COMPANY UNION
PG&E Union Warns Bernie Sanders Against ‘Bird-Brained’ State Takeover

WE HAD THIS IN CANADA WITH THE PWU, POWER WORKERS UNION OF ONTARIO HYDRO NUCLEAR PLANTS, FORMERLY A CUPE LOCAL DECLARED INDEPENDENCE WHEN BRUCE POWER WAS PRIVATIZED

THESE ARE SOME OF THE HIGHEST PAID WORKERS IN CALIFORNIA IBEW IS A TRADES UNION OFTEN IN THE BOSSES POCKET FOR WORK

Mark Chediak, Bloomberg•February 18, 2020

(Bloomberg) -- PG&E Corp.’s biggest union is pushing back against Bernie Sanders’ criticism of the embattled California power company, claiming the senator and presidential candidate supports a $100 billion state takeover of the utility.

The campaign by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1245 follows a new Sanders ad in California last week that blasted PG&E for sparking the deadly wildfires that pushed it into bankruptcy last year.

Sanders’ video, which comes as the state gears up for its March 3 primary, includes comments from fire victims and local activists who suggest that PG&E customers would be better served if the utility was in public hands. An online petition funded by his campaign also calls for a public takeover of the utility.

In local newspaper ads slated to run Tuesday, the union describes a state seizure of PG&E a “bird-brained idea” that would lead to higher energy rates and wouldn’t guarantee that PG&E operates in a safer manner

“Senator Sanders, you are just plain wrong on this,” Tom Dalzell, business manager for the union, says in a video ad posted Tuesday. “Publicly-owned utilities are capable of greatness. But they are also capable of bad management and bad luck, just the same as investor-owned utilities.”

IBEW Local 1245, which represents 12,000 PG&E workers, says in its video that a public takeover would threaten union pensions, be expensive for the state and expose it to future wildfire liabilities. The union estimates that turning PG&E into a government-run utility would cost $100 billion.

No Magic Words

Sanders’ campaign shot back, saying “greed and corruption” at PG&E have led to the neglect of California’s power grid.

“We cannot keep letting corporate profits stand in the way of safety and action on climate change,” Josh Orton, Sanders’ National Policy Director, said in a statement. “Bernie has a plan to transition to renewable energy and create millions of good-paying union jobs.”

The IBEW local, which also represents members of government-owned power companies in Northern California, has been vocal in its opposition to public ownership of PG&E. Some of its members staged a protest recently in San Francisco when a state lawmaker introduced of a bill that would turn PG&E into a government-run utility. The union has also opposed a move by San Francisco to buy out PG&E’s power network within the city.

“This isn’t Cinderella,” Dalzell says in the video. “There are no magic words that would change the fact that PG&E operates in high fire-risk areas at a time of serious climate change.”

(Disclaimer: Michael Bloomberg is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. He is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News).

Mexican women protest after seven-year-old's murder
AFP•February 18, 2020


People lay white balloons and flowers at the site where the body of a seven-year-old girl was found over the weekend with signs of torture in Mexico City (AFP Photo/Pedro PARDO)More


Mexico City (AFP) - Dozens of women protested outside the presidential residence in Mexico City on Tuesday following the murder of a seven-year-old girl -- a crime that sparked an uproar in the violence-wracked country.

The child's body, which showed signs of torture, was found in the capital on Saturday. Since then there have been protests at her school, at her funeral on Monday and on social media.

Dressed in black and many with their faces covered, the protesters demanded an end to impunity and violence against women.

"Femicide is a state crime," protesters shouted as they demanded that left-wing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador take responsiblity to end violence against women.
-
"Don't be indifferent, they're openly killing women," protesters also yelled.

Later they observed a minute's silence, fists in the air, in memory of the dead seven-year-old.

Lopez Obrador has defended authorities' response to this latest murder.

"We're taking care of the causes" of violence, he said in his morning press conference.

Asked by journalists, Lopez Obrador said he wouldn't be against creating a special prosecutor's office to deal with femicide.

"I think it's a really good idea, as is everything that delivers peace and tranquility," he said.

The child had been reported missing on February 11 and her body was found in the southeast of the capital on Saturday.

The local prosecutor's office on Monday offered a two million pesos ($107,000) reward for information leading to the identification of her kidnappers and killers.

