TikTok asked a U.S. judge on Wednesday to block a Trump administration order that would require Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google to remove the short video-sharing app for new downloads starting Sunday. A federal judge in San Francisco on Saturday issued a preliminary injunction blocking a similar Commerce Department order from taking effect Sunday on Tencent Holdings’ WeChat app. U.S. officials have expressed serious concerns that the personal data of as many as 100 million Americans that use the app was being passed on to China’s Communist Party government. FILE – People walk past a WeChat Pay sign at the Tencent company headquarters, in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China, Aug. 7, 2020.On Saturday, the Commerce Department announced a one-week delay in the TikTok order, citing “recent positive developments” in talks over the fate of its U.S. operations. TikTok said the restrictions “were not motivated by a genuine national security concern, but rather by political considerations relating to the upcoming general election.” TikTok said if the order is not blocked, “hundreds of millions of Americans who have not yet downloaded TikTok will be shut out of this large and diverse online community — six weeks before a national election.” TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, said on Monday it will own 80% of TikTok Global, a newly created U.S. company that will own most of the app’s operations worldwide. ByteDance added that TikTok Global will become its subsidiary. Oracle Corp and Walmart Inc have agreed to take stakes in TikTok Global of 12.5% and 7.5%, respectively. On Monday, Oracle said ByteDance’s ownership of TikTok would be distributed to ByteDance’s investors, and that the Beijing-based firm would have no stake in TikTok Global. On Saturday, ByteDance, Walmart and Oracle said they reached an agreement that would to allow TikTok to continue to operate in the United States after President Donald Trump said he had blessed the deal. Trump signed an executive order on Aug. 14 giving ByteDance 90 days to relinquish ownership of TikTok.
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Month: September 2020
Judge: Eric Trump Cannot Delay Testimony in New York Probe
A New York judge on Wednesday ordered President Donald Trump’s son Eric to make himself available by Oct. 7 to be interviewed under oath for a state probe into financing for properties owned by his family’s company.
Justice Arthur Engoron of the Manhattan Supreme Court said Eric Trump, an executive vice president at the Trump Organization, offered no grounds for delaying his deposition by the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James until after the Nov. 3 presidential election.
At a hearing, the judge rejected as unpersuasive an argument that Trump, as a “vital and integral part” of his father’s re-election bid, was too busy to be interviewed, and said he was not “bound by the timelines of the national election.”
Lawyers for Eric Trump did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
James has been conducting a civil probe into “potential fraud or illegality” concerning whether Donald Trump and the Trump Organization overstated the value of assets to obtain loans and tax benefits.
Her probe began after Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, told Congress the president had inflated some asset values to save money on loans and insurance, and deflated other asset values to reduce real estate taxes.
James originally subpoenaed Eric Trump’s testimony on May 26. A scheduled July 22 deposition was canceled as Trump changed his legal team, and his new lawyers sought a further delay until Nov. 19 or later.
Matthew Colangelo, a lawyer for James, said the threat of “personal inconvenience” to Eric Trump did not justify that long a wait.
“Mr. Trump shouldn’t be able to profit from his own dilatory conduct,” Colangelo said.
James’ probe has focused on four properties: the Seven Springs Estate in Westchester County, New York; 40 Wall Street in Manhattan; the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago, and the Trump National Golf Club in Los Angeles.
There has been no determination any laws have been broken.
The investigation is separate from a criminal probe by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, who is seeking eight years of Donald Trump’s tax returns through a separate subpoena.
Vance has said in court filings he might have grounds to investigate Donald Trump and the Trump Organization for tax fraud, and that his probe related to reports of possible insurance and bank fraud by the company and its officers.
A federal appeals court is scheduled to hear Trump’s appeal on Friday of an order letting Vance obtain his tax returns.
Trump is a Republican, while James and Vance are Democrats.
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Britain Imposes Pub Curfew as Coronavirus Cases Soar
Britain became the latest European country to impose restrictions on socializing Wednesday following a sharp rise in coronavirus transmission rates. The number of new cases is roughly doubling every week, and the chief medical officer has warned of 50,000 new infections daily by mid-October if the pattern continues.Britain has suffered the highest number of coronavirus deaths in Europe, with over 41,000 fatalities.Under the new rules, pubs and restaurants will be forced to close by 10 p.m. and will be restricted to table service. Bar and wait staff, taxi drivers and shop workers will be required by law to wear face masks, and there will be stiffer penalties for anyone breaking the new rules. People are once again being encouraged to work from home if possible.People drink at the outside tables of a cafe in Soho, in central London, Sept. 23, 2020.In a televised address Tuesday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson put the blame partly on the public.”While the vast majority have complied with the rules, there have been too many breaches, too many opportunities, for our invisible enemy to slip through undetected. The virus has started to spread again in an exponential way,” Johnson said. Conflicting messagesOver the summer, the message from government was very different as transmission rates were lower following the hard lockdown in March and April. During August, the government tried to get people back out and spending by paying half of diners’ food bills under its “Eat Out to Help Out” scheme. Workers were encouraged to return to the office, in the hope that people would begin spending money again on take-out meals, and in bars and restaurants, hair salons and the numerous other services that had suffered amid the lockdown.Shoppers wear face masks due to the novel coronavirus pandemic as they walk along the streets of Preston, Lancashire, Sept. 23, 2020.Following the prime minister’s address Tuesday, many people expressed confusion at the changing message.”It is all a bit back and forth, up and down, no one knows which way to go,” said London resident Adam Veasey, a photocopier salesman.”I think people have forgotten because there hasn’t been one clear, specific message that has resulted in this sort of behavior that we’re seeing now, and I think everyone has relaxed,” said fellow London resident Richard, who declined to give his family name.Some medical experts have voiced concern that the new restrictions don’t go far enough. “Things have already really started to escape our grasp, especially with testing breakdowns,” Dr. Peter Drobac, a global health expert at the University of Oxford, told VOA in an interview Wednesday. “Given all of that, I do have concerns about whether the measures that were announced … will actually be enough to stem the tide.”Others, including Carl Heneghan, director of the A man, not wearing a face covering, passes signs telling travelers they must wear face masks unless they are exempt, as he leaves Victoria station during the evening rush hour, in central London, Sept. 23, 2020.”If you look at the countries that have been most successful, including countries that never had to resort to full lockdowns, one of the big differences is they invested early in testing and tracing capabilities. We’ve never, I think, met the mark here in the U.K. on that,” he said.Business groups, especially pubs and restaurants, have voiced alarm at the tightening of restrictions. Kate Nicholls, CEO of UKHospitality, an industry group, said the new curfew could bankrupt businesses.”We’ve still got one in five premises closed, 900,000 people still supported by full furlough, which is coming to an end in a matter of weeks. And a 10 p.m. curfew means that businesses have to be empty, closed and locked up by 10 p.m. That means last orders at 9:00. That halves restaurant revenues, it decimates pub sector trade,” Nicholls told Britain’s ITN News.The furlough scheme has supported around 10 million jobs by paying up to 90% of workers’ wages. That program is due to end next month, and the government is under increasing pressure to extend it amid warnings of soaring unemployment.
