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Baba Vanga, cuyo nombre real era Vangelia Pandeva Dimitrova nació en Strumica, en un pueblo situado al pie de una cordillera volcánica en lo que entonces era el Imperio Otomano.

Según el folklore, ella llevó una vida normal hasta los 12 años de edad, cuando misteriosamente perdió la vista durante una tormenta masiva, esta fue descrita por algunos como un tornado monstruoso. La joven fue arrojada al aire y luego se precipitó al suelo por una potente ráfaga de viento.

Lo que sucedió después es desconocido pero su familia según los informes, la encontró en un estado terrible varios días más tarde, con los ojos lesionados, sellados y con incrustaciones de una gruesa capa de polvo y suciedad. Como eran demasiado pobres para pagar por atención especializada, la joven quedo relegada a una vida de ceguera.

Vanga indicó más adelante que ella había experimentado su primera visión durante los días en que casi pierde la vida, y creía que estas habían sido infundidas debido a su condición, más adelante descubrió que contaba con la capacidad de curar a la gente y predecir el futuro.

Ella fue capaz de convencer a los demás de sus poderes paranormales y rápidamente se desarrolló un culto. Se convirtió en la salida psíquica de los ricos y poderosos, además de sus admiradores, entre ellos jefes de estado, los científicos e historiadores, que venían de todas partes del mundo para estar en su compañía.

Baba Vanga y sus terribles predicciones

Esta mujer predijo infinidad de sucesos con éxito, desde lo ocurrido a las torres gemelas el 11/9/2001, hasta el tsunami del 2004, a continuación te dejaremos las predicciones de Baba Vanga a partir del 2016:

2016: “musulmanes” invadirán Europa, que “dejara de existir” tal como la conocemos. La campaña subsiguiente de la destrucción va a durar años, expulsando a las poblaciones y dejando todo el continente “casi vacío”.

2023: La órbita de la Tierra va a cambiar (nadie sabe realmente lo que esto significa).

2025: La población de Europa llegará a casi cero.

2028: La humanidad va a volar a Venus, con la esperanza de encontrar nuevas fuentes de energía.

2033: Los niveles mundiales de agua aumentarán, a medida que las capas de hielo polar se derriten (esto ya está sucediendo).

2043: transformación de Europa en un califato islámico se ha completado. Roma se llama la capital. La economía mundial se desarrolla bajo el dominio musulmán.

2066: América hará una nueva arma el cambio climático, por primera vez, en un intento de volver a tomar Roma y traer de vuelta el cristianismo.

2076: El comunismo volverá a Europa y el resto del mundo.

2084: La naturaleza renace (nadie está realmente seguro de lo que esto significa).

2100: hechos por el hombre, un sol artificial ilumina el lado oscuro del planeta (Esto ya se encuentran en proyecto – desde el año 2008, los científicos han estado trabajando en la creación de un sol artificial utilizando la tecnología de fusión nuclear).

2130: Con la ayuda de los extraterrestres, civilizaciones van a vivir bajo el agua.

2170: gran sequía global.

2187: Dos grandes erupciones volcánicas se detendrán con éxito.

2201: Las temperaturas caen como procesos termonucleares del sol.

2262: Los planetas van a cambiar lentamente órbitas. Marte se verá amenazada por un cometa.

2354: Un accidente en el sol artificial resultará en más sequía.

2480: Dos soles artificiales chocarán y dejar la Tierra en la oscuridad.

3005: Una guerra en Marte va a cambiar la trayectoria del planeta.

3010: Un cometa llegará a la luna. La Tierra estará rodeada por un anillo de rocas y cenizas.

3797: En ese momento, todo en la Tierra morirá. Sin embargo, la civilización humana seguirá avanzado lo suficiente como para pasar a un nuevo sistema de estrellas.

 

Source Article from http://www.latribuna.hn/2016/06/26/mujer-predijo-la-caida-las-torres-gemelas-malas-noticias-2016/

Durante un mítin en Halloween, Trump posó con una máscara de sí mismo. Para los analistas, el presidente electo usó una máscara de promesas populistas para hacerse con el poder. | Fuente: AFP

La victoria de Donald Trump tomó por sorpresa a Estados Unidos y al mundo. Miles de millones de persona vieron este martes por la noche cómo el candidato republicano venció a la favorita de todas las encuestas y el stablishment político, Hillary Clinton. Hubo una pregunta común: ¿cómo pudo el inexperimentado, políticamente incorrecto y a menudo ofensivo empresario vencer a la ex Secretaria de Estado (2009-13), senadora (2001-09) y primera dama (1993-2001)? RPP Noticias consultó con especialistas.

1. Un outsider para los excluidos. Para el internacionalista Óscar Chiappa, la victoria de Trump es la de los políticos no tradicionales. “A nivel mundial se percibe un claro hartazgo con la política tradicional y con los políticos tradicionales”, dice. El éxito del Brexit en el Reino Unido, la crisis de los partidos viejos en España y Latinoamérica, y el auge de organizaciones de extrema derecha en Europa vienen a la mente. En el Perú tenemos los fracasos electorales de los expresidentes Alan García y Alejandro Toledo, el súbito ascenso y la caída de Ollanta Humala, la aparición de Verónika Mendoza o Julio Guzmán, y el caso sui generis de PPK: un técnico vinculado a varios gobiernos, pero con una imagen ‘fresca’ y carismática para los jóvenes.

Este hartazgo no es accidental. Según Chiappa, su raíz está en la globalización, el acelerado desarrollo tecnológico y en el sentimiento de exclusión que estos fenómenos generan. Son disfrutados por la clase media y alta, pero no son vistos con buenos ojos por los más pobres. Como explica un reportaje de El País, los estados que concentran la mayor tasa de pobreza del país son casi una nación dentro de otra nación, una ‘America blanca’ rural y pobre que fue la base del voto de Trump.

No es coincidencia que Mississipi, West Virginia, Arkansas, Kentucky y Alabama, los cinco estados con menor ingreso económico por hogar (U.S. Deparment of Justice , 2014), hayan votado masivamente por Trump. Tampoco es casualidad que todos pertenezcan a la zona central del país, históricamente pobre y republicana, pero en búsqueda de nuevos líderes. “Esto moviliza a sectores que van quedando desplazados por estos procesos y se convierte en la base electoral para discursos populistas como el del señor Trump”, dice Chiappa. Según una estadística de la CNN, el 78% de las personas que dijeron que su situación económica empeoró en los últimos  hace 4 años, votó por el millonario.

Para Óscar Chiappa, el triunfo de Trump es la derrota de los políticos tradicionales. | Fuente: RPP | Fotógrafo: Judith Vicente

2. Hacer a EE.UU. grandioso de nuevo. Su condición de ‘Mesías de los olvidados’ fue de la mano con un discurso claro, el de un Estados Unidos en caos que debía volver a ser como era antes. Este sentimiento fue resumido en su eslogan Make America Great Again o Hagamos a América grandiosa de nuevo. ¿Cómo era este país según Trump? Una América ‘blanca’, con oportunidades para la población rural, sin migrantes latinos que roban trabajos y carteras, y sin terrorismo.

“Es la idealización de la América anterior. Lo hacen todos los nacionalistas y populistas de cualquier parte del mundo, en cualquier época. Es muy fácil idealizar y decir que todo tiempo pasado fue mejor, porque el presente siempre implica el momento de la lucha, el cambio constante de las cosas a un nivel privado, nacional y mundial”, dijo a este medio el internacionalista Ariel Segal. El problema, para él, es que esta imagen no es acertada y que las soluciones propuestas no son realizables.

“Hizo creer que el crimen está muchísimo peor de lo que realmente está, que los latinos le quitaban trabajo a la población ‘blanca’, lo que es falso, y que los inmigrantes están entrando de manera incontrolable, cuando las estadísticas dicen que en los últimos tres años son más los mexicanos que volvieron a su país que los que entraron a EE.UU.”, explica Segal. Según los datos de CNN, el 84% de los que creen que los inmigrantes ilegales deben ser deportados, votaron por Trump.

