Paris Air Show Back With Climate, Defense in Focus

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Military and civilian aircraft streaked across the sky as the Paris Air Show returned Monday after a four-year COVID-induced hiatus, with a big crowd including Ukrainian military officials and the French president.

Organizers have billed the biennial event as the “recovery airshow” after the coronavirus ravaged the sector and the event was cancelled in 2021.

This year’s airshow has a new focus on defense following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, along with the industry’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint, with French President Emmanuel Macron arriving in a helicopter partly using sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

Huge traffic jams around Le Bourget airport outside Paris were testament to the interest in this year’s show, as aircraft makers field hundreds of orders and airlines brace for a near-record number of passengers this year.

The Ukraine conflict has also prompted countries to step up military spending, which could benefit aerospace defense firms.

While Russia has been excluded from the event, Ukrainian military officials toured the huge exhibition space at Paris-Le Bourget airport, some taking photos of missiles on display.

Le Bourget offers a forum to announce deals with some 2,500 firms lining up to show off their latest planes, drones, helicopters and prototypes such as flying taxis.

Airbus chief executive Guillaume Faury, who heads France’s aerospace industry association GIFAS, called it “the return of the good old times of the excitement of the show.”

Macron was welcomed as he opened the event with an aerial display including Airbus’ latest A321 XLR airliner, civilian and military helicopters and a jet fighter.

Businesspeople and uniformed military visitors from around the world watched the action or headed into the guarded private spaces of the major firms’ stands.

With 125,000 square meters of exhibition space — the equivalent of nearly 18 soccer pitches — around 320,000 visitors are expected during the week-long event.

Big deals

Along with the Farnborough airshow in England, which takes place in even numbered years, Le Bourget is a key sales event for the civil and defense industries.

Airbus and rival Boeing compete fiercely in announcing orders for aircraft running into the billions of dollars.

Both industry heavyweights are also battling to solidify supply chains as they increase production to meet growing demand.

At least 158 planes, helicopters and drones are on display, from the latest long-haul commercial jets to the F-35, a U.S. stealth fighter.

The United States has a strong presence with 425 exhibitors, bolstered by renewed interest in military equipment in the aftermath of the Ukraine war.

Firms from 46 other nations are present.

China, which lifted COVID restrictions only at the beginning of this year, is also represented.

However, Beijing is not displaying its first homegrown medium-haul passenger jet, the C919, built to compete with the Airbus A320neo and Boeing 737 MAX.

Flying taxis

The airshow also hopes to open a window into the future as projects for flying taxis and other vertical takeoff aircraft abound.

Several prototypes will be on display as part of a “Paris Air Mobility” exhibition to showcase the latest innovations that developers hope will change how people travel.

Engine maker Safran announced early Monday that it would open four production lines in France and Britain making electric motors for small planes.

For his part, Macron arrived aboard Airbus’ latest helicopter, the H160, in a flight fueled with 30% SAF before visiting the European group’s stand laying out its net-zero-by-2050 plan.

Macron had on Friday announced $2.2 billion to help develop technologies to reduce aircraft emissions.

Air travel accounts for nearly 3% percent of global CO2 emissions but serves only a small minority of the world population.

With the industry targeting net zero emissions by mid-century, firms are turbocharging efforts to achieve it.

The initial focus is on SAF, made from sources such as municipal waste, leftovers from the agricultural and forestry industry, crops and plants, and even hydrogen.

But companies are also working to develop battery- and hydrogen-powered aircraft.
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More Than 1 Million in US Lose Medicaid Health Care Coverage in Post-Pandemic Purge

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More than 1 million people have been dropped from Medicaid in the past couple months as some states moved swiftly to halt health care coverage following the end of the coronavirus pandemic.

Most got dropped for not filling out paperwork.

Though the eligibility review is required by the federal government, President Joe Biden’s administration isn’t pleased at how efficiently some states are accomplishing the task.

“Pushing through things and rushing it will lead to eligible people — kids and families — losing coverage for some period of time,” Daniel Tsai, a top federal Medicaid official recently told reporters.

Already, about 1.5 million people have been removed from Medicaid in more than two dozen states that started the process in April or May, according to publicly available reports and data obtained by The Associated Press.

Florida has dropped several hundred thousand people, by far the most among states.

The drop rate also has been particularly high in other states. For people whose cases were decided in May, around half or more got dropped in Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas, Nevada, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah and West Virginia.

By its own count, Arkansas has dropped more than 140,000 people from Medicaid.

The eligibility redeterminations have created headaches for Jennifer Mojica, 28, who was told in April that she no longer qualified for Medicaid because Arkansas had incorrectly determined her income was above the limit.

She got that resolved, but was then told her 5-year-old son was being dropped from Medicaid because she had requested his cancellation — something that never happened, she said. Her son’s coverage has been restored, but now Mojica says she’s been told her husband no longer qualifies. The uncertainty has been frustrating, she said.

“It was like fixing one thing and then another problem came up, and they fixed it and then something else came up,” Mojica said.

