Daily: 08/08/2018
Апеляційний суд зі скандалом переніс розгляд справи Савченко на 9 серпня
Апеляційний суд Києва не встиг 8 серпня завершити розгляд апеляції на тримання під вартою народного депутата Надії Савченко. Засідання завершилося пізно ввечері суперечками і взаємними звинуваченнями сторін, перепалкою між суддями та присутніми на суді прихильниками Савченко.
Перед цим адвокати Савченко і вона сама близько чотирьох годин обговорювали порушення, які, на їхню думку, вчиняли у справі слідчі прокуратури, СБУ та суд першої інстанції.
Засідання, на якому мають визначити, чи триматимуть Савченко за ґратами, призначили на 11:00 9 серпня.
У березні суд вирішив взяти народного депутата під варту без можливості внесення застави. Останнім рішенням суду арешт продовжили до 10 вересня.
Читайте також: Свідчення Савченко на поліграфі: після повідомлення СБУ адвокат вимагає повторної експертизи
22 березня Верховна Рада України дала згоду на притягнення до кримінальної відповідальності, затримання й арешт Надії Савченко.
Їй 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». Рубан всі звинувачення відкидав.
2 серпня Служба безпеки України спільно з Генеральною прокуратурою продемонстрували ймовірний план вчинення теракту у центрі столиці, в організації якого підозрюють заарештованих нині керівника Центру звільнення полонених «Офіцерський корпус» Володимира Рубана та народного депутата Надію Савченко.
Крім того, силовики показали озброєння, яке в перебігу слідства вони вилучили і яким нібито планували скористатися підозрювані під час втілення своїх намірів. Генеральний прокурор України Юрій Луценко заявив, що на сьогоднішній день усі докази зібрано і справу передали на ознайомлення сторонам.
Перед цим правоохоронці повідомили, що завершили розслідування провадження, в якому фігурують Рубан та Савченко.
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Terms of Trump-Mueller Interview Still Being Negotiated
Fifteen months since special counsel Robert Mueller was appointed to head the probe into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, prosecutors and lawyers for President Donald Trump are still negotiating over what questions investigators can ask the president.
News reports Wednesday quoted the president’s lawyers as saying they are trying to narrow the scope of Mueller’s questions by declining to allow the president to answer questions about possible obstruction of justice.
In an interview with CNN, Rudy Giuliani, one of Trump’s lawyers on the case, said the team is sending a new letter today with a counteroffer. Giuliani declined to describe the counteroffer.
The Washington Post reports Giuliani, a former New York mayor who joined the Trump legal team in April this year, said the letter will largely reject a presidential interview that would include questions about possible obstruction of justice, particularly in regard to the firing of former FBI Director James Comey.
Mueller has been seeking to interview the president for months. Trump has repeatedly urged his legal team to allow him to be interviewed, believing it will give him the opportunity to clear his name. Trump’s lawyers have advised him against it, citing the fear of a “perjury trap.”
One of the defenses often invoked by Giuliani and other members of Trump’s legal team in regard to whether Trump is obstructing justice by firing Comey is Article II of the U.S. Constitution. The provision gives the president executive authority to appoint and dismiss members of his administration.
In May 2017 Trump fired Comey, who was leading the Russia investigation. The day after the firing, Trump said that Russia was on his mind when he made the decision.
Interview scope unclear
The president’s lawyers had previously offered the special counsel written answers to obstruction questions and insisted on limiting the interview to matters before Trump’s presidential inauguration.
Of particular interest to Mueller is the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between the president’s son Donald Trump Jr., several top campaign aides, and a Russian lawyer with connections to the Kremlin.
Last weekend, Trump tweeted that the meeting’s purpose was to “get information on an opponent,” i.e. former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. He claimed that such a meeting was “totally legal” and “done all the time in politics.” Trump’s tweets are at odds with his own statements about the encounter, as well as with Trump Jr.’s statement in July 2017, saying the meeting had been mostly about issues related to Americans adopting Russian children.
Last month, Trump declared on Twitter that “collusion is not a crime,” as he continued his attacks on Mueller’s investigation. Mueller is examining Trump’s tweets and public statements to determine whether he made them with the intention to deceive investigators.
Subpoena?
If Mueller and the Trump legal team fail to reach an agreement on the interview, Mueller could resort to issuing a subpoena to the president. In an interview with ABC on Sunday, Jay Sekulow, a member of Trump’s legal team, said a subpoena would spark a legal battle that could go all the way to the Supreme Court.
In May 2017, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed Mueller to investigate “any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump,” as well as “any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation.”
The investigation has led to the indictments of several members of Trump’s circle, including former Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos, Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn, Trump’s former campaign chair Paul Manafort and former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates, as well as 12 Russian intelligence agents.
Trump has repeatedly called the Russia probe a “witch hunt.”
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China, Germany Defend Iran Business Ties as US Sanctions Grip
China and Germany defended their business ties with Iran on Wednesday in the face of President Donald Trump’s warning that any companies trading with the Islamic Republic would be barred from the United States.
