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  • Sen. Joe Manchin dug in on his proposal to require people work for the Biden child tax credit.
  • “Tax credits are based around people that have tax liabilities,” Manchin told Insider.
  • Early research indicates that advance payments helped cut hunger among families, including those in Manchin’s state of West Virginia.

Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia dug in on pushing a new requirement that parents work in order to receive the child tax credit on Tuesday as Democrats struggled to get the $3.5 trillion social spending plan over the finish line.

“They know I feel very strongly about that. Tax credits are based around people that have tax liabilities,” Manchin told Insider on Tuesday. “I’m even willing to go as long as they have a W-2 and showing they’re working, we’ve talked about that.”

It comes two days after Manchin first suggested requiring people to work and file taxes as a condition to get the advance monthly payments. He said in a CNN interview that tying the child tax credit to those with jobs would ensure federal assistance would flow to “the right people.” He maintained he supports child tax credits.

Democrats in the House and Senate, including Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Sherrod Brown of Ohio, on Monday poured cold water on the idea. Opposition to the idea on Tuesday grew from other Democrats as well. The party is laboring to assemble a party-line package that can garner the support of nearly every Democratic lawmaker and turn it into law this month.

“Adding a work requirement or other stipulations to the Child Tax Credit would hurt middle-class families,” Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington, chair of the 95-member moderate New Democrat coalition, said in a statement to Insider. “The Child Tax Credit is an important tax cut for middle-class families and in only two months is already having an incredible impact on American children.”

She added the New Democrat group was “all-in” on extending the benefit. 

Meanwhile, Brown told reporters on Tuesday, “I think that raising children is work.”

Other lawmakers expressed different qualms about the program. Sen. Angus King, a Maine independent who caucuses with Democrats, told Insider he was “concerned” about the cash benefit flowing to high-earning Americans, but said families shouldn’t have to pay taxes to access the program, known as refundability.

“This should be refundable,” he told Insider.

The Democratic stimulus law in March turned the credit into a one-year cash benefit issued in monthly checks to the vast majority of families. Individuals who earn $75,000 or less are eligible for up to either a $250 or $300 direct payment per child depending on their age. Couples earning a combined $150,000 or less also qualify for the total check amount.

House Democrats are pushing to extend the revamped credit until 2025, and ensuring that low-income families who don’t have to file taxes can permanently get the benefit. The current child allowance does not require individuals to have a job to obtain federal assistance.

But its unclear whether Senate Democrats will extend it with the same length and structure, given early resistance from Manchin.

Early research indicates the first month of payments kept three million children out of poverty and helped feed two million kids in July. Food insecurity dropped among West Virginian families as well, per an analysis last month from the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy.

Source Article from https://www.businessinsider.com/manchin-work-requirements-biden-child-tax-credit-sparking-democrat-2021-9

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration announced additional sanctions against Russia’s central bank on Monday, a move that effectively prohibits Americans from doing any business with the bank as well as freezes its assets within the United States.

The new measures will also target the National Wealth Fund of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation.

A senior Biden administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to share Washington’s thinking, said the new sanctions will take effect immediately.

“We wanted to put these actions in place before our markets open because what we learned over the course of the weekend from our allies and partners was the Russian Central Bank was attempting to move assets and there would be a great deal of asset flight starting on Monday morning from institutions around the world,” the official said, on a conference call with reporters.

“Our strategy to put it simply is to make sure that the Russian economy goes backward. As long as President Putin decides to go forward with his invasion of Ukraine,” the official added.

The U.S. is also adding Kirill Dmitriev, another ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, to the sanctions list as well as the direct investment fund Dmitriev heads. The Russian Direct Investment Fund, or RDIF, is officially a sovereign wealth fund but is widely considered a slush fund for Putin.

The official said the U.S. expects its allies to take similar steps in the coming days.

This comes after the U.S. and its allies announced over the weekend that they will impose restrictive measures aimed at preventing Russia’s central bank from deploying its international reserves in ways that may undermine sanctions.

