US Government Shuts Down; Senate Passes Bill, Sends It to House

The U.S. Senate, early Friday morning, voted 71-28 to approve a combined bill to fund the government through March 23 and a two-year federal budget.

The legislation now goes to the U.S. House, where its future is less certain. A vote in the House is expected Friday morning. 

The U.S. government shut down at midnight Thursday after Congress missed a deadline to renew the federal government’s funding. The shutdown marks the second partial federal shutdown in less than a month.

Earlier, a single Republican senator held up a bipartisan bill to keep the U.S. government open hours before federal funds were set to expire.

Rand Paul of Kentucky objected to the Senate proceeding to vote on a two-year budget deal that would boost military and domestic spending by hundreds of billions of dollars, saying it would explode America’s rising federal deficit and add to the nation’s more than $20 trillion national debt.

“I can’t, in all good honesty, in all good faith, just look the other way,” Paul said in a fiery and lengthy floor speech that consumed dwindling time that Congress had to avert a halt of nonessential federal operations. “We have a 700-page bill that no one has read that was printed at midnight. … Nothing will be reformed, the waste will continue.”

Paul’s objection drew an angry response from a fellow Republican, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who argued America’s military desperately needs additional funds after years of budget caps that constrained both the Pentagon and domestic programs.

“Debt and deficits are no excuse to leave the war fighter hanging,” Graham said. “Whatever it is to keep our military going, I’ll do it.”

​Senate rules

Under Senate rules, any member can speak for as long as he or she desires, unless three-fifths of the body votes to end debate. Any senator also can object to a vote, causing lengthy procedural delays.

Paul’s action threw into chaos a carefully choreographed script for how the day’s legislative business was to be conducted, with swift Senate and House votes so that the budget deal could be sent to the White House for President Donald Trump’s signature with time to spare before midnight in Washington, when federal spending authority ends absent an extension.

Senate procedures would allow a vote on the budget deal to go forward at 1 a.m. Friday EST, with or without Paul’s consent. But the government shutdown would have begun by that time.

“We can provide certainty to the thousands and thousands of people who expect government to be open, or we can play this game [with a vote delay] until 1 a.m.,” Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina said. “I, for one, think we should do it right now.”

Hours before the Thursday night deadline, Representative Steny Hoyer, the No. 2 Democrat in the House, released a statement urging Republican leaders “to bring to the floor a one-day funding bill to keep the government open. Given that the Senate still has not passed” its agreement.

​Bipartisan support 

Negotiated between the Senate’s Republican and Democratic leaders, the two-year budget bill appeared to have ample bipartisan support for passage in both houses of Congress.

“This agreement ensures that our armed forces will finally have the resources they need,” Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas said. “In addition, the funding bill will provide support for our veterans, those who have worn the uniform as well as their families, and it will clear the way for new investment in our nation’s infrastructure.”

“It’s a good deal,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said. “And it’s a strong signal that we can break the gridlock that has overwhelmed this body and work together for the good of the country.”

White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah told reporters at the daily briefing that, “We do support the two-year spending bill. It lifts the caps on defense spending, which is something the secretary of defense and the president’s generals have told him they need to ensure that we rebuild our military and protect our national security.”

The accord drew opposition from opposite extremes of Congress’ ideological spectrum, but not in sufficient numbers to threaten passage. Some conservative Republicans blasted the added spending as a surrender to fiscal insanity.

Some progressive Democrats, meanwhile, protested the agreement’s omission of any measure to end the threat of deportation for hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants brought to America as children.

“They live and work here. They share our nation with us. Right now, we are being called upon to protect them from deportation and we must answer that call,” Democratic Representative Luis Gutierrez of Illinois said. “Vote against this budget.”

Partial shutdown in January

Democrats blocked a stopgap spending bill in January, triggering a three-day partial federal government shutdown, in part to protest Congress’ inaction on Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), an Obama administration program that Trump rescinded last year and is set to expire March 5.

Bipartisan negotiations have yet to reach a deal on an overhaul of America’s immigration laws. However, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has repeatedly promised to start Senate floor debate on immigration reform, including a fix for DACA recipients, after spending issues are resolved.

House Speaker Paul Ryan gave a similar assurance on Thursday, saying, “To anyone who doubts my commitment to solve this problem and bring up a DACA and immigration reform bill, do not. We will bring a solution to the floor, one that the president will sign.”

Один травмований боєць ЗСУ і 4 обстріли бойовиків – штаб АТО про минулу добу на Донбасі

Упродовж минулої доби підтримувані Росією бойовики 4 рази обстрілювали позиції Збройних сил України на Донбасі, при цьому бойового травмування зазнав один український військовослужбовець, повідомили у прес-центрі штабу АТО вранці 9 лютого.

Згідно з повідомленням, обстріли тривали в першій половині дня, зокрема, в районі Широкина, Пісків та Водяного. У штабі повідомили, що бойовики під час збройних атак використовували міномети різних калібрів та гранатомети.

В угрупованнях «ДНР» та «ЛНР» станом на 6:30 ранку 9 лютого не повідомляли про ситуацію за останні години на захоплених бойовиками територіях.

Тристороння контактна група щодо врегулювання ситуації на Донбасі оголосила черговий «режим тиші» з півночі 23 грудня 2017 року. Нинішнє нове перемир’я, як і попередні, порушується практично щодня. Сторони заперечують свою вину в цьому і звинувачують противників у провокаціях.

Pence Reaffirms US Commitment to Longtime Ally South Korea

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said in a meeting Thursday with South Korean President Moon Jae-in that Washington would “bring maximum pressure to bear on North Korea” until it abandons its nuclear weapons program.

Meeting with Moon at the Blue House in Seoul, Pence reaffirmed to longtime ally South Korea the U.S. commitment to economically and diplomatically isolate North Korea in order to achieve the goal of a denuclearized Korean Peninsula.

Early Friday, Pence traveled to the South Korean Navy’s 2nd Fleet Command in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul, to visit a memorial for the South Korean warship Cheonan, which was sunk by an explosion blamed on the North. Nearly 50 sailors aboard the Cheonan were killed.

The vice president is also scheduled to meet with some North Korean defectors while in Pyeongtaek.

Later Friday, Pence will lead a U.S. delegation to the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

Moon said South Korea is viewing hosting the Olympics as a way to improve diplomatic relations with North Korea. He has referred to the games as the “Olympic Games of peace.”

‘Vigilance and resolve’ 

On Thursday, while in Japan, Pence stopped at Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo, where he gave a pointed speech against North Korea.

He said the United States will act with “vigilance and resolve” in the face of North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile threats, and reiterated the Trump administration’s warning that while its seeks peace, “all options are on the table.”

About 54,000 personnel are stationed at the U.S. base. Pence toured the facility and met with Air Force Lt. Gen. Jerry Martinez, commander of U.S. Forces Japan. He also was briefed on the capabilities of the base if “diplomacy fails.”

Pence said North Korea has repeatedly responded to overtures from the world with broken promises and provocations. He highlighted his earlier announcement that the United States would continue to intensify what he called a “maximum pressure campaign” and keep it in place until North Korea abandons its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

“We’re standing in a country that has literally seen ballistic missiles overfly their land twice in a single month. And they’ve seen multiple ballistic missiles land within their economic zone in the Sea of Japan,” Pence later told reporters.

“American forces, the Self-Defense Forces of Japan are ready for any eventuality. And we will continue to make it clear to all parties that the United States and our allies in this region stand ready at a moment’s notice to defend our people and defend our way of life,” he added.

​Olympics

U.S. officials have not ruled out the possibility that the vice president might meet a North Korean official at the Olympics. North Korean state media on Thursday said there was no intention on the North Korean side for such talks to take place.

