Author: aejay_wp

The founder of Huawei has said there is “no way the US can crush” the company, in an exclusive interview with the BBC.

Ren Zhengfei described the arrest of his daughter Meng Wanzhou, the company’s chief financial officer, as politically motivated.

The US is pursuing criminal charges against Huawei and Ms Meng, including money laundering, bank fraud and stealing trade secrets.

Huawei denies any wrongdoing.

In his first international broadcast interview since Ms Meng was arrested, Mr Ren dismissed the pressure from the US.

Read: Ghana earns more slots in Huawei ICT competition

“There’s no way the US can crush us,” he said. “The world cannot leave us because we are more advanced. Even if they persuade more countries not to use us temporarily, we can always scale things down a bit.”

However, he acknowledged that the potential loss of custom could have a significant impact.

“Even if they persuade more countries not to use us temporarily, we can always downsize and become smaller,” he added.

What else did Mr Ren say about the US?

Last week, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned the country’s allies against using Huawei technology, saying it would make it more difficult for Washington to “partner alongside them”.

Australia, New Zealand, and the US have already banned or blocked Huawei from supplying equipment for their future 5G mobile broadband networks, while Canada is reviewing whether the company’s products present a serious security threat.

Mr Ren warned that “the world cannot leave us because we are more advanced”.

“If the lights go out in the West, the East will still shine. And if the North goes dark, there is still the South. America doesn’t represent the world. America only represents a portion of the world.”

What did Mr Ren say about investment in the UK?

The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre has decided that any risk posed by using Huawei technology in UK telecoms projects can be managed.

Many of UK’s mobile companies, including Vodafone, EE and Three, are working with Huawei to develop their 5G networks.

They are awaiting a government review, due in March or April, that will decide whether they can use Huawei technology.

Commenting on the possibility of a UK ban, Mr Ren said Huawei “won’t withdraw our investment because of this. We will continue to invest in the UK.”

“We still trust in the UK, and we hope that the UK will trust us even more.”

“We will invest even more in the UK. Because if the US doesn’t trust us, then we will shift our investment from the US to the UK on an even bigger scale.”

What does Mr Ren think about his daughter’s arrest?

Mr Ren’s daughter Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s chief financial officer, was arrested on 1 December in Vancouver at the request of the US, and is expected to be subject of a formal extradition request.

In total, 23 charges are levelled against Huawei and Ms Weng. The charges are split across two indictments by the US Department of Justice.

The first covers claims Huawei hid business links to Iran – a country subject to US trade sanctions, while the second includes the charge of attempted theft of trade secrets.

Mr Ren was clear in his opposition to the US accusations.

“Firstly, I object to what the US has done. This kind of politically motivated act is not acceptable.”

“The US likes to sanction others, whenever there’s an issue, they’ll use such combative methods.”

“We object to this. But now that we’ve gone down this path, we’ll let the courts settle it.”

What did Mr Ren say about Chinese government spying?

Huawei, which is China’s largest private company, has been under scrutiny for its links to the Chinese government – with the US and others expressing concern its technology could be used by China’s security services to spy.

Read: Ex-Russia probe overseer Rod Rosenstein ‘to step down by March’

Under Chinese law, firms are compelled to “support, co-operate with and collaborate in national intelligence work”.

But Mr Ren said that allowing spying is a risk he wouldn’t take.

“The Chinese government has already clearly said that it won’t install any backdoors. And we won’t install backdoors either.”

“We’re not going to risk the disgust of our country and of our customers all over the world, because of something like this.”

“Our company will never undertake any spying activities. If we have any such actions, then I’ll shut the company down.”

Is Huawei part of the Chinese state?

Analysis – Karishma Vaswami, BBC Asia Business Correspondent

For a man known as reclusive and secretive, Ren Zhengfei seemed confident, almost cocky in the conviction that the business he’s built for the last 30 years can withstand the scrutiny from Western governments.

Mr Ren is right, the US makes up only a fraction of his overall business.

But where I saw that confidence slip, was when I asked him about his links to the Chinese military and the government.

He refused to be drawn into a conversation, only to saying that these were not facts, simply allegations.

Still, some signs of close links between Mr Ren and the government were revealed during the course of our interview.

He also confirmed that there is a Communist Party committee in Huawei, but he said this is what all companies – foreign or domestic – operating in China must have in order to abide by the law.

 

Source: BBC 

Rod Rosenstein, the US deputy attorney general who oversaw the inquiry into alleged Russian meddling, is to step down by mid-March, US media say.

Reports emerged last month that Mr Rosenstein planned to quit once incoming Attorney General William Barr took over.

Mr Barr’s appointment was confirmed by the Senate last week.

Mr Rosenstein has frequently been the target of President Donald Trump’s criticism.

A justice department official quoted by Reuters said Mr Rosenstein’s decision was not linked to renewed claims that he had once suggested secretly recording Mr Trump.

Read: US states sue Trump over border wall

In a TV interview on Sunday, former-acting FBI chief Andrew McCabe said talks had been held in 2017 about invoking the 25th Amendment of the US Constitution that could remove a president deemed unfit.

He said Mr Rosenstein had held discussions on the number of cabinet members and others needed to invoke the clause.

President Trump reacted furiously to the interview, tweeting of “illegal and treasonous” behaviour and an “illegal coup attempt”.

The White House said Mr McCabe, who was fired last year for allegedly lying to government investigators, had “no credibility”.

The justice department said Mr McCabe’s account was “inaccurate and factually incorrect”.

Read: U.S.-China trade talks to resume next week, Trump hints at extension

Mr Rosenstein has previously denied having any such discussions about invoking the amendment, describing the reports as “inaccurate and factually incorrect”.

