India’s largest homegrown mobility firm Ola, which saw its valuation erode significantly in 2017, has now regained lost ground. In fact, it has even surpassed its peak valuation of $5 billion reached in 2015, according to newspaper reports.The company, on Jan. 10, displaced OYO Rooms to regain its second position in the list of unicorns behind Paytm. This followed the $74 million (Rs520 crore) in fresh funding it raised from its existing investor Steadview Capital at a valuation of close to $6 billion, as calculated from the filing disclosed to the Registrar of Companies (ROC). In 2017, US-based investment firm Vanguard Group had slashed Ola’s valuation to as low as $3.5 billion.OYO Rooms had gained the status of second most-valued unicorn (A company valued over $1 billion) in September last year.Uber’s arch-rival in India last raised around $50 million in September 2018 from Hong Kong-based Sailing Capital and the China-Eurasian Economic Cooperation Fund (CEECF) at a valuation of about $4.3 billion.The company, founded in 2010, has raised around $3.3 billion till now from various investors, including China’s Tencent Holdings and Japan’s SoftBank, according to Crunchbase data.This latest round of funding is part of the $1 billion that Ola is currently in the process of raising. Last year in January, Ola had raised $1.1 billion from Tencent Holdings and existing investor SoftBank. The company had indicated that it was in talks to raise an additional $1 billion.Ola did not respond to Quartz’s e-mail query till the time of publication.Ola has been gradually building a war-chest in its fierce battle with US-based Uber to gain market supremacy. Present in 110 Indian cities, it is much ahead of Uber’s presence in 17 cities, though the latter has deep pockets and a strong global presence.Now Ola is also expanding its footprint outside India. Last year, it launched services in Australia, New Zealand, and the UK.“Ola had to resort to aggressive discounting in Australia in order to compete with Uber, which has been the market for five years. It means the company is burning cash, while its ticket-size will be low,” said Satish Meena, senior forecast analyst at Forrester Research. “This will remain a challenge for Ola. At some point, they will have to take in consideration unit economics and increase prices. It could raise the same situation it is facing in India right now.”Ola has spent the past seven years since its inception subsidising Indian drivers and riders from its own pockets. However, with global startup funding under pressure, it now needs to start generating profits to sustain its business. But efforts to increase its earnings from cab service has been met with stiff resistance from its driver partners.In October last year, drivers of both Ola and Uber went on a two-week-long strike in India’s financial capital Mumbai. It highlighted growing dissatisfaction among drivers over dipping incomes, higher commissions, and reduced incentives.Besides food delivery and bike-sharing, Ola is also looking to foray into the medicine delivery space through investment in Myra Medicines, according to a report by the Mint newspaper.However, the multiple funding rounds raised by Ola are not just to rival Uber, but also to keep its investor, SoftBank, at bay.SoftBank is also an investor in Uber. The company, after modifying some of its regulatory terms to curtail the influence of investors such as the Japanese investment major, has been trying to bring in fresh investors.Ola, according to industry sources, is resisting a situation like Snapdeal’s, which was to be sold to bigger rival Flipkart. That deal, however, fell through after Snapdeal’s founders retracted. SoftBank was a common investor in the rival companies.SoftBank, which had invested $250 million in Ola in 2016, had also offered to invest $1 billion more. This additional funding would have given SoftBank a controlling stake in Ola.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen told lawmakers on Wednesday he was aware of other possible illegal acts involving Trump that he could not discuss because they were under investigation by federal prosecutors in Manhattan. Cohen, Trump’s onetime “fixer,” was asked at a congressional committee hearing if he was aware of other wrongdoing or illegal acts regarding Trump that had not been discussed before the panel. “Yes, and again those are part of the investigation that is currently being looked at by the Southern District of New York,” Cohen replied, referring to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan. Cohen told the hearing that he was assisting with those investigations in hopes that prosecutors would file what is called a Rule 35 motion on his behalf recommending that his three-year prison sentence be reduced due to his cooperation. “If those investigations become fruitful, then there is a possibility of a Rule 35 motion,” Cohen said. “I am currently working with them on several other ... investigations.” A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan declined to comment. Cohen met with federal prosecutors in Manhattan last month and provided information about potential irregularities at the Trump Organization and a donor to the president’s inaugural committee, the New York Times reported last week. The meeting with Cohen indicates prosecutors are interested in matters at the Trump Organization that go beyond its role in the illegal hush payments before the 2016 presidential election made to women who claimed to have had affairs with Trump. Michael Cohen, the former personal attorney of U.S. President Donald Trump, arrives to testify before a House Committee on Oversight and Reform hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., February 27, 2019. REUTERS/Kevin LamarqueCohen was handed the three-year sentence by a federal judge in Manhattan in December after he pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations over his arranging hush payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels and former Playboy model Karen McDougal, both of whom claimed to have had sex with Trump. Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s longtime chief financial officer, received grand jury immunity from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan, according to a person familiar with the matter. In addition to probing the hush payments, federal prosecutors in Manhattan also sent a subpoena to Trump’s inaugural committee about $107 million in donations in 2016. Reporting by Doina Chiacu, Sarah N. Lynch and Nathan Layne; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Lisa ShumakerOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

A prominent Republican congressman who this week furiously denied being racist has falsely suggested at least twice that Barack Obama was born in Africa.Mark Meadows promised supporters during the 2012 election campaign that he and Republican colleagues would send Obama home “to Kenya or wherever”.Meadows, of North Carolina, grew emotional and red-faced on Wednesday when he was accused of carrying out a racist stunt during a congressional hearing.He had tried to counter allegations made by Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s former legal fixer, that Trump was racist by bringing Lynne Patton, a black Trump administration official and Trump family friend, with him to the hearing. Patton has said she does not believe Trump is racist.Rashida Tlaib, a Democratic congresswoman from Michigan, said later in the hearing that using a black woman as “a prop” was “racist in itself”. Meadows angrily demanded Tlaib withdraw the remark and said he had black relatives and friends. Tlaib said she did not accuse Meadows himself of being racist.Following the clash, video footage recorded during the 2012 campaign was unearthed in which Meadows dabbled with the racist “birther” conspiracy theory pushed for years by Trump and other Republicans.Proponents of the theory falsely alleged that Obama, who was born in the US state of Hawaii, was born in Africa and therefore ineligible for the presidency.During a forum held by the Blue Ridge Tea Party Patriots conservative group on 12 June 2012, Meadows and fellow Republican candidate Vance Patterson were asked if they would investigate Obama’s birthplace.“Yes,” Meadows responded. He went on to say: “If we do our job from a grassroots perspective, we won’t have to worry about it. We’ll send him back home to Kenya or wherever it is. We’ll send him back home.”Steve Morris, of the liberal watchdog group Media Matters, on Wednesday published a recording of Meadows standing in front of a “Tea Party Express” bus at an event on 9 June 2012.“What we’re going to do is take back our country,” Meadows said. “2012 is the time that we’re going to send Mr Obama home to Kenya or wherever it is. We’re gonna do it.”In an interview with Roll Call in 2012, Meadows said he had used a “poor choice of words” and acknowledged that Obama was an American citizen. Topics Republicans House of Representatives US politics news

