Tech executives said Monday they were disappointed in the Trump administration’s decision to temporarily ban an array of work visas, including those used by the technology industry. Some vowed to open up or expand their operations overseas.  “Banning all H1B visas means CEOs like me have to open offices and hire more people in countries like Canada that allow immigration,” tweeted Anshu Sharma, chief executive of a data privacy firm in Silicon Valley.Banning all H1B visas means CEOs like me have to open offices and hire more people in countries like Canada that allow immigration. This visa ban is morally wrong, and economically stupid. What happened to being “for legal immigration”? https://t.co/R9O9Q1Ts0j— H1B immigrant Anshu Sharma 🌶 (@anshublog) June 22, 2020“Immigration has contributed immensely to America’s economic success, making it a global leader in tech, and also Google the company it is today,” Sundar Pichai, the chief executive of Google, said on Twitter. “Disappointed by today’s proclamation.”Immigration has contributed immensely to America’s economic success, making it a global leader in tech, and also Google the company it is today. Disappointed by today’s proclamation – we’ll continue to stand with immigrants and work to expand opportunity for all.— Sundar Pichai (@sundarpichai) June 22, 2020The executive order expanded on restrictions the White House rolled out in April. In its statement, the White House cited the current economic hardship in the U.S. where the unemployment rate is more than 13 percent.   “President Trump’s efforts will ensure businesses look to American workers first when hiring,” the White House said in a statement. “Many workers have been hurt through no fault of their own due to coronavirus and they should not remain on the sidelines while being replaced by new foreign labor.” Reliance on foreign workers  During periods of high growth, the technology industry has relied on the H-1B, a temporary work visa that brings as many as 85,000 skilled workers to the U.S. each year.  While tech companies have had layoffs during the pandemic, the labor market is still tight, said Russell Hancock, the chief executive and president of Joint Venture Silicon Valley, a nonprofit organization that studies the region.  “Tech is pretty much working at full employment,” he said. “The pandemic hasn’t hurt tech as it has hurt other sectors.” Silicon Valley’s foreign-born workers mostly hail from India and China. More than 60 percent of those working in computer, mathematics and engineering fields in Silicon Valley are foreign born, according to the 2020 Silicon Valley Index, produced by Joint Venture. Tech companies have argued that they need foreign-born workers – and an expansion of the temporary work visa program — because there are not enough U.S.-born workers with the skills for key roles. Opponents of the temporary visa say that the industry and large tech consultants turn to foreign workers to keep wages down.   Cutting off the ability of skilled workers to come to the U.S. will hurt the industry’s ability to stay competitive, Hancock said.  “If you talk to anyone, they will tell you we need talent and it’s not coming through our own pipelines,” he said.  It’s a point echoed by tech leaders.  “In the digital economy, you hire where the talent is,” tweeted Aaron Levie, the chief executive at Box, a tech firm. “When you restrict immigration, the jobs still get created, just somewhere else. And later down the road, when those individuals create the next Google, it won’t be here.” In the digital economy, you hire where the talent is. When you restrict immigration, the jobs still get created, just somewhere else. And later down the road, when those individuals create the next Google, it won’t be here.— Aaron Levie (@levie) June 22, 2020
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A federal prosecutor who held a key role in the case against President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney worked Monday to restore calm to the Manhattan prosecutor’s office, following the abrupt ouster of her predecessor.Audrey Strauss, the newly appointed acting U.S. attorney, sent an email to the staff Saturday night within hours of the announcement by U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman that he would leave his position and would be replaced by her. FILE – Audrey Strauss, a federal prosecutor who held a key role in the case against President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, is the newly appointed acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York.The 72-year-old Strauss, a Democrat, will be only the second woman to lead one of the nation’s most premiere districts, home to famous mob trials, terrorism cases and now, probes involving the president’s allies. Her allies say she is a thoughtful, careful lawyer with decades of experience both as a prosecutor and defense attorney. The extraordinary departure of Berman, a Trump donor who won over critics with his investigations, started with Attorney General William Barr’s abrupt announcement Friday that Berman was stepping down as U.S. attorney after 2.5 years on the job. A defiant Berman announced he was staying in the post he’d been appointed to by judges, but then eventually said he’d leave, noting his confidence in Strauss.Several individuals who read Strauss’ email to staff said it was encouraging and reassuring and reflected her measured personality, insisting the work by prosecutors would remain free from outside influence. The office’s storied independence has stretched to the White House and the lawn outside it, where conversations at a congressional picnic touched off an insider trading prosecution of former Rep. Chris Collins, the first member of Congress to endorse Trump. Strauss helped lead the charge against Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, showing that prosecutors believed the president encouraged the campaign finance fraud that resulted in payouts to silence two women about alleged affairs with Trump before he was president. Cohen eventually pleaded guilty. The latest probe to touch nerves in Washington resulted in the arrest of two associates of Rudolph Giuliani and an investigation of the former New York City mayor and his dealings on Trump’s behalf in the Ukraine.Trump has signaled plans to nominate the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission to the job, and Barr had announced another lawyer would take over in the interim, rankling Berman. In announcing he’d step down late Saturday, Berman noted he was influenced by Barr’s later decision to “respect the normal operation of law” and let Strauss take over instead.He then paid tribute to Strauss, whom he installed as his senior counsel from February 2018 to March 2019 and then as deputy U.S. attorney, the second highest position in the office. Berman and Strauss have known each other for decades, having worked together in the late 1980s on the independent counsel’s probe of the Iran-contra scandal.”I could leave the District in no better hands than Audrey’s. She is the smartest, most principled, and effective lawyer with whom I have ever had the privilege of working,” Berman wrote.Strauss is well regarded in legal circles for decades of work as a prosecutor and defense attorney. The Columbia Law School graduate spent about seven years in the prosecutor’s office in the mid-1970s and early 1980s, where she met Jed S. Rakoff, now a judge in Manhattan federal court.”In the now more than 45 years I have