“Es lamentable. Muchos de los que votaron por él no tiene el nivel educativo para entender que varias de sus propuestas están alejadas de la realidad”, agrega Chiappa. El mejor ejemplo es su propuesta emblema: un muro en la frontera con México. Sus seguidores creen en la promesa, pero informes de medios como Newsweek y opiniones de ingenieros indican que su construcción es casi imposible e impráctica.

Para Ariel Segal, el de Trump “está sumamente ligado a los movimientos nacionalistas y populistas, y también a la distorsión de la realidad”. | Fuente: RPP | Fotógrafo: Edson Salas

3. La rival soñada. ¿Cómo combates a un carismático populista apoyado por el odio a los políticos tradicionales? Según los demócratas, con un político tradicional cuyo punto débil es el carisma. El partido de Obama respondió al huracán Trump con Hillary Clinton, una mujer con 25 años en política: exprimera dama de Bill Clinton (1993-2001), senadora por Nueva York (2001-09) y Secretaria de Estado (2009-2013). Si bien es reconocida por su experiencia, Obama la llamó “el candidato más calificado de la historia”, es rechazada por casi todos los republicanos por su participación en los últimos gobiernos demócratas.

“Clinton representa al orden político establecido, respecto al cual hay un gran hartazgo en la opinión pública. Tuvo una conducta absolutamente autodestructiva. Haber usado un servidor privado para la correspondencia oficial le dio el argumento ideal a los republicanos y a Donald Trump para cuestionar su integridad y su actitud para ser presidente de los Estados Unidos. Eso, junto a otros factores, caló en el electorado”, explica nuevamente Schiaffa.

Este escándalo de los correos durante su época como Secretario de Estado y la respectiva investigación del FBI, revivió una semana antes de las elecciones y redujo la ventaja de varios puntos que tenía entonces sobre su rival republicano. La combinación de estos tres factores resultó en la noticia de la que todo el mundo habla, entre la incertidumbre, la incredulidad y la alegría de casi el 50% de los estadounidenses: Trump será el nuevo inquilino de la Casa Blanca.

En su programa ‘Last Week Tonight’, el periodista y comediante John Oliver expuso por qué el proyecto del muro de Trump es irrealizable. Sus esfuerzos y los de sus colegas, sin embargo, no frenaron al hoy presidente electo. | Fuente: HBO/Last Week Tonight
Este miércoles al mediodía, Clinton reconoció la derrota y deseo que Trump “tenga un gobierno exitoso”. Obama dijo sentirse esperanzado por el tono conciliador del empresario durante su primer discurso tras las elecciones. | Fuente: AFP

Source Article from http://rpp.pe/mundo/estados-unidos/por-que-donald-trump-gano-las-elecciones-de-estados-unidos-noticia-1008679

Putin ha intentado relanzar sus relaciones con Cuba, un aliado de vieja data.

El presidente de Rusia, Vladimir Putin, aterrizó este viernes en La Habana, Cuba, pocos días después de que el parlamento de su país, la Duma, anunciara una decisión que según el mandatario no tiene “precedentes”: condonar el 90% de la deuda cubana con Moscú.

El total de la deuda, procedente en su mayoría de préstamos contraídos en la época soviética, asciende a US$35.000 millones. El país caribeño, por tanto, sólo deberá encargarse de los restantes US$3.500 millones, que según Moscú serán invertidos en proyectos conjuntos de inversión en la isla.

Putin explicó, en una entrevista que dio antes de su viaje a las agencias Itar-Tass y Prensa Latina, que la decisión es una prueba de la “naturaleza estratégica” de la relación bilateral, que está fundamentada en “una larga tradición de amistad fuerte, así como una experiencia rica y en muchos casos única de cooperación fructífera”.

Esa cooperación entre dos países que fueron aliados clave durante la Guerra Fría se manifestará en la visita de Putin a través de una serie de acuerdos comerciales en áreas como la exploración petrolífera.

Pero al condonar la deuda, Putin también está enviando un mensaje político sobre su alianza con La Habana, en una época en que Estados Unidos y la Unión Europea han tratado de aislar a Moscú por cuenta de su anexión de la península de Crimea y su política en Ucrania.

Pocos meses antes de este viaje, el canciller ruso Sergei Lavrov había viajado a la isla, donde agradeció el “firme apoyo” del gobierno cubano, que rechazó las sanciones impuestas por Occidente a Moscú.

“La visita de Putin a Cuba se inscribe en una política rusa más activa hacia América Latina, una política motivada por la búsqueda de nuevos balances en el equilibrio de poderes, ante los problemas que Rusia está experimentando en su vecindad”, le dijo a BBC Mundo Arturo López Levy, un analista cubano de la Facultad de Estudios Internacionales Joseph Korbel, en la Universidad de Denver.

Después de La Habana, Putin viajará a Argentina y Brasil, donde participará en una cumbre del grupo BRICS, que reúne a Brasil, China, India, Rusia y Sudáfrica.

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Lea también: En plena crisis con Ucrania, ¿qué busca el canciller ruso en América Latina?

Asegurar mercados

Una de las razones por las que Rusia condonó la deuda cubana es para afianzar los lazos comerciales con la isla.

Putin explicó en su entrevista que el principal objetivo de la agenda bilateral es expandir las relaciones económicas, que se vieron afectadas tras el colapso de la Unión Soviética en los años 90.

El mandatario habló de “recuperar el terreno perdido” con Cuba y de llevar la cooperación “totalmente a un nuevo nivel” de la mano de proyectos económicos conjuntos. Esto se enmarca en la decisión de perdonarle a Cuba su deuda millonaria.

“Putin está tratando de asegurar mercados”, le dice a BBC Mundo Otto Raúl Tielemans, investigador del Consejo de Asuntos Hemisféricos (COHA, por sus siglas en inglés), un centro de estudios con sede en Washington.

Después de La Habana, Putin viajará a Brasil y Argentina.

“Al condonar el 90% de esa deuda, la administración cubana indudablemente será más amable con las empresas rusas”, agrega.

A corto plazo, Rusia está buscando explorar petróleo en las costas cubanas con acuerdos entre las empresas estatales rusas Rosneft y Zarubezhneft con la cubana Cupet.

Cuba calcula que tiene hasta 20.000 millones de barriles de petróleo en su lecho marino, si bien el Servicio Geológico de Estados Unidos dice que serían más bien unos 4.600 millones, de acuerdo con la información publicada por la agencia de noticias Reuters.

Otros proyectos conjuntos, según explicó Putin, son la construcción de equipos de energía eléctrica rusos o el interés de empresas basadas en Moscú que se especializan en la producción de plástico, autopartes y maquinaria pesada para la industria ferroviaria.

Política

El otro lado de la moneda es que Moscú quiere señalar, al perdonar la deuda, que le interesa relanzar su relación con Cuba, como dice López Levy.

El analista explica que así como durante la Guerra Fría Cuba fue un “país bisagra” entre la Unión Soviética y los países del llamado Tercer Mundo, ahora, en un contexto diferente, puede servir de bisagra entre Rusia y algunos países en la región.

Los vínculos entre La Habana y Moscú son históricos, como evidencia esta foto de Fidel Castro y Nikita Jrushchov.

En particular, López Levy se refiere a los miembros de la Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América (ALBA), que a su vez son importantes en la Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribeños (Celac), que fue fundada en 2010 como “alternativa” a la Organización de Estados Americanos (OEA) coordinada desde Washington.

El mismo Putin alabó, antes de llegar a La Habana, el interés de la Celac de buscar relaciones con Rusia y resaltó cómo esa entidad regional quiere convertirse en un foro relevante sin la “interferencia agresiva de fuerzas externas”.

Este interés ruso en Cuba, y de ahí a buena parte de América Latina, se enmarca en el contexto internacional creado por la crisis ucraniana de principios de año, que llevó a Washington y Bruselas a tratar de aislar política y económicamente a Moscú.

