Monthly: June 2018

Myanmar Joins the Ranks of Worst Human Trafficking Countries

The U.S. State Department says Myanmar has joined the ranks of China, Russia, South Sudan, Syria, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela and others as the worst offenders in the world for human trafficking and forced labor. But the State Department also recognized 10 heroes who have dedicated their lives to ending the scourge of modern slavery. VOA’s diplomatic correspondent Cindy Saine has more from Washington.

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Trade Dispute Hits China’s Yuan, Investors

After a sharp sell-off, China’s yuan and stock markets attempted a modest recovery Friday, yet investors were grappling with some of their worst losses in years as a bitter Sino-U.S. trade row threatened to ruffle the world’s second-biggest economy.

The yuan was set for its biggest monthly fall on record. Chinese stocks, on a downward spiral since late January, were also poised for their largest monthly slide since January 2016.

The downturn highlighted the anxiety among investors as Washington and Beijing showed no signs of backing down from their tariff dispute.

The worry is that an extended selloff in stocks and the yuan could spark a bout of capital outflows, putting further strain on the economy and complicating policy making as authorities put up defenses against the trade battle with the United States.

Down 3 percent in month

The yuan has shed more than 3 percent of its value against the dollar in June, its biggest fall since the market exchange rate was unified in 1994. On Friday, it fell to its lowest since mid-November 2017, but pulled up to 6.6139 per dollar by 0600 GMT for a modest bounce of about 0.16 percent on the day.

Offshore, where the yuan trades more freely, the unit was up by about a quarter of a percent, at 6.6224 per dollar.

In equities, the benchmark CSI300 Index rebounded more than 2 percent, while the Shanghai Composite Index gained around 2 percent, though they were both down around 9 percent for the month. In Hong Kong, the benchmark Hang Seng Index was also up more than 1 percent.

Trump and trade

U.S. President Donald Trump has shaken the world trade order by seeking to renegotiate the terms of some of the United States’ trading relationships, in particular with China.

The U.S. is targeting $34 billion of Chinese goods for tariffs to take effect July 6, and has threatened tens of billions of dollars more for similar duties.

Chinese 10-year treasury futures for September delivery, the most traded contract, leapt 0.34 percent. A fixed income portfolio manager said the sharp rise was a result of central bank promises of “ample” liquidity.

“The central bank is expected to step up efforts to calm investors and slow the pace of the yuan depreciation that has sparked risk aversion across regional markets, including a possible reintroduction of the counter-cyclical factor,” Gao Qi, FX strategist at Scotiabank in Singapore, wrote in a note Friday.

He expected “strong resistance” at 6.70 yuan per dollar.

Hard-hit areas

Sectors and stocks that were exposed to the depreciating yuan have been hit hard this month.

Real estate was down 5.7 percent and poised for its fifth straight month of losses. The transport sector index, whose components include many leading airlines, tumbled 9.4 percent this month and was set for its steepest monthly drop since January 2016.

A trader at a regional bank in Shanghai who declined to be named said there had been some “filtering” of the midpoint fixing, which is set by the central bank each morning, in an apparent bid to keep the yuan from falling too sharply.

“It is too early to say whether the counter-cyclical factor has been revived. If market sentiment could recover by itself, there is no need to use the factor. Market still needs some time to digest,” the trader said.

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Vietnam Expects Economic Boom from EU Trade Deal

A trade deal with the European Union expected to be ratified this year will accelerate growth of Vietnam’s export-reliant economy without help from the U.S. market, analysts say.

The European Union-Vietnam Free Trade Agreement signed in 2015 should speed annual economic growth by half a percent to more than 7 percent by 2019, according to data from the business consultancy Dezan Shira & Associates.

European Union members Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom already take 9 percent of all exports from Vietnam, and 28 states belong to the whole bloc.

Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade said Tuesday the two sides had finished a legal review of the deal, the Vietnamese Communist Party news website Nhan Dan Online reported.

The deal signed by negotiators in December 2015 must pass the European Parliament as well as Vietnamese lawmakers.

“It should give Vietnam better access to European markets, not just the usual garments and footwear but also for seafood and other agro-processing products,” said Adam McCarty, chief economist with Mekong Economics in the capital Hanoi. “Generally, it will be good.”

​Top trading partners

Vietnam counts the European Union, with a market of about 500 million people, as its No. 3 trading partner after China and the United States. Their trade totaled about $50.4 billion last year.

Vietnam relies on exports of garments, auto parts and consumer electronics to stoke a GDP that already outgrows most of the world. It had hoped the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal would open tariff-free access to the United States until U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from it last year.

The EU-Vietnam deal will eliminate import tariffs on 99 percent of all goods within a decade and open Vietnam to European services such as health care, packaging and conference hosting.

Elimination of tariffs will save money for manufacturers based in Vietnam and selling to Europe.

“It won’t be able to compensate, because the U.S. is still the largest and most important economy, but it gives businesses opportunities,” said Song Seng Wun, Southeast Asia-focused economist in the private banking unit of CIMB in Singapore.

For the European Union

The European Union pursued the trade deal with Vietnam so its companies could better access an increasingly wealthy consumer market of about 93 million people. Foreign investors favor Vietnam for its low wages, creating domestic jobs that in turn drive consumer spending.

Tariff cuts should help imports of European luxury goods to Vietnam, said Maxfield Brown, senior associate with the consultancy Dezan Shira & Associates in Ho Chi Minh City.

The agreement also gets the EU into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a 10-member trading bloc to which Vietnam belongs.

The EU failed to finish a trade agreement with the association in 2009, after two years of talks, in part because the bloc could not reconcile the varied agendas of all member states.

Final steps

Analysts say a Vietnamese trade ministry meeting this month with the EU’s trade commissioner indicates that a deal is nearly done. The two sides “reached consensus” at that meeting on all content of an investment protection agreement, the Communist Party news website said.

In a possible snag, European Parliament members had voiced concerns last year over human rights in Vietnam. Some suggested more debate in Vietnam on political rights and freedom of expression.

Vietnam may want the final trade deal to scrap its classification by the EU as a non-market economy, McCarty said. That designation would further liberalize the Vietnamese trade in footwear, he said.

Today’s rules, which the EU set to head off export dumping, give Vietnam a “headache,” he said.

European investment in Vietnam had already picked up over the past two years in anticipation of a finished free trade deal, Brown said.

As of last year, 24 countries from Europe had made a combined 2,000 investments in Vietnam. They were worth a total of $21.5 billion.

Foreign direct investment, or FDI, in export manufacturing plants still comes largely from Asian countries, such as Japan, Singapore and South Korea.

“It’s gotten to this stage, so there’s an incentive for both sides to get over the finish line and open up the market for European manufacturers, exporters and get Vietnam more FDI,” Brown said.

