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‘Putin’s Piglet’: Russian Media Admits Trump Lost the Debate

The first debate between the U.S. President Donald J. Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden was devoured with eager anticipation all over the world. But top Kremlin propagandists and state media experts came away disappointed, reluctantly acknowledging that Biden managed to wipe the floor with his loudmouth opponent.Russian state media TV show 60 Minutes played a compilation of what they seemingly considered to be Trump’s greatest hits of the night, consisting of the incumbent’s tasteless insults of his opponent. The hosts and some of the experts heartily laughed along in an attempt to support Trump’s cringeworthy performance, resembling a squad of miscreants gathered at Dr. Evil’s lair. Their exaggerated cackling came off as forced and unnatural, falling short of the desired effect.In spite of their best efforts, Moscow’s mouthpieces had to concede that the debate was nowhere near the finest hour for their preferred candidate. The host of Russia’s 60 Minutes Evgeny Popov conceded: “All the while we’ve been thinking that Biden is feeble, but it turns out he isn’t. He was able to handle the debate well and acted in an absolutely normal way.”Russian Media Is Rooting for Civil War in America: ‘The Worse, the Better’After months of promoting the conspiracy that the former Vice President suffers from dementia, the Kremlin’s bullhorns half-heartedly repeated Trump’s wild claim that Biden’s superior performance was drug-induced. In a gimmicky smear, 60 Minutes claimed to have discovered Biden’s secret supply of intravenous drugs, seizing on a moment when the former VP was simply adjusting his shirt. “They found a catheter, it’s absolutely true!” Popov exclaimed, but the far-fetched allegation fell flat even among his show’s panelists.Dmitry Abzalov, Director of the Center for Strategic Communications, noted: “Importantly, this was Trump’s chance to show that Biden is weak. Trump needed the debate more than Biden, he wanted to show that he [Biden] couldn’t handle the 90-minute format without a break requested by Biden’s representatives. Trump wanted to obliterate Biden, but so far failed to do so.”Alexei Naumov from the Russian International Affairs Council concurred: “Trump was supposed to destroy Biden. Biden simply had to withstand his force without breaking and managed to do so. That’s why Biden won the debate. There was no need to continually portray Biden as a demented oldster.” Naumov disagreed with Biden’s description of Trump as “Putin’s puppy,” suggesting that the better term would have been “Putin’s piglet.”To cheer up Russian viewers, Popov pointed out that not all is lost for Trump’s fans in Russia and beyond: “In 2016, Hillary also allegedly outperformed Trump… but still didn’t end up in the Oval Office.” In the run-up to the debate, Russian state media attempted to undercut its importance. Hosting his weekly show Vesti Nedeli, top Kremlin propagandist Dmitry Kiselyov claimed that Trump no longer needs to win the majority of votes in order to get re-elected, because he is rigging the Supreme Court to decide the outcome of the presidential election in his favor.Kiselyov smugly theorized: “Trump is in a hurry, because in case of a disputed outcome, the question of who will become president will be decided by the Supreme Court. The new appointment will provide Trump with a clear majority in the Supreme Court. This is a huge scandal. But the funniest thing is that no one expects the justices of the Supreme Court to act in a just manner. A priori, it is clear to everyone that the judges will vote in accordance with their party affiliation.”This perspective fully encompassed the Kremlin’s goal of presenting the U.S. elections as a meaningless, undemocratic process. Moscow’s top propagandist surmised: “This situation devalues ​​the very vote of hundreds of millions of Americans, because the outcome will be decided not by them, but by the nine justices, among whom the Republicans have the advantage. That is, Trump does not necessarily need a majority to win; he only needs to create a conflict, a controversial situation, which will be resolved by the Supreme Court. The structure that has emerged can hardly be called democratic even now. Yes, it seems to be correct from the point of view of procedures and formalities, but nevertheless, the opinion of the people means absolutely nothing.”Pro-Kremlin propagandists reveled in Trump’s attempts to portray the U.S. elections as fraudulent and mail voting as inevitably rigged. Reporting for Vesti Nedeli, Russian correspondent Denis Davydov eagerly repeated President Trump’s baseless claims that the ballots sent by mail are disappearing. Davydov added: “The FBI and Pennsylvania State Police are investigating fraud with mail-in ballots and guess for whom most of them were? For Donald Trump.”By continually chipping away at the faith in American elections—from the mail-in ballots to his rushed Supreme Court nomination—Trump has handed none other than Russian President Vladimir Putin a decisive victory in his decades-long plight to accomplish the same goal.Through his failure to condemn the white supremacists or the growing violence, Trump also deepened the darkness of unrest and turmoil descending upon the United States. The growing threat of civil war in the United States is a highly coveted prize for the Kremlin and Putin’s propagandists are already rubbing their hands together with joyous anticipation. Appearing on a state TV show The Evening with Vladimir Soloviev, panelist Karen Shakhnazarov asserted that Americans no longer believe in the fairness of their own elections and civil war is inevitable. He concluded: “America as we knew it is over. Most importantly, the American dream is dead.”Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

US slaps new sanctions on Syrian entities and individuals

The Trump Administration imposed sanctions Wednesday on entities and individuals in Syria as part of Washington’s pressure campaign against President Bashar Assad and his inner circle. The sanctions came a day after intense clashes in southern Syria broke out between Russia-backed Syrian troops and local fighters who belong to the minority Druze sect, killing and wounding dozens. The sanctions were not related to the fighting in southern Syria.

Nigeria's independence: Six images from six decades

Africa's most populous country is set to mark 60 years of independence from British rule.

