Month: November 2023

Charlie Munger, who quit a law career to become Warren Buffett’s trusted confidant and longtime second-in-command at Berkshire Hathaway, died Tuesday morning. He was 99. 

Berkshire said Munger died peacefully at a hospital in California, where he lived. No cause was given. Munger would have turned 100 on January 1. 

“Berkshire Hathaway could not have been built to its present status without Charlie’s inspiration, wisdom and participation,” Buffett, Berkshire’s 93-year-old chairman and chief executive, said in a statement. 

Company executive since 1970s

Munger had been a Berkshire vice chairman since 1978, working closely with Buffett on allocating the Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate’s capital, and being quick to tell him when he was making a mistake. 

“It’s a shock,” said Thomas Russo, a partner at Gardner Russo & Quinn in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and longtime Berkshire shareholder. “It will leave a big void for investors who have modeled their thoughts, words and activities around Munger and his insights.” 

Investors expect Munger’s death to be felt keenly by Buffett and the investing world generally. 

“He was certainly one of the greatest investors, as a team with Buffett,” said Rick Meckler, partner at Cherry Lane Investments in New Jersey. “I’m sure it is an enormous loss for Buffett personally.” 

Believed in compounding and reinvesting

Munger was known for steering Buffett’s purchases. 

“Charlie felt that buying very good businesses at fair prices that could keep compounding and reinvesting cash flow into continued growth was more consistent with how he and Warren were philosophically and liked to invest,” said Paul Lountzis, president of Lountzis Asset Management in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. “They liked to own businesses forever.” 

Thomas Hayes, chairman of Great Hill Capital in New York, said the “big change that Charlie brought to the value investing community was not just looking for what was cheap but looking for what was out of favor but high quality.”  

Investors said Munger’s death was unlikely to have a major impact on Berkshire’s operations. 

Two other vice chairmen, Greg Abel and Ajit Jain, have day-to-day oversight of Berkshire’s non-insurance and insurance businesses, respectively. 

Abel is expected to become chief executive once Buffett, 93, is no longer in charge. 

Berkshire’s businesses include the BNSF railroad, car insurer Geico, and an array of energy, industrial and retail operations, as well as familiar consumer names such as Dairy Queen, Duracell, Fruit of the Loom and See’s Candies. 

It also owns hundreds of billions of dollars of stocks, led by Apple. 

“I wouldn’t think Berkshire will look much different, apart from Buffett no longer being able to share ideas with Munger,” said Russo. “Berkshire may be a little less fun without him.” 

Buffett has never publicly signaled a desire to step down, including after a prostate cancer diagnosis in 2012. 

“At 93, I feel good but fully realize I am playing in extra innings,” Buffett said recently. 
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U.S. lawmakers are racing to reach a deal on billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine and Israel before the holiday break. VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson has more.
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Hunter Biden on Tuesday offered to testify publicly before the U.S. Congress in response to a subpoena from Republicans investigating nearly every aspect of his business dealings as they pursue an impeachment inquiry into his father, President Joe Biden.

The Democratic president’s son slammed the inquiry as a “fishing expedition” and refused to give closed-door testimony but said he would “answer any pertinent and relevant question” in front of the House Oversight Committee next month, setting up a potential high-stakes face-off.

Representative James Comer of Kentucky, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, subpoenaed Hunter Biden in early November in the inquiry’s most aggressive step yet and one that tests the reach of congressional oversight powers. Comer’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

So far, Republicans have failed to uncover evidence directly implicating President Biden in any wrongdoing. But lawmakers insist their evidence paints a troubling picture of “influence peddling” in the Biden family’s business dealings, particularly with clients overseas.

The subpoena demanded Hunter Biden appear before the Oversight Committee for a deposition by mid-December. His uncle James Biden was subpoenaed the same day, as well as former business associate Rob Walker.

Hunter Biden’s attorney Abbe Lowell said in Tuesday’s letter that his client had “misgivings about your motives and purpose” but had previously offered to speak with the committee without a response.

“Your empty investigation has gone on too long wasting too many better-used resources. It should come to an end,” Lowell wrote. “From all the individuals you have requested depositions or interviews, all you will learn is that your accusations are baseless. However, the American people should see that for themselves.”