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US, Russia to Address Differences in Helsinki Summit

U.S. and Russian leaders have agreed to meet July 16 to discuss long-standing disagreements on global issues such as conflicts in Ukraine and Syria, Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. elections and NATO’s expansion into Eastern Europe. The summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin comes on the heels of the NATO summit in Brussels, but the two leaders have chosen neutral territory to meet. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke has more.

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Minnesota Approves Enbridge Energy Line 3 Pipeline Project

Minnesota regulators on Thursday approved Enbridge Energy’s proposal to replace its aging Line 3 oil pipeline across the northern part of the state.

All five members of the Public Utilities Commission backed the project, though some cited heavy trepidation, and a narrow majority later approved the company’s preferred route despite opposition from American Indian tribes and climate change activists.

In discussion before the vote, several commissioners cited the deteriorating condition of the existing line , which was built in the 1960s, as a major factor in their decision.

“It’s irrefutable that that pipeline is an accident waiting to happen,” Commissioner Dan Lipschultz said ahead of the vote. “It feels like a gun to our head … All I can say is the gun is real and it’s loaded.”

Some pipeline opponents reacted angrily when it became clear commissioners would approve the project. Tania Aubid, a member of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, stood and shouted, “You have just declared war on the Ojibwe!” Brent Murcia, of the group Youth Climate Intervenors, added: “We will not let this stand.”

Opponents argue that the pipeline risks spills in pristine areas in northern Minnesota, including where American Indians harvest wild rice. Ojibwe Indians, or Anishinaabe, consider wild rice sacred and central to their culture.

Winona LaDuke, founder of Honor the Earth, said opponents would use every regulatory means possible to stop the project — and threatened mass protests if necessary.

“They have gotten their Standing Rock,” she said, referring to protests that drew thousands of people to neighboring North Dakota to rally against the Dakota Access pipeline. 

Others welcomed Thursday’s vote, including Bob Schoneberger, founder of Minnesotans for Line 3. He said Minnesota needs the line now “and will need it even more into the future.”

After commissioners agreed the pipeline upgrade was needed, the commission voted 3-2 in favor of Enbridge’s preferred route, which departs from the existing pipeline to largely avoid two American Indian reservations currently crossed.

The approved route does clip a portion of the Fond du Lac Band of Chippewa’s land, and commissioners said they would adjust the route if the Fond du Lac don’t agree. Tribal leaders had reluctantly backed a route that went much farther south as the least objectionable option.

After the commission’s work is formalized in the next few weeks, opponents may file motions asking it to reconsider. After that, they can appeal the decision to the state Court of Appeals. 

Several commissioners said the overall issue posed a difficult decision. Chairwoman Nancy Lange choked up and took off her glasses to wipe her eyes as she described her reasoning for approving the project. Another commissioner, Katie Sieben, said it was “so tough because there is no good outcome.”

The pipeline currently runs from Alberta, Canada, across North Dakota and Minnesota to Enbridge’s terminal in Superior, Wisconsin. Enbridge has said it needs to replace the pipeline because it’s increasingly subject to corrosion and cracking, and that it would continue to run Line 3 if regulators rejected its proposal.

Much of the debate has focused on whether Minnesota and Midwest refineries need the extra oil. Enbridge currently runs Line 3 at about half its original capacity of 760,000 barrels per day for safety reasons, and currently uses it only to carry light crude. 

The project’s opponents, including the Minnesota Department of Commerce, have argued that the refineries don’t need it because demand for oil and petroleum products will fall in the coming years as people switch to electric cars and renewable energy sources. Opposition groups also argue that much of the additional oil would eventually flow to overseas buyers.

Enbridge and its customers strongly dispute the lack of need in the region. They said Line 3’s reduced capacity is already forcing the company to severely ration space on its pipeline network, and that failure to restore its capacity would force oil shippers to rely more on trains and trucks, which are more expensive and less safe. Business and labor groups support the proposal for the jobs and economic stimulus. 

The Public Utilities Commission’s decision likely won’t be the final word in a long, contentious process that has included numerous public hearings and the filings of thousands of pages of documents since 2015. Lange said earlier this year that the dispute was likely to end up in court, regardless of what the commission decides.

Opponents have threatened a repeat of the protests on the Standing Rock Reservation against the Dakota Access pipeline, in which Enbridge owns a stake. Those protests in 2016 and 2017 resulted in sometimes violent skirmishes with law enforcement and more than 700 arrests. 

Similar concerns over the role of tar sands oil in climate change, indigenous rights and the risk of spills has fueled opposition to other pipelines out of Alberta’s oil sands region. Opponents of TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline to Nebraska are still fighting that project in court. The Canadian government agreed last month to buy Kinder Morgan’s Trans Mountain pipeline across Canadian soil to the Pacific Coast for $4.5 billion Canadian (US$3.4 billion) to ensure completion of the company’s plan to triple the line’s capacity. 

Enbridge has already replaced the short segment of Line 3 in Wisconsin and put it into service. Construction is underway on the short segment that crosses northeastern North Dakota and on the longer section from Alberta to the U.S. border, and Enbridge plans to continue that work. Enbridge has estimated the overall cost of the project at $7.5 billion, including $2.6 billion for the U.S. segment.

 

 

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US Delegation Attends Kenya’s Inaugural Economic Summit 

A U.S. delegation traveled to Kenya on Thursday to attend the inaugural economic summit of the American Chamber of Commerce, Kenya.

About 500 delegates, including Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and Gilbert Kaplan, U.S. undersecretary of commerce for international trade, other high-ranking government officials from both nations and representatives from nearly 30 major U.S. corporations, gathered at the summit, which was aimed at creating partnerships between the two nations’ public and private sectors in order to foster economic growth. 

The Kenyan agenda was centered on advancing Kenyatta’s “Big Four” priorities — universal health care, manufacturing, food security and affordable housing — that he set out after his re-election to a second term last year.

American companies in attendance were looking for opportunities to expand and to increase trade and investment in Africa.

Kaplan told VOA that increasing business and economic development in Africa would benefit many Americans, which aligns with the promises of President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” agenda. 

“If we can export more and do more transactions here, do more investment here, that’s going to be incredibly helpful for the United States, for the people back home, because we’ll be making profitable ventures, and that will naturally help,” he said.

But the U.S. delegation also had a strong message for Kenya: Real, meaningful economic growth can’t happen unless Kenya commits to fighting corruption.

​’It’s got to stop’

“Corruption is undermining Kenya’s future,” said Robert Godec, U.S. ambassador to Kenya. “It’s clearly a major problem for the country. We welcome President Kenyatta’s commitment and the push recently to address this problem. Corruption is theft from the people, and it’s got to stop.”