known Audrey, she has never once shaded the truth, made a hasty decision, or deviated from the facts,” Rakoff said Monday. “I don’t think this is because of any particular influence or pressure or handicap she has had to overcome. It lies very deep in her character and always has.”The only woman to lead the Manhattan prosecutor’s office before her was Mary Jo White, who was U.S. attorney from early 1993 until 2002. White said Strauss will be “a very strong leader” in part because she is highly respected within and outside the office.Former Manhattan federal prosecutor Danya Perry said Strauss “is viewed as a trailblazer and a pioneer.” She said Strauss joined the office when women were rarely hired. When Perry arrived in 2002, about a third of the newly hired prosecutors were women.It speaks volumes that Berman agreed to step down in part after receiving assurances that Strauss would take over in the interim, said Bruce Green, a former federal prosecutor who directs the Louis Stein Center for Law and Ethics at the Fordham University School of Law. “Everyone has known her for decades and she has a proven track record,” Green said. “While this was a black eye for the attorney general, it’s really a victory for the prosecutorial independence of the Southern District of New York.”
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Egypt wants the United Nations Security Council to “undertake its responsibilities” and prevent Ethiopia from starting to fill its massive, newly built hydroelectric dam on the Blue Nile next month without an agreement, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukry told The Associated Press on Sunday, accusing Ethiopian officials of stoking antagonism between the countries. Ethiopia announced Friday that it would begin filling the dam’s reservoir in July even after the latest round of talks with Egypt and Sudan failed last week to reach an accord governing how the dam will be filled and operated.  Egypt formally asked the Security Council to intervene in a letter the same day.  “The responsibility of the Security Council is to address a pertinent threat to international peace and security, and certainly the unilateral actions by Ethiopia in this regard would constitute such a threat,” Shukry said in an interview with the AP.  Filling the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam would potentially bring the years-long dispute between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia over the $4.6 billion mega-project to a critical juncture. Ethiopia said the electricity that will be generated by the dam is a crucial lifeline to bring millions out of poverty. With the start of the rainy season in July bringing more water to the Blue Nile, the Nile’s main tributary, Ethiopia wants to start filling the reservoir.Egypt, which relies on the Nile for more than 90% of its water supplies, fears a devastating impact if the dam is operated without taking its needs into account. Sudan, which also largely depends on the Nile for water, has been caught between the competing interests.The United States earlier this year tried to broker a deal, but Ethiopia did not attend the signing meeting in February and accused the Trump administration of siding with Egypt. Last week, the U.S. National Security Council tweeted that “257 million people in east Africa are relying on Ethiopia to show strong leadership, which means striking a fair deal.” Shukry warned that filling the reservoir without an accord would violate the 2015 declaration of principles governing their talks — and rule out a return to negotiations.”We are not seeking any coercive action by the Security Council,” he said. In a three-page letter to the council, Egypt asked it to call Ethiopia back into talks for a “fair and balanced solution” and to urge it refrain from unilateral acts, warning that filling the dam without a deal “constitutes a clear and present danger to Egypt” with repercussions that “threaten international peace and security.” ‘Declaration of war’Hanging over the dispute has been the fear it could escalate into military conflict, especially as Egypt — facing what it calls an existential threat — repeatedly hits dead ends in its attempt to strike a deal. Commentators in Egypt’s pro-government media have often called for action to stop Ethiopia. One commentator, Moustafa al-Saeed, said in a Facebook post that starting to fill the reservoir would be a “declaration of war” and urged the government to block Ethiopian traffic through the Suez Canal. Shukry underlined that the Egyptian government has not threatened military action, has sought a political solution, and has worked to convince the Egyptian public that Ethiopia has a right to build the dam to meet its development goals.  “Egypt has never, never over the past six years even made an indirect reference to such possibilities,” he said of military action.  But, he said, if the Security Council cannot bring Ethiopia back into negotiations and filling begins, “we will find ourselves in a situation that we will have to deal with,” he said. “When that time is upon us, we will be very vocal and clear in what action we will take.” He called on the U.S and other Security Council members, along with African nations, to help reach a deal that “takes into account the interests of all three countries.”  Sticking points in the talks have been how much water Ethiopia will release downstream from the dam if a multi-year drought occurs and how Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan will resolve any future disputes. William Davison, senior analyst at the International Crisis Group, said the Security Council taking up the issue likely won’t change Ethiopia’s stance. “The U.S., EU, Gulf powers and African Union should try and convince all parties to make the necessary final compromise to get an agreement over the line,” he said. Failed talksThis month, ministers from the three countries held seven days of negotiations by video conference, but talks ended Wednesday with no deal. No date was set for a return to the table.  Ethiopian Foreign Minister Gedu Andargachew told the AP on Friday that filling the dam would begin with the rainy season in July and dismissed the need for an agreement. He accused Egypt of trying to “dictate and control even future developments on our river.” Egypt’s Shukry on Sunday countered that Ethiopia was backing out of previously agreed-upon points. “We have on many occasions been flexible and been accommodating. But I can’t say that there is a similar political will on the side of Ethiopia,” he said.  He called Andargachew’s comments “disappointing,” pointing to “the escalation of antagonism that has been intentionally created.” Starting to fill the reservoir now, he said, would demonstrate “a desire to control the flow of the water and have effective sole determination” of the water that reaches Egypt and Sudan. After the end of talks on Wednesday, Sudan’s irrigation minister said his country and Egypt rejected Ethiopia’s attempts to introduce articles on water sharing in the dam deal. Egypt has received the lion’s share of the Nile’s waters under decades-old agreements dating back to the British colonial era. Eighty-five percent of the Nile’s waters originate in Ethiopia from the Blue Nile. Shukry said Egypt maintains that an agreement can be achieved, but that it “has to be negotiated in good faith.” He said any future deal on shares of the Nile’s water should take into account that Ethiopia has other water sources besides the Nile. 
 
