LOS ANGELES (AP) — The gender equality initiative Time’s Up says its president and CEO resigned because of sexual misconduct allegations against her son.

The group on Friday issued a statement explaining why Lisa Borders stepped down from the organization that was formed last year in response to sexual misconduct allegations in Hollywood. On Monday, Borders cited family issues but did not elaborate.

The group says allegations were made against Borders’ son in a private forum.

The Los Angeles Times reports a woman claims Borders’ son, Garry Bowden Jr., touched her inappropriately during a “healing session.”

His lawyer says Bowden gave the woman a healing massage that she had requested and showed The Times a text exchange in which the woman thanked him.

Borders became head of Time’s Up last year after being president of the WNBA.

Midday brief, in brief

Today at Commission, Libya and Zimbabwe

The Commission and the EU diplomatic service are ‘concerned’ about events in Zimbabwe.

On the agenda: Libya, African Union summit, Zimbabwe unrest, Russian meddling on Brexit.

On the podium: Commission deputy spokesman Alexander Winterstein.

Libya and human rights: Catherine Ray, the spokeswoman of EU chief diplomat Federica Mogherini, said the EU is “working on all fronts” to manage the migration humanitarian crisis in Libya. The United Nations on Tuesday issued a strong statement about the “inhuman” conditions faced by thousands of migrants being detained in the country. Ray added the situation is “extremely complex” on the ground but the EU will continue to train the Libyan coastguard.

Western Sahara and African Union summit: The Commission said it is not involved in the organization of the EU-African Union summit (on the African side, of course) which will take place in late November in Côte d’Ivoire. As reported in Playbook, the conflict between Morocco and Western Sahara caused logistical issues in recent days. But even if Western Sahara does attend the gathering, the EU will not change its position and will not recognize its claims to independence.

Zimbabwe: The Commission and the EU diplomatic service are “concerned” about the suspected military coup in Zimbabwe against President Robert Mugabe, who remains under detention at his home after the military declared on national television that it had temporarily taken control of the country. Ray called for “a peaceful resolution” to the situation.

No comment on Brexit bot: The Commission declined to comment on reports in the British press (including in the Times) that Russian-backed Twitter accounts posted more than 45,000 messages about Brexit in 48 hours, days before the British referendum on EU membership.

The Los Angeles Police are investigating after President Donald Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame was vandalized yet again, a report says.

Police are reviewing a video showing a man defacing the president’s star with swastikas, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

The video shows a short, white man in a cap and wearing a tan bag walking up to Trump’s star, bending down, and using a marker to draw several swastikas on the award.

Trump’s star has been the object of repeated acts of vandalism since 2016 and has been completely destroyed twice in that time.

At least two people have been arrested and charged with vandalism for the destruction.

In February, Glendale resident Austin Clay, 24, pleaded no contest after he was charged with felony vandalism for destroying the star in July. Clay received only one day in jail. He was also sentenced to three years of probation and 20 days of community service along with a $9,400 fine.

In October of 2016, Los Angeles man James Otis completely destroyed the star when he attacked it with a pick-ax in a pre-dawn incident that was recorded by Deadline. Otis ultimately struck a plea deal with prosecutors the next February that saw him avoid jail time in exchange for paying $4,400 to the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and the Hollywood Historic Trust.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.

Warsaw defies EU with proposed changes to judiciary

Parliament expected to pass laws leading to removal of Supreme Court judges.

WARSAW — Poland has put itself back on a collision course with Brussels.

A parliamentary commission in Warsaw approved two controversial new laws Thursday night that would allow the government to dismiss many of the country’s Supreme Court judges — a move the European Commission has said could result in EU sanctions.

“I am shattered. This is the end of the Supreme Court,” Supreme Court First President Małgorzata Gersdorf told the parliamentary commission during the televised three-day debate that preceded the decision. If enacted, both laws would be “breaking the constitution,” she added.

The legislation — which will likely be voted into the books next week — was proposed by President Andrzej Duda after he vetoed similar laws in July following mass protests outside parliament.