“No country is sanctions-proof and Putin’s war chest of $630 billion in reserves only matters if he can use it to defend his currency,” a second senior administration official said Monday.

The U.S. and its allies have imposed a deluge of severe sanctions on Russia in recent weeks in a unified effort to keep economic pressure on the Kremlin.

Those penalties – imposed by the U.S. departments of the Treasury and Commerce – have sent the Russian markets sideways. The Russian ruble fell as low as 111 on Monday to the U.S. dollar from 83 on Friday, a drop of more than 20%. If that weakening holds, it would represent one of the largest single-day declines in the value of Moscow’s currency ever recorded.

The Bank of Russia, the nation’s central bank, stepped in to stanch the ruble’s swoon by more than doubling the country’s benchmark interest rate to 20% from 9.5%. The hike in rates is designed to tempt savers to keep cash in Russian banks since the West and its allies have moved to isolate Moscow’s biggest lenders from international markets.

The major market-based upheaval prompted the Russian central bank to keep the country’s stock exchange, the Moscow Exchange, closed Monday.

On Saturday, the U.S., European allies and Canada agreed to remove key Russian banks from the interbank messaging system, SWIFT, an extraordinary step that will sever the country from much of the global financial system.

Moscow’s exclusion from SWIFT, which stands for the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, means Russian banks won’t be able to communicate securely with banks beyond their border. Iran was removed from SWIFT in 2014 after developments to Tehran’s nuclear program.

Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2022/02/28/biden-administration-expands-russia-sanctions-cuts-off-us-transactions-with-central-bank.html

 

NEW YORK (AP) — Gunfire at a large, outdoor event in Brooklyn killed one man and injured at least 11 others late Saturday night, police said.

Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted early Sunday that the shooting in east Brooklyn’s Brownsville neighborhood “shattered a peaceful neighborhood event.” Twelve people were shot, including a 38-year-old man who was dead on arrival at a local hospital, a New York City police spokesman said around 3:30 a.m. Sunday.

The police spokesman said he did not know the identity of the man, who was shot once in the head.

No arrests have been made, and police did not offer details about a possible suspect or whether there was more than one gunman at the park where the event took place. As of 6:30 a.m., police said they did not have details about the conditions of the other 11 people wounded and that the investigation as ongoing.

RELATED: New York Police Department

NEW YORK, NY – DECEMBER 27: Maritza Ramos, wife of the victim, holds the colors as she is joined by her sons Justin, left, and Jaden, right, during the funeral of slain New York Police Department (NYPD) officer Rafael Ramos at the Christ Tabernacle Church on December 27, 2014 in the Glenwood section of the Queens borough of New York City. Ramos was shot, along with Police Officer Wenjian Liu while sitting in their patrol car in an ambush attack in Brooklyn on December 20. Thousands of fellow officers, family, friends and Vice President Joseph Biden arrived at the church for the funeral. (Photo by Kevin Hagen/Getty Images)




At least six people had been transported to local hospitals by just after midnight, with some in serious condition, a New York City fire department spokesman said earlier. He described the scene at the time as “fluid.”

De Blasio’s tweet didn’t include details about the community event referenced, but a notice on the NYC Parks website said other programming at the Brownsville Recreation Center by the playground was canceled over the weekend because of the annual Old Timers Event.

A 2010 newsletter from the parks department described it as a celebration of “former members of the center who went on to success and fame in sports and other endeavors” that’s grown to include concerts and other events. A flyer for the dayslong celebration said Saturday’s event was to begin at 6 p.m. on Hegeman Avenue, in the vicinity of the site of the shooting.

Calls and emails to the offices of council members organizing the celebration were not immediately returned, but Council Member Alicka Amprey-Samuel shared de Blasio’s tweet and added comments of her own.

“One of the worst experiences of my life,” the council member for the 41st District tweeted. “How does such a beautiful and peaceful event become overshadowed by tragedy in seconds?”

A man who answered a phone number listed online for one of Saturday’s scheduled performers, The Legendary Intruders, identified himself as band member Khalil Shabazz. He told The Associated Press that his band had already performed and departed the venue by the time of the shooting.