He was given oversight of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s inquiry into suspected Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election when former Attorney General Jeff Sessions recused himself.

But after Mr Sessions was ousted in November, his replacement Matthew Whitaker took over the investigation, refusing to recuse himself despite his previous public criticism of the probe. Mr Rosenstein continued to help supervise the inquiry.

 

Source: BBC 

A coalition of 16 US states led by California is suing President Donald Trump’s administration over his decision to declare an emergency to raise funds for a Mexican border wall.

The lawsuit was filed in the court for the Northern District of California.

Read: Trump to declare emergency over Mexico border wall

It comes days after Mr Trump invoked emergency powers to bypass Congress and secure funding for the project – a key campaign pledge.

Democrats have vowed to contest it “using every remedy available”.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said they were taking President Trump to court “to block his misuse of presidential power”.

Read: Trump wall: President addresses nation on border ‘crisis’

“We’re suing President Trump to stop him from unilaterally robbing taxpayer funds lawfully set aside by Congress for the people of our states. For most of us, the office of the presidency is not a place for theatre,” he added.

The lawsuit filed on Monday seeks a preliminary injunction that would stop Mr Trump acting on his emergency declaration while a legal battle takes place in the courts, the Washington Post reported.

Mr Trump announced the plan after Congress refused funding for the wall.

The first legal challenge followed swiftly on Friday. A liberal advocacy group, Public Citizen, sued on behalf of a nature reserve and three Texas landowners who have been told the wall may be constructed on their properties.

Governor Gavin Newsom of California dismissed the president’s decision as “political theatre” while New York state’s Democratic attorney general, Letitia James, promised to “fight back with every legal tool at our disposal”.

How did Mr Trump declare the emergency?

Making the announcement in the White House Rose Garden on Friday, the president said the emergency would allow him to get almost $8bn for the wall.

This is still considerably short of the estimated $23bn cost of the wall along almost 2,000 miles (3,200km) of the border.

Mr Trump accepted that he would be sued for the move, and predicted that the emergency order would lead to legal action which was likely to end up in the Supreme Court.

“We’re going to confront the national security crisis on our southern border,” he said.

“Everyone knows that walls work.”

However, the president also said that he did not need to declare the emergency but did so in the hope of obtaining the funds for the wall more quickly, but analysts say these comments could undermine his legal arguments.

What is a national emergency?

The National Emergencies Act is intended for times of national crisis. Mr Trump has claimed that there is a migration crisis at the nation’s southern border – a claim strongly refuted by migration experts.

The largest number of illegal migrants settling in the US each year is those who stay in the country after their visas expire.

Declaring a national emergency would give the president access to special powers that effectively allow him to bypass the usual political process, and he would be able to divert money from existing military or disaster relief budgets to pay for the wall.

Emergency declarations by previous presidents have been overwhelmingly used for addressing foreign policy crises – including blocking terrorism-linked entities from accessing funds or prohibiting investment in nations associated with human rights abuses.

Source: bbc.com

Australia’s main political parties and parliament were hit by a “malicious intrusion” on their computer networks, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said.

The cyber-attack revealed two weeks ago was carried out by a “sophisticated state actor”, he said.

But he added there was “no evidence of any electoral interference”. The nation will hold an election within months.

The attack being investigated was at first thought to involve only the parliament’s servers.

“During the course of this work, we also became aware that the networks of some political parties – Liberal, Labor and Nationals – have also been affected,” Mr Morrison told the House of Representatives on Monday.

Who might have been behind it?

The Australian prime minister did not say which foreign state was under suspicion, adding he would not provide additional detail on “operational matters”.

Read: Christmas Island: Australia ‘to re-open’ controversial detention centre

The Australian government has faced a number of cyber-attacks in recent years, some of which have been attributed in local media to nations such as China.

Fergus Hanson, cyber security expert at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, put China “at the top” of the list of suspects but said he “wouldn’t rule out” Russia also being responsible.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said the accusations were “groundless” and “made up out of thin air with ulterior motives”.

He urged media organisations to “stop the words and actions” that can harm “China’s bilateral relations with relevant countries”.

How extensive was the hack?

The Australian Cyber Security Centre said that although party systems had been compromised, it was not yet known if information had been stolen.

Mr Morrison, who leads the Liberal-National coalition, said: “We have put in place a number of measures to ensure the integrity of our electoral system.”

He added that security officials had briefed the nation’s electoral bodies and would provide support to all political parties.

Read: Seven MPs leave Labour Party in protest at Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership

Labor leader Bill Shorten said the cyber-attack was “of grave concern” following instances of “malicious activity” in other nations.

“We cannot be complacent and, as this most recent activity reported by the prime minister indicates, we are not exempt or immune,” he said.

In 2015 and 2016, there were high-profile attacks on the government’s weather and statistics agencies. In 2011, senior Australian ministers also had their email systems breached.

After the attack on the parliament’s computer network, officials said there was “no evidence” that information had been accessed or stolen.

However, politicians’ passwords had been reset as a precaution.

 

Source: BBC 

Nine illegal miners have been rescued from a gold mine in Zimbabwe days after a burst dam flooded two shafts.

They are reported to have survived by finding higher ground and waiting while up to their necks in water.

Dozens are feared to have died 40m (130ft) underground since the accident happened on Tuesday night.

The government has declared the accident near the town of Kadoma, south-west of the capital Harare, a national disaster.

Miners say those trapped are mostly under the age of 24.

Read: Zimbabwe lawyers protest against arbitrary detentions, convictions

A video taken by a Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation reporter showed a rescue team cranking a cable system by hand to pull one of the men out, tied to a rescuer.

Hopes for the missing miners had waned during the four days since flooding started, as rescuers had to pump out large amounts of water, slowing their progress.

