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Five richest men doubled fortunes after 2020, Oxfam says as Davos opens

Five richest men doubled fortunes after 2020, Oxfam says as Davos opens

Charity says billionaires $3.3 trillion richer than in 2020 as annual gathering of business elites take place. The world’s richest five men have more than doubled their fortunes since 2020, the charity Oxfam has said, sounding the alarm about unchecked corporate power as business elites hold their high-profile annual gathering in Davos, Switzerland. The five men are worth a combined $869bn after growing their fortunes at a rate of $14m per hour during the past four years, Oxfam said in its report “Inequality Inc.”, released on Monday. Despite the growth in the fortunes of the five – LVMH chief Bernard Arnault, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, investor Warren Buffet, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison and Tesla CEO Elon Musk – 5 billion people have gotten poorer over the same period, Oxfam said. Billionaires are today $3.3 trillion richer than they were in 2020, while a billionaire leads 7 out of 10 of the world’s biggest companies, the London-based charity said. If current trends continue, the world will have its first trillionaire within a decade but poverty will not be eradicated for another 229 years, according to the anti-poverty group. Oxfam International interim Executive Director Amitabh Behar said that nobody should have a billion dollars. “We’re witnessing the beginnings of a decade of division, with billions of people shouldering the economic shockwaves of pandemic, inflation and war, while billionaires’ fortunes boom. This inequality is no accident; the billionaire class is ensuring corporations deliver more wealth to them at the expense of everyone else,” Behar said in a statement released with the report. “Runaway corporate and monopoly power is an inequality-generating machine: through squeezing workers, dodging tax, privatising the state, and spurring climate breakdown, corporations are funneling endless wealth to their ultra-rich owners. But they’re also funnelling power, undermining our democracies and our rights.” Oxfam traditionally releases its annual report on inequality just ahead of the opening of the annual World Economic Forum (WEF), launched by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab in the early 1970s to champion “stakeholder capitalism”. The charity said that corporations pay about one-third less in taxes than in past decades as a result of a lobbying “war on taxation”, starving governments of money that could be used to benefit the poorest in society. Oxfam said governments should cap CEOs’ pay, break up private monopolies and introduce a wealth tax to bring in $1.8 trillion dollars each year. “We have the evidence. We know the history. Public power can rein in runaway corporate power and inequality  – shaping the market to be fairer and free from billionaire control. Governments must intervene to break up monopolies, empower workers, tax these massive corporate profits and, crucially, invest in a new era of public goods and services,” Behar said. Adblock test (Why?)

Georgia DA Fani Willis claims ‘improper’ relationship accusations are based on race

Georgia DA Fani Willis claims ‘improper’ relationship accusations are based on race

