Daily: 04/01/2018

Уламки китайського космічного корабля «Тяньґун-1» впадуть на Землю 2 квітня

Уламки китайського космічного корабля «Тяньґун-1» впадуть на Землю в понеділок, повідомляє китайське космічне агентство.

Як повідомляє Reuters, космічне агентство Китаю не уточнило час, коли очікується падіння корабля.

Ніхто точно не знає, де можуть впасти уламки космічного корабля, багато експертів вважають, що значна частина корабля, як очікується, згорить під час повторного входження в атмосферу.

Пекін 30 березня заявив, що навряд будь-яка велика частина апарата досягне поверхні Землі.

Міністерство науки Південної Кореї заявило в неділю, що, як очікується, «Тяньґун-1» знову ввійде в атмосферу Землі приблизно між 7:26 і 15:26 за місцевим часом (між 1.26 і 9.26 за літнім київським часом) у понеділок, повідомляє агентство «Йонхап».

У 2011 році було запущено «Тяньґун-1», або «Небесний палац-1» (10,4 метра довжиною) для проведення стикування та експериментів на орбіті в рамках амбітної космічної програми Китаю, спрямованої на розміщення постійної станції на орбіті до 2023 року.

Спочатку планувалося, що космічну лабораторію виведуть з експлуатації в 2013 році, але її місію кілька разів продовжували. Китай заявляв, що повторне введення корабля в атмосферу Землі відбудеться наприкінці 2017 року, але цей процес відкладали.

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Ердоган і Нетаньягу обмінялися звинуваченнями через сутички на межі Смуги Гази

Президент Туреччини Реджеп Тайїп Ердоган і прем’єр-міністр Ізраїлю Біньямін Нетаньягу обмінялися звинуваченнями через нещодавні сутички на межі Ізраїлю і Смуги Гази, в результаті яких загинули щонайменше 15 палестинців.

У своєму виступі 1 квітня Ердоган засудив відповідь Ізраїлю на демонстрацію на кордоні і назвав Нетаньягу «терористом».

«Ви – загарбник і прямо зараз на тих землях (дієте – ред.) як загарбник. В той же час ви – терорист», – сказав Ердоган.

Заява Ердогана була озвучена після того, як Нетаньягу сказав у Twitter-і, що ізраїльським військовим «не будуть читати лекції ті, хто багато років бомбив цивільне населення».

«Мабуть, саме так вони відзначають 1 квітня в Анкарі», – додав Нетаньягу, натякаючи на День дурнів у квітні.

Нетаньягу мав на увазі ще одну промову Ердогана раніше 1 квітня, коли він засудив «нелюдський напад» Ізраїлю. Ердоган назвав Ізраїль «терористичною державою» і сказав: «Немає того, хто любить вас у світі».

Нетаньягу раніше називав Ердогана тим, хто «бомбив курдських селян», у зв’язку з операціями турецької армії на півночі Сирії.

Словесна перепалка між політиками сталася після того, як 30 березня ізраїльські сили відкрили вогонь по учасниках демонстрацій на кордоні в Смузі Гази, вбивши 15 людей.

Ізраїль заявив, що вісім з 15 загиблих є причетними до ісламістського руху «Хамас», визнаного Ізраїлем і Заходом терористичним угрупованням.

«Хамас» заявив, що п’ятеро загиблих були членами його збройного підрозділу.

За даними ООН, приблизно 1,3 мільйона із двох мільйонів жителів Смуги Гази є біженцями або нащадками біженців, які не можуть повернутися на територію сучасного Ізраїлю.

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Trump Nixes DACA Deal, Citing ‘Caravans’ of Illegal Immigrants

U.S. President Donald Trump called for tougher immigration laws Sunday, vowing that there would be no deal for DACA recipients.

“Border Patrol Agents are not allowed to properly do their job at the Border because of ridiculous liberal (Democrat) laws like Catch & Release,” Trump wrote on Twitter Sunday morning.

“Getting more dangerous. “Caravans” coming. Republicans must go to Nuclear Option to pass tough laws NOW. NO MORE DACA DEAL!”

