Sociopath Community

U.S. Companies complying to Chinese censorship.  

Apple drops Hong Kong police-tracking app used by protesters

BBC said:

Apple has removed an app that protesters in Hong Kong have used to track police movements and tear gas use, saying the app violated its rules.

The company said the app, HKmap.live, had "been used in ways that endanger law enforcement and residents".

Apple initially rejected the app - which uses data from protesters on the ground - from its store.

When it later appeared on the App Store, there was a sharply-worded response in official Chinese media.

The removal then came after "many concerned customers in Hong Kong contacted us", Apple said.

"We have verified with the Hong Kong Cybersecurity and Technology Crime Bureau that the app has been used to target and ambush police," Apple said.

The statement added that "criminals have used it to victimise residents in areas where they know there is no law enforcement".

Although the app has been removed from Apple's store, a website version appears to remain active. There is also a version on Google Play.

When the app was available on the App Store, Apple was criticised in Chinese state media.

Communist Party publication the People's Daily didn't name the app, but criticised Apple for "opening the door" to violent protests.

"Letting poisonous software have its way is a betrayal of the Chinese people's feelings," the paper said.

Apps previously have been removed after their release if they were found to facilitate illegal activity or threaten public safety.

A number of companies have drawn the ire of Chinese officials over the long-running Hong Kong protests.

China's state broadcaster has scrapped plans to show two US NBA basketball pre-season games over a pro-Hong Kong tweet from a team manager, and sponsors have also been critical.

Jeweller Tiffany & Co scrapped an advert image after some Chinese consumers suggested it was supportive of the protesters.

And California-based Video-game company Blizzard suspended a gamer after he expressed support for the protestors during a livestream.

Hong Kong protesters, meanwhile, the other hand, have targeted mainland banks and what they perceive to be pro-mainland businesses.

For Apple, China is both a major market and a manufacturing base for its products.

The manufacturing of Apple products directly and indirectly accounts for around three million jobs in China.

Apple had sales of $9.61bn last quarter in its Greater China category, which includes Taiwan and Hong Kong.

 South Park China: Writers in mock apology after Beijing censorship

BBC said:

The makers of US TV comedy South Park have issued a mock apology to China after the show was made largely unavailable in the country.

In a recent episode, the character Randy is subjected to forced labour and Communist Party re-education after being jailed during a visit to China.

Most South Park episodes and reviews are now unavailable online in China.

"We welcome the Chinese censors into our homes and hearts," the apology said. "Long live the Communist Party!"

What happens in the episode?
In "Band in China", Randy Marsh travels to China to try to expand his marijuana business.

He is arrested, sent to prison, and subjected to forced labour and re-education.

In one scene, Randy is seen standing in the rain while a guard gives him an electric shock.

"I am a proud member of the Communist Party," Randy then reads from a card. "The party is more important than the individual."

He then sees a guard shoot a prisoner in the head, before being sent to an overcrowded cell where he starts a conversation with Winnie the Pooh and Piglet.

In 2017, images of Winnie the Pooh were blocked in China because people compared him to the Chinese president, Xi Jinping.

"Some people said Pooh looked like the Chinese president, so we're illegal in China now," says Piglet.

"What kind of madhouse is this?" replies Randy.

What was the reaction in China?
Since the episode was shown in the US last week, searching for "South Park" on the Chinese social media site Weibo shows "no relevant results have been found".

The show has been removed from China's various video websites, including Bilibili, iQiyi, Youku and le.com. Although some searches show a brief introduction, they're not playable.

On Douban, a famous film review website in China, search results show that "according to relevant laws, regulations and policies, search results are not displayed".

On China's popular search engine Baidu, "South Park" still returns results - but most of the entries are old news. The top-ranked result criticises the show for its negative impact on teenagers.

Some people have got around the ban by using "S23E02" (Season 23, Episode 2) to discuss the show on Weibo.

How did South Park's makers respond?
On Twitter, the show's writers Trey Parker and Matt Stone issued an "official apology to China".

"Like the NBA [National Basketball Association], we welcome the Chinese censors into our homes and into our hearts," it said.

"We too love money more than freedom and democracy. Xi doesn't look just like Winnie the Pooh at all.

"Long live the Great Communist Party of China! May this autumn's sorghum [a cereal crop] harvest be bountiful! We good now China?"