The comments from Beijing and Berlin signaled growing anger from partners of the United States, which reimposed strict sanctions against Iran on Tuesday, over its threat to penalize businesses from third countries that continue to operate there.
“China has consistently opposed unilateral sanctions and long-armed jurisdiction,” the Chinese foreign ministry said.
“China’s commercial cooperation with Iran is open and transparent, reasonable, fair and lawful, not violating any United Nations Security Council resolutions,” it added in a faxed statement to Reuters.
“China’s lawful rights should be protected.”
The German government said U.S. sanctions against Iran that have an extra-territorial effect violate international law, and Germany expects Washington to consider European interests when coming up with such sanctions.
The reimposition of U.S. sanctions followed Trump’s decision earlier this year to pull out of a 2015 deal to lift the punitive measures in return for curbs on Iran’s nuclear program designed to prevent it from building an atomic bomb.
Iran’s highest authority, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said meanwhile the country had nothing to be concerned about, a report on his official website said in an apparent reference to the imposition of the U.S. sanctions
“With regard to our situation do not be worried at all. Nobody can do anything,” Khamenei said recently, the website reported. “There is no doubt about this.”
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, speaking in a meeting with North Korea’s foreign minister, said that America could not be trusted, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency.
“Today, America is identified as an unreliable and untrustworthy country in the world which does not adhere to any of its obligations,” Rouhani said.
Tuesday’s sanctions target Iran’s purchases of U.S. dollars, metals trading, coal, industrial software and the auto sector.
Trump tweeted on Tuesday: “These are the most biting sanctions ever imposed, and in November they ratchet up to yet another level. Anyone doing business with Iran will NOT be doing business with the United States.”
Europeans withdraw
European countries, hoping to persuade Tehran to continue to respect the deal, have promised to try to lessen the blow of sanctions and to urge their firms not to pull out. But that has proved difficult: European companies have quit Iran, arguing that they cannot risk their U.S. business.
Among those that have suspended plans to invest in Iran are France’s oil major Total, its big carmakers PSA and Renault, and their German rival Daimler.
Danish engineering company Haldor Topsoe, one of the world’s leading industrial catalyst producers, said on Wednesday it would cut around 200 jobs from its workforce of 2,700 due to the new U.S sanctions on Iran, which made it very hard for its customers there to finance new projects.
The chief executive of reinsurance group Munich Re said it may abandon its Iran business under pressure from the United States, but described the operation as very small.
Turkey, however, said it would continue to buy natural gas from Iran.
“Simplistic idea”
In Tehran, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was quoted by an Iranian newspaper as saying that a U.S. plan to reduce Iran’s oil exports to zero would not succeed.
U.S. officials have said in recent weeks that they aim to pressure countries to stop buying oil from Iran in a bid to force Tehran to halt its nuclear and missile programs and involvement in regional conflicts in Syria and Iraq.
“If the Americans want to keep this simplistic and impossible idea in their minds they should also know its consequences,” Zarif told the Iran newspaper. “They can’t think that Iran won’t export oil and others will export.”
Rouhani hinted last month that Iran could block the Strait of Hormuz, a major oil shipping route, if the U.S. attempted to stop the Islamic Republic’s oil exports.
Trump responded by noting that Iran could face serious consequences if it threatened the United States.
“The Americans have assembled a war room against Iran,” Zarif said. “We can’t get drawn into a confrontation with America by falling into this war room trap and playing on a battlefield.”
Iran has dismissed a last-minute offer from the Trump administration for talks, saying it could not negotiate while Washington had reneged on the 2015 deal to lift sanctions.
In a speech hours before the sanctions were due to take effect on Tuesday, Rouhani rejected negotiations as long as Washington was no longer complying with the deal.
“If you stab someone with a knife and then you say you want talks, then the first thing you have to do is remove the knife,” Rouhani said in a speech broadcast live on state television.
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Державний департамент США анонсував нові санкції проти Росії через отруєння Скрипалів
У США звинуватили Росію у використанні хімічної чи біологічної зброї проти Скрипалів
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Казахстан відкликає ліцензії майже 90 іноземних телеканалів
Міністерство інформації і комунікацій Казахстану відкликало ліцензії 88 іноземних телеканалів, у тому числі російських. Їх звинувачують у порушенні закону «Про телерадіомовлення», повідомило відомство 8 серпня на своєму сайті.
У список потрапили британський Sky News, американські Fox News і CNBS, французький канал France 24, Bloomberg Television, а також російські телеканали «Дождь», Russia Today TV, THT-Comedy, «Спас», НТВ-плюс, RU.TV.
У 2017 році в Казахстані ухвалили поправки в закон «Про телерадіомовлення». Вони зобов’язували всі іноземні теле- і радіоканали, які ретранслюються на території Казахстану, зареєструвати на території країни юридичну особу або відкрити представництво.