“De manera simbólica, si Rusia quiere tener un mayor peso en América Latina, empezará con los países que tienen relaciones pobres con Estados Unidos y que están algo aislados por cuenta de eso”, le dice a BBC Mundo Adam Isacson, analista de seguridad regional de la Oficina en Washington para América Latina (WOLA, por sus siglas en inglés), una organización no gubernamental basada en la capital estadounidense.

En ese contexto, agrega, “Cuba es el sine qua non“.

Por tanto, en la decisión rusa de perdonar la mayoría de la deuda cubana se juntan dos razones: un interés de fortalecer los lazos comerciales y una búsqueda de alianzas políticas renovadas.

En abril, el ministro de Relaciones Exteriores de Rusia, Sergei Lavrov, se reunió con su contraparte cubana, Bruno Rodríguez.

Source Article from http://www.bbc.co.uk/mundo/noticias/2014/07/140711_rusia_cuba_visita_deuda_tsb.shtml

Image copyright
AP

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Esta es la imagen que tenían las autoridades de Paul Erven Jackson que corresponde al tiempo en que fue capturado en 1990.

Un hombre sospechoso de secuestrar y torturar a dos mujeres en el estado de Oregon, Estados Unidos, fue arrestado en México en la madrugada de este martes.

Hasta ahí, una noticia policial que podría pasar como cualquier otra. Lo curioso es que Paul Erven Jackson, el nombre del sospechoso, había pasado los últimos 24 años huyendo de la justicia estadounidense.

Lea: Intensa búsqueda de dos reos peligrosos tras cinematográfica fuga de cárcel de EE.UU.

Jackson fue arrestado por las autoridades de migración en un hotel de la ciudad mexicana de Guadalajara, donde se había mudado con una nueva identidad.

Y aunque había evadido el cerco policial durante las últimas dos décadas y media, fue después de que la cadena de noticias CNN publicara un reportaje, titulado “La cacería”, que alguien dio pistas que condujeron a su captura.

Dos hermanos

De acuerdo al reporte de la policía, Jackson y su hermano secuestraron y abusaron de dos mujeres a finales de los años 80.

Ese mismo año ambos fueron arrestados, pero 12 meses después desaparecieron sin dejar rastro cuando se les dio un permiso especial para visitar a su madre fuera de la prisión.

Su hermano Robert se entregó a la policía en 2006 y fue sentenciado a 108 años de prisión por secuestro, violación, sodomía y abuso sexual.

Mientras tanto Jackson aparecía en los medios con el rótulo del hombre “más buscado en Estados Unidos”, hasta su captura esta semana.

Image copyright
AP

Image caption

Esta es la imágen de Paul Jackson en el momento de su captura ocurrida este lunes.

Ahora espera en una prisión de Los Ángeles la acusación formal por parte de la Justicia de su país.

Siempre lo perseguimos con todos los recursos que teníamos, así que estamos bastante felices de haber logrado su captura“, dijo el subjefe del comisario de Estados Unidos, Eric Wahlstrom.

Lo único que se sabe hasta ahora de su vida en México es que vivía bajo el nombre de Paul Bennet Hamilton.

Las acusaciones sobre Jackson indican que en 1988, cuando tenía 20 años, secuestró a una mujer y la llevo a la casa de su hermano en la ciudad de Portland.

La mujer testificó tiempo después de sufrió abusos durante una semana entera. Acusó a los dos hermanos de encadenarla a una cama y tratarla como una esclava sexual.

Dos años después, los hermanos volvieron a atacar. Pero la segunda víctima, una menor de 17 de años, escapó de su cautiverio y logró avisar a las autoridades.

Source Article from http://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias/2015/09/150930_internacional_fugitivo_estados_unidos_captura_amv


MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto faced fresh questions on Wednesday about his dealings with a company at the center of a conflict-of-interest scandal, after it emerged that he enjoyed rent-free use of a house belonging to the firm as a campaign office.

Already under pressure over the government’s handling of the presumed massacre of 43 students abducted by corrupt police in southwestern Mexico in September, Pena Nieto is facing his most difficult period since taking office two years ago.

On Nov. 3, the government announced a Chinese-led consortium had won a no bid contract to build a $3.75 billion high-speed rail link in central Mexico.

Three days later, the government abruptly canceled the deal, just before a report by news site Aristegui Noticias showed that a subsidiary of Grupo Higa, a company that formed part of the consortium and had won various previous contracts, owned the luxury house of first lady Angelica Rivera.

Under public pressure, Rivera said she would give up the house. But neither she nor Pena Nieto have addressed the apparent conflict of interest stemming from the government’s business with Grupo Higa.

On Wednesday, Aristegui Noticias published a new story that said Pena Nieto used a different property belonging to another Grupo Higa subsidiary as an office when he was president-elect in 2012.

Eduardo Sanchez, the president’s spokesman, said Pena Nieto unwittingly used the property. Sanchez said it was leased from the Grupo Higa firm by Humberto Castillejos, the president’s legal adviser, who lent it rent-free to Pena Nieto’s team.

“If I invite you to my house, do you come to my house and ask me under whose name it is? Neither does the president,” Sanchez said, denying there were conflicts of interest.

The spokesman also said there were no more properties Pena Nieto or his team had used belonging to Grupo Higa.

“No, there is no other house that was used in a professional capacity,” Sanchez said.

Castillejos could not immediately be reached for comment.

Jorge Luis Lavalle, a senator with the opposition conservative National Action Party, said the public saw a clear conflict of interest in the dealings of Pena Nieto and his government with Grupo Higa.

“It needs to be investigated. All these doubts need to be dispelled fully and clearly,” he said. “We now have another case with no explanation.”

(Additional reporting by Ana Isabel Martinez; Editing by Simon Gardner and Tom Brown)

Source Article from http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/26/us-mexico-president-idUSKCN0JA22220141126

On March 24, 1973, President Richard Nixon told his Attorney General John Mitchell, “I want you all to stonewall it, let them plead the Fifth Amendment, cover-up or anything else, if it’ll save it–save the plan.” That conversation, revealed in a tape during the height of Watergate, led to Mitchell’s indictment on charges of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and perjury for his role in the cover-up of the Watergate scandal and ultimately the resignation of Nixon.

So it’s fitting that last Sunday, on the 46th anniversary of the Watergate Stonewall tape, that we learned Robert Mueller submitted his report to Attorney General William Barr. A three page letter written by Barr did little to tell the American people what the Mueller Report found. It did, however, give Donald Trump a political advantage by creating the impression that he’d been exonerated when it wasn’t true.

Just like Nixon and Mitchell, Trump and Barr are stonewalling.

‘DADDY WON,’ ALEC BALDWIN’S TRUMP BOASTS IN FIRST ‘SNL’ SINCE END OF MUELLER PROBE

After a week of giving Trump the political advantage – boosted by poor reporting and repeated claims of exoneration – a backlash followed about Barr’s stonewall attempt, not only in his three-page letter but also in his refusal to say when he would release the Mueller Report and in what form. That is why on Friday afternoon Barr resorted to damage control that will only result in more damage.

Barr announced he would make a version of the Mueller Report available by the middle of April, almost a month after Mueller submitted it to him, unredacted and with all the evidence. Specifically, a nearly 400-page report with thousands of pages of evidence that Congress and the public may never see if Barr has his way. That is unacceptable.

Congress’ responsibility is to hold the president accountable. They can’t do their job if the full Mueller Report isn’t provided. Anything less than that is the Trump-Barr Stonewall Report, not the Mueller Report.

Furthermore, Barr has no right to opine about the Mueller Report let alone revise or stonewall it. There is nothing in the regulations that govern the special counsel that permits the attorney general to do anything like it. Nothing. Yet Barr has opined three times to date, apparently now editing the Mueller Report, and taking a month to do it. The only job Barr has is to hand over the full Mueller Report, intact with the evidence, and it should have been done last Sunday.

Congress can’t do its job if the full Mueller Report isn’t provided. Anything less than that is the Trump-Barr Stonewall Report, not the Mueller Report.

