saying their embryos were destroyed when a lab employee wrongly used hydrogen peroxide instead of a sterile solution in an incubator. 

Ovation Fertility is being sued on multiple grounds, including negligence, medical battery, concealment, intentional misrepresentation, negligent misrepresentation, negligent hiring, retention and supervision and loss of consortium. 

Also Read | Tech Mogul Bryan Johnson Shares Key Ingredients He Uses Daily In His Anti-Ageing Diet

In a statement to ABC News, the fertility centre said that has protocols in place to protect the “health and integrity of every embryo under our care”. “This was an isolated incident related to an unintended laboratory technician error that impacted a very small number of patients. As soon as we recognized that pregnancy numbers were lower than our usually high success rates, we immediately initiated an investigation. We did not knowingly transfer nonviable embryos for implantation,” Ovation Fertility said. 

“We have been in close contact with these few impacted patients since the issue was discovered. We are grateful for the opportunity to help patients build a family and will continue to implement and enforce rigorous protocols to safeguard that process,” it added. 

A 15-year-old girl in California whose father was believed to have kidnapped her in September 2022 was fatally shot by police officers as she followed their command and didn’t appear to be wearing tactical gear, as previously claimed by cops, a new footage shows. According to The Guardian, Savannah Graziano was abducted by her father, Anthony John Graziano, after he allegedly killed his wife and Savannah’s mother on September 27, 2022. An Amber Alert was issued for the 15-year-old after the homicide was discovered. When the deputies found Mr Graziano’s truck, a car chase and a shootout followed, resulting in the deaths of Savannah and her father. 

At the time, police claimed that it was unclear whether the 15-year-old was shot by deputies or her father. They also said that deputies didn’t realise it was her when she got out of the vehicle, and they refused to release the footage of the shooting. 

This incident sparked a national concern, with people questioning how officers wound up killing the unarmed teenage girl they were tasked to rescue. Now, nearly two years after the incident, the department disclosed a dozen video files to the independent journalist Joey Scott. The video, which has also surfaced on social media, shows the deputies shooting at Savannah as she followed their instructions to move towards them. 

As per The Guardian, the clip suggests that police officers shot her after two other cops remarked that it was the girl who exited. It also makes it clear that the deputies and not her father fatally shot the 15-year-old. 

The California Department of Justice is now investigating the case under a law requiring inquiries into police killing of unarmed people. 

Also Read | US Court Awards $35 Million To Woman Who Suffered Brain Injury After Glass Door In Office Collapsed

Notably, the search for the 15-year-old started on September 26, 2022, when her father allegedly shot and killed his estranged wife and Savannah’s mother. He reportedly also shot at a father and his child outside a school in nearby Fontana. 

Speaking to the outlet, CJ Wyatt, Savannah’s uncle, said he understood it was a confusing and chaotic situation for officers to manage, but that his niece should not have been shot: “There needs to be better training so that unarmed people aren’t killed. Hopefully this video can be used for training – something has to be done differently. She didn’t have to die”. 

Mr Wyatt also said blame ultimately lay with Savannah’s father, who he described as “abusive and manipulative”. As her parents were separating in the weeks prior, the 15-year-old had been living in her father’s truck. “She was a really sweet girl at her core, and she didn’t deserve this,” he added. 

Some of the most well-liked snacks in America may soon be prohibited from California public schools according to a new bill. The proposed bill, which aims to eliminate items from schools that include artificial chemicals and food dyes, might result in a state-wide ban on Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, Doritos, and Takis, as per a report in CBS News.

If the bill is enacted, it will prohibit schools from serving foods containing six synthetic food dyes including “red 40, yellow 5, yellow 6, blue 1, blue 2, and green 3”. Further, a colouring agent commonly used in cosmetics and paints known as titanium dioxide would also be banned. Yellow and red colourings can be found in cereals like Fruity Pebbles and Froot Loops, as well as in Flamin’ Hot Cheetos and chips like Doritos.

