Pakistan’s bid to mediate a de-escalation of conflict between the U.S. and Iran is driven largely by its concerns about potential domestic fallout from hostilities between its two longtime partners, analysts say.Islamabad’s peace effort, launched this month after the U.S. and Iran traded rare military blows in their decades-old tense relationship, also is rooted in its longstanding neutrality toward regional conflicts involving Iran or Iranian proxies, they say.“We are not going to repeat our mistakes of getting involved in others’ wars. Pakistan will become a country which will make peace among states,” FILE – Pakistani Shiite Muslims protest the killing of top Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani in Iraq, outside the U.S. consulate in Lahore, Jan. 7, 2020.The Iranian attack, which left dozens of U.S. forces with concussion-related injuries but killed no one, was Tehran’s retaliation for what the U.S. called a self-defense strike that killed top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani at Baghdad airport Jan. 3.“I have told U.S. President Donald Trump that Pakistan is ready to mediate between Iran and the U.S. to resolve differences between them,” Khan said in his public remarks, adding that he also wanted to resolve longstanding tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia, a military ally of Washington.Since then, Khan has dispatched Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi to Tehran, Riyadh and Washington to urge them to exercise restraint and warn them that further hostilities could destabilize the region.US-Pakistan relationsPakistan has generally enjoyed a close relationship with the United States for decades, according to the FILE – Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, left, and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, meet in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 12, 2020, in this photo released by official website of the Office of the Iranian Presidency.Islamabad has sought to mediate between the U.S. and Iran rather than take sides as it fears an escalation of their conflict could draw in U.S. ally Saudi Arabia and worsen Sunni-Shiite sectarian divisions in Pakistani society, according to political scientist Rasul Bakhsh Rais of Lahore’s LUMS University.A 2018 State Department report said about 80% to 85% of Pakistan’s Muslim population is Sunni, while Shiites make up about 15% to 20%.“One segment of Pakistani society supports (Sunni-majority) Saudi Arabia, while another feels closer to (Shiite-majority) Iran,” Rais said in a VOA Urdu interview.Radicalized supportersSaudi Arabia and Iran have radicalized their Islamist supporters in Pakistan for years by quietly funding thousands of Sunni and Shiite seminaries in Pakistan, respectively. Some Sunni and Shiite graduates of those seminaries have carried out violent attacks on members of the other sect, fueling Pakistan’s long-running sectarian tensions.Pakistan also opposes letting U.S. forces use its territory for military action against Iran because of concerns about a potential domestic backlash from militants who would be angered by such cooperation, former Pakistani Interior Minister Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Moinuddin Haider told VOA Urdu in another interview.In recent weeks, Pakistani Foreign Minister Qureshi repeatedly has said his nation will not allow its territory to be used in hostilities between the U.S. and Iran.Policy of neutralityIn the years after the 2001 terrorist attacks on the U.S., Islamabad allowed U.S. forces to use an airbase in Baluchistan province to conduct drone strikes against Taliban-allied militants along the Pakistani-Afghan border, Wilson Center analyst Michael Kugelman told VOA. He said the Pakistani government ordered an end to such cooperation in 2011 as U.S.-Pakistani tensions intensified, especially following a NATO airstrike that inadvertently killed about two dozen Pakistani soldiers in the region.Taliban-allied militants retaliated for the Pakistani-assisted U.S. drone strikes by carrying out suicide bombings across Pakistan. Former Pakistani Interior Minister Haider said Islamabad worries that if it helps the U.S. to attack a neighboring country such as Iran, a similar violent backlash would result.Former Pakistani Foreign Secretary Najmuddin Sheikh told VOA Urdu that Islamabad’s push for peace between Iran, the U.S. and U.S. ally Saudi Arabia also reflects a pattern of Pakistani neutrality toward conflicts involving Muslim-majority nations.Pakistan’s then-president Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq publicly expressed a neutral position regarding the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-88. More recently, then-Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif first declared neutrality in Yemen’s ongoing conflict between a Saudi-led coalition and Iranian-backed Houthi militants in 2015. Sharif’s successor, Prime Minister Khan, has continued that approach.This article originated in VOA’s Persian Service. It was produced in collaboration with VOA’s Urdu Service and Extremism Watch Desk.
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ELAZIG, TURKEY — A powerful earthquake has killed at least 20 people and injured more than 1,000 in eastern Turkey, as rescue teams searched through the rubble of collapsed buildings for survivors Saturday.At least 30 people were missing following the magnitude 6.8 quake Friday night, which had its epicenter in the small lakeside town of Sivrice in the eastern province of Elazig.“It was very scary, furniture fell on top of us. We rushed outside,” 47-year-old Melahat Can, who lives in the provincial capital of Elazig, told AFP.President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said all steps were being taken to aid people affected by the quake, which caused widespread fear.“We stand by our people,” Erdogan said on Twitter.Some of the damage to the village Cevrimtas near the lakeside town of Sivrice where the 6.8 magnitude quake was centered in the province of Elazig. (Mahmut Bozarslan/VOA Turkish)The Turkish government’s disaster and emergency management agency (AFAD) said the quake hit Sivrice around 8:55 p.m. (1755 GMT). Turkey lies on major fault lines and is prone to frequent earthquakes.Turkish television showed images of people rushing outside in panic, as well as a fire on the roof of a building.Interior, environment and health ministers, who were in the quake zone, said the casualties were in Elazig province and in the neighboring province of Malatya to the southwest.At least 20 people died and 1,015 others were wounded, according to AFAD.