What the FBI and national intelligence officials described as fake “Proud Boys” emails targeting voters in Florida and several other states came in waves on Tuesday.Several University of Florida students reported receiving them beginning in the morning, according to local media reports.Bennett Ragan, a recent University of Florida graduate, said in an interview with VOA that the email hit his spam box twice, the first at 3 p.m. and the second at 5 p.m.Ragan, the campaign manager for a candidate for the Florida state legislature from the Gainesville area, shared a copy of the email with VOA.The email came from info@officialproudboys.com — a domain previously owned by the Proud Boys, a far-right group that backs President Donald Trump’s reelection but has denied any involved with the controversial message.On the social media platform Parler, Enrique Tarrio, the Proud Boys leader, denied his group was behind the threatening operation. Tarrio did not answer a call from VOA.Under the subject line “Vote for Trump or else!” the email sender claimed to know Ragan was a registered Democrat and pressed him to switch party affiliation and vote for Trump.“You will vote for Trump on Election Day or we will come after you,” the email read. “Change your party affiliation to Republican to let us know you received our message and will comply. We will know which candidate you voted for. I would take this seriously if I were you … good luck.”Another person on the staff of Ragan’s boss, Florida State House candidate Kayser Enneking, received the same email, Ragan said, as did at least a dozen friends and acquaintances in Florida.At first, Ragan said, he and others didn’t make much of it.Part of a larger effort“It was one of those things that we said, ‘Well, you know, it’s odd,’” Ragan recalled in an interview. “These are things that we’ve seen, unfortunately pretty often by bad actors seeking to influence elections through these means.”But as others in Florida and at least three other states – Alaska, Arizona and Pennsylvania – reported receiving similar messages Tuesday, it became apparent this was part of a larger effort.The effort was a cyber campaign by Iran to intimidate U.S. voters using publicly available voter records, FBI Director Christopher Wray and John Ratcliffe, the director of national intelligence, disclosed late Wednesday.Iran and Russia have obtained American voter registration data, the officials said. Iran has used “spoofed” emails to intimidate voters, Ratcliffe said. Iran’s foreign ministry rejected the U.S. accusations as “baseless.”Democratic voters in Florida appear to have been the main target of the spoofing attack, though their exact number remains unclear.The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights said it had received more than 100 complaints about the message. In Alaska, several Democratic voters reported receiving the email, while in Arizona and Pennsylvania only one voter each reported being targeted.The motive behind the campaign remains unclear.Ratcliffe said that the campaign was designed in part to hurt President Donald Trump, apparently by insinuating a tie between Trump and the Proud Boys.The Proud Boys describe themselves as a drinking club of “western chauvinists.” But extremism watchdogs say that is a guise for what is at its core a misogynistic, anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant group.The extremist outfit was thrust into the national spotlight when Trump, during the first presidential debate last month, exhorted them to “stand back and stand by,” after being challenged by Democratic challenger Joe Biden to disavow them. Trump later walked back his comments, saying he denounced all forms of white supremacy.Jesse Littlewood, vice president of Common Cause, a government watchdog, took issue with Ratcliffe’s assertion that the allegedly Iranian-backed email campaign was aimed at hurting Trump.Voter rolls public information“My understanding from looking at these emails is that they were intimidation focused on encouraging people to reregister as Republicans and to vote for President Trump,” Littlewood said in an interview with VOA.While some voters may have found the emails intimidating, Littlewood said the effort was primarily a disinformation campaign designed to sow chaos and confusion ahead of the Nov. 3 presidential election.“It’s much cheaper to do this kind of activity than it is to actually hack the systems which they know there’s no evidence they actually did,” Littlewood said.Voter rolls are public information and readily available in the U.S. Candidates, campaigns and, increasingly, civic groups use them to reach out to voters.Most U.S. states including Alaska and Florida allow anyone to request a copy of the state voter rolls. In Arizona and Pennsylvania, they’re available for public inspection, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.”It is important to note that much of the information reportedly utilized for this targeted email intimidation is available publicly,” Arizona’s secretary of state, Katie Hobbs, said in a statement to VOA. “Now, more than ever, we must rely on trusted sources of election information.”Arizona does not publish voters’ email addresses, and a spokeswoman for Hobbs said it is possible that the orchestrators of the email obtained the sole Arizona voter’s email address from a commercial list.In Florida, the schemers apparently relied on the 2018 voter rolls, according to Ragan.“I knew that because they had a previous address of mine and the previous addresses of a number of my colleagues and acquaintances, Ragan said.But while voter records are publicly available, how a voter votes remains secret. Not even election officials can find out who a given voter votes for, Littlewood noted.What’s more, no voting systems were compromised as part of the disinformation campaign.“I personally believe that the election systems are very secure, and I think our officials that are in charge of elections are some of the most nonpartisan and devoted public servants that we have, Enneking, an anesthesiologist who is running for a seat in Florida’s State House, said in an interview.
