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  • Trump bickers with most sensible Democrats over border wall investment

    The clock is ticking…

    Analysis through Anthony Zurcher, BBC Washington

    Donald Trump opened his press event with Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer with a feel-good embrace of bipartisanship.

    It did not last long.

    The two Democrats and the president sparred over funding for the Mr Trump’s proposed border wall. It appeared for a moment as though they could agree on investment for “border security” – but that linguistic pirouette disappeared underneath an onslaught of acrimony.

    The president needs his wall investment. He campaigned on it. He promised it. and even regardless that Mexico is not going to pay for it, he wants it now.

    Democrats, at the other hand, are loath to present him this victory. What Is more, they are intent on having the blame for any govt shutdown directed only at the president.

    In the tip Mr Trump gave the Democrats what they wanted. He said he might shut down the government if “we don’t get what we would like”. He could be “proud” to do it.

    Democrats will attempt to make the president remorseful about the ones words. Mr Trump, at the different hand, thinks the general public – or no less than his base – is with him on this fight.

    If neither aspect blinks, we’re going to know who is right in a couple of weeks.

    After the meeting, Democrat Chuck Schumer condemned Mr Trump’s “temper tantrum” within the White Area Oval Office.

    Nancy Pelosi, who’s expected to transform Speaker of the house when Democrats take over the chamber subsequent month, mocked Mr Trump’s “Christmas provide” to the yankee other folks as she spoke out of doors the White House.

    Symbol copyright Getty Images

    What occurs if no deal is reached?

    If lawmakers cannot agree on a federal budget, kind of 1 / 4 of the federal govt will start to close down on 21 December.

    According to the Washington Publish, nearly SIX HUNDRED,000 executive workers might be pressured to stay house as a couple of executive products and services transform unavailable.

    Congressional Republicans have demanded $5bn to construct a southern border wall – a key marketing campaign promise of Mr Trump.

    On Tuesday, two participants of the extremely-conservative Space Freedom Caucus wrote in a Fox News op-ed that they might no longer vote in favour of the spending bill except it contains their asked price range.

    (more…)

  • Egypt restricts sales of yellow vests to prevent protests

    Yellow vest protesters in The Hague, the Netherlands Image copyright EPA Image caption Demonstrators in Belgium and the Netherlands have additionally adopted the yellow vest

    Egypt has limited the sale of yellow vests sooner than the anniversary of the 2011 rebellion, to forestall demonstrators copying French protesters.

    Safety equipment dealers can simplest promote the vests wholesale to confirmed companies that experience won police approval, shops mentioned.

    Officers have requested shopkeepers to record any individual looking to buy the clothing.

    French protesters donned the vests in anti-government demonstrations.

    Originally objecting to a proposed gas tax upward push, protesters soon mirrored a much wider discontent approximately President Emmanuel Macron’s economic insurance policies.

    Image copyright AFP/Getty Symbol caption All French drivers must legally elevate the vests in their vehicles, top demonstrators to put on them to protest towards a proposed gasoline tax rise

    Egyptian state media has stressed out the violence of the French movement to scare any potential copycat demonstrators.

    The revolution that toppled former chief Hosni Mubarak began on 25 January 2011, and authorities concern protesters may try to mark the date as they have in earlier years.

    Egypt tightens keep an eye on over web use Paying the fee for in the hunt for freedom in Egypt

    One man, Mohamed Ramadan, has been detained for 15 days and accused with disrupting public order and possessing yellow vests after making gentle of the restrictions in a Facebook put up, his lawyer mentioned.

    Meanwhile, some shopkeepers have been made to signal a paper promising to not sell the clothing.

    The sale restrictions can be in force until the tip of January.

    Image copyright Getty Pictures Image caption President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has been accused of trying to crush all political dissent in Egypt

    President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi used to be sworn into office for a second term in June, vowing to forestall “violence, terrorism and extremism”.

    But human rights teams have accused him of trying to crush all political dissent in Egypt.

  • Brazil capturing: Five useless as gunman opens hearth in cathedral

    Map

    A gunman entered a Catholic cathedral near Brazil’s most populous town, São Paulo, killing 5 people, police say.

    A Mass was once being held while the attacker, carrying weapons, entered the Metropolitan Cathedral within the city of Campinas and opened fire.

    The army police confirmed to the BBC that the loss of life toll had risen from four to 5. Four aged other people had been additionally significantly wounded.

    The attacker killed himself in the church. His purpose isn’t yet recognized.

    “It was frightful,” witness Alexandre Moraes informed Brazil’s GloboNews channel. “He entered and shot randomly at other people. They have been all praying.”

    Campinas is an business city a few 100km (SIXTY TWO miles) north-west of Sao Paulo.