“We are yet to assess and find any more people down there who are still alive,” government deputy chief mining engineer Tapererwa Paswavaviri told reporters.

The company that owns one of the mines, Rio Zimbabwe, says people entered the shafts illegally to look for gold. Illegal mining accounts for a large part of the country’s gold output.

Heavy rains on Tuesday night then destroyed a dam upstream and caused flooding in the soft ground.

Anxious family members at the scene became frustrated with the slow pace, with one telling Reuters news agency that it was “so painful” to see many rescue workers present but no successful rescues.

Previous mine disasters in other parts of Africa have cost the lives of numerous unauthorised miners.

Source: bbc.com

Facebook needs far stricter regulation, with tough and urgent action necessary to end the spread of disinformation on its platform, MPs have said.

A Commons committee has concluded that the firm’s founder Mark Zuckerberg failed to show “leadership or personal responsibility” over fake news.

Untrue stories from foreign powers were risking the UK’s democracy, they said.

Facebook welcomed the digital select committee’s report and said it would be open to “meaningful regulation”.

MPs said that what was needed to deal with the proliferation of disinformation online and the misuse of personal data was a “radical shift in the balance of power between social media platforms and the people”.

The inquiry into fake news, which lasted more than a year, was conducted by the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee, with much of the evidence focusing on the business practices of Facebook before and after the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Read: Facebook ordered by Germany to gather less data

Cambridge Analytica was a political advertising firm that had access to the data of millions of users, some of which was allegedly used to psychologically profile US voters. The data was acquired via a personality quiz.

How such data, particularly in terms of political campaigning, was shared by Facebook was at the heart of the inquiry, alongside the effects of fake news.

“Democracy is at risk from the malicious and relentless targeting of citizens with disinformation and personalised ‘dark adverts’ from unidentifiable sources, delivered through the major social media platforms we use every day,” concluded the report.

“The big tech companies are failing in the duty of care they owe to their users to act against harmful content, and to respect their data privacy rights.”

The report called for:

• a compulsory code of ethics for tech companies, overseen by an independent regulator
• the regulator to be given powers to launch legal action if companies breach the code
• the government to reform current electoral laws and rules on overseas involvement in UK elections
• social media companies to be forced to take down known sources of harmful content, including proven sources of disinformation
• tech companies operating in the UK to be taxed to help fund the work for the Information Commissioner’s Office and any new regulator set up to oversee them.

In response, Facebook said: “We share the committee’s concerns about false news and election integrity and are pleased to have made a significant contribution to their investigation over the past 18 months, answering more than 700 questions and with four of our most senior executives giving evidence.

“We are open to meaningful regulation and support the committee’s recommendation for electoral law reform. But we’re not waiting. We have already made substantial changes so that every political ad on Facebook has to be authorised, state who is paying for it and then is stored in a searchable archive for seven years. No other channel for political advertising is as transparent and offers the tools that we do.”

MPs made no secret of the fact that they found it difficult dealing with Facebook during the inquiry and chair Damian Collins had strong words for the firm and its leader, Mr Zuckerberg.

“We believe that in its evidence to the committee, Facebook has often deliberately sought to frustrate our work, by giving incomplete, disingenuous and at time misleading answers to our questions,” he said.

“These are issues that the major tech companies are well aware of, yet continually fail to address. The guiding principle of the ‘move fast and break things’ culture seems to be that it is better to apologise than ask permission.”

MPs were particularly angry that Mr Zuckerberg did not come to the UK to answer questions in person.

“Even if Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t believe he is accountable to the UK Parliament, he is to billions of Facebook users across the world,” said Mr Collins.

“Evidence uncovered by my committee shows he still has questions to answer yet he’s continued to duck them, refusing to respond to our invitations directly or sending representatives who don’t have the right information.”

He also accused Facebook of “bullying” smaller tech firms and developers who rely on their platform to reach users.

The committee did not list specific examples of fake news. But it pointed to the government response to its interim report, which found at least 38 false narratives online after the nerve agent attack in Salisbury in March 2018.

The report also noted that disinformation was not just spread on Facebook but also on platforms such as Twitter.

And it found that, in the month following the publication of its interim report, 63% of the views to the online government response were from foreign internet protocol (IP) addresses, more than half of which were from Russia, highly unusual for a UK-based political inquiry.

Source: House of Commons

The wide-ranging inquiry did not just look at fake news. It also examined how tech firms use data and data-targeting especially in political contexts, the use of political campaigning online and relationship between a complex network of firms including Canadian AIQ, Cambridge Analytica parent firm SCL and IT firm Six-Four-Three.

Read: Zimbabwe politician convicted for illegally declaring opposition leader President

MPs said current electoral regulations were “hopelessly out of date for the internet age” and needed urgent reform, so that the same principles of transparency of political communications that operate in the real world were applied online too.

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES

The committee called on the government to reveal how many investigations were currently being carried out into Russian interference in UK politics, particularly the EU referendum in 2016. They asked the government to launch an independent investigation into that.

In order to better regulate social media firms, the MPs suggested creating a new category of tech firm – one that was neither a platform nor a publisher but something in-between, which would tighten the legal liability for content identified as harmful.

Fact-checkers

Pressure is mounting on the tech giants to get to grips with the issue of fake news, and will add to calls from other ministers for regulation on the issue of harmful content, following the death of teenager Molly Russell.

Her father accused Facebook-owned Instagram of facilitating her death, by failing to remove images of self-harm.

And the Cairncross Review into the future of UK news recently recommended a regulator should oversee Google and Facebook to ensure their news content is trustworthy.

In her report, Dame Frances Cairncross said such sites should help users identify fake news and “nudge people towards news of high quality”.

