Шевченківський районний суд Києва пізно ввечері 13 липня продовжив термін тримання під вартою без можливості внесення застави народного депутата України Надії Савченко. Термін продовжено на 60 днів, до 10 вересня.
Ухвалу судді на засіданні, яке наживо транслював Youtube-канал «Судова влада України», заглушили звуки вигуків «ганьба» з боку понад десятка прихильників Савченко в залі суду.
Перед тим Савченко оголосила, що поновлює голодування.
Раніше 13 липня суд вирішив призначити державного адвоката Надії Савченко. Це рішення суд схвалив у зв’язку з неявкою адвокатів Савченко.
13 липня опівночі закінчувався термін дії запобіжного заходу у вигляді тримання під вартою, який раніше суд обрав для Савченко.
Клопотання про продовження запобіжного заходу Савченко розглядалося кілька днів.
У березні суд вирішив взяти Савченко під варту без можливості внесення застави до 20 травня. Згодом суд залишив Савченко під арештом до 13 липня.
22 березня Верховна Рада України дала згоду на притягнення до кримінальної відповідальності, затримання й арешт Савченко.
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Надії Савченко інкримінують злочини, передбачені статтями: «дії, спрямовані на насильницьку зміну чи повалення конституційного ладу або на захоплення державної влади», «готування до злочину», «вчинення злочину групою осіб, групою осіб за попередньою змовою, організованою групою або злочинною організацією», «посягання на життя державного чи громадського діяча», «терористичний акт», «створення терористичної групи чи терористичної організації», «незаконне поводження зі зброєю, бойовими припасами або вибуховими речовинами».
За даними Генпрокуратури, Савченко була спільницею Володимира Рубана, затриманого 8 березня на КПВВ «Майорське» при спробі переміщення великої кількості зброї з території Донецької області, яка підконтрольна російським окупаційним адміністраціям. Савченко раніше заявляла, що планувала не теракт, а лише «політичну провокацію».
Рубана підозрюють у незаконному поводженні зі зброєю і підготовці терактів, зокрема збройних замахів на державних діячів та політичних лідерів, серед яких президент України Петро Порошенко, міністр внутрішніх справ Арсен Аваков, екс-прем’єр-міністр Арсеній Яценюк й секретар РНБО Олександр Турчинов. Сам Рубан звинувачення відкидає.
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Провідний сенатор-демократ, лідер меншості Чак Шумер закликав президента США Дональда Трампа скасувати заплановану на 16 липня зустріч із російським лідером Володимиром Путіним, повідомляє CNN. На думку політика, такою має бути реакція на те, що Велике журі вирішило висунути звинувачення 12 співробітникам російського ГРУ в справі про втручання у вибори президента США в 2016 році.
«Президент Трамп має скасувати свою зустріч з Володимиром Путіним, доки Росія не здійснить демонстративних і прозорих заходів, щоб довести, що вони не втручатимуться в майбутні вибори. Радісне рукостискання з Володимиром Путіним на тлі цих звинувачень буде образою для нашої демократії», – вважає лідер сенатської демократичної меншості.
У США 13 липня Велике журі вирішило висунути звинувачення 12 співробітникам Головного розвідувального управління Збройних сил Росії, оголосив заступник генерального прокурора США Род Розенстайн. За його словами, цим особам інкримінується організація кібератак з метою викрадення документів та їхньої наступної публікації.
За даними міністерства юстиції США, у 2016 році представники ГРУ почали спецоперацію, сенс якої полягав у зламі комп’ютерів, що належали волонтерам і співробітникам штабу Клінтон, в тому числі й керівника виборчої кампанії.
Представники російських спецслужб дізналися імена й паролі багатьох співробітників штабу, отримавши можливість заволодіти вмістом електронної пошти багатьох із них. Вони також змогли зламати внутрішню комп’ютерну мережу Національного демократичного комітету і комітету з виборів до Конгресу Демократичної партії США.
Кремль досі заперечував будь-які твердження про спроби втручатися у виборчу кампанію в США. Сам Трамп висловлював сумніви у висновках американських спецслужб про те, що Москва неодноразово намагалася вплинути на американських виборців.
Виступаючи перед журналістами у Вашингтоні, Розенстайн заявив, що президент Трамп обізнаний із результатами розслідування і звинуваченнями на адресу 12 співробітників ГРУ. Він був офіційно проінформований про це перед початком європейського турне.
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The government wasted at least $341,000 on travel by ousted Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, including booking charter flights without considering cheaper scheduled airlines, an agency watchdog said Friday.
