Ex-Trump aide Scaramucci says president’s ‘well wishes’ to Ghislaine Maxwell are coded message: ‘Please don’t talk’


President's past association with Jeffrey Epstein has been downplayed in recent yearsAndrew Naughtie @andrewnaughtie

Former White House communications chief Anthony Scaramucci has accused Donald Trump of covertly imploring the arrested socialite Ghislaine Maxwell not to reveal what she knows about him.

In a tweet on Wednesday, Mr Scaramucci wrote: “She has the goods on him. He is signaling ‘please don’t talk.’”

Mr Trump acknowledged Ms Maxwell during a press briefing on Tuesday, his first since April. Asked by a reporter whether he thought she would turn in other powerful men who were potentially involved with Jeffrey Epstein, the president said he hasn’t been following the case closely.

“I just wish her well,” he said. “I’ve met her numerous times over the years, especially since I lived in Palm Beach and I guess they lived in Palm Beach. But I wish her well, whatever it is.”

Mr Trump was photographed alongside Epstein and Ms Maxwell many times over more than a decade, and once called Epstein a “terrific guy”, saying “he [liked] beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side”.
Watch more

Mystery surrounds identity of Ghislaine Maxwell’s ‘secret husband’

Since before Epstein’s death, however, any association between them has been downplayed. Fox News recently had to apologise for “mistakenly” cropping Mr Trump out of a picture featuring the two.


Mr Scaramucci has several times tweeted in support of Epstein-related conspiracy theories, and specifically the idea that the billionaire paedophile was murdered in prison. Among the sources he has retweeted on this subject is far-right male supremacist agitator Mike Cernovich.

Mr Cernovich previously helped propagate the “Pizzagate” theory, which held that Hillary Clinton and her associates were running a child sex ring out of the basement of a Washington pizza restaurant, Comet Ping Pong. (The restaurant does not in fact have a basement.)


Mr Scaramucci was hired as White House communications director in August 2017, upon which he immediately became obsessed with leakers and acquired a reputation for turning on both the press and his fellow aides.


In a notoriously coarse phone interview with The New Yorker during his time at the White House, he boasted of his own sense of mission while denigrating the president’s closest advisers.

“I’m not Steve Bannon, I’m not trying to suck my own c***,” he told reporter Ryan Lizza. “I’m not trying to build my own brand off the f***ing strength of the president. I’m here to serve the country.”

Mr Scaramucci was sacked shortly afterwards by incoming chief of staff John Kelly.

Mystery surrounds identity of Ghislaine Maxwell’s ‘secret husband’


Prosecutors revealed Ms Maxwell was married, but no one seems to know to whomRichard HallNew York @_richardhall

In the middle of a dramatic court hearing, conducted via videolink due to coronavirus restrictions, the revelation by prosecutors that Ghislaine Maxwell was married went almost unnoticed.

The British socialite had not been seen in the year since the arrest of Jeffrey Epstein, with whom she was accused of conspiring to abuse minors. Finally, at a hearing to decide whether she would be freed on bail ahead of her trial, details about her life in hiding began to emerge.

The prosecutors alleged that Ms Maxwell was not being honest. They believed she had not been transparent about her access to potentially millions of dollars, which gave them cause to believe she was a flight risk. Then, almost in passing, they revealed that she was married.


“The defendant also makes no mention whatsoever about the financial circumstances or assets of her spouse, whose identity she declined to provide to pretrial services,” said Alison Moe, one of three prosecutors in charge of the case.

“There’s no information about who will be co-signing this bond or their assets, and no details whatsoever,” she added.
Watch more

Inside the ‘notorious’ Brooklyn prison Ghislaine Maxwell will stay

The revelation was central to the prosecution’s argument that Ms Maxwell has been disguising her true wealth. Media reports have been rife with speculation that the spouse might be a tech CEO from Boston named Scott Borgerson, with whom she has been romantically linked.

That she had managed to keep the identity of that husband secret from law enforcement and the gaze of the media was a shock to everyone.

“No one knew she was married,” a former friend of Ms Maxwell told The Times.

Even more curious was the fact that there appears to be no marriage certificate in public filings in Massachusetts or New Hampshire, where she was known to have spent time in the last year.

The identity of the husband may yet lead prosecutors down new avenues in the wide-reaching investigation into the sexual abuse of young girls by Epstein.

At the two-hour hearing on Tuesday, Ms Maxwell, 58, pleaded not guilty to six charges, including perjury and enticing minors to engage in illegal sex acts. She stands accused of grooming and procuring young women for her longtime associate and former boyfriend to abuse.

The indictment against her claims that she “assisted, facilitated and contributed to Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse of minor girls by, among other things, helping Epstein to recruit, groom, and ultimately abuse victims known to Maxwell and Epstein to be under the age of 18”.

After hearing arguments on Tuesday, US District Judge Alison J Nathan ruled that Ms Maxwell be held in jail until her trial, which was scheduled for July 2021, citing her international connections, her wealth and the seriousness of the charges against her.