Vatican official accuses Trump administration of exploiting pope

Pope Francis reportedly declined to meet Mike Pompeo during his visit this week, citing closeness of US presidential electionA top Vatican official has accused Donald Trump’s administration of exploiting Pope Francis in the final stages of the US presidential election campaign.The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, spoke at a conference on religious freedom on Wednesday organised by the US embassy to the Holy See during his visit to Italy.When the Italian news agency Ansa asked Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Vatican’s secretary for relations with states, if the US unilaterally organising the event amounted to exploitation of the pope in the run-up to the elections, he replied: “Yes, that is precisely why the pope will not meet American secretary of state Mike Pompeo.”Pope Francis reportedly declined to meet Pompeo during his visit this week, citing the closeness of the US election. But the move was also likely to be linked to Pompeo’s recent attacks on the Vatican’s perceived soft-pedalling on China’s human rights record as the two sides prepare to extend a historic agreement signed two years ago.The details of the deal have never been made public, but it gave the Vatican a say in the appointment of Catholic bishops in China. Pope Francis also recognised eight bishops that had been appointed by Beijing without his approval.China was also a theme during Pompeo’s meeting with the Italian prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, in Rome on Wednesday. Pompeo said he asked Conte to “consider network security carefully”.During a press conference with Italy’s foreign minister, Luigi Di Maio, Pompeo said he was concerned about China’s plans to extend its influence on Italy’s economy.“The foreign minister and I had a long conversation about the United States’ concerns at the Chinese Communist party trying to leverage its economic presence in Italy to serve its own strategic purposes,” Pompeo said, adding that “the Chinese are not here for sincere partnerships with reciprocal benefits”.He also urged the Italian government to consider the risks to the privacy of its citizens presented by technology companies with links to the Chinese Communist party.In March 2019, Italy became the first G7 country to endorse a contentious plan by China to build a Silk Road-style global trade network, irking its EU and US allies.The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, was given a state visit, during which the two countries signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding (MoU) that could lead to Italy’s participation in China’s Belt and Road initiative (BRI), an ambitious project that envisages Chinese investment in a network of infrastructure projects connecting Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe. A host of other commercial deals in a variety of areas, including tourism, food and football, were also signed.

Biden, Trump press contrasts in Midwest after debate chaos

President Donald Trump and Democrat Joe Biden delivered conflicting messages targeting voters across the Midwest on Wednesday as the candidates, their allies and rank-and-file voters sought to move past the most chaotic presidential debate in memory. The Tuesday night affair raised fresh questions about Trump's continued reluctance to condemn white supremacy, his efforts to undermine the legitimacy of the election and his unwillingness to respect debate ground rules his campaign had agreed to. Biden's campaign confirmed he would participate in the subsequent meetings, however, as did Trump's.

Portland asks US to rescind deputization of city police

The mayor of Portland has asked U.S. officials to end the federal deputation of dozens of police officers in Oregon's largest city as part of the response to ongoing protests in the city. Mayor Ted Wheeler said in a statement late Tuesday that he had “asked the U.S. Attorney’s office to withdraw the designation” that deputized the officers. Oregon Public Broadcasting reported that deputizing the Portland officers gives federal prosecutors the option to charge anyone arrest by those officers with federal crimes, which often come with more severe penalties than the state crimes for which local police usually make arrests.

Félicien Kabuga: French court backs extradition of Rwanda genocide suspect

Félicien Kabuga was arrested in Paris in May after 26 years on the run - police say he used 28 aliases.

As Brazil's wetlands burned, government did little to help

After hours navigating Brazil’s Pantanal wetlands in search of jaguars earlier this month, Daniel Moura beached his boat to survey the fire damage. “We used to see jaguars here all the time; I once saw 16 jaguars in a single day,” Moura, a guide who owns an eco-tourism outfit, said on the riverbank in the Encontro das Aguas state park, which this year saw 84% of its vegetation destroyed. The world’s largest tropical wetlands, the Pantanal is popular for viewing the furtive felines, along with caiman, capybara and more.

Trump is urged to intervene in trial of US-Saudi national

The trial of a U.S. citizen who is also a Saudi national began Wednesday in Saudi Arabia in a counter-terrorism court that has been used to imprison rights activists in a case that could spark further tensions in already uneasy U.S.-Saudi relations. The case of Salah al-Haidar, who has been detained since April 2019 in Saudi Arabia, has caught the attention of members of Congress who are urging President Donald Trump to personally seek his immediate and unconditional release. Al-Haidar, who has a family home in Vienna, Virginia, is facing between eight and 33 years in prison for alleged Twitter posts criticizing the Saudi government, according to people with knowledge of his case, including a U.S. official familiar with the case who insisted on anonymity to discuss it with The Associated Press.

UK strikes fishing deal with Norway and offers fisheries 'transition period' to EU

Britain offered Brussels a three-year transition period on fishing during trade negotiations with the EU, it emerged on Wednesday as the Government hailed a historic fisheries treaty with Norway. UK negotiators submitted plans to gradually scale down EU fishermen's share of the catch in British waters from 2021 to 2024 in a bid to soothe fears over the impact of Brexit on European coastal communities. In London, it was announced the UK had signed its first fishing agreement since leaving the EU, and its first as an independent coastal state in 40 years. The Framework Fisheries Agreement with Norway provides a legal basis for annual negotiations on access to waters and quotas after the Brexit transition period ends on December 31. In a tweet David Frost, the UK’s chief Brexit negotiator said he was "delighted".

AG seeks delay in releasing Breonna Taylor grand jury files

Kentucky's attorney general asked a court Wednesday to delay the release of secret grand jury proceedings in Breonna Taylor's killing by police just as audio recordings were set to be made public. Attorney General Daniel Cameron's office filed a motion asking a court in Louisville for a week's delay to allow the names of witnesses and their personal information, including addresses and phone numbers, to be redacted. A judge is expected to rule on the motion Wednesday, according to Cameron's office.

