U.S. President Donald Trump congratulated Ukraine’s new president Volodymyr Zelenskiy on holding parliamentary elections which Zelenskiy’s party won, and offered U.S. help to promote reforms in Ukraine, Zelenskiy’s office said on Thursday.Zelenskiy, a television sitcom star who was elected in a landslide in May, called an early parliamentary election to replace a parliament dominated by loyalists of his predecessor.His party won a majority of seats in the vote, held on Sunday.Trump told Zelenskiy by phone he was confident that the new Ukrainian leadership would improve the country’s image, Zelenskiy’s office said.Zelenskiy thanked Trump for maintaining and intensifying sanctions on Russia. The United States and European Union imposed financial sanctions in 2014 after Russia seized Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula and backed a separatist uprising.
…
Month: July 2019
Grounded Boeing Plane Takes A Bigger Bite Out of Airlines
Airlines are tallying up the damage and talking to Boeing about compensation for the grounding of the troubled 737 Max jet.
On Thursday, two of the three large U.S. airlines that own Max jets updated their estimates of how the plane is hurting their bottom lines.American Airlines said its 2019 earnings will be reduced by $400 million _ $50 million more than its previous estimate. Southwest Airlines announced that because it has fewer planes without the Max, it will end service at a major airport in the New York City area.
Southwest also dropped the plane from its schedule until early January _ two months longer than American _ to allow time for pilot retraining and avoid disruptions for holiday-season travelers.Airline executives, however, are standing behind the plane and betting that passengers will get back on board. The Max has been grounded since March after two crashes killed a total of 346 people.
American Airlines Chairman and CEO Doug Parker said once the Federal Aviation Administration approves Boeing changes to the plane and pilots are comfortable that they are adequately trained to fly it, that “will make the difference in consumer attitudes about the aircraft itself.”This week, Boeing reported its largest quarterly loss ever, nearly $3 billion, after setting aside $5.6 billion to cover compensation to its airline customers.
Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg said he expects the Max to return to service in October after the company completes software updates in September. Previous Boeing forecasts have turned out to be too optimistic, however, and Muilenburg conceded there is a risk that new issues could be found on the plane.When the plane was grounded in March, Southwest owned 34 of them, the most of any of the several dozen airlines that were using the plane. That’s nearly 5% of Southwest’s fleet and 8% of the airline’s passenger-carrying capacity.
Without those planes, Southwest is canceling about 180 flights a day through Jan. 5, nearly 5% of its schedule, and taking the unusual step of shrinking rather than growing its passenger-carrying capacity.To make the best use of its remaining planes, Southwest will shut down operations at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey _ results there have been disappointing anyway _ on Nov. 3 and consolidate service at New York’s LaGuardia Airport.
“We have had preliminary discussions with Boeing regarding compensation for damages due to the MAX groundings,” Chairman and CEO Gary Kelly said in a statement. “We have not reached any conclusions regarding these matters.”American Airlines, which had 24 Max jets, is canceling about 115 flights a day through Nov. 2 because of the grounding. Airline executives said last-minute bookings dropped for more than a month after the Max was grounded because business travelers feared being stranded by a cancellation. The company said the Max cut $175 million from its second-quarter profit.Parker, the American CEO, said on a call with analysts that there have been “conversations with the highest levels of Boeing about what our expectations are” for compensation. He said the discussions didn’t get into details, and he declined to say who talked to whom.Boeing has suggested that compensation will not be entirely in cash. Analysts believe airlines could receive discounts on future orders or other services.The grounding contributed to rising costs at Southwest, which reported that second-quarter profit rose a mere 1% from a year ago, to $741 million.
Still, the results were slightly better than analysts expected. Brisk demand for travel translated into fewer empty seats than ever before, and Southwest said it expects revenue to remain strong through September.The Dallas-based airline said earnings after special items like the Max were $1.37 per share, 2 cents better than the average forecast from 10 analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research. Revenue rose 3% to $5.91 billion.American said second-quarter profit rose 19% to $662 million despite a $175 million pretax hit from the Max grounding. The Fort Worth, Texas-based company said that excluding non-repeating costs, it would have earned $1.82 per share, 5 cents better than analysts in the Zacks survey expected. Revenue rose 3% to $11.96 billion.American faces other problems besides the Max. Cancellations have soared this summer partly because of what the airline contends is an illegal work slowdown by mechanics.
Parker said the airline often has more planes out of service for mechanical issues than it has spares. “By definition that means you are starting the day canceling some flights,” he said.
A federal judge ordered the mechanics’ unions to stop the slowdown. The unions deny wrongdoing.In midday trading, shares of Southwest Airlines Co. rose 65 cents to $55.37, while American Airlines Group Inc. sank $1.45, or 4.2%, to $33.14.
…
UN: Almost 700 Summary Executions in DRC in 6 Months
Nearly 700 people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo were victims of summary and extrajudicial executions this year, with a third carried out by security forces, the United Nations reported on Thursday.In the six months between January and June, which followed a momentous presidential election in December, security and law enforcement officials were responsible for at least 245 extrajudicial killings and armed groups carried out at least 418 summary executions, according to a U.N. half-year report from its joint office for Human Rights (UNJHRO).The organization documented 3,039 human rights violations and abuses throughout the DRC, down from 3,324 in the same period last year, said Abdul Aziz Thioye, director of the U.N. Human Rights Office in the DRC.He said members of the security forces were responsible for 59 percent of the violations and armed groups 41 percent.”Among the state agents, the [Congolese] soldiers… are those who committed the greatest number of violations, with more than a quarter of the total number of violations documented by the UNJHRO during the six months,” Thioye added.More than three quarters of the abuses were committed in provinces affected by conflict, with nearly half the atrocities carried out by state agents and the other half by armed group, he said.Thioye said that the overall decline in rights violations was largely down to the change in the political scene since January – when President Felix Tshisekedi took over from his predecessor Joseph Kabila, who was in power for 18 years.
…
Duterte Offers Bounty for ‘Head’ of Lead Killer of 4 Police
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte offered a bounty to anybody who can deliver to him the head of the communist rebel leader behind the killings of four police intelligence officers last week in an insurgency-hit central province.Duterte said in a speech late Thursday that he raised a reward of 3 million pesos
($59,000)and would considerably increase the amount out of anger for what he described as the Islamic State group-style killings of the officers on July 18 in Negros Oriental province.
The officers were taken hostage, beaten up and killed then burned, Duterte said, but police and military officials gave varying accounts of how the policemen were slain. Communist guerrillas claimed responsibility for the ambush that killed the law enforcers but denied torturing them.
Police reported that communist rebels opened fire on the four policemen, who were traveling on two motorcycles, in an ambush then took their pistols in the coastal town of Ayungon. The New People’s Army guerrillas, they said, later withdrew to a forested hinterland after the attack.Regional military commander Lt. Gen. Noel Clement, however, said each of the policemen was shot in the head once while likely kneeling or sprawled on the ground, citing police autopsy reports. The four were to meet an informant when they were seized by about 20 to 25 rebels, who were now being hunted.“They were burned like (by) ISIS that’s why I got mad,” Duterte said in a speech, using the acronym of the name of the Islamic State group.
