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How we selected the checklist of firms

How we chose the list of companies

The Disruptor 50 list’s mission has always been to identify fast-growing, innovative startups en route to the next generation of large publicly traded companies. But in 2020 it got ridiculous. Twelve of the 50 companies named the 2020 Disruptor 50 are now publicly traded companies. Four more have announced that they will go public through mergers with Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs).

All of these exits meant that the competition for the 2021 Disruptor 50 was more open than ever, and for the fifth time in a row, a record number of startups (1,565 to be precise) took the chance to create our annual list.

Choosing the CNBC Disruptor 2021 50

All private, independent start-ups that were founded after January 1, 2006 were nominated for the Disruptor 50 list. The nominated companies had to submit a detailed analysis that contained important quantitative and qualitative information.

The quantitative metrics included data submitted by the company on workforce size and diversity, scalability, and revenue and user growth. Some of this information has been kept confidential and has only been used for evaluation purposes. CNBC also brought in data from two outside partners – PitchBook, which provided data on fundraising, implicit ratings and investor quality; and IBISWorld, whose database of industry reports we used to compare companies based on the industries they are trying to disrupt.

This year, for the first time, we added a separate category for board diversity, which should be considered in addition to the existing category for workforce diversity. We added this category as one of several steps to add more variety to the list as a whole. In addition to the “Board Diversity” category, we expanded our reach during our call for nominations to include other companies with color founders and their investors.

CNBC’s Disruptor 50 Advisory Board – a group of 47 leading thinkers in the field of innovation and entrepreneurship from around the world (see list of members below) – ranked the quantitative criteria based on importance and ability to rank established industries and public companies to disturb. That year, the council found that scalability and user growth were key criteria alongside the use of breakthrough technologies (most commonly artificial intelligence and machine learning) and the size of the industry being disrupted. These categories received the highest weighting, but the ranking model is designed to ensure that companies need to score high on a variety of criteria to make the final list.

Companies were also asked to provide key qualitative information, including descriptions of their core business model, ideal customers, and current company milestones. A team of more than 70 CNBC editors, along with members of the Advisory Board, read the posts and provided holistic qualitative reviews for each company.

The qualitative ratings were combined with a weighted quantitative rating to determine which 50 companies came on the list in which order.

More coverage of the 2021 CNBC Disruptor 50

The 2021 Disruptor 50 includes 24 companies that are on the list for the first time. They represent innovation in a variety of industries, including cybersecurity, fintech, healthcare, and electric vehicles. Many are driven by social or environmental missions, from democratizing access to financial services to strengthening global food supplies and combating climate change.

We anticipate that all 50 will continue to grow, innovate, and encourage change in their larger, established competitors as we follow them through the rest of this year through to next year. We expect many to become Disruptor 50 companies for several years.

This year six disruptors made the list for the fourth time. Disruptor # 1, Robinhood, made the list for the fifth and final time. The public debut is expected in a few weeks. At # 2, Stripe is a seven-time Disruptor 50 company, only the third company in history to receive this award.

Special thanks go to the CNBC Disruptor 50 Advisory Council 2021 for once again providing us with time and insight. As always, we appreciate your contributions.

  • Rob Adams, Director Emeritus of the University of Texas Venture Labs
  • Ron Adner, Professor in the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College
  • Anita Anantharam, professor at the University of Florida
  • Edward Blair, Entrepreneurship Chair, University of Houston
  • Gregory Brown, Professor and Executive Director at the University of North Carolina’s Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise
  • Robert J. Brunner, Chief Disruption Officer, Gies College of Business, University of Illinois
  • Candida S. Brush, professor at Babson College
  • John Sibley Butler, Chair of Constructive Capitalism, University of Texas
  • Gary Chan, Professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
  • Jim Chung, Vice President Research, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship, George Washington University
  • Chris Coleridge, Senior Faculty of Management Practice, Cambridge University
  • Jeff Cornwall, Chairman and Professor of Entrepreneurship, Belmont University
  • Jason D’Mello, Assistant Professor at Loyola Marymount University
  • Donna De Carolis, Dean of Drexel University Charles D. Close School of Entrepreneurship
  • Monica Dean, Executive Director, Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California
  • Waverly Deutsch, Clinical Professor of Entrepreneurship, Booth School of Business, University of Chicago
  • Judi Eyles, director of the Iowa State University Center for Entrepreneurship
  • Clare Gately, Professor of Entrepreneurship, EDHEC Business School (France) and Waterford Institute of Technology (Ireland)
  • Ari Ginsberg, Professor of Entrepreneurship and Management at the Stern School of Business at New York University
  • Michael Goldberg, executive director of the Veale Institute for Entrepreneurship at Case Western Reserve University
  • Michael Goldsby, Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship, Ball State University
  • Henrich R. Greve, Professor of Entrepreneurship, INSEAD
  • Anil Gupta, Chair and Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship, Smith School of Business, University of Maryland
  • J. Michael Haynie, Syracuse University Vice Chancellor
  • Lisa Hehenberger, Associate Professor and Director at the ESADE Business School Entrepreneurship Institute at Ramon Llull University
  • Keith Hmieleski, Professor of Entrepreneurship, Texas Christian University
  • Kevin Hoch, General Manager, Education, Duke University
  • Jim Jindrick, New Business Development Advisor at the University of Arizona
  • Neil Kane, faculty member, Michigan State University
  • Jerome Katz, Chair of Entrepreneurship, Saint Louis University
  • Marie Josee Lamothe, Professor and Director of the Dobson Center for Entrepreneurship at McGill University
  • Vincent C. Lewis, director of the University of Dayton’s Crotty Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership
  • Rita McGrath, professor at Columbia Business School
  • Alex McKelvie, Associate Dean and Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University
  • Scott Newbert, Academic Director of Baruch College Lawrence N. Field Program in Entrepreneurship
  • Dan Olszewski, director of the Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship at the Wisconsin School of Business
  • Banu Ozkazanc-Pan, Associate Professor of Practice and Director of the Brown University Venture Capital Inclusion Lab
  • Gerhard Plaschka, professor at DePaul University
  • Jeff Reid, professor of entrepreneurship practice and founding director of the Georgetown Entrepreneurship Institute
  • Lyneir Richardson, Assistant Professor of Professional Practice at Rutgers University
  • Matthew W. Rutherford, professor and chairman of the Spears School of Business School of Entrepreneurship at Oklahoma State University
  • Albert Segars, distinguished professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • John H. Shannon, Professor at Seton Hall University
  • David Touve, Senior Director at the Batten Institute, Darden School of Business, University of Virginia
  • Ari Wallach, Founder and CEO of Longpath Labs
  • Helena Yli-Renko, professor at the University of Southern California
  • David Zvilichovsky, Senior Academic Faculty, Tel Aviv University and Professor of Global Modular Courses (GMC), Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

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Business

UK reveals inexperienced listing of countries England residents can go to quarantine-free

UK reveals green list of nations England residents can visit quarantine-free

A traveler leaves a test center at Heathrow Airport in London on January 17, 2021.

