УКРОПИ

Posted on March 5, 2020

ICC to Rule on Afghanistan Investigation Appeal

Judges are expected to rule on an appeal by International Criminal Court prosecutors of the rejection of an investigation into atrocities committed by all sides in the Afghanistan conflict, including U.S. forces.Thursday’s hearing could clear the way for Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to open a full investigation into alleged crimes by the Taliban, Afghan government forces and U.S. forces at secret detention centers.At a hearing in December, prosecutors argued that pretrial judges at the global court overstepped their powers in April last year when they refused to authorize an investigation.FILE – Public prosecutor Fatou Bensouda attends a trial at the International Criminal Court in the Hague, the Netherlands, July 8, 2019.In a decision that drew fierce criticism from human rights activists, the pretrial chamber said an investigation would not be in the interests of justice because it was unlikely to lead to successful prosecutions.After a preliminary probe in Afghanistan that lasted more than a decade, Bensouda asked judges in November 2017 to authorize a far-reaching investigation.She said there is information that members of the U.S. military and intelligence agencies “committed acts of torture, cruel treatment, outrages upon personal dignity, rape and sexual violence against conflict-related detainees in Afghanistan and other locations, principally in the 2003-2004 period.”She also said the Taliban and other insurgent groups have killed more than 17,000 Afghan civilians since 2009, including about 7,000 targeted killings, and that Afghan security forces are suspected of torturing prisoners at government detention centers.Thursday’s hearing comes days after an ambitious peace deal was signed by the U.S. and the Taliban.Even if an investigation is authorized, the prospects of meaningful cooperation by any of the sides in Afghanistan are dim.FILE – Personal attorney to President Donald Trump, Jay Sekulow, speaks to reporters during the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, Jan. 23, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington.At the December hearing, the government of Afghanistan said it objected to the investigation and has set up a special unit to investigate war crimes. The ICC is a court of last resort that only takes on cases if domestic jurisdictions are unable or unwilling to prosecute.The United States does not recognize the court and refuses to cooperate with it.There was no official U.S. delegation at December’s appeal hearing but President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Jay Sekulow, appeared on behalf of the European branch of the American Center for Law and Justice and told judges that U.S. position would not change.He told appeals judges that “it is not in the interests of justice to waste the court’s resources while ignoring the reality of principled noncooperation.”
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Posted on March 5, 2020

Flybe 2nd British Airline to Fail, Stranding Travelers

British regional airline Flybe collapsed Thursday after a plunge in travel demand, making the long-struggling carrier one of the first big corporate casualties of the coronavirus outbreak.The failure of an airline that connects all corners of the United Kingdom with major European destinations not only puts around 2,400 jobs at risk but could also see some airports struggle and regional economies hit.“All flights have been grounded and the UK business has ceased trading with immediate effect,” Flybe said after the government walked away from a rescue package agreed to in January.Virus hits airlines’ bottom linesAirlines around the world have been canceling flights and warning of a hit to profitability after coronavirus first emerged in China, hitting flights across Asia, before it spread to Europe and beyond.British Airways, easyJet, Virgin Atlantic, Lufthansa, Norwegian Air and United Airlines are among those warning about the impact of a virus that looks set to hit the industry harder than the 2003 SARS outbreak.Flybe’s collapse will also cause more problems for Prime Minister Boris Johnson who had promised to “level up” Britain by investing in regional transport links.His government had agreed a rescue deal for the 41-year-old airline in January, saying it was important to maintain connections across the country for its 8 million passengers.It said on Thursday there was nothing more it could do.“We are also urgently working with industry to identify how key routes can be re-established by other airlines as soon as possible,” Transport Minister Grant Shapps said.Rescue deal unravelsFlybe, the largest independent regional airline in Europe, operated between 81 airports and was owned by Virgin Atlantic, Stobart Group and Cyrus Capital.The owners said they had plowed more than 135 million pounds ($174 million) into the business in the last 14 months, including around 25 million pounds pledged in January.January’s rescue deal had seen the government agree to match the owners’ support for Flybe with a potential loan, a deferral of taxes and a review of local flight tax rules.That briefly formed part of Johnson’s plan to try to boost the regions of Britain beyond London. Without Flybe though, some regional airports like Exeter, Birmingham and Southampton will have much poorer connections.However, rival airlines complained that the state should not prop up failing companies and environmental campaigners argued any move to reduce the cost of flying did not fit with the government’s aim to cut greenhouse gas emissions.Regional airportsFlybe’s 68 aircraft flew to airports including Belfast City in Northern Ireland, Jersey in the Channel Islands, Birmingham in central England and Scotland’s Inverness and provided more than half of UK domestic flights outside London.The pilot’s union said airline staff had been betrayed by the owners and the government.In a sign of the ripple effect the virus can have, Britain’s biggest commercial free-to-air broadcaster ITV warned Thursday its advertising revenue had been hit by travel companies pulling spending.Stobart and Virgin Atlantic said they were deeply disappointed with the outcome.“Sadly, despite the efforts of all involved to turn the airline around, not least the people of Flybe, the impact of COVID-19 on Flybe’s trading means that the consortium can no longer commit to continued financial support,” they said.It is the second major British airline to go bust in six months after the world’s oldest travel firm Thomas Cook collapsed in September, stranding hundreds of thousands of passengers and sparking the largest peacetime repatriation effort in British history.The country’s broader airline strategy was also thrown into disarray last week when a court ruled a plan to expand Europe’s biggest airport Heathrow was unlawful.
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Posted on March 5, 2020

