Jacob Zuma was sentenced to 15 months in prison for contempt of court. He did not appear at the meeting. Earlier, the politician accused the court and the commission investigating the charges against him of harassment for political reasons
Jacob Zuma
The Constitutional Court of South Africa found former President Jacob Zuma guilty of contempt of court and sentenced him to 15 months in prison, the South African portal iOL reports.
This happened after Zuma did not appear at the meeting of the special commission on the corruption case against him. The judge found that the ex-president deliberately ignored the summons, realizing all the consequences of his actions.
The court agreed that a simple order to appear at the meeting would no longer be effective. Zuma must come to the police within five days and begin serving his sentence.
Earlier, the former president accused the commission that is investigating his case of bias and harassment for political reasons. He said that the court and the commission treated him cruelly, and also politicized the law to his detriment, IOL reports. Later, he made a statement in which he announced the decision not to participate in the process, since the judicial power is conducting a political case against him.
Zuma was charged with corruption in March 2018. In total, the ex-president was charged with 700 episodes of fraud and money laundering, all of them relate to the period of his presidency. Zuma is also being investigated separately over a deal for the supply of warships that Thales concluded with the South African government. Zoom inthey are suspected of receiving an annual bribe of 500 thousand rand ($30 thousand) from the company for patronage.
The ex-president denied all the charges, Thales also did not admit guilt.
Zuma was the president of South Africa from 2009 to 2018. In 2013, Zuma visited Russia and held talks with President Vladimir Putin in Sochi. In 2017, Zuma met with Putin again on the sidelines of the BRICS summit.
Searches are taking place at the editor-in-chief of the publication Roman Badanin, his deputy Mikhail Rubin and correspondent Maria Zholobova. On the eve of the “Project” announced the publication of an investigation about the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs
On Tuesday morning, police officers came to the journalist of the publication “Project” Maria Zholobova and demanded to let them in, and later to the editor-in-chief Roman Badanin, where they are conducting a search. The publication reported this in Telegram.
Also & laquo;Project & raquo;. he reported about the arrest of deputy editor-in-chief Mikhail Rubin near Zholobova’s house. The apartment of Rubin’s parents is also being searched.
RBC sent a request to the press service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Moscow.
The project notes that the searches are taking place on the day of the publication of the investigation announced on the eve of the real estate related to the Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev. Its author is Zholobova, the text was prepared with the participation of Badanin.
Badanin founded the Project in 2018. The publication focuses on investigations. Badanin previously worked at , Forbes, was the editor-in-chief of RBC and the Dozhd TV channel.
ROssia, where mandatory vaccination was introduced for part of the population, is part of the group of the world’s leading economies — the “Group of Twenty”. RBC looked at which other countries of the association followed the same path and what results it brought
Which countries have introduced universal vaccination
Only two countries from the “Group of Twenty”, which includes the leading developed and developing economies, have introduced mandatory universal vaccination against the COVID-19 coronavirus. These are Indonesia, where those who refuse to be vaccinated face a fine, as well as Saudi Arabia, where the vaccination requirement applies to all employees of public and private institutions. Although the kingdom has not formally announced the introduction of administrative fines against the unvaccinated, they will nevertheless have limited access to events, public transport, institutions and shopping centers.
“In order to combat the coronavirus and based on the recommendations of the competent authorities, a decision was made on mandatory vaccination starting from August 1, 2021 for & lt;…& gt; access to any public or private institution, & lt;…* participation in any cultural, scientific, social or entertainment events, & lt;…”the use of public transport”, & mdash; is indicated in the message of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Saudi Arabia.
“the Group of twenty” includes 19 countries on six continents: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, UK, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Canada, China, Mexico, Turkey, Russia, Saudi Arabia, USA, France, South Africa, South Korea, and Japan. The European Union is also a member of the group. Together, the member countries of the Group of Twenty account for about 90% of world GDP, 80% of world trade and 60% of the world’s population.
Universal mandatory vaccination was introduced in Indonesia in February, but with the onset of summer, the task of accelerating the pace of vaccination has become more acute due to the increase in the incidence of diseases. “I hope that the goal of distributing 1 million doses of the vaccine throughout the country from today until July will become a reality,” President Joko Widodo said.
