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YouTube to Block Comments on Most Videos Showing Minors

YouTube said Thursday it will disable user comments on a broad array of videos featuring children to thwart “predatory behavior” after revelations about a glitch exploited for sharing of child pornography.

The Google-owned video sharing service announced further steps to crack down on inappropriate comments a week after an investigation showing how comments and connections on child porn were being displayed alongside innocuous videos.

“We recognize that comments are a core part of the YouTube experience and how you connect with and grow your audience,” YouTube said in a posted message to creators.

“At the same time, the important steps we’re sharing today are critical for keeping young people safe.”

YouTube said that during the past week it has suspended comments on tens of millions of videos to prevent users from exploiting of the software glitch for nefarious purposes.

“These efforts are focused on videos featuring young minors and we will continue to identify videos at risk over the next few months,” YouTube said.

“Over the next few months, we will be broadening this action to suspend comments on videos featuring young minors and videos featuring older minors that could be at risk of attracting predatory behavior.”

A small number of video creators will be allowed to keep comments enabled, but will be required to carefully moderate commentary and to deploy software tools provided by YouTube, according to Google.

YouTube accelerated the release of an improved “classifier” that it said will detect and remove twice the number of policy-breaking comments by individuals.

‘Wormhole’

A YouTube creator last week revealed what he called a “wormhole” that allowed comments and connections on child porn alongside videos.

Shortly thereafter, YouTube deleted many comments and blocked some accounts and channels showing inappropriate comments.

Matt Watson, a YouTube creator with some 26,000 subscribers, revealed the workings of what he termed a “wormhole” into a pedophile ring that allowed users to trade social media contacts and links to child porn in YouTube comments.

The post by Watson sparked a series of news reports and boycotts of YouTube ads from major firms.

The incident raised fears of a fresh “brand safety” crisis for YouTube, which lost advertisers last year following revelations that messages appeared on channels promoting conspiracy theories, white nationalism and other objectionable content.

Trump’s Ex-lawyer Cohen Testifies Again, This Time Behind Closed Doors

President Donald Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen returned to Capitol Hill on Thursday to speak behind closed doors with a congressional panel investigating Russia’s interference in the 2016 U.S. election, capping a week of testimony in which he leveled new allegations of wrongdoing at his former boss.

Cohen did not respond to questions as he arrived for his third and final session in Congress this week. His private testimony before the House Intelligence Committee was expected to last into the evening. The panel has been probing Russian election meddling and any collusion with the Trump campaign.

In dramatic public testimony on Wednesday before the House Oversight Committee, the one-time “fixer” for Trump accused the president of breaking the law while in office and said for the first time that Trump knew in advance about a WikiLeaks dump of stolen emails that hurt his 2016 election rival Hillary Clinton.

Committee chairman Elijah Cummings, a Democrat, said his panel would further investigate issues raised by Cohen’s testimony and may try to get the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., and his former accountant, Allen Weisselberg, to testify.

“I think there are still a number of other shoes to drop,” Cummings told reporters after the hearing.

Other Democrats said they would try to verify whether Trump manipulated financial statements to reduce taxes and secure bank loans, as Cohen alleged.

Two top Republicans on the committee, Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows, asked the Justice Department to investigate Cohen for perjury, saying he lied during his appearance on Wednesday about his efforts to land a White House job and his work for two foreign companies, among other topics.

Cohen has already pleaded guilty to lying to Congress. In 2017, he submitted a statement saying efforts to build a Trump Tower in Moscow had ceased by January 2016, when those talks in fact continued until June of that year, after Trump had clinched the Republican presidential nomination.

Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison for that lie and other crimes.

Democratic House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said in a tweet that on Thursday he planned to dig into the Trump Moscow project, the revelations about WikiLeaks and any White House role in Cohen’s prior false statements.

“Today Cohen provided the American public with a first-hand account of serious misconduct by Trump & those around him,” Schiff said. “Tomorrow we’ll examine in depth many of those topics.”

At Wednesday’s hearing, Cohen said Trump never explicitly told him to lie to Congress about the Moscow skyscraper negotiations. But Cohen said he believed he was following implicit directions to minimize their efforts on the tower.

Cohen said he had no direct evidence that Trump or his campaign colluded with Moscow during the election campaign, but that he had suspicions that something untoward had occurred.

Cohen also testified privately before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday.

Possible collusion is a key theme of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation, which has dogged the president during his first two years in office. Trump has repeatedly denied the allegation, as has the Kremlin.

Thai Lawmakers Approve Controversial Cybersecurity Act

Thailand’s legislature has passed a cybersecurity bill that would allow authorities access to people’s personal information without a court order.

The Cybersecurity Act addresses computer hacking crimes, but activists fear it will allow the government sweeping access to people’s personal information.

The National Legislative Assembly, which passed the bill in its final reading Thursday by a vote of 133-0, was appointed by the junta that came to power after a 2014 coup. It becomes law when published in the Royal Gazette.

The cybersecurity bill allows state officials to seize, search, infiltrate, and make copies of computers, computer systems and information in computers without a court warrant if an appointed committee sees it as a high-level security threat, and relevant courts can later be informed of such actions.

Klobuchar Defends Her Record on Regulating Medical Devices

In her more than two terms as a U.S. senator representing Minnesota, Amy Klobuchar has built a reputation as an effective champion for consumer safety, sponsoring bills that improve swimming pool safety, ban lead in children’s products and tackle the nation’s opioid crisis.

“Consumers deserve products that have been tested and meet strong health and safety standards,” her website declares.

But Klobuchar, who announced two weeks ago she will contend for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination, has also forcefully advocated for the medical device industry — a huge employer in her home state — in ways that complicate her reputation as a consumer defender.

During her time in the Senate, Klobuchar has advanced proposals championed by the medical device industry that some consumer advocates claim would put patients’ safety at risk, a review of her record by The Associated Press and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists found. Safety and regulatory concerns relating to medical devices have come under scrutiny since the AP, ICIJ and other media partners began publishing a series of investigative stories about the industry in late 2018.

Klobuchar has pushed the federal Food and Drug Administration to approve medical devices faster and called for a greater presence of industry-backed experts at the agency. Not all of her proposals became law, but bills she introduced called for reducing the use of randomized clinical trials for some devices and limiting the amount of information FDA reviewers can ask of companies when evaluating devices. Language in bills she sponsored to streamline device approvals and increase the influence of industry-recommended experts ultimately ended up in landmark legislation signed into law by President Barack Obama.

While many of her Democratic presidential rivals promote ambitious proposals for free health care and college tuition, Klobuchar’s work on medical devices is a window into her narrower, often more moderate policy portfolio.

Klobuchar defends her record on regulating medical devices, telling the AP in a statement, “Patient and consumer rights have always been a major focus of mine.”

Klobuchar did not make herself available for an interview for this story. Her statement highlights her efforts to speed up approvals of new devices, noting that approvals for many life-saving devices had languished for years.

“The legislation to improve the process was passed as part of a larger package of reforms, signed into law by President Obama, in response to slow-downs and workforce shortages at the FDA,” Klobuchar said. “The legislation also included more funding for the FDA to hire medical experts to examine the safety of products that came before them for approval. The final legislation was supported by numerous patient safety groups.”

Diana Zuckerman, president of the nonpartisan National Center for Health Research think tank, said that Klobuchar’s legislative record has put the demands of the device industry above patient safety. It has also provided political cover that makes it easier for other progressive lawmakers to embrace pro-industry measures, Zuckerman said.

“When a liberal Democrat actively champions a position that harms patients, as Sen. Klobuchar has done on FDA legislation, it helps to persuade other liberal Democrats,” Zuckerman said.

Dr. Margaret Hamburg, head of the FDA from May 2009 to April 2015, said Klobuchar worked on streamlining the process, but was also concerned about conflict of interest issues that could put consumers at risk — sponsoring legislation that required both medical device makers and drug companies to disclose payments they make to doctors and researchers.

