Daily: 10/04/2021

На знімальну групу «Схем» напали, забрали техніку та видалили відео під час інтерв’ю з головою «Укрексімбанку»

На журналістів «Схем» скоїли напад у державному «Укрексімбанку» під час інтерв’ю із очільником фінустанови Євгеном Мецгером прямо у його кабінеті

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Разумков повідомив про запуск процедури відкликання його з посади голови ВР

Разумков каже: підписні листи спочатку має перевірити Рахункова палата, і лише потім буде запущена процедура відкликання голови Верховної Ради з посади

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Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp Suffering Outages

An outage has left millions of people around the world unable to use Facebook along with its Instagram and WhatsApp platforms to connect with friends, family and others.

“We’re aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products. We’re working to get things back to normal as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience,” the company tweeted Monday.

The outage appears to have started around 11:45 a.m. Eastern time.

Recently, The Wall Street Journal reported that internal Facebook documents showed the company knows about the negative effects of its products yet does little to counter potentially harmful consequences. CBS’s “60 Minutes” program Sunday broadcast an interview with a whistleblower, Frances Haugen, who aired her grievances about the social media giant.

Haugen is expected to testify before a Senate subcommittee on Tuesday.

Facebook says her allegations are misleading.

 

Some information in this report comes from The Associated Press.

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Владна партія перемогла на виборах у Грузії, прихильники Саакашвілі скандували під СІЗО

Всього виборці проголосували за мерів у 64 муніципалітетах, а також за майже 2100 членів рад місцевого самоврядування

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Глобальний збій стався у соцмережах Facebook, Instagram та месенджері Whatsapp

Усі три мережі є популярними серед користувачів по всьому світу і є важливими комунікаційними ланками для мільйонів людей

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Кулеба розповів про головні питання, які порушить на безпековому форумі у Варшаві

Міністр закордонних справ України Дмитро Кулеба 5 жовтня зустрінеться у Варшаві з польським колегою, секретарем Ради нацбезпеки та візьме, зокрема, участь у безпековому форумі. Сьогодні у Любліні Кулеба розповів Радіо Свобода, які питання планує порушити у Варшаві.

«У Варшаві головні питання – це безпека в регіоні, що покриває простір від Балтійського до Чорного морів. Обговорюватимемо питання європейської, євроатлантичної інтеграції. Що ми можемо зробити разом для того, щоб Центральна Європа була сильнішою», – сказав міністр.

Сьогодні у Любліні Дмитро Кулеба взяв участь у відкритті пам’ятника греко-католицькому священнику, блаженному Омелянові Ковчу.

«У Любліні говорили з мером міста про українців, які тут працюють чи навчаються. Я виступаю за те, щоб українці мали всі права, які їм належать, щоб до них ставились з повагою. Якщо відбувається якийсь дискримінаційний акт, щоб проводилось негайно розслідування і такі речі каралися. Ми налаштовані максимально жостко захищати інтереси українців, які перебувають за кордоном», – додав Кулеба.

Раніше в МЗС повідомили, що очільник відомства Дмитро Кулеба в перебігу Варшавського безпекового форуму виступить на дискусійній панелі та проведе кілька двосторонніх зустрічей.

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ЄС продовжує обговорювати можливі варіанти підтримки України – Служба зовнішніх зв’язків

У Брюсселі прокоментували можливість розширення присутності ЄС в Україні

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Poland: Police Confiscate Journalist’s Computer Equipment

Police confiscated the computer equipment of a journalist working for a leading newspaper in Poland which has carried out investigations of the country’s right-wing government.

The seizure of the equipment of Piotr Bakselerowicz, a reporter for the liberal Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper, took place on Saturday in Zielona Gora, a city in western Poland 450 kilometers (280 miles) from Warsaw. The raid and seizure of the equipment was done on orders from police in Warsaw.

Roman Imielski, the paper’s deputy editor, said the police incursion took place without a warrant and “strikes against the fundamental right to journalistic secrecy in a democracy.” 

He said in an article published on the paper’s website Saturday that the editors have “no doubts” that the police raid is “to intimidate the journalists” of the newspaper, citing other moves by the ruling authorities against independent media.

Warsaw police said the reporter wasn’t specifically targeted. It said that offensive messages containing threats had been sent to Polish lawmakers, who reported the threats to the police. 