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong braced for more mass protests over the weekend, even as China warned it could use its power to quell demonstrations and U.S. President Donald Trump urged his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, to meet with the protesters to defuse weeks of tensions. Hundreds of China’s People’s Armed Police (PAP) on Thursday conducted exercises at a sports stadium in Shenzhen that borders Hong Kong a day after the U.S. State Department said it was “deeply concerned” about the movements, which have prompted worries that the troops could be used to break up protests. Trump told reporters on Thursday he did not want to see a resort to violence to quell the protests in Hong Kong and reiterated that he wanted to see China “humanely solve the problem.” “I am concerned. I wouldn’t want to see a violent crackdown,” Trump said, speaking in Morristown, New Jersey. “If he (Xi) sat down with the protesters - a group of representative protesters - I’d bet he’d work it out in 15 minutes. ... I know it’s not the kind of thing he does, but I think it wouldn’t be a bad idea.” Trump said he had a call with Xi scheduled “soon.” Ten weeks of confrontations between police and protesters have plunged Hong Kong into its worst crisis since it reverted from British to Chinese rule in 1997, and have presented the biggest popular challenge to Xi in his seven years in power. The Civil Human Rights Front, which organized million-strong marches in June, has scheduled another protest for Sunday. China’s ambassador to London warned that Beijing could use its power to quell the Hong Kong protests if the situation deteriorated further and repeating charges that some protesters had shown “signs of terrorism.” “The central government will not sit on its hands and watch,” the ambassador, Liu Xiaoming, told reporters. “We have enough solutions and enough power within the limits of (the) Basic Law to quell any unrest swiftly,” Liu said, referring to Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, which states that the Hong Kong government can ask the Chinese garrison in the city to help maintain order. Related CoverageTrump says does not want to see a violent crackdown by China in Hong KongBeijing has option of forceful intervention in Hong Kong: Global Times tabloid“The central government of China will never allow a few violent offenders to drag Hong Kong down a dangerous road, down a dangerous abyss,” Liu said. The Friday edition of China’s state-controlled Global Times tabloid also warned that China had the option to “forcefully intervene” and lashed out at what Beijing describes as U.S. interference in Hong Kong. “If Hong Kong cannot restore the rule of law on its own and the riots intensify, it’s imperative then for the central government to take direct actions based on the Basic Law,” it said, saying the Shenzhen PAP deployment was “a clear warning.” The paper said the situation in Hong Kong “won’t be a repeat of the June 4th political incident in 1989,” referring to the bloody military crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square 30 years ago. White House national security adviser John Bolton warned against a repeat of Tiananmen in an interview on Wednesday. On Wednesday, Trump tied a U.S. trade deal with China to a humane resolution of the protests. Trump has been seeking a major deal to correct trade imbalances with China ahead of his 2020 re-election bid and has faced criticism from Congress and elsewhere for not taking a stronger public line on Hong Kong and for his characterization of the protests earlier this month as “riots” that were a matter for China to deal with. Trump’s tougher stance on Hong Kong followed a debate within his administration over whether Washington was looking too compliant while China appeared to be preparing for a crackdown, a source familiar with the deliberations said. On Thursday, China’s Foreign Ministry said Beijing had noted Trump’s comment that Beijing needed to resolve the Hong Kong crisis on its own. Servicemen walk past military vehicles in the parking area of the Shenzhen Bay Sports Center in Shenzhen across the bay from Hong Kong, China August 16, 2019. REUTERS/Thomas PeterWestern governments have stepped up calls for restraint following chaotic scenes at Hong Kong’s airport this week that forced cancellation of nearly 1,000 flights and saw protesters set upon two men they suspected of being government sympathizers. France called on city officials to renew talks with activists, while Canada said China should handle the protests with tact. Two opposition lawmakers from Hong Kong visiting the United States on Thursday urged the outside world to stay focused on developments. “For the international community to speak up for Hong Kong is extremely important, and we see that across the American political establishment,” Dennis Kwok of the liberal-democratic Civic Party said at the Asia Society thinktank in New York. He and fellow party member Alvin Yeung were to meet with U.S. lawmakers. The airport, one of the world’s busiest, was returning to normal on Thursday but under tight security after thousands of protesters jammed its halls on Monday and Tuesday nights. Late on Wednesday night, police and protesters faced off again on the streets, with riot officers quickly firing tear gas. Seventeen people were arrested on Wednesday, bringing the total detained since June to 748, police told a news conference, adding that police stations have been surrounded and attacked 76 times during the crisis. Despite the Shenzhen deployments, several Western and Asian diplomats in Hong Kong said they believed China had little appetite for putting its forces onto Hong Kong’s streets, and a U.S. official said on Wednesday the PAP activities appeared aimed at intimidating the protesters. The U.S. State Department warned on Wednesday that continued erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy put at risk the preferential economic status it enjoys under U.S. law and leading members of the U.S. Congress have warned that a crackdown could be met by U.S. sanctions. Slideshow (12 Images)Research firm Capital Economics said the protests could push Hong Kong into a recession and risked “an even worse outcome if a further escalation triggers capital flight.” Hong Kong’s property market, one of the world’s most expensive, would be hit hard in that scenario, it added. Financial Secretary Paul Chan unveiled a series of measures worth HK$19.1 billion ($2.44 billion) on Thursday to tackle economic headwinds, but he said it was not related to political pressure from the protests. Some business and citizens’ groups have posted newspaper advertisements backing Hong Kong’s government. The head of Macau casino operator Galaxy Entertainment (0027.HK), Lui Che-woo, urged talks to restore harmony. The protests have affected the neighboring Chinese territory of Macau, with some visitors avoiding the world’s biggest gambling hub amid transport disruptions and safety concerns. Reporting by Farah Master and Tony Munroe in Hong Kong; Additional reporting by Donny Kwok, Noah Sin, Kevin Liu and Twinnie Siu in HONG KONG, Steve Holland in MORRISTOWN, N.J., David Brunnstrom, Makini Brice and Jonathan Landay in WASHINGTON, Rodrigo Campos in NEW YORK, Estelle Shirbon and Costas Pitas in LONDON, Mathieu Rosemain in PARIS and David Ljunggren in OTTAWA; Writing by David Brunnstrom and Farah Master; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Leslie AdlerOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Enlarge this image A drawing by a migrant child at the Catholic Charities Humanitarian Respite Center in McAllen, Texas. American Academy of Pediatrics via AP hide caption toggle caption American Academy of Pediatrics via AP A drawing by a migrant child at the Catholic Charities Humanitarian Respite Center in McAllen, Texas. American Academy of Pediatrics via AP Updated at 1 p.m. ETThe Smithsonian's National Museum of American History may add drawings made by formerly detained migrant children to its famous collection.The drawings depict time spent in the custody of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Some of the children's images appeared to show stick figures with frowns and people on floors under blankets.They made headlines last week, after the American Academy of Pediatrics toured CBP facilities at the U.S. southern border and released the images to media outlets. Simon Says Opinion: A Showcase Of 'Uncaged Art' By Children Once Detained Three children between 10 and 11 years old who had been separated from their parents made the drawings in a Texas facility overseen by the Roman Catholic Church after being released from CBP custody, according to CNN.A spokesperson for the National Museum of American History, Laura Duff, told NPR that the museum is in the early stages of planning.In an emailed statement, the museum said a curator had contacted the American Academy of Pediatrics and CNN on July 4 to ask about the drawings "as part of an exploratory process."It went on to explain why the museum was considering acquiring the drawings. "The museum has a long commitment to telling the complex and complicated history of the United States and to documenting that history as it unfolds, such as it did following 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina, and as it does with political campaigns," the statement read.Brent Glass, director emeritus of the National Museum of American History, told NPR that the initiative is consistent with the museum's mission "to inspire people to know more about American history and to hopefully create a more humane society."He said he thinks the move was not a political decision. Much of the Washington museum's work "has some political value or some political implication or consequence," but the curators' decisions "will be made based on what kind of documentary record they're trying to create rather than making a political statement," Glass said. Enlarge this image A drawing by a migrant child. American Academy of Pediatrics via AP hide caption toggle caption American Academy of Pediatrics via AP A drawing by a migrant child. American Academy of Pediatrics via AP Jas Chana, a spokesperson for New York's Tenement Museum, which documents immigrant and refugee stories, says the drawings are future artifacts of history. "The United States has always had a complicated relationship with immigration," and the drawings "serve as reminder — for current and future generations — that we all have a role to play in reckoning with our fraught immigration history to move forward as a nation," Chana said via email.The museum's inquiry about the drawings comes after reports of detained children living in squalor sparked nationwide outcry. Lawyers and lawmakers have cited appalling conditions at some Border Patrol facilities where basic items, such as soap and running water, are not provided. CBP has denied that children have been mistreated at its facilities.In a recent rebuke, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said she was appalled by the conditions children faced. "As a paediatrician, but also as a mother and a former head of State, I am deeply shocked that children are forced to sleep on the floor in overcrowded facilities, without access to adequate healthcare or food, and with poor sanitation conditions," she said in a statement. National Migrant Caregivers Separated From Children At Border, Sent Back to Mexico "Detaining a child even for short periods under good conditions can have a serious impact on their health and development — consider the damage being done every day by allowing this alarming situation to continue," Bachelet added.President Trump said last week in a tweet that if migrants were "unhappy with the conditions in the quickly built or refitted detentions centers, just tell them not to come." He has also accused media outlets of writing exaggerated accounts of detention centers and said border patrol agents were doing a "great job."