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Month: October 2020
What They Said: Key Topics from Trump-Biden Debate
Republican President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden met Thursday night in Nashville, Tennessee, in their final debate before the Nov. 3 presidential election.NBC News correspondent Kristen Welker was the moderator.Here are some quotes on key topics from each candidate:COVID-19 pandemic”We’re fighting it and we’re fighting it hard. … We’re rounding the corner. It’s going away,” Donald Trump”If you hear nothing else I say tonight, hear this. … Anyone who’s responsible for that many deaths should not remain as president of the United States of America,” Joe Biden”This is the same fellow who told you this is going to end by Easter last time. This is the same fellow who told you that, don’t worry, we’re going to end this by the summer. We’re about to go into a dark winter, a dark winter, and he has no clear plan,” Joe Biden”I don’t know if we’re going to have a dark winter, and at all. We’re opening up our country. We’ve learned and studied and understand the disease,” Donald TrumpNorth Korea”He’s legitimized North Korea. He’s talked about his good buddy (leader Kim Jong Un), who’s a thug, a thug. And he talks about how we’re better off when North Korea is much more capable of firing a missile that is able to reach U.S. territory,” Joe Biden”You know what? North Korea — we’re not in a war. We have a good relationship,” Donald TrumpHealth care”No matter how well you run (the Affordable Care Act), it’s no good. What we’d like to do is terminate it. We have the individual mandate done. I don’t know that it’s going to work. If we don’t win (in court) … we’ll have Obamacare but it will be better run,” Donald Trump”People deserve to have affordable health care, period. Period. Period. Period,” Joe BidenImmigration“Those kids are alone. Nowhere to go. Nowhere to go. It’s criminal. It makes us a laughingstock and it violates every notion of who we are,” Joe Biden on hundreds of children separated from their parents at the border.”Children are brought here by coyotes and lots of bad people, cartels … We let people in but they have to come in legally,” Donald TrumpMinimum wage“How are you helping your small businesses when you’re forcing wages? What’s going to happen, and what’s been proven to happen, is when you do that, these small businesses fire many of their employees,” Donald Trump“There is no evidence that when you raise the minimum wage, businesses go out of business,” Joe BidenThe Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Goldman Sachs to Pay Record Fine Over 1MDB Scandal
A settlement has been reached over charges leveled against Goldman Sachs Group Inc. related to the global financial institution’s conspiracy to violate foreign bribery laws in the United States.The firm will pay $2.9 billion in the plea deal, the largest penalty of its kind in U.S. history, for its role in Malaysia’s 1Malaysia Development Berhad fund corruption scandal, known as 1MDB.In total, Goldman Sachs will pay more than $5 billion globally.The Asian subsidiary of Goldman Sachs pleaded guilty after admitting Thursday the company “knowingly and willingly” conspired to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. Representatives of the firm admitted violating U.S. anti-bribery laws by engaging in bribery that resulted in the looting of billions of dollars from a fund designed to increase economic development in the country.In a FILE – In this May 7, 2019, file photo, former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, takes a tea break at Kuala Lumpur High Court in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.From 2009 to 2014, the firm’s Malaysian unit raised $6.5 billion for 1MDB. According to U.S. authorities, the funds were stolen by people connected to former Prime Minister Najib Razak, who was removed from office in July and is currently serving a 12-year jail sentence for criminal breach of trust, money laundering and abuse of power related to the scandal.Money raised by Goldman Sachs went toward financing the lavish lifestyles of Malaysian officials, who spent the funds on mega-yachts, a boutique hotel in Beverly Hills and a share of the Hollywood movie “The Wolf of Wall Street.”The Justice Department said the firm’s involvement goes against the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bans U.S. companies from paying foreign government officials for help in securing business ventures.The bribery resulted in Goldman Sachs’ role as an adviser on energy acquisitions and provided opportunities to secure a role in the highly anticipated and lucrative initial public offering for 1MDB’s energy assets.The settlement allows the firm to avoid facing criminal convictions.
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Millions of New Rapid COVID Antigen Test Kits Headed to Africa
New rapid coronavirus testing, soon to be available throughout Africa, could be a “game changer” for the continent, the World Health Organization said Thursday.
The new, cheaper, less fragile tests could help health systems identify and treat cases more quickly, said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organization’s Regional Director for Africa. 20 million antigen tests are being distributed to low and middle income countries, she said, with many headed to the continent.
“This would be a game-changer, we think, in the fight against COVID-19,” she told journalists. “These high-quality rapid tests will help meet the huge unmet need for testing in Africa. While there are testing challenges in many parts of the world, we’ve seen that African countries have faced significant gaps throughout the pandemic. For example, Senegal has significantly boosted its testing capacity, but it still is testing 14 times less than the Netherlands. Nigeria is testing 11 times less than Brazil.”
Unlike the currently used polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, tests, these tests don’t require labs for processing. They’re also cheaper and don’t rely on expensive, fragile reagents, like the PCR tests do.
The new tests seek specific proteins — called antigens — on the surface of the virus, and can yield results in less than 30 minutes without needing to be sent to a high-tech lab. As a result, the new tests can also be deployed to rural clinics, allowing health systems to find cases outside of major population centers.
More tests, more cases?
But Dr. Susan Ndidde Nabadda, head of the Ugandan National Health Laboratory Services and Central Public Health Laboratory, noted that the new tests aren’t a complete replacement. The rapid tests are designed to detect fairly high levels of antigens — meaning people who are in the early stages of infection may falsely test negative.FILE – A health care worker prepares to collect a swab sample from a man during mass testing for the coronavirus in the Kibera slums of Nairobi, Kenya, Oct. 17, 2020.Since the pandemic took off in March, the sub-Saharan African region has seen 1.27 million confirmed cases — among the lowest caseload on the planet. Nabadda says that more widespread testing could see those numbers rise.
“If we have good quality, more quality tests … which will increase access to testing, we might see more numbers coming on board,” she said. “I heard from Guinea that when they started use of the [new tests], their numbers went up, and their identification of cases also went up. So I think that is one of, it could be one of the causes that we have seen a low number of cases in Africa as compared to all of the developed countries.”
Wash your hands
And, Moeti says, that’s all the more reason to maintain vigilance in sub-Saharan Africa. “The region has experienced a downward trend from a daily average of more than 15,000 cases in July to less than 4,000 in the past month,” she said. “But in the past couple of weeks, the decline has slowed down to a plateau as countries ease restrictions on movement, and some increases in cases are expected. But preventing an explanation rise is absolutely critical.”
Better testing and stronger health systems play a big role in the fight, she said — but so do ordinary people. To that end, she repeated her guidance: wear masks, keep your distance, and wash your hands.
