FROM: NASA
Astronomers Discover First Multiple-Planet System From K2
January 21, 2015
Astronomers using data from the NASA Kepler spacecraft's reborn K2 mission may have made its first discovery of a star with three exoplanets—planets that orbit stars other than our sun. A paper reporting this discovery has been submitted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal.
Ranging in size from fifty percent larger to a little more than twice the size of Earth, the possible planets orbit a star about half the size and mass of our sun. The outermost planet orbits on the warm edge of the habitable zone, the distance from a star where liquid water might exist on the surface of an orbiting planet.
"We are delighted to see the enthusiastic response for K2. The mission has extended the telescope's search capability to a new part of the sky, marking the first K2 exoplanet discovery less than a month ago, and now the possible discovery of the first K2 multiple-planet system," said Charles Sobeck, Kepler project manager at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, CA. "We look forward to the outcome of the peer-review process of this latest result."
The star, called EPIC 2011367065, home to these possible planets is about 150 light-years away in the constellation Leo.
Monday, January 26, 2015
CFTC ISSUES ORDER OF REGISTRATION TO BURSA MALAYSIA DERIVATIVES BERHAD
FROM: U.S. COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION
January 22, 2015
CFTC Issues Order of Registration for Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Berhad
Washington, DC — The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (Commission) announced today that is has issued an Order of Registration to Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Berhad (BMD), a Foreign Board of Trade located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Under the Order, BMD is permitted to provide its identified members or other participants located in the U.S. with direct access to its electronic order entry and trade matching system to trade agricultural commodity, interest rate and security index futures and option contracts.
The Commission issued the Order in accordance with Part 48 of the Commission’s regulations, which provides that such an Order may be issued to a foreign board of trade that possesses, among other things, the attributes of an established, organized exchange and that is subject to continued oversight by a regulator that provides comprehensive supervision and regulation that is comparable to the supervision and regulation exercised by the Commission.
BMD submitted an application for registration that included, among other things, representations that its regulatory regime under its regulatory authority, the Malaysian Securities Commission, satisfies the requirements for registration in Commission regulation 48.7.
Upon review of the application, the Commission has determined that BMD has demonstrated its ability to comply with the requirements of the applicable Commission regulations. Accordingly, the Commission granted BMD an Order of Registration to permit it to provide direct access to its identified members or other participants located in the U.S., subject to the terms and conditions specified in the Order. The terms and conditions applicable to the Order include, among others, that BMD shall comply with Commission regulation 48.8, Conditions of Registration, and any additional conditions that the Commission deems necessary and may impose, after appropriate notice and opportunity to respond. BMD shall also continue to fulfill each of the representations it made in support of the application for registration.
Last Updated: January 22, 2015
January 22, 2015
CFTC Issues Order of Registration for Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Berhad
Washington, DC — The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (Commission) announced today that is has issued an Order of Registration to Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Berhad (BMD), a Foreign Board of Trade located in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Under the Order, BMD is permitted to provide its identified members or other participants located in the U.S. with direct access to its electronic order entry and trade matching system to trade agricultural commodity, interest rate and security index futures and option contracts.
The Commission issued the Order in accordance with Part 48 of the Commission’s regulations, which provides that such an Order may be issued to a foreign board of trade that possesses, among other things, the attributes of an established, organized exchange and that is subject to continued oversight by a regulator that provides comprehensive supervision and regulation that is comparable to the supervision and regulation exercised by the Commission.
BMD submitted an application for registration that included, among other things, representations that its regulatory regime under its regulatory authority, the Malaysian Securities Commission, satisfies the requirements for registration in Commission regulation 48.7.
Upon review of the application, the Commission has determined that BMD has demonstrated its ability to comply with the requirements of the applicable Commission regulations. Accordingly, the Commission granted BMD an Order of Registration to permit it to provide direct access to its identified members or other participants located in the U.S., subject to the terms and conditions specified in the Order. The terms and conditions applicable to the Order include, among others, that BMD shall comply with Commission regulation 48.8, Conditions of Registration, and any additional conditions that the Commission deems necessary and may impose, after appropriate notice and opportunity to respond. BMD shall also continue to fulfill each of the representations it made in support of the application for registration.
Last Updated: January 22, 2015
DOJ ANTITRUST DIVISION COLLECTED $1.861 BILLION IN CRIMINAL FINES, PENALTIES FOR FISCAL YEAR 2014
FROM: U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Antitrust Division Announces Fiscal Year Total in Criminal Fines Collected
The Department of Justice collected $1.861 billion in criminal fines and penalties resulting from Antitrust Division prosecutions in the fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30, 2014. Contributing in part to one of the largest yearly collections for the division, five of the companies paid in full penalties that exceeded $100 million, including a $425 million criminal fine levied against Bridgestone Corp., the fourth-largest fine the Antitrust Division has ever obtained. The second-largest fine collected was a $195 million criminal fine levied against Hitachi Automotive Systems Ltd. The three additional companies that paid fines and penalties exceeding $100 million were Mitsubishi Electric Corp. with $190 million, Toyo Tire & Rubber Co. Ltd. with $120 million and JTEKT Corp. with $103.2 million. The collection total also includes penalties of more than $561 million received as a result of the division’s LIBOR investigation, which has been conducted in cooperation with the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. In addition, in the last fiscal year the division obtained jail terms for 21 individual defendants, with an average sentence of 26 months, the third-highest average ever.
“The size of these penalties is an unfortunate reminder of the powerful temptation to cheat the American consumer and profit from collusion,” said Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer for the Antitrust Division. “We remain committed to ensuring that corporations and individuals who collude face serious consequences for their crimes.”
15-082
Antitrust Division
Antitrust (including FTC antitrust)
Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Antitrust Division Announces Fiscal Year Total in Criminal Fines Collected
The Department of Justice collected $1.861 billion in criminal fines and penalties resulting from Antitrust Division prosecutions in the fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30, 2014. Contributing in part to one of the largest yearly collections for the division, five of the companies paid in full penalties that exceeded $100 million, including a $425 million criminal fine levied against Bridgestone Corp., the fourth-largest fine the Antitrust Division has ever obtained. The second-largest fine collected was a $195 million criminal fine levied against Hitachi Automotive Systems Ltd. The three additional companies that paid fines and penalties exceeding $100 million were Mitsubishi Electric Corp. with $190 million, Toyo Tire & Rubber Co. Ltd. with $120 million and JTEKT Corp. with $103.2 million. The collection total also includes penalties of more than $561 million received as a result of the division’s LIBOR investigation, which has been conducted in cooperation with the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. In addition, in the last fiscal year the division obtained jail terms for 21 individual defendants, with an average sentence of 26 months, the third-highest average ever.
“The size of these penalties is an unfortunate reminder of the powerful temptation to cheat the American consumer and profit from collusion,” said Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer for the Antitrust Division. “We remain committed to ensuring that corporations and individuals who collude face serious consequences for their crimes.”
15-082
Antitrust Division
Antitrust (including FTC antitrust)
Sunday, January 25, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY'S REMARKS TO PRESS IN LAGOS, NIGERIA
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Remarks at a Press Availability in Lagos, Nigeria
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Lagos, Nigeria
January 25, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, good afternoon, everybody. I am really delighted be here in Nigeria. And I was just admiring the extraordinary view and this wonderful location. I’m particularly pleased to be here at this particular moment, just a few weeks before one of the most important elections that this country has held. And this will be the largest democratic election on the continent. Given the stakes, it’s absolutely critical that these elections be conducted peacefully, that they are credible, transparent, accountable, so that the people of Nigeria can have faith and the world can have faith in the government that flows from it.
So I came here today to deliver a very simple message, and I met with both major candidates in order to underscore that the international community is paying very close attention to this election and that the international community is deeply committed to working with Nigerians going forward with the hopes that they will have an election that is free of violence and capable of instilling confidence in the future.
I was at the World Economic Forum in Davos earlier this weekend where I delivered a speech about the need for a long-term, comprehensive global effort to combat violent extremism, and to address the underlying causes before that extremism takes root. The unfortunate truth is that Nigerians know as well as anyone how desperately that kind of effort is needed. Day after day, the group that calls itself Boko Haram continues to kill scores of innocent civilians and attack villages and military installations in places like Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa states. The United States condemns these attacks which have escalated in recent weeks. And we extend our deepest condolences to the thousands of families that have been impacted, and we deeply regret the toll that this violence has taken on the Nigerian people. We will absolutely continue to support the Nigerian military in its fight against Boko Haram. And as I said in Davos, all of us must work together to advance a strategy that will not only stop groups like Boko Haram, Daesh, and al-Qaida, but that will address the environment from which these groups emerge.
We were very happy to see the Government of Niger host a regional security ministerial meeting last week to discuss how to better coordinate counterterrorism efforts. This is exactly the kind of thing that I suggested is necessary in the comments that I made a couple of days ago. It is very important that the world cooperate more in helping countries where they want to and where they don’t the full capacity to be able to step up and take on lawless terrorist entities.
That is precisely why President Obama has announced that next month in Washington we will host an international summit on combatting violent extremism around the world. It will be held at the WH and at the State Department, it will be at the ministerial, and we hope to bring people together who have been engaged in these fights against the Boko Harams and other entities so we can share best practices, so that we could hear from people about what they need and what they think is necessary in order to be able to summon an even stronger global response.
The fact is that one of the best ways to fight back against Boko Haram and similar groups is by protecting the peaceful, credible, and transparent elections that are essential to any thriving democracy, and certainly, essential to the largest democracy in Africa. It’s imperative that these elections happen on time as scheduled, and that they are an improvement over past elections, and they need to set a new standard for this democracy. That means that Nigerians have to not only reject violence but they have to actually promote peace.
I met with President Jonathan earlier today and separately with General Buhari, and I was encouraged to hear once again from both men that this is exactly what they intend to do to try to press for an election that can be held with the credibility the people of Nigeria want and deserve. As President Jonathan said in his New Year’s message, none of our political ambitions is worth the blood of any of our countrymen, women, and children. And as General Buhari recently tweeted, electoral violence is unacceptable, and every Nigerian life is sacred. Both candidates have also signed on to the so-called Abuja Accord, which commits them to running exclusively issue-based campaigns, refraining from violence before and during and after election day, and speaking out against any violence that does emerge.
These are commitments that we need to see from everyone and they are commitments that need to be kept. Many people are stepping up. For example, Chairman Jega and the thousands of independent national election commission employees are taking concrete steps in order to guarantee that this election is successful. We also urge all of Nigeria’s governors to call for peaceful democratic engagement among their residents, and we ask all parties and all candidates to do the same.
And I would say to everybody that no matter what the outcome, if you have a question, if you have a doubt, if there is someplace where issues may have arisen, it is absolutely vital that whatever differences may exist be resolved through legitimate channels, through the legal channels, which are fundamental to the democratic process. And I urge all of Nigeria’s candidates to do what is best for their country no matter the outcome on election day.
I want to emphasize that for the United States, Nigeria is an increasingly important strategic partner. Nigeria has a critical role to play in the security and prosperity of this continent and beyond. We are committed to helping the electoral process succeed, and last week we sent an electoral security advisor in order to support INEC’s efforts to advise on security concerns and to help develop a risk mapping tool to prepare for any violence that might emerge.
So let me be clear: Anyone who participates in, plans, or calls for widespread or systematic violence against the civilian population must be held accountable, including by ineligibility for an American visa. Violence has no place in democratic elections, and I can guarantee you that the perpetrators of such violence would not be welcome in the United States of America. Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation and one of the world’s largest democracies. It is blessed with some of the planet’s most valuable and abundant natural resources. Conducting accountable, credible, peaceful elections will help put the Nigerian people on a path to prosperity and regional leadership that is needed in order to address a wide range of challenges in this part of the world, including, obviously, violent extremism.
With this election, Nigeria has an opportunity to put an indelible stamp on the kind of future that Africa wants to see and most importantly that Nigeria wants and deserves. I want to reiterate what President Obama recently said, that he, I, and the American people stand with you as Nigeria’s great democratic exercise unfolds. And we stand ready to work with the Government of Nigeria, the Nigerian people, and whomever they elect next month continue – to continue building on the important partnership that we share.
And with that, I would be delighted to take a couple of questions.
MODERATOR: Our first question comes from (inaudible).
QUESTION: Could you give us a bit more of a response to these attacks by Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria and how concerned you are about this (inaudible)?
QUESTION: And can you also give us a bit more of a sense of what concrete steps the U.S. is prepared to take with the Nigeria to fight Boko Haram? Because it has been a concern within the Pentagon about the capability or the commitment of the military to fight Boko Haram. And finally, could you give us sense from here that Boko Haram’s kind of spreading to other parts of Africa and aligning (inaudible) the Islamic State or other terrorist groups?
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, let me take the last part of your question first. There’s no specific declaration by Boko Haram of an affiliation with Daesh, but there is evidence that Daesh is making an effort to spread its tentacles throughout a number of countries in the northern part of Africa, and it is obviously a concern that they may try more aggressively to try to spread to countries in the center and southern and other parts of Africa.
The United States is deeply engaged with Nigeria. And I’ve seen the articles that refer to some of the problems with respect to that engagement. Everybody’s heard certain criticisms that have been made. Some of them are just flat-out inaccurate. For instance, we do continue to share intelligence with the Nigerian military and intelligence folks. We do cooperate in many ways. We don’t believe that the level of support provided by the United States or the international community is the limiting factor in the Nigerian Government’s ability to fight Boko Haram.
And with respect to the military assistance that we’re delivering, we are currently helping the Nigerian – helping Nigeria to increase the capability of its military; to improve its counter-incident explosive detection and civil-military operations capacity; and to carry out responsible counterterrorism operations. Now, does it always well as work – work as well as we would like or as well as the Nigerians would like? The answer is no. There are developmental issues in that relationship and in those efforts. But the United States maintains a very significant level of military cooperation with various elements of the Nigerian security forces.
And we’re also providing law enforcement assistance, including by training Nigerian law enforcement officials on counterterrorism investigations and post-blast investigations and crisis management. Right now, we have a team of Nigerian Government crisis management officials in the United States who are participating in a senior crisis management exercise. We have provided equipment and training for the Nigerian intelligence fusion center. And most recently, we’ve worked with Nigeria’s neighbors Cameroon, Chad, and Niger to develop institutional and tactical capabilities that will increase the joint efforts between our countries in order to be more effective.
So bottom line, we want to do more. And that was part of my message to both President Jonathan and General Buhari today. We are prepared to do more, but our ability to do more will depend to some degree on the full measure of credibility, accountability, transparency and peacefulness of this election. And one of the principle reasons that President Obama asked me to come here at this moment is to reinforce to all Nigerians the desire of the United States to be able to engage even more so in the effort to push back against Boko Haram or any other violent extremist group, but the quality of the democratic process is important to contributing to our ability to do so. And that’s exactly why I’m here today.
MODERATOR: Our last question is from Victor Asije of the News Agency of Nigeria.
QUESTION: (Inaudible) and welcome to Nigeria.
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you.
QUESTION: Are you confident that President Jonathan and General Buhari can be held to their promises – promises they made to you, (inaudible), credible elections, (inaudible) that the U.S. (inaudible)? The other question is this: Now, even after the (inaudible) that the U.S. (inaudible) to discriminate against people from West Africa (inaudible)?
SECRETARY KERRY: Can you repeat the last part? The U.S. is likely to discriminate?
QUESTION: That the U.S. is likely (inaudible) to discriminate against people from West Africa who are (inaudible)?
SECRETARY KERRY: No, I – let me answer that first. I’m personally very proud, and I think every American is very proud, of the extraordinary efforts the United States has made in order to combat the Ebola disease. President Obama made a remarkably courageous and critical decision right up front, when people didn’t know all – publicly, certainly – all of the potential dangers. But when he, by virtue of his briefings and his understanding through his medical advisors, had a strong sense of what was possible, the President committed 4,000 U.S. troops to go to Liberia immediately in order to begin to build the capacity to fight Ebola. We worked extremely closely with our friends and allies, the French and the British particularly, but with many other people – Japan, China. Many countries stepped up as we came together at the United Nations in September, summoned more response, sent people over here, many workers, as you know, who have come back to the United States, and a few of them who came back with Ebola and they were treated, one of whom who died and others who were cured.
We have confidence in the ability of people to be cured. We have confidence that this is – that we are gaining in our capacity to control this; we’ve made enormous strides, and I can guarantee you there will be no discrimination against people from anywhere because this is a disease from which people can be determined to be either cured or free in the first place from any infection. As long as protocols are followed, as long as the screenings are taken, I don’t think anybody has to fear any form or any nature of discrimination. I think the efforts of the United States, frankly, speak volumes against that possibility.
On the first part of your question about the promises of the two leaders, let me make this clear: I think the real question ought to be will the Nigerian people be able to count on the president, whoever it is? The promises to the people of Nigeria – and to the world really, but principally the people of Nigeria – and I think it’s up to the people of Nigeria to make the judgment about whether they’re confident that any particular person or candidate is going to live up to their word. It’s not up to us to make that judgment. The proof will be in what happens in the days ahead.
