Tens of thousands of tons of contaminated water from the Fukushima nuclear plant might have to be released into the Pacific Ocean, Japan’s environment minister said Tuesday.The water, used to cool damaged fuel cores after the plant was damaged by the earthquake and tsunami in 2011, is being stored in giant tanks at the site. But the storage space is running out.FILE – Workers are seen in front of storage tanks for radioactive water at the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Okuma town, Fukushima prefecture, Japan, Feb. 18, 2019.”The only option will be to drain it into the sea and dilute it,” Yoshiaki Harada said at a news briefing in Tokyo. “The whole of the government will discuss this, but I would like to offer my simple opinion.”Tokyo Electric Power, which operates the nuclear plant, has said it will run out of storage space for the water in 2022. For the past eight years since the meltdown of Fukushima’s three reactors, some 200 tons of radioactive water have been pumped out of the damaged buildings every day.At another meeting, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the government has not yet settled on a course of action. He said Harada’s opinions were his own.”There is no fact that the method of disposal of contaminated water has been decided. The government would like to make a decision after making thorough discussion,” he said.Japan’s vast fishing industry, as well as its neighbor South Korea, have strongly opposed the idea of dumping the contaminated water into the ocean.
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Month: September 2019
Hundreds Arrested in Nigeria, US on Online Fraud Charges
Nearly 250 people have been arrested in Nigeria and the United States in one of the largest coordinated law enforcement operations aimed at disrupting a mushrooming email fraud scam that targets businesses and individual victims, officials announced on Tuesday.The four-month global operation netted a total of 281 arrests, including 167 in Nigeria and 74 in the United States, the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement. Arrests were also made in Turkey, Ghana, France, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia and Britain. The operation, dubbed reWired, led to the seizure of nearly $3.7 million.The disproportionately large number of arrests in Nigeria stemmed from close coordination between U.S. and Nigerian law enforcement authorities, officials said. Nigeria has long been plagued by a reputation for online fraud committed by so-called “yahoo-yahoo” boys.The announcement came just weeks after U.S. prosecutors indicted 77 Nigerian nationals and three others with participating in a conspiracy to steal millions of dollars from businesses and individuals through an online scheme known as Business Email Compromise.The BEC scam involves targeting employees with access to company finances and tricking them into making unauthorized wire transfers into accounts controlled by fraudsters. Scammers involved in BEC also target individual victims through so-called “romance fraud” and “elderly fraud.”Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission said a “sizeable number” of the 77 Nigerian suspects indicted in the United States had been arrested.”Our efforts in coordinating the EFCC/FBI joint operations in Nigeria recorded tremendous successes” against “the infamous yahoo-yahoo boys,” said the EFCC’s director of information, Mohammed Abba, according to AFP.U.S. Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen said coordination with domestic and international partners made the operation “more successful.””The Department of Justice has increased efforts in taking aggressive enforcement action against fraudsters who are targeting American citizens and their businesses in business email compromise schemes and other cyber-enabled financial crimes,” Rosen said.Business Email Compromise is a $26 billion online scam. According to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center, nearly $1.3 billion in losses were reported from BEC and its variant, Email Account Compromise, in 2018. That was nearly twice as much as was reported in 2017.The Justice Department has stepped up efforts to investigate and prosecute BEC schemes, setting up a “counteraction group” to coordinate BEC cases.Through the arrests, “we’re sending a clear message to the criminals who orchestrate these BEC schemes: We’ll keep coming after you, no matter where you are,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said. “And to the public, we’ll keep doing whatever we can to protect you.”A similar operation last year resulted in the arrest of 74 people involved in BEC scams, and the seizure of $2.4 million, according to the Justice Department.
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HBO Produces Documentary to Help Kids Understand 9/11
For students from elementary to high school, the Sept. 11 terrorist attack isn’t a memory. It’s history. A new HBO documentary that debuts on the event’s 18th anniversary treats it that way.The necessity of her project, “What Happened on September 11,” struck filmmaker Amy Schatz when a third-grade girl told her about a playdate where she and a friend Googled “Sept. 11 attacks.””When a child does that, what he or she finds are some pretty horrific images that are not necessarily appropriate for kids,” Schatz said Tuesday. “So I felt a responsibility to try to fill that void and try to give kids something that isn’t horrifying and kind of fills in the gap.”The half-hour film debuts Wednesday at 6 p.m. A companion piece, focusing on the memories of former students at a high school near Ground Zero, premieres three hours later.Amy Schatz arrives at an event in Los Angeles, Feb. 7, 2015.Schatz has made a specialty of creating films that seek to explain the inexplicable, with “The Number on Great-Grandpa’s Arm” tackling the Holocaust and another on the Parkland shooting.”I’m really desperate for some more lightness very soon,” she said.In this case, she worked with the Sept. 11 remembrance museum on the story, filming two men who work there giving presentations to third graders. Stephen Kern, who worked on the 62nd floor of the World Trade Center’s North Tower, talks about being evacuated. Matthew Crawford, whose father was a firefighter who died that day, discusses his experience. She also found a middle school in Secaucus, New Jersey, that teaches history through art and poetry, helping students process the emotions of what they learned.Short history lessons are sprinkled throughout the film, about New York and the World Trade Center, the one-time tallest towers in the world. Construction began in 1968.”One of the biggest questions the kids have is ‘Why? Why would somebody do that? Why would there be such cruelty?'” she said. “That’s a very difficult thing to grapple with and answer, so that was the trickiest part of the project.”The film tells of Osama bin Laden and his activism that started with the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan. But it never truly answers the whys. Maybe no one can.Schatz doesn’t avoid some of the terrible images of the day: the second plane striking the World Trade Center and resultant fireball, the collapse of each tower and the giant clouds of debris that billowed through the canyons of city streets. Schatz didn’t want to avoid those clips, since kids know that planes crashed into the buildings, but she opted not to spend much time on them “so that we didn’t create too many lingering after-images in people’s minds.”Stuyvesant High SchoolAs part of her research, Schatz interviewed alumni of Stuyvesant High School near the World Trade Center site. But the memories of what they saw, heard and smelled that day — and the uncertainty of how they would get home from school — proved too raw. That’s why “In the Shadow of the Towers: Stuyvesant High on 9/11” is a separate film that premieres on HBO three hours after the first one.Schatz said a school curriculum is being developed for teaching children about the tragedy, and “What Happened on September 11″ will be made available to schools for free. The film is aimed generally at children ages 7 to 12.Throughout her work, Schatz kept returning to the memory of the youngster searching for details about Sept. 11 on the internet.”You can’t protect kids from what they’re going to come across,” she said. “It seemed to me there was an opportunity to put something out there that is age-appropriate and not too scary and give them the tools they need to understand the world around them.”