“These big flows of people are all trying to take advantage of DACA. They want in on the act!” he said in a follow-up tweet.

Commentary on the Fox news channel earlier Sunday had used a headline referring to “caravans” of illegal immigrants to the U.S.

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, was enacted under the Obama administration and had allowed children brought illegally to the United States to remain here and legally study and work.

The Trump administration ended the program in September, but gave Congress six months to come up with a permanent plan for the program recipients.

Despite Democrats’ efforts, the recent spending $1.3 trillion spending bill, signed by Trump last week, made no mention of protections for these so-called Dreamers. Democrats had called on Republican leaders to bring to a vote on the House floor a range of proposals to fix DACA. Meanwhile, federal judges have ordered the Trump administration to keep in place certain parts of DACA while legal challenges make their way through the court system.

Trump had initially said that he would agree on protections for DACA recipients if Congress approved funding for a proposed wall along the U.S. southern border with Mexico.

In another tweet Sunday morning, Trump blamed Mexico for “doing very little, if not NOTHING” to stop the flow of migrants into the United States, threatening to “stop” the North American Free Trade Agreement.

 

Officials from the U.S., Canada and Mexico are supposed to meet in the United States next month for the eighth round of talks about NAFTA, although Washington has not announced dates yet.

 

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Pilgrims Flock to Jerusalem to Celebrate Easter

Christians are celebrating Easter, to mark the day when they believe Jesus arose from the dead.

Pilgrims ushered in Easter with a Sunrise Service at the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem. The site resembles the place where Jesus was buried, according to biblical accounts. Facing an ancient, empty tomb carved into a rock, the faithful sang hymns of the resurrection.

A short time later, Easter Mass was celebrated at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem’s Old City.

Priests and monks in festive robes chanted the liturgy engulfed in a fragrant cloud of incense. The faithful worshipped around the ancient stone tomb believed to be the very place where Jesus rose from the dead.

Pilgrims came from all over the world, including Chris Murphy from the U.S. state of Texas.

“It is just a special experience being in the Holy Land and seeing places that you have read about, it makes it more real. And it has an impact on your life that you will not forget,” said Murphy.

Security was tight amid Israeli-Palestinian tensions over plans by the United States to move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in May. But Murphy took it in stride as Israeli soldiers armed with assault rifles patrolled the streets.

“I have always felt safe here. On the whole, people pretty well live together and get along,” said Murphy.

Indeed, Christians mingled with Muslim shopkeepers and Jewish pilgrims visiting Jerusalem for the weeklong biblical Feast of Passover.

But political differences run deep. Israelis like Rivka Katz praised U.S. President Donald Trump for his controversial decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and urged other nations to follow suit.

“Why should not there be the [U.S.] Embassy in Jerusalem, which is our capital? It seems quite outrageous that most of the countries of the world have refused to recognize that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel,” said Katz.

Palestinians are furious over the embassy move because they see Jerusalem as the capital of their future state. As one Arab shopkeeper put it, “Trump has taken the joy out of Easter.”

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Ляшко у 2017 році заробив більше, ніж Гройсман і Порошенко – декларація

Лідер Радикальної партії, народний депутат Олег Ляшко задекларував понад 20,6 мільйона гривень доходів у 2017 році.  

Більша частина суми – 15 911 000 гривень – дохід від продажу нерухомого майна громадянину Риженкову Олександру Миколайовичу (можливо, колишньому народному депутату). Ще 1 871 000 гривень Ляшко заробив від надання майна в оренду – також Риженкову.

Крім того, народний депутат отримав 259 308 гривень зарплати у Верховній Раді, 252 825 гривень коштів на ведення депутатської діяльності, 1 669 467 гривень процентів в «Ощадбанку», 108 439 гривень процентів у банку «Аркада» та 571 045 гривень виграшу в лотерею. Загалом парламентар задекларував 20 643 084 гривні доходу.

Росіта Сайранен, з якою, відповідно до документа, Ляшко спільно проживає, але не перебуває в шлюбі, задекларувала 559 тисяч гривень доходу від відчуження рухомого майна.