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US Emphasizes Joint Security Concerns as It Deepens Ties With Brazil
Warming relations between the United States and Brazil received a boost this week with an update to an existing U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo listens to Brazilian Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo speaking during a press conference at the Boa Vista Air Base in Roraima, Brazil, Sept. 18, 2020.Secretary of State Mike Pompeo stressed another mutual benefit from the relationship when he addressed a virtual forum organized by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, opened by Bolsonaro.“To the extent we can find ways that we can increase the trade between our two countries, we can … decrease each of our two nations’ dependence for critical items” coming from China, Huawei headquarters building is pictured in Reading, Britain, July 14, 2020.Bolsonaro is recently reported to favor keeping Huawei out of his country’s telecom infrastructure, but China’s official media has reported that Brazil’s vice president welcomes Huawei’s participation in the country’s 5G network.The question of 5G “is a sensitive matter, which will be decided at the appropriate level in Brazil in a transparent and open way,” Forster told VOA.Who’s to build Brazil’s 5G network is “up for public auction,” he said, with some standards to be announced later this year and the auction to take place in 2021.Forster said his government will be “looking at the different aspects of the equation; there’s the economic aspect of it, the financial aspect of it, there’s also security aspect of it, there’s data privacy involved, legal security involved; no final decision has been made.”In the Chamber of Commerce forum, Pompeo said Brazil can serve as a potential “anchor” as the U.S. builds closer ties with “all of our friends in the Western Hemisphere and in South America.”David R. Shedd, a former acting director of U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency and a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation, agreed, saying the signing of the trade protocol and other measures hold the potential for an “exciting new period” in U.S. relations with Brazil and its neighbors.With a U.S. presidential election less than two weeks away, however, Shedd told VOA that Brazil and the whole Latin American region have adopted a “wait and see” approach on certain key issues.While acknowledging he doesn’t know how Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Joe Biden might handle relations with Brazil, he said it is clear that a Democratic administration would pay much more attention to the environment.Peter Hakim, president emeritus and senior fellow at the Inter-America Dialogue, believes that if elected, Biden “will almost surely emphasize environmental concerns and worker’s rights issues, which will not find much resonance in Brazil.”
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Britain to Deliberately Infect Volunteers With Coronavirus
Healthy volunteers will be deliberately infected with the coronavirus to try to speed up the development of a vaccine, under plans announced by the British government this week. The trial will involve healthy volunteers ages 18 to 30. Most coronavirus vaccine trials involve giving volunteers the potential vaccine or a placebo and then waiting until enough of them have been exposed to the virus through their everyday lives. That can take months or years. Britain announced this week it plans to begin the so-called “human challenge” trials in May 2021 to speed up the development of vaccines. Several young people have already volunteered, among them Danica Marcos, 22, a recent university graduate from London. “So many people [are] struggling right now. I want this pandemic to be over,” Marcos told The Associated Press. “Every day that goes on, more cases are going on, more people are dying. And if this vaccine trial could mean that this period of trauma for the whole world will be over sooner, I want to help. I want to be a part of that.” People walk past a display featuring health advice in the shopping district in central Sheffield, south Yorkshire, Oct. 21, 2020. (AFP)Alastair Fraser-Urqhart, 18, from Stoke-on-Trent said he wanted to contribute to a vaccine. “Personally, I can’t let this opportunity to do something, to really do something, pass me by when I’m at such low risk than other people,” he said. The British government plans to invest over $43.4 million in the challenge trial. The World Health Organization said it could be significant. “There is a very long history of this for development of a number of vaccines that has been part of what has gone on with, say, the development of the cholera vaccines and the typhoid vaccines,” said Margaret Harris, a spokeswoman for WHO. Harris also expressed some concerns. “What is critical is that if people are considering this, it must be overseen by an ethics committee, and the volunteers must have full consent, and they must select the volunteers in order to minimize their risk. Because you will be challenging people with a virus that we do not have a treatment for,” Harris said. “So, you must ensure that everybody involved understands exactly what is at stake, must be selected to minimize the risk. The volunteer and you must ensure that informed consent is rigorous, that they really do understand all the risks.” FILE – A passenger in a car receives a novel coronavirus test at a drive-in COVID-19 testing facility set up at the Chessington World of Adventures Resort, in Chessington, southwest of London, Oct. 20, 2020. (AFP)Infections, hospitalizations and deaths from the new coronavirus are rising sharply in many countries around the world. A vaccine remains the best hope of any return to some kind of normality, said Dr. Sterghios Moschos, a microbiologist at the University of Northumbria, who spoke to VOA in a recent interview. “At this point in time, we don’t have a way of stopping transmission,” Moschos said. “And we don’t even have the financial capacity to give multiple antibody treatments, steroids, et cetera, like Donald Trump received, to everybody in the population that needs treatment. The cost is quite large for these kinds of treatments. We don’t have a vaccine. And therefore, as a result, we need to contain the spread of this virus. Not just manage it, contain it.” The initial aim of the British research team will be to discover the smallest amount of virus it takes to cause a COVID-19 infection, using controlled doses of the virus. If approved by regulators and an ethics committee, it is hoped the full challenge trial could begin in May 2021.
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Florida Sees Record Turnout for Early Voting
Early voting began in Florida on October 19, and the number of people who turned out shattered opening-day records for in-person early voting. Liliya Anisimova has more in this story narrated by Anna Rice.