  • Zomato India driver sacked after eating customer’s takeaway

    Male Zomato delivery driver eating food from a takeaway container. Image copyright @Madan_Chikna Symbol caption The Zomato delivery motive force was filmed consuming food from his delivery bag

    Takeaway supply firm Zomato has apologised after certainly one of its drivers was once filmed consuming a client’s food and resealing the boxes in India.

    The video, which used to be filmed in Madurai in southern India, shows a person wearing a Zomato shirt sitting on a moped eating food out of boxed orders then resealing them and putting them back into a supply bag.

    The video has been seen heaps of times on social media.

    Zomato mentioned it has a “0 tolerance coverage” in opposition to meals tampering and has sacked the supply guy in query.

    Skip Twitter submit by way of @Madan_Chikna

    That Is what happens when you use coupon codes all the time. 😂 Watch until finish. pic.twitter.com/KG5y9wUoNk

    — Godman Chikna (@Madan_Chikna) December 10, 2018

    Record

    Finish of Twitter submit by means of @Madan_Chikna

    In a press release Zomato stated that the video shows the person was once consuming meals meant for purchasers.

    the company said: “we have spoken to him at period and whilst we needless to say this was a human blunders in judgement, we now have taken him off our platform.”

    Skip Twitter post by @ZomatoIN

    We take meals tampering very seriously.

    For extra main points: https://t.co/cHuLX1Bs4n

    — Zomato India (@ZomatoIN) December 10, 2018

    File

    End of Twitter post by way of @ZomatoIN

    Zomato additionally say they’re going to quickly introduce “tamper-proof tapes” and “educate their supply fleet” as an extra precaution towards meals tampering.

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    By Way Of Kris Bramwell, BBC UGC and social information crew

  • Huawei: The lifetime of Chinese Language tech heiress Meng Wanzhou

    Meng Wanzhou, Huawei Technologies Co Ltd Image copyright Reuters Symbol caption Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Vancouver on 1 December

    A high-flying Chinese Language government has been stuck in the centre of a growing geo-political dispute between two of the international’s largest economies.

    Meng Wanzhou is the manager monetary officer of Huawei and the elder daughter of the telecom giant’s founder.

    She was once arrested in Canada final week for allegedly breaking US sanctions on Iran and faces extradition to the us.

    China and Huawei insist that she has now not broken any regulations but she could be jailed for up to 30 years if discovered guilty.

    So who’s she?

    Ms Meng, also referred to as Sabrina Meng and Cathy Meng, has risen up the ranks of Huawei, China’s biggest non-public corporate.

    Image copyright Reuters Symbol caption Ms Meng has met international leaders like Russia’s Vladimir Putin in 2014

    Ms Meng’s links to her father, billionaire Ren Zhengfei, weren’t known to the general public till a few years ago.

    At the age of SIXTEEN, in a tradition extremely abnormal in Chinese Language tradition, she took the surname of her mom, Meng Jun, who was Mr Ren’s first wife.

    What is she charged with?

    Ms Meng was taken into custody in Vancouver whilst she was changing planes on 1 December.

    Prosecutors say she conspired to defraud banks by way of telling banks a Huawei subsidiary was a separate corporate – thereby helping Huawei keep away from US industry bans.

    Huawei govt faces Iran fraud fees Huawei arrest ‘now not linked’ to industry talks US-China industry battle in 300 phrases

    the us has been investigating the world’s biggest cellphone maker due to the fact 2016, which it believes used a subsidiary to bring US production equipment and hundreds of thousands of bucks in transactions to Iran.

    Ms Meng’s arrest has now sparked an escalating diplomatic incident between China, Canada and the us.

    Life discovered in court

    In documents filed within the Supreme Courtroom of British Columbia, where Ms Meng’s case is being heard, main points have emerged revealing the CFO’s personal existence.

    She is a thyroid cancer survivor who suffers from hypertension and a nap dysfunction, her attorneys mentioned, in need of daily doses of medicine.

    “I proceed to really feel in poor health and i am involved approximately my well being deteriorating whilst i am incarcerated,” she stated in the filing. “I currently have difficulty consuming solid meals and have needed to modify my diet to address the ones problems.”

    Her legal professionals are searching for bail for the mother of 4, who, they say, isn’t a flight chance because of her “sturdy roots” in Vancouver.

    She instructed the court she was once a Canadian resident till 2009, and then she lower back to China.

    Symbol copyright Reuters Image caption Ms Meng and her husband have post properties in Vancouver as collateral for bail

    Alternatively, she bought a six-bedroom space with her 2nd husband in the city and might return often to go to him and her children, a few of whom attended Canadian faculties until 2012.

    That house is now suggested to be worth C$5.6m (£3.3m, $4.2m), in step with belongings information and a sworn statement Ms Meng learn out in court docket.