У розділі «Грошові активи» Ляшко вказав 4 445 067 гривень та 713 444 долари на рахунках в «Ощадбанку», ще п’ять тисяч гривень у «Приватбанку», а також 484 тисяч доларів, 70 тисяч євро та 839 тисяч готівкою.

Сайранен задекларувала 209 тисяч гривень, 15 тисяч доларів та 20 тисяч євро готівкою. Також у неї вказаний борг у розмірі 60 тисяч доларів.

Особи, які зобов’язані подавати електронні декларації про доходи, повинні були це зробити до 1 квітня.

Президент України Петро Порошенко задекларував за 2017 рік загальну суму доходів 16,3 мільйона гривень, а прем’єр Володимир Гройсман – 17,1 мільйона гривень.

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Гройсман: певні громадські заклади не допускають фахівців для перевірки безпеки

Деякі громадські заклади не допускають фахівців для перевірки дотримання вимог безпеки, заявив прем’єр-міністр України Володимир Гройсман.

«До мене доноситься інформація, що певні мережі не допускають контролерів. Хочу, щоб всі почули: не грайтеся з безпекою людей. Краще пройти перевірку добровільно, ніж чинити опір», – заявив Гройсман.

Він зазначив, що перевірки не є спробою тиснути на підприємців.

«До бізнесу треба ставитися з пошаною. Якщо є проблеми – виявляти їх, давати час на те, щоб швидко ліквідувати. Нам потрібні не штрафи. Нам потрібна безпека. Я не хочу створювати умови тиску, мене цікавить ліквідація будь-яких загроз безпеці громадян. Але якщо хтось ігноруватиме наші вимоги – будемо жорстко реагувати», – сказав прем’єр.

28 березня уряд доручив перевірити на пожежну безпеку торговельно-розважальні центри, кінотеатри, школи, дитячі садки й інші місця масового перебування людей. Гройсман повідомляв, що перевірки розпочнуться 30 березня.

Рішення ухвалили після пожежі в торгово-розважальному центрі в російському Кемерові 25 березня. За офіційними даними, жертвами стали 64 людини, серед них багато дітей.

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German Minister Wants to Rebuild Trust With Russia After Spy Standoff

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas wants to resume dialogue with Russia and gradually improve ties after diplomatic expulsions over a nerve agent attack on a former Russian spy in England that Britain blames on Russia, he said on Sunday.

Conservative German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Maas have joined the United States and other European countries in standing with Britain in a major standoff over the attack on former double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter.

Maas, a member of the Social Democrats (SPD) who are split on how tough to be on Moscow, told Bild am Sonntag much trust had been lost in the last few years due to Russia’s behavior.

“At the same time, we need Russia as a partner to settle regional conflicts, for disarmament and as an important pillar of multilateralism,” he was quoted as saying in the paper.

“We are therefore open for dialogue and are trying to rebuild trust bit by bit if Russia is ready.”

He also, however, defended the decision to expel diplomats, “to show solidarity with Britain but also as a signal of unity.”

In the last week, as part of mass expulsions on both sides, Germany expelled four Russian diplomats and Moscow has reciprocated with the same number, prompting talk of a crisis in relations between Russia and the West.

Some Social Democrats have urged the ‘grand coalition’ of their party and Merkel’s conservatives to ensure a new Cold War does not start, and business groups are also worried.

Germany relies on Russia for roughly a third of the gas it uses and, before Western states imposed sanctions on Russia over its role in the Ukraine crisis, Europe’s biggest economy exported about 38 billion euros of goods to Russia.

London accuses Moscow of being responsible for the first known use of a military-grade nerve agent on European soil since World War II and Germany has repeatedly called on Moscow to cooperate more with the investigations.

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AP Fact Check: No New Work on the Wall; Shaky Amazon Claim

President Donald Trump hailed the start of his long-sought U.S.-Mexico border wall this past week, proudly tweeting photos of the “WALL!” 

Actually, no new work got underway. The photos showed the continuation of an old project to replace 2 miles of existing barrier.

And Saturday, he ripped Amazon with a shaky claim that its contract with the post office is a “scam.”