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Britain Imposes Pub Curfew as Coronavirus Cases Soar
Britain became the latest European country to impose restrictions on socializing Wednesday following a sharp rise in coronavirus transmission rates. The number of new cases is roughly doubling every week – and the Chief Medical Officer has warned of 50,000 new infections daily if the pattern continues. Britain has suffered the highest number of coronavirus deaths in Europe, with over 41,000 fatalities. Henry Ridgwell reports from London.
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Congress Moves to Bar All Goods Made in Xinjiang
The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a bill aimed at banning goods made with forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region, a move seen as increasing pressure on China over its Xinjiang policies. Passed in a 406-3 vote, the FILE – Watchtowers are seen on a high-security facility near what is believed to be a re-education camp where mostly Muslim ethnic minorities are detained, on the outskirts of Hotan, in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region, May 30, 2019.House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said by passing the bill, the U.S. is sending a clear message to Beijing that “these abuses must end now.” The bill still needs to be passed by the Senate and signed by the president before it would go into effect. Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat, said that he hopes the Senate will advance the bill in a quick manner. “I’m glad to hear the houses moving. I hope that we will move forward here. We’re consulting with the other senators; we’d like to see that go forward,” he told VOA Mandarin. Earlier this month, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection banned some imports of cotton, apparel, hair products, computer parts and other goods from Xinjiang, citing concerns over forced labor. The bill, if passed into law, would put more responsibility on companies to proactively prove that their products are not made with forced labor in Xinjiang. FILE – Chinese flags line on a road leading to a facility believed to be a re-education camp where mostly Muslim ethnic minorities are detained, on the outskirts of Hotan in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region, May 31, 2019.A recent study by the Washington-based think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies said more than 20% of the world’s cotton is produced in the Xinjiang region. The bill would likely disrupt U.S. supply chains and send shock waves through the apparel industry. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce issued a statement criticizing the bill, saying it would prohibit legitimate trade rather than prevent the import of products made by forced labor. “Past attempts to utilize domestic U.S. securities law to combat human rights abuses provide a cautionary tale,” the lobby group said in a statement, claiming the absence of a qualified inspection and audit systems made it nearly impossible for companies to ensure accurate disclosures. Beijing has denied the use of forced labor in Xinjiang. China’s foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbing said in a briefing on Monday that the country has “taken a resolute stance against forced labor and eradicated it in any form.” China issued a Xinjiang white paper last week, claiming the regional government has provided “employment-oriented training and labor skills” for nearly 1.3 million workers each year since 2014, a statistic that observers believe may indirectly confirm the scale of the forced labor camps.This story originated in VOA’s Mandarin Service.
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Grand Jury Charges Former Louisville, Kentucky Officer in Death of Breonna Taylor
A grand jury in the U.S. city of Louisville, Kentucky on Wednesday charged a former police officer with wanton endangerment linked to the shooting death of Breonna Taylor in a bungled drug raid in March, but decided that two other officers were justified in firing their weapons and cleared them of wrongdoing.The lone officer charged in the case, Brett Hankison, had already been fired from the city police department after an investigation showed he fired 10 shots into Taylor’s apartment through a sliding glass door covered with blinds, violating police rules that they should have a clear line of sight before firing their weapons.The grand jury charged Hankison with three counts of wanton endangerment, concluding that the shots he fired went through into the apartment next door to Taylor’s and endangered three people living there. If convicted, he faces up to five years in prison.