But I’m here today because President Obama and the American people and the world are looking at Nigeria in this extraordinary exercise of democracy, in this important country in Africa, with the largest democratic election on the continent – and it matters. And that’s why we’re here: to emphasize to everybody, nobody gains by violence. Nobody gains by turning a political disagreement into a killing spree or some other kind of violence. And our hope is that Nigeria will set a remarkable example for the world in this election, and that that will give whoever is President coming out of this election the momentum that he needs in order to be able to define the future that the people of this country so want. And the proof will be in the actions that are taken in the course of the election and afterwards.
So thank you all very, very much. Appreciate it.
Remarks at a Press Availability in Lagos, Nigeria
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Lagos, Nigeria
January 25, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, good afternoon, everybody. I am really delighted be here in Nigeria. And I was just admiring the extraordinary view and this wonderful location. I’m particularly pleased to be here at this particular moment, just a few weeks before one of the most important elections that this country has held. And this will be the largest democratic election on the continent. Given the stakes, it’s absolutely critical that these elections be conducted peacefully, that they are credible, transparent, accountable, so that the people of Nigeria can have faith and the world can have faith in the government that flows from it.
So I came here today to deliver a very simple message, and I met with both major candidates in order to underscore that the international community is paying very close attention to this election and that the international community is deeply committed to working with Nigerians going forward with the hopes that they will have an election that is free of violence and capable of instilling confidence in the future.
I was at the World Economic Forum in Davos earlier this weekend where I delivered a speech about the need for a long-term, comprehensive global effort to combat violent extremism, and to address the underlying causes before that extremism takes root. The unfortunate truth is that Nigerians know as well as anyone how desperately that kind of effort is needed. Day after day, the group that calls itself Boko Haram continues to kill scores of innocent civilians and attack villages and military installations in places like Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa states. The United States condemns these attacks which have escalated in recent weeks. And we extend our deepest condolences to the thousands of families that have been impacted, and we deeply regret the toll that this violence has taken on the Nigerian people. We will absolutely continue to support the Nigerian military in its fight against Boko Haram. And as I said in Davos, all of us must work together to advance a strategy that will not only stop groups like Boko Haram, Daesh, and al-Qaida, but that will address the environment from which these groups emerge.
We were very happy to see the Government of Niger host a regional security ministerial meeting last week to discuss how to better coordinate counterterrorism efforts. This is exactly the kind of thing that I suggested is necessary in the comments that I made a couple of days ago. It is very important that the world cooperate more in helping countries where they want to and where they don’t the full capacity to be able to step up and take on lawless terrorist entities.
That is precisely why President Obama has announced that next month in Washington we will host an international summit on combatting violent extremism around the world. It will be held at the WH and at the State Department, it will be at the ministerial, and we hope to bring people together who have been engaged in these fights against the Boko Harams and other entities so we can share best practices, so that we could hear from people about what they need and what they think is necessary in order to be able to summon an even stronger global response.
The fact is that one of the best ways to fight back against Boko Haram and similar groups is by protecting the peaceful, credible, and transparent elections that are essential to any thriving democracy, and certainly, essential to the largest democracy in Africa. It’s imperative that these elections happen on time as scheduled, and that they are an improvement over past elections, and they need to set a new standard for this democracy. That means that Nigerians have to not only reject violence but they have to actually promote peace.
I met with President Jonathan earlier today and separately with General Buhari, and I was encouraged to hear once again from both men that this is exactly what they intend to do to try to press for an election that can be held with the credibility the people of Nigeria want and deserve. As President Jonathan said in his New Year’s message, none of our political ambitions is worth the blood of any of our countrymen, women, and children. And as General Buhari recently tweeted, electoral violence is unacceptable, and every Nigerian life is sacred. Both candidates have also signed on to the so-called Abuja Accord, which commits them to running exclusively issue-based campaigns, refraining from violence before and during and after election day, and speaking out against any violence that does emerge.
These are commitments that we need to see from everyone and they are commitments that need to be kept. Many people are stepping up. For example, Chairman Jega and the thousands of independent national election commission employees are taking concrete steps in order to guarantee that this election is successful. We also urge all of Nigeria’s governors to call for peaceful democratic engagement among their residents, and we ask all parties and all candidates to do the same.
And I would say to everybody that no matter what the outcome, if you have a question, if you have a doubt, if there is someplace where issues may have arisen, it is absolutely vital that whatever differences may exist be resolved through legitimate channels, through the legal channels, which are fundamental to the democratic process. And I urge all of Nigeria’s candidates to do what is best for their country no matter the outcome on election day.
I want to emphasize that for the United States, Nigeria is an increasingly important strategic partner. Nigeria has a critical role to play in the security and prosperity of this continent and beyond. We are committed to helping the electoral process succeed, and last week we sent an electoral security advisor in order to support INEC’s efforts to advise on security concerns and to help develop a risk mapping tool to prepare for any violence that might emerge.
So let me be clear: Anyone who participates in, plans, or calls for widespread or systematic violence against the civilian population must be held accountable, including by ineligibility for an American visa. Violence has no place in democratic elections, and I can guarantee you that the perpetrators of such violence would not be welcome in the United States of America. Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation and one of the world’s largest democracies. It is blessed with some of the planet’s most valuable and abundant natural resources. Conducting accountable, credible, peaceful elections will help put the Nigerian people on a path to prosperity and regional leadership that is needed in order to address a wide range of challenges in this part of the world, including, obviously, violent extremism.
With this election, Nigeria has an opportunity to put an indelible stamp on the kind of future that Africa wants to see and most importantly that Nigeria wants and deserves. I want to reiterate what President Obama recently said, that he, I, and the American people stand with you as Nigeria’s great democratic exercise unfolds. And we stand ready to work with the Government of Nigeria, the Nigerian people, and whomever they elect next month continue – to continue building on the important partnership that we share.
And with that, I would be delighted to take a couple of questions.
MODERATOR: Our first question comes from (inaudible).
QUESTION: Could you give us a bit more of a response to these attacks by Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria and how concerned you are about this (inaudible)?
QUESTION: And can you also give us a bit more of a sense of what concrete steps the U.S. is prepared to take with the Nigeria to fight Boko Haram? Because it has been a concern within the Pentagon about the capability or the commitment of the military to fight Boko Haram. And finally, could you give us sense from here that Boko Haram’s kind of spreading to other parts of Africa and aligning (inaudible) the Islamic State or other terrorist groups?
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, let me take the last part of your question first. There’s no specific declaration by Boko Haram of an affiliation with Daesh, but there is evidence that Daesh is making an effort to spread its tentacles throughout a number of countries in the northern part of Africa, and it is obviously a concern that they may try more aggressively to try to spread to countries in the center and southern and other parts of Africa.
The United States is deeply engaged with Nigeria. And I’ve seen the articles that refer to some of the problems with respect to that engagement. Everybody’s heard certain criticisms that have been made. Some of them are just flat-out inaccurate. For instance, we do continue to share intelligence with the Nigerian military and intelligence folks. We do cooperate in many ways. We don’t believe that the level of support provided by the United States or the international community is the limiting factor in the Nigerian Government’s ability to fight Boko Haram.
And with respect to the military assistance that we’re delivering, we are currently helping the Nigerian – helping Nigeria to increase the capability of its military; to improve its counter-incident explosive detection and civil-military operations capacity; and to carry out responsible counterterrorism operations. Now, does it always well as work – work as well as we would like or as well as the Nigerians would like? The answer is no. There are developmental issues in that relationship and in those efforts. But the United States maintains a very significant level of military cooperation with various elements of the Nigerian security forces.
And we’re also providing law enforcement assistance, including by training Nigerian law enforcement officials on counterterrorism investigations and post-blast investigations and crisis management. Right now, we have a team of Nigerian Government crisis management officials in the United States who are participating in a senior crisis management exercise. We have provided equipment and training for the Nigerian intelligence fusion center. And most recently, we’ve worked with Nigeria’s neighbors Cameroon, Chad, and Niger to develop institutional and tactical capabilities that will increase the joint efforts between our countries in order to be more effective.
So bottom line, we want to do more. And that was part of my message to both President Jonathan and General Buhari today. We are prepared to do more, but our ability to do more will depend to some degree on the full measure of credibility, accountability, transparency and peacefulness of this election. And one of the principle reasons that President Obama asked me to come here at this moment is to reinforce to all Nigerians the desire of the United States to be able to engage even more so in the effort to push back against Boko Haram or any other violent extremist group, but the quality of the democratic process is important to contributing to our ability to do so. And that’s exactly why I’m here today.
MODERATOR: Our last question is from Victor Asije of the News Agency of Nigeria.
QUESTION: (Inaudible) and welcome to Nigeria.
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you.
QUESTION: Are you confident that President Jonathan and General Buhari can be held to their promises – promises they made to you, (inaudible), credible elections, (inaudible) that the U.S. (inaudible)? The other question is this: Now, even after the (inaudible) that the U.S. (inaudible) to discriminate against people from West Africa (inaudible)?
SECRETARY KERRY: Can you repeat the last part? The U.S. is likely to discriminate?
QUESTION: That the U.S. is likely (inaudible) to discriminate against people from West Africa who are (inaudible)?
SECRETARY KERRY: No, I – let me answer that first. I’m personally very proud, and I think every American is very proud, of the extraordinary efforts the United States has made in order to combat the Ebola disease. President Obama made a remarkably courageous and critical decision right up front, when people didn’t know all – publicly, certainly – all of the potential dangers. But when he, by virtue of his briefings and his understanding through his medical advisors, had a strong sense of what was possible, the President committed 4,000 U.S. troops to go to Liberia immediately in order to begin to build the capacity to fight Ebola. We worked extremely closely with our friends and allies, the French and the British particularly, but with many other people – Japan, China. Many countries stepped up as we came together at the United Nations in September, summoned more response, sent people over here, many workers, as you know, who have come back to the United States, and a few of them who came back with Ebola and they were treated, one of whom who died and others who were cured.
We have confidence in the ability of people to be cured. We have confidence that this is – that we are gaining in our capacity to control this; we’ve made enormous strides, and I can guarantee you there will be no discrimination against people from anywhere because this is a disease from which people can be determined to be either cured or free in the first place from any infection. As long as protocols are followed, as long as the screenings are taken, I don’t think anybody has to fear any form or any nature of discrimination. I think the efforts of the United States, frankly, speak volumes against that possibility.
On the first part of your question about the promises of the two leaders, let me make this clear: I think the real question ought to be will the Nigerian people be able to count on the president, whoever it is? The promises to the people of Nigeria – and to the world really, but principally the people of Nigeria – and I think it’s up to the people of Nigeria to make the judgment about whether they’re confident that any particular person or candidate is going to live up to their word. It’s not up to us to make that judgment. The proof will be in what happens in the days ahead.
But I’m here today because President Obama and the American people and the world are looking at Nigeria in this extraordinary exercise of democracy, in this important country in Africa, with the largest democratic election on the continent – and it matters. And that’s why we’re here: to emphasize to everybody, nobody gains by violence. Nobody gains by turning a political disagreement into a killing spree or some other kind of violence. And our hope is that Nigeria will set a remarkable example for the world in this election, and that that will give whoever is President coming out of this election the momentum that he needs in order to be able to define the future that the people of this country so want. And the proof will be in the actions that are taken in the course of the election and afterwards.
So thank you all very, very much. Appreciate it.
EXECUTIVE AT AUTO PARTS MANUFACTURER INDICTED FOR ROLE IN PRICE FIXING CONSPRIACY
FROM: U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
JUSTICE NEWS
Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Executive of Japanese Automotive Parts Manufacturer Indicted for Role in Conspiracy to Fix Prices
A Detroit federal grand jury returned a one-count indictment against an executive of a Japanese manufacturer of automotive parts for his participation in a conspiracy to fix prices of seatbelts, the Department of Justice announced today.
The indictment, filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, charges Hiromu Usuda, an executive at Takata Corp., with conspiring to rig bids for, and to fix, stabilize and maintain the prices of, seatbelts sold to Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Company Ltd., Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., Mazda Motor Corp., Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. – more commonly known by its brand name, Subaru – and/or certain of their subsidiaries, for installation in vehicles manufactured and sold in the United States and elsewhere. Usuda served as Group and Department Manager in the Customer Relations Division at Takata, from January 2005 until at least February 2011.
“Antitrust violators who refuse to accept responsibility for their crimes leave us no choice but to indict,” said Brent Synder, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division’s criminal enforcement program. “We will continue to prosecute those that commit these crimes.”
The indictment alleges, among other things, that from at least Jan. 1, 2005, through at least February 2011, Usuda and others attended meetings with co-conspirators and reached collusive agreements to rig bids, allocate the supply and fix the prices of seatbelts sold to the automobile manufacturers. It alleges that Usuda participated directly in the conspiratorial conduct and that he directed, authorized and consented to his subordinates’ participation.
Takata is a Tokyo-based manufacturer of automotive parts, including seatbelts. Takata supplies automotive parts to automobile manufacturers in the United States, in part, through its U.S. subsidiary, TK Holdings Inc., located in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Takata pleaded guilty on Dec. 5, 2013, for its involvement in the conspiracy, and was sentenced to pay a criminal fine of $71.3 million. Four other executives from Takata have pleaded guilty, have been sentenced to serve time in a U.S. prison and to pay criminal fines for their roles in the conspiracy.
Including Usuda, 50 individuals have been charged in the government’s ongoing investigation into price fixing and bid rigging in the auto parts industry. Additionally, 32 companies have pleaded guilty or agreed to plead guilty and have agreed to pay a total of more than $2.4 billion in fines.
Usuda is charged with price fixing in violation of the Sherman Act, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $1 million criminal fine for individuals. The maximum fine may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime, if either of those amounts is greater than the statutory maximum fine.
Today’s indictment is the result of an ongoing federal antitrust investigation into price fixing, bid rigging and other anticompetitive conduct in the automotive parts industry, which is being conducted by four of the Antitrust Division’s criminal enforcement sections and the FBI. Today’s charge was brought by the Antitrust Division’s Washington Criminal I Section and the FBI’s Detroit Field Office, with the assistance of the FBI headquarters’ International Corruption Unit.
JUSTICE NEWS
Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Executive of Japanese Automotive Parts Manufacturer Indicted for Role in Conspiracy to Fix Prices
A Detroit federal grand jury returned a one-count indictment against an executive of a Japanese manufacturer of automotive parts for his participation in a conspiracy to fix prices of seatbelts, the Department of Justice announced today.
The indictment, filed today in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, charges Hiromu Usuda, an executive at Takata Corp., with conspiring to rig bids for, and to fix, stabilize and maintain the prices of, seatbelts sold to Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Company Ltd., Nissan Motor Co. Ltd., Mazda Motor Corp., Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd. – more commonly known by its brand name, Subaru – and/or certain of their subsidiaries, for installation in vehicles manufactured and sold in the United States and elsewhere. Usuda served as Group and Department Manager in the Customer Relations Division at Takata, from January 2005 until at least February 2011.
“Antitrust violators who refuse to accept responsibility for their crimes leave us no choice but to indict,” said Brent Synder, Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division’s criminal enforcement program. “We will continue to prosecute those that commit these crimes.”
The indictment alleges, among other things, that from at least Jan. 1, 2005, through at least February 2011, Usuda and others attended meetings with co-conspirators and reached collusive agreements to rig bids, allocate the supply and fix the prices of seatbelts sold to the automobile manufacturers. It alleges that Usuda participated directly in the conspiratorial conduct and that he directed, authorized and consented to his subordinates’ participation.
Takata is a Tokyo-based manufacturer of automotive parts, including seatbelts. Takata supplies automotive parts to automobile manufacturers in the United States, in part, through its U.S. subsidiary, TK Holdings Inc., located in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Takata pleaded guilty on Dec. 5, 2013, for its involvement in the conspiracy, and was sentenced to pay a criminal fine of $71.3 million. Four other executives from Takata have pleaded guilty, have been sentenced to serve time in a U.S. prison and to pay criminal fines for their roles in the conspiracy.
Including Usuda, 50 individuals have been charged in the government’s ongoing investigation into price fixing and bid rigging in the auto parts industry. Additionally, 32 companies have pleaded guilty or agreed to plead guilty and have agreed to pay a total of more than $2.4 billion in fines.
Usuda is charged with price fixing in violation of the Sherman Act, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $1 million criminal fine for individuals. The maximum fine may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime, if either of those amounts is greater than the statutory maximum fine.
Today’s indictment is the result of an ongoing federal antitrust investigation into price fixing, bid rigging and other anticompetitive conduct in the automotive parts industry, which is being conducted by four of the Antitrust Division’s criminal enforcement sections and the FBI. Today’s charge was brought by the Antitrust Division’s Washington Criminal I Section and the FBI’s Detroit Field Office, with the assistance of the FBI headquarters’ International Corruption Unit.
