The biggest one was, I lined a hallway closet in my home with tiny candies from China that had these beautiful flowers on it. They were tiny pastel colors, like the size of two postage stamps together. And I emptied all the candy out and did an entire hallway, floor to ceiling, in those candy wrappers, then I went over the whole thing with packing tape. It was fantastic. I cover everything with packing tape — it’s just prettier. I travel with packing tape. It’s always on me. Why haven’t they asked me to do a commercial?So if there was ever a signature line of “At Home” products, à la the Martha Stewart Collection, I’m guessing packing tape would be ——Absolutely! And Scotch tape. Anything sticky. And any kind of eraser with googly eyes on it. Anything with googly eyes on it — I’m a big fan of googly eyes.I find it hard to believe this is your first Emmy nomination. How did you react when you found out?I laughed. I’m not part of that fraternity, really. So it’s great. I was happier for everyone else on the show. I was just so surprised by it, and I’m excited about it; it’s really nice. But I’ve never gone to the Emmys. My first thought was, “Oh God, I have to wear makeup and dress up.” So that’s kind of weird. I don’t really do things like that, so I’ll be a fish out of water.You do lots of talk shows. Does that make you nervous, too?I get eager more than nervous. But with the Emmy thing, I don’t know. I guess I would have to think of some kind of speech to prepare myself. But it’s also my style not to. And I think of all the people who we’re up against — there’s no way. But then I would hate to be that person who wins and gets up there like “Oh my God, I don’t know what to say.” I’m just not going to think about it. I think more about, Who’s going to watch my rabbit while I fly to L.A., in the middle of shooting, to do this awards thing?

Enlarge this image Peter Dinklage accepts the award for outstanding supporting actor in a drama for 'Game of Thrones' at the 70th Emmy Awards. Kevin Winter/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Kevin Winter/Getty Images Peter Dinklage accepts the award for outstanding supporting actor in a drama for 'Game of Thrones' at the 70th Emmy Awards. Kevin Winter/Getty Images Updated at 10:59 p.m. ET The 2018 Primetime Emmy Awards were broadcast Monday night on NBC. Below is the list of winners. (Winners are in bold italics.) Pop Culture Happy Hour At The 2018 Emmys, 'Game Of Thrones' And 'Mrs. Maisel' Soar While The Hosts Struggle The Americans (FX)The Crown (Netflix)Game of Thrones (HBO)The Handmaid's Tale (Hulu)This Is Us (NBC)Westworld (HBO) Television Emmys Red Carpet Highlights: A Look At The Fashion Atlanta (FX)Barry (HBO)Black-ish (ABC)Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO)GLOW (Netflix)The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon)Silicon Valley (HBO)Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix) TV Reviews Zippy And Delightful, 'The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel' Spotlights An Unlikely Comic The Alienist (TNT)The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story (FX)Genius: Picasso (National Geographic)Godless (Netflix)Patrick Melrose (Showtime)Claire Foy (The Crown)Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black)Elisabeth Moss (The Handmaid's Tale)Sandra Oh (Killing Eve)Keri Russell (The Americans)Evan Rachel Wood (Westworld) Enlarge this image The Crown's Claire Foy accepts the outstanding lead actress in a drama series. Kevin Winter/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Kevin Winter/Getty Images The Crown's Claire Foy accepts the outstanding lead actress in a drama series. Kevin Winter/Getty Images Jason Bateman (Ozark)Sterling K. Brown (This Is Us)Ed Harris (Westworld)Matthew Rhys (The Americans)Milo Ventimiglia (This Is Us)Jeffrey Wright (Westworld)Alexis Bledel (The Handmaid's Tale)Millie Bobby Brown (Stranger Things)Ann Dowd (The Handmaid's Tale)Lena Headey (Game of Thrones)Thandie Newton (Westworld)Yvonne Strahovski (The Handmaid's Tale)Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Game of Thrones)Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones)Joseph Fiennes (The Handmaid's Tale)David Harbour (Stranger Things)Matt Smith (The Crown)Pamela Adlon (Better Things)Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel)Allison Janney (Mom)Issa Rae (Insecure)Tracee Ellis Ross (Black-ish)Lily Tomlin (Grace And Frankie)Anthony Anderson (Black-ish)Ted Danson (The Good Place)Larry David (Curb Your Enthusiasm)Donald Glover (Atlanta)Bill Hader (Barry)William H. Macy (Shameless) Pop Culture Happy Hour A Contract Killer Walks Into An Acting Class, On HBO's 'Barry' Zazie Beetz (Atlanta)Alex Borstein (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel)Aidy Bryant (Saturday Night Live)Betty Gilpin (GLOW)Leslie Jones (Saturday Night Live)Kate McKinnon (Saturday Night Live)Megan Mullally (Will And Grace)Louie Anderson (Baskets)Alec Baldwin (Saturday Night Live)Tituss Burgess (Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt)Brian Tyree Henry (Atlanta)Tony Shalhoub (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel)Kenan Thompson (Saturday Night Live)Henry Winkler (Barry) Enlarge this image Henry Winkler accepts the award for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series for 'Barry' during the 70th Emmy Awards. Kevin Winter/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Kevin Winter/Getty Images Henry Winkler accepts the award for outstanding supporting actor in a comedy series for 'Barry' during the 70th Emmy Awards. Kevin Winter/Getty Images Laura Dern (The Tale)Michelle Dockery (Godless)Edie Falco (Law & Order True Crime: The Menendez Murders)Regina King (Seven Seconds)Sarah Paulson (American Horror Story: Cult) Enlarge this image Regina King accepts the Emmy Award for outstanding lead actress in a limited series or movie. Kevin Winter/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Kevin Winter/Getty Images Regina King accepts the Emmy Award for outstanding lead actress in a limited series or movie. Kevin Winter/Getty Images Antonio Banderas (Genius: Picasso)Darren Criss (The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story)Benedict Cumberbatch (Patrick Melrose)Jeff Daniels (The Looming Tower)John Legend (Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert)Jesse Plemons (Black Mirror: USS Callister) Pop Culture Happy Hour 'The Assassination Of Gianni Versace' Isn't What You Think It Is Sara Bareilles (Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert)Penélope Cruz (The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story)Judith Light (The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story)Adina Porter (American Horror Story: Cult)Merritt Wever (Godless)Letitia Wright (Black Mirror: Black Museum) Television 'Godless' Creator Was Determined To Put His Own Spin On The Classic Western Jeff Daniels (Godless)Brandon Victor Dixon (Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert)John Leguizamo (Waco)Finn Wittrock (The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story)Ricky Martin (The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story)Edgar Ramirez (The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story)Michael Stuhlbarg (The Looming Tower)The Daily Show With Trevor Noah (Comedy Central)Full Frontal With Samantha Bee (TBS)Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC)Last Week Tonight With John Oliver (HBO)The Late Late Show With James Corden (CBS)The Late Show With Stephen Colbert (CBS)At Home With Amy Sedaris (TruTV)Drunk History (Comedy Central)I Love You, America With Sarah Silverman (Hulu)Portlandia (IFC)Tracey Ullman's Show (HBO)The Amazing Race (CBS)American Ninja Warrior (NBC)RuPaul's Drag Race (VH1)Top Chef (Bravo)The Voice (NBC) Enlarge this image RuPaul and cast and crew accept the award for outstanding reality-competition program for 'RuPaul's Drag Race' during the 70th Emmy Awards. Kevin Winter/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Kevin Winter/Getty Images RuPaul and cast and crew accept the award for outstanding reality-competition program for 'RuPaul's Drag Race' during the 70th Emmy Awards. Kevin Winter/Getty Images Jason Bateman (Ozark)Stephen Daldry (The Crown)The Duffer Brothers (Stranger Things)Jeremy Podeswa (Game of Thrones)Daniel Sackheim (Ozark)Kari Skogland (The Handmaid's Tale)Alan Taylor (Game of Thrones)Donald Glover (Atlanta)Bill Hader (Barry)Mike Judge (Silicon Valley)Hiro Murai (Atlanta)Jesse Peretz (GLOW)Amy Sherman-Palladino (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel)Scott Frank (Godless)David Leveaux and Alex Rudzinski (Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert)Barry Levinson (Paterno)Edward Berger (Patrick Melrose)Ryan Murphy (The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story)Craig Zisk (The Looming Tower)David Lynch (Twin Peaks)David Benioff and D.B. Weiss (Game of Thrones)The Duffer Brothers (Stranger Things)Bruce Miller (The Handmaid's Tale)Peter Morgan (The Crown)Joe Fields and Joe Weisberg (The Americans)Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Killing Eve)Alec Berg (Silicon Valley)Alec Berg and Bill Hader (Barry)Donald Glover (Atlanta)Liz Sarnoff (Barry)Amy Sherman-Palladino (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) Enlarge this image Amy Sherman-Palladino won two Emmys