“There is nobody trapped under the rubble in Malatya, but in Elazig search and rescue efforts are currently under way to find 30 citizens,” Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said Friday.Rescue teams were searching for survivors trapped in a five-story collapsed building in a village about 30 kilometers from Elazig, according to AFP journalists at the scene. One person was pulled alive from the rubble.Turkish officials and police try to keep warm at the scene of a collapsed building following a 6.8 magnitude earthquake in Elazig, eastern Turkey, Jan. 24, 2020.Emergency staff and people waiting at the scene lit fires in the streets to stay warm in freezing temperatures.Sports centers, schools and guest houses had been opened to accommodate quake victims in Malatya.Sivrice, a town with a population of about 4,000 people, is situated south of Elazig city on the shores of Hazar lake, one of the most popular tourist spots in the region and the source of the Tigris River.The lake is home to a sunken city with archaeological traces dating back 4,000 years in its waters.The tremor was felt in several parts of eastern Turkey near the Iraqi and Syrian borders, the Turkish broadcaster NTV reported, adding that neighboring cities had mobilized rescue teams for the quake area.Ramazan Emek surveys the damage in Cevrimtas, near Sivrice, where the quake struck just before 9 p.m. Friday local time. (Mahmut Bozarslan/VOA Turkish)“Everybody is in the street, it was very powerful, very scary,” said Zekeriya Gunes, 68, from Elazig city, after the quakes caused a building to collapse on her street.“It lasted quite long, maybe 30 seconds,” added Ferda, 39. “I panicked and was undecided whether to go out in this cold or remain inside.”Greece offers aidThe U.S. Geological Survey assessed the magnitude as 6.7, slightly lower than AFAD, adding that it struck near the East Anatolian Fault in an area that has suffered no documented large ruptures since an earthquake in 1875.“My wholehearted sympathy to President @RTErdogan and the Turkish people following the devastating earthquake that has hit Turkey. Our search and rescue teams stand ready to assist,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis wrote on Twitter.In Athens, the Greek premier’s office said later that Mitsotakis had spoken by phone to Erdogan.“The Turkish president … said Turkish teams had the situation under control for now and that it would be re-evaluated in the morning,” his office added.A calf stands next to its mother, which has a broken leg, in the village of Cevrimtas, near Sivrice, Elazig, Turkey, Jan. 25, 2020. (Mahmut Bozarslan/VOA Turkish)Quake-prone TurkeyIn 1999, a devastating 7.4 magnitude earthquake hit Izmit in western Turkey, leaving more than 17,000 people dead including about 1,000 in the country’s largest city Istanbul.Last September, a 5.7-magnitude earthquake shook Istanbul, causing residents to flee buildings.Experts have long warned a large quake could devastate the city of 15 million people, which has allowed widespread building without safety precautions.
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Democrats have concluded three days of opening arguments in the Senate impeachment trial of U.S. President Donald Trump, setting the stage for the president’s lawyers to present their case in the days ahead. As VOA’s Michael Bowman reports, House impeachment managers painstakingly argued for Trump’s conviction and removal from office, but Senate Republicans, who control the chamber, are mostly united in their defense of the president.
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The U.S. Constitution commands the U.S. Senate be responsible for holding an impeachment trial. But it does not say anything about how the trial is to be conducted. While there are some rules that have been determined for this trial, much of its direction will be determined by Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. VOA’s Steve Redisch reports.
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Since October, hundreds of thousands of Lebanese citizens have taken to the streets of Beirut to protest what they say is a corrupt political system that has failed to provide even the most basic of services. But in a media marketplace crowded with overtly partisan publications, protestors are using social media to get the word out. VOA’s Betty Ayoub reports.
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Tens of thousands of people poured into a central Baghdad square Friday for what had been billed as a “million-man” march, carrying Iraqi flags and signs and shouting “No, No America.”  Many wore white fabric, symbolizing their determination to see the U.S. military either leave Iraq, or be expelled. “Many protesters wear white fabric, symbolizing their determination to expel the U.S. from Iraq on Jan. 24, 2020 in Baghdad. (Halan Akoy/VOA)We want the invaders out,” said Ra’ad, a protester and father who does piecemeal work to feed his five children. “If the politicians don’t make them leave the military will.”  Prominent Shi’ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called for a “million-man” march to demand the expulsion of American forces after the U.S. killed Qassem Soleimani, Iran’s most powerful general, in a Jan. 3 airstrike at the Baghdad airport. Six others died in the airstrike, including Iraqi Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of a Shi’ite militia groups known as the Popular Mobilization Forces.   Iran retaliated with airstrikes on U.S. bases in Iraq, and both sides have threatened grave consequences if they are struck again.Shi’ite politicians subsequently used their majority in parliament to push through a resolution calling for the U.S. military to be expelled from Iraq, while Sunni and Kurdish politicians, representing the country’s two largest minorities, boycotted the vote. Iraq’s president, a Kurd, declared that “the vote is not good for Iraq.”Despite the vote, the United States has said it has no plans to leave the country and the Iraqi government has given no indication that it can or will try to force the U.S. troops out.This protesters sign says “I am an Iraqi against the presence of America on Jan. 24, 2020 in Baghdad. (H.Murdock/VOA)At the rally, some men expressed their anger by burning a paper American flag, while others carried signs saying, “I am an Iraqi against the presence of America.”   Some signs said more directly, “Death to America” or “Death to Israel.”  Anti-government protesters in Iraq have rallied every day since early October to demand government action on basic human needs like jobs, security and health care. At least 600 people have died in these demonstrations, but protesters say they are not giving up.   Friday’s protest was not related to those protests and was held in a different part of Baghdad.Ambulances line up outside the protest during morning hours on Jan. 24, 2020 in Baghdad. (H.Murdock/VOA)Ambulances were lined up outside the rally, but by 2:30 p.m. the day remained peaceful. Gunshots rang out late the night before in the area, but no deaths or injuries were reported. “It’s not good for our economy to have the U.S. here,” said Ra’ad, the protester. “They come here and they take our resources out.” 
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Холдинг «Метінвест» Ріната Ахметова та Вадима Новинського відреагував на журналістське розслідування щодо порушення вимог безпеки на його підприємствах в Україні та США. «Метінвест» заявив, що «оприлюднена інформація є вимислом, який наносить шкоду репутації компанії». У олігарха запевняють, що його вугільна компанія «United coal company» не є об’єктом будь-якого офіційного розслідування, та додав, що корпорація приділяє особливу увагу безпеці праці на своїх підприємствах. При цьому в матеріалі журналістів йшлося про інтерес американської влади до діяльності не компанії «United coal company» Ахметова-Новинського, а її дочірньої фірми «Pocahontas coal company LLC».