‘Swiftly disenroll’

Arkansas officials said they have tried to renew coverage automatically for as many people as possible and placed a special emphasis on reaching families with children.

But a 2021 state law requires the post-pandemic eligibility redeterminations to be completed in six months, and the state will continue “to swiftly disenroll individuals who are no longer eligible,” the Department of Human Services said in statement.

Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders has dismissed criticism of the state’s process.

“Those who do not qualify for Medicaid are taking resources from those who need them,” Sanders said on Twitter last month. “But the pandemic is over — and we are leading the way back to normalcy.”

More than 93 million people nationwide were enrolled in Medicaid as of the most recent available data in February — up nearly one-third from the pre-pandemic total in January 2020. The rolls swelled because federal law prohibited states from removing people from Medicaid during the health emergency in exchange for providing states with increased funding.

Now that eligibility reviews have resumed, states have begun plowing through a backlog of cases to determine whether people’s income or life circumstances have changed.

States have a year to complete the process. But tracking down responses from everyone has proved difficult because some people have moved, changed contact information, or disregarded mailings about the renewal process.

Outreach via text, email, phone

Before dropping people from Medicaid, the Florida Department of Children and Families said it makes between five and 13 contact attempts, including texts, emails and phone calls. Yet the department said 152,600 people have been non-responsive.

Their coverage could be restored retroactively if people submit information showing their eligibility up to 90 days after their deadline.

Unlike some states, Idaho continued to evaluate people’s Medicaid eligibility during the pandemic even though it didn’t remove anyone. When the enrollment freeze ended in April, Idaho started processing those cases — dropping nearly 67,000 of the 92,000 people whose cases have been decided so far.

Advocates fear that many households losing coverage may include children who are actually still eligible, because Medicaid covers children at higher income levels than their parents or guardians. A report last year by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services forecast that children would be disproportionately impacted, with more than half of those disenrolled still actually eligible.

That’s difficult to confirm, however, because the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services doesn’t require states to report a demographic breakdown of those dropped. In fact, CMS has yet to release any state-by-state data. The AP obtained data directly from states and from other groups that have been collecting it.

Some states haven’t been able to complete all the eligibility determinations that are due each month. Pennsylvania reported more than 100,000 incomplete cases in both April and May. Tens of thousands of cases also remained incomplete in April or May in Arizona, Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, New Mexico and Ohio.

“If states are already behind in processing renewals, that’s going to snowball over time,” said Tricia Brooks, a research professor at the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families. “Once they get piles of stuff that haven’t been processed, I don’t see how they catch up easily.”
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Amazon, Marriott, Other Companies Vow to Hire Thousands of Refugees in Europe

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Multinational companies — including Amazon, Marriott and Hilton — pledged Monday to hire more than 13,000 refugees, including Ukrainian women who have fled the war with Russia, over the next three years in Europe.

Just ahead of World Refugee Day on Tuesday, more than 40 corporations say they will hire, connect to work, or train 250,000 refugees, with 13,680 of them getting jobs directly in those companies.

“Every number is a story of an individual family who left everything, seeking safety, seeking protection and wanting to be able to rebuild as quickly as possible,” said Kelly Clements, United Nations deputy high commissioner for refugees. “So the commitments that businesses are going to make on Monday are absolutely essential.”

She said 110 million people have been displaced worldwide, with an estimated 12 million from Ukraine, nearly half of whom are living in Europe after the continent’s largest movement of refugees since World War II.

The hiring push in Europe was organized by the Tent Partnership for Refugees, a nonprofit founded by Chobani CEO Hamdi Ulukaya that connects businesses and refugees, and is being unveiled at a gathering in Paris. The group’s first summit in the U.S. last year led to commitments to hire 22,725 refugees.

In the new round, Amazon leads the pack, vowing to hire at least 5,000 refugees over the next three years in Europe, followed by Marriott and Hilton with 1,500 each, Starbucks and ISS with 1,000 each, and smaller commitments from brands such as Adidas, Starbucks, L’Oreal, PepsiCo and Hyatt.

“This is good for us as a company because the opportunity to add diversity to our workforce will continue to make us a stronger company,” said Ofori Agboka, Amazon vice president overseeing human resources. “With diversity brings innovation, creativity, different insights.”

He said the vast majority of jobs will be hourly roles at fulfillment and storage centers and in transport and delivery.

Amazon announced 27,000 job cuts earlier this year, part of a wave of layoffs after tech companies ramped up hiring during the COVID-19 pandemic. Those layoffs primarily affected salaried office jobs, Agboka said.

Daria Sedihi-Volchenko fled Kyiv last year and now works in Warsaw, Poland, as a senior program manager for an Amazon Web Services program providing free tech training for Ukrainians. She says about 40% of those in the program have no tech background.

“I went through the same way as many of our learners … are going through,” she said. “I had to learn, and I took a commitment on my interview. I said that ‘OK, if we can agree and I can start working for you, I promise to learn Polish and I promise to learn technical skills.'”

A year ago, Sedihi-Volchenko woke up to explosions from Russia’s invasion.

