Last Seen Blogs
vedolosowa
Untitled
huynhduyad14
Huynhduyad14
steadybananacat
스테디마켓
microwavedman
1# Billy Plinko Enjoyer
myothuaung20
Myo Thu Aung
Text
Moderna Says New Vaccine Shows Promise
Drugmaker Moderna says it has developed an experimental COVID-19 vaccine that combines its original shot with additional protection against the omicron variant of the coronavirus. In an early study, Moderna said the shot, called mRNA-1273.214, offered a further boost against omicron when compared to just having a fourth dose of the original vaccine. "We believe strongly that this data supports an update of the vaccine," Dr. Stephen Hoge, Moderna's president, said Wednesday. The development comes as U.S. regulators and the World Health Organization consider potential new vaccine formulas for new rounds of boosters later this year when another surge in COVID-19 could come. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will meet in June to evaluate new formulas. Pfizer is also reportedly developing a combination vaccine. Some information in this report comes from The Associated Press
from Blogger https://ift.tt/glUqzBI
via IFTTT
0 notes
Text
Simone Biles, Others Seek $1B-Plus from FBI Over Nassar
Former Olympic gymnasts, including gold medalist Simone Biles, are among dozens of assault victims who are seeking more than $1 billion from the FBI for failing to stop sports doctor Larry Nassar, lawyers said Wednesday. There's no dispute that FBI agents in 2015 knew that Nassar was accused of molesting gymnasts, but they failed to act, leaving him free to continue to target young women and girls for more than a year. "It is time for the FBI to be held accountable," said Maggie Nichols, a national champion gymnast at Oklahoma in 2017-19. Under federal law, a government agency has six months to respond to the tort claims filed Wednesday. Lawsuits could follow, depending on the FBI's response. The Justice Department said in May that it would not pursue criminal charges against former FBI agents who failed to quickly open an investigation. The approximately 90 claimants include Biles, Aly Raisman and McKayla Maroney, all Olympic gold medalists, according to Manly, Stewart & Finaldi, a California law firm. "If the FBI had simply done its job, Nassar would have been stopped before he ever had the chance to abuse hundreds of girls, including me," said former University of Michigan gymnast Samantha Roy. Indianapolis-based USA Gymnastics told local FBI agents in 2015 that three gymnasts said they were assaulted by Nassar, a team doctor. But the FBI did not open a formal investigation or inform federal or state authorities in Michigan, according to the Justice Department's inspector general, an internal watchdog. Los Angeles FBI agents in 2016 began a sexual tourism investigation against Nassar and interviewed several victims but also didn't alert Michigan authorities, the inspector general said. Nassar wasn't arrested until fall 2016 during an investigation by Michigan State University police. He was a doctor at Michigan State. The Michigan attorney general's office ultimately handled the assault charges against Nassar, while federal prosecutors in Grand Rapids, Michigan, filed a child pornography case. He is serving decades in prison. The FBI declined to comment in April when a smaller batch of claims was filed, referring instead to Director Christopher Wray's remarks to Congress in 2021. "I'm especially sorry that there were people at the FBI who had their own chance to stop this monster back in 2015 and failed. And that's inexcusable," Wray told victims at a Senate hearing. Michigan State University, which was also accused of missing chances over many years to stop Nassar, agreed to pay $500 million to more than 300 women and girls who were assaulted. USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee made a $380 million settlement.
from Blogger https://ift.tt/z6uOnAU
via IFTTT
0 notes
Text
Public Hearings to Detail the 2021 Riot at US Capitol
Nearly a year and a half ago, a mob of about 2,000 supporters of former President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol in a destructive rampage, trying to block lawmakers from certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s decisive victory in the 2020 presidential election. Starting Thursday night, Americans will get a first-hand accounting of how the attack on January 6, 2021, unfolded. Witnesses will testify before a congressional investigative committee about the planning of the insurrection, Trump’s role in promoting the mayhem, how he tried to thwart election results to claim another four-year term, and what he was doing at the White House during the rampage that was televised across the globe. It was a seminal moment in America, an attack on the seat of American democracy. The Capitol is often seen around the world as the symbol of a freely elected representative form of government and the place where the power of the presidency is peacefully passed from one president to the next. In the first of at least six days of hearings this month, some of them televised in prime time, witnesses are expected to tell the U.S. House select committee investigating the January 6 attack how Trump acolytes supported the insurrection in a futile attempt to keep him in power. The committee is planning a combination of live testimony from key Trump administration insiders; videotaped interviews with others, including Trump’s daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner — both of whom were White House advisers — and previously undisclosed video of the hours of chaos inside the Capitol building. Committee investigators have interviewed more than 1,000 witnesses linked to the riot and Trump’s effort to upend the election results. Among them is Cassidy Hutchinson, a top assistant to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, who reconstructed details of White House meetings and discussions for the committee. But other possible witnesses, including Meadows, other key Trump aides and five Republican congressmen with links to Trump have all refused to testify. Short of a late-minute change of mind, they are likely to succeed in stonewalling the committee’s efforts to have them appear. Meadows initially provided House investigators with voluminous records before refusing to testify. Two former Trump advisers, Peter Navarro and Steve Bannon, have been charged with contempt of Congress for refusing to testify before the committee, but the Justice Department decided to not bring contempt charges against Meadows and another former Trump aide, Dan Scavino, who also refused to testify. To this day, Trump claims he was cheated out of re-election by fraudulent vote counts in several closely contested states, although