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Ex-UN secretary general s nephew pleads guilty in bribe case

2018-07-12T02:50:03Z

DomingoBugg5:

NEW YORK (AP) - A nephew of former [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html du lịch Bắc Kinh 5 ngày 4 đêm từ Hà Nội] U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon pleaded guilty Friday in a bribery case that grew from an attempt to sell a building complex in Vietnam for $800 million. Joo Hyun Bahn, also known as Dennis Bahn, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and a corruption count in Manhattan federal court as part of a deal with [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html vtr.org.vn] prosecutors. He has been free on bail for a year since he was charged with trying to pay $2.5 million in bribes to rescue the failed real estate deal for Landmark 72, a Vietnam building complex that included a 72-story commercial building that was then the tallest building in the Indochina Peninsula. During his plea, the 39-year-old Bahn, of Tenafly, New Jersey, said he facilitated a bribe, and he knew what he was doing "was a bad act." Judge Edgardo Ramos set sentencing for June 29. In a release, acting Assistant Attorney General John Cronan said Bahn's bribery scheme and scams by others seeking real estate deals "seek to corruptly tilt the playing field to their advantage." "Bribery and corruption undermine fair competition and the rule of law," Cronan said. Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said Bahn would have earned a multimillion-dollar commission on the real estate deal. The charges carry a potential sentence of up to 10 years. The plea agreement Bahn signed with prosecutors says his federal sentencing [http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&gl=us&tbm=nws&q=guidelines&gs_l=news guidelines] range could be as little as three years or as many as seven years in prison. The judge, though, is free to deviate from the calculated range. Prosecutors say the scheme occurred from March 2013 to May 2015 when Bahn and his father, Ban Ki Sang, 70, of Seoul, South Korea, conspired to try to induce a foreign official to persuade a sovereign wealth fund to rescue the real estate deal. The father was charged in the case but has not been arrested. An indictment said a $500,000 bribe was paid to a local businessman to arrange a $2 million bribe of the foreign official. But the government said in court papers that the half million dollars was instead wasted by the businessman on lavish expenses, perhaps because he didn't have the connections [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html tour bắc kinh từ hà nội] he boasted about. Advertisement

Dr. Doom Marc Faber removed from more boards after comments on...

2018-07-02T23:55:01Z

DomingoBugg5:

By Jennifer Ablan NEW YORK, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Marc Faber, the markets prognosticator known as "Dr. Doom," has been dismissed from three more company boards after comments in his latest newsletter this week suggested the United States had only prospered because it was settled by white people. U.S-based Sunshine Silver Mining Corp, Vietnam Growth Fund managed by Dragon Capital, and Indochina Capital Corporation, had all [http://Www.Melodyhome.com/category-0/?u=0&q=dismissed dismissed] him, Faber told Reuters on Friday, [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html tour bắc kinh từ hà nội] Faber has now been fired from six boards with Canadian fund manager Sprott Inc, NovaGold Resources Inc and Ivanhoe Mines Ltd letting him go on Tuesday after his remarks went viral on social media platform Twitter. In the October edition of his newsletter, "The Gloom, Boom & Doom Report," in a section discussing capitalism versus socialism, [http://Photobucket.com/images/Faber%20criticized Faber criticized] the move to tear down monuments commemorating the U.S. Civil War military leaders of the Confederacy. "Thank God white people populated America, not the blacks," Faber wrote in his newsletter. "Otherwise, the U.S. would look like Zimbabwe, which it might look like one day anyway, but at least America enjoyed 200 years in the economic and political sun under a white majority." "I am not a racist," Faber continued, "but the reality - no matter how politically incorrect - needs to be spelled out as well." Faber, a Swiss investor based in Thailand, who oversees $300 million in assets, [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html vtr.org.vn] said he has not lost any client money, and still stands by his comments and will keep publishing his newsletter. "My clients all know me for more than 30 years. They know that to call me a racist is inappropriate," he said. Faber said he has not seen a significant amount of subscribers cancel their subscriptions to his newsletter as a result of the controversy. "No, I think most people actually agree with me and certainly defend freedom of expression even if it does not coincide with their views." On his board dismissals, Faber said: "If saying what I said leads to these consequences, I prefer not to be on these boards. I think the corporate world is now run by compliance people. In this context, I understand their firing me." Business television networks such as CNBC and Fox Business said they would remove Faber from booking lists for their shows, and a Dow Jones spokesperson on Friday said Faber has not been involved in the Barron's Roundtable since 2015. Faber said: "I shall continue to write my two reports: The printed Gloom Boom & Doom Report and the website report. If I ever stop writing it won't be because some media outlets call me a racist, but because Mr. Mugabe asks me to be his minister of finance." He was referring to Zimbabwe's [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html du lịch Bắc Kinh] president, Robert Mugabe. (Reporting By Jennifer Ablan; editing by Clive McKeef) Advertisement