It said the mother had gone to pick up her daughter from school but didn't find her and began a search.

Video footage has since emerged appearing to show the girl being held by the hand of another woman and walking in the street on the day she disappeared.

Mexico recorded more than 1,000 femicide victims in 2019, according to official figures, although experts believe the true figure may be much higher due to difficulties in registering murders as femicide.

ANOTHER TIN POT DICTATOR

Salvadoran president sends more soldiers to fight crime after standoff with lawmakers

By Nelson Renteria, Reuters•February 18, 2020


FILE PHOTO: Supporters of Salvadoran President Nayib 

Bukele protest outside the national congress in San SalvadorMore

By Nelson Renteria

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele deployed hundreds of soldiers on Tuesday to fight gangs, days after facing criticism for barging into Congress with the army to pressure lawmakers over his security plan.

The 1,400 soldiers will join about 8,600 already battling crime, an increase of about 16%.

In recent weeks, Bukele, who took office in June, has urged lawmakers to agree to a $109 million loan to help equip police and soldiers in the fight against crime in a nation racked by gang violence. He continued his push on Tuesday, delivering a fiery speech before hundreds of soldiers, complaining that legislators were delaying approval of the funds and accusing them of supporting criminals.
"These are difficult days in which you have decided to support and protect the Salvadoran people, days in which we know that most politicians are protecting criminals, days in which we know that deputies and former ministers financed the criminals that you are going to have to pursue and capture," Bukele said.

Bukele has faced criticism for his brief occupation of the National Assembly on Feb. 9, when he sat in the seat reserved for the president of Congress and cupped his hands together to pray as soldiers in full battle uniform looked on.

"Lawmakers are scandalized when they see a soldier, but they were not scandalized when gang members entered the Legislative Assembly to negotiate the lives of Salvadorans," Bukele said.

El Salvador’s murder rate has plunged since Bukele took office, but remains high.

Salvadoran soldiers have worked in security since the 1990's, though the practice is frowned on by human rights groups.

Medicare for All Would Save $450 Billion and 68,000 Lives: Study


Michael Rainey, The Fiscal Times•February 18, 2020

NOT MOTHER JONES, NOT THE NATION, BUT THE FISCAL TIMES THE BUSINESS PRESS

Bernie Sanders’ Medicare-for-All plan would save the country about $450 billion a year on total health care spending while preventing nearly 70,000 deaths, according to a study published over the weekend in The Lancet.

In the analysis, a team of epidemiologists led by Alison P. Galvani of the Yale School of Public Health applied the provisions of Sanders’ plan to real-world spending in the U.S. in 2017. They concluded that Medicare for All would have cost just over $3 trillion that year, or $458 billion less than the actual total. The analysis found that per capita costs would decline, resulting in lower costs overall, even with millions more people covered. And providing universal coverage would save 68,531 lives per year, the researchers.

Here are some key details and assumptions from the study:

A new analysis: Previous estimates of the cost of Medicare for All have reached significantly different conclusions, ranging from a roughly 16% increase over current national health-care spending levels to a 27% decrease. This latest study relies on a new analytical tool to measure the impact of different provisions within Medicare for All as applied to real-world data (you can review and adjust the parameters of the analysis in the Single-Payer Healthcare Interactive Financing Tool).


Big savings with a single-payer system: The researchers found that the proposed system would reduce total health-care expenditures by about 13% based on 2017 spending levels. Savings would come from a variety of sources. Here are some of the major savings the researchers found with Medicare for All, based on the 2017 total health care expenditure of nearly $3.5 trillion:

Reducing pharmaceutical prices via negotiation: $219 billion

Improving fraud detection: $191 billion

Reducing reimbursement rates for hospitals, physician, and clinical services: $188 billion

Reducing overhead: $102 billion

Eliminating uncompensated hospitalization fees: $78 billion in savings.

Revenues: The Sanders proposal would impose new taxes while reducing the overall cost burden on both businesses and households. The revenues look like this, according to the analysis:

Payroll tax: A 10% tax on employers would raise $436 billion. By comparison, employers currently pay $536 billion on insurance premiums, the equivalent of a 12.3% tax rate.

Household income tax: At the individual level, households would pay a 5% income tax above the standard deduction, yielding $375 billion per year. By comparison, households currently pay about $738 billion on premiums and service fees.

