Âu

[ốc]

Thời mạt Pháp:

French tycoon Bernard Tapie tied up and beaten in burglary
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...en-in-burglary

The former French minister and scandal-ridden tycoon Bernard Tapie, once the owner of Adidas, was attacked along with his wife during a night-time burglary of their home, police have said.

The couple were asleep when four men broke into the house in Combs-la-Ville near Paris around 12.30am local time on Sunday, beat them and tied them up with electrical cords before making off with stolen goods.

Dominique Tapie managed to free herself and made her way to a neighbour’s home, from where she called the police. Slightly injured from several blows to the face, she was taken to hospital for a checkup. “She is doing well,” Tapie’s grandson Rodolphe Tapie said.

During the burglary the perpetrators pulled Dominique Tapie by the hair “because they wanted to know where the treasure was”, said Guy Geoffroy, the mayor of Combs-La-Ville. “But of course there was no treasure, and the fact that they didn’t find one made the violence only worse.”

Bernard Tapie, 78, received a blow to the head with a club, the prosecutor Beatrice Angelelli said, but he declined to be taken into medical care.

“My grandfather refused to be taken away,” Rodolphe Tapie said. “He is shattered, very tired. He was sitting on a chair when he was hit with a club.”

The burglars broke into Tapie’s home, a vast estate known as the Moulin de Breuil, through a first-floor window, undetected by guards. They made off with two watches including a Rolex, earrings, bracelets and a ring, according to a source close to the investigation.

Tapie was a socialist minister who rose from humble beginnings to build a sporting and media empire, but later ran into a string of legal problems. He made a fortune in the early part of his career by taking over failing companies in corporate raids, stripping them of their assets and selling them for profit during the high-rolling years of financial deregulation in France.

He often flaunted his wealth, buying a 72-metre yacht and a football club, Olympique de Marseille, which won the French championship while he was their owner. He has been under suspicion of match-fixing in France’s top football league. He was briefly the minister for urban affairs in François Mitterrand’s government in 1992.

Tapie was found guilty in a series of cases for corruption, tax fraud and misuse of corporate assets, went to prison for five months and was stripped of the right to stand in any election in France.

Last autumn Tapie’s fraud trial was postponed for reasons of ill health because he was suffering from stomach cancer and cancer of the oesophagus, which were getting worse. The trial is due to resume in May, with Tapie determined to be present, according to his lawyer.

Cướp đêm là cướp, cướp ngày là quan...

[Triển]

He often flaunted his wealth, buying a 72-metre yacht and a football club, Olympique de Marseille, which won the French championship while he was their owner. He has been under suspicion of match-fixing in France’s top football league. He was briefly the minister for urban affairs in François Mitterrand’s government in 1992.

Tiền xài là vật hại thân.

[Triển]

Lâu hơn Stalin

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Putin signs law allowing him two more terms as Russia's leader



Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday signed a law allowing him to potentially hold onto power until 2036, a move that formalises constitutional changes endorsed in a vote last year.

The July 1 constitutional vote included a provision that reset Putin's previous term limits, allowing him to run for president two more times. The change was rubber-stamped by the Kremlin-controlled legislature and the relevant law signed by Putin was posted Monday on an official portal of legal information.

The 68-year-old Russian president, who has been in power for more than two decades — longer than any other Kremlin leader since Soviet dictator Josef Stalin — said he would decide later whether to run again in 2024 when his current six-year term ends.

He has argued that resetting the term count was necessary to keep his lieutenants focused on their work instead of “darting their eyes in search for possible successors.”

Constitutional vote criticise for 'irregularities'

The constitutional amendments also emphasized the primacy of Russian law over international norms, outlawed same-sex marriages and mentioned “a belief in God” as a core value. Nearly 78% of voters approved the constitutional amendments during the balloting that lasted for a week and concluded on July 1. Turnout was 68%.

Following the vote, Russian lawmakers have methodically modified the national legislation, approving the relevant laws.

The opposition criticized the constitutional vote, arguing that it was tarnished by widespread reports of pressure on voters and other irregularities, as well as a lack of transparency and hurdles hindering independent monitoring.

In the months since the vote, Russia has imprisoned the country's most prominent opposition figure, Alexei Navalny.

Navalny continuing hunger strike

The 44-year-old Navalny was arrested in January upon his return from Germany, where he spent five months recovering from a nerve-agent poisoning that he blames on the Kremlin. Russian authorities have rejected the accusation.

In February, Navalny was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for violating the terms of his probation while convalescing in Germany. The sentence stems from a 2014 embezzlement conviction that Navalny has rejected as fabricated — and which the European Сourt of Human Rights has ruled to be unlawful.