За інформацією прес-служби міністерства, закон набув чинності 9 січня 2018 року. Відповідно, іноземні теле- і радіоканали були зобов’язані зареєструвати на території Казахстану юридичну особу або провести облікову реєстрацію свого представництва до 9 липня 2018 року.
За даними Мінінформації, на сьогоднішній день на облік в міністерстві поставлені 307 іноземних теле- і радіоканалів. З них представництва відкрили 219, а 88 перерахованих вище каналів цього досі не зробили.
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Нобелівський лауреат скасувала виступ в Одесі через погрози
Білоруська письменниця і лауреатка Нобелівської премії з літератури Світлана Алексієвич вибачилася перед одеситами і скасувала свій виступ в Одесі через погрози. Про це вона повідомила у відеозверненні на офіційній сторінці «Зеленого театру» – громадського простору, де мала відбутися її зустріч із читачами.
«Я дізналася, що організаторам зустрічі погрожують, погрожують також і мені. Мене обвинувачують у надуманих образах, які я завдала українцям. Цього не може бути – моя мати українка, я тут народилася і завжди відчувала українську кров. Але заради нашої спільної безпеки цієї зустрічі не буде», – наголосила Алексієвич. Вона також вибачилася перед тими, хто хотів із нею зустрітися.
Письменницю внесли в базу «Миротворець», за даними «Зеленого театру», близько 16:00 8 серпня, в день її виступу. Підставою для внесення став її виступ у США, де вона заявила про причетність українців до Голокосту.
Як повідомляло раніше Радіо Свобода, гроші на виступ Алексієвич збирали методом «краудфандингу» на платформі «Моє місто».
Світлана Алексієвич народилася в Івано-Франківську, в дитинстві переїхала до Білорусі. У 1970–1980-ті роки вона працювала журналісткою, пізніше почала писати книжки. У стилі художньо-документальної прози вона написала «У війни не жіноче обличчя» (1983), «Останні свідки» (1985), «Цинкові хлопчики» (1989), «Зачаровані смертю» (1994) «Чорнобильська молитва» (1999), «Час секонд-хенд: кінець червоної людини» (2013).
У своїх книжках вона розповідає про людей, які брали участь у Другій світовій війні або пережили її в дитинстві; про ветеранів війни в Афганістані; про свідків і ліквідаторів катастрофи у Чорнобилі; про феномен так званої «радянської людини». У 2015 році Алексієвич отримала Нобелівську премію з літератури – «за її багатоголосу творчість – пам’ятник стражданню і мужності в наш час», як відзначали в Шведській академії.
У 2013 і 2014 роках вона вже потрапляла в шорт-лист премії, але поступалася іншим письменникам.
Сьогодні письменниця продовжує роботу над книжкою про любов і стосунки «Чудний олень вічного полювання», яку почала писати ще наприкінці 1990-х років.
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China Exports Accelerated in July Despite Rise in US Tariffs
China’s exports to the United States surged last month as its merchants rushed to fill orders ahead of a jump in U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods.
Its shipments to the United States climbed 13 percent in July from a year earlier, to $41.5 billion, after a roughly similar rise in June, customs data show.
At the same time, Beijing’s trade surplus with the United States — a frequent source of anger and threats from President Donald Trump — grew 11 percent to $28 billion.
Chinese exporters appear to be trying to ship their goods to the United States before tariffs that Trump is imposing in a fight over technology policy take full effect. The trade war between the world’s two biggest economies has forced many multinational companies to reschedule purchases and rethink where they buy materials and parts to try to dodge or blunt the effects of tit-for-tat tariffs between Washington and Beijing.
Beijing has warned that its exporters face “rising instabilities” after Washington slapped 25 percent duties on $34 billion of Chinese goods last month in response to complaints that China steals or pressures foreign companies to hand over technology. Beijing has retaliated against the U.S. tariffs with higher duties on a similar amount of American goods.
On Tuesday, the Trump administration announced that it would proceed with previously announced 25 percent tariffs on an additional $16 billion of Chinese imports starting Aug. 23. On Wednesday, China hit back by saying it would impose identical 25 percent punitive duties on $16 billion of U.S. goods, including cars, crude oil and scrap metal, also to take effect Aug. 23.
A Commerce Ministry statement labeled Trump’s decision to go ahead with the latest U.S. tariffs “very unreasonable.” Beijing’s retaliatory move was a “necessary response” to “safeguard its legitimate interests,” the ministry said on its website.
Escalating its tensions with Beijing, the Trump administration has also threatened to impose penalties on an additional $200 billion in Chinese exports to the United States. Beijing says it is ready to retaliate against $60 billion of American imports. (Beijing cannot tax an equal amount of U.S. products, because the United States exports far fewer goods to China than it imports.)
Tariffs are taxes on imports. They are meant to protect homegrown businesses and put foreign competitors at a disadvantage. But the taxes also exact a price on domestic businesses and consumers who buy imports and end up paying more for them.
In July, China’s global exports surged 12 percent, even faster than an 11 percent increase in June. At the same time, overall imports to China jumped 27 percent last month.