Wealth tax: A new tax on net worth over $21 million would produce about $109 billion a year.

The bottom line: There are some methodological questions about the analysis, and the politics of transitioning to a single-payer system remain as complicated as ever. You might hear Sanders talk up this study during a debate or on the campaign trail, but it will likely do little to change minds in the debate.

India's use of facial recognition tech during protests causes stir

By Alexandra Ulmer and Zeba Siddiqui, Reuters•February 17, 2020

MUMBAI/NEW DELHI, India (Reuters) - When artist Rachita Taneja heads out to protest in New Delhi, she covers her face with a pollution mask, a hoodie or a scarf to reduce the risk of being identified by police facial recognition software.

Police in the Indian capital and the northern state of Uttar Pradesh - both hotbeds of dissent - have used the technology during protests that have raged since mid-December against a new citizenship law that critics say marginalises Muslims.

Activists are worried about insufficient regulation around the new technology, amid what they say is a crackdown on dissent under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose Hindu nationalist agenda has gathered pace since his re-election in May.

"I do not know what they are going to do with my data," said Taneja, 28, who created a popular online cartoon about cheap ways for protesters to hide their faces. "We need to protect ourselves, given how this government cracks down."

Critics also accuse authorities of secrecy - highlighting, for instance, that the software's use during Delhi protests was first revealed by the Indian Express newspaper.

India's home ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment on facial recognition technology.

Modi's government has rejected accusations of abuse during demonstrations, and accused some protesters of stoking violence.

A spokesman for his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party had no immediate comment on concerns over the use of the technology and referred questions to the government.

But police said worries about facial recognition were unwarranted.

"I'm only catching targeted people," said Rajan Bhagat, a deputy commissioner of police at Delhi's Crime Records Office. "We don't have any protesters' data, nor do we plan to store it."

He declined to give details of potential arrests, however.

When it comes to surveillance, India trails far behind neighboring China. New Delhi, for example, has about 0.9 CCTV cameras for every 100 people, versus about 11.3 per 100 in China's commercial hub of Shanghai, a 2019 report by PreciseSecurity.com showed.

The Delhi police use Indian startup Innefu Labs' facial recognition software AI Vision, which also includes gait and body analysis.

"If somebody is throwing stones at a police officer, doesn't he have a right to take a video and identify him?" said Innefu co-founder Tarun Wig, 36.

Police in about 10 Indian states use Innefu products, Wig said.

Financial fraud analytics are among the services provided by Innefu, which published a social media analysis in January that concluded much criticism of the new citizenship law came from archenemy Pakistan to "destabilize the harmony" of India.

The company is representative of homegrown artificial intelligence startups tapping into booming demand for facial biometrics in India, in part thanks to their testing on Indian faces and more affordable prices.

A few established foreign firms, such as Japanese telecommunications and IT giant NEC Corp, also operate in India, where the market is expected to grow from about $700 million in 2018 to more than $4 billion by 2024, TechSci Research said in a report.




UTTAR PRADESH ARRESTS

Facial recognition helped police in Uttar Pradesh, home to 220 million people, detain a "handful" of the more than 1,100 people arrested for alleged links to violence during protests, said O P Singh, its police chief who retired last month.

Singh gave no details but said the technology helped cut the numbers of wrongful arrests and highlighted the state's extensive database of more than 550,000 "criminals".

Rights groups have decried what they call excessive force in Uttar Pradesh, which has the largest number of representatives in parliament and is governed by hardline Hindu priest and Modi ally Yogi Adityanath.

The state says tough policies have restored order.

Startup Staqu is supplying its product, the Police Artificial Intelligence System, to police in eight states, including Uttar Pradesh, says the firm's co-founder, Atul Rai.

Fears of mass surveillance in India were exaggerated, said Rai, 30, citing difficulties in collecting information because of India's large population of 1.3 billion. But there was a need for regulation to avoid potential problems, he added.

Police should have clear rules on use of facial recognition technology and there should be disclosure of the software's audits and algorithms, the non-profit Internet Freedom Foundation says.

"What India is seeing is a kind of personal data Wild West," said its executive director Apar Gupta.


PAN-INDIA FACIAL RECOGNITION

Law enforcement across India could soon be using facial recognition technology.