The messages were then traced to an IP address that led to that of a “little-known local journalist.”

Bakselerowicz denied having sent any threatening emails.

“I have never threatened anyone. To me, it is a provocation or an attempt at revenge for writing inconvenient articles,” Bakselerowicz said.

Meanwhile, the editors of the newspaper vowed to use all legal means to protect its journalists “from harassment by the authoritarian authorities.”

“We declare that we will not bow to repression and will not allow ourselves to be intimidated. Criticizing all power and exposing its abuses is our civic and democratic duty. Even when the abuse of power affects our journalists and ourselves,” they said.

The ruling party has also sought recently to pass a law that would strip the U.S. company Discovery Inc. of its ownership of TVN, a Polish television network.

TVN believes that the main aim is its evening news program Fakty, which offers critical coverage of the authorities and is watched by millions daily.

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Belarus Strengthens Ties with Russia in Bid to Ease Isolation

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko is seeking to strengthen his alliance with Russia’s Vladimir Putin to ease his government’s international isolation following a brutal crackdown on political opponents in the wake of last year’s rigged elections. One sign of this alliance: joint military maneuvers on Belarus territory.Elizabeth Cherneff narrates this report by Ricardo Marquina in Minsk.
Camera: Ricardo Marquina 

Producer: Jonathan Spier 

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Фуміо Кісіду обрали новим прем’єр-міністром Японії

Фуміо Кісіда обіцяв витратити мільярди доларів на відновлення економіки Японії, а також протистояти загрозам з боку Північної Кореї.

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Нобелівська премія з медицини дісталася американським вченим

Премію присудили Девіду Джуліусу та Ардему Патапутіану «за відкриття рецепторів температури та дотику»

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Pandora Papers: Венедіктова відреагувала на оприлюднений «Слідством.Інфо» фільм про можливу причетність Зеленського до офшорів

Генеральна прокурорка Ірина Венедіктова наголосила, що не може коментувати оприлюднену «Слідством.Інфо» інформацію.

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Голови комітетів Верховної Ради «висловили недовіру» роботі Разумкова – речниця «Слуги народу»

«Голови парламентських комітетів покинули засідання погоджувальної ради»

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Facebook Whistleblower Says Firm Chooses ‘Profit Over Safety’

The whistleblower who shared a trove of Facebook documents alleging the social media giant knew its products were fueling hate and harming children’s mental health revealed her identity Sunday in a televised interview, and accused the company of choosing “profit over safety.” 

Frances Haugen, a 37-year-old data scientist from Iowa, has worked for companies including Google and Pinterest, but said in an interview with CBS news show “60 Minutes” that Facebook was “substantially worse” than anything she had seen before.  

She called for the company to be regulated. 

“Facebook over and over again has shown it chooses profit over safety. It is subsidizing, it is paying for its profits with our safety,” Haugen said. 

“The version of Facebook that exists today is tearing our societies apart and causing ethnic violence around the world,” she added. 

The world’s largest social media platform has been embroiled in a firestorm brought about by Haugen, who as an unnamed whistleblower shared the documents with U.S. lawmakers and The Wall Street Journal that detail how Facebook knew its products, including Instagram, were harming young girls. 

In the “60 Minutes” interview she explained how the algorithm, which picks what to show in a user’s news feed, is optimized for content that gets a reaction. 

The company’s own research shows that it is “easier to inspire people to anger than it is to other emotions,” Haugen said. 

“Facebook has realized that if they change the algorithm to be safer, people will spend less time on the site, they’ll click on less ads, they’ll make less money,” she said. 

During the 2020 U.S. presidential election, she said, the company realized the danger that such content presented and turned on safety systems to reduce it.  

But “as soon as the election was over, they turn them back off, or they change the settings back to what they were before, to prioritize growth over safety, and that really feels like a betrayal of democracy to me,” she said.  

“No one at Facebook is malevolent,” she said, adding that the incentives are “misaligned.” 

“Facebook makes more money when you consume more content. … And the more anger that they get exposed to, the more they interact, the more they consume,” she said. 

Haugen did not draw a straight line between that decision to roll back safety systems and U.S. Capitol riot on January 6, though “60 Minutes” noted that the social network was used by some of the organizers of that violence.  

