Tuesday, January 29, 2019

Six In The Morning January 29

Justice Dept. charges Huawei with fraud, ratcheting up U.S.-China tensions



The Justice Department announced criminal charges Monday against Huawei Technologies, the world’s largest communications equipment manufacturer, and one of its top executives — a move likely to intensify trade tensions between the United States and China.
13-count indictment filed in New York City against Huawei, two affiliates and its chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, details allegations of bank and wire fraud. The company also is charged with violating U.S. sanctions on Iran and conspiring to obstruct justice related to the investigation.
Canadian officials arrested Meng on a U.S. warrant Dec. 1. She has since been released on bail, and her travel is confined to Vancouver and surrounding areas. Meng could face up to 30 years if found guilty on all counts.




Chinese activist Liu Feiyue given five years' jail for 'inciting subversion'

Flawed trial shows how Beijing abuses the judicial system to silence dissent, says Amnesty International


The founder of a prominent Chinese civil and human rights website has been sentenced to five years in prison for inciting state subversion, according to human rights organisations.
Liu Feiyue created and ran the Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch website, which covers a range of rights issues including protests, police abuses and government corruption – sensitive topics that are scrubbed from most Chinese media sites.
The Suizhou intermediate people’s court in central Hubei province sentenced him on Tuesday after he was found guilty of “inciting subversion of state power”, according to Human Rights Watch.

UAE mocked after its gender equality awards won entirely by men


'Wow really nailed the diversity there. One of those dudes was wearing grey,' says critic

Maya Oppenheim



Authorities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been ridiculed after men were awarded every prize for gender balance. 
The government was mocked after pictures were posted on the Twitter account of the vice-president of the UAE, where he was seen handing out prizes to the winners of the Gender Balance Index 2018 over the weekend. 
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who is also the ruler of Dubai, congratulated the recipients of best personality supporting gender balance, best federal authority supporting gender balance and best gender balance initiative.

Opinion: Western intervention in Afghanistan is a failure

Holding peace talks with the Taliban is scandalous — and yet the radical Islamists appear set for a power-sharing deal with the US as Kabul prepares for a leadership void. The future looks grim, writes Florian Weigand.
The war in Afghanistan has been raging for seventeen years — almost three times the duration of World War II. Now, after many long years of suffering and civilians in constant mortal danger, peace is finally in sight. But while the West had always fueled hopes of a better future for the country, what a peace deal would look like remains uncertain — and the situation looks grim. 
The Taliban have not been defeated; on the contrary, they will be part of a political power sharing deal, with the blessing of their arch enemy, the US. This means that after decades of fighting they have emerged stronger than they were during the late 1990s, when they ruled Kabul but were ostracized on the international stage for being reactionary Islamists. That these radicals, who are responsible for endless terrorist attacks, will now gain a pivotal position in Afghan politics thanks to the US is scandalous. Once again, US President Donald Trump and his aides have broken a foreign policy taboo.

A Tiny Screw Shows Why iPhones Won’t Be ‘Assembled in U.S.A.’


By Jack Nicas

Despite a trade war between the United States and China and past admonishments from President Trump “to start building their damn computers and things in this country,” Apple is unlikely to bring its manufacturing closer to home.
A tiny screw illustrates why.
In 2012, Apple’s chief executive, Timothy D. Cook, went on prime-time television to announce that Apple would make a Mac computer in the United States. It would be the first Apple product in years to be manufactured by American workers, and the top-of-the-line Mac Pro would come with an unusual inscription: “Assembled in USA.”
But when Apple began making the $3,000 computer in Austin, Tex., it struggled to find enough screws, according to three people who worked on the project and spoke on the condition of anonymity because of confidentiality agreements.

Hakeem al-Araibi campaigners say Bahraini footballer's case is urgent


By Dan Roan
BBC sports editor

The case of Bahraini footballer Hakeem al-Araibi "has become an absolute emergency", according to campaigners.
The 25-year-old holds refugee status in Australia after fleeing his homeland in 2014, but is being held in Thailand.
Former Australia captain Craig Foster, who is leading the effort to secure Al-Araibi's release, met with Fifa officials on Monday.
But he warned that Bahrain pressing ahead with plans to extradite Al-Araibi had "escalated the issue".
The Arab kingdom says that extradition proceedings are now "in process".







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