He offered to appear on December 13, the date named in the subpoena, or another day next month.

The subpoenas were bitterly opposed by Democrats, and the White House called for the subpoenas to be withdrawn. Richard Sauber, special counsel to the president, wrote that the subpoenas are “irresponsible” and the product of an overzealous House GOP majority that “weaponized the oversight powers of Congress.”

Congressional Republicans are also probing the Justice Department’s handling of a criminal investigation into Hunter Biden’s business dealings. That long-running case had been expected to end with a plea deal, but it imploded during a July plea hearing.

Hunter Biden is now charged with three firearms felonies related to the 2018 purchase of a gun during a period he has acknowledged being addicted to drugs. No new tax charges have been filed, but prosecutors have indicated they are possible in Washington or California, where he now lives.
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A new America House is celebrating its opening in Odesa, making it the third major cultural and educational center in Ukraine supported and financed by the U.S. Embassy. America House Odesa was supposed to open in early 2022, but Russia’s invasion changed those plans. Anna Kosstutschenko visited the center and found out how the war altered its program. Camera — Pavel Suhodolskiy.
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NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday he is confident the United States will continue to provide support for Ukraine amid divisions among U.S. lawmakers about approving more funding for the Ukraine war effort.

Speaking to reporters before the start of two days of talks with NATO foreign ministers in Brussels, Stoltenberg lauded what he called the unprecedented military support NATO allies have provided to Ukraine in response to Russia’s invasion.

“The challenge now is that we need to sustain that support,” Stoltenberg said.

He described supporting Ukraine as NATO’s obligation, saying that a Russian victory in Ukraine would be both a “tragedy for Ukrainians” and dangerous to NATO members.

Stoltenberg was due to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken before the start of the ministerial meeting.

A senior U.S. State Department official said ahead of the NATO talks that the United States is joining NATO members in renewing the alliance’s “steadfast commitment” to Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression. 

Wednesday, Blinken will lead the U.S. delegation to NATO member North Macedonia which is hosting a meeting of foreign ministers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe or OSCE in its capital Skopje later this week.

The United States is hosting the next NATO summit in Washington from July 9 to 11, 2024.  

Blinken will discuss priorities for the Washington meeting with his counterparts as the alliance celebrates its 75th anniversary next year.  

NATO-Ukraine Council foreign ministers

The chief U.S. diplomat is also set to attend the first foreign minister-level meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council as Kyiv aspires to be a NATO member.

“The Council supports Ukraine’s close partnership with NATO,” said Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Jim O’Brien.  “Allies will continue to support Ukraine’s self-defense until Russia stops its war of aggression,” he added.

The NATO-Ukraine Council was inaugurated at the NATO Summit in Vilnius on July 12, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other heads of member governments also in attendance. 

It convened for the second time in late July to discuss Black Sea security following Russia’s withdrawal from a deal overseeing grain exports from Ukrainian ports. 

The third meeting was held in October to discuss substantial assistance to Ukraine and to ensure Ukraine’s forces are fully interoperable with NATO. 

The NATO-Ukraine Council is the joint body where Allies and Ukraine sit as equal participants to advance political dialogue.

Western Balkans 

One of the sessions at this week’s NATO foreign ministers’ meeting is to address security and democracy in the Western Balkans. 

“A stable, prosperous future for the Western Balkans must be based on good governance, rule of law, multi-ethnic democracy, and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms,” O’Brien said.

NATO officials have affirmed the alliance’s commitment to maintaining a safe and secure environment while contributing to broader stability in the Western Balkans. 

The statement came in response to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s earlier warning this month, in which he conveyed information suggesting that Russia has a plan for the destabilization of the Balkans.

Speaking on Nov. 21 in Skopje, North Macedonia, during the final stop of a tour of the Western Balkans, NATO Secretary-General Stoltenberg stated that the alliance closely monitors Russia’s activities in the region.  But he said there is currently no perceived military threat to any NATO member in the area.

North Macedonia, OSCE 

After the government of North Macedonia announced that it would briefly lift a flight ban and permit the plane carrying Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to land in Skopje for the OSCE ministerial, Lavrov said on Monday he would attend the OSCE foreign ministers meeting in North Macedonia if Bulgaria opened its air space to the Russian delegation.