“No combination of conditions could reasonably ensure her presence at court. The risks are simply too great,” she said, agreeing with the prosecution’s contention that Ms Maxwell has displayed “sophistication in hiding her resources”.
Ghislaine Maxwell was said to have hired ex-British soldiers as protection prior to arrest (Reuters)

Maxwell’s whereabouts had been the subject of intense speculation since Epstein’s arrest and suicide in custody last year. Media reports have alleged that she was living in other parts of the US, Paris, London and Israel. But the FBI said they had been monitoring her movements as their investigation proceeded, before finally swooping on her latest location in a luxury mansion in New Hampshire. Federal investigators said they had been “discreetly keeping tabs” on Maxwell as they worked the investigation, before finally making their arrest on 2 July.

Prosecutors have so far been unable to ascertain the identity of Ms Maxwell’s mystery spouse. Some have speculated that it may be her last alleged romantic partner, Scott Borgerson, a 44-year-old CEO of a Boston tech company. The Daily Mail reported last year that she had previously lived with him at his oceanfront property in Manchester-by-the-Sea, in Massachusetts, prior to her arrest earlier this month. But he has frequently denied being in a relationship, insisting that they are only friends.

The pair reportedly met in 2013 when they were both speaking on panels at the Arctic Circle Assembly in Reykjavik — a conference that brings together NGOs, politicians and corporations to discuss the future of the Arctic.

Mr Borgerson, who is divorced, is the CEO of a company called CargoMetrics and is described as an “Arctic expert” on his profile page for the Council on Foreign Relations, a think tank. According to the profile, he is a former coast guard officer and “has testified before a number of congressional committees, [and] contributed to White House strategic policy making”.

Despite the reports of a relationship between the pair, however, there is no evidence to suggest they are married. Mr Borgerson’s father denied any knowledge of the marriage this week, the Daily Mail reported.

There are several reasons why Ms Maxwell would not want the identity of her spouse to be made public — not all of them nefarious, as prosecutors suggested.

“The most obvious and benign is that she’s trying to shield the spouse from press inquiry and notoriety,” James Zirin—a former assistant United States attorney and partner at law firm Siegel & Kaufman, told Town and Country magazine.

“Other reasons, however, could include that he may have knowledge of where her assets are and of crimes that she may have committed.”

Mr Zirin noted that spousal privilege — a law that states that a spouse cannot be compelled to testify against the other spouse — would mean that whoever it is would be able to refuse to cooperate with the Epstein abuse investigation.

One acquaintance of Ms Maxwell’s suggested to The Times another more practical reason why she married: simply “to protect the money she had”.

But ultimately her attempts to do so ensured that she would remain in jail until her trial. Prosecutors spent much of Tuesday’s hearing detailing how a lack of transparency over Ms Maxwell’s access to millions of dollars “principally in foreign accounts” made it necessary to remand her in custody.

Ms Moe, the prosecutor, said Ms Maxwell cited a net worth of more than $10million when she opened a Swiss bank account last year, and an annual income greater than $200,000.

Her true wealth may be important for other legal actions. In addition to the criminal charges, Ms Maxwell is currently facing civil lawsuits from several of Epstein’s alleged victims, who allege that she was central to the abuse they suffered.

Ms Maxwell, the daughter of late British media mogul Robert Maxwell, began working for Epstein in 1999 and claims to have worked for him until 2006, managing his homes in New York, Florida, New Mexico, Paris and the Virgin Islands.

According to the indictment, which focuses on the years between 1994 and 1997, Ms Maxwell “facilitated” Epstein’s access to underage girls by “inducing and enticing” them for grooming and abuse at multiple lavish properties owned by Epstein.
Watch more
 
Maxwell posed as journalist to buy luxury hideout, prosecutors say

These included his Upper East Side townhouse on East 66th Street, where he was known to throw lavish parties; his Palm Beach estate in Florida and his “Zorro” ranch in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Victims were also groomed and abused at Ms Maxwell’s personal residence in London, according to the indictment.

Three minors, unnamed in the indictment, were allegedly induced and enticed by Ms Maxwell.

Ms Maxwell sought to “normalise inappropriate and abusive” conduct to the victim, the indictment reads, undressing in front of her and being present when the victim undressed for Epstein. Within a year of meeting, Epstein was abusing the victim.

“Maxwell was present for and involved in some of this abuse,” according to the court papers, in particular, “in group sexualised massages of Epstein” where the victim would engage in sex acts with Epstein.

At Tuesday’s bail hearing, two alleged victims of Ms Maxwell and Epstein’s abuse addressed the court to argue that she be remanded in custody while she awaits trial. One of them, Annie Farmer, said she was 16 when she met Ms Maxwell.

“She is a sexual predator who groomed and abused me and countless other young women,” she said. “She has lied under oath and tormented her survivors.” She added that Ms Maxwell “has never shown any remorse for her heinous crimes”.

Mark Cohen, the attorney representing Ms Maxwell, said his client has been the “target of endless media spin” as he called for her release on $5m (£3.9m) bail.

“Our client is not Jeffrey Epstein. She is not the monster made out by the media.

