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One of China's Richest Billionaires Has Mysteriously Disappearedposted in General News
One of China's Richest Billionaires Has Mysteriously Disappeared
Rob Wile
Feb 01, 2017
A Chinese magnate with links to members of China's top leadership has reportedly gone missing from his Hong Kong apartment.
Xiao Jianhua had been living in a luxury residence in the Four Seasons Hotel for the past several years — likely to avoid getting swept up in Chinese President Xi Jinping's corruption crackdown, the Financial Times says. A 2014 New York Times article suggested Xiao had gained his wealth through his political connections. Xiao has said his wealth has come through prudent investment.
Xiao owns a series of insurance, real estate, coal and other companies and is said to be worth nearly $6 billion, good enough to be the 32nd wealthiest person in China according to the Hurun wealth list.
What makes the current story mysterious is that, according to the Guardian, Xiao at first denied he had been abducted in two posts on his company’s social-media account — but by Wednesday both had been deleted.
The FT says, "It is common for Chinese businesspeople and others detained by China’s powerful security apparatus to be pressed to release messages through social media, email or via their families insisting that all is fine."
An unknown person subsequently took out a full-page ad on the front of a Hong Kong newspaper to reprint the now deleted statements.
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Benjamin Haas 本雅明
@haasbenjamin
Advert on front page of Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao prints statement claiming to be from Xiao Jianhua, was deleted from company's WeChat
6:46 AM - 1 Feb 2017
8 8 Retweets 5 5 likes
Xiao apparently went to great measures to ensure his security. The FT says Xiao was normally followed everywhere by a group of female bodyguards. Rooms in the Hong Kong Four Seasons’ residential unit cost up to $26,000 per month, the paper says.The incident has international implications. Xiao holds Canadian citizenship, and the Canadian government says it is working with Hong Kong officials to provide assistance.
More substantively, it represents a further challenge to Hong Kong's sovereignty. The incident is similar to the disappearance off the streets of Hong Kong in 2015 of Lee Bo, a bookseller, who turned up in Chinese detention, sparking international outcry. The current situation is likely to heighten fears of Chinese encroachment into the city-state."Mr Xiao’s disappearance will add to fears that Hong Kong is losing its autonomy," the FT says -
Donald Trump lifts sanctions on Russia that were imposed by Obamaposted in General News
The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday eased some economic sanctions against Russia, specifically licensing cyber-security sales to the Russian Federal Security Service, the successor to the KGB, according to official documents.
General License No. 1 by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the Treasury Department covers "all transactions and activities" involving the Federal Security Service, known as the FSB, that were prohibited by earlier executive orders.
It notes in particular that "requesting, receiving, utilizing, paying for, or dealing in licenses, permits, certifications, or notifications issued or registered by the Federal Security Service (FSB) for the importation, distribution, or use of information technology products in the Russian Federation" is allowed.
The initial sanctions, imposed by President Obama in April 2015, were titled "Blocking the Property of Certain Persons Engaging in Significant Malicious Cyber-Enabled Activities." That was further strengthened in December in an order entitled, "Taking Additional Steps to Address the national emergency with Respect to Significant Malicious Cyber-enabled Activities."
President Trump brushed off the reports, saying, "I'm not easing … anything."
At the White House, press secretary Sean Spicer also disputed that the move by Treasury was "easing" sanctions.
“We’re not easing,” he said, adding that, “It is, from what I understand, a regular course of action” that Treasury takes when sanctions are imposed.
“It’s a fairly common practice for the Treasury Department, after sanctions are put in place, to go back and look at whether or not there needs to be specific carve-outs for different, either industries or products and services that need to be going back and forth,” he said.
The Obama administration eased sanctions on Iran as part of a landmark 2015 nuclear agreement, including a ban on the sale of many medical devices. That change affected products used for nuclear medicine purposes that might have uses in an atomic weapons program.
Spicer maintained the change does not represent any shift in policy and referred further questions to the Treasury Department, which did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
In Moscow, Nikolai Kovalyov, former director of the FSB and now a member of the State Duma, tells the Russian news agency Tass that the move signals a thawing of relations between Moscow and Washington.
"This shows that actual joint work on establishing an anti-terrorism coalition is about to begin," he says. "This is the first step on the way leading to cooperation in the war on terror."
"Without easing these sanctions it would have been impossible to take the next step," Kovalyov adds. "These practical actions indicate that U.S. President Donald Trump has been consistent."
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Rep. Eric Swalwell @RepSwalwell
#RussianHacking attacked our democracy. They should pay a price. @POTUS rewards them by rolling back sanctions against their team of hackers
7:59 PM - 2 Feb 2017
269 269 Retweets 232 232 likes
The December sanctions were put in place after Obama charged that the Russians sought to affect U.S. elections via cyber-espionage.Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., ranking member of a House CIA subcommittee, accused the Trump administration of “rewarding” the FSB for tampering with the U.S. elections.