Hamburg said others in Congress expressed similar concern.

“There was a great deal of concern about making sure that American consumers were getting cutting-edge medical devices as soon or sooner than anyone else in the world, but also concern about ensuring the safety of those products,” Hamburg said. “She was an advocate and supportive of a number of things that we were doing and she held our feet to the fire to make sure we were keeping our promises.”

That a U.S. senator would work to advance the interests of a powerful home-state industry is not necessarily surprising.

She’s obligated to support “job makers,” said Larry Jacobs, a political scientist at the University of Minnesota. “Every presidential candidate is going to have issues that put them in sticky spots between the national political centers of the party and their constituents back home,” he said.

“I think Sen. Klobuchar has been a very good representative of the state and a leader in Congress in being able to facilitate important conversations around medical devices,” said Shaye Mandle, chief executive and president of the Medical Alley Association, which represents device makers and other health care businesses in Minnesota. “Most states don’t have a medical device industry — every state has millions of patients that rely on medical technology.”

Politics of medical devices

Medical devices provide clear benefits to millions of people, but a yearlong investigation by ICIJ, the AP and media partners in 36 countries has called into question whether the device industry has put patients in harm’s way by rushing poorly tested products to market. Governments around the world, including the United States, hold even complex implants to a lower safety testing standard than most new drugs.

Many devices are implanted near vital organs or pressed against sensitive nerves. If they corrode or rupture, the results can be catastrophic. An entire generation of metal-on-metal artificial hips was discontinued after they were found to rot flesh and poison blood at high rates.

Minnesota is widely seen as the capital of the U.S. device industry. Medtronic, the world’s largest medical device company, has its operational headquarters in Minneapolis. Klobuchar has developed relationships with the company’s leadership — even inviting Medtronic’s then-chief executive to be her guest at Obama’s State of the Union address in 2011.

Hundreds of other device makers have offices in Minnesota and the industry employs nearly 30,000 people in the state. As a result, Democratic and Republican lawmakers from Minnesota have traditionally supported the industry’s interests. Erik Paulsen, a Republican House member who was defeated in November, received more financial support from the device industry over the past 10 years than any other member of Congress.

Legislators from other states with device businesses have also gained reputations as friendly to the industry. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat also running for president, has been criticized for omitting medical devices from her tough stance on the pharmaceutical industry. Sen. Bob Casey, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, is a leading recipient of device industry money and has fought for years to repeal a long-delayed 2.3 percent tax on medical devices intended to help fund the Affordable Care Act. Klobuchar has also fought to repeal the tax.

Over the past 10 years, Klobuchar’s Senate campaigns have received more than $300,000 from the device industry, including corporations, unions, political action committees and individuals, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Among Democrats, only Casey received more money from the device industry during the period.

In a statement, Medtronic said its dealings with government officials are consistent with its mission to alleviate pain, restore health and extend life.

“Medtronic has engaged with Senator Klobuchar on a range of policy issues over the years,” Medtronic said in its statement. “She listens to our positions as one of her constituents, advocates for them when she agrees, and doesn’t when she disagrees.”

There have been times when Klobuchar has spoken out against the industry. In 2016, after the Minneapolis Star Tribune revealed that Medtronic failed to disclose more than 1,000 reports of “adverse events” relating to its Infuse Bone Graft device, Klobuchar wrote Medtronic asking why the company didn’t report the information sooner.

She also criticized a program that allowed device makers to report some patient injuries and product problems years after the fact.

After the newspaper reported more details about Infuse device problems last year, Klobuchar and fellow Minnesota Sen. Tina Smith wrote Medtronic about the company’s “failure to quickly and accurately report data to the FDA.”

 

Regulatory fights

In 2010, halfway through Klobuchar’s first Senate term, the device industry became alarmed about a looming report that it feared would lead to heightened regulation — and a slower, and more expensive, path to get new products to market.

After a series of device safety scandals, the FDA had commissioned the Institute of Medicine, a nonpartisan group that advises federal authorities on health issues, to conduct an independent review of its fast-track device approval process.

The process allows companies to get approval for new devices based on “substantial equivalence” to previously approved products. It’s how the vast majority of new medical devices are approved for the American public.

Already worried about a backlog in approvals, a prominent device trade group and its allies in Washington began pressing the FDA to ignore the Institute of Medicine’s findings even before the institute finished its review. In a May 2010 letter, Klobuchar and Paulsen said they were concerned with the review and called for the FDA “to reject proposals that unduly burden small businesses and suppress the development of promising medical breakthroughs.”

In July 2011, the Institute of Medicine concluded that the streamlined approval pathway was flawed and should be dismantled. The FDA quickly dismissed that recommendation.

Three months later, Klobuchar introduced legislation seeking to speed up medical device approvals by reducing the use of randomized and controlled clinical trials for some devices and limiting the amount of information medical device makers needed to provide to the FDA.

The consumer advocacy group Public Citizen denounced the bill, writing to Klobuchar that it would “weaken the already inadequate regulatory requirements for medical devices” and “would undoubtedly accelerate the rate of patient casualties.”

The bill never left the Senate, but some key provisions that required the FDA to take a lighter approach with industry during device approvals and language that eased conflict of interest rules at the agency were ultimately included in the Senate’s version of the landmark Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act, according to a press release from Klobuchar’s office.

The senator characterized the changes as “common-sense reforms” that would give patients access to vital devices. Obama signed the legislation into law in 2012.

In 2016, Klobuchar introduced another bill aimed at easing device regulation. The Improving Medical Device Innovation Act would have required the FDA to explore alternatives for some device types to existing reporting requirements for patient injuries and device malfunctions “that will be least burdensome for device manufacturers.” These reports are a primary way the FDA learns about dangerous devices once they are already on the market.

The bill also contained a provision to give device companies a voice in recommending which experts the FDA includes on panels reviewing their devices. “This is really noxious,” said Dr. Peter Lurie, who held senior posts at the FDA from 2009 to 2017 and now heads the nonprofit watchdog group, the Center for Science in the Public Interest. “The last thing the agency needs is a bunch of self-interested input from sponsoring companies.”

The Senate bill was never voted on but the provision regarding FDA expert panels lived on. In late 2016, Klobuchar joined an overwhelming majority of legislators to approve the 21st Century Cures Act. Signed into law by Obama, the measure seeks to accelerate product development for drugs and devices and strengthens the requirement that the FDA emphasize the “least burdensome means” for reviewing medical devices.

Analysis: Cohen Hearing Stokes Touchy Topic of Impeachment

Michael Cohen’s testimony is just the beginning.

The House oversight hearing with President Donald Trump’s former attorney, coming in advance of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report, heralds what Democrats in Congress view as the long days ahead providing checks and balances on the Oval Office.

For some, the outcome may – or may not – lead to grounds for impeachment. For others, impeachment cannot come fast enough.

What is certain, though, is the mounting tension. As the hearings and investigations unfold, Democrats, particularly those running for the White House, may be speeding toward a moment when they have no choice but to consider the I-word.

Newly elected Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib, among the most outspoken lawmakers on impeachment, says that as the 2020 presidential candidates visit her Detroit-area district, “most residents are going to ask where they stand on this issue.”

Voters are less concerned with Mueller’s Russia investigation, Tlaib said, than with the day-to-day White House operations and “whether or not there’s a crooked CEO in the Oval Office.”

Hours into Cohen’s testimony Wednesday, New Hampshire’s statehouse Speaker Steve Shurtleff, a Democrat, said that impeaching the president was becoming a realistic option.

“They’re putting a lot of meat on the bone,” Shurtleff said in an interview. “It could be a one-two punch,” he said of the Cohen hearing and Mueller report. “I think it’ll connect a lot of dots.”