Barr states he is going to redact all the grand jury testimony from the Mueller Report. That alone will result in a substantial portion of the report being redacted – and it is unnecessary.  A judge can allow the grand jury material to be made public, just as Leon Jaworski did during Watergate, and Ken Starr followed suit in the Bill Clinton investigation. They sought and received permission from federal judges to release grand jury material. Starr, furthermore, submitted his report and evidence, equally voluminous to the Mueller Report, and it was made public within 48 hours of its completion.

The fact is there is no reason to believe Barr is an honest broker, and every reason to believe he is doing Trump’s bidding. If the Mueller Report exonerated Trump, then it would have been released in its entirety last Sunday, not sometime in mid-April with redactions, omissions, and interpretations by Barr, followed by his promised Congressional testimony in May.

Barr, in fact, has a history of stonewalling and helping presidents avoid the consequences of investigations. The last time Barr served as attorney general, during the Iran-Contra investigation, the late New York Times columnist William Safire referred to him as the “Cover Up General” because he rejected calls to appoint an independent counsel that could have ensnared many members of the Reagan administration, including himself.

Barr finally relented when members of Congress considered impeaching him, and appointed Lawrence Walsh as special counsel, allowing Barr to oversee Walsh even though he was under scrutiny in the investigation. It was also reported that Barr then considered firing Walsh for “misconduct,” believing his investigation cost Bush re-election.

After the 1992 election, Barr then proceeded to help President George H.W. Bush grant pardons to six figures in the Iran-Contra case, including former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger as he was about to go on trial to face charges about lying to Congress. That action undercut the Iran-Contra investigation and Special Counsel Walsh. When the pardons were announced Walsh said, “It demonstrates that powerful people with powerful allies can commit serious crimes in high office, deliberately abusing the public trust without consequences”.

Barr’s record of stonewalling is clear. The fact that Barr was confirmed by the Republican-controlled Senate based on his record is stunning. Now, it is clear that his record is the reason Barr was picked as attorney general.

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The only way to know if a conspiracy or obstruction of justice has been committed by Trump is to provide the full Mueller Report to Congress and to the public. The American people deserve the truth, the full truth, and nothing but the truth. As we have learned throughout our country’s history, and especially during Watergate, you can’t stonewall the truth. Not even Trump and Barr.

And if they continue to stonewall, then Trump and Barr will face the consequences rendered by the American people and history…just like Nixon and Mitchell.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE FROM MARY ANNE MARSH

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/trump-and-barr-are-stonewalling-on-the-mueller-investigation-just-like-nixon-did-on-watergate

A federal appeals court in California took action Friday that would temporarily allow the Trump administration to return asylum seekers to Mexico.

The decision is in response to the Trump administration’s emergency motion filing from Thursday asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco to stop a nationwide injunction that would bar the government from continuing its policy of forcing migrants to wait in Mexico as their asylum cases play out.

The court asked that opposition to the emergency motion be filed by Tuesday, 9 a.m. local time.

The government’s motion said the injunction issued Monday by U.S. District Court Judge Richard Seeborg rested on “serious errors of law” and blocked an initiative “designed to address the dramatically escalating burdens of unauthorized migration.”

The administration had asked for an administrative stay that would take place immediately and remain in place while the court considers the issue of a longer stay while the appeals process plays out in a possibly months-long process.

The American Civil Liberties Union had asked the court earlier Friday to deny the emergency request that would keep in place the administration’s policy of returning asylum-seekers to Mexico while they wait for court dates.

In response to the judge’s decision Friday evening, Judy Rabinovitz, who argued the case for the ACLU, said, “this is just an interim step while the court considers the government’s stay request.”

“We’re very disappointed in the 9th Circuit’s decision and we hope that the stay will be short-lived,” Melissa Crow, senior supervising attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center, said Friday night. The group is part of the lawsuit seeking to stop the policy.

“The plaintiffs and others like them are very vulnerable to harm in Mexico and should be able to pursue their asylum claims in the United States,” she added.

The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the decision.

The organizations seeking to stop the policy of returning migrants to Mexico said in a brief earlier Friday that the government’s request should be denied and that there was not “sufficient urgency” to warrant an administrative stay.

“The government should not be allowed to manufacture the need for an emergency administrative stay by failing to timely file a stay request,” the brief said.

In issuing a preliminary injunction temporarily stopping the policy, Seeborg had ordered that it go into effect Friday to give the administration time to appeal.

“It was a huge victory for us and it’s a huge defeat for the Trump administration at least in terms of a signal that you are not above the law,” Rabinovitz said of Seeborg’s ruling.

Seeborg also ruled that all 11 migrants named in the lawsuit must be allowed to enter the U.S. within two days of the order taking effect.

While the order was not set to officially go into effect until Friday, an official with Mexico’s immigration agency told NBC News the government had not been returning newly arrived migrants to Mexico since the judge issued his decision on Monday.

Source Article from https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/trump-admin-files-emergency-request-stay-order-blocking-return-asylum-n993991

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Al menos una decena de países dijeron que no reconocerán los resultados de la Constituyente en Venezuela.

Por un lado, la “fiesta constituyente”. Por el otro, la cruda violencia en las protestas opositoras. Y mientras tanto, un pronunciamiento casi unánime de parte de miembros de la comunidad internacional: “Desconocemos la Constituyente en Venezuela”.

Este 30 de julio, el ansiado día que el gobierno de Nicolás Maduro celebró sus elecciones para una Asamblea Nacional Constituyente, se dio quizá el golpe internacional más duro que haya recibido la revolución bolivariana en sus 18 años en el poder.

El viernes fue Colombia, pero el domingo se añadieron Panamá, Perú, Argentina,Brasil, México, Costa Rica, Suiza, Chile, España y Estados Unidos a la lista de países que no reconocen los resultados de las elecciones para la Constituyente.

A ellos se suma el rechazo de la Organización de Estados Americanos, el Parlamento Europeo y decenas de organizaciones no gubernamentales que defienden los derechos humanos.

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El domingo de elecciones ha sido el día con más muertes desde que comenzaron las protestas en abril.

Y está la posibilidad, reportada como un hecho en medios estadounidenses, de que el presidente de ese país, Donald Trump, imponga sanciones económicas a Venezuela, que depende de la exportación de petróleo a Estados Unidos.

No es usual que un país rechace el proceso electoral de otro, pero sí existe la figura de desconocer a un gobierno que se considera ilegítimo y estos pronunciamientos del domingo parecen un paso en ese sentido.

El resultado puede ser que la relación de Venezuela con estos países se rompa, lo que quizá no tenga efectos inmediatos en la política interna del país, pero sí en la economía de una nación que ya sufre una recesión de cuatro años y depende de las importaciones.

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El petróleo ha sido el motor de la economía en Venezuela pero la baja en el precio internacional del crudo afectó gravemente al país.

Lo que dice el gobierno

El gobierno revolucionario ha llamado las recientes críticas desde el exterior como una nueva injerencia de la “derecha imperialista” en la política local.

Desde el golpe de Estado que sufrió Hugo Chávez en 2002, que el mandatario vio como un ataque auspiciado por Estados Unidos, la revolución ha visto cada reprimenda internacional como un intento de “invadir Venezuela” y hacerse de sus reservas de crudo, estimadas como las más grandes del mundo.

El gobierno, además, mantiene cierto apoyo de importantes potencias como China y Rusia y de decenas de países caribeños, así como de Nicaragua y Bolivia.

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La gente en Venezuela debe hacer largas filas para conseguir alimentos en medio de la crisis económica que atraviesa el país.

Este domingo, el chavismo dijo no estar preocupado por los pronunciamientos en contra.

“Venezuela preside el grupo de Países No Alineados, son dos tercios del mundo”, dijo Jorge Rodríguez, influyente dirigente chavista, quien relativizó la importancia de los pronunciamientos.

Y puso el ejemplo del mandatario colombiano Juan Manuel Santos, que en las últimas semanas ha aseverado su posición contra Maduro: “Hoy votó más gente que la que eligió a Santos en Colombia”, aseguró.