In his speech to the delegation, Kenyatta pledged to “fight this animal called corruption and ensure that it is a beast that shall never infect or inflict future generations” of Kenyans. 

Kaplan told VOA that the U.S. government was providing support and training to the Kenyan government to help tackle corruption.

“We’ve dealt with that — the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, rule of law and international standards,” he said. “I think we can convince Kenya that following those rules is ultimately to their benefit because it brings more businessmen and women into the system and being able to be successful.” 

Part of the objective of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act is to make it illegal for companies and their supervisors to influence foreign officials with personal payments or rewards.

C.D. Glin, president and chief executive of the U.S. African Development Foundation, told VOA that the U.S. government’s and private sector’s support of businesses in Africa that had ramped up under the previous administration was being continued by Trump.

For instance, the President’s Advisory Council for Doing Business in Africa, begun under the Barack Obama administration and still in force, “really is looking at Africa from a business standpoint and from an opportunity standpoint so that Africans can benefit from U.S. support, but also can support the U.S.,” Glin said.

​Major boost

Nicholas Nesbitt, chairman of the Kenya Private Sector Alliance, said the increased U.S. private sector investment had been hugely beneficial for the Kenyan economy.

“We see a lot more tourism coming to Kenya, a lot more trade and a lot more business,” he said. “We’re very excited to see the numbers of American companies — small, midsize and even large corporations — looking at Kenya as a destination. It’s also a gateway to east Africa, where there are 200 million potential consumers. So, the investments, the energy, the excitement is absolutely tremendous today at this summit between American and Kenyan business.”

Six commercial deals between Kenyan and American companies were signed at the summit. Maxwell Okello, chief executive of the American Chamber of Commerce, Kenya, called that a sign that significant economic change would be driven by private sector innovation.

“I think at the end of the day, with what we’re hearing today here, it’s really down to what the private sector wants to do from a commercial engagement,” he said. “And I believe conversations such as this is really where you spark that interest, where you create those linkages and the sort of engagement that you need. And the opportunities are there for anyone. They’re obvious.

“So, I think that various policies aside, from a commercial business engagement perspective, the sky is wide open.” 

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Threats from US Put New Pressure on Iranian Oil Importers

Importers of Iranian oil are facing pressure from the United States to find another energy source or be hit with sanctions.

The Trump administration is threatening other countries, including close allies such as South Korea, with the sanctions if they don’t cut off Iranian imports by early November, essentially erecting a global blockade around the world’s sixth-biggest petroleum producer.

South Korea accounted for 14 percent of Iran’s oil exports last year, according to the U.S. Energy Department. China is the largest importer of Iranian oil with 24 percent, followed by India with 18 percent. Turkey stood at 9 percent, and Italy at 7 percent.

A State Department official told reporters this week that the “vast majority” of countries will comply with the U.S. request. A group from the State Department and the National Security Council is delivering the president’s message in Europe. The official added that the group had not yet visited China or India.

President Donald Trump announced in May that he would pull the United States out of a 2015 agreement over Iran’s nuclear program, and would re-impose sanctions on Tehran. Previously, the administration said only that other countries should make a “significant reduction” in imports of Iranian crude to avoid U.S. sanctions.

European allies will reluctantly go along to avoid sanctions on their companies that do business in the U.S., said Jim Krane, an energy and geopolitics expert at Rice University. However, China, India and Turkey might be less likely to fully cut off Iranian imports, he said.

Antoine Halff, a researcher at Columbia University and former chief oil analyst for the International Energy Agency, said it’s not unusual for the U.S. government to seek cooperation from other importers of Iranian oil — President Barack Obama’s administration did it during a previous round of sanctions.

“The difference is that there was broad international support for the sanctions then,” while the move to restore sanctions now over Iran’s nuclear program “is a unilateral decision from the United States alone,” Halff said.

The Trump administration is counting on Saudi Arabia and other OPEC members to supply enough oil to offset the lost Iranian exports and prevent oil prices from rising sharply.

The State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the U.S. will be talking in a week or so “with our Middle Eastern partners to ensure that the global supply of oil is not adversely affected by these sanctions.”

Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed over the weekend to boost oil production by about 600,000 barrels a day. Iran exported about 1.9 million barrels a day during the first quarter of this year, according to OPEC figures. It is the world’s seventh largest oil exporter.

“It would not be a heavy lift for OPEC to replace Iran’s contribution to world oil markets — Saudi Arabia could probably do it on its own,” Krane said. “Saudi spare capacity protects the U.S. motorist from U.S. foreign policy.”

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Russia Cracks Down on Women-Shaming Online During World Cup

Russia’s leading social network is cracking down on chat groups created to shame women during the World cup amid growing complaints of sexist abuse during the tournament.

Social network VKontakte told The Associated Press on Thursday it issued warnings to the administrators of such groups. VKontakte reminded administrators that “offensive behavior is unacceptable” and told them to better moderate their sites, including blocking content.

But sexist comments continued to appear Thursday on at least one of the targeted sites, which was named after an offensive Portuguese phrase for the female anatomy.

The site’s administrators openly criticize what they call inappropriate behavior by Russian women who celebrate with foreign fans during the World Cup.

Several female fans, journalists and others have complained of groping, sexist comments or other misconduct at the World Cup, being hosted in 11 Russian cities.

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Пакистан додають до «сірого списку» FATF, яка моніторить фінансування тероризму

Цільова група з фінансових заходів протидії відмиванню коштів (FATF) поверне Пакистан до свого «сірого списку», щоб моніторити ймовірне фінансування тероризму.

Про рішення, яке FATF ухвалила під час зустрічі в Парижі, офіційно оголосять 29 червня, повідомив речник МЗС Пакистану. За його словами, організація попередила про такий крок у лютому. 

«Також було погоджено в лютому, що Пакистан і члени FATF обговорять план дій до червня. Це було зроблено. Пакистан працюватиме з метою ефективної імплементації цього плану дій, перебуваючи при цьому в «сірому списку», – заявив речник МЗС країни.

1 січня у президент США Дональд Трамп пригрозив владі Пакистану припиненням надання фінансової допомоги, звинувативши Ісламабад у створенні безпечних умов для екстремістів.

У Міністерстві оборони Пакистану заявили, що Ісламабад сприяв США як союзник у знищенні екстремістів останні 16 років, а Сполучені Штати не дали Ісламабаду «нічого, крім образ і недовіри».

4 січня Державний департамент США оголосив, що Вашингтон припиняє допомогу Пакистану з питань національної безпеки, доки Ісламабад не вживатиме належних заходів проти мережі «Хаккані» та афганських талібів. У МЗС Пакистану назвали це рішення «контрпродуктивним».

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Trump to Tout Economic Policies at Foxconn Ground-Breaking

President Donald Trump was highlighting his economic policies Thursday by taking part in the ceremonial ground-breaking for a $10 billion Foxconn factory complex that may bring thousands of jobs to a state he barely carried in the 2016 presidential election.