The HHS inspector general’s long-awaited report chastised the department for flouting federal travel rules, which require officials to book trips in the most cost-efficient way for taxpayers.
The inspector general estimated that the government spent nearly $1.2 million on Price’s travel during his seven months in office. That included more than $700,000 in military flights on two foreign and two domestic trips, as well as more than $480,000 for various domestic trips by private chartered aircraft.
HHS “improperly used federal funds related to Sec. Price’s government travel,” the report said. Of 21 trips reviewed by the inspector general’s investigators, only one complied with all federal travel requirements. The report said none of the charter flights complied.
Price, who built a reputation as a budget hawk during earlier congressional service, has apologized and repaid the government nearly $60,000. The report said authorities should seek full recovery of the $341,000 deemed wasteful spending.
Price spokesman Nicholas Peters said in a statement, “there is no indication in the [inspector general’s] report that the paperwork and regulatory issues of department staff were anything other than good faith mistakes.”
Peters would not comment on any additional repayments by Price. He said investigators did not attempt to interview Price.
In its formal response to the report, HHS agreed with most of the inspector general’s recommendations for tightening up official travel and requested detail on the $341,000 that investigators said the government should recoup. The inspector general said HHS should determine how best to recover the money.
On Friday, HHS Deputy Secretary Eric Hargan said in a separate statement that the department has since instituted new travel procedures for all political appointees, calling them “the most rigorous controls on travel in the organization’s history.” Such travel is now reviewed by the ethics office.
But Hargan also seemed to quibble, saying “the work of an audit is to review compliance with procedures, not make legal conclusions. As a matter of law, none of the travel at issue was unauthorized.”
The inspector general’s report raised questions about how Price’s travel was authorized. For example, investigators found that on five of 12 charter flights, legal approval came only during or after the trip.
Extravagant spending on travel and office remodeling by top officials became a running story as the Trump administration took power in Washington on a presidential promise to “drain the swamp.” The latest Cabinet casualty was Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt, who resigned this month amid ethics investigations.
Price was forced out in the fall of 2017 after his travel drew the ire of President Donald Trump, who was also upset over the GOP failure to repeal “Obamacare.”
A successful orthopedic surgeon before winning a congressional seat from the Atlanta suburbs, Price rose to become one of the top GOP experts on budget and health care issues. But as secretary of HHS, he never produced a health care plan to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act.
Among other findings from the report:
Even among charter flight options, Price’s office did not always book the lowest-cost trip. In one case the difference between quoted options amounted to nearly $46,000.
For six trips, Price either started or ended his travel in his home state of Georgia, his most frequent charter travel destination outside of his official duty station in Washington, D.C.
HHS paid more than $11,500 on commercial flights for a Price trip to China, Vietnam and Japan. But Price ultimately flew on military transport at a cost of more than $430,000.
HHS lost track of what it spent for the commercial airline ticket until the inspector general’s investigators identified the expense. The government ultimately got a refund for the commercial ticket.
HHS said current Secretary Alex Azar flies commercial on official business, with a few exceptions that have involved requests from the White House. Azar pays for his personal travel back home to Indiana on weekends.
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Failing to let girls finish their education could cost the world as much as $30 trillion in lost earnings and productivity, yet more than 130 million girls are out of school globally, the World Bank said Wednesday.
Women who have completed secondary education are more likely to work and earn on average nearly twice as much as those with no schooling, according to a report by the World Bank.
About 132 million girls worldwide aged 6 to 17 do not attend school, while fewer than two-thirds of those in low-income nations finish primary school, and only a third finish lower secondary school, the World Bank said.
If every girl in the world finished 12 years of quality education, lifetime earnings for women could increase by $15 trillion to $30 trillion, according to the report.
“Overall, the message is clear: Educating girls is not only the right thing to do,” the World Bank said in the report, “it also makes economic and strategic sense for countries to fulfill their development potential.”
Other positive impacts of completing secondary school education for girls include a reduction in child marriage, lower fertility rates in countries with high population growth, and reduced child mortality and malnutrition, the World Bank said.
“We cannot keep letting gender inequality get in the way of global progress,” Kristalina Georgieva, World Bank chief executive, said in a statement.
The benefits of educating girls are considerably higher at secondary school level in comparison to primary education, said Quentin Wodon, World Bank lead economist and main report author.
“While we do need to ensure that, of course, all girls complete primary school, that is not enough,” Wodon told Reuters.