Tory rebels urged to back Theresa May in crunch Brexit votes

2018-07-02T10:51:53Z

DomingoBugg5:

Two senior Conservatives from the Leave and Remain wings of the party have come together to urge Tory MPs to back Theresa May in a series of crunch Commons votes on Brexit. Former home secretary Amber Rudd, a leading Remain supporter, and ex-party leader Iain Duncan Smith, a long-standing Brexiteer, warned defeat could lead to the fall of the Government. In a joint article for The Sunday Telegraph, they said that voting to overturn or water down a series of amendments inserted by the Lords into the EU (Withdrawal) Bill should be a �no brainer�. Iain Duncan Smith was among those who backed a Leave vote (Stefan Rousseau/PA) They said Labour would be quick to exploit any setback for the Government for their own purposes. �Jeremy Corbyn will do everything he can to stop us,� they warned. �That includes cynically trying to frustrate the Brexit process for his own political ends, as he will try to do next week when the [http://www.wonderhowto.com/search/Commons%20votes/ Commons votes] again on the EU (Withdrawal) Bill. �So it behoves us all to demonstrate discipline and unity of purpose in support of the Prime Minister. �We cannot allow ourselves to become divided and risk losing the precious chance to go on implementing policies that transform lives.� While Amber Rudd supported the Remain side (Stefan Rousseau/PA) Ministers - who have accepted just one of the 15 amendments to legislation - are confident of winning most of the votes when the bill returns to the Commons on Tuesday and Wednesday. However, pro-EU Tory rebels believe they could be vulnerable on key measures including the customs union and a requirement for Parliament to have a decisive say over what happens next if it rejects a final Brexit deal. With the Government dependent on the DUP for its majority, Tory whips are expected to crank up the pressure on potential rebels to ensure they have the numbers when it comes to the divisions. They may be boosted by support from a handful of pro-Brexit Labour MPs. Former deputy prime minister Damian Green wrote in the Sunday Express that the majority of the crucial votes would �pass easily�. He said: �The Westminster air is again full of the scent of rebellions, chaos and catastrophic Government defeats. �I predict they simply won�t materialise for one simple reason: the whips can count. �If they think that the Government won�t have a majority, they advise a change in policy.� Theresa May, in Quebec for the G7 summit, denounced the unelected peers who passed the amendments, accusing them of going far beyond their role as a revising chamber. �Let�s remember what the Withdrawal Bill is for: it�s about delivering a statute book that is ready for Brexit day,� she said. �Of course, the Lords has a revising role to play - but some of the amendments that were passed and the comments that were made went far beyond that. �You had peers talking about stopping Brexit or trying to tie the Government�s hands in the negotiations. �This Government is delivering on the decision made by the country in the referendum to leave the EU and we will not accept anything that prevents us from taking back control of our money, laws and borders.� Theresa May In their article, Ms Rudd and Mr Duncan Smith said the bill was not about competing visions of the future, but a �technical measure� to ensure there was �legal certainty� when Britain left the EU in March 2019. �The disagreements in the party do not extend to whether we should leave, only how we do it,� they said. �So for Conservatives of every outlook, givingour full support to the Government this week should be [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html vtr.org.vn] a no-brainer. The House of Commons backed the Withdrawal Bill at third reading with a clear majority. Not a single Conservative voted [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html du lịch Bắc Kinh] against it.� For Labour, shadow Brexit secretary Sir Keir Starmer said pro-EU Tory MPs had a chance to alter the direction of the negotiations if they voted with the opposition on the key amendments. �If Tory MPs who care about these amendments vote with us there is a real chance for Parliament to change the course of the Brexit negotiations and bring some order where there is real chaos,� he told BBC One�s The Andrew Marr Show. Advertisement