DOJ, COLUMBUS, GEORGIA MAKE AGREEMENT ON TREATMENT OF SERIOUSLY MENTALLY ILL PRISONERS
FROM: U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Justice Department and Columbus, Georgia, Agree to Landmark Reforms Regarding the Treatment of Prisoners with Serious Mental Illness
Today, the Justice Department reached an agreement with Columbus, Georgia, that will address the remaining goals of a long-standing consent decree calling for reforms of its mental health system.
Muscogee County has made significant improvements at the Muscogee County Jail in the areas of security, environmental health and safety as well as modest improvements in the provision of medical care following a 1999 federal consent agreement. In order to address the continued deficiencies that remain, with respect to identifying, treating and housing prisoners with severe and persistent mental illness, jail leadership worked collaboratively with the Justice Department to create additional solutions that will improve mental health care without compromising security through a supplemental agreement.
The existing consent decree will remain in place and the supplemental agreement adds crucial safeguards for prisoners with serious mental illness. The supplemental agreement restricts the use of solitary confinement for prisoners with serious mental illness and limits the use of solitary confinement after 14 days. The jail will provide secure mental health and step-down units, and programs to provide prisoners with serious mental illness a total of at least 24 hours structured and unstructured time out-of-cell each week. These and other measures will vastly improve the quality of mental health care services in the Muscogee County Jail, while helping to minimize violence in the facility.
The supplemental agreement also includes robust training requirements. All correctional staff must receive Crisis Intervention Team training, including training on understanding and recognizing psychiatric signs and symptoms to identify prisoners who have or may have serious mental illness, using de-escalation techniques to calm and reassure prisoners who have or may have serious mental illness before resorting to use of force, discipline, or solitary confinement, and making appropriate mental health referrals.
“The Constitution requires that those detained in our nation’s jails and prisons are treated humanely and receive adequate mental health care,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta for the Civil Rights Division. “We are glad to have been able to work with Sheriff Darr, Jail Commander Collins, and Columbus, Georgia, in crafting sensible solutions to address a pressing issue confronting corrections administrators throughout this country: the burgeoning numbers of men and women with mental illness in our correctional institutions.
“These reforms will not only improve mental health care for this vulnerable population, but also enhance security within the facility, and facilitate inmates’ successful reintegration into the community upon release, which will help make our society safer,” said U.S. Attorney Michael Moore for the Middle District of Georgia.
The agreement requires a monitor to oversee implementation of the agreement and issue a compliance report every six months.
The Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act authorizes the department to seek a remedy for a pattern or practice of conduct that violates the constitutional rights of persons confined in a jail, prison, or other correctional facility. Please visit the division website to learn more about this act and other laws enforced by the Civil Rights Division.
This agreement is due to the efforts of the Special Litigation Section of the Civil Rights Division, and the leadership of Columbus, Georgia, a consolidated government, acting by and through the Sheriff of Muscogee County, in his official capacity, and the Columbus City Manager, in his official capacity, as authorized by the Columbus Council.
Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Justice Department and Columbus, Georgia, Agree to Landmark Reforms Regarding the Treatment of Prisoners with Serious Mental Illness
Today, the Justice Department reached an agreement with Columbus, Georgia, that will address the remaining goals of a long-standing consent decree calling for reforms of its mental health system.
Muscogee County has made significant improvements at the Muscogee County Jail in the areas of security, environmental health and safety as well as modest improvements in the provision of medical care following a 1999 federal consent agreement. In order to address the continued deficiencies that remain, with respect to identifying, treating and housing prisoners with severe and persistent mental illness, jail leadership worked collaboratively with the Justice Department to create additional solutions that will improve mental health care without compromising security through a supplemental agreement.
The existing consent decree will remain in place and the supplemental agreement adds crucial safeguards for prisoners with serious mental illness. The supplemental agreement restricts the use of solitary confinement for prisoners with serious mental illness and limits the use of solitary confinement after 14 days. The jail will provide secure mental health and step-down units, and programs to provide prisoners with serious mental illness a total of at least 24 hours structured and unstructured time out-of-cell each week. These and other measures will vastly improve the quality of mental health care services in the Muscogee County Jail, while helping to minimize violence in the facility.
The supplemental agreement also includes robust training requirements. All correctional staff must receive Crisis Intervention Team training, including training on understanding and recognizing psychiatric signs and symptoms to identify prisoners who have or may have serious mental illness, using de-escalation techniques to calm and reassure prisoners who have or may have serious mental illness before resorting to use of force, discipline, or solitary confinement, and making appropriate mental health referrals.
“The Constitution requires that those detained in our nation’s jails and prisons are treated humanely and receive adequate mental health care,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta for the Civil Rights Division. “We are glad to have been able to work with Sheriff Darr, Jail Commander Collins, and Columbus, Georgia, in crafting sensible solutions to address a pressing issue confronting corrections administrators throughout this country: the burgeoning numbers of men and women with mental illness in our correctional institutions.
“These reforms will not only improve mental health care for this vulnerable population, but also enhance security within the facility, and facilitate inmates’ successful reintegration into the community upon release, which will help make our society safer,” said U.S. Attorney Michael Moore for the Middle District of Georgia.
The agreement requires a monitor to oversee implementation of the agreement and issue a compliance report every six months.
The Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act authorizes the department to seek a remedy for a pattern or practice of conduct that violates the constitutional rights of persons confined in a jail, prison, or other correctional facility. Please visit the division website to learn more about this act and other laws enforced by the Civil Rights Division.
This agreement is due to the efforts of the Special Litigation Section of the Civil Rights Division, and the leadership of Columbus, Georgia, a consolidated government, acting by and through the Sheriff of Muscogee County, in his official capacity, and the Columbus City Manager, in his official capacity, as authorized by the Columbus Council.
COURT IMPOSES MONETARY PENALTY OF OVER $2.1 MILLION AGAINST FOREX TRADERS
FROM: U.S. COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION
January 21, 2015
Federal Court in New York Imposes a $2.16 Million Penalty and Permanent Trading Bans against Michael A. Kardonick, Gary R. Shapoff, and Atwood & James for Forex Options Fraud and Misappropriation
Kardonick and Shapoff Are Serving Time in Prison after Pleading Guilty to Related Federal Criminal Charges
Washington DC - The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced that a federal court in Rochester, New York issued a consent Order against Atwood & James, Ltd. and Atwood & James, SA (collectively, Atwood), which operated out of New York and Brazil, and Michael A. Kardonick, who maintained multiple residences in Brooklyn; New York; Pembrook Pines, Florida; and Rio de Janeiro, and Gary R. Shapoff of Pittsford, New York. Kardonick and Shapoff are currently incarcerated in Federal custody. The court’s Order stems from a CFTC civil Complaint that charged the Defendants with fraudulently soliciting retail clients to trade foreign currency (forex) options and charged Atwood and Kardonick with misappropriating client funds (see CFTC Press Release and Complaint 5605-09, January 27, 2009). None of the Defendants has ever been registered with the CFTC, as required.
The consent Order, issued by the Honorable Charles Siragusa of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York, assesses a civil monetary penalty against the Defendants of $2,164,059.57, recognizes the criminal restitution award, and permanently bans Atwood, Shapoff, and Kardonick from registering, trading, soliciting and engaging in any CFTC-regulated activity.
The CFTC Complaint alleged that, from at least 2001 to 2008, Defendants fraudulently solicited funds from members of the general public located throughout the world, including the U.S. and the United Kingdom, to trade forex options. Through an internet website and other means, the Defendants made extraordinary and false claims regarding, among other things, Atwood’s trading abilities.
In fact, according to the Order, Atwood and Kardonick were not successful traders; no trading accounts in the name of Atwood or for the benefit of Atwood clients have been located; and, there was no evidence that Atwood had or has a relationship with a clearing firm. The only known trading accounts were Kardonick’s personal trading accounts, which from 2003 through September 2008 sustained net losses of approximately $1.7 million trading commodity futures and options.
The court’s Order also finds that Kardonick and Shapoff failed to disclose to clients that both have criminal convictions for mail and wire fraud, and that Shapoff was the subject of two CFTC reparations actions in which the allegations included misrepresentation, misuse of customer funds, nondisclosure, and order execution.
Related Criminal Acton
In a related criminal action brought by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of New York, Kardonick and Shapoff pleaded guilty to charges of tax evasion and money laundering and are serving prison sentences of 120 months for Kardonick and 60 months for Shapoff.
A criminal restitution order of $2,164,059.57 was issued against Kardonick and Shapoff, jointly and severally.
The CFTC cautions victims that restitution orders may not result in the recovery of money lost because the wrongdoers may not have sufficient funds or assets. The CFTC will continue to fight vigorously for the protection of customers and to ensure the wrongdoers are held accountable.
The CFTC appreciates the cooperation of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of New York, the FBI Field Western District of New York field office, the Brazilian Comissão de Valores Mobiliarios, and the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority in this matter.
CFTC Division of Enforcement staff members responsible for this case are James H. Holl III, Katherine M. Driscoll, Kara Mucha, Michelle Bougas, Rick Glaser, and Gretchen L. Lowe.
* * * * * *
CFTC’s Foreign Currency (Forex) Fraud Advisory
The CFTC has issued several customer protection Fraud Advisories that provide the warning signs of fraud, including the Foreign Currency Trading (Forex) Fraud Advisory, which states that the CFTC has witnessed a sharp rise in Forex trading scams in recent years and helps customers identify this potential fraud.
Customers can report suspicious activities or information, such as possible violations of commodity trading laws, to the CFTC Division of Enforcement via a Toll-Free Hotline 866-FON-CFTC (866-366-2382) or file a tip or complaint online.
Media Contact
Dennis Holden
January 21, 2015
Federal Court in New York Imposes a $2.16 Million Penalty and Permanent Trading Bans against Michael A. Kardonick, Gary R. Shapoff, and Atwood & James for Forex Options Fraud and Misappropriation
Kardonick and Shapoff Are Serving Time in Prison after Pleading Guilty to Related Federal Criminal Charges
Washington DC - The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced that a federal court in Rochester, New York issued a consent Order against Atwood & James, Ltd. and Atwood & James, SA (collectively, Atwood), which operated out of New York and Brazil, and Michael A. Kardonick, who maintained multiple residences in Brooklyn; New York; Pembrook Pines, Florida; and Rio de Janeiro, and Gary R. Shapoff of Pittsford, New York. Kardonick and Shapoff are currently incarcerated in Federal custody. The court’s Order stems from a CFTC civil Complaint that charged the Defendants with fraudulently soliciting retail clients to trade foreign currency (forex) options and charged Atwood and Kardonick with misappropriating client funds (see CFTC Press Release and Complaint 5605-09, January 27, 2009). None of the Defendants has ever been registered with the CFTC, as required.
The consent Order, issued by the Honorable Charles Siragusa of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York, assesses a civil monetary penalty against the Defendants of $2,164,059.57, recognizes the criminal restitution award, and permanently bans Atwood, Shapoff, and Kardonick from registering, trading, soliciting and engaging in any CFTC-regulated activity.
The CFTC Complaint alleged that, from at least 2001 to 2008, Defendants fraudulently solicited funds from members of the general public located throughout the world, including the U.S. and the United Kingdom, to trade forex options. Through an internet website and other means, the Defendants made extraordinary and false claims regarding, among other things, Atwood’s trading abilities.
In fact, according to the Order, Atwood and Kardonick were not successful traders; no trading accounts in the name of Atwood or for the benefit of Atwood clients have been located; and, there was no evidence that Atwood had or has a relationship with a clearing firm. The only known trading accounts were Kardonick’s personal trading accounts, which from 2003 through September 2008 sustained net losses of approximately $1.7 million trading commodity futures and options.
The court’s Order also finds that Kardonick and Shapoff failed to disclose to clients that both have criminal convictions for mail and wire fraud, and that Shapoff was the subject of two CFTC reparations actions in which the allegations included misrepresentation, misuse of customer funds, nondisclosure, and order execution.
Related Criminal Acton
In a related criminal action brought by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of New York, Kardonick and Shapoff pleaded guilty to charges of tax evasion and money laundering and are serving prison sentences of 120 months for Kardonick and 60 months for Shapoff.
A criminal restitution order of $2,164,059.57 was issued against Kardonick and Shapoff, jointly and severally.
The CFTC cautions victims that restitution orders may not result in the recovery of money lost because the wrongdoers may not have sufficient funds or assets. The CFTC will continue to fight vigorously for the protection of customers and to ensure the wrongdoers are held accountable.
The CFTC appreciates the cooperation of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of New York, the FBI Field Western District of New York field office, the Brazilian Comissão de Valores Mobiliarios, and the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority in this matter.
CFTC Division of Enforcement staff members responsible for this case are James H. Holl III, Katherine M. Driscoll, Kara Mucha, Michelle Bougas, Rick Glaser, and Gretchen L. Lowe.
* * * * * *
CFTC’s Foreign Currency (Forex) Fraud Advisory
The CFTC has issued several customer protection Fraud Advisories that provide the warning signs of fraud, including the Foreign Currency Trading (Forex) Fraud Advisory, which states that the CFTC has witnessed a sharp rise in Forex trading scams in recent years and helps customers identify this potential fraud.
Customers can report suspicious activities or information, such as possible violations of commodity trading laws, to the CFTC Division of Enforcement via a Toll-Free Hotline 866-FON-CFTC (866-366-2382) or file a tip or complaint online.
Media Contact
Dennis Holden
Saturday, January 24, 2015
DOD NEWS REPORTS NATO FOCUSES ON RUSSIAN AGGRESSION AGAINST UKRAINE
Right: Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, left, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and German Chief of Defense Army Gen. Volker Wieker talk between NATO's Military Committee conference and the chiefs of defense quarterly meeting in Brussels, Jan. 21, 2015. DoD photo by D. Myles Cullen.
NATO Focuses on Russian Violations of Ukraine's Sovereignty
By Lisa Ferdinando
DoD News, Defense Media Activity
ABOARD A U.S. MILITARY AIRCRAFT, Jan. 22, 2015 – NATO is focused on strategies to deal with its two biggest threats -- Russian aggression to its east, and the threat of terrorism from its south, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said today.
Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey and other alliance defense chiefs today concluded two days of talks at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
Russian aggression, Dempsey said, has "changed sovereign borders with the use of coercion." And the recent terrorist attacks in Paris underscore the "very real threat of terrorism that comes up into NATO's southern flank."
There was consensus among the military chiefs that NATO must confront these threats, he said.
NATO Needs to Address Both Threats
"I thought this would be the most important meeting of its kind that I've had with NATO since I've been chairman, and in my judgment it proved to be just that," the chairman said in an interview on his plane back to Washington.
"We came to an agreement that NATO really does have to address both threats, and that NATO has the capability and the resources to address them both," Dempsey said. "We don't have to pick which threat is more serious."
While Dempsey declined to discuss details of the most recent allegations of Russia violating September’s Minsk ceasefire agreement, he did underscore the seriousness in which NATO views the Russian aggression.
"It is indicative of efforts on the part of Russia to support separatists in, frankly, violation of Ukrainian sovereignty," Dempsey said. "We're very concerned about it."
Eastern Europeans are very unsettled about the threats to the east, and the southern Europeans are very unsettled about the threats to the south, Dempsey said.
U.S. and European officials have expressed concern about the return of foreign fighters through NATO's southern flank, and the threat that those extremists pose to Europe.
NATO to Evolve Strategy to Address Threats
The defense chiefs also discussed the strategic concept, crafted in 2010, that informs NATO's defense planning. Global security has changed "pretty dramatically" in those four years, Dempsey said.
NATO will evolve its strategies to deal with the threats to its east and south, and the military chiefs will make recommendations on the way the NATO military arm is organized and resourced, he said.
Dempsey said it is important to demonstrate "our resolve and our reassurance" to NATO's Baltic and Eastern European allies through the Readiness Action Plan, NATO's response to the Russian aggression.
Alliance officials say the Readiness Action Plan will significantly enhance NATO’s readiness and responsiveness and ensure that NATO forces remain ready. In the interim, NATO has established a “very high readiness” joint task force coordinated by Air Force Gen. Philip M. Breedlove, NATO’s supreme allied commander for Europe.
NATO has bolstered its presence in Eastern Europe, while the United States has conducted a variety of reassurance measures to include airborne exercises in Poland and the Baltic nations.
"We have the very real requirement to reassure our allies, to increase the readiness of NATO's forces, and to adapt some of the organizations that provide NATO rapid response and the NATO command structures," Dempsey said.
The defense chiefs did "really big lifting" to address the near-term requirements on readiness and assurance, he added, and on the longer-term approach to the threats to east and south.