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Ukraine President Meets Tycoon Kolomoisky Amid Concerns Over Business Ties
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met business tycoon Ihor Kolomoisky on Tuesday, the president’s office said, the first reported meeting since Zelenskiy’s inauguration in May between the two men who had long-standing business ties.The president’s relationship with Kolomoisky, one of the richest businessman in Ukraine, has been under heavy scrutiny since the start of Zelenskiy’s election campaign, amid fears that the tycoon may be wielding influence behind the scenes.Both men deny such suggestions.The president’s office said in a brief statement that Zelenskiy and Kolomoisky had met to discuss the business climate and the energy sector in Ukraine. It gave no further details.FILE – A client walks out as others arrive at the office of the PrivatBank in the center of Kyiv, Dec. 19, 2016.Zelenskiy, a former comedian with no prior political experience, won the presidential election in April by a landslide on promises to fight corruption and transform Ukrainian politics.Kolomoisky has been embroiled in a long-running legal battle over control of PrivatBank, Ukraine’s largest lender, which he used to own before it was nationalized in late 2016.Zelenskiy has repeatedly denied suggestions that he would help Kolomoisky win back control of PrivatBank or receive compensation.The saga is closely watched by investors because the International Monetary Fund could freeze aid to Ukraine if the PrivatBank nationalization were reversed.
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US Detainee Paul Whelan Declines Surgery for Medical Condition
This story originated from FILE – A view of the pre-trial detention center Lefortovo, where former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan is reportedly held in custody, in Moscow, Jan. 3, 2019.A frequent visitor to Russia, Whelan was detained in central Moscow’s Metropol Hotel on Dec. 28 and accused of carrying Russian state secrets on a flash drive given to him by an unnamed person.The U.S. Embassy in Moscow and Whelan’s family have long objected to his detention, insisting that the charges against him are false and that he has been repeatedly denied requests for medical care and communication with family.Moscow officials have denied for months that Whelan had any medical conditions, but on Aug. 23, an ambulance was called to a Moscow courtroom after Whelan said he had been injured by a prison guard who forced him to move heavy personal belongings to a new cell.The judge immediately halted courtroom proceedings for a medical evaluation by paramedics before ruling that his pretrial detention should be extended until Oct. 29.According to Whelan’s attorney, Vladimir Zherebenkov, the 49-year-old Michigan native was examined by doctors at Moscow’s Hospital #20 on Sept. 6, who confirmed he was suffering from a hernia that required surgery.”We have been sending requests for a medical examination to the Ministry of Health and others, so he was examined last Friday,” Zherebenkov told VOA’s Polygraph.info.FILE – Vladimir Zherebenkov, the lawyer of Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine accused of espionage and arrested in Russia, speaks with the media outside the court building in Moscow, Jan. 22, 2019.”The doctors did not say the hernia was in an acute stage, yet offered surgery, but Paul refused. He doesn’t trust the Russian doctors.”Zherebenkov said Whelan has instead chosen to manage the pain with medication provided by prison administrators.”He’s given No-Spa (a brand of antispasmodic drug also known as Doverin) every day for pain,” Zherebenkov said.Whelan’s brother, David, told Polygraph.info the hernia is becoming more serious.”He was scheduled to have surgery in January this year when he returned from Russia, but obviously he has never returned from Russia,” he said.Restricted communicationDavid Whelan also contradicted Russian officials who have insisted that his brother has been afforded all contacts and communications in accordance with Russian law, which allows detainees at least one phone call a month with their families.”Paul sought phone call access, but that was denied by FSB investigator Aleksei Khishnyak. We don’t think that it would be safe for us to visit Russia while he is in prison, and we have no other way to communicate with him,” David Whelan said.FILE – David Whelan, brother of Paul Whelan, poses in his house in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada, Jan. 5, 2019.”Because there are no translators at Lefortovo, it is impossible to control what Paul will be talking about with his relatives,” Zherebenkov said. “Due to such technical reasons, there has not been a single phone call, and there is no such possibility in the future.”Zherebenkov also said mail correspondence between the detainee and his family travels via special — and especially slow — channels.”There is a complication with Paul’s mail correspondence with the family due to censorship and translation,” Zherebenkov said. “There are no translators at Lefortovo, so the warden receives the letters. He then sends them to the FSB investigator, and the investigator sends them to the translator. Then, the entire process repeats in reverse order.”This takes up to two months,” he said.Zherebenkov also told Polygraph.info that Whelan, who had been held in solitary confinement for at least the first 10 days of his detention, now has a new cellmate — a high-profile Russian businessman who is fluent in English and has been helping Whelan communicate with guards.Whelan, who holds the citizenships of four nations, including the United States, said he was a “victim of a political kidnapping,” and the accusations against him were a “politically motivated sting.”Business visaAlthough Whelan was apprehended in Russia while attending a friend’s wedding, he was traveling on a business visa supported by his employer, BorgWarner Inc., a U.S. auto parts manufacturer that services trucks and buses made by Russian manufacturers Kamaz and Nefaz. BorgWarner has emphatically denied Whelan was in Russia on business, and yet they’ve refused to explain why they sponsored his visa for personal travel.Detroit Free Press correspondents Kristen Jordan Shamus and Deirdre Shesgreen reported in January that although BorgWarner had no facilities in Russia, the Michigan company’s business dealings with Russian manufacturers had drawn scrutiny from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. In 2016, SEC officials wrote to BorgWarner, inquiring about its relationship with Kamaz, which remains under U.S. sanctions after the Russian military delivery of Kamaz trucks to Syria and Sudan.Kamaz CEO Sergei A. Kogogin co-chaired Russian President Vladimir Putin’s 2018 re-election campaign.The United States Embassy in Moscow has demanded that Russian authorities release Whelan from prison, saying the conditions of his detention are inhumane and that he has been deprived of adequate medical help amid deteriorating health and isolation from his family.Isolation and limited access to medical assistance are part of a Russian government pressure tactic to extract a confession from his brother on “completely bogus charges,” David Whelan said.On Sept. 2, the U.S. Embassy in Moscow posted on Twitter in Russian: “Paul Whelan’s parents are celebrating their 59th wedding anniversary today. Paul Whelan hasn’t heard their voices in over 8 months. Maybe the Russian government will let Paul call his parents and congratulate them personally? Stop the isolation #PaulWhelan @MID_RF.”