recount after recount showed minimal irregularities — not enough to upend the national outcome. Trump has lost five dozen court suits contesting the vote. He has derided the congressional investigation. The nine-member committee — seven Democrats and two Republicans who turned against the former president — is expected to call witnesses to describe Trump’s efforts to persuade then-Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the national results, which would have thrown the outcome of the election into legal chaos. But Pence refused Trump’s overtures, saying his role as presiding officer over certification of the votes from all 50 states was merely administrative and that he had no power to overturn the official count. As it turned out, the unofficial results ahead of the official certification proved to be the same as when the state counts were tallied in the early hours of January 7, 2021: a 306-232 Biden victory in the Electoral College. U.S. presidents are chosen by the Electoral College, a system of counting states’ electoral votes based on the popular vote outcome in each state. The number of electoral votes is based on a state’s population and its total number of senators and representatives in Congress. As the hearings start, one of the Republicans on the committee, Representative Liz Cheney, told CBS News on Sunday, "People must pay attention. People must watch, and they must understand how easily our democratic system can unravel if we don't defend it." ‘Fight like hell’ Just ahead of the official certification of his electoral loss, Trump staged a rally near the White House, telling thousands of supporters to head to the Capitol to “stop the steal” and “fight like hell” to block certification of Biden’s win. About 2,000 of his supporters stormed into the U.S. Capitol, smashing windows and doors, ransacking offices and scuffling with police, injuring 140 of them. Five people died that day or in the immediate aftermath. One protester was fatally shot by a Capitol Police officer during the riot. To this point, at least 861 people have been charged with criminal offenses committed at the Capitol. Many have faced minor trespassing charges, while others have been charged with assaulting police, damaging parts of the Capitol and ransacking congressional offices. At least 306 of those arrested have pleaded guilty, with many sentenced to a few weeks in jail. Some who faced assault charges have been sentenced to more than four years. The rest of the cases remain unresolved as investigators pore through vast video footage of the mayhem to identify the rioters. Trump says he supports those charged in the attack on the Capitol and has said if he runs for the presidency in 2024 and wins, “we will treat those people from January 6 fairly. And if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons, because they are being treated so unfairly."
from Blogger https://ift.tt/LqoOtaz
via IFTTT
0 notes
Text
California US House Races Could Tip Power in Congress
U.S. House battles took shape in heavily Democratic California that could tip the balance of power in Congress, while former Trump administration Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke was in a tight match to claim the Republican nomination for a new House seat in Montana. In Mississippi, Republican U.S. Rep. Steven Palazzo was forced into a runoff after a congressional ethics watchdog raised questions about his campaign spending and he faced his largest-ever field of primary challengers. Primary elections across seven states Tuesday set up November contests in dozens of races, as Democrats look to protect the party's fragile majority in the House. In a diverse district anchored in California's Orange County, Republican U.S. Rep. Michelle Steel, a South Korean immigrant, will face Democrat Jay Chen. The district, which includes the nation's largest Vietnamese American community, is widely considered a toss-up. In other districts in the nation's most populous state, two Republican House members were trying to surmount challenges tied to former President Donald Trump: One voted to support Trump's impeachment after the U.S. Capitol insurrection, while the other fought against it. In Iowa, Republican state Sen. Zach Nunn won the GOP spot to take on the state's lone Democratic House member, Rep. Cindy Axne, in a newly drawn district with a stronger GOP tilt. A look at results in key U.S. House races Tuesday: Battleground California: Trump history looms in key districts In 2020, Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Garcia won a narrow victory in a Democratic-leaning district north of Los Angeles. The former Navy fighter pilot was endorsed by Trump that year, then joined House Republicans who rejected electoral votes from Arizona and Pennsylvania and opposed Trump's impeachment after the Capitol insurrection. That record will be a focus for Democrat Christy Smith, who earned a chance for a rematch with Garcia, after losing two years ago. In a Democratic-tilting district in the state's Central Valley farm belt, Republican Rep. David Valadao is highlighting an independent streak while contending with GOP fallout for his vote to impeach Trump over the Jan. 6 insurrection. Preliminary returns showed him holding an edge over Republican Chris Mathys, who made Valadao's vote a centerpiece in his campaign to oust him. The winner will face Democrat Rudy Salas, a state legislator. California uses a top-two election format in which only the two leading vote-getters advance to the November general election, regardless of party. In the Central Valley, Republican Connie Conway won a special election to complete the term of former Rep. Devin Nunes, who resigned to head Trump's media company. Mississippi congressman with ethics trouble to face runoff Republican U.S. Rep. Steven Palazzo of Mississippi is headed to a June 28 runoff. The congressman first elected in 2010 failed to win the GOP nomination outright on Tuesday, earning less than 50% of the vote. His opponent will either be Jackson County Sheriff Mike Ezell, who is also campaigning on border security, or Clay Wagner, a retired banker who says he wants to limit taxation and regulation. A 2021 report by the Office of Congressional Ethics found ``substantial reason to believe'' Palazzo, a military veteran who serves on the Appropriations and Homeland Security committees, abused his office by misspending campaign funds, doing favors for his brother and enlisting staff for political and personal errands. His then-spokesperson, Colleen Kennedy, said the probe was based on politically motivated ``false allegations.'' Former Trump Cabinet member seeks return trip to Washington Montana gained a second congressional district this year thanks