for writing and directing The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Kevin Winter/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Kevin Winter/Getty Images Amy Sherman-Palladino won two Emmys for writing and directing The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Kevin Winter/Getty Images Kevin McManus and Matthew McManus (American Vandal)Scott Frank (Godless)David Nicholls (Patrick Melrose)Tom Rob Smith (The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story)David Lynch and Mark Frost (Twin Peaks)William Bridgers and Charlie Brooker (Black Mirror: USS Callister)Full Frontal with Samantha Bee Presents: The Great American* Puerto Rico (*It's Complicated)John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous at Radio CityMichelle Wolf: Nice LadyPatton Oswalt: Annihilation Steve Martin & Martin Short: An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your LifeStan Lathan (Dave Chapelle: Equanimity)Michael Bonfiglio (Jerry Seinfeld: Jerry Before Seinfeld)Marcus Raboy (Steve Martin & Martin Short: An Evening You Will Forget for the Rest of Your Life)Hamish Hamilton (Super Bowl LII Halftime Show Starring Justin Timberlake)Glenn Weiss (The Oscars)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The next battle in the streaming TV wars will unfold on Monday’s Emmys stage, where Netflix Inc aims to end HBO’s 16-year streak as the night’s biggest winner and earn bragging rights for its marketing. For the first time, Netflix will head to the ceremony with more nominations than any other network, with 112. AT&T-owned HBO, however, will bring its formidable “Game of Thrones,” which scored 22 of the premium cable network’s 108 nods. The two will compete for the television industry’s highest honors with basic cable network FX, broadcast channel NBC and online services Hulu and Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Prime Video, just part of the crowd fighting to shine a light on their shows in a large sea of programming. “It means a lot to all of these players, all of whom are in hyper-competition right now to attract our attention,” said Peter Csathy, founder and chairman of consulting and business development firm Creatv Media. HBO and Netflix have fought for viewers since 2013 when the streaming service launched “House of Cards,” a political thriller that established it as a home for top-quality TV programming. HBO had long dominated that space with acclaimed series such as “The Sopranos” and “Sex and the City.” Netflix has since expanded into a wide range of genres, which helped boost its nominations count with shows such as reality series “Queer Eye.” HBO has argued that its focus on a smaller, curated slate of programming ensures quality. Randall Stephenson, chairman and chief executive of HBO owner AT&T Inc, on Wednesday called Netflix the WalMart of video subscription services, while he likened HBO to luxury jeweler Tiffany & Co. “It’s a very premium, high-end brand for premium content,” Stephenson said at an investor conference. So far, the race is neck and neck after dozens of this year’s Emmys were handed out at events in Los Angeles earlier this month. HBO won 17 trophies, including best documentary for “The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling.” Netflix collected 16. The major awards will be unveiled in a nationally televised show on Monday. According to awards experts, HBO’s “Game of Thrones” is the biggest competition to Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” for the prestigious best drama award. Netflix’s entries in the category are “Stranger Things” and “The Crown.” Slideshow (3 Images)Another streaming service, Amazon Prime, has a shot at the best comedy trophy with “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” as does basic cable channel FX with “Atlanta.” IndieWire executive editor Michael Schneider predicts Emmy voters will spread the awards among several streaming services and traditional networks, but that HBO will continue to reign as the most-honored outlet overall. “HBO has more front runners,” he said. Reporting by Lisa Richwine in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Jill Serjeant; editing by Bill Tarrant and Leslie AdlerOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - “Game of Thrones” and “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” won the top prizes at the Emmy awards on Monday on a night of upsets for the highest honors in television and a triumph for streaming services. Dystopian female show “The Handmaid’s Tale” and FX’s surreal hip-hop comedy “Atlanta” were the biggest losers, taking none of the most prestigious awards and making a disappointing night for stars Elisabeth Moss and Donald Glover. HBO’s (T.N) medieval fantasy “Game of Thrones” won a total of nine Emmys, including technical awards for special effects and stunts, and was named best drama series for a third time, beating last year’s champion “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Netflix, which had a leading 112 nominations going into the Emmys, ended up tying HBO for the most wins, with 23 apiece. Related CoverageNetflix ties longtime Emmy darling HBO in total winsHenry Winkler, known for playing it cool, excitedly wins first EmmyAmazon’s (AMZN.O) “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” about a 1950s housewife who turns to standup comedy, took home the Emmy for best comedy series. “Mrs. Maisel” also won a total of seven other awards, including best actress for Rachel Brosnahan. Claire Foy beat Moss to win for her quiet but formidable portrayal of Queen Elizabeth in Netflix (NFLX.O) drama “The Crown.””This wasn’t supposed to happen,” said a surprised Foy. Matthew Rhys took his first best drama actor Emmy for playing a conflicted Russian spy in the final season of the FX (FOXA.O) Cold War series “The Americans.” “Saturday Night Live” won, as expected, for variety sketch series, taking its lifetime Emmy total to a record-setting 72 wins since 1975. 70th Primetime Emmy Awards - Photo Room - Los Angeles, California, U.S., 17/09/2018 - The cast poses backstage with their Outstanding Comedy Series award for "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel." REUTERS/Mike BlakeEmmy hosts Michael Che and Colin Jost from “Saturday Night Live” sprinkled the evening with skits and jokes about diversity on television, sexual misconduct in the entertainment industry, and the power of streaming services like Amazon and Netflix. “It is an honor to be here sharing this night with the many, many talented and creative people in Hollywood who haven’t been caught yet,” Che said, alluding to the dozens of men who have been fired or forced to resign in the past year because of sexual harassment allegations. “We solved it!” sang a line-up of celebrities, giving themselves a tongue-in-cheek pat on the back for the strides television has made for women, people of color, and gay men and women behind and in front of the camera. But despite one of the most ethnically diverse array of nominees, only Regina King (“Seven Seconds”) Thandie Newton (“Westworld”) and RuPaul (“RuPaul’s Drag Race”) made it to the winners podium. “I don’t even believe in God, but I am going to thank her tonight,” Newton said. Slideshow (23 Images)Other big winners included “The Assassination of Gianni Versace,” for best limited series and actor Darren Criss, who played the gay serial killer who murdered the Italian designer in Miami in 1997. Creator Ryan Murphy dedicated the Emmy to the LGBT community. One of the biggest shocks came when presumed front-runner Glover lost the comedy acting category to Bill Hader’s hitman-turned-struggling actor in HBO’s (T.N) showbusiness satire “Barry.” “Barry” also brought honors for veteran Henry Winkler, winning a standing ovation and his first-ever Emmy for his supporting role as a self-important acting teacher Yet the warmest applause came when Glenn Weiss used his acceptance speech for directing the televised 2018 Academy Awards show to propose to his girlfriend in the audience, Jan Svendsen. She said yes. Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Additional reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis and Jill Serjeant; Writing by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Leslie AdlerOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

The former executive sued by Robert De Niro’s production company for alleged embezzlement has filed a counter suit, claiming that she was a “casualty” of “gender discrimination in the workplace”.According to a legal complaint obtained by the Hollywood Reporter, the firm’s ex-employee Graham Chase Robinson claims that De Niro subjected her to “years of gender discrimination and harassment”, including “gratuitous physical unwanted contact”, “sexually charged comments” and treating her as an “office wife”, assigning her “stereotypically female duties such as housework”.In the complaint, Robinson also describes De Niro’s decision to sue her as “a page out of the Bill O’Reilly playbook”, referencing the former TV presenter who left Fox News in 2016 after it was reported he had settled multiple sex harassment suits.De Niro’s original complaint said that Robinson abused expense accounts to pay restaurant and hotel bills and wasted “astronomical amounts of time” watching Netflix during work hours, including 55 episodes of Friends during one four-day period in January.According to Robinson’s complaint, De Niro called her a “bitch” and a “brat”, and asked her “to scratch his back, button his shirts, fix his collars, tie his ties, and prod him awake when he was in bed.”“De Niro also stood idly by while his friend slapped Ms Robinson on her buttocks.”In response, De Niro’s lawyer Tom Harvey has said: “The allegations made by Graham Chase Robinson against Robert De Niro are beyond absurd.” Topics Movies Robert De Niro Film industry Celebrity news