Videos posted on social media showed police clearing large groups of people out of the area around the recreation center following the shooting. Photos from local news outlets showed several people taken from the scene on stretchers, including some with what appeared to be minor wounds.

Brownsville is a neighborhood that’s continued to struggle with gun violence, even as New York streets become safer than they have been in decades.

“We will do everything in our power to keep this community safe and get guns off our streets,” de Blasio tweeted.

State Sen. Roxanne J. Persaud echoed de Blasio, adding the hashtags “#StopTheViolence” and “#PutDownTheGuns” to her tweets expressing frustration with the shooting, which she called “unacceptable” and “cowardly.”

“Our community mourns again. We should be able to have fun in open spaces without fear of violence,” tweeted Persaud, whose district includes Brownsville. “Respect your community. We are better than the violence.”

Source Article from https://www.aol.com/article/news/2019/07/28/1-dead-11-others-shot-at-community-event-in-brooklyn-park/23780754/

In the last year, Univision Noticias has gone through a process of digital transformation to shape its approach to online video, as a Spanish-language TV network whose aim is to “empower and inform the latino community in the United States”.

Selymar Colón, managing editor and senior director for digital at Univision, told attendees at the WAN-IFRA International Newsroom Summit in London today (23 November) that, considering its TV legacy, the broadcaster’s aim was to improve on how it produced and delivered video for online.

Between January and September 2016, Univision Noticias acquired more than 1.1 billion video views across its own website and social media platforms, and Colón said one of the biggest changes in its digital video strategy was to find the suitable pace and workflows before the newsroom started experimenting with formats.

Univision Noticias identified four ‘rhythms’ to approach online video, which she outlined as breaking news, social video, TV content and craft video – these help determine the team’s take on stories.

However, it is often the case that all four can apply to the same story, as it happened with the organisation’s video coverage of the Orlando nightclub shooting in June.

Univision Noticias started with a breaking news video on its website at 2am, showing survivors leaving the club. It then dipped into social video with a Facebook Live of news anchor Jorge Ramos on his way to Orlando, who gave viewers the latest updates before arriving at the scene, where the key moments were broadcast on TV for several hours.

The coverage was rounded off with ‘Orlando gets its pulse back’, a mini-documentary Univision published a month after the event, featuring interviews with three survivors of the massacre.

“Once you have identified the right workflow for your newsroom and you know what your story is, then you can pick the format.”

Colón highlighted five formats that Univision Noticias has been focusing on:

Interactive video

The organisation published ‘How a single piece of paper can change a family’s life’, an interactive video produced in partnership with creative production company Wondros.

Available in English and Spanish, the video showed what it’s like to live in the US both as a documented immigrant and an undocumented one, enabling viewers to choose which version of the story they wanted to watch.

“To do this, we shot exactly the same things with the same people for both versions, and the audience is the one who can choose what happens.

“It also means that you can probably get the same person to watch the same video three times, as at first they play around with it before exploring the two versions of the story.”

360-degree video

The US election gave Univision Noticias the occasion to produce 360-degree video, showing people the atmosphere inside the buildings where the presidential candidates were waiting for the results to come in and the reactions of Donald Trump aides and supporters when he won the vote in the state of Florida.

Mini-documentaries

In May, Univision Noticias produced ‘From undocumented immigrant to Harvard graduate’, a four-minute video showing snippets from a particularly important week in the life of Norma Torres, a young woman who was about to graduate from Harvard University.

As her mother was living as an undocumented immigrant in Texas, Torres flew to Houston to pick her up before they drove the 2,000 miles back to Cambridge so that her mother could attend the graduation ceremony.

Animations

“This format sets us apart from the TV content we produce on a daily basis, and it also allows us to play a little bit with the story,” Colón said.

An example is an animated video Univision Noticias created as part of an investigation into the cruising industry, produced with the School of Journalism at Columbia University.

“In this particular case, we found a woman who had actually suffered abuse while working on a ship and she agreed to talk to us, but didn’t want to show her face, so we recorded the interview with her and decided to illustrate her testimony.”