Pence told reporters his team had not requested a meeting, but that if it did happen, he would continue his message that North Korea must entirely abandon its nuclear and ballistic missile efforts and will remain under pressure until it does so.

“The time has come for North Korea to abandon its nuclear and ballistic missiles ambitions, set aside this long pattern of deception and provocation, and then and only then can we begin to move forward to a peaceable outcome on the peninsula,” he said.

Among those in the delegation North Korea is sending south are Kim Yong Nam, who is the ceremonial head of North Korea’s government and Kim Yo Jong, an influential sister of leader Kim Jong Un.

Others attending as official members of the U.S. delegation are Pence’s wife, Karen Pence; Army General Vincent Brooks, commander of U.S. and United Nations forces on the peninsula; Brooks’ predecessor, retired Army General James Thurman; House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce; Chargé d’Affaires ad interim at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul Marc Knapper; and 2002 Olympic figure skating gold medal winner Sara Hughes.

Fred Warmbier, the father of Otto Warmbier, an American student who was jailed in North Korea and died last year after returning to the United States in a coma, will be Pence’s designated special guest at the opening ceremony.

The sight of Warmbier alongside Pence will serve to “remind the world of the atrocities that happen in North Korea,” according to a White House official.

Californians to Trump: ‘We Will Fight’ Offshore Drilling

Commissions that oversee coastal lands and water pushed the Trump administration to leave California out of plans to expand offshore drilling, saying the state will throw up any barriers possible to prevent pumping and transportation of oil.

The warning came weeks after Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said he wants to open nearly all U.S. coastlines to offshore oil and gas drilling.

Since then, the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has proposed six sales of drilling rights off the California coast and a seventh off Oregon and Washington between 2020 and 2023.

“Given how unpopular oil development in coastal waters is in California, it is certain that the state would not approve new pipelines or allow use of existing pipelines to transport oil from new leases onshore,” the State Lands Commission wrote in a letter Wednesday to federal officials.

The commission controls up to 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) offshore, at which point federal jurisdiction kicks in. It has not allowed drilling in the state-controlled waters since a 1969 oil spill near Santa Barbara.

State and local governments could also block the construction of helipads and other infrastructure on land needed to support offshore operations.

Laws from the 1980s

In the 1980s, many coastal cities passed ordinances to block such infrastructure when President Ronald Reagan looked to expand offshore drilling. Many of those laws remain in place.

Drillers could find ways around state and local restrictions — such as pumping oil directly onto ships for transport — but the process is expensive and may not be profitable if oil prices remain relatively low.

A separate letter from the California Coastal Commission warned that an oil spill would devastate the state’s tourism economy and coastal beauty.

The letter pointed to the Santa Barbara spill, which caused severe environmental damage, hurt the fishing industry and dissuaded tourists from visiting.

The commission has authority to review activities in federally controlled waters. It can’t block drilling but could file a lawsuit contending the move doesn’t meet ocean management plans approved jointly by the state and federal governments in the 1970s.

​’We will fight them again’

“We’ve fought similar efforts before, and we will fight them again,” Coastal Commission Chair Dayna Bochco said.

The state agencies weighed in ahead of a public meeting Thursday in Sacramento, the only opportunity for people to register their opinions in person to the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

Fishermen, environmentalists, surfers and other critics demonstrated outside the state Capitol before marching to the meeting at a nearby library.

Several demonstrators chanted in opposition at the open-house style meeting, where bureau scientists talked one-on-one with visitors and collected written comments.

“Why do we want to let someone start drilling for more oil when we need to be putting money into resources for green economy and green fuel,” said Jim Wilson, a 71-year-old retired mail carrier from Placerville, outside Sacramento.

California Assembly opposed

Earlier in the day, the California Assembly voted overwhelmingly to oppose renewed drilling.

“We are California and we will fight back to protect our beautiful coast,” said Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi of Torrance.

Republicans Randy Voepel of Santee and Travis Allen of Huntington Beach said California can safely harvest oil and gas. Allen, a GOP candidate for governor, said that could help lower gasoline prices.

Most of California’s outer continental shelf — the area that would be opened to drilling — is in shallow water, where operations are not complicated, said Tim Charters, senior director of government and political affairs for the National Ocean Industries Association, a trade group for the offshore energy industry.

“It’s critical to keep the dollars at home, create the jobs locally instead of sending the money overseas and creating jobs in foreign places,” he said.

Zinke angered critics when he said drilling off Florida’s coast would remain off limits, prompting California Gov. Jerry Brown and others to request a similar exemption. Regulators later said no final decision had been made about Florida.

Oregon, New Jersey protests

On Tuesday, more than 100 demonstrators gathered outside Oregon’s state Capitol in Salem to denounce the proposal. A day later in New Jersey, more than a dozen groups held a rally in the driving rain on the Asbury Park boardwalk to demonstrate their opposition.

Twenty-three meetings are planned nationwide in coastal states. Comments can be submitted online through March 9.

Trudeau Pitches Canadian Globalism to California Tech Firms

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday pitched Canadian globalism and the country’s new fast-track visa as reasons why Silicon Valley companies should consider Canada as a place to do business and spend money.

Trudeau brought his charm offensive to the San Francisco Bay Area amid increasing unease over U.S. immigration policy and while talks continue over the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The heated debate over immigration since the election of President Donald Trump has provided a clear opening for Canada to promote itself to Silicon Valley.

As American employers worry about access to foreign workers, Canada is offering a two-week, fast-track employment permit for certain workers, dubbed the “global skills strategy visa.”

Government-sponsored billboards in Silicon Valley pitch: “H1-B Problems? Pivot to Canada.” Recruiters from cities in Canada attend Canadian university alumni events in the valley, urging graduates to come home “to your next career move in the Great White North.”

Trudeau demurred when asked whether Trump’s immigration efforts are making the sales pitch easier, pointing to the power of globalism.

“We know that bringing in great talent from around the world is an enormous benefit, not just to the companies that want to do that, but to Canadian jobs and to our country as a whole, so we’re going to continue to do that,” he said.

Recruiting successes

His stops Thursday were designed to showcase recruiting successes.

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff announced the online business software company will invest another $2 billion in its Canadian operations.

And San Francisco-based AppDirect, an online management platform whose co-CEO first met Trudeau in political science class at McGill University in Montreal, said it would add another 300 jobs in Canada in the next five years.

Trudeau is also meeting with Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos as Bezos considers the location for its second headquarters. Toronto, which has created a government-sponsored innovation hub for tech companies, was the only one of several Canadian cities that applied to make the shortlist.

The San Francisco Bay Area has become increasingly important to the Canadian government, said Rana Sarkar, the consul general of Canada in San Francisco. He said it fits with the “innovation strategy” the Trudeau government has promoted since its election in 2015.

“It’s the global epicenter for many of these revolutions. We need to be here both offensively to ensure that we’re telling our story. … And we’re also here defensively to ensure that we’re here at the table when the decisions about the next economy are made,” Sarkar said.

Trudeau’s stop in San Francisco also highlights the already strong ties between Canada and California, particularly in research, academia and technology.

NAFTA

While much of the attention on the North American Free Trade Agreement has focused on physical commodities such as vehicle manufacturing, dairy and timber, skilled workers have also become increasingly mobile between the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

Google built its latest DeepMind artificial intelligence facility at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, after several of its graduates came to work on the project.

The next round of talks over the 24-year-old trade pact in Mexico later this month loomed over Trudeau’s visit. Trump has called the agreement a job-killing “disaster” on the campaign trail and has threatened to withdraw from it if he can’t get what he wants.

The lengthy talks have increased the political pressure and the rhetoric in Canada, where the stakes are high.