A City banker has won a gender discrimination case after alleging she was paid hundreds of thousands of pounds less than a male colleague and was the victim of a drunken prank that included leaving a witch’s hat on her desk.Stacey Macken sued the London office of BNP Paribas for £4m on the basis of unequal pay, claiming she was discriminated against due to her gender and paid significantly less than a male co-worker with the same job title. She also claimed she faced harassment.Macken was recruited on an annual salary of £120,000. But just months later, a male colleague was hired under the same job title for £160,000. That same co-worker took home about £237,000 in bonuses over a five-year period, seven times more than the combined £33,000 offered to Macken.An employment tribunal in London heard that Macken was often rudely dismissed by one of her bosses, who would brush off her questions by saying “not now Stacey”. The phrase was used so frequently that her colleagues started to use the phrase sarcastically.Another boss subjected Macken to crude stories, including one about a friend who took part in sexual role play with his wife that involved fantasies about sex workers. The same senior banker would also answer the phone to friends by saying “hey sexy”, or “hey fuckface”.Macken told colleagues she was uncomfortable working with her male colleagues shortly after joining the French-owned bank in 2013, when they left a Halloween-style black witch’s hat on her desk after a drinking session.Georgina Chapman, a former personal assistant to one of Macken’s bosses, said: “I suspected it was one of the drunk team members, because they were the only people in that area of the office the evening before, which, combined with their drunkenness, made them most likely to have done it.“Stacey was visibly upset and confided in me that she felt really uncomfortable working with those male colleagues, knowing that one of them had purposefully gone out of their way to leave a witch’s hat on her desk.”The tribunal heard that communication broke down between Macken and senior management shortly after she filed a grievance to BNP Paribas over her pay and claimed she was subject to hostile performance reviews.She received no bonus in 2017, when her bosses noted: “Stacey’s inability to accept constructive feedback … has led to a cascade of comments, accusations and recriminations which has led to the breakdown of her relationship with the management of the bank.”Her male colleague received £70,000 in bonuses that year.An employment tribunal judge upheld her complaints over unequal pay and discrimination, but dismissed the harassment claims. It is not yet clear how much she may receive in compensation from BNP Paribas, where she is still employed.BNP Paribas declined to comment.

No matter how powerful, all technology is neutral.Electricity can be designed to kill (the electric chair) or save lives (a home on the grid in an inhospitable climate). The same is true for artificial intelligence (AI), which is an enabling layer of technology much like electricity.AI systems have already been designed to help or hurt humans. A group at UCSF recently built an algorithm to save lives through improved suicide prevention, while China has deployed facial recognition AI systems to subjugate ethnic minorities and political dissenters. Therefore, it’s impossible to assign valence to AI broadly. It depends entirely on how it’s designed. To date, that’s been careless.AI blossomed with companies like Google and Facebook, which, in order to give away free stuff, had to find other ways for their AI to make money. They did this by selling ads. Advertising has long been in the business of manipulating human emotions. Big data and AI merely allowed this to be done much more effectively and insidiously than before.AI disasters, such as Facebook’s algorithms being co-opted by foreign political actors to influence elections, could and should have been predicted from this careless use of AI. They have highlighted the need for more careful design, including by AI pioneers like Stuart Russell (often called the father of AI), who now advocates that “standard model AI” should be replaced with beneficial AI.Organizations ranging from the World Economic Forum to Stanford to the New York Times are convening groups of experts to develop design principles for beneficial AI. As a contributor to these initiatives, I believe the following principles are key.Make it easy for users to understand data collectionThe user must know data is being collected and what it will be used for. Technologists must ensure informed consent on data. Too many platforms, across a whole host of applications, rely on surreptitious data collection or use data that was collected for other purposes. Initiatives to stop this are cropping up everywhere, as with the Illinois law requiring that video hiring platforms tell people that AI may be used to analyze their video recording and how the resulting data will be used.Data privacy and ownershipUsers must own and control their data. This is counter to the prevailing modus operandi of many tech companies, which have terms of service designed to exploit user data for the benefit of the company. For example, a tool called FaceApp is collecting millions of user photos, without any disclosure of what data is collected and for what purpose. More alarming, the user interface blurs the fact photos leave the user’s local storage. Users must be empowered, not overpowered, by technology. Users should always know what data is collected, for what purpose, and where it’s collected from.Use unbiased training dataAI must use unbiased data. Any biased data used to train algorithms will be multiplied and enhanced by AI’s power. AI developers have a responsibility to examine the data they feed into the algorithms and validate their objectivity to confirm that they do not include any known bias.For example, it’s been well established that data gleaned from résumés is biased against women and minority groups, so let’s use other types of data in hiring algorithms. The San Francisco DA’s office and Stanford created a “blind sentencing” AI tool, which removes ethnic info from data used in criminal-justice sentencing. This is just one example of using AI to eliminate, rather than double down on, bias.Audit algorithmsIt’s not enough to use unbiased data. A math quirk known as Simpson’s paradox shows how unbiased inputs can yield biased results. It is also critical to check your algorithms for bias. Don’t let skeptics misinform you. It is possible to audit an algorithm’s results to test for unequal outcomes across gender, race, age, or any other axis where discrimination could occur. An external AI audit serves the same purpose as safety-testing a vehicle to ensure it passes safety regulations. If the audit fails, the design flaw causing it must be found and removed.Aim for full transparencyWhite-box AI means there is full transparency of the data that goes into the algorithms and the outcomes. You can only audit an algorithm to potentially reconfigure its biased output if it’s white-box. There can be a trade-off between explainability and performance. However, in fields like human resources, criminal sentencing, healthcare, and others, explainability may always win over pure performance because transparency is key when technology impacts people’s lives. If your model isn’t fully transparent, there are open-sourced methods to help partially explain decisions.Use open-source methodsOpen-source methods should be utilized, either by releasing key aspects of the code as open-source or using well-established and peer-tested existing code. The visibility it offers allows for quality assurance. With the case of algorithm auditing, it is essential to understand the process by which companies are auditing (i.e. safety-testing) their algorithms. Initiatives to open-source this auditing technology are already underway.Involve external councils to create guardrailsAn active community of industry leaders and subject-matter experts should be involved in cementing the rules of engagement for building new AI ethically and responsibly. An open discussion should offer a full accounting of the different implications of AI technology as well as specific standards to follow.As history has shown, innovation invites fear and initial failures of usage. However, with the right design and guardrails, innovation can be harnessed for a positive impact on society. And so it is with AI. With careful forethought and deliberate efforts to push back on human bias, AI can be a powerful tool not just to mitigate bias, but to actually remove it in a way that is not possible with humans. Imagine life without electricity: a world of darkness. Let’s not deprive ourselves of the positive impact of ethical AI.Frida Polli, PhD, is the founder and CEO of Pymetrics.