Drone journalism

In March, Univision Noticias sent a team to Bolivia to report on how the drying up of Lake Poopó, the country’s second largest lake, was affecting the life of the community living in a village that used to be located on the lake’s shores.

The broadcaster partnered with a local organisation in Bolivia to film and produce ‘Fishermen in the desert’, a four-minute video centred around drone footage of the area.

Website publishing vs social distribution

The next step after finding the right formats is to find out if they should live on your own platform or on social media, explained Colón.

On its website, Univision Noticias has focused on developing “franchises”, which are special series, exclusive interviews and regular programmes, such as a weekly interview in which an immigration lawyer answers one question about related issues.

As part of its social distribution strategy, the organisation’s approach to videos published on its website is to share a link to the content on social platforms, before uploading them as native videos 24 hours later.

Univision Noticias publishes video on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat, tailoring its content according to the strengths of each platform.

“For me, social videos means we’re back to silent movies, as the majority of people on Facebook watch with the sound off and we’re competing with other elements in their newsfeed.”

For that reason, most of its videos on Facebook are “text-driven and feature illustrations”, while Facebook Live has worked both for “digital-first video and TV-style”, depending on the story.

“For huge events like the presidential debates or election night, we didn’t want to compete with TV on Facebook, so we connected the two and did some eight hours of programming on Facebook Live, gathering about 14 million video views in total.”

In 2017, Univision Noticias will focus more on a video format Colón called the ‘noon cast’, a newscast happening every day at 12pm in the newsroom, which is simultaneously broadcast on its website, Facebook Live and YouTube.

“On TV, this newscast would be 30 minutes with commercials, which is actually 22 minutes of programming.

“But for digital, you have to produce those 30 minutes because you can’t put in the same commercials, so in their place we will produce other types of content and it will be a different experience for each platform where people watch.”

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Source Article from https://www.journalism.co.uk/news/inside-the-online-video-strategy-at-univision-noticias/s2/a694430/

Con el objetivo de tener información fiable y en tiempo real sobre la crisis en Venezuela, un grupo de profesionales desarrolla un proyecto a través de las redes sociales que ofrece noticias y datos objetivos sobre la situación en el país suramericano.

El sitio Venezuela Decoded busca recopilar la información presentada en Twitter en tiempo real agrupándola según las fuentes, ya sean del gobierno o de la oposición y separando la información en inglés y en español.

“Lo que empujó este proyecto es que hubo un aumento en la censura y la autocensura de los medios informativos en Venezuela desde las marchas de febrero”, explicó en entrevista con Efe, Ana María Carrano, periodista, editora venezolana y actual miembro del prestigioso programa Knight Fellowships de la Universidad de Stanford.

Ante casos presentados como el bloqueo de la señal de la emisora colombiana Noticias 24 que se recibía en Venezuela o la detención del político Leopoldo López, quien organizó una marcha contra el gobierno, varios periodistas venezolanos decidieron buscar una forma para presentar la información tanto de las fuentes oficiales como de la oposición para que los lectores pudieran formar sus propios criterios.

Igualmente, las fuertes restricciones a la importación de papel establecidas por el Gobierno venezolano han llevado a varios medios impresos a cerrar y a otros a reducir sus páginas teniendo que autocensurarse para poder subsistir, según explicó Carrano.

Por ello, agregó, el objetivo del proyecto es “aprovechar el valor protagónico de la información que se encuentra en Twitter y tratar de darle un marco organizativo”.

Todavía en desarrollo y con nuevas funciones en proceso que serán agregadas en las próximas semanas, venezueladecoded.com ofrece a través de un “timeline” los hechos más importantes de cada día y organiza la información más confiable y preponderante que se publica en Twitter.

Para los filtros iniciales, se hizo una evaluación de quiénes eran los periodistas que estaban haciendo seguimiento de los procesos con más regularidad y más confiabilidad, tanto en sus propios mensajes como en la repetición de mensajes de otras fuentes, destacó la periodista venezolana.

