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Legal immunity stripped from World Bank, opens door for lawsuits

Sasha Chavkin
ICIJ
Wed, 27 Feb 2019 00:00 UTC
coal power plant
© The EcologistTata Mundra coal-fired power plant in Gujarat, India.
The Supreme Court of the United States has rejected World Bank claims of complete legal immunity, ruling that one of its arms can be sued in relation to lending activities.

The 7-1 ruling could also open other American-based international organizations to the threat of lawsuits over financing overseas development.

For the World Bank, it means that it now faces having to defend against a suit by members of a fishing community in Mundra, India, who contend that their homes and livelihoods were damaged by pollution from a coal power plant that was financed by the bank's private sector lending arm, the Washington, D.C.-based International Finance Corporation.

Bharat Patel, general secretary of the Association for the Struggle of Fisherworkers' Rights, one of the plaintiffs, welcomed the historic ruling, saying: "This is a huge victory for the people of Mundra [and a] major step towards holding the World Bank accountable for the negative impacts their investments are causing."
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Oil Well

Maduro: European HQ of Venezuelan state oil firm PDVSA will be moved to Moscow


RT
Fri, 01 Mar 2019 10:32 UTC
PDVSA sign
© AFP/Luis Robayo
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has ordered the European headquarters of state oil company PDVSA be relocated to Russia, Venezuela's Vice President Delcy Rodriguez has said.

"President Maduro ordered to close the Lisbon office of PDVSA and move it to Moscow," Rodriguez said on Friday at the joint news conference with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, during her visit to the Russian capital.

The decision comes as Venezuela expands energy cooperation with Russia's oil and gas giants Gazprom and Rosneft, according to the official. "It's the perfect time, as we are reshaping our relations," said Rodriguez.

Over recent months, there has been a battle over Venezuela's oil industry, which contributes greatly to the country's budget. The United States has sanctioned PDVSA in an attempt to cut off funds to the Maduro-led government while giving support to the opposition led by Juan Guaido. President Maduro broke diplomatic ties with the US after President Trump recognized Guaido as interim president.

Comment: More from RT:
"Venezuela is worried about further sanctions and asset seizures of PDVSA," Mehmet Ogutcu, chair of the Bosphorus Energy Club, told RT. "Hence the decision to relocate its European headquarters to Russia so that the assets could not be risked."

According to the expert, the Venezuelan government is struggling to find new buyers for heavy crude, which had been previously sold to US refineries. The US purchased around 500,000 barrels oil per day from Venezuela before Washington introduced economic penalties against PDVSA, freezing $7 billion of the company's assets.

Ogutcu stressed that under the current circumstances, revenues from oil sales could easily be confiscated by the US.

As part of the recent sanctions, the White House blocked payments to PDVSA accounts with buyers of Venezuela's oil directed to deposit all transactions in a separate account, to which the company doesn't have access.

Russian energy corporations might easily purchase Venezuelan crude, aiming to further re-sell the shipments.

"Russia has already extended loans to Venezuela and has been receiving crude oil to compensate the debt repayment," Ogutcu said. "Russia could develop the same mechanism the European Union is trying to currently deploy not to halt trading with Iranian crude sector," the analyst told RT.


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Attention

UK to fine Facebook & Google up to 4% value for not removing 'hate speech' & 'fake news' fast enough


RT
Fri, 01 Mar 2019 19:56 UTC
facebook phones
© Pixabay / geralt
The UK is rolling out a draconian new 'harmful content' policy that will punish social media with massive fines if they fail to remove ill-defined "hate speech," "misinformation," and "problematic content" quickly enough.

An "independent tech regulator" would have the power to impose fines amounting to as much as 4 percent of a company's value if Facebook, Google, or any other social media platform is too slow to remove objectionable content, according to UK digital minister Margot James, who told Business Insider the new rules would be officially unveiled next month. The regulations are purportedly aimed at eradicating "illegal hate speech," along with child grooming and "problematic content" related to suicide and self-harm, but also target the Western governments' beloved punching bag, "misinformation."