Ghislaine Maxwell posed s journalist called Janet Marshall to buy luxury hideout, prosecutors say


‘There can really be no question that the defendant can lie about who she is, and that she has the means to do so,’ prosecutor Alison Moe saysJames Crump @thejamescrump
Tuesday 14
Ghislaine Maxwell allegedly posed as a British journalist to secretly buy the luxury mansion where she was arrested earlier this month.

The 58-year-old is currently being held at the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn facing charges of trafficking, sexual exploitation and abuse of minors, ================

The British socialite has been accused of luring and grooming underage girls, so her former boyfriend and business associate, Jeffrey Epstein, could abuse them.

Maxwell was arrested at a property called Tuckedaway, in Bradford, New Hampshire, after she had reportedly spent the last year moving three times a month to avoid detection, following Epstein’s arrest and subsequent death in prison on 10 August 2019.

Prosecutor Alison Moe of the Southern District of New York (SNDY), told the court on Tuesday that Maxwell bought the property while pretending to be a British journalist called Janet Marshall, according to Metro.

Ghislaine Maxwell wrapped phone in tin foil to ‘evade detection’

Ms Moe added that she viewed the property with a British man, who called himself Scott Marshall and claimed to be an ex-soldier working on a book, according to the New York Post.



While at the property, the couple told the estate agent that they wanted to purchase it quickly with a wire transfer and said that they were setting up a limited liability company (LLC) to do it.

Ms Moe said that Maxwell bought the property for $1.07m (£852,276) with a “carefully anonymized LLC,” and added that the estate agent realised who Maxwell was when they saw her on the news shortly after.

It has been widely reported that the 58-year-old went to great lengths to avoid being found, and prosecutors revealed on Monday that she even wrapped her mobile phone in tin foil to “evade detection”.

DAILY CORONAVIRUS BRIEFING

No hype, just the advice and analysis you need

In a bail request, that was heard and denied in court on Tuesday, Maxwell’s lawyers proposed a bond of $5m (£4m) alongside home detention with electronic monitoring, and argued that she was not a flight risk.

Ms Moe told the court on Tuesday that Maxwell should be denied bail because of her alleged lies to buy the house and attempts to evade detection from the authorities.

“These facts make clear to the court that the defendant is willing to live in hiding, that she’s good at it...even if it compromises her relationship with other people.

• Read more

Ghislaine Maxwell pleads not guilty to all charges in Epstein case

“There can really be no question that the defendant can lie about who she is, and that she has the means to do so.” Ms Moe said.

She added that Maxwell has the “willingness and ability to live off the grid indefinitely,” and highlighted that “a year is an extremely long time to live undetected by the public.”

Maxwell pleaded “not guilty” to the alleged charges earlier in the day on Tuesday.

The chilling global impact of Siberia’s record heatwave

Issued on: 16/07/2020 -

Graph displaying the average temperature between January and June 2020, illustrating the record heatwave in Siberia. © Global Forecast System (GFS)

Text by:Ségolène ALLEMANDOU

Temperatures in Russia’s Arctic Siberian region climbed to record highs in June, sparking a disastrous snowball effect of forest fires, thawing permafrost and oil spills.

The most chilling phenomenon in Siberia this season has been the heat. A series of warnings, reports and studies over the past few weeks have raised alarm bells over the record temperatures in the vast Russian region spanning much of Eurasia and Northern Asia.

The latest report, produced by a collaboration of scientific teams from France, Germany, Netherlands, Russia, Switzerland and Britain and released Wednesday by the World Weather Attribution project, has provided the strongest signal so far of the effects of global warming on Siberia.

The study concluded that Siberia’s record-breaking heatwave would have been “virtually impossible without human-induced climate change”.

The June heatwave during the second half of the month brought the monthly average temperatures in some parts of Arctic Siberia to as high as 10 degrees Celsius above normal, according to the European Copernicus Climate Change Service.

ADVERTISING


“In addition, the average monthly temperature over the entire area was more than 5°C higher than usual, which breaks the record for the previous two warmest Junes – 2018 and 2019,” the study said.

The record was set in the small town of Verkhoyansk, near the Arctic Circle, known to be one of the coldest places on Earth. On June 20, 2020, the mercury hit 38 degrees Celsius, which the Russian Meteorological Service said was the highest ever recorded north of the Arctic circle. The World Meteorological Organization has said it is carrying out its own research to verify this.

The extreme heat wave in the Russian region is "probably the most significant weather event of the year", said Mika Rantanen, a researcher at the Finnish Meteorological Institute, on Twitter. In an interview with FRANCE 24, Rantanen explained that it was a long-term phenomenon since "it started in winter".



The extreme heat in Siberia has been arguably the most remarkable weather event in the world by far in 2020.

According to the latest ERA5 data, some places have been 8°C warmer than normal during the first half of the year. pic.twitter.com/FnRIV5GVko— Mika Rantanen (@mikarantane) July 5, 2020

Thermal energy not absorbed by snow

Scientists however are not surprised by the temperature variations over this vast area of 13 million square kilometres, which accounts for 77 percent of Russia's area and is larger than Canada. They have long known that temperatures are rising faster because of warm ocean currents that melt snow.