Women who have completed secondary education are at lesser risk of suffering violence at the hands of their partners, and have children who are less likely to be malnourished and themselves are more likely to go to school, the report said.
“When 130 million girls are unable to become engineers or journalists or CEOs because education is out of their reach, our world misses out on trillions of dollars,” Malala Yousafzai, 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, said in a statement.
“This report is more proof that we cannot afford to delay investing in girls,” said Yousafzai, an education activist who was shot in the head at the age of 15 by a Taliban gunman in 2012.
The report was published ahead of U.N. Malala Day on Thursday, which marks the birthday of the Pakistani activist.
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U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday he would “firmly” ask Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin about his country’s meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election that has triggered a U.S. federal investigation Trump claims is a “rigged witch hunt.”
“I think it really hurts our country,” Trump said at a news conference in Britain after meeting with Prime Minister Theresa May. “It really hurts our relationship with Russia. I think that we would have a chance at a very good relationship with Russia and a very good chance, a very good relationship with President Putin. I would hope so.”
Trump said he does not anticipate a “Perry Mason” moment when he confronts Putin on the issue, a reference to a decades-old U.S. television courtroom drama, and he predicted Putin would continue to deny the allegations.
“I don’t think you’ll have any ‘gee, I did it, I did it, you got me,”’ Trump said. He added, “There won’t be a Perry Mason here, I don’t think, but you never know what happens, right?”
Mueller indictments
Just days before the meeting, special counsel Robert Mueller indicted 12 Russians, alleging Friday they hacked into the Democratic National Committee to undermine the election.
They are the most recent charges in the special counsel probe that already has resulted in guilty pleas from three of Trump’s campaign aides.
When asked if he has given Putin the advantage going into the meeting by challenging long-standing Western alliances, Trump said his administration has been “far tougher on Russia than anybody.”
“When you look at what we’ve done in terms of Russia, I guarantee whoever it is in Russia, they’re saying ‘oh gee, we wish that Trump was not the victor in that election?”
Prime Minister May said Trump is well-positioned as he prepares to meet with Putin, saying “what is important is that the president goes into this as he is doing from a position of strength and also from a position of unity in NATO.”
NATO skepticism
NATO allied leaders, who Trump met with in Brussels earlier this week, are skeptical about whether he will be firm enough with the Russian leader, who has denied the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusion that Russia interfered in the election with the intent of helping Trump win.
Trump reiterated Friday that he is not going into the meeting with high expectations, but he said the two leaders would also discuss “a number of things,” including cuts to nuclear weapons arsenals.
He said the U.S. has been “modernizing and fixing” its nuclear weapons program and added “it’s just a devastating technology and they [the Russians] likewise are doing a lot. And it’s a very, very bad policy.”
Trump has not disclosed details about what nuclear arms control treaties he would propose to Putin, but they may discuss the extension of the “New Start” treaty, a pillar of arms control. They also may discuss the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty to try to reduce the possibility of a nuclear rivalry between the world’s two largest nuclear powers.
Trump cautioned it was difficult to reach substantive agreements with Putin because his critics would accuse him of being a proponent of Russia.
“We have this stupidity going on, pure stupidity, but it makes it very hard to do something with Russia, because, anything you do, it’s like: ‘Russia, oh He loves Russia.'”
Symbolic summit
The two leaders are scheduled to meet Monday in Helsinki.
Finnish National Defense University security policy expert Lt. Col. Jyri Raitasalo told VOA the Trump-Putin summit will be largely “symbolic.”
“It could open up new negotiations on a lower level that could actually achieve something,” Raitasalo said. He also said any real progress on issues the leaders discuss “could take time.”
“In most cases, a couple of hours between heads of states that haven’t seen each other for a time and discussed things properly — you can’t achieve much in several hours. But it could be a good start,” said Raitasalo.
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Міністерство інфраструктури та міністерство економічного розвитку і торгівлі України працюють над правилами для туроператорів, щоб посилити їхню відповідальність перед клієнтами. Про це міністр інфраструктури України Володимир Омелян заявив в ефірі Радіо Свобода.
«Ми з мінекономіки прописуємо нові правила, які будуть передбачати страховий фонд. Якщо ти – туроператор, умовно, в тебе у фонді має бути 500 тисяч євро, якщо ж ти – турагент, то 20 тисяч євро, щоб була відповідальність», – зазначив він.
Крім того, додав Омелян, в уряді вже зараз посилюють контроль за роботою туроператорів і авіакомпаній.