Targeted vaccination
In four more countries-India, China, Russia and Italy-national authorities or regions have already introduced mandatory vaccination for certain categories of the population or only in certain areas. As for the categories of citizens, the rules on mandatory vaccination, in particular, affected employees of medical institutions and nursing homes. In Russia, such rules apply in some regions, and in Italy they demanded that all medical workers be vaccinated.
Italy is the first and so far the only country in the European Union where there are requirements for medical workers to undergo vaccination. The relevant law was approved by the country’s parliament in May. As of June 21, out of 1.9 million medical workers, just over 45 thousand people (2.9%) were not vaccinated even with the first dose of the vaccine, which caused suspensions from work without pay.
Vaccination requirements for nursing home workers are being discussed in three more countries-Australia, Great Britain and France. The governor of the Australian state of Western Australia, Mark McGowan, said that he plans to introduce mandatory vaccination for employees of nursing homes. In the UK, the decision on mandatory vaccination of employees of de facto homes has already been made, this requirement will be in effect from the autumn and will apply toEngland and Wales (in Scotland and Northern Ireland, regional authorities make decisions in the health sector). French Health Minister Olivier Veran said that the country may make it mandatory to vaccinate employees of nursing homes if they are not vaccinated of their own free will. “If the situation does not improve by the end of the summer, then yes, we will ask ourselves the question of making vaccination mandatory for these groups of people,” he said.
In India, the rules on mandatory vaccination are in effect in the state of Gujarat. They relate primarily to employees of a business that involves interaction with people. In addition, the Gujarat University of Technology said that students will not be allowed to take exams next winter if they do not get vaccinated.
In China, mandatory vaccination was introduced in early June in the city of Ruili with a population of 140 thousand people due to the risk of a new cluster of infections. The media also reported on the tacit policy of the Chinese regional authorities to force citizens to vaccinate. However, the central authorities warned the regions against trying to force the Chinese to get vaccinated. “In some places, inappropriate decisions were made, without taking into account the context and preferences of citizens, or an approach in which vaccination was necessary for everyone. This needs to be corrected, ” said the head of the National Commission on Health Issues of China, Mi Feng.
As in India, in some Russian regions, mandatory vaccination applies not only to medical staff, but also to civil servants and employees of industries that involve interaction with customers. This is the sector of wholesale and retail trade, education, health and social services, hotel and restaurant business, etc. In total, mandatory vaccination against coronavirus was introduced in more than ten regions, including Moscow, Kaliningrad and Sakhalin. Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskovhe refused to recognize such vaccination rules as coercion. According to him, a person who has fallen under the requirement of mandatory vaccination can change jobs. “We have already said that if a Muscovite works in the service sector and he has to get vaccinated, and he has made a decision not to get vaccinated, he simply has to stop working in the service sector. And if he wants, he will look for a job in another place that is not related to those areas where mandatory vaccination is required, ” he explained.
Two more countries-the USA and Canada-have introduced measures to encourage health workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19, but they cannot be equated with state measures on mandatory vaccination. In America, hospitals in some states, in particular in Texas, require staff to be vaccinated against COVID-19, threatening them with sanctions up to dismissal. At the same time, the introduction of such measures is the prerogative of the management of the hospitals themselves. Neither the leadership of the states, nor the federal authorities of the United States of the requirements forno vaccination was administered. When medical workers in Texas tried to protest their employers ‘ requirements for vaccination, the state court sided with the hospitals. Several other states, including Arkansas, Florida, Montana and Oklahoma, prohibit employers from requiring employees to be vaccinated. In South Carolina, a ban on the use of a “vaccine passport” was also introduced. The right to determine whether a child wears a mask at school, the governor gave parents, not schools.
As for Canada, in the province of Quebec, the authorities called on some health workers to be vaccinated due to the increase in cases of COVID-19 infection. However, this cannot be called mandatory vaccination, since medical staff still have alternatives to vaccination. If a health worker refuses to be vaccinated, he can submit three negative tests for coronavirus per week or transfer to another position where the risks of infecting others will be lower.