In 2006 she did the summer program at the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine, starting what she calls “my hobo life of residencies and finding ways to work with nothing” — moving between New York and Berlin with a stay in Mexico City as well. There, in 2012, she dipped garments like a velvet dress and leather shorts into paint and hung them on the wall for a show at the Preteen Gallery. A couple of years later, in Brooklyn, she began experimenting with painting directly on the skin of friends.Her biggest attention-getter came in 2017 at Art Basel, when her gallery, Peres Projects, presented her work in the Unlimited section, devoted to venturesome artists. For an eight-day, eight-hours-a-day performance, she painted the skin of two nude models and set them adrift in her own sculptural installation. Sabine Schaschl, director at Museum Haus Konstruktiv in Zurich, was among many who shared images on Instagram, writing, “Lock eyes with a model and the lines between looking and being looked at begin to bend.”At the time the artist was painting skin by hand, waking up around 5 a.m. to create a new pair of body paintings every day. For the Marciano show she is using machine sprayers, giving each model a set pattern and palette to be replicated through the show. Some are painted to match the sculptures they stand near — more or less camouflaged.Ms. Huanca likes to include natural materials like turmeric and coffee grounds in her canvases, body paintings and sculptures alike. This time, she dusted turmeric on the models’ shoulders. For the hair extensions, she initially used horsehair but switched to synthetics a couple of years ago. “I got an extension where some pieces of skin were left on,” she said, “and I said: ‘I’m done with this.’ It felt cruel and abusive.” It wasn’t the right visual, to say the least, for art that celebrates the flesh.Donna Huanca: Obsidian LadderThrough Dec. 1, Marciano Art Foundation, 4357 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, marcianoartfoundation.org. Timed tickets are available online.

A former campaign aide to Donald Trump lived a “secret life” including an extramarital affair in London, a court heard on Tuesday.Rick Gates, under cross examination at the tax evasion and bank fraud trial of his former boss Paul Manafort, admitted that he had “another relationship” involving first-class flights and luxury hotels, but denied these were funded with money embezzled from Manafort.Manafort, a former Trump campaign chairman, has pleaded not guilty to 18 counts of bank and tax fraud and failing to disclose foreign bank accounts. His defence team is seeking to pin the blame on Gates, who they say was responsible for day-to-day operations of the business.In a dramatic moment before the jury, Manafort’s defence counsel, Kevin Downing, put it to the government’s star witness: “There’s another life, right, the other Rick Gates? The secret Rick Gates?”Gates, who is 46 and married, admitted: “There was a period in my life, about 10 years ago, when I had a relationship, yes.”With a nod to linguistic differences for what Americans refer to as an apartment, Downing pressed: “As part of your secret life did you maintain a flat – is that what they call it? – in London?”Gates acknowledged that he did for two months and that he took first class flights and stayed in “fancy hotels” around Europe, but said the money came from bonuses rather than illicit gains. “I had a period of time when I had another relationship,” he added.As well as being a senior aide on Trump’s election campaign, Gates served as the deputy chairman of the US president’s inaugural committee. On Tuesday, he admitted it was possible he had sought to cheat the committee with false expenses claims.“Did you submit personal expenses to the inaugural committee for reimbursement?” Downing asked.Gates answered: “I don’t recall. It’s possible.”Gates appeared nervous on the witness stand at the court in Alexandria, Virginia, blinking frequently, his throat apparently dry as he spoke. He frequently used the phrases “It’s possible” and “I don’t recall” as Downing challenged him about inconsistencies in testimony he gave to the special counsel’s office.“When did you start providing false and misleading information to the special counsel’s office?” the defence counsel asked bluntly.Gates struggled so badly to give a straight answer that eventually Judge T S Ellis III was forced to intervene. “Did you provide false information or did you have a bad memory?” he asked.Gates finally admitted that he had provided false information prior to striking a plea agreement. “I did, to one count, your honour,” he said.He has already admitted embezzling some funds from Manafort. Downing pressed him on the specifics of their business relationship: which payments to Gates were authorised and which were not. Regarding a trading company Manafort had started with a partner in 2011, he asked with deep scepticism: “You’re asking the jury to believe Mr Manafort authorised another $250,000 as a bonus?”Downing wondered aloud why Gates had shown “perfect recollection” during examination by the government but was now much less precise under cross-examination by Manafort’s defence. He challenged the witness: “Have they [the special counsel’s office] confronted you with so many lies you can’t remember any of it?”Gates replied: “No.”Gates testified that he stole from Manafort because he was living beyond his means. Downing asked: “Was it for your secret life?”The witness replied defensively: “It’s not a secret life. It went to an account my wife knew about.”Though he has at times seemed evasive under cross-examination, Gates insisted that he now acknowledges his mistake and is taking responsibility for it, whereas Manafort is not.But Downing challenged again: “After all the lies you’ve told and fraud you’ve committed, you expect this jury to believe you?”Gates retorted: “Yes.”Earlier on Tuesday, the prosecution had continued to question Gates, who described how millions of dollars were allegedly funneled from entities controlled by Ukrainian businessmen into Manafort’s shell companies in Cyprus.Although the allegations of collusion between Donald Trump and Russia are not at issue in this trial, any significant blows to the government’s case are likely to be seized on by the president’s defenders, including conservative media, to support his contention that Mueller’s investigation is a “rigged witch-hunt”.Gates pleaded guilty in February and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors under a deal that could lead to a reduced sentence. On Monday, he testified that he helped Manafort file false tax returns and hide his foreign bank accounts. He was aware that Manafort was acting as an unregistered foreign agent in lobbying for Ukraine, he said.On Tuesday, the court was shown a series of emails, contracts and what prosecutor Greg Andres referred to as “fake invoices”, in which Gates altered the template to show the name of a shell company instead of Manafort’s. This was a way to decrease Manafort’s taxable income, added Gates, who did not report the money to Manafort’s bookkeeper or accountants.Manafort’s political work included advising Viktor Yanukovych on policy after he won the Ukrainian presidency, Gates said. “Mr Manafort worked with the local political officials and helped implement policy initiatives based on the campaign promises.”For this Manafort was paid $4m a year, in quarterly payments of $1m, Gates recalled, though at some point the currency switched from US dollars to Euros. His consultancy work also included “Engage Ukraine”, an effort to help Ukraine join the European Union.Government lawyers have previously referred to Yanukovych as Manafort’s “golden goose”. After Yanukovych lost power in 2014, “I would say it decreased the income stream”, Gates, wearing a blue suit, told the court matter-of-factly.He added Manafort worked for a time for the Opposition Bloc, the party that replaced Yanukovych’s Party of Regions, but it was out of power and so “income streams were more difficult to come by”.By July 2015, the court heard, Manafort was struggling financially. Andres asked: “Was he having trouble paying his bills?” Gates replied: “He was.”Gates said he and Manafort turned to a Cypriot lawyer, whom he referred to in court as “Dr K”, who set up bank accounts and shell companies on Manafort’s behalf and “handled everything”.When an individual sets up an entity in Cyprus, Gates explained, their name does not appear on any of the paperwork. He said of Manafort: “I believe he understood his name would not be represented, nor would mine.”As Manafort came under pressure to pay his bills, he was forced to seek loans, the court heard. Gates said he was responsible for collecting all relevant documents for the loan applications.Andres asked him: “Did you provide false information to the banks?’Without hesitating, Gates replied: “Yes.”Andres followed up: “Did Mr Manafort know?”Again the reply came: “Yes.” Topics Paul Manafort US politics Trump-Russia investigation Donald Trump Russia news

