صادر شده در: 03/08/2020 – 01:49

هند در حال حاضر منع wildly محبوب برنامه Infinite بیش از امنیت ملی و نگرانی های حریم خصوصی در حالی که کشورهای دیگر در حال بنا به گزارش خانههای گلی خالی اقدامات مشابه است.

خواست روز دوشنبه توسط Fox News را Laura Ingraham اگر ما باید در نظر مسدود کردن برنامه ها — “به خصوص Tik Tok” — در این کشور بالا دیپلمات گفت: مغلوب ساختن پیشی جستن دولت بود “این بسیار جدی هستند; ما قطعا به دنبال آن است.”

Pompeo گفت: ما مشغول به کار بود به صورت یک “زمان طولانی” در “مشکلات” از فن آوری های چینی در زیرساخت ها شد و “ساخت واقعی پیشرفت است.”

“با توجه به برنامه های چینی در مردم تلفن همراه, من می توانم به شما اطمینان دهم که ایالات متحده را دریافت کنید این یکی راست بیش از حد” او گفت:.

“من نمی خواهم به خارج در مقابل رئیس جمهور, اما این چیزی است که ما به دنبال در.”

Pompeo زودتر شدت انتقاد کرد و در آنچه که او به نام چین “Orwellian” حرکت به سانسور فعالان مدارس و کتابخانه ها در هنگ کنگ تحت یک جارو امنیتی جدید قانون.

مقامات مالی hub دستور داده اند که مدارس به حذف کتاب برای نقد و بررسی قانون است که جرم برخی از نظرات از جمله خواستار استقلال یا استقلال بیشتر.

کتابخانه ها در هنگ کنگ گفت: آنها کشیدن عناوین نوشته شده توسط یک تعداد انگشت شماری از معترضان.

“حزب کمونیست چین را تخریب رایگان در هنگ کنگ همچنان ادامه دارد” Pompeo گفت: به شدت دقت کرد.

“با جوهر به سختی خشک در سرکوب امنیت ملی قانون مقامات محلی — در یک Orwellian حرکت می کند — در حال حاضر تاسیس یک دولت مرکزی امنیت ملی, اتاق کار شروع به از بین بردن کتاب بحرانی CCP از قفسه های کتابخانه ممنوع, سیاسی, شعار, و در حال حاضر نیاز مدارس به اجرا سانسور,” او گفت:.

Pompeo محکوم آنچه که او به نام “آخرین ضرب و جرح در حقوق و آزادی های مردم هنگ کنگ است.”

“تا به حال هنگ کنگ رونق گرفت به دلیل آن اجازه تفکر آزاد و رایگان سخنرانی تحت مستقل و حاکمیت قانون است. نه بیشتر,” او گفت:.

پکن مواجه شده است و ناگهانی از انتقاد از درجه اول در کشورهای غربی بیش از تصمیم خود برای اعمال امنیت قانون که قانون شکنان اعمال براندازی تجزیه طلبی و تروریسم و تبانی با نیروهای خارجی.

معاون رئیس جمهور مایک پنس گفت CNBC در هفته گذشته که این قانون یک “خیانت” و “غیر قابل قبول به آزادیخواه مردم در سراسر جهان است.”

هفته گذشته کنگره آمریکا تصویب تحریم با هدف قرار دادن بانک های درگیر در نقض هنگ کنگ استقلال.

عمل خود را در بانک ها — از جمله مسدود کردن وام از ما موسسات — اگر آنها انجام “معاملات قابل توجه” با مقامات که نقض این شهر استقلال.

رئیس جمهور دونالد مغلوب ساختن پیشی جستن باید ثبت نام این قانون برای آن را به اثر.

(AFP)

Issued on: 01/08/2020 – 21:56

Police put turnout at around 20,000 — well below the 500,000 organisers had announced as they urged a “day of freedom” from months of virus curbs.

Despite Germany’s comparatively low toll, authorities are concerned at a rise in infections over recent weeks and politicians took to social media to criticise the rally as irresponsible.

“We are the second wave,” shouted the crowd, a mixture of hard left and right and conspiracy theorists as they converged on the Brandenburg Gate, demanding “resistance” and dubbing the pandemic “the biggest conspiracy theory”.