Camera: Liliya Anisimova and Aleksandr Fedorov
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NATO Chief: Alliance to Build Space Center at Ramstein Airbase in Germany
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg confirmed Thursday that the military alliance would establish a space center at the Allied Air Command base in Ramstein, Germany.Speaking in Brussels after a virtual conference of NATO foreign ministers, Stoltenberg confirmed reports regarding the space center made earlier this week by European news agencies.”NATO is determined to keep our cutting edge in all domains,” he said, including “land, sea, air, cyber and space.”During a meeting last December, Stoltenberg declared “space as an operational domain for NATO. And today we took another important step.”In his comments, the NATO chief said the Allied Air Command space center would help to coordinate allied space activities and provide support for NATO missions and operations from space using satellite communications and imagery. Stoltenberg said the center also would help protect NATO-allied space systems by sharing information about potential threats.Stoltenberg has said repeatedly that NATO has no interest in the “militarization” of space. But Thursday, he said threats against NATO allied satellites and space systems were real.“For instance,” he said, “Russia and China are now developing capabilities that can blind, destroy, for instance, satellites, which will have a severe impact on both military and civilian activities on the ground.”Stoltenberg also said NATO foreign ministers expressed concern about Russia’s growing arsenal of nuclear-capable missiles and the importance of Russia and the U.S. extending the new START missile treaty.The secretary-general also called for an immediate cease-fire and cessation of all hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh. The region lies within Azerbaijan but has been under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by Armenia since a war there ended in 1994.The current fighting that started there marks the biggest escalation in the conflict since the war’s end. Stoltenberg called on Turkey to “use its considerable influence in the region to calm tensions.”
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Trump Posts ’60 Minutes’ Interview After Complaining Anchor Was Biased
U.S. President Donald Trump has released an unedited interview with “60 Minutes” anchor Lesley Stahl before its scheduled Sunday broadcast after complaining she was biased against him.
The footage Trump posted on Facebook Thursday shows him becoming increasingly irritated as Stahl questioned him on a number of topics, including his handling of the coronavirus crisis, the “Obamacare” replacement plan he has long touted but failed to produce and his apparent loss of support among suburban women.
“Look at the bias, hatred and rudeness on behalf of 60 Minutes and CBS,” Trump wrote in a tweet that included a link to the 38-minute video clip.
Trump attacked the son of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden throughout the interview and denounced the mainstream media for not reporting unsubstantiated allegations that have been published by the New York Post, a tabloid owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation.
As Trump continued to make unfounded allegations against Biden and former President Barack Obama, Stahl explained that “This is ’60 Minutes,’ and we can’t put on things we can’t verify.”
As Stahl noted that Trump was repeatedly offering attacks, Trump said, “It’s defense against attacks” and added, “I’m defending myself, and I’m defending the institute of the presidency.”
As Stahl asked Trump at the beginning of the interview if he was “ready for some tough questions,” a tense Trump seemed to become more irritable.
At the end of the video, Trump said, “Are you ready for tough questions. That’s no way to talk. That’s no way to talk.”
He later told Stahl, “You’re so negative,” and eventually ended the interview. Trump also refused to appear on camera with Vice President Mike Pence as planned.
The video released by Trump was filmed by White House staffers. CBS News said Trump’s aides had promised to use the clip “for archival purposes only.”
CBS News described the White House decision to release the video “unprecedented” and noted the interview would be broadcast on Sunday as scheduled.
“The White House’s unprecedented decision to disregard their agreement with CBS News and release their footage will not deter 60 MINUTES from providing its full, fair and contextual reporting which presidents have participated in for decades,” the network said in a statement.
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Rights Group, Nigeria Officials Differ on Lekki Shooting Death Toll
Human rights group Amnesty International and authorities in Nigeria disagree on the number of people killed at a shooting Tuesday in Lagos.Amnesty International says at least 56 protesters have died in clashes with security forces during weeks-long demonstrations in Nigeria against police brutality, with at least 38 people killed Tuesday — 12 of them when security forces opened fire on unarmed protesters at the Lekki toll gate in Lagos.While authorities have acknowledged some casualties, they are downplaying the numbers, and the army has denied firing on protesters.Amnesty International released its latest figure in a statement Wednesday night, citing evidence from witnesses. A protester carriying a stick walks past barricades mounted on the Lagos-Ibadan expressway to protest against police brutality and the killing of protesters by the military, at Magboro, Ogun State, Oct. 21, 2020. (AFP)The group also says Nigerian authorities must be held responsible for killing their own people.”More than 50 people have been killed in different parts of the country since the protest started,” said Seun Bakare, a program manager at Amnesty International. “These shootings amount to extrajudicial killings. There must be an immediate investigation and suspected perpetrators must be held accountable through fair trials.” Lagos authorities have yet to release any new updates on casualties. On Wednesday, state Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who visited victims in various hospitals, said only one person had died from head trauma, contradicting Amnesty. No authority, including the army, has claimed responsibility for the shooting. But the governor, who had earlier stated it was beyond his power to command the military, said it has launched a further investigation. “No sitting governor controls the rules of engagement of the military,” he said. “I have nonetheless instructed an investigation into the ordered and adopted rules of engagement implored by the officers and men of the Nigerian army that were deployed to the Lekki toll gate, last night.” ProtestsThousands of Nigerian youths marched through the streets recently, demanding that a notorious police unit called SARS, or Special Anti-Robbery Squad, be dissolved over allegations of torturing and killing of citizens. Despite President Muhammadu Buhari disbanding the group days after protests, the demonstrations continued. The protesters expanded their demands to include calls for police reforms and good governance. After the protests turned violent, Lagos authorities responded by imposing a 24-hour curfew. However, protesters defying state orders remained at the Lekki toll gate before the shooting started. Security expert Ebenezer Oyetakin said protesters who had no one to represent them frustrated the government’s negotiations, and were becoming too ambitious with their demands. “To the best of my knowledge, the sound has been very loud and clear and gains have been made by the protesters,” Oyetakin said. “They said, ‘end SARS’; the SARS has been ended. All other legitimate demands could be looked into through negotiations, but the protesters made a strategic error by not identifying a spokesperson or front that can engage government.”International criticism The killing of protesters drew international criticism, including from United Nations Secretary-General Anthony Guterres. A popular finance junction in Abuja is largely empty as many citizens remain indoors following unrest in Nigeria during the “End SARS” protests, Oct. 22, 2020. (Timothy Obiezu/VOA)For the moment, the streets of major cities such as Lagos and Abuja, where protests initially started, were largely empty Thursday. Many other Nigerian states are adopting curfews and bans on protests to prevent any further breakdown of law and order.