The NBA reference follows US basketball coach Daryl Morey backtracking after tweeting support for the Hong Kong protesters.

Mr Morey's tweet led to his team, the Houston Rockets, having their games pulled from Chinese TV, as well as Chinese sponsors withdrawing support.

The NBA said Mr Morey's comments were "regrettable", while Rockets player James Harden said: "We apologise. We love China."

Mr Morey later said: "I have had a lot of opportunity since that tweet to hear and consider other perspectives."

U.S. Companies complying to Chinese censorship cont. 

Blizzard Sets Off Backlash for Penalizing Hearthstone Gamer in Hong Kong

NYTimes said:

HONG KONG — Activision Blizzard became the latest American company to find itself caught between its business interests in China and the values of its core customers after it suspended an e-sports player who voiced support for the Hong Kong protests during a live broadcast.

The decision to suspend Chung Ng Wai, a professional Hearthstone player in Hong Kong, for a year, while forcing him to forfeit a reported $10,000 in prize money, prompted a backlash in the United States similar to the public relations debacle the N.B.A. has faced this week. Gamers posted angrily on social media and in forums, while politicians saw it as another troubling sign of China’s chilling clampdown on speech worldwide.

“Recognize what’s happening here. People who don’t live in #China must either self censor or face dismissal & suspensions,” Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, wrote on Twitter. “China using access to market as leverage to crush free speech globally.”

Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, a Democrat, concurred, saying on Twitter that Activision Blizzard showed “it is willing to humiliate itself to please the Chinese Communist Party.”

“No American company should censor calls for freedom to make a quick buck,” he said.

Activision Blizzard, which has created some of the most popular games in e-sports, including Overwatch and StarCraft, said Mr. Chung had run afoul of a rule barring players from any act that “brings you into public disrepute, offends a portion or group of the public, or otherwise damages” the company’s image.

In a post-match interview with the Taiwan stream of Hearthstone, Mr. Chung, who is known as Blitzchung, appeared with ballistic goggles and a gas mask, protective gear often worn by protesters during demonstrations in Hong Kong. Mr. Chung shouted in Mandarin: “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times,” a popular slogan of the protesters.

Mr. Chung did not respond to an interview request on Wednesday. But in a chat with fans on Tuesday on Twitch, a live-streaming service, he expressed no regret.

“Today, what I have lost in Hearthstone is four years of time,” he said, referring to the years he spent playing the game. “But if Hong Kong loses, it would be the matter of a lifetime.”

In the second quarter of 2019, Activision Blizzard earned $173 million from the Asia Pacific region, about 12 percent of its $1.4 billion worldwide total revenues.

Several companies have recently apologized after offending Chinese sensitivities, or have pre-emptively self-censored to ensure that they do not lose access to the lucrative Chinese market.

This week, the N.B.A. was forced onto a tightrope after Daryl Morey, the general manager of the Houston Rockets, tweeted support of the Hong Kong protests. An initial statement from the N.B.A. was widely seen as insufficiently supportive of Mr. Morey, prompting accusations that the league was more interested in its Chinese business interests than supporting free speech.

Last week’s “South Park” episodes mocked Chinese censors and American businesses that compromise their values for the Chinese market, causing the show to be pulled from Chinese platforms.

It was not yet clear what commercial impact the backlash to Blizzard would have, but many of its users reacted strongly. Threads on Reddit forums dedicated to Blizzard games lit up with criticism, while calls to boycott the company or cancel subscriptions spread throughout Twitter.

One person to cancel his World of Warcraft subscription was Mark Kern, who led the team that created the game.

In an interview, Mr. Kern said China was a major source of revenue for the gaming industry, and he knew he was “closing many doors” careerwise by speaking out on Twitter.

But Mr. Kern, who lived in Hong Kong as a teenager, said the company’s actions were “a deterioration of Blizzard values that really broke my heart.”

“It’s one thing to stay out of politics in games, quite another to take harsh, punitive actions designed to appease a government whose values are against what Blizzard has traditionally stood for,” he said.

Patrick Chow, 20, who works at an e-sports stadium in Hong Kong, said he used to play Hearthstone a lot but would immediately stop playing Blizzard games. He said that Mr. Chung had the right to use his influence to help the people of Hong Kong, and that the company shouldn’t have “controlled the player’s freedom of speech.”