Trump allies have tried to use the prospect of impeachment as a political weapon. The president’s former chief counselor, Steve Bannon, had warned before the 2018 elections that Democrats would impeach the president if they won control of Congress.

Republicans are taking up that mantle. At the start of the Cohen hearing, the top Republican on the panel, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, said the only reason for the session was so Democrats could pursue impeachment. Another committee Republican, Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, called the hearing a “circus” not worth Americans’ time. And newly elected Republican Rep. Carol Miller of West Virginia said the sole purpose was “discrediting the president.”

“If it was not already obvious,” Miller said, “there are members here with a singular goal in Congress to impeach President Trump.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has kept calls for impeachment at bay by insisting that Mueller first must be allowed to finish his work, which reports suggest could happen in the coming weeks, and present his findings publicly – though it’s unclear whether the White House will allow its full release.

Pelosi says the House shouldn’t pursue impeachment for political reasons, nor should it hold back for political reasons. Instead, she says lawmakers need to do their jobs as a co-equal branch of government and go wherever the facts lead.

“The American people expect us to hold the administration accountable,” said Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I, a member of House leadership. “And if during the course of that we come upon sufficient evidence that warrants his removal, I think they expect us to do that.”

But Democrats are not there yet, at all.

So far, the Democratic Party’s potential 2020 class has tried to avoid the impeachment question altogether, fearful that calling for impeachment before the Mueller report is out could undermine the process and trigger a voter backlash.

Among them, only former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke has directly called for Trump’s impeachment. Others approached the Cohen hearing in more cautious and creative ways.

Sen. Kamala Harris of California, used the hearings as a fundraising opportunity. “Are you watching Michael Cohen testify before Congress today?” campaign manager Juan Rodriguez wrote. “There’s a lot to unpack, but it’s abundantly clear: if we are finally going to get to the truth, Congress must act to protect Robert Mueller from being fired before his findings in the Russia investigation are made public.” He asked for donations of between $10 and $250.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts sent an email during the hearing promising, if she becomes president, not to pardon anyone implicated in the Trump investigations. She set down a challenge for others running to do same.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota tweeted that Cohen’s testimony “is a big deal.” Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey said in a brief chat that he wasn’t watching the hearing but was “looking to digest it.’

And Howard Schultz, the former Starbucks CEO considering an independent bid, said the testimony is “another stark reminder of President Trump’s utter disregard for honesty and decency.”

The liberal base is restive, though. A new group, By the People, launched a pledge drive urging members of both parties in Congress to show leadership by extending the legislative branch’s oversight to the next step of impeachment.

“We already know Donald Trump has committed impeachable offenses,” said Alexandra Flores-Quilty, a spokesperson for the group. “We can’t wait any longer and want our representatives to move forward now.”

So far only Tlaib and fellow newly elected Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota have signed on.

Another new Democrat, Rep. Joe Cunningham of South Carolina, said impeachment was not central to his campaign for office. “Our constituents back home sent me up here to do a job and focus on certain issues and that’s not something I’m focused on right now,” he said.

Surveys show impeachment has merit for some voters. In a January Washington Post-ABC News poll, about as many Americans said Congress should begin impeachment proceedings (40 percent) as said they approved of the job Trump is doing as president (37 percent).

Billionaire liberal activist Tom Steyer, who has poured millions of dollars into a campaign calling for Trump’s impeachment, said Cohen’s testimony marked a turning point in the debate because it’s clear Trump broke the law. His group is launching a TV ad over the next week to highlight that point.

“It ended the argument. It didn’t end the fight,” Steyer said in an interview.

Steyer says Democrats can only wait on the Mueller report for so long before they have to make their own decisions. His group is hosting town halls in the hometown districts of key House chairmen – including Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, who presided over the Wednesday’s hearing.

But as the Oversight Committee chairman exited the hourslong sessions, Cummings told reporters the only people using the I-word were the Republicans.

“Not one person on our side mentioned the word impeachment,” the chairman said.

US-China Trade Talks ‘Not Close’

The top U.S. trade official said Wednesday that a new trade agreement with China is not yet close to being completed. State Department correspondent Nike Ching reports from Washington on the latest in the talks and how U.S. concerns over high-tech issues remain a key point of friction. VOA Mandarin reporter Yihua Lee contributes.

Democrats Blast Trump Diversion of Pentagon Money to Border Wall 

Congressional Democrats on Wednesday criticized a plan to divert money from Defense Department projects to fund President Donald Trump’s U.S.-Mexico border wall under emergency powers. 

At a committee hearing that yielded a few new details about how Trump wants to move money between accounts without the approval of Congress, the Democratic chairwoman of the panel delivered a harsh rebuke to Pentagon witnesses. 

“I’m not sure what kind of chumps you think my colleagues and I are,” said Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who chairs the Appropriations military construction subcommittee. 

‘Circumventing Congress’

“What you are doing is circumventing Congress to get funding for the wall, which you could not get during the conference process,” she said, referring to a bipartisan spending measure approved by Congress and signed into law by Trump on Feb. 14. 

Assistant Secretary of Defense Robert McMahon told the panel that no military construction projects already approved by Congress would be canceled. He said there could be deferrals of projects for which funds have not yet been dispensed. 

McMahon said that no money would be taken away from housing for soldiers and that the Pentagon would target project deferrals with “no or minimal operational readiness risks.” 

He said the Pentagon will ask that any funding that is deferred be fully replenished in next year’s appropriations bills making their way through Congress in coming months. 

Which projects?

Republican Rep. Kay Granger of Texas urged McMahon to inform Congress of the specific projects the Pentagon would defer. He said specific decisions had not yet been made. 

Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree of Maine expressed concern that a deferral could delay maintenance at a Portsmouth naval shipyard in her state. She also said she feared that the White House could target projects in congressional districts whose House members voted to terminate Trump’s emergency declaration. 

On the day he signed the bipartisan spending measure — which provided $1.37 billion for physical barriers on the border, but not the $5.7 billion he wanted for his wall — Trump declared a national emergency at the border, saying that would empower him to shift money from other accounts to his wall. 

The House of Representatives on Tuesday approved a resolution to terminate the emergency order, although the Senate has not yet acted on the measure. Even if the Senate approved it, Trump would likely veto it. 

States’ lawsuit

Democrats say the order tramples on Congress’ constitutional authority to make major decisions about spending U.S. taxpayer funds. A coalition of 16 U.S. states has already sued Trump to block his emergency declaration. 

The White House has identified $3.6 billion in Pentagon construction projects that it says can be tapped for building the wall, which Trump first proposed when he was a presidential candidate. At that time, he promised Mexico would pay for it. Since Mexico has refused, he now wants U.S. taxpayers to foot the bill. 

Trump says a wall is needed to fight illegal immigration and crime; Democrats say it would be too costly and ineffective and that there is no actual emergency at the southern border. 

US House Passes Gun Control Bill

The U.S. House of Representatives Wednesday passed the most significant gun control bill in years, expanding background checks to include gun shows and internet sales.

The vote was 240 to 190, with Congressman Mike Thompson of California calling it a “new day” in Congress, with Democrats in control and making a “commitment to address the issue of gun violence.”

Maryland Democrat Stenny Hoyer said a background check bill was never allowed to come to a vote when Republicans controlled the House.

“The carnage that we’ve seen perpetrated by gun violence over the last decade has heightened the American people’s concern,” adding that he believes 90 percent of Americans support the bill.

Loopholes would be closed

Wednesday’s bill would close the loopholes that allow people in most states to buy guns from other gun owners at shows and over the internet without the usual backgrounds checks licensed gun stores are required to carry out.

The House plans to vote on a second bill Thursday to expand the time allowed to conduct a background check from just a few minutes, in some cases, to at least 10 days.

The two bills are likely to face stronger opposition in the Republican-controlled Senate, where opponents say it will do nothing from stopping a criminal from getting a weapon.