Spain rebuffs Turkey's 'unilateral' gas search, backs Cyprus

Spain’s foreign minister on Wednesday said her country rejects Turkey’s unilateral search for energy reserves in the eastern Mediterranean, adding that such actions hinder a negotiated way out of a territorial dispute that has ratcheted up regional tensions. Spanish Foreign Minister Arancha Gonzalez Laya expressed support for fellow European Union member Cyprus as Turkey continues to prospect for gas in waters where the Mediterranean island nation claims exclusive economic rights.

Village cleaner sends Kremlin candidate packing in provincial vote

A week ago, Marina Udgodskaya used to clean the office of the leading village official. On Wednesday, he was packing up for the cleaner to take his place. Ms Udgodskaya, who cleans at the administration building in the village of Povalikhino, about 380 kilometres east of Moscow, was running as a spoiler candidate against incumbent Nikolai Loktev, a Kremlin party candidate, at last week’s elections for the district encompassing about two dozen sparsely populated villages in the Kostroma region. With 84 out of 130 votes cast in the district of just 400 people, the 35-year-old cleaner won the race and literally sent Mr Loktev packing. “I needed an opponent, and she was the only one who agreed to run,” Mr Loktev told the Telegraph by phone when asked why his cleaner was in the competition in the first place. The outgoing village chief, who was packing up his office when reached by the Telegraph on Wednesday afternoon, described her as “an energetic young woman” who will “manage.” “People simply wanted something new,” Mr Loktev said, explaining his defeat. Ella Pamfilova, the Russian election chief, in an interview on the Govorit Moskva radio station insisted that Ms Udgodskaya won in a fair race and that “there was no fraud.” The cleaner, who is due to start her new job on Thursday, avoids journalists but in her only interview with Russian journalists she admitted to being shell-shocked by her win and initially wanting to relinquish her new role. “First, I wanted to give it all up but then all residents supported me,” the young woman with her hair in a ponytail told Komsomolskaya Pravda in a video interview filmed on a dirt path in Povalikhino. Ms Udgodskaya is raising two children while her husband is away most of the year working on construction sites around Moscow. Asked about her immediate plans for the office, the mother of two said: “First, we need to deal with the pond for children to swim in.” She also said she wants to upgrade playgrounds and improve street lighting. Ms Udgodskaya insisted that her lack of qualification is not an impediment and said she is proud of the work she did before: “It’s a normal job. There was no other work. I had to make money somehow.” Mr Loktev has promised to help the cleaner with the new job. Ms Udgodskaya’s win reflects a growing frustration among voters across Russia with candidates from Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party who are increasingly perceived as corrupt and inefficient. Just a few weeks earlier, several regional legislatures got a major overhaul as candidates endorsed by opposition leader Alexei Navalny won a sizable number of seats. Kremlin-connected political analyst Sergei Markov has described the cleaner’s surprise win as a kind of payback from residents of Russia’s heartland for the federal government largely abandoning those areas which have suffered from a chronic brain drain and under-funding for decades. “Those regions have grown depopulated, impoverished and neglected to the point that there are no people, no roads and no work left,” Mr Markov said in a Facebook post. “And no one even wants to run them. You can’t have a black hole in the middle of the country.”

Timothy Ray Brown, 1st person cured of HIV, dies of cancer

Timothy Ray Brown, who made history as “the Berlin patient,” the first person known to be cured of HIV infection, has died. Brown died Tuesday at his home in Palm Springs, California, according to a social media post by his partner, Tim Hoeffgen. The cause was a return of the cancer that originally prompted the unusual bone marrow and stem cell transplants Brown received in 2007 and 2008, which for years seemed to have eliminated both his leukemia and HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

European report finds waning of democracy in Poland, Hungary

Democratic standards are facing “important challenges” in some European Union countries, particularly in Hungary and Poland, where the judicial systems are under threat, the EU's executive commission said Wednesday in its first report on adherence to the rule of law. The European Commission depicted a bleak situation in the two countries. Its wide-ranging audit found that prosecution of high-level corruption in Hungary “remains very limited,” and deemed Poland deficient in the four main areas reviewed: national justice systems, anti-corruption frameworks, media freedom and checks and balances.

France's Macron condemns Turkey for backing Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh

The French president accused Turkey of unacceptable "warlike" rhetoric encouraging Azerbaijan to reconquer Nagorno-Karabakh, as fighting with ethnic Armenian forces in the breakaway territory entered its fourth day on Wednesday. France “remains extremely concerned about the warlike messages from Turkey in the past few hours, which amount to giving Azerbaijan the go-ahead for what would be a reconquest of Nagorno-Karabakh,” Emmanuel Macron told a news conference in Latvia. However, he said he had no proof of any direct Turkish involvement. “At this stage, we have no evidence that would allow us to talk about a regionalisation of the conflict,” he said. But he described Turkey’s statements in favour of Azerbaijan as “inconsiderate and dangerous.” Mr Macron said he would discuss the issue in telephone calls with Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, on Wednesday evening and with Donald Trump on Thursday. France, Russia and the United States co-chair the Minsk Group of 13 countries, which aims to broker a peaceful negotiated solution to the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh.

Sharp virus spread in Madrid leads to new anti-outbreak plan

Spain's capital and its surrounding suburbs, the European region where a second coronavirus wave is expanding the fastest by far, are edging toward stricter curbs on people's movements and social gatherings following a political dispute that angered many Spaniards. Health officials from Spain’s central government and the Madrid region agreed on a set of health metrics late Tuesday that should dictate standardized restrictions in cities with a population of 100,000 or more. Approval of the plan, which would mostly affect the greater Madrid area, was pending at a meeting of health officials from all Spanish regions later Wednesday.