“It breaks my impression of Blizzard,” he said.

Cringe break.

The video is in Ukrainian and there's no subtitles, maybe those users who speak Cyrillic based languages can summarize. 

Publication of facts of pressure of U.S. Embassy on Ukraine's law enforcement agencies to interfere in electoral process in U.S.

interfax said:

On Wednesday, October 9, at 10.00, the Interfax-Ukraine News Agency's press center will host a press conference by Ukrainian MP Andriy Derkach entitled "Publication of facts of pressure of U.S. Embassy on Ukraine's law enforcement agencies to interfere in electoral process in U.S." Documents evidencing the contacts of one of the law enforcement bodies of Ukraine and representatives of U.S. government agencies will be made public (8/5a Reitarska Street). Registration requires press accreditation.

Burisma paid Joe Biden $900,000 for lobbying – Ukrainian MP

interfax said:

KYIV. Oct 9 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden received $900,000 for lobbying activities from Burisma Group, Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada member Andriy Derkach said citing investigation materials.

Derkach publicized documents which, as he said, "describe the mechanism of getting money by Biden Sr." at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine's press center in Kyiv on Wednesday.

"This was the transfer of Burisma Group's funds for lobbying activities, as investigators believe, personally to Joe Biden through a lobbying company. Funds in the amount of $900,000 were transferred to the U.S.-based company Rosemont Seneca Partners, which according to open sources, in particular, the New York Times, is affiliated with Biden. The payment reference was payment for consultative services," Derkach said.

He also publicized sums that were transferred to Burisma Group representatives, in particular Hunter Biden, a son of the former U.S. vice president.

"According to the documents, Burisma paid no less than $16.5 million to [former Polish President, who became an independent director at Burisma Holdings in 2014] Aleksander Kwasniewski, [chairman of the Burisma board of independent directors] Alan Apter, [Burisma independent director] Devon Archer and Hunter Biden [who joined the Burisma board of directors in 2014]," Derkach said.

"Using political and economic levelers of influencing Ukrainian authorities and manipulating the issue of providing financial aid to Ukraine, Joe Biden actively assisted closing criminal cases into the activity of former Ukrainian Ecology Minister Mykola Zlochevsky, who is the founder and owner of Burisma Group," he said.

"Biden's fifth visit to Kyiv on December 7-8, 2015 was devoted to making a decision on the resignation of [then Ukrainian Prosecutor General] Viktor Shokin over the case of Zlochevsky and Burisma. Loan guarantees worth $1 billion that the United States was to give to Ukraine was the point of pressure. Biden himself admitted exerting pressure in his speech at the Council of Foreign Relations in January 2018, calling Shokin 'son of a bitch who was fired'," Derkach said.

The timeline of events proves that the U.S. linked the Zlochevsky case to loan guarantees, he said.

After the decree dismissing Shokin was published on April 3, 2016, the governments of the United States and Ukraine signed a loan guarantee agreement worth $1 billion, several months later, on June 3, he said.

"In this case, there are facts should be subject to investigation. There is an agency that has powers to investigate them; the U.S. Department of Justice. If the Ukrainian Prosecutor General signs documents and send them to U.S. Department of Justice without any requests, he will accomplish his mission," he said, adding that the Ukrainian Prosecutor General has such powers.

"Considering international corruption in public is a way-out for President Zelensky. I am certain that he is not involved in international corruption," Derkach said.

It was reported earlier that Derkach publicized correspondence between the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and officers of the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv. According to publicized correspondence, starting from July 14, 2017, the lists of criminal proceedings undertaken by NABU officers were sent from the electronic mailbox of Polina Chyzh, an assistant to NABU first deputy head Gizo Uglava, to the electronic mailbox of Hanna Yemelianova, a legal specialist of the anti-corruption program of the U.S. Justice Department at U.S. Embassy in Ukraine.

Derkach also said that NABU-leak materials will be published on his Facebook account and materials that he got from investigating journalists have already been passed to Ukraine's State Bureau of Investigations and the Prosecutor's General Office.

He also said he will initiate the creation of an ad hoc parliamentary investigative commission and has already requested launching a criminal case against Ukrainian officials into interference into U.S. elections. The court session is scheduled for October 21, he said.