to its growing population, and Zinke, an Interior Department secretary under Trump, is one of five Republicans on the primary ballot for the open seat. Zinke's rivals have been drawing attention to his troubled tenure at the agency, which was marked by multiple ethics investigations. One investigation determined Zinke lied to an agency ethics official about his continued involvement in a commercial real estate deal in his hometown. He's faced a smear campaign over his military service from the extreme right wing of his party and questions about his residency following revelations that his wife declared a house in California as her primary residence. Zinke, a former Navy SEAL, is widely considered the de facto incumbent, since he twice won elections for the state's other House seat before stepping down in 2017 to join the Trump administration. His primary opponents include former state Sen. Al ``Doc'' Olszewski, an orthopedic surgeon and hard-line conservative who has tried to paint Zinke as a ``liberal insider.'' The winner will face Olympic rower and attorney Monica Tranel, a Democrat, in the general election. Incomplete returns showed Zinke locked in a tight race with Olszewski. Iowa's sole democratic House member faces a tough fight A Republican state senator has captured the slot to take on Democratic Rep. Cindy Axne this fall in a newly drawn district that appears more favorable for the GOP. Axne is the only Democrat in Iowa's House delegation. State Sen. Zach Nunn easily outdistanced rivals Nicole Hasso, a financial services worker, and Gary Leffler, who works in the construction industry, to claim the GOP spot. Nunn, an Air Force pilot who has served in the Legislature since 2014 and has worked to cut taxes, was the best known among the GOP contenders. In previous elections, Axne was elevated by her strong support in the Des Moines area, even as she struggled in rural counties that typically lean Republican. The new district includes several counties in southern Iowa known to turn out strongly for Republicans, increasing the pressure on Axne to drive up her numbers in Democrat-friendly Des Moines and its suburbs. Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel promised that Iowa would ``send the first congressional delegation to Washington that's fully Republican since 1957.'' Rematch coming in New Jersey house battleground In what could be New Jersey's most closely watched contest in the fall, Democratic U.S. Rep. Tom Malinowski and Republican Tom Kean Jr. won their primaries, setting up a rematch of their closely contested 2020 race. Malinowski, a State Department official in the Obama administration, is seeking a third term as his party faces headwinds heading into the general election. His district added more Republican-leaning towns during redistricting, making his reelection bid potentially more difficult. Another complicating factor is an ethics investigation he's facing over stock transactions in medical and tech companies that had a stake in the pandemic response. A report from the Office of Congressional Ethics said the board found ``substantial reason to believe'' he failed to properly disclose or report his stock transactions. Malinowski said his failure to initially disclose the transactions was ``a mistake that I own 100%.'' He said he didn't direct or even ask questions about trades made by his brokerage firm. Kean, a former state Senate minority leader and the son of the former two-term Republican governor, said in a tweet that he was humbled by his victory and looks forward to seizing the seat in November. South Dakota Republican beats back challenge from political right U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson of South Dakota won his state's GOP primary contest as he runs for a third term. Johnson defeated state lawmaker Taffy Howard, who tried to run to his right. He is set for reelection in November because no other candidate has entered the race. Howard repeated Trump's lies that there was widespread fraud in the 2020 election and attacked Johnson for certifying the electoral college vote. While Johnson touted his conservative voting record during the primary contest, the congressman has also worked with a bipartisan group of lawmakers called the Problem Solvers Caucus. Johnson held a large fundraising advantage in the contest, but also drew attacks from a pro-Trump political action committee called Drain the DC Swamp, which spent $500,000 trying to knock him from the House.
from Blogger https://ift.tt/qb6jXU9
via IFTTT
0 notes
Text
US Senators Consider Former VOA Director to Head US Agency for Global Media
A U.S. Senate committee considered Tuesday President Joe Biden’s pick to head the U.S. Agency for Global Media. Amanda Bennett, a former director of the Voice of America, answered questions about the challenges the press faces. VOA congressional correspondent Katherine Gypson has more.
from Blogger https://ift.tt/U4KF7DZ
via IFTTT
0 notes
Text
Kamala Harris Announces Private Aid Package for Central America
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris has announced $3.2 billion in private sector investment in Central America as part of an effort to improve the economy and address the migration out of the region. Mike O’Sullivan reports from Los Angeles, where Harris is taking part in the Summit of the Americas.
from Blogger https://ift.tt/PhlG14H
via IFTTT
0 notes
Text
World Bank Warns of Global Economic Slowdown, More Inflation
The World Bank on Tuesday said the world is entering "a protracted period of feeble growth and elevated inflation," as it cut global growth forecasts by 1.2% to 2.9% for 2022. The bank added that many countries are likely to face recession. The bank blames the COVID-19 pandemic for most of the problem and said the Russian invasion of Ukraine is also a factor. "The danger of stagflation is considerable today," World Bank President David Malpass wrote in the foreword to the report. "Subdued growth will likely persist throughout the decade because of weak investment in most of the world. With inflation now running at multi-decade highs in many countries and supply expected to grow slowly, there is a risk that inflation will remain higher for longer." The bank thinks global growth will hover around 3% in 2023 and 2024, with inflation remaining high in many economies. Growth in the U.S., the bank said, would only be 2.5% this year, down from 5.7% last year. Europe would also see growth of 2.5% compared to 5.4% last year, the bank predicted. China was expected to grow 4.3% this year, down from 8.1% last year, the bank said. It blamed the country’s draconian COVID-19 lockdowns for the slowed growth. Some information in this report comes from The Associated Press and Reuters.