North Macedonia’s sanctions will remain in place against Russia for all other flights. 

Most European countries banned flights from Russia after its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

O’Brien declined to comment on whether there will be any interaction between Lavrov, should he attend the OSCE ministerial, and the U.S. delegation but told VOA during a phone briefing that U.S. Secretary of State Blinken will “have a good discussion with” OSCE counterparts about U.S. “support for Ukraine.”

Some information for this story came from Reuters.
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Former U.S. first lady Rosalynn Carter is set to be honored Tuesday at a tribute service in Atlanta.

Her husband, 99-year-old former President Jimmy Carter, who entered hospice care in February, plans to attend Tuesday’s service.

The Carter Center said the list of expected guests included President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, along with Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and former first ladies Melania Trump, Michelle Obama and Laura Bush.

Rosalynn Carter died Nov. 19 at the age of 96.

A funeral is planned for Wednesday in Plains, Georgia, followed by a private interment at the family’s home.

Memorial events began Monday with members of the public given the opportunity to pay their respects at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library.

Some information for this story came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters

 
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The potential threat posed by the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) means safeguards need to be built into systems from the start rather than tacked on later, a top U.S. official said on Monday.

“We’ve normalized a world where technology products come off the line full of vulnerabilities and then consumers are expected to patch those vulnerabilities. We can’t live in that world with AI,” said Jen Easterly, director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

“It is too powerful, it is moving too fast,” she said in a telephone interview after holding talks in Ottawa with Sami Khoury, head of Canada’s Centre for Cyber Security.

Easterly spoke the same day that agencies from 18 countries, including the United States, endorsed new British-developed guidelines on AI cyber security that focus on secure design, development, deployment and maintenance.

“We have to look at security throughout the life cycle of that AI capability,” Khoury said.

Earlier this month, leading AI developers agreed to work with governments to test new frontier models before they are released to help manage the risks of the rapidly developing technology.

“I think we have done as much as we possibly could do at this point in time to help come together with nations around the world, with technology companies, to set out from a technical perspective how to build these capabilities as securely and safely as possible,” said Easterly.
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Every year, thousands of people from across the United States volunteer for a very exclusive holiday experience – the chance to decorate the White House for Christmas. Of all of those applicants, only 300 lucky people are chosen. VOA’s Dora Mekouar reports. Camera: Hakim Shammo
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A man in the U.S. state of Vermont has pleaded not guilty to three counts of attempted second-degree murder in connection to the shooting of three college students of Palestinian descent.

The suspect, 48-year-old Jason Eaton, appeared by video from the county jail at his arraignment hearing on Monday, which was held at the Chittenden County Court in Burlington.

Eaton spoke only to confirm his identity. His attorney entered pleas of not guilty, and the judge ordered Eaton to be held without bail, pending a hearing that is expected to take place within the next few days.

Police say Eaton shot the three men with a pistol near the University of Vermont on Saturday evening, then ran away.

The FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are assisting Vermont authorities in the investigation.

The shootings will also be investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice to determine if they amount to hate crimes, according to Attorney General Merrick Garland.

The victims were reportedly speaking Arabic at the time, according to the Institute for Middle East Understanding, a nonprofit pro-Palestinian advocacy organization. Two of them were wearing a keffiyeh, a traditional black-and-white checkered scarf commonly worn in the Middle East, police said.

President Joe Biden was horrified at the incident, according to a statement released by the White House on Monday.

“There is absolutely, absolutely no place for violence or hate in America,” White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at a news briefing.

Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger joined Burlington Police Chief Jon Murad at a press conference in which Weinberger thanked Biden for the swift federal support the city has received for the investigation.

The victims have been Identified as Hisham Awartani, a student at Brown University in Rhode Island; Kinnan Abdalhamid, a student at Haverford College in Pennsylvania; and Tahseen Ahmed, who attends Trinity College in Connecticut. All of the victims are 20 years old.

They were all transported to the intensive care unit of a local hospital, where two of them were in stable condition, while the third faces “much more serious injuries,” according to police.

Some information in this report was contributed by The Associated Press and Reuters.
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The U.S. said Monday that after Hamas’ assault on Israel last month, it and several allied nations established an international task force aimed at countering the flow of money to the militant Palestinian group and supporting anti-terrorism efforts.