This year, however, in addition to global warming, climatologists have noted two natural factors that have accentuated the heat spike. First, an unusually strong polar vortex over the North Pole has created a mild climate over the entire area. In addition, a high-pressure system in June favoured the rise in temperatures.

"As it was already warm in spring, the snow cover melted earlier than usual," said Rantanen. “So the heat energy in summer has not been consumed into melting of snow and ice. This resulted in record temperatures.”

While noting that, "We don't know yet if this is just a one-year event or the beginning of something completely new," Rantanen warned that "it will be worrying if the conditions continue like this".

Absolutely brutal year for the Siberian Arctic...

[Left: sea ice | Right: temperature] pic.twitter.com/KioiYdPcpF— Zack Labe (@ZLabe) July 11, 2020

Wildfires, invasive insects, disappearing forests

The record Arctic heatwave has major consequences for global warming. Massive forest fires have engulfed the area, with more than 275,000 hectares going up in smoke in the vast Sakha region in northeastern Siberia, according to the Russian government forestry agency.

The number and intensity of the wildfires resulted in “an estimated total of 59 megatonnes of CO2” emissions in the atmosphere, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service, which is a record since measurements began in 2003.

Although the intensity of the fires decreased in mid-July, 159 fires are still active and threaten 333,000 hectares. Based on satellite data, Greenpeace's forest monitoring service in Russia estimates that around 9.26 million hectares have been affected by fires since the start of the year.

Another consequence of rising temperatures on forests is the spread of invasive species such as Dendrolimus sibiricus, a moth that can produce colonies capable of devouring the foliage of a giant pine tree in a few hours. Their voracious larvae attack conifers and their needles, making them more vulnerable to fires, leading experts to warn about their "tragic consequences" for pine forests.


Thawing permafrost, a climate bomb


Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morningSubscribe

Finally, rising temperatures in Siberia lead to the melting of permafrost, or ground that remains frozen for a minimum of two years and up to hundreds of thousands of years, which the Russians call "the eternal freeze".

The thawing Arctic permafrost releases vestiges of ancient life, including Ice Age plant matter and animal fossils locked in frozen dirt for millennia, which in turn emit masses of carbon into the atmosphere.

It is also partly responsible for the damage and collapse of a diesel fuel storage tank at the Norilsk-Taimyr Energy's Thermal Power Plant in late May, which resulted in an oil spill of an estimated 20,000 tonnes into the Ambarnaïa River. This ecological disaster prompted Russian President Vladimir Putin to declare a state of national emergency.

Climatologists have long viewed the thawing of the Arctic’s permafrost as a climate and health bomb. Their concerns are now being mirrored by some politicians. "Some of our cities were built north of the Arctic Circle, on the permafrost,” warned Putin in December. “If it starts to thaw, you can imagine the consequences. It's very serious."

(This article is a translation of the original in French)

RELATED CONTENT

Oil spills, wildfires, invasive insects… Siberia’s climate change vicious circle
PERSPECTIVE

Polar explorer Sebastian Copeland on the 'urgency' of climate change awareness
TALKING EUROPE

Polar explorer Jean-Louis Étienne: ‘Global warming is a chronic fever’

'We need to do something': Moms and dads rally behind Portland protesters

Issued on: 25/07/2020 -

Mothers form a human chain during a protest in front of the Multnomah County Justice Center in Portland, Oregon, on July 23, 2020. Ankur Dholakia AFP

Bev Barnum never imagined what she was setting in motion when she posted a message online last week after coming across a video of federal officers in Portland, Oregon, pulling a protester into an unmarked car.

"It said something to the effect of, 'I don't know if you've ever protested before, but I haven't," the 35-year-old mother of two told AFP.

"'I really think we need to do something… what if you knew 100 moms were behind you and they could make a difference?'" the message said.

Within hours, her inbox was overflowing with messages from mothers rallying behind the idea that led to the so-called Wall of Moms in the western US city rocked by protests for social justice.

Waving sunflowers and standing arm-in-arm to form a human barrier between police and protesters, the movement offered a way for middle-aged white women eager to show solidarity for Black Lives Matter protesters.

The women sport bike helmets and bright yellow T-shirts, some of which read "Summoned Mama." The slogan refers to the dying call-out to his mother of George Floyd, an African American man whose death at the hands of police in May set off the protests in Oregon and nationwide.

"We're here trying to do this for our children," said Shawn Roberts, a black mother of two, who added that she was surprised and delighted at the same time by the turnout of white allies.

"People know that they can come into this group to get education, plus be a voice for the black community as a whole."

Everything the Wall of Moms represents has tugged at heartstrings and resonated with people around the globe in a deeply personal way.

"Moms get things done," Barnum said. "We wear so many hats and right now we're wearing the hat of fierce protectors."

She said after the movement took on a life of its own, she handed over the reins of the "hive" to three local mothers of color.

"From now on, the black moms are the queens and the rest of us are their workers," she said. "If they say jump, we jump. If they say protest, we protest. If they say call your legislators, we do that. They're in control now."