Duterte, who visited the wake of the officers over the weekend, said he plans to raise the bounty up to 20 million pesos ($392,000) to increase the pressure and chances of the insurgents being captured.Duterte said he only wanted the head and not the body of the leader of the killers because a complete body would only be used by activists in a ceremony to generate sympathy _ using rhetoric that human rights activists have said could encourage state forces to commit rights violations with impunity.The 74-year-old leader, a former government prosecutor, then asked if there were members of a left-wing human rights group called Karapatan in the audience. “You really deserve to be hit, you fools,” Duterte said of the group, which has blamed government forces for the killings of several of its activists.Duterte has already raised international alarm for his bloody campaign against illegal drugs that has left thousands of mostly petty drug suspects dead.The communist insurgency has raged in the Philippines for more than 50 years in one of Asia’s longest-running rebellions. Battle losses, surrenders and infighting, however, have reduced the number of armed insurgents to about 3,500 from more than 20,000 at the height of their rural-based rebellion, the military says.
…
US Government to Resume Executions After Nearly 2 Decades
Updated July 25 at 2:00PM
The Federal Bureau of Prisons is set to resume capital punishment after a 16-year hiatus, with plans for the coming months to execute five death row inmates convicted of murder, the Justice Department announced on Thursday.The BOP has adopted an execution drug currently used by several states, clearing the way for the lethal injection of the five inmates, according to a department statement. Three of the executions are scheduled for December and two for January 2020. The department said additional executions will be scheduled at a later date. The last federal execution in the United States took place in 2003 when Gulf War veteran Louis Jones Jr. was put to death for the kidnapping and murder of a 19-year-old soldier. There are currently 65 inmates on federal death row, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. More than half of U.S. states have capital punishment laws, with many conducting executions on a state level.“Congress has expressly authorized the death penalty through legislation adopted by the people’s representatives in both houses of Congress and signed by the president,” Attorney General William Barr said. “Under administrations of both parties, the Department of Justice has sought the death penalty against the worst criminals, including these five murderers, each of whom was convicted by a jury of his peers after a full and fair proceeding.”Among the five convicts scheduled for execution is Daniel Lewis Lee, a member of a white supremacist group, who was convicted in 1999 of murdering a family of three, including an 8-year-old girl. All five convicts have exhausted all their appeals and other remedies, the department said. The inmates will be put to death using pentobarbital, a lethal drug that replaces a three-solution procedure previously used in federal executions. Since 2010, 14 states have used the drug in more than 200 executions, according to the Justice Department. Capital punishment was halted in the U.S. in 1972 after the Supreme Court found it an “arbitrary punishment.” But it was later partially reinstated in 1988, leading to the execution of three death row inmates. The U.S. is the only Western country where executions still take place. Twenty-nine states currently have death penalty laws. Last year, 25 death row inmates were executed in the U.S. The death penalty has been virtually abolished in Europe, where Belarus is the only country that still allows it.
…
Congo Student With Ebola Still Finds a Way to Take Exams
Claude Mabowa Sasi had lost his mother, a brother and a sister to Ebola. Instead of fearing death when he, too, was diagnosed with the disease, the young man had a different worry: How would he complete his college entrance exams?It had been his mother’s greatest hope that Mabowa would go to college. To do so would require passing the secondary school baccalaureate, or “bac.”But the exams are held only once a year in Congo, and the 21-year-old Mabowa was being held in medical isolation, unable to sit in the same room with other test-takers.So the medical staff members caring for him at an Ebola treatment center run by the Alliance for International Medical Action, or ALIMA, came up with a solution.They found a school official willing to proctor the exam as Mabowa took it safely behind a window. The papers were passed to Mabowa without touching him. After finishing, he held his pages up one by one to the window so they could be photographed with a smartphone and then emailed to officials for scoring. Then his work and his pencil were incinerated. For the oral part of the exam, the questions were asked of him through the glass.On Saturday, Mabowa completed the last of his exams. He is awaiting the results while still in isolation, where he will stay until the virus is gone from his body. He hopes to study political science at the University of Kisangani.“My mother had told me: ‘My son, you must study. If you have your diploma, you will succeed in life. Even if your parents are gone, you still have your life to live,’” he said.The Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo has killed more than 1,700 people since it started nearly a year ago. Health workers are racing to contain the outbreak, trying to trace, vaccinate and isolate all people who have come into contact with those carrying the highly contagious virus.The only people allowed in Mabowa’s presence are survivors, who are immune to the virus, and health workers wearing protective gear from head to toe.Mabowa already had lost his older sister when he developed a splitting headache and fever and lost his appetite. But since he had recently been vaccinated against Ebola, he brushed off his symptoms as side effects of the shot. He finally went to the Ebola center in Beni when his illness made him unable to continue studying.After testing positive for Ebola, he began asking the nurses and doctors about how he could still take his exams. Studying was difficult because Mabowa no longer had access to his notebooks and other materials.The ALIMA staff members who were moved by his desire to take his exams even brought Mabowa a school uniform he could wear while taking the bac — a white dress shirt and navy trousers.“The fact we brought the exams to him is an important step for his healing and recovery,” said Goretti Muhumira, a psychologist with ALIMA.The hardest part, Mabowa said, was the oral exams, and not just because he was nervous.“It was difficult for me to hear them well through the glass, so they had to repeat themselves several times before I could understand the question,” he said.Now he waits.“I have not lost everything, and I am confident that I will succeed and honor my mother’s memory,” he said. “If she were still here, I think she’d be proud of me.”
…
Critics Remember China’s Li Peng as ‘Butcher of Beijing’
Upon his death on Monday, Li Peng, China’s former premier, was officially extolled as a time-tested statesman in China.But internationally, Li will undoubtedly be remembered as the “Butcher of Beijing” for his role in the bloody crackdown of the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy student movement, observers say.
“He fed erroneous and highly exaggerated reports to [then Chinese President] Deng Xiaoping about the extent, to which, the students were trying to overthrow the party and he exaggerated the dangers posed by the supporters of the pro-democracy movement,” said Willy Lam, a noted Chinese political analyst.
“So, he played a role in influencing Deng Xiaoping to make the fatal decision to use troops to crush the pro-democracy movement,” the Hong Kong-based analyst added.The Butcher of Beijing
Lam said that Li well deserved the reputation as the “Butcher of Beijing,” who, as the right-hand man of the then-paramount leader Deng, declared martial law and pressed ahead with a bloody suppression of the student protests in the early hours of June 4th, 1989.
China has never provided a full accounting of the violence, but rights groups estimate the figure could run into the thousands. The protests have remained a taboo subject in China.
A former movement student leader also agrees with the moniker given to Li.
“He is [was] the butcher of the June 4 Massacre. That’s how he should be remembered by the world, by the history, and hopefully, one day, in the textbooks in China,” said Wu’er Kaixi, who played a leading role in the 1989 protests.
While justice is yet to prevail, Wu’er said that he remains confident that, some day, Li’s and Deng’s corpses will be “whipped” for they will eventually be held accountable for the casualties caused after the crackdown.
Li’s Own Defense
In his diary published later in 2010, Li tried to defend himself by saying that he did what he had to do because “at any cost, I couldn’t allow a tragedy similar to the [decade-long] Chinese Cultural Revolution to repeat again in China.”
On Tuesday, the official obituary praised Li to have had taken “decisive measures to stop the unrest and pacify the counter-revolutionary riots.”