Modi's government is seeking bids to create a nationwide database, the National Automated Facial Recognition System, to help match images captured from CCTV cameras with existing databases, including those of passport and police authorities.

A foreign firm is expected to win the contract, since the bid terms require firms' algorithms to be evaluated by the United States' National Institute of Standards and Technology. Both Innefu and Staqu said they were not bidding.

Japanese firm NEC's India subsidiary helped develop the Aadhaar biometrics identity system and supplies facial recognition technology to law enforcement in the diamond industry hub of Surat in western Gujarat state.

The software has not been used during protests, however, the city's police commissioner, R B Brahmbhatt, told Reuters.

NEC spokesman Shinya Hashizume declined to comment on whether the company was bidding to build the nationwide database.

The system will boost police efficiency, says the National Crime Records Bureau, which launched the tender that closes at the end of March.

But critics say it puts India on the path to China-style mass surveillance.

Worried about being identified, a 21-year-old Muslim protester in New Delhi has adopted the pseudonym Moosa Ali and sometimes covers his face with handkerchiefs.

"We don't know enough about these things, but we are trying to take some precautions," he said.

---30---

(Additional reporting by Saurabh Sharma in Lucknow, Derek Francis in Bengaluru, and Sumit Khanna in Ahmedabad; Writing by Alexandra Ulmer; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

Sanders Campaign Manager Slams MSNBC, Says Fox News Is ‘More Fair’ 

THAT IS CERTAINLY TRUE OF MORNING JOE AND CHRIS MATTHEWS, TODD, RACHEL, LAWRENCE, AM JOY, ETC. IN FACT THEY ALL SOUND LIKE THE TALKING HEADS ON CNBC

BUT NOT ALI VELSHI

 Tobias Hoonhout, National Review•February 18, 2020

THERE IS JOY IN THE RIGHT WING NEO CON UNIVERSE

 OF NATIONAL REVIEW


Bernie Sanders’s campaign manager, Faiz Shakir, has accused MSNBC of employing “double standard” in its coverage of the Vermont senator, claiming in an interview published Tuesday that Fox News is “more fair” in critiquing Sanders’s progressive platform.

“That’s saying something,” Shakir told Vanity Fair. “Fox is often yelling about Bernie Sanders’s socialism, but they’re still giving our campaign the opportunity to make our case in a fair manner, unlike MSNBC, which has credibility with the left and is constantly undermining the Bernie Sanders campaign.”

He added that MSNBC regularly criticizes Sanders’s base with “disdain.”

“It’s a condescending attitude: ‘Oh, they must not be that intelligent. They’re being deluded. They’re being conned. They’re all crazy Twitter bots,’” Shakir said. “My view is that there’s a bit of detachment from MSNBC and the people who this campaign gets support from. It feels like they’re covering progressives from an elitist perspective.”Following the Iowa caucuses earlier this month, MSNBC contributor James Carville warned that Sanders, if nominated, would fare no better than the U.K.’s Labour Party’s Jeremy Corbyn, who was crushed in a December election by Boris Johnson.

“We’re talking about people voting from jail cells, we’re talking about not having a border. . . . I don’t want the Democratic Party in the United States to be the Labour Party of the United Kingdom. And I think there’s some danger of that happening,” the former Bill Clinton strategist said. He later argued to Vox that Sanders has “never been a Democrat,” and is instead “an ideologue.”

Russian intelligence agents reportedly went to Ireland to inspect undersea cables, and it's reigniting fears they could cut them and take entire countries offline


Business Insider•February 17, 2020

Ireland cable map

Submarine Cable Map


Russian agents have been sent to Ireland to inspect its undersea cables, and it's sparking fears they could be tapped or cut in the future, according to The Sunday Times citing Irish police.


Irish security services suspect that Russia's intelligence agency, the GRU, is using their country as a base to gather intelligence on targets in the EU and UK, The Sunday Times reported.


The large number of tech companies that are based in Dublin could be another reason for Russia's suspected monitoring, an expert on transnational crime and Russian security told the newspaper.


There have been longstanding fears that Russian spies could cut transatlantic undersea cables to disrupt communications and financial transactions, and take entire countries offline.


Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Russian intelligence agents have been sent to Ireland to make the precise locations of undersea cables connecting Europe to North America, and it's raising fears that they plan to tap or even cut them, The Sunday Times reported.