‘Ludicrous’ 

Earlier Sunday, Facebook dismissed as ludicrous suggestions it contributed to the January 6 riot.  

Facebook’s vice president of policy and global affairs Nick Clegg also vehemently pushed back at the assertion its platforms are toxic for teens, days after a tense congressional hearing in which U.S. lawmakers grilled the company over its impact on the mental health of young users. 

The New York Times reported Saturday that Clegg sought to preempt Haugen’s interview by penning a 1,500-word memo to staff alerting them of the “misleading” accusations. 

Clegg pressed the case in an appearance on CNN. 

“I think the assertion (that) January 6th can be explained because of social media, I just think that’s ludicrous,” Clegg told the broadcaster, saying it was “false comfort” to believe technology was driving America’s deepening political polarization. 

The responsibility for the insurrection “lies squarely with the people who inflicted the violence and those who encouraged them, including then-president Trump” and others who asserted the election was stolen, he added. 

Polarization 

While everyone “has a rogue uncle” or old classmate whose extreme views may be visible on Facebook, Clegg reportedly wrote in his memo, “changes to algorithmic ranking systems on one social media platform cannot explain wider societal polarization.” 

Facebook has encountered criticism that it fuels societal problems, attacks Clegg said should not rest at Facebook’s feet. But he acknowledged that some people may not benefit from social media use. 

“I don’t think it’s intuitively surprising if you’re not feeling great about yourself already, that then going on to social media can actually make you feel a bit worse,” he told CNN. 

He also disputed reporting in a Wall Street Journal series that Facebook’s own research warned of the harm that photo-sharing app Instagram can do to teen girls’ well-being. 

“It’s simply not borne out by our research or anybody else’s that Instagram is bad or toxic for all teens,” Clegg said, but added Facebook’s research will continue. 

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Russia’s Daily COVID-19 Death Toll Hits New High

Russia reported its highest one-day coronavirus death toll since the pandemic began. According to Russia’s national coronavirus task force, there were 890 deaths on Sunday. It was the fifth day in a row that it reported a new daily record for coronavirus deaths. 

The task force also said the number of new coronavirus infections reported Sunday was the second highest of the year at nearly 25,800 infections. 

Since the pandemic began, Russia has reported nearly 205,000 deaths from COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, the most in Europe, according to the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. The country has a population of about 146 million and has recorded nearly 7.5 million coronavirus infections, according to Johns Hopkins. The United Kingdom, with a population of about 67 million, leads Europe with 7.9 million cases since the pandemic began. 

Russian officials say they have no plans to impose a lockdown, strictly enforce mask-wearing regulations or require proof of vaccination. About 30% of Russia’s population is fully vaccinated, according to Johns Hopkins, despite the country having developed its own vaccine, Sputnik V. 

Saliva test 

A British company says it has developed an easy-to-administer, saliva-based test that can detect whether a person is infectious enough to pass along the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.  

The company, Vatic, said in a statement that its test is “extremely accurate” and has not returned a single false positive result in its test group. “This is so important for getting life back to normal,” the company said.  

Vatic said its “mission was to design a test that people won’t mind using multiple times a week.” 

Tests results are available in 15 minutes, the company said.  

The test is not available to the public yet while it undergoes more trials. Vatic is seeking approval for its sale directly to the public.

Life expectancy 

A report in The Economist says COVID in 2020 has brought an abrupt halt to the steady rise of life expectancy in much of the world.  

Researchers in Britain, Denmark and Germany said that between 2019 and 2020 life expectancy dropped in all but two of the 28 countries surveyed. Life expectancy 

rose in Denmark and Norway and for women in Finland. Meanwhile, male life expectancy fell by more than a year in Italy, Poland and Spain and fell by more than two years in the United States. 

Another report in The Economist says that the death rate from COVID in the U.S. “is about eight times higher in America than in the rest of the rich world” due to vaccine hesitancy and other factors. The report said, “America’s antipathy to vaccines and continued resistance to other interventions, particularly among Republicans, is worrying. YouGov’s poll indicates that, among those who voted for [former U.S. President] Donald Trump in 2020, 31% say they will not get vaccinated, 71% strongly disapprove of President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate and nearly 40% never wear a face mask. That remains a deadly combination.” 