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Alibaba’s Ma Steps Down As Industry Faces Uncertainty
Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma, who helped launch China’s online retailing boom, stepped down as chairman of the world’s biggest e-commerce company Tuesday at a time when its fast-changing industry faces uncertainty amid a U.S.-Chinese tariff war.Ma, one of China’s wealthiest and best-known entrepreneurs, gave up his post on his 55th birthday as part of a succession announced a year ago. He will stay on as a member of the Alibaba Partnership, a 36-member group with the right to nominate a majority of the company’s board of directors.Ma, a former English teacher, founded Alibaba in 1999 to connect Chinese exporters to American retailers.The company has shifted focus to serving China’s growing consumer market and expanded into online banking, entertainment and cloud computing. Domestic businesses accounted for 66% of its $16.7 billion in revenue in the quarter ending in June.Chinese retailing faces uncertainty amid a tariff war that has raised the cost of U.S. imports.Growth in online sales decelerated to 17.8% in the first half of 2019 amid slowing Chinese economic growth, down from 2018’s full-year rate of 23.9%.Alibaba says its revenue rose 42% over a year earlier in the quarter ending in June to $16.7 billion and profit rose 145% to $3.1 billion. Still, that was off slightly from 2018’s full-year revenue growth of 51%.The total amount of goods sold across Alibaba’s e-commerce platforms rose 25% last year to $853 billion. By comparison, the biggest U.S. e-commerce company, Amazon.com Inc., reported total sales of $277 billion.Alibaba’s deputy chairman, Joe Tsai, told reporters in May the company is “on the right side” of issues in U.S.-Chinese trade talks. Tsai said Alibaba stands to benefit from Beijing’s promise to increase imports and a growing consumer market.Alibaba is one of a group of companies including Tencent Holding Ltd., a games and social media giant, search engine Baidu.com Inc. and e-commerce rival JD.com that have revolutionized shopping, entertainment and consumer services in China.Alibaba was founded at a time when few Chinese were online. As internet use spread, the company expanded into consumer-focused retailing and services. Few Chinese used credit cards, so Alibaba created the Alipay online payments system.Ma, known in Chinese as Ma Yun, appears regularly on television. At an annual Alibaba employee festival in Hanzhou, he has sung pop songs in costumes that have included blond wigs and leather jackets. He pokes fun at his own appearance, saying his oversize head and angular features make him look like the alien in director Steven Spielberg’s movie “E.T. The Extraterrestrial.”The company’s $25 billion initial public offering on the New York Stock Exchange in September 2014 was the biggest to date by a Chinese company.The Hurun Report, which follows China’s wealth, estimates Ma’s fortune at $38 billion.In 2015, Ma bought the South China Morning Post, Hong Kong’s biggest English-language newspaper.Ma’s successor as chairman is CEO Daniel Zhang, a former accountant and 12-year veteran of Alibaba. He previously was president of its consumer-focused Tmall.com business unit.Alibaba’s e-commerce business spans platforms including business-to-business Alibaba.com, which links foreign buyers with Chinese suppliers of goods from furniture to medical technology, and Tmall, with online shops for popular brands.Alipay became a freestanding financial company, Ant Financial, in 2014. Alibaba also set up its own film studio and invested in logistics and delivery services.Ma faced controversy when it disclosed in 2011 that Alibaba transferred control over Alipay to a company he controlled without immediately informing shareholders including Yahoo Inc. and Japan’s Softback.Alibaba said the move was required to comply with Chinese regulations, but some financial analysts said the company was paid too little for a valuable asset. The dispute was later resolved by Alibaba, Yahoo and Softbank.Corporate governance specialists have questioned the Alibaba Partnership, which gives Ma and a group of executives more control over the company than shareholders.Ma has said that ensures Alibaba focuses on long-term development instead of responding to pressure from financial markets.
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Russia-Ukraine Prisoner Swap: Step Toward Peace or False Dawn?
The prisoner swap between Ukraine and Russia Saturday has prompted hopes that Moscow and Kyiv are ready for serious talks to end a more than five-year war in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine — a Moscow-fomented conflict that’s claimed more than 13,000 lives.As the exchange unfolded, which included the release by Russia of 24 sailors captured in a naval clash last November, U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted, “Russia and Ukraine just swapped large numbers of prisoners. Very good news, perhaps a first giant step to peace. Congratulations to both countries!”That view was shared by the man who engineered the swap, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who hailed the exchange as “the first step to end the war.” And various other Western leaders, including Germany’s Angela Merkel and France’s Emmanuel Macron, joined the chorus lauding the exchange of 70 prisoners in all as a positive move.For the families of those exchanged, there was relief.Russia had threatened to incarcerate the sailors for up to six years, saying their patrol boats had trespassed into Russian territory by crossing its borders to enter the Sea of Azov, just off Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.Ukraine and other countries that don’t recognize Russia’s annexation of Crimea say the sailors were in international waters, and an international maritime court ordered Moscow to free the men, an instruction ignored until Saturday.Relatives of Ukrainian prisoners freed by Russia greet them upon their arrival at Boryspil airport, outside Kyiv, Ukraine, Sept. 7, 2019.Others among the 35 Ukrainian detainees had been held for years, including Oleg Sentsov, a filmmaker who was serving a 20-year sentence in an Arctic penal colony on charges of “terrorism.”On their arrival at Kyiv’s Boryspil airport, where they were greeted by relatives and Zelenskiy, there was euphoria.”Hell has ended. Everyone is alive, and that is the main thing,” said Vyacheslav Zinchenko, one of the sailors.Russian President Vladimir Putin did not greet in Moscow the 35 Russians released by Kyiv.Since his surprise election earlier this year, Zelenskiy, a political novice and former television comic, has been urging Putin to join a new round of peace talks involving Trump and other Western leaders.In a video statement released in July to coincide with a one-day EU-Ukraine summit in Kyiv, Zelenskiy appealed to Putin directly.“We need to talk. We do. Let’s do it,” he said, looking directly into the camera.Last month, it was announced the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany would meet to discuss the Donbas conflict. But in an interview in July with VOA’s Ukrainian Service, Kurt Volker, U.S. special representative for Ukraine negotiations, cautioned against optimism.“Unfortunately, we’ve really not heard much news from Russia. They are still saying that everything is Ukraine’s responsibility, that Ukraine needs to negotiate with the two so-called separatist ‘People’s Republic’ that they created in Ukraine,” he said, referring to the Kremlin-backed, self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.’Sinister’ exchangeWhile some are seizing on the prisoner exchange as the possible start of something new, for others it has triggered worries that Putin is using Ukraine to toy with the West. Skeptics argue that Putin isn’t serious about ending a conflict of his own making and has every reason to nurture it as a way to disrupt Ukraine and continue to punish the country for its popular Maidan uprising in 2014, which forced Viktor Yanukovych, a Putin ally, out of power.FILE – Volodymyr Tsemakh, former commander of Russian-backed separatist forces in eastern Ukraine, sits in a court room in Kyiv, Ukraine, Sept. 5, 2019. Tsemakh was one of two high-profile prisoners returned Russia.They highlight the imbalance in the prisoner swap — seeing Putin’s approach to it as displaying a sinister cynicism. While the released Ukrainians had been held on trumped-up charges, their Russian and pro-Moscow separatist counterparts weren’t innocent. They included Volodymyr Tsemakh, who commanded a Russian separatist air defense unit close to where Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17, enroute to Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam, was shot down in 2014, killing all 298 people onboard.The Dutch government has been left fuming, saying it “seriously regrets that under pressure from the Russian Federation, Tsemakh was included in this prisoner swap.”Ukrainian politicians had pleaded with Zelenskiy not to release Tsemakh, but his freedom apparently was the price the Ukrainian leader was forced to pay for the prisoner exchange.Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok said the Netherlands was “deeply disappointed” by the release, but added Ukraine had delayed the prisoner exchange to let Dutch investigators question Tsemakh before he was freed.According to Marcel Van Herpen, author of the book “Putin’s Wars,” and a director at the Cicero Foundation research group, Tsemakh’s release could be a complicating factor for the MH17 trial, which starts in March 2020 in The Hague.“Of course we are all happy they and the others are free,” tweeted self-exiled Russian dissident Garry Kasparov. “But this is not justice. Putin takes innocent hostages to use as bargaining chips. He is rewarded and praised for exchanging them for Russian spies & criminals, encouraging further terrorist acts.”Kasparov and other skeptics worry that amid heightened talk of efforts to normalize relations with Putin, the West will fall into the pattern of giving ground to Putin.“New talk of a ‘peace process’ is a joke when Putin could end the conflict instantly, just as he began it. ‘Use force, then negotiate’ works well for him,” Kasparov tweeted.Michael Carpenter, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, is cautious about interpreting “this as a step toward ending the war.” He noted, “August was one of the bloodiest months in the Donbas in a long time. More importantly, no country is incentivizing Putin to “de-escalate.” Other analysts fear the swap makes Russia appear reasonable when it was the aggressor state.Willem Aldershoff, a former senior EU diplomat, worries that Western leaders keen for a reset in relations with Moscow will “be less confrontational with Putin” and “will use this ‘new Russian flexibility’ to pressure Zelenskiy to make compromises that aren’t in Ukraine’s best interests.