Facebook has repeatedly said it is committed to fighting fake news and works with more than 30 fact-checking organisation around the world.

Two of those agencies – Associated Press and Snopes – recently quit working with the social network.

The ease with which fake news can be created was illustrated recently by a team of researchers at OpenAi which showed a machine learning system produce coherent, but untrue articles, just by trawling through news site Reddit.

 

Source: BBC 

US military planes carrying humanitarian aid for Venezuela have arrived in the Colombian border town of Cucuta.

The aid is being stockpiled at the request of the Venezuelan opposition leader, Juan Guaidó, who declared himself interim president last month.

President Nicolás Maduro has alleged the aid is part of a US plot.

Mr Guaidó says Venezuelan volunteers will carry it across the border on 23 February.

Speaking at a news conference in Cucuta, a USAID administrator, Mark Green, said the aid had been requested by Mr Guaidó because Venezuela was in the grip of a growing humanitarian crisis.

“Children are going hungry, and nearly every hospital in Venezuela is experiencing serious medicine shortages.”

He said the crisis had reached regional proportions, with three million Venezuelans migrating to neighbouring countries in search of food and medicine.

“Today we are standing on the frontlines of one of the largest displacements of people in the history of Latin America.”

A representative for Mr Guaidó said more collection points for aid were being opened up in Brazil and the Caribbean.

He said meetings would take place with the Brazilian government this week to organise details of storage facilities in the Brazilian state of Roraima on the border with Venezuela.

He added that aid was being stockpiled in Miami to be flown to the Dutch territory of Curaçao early next week.

It remains unclear if the aid will be allowed to enter Venezuela.

President Nicolas Maduro has called the operation a US-orchestrated show and denies there is any crisis.

On Friday he ordered the military to remain on high alert against what he described as US “war plans”.

Mr Guaidó, who has been recognised by the US and most Western governments as interim president of Venezuela, said hundreds of thousands of volunteers had signed up to create brigades to help get the aid into the country.

He repeated his call to the Venezuelan military to allow the aid to go through, but it is unclear if they will do so.

“The message we have to get through to the armed forces is that they have one week to do the right thing.”

He has set 23 February as the date for the humanitarian aid to get moving.

Officials in Cucuta said additional aid flights would be arriving in Colombia over the coming hours and days.

A statement said medical supplies and pharmaceuticals meant for use in hospitals will arrive early next week.

A road bridge between Venezuela and Colombia remains blocked on the Venezuelan side by shipping containers.

British billionaire Richard Branson is organising a pop concert on 22 February in Cucuta to be live-streamed over the internet to raise funds for more aid.

Source: bbc.com

Officials in north-west Nigeria have reported the discovery of the bodies of 66 people, 22 of them children and 12 women, killed by “criminal elements”.

The victims were found in eight villages in the Kujuru area of Kaduna state, the state government said.

Security forces have made arrests, state governor Nasir El-Rufai said.

He called on communities to avoid reprisal attacks but did not identify suspects or give reasons for the killings.

Four injured people were rescued by security forces and are receiving medical attention, the authorities said.

The discovery was reported on Friday – just one day before the country goes to the polls for an election.

Lawyers for the US actor Jussie Smollett have denied he had any role in an assault last month he alleges was carried out by two white men.

Their statement came after sources told US media that police believed he may have paid two Nigerian brothers to stage the attack on 29 January.

The brothers, who worked as extras on Empire, the show Smollett starred in, have been questioned by Chicago police.

Police have only said the “trajectory of the investigation” has shifted.

What have Smollett’s lawyers said?

“Jussie Smollett is angered and devastated by recent reports that the perpetrators are individuals he is familiar with,” a statement from lawyers Todd Pugh and Victor Henderson said.

Read: NYPD investigating commander accused of telling officers to shoot 50 Cent

“He has now been further victimised by claims attributed to these alleged perpetrators that Jussie played a role in his own attack. Nothing is further from the truth and anyone claiming otherwise is lying.”

One of the brothers is Smollett’s personal trainer, and the lawyers said it was “impossible to believe that this person could have played a role in the crime against Jussie or would falsely claim Jussie’s complicity”.

And the police?

They had questioned the two brothers, Ola and Abel Osundairo, last week but the pair were released on Friday and are said to be still co-operating with the investigation.

The brothers had left the US after the alleged attack and were arrested on their return last Wednesday.

Chicago police released this CCTV image of two “people of interest” in the case

Police sources told US media the pair had bought rope used in the attack at a nearby hardware store.

On Saturday, Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said: “We can confirm that the information received from the individuals questioned by police earlier in the Empire case has in fact shifted the trajectory of the investigation.

Read: ‘My abusive relationship with R Kelly’ – Asante McGee recounts

“We’ve reached out to the Empire cast member’s attorney to request a follow-up interview.”

Ola and Abel Osundairo have both appeared as extras on Empire, a drama about a hip-hop mogul and his family. In this Instagram post, Ola Osundairo (R) is seen alongside Empire creator Lee Daniels (C).

What has Smollett himself said about the alleged attack?

He said two white men hurled racial and homophobic insults as they punched him, poured a chemical substance over him and put a rope around his neck.

“This is Maga country,” he says they told him, referring to President Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again slogan.

The actor said he had been “forever changed” by the incident.

 

Source: BBC 

The New York City Police Department (NYPD) is investigating a commander who allegedly told officers to shoot the rapper 50 Cent, a department spokesperson confirmed to CBS News on Sunday.

Deputy Inspector Emanuel Gonzalez allegedly made the threat during roll call ahead of an NYPD-sanctioned boxing match 50 Cent was expected to attend in June 2017.

“The matter is under internal review,” the NYPD spokesperson told CBS News.