Erdogan, Putin to Seek to Avoid Clash Over Syria’s Idlib

Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan heads to Moscow on Thursday for a high-stakes meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin aimed at de-escalating tensions between the armies of Turkey, a NATO member, and Russia, a nuclear superpower, in Syria’s war-torn Idlib province. While nominally partners in a fight against terrorism in the region, Moscow and Ankara have been cast on a seemingly unavoidable collision course in Idlib — the territory in northwest Syria where Russia is helping its ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, wipe out one of the last bastions of opposition to his rule. Turkey, along with Western governments, accuses the Syrian government of carrying out a bombing campaign with Russian support that has provoked a humanitarian crisis, with nearly a million civilians fleeing the fighting for the Syria-Turkey border. The siege has also met with forceful pushback from Ankara because it opposes Assad’s rule. In response, Turkey has launched a military campaign intended to protect what it says are largely anti-Assad rebels, not terrorists, in the Idlib stronghold. During his briefing with reporters Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia hoped for a compromise with Erdogan, despite those differences. “We expect to reach a common understanding on the crisis, the cause of the crisis, the harmful effects of the crisis, and arrive at a set of necessary joint measures,” Peskov said. FILE – Syrian army soldiers fire a weapon as they advance on the town of Kfar Nabl, Syria, March 2, 2020.In turn, Erdogan has indicated he expects to negotiate a cease-fire with Putin over Idlib, despite vowing that a recent spate of Turkish attacks against Syrian government targets were “only the beginning” of revenge for the deaths of several dozen Turkish soldiers in Syrian bombing raids last week. Injecting more uncertainty ahead of the talks was Assad. In an interview with the Kremlin-backed Rossiya-24 channel, the Syrian leader said his forces would finish the operation in Idlib before moving on to mop up remaining pockets of resistance. “I’ve said many times that Idlib, from a military point of view, is a steppingstone, and they put all their forces to stop its liberation so we can’t proceed to the east,” Assad said, accusing Turkey and its NATO alliance partner, the United States, of trying to thwart his inevitable military progress. The art of diplomacy On the eve of the Putin-Erdogan summit, events surrounding the Idlib battlefield continued to churn unpredictably, a sign that all sides were trying to increase bargaining positions ahead of the talks. On Wednesday, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Turkey had violated earlier negotiated agreements with Moscow, accusing Ankara of providing direct military aid to terrorist groups in Idlib who routinely fire on Russia’s main base in the region. Russia also seized the strategic town of Saraqeb from Turkish-backed rebels, a move that according to Russian media reports put Russian soldiers in the immediate line of fire from Turkish forces. No injuries were reported. Multiple reports also suggested Russia had beefed up its naval presence by dispatching a fourth warship to the region. Meanwhile, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov insisted that Western reports of mass refugee flows and a humanitarian crisis along the Turkey-Syria border were overblown and reflected “fake concern” over the issue. Turkey, Konashenkov argued, had instead been intentionally pushing refugees from other countries toward Europe to try to gain concessions and backing from the European Union in Ankara’s standoff with Moscow. FILE – Turkish soldiers hold their positions with their tanks on a hilltop on the outskirts of Suruc, at the Turkey-Syria border, overlooking Kobani, Syria, during fighting between Syrian Kurds and Islamic State militants, Oct. 12, 2014.’Tsar vs. sultan’ Russia entered the Syrian civil war in 2015, aiding Assad in what the Kremlin insisted was an anti-terrorist campaign against Islamic State, and what Western powers have billed as a ruthless effort to root out opposition to Assad’s rule. For a time, Moscow and Ankara papered over those differences, choosing to focus on a common enemy in Islamic State, which had carried out terrorist attacks in both countries, killing scores of people. Later deals involving trade, energy and oil also helped their alliance. Yet the standoff over Assad has always been at the core of the relationship between Putin and Erdogan, which Russian media have billed as ‘”the tsar vs. the sultan.” Analysts in Moscow see a dangerous game in which Russia’s ambitions to become a Middle East power broker through Syria have bumped into Turkey’s ascension as a key regional player. “For Turkey, it’s about its own internal stability, and of course, huge ambitions,” Alexey Malashenko, chief researcher at the Dialogue of Civilizations Research Institute, told VOA in an interview. “But the presence of Russia in the south of Syria proves once again that Russia is still a power. If there’s no Assad, Russia’s not in Syria, and we’re not in the Middle East.” The facts of war Despite its role as a Middle East powerbroker, Russia’s presence has struggled to stem recent fighting between Damascus and Ankara. FILE – Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan speaks during the funeralof Turkish soldier Emre Baysal, killed in Syria’s Idlib region, in Istanbul, Turkey, Feb. 29, 2020.Turkey said Syrian government airstrikes killed 54 Turkish soldiers in February alone, including 33 airstrikes in Idlib last week. Turkish forces responded by shooting down three Syrian government warplanes and striking a military airport deep inside Syrian territory, which killed what Turkey said were over 100 Assad regime loyalists. “We said that we would avenge the death of our martyrs,” Erdogan said this week. “By destroying the regime’s warplanes and tanks, we are making it pay a very heavy price.” As casualties mounted on both sides, analysts in Moscow openly questioned whether Russia could assert pressure to stop the fighting, even if it wanted to. “Of course, Russia has a certain degree of influence on Damascus. But you could also look it at from another angle — that it’s Russia who is trapped,” Alexey Khlebnikov, a Middle East and North Africa expert at the Russian International Affairs Council, said in an interview. “It cannot say to Damascus, ‘If you don’t do this, we’ll withdraw our forces and leave.’ It won’t happen.” The implication? Despite any agreements between Putin and Erdogan in Thursday’s meeting, Assad may not follow the script.