At the time, the European Commission warned Warsaw against any judicial reforms that resulted in the removal of Supreme Court Judges. If Poland went ahead, it said it would advise the European Council to implement Article 7 of the EU Treaty, a move that could ultimately lead to Poland losing its EU voting rights.

Grzegorz Schetyna, the chairman of the main opposition party Civic Platform, said he would call for street protests: “This is no longer a creeping coup,” he told the TVN24 news channel. “This coup begins to strike. As an opposition, we will fight to the end.”

During the debate, amendments proposed by the opposition were rejected, sometimes even before the deputies had a chance to present them. A motion to invite respected legal experts was turned down, and opinions from the parliament’s own legal bureau, stating that some provisions of the laws could be unconstitutional, were ignored.

Duda’s legislation has left intact the most controversial provision of the law he vetoed: the lowering of the retirement age of judges from 70 to 65 years, which could result in the immediate removal of an estimated 40 percent of the Supreme Court, including First President Gersdorf.

The key change in the legislation is that the justice minister will no longer be able to decide which of the judges who are older than 65 can stay. Duda reserved that right for himself.

The proposed laws would also overhaul the National Judiciary Council, which nominates ordinary judges, allowing parliament to select 15 of its 25 members — a task previously carried out by organizations of judges. Nine of the other members are political appointees, nominated by the parliament and the president. The last member is chosen by the Supreme Administrative Court.

The main change in the new legislation is an increase in the threshold for the election of new members — from a simple majority to three-fifths of the parliament. In the case of a stalemate, however, the decision reverts to a normal majority.

The legislation also gives the president and justice minister the right to appoint the members of a new disciplinary chamber with the power to sanction judges.

Parliament is expected to easily pass both laws; the ruling Law and Justice party has a stable majority in both chambers. The vote in the Sejm — the lower house — is planned for Tuesday. The upper house is expected to vote shortly afterward. The president would then have 14 days to sign or veto the bills.

The EU has never triggered Article 7, which was established more than 17 years ago, and is often referred to as the “nuclear option.” The loss of voting rights under Article 7 requires the unanimous consent of all other EU member countries. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has stated that he would veto any attempt to sanction Poland.

Correction: This article has been updated with the correct spelling of Supreme Court First President Małgorzata Gersdorf’s name.

Hamilton creator, actor, and left-wing activist Lin-Manuel Miranda declared Sunday that President Donald Trump tells lies “every day, all day, reflexively.”

“Your occasional reminder that our current president lies as easy as you and I breathe air. Every day, all day, reflexively,” Lin-Manuel Miranda said in a social media post.

Miranda, a staunch critic of President Trump, has frequently used his voice to advocate for illegal aliens.

In October, he contributed music to a children’s album titled, Singing You Home – Children’s Songs for Family Reunification, which supports families in the United States illegally.

The 38-year-old also campaigned for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.

He even performed a cringe-worthy rap song for the campaign, singing:

In another part of the song, he says, “Yes, in a world gone berserk, Hillary rolls up her sleeves and goes to work! I have only one overwhelming feeling, anybody here wanna shatter a glass ceiling?”

More recently, the director worked with Michelle Obama and Tom Hanks on a voter registration drive ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is likely to be sick of hearing the word “reciprocity” by the end of his two-day summit in Brussels, which starts Thursday.

That’s the term European business leaders use when pushing for changes to what they say is an unfair investment landscape. Chinese firms, they argue, are free to snatch up acquisitions in sensitive strategic sectors, even as the Continent’s companies are barred from large swathes of the Chinese economy.

The issue has been gathering steam for months, but it has been given new momentum by the election of French President Emmanuel Macron, who made the defense of Europe’s strategic industries a cornerstone of his election campaign.

Berlin too has taken up the issue, after a €4.4-billion takeover of the German robotmaker Kuka by Chinese electrical appliance manufacturer Midea turned into a rallying cry for those warning that strategic technologies are falling into foreign hands. Sigmar Gabriel, then economy minister, warned that Germany was sacrificing “its companies on the altar of free markets.” Shortly after Macron’s election, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said his reciprocity proposals were “something I can very well imagine.”