«Станом на цей час «UCC» не є об’єктом будь-якого розслідування», – йдеться у листі групи «Метінвест», надісланому 24 січня в редакцію Радіо Свобода.

Автори матеріалу наголошують, що у своїй публічній реакції холдинг олігарха вдався до підміни понять, а тому така заява, на їхню думку, є маніпулятивною. Журналісти також заявляють, що за місяць до виходу розслідування звертались до компанії, надаючи можливість представити свою позицію, щоб вона була відображена в матеріалі, утім, холдинг відмовився надавати свої коментарі до його виходу. 

У розслідуванні Надії Бурдєй, проведеному для ГО «Центр протидії корупції», програми «Схеми: корупція в деталях» та видання «Українська правда» йшлося, що Комітету з питань освіти та праці Палати представників Конгресу США вивчає обставини, за яких шахта «Affinity Mine» у Західній Вірджинії позбавилась статусу «порушника» після низки аварій на ній. Вугілля на цій шахті видобуває фірма «Pocahontas coal company LLC» – це дочірня компанія «United coal company». 

У 2013 році, протягом місяця, на цій шахті загинуло двоє шахтарів. В ході розслідування трагедії, управління з охорони праці встановило, що «Pocahontas coal company LLC» систематично порушує обов’язкові стандарти безпеки праці. За результатами розслідування, шахті і присвоїли статус порушника – «Pattern of Violations» (POV).

Цю інформацію «Метінвест» підтверджує і заявляє, що статус порушника з його компанії «Pocahontas coal company LLC» зняли у 2018 році: «У 2018 році статус POV був скасований. Судові позови про неправомірність такого рішення були відхилені судом через відсутність доказів», – йдеться у заяві холдингу «Метінвест». 