Irish security services believe that the agents were sent by Russia's foreign intelligence agency, the GRU, and are checking the fiber-optic cables for weak points, The Times also reported, citing police and military sources.

They were also seen monitoring Dublin Port, which prompted the country to ramp up security at a number of landing sites along the Irish coast, The Times reported. It's unclear where else the agents have been seen.
- ADVERTISEMENT -


The vast network of transatlantic cables that run under the world's oceans power the internet, texts, calls, and global financial transactions. About 97% of all intercontinental data is transferred through these cables, according to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

Ireland is an ideal location for these undersea maps, given its proximity to North America and Europe. In 2015, Irish telecommunications company Aqua Comms set up a $300 million cable to connect the US to Dublin, and on to London and European continent, the Irish Examiner reported.

A map showing undersea cables around the world.

Submarine Cable Map

Irish police and military sources suspect the GRU is using Ireland as an operations base to gather intelligence on targets in the EU and the UK, The Times said.

Another reason for the Russians' presence could be Dublin's place as one of Europe's largest tech hubs, as authorities suspect the agents could also be spying on large tech companies, according to The Times. Google, Airbnb, Facebook, and Twitter all have headquarters in the city.

The country also presents itself as an ideal target to the Russians, Mark Galeotti, an expert on transnational crime and Russian security at the Royal United Service Institute think tank, told The Times.

"Ireland doesn't have a counter-intelligence capability. It's a relatively soft target. Ireland is a major node for the global internet. It has a large concentration of tech companies," he said. "This is the new battle space of the future."
A photo of Google's Dublin headquarters in 2013.

Peter Würmli, Camenzind Evolution

News of the Russian agents' arrival in Ireland has prompted concerns that Russia might ramp up its information warfare by cutting or tampering with the cables, which could disrupt global financial transactions or even take entire countries offline.

John Sipher, a retired CIA officer, in Moscow, told The Times that there is a high chance the agents are either spying or planning to cut communications.

"They also may wish to show their capability in order to threaten the West," he told the British newspaper. "Our FBI has caught Russians trying to gain access to underwater cables, including the areas where they come into land."

"They are also seeking to gain physical access to routers and communication nodes," Sipher added.

Undersea cables connecting the US to the rest of the world. Screenshot taken in 2018.

TeleGeography

Western countries have long feared that Russia could cut undersea cables and interfere with the global economy and way of life.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Stuart Peach, the UK's most senior military officer, said in December 2017: "There is a new risk to our way of life, which is the vulnerability of the cables that criss-cross the seabeds."

"Can you imagine a scenario where those cables are cut or disrupted, which would immediately and potentially catastrophically affect both our economy and other ways of living?"

Russian ships were seen in 2018 in the vicinity of vital undersea fiber-optic cables, sparking further speculation that the Kremlin was finding a new way to spy.
What are undersea internet cables?

More than 300 undersea cables, which run a total of 550,000 miles, keep the internet running around the world.

Most lines are owned by private telecommunications companies, including tech companies like Google and Microsoft. Their locations, which have been built up over the decades, can be easily identified on public maps.

Despite their importance, little is being done to guard and protect these deep-sea cables.

Cybersecurity experts told Business Insider's Jim Edwards in 2018 that it's only "a matter of time" before hackers can access these cables and entire countries can be taken offline.


Read more:


Scientists found a new earthquake fault system underwater near the California coast, thanks to a 32-mile network of deep-sea cables


Fiber optic wires, servers, and more than 550,000 miles of underwater cables: Here's what the internet actually looks like


34 billion devices will be connected to the internet by 2020

Trump commutes ex-Illinois governor's sentence

President Trump said he has commuted the 14-year prison sentence of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, who was convicted of political corruption. 

Appeared on 'Celebrity Apprentice' »

SHE JOINS IVANKA
Paris Hilton said she had a 'wonderful' time visiting Saudi Arabia, which other celebrities have been shunning for its human rights record

acollman@businessinsider.com (Ashley Collman),INSIDER•

February 18, 2020

Paris Hilton speaks at a conference in the United Arab Emirates on February 12.

Al Arabiya English

Paris Hilton spoke about her first visit to Saudi Arabia during an interview at a conference in the United Arab Emirates last week.

The American hotel heiress said "everybody was so sweet and welcoming" and that she had "a wonderful time."