Vaccine outsiders
As of June 22, Canada is the leader in terms of vaccination rates among the G20 countries. There, at least one share of the vaccine was received by 66% of citizens. The UK is in second place (64%), the USA is in third (53.1%), Italy is in fourth (53%), Germany is in fifth (51.2%). In four of these five countries, the value of the spread coefficient, which shows how many people on average manage to infect one infected person before they are isolated, is less than one. The exception is the United Kingdom, where there is now a surge in morbidity, and the prevalence rate is 1.32.
Among the countries where the vaccination campaign is most intensive, China (1.54 doses implemented in terms of 100 people), Canada (1.25), Turkey (0.94), Japan (0.94) and Germany (0.94), follows from the data of the statistical portal Our World in Data as of June 25. The lowest indicator for the doses of vaccines sold per day in terms of 100 people is in Russia (0.32), the USA (0.22), Indonesia (0.20) and South Africa (0.13).
Russia (13.6%), Indonesia (8.8%) and South Africa (3.8%) are among the three outsiders in terms of the share of vaccinated people. Against this background, the authorities in Moscow and Jakarta have taken measures to actively encourage citizens to get vaccinated. At the end of May, Vladimir Putin argued that everyone should make the decision on vaccination himself. However, then, due to outbreaks of increased morbidity, the regions began to oblige employers and state institutions to take measures to vaccinate employees.
In Indonesia, the authorities announced compulsory vaccination at the country-wide level back in February, and in recent months they have been trying to accelerate the pace of vaccination. One of the problems is the lack of vaccines. According to the Duke Global Health Innovation Center at Duke University (USA), Indonesia has signed contracts for the supply of 265 million vaccines, but so far it has received only about 100 million with a population of 270 million
The third & laquo;outsider & raquo; & mdash; South Africa & mdash; has not yet taken strict measures obliging citizens to be vaccinated. At the same time, the government has already asked businesses to analyze the situation and identify whether they need to carry out mandatory vaccination. If the company declares the need for vaccination, its management should monitor the vaccination of employees. However, the dismissal of those who refused vaccination is not threatened. The management of companies will either have to try to convince employees, or change their working conditions in such a way as to minimize the risk of infection.
In many countries where there is no mandatory vaccination, measures have been introduced to encourage the population to get vaccinated. For example, in South Korea, those who have administered two doses of the vaccine can walk down the street without a mask, as well as freely visit religious institutions. In Germany, those vaccinated against COVID-19 or who have had the virus were released from social restrictions that prohibit mass gatherings or the use of certain types of services (for example, hairdressers). In addition, the curfew will not apply to those who are vaccinated and who have been ill in the event of its introduction when the epidemiological situation worsens.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, who is investigating a criminal case against the Trump Organization, is not going to charge former US President Donald Trump yet. This is reported by Politico with reference to Trump’s lawyer Ronald Fisketti.
The defense lawyer said that last week he met with the district attorney’s team and asked for detailed information about the upcoming charges against Trump’s management company. According to Fisketti, the prosecutor’s office is considering the possibility of accusing individual employees from the Trump Organization management of tax evasion.
“We asked them if they planned to press charges against someone else. The district attorney’s team replied: “No,” they simply said that when they would bring charges, they would not be brought against Trump, ” the lawyer said. He added that the district attorney’s office is continuing its investigation. Charges are expected to be filed either this week or next.
At the same time, Fisketti noted that the materials available to the district attorney are too small to bring charges. “It’s like a Shakespeare play “Much ado about Nothing”. This is so small that I can’t believe that I will have to deal with such a case, ” the lawyer added.
Washington and Moscow can cooperate in the fight against global climate change and in the field of non-proliferation of nuclear weapons. This was stated by US President Joe Biden, addressing a joint session of Congress. The transcript of the speech is published by the White House press service.
Biden stressed that during the meeting in Geneva on June 16, he made it very clear to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that the United States would not seek escalation, but would respond to election interference and cyber attacks.
At the same time, the American president noted that the two countries can cooperate. “We can cooperate when it is in our common interests. We did this when we extended the new START treaty on nuclear weapons, and we are working on this in the fight against climate change, ” Biden said.
