Month: November 2019

Прототип ракети компанії Ілона Маска SpaceX – Starship Mk1, призначеної для польотів на Марс, вибухнув під час випробувань на полігоні в Техасі. Відео аварії потрапило на записи спостерігачів за тестами.

У SpaceX пояснили інцидент характером випробувань.

«Метою сьогоднішньої роботи було підвищити тиск в системах до максимуму, тому результат не став для нас цілком несподіваним», – заявив представник компанії виданню The Verge.

Після вибуху Ілон Маск повідомив, що компанія відмовиться від цього прототипу і перейде до випробувань нової моделі – Mk3.
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Кожен четвертий європеєць має антисемітські погляди, йдеться в дослідженні базованої у Нью-Йорку Антидифамаційної ліги. В опитуванні взяли участь представники 14 європейських країн.

Згідно з дослідженням, серед цих держав найвищий рівень антисемітизму – у Польщі, де 48% населення має антисемітські погляди. У 2015 році цей показник був на рівні 37%. В Україні рівень антисемітизму зріс з 32% у 2016 році до 46% у 2019-му. Найменше антисемітизму зафіксували у Швеції (4%).

Уявлення про вплив євреїв на бізнес-світ поширене у Східній Європі. Зокрема, 72% українців, 71% угорців, 56% поляків і 50% росіян вважають, що євреї мають занадто багато влади.

У Західній Європі існує думка, що євреї більш лояльні до Ізраїлю, ніж до своєї країни. Кількість людей з такою точкою зору коливається від 32% респондентів у Франції до 62% в Іспанії.

Близько половини німців та австрійців (42% і 44% відповідно) заявили, що іудеї говорять занадто багато про те, що сталося з ними під час Голокосту. У Швеції так вважають 15%, у Британії – 18%.

У 2018 році американський науковий центр Pew Research дослідив ставлення в різних країнах до низки національних меншин. В Україні не готові сприймати євреїв як співгромадян 5% респондентів. Це – найнижчий рівень в регіоні.

 
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Спостереження за мільярдами інтернет-користувачів з боку Facebook і Google створює безпрецедентну загрозу правам людини, заявила правозахисна організація Amnesty International у своєму звіті й закликала технологічні компанії змінити принципи своєї бізнес-моделі.

У дослідженні йдеться, що бізнес-модель Facebook і Google за своєю суттю не відповідає праву на приватність і створює систематичну загрозу низці прав людини, включно з правом на свободу думок та їхнього висловлювання та права на рівність і відсутність дискримінації.

«Google та Facebook домінують у наших сучасних життях, накопичуючи безпрецедентну владу над цифровим світом шляхом збору й монетизації персональних даних мільярдів людей. Їхній прихований контроль над нашими цифровими життями підриває найбільшу суть приватності й визначає виклики для прав людини в нашу еру», – заявив генеральний секретар Amnesty International Кумі Найду.

За його словами, «щоб захистити наші ключові людські цінності в цифрову епоху – гідність, автономність, приватність – потрібно радикально переглянути шлях, яким ідуть компанії Big Tech».

Технічні гіганти пропонують свої сервіси мільярдам користувачів безкоштовно. Натомість люди платять за послуги інтернет-компаній своєю персональною інформацією.

В Amnesty International нагадали про скандал навколо компанії Cambridge Analytica, «який показав, на скільки легко інформацію про людину можуть використати не за призначенням непередбачуваним шляхом з метою маніпуляції ними та впливу». У 2018 році компанію звинувачували у зловживанні особистими даними десятків мільйонів користувачів соціальної мережі Facebook для втручання у вибори президента США на користь Дональда Трампа.
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Досі очільниця міністерства закордонних справ Канади Христя Фріланд, що має українське походження, призначена в новому уряді прем’єр-міністра Джастіна Трюдо віцепрем’єр-міністром.

«Христя Фріланд призначена віцепрем’єром (першим від 2006 року) у новому кабінеті Трюдо, з відповідальністю за міжпровінційні відносини», – написав на сторінці у Twitter експосол України в Канаді Роман Ващук.

Як йдеться на сайті уряду Канади, Христя Фріланд разом із посадою віцепрем’єра буде поєднувати обов’язки міністра міжурядових справ.