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New York City is entering Phase Two of reopening after one of the strictest lockdown measures in the country to contain the coronavirus. For locals, that means 300,000 people will head back to work, and the public can begin some outdoor dining, in-store shopping and many more activities that were part of everyday life just a few months ago. Nina Vishneva has the story narrated by Anna Rice.Camera: Alexander Barash, Michael Eckels 
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Ціни для населення знижені з червня, а будуть підняті для промислових споживачів з липня
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Representatives of South Sudan have been banned from taking part in an African Union meeting after their government failed to pay overdue fees totaling more than $9 million.   South Sudan diplomats were caught by surprise last Tuesday when they were asked to leave an AU meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The AU sanctioned South Sudan after it failed to pay annual membership dues for the past three years, according to a June 17 letter to the South Sudan Foreign Affairs Ministry signed by Ambassador James Pitia Morgan, South Sudan’s permanent representative to the African Union and to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. “We were barred from participating in the AU meeting as of June 16, 2020,” wrote Morgan. He called the scene in Addis Ababa “dramatic and embarrassing” when the chairperson of the meeting stopped the proceedings to inform South Sudan’s diplomats that their participation was illegal. “We should not allow our country to be embarrassed at this regional, continental and international stage,” said Morgan, who called South Sudan “a proud nation and proud people.” South Sudan owes the AU slightly more than $9 million, according to Morgan. South SudanDeputy foreign affairs minister Deng Dau Deng blamed the government’s years of overdue payments on the current “situation” the country is facing with the COVID-19 pandemic, and noted South Sudan made a partial payment to the AU in late 2019. “South Sudan was due to pay a commitment of which in December to January, we paid 40 percent of our contribution and membership [fee] to the African Union. We are committed as a country to pay our contribution but it’s just delayed because of the situation that we are in,” Deng told VOA’s South Sudan in Focus. Deng insisted that South Sudan will be ready to pay what it owes the AU once the coronavirus crisis “normalizes.” South Sudan should avoid using its civil war and the pandemic as excuses to avoid paying its annual dues, said Nhial Tit Mammer, a policy analyst with the Sudd Institute, a think tank in Juba. Mammer believes there will be a larger price to pay when South Sudan is absent from meetings where important, strategic decisions are made by the regional body. “As it is said; ‘If you’re not on the table, you’re on the menu.’ So, if South Sudan is not going to participate in those meetings where important decisions are going to be made then of course it’s a huge problem. And it also has implications on our pride as a nation. You know it’s embarrassing [and] that in itself is a huge impact too,” Mammer told South Sudan in Focus. It is important to remain a member in good standing of organizations like the African Union, the East African Community and the United Nations, where every member country is treated equally, Mammer said. “Even if we are in a situation of war we must try, and others will also know that we are trying. Our situation is different but if we default completely, we don’t pay anything, this is something else,” Mammer told VOA. Still, Mammer said, the AU could have been a little more lenient with South Sudan given the fact that it recently emerged from a five-and-a-half-year civil war in which hundreds of thousands of people were killed and millions more were displaced. South Sudan paid 15 percent of the amount it owes the AU, or about $3.5 million last December, according to Deng. The AU should have informed the government earlier that its representatives would be banned from attending all future AU meetings rather than waiting until its delegates were already seated at last week’s meeting in Addis Ababa, Deng said.  
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Gilead Sciences received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Association to begin trials of an easier to administer, inhaled version of remdesivir — the potential COVID-19 drug, CEO Daniel O’Day said in an open letter Monday.  Studies have shown that remdesivir helps reduce the recovery period in patients with COVID-19. One of the first to show effectiveness against COVID-19 in humans, the drug was given emergency use authorization by many countries including the U.S. and is presently being administered intravenously through daily infusions at the hospitals.  The CEO of the California based bio-pharmaceutical firm believes success of an inhaled version of the drug could spell hope.  “An inhaled formulation would be given through a nebulizer, which could potentially allow for easier administration outside the hospital, at earlier stages of disease,” O’Day wrote in the open letter. “That could have significant implications in helping to stem the tide of the pandemic.” The company plans to begin the trial in COVID-19 patients by August. In the letter, the Gilead CEO also announced that the company plans on producing over 2 million courses of remdesivir by the end of 2020. They have set up voluntary licensing agreements with nine generic manufacturers to ramp up supply across the world, the letter explained.  However, it continues to be unclear how many courses will be available this summer. The government’s current supply of remdesivir is expected to run out by the end of the month,  Dr. Robert Kadlec, a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services official, told CNN. Gillead says it will also test the drug in pediatric patients and study it in pregnant women. The firm says that it will conduct a clinical trial and treat approximately 50 children, from newborns to adolescents, who are hospitalized with COVID-19. 
 