Few protesters wore a mask or respected the 1.5-metre (five-foot) social distancing requirement, an AFP journalist reported, despite police repeatedly calling on them via megaphone to do so.

After several warnings, Berlin police ordered demonstrators to leave the area at the end of the afternoon.

Police tweeted they had launched legal proceedings against organisers for not respecting virus hygiene rules.

A handful of people held a counter demonstration. Dubbing themselves “grandmothers against the extreme right”, they hurled insults against “Nazi” protesters.

The protest’s “Day of Freedom” slogan echoes the title of a 1935 documentary by Nazi-era film-maker Leni Riefenstahl on a party conference by Hitler’s National Socialist German Workers’ Party.

Several politicians condemned the demonstration as Germany seeks to minimise transmission of a virus which had claimed just over 9,000 deaths as of Saturday — a far lower toll than its neighbours.

‘Covidiots’

Saskia Esken of the Social Democrats, a junior coalition partner in Angela Merkel’s government, blasted the demonstrators as “Covidiots”.

In a tweet Esken railed: “No distancing, no mask. They are not only putting at risk our health but also our success against the pandemic as well as economic recovery, education and society. Irresponsible!”

Health Minister Jens Spahn agreed: “Yes, demonstrations should also be possible in times of coronavirus, but not like this. Distance, hygiene rules and masks serve to protect us all, so we treat each other with respect.”

Jan Redmann, regional head of Merkel’s Christian Democrats in the eastern state of Brandenburg, also took aim at the marchers.

“A thousand new infections a day still and in Berlin there are protests against anti-virus measures? We can no longer allow ourselves these dangerous absurdities,” Redmann complained.

Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, who hails from Merkel’s traditional right ally the Christian Social Union, showed a measure of understanding, however.

“Of course there are always different opinions regarding infringements of basic rights and restrictions of freedom — first, it’s normal and, in my view, it’s not the majority,” Seehofer told Bavarian daily Passauer Neue Presse.

Saturday saw 955 new infections — a level which the country had not seen since May 9, according to the Robert Koch health institute.

‘Scare tactics’

But marchers insist the risk of catching the virus is being much overblown.

“It’s pure scare tactics. I don’t see any danger with the virus,” one marcher, Iris Bitzenmeier, told AFP.

“I don’t know any other sick people. I knew many in March — skiers, holidaymakers. Something was really afoot in February — but now there are no longer any sick people,” she insisted.

Another demonstrator, Anna-Maria Wetzel, who had come to the capital after attending similar rallies in Baden-Wuerttemberg in the southwest, shared that view.

“People who don’t inform themselves — unlike ourselves — remain ignorant and believe what the government tells them. They get caught up in the fear the government puts in our heads — and that fear weakens the immune system,” she said.

(AFP)

Issued on: 02/08/2020 – 22:05

The hourslong gunbattle between Afghan security forces and insurgents in Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province, was still ongoing Sunday evening, and casualties were likely to rise, according to Attaullah Khogyani, spokesman for the provincial governor.

Tariq Arian, spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said at least three people were killed, while Zahir Adil, the spokesman for the provincial Health Ministry, provided the figure of 24 wounded.

The Islamic State affiliate in Afghanistan, known as IS in Khorasan province, claimed responsibility for the attack. The IS affiliate is headquartered in Nangarhar province.

Sunday’s attack comes a day after the Afghan intelligence agency said a senior IS commander was killed by Afghan special forces near Jalalabad.

The Taliban’s political spokesman Suhail Shaheen told The Associated Press, “We have a cease-fire and are not involved in any of these attacks anywhere in the country,” but said he was not aware of the details of the Jalalabad attack.

The Taliban declared a three-day cease-fire starting Friday for the major Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.

The Taliban had also denied involvement in a suicide bombing in the eastern Logar province late Thursday, which killed at least nine people and wounded at least 40, authorities said.

Afghanistan has seen a recent spike in violence, with most attacks claimed by the local IS affiliate.

A United Nations report last month estimated there are around 2,200 IS members in Afghanistan, and that while the group is in “territorial retreat” and its leadership has been depleted, it “remains capable of carrying out high-profile attacks in various parts of the country, including Kabul.”

Efforts to get peace talks underway between the Taliban and the Kabul government have stalled after the Taliban and the U.S. signed a deal in February, seen as a blueprint to ending Afghanistan’s decades of war.

