Author: Alan Lorenz

President Trump Humiliated British Ex-Prime Minister May
7Jan By Alan LorenzNo Comments
News, UK, US

President Trump Humiliated British Ex-Prime Minister May

US President Trump bullied and humiliated then-British Prime Minister Theresa May during their phone calls. He would have called her "weak" and blamed her for "lack of courage."   Trump is also said to have called German Chancellor Angela Merkel "stupid". Details of the talks were published by American journalist Carl Bernstein, one of the two ex-reporters for the Washington Post newspaper which revealed the Watergate scandal surrounding President Nixon in the early 1970s. He spoke to White House sources and intelligence officials who are aware of the content of the calls and who are concerned. Trump is said to pose a threat to the national security of the United States, reports the US news channel CNN. Bernstein sources say Trump is "insufficiently prepared" for con...
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Macron Wants A Referendum on the Revision of the Constitution With Climate Goals
29Jun By Alan LorenzNo Comments
Politics, Europe, France, News

Macron Wants A Referendum on the Revision of the Constitution With Climate Goals

French President Emmanuel Macron wants to hold a referendum on a revision of the climate change constitution if parliament allows it.   He wants to be able to switch faster in the field of climate and environmentally friendly policymaking, he said on Monday. He also pledged EUR 15 billion in additional funding to accelerate the transition to a greener economy. Macron thus responded to proposals from a Climate Council, which he had instituted to set a new course for France's ecological agenda. However, Macron said he disagrees with the Council's proposal for a 4 percent dividend tax to help fund new environmental policies. That would only discourage investment, he said. He also supported a proposal for a moratorium on new commercial zones on the city's fringes, saying he would con...
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New York Paints Black Lives Matter on Trump Tower Street
26Jun By Alan LorenzNo Comments
US, News

New York Paints Black Lives Matter on Trump Tower Street

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has ordered the words 'Black Lives Matter' to be painted in large, yellow letters on the street in front of Trump Tower in Manhattan.   Black Lives Matter is a group that fights against police brutality and racism in the United States. For years, the words have also been a cry for protesters, for example in the past few weeks during protests after the death of George Floyd. "He Can't Run Away." The painting is a direct message to Donald Trump, owner of the building where he lived before his presidency. "He's a disgrace to the values we cherish in New York," said a De Blasio spokesperson. "He can't run away from reality, and every time he comes to his hometown, he will be reminded that black lives matter." Trump responded to the city's plans on Twitt...
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Labour Party Leader Keir Starmer Fires Minister Over Anti-Semitism
25Jun By Alan LorenzNo Comments
UK, News

Labour Party Leader Keir Starmer Fires Minister Over Anti-Semitism

British Labour Party leader Keir Starmer has fired a prominent Member of Parliament for anti-Semitism.   Rebecca Long-Bailey, shadow minister and education spokesperson, has to leave because she expressed her appreciation for an article that, according to Starmer, propagated an anti-Jewish conspiracy theory. The article states that US agents learned the neck-clip with the knee, which killed black American George Floyd, from members of the Israeli secret service. On Thursday morning, Long-Bailey tweeted a link and praised a conversation with actor Maxine Peake. In the interview, about the Black Lives Matter protests, Peake said, "The tactics of the US police kneeling on George Floyd's neck were learned from seminars with Israeli secret services." "This afternoon, Keir Starmer ask...
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Former US Marine Does Not Appeal Against 16 Years in Prison in Moscow
23Jun By Alan LorenzNo Comments
US, News

Former US Marine Does Not Appeal Against 16 Years in Prison in Moscow

Former US Marine Paul Whelan, who was sentenced to sixteen years in prison for espionage by a Moscow court last week, will not appeal his sentence.   The Russian news agency Interfax reported this Tuesday, referring to Whelan's lawyer. Lawyer Vladimir Zherebenkov said that Whelan, who holds the US, British, Canadian and Irish passports, hopes to be exchanged in a prisoner exchange with the United States shortly. Russia says Whelan, who was arrested in December 2018, was caught with a USB flash drive containing secret information. He denies the charges and says he has been tricked. Whelan, 50, says he was in Russia for a wedding and got a USB stick from an acquaintance who believed it contained vacation photos.
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Talks Between the US and Russia on Arms Control in Vienna Started
22Jun By Alan LorenzNo Comments
News, Russia, US