His team says Navalny had lost a substantial amount of weight even before he started a hunger strike Wednesday to protest authorities’ failure to provide proper treatment for his back and leg pains.

Navalny complained about prison officials’ refusal to give him the proper medications and to allow his doctor to visit him. He also protested the hourly checks a guard makes on him at night, saying they amount to sleep deprivation.

In an Instagram post Monday, Navalny said that three of 15 people in his room at the penal colony were diagnosed with tuberculosis. He noted that he had a strong cough and a fever of 38.1 Celsius (100.6 Fahrenheit).

/* src.: https://www.euronews.com/2021/04/05/...ussia-s-leader

[ốc]

RussiAnon.

How the 1999 Russian apartment bombings led to Putin's rise to power
https://news.yahoo.com/1999-russian-...192629590.html

In the summer of 1999 the approval rating of former President Yeltsin was 2%. There appeared to be no chance whatever that Putin, who was designated by Yeltsin as his successor could possibly become the next Russian president. The apartment bombings changed everything. It was said after those buildings went up that now we're living in a completely different country.

More than 200 people were killed in the September bombings. Russia blamed Chechen militants, triggering the second Chechen War.

Putin came forward as the savior of the country. He was put in charge of a war in Chechnya. The bombings were blamed on Chechens without any evidence whatsoever, and as a result of the successful prosecution of that war, against all odds he was elected the next Russian president. The apartment bombings appear to be the keystone of a plot to confuse Russian public opinion, to create terror, to distract the Russian public, to redirect their anger away from the corruption that had flourished under Yeltsin, and toward the Chechens who had had for a number of years a semi-independent government in Chechnya and in that way create the conditions for the Russian people to vote in what they absolutely consciously did not want, which was a successor to Yeltsin who would protect Yeltsin.

There was an enormous amount of material in the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta which pointed to the possibility and in fact to the likelihood that the authorities themselves blew up those buildings. At the same time a fifth bomb was discovered in the basement of an apartment building in Ryazan, which is a city southeast of Moscow. And I went to Ryazan after the bomb was discovered and diffused to talk to local residents and it was clear from those conversations that what took place was a genuine attempt to blow up a fifth building. The authorities said that this was only a training exercise, but it was nothing of the kind.

And what was most important was that three persons were arrested for putting a bomb in a building in Ryazan. They turned out to be not Chechens, not terrorists in the usual sense, but rather agents of the Federal Securities Service which is the FSB.

Pú tín công thành vạn cốt khô.

[ốc]

Cướp đêm là giặc, cướp ngày là quan thuế:

Buying a £5,000 bike from Poland has become a Brexit nightmare
https://www.theguardian.com/money/20...stoms-duty-vat

I find myself in a Kafkaesque situation as a result of Brexit. I decided, over Christmas, to treat myself to a new £5,000 racing bicycle, but the only place I could source it was a shop in Poland.

I ordered it on 28 December 2020, and, at the time, the gov.uk website indicated there would be no duties to pay on goods purchased before 1 January 2021. DPD collected it in early January, but returned it to the sender as it couldn’t negotiate the border chaos. The package was re-sent on 12 January with UPS.

This is where it gets crazy. UPS told me in early February that there was more than £2,000 in duty and taxes to pay as the government had withdrawn the grace period for items purchased before 1 January.

Not having the money, I refused delivery and asked for the package to be returned to sender. However, UPS now says there is £1,500 duty to be paid to return it to Poland.

I can’t believe the bike was technically imported into the UK, but I cannot get a refund until it is returned. JS, Norwich

Brexit = Tax it.

[Triển]

Hồi sinh.

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A London high street comes back to life as the UK reopens

As non-essential businesses reopen, DW talked to business owners and patrons in North London to see if this lockdown will really be the last.


Residents in Walthamstow in North London are happy the lockdown is over and desperately hope it was the last

Katrina says she woke up on Monday morning itching to get out of the house, "I shook my partner awake, and said let's go, let's go!" the 32-year-old artist tells me at Ricco's Cafe, a local coffee shop on Walthamstow High Street in North London.

It is 10 a.m. and today is the day the UK government is lifting the first restrictions on non-essential businesses after a third national lockdown. While indoor dining is still not permitted, outdoor dining is — and despite the chilly weather, Katrina and her partner Alex are eager to have a taste of normal life again.

"It is just nice to be able to do something besides go for a walk," says Alex, a caregiver, as he smiles and sips a cappuccino.