North Korea has an 'effective war deterrent,' envoy tells U.N.

"Genuine peace can only be safeguarded when one possesses the absolute strength to prevent war itself," North Korea's U.N. ambassador, Kim Song, said in an address to the U.N. General Assembly. "We have obtained the reliable and effective war deterrent for self-defense by tightening our belts, peace and security of the Korean peninsula and the region are now firmly defended."

Ernest Bai Koroma: Sierra Leone ex-leader banned from leaving country

Ernest Bai Koroma is among more than 100 people named by an inquiry into corruption allegations.

Pompeo urges Vatican to condemn human rights abuses in China

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged the Vatican on Wednesday to join the United States in denouncing violations of religious freedom in China, saying the Catholic Church should be at the forefront in the fight to insist on basic human rights there. Pompeo made the appeal at a conference on religious freedom organized by the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See, with top Vatican officials in the audience. It took place at the same time the Vatican is entering into delicate negotiations with Beijing on extending their controversial agreement on nominating bishops for China.

Sweden won't reopen probe into 1986 slaying of PM Palme

The unsolved slaying of former Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme 34 years ago won’t be reopened, a Swedish prosecutor said Wednesday, adding that those who have requested a review have no connection to the case that would justify ”a substantive review of the prosecutor’s closure decision.” Under Swedish law, a prosecutor’s decision can be appealed to a higher prosecutor and “a number of petitions” for review into the murder of Palme in Stockholm have been received by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, Chief Prosecutor Lennart Gune said. The slaying — Palme was gunned down on Feb. 28, 1986 after he and his wife Lisbet Palme left a movie theater — shocked the Scandinavian nation and upended its image as being so safe and peaceful that politicians could wander around in public without protection.

Canada lawyer says Huawei's Meng Wanzhou is wasting court's time with doomed extradition manoeuvres

A Canadian government lawyer representing US efforts to have Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou extradited to face fraud charges has accused her lawyers of wasting "precious court time" with legal manoeuvres that are doomed to fail.Robert Frater told Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes of the British Columbia Supreme Court on Tuesday that she should "cut off at the knee" applications by Meng's team to have the extradition case thrown out. Meng's lawyers say the US record of the case is so misleading that the only remedy is to release her, and that new evidence to prove this should be admitted by Holmes."Extradition hearings are supposed to be expeditious processes," said Frater, telling the judge that she had "the ability to refuse to waste precious court time on processes that have no hope of success".Get the latest insights and analysis from our Global Impact newsletter on the big stories originating in China."The dominant thread of case law is for summary rejection of these kinds of motions," Frater said.Meng Wanzhou arrives at the BC Supreme Court to attend a hearing in Vancouver on Tuesday. Photo: AP alt=Meng Wanzhou arrives at the BC Supreme Court to attend a hearing in Vancouver on Tuesday. Photo: APMeng returned to court in Vancouver this week, for the first time since May, to hear her lawyers argue that American authorities misled the court in its record of the case (ROC). They want the court to admit new evidence they say will help show the unreliability of the US ROC and the Supplementary ROC (SROC).Frater argued for the judge to reject the applications. He said that "extradition hearings are not trials", but that Meng's lawyers had "edged perilously close to jury addresses" in their arguments on Monday and Tuesday. "We say you should stop both these applications here and now," he added.Frater said affidavits filed by Meng's team to support their claims were "garden-variety alternative inference and defence evidence that is inadmissible".Earlier on Tuesday, Meng's lawyer Frank Addario said that a HSBC banker who met Meng in a Hong Kong teahouse in 2013 must have left the meeting knowing that Huawei and a partner were working in Iran.Her lawyers argue this undercuts US charges that she defrauded the bank by lying about Huawei's Iran dealings, thus exposing the bank to the risk of breaching US sanctions on Tehran.Addario and another lawyer for Meng, Scott Fenton, have argued this week that the unreliable and "defective" ROC from the US omitted details about the evidence against Meng. Specifically, they cited a PowerPoint presentation she gave to the HSBC banker that forms the backbone of the fraud charge.Fenton and Addario said the ROC omitted parts of the PowerPoint presentation in which Meng described Huawei's business relationship with a partner called Skycom that was working in Iran - the very relationship the US claims she tried to cover up.Meng told the banker, identified as "HSBC Witness B", that Skycom was a Huawei partner working to sell telecommunications gear in Iran, and that the relationship was "normal and controllable business cooperation", her lawyers have said.On Tuesday, Addario said: "The banker would have left the meeting knowing that Huawei and Skycom were working together in Iran."Meng's presentation put the bank "on notice", and should have been enough for it to take any action it deemed necessary to avoid breaching US sanctions, Fenton argued on Monday.HSBC could have vetoed transactions it deemed risky, or conducted them outside the US banking system, in a way that would not have triggered any Iran sanctions risk, he said.Meng's lawyers also say the ROC by the US was misleading because it claimed only "junior" HSBC employees knew of the true relationship between Huawei and Skycom. The US omitted the actual titles of HSBC staff who were aware of the relationship, including a "senior vice-president" who knew Huawei operated Skycom's bank account."The junior-senior distinction is an invention of the ROC author," said Addario on Tuesday. This "deliberately misled" readers of the ROC, he said.In a court filing, Meng's team had said that "the evidence that the Requesting State relies on as essential to committal [the ROC and SROC] is so unreliable or defective that it should be disregarded". The extradition case should be thrown out, they contend.Meng, 48, who is Huawei's chief financial officer and a daughter of company founder Ren Zhengfei, has denied the allegations against her.She was arrested at Vancouver's airport on December 1, 2018, on a stopover from Hong Kong. Her detention threw China's relations with the US and Canada into disarray.Within days, China arrested Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, charging them with espionage; their detention is widely seen in the West as hostage-taking and retaliation for Meng's arrest.Meng remains under partial house arrest in Vancouver, living in one of the two homes she owns here. Her extradition proceedings are scheduled to last until next year, but appeals could drag out the process much longer.This article originally appeared in the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative voice reporting on China and Asia for more than a century. For more SCMP stories, please explore the SCMP app or visit the SCMP's Facebook and Twitter pages. Copyright © 2020 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved. Copyright (c) 2020. South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.