«Спільно з мінекономіки ми зараз вводимо посилений контроль. Ми – за роботою авіакомпаній, а вони – за роботою туроператорів для того, щоб всі розуміли, що відповідальність є», – сказав він.
Наразі відповідальність туристичних компаній перед клієнтами є «мінімальною», зауважив Омелян.
«В чинному правовому полі будь-який туроператор може бути пірамідою, коли збере гроші з людей, а завтра скаже, що «ви знаєте, у мене не вийшло», – зазначив міністр.
Раніше туристичний оператор JoinUp оголосив про скорочення політної програми та зміну міст вильоту до Туреччини для більш як тисячі українців.
Міністерство економічного розвитку і торгівлі України 5 липня оголосило про намір посилити відповідальність туроператорів.
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Від кінця червня сотні українських туристів були заблоковані в аеропортах кількох країн. По кілька годин, а то і діб, люди чекали, зокрема, в аеропортах Тунісу, Албанії, Грузії, а також в аеропорту «Київ». Авіакомпанія Bravo Airways пояснила затримки рейсів на кілька діб невиплатою коштів туроператором «Оазис тревел Україна». Останній свою провину не визнає.
Повністю інтерв’ю з Володимиром Омеляном дивіться у програмі Радіо Свобода «Суботнє інтерв’ю» у суботу, 14 липня.
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Уповноважена Верховної Ради України з прав людини Людмила Денісова повідомила, що надіслала до голови Ради при президентові РФ з розвитку громадянського суспільства і прав людини Михайла Федотова листи, в яких просить проінформувати про стан здоров’я українських в’язнів Станіслава Клиха, Еміра-Усєїна Куку, Володимира Балуха та Павла Гриба.
«Станіслава Клиха повторно перемістили до Обласної психіатричної тюремної лікарні в Магнітогорськ (Челябінської області – ред.). За моєю інформацією, Станіслав не давав дозволу на госпіталізацію, проте його примусово лікують невідомими препаратами», – вказує український омбудсмен.
«З аналогічним проханням я звернулася щодо громадянина України Еміра-Усєїна Куку, який оголосив безстрокове голодування», – відзначає Денісова.
«Попросила також терміново обстежити з наданням відповідного медичного висновку Володимира Балуха, який перебуває в Роздольненському ізоляторі тимчасового тримання (в окупованому Криму – ред.) і голодує вже 117 діб», – ідеться у повідомленні у Facebook.
«Я поінформувала Михайла Федотова про те, що під час етапування громадянин України Павло Гриб був жорстоко побитий іншими ув’язненими. Також стало відомо, що Павло страждає сильним головним болем і слабкістю, ліків йому не надають. Тому прошу забезпечити надання йому кваліфікованої медичної допомоги, а також всіляко сприяти забезпеченню особистої безпеки як Павла Гриба, так і інших ув’язнених громадян України на території Російської Федерації», – наголосила українська уповноважена з прав людини.
Фігурант ялтинської «справи Хізб ут-Тахрір» Емір-Усеїн Куку 26 червня оголосив голодування. Раніше голодування оголосили інші українці, яких утримують у Росії з політичних мотивів, зокрема, Володимир Балух та Олег Сенцов. Куку і Сенцов пояснювали своє рішення оголосити голодний протест вимогою звільнити українських політв’язнів. За даними «Медійної ініціативи за права людини», таких у Росії – понад 70.
Павло Гриб зник у серпні 2017 року в білоруському Гомелі, пізніше його знайшли в СІЗО у російському Краснодарі. Йому інкримінують вчинення злочину за статтею про тероризм. Генеральна прокуратура України відкрила провадження через зникнення українця.
Станіслава Клиха затримали на території Росії 2014 року за звинуваченням в участі в бойових діях проти федеральних сил під час першої чеченської війни взимку 1994-1995 років, а також у вбивстві російських солдатів. Також по цій справі проходить ще один українець – Микола Карпюк.
Клих провину заперечує, а його родина і друзі наполягають, що засуджений ніколи не був у Чечні. 26 травня 2016 року суд у російській республіці Чечні засудив Клиха до 20 років позбавлення волі; у жовтні 2016 року Верховний суд Росії відхилив апеляцію його захисту на вирок.
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Зараз поліція намагається з’ясувати, чи саме цією речовиною отруїлись Сергій та Юлія Скрипалі – агентство The Associated Press
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Uber’s business in Kenya said on Friday it will keep its fares unchanged for now, after associations representing taxi drivers in the country signed a deal giving guidelines for better fares and working conditions.