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Judge Sets New Sentencing Date For Michael Flynn
A lawyer for Michael Flynn accused federal prosecutors of misconduct on Tuesday as a judge set a December sentencing hearing for President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser.
The arguments from Flynn attorney Sidney Powell were the latest in a series of aggressive attacks on the foundations of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. They represented yet another step in Flynn’s evolution from a model cooperator he was the first and only White House official to cut a deal with prosecutors to a defendant whose newly combative and unremorseful stance may cost him a chance at the probation sentence prosecutors had previously recommended.
Even as U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan set a Dec. 18 sentencing date for Flynn, Powell made clear that she considered the case far from resolved. Though she said she was not seeking to have Flynn’s guilty plea thrown out, she contended the “entire prosecution should be dismissed because of egregious government misconduct.”“There is far more at stake here than sentencing,” Powell said. She later accused the government of “being too busy working on what they wanted to accomplish in convicting Mr. Flynn” to seek truth or justice.Prosecutor Brandon Van Grack, a member of Mueller’s team, strongly denied the accusations and said the government had given Flynn’s team more than 22,000 pages of documents. He said the information Powell was seeking either had no bearing on the case against Flynn, or was material that Flynn had been made aware of before pleading guilty to lying to the FBI about his interactions with the Russian ambassador to the United States.Asked by Sullivan if the government stands by its recommendation that Flynn should be spared prison time for his cooperation, Van Grack said the government would file new documents on that question _ suggesting prosecutors may reverse course and ask for him to spend at least some time behind bars.If the Dec. 18 sentencing date holds, it will be his second sentencing hearing on that exact date in as many years.Flynn was supposed to be sentenced last December for lying to the FBI about his December 2016 conversations with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. But that sentencing hearing was abruptly cut short after Flynn asked that he be allowed to continue cooperating with prosecutors in hopes of earning credit toward a lighter punishment.Flynn changed lawyers and hired a new legal team led by Powell, a conservative commentator and former federal prosecutor who has been an outspoken critic of Mueller’s investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.In court Tuesday, she unloaded on Mueller’s investigation into ties between the Trump campaign and Russia.
She accused Peter Strzok, one of the two FBI agents who interviewed Flynn at the White House about his interactions with the ambassador, of being “impaired” by bias. She said she had not received copies of Strzok’s derogatory text messages about Trump that led to his removal from Mueller’s team and ultimately his firing from the FBI.
But Van Grack said Flynn was told before his first guilty plea in December 2017 that the communications existed and went ahead with the plea anyway.
Powell also said the government had not produced evidence that she said could demonstrate that Flynn was not an agent of the Russian government. But Van Grack noted that that allegation was never part of the case.“The government has not alleged in any filing in this court or before the court that the defendant is an agent of Russia,” he said. “That is not part of the case.”Instead, he added, the prosecution is all about whether Flynn lied to the FBI during a January 2017 interview at the White House about having discussed sanctions with Kislyak.
Mueller’s investigation, which produced charges against a half dozen Trump aides and associates, ended last spring with a report to the Justice Department. The report did not establish a criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia but did identify multiple instances in which the president sought to influence the investigation.
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Xenophobic Attacks in South Africa Threaten Business in Nigeria
The recent surge of deadly xenophobic attacks in South Africa is triggering concern in several African countries. The deaths have sparked reprisal attacks and calls for an end to the operation of South African businesses in Nigeria. But tens of thousands of Nigerian jobs could be at stake.Days after reprisal attacks on South African-owned businesses in the Nigerian capital, it’s not business as usual for Moses Iyuagba.His corner shop business near Abuja has been spared. But, Iyuagba says he is still worried after angry protesters raided the offices of South African communications giant MTN and its affiliate, Shoprite, halting operations.”It’s like four days now I’ve not been to the office. Presently as I’m speaking with you people, my stock is going down,” Iyuagba said.This is not the first time xenophobic attacks on Nigerian nationals in South Africa have triggered reprisals.Similar incidents happened after attacks in South Africa killed 62 people in 2008 and seven more in 2015.Hundreds of protesters took to this street after recent attacks killed at least five people last week. One of them, Ali Yusuf, accuses the South African government of not addressing the issue.”Why can’t South Africans leave Nigerians in their country to go about their businesses? Yusuf asked. We have made Nigeria comfortable for them; we’re not disturbing them, we’re not burning down their houses or businesses.”A bonfire is set outside Shoprite during a protest in Abuja, Nigeria, Sept. 4, 2019. South African-owned businesses operating in Nigeria are being targeted in retaliation for xenophobic attacks carried out against Africans working in South Africa.South Africa is a major destination for economic migrants across Africa, including Nigerians.But foreign workers often face anti-immigrant violence for competing against locals for jobs, usually in low-skilled sectors.South Africa’s high commissioner, Bobby Moroe, was summoned by authorities here. He has condemned the attacks.”Over the past 25 years or so we’ve been through a number of challenges but what has always come to our rescue [is] the strong bond of friendship and kinship between South Africa and Nigeria. So our government condemns by all means violence against any individual,” Moroe said.South Africa’s huge investments provide employment and livelihoods for several thousand Nigerians.Nigeria’s foreign affairs minister, Geoffrey Onyeama, says the government is consulting with its South African counterparts to address the issue.”We feel, the Nigerian government that very definitive measures have to be taken to stop once and for all these acts of aggression, criminality against Nigerians in South Africa,” Onyeama said.Many Nigerians, however, continue to demand an end to South African operations in the country.For now, major South African businesses in Nigeria are shut down indefinitely while people like Iyuagba, whose jobs depend on them, wait for a return to business as usual.