Legislation AB 2316 was proposed on Tuesday, March 12, by Democratic member of the California State Assembly Jesse Gabriel, according to CBS News. The bill’s announcement was made on social media, where Mr Gabriel stated that the ingredients in these snacks are connected to major health risks.

“The science is complicated but the purpose of the bill is not. This is about protecting our students from chemicals that have been proven to harm children and interfere with their ability to learn,” Jesse Gabriel said at a press conference. “This is not a food ban. This is not banning Flamin’ Hot Cheetos in California,” he added.  

The California Environmental Protection Agency conducted research in 2021, and according to Mr Gabriel, “consumption of synthetic food dyes can result in hyperactivity and other neurobehavioral problems in some children.” The father of three claimed that because he is a person living with ADHD and raising children who also have the disease, the problem was “personal” to him. Additionally, his office asserted that addictions are linked to immune system damage and cancer.

“As a lawmaker, a parent, and someone who struggled with ADHD, I find it unacceptable that we allow schools to serve foods with additives that are linked to cancer, hyperactivity, and neurobehavioral harms. This bill will empower schools to better protect the health and wellbeing of our kids and encourage manufacturers to stop using these dangerous additives,” he continued. 

As per the current California state legislation, all students from kindergarten to twelfth grade must get free lunch and breakfast from their respective schools. State regulations mandate that fruits, vegetables, whole grains, or proteins be provided to them. The regulations also specify the amount of calories, carbohydrates, and fats that can be given in certain items.

A woman from California, United States, has been arrested by the police in connection with the death of her four-year-old daughter and trying to kill her 10-year-old son. She pleaded not guilty to stabbing the child and is facing charges of first-degree murder and child abuse. Further, she is charged with attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and child endangerment involving her other child, as per a report in People Magazine.

The woman, Mira Nazari, aged 34, killed her Sana Akram on October 14. The Modesto Police received a call around 1 p.m. after a 911 emergency call “reporting a potential assault incident.” As per the police, the child was found dead at the scene and had been stabbed with a knife.

A neighbour spoke to CBS News and said, “How can you just walk away from something like that and not be affected?” “She was so little, long black hair. Beautiful little girl,” said another neighbour.

A family friend stated that the woman was suffering from depression and mental illness.

The neighbourhood is devastated by the loss of what may have been for this young child and how her father and elder brother will never be the same. It is to be noted that law enforcement officials have not yet disclosed a motive for the murder. “I think about the husband and the little boy. The tragedy that is left, the impact it has on this child now, knowing that his mother did that,” another neighbour told CBS News.

A court hearing is scheduled for October 24. 

Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill on October 7 that would have made California the first U.S. state to outlaw caste-based discrimination.

Caste is a division of people related to birth or descent. Those at the lowest strata of the caste system, known as Dalits, have been pushing for legal protections in California and beyond. They say it is necessary to protect them from bias in housing, education and in the tech sector — where they hold key roles.

Earlier this year, Seattle became the first U.S. city to add caste to its anti-discrimination laws. On Sept. 28, Fresno became the second U.S. city and the first in California to prohibit discrimination based on caste by adding caste and indigeneity to its municipal code.

Also read: Explained | Will the Seattle move shield against caste bias?

In his message Mr. Newsom called the bill “unnecessary,” explaining that California “already prohibits discrimination based on sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, and other characteristics, and State law specifies that these civil rights protections shall be liberally construed.”

“Because discrimination based on caste is already prohibited under these existing categories, this bill is unnecessary,” he said in the statement.

A United Nations report in 2016 said at least 250 million people worldwide still face caste discrimination in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Pacific regions, as well as in various diaspora communities. Caste systems are found among Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jains, Muslims and Sikhs.