While the new regulator is supposed to be independent of government, it will be up to ministers to decide whether to set up a brand new body or just hand the responsibility for censoring objectionable content over to Ofcom - the same regulator which was recently found to be colluding with a government-funded "think tank" to tie up RT in regulatory red tape with astroturfed "complaints."
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Star of David

Israel lobby is lavishing funds on breakaway British MPs 'Independent Group'


The Electronic Intifada
Fri, 01 Mar 2019 18:11 UTC
labour mps leave friends of israel
© The TimesSix MPs who quit Labour for the new group are still with Labour Friends of Israel.
A multi-millionaire pro-Israel lobbyist is funding the UK Parliament's new Independent Group, it was revealed this week.

Others are likely to follow.

David Garrard told newspapers he had already donated to the MPs who broke away from the opposition Labour Party and the ruling Conservative Party.

The Independent Group is expected to eventually register as a party.

Garrard has for many years been a major financial backer of Labour Friends of Israel, a front group for the Israeli embassy, and was recently appointed to its board.

Prior to left-wing Palestine solidarity activist Jeremy Corbyn becoming party leader in 2015, Garrard donated almost $2 million to Labour under former leaders Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and Ed Miliband.

Comment: Al Jazeera laid out the sordid details in its expose of 2016. Watch Part 1:



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Bullseye

Best of the Web: Tulsi Gabbard: Trump-Kim summit failure no surprise as only nukes deter US regime change in N. Korea


RT
Fri, 01 Mar 2019 19:00 UTC
trump kim painting
© Reuters / Jorge Silva
Tulsi Gabbard says that while she is upset by the lack of progress at the talks in Vietnam, North Korea has every reason to believe its nukes are the only deterrent against regime change, taking into account the US' record.

Hawaii Rep. and Democratic presidential hopeful Gabbard sat down for a brief one-on-one with Fox News' Tucker Carlson on Thursday, relaying her thoughts on the summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, and lambasting the US interventionist political doctrine.

The summit, which wrapped up abruptly with Trump walking out of the talks after refusing to offer any relief of sanctions to Pyongyang, has been described as a flop, having done little to advance the denuclearization issue.

Gabbard said that although she was "deeply concerned" that the summit ended without any agreement, she was not surprised.
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War Whore

Lavrov: US plans to buy arms in Eastern Europe and send them close to Venezuelan border


RT
Fri, 01 Mar 2019 18:57 UTC
hands off venezuela
© Reuters / Juan Carlos Ulate
Washington plans to buy weapons including mortars and portable air-defense systems in an Eastern European country and send them close to Venezuela's border, Russian FM Sergey Lavrov said citing internal sources.

It looks like the US is considering a military intervention in Venezuela, Moscow's top diplomat said during a press conference with Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez on Friday. In this scenario, Washington would be buying arms in Eastern Europe and sending them via cargo plane to locations near Venezuela's borders.
According to the information that we have, in the upcoming future the US is planning to buy light weapons, mortars, air-defense systems and other arms in one of the Eastern European countries and send it close to Venezuela using an airline from one of the Post-Soviet states absolutely loyal to Washington.
On Thursday, Washington proposed a UNSC draft resolution blaming President Nicolas Maduro for causing an "economic collapse" in the country and calling for new elections. The bid was vetoed by Russia and China who accused the US of interfering in Venezuela's internal affairs. A rival Russian draft also failed.
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Star of David

Fmr Israeli navy chief: Israeli govt not interested in long-lasting peace with Palestinians


RT
Fri, 01 Mar 2019 18:47 UTC
palestine
© Reuters / Ibraheem Abu Mustafa
Tel Aviv has no desire to seek out a peace process that will have long-term benefits for both Palestinians and Israelis, the former commander-in-chief of the Israeli navy told RT's Sophie Shevardnadze.

Admiral Ami Ayalon, who also served as the head of Israel's Shin Bet security service, explained to Shevardnadze why he fears that Israel is heading towards another war.