from Blogger https://ift.tt/HDumrSW
via IFTTT
0 notes
Text
'Heightened' US Threat Environment Expected to Worsen
U.S. homeland security officials warn the chances for increased violence or terror attacks are likely to grow over the next six months, citing a volatile convergence of pervasive disinformation, conspiracy theories and several high-profile events like the anticipated Supreme Court decision on abortion and the country’s mid-term elections. The Department of Homeland Security reissued its National Terrorism Advisory System (NTAS) Bulletin Tuesday, hours before the previous advisory was set to expire, citing a continued heightened threat environment despite the lack of any specific or credible threats. “As recent acts of violence in communities across the country have so tragically demonstrated, the nation remains in a heightened threat environment, and we expect that environment will become more dynamic in the coming months,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement. “The Department of Homeland Security remains steadfast in our commitment to provide timely information and resources to the American public and our partners across every level of government,” Mayorkas added, promising “regular engagements” to promote the sharing of intelligence, training and other resources. According to the new advisory, potential targets in the United States include public gatherings, faith-based institutions, schools, racial and religious minorities, government facilities and personnel, critical infrastructure, the media, and perceived ideological opponents. This is the sixth time that DHS has issued a NTAS bulletin since January 2021 and comes as the U.S. is reeling from a spate of deadly mass shootings, including last month’s rampage by a white, teenage gunman at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York who specifically targeted Black victims. The suspect in that case, Payton Gendron, has been charged with domestic terrorism motivated by hate and 10 counts of first-degree murder. Less than two weeks later, 18-year-old Salvador Ramos entered the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, shooting and killing 19 students and two teachers, before he himself was killed. Other deadly shootings in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Laguna Woods, California have also quickly been overshadowed. A Washington-based non-profit organization that tracks shootings, GunViolenceArchive.org, found that since June 3 alone, more than 124 people have been killed and 325 wounded in more than 300 shootings across the U.S. U.S. homeland security officials say they have been trying to work more closely with state and local officials, and with community organizations, to help them identify individuals who may be radicalized or motivated to engage in violence, and to help prevent and respond to attacks. DHS has also worked with nonprofit organizations at risk of attack, providing more than $250 million in grants for “target hardening and other physical security enhancements.” And officials are hoping to secure additional funding for similar programs in the near future. “We're working very closely with Congress to ensure we can increase funding so that all of our faith-based communities have what they need to upgrade their security and protect themselves against whether it's terrorism, hate crimes or other targeted violence,” a senior DHS official told reporters in advance of the bulletin, briefing on the condition of anonymity under ground rules established by the department. The department has also spent at least $77 million through a Homeland Security Grant Program to prevent and prepare for domestic violent extremist threats. Officials acknowledge it has not been enough to counter conditions that have created what they describe as a dynamic threat environment. “It's really the convergence of that myth and disinformation with the current events that creates those conditions that we're concerned about in terms of mobilization to violence,” said a second senior DHS official, also briefing reporters on the condition of anonymity. “We're seeing more kinds of actors, different types of actors that have different personal or ideological grievances, respond to events that we haven't seen in the past,” the second official added. “A recent example of that is the threats that we've seen related to the issue of the Supreme Court opinion [on abortion] and the extent to which we've seen actors from across the ideological spectrum attempt to use that type of decision or events to mobilize or encourage violence.” DHS officials also raised concerns about this year’s midterm elections, with many races already underway, ongoing grievances over the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, and possible change to U.S. immigration policies as potential triggers. There is also heightened concern about the disinformation environment, with social media inundated by conspiracy theories and by influence operations engineered by both state and non-state actors. Some of the most prevalent and most dangerous are ones like the so-called Great Replacement theory, which claims Western elites and Jewish people, in particular, are trying to replace white people with immigrants – a theory referenced in writing by the 18-year-old suspect in the deadly shooting in Buffalo last month. “Easy access to the content online is really fueling those personal grievances and those often-inaccurate misperceptions about current events,” the second DHS official said, warning teenagers, are especially vulnerable. “It's really difficult for younger individuals to navigate the internet and understand what is considered to be credible information that they're consuming,” the official said. Information from Reuters was used in this report
from Blogger https://ift.tt/1Doa5hp
via IFTTT
0 notes
Text
Can Reforming Social Media Save American Democracy?
When social media exploded in the mid-2000s, retweeting, sharing and liking posts appeared to give average citizens the power to share their opinions far and wide. The problem, according to social psychologist Jonathan Haidt, is that online social networks didn’t really end up giving everyone the voice that many thought it would. “It empowered four groups who take advantage of the viral dynamics of social media. That is the far right, the far left, trolls and Russian intelligence,” says Haidt, a professor at New York University's Stern School of Business. “So, these four groups have had a great time since 2009, using the new viral dynamics of Twitter, Facebook and other platforms. At the same time, the middle 80% of the country feels intimidated and attacked and discouraged and disgusted. And so, they speak up less.” Successful democracies are generally bound together by strong institutions, shared stories, and wide social networks with “high levels of trust,” but social media weakens all three, according to Haidt. “You go from having a merely polarized democracy, which we had in the early 2010s, to one in which the norms change to be all-out war everywhere, all the time,” he says. “You can't have a deliberative democracy when there is no room for deliberation. And you can't have a liberal democracy when the illiberal left and the illiberal right dominate their respective factions.” Samuel Abrams, a professor of politics and social sciences at Sarah Lawrence College in New York and a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, agrees that social media has been bad for democracy. “This stuff has been as dangerous as can be. It's been incredibly bad for the country, and incredibly bad for free speech and dissemination of ideas and real discourse and democratic norms and civility. It's been a disaster,” says Abrams. “It's absolutely contributing to our polarization