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UN Investigators Accuse Burundi of Enacting Strategy to Undermine Elections
The U.N.’s Commission of Inquiry on Burundi accuses the ruling party and Burundian authorities of implementing a strategy based on violence that skewers election results in their favor. The commission has just submitted its final report to the U.N. Human Rights Council. This is the fourth and final year that the human rights situation in Burundi has been under the investigative lens of the Commission of Inquiry. The commission says there has been no reduction in widespread, systematic human rights violations in the country over this period. Hopes that conditions would improve under the new government of Evariste Ndayishimiye – it adds – have been dashed.The report finds the electoral process, which concluded on August 24, was not marred by mass violence. However, it says serious human rights violations, some of which may constitute crimes under international law, have been committed. UN Watchdog: No Improvement in Burundi’s Rights RecordRights advocates say those who have been committing the violations are still in a position of power in the new government The report documents cases of summary executions, arbitrary arrests, torture and sexual violence. Commission chair Doudou Diene notes these violations did not occur by chance. He says the ruling party and Burundian authorities have implemented a strategy based on violence and human rights violations in order to ensure they win all elections. He spoke through an interpreter.“The first element of this strategy was to undermine the political opposition, particularly the CNL (National Congress for Liberation), which rapidly became the main rival of the ruling party,” said Diene. “Everything was done to reduce its chances of winning the various elections.” During the pre-electoral period, Diene says a number of CNL members were arrested and arbitrarily detained, some were tortured and fell victim of ill treatment, some were killed. “One of the characteristics of the election was an increase in hate speech and attacks on the opposition, particularly by members of the CNDD (National Council for the Defense of Democracy) and local authorities,” said Diene through an interpreter. “There also was hate speech made with an ethnic dimension. This was tolerated by the government.” Burundi’s Ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Renovat Tabu calls the commission’s report insulting and defamatory. He says the commission has violated provisions of the UN Charter and other human rights standards and cannot be entrusted with the task of judging others.He says his country has made great progress since 2015 in promoting and protecting human rights and deserves to be removed from the Council agenda. He says the Council should end the Commission’s mandate to monitor conditions in Burundi.The Commission disagrees. The three-member panel urges the international community to continue following the development of the human rights situation in Burundi and to ensure that perpetrators of crimes in that country are brought to justice.
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Corruption on Epic Scale Robs Future of South Sudan’s People, UN Report Finds
U.N. Investigators warn peace in South Sudan and the future of its people are being compromised by deeply entrenched government corruption. The U.N. Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan has submitted its latest report to the U.N. Human Rights Council. The report presents a deeply disturbing picture of a country mired in crooked schemes aimed at enriching the political elite at the expense of millions of impoverished people who are bearing the scars of years of conflict and abuse. Commission chair Yasmin Sooka says South Sudan is a country where lives are being destroyed by financial corruption on an epic scale. She says looting and pillage are not just offshoots of war, they are the main drivers of the conflict. “At one end of the spectrum, South Sudan’s political elites are fighting for control of the country’s oil and mineral resources, in the process stealing their people’s future,” she said. “At the other, the soldiers in this conflict over resources are offered the chance to abduct and rape women in lieu of their salaries.” Sooka says the commission has uncovered brazen embezzlement by senior politicians and the government. She says they have misappropriated a staggering $36 million since 2016. She says a number of international corporations and multinational banks have aided and abetted in these crimes. The report documents widespread human rights violations and internecine situations that are tearing communities apart and fueling ethnic and religious hatred. All this, it says, is depressing efforts to truly establish a peaceful government of unity. The commission says the establishment of the Hybrid Court, composed of judges and prosecutors from South Sudan and across Africa, is the only way to end the country’s crisis. South Sudan’s minister of justice and constitutional affairs, Reuben Mado Arol acknowledges his country’s checkered human rights record. However, he says his government does not condone any form of violence and human rights violations committed against civilians have reduced significantly. He says his government has established an economic management committee to address the country’s difficult economic situation. “The committee starts to streamline the collection of non-oil revenues and monitor all financial transactions for transparency and accountability,” he said. “With this, we are sure that it will produce good outcomes that will enable the Government to focus on developmental projects.” The justice minister says the government is committed to the implementation of the revitalized peace agreement. He appeals to the international community to provide the necessary support to enable his country to realize this.
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These 3 Issues Could Dominate Selection of Next US Supreme Court Justice
Conservatives and liberals alike have much at stake with U.S. President Donald Trump’s choice of a replacement for the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died last week after 27 years on the bench. Trump has promised to nominate a conservative, female jurist on Saturday to succeed Ginsburg, the most liberal member of the high court. Whoever Trump taps will cement a new 6-3 conservative majority and play a pivotal role in deciding issues of great consequence to millions of Americans. Among them: the fate of the Obama-era Affordable Care Act that provides health insurance to millions of people, immigration, abortion rights, and economic and social protections for the LGBTQ community. In recent years, the Supreme Court has blocked attempts to gut Obamacare and roll back abortion rights while expanding the rights of LGBTQ people. But those outcomes hailed by liberal forces were achieved by narrow margins. With the almost certain installation of a sixth conservative on the nine-member bench, the balance of power will greatly shift to conservative forces. These issues will likely dominate the looming Senate confirmation hearings. But the potential nominee – whether federal Judge Amy Coney Barrett of the Chicago-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, Judge Barbara Lagoa of the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge Allison Jones Rushing of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Richmond, Virginia, or some other candidate — will likely decline disclosing her views about them. “If she is asked about Obamacare and Roe and all these things, she’s just going to say, ‘I can’t discuss cases that might come before me,’ ” said Saikrishna Prakash, a University of Virginia law professor who knows Barrett professionally. Here is a look at three of the issues that could dominate deliberation over the choice of the next Supreme Court justice: Obamacare