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Early Facebook staffers denounce Zuckerberg stance on Trump posts

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Nearly three dozen former employees from Facebook’s early days on Wednesday blasted Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg’s decision not to act against incendiary posts by U.S. President Donald Trump as “cowardly” and a “betrayal” of company ideals.



The open letter, initially reported by the New York Times, deepened a crisis facing Facebook’s leadership team, who had to defend their decision at a tense all-hands meeting the day prior following an employee walkout over the issue.

Criticism of Zuckerberg’s hands-off approach to speech by political leaders crescendoed last week, after rival social network Twitter began putting warning labels on several Trump tweets that the platform said contained misleading information and glorified violence.

Snapchat likewise took a hard line, booting Trump’s account on Wednesday from a curated “discover” section of its app which promotes fresh content. It said it would not amplify voices inciting “racist violence.”


Facebook, which left the same posts untouched, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter.

The former employees, including a staffer who opened Facebook’s office in Washington, implored Zuckerberg to implement checks on speech by political leaders as it does for other users, including fact-checks and labels on harmful posts.

“The company we joined valued giving individuals a voice as loud as their government’s — protecting the powerless rather than the powerful,” they wrote.

Facebook’s current approach, they said, “is not a noble stand for freedom. It is incoherent, and worse, it is cowardly.”


The group warned that Trump’s post on Friday, which used the racially charged phrase “when the looting starts, the shooting starts” in reference to protests over the police killing of a black man in Minnesota, could incite violence.

“In an age of live-streamed shootings, Facebook should know the danger of this better than most,” they said.

Read the letter to Facebook's leadership team here: here

Coronavirus protests spread to Senegal's capital

EVEN IF THEY ARE NOT ABOUT GEORGE FLOYD, THEY ARE STILL ABOUT BEING COOPED UP FOR THREE MONTHS AND NEEDING TO GET OUT THE UNDERLYING THEME ALONG WITH ALL THE OTHER PROTESTS IS ONE AGAINST A CURFEW AFTER BEING IN QUARNTINE

DAKAR (Reuters) - Protestors in Dakar set tyres on fire and threw stones at security forces on Wednesday night during protests over a nationwide dusk-to-dawn curfew imposed almost three months ago because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Women walk past an ambulance that was torched by crowds of youths protesting against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions, in the holy city of Touba, Senegal June 3, 2020. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

The unrest in Senegal’s capital followed similar action in the holy city of Touba a night earlier, where crowds of people torched an ambulance, threw rocks and looted office buildings.

“Coronavirus is an infectious disease but (President) Macky Sall must know that here in Senegal, most people are poor. We are poor. Three months at home is too much,” said Habibatou, a resident in Dakar’s Grand Yoff neighbourhood, who only gave Reuters her first name.

She said that while she did not approve of youths taking to the streets after curfew, and throwing rocks at the police, the president needed to listen, and to help people.

A Reuters witness saw the army and police deployed to some neighbourhoods to contain the unrest.

There were also protests in the Kaolack region in the south of the country, a local official said.

Senegal’s government has not faced major opposition to its handling of the pandemic but the economy has been hard hit by measures like the overnight curfew and a ban on inter-regional travel.

Senegal has confirmed almost 4,000 cases of COVID-19, including 45 deaths. Dakar and Touba, which is both a trading hub and major pilgrimage destination, have been hardest hit.

The growing unrest in Dakar and Touba highlights a dilemma for many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, where measures to protect citizens’ health are also damaging the livelihoods of millions who work in the informal sector, stirring up tensions.

Unable to shuttle passengers between Touba and Dakar, taxi driver Same Diop has started begging in the street alongside dozens of other drivers struggling to support their families.


Touba’s main boulevards were littered with charred tyres and broken branches on Wednesday in the wake of the overnight protest there, which saw scores of demonstrators set fire to an ambulance outside a coronavirus treatment centre.

“This frightened us,” said district administrator Mansour Diallo, standing by the burned-out vehicle. “It is certainly the consequences of the state of emergency and the lockdown.”

U.S. HR executives see working from home as part of new normal: survey

Thea D'Adamo, Head of Options Execution at TradeMas Inc., works with fellow NYSE-AMEX floor traders in an off-site trading office they built in her home when the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) closed, due to the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in the Brooklyn borough of New York City, U.S., March 26, 2020. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than three out of four U.S. human resource executives think more employees will continue to work from home even after the threat of the novel coronavirus subsides, according to a survey by a large business association released on Wednesday.

The epidemic has upended traditional face-to-face working practices, with millions of employees at least temporarily based at home in businesses that have been able to make the switch to curb exposure to the potentially deadly virus.

The Conference Board report said 77% of respondents in the April 15-28 survey expect more employees to work from home more than three days a week, with information technology and financial services, already areas with the highest remote working rates, set to lead the way.

Tech giants such as Alphabet Inc’s Google, Facebook Inc and Twitter Inc have said they would allow most employees to work remotely until the end of the year.

Less than one in 10 businesses polled said more than 20% of their full-time employees worked from home before the epidemic.

Businesses with at least 10% of their staff working from home before the epidemic were more likely to self-report productivity gains over the past several weeks, the survey also showed.

A widespread shift to more teleworking would likely reshape the fabric of cities. With fewer commuters, major transit systems would lose revenue, and spending on city center food services, retail and other services would drop.

Of the 152 HR executives in U.S.-based organizations surveyed, more than 60% of respondents were in the business and professional services, manufacturing and health care sectors.

Amazon is sued over warehouses after New York worker brings coronavirus home, cousin dies

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc has been sued for allegedly fostering the spread of the coronavirus by mandating unsafe working conditions, causing at least one employee to contract COVID-19, bring it home, and see her cousin die.


FILE PHOTO: Amazon.com trucks are seen at an Amazon warehouse on Staten Island in New York City, New York, U.S., March 30, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Segar/File Photo

The complaint was filed on Wednesday in the federal court in Brooklyn, New York, by three employees of the JFK8 fulfillment center in Staten Island, and by family members.

One employee, Barbara Chandler, said she tested positive for COVID-19 in March and later saw several household members become sick, including a cousin who died on April 7.

The lawsuit said Amazon has made JFK8, which employs about 5,000, a “place of danger” by impeding efforts to stop the coronavirus spreading, boosting productivity at the expense of safety.

It said Amazon forces employees to work at “dizzying speeds, even if doing so prevents them from socially distancing, washing their hands, and sanitizing their work spaces.”

Amazon did not comment on the lawsuit, but said it has always followed guidance from health authorities and its workplace safety experts since the coronavirus pandemic began.


The Seattle-based company has benefited as the pandemic forced many consumers unable to visit physical stores to shop online more.

Unions, elected officials and some employees have faulted Amazon’s treatment of workers, including the firing of some critical of warehouse conditions.

Chief Executive Jeff Bezos said last week that Amazon has not fired people for such criticism.

Amazon is spending more than $800 million on coronavirus safety in this year’s first half, including cleaning, temperature checks and face masks.

At least 800 workers in U.S. distribution centers have tested positive for COVID-19, according to an employee’s unofficial tally.

Amazon ended 2019 with 798,000 full- and part-time employees.

The lawsuit seeks an injunction requiring that Amazon comply with worker safety and public nuisance laws, and not punish employees who develop COVID-19 symptoms or are quarantined.

The case is Palmer et al v Amazon.com Inc., U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York, No. 20-02468.


Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Additional reporting by Jeffrey Dastin in San Francisco; Editing by Tom Brown and Grant McCool

U.S. clears private equity as investment option for retirement plans

ANOTHER WACKY FINANCIAL SCHEME FROM TRUMP

(Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Labor issued guidance on Wednesday that allows private equity investments to be offered to U.S. retirement plans as part of diversified investment funds, a move that the leveraged buyout industry has long called for.

Employee-sponsored defined benefit plans, such as the pension funds of public sector workers, have long been allowed to include buyout funds in their investment portfolios, turning private equity into a multi-trillion-dollar industry.

But managers of defined contribution plans, including 401(k) plans, stayed cleared of private equity investments, uncertain whether federal rules allowed them to include them in their portfolios and fearful of the risk of litigation.

The Department of Labor said on Wednesday that direct contribution plans are allowed to invest in private equity funds offered through professionally managed vehicles such as target-date, target-risk or balanced funds. The funds must include private equity only as one of component of their portfolio, the Department of Labor said.

The new guidance, issued in response to a request for clarification by investments firms Pantheon Ventures and Partners Group, is aimed at helping Americans saving for retirement gain access to alternative investments that often provide strong returns, Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia said in a statement.

It comes after President Donald Trump signed an executive order in May directing federal agencies to eliminate “unnecessary regulations that impede economic recovery.”

The new guidance gives the private equity industry access to 401(k) plans, which have over $6 trillion in assets, said Robert Collins, a managing director at Partners Group.

But it’s unclear how quickly and to what extent large mutual fund managers and other fiduciaries of retirement assets will add private equity to their portfolios. The shares of major publicly listed private equity firms, such as Blackstone Group Inc (BX.N) and KKR & Co Inc (KKR.N), were up only in line with the wider stock market on Wednesday, indicating tempered investor enthusiasm over the impact of the change.

Trump's church visit, response to George Floyd's death frustrate some advisers


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s bellicose response to the racial unrest engulfing the United States and his controversial visit to a church after the forced clearing of peaceful protesters have sparked divisions and frustration among some White House staff.

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump holds up a Bible as he stands in front of St. John's Episcopal Church across from the White House after walking there for a photo opportunity during ongoing protests over racial inequality in the wake of the death of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody, at the White House in Washington, U.S., June 1, 2020. REUTERS/Tom Brenner

Trump’s focus on “law and order” to curb sometimes violent protests came after discussion among advisers about the best way to respond to the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died after a white police officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes in Minneapolis last week, senior administration officials said.

But the Republican president’s surprise trip to the historic Saint John’s Church near the White House on Monday, during which he held up a Bible for photographers and posed with staff members who all were white, drew condemnation from Democrats and some Republicans, and rattled some on his own team, one senior administration official told Reuters.

Law enforcement officials used heavy handed tactics to clear the area of peaceful protesters before the visit, even though a Washington curfew was not yet in force.

Trump, who is running for re-election in November, has courted religious voters, especially evangelical Christians, as a key part of his political base.

He does not attend church regularly himself and did not enter the building on Monday, a part of which had been burned during demonstrations, or offer a prayer during his stop.

“There are a lot of very evangelical people walking around this White House who I know were very uncomfortable with that (visit),” the senior administration official said.

The official described the response to the demonstrations as lacking leadership and avoiding key truths, including the role of white supremacists in some of the unrest.

A call that Trump held with state governors, in which he described them as weak and told them to get tougher with protesters, was “insane” and went “off the rails,” the official said.

African-American staff members, who do not make a up a large portion of Trump’s circle, were recruited to be present for that call on Monday in the Situation Room, the official said, and Vice President Mike Pence has considered traveling to Minnesota despite concerns that his presence could spark further riots and heighten security risks.

INFLAMMATORY COMMENTS

Trump condemned Floyd’s killing and has promised justice but he faced criticism from Democrats and some fellow Republicans for his provocative rhetoric about the protests.

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden blasted Trump’s response and sought to offer a contrast by vowing to try to heal the country’s racial divide.

White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said Trump has hit “the perfect tone” in expressing deep sadness for the Floyd family and showing an unwavering commitment to make sure justice is done in the case, while also defending law and order.

“He has expressed support for the First Amendment and the right for people to peacefully protest while at the same time making it very clear that criminal behavior, lawlessness and evil cannot be tolerated,” Gidley said. 
THAT'S A BIG LIE HE MAKES REFERENCE TO ONE AMENDMENT YES, BUT THAT IS THE SECOND AMENDMENT ITS THE ONLY ONE HE KNOW'S



Trump’s broad response, including a threat to use the military to quell the riots, is consistent with a presidency that has revved up political supporters repeatedly with inflammatory rhetoric on everything from immigration to foreign relations.

One senior administration official said Trump has focused on action rather than racial reconciliation and national unity because of a desire to show Americans that something was being done about the destruction looters had wrought on U.S. cities.

“Unity is great and that should be the ultimate goal, but you also have to deal with the issue at hand,” the official said.

One former White House official said Trump’s remarks in a White House Rose Garden speech on Monday reflected the influence of more hawkish members of his team over those seen as more moderate, such as his daughter, Ivanka Trump, and son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

Ivanka Trump, wearing a mask, was part of the group that walked with the president to Saint John’s Church on Monday, but she did not stand with her father for the photo session.

Others did not wear masks. Pence, who frequently references his religious beliefs, was not present.

Another senior administration official said Trump made clear to advisers on Monday that he wanted to give a clear “law and order” address.

A majority of Americans sympathize with the nationwide protests over the death of Floyd and disapprove of Trump’s response to the unrest, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday.

Sporadic violence flares in latest U.S. protests over Floyd death

WASHINGTON/MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people defied curfews to take to the streets of U.S. cities on Tuesday for an eighth night of protests over the death of a black man in police custody, as National Guard troops lined the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

Clashes between protesters and police and looting of some stores in New York City gave way to relative quiet by night’s end.

In Los Angeles, numerous demonstrators who stayed out after the city’s curfew were arrested. But by late evening, conditions were quiet enough that local television stations switched from wall-to-wall coverage back to regular programming.

Large marches and rallies also took place in Philadelphia, Atlanta, Denver and Seattle.

In Portland, Oregon, crowds seemed to swell before 11 p.m. local time. Police used stun grenades and tear gas on the crowd, calling it an “Unlawful assembly.” The scattering crowd shouted “Peaceful protest,” back at police.

Although rallies on behalf of Floyd and other victims of police brutality have been largely peaceful during the day, after dark each night crowds have turned to rioting, vandalism, arson and looting. On Monday night, five police officers were hit by gunfire in two cities.

Outside the U.S. Capitol building on Tuesday afternoon a throng took to one knee, chanting “silence is violence” and “no justice, no peace,” as officers faced them just before the government-imposed curfew.

The crowd remained after dark, despite the curfew and vows by President Donald Trump to crack down on what he has called lawlessness by “hoodlums” and “thugs,” using National Guard or even the U.S. military if necessary.

Some protesters briefly pushed and rocked a chainlink fence, but were encouraged other protesters to stop. Local news media reported that the crowds dwindled by midnight.

PROTESTS COAST TO COAST

In New York City, thousands of chanting protesters ignored an 8 p.m. curfew to march from the Barclays Center in Flatbush toward the Brooklyn Bridge as police helicopters whirred overheard.

The crowd, halted at an entrance to the Manhattan Bridge roadway, chanted at riot police: “Walk with us! Walk with us.”

On Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles, hundreds of people filled the street, marching past famous landmarks of the film center. Others gathered outside Los Angeles Police Department headquarters downtown, in some cases hugging and shaking hands with a line of officers outside.

NYPD officers face demonstrators after curfew during a protest against the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd, in New York City, U.S., June 2, 2020. REUTERS/Brendan Mcdermid

Los Angeles was the scene of violent riots in 1992, following the acquittal of four policemen charged in the beating of black motorist Rodney King, that saw more than 60 people killed and an estimated $1 billion in damage.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday found a majority of Americans sympathize with the protests.

The survey conducted on Monday and Tuesday found 64% of American adults were “sympathetic to people who are out protesting right now,” while 27% said they were not and 9% were unsure.

More than 55% of Americans said they disapproved of Trump’s handling of the protests, including 40% who “strongly” disapproved, while just one-third said they approved - lower than his overall job approval of 39%, the poll showed.

In Minneapolis, Roxie Washington, mother of Floyd’s 6-year-old daughter, Gianna, told a news conference he was a good man. “I want everybody to know that this is what those officers took from me....,” she said, sobbing. “Gianna does not have a father. He will never see her grow up, graduate.”


Floyd died after a white policeman pinned his neck under a knee for nearly nine minutes in Minneapolis on May 25, reigniting the explosive issue of police brutality against African Americans five months before the November presidential election.

The officer who knelt on Floyd, 44-year-old Derek Chauvin, has been charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Three other officers involved were fired but not yet charged.
‘AMERICA IS NOT A BATTLEGROUND’

Trump has threatened to use the military to battle the violence and has derided local authorities, including state governors, for their response to the disturbances.

The head of the U.S. National Guard said on Tuesday 18,000 Guard members were assisting local law enforcement in 29 states.


Slideshow (39 Images)

The Pentagon said it has moved about 1,600 U.S. Army troops into the Washington, D.C., region.

Trump’s rhetoric and the growing role of the U.S. armed forces has alarmed some current and former officials.

“America is not a battleground. Our fellow citizens are not the enemy,” Martin Dempsey, a retired four-star general who served as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, wrote on Twitter.

The protests come on the heels of lockdowns to prevent spread of the novel coronavirus which hit African Americans disproportionately with high numbers of cases and job losses.

Some of those who have gathered at the site of Floyd’s killing have invoked the non-violent message of the late U.S. civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., assassinated in 1968, as the only way forward.


“He would be truly appalled by the violence because he gave his life for this stuff,” said Al Clark, 62, a black man who drove to the Minneapolis memorial with one of King’s speeches blaring from his truck.

“But I can understand the frustration and anger.”

'No justice, no peace': Tens of thousands in London protest death of George Floyd

Michael Holden, Dylan Martinez

LONDON (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people chanting “no justice, no peace, no racist police” marched through central London on Wednesday to protest against racism after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.


Floyd, an unarmed black man, died after a white police officer knelt on his neck, an event that has set off the biggest anti-racism protests seen in the United States since the 1960s civil rights era.

Demonstrators have also come out in cities around the world in solidarity with Floyd and to express anger over racism. Protesters in London chanted “George Floyd” and “Black Lives Matter” as they marched through the city centre.

On Parliament Square, on Trafalgar Square and at other locations, thousands knelt on one knee, a form of protest known as “taking a knee” famously used by American footballer Colin Kaepernick to denounce police brutality against black people.


Some demonstrators urged police officers lining the route of the march to also take a knee, and a few of the officers did.

“This has been years in the coming, years and years and years of white supremacy,” 30-year-old project manager Karen Koromah told Reuters.

“We’ve come here with our friends to sound the alarm, to make noise, to dismantle supremacist systems,” Koromah said, cautioning that unless there was action the United Kingdom would face problems like those in the United States.

“I don’t want to start crying,” she said of the images from the United States. “It makes my blood boil.”

BRITISH BOBBIE DEMONSTRATES UK CHOKE HOLD (FOR REAL)

A protester and a police officer clash near Downing Street during a "Black Lives Matter" protest following the death of George Floyd who died in police custody in Minneapolis, London, Britain, June 3, 2020. REUTERS/Toby Melville TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

The demonstrators booed as they walked past 10 Downing Street, official residence of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, and some also booed and took a knee in front of New Scotland Yard, London’s police headquarters.

GLOBAL ISSUE

Some protesters waved banners with slogans such as: “The UK is not innocent: less racist is still racist”, “Racism is a global issue” and “If you aren’t angry you aren’t paying attention”.

The event was almost entirely peaceful. There were brief scuffles between police officers and some protesters outside 10 Downing Street but they were over within minutes.

Johnson, who was inside at the time giving the government’s daily briefing on the coronavirus outbreak, was asked what he would say to U.S. President Donald Trump about Floyd’s death and the protests it has sparked.


“We mourn George Floyd, and I was appalled and sickened to see what happened to him,” he said.

“My message to President Trump, to everybody in the United States, from the UK is that - and it’s an opinion I’m sure is shared by the overwhelming majority of people around the world - racism and racist violence has no place in our society.”

Johnson has been criticised in the past for comments that many considered racist. In 2018, when he was foreign minister, he wrote in a newspaper column that Muslim women wearing burkas looked like bank robbers or letter boxes.

Outside Downing Street, some protesters chanted “Boris is a racist”.

British police chiefs said they were appalled by the way Floyd lost his life and by the violence that followed in U.S. cities, but called on protesters in the United Kingdom to work with police as coronavirus restrictions remain in place.

“We can see feelings are running really high today. It’s been a peaceful protest,” said police commander Alex Murray.

“We’re committed to make London a lot safer and to build trust with all communities,” he said.

Many marchers said racism was a British problem too.

“It’s not like this is just about someone dying, we live our lives made awfully aware of our race. That’s not right, that’s not the natural order,” said Roz Jones, who came to Britain as a child from South Africa.

Exclusive: Huawei hid business operation in Iran after Reuters reported links to CFO

LONDON/DUBAI (Reuters) - China’s Huawei Technologies acted to cover up its relationship with a firm that had tried to sell prohibited U.S. computer gear to Iran, after Reuters in 2013 reported deep links between the firm and the telecom-equipment giant’s chief financial officer, newly obtained internal Huawei documents show.


FILE PHOTO: Huawei Technologies Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou leaves her home to attend a court hearing in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada May 27, 2020. REUTERS/Jennifer Gauthier/File Photo

Huawei has long described the firm - Skycom Tech Co Ltd - as a separate local business partner in Iran. Now, documents obtained by Reuters show how the Chinese tech titan effectively controlled Skycom. The documents, reported here for the first time, are part of a trove of internal Huawei and Skycom Iran-related business records - including memos, letters and contractual agreements - that Reuters has reviewed.

One document described how Huawei scrambled in early 2013 to try to “separate” itself from Skycom out of concern over trade sanctions on Tehran. To that end, this and other documents show, Huawei took a series of actions - including changing the managers of Skycom, shutting down Skycom’s Tehran office and forming another business in Iran to take over tens of millions of dollars worth of Skycom contracts.

The revelations in the new documents could buttress a high-profile criminal case being pursued by U.S. authorities against Huawei and its chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, who is also the daughter of Huawei’s founder. The United States has been trying to get Meng extradited from Canada, where she was arrested in December 2018. A Canadian judge last week allowed the case to continue, rejecting defense arguments that the U.S. charges against Meng do not constitute crimes in Canada.

A U.S. indictment alleges that Huawei and Meng participated in a fraudulent scheme to obtain prohibited U.S. goods and technology for Huawei’s Iran-based business via Skycom, and move money out of Iran by deceiving a major bank. The indictment alleges that Skycom was an “unofficial subsidiary” of Huawei, not a local partner.

Huawei and Meng have denied the criminal charges, which include bank fraud, wire fraud and other allegations. Skycom, which was registered in Hong Kong and was dissolved in 2017, is also a defendant. At one point, Huawei was a shareholder in Skycom but, according to corporate filings, sold its stake more than a decade ago.

The newly obtained documents appear to undermine Huawei’s claims that Skycom was just a business partner. They offer a behind-the-scenes look at some of what transpired at the two companies inside Iran seven years ago and how intertwined the companies were. The documents are variously written in English, Chinese and Farsi.


Huawei declined to comment for this story.

China’s foreign ministry said the United States was politicizing economic and trade issues, which is not in the interest of Chinese or American firms. “We urge the United States to immediately stop its unreasonable suppression of Chinese firms including Huawei,” it said. It referred specific questions about this story to Huawei.

‘NORMAL BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP’

Reuters reported in March that Huawei had produced internal company records in 2010, including two packing lists, that showed it was directly involved in sending prohibited U.S. computer equipment to Iran. Huawei declined to comment on that story, citing ongoing legal proceedings.

(To read the March report, click here)

The newly obtained documents show that Huawei’s efforts to obscure its relationship with Skycom began after Reuters reported in December 2012 that Skycom had offered to sell at least 1.3 million euros worth of embargoed Hewlett-Packard computer equipment to Iran’s largest mobile-phone operator in late 2010. In January 2013, a second Reuters report described how Huawei had close financial ties and other links to Skycom, including the fact that Meng had served on Skycom’s board of directors between February 2008 and April 2009.

(To read the December 2012 report, click here)


(To read the January 2013 report, click here)

In its response at the time to the Reuters reporting, Huawei said Skycom was one of its “major local partners” and that the relationship between Huawei and Skycom was “a normal business partnership.”

But a newly obtained Huawei internal document from the Chinese company’s Iran office, dated March 28, 2013, indicates Huawei controlled Skycom. The document in Chinese stated: “In consideration of trade compliances, A2 representative office is trying to separate Skycom and Huawei.” A2 was Huawei’s code for Iran, according to the U.S. indictment.

The document also noted that Huawei had installed one of its own employees to manage Skycom in Iran “to urgently avoid the risks of media hype.” Huawei had made an “urgent decision” to appoint Hu Mei as Skycom’s general manager in Iran, effective March 10, 2013, the document noted. Hu was a director of Skycom and was also listed as a Huawei employee in an internal Huawei directory.

The document detailed how Huawei quickly recognized a flaw in putting Hu in charge of Skycom. Hu was based at Huawei’s headquarters in China, and the job required dealing with business matters on the ground in Iran, the document stated. So, Huawei decided to appoint instead “a Chinese employee based in Iran” to manage Skycom’s Tehran office, the document shows.

Huawei decided to name Song Kai, deputy representative of its Iran office, to run Skycom in Iran. He was informed of the decision in an internal Huawei message that was reviewed by Reuters. “Please update your resume,” Song was instructed.

The message said that the change had been approved by a man named Lan Yun, who was identified as the “chief representative” of Huawei’s Iran office.

Hu, Song and Lan couldn’t be reached for comment.

POWERPOINT PRESENTATION

In response to the Reuters articles of 2012 and 2013, several Western banks questioned Huawei about its relationship with Skycom. They included HSBC Holdings PLC, where both Huawei and Skycom held bank accounts.

HSBC declined to comment for this story.

In August 2013, Meng met with HSBC’s deputy head of global banking for the Asia-Pacific region. She is accused in the U.S. indictment of making “numerous misrepresentations regarding Huawei’s ownership and control of Skycom.”

Meng gave a PowerPoint presentation during the meeting that said Skycom was merely “a business partner of Huawei.”

The newly obtained documents show that Huawei soon became directly involved in shutting Skycom down.

In a letter dated Nov. 2, 2013, Song, the Huawei employee appointed to manage Skycom, told a major Iranian client that Skycom “has decided to annul and terminate its business activities and dissolve the branch company in Iran.” Song’s letter was addressed to a vice president of Iran’s largest mobile-phone operator, Mobile Communication Co of Iran, or MCCI.

MCCI couldn’t be reached for comment.


The next day, Skycom, MCCI and a new Huawei company - Huawei Technologies Service (Iranian) Co Ltd - signed an agreement. It stated that Skycom planned to transfer its contracts to the new Huawei entity. The agreement listed eight contracts worth a total of 44.6 million euros (about $50 million), with about 34.6 million euros remaining on them. Any money owed to Skycom was to be paid to the Huawei entity upon completion of the contracts.

“All the parties promise that this three-way contract remains confidential,” it stated.

Fired U.S. State Department watchdog confirms probe of Saudi arms sale

Patricia Zengerle

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A State Department inspector general abruptly fired by President Donald Trump last month confirmed on Wednesday that he was investigating the declaration of a “national emergency” to justify arms sales to Saudi Arabia when he was dismissed, members of the U.S. Congress said.

FILE PHOTO: U.S. State Department Inspector General Steve Linick departs after briefing House and Senate Intelligence committees at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S. October 2, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo

The inspector general, Steve Linick, was fired on May 15, making him the fourth government watchdog dismissed by the Republican president in recent months.

In an interview with members of Congress, Linick also confirmed that he was looking into allegations that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his wife had misused State Department resources, Representative Eliot Engel, chairman of the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee and other Democratic lawmakers said in a statement.

Inspectors general are charged with preventing fraud and abuse. The dismissals prompted concern from Democrats and some of Trump’s fellow Republicans over whether inspectors general would be able to do their work.


Democrats launched an investigation, including Wednesday’s interview by the House Foreign Affairs and Oversight committees and Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The interview was conducted remotely and lasted about seven hours. The committees have promised to release a transcript.

A Republican aide from one of the committees said investigation was continuing but indications to date are that Trump was within his rights to terminate Linick.

In his opening statement, seen by Reuters, Linick defended his seven-year record at State, noting his office issued nearly 700 reports and identified savings of close to $2 billion.


Pompeo has said he asked Trump to fire Linick, although he did not provide a reason for the request.

Members of Congress had said Linick was investigating Trump’s decision to declare a national emergency last year in order to sell arms to Saudi Arabia despite congressional objections, as well as allegations the Pompeos used a taxpayer-funded employee for personal errands.

(This story has been refiled to add dropped word to headline)


Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Bill Berkrot and Leslie Adler