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Vice President Harris’ Trip Aims To Deepen US Ties In Africa
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will strive to strengthen and reinterpret U.S. partnerships in Africa during a weeklong trip that marks the Biden administration’s latest and most visible outreach as it moves to offset China’s growing influence.
Harris intends to travel to Ghana, Tanzania, and Zambia, focusing on economic development, climate change, food security, and a growing young population. She is set to arrive in Ghana’s capital, Accra, on Sunday. Doug Emhoff, her husband, is accompanying her.
“For far too long, the United States’ foreign policy establishment has treated Africa as an after-school project rather than part of the core curriculum,” said Michelle Gavin, an Africa expert at the Council on Foreign Relations and a former United States ambassador to Botswana. “I see a concerted effort now to change that mindset.” However, it takes time.”
Harris will be widely followed across Africa as the first person of color and the first woman to serve as America’s vice president. Harris was reared in California even though her mother was born in India and her father was born in Jamaica.
“Everyone is excited about Kamala Harris,” said Idayat Hassan, director of Abuja, Nigeria’s Centre for Democracy and Development. “You can be whatever you want — that’s what she represents to many of us.”
A lecture in Accra and a visit to Cape Coast Castle, where enslaved Africans were once put onto ships bound for America, will highlight Harris’ trip. Harris also intends to meet with authorities in each country she visits and to lay a wreath in memory of the 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s capital.
Harris will be widely followed across Africa as the first person of color and the first woman to serve as America’s vice president.
Her schedule also includes a few non-traditional sites designed to emphasize the exciting future of a continent with a median age of only 19.
Harris intends to visit a recording studio in Accra, meet with female entrepreneurs, and visit a tech accelerator in Dar es Salaam. Harris is scheduled to meet with corporate and charity leaders in Lusaka, Zambia’s capital, to discuss boosting access to digital and financial systems.
Emhoff’s events have a similar focus. During his visit to Ghana, he intends to hold a town hall meeting with performers from a local television show, attend a girls’ basketball clinic, and tour a women-run chocolate company.
According to administration sources, the goal is to promote Africa as a site for investment rather than just aid packages, a subject that Harris underlined in December during a U.S.-Africa meeting in Washington.
“Because of your energy, ambition, and ability to turn seemingly intractable problems into opportunities,” she remarked, “I am an optimist about what lies ahead for Africa and, by extension, for the world.” “Simply put, your ability to see what could be, unburdened by what has been.”
Harris will spend three nights in Ghana, two nights in Tanzania, and one in Zambia before returning to Washington on April 2.
“It’s trip to support reformers,” said Vanda Felbab-Brown, co-director of the Brookings Institution’s Africa Security Initiative. “All three countries have faced significant challenges and changed dramatically.”
Tanzania’s first female president has loosened restrictions on opposition parties and rallies.
Ghana is facing a debt crisis and excessive inflation, dragging down an economy that was once among the best in the region. It is particularly concerned about instability caused by Islamist extremists and Russian mercenaries operating in countries north of Ghana.
Tanzania’s first female president has loosened restrictions on opposition parties and rallies. Zambia has implemented its reforms, such as decriminalizing presidential slander. However, democratic development in both areas is thought to be fragile.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and First Lady Jill Biden have traveled to Africa. President Joe Biden is set to leave office later this year.
Harris will visit Zambia for the first time since childhood when her maternal grandpa worked there. He was a civil servant from India who assisted with refugee relocation after Zambia gained independence from Britain.
“Grandpa was one of my favorite people in the world and one of the earliest and most lasting influences in my life,” Harris writes in her book.
The December U.S.-Africa meeting was the first since President Obama hosted one in 2014. Although Washington’s approach to Africa has had some historic successes, such as President George W. Bush’s HIV/AIDS effort, which has saved millions of lives, there have also been times of neglect.
“There’s a lot of skepticism and doubt about American staying power,” said Daniel Russel, a former State Department official who now works at the Asia Society Policy Institute. “They’re used to American promises that fizzle out and don’t amount to much.”
In stark contrast, China has led far-reaching infrastructure projects and increased telecom activities throughout the region.
According to John Kirby, a White House national security spokesman, African leaders are “beginning to realize that China is not their friend.”
“China’s interests in the region are purely selfish, in contrast to the U.S.,” he remarked. “We are truly committed to assisting our African friends in dealing with many challenges.”
Senior administration officials have been careful not to characterize Harris’ visit as another step in a geopolitical contest, which might alienate African leaders weary of choosing sides between global heavyweights.
They are now waiting to see what Harris and the U.S. have to give over the next week.
“Because of her profile, she has a very good reputation in Africa,” said Rama Yade, senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center. “However, beyond that, public opinion in the three countries will develop expectations very quickly.”
SOURCE – (AP)
News
Facebook Securities Fraud Case Dropped By US Supreme Court
(VOR News) – On Friday, the United States Supreme Court refrained from issuing a rule on Facebook’s permissibility of shareholders advancing a securities fraud claim.
The litigation alleges that Facebook, a subsidiary of Meta, misled investors about the improper utilization of user data from the social media site.
