#BRAZILIAN CIVIL/MILITARY MOVEMENTS WELCOME MIKE PENCE, CONGRTULATE TRUMP AND KIM’S SUCCESSFUL SINGAPORE SUMMIT MEETING AND ALSO ASK FOR HELP TO THE BRAZILIAN DEMOCRACY DYING IN DARKNESS BY BRAZILIAN SUPERIOR ELECTORAL COURT (TSE) THAT WAS DENOUNCED IN THE ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES (OAS)
SOURCE/LINK: https://www.voanews.com/a/us-vp-to-focus-on-venezuela-in-3rd-trip-to-latin-america/4453604.html
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US VP to Focus on Venezuela in 3rd Trip to Latin America
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US VP to Focus on Venezuela in 3rd Trip to Latin America
Last Updated: June 25, 2018 7:15 PM
• Associated Press
FILE - U.S. Vice President Mike Pence speaks during a news conference at the Summit of the Americas in Lima, Peru, April 14, 2018.
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SAO PAULO —
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence will visit Latin America's largest and most populous nation this week, but the focus of his trip will be the deteriorating humanitarian situation in neighboring Venezuela.
This will be the vice president's third trip to the region, and previous visits also emphasized efforts to isolate the socialist government of President Nicolas Maduro.
"The reason Pence is going can be summed up in one word: Venezuela," said Brian Winter, editor-in-chief of Americas Quarterly magazine. American officials "believe that Maduro is susceptible to pressure from the rest of the region, and they're just trying every tool in their toolbox to try to tighten the screws on Maduro."
The trip comes at a time when U.S.-Brazil relations are in a holding pattern, as is Brazil itself. The South American country is reeling from a colossal corruption scandal, struggling to recover from a deep recession and trying to look beyond the remaining months of President Michel Temer's lame duck administration ahead of October elections.
Temer, whom prosecutors have twice accused of corruption, is Brazil's most unpopular president in a generation, casting doubt on his administration's ability to act on anything decided with Pence. Pence will also be visiting at a moment when most Brazilians will be focused on the World Cup. On Wednesday, Brazil plays Serbia.
On his next stop, in Ecuador, Pence is also expected to press Venezuela concerns. The Andean nation has begun distancing itself from Maduro, but disappointed Washington when it abstained during a recent vote on a resolution that could trigger a process for suspending Venezuela from the Organization of American States. The vice president will also visit Guatemala to meet with those affected by a volcanic eruption and discuss aid efforts.
The United States has already leveled sanctions on Venezuela, but the Trump administration is hoping to persuade Brazil and other countries in the region to ramp up pressure on Maduro's government. Maduro won a second, six-year term in May in an election boycotted by the main opposition parties and broadly condemned as illegitimate by the U.S. and other foreign governments.
Venezuela, which sits atop the world's largest oil reserves, was once one of Latin America's wealthiest countries. But mismanagement and a drop in global oil prices have resulted in a deepening economic and political crisis. The country is experiencing critical shortages of food and medicine and more than 1 million Venezuelans have fled in recent years.
Brazil has received tens of thousands of those migrants, many of whom arrive at the border malnourished and with myriad health problems. Pence will visit a migrant facility in Manaus, the capital of the border state of Amazonas.
Fernando Simas Magalhaes, a Brazilian Foreign Ministry official, told reporters Monday that the separation of Brazilian children from parents who are detained at the U.S.-Mexico border would also be addressed. Last week, the ministry said it was worried by an increase in the number of such separations, which it called a "cruel practice."
Pence is also expected to address trade with Temer after the U.S. recently imposed tariffs on Brazilian aluminum and quotas on its steel. While Brazil fought the restrictions, the matter has largely blown over.
"I just find hard to believe that any sort of substantive engagement or anything that makes the relationship closer in any way can be achieved with an administration that is as weak as Temer's is right now," said Monica de Bolle, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. "There's nothing to be accomplished here, at all, apart from putting a good face on and saying, 'Oh the U.S. came and visited us,' and the U.S. will say, 'We went and visited Brazil.'"