Diosdado Cabello, otro peso pesado del chavismo, dijo que “lo que pasa es que la comunidad internacional está preocupada de que en sus países se levanten procesos revolucionarios como este”.

“En realidad (los que rechazan la Constituyente) son los gobiernos, no los pueblos. En Chile, en Ecuador, en Europa recibí mensajes de apoyo”, informó.

“Los gobiernos se ensañan con Venezuela porque acá hay un proyecto distinto”, concluyó, resaltando los programas sociales chavistas que según él no hay en otros países.

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Colombia fue el primer país que mostró rechazo al resultado de los comicios en Venezuela.

Los argumentos para desconocer

Con un promedio de un muerto al día en cuatro meses de protestas opositoras, el rechazo hacia el gobierno de Maduro ha ido aumentando en los últimos meses.

Muchos, en coincidencia con la oposición venezolana, creen que la Constituyente puede “consolidar la dictadura” e “ilegalizar la disidencia”, profundizando la crisis económica que inició hace cuatro años.

Perú rompió relaciones en abril y este domingo dijo que “esta elección viola normas de la Constitución venezolana y contraviene la voluntad soberana del pueblo”.

Nikki Haley, embajadora de Estados Unidos ante las Naciones Unidas, aseguró el domingo que las elecciones son “fraudulentas” y “otro paso hacia la dictadura”.

Brasil, por su parte, opinó que la Constituyente es un “camino seguro para el agravamiento de la crisis” y una medida “que expone abiertamente la intención de Maduro de perpetuarse en el poder”.

Y así, uno a uno, se han ido acumulando los comunicados de países vecinos o importantes socios comerciales que rechazan la Constituyente.

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Las protestas a favor y en contra del gobierno de Maduro ocuparon las calles de Venezuela desde abril.

Lo que puede venir

La pregunta es qué implica realmente que un país esté aislado en el mundo globalizado de hoy en día.

Lo primero que habrá que ver, en especial si se producen las sanciones económicas al sector petrolero venezolano, es cómo reacciona el gobierno en su búsqueda de mayor apoyo y acuerdos comerciales con países como India, China y Rusia.

“Es la votación más grande que haya sacado la revolución bolivariana en toda la historia”: Maduro reacciona a los resultados de la Asamblea Constituyente

En este escenario muchos ponen el ejemplo de Cuba, que tras el embargo de Estados Unidos impuesto en 1960 vio cómo su economía, sobre todo después de la caída de su mayor auspiciante, la Unión Soviética, se fue al piso y millones de personas cayeron en la pobreza y sufrieron años de escasez.

Pero el aislamiento de Cuba no significó que el gobierno fuera menos popular internamente ni que la estabilidad política se fracturara. Al menos no del todo.

Y, de todas formas, hoy el mundo está más globalizado y los países se ven más afectados por lo que ocurre en el escenario internacional.

En eso, pocos países son como Venezuela, que si bien tiene un gobierno autodeclarado antiimperialista, es profundamente dependiente de lo que ocurre en otras naciones.

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Los venezolanos votaron este domingo para elegir a los miembros que formarán la Asamblea Nacional Constituyente que reformará la Constitución.

El 70% de lo que consumen los venezolanos viene del exterior, el Estado tiene importante activos en el extranjero y el 95% de sus ingresos son de la venta petrolera.

Todos esos vínculos comerciales se ponen en riesgo cuando se rompen las relaciones de Venezuela con otros países.

Más rechazo de la comunidad internacional puede que no acabe con la crisis política y social del país. Incluso puede profundizarla.

Pero también puede conseguir que Maduro se sienta contra las cuerdas y acceda a lo que le piden la oposición y la comunidad internacional.

El mundo, en todo caso, tiene los ojos en Venezuela.

Source Article from http://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-america-latina-40772187

A physician speaking with CNN’s “New Day” knocked the Biden administration on Tuesday, arguing that the White House “dropped the ball” on COVID-19 testing.

During an interview with CNN’s Chief White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins, Brown University School of Public Health Dean Dr. Ashish K. Jha was asked whether the administration was missing a “critical window” for COVID testing heading into the new year.  

“You saw President Biden yesterday acknowledging, pretty bluntly, that they need to do better when it comes to testing because we are seeing this nationwide shortage of those rapid at-home tests. It’s very difficult to just walk into a store and get one. And what we’re hearing from officials like Dr. Fauci is that they believe they’re gonna have this solved by mid-January, in a few weeks. But, how critical is the window that we’re missing right now for testing?” asked Collins.

CNN REPORTER KNOCKS BIDEN OVER INTERVIEW ON COVID TEST SHORTAGES: HE ‘SEEMS CONFUSED’

“Oh I think it’s incredibly critical, and I cannot believe this is where we are almost two years into the pandemic. Everybody saw it coming. We knew we needed more tests. I think the administration dropped the ball on this,” Jha responded.

Jha said that the Biden administration appeared to be primarily focused on vaccinations throughout the year while “not paying a lot of attention” to the importance of testing. He added that while a focus on vaccines is “terrific,” the decision to largely ignore the infrastructure for testing has been “really costly” this holiday season. 

A few CNN correspondents have recently criticized the president for his handling of the pandemic. 

REPORTERS ASK BIDEN IF TESTING SHORTAGE IS A FAILURE FOR THE ADMINISTRATION

CNN reporter Phil Mattingly questioned last week whether the administration’s inability to adequately prepare for the latest variant with testing should be considered a “failure.”

“No, it’s not,” Biden responded. “Because COVID is spreading so rapidly if you notice. It just happened almost overnight just in the last month. And so, it’s not a failure, but an alarm bell went off. I don’t think anybody anticipated that this was going to be as rapidly spreading as it did.”

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Biden again admitted to a lack of foresight on rapid tests in a call with several U.S. governors on Monday, saying, “It is not enough. It’s clearly not enough. If I had – we – had known, we would have gone harder, quicker, if we could have.”

Fox News’ Brandon Gillespie contributed to this report. 

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/media/physician-cnn-biden-dropped-ball-covid-testing-omicron

President Biden raised concerns about global warming during remarks on what could have potentially contributed to the Surfside Condo collapse near Miami last week. 

The president said he doesn’t have any “firm proof” on what caused the collapse that left 18 dead and 145 still missing, but that there was all kinds of “rational speculation,” including “whether or not rising sea levels had impact.” 

Biden spent three hours with the families of the victims, after touring the scene of the 12-story collapse, and said he was surprised how many of them talked about the impact of global warming. “I didn’t raise it. But many of the survivors and many families talked about the impact of global warming,” the president said. 

“They didn’t know exactly but they talked about sea levels rising, a combination of that and concern about incoming tropical storms.” 

VIDEO SHOWS WATER GUSHING INTO GARAGE BEFORE BUILDING FELL

Biden said the victims’ loved ones are “going through hell” right now. “It’s hard enough to lose somebody but the hard part, the really hard part, is to just not know whether they’re surviving or not,” he added in a nod to the so many who are missing. He said the families were “very realistic” about the slimming chances of survival with each passing day. 

“They had basic, heart-wrenching questions, ‘Will I be able to recover the body? How can I have closure without getting to bury them?” Biden said of the families he spoke with. He said speaking with the victims called to mind his own experience with personal tragedy, having lost his daughter and wife in a car crash and his son Beau to cancer. 

Search and rescue efforts were paused in the middle of the night due to concerns about building stability after a large column hanging from a structure had shifted. 

An engineering firm in 2018 had identified key structural deficiencies requiring major costly repairs in 2018, but a former municipal official assured the condo’s board members that the building was in “very good shape.” 

LIVE UPDATES: BIDEN PRAISES BIPARTISANSHIP IN CONDO COLLAPSE

Biden also thanked Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida Republican Sens. Rick Scott and Marco Rubio and Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, as well as all first responders on the scene. There’s been “no disagreement, no bickering everybody’s on the same page. That’s what America is all about.” The president met with the GOP governor during his trip to Florida and other local officials. 

He told Florida officials the federal government stood ready to assist however it was needed. “This is your show – we just want to make sure whatever you need,” he said. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) said it will conduct a “full technical investigation” into what caused the Champlain Towers South condo building collapse. 