Proponents of the bill launched a hunger strike in early September pushing for the law’s passage. During their campaign, many Californians have come forward with stories of discrimination in the workplace, housing and education. Opponents, including some Hindu groups, called the proposed legislation “unconstitutional” and have said it would unfairly target Hindus and people of Indian descent. The issue caused deep divisions in the Indian American community. Hundreds on both sides came to Sacramento to testify at committee hearings in the state senate and assembly.

Thenmozhi Soundararajan, executive director of Equality Labs, the Oakland-based Dalit rights group that has been leading the movement to end caste discrimination nationwide, said she still views this moment as a victory for caste-oppressed people who have “organized and built amazing power and awareness on this issue.”

“We made history conducting the first advocacy days, caravans, and hunger strike for caste equity,” she said. “We made the world aware that caste exists in the U.S. and our people need a remedy from this violence. A testament to our organizing is in Mr. Newsom’s veto where he acknowledges that caste is currently covered. So while we wipe our tears and grieve, know that we are not defeated.”

The Hindu American Foundation and Coalition of Hindus of North America claimed Newsom’s veto as a victory for their advocacy efforts.

“With the stroke of his pen, Governor Newsom has averted a civil rights and constitutional disaster that would have put a target on hundreds of thousands of Californians simply because of their ethnicity or their religious identity, as well as create a slippery slope of facially discriminatory laws,” said Samir Kalra, the Hindu American Foundation’s managing director.

In March, State Sen. Aisha Wahab, the first Muslim and Afghan American elected to the California Legislature, introduced the bill. The California law would have included caste as a sub-category under ethnicity — a protected category under the State’s anti-discrimination laws.

Nirmal Singh, a Bakersfield resident and member of Californians for Caste Equity, said the introduction of this bill “represents a shifting tide in California to understand caste-based discrimination.” Singh also represents Ravidassia community, many of whom are Dalits with roots in Punjab, India.

“The fact that caste-oppressed people were given a platform to stand up for our basic human rights is a huge win in and of itself,” he said.

Earlier this week, Republican state Sens. Brian Jones and Shannon Grove called on Mr. Newsom to veto the bill, which they said will “not only target and racially profile South Asian Californians, but will put other California residents and businesses at risk and jeopardize our state’s innovate edge.”

Mr. Jones said he has received numerous calls from Californians in opposition.

“We don’t have a caste system in America or California, so why would we reference it in law, especially if caste and ancestry are already illegal,” he said in a statement.

Grove said the law could potentially open up businesses to unnecessary or frivolous lawsuits.

A 2016 Equality Labs survey of 1,500 South Asians in the U.S. showed 67% of Dalits who responded reported being treated unfairly because of their caste.

A 2020 survey of Indian Americans by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace found caste discrimination was reported by 5% of survey respondents. While 53% of foreign-born Hindu Indian Americans said they affiliate with a caste group, only 34% of U.S.-born Hindu Indian Americans said they do the same.

Authorities in California have found a unique way to stop wildfires. They are deploying goats to graze across the state and create a buffer for potential wildfires, according to the BBC. Armed with their appetites, a herd of goats can clear about an acre of brush in a day, thus removing the fuel a wildfire needs to spread. These animals are playing an important role for California that has been at the epicentre of battling wildfires. They have become more frequent, more destructive, and larger, since 1980.

“The reception is overwhelmingly positive wherever we go. It’s a win-win scenario as far as I can tell,” goat herder Michael Choi told the BBC.

He runs a family business that leases goats to city agencies, like the fire department, schools and other clients. They have 700 goats, but recently had to expand their herd to keep up with the demand.

“I think as people get more aware of the idea, and environmental impact, they become more conscious about which methods they want to use for clearing weeds and protecting the landscape from fires. So, there’s definitely a bigger demand, and it’s a growing trend,” said Mr Choi.

A CBC News report said that goats are proving to be ideal for California since they don’t mind the heat, and don’t need anything more than water.