“I was terrified. I was so scared for Ukraine, for the nation, for the future, for my own life,” she said. “But also that was a shocking moment when I understood that everything in my life is changing.”

She began living in basements but left as Russian forces approached Kyiv. She drove 40 hours to reach Moldova, thankful that she “didn’t drive on a single land mine and nobody shot into my car.”

She went to Poland to find work, embarking on an IT path after working as a project manager for government ministries and as an economist in Ukraine.

Companies are hoping refugees can fill staffing needs after the economy bounced back from the pandemic. In Europe, unemployment is at its lowest since the euro currency was introduced in 1999.

“We’re seeing record levels of demand for our properties across many markets here in Europe,” Marriott International CEO Anthony Capuano said. “And so we are hiring aggressively to make sure we can accommodate our guests as demand ramps up.”

Marriott’s jobs will largely be hourly positions such as housekeepers, kitchen staff and front desk attendants.

European nations have welcomed Ukrainians, and while Clements applauded opening schools, workplaces and other opportunities to them, she said the same should be offered to others fleeing conflict and crises in places like Syria, Sudan and Afghanistan.

Sedihi-Volchenko knows the challenges ahead for refugees, even as some companies offer help with language skills, counseling and training. Job listings can be difficult to decipher, and like her, they may have difficulty securing a stable internet connection or work clothes.

“It’s important to give a refugee just time to learn the language, but the person can start working because if you bring experience with IT systems or finance or project management or any other area, naturally, you understand, it’s not so much about the language. You understand the flow of work,” she said.

She said 110 million people have been displaced worldwide, with an estimated 12 million from Ukraine, nearly half of whom are living in Europe after the continent’s largest movement of refugees since World War II.

A year ago, Sedihi-Volchenko woke up to explosions from Russia’s invasion.
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Consumption Soft Even Amid Deep Discounts During Major China Shopping Festival, Analysts Say

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Chinese consumers snapped up billions of dollars’ worth of items in China’s first major online shopping festival after emerging from the pandemic as merchants slashed prices, but analysts say that consumer confidence still remains weak.

Chinese merchants offered customers steep discounts during the 618 shopping festival, which ran on China’s major shopping platforms from the end of May until June 18, in the hopes of shoring up sales amid a weaker-than-expected recovery in consumption.

Major shopping festivals, like e-commerce retailer JD.com’s 618 and Alibaba’s Singles’ Day, are typically barometers of consumption in China, and Chinese e-commerce platforms often participate by offering discounts and incentives to consumers.

Analysts say that consumption remains soft this year as China emerges from the pandemic, even as platforms including JD.com, Tmall, Taobao and Pinduoduo offered billions in subsidies.

“Chinese consumer confidence remains weak due to a mix of geopolitics, continued weakness from COVID-19 and domestic Chinese politics,” said Shaun Rein, founder and managing director of the China Market Research Group in Shanghai.

Rein said that consumers were less likely to spend more during 618 as merchants had already been discounting heavily for years because of the pandemic, and deals were not that much better compared to previous months.

In March, JD.com launched a “10-billion-yuan subsidies” program to compete with rival Pinduoduo, which is known for its low-priced goods. The CEO of Alibaba’s e-commerce business unit, Trudy Dai, also previously pledged to make “huge, historic” investments to attract users to its platforms.

“For months, Chinese consumers have been price-conscious, looking for deals and trading down across most product categories,” Rein said.

This year, for the first time, JD.com did not reveal its total sales numbers for the 618 event, despite saying in a blog post that the 2023 shopping extravaganza had “exceeded expectations, setting a new record.”

Last year, neither Alibaba nor JD.com unveiled final numbers for Singles’ Day in November, amid muted festivities during COVID-19 and an expected slowdown in growth.

JD.com said in a blog post that during the 618 shopping festival, consumers snapped up 10 times the number of products that were eligible under its “10-billion-yuan subsidies” program, compared to March.

Despite overall soft consumption, categories like cosmetics and luxury goods saw a bigger uptick in sales compared to the previous quarter, according to Jacob Cooke, CEO of e-commerce consultancy WPIC.

For this year’s 618 event, more luxury brands took part as they sought to boost sales in China after the sector in 2022 declined for the first time in five years amid China’s strict “zero-COVID” policies and lockdowns that hammered retail spending.

Brands like Moncler and Lemaire took part in 618 on Tmall for the first time.

Many luxury brands also took the opportunity to launch new products online, with some offering rare discounts and other incentives such as interest-free payment in instalments over 12 months.

Brands like Burberry, Chloe and Miu Miu’s sales in the first 30 minutes of the 618 festival at the end of May had exceeded its total sales during the shopping festival a year ago, according to Tmall data.

“Luxury coming back online is a big trend, because that’s the category that’s been hit really hard over COVID-19,” said Cooke. “Some brands may see up to a 10-fold increase in sales over last year.”
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Суслова: 168 інтернатів евакуювали за кордон через російську агресію

SocNet Новини, Політика, Суспільство 0 Comment

168 інтернатних закладів евакуювали за кордон через повномасштабну війну, повідомила представниця омбудсмена з прав дітей, сім’ї, молоді та спорту Ірина Суслова.