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Posted on March 5, 2020

Latvia Joins US in Call for ‘Trustworthy’ 5G Hardware

The United States appears to have found a new partner in its drive to discourage European allies from building their 5G telecommunication networks with Chinese equipment.In a joint declaration last week, the U.S. and the Baltic nation of Latvia agreed to encourage the use of “reliable and trustworthy network hardware” as the world builds out the next generation of telecom networks and to promote frameworks that protect against “unauthorized access and interference.”
The declaration did not name any country or company, but it comes in the context of a U.S. campaign to steer countries away from Chinese-based Huawei, the world’s largest supplier of 5G equipment, which Washington fears is vulnerable to Chinese spying.FILE – Signage is seen at the Huawei offices in Reading, Britain, May 2, 2019.The American effort has suffered setbacks in recent weeks, with Britain rejecting U.S. entreaties to ban Huawei from its 5G networks and Germany torn on the issue. That makes the agreement with Latvia — following similar agreements last year with Poland and Estonia — all the more important.Latvia has working 5G networkWhile small in population, with fewer than 2 million people, Latvia last summer became one of the world’s first countries to roll out a working 5G network and, according to its foreign minister, Edgars Rinkevics, it is “one of the largest exporters of 5G technologies and IT solutions.”The joint declaration calls for “a rigorous evaluation” of potential 5G suppliers, taking into account “the rule of law; the security environment; ethical supplier practices; and a supplier’s compliance with security standards and best practices.”That would appear to rule out Huawei, at least in U.S. eyes. At a recent security conference in Germany, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo argued that “Huawei and other state-backed tech companies are Trojan horses for Chinese intelligence.”Speaking to VOA a day after he and Pompeo signed the joint declaration, Rinkevics said he and the secretary had discussed alternative 5G providers besides Huawei. “We would love to have for the United States, leading European nations and their companies work out good, viable alternatives. Call it Ericsson, call it Nokia, call it Samsung, call it Motorola,” the name doesn’t matter as long as the substance is there, he said. “We can’t simply say ‘this is bad, that is not good,’ without presenting a sound, solid alternative.”’Growing understanding’Latvia, he added, is ready “to be part of wider efforts with our technological contribution, with our companies working on both software and hardware components of these initiatives.”While European approaches to the use of Huawei ‘s 5G equipment vary widely, Rinkēvičs said there is a “growing understanding” within the European Union that “we should address this jointly, not separately.”“We are currently developing joint European policies. It’s not an easy task — you have 27 nations, you have European institutions, everyone has his/her interests — but I think we have done relatively well, all things considered,” he said.Sounding an optimistic note, he added “we are making progress; if you compare, let’s say even year 2018, 2019, we are moving ahead.”

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Posted on March 5, 2020

Titanic’s Wireless Telegraph Could Be Brought to Surface

Its doomed maiden voyage happened more than a century ago, but the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 remains the stuff of popular culture and the object of deep-sea salvage. A firm has recovered more than 5,000 of its artifacts, but as VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports, time may be running out to raise the ship’s Holy Grail.
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Posted on March 5, 2020

Рада збереться на позачергове засідання щодо відставки генпрокурора Рябошапки 5 березня

Верховна Рада України 5 березня о 18:00 розпочне позачергове засідання, повідомив голова парламенту Дмитро Разумков. У порядку денному буде єдине питання – про відставку генерального прокурора України Руслана Рябошапки.

За даними джерел Радіо Свобода серед членів владної фракції «Слуга народу», наступним генпрокурором може стати депутат із цієї ж фракції Сергій Іонушас.

На позачерговому засіданні 4 березня парламент відправив у відставку Олексія Гончарука і весь склад уряду під його керівництвом.

Згодом депутати затвердили новий склад уряду на чолі з Денисом Шмигалем. У складі його уряду працюватимуть і міністри з попереднього складу Кабінету міністрів, зокрема, міністр внутрішніх справ Арсен Аваков.

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Posted on March 5, 2020

Директор НАБУ вважає, що його відставки бажає «один олігарх»

Директор Національного антикорупційного бюро Артем Ситник вважає, що його відставки бажає «один олігарх», який організував проти нього кампанію з дискредитації. Про це Ситник заявив, звітуючи у Верховній Раді під час позачергового пленарного засідання 4 березня.

«Біля парламенту стоять фури, стоять люди, які оплачуються олігархом, який зараз перебуває за кордоном, який викрав 1,2 мільярда гривень. І замість того, щоб ці гроші повертати у бюджет, організовуються заходи біля НАБУ, біля парламенту, біля уряду», – сказав Ситник.