Pleased With Transition in Afghanistan
Dempsey said the defense chiefs were pleased with the successful transition from the combat International Security Assistance Force mission to the Resolute Support mission that trains, advises, assists and builds capacity.
Flexibility is needed in the strategy for Afghanistan, Dempsey said, encouraging the allies to "stay committed at the regional level through the fighting season of 2015." It is prudent to stay at the regional level militarily through the year, he added.
Dempsey, who said the alliance has a great ally in Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, said the strategy must consider both conditions on the ground and a timetable for progress.
"Milestones based on time are an important goal, so that you have something to reach for and to plan for and to resource for," he said. "It just seems to me that in these kinds of missions, it is useful to have both a timetable but then be willing to assess and reassess and assess again the conditions."
The United States has demonstrated flexibility, he said.
"Initially we were supposed to be at 9,800 [troops in Afghanistan] by the end of 2014, but our NATO allies had some challenges in resourcing, and so we've left an additional 1,000 there into the spring, to allow NATO to catch up with its resourcing challenges."
SATELLITE VIEW OF GREELAND'S LEIDY GLACIER
Caption Credit: Located in the northwest corner of Greenland, Leidy Glacier is fed by ice from the Academy Glacier (upstream and inland). As Leidy approaches the sea, it is diverted around the tip of an island that separates the Olriks Fjord to the south and Academy Cove to the north. The resulting crisscross pattern is simply the result of ice flowing along the path of least resistance.
This view of the region pictured above was acquired August 7, 2012, by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA's Terra satellite. In April 2012, the feature caught the attention of a NASA pilot, who snapped this picture from the cockpit of a high-flying ER-2 aircraft during a research flight over the Greenland ice cap.
FTC ANNOUNCES SUMMARY JUDGEMENT AGAINST DISH NETWORK FOR TELEMARKETING VIOLATIONS
FROM: U.S. FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
Court Grants Partial Summary Judgment in FTC Case against Dish Network, Finding the Company Liable for Tens of Millions of Telemarketing Violations
The U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois has found Dish Network liable for tens of millions of calls that violated the Federal Trade Commission’s Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR), including Do Not Call, entity-specific, and abandoned-call violations. The opinion, which was issued on December 12, 2014, represents a partial summary judgment win in the case the Department of Justice filed on behalf of the Federal Trade Commission against Dish in March 2009.
The FTC’s complaint alleges that Dish initiated, or caused a telemarketer to initiate, outbound telephone calls to phone numbers on the National Do Not Call (DNC) Registry, in violation of the TSR. Dish markets its programming directly, through telemarketing vendors it contracts with to engage in telemarketing, and through authorized dealers or retailers.
In the current ruling, the court found Dish liable for 4,094,099 calls it or its vendors made to numbers on the Registry and for 2,730,842 calls its retailers made to numbers on the Registry. The court found that the government met its burden to hold Dish liable for the retailers’ calls since: 1) Dish retained the retailers, 2) Dish authorized the retailers to market Dish products and services, and 3) the retailers violated the TSR by initiating Dish telemarketing calls to numbers on the Registry.
The complaint also alleges that Dish initiated, or caused other telemarketers to initiate, an outbound call to a person who had previously said that they do not wish to receive such a call, in violation of the “entity-specific” provision of the TSR. On this count, the court ruled that Dish is liable for 1,043,595 calls to consumers whose telephone numbers were on Dish’s internal do-not-call list or were marked “DNC” by Dish’s telemarketing vendor. The court left the issue of whether Dish is liable for any entity-specific violations relating to its retailers to be determined at trial.
In addition, the complaint alleges that Dish abandoned or caused telemarketers to abandon outbound telephone calls, in violation of the “abandoned-call” provision of TSR. On this count the court ruled that Dish is liable for 49,738,073 abandoned calls that Dish and three of its retailers made. The court found that Dish is liable for both its own calls, and for causing these retailers’ abandoned calls.
Finally, the court issued several findings in favor of the four state co-plaintiffs in the case against Dish. For example, the court found that the company made outbound telephone calls to residents of the states whose numbers were on the DNC Registry.
The Department of Justice filed the complaint at the FTC’s request in March 2009. DOJ, on behalf of the FTC, is jointly litigating the case with four state co-plaintiffs -- California, Illinois, Ohio, and North Carolina. The states allege that Dish violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and state law by calling numbers on the Do Not Call Registry and by making telemarketing robocalls to consumers.
Court Grants Partial Summary Judgment in FTC Case against Dish Network, Finding the Company Liable for Tens of Millions of Telemarketing Violations
The U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois has found Dish Network liable for tens of millions of calls that violated the Federal Trade Commission’s Telemarketing Sales Rule (TSR), including Do Not Call, entity-specific, and abandoned-call violations. The opinion, which was issued on December 12, 2014, represents a partial summary judgment win in the case the Department of Justice filed on behalf of the Federal Trade Commission against Dish in March 2009.
The FTC’s complaint alleges that Dish initiated, or caused a telemarketer to initiate, outbound telephone calls to phone numbers on the National Do Not Call (DNC) Registry, in violation of the TSR. Dish markets its programming directly, through telemarketing vendors it contracts with to engage in telemarketing, and through authorized dealers or retailers.
In the current ruling, the court found Dish liable for 4,094,099 calls it or its vendors made to numbers on the Registry and for 2,730,842 calls its retailers made to numbers on the Registry. The court found that the government met its burden to hold Dish liable for the retailers’ calls since: 1) Dish retained the retailers, 2) Dish authorized the retailers to market Dish products and services, and 3) the retailers violated the TSR by initiating Dish telemarketing calls to numbers on the Registry.
The complaint also alleges that Dish initiated, or caused other telemarketers to initiate, an outbound call to a person who had previously said that they do not wish to receive such a call, in violation of the “entity-specific” provision of the TSR. On this count, the court ruled that Dish is liable for 1,043,595 calls to consumers whose telephone numbers were on Dish’s internal do-not-call list or were marked “DNC” by Dish’s telemarketing vendor. The court left the issue of whether Dish is liable for any entity-specific violations relating to its retailers to be determined at trial.
In addition, the complaint alleges that Dish abandoned or caused telemarketers to abandon outbound telephone calls, in violation of the “abandoned-call” provision of TSR. On this count the court ruled that Dish is liable for 49,738,073 abandoned calls that Dish and three of its retailers made. The court found that Dish is liable for both its own calls, and for causing these retailers’ abandoned calls.
Finally, the court issued several findings in favor of the four state co-plaintiffs in the case against Dish. For example, the court found that the company made outbound telephone calls to residents of the states whose numbers were on the DNC Registry.
The Department of Justice filed the complaint at the FTC’s request in March 2009. DOJ, on behalf of the FTC, is jointly litigating the case with four state co-plaintiffs -- California, Illinois, Ohio, and North Carolina. The states allege that Dish violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and state law by calling numbers on the Do Not Call Registry and by making telemarketing robocalls to consumers.
PUNEET TALWAR'S REMARKS ON US.-VIETNAM RELATIUONSHIP
FROM: THE STATE DEPARTMENT
Arms Control and International Security: The U.S.-Vietnam Relationship: Advancing Peace and Prosperity in 2015
01/23/2015 05:44 AM EST
The U.S.-Vietnam Relationship: Advancing Peace and Prosperity in 2015
Remarks
Puneet Talwar
Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Political-Military Affairs
Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam
Hanoi, Vietnam
January 23, 2015
As prepared
Thank you very much. Cam on.
Let me thank Dr. Tuan Hoang for his very kind introduction, and for the important work he has done, both as a former Minister Counselor at Vietnam’s Embassy in the United States, and here in Vietnam, to deepen the bond between our countries.
It’s wonderful to be in Hanoi, a beautiful and bustling city with over one thousand years of history and culture. And I’m especially honored to be here at the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam, an institution that not only provides thoughtful insight on the major foreign policy issues of today, but also educates the leaders of tomorrow.
I want to also thank Vice Foreign Minister Ha Kim Ngoc and the entire Vietnamese government for such a warm welcome.
Yesterday and earlier today, my team and I held very productive discussions with our counterparts from Vietnam. We brought representation from the State Department, Department of Defense, Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, the United States Coast Guard, and United States Pacific Command. And on the Vietnamese side, we met with representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of National Defense, and the Ministry of Public Security.
As you can tell from the delegations, our discussions were very serious and covered the full range of issues. And I think the scope of these talks over the last two days is the most recent data point on an upward trajectory that shows how far our relationship has come.
I can certainly speak for the American side when I say that this year’s dialogue has set a positive and encouraging tone for 2015, which is an historic year in U.S.-Vietnam relations.
Many of us still remember a time when an event like this one, with a visiting American diplomat speaking at Vietnam’s diplomatic academy, would have been unimaginable. But thanks to the vision and direction from our leaders over the past two decades, here we are.
As the Vietnamese proverb goes, An qua nho ke trong cay, which for those who don’t speak Vietnamese, means, “When eating a fruit, think of the person who planted the tree.”
So this year, as we celebrate the 20th year of normalized ties, let us remember those who planted the seeds of friendship and partnership… who even in the darkest of days, had the courage and vision to see a brighter path ahead.
Twenty years ago, in 1995, President Clinton and President Anh, along with leaders like Senator John McCain and then-Senator John Kerry, ushered in a new chapter in this relationship. Many others, including Secretary Colin Powell and Secretary Hillary Clinton, built on this important groundwork and helped guide us to where we are today.
But change did not just happen at the leader-to-leader level. It also happened at the people-to-people level, with thousands of American and Vietnamese students studying abroad, forging friendships, and exchanging ideas and cultures, dreaming of the future rather than being shackled by the past.
Both our leaders and our peoples took bold steps so that today, all of us could enjoy the fruits of their labor – with more trade between our businesses, more visits between our peoples, and more exchanges between our students.
As we reflect on the tremendous progress we’ve made, today I’d like to talk about where we go from here. To ask how we can build upon the growth we’ve worked so hard to cultivate. The Comprehensive Partnership, launched by President Obama and President Sang in 2013, laid out a blueprint for how we can chart that course together.
I’d like to focus in on three areas of cooperation, all of which support our bilateral ties and underpin America’s overall rebalance to the Asia-Pacific. First, humanitarian cooperation; second, trade and economic cooperation; and third, defense and security cooperation.
The United States has a longstanding relationship with Vietnam on humanitarian issues, some of them the legacies of history. For many years now, we have worked with Vietnam to address the effects of Agent Orange, and to coordinate on issues related to the remains of missing Americans. Indeed, it was our joint effort on these issues that helped lay the foundation for the restoration of ties. And I know that Secretary Kerry, to this day, is proud of the progress we’ve been able to achieve, and how it has set the stage for the much broader partnership that we are seeing today.
We’ve also taken action to alleviate the humanitarian impacts of unexploded ordnance. Cluster munitions and other leftover remnants of war remain a humanitarian concern because they continue to endanger innocent men, women, and particularly children, long after soldiers have laid down their arms. Without a moment’s notice, these weapons can end or alter a life forever.
So our objective is clear. We want to see a Vietnam that is free from the impact of unexploded ordnance, period. And although this won’t happen overnight, with sustained focus and sustained investment, this is a goal we are committed to reaching.
That’s why, since 1993, even before we restored diplomatic ties, the United States began helping to remove unexploded ordnance from Vietnam. We are by far the largest international donor to this effort, and I just met with some of our NGO partners here in Vietnam who are working every day to implement these efforts on the ground. This year, the United States has more than doubled our financial commitment to Vietnam, with a special focus on Quang Tri Province. And next year, we expect to increase funding even more. In the United States, this work is supported across the political spectrum, because it’s the right thing to do.
Our efforts are far from finished, but by uprooting and disarming these deadly remnants of war, we are sowing a safer future for all Vietnamese.
Still, our humanitarian efforts with Vietnam extend far beyond unexploded ordnance. Since 2004, through the President’s Emergency Program for AIDS Relief, we’ve invested over $700 million to support the fight against HIV/AIDS in Vietnam.
Together with Vietnam and our other regional partners, we’re also working on humanitarian efforts throughout the region and the world.
We commend Vietnam for its first ever contribution to a United Nations peacekeeping effort, launched last year. The professionalism of the Vietnamese officers will enhance the effectiveness of the UN Mission in South Sudan. And we look forward to working with you to build on that initial commitment going forward, including by assisting with the construction of Vietnam’s peacekeeping training center, and by preparing your peacekeepers to deploy a military hospital and an engineering unit.
Even as we support humanitarian efforts in faraway places through peacekeeping, we also continue to work with our partners throughout ASEAN, including Vietnam, on disaster relief right here in Southeast Asia. The past few weeks have unfortunately provided yet another example of why this work is so important. When word came of the terrible Air Asia tragedy, the men and women aboard the USS Sampson and USS Fort Worth, along with many others from across the region, stopped what they were doing to join the search. That’s what good friends do. And going forward, we remain steadfast in our commitment to partnering with Vietnam and others in the region to be able to quickly and effectively contribute to disaster relief efforts.
Let me also take a moment to address another issue on our bilateral agenda: human rights. We strongly believe that societies that respect human rights flourish. As Secretary Kerry has said, “Greater openness is a great catalyst for a stronger and more prosperous society. And today Vietnam has a historic opportunity to prove that even further.” Whether it’s an open internet, a more open society, or freer exchange of ideas… the protection of human rights, which includes the freedom to freely express one’s views, is a step towards a stronger, more prosperous, and more inclusive Vietnam.
Over the past two decades, our countries have made great strides not only on our humanitarian agenda, but also on our economic agenda. Let me highlight just a few examples.
Twenty years ago, when we restored our relationship, our bilateral trade was just $451 million. Last year it reached almost $35 billion. During that same time period, the incomes of Vietnamese citizens have quadrupled.
Today, Vietnam exports more goods to the United States than to any other country. Our economic relationship has created thousands of jobs in Vietnam and in the United States.
In every year since normalization in 1995, Vietnam’s GDP has grown by over 4 percent. And in every year since 2000, it has grown by over 5 percent.
And Vietnam’s future looks just as promising, thanks to growing exports, increased tourism here in Vietnam, and a young, vibrant population – where over 40 percent of your people are under the age of 25. Walking along the streets of Hanoi, the youth and energy and promise of Vietnam’s future is palpable.
That brings me to the second area where we can deepen our cooperation this year: the economy and trade. As President Sang said when he visited Washington, DC in July 2013, “Economic trade ties continue to stay at the heart of bilateral relations, serving both as the cornerstone of, and an engine for the overall relationship.”
In 2015, the most important thing we can do to build on this economic progress is to complete the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
TPP would provide the United States, Vietnam, and ten other member states a level playing field to compete in markets that together account for almost 40 percent of global GDP. It would set high standards on labor and the environment, and it would open up new markets for American goods and for Vietnamese goods. Seizing this moment, this year, is an opportunity we should not miss.
The third area of cooperation, in security and defense, is what underpins our economic relationship, our humanitarian work, and our many other areas of cooperation.
The truth is that prosperity and security are inseparable.
With over half the world’s merchant tonnage flowing through the South China Sea; with over 15 million barrels of oil per day and over 100,000 vessels per year passing through the Strait of Malacca; security is essential to the free flow of trade and commerce in Southeast Asia.
And here’s where our cooperation can really make a difference, and where the 2011 Memorandum of Understanding for advancing our bilateral defense cooperation set an excellent foundation. Because all of our security cooperation – whether it’s helping to develop Vietnam’s coast guard, promoting access to sea lanes, countering piracy, promoting disaster response, improving maritime domain awareness in the region, upholding maritime security – all of these activities are designed to underpin our economic relationship.
Working with our regional partners to help them build up their capabilities – whether it’s Vietnam or the Philippines or Malaysia or Indonesia – is a net security benefit and a net economic benefit for the region.
Last year, as you know, Secretary Kerry announced an important revision to our bilateral arms sales policy. As part of the $32.5 million he announced in new regional maritime security assistance, $18 million of that was directed to Vietnam. That investment boosts our shared security, and the prospects for our shared economic growth. And in our dialogue over the past two days, we discussed more ways to help you secure your borders and waterways, and to deepen security in the region.
Our security cooperation is already paying dividends, but there is still more work to do. One area where we are seeing tension is in the South China Sea. We continue to support diplomatic efforts by ASEAN to manage these tensions, including the establishment of a binding Code of Conduct. And we do not hesitate to raise our concerns over these tensions at the highest of levels, including with Chinese leaders.
Our policy is clear. There must be one set of rules in the South China Sea. We believe in freedom of navigation and over flight throughout the region, which is crucial to economic growth. We share a vision where all parties pursue resolution of their territorial and maritime disputes through peaceful means, in accordance with universally recognized principles of international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Within the realm of security cooperation, we can also do more together to counter the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. We want to see every country adhere to international norms and obligations on weapons of mass destruction, while at the same time making available peaceful uses of nuclear technology. Going forward, our two countries can make strong contributions to counter regional and global proliferation threats.