The early years of a startup are usually challenging, but Cristina Junqueira had it harder than most. It was 2013 and she was the only female co-founder at Brazilian fintech Nubank, and she was pregnant. She was at the firm’s cramped first office in São Paulo when her water broke.The entrepreneur rushed to the hospital, answering calls with regulators and answering customer emails all the while. The day after giving birth to her first child, she was back in the office.At the time, Nubank was a small fintech co-founded by David Vélez, Edward Wible, and Junqueira. They wanted to create a company that improved the customer banking experience by reducing bureaucracy in access to services and high fees, a standard in the heavily-concentrated Brazilian market. The firm’s initial offering, a no-fee credit card, expanded into a range of financial products and a digital account, aimed primarily at the 45 million unbanked Brazilians, a customer base that sector incumbents had largely neglected.Junqueira has no regrets about the sacrifices she made for the business, but doesn’t like to boast about them either: “It was really tough, but it was needed. If I hadn’t done things that way, Nubank wouldn’t have grown the way it has,” she adds.Six years later, Junqueira is now pregnant with her second child, and things at work are very different. Nubank’s credit card was the first to allow Brazilians to apply for and check their balance entirely via mobile, so the company has benefited from fast smartphone adoption (the country has more phones than its 209 million people, according to business school Fundação Getúlio Vargas). Today, Nubank is the world’s largest digital bank outside Asia, and is valued at over $10 billion.“Nobody has to go through what I went through.”While Junqueira expects to have more a relaxed childbirth this time around, she points out that Nubank’s policies designed to support its female employees are very much informed by her early struggles. “Many of the structural choices we’ve made in terms of gender equality and inclusion are reflective of the fact that I have been here from the beginning,” says Junqueira, who previously held various senior jobs in banking, a male-dominated industry compounded by the macho culture seen in Latin countries.“Looking back at my corporate career, I remember how tough it was [to work in] those predominantly male environments and do things like wear suits just to fit in,” she recalls. “When I co-founded Nubank, I was determined to create a working environment without all the stupid barriers that are very detrimental to women’s career development. Nobody has to go through what I went through.”Nubank’s policies that address gender equality include bringing more women into its technology teams. This year, the bank, which relies heavily on technical expertise, hosted its second “Yes, She Codes!” a recruitment process specifically targeted at female software developers. The most recent event, held in August, attracted more than 2,800 candidates from all over Brazil.The company is also doing a lot to minimize the role of bias in its operations. It uses blind recruitment to minimize biases in the hiring process. It has a mentoring scheme specifically for female leaders, which involves discussion groups aimed at tackling unconscious bias. And Nubank has a program that allows new mothers to stay connected with their professional purpose while they take their six months of family leave (new fathers are granted 20 days of leave).All this translates to a more inclusive culture. Women now make up 43% of the digital bank’s workforce of over 2,000 people, including 30% of all senior roles. By comparison, women account for only 8% of senior roles in the banking sector overall in Brazil, according to consulting firm Oliver Wyman.“What really makes the difference here is knowing that what I have to say will be heard and valued.”According to software engineer Maite Balhester, who has worked at Nubank since July 2018, the fintech’s focus on building diverse teams and its reputation as a place where women can thrive professionally helped it stand out as a place she wanted to work: “What really makes the difference here is knowing that what I have to say will be heard and valued,” she says. “I know I have the support of other female engineers and leaders, which makes me more confident in terms of performing my role within the team.”Junqueira knows the value of what she’s helped build. “Nubank has a reputation for being a workplace where people can be themselves. That created an almost viral movement where we can access a pool of talent that only a few companies are able to tap into,” she says.The accolades have rolled in. Over the last two years, the digital bank has been most desired startup to work for in Brazil, according to yearly rankings produced by LinkedIn. And in 2019, Fast Company named Nubank the most innovative business in Latin America.Though women make up a much higher proportion of the staff at Nubank than its competitors, that’s not good enough for Junqueira. She wants half of the company’s staff to be women.“We are very close to achieving that goal. Given that we are at the intersection of technology and banking, both sectors that have a historic gender imbalance, we are way above industry average and very close to reaching the point of equilibrium,” Junqueira says.To get there, Nubank is hiring a head of diversity and inclusion. The company is still defining the scope of the job, but the overall mission will be to develop a range of specific hiring and human resources policies for Brazil and other markets, such as Mexico and Argentina, where it is growing.Nubank’s fast growth as a business and attractiveness as a destination workplace is inspiring other Brazilian companies to consider how they recruit and retain workers. According to Junqueira, the industry as a whole is becoming increasingly conscious of the role of diversity as they hire, too.“Traditional companies are uncomfortable because they are losing talent directly to us as they are less able to attract younger professionals to whom things like diversity and inclusion are very important,” Junqueira says. “The role of businesses has changed: they cannot think only about providing returns to shareholders, they have to think of the entire ecosystem, which includes staff.”Junqueira thinks businesses abroad should take note of Nubank’s success, too. In the United States, half of startups have no women in leadership roles, according to a report from Silicon Valley Bank. Junqueira argues that companies that make as much money as Nubank have an even lower proportion of female leaders.“When you look at the gender equality situation among startups in the US and consider how far we’ve come as a business, it is clear that the world can learn from what we are doing,” Junqueira says.Beyond driving initiatives specifically aimed at boosting diversity in the workforce, Junqueira believes that transforming workplaces to truly include underrepresented groups should be a priority for senior leadership: “Businesses need to create environments where people don’t need to worry about the way they dress and look like, whether their opinions will be taken into account, or having to lead some sort of ‘double life’, hiding aspects of their personality due to their gender or sexual orientation,” she adds.“We built Nubank from zero despite Brazil’s banking oligopoly and a hostile business environment—if we could make it happen while ensuring inclusion, people have no excuse to not do it in their own organizations.”

