Icetruck

Venezuela: Leading opposition parties will boycott December vote

Three leading Venezuelan opposition parties have said they will not take part in December's municipal elections.

Leaders from the Justice First, Popular Will and Democratic Action parties say the electoral system is biased.

Julio Borges, the leader of the Justice First party and president of the National Assembly, said the government of Nicolás Maduro had rigged elections in 2013 and earlier this month.

President Maduro insists the Venezuelan system is entirely trustworthy.

The deadline for enrolling mayoral candidates for the 10 December vote expired on Monday.

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Rather than fight another vote, the opposition coalition "should try to secure reforms to the electoral board", said Mr Borges.

'Self-interest'

Henry Ramos Allup, from the Democratic Action party, said the electoral schedule was "completely improvised".

Party members who enrol as candidates would be expelled from its ranks, he said.

"We will continue fighting for fair elections," he said. "Other dictatorships have fallen because of people's demands for a free vote."

Mr Maduro said the opposition was acting out of self-interest.

"When they lose, they denounce fraud. And when they know they are going into an election in an unfavourable position, instead of fighting they pull out," he said.

'Grab the bones'

The governing Socialist Party, which has been in power since 1999, won gubernatorial elections in 18 of Venezuela's 23 states on 15 October.

The outcome of the elections and Mr Maduro's insistence that all new governors bow to the controversial constituent assembly have caused a rift among members of the opposition coalition, the Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD).

They said the results were fraudulent.

Former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles, the main opposition leader, left the coalition last Tuesday.

He disagreed with the decision by four newly elected opposition governors to pledge allegiance to the constituent assembly, convened by Mr Maduro earlier this year.

Mr Capriles said that he "would not be part" of the opposition MUD "because it is not unified as a concept or a vision".

"It is just some people that grab the bones that are thrown to them," he said.

Source – bbc.com

Fires destroy part of Hewlett-Packard archives

California's deadly wildfires destroyed much of an archive from tech pioneers William Hewlett and David Packard, such as a decades-old memo in which Hewlett proposes designing a calculator that can fit in his pocket, authorities involved with the archives say.

The more than 100 boxes of letters and other materials from the early days of Hewlett-Packard, now called HP, were stored in two modular buildings at the Santa Rosa offices of Keysight Technologies, an electronics measurement company that acquired the historical trove through a series of spinoffs, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat reported .

The two modular buildings burned to the ground in this month's wildfires , which killed 43 people and destroyed more than 7,000 homes and other structures. The rest of Keysight's campus, including its permanent buildings, survived with minimal damage, Ron Nersesian, the company's chief executive, told the newspaper.

Packard and Hewlett pioneered California's tech industry when they started an electronics firm in a Palo Alto garage with $538 in cash.

The destroyed archives had been valued at nearly $2 million in 2005. Former HP staff archivist Karen Lewis called the collection irreplaceable.

When Lewis first began assembling the materials in the 1980s, "I realized, 'Oh, my God, this is the history of Silicon Valley … This is the history of the electronics industry.'"

Lewis said the destroyed documents include the memo from Hewlett to engineers that led to the company's HP-35 pocket calculator, in 1972. Another memo proposed an open-office floor plan, now a staple of valley companies, the San Francisco Chronicle said .

Lewis faulted the recent handling of the archives, saying previous owners had stored the collections in vaults within permanent facilities, safeguarded by foam fire retardant.

"This could easily have been prevented, and it's a huge loss," Lewis said.

Keysight Technologies spokesman Jeff Weber said his company had taken "appropriate and responsible steps" to protect the archives, "but the most destructive firestorm in state history prevented efforts to protect portions of the collection."

"This is a time to begin healing, not assigning blame," Weber said.

Another HP spokeswoman, Dana Lengkeek, told the Chronicle that other archive material survives elsewhere, including speeches and letters from the firm's founders.

• Star

Source – abcnews.go.com

Benghazi attack: US captures man in Libya over 2012 raid

US forces have captured a man accused of involvement in the 2012 attack on an American compound in the Libyan city of Benghazi, President Donald Trump said.

Mustafa al-Imam was seized in Libya, the president said in a statement.