Exports to the rest of the world might have been boosted by a weaker Chinese currency. The yuan has declined by 8 percent this year against the dollar and by about 4 percent against a basket of global currencies. A weakening currency makes a nation’s goods more affordable for overseas buyers.
China’s trade conflict with the United States, coupled with weakening global demand, has compounded the challenges for Beijing. Economic growth has slowed since regulators tightened controls on bank lending to rein in surging debt.
The unusually strong July import figures reflected higher prices, according to Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics.
“We expect export growth to cool in the coming months, though this will primarily reflect softer global growth rather than U.S. tariffs,” Evans-Pritchard said in a report. “Import growth is likely to slow as domestic headwinds continue to weigh on economic activity.”
China’s global trade surplus narrowed by 40 percent from a year earlier to $28 billion. In the meantime, its trade gap with the 28-nation European Union contracted 8 percent to $11.2 billion.
China is running out of American goods to hit with retaliatory tariffs given the two nations’ lopsided trade balance. Last year’s imports from the United States totaled about $130 billion. That leaves only about $20 billion for penalty tariffs after increases that have already been imposed or threatened on U.S. goods are counted.
Beijing has stepped up efforts, so far without success, to recruit governments including Germany and France as allies. Those nations have criticized Trump’s tactics, but they share U.S. complaints about Chinese industrial policy and market barriers.
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Ohio House Election Too Close to Call as Democrats, Republicans Look to November
A closely watched special election for a U.S. House of Representatives seat in the state of Ohio was too close to call Wednesday, as Republicans and Democrats weighed the results of that race and primary voting elsewhere in the country looking for signs of how national midterm elections might go in November.
With all precincts reporting, Republican Troy Balderson led Democrat Danny O’Connor by about 1,700 votes. Ohio’s Secretary of State said more than 3,400 provisional ballots and 5,000 absentee ballots were cast, but that under state law officials cannot begin counted them until 11 days after Tuesday’s election.
The winner fills a seat vacated by Republican Pat Tiberi, who announced his resignation in October 2017. He would have been up for re-election in November, meaning voters will again choose between Balderson and O’Connor in three months.
President Donald Trump used Twitter to take credit for what he said was a “great win” for Balderson.
“After my speech on Saturday night, there was a big turn for the better,” Trump said. “Now Troy wins a great victory during a very tough time of the year for voting. He will win BIG in Nov.”
Balderson thanked Trump as he spoke to his supporters late Tuesday and said he was ready to work for the people of Ohio’s 12th Congressional District.
“America is on the right path and we’re going to keep it going that way,” he said. “It’s time to get to work. Over the next three months. I’m going to do everything I can to keep America great again.”
A Republican has represented the district since the early 1980s, and O’Connor told his supporters he had done well in an election pundits did not think he could win.
“We went door to door, we went house to house, we made our case for change,” he said. “We’re gonna make that case tomorrow, we’re not stopping now. Tomorrow we rest and then we keep fighting through to November. Let’s go out there, let’s get it done, let’s change the country.”
In the November election, all 435 House of Representatives seats, 35 of 100 Senate seats, and 36 of 50 governors’ offices will be up for election.
Democrats must win 23 seats in the House and two seats in the Senate to gain control of those chambers.
There have been nearly a dozen special elections since last year, and while Republicans have won far more times than Democrats, the Democratic candidates have generally seen big improvements in their support compared to how the party did in the same areas in the 2016 election.
In the Midwest state of Kansas, the Republican primary for the party’s candidate for governor in November featured a tight race between Secretary of State Kris Kobach and the incumbent Governor Jeff Colyer. Each candidate had about 41 percent of the vote with 88 percent of precincts reporting.
Trump used Twitter to urge people in Kansas to vote for Kobach, noting he was “a strong and early supporter of mine.”
Trump also threw his support behind John James in the Republican primary for a Senate seat representing the state of Michigan. James defeated Sandy Pensler 55 percent to 45 percent in that race Tuesday. James will face incumbent Sen. Debbie Stabenow.
The Democratic race for governor in Michigan tested the electoral power of the party’s progressive wing. But the more moderate former state Senate leader Gretchen Whitmer easily defeated health director Abdul el-Sayed, who was trying to become the country’s first Muslim governor.
In the Republican race, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, another Trump ally, handily won a race that featured Lt. Gov. Brian Calley.
Democrat Rashida Tlaib is set to make history in January as the first Muslim woman in Congress. She won the Democratic primary for Michigan’s 13th Congressional District for the November election in which there will be no Republican challenger.
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Іран: у Тегерані через вибух газу загинули троє людей
Вибух газу в спортивному комплексі в столиці Ірану, Тегерані, загинули три працівники, повідомляє іранське державне телебачення.
Повідомляється, що вибух стався після нагрівання газу, витік якого стався під час ремонтних робіт у котельній 7 серпня.
Іран має стару інфраструктуру, яку намагається підтримувати в робочому стані за роки дії західних санкцій. Заходів безпеки також погано дотримуються в Ірані.