Facebook Inc. is scheduled to announce fourth-quarter earnings after the market closes Wednesday. Here’s what you need to know: EARNINGS FORECAST: Facebook is expected report profit of $1.94 a share, according to analysts polled by FactSet, up from $1.21 a share a year earlier. REVENUE FORECAST: Analysts expect the social-media company will report revenue of $12.55 billion, up more than 42% from $8.81 billion a year ago. Evercore ISI analysts estimate Facebook ad prices rose 32%, while the overall supply of ads rose 10%. WHAT TO WATCH: NEWS FEED OVERHAUL: Facebook recently announced three significant changes to its news feed—the primary engine of its revenue—as part of a broader effort to dispel criticism over its content. In the new order, posts, photos and videos shared and discussed among users and their friends will be promoted over posts from businesses and publishers. News items will make up 4% of the feed, down from 5%—though Facebook plans to grade news sources based on how “trustworthy” users say they are. And this week, Facebook said it would start boosting local news sources because, in Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg’s words, “local news helps build community—both on and offline.” Mr. Zuckerberg warned the changes might lead to users spending less time on the platform, at least in the short run, the effects of which investors will want to better understand. REGULATION RISK: Earlier in January, Mr. Zuckerberg said he would forgo his annual personal challenge so he can “fix” Facebook, which has lurched from crisis to crisis over the last 18 months. The company has been under fire from critics, including lawmakers, for allowing hate speech, violent live videos and fabricated news articles to spread on its platform, as well as for failing to detect Russian-backed manipulation of its tools during the run-up to the 2016 election. Facebook in December acknowledged some social-media use is harmful. During congressional hearings this fall, U.S. lawmakers warned they may impose new restrictions on Facebook, Alphabet Inc. and Twitter Inc. if the companies didn’t get a handle on these issues. Added regulation could slow the company’s ability to churn out new products, analysts say. Facebook has pledged to hire thousands more content moderators and other employees devoted to safety and security issues. Investors will be looking for more insight into Facebook’s plans and what they might cost. IMPACT OF NEW TAX LAW: Facebook’s report could provide the first snapshot of how the new U.S. tax law will affect the company. Like other tech giants, Facebook may record a one-time charge on its overseas profits. Earlier in January, Apple Inc. said it would pay $38 billion in taxes and return the bulk of its overseas cash to the U.S. Still, the tax overhaul allows Facebook to invest cash socked away overseas in the U.S. Analysts project Facebook’s capital expenditures will jump to $13.26 billion in 2018 from $7 billion a year earlier as it spends more on buildings, including data centers, as well as other infrastructure to support its user base. It isn’t clear what percentage of that money is earmarked for U.S. operations. Write to Deepa Seetharaman at [email protected] Copyright ©2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

A coalition of eight attorneys general has launched an investigation into Facebook over potential antitrust violations, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced Friday.The bipartisan group of state attorneys general, led by New York's, is probing Facebook's dominance in social media and any potential "anticompetitive conduct" the company has engaged in.The probe heightens the stakes for the embattled social media platform, which is already weathering antitrust investigations from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Department of Justice (DOJ) and lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Last month, Facebook agreed to pay a record-shattering $5 billion as part of a settlement with the FTC over charges of privacy violations. Now, the state attorneys general say they will look into whether Facebook's position may have allowed the company to take advantage of its customers or advertisers."Even the largest social media platform in the world must follow the law and respect consumers," James said in a statement. "I am proud to be leading a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general in investigating whether Facebook has stifled competition and put users at risk." "We will use every investigative tool at our disposal to determine whether Facebook’s actions may have endangered consumer data, reduced the quality of consumers’ choices, or increased the price of advertising," she said.The state attorneys general from Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio and Tennessee, as well as Washington, D.C., are participating in the investigation. In a statement, D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine said the district "joined this investigation to ensure Facebook is giving a fair shake to District residents and the American people." "No company gets a pass if it throttles competitors and exploits consumers," Racine said.Facebook owns three of the top communications platforms in the world: Instagram and WhatsApp as well as the Facebook platform. As of June, Facebook had over 2.41 billion monthly active users.The tech giant acquired mega-popular messaging app WhatsApp in 2014 and image-sharing platform Instagram in 2012. Facebook currently is working to knit together the messaging features of all three apps, a move that would make them much harder to unwind.Critics have raised concerns over Facebook's dominance in social media and online advertising, claiming the company has gobbled up smaller competitors and made it difficult for other services to enter the digital landscape. In a statement, Facebook said it faces competition for all of the services it offers."People have multiple choices for every one of the services we provide," Will Castleberry, Facebook's vice president of state and local policy, said in a statement. "We understand that if we stop innovating, people can easily leave our platform. This underscores the competition we face, not only in the US but around the globe.""We will of course work constructively with state attorneys general," Castleberry said. "And we welcome a conversation with policymakers about the competitive environment in which we operate.”Facebook and Google are widely known as the "digital duopoly" of the online advertising ecosystem, with some estimates finding the two companies command nearly 60 percent of the internet ad market.The state attorneys general, federal agencies and lawmakers are all working on separate efforts to investigate those concerns around the largest tech companies — including Facebook, Google and Amazon — which could result in limitations on their business practices or even tweaks to antitrust law, which is decades old and some say could be unequipped to take on modern tech companies.The other state attorneys general involved in the probe did not immediately respond to The Hill's requests for comment.On Monday, another group of state attorneys general is expected to announce an antitrust investigation into Google.--Updated at 11:49 a.m.

The Justice Department’s antitrust investigation into four automakers who agreed to abide by stricter emission standards being rolled out in California is reviving concerns that the Trump administration is weaponizing its competition enforcers against political rivals.California reached the agreement with BMW, Ford, Honda and Volkswagen in July in an effort to counter the administration’s plans to ease restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions and to set the pace for other manufacturers.“I now call on the rest of the auto industry to join us, and for the Trump administration to adopt this pragmatic compromise instead of pursuing its regressive rule change,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said at the time. “It’s the right thing for our economy, our people and our planet.”But in September, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Antitrust Division was investigating whether the agreement violated the nation’s competition laws against collusion. The Journal’s sources said that the deal could potentially limit the types of cars consumers are able to purchase.The move outraged Democratic lawmakers, who suspect that the investigation is politically motivated. The probe was also revealed as the administration intensified a long-running legal and political battle against California and just before the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it would revoke the state’s authority to set its own emissions standards.On Sept. 6, the same day that the Journal reported on the DOJ investigation, the Trump EPA and Transportation Department sent a joint letter to California regulators warning of “legal consequences” over the agreement with automakers.The escalating battle is creating regulatory uncertainty for the transportation economy, which accounts for a third of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., at a time when there is increasing global concern about climate change.Democrats were outraged that a law enforcement agency like the DOJ would be drawn into what they saw as a political fight. In response, earlier this month, the chairmen of the House Judiciary Committee and its antitrust subcommittee announced that they would expand their broad investigation of the administration to probe the allegation.“There is virtually no antitrust theory that the Justice Department can use to prove that this agreement will unreasonably restrain trade or otherwise violate the antitrust laws,” Reps. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) and David CicillineDavid Nicola CicillineEx-Trump official's refusal to testify escalates impeachment tensions Hillicon Valley: GOP lawmakers offer election security measure | FTC Dem worries government is 'captured' by Big Tech | Lawmakers condemn Apple over Hong Kong censorship FTC Democrat raises concerns that government is 'captured' by large tech companies MORE (D-R.I.) said in a statement. “Using the Department of Justice to investigate or attack perceived political enemies—whether they are individuals, states, or major corporations—is another example of this President’s disregard for the rule of law.”Nadler and Cicilline said they would submit document requests to the Justice Department and schedule hearings as part of their inquiry.The Justice Department declined to comment. Makan Delrahim, who leads the DOJ’s Antitrust Division, has pushed back against the attacks from Democrats.“No goal, well-intentioned or otherwise, is an excuse for collusion or other anti-competitive behavior that runs afoul of the antitrust laws,” he wrote in a USA Today op-ed this month. “Those who criticize even the prospect of an antitrust investigation should know that, when it comes to antitrust, politically popular ends should not justify turning a blind eye to the competition laws.”The criticism from Democrats led to some testy confrontations with Delrahim last week during a Senate oversight hearing.“The automakers’ reported conduct seems to be little more than an effort by regulated companies to petition a state regulator for a more favorable rule — something that happens all the time between state and federal regulators,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), a presidential contender, told Delrahim. “Quite frankly, the antitrust investigation into these automakers seems less to do with protecting competition than intimidating parties that don’t fall into line with the Trump administration’s plan to relax emission standards.”Delrahim adamantly denied that the White House had pushed him or other DOJ officials to take action against the automakers, arguing that it is normal for antitrust enforcers to be concerned about such agreements between competitors within an industry.“They cannot cooperate amongst themselves and I could name at least four or five other investigations which are similar as far as collusive activity after which we have inquired,” Delrahim said at the hearing.In another exchange, Delrahim bristled at questioning from Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.).“I’m someone who’s owned two Priuses and one of the first owners of Tesla, and I’ve lived in California,” Delrahim said. “Believe me, I’m not out there to try to increase pollution into the air.”But it’s not the first time Delrahim has had to answer questions about his impartiality in enforcing antitrust law. Those questions first arose after his decision to sue to block the $85 billion merger between AT&T and Time Warner in 2017, after media reports detailed President TrumpDonald John TrumpJudge schedules hearing for ex-Trump aide who refused to appear in inquiry READ: Army officer to tell investigators he twice reported concerns over Trump's Ukraine dealings Murkowski, Collins say they won't co-sponsor Graham's impeachment resolution MORE’s efforts to torpedo the deal to retaliate against CNN, a Time Warner subsidiary, over what he saw as unfavorable coverage of his administration.The issue came up again after the department approved a merger between T-Mobile and Sprint, two of the nation’s four major wireless carriers. Democratic lawmakers raised concerns about special treatment after The Washington Post reported that T-Mobile executives had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in stays at the Trump International Hotel in Washington during trips to pitch the deal to federal regulators.In both cases, Delrahim denied that politics or presidential self-dealing played any role in his enforcement decisions, or that they were influenced by the White House.But the automaker investigation is raising more questions, even from critics who have pushed for the DOJ to take a tougher stance against corporate consolidation.Sandeep Vaheesan, the legal director for the Open Markets Institute, says that the investigation raises concerns both about the Justice Department’s priorities and what he sees as antitrust enforcers’ inability to distinguish between harmful and beneficial “collusion” among industry players. Vaheesan also questioned Delrahim’s legal reasoning behind the investigation.“I think the conduct at issue here appears to be protected petitioning and for them to probe into the automakers’ agreement in spite of that is very revealing,” he said. “It does suggest that the antitrust division is picking to use its powers to advance the White House’s agenda on environmental policy.”“Even if they ultimately don’t bring a suit, the investigation itself will get other car companies to think twice before working with states like California to raise emission standards to promote air quality,” Vaheesan added.Jeffrey Blumenfeld, an attorney with Lowenstein Sandler who served two stints at the DOJ’s Antitrust Division under Republican presidents, also said that he doesn’t believe the agency has solid legal grounds to justify an investigation. Blumenfeld said the questions about political influence from the White House will do severe damage to the DOJ’s work going forward.“Once people begin to suspect that law enforcement is not based on the law and is not even handed — once a law enforcement agency loses that moral authority, I don’t know how you get it back,” he said.