- 'I'm your mom now' -

Jayla Lindseth, who has taken part in the demonstrations for the past eight weeks, said the presence of the mothers -- some of them chanting "moms are here, feds stay clear" or "leave our kids alone" -- has reinvigorated the protests.

"When the moms started coming, every day is big," Lindseth, who is black, told AFP.

"A lot of them have hugged me and said, 'I'm your mom now. I'm here for you,' and it's so empowering," she added.

The impact of the women -- whose initiative has spurred similar chapters in other cities including New York and Chicago -- also did not go unnoticed among dads.

At the behest of Portland attorney Zach Duffly, many fathers have joined the nightly marches in recent days, oftentimes carrying leaf blowers.

"The reasons why it's dangerous are the reasons why it's important," Duffly told AFP, referring to the tear gas, flashbangs and batons used by police. "It just felt like an increasing moral obligation despite the danger."

With moms in yellow, Duffly chose orange, a color commonly marketed to men in products like tools and leaf blowers –- one of the things Duffly noticed used by Hong Kong protesters to disperse tear gas and included in the first call-out to dads.

However on Monday, his first day attending the protests along with dozens of other dads, Duffy said he had a run-in with federal agents who arrested him and charged him with disorderly conduct.

That hasn't stopped other fathers from showing up to the nightly protests, revving up the leaf blowers and running to the front each time a gas canister is thrown by police.

"It's a weird moment where dads get to shine," said Scott Franklin. "This is a fascinating moment in history.

"We've had hundreds of years of this built up to right now… It's kind of awesome to be part of fixing something that's been so long coming."

© 2020 AF

'We need to do something': Moms and dads rally behind Portland protesters

Issued on: 25/07/2020 - 

4 min
ADVERTISING


Portland (AFP)

Bev Barnum never imagined what she was setting in motion when she posted a message online last week after coming across a video of federal officers in Portland, Oregon, pulling a protester into an unmarked car.

"It said something to the effect of, 'I don't know if you've ever protested before, but I haven't," the 35-year-old mother of two told AFP.

"'I really think we need to do something… what if you knew 100 moms were behind you and they could make a difference?'" the message said.

Within hours, her inbox was overflowing with messages from mothers rallying behind the idea that led to the so-called Wall of Moms in the western US city rocked by protests for social justice.

Waving sunflowers and standing arm-in-arm to form a human barrier between police and protesters, the movement offered a way for middle-aged white women eager to show solidarity for Black Lives Matter protesters.

The women sport bike helmets and bright yellow T-shirts, some of which read "Summoned Mama." The slogan refers to the dying call-out to his mother of George Floyd, an African American man whose death at the hands of police in May set off the protests in Oregon and nationwide.

"We're here trying to do this for our children," said Shawn Roberts, a black mother of two, who added that she was surprised and delighted at the same time by the turnout of white allies.

"People know that they can come into this group to get education, plus be a voice for the black community as a whole."

Everything the Wall of Moms represents has tugged at heartstrings and resonated with people around the globe in a deeply personal way.

"Moms get things done," Barnum said. "We wear so many hats and right now we're wearing the hat of fierce protectors."

She said after the movement took on a life of its own, she handed over the reins of the "hive" to three local mothers of color.

"From now on, the black moms are the queens and the rest of us are their workers," she said. "If they say jump, we jump. If they say protest, we protest. If they say call your legislators, we do that. They're in control now."

- 'I'm your mom now' -

Jayla Lindseth, who has taken part in the demonstrations for the past eight weeks, said the presence of the mothers -- some of them chanting "moms are here, feds stay clear" or "leave our kids alone" -- has reinvigorated the protests.

"When the moms started coming, every day is big," Lindseth, who is black, told AFP.

"A lot of them have hugged me and said, 'I'm your mom now. I'm here for you,' and it's so empowering," she added.

The impact of the women -- whose initiative has spurred similar chapters in other cities including New York and Chicago -- also did not go unnoticed among dads.

At the behest of Portland attorney Zach Duffly, many fathers have joined the nightly marches in recent days, oftentimes carrying leaf blowers.

"The reasons why it's dangerous are the reasons why it's important," Duffly told AFP, referring to the tear gas, flashbangs and batons used by police. "It just felt like an increasing moral obligation despite the danger."

With moms in yellow, Duffly chose orange, a color commonly marketed to men in products like tools and leaf blowers –- one of the things Duffly noticed used by Hong Kong protesters to disperse tear gas and included in the first call-out to dads.

However on Monday, his first day attending the protests along with dozens of other dads, Duffy said he had a run-in with federal agents who arrested him and charged him with disorderly conduct.

That hasn't stopped other fathers from showing up to the nightly protests, revving up the leaf blowers and running to the front each time a gas canister is thrown by police.

"It's a weird moment where dads get to shine," said Scott Franklin. "This is a fascinating moment in history.

"We've had hundreds of years of this built up to right now… It's kind of awesome to be part of fixing something that's been so long coming."