That deal was struck to allow the U.S. to end its 19-year involvement in Afghanistan, and calls on the Taliban to guarantee its territory will not be used by terrorist groups. The deal is also expected to guarantee the Taliban’s all-out participation in the fight against IS.

Still, a United Nations report last week said Afghanistan saw a 13% drop in the number of civilians killed and wounded in violence across the country in the first six months of the year, compared to the same period last year.

The report credited the drop in casualties in part to the reduction of operations by international forces — which now only act when called upon and in support of the Afghan forces — and also to a decrease in the number of attacks by IS.

The report said the U.N. had recorded 17 attacks by IS that caused civilian casualties during the first six months of 2020, down from 97 attacks in the same period last year. Overall, the U.N. said 1,282 people were killed in violence in the first six months of 2020 in Afghanistan and 2,176 were wounded.

(AP)

Issued on: 02/08/2020 – 21:09

It was the first splashdown by U.S. astronauts in 45 years, with the first commercially built and operated spacecraft to carry people to and from orbit. The return clears the way for another SpaceX crew launch as early as next month and possible tourist flights next year.

Test pilots Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken rode the SpaceX Dragon capsule back to Earth less than a day after departing the International Space Station and two months after blasting off from Florida. The capsule parachuted into the calm gulf waters off the coast of Pensacola, hundreds of miles from Tropical Storm Isaias pounding Florida’s Atlantic coast.

“Welcome back to planet Earth and thanks for flying SpaceX,” the company’s Mission Control said.

The astronauts’ ride home in the capsule dubbed Endeavour was fast, bumpy and hot, at least on the outside.

The spacecraft went from a screaming orbital speed of 17,500 mph (28,000 kph) to 350 mph (560 kph) during atmospheric reentry, and finally to 15 mph (24 kph) at splashdown. Peak heating during descent was 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit (1,900 degrees Celsius). The anticipated top G forces felt by the crew: four to five times the force of Earth’s gravity.

A SpaceX recovery ship with more than 40 staff, including doctors and nurses, moved in following splashdown, with two smaller, faster boats leading the way. To keep the returning astronauts safe in the pandemic, the recovery crew quarantined for two weeks and were tested for the coronavirus.

SpaceX expected it to take a half-hour for the ship to arrive at the capsule and additional time to lift it out of the water onto the deck. The astronauts had plenty of seasick bags if needed while waiting in the bobbing capsule. A flight surgeon was going to be the first to look into the capsule, once the hatch swung open. After medical exams, the astronauts were expected to fly home to Houston for a reunion with their wives and sons.

The last time NASA astronauts returned from space to water was on July 24, 1975, in the Pacific, the scene of most splashdowns, to end a joint U.S.-Soviet mission known as Apollo-Soyuz. The Mercury and Gemini crews in the early to mid-1960s parachuted into the Atlantic, while most of the later Apollo capsules hit the Pacific. The lone Russian “splashdown” was in 1976 on a partially frozen lake amid a blizzard following an aborted mission; the harrowing recovery took hours.

SpaceX made history with this mission, which launched May 30 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. It was the first time a private company launched people into orbit and also the first launch of NASA astronauts from home turf in nearly a decade. Hurley came full circle, serving as pilot of NASA’s last space shuttle flight in 2011 and the commander of this SpaceX flight.

Musk monitored the descent and splashdown from SpaceX Mission Control in Hawthorne, California.

NASA turned to SpaceX and also Boeing to build capsules and ferry astronauts to and from the space station, following the retirement of the shuttles. Until Hurley and Behnken rocketed into orbit, NASA astronauts relied on Russian rockets. SpaceX already had experience hauling cargo to the space station, bringing those capsules back to a Pacific splashdown.

“This is the next era in human spaceflight where NASA gets to be the customer,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said from Johnson Space Center in Houston shortly before the astronauts’ return.

SpaceX needs six weeks to inspect the capsule before launching the next crew around the end of September. This next mission of four astronauts will spend a full six months aboard the space station. Hurley and Behnken’s capsule will be refurbished for another flight next spring. A Houston company run by a former NASA official, meanwhile, has partnered with SpaceX to send three customers to the space station in fall 2021.

Boeing doesn’t expect to launch its first crew until next year. The company encountered significant software problems in the debut of its Starliner capsule, with no one aboard, last year. Its capsules will touch down in the U.S. Southwest desert.