Donald Trump won 2,584 counties in the 2016 presidential election; Hillary Clinton carried only 472. But the Democratic nominee’s accounted for nearly two-thirds of America’s economic output, according to a study by the Brookings Institution.This is one vivid illustration of America’s great divide. Glittering coastal cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York and Washington are becoming richer and more influential, attracting more jobs, better hospitals and schools, and technology. Small towns and rural communitiesare falling further behind, feeding a sense that, to paraphrase LP Hartley, the coasts are a foreign country – they do things differently there.Andrew Yang, a New York and Silicon Valley entrepreneur and David taking on multiple Goliaths in the Democratic race for the White House in 2020, is here to tell you that it’s about to become much, much worse – and that is why he is running for president.Yang, 44, is the founder of Venture for America, a national public service fellowship that places recent graduates in struggling communities. “I would fly between St Louis and San Francisco, or Michigan and Manhattan, and I would feel like I was traversing dimensions and ways of life rather than just a couple of time zones,” he told the Guardian in Washington this week.“The two historical time periods that are comparable to where we are now in terms of polarisation and division are the French Revolution before the revolution and the United States before the civil war,” he said.Few pundits are taking Yang’s candidacy seriously but he certainly is, with multiple trips to Iowa and New Hampshire so far. He has raised $250,000 from 14,000 donors in the past week. According to his campaign team, “Yang Gang” chapters have sprung up in more than 35 states.He has no doubts about the gravity of his mission. Life expectancy in the US has declined for the past three years for the first time since the flu pandemic of 1918 because of a surge in suicides and drug overdoses, both of which are at record highs, Yang notes.And like a time traveller from the future, Yang has a warning about more to come: the rise of the machines – robots that will put millions of more people out of work. As it happens, it is an army of automatons conceived and created by tech firms on the coasts and unleashed on middle America, potentially spurring a deepening us versus them mentality. Yang has written: “I am writing from inside the tech bubble to let you know that we are coming for your jobs.”Yang wants to become president so he can do something about it. He asserts that Trump won the election because the country automated away 4m manufacturing jobs in the critical swing states of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Missouri and Iowa.“Now we’re about to do the same thing to millions of retail jobs, call centre jobs, fast food jobs and, most destructively, trucking jobs in the coming years … When I talked to other mainstream political candidates, no one seemed to want to focus on the enormity of the reality that’s ahead for America.”Like it or not, self-driving trucks are coming, Yang is certain. Truck driving is the most common job in 29 states in America, according to census data, and a demographic that includes many ex-military servicemen and many Trump voters.Yang, armed with a battery of statistics, says: “There are 3.5 million truck drivers, 94% male, average age 49, average education high school or one year of college, and they make about $46,000 a year. It’s one of the highest-paying jobs for non-college graduates in the US. It’s a very demanding, punishing job, but it’s also one of the surest ways to a middle-class income for a huge number of men.“On the other side you have some of the smartest engineers in the country working on automating away that job. The financial incentives to do so are massive: $168bn a year in estimated savings, not just from labour costs but equipment utilisation, fuel efficiency, fewer accidents. So if you foresee that the truck driving jobs are going to start getting automated away in the next five to 10 years, that’s going to have massive ramifications not just for this 3.5m trucker population but also the 5 million-plus Americans who work in truck stops, motels and diners that rely upon the truckers stopping every day.He goes on: “So the hollowing out of the interior of the country is going to be amplified many times over by the automation of freight. I was just in Davenport, Iowa, at the country’s largest truck stop, Iowa 80, and they proudly state that 5,000 people stop there every day. So you can imagine what’s going to happen when that number starts to dwindle. It’s going to be disastrous for many Americans and many communities.”In an age when many are tired of celebrity politics, no one could accuse Yang of lacking big ideas. Under his administration, the government would provide a universal basic income of $1,000 a month, or $12,000 a year, for all US citizens between the ages of 18 and 64, paid for by a new tax on automation. Before you suggest he is mad, Yang contends that Thomas Paine, Martin Luther King, Richard Nixon and Milton Friedman all endorsed similar ideas, and oil-rich Alaska has paid an annual dividend to citizens for the past 37 years with great success.“If you put $1,000 a month into people’s hands it gets their heads up and it helps children become healthier and stronger and graduate from school at higher rates,” he said. “It makes people mentally healthier and improves relationships, it would reduce domestic violence and hospital visits, it would help empower women to improve their situations if they are in exploitative or abusive jobs or relationships.”The question, naturally, is how are you going to pay for it? Yangs wants a change in the tax code so that tech giants such as Amazon and Google pay a value added tax, generating hundreds of billions of dollars. He also believes that it would pump money back into the economy, for example in the form of tutoring and food for children, car repairs, trips to the hardware store, the occasional night out, and create 2m jobs.“This is the trickle-up economy from people, families and communities. It would actually work, unlike the trickle-down economy which was sold to us,” he said.Yang was born in Schenectady, New York, the son of Taiwanese immigrants; his father generated 69 US patents for GE and IBM over his career. “I’m very proud of being Asian American and there are many Asian Americans who are excited about my candidacy,” he said.Yang is fond of referring to “the numbers”. Dispute them at your peril. He tweeted this week: “Sometimes a journalist will say to me: ‘You’re polling at 1%’ as if it’s a bad thing. I respond: ‘That’s right. And that’s when most Americans have never heard of me. We are only going to grow from here.’” Topics US elections 2020 US politics Robots features

In recent days, White House officials have tried to maintain pressure on Mr. Maduro, who emerged relatively unfazed after a largely failed American-backed effort to send convoys of humanitarian aid into Venezuela last weekend. Efforts to persuade its soldiers to defect degenerated into clashes and mayhem between anti-Maduro protesters and Venezuelan security forces along the borders with Colombia and Brazil.Only a smattering of aid got through, and it did little if anything to loosen Mr. Maduro’s control.Mr. Pence met on Monday with Mr. Guaidó in Colombia. On Friday, he declared that “Nicolás Maduro must go” in a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.“Nicolás Maduro is a dictator with no claim to power,” Mr. Pence said.Since violating a travel ban and slipping across the Venezuelan border into Colombia last week, Mr. Guaidó has traveled through Latin America in an effort to build an international coalition against Mr. Maduro. He has vowed to return to Venezuela in the coming days, though he has said he cannot be sure of what will happen once he arrives.“Of course, it is a risk,” Mr. Guaidó said in a news conference in Brazil on Thursday, “even life threatening.”For his part, Mr. Maduro has called Mr. Guaidó a coup plotter and a Trump administration lackey, and has described the humanitarian aid effort as a pretext for an American invasion directed from Colombia. He broke diplomatic relations with Colombia on Saturday in retaliation.Mr. Abrams warned that any action taken against Mr. Guaidó would be met with an outcry on behalf of the Venezuelan people and the international community.As Mr. Trump and his advisers mull options, the Russian government has aligned with Mr. Maduro, sending aid and expressing support for the Venezuelan president’s government.

