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Author: Emmanuel Yashim

  • Attacker of Nancy Pelosi’s husband convicted, again, in California court

    Attacker of Nancy Pelosi’s husband convicted, again, in California court

    Conviction

    June 22, 2024 (Reuters) – A right-wing conspiracy theorist who attacked the husband of former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with a hammer was convicted of a host of charges in state court on Friday, following his conviction in federal court last year.
    A California jury convicted David DePape of kidnapping, burglary, false imprisonment, threatening the family member of a public official, and dissuading a witness.
    The state conviction could add more prison time for DePape, who in May was sentenced by a U.S. district judge to 30 years in federal prison for attempted kidnapping and assault of an immediate family member of a federal official.
    The state charges carry a potential sentence of up to life in prison.
    DePape, 44, broke into the Pelosis’ San Francisco home and struck Paul Pelosi over the head with a hammer in the early morning hours of Oct. 28, 2022, while Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, was still speaker of the House of Representatives and away in Washington.
    Pelosi remains a member of the House.
    After the conviction, a spokesperson for Nancy Pelosi issued a statement on behalf of the Pelosi family praising Paul Pelosi for his “bravery” in testifying in the state trial, as he had in the federal case.

    “For nearly 20 grueling months, Mr Pelosi has demonstrated extraordinary courage and fortitude every day of his recovery.
    “The Pelosi family is grateful for the kind thoughts and prayers they continue to receive,” said the statement.”
    It added that there would be no further comment until sentencing is complete.
    Paul Pelosi was knocked unconscious and hospitalised for several days, undergoing surgery for skull fractures.
    He also sustained injuries to his hands and right arm.
    Evidence in the federal trial showed DePape was driven by right-wing conspiracy theories, embracing the fictions spread by QAnon, questioning the Holocaust, and feeding off political accusations against Hunter Biden, the son of President Joe Biden, and George Soros, the billionaire Holocaust survivor.
    DePape’s defense attorneys did not contest the evidence at either trial, and focused on DePape’s state of mind and how he was consumed by conspiracy theories.
    DePape told the federal jury he wanted to kidnap Nancy Pelosi, interrogate her, and break her kneecaps if he found her to be lying.
    However, after breaking in, he instead found her husband, then age 82, asleep in his bed.
    DePape said the attack was a reaction to his original plan going awry.
    “He was never my target and I’m sorry that he got hurt,” DePape said. (Reuters/NAN) (www.nannews.ng)
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    (Edited by Emmanuel Yashim)

  • Israel attacks Hezbollah positions in Lebanon as UN chief urges calm

    Israel attacks Hezbollah positions in Lebanon as UN chief urges calm

    Calm

    Tel Aviv, June 22, 2024 (dpa/NAN) The Israeli army announced on Friday that it conducted airstrikes against Iran-backed militia Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon in response to ongoing attacks on northern Israel.

    There were no reports of injuries, according to a statement issued by the Israeli military on Friday evening.

    The information could not be independently verified.

    UN Secretary-General António Guterres expressed his “profound concerns” about the escalation of the conflict between Israel and Lebanon along the Blue Line, a demarcation line between both countries set by the United Nations.

    “The risk for the conflict in the Middle East to widen is real – and must be avoided,” he said.

    Since the start of the war in the Gaza Strip in October, there have been daily clashes between the Israeli army, Hezbollah and allied groups in the border area between Israel and Lebanon.

    There have been numerous casualties on both sides. The mutual shelling caused heavy destruction in villages on either side of the border. About 150,000 people have been evacuated or have left the combat zone due to the violence.

    Hezbollah is allied with the Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip but is considered to be much more powerful.

    Israel wants to use military and diplomatic pressure to ensure that Hezbollah retreats behind the Litani River, 30 kilometres from the border – as stipulated in an important UN resolution on the 2006 conflict.

    “The parties must urgently recommit to the full implementation of Security Council resolution 1701 and immediately return to a cessation of hostilities,” Guterres said. (dpa/NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

    YEE

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    (Edited by Emmanuel Yashim)

  • Huawei reaches 900m active users amid U.S. sanctions

    Huawei reaches 900m active users amid U.S. sanctions

    Users

    Washington, June 22, 2024 (dpa/NAN) Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei has reached 900 million active consumer devices with the company’s HarmonyOS operating system.