He recalled that even before the election of the presidents, he promised to convene a climate summit in the United States and invite Russia as a participant, including Russia. “I have kept my promise to organize a climate summit right here in America, with all the major economies of the world-China, Russia, India, the European Union,” the president added.
RRecep Erdogan has opened the construction of a canal that will become a stand-in for the Bosphorus. “Istanbul” will cut off the largest Turkish city from the land, will allow unloading the Bosphorus, but will also allow NATO ships to enter the Black Sea more freely
Pafter Putin’s April decree prohibiting the United States from hiring Russian individuals to work at the embassy, Washington needs to replace 75% of consular staff with its own citizens. The leaders at the summit on June 16 discussed the issuance of visas to them
Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden
During the talks in Geneva on June 16, Presidents Vladimir Putin and Joe Biden discussed the issue of issuing Russian visas for American diplomats, with which Washington could replace local staff. This was stated by the US Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan on the TV channel “Rain”.
“This was discussed separately at the meeting in Geneva: the need for us to obtain visas in order to be able, with the help of American citizens, to replace local staff that we will no longer be able to hire,” he said.
Sullivan noted that the visa issue has been a problem for both the United States and Russia for several years. “Both sides complain that visas are issued slowly. That’s not the problem-we have American citizens to work at the embassy, but we can’t get visas for them. This is the main issue that we need to solve immediately, ” the head of the diplomatic mission added.
Against the background of mutual expulsions of diplomats, in April Putin signed a decree that restricts embassies of countries unfriendly to Russia (the list includes the United States and the Czech Republic) in hiring employees from among Russian citizens. After that, the American diplomatic mission sharply reduced the provision of consular services.
The US Embassy noted that Putin’s decree will lead to the dismissal of 75% of consular employees. Last week, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said that Moscow does not mind if Washington decides to replace local staff with US citizens. But at the same time, the limit on the number of diplomats remains-no more than 455 people. This quota also applies to employees of the Russian Embassy in the United States.
The deputy head of the Czech Foreign Ministry sent a note to the Russian ambassador demanding compensation for the damage from the explosions, which amounted to 650 million crowns (about €25.5 million). Earlier, Prague estimated the damage at 1 billion crowns
The Czech authorities demanded compensation from Russia for the damage caused by the explosion at the armories in Vrbetice in 2014, reports idnes.cz. According to Prague, Russian special services are involved in the incident.
According to the newspaper, Deputy Foreign Minister Martin Smolek handed over a note with a corresponding demand to the Russian ambassador Alexander Zmeevsky. The amount of damage is estimated at 650 million kronor (about €25.5 million).
Smolek also informed the Ambassador that the inclusion of the Czech Republic in the list of “unfriendly countries” is a violation of international law.
According to the newspaper, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the country has prepared a bill on the distribution of compensation. According to it, 350 million kronor should be sent to municipalities and the region, 300 million to individual citizens who were at risk. The money for municipalities is intended, among other things, for the repair of roads damaged by the explosion.
Czech Finance Minister Alyona Shillerova announced Prague’s intention to demand compensation from Moscow in May, then she named the amount of 1 billion kronor ($47 million). Czech Foreign Minister Jakub Kulganek said that the authorities will apply for compensation in the coming weeks or months.
Explosions at warehouses in the village of Vrbetice occurred in December 2014, as a result of which two people were killed. Ammunition belonging to private arms companies was stored in warehouses.
In April of this year, the Prime Minister of the country, Andrei Babish, said that the authorities suspect the Russian special services of involvement in the incident. Prague announced the expulsion of 18 Russian diplomats, and then several dozen more employees of the Russian diplomatic mission. The Russian Foreign Ministry called these accusations absurd and announced the retaliatory expulsion of 20 Czech diplomats. In addition, the Russian authorities have included the Czech Republic in the list of unfriendly countries, which restricts the republic’s diplomatic missions the opportunity to hire Russians.