But Trump’s celebration comes amid less-rosy economic news, with Harley-Davidson’s announcement it’s moving some motorcycle production overseas to avoid European Union tariffs that are a product of Trump’s escalating trade dispute with long-standing U.S. allies.

The president was irked by the Milwaukee-based company’s announcement this week and tweeted about it for three straight days, writing that any shift in production “will be the beginning of the end” for the iconic American manufacturer and even threatening retaliatory taxes.

Trump’s presence in Wisconsin was the subject of protests both in Milwaukee, where he spent a rare weeknight away from the White House, and in Mount Pleasant, where final preparations were under way for the ground-breaking.

Chants of “Hey, hey, Ho, ho. Donald Trump has got to go” were heard near the Pfister Hotel, where Trump overnighted and attended a pair of closed-door campaign events before heading to the groundbreaking and tour of an existing Foxconn facility. Gov. Scott Walker and House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., were among those joining the president at the fundraisers. 

About 50 people walked from a downtown park to as close as they could get to the roped-off hotel, hoping Trump hears their calls to reunite migrant families separated at the U.S.-Mexico border after the president decide to prosecute everyone trying to enter the U.S. illegally.

As the president hobnobbed with supporters, his wife, Melania, was making her second trip in a week to the southern border to visit detention centers housing migrant children. She toured a Texas center last Thursday.

Christine Neumann-Ortiz, executive director of Voces de la Frontera, an immigrant rights organization, said the family separation issue is not unique to border communities. She said it’s also happening in the U.S. interior where deportations have increased.

“The scale of human rights violations that are being inflicted on children and families by the current administration should shake us to our core,” she said.

Protesters were also gathering near the Foxconn Technology Group campus in Mount Pleasant, about 30 miles south of Milwaukee.

Nearly 40 groups representing students, environmentalists, civil rights advocates, teachers, union workers and others have organized an event featuring dozens of speakers, a marching band, singers and musicians who plan to play ominous “Star Wars” music.

Foxconn is the world’s largest electronics contract manufacturer and assembles Apple iPhones and other products for tech companies. Based in Taiwan, it chose Wisconsin after being prodded by Trump and others, including Ryan, whose district will include the plant.

The project could employ up to 13,000 people, though opponents say it is costing Wisconsin taxpayers too much.

The ceremonial groundbreaking was supposed to be evidence that the manufacturing revival fueled by Trump’s “America First” policy is well underway. But Harley-Davidson’s announcement, spurred by the trans-Atlantic tariff fight, appears to have turned that on its head.

Walker is counting on a strong economy as part of his case for re-election in November. Wisconsin’s unemployment is at record-low levels and Walker argues that the Foxconn project, the largest economic development deal in state history, shows the state is on the right track.

When the deal, reached with assistance from the White House, was signed last year, Walker said critics could “suck lemons” and “all of us in the state should be smiling, Republican and Democrat, doesn’t matter.”

A year later, opinion polls show Wisconsin voters are split on the project and the state of the economy.

Trump carried Wisconsin by less than 1 point — just under 23,000 votes. He’s underwater in popularity, with only 44 percent of respondents in last week’s Marquette University Law School poll approving of the job he’s doing, while 50 percent disapproved.

Republicans were mostly unified in support of Foxconn, saying it is a once-a-generation opportunity to transform the state’s economy. But most Democrats — including all eight of those running against Walker — are against it, arguing the potential $4.5 billion in taxpayer subsidies was too rich. If paid out — they’re tied to jobs and investment benchmarks — the incentives would be the most paid to a foreign company in U.S. history.

Should Foxconn employ 13,000 workers as envisioned, it would be the largest private-sector employer in Wisconsin.

“Foxconn’s state-of-the-art products will be made in the U.S.A. — proudly in the state of Wisconsin!” Walker tweeted Tuesday, as he tried to shift the focus away from Harley-Davidson.

 

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«Нафтогаз»: апеляційний суд у Швеції визнав безпідставним «головний аргумент «Газпрому»

Апеляційний суд округа Свеа у Швеції вирішив переглянути своє попереднє рішення про припинення виконавчих дій щодо рішення Стокгольмського арбітражу стосовно транзитного контракту між НАК «Нафтогаз України» та російським «Газпромом», повідомив голова української компанії Андрій Коболєв у Facebook.

За його словами, головний аргумент «Газпрому» в апеляційному суді Швеції – лінгвістичну експертизу – визнали безпідставним.

«Сьогоднішнє рішення означає, що, вивчивши аргументи, надані «Нафтогазом», суд відхилив безпідставне твердження «Газпрому» щодо того, що значні частини обґрунтування транзитного рішення були начебто написані адміністративним секретарем», – розповів Коболєв.

Водночас, за його словами, суд залишив чинним тимчасове припинення виконавчих дій за грошовими вимогами «Нафтогазу» «через інші причини». Коболєв їх не назвав.

«Сьогодні компанія не мала нагоди надати свої контраргументи щодо цих причин. «Нафтогаз» планує подати до суду додаткове звернення з викладенням цих фактів і сподівається на перегляд останнього рішення. Поточне рішення не є обов’язковим до виконання судами інших юрисдикцій. Відповідно, «Нафтогаз» продовжить свої дії щодо стягнення заборгованості «Газпрому» в інших юрисдикціях. Саме рішення трибуналу в транзитному провадженні як було, так і залишається чинним», – пише Коболєв.

28 червня «Газпром» заявив, що суд у Швеції ухвалив рішення залишити в силі свій наказ від 13 червня про зупинку виконання рішення Стокгольмського арбітражу від 28 лютого в суперечці про контракт на транзит газу через територію України.

«Нафтогаз України» намагався оскаржити цей судовий наказ, але суд визнав його аргументи непереконливими. Ця обставина посилює позицію «Газпрому» при оскарженні спроб «Нафтогазу України» примусово виконати згадане арбітражне рішення в різних країнах», – заявив «Газпром».

28 травня у російській компанії заявили, що рішення Стокгольмського арбітражу, який зобов’язав «Газпром» виплатити «Нафтогазу» 4,6 мільярда доларів, було написано за участю «сторонніх людей». За твердженням компанії, це показало «додаткове вивчення тексту рішення з залученням всесвітньо визнаного експерта-лінгвіста».

0 травня «Нафтогаз» повідомив, що почав процес стягнення з російського «Газпрому» боргу в близько 2,6 мільярда доларів відповідно до рішення Стокгольмського арбітражу в справах щодо постачання і транзиту газу.

5 червня «Нафтогаз» повідомив, що суд у Нідерландах заарештував тамтешні активи «Газпрому», а 18 червня Комерційний суд Лондона 18 червня дозволив заморозити активи на території Великої Британії.

