Category Archives: News

Worldwide news. News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different media: word of mouth, printing, postal systems, broadcasting, electronic communication, or through the testimony of observers and witnesses to events. News is sometimes called “hard news” to differentiate it from soft media

Facebook Chief Absolutely’ Supports Releasing Russia-linked Advertisements

Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said Thursday she “absolutely” supports the public release of all advertisements produced by a Russia-linked organization during the 2016 presidential election.

Sandberg said the company is “working on transparency” following the revelation last month that a group with alleged ties to the Russian government ran $100,000 worth of ads on Facebook promoting “divisive” causes like Black Lives Matter.

“Things happened on our platform that shouldn’t have happened,” she said during the interview with Axios’s Mike Allen.

Later Thursday, Sandberg is set to meet with Congressional investigators who are looking into what role the advertisements which began running in 2015 and continued through this year may have played in the 2016 presidential election.

The $100,000 worth of ads represent a very small fraction of the total $2.3 billion spent by, and on behalf of, President Donald Trump and losing-candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaigns during the election.

Multiple congressional investigations have been launched, seeking to determine what effect alleged Russian meddling may have played in the election.

In addition, Robert Mueller, a former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, is conducting a criminal probe, including whether President Trump’s campaign colluded with Russian operatives during the election season. Trump has denied working with the Russians.

Facebook had previously agreed to disclose the thousands of Facebook ads to congress. Sandberg said Thursday she thinks “it’s important that [the investigators] get the whole picture and explain that to the American people.”

In response to the Russian ad buys, Sandberg said Facebook is hiring 4,000 new employees to oversee ads and content. She said the company is also using “machine learning and automation” to target fake accounts that spread fake news.

She defined fake news as “things that are false hoaxes” and said Facebook is working to stamp out the bad information by teaming up with third-party fact checkers and warning users before they share news deemed fake by Facebook.

She said it is important to be cautious when going after fake news because “a lot of what we allow on Facebook is people expressing themselves” and “when you cut off speech for one person, you cut off speech for all people.”

“We don’t check the information posted on Facebook before people post it, and I don’t think people should want us to,” she said.

Hundreds of fake accounts were used to distribute the Russia-linked advertisements, Sandberg said. But had those ads been posted by legitimate users, “we would have let them run,” she said.

Report: Waymo Demands at Least $1 Billion to Settle Uber Suit

Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo sought at least $1 billion in damages and a public apology from Uber Technologies Inc as conditions for settling its high-profile trade secret lawsuit against the ride-services company, sources familiar with the proposal told Reuters.

The Waymo self-driving car unit also asked that an independent monitor be appointed to ensure Uber does not use Waymo technology in the future, the sources said.

Uber rejected those terms, said the sources, who were not authorized to publicly discuss settlement talks.

The precise dollar amount requested by Waymo and the exact time the offer was made could not be learned.

Waymo’s tough negotiating stance reflects the company’s confidence in its legal position after months of pretrial victories in a case that may help to determine who emerges in the forefront of the fast-growing field of self-driving cars.

The aggressive settlement demands also suggest that Waymo is not in a hurry to resolve the lawsuit, in part because of its value as a distraction for Uber leadership, said Elizabeth Rowe, a trade secret expert at the University of Florida Levin College of Law.

Waymo recently persuaded a San Francisco federal judge to delay a trial to decide the dispute from October to early December, citing the need to investigate evidence Uber had not disclosed earlier.

No further settlement talks are scheduled, the sources said. The judge overseeing the case mandated that the companies enter mediation with a court-appointed magistrate.

Amy Candido, a Waymo attorney, declined to comment on any settlement talks, but said the company’s reasons for suing Uber are “pretty clear.”

“Waymo had one goal: to stop Uber from using its trade secrets,” she said. “That remains its goal.”

An Uber spokesperson declined to comment.

Waymo sued Uber in February, claiming that former engineer Anthony Levandowski downloaded more than 14,000 confidential files before leaving to set up a self-driving truck company, called Otto, which Uber acquired soon after.

Uber denied using any of Waymo’s trade secrets.

Evergrande Property Magnate Seizes Top Spot On China Rich List

China has a new richest man, according to the annual Hurun rich list of the country’s top movers and shakers.

Xu Jiayin, the chairman of developer China Evergrande Group, has seized top spot – beating out more familiar faces such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd’s Jack Ma and rival property magnate Wang Jianlin of Dalian Wanda Group.

Xu’s reported $43 billion wealth – a gain of around $30 billion against last year – comes on the back of a surge in Evergrande’s shares, up over 450 percent so far this year amid plans to cut debt and focus on profit over scale.

The Hurun Report, established in 1999, is the leading China-based organization ranking the wealth of the country’s rich and famous, and its list gives a temperature check on the winners and losers in China.

Growth in China stabilized this year, but while the world’s second largest economy averted a hard landing, some major corporations have buckled under the weight of their debt or been sanctioned by authorities over risky investments overseas.

Wanda’s Wang – who took top spot for the last two years – dropped to fifth in the list after Wanda sold off much of the firm’s hotel and theme park assets to rivals in July, after coming under regulatory scrutiny over its high leverage.

Close behind Evergrande’s Xu were China’s top tech titans – Alibaba’s Jack Ma and Tencent Holdings Ltd’s Pony Ma, who has seen his firm’s value rise on the popularity of its WeChat messaging app and its popular online games.

The list also underlined those who have fallen from grace in corporate China.

Jia Yueting, founder of sprawling conglomerate LeEco that once looked to rival both Tesla Inc and Netflix, dropped to 1,978th place from 31st last year.

Yang Kai, chairman of embattled Huishan Dairy – 66th last year – dropped off the list entirely as his firm fights off creditors amid billions of dollars of unpaid debt.

On the up was Wuxi Pharma Tech’s Li Ge and his wife, propelled by China’s push towards drug innovation, Zhang Lei of fast-growing online news portal Toutiao and Li Shufu of carmaker Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd.

“It has been a good year for manufacturing, cars, education, TMT and healthcare,” Hurun founder Rupert Hoogewerf said.

While many of those on the 2,000-strong list were members of the National People’s Congress and Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, only a few were delegates at the upcoming five-yearly Party Congress that begins next week.

These included corn magnate Li Denghai, alcohol billionaire Wu Shaoxun and Pan Gang of dairy giant Yili.

The list, with a combined wealth of $2.6 trillion, saw average wealth rising 12.5 percent – faster than broader economic growth – pointing to the growing financial muscle of China’s super-rich elite.