“This is the same group (FSB) that, just a month ago, our intelligence community determined was responsible for the attack on our democracy,” Swalwell told USA TODAY. “We just made it easier for the same group to import into Russia the tools they could use to hack us or our allies again.”
Swalwell said he will explore methods for Congress to enact its own sanctions.
“We have French and German elections coming up, and we just made it easier (for the FSB) to go after them,” he said. “They can sharpen the knives and come after us again.”
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to make a statement on the decision, Russian news agency TASS said in reporting the easing of sanctions,
"First we need to understand what it is all about," Peskov said, according to TASS. "If we turn to the rocket engines matter, we will see that our U.S. counterparts never impose sanctions that could damage their own interests."
The move comes as some members of Congress have proposed adding new sanctions to Russia in connection with the hacking allegations.
Last month, Republican Sens. John McCain and Lindsey Graham pushed for greater sanctions against Russia for trying to influence the U.S. election and said then President-elect Donald Trump was in danger of being in conflict with congressional Republicans if he didn't get tougher on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, said the Trump administration was going to "extreme lengths" to put Russian interests above the United States.
"Allowing U.S. companies to do business with the Russian intelligence service (FSB) rewards Russia for its nefarious behavior and emboldens Putin to act out in the future," said Castro, a member of the House Permament Select Committee on Intelligence.
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Turkey Bans Reporting with Title "Breaking News"posted in General News
Turkey’s Supreme Council of Radio and Television (RTÜK) restricted broadcasting of ‘breaking news’ in Turkish televisions during the state of emergency rule.
According to Birgün daily, officials from RTÜK told TV executives in a meeting on Wednesday that broadcasting of ‘breaking news’ especially with regards to ‘incidents threatening national security,’ such as terror attacks, will be limited.
Giving details on how a ‘breaking new’ to be broadcasted in Turkish news channels, RTÜK officials shared notes with TV executives outlining certain rules and practices to follow.
According to the note, Turkish TV stations will not be allowed to broadcast every footage or information immediately after a terror attack or incident that matters national security. TV channels will also not permitted to give details of perpetrators, victims, locations of the incident and also share views of the witnesses.
Broadcasting on attacks or emergency incidents in ‘brand named cities’, such as İstanbul, İzmir and Antalya, will have further restrictions.
RTÜK note only permits TV channels to broadcast information released by relevant officials and officials ‘assigned by the Prime Minister to report on the incident or to issue a broadcast ban.’
Turkish TV channels are also banned to use ‘breaking news’ caption on screens for hours. News reporters and anchors were also asked to stay away from making statements or comments that could be considered as ‘exaggeration or agitation.’http://turkeypurge.com/breaking-reporting-breaking-news-banned-in-turkey
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Jeremy Corbyn under fire for saying people 'choose to be gay'posted in Gay News
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has been criticised after he said people ‘choose’ to be gay and lesbian.
Speaking at the start of LGBT history month, Mr Corbyn gave a speech in solidarity with people, whatever their sexuality.Deaf woman left ‘stranded’ on train floor despite buying special assistance ticket
However, the wording he used has raised questions.
‘We’re with you, we’re in solidarity with you,’ he said. ‘Your triumphs are our triumphs.
‘Our defence of you is a defence of all of humanity and the right of people to practise the life they want to practise, rather than be criminalised, brutalised and murdered, simply because they chose to be gay, they chose to be lesbian, they were LGBT in any form.’
His comments are made at the end of this video by Pink News, who shot it on Facebook Live last night.Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn talking about how people 'chose to be gay'.
Erm, we didn't choose to be gay, we were born this way. https://t.co/9P9JTjyBwQ
— Michael
(@Taylor_Mikey_) February 2, 2017
Video of the speech on Twitter caused an immediate stir, with Conservative councillor Paul Church describing the comments as ‘retrogressive and offensive’, saying: ‘LGBT+ people do not ‘choose’ who they are.’
One commenter responded: ‘Well intentioned but complete FAIL’ while another said: ‘I think we need a new type of left-wing politics…led by Gen-Ys.’ -
Texas mayor comes out as transgenderposted in Gay News
Eight months after taking office, the mayor of a small town in Texas has come out as transgender.
“As your Mayor I must tell you about something that has been with me since my earliest memories,” New Hope Mayor Jess Herbst wrote in an open letter on the town’s website. “I am Transgender.”
She is believed to be the first openly transgender mayor in Texas, The Texas Observer reported.
Herbst has been documenting her journey on the blog, JessHerbst.com. She told The Huffington Post that the reaction to her news has been overwhelmingly positive.
“I have received emails congratulating me, calling me brave and even one expressing pride in living in a town with a mayor like me,” Herbst said. “I never hoped for more than simple tolerance, the outpouring of support is unprecedented.”
In the open letter to the town, Herbst pointed to the growing number of trans figures in the media, including Olympic gold medalist Caitlyn Jenner and Laverne Cox of “Orange Is The New Black.”
“Society finally has a chance to see and learn about who we are,” she wrote.
