“Sebastian Kurz resigned Saturday as Austria’s chancellor in the face of corruption allegations.
The resignation is a setback for Kurz, 35, a rising star of European conservative politics, who became the nation’s foreign minister at 27 and leader at 31.” Read more at Boston Globe
“PRAGUE — In a blow to Europe’s once surging populist politicians, the prime minister of the Czech Republic, a pugnacious businessman who has compared himself to Donald Trump and railed against migrants, suffered a surprising defeat in a parliamentary election that ended on Saturday.
After two days of voting, near-final results indicated that a center-right coalition of parties led by a button-down former academic had won the largest share of votes, narrowly ahead of a party led by the scandal-singed prime minister, Andrej Babis.
Czech Television calculated that opposition groups would win 108 of 200 seats in the lower house of Parliament, meaning that Mr. Babis, a billionaire, had little chance of staying on as prime minister.
The results, which showed a nationalist party led by a Czech-Japanese firebrand getting around 9.6 percent of the vote, were far from an unequivocal rejection of far-right populism. But the strong showing by the mainstream coalition and a socially liberal opposition group, the Pirates, allied with another party dominated by local mayors, suggested that a populist wave in Eastern and Central Europe is perhaps receding.” Read more at New York Times
“Raymond T. Odierno, a four-star Army general who was an influential architect of the surge of American forces during the Iraq war that helped quell sectarian killings and increase stability in the country, died on Friday. He was 67.
His death was confirmed by a spokesperson for the family, who said in a statement issued by the Army on Saturday that the cause was cancer and was not related to the coronavirus. Further details were not immediately available.
General Odierno also served as the Army chief of staff, the service’s senior officer, from 2011 to 2015. During that time, he reshaped the way many soldiers were trained and deployed, with some conventional units placed under Special Operations commanders and others assigned to regions of the world viewed as emerging security risks, like Africa.
General Odierno cut an intimidating figure, at 6 feet 5 inches and 250 pounds with a shaved head, but he was outgoing and popular with his troops. He served three tours of duty in Iraq from 2003 to 2010 and rose to become chief commander of all allied forces in the country.” Read more at New York Times
“A Nick Saban assistant finally did it. After 24 attempts by a group that includes Kirby Smart, Lane Kiffin and Will Muschamp, it was Jimbo Fisher that finally broke the unbeaten streak of the Alabama coach against his former assistants when Texas A&M knocked off the top-ranked Crimson Tide 41-38.
The unlikely victory by the unraked Aggies was led by Zack Calzada. The sophomore quarterback started the season as the backup before being pressed into action when Haynes King was injured in Week 2 against Colorado. He struggled in consecutive losses to Arkansas and Washington State leading into the Alabama game, but was good enough to lead A&M to just its second win against Alabama since joining the SEC in 2012….
It was the first loss for Alabama after 19 consecutive victories dating to a loss to Auburn on Nov. 30, 2019.” Read more at USA Today
“The Indian Health Service announced this week that Black Native Americans in the Seminole Nation, known as the Freedmen, will now be eligible for health care through the federal agency, which previously denied them coronavirus vaccinations and other care.
The shift in policy comes as the Biden administration and members of Congress are pressuring the Seminole and other Native tribes in Oklahoma to desegregate their constitutions and include the Freedmen, many of whom are descendants of Black people who had been held as slaves by the tribes, as full and equal citizens of their tribes under post-Civil War treaty obligations.” Read more at New York Times
“MONTREAL — Since Aude Le Dubé opened an English-only bookshop in Montreal last year, she has had several unwelcome guests each month: Irate Francophones, sometimes draped in Quebec flags, who storm in and berate her for not selling books in French.
‘You would think I had opened a sex shop at the Vatican,’ mused Ms. Le Dubé, a novelist from Brittany, France, and an ardent F. Scott Fitzgerald fan.