Ten years after its passage, Americans remain divided over the Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare, with just over 50% supporting it in polls. While the program narrowly enacted by Congress in March 2010 allows 20 million uninsured Americans to purchase subsidized health insurance, conservatives have long objected to mandatory provisions and say the system is not financially sustainable. Since its inception and rocky start, Obamacare has weathered repeated legal challenges, including two that made it all the way to the Supreme Court. On November 10, one week after the 2020 presidential election, the high court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in the third significant challenge – this one brought by 20 states led by Texas. The states contend that after Congress in 2017 eliminated tax penalties for individuals lacking insurance, the individual mandate to buy insurance was rendered unconstitutional, and they want the court to scrap the entire law. During the past two cases to reach the Supreme Court, Ginsburg and the court’s three other liberal justices joined conservative Chief Justice Roberts to preserve the law. “But this time will be different,” Russ Feingold, a former Democratic senator from Wisconsin and now president of the left-leaning American Constitution Society, said in a statement. “This time Justice Ginsburg will not be on the bench.” But it’s far from certain that a new conservative justice will vote to abolish Obamacare altogether even if she finds the individual mandate unconstitutional. Roberts and two fellow conservatives on the high court subscribe to a doctrine that says even if one part of a law is flawed, the rest should be preserved to the extent possible. Moreover, the Trump administration and Republican congressional leaders have yet to agree on a replacement health care system. Abortion rights Few issues are more divisive than abortion rights. Advocates see it as a reproductive right; religious conservatives say abortion is tantamount to murder. Ever since the high court legalized abortion in 1973 in a landmark ruling known as Roe v. Wade, conservatives have sought to chip away or overturn it. But the Supreme Court has over the years upheld the precedent, with retired Justice Anthony Kennedy, a Republican appointee, casting the swing vote. This year, Roberts, himself an abortion opponent, joined the liberal wing to strike down a new Louisiana law that would have severely restricted access to abortions, citing precedent in an earlier case. Now with the prospect of a sixth conservative on the court and more than a dozen abortion cases working their way through the courts, conservative anti-abortion activists see the opportunity for sweeping victories. Trump has already added two conservatives to the high court – Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh – almost certain to side with anti-abortion forces. “This third justice will give us the ability to overturn Roe with a 6-3 majority,” Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life, said in a video released after Ginsburg’s death. LGBTQ Rights In recent years, with the U.S. Congress deadlocked and unable to act, the Supreme Court has issued a string of landmark decisions expanding LGBTQ rights. The culmination came when the high court legalized gay marriage in 2015. At the same time, however, the court has increasingly favored religious groups in disputes pitting religious liberty against LGBTQ rights. In 2018, the justices ruled in favor of a Colorado baker who refused to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple on religious grounds. Another test will come in November when the court takes up a case involving a Catholic charity that does not allow same-sex couples to work as foster parents. Since Justice Anthony Kennedy, the LGBTQ community’s biggest champion on the court, stepped down two years ago, many lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer rights activists have feared another conservative appointment could endanger their freedoms and rights. “There is an enormous amount at stake for the LGBTQ community in this fight,” Lamda Legal, a national legal rights organization, said in a statement highlighting the anti-civil rights records of the three leading candidates to succeed Ginsburg. But Prakash of the University of Virginia, noted that it was Gorsuch, Trump’s first high court appointee, who wrote a landmark 6-3 ruling this year expanding workplace anti- discrimination protections to LGBTQ workers in Bostock v. Clayton County, Georgia. “Even if she (Barrett) disagreed with Bostock, it doesn’t matter,” Prakash said, referring to the case about LGBTQ workplace discrimination.
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Brussels Unveils New Migrant Plan
Five years after Europe’s migrant crisis, the European Union is unveiling a long-awaited migration plan Wednesday that stresses mandatory burden sharing — but also sending illegal migrants back to their home countries.The new so-called migration and asylum pact is the latest effort by the EU’s executive arm to create a comprehensive plan for managing migration — and to get all 27 member states behind it.Backed by Germany, the bloc’s most powerful member and the EU’s current rotating president, it includes mandatory rules for sharing the migration burden, whether that means hosting asylum seekers or sponsoring returns of failed applicants.It also aims to strengthen control of Europe’s external borders, with new plans to screen all migrants and fast track those unlikely to get asylum, crack down on human trafficking— and increasing support for countries of origin and transit to give people reasons to stay home.European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the plan strikes a fair balance between responsibility and solidarity among member states.“It is not a question of whether member states should support with solidarity and contributions but how they should support,” said von der Leyen.European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen gives a statement at the European Commission headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, Sept. 23, 2020.The commission’s plan needs to be approved by the 27 member states, and some European leaders were sounding concerns before its details were even announced.Migration is a deeply divisive issue in the EU. Countries on the front lines of the migrant influx, like Greece, Spain and Italy, want much more burden sharing and other support. Others, like Hungary and Austria, object to taking in new migrants.Backdropping the commission’s pact was the recent fire at Europe’s largest migrant camp on the Greek island of Lesbos. While Germany has agreed to welcome more than 1,500 of the migrants, other countries are taking in far fewer, or none.Marie De Somer heads the migration program at the Brussels-based European Policy Centre research group.“The fire in Lesbos was horrible, but one thing that it did do is to showcase to the wider public the urgency and importance of coming to a European solution,” she said.Migrants flee from the Moria refugee camp during a second fire, on the northeastern Aegean island of Lesbos, Greece, Sept. 9, 2020.Even though Europe’s migration influx has dropped sizably from the million-plus arrivals in 2015 to just 140,000 last year, seven European countries, including EU members Hungary and Croatia, top a new Gallup poll as the world’s least accepting countries for migrants.Analyst Stefan Lehne of Carnegie Europe says, migration promises to be a longstanding issue for Europe.“The question is how to replace illegal migration — getting into boats and crossing the Mediterranean — by more legal forms of migration. I think this is probably one of the biggest challenges Europe will face in the next 20 to 30 years. There is no silver bullet,” said Lehne.The European Commission says it will unveil proposals on legal migration next year, as well as on Europe’s open border Schengen system.