The take

Since 1,200 people were killed in the October 7 attack, the U.S., U.K. and allies have sought to cut off funding for Hamas, which has been designated a terrorist group by Washington and other governments.

Context

The task force will enhance sharing of financial intelligence on terrorist-financing-related matters and will discuss best practices and opportunities for additional actions and partnerships, the U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement.

It will also strengthen relations between the financial intelligence units (FIUs), public authorities and the private sector to address the threat, the statement said.

The task force is made up of financial intelligence units from Australia, Canada, Estonia, France, Germany, Israel, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Switzerland, the U.K. and the U.S., as well as other units.

Since the October 7 attack, Washington has imposed several rounds of sanctions on Hamas. It has targeted the group’s investment portfolio and issued an alert to financial institutions on countering Hamas financing while senior officials have discussed the group’s access to funds on trips abroad.

Key quote

“The October 7 terror attacks on Israel served as a grave reminder of a core mission of our FIUs: to detect, disrupt and prevent the financing of terrorism,” the statement said.
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The United States is joining member states from NATO this week in renewing the alliance’s “steadfast commitment” to Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s aggression, according to a senior State Department official.

Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken heads to Brussels, where foreign ministers from NATO will gather from November 27 to 29.

On Wednesday, Blinken will lead the U.S. delegation to NATO member North Macedonia who is hosting a meeting of foreign ministers from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe or OSCE in its capital Skopje later this week.

The United States is hosting the next NATO summit in Washington from July 9 to 11, 2024.  Blinken will discuss priorities for the Washington meeting with his counterparts as the alliance celebrates its 75th anniversary next year.

NATO-Ukraine Council foreign ministers

The chief U.S. diplomat is set to attend the first foreign minister-level meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council as Kyiv aspires to be a NATO member.

“The Council supports Ukraine’s close partnership with NATO,” said Jim O’Brien who is State Department’s Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs.  “Allies will continue to support Ukraine’s self-defense until Russia stops its war of aggression,” he added.

The NATO-Ukraine Council was inaugurated at the NATO Summit in Vilnius on July 12, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other heads of member governments also in attendance.

It convened for the second time in late July to discuss Black Sea security following Russia’s withdrawal from a deal overseeing grain exports from Ukrainian ports.

The third meeting was held in October to discuss substantial assistance to Ukraine and to ensure Ukraine’s forces are fully interoperable with NATO.    

The NATO-Ukraine Council is the joint body where Allies and Ukraine sit as equal participants to advance political dialogue.

Western Balkans

One of the sessions at this week’s NATO foreign ministers’ meeting is to address security and democracy in the Western Balkans.

“A stable, prosperous future for the Western Balkans must be based on good governance, rule of law, multi-ethnic democracy, and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms,” O’Brien said.

NATO officials have affirmed the alliance’s commitment to maintaining a safe and secure environment while contributing to broader stability in the Western Balkans.

The statement came in response to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s earlier warning this month, in which he conveyed information suggesting that Russia has a plan for the destabilization of the Balkans.

Speaking on November 21 in Skopje, North Macedonia, during the final stop of a tour of the Western Balkans, NATO Secretary-General Stoltenberg stated that the alliance closely monitors Russia’s activities in the region.  But he said there is currently no perceived military threat to any NATO member in the area.  

North Macedonia, OSCE

After the government of North Macedonia announced that it would briefly lift a flight ban and permit the plane carrying Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to land in Skopje for the OSCE ministerial, Lavrov said on Monday he would attend the OSCE foreign ministers meeting in North Macedonia if Bulgaria opened its air space to the Russian delegation.

North Macedonia’s sanctions will remain in place against Russia for all other flights.

Most European countries banned flights from Russia after its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

O’Brien declined to comment on whether there will be any interaction between Lavrov should he attend the OSCE ministerial and the U.S. delegation but told VOA during a phone briefing that U.S. Secretary of State Blinken will “have a good discussion with” OSCE counterparts about U.S. “support for Ukraine.”  

Some material is from Reuters. 
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Armed assailants seized and later let go a tanker linked to Israel off the coast of Yemen on Sunday before being apprehended by the United States Navy, officials said.

Two ballistic missiles fired from Houthi-controlled Yemen then landed near a U.S. warship in the Gulf of Aden, raising the stakes amid a series of ship attacks linked to the Israel-Hamas war.

