Instant Alert: The very purpose of ZTE to spy on other countries, a competitor alleges in new court documents

MANAGE SUBSCRIPTIONS   |   UNSUBSCRIBE   |   VIEW ONLINE   The very purpose of ZTE to spy on other countries, a competitor alleges in new court documents by Tara Francis Chan on Jun 1, 2018, 2:16 AM Advertisement ZTE was created for intelligence-gathering reasons and has been engaged in extensive bribery, according to new documents filed in a Dallas County, Texas, district court. Fairfax Media found case files in which a competitor alleges ZTE was founded by China's Ministry of Aerospace in order to spy on targets overseas. Officials in Liberia reportedly testified that they received "brown paper bags" filled with cash as bribes to act against the interest of ZTE's competitor. Court documents apparently include a 2015 report from an ethics council for Norway's Government Pension Fund, which said ZTE had been accused of corruption in 18 countries. ZTE was created by China for the purpose of spying, and openly used bribery to accomplish its goals, court documents allege. Fairfax Media reported that files in a Dallas case between Chinese telecommunications firm ZTE and Universal Telephone Exchange contain shocking claims regarding the purposes and practices of the company at the center of the Trump administration's trade talks with China. “China's Ministry of Aerospace founded ZTE as a front to send officers abroad under non-diplomatic covers such as scientists, businessmen and executives for the purpose of collecting intelligence,” documents in the case allege. The documents also include testimony, taken under oath, from two telecom executives from Liberia who said ZTE bribed officials, allegedly including judges and the country's former president, between 2005 and 2007. The officials said they were offered 5% of the value of a ZTE contract if the deal was taken away from Universal Telephone Exchange. Both men testified to receiving cash in "brown paper bags." One of the men allegedly also received travel and an "unlimited shopping spree" in China, according to the court documents cited by Fairfax Media. ZTE denied the claims in a statement to Fairfax, but Norway's central bank banned its Government Investment Fund from investing in ZTE in 2016 because of what it deemed to be an unacceptable risk of "gross corruption." The report this claim was based on is, according to Fairfax, part of the Texas case documents. It alleges that, in 2015, ZTE had been "accused of corruption in a total of 18 countries and been investigated for corruption in 10 of these."  "ZTE operates in a sector where large public-sector contracts are common and has allegedly repeatedly paid large bribes so that public-sector employees will favour it in competitive tenders. This has supposedly taken place in countries such as Zambia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Liberia, Myanmar and Nigeria," the report read. According to a previous investigation by Fairfax Media, ZTE not only regularly bribed foreign officials but had an entire department dedicated to managing bribe payments. In February, six intelligence chiefs — including the heads of the CIA, FBI, and NSA — testified they do not use, and would not recommend private citizens use products from ZTE and smartphone maker Huawei. The Pentagon announced in early May it had stopped selling ZTE and Huawei phones and modems in stores on its military bases because they "may pose an unacceptable risk." In Australia, ZTE and Chinese smartphone maker Huawei have been shortlisted to develop a 5G network. SEE ALSO: Trump wants to end a trade ban on ZTE, the Chinese company that reportedly had an entire department devoted to paying foreign bribes   Share the latest business news with your network:    Email sent to: nguyenvu1187.love5@blogger.com   |   Manage your email preferences   |   Unsubscribe Terms of Service   |   Privacy Policy Business Insider. 150 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10011

Instant Alert: Listen to Trump lawyer Michael Cohen go on a 2015 profanity-laced tirade at a reporter in previously unreleased audio