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German Coronavirus App Transmits 1.2 million Test Results in First 100 Days, Officials Say
Germany’s health ministry Wednesday said its coronavirus smartphone app has been downloaded more than 18 million times and transmitted 1.2 million test results from labs to users during the first 100 days of use.Health Minister Jens Spahn told reporters in Berlin that while the “Corona Warn App” is far from perfect, it should be considered a success. He said almost 5,000 users have activated the app to warn their contacts and called it a key tool in the country’s effort to contain the spread of the virus, which causes the COVID-19 disease.He said, “This shows that the corona tracing app works, it is in demand…it helps to prevent infections and it is one of the most successful apps worldwide.”Spahn noted in particular the fact that most users can get their test results sent directly to their smartphones, without having to wait for their doctor to inform them.German Health Minister Jens Spahn attends a news conference to give an update on a smartphone app that allows users to evaluate their risk of being exposed to the coronavirus in Berlin, Germany, Sept. 23, 2020.Germany’s strict privacy rules mean that the app stores all data on phones and not on a central server. Observers, however, say there is no precise data on the number of people alerted about possible exposure.Should an app user get a positive test result, the app has a button the person can press to warn his or her contacts. Spahn says one problem is not everyone is doing that. “Only about half of the app users who get a positive result inform their contacts afterwards.”Spahn says the app is not a cure-all, but one of a number of important tools the government is using to control the spread of the virus.German tech company Deutsche Telekom, working with software company SAP, developed the app. Deutsche Telekom Chief Executive Tim Hoettges said more than 90% of labs in Germany are now connected to it.Hoettges said efforts are under way to establish a European “gateway” that will allow the German app to communicate with those in 10 other European countries, including Italy, Poland and Spain, that use the same decentralized, Bluetooth-based system.
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Migrant Women Will No Longer See Doctor Accused of Misconduct
Immigration authorities have stopped sending detained women to a rural Georgia gynecologist accused of performing surgeries without consent, a government spokesman said Tuesday.
Dr. Mahendra Amin faces allegations that he administered hysterectomies and other procedures that women held at the Irwin County Detention Center didn’t seek or fully understand. Amin has seen at least 60 detained women, said Andrew Free, a lawyer working with other attorneys to investigate medical care at Irwin County, on Tuesday.
Bryan Cox, a spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, confirmed that Amin would no longer see patients from the detention center, but declined to comment further, citing an ongoing investigation by the Department of Homeland Security’s inspector general.
The Irwin County Hospital issued a statement defending Amin, saying he “is a long-time member of the Irwin County Hospital medical staff and has been in good standing for the entirety of his service to the Irwin County community.”
The statement did not address Amin’s role as chief executive of MGA Health Management, a company that began managing the Irwin County Hospital in 1996, according to the hospital’s website.
According to the statement, Amin operated on two detained women who were referred to the hospital for hysterectomies. Heath Clark, the hospital’s general counsel, did not respond to questions about whether Amin performed hysterectomies in cases where the women had a different initial referral. Clark also did not say how many other procedures he had performed that could jeopardize a woman’s ability to have children, including the removal of fallopian tubes or ovaries.
Scott Grubman, a lawyer for Amin, did not respond to a request for comment.
The allegations against the doctor were first revealed in a complaint filed last week by a nurse at Irwin County Detention Center. The nurse, Dawn Wooten, alleged that many detained women were taken to an unnamed gynecologist whom she labeled the “uterus collector” because of how many hysterectomies he performed.
The Associated Press on Friday reported that at least eight women since 2017 had been taken to see Amin for gynecological treatment, though it did not find evidence of mass hysterectomies as alleged in the complaint. Free said Tuesday that a team of lawyers had heard from dozens of more women raising concerns about the doctor.
“It’s long past time to stop sending women to this physician and to companies that provide services on his behalf,” he said, adding that he was concerned women detained at the facility could potentially face retaliation for coming forward about the doctor.
Scott Sutterfield, an executive at LaSalle Corrections, which operates the detention center, said the company would not “take or threaten any action” against detainees who report information “in good faith.”
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India, China Agree Not to Add Troops on Disputed Himalayan Border
India and China have agreed to not send more troops to a disputed border region in the Himalayas, where their respective troops engaged in deadly hand-to-hand fighting in June. A joint statement released Tuesday says the agreement was reached after talks between senior military officials from both countries the day before. The statement said both nations have agreed to “avoid misunderstandings and misjudgments” that would lead to any further clashes in the strategic cold desert region of Ladakh, which borders Tibet.FILE – A police officer heckles a supporter of India’s main opposition Congress party as others pay tribute to the Indian army soldiers killed in a border clash with Chinese troops in Ladakh region, at India Gate, in New Delhi.A standoff that began in May worsened a month later when the soldiers came to blows, using bare fists and crude weapons including stones and clubs, that left 20 Indian soldiers dead and several more wounded. China also suffered casualties but has not provided details. Both sides blamed the other for the recent fighting. India accused China of violating bilateral agreements by amassing troops and armaments along the so-called Line of Actual Control that divides their unsettled boundary, while Beijing accused New Delhi of trespassing and firing shots that threatened the safety of the Chinese border troops. Longstanding protocols forbid the use of firearms. The boundary dispute between India and China has simmered since they fought a war in 1962, but both countries set the decades-old issue aside in recent decades as economic ties blossomed. The latest standoff has again put a deep strain in their ties. India has banned scores of Chinese apps including the hugely popular video game PubG and TikTok and restricted Chinese firms from infrastructure projects since the military standoff.
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“Вазраждение” путляндии по-пукински: тотальный крах планов “оживить” свою экономику
“Вазраждение” путляндии по-пукински: тотальный крах планов “оживить” свою экономику.
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То, что в путляндии называется “вазраждением”, на самом деле является вырождением и, если хотите, деградацией
Для распространения вашего видео или сообщения в Сети Правды пишите сюда, или на email: pravdaua@email.cz
Лучшие предложения товаров и услуг в Сети SeLLines
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Двойной привет обиженному карлику пукину: британские десантники у берегов Крыма
Двойной привет обиженному карлику пукину: британские десантники у берегов Крыма.