A final topic in the security arena that is ripe for increased engagement is in the law enforcement and justice sector. We had an excellent conversation on this issue at our meetings here in Vietnam, where we highlighted the robust cooperation we’ve seen on investigations and law enforcement training programs. And we are committed to sustained engagement as Vietnam undertakes legislative efforts to implement its Penal and Criminal Procedure Codes.
As I said at the beginning of my remarks, these three broad areas of cooperation – humanitarian, economic, and security – don’t just build our bilateral ties. They also reinforce our overall rebalance to Asia.
I know that with the many crises unfolding across the world, in the Middle East, in Ukraine, and elsewhere, there are some who wonder whether the United States is still committed to the Asia rebalance. Let me answer that in one word: Yes. We are. President Obama is committed to it. Secretary Kerry is committed to it. I’m committed to it.
But you don’t have to take our word for it. The vast array of ways that we are working together, with you and our many friends throughout the Asia-Pacific – those actions, rather than these words, show that the rebalance is real.
Broadening and deepening our partnership with Vietnam is a critical pillar of the rebalance. And this year holds so much promise and possibility for us to make progress, and it’s our job now to turn those possibilities into action.
Twenty years ago, when President Clinton announced a new direction in our relationship, he reflected on the past but said, “Let the future be our destination.”
So let us continue to work together on these issues – on peacekeeping, unexploded ordnance, and human rights; on growing our trade and investment; and on building a more stable and secure Southeast Asia. So that in five or ten or twenty more years, when the young leaders here today are eating their fruit, they can think of the work we did this year to plant those seeds of cooperation… to build a more prosperous and more peaceful future.
Let me extend, on behalf of the American people, our warmest wishes as Tet approaches. To the future of U.S.-Vietnam relations, hung thinh va ben vung – full of prosperity and long-lasting.
Thank you very. Cam on.
Arms Control and International Security: The U.S.-Vietnam Relationship: Advancing Peace and Prosperity in 2015
01/23/2015 05:44 AM EST
The U.S.-Vietnam Relationship: Advancing Peace and Prosperity in 2015
Remarks
Puneet Talwar
Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Political-Military Affairs
Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam
Hanoi, Vietnam
January 23, 2015
As prepared
Thank you very much. Cam on.
Let me thank Dr. Tuan Hoang for his very kind introduction, and for the important work he has done, both as a former Minister Counselor at Vietnam’s Embassy in the United States, and here in Vietnam, to deepen the bond between our countries.
It’s wonderful to be in Hanoi, a beautiful and bustling city with over one thousand years of history and culture. And I’m especially honored to be here at the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam, an institution that not only provides thoughtful insight on the major foreign policy issues of today, but also educates the leaders of tomorrow.
I want to also thank Vice Foreign Minister Ha Kim Ngoc and the entire Vietnamese government for such a warm welcome.
Yesterday and earlier today, my team and I held very productive discussions with our counterparts from Vietnam. We brought representation from the State Department, Department of Defense, Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, the United States Coast Guard, and United States Pacific Command. And on the Vietnamese side, we met with representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of National Defense, and the Ministry of Public Security.
As you can tell from the delegations, our discussions were very serious and covered the full range of issues. And I think the scope of these talks over the last two days is the most recent data point on an upward trajectory that shows how far our relationship has come.
I can certainly speak for the American side when I say that this year’s dialogue has set a positive and encouraging tone for 2015, which is an historic year in U.S.-Vietnam relations.
Many of us still remember a time when an event like this one, with a visiting American diplomat speaking at Vietnam’s diplomatic academy, would have been unimaginable. But thanks to the vision and direction from our leaders over the past two decades, here we are.
As the Vietnamese proverb goes, An qua nho ke trong cay, which for those who don’t speak Vietnamese, means, “When eating a fruit, think of the person who planted the tree.”
So this year, as we celebrate the 20th year of normalized ties, let us remember those who planted the seeds of friendship and partnership… who even in the darkest of days, had the courage and vision to see a brighter path ahead.
Twenty years ago, in 1995, President Clinton and President Anh, along with leaders like Senator John McCain and then-Senator John Kerry, ushered in a new chapter in this relationship. Many others, including Secretary Colin Powell and Secretary Hillary Clinton, built on this important groundwork and helped guide us to where we are today.
But change did not just happen at the leader-to-leader level. It also happened at the people-to-people level, with thousands of American and Vietnamese students studying abroad, forging friendships, and exchanging ideas and cultures, dreaming of the future rather than being shackled by the past.
Both our leaders and our peoples took bold steps so that today, all of us could enjoy the fruits of their labor – with more trade between our businesses, more visits between our peoples, and more exchanges between our students.
As we reflect on the tremendous progress we’ve made, today I’d like to talk about where we go from here. To ask how we can build upon the growth we’ve worked so hard to cultivate. The Comprehensive Partnership, launched by President Obama and President Sang in 2013, laid out a blueprint for how we can chart that course together.
I’d like to focus in on three areas of cooperation, all of which support our bilateral ties and underpin America’s overall rebalance to the Asia-Pacific. First, humanitarian cooperation; second, trade and economic cooperation; and third, defense and security cooperation.
The United States has a longstanding relationship with Vietnam on humanitarian issues, some of them the legacies of history. For many years now, we have worked with Vietnam to address the effects of Agent Orange, and to coordinate on issues related to the remains of missing Americans. Indeed, it was our joint effort on these issues that helped lay the foundation for the restoration of ties. And I know that Secretary Kerry, to this day, is proud of the progress we’ve been able to achieve, and how it has set the stage for the much broader partnership that we are seeing today.
We’ve also taken action to alleviate the humanitarian impacts of unexploded ordnance. Cluster munitions and other leftover remnants of war remain a humanitarian concern because they continue to endanger innocent men, women, and particularly children, long after soldiers have laid down their arms. Without a moment’s notice, these weapons can end or alter a life forever.
So our objective is clear. We want to see a Vietnam that is free from the impact of unexploded ordnance, period. And although this won’t happen overnight, with sustained focus and sustained investment, this is a goal we are committed to reaching.
That’s why, since 1993, even before we restored diplomatic ties, the United States began helping to remove unexploded ordnance from Vietnam. We are by far the largest international donor to this effort, and I just met with some of our NGO partners here in Vietnam who are working every day to implement these efforts on the ground. This year, the United States has more than doubled our financial commitment to Vietnam, with a special focus on Quang Tri Province. And next year, we expect to increase funding even more. In the United States, this work is supported across the political spectrum, because it’s the right thing to do.
Our efforts are far from finished, but by uprooting and disarming these deadly remnants of war, we are sowing a safer future for all Vietnamese.
Still, our humanitarian efforts with Vietnam extend far beyond unexploded ordnance. Since 2004, through the President’s Emergency Program for AIDS Relief, we’ve invested over $700 million to support the fight against HIV/AIDS in Vietnam.
Together with Vietnam and our other regional partners, we’re also working on humanitarian efforts throughout the region and the world.
We commend Vietnam for its first ever contribution to a United Nations peacekeeping effort, launched last year. The professionalism of the Vietnamese officers will enhance the effectiveness of the UN Mission in South Sudan. And we look forward to working with you to build on that initial commitment going forward, including by assisting with the construction of Vietnam’s peacekeeping training center, and by preparing your peacekeepers to deploy a military hospital and an engineering unit.
Even as we support humanitarian efforts in faraway places through peacekeeping, we also continue to work with our partners throughout ASEAN, including Vietnam, on disaster relief right here in Southeast Asia. The past few weeks have unfortunately provided yet another example of why this work is so important. When word came of the terrible Air Asia tragedy, the men and women aboard the USS Sampson and USS Fort Worth, along with many others from across the region, stopped what they were doing to join the search. That’s what good friends do. And going forward, we remain steadfast in our commitment to partnering with Vietnam and others in the region to be able to quickly and effectively contribute to disaster relief efforts.
Let me also take a moment to address another issue on our bilateral agenda: human rights. We strongly believe that societies that respect human rights flourish. As Secretary Kerry has said, “Greater openness is a great catalyst for a stronger and more prosperous society. And today Vietnam has a historic opportunity to prove that even further.” Whether it’s an open internet, a more open society, or freer exchange of ideas… the protection of human rights, which includes the freedom to freely express one’s views, is a step towards a stronger, more prosperous, and more inclusive Vietnam.
Over the past two decades, our countries have made great strides not only on our humanitarian agenda, but also on our economic agenda. Let me highlight just a few examples.
Twenty years ago, when we restored our relationship, our bilateral trade was just $451 million. Last year it reached almost $35 billion. During that same time period, the incomes of Vietnamese citizens have quadrupled.
Today, Vietnam exports more goods to the United States than to any other country. Our economic relationship has created thousands of jobs in Vietnam and in the United States.
In every year since normalization in 1995, Vietnam’s GDP has grown by over 4 percent. And in every year since 2000, it has grown by over 5 percent.
And Vietnam’s future looks just as promising, thanks to growing exports, increased tourism here in Vietnam, and a young, vibrant population – where over 40 percent of your people are under the age of 25. Walking along the streets of Hanoi, the youth and energy and promise of Vietnam’s future is palpable.
That brings me to the second area where we can deepen our cooperation this year: the economy and trade. As President Sang said when he visited Washington, DC in July 2013, “Economic trade ties continue to stay at the heart of bilateral relations, serving both as the cornerstone of, and an engine for the overall relationship.”
In 2015, the most important thing we can do to build on this economic progress is to complete the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
TPP would provide the United States, Vietnam, and ten other member states a level playing field to compete in markets that together account for almost 40 percent of global GDP. It would set high standards on labor and the environment, and it would open up new markets for American goods and for Vietnamese goods. Seizing this moment, this year, is an opportunity we should not miss.
The third area of cooperation, in security and defense, is what underpins our economic relationship, our humanitarian work, and our many other areas of cooperation.
The truth is that prosperity and security are inseparable.
With over half the world’s merchant tonnage flowing through the South China Sea; with over 15 million barrels of oil per day and over 100,000 vessels per year passing through the Strait of Malacca; security is essential to the free flow of trade and commerce in Southeast Asia.
And here’s where our cooperation can really make a difference, and where the 2011 Memorandum of Understanding for advancing our bilateral defense cooperation set an excellent foundation. Because all of our security cooperation – whether it’s helping to develop Vietnam’s coast guard, promoting access to sea lanes, countering piracy, promoting disaster response, improving maritime domain awareness in the region, upholding maritime security – all of these activities are designed to underpin our economic relationship.
Working with our regional partners to help them build up their capabilities – whether it’s Vietnam or the Philippines or Malaysia or Indonesia – is a net security benefit and a net economic benefit for the region.
Last year, as you know, Secretary Kerry announced an important revision to our bilateral arms sales policy. As part of the $32.5 million he announced in new regional maritime security assistance, $18 million of that was directed to Vietnam. That investment boosts our shared security, and the prospects for our shared economic growth. And in our dialogue over the past two days, we discussed more ways to help you secure your borders and waterways, and to deepen security in the region.
Our security cooperation is already paying dividends, but there is still more work to do. One area where we are seeing tension is in the South China Sea. We continue to support diplomatic efforts by ASEAN to manage these tensions, including the establishment of a binding Code of Conduct. And we do not hesitate to raise our concerns over these tensions at the highest of levels, including with Chinese leaders.
Our policy is clear. There must be one set of rules in the South China Sea. We believe in freedom of navigation and over flight throughout the region, which is crucial to economic growth. We share a vision where all parties pursue resolution of their territorial and maritime disputes through peaceful means, in accordance with universally recognized principles of international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Within the realm of security cooperation, we can also do more together to counter the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. We want to see every country adhere to international norms and obligations on weapons of mass destruction, while at the same time making available peaceful uses of nuclear technology. Going forward, our two countries can make strong contributions to counter regional and global proliferation threats.
A final topic in the security arena that is ripe for increased engagement is in the law enforcement and justice sector. We had an excellent conversation on this issue at our meetings here in Vietnam, where we highlighted the robust cooperation we’ve seen on investigations and law enforcement training programs. And we are committed to sustained engagement as Vietnam undertakes legislative efforts to implement its Penal and Criminal Procedure Codes.
As I said at the beginning of my remarks, these three broad areas of cooperation – humanitarian, economic, and security – don’t just build our bilateral ties. They also reinforce our overall rebalance to Asia.
I know that with the many crises unfolding across the world, in the Middle East, in Ukraine, and elsewhere, there are some who wonder whether the United States is still committed to the Asia rebalance. Let me answer that in one word: Yes. We are. President Obama is committed to it. Secretary Kerry is committed to it. I’m committed to it.
But you don’t have to take our word for it. The vast array of ways that we are working together, with you and our many friends throughout the Asia-Pacific – those actions, rather than these words, show that the rebalance is real.
Broadening and deepening our partnership with Vietnam is a critical pillar of the rebalance. And this year holds so much promise and possibility for us to make progress, and it’s our job now to turn those possibilities into action.
Twenty years ago, when President Clinton announced a new direction in our relationship, he reflected on the past but said, “Let the future be our destination.”
So let us continue to work together on these issues – on peacekeeping, unexploded ordnance, and human rights; on growing our trade and investment; and on building a more stable and secure Southeast Asia. So that in five or ten or twenty more years, when the young leaders here today are eating their fruit, they can think of the work we did this year to plant those seeds of cooperation… to build a more prosperous and more peaceful future.
Let me extend, on behalf of the American people, our warmest wishes as Tet approaches. To the future of U.S.-Vietnam relations, hung thinh va ben vung – full of prosperity and long-lasting.
Thank you very. Cam on.
SEC ALLEGES FORMER EXECUTIVE AT ENGINEERING FIRM BRIBED FOREIGN OFFICIAL
FROM: U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
SEC Charges Former Executive at Tampa-Based Engineering Firm With FCPA Violations
01/22/2015 10:40 AM EST
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a former officer at a Tampa, Fla.-based engineering and construction firm with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by offering and authorizing bribes and employment to foreign officials to secure Qatari government contracts.
The SEC also announced a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with The PBSJ Corporation that defers FCPA charges for a period of two years and requires the company to comply with certain undertakings. PBSJ must immediately pay $3.4 million in financial remedies as part of the agreement, which reflects the company’s significant cooperation with the SEC investigation. PBSJ is now known as The Atkins North America Holdings Corporation and no longer offers public stock in the U.S.
An SEC investigation found that Walid Hatoum, who has agreed to settle the SEC’s charges, offered to funnel funds to a local company owned and controlled by a foreign official in order to secure two multi-million Qatari government contracts for PBSJ in 2009. The foreign official subsequently provided Hatoum and PBSJ’s international subsidiary with access to confidential sealed-bid and pricing information that enabled the PBSJ subsidiary to tender winning bids for a hotel resort development project in Morocco and a light rail transit project in Qatar.
“Hatoum offered and authorized nearly $1.4 million in bribes disguised as ‘agency fees’ intended for a foreign official who used an alias to communicate confidential information that assisted PBSJ,” said Kara Brockmeyer, Chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s FCPA Unit. “PBSJ ignored multiple red flags that should have enabled other officers and employees to uncover the bribery scheme at an earlier stage. But once discovered, the company self-reported the potential FCPA violations and cooperated substantially.”
According to the SEC’s order instituting a settled administrative proceeding against Hatoum, he also offered employment to a second foreign official in return for assistance as the bribery scheme began to unravel and PBSJ lost the hotel resort contract. Even though the bribes themselves were not consummated before the scheme was uncovered by the company, PBSJ earned approximately $2.9 million in illicit profits because it continued work on the light rail project until a replacement company could be found.
Under the DPA, PBSJ agreed to pay disgorgement and interest of $3,032,875 and a penalty of $375,000. PBSJ took quick steps to end the misconduct after self-reporting to the SEC, and the company voluntarily made witnesses available for interviews and provided factual chronologies, timelines, internal summaries, and full forensic images to cooperate with the SEC’s investigation.
The SEC’s order against Hatoum finds that he violated the anti-bribery, internal accounting controls, books and records, and false records provisions of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Without admitting or denying the findings, Hatoum agreed to pay a penalty of $50,000.
The SEC’s investigation was conducted by FCPA Unit members Tracy L. Price and Jim Valentino. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the Justice Department’s Fraud Section and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
SEC Charges Former Executive at Tampa-Based Engineering Firm With FCPA Violations
01/22/2015 10:40 AM EST
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a former officer at a Tampa, Fla.-based engineering and construction firm with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by offering and authorizing bribes and employment to foreign officials to secure Qatari government contracts.
The SEC also announced a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with The PBSJ Corporation that defers FCPA charges for a period of two years and requires the company to comply with certain undertakings. PBSJ must immediately pay $3.4 million in financial remedies as part of the agreement, which reflects the company’s significant cooperation with the SEC investigation. PBSJ is now known as The Atkins North America Holdings Corporation and no longer offers public stock in the U.S.