Mr al-Imam is facing charges including murder. The US ambassador and three other Americans died in the incident.

During last year's election campaign for Republican attacks, the raid became a focus for Republican attacks on Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.

She was secretary of state when the compound was targeted in September 2012.

"Yesterday, on my orders, United States forces captured Mustafa al-Imam in Libya," Mr Trump said.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Mr al-Imam would "face justice in federal court for his role in the attack". Another suspect, Ahmed Abu Khattala, is already on trial in the US.

A Republican-led House Select Committee investigation published in 2016 found no evidence of wrongdoing by Ms Clinton.

The attack nonetheless haunted her presidential campaign and was cited frequently by Mr Trump as he called for her to be jailed.

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Mr al-Imam has been charged with murder, as well as providing material support to terrorists and discharging a firearm in the course of a violent crime, the US Attorney's office said.

Ambassador Christopher Stevens and a state department technician died of smoke inhalation when armed men set fire to a building in the diplomatic compound.

The attackers later fired mortar rounds at a CIA building, killing two former Navy Seals.

Prosecutors said Mr al-Imam was in the process of being transported to the US.

Defence lawyers for Mr Abu Khattala allege that his 13-day voyage to the US was dragged out to restrict his access to legal counsel. Prosecutors deny the allegation.

Source – bbc.com

Man 'who plotted to kill Putin' wounded, wife killed in Ukraine

A Chechen man accused of plotting to kill Russian President Vladimir Putin has been injured and his wife killed in an attack near Ukraine's capital Kiev.

Adam Osmayev "was wounded but will live" after a car he was in was shot at, Ukrainian Interior Ministry adviser Anton Herashchenko said.

He said Mr Osmayev's wife Amina Okuyeva died in the attack in Hlevaha village.

In 2012, Russian officials said Mr Osmayev was suspected of being part of a plot by Islamists to kill Mr Putin.

Russian media reported at the time that the plotters were planning to plant mines on Kutuzovsky Avenue in Moscow, used by Mr Putin on a daily basis.

Russia later asked Ukraine to hand over Mr Osmayev – but the authorities in Kiev refused to do so, saying they wanted to wait until the European Court of Human Rights considered his appeal against extradition.

In June, he survived an assassination attempt in Kiev. The attacker was then shot and wounded by Mrs Okuyeva.

The couple are well-known figures in Ukraine, after fighting as volunteers for Ukraine's military against pro-Russian rebels in the east of the country.

No-one has so far claimed responsibility for Monday's attack.

It comes less than a week after a Ukrainian lawmaker was injured in a vehicle bombing in Ukraine's capital.

A bodyguard of Ihor Mosiychuk and another person were killed in the blast.

Mrs Okuyeva once worked for him as an adviser.

Kiev has in recent years seen a number of deadly attacks on high-profile politicians and journalists.

Source – bbc.com

Trump adviser George Papadopoulos lied about Russian links

An election campaign adviser to Donald Trump has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about the timing of meetings with alleged go-betweens for Russia.

George Papadopoulos admitted the talks happened while he worked for Mr Trump, not before, court papers show.

He said he had been told the Russians possessed "dirt" on Hillary Clinton.

Separately, former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort pleaded not guilty to charges of money laundering unrelated to the 2016 election.

The charges against Mr Papadopoulos are the first to be brought by Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating alleged links between Russia and the Trump campaign.

• Who's who in the Russian drama?
• Manafort's short reign on the Trump campaign

How does the Papadopoulos case affect Trump?

It has the potential to damage the US leader because it relates directly to his campaign, analysts say.

Skip Twitter post by @realDonaldTrump

#MakeAmericaGreatAgain #Trump2016https://t.co/aANxirUJJD pic.twitter.com/VlMynYN3sd

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 1, 2016

Report

End of Twitter post by @realDonaldTrump

Mr Papadopoulos – a Chicago-based international energy lawyer – was close enough to then-candidate Trump to be part of a photograph (third from left) of his national security team which Mr Trump tweeted on 1 April 2016.

According to the court documents, Mr Trump's former foreign policy adviser admitted on 5 October 2017 to having impeded the FBI's investigation into alleged collusion with Russia.