«Інший приклад – кримінальна справа щодо «Приватбанку». Нещодавно генпрокурор акумулював усі справи в НАБУ. Зараз ці справи знаходяться на фінальній стадії. І лише відсутність експертиз відкладає на недалеке майбутнє прийняття цих рішень. Відповідно, всі ви знаєте, який олігарх здійснює медійну підтримку цих усіх заходів, який олігарх організовує збір підписів по парламенту», – зауважив директор НАБУ, не назвавши конкретного прізвища.

Ситник також вказав на справу «Укрнафти», де йдеться про збитки державі на суму 10 мільярдів гривень. За словами директора НАБУ, в цій справі триває «процедура узгодження підозр у цій справі, в тому числі і високопосадовцям».
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Posted on March 4, 2020

Germany’s Left-Wing Governor Returns After Month of Turmoil

A left-wing governor returned to office in the eastern German state of Thuringia on Wednesday, a month after state lawmakers voted him out of the job with far-right support and shook up Germany’s politics at the national level.

Bodo Ramelow of the Left Party won 42 votes in the 90-seat state legislature, enough to be elected by a simple majority. No candidate stood against him in the decisive vote, although 20 lawmakers abstained and 23 voted against him.

In early February, the Thuringia legislature unexpectedly elected center-right lawmaker Thomas Kemmerich as governor. Kemmerich received enough votes only because the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD, abandoned the little-known candidate it had fielded to throw its support behind him.

Kemmerich also won the votes of lawmakers from his party and from Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Democratic Union. His election was the first time AfD’s support decided such a vote.

Regional CDU lawmakers ignored the wishes of their national leadership to back Kemmerich, a member of the small pro-business Free Democrats, at the risk of making common cause with AfD.

The fallout was dramatic. National CDU leader Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, who had struggled to impose her authority on the party after taking over from Merkel in late 2018, announced the following week that she wouldn’t run to be Germany’s next chancellor and also would step down as party leader. Her successor is to be chosen in late April.

The Thuringia governor vote followed a state election in October that stripped Ramelow’s left-wing coalition of its majority. In a first for Germany, there was no majority in the state legislature for any alliance without either AfD or Ramelow’s Left Party.

The CDU’s policy is not to cooperate with either party, in the latter case because it is descended from East Germany’s ruling communists, but that put it in a very difficult position in Thuringia. Ramelow is moderate and popular. AfD’s local leader, Bjoern Hoecke, is his party’s best-known far-right firebrand.

Kemmerich announced his resignation three days after he was elected and never formed a Cabinet, though he remained in office on a caretaker basis.
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Posted on March 4, 2020

No Money for Masterpieces: Louvre Bans Cash Over Virus Fears

The Louvre is no longer taking cash, because of the coronavirus outbreak.   The world’s most-visited museum is shifting to card-only payments as part of new measures that helped persuade employees worried about getting sick to return to work Wednesday. Louvre workers who guard Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” and other masterpieces walked off the job on Sunday, fearful of being contaminated by the museum’s flow of tourists from around the world.

The Louvre’s move could bring it into conflict with the Bank of France, which said refusing cash is illegal and unnecessary.

Fears that banknotes might be vectors of disease aren’t restricted to the Louvre.   Visitors stand in line to enter the Chateau de Versailles, west of Paris, March 3, 2020.At the Versailles Palace, another huge tourist draw on the outskirts of Paris, employees also are worrying about handling banknotes and tickets during the virus epidemic, although the former residence of French royalty still takes cash for now.

Public health historian Patrick Zylberman says the fear of getting diseases from money is age-old. In the Middle Ages, banknotes were cleansed with smoke because it was thought their use contributed to the spread of plague, Zylberman said. Egypt also smoked banknotes during a 1940s cholera epidemic, he said.

Zylberman laughed when told of the Louvre’s new refusal of cash payments from the museum’s tens of thousands of daily visitors.

“It’s a bit risible to go backwards by several centuries and act as our predecessors did in the 17th century,” he said. “That shows how nervous people are during an epidemic.”

But the Bank of France said said vendors aren’t allowed to refuse cash payments because banknotes are legal tender and because banks from the 19-country eurozone regularly test them to see if they present a danger to public health.

“There is no proof that the coronavirus has been spread by euro banknotes,” the bank said in a statement to The Associated Press.
   FILE – The Louvre museum is pictured in Paris, March 2, 2020.The Louvre’s decision to only accept bank cards for payments was among the anti-virus measures laid out in detail in a document sent to staff Tuesday and seen by the AP.

The Louvre confirmed Wednesday that the museum will no longer accept cash, although it also noted that half of its tickets sales already take place online.

“Cash is finished,” said Andre Sacristin, a union representative at the Louvre. “It is a temporary measure during the epidemic.”

“Money is very dirty and a vector of bacteria,” Sacristin added. “It’s hand-to-hand and there are direct physical contacts.”

Louvre employees will also be distanced from the snaking line of visitors in the room where the “Mona Lisa” is displayed. Instead of rubbing shoulders with visitors in the room itself, workers will be posted at entrances and on the edges of the habitually large crowds waiting to see the iconic portrait.

There have also been discussions between Eiffel Tower workers and managers over the use of banknotes, but no decision has been made.

At the Versailles Palace, union representative Damien Bodereau said staff members also are worried about handling cash and “worried about checking tickets.”

But refusing cash might not be practical, because “some people don’t have bank cards,” he said. “It could be complicated.”
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Posted on March 4, 2020

Рада призначила міністром оборони Андрія Тарана

Верховна Рада України призначила міністром оборони України Андрія Тарана.