«Всього із 727 закладів в евакуації зараз 214, з них в межах України – 55, і за кордоном – 168. Це орієнтовно 7125 дітей. Такі заклади мають залишатися у безпечних місцях. Вони не мають повертатися на ті території, де неможливо забезпечити безпеку», – розповіла вона в інтерв’ю Радіо Свобода.

Читайте також: Відібрання дітей у Європі, повернення інтернатів в Україну та потреби переселенців. Інтерв’ю з представницею омбудсмена Сусловою

Станом на 1 червня близько 1,3 мільйона українських дітей проживають у країнах Європейського союзу.

Уряд 1 червня доручив обласним військовим адміністраціям евакуювати дітей із закладів цілодобового перебування, розташованих у зоні бойових дій менше ніж за 50 кілометрів від кордону з Росією і менше ніж за 100 кілометрів від тимчасово окупованої території.

 
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Binance, SEC Strike Deal to Keep US Customer Assets in Country

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Binance, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, and Binance.US have entered into an agreement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to ensure that U.S. customer assets remain in the United States until a sweeping lawsuit filed this month by the regulatory agency is resolved.

The agreement, disclosed in court papers filed late Friday, still requires the approval of the federal judge overseeing the litigation. To make certain that U.S. customer assets do not go offshore, the agreement allows only Binance.US employees access to these assets.

The SEC on June 5 sued Binance, its CEO and founder Changpeng Zhao and Binance.US’s operator, alleging that Binance artificially inflated its trading volumes, diverted customer funds, failed to restrict U.S. customers from its platform and misled investors about its market surveillance controls.

The suit and one filed by the SEC the following day against major U.S. exchange Coinbase represented a dramatic escalation of a crackdown on the industry by U.S. regulators.

Under the agreement, which does not resolve the SEC lawsuit, Binance.US will take steps to make sure that no Binance Holdings officials have access to private keys for its various wallets, hardware wallets or root access to Binance.US’s Amazon Web Services tools, the court filings showed.

The SEC said in a statement released on Saturday that the emergency relief order secured for Binance.US customers will protect their assets and ensure that they can continue to withdraw those assets.

“Given that Changpeng Zhao and Binance have control of the platforms’ customers’ assets and have been able to commingle customer assets or divert customer assets as they please … these prohibitions are essential to protecting investor assets,” Gurbir Grewal, director of the SEC’s enforcement division, said in the statement.

A Binance spokesperson said in a statement on Saturday: “Although we maintain that the SEC’s request for emergency relief was entirely unwarranted, we are pleased that the disagreement over this request was resolved on mutually acceptable terms. User funds have been and always will be safe and secure on all Binance-affiliated platforms.”

Under other provisions in the proposed agreement, Binance.US will create new crypto wallets to which the global exchange’s employees have no access, provide additional information to the SEC and agree to an expedited discovery schedule, the filings said.

The U.S. affiliate of Binance halted dollar deposits last week and gave customers a deadline of June 13 to withdraw their dollar funds, after the SEC asked a court to freeze its assets.
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Міськрада Одещини заборонила купатися та рибалити в морі

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У воді виявили збудники інфекційних хвороб, зокрема сальмонелу, рота- та астравіруси, холероподібні вібріони, парагемолітікус, яйця та личинки гельмінтів людей та тварин
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US Lawmakers Discuss Expectations for Blinken Trip to China

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Secretary of State Antony Blinken left Washington on Friday night for China. The trip, which was postponed after an incident in February over a suspected Chinese spy balloon, is being closely watched on Capitol Hill.

Blinken is expected to focus on the importance of maintaining open lines of communication between the two countries and discussing regional security issues, climate change and the global economy. State Department officials also said the issue of illegal fentanyl trafficking to the United States would also be a prominent part of the talks.

Ahead of the trip, VOA Mandarin Service spoke with several U.S. lawmakers about their expectations for the talks, including what issues should be the top priorities for the bilateral dialogue.

The interviews have been edited for brevity and clarity.

VOA: Is this a good time for Secretary Blinken to go to Beijing?

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), chairman, House Foreign Affairs Committee: I guess there’s never really a good time. I know [the Biden administration is] trying to use more of a charm offensive approach. We have to be a little careful, because when we go over there, that’s a big concession on the part of the United States to China. So, I think it’s good to have an open line of communication, have a hotline.

Rep. Ami Bera (D-CA), ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Indo-Pacific: Obviously, the relationship is not at a great place right now. But I think  it’s important for both sides to continue to talk and communicate.

Rep. Bill Keating (D-MA), member, Foreign Affairs Committee:  I think it’s important to go. We have great differences. We have great competitions. But ultimately, we have to work in this globe together on issues where that’s possible. And we won’t have the possibility of improving that situation without having discussions.

VOA: What would you like Secretary Blinken to discuss with his counterparts in Beijing?

