World News Random, Random

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Suliso Latvia
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Re: World News Random, Random

#511

Post by Suliso »

I bet they use dollars for anything important. Is that not so?
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Re: World News Random, Random

#512

Post by ponchi101 »

Oh, sure. I already read news that the population has moved over to the US Dollar because, as was expected, the majority of the population not only does not know how to deal with Bitcoin, they have no access to bank accounts or other financial services.
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Re: World News Random, Random

#513

Post by MJ2004 »

ponchi101 wrote: Fri Sep 24, 2021 7:08 pm Oh, sure. I already read news that the population has moved over to the US Dollar because, as was expected, the majority of the population not only does not know how to deal with Bitcoin, they have no access to bank accounts or other financial services.
:facepalm: Absolutely mindboggling anyone thought this was a good idea.
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Re: World News Random, Random

#514

Post by MJ2004 »

The president of El Salvador called himself "the coolest dictator in the world". You just can't make this (expletive) up.
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Re: World News Random, Random

#515

Post by MJ2004 »

ponchi101 wrote: Fri Sep 24, 2021 7:08 pm the majority of the population not only does not know how to deal with Bitcoin, they have no access to bank accounts or other financial services.
Or internet. At least half the population does not have internet access. Absorb that.
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Re: World News Random, Random

#516

Post by Suliso »

MJ2004 wrote: Fri Sep 24, 2021 7:59 pm
ponchi101 wrote: Fri Sep 24, 2021 7:08 pm the majority of the population not only does not know how to deal with Bitcoin, they have no access to bank accounts or other financial services.
Or internet. At least half the population does not have internet access. Absorb that.
Would that be including via cell phones?
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Re: World News Random, Random

#517

Post by ponchi101 »

I would not know about El Salvador, but here in Colombia, a lot of people (myself included) use prepaid plans. A lot of the plans sold by the carriers are what they call FTWI: FB, TWT, WA and IG. You can navigate but it is mostly social networks.
So if you want to use the internet as a tool for work, some people, even with access, don't use them for that.
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Re: World News Random, Random

#518

Post by ti-amie »

“Do not grow old, no matter how long you live. Never cease to stand like curious children before the Great Mystery into which we were born.” Albert Einstein
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Re: World News Random, Random

#519

Post by Suliso »

What about internet banking etc for people who do have bank accounts?

Both here and in Latvia that is now highly developed. Also I was thinking today in the train that it's been a very long time since I've seen anyone show a paper ticket (still available) to a ticket inspector. It's 90%+ smart phone tickets or transport passes loaded on a card.
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Re: World News Random, Random

#520

Post by ponchi101 »

Suliso wrote: Fri Sep 24, 2021 8:37 pm What about internet banking etc for people who do have bank accounts?

Both here and in Latvia that is now highly developed. Also I was thinking today in the train that it's been a very long time since I've seen anyone show a paper ticket (still available) to a ticket inspector. It's 90%+ smart phone tickets or transport passes loaded on a card.
Again, Colombia. if you have a bank account, you have all the tools. Transfers, pays, etc. Our bus system involves a card called TU LLAVE (your key) that allows you to board any bus, but you have to load it, which is at times problematic. The older bus system is still cash.
Bogota has no trains or subway. Medellin has a subway.
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Re: World News Random, Random

#521

Post by Suliso »

Theoretically I still have a Swiss pass in a credit card format, but I don't use it. Everything I need is on a smart phone. We have a country wide unified ticketing system. You just add in the app starting and ending point, it will calculated routes and costs and you click to buy tickets. Works for all trains and buses in the country (exception is most private mountain funiculars). I'm not sure about cross border tickets, can't buy those from the same app.