Trump and his officials departed from reality on a variety of subjects in recent days: the census, Amazon’s practices and the makeup of the Supreme Court among them. Here’s a look at some statements and their veracity:

TRUMP: “Great briefing this afternoon on the start of our Southern Border WALL!” — tweet Wednesday, showing photos of workers building a fence.

TRUMP: “We’re going to be starting work, literally, on Monday, on not only some new wall — not enough, but we’re working that very quickly — but also fixing existing walls and existing acceptable fences.” — Trump, speaking the previous week after signing a bill financing the government.

THE FACTS: Trump’s wrong. No new work began Monday or any other time this past week. And the photos Trump tweeted were misleading. They showed work that’s been going on for more than a month on a small border wall replacement project in Calexico, California, that has nothing to do with the federal budget he signed into law last week.

The Calexico project began Feb. 21 to replace a little more than 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) of border wall was financed during the 2017 budget year. A barrier built in the 1990s mainly from recycled metal scraps is being torn down and replaced with bollard-style barriers that are 30 feet (9.1 meters) high.

Ronald D. Vitiello, acting deputy commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, defended the president’s statements, saying Friday “there’s construction” underway.

U.S. Post Service

TRUMP: “If the P.O. ‘increased its parcel rates, Amazon’s shipping costs would rise by $2.6 Billion.’ This Post Office scam must stop. Amazon must pay real costs (and taxes) now!” — tweet Saturday.

TRUMP: “I have stated my concerns with Amazon long before the Election. Unlike others, they pay little or no taxes to state & local governments, use our Postal System as their Delivery Boy (causing tremendous loss to the U.S.), and are putting many thousands of retailers out of business!” — tweet Thursday.

THE FACTS: Trump is misrepresenting Amazon’s record on taxes, the U.S. Postal Service’s financial situation and the contract that has the post office deliver some Amazon orders. Federal regulators have found that contract to be profitable for the Postal Service.

People who buy products sold by Amazon pay sales tax in all states that have a sales tax. Not all third-party vendors using Amazon collect it, however.

As for the post office, package delivery has been a bright spot for a service that’s lost money for 11 straight years. The losses are mostly because of pension and health care costs, not the business deal for the Postal Service to deliver packages for Amazon. 

Boosted by e-commerce, the Postal Service has enjoyed double-digit increases in revenue from delivering packages, but that hasn’t been enough to offset declines in first-class letters and marketing mail, which together make up more than two-thirds of postal revenue.

While the Postal Service’s losses can’t be attributed to its package business, Trump’s claim that it could get more bang for its buck may not be entirely far-fetched. A 2017 analysis by Citigroup concluded that the Postal Service was charging below-market rates as a whole for parcels. The post office does not use taxpayer money for its operations.

Trump is upset about Amazon because its owner, Jeff Bezos, owns The Washington Post, one of the targets of his “fake news” tweets.

Pentagon and the wall

TRUMP: “Because of the $700 & $716 Billion Dollars gotten to rebuild our Military, many jobs are created and our Military is again rich. Building a great Border Wall, with drugs (poison) and enemy combatants pouring into our Country, is all about National Defense. Build WALL through M!” — tweets Sunday and Monday.

THE FACTS: Trump is floating the idea of using “M” — the Pentagon’s military budget — to pay for his wall with Mexico. Such a move would almost certainly require approval from Congress and there’s plenty of reason to be skeptical about the notion of diverting military money for this purpose.

Only Congress has the power under the Constitution to determine federal appropriations, leaving the Trump administration little authority to shift money without lawmakers’ approval.

Pentagon spokesman Chris Sherwood referred all questions on the wall to the White House. Spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders declined to reveal specifics, but said Trump would work with the White House counsel to make sure any action taken was within his executive authority.

Veterans Affairs

DAVID SHULKIN, citing reasons Trump fired him as Veterans Affairs secretary: “I have been falsely accused of things by people who wanted me out of the way. But despite these politically based attacks on me and my family’s character, I am proud of my record and know that I acted with the utmost integrity.” — op-ed Thursday in The New York Times.

THE FACTS: His statement that he and his family were subjected to politically based attacks is disingenuous, though politics contributed to his dismissal.