Так, у журналістському матеріалі саме йшлося про те, що у 2018 році управління з охорони праці дійсно уклало з компанією Ахметова мирову угоду й скасувало проблемний статус. Але тоді ж, наприкінці 2019 року Об’єднання працівників шахт Америки звернулося до суду з вимогою поновити для вугільної компанії Ріната Ахметова «Pocahontas coal company LLC» статус «системного порушника» («Pattern of Violations»). 

«Ми подали цю скаргу, оскільки рішення управління праці є прямою загрозою для здоров’я та безпеки шахтарів в будь-якій точці США. Якщо управління грубо ігноруючи закон, відміняє статус «порушника» і йому це зійде з рук, то воно зробить це знову. Ми хочемо впевнитися, що це не повториться», – на своєму офіційному сайті заявило Об’єднання працівників шахт Америки. 

Скасування статусу «порушника» для компанії Ахметова привернуло увагу Комітету з питань освіти та праці Палати представників Конгресу США, йшлося в журналістському матеріалі. У вересні 2018 року Комітет із офіційним листом звернувся до управління праці з проханням надати детальну інформацію про зустрічі з представниками вугільної компанії Ріната Ахметова – «Pocahontas coal company LLC», а не «UCC», як йдеться у заяві холдингу. 

У листі до управління, Комітет Конгресу висловив сумніви щодо законності угоди між компанією українського олігарха «Pocahontas coal company LLC» й попросив вказати точну дату повної перевірки шахти, під час якої управління не виявило жодного порушення. Справа в тому, що кожного року управління фіксувало на шахті нові порушення й, за підрахунками комітету Конгресу, за п’ять років таких порушень нарахували 265. 

«Спроба «Метінвесту» спростувати матеріал про порушення вимог безпеки на його підприємствах – є простою маніпуляцією. Холдинг не називає жодного факту, який, на його думку, є «видумкою». Не надає жодного документу. До того ж, називає іншу компанію – «United coal company» щодо якої, дійсно, немає позову і яка не цікавить Конгрес. Тож, жодного факту, викладеного в матеріалі, холдинг не спростовує. Запити з проханням надати коментар журналісти направили на адресу компанії «Метінвест» за місяць до публікації матеріалу, але компанія відмовився від коментарів», – заявила авторка матеріалу журналістка Надія Бурдєй. 

У листі «Метінвест» також повідомив про заходи, які компанія вживає задля підвищення безпеки праці своїх працівників: «Група «Метінвест» першою з українських компаній отримала міжнародний сертифікат Vision Zero. Це концепція якісно нового підходу до організації всієї системи охорони праці на підприємствах, яка слугує зниженню покажників виробничого травматизму і професійних захворювань. Сертифікат Vision Zero мають такі світові лідери, як RWE, CEMEX, AngloGold і TUV NORD. На всіх підприємствах групи «Метінвест» – в Україні, Болгарії, Італії, Великій Британії і США – діють Кардинальні правила щодо охорони праці й виробничої безпеки – зведення канонів, які рятують життя. Витрати групи на виробничу безпеку й охорону праці в 2018 році склали понад 95 мільйонів доларів. З 2014 року показники безпеки на шахті Affinity значно покращились».

Раніше «Схеми» показали, як в США компанії українського олігарха платять мільйони доларів у разі порушення вимог безпеки на своїх підприємствах, водночас в Україні до відповідальності найчастіше притягують хіба що пересічних працівників його заводу. 

Також у розслідуванні «Монополіст «під прикриттям» журналісти розповіли, що холдинг «Метінвест» українського олігарха Ріната Ахметова й народного депутата Вадима Новинського став власником п’яти із восьми коксохімічних заводів, розташованих на підконтрольній Україні території. Така монополізація галузі відбувалась фактично із введенням в оману членів Антимонопольного комітету.
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Національний банк України встановив на 27 січня курс 24 гривні 33 копійки за долар, посиливши національну валюту одразу на 19 копійок порівняно з курсом на 24 січня.

На українському міжбанківському валютному ринку динаміка була іншою – майже впродовж усієї сесії котирування долара зростали, але в другій половині дня це переважно відбувалося на мінімальних обсягах, які регулятор не бере до уваги. За даними Finance.ua, торги закрилися на рівні 24 гривні 44–48 копійок за долар.

«Частина продавців і спекулянтів намагається максимально розігріти котирування. Основною причиною цих чергових дисбалансів став НБУ і подальші дії місцевих покупців та продавців. На початку сесії регулятор купував долар через Matching. Купив близько 50 млн доларів, чим відкачав з ринку пропозицію», – так описують ситуацію в розпал торгів фахівці сайту «Мінфін».