© 2020 AFP

Mass anti-Kremlin rallies grip Russia's Far East

  Issued on: 25/07/2020

The running demonstrations in Russia's Far East have been
 some of the largest anti-government protests in years
 Aleksandr Yanyshev AFP

Khabarovsk (Russia) (AFP)

Huge anti-government demonstrations erupted in Russia's Far East on Saturday over the arrest of a popular governor who was replaced this week by a Kremlin appointee who never lived in the fraught region.

Residents of Khabarovsk near the border with China have taken to the streets en masse since the head of their region Sergei Furgal was arrested by federal law enforcement and flown to Moscow on murder charges earlier this month.

The running demonstrations have been some of the largest anti-government protests in Russia in years, which the Kremlin said this week were being fuelled by opposition activists outside of the region.

Tens of thousands of residents marched through Khabarovsk waving the region's flag, carrying banners and chanting anti-Putin slogans as passing cars honked their horns in support, an AFP reporter said.

Demonstrators converged in front of the regional administrative building on Lenin square shouting "Freedom" and "Putin resign".

Police wearing masks allowed the demonstrations to go ahead despite a ban on public gatherings as part of measures to contain the coronavirus pandemic.

Estimates of the turnout varied greatly, with Khabarovsk officials saying that 6,500 people attended. Pro-opposition social media channels placed the number much higher at around 90,000.

Authorities say at least 10,000 people took part in previous demonstrations on July 11 and July 18, though some local media and opposition figures put the figure at 35,000 to 50,000 people or more.

Journalists reporting from the town seven time zones east of Mosocw said Saturday's rally was the largest since the demonstrations began this month.

- 'Nutrient for troublemakers' -

On Monday, President Vladimir Putin officially fired Furgal, 50, and appointed a lawmaker from the same nationalist LDPR party, Mikhail Degtyarev, as his acting replacement.

The move was met with by anger from Khabarovsk residents who said the 39-year-old outsider lacked experience and had no connection to the region.

In a video posted to Instagram this week, Degtyarev dismissed calls for him to step down and said the mass demonstrations did not reflect broader public opinion.

Ahead of the demonstrations on Friday he suggested that foreign citizens had flown from Moscow to Khabarovsk to help organise the protests.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov dismissed claims of foreign interference but said the protests were a "nutrient ... for troublemakers" and pseudo-opposition activists.

Opposition leader and one-time presidential hopeful Alexei Navalny has thrown his weight behind the protesters and this week said the demonstrations could only win concessions "with the support of the entire country".

Furgal's detention ahead of a trial in September sparked an an outcry from his nationalist LDPR party whose firebrand leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky this week vowed to secure a presidential pardon if he is found guilty of the charges.

Russia's Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said Furgal was charged with ordering the murders and attempted murders of several businessmen in 2004 and 2005.

Critics say the case is politically motivated after Furgal was elected with a large majority in 2018 in an embarrassing defeat for a candidate of the ruling party backed by Putin.

They have demanded that Furgal face the charges in Khabarovsk and question why investigators waited so long to accuse an official who should have undergone background checks.


© 2020 AFP

Thousands of Hungarians protest against sackings at news website

Thousands of Hungarians marched towards Prime Minister Viktor Orban's office on Friday in protest at perceived government attacks on media freedoms, as anger built at the sacking of the chief editor of the country's leading independent news website.


Earlier in the day, three editors at Index.hu and more than 80 journalists - almost its entire staff - resigned over what they called an "open attempt to exert pressure" on the site after its owner refused to reinstate Szabolcs Dull.

Dull's dismissal has increased concern that Orban's nationalist government, in power for over a decade, is intensifying efforts to muzzle critical voices.

"We are not necessarily here because we liked Index but we are now at a point where accessing information is jeopardised," said protester Istvan, 30, among the large crowd that set out from Index's headquarters to Orban's office in Buda Castle.

Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said his government was facing "untrue accusations" with respect to threats to media freedoms.

"How would the state intervene in the decisions of a media which is privately owned?," he told a news conference on Thursday during a visit to Portugal.

'A state market'

Index, which about a month ago set its self-styled "independence barometer" to "in danger" to signal what it saw as outside attempts to influence its content, is by far the largest media organisation that is critical of the government.

"Index was the last outlet that bothered the government to this extent," Peter Uj, who co-founded Index in 1999, told Reuters. He quit in 2011 because of increasing pressure from Orban's Fidesz party.


"Less conspicuously, the system gobbled up not only titles but also ... ad agencies... The government controls three-quarters of the advertising market one way or another," he said. "This is a state market."

On Wednesday Laszlo Bodolai, chief of the foundation that owns the website's publisher, Index.hu Zrt., said Dull had been unable to control internal newsroom tensions, leading to disarray and a drop in revenue as advertisers stayed away.

He said the political independence of Index was not at risk. He did not return Reuters' calls requesting comment on Friday. Dull said he believed he was sacked because of columns he wrote about attempts to extert outside influence and the independence barometer warning.