Yemen’s internationally recognized government blamed the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels for the attack, though the rebels in control of the capital, Sanaa, did not acknowledge either the seizure or the missile attack. 

The attackers seized the Liberian-flagged Central Park, managed by Zodiac Maritime, in the Gulf of Aden, the company, the U.S. and British militaries and private intelligence firm Ambrey said. 

Early Monday morning, Zodiac said the vessel carrying phosphoric acid and its crew of 22 sailors from Bulgaria, Georgia, India, the Philippines, Russia, Turkey and Vietnam were “unharmed.”

“We would like to thank the coalition forces who responded quickly, protecting assets in the area and upholding international maritime law,” the company said. 

The U.S. military’s Central Command said in a statement early Monday that its forces, including the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Mason, responded to the seizure and demanded the armed assailants release the tanker. 

“Subsequently, five armed individuals debarked the ship and attempted to flee via their small boat,” Central Command said. “The Mason pursued the attackers resulting in their eventual surrender.”

The Central Command did not identify the men, but said a missile launch from Houthi-controlled Yemen followed early Monday morning.

“The missiles landed in the Gulf of Aden approximately ten nautical miles from the ships,” the statement said. “The USS Mason … was concluding its response to the M/V Central Park distress call at the time of the missile launches. There was no damage or reported injuries from either vessel during this incident.”

Zodiac described the vessel as being owned by Clumvez Shipping Inc., though other records directly linked Zodiac as the owner. London-based Zodiac Maritime is part of Israeli billionaire Eyal Ofer’s Zodiac Group. British corporate records listed two men with the last name Ofer as a current and former director of Clumvez Shipping, including Daniel Guy Ofer, who is also a director at Zodiac Maritime. 

Yemen’s internationally recognized government, which is based out of nearby Aden, blamed the rebels for the seizure in a statement carried by their state-run news agency.

“The Yemeni government has renewed its denunciation of the acts of maritime piracy carried out by the terrorist Houthi militias with the support of the Iranian regime, the most recent of which was the hijacking of the Central Park,” the statement read. 

The attack happened in a part of the Gulf of Aden that is in theory under the control of that government’s forces and is fairly distant from Houthi-controlled territory in the country. Somali pirates are not known to operate in that area.

Zodiac Maritime has been targeted previously amid a wider yearslong shadow war between Iran and Israel. In 2021, a drone attack assessed by the U.S. and other Western nations to have been carried out by Iran killed two crew members aboard Zodiac’s oil tanker Mercer Street off the coast of Oman. 

The British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, which provides warnings to sailors in the Middle East, had earlier issued a warning to sailors that “two black-and-white craft carrying eight persons in military-style clothing” had been seen in the area. 

The UKMTO put the Central Park’s location over 60 kilometers south of Yemen’s coast, some 80 kilometers east of Djibouti and around 110 kilometers northeast of Somalia in the Gulf of Aden, a key shipping route. 

The Central Park seizure comes after a container ship, CMA CGM Symi, owned by another Israeli billionaire, came under attack Friday by a suspected Iranian drone in the Indian Ocean. Iran has not acknowledged carrying out the attack, nor did it respond to questions from the AP about that assault. 

Both the Symi and the Central Park had been behaving as if they faced a threat in recent days.

The ships had switched off their Automatic Identification System trackers, according to data from MarineTraffic.com analyzed by the AP. Ships are supposed to keep their AIS active for safety reasons, but crews will turn them off if it appears they might be targeted. In the Central Park’s case, the vessel had last transmitted four days ago after it left the Suez Canal heading south into the Red Sea. 

Global shipping had increasingly been targeted as the Israel-Hamas war threatens to become a wider regional conflict — even as a truce has halted fighting and Hamas exchanges hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. 

Earlier this month, the Houthis seized a vehicle transport ship also linked to Israel in the Red Sea off Yemen. 

Meanwhile on Sunday, the American aircraft carrier USS Eisenhower traveled through the Strait of Hormuz and entered the Persian Gulf, the U.S. military said. The Eisenhower was accompanied by the guided-missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea, the guided-missile destroyers USS Gravely and the USS Stethem and the French frigate Languedoc.

 
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