Europe has until now been far more open to Chinese investment than the U.S., which barred the telecoms giant Huawei from the telecommunications infrastructure market. But the EU Franco-German core’s shared suspicion of China means Brussels is having to take the idea of restrictions on Chinese investment far more seriously.

A diplomatic source said trade officials in Brussels were already working on a “unilateral initiative” to screen foreign bids on high-tech companies.

Under the proposal, officials from different EU departments would investigate whether an investor is receiving state support for its bid or has fallen foul of regulators in others countries for unfair practices. The analysis could also weigh up national security concerns.

“It is far too difficult for European companies to invest in China,” EU Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström told the European Parliament’s Trade Committee Tuesday. “Investment is going down, that’s unfortunate, because there are discriminatory laws, lack of transparency, a lot of subsidies to their own state-owned companies, corruption, the rule of law is not functioning.”

Lip service

Speaking at Davos in January, China’s President Xi Jinping told his largely Western audience that protectionism “is like locking oneself in a dark room,” keeping out “wind and rain” but also “light and air.” He likened the global economy to an ocean, saying “any attempt to cut off the flow of capital, technologies, products, industries and people” and instead “channel the waters” into “isolated lakes and creeks” is “simply not possible.”

For all of Xi’s talk, officials in China are busy buttressing the country’s dikes and dams. The relationship between China and the EU may be growing in importance, but it is anything but equal.

Exhibit A: In 2005, the EU recorded a €109.3 billion deficit in trade in goods with China. By 2015, that number had climbed to €180.1 billion.

Exhibit B: Chinese investors spent more than €35 billion in Europe in 2016, up 77 percent from 2015, while EU acquisitions in China fell for the fourth year running, to €7.7 billion.

“I see no opening up. We have been faced with rhetoric for years that China will open up, but the market has closed instead,” said Jörg Wuttke, president of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China.

“We have been applauding reform efforts since 2013, but we see very little implementation. There have been baby steps forward, but also steps backward.” There is, Wuttke said, “a palpable sense of disappointment among European investors.”

Gaining foreign expertise is a big strategic priority in Beijing as the country seeks to climb up the value chain, knowing that South Asia and Latin America can easily compete as basic manufacturers. As part of its “Made in China 2025” plan, state-backed companies are looking to move up a gear by buying up firms in Europe to upgrade local technology to the point where it overtakes foreign competitors.

Last year alone, China’s Tencent Holdings bought Finnish gaming company Supercell in a €6.7 billion deal; Midea acquired Kuka; a Chinese consortium took a 49 percent stake in U.K. data center operator Global Switch for €2.8 billion; and Beijing Enterprises bought out German waste incineration and power generation company EEW Energy for €1.4 billion.

Meanwhile, European investors are barred from great swathes of the Chinese market, such as utilities and infrastructure, and severely restricted in others.

European auto component suppliers wishing to operate in China can do so only under joint ventures with Chinese firms. Under a 2015 rule, the Chinese company must hold at least 50 percent equity in the foreign firm, and the foreign firm is limited in the number of joint ventures it can enter into.

“It is a very tough business environment for us,” said one executive who works for a European firm operating in China in the auto industry who asked to remain anonymous. “A chemical company can buy [Italy’s top tire brand] Pirelli and no one says a thing. But we have to run around looking for local companies to form joint ventures and even if we manage that, it’s constant problems.”

En garde

In public, despite growing pressure from Paris, Berlin and Rome, Malmström has been guarded on how far Brussels will go in restricting Chinese investments. But she is clear that she believes something must be done. “It’s easy for Chinese business here, that’s basically a good thing,” she told the parliamentary committee. “[But] we should be able to do business there as well.”

Other commissioners have taken a more aggressive line.

In an interview with the Belgian newspaper De Morgen, European Commissioner for Competition Margrethe Vestager said: “Many member states already have limiting measures to prevent foreign investors from taking over our roads, energy networks and sewerage systems … It can be a good idea to have European rules against foreign control over what we consider critical companies.”