The justices denied Facebook’s appeal against a lower court’s ruling that allowed a class action lawsuit initiated by Amalgamated Bank in 2018 to proceed, at their hearing on November 6.
The Supreme Court concluded that the issue should not have been addressed, therefore opting not to resolve the fundamental legal question at hand. The intervention ensures that the lower court’s verdict remains in force.
The court issued a one-line order for dismissal without providing a rationale. This month, the Supreme Court addressed two cases concerning the ability of private litigants to hold companies accountable for purported securities fraud. One such instance was the dispute involving Facebook.
The alternative case, pertaining to chip manufacturer NVIDIA, renowned for its specialization in artificial intelligence, was discussed on November 13th. The Supreme Court has not yet rendered a verdict in the NVIDIA case.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit against Facebook claimed that the company had inappropriately withheld information from investors concerning a data breach that transpired in 2015, involving the British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.
The incident impacted over 30 million Facebook users.
Facebook faced allegations of misleading investors, constituting a violation of the Securities Exchange Act, a federal statute established in 1934 that requires publicly traded companies to disclose the risks they encounter.
In 2018, media claims indicated that Cambridge Analytica had improperly utilized Facebook user data during Donald Trump’s successful 2016 presidential campaign, resulting in a fall in Facebook’s stock market price. To partially offset the value of the stock they previously possessed, the investors have submitted a claim for unspecified monetary damages.
The inquiry at hand was whether had contravened the law by declining to disclose details regarding the prior data breach in later business-risk disclosures, while characterizing such scenarios as merely hypothetical.
Andy Stone, a representative, expressed his discontent with the Supreme Court’s decision to refrain from providing clarification on this specific legislative provision.
Stone asserted, “The plaintiff’s allegations are unfounded, and we will persist in our defense as the district court reviews this case.”
Facebook asserted that it was not obligated to disclose that the risk it had previously cautioned about had already materialized, as “a reasonable investor” would interpret risk disclosures as forward-looking statements.
In this instance, President Joe Biden’s administration expressed its support for shareholders.
The action, initially dismissed by United States District Judge Edward Davila, was reinstated by the 9th United States Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.
The decision compelled Facebook to appeal to the Supreme Court.
Subsequent to the Supreme Court’s dismissal of appeal, the plaintiffs are anticipated to pursue discovery, a process entailing the sharing of information between the litigating parties, as stated by Alan Morrison, a law professor at George Washington University.
Morrison also indicated that Facebook “may refile their motion to dismiss under a slightly altered standard, partially to achieve delay.”
Subsequent to the data breach at Cambridge Analytica, the United States government commenced inquiries into privacy protocols, alongside other lawsuits and a congressional inquiry. In 2019, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) initiated enforcement action against Facebook about the issue.
The company ultimately resolved the complaint for a total of one hundred million dollars. Consequently, Facebook was obligated to remit a distinct penalty of $5 billion to the Federal Trade Commission of the United States.
The Securities and Exchange Commission, the federal agency overseeing fraudulent activities in the securities sector, has had its authority curtailed by prior Supreme Court rulings.
SOURCE: USN
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Pam Bondi Is Appointed US Attorney General Following Gaetz’s Resignation.
PayPal’s Technical Challenges Are Affecting Thousands Of Customers Globally.
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Pam Bondi Is Appointed US Attorney General Following Gaetz’s Resignation.
(VOR News) – President-elect Donald Trump selected Pam Bondi, a former Florida Attorney General and ally, to succeed Matt Gaetz on Thursday after the latter withdrew from consideration.
Gaetz’s drug use and sexual intercourse with a 17-year-old girl were the subject of an investigation by the House Ethics Committee. He denies any wrongdoing.
During Trump’s first administration, Pam Bondi, 59, served on the Opioids and Drug Abuse Commission. He served as police chief of the third-most populous state from 2011 to 2019.
She was also a member of Trump’s defense team at his first impeachment hearing, where he was charged with use military assistance to get Ukraine to look into the wrongdoing of his opponent, now President Joe Biden. The Senate cleared Trump on all charges.
The right-wing America First Policy Institute, which has collaborated with Trump’s campaign to create government concepts, most recently had Pam Bondi as its leader of the legal branch.
Unlike Pam Bondi, Gaetz lacks the experience necessary to serve as attorney general and is likely to encounter resistance from Senate Democrats and some Republicans.
According to Jones Walker defense attorney David Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor in Florida, “She is unequivocally qualified for the position on paper.” Throughout her life, she battled in court. She stood out from the previous nominee because to her resume.
In a tweet announcing his intention to nominate Bondi, Trump praised her skills as a prosecutor and her firm stance against crime as Florida’s first female attorney general. Trump said that even though Bondi was elected on November 5th, while numerous state and federal criminal investigations were underway, he pledged to keep federal prosecutions from being politicized.
According to Trump, “The biased Department of Justice has been weaponized against me and other Republicans for an excessive duration.” Not true anymore.
Discussion about Pam Bondi and Trump’s history before 2016.
