UNITED STATES: Trump Acquitted…Again
On Feb. 13, the former President of the United States became the first one to dodge an impeachment conviction twice.
In a 57-43 vote in favor of conviction, featuring all 48 Democrats and two Independents, the case against Donald J. Trump failed to reach the 67 vote threshold to secure a full impeachment. This means that Trump would not be subject to a vote that would bar him from running for office again or from receiving any post-presidential perks such as Secret Service protection and a pension.
There were seven Republican senators that did vote with Democrats for conviction. This group consisted of Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Ben Sasse (R-Nebraska), Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), Richard Burr (R-North Carolina) Pat Toomey (R-Pennsylvania) and Mitt Romney (R-Utah), who voted in favor of conviction in Trump’s first trial.
“This has been yet another phase of the greatest witch hunt in the history of our country. No president has ever gone through anything like it, and it continues because our opponents cannot forget the almost 75 million people, the highest number ever for a sitting president, who voted for us just a few short months ago,” Trump said in a statement after his acquittal.
Despite avoiding a conviction in the Senate, Trump’s legal woes are far from over. In addition to the possibility of facing charges stemming from the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, Trump faces bank, insurance, and tax fraud charges in New York, along with Georgia officials investigating his call with that state’s Secretary of State, where Trump asked Brad Raffensperger to find the number of votes needed for him to win the state.
AFRICA: Ebola Hits Guinea
Guinean health authorities have declared an outbreak of Ebola in a rural community in the south of the country, with at least seven people infected, two of whom died, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed on Feb. 14.
This is the first time the disease has been reported in the country since the deadly 2014-2016 outbreak in West Africa which claimed over 11,000 lives.
“It’s a huge concern to see the resurgence of Ebola in Guinea, a country which has already suffered so much from the disease,” Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa, said.
“However, banking on the expertise and experience built during the previous outbreak, health teams in Guinea are on the move to quickly trace the path of the virus and curb further infections,” she added.
According to the UN health agency, the cases, which were confirmed by the national laboratory, occurred in Gouéké in N’Zerekore prefecture, in southern Guinea. Initial investigations found that a nurse from a local health facility died on Jan. 28. Following her burial, six people who attended the funeral reported Ebola-like symptoms and two of them later died. The other four are in hospital.
Samples of the confirmed cases have been sent to the InstitutPasteur center in Senegal for full genome sequencing to identify the strain of the Ebola virus.
Guinea was one of the three most-affected countries in the 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola outbreak which was the largest since the virus was first discovered in 1976. The outbreak, which saw some 28,000 cases, including 11,000 deaths, started in Guinea and then moved across land borders to Sierra Leone and Liberia.
Ebola virus disease (EVD) is a rare but severe, often fatal illness in humans. The average EVD case fatality rate is around 50 percent, with rates having varied from 25 percent to 90 percent in past outbreaks.
The Ebola virus spreads through contact with the body fluids – such as vomit, feces or blood – of an infected person, or through surfaces and materials (such as bedding, clothing) contaminated with these fluids.
The incubation period, that is, the time interval from infection with the virus to onset of symptoms, is from two to 21 days. The symptoms of EVD can be sudden and include fever, fatigue, muscle, pain, headache, and sore throat.
This is followed by vomiting, diarrhea, rash, symptoms of impaired kidney and liver function, and in some cases internal and external bleeding.
According to WHO, though there are no known treatments for Ebola, an Ebola vaccine rVSV-ZEBOV can offer protection against the deadly virus.
ASIA: More Distress in Myanmar
An increased use of force and the reported deployment of armored vehicles to major cities throughout Myanmar have sparked the deep concern of UN Secretary-General António Guterres.
In a statement issued on Feb. 14 by his spokesman, Stéphane Dujarric, the UN chief called on the military and police of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, to ensure that the right of peaceful assembly is “fully respected” and demonstrators are “not subjected to reprisals.”
“Reports of continued violence, intimidation and harassment by security personnel are unacceptable,” he spelled out. The unfolding situation follows a military takeover on Feb. 1.
The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Thomas Andrews, tweeted, “it’s as if the generals have declared war on the people of Myanmar: late night raids; mounting arrests; more rights stripped away’ another Internet shutdown; military convoys entering communities.”
“These are signs of desperation. Attention generals: You WILL be held accountable,” he underscored.
Meanwhile, on Feb. 12, Deputy UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Nada al-Nashif had noted that the current crisis in the country is “a profound setback after a decade of hard-won democratic gains.”
She told a special session of the Human Rights Council that for over 20 years, “successive High Commissioners and many eminent experts have briefed this Council, and its predecessor, on violations committed by the country’s military,” adding that a lack of action has “emboldened military leaders and contributed to this present crisis.”
“The indiscriminate use of lethal, or less than lethal weapons, against peaceful protesters, is unacceptable,” Ms. al-Nashif said. “More violence against Myanmar’s people will only compound the illegitimacy of the coup and the culpability of its leaders.”
EUROPE: VAT Scheme Stopped
With the support of Eurojust, the Dutch fiscal authorities have halted a major scam to avoid the payment of VAT (value-added tax) via trading companies. By setting up a string of enterprises in the Netherlands, Hungary, Poland and Croatia, a network of traders in Secure Digital (SD) memory cards for mobile phones allegedly defrauded the Dutch fiscal authorities for an estimated amount of EUR 9 million between 2017 and 2020. During an action day supported by Eurojust, 13 places have been searched and communications equipment, documents and digital evidence was seized.
The traders had organized a complex scheme to avoid VAT payments by using a web company that offered mobile phones, tablet computers and accessories for sale through regular channels, paying taxes. This company, however, had a low turnover and therefore paid a comparatively small amount of VAT. Alongside these web sales, the suspected traders had set up a fraudulent trade flow solely for the sale of SD cards to drastically reduce the VAT paid by the web company.
VAT was paid on the purchase of these cards, but this was not charged to wholesalers in the Czech Republic and Croatia, using the exemption on these payments within the European Union. The cards were then sold via companies in Poland and Croatia back to other Dutch enterprises, avoiding the final payment of VAT to the fiscal authorities in the Netherlands. For this so-called VAT carousel, the traders used bank accounts in the Czech Republic and Croatia to siphon off tax payments.
Eurojust organized a coordination center to support the action day to ensure the adequate follow-up for the execution of European Investigation Orders to judicial authorities in Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. The action on the ground was coordinated by the specialized Public Prosecutor’s Office (Functioneel Parket) of Rotterdam in the Netherlands and the Dutch fiscal police FIOD, with support of Europol.
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