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Showing posts from October, 2022

As West mulls rebuilding plan German president visits Kyiv

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Since the start of Russia’s invasion on Tuesday Germany’s president arrived in Kyiv for his first visit to Ukraine, for Ukrainian rebuilding when the war eventually ends as Western countries mulled a massive plan. “With drones, cruise missiles and rockets it was important to me in this phase of air attacks to send a signal of solidarity to Ukrainians”, President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said just after arriving.  The Kremlin’s forces have ruined homes, eight months of pummelling, public buildings and the power grid. At 350 billion euros ($345 billion) the World Bank estimates the damage to Ukraine so far. On his third try the German president made it to Ukraine whose position is largely ceremonial. In April, with his Polish and Baltic counterparts he was planning to visit the country, but said his presence “apparently wasn’t wanted in Kyiv”.  During his time as Germany’s foreign minister Steinmeier has been criticized in Ukraine for allegedly cosying up to Russia. Because of security co

UK prime minister becomes Rishi Sunak, who faces economic crisis

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On Tuesday, Rishi Sunak became Britain’s third prime minister of the year and now must turn his attention to taming an economic crisis that has left the country’s finances unable to afford food and energy bills in a precarious state and millions of Britons struggling.  The U.K.’s first leader of colour, Sunak, with King Charles III met at Buckingham Palace, who had just accepted the resignation of Liz Truss. The monarch plays a ceremonial role in appointing government leaders, in Britain’s constitutional monarchy. In more than 200 years Sunak at 42 the youngest British leader is expected to immediately begin appointing a Cabinet and getting to grips with an economy sliding toward recession. This year the third Conservative prime minister will also try to unite a governing party that is riven with divisions. After the brief, disastrous term of Liz Truss, Sunak was selected as leader of the governing Conservative Party on Monday as it tries to stabilize the economy, and its own plunging

LA police investigating if racist recording taped illegally

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The police chief said on Tuesday that Los Angeles detectives are investigating whether a recording last year that captured city councilmembers’ racist remarks was made illegally. Earlier this month the recording’s disclosure unleashed a growing scandal in the nation’s second-largest city just weeks before Election Day. Along racial lines in Los Angeles the councilmembers’ bigoted discussion laden with crude insults  laid bare the unequal representation and divided political power. Nury Martinez, the council president, resigned in disgrace, while two other council members have resisted widespread calls from the White House down  for their oysters. Head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labour, as well as powerful labour leader Ron Hererra, nearly two weeks ago with the release of a previously unknown recording of a 2021 private meeting involving Martinez and Councilmen Kevin de León and Gil Cedillo the uproar began. During a media availability in response to a question from The As

As $44B deal deadline looms Musk lugs sink into Twitter HQ

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To acquire Twitter later this week into the company’s headquarters on Wednesday Elon Musk, the billionaire, strolled carrying a porcelain sink and tweeting “Entering Twitter HQ – let that sink in!” To take Twitter private, Musk’s $44 billion deal reached a Friday deadline, although the video he posted offered no evidence that the acquisition is complete.  On that question Twitter and Musk representatives had no comment, although Twitter did confirm that Musk’s video tweet was real. To refer to himself as “Chief Twit” and his location to Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters Musk also changed his Twitter profile. To the world’s richest man and his on-again, off-again pursuit of the social platform the splashy video, a vintage Musk production, also pulled the spotlight back.  By the Delaware Chancery Court in early October the Friday deadline to consummate the deal was ordered.  During which Musk signed a deal to acquire Twitter it is the latest step in an epic battle, then tried to back

He briefed Trump on foreign contacts, Barrack says

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Against charges of illegal lobbying at his trial on Tuesday Former President Donald Trump’s longtime friend Tom Barrack continued to defend himself, with United Arab Emirates officials as he tried to help Trump better understand Middle East issues telling jurors that he briefed then-candidate Trump on his interactions.  By illegally lobbying the Trump campaign and subsequent administration on behalf of the UAE Barrack, a billionaire California real estate investor, testified for the second day in his own defense as a foreign agent against charges that he acted. Barrack about a meeting he had with a UAE official in the spring of 2016 Barrack’s defense attorney questioned, on the UAE’s behalf where prosecutors have alleged he agreed to become a foreign agent. Including Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort, Emails later showed Barrack telling Trump officials about the meeting. “With Sheikh Tahnoun bin Mohammed Al Nahyan if the purpose of your meeting was to agree with him”, to secretly influen

Southeast Australia lashed by heavy rain, flood warnings issued

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As heavy rain lashed southeast Australia thousands more lost power and a man was missing on Thursday, Hundreds of homes were evacuated, Flood warnings were issued.  With catchments soaked by months of above-average rainfall New South Wales and Victoria, and the island state of Tasmania were rising dangerously, Rivers across Australia’s most populous states. By Thursday night ahead of major flooding around 250 homes in the New South Wales city of Forbes, west of Sydney, were ordered to be evacuated. With the Lachlan River expected to reach a major flood peak of 10.6 meters (34 feet, 9 inches) by Friday, the State Emergency Service issued an order for 17 streets to be evacuated by 8 p.m., (0900 GMT) including the central downtown precinct. On the Lachlan River near the New South Wales town of Hillston Llast seen on Tuesday Police said a 63-year-old man was on a rural property, west of Sydney. To find any sign of him he was reported missing hours later but emergency crews have failed. Pol

Further inflaming tensions, NKorea fires missile and shells

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On early Friday North Korea fired an additional ballistic missile and 170 rounds of artillery shells toward the sea and near the tense border with South Korea flew warplanes, recent barrage of weapons tests further raising animosities triggered by the North’s. From its rivals the North Korean moves before it seeks to win greater concessions suggest with provocative weapons tests it is reviving an old playbook of stoking fears of war. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement, From the North’s capital region at 1:49 a.m. the short-range missile lifted off Friday and flew toward its eastern waters (1649 GMT Thursday; 12:49 p.m. EDT Thursday). Since it resumed its testing activities on Sept. 25 it was North Korea’s 15th missile launch. In response to their “dangerous” military exercises involving a U.S. aircraft carrier, its recent missile tests were simulations of nuclear strikes on South Korean and U.S. targets, on Monday North Korea said. After the latest missile test, No