Cambodia wants US deportation deal renegotiated

2018-07-01T06:14:45Z

DomingoBugg5:

Cambodia's premier Hun Sen has become noticeably more critical of Washington in recent years, a period in which he has also grown much closer to China Cambodia on Tuesday said it will renegotiate a deal with Washington where convicted criminals with Cambodian heritage are deported to the Southeast Asian nation, retracting an earlier statement that the deportations had been suspended. For the last 15 years, the two nations have had a repatriation agreement allowing them to forcibly deport criminals with ties to the other country. More than 500 felons with Cambodian heritage have been deported from the US, many with few ties to their ethnic homeland or even the ability to speak Khmer. Earlier in the day Chum Sounry, a spokesman for Cambodia's [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html vtr.org.vn] foreign ministry, said news of the suspended agreement was [http://Www.Purevolume.com/search?keyword=delivered delivered] to W. Patrick Murphy, one of the [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html tour bắc kinh từ hà nội] State Department's most senior Asia diplomats who is currently visiting. The deal, Chum Sounry said, had been "criticised by both Cambodians here and Cambodian communities in the US" as a form of "double punishment". But in a later statement he clarified that the deal was still in place and that Phnom Penh wanted it "amended". Earlier in the day he said any new deal should contain provisions ensuring repatriations are only voluntary and that deportees should have the right to visit family in the US. The US embassy in Phnom Penh told AFP it had been informed of Cambodia's desire to renegotiate certain aspects of the agreement. Relations between the United States and Cambodia have grown increasingly frosty in recent years. Washington secretly bombed Cambodia during the Indochina wars but went on to be a major donor as the country emerged from the ashes of the Khmer Rouge [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html du lịch Bắc Kinh 5 ngày 4 đêm] genocide, pouring billions in aid into the country. It also took in tens of thousands of Cambodian refugees over the decades. But Cambodia's premier Hun Sen has become noticeably more critical of Washington in recent years, a period in which he has grown much closer to China. China has lavished poverty-stricken Cambodia with billions of dollars in grants and low-interest loans over the past few decades. Unlike aid from the US, Beijing's support comes without pressure on strongman Hun Sen to clean up his government's dismal human rights record. Hun Sen's speeches routinely lambast Washington and earlier this year Cambodia cancelled annual military drills with the US military. Officials at the time denied the decision was an effort to appease rival superpower China, with whom Cambodia had recently held drills. Advertisement

Tuesday March 15

2018-06-30T04:27:47Z

DomingoBugg5:

Today is Tuesday, March 15, the 75th day of 2016. There are 291 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date: 44 B.C. - Roman dictator Julius Caesar is assassinated by a group of Roman senators including Cassius and his friend Brutus. Caesar had been forewarned of the 'Ides of March.' 1493 - Christopher Columbus returns to Spain, concluding his first voyage to the Western Hemisphere. 1603 - Samuel de Champlain, French navigator and explorer, sails for the New World. 1776 - U.S. Congress resolves that authority of British Crown should be suppressed. 1848 - Hungarian intellectuals stage bloodless revolution in Budapest against Austro-Hungarian empire. It is put down by Russian troops the next year. 1874 - France assumes protectorate over central Indochina region of Annam, which breaks off vassalage to China. 1875 - The Roman Catholic Archbishop of New York City, John McCloskey, is named the first American cardinal by Pope Pius IX. 1894 - France and Germany agree on boundaries between French Congo and Cameroon. 1903 - British conquest of [http://Www.Thefreedictionary.com/northern%20Nigeria northern Nigeria] is complete. 1913 - U.S. President Woodrow Wilson holds the first open presidential news conference. 1916 - U.S. force of 12,000 soldiers under Gen. John Pershing is ordered to Mexico to capture revolutionary leader Pancho Villa. 1917 - Czar Nicholas II of Russia abdicates after humiliating defeat by the Germans. The Russian state and military begin to dissolve. 1919 - The American Legion is founded in Paris. 1937 - The world's first blood bank is established at Chicago's Cook County Hospital by Dr. Bernard Fantus. It is a breakthrough for surgical procedures and emergency treatments. 1938 - Nazi Germany seizes Czechoslovakia with little resistance, after having annexed the Sudetenland, with its fortifications, the previous year. 1989 - Soviet Union's President Mikhail S. Gorbachev calls for rapid measures to ease chronic food shortages. 1991 - Serbian President Borisav Jovic resigns after the collective presidency fails to declare a nationwide state of emergency. 1992 - A second earthquake in a short time strikes eastern Turkey, killing an estimated 800 people. 1993 - Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin offers, [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html vtr.org.vn] after a meeting with U.S. President Bill Clinton, to surrender part of the Golan Heights to Syria. 1999 - Rosemary Nelson, a Northern Ireland attorney who represented Catholic clients in several high-profile cases, is killed by a car bomb. The [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html du lịch Bắc Kinh] outlawed anti-Catholic group Red Hand Defenders claims responsibility. 2003 - Rebels led by ousted army chief General Francois Bozize capture the Central African Republic's capital, Bangui, and the international airport while President Ange-Felix Patasse was out of the country. Bozize declared himself president. 2005 - A French court convicts six men in an alleged plot to send a suicide bomber into the U.S. Embassy in Paris, wrapping up a trial that shed light on the spread of Islamic radicals in Europe. 2006 - A Spanish boat recovers the bodies of 24 people believed to be African migrants floating in waters off the coast of Mauritania, hundreds of miles (kilometers) south of the Canary Islands. 2012 - Dozens of Iranian banks are blocked from doing business with much of the world as the West tightens the financial screws on a country it wants to prevent from developing nuclear [http://Www.msnbc.com/search/weapons weapons]. 2014 - Malaysia's leader says the jetliner from his country missing for more than a week was deliberately diverted and continued flying for more than six hours after severing contact with the ground. 2015 - Philippine troops capture the leader of a Muslim rebel group in the south who had been linked to bombings and a beheading and accused of protecting two terror suspects wanted by [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html tour bắc kinh từ hà nội] the United States. Today's Birthdays: Andrew Jackson, U.S. president (1767-1845); Charles de Montalembert, French author (1810-1870); Jules Chevalier, French priest/founder of Sacred Heart Missionaries (1824-1907); Henri Saint Cyr, Swedish equestrian/Olympic gold medalist (1902-1979); Harry James, U.S. bandleader (1916-1983); Judd Hirsch, U.S actor (1935--); Sly Stone, U.S. singer/musician (1943--); will.i.am, U.S. rapper/musician (1975--); Eva Longoria Parker, U.S. actress (1975--). Thought For Today: Sometimes it's worse to win a fight than to lose - Billie Holiday, American singer (1915-1959). Advertisement

One of the last taboos -- France opens Vichy regime files

2018-06-26T18:37:47Z

DomingoBugg5:

An August 1944 portrait shows Francois [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html vtr.org.vn] de Menthon, the minister of justice in the provisional government of France under General Charles de Gaulle; de Menthon led oversaw the trials of Marshal Philippe P�tain and other members of the Vichy regime � AFP/File Paris (AFP) - France's decision to open up archives from its World War II collaboration with Nazi occupiers is being seen as breaking one of the last taboos that has poisoned debate about the era for years. "This brings an end to the fear of scandal. We are taking responsibility and we will have a better understanding of the issues," said Gilles Morin, a historian who heads the association of users of national archives. From this week, the government has opened up the police and justice archives from 1940 to 1944 when the Vichy regime, led by Philippe Petain, collaborated with the [http://www.Reddit.com/r/howto/search?q=invading%20German invading German] army. While the Nazis occupied the north of France, [https://www.Google.com/search?hl=en&gl=us&tbm=nws&q=Petain%20-- Petain --] a hero of World War I -- led so-called Vichy [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html tour bắc kinh từ hà nội] France [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html tour bắc kinh từ hà nội] in the centre and the south of the country, with its headquarters in the genteel city of the same name. Despite having autonomy from German policies, Petain passed legislation that saw Jews -- around 150,000 of whom had fled to the south believing it to be safer -- subjected to severe discrimination similar to that in the Nazi-occupied north. Advertisement

Cambodian PM asks US to stop deporting criminals

2018-06-19T06:54:53Z

DomingoBugg5:

Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen routinely hucks insults at the United States and jumps on any opportunity to point out hypocrisy in American foreign policy Cambodian leader Hun Sen called on the United States Thursday to stop forcibly deporting convicts with Cambodian heritage to the Southeast Asian nation, saying they should revise a policy that splits up families. More than 500 felons have [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html vtr.org.vn] been sent to Cambodia through a repatriation deal, though many were raised in the US and arrive in the country having never visited and unable to speak the language. "America is very smart...they keep only good people while they deport prisoners out of their country back to us," said Hun Sen, the strongman premier who has ruled Cambodia for more than three decades. "I hope the father of human rights which is America...will accept the proposal to amend the agreement to offer convicted Cambodians a chance to stay in the US with their families," he added. The prime minister's comments come after Cambodia's foreign ministry said earlier this week it wanted to renegotiate the 15[http://www.Trainingzone.co.uk/search/-year-old%20agreement -year-old agreement] allowing both nations to deport criminals with ties to the other country. The foreign ministry spokesman said the deal had been "criticised by both Cambodians here and Cambodian communities in the US" as a form of "double punishment" for those who are deported against their will. A spokesman for the US Embassy in Phnom Penh told AFP they had been informed of Cambodia's desire [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html du lịch Bắc Kinh] to amend the agreement. Hun Sen routinely hurls insults at the United States and jumps on any opportunity to point out hypocrisy in American foreign policy. Washington secretly bombed Cambodia during the Indochina wars but went on to be a major donor as the country emerged from the ashes of the Khmer Rouge genocide, pouring billions in aid into the country. It also took in tens of thousands of Cambodian refugees. Yet relations between the two nations have grown increasingly frosty in recent years, a period that has seen Cambodia grow closer to regional superpower Beijing. China has lavished the poverty-stricken country with billions of [http://Www.Encyclopedia.com/searchresults.aspx?q=dollars dollars] in grants and low-interest loans over [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-bac-kinh-5-ngay-4-dem.html du lịch Bắc Kinh] the past few decades. Unlike aid from the US, Beijing's support comes without pressure to address rights abuses or strengthen the country's fragile democracy. Advertisement

User:DomingoBugg5

2018-06-19T06:54:48Z

DomingoBugg5: Created page with "I'm Domingo and was born on 26 September 1977. My hobbies are Conlanging and Model Aircraft Hobbies. Also visit my homepage :: [http://www.vtr.org.vn/cam-nang-du-lich-b..."

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