Hollie Adams | Getty Images News | Getty Images

LONDON – UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced on Friday the ‘green list’ of countries UK residents will soon be able to visit without being quarantined on their return.

Travel was severely restricted during the heaviest months of a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic. However, as of May 17th, people in England will be allowed to visit certain countries, although some restrictions still apply.

Twelve countries will be on England’s so-called “green list”. Travelers to these countries must be tested prior to departure and upon their return. However, they do not need to be quarantined on their return.

The 12 countries are:

Portugal

Israel

Gibraltar

Australia

New Zealand

Singapore

Brunei

Iceland

Faroe Islands

Falkland Islands

South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands

St. Helena, Tristan de Cunha, Ascension Island

Outside of these 12, other nations have been divided into “amber” and “red” lists – the latter requiring the strictest of measures. Turkey was a notable name that was added to the Red List on Friday.

Popular destinations for the British such as France and Spain were not yet put on the green list at this point. Shapps said at a press conference on Friday that countries on the green list can have their status withdrawn at any time.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will separately announce their own travel restrictions for their residents.

British travelers are also exposed to travel restrictions in other countries, such as Australia and the United States.

U.S. and European airlines, as well as a multitude of travel companies grappling with a slump in international travel, urged their governments this week to relax the travel rules that are currently preventing most Britons from entering the country an increase in vaccination rates in their respective countries.

“We continue to encourage the US to implement a two-way policy that allows fully vaccinated travelers to travel to the US from countries with similarly successful vaccination programs,” said Airlines for America, a trade group that promotes most of the US major Airlines, including American, represents, Delta and United.

Airline executives have expressed doubts about restoring most US-Europe travel this summer, with restrictions still in place, but have been more optimistic about the possibility of re-opening UK-US travel.

American airlines have announced new flights to some destinations that have opened or are planned, such as Greece, Iceland and Croatia, in the past few weeks.

– CNBC’s Leslie Josephs contributed to coverage from New York.

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Business

UAE may keep on UK’s journey purple listing indefinitely, stoking confusion

UAE could stay on UK's travel red list indefinitely, stoking confusion

Dubai is known for its modern architecture, including the Burj Khalifa, which is almost twice as tall as the Empire State Building at 2,700 feet.

Fraser Hall | The image database | Getty Images

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – The United Arab Emirates’ potentially indeterminate status on the UK’s “Red List” for travel has created anger and confusion, made more uncertain by recent statements from the UK government.

UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps pointed out that due to its status as an international transport hub, the UAE could remain on the UK red list despite falling infection trends and the world’s second fastest vaccination campaign.

“We are not restricting the UAE due to the coronavirus level in the UAE,” Shapps said at an aviation event on Wednesday. “The problem is that of transit.”

The comments were sharply criticized by Emirates President Tim Clark: “It makes no sense to keep us on the ‘Red List’ for transit reasons, as (passengers) can easily pass through other hubs,” he said at a recent online event. “It puts our operations in the UK at risk for Emirates. It’s a shame if they keep us on the red list.”

Inclusion on the UK Red List comes at a high price and has real ramifications for the 120,000 Britons living in the Gulf State and their families. Anyone entering the UK from a Red List country must be quarantined in a government approved hotel and pay their own room and board expenses for 10 days at a cost of £ 1,750 (US $ 2,428) per person.

“When someone asks me about my home, I cry,” said a British national who works in Dubai and has not seen her family in the UK since mid-2020.

“The ambiguity is unbearable,” said the source, who asked not to be identified due to job restrictions. “It is much easier to find and maintain a balance in your life when you have a plan in place. Changing positions in the UK makes this impossible and is so detrimental to people’s wellbeing.”

People are waiting for their turn to be vaccinated against the coronavirus on February 3, 2021 at a vaccination center at the Dubai International Financial Center in the Gulf emirate of Dubai. The UAE has administered more than a quarter of at least three million doses to its population.

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The UK’s red list, banning air travel or imposing costly quarantine on arrival, currently lists 40 high-risk countries considered too dangerous to travel, including India, where new infections have skyrocketed to over 300,000 cases per day are.

The UAE remains on the list, although infection rates drop to around 2,000 cases per day. Abu Dhabi has now put Great Britain on its own “green” list of travel destinations.

CNBC has asked the UK’s Foreign Commonwealth Office for comment.

Growing support

A petition to remove the UAE from the UK Red List had received over 8,500 signatures on April 26, amid growing frustration over travel restrictions and quarantine costs on one of the world’s busiest air routes.

“I want the government to remove the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from the red list by the summer so that travelers can visit the safe country without being quarantined in a hotel on their return,” wrote petitioner Mikael Aziz.

The UK government must respond if the petition receives 10,000 or more signatures.

“You need to rethink Dubai’s red list. Most of the UK citizens who work there are fully vaccinated and should be allowed to travel to the UK. You could have a PCR test before and when you arrive.” Twitter user @ DawnWilson2606 tweeted to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Any decision to remove the UAE from the Red List is made even more difficult by the different restrictions between Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The UAE’s most populous emirates have enforced separate access, travel, testing, and quarantine rules since the pandemic began – despite being less than a two-hour drive away from each other.

Removal of the red list “as soon as it is feasible”

Amid criticism and confusion over recent travel restrictions, there are indications that the 10 million desert sheikh dome, which is predominantly overseas, could still be removed from the red list.

“We are working very closely with the UAE authorities to ensure that we can remove the UAE from the red list as soon as possible,” said Simon Penney, British Consul General in Dubai and Trade Commissioner in the Middle East. Penney’s comments came on April 21st, the same day as Shapp’s suggestion that the UAE could remain on the red list.

The UK government is expected to review its ban on non-essential international travel from May 17th. However, it is unclear which targets will receive approval.

Commuters cross London Bridge at sunrise on March 1, 2021 in London, England.

Hollie Adams | Getty Images

“It is too early today to say which countries are on the green list and which are not, and we have to wait until early May before we have any further clarification,” said Penney during an interview with a radio station in Dubai

“The decisions made are driven by data and science. The keys to this are the launch of the vaccine, the number of daily cases and the prevalence of harmful variants,” he added.

The UK Foreign Office said it “advises against all travel across the UAE based on the current COVID-19 risk assessment. The UAE outperforms most of the developed world in vaccine adoption by almost 40% of the population are fully vaccinated.

“Visitors who have been to the United Arab Emirates or have traveled through the United Arab Emirates in the past 10 days are not allowed in,” said an April 25 report.

“A travel corridor worth reopening”

“The positions of the countries on each other’s lists need not be reciprocal,” Rob Willock, director of the Economist Corporate Network advisory service, told CNBC on Sunday.

“Given that the UAE and the UK are second and third in the global vaccination league, and more than half of their populations have had at least one vaccine, one would imagine this is a travel corridor well worth it to be reopened. “

The UK, one of Dubai’s biggest tourist sources and a key itinerary for Emirates, removed the United Arab Emirates from its “safe travel corridor” in January as falls in Dubai skyrocketed after an influx of British travelers in November and December.