Читайте також: «Інвестняні», запропоновані Зеленським і Гончаруком, не покращать загальний інвестиційний клімат – експерти​

Національний банк України з 13 грудня 2019 року встановив облікову ставку на рівні 13,5%, знизивши її одразу на 2%. Також регулятор збільшив обсяг щоденного викупу валюти на міжбанку до 50 мільйонів доларів з попереднього рівня 30 мільйонів доларів.
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Turkey’s emergency management agency says an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.8 has shaken the country’s east.The earthquake struck Friday at 1755 GMT, 8:55 p.m. local time, near the town of Sivrice in eastern Elazig province, the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency said. Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said there were no reports deaths in Sivrice or other affected areas. However, 4-5 buildings collapsed in Sivrice, where two people were hurt, he said. Soylu was at a meeting on earthquake preparedness when the quake struck.
Defense Minister Hulusi Akar told reporters that there were no reports of any casualties in Sivrice but said the quake may have caused casualties in rural areas outside the town. He said troops were on standby to help is they are needed.
The Kandilli seismology center in Istanbul said the quake measured 6.5.
The U.S. Geological Survey gave the preliminary magnitude as 6.7, with the quake affecting not only Turkey but also Syria, Georgia and Armenia.
Turkish media said the earthquake sent people running outdoors for safety. 
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From the roadside stand where his family sells mole, barbecue and chicken stew, Miguel Ángel Vázquez has seen all the caravans of Central American migrants and asylum seekers stream past his front door in recent years, throngs of people driven to flee poverty and violence in hopes of a better life in the United States.After watching armored National Guard troops and immigration agents break up the latest one right on his doorstep, loading men, women and wailing children onto buses and hauling them off to a detention center in the nearby city of Tapachula, he’s sure of one thing.Mexican National Guards block a highway in Ciudad Hidalgo, Mexico after a group of Central American migrants crossed the nearby border from Guatemala to Mexico, Jan. 23, 2020.“I can see that these caravans are no longer going to pass,” said Vásquez, 56.On Friday morning, life was back to normal at the river border between Ciudad Hidalgo and Tecun Uman, Guatemala.Carmelino Sánchez Cumes, 54, left his home in Champerico Guatemala at 4 a.m. to come buy medicine for two elderly aunts that’s not available back home.The partial closure of river crossings “was tough” on people accustomed to doing so as part of daily life, he said.The international bridge reopened at 5 a.m. and cars and motorcycles were crossing freely.National guard troops stood watch in groups of about a half dozen, visibly fewer than before, and said privately that the tension of recent days had vanished.One said it’s easy to distinguish local Guatemalans who cross for ordinary workaday reasons for their manner of speaking, and they’re welcome “because they’re neighbors.”Where the first caravans were allowed to pass through Mexican territory and even given humanitarian aid or transportation by many communities and some officials, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s administration changed that beginning last year in response to steep trade tariffs threatened by Washington.The result was on display Thursday on a rural highway in the far-southern Mexican city of Frontera Hidalgo, just across the river border between Mexico and Guatemala that the hundreds of migrants, mostly Hondurans, crossed before dawn.The migrants walked for hours before stopping at the crossroads where Vázquez’s stand lies, taking advantage of the copious shade on a road otherwise largely exposed to the beating tropical sun. They bought all the food the family and refreshments the family had and behaved respectfully, according to Karen Daniela Vázquez Robledo, his daughter.Then hundreds of national guard troops advanced their lines to within 100 yards (meters) of the migrants. A brief negotiation stalled, and the migrants knelt to the ground in prayer and began to chant “we want to pass.”National guardsmen advanced banging their plastic shields with batons and engaged the migrants. There was shoving and pepper spray as migrants were rounded up.Many of the people allowed themselves to be escorted to the buses without resistance. Women cradling small children or holding kids’ hands wept as they walked toward the buses. In all, 800 migrants were detained, according to a statement from Mexico’s National Immigration Institute.Others resisted and were subdued. One man dragged by three guardsmen and a migration agent shouted “they killed my brother, I don’t want to die,” presumably in reference to the possibility of being returned to his country.A paramedic attended to an injured woman lying on the highway shoulder.The road was left littered with water bottles, plastic bags and clothing. An irate man in a blue shirt yelled at the agents “this is a war against the Hondurans.”On Friday, López Obrador said he had been briefed about the operation and commended military commanders for not resorting to force, without explaining what he considered to be force.“I have information that the National Guard has acted well,” said López Obrador, who said he was briefed by Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard. “He told us there had not been injured, had not been wounded, that the problem has been resolved well.”López Obrador went on, as he has before, to describe the migrants as being “tricked” by unscrupulous organizers in Honduras who lead them to believe they will pass without problems. He added that his political adversaries, “the conservatives,” had hoped it would go badly for the Mexican government.“Clearly there is a need,” López Obrador said. “But there’s a management, we’ll say political. Fortunately, human rights have been respected.”Thursday’s confrontation was a sudden climax after the day had seemed to be winding down.Central American migrants cross the Suchiate River from Tecun Uman, Guatemala, to Mexico, Jan. 23, 2020.The migrant caravan had been diminishing since its last concerted attempt to cross the border Monday was turned back by Mexican National Guardsmen posted along the Suchiate River, which forms the border here.The national guardsmen intercepted the caravan on the edge of the community of Frontera Hidalgo, near Ciudad Hidalgo where the migrants crossed the river at dawn.In previous caravans, Mexican authorities have allowed caravans to walk for awhile, seemingly to tire them out, and then closed their path.Mexico and Guatemala have returned hundreds of migrants from the caravan to their home countries since the caravan set out last week, mostly to Honduras.Back at the roadside food stall in the southern state of Chiapas, Karen Vázquez, 26, was dismayed by what she saw unfold — the pepper spray, children running and crying.“It was something very unpleasant, seeing how the people are taken away, and us hiding as well so they don’t take us away,” she said. “It makes us sad because they don’t take them in the right way. In truth, they take them very badly.”