because you're not getting multiple views. You're not getting viewpoint diversity. It's very hard to hear the other side.” Making change If he had to venture a guess, Haidt envisions a future America that looks a lot like a Latin American democracy — that is, “an unstable democracy built with flawed institutions that command little popular respect.” “I think we'll have many more constitutional crises, declining trust and increases in political violence and political ineffectiveness,” he says, “unless we make these major changes.” The changes he’d like to see include replacing traditional partisan primaries, which tend to reward politicians who cater to the extremists in their party, with single contests that are open to all candidates regardless of political affiliation. The top four finishers advance to the general election. It’s already happening in Alaska, where residents voted in November 2020 to adopt open primaries and ranked elections. The second step is to make social media less toxic to democracy, he says, by requiring identity verification. People could still post anonymously or with a fake name, but they’d have to show that they are a real person in a particular country. “Right now, anyone in the world, including Russia, could just create hundreds of thousands of accounts every day, and many of them will not be taken down and they can do what they want. That's insane,” Haidt says. “It's insane that we allow our public square to be so full of fake people with bad motives.” Twitter says it is working to combat fake accounts and misinformation. Last month, CEO Parag Agrawal posted that the social media platform suspends a half-million spam accounts daily and locks millions of suspected fake accounts each week. He said Twitter constantly updates its systems and rules to remove as much spam as possible and that fake accounts make up less than 5% of its users. Meanwhile, the company’s head of safety and integrity announced Twitter’s new crisis misinformation policy aimed at elevating credible information, and slowing the spread of misleading content, during crises. Facebook removed 1.6 billion fake accounts in the first three months of 2022, according to the quarterly transparency report the company released in May. The social media company has said its goal is to remove as many fake accounts as it can, prioritizing accounts that seek to cause harm through spam or financial motivations. In its quarterly report, Facebook said it continues to refine its oversight processes. New generation In the meantime, Abrams has some hope for the future. Fifteen years ago, he used to see a lot of political polarization among his students in classroom discussions, he says, but noticed that started to fade away a few years ago. “They don't like these competing narratives. They recognize they're there. They recognize they're dangerous or are unhappy with them. Data shows this is true on the left and the right,” Abrams says, referring to members of Generation Z — people born between 1997 and 2012, the oldest of whom are 25 in 2022. “They're also the least politically partisan of any cohort we have right now in the nation. They're overwhelmingly centrist. They're overwhelmingly pragmatic, and they are not as interested in identity politics. So what they're trying to do is find common ground … I think this group has come of age and woken up during [the Donald] Trump [era] and they're like, ‘This is crazy.’ They don't like it.” Haidt holds a different view of Gen Z, characterizing them as “depressed, anxious and fragile.” Either way, he says that as long as the system remains the same, it doesn’t matter if young people are increasingly interested in building consensus. “As long as a small number of people can intimidate the majority, as long as a small number of people can intimidate the moderates on their side, things will not moderate, even if the average person gets more moderate,” Haidt says. “As long as social media is the way it is, our country is going to fail.”
from Blogger https://ift.tt/Bv8Rfj6
via IFTTT
0 notes
Text
US Adds New Efforts to Address Migration Causes
The United States announced Tuesday several government and private sector initiatives meant to boost development and safety in Central America as part of a program designed to address the root causes of why people migrate to the U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris has been leading the initiative, which included meeting with business leaders late Monday ahead of announcing $1.9 billion in new private projects from 10 businesses and organizations. The announcements come as the United States hosts leaders for the Summit of the Americas this week in Los Angeles, but with notable exceptions. The United States did not invite Cuba, Nicaragua or Venezuela to participate, with White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre telling reporters Monday, “We do not believe that dictators should be invited.” In response, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he would not attend, sending his foreign minister instead. Honduran President Xiomara Castro is also staying home after saying she would only attend the summit “if all the countries of the Americas are invited without exception.” Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei said he would be focusing on work in Guatemala instead of taking part in the summit. Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala, along with El Salvador, are key U.S. partners in the effort to address migration. A senior U.S. administration official told reporters Monday that even if their leaders do not attend, those countries “will fully participate in the summit,” and that the absences do not undermine the U.S. approach to the region. Among the new efforts Harris announced Tuesday, which follow $1.2 billion in similar commitments made public in December, are clothing company GAP’s move to source an additional $50 million in products from Central America and auto components producer Yazaki’s announcement of $110 million to hire 14,000 workers in the region. Digital service firm COATL is investing $35 million to expand high speed internet access in El Salvador, while Millicom is launching a $700 million expansion and maintenance program for its network in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. “Taken together, these investments are creating an ecosystem of opportunity and helping to provide hope for people in the region to build safe and prosperous lives at home,” the White House said in a statement. Tuesday’s announcement also includes a separate private sector program to “empower, train and protect women in Central America,” the White House said. Its components include support for small and medium enterprises led by women, boosting women’s participation in the agricultural industry, job training, and the creation of “digital community centers” to provide internet access, digital skills, education and mentoring. In addition to those private efforts, the U.S. Agency for International Development is launching a program aimed at preventing sexual, gender-based and domestic violence, with components providing services for victims and holding perpetrators accountable. USAID is also putting $50 million toward what the White House called the Central American Service Corps to pay young people in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras for community service work, and to provide them with mentoring opportunities and a path to a job. “By supporting life and job skills, offering hope, and building confidence and a sense of belonging for youth, the CASC initiative will generate leadership potential and help foster optimism among youth in Central America that a better future is possible for themselves and for their communities,” the White House said.