President Donald Trump has said he supports expanding background checks for gun buyers. But the White House says his advisors would recommend a veto, claiming the bills would infringe on Second Amendment rights and place a burden on legitimate buyers.

Openness an Asset, US Transgender Service Members Say

Members of a U.S. House Armed Services subcommittee on Wednesday heard testimony from five transgender members of the U.S. military, just over a month after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration can ban future transgender members of the military. 

 

The ruling made Jan. 22, 2019, said transgender men and women already serving in the military can stay, but any further applicants who have already undergone a gender transition could be barred from the service. 

 

Members of the service with gender dysphoria, or a feeling that their physical gender does not match the gender they feel themselves to be, would be required to serve as their physical gender. 

 

The Trump administration said the restrictions were necessary because of “tremendous medical costs and disruption” of having transgender military personnel serve.    

But the five transgender witnesses Wednesday testified that their openness about their gender identity has helped other service members to be transparent as well.  

  

U.S. Army Capt. Alivia Stehlik, a physical therapist, said her patients have told her they could be more honest with her because of her own authenticity about her identity. She said that has made her more effective at her work.  

  

Army Capt. Jennifer Peace said, “I consider myself to be a prime example of what a transgender service member can do.” She said she fears that the new ban would keep transgender service members already on the force from taking opportunities that would require leaving the military, because they would be banned from returning.  

Staff Sgt. Patricia King said the people under her command were readier for combat because her transgender status made for a more open atmosphere. “There were no secrets, no false bravado, no hiding,” she said. “We built cohesion in a way that I have never seen in my 19 years of service. That’s the value of openness.” 

 

And Jesse Ehrenfeld, a U.S. Navy veteran who now studies gay and lesbian health at Vanderbilt University, said there is “no medically valid reason to exclude gender-transitioned individuals from military service.”  

  

He added, “There is nothing about being transgender that diminishes an individual’s ability to serve. … Banning transgender troops harms readiness through forced dishonesty.” 

 

The Trump administration introduced the transgender ban in July 2017 via a tweet by the president. Civil rights groups have sued to overturn the restrictions.

Walmart Is Eliminating Greeters, Worrying Disabled Workers

As Walmart moves to phase out its familiar blue-vested “greeters” at 1,000 stores nationwide, disabled workers who fill many of those jobs say they’re being ill-treated by a chain that styles itself as community-minded and inclusive. 

 

Walmart told greeters around the country last week that their positions would be eliminated on April 26 in favor of an expanded, more physically demanding “customer host” role. To qualify, they will need to be able to lift 25-pound (11-kilogram) packages, climb ladders and stand for long periods. 

 

That came as a heavy blow to greeters with cerebral palsy, spina bifida and other physical disabilities. For them, a job at Walmart has provided needed income, served as a source of pride and offered a connection to the community.  

Customer backlash

 

Now Walmart, America’s largest private employer, is facing a backlash as customers rally around some of the chain’s most highly visible employees. 

 

Walmart says it is striving to place greeters in other jobs at the company, but workers with disabilities are worried.  

 

Donny Fagnano, 56, who has worked at Walmart for more than 21 years, said he cried when a manager at the store in Lewisburg, Pa., called him into the office last week and told him his job was going away.  

 

“I like working,” he said. “It’s better than sitting at home.” 

 

Fagnano, who has spina bifida, said he was offered a severance package. He hopes to stay on at Walmart and clean bathrooms instead. 

 

Walmart greeters have been around for decades, allowing the retail giant to put a friendly face at the front of its stores. Then, in 2016, Walmart began replacing greeters with hosts, adding responsibilities that include helping with returns, checking receipts to deter shoplifters and keeping the front of the store clean. Walmart and other chains have been redefining roles at stores as they compete with Amazon.  

The effect of the greeter phase-out on disabled and elderly employees — who have traditionally gravitated toward the role as one they were well-suited to doing — largely escaped public notice until last week, when Walmart launched a second round of cuts. 

 

As word spread, first on social media and then in local and national news outlets, outraged customers began calling Walmart to complain. Tens of thousands of people signed petitions. Facebook groups sprang up with names like “Team Adam” and “Save Lesley.” A second-grade class in California wrote letters to Walmart’s CEO on behalf of Adam Catlin, a disabled greeter in Pennsylvania whose mother had written an impassioned Facebook post about his plight. Walmart said it has offered another job to Catlin. 

 

In Galena, Ill., hundreds of customers plan to attend an “appreciation parade” for Ashley Powell on her last day of work as a greeter. 

 

“I love it, and I think I’ve touched a lot of people,” said Powell, 34, who has an intellectual disability. 

‘What am I going to do?’

 

In Vancouver, Wash., John Combs, 42, who has cerebral palsy, was devastated and then angered by his impending job loss. It had taken his family five years to find him a job he could do, and he loved the work, coming up with nicknames for all his co-workers. 

“What am I going to do — just sit here on my butt all day in this house? That’s all I’m going to do?” Combs asked his sister and guardian, Rachel Wasser. “I do my job. I didn’t do anything wrong.” 

 

Wasser urged the retailer to “give these people a fair shake. … If you want to make your actions match your words, do it. Don’t be a wolf in sheep’s clothing.” 

 

With the U.S. unemployment rate for disabled people more than twice that for workers without disabilities, Walmart has long been seen as a destination for people like Combs. Advocacy groups worry the company is backsliding.  

“It’s the messaging that concerns me,” said Gabrielle Sedor, chief operations officer at ANCOR, a trade group representing service providers. “Given that Walmart is such an international leader in the retail space, I’m concerned this decision might suggest to some people that the bottom line of the company is more important to the company than inclusive communities. We don’t think those two are mutually exclusive.” 

 

The greeter issue has already prompted at least three complaints to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, as well as a federal lawsuit in Utah alleging discrimination under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Under the federal law, employers must provide “reasonable” accommodations to workers with disabilities. 

 

Walmart did not disclose how many disabled greeters could lose their jobs. The company said that after it made the change at more than 1,000 stores in 2016, 80 percent to 85 percent of all affected greeters found other roles at Walmart. It did not reveal how many of them were disabled. 

 

This time, Walmart initially told greeters they would have 60 days to land other jobs at the company. Amid the uproar, the company has extended the deadline indefinitely for greeters with disabilities. 

 

“We recognize that our associates with physical disabilities face a unique situation,” Walmart spokesman Justin Rushing said in a statement. The extra time, he said, will give Walmart a chance to explore how to accommodate such employees. 

Offers made

 

Walmart said it has already made offers to some greeters, including those with physical disabilities, and expects to continue doing so in the coming weeks.  

 

But some workers say they have been tacitly discouraged from applying for other jobs. 

 

Mitchell Hartzell, 31, a full-time Walmart greeter in Hazel Green, Ala., said his manager told him “they pretty much didn’t have anything in that store for me to do” after his job winds down in April. He said he persisted, approaching several assistant managers to ask about openings, and found out about a vacant position at self-checkout. But it had already been promised to a greeter who doesn’t use a wheelchair, he said. 

 

“It seems like they don’t want us anymore,” said Hartzell, who has cerebral palsy. 

 

Jay Melton, 40, who has worked as a greeter in Marion, N.C., for nearly 17 years, loves church, Tar Heels basketball and Walmart. His sister-in-law, Jamie Melton, said the job is what gets him out of bed. 

 

“He doesn’t have a lot of things he does himself that bring him joy,” she said. Addressing Walmart, Melton added: “When you cut a huge population of people out, and you have written a policy that declares they are no longer capable of doing what they have been doing, that is discrimination.”  

World Bank: Women Have Just 75 Percent of Men’s Legal Rights

Women around the world are granted only three-quarters of the legal rights enjoyed by men, often preventing them from getting jobs or opening businesses, the World Bank said in study published Wednesday. 