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Alan Dershowitz was in line at Mar-a-Lago’s lavish Christmas Eve buffet last month when President Donald Trump stopped to chat.The retired Harvard law professor had already been asked by Trump’s legal team to assist with the defense at his impeachment trial and, with the case opening in a matter of weeks, the Republican president wanted to know: Was he on board?“He said, ‘Everybody wants to do this thing, but I want you,’” Dershowitz recalled in an interview with The Associated Press.Dershowitz, whose clients have included O.J. Simpson, Claus von Bulow and Mike Tyson, ultimately said yes, joining a legal team that, starting Saturday, will present the defense at only the third impeachment trial of a American president in history.Trump’s attorneys say Dershowitz and Ken Starr, the former independent counsel during President Bill Clinton’s impeachment, will have “discrete functions that they will be addressing” at trial.Dershowitz’s task is to make the argument — widely rejected among scholars — that an impeachable offense requires criminal-like conduct. Dershowitz joked Thursday that if he sounded sniffly, it was because he’d been buried in musty history and law books to prepare.While it’s just another high-profile case in a career full of them, Dershowitz’s defense of Trump has befuddled associates, friends and former students, who struggle to make sense of his forceful advocacy for the president and who fervently disagree with the legal positions he’s taken and even the facts he’s advanced in Trump’s defense.“Rubbish” is how one law professor who studied under Dershowitz, Frank Bowman at the University of Missouri, described his views on impeachable offenses. A longtime Harvard Law School colleague, Laurence Tribe, wrote in a Washington Post opinion piece that the argument “has died a thousand deaths” but nonetheless “staggers on like a vengeful zombie.” Some, meanwhile, have seized on video of a 1998 interview when Dershowitz expressed virtually the opposite view of what he’s saying now about an impeachable offense requiring a crime.For his part, Dershowitz maintains there’s nothing inconsistent or unusual about the positions he’s taking.Though he’s been a vocal defender of Trump the last three years, he insists it’s not about this particular president. Rather, he’s trying to prevent impeachment from being weaponized into a “partisan process,” where any president can be removed over non-criminal abuses of power.“I’ve always taken positions that are principled and often unpopular and often in defense of people I don’t particularly support,” Dershowitz said, citing his defense of Neo-Nazis who wanted the right to march through Skokie, Illinois.“I haven’t changed at all. I’ve had the same consistent policy of defending people I don’t like, people I do like, without regard to party, without regard to partisanship.”Nancy Gertner, a retired federal judge in Boston who has known Dershowitz for years, says it’s true that he hasn’t changed — he still gravitates toward the media spotlight, high-profile cases and “positions he thinks will prove how principled he is.”But she says it’s impossible to reconcile his statements on behalf of Trump, and his extraordinarily expansive view of presidential authorities, with the civil libertarian bent he’s expressed over the decades and his stated opposition to unchecked government power. Some of what she’s heard him say is “horrifying.”“I’ve known him for a very long time,” she said. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”Even before he made the case against impeachment in a book, Dershowitz has defended as lawful some of Trump’s most scrutinized actions. In op-eds and TV appearances, he has accused special counsel Robert Mueller of partisan bias, ridiculed the idea Trump could have obstructed justice by firing his FBI chief and said presidents enjoy more power than kings.“A civil libertarian should be concerned about deploying the levers of power for the wrong purposes,” said Gertner, who is now a senior Harvard law lecturer. “These are not civil liberties positions. These are positions to garner attention to put him in the position that he now is in, which is to represent the president.”Harvey Silverglate, a friend of Dershowitz’s for more than 50 years, said his positions on Trump clearly make him unpopular “among the legal intelligentsia nationwide.” But he said Dershowitz specializes in cases where the defense is difficult or unique, and the client unpopular.Though Trump may not be an underdog in the conventional sense, Silverglate wrote in an email, “his impeachment does present just the kind of case, challenge and client for which Dershowitz is perfect — a high-profile assault on an individual who has powerful enemies and who is being ‘prosecuted.’”Dershowitz says he’s convinced that the same people criticizing him would be applauding him if he was prosecuting the House impeachment case. The attacks, he said, have been “ferocious.” He calls it a “shoe on the other foot test.”“People say I’m not a constitutional lawyer because they don’t like the side I’m on,” Dershowitz said. “They say I’m too old, I’m a has-been.”Trump has watched Dershowitz defend him on Fox News for years, sometimes tweeting links to the lawyer’s statements that he finds especially helpful. Through the Mueller investigation and into impeachment he has been enamored with the possibility of assembling a legal dream team.But White House aides cautioned Trump against bringing Dershowitz onto his team, concerned that Dershowitz was a self-promoter whose showboating style wouldn’t put Trump’s interests first.They also feared Dershowitz’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein and the surrounding legal drama would be a distraction for the defense. Trump overruled them.According to one person familiar with the decision, Trump wanted the appearance of a bipartisan defense team. And he has always valued attorneys who can make the case to the public on Fox News, his preferred platform.By the time of their Christmas Eve conversation, Dershowitz had already been approached about a role on the team. But his wife, who was with him that evening at Mar-a-Lago, was more apprehensive, concerned he’d lose his independence.Trump sought to offer reassurance on that point, saying that while he appreciated that concern, it was nonetheless important to consider “how important this was for the future of the country and for precedent and all that,” Dershowitz recalled.Within days, his participation was settled.“People have already said that my arguments will be bonkers or errant nonsense,” Dershowitz said. “My only point is: Listen. I’m going to lay out a very serious constitutional argument. Maybe you’ll agree with it or maybe you won’t, but let’s have a debate on the merits.”
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London police say they will start using live facial recognition cameras in operational deployments, in a major advance for the controversial technology.The Metropolitan Police Service said Friday it will use the cameras to automatically scan the faces of people passing through small targeted areas where intelligence suggests serious offenders will be found.Real-time crowd surveillance by police in the British capital is among the more aggressive uses of facial recognition in modern democracies and raises questions about how the technology will enter people’s daily lives. Rights groups said the London police deployment threatens civil liberties such as the right to privacy and represents an expansion of surveillance.London police said the facial recognition system, which runs on technology from Japan’s NEC, looks for faces in crowds to see if they match any on “watchlists” of people wanted for serious and violent offences, including gun and knife crimes and child sexual exploitation.
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Закінчення старої угоди про транзит газу з Росією дозволило «Оператору газотранспортної системи України» укладати прямі угоди з операторами ГТС сусідніх країни Євросоюзу, повідомив голова українського оператора Сергій Макогон 24 січня.