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Стало известно о том, что в учениях принимают участие не только десантники 16 десантно-штурмовой бригады вооруженных сил Великобритании, но и специальных подразделений Pathfinders и SAS. То есть, здесь можно наблюдать элитные подразделения, которые без надобности особо не «светятся»
Для распространения вашего видео или сообщения в Сети Правды пишите сюда, или на email: pravdaua@email.cz
Лучшие предложения товаров и услуг в Сети SeLLines
Ваши потенциальные клиенты о нужных им товарах и услугах пишут здесь: MeNeedit
Wildberries.ua – це хакерський проект пукіна для викрадення грошей українців і втюхування їм вати
Wildberries.ua – це хакерський проект ображеного карлика пукіна для викрадення грошей українців і втюхування їм вати.
Аналогічні шахрайсько-пропагандистські сайти запущені у Вірменії, Білорусі, Казахстані, Киргизії, Польщі, та Словакії.
Центальний офіс знаходиться у столиці путляндії, а з метою прикриття на сайті вказана назва і адреса фіктивної польської фірмочки із копійочним статутним капіталом.
З пустіючого бюджету путляндії ображений карлик пукін виділив аж 1 мільярд доларів на дану спецоперацію. Але, за давньою кацапською традицією, 70% коштів було розкрадено ще до початку реалізації проекту. Звідси такий млявий дизайн, поганий асортимент, лише расейська мова фронтофісу і усе інше.
Та виконавці даної пакості не засмучуються, вони хочуть поповнити свій бюджет за рахунок обманутих лохів-покупців, а також витягнути з них дані їх платіжних карток, щоб потім вкрасти з них усі наявні там гроші.
Просунуті українські користувачі з першого погляду зрозуміли обман і залишили наступні відгуки в мережі: только упоротый .. в таком сортире что-то купит, магаз для бомжар. Але значна кількість недосвідчених покупців можуть втратити свої кошти. Тому ми усіх попереджуємо:
Wildberries.ua – це хакерський проект пукіна для викрадення грошей і втюхування вати. УКРАЇНЦІ – БУДЬТЕ УВАЖНІ!!!
Для поширення вашого відео чи повідомлення в Мережі Правди пишіть сюди, або на email: pravdaua@email.cz
Найкращі пропозиції товарів і послуг в Мережі Купуй!
Ваші потенційні клієнти про потрібні їм товари і послуги пишуть тут: MeNeedit
Navalny Discharged from Hospital; Doctors Say ‘Complete Recovery’ Possible
Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny has been discharged from the Berlin hospital where he was being treated for what Germany has said is a case of poisoning with a nerve agent from the Soviet-era Novichok group.The 44-year-old posted on social media a picture of himself sitting on a park bench in the German capital after being released, adding that while he still doesn’t have full use of his left hand, he has started learning how to regain his balance by standing on one leg.Navalny fell violently ill aboard a Moscow-bound flight on August 20 originating in the Siberian city of Tomsk, where he was carrying out his latest investigation into state corruption. Days later, he was airlifted to Berlin for treatment.“The first time they put me in front of a mirror after 24 days in intensive care (of which 16 were in a coma), a character from the movie ‘The Lord of the Rings’ looked back at me and I can tell you, it was not an elf at all,” Navalny said in the post.“I was terribly upset: I thought that I would never be discharged. But the doctors continued to do their miracle,” he added.Navalny said he will continue to do physiotherapy, while doctors from the Charite hospital in Berlin said in a statement on September 23 that based on his “progress and current condition,” physicians believe that a “complete recovery is possible.””However, it remains too early to gauge the potential long-term effects of his severe poisoning,” the statement cautioned.German authorities have said tests in Germany, France, and Sweden have determined Navalny was poisoned with a chemical agent from the Novichok group.French President Emmanuel Macron on September 22 demanded a “swift and flawless” explanation from Moscow for the poisoning during his speech to the 75th-annual United Nations General Assembly.Several other countries in the West have also demanded an explanation from Russia, but Moscow has declined to open an investigation so far, saying it has yet to see evidence of a crime.The Kremlin, which also has denied any involvement in the attack, said on September 23 that the anti-corruption crusader “is free” to return to Russia whenever he pleases.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also addressed a recent article in the French newspaper Le Monde, saying the report that President Vladimir Putin told his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, in a recent conversation that perhaps Navalny had poisoned himself had many inaccuracies.He did, however, confirm that the Navalny case was discussed between the two leaders.Navalny was medically airlifted to Germany at the request of his wife following a medical tussle with Russian doctors who said he was too sick to travel.He emerged earlier this month from a medically induced coma as his condition slowly improved.German doctors say the military-grade nerve agent Novichok was found both inside his body and on his skin.Navalny said in a post on his website on September 21 that the 30-day deadline for Russian police to conduct their “pre-investigative check” into what he called his attempted murder by poisoning has expired. He demanded that the Russian side return articles of clothing taken when he was hospitalized there.Experts say the clothes he had on could help any investigation into the poisoning.Russian officials have questioned German officials’ findings and their statements since Navalny arrived there for treatment.Russian police must either launch an investigation or close a case within 30 days of a pre-investigative check.However, police in Omsk have said they are continuing their investigation.Navalny’s team has said a water bottle removed from his hotel room in the city of Tomsk after he fell ill had been taken to Germany and found to contain traces of the nerve agent.Peskov has said suggestions that Navalny ingested the nerve agent via a water bottle in Siberia are “absurd.”In a statement issued via his Instagram account on September 19, Navalny called his road to recovery “a clear path now, albeit long.”Navalny was attacked with a green dye by unknown assailants in Russia in 2017, leaving him with permanent damage to his vision.Two years later, he suddenly fell ill while in Russian detention with what Russian doctors said was a severe allergic reaction but which he and his team insisted was an intentional poisoning. That case still has not been solved.