Burisma Holdings is a Cyprus-registered gas producing company holding assets in Ukraine. It is one of Ukraine's top-three independent gas producers headquartered in Kyiv. Zlochevsky is the founder and the ultimate beneficiary owner of the company.

 Background on Andrii Derkach

Wiki said:

Parliamentary activity

1998–2006; 2007–present: Member of the Ukrainian Parliament of the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th convocations[2].

2002–2006: Deputy Chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament Committee on Fuel and Energy Complex, Nuclear Policy and Nuclear Safety.

Since 2012: Member of the Budget Committee of Ukrainian Parliament (Committee of the Verkhovna Rada on issues of budget).

2014–2016: Deputy Chairman of the Parliamentary Group "Nation's Will”. He withdrew from the group stating that he considers impossible to be involved in actions related to the violation of the constitutional rights of Ukrainian citizens by adopting the budget for 2016 and the Tax Code "which destroys entire branches of business and agriculture in exchange for posts and preferences, participation in the corruption schemes of the acting government, which parasitizes on European slogans, robs the state”.

On November 13, 2015, The Interfactional Parliamentary Association “For the Protection of Violated Rights of Citizens and Against Political Repression “Forbidden to Forbid” was established in Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. Andrii Derkach was elected as the Chairman of the Association.

“Forbidden to Forbid” seeks to reveal, examine and prevent violations of the Constitution of Ukraine, laws of Ukraine, and international obligations of Ukraine, manifesting in present-day Ukraine – in particular, discrimination on political grounds, the use of law enforcement agencies in political struggle, the use of administrative and regulatory powers in struggle with political opponents and others.[3].

On January 26, 2016, Derkach initiated the creation of an interim commission of inquiry of the Verkhovna Rada on violations of the constitutional rights of citizens by acting government and set the aim to "check the abuse of power by the Cabinet of Ministers during the preparation and adoption of the state budget for 2016, the fraud of the Ministry of Finance with Ukraine's debt obligations, the stolen funds of the National Bank led by Valeriya Gontareva.”

On October 9, 2019, Derkach implicated the 47th U.S. Vice President of the United States and current Presidential candidate Joe Biden in an international corruption scheme.[4] Derkach described a money laundering plan involving the Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings, US-based Rosemont Capital and Joe Biden, personally. [5][6]

Two different worlds. 

An Iranian Oil Tanker was struck by Missiles today. 

Iranian oil tanker near Saudi Arabia coast hit by missiles, officials say

FOX said:

An Iranian oil tanker cruising 60 miles off the coast of Saudi Arabia was rocked by a pair of missiles Friday, briefly causing an oil leak and more broadly threatening to further inflame fraught regional tensions between the two heavyweight Muslim nations.

Iranian state television reported the explosions damaged two storerooms aboard the oil tanker – which is owned by the National Iranian Oil Company – and caused an oil leak into the Red Sea near the Saudi port city of Jeddah. The leak was later plugged, IRNA reported.

“This latest incident, if confirmed to be an act of aggression, is highly likely to be part of the wider narrative of deteriorating relations between Saudi and the U.S. and Iran,” according to an assessment provided to the Associated Press by private maritime security firm Dryad Maritime. “It is likely that the region, having been stable for the last month, will face another period of increasing maritime threats, as the Iranian and Saudi geopolitical stand-off continues.”

The stricken vessel, identified by IRNA as the Sibiti, was carrying about 1 million barrels of crude oil when it was struck, an analysis from data firm Refinitiv showed.

The news agency did not say whom Iranian officials suspect may be responsible for launching the missiles.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi described the incident as an "attack" carried out by those committing "dangerous adventurism." In a statement, Mousavi said the Sabiti was struck twice in the span of a half-hour and an investigation was underway.

Images taken from the ship's bridge that have been released by Iran's Petroleum Ministry did not appear to show any damage to the Sabiti, though the view did not show the ship's sides. Satellite images of the area did not show any visible smoke.

There has been no word from Saudi Arabia about the reported attack. Oil prices jumped by two percent after the news broke.

According to the AP, the Sabiti turned on its tracking devices late Friday morning in the Red Sea. The last time the vessel had turned on its tracking devices was in August near the Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas.

Iranian tankers routinely turn off their trackers due to U.S. sanctions that target the sale of Iran’s crude oil.

