First Disgrace: Hunter Biden to plead guilty to tax and gun offences

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US President Joe Biden's son, Hunter Biden, is expected to plead guilty to two misdemeanor tax crimes and admit to illegally possessing a gun while a drug user, after a five-year investigation.

The US Attorney in Delaware has filed papers indicating a plea agreement has been reached.

He is expected to agree to drug treatment and monitoring.

The terms of the agreement are likely to keep him out of jail.

The proposed deal would still need to be approved by a judge. It is unclear when Hunter Biden will appear in court to enter his guilty plea. 

Mr Biden, 53, has previously worked as a lawyer, and a lobbyist including abroad in China and Ukraine. He was discharged from the US Navy in 2014 after testing positive for cocaine.

The plea deal brings to an end a long-running justice department investigation into whether he properly reported his income and made false statements on paperwork used to purchase a firearm in 2018. 

The two misdemeanor tax charges stem from a failure to pay taxes in 2017 and 2018, which have now been fully repaid. 

The gun charge stems from a 2018 purchase of a firearm while a drug user. 

In a 2021 book, the younger Mr Biden admitted to being a heavy user of crack cocaine at that time. 

But he reportedly said "no" on a federal form asking if he was "an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug or any other controlled substance".

ORANIA: An existential threat to the African Continent and an indictment of the ANC government

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Hong Kong-listed stocks are about to be priced in yuan, giving China's currency another boost

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By Jason Ma

Two dozen Hong Kong-listed stocks will be priced in the yuan on Monday, giving China's currency another boost in global finance.

Alibaba and Tencent will be among the shares that will be traded in both yuan and the Hong Kong dollar, which is pegged to the US dollar.

Under the so-called Dual Counter Model program, Hong Kong Stock Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) hopes to attract overseas investors with yuan holdings and eventually mainland Chinese investors, according to Reuters.

Investors with yuan holdings in countries like Russia, which has relied heavily on China's currency since being largely shut out of the global financial system by Western sanction, could also be potential participants.

HKEX will also launch a market-maker program that's meant to minimize the price differences between the two currencies.

Investors can choose to trade using Hong Kong dollars or yuan, which has seen significant volatility lately. So investors trading with the yuan could limit conversion and hedging costs.

In fact, the yuan is at the lowest against the US dollar since November amid a disappointing post-COVID economic recovery. And based on the real effective exchange rate against another currency basket from the Bank of International Settlements, the yuan is actually at the lowest since 2014.

The new Hong Kong trading program comes as Beijing tries to internationalize the yuan and challenge the US dollar's dominance on the world stage.

For example, China and Brazil agreed earlier this year to conduct trade in their own currencies and bypass the US dollar, which is the main currency in international trade, especially commodities.

Meanwhile, Argentina also said it will pay for imports from China in the yuan instead of US dollar, and Beijing has been trying to get countries in the Middle East to price oil in yuan instead of dollars.

Markets Insider

TEDx Event: The truth about Africa

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Pope Francis orders ex-aide of Pope Benedict to leave Vatican

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By Deji Folayan

Pope Francis has ordered Archbishop Georg Gänswein, the private secretary of the late Pope Benedict, to return to his native Germany by the end of the month without any new assignment.

The Vatican disclosed this in a statement on Thursday, thus putting an end to speculation about what role Gänswein, a powerful figure in the Vatican for more than a decade before Francis sidelined him after a personal falling out, would have in the Church.

Former Pope Benedict died on Dec. 31, nearly a decade after he resigned in 2013, the first pontiff to do so in 600 years.

Gänswein, a long-time aide of the late Pope Benedict, is 66 and it is exceptionally unusual for someone of that relatively young age and rank not to have an assignment, giving the pope’s decision a sense of banishment.

The two-line statement said Francis “had disposed” that the 66-year-old Gaenswein returns to his diocese of Freiburg “for the time being”.

Nearly all papal secretaries in the past have either been assigned to lead dioceses or made cardinals or given some other high-profile post.