    In 2016, the couple purchased a second belongings, a mansion price C$SIXTEEN.3m – both properties were publish as collateral for bail.

    Why Vancouver?

    The court docket papers provide an interesting insight into the lifetime of a senior Chinese govt, says BBC World Carrier Asia-Pacific editor Michael Bristow.

    “Vancouver has for a few years been a vacation spot of selection for rich Chinese folks; as a place to reside, train their youngsters, or as an insurance plans in opposition to the uncertainties of lifestyles again in China.

    “Other Folks will likely be intrigued to find out Ms Meng has not one however houses in Vancouver, and wonder at how she was able to grasp seven passports on the related time.”

    How does she have seven passports?

    This continues to be relatively of a mystery.

    According to media stories, the tech boss has at least four Chinese Language passports and 3 Hong Kong passports.

    Skip Twitter post by @China_SCS_info

    “in the prior ELEVEN years, Meng has been issued no fewer than seven different passports from both China and Hong Kong,” a letter from the u.s. Division of Justice to Canada read, claiming she used to be a flight possibility. It also listed the numbers of the seven passports.

    — IndoPacific_SCS_info (@China_SCS_info) December 9, 2018

    Report

    End of Twitter publish via @China_SCS_info

    Chinese laws dictate that if voters wish to get a passport from every other usa or region, they must give up their Chinese Language one.

    Hong Kong immigration officials would not touch upon Ms Meng’s case however said no passport holder would be “in possession of greater than one” at a time.

    According to arrival and departure data of us Customs and Border Coverage, Ms Meng used three other HK passports to enter the us on 33 occasions between 2014 and 2017.

    Her 2d son is claimed to be finding out at a college in Massachusetts but Ms Meng has not been again to the united states because March 2017.

    Canadian police instructed the court docket Huawei executives gave the impression to have “altered their go back and forth plans” to bypass the united states, when you consider that changing into aware of a prison investigation into the corporate in April 2017.

    BBC Monitoring contributed to this report.

  • Google chief denies political bias claims

    Sundar Pichai Image caption Google collects “mountains” of information about users, mentioned US politicians

    Google chief Sundar Pichai has faced accusations of political bias from US politicians.

    Mr Pichai was being quizzed by means of contributors of the home Judiciary Committee in regards to the manner his tech firm runs it industry.

    Google was accused of having “programmed” bias in opposition to conservative views into its algorithms.

    Mr Pichai denied the accusation pronouncing he had “issues” with research that claimed to turn the company’s search effects excluded right-wing views.

    Privacy protection

    Republican committee member Lamar Smith said conservative voices have been being “muted” by means of Google’s seek results.

    “Such actions pose a grave threat to our democratic form of govt,” he said.

    “This does not happen accidentally, it’s baked in to the algorithms.”

    Mr Pichai mentioned impartial research had now not exposed any bias and introduced that his trade used to be “clear” about the means its search results had been generated.

    “We assessment our research and our research effects,” said Mr Pichai.

    “we have now a large number of sources, from each left and right.”

    He delivered that it was once “unattainable” for someone or team of individuals to manipulate its algorithms.

    In response to an extra question approximately perceived bias, he mentioned: “I’m assured we don’t manner our paintings with any political bias.”

    He added: “it is important that we glance at outcomes and determine that there is no evidence of bias.”

    Lawmakers also are anticipated to raise questions on Google’s relationship with China, the information it gathers and the way it deals with proceedings about sexual harassment.

    Mr Pichai were under rising power to testify after he snubbed an earlier listening to called via the Senate Intelligence Committee.

    Executives from Facebook and Twitter attended the September adventure where they confronted difficult questions.

    In a report launched earlier than his testimony, Mr Pichai paid tribute to staff at Google and stated it had worked to “empower folks around the global, particularly within the US”.

    The Congressional consultation comes the day after the search large introduced that it was shutting down its Google+ social network.

    The resolution got here after it discovered a vulnerability that would have exposed knowledge on 52.2 million customers.

  • ISS: Spacewalk cosmonauts look into thriller hole

    Cosmonaut conducts spacewalk outside the ISS. 11 Dec 2018 Image copyright NASA Image caption The 2 cosmonauts will spend approximately six hours outside the ISS

    Russian cosmonauts on the International Area Station (ISS) are embarking on a spacewalk to investigate a mysterious hole that brought about a lack of air force in August.

    The cause of the hole at the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft, docked to the station, has not but been established.

    However, Russian officials have said they think it was as a result of a drill and may have been planned.

    Oleg Kononeko and Sergei Prokopyev will spend approximately six hours at the spacewalk.

    Nasa said that Kononenko will use a knife to cut through insulation and the protective masking of the Soyuz to locate the surface of the outlet. Samples will likely be taken to be despatched again to Earth.