"It seems the Israeli government doesn't have any interest in creating any kind of peace process or any kind of negotiations that will lead to a better future for the Israelis and the Palestinians,"he told the SophieCo host.

He expressed disappointment in how the Trump administration has handled the Israel-Palestine issue and mused that Washington has a poor grasp of the decades-long conflict.

"When I listen, especially to American voices during the last 20 years, they do not understand the Middle East, they do not understand Palestinians, and, if you ask me, they do not understand Israel the way I believe Israel should be," Ayalon stated. He predicted that unfortunately, upcoming elections in Israel are unlikely to "change our political direction" for the better.
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Eye 1

New York requests documents from Facebook on invasive data sharing

Sam Schechner
The Wall Street Journal
Fri, 01 Mar 2019 18:44 UTC
Facebook
A New York regulator is ramping up a promised investigation of how Facebook Inc.gathered sensitive personal information from popular smartphone applications after a report by The Wall Street Journal revealed that many such apps were sending the social-media giant data, including users' body weight and menstrual cycles.

The state's Department of Financial Services on Wednesday sent a series of letters seeking information and documents from Facebook and the developers behind the 11 apps mentioned in the Journal's reporting, according to a person familiar with the investigation.

One letter, addressed to Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg, requests information about all companies that have sent Facebook data about mobile application users via software provided by the social-media giant in the last three years, the person said. It also asked the company to provide the categories of data that were shared and a list of all New Yorkers whose data was included, the person added.
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Bad Guys

CNN, Democratic Party accused of conspiring against Sanders with 'stacked' audience at Q&A event


RT
Fri, 01 Mar 2019 18:23 UTC
bernie sanders
© AFP / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / WIN MCNAMEE
CNN and the Democratic Party have been accused of trying to sabotage Bernie Sanders after the network masked the political affiliations of audience members who pelted the senator with questions during a town hall event.

The Vermont senator found himself bogged down in complicated policy issues - and apologies - after fielding questions from audience members whose political loyalties and possible ulterior motives were obscured by CNN. The eyebrow-raising oversight was first spotted by Paste Magazine, which accused CNN, in concert with the Democratic Party, of "stacking" the audience against Sanders by not being upfront about who was tasked with asking the senator questions.

For example, a young woman identified by CNN as a student at American University suggested that Sanders had turned a blind eye to his campaign's alleged sexist behavior during the 2016 primaries, and asked what the democratic socialist would do to make women feel more included in his 2020 presidential bid. Curiously, the network failed to disclose that the student also happens to be an intern at a major DC lobbying firm - an odd coincidence considering her question was adapted from a Sanders-bashing talking point popular among corporate-friendly Democrats.
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Snakes in Suits

Best of the Web: 'Progressive hero' Justin Trudeau is a fraud and a hypocrite

Danielle Ryan
RT
Fri, 01 Mar 2019 18:11 UTC
trudeau
© Reuters / Shannon VanRaes
Justin Trudeau is in trouble - big trouble. But who could ever have guessed that the media darling and international poster-boy for progressivism was actually just another snake in the grass?

Trudeau is facing explosive allegations that he pressured Canada's ex-attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould to drop a bribery probe into Quebec-based firm SNC Lavalin (details here). Wilson-Raybould testified that officials, including Trudeau himself, "barraged" her with demands and "veiled threats" to drop criminal charges and said she believes her refusal to comply explains her abrupt demotion. If the allegations are true, this is bare-faced corruption. But Canada's swoon-worthy (apparently) prime minister is dismissing calls for his resignation.

Trudeau's refusal to back down reminds me of someone. Oh, who could it be? Ah yes, that other faux-progressive who is likewise accustomed to getting a free pass from the media because he makes all the right sounds with his mouth: It's France's Emmanuel Macron, of course. Macron's approval rating dipped to a mortifying low of 18 percent last year, but he is somehow still around to tell the tale - even after four months of non-stop street protests against his failing neoliberal government.
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