    The company announced that its premium devices sales have surged by 72 per ent during the first five months of 2024.

    “No one can extinguish the starlight in the sky.

    “Today, the future of HarmonyOS is set,” Huawei’s consumer business chairman Richard Yu said during a developer conference in Dongguan, China.

    “Let’s enjoy the brilliant galaxy that belongs to us,” Richard added.

    One of the notable reasons for the surge in sales was the launch of Mate 60 Pro smartphones in September.

    Huawei reported a profit of 19.6 billion yuan (2.7 million dollars) in the first quarter, up 564 per cent from the previous year.

    Sales within the same period rose 37 per cent to 178.8 billion yuan.

    During the meeting, Yu mentioned that the company is preparing to launch the Mate 70, the successor of the Mate 60 Pro, later this year.

    U.S. sanctions have denied Huawei access to modern U.S. technologies for several years.

    As a result, Huawei smartphones hardly play a role outside China anymore – even with the company overtaking Samsung as the top smartphone player in 2020. (dpa/NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

    YEE

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    (Edited by Emmanuel Yashim)

  • U.S. Supreme Court upholds federal domestic-violence gun ban

    U.S. Supreme Court upholds federal domestic-violence gun ban

    Gun

    Washington, June 21, 2024 (Reuters/NAN) The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday upheld a federal law that makes it a crime for people under domestic violence restraining orders to have guns.
    The ruling handed victory to President Joe Biden’s administration as the justices opted not to further widen firearms rights after a major expansion in 2022.
    The 8-1 ruling, authored by conservative Chief Justice John Roberts, overturned a lower court’s decision striking down the 1994 law as a violation of the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment right to “keep and bear arms.”
    The law was challenged by a Texas man who was subject to a restraining order for assaulting his girlfriend in a parking lot and later threatening to shoot her.
    The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had concluded that the measure failed the Supreme Court’s stringent test set in 2022 that required gun laws to be “consistent with the nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation” to comply with the Second Amendment.
    Roberts wrote in the ruling that since the nation’s founding, firearm laws have targeted people who threaten physical harm to others.
    “When a restraining order contains a finding that an individual poses a credible threat to the physical safety of an intimate partner, that individual may – consistent with the Second Amendment – be banned from possessing firearms while the order is in effect,” Roberts wrote.
    Biden’s administration defended the law as critical to protect public safety and abuse victims, who often are women.
    It emphasised that guns pose a particularly serious threat in domestic violence situations and also are extremely dangerous to police officers called to respond.
    “No one who has been abused should have to worry about their abuser getting a gun,” Biden said, touting his record on gun control.
    “As a result of (Friday’s) ruling, survivors of domestic violence and their families will still be able to count on critical protections, just as they have for the past three decades.”
    Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, who authored the 2022 ruling in a case called New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, was the lone dissenter.
    “Not a single historical regulation justifies the statute at issue,” Thomas wrote.
    He added that “in the interest of ensuring the government can regulate one subset of society, (Friday’s) decision puts at risk the Second Amendment rights of many more.”
    The case involved Zackey Rahimi, who pleaded guilty in 2021 to illegally possessing guns in violation of this law while subject to a restraining order.
    Police found a pistol and rifle while searching Rahimi’s residence in connection with at least five shootings, including using an assault-type rifle to fire at the home of a man to whom he had sold drugs.
    A federal judge had rejected Rahimi’s Second Amendment challenge and sentenced him to more than six years in prison. Violating the domestic violence gun law initially was punishable by up to 10 years in prison but has since been raised to 15 years.
    Gun safety groups called Friday’s ruling a legal victory that will help counter firearms violence. But they condemned actions by the 5th Circuit, perhaps the most conservative federal appeals court, that let the case get this far.
    “As millions of domestic violence victims breathe a sigh of relief, it’s worth remembering who put them in jeopardy: extreme Trump-appointed judges on the 5th Circuit who sided with an abuser who wanted to keep his guns,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, referring to Republican former President Donald Trump.
    Rahimi’s lawyer declined to comment on the ruling.
    In a May Reuters/Ipsos poll, 75 per cent of registered voters, including 84 per cent of Democrats and 70 per cent of Republicans, said that a person subject to a domestic violence restraining order should not be allowed to possess firearms.
    In a nation bitterly divided over how to address firearms violence including frequent mass shootings, the Supreme Court often has taken an expansive view of the Second Amendment, broadening gun rights in landmark rulings in 2008, 2010, and 2022.
    The 2022 Bruen ruling recognized a constitutional right to carry a handgun in public for self-defense, striking down a New York state’s limits on carrying concealed handguns outside the home.
    In another case, the Supreme Court in a 6-3 ruling on June 14 declared unlawful a federal ban on “bump stock” that enable semiautomatic weapons to fire rapidly like machine guns.
    The 5th Circuit last year set aside Rahimi’s conviction, concluding that although he was “hardly a model citizen,” the 1994 law was an “outlier” that could not stand under the “historical tradition” standard the justices announced in Bruen.
    Supporters of Rahimi have argued that judges too easily issue restraining orders in an unfair process that results in the deprivation of the constitutional gun rights of accused abusers. (Reuters/NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