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Australia Races To Rescue Beached Whales
Rescuers are trying to save scores of whales beached in the Australian state of Tasmania. Earlier this week, a pod of 270 pilot whales were found washed ashore. Two hundred more were discovered a short distance away Wednesday. The stranding of about 470 pilot whales on the west coast of Tasmania is the largest ever recorded in the state’s history. Two hundred seventy animals were found washed up on sandbars Monday, prompting a rescue operation involving wildlife experts, the police and volunteers. They have managed to return some of the whales into deeper water and coax them back out to sea. It is a challenging task. Pilot whales can grow up to seven meters long and weight three tons. But dozens of the pod discovered Monday have died, and Australian wildlife experts believe that most of the 200 whales found beached 10 kilometers away Wednesday have not survived. Yet rescue efforts continue. Wildlife biologist Kris Carlyon says they are focusing on those animals with a realistic chance of survival. “We are going to basically take the animals with the best chance to start with and the ones that we (are) able to deal with. So, some animals may be simply too big or in an unsuitable location to actually deal with,” Carlyon said.The coastline near Macquarie Harbor, near the town of Strahan, Tasmania, is a known whale-stranding hotspot. In 2011, about 20 sperm whales were beached there, and most died. Experts have yet to understand why the mammals become marooned. There are various scientific suppositions. The whales use echo location to navigate, and one theory is that the whales may have been drawn in too close to the coast in search of food. Other theories have asserted that the Moon’s gravitational pull or perhaps military sonar could be responsible. There is no definitive answer, and some marine experts believe that mass strandings of whales and dolphins in different countries could all have different causes. The rescue mission in Tasmania could take days. Experts say cool and wet weather will help keep the surviving whales alive, but they concede it is a race against time.
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Probable Missile Vehicle Spotted at N. Korea Parade Site
A vehicle likely large enough to carry an intercontinental ballistic missile has been spotted at a North Korean parade training site, according to a U.S. research organization, the latest evidence Pyongyang may use an upcoming political anniversary to showcase missile technology. 38 North, a website specializing in North Korea, says commercial satellite imagery from Tuesday revealed a “probable missile-related vehicle” at the Mirim Parade Training Ground on the outskirts of Pyongyang, where the North rehearses its major military parades. “While imagery resolution is insufficient to determine exactly what the vehicle is, relative size and shape suggests that it may be a transporter-erector-launcher (TEL) for a large missile,” the website said late Tuesday. The vehicle appears to be around 20 meters long and 3 meters wide, “which would be of sufficient size to carry a Hwasong intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM),” the post said. “Alternatively, it could be a towed mobile-erector-launcher (MEL) with its truck-tractor attached,” it added. Satellite images suggest North Korea has been preparing for weeks to hold the parade, expected October 10. That is the 75th anniversary of the founding of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party of Korea. Such anniversaries are major events in the single-party, quasi-Stalinist dictatorship.Airplanes forming the number 70 fly in formation and fire flares during a parade for the 70th anniversary of North Korea’s founding day in Pyongyang, North Korea, Sept. 9, 2018.Some analysts predict North Korea may unveil a new solid-fuel ICBM at the parade. Others say Pyongyang could soon showcase a submarine-launched ballistic missile, or SLBM, possibly via a test launch. Either technology adds an unpredictable new component to North Korea’s arsenal. Solid-fuel missiles are easier to transport and take less time to prepare for launch. SLBMs are also mobile and easier to hide. A major display of military power could be seen as a provocation just weeks ahead of the U.S. presidential election. U.S. President Donald Trump says he has “no problem” with North Korea’s short-range launches, but he may object to a bigger move. At the beginning of the year, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said he would soon show off a “new strategic weapon.” But since then, North Korea has had to deal with devastating floods, international sanctions that continue to hold back its economy, and the worldwide coronavirus pandemic. North Korea for months insisted it had no coronavirus infections. But it has quietly backed away from that assertion. Parade preparations appear to be smaller than in past years, possibly because of coronavirus concerns.
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Public Farewell to US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Begins Wednesday
Colleagues, friends and admirers will begin paying their final respects Wednesday to the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Ginsburg’s casket will be brought to the Supreme Court building Wednesday morning for a private ceremony in the Great Hall, attended by her family and her fellow justices. The casket will then be moved to the building’s front steps and lie in repose for public viewing until Thursday, resting on the same wooden platform built for the casket of President Abraham Lincoln after his assassination in 1865. A further tribute will occur Friday when Ginsburg will be taken across the street to the U.S. Capitol, where she will lie in state in the building’s Statuary Hall, making her the first woman to receive such an honor. The public will be able to view the casket after a formal ceremony for invited guests. Civil rights icon Rosa Parks lay in honor in the Capitol’s historic Rotunda after her death in 2005, a designation due to the fact that she was not a government official. A statement by the U.S. Supreme Court says Ginsburg will be buried next week in a private ceremony at Arlington National Ceremony, the final resting place of such figures as President John F. Kennedy, his brothers Robert and Edward, both prominent U.S. senators, and heavyweight boxing champ Joe Louis. Ginsburg died last Friday at the age of 87 of metastatic pancreatic cancer, ending a 27-year tenure on the nation’s highest court. Her status as leader of the court’s liberal minority, along with her work seeking legal equality for women and girls in all spheres of American life before becoming a jurist, made her a cultural icon, earning her the nickname “The Notorious R.B.G.” Her death has sparked a political battle over her replacement, with President Donald Trump and Senate Republicans vowing to name and confirm a new justice before the November 3 presidential election, which would give the court a solid 6-3 conservative majority. President Trump announced Tuesday that he will name his nominee for the lifetime appointment on Saturday.