White House support for Shulkin eroded after a blistering report in February by VA’s internal watchdog, a nonpartisan office. The inspector general’s office concluded that he had violated ethics rules by accepting free Wimbledon tennis tickets. The inspector general also said Shulkin’s chief of staff had doctored emails to justify bringing the secretary’s wife to Europe with him at taxpayer expense.

It is true that Shulkin encountered resistance from about a half-dozen political appointees at the VA and White House who rebelled against him. In an extraordinary telephone call, John Ullyot, a top communications aide, and VA spokesman Curt Cashour asked the Republican staff director of the House Veterans Affairs Committee to push for Shulkin’s removal after the release of the inspector general’s report. The staff director declined to do so. Those political appointees were not involved in drafting the inspector general’s report.

Shulkin expressed regret for the “distractions” caused by the report and agreed to pay more than $4,000 to cover the costs of his wife’s coach airfare and the Wimbledon tickets. He continues to insist he did nothing wrong and point to what his staff did in doctoring his emails as a “mistake.”

Second Amendment

TRUMP: “THE SECOND AMENDMENT WILL NEVER BE REPEALED! As much as Democrats would like to see this happen, and despite the words yesterday of former Supreme Court Justice Stevens, NO WAY. We need more Republicans in 2018 and must ALWAYS hold the Supreme Court!” — tweet Wednesday.

THE FACTS: As a basics civics lesson, Trump’s tweet falls short. The Supreme Court is the unelected branch of government and no party can “hold” it. That said, both parties try to win confirmation of justices who are considered likely to vote the way they want.

Republican-nominated justices have formed a majority of the Supreme Court for nearly 50 years. The five more conservative justices were appointed by Republicans while the four more liberal justices were Democratic nominees.

Republicans would have the opportunity to cement ideological balance in their favor if Justice Anthony Kennedy, the most moderate of the conservatives, or one of the older and more liberal justices were to retire with Trump in office and Republicans in control of the Senate.

Trump was citing retired Justice John Paul Stevens, who called in a New York Times article for repeal of the Second Amendment to allow for gun control legislation. Democratic leaders are not proposing repeal of the amendment, as Trump implies. Also noteworthy: Stevens was nominated by a Republican president, Gerald Ford.

Census and citizenship

WHITE HOUSE SPOKESWOMAN SARAH SANDERS, on the Trump administration’s decision to ask people about their citizenship in the 2020 census: “This is a question that’s been included in every census since 1965 with the exception of 2010, when it was removed. … And again, this is something that has been part of the census for decades and something that the Department of Commerce felt strongly needed to be included again.” — press briefing Tuesday.

COMMERCE DEPARTMENT: “Between 1820 and 1950, almost every decennial census asked a question on citizenship in some form.” — statement on Monday.

THE FACTS: Sanders is incorrect. The Commerce Department statement is also problematic. Both are trying to play down the risk of a severe undercount of the population if many immigrants, intimidated by the citizenship question, refuse to participate.

The Census Bureau hasn’t included a citizenship question in its once-a-decade survey sent to all U.S. households since 1950, before the Civil Rights era and passage of a 1965 law designed to help ensure minority groups in the count are fully represented.

The nation’s count is based on the total resident population, both citizens and noncitizens, and used to determine how many U.S. representatives each state gets in the U.S. House.

The citizenship question was not in the 1960 census, according to a copy of the form posted on the Census Bureau website, and no census was held in 1965.

From 1970 to 2000, the question was included only in the long-form section of the census survey, sent to a portion of U.S. households. After 2000, the question has been asked on the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, a separate poll designed to replace the census long form and sent only to a sample of U.S. households.

The Commerce Department’s assertion that the citizenship question was asked on “almost” every decennial census between 1820 and 1950 also pushes the limits of reality. According to the Census Bureau, the question wasn’t asked in four of those censuses —1840, 1850, 1860 or 1880.

Between 1820 and 1950, a total of 14 censuses were held. That means more than 1 in 4 surveys during that time period lacked the citizenship question.

Not exactly “almost.”