Trudeau declined to talk about specifics Thursday, but said Canada wants an agreement that is “win-win-win” for all three countries.

“We’re going to continue to make an argument that it’s not enough to just trade, we have to ensure that the benefits of trade are properly and fairly shared,” he said.

There are hundreds, maybe thousands — no one can say for sure — of Canadians in the tech industry in Northern California, many of them on visas made possible through the trade pact.

Without NAFTA, “those [jobs] go away. That could cause immediate disruption for the tech community” on both sides of the border, said Daniel Ujczo, an international trade lawyer based in Columbus, Ohio, who has been part of the talks, now in their sixth round.

“It’s unfortunately not an area that is up for discussion. Canada and Mexico keep raising worker mobility issues, but the U.S. won’t discuss it,” he said.

Trudeau will meet with Gov. Jerry Brown and Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, both Democrats, on Friday before he travels to Southern California to deliver a speech at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

The location is a symbolic choice, referring to the longstanding trade relationship between the U.S. and Canada. In 1988, Reagan and then-Prime Minister Brian Mulroney signed the first free trade agreement — a precursor to NAFTA.

МЗС Угорщини: Україна не виконує рекомендації Венеційської комісії

У Міністерстві закордонних справ Угорщини 8 лютого заперечили твердження українських ЗМІ, що під час двосторонніх політичних консультацій між заступником міністра закордонних справ України Василем Боднаром і статс-секретарем МЗС Угорщини Левенте Мадяром 7 лютого в Ужгороді стосовно закону України «Про освіту» сторонам вдалося досягнути домовленості. 

«Жодної угоди не було укладено щодо освітнього закону, Україна і надалі не виконує рекомендації Венеційської комісії», – заявив представник МЗС Угорщини Тамаш Менцер.

Менцер повторив точку зору свого уряду, яка полягає в тому, що Україна не може вводити в дію закон про освіту доти, доки не узгодить усі питання мовно-освітньої статті з нацменшинами, включно з угорською. 

«Ми тішимося, що, за певними ознаками, ці консультації незабаром розпочнуться, – додав Менцер. – Угорці Закарпаття можуть розраховувати на повну підтримку уряду Угорщини». 

Разом із тим він зазначив, що наразі рано говорити про зміну позиції офіційного Будапешта, згідно з якою, Угорщина блокуватиме міжнародні ініциативи Києва до того моменту, поки не буде досягнуто угоди з усіх питань освітнього закону між українською владою та угорцями Закарпаття. «Однак до цього поки ще далеко», – вважає урядовець. 

У середу в Ужгороді заступник міністра закордонних справ України Василь Боднар на зустрічі з угорським колегою підтвердив, що імплементація сьомої статті закону України «Про освіту» відбуватиметься шляхом прийняття закону про середню освіту з урахуванням рекомендації Венеційської комісії та на основі консультацій з усіма нацменшинами, включно з угорською громадою України. 

 

 

НА ЦЮ Ж ТЕМУ: 

Угорщина має намір закрити питання щодо закону України «Про освіту» під час наступних переговорів

Геннадій Москаль: де патріоти-волонтери, які навчили б меншини Закарпаття державної мови?

Венеціанська комісія і освіта в Україні: українська мова – основа держави

Міністр Лілія Гриневич про мову викладання, батьківські комітети і зарплату освітян

Мультфільм «Лепетуни» вчить дітей української мови​

US Stocks Fall on Concern of Rising Rates, Inflation

U.S. stocks tumbled again Thursday as investors continued to fret about the possibility of rising inflation and higher interest rates. 

For the second time in four days, the Dow Jones industrial average sank more than 1,000 points, or 4.2 percent, to end Thursday day at 23,860.

The Standard and Poor’s Index, the benchmark for many index funds, also shed 100.66 points, or 3.8 percent, to close at 2,581. It last hit that low in mid-November.

The two indexes have dropped 10 percent from their all-time highs, set on January 26. That means they are in what is known on Wall Street as a “correction,” fueled by fears that a long stretch of low interest rates and tame inflation, which helped driven up stock prices, might be coming to an end.

As the day wore on, it became evident major U.S. stock indexes were headed toward their fifth loss in the last six days, erasing big gains in the first weeks of the new year.

Stocks began to tumble last Friday after the U.S. Labor Department reported wages grew rapidly in January, sparking concern of higher inflation and lower corporate profits.

Earlier in Europe, stock prices declined and bond yields increased after the Bank of England said it may boost interest rates in response to a strong global economy. Britain’s FTSE-100 Index fell 1.5 percent and Germany’s DAX plunged 2.6 percent.

The picture was brighter in Asia, where Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index climbed just over 1 percent, South Korea’s Kospi Index rose five-tenths of one percent, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index gained four-tenths of one percent. 

Суд скасував для Полякова зобов’язання носити електронний браслет – САП

Солом’янський районний суд Києва скасував зобов’язання для народного депутата від «Народного фронту» Максима Полякова носити електронний браслет. Цю інформацію Радіо Свобода підтвердили в Спеціалізованій антикорупційній прокуратурі.

Водночас, за даними САП, суд продовжив до 9 квітня інші зобов’язання, зокрема здати документи для виїзду за кордон.

Народні депутати Борислав Розенблат (позафракційний, виключений із фракції «Блоку Петра Порошенка»), а також Максим Поляков є фігурантами так званої «бурштинової справи». У діях Розенблата Генеральна прокуратура України вбачає ознаки зловживання впливом і хабарництва на загальну суму у 280 тисяч доларів, у діях Полякова – ознаки зловживання впливом і хабарництва на суму в 7 тисяч 500 доларів. Цих депутатів підозрюють в отриманні неправомірної вигоди за внесення до парламенту законопроектів і вчинення інших дій, пов’язаних із видобутком бурштину, в інтересах компанії-нерезидента. Депутати ці звинувачення відкидають.

Захист Афанасьєва готує нові скарги в ЄСПЛ проти Росії

Сторона захисту Геннадія Афанасьєва, який був одним із фігурантів «справи Сенцова», готує ще дві скарги проти Росії в Європейський суд з прав людини. Про це 8 лютого проектові Радіо Свобода Крим.Реалії розповів сам Афанасьєв.

«Сьогодні ми перемогли в двох скаргах, але вже готуються на подачу ще дві. Я сподіваюся вони будуть не останні. Під час ув’язнення було багато моментів, але не з усіма кейсами ми можемо йти в ЄСПЛ», – сказав Афанасьєв.

За його словами, рішення ЄСПЛ задовольнити дві його попередніх скарги підтвердили його свідчення про порушення прав людини в Росії.

«Я дуже довго до цього йшов. Ще у в’язниці я фіксував усі факти правопорушень, що стосуються мене і людей поруч. Це звичайно нікому не подобалося, і за це довелося страждати. Сьогодні суд підтвердив всі мої слова і всі мої свідчення», – заявив він.

За словами Афанасьєва, він залишився не задоволений сумою компенсації.

«ЄСПЛ присудив дві тисячі євро. Для людей, яких катують і порушують їх права, в порівнянні з іншими відшкодуваннями, це абсолютний мізер», – сказав він.

8 лютого Європейський суд з прав людини задовольнив дві скарги захисту Афанасьєва на умови перевезень у тюремних транспортних засобах Федеральної служби з виконання покарань Росії і присудив йому грошові компенсації.

Раніше Афанасьєв розповідав про тортури і побої в російському ув’язненні. Геннадій Афанасьєв стверджує, що його під тортурами змусили обмовити інших кримчан – Олега Сенцова і Олександра Кольченка, яких в Росії засудили на 20 і 10 років колонії відповідно.