Young Kim (R-CA), chairwoman, House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Indo-Pacific: Our foreign policy towards China should be very, very clear in terms their surveillance of operations targeting in the United States, or their increased aggression towards Taiwan or other Indo-Pacific partners and human rights abuses. Those are not acceptable. China’s treatment of its people, especially with respect to human rights violations, especially in the Xinjiang province and other areas, we’re not going to be tolerating it.

McCaul: De-escalation of the tension in the Taiwan Strait is number one. Human rights issues, obviously. I’m working on export controls. I don’t want to sell them technology, that they’re going to turn around and use in their advanced weapon systems that then can be pointed against us in a future conflict.

Bera: Climate change, certainly global health security are two areas that are important to both of us. And certainly, maybe there’s some areas around trade.

Keating: In terms of some of the military issues, trying to de-escalate there would be a smart move.

VOA: Are you optimistic China will work with the U.S. on issues such as climate change?

Bera: Not 100% optimistic, but I think it’s important that we make the effort. I think it’s important for both sides to continue to talk and communicate.

Kim: We hope that they will be able to cooperate with us, but you know, historically speaking, they have shown that they are not a reliable, trusting partner. At this point, Secretary Blinken should be able to make it very clear that we want China to abide by the same rules we expect other partners and allies in the Indo Pacific to.

Keating: I hope so. We all share the same planet. Climate change is real. 
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Amid Cash Crunch, Pakistan Grappling With Options to Avert Default

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Pakistan is in a debt crisis. It must pay billions in debt servicing, but the state’s coffers are almost empty. As hopes for reviving a bailout deal with the International Monetary Fund fade, experts say the country may escape default this month, but the situation will grow increasingly grave.

Hit by devastating floods, political instability and pandemic-related supply shocks, Pakistan’s import-dependent economy has been on the brink of default for months as the country’s external debt burden mounts against shrinking foreign exchange reserves.

Pakistan’s total external debt stood at upward of $126 billion at the end of 2022. Most of the country’s income goes to pay off the principal as well as interest on this debt.

In June, Pakistan is due to pay $3.6 billion to its lenders. According to the governor of the State Bank of Pakistan, the country’s central bank, $400 million has been paid, while $2.3 billion is expected to be rolled over. Still, the country must pay $900 million. The dollar reserves of the central bank are hovering at about $4 billion.

Need for IMF

Hopes of reviving a stalled 2019 International Monetary Fund, or IMF, bailout deal faded further this week after the lender objected to a few provisions in Pakistan’s proposed federal budget for the fiscal year starting July 2023.

In a statement to VOA, IMF resident representative for Pakistan, Esther Perez Ruiz, listed several measures that did not meet the lender’s expectations, including a new tax amnesty that she said was “against program’s conditionality and governance agenda.”

However, Perez Ruiz said, “the IMF team stands ready to work with the government in refining this budget ahead of its passage.”

Pakistan’s Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar rejected the objections.

“Pakistan is a sovereign country and cannot accept everything the IMF demands,” local media quoted Dar as saying in a briefing to the Pakistani Senate Standing Committee on Finance on Thursday.

The $6.5 billion 2019 deal regarded as a key to avoiding default would give Pakistan $1.1 billion. Not a huge amount by itself, yet it would unlock funds from other lenders, helping to ease the country’s debt crisis.

To revive the deal, Islamabad slashed subsidies, increased taxes and largely stopped controlling the value of the rupee, among other steps over past few months, to woo the IMF.

Experts say the actions were too little, too late.

Differences also persisted on how much funding Pakistan should gather from friends. Islamabad failed to reach the target as allies, slow to help, signaled frustration with the country’s lack of economic reform.

Default risk

The 2019 program ends June 30 with Pakistan’s current fiscal year. Dar maintains Pakistan will not default if talks with the Washington-based lender fail.

“We have sovereign commitments, which the past government made. They are not PTI’s [Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf] or [former Prime Minister] Imran Khan’s, they are Pakistan’s commitments. I think even at the cost of paying a political price we must meet those obligations, and we have,” Dar said at a news briefing last week.

Pakistan’s major ally China, to whom it owes the largest chunk of its bilateral debt, came to its rescue yet, again. In a message to journalists late Friday night, the State Bank of Pakistan announced receiving a $1 billion loan from China. Beijing refinanced the loan which Islamabad had earlier repaid.

However, the current government’s term in office ends mid-August, after which a caretaker setup will run the country until general elections.

Pakistan’s former finance minister, Hafeez Pasha, told VOA if the present government fails to unlock IMF funds, it may put Pakistan’s economy in peril in the new fiscal year.

“IMF will not talk to temporary governments. So, the earliest we can talk to the IMF is sometime after the elections, which could be October, November. This interim period is a period of great uncertainty. And this is what we are all very worried about,” Pasha said.

Plan B

It is unclear how the government plans to manage debt repayment without the IMF.

Dar told a post-budget news conference last week that the government would engage in debt restructuring with bilateral lenders or individual countries.

Days later, the central bank governor informed analysts in a briefing that he was unaware of any such plans.