Наприкінці жовтня в Канаді відбулися парламентські вибори, на яких перемогу здобула Ліберальна партія прем’єр-міністра Джастіна Трюдо.
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Попри протести в Німеччині та за її межами у Мюнхені в середу відбувся аукціон з продажу речей нацистських часів, який зібрав сотні тисяч євро, зокрема і завдяки продажу циліндра Адольфа Гітлера.

Аукціонний дім Hermann Historica 20 листопада заявив, що циліндр нацистського лідера обійшовся в 50 тисяч євро, хоча це була не найвища ціна, заплачена за предмет на аукціоні.

Покупець заплатив 130 тисяч євро за посріблену копію книжки «Майн Кампф», антисемітського політичного маніфесту Гітлера, яка колись належала нацистові Герману Герінгу.

На продаж також виставили одяг коханки Гітлера Єви Браун та інші предмети, що належали нацистським лідерам Другої світової війни, таким як Генріх Гіммлер і Рудольф Гесс.

Уповноважений уряду Німеччини із боротьби з антисемітизмом Фелікс Кляйн заявив, що такою подією як аукціон речей нацистів їхні злочини подаються як «мізерні».

«Вони поводяться так, ніби торгують абсолютно нормальними історичними об’єктами мистецтва. Але існує небезпека, що нацистські реліквії стануть об’єктами культу для крайніх правих», – сказав Кляйн в інтерв’ю медіагрупі Funke.

Голова Європейської єврейської асоціації рабин Менахем Марголін перед аукціоном заявив, що «саме Німеччина лідирує в Європі за кількістю зареєстрованих антисемітських інцидентів».

«Ми закликаємо німецьку владу змусити аукціонні будинки розголошувати імена тих, хто купує «предмети » і вносити їх у державний «контрольний список», – заявив Марголін.

Понад 6 мільйонів євреїв були вбиті нацистами в часи Голокосту.

Багато предметів, що належали високопоставленим нацистським лідерам, були захоплені солдатами США в останні дні Другої світової війни. 
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Bolivian police and military forces used armored vehicles and helicopters to clear access to a major gas plant in the city of El Alto on Tuesday, a show of strength after blockades at the facility had cut off fuel supply to nearby La Paz.

Helicopters flew above roads around the Senkata gas plant, operated by state-run YPFB, which were blocked with piles of burning tires, according to a Reuters witness. Protesters are demanding the return of unseated leftist leader Evo Morales.

Morales resigned on Nov. 10 amid anti-government demonstrations and rising pressure over vote-rigging allegations after an audit by the Organization of American States (OAS) found serious irregularities in an Oct. 20 election.

But Morales supporters have since ramped up protests, calling for caretaker President Jeanine Anez to step down and for Morales to return. Mounting violence in the South American nation has seen 27 people killed in street clashes.

In what it said was a bid to restore calm, Bolivia’s congress, controlled by lawmakers from Morales’ Movement for Socialism (MAS), said on Tuesday it would cancel a contentious vote in the legislature that had been expected to reject Morales’ resignation.

The vote would be suspended “to create and contribute to an environment conducive to dialogue and peace,” the Legislative Assembly said in a statement, citing instructions from new Senate head and MAS lawmaker Monica Eva Copa Murga.

Eva Copa Murga later told reporters the assembly would prepare legislation to annul the Oct. 20 election and move towards new elections as soon as possible. The two chambers of Congress will convene separately on Wednesday.

“We do not want more deaths, we do not want more blood,” she said, flanked by the majority of the MAS party lawmakers, calling on the military and pro-Morales group to demobilize.

The country’s human right ombudsman said that three people have been killed in clashes with security forces around Senkata.

The military said in a statement they had carried out a “peaceful” operation after trying negotiation and dialogue.

The MAS party – which itself has been split over how to proceed – holds a majority in the congress and could have voted to reject Morales’ resignation, potentially creating dueling claims on the country’s leadership and raising pressure on Anez.

Morales has railed at what he has called a right-wing coup against him and hinted he could return to the country, though he has pledged repeatedly not to run again in a new election. He stepped down after weeks of protests led to allies and eventually the military urging him to go.

Desperate to Buy

Bolivians are feeling the pinch of the turmoil, with fuel shortages mounting and grocery stores short of basic goods as supporters of Morales blockade key transport routes.

In the highland capital La Paz, roads have grown quiet as people preserve gasoline, with long queues for food staples.