Read: Graham vows probe after McCabe interview on Trump

The New York Daily News, citing an anonymous source with knowledge of the incident, first reported that Gonzalez, the commanding officer at the 72nd Precinct station, told officers to shoot 50 Cent “on sight.”

The source told the paper Gonzalez tried to pass off the incident as a joke but it made its way to police headquarters.

The rapper, whose given name is Curtis Jackson, commented on the situation on social media Sunday. 

“This is how I wake up this morning, ??????????? This guy Emanuel Gonzales is a dirty cop abusing his POWER,” he tweeted. “The sad part is this man still has a badge and a gun. I take this threat very seriously and I’m consulting with my legal counsel regarding my options moving forward.”

Read: Taraji Henson denies defending R. Kelly in Weinstein post

The Daily News reported that one month before the alleged incident, Gonzalez filed an aggravated harassment complaint against the rapper, which ultimately led to no charges.

The complaint alleged 50 Cent posted a comment on Instagram that referenced a lawsuit against Gonzalez for allegedly shaking down the owner of a hip-hop club. He reportedly wrote “blast this fool” and “f**** this commander.”

Representatives for 50 Cent did not immediately return CBS News’ request for comment.

 

Source: CNN 

Russia has detained American investor Michael Calvey, the U.S. founder of the Moscow-based Baring Vostok private equity group, on suspicion of fraud.

A spokeswoman for Moscow’s Basmanny district court says Calvey was detained along with other members of the firm on Thursday. The court will rule later Friday afternoon on whether to keep them in custody.

Read: Graham vows probe after McCabe interview on Trump

According to Baring Vostok’s website, the private equity group holds more than $3.5 billion in committed capital.

A State Department spokesperson said Friday, “We are aware that a U.S. citizen was arrested on February 14, 2019, in Russia. We have no higher priority than the protection of U.S. citizens abroad. Due to privacy considerations, we do not have any additional information at this time.”

Prosecutors allege that Calvey, a senior partner who set the fund up in 1994, worked in concert with his colleagues to steal $37.5 million (2.5 billion rubles). If convicted, the men could face up to 10 years in prison.

Read: Saudi Arabia signs $20bn in deals with Pakistan

Interfax is reporting that Calvey’s detention stems from a dispute over Russia’s Vostochny Bank, in which Baring Vostok is a controlling shareholder.

Vostochny, whose portfolio is based on Siberian and Far Eastern markets, ranks among Russia’s 30 largest banks by assets.

Before starting at Baring Vostok, Calvey worked for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Salomon Brothers.

 

Source: VOA 

A small group of Labour MPs look set to announce their resignations from the party, senior party sources have said.

Several backbenchers, who disagree with the Labour leadership over its handling of Brexit and the anti-Semitism row, are expected to break away.

But Labour MP Stephen Kinnock, a vocal critic of leader Jeremy Corbyn, has urged them to “stay in and fight”.

Shadow chancellor John McDonnell said on Sunday he did not see “any need for anybody to split from the party”.

“Those saying we’ll split if we don’t get a ‘People’s Vote’ [another referendum on the final Brexit deal] – well, we’ve still kept that option on the table and it might come about,” he said.

Read: Brexit: Theresa May suffers fresh Commons defeat

Mr McDonnell insisted the party was “holding together on Brexit” and would be “ruthless” on claims of anti-Semitism that have plagued Labour.

He said the effect of MPs splintering from the party would be similar to the SDP breakaway in 1981, which split Labour’s vote and “installed Mrs Thatcher in power for a decade”.

BBC political correspondent Iain Watson said senior Labour sources had told colleagues to expect four resignations on Monday morning.

None of those believed to be considering resigning were responding to requests for comment on Sunday night.

Mr Kinnock, Labour MP for Aberavon, told the Westminster Hour on BBC Radio 4 there would “probably be some kind of splintering”.

He continued: “We have a duty to deliver for people that we are elected to represent and to change the country for the good and the Labour Party is the vehicle to do that.”

Asked what his message was for MPs thinking of leaving the party, he said: “I would say to them that there are certain people in the party with whom they disagree very strongly.

“The way to win the battle, if you like, is to stay in and fight.”

A former Labour vice-chairman said on Sunday he would quit the party over what he saw as a repeated failure to tackle hostility towards Jewish people.

Read: Delaying Brexit won’t solve anything, Theresa May tells MPs

Former Barnsley East MP Michael Dugher, who stood down at the last election, told the Sun: “I can no longer justify paying subs to a party which I now regard as institutionally anti-Semitic.”

Mounting speculation

BBC political correspondent Ben Wright said speculation that several Labour MPs could be poised to break away from the party is mounting.

“The leadership’s handling of Brexit and anti-Semitism in particular has fuelled the disillusionment of some Labour MPs,” our correspondent said.

Last week, Labour shadow Treasury spokesman Clive Lewis warned of “severe” ramifications if the party was seen to facilitate a “Tory Brexit”.

Meanwhile, ex-shadow chancellor Chris Leslie said it was “heartbreaking” that Labour was not united in arguing against leaving the EU.

On Sunday, Labour members on social media began circulating a graphic pledging to work towards a Labour-led government “under whatever leadership members elect”.

 

Source: BBC

The chairman of the US Senate Judiciary Committee has vowed to investigate allegations that top FBI and justice department officials discussed ways to remove President Trump from office.

Senator Lindsey Graham said the claims were an “attempted bureaucratic coup”.

Ex-acting FBI chief Andrew McCabe said Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein had talks in 2017 about a constitutional clause that allows the removal of a president if deemed unfit.

Mr Rosenstein has previously denied it.