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Пожежа в Кемерові: Путін прийняв відставку губернатора Тулєєва

Президент Росії Володимир Путін задовольнив прохання Амана Тулєєва про відставку з посади губернатора Кемеровської області, йдеться в повідомленні на сайті Кремля.

В указі Путін зазначає, що тимчасовим виконувачем обов’язків голови області призначений Сергій Цивільов.

Тулєєв був губернатором Кемеровської області від 1997 року.

1 квітня з’явилося звернення Тулєєва, у якому він просить Путіна відправити його у відставку після пожежі в кемеровському торговельному центрі «Зимова вишня», що сталася 25 березня.

За офіційними даними, загинули щонайменше 64 людини, серед них багато дітей. Ще 76 людей були травмовані. Повідомлялося, що через дії охорони і неспрацювання пожежної сигналізації люди опинилися заблокованими в кінозалах і інших приміщеннях. Очевидці стверджують, що жертв набагато більше.

Через пожежу лунали заклики до відставки Тулєєва.

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After Fatal Mall Fire, Russian Governor Resigns

The governor of Russia’s Kemerovo region resigned Sunday over a mall fire that killed more than 60 people after a litany of violations in safety procedures left shoppers and children trapped inside the building.

Aman Tuleyev said in a video posted on the regional administration’s website that resigning was the only course of action possible.

“With such a heavy burden, it’s impossible to work as the governor,” he said. “It’s morally impossible.”

Last Sunday’s fire, one of the deadliest in Russia since the break-up of the Soviet Union, swept through a cinema complex and children’s play area on the upper floors of the Winter Cherry shopping center in the regional capital.

Investigators said last week that fire exits had been illegally blocked, the public address system was not switched on, the alarm system was broken, and children had been locked inside cinemas.

President Vladimir Putin said the incident had been caused by criminal negligence and that those responsible would be punished.

On Friday, police arrested an executive with the firm that owns the shopping mall.

The calamitous way the emergency was handled stirred public anger in Kemerovo and focused attention on corruption and lax fire safety standards. Rallies commemorating the victims were held across the country, including in Moscow and St Petersburg.

 

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Росія: губернатор Кемеровської області подав у відставку після пожежі в «Зимовій вишні»

Губернатор Кемеровської область Аман Тулєєв подав у відставку після пожежі в торговельному центрі «Зимова вишня», у якій загинули десятки людей. Його відеозвернення оприлюднене на сайті Адміністрації Кемеровської області.

«Я подав президенту Росії прохання про відставку. Вважаю для себе правильним, обдуманим, єдиним вірним рішенням. Тому що з таким важким вантажем працювати на посаді губернатора не можна, морально не можна», – сказав Тулєєв.

Він заявив, що кожен пропустив трагедію «через своє серце».

«Я зробив усе, що міг: зустрівся із сім’ями загиблих та спробував вирішити питання щодо допомоги», – зазначив посадовець.

Тулєєв очолює Кемеровську область із 1997 року.

Внаслідок пожежі, що сталася 25 березня у торгово-розважальному центрі Кемерова, загинули, за офіційними даними, щонайменше 64 людини, серед них багато дітей. Ще 76 людей були травмовані. Повідомлялося, що через дії охорони і неспрацювання пожежної сигналізації люди опинилися заблокованими в кінозалах і інших приміщеннях. Очевидці стверджують, що жертв набагато більше.

Через пожежу лунали заклики до відставки Тулєєва.

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Facebook Faces Calls for Change

The fallout continues for Facebook over how it handles user data and privacy. U.S. and European lawmakers are calling for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to testify, and regulators have opened investigations. Michelle Quinn reports on how the social media giant is facing a tipping point when it comes to dealing with user privacy.

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The Influence of ‘Think Tanks’ in US Policy

You may have heard the term “think tank,” which usually refers to a policy or research institute where scholars provide insight and advice on political, social or economic issues. Such institutions have been criticized in the past for their outsized influence on U.S. policy formulation. But there’s new research showing that, compared to previous administrations, the Trump White House is far less dependent on so-called think tanks. VOA Nadeem Yaqub reports.