The mid-term review of Europe’s digital single market, presented by Vice President Andrus Ansip, set out a defensive agenda. The document says that “particular consideration should be given to how to deal with cases where strategic investments are made in European high-tech companies by actors benefiting from public subsidies and which are based in countries which themselves restrict investment from European companies.”

No prizes for guessing which country that refers to.

It’s not clear what shape any final defenses will take. Countries like Poland, Hungary and Greece are reluctant to put in place any measures that would curb inflows of Chinese money.

A pan-European approach might also not be required. After the Kuka acquisition triggered shockwaves in Germany, Berlin struck back unilaterally. When Grand Chip, a Chinese investment fund, attempted to acquire the semiconductor company Aixtron late last year, the economy ministry withdrew its clearance for the deal.

Wuttke, of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China, was also skeptical about a general overarching approach to reciprocity. He insisted China responded best when politicians zeroed in on specific cases and companies.

“You can shoot at China with a machine gun, but this is not going to help,” he said. “You need to pinpoint one topic, so they cannot slip out from their responsibility to do anything. If you lament in general about reciprocity and unfair trade with China, you will get nowhere.”

This article is part of an occasional series: China looks West.

Click Here: West Coast Eagles Guernsey

Late-night hosts returned from their holiday vacation Monday night in full form — melting down over President Donald Trump’s proposed wall and the ongoing partial government shutdown.

“This is already shaping up to be a very different year for President Trump. He now faces real oversight from Congress for the first time now that Democrats have control of the House,” late-night funnyman Jimmy Kimmel said to raucous applause.

“Up until now the only oversight the president had to deal with is when Mike Pence would forget to pick his dry cleaning up. This is the year we Make America Great Again, again.”

Kimmel continued, “Humpty Trumpty is very focused on his wall. This is day 17 of the government shutdown. Nearly 800,000 federal employees are working without pay. And that is Donald Trump doing what Donald Trump does best, not paying the people who work for him. That is where he shines.”

“He’s going to declare a national emergency to fund this wall…is that something he needs to declare? Every day of this presidency is a national emergency,” he said.

Jimmy Kimmel then brought out a man who worked at a federal prison in California who was not being paid due to the shutdown.

To be clear, the Trump White House has already stated that it is supportive of back pay for federal workers, like this prison worker, once the shutdown ends, and it is tradition for all federal employees to receive back pay once the government opens up again.

Late-night host Stephen Colbert attacked the president as well, with his CBS show airing a cartoon clip of Yogi Bear dumping trash on President Trump, mocking him for the trash pile up in Washington, D.C. that’s occurred due to the ongoing shutdown.

Seth Meyers, meanwhile, went for easy laughs by fantasizing in typical fashion about President Trump going to jail.

In response to Trump saying that Russia used to be called the Soviet Union, Meyers said, “Look, sometimes you get involved in something that goes so badly, you have to change your name. For example, you take a job as Donald J. Trump, and you leave it as Prisoner 567891.”

“Although, let’s be honest. Let’s be honest. Best outcome, Trump cooperates with Mueller, rolls on everyone else, and goes into witness protection,” Meyers said, then mocking Trump’s voice, “Hi, I’m your new neighbor, Ronald Bump…I don’t want to say why I moved here, but it was Obama’s fault.”

Click Here: gold coast suns 2019 guernsey

Vestager orders Amazon to pay €250 million in back taxes

‘Almost three-quarters of Amazon’s profits were not taxed,’ says European commissioner for competition.

The European Commission told Luxembourg Wednesday to claw back some €250 million from Amazon, after ruling a 2003 tax deal between one of Europe’s lowest tax jurisdictions and the e-commerce titan amounted to illegal state aid.

“Almost three-quarters of Amazon’s profits were not taxed,” said Margrethe Vestager, the European commissioner for competition. “In other words, Amazon was allowed to pay four times less tax than other local companies subject to the same national tax rules.”