Though Alex has been working throughout the lockdown, he says the relaxed rules will make a difference in the places he is able to take the 90-year-old man he looks after.

"It is really important for his mental health," he says. "It is amazing how much doing something different can change your entire mood."


Katrina (l), Alex (m) and their friend Roger (r) enjoy at coffee at Ricco's Cafe on Walthamstow's High Street

'I'm looking forward to getting my life together a bit'

Nearby, a line is starting to form outside a charity shop — another type of non-essential business reopening today.

"I'm hoping to find something to wear on job interviews," Effie, a 23-year-old from Sheffield tells me, mentioning that she lost her job as a waitress.

Hospitality has been one of the sectors hardest-hit by the coronavirus, with the trade body UK Hospitality estimating it shed more than 600,000 jobs over the past year.

"I'm really just looking forward to getting my life together a bit," Effie continued. "Get a job, get back to the gym — that sort of thing."

'We hope it is different now, with the vaccine'

Down the street at Dench Fitness Gym, which also reopens today, Amin Maruf is eager to welcome those who are ready to come back.

He says he hopes that was the last of the lockdowns: "We were always told it would be the last one," Maruf tells me, echoing a common complaint among business owners. Though the UK government assured the population the first lockdown would be the last, two more and a myriad of safety restrictions have come — making many Britons now cautious of being overly optimistic now.

"I tried to use the time wisely, to upgrade a lot of the equipment that we have downstairs," he continues, "but it has been a lot of money to invest."

Maruf has been able to survive by attracting a loyal clientele of local bodybuilders but many other business owners have not been so lucky.

"I'm hoping it is different, especially now that we have the vaccine," he continues.

Since approving both the BioNTech-Pfizer and Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines last December, the UK has managed to inoculate more than 50 percent of its population. This, coupled with strict lockdown measures, has led to a significant drop in coronavirus infections.

'No money, no house, many problems'

For many people, like 39-year-old Singh, however, the damage will be lasting. He lost his job in retail during the lockdown, meaning he couldn't afford to pay his rent.

"I'm homeless now," he tells me as he waits in line at a local foodbank that prepares hot meals at lunchtime for those in need.

"Look, I have a 13 year old son, and we have to come here for our food," he says, shaking his head. "Lockdown means no house, no money, many problems."

While the UK government was eager to address the needs of its homeless population at the beginning of the pandemic, recent figures show that more than 70,000 households have been been turned out onto the street as a result of the pandemic.

"It's been hard, my grades have gone down a lot," Singh's son Kishar says when I ask him about school — the disruption caused by constantly switching between in-person and online classes has been difficult for many students but it has been even more challenging for poor and homeless students.

"I really want to be a professional boxer," he continues. "I'm hoping now that things are opening up, I can find somewhere to box."



Four friends — Jason, Alex, Kyle and Richard (from left) enjoy a beer on the first day the UK lifts lockdown restrictions

'I'm never going to take it for granted again'

I knew that my last stop had to be a pub — an institution that, for many Londoners, is the litmus test of whether or not life has truly gone back to normal.

While pubs will be limited to outdoor service and groups to no more than six people for the next five weeks, by 2 p.m. the sun had unexpectedly come out and the outdoor seating area of a small group of local restaurants and shops was buzzing with people enjoying the chance to socialize for the first time in months.

"We have been doing this over Zoom for the past six months," says Richard, a 30-year-old teacher who met up with four of his colleagues for a beer. "I'm never going to take it for granted again," he says with a laugh.

Between the three national lockdowns and the months of local restrictions, meeting friends outside of one's household — for instance at a local pub — has only been legal for four months out of the past year.

"We have been cooped up for so long that we have started to think of it as a privilege, a sort of special treat, to spend time with our friends," his friend Kyle tells me, "but actually it is our right."

/* src.: https://www.dw.com/en/a-london-high-...ens/a-57174890

[Triển]

Phá vỡ một băng đảng Việt Nam buôn hàng trăm kí lô ma túy từ Hà Lan đưa về Đức

Hiếu Bá Linh, tổng hợp
15-4-2021


Cảnh sát khám xét một khu vực gần chợ Đồng Xuân, Berlin hôm thứ Tư 14/4. Nguồn: DPA

Trong hai ngày liên tiếp, thứ Ba 13/4 và thứ Tư 14/4, khoảng 600 cảnh sát, trong đó có lực lượng đặc nhiệm chống khủng bố, đã mở một cuộc đột kích lớn ở Berlin, khám xét nhiều nhiều căn hộ, văn phòng và cơ sở kinh doanh của một băng nhóm Việt Nam buôn bán ma túy, đặc biệt tất cả các địa điểm này gần bên cạnh chợ Đồng Xuân Berlin. Chưa kể hôm 13/4, riêng thứ Tư hôm 14/4, cảnh sát bắt được 12 nghi phạm.