“The pandemic has destabilized societies, economies, and governments. It has shown that there is no global security without global health security,” World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said about COVID-19 in a recent address to ambassadors and representatives to the European Union’s political and security committee.  

“The fastest and best way to end this pandemic is with genuine global cooperation on vaccine supply and access,” Tedros said. “The longer vaccine inequity persists, the longer the social and economic turmoil will continue, and the more opportunity the virus has to circulate and change into more dangerous variants. We need a global realization that no country can vaccinate its way out of this pandemic in isolation from the rest of the world.” 

The Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center reported Sunday it had recorded 234.6 million global COVID infections and nearly 5 million deaths.  

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press and Reuters. 

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Румунський мільярдер загинув у авіакатастрофі під Міланом

68-річний Ден Петреску був одним з найбагатших людей Румунії

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Наступним прем’єр-міністром Японії стане Фуміо Кісіда

Йошіхіде Суга сьогодні подав у відставку з посади очільника уряду, пропрацювавши лише рік. Рейтинг його уряду впав, зокрема, через неефективну, на думку суспільства, протидію пандемії

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Georgia Ruling Party Wins Local Election After Arrest of Former President

Georgia’s ruling party won a commanding lead in a municipal election held a day after the arrest of former President Mikheil Saakashvili, who had returned from exile to support the opposition.

The ruling Georgian Dream party won 46.7% of the votes to 30.7% for the United National Movement (UNM), founded by Saakashvili, according to results released on Sunday by the Election Administration of Georgia with 99.97% of votes counted.

In the capital Tbilisi, incumbent Mayor Kakha Kaladze won 45% of the vote, while the chairman of the opposition UNM, Nika Melia, received 34%. As no candidate won more than 50%, the city will hold a second round of voting on October 30.

 

 

Melia was jailed for three months earlier this year on charges of fomenting violence, which he rejected as politically motivated. His release in May was part of an EU-brokered agreement aimed at resolving Georgia’s political crisis.

Saturday’s election was overshadowed by the return and arrest of Saakashvili, president from 2004-2007 and 2008-2013, who had been living in exile and was convicted in absentia in 2018 of abuse of office.

Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili said on Sunday that Saakashvili would serve his full term of six years in prison. 

 

The country of about 3.9 million has faced a political standoff since a disputed election last year, which prompted the main opposition party to boycott the parliament.

A mission of observers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) said in a statement that Saturday’s local election had been “marred by wide-spread and consistent allegations of intimidation, vote-buying, pressure on candidates and voters, and an unlevel playing field,” although candidates were able to campaign freely.

The outcome is likely to buoy the ruling party, which had agreed at one point to hold a new parliamentary election if its vote share in the local poll was below 43%. Political analysts had said a failure to exceed that threshold could have inspired opposition demonstrations.

“It is very important that today one more step towards democracy and stabilization was made,” President Salome Zourabichvili was quoted as saying by Russia’s TASS news agency, describing the election as calm, safe and fair.

Saakashvili’s return created fresh drama. The authorities said they had warned him he would be arrested if he returned. In a statement released after his arrest, he blamed his detention on court decisions manufactured by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Georgia’s domestic politics have been dominated for decades by accusations of Russian meddling, and Saakashvili was president in 2008 when Russia launched a military intervention. The Kremlin said on Friday questions about Saakashvili’s arrest were outside its competence.

Saakashvili holds a passport issued by Ukraine, where he served as a regional governor from 2015-2016. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday he would engage personally in trying to return Saakashvili to Ukraine.

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Threatened Swedish Artist Dies in Road Accident

The Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who had lived under police protection since his 2007 sketch of the Prophet Muhammad with a dog’s body brought death threats, died from a traffic accident Sunday, Swedish news media reported.

The accident reportedly involved a truck colliding with a civilian police car in which Lars Vilks and his police protection were traveling, news media said.

The Swedish news agency TT said police had confirmed that Vilks, 75, was traveling in the car with two police officers. The newspaper Dagens Nyheter said the artist’s partner confirmed his death.

The cause of the accident was under investigation.