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Journalists Report Harrassment From South Sudan’s Media Authority
After he wrote about protests in neighboring Sudan for his Al-Watan newspaper in Juba, Michael Christopher got an unwelcome response.The South Sudanese Media Authority, a government agency created to protect journalists working in one of the world’s most dangerous media environments, insisted that he apologize to Sudan’s Embassy — and issued a gag order against his paper, to stop it from covering “anything” related to the protests.Christopher refused. In March, the Authority suspended Al-Watan’s license. And in July, authorities arrested and detained Christopher for more than a month without ever specifying any charges.Christopher, the Arabic newspaper’s editor-in-chief, believes he was being punished for refusing to bow to censorship.He and others say the case is just the latest example of how the South Sudan Media Authority, launched with a goal of shielding journalists from harassment, has itself morphed into a serial harasser.Since South Sudan’s independence in 2011, dozens of reporters have been subject to intimidation, arrest, censorship and violence. The advocacy group Reporters Without Borders said at least 10 were killed from 2014 through 2017 during a bitter civil war that ended last year.Parliament stepped in to establish the Media Authority in 2016, and some say it has helped reduce conflict by acting as broker-mediator between news organizations and government security forces.“Journalists or media are no longer summoned or asked to report to national security offices in Juba,” said Koang Pal, chair of the South Sudan Editors’ Forum. “We are now able to address our issues through the Media Authority, and they actually became the link between national security and the media.”But Pal’s is not the dominant view among journalists and press freedom advocates interviewed in Juba by VOA.Angela Quintal of the advocacy group Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), said her organization has documented multiple instances of South Sudan journalists being harassed by security forces.“Unfortunately, what we have seen and through the documented cases, I would say the Media Authority has been a direct perpetrator of press freedom violations or are actually involved in violations committed by other government agencies,” Quintal said.VOA sought comment from Elijah Alier Kuai, the Authority’s managing director, who did not respond to repeated phone calls or emails.Christopher’s case has parallels with others described to VOA.In 2019, journalist Santino Riak Maker was forced to flee to Nairobi after threats from President Salva Kiir’s bodyguards. Maker said his Juba-based Independent newspaper also was shut down.“We have media laws which are supposed to guide us, and the government — that is the Media Authority — is not following it,” he said. “When a journalist [gets into trouble] the Media Authority is not following it.”In addition to Al-Watan, the government blocked access to four news websites: Radio Tamazuj, Sudan Tribune, Nyamilepedia and Paanluel Wel.On March 9, 2018, the Media Authority also suspended the FM frequency of Radio Miraya, the United Nations-run radio station, in violation of the Status of Forces agreement that allows U.N. peacekeepers to operate in the country.Mary Ajith, chairperson of the Association for Media Development in South Sudan, said it appears the authority works closely with national security operatives, and fails to help when security agents order publishers to remove articles.“Apparently, what we are seeing is that there are more functions that the authority [is] doing which we don’t understand,” she said.John Gachie, a veteran Kenyan journalist who was involved in drafting the Media Authority bill, said South Sudanese politicians have used the Authority to muzzle press freedom.“We [who] were behind the creation of the Media Authority are very disappointed that the good intentions have been hijacked and … used as a tool to control the media,” said Gachie.A dangerous jobAccording to this year’s Reporters Without Borders (RSF) World Press Freedom Index, South Sudan ranked 139th out of 180 countries. The ranking improved thanks to the 2018 peace agreement, RSF said.Even with the peace deal, Gachie said media are still under threat.“Right now in South Sudan, we need a new political dispensation, a new pro-democratic ethos and a new pro-people government,” Gachie told VOA’s “South Sudan in Focus” program. For his part, Christopher said he felt lucky about his time in detention given what’s happened to some journalists who have been picked up.“I was worried there would be torture, but I got a different environment. They put me in a good place,” he said. “I was also given access for visits from my family members who could visit me three times a week.”Still, it was only this week, that the Media Authority said Al-Watan would be allowed to re-open — that’s because the paper has come “into compliance” with licensing fees.
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Trump Fires National Security Adviser John Bolton
President Donald Trump has fired his National Security Adviser John Bolton. “I informed John Bolton last night that his services are no longer needed at the White House. I disagreed strongly with many of his suggestions, as did others in the Administration, and therefore….I asked John for his resignation, which was given to me this morning,” Trump said on Twitter Tuesday.I informed John Bolton last night that his services are no longer needed at the White House. I disagreed strongly with many of his suggestions, as did others in the Administration, and therefore….— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 10, 2019He thanked Bolton for his service and said he would be naming a replacement next week.Shortly after Trump’s announcement, Bolton tweeted that he offered to resign “last night and President Trump said, ‘Let’s talk about it tomorrow.'”I offered to resign last night and President Trump said, “Let’s talk about it tomorrow.”— John Bolton (@AmbJohnBolton) September 10, 2019Bolton, regarded as a hardliner and interventionist on matters of foreign policy and defense, was appointed National Security Adviser in March 2018, replacing Army Lt. General H.R. McMaster. At the time the White House said Trump and McMaster “mutually agreed” that the career military officer would resign his post and retire.Bolton previously served in the presidential administrations of Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, and held roles in the Justice and State departments.He served as the 25th United States Ambassador to the United Nations under the George W. Bush administration.
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Israeli Spyware Firm Adopts ‘Human Rights Policy’
An Israeli spyware company that has been accused of helping authoritarian governments stifle dissent says it has adopted “a new human rights policy” to ensure its software is not misused.
The NSO Group said Tuesday it would institute a series of oversight measures to ensure adherence and would henceforth evaluate potential clients’ “past human rights performance.”NSO has come under fire in the past year for selling its surveillance software to repressive governments who use it against dissidents. It does not disclose clients, but they are believed to include Middle Eastern and Latin American states. A Saudi dissident has accused NSO of involvement in Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s killing last year.
The company says its product is used by law enforcement and intelligence agencies to fight “crime and terrorism.”