Запропоновану президентом кандидатуру підтримали 285 народних депутатів.

Новина доповнюється.
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Posted on March 4, 2020

Рада схвалила новий склад уряду

Верховна Рада України схвалила новий склад Кабінету міністрів.

Відповідну постанову підтримали 277 народних депутатів.

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Вакантними лишаються посади міністрів агропромислового комплексу, культури, економіки, енергетики, освіти і науки.

Міністра оборони та міністра закордонних справ, згідно Конституції, Рада призначає за поданням президента України.

Раніше депутати відправили у відставку Олексія Гончарука. Автоматично у відставку пішов і весь уряд Гончарука.

Новим прем’єр-міністром України Рада призначила Дениса Шмигаля.
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Posted on March 4, 2020

Italy Shuts Schools Amid Coronavirus Outbreak

Italian media reported Wednesday Italy was closing all schools and universities until mid-March amid a coronavirus outbreak as governments around the world continue to take measures to keep the virus from spreading.Italy reported a sharp increase in coronavirus deaths on Tuesday, up to 79, the most outside of China. Iran, meanwhile, has again canceled Friday prayers in major cities.With China seeing a slowdown of new cases of the virus, the focus on containing the outbreak has shifted to places such as Italy and Iran, which have not only seen their own cases steadily increase, but have also had their citizens and others who traveled from those areas test positive while in other countries.India, which has linked cases to Italian tourists, said Wednesday the number of cases there jumped from five to 28.South Korea reported more than 500 new coronavirus cases Wednesday, as health officials said more than 2,000 people in the city hardest hit by the outbreak, Daegu, were waiting for open spaces in hospitals.South Korea has seen the most cases outside of China, and is planning to spend about $10 billion on medical resources and measures to counteract the economic impact of the outbreak.Wednesday also brought news of the first death in Iraq, where so far all of its cases are connected to Iran.Medical staff treat a critical patient infected by the COVID-19 with an Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) at the Red Cross hospital in Wuhan in China’s central Hubei province, March 1, 2020.Worldwide, the coronavirus has infected more than 93,000 people and killed more than 3,100, with the vast majority in both categories in China.The expansion of the outbreak has reached several new countries, including Jordan, Morocco, Senegal, Portugal and Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia has banned its citizens from performing the Muslim pilgrimage in Mecca.
World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged people around the world Tuesday to stop hoarding masks and other protective gear, saying health care workers need them.People wearing masks stand in a line to buy face masks in front of a drug store amid the rise in confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus disease of COVID-19 in Daegu, South Korea, March 3, 2020.Experts say surgical masks are not guaranteed protection against the virus, but say they are essential equipment for doctors and nurses.Tedros said he is concerned about the “severe and increasing disruption to the global supply of personal protective equipment caused by rising demand.”
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Posted on March 4, 2020