He “stabilized the domestic situation, and played an important role in this major struggle concerning the future of the party and the country”, Xinhua added.FILE – Ning Ye holds up a mask of former Chinese Premier Li Peng as part of a demonstration in New York on June 3, 2012 to honor of the 23rd anniversary of the The Tiananmen Square Protests which occurred in China on June 4, 1989.An unapologetic Stance
Observers say, through Li’s death, the unapologetic stance taken by the hardliners within President Xi Jinping’s administration on the 1989 student-led protests is reconfirmed.
“His death confirms the thinking that it’s extremely unlikely that the current administration will overturn the verdict on the June 4th crisis on the Tiananmen [Square] crisis, which officially was defined as a counter-revolutionary turmoil,”
Lam said that, over the past 30 years, there have been calls and campaigns in China to redress the 1989 peaceful protests and make appropriate compensations to the movement’s victims.
But the chance of having a re-evaluation of the incident is getting slimmer, he added.
Li died of an illness in Beijing at the age of 91 on late Monday night, Xinhua reported.
He left behind his wife and three children.
Born in 1928 in China’s southwestern Sichuan province, Li was son to a former revolutionary communist leader.
Upon his graduation from Moscow Power Engineering Institute in 1954, Li started his career at the national power plant in China’s northwestern Jilin province.
He was first promoted to the premier’s position in 1987.
During his term in office, his family managed a large Chinese power monopoly, which the Chinese government broke up after Li’s second term as premier expired in 1998.
Li retired from all political ranks in 2003.
Another Bad Example
Critics say that Li set another bad example of cronyism in Chinese politics after his wife and children had been awarded with senior roles in the state-run energy sector, which Li used to specialize in.
During his time in office, the Three Gorges Dam project was another controversial project he had led, which is said to have now put hundreds of millions of people’s lives at risk.
“Without the support of Li Peng, who once headed the government’s hydro-electric power department, the Three Gorges Dam project wouldn’t have had been launched so quickly. So, in this regard, Li should be held responsible [for the problematic project],” said Zhang Lifan, a Chinese historian and commentator in Beijing.
China, early this month, downplayed the risk to the gorges, which appear to be warping badly, saying that the facility is in an acceptable “elastic state.”
…
Fake News War Divides, Confuses in Hong Kong
Chinese tanks at the border? False. Photo of a protester biting off a policeman’s finger? Misleading. In polarized Hong Kong, a fake news fight for public opinion has become as crucial a battleground as the city streets.
During weeks of pro-democracy protests that have involved millions of people and frequently turned violent, online rumors and conspiracy theories have sowed confusion and deepened distrust.
From 2011 footage of South Korean soldiers misrepresented as an impending Chinese “invasion” to doctored photographs exaggerating the size of rallies, Hong Kong citizens have been bombarded with conflicting claims from both sides of the political divide.
The numbers signaling the impact of the disinformation can be shocking.
Footage of a convoy of Chinese tanks that posts claimed were being sent “to suppress Hong Kongers and cause bloodshed” quickly racked up more than 800,000 views on one Twitter account alone.
Hong Kong authorities have been forced to repeatedly deny claims circulating on social media — most recently, that People’s Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers had been brought in from the mainland to defend government buildings.
“There is absolutely no such thing and all these claims are totally false,” Hong Kong’s government said this week, responding to the allegations.
Police have also been the target of much fake news, including a video debunked by AFP that purportedly showed officers shooting a woman in the face.
“The spreading of numerous rumors about police operations will drive a wedge between the Hong Kong Police and community,” the force told AFP in a statement.’Deep-rooted’ divide
Videos and images of protests or violent incidents, often selectively edited or doctored to support a particular viewpoint have circulated quickly on social media platforms, but also private chat groups such as on Weibo or WhatsApp.
In these closed environments, entrenched ideas are rarely challenged by facts, according to journalism professor and fake news expert Masato Kajimoto.
“The rather simple, one-sided views expressed in such content makes it harder to reconcile the difference,” between Hong Kong’s warring camps, Kajimato told AFP.
While a lot of disinformation originates and spreads on social media or chat groups, the mainstream press is also guilty of fanning the flames, according to Kajimoto.
“The excuse that journalists are simply reporting about what people are sharing and discussing is a cop-out,” he said, pointing to a widely reported recent conspiracy theory that claimed a policeman’s watch proved a press briefing was staged.
“In this age of misinformation and disinformation, the news media should not report anything they haven’t independently verified.”
Journalists themselves have complained of pressure to make events fit a certain narrative.
This month, the staff union for Hong Kong’s public broadcaster claimed reporters were instructed to spread misinformation about a protester using pliers to sever a police officer’s fingers.
The channel has said it is investigating.
China’s state-run media is a driving force behind discrediting pro-democracy events, according to lawyer Rachel Lao, who is a member of a pro-democracy legal group.
“The Chinese Communist Party is skilled at creating confusion among the public in China and shaming any such movements,” Lao told AFP.
But she said the bombardment of state-sponsored disinformation may have the opposite effect from what Beijing intends.
“Because the news is so obviously fake to Hongkongers, they are now very skeptical of any news they receive,” she said.’Too much information’
Jeffrey Ngo, a pro-democracy activist, said the sheer volume of conflicting and false news circulating online left people confused.
“In a world with too much information, what is real and not real is very tricky (to determine),” Ngo said, adding this may work better for authorities and the city’s pro-Beijing camp.
“It ultimately plays well for those in power, when ordinary people decide not to seek truth because they think it’s so hard to figure out what is true and what isn’t,” he added.
Dedicated fact-checking services, run by independent or mainstream media groups, have emerged in recent years across the globe.
AFP’s own Asia Fact-Check service has debunked more than a dozen false or misleading claims about the Hong Kong protests, published in English.
Some local independent media organizations have also published Chinese-language fact-check reports about the protests.
However Hong Kong has yet to see the kind of strong fact-checking culture emerge as seen in India and Indonesia over recent years.
Suspicion and doubt, in the meantime, is filling the vacuum.
“There isn’t neutral, reliable media that can build a bridge between the two sides and win the trust of both,” Phillis Zhu, a mainland Chinese student living in Hong Kong, told AFP.
“Actually, media is causing the conflicts.”
…
African Union Official: South Sudan Must Do More to Protect Women From Violence
An African Union special envoy is urging South Sudan’s leaders to enact and enforce laws to end the pervasive problem of sexual violence in the country. AU special envoy on youth, Aya Chebbi, said authorities must involve men if South Sudan is going to end gender-based violence. “Men should be doing all these initiatives to end gender-based violence. Why? Because these women are their mothers, their sisters, their daughters, they are not some women out there who are suffering and I don’t care about; these are their communities,” Chebbi told South Sudan in Focus.During a five-day visit to South Sudan, she said the AU’s plan for ending gender-based violence focuses on eliminating all forms of violence, including genital mutilation and child marriage. “So I call on civil society to advocate for legal frameworks that protect women. For the communities, there is also resilience and community policing which means the community must protect itself,” Chebbi told VOA.Simon Marot Tonloung, a member of the African Union’s Youth Advisory Council, says preventing sexual violence begins at home. “How will you feel if your sister, if your daughter, or your mother undergoes such kinds of troubling experiences? It’s sad. So it will start from families. It will not come from outside,” Tonloung told South Sudan in Focus.FILE – women and girls speak to members of a UN peacekeeping patrol as they walk to get food in Bentiu, a 38 kilometers (24 mile) journey where there are fears of being attacked on the main road.Tonloung said AU member states like South Sudan must ratify policies that protect all citizens including women, and it is the duty of every citizen to hold the government of South Sudan accountable for enforcing those policies.“So, if we don’t hold out our institutions at the grassroots level accountable, then we’ll not have an impact even if we pass a lot of policies,” Tonloung told VOA.Earlier this month, the AU’s legal counsel signed a document to form the Hybrid Court for South Sudan as stipulated in the 2018 peace deal. Once in operation, the court will combine South Sudanese and other African judges and staff to investigate and prosecute allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.After a gang rape last Friday in Jonglei state, women rights activists and leaders called on state officials to do more to protect women and girls against sexual abuse. Jonglei officials accused armed cattle raiders from neighboring Fangak state of gang-raping two women in Jonglei state’s Duk-Padiet county.