Earlier, when asked if Pakistan had a Plan B, Dar’s response in a pre-budget news briefing had been an emphatic yes, but it was short on details.

He then signaled Pakistan could sell or lease assets to remain current on debt repayments.

“If you are pushed into a corner, what will you do? Lie down? Let there be a default? Pakistan is solvent. If Pakistan’s loans have soared from 70 billion to 100 billion in the last four years, Pakistan also has assets worth billions,” Dar told journalists.

Some experts say that in many ways, Pakistan already has defaulted, as companies face restrictions in sending dividends to shareholders overseas, airlines threaten to move out over nonpayment of dues, and parents struggle to find dollars for their children studying abroad.

Ali Khizar, research head at Business Recorder, a major Pakistani news outlet, points to the flight of human and financial capital from Pakistan as a sign.

“Pakistan may not have defaulted technically on its debt,” Khizar told VOA. But, he says, as people use informal means to send money outside, large businesses leave the country, and people migrate in record numbers to find work outside Pakistan, “we have defaulted on many grounds.”
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Представники єврейської спільноти відреагували на слова Путіна про Зеленського і «ганьбу єврейського народу»

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Єврейська конфедерація України за участі головного рабина Києва та України Якова Дова Блайха виступила із заявою після чергових висловлювань президента РФ Володимира Путіна на адресу українського президента Володимира Зеленського.

«Володимир Путін, виступаючи на Петербурзькому економічному форумі, посилаючись на своїх «друзів-євреїв», назвав президента України Володимира Зеленського не євреєм, а ганьбою нації, який потурає неонацизму. І вкотре наголосив на необхідності проведення в Україні так званої «денацифікації». У зв’язку з цим хочемо заявити: Перше. Володимир Зеленський – лідер, який показав приклад мужності своєму народові та всьому світу… Друге. У сучасній Україні неонацизму немає. Тим паче, на державному рівні… Третє. Про звинувачення українців у злочинах часів Голокосту. Хочемо нагадати, що Україна є четвертою у світі країною за кількістю Праведників народів світу (люди, які рятували євреїв під час Голокосту) – 2 691 особа, за даними Яд Вашем. За даними ж українських дослідників, українців-праведників налічується понад 15 тисяч», – йдеться у заяві.

Представники української єврейської спільноти кажуть, що можна наводити ще багато аргументів, які спростовують наративи російської пропаганди. Але в якості ілюстрації так званої «денацифікації» на сайті Єврейської конфедерації України, яка супроводжує заяву, показали фото зруйнованої російським обстрілом Менори у меморіалі «Дробицький Яр» на околицях Харкова.

16 червня на засіданні Петербурзького економічного форуму президент РФ Володимир Путін заявив, що його «друзі-євреї» буцімто називають президента України Володимира Зеленського «ганьбою єврейського народу».

Путін уже не вперше проводить паралелі між нацистами, які здійснили Голокост під час Другої світової війни, і українською владою, очолюваною Володимиром Зеленським, євреєм за етнічним походженням. Путін також називав «денацифікацію» України метою повномасштабної війни, розпочатої ним у лютому 2022 року.

У травні 2022 року Путіну довелося просити вибачення перед головою уряду Ізраїлю за слова міністра закордонних справ Сергія Лаврова про євреїв і антисемітизм.

Понад рік тому під час інтерв’ю італійському телебаченню Лаврова запитали, як Росія могла заявляти, що їй потрібно «денацифікувати» Україну, коли президент країни Володимир Зеленський є євреєм.

Захищаючи позицію президента Росії Володимира Путіна щодо «денацифікації» України, Лавров сказав, що єврейське коріння президента України Володимира Зеленського не підриває позиції Путіна.

«Коли кажуть: «Що це за нацифікація, якщо ми євреї?», я думаю, що Гітлер теж мав єврейське походження, то це нічого не означає», – сказав Лавров італійському Rete 4 через італійського перекладача. «Вже давно ми чуємо, як мудрий єврейський народ каже, що найбільші антисеміти – це самі євреї», – додав Лавров.

3 травня 2022 року МЗС Росії опублікувало статтю «Про антисемітизм», звинувативши Ізраїль у підтримці «неонацистського режиму в Києві». Наступного дня речниця відомства Марія Захарова заявила, що ізраїльські найманці воюють в Україні «пліч-о-пліч з бойовиками «Азова».

 
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Президент ПАР назвав «10 складових» позиції країн Африканського Союзу щодо війни в Україні

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Президент ПАР Сиріл Рамафоса назвав десять основних «складових» позиції країн Африканського Союзу щодо українсько-російської війни, передає агенція «Інтерфакс-Україна» з пресконференції в Києві після зустрічі лідерів африканських країн із президентом України Володимиром Зеленським.

«Основною складовою, яку ми привезли сюди, є те, що ця війна має бути врегульована, має бути мир через переговори дипломатичним шляхом. Ми впевнені, що, рухаючись до цього миру, тому що всі війни колись закінчуються, ми віримо, що ця війна має закінчитися якнайшвидше через перемовини й дипломатичним шляхом», – сказав Рамафоса.