Odd Mix of Industry, Environmentalists Fight Trump Coal, Nuclear Plan

The Trump administration says coal is back and nuclear energy is cool. Not at the expense of natural gas, wind and solar, insists an unusual coalition of business and environmental groups.

Dow Chemical, Koch Industries and U.S. Steel Corp. are standing with environmentalists in opposing an Energy Department plan that would reward nuclear and coal-fired power plants for adding reliability to the nation’s power grid and are pressuring the administration to shift course.

Energy Secretary Rick Perry says the plan is needed to help prevent widespread outages such as those caused by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria and a 2014 “polar vortex” in the Eastern and Central U.S. The plan aims to reverse a steady tide of retirements of coal and nuclear plants, which have lost market share as natural gas and renewable energy flourish.

“The continued loss of baseload generation … such as coal and nuclear must be stopped,” Perry wrote in a Sept. 28 letter urging the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to adopt the new rule. “These generation resources are necessary to maintain the resiliency of the electric grid” amid sharp shifts in the U.S. energy market.

Perry’s plan coincides with President Donald Trump’s vow to achieve U.S. “energy dominance” while ending what he and other Republicans call a “war on coal” waged by the Obama administration. Perry, who has said he wants to “make nuclear energy cool again,” is certain to face questions about the plan and the opposition at a congressional hearing Thursday.

Critics see a bailout

The plan would compensate power plant owners that maintain a 90-day fuel supply protected against the elements. Critics say it could result in subsidies worth billions of dollars.

Environmental groups say the plan would boost dirty fuels and harm consumers, while the energy industry warns about interference in the free market and manufacturers complain about higher energy prices that could be passed on to consumers.

“Rick Perry is trying to slam through an outrageous bailout of the coal and nuclear industries on the backs of American consumers,” said Kit Kennedy, an energy policy expert for the Natural Resources Defense Council. “This radical proposal would lead to higher energy bills for consumers and businesses, as well as dirtier air and increased health problems.”

A coalition of industry groups, ranging from the American Council on Renewable Energy to the American Petroleum Institute and the Natural Gas Supply Association, also blasted the plan, saying it could harm “entire industries and their tens of thousands workers.”

Amy Farrell, senior vice president of the American Wind Energy Association, said the proposal could “upend competitive markets that save consumers billions of dollars a year.”

Oil, gas: Let markets work

Marty Durbin, executive vice president of the petroleum institute, the top lobbying group for the oil and gas industry, said officials “need to be careful that government doesn’t put its thumb on the scale” in energy markets. “It’s better to let markets choose, which is what the United States is seeing with the growth of natural gas” as the leading U.S. electricity source, Durbin said.

The Industrial Energy Consumers of America, a trade group that represents Dow, Koch Industries and other manufacturing giants, is among those lobbying against the plan. In a letter to Congress, the group called the proposal “anti-competitive” and said it could distort or “destroy competitive wholesale electricity markets, increase the price of electricity to all consumers” and harm U.S. manufacturing.

The manufacturers and other critics say there is no evidence of a threat to the grid’s day-to-day reliability that would justify the emergency action Perry is seeking.

Indeed, in a report commissioned by Perry and delivered in August, the Energy Department said “reliability is adequate today despite the retirement of 11 percent of the generating capacity available in 2002, as significant additions from natural gas, wind, and solar have come online since then.”

Gerry Cauley, CEO of the North American Electric Reliability Corp., an international regulatory authority, said at a conference in June that “the state of reliability in North America remains strong, and the trend line shows continuing improvement year over year.”

Coal, nuclear groups hail plan

Even so, coal and nuclear groups hailed the plan. National Mining Association President and CEO Hal Quinn called Perry’s action “a long-overdue and necessary step to address the vulnerability of America’s energy grid,” while Maria Korsnick, president and CEO of the Nuclear Energy Institute, said disruptions caused by hurricanes and other extreme weather events show that “the urgency to act in support of the resiliency of the electric grid has never been clearer.”

The Energy Department seeks final action by mid-December, although industry groups and some members of Congress have pushed for a delay.

Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said the energy commission should reject Perry’s plan.

“Secretary Perry has embraced an obsolete view of the grid (that) would bail out coal and nuclear power plants at the expense everyone else,” she said.

First Latina Makes History in Fortune 50 Most Powerful Women List

The ranking of the 50 most powerful women by Fortune magazine is out. The list include such stalwarts as General Motors Mary Barra and PepsiCo’s Indra Nooyi. But it also seven newcomers, including the first foreign-born Latina CEO on the Fortune 500, Geisha Williams. VOA Correspondent Mariama Diallo was at their annual gathering in Washington this week and has this report.

Congress Bracing for Trump’s Decision on the Iran Nuclear Deal

President Donald Trump is expected to announce Thursday that Iran is not complying with the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) negotiated by his predecessor Barack Obama to curb Iranian nuclear activities. Trump’s decision would trigger a 60-day deadline for Congress to set the next steps in dealing with Tehran. VOA’s Congressional reporter Katherine Gypson has more on why the president’s decision would put Capitol Hill lawmakers in a tough position.

Cross Continent Solar Car Race Sets Grueling Pace

Every two years, Australia holds the World Solar Challenge. It is a grueling 3-thousand kilometer race across the Australian outback in cars powered only by the sun. Everyone from high school engineers to corporate sponsored giants is free to compete, and every year the cars go farther, and faster than before. VOA’s Kevin Enochs reports.

Somali Musician, Kept from US Internship, Blames Trump Travel Ban

The Somali musician Hassan-Nour Sayid — known by his stage name, Aar Maanta — and his band, the Urban Nomads, were supposed to be in Minnesota last week, where they were to kick off a monthlong internship of performances and workshops set up through the Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis.

Visa delays, however, have led to the cancellation of the event, and Aar told VOA he thinks it is because the Trump administration has delayed his visa to come to the U.S. because he is Muslim and Somali.

“After months of planning these peaceful events, I was expecting only the inevitable reasons could bring them to a disappointing halt, but now I think it is because of being Muslim and Somali. Why I was discriminated and singled out in the visa process,” Aar told VOA Somali. “I blame the current U.S. government.”

Dual citizenship

Aar is a respected and well-known band leader, with dual citizenship in Somalia and Britain, though he says these qualifications did not help him get a U.S. visa “easily and on time.”

“My four other colleagues — musicians in the band — are Italian, French, Nepalese-Scottish and British-Caribbean, and all received their visas with no trouble. Only me. I think it is because I am the band’s sole Somali and Muslim member,” he said.

He said his passport was held by the U.S. consulate, and he was told his application was placed under “additional administrative processing.”

In an email, a State Department official told VOA they were not able to discuss individual visas.

“Since visa records are confidential under the Immigration and Nationality Act, we are not able to discuss individual visa cases. We would also note that visa applications do not include questions pertaining to religious identity/affiliation. U.S. immigration law does not contain visa ineligibilities based on religious identity/affiliation,” the official wrote.

State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert, who on Tuesday addressed a question by VOA on a visa denial to the ousted Venezuela attorney general, said visa applications are confidential under federal law.

“So visa applications — and those are confidential, so no matter who it is or what the cause is, that’s something that we don’t comment on. I think we’ve talked about that before. They’re confidential under a federal law,” Nauert said.

Musician

Aar — a Somali singer, songwriter, actor, composer, instrumentalist and music producer — moved to the United Kingdom in the late 1980s, on the eve of the civil war in Somalia. He has lived there since, and has received his British citizenship. But he says he always realized that holding a Western passport would not change “his true identity.”

“I was always telling my Somali fans that it does not matter whether you have a British passport or American passport or the passport of any other Western country, you will always and forever remain Somali,” he said.

Under a revised travel order signed last month by President Donald Trump, travelers to the United States from eight countries face new restrictions, which take effect Oct. 18. The new executive order will affect citizens from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, Chad, North Korea and Venezuela.

The new restrictions ban Somali immigrants from entry to the U.S., according to immigration attorneys. However, non-immigrants who are seeking business or tourist visas, such as Aar, must undergo additional screening measures.

According to tour organizers, the Urban Nomads have worked with the Cedar Cultural Center twice before, where they performed live music, led songwriting and held poetry workshops for young people. During the planned trip, though, the band would have extended its performances outside the metro area, carrying a message of unity for Somali-American communities.

Surprised by visa challenges

In a written statement, Fadumo Ibrahim, the program’s manager at the Cedar Cultural Center, said she was surprised by the visa challenges the musician faced, given his work with the center in the past.

“This case is a concrete example of how travel restrictions and the travel ban limit artistic voices and freedom,” Ibrahim said. “While it’s obviously important for the artists, it’s equally important for the community who had been anticipating this residency.

“Aar Maanta’s visit to Minnesota would have brought hope and positivity to the Somali and larger communities here at a time when we all really need it,” she said.

Midnimo, the Somali word for “unity,” is a program that features Somali artists from Minnesota and around the world in residencies and events that increase understanding of Somali culture through music.

The center said, “Midnimo is reviving and preserving Somalia’s rich musical traditions while fostering social connections between generations and cultures in the heart of the largest Somali diaspora in North America.”

VOA State Department correspondent Nike Ching contributes to the story.

Trump Touts Tax Reform, Saying Typical Household Would Get ‘$4,000 Pay Raise’

U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday promised Americans they are “going to have so much money to spend” if lawmakers approve his tax reform plan.  

Trump, in an airport hangar in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, told a crowd of truckers that the typical American household would get “a $4,000 pay raise” with the changes he wants, although economists say that benefit would only materialize over eight years, at a rate of about $500 annually.

Trump’s speech to hundreds of truck drivers — the most common job in more than half of the country’s 50 states —- was intended to counter the views of independent analysts that the Republican tax blueprint would mostly benefit the highest income earners. These analysts contend that at least some middle-income taxpayers would pay more, not less, to the government under Trump’s proposal.

The president, in his Pennsylvania speech, did not go into detail of how his plan would affect the wealthy. He said that his rich friends have been telling him they do not want anything from his proposal and are asking him “to give it to the middle class.”

White House officials say the plan would double the standard deduction so that more income is taxed at zero percent; the first $12,000 of income for individuals and $24,000 for married couples would be tax-free, and the seven existing income tax brackets for taxable income would be consolidated to three brackets: 12 percent, 25 percent and 35 percent.

The Republican-controlled Congress, however, has yet to determine at what levels of income the new rates would apply, leaving analysts to guess what effects the changes would have on any individual taxpayer.

“You better get it passed,” Trump said in a message to lawmakers.

 At least six members of Congress were in the audience.

Trump also wants to trim corporate taxes to further boost the U.S. economy, the world’s largest.

In his remarks, he also touted that since his election last November, the U.S. stock market has increased corporate values by $5.2 trillion and that unemployment is at its lowest point in 16 years.

The Trump administration, when it took office in January, predicted it would complete a tax overhaul by August, but now has its sights set on completing the reforms by the end of the year.

However, congressional tax-writing panels have yet to hold hearings and Democratic and Republican lawmakers have widely divergent views on what changes should be made.

Under some scenarios, the tax cuts could add to the country’s long-term debt of more than $20 trillion, which would be an outrage to many conservative Republican lawmakers. Democratic lawmakers are calling for tax changes to mostly benefit the country’s middle class and lowest-income taxpayers, not the wealthiest.  

“Democrats want to raise your taxes very, very substantially,” Trump declared in his speech, labeling the opposition party as obstructionists “who are not telling you the truth.”

Facebook Gets Real About Broadening Virtual Reality’s Appeal

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg seems to be realizing a sobering reality about virtual reality: His company’s Oculus headsets that send people into artificial worlds are too expensive and confining to appeal to the masses.

Zuckerberg on Wednesday revealed how Facebook intends to address that problem, unveiling a stand-alone headset that won’t require plugging in a smartphone or a cord tethering it to a personal computer like the Oculus Rift headset does.

“I am more committed than ever to the future of virtual reality,” Zuckerberg reassured a crowd of computer programmers in San Jose, California, for Oculus’ annual conference.

Facebook’s new headset, called Oculus Go, will cost $199 when it hits the market next year. That’s a big drop from the Rift, which originally sold for $599 and required a PC costing at least $500 to become immersed in virtual reality, or VR.

Recent discounts lowered the Rift’s price to $399 at various times during the summer, a markdown Oculus now says will be permanent.

“The strategy for Facebook is to make the onboarding to VR as easy and inexpensive as possible,” said Gartner analyst Brian Blau. “And $199 is an inexpensive entry for a lot of people who are just starting out in VR. The problem is you will be spending that money on a device that only does VR and nothing else.”

Facebook didn’t provide any details on how the Oculus Go will work, but said it will include built-in headphones for audio and have a LCD display.

Other headsets

The Oculus Go will straddle the market between the Rift and the Samsung Gear, a $129 headset that runs on some of Samsung’s higher-priced phones. It will be able to run the same VR as the Samsung Gear, leading Blau to conclude the Go will rely on the same Android operating system as the Gear and likely include similar processors as Samsung phones.

The Gear competes against other headsets, such as Google’s $99 Daydream View, that require a smartphone. Google is also working on a stand-alone headset that won’t require a phone, but hasn’t specified when that device will be released or how much it will cost.

Zuckerberg promised the Oculus Go will be “the most accessible VR experience ever,” and help realize his new goal of having 1 billion people dwelling in virtual reality at some point in the future.

Facebook and other major technology companies such as Google and Microsoft that are betting on VR have a long way to go.

About 16 million head-mounted display devices were shipped in 2016, a number expected to rise to 22 million this year, according to the research firm Gartner Inc. Those figures include headsets for what is known as augmented reality.

Zuckerberg, though, remains convinced that VR will evolve into a technology that reshapes the way people interact and experience life, much like smartphones and social networks already have. His visions carry weight, largely because Facebook now has more than 2 billion users and plays an influential role in how people communicate.

But VR so far has been embraced mostly by video game lovers, despite Facebook’s efforts to bring the technology into the mainstream since buying Oculus for $2 billion three years ago.

Facebook has shaken up Oculus management team since then in a series of moves that included the departure of founder Palmer Luckey earlier this year.

Former Google executive Hugo Barra now oversees Facebook’s VR operations.

California Moves Toward Public Access for Self-driving Cars

California regulators took an important step Wednesday to clear the road for everyday people to get self-driving cars.

The state’s Department of Motor Vehicles published proposed rules that would govern the technology within California, where for several years manufacturers have been testing hundreds of prototypes on roads.

That testing requires a trained safety driver behind the wheel, just in case the onboard computers and sensors fail. Though companies are not ready to unleash the technology for regular drivers — most say it remains a few years away — the state expects to have a final regulatory framework in place by June.

That framework would let companies begin testing prototypes with neither steering wheels nor pedals — and indeed nobody at all inside. The public is unlikely to get that advanced version of the technology until several years after the deployment of cars that look and feel more like traditional, human-controlled vehicles.

Consumers probably won’t be able to walk into a dealership and buy a fully driverless vehicle next year. Major automakers like Mercedes, BMW, Ford, Nissan and Volvo have all said it will be closer to 2020 before those vehicles are available, and even then, they could be confined to ride-hailing fleets and other shared applications.

Tesla Inc. says the cars it’s making now have the hardware they need for full self-driving. The company is still testing the software and won’t make it available to owners without regulatory approval.

Still, Wednesday’s announcement puts California on the verge of finalizing rules for public access, which were due more than two years ago. The delay reflects both the developing nature of the technology as well as how the federal government — which is responsible for regulating the safety of the vehicles — has struggled to write its own rules.

Legislation intended to clear away federal regulations that could impede a new era of self-driving cars has moved quickly through Congress. The House has passed a bill that would permit automakers to seek exemptions to safety regulations, such as to make cars without a steering wheel, so they could sell hundreds of thousands of self-driving cars. A Senate committee approved a similar measure last week by a voice vote.

California’s proposed rules must still undergo a 15-day public comment period, which could result in further changes, and then a protracted review by other state attorneys. Department of Motor Vehicles attorney Brian Soublet told reporters that the rules should be final before June, if not before.

Trump Rejects Claim He Wanted Big Nuclear Expansion

President Donald Trump on Wednesday rejected as “pure fiction” an NBC News report that a few months ago he suggested a tenfold increase in the U.S. nuclear arsenal, and questioned whether it was time to revoke the network’s government license to operate.

Trump’s comments on the size of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, now at about 4,000 weapons, came at a Pentagon meeting with top military and national security officials in July, NBC said, citing the recollections of three people who were there. Trump was responding to a briefing slide charting the steady reduction in the size of the country’s stockpile since the 1960s and he indicated he wanted a bigger arsenal, the network said.

Officials at the meeting, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, were reported to have voiced surprise at Trump’s suggestion and briefly explained the legal and practical restraints on a nuclear buildup, much of which is dictated by international arms control treaties. The officials told NBC that no U.S. nuclear buildup is planned.

As a candidate during his run for the White House, Trump was quoted as asking a foreign policy adviser what the point was of having nuclear capability if the U.S. did not use the weapons.

Currently, Trump is in the midst of two international disputes involving nuclear weapons. Trump is set this week to refuse certification that Iran is complying with an international pact to curb its international weapons development and has carried out an exchange of bellicose taunts with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un over Pyongyang’s nuclear program.

It was soon after the Pentagon meeting in July that Tillerson described the U.S. leader’s intelligence in harsh terms, uttering an expletive and calling him a “moron,” according to U.S. news accounts. Tillerson has since said he is committed to his job as the top U.S. diplomat and working for Trump, but has not denied that he made the remark.

Trump suggested in recent days that he and Tillerson square off intellectually by each taking IQ tests, with the president saying he has no doubt that he would score higher. The White House said Tuesday that Trump’s remarks were meant as a joke.

In Twitter comments, Trump compared NBC’s reporting to that of CNN, the cable news network that has often drawn his ire after it aired stories he did not like.   

In the U.S., freedom of the press is constitutionally guaranteed. But over-the-air television networks like NBC are regulated by the government, while cable channels like CNN for the most part are not. 

Half of US, Japan Teens ‘Addicted’ to Smartphones

About half of teenagers in the United States and Japan say they are addicted to their smartphones.

University of Southern California (USC) researchers asked 1,200 Japanese about their use of electronic devices. The researchers are with the Walter Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism. Their findings were compared with an earlier study on digital media use among families in North America.

“Advances in digital media and mobile devices are changing the way we engage not only with the world around us, but also with the people who are the closest to us,” said Willow Bay, head of the Annenberg School.

The USC report finds that 50 percent of American teenagers and 45 percent of Japanese teens feel addicted to their mobile phones.

“This is a really big deal,” said James Steyer, founder of Common Sense Media, an organization that helped with the study. “Just think about it, 10 years ago we didn’t even have smart phones.”

Sixty-one percent of Japanese parents believe their children are addicted to the devices. That compares to 59 percent of the American parents who were asked.

Also, more than 1-in-3 Japanese parents feel they have grown dependent on electronic devices, compared to about 1-in-4 American parents.

Leaving your phone at home is ‘one of the worst things’

“Nowadays, one of the worst things that can happen to us is, like, ‘Oh, I left my phone at home,’” said Alissa Caldwell, a student at the American School in Tokyo. She spoke at the USC Global Conference 2017, which was held in Tokyo.

A majority of Japanese and American parents said their teenagers used mobile devices too much. But only 17 percent of Japanese teens agreed with that assessment. In the United States, 52 percent of teens said they are spending too much time on mobile devices.

Many respond immediately to messages

About 7-in-10 American teens said they felt a need to react quickly to mobile messages, compared to about half of Japanese teens.

In Japan, 38 percent of parents and 48 percent of teens look at and use their devices at least once an hour. In the United States, 69 percent of parents and 78 percent of teens say they use their devices every hour.

Naturally, that hourly usage stops when people are sleeping, the researchers said.

The devices are a greater cause of conflict among teens and parents in the United States than in Japan. One-in-3 U.S. families reported having an argument every day about mobile device use. Only about 1-in-6 Japanese families say they fight every day over mobile devices.

Care more about devices than your children?

But 20 percent of Japanese teens said they sometimes feel that their parents think their mobile device is more important than they are. The percentage of U.S. teens saying they feel this way is 6 percent.

In the United States, 15 percent of parents say their teens’ use of mobile devices worsens the family’s personal relationships. Eleven percent of teens feel their parents’ use of mobile devices is not good for their relationship.

The USC research was based on an April 2017 study of 600 Japanese parents and 600 Japanese teenagers. Opinions from American parents and teenagers were collected in a study done earlier by Common Sense Media.

Bay, the Annenberg School of Communications dean, said the research raises critical questions about the effect of digital devices on family life.

She said the cultural effects may differ from country to country, but “this is clearly a global issue.”

World Bank: Sub-Saharan Africa to Grow at Slower Rate This Year

 Economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa is expected to be 2.4 percent in 2017, the World Bank said on Wednesday, down from the 2.6 percent projected in April.

It said the downgrade was due to a number of reasons, including Nigeria’s failing to meet expectations but also broader conditions.

“Regional per capita output growth is forecast to be negative for the second consecutive year, while investment growth remains low, and productivity growth is falling,” it said.

Growth across the region, however, was seen rising 3.2 percent in 2018 and 3.5 percent in 2019, forecasts unchanged from earlier this year.

In its latest Africa Pulse report, the Bank said the region would be helped by better commodity prices. Sub-Saharan African economies have been hit by lower commodity prices which slowed growth in the last few years, cutting government revenues.

Albert Zeufack, World Bank chief economist for Africa, said the region’s growth recovery would partly be driven by the continent’s two largest economies — Nigeria and South Africa — exiting recession.

He said the two countries need “deeper reforms” to get back to pre-2014 levels of growth and their political uncertainty needs to be reined in. He said they make up about half of sub-Saharan Africa’s GDP growth.

The World Bank said Nigeria’s economy, the largest in the continent, was expected to expand by 1 percent in 2017.

South Africa’s economy, hit by political worries, was expected to grow just 0.6 percent this year.

Facebook’s Zuckerberg Apologizes for Virtual Tour of Devastated Puerto Rico

Mark Zuckerberg has apologized for showcasing Facebook’s virtual reality capability with a tour of hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico.

The Facebook founder and another executive discussed the platform’s virtual reality project through avatars in a video recorded live Monday.

The video begins with the avatars pictured on the roof of Facebook’s Mountain View, California, headquarters before heading to Puerto Rico by using a 360-degree video recorded by National Public Radio as a backdrop.

Zuckerberg later responded to critics, writing that his goal of showing “how VR can raise awareness and help us see what’s happening in different parts of the world” wasn’t clear. He says he’s sorry to anyone who was offended.

Facebook is also working to restore internet connectivity on the island and has donated money to the relief effort.

Trump Discusses NAFTA Renegotiation with Canada and Mexico

U.S. President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau meet at the White House Wednesday to discuss the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement amid growing animosity over how to reshape the pact.

Trade experts predict the fourth round of the talks will probably stall as the U.S. aggressively pushes for controversial changes to a rule governing how cars are made.

The rule currently requires at least 62-percent of the parts of a car sold in North America come from the region to avoid import taxes. The Trump administration is calling for an 85-percent threshold, with a 50-percent requirement for U.S.-specific content.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Tuesday accused the Trump administration of attempting to undermine the negotiations with a “poison pill proposals.”

The Trump administration has imposed duties on Canadian Bombardier airliners and lumber exports in recent months and has criticized Canada’s wine and dairy industries. But Canadian officials deny Trump is targeting Canada, saying the aircraft and softwood differences have continued for years.

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said Trudeau will try to persuade Trump to focus on Mexico, which is also participating in the talks, as a source of potential problems at the negotiations to update NAFTA.

“We are your biggest client,” is the message Freeland said Canada will bring to the table. Freeman said Canada is not the cause of lost U.S. manufacturing jobs under NAFTA, as it buys more from the U.S. than China, Britain and Japan combined.

Mexico

Many U.S. manufacturing jobs have instead relocated to Mexico, where wages are far lower than those in the U.S. Mexico has lured U.S. auto plants and other manufacturers to the country, resulting in a $64 million trade surplus with the U.S. last year. Trump administration officials have promised to cut the surplus.

Mexico Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray warned that an end to NAFTA would significantly damage U.S.-Mexican relations and adversely impact bilateral cooperation in non-trade areas.

Other contentious U.S. proposals opposed by Canada, Mexico and much of the U.S. business community include a five-year sunset provision on deals, an overhaul of NAFTA’s dispute arbitration systems, revisions to intellectual property requirements and new protections for U.S. seasonal produce growers.

US Researchers Genetically Modify Corn to Boost Nutritional Value

U.S. researchers said this week they have discovered a way to genetically engineer corn, the world’s largest commodity crop, to produce a type of amino acid found in meat.

The result is a nutritionally rich food that could benefit millions worldwide, while also reducing the cost of animal feed.  The breakthrough came in a report in the National Academy of Sciences, a peer-reviewed journal. 

Researchers say the process involves infusing corn with a certain type of bacteria in order to produce methionine, an amino acid generally found in meat.

“We improved the nutritional value of corn, the largest commodity crop grown on Earth,” Thomas Leustek, professor in the Department of Plant Biology at Rutgers University and co-author of the study, told VOA. “Most corn is used for animal feed, but it lacks methionine — a key amino acid — and we found an effective way to add it.”

The new method works by adding an E. coli bacteria into the genome of the corn plant, which then causes the methionine production in the plants leaves. According to the study, methionine in the corn kernels then increases by about 57 percent.

The scientists fed the genetically modified corn to chickens at Rutgers University in order to show it was nutritious for them, co-author Joachim Messing said.

Normally, chicken feed is prepared as a corn-soybean mixture, the authors said in a press release, but the mixture lacks methionine.

“Methionine is added because animals won’t grow without it. In many developing countries where corn is a staple, methionine is also important for people, especially children. It’s vital nutrition, like a vitamin,” Messing said.

If the genetically modified corn can be successfully deployed, those who live in developing countries “wouldn’t have to purchase methionine supplements or expensive foods that have higher methionine,” Leustek said.

Victor Beattie contributed to this report.

Trump: Tax Overhaul Would Boost Stocks Even More

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the country’s surging stock markets would grow even faster if Congress enacts his proposed overhaul of the country’s tax laws.

Trump is heading to a Pennsylvania airport hangar to talk to a group of truckers about the tax plan, contending they would get “a $4,000 pay raise” with the changes he wants, although economists say that benefit would only materialize over eight years, at a rate of about $500 annually.

Trump’s speech to hundreds of truck drivers, the most common job in 29 of the country’s 50 states, is intended to counter the views of independent analysts that the Republican tax blueprint Trump is advancing would mostly benefit the highest income earners. These analysts contend that at least some middle-income taxpayers would pay more, not less, to the government under Trump’s proposal.

So far, Trump has detailed only some of the specifics of the proposal, including trimming the number of tax rates applying to certain levels of income from seven to three categories under the progressive U.S. tax system of levying higher rates on taxpayers who have earned more than others.

But the Republican-controlled Congress has yet to determine at what levels of income the new rates would apply, leaving the analysts to guess what effects the changes would have on any individual taxpayer. Trump also wants to trim corporate taxes to further boost the U.S. economy, already the world’s largest.

In Twitter comments ahead of his speech, Trump said, “Stock Market has increased by 5.2 Trillion dollars since the election on November 8th, a 25% increase. Lowest unemployment in 16 years and if Congress gives us the massive tax cuts (and reform) I am asking for, those numbers will grow by leaps and bounds.”

The Republican president also took another shot at two of his favorite targets, the national mainstream news media and opposition Democratic lawmakers.

“It would be really nice if the Fake News Media would report the virtually unprecedented Stock Market growth since the election,” Trump said. “Need tax cuts. The Democrats want MASSIVE tax increases & soft, crime producing borders. The Republicans want the biggest tax cut in history & the WALL!” built along the southern U.S. border with Mexico to thwart illegal immigration.

The Trump administration, when it took office in January, predicted it would complete a tax overhaul by August, but now has its sights set on completing the reforms by the end of the year. However, congressional tax-writing panels have yet to hold hearings and Democratic and Republican lawmakers have widely divergent views on what changes should be made.

Under some scenarios, the tax cuts could add to the country’s long-term debt of more than $20 trillion, which would be anathema to many conservative Republican lawmakers. Democratic lawmakers are calling for tax changes to mostly benefit the country’s middle class and lowest-income taxpayers, not the wealthiest. 

Trump Escalates Twitter War with Powerful Republican Senator

President Donald Trump’s escalated a Twitter war Tuesday with a powerful fellow Republican who had warned that Trump’s temperament and rhetoric could risk a third world war. Trump mocked the height of Senator Bob Corker – the influential chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. More from VOA’s Michael Bowman.

President Trump Expected to Decertify 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal

On October 12, President Donald Trump is expected to announce whether his administration still finds Iran in compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal. VOA’s Margaret Besheer takes a look at the deal and what could happen if the president chooses not to certify Tehran’s compliance.

Олигархам сегодня следует существенно пересмотреть свои «стратегии»

Кланово-олигархическая система в Украине дала колоссальную трещину. Поэтому сегодня не только украинское государство, но и его крупнейшие бенефициары – супербогатые и знаменитые – предстали перед грандиозным вызовом, констатирует ПравдаUA.

Издание пишет, что новая команда, которая пришла к власти на достижениях второго Майдана, «удовлетворилась» победой над авторитарной системой Януковича. Однако этого явно недостаточно. Поэтому олигархам сегодня следует существенно пересмотреть свои «стратегии». Есть три варианта как двигаться дальше, отмечает газета. Один из них на этой неделе продемонстрировал Дмитрий Фирташ. Его вариант – это притвориться, что «большой бизнес» не имеет вины в том, что Украина доведена до такого состояния. Он, просто, как и все остальные волонтеры-патриоты «готов» профинансировать спасение государства. Скажем, оплатить «лучших» из лучших экспертов мира, чтобы те рассказали Украине, куда ей идти.

Второй вариант пути продемонстрировал Игорь Коломойский. Он призвал депутатов начать процесс пересмотра результатов торгов госимуществом, чтобы вернуть стране незаконно украденное. Кто первым может оказаться под лупой правоохранителей, станет уже известно в апреле. Журналисты назвали эту дорогу, озвученную Коломойским – активный бой на внутреннем фронте старых проблем. И третий вариант заключается в том, чтобы осмысленно перевернуть страницу 90-х.

Какой запас прочности имеет гривна и где власть допустила самые ошибки? Еще со времен Януковича держали фиксированный курс и сожгли много валютных резервов – до 12 млрд долларов. Можно было тогда девальвировать гривну до 8,4-8,6 за доллар и перейти к политике плавающего курса. Поэтому, по подсчетам эксперта издания, вклад Януковича в падение курса – порядка 9 гривен за доллар, Путина – 11. Все, что выше, – ошибки новой власти. Чтобы ее спасти, нужно, чтобы президент, премьер, министры и глава НБУ договорились о реформах. Тогда курс опустится до 18-22 гривен за доллар с тенденцией к усилению. Можно дрейфовать до 16, даже до 8 за доллар – в течение пяти последующих лет.

Усилить правительство можно новой должностью – вице-премьером по экономическим реформам. На него можно будет все свалить и принести в жертву через год, как закончится основной этап изменений. Это – позитивный сценарий. О негативном говорится в материале «Мы вернулись в начало 1990-х. А экономический подъем начнется через два года».

А вот по мнению эксперта, для стабилизации украинской экономики нужно не менее, чем 3-5 лет тяжелого труда. Первый год надо остановить падение. Далее организовать подъем, стимулировать экономику. Цель следующей за этим пятилетки – догнать и перегнать Польшу. Этот план слишком амбициозный, уверяют зарубежные эксперты. Международная практика и опыт стран-реформаторов свидетельствует выбраться за десять лет из ямы, в которой оказалась Украина, можно, а вот выбраться из ямы и приблизиться к уровню Польши – невозможно. Это будет чудо, отмечают эксперты.

Nadra Bank, bədnam oliqarx Firtash və yaramaz məxsus olan, iflas başladı

Fondun Depozit Zəmanət Nadra Bank müvəqqəti rəhbərliyini təqdim etdi. Məlumat mənbəyi izah.

Müvəqqəti idarəetməsi 3 ay 6 Fevral təqdim etdi.

Bu bank “Nadra” Qrup DF tərəfindən idarə bildirildi.

2014 Bank “Nadra” 1 milyard ABŞ dolları zərər ilə sona çatdı.

163 fəaliyyət göstərən bankların arasında 10-cu yeri (35.878 milyard ABŞ dolları) təşkil aktivləri 1 Yanvar bank kimi NBU görə.

Курс гривні на міжбанківському валютному ринку в четвер продовжує знижуватися до 25 гривнів за долар

Нацбанк підвищив облікову ставку і вводить єдиний курс гривні. Протягом останніх тижнів Національний банк кілька разів знижував офіційний курс гривні, щоразу оновлюючи її історичний мінімум.

Такі дії регулятора були пов’язані з рішенням відмовитися від використання індикативного курсу, забезпечивши єдиний ринковий курс гривні.

Нацбанк постійно прискорював наближення офіційного курсу до ринкового, а сьогодні заявив, що курс гривні тепер буде встановлюватися банками, на підставі ринкового попиту та пропозиції.

У результаті сьогодні банки продають долар уже по 25 гривень.

На початку тижня з’явилася інформація, що Нацбанк планує відмовитися від використання індикативного курсу, забезпечивши єдиний ринковий курс гривні на міжбанківському валютному ринку.

НБУ з кінця минулого року проводить щоденні аукціони і продає близько 3 мільйонів доларів на день за заниженим курсом для встановлення індикативного курсу, на який повинні орієнтуватися банки при проведенні операцій.

Так, у понеділок, наприклад, середньозважений курс станом на 12.30 становив 16,1764 грн за долар, тоді як продаж на міжбанку здійснювався за курсом близько 21,50 грн за долар.

Ми виступаємо за прозору політику курсоутворення і перехід до ринкових механізмів. Також ми хочемо, щоб на ринку був єдиний і ефективний курс. Головним у впровадженні монетарної політики регулятора є продовження використання системи гнучкого обмінного курсу – Валерія Гонтарева, голова НБУ

Водночас Гонтарева наголосила, що регулятор не відмовляється від можливості впливати на ринок за допомогою адмінважелів і може повернутися до них у будь-який момент при наявності передумов.

Правління Національного банку України в рамках підготовки до введення режиму інфляційного таргетування вирішило припинити проведення з 5 лютого 2015 року щоденних валютних аукціонів з відмовою від індикативного курсу гривні.

“Курс гривні буде встановлюватися банками на підставі об’єктивних параметрів ринкового попиту та пропозиції”, – йдеться в повідомленні НБУ.

За словами Гонтаревої, дане рішення має сприяти встановленню прозорості, більшої ефективності та об’єктивності механізмів ціноутворення.

Перед запуском аукціонів у листопаді Гонтарева запевняла, що валютні аукціони будуть проводитися протягом від трьох до шести місяців.

Також Національний банк вирішив підвищити облікову ставку з 14% до 19,5% з 6 лютого.

Дане рішення регулятор прийняв з метою забезпечення прогнозованого і контрольованого розвитку ринкової ситуації.

Регулятор уточнює, що може застосовувати більш жорстку грошово-кредитну політику.

Основною причиною підвищення облікової ставки є посилення інфляційних ризиків, які будуть високими в найближчій перспективі.

Таке рішення правління прийняло відповідно до розроблених рекомендацій Комітету з монетарної політики на підставі аналізу перспектив розвитку економіки і грошово-кредитного ринку.

НБУ зазначає, що підвищення процентних ставок матиме мінімальний вплив на активність в реальному секторі економіки, оскільки кредитування банків залишається істотно обмеженим внаслідок підвищених ризиків ділового середовища.

Від величини облікової ставки залежить вартість ресурсів, що надаються НБУ банкам як рефінансування.

Облікова ставка є найнижчою серед процентних ставок НБУ і є базовим індикатором оцінки вартості грошових ресурсів.

У теорії облікова ставка не може бути нижчою від рівня інфляції.

Національний банк прогнозує зниження ВВП на 4-5% в 2015 році.

“Минулого року наші прогнози щодо зниження очікувалися на рівні 6-7%. Цього року очікуємо зниження на 4-5%”, – сказав директор департаменту монетарної політики та економічного аналізу Сергій Ніколайчук.

Ніколайчук нагадав, що прогноз щодо інфляції на цей рік становить 17,2%.

“За рахунок заходів, які ми застосовуємо, НБУ очікує уповільнення інфляційних процесів уже в 1 півріччі, тоді як за підсумками року прогноз становить 17,2”, – додав він.

Директор департаменту висловив сподівання, що в 2016 році інфляція повинна знизитися до менш ніж 10%.

“Падіння ВВП має, насамперед, структурний характер і обумовлене факторами з боку пропозиції. І хоча негативний розрив ВВП є досить суттєвим – 8-9% від потенційного ВВП, за оцінками фахівців Національного банку України, конвергенція фактичного ВВП до свого потенційного рівня в середньостроковій перспективі можлива лише внаслідок макрофінансової стабілізації, чому сприятиме і жорстка грошово-кредитна політика”, – вважає Нацбанк.

Національний банк має намір посилити повноваження своїх кураторів в банках.

“Ми будемо посилювати повноваження кураторів, але для посилення їхніх повноважень ми повинні посилити їхній захист. Наприклад, на нашого куратора у VAB Банку завели кримінальну справу”, – сказала глава НБУ.

Вона нагадала, що куратори є у всіх банках, яким видано стабілізаційні кредити.

Національний банк і Фонд гарантування вкладів фізичних осіб погодили ключові параметри програми EFF з Міжнародним валютним фондом.

Глава НБУ нагадала, що програма співпраці передбачена на 4 роки.

Раніше повідомлялося, що Міжнародний валютний фонд має намір розглянути запит України про відкриття нової багаторічної програми, підтриманої розширеним кредитуванням (Extended Fund Facility, EFF), для заміни існуючої програми stand-by.

Гонтарева сподівається на розгляд радою директорів Міжнародного валютного фонду виділення Україні чергового траншу до березня.

“Сподіваюся, що завтра-післязавтра буде фінальна версія меморандуму з МВФ. Вони вже, напевно, будуть їхати, і десь через 2-3 тижні після їхнього від’їзду буде рада директорів МВФ”, – сказала глава НБУ.

Місія МВФ прибула в Україну для зустрічей із владою 8 січня.