Hilton's comments come at a time when other celebrities have been distancing themselves from the Kingdom over its dire human rights record.

In a time when celebrities have been trying to distance themselves from Saudi Arabia over its human rights record, Paris Hilton is embracing the kingdom.

On Wednesday, the hotel heiress spoke about her recent first trip to Saudi Arabia during an interview at a conference in the United Arab Emirates.

"Everybody was so sweet and welcoming," Hilton told Al Arabiya English. "I had a wonderful time. I thought it was beautiful and very lovely people."

Saudi Arabia is one of the most conservative religious countries in the world, yet maintains close business relations with the West.

In recent years, Paris Hilton has become a DJ.

 She's pictured here DJing at the Super Bowl in Miami 

on February 2, 2020.
Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for MCM

In recent years, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman has pledged to modernize the country and relax some of its social norms, including allowing women to drive.

But many have grown skeptical that the crown prince will bring change, especially in light of the assassination of critic Jamal Khashoggi. Last year, the CIA released a report concluding that MBS ordered Khashoggi's murder.

Hilton's words of love for Saudi Arabia come less than a year after Nicki Minaj pulled out of the Jeddah World Fest music festival after learning about the country's treatment of women and the LGBTQ community.

"While I want nothing more than to bring my show to fans in Saudi Arabia, after better educating myself on the issues, I believe it is important for me to make clear my support for the rights of women, the LGBTQ community and freedom of expression," Minaj said in a statement.

Several WWE stars also pulled out of the WWE Crown Jewel wrestling event in Riyadh in November 2018, over Khashoggi's death.

Hilton found herself in hot water in the kingdom about eight years ago, when she opened a handbag store in the holy city of Mecca. Many Saudis took to social media to express their opinion that it was inappropriate for her to have a store in the city where non-Muslims are not welcome. It was Hilton's fifth store in the country.

Hilton became a household name in the the early aughts for her reality show "The Simple Life." In recent years she has become a DJ. She is the great-granddaughter of Conrad Hilton, the founder of the Hilton Hotels chain.

Ivanka Trump lauds Saudi, UAE on women's rights reforms

AYA BATRAWY, Associated Press•February 16, 2020

Ivanka Trump praises Saudi Arabia, UAE on women's rights reforms

“significant reforms” to advance women’s rights, while speaking at a gathering of women entrepreneurs and regional leaders in Dubai

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Ivanka Trump lauded Sunday a handful of Mideast countries, including close U.S. allies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, for embarking on “significant reforms” to advance women's rights, while speaking at a gathering of women entrepreneurs and regional leaders in Dubai.

The daughter of U.S. President Donald Trump was delivering the keynote address at the two-day Global Women’s Forum held in an opulent resort overlooking the city's Persian Gulf coastline.

“We know that when women are free to succeed, families thrive, communities flourish and nations are stronger,” Trump said.

Her comments throughout the speech drew applause, particularly when she praised Saudi Arabia. Despite reforms there, women’s rights activists and other campaigners are imprisoned and facing trial on vague charges related to national security.

The theme of the forum in Dubai was “The Power of Influence.” It was an apt theme for Trump, whose loyalty and support for her father's presidency saw her and her husband, Jared Kushner, take up formal roles in the White House as his advisers.

The 38-year-old mother of three has positioned herself as an Oval Office confidante while spearheading initiatives that broadly back women's empowerment. Her husband has become a top adviser on U.S. Mideast policy.

Once the owner of an eponymous fashion line, Ivanka Trump has wielded her proximity to the president to promote policies affecting women and deliver speeches around the world about women's economic empowerment. She meets with world leaders as a key White House official. Some of her efforts even have some bipartisan support in Washington, standing in sharp contrast to the level of controversy and political division surrounding her father's presidency.

In her keynote speech at the women's forum in Dubai on Sunday, Trump touted what she said was the progress of women in the United States.

“Today, American women are leading in every aspect of society. Last year, there were more women than men in the United States workforce, with women securing over 70% of new jobs,” she said in her address.

Trump made no mention, however, of legislative obstacles in the U.S. around paid family leave, which she and the U.S president support. Currently, just a few U.S. states offer paid leave.