An SEC investigation found that Walid Hatoum, who has agreed to settle the SEC’s charges, offered to funnel funds to a local company owned and controlled by a foreign official in order to secure two multi-million Qatari government contracts for PBSJ in 2009. The foreign official subsequently provided Hatoum and PBSJ’s international subsidiary with access to confidential sealed-bid and pricing information that enabled the PBSJ subsidiary to tender winning bids for a hotel resort development project in Morocco and a light rail transit project in Qatar.
“Hatoum offered and authorized nearly $1.4 million in bribes disguised as ‘agency fees’ intended for a foreign official who used an alias to communicate confidential information that assisted PBSJ,” said Kara Brockmeyer, Chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s FCPA Unit. “PBSJ ignored multiple red flags that should have enabled other officers and employees to uncover the bribery scheme at an earlier stage. But once discovered, the company self-reported the potential FCPA violations and cooperated substantially.”
According to the SEC’s order instituting a settled administrative proceeding against Hatoum, he also offered employment to a second foreign official in return for assistance as the bribery scheme began to unravel and PBSJ lost the hotel resort contract. Even though the bribes themselves were not consummated before the scheme was uncovered by the company, PBSJ earned approximately $2.9 million in illicit profits because it continued work on the light rail project until a replacement company could be found.
Under the DPA, PBSJ agreed to pay disgorgement and interest of $3,032,875 and a penalty of $375,000. PBSJ took quick steps to end the misconduct after self-reporting to the SEC, and the company voluntarily made witnesses available for interviews and provided factual chronologies, timelines, internal summaries, and full forensic images to cooperate with the SEC’s investigation.
The SEC’s order against Hatoum finds that he violated the anti-bribery, internal accounting controls, books and records, and false records provisions of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Without admitting or denying the findings, Hatoum agreed to pay a penalty of $50,000.
The SEC’s investigation was conducted by FCPA Unit members Tracy L. Price and Jim Valentino. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the Justice Department’s Fraud Section and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
U.S. MARSHALS SERVICE REPORTS CAPTURE OF ACCUSED CHILD KILLER
FROM: U.S. MARSHALS SERVICE
For Immediate Release
Contact:
January 21, 2015 Danny Shelton, Deputy U.S. Marshal
Middle District of Tennessee
Nashville Marshals Capture Accused Child Killer
Brentwood, TN – The man accused of shooting a thirteen-year-old girl as she lay sleeping in Lebanon has been apprehended in Brentwood, Tennessee yesterday by U.S. Marshals and Brentwood Police. Joseph C. Hendry II was arrested in a room at the Extended Stay America Hotel on Church Street. U.S. Marshals in Nashville received information that Hendry may be in the area. They knocked on the hotel room door, and Hendry eventually answered.
Hendry is accused of shooting into a house on January 5, 2015, where C’Asia Watkins was sleeping. Watkins was not the intended target of the shooting, but a motive for the homicide is unclear. C’Asia Watkins died on January 8, 2015.
Joseph Hendry II is charged in Lebanon, Tennessee with first degree murder, criminal attempt to commit first degree murder, and 4 counts of aggravated assault. He was booked into the Wilson County Jail in Lebanon after questioning by Brentwood Police.
For Immediate Release
Contact:
January 21, 2015 Danny Shelton, Deputy U.S. Marshal
Middle District of Tennessee
Nashville Marshals Capture Accused Child Killer
Brentwood, TN – The man accused of shooting a thirteen-year-old girl as she lay sleeping in Lebanon has been apprehended in Brentwood, Tennessee yesterday by U.S. Marshals and Brentwood Police. Joseph C. Hendry II was arrested in a room at the Extended Stay America Hotel on Church Street. U.S. Marshals in Nashville received information that Hendry may be in the area. They knocked on the hotel room door, and Hendry eventually answered.
Hendry is accused of shooting into a house on January 5, 2015, where C’Asia Watkins was sleeping. Watkins was not the intended target of the shooting, but a motive for the homicide is unclear. C’Asia Watkins died on January 8, 2015.
Joseph Hendry II is charged in Lebanon, Tennessee with first degree murder, criminal attempt to commit first degree murder, and 4 counts of aggravated assault. He was booked into the Wilson County Jail in Lebanon after questioning by Brentwood Police.
Friday, January 23, 2015
DOD SAYS ISIL NO LONGER IN OPEN LEADING TO FEWER AIRSTRIKE TARGETS
FROM: U.S. DEFENSE DEPARTMENT
Fewer Air Targets as ISIL Terrorists Hide, Change Tactics
By Claudette Roulo
DoD News, Defense Media Activity
WASHINGTON, Jan. 23, 2015 – Success in the effort to degrade, defeat and destroy the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant shouldn't be considered simply in terms of a body count or how much land has changed hands, Pentagon Press Secretary Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby said today.
"What makes these guys different than a group like al-Qaida is they do have territorial designs. They have governing ambitions," Kirby told reporters during a regular Pentagon news briefing.
"They talk about this caliphate vision of theirs. And in order to govern, you have to have territory under your control. So that matters, in that regard," the admiral explained.
Airstrikes Affecting ISIL Tactics
But the more critical measure of success is one that can't be easily quantified: how ISIL’s behavior on the battlefield has changed since the start of the bombing campaign last June, Kirby said.
"We know that they are operating and communicating in much different ways now than they were seven months ago. They're no longer out in the open," he said.
Because there are fewer targets, the air campaign has slowed down, the admiral said.
"One of the reasons why maybe there's fewer targets is because they're hiding more," Kirby said. "And if they're hiding more, if they're constrained, then they're not as able to enact the same kind of influence. So they're changing the way they operate. They are definitely much more on the defensive."
ISIL forces have also slowed their attempts to seize more territory, he said.
"What we are starting to see them do is defend, you know, so they're getting into defensive positions on territory that they do have," the admiral said. "And they are -- we're seeing them try to protect their own lines of communication."
Progress Against a Potent Force
These signs of progress -- in addition to indications that ISIL is struggling due to the inability to resupply themselves and because of the loss of oil revenue -- shouldn't be taken to mean that they are no longer a potent force inside Iraq and Syria, Kirby said.
"There's a long way to go here," he said. Establishing the conditions that will lead to good governance inside Iraq and Syria will take three to five years, the admiral said, and eradicating the ideology of ISIL will require more than just a military campaign.
"I've said it before, I'll say it again: ... The real center of gravity for this group is their ideology, not their fighters, not their trucks, and not necessarily, you know, every little camp they set up or position that they establish," Kirby said.
"It's about this ideology and that's going to take time. And it's not going to be done through military means alone."
Fewer Air Targets as ISIL Terrorists Hide, Change Tactics
By Claudette Roulo
DoD News, Defense Media Activity
WASHINGTON, Jan. 23, 2015 – Success in the effort to degrade, defeat and destroy the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant shouldn't be considered simply in terms of a body count or how much land has changed hands, Pentagon Press Secretary Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby said today.
"What makes these guys different than a group like al-Qaida is they do have territorial designs. They have governing ambitions," Kirby told reporters during a regular Pentagon news briefing.
"They talk about this caliphate vision of theirs. And in order to govern, you have to have territory under your control. So that matters, in that regard," the admiral explained.
Airstrikes Affecting ISIL Tactics
But the more critical measure of success is one that can't be easily quantified: how ISIL’s behavior on the battlefield has changed since the start of the bombing campaign last June, Kirby said.
"We know that they are operating and communicating in much different ways now than they were seven months ago. They're no longer out in the open," he said.
Because there are fewer targets, the air campaign has slowed down, the admiral said.
"One of the reasons why maybe there's fewer targets is because they're hiding more," Kirby said. "And if they're hiding more, if they're constrained, then they're not as able to enact the same kind of influence. So they're changing the way they operate. They are definitely much more on the defensive."
ISIL forces have also slowed their attempts to seize more territory, he said.
"What we are starting to see them do is defend, you know, so they're getting into defensive positions on territory that they do have," the admiral said. "And they are -- we're seeing them try to protect their own lines of communication."
Progress Against a Potent Force
These signs of progress -- in addition to indications that ISIL is struggling due to the inability to resupply themselves and because of the loss of oil revenue -- shouldn't be taken to mean that they are no longer a potent force inside Iraq and Syria, Kirby said.
"There's a long way to go here," he said. Establishing the conditions that will lead to good governance inside Iraq and Syria will take three to five years, the admiral said, and eradicating the ideology of ISIL will require more than just a military campaign.
"I've said it before, I'll say it again: ... The real center of gravity for this group is their ideology, not their fighters, not their trucks, and not necessarily, you know, every little camp they set up or position that they establish," Kirby said.
"It's about this ideology and that's going to take time. And it's not going to be done through military means alone."
PRESIDENT OBAMA'S STATEMENT ON ROE V. WADE ANIVERSARY
FROM: THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release January 22, 2015
Statement by the President on the 42nd Anniversary of Roe v. Wade
Forty-two years ago today, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling in Roe v. Wade, a decision that protects a woman’s freedom to make her own choices about her body and her health, and reaffirms a fundamental American value: that government should not intrude in our most private and personal family matters.
I am deeply committed to protecting this core constitutional right, and I believe that efforts like H.R. 7, the bill the House considered today, would intrude on women's reproductive freedom and access to health care and unnecessarily restrict the private insurance choices that consumers have today. The federal government should not be injecting itself into decisions best made between women, their families, and their doctors. I am also deeply committed to continuing our work to reduce unintended pregnancies, support maternal and child health, promote adoptions, and minimize the need for abortion.
Today, as we reflect on this critical moment in our history, may we all rededicate ourselves to ensuring that our daughters have the same rights, freedoms, and opportunities as our sons.
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release January 22, 2015
Statement by the President on the 42nd Anniversary of Roe v. Wade
Forty-two years ago today, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its ruling in Roe v. Wade, a decision that protects a woman’s freedom to make her own choices about her body and her health, and reaffirms a fundamental American value: that government should not intrude in our most private and personal family matters.
I am deeply committed to protecting this core constitutional right, and I believe that efforts like H.R. 7, the bill the House considered today, would intrude on women's reproductive freedom and access to health care and unnecessarily restrict the private insurance choices that consumers have today. The federal government should not be injecting itself into decisions best made between women, their families, and their doctors. I am also deeply committed to continuing our work to reduce unintended pregnancies, support maternal and child health, promote adoptions, and minimize the need for abortion.
Today, as we reflect on this critical moment in our history, may we all rededicate ourselves to ensuring that our daughters have the same rights, freedoms, and opportunities as our sons.
MAN INDICTED FOR PLOT TO ATTACK U.S. GOVERNMENT OFFICERS
FR: U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Cincinnati-Area Man Indicted for Plot to Attack U.S. Government Officers
Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin, U.S. Attorney Carter M. Stewart for the Southern District of Ohio and Acting Special Agent in Charge John A. Barrios of the FBI’s Cincinnati Field Division announced that a federal grand jury has charged Christopher Lee Cornell, 20, of Green Township, Ohio, with attempting to kill officers and employees of the United States, solicitation to commit a crime of violence and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence in an indictment returned in Cincinnati. Cornell was charged for his alleged plot to attack the U.S. Capitol and kill government officials.
The indictment alleges that from August 2014 through January 2015, Cornell plotted an attack on the U.S. Capitol that would have killed officers and employees of the United States during their official duties. During that same time, the defendant allegedly attempted to persuade another to join him in his planned act of violence. Cornell also allegedly possessed two semi-automatic rifles and approximately 600 rounds of ammunition.
Attempted murder of government employees and officials is a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Solicitation to commit an attempted murder is a crime punishable by 20 years in prison. Possession of a firearm in furtherance of an attempted crime of violence is a crime punishable by a mandatory sentence of five years in prison.
Cornell was arrested on Jan. 14, 2015, by the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF). The JTTF is made up of officers and agents from the Cincinnati Police Department, Colerain Police Department, Dayton Police Department, Ohio State Highway Patrol, United States Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, United States Secret Service, West Chester Police Department and Xenia Police Department.
Cornell is scheduled for an arraignment on the charges on Jan. 22, 2015, at 1:30 p.m., before Magistrate Judge Stephanie Bowman.
Assistant Attorney General Carlin and U.S. Attorney Stewart commended the investigation of this case by the JTTF. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Tim Mangan and Michael Dittoe of the Justice Department National Security Division Counterterrorism Section.
An indictment merely contains allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
Cincinnati-Area Man Indicted for Plot to Attack U.S. Government Officers
Assistant Attorney General for National Security John P. Carlin, U.S. Attorney Carter M. Stewart for the Southern District of Ohio and Acting Special Agent in Charge John A. Barrios of the FBI’s Cincinnati Field Division announced that a federal grand jury has charged Christopher Lee Cornell, 20, of Green Township, Ohio, with attempting to kill officers and employees of the United States, solicitation to commit a crime of violence and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence in an indictment returned in Cincinnati. Cornell was charged for his alleged plot to attack the U.S. Capitol and kill government officials.
The indictment alleges that from August 2014 through January 2015, Cornell plotted an attack on the U.S. Capitol that would have killed officers and employees of the United States during their official duties. During that same time, the defendant allegedly attempted to persuade another to join him in his planned act of violence. Cornell also allegedly possessed two semi-automatic rifles and approximately 600 rounds of ammunition.
Attempted murder of government employees and officials is a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Solicitation to commit an attempted murder is a crime punishable by 20 years in prison. Possession of a firearm in furtherance of an attempted crime of violence is a crime punishable by a mandatory sentence of five years in prison.
Cornell was arrested on Jan. 14, 2015, by the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF). The JTTF is made up of officers and agents from the Cincinnati Police Department, Colerain Police Department, Dayton Police Department, Ohio State Highway Patrol, United States Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, United States Secret Service, West Chester Police Department and Xenia Police Department.
Cornell is scheduled for an arraignment on the charges on Jan. 22, 2015, at 1:30 p.m., before Magistrate Judge Stephanie Bowman.
Assistant Attorney General Carlin and U.S. Attorney Stewart commended the investigation of this case by the JTTF. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Tim Mangan and Michael Dittoe of the Justice Department National Security Division Counterterrorism Section.
An indictment merely contains allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
SECRETARY KERRY'S REMARKS WITH U.K. FOREIGN SECRETARY HAMMOND
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Small Group Meeting
Remarks With U.K. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond Before the Counter-ISIL Coalition Small Group Meeting
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Lancaster House
London, United Kingdom
January 22, 20R15
FOREIGN SECRETARY HAMMOND: Good morning, everybody. I’m delighted to welcome Secretary Kerry and our other partners here today for this important coalition steering group meeting. It’s a remarkable achievement to have brought together over 60 nations in the coalition in the fight against ISIL in Iraq and Syria.
What we are doing with this meeting is bringing together the key members of that coalition, those that are most actively engaged in the front line, to take stock of our achievements over the last four or five months, to hear from General John Allen about what is happening on the ground, and to plan the next steps of this campaign which we’ve all recognized will be a long haul to restoring full Iraqi Government control of all the territory of Iraq.
So I look forward to a very constructive discussion today with our colleagues, and we hope this will be the first of a series of regular meetings to take stock and provide command and control of the overall coalition campaign. Thank you. John.
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, I want to thank Secretary Hammond and Great Britain for hosting us here today, and I’m pleased to co-host with him this important meeting of the most engaged, most involved leading-edge countries, though we are critically dependent on all 60-plus nations that are engaged in this effort.
But as we have put this together now in a matter of a few months, we have gone from zero at the end of September to now, in January, in our fourth month, having stopped ISIL’s advance in Iraq, having negated their resources, their capacity to move foreign fighters, to a significant degree, and changed their operations as a result of what we’ve been able to do. We still have a lot of work to do, and the purpose of coming here is to bring everybody’s best advice, everybody’s thoughts about where there may be weaknesses, everybody’s thoughts about things we can do better, put that together, improve our own performance and operation, and lay down the strategy for the days ahead.
And as Philip said, we will make this now a regular meeting almost on a monthly basis, not at the ministerial level. Ministers will meet as necessary. But it is important to coordinate. We have a tremendous amount of work to do.
I want to thank particularly our friends here in London. Prime Minister Cameron and the President, President Obama, met a few days ago in Washington. I think everybody sensed the power of our friendship and our cooperative partnership which has never been more important on so many different fronts as it is today, and that’s why we thought it was important to come together here to follow up as effectively as possible.
QUESTION: (Inaudible.)
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, I don’t think people should be dismayed. I think they should be encouraged, in fact. Police forces, law enforcement community, intelligence community of many countries have come together in an incredibly effective way to fight against an insidious, long-time planning process that has been in place. And in a sense, we’re flushing them out. These sleeper cells have been there for years now. Many of these plans have been in place for a long period of time, long preceding what we’ve been doing with respect to ISIS.