By beating Boeing, SpaceX laid claim to a small U.S. flag left at the space station by Hurley and the rest of the last shuttle crew. The flag — which also flew on the first shuttle flight — was carefully packed aboard the Dragon for the homecoming.

Also on board: a toy dinosaur named Tremor, sent into space by the astronauts’ young sons.

The boys recorded a wake-up call for their fathers Sunday morning, urging them to “rise and shine” and “we can’t wait to see you.”

“Don’t worry, you can sleep in tomorrow,” said Behnken’s 6-year-old son Theo, who was promised a puppy after the flight. “Hurry home so we can go get my dog.”

(AP)

Issued on: 02/08/2020 – 19:04

Widely known as “El Marro” (The Mallet), Yepez was captured early on Sunday morning, according to the federal government and authorities in the central state of Guanajuato, one of the principal flashpoints of gang violence in Mexico.

“This a tremendously successful blow for the government,” said Raul Benitez, a security expert at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).

Yepez, boss of the Santa Rosa de Lima cartel, a Guanajuato-based gang, has been engaged in a bloody struggle for criminal control of the state with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), one of the country’s most powerful and violent groups.

The capture should deliver a boost to Lopez Obrador, who pledged to bring down record levels of violence plaguing the country when he took office in December 2018. Instead, homicides have further increased during his presidency.

The Guanajuato attorney general’s office said security forces captured Yepez with five other people and rescued a kidnapped local businesswoman during the operation. An “arsenal” of weapons was also secured during the raid.

One of Mexico’s most-wanted bosses, El Marro has appeared in expletive-laden videos threatening his enemies, and in June a clip of an emotional Yepez lamenting the arrest of his mother and sister was widely broadcast on national media.

The women, who were suspected of aiding his operations, were later released when judges picked apart the case against them.

Security Minister Alfonso Durazo said Yepez would be taken to the Altiplano penitentiary, a maximum-security prison where drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was housed before he escaped through a tunnel in 2015. Guzman was recaptured in 2016.

Initially notorious for fuel theft in a state crisscrossed by pipelines and home to a major oil refinery, the Santa Rosa de Lima cartel has become increasingly embroiled in battles with the CJNG, based in the neighboring state of Jalisco.

A hub of the carmaking industry, Guanajuato was once one of the safer regions of Mexico, but the violence of the past few years has pushed national homicide tallies to record levels.

Writing on Twitter, Durazo said Yepez had been arrested for suspected organized crime and fuel theft.

(REUTERS)

Issued on: 02/08/2020 – 19:34

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said Trump was raising concerns about mail-in ballots when he floated the idea of delaying the U.S. vote.

“We’re going to hold an election on November 3 and the president is going to win,” Meadows said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

Presidential campaign adviser Jason Miller echoed the sentiment on “Fox News Sunday,” saying, “The election is going to be on November 3^rd and President Trump wants the election to be on November 3^rd.”

Trump on Thursday suggested delaying the U.S. elections, an idea immediately rejected by both Democrats and his fellow Republicans in Congress – the sole branch of government with the authority to make such a change.

Critics and even Trump’s allies dismissed the notion as an unserious attempt to distract from devastating economic news, but some legal experts warned that his repeated attacks could undermine his supporters’ faith in the election process.

The Republican president has been trying to undermine confidence in mail-in balloting, claiming repeatedly and without evidence that it would lead to widespread voter fraud.

Meadows took up his boss’s cause on Sunday, warning that mail-in ballots must be handled properly without providing evidence that they have not been in the past.

Asked if it were irresponsible for Trump to float the idea, Meadows skirted the question, saying “It is responsible for him to say that if we try to go to 100% universal mail-in ballots, will we have an election result on November 3? Now I would suggest we wouldn’t even have it on January 1.”

Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson told CNN on Sunday the election should be held on time and it was up to states to ensure balloting be carried out properly.

“It’s not helpful for the president to think out loud in a public fashion and express some frustration,” he added.

The coronavirus crisis is expected to drive a surge in mail voting in November. State election officials are working to ensure tens of millions of ballots can reach voters in time to be cast and are returned in time to be counted.

Miller criticized efforts by states including Nevada for moving toward expanding mail-in balloting during emergencies like the coronavirus epidemic, as well as other states that will count ballots postmarked Nov. 3 that arrive after Election Day.