[What you need to know to start the day: Get New York Today in your inbox.]Cesar A. Sayoc Jr., the fervent supporter of President Trump who rattled the nation last fall when he sent homemade pipe bombs to former President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and other prominent Democrats, was sentenced on Monday to 20 years in prison.Mr. Sayoc pleaded guilty in March to mailing 16 bombs to people he considered to be Mr. Trump’s enemies. The F.B.I. said the devices were packed with powder from fireworks, fertilizer, a pool chemical and glass fragments that would function as shrapnel, but they would not have worked as designed.In the end, the flaws in the bombs’ design were critical to a federal judge’s decision to give Mr. Sayoc 20 years in prison rather than the life sentence prosecutors requested. The judge, Jed S. Rakoff of Federal District Court in Manhattan, said he had concluded that Mr. Sayoc, though no firearms expert, was capable of concocting a pipe bomb that could explode and had consciously chosen not to. “He hated his victims,” the judge said. “He wished them no good, but he was not so lost as to wish them dead, at least not by his own hand.”Though the timing was coincidental, the sentencing came as the nation was on edge after the weekend’s back-to-back mass shootings, one of which appeared to have been inspired by anti-immigrant rhetoric from right-wing pundits and politicians, including Mr. Trump.On Monday morning, Mr. Trump gave a national address in which he denounced white supremacists and said hatred had no place in the country. He promised the government would do more to keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill. Still, the president has a long history of making inflammatory statements not just about immigrants, but about his political opponents. Mr. Sayoc’s lawyers said their client was particularly susceptible to those ideas.ImageMr. SayocCredit...Broward County Sheriff's Office, via Associated PressIndeed, the lawyers argued in a recent court filing that Mr. Sayoc, 57, suffered from a long- untreated mental illness and drew inspiration from the president for his terror campaign. “He was a Donald Trump superfan,” they wrote.During the sentencing, however, Judge Rakoff said Mr. Sayoc’s politics were “something of a sideshow.” Instead, the judge said the design flaws in the bombs — including timers that were not set to go off and fuse wiring that was inoperable — indicated that Mr. Sayoc had only intended to scare his victims, not harm them.Before he was sentenced, Mr. Sayoc read a handwritten statement, apologizing. “I wish more than anything I could turn back time and take back what I did,” he said. “But I want you to know, your honor, with all my heart and soul, I feel the pain and suffering of these victims.”As the judge announced the sentence, Mr. Sayoc broke into sobs, resting his head in his hands clasped on the table before him. Then he looked up at the ceiling and mouthed, “Thank you.” Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States attorney in Manhattan, said after the sentencing that although “thankfully no one was hurt by his actions, Sayoc’s domestic terrorism challenged our nation’s cherished tradition of peaceful political discourse.” Mr. Sayoc’s lawyers, who are federal public defenders, had no comment. Mr. Sayoc’s terror campaign and the frenzied investigation that followed seized the nation for two weeks in October, just before the midterm elections. After a four-day manhunt, Mr. Sayoc was arrested outside an auto-parts store near Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where he was living in a decrepit white van that was plastered with bombastic stickers that glorified Mr. Trump and placed Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton in red cross-hairs.Mr. Sayoc’s lawyers had urged Judge Rakoff to impose a prison sentence of 10 years, which would have been the mandatory minimum Mr. Sayoc faced, plus one month. At the time of his arrest, they said, Mr. Sayoc was suffering from the untreated mental illness, compounded by excessive steroid use, and he had become increasingly obsessive, isolated and paranoid. “In this darkness,” the lawyers wrote in a sentencing memo, “Mr. Sayoc found light in Donald J. Trump.”Mr. Sayoc listened to Mr. Trump’s self-help books and championed him on social media. He watched Fox News religiously while working out at the gym. “Because of Mr. Sayoc’s mental illness, this type of rhetoric deeply affected him because he so greatly admired the president,” one of Mr. Sayoc’s lawyers, Ian Marcus Amelkin, said in court. “It is impossible, I believe, to separate the political climate and his mental illness.”Last fall, Mr. Sayoc’s lawyers wrote, the “slow-boil of Mr. Sayoc’s political obsessions and delusional beliefs” led him to build and send his 16 packages to 13 intended victims he considered to be Mr. Trump’s enemies. In Mr. Sayoc’s mind, the devices were “designed to look like pipe bombs,” his lawyers said, but they were a hoax to scare his targets.Each device consisted of plastic pipe with a digital alarm clock and attached wires. An F.B.I. explosives expert, Kevin D. Finnerty, testified at the sentencing the devices would not have functioned as designed, but were capable of exploding if mishandled.Jane Kim, a prosecutor, said in court that because of Mr. Sayoc’s attacks, hundreds of law enforcement officers were mobilized around the country, thousands of postal employees were on alert for suspicious packages, buildings and mail facilities were evacuated and schools were ordered to shelter in place. “The defendant’s campaign of terror was national in reach and extremely serious,” she said. She added that had Mr. Sayoc intended the bombs to be hoaxes, he could have packed them with sand, but he chose to use glass fragments. Ms. Kim also addressed the defense’s argument that shifted blame to Mr. Trump. “With respect to some of the excuses that the defendant has advanced about politics and politicians, the government would submit that politics cannot justify a terrorist attack,” she said. “Politics here cannot justify 16 bombs being mailed.” When Mr. Sayoc pleaded guilty in court, he listed his intended victims. In addition to Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton, they included former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.; Senator Kamala Harris, a California Democrat; Senator Cory Booker, a New Jersey Democrat; George Soros, a billionaire Democratic donor; and John O. Brennan, a former C.I.A. director.The list also included Representative Maxine Waters, a California Democrat; former Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.; Tom Steyer, a prominent Democratic donor; James R. Clapper Jr., a former director of national intelligence; the actor Robert De Niro; and CNN.Prosecutors had also said Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Florida Democrat, was a victim of Mr. Sayoc’s campaign; he falsely listed her as the return address on his packages. After the sentencing, Ms. Wasserman Schultz said in a statement that Mr. Sayoc “was admittedly inspired by the president’s hateful rhetoric.” “This president’s words have consequences,” she said.