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Why China, Once Coy, Suddenly Wants to Discuss a Code of Conduct for a Disputed Sea
China aims to push back against the United States by reopening talks with 10 Southeast Asian nations on a code of conduct that would help prevent mishaps in a crowded, disputed Asian sea, political scholars say. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged in August that the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations bloc resume talks with his country toward a South China Sea code of conduct, state-controlled news media in China said. Wang told a symposium in Beijing this month that negotiators should try to finish the code “at a faster pace,” China Central Television reported online. The minister’s calls followed charges from U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo in July that Chinese claims in the sea are illegal and that Washington would help other countries that come under pressure from Beijing. China calls about 90% of the sea its own. FILE – Chinese vessels are pictured in disputed South China Sea, April 21, 2017.Beijing vies with sovereignty in tracts of the 3.5 million-square-kilometer sea with bloc members Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines. Ignoring code of conduct talks – popular in Southeast Asia and pending since the negotiating parties reached a related framework deal in 2002 – would put China on the bloc’s bad side and endear it to the United States, scholars believe. Talks broke down in 2019. “The reason that I think the Chinese first agreed to the code of conduct was to block out the Americans, that the Chinese could say ‘we already established a track toward addressing the issues in the South China Sea, so the South China Sea is peaceful, and it is stable, so to the Americans, do not meddle,’” said Yun Sun, East Asia Program senior associate at the Stimson Center think tank in Washington. Backed by the world’s third strongest armed forces, China has upset Southeast Asian countries over the past decade by landfilling some of the sea’s tiny islets, sometimes for military use. Claimants prize the waterway for fisheries and undersea energy reserves. The U.S. government has no claim in the sea but bristles when its rival superpower China exerts too much control over it. Chinese officials worry about what the United States will do next, analysts believe. The two powers are already locked in trade, technology and consular disputes. “I think China now really wants to finalize the code of conduct because the South China Sea right now could reach a boiling point any time now,” said Aaron Rabena, research fellow at the Asia-Pacific Pathways to Progress Foundation in Metro Manila. “It’s really a major flashpoint between China and the United States, and China doesn’t want more tensions with the U.S.” Southeast Asian countries are receptive now to both Beijing and Washington. But the Philippines, after a boat standoff with China in 2012, won world court arbitration against China in 2016 and Vietnam has considered filing its own case.Vietnam Weighs World Court Arbitration Against China if Maritime Diplomacy Fails Southeast Asian country would ask an international tribunal to rule on sovereignty disputes in resource-rich sea between them Countries that feel “hopeless” will “develop alternative channels to achieve what they want,” Sun said. China and the bloc better known as ASEAN agreed in 2017 to restart the talks and later set a completion goal of 2021. A code would be designed to prevent accidents that capsize fishing boats, a common occurrence, as well as deadly skirmishes such as the Sino-Vietnamese clashes of 1974 and 1988. Negotiations have stalled over the years largely because of code content that would touch on sovereignty disputes. For example, it’s unclear whether wording would cover mishaps near Chinese-controlled islets, make certain clauses legally binding and set up an enforcement body. Taiwan, a sixth claimant to the sea, is excluded from the code talks but still uses the waterway. ASEAN and China remain stuck on “details” in the code, said Huang Kwei-bo, vice dean of the international affairs college at National Chengchi University in Taipei. But China figures that just the act of negotiating will keep Washington at bay, he said. “You could say it’s just an empty diplomatic move, but I think according to foreign relations that to negotiate is always better than not negotiating,” Huang said.
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House Passes Stopgap Funding Bill, Averting Shutdown
In a sweeping bipartisan vote that takes a government shutdown off the table, the House passed a temporary governmentwide funding bill Tuesday night, shortly after President Donald Trump prevailed in a behind-the-scenes fight over his farm bailout. The stopgap measure will keep federal agencies fully up and running into December, giving lawmakers in the post-election congressional session time to digest the election and decide whether to pass the annual government funding bills by then or kick them to the next administration. The budget year ends Sept. 30. The 359-57 vote came after considerable behind-the-scenes battling over proposed add-ons. The final agreement gives the administration continued immediate authority to dole out Agriculture Department subsidies in the run-up to Election Day. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., retreated from an initial draft that sparked a furor with Republicans and farm-state Democrats. FILE – House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill, Sept. 18, 2020.Instead, in talks Tuesday, Pelosi restored a farm aid funding patch sought by the administration, which has sparked the ire of Democrats who said it plays political favorites as it gives out bailout money to farmers and ranchers. In return, Pelosi won coronavirus-related food aid for the poor, including a higher food benefit for families whose children are unable to receive free or reduced-price lunches because schools are closed over the coronavirus. Another add-on would permit states to remove hurdles to food stamps and nutrition aid to low-income mothers that are more difficult to clear during the pandemic. The deal permitted the measure to speed through the House after a swift debate that should ensure smooth sailing in the GOP-held Senate before next Wednesday’s deadline. There’s no appetite on either side for a government shutdown. On Monday, Democrats released a version of the stopgap measure that did not contain the farm bailout provision, enraging Republicans and putting passage of the measure in doubt. It became apparent that Pelosi did not have the votes to pass it — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., dismissed it as a “rough draft” — and negotiations continued. FILE – Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., speaks at the Capitol in Washington, Sept. 21, 2020.Democrats complain that the Trump administration has favored Southern states such as Georgia — a key swing state and home of Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue — and larger producers in distributing bailout funds. Farmers are suffering from low commodity prices and the effects of higher tariffs imposed by Trump. Trump announced a new $13 billion allotment of bailout funding at a political rally in Wisconsin last week. The legislation — called a continuing resolution, or CR, in Washington-speak — would keep every federal agency running at current funding levels through Dec. 11, which will keep the government afloat past an election that could reshuffle Washington’s balance of power. The measure also extends many programs whose funding or authorizations lapse on Sept. 30, including the federal flood insurance program, highway and transit programs, and a long set of extensions of various health programs, such as a provision to prevent Medicaid cuts to hospitals that serve many poor people. It also finances the possible transition to a new administration if Joe Biden wins the White House and would stave off an unwelcome COVID-19-caused increase in Medicare Part B premiums for outpatient doctor visits.
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