Now, however, Ms. Le Dubé is worried that resistance against businesses like her De Stiil bookshop will intensify. A new language bill that the Quebec government has proposed would solidify the status of French as the paramount language in Quebec, a move that could undermine businesses that depend on English.” Read more at New York Times
“Period products will be provided free in public schools across California starting next school year as required by new legislation signed into law on Friday.
Public schools with students in grades 6 to 12, community colleges and the California State University System — a network of 23 campuses with more than 485,00 students — will be required to provide free period products in restrooms starting in the 2022-23 academic year.
The legislation, named the Menstrual Equity for All Act, was introduced by Cristina Garcia (D), a member of California’s state assembly, and signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D).” Read more at Washington Post
“Civil rights activists are condemning the arrest of Black man with paraplegia in Dayton, Ohio, who was seen in newly released body-camera video being pulled from his car during a traffic stop last week as he yelled for help and told officers he cannot use his legs.
Clifford Owensby, 39, has filed a complaint with the Dayton Unit of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and spoke to an investigator, President Derrick Foward told The Washington Post on Saturday. Foward said the NAACP will be working ‘hand-in-hand’ with Owensby's legal counsel after his Sept. 30 arrest.
‘To pull this man out of the car, by his hair - a paraplegic - is totally unacceptable, inhumane and sets a bad light on our great city of Dayton, Ohio,’ Foward told The Post.
The city posted a recording of the footage Friday that had audio problems that made it unfit for publication by The Post. A spokesperson for the police department said access to the raw video footage was not immediately available.
On Friday, the department said its Bureau of Professional Standards will investigate the incident, including the officers' conduct; they have not been publicly identified. Police cited Owensby for his window tint and for transporting a child without a car seat; a 3-year-old child was in the car at the time of the arrest, police said.
Officers had been monitoring a house Sept. 30 when they saw Owensby leave, according to Dayton police's video statement released Friday. After finding prior drug charges, officers wanted a police K-9 to sniff around Owensby's car, which required him to exit, police said.
The encounter grew tense after Owensby told officers he could not step out of his car because he is paraplegic. The officers said they would assist him.
‘I don't think that's going to happen, sir,’ Owensby replies in the video….
Dayton police were already under scrutiny after Jack Runser, a man who is deaf and mute and has cerebral palsy, sued the department, saying he was injured and mistreated by police during a 2020 arrest.” Read more at Boston Globe
“Matthew McConaughey hasn’t ruled out running for governor of Texas, but says he’ll only consider it if he can make himself ‘useful’ in the role.
In an interview with Kara Swisher on the New York Times’s ‘Sway’ podcast, the Texas-born actor described American politics as a ‘broken business’ and explained that he would not run to unseat incumbent Republican Greg Abbott in 2022 unless he felt he could make a difference as an elected official.
‘I could arguably have more influence as an informal leader than a formal leader,’ McConaughey said, referring to his philanthropic efforts as a private citizen.” Read more at Boston Globe
“ISLAMABAD — The Taliban on Saturday ruled out cooperation with the United States to contain extremist groups in Afghanistan, staking out an uncompromising position on a key issue ahead of the first direct talks between the former foes since America withdrew from the country in August.
Senior Taliban officials and US representatives are to meet Saturday and Sunday in Doha, the capital of the Persian Gulf state of Qatar. Officials from both sides have said the issues include reining in extremist groups and the evacuation of foreign citizens and Afghans from the country. The Taliban have signaled flexibility on evacuations.
Taliban political spokesman Suhail Shaheen said there would be no cooperation with Washington on going after the increasingly active Islamic State group affiliate in Afghanistan. ISIS has taken responsibility for a number of attacks, including a suicide bombing that killed 46 minority Shi’ite Muslims and wounded dozens as they prayed in a mosque.
‘We are able to tackle Daesh independently,’ Shaheen said, when asked whether the Taliban would work with the US to contain the Islamic State affiliate. He used an Arabic acronym for ISIS.” Read more at Boston Globe
“Moderna’s vaccine appears to be the world’s best defense against Covid. Poor countries are struggling to get it.