A 30-year old mother of three who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the stigma attached to rape victims in South Sudan, said she was walking to Bor from her village about five kilometers away when armed men attacked her. “When that happened, I hated myself and felt like that was the end of my life. I felt so crushed and useless. But because God can turn a bad situation around, that is why I am here today talking to you,” the woman told South Sudan in Focus.She said a local non-profit called African Leadership And Reconciliation Ministries (ALARM) brought her to a counseling center in Bor where she received counseling.Jonglei state information minister Atong Kuol Manyang said the men were hiding until the women came along the road.
“They went and hid in the bush for some hours and they met two women who had gone to collect firewood in the forest. So in that process they continuously raped the women and these men were from Gaweer [of Fangak state],” Manyang told South Sudan in Focus.Manyang did not explain how he knew the women’s attackers were from neighboring Pangak state.Jonglei state assembly lawmaker Hellen Akech Marial said South Sudanese women are often at high risk of being attacked while carrying out daily chores.“We don’t have electricity so that people cook in the houses and so women always resort to going out to look for firewood. Once they are out, they are subjected to such criminal acts,” Marial told South Sudan in Focus.The United Nations has repeatedly expressed concern about the high level of sexual violence perpetrated against women and girls in South Sudan.
…
US Rapper ASAP Rocky To Face Assault Trial in Sweden
ASAP Rocky will be tried for an alleged assault next week over a June street brawl, a Swedish court said Thursday, in a decision likely to infuriate fans already indignant over his three weeks in custody.”Today I have pressed charges against the three suspects for assault, because in my judgement what has happened amounts to a crime, despite the objections about self-defence and provocations,” prosecutor Daniel Suneson said in a statement published Thursday morning.The 30-year-old rapper, whose real name is Rakim Mayers, was arrested on July 3 along with three other people, following the brawl in Stockholm on June 30. One of them, the rapper’s bodyguard, was later released.Part of the fight was captured in an amateur video published by US celebrity news outlet TMZ. The rapper later published videos of his own to Instagram purporting to show the lead up to the fight.Mayers has claimed he was acting in self-defence, saying he was responding to harassment and provocations by the plaintiff.But Suneson said in his statement: “I have had more material to consider than what has been available on the internet.”Heading to trialAccording to the charge document filed with the Stockholm District Court, the evidence includes surveillance footage, witness testimony and text conversations that the prosecutor says prove there was no need for self defence and that a bottle was used as a weapon in the alleged assault.On July 5 the court ordered that Mayers should be kept in custody pending investigation of the case as he was considered a “flight risk”.The court originally gave the prosecutor two weeks to decide on whether to press charges, and later granted a week-long extension.Suneson’s decision to press charges means the rapper can be kept in custody until his trial, which the court has set for next week.The trial is scheduled to take place over three days, starting on July 30 and then continuing on August 1 and 2, the Stockholm District Court said in a statement.Mayers can request to have his detention reviewed by the court and argue for conditional release until the trial is held.Assault carries a maximum penalty of two years in jail in Sweden.Mayers’ lawyer Slobodan Jovicic told reporters on Thursday that the decision was “expected” and that his client maintains that he is innocent.”He is extremely disappointed that the prosecutor has put the other account (of the events) ahead of his own,” Jovicic said during a press briefing.FreeRockyThe musician, who had his breakthrough in 2011 with the release of the mixtape “Live. Love. A$AP”, was on a European tour and has already had to cancel over a dozen shows.Since his arrest, fans, fellow artists and US Congress members have campaigned for the artist to be freed.US President Donald Trump contacted Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Lofven directly to discuss the case.Trump on Saturday tweeted that he had called Lofven and been assured that ASAP Rocky would be “treated fairly”.”I assured him that ASAP was not a flight risk and offered to personally vouch for his bail, or an alternative,” Trump added.Lofven’s press secretary Toni Eriksson confirmed the call had taken place and told AFP that “the prime minister was careful to point out that the Swedish justice system is completely independent”.An online petition called #JusticeForRocky has garnered more than 620,000 signatures, and posters emblazoned with “Free ASAP Rocky ASAP” have been put up around Stockholm.Artists including Post Malone, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Nicki Minaj, Meek Mill and Justin Bieber have all voiced their support for Mayers, with rapper Tyler, the Creator saying he would no longer perform in Sweden.
…
Media: Billionaire Financier Jeffrey Epstein Found Injured in Jail Cell
Jeffrey Epstein, the financier facing charges of sex trafficking involving dozens of underage girls, was found unconscious in a Manhattan jail cell with injuries to his neck, media reported late on Wednesday, citing unidentified sources.Epstein was found by guards sprawled on the floor of cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Center on Wednesday, media reported. Some media reported that his face appeared blue.
The billionaire financier was taken to hospital, the New York Post reported, but it was unclear where he was taken or what his condition was.
It was not clear how he suffered his injuries.Neither a representative for the correctional center nor Epstein’s attorney returned calls or email inquiries from Reuters.Epstein was recently denied bail, a move his lawyers plan to appeal according to a court notice made public on Tuesday.Epstein was expected to ask the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn the judge’s July 18 rejection of his request to remain under house arrest in his $77 million mansion on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.Epstein has pleaded not guilty to the charges and the appeal for bail was expected. His lawyer Reid Weingarten did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A spokesman for U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman in Manhattan declined to comment.The charges, concerning alleged misconduct from at least 2002 to 2005, were announced more than a decade after Epstein pleaded guilty to state prostitution charges in Florida.
In denying him bail, U.S. District Judge Richard Berman in Manhattan said the government had shown by clear and convincing evidence that Epstein would pose a danger to the community if released pending trial.
…
Elton John AIDS Fundraiser Brings in $6M for Kenya HIV Testing
Updated on July 25, at 12:56 am EDT.Elton John on Wednesday hosted a celebrity-packed gala that raised more than $6 million to fight HIV/AIDS in Kenya, thanks partly to auctions of a luxury car and an autographed piano used in the singer’s “Rocketman” movie musical.The British singer-songwriter, on a break from his farewell world tour, welcomed the likes of Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, The Who guitarist Pete Townshend, actress Joan Collins and Taron Egerton, who plays John in “Rocketman,” to a villa in Cap d’Antibes in France.”We’re here for the Elton John AIDS foundation, our first south of France fundraiser, hopefully to raise money for people who desperately need it in our fight against HIV and AIDS,” John told reporters.Martin performed “Viva La Vida” and was joined on stage by John for a performance of “I’m Still Standing” and “Rocketman.” Guests bid on auction items ranging from a limited-edition luxury Bentley car, a Gucci jacket worn by Egerton in the biopic, and tickets to John’s final world tour.The Elton John AIDS Foundation last year announced a MenStar Coalition that aims to expand diagnosis and treatment of HIV infections, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.Wednesday’s party was thrown to support a program to provide HIV self-test kits to 400,000 young men in Kenya.”The thing is for people to get tested, to know their status, not to be ashamed of it. It’s a very treatable disease,” John said on Wednesday.The Elton John AIDS Foundation has donated some $450 million to projects since it was founded in 1992, according to foundation officials. Much of the money comes from annual parties and auctions in Los Angeles and New York.