Hong Kong is pushing forward with plans to change its laws to allow for the extradition of criminals to China for the first time, prompting widespread protests and fears for the territory’s judicial independence.Proposed amendments to Hong Kong’s extradition were introduced at the city’s legislative council on Wednesday, after thousands of demonstrators took to the streets at the weekend.The Hong Kong chief executive, Carrie Lam, defended the proposal, which would give her the power to order the transfer of suspects to China. Current Hong Kong law bars any renditions to China or other jurisdictions of the People’s Republic of China.“If you are of the view there is no independent judiciary in Hong Kong … it is nonsense … You are insulting ourselves, because we have set up a very independent judiciary,” she said.Democratic lawmakers shouted during the session and about 20 walked out, according to a legislative member who attended. The bill is expected to be put to a vote by July, when it is likely to be passed by the pro-Beijing-dominated legislature.Under the terms of Hong Kong’s return to Chinese control in 1997, the former British colony is meant to enjoy a “high degree of autonomy” from the mainland, with its own judicial and legislative systems. Critics worry the proposed new extradition arrangement would further erode the city’s rule of law and independence.The push to change the extradition law stems from the killing of a Hong Kong woman while on a Valentine’s trip with her boyfriend to Taiwan last year. The woman’s boyfriend, suspected of her murder, can only be tried in Taiwan. Because Hong Kong has no extradition agreement with Taiwan, he has remained in Hong Kong.Those in support of the amendments say they will close such legal loopholes and protect Hong Kong from becoming a “paradise for criminals”. A spokesperson for China’s ministry of foreign affairs office in Hong Kong said last month: “Cooperation against crime is a common interest in the international community.”But critics worry it will result in regular extradition requests from Beijing, which the pro-Beijing government would likely honour, according to critics.Eric Cheung, a legal expert at the University of Hong Kong, said: “How can you expect our chief executive to say no when faced by the central government?”Since the handover, Hong Kong has not allowed for the extradition of criminals or suspects to mainland China specifically because of the lack of legal protections for those tried in Chinese courts, according to the Hong Kong Bar Association, which opposes the amendments.Arbitrary detentions, forced confessions, torture, detention without trial, the use of trumped up or vague charges, and the denial of lawyers of one’s choosing are common in China’s court system, where the conviction rate is often as high as 99%.Cheung said: “There is no way the Hong Kong government or Hong Kong courts can ensure that the person extradited back to China can have a fair trial. How can we guarantee that the person will have access to lawyers? How can we ensure that this person will not be subject to violence or threats to coerce him to plead guilty?”The arrangement could make it easier for Beijing to seek retribution for cases such as the arrest of the Huawei executive, Meng Wanzhou, in Canada, at the request of the US, according to Dennis Kwok, a lawmaker with the Civic party.“What could be possible is that theChinese government will weaponise and use this system against foreign nationals doing business or passing through Hong Kong,” he said.Business groups such as the American Chamber of Commerce have said the law will hurt the city’s attractiveness to foreign businesses and investors. Human rights groups and media advocates say it will affect the city’s freedom of speech, a privilege Hong Kong media enjoy that mainland media do not.The Hong Kong Journalists Association said on Wednesday the changes would “not only threaten the safety of journalists but also have a chilling effect on the freedom of expression in Hong Kong”. Topics Hong Kong Asia Pacific China Protest news

Striking portraits and wildlife are to the fore this month. Scroll to see the winner – chosen by Mick Ryan of fotoVUE – who receives a £200 voucher for an i-escape holiday property. The overall 2018 prize is a trip to Greenland with Wild Photography Holidays • Enter our October competition

As protests in Hong Kong against a controversial extradition law enter their third month, the prospect of any resolution to the unrest seems a long way off. However, the past week has given an indication of the strategy of the governments in Beijing and Hong Kong in dealing with protesters.The growing pro-democracy movement achieved early success in June with the suspension of the proposed bill that would have allowed the extradition of suspects from Hong Kong to mainland China. This followed unprecedented peaceful demonstrations that brought up to two million people on to the streets and, separately, police violence. When Hong Kong’s chief executive, Carrie Lam, declared that she was shelving the bill, the Beijing authorities, having distanced themselves from the unpopular law, seemed to be lying low.After forcing a climbdown from the Hong Kong government in June, protesters furthered their campaign in early July, when a small group broke in to Hong Kong’s Legislative Council. There, the occupiers laid out five demands: the withdrawal of the extradition bill; the retraction of the government’s characterisation of the protests as riots; an independent investigation into police violence; amnesty for arrested protesters; and the implementation of universal suffrage. At that time they commanded widespread support in society. The movement had been using an innovative “be water” technique to take on the authorities, encompassing moving occupations around the city, outreach to mainland tourists via “airdropped” flyers, and leaderless coordination through messaging apps and social networks. The protesters seemed to be learning lessons from the failures of the “umbrella revolution” of pro-democracy action in 2014.In late July and early August, the People’s Daily, the mouthpiece of China’s Communist party, published various commentaries that seemed to outline an unfolding strategy to counter the protests. The pieces drew a distinction between violent extremists who have used opposition to the extradition law amendment bill as a pretext for other goals, and the vast majority of the Hong Kong public, who were called upon to unite against unruly protesters. The gist of this line was repeated in press briefings by Lam, and by Zhang Xiaoming, director of the Hong Kong and Macau affairs office in Beijing, in a meeting with 300 members of Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing elite in Shenzhen last week.Zhang argued that Beijing should not compromise with the opposition movement and should make no concession to its demands. He declared that Beijing should rely on Hong Kong’s chief executive and government, the “one country, two systems” principle, the Hong Kong police and judiciary, patriotic forces within Hong Kong, and what he believed to be the overwhelming majority of people living there, who desired peace and stability. Zhang’s statement laid out a multi-pronged strategy.The Hong Kong police have been given the task of suppressing demonstrations at any cost. A previous commander has been brought back out of retirement, and this week, police were forced to admit that plainclothes officers had infiltrated protesters. Similarly, the judiciary will come under further pressure from the prosecution, which will use politicised charges and expedited procedures.Next, patriotic forces will be mobilised to reunify the extremely disunited pro-establishment camp: businesses will face disproportionate retaliation or boycotts if they do not actively oppose the protests; universities and public institutions in Hong Kong will be brought back under control through internal discipline. This will raise the cost of sympathising with and participating in the anti-government movement for ordinary protesters. Indeed, pro-establishment politicians immediately lined up behind Beijing’s wording, putting an end to calls for Lam’s resignation or an independent inquiry into police violence.Finally, Beijing has engaged in a battle to turn public opinion in Hong Kong against the movement and to isolate the “violent extremists” from the “patriotic silent majority”, especially by highlighting the economic impact of protests. Depictions of the protests as instigated by “foreign forces” were stepped up.Beijing continues to rely on a “strategy of attrition” – one that served them well during the 2014 unrest. But at the same time, China continues to hint at the possibility of a military crackdown, releasing videos showing troop carriers moving to the border.The Chinese government position is no doubt driven by fear of contagion to the mainland and geopolitical anxiety about Hong Kong’s loyalty. This must be balanced against the need to maintain Hong Kong’s perceived stability and prosperity, and to safeguard China’s influence in Taiwan.The protesters’ challenge will be to steer clear of responding to police provocations with violence – a pitfall they did not avoid during the airport occupation of recent days – and to keep public opinion on their side. Recent surveys show that the wider public is indeed concerned about the escalating conflict.While the leaderless “be water” strategy has served the growth of the protest movement well, it has also emerged as a liability, because there is no forum to coordinate a return to non-violent tactics or possible negotiations with authorities. Finding an exit strategy is almost always the most difficult part of anti-government mobilisation, and it remains unclear how the spiral of violence can be halted now.• Sebastian Veg is a professor of contemporary history of China at EHESS, Paris. His most recent book is Minjian: The Rise of China’s Grassroots Intellectuals Topics Hong Kong Opinion Asia Pacific China Protest comment

Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro has closed the border with Brazil amid a row over humanitarian aid.The embattled leader said he could also shut the key border with Colombia to stop the opposition bringing in relief.Venezuela's inflation rate has seen prices soar, leaving many Venezuelans struggling to afford basic items such as food, toiletries and medicine. President Maduro denies any crisis and calls the aid delivery plans a US-orchestrated show. His ally Russia has accused the US of trying to arm Venezuela's opposition.Rival concerts will be held on both sides of a bridge linking Venezuela and Colombia later on Friday.On the Colombian side, an event will be held to raise money for Venezuela. At the same time, Mr Maduro's government will hold its own concert, just 300m (980ft) away. Venezuela crisis in nine charts Why the military back Maduro Opposition leader Juan Guaidó and his allies hope to collect food and medicine being gathered in neighbouring Brazil and Colombia on Saturday, in defiance of President Maduro.Head of the National Assembly, Mr Guaidó declared himself interim leader during anti-government protests last month and is recognised by dozens of countries, including the US and most Latin American nations.The border crossing with Brazil remained closed on Friday morning but local G1 website reported that a group of Venezuelans managed to cross from the Brazilian city of Pacaraima on foot using an unofficial route.Mr Maduro announced on Thursday that the border would be closed "completely and absolutely" until further notice and said he had been considering a "total closure" of the border with Colombia.Brazil had earlier said that, in co-ordination with the US, food and medicine would be available to be collected by "the government of acting President Juan Guaidó in Venezuelan trucks driven by Venezuelans".British entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson has organised a concert near the Tienditas Bridge crossing at Cúcuta hoping to raise about $100m (£77m) to buy food and medicine for Venezuelans.Venezuela Aid Live, he said, has been organised at the request of Mr Guaidó and another opposition leader, Leopoldo López, who is under house arrest. About 250,000 people are expected to attend.Should Branson 'back off' from Venezuela?The Venezuelan government has erected a stage on its side of the crossing for its Hands Off Venezuela event.More than three million Venezuelans have fled in recent years as the country grapples with hyperinflation and shortages of essential goods, the UN says.Despite denying there is any humanitarian crisis, Mr Maduro announced this week that 300 tonnes of aid would be shipped from its ally Russia.The men prepared to die for Maduro Meanwhile, Russia's foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the attempt to deliver aid could spark violence and be used as a pretext by the US to remove Mr Maduro.Citing unspecified information, she also accused the US and its Nato allies of discussing how to arm the Venezuelan opposition and claimed US special forces and equipment were being deployed near the country.By Katy Watson, BBC South America correspondent in CaracasThere is no doubt this has become a political issue. Juan Guaidó and his supporters want to spread the word about how important the foreign humanitarian aid is. President Maduro accuses it of being a Trojan horse.There is a feeling of optimism among many Venezuelans at the moment - an energy that has not existed in the country for a long time. And the hope that Saturday may be the start of a new path.But if the stand-off drags on, the fear is that this positive energy that has revived Mr Maduro's critics will wane, as will the interest of the international community, and that's what Mr Guaidó needs to achieve regime change.People want to know about a plan B - if indeed Mr Guaidó has thought of one. Otherwise, the hope here will soon turn to despair.Read more from KatyMr Guaidó is leading a convoy that left the capital, Caracas, on Thursday, to Cúcuta, some 800km (500 miles) away.He has said 600,000 volunteers have already signed up to help carry aid into Venezuela while the Venezuelan government said it would deliver 20,600 of its own food boxes to the Colombian border area.Venezuela's military has so far resisted calls to abandon Mr Maduro, in power since 2013.However, former military intelligence chief Hugo Carvajal called on the military to break with the president and to allow aid in. In a video posted online, the congressman recognised Mr Guaidó as "president in charge" and issued a stinging rebuke to Mr Maduro."You've killed hundreds of young people in the streets for trying to claim the rights you stole - this without even counting the dead for lack of medicines and security."Mr Guaidó's aides in Washington said 11 Venezuelan diplomats based in the US had defected and declared their support for him.

FILE PHOTO - Jair Bolsonaro, far-right lawmaker and presidential candidate of the Social Liberal Party (PSL), looks on as he arrives to cast his vote, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil October 28, 2018. REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes/PoolSAO PAULO (Reuters) - Brazil president-elect Jair Bolsonaro said on Monday he would withdraw government advertising from media outlets he deemed to be “lying”, keeping up pressure on critical outlets after winning the weekend’s presidential election by a landslide. In an interview on Globo TV’s national evening news, Bolsonaro also said he would like cruscading anti-graft judge Sergio Moro to becoming his justice minister and, eventually, take a seat on the Supreme Court when an opening arose. Reporting by Marcelo Rochabrun; Editing by Daniel FlynnOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Under the regulation, if Mr. Whitaker were to block any of Mr. Mueller’s steps, Congress must be notified.Mr. Trump was “clearly” motivated to replace Mr. Sessions to affect the Mueller investigation, said David Kris, a founder of the Culper Partners consulting firm who led the Justice Department’s national security division during the Obama administration.An open question, he said, is what Mr. Whitaker will do — and what reactions that will provoke from Mr. Mueller, other federal prosecutors and House Democrats.“What guerrilla-war tactics will he try to take to limit Mueller’s activities?” Mr. Kris said of Mr. Whitaker. “Under the regulation, he has a bunch of supervisory actions he can take and if he does undertake those actions, the more extreme they are, the more likely they will provoke reactions from other players in this drama.”The regulation that Mr. Rosenstein invoked when appointing Mr. Mueller also made it more difficult to fire him. It said that the attorney general may remove the special counsel only for cause, like misconduct of some kind, rather than at will.Mr. Whitaker could decide that Mr. Mueller has committed misconduct and fire him, or he could revoke the protections that the regulation provides to Mr. Mueller and then fire him without cause.When Mr. Mueller completes his work, he is to deliver a report about his findings to the attorney general, according to the regulation. It would then be up to the attorney general — now Mr. Whitaker — to decide whether to turn that document over to Congress or keep it secret.

CARACAS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro faced growing regional pressure on Sunday after his troops repelled foreign aid convoys, with the United States threatening new sanctions and Brazil urging allies to join a “liberation effort”. Violent clashes with security forces over the opposition’s U.S.-backed attempt on Saturday to bring aid into the economically devastated country left almost 300 wounded and at least three protesters dead near the Brazilian border. Juan Guaido, recognized by most Western nations as Venezuela’s legitimate leader, urged foreign powers to consider “all options” in ousting Maduro, ahead of a meeting of the regional Lima Group of nations in Bogota on Monday that will be attended by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence. Pence is set to announce “concrete steps” and “clear actions” at the meeting to address the crisis, a senior U.S. administration official said on Sunday, declining to provide details. The United States last month imposed crippling sanctions on the OPEC nation’s oil industry, squeezing its top source of foreign revenue. “What happened yesterday is not going to deter us from getting humanitarian aid into Venezuela,” the official said, speaking with reporters on condition of anonymity. Brazil, a diplomatic heavyweight in Latin America which has the region’s largest economy, was for years a vocal ally of Venezuela while it was ruled by the leftist Workers Party. It turned sharply against Venezuela’s socialist president this year when far-right President Jair Bolsonaro took office. “Brazil calls on the international community, especially those countries that have not yet recognized Juan Guaido as interim president, to join in the liberation effort of Venezuela,” the Brazilian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Colombia, which has received around half the estimated 3.4 million migrants fleeing Venezuela’s hyperinflationary economic meltdown, has also stepped up its criticism of Maduro since swinging to the right last year. President Ivan Duque in a tweet denounced Saturday’s “barbarity”, saying Monday’s summit would discuss “how to tighten the diplomatic siege of the dictatorship in Venezuela.” Maduro, who retains the backing of China and Russia, which both have major energy sector investments in Venezuela, says the opposition’s aid efforts are part of a U.S.