У липні п’ять людей загинули внаслідок витоків токсичного газу і пожежі в двох окремих випадках в Тегерані.
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США можуть застосувати санкції щодо російського олігарха Євтушенкова
Державний департамент США розглядає можливість введення санкції щодо російського олігарха Володимира Євтушенкова через те, що його компанія «Система» реалізувала проекти в Криму.
Республіканська конгресменка Ілеана Рос-Лехтінен заявила 7 серпня, що департамент надіслав їй лист з підтвердженням розслідування у відповідь на лист, який вона та інші депутати відправили в червні з проханням відомства розглянути «каральні заходи» щодо магната.
У листі зауважується, що в жовтні 2016 року російський президент Володимир Путін заявив про те, що холдинг Євтушенкова, АФК «Система», будуватиме медичні установи в Криму.
«Нехай вони перевіряють», – сказав у відповідь на лист парламентаріїв США Євтушенков, якого цитує російський сайт RNS.
Читайте також – Декларація про Крим: США підтвердили, що відкидають російську анексію
АФК Система контролює найбільшого російського оператора мобільного зв’язку, МТС. У листі законодавців також згадується американський корупційне розслідування, що стосується діяльності МТС в Узбекистані.
Компанія відмовилася від інвестицій у проекти у Криму.
your ad hereПорошенко обговорив з Держсекретарем США Крим і Донбас
Президент України Петро Порошенко провів телефонну розмову з Держсекретарем США Майком Помпео.
Як повідомляє прес-служба президента, сторони «підтримали підходи до подальшої протидії російській агресії та відновлення територіальної цілісності України, в тому числі з урахуванням останніх контактів між керівниками двох держав».
За повідомленням, сторони наголосили, що політика санкцій щодо Росії зберігатиметься, допоки не буде відновлена територіальна цілісність України, включно з Кримом.
В адміністрації президента заявляють, що співрозмовники особливу увагу приділили питанню звільнення українських заручників та політичних в’язнів, які утримуються в Росії та на окупованих територіях на Донбасі і в Криму.
У Держдепартаменті США також повідомляють про розмову Порошенка і Помпео. За повідомленням, Помпео знову підтвердив підтримку США суверенітету та територіальної цілісності України, він наголосив, що Сполучені Штати не визнають і ніколи не визнають спроби анексії Росією Криму.
Читайте також – Декларація про Крим: США підтвердили, що відкидають російську анексію
25 липня Майк Помпео проголосив «Кримську декларацію». Згідно з нею, США закликають Росію припинити окупацію Криму. Документ, зокрема, привітали Україна, Велика Британія та Польща.
У березні 2014 року Росія анексувала український півострів Крим. Міжнародні організації визнали анексію Криму незаконною і засудили дії Росії, країни Заходу запровадили проти неї економічні санкції. Кремль заперечує анексію півострова і називає це «відновленням історичної справедливості».
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Ohio Race Too Close to Call – But Trump Claims Victory
A special congressional election that tested President Donald Trump’s clout and cost both parties millions of dollars in battleground Ohio was too close to call early Wednesday. Trump claimed victory nevertheless.
The president took credit for Republican Troy Balderson’s performance, calling it “a great victory,” even though the contest could be headed to a mandatory recount. Democrat Danny O’Connor, trailing in the latest count, vowed: “We’re not stopping now.”
The candidates were locked in a razor-thin race, which they will reprise in the general election in just three months. There were at least 3,367 provisional ballots left to be reviewed. That’s enough for O’Connor to potentially pick up enough to force a recount.
The Associated Press does not declare winners in races subject to an automatic recount.
The Republican president’s shadow also loomed over primary contests in four other states, none bigger than Kansas, where Trump roiled the governor’s race by opposing the GOP incumbent on the eve of the election.
The day’s races, like dozens before them, pitted Trump’s fiery supporters against the Democratic Party’s anti-Trump resistance. The results are helping determine the political landscape – and Trump’s standing within his own party – just before the GOP defends its House and Senate majorities in November.
Voters in Kansas, Missouri, Michigan and Washington state joined those in Ohio in Tuesday’s voting.
Kansas Republicans were fighting among themselves in a battle for governor, where Secretary of State Kris Kobach was trying to unseat Gov. Jeff Colyer.
Should the polarizing Kobach win the primary, some Republican operatives fear he could lose the governor’s seat to Democrats this fall. The race could become further disrupted if Kansas City-area businessman Greg Orman makes it onto the November ballot. He submitted petitions Monday with more than 10,000 signatures for what could become the most serious independent run for Kansas governor in decades.
Trump made his preference clear for Kobach.
“He is a fantastic guy who loves his State and our Country – he will be a GREAT Governor and has my full & total Endorsement! Strong on Crime, Border & Military,” the president tweeted on the eve of the election. “VOTE TUESDAY!”
Republicans were hoping for Democratic discord in Kansas’ 3rd Congressional District, a suburban Kansas City district where several candidates were fighting for the chance to take on Republican Rep. Kevin Yoder in November.