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SOURCE/LINK: http://convergencias.org.br/tse-denunciado-na-oea-com-carta-do-convergencias/
BRAZILIAN SUPERIOR ELECTORAL COURT (TSE) WAS DENOUNCED IN THE ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES (OAS) WITH LETTER BY “CONVERGENCIAS”
June 5, 2018 “Convergências” “Convergencia”
QUI17 - QUITO (ECUADOR) - 06/06/04 - General view of the opening of the XXXIV General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) held this Sunday, June 6, at the National Theater of the House of Culture in Quito. EFE / Guillermo Legaria
DOCUMENT, SIGNED BY 96 MOVEMENTS AND CIVIL ENTITIES, WAS DELIVERED DIRECTLY TO THE HANDS OF SECRETARY GENERAL LUIZ ALMAGRO LEMES, AT THE 48TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY HELD ON THIS DATE IN WASHINGTON DC DENOUNCING THE LACK OF TRANSPARENCY IN THE BRAZILIAN ELECTORAL PROCESS
The letter, after the praxis presentations, highlights the scope:
We denounce, at this moment, the total lack of transparency in the current Brazilian electoral system, especially as regards the counting of votes, because the electronic voting machine do not issue any printed physical counter-tests for voter pre-confirmation before confirming their wish, as well as of any recount, and not respecting the Constitutional Principle of Publicity of administrative acts (article 37 of the Federal Constitution), making the entire electoral process ILLEGITIBLE, wounding death to Democracy, a process similar to what happened to our unhappy Venezuelan brothers.
The letter tells a brief history of the Brazilian case, making connections, and demonstrating that the authorities insist on breaking the law and even the Constitution, using machines that count votes in secret. The document was delivered by Prof. Hermes Rodrigues Nery, President of the Movement Legislation and Life, who attended the 48th General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) at the invitation of the organization.
Prof. Hermes Nery delivers the Charter directly to the Secretary General
In the letter, the movements ask the OAS to intervene with questions from the Brazilian authorities, as well as to express its views on international human rights and political treaties that are endangered in Brazil.
Here is the Letter in its entirety, with the list of Signatory Movements:
Brazil, June 2018
THEORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES
ATT .: MR. LUIS ALMAGRO LEMES
MD GENERAL SECRETARY
SUBJECT: ABSENCE OF TRANSPARENCY IN THE ELECTORAL PROCESS OF BRAZIL
Dear sir:
We coordinated a coalition of movements, groups and activists in the interest of the Brazilian people. These movements have millions of followers in particular by social networks and seek greater integration and effectiveness in their actions in the intelligent and peaceful defense of the State of Law and Democracy, legality of public acts, and also contribute to the authorities constituted by means of of criticisms, suggestions and collections, including actions in the political and judicial field. This coalition, whose denomination is “CONVERGENCIAS” does not have head office , since its components decide the actions through the social networks. And everything is published on a website: www.convergencias.org.br
We denounce, at this moment, the total lack of transparency in the current Brazilian electoral system, especially as regards the counting of votes, because the electronic ballot boxes do not issue any printed physical counter-tests for voter pre-confirmation before confirming their wish, as well as of any recount, and not respecting the Constitutional Principle of Publicity of administrative acts (article 37 of the Federal Constitution), making the entire electoral process ILLEGITIBLE, wounding death to Democracy, a process similar to what happened to our unhappy Venezuelan brothers.
MORE DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE SITUATION:
The current process, fully automated by means of electronic voting machines, although the disclosure of alleged benefits, such as "speed of calculation and elimination of huge queues", has many sensitive points and proven fragilities that make them unfit for their primary function. Even recently, the very court in charge of organizing and supervising the elections has carried out a public test of the process, of the software and of the electronic equipment, and confirmed several problems that had previously been pointed out by leading experts. The court's response was that the problems identified would be corrected in time for the election.
Implemented in 1996, the system, which does not produce any physical proof of the vote, proved to be absolutely unreliable. Needless to say, such a system puts democracy at risk by facing all the processes of transparency and compliance required in the treatment of the "public thing", especially in the choice of representatives of the Legislative Branch and of the Executive Branch, who will lead the country, as a rule, owe their satisfaction to the people.
Despite this, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE), despite the evidence already cited, insists irrationally on the inviolability of the electronic voting machine. Affirmations of this type are known to be crazy, since even more complex and protected systems are invaded daily by hackers, from anywhere on the planet.