But the truth is that these groups are planning and have been planning for a long period of time, going back to Usama bin Ladin and 9/11 in New York, to attack Western interests and to go after anybody that they disagree with. Their goal is to suppress and to take over and to expand a very nihilistic, unbelievably oppressive sense of how people ought to live. And we’ve seen them carried out in the most egregiously horrendous fashion with public beheadings. They’re now threatening to Japanese hostages.
I think this is a challenge for all of us. It’s a challenge of our time. And we need to step up and lead and be strong and be clear about what is at stake, and that’s exactly why we’re here and meet today.
FOREIGN SECRETARY HAMMOND: I think if I could just add to that, this conference is not just about the military operation in Iraq. It’s about the other strands of this campaign as well. And we’re very clear that undermining the narrative of ISIL, interdicting the flow of foreign fighters, stopping the flow of financial funding to ISIL, is as important as the military campaign itself. So I think we – there are reasons to be optimistic about the military campaign. As John said, we’ve stopped ISIL’s advance. We’re now rebuilding the Iraqi forces. We always said this would take time, but they will be capable and ready at some point to push back against ISIL. And in the meantime, we have to continue the work to undermine ISIL’s message in our own countries and to protect our own homelands with security measures both here and across the continent, in collaboration with our partners.
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you. Appreciate it. Thanks very much.
Small Group Meeting
Remarks With U.K. Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond Before the Counter-ISIL Coalition Small Group Meeting
Remarks
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Lancaster House
London, United Kingdom
January 22, 20R15
FOREIGN SECRETARY HAMMOND: Good morning, everybody. I’m delighted to welcome Secretary Kerry and our other partners here today for this important coalition steering group meeting. It’s a remarkable achievement to have brought together over 60 nations in the coalition in the fight against ISIL in Iraq and Syria.
What we are doing with this meeting is bringing together the key members of that coalition, those that are most actively engaged in the front line, to take stock of our achievements over the last four or five months, to hear from General John Allen about what is happening on the ground, and to plan the next steps of this campaign which we’ve all recognized will be a long haul to restoring full Iraqi Government control of all the territory of Iraq.
So I look forward to a very constructive discussion today with our colleagues, and we hope this will be the first of a series of regular meetings to take stock and provide command and control of the overall coalition campaign. Thank you. John.
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, I want to thank Secretary Hammond and Great Britain for hosting us here today, and I’m pleased to co-host with him this important meeting of the most engaged, most involved leading-edge countries, though we are critically dependent on all 60-plus nations that are engaged in this effort.
But as we have put this together now in a matter of a few months, we have gone from zero at the end of September to now, in January, in our fourth month, having stopped ISIL’s advance in Iraq, having negated their resources, their capacity to move foreign fighters, to a significant degree, and changed their operations as a result of what we’ve been able to do. We still have a lot of work to do, and the purpose of coming here is to bring everybody’s best advice, everybody’s thoughts about where there may be weaknesses, everybody’s thoughts about things we can do better, put that together, improve our own performance and operation, and lay down the strategy for the days ahead.
And as Philip said, we will make this now a regular meeting almost on a monthly basis, not at the ministerial level. Ministers will meet as necessary. But it is important to coordinate. We have a tremendous amount of work to do.
I want to thank particularly our friends here in London. Prime Minister Cameron and the President, President Obama, met a few days ago in Washington. I think everybody sensed the power of our friendship and our cooperative partnership which has never been more important on so many different fronts as it is today, and that’s why we thought it was important to come together here to follow up as effectively as possible.
QUESTION: (Inaudible.)
SECRETARY KERRY: Well, I don’t think people should be dismayed. I think they should be encouraged, in fact. Police forces, law enforcement community, intelligence community of many countries have come together in an incredibly effective way to fight against an insidious, long-time planning process that has been in place. And in a sense, we’re flushing them out. These sleeper cells have been there for years now. Many of these plans have been in place for a long period of time, long preceding what we’ve been doing with respect to ISIS.
But the truth is that these groups are planning and have been planning for a long period of time, going back to Usama bin Ladin and 9/11 in New York, to attack Western interests and to go after anybody that they disagree with. Their goal is to suppress and to take over and to expand a very nihilistic, unbelievably oppressive sense of how people ought to live. And we’ve seen them carried out in the most egregiously horrendous fashion with public beheadings. They’re now threatening to Japanese hostages.
I think this is a challenge for all of us. It’s a challenge of our time. And we need to step up and lead and be strong and be clear about what is at stake, and that’s exactly why we’re here and meet today.
FOREIGN SECRETARY HAMMOND: I think if I could just add to that, this conference is not just about the military operation in Iraq. It’s about the other strands of this campaign as well. And we’re very clear that undermining the narrative of ISIL, interdicting the flow of foreign fighters, stopping the flow of financial funding to ISIL, is as important as the military campaign itself. So I think we – there are reasons to be optimistic about the military campaign. As John said, we’ve stopped ISIL’s advance. We’re now rebuilding the Iraqi forces. We always said this would take time, but they will be capable and ready at some point to push back against ISIL. And in the meantime, we have to continue the work to undermine ISIL’s message in our own countries and to protect our own homelands with security measures both here and across the continent, in collaboration with our partners.
SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you. Appreciate it. Thanks very much.
WHITE HOUSE ISSUES CONTINUATION OF NATIONAL EMERGENCY WITH RESPECT TO TERRORISTS THREATENING MIDDLE EAST PEACE PROCESS
FROM: THE WHITE HOUSE
January Notice -- Continuation of the National Emergency with Respect to Terrorists Who Threaten to Disrupt the Middle East Peace Process
CONTINUATION OF THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY WITH RESPECT TO TERRORISTS WHO THREATEN TO DISRUPT THE MIDDLE EAST PEACE PROCESS
January Notice -- Continuation of the National Emergency with Respect to Terrorists Who Threaten to Disrupt the Middle East Peace Process
CONTINUATION OF THE NATIONAL EMERGENCY WITH RESPECT TO TERRORISTS WHO THREATEN TO DISRUPT THE MIDDLE EAST PEACE PROCESS
On January 23, 1995, by Executive Order 12947, the President declared a national emergency pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701-1706) to deal with the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States constituted by grave acts of violence committed by foreign terrorists that disrupt the Middle East peace process. On August 20, 1998, by Executive Order 13099, the President modified the Annex to Executive Order 12947 to identify four additional persons who threaten to disrupt the Middle East peace process. On February 16, 2005, by Executive Order 13372, the President clarified the steps taken in Executive Order 12947.
These terrorist activities continue to threaten the Middle East peace process and to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States. For this reason, the national emergency declared on January 23, 1995, and the measures adopted to deal with that emergency must continue in effect beyond January 23, 2015. Therefore, in accordance with section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)), I am continuing for 1 year the national emergency with respect to foreign terrorists who threaten to disrupt the Middle East peace process.
This notice shall be published in the Federal Register and transmit 21, 2015
ted to the Congress.
These terrorist activities continue to threaten the Middle East peace process and to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States. For this reason, the national emergency declared on January 23, 1995, and the measures adopted to deal with that emergency must continue in effect beyond January 23, 2015. Therefore, in accordance with section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)), I am continuing for 1 year the national emergency with respect to foreign terrorists who threaten to disrupt the Middle East peace process.
This notice shall be published in the Federal Register and transmit 21, 2015
ted to the Congress.
BARACK OBAMA
Thursday, January 22, 2015
SECRETARY KERRY'S STATEMENT ON DEATH OF KING ABDULLAH OF SAUDI ARABIA
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Press Statement
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
January 22, 2015
This is a sad day. The United States has lost a friend, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Middle East, and the world has lost a revered leader. King Abdullah was a man of wisdom and vision. I loved my visits with him as a Senator and as Secretary. Even as he battled age and illness, he held on to his sense of determination. His stories of his father and of his family were remarkable. He was so proud of the Kingdom’s journey, a brave partner in fighting violent extremism who proved just as important as a proponent of peace. The courageous Arab Peace Initiative that he sponsored remains a critical document for the goal we shared of two states, Israel and Palestine, living in peace and security. He also made great strides to invest in the Saudi people, and the Kingdom’s infrastructure and economic development. The scholarship program that bears his name represents an enormous, far-sighted contribution to Saudi Arabia’s future prosperity. I know he was very proud of his role as Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and as leader of his people.
Teresa and I send our condolences to the family of King Abdullah and to the people of Saudi Arabia and the region.
Press Statement
John Kerry
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
January 22, 2015
This is a sad day. The United States has lost a friend, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Middle East, and the world has lost a revered leader. King Abdullah was a man of wisdom and vision. I loved my visits with him as a Senator and as Secretary. Even as he battled age and illness, he held on to his sense of determination. His stories of his father and of his family were remarkable. He was so proud of the Kingdom’s journey, a brave partner in fighting violent extremism who proved just as important as a proponent of peace. The courageous Arab Peace Initiative that he sponsored remains a critical document for the goal we shared of two states, Israel and Palestine, living in peace and security. He also made great strides to invest in the Saudi people, and the Kingdom’s infrastructure and economic development. The scholarship program that bears his name represents an enormous, far-sighted contribution to Saudi Arabia’s future prosperity. I know he was very proud of his role as Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and as leader of his people.
Teresa and I send our condolences to the family of King Abdullah and to the people of Saudi Arabia and the region.
FORMER DUNKIRK, NEW YORK MAYOR CHARGED FOR USING CAMPAIGN CONTRIBUTIONS FOR PERSONAL USE
FROM: U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT S
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Former Mayor Charged with Wire Fraud for Using Campaign Contributions for His Own Personal Benefit
A former mayor of Dunkirk, New York, was indicted today for engaging in a scheme to defraud his mayoral campaign and supporters by stealing campaign contributions for his personal benefit, announced Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul Jr. of the Western District of New York.
Richard L. Frey, 83, of Dunkirk, New York, was charged today in a 13-count indictment with 12 counts of wire fraud and one count of making a false statement to the FBI.
According to the indictment, from January 2003 through June 2012, Frey allegedly solicited and received several campaign contributions from area businesses and businesspeople and then, instead of depositing the donations into his campaign accounts, either cashed the checks for his personal use or deposited the checks into his personal bank accounts. The indictment further alleges that Frey concealed the existence of these campaign contributions by not reporting or disclosing them on his campaign disclosure reports, as was required of local candidates for public office. When asked about the scheme, Frey allegedly provided false information to the FBI.
The charges and allegations contained in the indictment are merely accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The case is being investigated by the FBI’s Buffalo Field Office and the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Edward P. Sullivan of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney John E. Rogowski of the Western District of New York.
Tuesday, January 20, 2015
Former Mayor Charged with Wire Fraud for Using Campaign Contributions for His Own Personal Benefit
A former mayor of Dunkirk, New York, was indicted today for engaging in a scheme to defraud his mayoral campaign and supporters by stealing campaign contributions for his personal benefit, announced Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul Jr. of the Western District of New York.
Richard L. Frey, 83, of Dunkirk, New York, was charged today in a 13-count indictment with 12 counts of wire fraud and one count of making a false statement to the FBI.
According to the indictment, from January 2003 through June 2012, Frey allegedly solicited and received several campaign contributions from area businesses and businesspeople and then, instead of depositing the donations into his campaign accounts, either cashed the checks for his personal use or deposited the checks into his personal bank accounts. The indictment further alleges that Frey concealed the existence of these campaign contributions by not reporting or disclosing them on his campaign disclosure reports, as was required of local candidates for public office. When asked about the scheme, Frey allegedly provided false information to the FBI.
The charges and allegations contained in the indictment are merely accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The case is being investigated by the FBI’s Buffalo Field Office and the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Edward P. Sullivan of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney John E. Rogowski of the Western District of New York.
FTC WARNS SPANISH-SPEAKING CONSUMERS ABOUT DEBT COLLECTION SCAMS WITH GRAPHIC NOVEL
FROM: U.S. FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION
FTC ‘Fotonovela’ Warns Latino Community About Debt Collection Scams
To help Spanish-speaking consumers know their rights when dealing with debt collectors, the Federal Trade Commission has created a Spanish-language graphic novel, Cobradores de Deuda, which describes the rules debt collectors must follow, and what consumers should do if they don’t.
It’s part of the FTC’s fotonovela series, a campaign to promote consumer education and protection in the Latino community. Previous issues focused on government imposters and income scams. Consumers can order all three free publications at ftc.gov/bulkorder, or read and download them at ftc.gov/fotonovela.
The Federal Trade Commission works for consumers to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them. The FTC enters complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 2,000 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. The FTC’s website provides free information on a variety of consumer topics. Like the FTC on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and subscribe to press releases for the latest FTC news and resources.
FTC ‘Fotonovela’ Warns Latino Community About Debt Collection Scams
To help Spanish-speaking consumers know their rights when dealing with debt collectors, the Federal Trade Commission has created a Spanish-language graphic novel, Cobradores de Deuda, which describes the rules debt collectors must follow, and what consumers should do if they don’t.
It’s part of the FTC’s fotonovela series, a campaign to promote consumer education and protection in the Latino community. Previous issues focused on government imposters and income scams. Consumers can order all three free publications at ftc.gov/bulkorder, or read and download them at ftc.gov/fotonovela.
The Federal Trade Commission works for consumers to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them. The FTC enters complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 2,000 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. The FTC’s website provides free information on a variety of consumer topics. Like the FTC on Facebook, follow us on Twitter, and subscribe to press releases for the latest FTC news and resources.
CFTC APPROVES TOKYO COMMODITY EXCHANGE, INC. REGISTRATION AS FBOT
FROM: U.S. COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION
Statement of CFTC Commissioner Mark Wetjen on CFTC Approval of TOCOM as an FBOT
January 21, 2015
Washington, DC – I am pleased that Chairman Tim Massad brought forward and the Commission then moved quickly to approve registration of the Tokyo Commodity Exchange, Inc. (TOCOM) as a Foreign Board of Trade (FBOT). As I have stressed before, this cross-border approach to the oversight of trading platforms incentivizes higher standards around the world by requiring foreign entities that want access to U.S. market participants to be subject to supervision that is comparable and comprehensive to our regime under Dodd-Frank. I hope the Commission will move quickly to consider the remaining applications for FBOTs that have been relying on no-action relief for years.
As a next step, I believe the Commission should formalize a regulatory regime for foreign Swap Execution Facilities, just as Congress contemplated in the Dodd-Frank Act. Embracing a foreign SEF regime would be a useful step toward implementing the CFTC’s cross-border framework and would also help prevent unnecessary fragmentation of the global swaps market. Just as with FBOTs and substituted compliance, a foreign SEF regime would incentivize foreign jurisdictions to harmonize their regulations with ours.
Last Updated: January 21, 2015
Statement of CFTC Commissioner Mark Wetjen on CFTC Approval of TOCOM as an FBOT
January 21, 2015
Washington, DC – I am pleased that Chairman Tim Massad brought forward and the Commission then moved quickly to approve registration of the Tokyo Commodity Exchange, Inc. (TOCOM) as a Foreign Board of Trade (FBOT). As I have stressed before, this cross-border approach to the oversight of trading platforms incentivizes higher standards around the world by requiring foreign entities that want access to U.S. market participants to be subject to supervision that is comparable and comprehensive to our regime under Dodd-Frank. I hope the Commission will move quickly to consider the remaining applications for FBOTs that have been relying on no-action relief for years.
As a next step, I believe the Commission should formalize a regulatory regime for foreign Swap Execution Facilities, just as Congress contemplated in the Dodd-Frank Act. Embracing a foreign SEF regime would be a useful step toward implementing the CFTC’s cross-border framework and would also help prevent unnecessary fragmentation of the global swaps market. Just as with FBOTs and substituted compliance, a foreign SEF regime would incentivize foreign jurisdictions to harmonize their regulations with ours.
Last Updated: January 21, 2015
REP. POWER'S REMARKS ON DOMINIC ONGWEN'S ARRIVAL AT INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
Samantha Power
U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations
New York, NY
January 20, 2015 UN
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Dominic Ongwen’s arrival at the International Criminal Court in the Hague is a welcome development in the international community’s campaign to counter the LRA’s dehumanizing violence, and to bring perpetrators to justice after more than two decades of the LRA’s brutal campaign of torture, rape and murder.
I commend the governments of the Central African Republic and Uganda, as well as the leadership of the African Union, for their close coordination on this effort and for their commitment to ensuring that perpetrators of human rights violations face justice.
The fact that Ongwen will finally face trial is the latest sign of tangible progress in the African Union-led effort to end the threat posed by the LRA and its leader, Joseph Kony, to which the United States has dedicated considerable resources, including more than 100 U.S. military advisors. Today’s outcome is a great example of what can result from regional coordination in combating the LRA, and it is imperative that the African Union Regional Task Force (AU-RTF) continue to coordinate with regional governments, the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), and the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA) in its fight against the LRA, which still remains a serious threat to regional peace and security.