The five-way Democratic primary featured labor lawyer Brent Welder, who campaigned recently with self-described democratic socialists Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and ascending political star, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a New York congressional candidate.
Also in the race: Native American attorney Sharice Davids and former school teacher Tom Niermann.
In Ohio, the script for the special election was somewhat familiar: An experienced Trump loyalist, Balderson, was fighting a strong challenge from O’Connor, a fresh-faced Democrat, in a congressional district held by the Republican Party for more than three decades. In an election morning tweet, Trump said Balderson would make a “great congressman.”
The winner takes the seat previously held by Pat Tiberi, a nine-term incumbent who resigned to take a job with an Ohio business group.
In a special election season that featured nearly a dozen congressional races, Democrats claimed just a handful of wins, but they may have cause for optimism this fall. In virtually every special election test dating back to the spring of 2017, Democratic candidates performed significantly better than their party in those same places two years earlier.
Trump won Ohio’s 12th Congressional District, for example, by more than 11 points in 2016; on Tuesday night, Balderson and O’Connor were separated by less than 1 point.
There are 79 House races this fall considered more competitive than the Ohio district – at least looking at Trump’s 2016 performance – according to data compiled by the Democrats’ national campaign committee.
Despite the deadlocked race, the specific Ohio returns suggest considerably higher Democratic enthusiasm less than 100 days before the midterms.
O’Connor’s total of nearly 100,000 votes far exceeded what the district’s former Republican congressman Pat Tiberi’s Democratic opponent got in 2014. Balderson’s total – just more than 101,500 votes – is barely two-thirds of Tiberi’s 2014 mark of about 150,000.
The two will face off again in November to see who holds the seat in 2019 and 2020.
“Over the next three months, I’m going to do everything I can to keep America great again, so that when we come back here in November – get ready, we gotta come back here in November – I have earned your vote for a second time,” Balderson told supporters.
It’s unclear how much Trump’s support helped or hurt Balderson. Described by campaign operatives as a “Whole Foods” district, the largely suburban region features a more affluent and educated voter base than the typical Trump stronghold.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a leading voice in the GOP’s shrinking anti-Trump wing, once represented the district in Congress.
At times, the race centered on Trump’s tax cuts as much as the candidates.
O’Connor and his Democratic allies railed against the tax plan, casting it as a giveaway for the rich that exacerbates federal deficits and threatens Medicare and Social Security. Balderson and his Republican allies have backed away from the tax plan in recent weeks, training their fire instead on top House Democrat Nancy Pelosi.
O’Connor dominated Balderson on the local airwaves. His campaign spent $2.25 million on advertising compared to Balderson’s $507,000, according to campaign tallies of ad spending. The Republican campaign arm and its allied super PAC were forced to pick up the slack, spending more than $4 million between them.
In Michigan, three mainstream Democrats in suburban Detroit were among those vying for a chance at retiring Republican Rep. Dave Trott’s seat in November. The field included Fayrouz Saad, who would be the first Muslim woman in Congress.
And in suburban Seattle, three Democrats vied in a jungle primary for the seat held by another retiring Republican, Rep. Dave Reichert.
The field was set in two Senate contests as well.
In Missouri, Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill claimed her party’s nomination, while state Attorney General Josh Hawley will represent the GOP.
And in Michigan, Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow will take on military veteran and business executive John James, who won the Republican nomination. He would join Tim Scott of South Carolina as the only black Republican senators if he wins in November.
Hours before polls opened, Trump again weighed in on Twitter, casting James as “a potential Republican star.”
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UK Defense Chief: Post-Brexit Britain to Remain Strong
Britain will always be a “tier one” military power, British Defense Minister Gavin Williamson told the Atlantic Council think tank Tuesday in Washington, contradicting recent comments by British Prime Minister Theresa May.
In June, the prime minister asked Williamson to justify Britain’s role as a tier one military power at a Downing Street meeting, challenging Defense Ministry plans to modernize the armed forces just weeks before a NATO summit, according to the Financial Times.
Underlying her statement, the report said, was a realization that Britain can no longer economically compete with top global powers. The following day, when asked to respond to the report at a joint news conference with NATO Secretary Jens Stoltenberg, May criticized the report as inaccurate but declined requests to verbally commit to maintaining Britain’s tier one military status, saying only that she wanted Britain to be a “leading defense nation.”
Downing Street later said May had challenged Williamson’s plans but rejected claims she was pushing to reduce the nation’s military stature.
During his Atlantic Council speech, Williamson forcefully asserted Britain’s role as “major global actor.”
“We have always been a tier one military power, and we always will be a tier one military power,” he said, before rejecting concerns that the pending Brexit would compromise Britain’s global military standing.
“While Britain is leaving the EU, we are clear about our role and place in the world,” he said. “Brexit is Britain’s moment to look up, be more ambitious, and redefine our place in the world. In some ways, the EU has limited our vision, discouraged us from looking to the horizon. Now, we are being freed to reach further and aim higher. Please, never underestimate my nation. The U.K. remains a great power.”