Fulton County, Georgia district attorney Fani Willis, who brought charges against former President Donald Trump on election interference, claims allegations brought against her of having an “improper” romantic relationship with a prosecutor were made because they are Black. Court documents filed earlier this month say Willis hired special prosecutor Nathan Wade, her alleged partner, to prosecute Trump and benefited financially from the relationship in the form of lavish vacations the two went on using funds his firm received for working the case. For the first time since the allegations were made, Willis spoke on the matter at the Big Bethel AME Church in Atlanta on Sunday. TOP TRUMP PROSECUTOR, GEORGIA DA ALLEGED TO BE IN ‘IMPROPER’ ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP: COURT FILING “They only attacked one,” she said. “First thing they say, ‘Oh, she’s gonna play the race card now.’ “But no God, isn’t it them that’s playing the race card when they only question one,” Willis asked. Willis had remained mum in public on the matter, though she still has neither confirmed nor denied the allegations brought against her and Wade, who was involved in bringing an indictment against Trump for election interference. FORMER COP TARGETS TRUMP, GOP OPPONENTS OVER ‘DISGRACEFUL’ LAW ENFORCEMENT RHETORIC 3 YEARS AFTER JAN 6 Although she never mentioned Wade by name during the speech on Sunday, she referred to the man as “a great friend and a great lawyer.” Trump’s co-defendant, Michael Roman, accused Willis and Wade of having an “improper” and “clandestine” affair at the same time appointments were being made for the 2020 election interference case. Roman was a former official on Trump’s 2020 campaign and argued about the integrity of the case being compromised because of the affair, last week in court, asking for the charges against Roman to be dropped. HOUSE JUDICIARY INVESTIGATING WHETHER FULTON COUNTY DA FANI WILLIS ‘COORDINATED’ WITH JAN 6 COMMITTEE “The district attorney chose to appoint her romantic partner, who at all times relevant to this prosecution has been a married man,” court documents read. Fulton County records show Wade has been paid nearly $654,000 in legal fees since January 2022, an amount authorized by the district attorney, or Willis in this case. The filing also calls for the entire district attorney’s office, including Willis and Wade, to be disqualified from prosecuting the case. Willis said on Sunday that John Floyd and Anna Green Cross, both prosecutors assigned to the case, are both white and were not targeted. “Isn’t it them playing the race card when they constantly think I need someone from some other jurisdiction in some other state to tell me how to do a job I’ve been doing almost 30 years,” Willis asked. Trump was indicted by Willis in August and pleaded not guilty to charges related to allegedly attempting to subvert the results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia, including violation of Georgia’s anti-racketeering law. Roman, alongside Trump, was hit with a racketeering charge as part of Willis’ case and was charged with seven felony counts last August. The Georgia case is one of four pending against Trump; he also faces charges in New York City, Florida and Washington, D.C. Brandon Gillespie of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 691

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 691

Here is the situation as the war enters its 691st day. Here is the situation on Monday, January 15, 2024. Fighting The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said fierce fighting continued on the front line with 86 attacks reported on Sunday. The Washington, DC-based Institute for the Study of War think tank said, “Russian forces will likely try to sustain or intensify localised offensive operations throughout eastern Ukraine in an attempt to seize and retain the initiative regardless of weather conditions”. But it added that they were unlikely to make any significant breakthroughs. Oleg Gumenyuk, the former mayor of the far eastern Russian city of Vladivostok who was jailed for 12 years after being found guilty of corruption, is fighting on the front line in Ukraine after signing up for the military, Russian media reported. Gumenyuk reported for duty on December 22. The governor of Russia’s Kursk region said one man was injured after an alleged Ukrainian drone attack on the village of Tetkino, which is located on the border with Ukraine’s Sumy region. Politics and diplomacy Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will travel to Switzerland on Monday as Ukraine tries to shore up support from its allies. Zelenskyy will “meet the heads of both houses of parliament, party leaders and the President of Switzerland, and participate in the World Economic Forum” (WEF) in Davos, according to a statement from Zelenskyy’s office. Ukraine’s presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak said China needs to be involved in talks to end the war with Russia. Speaking after a high-level diplomatic meeting on Kyiv’s 10-point peace formula ahead of the WEF, Yermak said it was important that Beijing was at the table when Kyiv convenes further meetings on the plan. National security advisers from 83 countries attended the latest talks. France and Germany reaffirmed their support for Ukraine. “We are in full agreement… that we must support the Ukrainians for as long as necessary,” newly-appointed French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne told a press conference alongside his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock. Baerbock said they would remain “on the side of Ukraine as long as necessary, until Russia has withdrawn” from Ukrainian territory. North Korea’s Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui is in Moscow from January 15 to 17 at the invitation of Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. The United States and others have accused Pyongyang of transferring weapons to Moscow for use in Ukraine. Pope Francis said war was “a crime against humanity” as he reiterated a call for peace in Ukraine and the Middle East. “Let us not forget this… People need peace, the world needs peace,” the pope said after his weekly Angelus prayer. Yampil the Asiatic black bear was rescued after the zoo in Lyman was bombed, killing most of the animals there [Five Sisters Zoo via AP Photo] Aleksiy Uminsky, a prominent liberal priest, faces expulsion from the Russian Orthodox Church for refusing to read out a prayer asking God to guide Russia to victory over Ukraine. A church court said Uminsky should be “expelled from holy orders” for violating his priestly oath. The decision was forwarded for approval to Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church who strongly backs President Vladimir Putin. Russian poet Lev Rubinstein, a key figure of the Soviet underground literary scene who signed an open letter condemning the invasion of Ukraine as a “criminal war” and accusing the Kremlin of “lies”, died days after being hit by a car in Moscow, his daughter said. Rubinstein was run over as he crossed the street on January 8. He was 76. Yampil, a 12-year-old Asiatic black bear rescued from a bombed-out zoo in the city of Lyman, has found a new home in a zoo outside the Scottish capital Edinburgh. Weapons The Swedish Defence Materiel Administration said it signed an agreement with the Nordic Ammunition Company to increase the production and delivery of 155mm artillery ammunition to support Ukraine. Adblock test (Why?)