 

“If women have equal opportunities to reach their full potential, the world would not only be fairer, it would be more prosperous as well,” Kristalina Georgieva, the bank’s interim president, said in a statement. 

 

While reforms in many countries are a step in the right direction, “2.7 billion women are still legally barred from having the same choice of jobs as men,” the statement said. 

 

The study included an index measuring gender disparities that was derived from data collected over a decade from 187 countries and using eight indicators to evaluate the balance of rights afforded to men and women. 

 

The report showed progress over the past 10 years, with the index rising to 75 from 70, out of a possible 100, as 131 countries have agreed to enact 274 reforms, adopting laws or regulations allowing greater inclusion of women. 

 

Among the improvements, 35 countries have proposed laws against sexual harassment in the workplace, granting protections to an additional 2 billion women, while 22 nations have abolished restrictions that kept women out of certain industrial sectors. 

 

Six perfect scores

Six nations — Belgium, Denmark, France, Latvia, Luxembourg and Sweden — scored a 100, “meaning they give women and men equal legal rights in the measured areas,” the World Bank said. 

 

A decade ago, no economy had achieved a perfect score. 

 

On the other hand, too many women still face discriminatory laws or regulations at every stage of their professional lives: 56 nations made no improvement over the last decade. 

 

South Asia saw the greatest progress, although it still achieved a relatively low score of 58.36. It was followed by Southeast Asia and the Pacific, at 70.73 and 64.80, respectively.  

 

Latin America and the Caribbean recorded the second-highest scores among emerging and developing economies at 79.09. 

 

Conversely, the Middle East and North Africa posted the lowest score for gender equality at 47.37. The World Bank nevertheless pointed to encouraging changes, such as the introduction of laws against domestic violence, in particular in Algeria and Lebanon.

TikTok Fined in US for Illegally Gathering Children’s Data 

The fast-growing, Chinese-owned video sharing network TikTok agreed to pay a $5.7 million fine to U.S. authorities to settle charges that it illegally collected personal information from children, officials said Wednesday. 

 

The Federal Trade Commission said the penalty for the social network, which had been known as Musical.ly, was the largest ever in a children’s privacy investigation. 

 

The social network, which has been surging in popularity with young smartphone users and taking over from rivals like Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, failed to obtain parental consent from its underage users as required by the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, FTC officials said. 

 

The operators of TikTok “knew many children were using the app, but they still failed to seek parental consent before collecting names, email addresses, and other personal information from users under the age of 13,” said FTC Chairman Joe Simons.  

No tolerance for lawbreakers

 

“This record penalty should be a reminder to all online services and websites that target children: We take enforcement of COPPA very seriously, and we will not tolerate companies that flagrantly ignore the law.” 

 

TikTok claimed 500 million users worldwide last year, making it one of the most popular worldwide apps. 

 

Owned by China’s ByteDance, it expanded its reach in the U.S. with the merger with Musical.ly. 

 

Teens have been flocking to the service, which allows them to create and share videos of 15 seconds.  

According to the FTC, the company required users to provide an email address, phone number, username, first and last name, a short biography, and a profile picture. 

 

The consumer protection regulator said 65 million accounts have been registered in the United States. 

 

Officials said the company knew that many of its users were under 13 and should have taken greater precautions. 

 

“In our view, these practices reflected the company’s willingness to pursue growth even at the expense of endangering children,” said a statement from FTC Commissioners Rohit Chopra and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter. 

 

“The agency secured a record-setting civil penalty and deletion of ill-gotten data, as well as other remedies to stop this egregious conduct.” 

Suggestive content

 

TikTok has faced criticism around the world for featuring sexually suggestive content inappropriate for children. 

 

TikTok said in a statement it would create a “separate app experience” for younger users with additional privacy protections as part of its agreement with regulators. 

 

“It’s our priority to create a safe and welcoming experience for all of our users, and as we developed the global TikTok platform, we’ve been committed to creating measures to further protect our user community — including tools for parents to protect their teens and for users to enable additional privacy settings,” the statement said.

Fed to Stop Shrinking Portfolio This Year, Powell Says 

The Federal Reserve will stop shrinking its $4 trillion balance sheet later this year, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said on Wednesday, ending a process that investors say works at cross-purposes with the Fed’s current pause on interest rate hikes. 

“We’ve worked out, I think, the framework of a plan that we hope to be able to announce soon that will light the way all the way to the end of balance sheet normalization,” Powell told members of the House Financial Services Committee in what were his most detailed remarks to date on the subject. 

“We’re going to be in a position … to stop runoff later this year,” he said, adding that doing so would leave the balance sheet at about 16 percent or 17 percent of GDP, up from about 6 percent before the financial crisis about a decade ago. 

The U.S. gross domestic product is currently about $20 trillion, suggesting the Fed’s balance sheet would be between $3.2 trillion and $3.4 trillion. 

The Fed has been trimming its balance sheet — bulked up by trillions of dollars of bond-buying during the post-crisis years to help keep interest rates low and bolster the economy — by as much as $50 billion a month since October 2017. As recently as a few months ago it had expected to keep shrinking its portfolio for another couple of years. 

New tack

But in a series of meetings that began in November, the Fed has been devising a new approach. With rising demand for currency around the world, and from U.S. banks for reserves held at the central bank, Fed policymakers now believe a big balance sheet is necessary just to ensure it has proper control over the short-term interest rates it sets to manage the economy. 

In addition, Fed policymakers now say balance sheet policy should take financial and economic conditions into account. 

Questions about the plan remain, including whether the Fed will adjust the maturities of its Treasury portfolio, and how it will go about shedding the mortgage-backed securities (MBS) it accumulated during its asset-buying days. 

Powell said the Fed still has a bunch of decisions ahead of it. 

“The one on MBS sales is really closer to the back of the line — really, we have to decide about the maturity composition, things like that, and we’ll be working through that in a very careful way,” Powell said.  “Markets are sensitive to this.” 

Powell’s remarks on the balance sheet came toward the end of more than two hours of testimony before the Democrat-led House panel that includes several new members, including New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. 

But the Green New Deal advocate and Bronx populist asked no questions during the debate, and much of what Powell said on Wednesday repeated comments made Tuesday to the Republican-controlled Senate Banking Committee, including that the economy is on solid ground and the Fed would be patient on raising rates. 

Inflation goal unchanged

Powell was asked, as he was in the Senate, about the Fed’s plan to rethink its policy framework this year. He assured lawmakers that the Fed is merely trying to refine its approach so it can meet its current 2 percent inflation goal. 

“We are not looking at a higher inflation target, full stop,” he said. 

Powell also repeated his warnings against a failure by Congress to raise the debt ceiling, saying there would be “bad consequences” should the United States default on its debt payments. 

Powell by law appears two times a year before Congress to brief members of the House Financial Services Committee and the Senate Banking Committee on monetary policy and the state of the economy. 

US Trade Official: Deal with China Not Near Agreement

The top U.S. trade official said Wednesday that a new trade deal with China is not close to being completed.

“Much still needs to be done before an agreement can be reached,” U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer told a congressional panel in Washington. “If we can complete this effort, and again I say if, and if we can reach a resolution on the issue of enforceability, we might have an agreement that enables us to turn the corner in our relationship with China.”

The U.S. and China, the world’s two biggest economies, have been negotiating for months on a new agreement, even as they have imposed hefty new tariffs on billions of dollars of each other’s exports.

Lighthizer said the countries’ negotiators, who have been meeting in Washington and Beijing, “are making real progress.”

President Donald Trump cited that progress Sunday in postponing what would have been a sharp increase in U.S. duties on $200 billion in Chinese imports that would have taken effect Friday.

The most recent U.S. statistics show China last year had a $382 billion trade surplus in deals with the United States through November. Trump is trying to alter trade terms between the two countries to end what the U.S., Japan and European countries contend are China’s unfair trade practices, including state intervention in markets, subsidies of some industries and theft of foreign technology.