Williamson, 42, who joined May’s cabinet in late 2017, made the comments ahead of Pentagon meetings with his American counterpart, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.
Asked about President Donald Trump’s criticism of NATO, Williamson expressed his conviction that U.S. investments in the alliance prove this administration is “incredibly committed to NATO,” and that Britain and the U.S. would remain “reliable partners for the long term.”
Although there are no technical criteria that define tier one military power, Britain’s defense ministers have suggested the term involves a range of military capabilities, from nuclear deterrents to naval, ground and air force branches that can deploy in any corner of the globe.
Fighter jet
While addressing the Atlantic Council event, Williamson discussed a new concept of a fighter jet being developed in Britain, nicknamed the Tempest, which he hopes U.S. defense officials will consider for purchase.
Williamson unveiled a full-sized model of the jet at a British air show in July, which, according to Bloomberg, was part of a “bid to show that the nation plans to remain a leading military power after Brexit.”
With Europe’s largest military budget and a substantial aerospace research and development sector, Britain has historically attracted substantial investments from major U.S. defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin and Raytheon.
Britain’s aerospace and defense sectors — both massive contributors to the British economy in terms of jobs, technology and exports — are among those negotiating agreements with the government’s business and strategy department to brace for financial and trade repercussions upon leaving the European Union.
This story originated in VOA’s Serbian service. Some information is from Reuters.
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NYC Ponders Precedent With 1-Year Cap on New Ride-Hail Car Services
New York City’s iconic but imperiled yellow cab industry may be getting help from lawmakers who want to pump the brakes on fast-expanding ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft.
In what would be a first-in-the-nation step if passed, the City Council on Wednesday is set to vote on proposals that would cap new licenses for car service drivers for one year while officials study the massive changes rippling through the taxi industry.
Other proposals would set minimum pay levels for all drivers and minimum fares, which are now regulated for traditional cabs but not their multitudes of new competitors.
The legislation is a reaction to stories of financial hardship told by drivers, who complain that there are so many Uber cars on the road now that it is getting hard for anyone to make a decent living.
“There has to be a pause button that’s going to give people some breathing room,” said Bhairavi Desai, of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance.
City Council Speaker Corey Johnson said lawmakers aren’t against the ride-hailing newcomers. “We think they’ve actually filled a need,” he said. “We also believe there needs to be a regulatory framework in place.”
For generations, taxi drivers in New York were protected by rules that restricted competition. Around 13,500 yellow cabs had the special licenses, called medallions, needed to pick up passengers on the street. Several thousand more drivers worked for black car companies that dispatched vehicles by phone, mostly in the outer boroughs of Bronx, Queens, Staten Island and Brooklyn, where yellow cabs generally wouldn’t travel.
That system was smashed when the city began allowing passengers to use smartphone apps to hail cars almost anywhere.
The change kicked off a dizzying increase in the number of car service drivers from about 65,000 in 2015 to 100,000 now.
$1 million taxi medallions
One unforeseen development has been plunging value of the traditional taxi medallions. As recently as four years ago, they were changing hands at prices reaching $1 million. They were considered such a ticket to guaranteed income, banks allowed owners to borrow huge sums against them for home mortgages or school loans.
Now, many of those loans are coming due. Drivers no longer have the income to pay them off. And with medallions now trading at $200,000 or less, owners don’t have the collateral to refinance.
Driver Lal Singh said he owes $312,000 on a medallion he thought would be his ticket to middle-class comfort. But he can’t sell at a price high enough to cover his debt. So at age 62, he’s still driving 14-hour shifts, despite having high blood pressure and diabetes, with every penny going to pay off his debt.
“Everybody say, ‘This is my retirement. Some income will come in from the medallion. We will survive,'” he said. “But now we have no hope and I don’t see any place, which direction I should go.”
Six drivers have taken their own lives in the last year, including one who shot himself in his car in front of City Hall after railing against politicians and Uber in a newsletter column.
“I will not be a slave working for chump change,” Douglas Shifter wrote. “I would rather be dead.”
Drivers previously pushed for a cap on new competition in 2015, but were beaten back by ride-hailing companies. The same companies are now pushing back on the new proposals, saying they would prevent them from replacing drivers who quit and lead to reduced service.
“We’re really concerned about the process and the speed with which the council is trying to ram this through,” said Joseph Okpaku, vice president of public policy at Lyft.
Racial profiling argument
Uber spokesman Josh Gold said a cap on new licenses would reverse the progress made extending service to neighborhoods poorly served by traditional taxis.
That argument has gotten support from some civil rights activists like the Rev. Al Sharpton, who have long criticized the yellow cab industry for discrimination and profiling of minorities.
“They’re talking about putting a cap on Uber, do you know how difficult it is for black people to get a yellow cab in New York City?” Sharpton wrote on Twitter.