(REUTERS)

VIKTOR ORBAN
HUNGARY
JOURNALISTS

RELATED CONTENT
Hungary's Orban handed open-ended powers to fight coronavirus, alarming rights groups

Hungary's Orban blames foreigners, migration for coronavirus spread

Hungarian foreign minister hits back at EU funds misuse claims

Virus surges worldwide as public loses faith in authorities

Issued on: 25/07/2020 - 

Masks are increasingly becoming obligatory as nations struggle to curb new infections SEBASTIEN BOZON AFP

Washington (AFP)

A surge in coronavirus cases across the United States and Europe has forced governments to strengthen containment measures as a survey released Saturday showed support for the handling of their pandemics has slipped.

The disease has now killed almost 635,000 people around the world and infected more than 15.5 million, according to an AFP tally, with America the hardest-hit nation.

For the second straight day on Friday the US reported more than 70,000 new cases and over 1,000 deaths as the virus takes hold in the country's south and west.


A similar resurgence in Europe prompted the World Health Organization to sound the alarm over the spread, as Britain joined France, Germany and Austria in tightening rules on masks and rolling out greater testing.

Governments worldwide have struggled to contain the coronavirus despite long and arduous lockdowns imposed on millions of people, and a survey released Saturday showed faith in authorities to be dwindling in six rich nations.

Populations in France, Germany, Britain, Japan, Sweden and the US widely believed death and infection figures to be higher than recorded, according to the study, which polled 1,000 people in each nation.

"In most countries this month, support for national governments is falling," the report by the Kekst CNC communications consulting group said.

- 'Cause for concern' -

Europe accounts for a fifth of the world's case count so far.

The WHO's European chapter expressed concern Friday about the rise in cases on the continent in the past two weeks and warned tighter restrictions may be needed.

A three-year-old girl this week died in Belgium, becoming the country's youngest victim of the virus.

"The recent resurgence in COVID-19 cases in some countries following the easing of physical distancing measures is certainly cause for concern," a WHO Europe spokeswoman told AFP.

"If the situation demands, reintroduction of stricter, targeted measures with the full engagement of communities may be needed."

Outbreaks have been seen recently in the Spanish regions of Aragon and Catalonia where officials have reintroduced curbs on daily life and urged Barcelona residents to only leave home for essential trips.

- Testing drive -

French Prime minister Jean Castex said on-the-spot testing would be rolled out for travellers arriving in France from 16 high-risk countries.

Masks are now mandatory in enclosed spaces across the nation and there are fears that the summer holiday season could see a new spike in the disease as people flock to beaches and tourist spots.

Britain on Friday also made it compulsory to wear a face covering in shopping centres, banks, takeaway outlets, sandwich shops and supermarkets.

Exceptions have been made, including for children under 11 or people with respiratory problems, but others who refuse to cover their nose and mouth in the UK risk a fine of up to £100 ($130).

Austria has reimplemented a similar policy with face masks mandatory again in a range of places from supermarkets to pharmacies -- the rule previously having been relaxed.

"It was a mistake to lift mandatory mask use so soon," said one Austrian shopper, Andreas Poschenreither.

- 'Wartime mode' -

South Korea on Saturday reported its highest infections figure in nearly four months, and in Vietnam the first locally-transmitted case in nearly 100 days was detected.

Authorities in China said Friday they would introduce a new wave of testing in the port city of Dalian, home to about six million people, after fresh infections were detected there.

The local government's health commission said the city must "enter wartime mode" to prevent any spread as it announced on-the-spot nucleic acid tests for people using the subway system and new lockdowns for some communities.

burs-axn/tom

© 2020 AFP

An ICU Nurse's Acceptance To A Christian University Was Revoked Because He's Gay 

Former students told BuzzFeed News that Union University has a long history of LGBTQ discrimination. 

Olivia Niland  BuzzFeed News Reporter

Posted on July 24, 2020

Al
As the US grapples with a global pandemic that has stretched hospitals to the limit, a Christian university in Tennessee has rescinded an incoming student's graduate school offer of acceptance after learning he is gay.

Former students of Union University told BuzzFeed News they were not surprised by the move and that the school has a long history of anti-LGBTQ actions, including one former student who said he underwent so-called conversion therapy.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, Alex Duron shared the email he received revoking his acceptance to the Southern Baptist–affiliated school located in Jackson. "It turns out that a faith-informed education from Union University is not God’s plan for me, because Union University is not ‘informed’ enough to not recognized [sic] that bigotry masked as religion is not Christian at all," Duron, 38, wrote

Duron, an ICU nurse treating COVID-19 patients in San Antonio's University Health System, had intended to pursue a graduate degree in nurse anesthesia. He told BuzzFeed News that Union's small class sizes, which were a fraction of the size he was seeing at Texas schools, made the university a top choice.

When Duron interviewed at Union last August, he said faculty told him he'd be a great fit and that they had called a few days later to say that Duron's interview had "blown them away" and offered him admission. At no point, Duron said, did Union indicate that being gay — or even not a Christian — was an issue.