Posiblemente para la próxima semana, la página añadirá un nuevo canal denominado “Quién es quién” donde se presentará a los principales protagonistas del conflicto político venezolano, tanto del gobierno como de la oposición y se les relacionará con información complementaria.

Según comentó a Efe Martín Quiroga, también miembro actual del Knight Fellowships y arquitecto de sistemas, otra nueva adición del sitio incluirá la posibilidad de “mantenerse al tanto de una historia”.

Directamente desde el “timeline” de la página, “vamos a añadir una opción para suministrar un correo electrónico o una cuenta de Twitter y recibir la actualización de la historia”, señaló.

 

EFE

Source Article from http://www.rpp.com.pe/2014-04-16-crean-sitio-en-internet-de-noticias-sobre-venezuela-sin-censura-del-gobierno-noticia_685122.html

The Trump administration intends to announce Wednesday that it will allow U.S. citizens to sue companies doing business in Cuba, according to a senior administration official.

Marking another break from Trump’s predecessors that threatens to upend relations with allies, the administration plans to enforce a provision of a 1996 law known as Helms-Burton that allows Cubans who fled Fidel Castro’s regime to sue companies that have used their former property on the island.

CUBA CITES LACK OF EVIDENCE IN MYSTERIOUS SONIC ATTACKS ON DIPLOMATS

Every president since Bill Clinton has suspended the section of the act that would allow such lawsuits because they could snarl companies from U.S.-allied countries – like the U.K., France and Spain – in years of complicated litigation that could prompt international trade claims against the United States.

The senior administration official said going forward, there will be no more waivers. The official spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of the official announcement.

The Trump administration has signaled plans to end the waivers. It’s taking the step in retaliation for Cuba’s support of embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whom the U.S. is trying to oust in favor of opposition leader Juan Guaido.

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White House National Security Adviser John Bolton plans to deliver a speech in Miami — home to thousands of exiles and immigrants from Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua – criticizing those governments as a “troika of tyranny.”

The speech at the Bay of Pigs Veterans Association is being delivered on the 58th anniversary of the United States’ failed 1961 invasion of the island, an attempt to overthrow the Cuban government.

Fox News’ Kellianne Jones and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-administration-to-allow-lawsuits-over-seizures-of-us-property-in-cuba

The county medical examiner who conducted George Floyd’s autopsy testified Friday that the actions of police officers were the main cause of his death, although drugs and underlying heart conditions played a role.

Hennepin County Medical Examiner Andrew Baker said his opinion on what killed Floyd remained unchanged from what he listed in the death certificate last June.

“That’s cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression. That was my top line then. It would stay my top line now,” Baker said.

Floyd’s use of methamphetamine and fentanyl and his preexisting heart conditions were “not the direct causes of his death,” he said.

His testimony during Derek Chauvin’s murder trial came after prosecutors called several medical experts to support their argument that the former Minneapolis police officer’s actions, including pressing his knee on Floyd’s neck, were fatal.

The presence of methamphetamine and fentanyl in Floyd’s system at the time of his death is central to the defense’s argument that those drugs and underlying heart conditions caused his death. Floyd had 11 nanograms of fentanyl per milliliter and a low level of meth in his system.

While the defense has yet to present its case, Chauvin’s attorney, Eric Nelson, has frequently mentioned fentanyl overdose deaths and the effects of methamphetamine on the heart during his cross-examination of the state’s medical experts. Nelson is expected to call his own medical experts to testify.

Baker said Floyd’s enlarged heart already needed more oxygen than normally required due to his “severe underlying heart disease” and a history of hypertension.

Floyd’s interaction with the officers would have caused him to release stress hormones like adrenaline, Baker said, which would cause his heart to beat faster and require more oxygen.

According to Baker, Floyd’s encounter with Chauvin and three other officers “tipped him over the edge” given his heart’s condition.

The prosecution’s medical experts suggested that Floyd’s chronic drug use over the years could have built up his tolerance to higher levels of fentanyl. They also said that the level of meth in his system was too low to be a significant factor in his death.