-orchestrated coup. His information minister, Jorge Rodriguez, during a Sunday news conference gloated about the opposition’s failure to bring in aid and called Guaido “a puppet and a used condom.” Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said on Sunday that Venezuela, the Caribbean island’s top ally, was the victim of U.S. imperialist attempts to restore neoliberalism in Latin America. Trucks laden with U.S. food and medicine on the Colombian border repeatedly attempted to push past lines of troops on Saturday, but were met with tear gas and rubber bullets. Two of the aid trucks went up in flames, which the opposition blamed on security forces and the government on “drugged-up protesters.” The opposition had hoped troops would balk at turning back supplies so desperately needed by a population increasingly suffering malnutrition and diseases. Winning over the military is key to their plans to topple Maduro, who they argue won re-election in a fraudulent vote, and hold new presidential elections. People throw stones at Venezuelan national guard members, at the border, seen from Pacaraima, Brazil February 24, 2019. REUTERS/Ricardo MoraesThough some 60 members of security forces defected into Colombia on Saturday, according to that country’s authorities, the National Guard at the frontier crossings held firm. Two additional members of Venezuela’s National Guard defected to Brazil late on Saturday, a Brazilian army colonel said on Sunday. The Brazilian border state of Roraima said the number of Venezuelans being treated for gunshot wounds rose to 18 from five in the past 24 hours; all 18 were in serious condition. That was the result of constant gunbattles, which included armed men without uniforms, throughout Saturday in the Venezuelan town of Santa Elena, near the border. The Venezuelan Observatory of Violence, a local crime monitoring group, said it had confirmed three deaths on Saturday, all in Santa Elena, and at least 295 injured across the country. In the Venezuelan of Urena on the border with Colombia, streets were still strewn with debris on Sunday, including the charred remains of a bus that had been set ablaze by protesters. During a visit to a border bridge to survey the damage, Duque told reporters the aid would remain in storage. “We need everything they were going to bring over,” said Auriner Blanco, 38, a street vendor who said he needed an operation for which supplies were lacking in Venezuela. “Today, there is still tension, I went onto the street and saw all the destruction.” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed on Sunday for “violence to be avoided at any cost” and said everyone should lower tensions and pursue efforts to avoid further escalation, according to his spokesman. But U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, an influential voice on Venezuela policy in Washington, said the violence on Saturday had “opened the door to various potential multilateral actions not on the table just 24 hours ago”. Slideshow (22 Images)Hours later he tweeted a mug shot of former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, who was captured by U.S. forces in 1990 after an invasion. President Donald Trump has in the past said military intervention in Venezuela was “an option,” though Guaido made no reference to it on Saturday. The 35-year old, who defied a government travel ban to travel to Colombia to oversee the aid deployment, will attend the Lima Group summit on Monday and hold talks with various members of the European Union before returning to Venezuela, opposition lawmaker Miguel Pizarro said on Sunday. “The plan is not a president in exile,” he said. Reporting by Angus Berwick, Sarah Marsh, Brian Ellsworth and Vivian Sequera in Caracas; Roberta Rampton in Washington; Additional reporting by Ricardo Moraes and Pablo Garcia in Pacaraima, Brazil; Ana Mano in Sao Paulo; Nelson Bocanegra in Cucuta, Colombia; Anggy Polanco in Urena and Mayela Armas in San Antonio, Venezuela; Ginger Gibson in Washington; Editing by Daniel Flynn, Jeffrey Benkoe, Lisa Shumaker and Jonathan OatisOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Taylor Swift has vowed to become more active in politics ahead of the 2020 US presidential election, saying she feels it is her responsibility to speak out against “disgusting rhetoric”.“Invoking racism and provoking fear through thinly veiled messaging is not what I want from our leaders, and I realized that it actually is my responsibility to use my influence against that disgusting rhetoric,” the pop singer wrote in an essay in Elle magazine in which she lays out 30 things she learned before turning 30 years old.“I’m going to do more to help. We have a big race coming up next year,” she added.Swift broke a years-long silence on political issues in 2018, when she endorsed two Tennessee Democrats in November’s midterm elections. A spike in voter registrations followed her Instagram post encouraging fans to register.In her new essay, Swift explained why she waited so long to speak out and why she has now decided to make her views known.“I’m finding my voice in terms of politics. I took a lot of time educating myself on the political system and the branches of government that are signing off on bills that affect our day-to-day life. I saw so many issues that put our most vulnerable citizens at risk, and felt like I had to speak up to try and help make a change,” she said. “Only as someone approaching 30 did I feel informed enough to speak about it to my 114 million followers.”In the new issue of Elle, where she appears on the cover, the singer lists 30 lessons she has learned before turning 30, ranging from the lighthearted to the deeply personal. She will have her milestone birthday on 13 December.Swift says was terrified to go on tour after a bombing at an Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena killed 22 people, and a shooting in Las Vegas killed 58 people, she writes.“I didn’t know how we were going to keep 3 million fans safe over seven months. There was a tremendous amount of planning, expense, and effort put into keeping my fans safe,” she wrote, adding that she also fears for her own safety because her address has been posted online.“I carry QuikClot army grade bandage dressing, which is for gunshot or stab wounds,” she wrote. “You get enough stalkers trying to break into your house and you kind of start prepping for bad things.”Swift revealed that her mother is again battling cancer, and said that her experience with sexual assault has taught her to always believe victims.“Coming forward is an agonizing thing to go through. I know because my sexual assault trial was a demoralizing, awful experience. I believe victims because I know firsthand about the shame and stigma that comes with raising your hand and saying ‘This happened to me,’” she wrote. “It’s something no one would choose for themselves.”She also touched on lighter subjects, saying she has learned to mix some easy cocktails like Pimm’s cups, Aperol spritzes, Old-Fashioneds, and Mojitos, and perfected recipes for spaghetti and meatballs and chicken fajitas with mole sauce.And Swift said she has learned her lesson after years of sleeping in makeup and occasionally using sharpie markers as eyeliner. “DO NOT DO IT,” she wrote.

FILE PHOTO: Rick Gates, former campaign aide to U.S. President Donald Trump, departs after a bond hearing at U.S. District Court in Washington, U.S., December 11, 2017. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File PhotoALEXANDRIA, Va. (Reuters) - Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort’s longtime aide Rick Gates, accused by a Manafort lawyer at Manafort’s trial on Tuesday of using business expenses for an affair, admitted to the extramarital relationship. Kevin Downing, an attorney for Manafort, accused Gates of having a “separate, secret life” with his lover in London and of using business expenses to pay for the affair, including an apartment in London. “There is a period of time over 10 years ago when I had a relationship, yes,” Gates said. Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Writing by Mohammad Zargham; Editing by Eric BeechOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Authorities in Las Vegas have issued a warrant to obtain the DNA of soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo to see if it matches that found on a dress of a woman who has accused him of rape, according to a law-enforcement official with knowledge of the case.The authorities sent the warrant recently to the court system in Italy, where Mr. Ronaldo plays soccer, the official said.Las...