Lt. Pete Pagano, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet overseeing the Mideast, said authorities there were "aware of reports of this incident," but declined to comment further.

Border tensions between Mexico and thousands of Africans who migrated through Brazil. 

Largest Typhoon in decades hits Japan. 

Typhoon Hagibis: Biggest Japan storm in decades makes landfall

BBC said:

Torrential rain and tornado-like winds are lashing large parts of Japan, as the country endures what could be its worst storm for 60 years.

The eye of Typhoon Hagibis made landfall on Japan's main island shortly before 19:00 local time (10:00 GMT), in Izu Peninsula, south-west of Tokyo.

It is now moving up the eastern coast, with wind speeds of 225km/h (140mph).

One man was killed in Chiba, east of Tokyo, when his car overturned, and at least 60 people have been injured.

More than seven million people have been urged to leave their homes amid severe flood and landslide warnings, but it's thought only 50,000 are staying in shelters.

Train services have been halted, and more than a thousand flights grounded. Thousands of homes lost power in and around the capital earlier on Saturday, though some were swiftly reconnected.

Two Rugby World Cup games scheduled for Saturday have been cancelled and declared as draws - England-France and New Zealand-Italy. Formula 1 has also cancelled qualifying races for Saturday's Japanese Grand Prix.

Japan's Meteorological Agency (JMA) has warned that half a metre of rain could fall on the Tokyo area between midday on Saturday and Sunday.

"Unprecedented heavy rain has been seen in cities, towns and villages for which the emergency warning was issued," JMA forecaster Yasushi Kajiwara told a press briefing.

"The possibility is extremely high that disasters such as landslides and floods have already occurred. It is important to take action that can help save your lives."

Local resident James Babb spoke to the BBC from an evacuation centre in Hachioji, western Tokyo. He said the river near his house was on the brink of overflowing.

"I am with my sister-in-law, who is disabled," he said. "Our house may flood. They have given us a blanket and a biscuit."

Andrew Higgins, an English teacher who lives in Tochigi, north of Tokyo, told the BBC he had "lived through a few typhoons" during seven years in Japan.

"I feel like this time Japan, generally, has taken this typhoon a lot more seriously," he said. "People were out preparing last night. A lot of people were stocking up."

Only last month Typhoon Faxai wreaked havoc on parts of Japan, damaging 30,000 homes, most of which have not yet been repaired.

"I evacuated because my roof was ripped off by the other typhoon and rain came in. I'm so worried about my house," a 93-year-old man told Japan's national broadcaster NHK, from a shelter in Tateyama, Chiba Prefecture.

Hagibis, which means "speed" in the Philippine language Tagalog, is forecast to hit the main Japanese island of Honshu.

It could be the strongest storm the country has faced since Typhoon Vera in 1959, which hit Japan with winds of 306km/h (190mph) and left more than 5,000 people dead or missing.

By Saturday afternoon local time, footage and pictures showed many rivers were close to breaching their banks.

Locals stocked up on provisions before the typhoon's arrival on the authorities' advice, leaving supermarkets with empty shelves.

Opinion piece I found interesting: We're in a permanent coup

This is a foolish thing to draw attention to as the association between Hunter and China was not propagated by the Media but instead has mostly been spoken about by Trump in his mentioning that Hunter took $1.5 billion in finance funds from China. 

If Biden becomes the DNC candidate then at least Hunter won't be working for the Chinese firm at that point but he's already shot himself in the foot and so will the DNC if they run him against a President who's hard on China for good reasons - Americans are anti-China more than ever do to propaganda concerning Hong Kong protests and Uighur Camps. 

Hunter Biden says he will step down from Chinese company and not work for foreign-owned firms if father elected

CNN said:

(CNN)Former Vice President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden announced that he will resign at the end of the month from his role in the management company of a private equity fund backed by Chinese state-owned entities, according to a statement released Sunday by his attorney.

The announcement comes as President Donald Trump continues to lash out at the Bidens amid a House impeachment inquiry into his attempts to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate the former vice president during a July 25 phone call. That call is the focus of a whistleblower complaint at the center of Democrats' probe.