Стокгольмський арбітраж у лютому повідомив, що присудив «Нафтогазу» 4,6 мільярда доларів. З урахуванням рішення за іншим спором «Газпром» має виплатити українській компанії 2,56 мільярда доларів, однак «Газпром» цього не робить.

Стокгольмський арбітраж розглядав спір «Нафтогазу» і «Газпрому» про умови контракту на поставку і транзит газу, укладеного в 2009 році на 10 років. Сторони висували одна до одної претензії на кілька мільярдів доларів.

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Активіста Мовенка випустили із СІЗО Сімферополя

Український активіст Ігор Мовенко 28 червня вийшов зі слідчого ізолятора Сімферополя, повідомляє кореспондент проекту Радіо Свобода Крим.Реалії.

Зустріти Мовенка приїхали дружина і місцеві активісти.

7 травня суд в анексованому Севастополі засудив Мовенка до двох років ув’язнення в колонії загального режиму. Його обвинуватили в екстремізмі через публікації в соцмережах. 

26 червня підконтрольний Кремлю Севастопольський міський суд змінив  активісту реальний термін покарання на умовний.

Жителя Севастополя Ігоря Мовенка затримали 16 грудня 2016 року й відвезли до управління ФСБ Росії.

До цього, у вересні 2016-го, з’явилося відео, зняте дружиною Мовенка. За словами жінки, її чоловіка побив невідомий через символіку українського батальйону «Азов», що була наклеєна на велосипед кримчанина. Лікарі діагностували в Мовенка відкриту черепно-мозкову травму, струс головного мозку, перелом основи черепа, перелом щелепи, закритий перелом кісток носа, контузію очного яблука й інші травми.

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China Says Its Trade Practices Benefit World

China defended its trade practices Thursday as being beneficial to the world as it tries to ease pressure from the United States and Europe to abandon what they consider to be Beijing’s protectionist policies.

China’s rapid economic growth “has brought great opportunities to trading partners all over the world,” Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen said at a Beijing news conference.

Wang unveiled a report highlighting reforms China has taken since joining the World Trade Organization in 2001.He said Beijing has “carried out every promise” since joining the WTO.

Wang’s defense of China’s business practices come amid threats of a trade war with the United States and arguments by Europe and Washington that China limits access to emerging industries and steals or forces other countries to hand over technology.

Trump’s threat of tariff increases on Chinese goods worth up to $450 billion reflects fears that China’s actions are a threat to America’s technological leadership.Germany and other countries have complained that Beijing prohibits purchases of Chinese assets while Chinese companies engage in a worldwide spending spree.

The dispute with Trump has allowed China, which has the world’s second largest economy, to position itself as a defender of free trade.When asked about possible U.S. plans to limit Chinese investment in its technology sectors, Wang said, “We hope countries concerned can do the right thing and adopt policies that support free trade and investment.”

The U.S. and other trading partners maintain China’s emergence in the smartphone, solar and other technology sectors means it should no longer be afforded protections it was granted as a developing country when it joined the WTO.

China has offered to cut its multi-billion trade surplus with the United States, but has refused to abolish a strategy that its Communist leaders believe is a path to increased global influence and prosperity.

China and the European Union announced this week they will form a group to update WTO rules to keep pace with global economic developments.

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Росія: суд заарештував історика Дмитрієва

У Росії Петрозаводський міський суд заарештував історика й голову карельського правозахисного центру «Меморіал» Юрія Дмитрієва на два місяці за підозрою в насильницьких діях сексуального характеру, повідомив його адвокат Віктор Ануфрієв.

«Заарештували на два місяці, до 28 серпня, напевно, так виходить», – сказав Ануфрієв за результатами закритого судового засідання.

Голову карельського «Меморіалу», історика Юрія Дмитрієва затримали напередодні в Карелії, а 28 червня стало відомо про порушення нової кримінальної справи проти нього.

У правозахисному центрі «Меморіал» назвали нову кримінальну справу проти історика Юрія Дмитрієва політичним переслідуванням. 

Докладніше про це: Історик, який відкрив імена жертв і катів Сандармоху, може повернутися у тюрму в Росії

Правоохоронні органи Росії раніше звинуватили Дмитрієва в розпусних діях щодо неповнолітньої прийомної дочки і виготовленні дитячої порнографії. У квітні суд першої інстанції виправдав історика за основними статтями звинувачення, але це рішення оскаржила прокуратура. Пізніше Верховний суд Карелії скасував виправдальний вирок. Новий розгляд справи почнеться в серпні.

У комп’ютері Дмитрієва в 2016 році виявили фотографії прийомної дочки, які слідчі назвали порнографічними. Прокуратура вимагала засудити його до дев’яти років колонії суворого режиму.

Сам історик заявляв, що він робив знімки тільки для того, щоб відстежувати стан здоров’я дочки і звітувати перед органами опіки. Правозахисний центр «Меморіал» назвав справу політично мотивованою.

Дмитрієва затримали 13 грудня 2016 року. До січня 2018 року правозахисник перебував у слідчому ізоляторі, потім його випустили під підписку про невиїзд.

Юрій Дмитрієв є упорядником, видавцем книг пам’яті жертв політичних репресій 1930-1940-х років в Карелії. Експедиції під його керівництвом в кінці 1990-х років виявили місця масових поховань жертв політичних репресій в Сандармоху і Червоному Бору. Друзі та колеги історика пов’язують кримінальну справу проти нього з публікацією списків співробітників НКВС, які брали участь в Великому терорі.

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EU Leaders Seek Ways to Halt Migrants amid Political Turmoil

European Union leaders were gathering Thursday to examine new ways to stop migrants entering Europe, desperate to ensure that their differences over managing the flows do not tear the 28-nation bloc apart.

The number of people arriving in Europe seeking sanctuary or better lives has dropped significantly, but anti-migrant parties have consolidated their powers, winning votes as they exploit fear of foreigners.

The political crisis caused by the EU’s inability to share responsibility for those entering is undermining German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s leadership. It’s also helped bring an anti-European government to power in Italy.

Italy, the main landing point for migrants along with Greece, has begun to refuse entry to ships carrying people rescued from the Mediterranean Sea. The EU’s smallest member state, the island of Malta, is also resisting appeals to do more. France has been involved, criticizing Rome in a major diplomatic row.

“Europe has many challenges, but that of migration could determine the fate of the European Union,” Merkel told German lawmakers Thursday before heading for a two-day summit in Brussels.

Merkel is fighting a battle at home and abroad against critics who accuse her of endangering European security with her welcoming approach to migrants. Her conservative coalition is under pressure from the far-right Alternative for Germany.