People lined up with gas canisters next to the Senkata plant on Tuesday. Images showed some fuel trucks moving through the area under a strong military and police presence.

“Unfortunately this has been going on for three to four weeks, so people are desperate to buy everything they find,” said Ema Lopez, 81, a retiree in La Paz.

Daniel Castro, a 63-year-old worker in the city, blamed Morales for what he called “food terrorism.”

“This is chaos and you’re seeing this chaos in (La Paz’s) Plaza Villarroel with more than 5,000 people just there to get a chicken,” he said.

The country’s hydrocarbons minister, Victor Hugo Zamora, said on Tuesday he was looking to unlock fuel deliveries for La Paz and called on the pro-Morales movements to join talks and allow economic activity to resume.

Juan Carlos Huarachi, head of the powerful Bolivian Workers’ Center union and once a staunch Morales backer, called on lawmakers to find a resolution. “Our only priority is to bring peace to the country,” he told reporters.

Jorge Quiroga, a former president and Morales critic, said Morales wanted to see Bolivia “burn,” echoing other detractors who say he has continued to stoke unrest from Mexico, which Morales denies.

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Thirty-eight more Colombian municipalities are considered free of landmines and unexploded ordinance, President Ivan Duque said Tuesday, as civilian and military efforts to remove improvised explosives continue despite ongoing conflict in some areas.

Colombia was once among the countries where people suffered the most injuries from landmines, one result of more than five decades of armed conflict between leftist guerrillas, crime gangs, right-wing paramilitary groups and the government.

More than 700 of Colombia’s 1,122 municipalities once had landmines, but 391 of those are now certified as mine-free.

“Today we make history because we are freeing 38 municipalities from suspicion of mines,” Duque told attendees at a ceremony in the Andean country’s southwest. “Thirty-eight municipalities have said goodbye to this tragedy; they have the light of new hope.”

Mines, widely used by both rebels and crime gangs to impede military movements, have killed 2,297 people and injured another 9,492 since 1990, government figures show.

A 2016 peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels allowed de-mining work to accelerate in certain mountain and jungle areas which formerly had guerrilla presence, but remaining rebel group the National Liberation Army (ELN) and crime gangs continue to use improvised explosives, non-governmental organizations say.

Some 9.8 million square meters have been cleaned of mines and 7,100 explosive devices destroyed across the country of 48 million. The army and 11 civilian groups and NGOs, including the Halo Trust, are responsible for de-mining work.

Colombia, along with more than 160 other countries, is a signatory to the Ottawa Treaty, which forbids the manufacture, storage and use of landmines.

It has pledged to remove all mines by 2021 and will need to ask fellow signatories to approve an extension if it misses its removal target.
 

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After a month of preparations and goodbyes, Bei Bei, the Washington National Zoo’s most eligible giant panda bachelor, was on his way to China on Tuesday, where scientists hope he will help increase the population of his species.

The departure of 4-year-old Bei Bei to his parents’ homeland had been pre-arranged and was announced last month by the zoo, where giant pandas have always been a visitor favorite.

Bei Bei, which means “precious treasure,” munched his last American breakfast of bamboo and leaf eater biscuits early Tuesday before entering a custom travel crate that was loaded onto a truck for the trip to Dulles International Airport, the zoo said.

From there, he began the 16-hour direct flight to Chengdu, China, aboard a dedicated Boeing 777F flown by FedEx and stocked with his favorite snacks, such as bamboo shoots, pears, and cooked sweet potatoes, it said.

“Today is bittersweet,” zoo Director Steve Monfort said. “We’ve cared for Bei Bei, and along with millions, watched him grow into a true ambassador for his species.”

Visitors have spent the past few weeks getting their last looks as zookeepers got Bei Bei accustomed to his travel crate, first by training him to walk through it, then spending time inside with the door closed.

Breeding programs are key to efforts to reintroduce pandas into the wild. Thanks to reforestation to expand habitats in which the species can survive, pandas have been reclassified from “endangered” to “vulnerable” by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. There are an estimated 1,800 giant pandas in the wild.

Mei Xiang and Tian Tian 

Bei Bei is not the first in his family to travel abroad. His parents, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, arrived from China in 2000, and his older siblings Tai Shan and Bao Bao both packed their bags for China when they came of breeding age.

Mei Xiang and Tian Tian are the zoo’s only remaining giant pandas.

