Day: September 21, 2023

International students have many things to learn about the U.S. when they arrive on American campuses. U.S. News & World Report delves into a less-common topic: academic integrity.

The magazine explores basic expectations at many U.S. schools, including how to use quotes and citations in papers, how to avoid plagiarism and navigating artificial intelligence pitfalls.

Read the full story here. (August 2023) 

The United Arab Emirates is considering introducing export licenses for a list of items including chips and other components sanctioned by the U.S. and European Union and used by Russia’s military in Ukraine, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.

If implemented, licenses could be withheld for dual-use goods used in the battlefield, potentially hurting the Kremlin’s ability to “feed its war machine,” the report added.

Dubai remains a key trans-shipment point for components supporting Moscow’s war effort, a concern raised by sanctions envoys from the US, UK and EU visiting the UAE earlier this month, Bloomberg said.

The UAE has a legal Export Control framework in place and is continuously monitoring the export of dual-use products, a UAE official said in an emailed statement to Reuters. The UAE also remains in close dialogue with its international partners, including the United States and European Union, concerning the conflict in Ukraine, the official said.

“The UAE strictly abides by UN sanctions and has clear processes in place to deal with sanctioned entities, which we have exercised against a number of companies since the beginning of the conflict, and will continue to take these responsibilities seriously,” the official said.

The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday voted to block consideration of a sweeping military funding bill for the fiscal year beginning on Oct. 1, further clouding the outlook on a separate, temporary funding bill to avert government shutdowns at the end of this month.

U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s attempt to restart his stalled spending agenda failed on Thursday when Republicans for a third time blocked a procedural vote on defense spending, raising the risk of a government shutdown in just 10 days.

The House of Representatives voted 216-212 against beginning debate on an $886 billion defense appropriations bill is expected in the House of Representatives, with six hardline Republicans voting against the bill.

It represented a setback for McCarthy the morning after his fractious 221-212 majority met for 2-1/2 hours seeking common ground on legislation to avert a government shutdown beginning Oct. 1.

As the vote failed, McCarthy told reporters that he will pursue the “same strategy I had from January: just keep working; never give up.”

McCarthy late on Wednesday had said Republicans were also “very close” on a short-term funding measure known as a continuing resolution, or CR.

To avert a government shutdown, the House and the Democratic-led Senate must agree on short- or long-term spending legislation Democratic President Joe Biden can then sign into law. The partisan measures Republicans hope to begin passing soon face stiff opposition from Democrats in the Senate and the White House.

“Instead of decreasing the chance of a shutdown, Speaker McCarthy is actually increasing it by wasting time on extremist proposals that cannot become law in the Senate,” top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer said on Thursday.

The bill had been scheduled for a five-minute vote that Republicans kept open for over a half hour in a vain hope of winning additional votes.

Donald Trump, the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, added to McCarthy’s distractions with a call to shut the government, as occurred three times during his four years in the White House.

“Republicans in Congress can and must defund all aspects of Crooked Joe Biden’s weaponized Government that refuses to close the Border, and treats half the Country as Enemies of the State,” the former president said on his Truth Social platform.

Trump is awaiting four criminal trials, including two brought by federal prosecutors, over charges including his attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat. He has claimed without evidence that all four prosecutions are politically motivated.

Political brinkmanship has begun to attract the attention of Wall Street, with rating agency Fitch citing repeated down-to-the-wire negotiations that threaten the government’s ability to pay its bills when it downgraded U.S. debt rating to AA+ from its top-notch AAA designation earlier this year.

The Republican spending agenda has run afoul of a small group of Republican hardline conservatives, who want assurances that fiscal 2024 appropriations will not exceed a 2022 top line of $1.47 trillion, $120 billion less than McCarthy and Biden agreed to in May.

A bipartisan group of 64 lawmakers known as the “Problem Solvers Caucus” proposed a measure that would fund the government through Jan. 11, though without McCarthy’s support it is unclear how the measure would advance.

McCarthy on Tuesday had to pull a procedural vote on a proposed 30-day CR. Then a vote to open floor debate on the defense appropriations bill failed. The defense bill had already been delayed earlier in the month.

McCarthy has proposed a 30-day CR that would cut spending to the 2022 level, according to two sources familiar with the discussion. The CR would include a commission to tackle the federal debt and conservative restrictions on immigration and the border.

McCarthy’s proposal would also set a top line for full-year fiscal 2024 spending at just under $1.53 trillion, the sources said. That is still $60 billion less than he agreed to with Biden in May.

It was not clear how much support the CR or the 2024 top line would draw from House Republicans.

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The Azeri government meets ethnic Armenians to discuss integrating the region as part of a ceasefire agreement. Also: India suspends visas for Canadian citizens, and King Charles gets warm welcome in French Senate.

NPR News: 09-21-2023 11AM EDT

Новости Радио Свобода: точность, оперативность, беспристрастность

The 92-year-old media magnate built an unmatched global media empire over seven decades from a single newspaper he inherited in his native Australia. Murdoch says he plans to retire in November.

Thousands of Greek public sector workers, including teachers, doctors and transport staff, marched in Athens on Thursday during a strike against planned labour law changes by the conservative government, which was re-elected in June.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’ government says the overhaul would eliminate undeclared work and boost employment overall, but labour unions and the opposition says it is an assault on workers’ rights and would create barbaric conditions.

The one-day nationwide strike called by Greece’s largest public sector union ADEDY is the first walkout since the Mitsotakis government’s re-election for a second term.

Trains and buses ran a reduced service, state hospitals operated with emergency staffing and many schools closed.

The protesters marched to parliament, where lawmakers were debating the planned changes, which are expected to be passed this week. Mitotakis’s government has 158 lawmakers in the 300-seat parliament.

“We demand the bill’s withdrawal,” ADEDY, which represents about half a million workers, said on its website.

The bill would allow full-time employees to get a part-time second job and work up to 13 hours a day unless certain terms apply, such as a conflict of interest. It also enables employers to implement a six-day working week.

“It leaves open the door for us to work as many as 13 hours (a day), and until we are 74,” said Lambrini Christoyanni, president of the union representing agriculture ministry employees. “It also puts an end to demands by workers of wage increases – increases that they deserve.”

According to the bill, an employee can be fired within the first year of work without warning or remuneration, unless agreed otherwise.

It allows a probation period of up to six months, but also obliges employers to provide detailed terms of work.

Employers face a fine up to 10,500 euros ($11,175) if they fail to declare an employee’s extension of working hours or change of shifts.

The bill also introduces fines and a six-month jail term against those who obstruct employees from working during a strike.

Lawmakers with the main opposition, the Syriza leftist party which is expected to elect a new leader on Sunday, said earlier this week that the government was pushing “a secret agenda” against workers.

Greece’s Communist Party KKE has called the bill monstrous.

($1 = 0.9396 euros)

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