“As of today, we will not be adjusting our fares as we are busy completing a deeper study of driver economics in light of the concerns and feedback that we have received from drivers to ensure that fares are correctly priced,” a spokesperson for Uber Technologies said in an email to Reuters.
The Digital Taxi Association of Kenya, representing more than 2,000 ride-hailing taxi drivers, signed a deal on Wednesday meant to give drivers higher pay and better conditions.
The drivers told Reuters they thought the deal would cushion them in the event of falling fares arising from discounts companies offers to passengers. They had staged a nine-day strike seeking higher fares and better working conditions.
As in other markets, these ride-hailing services in Kenya initially faced opposition and sometimes hostility from other taxi drivers.
Kenya is Uber’s second-largest market in sub-Saharan Africa, after South Africa. It competes mostly against its local rival Taxify, which has gained popularity in Nairobi in the past year and a half, but does not disclose numbers of active riders and users.
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Her game face on, Melania Trump dutifully tried her hand at lawn bowls during a solo outing Friday to a historic London veterans’ retirement home on her first visit to Britain as America’s first lady.
As President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Theresa May met just outside London for talks, Mrs. Trump visited Royal Hospital Chelsea, an imposing building founded over 300 years ago by King Charles II that currently houses hundreds of British veterans. She was hosted by May’s husband, Philip.
The pair toured the hospital grounds before joining a small group of elementary schoolchildren and veterans in making red paper poppies, a national symbol for remembering and honoring those fallen in war.
She greeted the children with a cheery “Hello” and a big smile, shaking their hands and asking one to show her how to make a poppy pin.
Reporters were shooed out of the room as the first lady engaged the group in a discussion about “Be Best,” a campaign she unveiled in May to focus on childhood well-being and to teach them kindness.
She ended the visit with a game of bowls with May, the children and the veterans.
There was no sight or sound of the thousands of people rallying against President Trump in central London during his wife’s visit, which her staff managed to largely keep secret to avoid the ire of demonstrators.
Wearing a sleeveless multicolored dress by British fashion designer Victoria Beckham and spiky flesh-tone stilettos, Mrs. Trump appeared to take the game seriously and followed a boy’s advice on how to hold the ball. She stooped several times to roll it across the lawn, smiling and making a few faces.
Children waving British and U.S. flags cheered loudly. She also initiated a high-five with a veteran who gave her effort a thumbs-up.
The visit wrapped up before President Trump and May’s news conference at her official country estate, where he denied ever criticizing the prime minister — not long after a British tabloid published an interview that included his biting criticism of aspects of her leadership.
The first lady’s appearance came amid her return to the international stage after she was hospitalized in May for a kidney surgery and dropped out of sight for nearly a month. She did not accompany the president to his meetings with world leaders in Canada and Singapore last month.
Mrs. Trump and the president were reuniting later Friday for a return trip into the country for a social visit and tea with Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle. The couple planned to head afterward for a private weekend at one of Trump’s golf properties in Scotland.
The first lady caused a stir last month when she wore a jacket with “I really done care, do u?” scrawled on the back on a trip to the U.S.-Mexico border to meet children affected by her husband’s policy against illegal immigration.
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A federal grand jury has indicted 12 Russian military officers with conspiracy to hack into Democratic campaign computers during the 2016 presidential election, the latest charges brought by the special counsel investigating Russian interference.
The 29-page indictment charges the Russian operatives with carrying out one of two kinds of the Russian meddling the 2016 election: hacking the email accounts of volunteers and employees of the Clinton presidential campaign, including its chairman, and releasing them to the public.
The other aspect of the Russian interference involved a massive influence operation on social media orchestrated by a St. Petersburg-based troll farm known as the Internet Research Agency. In February, a grand jury indicted 12 of the company’s employees and its financial backer.
Special counsel Robert Mueller and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced the latest charges Friday.
The operatives worked for two special units of Russia’s military intelligence agency known as GRU, according to the indictment.
“The units engaged in active cyberoperations to interfere in the 2016 presidential election,” Rosenstein said at a press conference. “One GRU unit worked to steal information, while another unit worked to disseminate stolen information.”
The charges came ahead of the highly anticipated summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland, on Monday. Trump said at a news conference on Friday that he would “absolutely ask” Putin about the Russian interference in the U.S. election.
Rosenstein said he briefed Trump on the allegations earlier this week.
“The president is fully aware of today’s actions by the department,” Rosenstein told reporters.