In addition, other problems arise, such as the noncompliance with the law by the body that should supervise it, vicious processes of selection of companies that provide services and exorbitant costs of equipment and services.
On 09/29/2015, Law 13,165 was published which obliges the installation of printers in electronic voting machines to issue the physical proof of the vote. After two years, that court did not adopt any measures to comply with this law. No budgetary action was taken, much less if any steps were taken regarding the identification and homologation of printing equipment and respective field bids and tests, only starting such negotiations as of November 2017, in view of the increasing pressures that Convergências and other groups exercise over the TSE. In fact, it was only possible to take some emergency action due to the pressure exerted on the National Congress commission in charge of authorizing additions to the Union Budget, with the allocation of approximately R $ 250 million for this purpose.
The TSE stated that there were insufficient funds for the acquisition of 600 thousand ballot boxes with a printer at a cost of R $ 2.5 billion (US $ 800 million), but in the face of pressure from society, which gathered the correct information and proved that it would not be necessary to manufacture new urns, but only to couple printers to the existing ones, the TSE forced itself to adopt the mentioned alternative. However, avoiding to implement them in their entirety, the then President of TSE, Minister Gilmar Mendes, announced the acquisition of only 30,000 printers, which corresponds to about 5% of the total number of polls, he said, because there would be no time for the acquisition of all 600 thousand printers.
At this point we wish to emphasize that the use of printers in only 5% of the ballot boxes is a flagrant violation of the Brazilian constitutional right of equality of citizens before the law, since 95% of the voters can not have the physical control of the vote. This means that given the vote there is no certainty to whom it was intended other than the one that appears on the screen of the electronic ballot box. There is no way to vote. It violates the principle of transparency, which is mandatory in Article 37 of our Federal Constitution, which requires publicity, impersonality and legality of the administrative acts practiced by the State. Counting votes is an administrative act and therefore must be public. The ballot has been secret since 1996, since it is held electronically inside each ballot box in each electoral section, issuing a ballot box with all the ballots counted. There is also a possibility of fraud in the transmission of data to the regional courts (in each state) and to the Superior Electoral Court in the Federal Capital, as well as in the aggregation of each of these recipients, depending on the nature of the election, whether state or national. Without physical counterproduction, it is impossible to promote recounts.
The solution is, clearly, the adoption of ballot voting, with public count of votes after the closing of the election in each section of the election. Each one, having a low average number of voters - about 200 to 400 voters - makes it very easy and quick to count and issue the respective bulletin, distributing copies to all present in each section, be they party tax and candidates, are ordinary voters. By advertising such bulletins, you create a mirroring of results, increasing transparency and mitigating the possibility of fraud. And there will still be their own vows stored in the canvas urn, sealed, for eventual recount. As is done in Japan, Germany and USA, just to name a few. Public officials - who demand that we "have public faith in them" - although the state is secular and can not mix legal demands with professions of faith - accuse the system of ballot-voting anachronistic, but in fact, it is much more reliable than the current electronic ballot boxes.
Not only for Convergencias, but for almost all of Brazilian society, it became evident that the Minister, the President of the TSE until the end of January / 18, avoided complying with the law at all costs. The current president, Minister Luiz Fux intends to follow in the same direction. However, this situation is seen as a prevarication by senior officials of the Brazilian State, that is, the noncompliance with the function for which they are responsible. The fact itself would already be worrying if it applied to common servers, but when such behaviors depart from servers of such high court, PROTECTED BY THEMSELVES, WHICH ARE PART OF THE SUPREME FEDERAL COURT, indicate serious signs of dysfunction in the political system. If this absurd situation persists, the tendency is the degeneration of the system, which could generate an acute and profound crisis in the country, leading us to the catastrophic situation of Venezuela.
Serious problems were also detected in the management of equipment costs. The unit cost of each printer, submitted by TSE, stands at R $ 2,000.00 (US $ 533.00). However, surveys carried out by specialists who are components of Convergências, in addition to others not related to it, have found that this value exceeds the market price of equivalent equipment by ten times. If we consider that the acquisition in large lots normally tends to reduce the unit price, it is certain that the cost of each one can be between R $ 200.00 (US $ 53.00) and R $ 400.00 (US $ 106 , 00), a drastic reduction of costs. Although it was possible to approve in the General Budget of the Union, through a National Congress, a sum of R $ 250 million (about US $ 66 million) that would serve to produce all the 600 thousand printers, the resource was not requested by the TSE .