The UAE reported just over 2,000 new infections on Saturday. The country has so far given 9.9 million doses of vaccine.

US travel warnings

It is not just Britain that is holding back on opening up. The US added more than 100 countries to its Level 4: Do Not Travel list last week, including Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

“Things change, and they will change over time,” IATA director general Willie Walsh told CNBC when asked if the State Department misunderstood the advice.

Certain countries on the American list also have their own restrictions on travel by foreigners, while others allow entry by air with proof of vaccination and a negative Covid test or other criteria.

“We’re not suggesting that you lift all restrictions now,” said Walsh. “We urge governments to come up with a plan that will give an indication of when they believe international air travel will start and how international air travel should work when things start moving again.”

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The entire checklist of Academy Awards nominees

The complete list of Academy Awards nominees

History was made in the nominations for the 93rd Annual Academy Awards on Monday.

The 2021 Oscars marks the first time an all-black production team has been nominated for Best Picture. Producers Shaka King, Ryan Coogler and Charles D. King were honored for their work on “Judas and the Black Messiah”.

Monday’s announcement also marks the first time two actors of Asian origin have been nominated in the Best Actor category. Steven Yeun received a nod for his work on “Minari” and Riz Ahmed received a nod for “Sound of Metal”. Ahmed is also the first Muslim candidate in this category.

2021 is also the first year in which two women were nominated in the directing category. Chloe Zhao is nominated for her work on “Nomadland” and Emerald Fennell is nominated for “Promising Young Woman”.

Viola Davis, nominated for Best Actress for “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” is the most nominated black actress of all time with four nominations and the only black woman with two nominations for best actress.

The competition for the best picture includes “The Father”, “Judas and the Black Messiah”, “Mank”, “Minari”, “Nomadland”, “Promising Young Woman”, “Sound of Metal” and “The Trial of the Chicago” 7 “. “”

Hollywood power couple Priyanka Chopra Jonas and Nick Jonas announced all the nominees in a two-part livestream that was streamed through the Academy of Motion Picture Sciences’ social media accounts and the organization’s website.

The funding period for this year’s nominations was unique. The ongoing pandemic has closed cinemas around the world for much of the past year, forcing the academy to make some changes to its rules.

For this year only, the organization has allowed films that would have gone to theaters to remain eligible if they debuted on streaming services.

Here are the nominees:

best picture
“The father”
“Judas and the Black Messiah”
“Defect”
“Ma Rainey’s black bum”
“Threatening”
“Nomadland”
“Promising young woman”
“Sound of Metal”
“The Trial of Chicago 7”

Best Actress
Viola Davis, “Ma Rainey’s Black Butt”
Andra Day, “The United States vs. Billie Holiday”
Vanessa Kirby, “Pieces of a Woman”
Frances McDormand, “Nomadland”
Carey Mulligan, “Promising Young Woman”

Best actor
Riz Ahmed, “Sound of Metal”
Chadwick Boseman, “Ma Rainey’s Black Butt”
Anthony Hopkins, “The Father”
Gary Oldman, “Mank”
Steven Yeun, “Minari”

Best animated feature
“Continue”
“Over the moon”
“A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon”
“Soul”
“Wolfwalker”

Best director
Lee Isaac Chung, “Minari”
Emerald Fennell, “Promising Young Woman”
David Fincher, “Mank”
Chloe Zhao, “Nomad Land”
Thomas Vinterberg, “Another Round”

Best camera
“Judas and the Black Messiah”
“Defect”
“News from all over the world”
“Nomadland”
“The Trial of Chicago 7”

Best production design
“The father”
“Ma Rainey’s black bum”
“Defect”
“News from all over the world”
“Principle”

Best sound
“Greyhound”
“Defect”
“News from all over the world”
“Soul”
“Sound of Metal”

Best visual effects
“Love and monsters”
“The midnight sky”
“Mulan”
“The only Ivan”
“Principle”

Best film editing
“The father”
“Nomadland”
“Promising young woman”
“Sound of Metal”
“The Trial of Chicago 7”

Best international feature
“Another round”
“Better Days”
“Collective”
“The man who sold his skin”
“Quo Vadis, Aida?”

Best Documentary Short Topic
“Colette”
“A concert is a conversation”
“Do not share”
“Hunger Ward”
“A love song for Latasha”

Best documentary feature
“Collective”
“Crip Camp”
“The Mole Agent”
“My octopus teacher”
“Time”

Best original script
“Judas and the Black Messiah”
“Threatening”
“Promising young woman”
“Sound of Metal”
“The Trial of Chicago 7”

Best supporting actor
Sacha Baron Cohen, “The Trial of the Chicago 7”
Daniel Kaluuya, “Judas and the Black Messiah”
Leslie Odom Jr., “One Night in Miami”
Paul Raci, “Sound of Metal”
LaKeith Stanfield, “Judas and the Black Messiah”

Best animated short film
“Construction”
“Genius Loci”
“When something happens I love you”
“Opera”
“Yes people”

Best Live Action Short Film
“Feel through”
“The letter room”
“The gift”
“Two Distant Strangers”
“White eye”

Best costume design
“Emma”
“Ma Rainey’s black bum”
“Defect”
“Mulan”
“Pinocchio”

Best hair and makeup
“Emma”
“Hillbilly Elegy”
“Ma Rainey’s black bum”
“Defect”
“Pinocchio”

Best original score
“Da 5 Bloods”
“Defect”
“Threatening”
“News from all over the world”
“Soul”

Best original song
“Husavik (my hometown)”, “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga”
“Fight for you”, “Judas and the black messiah”
“Io Se (seen)”, “Life Ahead”
“Speak Now”, “One Night in Miami”
“Hear my voice”, “The Chicago 7 Trial”

Best adapted script
“Borat Subsequent Movie”
“The father”
“Nomadland”
“One night in Miami”
“The White tiger”

Actress in a supporting role:
Maria Bakalova, “Borat Subsequent Film”
Glenn Close, “Hillbilly Elegy”
Olivia Colman, “The Father”
Amanda Seyfried, “Mank”
Yuh-Jung Youn, “Minari”

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Entertainment

BAFTA Nominations: ‘Nomadland’ and ‘Rocks’ Lead Various Checklist

BAFTA Nominations: ‘Nomadland’ and ‘Rocks’ Lead Diverse List

LONDON – Nomadland, Chloé Zhao’s drama about a middle-aged woman traveling the US in a van looking for migrant work, garnered the most high-profile nominations for this year’s EE British Academy Film Awards, the UK’s equivalent to the Oscars.

On Tuesday, the film starring Frances McDormand and winning the Golden Globe for Best Drama in February received seven nominations for the awards commonly known as BAFTAs.

It will fight for the best film against “The Trial of the Chicago 7”, “Promising Young Woman”, “The Father” and “The Mauretanian”.