China has offered to increase its purchase of American farm products and energy as part of a new trade pact.

Members of Congress, both Republicans and Democrats, urged Lighthizer to reach a wide-ranging trade agreement.

Meet Elon Tusk: Tesla Chief Changes Twitter Display Name

Silicon Valley billionaire Elon Musk changed his Twitter display name to “Elon Tusk” in another late-night flurry of tweets on Wednesday, which also promised news from his electric carmaker Tesla Inc later this week.

In a series of tweets to his 25 million followers following charges from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this week, Musk accused the regulator of failing to read Tesla’s annual reports and said its oversight was “broken”.

On Wednesday, he changed his display name and added an elephant tag.

Social media platforms have featured a number of memes involving wordplay around Musk’s name this week.

He also promised Tesla would have “news” at 2 p.m. California time on Thursday. The company, deep in debt as it ramps up production of its popular Model 3 sedan, is due to repay a $920 million convertible bond a day later.

Musk had promised last year to have his public statements vetted by the company’s board, as part of a settlement with the SEC that headed off demands for him to resign as Tesla CEO.

Tesla did not immediately respond to request for comment.

 

Volvo’s Polestar Unveils Electric Car Touted as Tesla Rival

Volvo’s electric performance brand Polestar is unveiling a battery-powered compact car touted as a rival to Tesla’s Model 3.

The Polestar 2 is a five-door vehicle with a panoramic glass roof, an all-vegan interior and a battery with enough capacity to drive 500 kilometers under European tests for range measurement, or 275 miles under U.S. testing rules.

With 408 horsepower, it should accelerate from zero to 100 kph (0-62 mph) in under five seconds. Polestar said Wednesday that the car’s U.S. price for the launch version will be $55,500 after tax incentives; later a lower-priced version with less range is envisioned.

The car, to be shown at next month’s Geneva auto show, becomes available in 2020.

Volvo Car Group, headquartered in Goteborg, Sweden, is a subsidiary of Chinese automaker Geely.

Nadler: Former US AG Whitaker to Clarify House Testimony

Former acting U.S. Attorney General Matthew Whitaker agreed to meet with lawmakers to clarify his testimony, a congressional leader said on Tuesday, referring to an appearance where Whitaker was quizzed about whether President Donald Trump had sought to influence investigations.

“I want to thank Mr. Whitaker for volunteering to meet with us to clarify his @HouseJudiciary testimony,” Representative Jerrold Nadler, chairman of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, tweeted, saying he hoped to schedule Whitaker in the “coming days.”

Lawmakers have not said what Whitaker will address from his Feb. 8 testimony, which Nadler previously said was “unsatisfactory, incomplete, or contradicted by other evidence.”

But the most persistent questions then focused on whether Whitaker had contact with Trump about an investigation into hush-money payments to women during Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal attorney.

The Justice Department, which has already said Whitaker stands by his testimony, had no immediate comment.

The brief tenure of Whitaker as head of the Justice Department ended on Feb. 14 when the Senate confirmed Trump’s choice of permanent Attorney General William Barr.

The Judiciary Committee has obtained possible evidence suggesting that Trump asked Whitaker about possibly changing the prosecutor in charge of the hush-money probe, said a person familiar with the matter.

A House Judiciary Committee spokesman and a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment.

If true, such a request by Trump could bolster Democratic efforts to show that the president has sought to influence law enforcement investigations against him and his associates.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller is said to be close to ending a 21-month investigation into whether Russia meddled in the 2016 election to help Trump; whether Trump’s campaign colluded with Moscow; and whether Trump has since obstructed justice.

Russia has denied meddling. Trump has denied any collusion.

The Mueller probe has clouded his presidency for many months.

Nadler’s panel has information suggesting that Trump asked Whitaker if U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman could take control of an investigation of Cohen by prosecutors in the Southern District of New York, said the source who asked not to be identified.

Berman is a former law partner of another Trump attorney, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Trump dismissed as false a report in the New York Times last week about a similar request to Whitaker.

Congressional investigators now have information that such a request was made and that Whitaker provided misleading testimony to the panel while under oath during his contentious Feb. 8 hearing, the source said.

In that session, Whitaker testified he had not talked to Trump about the probe and had not interfered with it in any way.

He also denied media reports that claimed that Trump had lashed out at Whitaker after he learned Cohen was pleading guilty to lying to Congress about a proposed Trump Tower in Moscow.

Nadler said then that media reports contradicted Whitaker’s testimony and that “several individuals” had direct knowledge of phone calls Whitaker denied receiving from the White House.

Cohen was sentenced in December to three years in prison after pleading guilty to campaign finance violations, including making payments to adult film actress Stephanie Clifford, known as Stormy Daniels, and former Playboy model Karen McDougal.

Cohen said he made those payments at the direction of Trump.

Both women have claimed they had affairs with Trump. He has denied having sex with Daniels and denied McDougal’s claim.

Cohen testified behind closed doors to the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday. He is expected to testify publicly on Wednesday before the House Oversight Committee.

Trump Threatens to Veto Gun Bills Pushed by Democrats

President Donald Trump is threatening to veto two Democratic bills expanding federal background checks on gun purchases, saying they do not sufficiently protect gun owners’ Second Amendment rights.

The House is expected to vote this week on separate bills requiring background checks for all sales and transfers of firearms and extending the background-check review from three to 10 days.

The bills are the first in a series of steps planned by majority House Democrats to tighten gun laws after eight years of Republican control.

The White House says in a veto message that the bill expanding background checks would impose unreasonable requirements on gun owners. It says the bill could block someone from borrowing a firearm for self-defense or allowing a neighbor to take care of a gun while traveling.

The other bill, extending the review period for a background check, “would unduly impose burdensome delays on individuals seeking to purchase a firearm,” the White House said.

The bill would close the so-called Charleston loophole used by the shooter in a 2015 massacre at a historic black church to buy a gun. But the White House said allowing the federal government to “restrict firearms purchases through bureaucratic delay would undermine the Second Amendment’s guarantee that law-abiding citizens have an individual right to keep and bear arms.”

Earlier Trump pledge

Democrats accused Trump of hypocrisy, noting that Trump advocated for strengthening background checks after 17 people were shot and killed at a Florida high school a year ago.

At a meeting with survivors and family members of the shooting in Parkland, Florida, Trump promised to be “very strong on background checks.” And he suggested he supported allowing some teachers and other school employees to carry concealed weapons to be ready for intruders.

A week later, during a televised meeting with lawmakers at the White House, Trump wagged his finger at a Republican senator and scolded him for being “afraid of the NRA.” The president declared that he would stand up to the gun lobby and finally get results in quelling gun violence.

Trump’s words rattled some Republicans in Congress and sparked hope among gun-control advocates that, unlike after previous mass shootings, tougher regulations would be enacted. But Trump later retreated on those words, expressing support for modest changes to the federal background check system, as well as for arming teachers.

‘Empty words’

The Democratic National Committee said in a statement Tuesday that Trump’s initial pledge to take on the National Rifle Association and address gun violence “were just empty words.”

Trump “had the opportunity to put his money where his mouth is, and instead said he would veto bipartisan legislation” to expand background checks, the DNC said.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said Trump was ignoring the threat of gun violence even as he declared a national emergency so he could siphon billions of dollars from the military to fund his proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

“The gun violence epidemic in the United States of America is an actual national emergency. The days of this House burying its head in the sand are now over,” Jeffries said Tuesday.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland said the two gun bills to be voted on this week are “something that the overwhelming majority of the American people will want us to support.”

Fed’s Powell: ‘No Rush’ to Hike Rates in ‘Solid’ But Slowing Economy

The Federal Reserve is in “no rush to make a judgment” about further changes to interest rates, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell told U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday as he spelled out the central bank’s approach to an economy that is likely slowing.