Băng đảng Việt Nam buôn ma túy

Một băng đảng Việt Nam bị tình nghi trong vài năm trở lại đây, đã buôn lậu hàng trăm kí lô chất ma túy tổng hợp và cần sa từ Hà Lan vào Đức.

Christian Schüttenkop, phát ngôn viên của Sở Điều tra Hải quan Munich (thủ phủ bang Bavaria), nói: “Nhóm thủ phạm Việt Nam bị tình nghi buôn lậu ma túy từ Hà Lan sang Đức và phân phối chúng từ Berlin trên toàn nước Đức”.

Người phát ngôn của hải quan cho biết: “Chúng tôi cho rằng băng đảng này đã buôn lậu hàng trăm kí lô ma tuý trong ba năm qua“.

Theo cảnh sát, các thành viên của băng đảng này cũng được cho là có trang bị vũ khí, cho nên cuộc đột kích lớn được sự hỗ trợ của Lực lượng đặc nhiệm chống khủng bố. Tất cả các địa điểm khám xét trong ngày 14/4 đều nằm gần bên cạnh khu chợ Đồng Xuân khổng lồ, nơi còn được biết đến như một đầu mối liên lạc của những kẻ đưa người Việt Nam nhập cảnh lậu. Một lượng lớn tiền mặt, điện thoại di động và máy đánh bạc đã bị tịch thu.

Theo phát ngôn viên Christian Schüttenkopf, công tố viện Aachen lãnh đạo cuộc điều tra chung về băng đảng Việt Nam này suốt 3 năm trời, kể từ năm 2018. Theo các nhà điều tra từ Erlangen và Nürnberg ở bang Bavaria, con đường buôn lậu ma túy từ Berlin đi ngang qua thành phố Erlangen, Nürnberg và Aachen của Đức đến Hà Lan và từ đó quay trở lại Berlin.


Chó nghiệp vụ cũng được sử dụng để đánh hơi tìm chỗ cất dấu ma túy. Nguồn: Spree picture

Theo cảnh sát, các cuộc khám xét đầu tiên ở Berlin diễn ra hôm thứ Ba 13/4. Tuy nhiên, trọng tâm là vào thứ Tư 14/4. Tổng cộng có 30 căn hộ và cơ sở kinh doanh đã được nhắm mục tiêu của cuộc đột kích lớn này sáng thứ Tư. Ngoài ra còn có các cuộc khám xét và năm vụ bắt giữ ở Hà Lan cùng ngày hôm nay. Công tố viên nói đây là một cuộc điều tra phức tạp.

Băng đảng Đức buôn ma túy

Băng đảng thứ hai gồm những người Đức, họ sử dụng các căn hộ sang trọng làm kho chứa ma túy gồm cần sa, cocaine và Amphetaminen. Hôm thứ Ba 13/3, có một cuộc đột kích lớn vào các căn hộ này. Vụ này do công tố viên bang Berlin điều tra và nhắm vào một nhóm thủ phạm người Đức. 200 cảnh sát, chuyên viên và điều tra viên của Sở Cảnh sát hình sự đã khám xét 15 căn hộ sang trọng ở quận Kreuzberg, Berlin. Theo phát ngôn viên cảnh sát, 8 trong số 11 nghi phạm bị bắt, nhiều bằng chứng đã bị tịch thu trong cuộc đột kích, bao gồm các loại ma túy với số lượng không nhỏ.

_____

Nguồn:

– https://www.t-online.de/region/berli...en-razzia.html

– https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/news...-li.152601.amp

– https://www.bild.de/regional/berlin/...ildMobile.html

---

/* src.: https://baotiengdan.com/2021/04/15/p...an-dua-ve-duc/

[ốc]

Hà lan gần xát Đức mà, ai có nhu cầu thì xẹt qua xẹt lại, cần nhiêu mua nhiêu, chứ mang cả chục cần xé về Đức làm chi cho lính bắt? Dân Đức coi bộ hông có năng vận động.

[Triển]

Gì, hút một điếu thuốc chạy ba quãng đồng.
Ai mà vận động kỳ cục vậy. Ở đây người ta trồng
"hút tại gia" luôn. Hút xong người ta cười, rồi
người ta bay, đó mới là vận động thứ thiệt..