The pledge by Mr Graham, a Republican who has become one of the president’s biggest defenders, comes after Mr McCabe appeared on US broadcaster CBSsaying Mr Rosenstein discussed the numbers needed to invoke the clause, known as the 25th Amendment to the US constitution.

In the 60 Minutes interview aired on Sunday, Mr McCabe also said that:

Read: Ex-Trump aide should be jailed for 19 – 24 years – Mueller

 

• The FBI “had reason to investigate” the president’s links with Russia, based on Mr Trump’s actions
• Mr Rosenstein had been “absolutely serious” when he discussed secretly wearing a wire to record Mr Trump
• Mr Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin had told him North Korea did not have the capability to hit the US with ballistic missiles – and, when US intelligence officials contradicted this assessment, responded with: “I don’t care. I believe Putin”

The White House said Mr McCabe, who was fired last year for allegedly lying to government investigators, had “no credibility”.

What are the 25th Amendment claims?

The allegations that Mr Rosenstein discussed invoking the amendment were first reported last year by the New York Times, which cited anonymous sources.

However, Mr McCabe’s quotes are the first to be made on the record from someone present at the meeting where the alleged comments were reportedly made – in May 2017, after Mr Trump fired FBI director James Comey, according to Mr McCabe.

“The discussion of the 25th Amendment was simply [that] Rod raised the issue and discussed it with me in the context of thinking about how many other cabinet officials might support such an effort,” he said.

Mr McCabe also said Mr Rosenstein was openly “counting votes, or possible votes” and that he was “very concerned” about the president “his capacity and about his intent at that point in time.”

• The White House revolving door: Who’s gone?

“To be fair, it was an unbelievably stressful time… it was really something that he kind of threw out in a very frenzied chaotic conversation about where we were and what we needed to do next.”

Mr Rosenstein has previously strongly denied having such discussions, saying there was “no basis” to invoking the amendment.

Image copyrightREUTERS

Reacting to the interview, Senator Graham pledged to hold a hearing at the Senate Judiciary Committee to determine “who’s telling the truth” and that he could issue subpoenas – a court order forcing a witness to appear to give testimony – “if that’s what it takes”.

The powerful committee he chairs oversees the US judiciary.

“It’s stunning to me that one of the chief law enforcement officers of the land would go on national television and say, oh by the way I remember a conversation with the deputy attorney general about trying to find if we could replace the president under the 25th Amendment,” he told CBS.

“I think everybody in the country needs to know if it happened. I’m going to do everything I can to get to the bottom of Department of Justice [and] FBI behaviour toward President Trump and his campaign.”

What is the 25th Amendment?

It provides for the removal of a president if he is deemed unfit for office. Duties are transferred to the vice-president.

 

Activating the relevant section of the 25th Amendment would require the approval of eight of the 15 members of Mr Trump’s cabinet, the vice-president and two-thirds majorities in Congress.

Ronald Reagan and George W Bush used the amendment to temporarily transfer power when they were medically anaesthetised.

What is the claim about secret recordings?

Mr Rosenstein is also alleged to have offered to secretly record Mr Trump, amid concerns about possible obstruction of justice relating to the investigation into alleged collusion between the president’s campaign team and Russia.

When the allegations first emerged in the New York Times, Mr Rosenstein said the report was “inaccurate and factually incorrect”.

A source told the BBC at the time that Mr Rosenstein’s comment “was sarcastic and was never discussed with any intention of recording a conversation with the president”.

Read: Trump to declare emergency over Mexico border wall

However, Mr McCabe said that Mr Rosenstein “was not joking. He was absolutely serious”.

“It was incredibly turbulent, incredibly stressful. And it was clear to me that that stress was – was impacting the deputy attorney general.

“We talked about why the president had insisted on firing [Mr Comey] and whether or not he was thinking about the Russia investigation. And in the context of that conversation, the deputy attorney general offered to wear a wire into the White House.

“I never actually considered taking him up on the offer,” he added.

What did McCabe say about the Russia inquiry?

Mr McCabe said the FBI was right to investigate Mr Trump’s ties to Russia.

When Mr Trump had told journalists and Russian diplomats that the Russia inquiry was among the reasons he had fired Mr Comey, his comments indicated that “a crime may have been committed”, he said.

“If the president committed obstruction of justice, fired the director of the FBI to negatively impact or to shut down our investigation of Russia’s malign actively – possibly in support of his campaign… you have to ask yourself: Why would a president of the United States do that?

“The FBI had reason to investigate that… the existence of an investigation doesn’t mean someone is guilty,” he said.

Image copyrightEPA

Mr McCabe said he was “very concerned” about the Russia case, and wanted to ensure that “were I removed quickly and reassigned or fired, that the case could not be closed or vanish in the night without a trace”.

What has the response been?

The justice department says Mr McCabe’s account is “inaccurate and factually incorrect.”

“The deputy attorney general never authorised any recording [of Mr Trump]… nor was the deputy attorney general in a position to consider invoking the 25th Amendment.”

In January, US media reported that Mr Rosenstein was planning to quit, although no timeframe had been set.

Meanwhile, the White House said: “Andrew McCabe was fired in disgrace from the FBI for lying, and he opened a completely baseless investigation into the president – everyone knows he has no credibility.”

Mr McCabe, who took over the FBI in 2017, was himself fired as deputy director in March last year just two days before he was due to retire.

He was sacked by US Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who said an internal review found he leaked information and misled investigators.

Mr McCabe denied the claims and said he was being targeted because of his involvement in the inquiry into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

He has now written a book on his time in the post.

 

Source: BBC 

Saudi Arabia has pledged investment deals worth $20bn (£15.5bn) with Pakistan which is seeking to bolster its fragile economy.