During her speech in Dubai, Trump congratulated Saudi Arabia for recent changes in the law that allow women to travel abroad and obtain a passport without the permission of a male relative. In 2018, a ban on women driving cars was lifted. The changes are part of a wide-ranging push to transform the Saudi economy, attract greater foreign investment and ease international criticism.

Trump pointed to changes in other Mideast countries, as well. She said Bahrain had introduced legislation against discrimination in the workplace; Jordan had eliminated legal restrictions on women's ability to work at night; Morocco had expanded women's land rights; and Tunisia had introduced laws to combat domestic violence.

She said, though, more work needed to be done. She noted that across the region, women on average still have only half the legal rights of men.

The audience for her speech in the UAE included Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Crown Prince Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, World Bank President David Malpass and International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva.

The Dubai ruler is wildly popular at home and is seen as a modernizing force. He has, however, faced some criticism abroad concerning women's rights following reports that one of his daughters tried to flee the country and was forcibly returned. In previous years, Jordanian Princess Haya, with whom Sheikh Mohammed has two children, would have attended a forum of this kind by his side, but she too has reportedly fled the country and is seeking custody of their children in a British court.

The UAE and Saudi Arabia have worked to cultivate close ties with the Trump administration and were early supporters of the Women's Empowerment Fund, a World Bank initiative to help female entrepreneurs that Ivanka Trump strongly backs. During the first trip abroad of her father's presidency to Saudi Arabia, the two Gulf countries pledged $100 million to the fund.

In her speech at Sunday's forum, Trump commended Emirati leaders for “removing barriers to women joining the workforce and developing a national strategy that recognizes that women are central to sustainable growth.”

She noted that although 70% of Emirati university graduates are women, only 10% of the UAE's total national income is derived from women.

“We know that this going to grow and flourish in the years ahead,” she said.

During her two-day visit to the UAE, Trump met with women entrepreneurs and discussed a U.S. government project she's leading that's aimed at helping women in developing countries. The Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative was launched last year with backing by her father.

On Saturday, she toured Abu Dhabi's grand mosque, visited Abu Dhabi's branch of the Louvre Museum, and met privately with the country's day-to-day ruler, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed.

Yemen rebels: Death toll from strikes at 35, mostly children

AHMED AL-HAJ, Associated Press•February 18, 2020

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — At least three dozen people, including 26 children and six women, were killed in airstrikes by Saudi-led forces in Yemen over the weekend, Yemen's Houthi rebels said, raising the death toll.

The Iranian-backed rebels have said the Saudi-led coalition carried out retaliatory airstrikes early on Saturday in the mountainous northern province of Jawf, after their fighters shot down a coalition warplane there the previous day.

The coalition said it was investigating “possible collateral damage” following an operation to rescue the Tornado fighter jet's two-man crew. It said that the whereabouts of the two pilots remains unknown.

The Saudi-led coalition of mostly Arab states has been fighting the rebels since early 2015, wehn it intervened to restore the collapsing authority of the internationally recognized government headed by Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.

A statement by the Houthi-run health ministry on Monday said the airstrikes hit civilian houses in al-Maslub district. The attack killed at least 35 people and wounded 23 others, including 18 children and a women.

The Saudi-led coalition has said some of the injured have been transported to Saudi Arabia for medical treatment.

Local residents said the coalition was targeting Houthi fighters, who had taken cover in a residential area near the crash site.

At least three houses were destroyed in the coalition airstrikes, killing all people inside, they said.

The Associated Press could not confirm if there were Houthi fighters among the casualties. The local residents spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

Col. Turki al-Maliki, a spokesman for the coalition, said Saturday that the pilots managed to eject safely before the crash. He said the Houthi rebels were responsible for the pilots' “life and safety.”

The weekend crash and airstrikes came amid heavy clashes between Yemeni government forces and Houthis in the provinces of Marib, Jawf and Sanaa. Hundreds of people, mostly fighters, were killed in the recent clashes that have also forced at least 4,700 families to flee, according to the U.N.

In a relentless campaign, Saudi-led airstrikes have hit schools, hospitals and wedding parties and killed thousands of Yemeni civilians. The Houthis have used drones and missiles to attack Saudi Arabia.

The war has killed over 100,000 people, including fighters and civilians, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project, which tracks violence reports in Yemen. The war also created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, leaving millions suffering from food and medical shortages.

Houthis accuse Saudi-coalition of killing civilians