У грудні 2014 року Московський міськсуд засудив Афанасьєва до семи років позбавлення волі з відбуванням покарання в колонії суворого режиму за звинуваченням в «тероризмі».

Геннадій Афанасьєв і ще один українець Юрій Солошенко повернулися в Україну з російського ув’язнення 14 червня 2016 року. Їх обміняли на одеситів-представників ЗМІ – Олену Гліщинську і Віталія Діденка, яких звинувачують в сепаратизмі. Вони були серед організаторів і активних учасників так званої «Народної ради Бессарабії».

Розслідування справи про корупцію в Міноборони наближається до завершення – Холодницький

Розслідування справи про розтрати при закупівлях у Міністерстві оборони України, фігурантом якої є заступник міністра Ігор Павловський, наближається до завершення, заявив керівник Спеціалізованої антикорупційної прокуратури Назар Холодницький під час прес-конференції в Києві.

«Ця справа наближається до свого завершення. Там були продовжені терміни слідства у зв’язку з необхідністю проведення необхідних додаткових експертиз. Статус генерала Павловського «підозрюваний». Ви знаєте, що запобіжний захід йому було змінено судом, але на процесуальний статус жодним чином це не вплинуло», – сказав Холодницький.

Він додав, що ця справа «в пріоритеті на завершення в лютому – на початку березня».

11 жовтня Національне антикорупційне бюро затримало заступника міністра оборони Ігоря Павловського і директора департаменту держзакупівель і постачання матеріальних ресурсів Володимира Гулевича за підозрою у розтраті понад 149 мільйонів гривень держбюджету під час закупівель палива для потреб Міноборони.

Суд обрав Ігорю Павловському і Володимиру Гулевичу запобіжний захід у вигляді цілодобового домашнього арешту. У ході засідання Павловський відкинув звинувачення НАБУ і заявив, що він не порушував закон.

9 листопада Апеляційний суд Києва змінив домашній арешт Ігоря Павловського на особисте зобов’язання.

За версією слідства, на початку 2016 року комітет із конкурсних торгів МОУ організував процедуру відкритих торгів на закупівлю палива, комітет затвердив пропозиції одного з учасників торгів як найбільш економічно вигідні – у травні 2016 року уклали 14 договорів про постачання палива для техніки спеціального призначення на загальну суму понад мільярд гривень.

У НАБУ заявляють, що упродовж червня-серпня 2016 року за відсутності будь-яких правових підстав для внесення змін до договорів про закупівлю товарів за бюджетні кошти, замовник та постачальник уклали низку додаткових угод, згідно з якими було безпідставно збільшено ціну за одиницю товару в середньому на 16% від початкової ціни – внаслідок цього на користь постачальника безпідставно й незаконно було перераховано бюджетні кошти на 149 мільйонів гривень.

НСЖУ: блокування приміщення медіа-холдингу «Вєсті» є перешкоджанням роботі журналістів

Національна спілка журналістів України називає блокування силовиками приміщення медіа-холдингу «Вєсті» у бізнес-центрі «Гуллівер» у Києві перешкоджанням роботі ЗМІ.

«Застосування грубої сили – це аргумент слабких і неправих. З шостої ранку силовики заблокували роботу холдингу «Вести». Ніби-то господарський спір, бо йде намагання держави вилучити «сумнівні» активи… Очевидно, це перешкоджання роботі медіа, роботі журналістів. Це прояв дикунства людей при владі і людей у погонах», – написав голова НСЖУ Сергій Томіленко у Facebook 8 лютого.

Раніше Національне агентство з питань виявлення, розшуку й управління активами, одержаними від корупційних й інших злочинів, заявило, що «завдяки спільним діям Головної військової прокуратури та Національної поліції», за рішенням суду, взяло в управління приміщення медіа-холдингу «Вєсті» у бізнес-центрі «Гулівер» у Києві.

Повідомляється, що наразі Національне агентство передало вказані приміщення в управління компанії-управителю, відповідно до укладеного договору управління майном.

Вранці 8 лютого головний редактор «Вєстєй» Оксана Омельченко написала у Facebook про обшуки в приміщеннях офісу медіа-холдингу в Києві. За її словами, силовики не пускали журналістів на роботу.

Влітку минулого року головний військовий прокурор Анатолій Матіос заявив що колишній міністр доходів і зборів Олександр Клименко, який після повалення режиму Януковича втік до Росії, вивів 788 мільйонів доларів на рахунки кількох компаній, серед яких вказувався медіа-холдинг «Вєсті». У зв’язку із заявленою «антикорупційною операцією» правоохоронці проводили у приміщеннях холдингу обшуки. Головний редактор «Вєстєй» Оксана Омельченко тоді заявляла, що причина обшуків – низка резонансних публікацій, пов’язаних із діяльністю військової прокуратури й особисто Анатолія Матіоса.

Pence Counters South Korea’s Olympic Engagement Efforts with North Korea

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence assured South Korea the United States will stand shoulder to shoulder with its allies to bring “maximum pressure” on North Korea to end its nuclear and ballistic missile program.

Pence arrived in South Korea on Thursday intent on countering North Korea’s Olympic charm offensive in ways that could create a rift with South Korea’s engagement efforts.

“Our resolve to stand with you is unshakable, and we will stand with the people of South Korea and our other allies in the region until we achieve this objective for the peace of your nation, of this peninsula and of the wider world,” Pence said during a joint news conference, adding that the two nations shared the objective of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula.

“We certainly hope to use this opportunity to the maximum, so that the Winter Olympic Games can become a venue that leads to dialogue for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula as well as the establishment of peace on the Korean Peninsula,” South Korean President Moon Jae-in said.

​In Japan

In comments earlier in Japan, Pence said the U.S. wants a peaceful solution to the nuclear standoff with North Korea, but is prepared to use force if necessary.

“We are ready for any eventuality. The United States of America will always seek peace. We will ever strive for a better future, but you, the instruments of American power know, and let our adversaries know, all options are on the table,” Pence told to U.S. troops.

The vice president’s emphasis on possible military action follows increased talk in Washington that the administration of President Donald Trump is planning a “bloody nose” military strike in response to the next North Korean provocation.

But in South Korea many officials and analysts discount the threat of U.S. military action against North Korea, because it would put at risk the lives of millions in South Korea and Japan from a likely counterattack.

“All this talk about pre-emptive strikes by the United States is actually part of larger campaign to apply pressure on North Korea,” said Go Myong-Hyun, a North Korea analyst with the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul.

Maximum pressure

After meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo on Wednesday, Pence said the U.S. is planning to impose “the toughest and most aggressive round of economic sanctions on North Korea ever,” to pressure the Kim Jong Un government in Pyongyang to give up its nuclear program, including accelerated efforts in the last year to develop a long range nuclear missile that can target the U.S. mainland.

On Thursday he again sounded an uncompromising tone, demanding that North Korea take unilateral action before the U.S. would agree to engage in talks to end sanctions and provide economic assistance and security guarantees.

“We will continue to intensify this maximum pressure campaign on North Korea until it abandons its nuclear and ballistic missile programs once and for all,” Pence said.

Pence will lead the American delegation at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in South Korea that begin Friday. The U.S. views North Korea’s Olympic cooperation as an attempt to improve it image and weaken international support for sanctions.

The vice president said he would counter this effort by highlighting the repressive nature of the leadership in Pyongyang. To that end he has invited the father of Otto Warmbier, an American student who died last year after being imprisoned in North Korea for 17 months, to join the Olympic delegation.

Engagement rift

However the U.S. administration’s inflexible approach to North Korea indicates a possible growing rift with the South Korean president’s engagement strategy, despite assurances to the contrary from Washington and Seoul.