MANAGE SUBSCRIPTIONS   |   UNSUBSCRIBE   |   VIEW ONLINE   Listen to Trump lawyer Michael Cohen go on a 2015 profanity-laced tirade at a reporter in previously unreleased audio by Bryan Logan on May 31, 2018, 11:12 PM Advertisement It's no secret that Michael Cohen took pride in his role as a defender and protector of his longtime client, Donald Trump. Long known as a confidant and a fixer for Trump, Cohen seemed to relish the role, and that was made clear in a 2015 conversation with a reporter, the audio of which NPR published on Thursday. Cohen can be heard talking to Tim Mak, then a reporter for The Daily Beast, for a story involving Trump's first wife's claim that he raped her, an accusation she later walked back.  Cohen lashed out at Mak, and made the now-infamous claim that "you can't rape your spouse." The audio was released as part of a broader NPR story about how Cohen used dramatic legal threats to protect Trump. Cohen is now the focus of a criminal investigation out of the Southern District of New York on suspicion of campaign-finance violations and bank fraud. Listen to the newly released audio of Michael Cohen's 2015 tirade, courtesy of NPR: SEE ALSO: Expert explains why a federal judge wasn't sympathetic to Michael Cohen's argument on the biggest item in his case   Share the latest business news with your network:    Email sent to: nguyenvu1187.love5@blogger.com   |   Manage your email preferences   |   Unsubscribe Terms of Service   |   Privacy Policy Business Insider. 150 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10011

Instant Alert: Trump pardons conservative commentator Dinesh D'Souza, considers pardoning Martha Stewart

MANAGE SUBSCRIPTIONS   |   UNSUBSCRIBE   |   VIEW ONLINE   Trump pardons conservative commentator Dinesh D'Souza, considers pardoning Martha Stewart by Doina Chiacu, Steve Holland on May 31, 2018, 10:11 PM Advertisement President Donald Trump pardoned conservative commentator Dinesh D'Souza and said he was considering pardoning Martha Stewart and commuting former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich's prison sentence. Critics accused Trump of subverting the rule of law. The US Constitution gives the president the power to issue pardons, and Trump has used that authority to benefit convicted figures revered by some on the political right, such as former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio. President Donald Trump on Thursday pardoned a conservative commentator and said he was considering pardoning lifestyle maven Martha Stewart and commuting a former Illinois governor's prison sentence, prompting critics to accuse him of subverting the rule of law. Trump announced on Twitter his decision to pardon pundit and filmmaker Dinesh D'Souza, who pleaded guilty in 2014 to US campaign finance law violations and was an outspoken critic of Democratic former President Barack Obama, saying he had been "treated very unfairly by our government!" The Republican president then told reporters on a flight to Houston he was also considering a pardon for Stewart, who was convicted in 2004 on charges of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and making false statements in an insider-trading probe. James Comey, whom Trump fired as FBI director last year and has repeatedly assailed, was the lead federal prosecutor in Stewart's case and played a role in the prosecution of Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the chief of staff to former Vice President Dick Cheney. Trump pardoned Libby in April. Trump also said he might commute the 14-year prison sentence of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, a Democrat convicted of corruption charges, and was considering pardoning a woman convicted of a drug-related charge after reality TV star Kim Kardashian discussed the case with him on Wednesday. White House spokesman Hogan Gidley, briefing reporters on Air Force One as Trump later flew to Dallas for Republican fundraising events, denied that celebrity was a consideration in whom the president decides to pardon. "Look, there are plenty of people the president is looking at right now under the pardon process," he said. The US Constitution gives the president the power to issue pardons, and Trump sometimes has used that authority to benefit convicted figures revered by some on the political right such as former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio and Libby. After D'Souza's pardon, some constitutional scholars, legal analysts and Democratic lawmakers accused Trump of undermining the rule of law with pardons based on political considerations. 'Sending a message' Critics said the president was sending a message to people caught up in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into whether Trump's 2016 presidential campaign colluded with Russia, including his longtime private lawyer Michael Cohen, whose business dealings are separately under scrutiny in New York. "Trump's Dinesh D'Souza pardon today, on top of his pardons of Scooter Libby and Joe Arpaio, make sense only as an elephant-whistle to Michael Cohen & all who know damning things about Trump: protect me & I'll have your back. Turn on me & your goose is cooked. More obstruction!" Harvard Law School constitutional law professor Laurence Tribe wrote on Twitter. "As with the pardon of Joe Arpaio, Trump is sending a message that he will reward political allies for loyalty with get-out-of-jail-free cards," Democratic US Representative Don Beyer said on Twitter. "He doesn't care about the rule of law." Trump denies any collusion with Russia and has called Mueller's probe a "witch hunt." D'Souza, 53, admitted in 2014 he illegally reimbursed two "straw donors" who donated $10,000 each to the unsuccessful 2012 US Senate campaign in New York of Wendy Long, a Republican he had known since attending Dartmouth College in the 1980s. He was sentenced to five years of probation after telling the judge he was ashamed of his actions and contrite. "I cannot believe how stupid I was, how careless, and how irresponsible," D'Souza wrote in a statement to the judge. Some conservatives complained of selective prosecution of D'Souza. The prosecutor, Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara, was an Obama appointee later fired by Trump. On Thursday, D'Souza thanked Trump in Twitter posts that also slammed Bharara. "KARMA IS A BITCH DEPT: @PreetBharara wanted to destroy a fellow Indian American to advance his career. Then he got fired & I got pardoned," D'Souza wrote. Bharara earlier said on Twitter: "The President has the right to pardon but the facts are these: D'Souza intentionally broke the law, voluntarily pled guilty, apologized for his conduct & the judge found no unfairness. The career prosecutors and agents did their job." Stewart and Blagojevich both were involved with Trump's "Apprentice" reality TV television show. Blagojevich was convicted of corruption offenses including soliciting bribes for appointment to the US Senate seat Obama vacated after being elected president in 2008. Last August, Trump pardoned Arpaio less than a month after his conviction for criminal contempt in a case involving racial profiling of Hispanics. Arpaio was known for his crackdown on illegal immigrants in Arizona's Maricopa County. Libby was convicted in 2007 of lying in an investigation into the unmasking of a CIA agent. Trump last week posthumously pardoned boxer Jack Johnson, the first black world heavyweight champion, who was jailed a century ago because of his relationship with a white woman. (Reporting by Doina Chiacu and Steve Holland; Additional reporting by Makini Brice; Editing by Will Dunham and Peter Cooney) SEE ALSO: Here are all the people Trump has pardoned so far   Share the latest business news with your network:    Email sent to: nguyenvu1187.love5@blogger.com   |   Manage your email preferences   |   Unsubscribe Terms of Service   |   Privacy Policy Business Insider. 150 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10011