In two hours of testimony to the Senate Banking Committee, Powell elaborated on the “conflicting signals” the Fed has tried to decipher in recent weeks, including disappointing data on retail sales and other aspects of the economy that contrast with steady hiring, wage growth, and ongoing low unemployment.

“The baseline outlook is a good one,” Powell said, but slower growth overseas is a drag on the U.S. economy that “we may feel more of” in the coming months.

“We have the makings of a good outlook and our (rate-setting) committee is really monitoring the crosscurrents, the risks, and for now we are going to be patient with our policy and allow things to take time to clarify.”

If anything, Powell’s comments solidified a Fed policy shift last month in which it indicated it would pause a three-year cycle of rate hikes, which had been projected to run well into 2020, until the inflation or growth dynamics change.

The flow of new workers into the labor force, for example, has surprised the central bank and means “there is more room to grow,” Powell said.

Powell, who has led the Fed for just over a year, faced virtually no pushback from Republicans on the Senate panel, as former Fed chief Janet Yellen had in the past, that the central bank was courting inflation or financial risks by leaving rates too low.

After raising rates four times in 2018, and anticipating further hikes in 2019, the Fed in January switched to a “patient” stance as concerns about the global economy took root, and markets voiced doubts about the U.S. economic recovery.

The Fed’s benchmark overnight lending rate currently is within a range of 2.25 percent to 2.50 percent.

There was also little said by lawmakers about the Fed’s evolving plan to maintain a balance sheet of perhaps $3.5 trillion, which would be lower than the current $4 trillion but still massive by historical standards. Republican lawmakers generally have pushed the central bank to reduce a financial footprint inflated by crisis-era programs many in the party considered risky.

Financial markets were largely unmoved by Powell’s testimony, which was the first of his two hearings this week in Congress. He is due to appear before the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee on Wednesday.

U.S. Treasury yields were lower in afternoon trading while major U.S. stock indexes were slightly higher. The dollar was weaker against a basket of currencies.

Political Shift

Powell told lawmakers that the Fed expected the U.S. economy to grow solidly but at a slower pace this year than the estimated 3 percent growth for 2018, an outlook that was built into the central bank’s policy statement in January.

The “patient” approach to rate hikes has been a staple of Fed commentary since early last month.

“As long as we have steady growth with no inflation, that should keep the Fed at bay,” said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Cresset Wealth Advisors in Chicago.

But Tuesday’s hearing did offer a preview of issues the central bank may confront as the 2020 presidential campaign takes shape, and Democrats use their recently-won control of the House to press new economic and political ideas.

Amid a growing debate over whether the U.S. government may have far more room to expand its debt than conventional economics might recommend, or whether the Fed’s own balance sheet might help finance a “Green New Deal” of economic and environmental programs, Powell made clear he was among the traditionalists.

“The idea that deficits don’t matter for countries that can borrow in their own currency I think is just wrong. I think that U.S. debt is fairly high as a level of (gross domestic product) and, much more importantly than that, it’s growing faster than GDP,” Powell said. “To the extent that people are talking about the Fed – our role is not to provide support for particular policies” on environmental, social or other related issues.

Indeed, asked about the upcoming need to boost the U.S. debt ceiling, he said he considered the prospect of a U.S. government default on its obligations “a bright line, and I hope we never do pass it.”

Powell’s appearances on Capitol Hill this week, part of his semi-annual testimony to Congress, are his first since Democrats won control of the House in the November elections. They also follow the kickoff of a number of 2020 presidential campaigns.

Along with questions that ranged from the sources of rural poverty to the impact of climate change on banks, Senate committee members pressed points likely to figure into the Democratic primary battle.

“The Fed works for big rich banks that want to get bigger and richer,” said Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat running for president. She questioned whether Powell would be adequately aggressive in reviewing a proposed megamerger between U.S. regional lender BB&T and rival SunTrust Banks.

Powell pledged an “open and transparent” review of the deal.

When asked whether there had been any “direct or indirect” communication from the White House about interest rates, Powell deferred, saying he would not comment on private conversations with other officials.

President Donald Trump has castigated the Fed for raising rates, arguing that the monetary tightening was undercutting his administration’s efforts to boost economic growth.

On Tuesday, Powell repeated his oft-heard pledge that the Fed will make policy decisions “in a way that is not political.”

EPA Defends Enforcement Record, Despite Drop in Penalties

The Environmental Protection Agency’s enforcement chief on Tuesday defended the Trump administration’s work, despite a report by her own agency showing that civil and criminal crackdowns on polluters have dropped sharply in the past two years.

Assistant administrator Susan Bodine, who heads the office of enforcement, said the idea that EPA is soft on enforcement is “absolutely not true,” adding that the agency is giving states a greater role in regulation and enforcement and stressing education and voluntary compliance by companies.

Bodine told a House subcommittee that a media “narrative” about lax enforcement “discredits the tremendous work of the compliance and assurance staff” at EPA.

“A strong environment program doesn’t mean we have to collect a particular dollar amount or pick up a number of penalties,” Bodine said.

But Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., said EPA’s own statistics show an agency that’s “sitting on its hands” and “giving polluters a free pass. And it’s putting our health and environment at risk.”

When EPA enforcement activities go down, “pollution goes up. That’s a fact,” said DeGette, who chairs an Energy and Commerce subcommittee on oversight and investigations.

The EPA has been one of the most active agencies in carrying out President Donald Trump’s deregulatory goals. Environmental and public health groups say the business-friendly rollbacks place public health and the environment at greater risk, a claim Democrats repeatedly made at Tuesday’s hearing.

The hearing was the first oversight hearing on EPA since Democrats reclaimed the House majority last month.

Congress has enacted a series of laws to protect health and the environment, “and this panel will not sit back and allow this administration to simply ignore those laws,” DeGette said. “We expect the EPA to do its job.”

Historically low levels

The latest numbers from EPA show its overall enforcement activities for 2018 were at historically low levels, according to an agency report earlier this month.

The EPA assessed polluters a total of $69 million in civil penalties in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, the lowest dollar amount since EPA created the enforcement office in 1994, the report showed.

Inspections and evaluations dropped to about 10,600, half the number EPA conducted at its peak in 2010.

Civil investigations carried out by the agency declined to 22 last year, down from 40 in 2017 and 125 in 2016, the last year of the Obama administration.

Criminal fines and restitution tumbled, from $207 million in 2016 and $3 billion in 2017, which includes a $2.8 billion fine against Volkswagen over emissions-rigging in a case initiated under the Obama administration — to $86 million last year.

Rep. Frank Pallone, who chairs the full energy panel, told Bodine there was “no way to sugarcoat these numbers.”

Pallone, D-N.J., said it appears that under Trump, the EPA “is relying on industry to voluntarily come forward and disclose when they are not in compliance” with federal laws.

Pallone scoffed at that idea and said EPA must have a robust enforcement presence, with active inspections and investigations and, where appropriate, referrals to the Justice Department.

Pallone and other Democrats questioned Bodine about reports that EPA has lost 17 percent of its enforcement staff since 2017. Bodine disputed that, saying the agency has 607 enforcement employees of 649 authorized by Congress. More inspectors are being hired, including eight in March, she said.

‘Carrot and stick’ approach

Bodine challenged Democrats’ contention that higher penalties lead to improved compliance.

“Enforcement is a critical tool but it’s not an end to itself,” she said, adding that EPA uses a “carrot and stick” approach that ranges from helping companies better understand their obligations to supporting state enforcement actions “all the way to putting people in jail for knowing and egregious violations that endanger public health or the environment.”

Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., said Bodine appeared to be making excuses.

“I think it’s fairly clear EPA is not doing its job as it should,” said Castor, who chairs a special House committee on climate change.

“I’m sorry you feel that way,” Bodine replied.