[Triển]

September election: Baerbock - [bɛːɐ̯ bɔk] - phiên âm: Be bốc

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Could Green Party leader Annalena Baerbock become Germany's next Angela Merkel?

Annalena Baerbock is said to be tough, talented and very ambitious. Now, Germany's Green Party has named her as its candidate for chancellor. Is she cut out for the job?


Annalena Baerbock has been sharpening her political profile

Annalena Baerbock has been named the Green party's first-ever chancellor candidate, emphasizing at a press conference on Monday the unanimity with which she and co-leader Robert Habeck had made the decision, and the clarity of their purpose, first formulated at a party conference three years ago: To become a new big tent party for Germany.

"Of course we didn't know then that we'd be standing here today," she said. "But what we knew was that we wanted to open our party up, that we wanted to make policies for a broad society: Inviting, and with clear objectives. And so today begins a new chapter for our party."

"Here, today, I want to make an offer, for the whole of society, as an invitation to lead our diverse, strong, rich country into a good future," she added, warming to the theme.

Baerbock has seen a precipitous rise to power.

The 40-year-old stepped into the limelight at a party conference early in 2018. Wearing a black leather jacket, the still little-known regional politician — a resident of the eastern state of Brandenburg — stepped to the fore and wowed the delegates who had just made her one of the party's two co-leaders.

That was and is remarkable. After all, the environmentalists already had one shooting star: the relatively young and to many charismatic Robert Habeck was soon whispered about as "chancellor material."

But since her rise to the party's co-chair post, Baerbock has not slowed down. The 40-year-old has sharpened her political profile and projected herself as an expert on how to tackle climate change.

Nor has she shied away from thorny foreign policy issues. She's spoken out on the threats posed by far-right populism and xenophobia. So, when in the winter of 2019 the party again convened, Baerbock got a massive 97% backing from the delegates, beating the "man at her side," who got an impressive 90%.

Early on, Baerbock was driven by ambition. Born in 1980 in the small town of Pattensen in Lower Saxony, she was a natural athlete, placing third at Germany's national trampolining championship. She was only 16 when she went to spend a year in the United States. Later, she studied law in Hannover before going on to the London School of Economics, where she studied international law. As a result, Baerbock gives interviews in fluent English — something that even in this day and age still can't be taken for granted among German politicians.

Since she became party co-leader, the Greens have been polling comfortably above the 20% mark. Add to that the party's good showing in European elections, as well in as regional votes in Germany.

But not all is rosy, with the Greens still struggling to gain ground in eastern Germany. But here, too, Baerbock is an asset — and is learning fast, because her family of four has long been based in the eastern city of Potsdam.

Faster fossil fuel phaseout and autobahn speed limits

Both Baerbock and Habeck have few inhibitions about talking to members of other parties, including conservatives, to seek possible common ground. And there has been much speculation about a possible conservative-Green coalition in Berlin after the 2021 election.

But Baerbock has worked hard toward a well-defined party platform, which differs clearly from the conservative bloc's policies. For instance, she wants to see Germany phasing out coal-powered energy far earlier than the current target date of 2038. She also backs a speed limit of 130 kilometers per hour (80 miles per hour) on the "autobahn," as German highways are known. She also opposes a hike in German defense spending.

This leaves little room for doubt that any potential coalition between Greens under Baerbock and the conservatives could be a volatile arrangement.

'Transatlantic' Green Deal

In a recent interview with DW, Annalena Baerbock welcomed President Joe Biden's decision to bring the US back into the Paris Climate Agreement. But the Green Party co-leader also mapped out some clear and concrete climate goals of her own.

"We Europeans, including the German government, need to take advantage of the current situation to realize the proposals that the US administration has put forward concerning climate-neutral cooperation. We need to get moving and point the way towards a European and transatlantic Green Deal."

In their recently published election manifesto, the Greens have not — as has so often been the case in the past — flagged a preference for a governing coalition with the center-left Social Democrats (SPD). In any case, that alliance would still require the participation of a third party to reach a majority, with the most likely candidate being the socialist Left Party. A coalition between the Greens and the conservatives would likely not need a third partner to govern.

The city of Potsdam, where Baerbock lives with her husband and two children, will see a high-profile duel in the run-up to the September election. The Brandenburg state capital will provide the backdrop for a head-to-head clash between Annalena Baerbock in the Green corner and Social Democrat (SPD) Finance Minister Olaf Scholz in the red: One chancellor candidate against the other.

/* src.: https://www.dw.com/en/could-green-pa...kel/a-57092415