The deals include funding for an $8bn oil refinery in the city of Gwadar.

Read: Saudi Arabia ‘curtailed’ Jamal Khashoggi murder probe – UN expert

It comes as part of a high-profile Asian tour by the kingdom’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Pakistan is suffering a financial crisis. It has only $8bn left in foreign reserves and is looking to international backers for support.

Read: Jamal Khashoggi murder trial opens in Saudi Arabia

Prime Minister Imran Khan has been seeking help from friendly countries in order to cut the size of the bailout package his country is likely to need from the International Monetary Fund, under very strict conditions.

The country is seeking its 13th bailout since the late 1980s and Saudi Arabia has already provided a $6bn loan.

Pakistan also said it would confer its highest civilian honour on the Saudi crown prince, the Order of Pakistan, a day after the investment deals were finalised.

The move is at odds with other countries who have condemned the Kingdom over its role in the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi last year.

Read: Trump finally appoints new ambassador to Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed provisional agreements and memorandums of understanding in the energy, petrochemicals and mining sectors, according to reports.

Of the latest deals, Prince bin Salman said: “It’s big for phase one, and definitely [our commercial relationship] will grow every month and every year, and it will be beneficial to both countries.”

Charm offensive

Pakistan is the first stop on an Asian tour by the crown prince, known as MBS. He is scheduled to be in India by Tuesday and will visit China on Thursday and Friday.

The prince is seeking to recast his international image in the wake of the Jamal Khashoggi affair. The journalist was murdered at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October.

Against this backdrop, the current tour can be seen as a charm offensive by MBS, who is seeking to bolster relationships with dependable allies as he doles out cash, says the BBC’s Abid Hussain.

While Pakistan stands to benefit from Saudi Arabia’s largesse, the south Asian country is also important to the kingdom.

The two countries have a long-standing military relationship and the MBS visit comes at a time when geopolitics in the region are shifting – including concerns over the influence of Iran.

Source: bbc.com

A Niger national who was expelled from Israel has been stuck at the international airport in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, since November after his home country refused to take him back.

“I have been staying here at the airport under very bad conditions because there’s nothing, nothing at all,” 24-year-old Eissa Muhamad told the BBC.

Mr Muhamad’s series of misfortunes began last April when he was arrested for being in Israel illegally.

He had been living in the Middle Eastern state since 2011, having left Niger’s north-western Tilaberi region as a 16-year-old in search of a better life.

He said he paid traffickers to take him across Libya and Egypt before he entered Israel by foot.

Once in Tel Aviv, Mr Muhamad survived by doing odd jobs in hostels and in a sweet factory until April 2018 when he was arrested for being in Israel without proper documents.

Read: Four India soldiers killed in Kashmir gun battle

After several months in detention, Israel issued him an emergency travel document and put him on an Ethiopian Airlines plane, via Addis Ababa, to Niger in November. But on arrival in Niamey, Niger’s capital, he was refused entry by Niger’s authorities who alleged his travel document was false.

“They didn’t want me in Niger. They didn’t accept me,” Mr Muhamad said.

After more than a week of being detained in Niger he was deported back to Israel. But Israel refused to accept him and detained him again for several weeks.

“They tied my hands and legs and forced me into a plane back to Niger which refused to accept me again,” the 24-year-old said.

Then the travel document issued by Israel expired when he was stuck in transit at Addis Ababa’s Bole International Airport after Niger refused to accept him for a second time.

Food handouts

That was at the end of November, and he been stranded there ever since.

The BBC has repeatedly tried to contact Niger’s foreign ministry and its embassy in Ethiopia without success to ask why their authorities believed the document was false.

Mr Muhamad now spends his day wondering the corridors of the departures area, depending on food handouts from people in the airport lounges.

“Sometimes the airline people give me food. It’s the same every day but I am grateful to them,” he said.

When I met him, he was having breakfast at an Ethiopian Airlines lounge. Its employees have been giving him food since he became marooned here.

Image copyrightGETTY IMAGES

He took me to the Muslim prayer room and showed me a small corner where his bags and a small shawl were spread out.

“This is where I sleep most nights. If it’s too full, I find one of the seats outside, say a prayer and try to sleep,” he said, adding that he has had not access to a shower now for several months.

“I cannot stay here. I want to send out a message to [anyone] to help me because I want to move from here.

“I cannot stay at the airport because the airport is not my home,” Mr Muhamad said.

His case echoes that of a Syrian man who spent seven months living in an airport in Malaysia. Hassan al-Kontar posted regular videos from Kuala Lumpur International Airport, which brought him to world attention and last November he was allowed to travel to Canada, where he had been granted asylum.

 

“I miss my home. Everyone loves his or her home. Your home is your home. But this condition here is very hard. You understand? It’s very hard,” Mr Muhamad said.

Israel’s immigration department defended itself, saying in a statement issued to the BBC that Mr Muhamad had been deported because he had been in the country illegally.

Read: Anthony Weiner leaves prison for halfway house in Brooklyn

“He is a citizen of Niger. It has nothing to do with us because he was expelled from here and when he arrived in Niger, he refused to co-operate with the authorities. How is Israel connected? He is not an Israeli,” the statement said.

It rubbished allegations that the emergency travel document was a fake.

“The Laissez Passer is a transit document for foreigners. It was legally designed precisely for such cases,” the statement said.

‘Asylum his only option’

Mr Muhamad insists that he has co-operated with all authorities – in Niger, Israel and Ethiopia – throughout his ordeal.

His case has put Ethiopia in an awkward position. It has always welcomed refugees and currently hosts nearly a million of them.

 

This month it enacted a new policy that gives refugees access to education and work opportunities.

But an immigration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said they can only intervene in Mr Muhamad’s case if he makes an asylum request, which he has refused to do.