Trump early Sunday called for a lawsuit to be filed to counter Nevada’s legislative efforts to extend mail-in balloting. “This is outrageous. Must be met with immediate litigation!,” he said in a Twitter post.

(REUTERS)

Issued on: 02/08/2020 – 17:51

Under the legally binding framework, Google and Facebook would be required to pay media companies for using and monetising news content on their social media sites. Along with payment for content they would have to address issues over access to user data and transparency of algorithms which rank content in news feeds and search results.

“It’s about a fair go for Australian news media businesses, it’s about ensuring that we have increased competition, increased consumer protection and a sustainable media landscape,” Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said during the announced changes on Friday.

“Nothing less than the future of the Australian media landscape is at stake with these changes,” he added.

Google Australia Managing Director Mel Silva said the intervention was “heavy-handed” and that it threatened to undermine the digital economy. Unsurprisingly the decision was welcomed by Australia’s news businesses who have long called for tougher measures to prevent the siphoning off of both their content and advertising profits.

With the rise of US Big Tech, news businesses in Australia have struggled to weather substantial losses in revenue that have led to mass layoffs and either the merger or closure of numerous news outlets. One of Australia’s biggest publishers, News Limited, announced in May that 112 of its newspapers would either shut or become digital only. To prevent the demise of one of the country’s oldest broadsheets, The Sydney Morning Herald underwent a recent merger with a television network.

Sherine Conyers, a researcher at the school of media and commmunications at the University of Leeds, told FRANCE 24 that the impact of digital platforms on journalism had caused significant losses in Australia’s media industry. How well the government’s new code might “level the playing field”, as stated by the treasurer, would depend on the value placed on news content.

“Media companies spend a lot of time and money producing journalism and want a fair price for their content,” said Conyers, who has also worked as a journalist in Australia. “But for tech companies, the value is likely held in the behavioural data produced as this content circulates around the web.

“The question going forward is how tech companies will value news content, in line with their own business models, and how they respond to this financially, and to the rules being proposed in Australia.”

Both Google and Facebook have previously downplayed the commercial impact of sharing news content, and maintain media outlets benefit from using their platforms.

Facebook has argued that while it supports some form of regulatory code to help tech companies and media businesses work together, “it is not healthy nor sustainable to expect that two private companies, Facebook and Google, are solely responsible for supporting a public good and solving the challenges faced by the Australian media industry,” the company said. 

EU vs Big Tech

The problem of how to sustain news businesses because of the value of their content has preoccupied regulators here in Europe where similar regulatory attempts have been introduced but with mixed results.

In October 2019, France became the first to implement new EU copyright rules requiring publishers to be paid for snippets of news stories displayed in search results. It was designed to force Google to pay publishers a so-called “link tax” and was hailed by proponents for enabling publishers to strike deals for content with Big Tech.

But Google circumvented the regulations announcing it would only display headlines instead. In Spain, the company shut down Google News after a law passed in 2014 would have mandated payment for news content.

Facebook, Google hit back

Drawing on lessons from regulators and policymakers internationally, the Australian anti-trust watchdog ACCC said in a statement it had designed its code so it would not reduce the availability of Australian news on Google or Facebook, while still netting fair payment for content.

Google Australia challenged those claims, expressing disappointment over the proposed changes. 

“Our hope was that the code would be forward thinking and the process would create incentives for both publishers and digital platforms to negotiate and innovate for a better future – so we are deeply disappointed and concerned the draft code does not achieve this,” Google’s Silva said.

But the code does include some incentive for parties to seal a deal. If the US-based platforms and Australian media businesses fail to negotiate a fair price for content they would have to undergo a mandatory arbitration process. In addition, any breaches of the code would attract penalties of up to Aus$10 million (US$7 million) per breach or 10 percent of the company’s local turnover.

In a short statement, Facebook in Australia and New Zealand said it was “reviewing the government’s proposal to understand the impact it will have on the industry, our services and our investment in the news ecosystem in Australia”.

Though Frydenberg claims Australia’s proposal is “in front of the world” it may take more than the lessons learned by other governments, like those in Europe, to manage the expectations of both media businesses and Big Tech.

The draft code will undergo another round of consultations in August before it is finalised.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP)