leonfunnyguy

[leonfunnyguy]

Woman who accused Biden of sexually assaulting her in 1993 defects to Russia

Tara Reade, pictured in April 2019, accused Joe Biden of sexually harassing and assaulting her in 1993.Donald Thompson/APCNN — 

A former staffer who accused Joe Biden of sexual assault has defected to Moscow, telling state media that she felt “safe” in Russia and would seek citizenship there.

Tara Reade, who drew headlines during the 2020 presidential race by accusing then-candidate Biden of sexually harassing and assaulting her, said she decided to go to Russia after receiving threats in the US.

Biden has strongly denied Reade’s allegations, and no ex-Biden staffer has come forward to say they ever witnessed or heard about any kind of sexual misconduct in his Senate office.

New details emerge on Reade's exit from Biden's office

04:43 - Source: CNN

In an interview with MSNBC in 2020, Biden said he is “saying unequivocally, it never, never happened. It didn’t. It never happened.”

Reade later faced credibility questions of her own including about her education and other credentials.

After being out of the headlines for years, Reade turned up in Moscow on Tuesday, where she sat alongside convicted Kremlin spy Maria Butina and answered questions from Russian state media over several hours.

During the news conference, Butina promised to discuss the possibility of granting Russian citizenship to Reade and ask Putin “to fast track her citizenship request.”

Butina was sentenced to 18 months in a US prison in 2019 for conspiring to act as an unregistered foreign agent, and now serves in the Russian parliament in President Vladimir Putin’s party.

Reade said she decided to come to Russia following death threats she received this year after she reiterated her accusations regarding Biden and announced on Twitter that she was willing “to testify under oath in Congress if asked.”

“When I got off the plane in Moscow, for the first time in a very long time I felt safe, and I felt heard, and I felt respected. That has not happened in my own country,” Reade said.

Enter your email to sign up for CNN's "Meanwhile in China" Newsletter.

close dialog

What’s happening in China and what does it mean for the rest of the world?Sign Me Up

By subscribing you agree to our

privacy policy.

CNN cannot verify Reade’s claims of receiving threats on her life.

Reade said that “this illusion of Russia as an enemy is propagated by a few Washington elites who are determined to cause problems.”

[leonfunnyguy]

Elon Musk is once again the world’s richest man

Hong KongCNN — 

Elon Musk has reclaimed his position as the world’s wealthiest person.

That’s according to a Bloomberg Billionaires tally, which estimated the Tesla (TSLA) CEO’s net worth is now about $192 billion, compared to LVMH (LVMHF) CEO Bernard Arnault’s $187 billion.

The two centibillionaires, a term used to refer to people with fortunes of more than $100 billion, have been neck-and-neck for the top spot for months.

This week, Arnault’s wealth slid after a drop in LVMH’s stock Wednesday, according to Bloomberg calculations.

31 billionaires are worth more than the US Treasury has in cash

Arnault surpassed Musk in December, as his wealth climbed due to a boom in luxury goods sales that helped drive up LVMH’s stock price. LVMH, one of the world’s biggest conglomerates, is home to brands including Louis Vuitton, Dior and Celine.

Musk, meanwhile, has enjoyed a meteoric rise up the world’s rich lists in recent years as his fortunes are directly linked to those of Tesla, the electric automaker. His biggest asset is the company’s stock, of which he owns about 13%, according to Bloomberg.

Outside of Tesla, Musk is also CEO of SpaceX, the space exploration firm, and the owner of social network Twitter (TWTR).

LVMH’s shares are up 19.7% this year, while Tesla’s have risen 65.6% in the year to date.

[leonfunnyguy]

North Korea’s Kim Yo Jong says a military reconnaissance satellite will soon enter orbit

FILE PHOTO: Kim Yo Jong in Hanoi, Vietnam March 2, 2019.Jorge Silva/Pool/ReutersCNN — 

Kim Yo Jong, senior North Korean official and sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, said a North Korean military reconnaissance satellite will soon enter space orbit and begin its mission, according to state news agency KCNA on Thursday local time.