These goats can also graze at any landscape, from grassy flat lands to steep slopes. The outlet also spoke to Mr Choi who said a well-trained guard dog can keep the predators away.

“They eat it pretty much as well as a fire department would require, down to like three inches of brush on the ground. And I mean, in the process, they also treat soil with their fertilizer and their hooves, and get it all nice and ready for the next rain,” he told CBC News.

The BBC said that California faced an “unprecedented” wildfire season in 2021. Last year, the season was “mild” and August this year was cooler and wetter that average. Still, more than a quarter of a million acres have burned, and four people have died.

Los Angeles:

The US state of California sued five of the world’s largest oil companies on Friday, alleging the firms caused billions of dollars in damages and misled the public by minimising the risks from fossil fuels, according to a court filing.

It follows numerous other cases brought by US cities, counties and states against fossil fuel interests over the impact of climate change as well as alleged disinformation campaigns spanning decades.

The civil case was filed in superior court in San Francisco against ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, ConocoPhillips and Chevron, which is headquartered in California. The American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, is also a defendant in the case.

“Oil and gas company executives have known for decades that reliance on fossil fuels would cause these catastrophic results, but they suppressed that information from the public and policymakers by actively pushing out disinformation on the topic,” the 135-page complaint read.

“Their deception caused a delayed societal response to global warming. And their misconduct has resulted in tremendous costs to people, property, and natural resources, which continue to unfold each day.”

The suit seeks the creation of an abatement fund to pay for future damages caused by climate disasters in California, which is on the front lines of climate change-fueled wildfires, flooding and other extreme weather phenomena.

“By downplaying the scientific consensus on climate change and emphasizing uncertainty, Defendants hoped to delay any regulatory action that might seek to reduce or control (greenhouse gas) emissions, thereby threatening the industry’s profits,” the complaint added.

Representatives of the defendants did not immediately reply to requests for comment from AFP.

“For more than 50 years, Big Oil has been lying to us — covering up the fact that they’ve long known how dangerous the fossil fuels they produce are for our planet,” California Governor Gavin Newsom said in a statement on Friday.

“California is taking action to hold big polluters accountable,” he added.

Since the current wave of environmental litigation against fossil fuel firms began around 2017, the industry has sought to avoid state trials on procedural grounds.

That effort received a major blow in May when the US Supreme Court declined to consider an appeal in two cases, meaning they could proceed.

The lawsuits are modeled on successful cases against Big Tobacco as well as against the pharmaceutical industry over the proliferation of opioids.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Members of the Hindu American Foundation protesting against the proposed anti-caste discrimination bill. Photo: X/@HinduAmerican

Scores of Indian-Americans held a peaceful protest rally in the State Capital of Sacramento urging California Governor Gavin Newsom to veto the anti-caste discrimination bill, recently passed by the State Assembly, which they asserted is discriminatory and targets the Indians in general and Hindus in particular.

If signed into law by Governor Newsom, California would become the first State in the United States and the first jurisdiction outside India to outlaw discrimination based on caste. The legislation revises California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act by adding caste as a protected category under “ancestry”.

“We ask Governor Newsom to Veto SB403 so history remembers that you said no to discrimination against Indian Americans and said no to racially profiling our community!” Samir Kalra of the Hindu American Foundation told the gathering of Indian-Americans in front of the State Capitol in Sacramento on Saturday.

Displaying posters and banners, the protestors, most of whom had gathered from various parts of the State, urged the Governor not to sign the bill into law as this would end up in discrimination against the Hindu community. Much worse is that the bill amounts to racial profiling of the Hindu community, they argued.

Hindu American Foundation has said that it is exploring every option to protect the rights of Hindu Californians and is planning to file a lawsuit against this.

The bill was introduced by Senator Aisha Wahab, the first Muslim and Afghan-American woman elected to the state legislature, in February. The California Senate overwhelmingly passed SB403 “Discrimination on the basis of ancestry” with 31-5 votes last week.