The indictment names all 12 GRU officers engaged in the conspiracy. Eleven are charged with conspiring to hack computers, steal documents and release them in an effort to influence the election.
The 12th was charged with “conspiring to infiltrate computers of organizations responsible for administering elections, including state boards of election, secretaries of state, and companies that supply software and other technology used to administer elections,” Rosenstein said.
The Russians used two techniques to hack into computers: “spearphishing,” to trick users into disclosing their passwords and security information, and installing malicious software on computers to spy on their users, the indictment alleges.
Rosenstein said that while the Russian aim was to interfere in the elections, “there is no allegation that the conspiracy altered the vote count or changed any election result.”
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As farmer Brian Duncan gently brushes his hands over the rolling amber waves of grain in the fields behind his rural Illinois home, this picturesque and idyllic American scene belies the dramatic hardship he currently faces.
“We’re in trouble,” he told VOA.
Wheat is just one product that grows on Duncan’s diverse farm, also home to about 70,000 hogs annually, which Duncan said “were projected to be profitable this year.”
Were, but not anymore.
Pork is now subject to a 62 percent Chinese tariff, and demand is drying up in one of the world’s largest pork markets.
“Once that tariff went on, the pork stopped going into China. Not going to Taiwan, either. Not finding other routes. That market just disappeared,” said Duncan, who expected to see a $4 to $5 profit on each pig, then watched it become a $7 to $8 loss per head.
“The difference between making and losing money in the hog industry is exports,” said Duncan, acknowledging that for most hog farmers, exports are key to profits. A lack of competitive access to international markets could spell long-term financial hardship, particularly for independent pork producers like Duncan.
“The reality is 95 percent of the world population is outside these borders. We need them … as markets and trading partners,” Duncan said.
Tariffs begin to bite
U.S. farmers like Duncan are beginning to feel the effects of such tariffs imposed by China in retaliation for U.S. tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminum.
As the trade dispute continues, Duncan, who also serves as vice president of the Illinois Farm Bureau, is losing money on virtually everything growing on his farm because of imposed or impending tariffs.
“Soybeans were a buck and a half higher than they are now,” he told VOA. “Corn was 50 to 70 cents higher than it is now. So, certainly the attitude has changed here in the last two to three weeks.”
So has Duncan’s mood.
“Frustrated. This was preventable. This was predictable — the outcome. There was a better way to go about this,” he said.
Long-term loss of market
“Tariffs are kind of a last resort for a really specific instance or really serious breach of a contract and not something that you would lob out there to try to make progress in a trade agreement, and I think that’s what surprised farmers a bit,” said Tamara Nelsen, senior director of commodities with the Illinois Farm Bureau.
Nelsen said history shows the long-term impact of tariffs and trade embargoes is a loss of market access and competitiveness for U.S. products.
“In every event, we lost market share, or we encouraged production somewhere else of that same product. And it took U.S. agriculture 20, 30 years to get some of those markets back. And in some cases, we haven’t gotten those markets back.”
For Duncan, the long-term impact on the reputation of U.S. agricultural products is his biggest concern.
“How are we going to be seen? Is a country going to look at us and say, ‘Why would I sign an agreement with them, anyhow? If they don’t like something we do, are they just going to put a bunch of tariffs up and blow things up?’ How are we seen going forward in the next five, 10, 15, 20 years? For me, that is the biggest issue more than the here and now.”
Farm income at risk
But in the here and now is the difficult reality that farmers are also experiencing their fifth year of declining income.
“We’ve seen farm income cut in half in the last four years for various reasons. We could easily see it cut in half again if we lost all our export markets,” which Duncan said could increase dependence on government aid at a time when lawmakers in Washington debate new Farm Bill legislation that the agriculture industry needs to provide security.
All of the uncertainty has him evaluating his options the next time he heads to the ballot box.
“It’s the economy, stupid. My vote will depend an awful lot on the farm economy,” he said. That’s just the world I live in.”
A world that is now more connected — and dependent on international trade — than ever before.
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President Donald Trump said the U.S. would “probably not” strike a trade deal with Britain if Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit plan went ahead as planned.
“If they do a deal like that, we would be dealing with the European Union instead of dealing with the U.K., so it will probably kill the deal,” Trump told The Sun, a conservative British newspaper.
Trump said May had ignored his advice on how to negotiate Britain’s exit from the European Union. “I would have done it much differently,” Trump said of May’s Brexit plan. “I actually told Theresa May how to do it, but she didn’t listen to me.”