The level of upheaval in the industry hasn’t been seen on this scale since the first half of the 20th century, when the medallion system was put in place to deal with issues of competition, said Graham Hodges, a professor at Colgate University.
Flaws in that system, like racial profiling and inadequate demand, “made it easy for Uber, Lyft and the others to come in, say, ‘We’re going to provide a much better service,”‘ he said.
“That doesn’t mean those flaws couldn’t be remedied without destroying the system,” he said.
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Venezuela Dodges Oil Asset Seizures with Export Transfers at Sea
Venezuela’s state-run oil company PDVSA has limited the damage from an unprecedented slump in crude exports by transferring oil between tankers at sea and loading vessels in neighboring Cuba to avoid asset seizures.
But the OPEC member nation is still fulfilling less than 60 percent of its obligations under supply deals with customers. Venezuela has been pumping oil this year at the lowest rate in three decades after years of underinvestment and a mass exodus of workers. The state-run firm’s collapse has left the country short of cash to fund its embattled socialist government and triggered an economic crisis.
PDVSA’s problems were compounded in May when U.S. oil firm ConocoPhillips began seizing PDVSA assets in the Caribbean as payment for a $2 billion arbitration award. An arbitration panel at the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) ordered PDVSA to pay the cash to compensate Conoco for expropriating the firm’s Venezuelan assets in 2007.
The seizures left PDVSA without access to facilities such as Isla refinery in Curacao and BOPEC terminal in Bonaire that accounted for almost a quarter of the company’s oil exports. Conoco’s actions also forced PDVSA to stop shipping oil on its own vessels to terminals in the Caribbean, and then onto refineries worldwide, to avoid the risk the cargoes would be seized in international waters or foreign ports.
Instead, PDVSA asked customers to charter tankers to Venezuelan waters and load from the company’s own terminals or from anchored PDVSA vessels acting as floating storage units.
The state-run company told some clients in early June it might impose force majeure, a temporary suspension of export contracts, unless they agreed to such ship-to-ship transfers. PDVSA also requested the customers stop sending vessels to its terminals until it could load those that were already clogging Venezuela’s coastline.
Initially, customers were reluctant to undertake the transfers because of costs, safety concerns and the need for specialist equipment and experienced crew.
But PDVSA has managed to export about 1.3 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil since early July, up from just 765,000 bpd in the first half of June, according to Thomson Reuters data and internal PDVSA shipping data seen by Reuters.
That was still 59 percent of the country’s 2.19 million bpd in contractual obligations to customers for that period, and some vessels are still waiting for weeks in Venezuelan waters to load oil.
There were about two dozen tankers waiting this week to load over 22 million barrels of crude and refined products at the country’s largest ports, according to Reuters data.
“We are not tied to one option or a single loading terminal,” PDVSA President Manuel Quevedo said on Tuesday of the company’s exports. “We have several (terminals) in our country and we have some in the Caribbean, which of course facilitate crude shipping to fulfill our supply contracts.”
Cuban connection
PDVSA has also used a route through Cuba to ease the impact of the Conoco seizures. That route is for fuel rather than crude.
The Venezuelan company has used a terminal at the port of Matanzas as a conduit mostly for exporting fuel oil, according to two people familiar with the operations and Thomson Reuters shipping data. Venezuela’s fuel oil is burned in some countries to generate electricity.
Two tankers set sail from the Matanzas terminal for Singapore between mid-May and early July, Reuters data showed. Each ship carried around 500,000 barrels of Venezuelan fuel, Reuters data shows.
In recent months, Venezuela has been shipping fuel to Matanzas in small batches, according to the data.
PDVSA and Cuba’s state-run oil firm Cupet have used Matanzas to store Venezuelan crude and fuel in the past but exports from the terminal to Asian destinations are rare.
That is in part because vessels that use Cuban ports cannot subsequently dock in the United States due to the U.S. commercial embargo on Cuba.
Cupet did not respond to requests for comment. PDVSA has also used ship-to-ship transfers to fulfill an unusual supply contract it has with Cuba’s Cienfuegos refinery.
The refinery dates from the 1980s — when Cuba was a close ally of the Soviet Union during the Cold War — and the facility was built to process Russian crude.
PDVSA typically uses its own or leased tankers to bring Russian crude from storage in the nearby Dutch Caribbean island of Curacao to Cienfuegos. But it is now discharging the imported Russian oil at sea in Cayman Islands’ waters via these seaborne transfers.
ConocoPhillips last month ratcheted up its collection efforts by moving to depose officials from Citgo Petroleum, PDVSA’s U.S. refining arm, arguing it had improperly claimed ownership of some PDVSA cargoes. Citgo declined to comment.
ConocoPhillips is also preparing new legal actions to get Caribbean courts to recognize its International Chamber of Commerce arbitration award. If it succeeds in those efforts, it would be able to sell the assets to help satisfy the ruling.
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Chrysler Prowler Roadster Candy Red продається в Києві
Chrysler Prowler Roadster Candy Red продається в Києві!
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