…
Ethiopia’s First Female Supreme Court Chief Hopes to Rebuild Trust
As part of sweeping reforms, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed appointed Meaza Ashenafi to be the first woman to lead the country’s Supreme Court. This charismatic lawyer has built a career advocating for women. VOA’S Salem Solomon has this profile.
…
Boris Johnson Begins Term as Britain’s Prime Minister
Britain’s new Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the Conservative Party leader, began assembling his political team as soon as he took office Wednesday. New Cabinet members include the country’s first ethnic minority person to head the Treasury and several women. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports Johnson’s first day on the job was marked by demonstrations by his supporters, as well as his opponents.
…
President Sees ‘Very Good Day’ for Him in Mueller Testimony
U.S. President Donald Trump celebrated former special counsel Robert Mueller’s appearances Wednesday before two House of Representatives committees as “a very good day” for himself and fellow Republicans. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said after Mueller’s testimony about his investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election and alleged obstruction of justice by Trump that Democrats would push on in their own probes of the president and his administration.“There was no defense for this ridiculous hoax, this witch hunt that’s been going on for a long time,” Trump told reporters using his oft-repeated dismissals of Mueller’s investigation. “What he showed more than anything else is that this whole thing has been three years of embarrassment and waste of time for our country.”Former special counsel Robert Mueller listens to committee members give their opening remarks before he testifies before the House Intelligence Committee on his report on Russian election interference, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, July 24, 2019.Trump and Republican members of Congress were critical of House Democrats for calling Mueller to speak before the intelligence and judiciary committees, saying they should be moving on from the probe.But House leaders speaking after the testimony signaled their intention to keep a focus on the White House, including the prospect of future impeachment proceedings if they find sufficient evidence and public support.“I do believe that what we saw today is a very strong manifestation, in fact some would say indictment, of this administration’s cone of silence in their cover-up,” Pelosi said. “This is about the oath we take to protect and defend the Constitution, but some of the actions that the administration may have taken — and we’ll see through our investigation — may have jeopardized our national security by strengthening Russia’s hand and interfering in our elections.”Former special counsel Robert Mueller is sworn in by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler to testify before the House Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, July 24, 2019, in Washington.Trump not exoneratedMueller told members of Congress that his investigation did not exonerate Trump of obstructing justice by trying to thwart the probe, even though the U.S. leader has frequently claimed it did.As hours of testimony started, House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerrold Nadler asked the prosecutor, “Did you totally exonerate the president?”“No,” Mueller responded, later adding, “The president was not exculpated for the acts he allegedly committed.”Mueller explained, however, that Trump could not be criminally charged because of a long-standing Justice Department policy prohibiting the indictment of a sitting president and so his team did not “make that calculation” whether Trump should be charged.Later in the hearing, Republican Congressman Ken Buck asked Mueller, “You believe that he committed — you could charge the president of the United States with obstruction of justice after he left office?“Yes,” Mueller replied.Trump has often attacked Mueller’s investigation, but Mueller, rebuffing one of the president’s frequent claims, said, “It is not a witch hunt.”Little dramaThese two exchanges were among the few dramatic moments during five hours of testimony that had been highly anticipated. To a significant degree, Mueller made good on his vow to stick to the confines of his lengthy report on Russia’s bold interference in the election three years ago and Trump’s alleged effort to inhibit the special counsel’s probe.But whether the daylong hearings will have a lasting effect on Trump’s chances of winning a second term in 2020 and how Americans view him after hearing directly from Mueller is uncertain.Former special counsel Robert Mueller checks pages in the report as he testifies before the House Judiciary Committee on his report on Russian election interference, Capitol Hill, July 24, 2019 in Washington.Mueller deflected dozens of questions about his 22-month probe and the 448-page report produced by his team of prosecutors, including declining to answer Republican lawmakers’ frequent queries about the origins of the Russia probe. He said questions about the start of the Russia investigation 10 months before he was named special counsel in May 2017 were “outside my purview” and currently the subject of a review by the Justice Department.Mueller said his team unsuccessfully tried for a year to reach agreement with Trump to give testimony in person, but the president only answered some questions in writing and not about alleged obstruction.He said the written responses were “not as useful as the interview would be,” but that prosecutors felt they were running out of time to subpoena Trump and then engage in a lengthy legal battle with the president’s lawyers over whether he would be compelled to testify in person.Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner questions former special counsel Robert Mueller during the House Judiciary Committee hearing on his report on Russian election interference, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, July 24, 2019.Republicans frustrated, tooMueller, hewing closely to his report’s findings, acknowledged to Republican Congressman Doug Collins that his investigators concluded there was insufficient evidence to charge Trump or any of his 2016 campaign staff with conspiring with Russia to help Trump win a four-year term in the White House.Another Republican, Congressman James Sensenbrenner, attacked Mueller for continuing his probe even knowing that Trump could not be charged with a crime, although Mueller said that was permissible under Justice Department guidelines.“If you’re not going to indict the president, then you’re just going to continue fishing, that’s my opinion,” Sensenbrenner said.Lawmakers on the House Intelligence Committee, who conducted the afternoon session, asked Mueller about his findings on how Russia interfered in the election to help Trump defeat Democrat Hillary Clinton, his 2016 opponent. Democrats and Republicans alike had trouble getting Mueller to say anything of substance beyond confirming what was already in his report.He declined to discuss why some people linked to the Russian probe were charged with criminal offenses and others were not. Nor would he venture into discussing any differences he had with Attorney General William Barr over Barr’s highly positive characterization of the report before it was released to the public.And he wouldn’t be drawn into a discussion of his report as it might relate to impeachment of the president.The 2016 campaignBut Mueller occasionally disparaged Trump’s conduct during the 2016 campaign, including when at political rallies he talked about WikiLeaks’ disclosure of Democratic officials’ emails stolen by Russian operatives that were damaging to Clinton.Democratic Congressman Mike Quigley read several Trump quotes about the emails, including, “This WikiLeaks is like a treasure trove” and “Boy, I love reading those WikiLeaks.”Asked what he thought of then candidate Trump’s remarks, Mueller said, “Problematic is an understatement in terms of what it displays…”Republicans insisted Mueller’s report had cleared the president and that the investigation was based on questionable intelligence before Mueller became the special counsel. The Republicans cited a report paid for by Democrats containing largely unsubstantiated and salacious claims by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele about Trump’s time in Moscow before he entered politics.Nadler and the other Democrats took pains to praise Mueller, a decorated Vietnam war veteran and former FBI chief, and to highlight the most damning evidence against the president cited in the report.The hearings were equally critical in importance for the 235 opposition Democrats in the House of Representatives, more than a third of whom have called for Trump’s impeachment or the start of an impeachment inquiry. These critics allege that the president committed “high crimes and misdemeanors” — the standard for impeachment — by trying to halt Mueller’s 22-month probe.Former White House counsel Don McGahn.The Mueller report said the president directed then-White House counsel Donald McGahn to try to oust Mueller and then publicly lie that Trump had not told him to seek Mueller’s dismissal. Mueller alleged that Trump directed his one-time campaign manager Corey Lewandowski to try to get then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions to limit the Mueller investigation. The report also alleged that the president possibly engaged in witness tampering to discourage two key aides convicted by Mueller’s team, Trump personal attorney Michael Cohen and former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, from cooperating with investigators.Even with vocal Democratic opposition to Trump, there appears to be no chance the Republican-controlled Senate would vote to convict Trump and remove him from office even if the House were to impeach him. National polls indicate Americans are opposed to impeaching Trump, either because they do not believe the allegations against him are serious enough to force his removal or prefer to cast an up-or-down vote on his presidency in the November 2020 election.