Investigators concluded that the 2003 deal allowed Amazon to attribute the vast bulk of its EU profits between 2006 and 2014 to a holding company, a complicated corporate entity that was not liable to pay taxes in Europe. That was approved by Luxembourg’s tax authorities despite the holding company, Amazon Europe Holding Technologies, having “no employees, no offices and no business activities.”

The Commission labeled the holding company an “empty shell.”

The verdict follows last year’s order that Apple pay €13 billion to Ireland and is a clear sign that Vestager is determined to pursue her campaign against shadowy tax arrangements between national capitals and multinationals.

The move risks stoking debate with Washington, which says her inquiries target profits taxable in the U.S., and exacerbating deep divisions between EU countries over tax.

Both Luxembourg and Amazon have long denied wrongdoing and are likely to appeal.

“Luxembourg will use appropriate due diligence to analyze the decision and reserves all its rights,” the country said in a statement.

And the U.S. tech giant said Wednesday it had not received preferential tax treatment in Luxembourg and that it had complied with all international tax rules.

“Our 50,000 employees across Europe remain heads-down focused on serving our customers and the hundreds of thousands of small businesses who work with us,” Amazon said.

Mark Scott contributed reporting.

Click Here: Geelong Cats Guernsey

Hollywood celebrities rejoiced and mocked the news of President Donald Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen being sentenced to prison Wednesday, celebrating and wondering when other members of the administration will be jailed.

“I hate to kick a man when he’s down, but in this case I’ll make an exception: fuck Michael Cohen,” actor-comedian Michael Ian Black said.

Actor Rob Delaney called for more to go to jail, saying he’s “Genuinely unmoved. Until Pence or Ivanka go to prison I don’t care.”

Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal attorney, was sentenced to three years in federal prison Wednesday for a variety of crimes, including money laundering and lying to Congress about plans to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.

Cohen was reportedly emotional during his appearance in court, saying of his relationship with Trump, “time and time again, I felt it was my duty to cover up his dirty deeds.”

Faux-Trump Alec Baldwin used the Cohen sentencing to tease the next episode of Saturday Night Live.

Kathy Griffin also chimed in, mocking Cohen over a tweet he sent in 2015 where he told Hillary Clinton that she may soon be in jail for “defrauding American and perjury.”

Check out all the Hollywood hate below.

 

Dijsselbloem not fit to be Eurogroup president, says Pittella

Socialist MEP critical of Dutch minister’s ‘discriminatory comments.’

Jeroen Dijsselbloem is “not fit to be president of the Eurogroup,” Socialist MEP leader Gianni Pittella said Tuesday, accusing the Dutch finance minister of making “discriminatory comments” about southern EU countries in German media.

Without naming names, Dijsselbloem told the Frankfurter Allgemeine on Monday that “countries in crisis” should stick to the deficit targets set by the European Commission and show the same solidarity as northern eurozone states during the financial crisis.

“As a social democrat, for me solidarity is extremely important,” Djisselbloem said. “But those who call for it (solidarity) also have duties. I cannot spend all my money on liquor and women and plead for your support afterwards. This principle applies on the personal, local, national and also European level.”

On Tuesday, Pittella described these comments as “shameful and shocking.”

“Dijsselbloem went far beyond by using discriminatory arguments against the countries of southern Europe,” he said. “There is no excuse or reason for using such language, especially from someone who is supposed to be a progressive.”

Dijsselbloem has been Eurogroup president since January 2013 and was re-elected for a second term in July 2015. However, his Dutch Labor Party (PvdA) did badly in last week’s election and he will almost certainly not stay on as finance minister.

Pittella said it was “not the first time” that Dijsselbloem has expressed opinions “which are openly in contradiction with the line of the European progressive family.”

“I truly wonder whether a person who has these beliefs can still be considered fit to be president of the Eurogroup,” he added.

Portuguese Foreign minister Augusto Santos Silva joined in the criticism, saying Dijsselbloem should not be able “to remain at the head of the Eurogroup and the Portuguese government shares this opinion.”

Florian Müller and Ivo Oliveira contributed to this article.