The nominations for best motion picture are almost the same as the titles that competed for best drama at this year’s Golden Globes. (Only “Mank”, David Fincher’s rerun of “Citizen Kane”, is missing, replaced by “The Mauretanian”.) In the talent categories for this year’s BAFTAs, however, the nominees are more diverse than the Golden Globe lists. Many come from independent, low-budget films such as Rocks, a British coming-of-age story about a black teenager in London that also received seven nominations.

This appears to be the result of a recent revision of BAFTA’s voting rules to increase the diversity of nominees following recent criticism. Last year, no black people were nominated in the main BAFTA categories, and no women were nominated for best female director. These omissions caused a sensation and criticism on social media at the awards ceremony on stage. “I think we sent a very clear message to people of color that you are not welcome here,” said Joaquin Phoenix as he accepted the best actor award for his performance on “Joker”.

BAFTA urged all 6,700 voting members to undergo unconscious bias training prior to voting on this year’s nominees. They also had to watch a selection of 15 films to expand the range of titles viewed. Among dozens of other changes to the voting process to increase the diversity of nominees, they were selected for the first time from “longlists” drawn up by BAFTA with the involvement of expert juries.

In contrast to the nomination lists of the past few years, which were distorted by men, four of the nominations for the best director announced on Tuesday are women; Four of the six nominees in both main actor categories are people of color.

For example, in the category of best directors, Chloé Zhao was nominated for “Nomadland” and will compete against Lee Isaac Chung for “Minari”. Sarah Gavron for “Rocks”; Shannon Murphy for “Babyteeth”; Jasmila Zbanic for “Quo Vadis, Aida?” a retelling of a massacre in the Bosnian War of the 1990s; and Thomas Vinterberg for “Another Round”, a dark comedy about the Danish attitude towards alcohol.

In the category of best actresses, Frances McDormand, the star of “Nomadland”, competes against Radha Blank for her role in “The Forty-Year-Old Version”, Wunmi Mosaku for the horror film “His House” and Bukky Bakray, the teenager -Star of “Rocks”. This list contains fewer recognizable stars than in previous years: Rosamund Pike and Andra Day, who won the leading actress awards at this year’s Golden Globes, are missing.

BAFTA vice chair Pippa Harris said in a video interview that the main change that shaped this year’s nominations was the requirement that voters watch more films than usual rather than just letting them see those from other awards or marketing campaigns are the most enthusiastic. “Over and over again, people have emailed, written, and called to say it made a huge difference, and they have seen movies they would normally never have come to and found work that they absolutely loved “, she said.

Film awards are typically dominated by five or six highly acclaimed films, said Marc Samuelson, chairman of the BAFTA film committee, in the same interview. “If we upset that a little, it’s a good thing,” he added.

Around 258 films have been nominated for this year’s awards and viewed over 150,000 times on a television portal specially created for voters, he said.

This year’s winners will be announced on April 11th at a ceremony in London. Samuelson wouldn’t explain how the event will take place, but he said it would comply with UK coronavirus rules. Indoor events are not allowed in England until May 17th at the earliest.

The Academy of Arts and Sciences for Feature Films will announce nominations for this year’s Oscars next Monday.

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Business

Dr. Seuss books shoot to the highest of Amazon’s bestseller checklist

Dr. Seuss books shoot to the top of Amazon’s bestseller list

Books by Dr. Seuss flooded Amazon’s US bestseller list after it became known that six of the author’s publications were dragged over racist imagery.

“The Cat in the Hat” is currently the best-selling book on Amazon’s US store, closely followed by “One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish” and “Green Eggs and Ham” as well as several other titles by the late Theodor Seuss Geisel. A total of 15 Dr. Seuss publications were in Amazon’s top 20 list on Friday morning.

“Green Eggs and Ham” and “The Cat in the Hat” also featured in Amazon Canada’s top 10 best-selling books.

This happened after Dr. Seuss Enterprises, the company that manages the late author’s estate, made a decision on Tuesday to stop publishing and licensing six of his books: “And to think I saw it on Mulberry Street,” “If I did ran the zoo, “” McElligot’s Pool, “On Beyond Zebra!”, “Scrambled Eggs Super!” and “The Cat’s Quizzer”.

“These books portray people in hurtful and incorrect ways,” said Dr. Seuss Enterprises in the statement, with some of the author’s books criticized in recent years for displaying racist images.

The announcement was made on Read Across America Day on Tuesday, Geisel’s 117th birthday, which has been linked to the author.

Dr. Seuss’ never before published book “Which Pet Should I Have?” will be on display in the Books and Books Store on July 28, 2015 in Coral Gables, USA, on the day of publication

Joe Raedle | Getty Images

President Joe Biden has Dr. Seuss is not mentioned in his proclamation on Read Across America Day on Monday, which signals a further distancing from the author. Former Presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama welcomed Dr. Seuss mentioned in her earlier speeches.

After rumors of a ban on Dr. Seuss Books, Loudoun County, Virginia, school district issued a statement last weekend to clarify that it had not, but had “instructed schools not to connect” over the past few years. Read Across America Day exclusively for Dr. Seuss. ”

“Research over the past few years has shown strong racist overtones in many of the books written / illustrated by Dr. Seuss,” the statement said.

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Business

President Biden’s Tech To-Do Checklist

President Biden’s Tech To-Do List

This article is part of the On Tech newsletter. You can sign up here to receive it on weekdays.

President Biden inherits tricky technical questions, including how to curb powerful digital superstars, what to do with Chinese technology, and how to get more Americans online.

Here is an insight into the opportunities and challenges of technology policy for the new Biden administration:

Restrict technical forces: There have been investigations, lawsuits and loud arguments under the Trump administration over the power of Google, Facebook, Amazon, Apple and other technology companies. Tech giants can expect more of this under Mr. Biden and a Congress tightly controlled by Democrats.

Government lawsuits accusing Google and Facebook of breaking the law in order to succeed or stay that way are being passed on to the new administration, which is expected to continue. There could also be more lawsuits that may make it difficult for Big Tech to continue as it is.

On Tuesday, a top Justice Department attorney appointed by former President Donald Trump approved many Congressional rules that the four largest tech superpowers in America are harmful monopolies. The speech indicated that hatred of big tech is one of the few areas of bipartisan settlement.

Mr Biden appears to agree with the Trump administration’s concerns about China’s ambitions in technology and other areas, but he has said little more than to seek more consistent and coherent policies. Mr. Biden has also expressed support for more government investment in key US technology to counter China’s technical ambitions.

The Biden Administration

Updated

Jan. 20, 2021, 11:34 p.m. ET

Digital divide: The pandemic has exposed a persistent gap between Americans who can and can afford access to internet services and millions who cannot, especially in low-income or rural households.

“Universal broadband” is mentioned in Mr Biden’s priorities, but he has not indicated how to get there. The Washington Post reported that Mr. Biden’s advisors are looking to improve E-Rate, a program designed to help schools and libraries provide Internet access.

What else? Mr Biden’s economic recovery plan contains proposals to “make the most ambitious effort ever” to modernize US cyber defense. Maybe this is the year for a federal data protection act? And there are cracks among Democrats regarding the special employment treatment of “gig” workers.

The top priorities for the new administration are ending the pandemic and helping Americans restore the damage. But how the US government deals with these complex technical issues will also have a major impact on Americans and others around the world.

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  • The constant striving to limit the disadvantages of the internet: Discord, the chat app popular with video gamers, has made a number of changes to monitor the website for predators, bullying, and other risks. The Wall Street Journal reviewed Discord’s efforts and spoke to people who also want parental controls for the app.

  • China’s Most Prominent Tech Manager Appears Again: Jack Ma, who is behind two of China’s largest tech companies, has reappeared publicly at an educational event, reported my colleague Tiffany May. Ma had not been seen since late last year when authorities cracked down on his business empire after he passed the regulation criticized the government.

  • No peloton allowed in the situation room: Mr. Biden loves his Peloton exercise bike, but it probably needs some modification – leave the camera and microphone behind! – to prevent hackers from possibly snooping on national secrets.

Please enjoy two Scottish Shetland ponies in hand knitted sweaters.

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Categories
Politics

Trump’s Pardons: The Checklist – The New York Instances

Trump's Pardons: The List - The New York Times

In the final hours before President Trump left office, the White House released a list early Wednesday of 73 pardons and 70 commutations that he had issued.

They came nearly a month after Mr. Trump pardoned, among others, Charles Kushner, the father of his son-in-law, Jared Kushner; Paul Manafort, his 2016 campaign chairman; and Roger J. Stone Jr., his longtime informal adviser and friend whose sentence the president had commuted in July.

The Supreme Court has ruled that the Constitution gives presidents unlimited authority to grant pardons, which excuse or forgive a federal crime. A commutation, by contrast, makes a punishment milder without wiping out the underlying conviction.

Here are some of the pardons and commutations that Mr. Trump issued during his term:

Pardon: Jan. 19, 2021

Mr. Bannon, who was Mr. Trump’s former chief strategist and an architect of his 2016 presidential campaign, was charged in August of last year with defrauding contributors to a privately funded effort to build Mr. Trump’s wall along the Mexican border.

Mr. Bannon, working with a wounded Air Force veteran and a Florida venture capitalist, conspired to cheat hundreds of thousands of donors by falsely promising that their money had been set aside for new sections of wall, according to court documents.

The pardon of Mr. Bannon was notable because he had been charged with a crime but had yet to stand trial. An overwhelming majority of pardons and commutations granted by presidents have been for those convicted and sentenced.

Pardon: Jan. 19, 2021

Mr. Elliot, a California businessman, was a leading fund-raiser for Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign and inauguration before being tapped as deputy finance chairman for the Republican National Committee. He pleaded guilty in October to conspiring to violate foreign lobbying laws as part of a covert campaign to influence the Trump administration on behalf of Chinese and Malaysian interests.

Mr. Broidy admitted that he had accepted $9 million from Malaysian financier Jho Low, some of which was then paid to an associate, to push the Trump administration for the extradition of a Chinese dissident and to drop a case related to an embezzlement scheme from a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund that the United States has accused Mr. Low of engineering.

Mr. Levandowski, a Silicon Valley star and pioneer of self-driving car technology, was sentenced in August to 18 months in prison for stealing self-driving car trade secrets from Google. At the time of the sentencing, a federal judge ordered that Mr. Levandowski would not be required to serve his sentence until the coronavirus pandemic subsided.

He also agreed to pay more than $756,000 to Waymo, a self-driving business spun out of Google, as restitution.

Pardons and Commutation: Jan. 13 and Jan. 19, 2021

Several former political figures were among those granted clemency by Mr. Trump.

Mr. Kilpatrick, a former mayor of Detroit, had his sentence commuted. In 2013, he was sentenced to 28 years in prison after being convicted of two dozen counts, including racketeering and extortion.

Mr. Hayes, the former chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party, received a full pardon after being accused in 2019 of bribery and conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, along with several counts of making false statements. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to one year of probation.

Mr. Renzi, a former representative for Arizona, was pardoned by Mr. Trump. In 2013, he was sentenced to 36 months in prison in association with a bribery scheme involving an Arizona land swap deal.

Mr. Cunningham, a former representative for California, received a conditional pardon from Mr. Trump. In 2006, he was sentenced to eight years and four months in prison for taking $2.4 million in bribes from military contractors in return for smoothing the way for government contracts.

Pardon: Jan. 19, 2021

In December, the rapper Lil Wayne, born Dwayne Michael Carter Jr., pleaded guilty to having illegally carried a gold-plated .45-caliber Glock handgun and ammunition as a felon while traveling on a private jet in 2019.

Because of a prior gun conviction, he faced up to 10 years in prison. He received a full pardon.

In October of last year, Lil Wayne became the latest in a line of rappers to align themselves, however briefly, with the Mr. Trump’s re-election campaign, only to face criticism from fans and fellow artists.

Commutation: Jan. 19, 2021

The rapper Kodak Black, whose legal name is Bill Kapri (though he was born Dieuson Octave), was granted a commutation. In 2019, he was sentenced to nearly four years in prison for lying on background paperwork while attempting to buy guns. He had served nearly half of that time.

In addition to Lil Wayne and Kodak Black, another figure related to the world of hip-hop was also granted clemency by Mr. Trump. Desiree Perez, the chief executive officer of Roc Nation, the media company started by the rapper Jay-Z, was given a full pardon after being convicted in a drug conspiracy case in the 1990s.

Mr. Manafort, 71, had been sentenced in 2019 to seven and a half years in prison for his role in a decade-long, multimillion-dollar financial fraud scheme for his work in the former Soviet Union. He was released early from prison in May as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and given home confinement. Mr. Trump had repeatedly expressed sympathy for Mr. Manafort, describing him as a brave man who had been mistreated by the special counsel’s office.

Pardon: Dec. 23, 2020, Commutation: July 10, 2020

Mr. Stone, a longtime friend and adviser of Mr. Trump, was sentenced in February 2020 to more than three years in prison in a politically fraught case that put the president at odds with his attorney general. Mr. Stone was convicted of seven felony charges, including lying under oath to a congressional committee and threatening a witness whose testimony would have exposed those lies.

Mr. Trump commuted Mr. Stone’s sentence in July and then pardoned him in December. A White House statement said that Mr. Stone had been “treated very unfairly” and added that “pardoning him will help to right the injustices he faced at the hands of the Mueller investigation.”

Pardon: Dec. 23, 2020

Mr. Kushner, 66, the father-in-law of the president’s older daughter, Ivanka Trump, pleaded guilty in 2004 to 16 counts of tax evasion, a single count of retaliating against a federal witness and one of lying to the Federal Election Commission. He served two years in prison before being released in 2006.

Mr. Kushner’s prison sentence was a searing event in his family’s life.