Fox News’ Greg Norman contributed to this report. 

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-global-warming-surfside-condo-collapse

El Partido Republicano de Estados Unidos tiene un inventario de 16 candidatos para escoger quién los representará en las próximas elecciones presidenciales en 2016.

Y aunque esa lista tal vez crezca en las siguientes semanas, por ahora, como favorito en los sondeos asoma el multimillonario Donald Trump.

Lea también: ¿Cómo llegó Donald Trump a ser uno de los hombres más polémicos e influyentes de EE.UU.?

El magnate copa titulares día tras día por sus estridentes comentarios. El primero y seguramente más sonado fue el que tachaba a los inmigrantes mexicanos de delincuentes.

Luego las arremetidas continuaron y así la prominente presencia del candidato en los medios.

Aquí les presentamos una selección de algunas de las frases más coloridas que ha dicho.

1. Sobre la construcción de un hotel por Estado Islámico

“Acaban de construir un hotel en Siria. ¿Pueden creerlo? Están construyendo un hotel. Cuando yo tengo que construir un hotel, pago intereses. Ellos no tienen que pagar intereses porque cogieron todo el petróleo que cuando nos fuimos de Irak, yo dije que deberíamos haber tomado”.

2. Sobre la dieta

“Nunca he visto una persona flaca bebiendo Coca Cola de dieta”.


Los comentarios de Trump sobre los mexicanos durante el lanzamiento de su precandidatura presidencial provocaron fuertes reacciones.

3. Sobre los inmigrantes mexicanos

“Están trayendo sus drogas, están trayendo su crimen. Son violadores y algunos, asumo, son buenas personas”.

4. Sobre la nacionalidad de Obama

Hace tres semanas… pensaba que él probablemente había nacido en este país. Ahora mismo tengo dudas reales…

Trump ofreció donar US$5 millones a causas de caridad si Obama mostraba un certificado que demostrara que había nacido en Estados Unidos. Obama lo hizo.

5. Sobre los protagonistas del show “Crepúsculo”


Donald Trump opinó sobre la infidelidad de la actriz Kristen Steward a su coprotagonista en la serie Crepúsculo.

“Robert Pattinson no debería aceptar de nuevo a Kristen Steward. Le fue infiel como una perra y lo volverá a hacer. Sólo esperen. Él puede conseguir algo mucho mejor”.

6. Sobre China

“¿Cuándo fue la última vez que alguien vio ganarle, digamos, a China, en un acuerdo comercial? Nos matan. Yo le gano a China todo el tiempo. Todo el tiempo”.

7. Sobre el calentamiento global

“El concepto de calentamiento global fue creado por y para los chinos, para volver a la industria manufacturera estadounidense no competitiva”.


A pesar de su polémica campaña, Donald Trump es el número uno en las encuestas del partido republicano.

8. Sobre el regreso de Muamar Gadafi en 2011

“Tuve que lidiar con Gadafi. Le alquilé un pedazo de terreno. Me pagó más por una noche que lo que valía el terreno por dos años y luego no le dejé usarlo. Eso es lo que deberíamos estar haciendo. No quiero usar la palabra ‘joder’, pero yo lo jodí. Eso es lo que deberíamos estar haciendo”.

9. Sobre el sueño americano

“Tristemente, el sueño americano está muerto. Pero si fuera elegido presidente, lo traería de regreso más grande, mejor y más fuerte que nunca y haríamos a Estados Unidos grandioso de nuevo”.

10. Sobre su pelo (respondiéndole a la cantante Cher)

“Cher, yo no uso peluca… Es mío. Y prometo no hablar de tus masivas cirugías plásticas que no funcionaron”.


Varios de estas frases fueron hechas por Trump a través de su cuenta de Twitter.

Source Article from http://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias/2015/07/150722_eeuu_donald_trump_frases_polemicas_ng

Indiana has considered abortion restrictions for years, though it remained a state where many in the region traveled for abortion care. Now, as many nearby states — including Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia — also push for abortion bans, patients may have to travel hundreds of miles in some cases for care, said Elizabeth Nash, a policy expert at the Guttmacher Institute, which supports abortion rights. “Patients in Ohio won’t be able to go to Indiana for access. They’ll have to get to, perhaps, Illinois or Michigan,” she said.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/08/06/indiana-abortion-law/

Jordanian security forces arrived unexpectedly at Moayyad al-Majali’s home one day in October 2019, detaining the lawyer, confiscating his laptop and phones and accusing him of one of the kingdom’s most serious offences.

His crime was slandering the country’s ruler, King Abdullah II, simply by asking a single question: how much land does the king own?

In a country propped up by billions of dollars in international financial aid – and where unemployment has nearly doubled over the past seven years – the topic is considered too sensitive for the Jordanian public to know about.

But today, the Guardian can reveal part of the answer, thanks to documents that form the Pandora papers, the largest ever trove of leaked offshore data.

The files expose that the Arab world’s longest-serving current monarch has spent the past decades amassing an international luxury property empire worth well in excess of $100m (£74m), with its footprint stretching from the clifftops of Malibu, California, to Washington DC and on to central London’s most exclusive postcodes.

Abdullah built this property empire showing the same zeal for secrecy he has demonstrated when asked about his finances at home. He has disguised his ownership through a series of offshore companies incorporated in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) , according to records shared by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists with the Guardian, the BBC and other media outlets around the world.

The multimillion-dollar properties were acquired as US economic and military aid to Jordan quadrupled and Jordanian citizens were subjected to austerity as part of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout for the resource-poor country.

Abdullah acquired three clifftop properties on California’s Malibu coast. Photograph: c/o BBC

Using offshore companies to acquire property is not illegal and it is sometimes done to protect privacy or security. But the secrecy the offshore system confers on those wealthy enough to keep their purchases from public view can also open the door to money laundering.

Perhaps the most palatial – and certainly the most expensive – of the king’s purchases revealed in the Pandora papers is a vast clifftop property on California’s Malibu coast. It is described as a “resort hotel-like mega mansion” containing 26 rooms, overlooking a stretch of coastline made famous as the location of the dramatic final scene in the original 1968 Planet of the Apes film.

Quick Guide

What are the Pandora papers?

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The Pandora papers are the largest trove of leaked data exposing tax haven secrecy in history. They provide a rare window into the hidden world of offshore finance, casting light on the financial secrets of some of the world’s richest people. The files were leaked to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which shared access with the Guardian, BBC and other media outlets around the world. In total, the trove consists of 11.9m files leaked from a total of 14 offshore service providers, totalling 2.94 terabytes of information. That makes it larger in volume than both the Panama papers (2016) and Paradise papers (2017), two previous offshore leaks.

Where did the Pandora documents from come?

The ICIJ, a Washington DC-based journalism nonprofit, is not identifying the source of the leaked documents. In order to facilitate a global investigation, the ICIJ gave remote access to the documents to journalists in 117 countries, including reporters at the Washington Post, Le Monde, El País, Süddeutsche Zeitung, PBS Frontline and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. In the UK, the investigation has been led by the Guardian and BBC Panorama.

What is an offshore service provider?

The 14 offshore service providers in the leak provide corporate services to individuals or companies seeking to do business offshore. Their clients are typically seeking to discreetly set up companies or trusts in lightly regulated tax havens such as the British Virgin Islands (BVI), Panama, the Cook Islands and the US state of South Dakota. Companies registered offshore can be used to hold assets such as property, aircraft, yachts and investments in stocks and shares. By holding those assets in an offshore company, it is possible to hide from the rest of the world the identity of the person they actually belong to, or the “beneficial owner”.

Why do people move money offshore?