Zoo spokeswoman Pamela Baker-Masson did not rule out another breeding attempt, but added in an email that “Mei Xiang is of advanced maternal age so it is highly unlikely that she will have another cub.”

An artificial insemination last year of Mei Xiang, who has been at the zoo for 20 years, failed to produce a cub.

The zoo has collaborated with Chinese scientists on a breeding program since it received its first pandas in 1972 following President Richard Nixon’s visit to China.
 

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South Korean and U.S. officials broke off talks on Tuesday aimed at settling the cost burden for Seoul of hosting the U.S. military, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said, amid a public backlash over a U.S. demand for a sharp increase in the bill.

Officials had resumed a planned two-day negotiation on Monday, trying to narrow a $4 billion gap in what they believe South Korea should contribute for the cost of stationing U.S. troops in the country for next year.

“Our position is that it should be within the mutually acceptable Special Measures Agreement (SMA) framework that has been agreed upon by South Korea and the U.S. for the past 28 years,” South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said, referring to the cost-sharing deal’s official name.

“The U.S. believes that the share of defense spending should be increased significantly by creating a new category,” the ministry said in a statement.

Negotiators left the table after only about one hour of discussions while the talks were scheduled throughout the day, South Korean media reported, citing unnamed foreign ministry officials.

South Korean lawmakers have said U.S. officials had demanded up to $5 billion a year, more than five times the 1.04 trillion won ($896 million) Seoul agreed to pay this year for hosting the 28,500 troops.

U.S. officials have not publicly confirmed the number, but Trump has previously said the U.S. military presence in and around South Korea was “$5 billion worth of protection.”

The negotiations are taking place as U.S. efforts to reach an agreement with North Korea over its nuclear and missile programs appear stalled, ahead of a year-end deadline from Pyongyang for the U.S. to shift its approach.

Lee Hye-hoon, head of South Korea’s parliamentary intelligence committee, said in a radio interview on Tuesday the U.S. ambassador to South Korea talked to her at length earlier this month about how Seoul had been only paying one-fifth what it should have been paying for the cost of stationing U.S. troops.

Under South Korean law, the military cost-sharing deal must be approved by parliament.

Ruling party lawmakers have said this week they will “refuse to ratify any excessive outcome of the current negotiations” that deviate from the established principle and structure of the agreements for about 30 years.

Trump has long railed against what he says are inadequate contributions from allies towards defense costs. The United States is due to begin separate negotiations for new defense cost-sharing deals with Japan, Germany and NATO next year.

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The union representing U.S. diplomats said on Monday it has raised tens of thousands of dollars in the last week alone to help defray the legal costs of foreign service officers who have testified in U.S. President Donald Trump’s impeachment inquiry.

The American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) also issued a statement defending U.S. diplomats after Trump criticized several of those who have appeared before Congress and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said nothing specific in their support.

“These patriots go abroad to every corner of the world and serve the interests of the American people,” AFSA President Eric Rubin said in a statement. “They do so with integrity and have no partisan or hidden agenda.”

“We should honor the service of each and every one of them.”

Separately, Rubin said: “We have raised tens of thousands of dollars in the past week alone” in the union’s Legal Defense Fund to help defray lawyers’ bills. He did not provide details.

One person caught up in the inquiry said he had already run up a legal bill of more than $25,000.

Neither the State Department nor the White House responded to requests for comment. A State Department spokesperson has previously said the agency planned to provide legal assistance to employees called to testify but did not give details.

Trump lashed out on Sunday at Jennifer Williams, a U.S. diplomat and foreign policy aide to Vice President Mike Pence who has testified that some of Trump’s comments on a July 25 phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart were “inappropriate.”

The call is at the heart of the Democratic-led House of Representatives’ inquiry into whether Republican Trump misused U.S. foreign policy to undermine former Democratic Vice President Joe Biden, a potential opponent in the 2020 election.

Writing on Twitter, Trump accused Williams of being a “Never Trumper” who should “work out a better presidential attack.”

Trump has denied wrongdoing and branded the probe a witch hunt aimed at hurting his re-election chances.

Asked on Monday why he had not spoken in support of his employees, Pompeo said he would talk about U.S. policy toward Ukraine but not about the impeachment inquiry.

Pressed, he said nothing specific: “I always defend State Department employees. It’s the greatest diplomatic corps in the history of the world. Very proud of the team.”

