As Robert Mueller writes his report, a potential battle brews over obstruction of justice
Updated 0127 GMT (0927 HKT) January 11, 2019
As special counsel Robert Mueller wraps up his Russia probe, investigators have focused on conflicting public statements by President Donald Trump and his team that could be seen as an effort to influence witnesses and obstruct justice, according to people familiar with the investigation.
The line of questioning adds to indications that Mueller views false or misleading statements to the press or to the public as obstruction of justice. That could set up a potential flashpoint with the White House and the Trump legal team should that become part of any final report from the Mueller investigation.
Mueller hasn't addressed the issue publicly, but prosecutors have dropped hints that they view public statements as possibly key in influencing witnesses.
US clothing company drops Chinese supplier over Xinjiang forced labour concerns
China calls Badger Sportswear’s decision a ‘tragedy for its business’ based on incorrect information
Agence France-Presse
A US sportswear company has stopped using a Chinese supplier following concerns it was using forced labour in camps in Xinjiang.
Badger Sportswear, a company based in North Carolina, said it would stop sourcing clothing from Hetian Taida in north-western China.
The company said in a statement posted on its website on Wednesday: “Out of an abundance of caution and to eliminate any concerns about our supply chain given the controversy around doing business in north-western China, we will no longer source any product from Hetian Taida or this region of China.”
The US media has lost one of its sanest voices on military matters – so let's hope William Arkin's absence is brief
This author of ground-breaking work on secret CIA ‘black sites’ has a respectful audience at both Harvard and Maxwell US Air Force Base. So when he quits, I take notice
I hate television “experts”, the infamous “analysts” who know all – and support all – about the military, the televisual ex-generals with vain presidential ambitions and the infamous American “think tank” personnel whose right-wing, pro-Israeli beliefs are carefully shielded from viewers by the US networks who employ them. I always characterise the antiseptic and pseudo-academic institutions to which they belong as the “Institute for Preposterous Affairs”.
The Fisk “IPA” contains hundreds of robotic folk who will churn out claptrap about “key players”, “stakeholders” and “moderate allies” and, of course, “world terror”. They turn up on CNN, Fox and Russia Today. And, of course, the BBC.
Spanish feminist movement faces far-right backlash
After a year of massive mobilisation, Spain's powerful feminist movement is facing a backlash with the emergence of far-right party Vox which wants to repeal measures to fight gender violence.
Several women's groups have called a series of protests against Vox, which won a surprise 12 seats in Andalusia's regional elections last month after campaigning on a nationalist, anti-feminist agenda.
It is the first time that a far-right party has won representation in a Spanish regional parliament since the country returned to democracy after the death of longtime dictator Francisco Franco in 1975.
"What they want is a sudden stop in the advance of women's rights. We will not take a step backwards," veteran Spanish feminist Ana Maria Perez del Campo told a news conference on Wednesday.
How Australia's far-right were divided and conquered - by themselves
The far-right has cycled through many enemies over the years but fierce infighting, ego and lack of leadership continues to ensure their biggest opponent is themselves.
By Max Koslowski
On October 15, 2015, far-right kingpin Shermon Burgess posted his final video on the popular nationalist Facebook page, The Great Aussie Patriot. In the two-minute clip, which was filmed on a phone and edited with awkward jump cuts, he looked distressed.
“G’day patriots,” he started. “Now just letting you know what’s going on. I’m going to be handing full leadership of the United Patriots Front over to Blair Cottrell. I won’t be doing it anymore."
Reclaim Australia - the series of rallies in 2015 that turned out thousands of anti-immigrant, anti-Islam “patriots” - saw Cottrell as the next golden child. And so did Cottrell. One researcher says he views himself as the “sexy Fuhrer”: a muscular, blond, articulate leader who has said Jews are “a much deadlier enemy than the violent Islamic pillagers”, and that to keep women in line you should “crack them around the ear every once in a while”.
FOR OWNERS OF AMAZON’S RING SECURITY CAMERAS, STRANGERS MAY HAVE BEEN WATCHING TOO
THE “SMART HOME” of the 21st century isn’t just supposed to be a monument to convenience, we’re told, but also to protection, a Tony Stark-like bubble of vigilant algorithms and internet-connected sensors working ceaselessly to watch over us. But for some who’ve welcomed in Amazon’s Ring security cameras, there have been more than just algorithms watching through the lens, according to sources alarmed by Ring’s dismal privacy practices.
Ring has a history of lax, sloppy oversight when it comes to deciding who has access to some of the most precious, intimate data belonging to any person: a live, high-definition feed from around — and perhaps inside — their house. The company has marketed its line of miniature cameras, designed to be mounted as doorbells, in garages, and on bookshelves, not only as a means of keeping tabs on your home while you’re away, but of creating a sort of privatized neighborhood watch, a constellation of overlapping camera feeds that will help police detect and apprehend burglars (and worse) as they approach. “Our mission to reduce crime in neighborhoods has been at the core of everything we do at Ring,” founder and CEO Jamie Siminoff wrote last spring to commemorate the company’s reported $1 billion acquisition payday from Amazon, a company with its own recent history of troubling facial recognition practices. The marketing is working; Ring is a consumer hit and a press darling.
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