…
Trump Says Mexico May Put More Troops at Border With US
U.S. President Donald Trump, who is trying to stem the flow of mostly Central American migrants seeking to enter the United States from Mexico, said on Wednesday that Mexico may put more troops at the two countries’ border.Speaking to reporters at the White House before leaving on a trip to West Virginia, Trump said the numbers of migrants apprehended at the border “are way down” because Mexico has sent troops to the frontier “and they mean business.””It’s also good for Mexico what they’re doing because the cartels have been running all of the border for years and years.And Mexico is saying, and the president is saying: We’ve got to clean it up. So they’ve got 21,000 soldiers and will probably put up more,” Trump said.The Trump administration has sought to curtail the increasing numbers of migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border after fleeing violence and poverty in countries such as Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.Mexico said earlier this month that migrant apprehensions at the U.S. southern border fell 30% in June from the previous month after introducing controls as part of a deal with the United States to curb the flow of migration or face trade tariffs threatened by Trump.Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said on Monday that U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in weekend talks did not address a June deal under which the two countries would look at making asylum seekers apply for refuge in Mexico if migration flows were not significantly lower by July 22.Ebrard said he told Pompeo in Mexico City on Sunday that Mexico’s view was that the proposal was unnecessary, after it helped reduce apprehensions at the U.S. southern border last month.
…
Innovative Economies: US Back in Top 5, China Climbs to 14
The United States reclaimed its ranking in the top five countries in the world for economic innovation, while China climbed from 17th to 14th position in the new list of nearly 130 nations released Wednesday.The Global Innovation Index 2019 released by the U.N. intellectual property agency, one of its co-sponsors, says “innovation is blossoming around the world” despite an economic slowdown, brewing trade battles and high economic uncertainty.The index keeps Switzerland in the No. 1 spot, a position it has held since 2011, followed by Sweden, the United States, the Netherlands and Britain. The United States had fallen from fourth place in the 2017 rankings to sixth in 2018.Israel climbed one spot to enter the top 10 for the first time at No. 10, becoming the first country from the northern Africa and western Asia region to crack the top group. South Korea edged closer to the top 10 at No. 11, up from No. 12.80 indicatorsNow in its 12th edition, the index ranks 129 economies based on 80 indicators, from traditional measurements like research and development investments and international patent and trademark applications to newer indicators including mobile-phone app creation and high-tech exports.The index is sponsored by the U.N. World Intellectual Property Organization, Cornell University’s SC Johnson College of Business and INSEAD, the graduate school of business with campuses in France, Singapore and Abu Dhabi.According to the report, China’s continuing rise firmly establishes the country “in the group of leading innovative nations.”“China’s innovation strengths become evident in numerous areas: It maintains top ranks in patents by origin, industrial designs, and trademarks by origin as well as high-tech net exports and creative goods exports,” the report said.When comparing levels of innovation to economic development, the report said India, Vietnam, Kenya and Moldova “stand out for outperforming on innovation relative to GDP for the ninth consecutive year — a record.” Other economies outperforming in innovation relative to their GDP include Costa Rica, Thailand, Georgia, the Philippines, Burundi, Malawi and Mozambique, it said.India most innovativeThe report singled out India, ranked No. 52, for continuing to be the most innovative economy in central and southern Asia. India consistently ranks among the top countries in the world in “innovation drivers” such as information and technology services exports, graduates in science and engineering, high quality universities, creative goods exports and “gross capital formation, a measure of economy-wide investments,” it said.Francis Gurry, director general of the World Intellectual Property Organization, said the gains on the index “by economic powerhouses like China and India have transformed the geography of innovation and this reflects deliberate policy action to promote innovation.”Other regional leaders in innovation in addition to India and Israel include South Africa, Chile and Singapore with China, Vietnam and Rwanda topping their income groups, the report said.“In developed and developing economies alike, formal innovation — as measured by research and development and patents — and less formal modes of innovation are thriving,” it said.The report said global expenditures on research and development have been growing faster than the global economy, with government expenditure rising about 5% in 2017 and business expenditure 6.7%.“Never in history have so many scientists worldwide labored at solving the most pressing global scientific challenges,” it said.But many countries still lack innovation in their economies. The 10 countries at the bottom of the index, in descending order, are Nicaragua, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Benin, Zambia, Guinea, Togo, Niger, Burundi and Yemen.Looking ahead, the report said two concerns stand out that could slow growth in innovation.First, public research and development expenditures “particularly in some high-income countries responsible for driving the technology frontier are growing slowly or not at all,” it said.“Second, increased protectionism — in particular, protectionism that impacts technology-intensive sectors and knowledge flows — poses risks to global innovation networks and innovation diffusion,” the report said.
…
US Warship Sails Through Strategic Taiwan Strait
WASHINGTON – The U.S. military said Wednesday that it sent a Navy warship through the Taiwan Strait, which separates Taiwan from China, a move likely to anger China during a period of tense relations between Washington and Beijing.
Taiwan is among a growing number of flash points in the U.S.-China relationship, which include a trade war, U.S. sanctions and China’s increasingly muscular military posture in the South China Sea, where the United States also conducts freedom-of-navigation patrols.
China on Wednesday warned that it is ready for war if there was any move toward Taiwan’s independence, accusing the United States of undermining global stability and denouncing its arms sales to the self-ruled island.
The warship sent to the 112-mile-wide (180-km) Taiwan Strait was identified as the Antietam.
“The [ship’s] transit through the Taiwan Strait demonstrates the U.S. commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Cmdr. Clay Doss, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy’s 7th Fleet, said in a statement. “The U.S. Navy will continue to fly, sail and operate anywhere international law allows.”
The voyage risks further raising tensions with China but will likely be viewed by self-ruled Taiwan as a sign of support from U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration amid growing friction between Taipei and Beijing.
The United States has no formal ties with Taiwan but is bound by law to help provide the island with the means to defend itself and is its main source of arms.
China has been ramping up pressure to assert its sovereignty over the island, which it considers a wayward province. On Wednesday, Chinese Defense ministry spokesman Wu Qian told a news briefing on a defense white paper, the first like it in several years to outline the military’s strategic concerns, that China would make its greatest effort for peaceful reunification with Taiwan.
“If there are people who dare to try to split Taiwan from the country, China’s military will be ready to go to war to firmly safeguard national sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity,” he said.