Herbst also discussed the support she had received from her family:
“It is gender identity not sexual preference that applies to me. I love my wife, and she loves me, we have no intention of change. My daughters have been adamant supporters of me and are proud to tell people their father is transgender.”
“I live my life as a female now, and I will be performing my duties to the town as such,” Herbst wrote. She also invited constituents to email her and encouraged them to come to town council meetings.New Hope, which has 640 registered voters, is located in one of the state’s most conservative suburban regions, about 40 miles northeast of Dallas.
While the position is traditionally elected, Herbst was selected by the town council last summer after the previous mayor, Johnny Hamm, died while seeking reelection. It was too late to change the ballot, and Hamm won despite being dead.
Herbst, already the town’s mayor pro tem, was then appointed to complete the mayor’s full term.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jess-herbst-texas-transgender-mayor_us_58914f6fe4b0522c7d3e0153
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Wisconsin just quietly removed transgender healthcare for state employeesposted in Gay News
The state on Wednesday halted insurance coverage of gender reassignment surgery for transgender state workers, noting that a federal judge blocked federal rules requiring such coverage.
Covering gender reassignment surgery and related benefits would have cost $100,000 to $250,000 a year in a $1.5 billion program that provides health benefits to about 250,000 state and local government workers and their dependents, a state consultant said. The estimate assumes two to five people would have used the transgender services per year.
Mark Lamkins, spokesman for the state Department of Employee Trust Funds, said the department couldn’t determine Wednesday if any workers or dependents pursued the benefits in January, when they were available. The services had to be deemed medically necessary.
The Group Insurance Board, which oversees the benefits program, decided in July to add coverage of transgender services in 2017, following advice from its attorneys that federal rules from the Affordable Care Act require the coverage.
In August, the state Department of Justice, at Gov. Scott Walker’s request, asked the board to reconsider. It said the board’s decision was based on “unlawful” rules that “improperly reinterpret” Title IX, which covers discrimination on the basis of sex, as applying to gender identity.
With a federal judge in Texas expected to issue an injunction against the federal rules by the end of December in a case Wisconsin joined, the insurance board called an unusual special meeting on the afternoon of Dec. 30 to revisit its July decision.
The judge didn’t rule that day. The board — after meeting for more than three hours in closed session, with dozens of transgender people and supporters waiting outside the meeting room — voted 7-2 to drop the transgender benefits if four contingencies were met.
The contingencies included a court ruling or administrative action that invalidates the federal rules, compliance with state law, renegotiation of insurance contracts that maintain or reduce premium costs for the state and a final DOJ opinion that says dropping the benefits is not a breach of board duties.
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The federal judge, Reed O’Connor of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, issued a nationwide preliminary injunction against the federal rules Dec. 31. It also says the rules shouldn’t apply to termination of pregnancy.DOJ cleared the board of not breaching its duties Jan. 13, according to an ETF memo, dated Jan. 30 and released Tuesday.
The state’s consultant said Jan. 23 that dropping coverage wouldn’t increase program costs, confirming compliance with state law, the ETF memo said. On Tuesday, ETF issued a 2017 contract amendment to health insurance companies telling them to not cover the benefits, effective Feb. 1.
The consultant, Segal Consulting, said male to female surgery costs about $28,000, with an additional $3,600 for hormone therapy, and female to male surgery costs about $56,000, with another $7,200 for hormones. Counseling associated with the surgeries costs about $10,000 a year, Segal said.
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Trump reportedly planning executive order declaring samesex marriage to be wrongposted in Gay News
The Donald Trump administration is preparing to enshrine specific religious beliefs in executive policy—including that premarital sex is wrong, that marriage "is or should be recognised" as between a man and a woman, that life begins at conception and that the words "male and female" refer to "immutable biological sex" assigned at birth.
A leaked document that purports to be a new executive order claims to "respect religious freedom" and appears to reflect conservative Christian and Catholic beliefs. If signed, it will seek to shield people or organisations receiving federal funds that espouse and act on such beliefs, even if they are made in the course of their employment or contract, from punitive government action. It is likely to worry the country's LGBT community, which has fought for protection from discrimination.
The draft order seeks to protect the tax-exempt status of organisations that propound those beliefs, as well as to block "adverse action" against groups that discriminate, on religious grounds, in the provision of adoption and fostering services. White House spokesman Sean Spicer declined to get "ahead of the executive orders that we may or may not issue". "We have nothing on that front now," he added.
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Sally Yates Has Been Nominated For JFK Profile In Courage Awardposted in Politics & Debate
The award, which has been given out each year since 1990, “recognizes a public official (or officials) at the federal, state or local level whose actions demonstrate the qualities of politically courageous leadership in the spirit of Profiles in Courage, President Kennedy’s 1957 Pulitzer prize-winning book, which recounts the stories of eight U.S. Senators who risked their careers by embracing unpopular positions for the greater good.”
Essentially, the award celebrates officials who choose the public interest over partisanship, “who do what is right, rather than what is expedient.”