Usually for reasons of tax, secrecy or regulation. Offshore jurisdictions tend to have no income or corporation taxes, which makes them potentially attractive to wealthy individuals and companies who don’t want to pay taxes in their home countries. Although morally questionable, this kind of tax avoidance can be legal. Offshore jurisdictions also tend to be highly secretive and publish little or no information about the companies or trusts incorporated there. This can make them useful to criminals, such as tax evaders or money launderers, who need to hide money from tax or law enforcement authorities. It is also true that people in corrupt or unstable countries may use offshore providers to put their assets beyond the reach of repressive governments or criminal adversaries who may try to seize them, or to seek to circumvent hard currency restrictions. Others may go offshore for reasons of inheritance or estate planning.

Has everyone named in the Pandora papers done something wrong?

No. Moving money offshore is not in or of itself illegal, and there are legitimate reasons why some people do it. Not everyone named in the Pandora papers is suspected of wrongdoing. Those who are may stand accused of a wide range of misbehaviour: from the morally questionable through to the potentially criminal. The Guardian is only publishing stories based on leaked documents after considering the public interest. That is a broad concept that may include furthering transparency by revealing the secret offshore owners of UK property, even where those owners have done nothing wrong. Other articles might illuminate issues of important public debate, raise moral questions, shed light on how the offshore industry operates, or help inform voters about politicians or donors in the interests of democratic accountability.

Public records show the home passed from Hollywood producers to dotcom billionaires, before, the Pandora papers reveal, it was bought by Abdullah in August 2014 for $33.5m, estimated to be a record price for property in the area. The king then acquired the two neighbouring properties. In the previous two years, Abdullah had acquired three condominiums in Washington DC for a total of $13.8m.

The leak of papers also reveals how the Jordanian ruler secretly acquired a portfolio of seven luxury UK properties – including three in Belgravia, London. Purchased between 2003 and 2011, the UK properties are estimated to have a current market value of about £28m. The UK was sending up to £100m a year in bilateral aid to Jordan during much of the time covered by the papers.

The monarch says he owns his property in a personal capacity – but while there is no evidence of any wrongdoing, the king’s net worth and source of his income remain closely guarded.

The king’s lawyers said: “HM [His Majesty] has not at any point misused public monies or made any use whatsoever of the proceeds of aid or assistance intended for public use … HM cares deeply for Jordan and its people and acts with integrity and in the best interests of his country and its citizens at all times.”

Jordan appeared to have blocked the ICIJ website on Sunday, hours before the Pandora papers launched.

Abdullah has ruled Jordan since the death in 1999 of his father, Hussein, who positioned the kingdom as a key ally of the west and was known for his public displays of wealth. He would speed around the capital, Amman, in one of the dozens of sports cars he owned – most of which are now on display at a museum in the city.

His son has maintained the links to the west but is less publicly conspicuous in his spending – in keeping with economic conditions in the country described by US congressional researchers as “extremely difficult”, and which have driven several open challenges to his rule over the past decade.

About one in four Jordanians are unemployed, according to 2020 figures, while Jordan has implemented waves of austerity policies over the past three decades in exchange for access to IMF loans, a process Abdullah has accelerated.

The moves have led to successive tax hikes and cuts to subsidies on bread, electricity and fuel. The government is also launching a campaign to flush out tax cheats in order to rein in public debt, all of which contrasts starkly with the impact austerity has had on the king. “Under Jordanian laws, HM is not required to pay taxes,” his lawyers said.

Protests against cuts to the welfare state and for higher public sector wages have led Abdullah to dismiss several prime ministers over the past decade, in what is seen as a way to relieve public anger and deflect it away from the monarch. His lawyers say Abdullah gives a “significant percentage” of his personal wealth to charitable causes in line with his “vision towards achieving an equitable society”.

Abdullah has a portfolio of seven luxury UK properties purchased between 2003 and 2011 – including three in Belgravia, London. Photograph: Martin Godwin/The Guardian

Nonetheless, the bulk of the Pandora papers property purchases came during a difficult past decade in which Abdullah has faced two public challenges to his rule.

The first came as part of the “Arab spring” that swept the Middle East in 2011. Those protests – in which the king and his wife, Queen Rania, were openly accused of “stealing” the country – were crushed by security forces while promises of more democracy have largely failed to materialise. The timing revealed by the Pandora papers raises questions about whether the monarch may have considered the need for a safe haven abroad for himself or his personal fortune.

King Abdullah II and Queen Rania. Photograph: Richard Gardner/Rex/Shutterstock

The second challenge was an alleged coup plot in April of this year cultivated by the king’s half-brother Hamzah, who gained attention and support in some quarters by publicly criticising government corruption and attempts to reform the Jordanian economy by “repeatedly returning to people’s pockets”. Hamzah was placed under house arrest and his alleged accomplices in the sedition plot were sentenced to lengthy jail terms.

Eager to shore up a western-friendly ruler, the US has poured increasing financial aid into Jordan over the past decades amounting to a total of $22bn by 2018, and billions more in the years since.

Yet at the same time, according to the Pandora papers, the king has spent millions burnishing his property portfolio.

The most recent Jordanian budget shows an annual sum of approximately $35m in public funds spent on the upkeep of the country’s royal palaces, but does not list any salary for the king or other working royals. Abdullah’s lawyers said: “The source of HM’s personal wealth is not from public monies, rather from personal sources.”

The lengths to which Abdullah has gone to hide details of the purchases also suggest he is aware they will be a politically awkward matter to explain to his subjects.

The leaked Pandora documents include a February 2017 internal memorandum between compliance managers at the Panamanian law firm Alcogal, which state that a Jordanian national client called Abdullah Al Hussein, born 30 January 1962 (Abdullah II’s birth date) and with an address of “Raghadan Palace“ (which is located in the royal court compound of al-Maquar in Amman, Jordan), was the beneficial owner of 16 companies that variously held assets in the US, the UK and Jersey.

What are the Pandora papers? – video explainer

Among those companies are Nabisco Holdings SA, Setara Limited and Timara Limited – which acquired the three Malibu clifftop properties – plus a series of other entities that own the king’s property assets in Washington DC and the UK.

According to the leaked files, Alcogal staff appear to have worked hard to safeguard the king’s secrecy by not identifying him on internal documents as a politically exposed person (PEP) and discussing ways to avoid storing his identity as beneficial owner.

Do you have information about this story? Email simon.goodley@theguardian.com.

Their reticence reached almost farcical levels, with one December 2017 email between Alcogal employees discussing the “final beneficiary” as a resident of Jordan, then referring to the king simply as “you know who”.

Alcogal said it had never “deliberately failed to identify a politically exposed person as such in its due diligence processes”. It said in this case, the beneficial ownership identity details were recorded on the BVI’s beneficial ownership secure search (Boss) system in November 2017 in compliance with the territory’s laws.

Moayyad al-Majali, the Jordanian lawyer, was ultimately released but fined.

Guardian Newsroom: The Pandora papers

Join Guardian journalist Paul Lewis and guests in this special livestreamed event looking in-depth into the Pandora papers investigation. On Monday 18 October, 8pm BST | 9pm CEST | 12am PDT | 3pm EDT. Book tickets here

Source Article from https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/oct/03/king-of-jordan-hidden-property-empire-worth-more-than-100m-pandora-papers-reveal

The Taliban in Afghanistan have named a new interim government led by hardliners as the group pledges to implement a strict Islamic rule over the country of roughly 40 million. The new cabinet of the freshly restored Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan contains no women, and no positions for opposition members or ethnic and religious minorities. 

Few in the international community foresaw the speed with which the militant Islamist group would take over Afghanistan, making a series of stunning territorial gains in July and August as the U.S. withdrew its troops to end its 20-year war in the country.

The Taliban’s moves so far show a failure to meet the group’s earlier pledge of an “inclusive” government, even as the moves put Western financial aid at risk, and do not bode well for those who wanted to see Afghanistan rid of terrorist activity. Experts warn that the global jihadi movement will feel emboldened by what they see in Afghanistan as a triumph.

“For the foreseeable future, Afghanistan will be led by senior Taliban leaders who include in many cases the worst of the worst,” Michael Kugelman, Deputy Director of the Asia Program at the Wilson Center, told CNBC on Wednesday. Kugelman pointed specifically to individuals from the Haqqani Network, which is known as the most brutal faction of the Taliban.