“It’s clear that there is already a major split between the two. So far the United States and South Korea’s leaders have been polite about it,” said David Straub, a North Korea analyst with the Sejong Institute in South Korea.

After more than a year of accelerated North Korean ballistic missile and nuclear tests, South Korea’s President Moon helped bring about a pause in provocations by negotiating North Korea’s participation in the Olympics. He also gained U.S. support for postponing joint military exercises until after the Olympics and Paralympics end in late March.

North and South Korea agreed to field a joint women’s ice hockey team for the games and to march together under a unified flag during the opening ceremony. North Korean artists and musicians will also perform during the games at venues in the Pyeongchang region and in Seoul.

For Moon, the increased North Korean cooperation validates his support for greater engagement to peacefully resolve the nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula. Moon has said he wants to build upon the Olympic outreach to restart talks with the U.S. to eventually halt North Koreas’ nuclear development program in exchange for economic assistance and security guarantees.

Moon’s approach would require offering concessions, such as a further delay to military drills or increased economic engagement, for a North Korean promise to hold off further weapons tests and agree to pursue denuclearization talks.

Pence’s hard-line stance makes it unlikely that the U.S. would agree to such a deal.

“I think what the U.S. government is doing, is drawing a line in the sand and saying that contrary to South Korean government expectations, the United States is not willing to take this opportunity of the Olympics as a turning point in the current standoff between the United States and North Korea,” said Go with the Asan Institute.

North Korea is sending a high-ranking official delegation to the Olympics that will include the younger sister of leader Kim Jong Un and the North’s nominal head of state, Kim Yong Nam. But Pyongyang indicated it is not interested in meeting with the Pence-led delegation.

Military parade

Also on Thursday North Korea held a relatively low key military parade in Pyongyang, the day before the Olympics are to begin. The annual parade to mark the founding of the North Korean army is usually held in April but was moved to February this year.

North Korean military parades are often seen as a provocative display of military power and ballistic missile technology that is banned under United Nations resolutions.

However official state media in North Korea did not broadcast the parade live, and international news organizations were not invited to cover this event, as they had been for past parades. The South Korean government said Thursday morning that it did not even know what time the parade would begin.

The restrictive coverage of the military parade may indicate Pyongyang wants to keep the world focused on its Olympic participation and renewed inter-Korean cooperation.

Lee Yoon-jee in Seoul contributed to this report.

World’s Most Popular Dinosaur on the Move at Chicago’s Field Museum

From the Black Hills of South Dakota … to the black mugs lining the shelves of the Field Museum gift shop … the world’s most popular T-Rex leaves a lasting impression.

“Millions of people come to Chicago every year just to see Sue,” said Hillary Hansen, senior project manager at the Field Museum.

Sue is the name affectionately bestowed on the Field Museum’s star attraction, the world’s largest and most complete fossilized example of a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

She was named after the woman who discovered her, paleontologist Sue Hendrickson. When she discovered the dinosaur emerging from obscurity in the rock formations of South Dakota in the early 1990s, it was only the beginning of the T-rex’s long journey that included seizure by federal authorities and ultimately an auction at Sotheby’s in New York.

Chicago’s Field Museum won the bidding at that auction in 1997, spending more than $8 million to bring Sue to Chicago.

And that is where she has been for the last 18 years.

But Hansen says Sue’s popularity transcends her physical home in Chicago.

“Sue is known the world over also, because we have two casts of Sue that travel around the world, so we take Sue to other museums, as well as people coming here to take a look at Sue,” Hansen told VOA during a recent press event at the Field Museum. “Those casts of Sue have been traveling for 15 years or so, so in the aggregate, millions of people have come to know about Sue, and they didn’t even come to Chicago.”

“People that haven’t seen her have a relationship to Sue through social media, and she’s a great ambassador not only for Field Museum but natural history museums in general,” said Japp Hoogstraten, Field Museum’s director of exhibitions.

Despite that popularity, Hoogstraten says Sue always seemed dwarfed by the 21-meter-high ceiling of her home in Stanley Field Hall. “A lot of visitors come to the Field Museum to see Sue and feel that she is a little smaller than expected, the buildup is too big, because this is such a huge space.”

Hansen says the museum has received plenty of feedback about it over the years.

“We know from a lot of visitor studies that people want to see Sue in Sue’s natural environment. You really can’t do that in an environment like Stanley Field Hall where she is now.”

So for the first time since she was unveiled in 2000, Sue is moving to her new home in the museum’s Evolving Planet exhibit in the second floor galleries, which Hansen says will provide a better space to explain Sue’s story.

“We are going to be using multi-media in order to put people in the Cretaceous era where Sue lived. We’re able to take the time and space to flush out the full story of where Sue lived, how she lived, and what her daily life was like,” said Hansen.

And, as Hoogstraten explains, all of this informs what Sue actually might have looked like. “We’ve learned a lot about the science, the biomechanics of T-Rex’s by studying Sue. Her gait, her bite force, and all kinds of things. And we’ll be adding new research to the display in changing her pose slightly.”

But first comes the hard part … taking Sue apart … bone by bone.

“The way that she is mounted on the metal armature allows us to remove every bone individually, every piece of rock,” Hoogstraten told VOA. “And that will be really interesting because we haven’t de-installed significant portions of her since she was installed in 2000.”

Sue will reach her new home, in her new pose, in mid 2019, along with some new, and some other familiar pieces, according to Hansen. “We are going to be putting more specimens on display, specimens that were found with Sue when Sue was discovered back in the ’90s.”

“We keep the skull separate from the rest of the body, because it’s the main thing people want to research,” said Hoogstraten. “So even when she is reinstalled, we’ll keep the skull in a separate case for easy access.”

While Sue leaves a large space to fill in Stanley Field Hall, it’s already spoken for. A cast of the world’s largest dinosaur, the titanosaur, found in Argentina, soon will cast its gaze over future visitors to the main hall of the Field museum.

“It’s 120 feet (36.6 meters) long. Sue is 40 feet (12 meters). So three times as long,” but according to Hoogstraten, not three times as popular as Sue. Not yet.

“She’s the icon. She’s our biggest attraction.”

China’s January Exports, Imports Surge; US Trade Deficit Grows

China’s export growth accelerated in January amid mounting trade tension with Washington while imports surged as factories stocked up ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday.

Exports rose 11.1 percent compared with a year earlier to $200.5 billion, up from December’s 10.9 percent growth, trade data showed Thursday. Imports surged 36.9 percent to $180.1 billion, up from the previous month’s 4.5 percent.

China’s politically sensitive trade surplus with the United States widened by 2.3 percent from a year ago to $21.9 billion, while its global trade gap narrowed by 60 percent to $20.3 billion.

“Export growth remained robust in January, indicating steady global demand momentum,” said Louis Kuijs of Oxford Economics in a report.

“While we expect the favorable external setting to continue to support China’s exports, rising U.S.-China trade friction remains a key risk,” Kuijs said. “We expect the U.S. administration to scale up on measures impeding imports from China.”

US import duties

Beijing’s steady accumulation of multibillion-dollar trade surpluses with the United States has prompted demands for import controls.

President Donald Trump’s administration has increased duties on Chinese-made washing machines, solar modules and other goods it says are being sold at improperly low prices. It is set to announce results of a probe into whether Beijing improperly pressures foreign companies to hand over technology, which could lead to further penalties.

Exports to the United States rose 12.1 percent in January from the same time last year to $37.6 billion while imports of U.S. goods rose 26.5 percent to $15.7 billion, according to the General Administration of Customs of China.

Exports to the European Union, China’s biggest trading partner, rose 11.6 percent to $33.7 billion while purchases of European goods rose 44.4 percent to $23.8 billion. China reported a $9.9 billion trade surplus with the EU but that was down 29.8 percent from a year earlier.