At this juncture, Convergencias has adopted several procedures to demand from the institutions and responsible authorities the correct and complete compliance with the law so that the entire electoral process is fully transparent in the elections that will take place in the current year.
Aiming to react to these irregularities and illegalities, the “Convergencias” implemented several measures, among them the entry with actions in the Federal Court. One of them is a Popular Action that requires that the vote can be exercised by means of paper ballots in the sections in which the electronic ballot boxes do not provide voting impression equipment for voter pre-conference purposes, before final confirmation of the voting process. voting, thus allowing, if necessary, an audit action.
Even if the impression of the vote allows the subsequent conference, due to physical counter-trial, will incur in breach of constitutional rights if the TSE remains in the illegal provision to provide printers of votes only for a minimal portion of electronic ballot boxes. For this reason, it joined the aforementioned Popular Action, requiring the issuance of paper ballots and ballot boxes for the remaining 95% of the electoral sections. Other actions such as the Brazilian Homeland Association and the Brazilian Resgate Institute require the right of public scrutiny, based on the constitutional principle of publicity of public acts.
Surrounded, the authorities try to suspend the effects of the Law that introduced the compulsory printing of the vote, promulgated in 2015, as mentioned above, through a Direct Action of Unconstitutionality (ADIN) presented by the Attorney General's Office (PGR) to the Supreme Court Federal Court, even after the Letter of the “Convergencias filed and delivered to the Chief Prosecutor, Dr. Raquel Dodge, in which we requested action against the offenses of Minister Gilmar Mendes, then president of TSE and we informed about the actions of the Society in Federal Court. In a strange coincidence, the minister of the STF raffled was nothing more, nothing less than Minister Gilmar Mendes himself, simultaneously a member of the TSE and the STF (in fact, the structuring of the Brazilian Judiciary is very biased). In addition to the unprecedented action, which goes against the interests of the population, against the necessary transparency duly registered in the Federal Constitution (article 37), it also lays down against the Principle of Annuity (Article 16 of the Constitution) less than 12 months before the next election. To further aggravate the framework of immorality and illegality also in this case, the Minister of Justice Gilmar Mendes himself was the rapporteur for the measure proposed by the Attorney General of the Republic, who presided until February / 18 the TSE, being, by law, prevented from judging matter in the which is or has been a part, which is being disregarded by the other ministers of the Federal Supreme Court. That is, the judicial authorities are disrespecting head and shamelessly, the legislation and the Constitution that they have vowed to defend, as well as the legal obligation to do so.
The facts that dissuade all republican lawfulness are multiplied perpetrated by public agents increasingly devoid of modesty. Minister Gilmar Mendes, who presided over the TSE, moved his former direct advisor to be appointed as Director of Technical and Legal Affairs of the Federal Senate, where he has, against him, impeachment proceedings for several reasons. The impeachment processes that are the constitutional responsibility of the Senate of the Republic do not have a technical-juridical opinion exactly of this Executive Board, to which its former advisor was appointed. The Nation is shocked.
Although there is already legislation requiring paper ballots and canvas ballot to be made available at all polling stations in the event of failure in some electronic ballot box, the TSE has insisted on alternatives that entail enormous costs, such as the acquisition of entirely new ballot boxes in which are already coupled with the printers of votes. This insistence, one supposes, is due to the attempt to create a smokescreen to conceal the true intention, which is to keep the present system exactly as it is: susceptible of fraud. In the last election the conference of votes was carried out by a group of the TSE own and without access to any other citizen; the conference was secretly headed by Minister Dias Toffoli, a member of the Workers' Party (PT), an organization that is currently being challenged by Brazilian society in the face of many of its members being jailed and prosecuted by Operation Car Wash. There was no transparency in that calculation and totaling of the votes to the second round of the presidential elections, which occurred in 2014.
It is now expected that the Federal Court will comply with the judicial measures proposed by the Company. Thus, in addition to equalizing all voters in their constitutional rights, we will have 100 percent of the votes with the physical counter-vote for eventual audits.