Vilks was largely unknown outside Sweden before his Muhammad drawing. At home, he was best known for building a sculpture made of driftwood in a nature reserve in southern Sweden without permission, triggering a lengthy legal battle. He was fined, but the seaside sculpture — a jumble of wood nailed together in chaotic fashion — draws tens of thousands of visitors a year.

Vilks’ life changed radically 13 years ago after he drew the sketch of Muhammad. Dogs are considered unclean by conservative Muslims, and Islamic law generally opposes any depiction of the prophet, even favorable, for fear it could lead to idolatry.

Al-Qaida put a bounty on Vilks’ head. In 2010, two men tried to burn down his house in southern Sweden. Last year, a woman from Pennsylvania pleaded guilty in a plot to try to kill him.

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США розкритикували «провокаційну» діяльність Китаю біля Тайваню

Китай поки не коментував свою діяльність

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Космос: зонд BepiColombo вперше пролетів поблизу Меркурія

Небагато космічних апаратів відвідували Меркурій через близькість до Сонця

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Зеленський і соратники могли бути причетні до переказів 40 млн дол від структур, пов’язаних із Коломойським – «Слідство.Інфо»

Журналісти запевняють, що намагалося отримати коментарі від усіх фігурантів розслідування, але майже ніхто не відповів

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Small Plane Crashes into Empty Building outside Milan, All 8 Onboard Die

A small private plane crashed into an empty building on the outskirts of Milan, northern Italy, on Sunday, killing all eight people onboard, police said.

The plane, which took off from Milan’s Linate city airport, was headed for the island of Sardinia, officials said.

The crash occurred just outside a suburban metro station.

People in the area could hear a blast when the plane collided with the two-story building, which was empty at the time as it was being renovated.

Flames and smoke shot in the air and several vehicles parked along the street caught fire, witnesses said, but no other casualties were reported.

 

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Greece, France Seal Strategic Defense Deal, Angering Turkey 

Greece has agreed to buy three state-of-the-art warships from France, boosting its military capabilities after a decade-long economic recession that cut its defense spending alone by nearly one-half. The deal boosts Greece’s military capabilities but critics fear it may stoke further tensions between Greece and age-old foe Turkey, both of them NATO members.

The $5 billion deal will provide Athens with three Belharra frigates and three Gowind corvettes, with an option for one more of each. 

 

Officials say the first vessels will be delivered as early as 2024 with the remainder shipped to Greece two years later. 

 

Vice Admiral Stelios Fenekos explains the importance of the French frigates. 

He says these are state-of-the-art ships that provide support for a whole host of activities, from minding submarines and drones to firing missiles. 

 

The frigates have the capability to oversee 800 key locations and act and react swiftly.

With their addition to the Greek Navy, the entire stretch of the country’s water frontiers, from the northern tip of the Aegean to as far south as Cyprus — will be shielded closely, Fenekos says. 

 

The deal complements another lucrative agreement Greece announced last year to buy at least 18 fourth generation Rafale fighter jets for $2.5 billion. These defense contracts have helped seal a strategic defense strategy between Greece and France. 

The Turkish government, for its part, says the deal violates international law.

For Ankara, which has been at odds with Athens for years over the Aegean waterway that divides the two countries, and the eastern Mediterranean, the latest arms purchase is a game-changer at its expense.

 

“These deals advance Greece’s military capabilities significantly, putting them 10-15 years ahead of Turkey,” explains George Fillis, a professor of geopolitics in Athens. “And with Turkey facing arms embargoes from countries like the United States, the prospect of boosting its own capabilities is limited,” he said. “Turkey  is clearly in a bind.” 

Greece and Turkey have been at odds over air and sea rights in the Aegean for ages. Last year, the two countries came to the brink of war over competing claims to drilling rights in the eastern Mediterranean. 

 

France sided with Greece’s rights, sending warships to the region to challenge Turkey in a move that enraged President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. 

 

Under the new deal, France will come to Greece’s military aid if requested and under threat. Likewise, Greece will aid France in military operations in sub-Saharan territories France has vested interests in. 

 

With tensions brewing anew between Greece and Turkey, Fillis says he fears the latest deal may only aggravate tense relations. 

 

“There is no doubt that this deal is a major game-changer in the region and Turkey may move to test the limits and reflexes of this new strategic alliance,” he says. “There has to be vigilance.” 

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