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 689

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 689

As the war enters its 689th day, these are the main developments. Here is the situation on Saturday, January 13, 2024. Fighting Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched some 40 drones and missiles, including hypersonic missiles. Ukraine’s ground forces commander told the Reuters news agency that Kyiv needed more military aircraft, such as United States A-10 attack jets, to support the infantry, as well as planes that could fire long-range cruise missiles. A senior Ukrainian presidential aide has said he was confident that an amended bill seeking to tighten Ukraine’s mobilisation laws would be passed in the coming days or weeks. Politics and diplomacy British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak signed a new security agreement with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine’s president, and announced an increase in military funding for Kyiv. Sunak said the United Kingdom would increase its support in the next financial year to 2.5 billion pounds ($3.2bn), an increase of 200 million pounds ($255m) on the previous two years. Zelenskyy said he was more positive now than he was last month that his country would secure new financial aid from the US. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met senior Chinese official Liu Jianchao and discussed ties between North Korea and Russia as well as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to his office. France’s newly appointed foreign minister Stephane Sejourne will visit Ukraine on Saturday for his first official trip. The foreign ministers of Hungary and Ukraine will meet in western Ukraine at the end of January, according to a statement by the Hungarian government. Afghanistan and Mongolia raised their imports of Russian fuel by about 28 percent in 2023 to almost six million tonnes, partially offsetting a decline in Russian supplies to Europe, according to traders and industry data. The US imposed sanctions on three Russian entities and one individual allegedly involved in the transfer and testing of North Korea’s ballistic missiles for alleged use by Moscow on Ukraine. The Russian foreign ministry called a US plan to confiscate up to $300bn in frozen Russian assets to help rebuild Ukraine “21st century piracy” and said Moscow would retaliate harshly if it happened. Adblock test (Why?)