Trade war accusations

Chinese authorities have accused Trump of threatening the global trade regulation system by taking action under U.S. law instead of through the World Trade Organization. Beijing has filed a challenge in the WTO against Washington’s latest trade measures.

Beijing announced an anti-dumping investigation last weekend of U.S. sorghum exports. In response to suggestions the move was retaliation for Trump’s increase tariffs, Chinese government spokespeople say it is a normal regulatory step.

January’s import growth was driven in part by demand from factories that are restocking before shutting down for the two-week holiday. Each year, the holiday falls at different times in January or February, distorting trade data.

Forecasters expect Chinese demand to weaken this year as Beijing tightens controls on lending to slow a rise in debt. That is a blow to its Asian neighbors, for which China is the biggest export market, and for suppliers of iron ore and other commodities such as Brazil and Australia.

US Airstrikes Hit Pro-Syrian Fighters After ‘Unprovoked Attack’

U.S. military officials say coalition airstrikes in northern Syria killed about 100 pro-government fighters who were part of an attack on U.S.-backed opposition forces.

The U.S.-led coalition said the pro-government fighters carried out an “unprovoked attack against well-established Syrian Democratic Forces headquarters.”

U.S. personnel have been advising and assisting the SDF, and some were embedded with them at the time of the attack in Deir el-Zour province.

The officials said no Americans were hurt, while one SDF member was wounded in the assault that was backed by artillery, tanks and rocket-launching systems.

The attack appeared to be an attempt by the pro-government fighters to take control of areas the SDF recaptured from Islamic State militants in September, the officials added.

Syrian state media said the coalition airstrikes hit tribal fighters who were battling Islamic State and SDF forces. The reports called the strikes an “aggression” and said they killed dozens of people.

A coalition statement emphasized its mission to combat Islamic State while asserting “its non-negotiable right to act in self-defense.”

U.S. forces began airstrikes in Syria in September 2014 after the militants swept into control of large areas in the eastern part of the country as well as northern and western Iraq.

A year later, Russia joined the fighting in support of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government.

U.S. military officials said the coalition was in contact with Russia before, during and after Wednesday’s attack, and had alerted Russia to the presence of SDF forces in that area.

Dutch Bank to Pay $369 Million in Drug Cartel Money-Laundering

Dutch lender Rabobank’s California unit agreed Wednesday to pay $369 million to settle allegations that it lied to regulators investigating allegations of laundering money from Mexican drug sales and organized crime through branches in small towns on the Mexico border.

The subsidiary, Rabobank National Association, said it doesn’t dispute that it accepted at least $369 million in illegal proceeds from drug trafficking and other activity from 2009 to 2012. It pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States for participating in a cover-up when regulators began asking questions in 2013.

The penalty is one of the largest U.S. settlements involving the laundering of Mexican drug money, though it’s still only a fraction of the $1.9 billion that Britain’s HSBC agreed to pay in 2012. It surpasses the $160 million that Wachovia Bank agreed to pay in 2010.

Three execs behind cover-up

Under the agreement, the company will cooperate with investigators. The federal government agreed not to seek additional criminal charges against the company or recommend special oversight.

The settlement describes how three unnamed executives ignored a whistleblower’s warnings and orchestrated the cover-up. Two of the executives were fired in 2015 and one retired that year.

“Settling these matters is important for the bank’s mission here in California,” said Mark Borrecco, the subsidiary’s chief executive.

In 2010, Mexico proposed new limits on cash deposits at the country’s banks, resulting in more tainted deposits at Rabobank branches in Calexico and Tecate, according to the plea agreement. Accounts in the two border towns soared more than 20 percent after Mexico’s crackdown, and bank officials knew the money was likely tied to drug trafficking and organized crime.

Risky customers escaped scrutiny, including one in Calexico who funneled more than $100 million in suspicious transactions. Customers in Tecate withdrew more than $1 million in cash a year from 2009 to 2012, often in amounts just under federal reporting requirements.

“The cartels probably thought these were sleepy towns, no one’s going to notice,” said Dave Shaw, head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations in San Diego. “When you bring in $400 million, someone is going to notice. The bank should have known and they just chose not to report any suspicious activity.”

Punishment for cover-up, not crime

Heather Lowe, legal counsel and government affairs director at research and advocacy group Global Financial Integrity, said the illegal activity bore similarities to what happened with HSBC and Wachovia.

But those banks were charged with laundering Mexican drug proceeds, while Rabobank only acknowledged covering it up.

“It seems in this case we have the bank taking the hit for lying but not for the violations themselves,” said Lowe, who expects the three unnamed executives will be prosecuted.

A whistleblower alerted two of the three executives to suspicious activity in 2012 and shared her concerns with the bank’s “executive management group,” according to the plea agreement. She also spoke with regulators amid concerns in the company that the government scrutiny could endanger a pending merger. She was fired in July 2013.

The government has a cooperating witness in former compliance officer George M. Martin, who agreed in December to cooperate with authorities in a deal that delayed prosecution for two years.

Martin, a vice president and anti-money laundering investigations manager, acknowledged he oversaw policies and practices that blocked or stymied probes into suspicious transactions and said he acted at the direction of supervisors, or at least with their knowledge.

Martin told investigators that he and others allowed millions of dollars to pass through the bank.

Rabobank, based in Utrecht, Netherlands, said last month that it set aside about 310 million euros ($384 million) to settled allegations against its subsidiary. Sentencing is scheduled May 18.

Aid Group Launches Job Training Program for Refugees in Germany

The International Rescue Committee on Wednesday announced the creation of Project Core, a $1 million job training program for refugees in Germany.

The IRC said it would collaborate with computer giant Intel to equip at least 1,000 migrants with “critical skills in information and communications technology and other in-demand sectors of the German economy.”

“It is exciting and encouraging to see that opportunities are being extended to refugees living in the country,” IRC President David Miliband said. 

He thanked Intel for its cooperation and commitment. “The work we will do together epitomizes the power of partnerships to develop the right solutions and create meaningful impact,” he said.

The IRC said more than 1.5 million refugees had arrived in Germany since 2015, seeking asylum from war, terrorism and poverty, and having little hope their lives would have improved if they stayed home.

The IRC said it has worked with the German government and civil organizations, sharing its expertise in educating refugee children and others in ways they can contribute to their new communities.

«Кримська солідарність»: підконтрольний Кремлю суд відхилив апеляції 12 учасників одиночних пікетів

Підконтрольний Кремлю Верховний суд Криму 7 лютого відхилив апеляційні скарги щодо 12 кримських татар, які виходили на одиночні пікети 14 жовтня 2017 року. Засідання суду щодо ще одного з учасників перенесли на 15 лютого, повідомляють активісти об’єднання «Кримська солідарність».

Як повідомили раніше в громадському об’єднанні, суди першої інстанції ухвалили рішення про штрафи в розмірі від 10 тисяч рублів (близько 4,9 тисячі гривень) до 15 тисяч рублів (близько 7,3 тисячі гривень).

14 жовтня 2017 року на півострові відбулася серія одиночних пікетів проти репресій силовиків щодо кримських татар, мусульман. Силовики склали щодо пікетників адміністративні протоколи за «порушення встановленого порядку пікетування».

Пізніше судові засідання пройшли в Сімферополі, Джанкої, Алушті, Судаку, а також Радянському, Кіровському, Білогірському і Червоногвардійському районах. Головним доказом звинувачення послужила експертиза експертного центру МВС по Криму, згідно з якою «пікети об’єднані єдністю мети, задуму і загальною організацією».