Trump said May’s so-called soft-Brexit approach went “the opposite way” to what he had recommended and that it was “very unfortunate.”
May’s proposal was finalized Friday. It was quickly followed by the resignation of two members of her Cabinet, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Brexit Secretary David Davis, who did not approve of her approach.
In the exclusive interview with The Sun, Trump also said that Johnson would make a “great prime minister,” adding, “I think he’s got what it takes.”
The Sun is owned by Rupert Murdoch, a close ally of the president’s, who also owns Fox News Network, Trump’s favorite U.S. TV channel.
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President Donald Trump’s criticism of Germany’s involvement in a natural gas pipeline deal with Russia launched a tense two days of NATO meetings in Brussels — but it also may have set the tone for the U.S. leader’s highly anticipated summit with his Russian counterpart Monday in Helsinki.
In a taut exchange with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday, Trump said Nord Stream 2 — an offshore pipeline that would deliver gas to Germany directly from Russia via the Baltic Sea — leaves the Western military alliance’s largest and wealthiest European member “totally controlled” by and “captive to” Russia.
“We’re supposed to protect you against Russia but [Germany is] paying billions of dollars to Russia, and I think that’s very inappropriate,” Trump told Stoltenberg.
According to the U.S. leader, Germany “got rid of their coal plants, got rid of their nuclear, they’re getting so much of the oil and gas from Russia. I think it’s something NATO has to look at.”
As Europe’s biggest natural gas consumer, Germany relies on Russia for roughly half of its gas imports, which account for 20 percent of its current energy mix, according to London-based Marex Spectron group. The International Energy Association projects German natural gas demand to increase by 1 percent in the next five years, as Berlin continues phasing out its nuclear power plants by 2022.
Expanding upon the existing Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which has been transporting gas from Russia to Germany along the same Baltic Sea route since 2011, Nord Stream 2, currently slated for completion by 2019, would roughly double Russia’s export volume.
Trump says the $11 billion, 800-mile pipeline expansion linking Russia and Germany would give Moscow greater geopolitical leverage over Europe at a time of heightened international tensions, an opinion in keeping with that of his his immediate predecessor, former President Barack Obama, and former President George W. Bush, who opposed Nord Stream 1.
The administrations have long pushed for Germany, Europe’s largest energy consumer, to buy American liquefied natural gas (LNG) in an attempt to overtake a sector of the market long dominated by Russian distribution routes that run through Ukraine.
Poland and Lithuania, who are among Nord Stream 2’s most vociferous European critics, have built LNG terminals that would stand to profit from an American takeover of the market. But other former Soviet satellite nations — such as Ukraine, Latvia and Estonia — have long warned that a growing reliance on Russian energy not only compromises European security, but rewards Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and other campaigns to destabilize the European Union.
There have been numerous price disputes between Moscow and Kyiv over natural gas deliveries to Ukraine, whose pipelines serve other European nations. In 2009, a disagreement between the two nations cut natural gas supplies to Western Europe in the middle of winter, leaving many without heat.
Nord Stream 2, they argue, will not only deprive land-transit countries such as Poland and Ukraine of billions in annual transit fees, it will also give Russia a way to penalize Eastern European foes without sacrificing lucrative deals further to the west.
According to Atlantic Council energy expert Agnia Grigas, Nord Stream 2 contradicts the EU’s official energy security strategy, which calls on EU nations to diversify energy sources, distributors and routes.
“If Nord Stream 2 is built, Germany would be the EU country most exposed to dubious Russian influence,” Grigas recently reported. “Moscow already has a track record of relying on German businesses and lawmakers to advance its own strategic goals. For instance, following Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014, large German companies with considerable business ties with Russia were among the harshest critics of Western sanctions against Moscow.”
As a private project backed by energy giants such as Shell — a British-Dutch multinational — Germany’s Wintershall and Uniper, along with Russia’s state-owned Gazprom, Nord Stream 2 is also being financed by private firms from Austria, France and Britain, but not by German tax funds.
In responding to Trump’s Wednesday tirade against Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she knew all too well from her childhood in the East what it is like to live under Soviet control. But she said energy deals with Russia do not make 21st-century Berlin beholden to Moscow.
“I am very happy that today we are united in freedom as the Federal Republic of Germany. Because of that, we can say that we can make our independent policies and make independent decisions,” she said.