North Korea says it tested solid-fuel missile with hypersonic warhead

North Korea says it tested solid-fuel missile with hypersonic warhead

Latest test ratchets up tensions days after Kim Jong Un designated South Korea as an enemy state. North Korea said it has tested a new solid-fuel missile fitted with a hypersonic warhead as it continued efforts to develop more powerful, harder-to-detect weaponry. The launch took place on Sunday afternoon and came as Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui headed to Moscow amid concerns in the United States and elsewhere that Pyongyang was selling weapons to Russia for use in Ukraine in return for Russian technological expertise. Detected by neighbouring Japan and South Korea, the launch was designed to test the reliability of new multi-stage, high-thrust solid-fuel engines and an intermediate-range hypersonic manoeuvrable controlled warhead, the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Monday. KCNA added that the test-firing “never affected the security of any neighbouring country and had nothing to do with the regional situation”. The missile flew towards the East Sea, travelling approximately 1,000km (621 miles), Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement on Sunday, adding that authorities in Seoul, Washington, DC and Tokyo were analysing the specifications. Japan’s Defence Ministry said its maximum altitude was at least 50km (30 miles). North Korea’s last missile test was of a Hwasong-18 solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which it fired into the East Sea on December 18. It previously tested new solid-fuel engines for an intermediate ballistic missile on November 11 and November 14. Leader Kim Jong Un last week branded Seoul his “principal enemy” and warned he would not hesitate to annihilate South Korea. “The historic time has come at last when we should define as a state most hostile toward the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea the entity called the Republic of Korea [South Korea],” Kim was reported as saying by KCNA. Analysts said the timing of the latest test was a concern. “This launch is more than just a test as it comes immediately after the Kim regime escalated warlike rhetoric toward South Korea and just before North Korea’s foreign minister travels to Russia,” Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul said in emailed comments. “Pyongyang’s show of force should be of concern beyond Seoul, as its military cooperation with Moscow adds to the violence in Ukraine, and because it may be more willing to challenge the U.S. and its allies while global attention is fixed on the Middle East.” In separate KCNA commentary on Monday, North Korea accused Seoul of escalating tensions in the region with military drills and calls for more armaments by South Korean officials. “Even a little spark can be a catalyst for enormous physical conflicts between the two most hostile countries,” the commentary said. Analysts say Kim’s move to designate South Korea as a separate, enemy state, could potentially help justify the use of nuclear weapons against Seoul in a future war. Despite its difficult economic situation, Pyongyang conducted a record-breaking series of weapons tests in 2023, including its first solid-fuel ballistic missile, which experts called a major technological breakthrough. It also put its first spy satellite into orbit, after two failed attempts. Analysts say it benefitted from Russian expertise after Kim travelled to Russia’s Vostochny Cosmodrome to meet President Vladimir Putin. Kim detailed a wish list of sophisticated military equipment, including hypersonic weapons multi-warhead missiles, spy satellites, solid-fuel long-range missiles and submarine-launched nuclear missiles in 2021. Solid-fuel missiles can be launched more quickly and are easier to move and conceal, which theoretically makes them harder to detect. Hypersonic weapons are designed to fly at speeds in excess of Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound. If perfected, such systems could potentially pose a challenge to regional missile defence systems because of their speed and manoeuvrability. Adblock test (Why?)

Volcano erupts in Iceland, sending lava into fishing town

Volcano erupts in Iceland, sending lava into fishing town

Icelandic President Gudni Johannesson describes disaster as a ‘black day’ for country, though no fatalities reported. A volcano has erupted in Iceland, sending molten lava flows to the outskirts of a small fishing town and engulfing homes. At least three houses were set alight on Sunday as lava reached the edge of the port of Grindavik, according to live images broadcast on public television. There were no reports of deaths or injuries and airline flights were not affected. Iceland’s President Gudni Johannesson described the disaster as a “black day” for his country. “No lives are in danger, although infrastructure may be under threat,” Johannesson said on the social media site X. The eruption occurred just before 8am local time (8:00 GMT) after local authorities evacuated the 4,000-strong population of the town following a series of small earthquakes, the Icelandic Meteorological Office said. A crack that opened in the ground about 450 metres (500 yards) from Grindavik on Sunday morning had turned into a fissure measuring about 900 metres (984 yards) long as of 18:45 GMT, the Meteorological Office said. A second fissure opened at about midday on the edge of town, measuring about 100 metres (109 yards) by evening, according to the office. It is the second time the volcano located southwest of the capital Reykjavik has erupted in less than a month and the North Atlantic nation’s fifth volcanic eruption in less than three years. Grindavik was evacuated in November after large cracks opened in the earth in advance of an eruption on December 18. Before Sunday’s eruption, emergency workers had been building defensive walls around the town, which residents had returned to on December 22, but had not completed work on the barriers. Local resident Sveinn Ari Gudjonsson described the disaster as “tragic” for the close-knit community, which he likened to a family. “It’s unreal, it’s like watching a film,” Gudjonsson, 55, told the AFP news agency. Iceland, which is home to about 370,000 people and located some 1,300km (807 miles) northwest of the United Kingdom, is home to more than 30 active volcanoes, making the north European island a prime destination for volcano tourism. Adblock test (Why?)