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Kentucky Governor Wins Round in Social Media Fight

Kentucky’s Republican governor has won an initial round in his court fight over whether he violated free-speech rights by blocking people from his Facebook and Twitter accounts.

U.S. District Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove denied plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction to prevent Gov. Matt Bevin from blocking anyone from his social media accounts.

The case is part of an emerging national debate about whether elected officials infringe on First Amendment rights in doing so. Bevin is a frequent user of Twitter and Facebook.

Culling his accounts

In his ruling Friday, Van Tatenhove said the governor was not suppressing speech but “merely culling his Facebook and Twitter accounts to present a public image that he desires.”

The American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky sued Bevin on behalf of two Kentucky residents who were blocked by Bevin on social media. The ACLU says more than 600 people have been blocked from seeing the governor’s postings or engaging with him there.

The ACLU, which has clashed with Bevin on abortion rights and other issues, said Saturday it would continue pressing him to adopt a “constitutionally sound” social media policy.

“At this critical time … when important issues like the budget and pensions are being considered, we believe Kentuckians’ rights to engage in political speech and receive information from the governor’s office are being violated,” its attorney, Heather Gatnarek, said in a statement.

Bevin’s attorneys say he welcomes both positive and negative comments that stick to his chosen topics and are not obscene or abusive.

His speech, not constituents’

The judge said Bevin’s accounts are a way to communicate his own speech, not the speech of his constituents. He said “the term ‘block’ conjures an image much harsher than reality.”

“No one is being blocked from speaking on Twitter or Facebook,” Van Tatenhove wrote. “They are still free to post on their own walls and on friends’ walls whatever they want about Governor Bevin. Governor Bevin only wants to prevent some messages from appearing on his own wall, and, relatedly, to not view those messages he deems offensive.”

Requiring Bevin to allow anyone to access and post on his accounts could shut down the pages, he said. By doing so, those accounts could be flooded with internet spam, he said.

“If he wanted a truly open forum where everyone could post or comment, he could have set up his accounts to allow that, but he did not,” Van Tatenhove wrote. “And the First Amendment does not require him to do so.”

While his ruling dealt only with the request for a preliminary injunction, the judge offered a broader message regarding the lawsuit. He said the plaintiffs appear “unlikely to succeed on the merits of this case.” But he added that “their actual success on the merits remains open.”

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AP Analysis: Blacks Largely Missing From High-Salary Positions

Jonathan Garland’s fascination with architecture started early: He spent much of his childhood designing Lego houses and gazing at Boston buildings on rides with his father away from their largely minority neighborhood. 

But when Garland looked around at his architectural college, he didn’t see many who looked like him. There were few black faces among students, and fewer teaching skills or giving lectures. 

 

“If you do something simple like Google ‘architects’ and you go to the images tab, you’re primarily going to see white males,” said Garland, 35, who’s worked at Boston and New York architectural firms. “That’s the image, that’s the brand, that’s the look of an architect.”

And that’s not uncommon in other lucrative fields, 50 years after the Reverend Martin Luther King, a leader in the fight for equal employment opportunities, was assassinated.

An Associated Press analysis of government data has found that black workers are chronically underrepresented compared with whites in high-salary jobs in technology, business, life sciences and engineering, among other areas. Instead, many black workers find jobs in low-wage, less prestigious fields where they’re overrepresented, such as food service or preparation, building maintenance and office work, the AP analysis found.

‘Other America’

In one of his final speeches, King described the “Other America,” where unemployment and underemployment created a “fatigue of despair” for African-Americans. Despite economic progress for blacks in areas such as incomes and graduation rates, some experts say many African-Americans remain part of this “Other America,” with little hope of attaining top professional jobs, thanks to systemic yet subtle racism.

The AP analysis found that a white worker had a far better chance than a black one of holding a job in the 11 categories with the highest median annual salaries, as listed by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The ratio of white-to-black workers is about 10-to-1 in management, 8-to-1 in computers and mathematics, 12-to-1 in law and 7-to-1 in education — compared with a ratio of 5.5 white workers for every black one in all jobs nationally. The top five high-salary fields have a median income range of $65,000 to $100,000, compared with $36,000 for all occupations nationwide.