Instant Alert: 21 funny but useful Father's Day gifts that'll give your dad a good laugh

MANAGE SUBSCRIPTIONS   |   UNSUBSCRIBE   |   VIEW ONLINE   21 funny but useful Father's Day gifts that'll give your dad a good laugh by Mara Leighton on May 31, 2018, 6:39 PM The Insider Picks team writes about stuff we think you'll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships so we may get a share of the revenue from your purchase. Dads are — for good or bad — known for their humor. Whether he really is the funniest guy you know or his dad jokes are simply hall of fame worthy, he might appreciate a good joke (and some lighthearted sentimentality) more than anything else on Father's Day. Especially if he's hard to shop for, these 21 funny gifts are a good jumping off point. Pair them with one of our favorite Father's Day gifts or keep them short and sweet on their own. And if you're looking for some more guidance, check out these posts: 17 thoughtful Father's Day gifts under $25 40 perfect Father's Day gifts that are all under $50 16 personalized Father's Day gifts that aren't cheesy or overdone 24 practical and considerate Father's Day gifts under $100 20 useful grooming gifts to get your dad for Father's Day Below are 21 funny Father's Day gifts dad will love this year: A Beeropoly board game Beeropoly, $35 For a fun night in with his family and kids or for the next get-together with friends, this is something he'll get a kick out of (and probably won't already have).  A meat bouquet Olympia Provisions Salami Bouquet, $50-$85 If a bouquet of delicious meat is more his speed than flowers, he's going to really love this one filled with salami.  Scotch-infused toothpicks Scotch-Infused Toothpicks Gift Set, $35.95 For the man who has everything, scotch-infused toothpicks take his love of the stuff to the next level.  See the rest of the story at Business Insider   Share the latest business news with your network:    Email sent to: nguyenvu1187.love5@blogger.com   |   Manage your email preferences   |   Unsubscribe Terms of Service   |   Privacy Policy Business Insider. 150 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10011

Instant Alert: Japan is quietly gaining an edge amid a growing competition between India and China