Those remaining LRA members should follow the lead of Dominic Ongwen and the more than 250 other individuals who have left the LRA since 2012. They should end their lives on the run and turn themselves in.
The United States continues to look forward to the end of the LRA and the day when its victims will finally be free from LRA terror, seeing justice that is long overdue.
Samantha Power
U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations
New York, NY
January 20, 2015 UN
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Dominic Ongwen’s arrival at the International Criminal Court in the Hague is a welcome development in the international community’s campaign to counter the LRA’s dehumanizing violence, and to bring perpetrators to justice after more than two decades of the LRA’s brutal campaign of torture, rape and murder.
I commend the governments of the Central African Republic and Uganda, as well as the leadership of the African Union, for their close coordination on this effort and for their commitment to ensuring that perpetrators of human rights violations face justice.
The fact that Ongwen will finally face trial is the latest sign of tangible progress in the African Union-led effort to end the threat posed by the LRA and its leader, Joseph Kony, to which the United States has dedicated considerable resources, including more than 100 U.S. military advisors. Today’s outcome is a great example of what can result from regional coordination in combating the LRA, and it is imperative that the African Union Regional Task Force (AU-RTF) continue to coordinate with regional governments, the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), and the United Nations Regional Office for Central Africa (UNOCA) in its fight against the LRA, which still remains a serious threat to regional peace and security.
Those remaining LRA members should follow the lead of Dominic Ongwen and the more than 250 other individuals who have left the LRA since 2012. They should end their lives on the run and turn themselves in.
The United States continues to look forward to the end of the LRA and the day when its victims will finally be free from LRA terror, seeing justice that is long overdue.
U.S. LABOR DEPARTMENT ARTICLE ON PREGNANCY DISCRIMINATION
FROM: U.S. LABOR DEPARTMENT
Take Three: Pregnancy Discrimination
Women now make up nearly half of the U.S. labor force. Three out of every four women entering the workforce will experience at least one pregnancy while employed. Every year, thousands of women file charges of pregnancy discrimination. Latifa Lyles, director of the Women's Bureau, answers three questions on pregnancy discrimination and what it means for the workforce.
What is pregnancy discrimination? Pregnancy discrimination occurs when an employer treats a job applicant or an employee unfavorably due to her pregnancy, childbirth or a related medical condition. It could involve refusing to hire or promote a qualified individual because she is pregnant, firing a woman because she missed a few days of work to give birth, or forcing a pregnant employee to take leave. Pregnancy discrimination is illegal, as is pregnancy-related harassment that creates a hostile or offensive work environment. Pregnancy discrimination negatively affects not just pregnant women and their families, but also employers, who may be cheating themselves by driving away skilled, qualified workers.
What resources do pregnant workers have? At the federal level, women are protected by laws like Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Family and Medical Leave Act. Also, many states have enacted laws that provide women with additional protections against pregnancy discrimination.
Why are these protections necessary? Today, most women work during pregnancy, often into their third trimester. Laws prohibiting pregnancy discrimination are necessary because they ensure that women who want to work during pregnancy do so under the same conditions as non-pregnant employees. They also ensure that women who are not able to work due to a pregnancy-related disability are treated the same as non-pregnant workers who are similar in their inability to work. In turn, these laws ensure that the U.S. workforce is operating under the best possible conditions — those in which all workers have an equal opportunity to contribute their skills and experience.
Take Three: Pregnancy Discrimination
Women now make up nearly half of the U.S. labor force. Three out of every four women entering the workforce will experience at least one pregnancy while employed. Every year, thousands of women file charges of pregnancy discrimination. Latifa Lyles, director of the Women's Bureau, answers three questions on pregnancy discrimination and what it means for the workforce.
What is pregnancy discrimination? Pregnancy discrimination occurs when an employer treats a job applicant or an employee unfavorably due to her pregnancy, childbirth or a related medical condition. It could involve refusing to hire or promote a qualified individual because she is pregnant, firing a woman because she missed a few days of work to give birth, or forcing a pregnant employee to take leave. Pregnancy discrimination is illegal, as is pregnancy-related harassment that creates a hostile or offensive work environment. Pregnancy discrimination negatively affects not just pregnant women and their families, but also employers, who may be cheating themselves by driving away skilled, qualified workers.
What resources do pregnant workers have? At the federal level, women are protected by laws like Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Family and Medical Leave Act. Also, many states have enacted laws that provide women with additional protections against pregnancy discrimination.
Why are these protections necessary? Today, most women work during pregnancy, often into their third trimester. Laws prohibiting pregnancy discrimination are necessary because they ensure that women who want to work during pregnancy do so under the same conditions as non-pregnant employees. They also ensure that women who are not able to work due to a pregnancy-related disability are treated the same as non-pregnant workers who are similar in their inability to work. In turn, these laws ensure that the U.S. workforce is operating under the best possible conditions — those in which all workers have an equal opportunity to contribute their skills and experience.
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
SEC ANNOUNCES S&P RATINGS SERVICES WAS INVOLVED WITH FRAUD IN COMMERCIAL MORTGAGE-BACKED SECURITIES BUSINESS
FROM: U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2015-10
Washington D.C., Jan. 21, 2015 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced a series of federal securities law violations by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services involving fraudulent misconduct in its ratings of certain commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS).
S&P agreed to pay more than $58 million to settle the SEC’s charges, plus an additional $19 million to settle parallel cases announced today by the New York Attorney General’s office ($12 million) and the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office ($7 million).
“Investors rely on credit rating agencies like Standard & Poor’s to play it straight when rating complex securities like CMBS,” said Andrew J. Ceresney, Director of the SEC Enforcement Division. “But Standard & Poor’s elevated its own financial interests above investors by loosening its rating criteria to obtain business and then obscuring these changes from investors. These enforcement actions, our first-ever against a major ratings firm, reflect our commitment to aggressively policing the integrity and transparency of the credit ratings process.”
The SEC issued three orders instituting settled administrative proceedings against S&P. One order, in which S&P made certain admissions, addressed S&P’s practices in its conduit fusion CMBS ratings methodology. S&P’s public disclosures affirmatively misrepresented that it was using one approach when it actually used a different methodology in 2011 to rate six conduit fusion CMBS transactions and issue preliminary ratings on two more transactions. As part of this settlement, S&P agreed to take a one-year timeout from rating conduit fusion CMBS.
Another SEC order found that after being frozen out of the market for rating conduit fusion CMBS in late 2011, S&P sought to re-enter that market in mid-2012 by overhauling its ratings criteria. To illustrate the relative conservatism of its new criteria, S&P published a false and misleading article purporting to show that its new credit enhancement levels could withstand Great Depression-era levels of economic stress. S&P’s research relied on flawed and inappropriate assumptions and was based on data that was decades removed from the severe losses of the Great Depression. According to the SEC’s order, S&P’s original author of the study expressed concerns that the firm’s CMBS group had turned the article into a “sales pitch” for the new criteria, and that the removal of certain information from the article could lead to him “sit[ting] in front of [the] Department of Justice or the SEC.” The SEC’s order further finds that S&P failed to accurately describe certain aspects of its new criteria in the formal publication setting forth their operation. Without admitting or denying the findings in the order, S&P agreed to publicly retract the false and misleading Great Depression-related study and correct the inaccurate descriptions in the publication about its criteria.
“These CMBS-related enforcement actions against S&P demonstrate that ‘race to the bottom’ behavior by ratings firms will not be tolerated by the SEC and other regulators. When ratings standards are compromised in pursuit of market share, a firm’s disclosures cannot tell a different story,” said Michael J. Osnato, Chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s Complex Financial Instruments Unit.
A third SEC order issued in this case involved internal controls failures in S&P’s surveillance of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) ratings. The order finds that S&P allowed breakdowns in the way it conducted ratings surveillance of previously-rated RMBS from October 2012 to June 2014. S&P changed an important assumption in a way that made S&P’s ratings less conservative, and was inconsistent with the specific assumptions set forth in S&P’s published criteria describing its ratings methodology. S&P did not follow its internal policies for making changes to its surveillance criteria and instead applied ad hoc workarounds that were not fully disclosed to investors. Without admitting or denying the findings in the order, S&P agreed to extensive undertakings to enhance and improve its internal controls environment. S&P self-reported this particular misconduct to the SEC and cooperated with the investigation, enabling the Enforcement Division to resolve the case more quickly and efficiently and resulting in a reduced penalty for the firm.
The SEC’s orders find that S&P violated Section 17(a)(1) of the Securities Act (fraud), Section 15E(c)(3) of the Securities Exchange Act (internal controls violations), Securities Exchange Rules 17g-2(a)(2)(iii) (books and records violations), Rule 17g-2(a)(6) (books and records violations), and 17g-2(a)(2)(iii) (failure to maintain records explaining differences between numerical model output and ratings).
In a separate order instituting a litigated administrative proceeding, the SEC Enforcement Division alleges that the former head of S&P’s CMBS Group fraudulently misrepresented the manner in which the firm calculated a critical aspect of certain CMBS ratings in 2011. Barbara Duka allegedly instituted the shift to more issuer-friendly ratings criteria, and the firm failed to properly disclose the less rigorous methodology. The matter against Duka will be scheduled for a public hearing before an administrative law judge for proceedings to adjudicate the Enforcement Division’s allegations and determine what, if any, remedial actions are appropriate.
The SEC’s investigation was conducted by the Enforcement Division’s Complex Financial Instruments Unit and led by John Smith in the Denver office, Robert Leidenheimer and Lawrence Renbaum in the Washington D.C. office, and Joshua Brodsky in the New York office with assistance from Daniel Nigro and Judy Bizu. The litigation against Duka will be led by Stephen McKenna of the Denver office. The cases were supervised by Laura Metcalfe, Reid Muoio, and Mr. Osnato. The Enforcement Division worked closely with the SEC’s Office of Credit Ratings in these matters, particularly Thomas Butler, Michele Wilham, Natasha Kaden, Julia Kiel, Kenneth Godwin, and David Nicolardi.
The SEC appreciates the assistance of the New York Attorney General’s office and the Massachusetts Attorney General’
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2015-10
Washington D.C., Jan. 21, 2015 — The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced a series of federal securities law violations by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services involving fraudulent misconduct in its ratings of certain commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS).
S&P agreed to pay more than $58 million to settle the SEC’s charges, plus an additional $19 million to settle parallel cases announced today by the New York Attorney General’s office ($12 million) and the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office ($7 million).
“Investors rely on credit rating agencies like Standard & Poor’s to play it straight when rating complex securities like CMBS,” said Andrew J. Ceresney, Director of the SEC Enforcement Division. “But Standard & Poor’s elevated its own financial interests above investors by loosening its rating criteria to obtain business and then obscuring these changes from investors. These enforcement actions, our first-ever against a major ratings firm, reflect our commitment to aggressively policing the integrity and transparency of the credit ratings process.”
The SEC issued three orders instituting settled administrative proceedings against S&P. One order, in which S&P made certain admissions, addressed S&P’s practices in its conduit fusion CMBS ratings methodology. S&P’s public disclosures affirmatively misrepresented that it was using one approach when it actually used a different methodology in 2011 to rate six conduit fusion CMBS transactions and issue preliminary ratings on two more transactions. As part of this settlement, S&P agreed to take a one-year timeout from rating conduit fusion CMBS.
Another SEC order found that after being frozen out of the market for rating conduit fusion CMBS in late 2011, S&P sought to re-enter that market in mid-2012 by overhauling its ratings criteria. To illustrate the relative conservatism of its new criteria, S&P published a false and misleading article purporting to show that its new credit enhancement levels could withstand Great Depression-era levels of economic stress. S&P’s research relied on flawed and inappropriate assumptions and was based on data that was decades removed from the severe losses of the Great Depression. According to the SEC’s order, S&P’s original author of the study expressed concerns that the firm’s CMBS group had turned the article into a “sales pitch” for the new criteria, and that the removal of certain information from the article could lead to him “sit[ting] in front of [the] Department of Justice or the SEC.” The SEC’s order further finds that S&P failed to accurately describe certain aspects of its new criteria in the formal publication setting forth their operation. Without admitting or denying the findings in the order, S&P agreed to publicly retract the false and misleading Great Depression-related study and correct the inaccurate descriptions in the publication about its criteria.
“These CMBS-related enforcement actions against S&P demonstrate that ‘race to the bottom’ behavior by ratings firms will not be tolerated by the SEC and other regulators. When ratings standards are compromised in pursuit of market share, a firm’s disclosures cannot tell a different story,” said Michael J. Osnato, Chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s Complex Financial Instruments Unit.
A third SEC order issued in this case involved internal controls failures in S&P’s surveillance of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) ratings. The order finds that S&P allowed breakdowns in the way it conducted ratings surveillance of previously-rated RMBS from October 2012 to June 2014. S&P changed an important assumption in a way that made S&P’s ratings less conservative, and was inconsistent with the specific assumptions set forth in S&P’s published criteria describing its ratings methodology. S&P did not follow its internal policies for making changes to its surveillance criteria and instead applied ad hoc workarounds that were not fully disclosed to investors. Without admitting or denying the findings in the order, S&P agreed to extensive undertakings to enhance and improve its internal controls environment. S&P self-reported this particular misconduct to the SEC and cooperated with the investigation, enabling the Enforcement Division to resolve the case more quickly and efficiently and resulting in a reduced penalty for the firm.
The SEC’s orders find that S&P violated Section 17(a)(1) of the Securities Act (fraud), Section 15E(c)(3) of the Securities Exchange Act (internal controls violations), Securities Exchange Rules 17g-2(a)(2)(iii) (books and records violations), Rule 17g-2(a)(6) (books and records violations), and 17g-2(a)(2)(iii) (failure to maintain records explaining differences between numerical model output and ratings).
In a separate order instituting a litigated administrative proceeding, the SEC Enforcement Division alleges that the former head of S&P’s CMBS Group fraudulently misrepresented the manner in which the firm calculated a critical aspect of certain CMBS ratings in 2011. Barbara Duka allegedly instituted the shift to more issuer-friendly ratings criteria, and the firm failed to properly disclose the less rigorous methodology. The matter against Duka will be scheduled for a public hearing before an administrative law judge for proceedings to adjudicate the Enforcement Division’s allegations and determine what, if any, remedial actions are appropriate.
The SEC’s investigation was conducted by the Enforcement Division’s Complex Financial Instruments Unit and led by John Smith in the Denver office, Robert Leidenheimer and Lawrence Renbaum in the Washington D.C. office, and Joshua Brodsky in the New York office with assistance from Daniel Nigro and Judy Bizu. The litigation against Duka will be led by Stephen McKenna of the Denver office. The cases were supervised by Laura Metcalfe, Reid Muoio, and Mr. Osnato. The Enforcement Division worked closely with the SEC’s Office of Credit Ratings in these matters, particularly Thomas Butler, Michele Wilham, Natasha Kaden, Julia Kiel, Kenneth Godwin, and David Nicolardi.
The SEC appreciates the assistance of the New York Attorney General’s office and the Massachusetts Attorney General’
U.S. CONDEMNS VIOLENCE IN NIGER
FROM: U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT
01/20/2015 05:59 PM EST
U.S. Condemns Violence in Niger
Press Statement
Jen Psaki
Department Spokesperson
Washington, DC
January 20, 2015
The United States strongly condemns the violence that occurred in Niger on January 16 and 17 during protests against the depiction of the Prophet Mohamed in the French journal Charlie Hebdo, which resulted in the deaths of at least 10 people and the destruction of residences, businesses and other property, including places of worship. We express our deepest condolences to the loved ones of the victims of the violence.
The U.S. Government respects all faiths. In a democratic society, freedom of expression includes allowing expression that one disagrees with and protecting the right of all persons to hold different views. This freedom does not imply acceptance of content, nor is there any justification for the wanton killing of innocents and destruction of property.
We commend the efforts of government officials, religious and traditional leaders, and civil society to end the violence and encourage calm in the affected communities. The United States remains firmly committed to our partnership with Niger to expand prosperity and counter regional threats to peace and security.
01/20/2015 05:59 PM EST
U.S. Condemns Violence in Niger
Press Statement
Jen Psaki
Department Spokesperson
Washington, DC
January 20, 2015
The United States strongly condemns the violence that occurred in Niger on January 16 and 17 during protests against the depiction of the Prophet Mohamed in the French journal Charlie Hebdo, which resulted in the deaths of at least 10 people and the destruction of residences, businesses and other property, including places of worship. We express our deepest condolences to the loved ones of the victims of the violence.
The U.S. Government respects all faiths. In a democratic society, freedom of expression includes allowing expression that one disagrees with and protecting the right of all persons to hold different views. This freedom does not imply acceptance of content, nor is there any justification for the wanton killing of innocents and destruction of property.
We commend the efforts of government officials, religious and traditional leaders, and civil society to end the violence and encourage calm in the affected communities. The United States remains firmly committed to our partnership with Niger to expand prosperity and counter regional threats to peace and security.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)