Moderna is selling nearly all of its Covid vaccine — the only product it sells — to wealthy nations, earning billions in profit. About one million doses have gone to countries that the World Bank classifies as low-income, compared with 8.4 million Pfizer doses and about 25 million single-shot Johnson & Johnson doses.
Most middle-income countries that have struck deals with Moderna have not received any doses. Thailand and Colombia are paying a premium. The Biden administration has pressured the company to make its vaccine, which was developed with the support of the U.S. government, more widely available.
The development of Covid vaccines means more effective flu vaccines may emerge, thanks to the same technology. In the meantime, public experts say it’s extra important to get a flu shot this year to prevent a ‘twindemic.’” Read more at New York Times
“As Congress debates President Biden’s $3.5 trillion social policy bill, we took a close look at one key element: child care.
The bill would cap families’ child care expenses at 7 percent of their income, offer large subsidies to child care centers and require the centers to raise wages in hopes of improving teacher quality. The subsidies ‘would be the biggest investment in the history of child care,’ one expert said.
Democrats describe the problem as a fundamental market failure — it simply costs more to provide care than many families can afford. Republicans say the plan is unaffordable and smacks of socialism. As Democrats consider trimming the bill down to $2 trillion, a proposal to limit programs to the poor has rekindled a debate on government itself.” Read more at New York Times
“Most abortions in Texas are banned once again after a federal appeals court panel reinstated the restrictive law.
The decision came two days after a lower court had blocked the law in a case brought by the Biden administration. Many providers expected the conservative Fifth Circuit to side with Texas. The panel called on the administration to respond by Tuesday. While at least six clinics in Texas had begun performing the procedure beyond the limits of the new law in the past week, most of the state’s roughly two dozen providers had opted not to.
The law, which bans abortions at about six weeks of pregnancy, when many women don’t know they’re pregnant, leaves enforcement to private citizens.
The new law has already led many women to travel out of state for the procedure.” Read more at New York Times
“Energy is so hard to come by right now that some provinces in China are rationing electricity, Europeans are paying sky-high prices for liquefied natural gas, power plants in India are on the verge of running out of coal, and the average price of a gallon of regular gasoline in the United States stood at $3.25 on Friday — up from $1.72 in April.
As the global economy recovers and global leaders prepare to gather for a landmark conference on climate change, the sudden energy crunch hitting the world is threatening already stressed supply chains, stirring geopolitical tensions and raising questions about whether the world is ready for the green energy revolution when it’s having trouble powering itself right now.
The economic recovery from the pandemic recession lies behind the crisis, coming after a year of retrenchment in coal, oil and gas extraction. Other factors include an unusually cold winter in Europe that drained reserves, a series of hurricanes that forced shutdowns of Gulf oil refineries, a turn for the worse in relations between China and Australia that led Beijing to stop importing coal from Down Under, and a protracted calm spell over the North Sea that has sharply curtailed the output of electricity-generating wind turbines.” Read more at Washington Post
“Allen West, a Tea Party firebrand now a candidate for the Republican nomination for governor of Texas, said on Saturday he had received monoclonal antibody injections after being diagnosed with Covid-19 pneumonia.
He also said his wife, Angela West, also tested positive and had received antibodies.
According to his Twitter account, Allen West has not been vaccinated against the virus. His wife has.” Read more at The Guardian
“Scotland Yard officers have spoken to Prince Andrew’s accuser, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who alleges she was forced to have sex with him when she was 17 years old, it has been reported.
In an interview in August, after Giuffre filed a civil lawsuit against the prince, the Met commissioner, Dame Cressida Dick, said ‘no one is above the law’ and that she had ‘asked my team to have another look at the material’.