«Третьою складовою для нас є деескалація конфлікту. Сьогодні під час нашого візиту ми чули ракетні удари. Така діяльність не дуже добре працює для встановлення миру. Тому ми говоримо про необхідність деескалації по обидва боки, щоб мир знайшов спосіб прийти та врегулювати ситуацію», – сказав він.

«Четверте питання – суверенність держав і народів відповідно до статуту ООН, і це потрібно поважати. П’ята складова – необхідність гарантій безпеки для всіх країн. Шостою складовою є те, що обидві країни повинні забезпечити рух зернових і добрив», – сказав Рамафоса, зазначивши, що однією з причин приїзду стало те, що Африка також відчуває негативні наслідки цієї війни.

«Сьомим основним елементом є гуманітарні питання. Потрібна гуманітарна підтримка тих, хто став жертвами війни, хто страждає. Ми підтримуємо цю гуманітарну допомогу. Восьмим основним компонентом є обов’язковий обмін полоненими. Це також має включати повернення дітей. Дев’ятою складовою є післявоєнна відбудова. Має бути допомога постраждалим через війну. І десятим основним елементом для нас є те, що під час наших дискусій президент Зеленський сказав, що ми повинні йти далі, краще взаємодіяти з країнами Африки»,– заначив він.

У свою чергу, президент Володимир Зеленський заявив, що мирні переговори із РФ можливі тільки після виведення російських військ із окупованих територій. За словами президента України, Київ не піде більше на такі формати як «Мінськ».

«Очевидно, що Росія намагається зараз повернутися до своєї старої примітивної тактики обману. Але обдурити світ у Росії більше не вийде», – сказав Зеленський.

Сьогодні у Києві з візитом перебували представники африканських країн у рамках своєї миротворчої місії. До складу делегації, зокрема, увійшли лідер Південно-Африканської Республіки Сиріл Рамафоса, президент Союзу Коморських островів Азалі Ассумані, президент Сенегалу Макі Салл, лідер Замбії Хакаінде Хічілема, прем’єр-міністр Єгипету Мустафа Мадбулі, спецпредставник президента Конго Флоран Нтсіба, спецпредставник президента Уганди Рухакана Ругунда. Представники африканських країн прибули для зустрічі з Володимиром Зеленським, перш ніж вирушать в суботу до Санкт-Петербурга, щоб зустрітися з президентом РФ Володимиром Путіним.

 
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Мирні переговори можливі тільки після виведення військ РФ із окупованих територій – Зеленський лідерам африканських країн

SocNet Новини, Політика, Суспільство 0 Comment

Сьогодні у Києві з візитом перебувають представники африканських країн у рамках своєї миротворчої місії
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Is Pakistan Days Away From Default?

CensorBiz Бізнес, Новини, Статті, Суспільство 0 Comment

Pakistan is facing a debt crisis. It must pay billions in debt servicing, but the state’s coffers are almost empty. At the same time, hopes of reviving a stalled 2019 International Monetary Fund bailout program are fading. Is Pakistan just days away from a default? VOA’s Pakistan bureau chief Sarah Zaman reports from Islamabad. Camera/Edit: Naveed Nasim, Wajid Asad, Malik Waqar Ahmed
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The Trump Documents Case: What You Need to Know

PolitCens Новини, Політика, Суспільство 0 Comment

With former President Donald Trump currently the leading candidate for his party’s presidential nomination in 2024, his indictment last week on charges of mishandling classified documents stands to dominate the American political conversation for months to come.

As Democrats and Republicans stake out their competing positions on what Trump did, what other politicians did, and what the law requires, the facts of the case will likely become increasingly muddled.

Here is a step-by-step account of what is known about the case as drawn from court filings and other official statements.

National Archives

The June 9 indictment arose from an investigation into Trump’s removal of scores of classified government documents from the White House to his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida when he left office in January 2021.

Trump did this despite an obligation under the Presidential Records Act, which requires departing presidents to release all records of their presidencies to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) once they leave office.

Beginning in May 2021, NARA officials repeatedly asked Trump to return the documents he had taken to Mar-a-Lago, warning that they would refer the matter to the Justice Department if he failed to comply, according to the indictment.

After months of stonewalling by the former president, Trump’s representatives finally turned over 15 boxes of records in January 2022, nearly a year after he had left the White House.

To their alarm, NARA officials discovered that the boxes contained 197 documents with classified markings, including 92 marked as secret, and 25 marked as top secret.

In February 2022, NARA referred the discovery to the Justice Department, expressing concern that classified documents were “unfoldered, intermixed with other records, and otherwise (improperly) identified.”

On March 30, 2022, the FBI opened a criminal investigation into the matter. The following month, a federal grand jury was impaneled to receive testimony and other evidence.

FBI search

What followed was a monthslong inquiry and effort by the Justice Department to retrieve the documents still in Trump’s possession.

In May 2022, the grand jury subpoenaed Trump to turn over all classified documents that he had kept to the Justice Department.