China has repeatedly sent military aircraft and ships to circle Taiwan on exercises in the past few years and worked to isolate it internationally, whittling down its few remaining diplomatic allies.
…
China Warns of War in Case of Move Towards Taiwan Independence
China warned on Wednesday it was ready for war if there was any move toward Taiwan’s independence, accusing the United States of undermining global stability and denouncing its arms sales to the self ruled island.This month, the United States approved sales of weapons requested by Taiwan, including tanks and Stinger missiles, estimated to be worth $2.2 billion.China responded by saying it would impose sanctions on U.S. firms involved in any deals.China’s Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian leaves as journalists are asking question on Hong Kong’s recent protests after a press conference at the State Council Information Office in Beijing, July 24, 2019.Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian told a news briefing on a defense white paper, the first like it in several years to outline the military’s strategic concerns, that China would make its greatest effort for peaceful reunification with Taiwan.”However, we must firmly point out that seeking Taiwan independence is a dead end,” Wu said.”If there are people who dare to try to split Taiwan from the country, China’s military will be ready to go to war to firmly safeguard national sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity,” he said.A spokesman for the U.S. State Department said Washington remained committed to a “one-China” policy, under which Washington officially recognizes Beijing and not Taipei, while assisting Taiwan.He said U.S. arms sales to Taiwan were a consistent policy of multiple U.S. administrations and had contributed to the maintenance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”The United States considers any effort to determine the future of Taiwan by other than peaceful means, including by boycotts or embargoes, of grave concern to the United States,” he added.The United States is the main arms supplier to Taiwan, which China deems a wayward province. Beijing has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control.While Washington has no formal ties with democratic Taiwan, it is bound by law to help provide it with the means to defend itself.The Chinese ministry said the United States had “provoked intensified competition among major countries, significantly increased its defense expenditure … and undermined global strategic stability.”‘Malicious acts’Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council said later in a statement that Beijing’s “provocative behavior … seriously violated the peace principle in international laws and relations, challenging regional safety and order.””We urge Beijing authorities to renounce irrational, malicious acts such as the use of force, and to improve cross-strait relations and handle issues including Hong Kong rationally, so that it can be a responsible regional member,” it said.In Beijing, asked how China’s military would handle escalating protest violence in Hong Kong’s widening crisis over a contentious extradition bill, Wu referred only to the territory’s garrison law, which he said “already has a clear stipulation.”That law states that the Hong Kong government can request the People’s Liberation Army (PLAN) garrison’s assistance to maintain public order.But legal scholars say it is a very high threshold, and some retired security officials say any involvement by PLAN units in Hong Kong security would shatter the “one country, two systems” formula under which the former British colony returned to China in 1997.Wu also said reports of a secret pact with Cambodia granting China’s armed forces exclusive access to part of the Southeast Asian nation’s Ream Naval Base on the Gulf of Thailand were “not in accordance with the facts.””China and Cambodia have in the past carried out positive exchanges and cooperation on military drills, personnel training and logistics,” he said. “This kind of cooperation does not target any third party.”
…
New San Francisco Campaign Aims to House 1,100 Homeless
SAN FRANCISCO — Homelessness and a housing crunch have come to define San Francisco as much as the Golden Gate Bridge or Alcatraz. Now a new public engagement campaign is urging residents to put aside their political differences and support finding homes for more than 1,000 homeless people.
The All In'' campaign being launched Thursday has the support of baseball's Giants and the NFL's 49ers, as well as Airbnb, Google, Postmates and dozens of nonprofits and other businesses. Philanthropist Daniel Lurie, founder of the anti-poverty nonprofit behindAll In,” says he wants to inspire people in a city known for its liberal politics to tackle a problem mired in negativity, despair and political fighting.
Some people are fed up. Some people are exasperated, some people are just giving up and we need to bring all of those people and say, `Listen, here are solutions that you can get behind,''' he said.We’re all going to have to sacrifice a little bit.” Wealth disparity
A one-night count earlier this year found the number of homeless increased 17% over two years to more than 8,000 people. At the same time, the city is booming with well-paying tech and finance jobs that some say are squeezing out the city’s working and middle class.
Lurie, a San Francisco native and founder of Tipping Point Community, says he wants to focus on finding housing. He has raised the $100 million he pledged two years ago to address the issue, and he hopes to find homes throughout the city for 1,100 people by 2022.
He says there is land available to develop and landlords willing to accept vouchers to rent to people trying to move out of homelessness. Lurie said he needs to find more such landlords and encourage voters to support building in a city where homeowners are sometimes quick to protest projects in their backyard.
FILE – A homeless person pushes a cart past parked recreational vehicles along a street in San Francisco, June 27, 2019.Residents of the Embarcadero, for example, are suing the city for approving a temporary homeless shelter along the waterfront, saying it is the wrong fit. An announcement of a location for an RV homeless shelter prompted both support and opposition.
Joe Wilson, executive director of Hospitality House, which operates a shelter, says he believes the campaign can make a difference. We have to be taking necessary steps forward and definitely the scale of the solution has to meet the scale of the problem,'' he said. We’ve not gotten that far in this process.”
Wilson is also happy the tech industry is stepping up. In fact, some billionaire tech entrepreneurs have taken a more visible role.
Marc Benioff, a city native and founder of cloud-based software company Salesforce, publicly backed a successful November 2018 measure to tax wealthy businesses for homeless and addiction services. Benioff sparred on Twitter with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, who opposed the measure.
But both entrepreneurs this year backed a GoFundMe campaign in support of the homeless shelter along the waterfront. Short-term rentals
Voters rejected in 2015 a ballot measure to restrict Airbnb rentals after heavy spending by the San Francisco-based company. Critics said Airbnb added to the city's housing crunch by encouraging landlords to take rooms off the long-term rental market in favor of short-term stays.
Asked if Airbnb might encourage hosts to rent long term, Matt Middlebrook, the company's public policy lead for California, Hawaii and Alaska said,
But he said the company will spread the new awareness campaign to its hosts'' and the company's 3,000 workers.We’re going to be sharing information with all of them about the `All In’ campaign and in ways they can engage in this effort,” he said.