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    (Edited by Emmanuel Yashim)

  • 1 person killed, more than 200 injured in Kenya anti-tax demonstrations

    1 person killed, more than 200 injured in Kenya anti-tax demonstrations

    Demonstration

    Nairobi, June 21, 2024 (Reuters/NAN) One person was killed and at least 200 people injured across Kenya in Thursday’s nationwide protests against government plans to raise 2.7 billion dollars in additional taxes, an alliance of rights groups and the police watchdog said.
    Police fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse protesters in the capital Nairobi, the five rights groups, which include Amnesty International and the Kenya Medical Association, said in a joint statement late on Thursday.
    The presence of spent cartridges implied the use of live rounds, they said, adding that more than 100 protesters had been arrested across Kenya.
    The Independent Policing Oversight Authority said on Friday it had documented the death of a man “allegedly as a result of police shooting and several serious injuries suffered by other demonstrators including police officers.”
    The 29-year-old man died during treatment for a wound on his thigh at a hospital on Thursday night, according to a police report seen by Reuters.
    The report did not state how he was injured.
    Gillian Munyau, the mother of the dead man, Rex Kanyike, who worked at a casino in Nairobi, said his friend had told her a plainclothes officer had shot him while they ran away from teargas.
    “If someone is fighting for their rights, why use live bullets? Had he been armed, we would have understood. But he was just walking with his friend,” Munyau told Reuters outside a mortuary, where she had gone to collect her son’s body.
    Munyau told privately-owned Citizen Television that Rex’s friends told her police officers who had past him being attended to offered no help.
    “The officers said “let him die there” and continued walking by,” she told Citizen Television.
    Nairobi county police commander Adamson Bungei did not answer phone calls from Reuters seeking comment.
    “We commend the several thousands of protesters, many of whom are youthful, for picketing peacefully (and) exhibiting restraint and decorum despite provocation by police,” the rights groups said.
    Protesters want the government to abandon its finance bill, saying it will choke the economy and raise the cost of living for Kenyans who are already struggling to make ends meet.
    The International Monetary Fund, however, says that the government needs to increase revenues to reduce the budget deficit and state borrowing.
    Earlier this week the government softened its position a little, with President William Ruto endorsing recommendations to scrap some of the new levies, including on car ownership, bread, cooking oil, and financial transactions.
    Despite the widespread demonstrations, which broke out in 19 of Kenya’s 47 counties, lawmakers passed the finance bill in its second reading on Thursday, moving the contested tax proposals to their next stage for approval.
    Lawmakers are expected to meet on Tuesday to vote on proposed changes to the bill, which parliament’s budget committee says would blow a 200 billion Kenyan shilling (1.56 billion dollars) hole in the 2024/25 budget, and compel the government to make spending cuts. (Reuters/NAN) (www.nannews.ng)
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    (Edited by Emmanuel Yashim)