За словами Макогона, вже почалося постачання газу з Польщі шляхом так званого віртуального реверсу через газовимірювальну станцію Дроздовичі.

«Скажімо, якщо є заявка на транзит газу з Російської Федерації в Польщу в обсязі 9 мільйонів метрів кубічних на добу, і в цю ж добу є заявка на імпорт газу з Польщі в обсязі 2 мільйонів метрів кубічних, то фактично транспортується через кордон лише 7 мільйонів метрів кубічних (9 мінус 2)», – пояснює Макогон.

За його словами, раніше через умови контракту газ доводилося фізично вивозити до Польщі, потім повертати назад через пункт Германовичі, що призводило до витрат на транспортування.

Макогон звернув увагу на те, що імпорт палива з Польщі включає також і імпорт з тамтешнього терміналу зрідженого газу. За його даними, наразі віртуальний імпорт з Польщі становить 5,5 мільйонів метрів кубічних за добу, транзит до цієї країни – 9,1 мільйонів. Тобто фізично до Польщі потрапляє тільки 3,6 мільйонів метрів кубічних.

«Хочу зазначити, що раніше влітку максимальна технічна можливість імпорту в Україну з Польщі була тільки 4,3 мільйони на добу. Тобто тепер більше вже таких обмежень немає», – пояснює він.

В пресслужбі «Оператора ГТС» Радіо Свобода уточнили, що віртуальний реверс почав працювати ще 16 січня із незначними обсягами газу, які наростали і до 24 січня сягнули 5,5 мільйонів кубічних метрів на день. Відтак технічні можливості операторів зростають, а фактичні обсяги реверсу будуть залежати від заявок.