Venezuela shortages prompt wave of protests across country

* More than 100 protests erupt in 17 of 23 states * Fuel, electricity, water and household goods in short supplyA wave of demonstrations has erupted across Venezuela as angry citizens flout lockdown restrictions to demand an end to worsening shortages of everything from electricity and water to fuel and household supplies.Since Sunday, more than 100 protests have broken out in at least 17 of the country’s 23 states, sometimes resulting in skirmishes with riot police.Unlike previous waves of demonstrations led by the political opposition and focused on ousting President Nicolás Maduro, the current unrest has largely taken place outside Caracas and protesters have not expressly called for a change of government.Nonetheless, police and urban militias known as colectivos have deployed to crack down on protests and scores of people have been arrested.After more than two weeks without running water at his home in the town of Independencia, Juan Rivas joined a demonstration that was quashed when police fired teargas.“They don’t want us communicating with the rest of the country … we couldn’t protest, not just because of the gas but also because they send the colectivos,” he said.“What we are seeing today is part of a long process of infrastructure collapse that has made people’s lives unbearable,” said Dimitris Pantoulas, a political risk consultant specializing in Venezuela. “As people outside Caracas see their lives deteriorate while the government doesn’t resolve their problems, the protests will get more intense and probably more violent.”Although Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves on the planet, collapsing infrastructure has led to a steep drop in production. As a result, the country’s heavy crude remains underground while motorists wait for hours in snaking queues outside petrol stations to fill up.Wilmer Benavides, a cattle farmer who lives near Ciudad Guayana in south-eastern Venezuela, said he had shut down his business as he could no longer transport his goods to the city’s markets.On Monday, Benavides waited in line while nearby demonstrators set up roadblocks in protest against the local governor’s latest fuel rationing measures: a maximum allowance of 10 litres per car and five litres per motorcycle. “That won’t get me anywhere,” he said. “It’s barely enough to last two days driving around town.”Maduro, the leftwing successor to Hugo Chávez, is resisting a challenge to his legitimacy from Juan Guaidó, an opposition leader backed by the US and 50 other countries. The incumbent retains the key support of the military and remains allied with Russia, China and Cuba.Guaidó has voiced some support for the protests, but he and other opposition leaders have largely remained silent. Some observers said that such reticence may be ill-advised.“Calling people to hit the streets in the midst of a pandemic and humanitarian emergency could seem ‘off’,” said Maryhen Jiménez, a political scientist specializing in authoritarianism. “But there is a growing disconnect between Guaidó and ‘the people’ as he has focused more on international factors than organizing and mobilizing at home.”US-led sanctions prohibit most trade with the embattled nation, though the first of three Iranian-flagged tankers entered Venezuelan waters on Monday, transporting some 270,000 barrels of fuel, which may alleviate some shortages.But while Maduro remains in power, a harsh line against dissent is assured. This month, the United Nations accused his government of crimes against humanity in a scathing report that found Maduro and his top ministers to be responsible for extrajudicial killings and the systemic use of torture.The local watchdog Foro Penal reported on Monday that at least 214 people had been detained and four killed while protesting during 2020.

World reacts with surprise, worry to 1st Biden-Trump debate

A European market watcher's warning of a “credibility deficit” in U.S. politics amid fears that a long tradition of peaceful, amicable transfer of power could be in jeopardy. Many across the world looked on largely aghast as the first debate between President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden devolved into a verbal slugfest short on substance but heavy with implications for America’s international image.