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Trial Begins for Chinese Woman Arrested After Trespassing on Trump’s Florida Resort
The Chinese woman accused of breaching security at President Donald Trump’s Florida resort is expected to continue representing herself as her trial enters her second day Tuesday.Yujing Zhang gave a short opening statement at Monday’s opening proceedings in response to the prosecuting attorney’s lengthy presentation. “I don’t believe I did anything wrong and that’s what I want to say,” Zhang told the jury, followed by a brief statement of thanks. Her insistence on representing herself, with a public defender on standby, has annoyed District Judge Roy Altman, who is presiding over the trial. Altman chastised Zhang when she said “I don’t know why I’m here” and that she thought the trial had been canceled. The 33-year-old Zhang was arrested at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago private golf resort in Palm Beach back in March after approaching a Secret Service agent claiming she was a member of the club and wanted to go to the pool. Although agents could not initially find her name on the membership list, she was eventually allowed inside after a club manager thought she was the daughter of a member.But once she was admitted, Zhang told a receptionist she was there to attend an event by a group called the United Nations Chinese-American Association. When the staff found no such event on the schedule, Secret Service agents were notified and Zhang was detained. A search of her possessions discovered four cellphones, a laptop computer, an external hard drive and a small data storage device known as a “thumb drive” that contained malicious software.Zhang has been charged with making false statements to federal agents and illegally entering a restricted area. She faces six years in prison if convicted.
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Hong Kong Leader Warns US Not to Meddle in City’s Affairs
Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam said Tuesday it would be “extremely inappropriate” for the United States or any other foreign government to interfere in the city’s affairs. The embattled leader’s warning was in response to a rally outside the U.S. consulate Sunday held by pro-democracy demonstrators calling for passage of a bipartisan bill in the U.S. Congress aimed at boosting their efforts. Protesters hold a banner and wave U.S. flags as they march from Chater Garden to the U.S. consulate in Hong Kong, Sept. 8, 2019, seeking international support for their demands.The legislation would require Washington to annually assess the former British colony’s level of autonomy from Beijing and cancel its trading privileges if that autonomy is compromised.Sunday’s rally evolved into yet another violent clash between protesters accused of vandalizing subway stations and blocking traffic, and riot police who responded by firing tear gas to force the protesters to disperse.”The escalation and continuation of violence cannot solve the problems we face in Hong Kong,” Lam said Tuesday, further warning that it would only deepen the conflict.The demonstrations began in June as a backlash against a proposed extradition bill, which would have permitted criminal suspects to be sent to mainland China for trial in courts controlled by the ruling Communist Party. They have since evolved into renewed demands for Hong Kongers to choose their own leaders, establishing an independent investigation of police brutality against protesters, and the unconditional release and exoneration of detainees. In a surprise announcement last week, Lam formally withdrew the extradition bill, which was also a key demand of the demonstrators. She suspended the bill as the protests escalated during the first month, but ignored calls to fully withdraw the measure.But activists say the decision to withdraw the extradition bill was too little, too late. In a speech at a monastery Sunday, Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka Shing urged the city’s political leaders to resolve the matter with students leading the pro-democracy protests, calling them the “masters of our future.”
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US Parties Closely Watching North Carolina Special House Election
Voters in the eastern U.S. state of North Carolina are participating Tuesday in a special election for a U.S. Congress seat that is being closely watched by Democrats and Republicans for potential signs of the parties’ prospects in next year’s national elections.Public opinion polls ahead of the voting indicated Republican Dan Bishop and Democrat Dan McCready running virtually even.President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence made last-second appeals in support of Bishop during visits to the state Monday.The seat has been held by a Republican since the 1960s. The race has drawn so much attention and money for both candidates that it is the second most expensive special election for the House of Representatives in history.Dan McCready, the Democratic candidate in the North Carolina 9th Congressional District race, speaks at a news conference in Charlotte, N.C., May 15, 2019.McCready was the Democratic candidate during the 2018 election when he went up against then-Republican candidate Mark Harris. But the results of that vote were thrown out and a special election ordered after state officials ruled there was an absentee-ballot fraud scheme that benefited Harris.Democrats made big gains in the 2018 election cycle and retook control of the House of Representatives. The entire House and about one-third of the U.S. Senate will be up for election when the nation also votes for president in 2020.
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Australians Flee Homes as Police Investigate Suspicious Fires
Hundreds of Australians have fled their homes in the eastern states as 140 fires ravaged parts of Queensland and New South Wales (NSW), officials said on Tuesday.Strong winds have fanned bushfires in the two Australian states since Monday, with flames out of control in some areas, ravaging thousands of hectares of land.At least eight of those fires are suspicious and will be investigated, Queensland Police Commissioner Katrina Carroll told reporters.”Some of the fires have involved children playing and obviously the consequences are dire as a result of that and … some of them have been purposeful and malicious,” she said. “The consequences of some of these fires are dire. People can die. Buildings and residences are being destroyed.”In the northeastern state of Queensland alone, low humidity levels, high winds and dried out vegetation have fueled 85 fires that have destroyed or damaged 84 houses across the state, fire service officials said.There were more than 400 people in evacuation centers, acting Queensland premier Jackie Trad told reporters. She added that there are none dead or missing.”Apart from Sunshine Coast, we are still seeing fires right throughout the state,” she said.In neighboring New South Wales, firefighters were battling about 55 fires and about five properties had been confirmed destroyed, the NSW Rural Fire Service said on Monday.Bushfires have started earlier than normal in the southern hemisphere spring. Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology said winds would intensify throughout the day on Tuesday, but fire threats should abate on Wednesday.
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Reports: US Had High-Level Russian Spy
The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency had a source with high-level access to the Kremlin who played a key role in the assessment that President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign aimed at the 2016 U.S. election, The New York Times and CNN reported Monday.Neither U.S. news organization identified the source by name, but several Russian outlets did so.At a Tuesday news briefing, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the person named in the Russian reports did work for the Russian presiden’t office, but not in a high-ranking position and did not have direct contact with Putin.Both news organizations said the source was extracted from Russia in 2017 after declining an earlier offer to leave the country.CNN said the decision to pull the source out of such a valuable position was made in part because of concerns of mishandling classified information by President Donald Trump and members of his administration. The CIA rejected that statement, telling CNN it only makes decisions based on “objective analysis and sound collection.”The Times linked the extraction to media coverage of the revelations about the Russian election interference campaign and questions about a source in the Kremlin. It said the source’s life is in danger, and pointed to the example of Sergei Skripal, a former Russian agent who was convicted of spying for Britain and was poisoned with a nerve agent last year.The reports say the loss of an asset with such access within the Kremlin has left the U.S. intelligence community without information about Russia’s current actions and any plans to influence other elections.
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Malawi Pageant Shines Light on Albino Beauty
Malawi has crowned Ms. and Mr. Albinism during the country’s first ever beauty pageant for albinos, held in the capital Lilongwe. The Association of People with Albinism organized the event as part of efforts to destroy myths which have led to albino attacks in Malawi and other African countries. Lameck Masina reports from Lilongwe.