Після анексії в Криму фактична російська влада практикує масові обшуки у незалежних журналістів, громадських активістів, активістів кримськотатарського національного руху, членів Меджлісу кримськотатарського народу, а також кримських мусульман, підозрюваних у зв’язках із забороненою в Росії організацією «Хізб ут-Тахрір».

Сарган: суд надав дозвіл на заочне розслідування щодо Януковича та інших у справі Євромайдану 

Печерський районний суд Києва надав дозвіл на здійснення спеціального (заочного) досудового розслідування стосовно екс-президента Віктора Януковича, екс-голови СБУ Олександра Якименка та екс-першого заступника СБУ Володимира Тоцького, повідомила 7 лютого речниця генпрокурора Юрія Луценка Лариса Сарган.

«Стосовно ще трьох фігурантів даного кримінального провадження – Захарченка, Ратушняка та Федчука – подібні клопотання прокурорів розглядатимуться найближчим часом. Нагадаю, що мова йде про події на Євромайдані 18-20 лютого 2014 року. Усі шестеро фігурантів кримінального провадження знаходяться у розшуку, ухиляються від суду і слідства», – вказала Сарган у Facebook.

У період з 21 листопада 2013 року по 21 лютого 2014 року під час сутичок протестувальників із силовиками в центрі Києва загинули понад сто людей, найбільше – 20 лютого. Більшість людей загинули від куль снайперів, які влучали протестувальникам у голову, серце і шию. Згодом загиблих учасників акцій протесту почали називати «Небесною сотнею».

За даними Генпрокуратури, всього під час Євромайдану постраждали 2,5 тисячі осіб, 104 з них загинули.

Оболонський райсуд наприкінці червня 2017 року перейшов до заочного розгляду справи за обвинуваченням у державній зраді екс-президента України Віктора Януковича. Справа щодо подій на Євромайдані розслідується як окреме провадження.

Екс-президент України, який втік до Росії після розстрілів на Майдані, звинувачення відкидає.

Lawsuit Filed Over Arkansas’ Revamped Voter ID Law

An Arkansas resident asked a judge Wednesday to strike down a new state law requiring voters show photo identification before casting a ballot, arguing the measure causes the same problems as a nearly identical state voter ID law struck down four years ago.

The lawsuit filed in Pulaski County Circuit Court is challenging the measure’s constitutionality ahead of its first enforcement statewide in Arkansas’ May 22 primary. Early voting for the primary is set to begin May 7.

Barry Haas, a Little Rock resident who is suing the state over the measure, was one of the four plaintiffs in the lawsuit that led to Arkansas’ previous voter ID law being struck down in 2014. An attorney for Haas said lawmakers are trying to circumvent that ruling by amending a portion of the state’s constitution dealing with voter registration.

“Amendment 51 was an avenue to open up the voting booth to all people,” attorney Jeff Priebe said. “Now with this new amendment they’re trying to close the doors on the voting booth.”

The revived voter ID law was passed by the Legislature and signed into law last year. It’s aimed at addressing an argument by some state Supreme Court justices that the 2013 law didn’t receive enough votes in the Legislature to be enacted. The court’s majority ruled the law violated Arkansas’ constitution by adding a new requirement before voting.

Four of the justices who struck down the 2013 law are no longer on the court, and one of the new justices is a former Republican state legislator. The three justices who said the 2013 law didn’t get the two-thirds vote needed to change voter registration requirements remain on the court.

Thirty-four states have laws requiring or requesting voters show some form of voter ID at the polls, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Arkansas’ new law took effect in August and has been enforced in several local elections. The May primary is the first statewide election where the measure will be enforced since it was enacted last year.

A spokesman for Secretary of State Mark Martin, who is named as a defendant in the lawsuit, did not have an immediate comment on the filing Wednesday morning.

The new law was one of two efforts approved by the Legislature last year to revive the voter ID requirement. Lawmakers also voted to put a proposed constitutional amendment imposing the requirement on the November ballot.

The law requires election officials to provide photo identification to voters free of charge if they don’t have any other photo ID. It also allows voters without a photo ID to cast a provisional ballot if they sign a sworn statement confirming their identity.

Trudeau to Start US Tour With Talk at University of Chicago

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is embarking on a four-day U.S. tour with the first stop in Chicago to discuss how public service can contribute to stronger economic and political ties between the two countries.

He is expected to appear Wednesday afternoon at the University of Chicago’s Institute of Politics for a conversation with its founder and director, David Axelrod, who was once an adviser to former President Barack Obama.

Trudeau is also expected to meet with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

After Chicago, he’s scheduled to stop in San Francisco, where he’s set to meet with local business leaders and entrepreneurs, and Los Angeles, where he’ll speak at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute.

The visit comes as talks to rewrite the North American Free Trade Agreement are underway.

Senate Leaders Announce Agreement on Budget Deal

One day before a threatened U.S. government shutdown, Senate leaders on Wednesday struck a bipartisan deal that would keep the federal government funded for two years but left contentious immigration topics unaddressed.

 

“I’m pleased to announce that our bipartisan, bicameral negotiations on defense spending and other priorities have yielded a significant agreement,” Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said on the Senate floor.

 

“We came together with an agreement that is very good for the American people,” Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said.

 

The package would boost U.S. government spending on national defense and domestic programs by $300 billion over a two-year period, ending years of mandatory budget caps Republicans argued were hollowing out America’s military and Democrats said were harming the needy.

 

“The compromise we’ve reached will ensure that, for the first time in years, our armed forces will have more of the resources they need to keep America safe,” McConnell said. “It will help us serve the veterans who’ve bravely served us, and it will ensure funding for important efforts such as disaster relief, infrastructure, and building on our work to fight opioid abuse.”

 

Senate leaders were racing against the clock, with federal funding set to expire at midnight Thursday. Unless spending authority is extended, the U.S. government will suffer its second partial shutdown in as many months.

 

To become law, the package would have to pass both houses of Congress and be signed by President Donald Trump. It was expected to draw opposition from Republican ultra-conservative fiscal hawks and was dismissed beforehand by some Democrats who are demanding congressional action to protect from deportation hundreds of thousands of young undocumented immigrants brought to America as children.

 

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, announced she would withhold support for the funding deal until Republican Speaker Paul Ryan commits to a floor vote to address the plight of beneficiaries of deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA.

 

“What are you afraid of?” Pelosi asked of Ryan in a lengthy speech on the House floor. “Give us a vote. Let the House work its will.”

 

Democrats blocked a stopgap spending bill in January, triggering a three-day federal shutdown, in part to protest Congress’ inaction on DACA, an Obama administration program President Donald Trump set to expire March 5.

 

The president has said he supports a path to citizenship for 1.8 million youth eligible for DACA as part of a larger immigration reform package. The White House is also demanding funding for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, a reduction in legal immigration to the United States, and prioritizing newcomers with advanced work skills.

 

Bipartisan negotiations have yet to reach a deal on an overhaul of America’s immigration laws, and Trump has rejected a proposal that would pair a DACA solution with limited border security enhancements.

 

 

Trump Breaks His Silence on Stock Market Decline

President Donald Trump has broken his silence on the stock market.

Trump tweeted Wednesday: “In the ‘old days,’ when good news was reported, the Stock Market would go up. Today, when good news is reported, the Stock Market goes down. Big mistake, and we have so much good (great) news about the economy!”

After a slightly lower open Wednesday, most stocks turned higher within the first few minutes of trading.

 

Trump has commented frequently on market gains during his tenure, but stayed silent Monday as the Dow Jones industrial average suffered its biggest one-day drop ever. He did not tweet about the markets on Tuesday.

 

The government reported Friday that the economy created 200,000 jobs in January and that wages grew at the fastest pace in eight years.