In a controversial appointment, Sirajuddin Haqqani has become Afghanistan’s interior minister, in charge of police and security. Haqqani is the leader of the Haqqani Network which is known to have links to Al Qaeda. He is on the FBI’s most wanted list and is a designated global terrorist. The Taliban’s provision of a safe haven to Al Qaeda in the 1990s is what led the U.S. to invade Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks. 

In the years since the U.S. invasion, Haqqani has deployed violent tactics as a deputy to the Afghan Taliban, including using death squads for executions and releasing videos of mass beheadings. 

A history of mass casualty attacks

The Sunni Islamist Haqqani Network was founded in the 1970s, fought the Soviet-backed Afghan regime in the 1980s, and later pioneered the use of suicide bombings in Afghanistan which killed and injured thousands of American, coalition, and Afghan soldiers. High profile attacks include the blowing up of Kabul’s Serena Hotel in 2008, and a 20-hour siege of the U.S. embassy compound in Kabul in 2011 that left 16 Afghans dead. 

It’s important to note that while some Taliban representatives say the group will be more conciliatory now than in the past and will abide by certain international norms, the group itself is not a monolith; rather, it’s comprised of numerous factions with varying degrees of extremism and propensity to support other terrorist groups. 

And while the Taliban’s main rival is ISIS-K, or the Islamic State Khorasan, there are links between ISIS-K and the Haqqani Network, according to Sajjan Gohel, international security director at the Asia-Pacific Foundatio.

“There has, in fact, been a tactical and strategic convergence between the Islamic State-Khorasan and the Haqqanis, if not the entirety of the Taliban,” Gohel wrote in an op-ed for Foreign Policy Magazine in late August. “The Taliban are comprised of several factions, each with their own leadership, structure, and control of Afghan territory,” he said. 

“I think you’re looking at a situation where no matter what type of government we’re going to have in Afghanistan, terrorism risks were going to increase just because you have the Taliban in control, the Taliban is not known for trying to deny space to its militant partners in the country with the exception of ISIS-K which is their rival,” Kugelman said.

“But let’s be clear here,” he added. “You’re going to have several members of the Haqqani network — which has been implicated in some of the most mass casualty horrific terrorist attacks in Afghanistan over the years — and several of these leaders are going to be occupying these top spots, including the interior ministry, and clearly that is a major cause for concern, no matter how you slice it.”   

‘Terrorist groups under the umbrella of the Taliban’

Haibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s leader since his predecessor was killed in a drone strike in 2016, will remain the ultimate authority over the group’s religious, political and military affairs. A hardline cleric whose son was a suicide bomber, Akhundzada has sworn that the new government would pursue Sharia governance.

Muhammad Hassan Akhund, Afghanistan’s foreign minister before the 2001 U.S. invasion, has been named prime minister. 

“The government that was rolled out today includes a constellation of hardliners in the Taliban leadership,” Peter Michael McKinley, a former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, told CNBC on Wednesday. He noted the interior minister Haqqani’s $5 million bounty from the FBI for acts of terrorism against troops and civilians, and the defense minister position given to Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, son of the Taliban’s late founder, Mullah Omar.

“So if the Taliban was looking to send a message to the international community that it’s looking to toe a different line from the government it headed between 1996 and 2001, this is not the best start.”

The State Department has reiterated its concerns about the record of some of the men in the new Afghan government, and repeated its expectation that Afghanistan not threaten other nations and allow humanitarian access into the country. 

The major fear across the international community, said Nader Nadery, a senior member of the Afghan Peace Negotiation Team, is of “a consolidation of power of all the terrorist groups [under] the umbrella of the Taliban and the space that the Taliban is providing for them.” 

Bearing all this in mind however, there are “a lot of calculations they have to make on responding to the emerging humanitarian crisis” in the country, McKinley said. And for that, they will need money.

With an economy overwhelmingly dependent on aid and a government that was 80% funded by Western donors, the Taliban “are going to have to take into account at least some international concerns,” he noted. “So, opening signs are not encouraging, but we have to work with what comes in the following days in terms of actual actions.”

Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2021/09/08/terrorism-to-increase-under-afghanistans-new-taliban-government.html

Iglesias rechaza vías alternativas y dice que quien pierda “se echará a un lado”

“El cielo no se toma por consenso. Se toma por asalto”, enfatiza el líder de la formación, que expone su programa en Vistalegre, en Madrid, entre cuestionamientos a la pluralidad interna

Source Article from http://politica.elpais.com/politica/2014/10/17/actualidad/1413576506_869261.html

President Joe Biden warned Russian President Vladimir Putin Saturday that the United States will “respond decisively and impose swift and severe costs” should Russia invade Ukraine. The warning comes as U.S. officials say a Russian invasion could begin “at any time.”

With an escalated Russian military buildup on the borders of Ukraine, Mr. Biden emphasized on a phone call with Putin that an invasion “would produce widespread human suffering and diminish Russia’s standing.”

“President Biden was clear with President Putin that while the United States remains prepared to engage in diplomacy, in full coordination with our Allies and partners, we are equally prepared for other scenarios,” the White House said Saturday. 

The Biden administration has urged American citizens to leave Ukraine and on Saturday, the U.S. Department of State ordered non-emergency employees at the U.S. embassy in Kyiv to leave the country. 

“Today, the [State Department] ordered non-emergency U.S. employees at the Embassy to depart due to continued reports of a Russian military build-up on the border with Ukraine, indicating potential for significant military action,” the embassy tweeted early Saturday morning. 

Thousands of American troops have been ordered to Poland, where they are expected to be in place by early next week to join 2,000 troops already stationed throughout the region, according to a senior defense official. 


Ukrainians take to streets for anti-war prote…

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National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters Friday that the U.S. is firmly convinced that Russia is looking hard at the creation of a false-flag operation to justify an invasion, “something that they generate and try to blame on the Ukrainians as a trigger for military action.” Sullivan said that any subsequent attack would likely begin with “aerial bombing and missile attacks” ahead of “the onslaught of a massive force.” 

Russian forces are already positioned to send troops pouring across Ukraine’s northern border with Belarus and launch a maritime assault from the Black Sea. Moscow is also capable of sending troops over Ukraine’s eastern border. 

U.S. officials have said Russia already has intelligence operatives on the ground that could create a pretext for an invasion by assisting in creating a false flag. Last month, U.S. officials said this could involve Russian operatives “trained in urban warfare and in using explosives to carry out acts of sabotage against Russia’s own proxy forces.” 

Margaret Brennan contributed to this report.

Source Article from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-putin-warning-russia-invades-ukraine/

Telemundo Media has named A. Victoria Rivas-Vázquez as Noticias Telemundo Bureau Chief in Washington, D.C., reporting to Noticias Telemundo SVP Sylvia Rosabal. Rivas-Vázquez’s appointment is part of the expansion of Noticias Telemundo that has included additional on-camera and production talent, new studio space, and an enhanced relationship with NBC News, the largest television news organization in the U.S., Telemundo said.

“Victoria will play a key role at Noticias Telemundo,” Rosabal said in a release. “Her experience and training are ideal for leading our operations at the heart of national policy and political developments and will undoubtedly strengthen our department.”

Rivas-Vázquez’s responsibilities include directing the editorial and news production teams and managing Noticias Telemundo’s operations in the nation’s capital and surrounding region.

Her career has spanned television journalism, strategic communications and public opinion analysis in both the private and public sectors. Her public sector experience includes positions with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the U.S. Department of the State and the White House, where she was assistant press secretary during President Clinton’s first term. In the private sector, Rivas-Vázquez served as director at Zogby International, where she was in charge of public opinion research and polling for the U.S. Hispanic and Latin American markets. More recently, she served as VP of communications at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington, D.C. 

She also has ample experience in the television industry, as both a local and national news producer for Univisión in Miami, and was part of the network’s political unit, coordinating the coverage of presidential elections and key issues and races at the state and local levels.

Source Article from http://www.multichannel.com/content/noticias-telemundo-hires-rivas-v%C3%A1zquez-dc-bureau-chief/148074