Asked if he shared Trump’s view, expressed on Twitter, that “everywhere (former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine) Marie Yovanovitch went turned bad,” Pompeo replied: “I’ll defer to the White House about particular statements.”

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Elizabeth Warren’s proposal to gradually move the country to a government-funded health care system has further inflamed the debate over “Medicare for All,” likely ensuring the issue will play a significant role in this week’s Democratic presidential debate.

The Massachusetts senator announced Friday that her administration would immediately build on existing laws, including the Affordable Care Act, to expand access to health care while taking up to three years to fully implement Medicare for All. That attempt to thread the political needle has roiled her more moderate rivals, who say she’s waffling, while worrying some on the left, who see Warren’s commitment to a single-payer system wavering.

The divide could complicate plans by Democrats to turn health care into a winning issue in 2020. The party successfully took back control of the House last year by championing programs that ensure that people with preexisting medical conditions keep their insurance coverage while arguing that Republicans want to weaken such provisions. But the Medicare for All debate is more delicate as advocates including Warren grapple with concerns that a new government-run system won’t provide the same quality of coverage as private insurance – and would be prohibitively expensive.

“The Medicare for All proposal has turned out to be a real deal-breaker in who gets the Democratic nomination,” said Robert Blendon, a Harvard University School of Public Health professor whose teaching responsibilities include courses on political strategy in health policy and public opinion polling. “This is not just another issue.’’

Warren’s transition plan indicates she’d use her first 100 days as president to expand existing public health insurance options. That is closer to what has been supported by former Vice President Joe Biden and Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana. Both Democratic presidential candidates have criticized Medicare for All for wiping out private insurance – something they say many Americans aren’t ready for.

Warren insists she’s simply working to expand health insurance in the short term to people who don’t have it while remaining committed to the full plan in the long run.

“My commitment to Medicare for All is all the way,” Warren said while campaigning in Iowa over the weekend.

Still, the transition signified a step toward pragmatism and an acknowledgement that the government has ways to expand health insurance coverage before embracing a universal system – something that would be difficult for any president to get through Congress. Consider that current entitlements, such as Social Security and Medicare, were phased in over years, not all at once.

“If she’s looked at it and decides the sensible thing to do in order to not cause too much disruption in employment situations and within the medical system is to gear up over three years, she’s probably right,” said Cindy Wolf, a customer service and shipping manager who attended the California state Democratic Convention on Saturday in Long Beach.

Still, the move may prove politically problematic for a candidate who has long decried others settling for consultant-driven campaigns seeking incremental changes at the expense of big ideas.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is the original architect of Medicare for All and has made fighting for it the centerpiece of his 2020 White House bid. He tweeted following the release of Warren’s transition plan: “In my first week as president, we will introduce Medicare for All legislation.’’

Campaigning in Nevada on Monday, California Sen. Kamala Harris said, “I believe that government should not be in a position of taking away people’s choice.”

“Especially on one of the most intimate and personal decisions people can make,” Harris said, “which is about how to address their health care needs.’’

The criticism from others was far sharper. Top Biden adviser Kate Bedingfield dismissed Warren’s plan as “trying to muddy the waters” by offering “a full program of flips and twists.” Buttigieg spokeswoman Lis Smith said it was a “transparently political attempt to paper over a very serious policy problem.’’

It’s easy to see the issue spilling into Wednesday’s debate because Warren rode a steady summer climb in the polls to become one of the primary field’s front-runners – but no longer seems to be rising. Polls recently show her support stabilizing, though not dipping, as focus on her Medicare for All ideas intensifies.

The last two debates featured Warren failing to answer direct questions on whether she would be forced to raise middle class taxes to pay for the universal health care system she envisions. That set up a plan released two-plus weeks ago in which Warren vowed to generate $20-plus trillion in new government revenue without increasing taxes on the middle class – but that’s been decried by critics who accuse Warren of underestimating how much Medicare for All would really cost.

And, though Warren never promised to begin working toward Medicare for All on Day 1 of her administration, the release of the transition plan, which spelled out that the process will take years, has unsettled some.

Una Lee Jost, a lawyer who was holding “Bernie” signs in Chinese and English at the California Democratic Convention, called any lengthy transition to Medicare for All “a serious concern.’’

“We should have implemented this decades ago,” she said.

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