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New Huawei Phone Comes at Crucial Time for Chinese Company
Huawei’s new smartphone has an upgraded camera, its latest advanced chipset and a better battery. What it may not have outside the Chinese tech giant’s home market is very many buyers.
Huawei, which recently became the world’s No. 1 smartphone maker, on Thursday unveiled its Mate 40 line of premium phones, a product release that comes at a crucial moment for the company as it runs out of room to maneuver around U.S. sanctions squeezing its ability to source components and software.
The Mate 40 could be the last one powered by the company’s homegrown Kirin chipsets because of U.S. restrictions in May barring non-American companies from using U.S. technology in manufacturing without a license.
Analysts say the company had been stockpiling chips before the ban but its supply won’t last forever.
“This is a major challenge to Huawei and it’s really losing its market outside of China,” said Mo Jia, an analyst at independent research firm Canalys. The latest U.S. restrictions mean it “100% has closed doors for Huawei to secure its future components.”
Executives said this summer that production of Kirin chips would end in mid-September because they’re made by contractors that need U.S. manufacturing technology. In a press preview this week ahead of the Mate 40’s launch, staff declined to answer questions on Huawei’s ability to source chips. The head of Huawei’s consumer business, Richard Yu, referred only briefly to the issue at the end of a virtual launch event Thursday.
“For Huawei, nowadays we are in a very difficult time. We are suffering from the U.S.
government’s third round ban. It’s an unfair ban. It makes (the situation) extremely difficult,” Yu said.
Huawei, which is also a major supplier of wireless network gear, is facing pressure in a wider global battle waged between the U.S. and China over trade and technological supremacy. The U.S. government’s efforts to lobby allies in Europe to not give it a role in new high-speed 5G wireless networks over cybersecurity concerns has been paying off, with countries including Sweden and Britain blocking its gear.
Huawei phones are not widely available in the U.S., but they’re sold in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. The company climbed to the top of the global smartphone rankings this summer, knocking Samsung off top spot by shipping 55.8 million devices in the second quarter to gain a 20% share of the market, according to research firms Canalys and International Data Corp. But the performance was driven by strong growth in China while smartphone sales in the rest of the world tumbled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Analysts say it will be hard for Huawei to remain No. 1.
“Huawei’s in a tight spot,” said Ben Wood, chief of research at CCS Insight. Along with the U.S. sanctions, it’s also hurt by slumping confidence in the brand that makes retailers less keen to stock its phones. “And sadly, I don’t think you’re going to see the Mate 40 performing particularly well outside of China.”
Huawei has a small but enthusiastic fan base in Europe, its biggest market outside China. But some users are turned off by the idea of sticking with the brand because of a related problem: recent models like the Mate 40, priced at 899 euros ($1,070) and up, can’t run Google’s full Android operating system because of an earlier round of U.S. sanctions.
Instead, they come with a stripped down open source version of Android, which doesn’t have Google’s Play Store and can’t run popular apps like Chrome, YouTube and Search.
Mark Osten, a 29-year-old architect in Preston, England, bought a Huawei P30 last year when the contract on his previous Samsung phone ended.
He says the camera is great but hesitates to recommend the brand to others because of the uncertainty.
“I just can’t imagine life without YouTube or Google,” said Osten.
To make up for losing Google services, Huawei has built its own app store and has been paying developers to create apps for it. Users can request apps that aren’t yet available, but it’s not something that appeals to Chloe Hetelle, a 35-year-old events organizer in Toulouse, France, who bought a Huawei P20 model two years ago after switching from an iPhone.
“I don’t want to request apps, I just want to have YouTube,” said Hetelle. “I’m not really keen on struggling to get something that I would have easily with another phone.”
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Japanese PM Meets With US Regional Military Command
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga ended his week of regional diplomatic visits Thursday with a meeting with the commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command in Tokyo.
Suga exchanged a COVID-19-friendly fist-bump with Admiral Phil Davidson, as the two extended greetings with reporters before their talks began. Each expressed their gratitude for the partnership and cooperation in maintaining peace and security in the region.
The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command is the largest, in terms of geography covered, of the six U.S. military commands around the globe. The command integrates all branches of the U.S. military to maintain security, and it protects U.S. interests in the region while coordinating with allies.
The meeting follows bilateral talks the new Japanese prime minister held earlier this week with his counterparts in Vietnam and Indonesia. The central theme of those meetings was cooperation in regional defense as a hedge against China’s ambitions in the region. Suga made agreements with both nations to export defense technology and equipment.
It was the first overseas diplomatic trip for Suga since becoming prime minister last month. He took the position after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stepped down for health reasons.
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German Health Institute Sounds Alarm on COVID-19
The head of Germany’s disease control institute sounded an alarm Thursday, warning of a possible uncontrollable spread of COVID-19 as the country reported a daily record of 11,287 new infections.Lothar Wieler, president of the Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases, told reporters in Berlin that infection numbers are rising among all age groups, not just young people, though he said their tendency to attend social gatherings is a significant cause for the spread. Wieler also disputed claims that the rise in new cases was the result of increased testing.Koch said the situation was serious and that the country must prepare for it to get worse.“We must anticipate the virus heavily spreading further, at least in some German regions, and that there might even be an uncontrolled spread.”The 11,287 new infections shattered the record of 7,830 recorded last Friday and marks the first time the nation has seen more than 10 new cases in a single day since the pandemic began.While Germany’s infection rates are lower than in much of Europe, they have been accelerating rapidly since the onset of cooler weather, with politicians warning that stricter social distancing rules may be needed if the trend continues.German authorities have toughened measures to curb the spread of the pandemic, such as banning large gatherings and mandating the wearing of masks in certain parts of Berlin. Wieler urged people to heed the rules and restrictions.Health Minister Jens Spahn tested positive for the coronavirus on Wednesday.