In recent days, White House officials have tried to maintain pressure on Mr. Maduro, who emerged relatively unfazed after a largely failed American-backed effort to send convoys of humanitarian aid into Venezuela last weekend. Efforts to persuade its soldiers to defect degenerated into clashes and mayhem between anti-Maduro protesters and Venezuelan security forces along the borders with Colombia and Brazil.Only a smattering of aid got through, and it did little if anything to loosen Mr. Maduro’s control.Mr. Pence met on Monday with Mr. Guaidó in Colombia. On Friday, he declared that “Nicolás Maduro must go” in a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.“Nicolás Maduro is a dictator with no claim to power,” Mr. Pence said.Since violating a travel ban and slipping across the Venezuelan border into Colombia last week, Mr. Guaidó has traveled through Latin America in an effort to build an international coalition against Mr. Maduro. He has vowed to return to Venezuela in the coming days, though he has said he cannot be sure of what will happen once he arrives.“Of course, it is a risk,” Mr. Guaidó said in a news conference in Brazil on Thursday, “even life threatening.”For his part, Mr. Maduro has called Mr. Guaidó a coup plotter and a Trump administration lackey, and has described the humanitarian aid effort as a pretext for an American invasion directed from Colombia. He broke diplomatic relations with Colombia on Saturday in retaliation.Mr. Abrams warned that any action taken against Mr. Guaidó would be met with an outcry on behalf of the Venezuelan people and the international community.As Mr. Trump and his advisers mull options, the Russian government has aligned with Mr. Maduro, sending aid and expressing support for the Venezuelan president’s government.

WASHINGTON/ASUNCION (Reuters) - The United States on Friday ramped up its attempt to dislodge Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from power, imposing new sanctions and revoking visas, while opposition leader Juan Guaido said Maduro’s support among the military was cracking. Venezuelan military officials last weekend blocked an opposition-backed effort to bring food into the country via its borders with Colombia and Brazil, leaving two aid trucks in flames and five people dead. Guaido, who is recognized by most Western nations as Venezuela’s rightful leader, visited Paraguay and Argentina on Friday to shore up Latin American support for a transition government for the crisis-stricken nation. But Maduro retains control of state institutions and the apparent loyalty of senior figures in the armed forces. Following a meeting with Argentine President Mauricio Macri in Buenos Aires, Guaido said, without providing evidence, that 80 percent of Venezuela’s military nonetheless supported a change in leadership and that he would continue to seek the support of officers. Earlier on Friday in Paraguay, he said 600 members of Venezuela’s armed forces had already abandoned Maduro’s government following the clashes over the aid. Foreign military intervention is seen as unlikely and Guaido’s international backers are instead using a mix of sanctions and diplomacy to try to put pressure to bear on Maduro. “We are sanctioning members of Maduro’s security forces in response to the reprehensible violence, tragic deaths, and unconscionable torching of food and medicine destined for sick and starving Venezuelans,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. The United States “will continue to target Maduro loyalists prolonging the suffering of the victims of this man-made humanitarian crisis,” he said. U.S. sanctions block any assets the individuals control in the United States and bars U.S. entities from doing any business or financial transactions with them. The list includes National Guard Commander Richard Lopez and five other police and military officials based near the Colombian or Brazilian borders. Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, who many nations have recognized as the country's rightful interim ruler, talks to Argentina's President Mauricio Macri, during their meeting at the Olivos Presidential Residence, in Buenos Aires, Argentina March 1, 2019. Argentine Presidency/Handout via REUTERS The U.S. State Department later said it had revoked the travel visas of 49 people as it cracked down on “individuals responsible for undermining Venezuela’s democracy.” Venezuela’s Information Ministry did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Guaido slipped out of Venezuela last week, in violation of a Supreme Court order not to leave the country, to join the aid convoys in Colombia. There, he met with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and other regional leaders and later traveled to Brazil. He has promised to return to Venezuela by Monday, seen as a form of direct defiance to Maduro, who has said Guaido will eventually “face justice.” The Argentine foreign ministry said in a statement that it expects the peaceful and safe return of the opposition leader to Venezuela, without risk to him, his family or his supporters. “Any act of intimidation or violence against the acting president, his family and his inner circle will be considered the responsibility of the Maduro regime,” the ministry’s statement said. On Thursday, Guaido told reporters in Brazil that he had received threats against himself and his family, including prison. Paraguayan President Mario Abdo tweeted on Friday evening that he authorized expired Venezuelan passports to be valid in Paraguay, a gesture of support for Venezuelans who have fled their home country. Governments around the region have called on Maduro to let aid in as inflation above 2 million percent per year and chronic shortages of food have left some eating from garbage bins in order to ward off malnutrition. Maduro has called the U.S.-backed humanitarian aid effort a veiled invasion meant to push him from power, and has insisted that there is no crisis in the country. Slideshow (7 Images)Russia has accused the United States of preparing to intervene militarily in Venezuela and, along with China, blocked a U.S. bid this week to get the United Nations Security Council to take action on Venezuela. Guaido is scheduled to travel to Ecuador on Saturday to meet with President Lenin Moreno. Reporting by Lesley Wroughton and Daniela Desantis, additional reporting by Doina Chiacu and Lisa Lambert in Washington, Mayela Armas in Caracas, Alexandria Valencia in Quito, and Eliana Raszewski and Cassandra Garrison in Buenos Aires; writing by Brian Ellsworth and Hugh Bronstein; editing by Rosalba O'BrienOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has ordered state oil company PDVSA’s office in Lisbon to be relocated to Moscow, Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said on Friday, a move she said was designed to help safeguard her country’s assets. FILE PHOTO: The corporate logo of Venezuelan state-owned oil company PDVSA is seen at a gas station in Cupira, Venezuela December 16, 2018. REUTERS/Marco Bello/File PhotoMoscow has backed Maduro in the face of a political challenge from opposition leader Juan Guaido, who declared himself interim president in January — a move backed by most Western nations. Rodriguez, explaining the decision to move PDVSA’s office at a joint news conference in Moscow with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, said Europe had shown it was no longer able to guarantee the safety of Venezuela’s assets. She cited the Bank of England’s reluctance to hand over her country’s gold supplies as an example, and said Caracas was now determined to expand cooperation with Russia. The PDVSA office move corresponded with plans to expand technical cooperation in extracting oil with Russian oil companies Rosneft and Gazprom, she added. “We are going to make industrial investments to produce everything we need in our country with the Russian Federation’s help,” said Rodriguez. “We (Venezuela and Russia) are strategic partners.” The decision to move the office to Moscow came after a source at Gazprombank told Reuters last month it would freeze PDVSA’s accounts and halt transactions with the firm to reduce the risk of the Russian lender falling under U.S. sanctions. Lavrov told the same news conference that Russia had sent a first shipment of medical aid to Venezuela and that Moscow was also helping Venezuela with supplies of wheat. Russia has supplied 64,100 tonnes of wheat to Venezuela so far in the 2018/19 marketing season, data from Russia’s SovEcon agriculture consultancy showed on Feb. 18. Russia has accused the United States of trying to engineer an illegal coup to topple Maduro and the prospect of his being ousted is a geopolitical and economic headache for Moscow. Russia, like China, has become a creditor of last resort for Caracas, lending it billions of dollars as its economy implodes. Moscow has also helped its military and oil industry. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier on Friday that there were no talks at the moment between Maduro and President Vladimir Putin about Moscow lending Caracas more money, but that Russia was watching the situation closely. “We’re interested in continuing cooperation with Venezuela, especially since many of our companies are working on quite big projects there,” said Peskov. “We hope that these projects have good prospects, that there are prospects to expand them, and of course we hope our Venezuelan partners can overcome the internal political and economic difficulties they are facing as soon as possible.” Additional reporting by Polina Devitt and Oksana Kobzeva; Writing by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Catherine EvansOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro attends a meeting with international representatives in support of his government in Caracas, Venezuela February 26, 2019. Picture taken February 26, 2019. Miraflores Palace/Handout via REUTERS WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will continue to take “appropriate actions” against the government of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, including restricting travel visas for dozens of the embattled socialist president’s associates, U.S. special envoy Elliott Abrams said on Friday. Abrams briefed reporters at the State Department after the U.S. Treasury imposed new sanctions targeting six Venezuelan government officials tied to Maduro. Reporting by Lesley Wroughton and Makini Brice; Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Paul SimaoOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, visiting Brazil to drum up support for his bid to push for a change of government in his country, said on Thursday he will return to Caracas by Monday despite threats of imprisonment. Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido waves as he arrives at the European Union headquarters in Brasilia, Brazil Febbruary 28, 2019. REUTERS/Ueslei MarcelinoGuaido said the leftist “regime” of President Nicolas Maduro was “weak, lacking support in Venezuela and international recognition.” Speaking to reporters after meeting with Brazil’s right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro, Guaido called for the enforcement of economic sanctions against the Maduro government to continue “so that everything is not robbed in Venezuela.” Guaido, head of Venezuela’s National Assembly, last month invoked constitutional provisions to assume an interim presidency, arguing that Maduro’s re-election last year was fraudulent. He has since been recognized by most Western nations as the rightful leader of Venezuela. But he faces possible arrest if he returns to Venezuela for disobeying a Supreme Court order that he should not leave the country pending an investigation. He said on Thursday that he and his family had received threats, including of prison. He did not provide further details. Following a visit this week to Colombia for the launching of a U.S.-led plan to get humanitarian aid into Venezuela, Guaido is visiting Brazil to build diplomatic pressure against Maduro. He is set to leave on Friday for Paraguay and said he would plan his route back into Venezuela over the weekend. Related CoverageU.S., Russia fail in rival bids for U.N. action on VenezuelaSenators propose bill to let thousands of Venezuelans remain in U.S.“We continue to strengthen relations with countries that have recognized our efforts to restore democracy in Venezuela and hold free elections,” Guaido said in a Twitter message, after meeting in Brasilia with diplomats from about 20 European Union member states. He said there was no chance of dialogue with the Maduro government without discussing elections as a pre-condition. Bolsonaro said in a joint statement after meeting with Guaido that the opposition leader was the hope for restoring a “free, democratic and prosperous Venezuela.” Brazil was one of the first to recognize Guaido, after the United States and Colombia. It is hosting one of the Venezuelan opposition’s collection points for aid, and together with the United States has funded some 200 tonnes of food and medicine being stockpiled in the northern city of Boa Vista. Venezuela’s opposition failed to get that aid across the border as planned last weekend after Maduro closed it, sparking protests that killed one person and injured others. Russia and China, which back Maduro, vetoed on Thursday a U.S.-authored resolution at the United Nations Security Council calling for free and fair presidential elections and open access for the aid efforts. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington was still working on plans to get the aid delivered to Venezuela, which is suffering from a deep economic crisis marked by widespread shortages of basic necessities. Slideshow (5 Images)“We are hopeful that over the next couple of weeks, we can really begin to make a dent in that problem,” Pompeo told reporters while flying to the Philippines from Vietnam. Maduro denies his oil-rich nation has any need of aid and accuses Guaido of being a coup-mongering puppet for Washington. Reporting by Anthony Boadle and Lisandra Paraguassú, additional reporting by David Brunnstrom in Manila,; Editing by Paul Simao and Rosalba O'BrienOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has ordered state oil company PDVSA’s office in Lisbon to be relocated to Moscow, Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said on Friday, a move she said was designed to help safeguard her country’s assets. FILE PHOTO: The corporate logo of Venezuelan state-owned oil company PDVSA is seen at a gas station in Cupira, Venezuela December 16, 2018. REUTERS/Marco Bello/File PhotoMoscow has backed Maduro in the face of a political challenge from opposition leader Juan Guaido, who declared himself interim president in January — a move backed by most Western nations. Rodriguez, explaining the decision to move PDVSA’s office at a joint news conference in Moscow with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, said Europe had shown it was no longer able to guarantee the safety of Venezuela’s assets. She cited the Bank of England’s reluctance to hand over her country’s gold supplies as an example, and said Caracas was now determined to expand cooperation with Russia. The PDVSA office move corresponded with plans to expand technical cooperation in extracting oil with Russian oil companies Rosneft and Gazprom, she added. “We are going to make industrial investments to produce everything we need in our country with the Russian Federation’s help,” said Rodriguez. “We (Venezuela and Russia) are strategic partners.” The decision to move the office to Moscow came after a source at Gazprombank told Reuters last month it would freeze PDVSA’s accounts and halt transactions with the firm to reduce the risk of the Russian lender falling under U.S. sanctions. Lavrov told the same news conference that Russia had sent a first shipment of medical aid to Venezuela and that Moscow was also helping Venezuela with supplies of wheat. Russia has supplied 64,100 tonnes of wheat to Venezuela so far in the 2018/19 marketing season, data from Russia’s SovEcon agriculture consultancy showed on Feb. 18. Russia has accused the United States of trying to engineer an illegal coup to topple Maduro and the prospect of his being ousted is a geopolitical and economic headache for Moscow. Russia, like China, has become a creditor of last resort for Caracas, lending it billions of dollars as its economy implodes. Moscow has also helped its military and oil industry. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier on Friday that there were no talks at the moment between Maduro and President Vladimir Putin about Moscow lending Caracas more money, but that Russia was watching the situation closely. “We’re interested in continuing cooperation with Venezuela, especially since many of our companies are working on quite big projects there,” said Peskov. “We hope that these projects have good prospects, that there are prospects to expand them, and of course we hope our Venezuelan partners can overcome the internal political and economic difficulties they are facing as soon as possible.” Additional reporting by Polina Devitt and Oksana Kobzeva; Writing by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Catherine EvansOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

By Updated Feb. 27, 2019 4:45 pm ET Venezuela’s opposition, stung by recent setbacks, is grappling for its next move to try to unseat President Nicolás Maduro. But first, its leader Juan Guaidó has to safely get back into Venezuela, where the government is threatening to jail him. Mr. Guaidó said in an audio recording posted Wednesday on his Twitter account that he would soon return to Caracas from Colombia where he oversaw a U.S.-backed plan to deliver humanitarian aid. That effort descended into violence when state security and armed gangs loyal to Mr. Maduro... To Read the Full Story Subscribe Sign In