The witness he was accused of retaliating against was his brother-in-law, whose wife, Mr. Kushner’s sister, was cooperating with federal officials in a campaign finance investigation into Mr. Kushner. Mr. Kushner was accused of videotaping his brother-in-law with a prostitute and then sending it to his sister.

The case was prosecuted by then-U.S. Attorney Chris Christie, a longtime Trump friend who went on to become governor of New Jersey.

PARDON: DEC. 22, 2020

George Papadopoulos, a foreign policy adviser to Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign, pleaded guilty in 2017 to making false statements to federal officials as part of the investigation by the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III.

Mr. Papadopoulos served 12 days in jail for lying to the F.B.I. about his contacts with Russian intermediaries during the 2016 presidential race. He later published a book portraying himself as a victim of a “deep state” plot to “bring down President Trump.”

Also pardoned was Alex van der Zwaan, a lawyer who was sentenced in April 2018 to 30 days in prison for lying to investigators for the special counsel’s office who were investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

Three former Republican members of Congress were pardoned by Mr. Trump: Duncan Hunter of California, Chris Collins of New York and Steve Stockman of Texas.

Mr. Hunter was set to begin serving an 11-month sentence in January. He pleaded guilty in 2019 to one charge of misusing campaign funds. Prosecutors said he had funneled more than $150,000 from his campaign coffers to pay for a lavish lifestyle.

On Dec. 23, Mr. Trump pardoned Margaret Hunter, Mr. Hunter’s estranged wife, who had also pleaded guilty to charges of misusing campaign funds for personal expenses.

Mr. Collins, an early endorser of Mr. Trump, is serving a 26-month sentence after pleading guilty in 2019 to charges of making false statements to the F.B.I. and to conspiring to commit securities fraud. He admitted passing private information about an Australian drug company to his son to help him avoid financial losses.

Updated 

Jan. 20, 2021, 8:57 a.m. ET

Mr. Stockman was convicted in 2018 on charges of fraud and money laundering and was serving a 10-year sentence. He was charged with stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars meant for charity and using it to pay for personal expenses and his political campaigns.

Pardon: Nov. 25, 2020

Michael T. Flynn, a former national security adviser who twice pleaded guilty to lying to the F.B.I. about his conversations with a Russian diplomat, and whose prosecution Attorney General William P. Barr tried to shut down, was the only White House official to be convicted as part of the Trump-Russia investigation.

In a statement about Mr. Flynn’s pardon, White House officials said he never should have been prosecuted and that the president’s action had finally brought “to an end the relentless, partisan pursuit of an innocent man.”

PARDON: DEC. 22, 2020

Mr. Trump issued full pardons to Nicholas Slatton and three other former U.S. service members who were convicted on charges related to the killing of Iraqi civilians while they were working as security contractors for Blackwater, a private company, in 2007.

Mr. Slatten and the others — Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard — were sentenced for their role in the killing of 17 Iraqi civilians in Nisour Square in Baghdad. The massacre that left one of the most lasting stains of the war on the United States. Among the dead were two boys, 8 and 11.

Mr. Slatten had been sentenced to life in prison after the Justice Department had gone to great lengths to prosecute him.

Pardon: Aug. 25, 2017

Joe Arpaio, an anti-immigration crusader who enjoyed calling himself “America’s toughest sheriff,” was the first pardon of Mr. Trump’s presidency.

Once one of the most popular — and divisive — figures in Arizona, Mr. Arpaio was elected sheriff of Maricopa County five times before he was ultimately charged with criminal contempt for defying a court order to stop detaining people solely on the suspicion that they were undocumented immigrants. Mr. Arpaio was pardoned less than a month after he was found guilty.

Conrad M. Black, a former press baron and friend of Mr. Trump’s, was granted a full pardon 12 years after his sentencing for fraud and obstruction of justice.

Mr. Black, who once owned The Chicago Sun-Times, The Jerusalem Post and The Daily Telegraph of London, among other newspapers, was convicted of fraud in 2007 with three other former executives of Hollinger International.

Mr. Black, who was released from prison in 2012, is the author of several pro-Trump opinion articles as well as a flattering book, “Donald J. Trump: A President Like No Other.”

COMMUTATION: Feb. 18, 2020

Dinesh D’Souza received a presidential pardon after pleading guilty to making illegal campaign contributions in 2014. Mr. D’Souza, a filmmaker and author whose subjects often dabble in conspiracy theories, had long blamed his conviction on his political opposition to Mr. Obama.

In issuing his pardon, Mr. Trump said that Mr. D’Souza had been “treated very unfairly by our government,” echoing a claim the commentator has often made himself.

Edward J. DeBartolo Jr., a former owner of the San Francisco 49ers, pleaded guilty in 1998 to concealing an extortion plot. Mr. DeBartolo was prosecuted after he gave Edwin W. Edwards, the influential former governor of Louisiana, $400,000 to secure a riverboat gambling license for his gambling consortium.

Although Mr. DeBartolo avoided prison, he was fined $1 million and was suspended for a year by the N.F.L.

commutation: June 6, 2018; Pardon: Aug. 28, 2019

Alice Marie Johnson was serving life in a federal prison for a nonviolent drug conviction before her case was brought to Mr. Trump’s attention by the reality television star Kim Kardashian West.

The president’s decision to commute her sentence freed Ms. Johnson, who had been locked up in Alabama since 1996 on charges related to cocaine distribution and money laundering. Mr. Trump later pardoned Ms. Johnson on Aug. 28, 2019.

Pardons: 2018-20

Mr. Trump has issued posthumous pardons to three historical figures.

Jack Johnson, the first Black heavyweight boxing champion, was tarnished by a racially tainted criminal conviction in 1913 — for transporting a white woman across state lines — that haunted him well after his death in 1946. Mr. Trump pardoned him on May 24, 2018.

Susan B. Anthony, the women’s suffragist, was arrested in Rochester, N.Y., in 1872 for voting illegally and was fined $100. Mr. Trump pardoned her on Aug. 18, the 100th anniversary of the ratification of 19th Amendment, which extended voting rights to women.

Zay Jeffries, a metal scientist whose contributions to the Manhattan Project and whose development of armor-piercing artillery shells helped the Allies win World War II, was granted a posthumous pardon on Oct. 10, 2019. Jeffries was found guilty in 1948 of an antitrust violation related to his work and was fined $2,500.

Ten years ago, Bernard B. Kerik, a former New York City police commissioner, was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to eight felony charges, including tax fraud and lying to White House officials.

Mr. Trump said he heard from more than a dozen people about pardoning Mr. Kerik, including Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former New York mayor and Mr. Trump’s personal lawyer. Mr. Kerik’s rise to prominence dates to the 1993 campaign for mayor in New York City, when he served as Mr. Giuliani’s bodyguard and chauffeur. After the pardon was announced, Mr. Kerik expressed his gratitude to Mr. Trump on Twitter. “With the exception of the birth of my children,” he wrote, “today is one of the greatest days in my life.”