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How Polluted, Noisy Barcelona Could Save Lives by Cutting Traffic
Barcelona could cut deaths from air pollution and improve quality of life by implementing in full a plan to calm traffic and free up space for residents, researchers said Monday.The compact Spanish city is home to more than 1.6 million people and is plagued by contaminants and noise largely due to heavy density of traffic, as well as lack of greenery.A study by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), published in the journal Environment International, found the city of Barcelona could prevent 667 premature deaths every year if it created 503 “superblocks” as first proposed.The superblocks — which keep cars out of designated areas in the city and develop public space in streets — have been complex to roll out, with only six put in place so far.”What we want to show with this study is that we have to go back and put the citizen at the center of … urban plans, because the health impacts are quite considerable,” said lead author and ISGlobal researcher Natalie Mueller.As a city with the highest traffic density in Europe, Barcelona also needed to make it easier for people to commute in from the wider metropolitan area by public transport, she added.The projected reduction in deaths from the superblocks plan would be achieved mainly as a result of a 24% decrease in air pollution from nitrogen oxide (NO2), along with lower traffic noise and urban heat, the study said.Data released Friday from the Barcelona Public Health Agency showed air pollution accounted for 351 premature deaths in the city in 2018, around the same as in 2017.Motor vehicles generated the main pollutant, with almost half the city’s population regularly exposed to NO2 levels above the safe limit set by the World Health Organization, the city council said.From January 2020, Barcelona will implement low-emission zones on weekdays, keeping 125,000 vehicles out of the city.The city council will also declare a climate emergency including a package of urgent measures to cut down on private vehicle use and boost public transport, among other actions.It has already extended cycle paths and upgraded its shared bike scheme, while shrinking on-street parking.’Courage’ neededBarcelona City Hall told the Thomson Reuters Foundation it aimed to start drafting plans for three new superblocks shortly, as well as launching public consultations for others.The ISGlobal study found that, besides reducing deaths, a full roll-out of the superblocks project would increase life expectancy by almost 200 days on average per inhabitant, and generate an annual economic saving of 1.7 billion euros ($1.9 billion).The superblocks have sparked opposition in some local areas, notably among small traders who fear they could deter customers.But Mueller said the concept was similar to banning smoking in bars and restaurants, which was initially unpopular but quickly accepted once people realized the benefits.”Even if they don’t see it in the beginning, often in the end they are quite happy,” she said, noting the need for “courage” in public policy making.
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Trump Labels Republican Presidential Challengers ‘the Three Stooges’
President Donald Trump dismissed three Republican challengers to his 2020 re-election as “the Three Stooges” on Monday and expressed doubt about ever agreeing to meet them on a debate stage.”They’re a joke. They’re a laughing stock,” Trump told reporters when asked whether he would agree to debate them during the 2020 nominating contest.Three Republicans – former U.S. Representative Mark Sanford of South Carolina, former Massachusetts Governor William Weld and former U.S. Representative Joe Walsh of Illinois – are mounting long-shot campaigns to deny Trump the 2020 Republican presidential nomination.They face a formidable re-election effort mounted by Trump, who has consolidated his grip on the party’s national and state machinery. A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted Aug. 19 and 20 showed 87% of Republicans approved of his performance in office.Sanford, who announced his candidacy on Sunday, said he did not believe Trump’s popularity would last.”I sincerely believe Trump is misguided on a whole host of issues. He’s out of sync with voters in South Carolina. I think he has lost touch with the very voters that sent him to office,” he told MSNBC on Monday.Walsh has called Trump a bully and a coward who is unfit for office. Weld says another Trump term would be bad for America.Before he left the White House for a rally in North Carolina, Trump also said he planned at some point to put out an “extremely complete” statement on his finances. Trump has refused for years to release his tax returns despite a long history of presidential candidates detailing their finances.He said the financial statement would make clear he did not need whatever revenue was produced when U.S. military personnel stayed at his Turnberry golf resort in Scotland while on refueling stops.”I’m going to give out my financial condition, and you’ll be extremely shocked that the numbers are many, many times what you think. I don’t need to have somebody take a room overnight at a hotel,” he said.In a tweet earlier, Trump recalled Sanford’s disappearance in 2009 when, while governor of South Carolina, he met his Argentine mistress under the cover story of having gone hiking on the Appalachian Trail, only to be found out later.”The Three Stooges, all badly failed candidates, will give it a go!” the president said, leaning on his penchant for bestowing derisive nicknames on his opponents. The Three Stooges were a vaudeville and slapstick comedy team whose antics regularly appeared on television.Trump also denied having anything to do with the cancellation of Republican nominating primaries in four states, meaning he will face no opposition there. Canceling their primaries were Nevada and South Carolina, which are critical early voting states, as well as Kansas and Arizona.”The four states that canceled it don’t want to waste their money. If there was a race, they would certainly want to do that,” Trump said.
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Final Crewman Pulled Alive from Capsized S. Korean Ship in Georgia
Coast Guard rescuers pulled four trapped men alive from a capsized cargo ship Monday, drilling into the hull’s steel plates to extract the crew members more than a day after their vessel overturned while leaving a Georgia port.All four were described as alert and in relatively good condition and were taken to a hospital for further evaluation.”Best day of my 16-year career,” Lt. Lloyd Heflin, who was coordinating the effort, wrote in a text message to The Associated Press.A video posted online by the Coast Guard showed responders clapping and cheering as the final man, wearing only shorts, climbed out of a hole in the hull and stood up.Three of the South Korean crew members came out in the mid-afternoon. The fourth man, who was trapped in a separate compartment, emerged three hours later.The rescues followed nearly 36 hours of work after the Golden Ray, a giant ship that carries automobiles, rolled onto its side early Sunday as it was leaving Brunswick, bound for Baltimore.A United States Coast Guard vessel heads back to base with several members of the rescue team aboard after the last crew member was reportedly removed safely from the capsizes cargo shop Golden Ray, Sept. 9, 2019, in Jekyll Island, Georgia.”All crew members are accounted for,” Coast Guard Southeast wrote on Twitter. “Operations will now shift fully to environmental protection, removing the vessel and resuming commerce.”In the hours immediately after the accident, the Coast Guard lifted 20 crew members into helicopters before determining that smoke and flames and unstable cargo made it too risky to venture further inside the vessel. Officials were concerned that some of the 4,000 vehicles aboard may have broken loose.That left responders looking for the remaining four crew members. At first, rescuers thought the noises they were hearing inside could be some of the vehicles crashing around. But by dawn Monday, they were confident that the taps were responses to their own taps, indicating someone was alive inside.”It was outstanding when I heard the news this morning that we had taps back throughout the night,” Capt. John Reed said. Those sounds helped lead rescuers to the right place on the 656-foot (200 meter) vessel and provided motivation.”They were charged up knowing the people were alive,” Reed said.On Monday morning, rescuers landed on the side of the Golden Ray and rappelled down the hull. Heflin, who was coordinating the search, said they found three men in a room close to the propeller shaft, near the bottom of the stern. Responders began drilling, starting