Czech President Milos Zeman said that Prague considered several versions of what happened: unprofessional handling of ammunition or deliberate explosions in order to hide the shortage of stored shells or the fact of theft of weapons. According to Zeman, he does not rule out versions with the involvement of Russian special services, but calls for studying all options.
BBelarus begins the procedure for suspending the readmission agreement with the EU, announced its withdrawal from the Eastern Partnership initiative and recalled its ambassador from Brussels. This is a response to the sanctions imposed earlier by the European Union
The Belarusian Foreign Ministry announced that it is starting the implementation of the procedure for suspending the readmission agreement with the European Union. The message of the diplomatic department is quoted by the state agency BelTA.
“We cannot fulfill our obligations under this agreement under the conditions of sanctions and restrictions imposed by the European Union”…”. The suspension of the agreement will have a negative impact on cooperation with the European Union in the fight against illegal migration and organized crime, ” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Readmission agreement at the same timethe agreement on the simplification of the visa regime was signed in 2020. The readmission agreement established obligations and procedures for the EU member states and Belarus regarding the admission back to their territory of their citizens (as well as in some cases foreigners who previously were or lived in this state) who are subject to deportation.
RBC sent a request to the European Commission.
Also on Monday, it was announced that the Permanent Representative of Belarus to the EU (this post is occupied by Alexander Mikhnevich) is being recalled to Minsk for consultations, his colleague Dirk Schubel, head of the EU delegation in Minsk, was also invited to travel to Brussels for consultations in order to convey to his leadership the position of the Belarusian side on the unacceptability of pressure and sanctions. Earlier, this technique was used by Russia, which, after the next US sanctions, invited its ambassador Anatoly Antonov to Moscow and recommended that the US Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan go to Washington, which he did.
Minsk also intends to ban the entry to Belarus of representatives of European structures and persons from the European Union countries who contributed to the introduction of restrictive measures, the Foreign Ministry said. On June 24, the European Union adopted the next, fifth package of sanctions against Belarus, introducing sectoral sanctions for the first time, in particular restricting trade in potash fertilizers.
Another measure announced on Monday was the decision of Minsk to withdraw from the Eastern Partnership initiative. Foreign Minister Vladimir Makei warned at the end of May that this could happen. “Against the background of the toughened sanctions pressure, our country’s further participation in the Eastern Partnership may lose all meaning.” Without Belarus, this initiative also loses all meaning, ” Makei said. The Eastern Partnership program has been operating since 2009 and covers sixthe countries of the post-Soviet space, in addition to Belarus, are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova. An association agreement and the creation of free trade zones were signed with three countries-Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova-and agreements on visa facilitation were signed with the rest. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov criticized this program. The EU’s Eastern Partnership initiative is aimed at separating the closest neighboring countries from Russia, he expressed confidence in 2019.
For the first time in 60 years, the government lost support in parliament before the elections
Stefan Levfen
Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Leven has submitted his resignation to the Speaker of the Parliament. He made this decision after he lost support in parliament last week, the Reuters news agency reports.
In accordance with local legislation, Leuven had until midnight to try to create a new government coalition under her leadership, but in the end, the leader of the Social Democrats failed to reach an agreement with the centrist parties.
As The Economist pointed out, Leven became the first Swedish prime minister since 1958, whose government received a vote of no confidence in parliament. The reason was the growth of household spending across the country and a significant increase in real estate prices, the newspaper writes.
The prime minister tried to promote a bill according to which it was proposed to give homeowners the opportunity to freely set rent for new housing. Under the current system, homeowners can only charge a “reasonable rent” (sk & auml; lig hyra), which is part of the “Swedish social model”. Leven’s initiative caused discontent of other parties.
Leven became the head of the Swedish government in 2018. The formation of the cabinet was preceded by four months of negotiations. As a result, it was possible to approve the coalition of the Social Democrats and the Greens only thanks to an agreement with the Liberals and the Left Party that they would not interfere with the work of the new cabinet. The situation changed at the beginning of the monthafter the Left Party decided to withdraw from the agreements.
According to the interlocutors of Reuters, the current political crisis may be protracted: opinion polls show that the chances of success of both the center-left and center-right are approximately equal, and therefore there are no guarantees that a new coalition will be formed quickly.