Trump instead sought to “obstruct” the investigation and “conceal” his possession of classified documents, according to the indictment.

Trying to evade the investigators, Trump initially proposed that his lawyer simply tell them that “there are no documents,” the indictment says.

Trump eventually agreed to let one of his lawyers search for the documents. But before the lawyer could begin his review, Trump had his aide Walt Nauta move dozens of boxes from a storage room to his residence, concealing the documents from his own attorneys.

Finally on June 3, 2022, Trump’s lawyers turned over 38 additional classified documents, but the alleged concealment led the lawyers to tell the Justice Department that a “diligent search” of Mar-a-Lago had been conducted and no additional documents remained on the premises.

This certification was false, prosecutors say. According to the indictment, Trump knew that not all of the documents had been returned to the Justice Department.

Things came to a head that August when the FBI executed a search of Mar-a-Lago on Aug. 8, seizing an additional 102 classified documents from Trump’s office and a storage room.

The unprecedented search of a former president’s home prompted Trump and his allies to accuse the Biden administration of “weaponizing” the Justice Department and the FBI to go after its enemies. Administration officials denied the accusation.

Classified documents

In all, prosecutors have retrieved more than 300 classified government documents from Trump. The documents bear various classification markings, from confidential and secret to top secret/sensitive compartmented information — the highest level of classification.

The government has not disclosed the content of the documents, but prosecutors have highlighted their subject matter. According to the indictment, the documents “included information regarding defense and weapons capabilities of both the United States and foreign countries; United States nuclear programs; the potential vulnerabilities of the United States and its allies to military attack; and plans for possible retaliation in response to a foreign attack.”

The indictment lists 37 documents that Trump “willfully retained” and failed to return to the government. They were produced by various U.S. intelligence and security agencies, including the CIA, the National Security Agency and the FBI.

Classification dispute

As president, Trump had access to all classified government documents. But after his term ended, he was not authorized to possess or retain them, prosecutors say.

To view national security documents, former presidents can seek a waiver of the “need to know” requirement. Trump “did not obtain any such waiver after his presidency,” the indictment says.

Trump has claimed he had a “standing order” to declassify all documents taken from the Oval Office to the White House residence, suggesting that the government records found in his possession were declassified.

While Trump had the authority to declassify any government document as president, some legal experts have questioned his assertion about a blanket order.

What is more, prosecutors say the former president knew the documents he had taken to Mar-a-Lago remained classified.

The indictment cites two occasions during which Trump showed secret documents to unauthorized individuals while acknowledging they were classified.

In July 2021, during an audio-recorded meeting at his New Jersey golf club with former chief of staff Mark Meadows and the publisher of Meadow’s upcoming memoir, Trump allegedly showed a “plan of attack” that he claimed had been prepared for him by the Pentagon and senior military officials. Describing the plan as “highly confidential” and “secret,” Trump said, “As president I could have declassified it,” adding that “Now, I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.”

Then in August or September 2021, Trump allegedly showed a representative of his political action committee a classified map related to a military operation, telling the representative that Trump “should not be showing it to (him) and that (he) should not get too close,” according to the indictment. The representative did not have a security clearance.

Federal indictment

The indictment accuses Trump of violating seven separate laws, including 31 counts of “willful retention” of national defense information under the Espionage Act.

Each violation of the Espionage Act provision is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

The six other charges are for conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding and corruptly concealing a document or record, concealing a document in a federal investigation, and concealing his possession of classified documents from the FBI and the grand jury.

The charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice, withholding and corruptly concealing a document or record, and concealing a document in a federal investigation carry up to 20 years in prison.

The final count of “scheme to conceal” carries a maximum term of five years.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Other cases

To undercut the legitimacy of the indictment, Trump and his allies have criticized the Justice Department, saying it has allowed other officials, such as President Joe Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence, to get away with mishandling classified documents.

But legal experts say the Trump case is different from theirs. Biden’s lawyers have said they gave back 16 classified documents as soon as they found them at Biden’s former office in Washington and his home in Delaware.

About a dozen classified documents were found at Pence’s home in Indiana and were turned over to NARA.

Neither Biden nor Pence is accused of “willfully retaining” the documents and refusing to give them back.

A special counsel, Robert Hur, is examining Biden’s handling of the documents.

But even if Biden is found to have mishandled classified documents, he would probably not face any charges because the Justice Department has long taken the position that a sitting president cannot be indicted, says Jordan Strauss, a former Justice Department official who is now a managing director at Kroll, a risk consult firm.

“I think the most likely outcome of the special counsel’s investigation of President Biden is a report that says something like, ‘We would or would not have recommended an indictment were this not the president,’” Strauss said.

The Justice Department told Pence this month it had closed its investigation and would not charge him.

Presidential campaign

John Malcolm, a former federal prosecutor who is a vice president at the Heritage Foundation, said no laws bar Trump from running for president, even if he is found guilty.

“There have been people who have run for office from prison cells,” Malcolm said.

In 2002, former Representative Jim Traficant ran for his old congressional seat while serving a prison sentence for corruption.
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