We also inform that a Legislative Suggestion to the Senate (nº 39/17), which exceeded 20 thousand signatures in very short time, presented by one of the members of the Conclave for Democracy (which integrates Convergencies), was rejected by the Rapporteurship and by the Commission of Human Rights of the Senate (https://www12.senado.leg.br/noticias/audios/2018/02/cdh-rejeita-sugestao-do-retorno-ao-voto-em-cedula), under the justification that the printed vote is approved. That is, the People are being curtailed of their right to the transparency of the voting process in Brazil. We believe that the international organizations that fight against corruption in the world, seeking the transparency of public acts, should take note of this grave situation in Brazil, which is why we have issued this note, which is signed by Civil Movements and Activists in “Convergencias”.
As we have for the moment, we hope that this DENUNCIATION will be widely disseminated and that the OAS will consider the need to demand from the Brazilian authorities, compliance with the law and the Constitution, which are in line with International Treaties such as the Pact of San José de Costa Rica, of the Charter of Human Rights of the United Nations and of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, adopted at the OAS General Assembly in 2001, and we are at your disposal for further clarification.
Best regards,
“CONVERGENCIAS”
Civil Movements in Brazil
Thomas Korontai
Coordinator
Signatory Movements and Institutions (In alphabetical order):
Acampamento LAVA JATO
Bloco Movimento Brasil
Chega de Impostos
Curitiba Contra Corrupção
Direita Boa Esperança Do Sul
Direita Franca
Direita Guariba
Direita Jaboticabal
Direita Minas
Direita Minas – Bambuí
Direita Minas – Bom Despacho
Direita Minas –Borda da Mata
Direita Minas – Cambuquira
Direita Minas – Capitão Enéas
Direita Minas – Contagem
Direita Minas – Felisburgo
Direita Minas – Governador Valadares
Direita Minas – Itabira
Direita Minas – Ituiutaba
Direita Minas – Juiz de Fora
Direita Minas – Lavras
Direita Minas – Montes Claros
Direita Minas – Ouro Fino
Direita Minas – Paracatu
Direita Minas – Patos de Minas
Direita Minas – Poços de Caldas
Direita Minas – Ribeirão das Neves
Direita Minas – Samonte
Direita Minas – Santa Rita do Sapucaí
Direita Minas – Sete Lagoas
Direita Minas – Três Corações
Direita Minas – Uberaba
Direita Minas – Varginha
Direita Morro Agudo
Direita – Orlândia
Direita – RM Ribeirão Preto
Direita – São José (SJC/SP)
Direita Sertãozinho
Endireita Pernambuco
Instituto Legislação e Vida
Liga Federalista Nacional
Movimento Avança Brasil
Movimento Federalista
Movimento Rua Brasil
Resistência Popular SM
UNATRANS – União Nacional dos Transportes Rodoviários e Autônomos
Ativistas Independentes SP
BrasileirOS.brOS
Conclave pela Democracia
Direita ABC
Direita Cravinhos
Direita Guaíra
Direita Ilha Bela
Direita Litoral
Direita Minas – Alfenas
Direita Minas – Betim
Direita Minas – Bom Repouso
Direita Minas – Cambuí
Direita Minas – Campanha
Direita Minas – Carandaí
Direita Minas – Córrego do Bom Jesus
Direita Minas – Frutal
Direita Minas – Ipatinga
Direita Minas – Itajubá
Direita Minas – João Monlevade
Direita Minas – Lafaiete
Direita Minas – Luminárias
Direita Minas – Nepomuceno
Direita Minas – Ouro Preto
Direita Minas – Passos
Direita Minas – Perdões
Direita Minas – Pouso Alegre
Direita Minas – Rio Pardo
Direita Minas – Santa Luzia
Direita Minas – São Domingos da Prata
Direita Minas – Teófilo Otoni
Direita Minas – Três Pontas
Direita Minas – Uberlândias
Direita Minas – Viçosa
Direita MS (Mato Grosso do Sul)
Direita – Pontal
Direita – RMVale
Direita São Paulo
Direita Ubatuba
Instituto Federalista
Instituto Liberal Acorda Brasil
Marcha Cívica
Movimento Direita Ceará
Movimento juntos Pelo Brasil
NasRuas
São Paulo Conservador
Voz da Liberdade
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LG
not respecting the Constitutional Principle of Publicity of administrative acts (article 37 of the Federal Constitution)
==//==
SOURCE/LINK: https://edition.cnn.com/2018/06/12/asia/singapore-summit-intl/index.html
Singapore summit: Asia reacts to the Trump-Kim meeting
By Joshua Berlinger, CNN
Updated 0011 GMT (0811 HKT) June 13, 2018
(CNN)As Tuesday's landmark summit between the leaders of the United States and North Korea drew to a close, questions remained for US allies in East Asia as to what Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un's budding relationship will mean for the region.