  • Malian parties say leaders arrested amid political crackdown

    Malian parties say leaders arrested amid political crackdown

    Parties

    Bamako, June 21, 2024 (Reuters/NAN) An alliance of political parties and civil society groups in junta-led Mali said several of their leaders were arrested on Thursday during a private meeting at a house of a former minister, demanding in a statement their prompt release.
    The West African country, which has been under military rule since a coup in 2020, in April issued a decree that restricted political life in the name of maintaining public order.
    The group did not say how many people were detained, but Boubacar Toure, a representative for one of the parties, told Reuters on Friday that 11 people had been arrested at the private meeting, for the most part political leaders.
    “The parties … condemn with the utmost rigor these arbitrary arrests, which violate the constitution and all the laws of Mali,” the group’s statement said.
    It accused the authorities of pursuing “a path to dictatorship … with the sole aim of staying in power and silencing all democratic and republican voices.”
    The authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
    Mali’s junta has suspended all activities by political parties and “associations of a political nature” after the group of political parties and civil society organisations jointly called out the authorities on March 31 for not scheduling elections within the promised time frame.
    In response to the junta’s order, the group turned to the Malian Supreme Court but it is unclear when the top court will consider the appeal. (Reuters/NAN) (www.nannews.ng)
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    (Edited by Emmanuel Yashim)

  • China warns of possible ‘trade war’ with EU

    China warns of possible ‘trade war’ with EU

    War

    Beijing, June 21, 2024 (Reuters/NAN) Beijing warned on Friday that escalating frictions with the European Union over electric vehicle imports could trigger a trade war, as Germany’s economy minister arrived in the Chinese capital with the proposed tariffs high on his agenda.
    Robert Habeck’s three-day trip to China is the first by a senior European official since Brussels proposed hefty duties on imports of Chinese-made electric vehicles to combat excessive subsidies.
    That has unleashed countermeasures by China and harsh criticism from Chinese leaders.
    This week alone, Chinese automakers urged Beijing to hike tariffs on imported European gasoline-powered cars and the government launched a dumping probe into EU pork imports in retaliation for the EU Commission’s move.
    “Responsibility lies entirely with the EU side,” a spokesperson for China’s commerce ministry said in a statement.
    “In its countervailing duties investigation, the European side intimidated and coerced Chinese enterprises threatened to apply punitive high tariff rates, and demanded overly broad information,” it added.
    Habeck’s visit is seen as an opportunity for Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, to explain to Chinese officials the recent tariff announcement while allaying the risk of retaliation from China that could harm German businesses.
    Germany’s voice carries particular weight, and its leading car manufacturers have vociferously opposed the EU tariffs. Berlin has urged dialogue while also expecting China to compromise.
    The country’s carmakers would be the most exposed to any counter-moves from China, as almost a third of their sales came from the 18.6 trillion-dollar-economy last year.
    The EU’s move on EV tariffs plunged trade ties with the world’s second-largest economy to a new low.
    But Chinese state media portrayed his visit as a chance to defuse tensions. Germany should seek consensus, some experts said, according to Chinese state-controlled tabloid Global Times on Friday. (Reuters/NAN) (www.nannews.ng)
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    (Edited by Emmanuel Yashim)

  • Hungarian PM sees new EU leadership as ‘Coalition for war and migration’

    Hungarian PM sees new EU leadership as ‘Coalition for war and migration’

    Coalition

    Budapest, June 21, 2024 (dpa/NAN) Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has described the emerging new leadership of the European Union, under a potential second term for Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, as a “coalition for war and migration.”

    In an interview with a Hungarian state broadcaster on Friday, Orbán stated that the “increasingly left-wing” coalition of conservatives, social democrats, and liberals, who hold a majority in the new European Parliament, have already reached an agreement on this matter.

    At an informal meeting of EU leaders in Brussels on Monday, no agreement had yet been reached on filling the EU’s top jobs after the European elections on June 9.

    However, it was a “match that has already been whistled,” said Orbán.

    “A warmongering, anti-business, and pro-migration coalition has emerged in the EU,” he continued.