from Blogger https://ift.tt/XJOzuP4
via IFTTT
0 notes
Text
Teacher, 14-year-old Among Hundreds of Americans Hit by Gunfire Over Weekend
A Philadelphia school teacher, an Arizona teenager, and a Chicago police officer were among hundreds of people struck down by bullets over the weekend, part of a relentless wave of shootings that has pushed gun violence to the forefront of U.S. politics. More than 124 people were killed and 325 wounded in 300-plus shootings documented in the United States since Friday, according to GunViolenceArchive.org, a Washington D.C. non-profit that tracks shootings. The rash of violence over the weekend came on the heels of a series of deadly mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, Buffalo, New York, and Tulsa, Oklahoma, that re-ignited a national debate over tighter restrictions on gun ownership, which gun rights advocates fiercely oppose. After the weekend shootings, a number of big-city mayors voiced frustration over the impact of the violence on their communities. "I'm tired of standing in front of you talking about guns and bodies," Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly told a news conference on Sunday, hours after two people were killed and 14 wounded in a shooting at a nightclub in his city. "The surge in gun violence that we've seen across the nation and here in Philadelphia makes me not just heartbroken, but angry," Mayor Jim Kenney said on Sunday, the day after three people were killed and 12 injured when gunshots were fired into a crowded bar in the city's South Street district. The Philadelphia shooting late Saturday night grew out of a confrontation between two men who exchanged words as they passed each other on the street, sparking a brawl that escalated quickly into gunfire involving at least four weapons, authorities said on Monday. Two suspects, one of them shot in the hand when he opened fire into the melee, were taken into custody on Monday, according to Joanne Pescatore, an assistant city district attorney. Kris Minners, a second-grade resident advisor at Philadelphia's Girard College, a private boarding school, was among the victims who lost their life in the shooting, according to a Pennsylvania teachers union. "We see lives senselessly lost and those injured in yet another horrendous, brazen and despicable act of gun violence," said Kenney. On Monday, in response to the gun violence, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed 10 gun control bills into law. Read full story. Lawmakers in Washington D.C. are also looking at several gun control measures, but any new federal gun legislation faces steep hurdles from Republicans, particularly in the Senate. Read full story. "Change must happen now," Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego said in a Tweet after a 14-year-old girl was killed and eight others wounded in a shooting at a strip mall on Saturday. The weekend also saw police officers shot in Baltimore and Chicago. On Sunday afternoon, on Chicago's South Side, a policeman was wounded during a traffic stop, becoming the second officer injured by gunfire in the area in the last four days. "How many officers and residents must be victims of gun violence before we act?" Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said in a statement after the shooting.
from Blogger https://ift.tt/6L5lgUG
via IFTTT
0 notes
Text
Biden Drops Tariffs on Southeast Asian Solar Panels for 2 years
The Biden administration announced Monday that it would waive tariffs on solar panels imported to the United States from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam for 24 months, reducing uncertainty for the U.S. solar energy companies that had been spooked by a Commerce Department investigation launched in March. The announcement came as part of a package of measures to accelerate clean energy product development in the U.S. In addition to the waiver, President Biden invoked the Defense Production Act to upgrade the electrical grid and speed up investment in the domestic manufacturing of solar panels, building insulation, heat pumps and clean energy fuels. "The stakes could not be higher," a document released by the White House said. "Failing to take these actions would deny consumers access to cost-cutting clean energy options, add risks to our power grid, and stall domestic clean energy construction projects that are critical to tackling the climate crisis." Solar development roadblock In March, the Commerce Department announced it was investigating a complaint filed by a small solar panel manufacturer in California against competitors in Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. The company, Auxin Solar, charged that manufacturers in those countries were using Chinese-made components to assemble solar panels for sale in the U.S. In 2011, the U.S. charged China with "dumping" solar panels in the U.S. market, a term for selling them at below cost. The Chinese imports were suffocating U.S. manufacturers, who could not profitably compete against the artificially low prices. As a result, the U.S. imposed tariffs of as much as 250% on Chinese-made solar panels. Auxin Solar's complaint was that many of the solar panels coming from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam were really Chinese products with a misleading country of origin certification. When the Commerce Department investigation was announced, U.S. solar projects were immediately thrown into disarray, with many halting altogether. The fear that tariffs might suddenly more than triple the cost of solar panels changed the potential costs of new projects. In addition, the fear that the government might impose retroactive tariffs made U.S. importers even more reluctant to bring them into the country. A temporary reprieve The administration's announcement on Monday includes language making it clear that the tariff waiver is meant to be a temporary "bridge" that will allow the solar power industry to continue to use imported panels of questionable origin until domestic production can be brought up to speed. The White House said that President Biden is "reinforcing his commitment to safeguarding the integrity and independence of all ongoing trade investigations by career officials at the Department of Commerce and recognizing the vital role these processes play in strengthening our economy." That language did not satisfy some in the industry who are trying to compete with low-cost imports. 'Deeply disappointed' In a statement emailed to VOA, Auxin Solar CEO Mamun Rashid criticized the Biden administration for "interfering" with the Commerce Department's investigation. "By taking this unprecedented — and potentially illegal — action, he has opened the door wide for Chinese-funded special interests to defeat the fair application of U.S. trade law," Rashid said. "Since filing this case, Auxin has been well under way to scaling up. If the President will follow through on his stated intent to support the U.S. domestic industry — including grants to scale and produce upstream inputs like cells and wafers — Auxin is ready, willing, and able to meet that challenge." Arizona-based First Solar, one of the largest manufacturers of solar panels in the U.S., was sharply critical of the administration's decision. "First Solar is deeply disappointed in today's announcement, which only benefits China's state-subsidized solar industry," Samantha Sloan, the company's vice president of global policy, said in a statement. "Today's proclamation directly undermines American solar manufacturing by giving unfettered access to China's state-subsidized solar companies for the next two years. This sends the message that companies can circumvent American laws and that the US government will let them get away with it as long as they're backed by deep-pocketed political pressure campaigns." Sloan also criticized the