Tech Army Set Up by Europe’s Last Dictator Turns on Its Creator

WARSAW, Poland—One of the rare successes chalked up by the regime of Europe’s last dictator has been the establishment of a kind of East European Silicon Valley, which spawned a booming industry of Belarusian programmers and tech start-ups.The autocratic president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, now fears he has created a monster.An army of 30,000 tech-savvy professionals is turning against its creator. Coders and software engineers, many of whom are linked to the state-sponsored Hi-Tech Park in Minsk, have formed a hacking collective called Cyber Partisans which is wreaking havoc as Lukashenko tries to quell a growing revolution.Thousands of Belarusians have been arrested since August’s presidential election, which was condemned as rigged by foreign observers. Opposition leaders claim Lukashenko was voted out of power amid huge demonstrations against a brutal quarter of a century in power.Hundreds of those who were arrested have been beaten and assaulted, some have allegedly even been raped and killed in jails. Lukashenko has tried to emulate his ally President Putin’s iron grip on dissent. Abduction of the Woman Leading the Belarus Revolution Is Classic KGB ‘Terror’ PloyOver the weekend, Cyber Partisans hacked into the Belarusian TV and Radio Company website, the national state media organisation, and showed 30 minutes of footage of security forces using violent force against protestors instead of the usual state news. “The guy who created this is a real hero,” one of the hackers told The Daily Beast. “He spent about one week to prepare everything. He was a few days without sleep.”That was just the latest act of online civil disobedience.Over the past three months, a common sight in the streets of Minsk—often in broad daylight—is the image of a desperate civilian being dragged, kicking and screaming, into an unmarked police vehicle by masked men, often in plain clothes. The vast majority of the individuals behind the violent crackdown and aggression have remained nameless and faceless. Abuses and crimes committed against the population were likely to go without consequence—until now.In a small office in central Warsaw, Yan Verbitsky, who works for NEXTA, an independent, anti-Lukashenko media organisation, sat at his computer admiring a spreadsheet he recently procured from the hackers filled with the personal details of Belarusian police. “We want to show that they will not be able to hide behind masks and remain anonymous in their atrocities” he says. Mumbling to himself in Russian, he plots the best way to present the list to the public and declares that he has no sympathy towards those he is about to unmask.“NOBODY STAYS ANONYMOUS,” was the message eventually sent to two million Belarusians. It came at the start of a post releasing the names, addresses, dates of birth, and car registrations of 12 senior OMON police officials, accused of violence against citizens in Belarus. OMON is a special unit of the police, seen unbadged, armed with sticks, batons and pepper spray, and regularly pictured brutalising and harassing citizens countrywide.Attempts had previously been made to unmask individual officers behind the attacks on citizens. Nina Bahiskaya, 73, a prominent activist in Belarus, has been pictured grasping at balaclavas worn by police to expose their faces. Before the hack, there was no way to do this on a wider scale.On Aug. 16, NEXTA, which is run out of the Polish capital, released the alleged identities of a dozen senior police officers via their channel NEXTA Live, on the encrypted messaging app Telegram. Since then, they have gone on to release the names of over 2,000 more. Yan said: “[Lukashenko] is not able to ensure the security of the data of his own minions.”NEXTA has played a huge role in the revolution. With a growing following of over two million people, they release hundreds of videos and images daily depicting police brutality towards citizens. Protestors also look to them for instructions on where to converge for major demonstrations. All the while, these protests are orchestrated remotely. Their efforts have been effective in coordinating protestors and spreading word of abuses, but more was required.The Cyber Partisans claim to have seized over 10,000 names of individuals involved in the security services taken directly from the database of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. They have shared this information with NEXTA in the hope of forcing more and more of Lukashenko’s officials to quit.“We hope that the publication of the lists will encourage honest people who have remained in the system to leave it and join the people,” said Verbitsky. NEXTA say they have since received hundreds of police resignations, with more arriving every day.It is impossible to say what has inspired these resignations as many have already quit in response to the conduct of the government. There have also been cases of riot police putting down their shields and being embraced by protestors in thanks for their defiance.During an interview, conducted on a high-security encrypted messaging app, one of the hackers, using the pseudonym “Yura”, explained that after witnessing the violent clashes between police and since August and the continued harassment of civilians, they decided to act. “We have [the] chance to do something for our country right now and to change something,” he said.He explained that the government data security was weak, and it took just a few hours to retrieve the identities, but since then Yura said, they have gone into “paranoia mode.” Not only in the streets, but also in cyberspace—increasing their security measures to halt further compromises.The list of identities shared with NEXTA is a fraction of Belarus’s total police force, which is estimated anywhere between 200,000 and 300,000, but it is made up predominantly of senior officers and commanders across many branches of the internal security apparatus. Less attention is given to the foot soldiers, since NEXTA claim, “The security forces themselves also suffer in it, they are being turned into criminals—and many who, going to the service, did not subscribe to the crime.”The army of future hackers began to take shape in 2005 when Lukashenko signed a decree triggering the creation of Hi-Tech Park, in Minsk. Since then, it has flourished into one of the country’s most dominant economic powers. Software exports reached over a billion U.S. dollars in 2017, and more than 27,000 software developers and engineers were drawn to work in Hi-Tech Park alone.The tech industry was then built from the ground up by Valery Tshepkalo, a former aide to Lukashenko and Belarus’ former ambassador to the United States. After his success kickstarting a Belarusian tech revolution, Tshepkalo fell out with Lukashenko and stood against him to be president in 2008.When he was banned from running again and forced into exile earlier this year, his wife, Veronika Tshepkalo, took up the mantle and became one of a troika of female leaders at the head of a popular uprising against Lukashenko’s regime.Speaking from his apartment in Warsaw, Valery Tshepkalo told The Daily Beast that the tech industry and its highly trained workers have become “the strongest opponents to this regime.” He had no idea that a technological rebellion would be required to fight against Lukashenko when building this industry.Now that the Ministry of Internal Affairs database of officials has been breached, Tshepkalo accepted that members of the security services had a difficult decision to make but he called on them to stop following illegal orders and quit. “We call on them to resign,” he said.The total number of tech experts actively turning against the government is unclear. Yura said so far there were, “about 50-100 Cyber Partisans. Maybe more. It’s only just begun.”Dictator’s Gun-Toting Son, 15, Is Being Groomed as Belarus’ King JoffreyThe Cyber Partisans do not work alone. He mentioned there were other hacker groups, but there have been issues working collectively as they need to be able to trust each other. The police are attempting to infiltrate these networks and it is near impossible to confidently share information between groups without suspicion.Any type of anti-government activity holds heavy sentences in Belarus, so Yura and his group are taking major risks, “I understand my risks but I’m trying not to think about this. We are trying to be more careful,” he said.The Belarusian authorities have acknowledged the data breach and will not take it lightly. “The forces, means, and technologies at the disposal of the internal affairs bodies make it possible to identify and prosecute the overwhelming majority of those guilty of leaking personal data on the Internet," said Volha Chamadanava, a ministry spokeswoman.This risk and the threat of reprisal is not deterring the group from continuing their work.They intend to keep sourcing more information about police, including photographs, social media profiles, email addresses, home addresses and telephone numbers, any information that will name and shame the police. They were close to obtaining the entire police database but lost their chance and “are searching for a new one.” Yet data leaks are not their only method of agitation.Looking forward, Yura declared that he has no desire to become a full-time hacker and will continue his career in software engineering once Lukashenko is out for good. But, for now, this transfer of skills put to political use among the tech community appears to be yet another vital string in the bow of the revolution with the mission to remove Lukashenko from power.The security services on Belarus appear to be key in this revolution and keeping Lukashenko in power. They are well paid, well equipped and are highly effective in suppressing any anti-Lukashenko, or pro-free election sentiments, however minor or major, across the country.“We warned you: you won’t be able to hide under Balaclavas, Lukashenko,” affirmed NEXTA.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

Are ‘Outside Forces’ to Blame in NYC’s Hottest COVID Zone?