    As the leader of the conservative European People’s Party (EPP), the party with the most votes in the European Parliament, the German Manfred Weber had played “the role of Beelzebub” – a demon or devil – in forging this coalition.

    Weber is “an old enemy and evildoer of Hungary” and von der Leyen is “just a little altar girl” to him, Orbán said.

    The coalition of “Weberians” would execute the so-called “Soros plan,” Orbán continued.

    According to this plan, the Hungarian-born US billionaire and philanthropist George Soros is attempting to flood Europe with migrants to rob European nations of their Christian and national identity.

    “A population exchange is taking place in Europe, the white, Christian, tradition-conscious – let’s say European – person is becoming fewer, the number of imported migrants is increasing,” Orbán continued.

    The allegation of an – unverifiable – “Soros plan” and the complaint about an alleged “population exchange” are part of the conspiracy narratives propagated by right-wing extremists.

    The radio interview with Orbán was recorded in Berlin.

    German Chancellor Olaf Scholz plans to meet with Orbán for talks on Friday. Hungary takes over the EU Council Presidency on July 1. (dpa/NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

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    (Edited by Emmanuel Yashim)

  • Roberto Baggio robbed at gunpoint during Italy’s loss to Spain

    Roberto Baggio robbed at gunpoint during Italy’s loss to Spain

    Robbery

    Rome, June 21, 2024 (dpa/NAN) Former world player of the year Roberto Baggio has been injured in a robbery at his home in northern Italy and had to be treated in hospital.

    According to Italian media reports, five armed men forced their way into the 57-year-old’s villa near Vicenza on Thursday while he was watching Italy’s 1-0 European Championship defeat to Spain on television with his family.

    One of the perpetrators is said to have hit Baggio with a rifle butt and injured him in the head as Baggio tried to defend himself.

    “Fortunately, the violence I suffered only caused me stitches, bruises, and a lot of fear.” he was reported as saying by the ANSA news agency on Friday.

    Baggio and his family were reportedly locked in a room.

    The thieves then ransacked the house and stole watches, jewellery, and money.

    After the criminals had left the villa, Baggio broke down the door and alerted the police.

    Nobody else was injured apart from the 1993 World Player of the Year and 1994 World Cup runner-up. (dpa/NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

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    (Edited by Emmanuel Yashim)

  • UK public debt increases to highest since 1961

    UK public debt increases to highest since 1961

    Debt

    London, June 21, 2024 (dpa/NAN) UK state debt rose to levels not witnessed for more than 60 years in May in spite of lower-than-expected government borrowing, according to official figures.

    The data, which comes only two weeks before the general election, underscores the financial challenge facing the next Government, with both Labour and the Conservatives pledging to cut debt.

    The Office for National Statistics (ONS) found that public sector net debt as a proportion to UK GDP (gross domestic product) rose to 99.8 per cent for the month.

    This marks the highest reading since March 1961, the ONS said.

    Both the Labour and the Conservative parties have said in the run-up to the election that they will meet a fiscal rule to reduce the debt-to-GDP ratio over the next five years.

    British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promised to reduce debt as one of his five pledges at the start of 2023.

    This came as the statistics body also revealed that public sector net borrowing hit 15 billion pounds (19 billion dollars) for the month.

    Initial data found public sector borrowing – the difference between Government spending and income – was 0.8 billion pounds higher than the same month a year earlier.

    It was also the third-highest May since monthly records began in 1993.

    Nevertheless, this was 0.6 billion pounds below forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), the Government’s official forecaster, and was less than economists had predicted.

    The central government had receipts – the money it receives, predominantly through taxes – of 76.8 billion pounds for the month.

    This represented a one-billion-pound increase after receiving more through income tax, corporation tax, and VAT (value-added tax).

    Meanwhile, government spending was recorded as 91.6 billion pounds for May, up 2.8 billion pounds from the same month a year earlier.

    The increase was partly linked to a 2.2-billion-pound rise in social benefits following the inflation-linked increase in benefit payments.

    Departmental spending on goods and services was also higher after inflationary pressure on running costs. (dpa/NAN) (www.nannews.ng)

    YEE

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    (Edited by Emmanuel Yashim)