The party has received a surge in support since 2015 – when well over one million people entered Europe, mostly fleeing conflicts in Syria and Iraq – and populist leaders in southern and eastern Europe have rejected her calls for a wholesale reform of Europe’s migration system.

With Merkel’s coalition allies demanding that migrants be turned away at the border with Austria, EU officials fear any such move would set off a domino effect. Austria in turn could close its border with Italy, and Rome might then close its ports.

The leaders will discuss the establishment of Orwellian-sounding “regional disembarkation platforms,” in an effort to prevent people from reaching Europe. The plan, yet to be fleshed out, involves placing people leaving Africa bound for Europe in centers in countries like Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Niger and Tunisia.

“A precondition for a genuine EU migration policy is that Europeans effectively decide who enters European territory,” EU Council President Donald Tusk said in an invitation letter to the leaders. “Failure to achieve this goal would in fact be a manifestation of our weakness.”

The scheme is likely to prove extremely expensive – and no African country has expressed an interest so far in taking part. Big questions also remain over whether people would be left languishing at these centers with little hope of getting to Europe and no means or will to return home. Under international law, people legitimately in fear for their lives and safety are within their rights to try to reach a safe place and apply for asylum.

On the island of Malta, meanwhile, screening began Thursday for 234 people who spent nearly a week at sea on a humanitarian rescue vessel, to determine whether they are eligible for asylum and relocation to one of eight EU nations.

The government said three babies and three adults were being treated in hospital.

Malta Prime Minister Joseph Muscat opened the country’s main port to the German-run ship Lifeline after other EU nations agreed to accept some of the people. He said those deemed “economic migrants” will be sent back to where they came from.

Maltese officials seized the ship, citing irregularities in the rescue. The captain is under investigation.

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Automakers Warn US Tariffs Will Cost Jobs, Hike Prices

Two major auto trade groups on Wednesday warned the Trump administration that imposing up to 25 percent tariffs on imported vehicles would cost hundreds of thousands of auto jobs, dramatically hike prices on vehicles and threaten industry spending on self-driving cars.

A coalition representing major foreign automakers including Toyota Motor Corp, Volkswagen AG, BMW AG and Hyundai Motor Co, said the tariffs would harm automakers and U.S. consumers. The administration in May launched an investigation into whether imported vehicles pose a national security threat and President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened to quickly impose tariffs.

“The greatest threat to the U.S. automotive industry at this time is the possibility the administration will impose duties on imports in connection with this investigation,” wrote the Association of Global Automakers representing major foreign automakers. “Such duties would raise prices for American consumers, limit their choices, and suppress sales and U.S. production of vehicles.”

The group added: “Rather than creating jobs, these tariffs would result in the loss of hundreds of thousands of American jobs producing and selling cars, SUVs, trucks and auto parts.”

On Friday, Trump threatened to impose a 20 percent tariff on all imports of EU-assembled cars. On Tuesday, Trump said tariffs are coming soon.

“We are finishing our study of Tariffs on cars from the E.U. in that they have long taken advantage of the U.S. in the form of Trade Barriers and Tariffs. In the end it will all even out — and it won’t take very long!” Trump tweeted.

The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, representing General Motors Co, Ford Motor Co, Daimler AG , Toyota and others, urged the administration in separate comments filed Wednesday not to go forward.

“We believe the resulting impact of tariffs on imported vehicles and vehicle components will ultimately harm U.S. economic security and weaken our national security,” the group wrote, calling the tariffs a “mistake” and adding imposing them “could very well set a dangerous precedent that other nations could use to protect their local market from foreign competition.”

The Alliance said its analysis of 2017 auto sales data showed a 25 percent tariff on imported vehicles would result in an average price increase of $5,800, which would boost costs to American consumers by nearly $45 billion annually.

Automakers are concerned tariffs would mean less capital to spend on self-driving cars and electric vehicles.

“We are already in the midst of an intense global race to lead on electrification and automation. The increased costs associated with the proposed tariffs may result in diminishing the U.S.’ competitiveness in developing these advanced technologies,” the Alliance wrote.

Toyota said in a statement Wednesday that new tariffs “would increase the cost of every vehicle sold in the country.” The automaker said the tariffs would mean even a Toyota Camry built in Kentucky “would face $1,800 in increased costs.”

Both automotive trade groups cited a study by the Peterson Institute for International Economics that the cost to U.S. jobs from the import duties would be 195,000 jobs and could be as high as 624,000 jobs if other countries retaliate.

The German Association for Small and Medium-sized Businesses said the “pattern of rising protectionism is very likely to continue if the U.S. decide to impose tariffs on foreign automobiles and automobile parts, thus causing tremendous damage to both economies.”

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey, a state that produced nearly 1 million vehicles and 1.7 million engines built by foreign automakers last year, urged the Commerce Department not to invoke the tariffs. She said job losses from new levies could be “devastating.”

The proposed tariffs on national security grounds have been met by opposition among many Republicans in Congress.

Trump has made the tariffs a key part of his economic message and repeatedly lamented the U.S auto sector trade deficit, particularly with Germany and Japan. Some aides have suggested that the effort is a way to try to pressure Canada and Mexico into making more concessions in ongoing talks to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said on Thursday the department aimed to wrap up the probe by late July or August. The Commerce Department plans to hold two days of public comments in July on its investigation of auto imports.

The Commerce Department has asked if it should consider U.S. owned auto manufacturers differently than foreign automakers.

The Association of Global Automakers rejected that contention, saying its members’ American workers “are no less patriotic or willing to serve their country in a time of crisis than any other Americans.”

The group questioned national security as grounds to restrict auto imports. “America does not go to war in a Ford Fiesta,” they added.

The Alliance said “there is no basis to claim that auto-related imports are a threat to national security” and noted that 98 percent of U.S. auto imports came from U.S. national security allies.

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Senators Push Plans for Migrants on US-Mexico Border

While U.S. immigration reform failed again in the House of Representatives, senators on Wednesday promoted competing partisan plans to address the plight of undocumented families detained at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Senate Democrats unveiled a multipronged proposal, the Central American Reform and Relief Act, that aims to alleviate pressure along America’s southern border by curbing violence and lawlessness in countries such as El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. The bill would increase American resources to fight drug cartels in Central America, strengthen federal criminal penalties for traffickers and smugglers, reverse cuts in U.S. aid to the region, and boost resources at U.S. embassies and consulates to process asylum claims.

“If they [Central Americans] can claim asylum right there, it’s very much better for them and very much better for us,” Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said. “We need to address root causes that lead families to flee Central America to our southern border.”

Elements of the proposal are modeled after Plan Colombia, which boosted U.S. assistance to Bogota beginning in 2000 to help end the country’s civil war and reduce the drug trade.

“In Colombia, the U.S. involvement helped greatly curtail the cartels there. That’s why many of them moved to these three Central American countries. Well, we can do the same thing in Central America,” Schumer said.