Pardon: April 13, 2018

I. Lewis Libby Jr., known as Scooter, was Vice President Dick Cheney’s top adviser before Mr. Libby was convicted in 2007 of four felony counts, including perjury and obstruction of justice, in connection with the disclosure of the identity of a C.I.A. officer, Valerie Plame.

Mr. Libby had maintained his innocence for years, and his portrayal as a victim of an unfair prosecution ultimately found favor with Mr. Trump.

Pardon: Nov. 15, 2019

Mr. Trump’s decision to clear three members of the armed services who had been accused or convicted of war crimes signaled that the president intended to use his power as the ultimate arbiter of military justice.

He ordered full pardons of Clint Lorance, a former Army lieutenant who was serving a 19-year sentence for the murder of two civilians, and Maj. Mathew L. Golsteyn, an Army Special Forces officer who was facing murder charges for killing an unarmed Afghan he believed was a Taliban bomb maker.

The president also reversed the demotion of Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher, a Navy SEAL who had been acquitted of murder charges but convicted of a lesser offense in a high-profile war crimes case.

All three had been championed by prominent conservatives who had portrayed them as war heroes unfairly prosecuted for actions taken in the heat and confusion of battle.

Michael R. Milken was the billionaire “junk bond king” and a well-known financier on Wall Street in the 1980s. In 1990, he pleaded guilty to securities fraud and conspiracy charges and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, though his sentence was later reduced to two. He also agreed to pay $600 million in fines and penalties.

Mr. Milken did not have a pardon or commutation application pending at the Justice Department’s pardons office, meaning that the president made that decision entirely without official department input. Among those arguing for Mr. Milken to be pardoned was Mr. Giuliani, who as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York prosecuted Mr. Milken.

Pardon: July 10, 2018

Dwight Hammond and his son, Steven Hammond, were Oregon cattle ranchers who had been serving five-year sentences for arson on federal land. Their cases inspired an antigovernment group’s weekslong standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon in 2016 and brought widespread attention to anger over federal land management in the Western United States.

The occupation, led by the Bundy family, drew militia members who commandeered government buildings and vehicles in tactical gear and long guns, promising to defend the family. During his campaign, Mr. Trump played to that sense of Western grievance, and the pardon of the Hammonds was a signal to conservatives that he was sympathetic.

David H. Safavian, the top federal procurement official under President George W. Bush, was sentenced in 2009 to a year in prison for covering up his ties to Jack Abramoff, the disgraced lobbyist whose corruption became a symbol of the excesses of Washington influence peddling. Mr. Safavian was convicted of obstruction of justice and making false statements.

Pardon: Feb. 18, 2020

Angela Stanton — an author, television personality and motivational speaker — served six months of home confinement in 2007 for her role in a stolen-vehicle ring. Her book “Life of a Real Housewife” explores her difficult upbringing and her encounters with reality TV stars.

Before her pardon, she gave interviews in which she declared her support for Mr. Trump. In announcing her pardon, the White House credited her with working “tirelessly to improve re-entry outcomes for people returning to their communities upon release from prison.”

Mr. Trump has pardoned a number of other people, including a construction executive whose family donated heavily to the president’s re-election effort and a man convicted of bank robbery who started a nonprofit that helps former prisoners.

  • Paul Pogue, a former owner of a Texas construction company, was pardoned on Feb. 18, 2020, for tax charges after his family contributed more than $200,000 to Mr. Trump’s re-election effort.

  • Ariel Friedler, a former executive of a software development company who pleaded guilty to conspiring to hack a competitor, secured a pardon on Feb. 18, 2020, with the help of Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey and a close ally of Mr. Trump’s.

  • Michael Chase Behenna, a former Army lieutenant, served five years in prison for fatally shooting an Iraqi man in American custody in 2008. Mr. Trump pardoned him on May 6, 2019. His case had “attracted broad support from the military, Oklahoma elected officials, and the public,” according to the White House.

  • Patrick James Nolan, a Republican former leader of the California State Assembly, pleaded guilty in 1994 to corruption charges and accepted a 33-month sentence. After his release, he became a supporter of criminal justice reform, according to the White House. Mr. Trump pardoned him on May 15, 2019.

  • Michael Anthony Tedesco, who was convicted of drug trafficking and fraud in 1990, was pardoned on July 29, 2019. President Obama had already pardoned Mr. Tedesco in 2017, but Mr. Trump’s action fixed a clerical error related to the pardoning of Mr. Tedesco’s fraud conviction.

  • Roy Wayne McKeever was arrested on charges of transporting marijuana from Mexico to Oklahoma in 1989, when he was 19, and was sentenced to one year in prison. Mr. Trump pardoned him on July 29, 2019. A White House statement called him “an active member of the Sheriffs’ Association of Texas.”

  • John Richard Bubala pleaded guilty to the improper use of federal property in 1990 and was pardoned on July 29, 2019. A White House statement said Mr. Bubala had been transferring automotive equipment to an Indiana town for maintenance and his “primary aim was to help the town.”

  • Chalmer Lee Williams was an airport baggage handler who was convicted on charges related to the theft and sale of weapons and was sentenced to four months in prison in 1995. The White House said in a statement that Mr. Williams had accepted responsibility for his actions. Mr. Trump pardoned him on July 29, 2019.

  • Rodney M. Takumi, who was arrested while working at an illegal gambling parlor in 1987, pleaded no contest and was sentenced to two years of probation and fined $250. Mr. Trump pardoned him on July 29, 2019. The White House said Mr. Takumi was the owner of a tax preparation franchise in the Navajo Nation.

  • Jon Donyae Ponder, who pleaded guilty to bank robbery in 2005, started a nonprofit that helps former prisoners after he was released from prison in 2009. Mr. Trump pardoned him on Aug. 25, 2020, shortly before the Republican National Convention entered its second night. The pardon was announced in a seven-minute video in which the president called Mr. Ponder’s life “a beautiful testament to the power of redemption.”

  • Two former Border Patrol agents, whose sentences for their roles in the shooting of an alleged drug trafficker had previously been commuted by President George W. Bush, were granted full pardons on Dec. 22.

Marie Fazio and Christina Morales contributed reporting.

Categories
World News

International Amazon websites named in U.S. ‘infamous markets’ listing for counterfeit items

Foreign Amazon sites named in U.S. 'notorious markets' list for counterfeit goods

Peter Endig | AFP | Getty Images

A handful of Amazon’s overseas websites have been added to the US government’s annual “Notorious Markets” list due to concerns that they may host counterfeit goods.

The USTR (United States Trade Representative) office released its review of the infamous markets in 2020 on Thursday. The list includes e-commerce websites and companies that are believed to facilitate the sale of counterfeit goods, and to commit intellectual property violations or piracy.

Amazon websites in the UK, Germany, Spain, France and Italy were named in the report. Complainants against the overseas websites alleged that the process of removing counterfeit products from Amazon is slow, even for companies participating in its trademark protection programs. They also argued that Amazon does not thoroughly scrutinize third-party sellers in its market or make it clear to brands and consumers “who is selling the goods”.