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Долар втратив п’ять копійок, свідчать дані на сайті Національного банку України.

Довідкове значення курсу гривні до долара станом на 12:00 22 червня встановлене на рівні 26 гривень 67 копійок.

Офіційна вартість євро наразі становить 30 гривень.
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Drivers of minibus taxis in South Africa’s financial hub Gauteng went on strike on Monday to demand more financial support from government, leaving thousands of commuters stranded.
 
Dozens of taxis blocked busy roads in Johannesburg and Pretoria, confronting police and soldiers. Many people were stuck at taxi ranks, while others walked to work or piled onto buses.
 
Since a coronavirus shutdown began in late March, taxis have been permitted to operate at only 70% capacity under strict social distancing measures, a difficult situation as the industry depends on maximum passenger loads at low prices.
 
The loss of income from smaller loads and lower volumes due the shutdown, which saw most workplaces completely closed, has caused unhappiness in the industry, with operators threatening price increases of more 100% in some areas to cover losses.
 
The lockdown has been gradually eased and most of the workforce are now allowed to go to work.
 
On Friday, Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula announced a 1.1 billion one-off payment to registered taxi operators, amounting to about 5,000 rand ($287) per driver. He said this was not compensation for loss of revenue due to coronavirus restrictions but rather assistance from the government.
 
Taxi operators rejected the relief and the conditions linked to government’s plan to formalize the industry. 
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