Republicans, meanwhile, promoted their own bill that would end separations of migrant families at the U.S.-Mexico border and reduce detentions of undocumented border crossers overall by boosting the number of federal immigration judges overseeing a long backlog of cases.

“We have 350 immigration judges in the country,” Oklahoma Senator James Lankford said. “We have a backlog of 700,000 immigration cases right now.”

The Keep Families Together and Enforce the Law Act aims to facilitate President Donald Trump’s executive order to halt family separations while retaining the president’s zero-tolerance policy on illegal entry into the United States.

“We can actually enforce our immigration laws and keep families together,” Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn of Texas said.

‘Look at alternatives’

Many Democrats object to prosecuting every illegal border crossing — a policy the Trump administration began earlier this year — saying it is unnecessary and part of a broader campaign by the president to deter asylum seekers and other immigrants from impoverished regions.

“When people do come to the border, we should look at alternatives to detention to keep families together,” Schumer said.

Minority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois noted that for decades, the United States granted close to 100,000 asylum claims a year, but that there have been only 18,000 so far this year.

“I believe we can do better. And I believe there are those in need of help. And I believe this is a definition of who we are as Americans. The way we treat the people at our borders — if we are humane, if we are civilized, if we are caring — it’s a message to the world. If we are the opposite, it’s also a message to the world,” Durbin said.

Republicans countered that failing to prosecute undocumented migrants only encourages more illegal border crossings.

“What we’ve created is an incentive to come into the country illegally — that if you cross the border and bring your family, you’ll be released into the country and then you can just disappear and no one will ever go and try to find you,” Lankford said.

Cornyn accused Democrats of promoting policies that would go “from zero tolerance when it comes to violating the immigration laws to zero enforcement.”

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У ЄС хочуть посилити контроль за обігом коштів

Комітет постійних представників країн Європейського союзу погодив угоду щодо ввезення і вивезення готівкових коштів. 

Як повідомляє прес-служба Рада ЄС, очікується, що після сьогоднішньої угоди щодо модернізації Положення про контроль готівки буде легше виявляти в Європі фінансування тероризму, відмивання грошей та інші злочинні дії.

Будь-який громадянин, що в’їжджає в ЄС або виїжджає з ЄС і має готівкові кошти на суму 10 тисяч євро або більше, зобов’язаний декларувати їх митним органам. Декларація повинна бути оформлена незалежно від того, чи мають мандрівники готівку при собі, в багажі або транспортних засобах. 

Поняття грошових коштів було розширено, щоб охоплювати не лише банкноти, а й інші інструменти або високоліквідні товари, такі як чеки, картки та золото. 

Норми щодо декларування коштів діють з 2007 року, але обов’язок декларування може поширитися на золото та платіжні картки. 

Нові правила вступлять в силу після затвердження Радою ЄС і Європейським парламентом, а також публікації в Офіційному журналі ЄС.

 

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Справа Єфремова: наступне засідання призначили на 4 липня, допитуватимуть свідка

Старобільський районний суд Луганської області призначив на 4 липня засідання у справі колишнього голови фракції Партії регіонів Олександра Єфремова.

Як повідомляє Генеральна прокуратура у Facebook, у ході цього засідання запланований допит свідка сторони обвинувачення.

У ГПУ додають, що сьогодні  в ході судового засідання досліджувались письмові докази сторони обвинувачення.

15 червня суд продовжив запобіжний захід у вигляді тримання під вартою Олександру Єфремову, арешт продовжили до 13 серпня.

Єфремова затримали 30 липня 2016 року в аеропорту «Бориспіль», звідки він, за даними ГПУ, намагався вилетіти до Відня. 13 січня 2017 року Єфремова з Києва конвоювали до Старобільська, де він і нині перебуває під арештом.

 

4 січня 2017 року Генеральна прокуратура України направила до суду обвинувальний акт стосовно Єфремова. Йому інкримінують організацію захоплення будівлі Луганської ОДА; пособництво в захопленні Управління СБУ в Луганській області; вчинення умисних дій з метою зміни меж території та державного кордону України; організаційне сприяння створенню й діяльності угруповання «ЛНР»; державну зраду.

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Trump Boasts of Political Wins, Defeat of Foe

Several Republican candidates supported by U.S. President Donald Trump swept to victories in party primary elections Tuesday, while a 10-term New York congressman was defeated in a stunning upset by a first-time Latina politician in a Democratic party contest.

Trump seemed to take particular delight in the defeat of a fellow New Yorker, veteran Congressman Joe Crowley, a frequent Trump critic who had been mentioned as a possibility to someday replace Nancy Pelosi as the leader of the minority Democratic bloc in the House of Representatives.

Crowley, the fourth-ranking Democrat in the House, was upset by another vocal Trump critic, 28-year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. She was outspent by Crowley in the campaign by a 10-to-1 margin, yet still won.

Ocasio has called for Trump’s impeachment and elimination of the country’s immigration control operation run through the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

She says it is time that the U.S. sees its immigration system “as a humane way in which people can enter this country in a documented fashion, where people don’t feel like their operating in fear and that we can re-establish justice and what is happening on our border.”

Trump campaigned for South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster at a Monday night rally in the southern state. After the vote, Trump congratulated him in a Twitter comment “on your BIG election win!” adding, “South Carolina loves you.” 

Trump also applauded the Senate primary election win in the western state of Utah by Mitt Romney, a sometimes Trump critic who was the unsuccessful 2012 Republican presidential nominee, losing to former President Barack Obama who won a second term in the White House.

​”Big and conclusive win by Mitt Romney,” Trump declared. “… A great and loving family will be coming to D.C.,” referring to the District of Columbia, as Washington is sometimes called.

The president also cheered the primary victory for New York Congressman Dan Donovan, saying he “showed great courage in a tough race!” Donovan defeated a former congressman, Michael Grimm, who was trying to return to Congress after serving a prison term for tax fraud. 

Political primary elections in the U.S. are scattered over several months, all leading to congressional and gubernatorial elections in November, when the winning Democratic and Republican nominees face off against each other.

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East Africa Agrees to Improve Trade, Security

Leaders in east Africa have agreed to work together to build a single railroad and highway network to enhance integration in the region. Leaders and representatives of eight countries met in Kenya Tuesday for the 14th time to discuss the northern corridor project aimed at improving trade and tightening security.

The representatives stressed the need for better movement of people, goods and services with better joint infrastructure.

Kenya got the go-ahead to continue building its standard gauge railways to the Uganda border. Kenya is about to finish the second phase of the rail line between the cities of Nairobi and Naivasha.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta told his counterparts plans are under way to extend the line.