Cameroon Cracks Down on Illegal Fuel Trade

Cameroonian police officers, assisted by members of the country’s elite corps, seized hundreds of containers of fuel illegally transported from Nigeria by suspected Central African Republic rebels in the northern town of Mbe, Cameroon.

Rigobert Ojong, a member of a task force of military, police and civil society members created three weeks ago to stop the illegal fuel trade, said the group received a tip that the fuel was on its way to the C.A.R., where it would be used by rebels fighting the central African state’s government. 

“We have put aside personnel dedicated to this fight, within the framework of this task force, and we have been able to intercept about 1,500 drums of fraudulently imported fuel. If we go by the price in the black market, we are talking about more than 3 billion CFA francs [$5 million] a year,” Ojong said.

Cameroon’s government says an unknown quantity of oil is smuggled from Nigeria through its territory because the border is so porous. The military says it has opened an investigation to track dealers who might be collaborating with rebel groups in the C.A.R.

Alleged corruption

Businessman Patrice Essola, who supplies fuel to the C.A.R. from Cameroon, says illegal trade with C.A.R. rebels is facilitated by corrupt government officials in both countries.

He said the rebels and traffickers work in collaboration with corrupt Cameroonian military officials and C.A.R. border immigration staff to import the fuel from Nigeria. Some of the tankers and trucks that smuggle the fuel are even protected by corrupt officials while in Cameroon and in the C.A.R., Essola added.

Kildadi Taguieke Boukar, governor of the Adamawa region that shares a border with the C.A.R., denies corrupt military officials assist rebels and smugglers, but said investigations had been opened.

Each time the traffickers are arrested, they answer charges in courts of law, Boukar said, but added the task is very, very difficult because Cameroon’s borders with Nigeria and the C.A.R. are very porous. All of the fuel will be taken to C.A.R. authorities, he said.

C.A.R. violence, peace deal

In January, Cameroon said 300 of its citizens had been abducted by suspected C.A.R. rebels within the past two years, along with at least 5,000 cattle. Local border communities asked the government to authorize self-defense groups to be equipped with guns to face rebels who they said continued to cross to their villages for supplies.

The C.A.R. was plunged into turmoil in 2013 when Muslim rebels known as the Seleka seized power in the majority-Christian country. A band of mostly Christian militias, called the anti-Balaka, rose up to counter the Seleka. Thousands of people have been killed in the violence and more than one million are internally displaced. An estimated 570,000 people have fled to neighboring countries, with about 350,000 in Cameroon.

On Feb. 2, the U.N. mission in the C.A.R., known as MINUSCA, and the African Union announced that a peace deal between the C.A.R. government and 14 rebel groups had been reached after sponsored talks in Sudan. They called on the C.A.R.’s neighbors to help bring peace by not allowing their borders to be used for supplies or as a hiding ground for fighters who refuse to respect the deal.

Boeing Nominates Former UN Ambassador Haley to Join its Board

U.S. aerospace manufacturer Boeing said on Tuesday it has nominated Nikki Haley, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and a close ally of President Donald Trump, to join its board of directors at the company’s annual shareholders meeting on April 29.

If elected by Boeing shareholders, she would help guide the future of America’s largest exporter, with a network of suppliers across the United States and the world, as Washington and Beijing have been locked in intense negotiations to end a trade war.

Haley’s nomination comes as Boeing grapples with a major decision: whether to launch an all-new jetliner known as NMA, a midsize plane that would serve a niche market falling between narrow- and wide-body aircraft.

The world’s largest planemaker has said it would make a final launch decision in 2020 on the new program, which is expected to define competition with archrival Airbus SE.

Viewed as a rising Republican Party star, Haley has often been mentioned as a future presidential candidate. Her counterparts at the United Nations saw her as a voice of clarity in the Trump administration.

Haley, 47, is the first female governor of South Carolina and a three-term legislator in the South Carolina House of Representatives. As governor in 2015, Haley was a key opponent of a campaign by Boeing’s largest labor union to form a collective bargaining unit at its 787 Dreamliner factory in South Carolina – though the machinists were later successful in forming a small bargaining unit there.

Boeing has faced growing scrutiny over its links to the Trump administration after a former senior planemaking executive, Pat Shanahan, was named deputy defense secretary and later acting defense secretary. The 31-year Boeing veteran has recused himself, however, from matters relating to the aerospace company.

The U.S. government has been weighing the purchase of an advanced version of the F-15 Boeing fighter. Last year, Boeing’s defense side had a series of wins, including the U.S. Air Force’s next training jet, which could be worth up to $9.2 billion, as well as a contract to replace UH-1N Huey helicopters worth $2.4 billion over the life of the programs.

In a press release, Muilenburg praised Haley’s record in government and industry partnership.

“Boeing will benefit greatly from her broad perspectives and combined diplomatic, government and business experience to help achieve our aspiration to be the best in aerospace and a global industrial champion,” Muilenburg said.

Based on total compensation for Boeing’s other 13 board members, Haley can expect to earn more than $300,000, well above her salary as U.N. ambassador.

Separately on Tuesday, the shareholders of Brazilian planemaker Embraer SA approved a deal to sell 80 percent of the Sao Paulo-based company’s commercial jet division to Boeing, a move that could reshape the global market for aircraft of up to 150 seats.

Boeing shares were flat at $427.88 a share in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Mobile World Congress Overshadowed by Huawei 5G Spying Standoff

Robots, cars, drones and virtual-reality gaming sets connected by cutting-edge 5G networks are among the thousands of futuristic gadgets on display at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

While there is much excitement over how 5G will transform our everyday lives, the conference is overshadowed by the standoff between the United States and Beijing over the Chinese telecoms giant Huawei, which the U.S. says could be used by the Chinese government for espionage.

Some U.S. cities and parts of Asia are already operating 5G mobile networks. They offer speeds of over a gigabyte per second and low latency — in other words, practically instant connections with no delay.

Experts say that opens up whole new fields of connectivity, from new generations of virtual reality gaming and communication, to remote robotic surgery.

The technology promises to transform not only the mobile phone in your pocket — but also the world around us, says Paul Triolo of the Eurasia Group, who spoke to VOA from the conference.

“The really key aspects of 5G, like some of the low latency communications and massive sensor, massive machine-to-machine communications, that’s more about industry and industrial uses. And that gets into thing like critical infrastructure so you’re going to have a lot more non-personal or industrial data flying around and that really has people concerned. For example, military forces in countries like the U.S. will also leverage large parts of the commercial network,” said Triolo.Chinese firm Huawei is a big presence at the Mobile World Congress and a big player in 5G network technology.

Washington has banned the company from 5G rollout in the United States, citing Chinese legislation requiring companies to cooperate with the state — raising fears Huawei 5G networks overseas could be used as a ‘Trojan horse’ to spy on rivals.

Attending the Mobile World Congress Tuesday, the U.S. State Department’s Deputy Secretary for Cyber Policy Robert L. Strayer urged allies to do the same.

“We will continue to engage with these governments and the regulators in these countries to educate them about what we know and keep sharing the best practices for how we can all successfully move to next generation of technology. I´ll just say there are plenty of options in the West,” Strayer told reporters.

Huawei’s management has said the company would never use ‘back doors’ for espionage — and the Chinese government has dismissed the accusations.

Australia, New Zealand and Japan have followed Washington’s lead and restricted Huawei’s involvement in 5G. Europe remains undecided — but the industry needs clarity, said analyst Paul Triolo.

“The European community in particular and also the U.S. have to clarify what these policies mean, what a ban would mean or what some kind of a partial ban would mean, if there’s really a middle ground that can be found here.”

Vodafone’s CEO Nick Read told the Barcelona conference that banning Huawei could set Europe’s 5G rollout back another two years.

The eye-catching gadgets show the potential that 5G networks are about to unleash. But the question of who controls those networks, and the data they carry, looms large over this futuristic world.