Virus Hammers Business Travel as Wary Companies Nix Trips

Amazon and other big companies are trying to keep their employees healthy by banning business trips, but they’ve dealt a gut punch to a travel industry already reeling from the virus outbreak.The Seattle-based online retail giant has told its nearly 800,000 workers to postpone any non-essential travel within the United States or around the globe. Swiss food giant Nestle told its 291,000 employees worldwide to limit domestic business travel and halt international travel until March 15. French cosmetics maker L’Oreal, which employs 86,000 people, issued a similar ban until March 31.
Other companies, like Twitter, are telling their employees worldwide to work from home. Google gave that directive to its staff of 8,000 at its European headquarters in Dublin on Tuesday.
Major business gatherings, like the Geneva International Motor Show and the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, have also been canceled.
On Tuesday, Facebook confirmed it will no longer attend the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas, which is scheduled to begin March 13. And the 189-nation International Monetary Fund and its sister lending organization, the World Bank, announced they will replace their regular spring meetings in Washington — scheduled for mid-April — with a “virtual format.”
Michael Dunne, the CEO of ZoZo Go, an automotive consulting company that specializes in the Chinese market, normally travels from California to Asia every six weeks. But right now he’s not planning to cross the Pacific until June.
“With everything at a standstill, I do not feel a sense of missing the action,” Dunne said. “But there is no better catalyst for business than meeting people in person.”
Robin Ottaway, president of Brooklyn Brewery, canceled a trip to Seoul and Tokyo last week. He has indefinitely suspended all travel to Asia and also just canceled a trip to Copenhagen that was scheduled for March.
“I wasn’t worried about getting sick. I’m a healthy 46-year-old man with no preexisting conditions,” Ottaway said. “My only worry was getting stuck in Asia or quarantined after returning to the U.S. And I’d hate to be a spreader of the virus.”
The cancellations and travel restrictions are a major blow to business travel, which makes up around 26% of the total travel spending, or around $1.5 trillion per year, according to the Global Business Travel Association.
The association estimates the virus is costing the business travel industry $47 billion per month. In a recent poll of 400 member companies, the group found that 95% have suspended business trips to China, 45% have cut trips to Japan and South Korea and 23% have canceled trips to Europe.
“It’s a big deal,” said Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst in San Francisco who estimates that airlines get 55% of their revenue from business travelers, since they’re more likely to sit in pricier business or first-class seats.
“On a long-haul flight to Europe or Asia, a business-class traveler can be five times more profitable than someone in coach,” Harteveldt said.
Figures from the Airlines Reporting Corp. indicate that airline ticket sales fell about 9% during one week in late February, compared with a year earlier.
Hotels are also worried about declines in business travel. In the U.S. alone, hotel bookings for business travel were expected to reach $46.8 billion this year, according to Phocuswright, a travel research firm.
In the week through Feb. 22, San Francisco saw an 11% decline in hotel occupancy, according to STR, a hotel data company. AT&T, Verizon and IBM were among the companies that pulled out of the city’s RSA cybersecurity conference, which began Feb. 24.
Backing out of industry events can be a tough call for businesses. Luke Sorter, owner of Pavel’s Yogurt, spent last weekend agonizing over whether his company should attend Natural Products Expo West, a major industry gathering in Anaheim, California.
Sorter spent nearly $20,000 on conference fees and travel expenses, but then rumors began circulating that nearly all the major retailers he was hoping to pitch were pulling out.
“This was going to be our big push to make some sales and open up some new accounts, and we were really disappointed because all of the major buying groups had pulled out of the show,” said Sorter, whose San Leandro, California-based company pulls in about $1.2 million to $1.5 million in revenue per year.
On Tuesday, Expo West announced it would be postponed until a later date.
“I was relieved because it just didn’t seem safe to put 50, 60, 70,000 people in a building together and the whole show is predicated on sharing and sampling food and handshakes, and person-to-person interaction,” Sorter said.
Some experts say it’s smart for companies to curtail travel before things get worse. Worldwide, 92,000 people have been sickened by the virus and 3,100 have died.
“If you knowingly put your employees in harm’s way during travel, you can be held responsible for their injury or their death,” said Kevin Mitchell, chairman of the Business Travel Coalition, which advocates for corporations and governments that hire travel management companies.
In some cases, workers themselves are demanding a halt to travel. The pilots’ union at American Airlines sued last month to make the airline stop flying to China. American agreed to suspend flights to mainland China but initially tried to keep serving Hong Kong. Pilots wouldn’t do it.
When pilots began reporting nervousness about going to Milan and flights were less full, American suspended that service much more quickly, said Dennis Tajer, a spokesman for the union.
In some cases, companies are also asking employees to cancel meetings with outside visitors to cut down on the risk of transmission. In a memo sent to Ford Motor Co.’s nearly 200,000 employees Tuesday, Ford CEO Jim Hackett asked employees to meet with suppliers and others by phone or virtually.
Ford also said only the most critical travel will be approved for employees through March 27.
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Posted on March 4, 2020

«Укрзалізниця» повідомила про відновлення супроводу поїздів правоохоронцями

by Narodnyk

У рамках пілотного проєкту «Укрзалізниця» повідомила, що співробітники поліції почали супровід пасажирських поїздів №122/121 Миколаїв-Київ-Рівне та №24/23 Одеса-Москва.

«Ці поїзди були обрані для пілотного проєкту через найбільшу кількість зафіксованих правопорушень», – повідомили в УЗ.

За даними поліції, у період 21-27 лютого було складено 30 адміністративних постанов (через заборону куріння і вживання алкоголю), 25 людей отримали усні попередження.

«27 лютого 2020 року під час слідування поїзда № 24/23 Одеса-Москва працівники поліції успішно попередили пограбування пасажира та затримали підозрюваного. Наразі «Укрзалізниця» та Національна поліція працюють над спільним планом дій щодо збільшення кількості поїздів, що курсуватимуть у супроводі правоохоронців», – вказали в «Укрзалізниці».

В українських поїздах досі були відсутні правоохоронці. Вони були позбавлені функції гарантування громадського порядку там у 2013 році.

Відповідно до статті 13 закону «Про заходи щодо попередження та зменшення вживання тютюнових виробів і їх шкідливого впливу на здоров’я населення», в Україні заборонене куріння тютюнових виробів у громадських місцях, у тому числі у вагонах поїздів.
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Posted on March 4, 2020

«Справа Хізб ут-Тахрір»: обвинуваченим кримчанам до суду в Росії викликали швидку

У Південному окружному військовому суді Ростова-на-Дону 4 березня розпочалося засідання у другій бахчисарайській «справі Хізб ут-Тахрір». Через скарги підсудних на погане самопочуття і високу температуру до суду викликали медиків.

Як повідомляє громадське об’єднання «Кримська солідарність», підсудний Сервер Мустафаєв клопотав про перенесення судового засідання. Він поскаржився на високу температуру, сильний головний біль і запаморочення. За словами Мустафаєва, ввечері в іншого підсудного – Мемета Бєлялова була температура близько 40 градусів. Суд оголосив перерву на 30 хвилин для виклику бригади швидкої допомоги, пізніше засідання продовжилось

«Підсудних оглянув фельдшер швидкої допомоги Гриценко І.А. Попри підтвердження ним вірусного захворювання в обвинувачених, що проявляється, в тому числі, наявністю температури, болем у м’язах, нездужанням, показань для надання медичної допомоги та перешкод для проведення судового засідання він не побачив. Клопотання і заяви сторони захисту про допит фахівця суд не задовольнив», – повідомили у «Кримській солідарності».