decision to use the Defense Production Act to increase domestic solar manufacturing, calling it "an ineffective use of taxpayer dollars." Trade groups pleased Companies in the business of installing solar power projects greeted the administration's decision warmly, however. "President Biden's proclamation today to use the full power of executive authority to jumpstart the domestic solar industry is a bold act of leadership," Heather Zichal, CEO of the American Clean Power Association, an industry trade group, said in a statement. "The President's announcement will rejuvenate the construction and domestic manufacturing of solar power by restoring predictability and business certainty that the Department of Commerce's flawed inquiry has disrupted," Zichal said. In another statement, Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association, another trade group, said, "While the Department of Commerce investigation will continue as required by statute, and we remain confident that a review of the facts will result in a negative determination, the president's action is a much-needed reprieve from this industry-crushing probe." "Today's actions protect existing solar jobs, will lead to increased employment in the solar industry and foster a robust solar manufacturing base here at home," Hopper said. "During the two-year tariff suspension window, the U.S. solar industry can return to rapid deployment while the Defense Production Act helps grow American solar manufacturing
from Blogger https://ift.tt/GBFTYXQ
via IFTTT
0 notes
Text
Ex-Afghan Leaders Made Off With Less Than $1 Million While Fleeing Taliban Advance
Tales of Afghanistan’s former president and his senior advisers fleeing the country in helicopters laden with millions of U.S. dollars, as Taliban fighters closed in on Kabul, appear to be overblown, according to an interim report by American investigators. Russia’s embassy in Kabul first floated the allegations of the Afghan cash heist August 16, a day after Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and senior aides departed, telling the RIA news agency that the ex-president left the country with four cars and a helicopter full of cash, worth an estimated $169 million. The charges were then echoed by Afghanistan’s ambassador to Tajikistan. But in a statement less than a month later Ghani denied the accusations, labeling them as “completely and categorically false.” Now, interim findings from the U.S. Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) finds the truth is likely somewhere in between. “Although SIGAR found that some cash was taken from the grounds of the palace and loaded onto these helicopters, evidence indicates that this number did not exceed $1 million and may have been closer in value to $500,000,” John Sopko, the special inspector general, wrote in a letter to top U.S. lawmakers. “Most of this money was believed to have come from several Afghan government operating budgets normally managed at the [presidential] palace,” Sopko added, noting another $5 million also reportedly went missing after being left behind. “The origins and purpose of this money are disputed, but it was supposedly divided by members of the Presidential Protective Service after the helicopters departed but before the Taliban captured the palace,” Sopko wrote. SIGAR’s interim report, published Tuesday, was compiled without any input or explanation from Ghani, who has so far not responded to a series of questions. Former Afghan officials More than 30 other former Afghan officials, many in key offices, did talk however, telling the U.S. investigators that luggage was minimal on at least three of the helicopters used to flee the Presidential Palace. Only a suitcase belonging to Presidential Protective Service chief, General Qahar Kochai, and a backpack belonging to Deputy National Security Adviser Rafi Fazil, contained cash, they said, with SIGAR estimating that the bags contained a total of about $440,000 worth of money. The rest of the cash was held by the officials themselves. “Everyone had $5,000 to $10,000 in their pockets,” a former senior Afghan official told SIGAR. “No one had millions." The admission contradicts earlier assertions by some former senior Afghan officials, like ex-National Security Adviser Hamdullah Mohib, who when asked by CBS News in December 2021 about the allegations of cash being taken from Kabul, said, “absolutely not ... we just took ourselves.” This past February, though, Mohib told VOA he was cooperating with the SIGAR investigation. “I also gave [SIGAR] my bank accounts and details of all my assets,” he said at the time. Despite such initial discrepancies, SIGAR investigators found little to back up the Russian claims that the fleeing Afghan officials made off with a sum of $169 million. “This amount of cash would have been difficult to conceal,” the SIGAR report said, explaining that much money would have weighed nearly 2 tons. “According to both SIGAR interviews and press reports, the helicopters were already overloaded with passengers and fuel and could not have taken off with significant additional weight,” the report added. “That these helicopters were allegedly armored for presidential travel would have reduced their payload capacity even further.” Additionally, the SIGAR report said the Afghan ambassador to Tajikistan who publicly backed the Russian claims, Zahir Aghbar, refused to talk to investigators or provide any evidence. The estimated $500,000 in cash did not last long. Senior Afghan officials told SIGAR that $120,000 was used to charter a flight from Uzbekistan, where four helicopters with a total of 54 passengers landed after running out of fuel, to Abu Dhabi. After arriving in Abu Dhabi, the remaining cash was reportedly divided among the 54 Afghans, most of whom spent weeks at the St. Regis Hotel. “Some was sent to family members of PPS [Presidential Protective Service] guards still in Afghanistan, some was sent to senior staff still in Afghanistan, some was given to senior staff for commercial airfare to third countries where they had citizenship, and the rest was distributed among the group as they departed the St. Regis,” the report said. Questions remain Although SIGAR is confident in its findings that Ghani and other top aides did not smuggle hundreds of millions of dollars out of Afghanistan as they fled the country, questions remain about other money that reportedly disappeared. SIGAR, citing multiple and sometimes contradictory accounts of various eyewitnesses, said it could not draw a “definitive conclusion” about the fate of the $5 million that reportedly was left at the Presidential Palace in Kabul. One former senior official told SIGAR the money was divided into three to four bags and loaded into cars belonging to Ghani’s motorcade. Another official, who was unaware of allegations the cars carried bags of cash, said he was told the motorcade was then sent to pick up former Afghan President Hamid Karzai, which the official described as bizarre. Yet other officials differed on the origins of the $5 million, with some saying it was Ghani’s personal money while others suggested it may have been provided by the United Arab Emirates for Ghani’s 2019 reelection campaign. Similarly, investigators have unresolved questions about the fate of the former Afghan government’s operating budget of the National Directorate of Security, which reportedly had as much as $70 million in cash in the months before the Taliban takeover. One official told SIGAR much of the money was being spent right up until the end. “We used a lot of money to send and buy weapons,” the official said. “The governors told us to push the people to help them protect different areas. ... We carried a lot of money to different people, like tribal leaders.” But other officials told SIGAR the money may well have been stolen by corrupt officials.