Kim defended Wednesday’s failed launch and North Korea’s right to self-defense, saying that if North Korea’s satellite launch is to be condemned, all the countries that have already launched thousands of satellites, including the US, should be condemned, referring to it as a group of gangsters, in the statement.

North Korea is well aware of “the protracted nature of the confrontation with the US” and will make all efforts to “bolster up war deterrence in all-inclusive direction,” KCNA statement said.

The statement added that North Korea will “never remain an onlooker” when the US and its actors continue its “rash acts of infringing upon our sovereign right.”

Earlier on Wednesday, North Korea’s attempt to put a military reconnaissance satellite in space failed when the second stage of the rocket malfunctioned, KCNA said.

“The new satellite vehicle rocket, Chollima-1, crashed into the West Sea ​​as it lost propulsion due to an abnormal startup of the engine on the 2nd stage after the 1st stage was separated during normal flight,” KCNA said.

The report said “the reliability and stability of the new engine system” was “low” and the fuel used “unstable,” leading to the mission’s failure.

The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said it identified an object presumed to be part of what North Korea claims to be its space launch vehicle in the sea about 200 kilometers (125 miles) west of Eocheong Island at around 8:05 a.m. and is in the process of obtaining it.

[leonfunnyguy]

Xi Jinping tells China’s national security chiefs to prepare for ‘worst case’ scenarios

China's leader Xi Jinping has made national security a top priority during his decade in power.Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty ImagesHong KongCNN — 

Chinese leader Xi Jinping has called on his top national security officials to think about “worst case” scenarios and prepare for “stormy seas,” as the ruling Communist Party hardens efforts to counter any perceived internal and external threats.

“The complexity and difficulty of the national security issues we now face have increased significantly,” Xi said Tuesday at a meeting of the party’s National Security Commission, state news agency Xinhua reported.

“We must adhere to bottom-line thinking and worst-case-scenario thinking, and get ready to undergo the major tests of high winds and rough waves, and even perilous, stormy seas,” he added.

The latest stern instructions from Xi, China’s most powerful leader in decades, comes as Beijing faces a host of challenges, from a struggling economy to what it sees as an increasingly hostile international environment.

In face of what he called a “complex and grave” situation, Xi said China must speed up the modernization of its national security system and capabilities, with a focus on making them more effective in “actual combat and practical use.”

He also called for China to push ahead with the construction of a national security risk monitoring and early warning system, enhance national security education and improve the management of data and artificial intelligence security.

ADVERTISEMENT

Since coming to power a decade ago, Xi has made national security a key paradigm that permeates all aspects of China’s governance, experts say.

He has expanded the concept of national security to cover everything from politics, economy, defense, culture and ecology to cyberspace. It extends from the deep sea and the polar regions to space, as well as big data and artificial intelligence.

China has widened its already sweeping counter-espionage law. Experts say foreign businesses should be worried

Under Xi’s notion of “comprehensive national security,” China has introduced a raft of legislation to protect itself against perceived threats, including laws on counter-terrorism, counter-espionage, cybersecurity, foreign non-government organizations, national intelligence and data security.

Most recently, it broadened the scope of its already sweeping counter-espionage law from covering state secrets and intelligence to any “documents, data, materials or items related to national security and interests.”

“Everything in Xi’s PRC is national security and there is an intensifying focus on better coordinating security and development, with the security side winning out over the economics side it appears,” Bill Bishop, a long-time China observer, wrote in the Sinocism newsletter, referring to China with its official name, the People’s Republic of China.

In Hong Kong, a sweeping national security law was imposed by Beijing to stamp out dissent after huge democracy protests roiled the city.

The perception that security has replaced economic growth as Beijing’s top priority is compounded by multiple recent raids on foreign companies, including American consultancy Bain & Company and due diligence firm Mintz Group.

The raids have spooked international businesses, at a time when the Chinese government is trying to woo foreign investment to help revive a slowing economy hampered by three years of zero-Covid restrictions.

In March, Chinese authorities detained a Japanese employee of Astellas Pharma in Beijing on suspected espionage – the 17th Japanese national to have been detained in China since the counter-espionage law was introduced in 2014.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Xi said China must proactively shape a “secured external environment” to better maintain the security of the country’s “opening up” and “promote the deep integration of development and security.”