The Sunday Times reported that Met officers had since questioned Giuffre, who now lives in Australia, about the allegations. It said it was unclear whether they had taken a formal statement from her.
The prince has ‘absolutely and categorically’ denied having sex with Giuffre and Buckingham Palace has called the claims ‘false and without foundation’.” Read more at The Guardian
“A massive leak revealing the secret assets of some of the world's most powerful figures is putting new pressure on global leaders to crack down on shadowy finances.
The so-called Pandora Papers consist of millions of leaked financial documents that were reviewed and analyzed for two years by more than a hundred news outlets, including The Washington Post and the BBC, that are part of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).
The trove illustrates the secretive practices that world leaders and wealthy individuals have employed to keep their assets hidden in dozens of countries, including the United States.
Here are four takeaways from the Pandora Papers.
South Dakota emerges as tax haven
South Dakota was spotlighted in the investigation as a leading offshore tax haven that’s been used by current and former world leaders over the years.
There were 81 trusts uncovered in South Dakota in the sweeping investigation as well 37 in Florida, 35 in Delaware, 24 in Texas and 14 in Nevada.
‘The Pandora Papers provide details about tens of millions of dollars moved from offshore havens in the Caribbean and Europe into South Dakota,’ the ICIJ said.
The probe found that the family of Carlos Morales Troncoso, the former vice president of the Dominican Republic, began tucking away its assets in trusts in the Midwest state in 2019.
The family of Ecuador’s newly elected president, Guillermo Lasso, also shifted two offshore companies from Panama to trusts in South Dakota in 2017 after lawmakers passed legislation in Ecuador that made it illegal for public officials to use tax havens for shielding their assets. Lasso told the ICIJ that his previous offshore financial activity was been ‘legal and legitimate.’
The ICIJ reported that state legislation in South Dakota over the years has helped allow for more more secretive investments.
Lauren Kohr, senior director of anti-money laundering, Americas, at the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists, said South Dakota, Nevada, Delaware, Arkansas and Wyoming have a reputation as “onshore-offshore states.”
‘South Dakota is a trust-friendly state with minor restrictions, making it attractive domestically and globally for legitimate and illicit use,’ she said.
Lawmakers seek crackdown on financial 'enablers'
A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced legislation following the release of the Pandora Papers seeking to crack down on financial ‘enablers’ that help foreign clients hide their wealth in the U.S. using shell companies, trusts and other means.
‘If we make banks report dirty money but allow law, real estate and accounting firms to look the other way, that creates a loophole that crooks and kleptocrats can sail a yacht through,’ Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-N.J.), one of the four co-authors of the bill, said.
The legislation would require the Treasury Department to impose stronger due diligence rules laws by the end of 2023 for ‘middlemen,’ including attorneys who help create limited liability companies for clients who abuse the law.
Ian Gary, executive director of the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency Coalition, called the bill a step in the direction.
‘Unlike the banking sector, which is highly regulated and has to file suspicious activity reports and do ‘Know Your Customer’ due diligence, these lawyers, investment advisors, accountants ... real estate agents, they're not under those kinds of basic due diligence requirements,’ he said.
‘That's why the Enablers Act, I think, is so important,’ he said. ‘Again, the U.S. is behind some other countries and not having any requirements for those industries as well.’
King of Jordan has vast overseas assets, including in US
The investigation found that King Abdullah II of Jordan possessed 14 properties in the U.S. and the United Kingdom in purchases that amounted to more than $106 million.
One of the properties, in California, was purchased for $23 million in 2017 using an offshore company. Though the company was said to be based in the British Virgin Islands, the king also had a second company that served as a nominee director for the initial company.
‘In the offshore world, nominee directors are people or companies paid to front for whoever is really behind a company,’ the ICIJ said.
The king’s legal team said the purchases were made partly for security purposes.
There were three beachfront properties in Malibu in total that the investigation found the king, whose lawyers also said is not legally obligated to pay taxes in Jordan, purchased through offshore companies.