Gänswein is nine years short of the normal retirement age of 75 for bishops.

He has met Francis several times in the past months about his future and there has been speculation in Catholic media that he was hoping to land a diplomatic assignment as nuncio, or ambassador, to a country.

Gänswein did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.

He has refused requests from Reuters to comment on his situation in the past few weeks.

He was Benedict’s personal secretary from 2003, when Benedict was still Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, and remained at his side for nearly 20 years, nearly 10 of them after Benedict resigned.

FLASHBACK: Tucker Carlson said he lies on TV out of 'weakness' and when he gets 'really cornered'

Linda Spillers/WireImage for Bragman Nyman Cafarelli/Getty

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Fox host Tucker Carlson said he tries not to lie on TV but does it sometimes when he's "really cornered" or "out of weakness." 

Carlson made the comment on September 12 while speaking to conservative show host Dave Rubin on an episode of the "The Rubin Report." In the episode, Rubin questioned how CNN anchors Chris Cuomo and Brian Stelter live with themselves "when they just lie again and again and we have the internet to expose the lies."

In response, Carlson told Rubin what he does to get out of a tight spot.

"I mean, I lie if I'm really cornered or something," Carlson said. "I lie. I really try not to. I try never to lie on TV. I just don't — I don't like lying. I certainly do it, you know, out of weakness or whatever."

But, Carlson went on to claim, there's a difference between what he does and what happens on CNN. Carlson said CNN hosts lie "systematically" to protect powerful people like billionaires Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates.

"How dare you do that? How dare you use your power to protect and guard the powerful, even as you put your boot on the neck of the weakest people?" Carlson added. 

"There have been many times in the 25 years I've been on TV where I think, you know, are we using this very substantial power that we have to put pictures on the screen to hurt weak people? And I have done that inadvertently over the years, because I got carried away. But I really try not to," Carlson said, saying he only hits "upward" at those richer, more powerful, and stronger than himself.

Carlson's comments to Rubin come one year after Fox News won a court case by arguing that no "reasonable viewer" could take Carlson seriously.

Carlson has made a series of controversial and often baseless statements throughout his time as the host of "Tucker Carlson Tonight," which has been on air since 2016, including a slew of comments in recent months. In August, Carlson said Afghan refugees will "invade" the US and claimed without evidence that "millions" of refugees could be resettled in American neighborhoods in the coming months.

In July, Carlson — who has repeatedly refused to reveal if he has gotten a COVID-19 vaccine — contradicted his Fox colleagues who encouraged people to take the COVID-19 vaccine and told his viewers to ignore the medical advice they see on television. Carlson also recently claimed, without providing evidence, that the National Security Agency was illegally spying on him, an allegation the agency is now looking into.

Carlson's representatives and CNN did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.

INSIDER

Origin of the Yoruba: Ancient Egypt or Mecca?

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How having an American passport has helped my music career

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By Helen Udoka

Afrobeats superstar, David Adeleke, popularly known as Davido has stated that having an American passport has given him an edge in his music career.

The singer noted that his passport is worth more than a million dollars.

Davido stated this in a recent interview with Omega British Blog.

According to him, when some of his band members are having issues with Visa approval he always has an edge because of his American passport.

Davido, however, expressed pride in his Nigerian nationality.

He said, “That part of my life (being born abroad) didn’t come out until I blew up. People thought I live in Nigeria. It was later on in my career that people realized that I did Alabama college and stuff like that.

It wasn’t like I was introduced as an American artist in Nigeria. I’ve been in the streets back home. The only thing is that I could fly anytime I wanted, like go to America anytime I wanted.

“Till date, I don’t care how much money you’ve got, that blue passport is worth more than a million Dollars.

“For example, we were going to Australia for a tour, to get the structure is so hard because some of my band members were having difficulties in getting the papers just because of their passports.

“But obviously, it’s kind of easier for me because of the blue passport.”

Ogbunigwe: The Scientific Wonder of the Nigeria-Biafra War

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How Argentina erased it’s Black people from history

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