from Blogger https://ift.tt/395tSsy
via IFTTT
0 notes
Text
New York State Raises Age to Buy Semi-Automatic Rifles From 18 to 21
The state of New York now requires a buyer to be 21 years old before purchasing a semi-automatic rifle such as an AR-15. Previously, an 18-year-old could have purchased similar guns. Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul Monday signed the measure, which was among 10 other gun-related laws. "Today is the start, and it's not the end," Hochul said at a press conference in the Bronx. "Thoughts and prayers won't fix this, but taking strong action will. We will do that in the name of the lives that have been lost, for the parents who will no longer see their children stepping off the school bus." The move comes against a wave of mass shootings, including the deaths of 10 African Americans at a Buffalo grocery store on May 14 and the May 24 mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 children and two teachers dead. Other laws signed by Hochul would largely ban the sale of body armor vests and revise the state’s “red flag” law, which would allow authorities to seize guns from people deemed a threat to themselves or others. One news report said the measures passed mainly along party lines and that Republicans were mostly opposed to the bills. Some information in this report comes from The Associated Press and Reuters.
from Blogger https://ift.tt/JNor4ZC
via IFTTT
0 notes
Text
US Aims to Ramp Up International Tourism Hit Hard by COVID
The U.S. Commerce Department on Monday will unveil a new strategy aimed at boosting international tourism hit hard by COVID-19 and government travel restrictions by streamlining the entry process and promoting more diverse destinations. The "National Travel and Tourism Strategy" sets a goal of 90 million international visitors by 2027 who will spend an estimated $279 billion annually, topping pre-pandemic levels, the department told Reuters. "There are a lot of industries that are well past COVID - travel and tourism is not," U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in an interview. The federal government must do more to support the resurgence of travel and tourism to ensure the industry rebuilds to be "more resilient, sustainable and equitable," according to the draft strategy document seen by Reuters. In 2019, the United States had 79.4 million international visitors, a figure that plummeted to 19.2 million in 2020 as the pandemic hit and rose to just 22.1 million in 2021. International visitors spent $239.4 billion in 2019, but just $81 billion in 2019, the Commerce Department said. Before COVID, tourism supported 9.5 million U.S. jobs and generated $1.9 trillion in economic output. One of the strategy's goals is to modernize entry procedures for visitors to enter and travel within the United States. "We need to streamline the entry process," Raimondo said. "It's cumbersome and very paper-based and we want to move to a more digital process." Other goals include promoting more diverse U.S. tourism experiences beyond coastal states, reducing tourism's contributions to climate change and building a sector that is resilient to natural disasters, public health threats and the impacts of climate change. One reason tourism fell so sharply was the United States lagged many other countries in lifting COVID border restrictions that barred much of the world from entering. The U.S. rules were not eased until November 2021. The United States still requires foreign nationals to be vaccinated against COVID and nearly all international air passengers to test negative before travel. U.S. airlines say nearly all other countries they serve are not requiring testing. Raimondo acknowledged testing is a "barrier" to tourism and that the United States is an "outlier" but did not forecast when those rules might be relaxed. "I hear a lot about it from industry and I have been expressing that to the administration," Raimondo said.
from Blogger https://ift.tt/fMmn4Nh
via IFTTT
0 notes
Text
Musk Threatens to Kill Twitter Deal Over Fake Account Data
Elon Musk accused Twitter of “actively resisting and thwarting his information rights,” as the Tesla founder attempts to get information about fake and spam accounts on the platform. The accusation came in a letter Musk sent to Twitter Monday in which he warned he could walk away from the $44 billion deal to take over the company should Twitter not provide the information he seeks. Musk further accused Twitter of a "clear material breach" of its obligation to provide the data. "Musk believes Twitter is transparently refusing to comply with its obligations under the merger agreement, which is causing further suspicion that the company is withholding the requested data due to concern for what Musk’s own analysis of that data will uncover," according to the letter. “Twitter has, in fact, refused to provide the information that Mr. Musk has repeatedly requested since May 9, 2022, to facilitate his evaluation of spam and fake accounts on the company’s platform. Twitter’s latest offer to simply provide additional details regarding the company’s own testing methodologies, whether through written materials or verbal explanations, is tantamount to refusing Mr. Musk’s data requests,” the letter said. The social media platform has not commented on Musk’s letter. Twitter stock tumbled over 5% in early trading Monday. Some information in this report comes from Reuters.
from Blogger https://ift.tt/Jfe5ulR
via IFTTT
0 notes
Text
Sources say Biden to Use Executive Action to Spur Solar Projects Hit by Probe
President Joe Biden will use executive action on Monday to help bridge a solar panel supply gap and kickstart stalled U.S. projects after an investigation froze imports from key foreign suppliers, sources familiar with the matter said. The moves come amid concern about the impact of the Commerce Department’s months-long investigation into whether imports of solar panels from four Southeast Asian nations are circumventing tariffs on goods made in China. Biden also will invoke the Defense Production Act to drive U.S. manufacturing of solar panels and other clean technologies in the future, with the support of loans and grants, the sources added. “There is going to be this safe harbor timeout on the ... collection of duties, and that’s at the heart of what’s going to save all of these solar projects and ensure that they are going forward,” said one source familiar with the White House’s plans. State governors, lawmakers, industry officials and environmentalists have expressed concern over the investigation, which could result in retroactive tariffs of up to 250%. It has essentially halted imports from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, which account for more than half of U.S. solar panel supplies and 80% of imports. The investigation has had a chilling effect on the industry, say clean energy groups, some of which have asked Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo to dismiss it, though she has said she has no discretion to influence it. The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Biden’s action would bring certainty back to the U.S. solar market and allay companies’ concerns about having to hold billions of dollars in reserves to pay potential tariffs. The investigation, announced at the end of March, could take 150 days or more to complete. The issue has created a unique dilemma for the White House, which is eager to show U.S. leadership on climate change, in part by encouraging use of renewable energy, while respecting and keeping its distance from the investigation proceedings. Using executive action and invoking the DPA, which allows presidents some authority over domestic industries, allows Biden to take advantage of the tools available to him without stepping on the tariff inquiry.
from Blogger https://ift.tt/t6Ba70h
via IFTTT
0 notes