Читайте також: «Путін особисто обговорював ставки транзиту та юридичні деталі газової угоди». Велике інтерв’ю з Юрієм Вітренком​

Голова «Оператора ГТС» очікує також відкриття віртуального реверсу зі Словаччини та Угорщини найближчим часом. Він не уточнив, чи почався процес віртуального реверсу фактично 24 січня, чи раніше.

30 грудня 2019 року Національна акціонерна компанія «Нафтогаз України» і російський газовий монополіст «Газпром» підписали контракт про транзит російського газу до Європи з використанням української газотранспортної системи за правилами Європейського союзу на п’ятирічний термін із можливістю продовження. Термін раніше чинного контракту 2009 року на транзит, як і контракту на постачання російського газу до України, збіг вранці 1 січня 2020 року. Підписанню цього контракту передувало укладення між сторонами мирової угоди – договору про врегулювання претензій.
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Національний банк України оприлюднив довідкове значення гривні на 24 січня – 24,27 гривні за долар. Цей показник на 27 копійок вищий за вчорашній – 24 гривні 54 копійки.

Тим часом на міжбанківському ринку гривня також послаблюється – з 24,27-24,23 вранці в п’ятницю до 24,38-24,34, повідомляє нішевий ресурс «Мінфін».

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Напередодні Національний банк встановив офіційний курс гривні на 24 січня на рівні 24 гривні 52 копійки за долар.

Національний банк України з 13 грудня 2019 року встановив облікову ставку на рівні 13,5%, знизивши її одразу на 2%. Також регулятор збільшив обсяг щоденного викупу валюти на міжбанку до 50 мільйонів доларів з попереднього рівня 30 мільйонів доларів.
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A federal judge Thursday sentenced a Libyan militant to more than 19 years in prison for his role in the 2012 Benghazi attacks that killed four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador.A jury convicted Mustafa al-Imam last year of conspiring to support the extremist militia that launched the fiery assaults on the U.S. compounds but deadlocked on 15 other counts.The attacks, aimed at killing American personnel, prompted a political fracas in which Republicans accused the Obama administration of a bungled response.Al-Imam was sentenced to a total of 236 months behind bars. He is the second militant convicted in the attacks that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens, communications specialist Sean Smith and security officers Tyrone Snowden Woods and Glen Anthony Doherty.’Strong message’Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement late Thursday that al-Imam’s sentencing “sends a strong message to those who would attempt to commit such a heinous crime.”The head of the Islamist militia who directed the siege, Ahmed Abu Khattala, was convicted in 2017 on terrorism-related charges and sentenced to 22 years in prison.Khattala was accused of driving to the diplomatic mission on Sept. 11, 2012, and breaching the main gate with militants who attacked with assault rifles, grenades and other weapons.The initial attack killed Stevens and Smith and set the mission ablaze. Woods and Doherty were later killed at a CIA annex.On Thursday, federal prosecutors in Washington asked U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper to send a message to others contemplating attacks on Americans overseas, saying al-Imam deserved the maximum 35-year sentence.“In the current geopolitical environment, terrorists must understand that there are harsh consequences for attacking diplomatic posts and harming U.S. personnel — particularly a U.S. ambassador,” Assistant U.S. Attorney John Cummings wrote in a court filing.’Tremendous mistake’Defense attorneys said al-Imam made a “tremendous mistake” by damaging and looting U.S. property after the attacks. But they insisted there was no evidence he intended to harm any Americans, noting jurors could not reach a verdict on the murder charges al-Imam faced.“Mustafa al-Imam is a frail, uneducated and simple man,” they wrote in a court filing. “He is not a fighter, an ideologue or a terrorist. He is a former convenience store clerk whose main loves in life are soccer and family.”Al-Imam was tried in a civilian court despite the Trump administration’s earlier contention that such suspects are better sent to Guantanamo Bay. His arrest, five years after the attack, was the first publicly known operation since President Donald Trump took office targeting those accused of involvement in Benghazi.Prosecutors acknowledged there was no evidence that al-Imam “directly caused” the killings at the U.S. compounds. But they said he aligned himself with Khattala and acted as his “eyes and ears” at the height of the attacks.During a four-week trial in Washington, prosecutors pointed to phone records that showed al-Imam was in the vicinity of the mission and placed an 18-minute call to Khattala during a “pivotal moment” of the attacks.Al-Imam also entered the U.S. compound, prosecutors said, and took sensitive material that identified the location of the CIA annex about a mile away from the mission as the evacuation point for Department of State personnel.In interviews with law enforcement following his 2017 capture in Misrata, Libya, he admitted stealing a phone and map from the U.S. mission.
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