Latvia is not so centralized, have to buy all tickets separately.
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Re: World News Random, Random

#522

Post by ponchi101 »

Remember that you live in the late 21st century, I live in the early 20th. Colombia' and, for that matter, all of S. America, has a very deficient land transportation system. There are no trains almost anywhere (Argentina has a few lines) and almost everything is by bus.
Colombia's 60 years of guerrillas and almost 1 1/2 centuries of civil wars made it almost impossible to develop proper land transportation. The guerrillas would bomb anything that remotely looked like a road, which was their way to control territories. Trains are expensive so nobody could buy one of those. Of course, they also claim that the terrain is too mountainous, but go tell that to the Swiss or Austrians.
Air transportation is much better and you can get the AVIANCA app and buy a ticket with ease. You can pay with your bank account or a system called PSE (Safe Electronic Payment).
Of course, when it comes to gambling sites, that was integrated like in 5 minutes.
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Re: World News Random, Random

#523

Post by skatingfan »

Canadians Michael Kovrig, Michael Spavor coming home after U.S. strikes plea deal to free Meng Wanzhou

China freed Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig after the U.S. Justice department reached a deferred prosecution agreement with senior Huawei Technologies executive Meng Wanzhou, ending an almost three-year prison ordeal for the two men that ruptured Canada-China relations.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called a late news conference on Friday to say the two Canadians, accompanied by Canada’s ambassador Dominic Barton, flew out of China after Ms. Meng left Vancouver to return home.

A Royal Canadian Airforce Challenger jet was spotted at Elmendorf air force base in Anchorage Alaska, and it is believed Mr. Kovrig and Mr. Spavor were to be transferred to this plane.

“These two men have been through an unbelievably difficult situation, but it is inspiring and it is good news for all of us that they are on their way home to their families,” Mr. Trudeau said.

The Prime Minister said the two Michaels went through a “terrible time,” spending more than 1,000 days in Chinese prisons with the lights on 24 hours a day.

“They have shown determination, grace and resilience every step of the way. They have been an inspiration to all of us,” he said.

Mr. Trudeau declined to say what the resolution would mean for Canada-China relations, which hit their worst point since the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. “Right now, our focus is on getting these two Canadians home safe. They have been through an extremely difficult ordeal,” Mr. Trudeau said, adding that Mr. Kovrig and Mr. Spavor are expected to land in Canada on Saturday morning.

A senior government official said Canada did not make any concessions to obtain the release. The Globe and Mail is not identifying the source who was not authorized to speak about the matter.

China locked up the two Canadians in December, 2018, in apparent retaliation for the arrest of Ms. Meng, a member of China’s corporate elite, on a U.S. extradition warrant to face fraud charges related to violations of U.S. sanctions against Iran. The Canadian government has said they are victims of hostage diplomacy.

Ms. Meng appeared by teleconference on Friday before a U.S. federal court in Brooklyn, where a judge approved the legal arrangement between the United States and the Huawei executive. In the deal, she accepted a significant portion of the U.S. government’s case against her, including an attempt to evade U.S. sanctions against Iran. But she did not have to pay a fine or enter a guilty plea as part of the arrangement, in which the charges will be deferred and then dismissed on Dec. 1, 2022.

In the agreement, which is not an admission of guilt, Ms. Meng accepted that she made “untrue” statements to bankers about Huawei’s relationship with Skycom Tech Co. Ltd., which conducted business in Iran and was in fact controlled by the Chinese company. She accepted that Huawei caused Skycom to conduct about $100-million worth of U.S.-dollar transactions via a bank that cleared them through the United States – “at least some of which supported its work in Iran in violation of U.S. law.”

Her acceptance of these facts as part of the deal could help the United States in its continuing prosecution of Huawei over alleged violations of U.S. sanctions law.

“In entering into the deferred prosecution agreement, Meng has taken responsibility for her principal role in perpetrating a scheme to defraud a global financial institution,” Nicole Boeckmann, acting United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement. “Meng’s admissions confirm the crux of the government’s allegations in the prosecution of this financial fraud — that Meng and her fellow Huawei employees engaged in a concerted effort to deceive global financial institutions, the U.S. government, and the public about Huawei’s activities in Iran.”

Ms. Meng appeared later in the day in a Vancouver courtroom, where the extradition proceedings were stayed and her bail conditions lifted, allowing the Chinese telecom executive to leave the country.

At the close of proceedings in B.C. Supreme Court, after the Canadian Justice Department withdrew the case against Ms. Meng, Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes thanked Ms. Meng for her co-operation.