The king has drawn scrutiny in light of the investigation, as his nation continues to rely on aid from other countries.
The ICIJ linked the king to nearly 40 shell companies created between 1995 and 2017.
‘If the Jordanian monarch were to display his wealth more publicly, it wouldn’t only antagonize his people, it would piss off Western donors who have given him money,’ Annelle Sheline, a nonresident fellow at the Baker Institute Center for the Middle East, told the ICIJ.
There are also world leaders on the list who have a history of speaking out against corruption and similar offshore dealings used by the wealthy that employ the same practices or have people in their inner circle who do.
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, who has previously said public servants must publicly declare their assets for transparency, has siblings who owned offshore companies that amounted to tens of millions of dollars, the ICIJ said.
Leaked files also showed Kenyatta was named as a beneficiary to ‘a secretive foundation in Panama,’ the group said.
'The Panama Papers wasn't just a one-off situation'
The Pandora Papers were released by the same group behind the 2016 Panama Papers investigation, which was based on leaked offshore financial documents from a law firm in Panama that illustrated how thousands of clients, including world leaders and celebrities, used practices such as tax havens and shell companies to conceal their wealth.
The Pandora Papers, however, were centered around an even more robust investigation, sourcing documents from 14 offshore services firms across the globe that experts say provide a much wider look into an intricate underground system.
The ICIJ said its probe has exposed ‘financial secrets of 35 current and former world leaders, more than 330 politicians and public officials in 91 countries and territories’ in addition to fugitives, con artists and murderers.
Prominent leaders named in the investigation include King Abdullah II of Jordan, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and the presidents of Ukraine, Kenya and Ecuador. The probe has also detailed some in the inner circle of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Though the group noted in its investigation that holding assets offshore or using shell companies for security purposes is legal in many countries, some advocates have urged for more regulation around the practices, which they note can also be misused for tax evasion or corruption.
Gary, with the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency Coalition, said the probe shows there is a ‘massive system of financial secrecy operating around the world.’
‘It's really validation that the Panama Papers wasn't just a one-off situation,’ he said, adding that the investigation indicates there are ‘two separate financial systems that are operating in the world.’
‘One, which is people like us follow the law and pay taxes, and another one for some of the global rich and political elites who have been identified in Pandora Papers who are able to use financial secrecy to hide their assets overseas to avoid paying taxes,’ he added.” Read more at The Hill
“A performer was killed during an opera at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow on Saturday when there was an accident during a scene change, the theater said.
The man, in his late 30s, was working as an extra in a performance of the opera ‘Sadko,’ by the Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.
Russian news reports said that the man had been crushed by a piece of scenery, and videos of the event that circulated online showed it happening as a backdrop descended to the stage. As the chorus kept singing and the orchestra continued to play, there was a sudden commotion onstage. Performers waved their arms and shouted ‘Stop!’ The music ground to a halt, and most of the performers walked offstage while a few went to the rear of the stage to help the man. The curtains closed.
The show was stopped immediately, the Bolshoi said in a statement, and the audience was asked to leave.” Read more at New York Times
Juji, a myna bird, arrives at Al Dhafra air base in Abu Dhabi. (Xavier Chatel)
“An unusual tale of a French ambassador, a young Afghan refugee and her pet bird has delighted social media users and provided a rare heartwarming story from the Afghan crisis.
Xavier Chatel, the French ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, took to Twitter earlier this week to share a story he had been ‘meaning to tell for a while.’
It all began when a young woman, whom he called ‘Alia,’ fled Afghanistan amid the deadly fallout from the U.S. withdrawal and the Taliban’s takeover. She was one of the lucky ones — eligible to resettle in France.
But when she arrived at Abu Dhabi’s Al Dhafra air base, a stopover point where Afghans were processed by the French military and then flown to France, she encountered a problem. She was told that her pet bird, a myna named Juji that she had fought to get out of Afghanistan with her , could not accompany her on the flight due to sanitary regulations.