"When I interviewed, they said, 'We accept all types of different religious people. You don’t have to be Christian to come here,'" Duron said. "To tell me, 'You’re a good fit for this school,' and not tell me all this other stuff — that should’ve been laid out in front of me."

uron's story was first reported by the Jackson Sun.

As part of his acceptance paperwork, Duron signed Union's community values statement but said he figured that just meant he couldn't be open about his sexuality on campus.

Union's community values prohibit students from drinking alcohol or engaging in premarital sexual activity, and condemn being LGBTQ for both faculty and students, stating that "the promotion, advocacy, defense or ongoing practice of a homosexual lifestyle (including same-sex dating behaviors) is also contrary to our community values."

Union's email revoking Duron's admission stated that he had not upheld the "values and expectations" he agreed to in signing the community values statement required of all incoming students.


"Your request for graduate housing and your social media profile, including your intent to live with your partner, indicates your unwillingness to abide by the commitment you made in signing this statement," the email read.



But Duron said he never told the school that he intended to live on campus with his fiancé. When he was arranging for graduate housing last week, he said a Union employee pressed him on the matter, asking if he was engaged or planned to be married, thereby qualifying him for the university's family housing. But Duron said he never mentioned his fiancé or his sexuality, adding that he is very private on social media about his personal life.


Duron said he doesn't know how the university even found his fiancé, but that after the phone call with Union about housing, his partner mentioned that a private profile affiliated with Union University had viewed his LinkedIn.


In a statement sent to BuzzFeed News, Union University staff said the school has "standards of behavior for its faculty, staff, and students that are consistent with biblical teaching and historic, orthodox Christian practice."


"All students who apply to Union University sign a statement saying they will comply with the university’s values," the staff added. "Those students who fail to abide by those values – or who show no intention of attempting to do so – are subject to disciplinary measures that can include dismissal from the university."






Andrew Mcmurtrie / AP
Union University on Feb. 20, 2008.

Due to the threat of expulsion, former students told BuzzFeed News that LGBTQ students at Union University live in constant fear of being outed, which could mean they lose their education, face being ostracized from their family and community, or both.

"I still have bad dreams about my degree being stripped from me because I was gay," said Anna Avery, who graduated from Union in 2012 and did not come out until she was no longer a student. "I feared that someone would find my journals."

When former student Scott McSwain chose to attend Union University, he had already come out to his parents as gay when he was a teenager, which resulted in his first experience with so-called conversion therapy. McSwain had earned a full-ride scholarship to an out-of-state university, but, he said, his mother and his father, who was a minister, thought they were doing what was best for their son by sending him to a Christian college in his hometown.

While attending Union between 2006–10, McSwain said he dated a girl, but came out to her after realizing it wouldn't be fair to continue the relationship. Soon after, rumors about McSwain's sexuality spread through Union's campus and his fraternity, until he said he was called into a meeting with the school's administration and told that he would have to attend therapy or leave the university. He said he was subsequently groped by one of his counselors.

McSwain said his experience at Union Un

Union University’s director of counseling services, Tamarin Huelin, said in a statement to BuzzFeed News that she was “grieved” to hear McSwain’s allegations of groping and added that she hoped any student would report such behavior to law enforcement and the licensing board for counselors.

But Huelin also insisted that neither she, nor her predecessor, have performed so-called conversion therapy with Union students, instead characterizing her work as “care for students and their mental and spiritual needs.”

“I have served as the Director for Counseling Services since August of 2015, and no one on my staff has attempted conversion therapy with any student during that time,” Huelin said.

"Conversion therapy" is a scientifically discredited practice that has been widely condemned by healthcare professionals as detrimental to LGBTQ individuals. Despite this, just 20 states have banned the practice. Tennessee has no state law or policy against so-called conversion therapy, according to the Human Rights Campaign.

McSwain met his now-husband, Alex, at Union University, but said during their time there they couldn’t even text each other for fear that their conversations would be monitored by the school. Today, they’re both teachers in Washington state, and McSwain recently made a video publicly detailing his experience at Union.


Courtesy of Scott McSwain

Like McSwain, alumnus Nathan Grimm ended up at Union because of his strict Christian upbringing and his parents' wishes — despite their knowing he is gay.

"My parents more or less told me that they weren’t going to help support my education if I didn’t attend Union," Grimm said. "I wasn't excited to attend, but was not an out and proud gay man at the time ... I think it's honestly a way for parents to send their children to a place where 'God can cure you.'"

Grimm said he'd heard about the "sessions" during his time as a student and about Union manipulating students to try to out one another. He said he felt fortunate to have graduated from Union without being outed or expelled, but knows other students weren't as lucky.

As for Duron, the nurse whose admission was revoked, he said he feels like he "dodged a bullet" by not attending Union, and said since going public with his story he's been contacted by nursing schools around the country trying to find a way to grant him admission for the fall.

"My initial plan was to warn away people in the nursing community from Union if they’re gay or transgender," Duron said. "But it has totally changed now, people are taking it to the next level ... There's a light at the end of the tunnel. I don’t know where I'm going to end up, but I've gotten so much support."



Olivia Niland is a news reporter and curation editor for BuzzFeed News and is based in Los Angeles.