When he was interviewed by the FBI this January, he falsely claimed that he had met two figures with Russian connections before joining the Trump campaign in March 2016. In fact, he met them after joining the campaign.

One was an unnamed Russian woman who, Mr Papadopoulos believed, had connections to Russian government officials.

He admitted seeking to use her connections in an effort to arrange a meeting "between the campaign and Russian government officials".

The other person was an unnamed, London-based professor who was said to have "substantial connections to Russian government officials".

The professor only took an interest in Mr Papadopoulos because of his status within the Trump campaign, the statement says.

Russian "dirt" on Mrs Clinton, in the form of "thousands of emails", was allegedly mentioned by the professor at a breakfast meeting in a London hotel on or around 26 April 2016.

The professor said he had been informed about the compromising emails when he met senior Russian government officials on a recent trip to Moscow.

This may be the real blockbuster

By Anthony Zurcher, BBC News, Washington

Robert Mueller, in journalism terms, buried the story.

Initial headlines on Monday morning were about Paul Manafort's indictment for money laundering and undisclosed foreign lobbying activities. The real blockbuster, however, may end up being George Papadopoulos's plea bargain, which was disclosed shortly after the Manafort news came out.

Unlike Mr Manafort, pinched for activities largely conducted before he joined the Trump team, Mr Papadopoulos has admitted to lying to the FBI about contacts he had with Russian nationals while serving as a Trump foreign policy adviser.

Mr Papadopoulos's indictment document reveals he learned from his connections that Russia claimed to have "dirt" on Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in the form of "thousands of emails" in a late April 2016 meeting. Damaging emails from the Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign chair John Podesta started emerging, through Wikileaks, just a few months later.

Now Mr Papadopoulos is co-operating with the independent counsel's office. At the very least, he has told them who in the top levels of the Trump campaign he was passing this information to.

If Mr Mueller's case ends up about more than just illegal activities by Mr Manafort and a business associate years ago, Mr Papadopoulos could be a key piece of the puzzle.

Read more: The biggest news wasn't about Manafort

What are the charges against Manafort?

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Mr Manafort and one of his business associates, Rick Gates, appeared in a Washington court on Monday to deny 12 charges, including conspiracy to launder money.

The former campaign manager was placed under house arrest and ordered to post a $10m (£8m) bond while Mr Gates was also placed under house arrest and ordered to post a bond of $5m.

The indictment against the two men, which accuses them of "conspiracy against the United States", looks at their links to pro-Russian politicians in Ukraine between 2006 and 2015.

It says they acted as "unregistered agents" of Ukrainian politician Viktor Yanukovych and his party, both in opposition and government.

• What is 'conspiracy against the United States'?

Mr Yanukovych was deposed as president in 2014 amid mass unrest over his pro-Russian policies.

Mr Manafort is accused of having laundered more than $18m through offshore bank accounts, using it to buy property, goods and services in transactions concealed from the US authorities.

Speaking outside the court, Mr Manafort's lawyer, Kevin Downing, said his client was innocent. "Maintaining offshore accounts to bring all your funds into the United States as a scheme to conceal from the United States government is ridiculous," he added.

Mr Gates is accused of having transferred more than $3m from the offshore accounts to other accounts he controlled.

How did the White House react to Monday's developments?

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the role of Mr Papadopoulos in the Trump campaign had been "extremely limited".

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He had been in a "volunteer position", she said, and "no activity was done in an official capacity".

She also stressed that none of the charges against Mr Manafort related to the Trump campaign.

When it came to allegations of Russian influence, she said, the focus should be on Hillary Clinton's campaign.

"The real collusion scandal, as we've said several times before, has everything to do with the Clinton campaign, Fusion GPS, and Russia," she added.

According to US media reports, Perkins Coie, a law firm representing the Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee, hired intelligence firm Fusion GPS in April 2016.

Fusion GPS, based in Washington DC, was paid to dig up dirt on Mr Trump, who was then Mrs Clinton's rival for the presidency.

• Clinton team 'funded' Trump dirty dossier

Source – bbc.com

Catalan independence: Spain's top prosecutor calls for rebellion charges

Spain's chief prosecutor has called for charges including rebellion – which carries a maximum 30 year jail term – to be brought against Catalan leaders.