A document signed by the two men committed the US and North Korea to join efforts to "build a lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula" and "to work toward the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."
Trump sought to clarify the specifics of that agreement in a news conference after the summit, but in doing so, revealed details that appeared to upend decades of US policy in Asia.
Key moments from the Trump-Kim summit
Trump outlined a vision of an Asian geopolitical landscape that included a significantly reduced US military presence, promising to end joint US-South Korean military exercises and eventually withdraw US troops from the Korean Peninsula.
Any suggestion of a potential removal of US power will likely spark concerns both in Tokyo and Seoul, where US troops have been stationed since the 1950s.
"I want to get our soldiers out. I want to bring our soldiers back home," Trump said. "But that's not part of the equation right now. I hope it will be eventually."
Trump also said he planed to halt what he called "war games" on the Korean Peninsula, likely a reference to the joint military exercises between the US and South Korea, touting the cancellation as cost saving measure.
Moon's all in
Regional powers have publicly pledged their support for the talks, following last year's heightened tensions and threats of nuclear war.
Other than Trump and Kim, perhaps no other leader had as much riding on the outcome of the talks as South Korean President Moon Jae-in -- who said he "didn't sleep a wink" the night before Tuesday's summit.
"Seventy years of division and hostility, however, have cast a dark shadow that makes it difficult to believe what is actually taking place before our very eyes," Moon said following the summit.
"Leaving dark days of war and conflict behind, we will write a new chapter of peace and cooperation. We will be there together with North Korea along the way."
Trump's North Korean gamble ends with 'special bond' with Kim
In a phone conversation with Trump Tuesday evening, Moon said that the summit had "laid a great foundation for peace, not only for the Korean peninsula but for the world," according to Kim Eui-kyeom, a spokesman for the presidential Blue House.
During the call, the two leaders agreed to work together more closely to ensure the contents of the agreement are fully implemented, he added.
It was the second phone call between the leaders in two days, which the spokesman described as unprecedented in US-South Korea diplomatic history.
Moon has played the role of interlocutor between Trump and Kim, helping to set up what he called the "meeting of the century."
He spearheaded diplomatic efforts with the North by using the PyeongChang Winter Olympics as an opportunity to mend fences with Pyongyang. Moon would go on to meet with Kim at the end of April for the first inter-Korean summit in more than a decade.
But even mentioning the removal of troops in South Korea could be a bridge too far for Seoul, especially among its conservative and pro-American voters.
A smaller US military footprint in Asia would leave both South Korea and neighboring Japan exposed if North Korea were to undertake aggressive behavior or military provocations.
"The crown jewel of the deterrent largely is the bilateral military exercises," said Jonathan Berkshire Miller, an analyst at the Japan Institute for International Affairs.
"That sort of language, that these crucial elements of alliance deterrence are actually a pain in the butt, that doesn't go over very well in Japan," said Berkshire Miller.
In addition to protecting South Korea and Japan from the threat of North Korean missile strike, the US' presence in the region has acted as a counterweight to China.
Seoul and Tokyo would have to take a second look at their defense capabilities, perhaps even bolster them, should Washington choose to pull back -- something US Defense Secretary James Mattis said earlier this month would not be part of Trump's initial negotiations with Kim Jong Un.
Colonel Chad Carroll, a spokesman for US Forces Korea (USFK), told CNN "we here at USFK received no official updated guidance on execution or cessation in any upcoming training exercises."
Seoul and Washington maintain the drills are defensive in nature and meant to maintain the readiness of their forces, but Pyongyang has always viewed them as hostile, and in some cases as preparation for an invasion.