Talks Between the US and Russia on Arms Control in Vienna Started

Talks on arms control between the United States and Russia started in Vienna on Monday. The talks last two days.   Officially, little has been said about the negotiations. Still, the US envoy has made it clear that the talks are about nuclear weapons, including replacing the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which expires in February. That treaty is intended to reduce the number of nuclear weapons. "We'll see," Marshall Billingslea, the United States special envoy for arms control, told Reuters news agency when asked what he expected from the talks. He declined to elaborate on their content. His Russian interlocutor, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, was a little careful and told reporters shortly afterwards, "Let's see, let's see. We always have a lot of hope." ...
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Number of Corona Infections in Beijing Continues to Rising
19Jun By Alan LorenzNo Comments
China, News

Number of Corona Infections in Beijing Continues to Rising

After the new outbreak of the coronavirus in Beijing, the number of infected people has further increased. According to the authorities, 25 more infections were found on Friday.   Since the new outbreak on a wholesale market in the Chinese capital became known, the number of infected people has risen to 183. In response to the new outbreak that started last week on the Xinfadi wholesale market in the city, authorities announced the second-highest level of security on Tuesday, partially shutting down Beijing. The flights to and from the capital have been drastically reduced. Bus traffic to other provinces was also stopped. People are no longer allowed to leave the city. If travel is necessary, a negative corona test should be available. Nationally, China reported a total of 32 ne...
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WHO Ends Study into Malaria Drug Use Against Covid-19
17Jun By Alan LorenzNo Comments
News

WHO Ends Study into Malaria Drug Use Against Covid-19

The World Health Organization (WHO) is discontinuing a study into the treatment of corona patients with hydroxychloroquine.   A WHO expert says that other research has also shown that the administration of the malaria drug has no beneficial effects. Hydroxychloroquine has not been specifically developed to fight coronavirus but has been used for this in some countries. US President Donald Trump had high expectations of the drug, which he himself would have taken preventively. Experts have long questioned the use of hydroxychloroquine against the coronavirus. For example, Dutch experts recently decided to discontinue an investigation. The leader of that halted Dutch study then expressed the expectation that other medicines will work better against the virus.
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Six Ex eBay Employees Charged for Harassing Journalists
16Jun By Alan LorenzNo Comments
Technology, News

Six Ex eBay Employees Charged for Harassing Journalists

Six ex-eBay employees are charged with harassing a couple who was critical of the auction site in their newsletter.   The six sent cockroaches to their address, among other things, the CEO was also partly aware. The case reads as if she is almost impossible to come up with. The six accused launched a smear campaign against a couple who had their own newsletter targeting online sellers. They were critical of eBay at times, and that bumped some employees. The six included members of the eBay security team, including some high-profile executives such as James Baugh, then senior director of Safety & Security, and David Harville, then director of global resiliency. The couple was sent anonymously of the six different cases ranging from porn, Halloween masks from a bloodied pig's ...
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French President Macron Says It is Uncompromising Against Racism
15Jun By Alan LorenzNo Comments
France, Europe, News

French President Macron Says It is Uncompromising Against Racism

French President Emmanuel Macron recognizes that a person's skin colour can determine his or her chances in French society and promises to act "determinedly" against racism, anti-Semitism and discrimination.   But removing statues of controversial figures from the colonial period will not do his country. "We will not erase names from our history." The French president addressed the nation in a televised speech yesterday. In it, he mainly announced a whole series of relaxations of the corona measures that take effect today. But the president also spoke of the global protest against racism after the death of black American George Floyd from police brutality three weeks ago. Macron recognized that in his country, too, someone's "address, name, colour, or skin" can diminish his or he...
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