José Manuel Maza said they should also face sedition charges following the region's declaration of independence.

It comes as Spain takes direct control of Catalonia, replacing top officials.

Meanwhile, a lawyer in Belgium says he is representing sacked Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont, who has travelled to the Belgian capital Brussels.

The lawyer, Paul Bekaert, did not comment on speculation that the ex-president could be preparing an asylum application.

"At the moment there are no specific dossiers I am preparing for him," he said. "I'm his lawyer in case he needs me."

Spanish media reported that Mr Puigdemont would meet Flemish leaders. He is said to be travelling with a handful of dismissed ministers.

Spanish authorities sacked Mr Puigdemont as regional leader on Friday, and suspended Catalan autonomy.

• Catalonia crisis in 300 words
• Madrid's enforcer for Catalonia
• What next for Spain?

Speaking at a news conference earlier, Mr Maza, the Spanish attorney-general, called for Catalonia's leaders to be charged with misuse of funds over the independence referendum they held in October, after it had been declared illegal by the constitutional court.

Under the Spanish legal system, Mr Maza's requests will be considered by a judge.

What happened on Monday?

There appeared to be no major disruption in Catalan government offices on Monday, despite some officials defying instructions from Madrid not to turn up for work.

Any ministers who arrived at their offices were given hours to leave under threat of "action" by Catalonia's regional police force, Mossos.

Madrid's temporary move to impose direct control by invoking Article 155 of the constitution – a first for Spain – will see as many as 150 of the region's top officials replaced.

• Puigdemont: The man who wants to break up Spain

Mr Puigdemont and his vice-president Oriol Junqueras reject the central government's moves, arguing they can only be removed from office by the citizens of Catalonia.

What's next for Catalan autonomy?

Madrid has called for fresh regional elections on 21 December.

A spokeswoman for Mr Puigdemont's PDeCAT party said it would field candidates "with conviction". The ex-president could run in new elections if he has not been jailed by then, according to Spain's Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis.

• What powers has Catalonia now lost?
• The case for and against independence

On Monday, Mr Dastis said he hoped the forthcoming elections would help to "restore legal governance and rule of law in Catalonia".

Meanwhile, Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido has written to all police officers in Catalonia asking for their loyalty as a "new era" begins in the region

What is the local press saying?

• The centre-left and unionist Madrid-based El País says that Sunday's huge pro-union protest in Barcelona "has shown in this difficult moment that Catalan society is much more plural than what the pro-independence block strives to show"
• The pro-union Barcelona-based El Periódico says the protest was the "start of the election campaign". It adds that "the new regional elections should serve to move Catalonia out of its current impasse"
• The pro-independence Catalan language Ara suggests in an editorial that it would be an "error" for the pro-independence parties not to contest the 21 December elections
• The moderate Barcelona-based La Vanguardia focuses on the importance of "reconstruction" and how to overcome the divisions in Catalan society. "All sides will inevitably discover that there is no political problem that cannot be resolved by dialogue" it says

How did we get here?

Spain has been gripped by a constitutional crisis since a referendum, organised by Mr Puigdemont's separatist government, was held earlier this month in defiance of a ruling by the constitutional court which had declared it illegal.

The Catalan government said that of the 43% of potential voters who took part, 90% were in favour of independence.

On Friday the regional parliament declared independence.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy then announced the dissolution of the regional parliament and the removal of Mr Puigdemont as Catalan leader.

Mr Puigdemont has urged "democratic opposition" to direct rule from Madrid.

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• Does Catalonia want to leave Spain?
• Reality Check: Police violence in Catalonia

Before this, the region had one of the greatest levels of self-government in Spain.

It has its own parliament, police force and public broadcaster, as well as a government and president.

Catalans had a range of powers in many policy areas from culture and environment to communications, transportation, commerce and public safety.

Source – bbc.com

Wall of Grief: Putin opens first Soviet victims memorial

President Vladimir Putin has unveiled Russia's first monument to people killed in political repression under Communist dictator Joseph Stalin.

At least 750,000 people were executed and millions deported or imprisoned under Stalin's rule from the 1920s to the 1950s in the Soviet Union.