MANAGE SUBSCRIPTIONS   |   UNSUBSCRIBE   |   VIEW ONLINE   Japan is quietly gaining an edge amid a growing competition between India and China by Christopher Woody on May 31, 2018, 6:09 PM Advertisement China has been expanding its foreign involvement, in part through development projects around the world. Beijing's growing influence has concerned its neighbors — chief among them India and Japan. To counter China, Tokyo is looking for a bigger role in the region, working with India to get it. China's growing presence in the Indian Ocean region worries India, which has sought to counter Beijing's influence there. But India is not the only country in Asia looking to balance against a rising China. Japan, which has long deferred to the US, is now pursuing a bigger role, expanding security partnerships in the region and boosting its involvement in infrastructure projects — many of which rival China's own projects. In 2015, Tokyo announced plans to spend hundreds of billions on infrastructure projects in Asia, Oceania, and Africa in coming years, and since 2016, Japan has committed nearly $8 billion to projects to develop ports and related infrastructure around the Indian Ocean. "The scale of [Japan's] infrastructure investments in the region rivals, and sometimes exceeds, that of China," David Brewster, a specialist in South Asian and Indian Ocean strategic affairs at the Australian National University, wrote this week for the Lowy Institute's Interpreter. Such projects are part of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) Strategy, meant to further connect Asia and Africa and the Pacific and Indian Oceans while promoting stability and prosperity. FOIP projects currently under consideration include a joint project with India and Sri Lanka to expand an existing port at Trincomalee in Sri Lanka, a joint project with Myanmar and Thailand to build a new port and special economic zone around Dawei in Myanmar, and a project with Bangladesh to build a new port at Matabari to handle half that country's cargo volume. Japan has started behind-the-scenes talks with those governments, and Japan's International Cooperation Agency has started drafting plans for those projects, according to Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun. While China recently acquired a 99-year lease of a Sri Lankan port at Hambantota, which raised ire in India, The Yomiuri Shimbun reported that China failed to make progress on similar projects in Myanmar and Bangladesh due to Japan's development plans. Delhi helped influence Bangladesh's decision to award the Matarbari project to Tokyo, and Japan and India could cooperate on future projects, including at Trincomalee and on Iran's Chabahar port, which India sees as a valuable link to central Asian markets (though that project could be affected by US sanctions on Iran.) Japan's interest in a bigger regional role isn't new, but has grown in recent months, amid doubts about US policy in the region. But, Brewster writes, Japan's approach is in clear competition with China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The BRI has been criticized as being unsustainable and lacking transparency, and China has been accused of using it to further "debt-trap diplomacy." US officials have warned that Beijing is "weaponizing capital" through the initiative, and the International Monetary Fund has warned China and its possible partners about deals that could create mounting debt. Japan has said its approach is distinct from the BRI in important ways, according to Brewster, including its emphasis on safety, reliability, social and environmental considerations, and on aligning with local development goals and a broader rules-based order. Japan also includes India as a partner and economic hub, whereas China's BRI avoids India. India and Japan also announced the Asia-Africa Growth Corridor in May 2017 to further expand ties. It was supported by several African countries, including South Africa, and is poised to be another alternative to China's BRI. Beijing has tried to undercut it, pushing India and South Africa to merge the project with the BRICS platform, which would exclude Japan and dilute Delhi's influence. There are doubts about whether Japan has the resources to compete with China's infrastructure push, and even though Japan has positioned its offerings as alternatives to China's, Tokyo hasn't precluded future cooperation — Japanese officials have even said the BRI could ultimately benefit the global economy, depending on how it's implemented. But there is little doubt Tokyo and Delhi are have their eyes on countering their bigger neighbor. "Japan is concerned about a rising Chinese profile beyond the Western Pacific, and India is equally concerned about the strategic implications of China’s commercial engagements in its neighborhood," Darshana Baruah, an analyst at Carnegie India, told Foreign Policy earlier this year. “These projects are aimed at creating an alternative to China's Belt and Road." SEE ALSO: A slight name change by the US Defense Department underscores a bigger effort to counter China   Share the latest business news with your network:    Email sent to: nguyenvu1187.love5@blogger.com   |   Manage your email preferences   |   Unsubscribe Terms of Service   |   Privacy Policy Business Insider. 150 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10011

Instant Alert: Expert explains why a federal judge wasn't sympathetic to Michael Cohen's argument on the biggest item in his case