On Tuesday, one day after Yom Kippur, and three before the start of Sukkot, shoppers vastly outnumbered masks along the central commercial corridor of Borough Park, Brooklyn. Here, in the heart of New York City’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, COVID-19 is surging, with positivity rates spiking to as high as 17 percent on Sunday.From what was visible along 13th Avenue just north of New Utrecht Avenue, whether at the outdoor stalls selling palm fronds and citrons, or through storefront windows of busy shops, or the dark glass of lumbering yellow yeshiva buses, even those who took some precautions often failed to cover both their mouth and their nose.That’s not unique to a neighborhood and a community leery of being singled out by authorities for what some allege is a double standard. Virtually any block in the five boroughs has complacent residents months after sirens wailed inescapably across New York, formerly the global epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak, and more recently a sort of U.S. pandemic safe harbor.But with some experts fearing a second COVID-19 wave—or a backsplash of the first—misconceptions about immunity and social distancing have Brooklyn’s ultra-Orthodox in danger of getting soaked a second time. The surge threatens not just to help unravel local progress in containing the coronavirus pandemic, but to hamstring school reopenings across America’s largest city.“Most of the community had it already, so we’re not so worried,” 32-year-old Aron Brever told The Daily Beast in Borough Park, his blue mask hanging around his beard. Brever said he, his wife, and his children all tested positive for the disease in March, but experienced little other than a loss of taste and smell.“We’re careful, but we’re not afraid,” he added.‘Zero Progress’: The Fall Coronavirus Surge Is Already HerePublic-health experts and government agencies, the embattled Centers for Disease Control and Prevention among them, have said that past infection and attendant antibodies may offer only limited—if any—protection, especially six months later.“Anybody who’s had COVID in the past is probably at a lower risk for about three months,” said Rabbi Aaron Glatt, chairman of the Department of Medicine and chief of infectious diseases at Mount Sinai South Nassau, before warning, “We really don’t know. And there have been cases where people have gotten COVID a second time.”“My advice to people is that you can get COVID a second time,” he told The Daily Beast.On Monday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued a dire warning, citing that one-day 17-percent positivity rate in the 11219 ZIP Code that covers Borough Park. Recent state and local figures also pointed to a spike in ultra-Orthodox communities in other neighborhoods, as well as in such areas north of the city, and in ZIP Codes in southern Brooklyn with substantial non-Jewish populations. On Tuesday, with the city-wide positivity rate cracking 3 percent—which, over time, could force schools to close—Mayor Bill de Blasio teased new enforcement measures, fines for failing to wear masks among them. Some yeshivas have already been shut down over fear of wider outbreaks as the city attempts to reopen the largest public-school system in the country.In Borough Park, Tzvi Rosenberg recalled his own experience with COVID-19 symptoms months ago. Then he suggested most members of the community were taking appropriate precautions, and that many had already conquered the plague.“Most people had it way back,” Rosenberg told The Daily Beast, enjoying a cigarette unmasked a few feet from a similarly unprotected friend. “In the synagogue, on Yom Kippur, it was all social distancing, masks. We’re not wearing right now, because we’re smoking.”Misperception is common in the neighborhood, according to local activist and podcaster Yosef Rapaport. The deluge of ultra-Orthodox deaths and funeral notices in the early months of the year, he argued, created an impression of ubiquitous and nearly universal infection. When cases fell as New York flattened the curve over the summer, Rapaport—who lost a brother and a brother-in-law to the disease—said many of his neighbors assumed the catastrophe had passed and that they were immune.Put together mixed messages from de Blasio and Cuomo, the popularity of President Donald Trump among the area’s socially conservative voters, and “crazy clips from [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s St. Petersburg basement,” as Rapaport put it, and the area has faced “a perfect storm” of misinformation.“We’re being buffeted by outside forces,” said the 66-year-old, describing how many in the community believed in the Trump-touted but medically dubious treatment of hydroxychloroquine, and how a friend approached his wife in synagogue and warned her, falsely, that masks cause COVID-19 infection. “People were lulled into a false sense both from the president and from experience.”Still, Rapaport maintained the situation had improved dramatically in recent days, thanks to the exhortations of local press and political leaders. He admitted many fail to wear their masks properly, but argued that was hardly unique to Borough Park.“That you see all over town,” he said.David Schwartz, a 26-year-old local Democratic Party official, agreed. Having himself tested positive for the disease, he complained his community had been scapegoated for what were really institutional failures.“It’s not a secret that this is more Republican than other parts of the city,” said Schwartz, who reported having quarantined himself for a full two months as the pathogen coursed through his entire family. “If we’re being failed on information, the city needs to step up.”De Blasio and Cuomo have held meetings with ecclesiastical and elected authorities in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community. And some medical experts defended the local government’s efforts at engagement.“The de Blasio administration was well aware of the issues there, and have had outreach by people recruited from the community to spread the word, and that’s been going on for a long time,” said Irwin Redlener, director of the Pandemic Resource and Response Initiative at Columbia University and an adviser to the mayor. “The mayor and the governor are right to clamp down on any group that is intentionally defying what we need to sustain the public’s health and control this COVID-19 outbreak.”Redlener warned that those who fail to comply with social distancing and masking rules risk spreading the disease beyond their own neighborhoods, and suggested an even more “forceful” response might be necessary.On Tuesday, The Daily Beast encountered employees of the city hospital system distributing leaflets at the 55th Street D Train station, which serves the core of Borough Park. They pointed passersby to a free testing center set up on an empty lot a few blocks south and east.But when The Daily Beast visited, the facility seemed all but empty.On approaching a station of the Hatzolah of Borough Park, the volunteer ambulance corps that serves the community, The Daily Beast spotted an unmasked man shutting the gate and climbing behind the steering wheel of a van. The vehicle sported an EMS sticker in the window and several other unmasked individuals in the backseats.“I don’t talk! I don’t talk to nobody!” the driver shouted before speeding away.Some messaging, however, seems to be getting through, if sporadically: A number of 13th Avenue shops have taken the precaution of putting up a “Please Wear a Mask” sign. Eli Babio, owner of Black Velvet shoes, hastily raised his mouth and nose guard when a reporter from The Daily Beast entered.“Of course I’m worried. I’m worried for my health,” he said, despite also reporting having experienced the disease once already.Babio said he stayed home from services during the High Holidays for the first time in his life, and has his kids taking their religious lessons remotely. He even endorsed the mayor’s suggestion that the city may need to again shut down schools, which could be authorities’ fail-safe for COVID-19 enforcement here.“If he feels it’s scientifically correct, he should do it,” Babio said.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