A win for China?
China appears to be another big winner of Tuesday's talks. Its foreign minister, Wang Yi, said Tuesday the summit was of "great significance" and a positive step forward.
But it also got Washington and Pyongyang to abide by a deal it proposed last year, albeit without Trump and Kim acknowledging it.
Moscow and Beijing both championed a so-called "freeze for freeze" deal, in which Washington and Seoul would pause military exercises and Pyongyang would stop weapons testing.
Both North Korea and the United States rejected the proposal out of hand when it was first proposed. Now, it appears that China has gotten its wish, with both sides halting those activities.
And the eventual removal of troops is music to Chinese President Xi Jinping's ears.
China has long been opposed to the American military presence in Japan and South Korea, worried the troops and military equipment on Beijing's doorstep was less about countering North Korean and more about containing a rising and powerful China.
To date, Beijing has been an important partner in Trump's maximum pressure campaign to diplomatically isolate North Korea and punish it economically, as it make makes up for about 90% of all of Pyongyang's foreign trade.
Trump said Tuesday that sanctions will remain in place until "we are sure the nukes are no longer a factor," but it's unclear if China will continue to vigorously enforce them.
There have been reports of increased trade on the country's border with North Korea, and Foreign Minister Wang told reporters Tuesday that sanctions could be adjusted.
"China always holds the view that sanctions are not the goal. Actions by the UN Security Council should support and coordinate with the current diplomatic dialogues and efforts on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and the promotion of a political settlement on the peninsula issue," he said.
Abe's small victory
Trump also said he confronted Kim about North Korea's kidnapping of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s, something Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe thanked the US President for later in the day.
The abduction issue is a highly emotional topic in Japan, and something Abe says must be addressed before Tokyo normalizes relations with Pyongyang.
Kim and Trump sign their declaration in Singapore on Tuesday.
The abduction issue is the issue that I would like to squarely face with NK for the solution."
"North Korea has plentiful resources and labor, if it walks in the right path, it can draw a bright future," Abe said earlier Tuesday.
CNN's Yuli Yang and Steve George in Hong Kong; Sophie Jeong, Jeremy Diamond and Yoonjung Seo in Singapore; and Steven Jiang in Beijing contributed reporting.
==//==
SOURCE/LINK: http://www.vianoticias.blog.br/mpf-denuncia-sergia-miranda-fraude-na-simcol-deve-investigar-caio-asfor/
MPF(Brazilian Federal Prosecutions Office) denounces Sérgia Miranda for fraud at Simcol and should investigate Caio Asfor
November 27, 2017 Walter Bardawil
Offices "Sampaio e Tavares Advocacia e Consultoria" and "Rocha, Marinho e Sales" would be linked by means of operating behind a particular type naive person offering to represent another in an illegal activity "straw" man (in portuguese “laranjas”)
The Federal Public Prosecutor's Office (MPF), through the Deputy Attorney General, Luciano Mariz Maia, offered the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) a crime against the Sérgia Maria Mendonça Miranda district attorney for fraud involving the failed bankruptcy of Simcol (building company undergoing bankruptcy).
She dispatched an injunction and wrongly ordered (in one of her shifts) the payment of a check in the amount of one million, one hundred and nineteen thousand, nine hundred and thirty-two reais and one centavo to the office "Sampaio e Tavares Advocacia e Consultoria", which, at the time, in May 2013, had provided legal services to the company.
In addition to Sérgia, Frankraley Oliveira Gomes - boyfriend of the judge at the time -, Paulo Fernando Mendonça and Claudia Adrienne Sampaio de Oliveira are enrolled.
Check out excerpt from MPF complaint.
Orange Partnership
SIMCOL would also have been harmed, in a criminal manner, through another injunction of the same adjudicator. The company was forced to pay very high amounts (over R $ 1 million) to the law firm "Rocha, Marinho e Sales", owned by attorney Caio Asfor.
The payment was made by means of an "orange" connected to the "Sampaio, Tavares Advocacia e Consultoria" office.
The denunciation was sent to the Minister of STJ, Herman Benjamin, by the businessman Gilberto Martins Borges, majority partner and representative of the bankrupt company.
Part of the document of Gilberto Borges below.
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