    Image copyright NASA

    Sources quoted in Izvestia newspaper said that if sealant is found on the hull in the course of the house walk then the opening was most definitely led to when the spacecraft used to be on the ground.

    In September, Dmitry Rogozin, the top of Russia’s civilian house company Roscosmos, said that a manufacturing defect was once possible however “planned interference” had not been dominated out.

  • Michael Kovrig: Canadian ex-diplomat ‘held in China’

    Michael Kovrig Symbol copyright World Predicament Staff Symbol caption The Global Crisis Staff says it’s running for Mr Kovrig’s unlock

    A former Canadian diplomat has reportedly been detained in China and his present business enterprise says it is working for his “prompt and protected liberate”.

    The World Concern Team mentioned it used to be “conscious about reports” of Michael Kovrig’s detention.

    Details don’t seem to be yet transparent. the scoop comes days after Canadian authorities arrested a best government of the Chinese Language telecoms giant Huawei in Vancouver.

    it is now not known if there is a link among the two cases.

    Tensions among Canada and China were top over the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s chief financial officer and daughter of its founder, on Saturday 1 December.

    Image copyright Reuters Symbol caption Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Vancouver on 1 December

    China has demanded that Canada unlock of Ms Meng or face results.

    She is scheduled to appear on Tuesday within the Best Court of British Columbia for the third day of her bail hearing.

    Her husband has introduced C$15m ($11m; £9m) – C$1m in cash and the couple’s two houses in Canada – as surety for Ms Meng’s liberate.

    Canadian Crown prosecutors have requested for bail to be denied because they believe the wealthy govt poses a flight chance.

    China’s international ministry additionally insisted on Tuesday that Canada failed to right away notify Beijing immediately about Ms Meng’s arrest, in line with a state media record.

  • Thriller of Germany’s festive gold bar donations

    File picture of gold bars Image copyright Reuters Symbol caption 3 native institutions in the related northern German have gained nameless donations of gold bars

    a bunch of native institutions in a small the town in northern Germany have won nameless donations in gold bars, reviews say.

    A hospice and an animal welfare association in Cuxhaven won gold bars on Saint Nicholas Day on 6 December, and the following day.

    A group self-help staff also won gold bars during the post.

    The bars, which in combination weigh 500g (17oz), are idea to be price about €17,000 (£15,000, $19,000).

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    The bars got here with the same quilt letter on pink paper, pronouncing: “this is a loose donation to name of the association to improve this important task in Cuxhaven. have fun with it and Satisfied Christmas!”

    The episode is harking back to the Braunschweig thriller donations when an anonymous donor gave packets filled with 500-euro notes to local excellent causes from 2011 to 2015.

    Local institutions or folks won nameless cash donations of up to €10,000, and in total greater than €250,000 had been donated, reports say.

    Saint Nicholas was once a 4th-Century bishop who preferred to offer items secretly, resulting in him turning into the style for Father Christmas.

  • Time Magazine Individual of the Yr 2018 honours journalists

    Time covers featuring Jamal Khashoggi and staff from the Capital Gazette Image copyright Time

    Killed and imprisoned newshounds – “The Guardians’” – have been named 2018’s “Individual of the 12 Months” by way of Time.

    Four other Time covers function newshounds from across the world.

    Jamal Khashoggi, who used to be killed within the Saudi embassy in Turkey in advance this yr, appears by myself in a single, even as workforce from the Capital Gazette, The United States newspaper where 5 folks have been killed this year, function in another.

    Pictures of Maria Ressa, Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo seem on the ultimate two.

    Ms Ressa is the editor of Rappler, a Philippine news website online critical of the country’s management, even as Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo have been imprisoned in Myanmar for investigating the massacre of Rohingya Muslims.

    Image copyright Time

    Ultimate year, the magazine named “the Silence Breakers” – ladies and males who spoke out against sexual abuse and harassment – as its “Particular Person of the Yr”.

    This yr’s readers’ ballot chose Korean pop band BTS as their winner, with Planet Earth coming second.

    The magazine’s custom – begun in 1927 as “Guy of the Yr” – recognises the person who “for better or for worse… has performed the most to influence the occasions of the 12 months”.

    The great majority of people selected had been people – but through no approach all. In 2014, “Ebola combatants” were known even as in 2011 “The Protester” said the significance of the so-known as Arab Spring.

    It used to be in 1950, Time explains, that the mag determined groups, as well as folks, could be chosen as “Person of the Yr”.

    “The Yank combating-guy” used to be selected that yr, and was once adopted through the Hungarian other people in 1956 and later on Scientists, Americans underneath 25 and Mr and Mrs Center The Usa.

    In 2006, the person of the Year was once merely “You”, with a reflect duvet design, reflecting the importance of person-generated web content material.