 

Latin America’s Premium Coffee Growers Branch Out to Cheaper Beans

A growing number of farmers in Latin American nations renowned for their high-quality arabica coffee are starting to plant cheaper robusta — a crop still frowned upon or even outlawed in some countries.

In locales such as Colombia and Costa Rica, many in the industry have feared the low-brow bean will spoil their reputation as suppliers of the world’s best coffee.

Costa Rica bans robusta farming entirely, while coffee trade organizations in Colombia and elsewhere have historically discouraged it. But a growing number of Latin American farmers are warming up to the bitter bean as a cash crop.

“It has good productivity and a good price,” said Evelio Matamoros, a farmer in Nicaragua who first planted robusta in 2010. Robusta “has better yields and it doesn’t need shade. That matters.”

Robusta, which thrives at lower elevations, is typically processed into instant coffee or added to brewed blends as a cheaper ingredient. It’s also used to create the froth in some espressos.

Coffee producers from Colombia to Guatemala are dedicating more land to robusta, and it has even spread to Panama, a small country renowned for growing exceptionally high-quality arabica beans that fetch steep premiums.

In Nicaragua and Guatemala, the industry has targeted robusta expansions that would increase their combined harvest by five times, to about 540,000 60-kg bags.

That would account for nearly 1 percent of global output, and bring supplies closer to North American coffee makers, cutting freight costs and shipping time compared to major robusta-growing nations such as Vietnam and Brazil.

The expansions of robusta in arabica-growing nations appears well-timed. Demand for all coffee worldwide is on track to reach a record this year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and robusta supply hit a six-year low last year, after a drought hurt Brazil’s crop.

In November, Olam International Ltd, a major agri-business that trades food globally, forecast the world’s robusta production will fall short of demand for the second straight crop year in 2017/18, creating a cumulative two-year deficit of 8 million bags.

Changing climates are also making robusta farming more attractive. The crop survives better at warmer temperatures, and it has enough caffeine to make its trees hardier against some diseases and pests.

Farmers growing arabica in Central America were hit hard by the spread of an airborne fungus known as roya in 2012. In low-lying areas, which are more susceptible to roya, some producers are now looking to robusta as an alternative crop because many varieties are resistant to the fungus and less costly to grow than arabica.

Robust debate in Colombia

Arabica, typically grown at high altitudes and roasted for brewed coffee, accounts for roughly 60 percent of the world’s beans. Robusta accounts for the rest.

Robusta sells at a discount of roughly 40 cents per lb to the benchmark arabica price, as the cheaper bean typically has lower input costs.

The efforts to increase — or in the case of Colombia, to begin — robusta production signals increasing acceptance of the bean.

In 2013, Colombian farmers — worried about the nation’s brand as the world’s biggest grower of premium arabica coffee — opposed President Juan Manuel Santos when he raised the idea of growing robusta in the country’s plains. But now some Colombian farmers are planting the lower-quality crop in lowlands that are unsuitable for arabica.

Diego Lopez, a fourth-generation coffee exporter who retired and now has a farm, has planted 12 hectares of robusta and aims to cash in on rising demand.

“We are talking about two different products, like bananas and plantains,” said Lopez, comparing robusta and arabica.

In Costa Rica, it has been illegal to grow robusta since 1988, and farmers who grow it could have their crops destroyed without compensation.

Farmers in Honduras — Central America’s biggest coffee grower — chose not to grow robusta to maintain tradition and quality, the country’s coffee association said.

Expansion in Guatemala, Nicaragua

In Guatemala, however, the country’s coffee association, ANACAFE, is actively pushing a robusta expansion. About 2 percent of Guatemala’s coffee harvest is robusta and ANACAFE is testing the crop in different areas with the hope it could be grown at elevations no longer ideal for arabica due to warming temperatures.

ANACAFE President Ricardo Arenas said it aims to increase the country’s robusta harvest to 300,000 60-kg bags. This would be four times the 75,000 bags that the U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated were grown here in the 2016/17 season.

The expansion will require farmers to raise roughly $220 million for supplies and harvest machinery, and the financing is not yet in place, Arenas said. But in 2017, ANACAFE bought 20,000 robusta plantlets designed for high yields from Nestle SA, the maker of Nescafe, and the world’s biggest coffee maker. The first harvest from those trees is expected in 2019.

Sergio Morales, head of ANACAFE’s research department, said that roya made arabica farming unprofitable at altitudes below 800 meters, where some arabica is grown, making robusta the only solution for those producers.

In Nicaragua, the law entrusts the National Coffee Council to make sure “the quality of exports will not endanger Nicaragua’s coffee prestige,” and a protest by coffee growers in 2010 sought an outright ban. But in 2013, the government permitted limited areas for robusta farming — during a roya outbreak — and three years later expanded those areas.

Today, Nestle is working with Mercon Group in Nicaragua to develop production in its Autonomous Region of the South Atlantic, said Orlando Garcia, coffee regional manager of Zone AMS (America) for Nestle’s Corporate Agriculture Division.

Nicaragua harvested 25,000 bags of robusta last year, making up nearly 2 percent of its coffee production, according to USDA data.

Mercon, a longtime exporter of coffee from Nicaragua, expects the country’s robusta crop to increase to 38,000 bags this year and rise by more than six times to 238,000 bags by 2025, said Luis Alberto Chamorro, Mercon’s general director for Central America.

“The conditions and costs of the zone also allow us to produce robusta at very competitive prices versus other countries that produce this coffee,” Chamorro said.

Тенюх заявляє, що пропонував «іти на прорив» під час окупації Криму Росією

Адмірал Ігор Тенюх, який обіймав посаду виконувача обов’язків міністра оборони України з 27 лютого до 25 березня 2014 року, стверджує, що подав у відставку, оскільки після реалізації рішення про приведення Збройних сил України в повну бойову готовність влада не підтримала його пропозицію «йти на прорив» у Криму. 

 

“Мій план полягав у тому, щоб іти на прорив, тому що це війна. Мій план не підтримали, і тому я подав у відставку», – сказав Тенюх 7 лютого під час надання свідчень в Оболонському районному суді Києва у справі про державну зраду Віктора Януковича. 

 

Адмірал Тенюх також згадав, що не отримав дозвіл на використання штурмової і бомбардувальної авіації. Він переконаний, що запровадження воєнного стану на той час в Україні забезпечило б чіткість дій Збройних сил України.

Тенюх засвідчив у суді, що Збройні сили України в роки президентства Януковича цілеспрямовано знищувалися, і патріотичні проукраїнські офіцери замінювалися на «більш лояльних і проросійських».

Ігор Тенюх був останнім свідком, викликаним для участі в засіданні 7 лютого, суд оголосив перерву до 8 лютого.

Оболонський райсуд наприкінці червня 2017 року перейшов до заочного розгляду справи за обвинуваченням у державній зраді екс-президента України Віктора Януковича.

У справі, яку розглядає суд, слідство інкримінує Януковичу три статті Кримінального кодексу України: ч. 5 ст. 27 (державна зрада), ч. 2 ст. 437 (пособництво у веденні агресивної війни); ч. 3 ст. 110 (пособництво в посяганні на територіальну цілісність і недоторканність України, що спричинило загибель людей або інші тяжкі наслідки).

Екс-президент України, який втік до Росії після розстрілів на Майдані, звинувачення відкидає.

Wall Street Rollercoaster Continues

The rollercoaster ride continued in financial markets Tuesday, with sharp swings rocking major indexes from Asia, Europe and North America. The volatility intensified just a day after the steepest drop on Wall Street on Monday, after the Dow Jones Industrial index plunged nearly 1,200 points. But if the sharp sell-off came as a shock to some, analysts who spoke with VOA say it’s a shock many had been anticipating for some time. Mil Arcega explains.