Exhausted and defeated, Alia, whose real name has been withheld by the ambassador amid fears for her safety, began to cry — much to the concern of a military officer who alerted Chatel.
‘The hangar in which this was happening was pretty much looking like a refugee camp,’ Chatel told The Washington Post on Thursday, adding that the chaotic site was overrun with people, many who felt guilty for leaving their loved ones behind.
‘We had kids arriving without parents, and parents without their kids,’ he said.
‘In the midst of this, this military woman comes to me and she says, ‘Sir, we have a clandestine.’ I was like, ‘Okay, that’s a problem.’ So I go to see the clandestine, and they bring me this cardboard box in which there was a slit, and in the slit I could see the golden eyes of the myna.’
Chatel said he felt ‘moved’ by Alia’s determination to take her bird with her out of Afghanistan, given the overcrowded scenes and dangerous Taliban checkpoints around Kabul airport.
‘Through all this, she had kept this cardboard box and this bird like a treasure with her. Of course, she was so sad not to be able to take him to France … I just thought that this entire experience had already been so cruel on this girl and on so many other people that it would be heartless to add an additional and unnecessary cruelty.’
So, he decided to step up and offered to take in the yellow-beaked creature at the French residence. ‘I won’t forget her look of desperate gratefulness,’ Chatel recalled.
Chatel took in Juji on Aug. 26, a mere 24 hours before the end of Operation Apagan, the French military evacuation of nearly 3,000 French nationals and Afghan refugees from Kabul airport.
Even the journey back from the air base to the French residence had a touch of drama.
Juji, Chatel recounted on Twitter, tried to escape the car during the journey back, making a mess and pecking him when he tried to talk it out from under a seat.
‘The fierce little fellow showed me that if he survived the Kabul airport, I was no match.’
Despite putting up a fight initially, Juji soon settled into his new home. In the mornings, he enjoys the cool breeze from the garden and interacting with other birds — one of which the ambassador suspects has become his girlfriend.
The dove, Chatel said, visits Juji every day. It even banged its head against the residence’s glass doors one day when trying to see Juji, who was inside.
Some types of mynas are known as talkers because they can imitate human language. As the bird became more settled, it began speaking in what appeared to be either Pashto or Dari, Afghan languages that the ambassador did not understand.
Chatel said he tried to teach Juji some French words — much to the bird’s annoyance. However, the bird, which appeared skittish around men, happily bonded with women at the French residence, including the one managing it.
One day, Juji changed his tune, saying ‘bonjour,’ or hello in French, when prompted by the manager.
Now, he says, the bird has come to symbolize efforts by the French Embassy in Abu Dhabi to save Afghans during those harrowing weeks. When Chatel hosted a reception for his staff at the end of Operation Apagan to thank them, he put Juji’s cage on a table in the center of the room and told everyone the bird’s story.
The evacuation involved about 40 embassy staff working 24/7 in shifts, the ambassador said, processing hundreds of refugees arriving on three aircraft a day.
The operation ‘was hard [for the staff] but it was also great as a collective human experience, and the bird became a bit of an emblem of that,’ Chatel added.
On social media, people celebrated the feel-good story, praising Chatel for keeping his promise to the young refugee and offering some hope amid a time of widespread destruction and uncertainty….
While Chatel appears to be enjoying his new pet, which he called the embassy’s “new mascot,” he said he hopes to personally reunite Juji and his real owner soon.
This month, Alia, whose age Chatel estimates is between 18 and 20, found him on Twitter. He has sent her photos of Juji, and reassured her that she could ‘come any time to see him and collect him.’ She sent him a ‘moving’ reply.
‘She told me, ‘In this evacuation, I lost everything. I lost my home, I lost my home country, I lost my life. But the fact that the bird is alive and so well-looked after gives me hope to restore it.’” Read more at Washington Post