MANAGE SUBSCRIPTIONS   |   UNSUBSCRIBE   |   VIEW ONLINE   Expert explains why a federal judge wasn't sympathetic to Michael Cohen's argument on the biggest item in his case by Allan Smith on May 31, 2018, 5:56 PM Advertisement US District Judge Kimba Wood set a mid-June deadline for Michael Cohen's lawyers to finish reviewing more than 2 million documents. Cohen's team wanted that deadline to be in mid-July. One expert explained why Wood wasn't sympathetic to Cohen's argument. As US District Judge Kimba Wood was deciding Wednesday on a deadline for Michael Cohen's lawyers to finish their review of documents seized by the FBI during raids on Cohen's home, office, and hotel room, Cohen's attorneys made a pitch. Todd Harrison, one of the attorneys for President Donald Trump's longtime lawyer Cohen, said in pushing for a mid-July completion date that their team was "working around the clock" and "as fast as we can" to finish the review. Harrison said one member of his team had a "tremor in his hand from lack of sleep." Harrison said Cohen's team of attorneys was utilizing 15 lawyers and two data specialists to review the documents and determine what constitutes as privileged communications. Over the past month, Cohen's team has reviewed, along with lawyers for Trump and the Trump Organization, more than 1.3 million documents, designating slightly more than 250 as protected by attorney-client privilege and unable to be used in a potential prosecution of Cohen. Still, the team has nearly 2.5 million documents left to examine. But Wood wasn't sympathetic to their time span, instead setting a June 15 deadline. If Cohen's team isn't done by then, the remaining documents would be turned over to a separate group government lawyers — known as a "taint team."  That's exactly the option Cohen and Trump didn't want to have happen amid Cohen's status as the focus of a criminal investigation in the Southern District of New York into whether he violated campaign-finance laws or committed bank fraud.  Cohen's team successfully argued in April to have a special master appointed to oversee the document review. Wood agreed to do so on one condition — that the review process wouldn't take any longer than it would if it was being handled by the "taint team." Why Cohen lost There's a simple reason why Wood was unimpressed with team Cohen's pitch, one expert told Business Insider: 15 lawyers and two data specialists is nowhere near the level of personnel you'd utilize for such a review. Mitchell Epner, an attorney at Rottenberg Lipman Rich and former assistant US attorney, told Business Insider that he was confident the size of that team would at least triple. Under orders to meet a deadline, he said he's seen review teams as large as 60 attorneys. "The statement by Michael Cohen’s attorneys that they have a team of 15 attorneys and two data specialists working around the clock on this is not likely to have impressed Judge Wood as a big effort," he said. He added: "It is not unusual for large law firms like McDermott Will and Emery (which has about 1,000 attorneys) to create teams of more than 50 attorneys to meet tight discovery deadlines. A team of 15 attorneys to review over 3 million documents would likely strike Judge Wood as designed to guarantee that the process would stretch on for months." Earlier this week, the special master, Barbara Jones, released her most in-depth report yet on the review process. After the report was published, experts zeroed in on the surprisingly low number of documents that Cohen, Trump, and the Trump Organization had designated as privileged. "For a person who claims to be a lawyer, the minuscule amount of allegedly privileged matter is surprising, and what it tells us is that Cohen wasn't acting as a lawyer very often," Roland Riopelle, a partner at Sercarz & Riopelle who was formerly a federal prosecutor with the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, told Business Insider. "He was doing something else," Riopelle said. During an interview on "Fox & Friends" late last month, Trump seemed to suggest that the investigation into Cohen appeared to focus more on Cohen's business dealings than on his work as an attorney. But on April 10, the day after the raids, Trump tweeted: "Attorney-client privilege is dead!" Meanwhile, in a Thursday court filing, Wood announced that Jones will issue a report next week detailing which of the roughly 250 items Cohen, Trump, and the Trump Organization designated as privileged that she believes should actually fall under that designation. Any objections to her recommendations would then need to be filed by Cohen, Trump, and the Trump Organization within a week. SEE ALSO: A federal judge just gave Michael Cohen a tight new deadline, and it could lead to the worst-case scenario for him and Trump   Share the latest business news with your network:    Email sent to: nguyenvu1187.love5@blogger.com   |   Manage your email preferences   |   Unsubscribe Terms of Service   |   Privacy Policy Business Insider. 150 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10011