3 березня Уповноважена Верховної Ради України з прав людини Людмила Денісова опублікувала звернення Мустафаєва, в якому кримчанин скаржився на порушення своїх прав, неналежні умови тримання в російському слідчому ізоляторі та ненадання медичної допомоги іншим фігурантам справи. Серед скарг також – неналежне харчування.

15 листопада 2019 року Південний військовий окружний суд російського Ростова-на-Дону почав розглядати цю справу по суті.

У жовтні 2017 року російські силовики заарештували шістьох жителів Бахчисарая. Це Тимур Ібрагімов, Марлен Асанов, Мемет Бєлялов, Сейран Салієв, Сервер Зекір’яєв і Ернес Аметов. ФСБ Росії інкримінує їм участь у забороненій в Росії та анексованому нею Криму організації «Хізб ут-Тахрір».

21 травня 2018 року в Криму затримали координатора «Кримської солідарності» Сервера Мустафаєва і жителя села Долинне Бахчисарайського району Едема Смаїлова. Звинувачення проти них долучили до бахчисарайської «справи Хізб ут-Тахрір».
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Posted on March 4, 2020

Україна направила ноту через плани російської школи в Словенії відвідати «Артек»

Російська школа в столиці Словенії Любляні планує поїздку в дитячий центр «Артек» в анексованому Росією Криму. Через це посольство України звернулося до МЗС Словенії.

«У зв’язку з організацією російською школою у Словенії конкурсу «Російський слід в історії моєї країни», в рамках якого заплановано відвідання центру «Артек», який розташований на тимчасово окупованій Росією території України, посольством була направлена нота на адресу МЗС Словенії», мовиться у повідомленні дипломатичного відомства.

У листі посольства України є попередження МЗС Словенії про відповідальність за незаконний в’їзд до Криму через закриті Києвом пункти пропуску.

У МЗС Словенії поки не відреагували на це повідомлення.

Після анексії підконтрольна Кремлю влада Криму «націоналізувала» дитячий центр «Артек», а потім передала його майно у власність Росії.

У відповідь Міністерство закордонних справ України закликало ЮНЕСКО, провідні міжнародні організації, світове співтовариство засудити передачу «Артека» у федеральну власність Росії. У міністерстві зазначили на те, що в 2006 році між урядом України та ЮНЕСКО було підписано угоду про надання державному підприємству України «Міжнародний дитячий центр «Артек» статусу центру під егідою ЮНЕСКО.

Прокуратура АРК в квітні 2015 року відкрила кримінальне провадження за фактом «націоналізації» міжнародного дитячого центру «Артек» в Криму.

У квітні 2016 року Оболонський суд Києва наклав арешт на майно «Артека».

На материковій частині України після окупації Криму Росією почав працювати дитячий табір «Артек-Буковель».
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Posted on March 4, 2020

Минула ніч у Києві була найтеплішою за 140 років – метеорологи

by Narodnyk

Високий температурний фон призвів до найтеплішої за 140 років ночі на середу у Києві, повідомила Центральна геофізична обсерваторія імені Бориса Срезневського.

«Температура під ранок не опустилась нижче +4,8°С, перевищуючи попередній рекорд 1995 року на 1,2°С», – повідомили метеорологи.

За даними обсерваторії, 3 березня температура повітря у Києві після полудня піднялась до +14,8 градуса за Цельсієм.

«Таким чином попередній рекорд для цього дня 1997 року перевищено на півтора градуси. Завдяки такому максимуму побито і рекорд середньодобової температури, яка досягла +8,3°С і таким чином виявилась на 0,4°С вищою, ніж це було у тому ж 1997 році», – зазначили в обсерваторії.

Раніше в обсерваторії Срезневського повідомляли, що метеорологічна весна у Києві почалася 10 лютого.

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Posted on March 4, 2020

Freedom and Democracy Eroding Globally, Annual Report Find

Wednesday, the nonprofit group, Freedom House, releases its annual report on freedom and the state of democracy around the world. Continuing a 14-year trend, some of the findings are discouraging. As VOA’s Arash Arabasadi reports, the group says individual freedoms and democratic systems are under attack.
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Posted on March 4, 2020

Europe Locks Down Greece-Turkey Border, Blames Ankara For Migrant Crisis

The European Union has pledged over three-quarters of a billion dollars to help Greece cope with a surge in the number of migrants trying to cross into the country from Turkey, as the bloc fears a repeat of the 2015 crisis. Greece has closed down the land border and ramped up security across the frontier. The EU says Ankara is fully to blame for the crisis, as tens of thousands of migrants remain camped out along the border. Henry Ridgwell reports.
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Posted on March 4, 2020

Голова ОАСК: новина про позов Гончарука буде видалена з сайту суду

Президент Зеленський пропонує затвердити головою уряду замість нинішнього прем’єра Олексія Гончарука Дениса Шмигаля – джерела
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Posted on March 4, 2020

В уряді заперечують позов Гончарука з вимогою заборонити розгляд у Раді питання про відставку

Раніше у фейсбуці Окружного адміністративного суду Києва з’явилося повідомлення про заяву щодо забезпечення позову, заявником в якій зазначений Олексій Гончарук
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Posted on March 3, 2020