In 2013, the Trump Foundation may have broken federal law by giving $25,000 to a political action committee that supported Pam Bondi. Bondi thought about looking into the for-profit Trump University.
Pam Bondi disputed that her decision to end her legal actions against Trump University following the 2016 disclosure of Trump’s $25,000 gift had anything to do with her decision to withdraw from those actions. According to her, all pertinent material was made public by her office.
The erroneous money disclosure was attributed by the Trump team to a “series of unfortunate coincidences and errors.” New York state fraud investigations resulted in the dissolution of both Trump University and the Trump Foundation.
After misleading Trump University students, he settled for $25 million and was fined $2 million for misusing charitable funds.
Following Special Counsel Jack Smith’s acquisition of two indictments against him for his interference in the 2020 election and his possession of secret materials after leaving office, Trump has voiced his displeasure with the present leadership of the Justice Department and pledged retaliation.
AFPI’s Pam Bondi remains loyal to Trump.
She and a number of other lawyers claimed that Smith’s appointment was illegal in an amicus brief they prepared in support of Trump in the secret information litigation. The Justice Department filed an appeal after U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, a Trump nominee, rejected the case.
According to a long-standing rule against charging a sitting president, Smith and other top Justice Department officials are examining how both of the Trump criminal cases were resolved.
During his first administration, Trump was incensed with the Justice Department’s obstructionism. Bill Barr specifically refuted Trump’s baseless claims that he lost the 2020 election due to fraud, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions permitted an investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
Trump’s overarching objectives for the Justice Department have been delineated through his public remarks, interviews with former department lawyers, and Mark Paoletta, a conservative lawyer who develops the department’s policy.
Federal prosecutors may give illegal immigration cases priority.
To obtain a portion of the department’s $291 million justice assistance award, cities might have to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.
It is probable that the Civil Rights Division will refocus its attention from legal challenges to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in the public and commercial sectors to police accountability to religious freedom.
SOURCE: EAT
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PayPal’s Technical Challenges Are Affecting Thousands Of Customers Globally.
Matt Gaetz Withdraws as Trump’s Pick for Attorney General
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PayPal’s Technical Challenges Are Affecting Thousands Of Customers Globally.
(VOR News) – PayPal is a software program that enables the sending and receiving of monetary orders and transactions.
According to the corporation, which has taken responsibility for the incident that was mentioned before, PayPal is apparently experiencing problems in every region of the world in which it conducts business. This information was provided by the company.
In addition, PayPal noted on its service status website that it was experiencing “a system issue” which may affect a variety of PayPal Products, such as the ability to withdraw money from an account and the ability to complete an express checkout. This issue may even hurt the ability to complete an express checkout.
This problem may also affect other PayPal products.
In light of the fact that this vulnerability is present, there are further PayPal products that have the potential to be affected by it.
One of the remarks that was made was that “Our technical teams are actively working towards resolving the issue,” which was stated in the email that was distributed. This was one of the comments that individuals made. A number of assertions were made, and this was one of them all.
Several customers from various regions of the world have stated that they are unable to access their accounts or that they are having difficulty when it comes to making payments. These customers have also mentioned that they are encountering difficulties making payments.
These clients have informed us that they are experiencing difficulties obtaining their orders by communicating their concerns. As an additional point of interest, a number of customers have reported that they are currently having trouble processing payments. This is something that should be taken into consideration.
Up to the moment that the clock struck twelve twelve Central European Time (GMT), the platform outage monitor known as Downdetector had already received more than seven thousand alerts from users. When the clock reached twelve o’clock, this was the situation that existed.
As indicated by a dashboard that provides an overview of the current state of the services that are being offered by the organization, the crisis started at roughly 10:53 UTC.
PayPal gathered this information via the dashboard.
Among the services that were impacted by the outage, the business asserts that its bitcoin services and the peer-to-peer payment platform Venmo were among those that were affected. Venmo is a form of cryptocurrency that enables users to send and receive payments from one another.
This information suggests that these services were among those that were impacted by the circumstances. This information has been provided.
There are consumers who have voiced their frustration on social media over the fact that they are unable to access their accounts, and some of these customers have expressed their frustration over this issue. A number of users have stated their frustration about this issue.
The discontentment that users are experiencing has been communicated through posts that have been published on various social media platforms as of late.
Users of X, which was once known as Twitter, have submitted screenshots of a notification that flashed when they attempted to log into the platform.
The notification appeared after logging in.
The message was flashed on the screen whenever they attempted to log in by entering their credentials. For those individuals who were fortunate enough to receive the notification, it was strongly recommended that they “please check your entries and try again.”
Since its beginning in 1998, PayPal has developed into a global financial institution that is associated with a significance level that is significant enough to be considered noteworthy. The occurrence of this evolution took place virtually immediately following the establishment of PayPal.
Investors were informed that the total number of active accounts across all of the company’s companies had increased to $432 million for the month that ended on September 30th.
This information was provided to investors. Following the conclusion of the month, this information was made available to the public.
During the course of the month of October, investors were provided with this information for the purpose of their consideration. For those individuals who were interested in investing, the material in question was made available to them.
SOURCE: BBC
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