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US Condemns ‘Excessive Force’ Used Against Nigeria Protesters
The United States condemned police brutality in Lagos Thursday, two days after at least 12 protesters were shot dead by Nigerian Security Forces.“We welcome an immediate investigation into any use of excessive force by members of the security forces. Those involved should be held to account in accordance with Nigerian law,” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement.Late Wednesday, Nigerian Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo expressed his condolences and promises justice for those shot dead at the Lekki toll plaza.Osinbajo’s comments, in a series of tweets Wednesday night, were the first public comments from the country’s leaders referring to Tuesday’s shooting in Lagos state.President Muhammadu Buhari — who has said little about the protests engulfing his country — did not mention the Lekki shootings in a statement Wednesday but issued a call for calm and vowed police reforms.Amnesty International on Wednesday reported that a total of 38 people died on Tuesday. Amnesty also said at least 56 people have been killed over the past two weeks in protests directed at the police Special Anti-Robbery Squad, known as SARS, which the international rights group accused of torture and murders.Armed men are seen near burning tires on a street in Lagos, Nigeria Oct. 21, 2020, in this image obtained from social media. (Credit: UnEarthical)The government disbanded SARS last week but that has not tempered the outrage, with some demonstrators defying a curfew on Wednesday, which reportedly lead to more shooting, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.Amnesty also claims in its report that security cameras at the toll gates where protesters had gathered were removed by government officials prior to the shooting.In addition to investigating what happened Tuesday night, the rights group also wants to know who gave the orders for the soldiers to be there, said Osai Ojigho, Director of Amnesty International in Nigeria.Nigeria’s military has denied responsibility for the shootings near the Lekki toll gates.There were reports of shots being fired during demonstrations in other Nigerian towns, including the capital city, Abuja.It is unclear if there were any casualties.
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UN Rights Chief Calls for Justice After Nigerian Soldiers Kill Protesters
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michele Bachelet strongly condemns what she says was the excessive and disproportionate use of force by Nigerian armed forces against peaceful protesters in the capital Lagos on Tuesday, and is calling for perpetrators of these crimes to be brought to justice.
Amnesty International reports at least 12 demonstrators were killed, and many others wounded. It says the shooting of unarmed people amounts to extrajudicial executions.
Michele Bachelet says she is concerned about reports that closed-circuit TV cameras and lighting were deliberately disabled prior to the shooting. If confirmed, she says, this deplorable attack on peaceful protesters was premeditated, planned and coordinated.
Her spokesman, Rupert Colville, told VOA that details about what happened Tuesday need to be clarified. He said questions about who ordered, who arranged and who knew about what appears to have been a planned assault, remain unanswered.
“The bottom line here is – this endemic problem with security forces in Nigeria that need to be sorted out. Because what were these protests about? They were about a police force that was killing people, raping women, extorting money for years.… Now you have the army taking this heavy hand. So, now you have got a problem all across the security sector in Nigeria,” he said.
Colville said there is a great lack of trust in the security forces among the population, and until this is sorted out, the country is going to have huge problems.
Nigeria’s military initially denied its troops had fired on unarmed civilians. In a recent media interview, Nigerian Police Minister Muhammad Maigari Dingyadi said soldiers were not instructed to shoot at protesters. Nigeria’s army has dismissed reports that its soldiers were behind the killings as “fake news.”
Bachelet is calling for immediate, independent and transparent investigations into the killings. Spokesman Colville said it is important that the population sees investigations as independent and impartial.
“Clearly, just a run-of-the-mill, normal investigation, inquiry that does not lead to any arrests, any kind of accountability is not going to be acceptable to people anymore. They are making that really clear in the streets of Lagos. Not just Lagos but many other cities in Nigeria. So, that is what this is all about. It is about accountability,” Colville said.
Bachelet noted that Nigerian security forces suspected of serious crimes and gross violations of human rights have gone unpunished for years, and that this has to stop. She said Nigerian authorities must take concrete steps now to tackle impunity if they wish to regain the trust of their people.
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Senate Judiciary Committee Approves Barrett Supreme Court Nomination Despite Democrats’ Boycott
The Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee has approved Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court, sending the matter to the full Senate for consideration. Democrats on the committee boycotted the vote Thursday, resulting in a 12-0 vote in favor of the nomination.Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer reiterated his party’s objection to President Donald Trump moving ahead with replacing the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the court so close to an election, arguing that such a move should be left to whichever candidate wins the November 3 U.S. presidential election.He cited the Supreme Court vacancy in 2016, when then-President Barack Obama nominated Judge Merrick Garland but Senate Republicans blocked the process while making similar arguments about letting voters decide who should pick the next justice.“When Merrick Garland was nominated, eight months before an election, we have to wait for an election. Now that an election is ongoing, we are rushing through this nomination. It is one of the worst moments the Senate has ever seen,” Schumer said.He called Barrett’s confirmation proceedings “the most rushed, most partisan and least legitimate process in the history of Supreme Court nominations.”Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham said the Democrats boycotting the vote “does a disservice to Judge Barrett who deserves a vote, up or down.”With Republicans holding a 53-47 majority in the Senate, Graham expressed optimism about the prospects for Barrett’s nomination.“Judge Barrett deserves to be on the Supreme Court and she will be confirmed,” he said.The 12 Republicans on the committee have indicated they will back Barrett.Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to follow the Judiciary Committee’s vote with a procedural vote in the full Senate on Sunday that could bring a final vote on Barrett’s nomination on Monday.If Barrett is confirmed to the lifetime appointment, the Supreme Court would have a 6-3 conservative majority.