Cruise Ship in Norway Awaits Virus Test on 2 Passengers

A German cruise ship with 1,200 passengers is moored in southern Norway waiting for the test results of two passengers who had been on land to be tested for the new coronavirus, officials said Tuesday.
The town of Haugesund, 110 kilometers (70 miles) south of Bergen, Norway’s second largest city, was alerted Monday by the ship’s agent that two passengers on the Aida Aura had been in contact with a third person a week ago who tested positive for the virus. That person was not on the ship.
The 202-meter (663-foot) long and 28-meter (92-foot) Aida Aura is operated by the German cruise line AIDA Cruises.
After visiting the ship, a doctor with the municipality of Haugesund said none of the passengers showed symptoms of having the COVID-19 illness.
“The guests were contacted by health authorities in Germany as part of a routine investigation into a medical situation. All guests on board have already been informed about this. All passengers remain on board, visits on land aren’t taking place,” the cruise company said in a statement.
Both cruise ship passengers were tested on land and the results were expected later Tuesday.
The nationality of the passengers on the German ship was not immediately known.
In recent weeks, cruise liners have been either moored with passengers stuck aboard or banned from entering harbors amid growing worry about the spread of the virus.
In Japan, some 3,700 people on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship were forced to endure a long quarantine in their cabins. Hundreds of passengers on that ship tested positive for the illness and several people died from it.
Cruise ships have also been turned away from Caribbean ports due to concerns over the virus, though no passengers on any of those ships has been confirmed to have the disease.
Norway’s coastline is a popular destination for cruise ships because of its breath-taking landscapes and fjords.
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Posted on March 3, 2020

Mexican Accused by US as Russian Agent Pleads not Guilty

A Mexican scientist pleaded not guilty Tuesday to U.S. charges that he spied for Russia in Miami.
The plea was entered in a brief hearing by Ronald Gainor, attorney for 35-year-old Hector Cabrera Fuentes. Cabrera stood nearby in chains and a tan jail outfit but did not speak.
Cabrera also has now been formally indicted on a charge of acting as a Russian agent without registering as required with the U.S. attorney general. He is not charged with espionage, but this allegation still carries a potential prison sentence of 10 years.
According to an FBI affidavit, a Russian government official tasked Cabrera with tracking down a vehicle owned by a U.S. government informant in the Miami area. The job was simply to take a photo of its license plate.
The FBI says Cabrera and his Mexican wife went to a condominium complex on Valentine’s Day to take the photo and were recorded by surveillance video. They attracted the notice of security by driving directly behind another car through a gate.
It’s not clear exactly what the Russians were seeking, but the FBI affidavit says the informant had previously provided information about Russian intelligence operations and implications for U.S. national security.
After he was detained Feb. 16 at Miami International Airport, Cabrera told the FBI he has two wives — the Mexican one and a Russian one. The Russian woman and her two daughters were living in Germany but returned to Moscow last spring to attend to some administrative matters. Then, the Russian government wouldn’t let them leave, the affidavit says.
That prompted Cabrera in May 2019 to visit his family in Moscow, where he was approached by a Russian official whom he had met previously at professional events and exchanges. Cabrera told the FBI he believed the official was an intelligence officer and that person gave him the job of photographing the Miami informant’s license plate.
Cabrera, a microbiologist who has held several prestigious posts, is originally from El Espinal in the Mexican state of Oaxaca.
Cabrera had been working as an associate professor at the medical school jointly run by Duke University and the National University of Singapore, and was working in Singapore. He said at a previous hearing that his contract there has been terminated.
Before Cabrera’s license plate mission, the FBI says the Russian official asked him to rent an apartment in the same complex as the informant but not in his real name. Cabrera paid an associate $20,000 to do so in late 2019. It’s not clear if anything was done in connection with that unit.
Cabrera is being held without bail. No trial date has been set.
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Posted on March 3, 2020

У Росії ексватажок угруповання «ДНР» призначений головою адміністрації столиці Калмикії

Колишній ватажок угруповання «ДНР»Дмитро Трапезников став головою адміністрації столиці регіону Калмикія, міста Еліста, повідомляє російська служба Радіо Свобода з посиланням на «Інтерфакс».

Депутати міських зборів обрали Трапезникова на цю посаду більшістю голосів. Раніше конкурсна комісія визначила чотирьох кандидатів.

Трапезников був призначений виконувачем обов’язків керівника адміністрації Елісти торік. Упродовж осені місцеві жителі масово протестували проти цього рішення, вимагаючи повернути прямі вибори голови міста. Організатори акцій відзначали, що елістинці нічого не знали про Трапезникова: їм його «привезли», і це обурило людей.

У Кремлі призначення Трапезникова визнали таким, що відповідає російському законодавству, а голова Калмикії Бату Хасіков назвав його «антикризовим менеджером, колосальний досвід якого у відновленні Донбасу необхідний для відновлення господарства Елісти».

Місцевих жителів, які брали участь в акціях проти Трапезникова, неодноразово штрафував суд.

Дмитро Трапезников народився в іншому російському місті, Краснодарі, але коли йому був один рік, його родина переїхала в український Донецьк. З 2010 до 2012-го року Трапезников працював заступником голови ради Петровського району Донецька. Під час збройного конфлікту на сході України перейшов на бік бойовиків і став «заступником голови Ради міністрів» в угрупованні «ДНР». Після вбивства 31 серпня 2018 року ватажка «ДНР» Олександра Захарченка Трапезников упродовж тижня виконував його обов’язки.
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Posted on March 3, 2020

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