Sheikh Nawaf sworn in as Kuwait's new ruling emir

Kuwait’s Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad Al Sabah was sworn in before parliament Wednesday as the ruling emir of the tiny oil-rich country, propelled to power by the death of his half-brother after a long career in the security services. At age 83, Sheikh Nawaf is not expected to deviate from the diplomatic path charted by his predecessor, the late Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah. The late Sheikh Sabah, 91, made his final journey to Kuwait later on Wednesday, his remains flying back to Kuwait City from Rochester, Minnesota, home of the flagship campus of the Mayo Clinic where he had been receiving medical treatment after surgery.

Germany's Merkel defends government record during pandemic

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday defended her government's record during the coronavirus pandemic, telling lawmakers that the country had fared well compared to many of its peers. The far-right Alternative for Germany, the largest opposition party, accused Merkel during a budget debate in Parliament of using the crisis as an excuse to spend taxpayers' money and promote what it described as “corona socialism.” Merkel rejected the charge, noting that despite putting together an unprecedented stimulus package and breaking its previous borrowing rules, Germany continues to have the lowest public debt ratio of all countries in the Group of Seven industrialized nations.

Japan's military seeks record $52 bn budget

Japan's defence ministry on Wednesday unveiled a record $52-billion budget request in a push to maintain military readiness under pressure from China and North Korea.

Rape and killing of Dalit woman shocks India, draws outrage

The gang rape and death of a woman from the lowest rung of India’s caste system sparked outrage across the country on Wednesday, with several politicians and activists demanding justice and protesters rallying in the streets. The attack of the 19-year-old is the latest gruesome case of sexual violence against women to rile India, where reports of rape are hauntingly familiar. The victim, who belonged to the Dalit community, was raped by four men on Sept. 14 in the heartland state of Uttar Pradesh’s Hathras district.

Germany moves to toughen Huawei oversight: sources

The German government is planning tougher oversight of telecoms network vendors that, while stopping short of a ban on Huawei [HWT.UL], will make it harder for the Chinese company to keep a foothold in Europe's largest market. Three coalition and government sources said on Wednesday that an agreement had been reached in principle to extend scrutiny of a vendor's governance and technology to Radio Access Networks (RAN) powering next-generation 5G services, in addition to the more sensitive core. The Handelsblatt daily reported earlier that, after two years of wrangling, Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition had agreed on a formula for how to handle so-called high-risk vendors in a proposed IT security law.

UN meeting that began with unity concludes with divisions

This year's U.N. General Assembly meeting began with calls for multilateralism and cooperation — a declaration that the urgency for countries to unite “has rarely been greater.” An Iranian diplomat accused Israel of disregarding U.N. resolutions on negotiating a two-state solution with the Palestinians, and countered that Israel “poses the most serious threats to the security of the states in the Middle East” because of its widely reported nuclear program, which Israel has never acknowledged.

Gazans left stranded abroad by Israeli-Palestinian standoff

For the last four months, Ahmed al-Kurdi, his wife and three children have been stranded in Jordan, where they traveled from their home in the Gaza Strip for life-saving medical treatment for his 2-year-old daughter. At a time when the coronavirus pandemic has led to border closures and travel restrictions, they find themselves stuck, not because of quarantine measures, but because of a dispute between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The Palestinians had hoped to pressure Israel by forcing it to assume more of the burden of its half-century occupation of the territory.

Israel approves law to curb protests during virus lockdown

Israel's parliament on Wednesday passed a law that would allow the government to curtail public protests during the country's nationwide coronavirus lockdown, a measure that drew fierce opposition a day earlier. The law allows the government to declare a special week-long state of emergency if the coronavirus spreads out of control. If such a state is declared, the government would be able to limit participation in assemblies, including protests, to 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) from a person's home, effectively putting a halt to large weekly demonstrations outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's residence.

AP FACT CHECK: False claims swamp first Trump-Biden debate

President Donald Trump unleashed a torrent of fabrications and fear-mongering in a belligerent debate with Joe Biden, at one point claiming the U.S. death toll would have been 10 times higher under the Democrat because he wanted open borders in the pandemic. Biden preached no such thing. Biden stumbled on the record at times as the angry words flew from both men on the Cleveland stage.

Debate Takeaways: An acrid tone from the opening minute

After more than a year of circling each other, Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden met on the debate stage Tuesday night in Ohio. Trump’s supporters may have been cheered by his frontal assault.