Merkel’s predecessor, Gerhard Schroeder, a longtime friend of Putin, has championed the Nord Stream enterprise since just before being voted out of office in 2005. He soon went on to lead the shareholder committee of Nord Stream AG, a consortium for construction and operation of the submarine pipeline, eventually going on to become chairman of the Kremlin-controlled Rosneft, Russia’s largest oil company.
In March, European politicians increased calls for sanctions against the ex-chancellor for representing Russian interests, though his name has yet to appear on any lists of individuals targeted for sanctions.
Despite repeated U.S. warnings that companies involved in the deal also risk being slapped with sanctions, Nord Stream 2 is scheduled for completion next year.
This story originated in VOA’s Russian service.
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The U.S. Justice Department said Thursday that it would appeal a federal judge’s approval of AT&T Inc.’s $85.4 billion acquisition of Time Warner.
The Justice Department opted in June not to seek an immediate stay of the court’s approval of the merger, allowing the merger to close on June 14. The department still had 60 days to appeal the decision.
The government’s court filing did not disclose on what ground it intended to challenge the approval.
AT&T and the Justice Department did not immediately comment.
AT&T shares fell 1 percent after the bell.
The merger, announced in October 2016, was opposed by President Donald Trump. AT&T was sued by the Justice Department but won approval from a judge to move forward with the deal in June following a six-week trial.
Judge Richard Leon of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the tie-up between AT&T’s wireless and satellite businesses and Time Warner’s movies and television shows was legal under antitrust law.
The Justice Department had argued the deal would harm consumers.
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Saudi Arabian billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who was detained for three months in an anti-corruption campaign under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, pledged support on Thursday for the young leader’s program of sweeping reforms.
“I was honored to meet with my brother HRH the Crown Prince and to discuss economic matters and the private sector’s future &; role in #Vision2030 success,” he tweeted with a photograph of the royal cousins embracing in front of a desk.
It is the first publicly disclosed meeting between the two men since the anti-corruption crackdown was launched in November.
“I shall be one of the biggest supporters of the Vision through @Kingdom_KHC &; all its affiliates,” Prince Alwaleed added, referring to his international investment company.
Vision 2030 is Prince Mohammed’s scheme to wean the world’s top crude exporter off oil revenues and open up Saudis’ cloistered lifestyles. The corruption sweep alarmed the Saudi business community as well as international investors the kingdom is courting to support the reforms.
Prince Alwaleed, the kingdom’s most recognised business figure, was freed in January after being held at Riyadh’s Ritz-Carlton Hotel along with scores of royals, senior officials and businessmen, most of whom reached financial settlements with the authorities.
He said in March he had cut a deal but declined to disclose the details. He said he was in discussions with the Public Fund, the sovereign wealth fund chaired by the crown prince, about making joint investments inside the kingdom. He previously told Reuters that he was innocent and expected to keep full control of his firm.
In the absence of more information, speculation has run rampant about whether Prince Alwaleed secured his freedom by forfeiting part of his fortune — once estimated by Forbes magazine at $17 billion — or stood up to authorities and won.
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Росія розглядає проведення українсько-американських військових навчань «Сі Бриз-2018» як спробу спровокувати напруженість на Чорному морі, заявила офіційний представник міністерства закордонних справ РФ Марія Захарова.
«Відповідальність за можливі негативні наслідки несуть ті країни, які втягують Україну в небезпечні «ігри з вогнем», і постійно звинувачують Росію в тому, що вона загрожує регіональній стабільності», – стверджує дипломат.
МЗС РФ також вважає, що воєнна активність союзників буде здійснюватися в безпосередній близькості до «зони конфлікту», маючи на увазі Операцію Об’єднаних Сил, яка покликана звільнити частину окупованих російськими гібридними силами територій Луганської та Донецької областей.
Читайте також: Росія не пройде. Кораблі НАТО ‒ проти агресії в Чорному морі
«Спроби в цих умовах «пограти м’язами» навряд чи будуть сприяти стабілізації обстановки в цьому регіоні. Це повинні розуміти і ті партнери України, які, схоже, навмисно підіграють київській «партії війни», яка мріє про різного роду «бліцкригу», – сказала Захарова.
Як повідомляло раніше Радіо Свобода, 9 липня стартували українсько-американські військові навчання «Сі Бриз-2018». Окрім організаторів, у маневрах беруть участь 17 країн: Болгарія, Великобританія, Грузія, Греція, Данія, Естонія, Індія, Італія, Канада, Литва, Молдова, Норвегія, ОАЕ, Польща, Румунія, Туреччина, Швеція. Всього до навчань залучили більше ніж 2000 осіб.
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