…
Key Takeaways From Robert Mueller’s Congressional Testimony
Robert Mueller refused to play the part. Not for Republicans and not for Democrats.In back-to-back hearings before the House Judiciary Committee and the House Intelligence Committee, the former special counsel in the investigation of Russian interference into the 2016 presidential elections largely honored his pledge to stick to his 448-page report. He often answered questions in a single word. Republicans tried to get Mueller to spell out the findings that there wasn’t enough evidence to prove any criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia. Democrats pressed him to expand on the conclusion in his report that he could not exonerate President Donald Trump on possible charges of obstruction of justice.But Mueller left both sides wanting.Some key takeaways from his testimony:Mueller wouldn’t be a mouthpieceMueller wouldn’t even read from his own report. That made it challenging for Democrats who called him in hopes that the sheer force of hearing him say the words on television would be more powerful to many Americans than the written form.But Mueller demurred, and Democrats had to read his words for him.Similarly, Mueller wouldn’t answer specifically when Republicans repeatedly tried to question him about the origins of the Russia investigation, the use of secret surveillance warrants.Mueller would only speak generally about Peter Strzok, a former FBI agent on his team who helped lead the investigation and exchanged anti-Trump text messages during the 2016 election with ex-FBI lawyer Lisa Page.Mueller left it to the partisans to do the parsing.Russian interference is still happeningMueller was, for him anyway, far more expansive when he was asked about Russia’s interference in U.S. elections. He also condemned Trump’s praise of WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy group that released material stolen from Democratic groups, including Hillary Clinton’s campaign.“Problematic is an understatement,” he said.U.S. intelligence agencies and Mueller’s investigation determined Russian government entities were responsible for the hack and furnished the embarrassing correspondence to WikiLeaks in order to support Trump’s bid for the presidency. Authorities also found Russia engaged in an organized social media effort to sow discord among American voters.Mueller warned that what Russia did in 2016 was not a “single attempt.”“They’re doing it as we sit here,” he told lawmakers.Former special counsel Robert Mueller is sworn in before the House Intelligence Committee on his report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election on Capitol Hill, in Washington, July 24, 2019.Indicting the president was never an optionDuring his testimony, Mueller made clear that his team never considered charging the president with a crime because of Justice Department guidelines.Mueller, in his testimony Wednesday morning to the House Judiciary Committee, seemed to agree that he would have charged Trump with obstruction of justice had it not been for department guidance that a president cannot be indicted. Democrats seized on that answer, but Mueller then said, “That is not the correct way to say it.”Mueller later said his team “did not reach a determination as to whether the president committed a crime.”‘It is not a witch hunt’Mueller swung back at the characterization made hundreds of times by Trump that the Russia investigation that shadowed his presidency was a “rigged witch hunt.”“It is not a witch hunt,” Mueller testified.Asked what he wanted the American public to take from his report, Mueller said: “We spent substantial time ensuring the integrity of the report.”Members of the House Intelligence Committee listen as former special counsel Robert Mueller testifies about his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, on Capitol Hill in Washington, July 24, 2019.One of the only other times Mueller pushed back on lawmakers during hours of questioning was to offer a spirited defense of the investigation.“I don’t think you all reviewed a report that is as thorough, as fair, as consistent as the report that we have in front of us,” Mueller said.Mueller said his nearly two-year investigation was conducted in a “fair and independent manner.” He also repeatedly praised the prosecutors, FBI agents and analysts who worked on his team, saying they were “of the highest integrity” and were “absolutely exemplary.”Impeachment remains unlikelyMueller’s testimony likely did little to change many minds in Congress on impeachment. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, has made clear she will not pursue impeachment, for now.Mueller wouldn’t take the bait as Democrats asked whether he meant for his report to serve as a referral to Congress to consider impeaching the president. He even seemed to make strides to not even say the word.Congresswoman Veronica Escobar asked Mueller about a mention in Mueller’s report about “constitutional processes for addressing presidential misconduct.”Mueller refused to answer when asked specifically whether one of those was impeachment.
…
Sudan’s Army Chief Among Several Arrested in Alleged Coup Plot
Sudan’s military said Wednesday that it had arrested the army chief and several senior officers in connection with a foiled coup attempt.
In a statement, the army said it had arrested Gen. Hashem Abdel-Muttalib Babakr, the head of the joint chiefs of staff, and at least a dozen other high-ranking officers linked to a suspected bid to return the party of ousted President Omar al-Bashir to power. The state news service SUNA said members of the “the National Intelligence and Security Service, along with leaders of the Islamic Movement and the National Congress Party,” were also implicated. The date of the alleged coup attempt was not clear.
It was the second coup attempt reported this month. Earlier, the military council, which took over the country after ousting Bashir in April, said it had arrested at least 16 active and retired military officers in connection with an attempted coup on July 11.
“The failed attempt aims to abort your glorious revolution and to return the former National Congress regime to power,” and to disrupt efforts to establish a civilian-run state, the council said about the latest attempt.
Babakr was appointed chief of staff just days after Bashir was ousted in April, following months of protests against the president’s 30-year rule. The ruling military council is trying to finalize a power-sharing deal with protest leaders for a three-year transition toward elections.
…
South Sudan Gets Mobile Money Service
South Sudanese technology firms have launched the country’s first mobile money transfer platform, M-Gurush. It allows customers to pay for goods and services across South Sudan, similar to platforms in Kenya and other African countries. While a 2018 peace deal allowed for the service to be rolled out across the country, there are still infrastructure challenges.South Sudan celebrated a rare advance in technology this month as it launched a nationwide system for mobile money transfers.The new service called M-Gurush — M for mobile and Gurush for money in Arabic — removes the need for a bank account, which most South Sudanese lack.High hopes for new systemLado Kenyi, director general of the National Communication Authority, has high hopes for the new system.”The real success of mobile money is in targeting the people of low income and our rural population,” Kenyi said. “Those are the people we want to reach and include them into the financial system.”South Sudan’s Minister of Information Michael Makuei demonstrated the ease of use by purchasing a cow with his mobile phone.He said it will take time for rural South Sudanese to trust cashless payments.”You have a very big task to do,” Makuei said. “You need to sensitize the people of South Sudan. Including me. You need to sensitize the people of South Sudan on this M-Gurush because it is not enough.”Ravaged by years of war and conflict, South Sudan is racked by poverty and has one of Africa’s lowest rates of mobile phone penetration — just 21 percent. Joshua Makuru is an telecommunications specialist in Juba.”One of the biggest challenges is network coverage, because as we all know after the war, telecom infrastructure was destroyed, especially most of the telecom infrastructure in the villages,” Makuru said.New jobs expectedHowever, Wilson Ladu, who works for one of the South Sudanese companies behind M-Gurush, ZAIN Telecommunications, is confident that mobile money marks the beginning of a new era.”We know the fiber optics is around the corner, it’s just almost to this town, to Juba, where this town, this country will be connected by fiber,” Ladu said.Mobile money is expected to speed up trade and add thousands of new jobs to South Sudan’s struggling economy.It also puts South Sudan in the ranks of other East African nations using mobile money, such as Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda.
…
Abandoned Siberian Factory Could Cause Chernobyl-style Disaster, Official Warns
MOSCOW – A Russian state official warned on Wednesday that an abandoned chemicals factory in Siberia could cause an environmental disaster akin to the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident unless urgent action is taken to address the problems it presents. The Usolyekhimprom plant, which produced chlorine and other chemicals in the Irkutsk region, was abandoned because of bankruptcy in 2017, according to Russian news agencies. But the factory still contains an array of toxic substances, the head of the state environment watchdog Rosprirodnadzor said.
The official, Svetlana Radionova, said she had recently visited the facility and, among other things, discovered wells filled with oil waste that could burst and flow into the Angara, a major Siberian river.
“This is essentially the territory of an environmental catastrophe. We need to act now. Otherwise, we will have an ‘ecological Chernobyl,'” Radionova said in an interview with pro-Kremlin newspaper Izvestia.
The meltdown at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in April 1986 was the world’s worst nuclear accident and forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate as it spewed clouds of nuclear material across Europe.
“No one knows what’s there [at the Siberian site],” Radionova said, adding she had seen a huge amount of mercury residue there that needed to be “de-mercurized,” and tanks, some of them pressurized, containing unknown chemicals.
“This is a huge, chemically dangerous enterprise which is in a half-destroyed state. Its negligent owners exhausted its final resources and chucked it,” she said.
The factory’s owners have not responded to the allegations.
…