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Campaigning for Biden, Obama Says Trump ‘Incapable of Taking Job Seriously’
Former U.S. President Barack Obama said Wednesday that President Donald Trump is “incapable of taking the job seriously,” as Obama campaigned for Democratic candidate Joe Biden in the key state of Pennsylvania.The drive-in rally in the city of Philadelphia was Obama’s first in-person event in support of Biden, who served as vice president during his two terms in office.”I never thought Donald Trump would embrace my vision or continue my policies, but I did hope for the sake of the country that he might show some interest in taking the job seriously,” Obama told the crowd sitting in nearly 300 cars spread across a stadium parking lot. “But it hasn’t happened,” Obama said, “He hasn’t shown any interest in doing the work or helping anybody but himself and his friends or treating the presidency like a reality show that he can use to get attention.”What to Watch For in Final Trump-Biden DebateDebate takes place in Nashville, TennesseeTrump was a frequent critic of Obama during his predecessor’s time in office and has continued to attack Obama during his own four-year term in office. Earlier this month, he tweeted that the Obama-Biden administration was “TERRIBLE!!!”At his own rally Wednesday, Trump cited Obama’s support of 2016 Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, saying, “It was nobody who campaigned harder for Crooked Hillary than Obama, right?”Obama portrayed a Biden presidency as different in tone and priorities than the Trump administration and included criticism of Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 222,000 people in the United States.“I get that this president wants full credit for the economy he inherited and zero blame for the pandemic that he ignored. But you know what, the job doesn’t work that way,” Obama said. “Tweeting at the television doesn’t fix things. Making stuff up doesn’t make people’s lives better. You’ve got to have a plan. You’ve got to put in the work.”Pennsylvania has been a focus for both the Trump and Biden campaigns in their final push for support ahead of the November 3 election. The state carries 20 of the 270 electoral votes a candidate needs to win a White House term. Trump defeated Clinton in Pennsylvania in 2016, the first time a Republican had won the state since 1988.Biden has visited Pennsylvania more than any other state, and Trump made his latest appearance there on Tuesday.
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Thai Prime Minister Lifts Week-Old State of Emergency
Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha has lifted a state of emergency he imposed one week ago but which failed to bring an end to months of protests seeking his ouster and reforms of the country’s constitutional monarchy.
The government announced the end of the emergency decree in a written statement Thursday, saying the situation had eased to the point where “government officials and state agencies can enforce the regular laws.”
Prayuth issued the state of emergency last week after tens of thousands of protesters marched on his office at Government House in Bangkok and vowed not to leave until he agreed to step down.
Despite the ban on public gatherings of more than four people issued in the decree, mass demonstrations continued in the Thai capital, prompting Prayuth to announce on national television Wednesday that he was planning to lift the state of emergency.
However, the protesters have promised to resume the demonstrations if he did not resign by Saturday.
Prayuth is a former army general who seized power in a 2014 coup that ousted the elected civilian government. He won election to the post last year, but protesters say the vote was rigged in his favor due to laws drafted by the military.
In addition to changes to the constitution, demonstrators are also seeking to reduce the influence of the Thai monarchy. The institution maintains a divine-like status among Thailand’s elite, and is protected by strict “lese majeste” laws that allow for imprisonment of anyone convicted of insulting the monarchy.
Earlier Wednesday, Thai courts reversed a decision to shut down Voice TV — a media outlet partly owned by the family of exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Voice TV is one of four media outlets under investigation by the government for their coverage of the protest movement.
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Macron Pays Homage to Slain Teacher While Vowing to Fight Islamist Extremism
French President Emmanuel Macron paid a soaring tribute Wednesday to a middle school teacher brutally killed in an Islamic terrorist attack last week, while vowing an all-out fight against radical Islam he said threatened the nation. Seven people, including two teenagers, face possible prosecution.President Macron’s homage to slain history teacher Samuel Paty was broadcast live from the Sorbonne University in Paris — picked deliberately for its symbolism of learning and light.Macron called Paty the kind of teacher people never forget: a man who was respectful of his students and had read the Muslim holy book, the Quran.Paty –who posthumously received France’s highest Legion of Honor award – had become the face of France, the President said, of the nation’s determination to destroy terrorists and thwart Islamist extremism.Macron’s address was among a number of displays of anger and grief in France after Paty’s gruesome beheading last Friday as he returned home from the Paris-area school where he taught. French prosecutors have charged seven people with the killing.Among them are two teens, part of a group of students who were paid by Paty’s killer to identify him. The assailant, 18-year-old Abdullakh Anzorov, was shot dead by police shortly after stabbing and beheading Paty. Officials say Anzorov was apparently motivated by anger after the teacher showed cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in a class on free expression.Also charged in Paty’s death, France’s anti-terror prosecutor Jean-Francois Ricard said, was the father of one of Paty’s students who launched an online hate campaign against the teacher over the cartoons – along with a known Islamist radical who helped with that campaign.This is France’s second terrorist attack in less than a month, and the government’s response has been swift. Police have carried out a number of raids and are vowing to expel more than 250 foreign-born radicals as well as shut down institutions allegedly linked to radical Islam.Among those targeted for dissolution is the Collective Against Islamophobia in France for allegedly supporting the father’s hate campaign against Paty. But the organization’s head, Jawad Bachare, rejected those charges claiming his group was being used as a scapegoat by a government that cannot protect its nation.Many French have responded to these latest attacks with protests and silent marches in defense of free expression and secularism.