Mr Putin said seeing the era clearly would help "prevent it being repeated."

But critics accused him of continuing political repression and "crushing civil freedoms".

Wall of Grief: Russia remembers victims of Soviet repression

A group of dissidents from the Soviet era wrote to a news website that they considered the event to be "untimely and cynical".

Stalin's victims

• Millions died under Joseph Stalin, who ruled the Soviet Union from 1929 to 1953
• Victims died in deportations, famine, forced collectivisation, executions and in prison camps
• At least 750,000 people were executed during Great Terror of 1937-38
• Millions were sent to Gulag labour camps

The artist behind the Wall of Grief piece, Georgy Frangulyan, told the BBC that the memorial was not "normal, representative art" but "an expression of feelings, of fear and alarm".

The work is made up of jagged human forms with no faces, and shaped like a scythe.

At the opening ceremony, Mr Putin said: "An unequivocal and clear assessment of the repression will help to prevent it being repeated."

"This terrible past must not be erased from our national memory and cannot be justified by anything."

• Soviet leader who killed tens of millions
• New plaques mark Stalin's victims
• Gulag museum recreates Soviet terror
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Last year, the UK Foreign Office reported a "crackdown on civil society" in Russia. A spokeswoman for Russia's foreign ministry said the report was not objective.

In June, President Vladimir Putin warned that Russia's enemies were "demonising" Stalin excessively.

Under his rule, the Soviet victory over the Nazis has become central to a new ideology of Russian greatness.

Source – bbc.com

Outcry over Russia teenage model's death after Shanghai show

A Chinese modelling agency has denied claims that a Russian teenage model it represented died from overwork.

Vlada Dzyuba, 14, died in China on Friday after participating in Shanghai Fashion Week.

Her Shanghai-based agency, ESEE Model Management, said she was a happy young girl who enjoyed her modelling work.

Many foreign models in China are from the former Soviet Union. China has laws that allow children under the age of 16 to work in certain industries.

According to reports, Vlada began feeling dizzy and fell sick and was taken to a Shanghai hospital on Wednesday. She died on Friday from multiple organ failure after her condition quickly worsened.

The Chinese Global Times state newspaper said she died of blood poisoning. The Siberian Times, an English-language newspaper in Russia, alleges that the teenager, from the Russian city of Perm, died of meningitis.

It says that this was compounded by exhaustion following "a gruelling fashion show in Shanghai".

Carrie Fang, the chief agent for ESEE who was at Vlada's side when she died, said the young Russian had enjoyed the two months she spent in China before her death.

"She was a very excitable girl, she liked to eat, she liked to eat chips, like a teenager is supposed to do," Ms Fang told reporters on Monday.

Source – bbc.com

Author Brad Lamm gives tips that can help you rebuild your relationship with food on this episode of "Motivated" with Mara Schiavocampo.
Source – abcnews.go.com

Judge blocks Trump's transgender military ban

A US federal judge has temporarily blocked Donald Trump's attempt to bar transgender people from the military.

District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly overruled a presidential memo issued by Mr Trump, which sought to reverse an Obama administration policy change.

Ms Kollar-Kotelly's injunction returns the US military to the status quo – allowing transgender personnel to serve openly and new recruits to join up.

The case was filed against in August by a group of unnamed plaintiffs.

The judge agreed with the plaintiffs' assertion that the president's directives were "not genuinely based on legitimate concerns regarding military effectiveness or budget constraints, but are instead driven by a desire to express disapproval of transgender people generally".

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She went on to say that the president's reasons for seeking to ban transgender personnel in July "do not appear to be supported by any facts" and had been rejected by the military.

Judge Kollar-Kotelly ruled against a second injunction sought by the plaintiffs, over a Trump directive prohibiting the use of military resources to fund sex reassignment surgical procedures.

She said the court did not have jurisdiction to grant the injunction because no plaintiff demonstrated that they would be substantially affected by the prohibition.

A June 2016 policy change by the Obama administration allowed transgender military personnel to serve openly and set a one-year deadline for the military to begin allowing new recruits.

In July 2017 the military delayed the accession part of the policy by six months, saying it needed more time to prepare.

Source – bbc.com