The opportunity to fail is a privilege afforded to a narrow subset of Americans. Risk and reward are two sides of the same coin, and it typically requires some sort of privilege to take risks in the first place.This is readily apparent in the venture capital ecosystem: VCs make lots of bets with the hopes of landing at least a few runaway successes to cover their losses and provide more capital for more investments.The still relatively young VC industry has birthed some of the greatest innovations of our time, including iconic companies like Apple, Tesla, and Google. We admire these companies and their founders because they remind us of what we are capable of, individually and collectively.Less discussed are the high barriers to play the game and take the risks necessary to cultivate world-changing ideas. Many Americans are worried about putting food on the table. Their lives are dominated by a scarcity mindset. To enjoy the free time, financial and psychological safety net, as well as the invisible capital required to build the next Facebook—that is a luxury indeed.Mark Zuckerberg discussed this at his 2017 Harvard commencement speech, where he made a case for a universal basic income (UBI). “If I had to support my family growing up instead of having time to code, if I didn’t know I’d be fine if Facebook didn’t work out, I wouldn’t be standing here today. … The greatest successes come from having the freedom to fail.”There’s a reason that the saying “It takes money to make money” persists. It takes some level of abundance (both of spirit and capital) to create abundance.This universal truth is at the core of presidential candidate Andrew Yang’s message. Yang is campaigning on a platform of UBI, which would give every American $1,000/month, no strings attached.With a UBI—which Yang calls a “freedom dividend”—no American would need to fear they couldn’t cover their basic human needs. The presidential candidate says this is because when we operate from fear, we tend to make poor decisions and there is typically a cascading effect on our lives that impacts our families, networks, and society at large.A UBI would free Americans to shift from scarcity to abundance mode, which would enable more people to take risks and engage in a greater, more expansive vision for their future. Yang’s freedom dividend would give Americans greater agency to leave codependent relationships, professional or otherwise, and operate as the CEO or entrepreneur of their own lives.It’s a compelling idea, though not a new one; Martin Luther King, Jr. was a proponent of a guaranteed income in the 1960s. But it is building momentum again as we’re entering the fourth industrial revolution.While $12,000 may not seem like much, its psychological impact should not be underestimated—just ask any entrepreneur who has attempted to bootstrap a company.UBI researcher Scott Santens unpacks the relationship between risk and entrepreneurship in his insightful 2016 essay, “Universal basic income will accelerate innovation by reducing our fear of failure.” In the article, Santens likened the process of technological innovation to evolution and natural selection:“So the question becomes, how do we reduce the risks of failure so that more people take more risks? Better yet, how do we increase the rate of failure? It may sound counter-intuitive, but failure is not something to avoid. It’s only through failure that we learn what doesn’t work and what might work instead.”Santens highlights innovators like Elon Musk as the exception, not the rule. With a basic safety net, more of us would be willing to take risks, he wrote.“What if the people most likely to massively change the world for the better, the Einsteins so to speak—the Black Swans, are oftentimes those least likely to be seen as deserving social investment? In that case, the smart approach would be to cast an extremely large net of social investment, in full recognition that even at such great cost, the ROI from the innovation of the Black Swans would far surpass the cost.”Through that lens, UBI can be viewed as venture capital for the people. And we would all benefit. More bets would mean more ideas sourced from the broader population, and more shared rewards and innovation. Santens cites UBI experiments around the world that have seen entrepreneurship and wellbeing rise as a result in Finland, Namibia, and India.It’s important to note that these experiments are all isolated tests, and don’t benefit from network effects. UBI would give communities more collective purchasing power so that we could vote for new products and technologies with our dollars. This would also democratize and decentralize the market.A report from the Roosevelt Institute predicts a UBI would create a few million new jobs. While $12,000 may not seem like much, its psychological impact should not be underestimated—just ask any entrepreneur who has attempted to bootstrap a company.Most of us don’t get it right on the first try, whether it be in our career, in love, or pretty much anything that matters. Our professional and personal successes are the byproduct of a series of failures and the grace of those who had faith in our trajectory of growth and evolution, despite our shortcomings. One of my mentors, Sequoia partner Alfred Lin, once told me the defining trait of successful entrepreneurs is a commitment to process. In other words, “The person who iterates the fastest wins.” It takes time and capital to iterate and create value for the world. The rewards of doing so are vast, whether or not they result in material gains.Entrepreneurship is a Zen-like path, where you’re forced to face down all of your demons and develop a steel-like inner compass. Former VC and executive coach Jerry Colonna captures the entrepreneurial journey well in his popular podcast and new book, Reboot.Failure begets soul searching, and soul searching begets growth and transformation. It’s a painful yet beautiful process, and one of life’s greatest gifts. It’s also a guiding reason Yang created Venture for America (VFA), an entrepreneurial fellowship program for college graduates, after selling an education company. In his book The War on Normal People, he explains the origins of his nonprofit, which he launched in 2011: “The new path would be to build businesses in diverse places around the country. I thought that would be productive and character building.”The organization has since created more than 3,500 jobs in depressed cities like Detroit, New Orleans, and Baltimore. Instead of going to Wall Street banks and consultancies like many of their peers, VFA graduates have been inspired to become part of the lifeblood of innovation in this country. Many of the VFA fellows went on to support various entrepreneurial endeavors, like my friend Rob Solomon who is now a part of the Ethereum venture studio ConsenSys. This all supports the idea that exposure to the power of entrepreneurship changes you.In a newsletter to his supporters this spring (subject line: “Trust the Process”), Yang reflected on the inner growth and constant iteration required to become an entrepreneur, and the person he is today:“I was willing to adopt behaviors that were very uncomfortable for me at the time to reach certain goals. Putting myself out there. Selling an idea for a company. … Over time, those behaviors became, if not second nature, at least things I could do in service of something I felt strongly about. … I adapted.”Once a “longer-than-long-shot,” Yang, the son of Taiwanese immigrants, recently became the ninth candidate to qualify for the September and October Democratic debates. Over the past 18 months, he has attracted libertarians, former Trump voters, and progressives alike because his platform is universal and inclusive.He has earned the support of Elon Musk (an outspoken UBI advocate) and other Silicon Valley leaders including Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian of Initialized Capital—all entrepreneurs or VCs who deeply understand the nature of risk and reward, and the way technology is transforming our society. It is difficult to change a system when you have been party to creating the system and maintaining its status quo.Many of Yang’s supporters have unique appreciation for the way that the very best entrepreneurs tend to be the ones who have operated outside the system and can see the world at an angle.Our government is among the most broken systems in need of innovation right now. We desperately need these fresh ideas and 21st-Century solutions.As we move into one of the greatest technological revolutions in history, incentive alignment for all participants is preeminent. A UBI is one tool for incentive alignment and an optimistic bet on what Americans can build together given increased agency and personal sovereignty. Power can be defined as skills + resources / needs + wants. When we decrease our needs, we automatically increase our power. Imagine what that would that look like at scale.

BEIJING/SYDNEY (Reuters) - Beijing and Canberra should be cooperating in the South Pacific and not be cast as strategic rivals, China’s top diplomat said on Thursday, after Australia launched a multi-billion dollar fund to counter China’s rising influence in the region. Standing alongside Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne, Chinese State Councillor Wang Yi made the conciliatory remarks after a meeting in Beijing widely billed as a step toward re-setting bilateral ties after a lengthy diplomatic chill. Wang said that he had agreed with Payne that the two countries could combine their respective strengths and embark on trilateral cooperation with Pacific island countries. “We are not rivals, and we can absolutely become cooperation partners,” Wang told reporters, describing the meeting as important after the recent “ups and downs” in the relationship. Payne said the discussions were “valuable, full and candid”. “We’ve realistically acknowledged today that in a relationship as dynamic as ours ... there will be from time to time differences,” she said later at a separate news briefing. “But what is important about that is how we manage those and we are focused on managing them respectfully, mindful of the tremendous opportunities the relationship presents to both our nations.” Ties became strained late last year, when the previous Australian prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, accused China of interfering in its domestic affairs. The two countries have also been vying for influence in sparsely populated Pacific island countries that control vast swathes of resource-rich ocean. But even as his foreign minister visited Beijing, Prime Minister Scott Morrison characterized the Pacific as its domain while offering the region up to A$3 billion ($2.18 billion) in cheap infrastructure loans and grants. “This is our patch, this is our part of the world,” Morrison said in his most detailed foreign policy speech since becoming prime minister in August. Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne meets her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China, November 8, 2018. REUTERS/Thomas Peter/PoolSpeaking in Queensland, Morrison said Australia would invest in telecommunications, energy, transport and water projects in the region. He also said Australia would also expand its diplomatic presence in the Pacific, posting staff to Palau, the Marshall Islands, French Polynesia, Niue and the Cook Islands. There are also plans to strengthen Australia’s defense and security ties with Pacific islands through joint exercises and training. Morrison did not name China in the speech, but analysts said it was a clear response to China’s spreading influence. “Australia is reacting to what China is doing. Australia needs more tools to engage with the Pacific,” said Jonathan Pryke, a Pacific Islands foreign policy expert with the Lowy Institute, an Australian think-tank. China has spent $1.3 billion on concessionary loans and gifts since 2011 to become the Pacific’s second-largest donor after Australia, stoking concern in the West that several tiny nations could end up overburdened and in debt to Beijing. Slideshow (2 Images)On Wednesday, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said Australia would oppose a A$13 billion buyout of APA Group, Australia’s biggest gas pipeline company, by Hong Kong’s CK Group on grounds that it would be against the national interest. While reiterating the government’s stand on APA, Payne said Australia remained open to Chinese investment. Wang said Beijing welcomed that assurance. Last December, Beijing took umbrage at Turnbull’s comments and the subsequent introduction of legislation to counter foreign interference, which appeared to be directed in large part at China. Prior to Payne’s visit, China had unofficially suspended accepting visits by senior Australian ministers, and Chinese state media had carried numerous anti-Australian articles. Editing by Simon Cameron-MooreOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.