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Seychelles Votes in Presidential, Legislative Elections
Voters in the Seychelles on Thursday begin the three-day process of choosing a president and lawmakers.Voters in the Indian Ocean archipelago of 115 islands will decide if President Danny Faure will be elected for the first time after taking over from predecessor James Michel, who resigned.Faure, of the ruling United Seychelles party, is running against two candidates.Agence France-Presse reports Faure’s main rival is perennial presidential candidate, Anglican priest Wavel Ramkalawan, who lost to Michel by just 193 votes in 2015.Ramkalawan’s Seychelles Democratic Alliance party holds most of the seats in parliament.The other candidate is Alain St Ange, a former tourism minister, who is representing the One Seychelles party.One of the main challenges facing the country is rebooting the critical tourism industry affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
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COVID-19 ‘Right Under Control’ in Australia, Experts Say
As Australia’s most populous state eases more COVID-19 restrictions, experts say the nation has brought the epidemic “right under control.” One leading commentator says he “can’t find another country that has smashed the virus” as well as Australia.Life in much of Australia is beginning to resemble what it was before COVID-19.On Friday, more restrictions will be relaxed in the state of New South Wales. Places of worship will be allowed to have up to 300 people, while the capacity of gyms will also increase. Some 40,000 sports fans are expected to attend the final of the National Rugby League competition in Sydney on Sunday.Across Australia, a nation of 25 million people, there is cautious optimism that, for now, at least, the coronavirus is being contained. More than 27,400 COVID-19 cases and 900 deaths have been recorded since it was first detected in Australia in late January; 8.3 million tests have been carried out.Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said that the closure of Australia’s borders to foreign travelers in March has also been critical.“What we have seen is that around the country, we have done incredibly well and there are four defenses; our international borders, testing, which has been uniformly good around all of the states and territories, tracing, which has overwhelmingly been outstanding, with New South Wales the gold standard,” he said. “Victoria had real challenges, but it is improving, and I think that is a very important message, and the distancing.”International travel into and out of Australia is expected to remain restricted well into next year, although a so-called safe travel bubble is allowing New Zealanders to fly into New South Wales and the Northern Territory.Many Australians have watched on in disbelief and concern for family and friends as coronavirus cases surge again in other parts of the world.Raina McIntyre, a professor of biosecurity at the University of New South Wales’ Kirby Institute, said the situation in the United States and United Kingdom is horrifying.“It is just thoroughly shocking,” McIntyre said. “When we think of pandemics, we don’t think that well-resourced, high-income countries are going to fall apart at the seams, but that is exactly what we have seen.”Some of the world’s toughest lockdown measures in the city of Melbourne could be eased next week as reported infections continue to fall. The Victorian state capital has been at the center of Australia’s COVID-19 emergency, but authorities are hopeful strict stay-at-home orders and other measures imposed for more than 100 days have worked.However, clusters of the disease continue to cause alarm. Health officials have sent text messages to about 140,000 people living in three Melbourne suburbs urging them to be tested after a student attended school while infectious with COVID-19.Australian officials concede that while the virus is mostly contained, success will only be celebrated when a safe and reliable global vaccine is available.
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Final Trump-Biden Debate: What to Watch For
U.S. President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden face off Thursday in their final debate ahead of the Nov. 3 election. VOA’s Carolyn Presutti reports from Nashville, Tennessee.
Camera: Miguel Amaya
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Nigerian Vice President Promises Justice for Demonstrators Killed by Security Forces
Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is expressing his condolences and promising justice for as many as 12 peaceful protesters shot dead by Nigerian Security Forces at the Lekki toll plaza.Osinbajo’s comments, in a series of tweets Wednesday night, were the first public comments from the country’s leaders referring to Tuesday’s shooting in Lagos state.President Muhammadu Buhari, who has said little about the protests engulfing his country, did not mention the Lekki shootings in a statement Wednesday but issued a call for calm and vowed police reforms.The international human rights group Amnesty International said in a report Wednesday, a total of 38 people died on Tuesday and at least 56 people over the past two weeks in protests directed at the police Special Anti-Robbery Squad, known as SARS, which Amnesty accused of torture and murders.The government disbanded SARS last week but that has not tempered the outrage, with some demonstrators defying a curfew on Wednesday, which reportedly lead to more shooting, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.Amnesty also claims in its report that security cameras at the toll gates where protesters had gathered were removed by government officials prior to the shooting.Osai Ojigho, director of Amnesty International in Nigeria said that in addition to investigating what happened Tuesday night, they also want to know who gave the orders for the soldiers to be there.Nigeria’s military has denied responsibility for the shootings near the Lekki toll gates.There were reports of shots being fired during demonstrations in other Nigerian towns, including the capital city, Abuja.It is unclear if there were any casualties.
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US to Sell Air-to-Ground Missiles to Taiwan
The U.S. government announced approval Wednesday to sell $1 billion worth of advanced air-to-ground missiles to Taiwan as the island shores up its defenses against the threat from China. The State Department said it had agreed to sell 135 of the AGM-84H SLAM-ER missiles – precision-guided, air-launched cruise missiles – and related equipment. Also approved was the sale of six MS-110 reconnaissance pods for air reconnaissance, and 11 M142 mobile light rocket launchers, taking the value of three arms packages to $1.8 billion. The SLAM-ER missiles will help Taiwan “meet current and future threats as it provides all-weather, day and night, precision attack capabilities against both moving and stationary targets” on the ground or ocean surface, a statement said.China, which regards Taiwan as a renegade province, has stepped up pressure toward the island over the past year, sending attack and surveillance aircraft into its airspace and ships near its waters.Last week, Beijing released video of a military exercise simulating an invasion of a Taiwan-like territory featuring missile strikes and amphibious landings. While Taiwan has for decades fallen back on an implicit U.S. security guarantee, Washington has urged it to strengthen its own capabilities to resist an attack. But Washington also wants Taiwan to upgrade its armaments. “Whether there’s an amphibious landing, a missile attack, a grey zone-type operation, they really need to fortify themselves,” national security adviser Robert O’Brien said last week. “Taiwan needs to start looking at some asymmetric and anti-access area denial strategies … and really fortify itself in a manner that would deter the Chinese from any sort of amphibious invasion or even a grey zone operation against them,” O’Brien said. The sales announced Wednesday did not include the MQ9 Reaper combat drones, which Taiwan has reportedly requested.
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