“Preliminary discussions for the funding of Naivasha and Kisumu sections are in progress and we expect to sign the framework agreement to the People’s Republic of China anytime this year,” he said.

Uganda and Rwanda are also planning to extend railway connections to the countries after Kenya completes its part.

The agenda included a way to improve a single customs territory by reducing the number of weigh bridges and police checks to speed up the delivery of goods in landlocked countries like Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan.

Kenyatta said the border post between Kenya and Uganda has been effective.

“Malaba — one stop border post total time taken at the crossing has now been substantially reduced to less than seven hours for goods traveling under [a] single customs territory,” he said.

Following oil discoveries in Kenya and Uganda, the leaders agreed to come up with a joint refinery model to facilitate the exportation of petroleum products.

“The heads of state are looking at all these corridors and how they can enhance or support each other and ease the movement between their countries, both on road networks as well as railway network and all other means of transport within the region. So the northern corridor has been very important,” said Gerrishon Ikiara, an international economic affairs lecturer at the University of Nairobi.

The southern corridor network, which connects Tanzania to Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi is also under construction.

Countries in the region are focusing on at least 16 infrastructure projects, with the goal of transforming their people socially and economically.

 

 

 

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Денісова поскаржилася Путіну на російського омбудсмена

Уповноважена Верховної Ради України з прав людини Людмила Денісова написала листа речнику російського президента Дмитру Пєскову, в якому, серед іншого, заявила, що переговори із російським омбудсменом Тетяною Москальковою жодних результатів не дали.

«Звернулась також і до заступника керівника Адміністрації президента Росії – прес-секретаря Дмитра Пєскова, який неодноразово заявляв, що виконання президентських домовленостей залежить від двох омбудсменів. У своєму офіційному листі я звертаю увагу Пєскова на те, що переговори із уповноваженим Росії Тетяною Москальковою жодних результатів не дали», – написала вона на своїй сторінці в Facebook і опублікувала лист Пєскову. 

Денісова також просить Пєскова поінформувати російського президента Володимира Путіна, що гарантії про безумовний і безперешкодний допуск до утримуваних громадян України не виконуються. 

Раніше сьогодні речник президента Росії Дмитро Пєсков заявив, що складнощі у відвідуванні ув’язнених омбудсменами України й Росії пов’язані з «дефіцитом довіри» між сторонами.

 

21 червня президент України Петро Порошенко провів телефонну розмову з президентом Росії Володимиром Путіним та закликав його звільнити українських заручників, які утримуються в російських тюрмах та на окупованих нею територіях. Він також наголосив на важливості допуску уповноваженого з прав людини Людмили Денісової до Олега Сенцова та інших ув’язнених українців, повідомила прес-служба глави української держави.

Того дня Денісова повідомила, що Порошенко зняв Москальковій заборону на в’їзд до України, щоб вона могла відвідати утримуваних росіян.

26 червня Москалькова прибула до Києва, але її не впустили до Лук’янівського СІЗО в Києві, де вона хотіла зустрітися із засудженим у «справі кримських дезертирів» військовослужбовцем Максимом Одинцовим. Водночас перед цим Москалькова зустрілася із затриманими в Україні моряками кримського корабля «Норд».

Денісова, яка вирушила до Росії 13 червня, наразі не зустрілася із жодним засудженим там українцем.

Військових Максима Одинцова та Олександра Баранова в лютому 2018 року визнали винними в державній зраді й дезертирстві, засудивши їх до 14 і 13 років позбавлення волі відповідно.

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Українська розвідка розглядає Білорусь як можливий плацдарм для вторгнення Росії – Скібіцький

Головне управління розвідки Міністерства оборони України розглядає Білорусь як можливий плацдарм для вторгнення Росії. Про це в ефірі Радіо Донбас.Реалії, проекту Радіо Свобода, заявив представник відомства Вадим Скібіцький. За його словами, українська розвідка тримає на контролі всі заходи, які Росія проводить на території Білорусі.

Скібіцький зазначив, що протягом 2016-2017 років на території Білорусі відбулося багато заходів бойової підготовки російських підрозділів, зокрема, повітряно-десантних.

«Вивчалися аеродроми, вивчалася територія, були виходи до українського кордону. І ми вважаємо, що загроза з півночі існує», – заявив представник ГУР.

В 2017 році на території Білорусі і частково в Росії відбулися військові навчання «Захід». За офіційними даними, у Білорусі вони охопили сім полігонів і дві місцевості, в них узяли участь 10 тисяч 200 військовослужбовців, із них 3 тисячі російських. Разом із учасниками частини навчань у Росії загальне офіційне число їх мало скласти 12 тисяч 700 – ледь менше від числа у 13 тисяч, від якого, за міжнародними домовленостями, була б обов’язкова участь у них іноземних спостерігачів.

Країни-сусіди Білорусі, серед них держави Балтії і Україна, непокоїлися, що Росія може використати навчання «Захід-2017» для агресивної розбудови своєї військової присутності в регіоні, на східному фланзі НАТО, і перетворити Білорусь на плацдарм для можливого наступу на Україну.

У Мінську і Москві заявляли про «оборонний» характер спільних російсько-білоруських навчань «Захід-2017» і запевняли, що після їхнього закінчення всі російські військовослужбовці, які брали в них участь, залишили територію Білорусі.

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Трамп і Путін можуть зустрітися в Гельсінкі – ЗМІ

Зустріч президентів США і Росії Дональда Трампа і Володимира Путіна може пройти у столиці Фінляндії, Гельсінкі, повідомляє Reuters з посиланням на джерела в адміністрації США.

Раніше повідомлялося, що зустріч лідерів двох країн може відбутися 15 липня в австрійській столиці, Відні.

Офіційних підтверджень дати і місця зустрічі поки що немає.

27 червня в Москву прибуває радник президента США з національної безпеки Джон Болтон. Він має обговорити можливість зустрічі президентів двох країн і місце, де вона відбуватиметься.

Видання Politico відзначає, що Гельсінкі розташоване недалеко від Росії і у Путіна буде можливість повернутися в Москву на фінальний матч чемпіонату світу з футболу. Він пройде 15 липня.

9 червня прес-секретар президента Росії Дмитро Пєсков повідомив, що Путін і Трамп під час останньої телефонної розмови розглядали Відень як можливе місце проведення їхньої двосторонньої зустрічі. Водночас, за його словами, будь-яких конкретних домовленостей досі немає.

У березні Трамп повідомив, що його зустріч із Путіним може відбутися невдовзі, але відтоді відносини США і Росії далі погіршилися через конфлікт у Сирії і отруєння у Великій Британії колишнього російського шпигуна і його дочки, в чому Захід звинуватив Москву.

Дональд Трамп і Володимир Путін зустрічалися двічі в кулуарах міжнародних самітів і щонайменше вісім разів розмовляли по телефону. 

 

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