Amazon denied the sales agent’s report, which did not include Amazon’s US website, citing its extensive programs and tools designed to stop counterfeiters.

“Amazon’s inclusion in this report is a continuation of a personal revenge against Amazon and nothing more than a desperate stunt in the last days of this administration,” an Amazon spokesman told CNBC in a statement. “Amazon is doing more against counterfeiting than any other private organization known to us.”

USTR officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized Amazon and its CEO Jeff Bezos during his four-year tenure. Bezos owns the Washington Post, which Trump has criticized for its unfavorable reporting on his administration. Amazon has also claimed it did not win a Pentagon cloud computing deal that could be worth up to $ 10 billion due to attacks by Trump against the company and Bezos.

Amazon websites were first added to the USTR’s Notorious Markets list in 2019. The American Apparel & Footwear Association asked the sales representative in 2018 to add some Amazon websites to the list.

In addition to Amazon, the other companies featured on the list include Chinese e-commerce website Pinduoduo, South American e-commerce company Mercadolibre, and file-sharing website The Pirate Bay.

Amazon has stepped up its counterfeit containment efforts as the third-party market has grown. The marketplace now accounts for more than half of the company’s total revenue and is home to millions of third-party providers.

While it continues to be an important component of Amazon’s business, the market has also faced a number of issues related to the sale of counterfeit, unsafe, and expired goods. In 2019, Amazon started mentioning counterfeit products as a risk factor in its annual filing.

The company has prosecuted counterfeiters in court, launched various programs to search for and detect sales of counterfeit goods, and in June set up the Counterfeit Crime Division, composed of former federal attorneys, investigators, and data analysts, to break down the website for fraudulent activity.

As a result of this and other efforts, 99.9% of the pages viewed by customers on the site never had a valid forgery report, the spokesman said.

Categories
Politics

Pompeo Returns Cuba to Terrorism Sponsor Listing, Constraining Biden’s Plans

Pompeo Returns Cuba to Terrorism Sponsor List, Constraining Biden’s Plans

WASHINGTON – The State Department on Monday named Cuba a state sponsor of terrorism in a short-term foreign policy stroke that will complicate plans by the new Biden administration to restore friendlier ties with Havana.

In a statement, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cited Cuba’s reception of 10 Colombian rebel leaders as well as a handful of American refugees wanted for crimes in the 1970s and Cuba’s support for Venezuela’s authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro.

Mr Pompeo said the operation sent the message that “the Castro regime must end its support for international terrorism and the subversion of the US justice system”.

The New York Times reported last month that Mr Pompeo was considering the move and had a plan on his desk.

The move, announced only a few days ago in the Trump administration, reverses a step taken in 2015 after President Barack Obama restored diplomatic relations with Cuba and described his decades of political and economic isolation as a relic of the Cold War.

After his tenure, President Trump acted swiftly to undermine Mr Obama’s policies of openness, to the delight of Cuban-American and other Latino voters in Florida, who welcomed his aggressive stance on Havana and its socialist, anti-American ally, Mr Maduro.

Other Republicans cheered Mr. Trump, saying Havana failed to push through political overhauls and continued to crack down on dissent and break promises it made to the Obama administration.

U.S. officials said the plan to put Cuba back on the terrorism sponsor list was drawn up in a departure from the standard process by the State Department’s Western Hemisphere Affairs Office, rather than the Counter-Terrorism Bureau, which normally plays a pivotal role such a decision would play.

Monday’s denomination said Cuba had “repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism,” according to the Foreign Ministry’s criteria for listing countries that include only three other nations: Iran, North Korea and Syria.

The move automatically triggers United States sanctions against Cuba – likely negligible effects, experts said given the magnitude of the existing American penalties against Havana.

But the action could be a symbolic deterrent for businesses and “add another of many negative incentives to look for ways to export, import from, or provide services to Cuba,” said John Kavulich, president of trade – and Economic Council of the USA and Cuba.

The statement by Mr Pompeo cited Cuba’s refusal to extradite ten leaders of the Colombian National Liberation Army. A foreign terrorist organization that has lived in Havana since 2017 was also named. The leaders traveled to Havana for peace talks in 2017 to end a long riot in Colombia and have not returned home.

The National Liberation Army has taken responsibility for a bomb attack on a police academy in Bogotá in January 2019 that killed 22 people and injured more than 87 others.

Mr Pompeo also cited the presence in Cuba of three refugees who were charged or convicted of murder in the early 1970s, including Joanne D. Chesimard, 73, a former member of the Black Liberation Army, now called Assata Shakur, who remains on the List of FBI Most Wanted Terrorists Who Killed a New Jersey State Soldier in 1973.

His statement also stated that the Cuban government “is engaged in a range of malicious behaviors across the region” and that its intelligence and security services are “assisting Nicolás Maduro in maintaining his stranglehold on his people and enabling terrorist organizations to operate,” the Cuban Government supported Colombian rebels beyond their borders and that their support for Maduro had helped “create a permissive environment for international terrorists to live and prosper in Venezuela”.

Speaking of a return to Obama’s more open approach to Havana during the campaign, President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. vowed to “immediately reverse the failed Trump policies that have harmed the Cuban people and done nothing to move forward Democracy and human rights. “

While the Biden government can remove Cuba from the terrorism list, it requires a screening process that can take months.

Ted A. Henken, associate professor of sociology at Baruch College in New York, called the designation “a symbolic last gesture” by the Trump administration towards Cuba as well as a reward for the Cuban exiled community and like-minded Latino voters who stood for in November gave the president a surprisingly strong number.

“It’s unjustified based on merit or evidence,” he said. “Cuba is a dictatorship that systematically denies its citizens basic rights, but has not been shown to engage in terrorist activities.”

“The label is politically motivated for a domestic audience in the US,” he added.

William LeoGrande, a professor of government at the American University in Washington, noted that Trump’s numerous sanctions against Cuba meant that the new name would have little additional impact.

In the past two years, Cuba has faced the most severe sanctions in the United States in the past 50 years, which have contributed to rationing and the profound shortage of basic necessities such as medicine and food. According to Alejandro Gil, Cuba’s economics minister, the economy contracted by 11 percent last year.

Mr. LeoGrande said the designation could impede legal financial transactions with American financial institutions, such as a U.S. airline that pays the Cuban government for landing fees, as banks become more suspicious of the additional surveillance of such exchanges from Washington.

Banking transactions via third countries could also be affected. During Mr Trump’s tenure, European banks became increasingly reluctant to make payments to Cuban state-owned companies. The island’s terrorism designation could further reduce risk appetite.

Mr LeoGrande said the Cuban government would try to avoid escalating the conflict in the expectation that Mr Biden would try to improve relations.

The news was received with anger on the streets of Havana. “That’s a lie,” said Sergio Herrera, 45, a bicycle taxi driver.

“Trump has his neck in a noose” politically and is “looking for excuses,” he said.

Michael Crowley reported from Washington, Ed Augustin from Havana and Kirk Semple from Mexico City.