“It’s all up to him. We care about his dignity so we will approach him to find out if he will change his mind so he can get refugee status here. It’s the only thing we can do,” the official added.

But Mr Muhamad does not want to stay in Ethiopia, and says he would prefer to go home to Niger or back to his life in Israel.

An Israeli non-governmental organisation working with migrants and refugees said Mr Muhamad’s case was similar to that of other migrants expelled from Israel.

“Other migrants deported from Israel with the Israeli travel document have been refused entry to their countries of origin, or other countries en route, because the authorities claim the Israeli travel documents are false, ” the Hotline for Refugees and Migrants said in a statement.

“In 2016 we published a report, Forgotten in Prison, which details the cases of migrants who are faced with the same problem,” it added

It also wants Israeli officials to investigate Mr Muhamad’s allegation that he was brutally assaulted while in detention.

“What is required now is that Eissa Muhamad be returned to Israel so that his accusations of brutality at the hands of Israeli immigration authorities can be investigated, and a solution found so that he may return to Niger,” said Shira Abo, the organisation’s spokesman.

But until a resolution is found, Mr Muhamad will keep wondering Bole Airport like a ghost.

 

Source: BBC 

The Prime Minister of Niger Mr.Brigi Rafini has honoured the leader of Africa’s football governing body Ahmad Ahmad for championing the country’s hosting of the U20 Africa Cup of Nations.

The President of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) received the award on Sunday at the sidelines of the final of the tournament played in the capital Niamey.

Read: CAF boss Ahmad responds to criticism from ExCo member Musa Bility

The eight-team tournament was largely successful as Mali and Senegal battled for the title.

It was the first time Niger was hosting a continental football tournament as the cities of Niamey and Maradi hosted the seven strongest U20 sides in Africa.

Read: CAF Confederation Cup: We’ll improve upon our defense- Akakpo Patron

The Prime Minister of Niger was full of praise for Ahmad as he presented the award to the CAF insisting the hosting of the tournament has put the country on the football map.

He was presented with a plague to Ahmad in the presence of the Niger FA President Djibrilla Hima and other dignitaries attending the final.

“Niger is grateful for the opportunity CAF gave us to host the rest of Africa. We have showcased our country to the world thanks to you Mr Ahamd,” Mr Rafini said.

Niger are seeking to improve their facilities to help them host bigger tournaments in future.

Source: footballghana.com

Four soldiers have been killed in Indian-administered Kashmir in a gun battle with militants, police say.

The encounter occurred in Pulwama district, where more than 40 Indian soldiers were killed in a suicide attack on Thursday.

A civilian was also killed in the shootout as Indian troops launched a search operation in the area.

Read: Kashmir attack: Bomb kills 40 Indian paramilitary police in convoy

Police say two militants who were trapped in the village, have been killed in the operation.

Heavy firing has been heard, and Indian security officials are appealing to villagers to stay indoors. 

Police told BBC Urdu that when they fired “warning shots” at the house in Pinglena village where the militants were hiding, they fired back. One officer who was critically injured has been taken to hospital.

The owner of the house was killed during the exchange of fire, police added.
Deadliest attack

Last week’s attack in Pulwama was the deadliest in Kashmir in decades.

The bomber used a vehicle packed with explosives to ram a convoy of 78 buses carrying Indian security forces on the heavily guarded Srinagar-Jammu highway about 20km (12 miles) from the capital, Srinagar.

The alleged bomber was identified as a local Kashmiri aged between 19 and 21. The following day, police began searching villages in Pulwama. 

Thursday’s attack sparked anti-Pakistan protests in some Indian cities and angry mobs targeted Kashmiri students and businessmen.

Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad has said it carried out the attack and India has accused Pakistan of even having a hand in it – an allegation Islamabad firmly denies.

Both India and Pakistan claim all of Muslim-majority Kashmir but control only parts of it. 

Kashmiri Muslims are being warned to stay vigilant, amid reports of threats and intimidation after last week’s deadly attack on Indian forces.

Isolated incidents of students from Kashmir being beaten up or evicted from their accommodation in northern Indian states were reported in local media.

India’s Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) offered help to students in need, but also warned of false reports. 

The heavy death toll of the attack shocked many across the country and led the Indian government to say it would begin its retaliation by “completely isolating” Pakistan diplomatically.

India has already imposed a swathe of economic measures on Pakistan after the attack, including revoking Most Favoured Nation trading status and raising customs duty to 200%.

Source: bbc

Ex-New York congressman Anthony Weiner has been released from federal prison after serving about 15 months for sending explicit messages to a minor.

Weiner has been transferred to a halfway house in Brooklyn where he will remain under supervision for the rest of his sentence, prison records show.

The 54-year-old was sentenced to 21 months in jail in September 2017.

He had pleaded guilty to exchanging sexually explicit messages with a 15-year-old girl from North Carolina.

Weiner, who is scheduled to be released on 14 May, was once a rising Democratic star.

He quit Congress in 2011 after a graphic image sent from his Twitter account went public, and was again exposed in his 2013 run for New York mayor.

In September 2016, the FBI began investigating Weiner after the Daily Mail reported that he had exchanged obscene messages with an underage girl, who said he had asked her to undress on camera.

In May the following year, Weiner’s ex-wife Huma Abedin, a former aide to Hillary Clinton, filed for divorce on the same day that her then husband pleaded guilty to the explicit exchanges.

The investigation into Weiner’s sexting case played a role in the 2016 US presidential election, when authorities found emails on his laptop from Ms Abedin.

A separate FBI investigation into Mrs Clinton’s private use of email while she was secretary of state was closed after officials said nothing incriminating was found.

Source: bbc.com