“You have been co-operative and courteous throughout. The court appreciates and thanks you for that.”

“Thank you, my lady,” Ms. Meng replied in English. She later burst into tears as she hugged her lawyers.

“Now, she will be free to return home to be with her family,” Ms. Meng’s U.S. lawyer William Taylor said in a statement, noting his client “will not be prosecuted further in the United States.”

Ms. Meng has been out on bail and living in a $13.7-million Vancouver home while Mr. Kovrig and Mr. Spavor were in Chinese jail cells where the lights are on 24 hours a day.

Speaking to reporters after her court appearance, Ms. Meng thanked Justice Holmes “for her fairness” and the Canadian government “for upholding the rule of law.”

Ms. Meng talked of how hard this has been for her: “My life has been turned upside down. It was a disruptive time for me as a mother, a wife and a company executive.”

The Globe and Mail reported on Sept. 17 that the U.S. Department of Justice had resumed talks on a deal with Huawei and lawyers for Ms. Meng, daughter of Ren Zhengfei, founder of the Chinese telecommunications giant. This followed a hiatus in negotiations since late 2020, when the U.S. government under the Trump administration’s Justice Department first attempted talks with Ms. Meng.

A former federal prosecutor in the United States said he could not remember another prosecution involving a high-profile person, with so much time and resources put into it by U.S. authorities, that ended in a deferred prosecution agreement with a simple release and no provision for ongoing co-operation.

“I would even probably call it a rare use of a deferred prosecution agreement,” said Michael McAuliffe, who has worked in the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington and as an assistant U.S. attorney in South Florida. “One gets the sense that they’ve come up short of their original objectives.”

He said the agreement means Ms. Meng is essentially free of any involvement with U.S. prosecutors.

“Because the agreement has no co-operation provision (and no requirement of even being accessible to prosecutors) and she will be in China at least until the end of the agreement, her involvement in the matter and with the U.S. authorities appears over,” Mr. McAuliffe said in an e-mail. “A stunning change from being on an ankle bracelet ... and facing extradition, trial and potential imprisonment.”

The Canadian government had been pressing the Biden administration to reopen negotiations with Ms. Meng and Huawei lawyers for a DPA to help end the dispute, which put Ottawa in the middle of a superpower standoff between Washington and Beijing.

China accused Canada of acting as a U.S. puppet by detaining Ms. Meng and slapped punitive trade sanctions on some Canadian agriculture products after the arrest of Mr. Kovrig and Mr. Spavor.

In June, The Globe reported that Canada’s ambassador to China, Dominic Barton, was in Washington for three weeks this spring in talks with senior officials in the Biden administration aimed at facilitating the release of the two Canadians.

Mr. Barton met with officials from the White House National Security Council and the departments of Justice, State, Defense, Treasury and Commerce. He also held talks with Cui Tiankai, China’s ambassador to the United States.

China put Mr. Kovrig and Mr. Spavor on trial in March of this year. They were charged with spying as part of a process that Canada and dozens of allies call arbitrary detention on bogus charges in a closed system of justice with no accountability.

A Chinese court in August found Mr. Spavor guilty of espionage and sentenced him to 11 years in prison. He appealed the ruling. The verdict for Mr. Kovrig had yet to be announced.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politic ... plea-deal/
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Re: World News Random, Random

#524

Post by Deuce »

But... but... China repeatedly said that their holding the 'two Michaels' captive was in NO WAY related to Canada holding the Huawei executive Meng.
So the 'two Micheals' being released right after Meng was permitted to go home is a truly astonishing co-incidence!

Canada should have never meddled in this affair. They did so only to please and impress the U.S. - much as a younger sibling tries to impress the elder. The inferiority complex that Canada still feels - particularly in relation to the U.S. - is quite pathetic, really.
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Re: World News Random, Random

#525

Post by the Moz »

Canada had a responsibility to act on the bilateral legal and diplomatic protocols both nations agreed to. That being said, the elephant and the mouse complex is still sadly alive and well. America should have done more to free the Michaels.

As for China, they don't subscribe to truth or transparency. So their words and actions can't carry much credence.
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