Trump has pushed an unproven accusation that Joe Biden was improperly trying to help Hunter, who served on the board of a Ukrainian natural gas company, when the then-vice president pressured the Ukrainian government to fire the country's prosecutor general. The Obama administration, American allies, the International Monetary Fund and Ukrainian anti-corruption activists, among others, had all made clear that they were displeased with the performance of Viktor Shokin, who became prosecutor general in 2015.
There is no evidence of wrongdoing by either Joe or Hunter Biden.
Hunter Biden also pledged to not work for any foreign-owned companies or serve on their boards should his father be elected President, according to the statement provided by attorney George Mesires. Bloomberg first reported Biden's pledge and decision to step down.
"Hunter always understood that his father would be guided, entirely and unequivocally, by established U.S. policy, regardless of its effects on Hunter's professional interests," the statement said. "He never anticipated the barrage of false charges against both him and his father by the President of the United States."
A Biden campaign spokesman told CNN the campaign has no additional comment on the statement from Hunter Biden's lawyer. Another Biden campaign adviser said they were alerted yesterday the announcement was coming, but didn't know prior to that. The adviser also didn't know why it had taken weeks for this to happen, referring questions on that to Hunter Biden's lawyer.
The campaign adviser noted that Joe Biden has a far stricter standard now than Trump does for his children.
The President continued attacks on Hunter Biden on Twitter later Sunday, saying, "Where's Hunter? He has totally disappeared!" Trump did not mention reports of the statement from Biden's lawyer in his tweet.

 Hunter Biden to step down from China board amid Trump attacks

BBC said:

Mr Trump has called on China and Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden over his son's activities in both countries, without any evidence of any wrongdoing.

The issue is central to an impeachment inquiry against the US president.

Mr Trump and his supporters have accused Joe Biden of abusing his power as vice-president to pressure Ukraine to back away from a criminal investigation that could implicate his son who then worked for a Ukrainian energy company.

Mr Trump has called on China and Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden over his son's activities in both countries, without any evidence of any wrongdoing.

The issue is central to an impeachment inquiry against the US president.

Mr Trump and his supporters have accused Joe Biden of abusing his power as vice-president to pressure Ukraine to back away from a criminal investigation that could implicate his son who then worked for a Ukrainian energy company.

The impeachment inquiry begun by opposition Democrats in the US House of Representatives centres on allegations that the president broke the law by soliciting help from a foreign power - Ukraine - for electoral gains.

What did Hunter say?
A statement released through Hunter's lawyer said he would resign by 31 October from the board of BHR (Shanghai) Equity Investment Fund Management Company.

It said he joined the board in an unpaid position "based on his interest in seeking ways to bring Chinese capital to international markets".

The statement said Hunter would "readily comply" with guidelines issued by his father if he was elected president "to address purported conflicts of interest, or the appearance of such conflicts", and would, "in any event", agree not to serve on the boards of or work on behalf of foreign-owned companies.

The statement also detailed the nature of his work in Ukraine and China, stressing that there had been no wrongdoing.

What has Trump accused the Bidens of doing?
Mr Trump has accused the former US vice-president and his son Hunter of corruption in their political and business dealings in Ukraine and China, without offering specific evidence.

When Hunter Biden joined the board of Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma in 2014, questions were raised about a potential conflict of interest for his father.

Ukraine was undergoing a political transition after its pro-Russia president was forced out of office, while the elder Biden was the Obama administration's point man for the Eastern European country.

In 2016, Joe Biden pushed the Ukrainian government to fire its top prosecutor, whose office had been scrutinising the oligarch owner of Burisma.

In a speech last year at a think tank, Joe Biden boasted of having forced the prosecutor out by threatening to withhold a billion-dollar loan guarantee to Ukraine.

Mr Trump and his allies accuse Joe Biden of acting to protect his son. However, other Western officials and major financers of Ukraine's government also wanted the prosecutor dismissed because he was seen as a barrier to anti-corruption efforts.

What is the impeachment inquiry?
A Democratic-led inquiry is trying to establish whether Mr Trump withheld nearly $400m (£327m) in aid to nudge Ukraine's newly elected President Volodymyr Zelensky into launching an inquiry into Joe Biden and his son.

In a phone call on 25 July, Mr Trump asked Mr Zelensky for help on the issue.

A whistleblower raised concerns about the phone call, prompting the launch of a formal impeachment investigation last month.

The White House this month sent an eight-page letter to top Democrat and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, calling the inquiry "constitutionally invalid" and therefore stating that President Trump would not be co-operating.