with a 3-inch (7.5-centimeter) hole. Coast Guard officials brought the ship’s chief engineer, who was rescued Sunday, out to the ship to translate, and found the three men were “on board and OK,” as Heflin put it.Reed said rescuers passed food and water through the hole to the men. They also provided fresh air to the propeller room, which Reed said was even hotter than outside, where the high was 93 degrees (34 Celsius).Responders set up a tent on the hull and began drilling additional holes, eventually making an opening large enough to insert a ladder and help the men climb out.”It was like connect the dots,” Reed said of the hole, which grew to 2 feet by 3 feet (0.6 meters by 1 meter).The fourth rescue was a greater challenge. That crewman was behind glass in a separate engineering compartment on another deck, Reed said.Rescuers work near the stern of the vessel Golden Ray as it lays on its side near the Moran tug boat Dorothy Moran, Sept. 9, 2019, in Jekyll Island, Georgia. The Golden Ray cargo ship is capsized near a port on the Georgia coast.The Golden Ray is now stuck in the shipping channel, closing one of the busiest U.S. seaports for shipping automobiles. One ship is unable to leave port and four more are lined up outside waiting to come in, according to ship-tracking website Marine Traffic.A statement issued Monday by the South Korea foreign ministry said the crew members were isolated in an engine room. It said 10 South Koreans and 13 Filipinos had been on board, along with a U.S. harbor pilot, when the ship began tilting.Position records for the Golden Ray show the ship arrived in port in Brunswick Saturday evening after making the short sail from a prior stop in Jacksonville, Florida. The ship then departed the dock in Brunswick shortly after midnight and was underway only 23 minutes before its movement stopped in the mouth of the harbor where it capsized, according to satellite data recorded by Marine Traffic.Port officials were “working closely with the Coast Guard to reopen the channel,” Georgia Ports Authority Executive Director Griff Lynch said in a statement after the final man was rescued.The cause of the capsizing remains under investigation. Marine Traffic shows the Golden Ray overturned as it was passed by another car carrier entering St. Simons Sound.At the time, the skies were clear and the weather calm, with a southerly breeze of only 5 miles per hour, according to National Weather Service records.Many of those rescued were taken to the International Seafarers’ Center in Brunswick. Sailors arrived with only what they were wearing when rescued. A restaurant donated a meal, and the volunteer-run center provided the seamen with clothes, toiletries and Bibles.The vessel is owned by Hyundai Glovis, which carries cars for automakers Hyundai and Kia as well as others.In a statement, the company thanked the Coast Guard for saving the crew and sought to assure the public that it would now focus on “mitigating damage to property and the environment.”
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Facebook, Instagram Close Accounts of Italian Neo-fascist Groups
Facebook and Instagram on Monday blocked the social media accounts of two Italian neo-fascist groups and some of their activists because they had violated the platforms’ policies against spreading hate, Facebook said.Casapound and Forza Nuova, which espouse extreme right-wing ideologies, have boosted their profile in Italy by leading anti-migrant campaigns on their social media sites.”People and organizations that spread hatred or attack others based on who they are, have no place on Facebook and Instagram,” Facebook, which owns Instagram, said in a statement.Casapound leader Simone Di Stefano denounced the decision.”This is an abuse by a private multinational in contempt of Italian law. A spit in the face of democracy,” he wrote in a tweet. Casapound had 250,000 followers on Facebook.Di Stefano said his personal profile, which had 140,000 followers, had been shuttered along with those of a number of city councilors around Italy who belong to the group.FILE – A tattoo is seen on a hand of a supporter of Italy’s far-right Forza Nuova party during a demonstration in Rome, Italy, Nov. 4, 2017.Forza Nuova leader Roberto Fiore confirmed his movement’s profiles had also gone dark, and said his group would respond with more street protests and recruitment.The groups’ political opponents applauded the move.”This is another step towards the end of an organized season of hatred on social networks,” said former lower house speaker and left-wing lawmaker Laura Boldrini.On Monday, Casapound and Forza Nuova supporters took part in a protest outside parliament to demand snap elections after the center-left Democratic Party replaced the far-right League in a coalition with the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement.Some of those in the crowd were filmed making the stiff-armed fascist salute.
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British Parliament Again Rejects New Elections
Britain’s parliament has for the second time rejected Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plan to hold early elections in an attempt to break the Brexit deadlock.Johnson had lobbied for snap elections on October 15 in an effort to win a parliamentary majority to approve his Brexit plans ahead of an EU summit of the continent’s leaders.Following Tuesday’s vote, Johnson carried out his controversial suspension of parliament for five weeks, until the queen gives her annual address to parliament outlining the government’s legislative plans for the upcoming year.Parliament’s rejection of a new election came hours after Britain’s Queen Elizabeth gave her approval to legislation seeking to block Johnson from carrying out a no-deal Brexit, his plan to take the country out of the European Union on October 31 without spelling out the terms of the split.Johnson insisted Monday that Brexit would take place in October despite the new law, which was passed by parliament last week, but did not say how he would accomplish that.The prime minister has few options left to carry out Brexit by the end of October, including persuading EU leaders to reach a new deal at the October summit or convincing lawmakers to back no deal.In another sign of acrimony, parliament members Monday passed a motion demanding the government publish all documents relating to its efforts to prepare for a “no deal” Brexit.Before Johnson took office in July, parliament three times rejected Brexit plans advanced by former Prime Minister Teresa May. Lawmakers in the House of Commons, however, have been unable to reach an agreement on British trade practices with the EU after it leaves the 28-nation bloc and how to deal with cross-border passage between Britain’s Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland.Johnson’s no-deal Brexit plans have been opposed by a majority of parliamentarians, including 21 Conservative lawmakers, among them Winston Churchill’s grandson, who worked to thwart the Tory prime minister. Johnson booted them from the Conservative party.
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World Bank’s Georgieva Sole Candidate to Lead IMF, Fund says
Bulgarian economist Kristalina Georgieva is the sole candidate to be the next International Monetary Fund managing director, the IMF’s board said on Monday, virtually guaranteeing that she will succeed Christine Lagarde in the job in early October.The IMF executive board said it will meet with Georgieva, now chief executive officer at the World Bank, with a goal of completing its selection process by Oct. 4 at the latest.That would put her in office well in time for the IMF-World Bank annual meetings on Oct. 17-20. Lagarde’s resignation from the IMF is set to become effective on Sept. 12, enabling her to become governor of the European Central Bank in November.Before a Friday nomination deadline had passed, people familiar with the process told Reuters that Georgieva would run unopposed for the IMF top job after former British Finance Minister George Osborne had decided against challenging her.Georgieva, 66, would take over the multilateral lender at a time when the U.S.-China trade war threatens global growth and pressures are mounting on vulnerable countries including Argentina, which the Fund bailed out last year with a $57 billion loan program, its largest ever.Georgieva, nominated in August by European Union countries as a compromise candidate, is set to continue a tradition of Europeans leading the IMF since the institution’s founding at the end of World War II.She has held numerous senior European Commission posts, including budget commissioner, and in 2017 returned to the World Bank, where she served as an environmental economist in the 1990s, to become its second-ranking official.
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