Планувалося, що вона буде працювати в Києві до 29 січня, проте термін візиту був продовжений до 6 лютого.

На думку провідного експерта інформаційно-аналітичного центру Андрія Шевчишина, введення Нацбанком єдиного курсу валют спровокує підйом долара на міжбанку до позначки 23 гривні.

Фінансист вважає, що наміри Нацбанку встановити ринковий курс мають відношення до роботи місії МВФ в Україні.

“Ймовірно, це одна з вимог МВФ. Питання реальності такої дії (встановлення єдиного курсу – ред.) необхідно розглядати через призму вольового і, певною мірою, політичного кроку. Оскільки найбільш ймовірно отримати на момент встановлення єдиного курсу міжбанківський високий курс в районі 21 -23 грн за долар замість бажаного 16-17 грн за долар”, – говорить експерт.

І хоча економічні агенти вже звиклися з високими курсовими позначками, платити державі (за борги, імпорт, озброєння і т.д.) за таким курсом буде накладно, вважає економіст.

Шевчишин розповів, що заява НБУ про скасування індикативного курсу вже позначилася на ринку валют. “В останні дні ми спостерігаємо очікування зростання курсів валют. Кількість охочих придбати валюту збільшилася, а експортери притримують виручку в очікуванні підвищення курсів”.

При цьому експерт прогнозує, що якщо в найближчі кілька місяців не з’являться додаткові нормативні обмеження від НБУ, можна очікувати появу валюти у вільному продажу, хоча і за більш високим курсом.

Разом з тим курс гривні на міжбанківському валютному ринку в четвер продовжує знижуватися: котирування на початок торгів становили 23,5- 24,5 гривні за долар, а до 11:30 розширилися до 23,5- 25 гривні за долар.

Попередній історичний мінімум на міжбанку був зафіксований 4 лютого, коли реальний курс гривні знизився до 23,05 гривні за долар з 22,2 гривні за долар.

Экс-президент Грузии Михaил Саакашвили готовится стать директором Национального антикоррупционного бюро Украины

Экс-президент Грузии Михaил Саакашвили готовится стать директором Национального антикоррупционного бюро Украины. Как пишут СМИ, Саакашвили считает, что фронт борьбы за свободу Грузии проходит сегодня в Украине. И коррупция – это враг Украины не меньше, чем российские войска и российские танки. Поэтому политик готовит пакет соответствующих документов и собирается принять участие в публичном конкурсе на должность директора НАБУ. Который, как известно, был объявлен 12 января этого года. Прием документов продлится 30 календарных дней – до 12 февраля.

Информация о Саакашвили на посту директора НАБУ не нова. Грузинского политика «сватали» на эту должность еще осенью прошлого года, как только в парламенте «нашлось» достаточно голосов, чтобы создать орган по борьбе с высшей политической коррупцией. Но тогда Саакашвили не видел для себя возможным отказаться от гражданства страны, президентом которой он был почти 10 лет. «Мне предложили должность первого вице-премьера Украины. Но для этого я должен был получить украинское гражданство, отказавшись от грузинского. Я отказался. На этом этапе для меня это невозможно », – сказал он тогда в интервью.

Получается, что за последние два месяца что-то в жизни Михаила Саакашвили существенно изменилось, если он уже готов отказаться от грузинского гражданства ради борьбы с украинской коррупцией. Ведь, хотя конкурсная комиссия и изменила, нарушая действующее законодательство, условия участия в конкурсе, позволив иностранцам кандуваты. Однако действующая редакция закона Украины о Национальном антикоррупционном бюро четко определяет, что директор НАБУ не может быть гражданином / гражданкой другого государства. Украинское гражданство – обязательно. И, как известно, по состоянию на вчера в планах парламентской коалиции не было замысла изменять статью. Хотя сам закон таки поменяют.

В прошлую пятницу – 30 января 2015 – в парламенте был зарегистрирован законопроект №1660-Д, который позволит вернуть в Закон Украины «О Национальном антикоррупционном бюро» большинство статей, изъятых в ночь перед голосованием.

Законопроект был зарегистрирован депутатами от разных политических сил и согласовано комитетом Верховной Рады по борьбе с коррупцией и организованной преступностью.

«Этот законопроект стал консенсусом между Верховной Радой, Кабинетом Министров, разными политическими силами и Администрацией Президента, – утверждает Егор Соболев, председатель парламентского комитета по борьбе с коррупцией и организованной преступностью. – Он содержит существенные правки в закон, который позволит запустить работу Бюро и частично вернет ему независимость, прозрачность и полномочия, которые были предварительно изъяты ».

Законопроектом №1660-Д возвращаются высокие зарплаты сотрудникам Бюро, что позволит обезопасить будущих борцов с коррупцией от взяток. Также возвращается и норма о запрете работать в Бюро лиц, которые за последние пять лет работали в антикоррупционных подразделениях СБУ, МВД и прокуратуры и тому подобное.

«Эта норма была одной из ключевых, которая была удалена в ночь перед голосованием и которую обязательно нужно было вернуть в закон, – утверждает председатель правления Виталий Шабунин. – Ведь нельзя допускать работать в Бюро старых «борцов» с коррупцией, что уже «наборолися» к тому, что Украина – одна из самых коррумпированных стран мира».

Одним из важных норм закона стало возвращение в подследственность НАБ экс-президентов. Законопроектом конкретизируется конкурсная процедура по отбору директора НАБ: четко определены квалификационные требования к кандидатам на эту должность; конкурсной комиссии по отбору директора предоставляется право проводить интервью с любым количеством отобранных претендентов, в результате чего комиссия путем открытого голосования подобрать двух или трех кандидатов, из которых Президент Украины определяет кандидата, назначается на должность директора.

Еще одно важное новшество – создание института детективов. Внутри НАБ работать настоящие детективы, которые одновременно будут и следователями, и оперативными сотрудниками. Этим детективам позволять даже мониторить банковские счета.

Отдельным важным шагом является создание специализированной антикоррупционной прокуратуры, которая должна осуществлять надзор за соблюдением законов при проведении досудебного расследования НАБ и поддерживать государственное обвинение в соответствующих производствах.

Кстати, эксперт отмечают, что назначение Саакашвили – это далеко не простой вопрос. Ведь оно влечет за собой ряд последствий в межгосударственных отношениях и может существенно сказаться на отношениях официального Тбилиси и Киева. «Назначение Саакашвили не поймут ни его избиратели, потому что это будет означать отказ от гражданства, ни, тем более, Маргвелашвили …», – сказал Виталий Шабунин.