In Boston, a hub for technology and innovation and home to prestigious universities, white workers outnumber black ones by about 27-to-1 in computer- and mathematics-related professions, compared with the overall ratio of 9.5-to-1 for workers in the city. Overall, Boston’s ratio of white-to-black workers is wider than that of the nation in six of the top 10 high-income fields.

Boston, where King had deep ties, earning his doctorate and meeting his wife, has a history of racial discord. Eight years after King’s assassination, at the height of turbulent school desegregation, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph from an anti-busing rally at City Hall showed a white man attacking a black bystander with an American flag.

The young victim was Theodore Landsmark. He’s now 71, a lawyer, an architect and director of Northeastern University’s Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy.

Why progress lags

He said “structural discrimination” is the overarching cause of disproportionate race representation in high-salary fields. Landsmark and others say gains are elusive for myriad reasons: Substandard schools in low-income neighborhoods. White-dominated office cliques. Boardrooms that prefer familiarity to diversity. Discriminatory hiring practices. Companies that claim a lack of qualified candidates but have no programs to train minority talent.

Some also say investors are more likely to support white startups. When Rica Elysee, a lifelong Boston resident who grew up in predominantly black neighborhoods, brought her idea of an online platform linking beauty professionals with customers for in-home appointments to investors, she was shunned, she said.

“They said I didn’t belong in the program, that they couldn’t identify with it because they weren’t black,” said Elysee, 32, who initially marketed BeautyLynk to black women like herself. “I remember crying pretty harshly. They couldn’t relate to what I was doing.”

Some even advised her to move out of Boston, which had a booming innovation economy but was “not encouraging minorities in the tech space,” she said. Three years later, Elysee said BeautyLynk is slowly growing but still needs capital.

Most American metro areas are like Boston, with AP’s analysis showing that racial disparities in employment are indifferent to geography and politics. California’s Silicon Valley struggles to achieve diversity in computer fields. In Seattle, home to Amazon, whites outnumber blacks nearly 28-to-1 in computer- and math-related fields. Financial powerhouse New York has a 3-to-1 ratio of white-to-black workers in all occupations, but nearly 6-to-1 in business and finance. Hollywood shows inequality in entertainment, with almost nine whites for every black worker.

In Atlanta, King’s hometown, the proportional representation of black-to-white workers is close to even in many fields. Many reasons are cited. Atlanta has historically black colleges and universities such as King’s alma mater, Morehouse; the first black mayor, Maynard Jackson, pressed for policies helping black professionals after his 1973 election; and events like the 1996 Olympics opened doors for entrepreneurs of all races.

Nationally, it’s much different

Atlanta is an exception. For nearly all of the past half-century, black unemployment nationally has hovered at about twice that of whites.

President Donald Trump touted on Twitter that December’s 6.8 percent unemployment rate for blacks was the lowest in 45 years — a number critics say ignores a greater reality. For example, in an economy that increasingly demands advanced degrees, Department of Education data show that black representation among graduates in science, tech, engineering and mathematics peaked at 9.9 percent in 2010 and has been slowly declining.

In Boston, Democratic Mayor Marty Walsh said in a recent speech that the city is addressing the issue and is committed to placing 20,000 low-income residents in “good-paying jobs” by 2022.

Landsmark said stronger role models may be a solution. As Boston Architectural College’s president, he mentored Garland. They discussed race issues in the professional world — as when Garland, trying to land jobs in his neighborhood, realized many people who looked like him were unfamiliar with the very concept of architecture. He once had to explain to a homeowner who wanted his roof reframed: “I’m not a builder, I’m an architect.”

Today, Garland speaks at high schools and works at the DREAM Collaborative, which focuses on projects in low-income neighborhoods.

“I know the barriers exist in other folks’ minds, and I have to disprove that,” he said. “I keep myself focused on the issues.”

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НАЗК отримало понад 816 тисяч декларацій за 2017 рік – Мангул

«10 квітня НАЗК проведе своє засідання, на якому ухвалить рішення щодо повної перевірки декларацій топ-чиновників»

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