Bill Smock, a police surgeon who said he frequently deals with fentanyl overdose cases, told the jury Thursday that Floyd showed no signs of suffering from a fentanyl overdose.

“We watch those videos, he’s breathing, he’s talking, he’s not snoring, he’s saying, ‘Please get off me, I can’t breathe.’ That is not a fentanyl overdose, that is someone begging to breathe,” Smock said.

Lindsey Thomas, a forensic pathologist who previously worked at the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s office and was involved in training Baker, testified that the “mechanism” of Floyd’s death was asphyxia or low oxygen to the brain.

Martin Tobin, a pulmonary and critical medicine doctor with 45 years of experience, ruled out both drugs and Floyd’s heart conditions as the cause of his death, echoing testimony that Floyd died of asphyxia or low oxygen to the brain.

The medical experts also said asphyxia is not typically listed on autopsies because, as Tobin said, “it doesn’t leave a fingerprint.”

Source Article from https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/tasneemnashrulla/george-floyd-medical-examiner-cause-of-death

La frontera con Venezuela acapara toda nuestra atención porque así lo han querido los medios más importantes de radio y televisión. Hacen reportajes especiales que provocan la indignación nacional y promueven la solidaridad con los compatriotas que vienen allende la frontera. Pero frente a los cuatro mil niños wayúus muertos de hambre en La Guajira en los últimos 4 años, son incapaces de desplegar el mismo operativo noticioso. Ayer, los medios estaban indignados porque aparentemente la Guardia Nacional de Venezuela había asesinado a dos indígenas wayúus. Es probable que ayer tres niños hayan muerto de inanición. Pero no hubo cadena de radio ni televisión que hiciera un reportaje especial que despertara el fervor y la solidaridad del pueblo colombiano.

Es probable que antier también hayan muerto tres, o cuatro. Seguro habrán muerto niños durante toda la semana pasada. Y mientras usted lee estas pocas palabras, es probable que un niño se esté muriendo de hambre. Y morirán mañana también. Han venido muriendo de hambre sin que nadie lo note. Si no tienen protagonismo en los medios, no lo tienen para la opinión pública ni para el Gobierno.

Me pregunto cuáles son los móviles de los directores de los medios de comunicación para privilegiar ciertas noticias, para privilegiar ciertos damnificados, ciertos malhechores, ciertas víctimas, ciertos victimarios.

Creo que esas predilecciones se deben al rating. Hay malas noticias que son muy buenas para el rating, y malas noticias que no son buenas. Los niños que mueren de hambre en La Guajira o en el Chocó no son malas noticias buenas para el rating. Tampoco son buenas para el rating las noticias que nos dicen en la cara que tenemos 6 millones de desplazados internos por esta guerra interna. Esas noticias no parecen despertar el mismo fervor patriótico de los medios de comunicación. Supongo que ningún colombiano se sentiría orgulloso de esos hechos. Por el contrario, producirían mucha vergüenza personal, social, estatal, mediática. Son noticias mucho más complejas de transmitir, requieren mucho más trabajo para que la opinión pública las asimile y se haga una idea sobre esos problemas que la simpleza maniquea de encontrar un enemigo al dente, que amenaza nuestra colombianidad, a nuestros compatriotas, como sucede ahora con Venezuela y como sucedió antes con Nicaragua.

Muchos de ustedes recordarán alguna conmovedora fotografía de niños muriendo de hambre en Ruanda, Sierra Leona o Sudán. Frente a esa realidad tan triste, apretamos el pecho y lanzamos entre suspiros un “qué vaina con África”. Y ya, quedamos curados porque no podemos hacer nada. África está muy lejos. La Guajira no.

Lejos de querer hacer un ajuste de cuentas con los medios masivos de comunicación, quisiera pedirles que se comprometan con estos niños de La Guajira y el Chocó. Cuatro mil niños muertos de hambre son muchos niños muertos. No podemos seguir haciéndonos los tontos frente a esto. Los medios tienen que meterse con todo su poder para presionar al Estado, para conmover y formar la opinión pública.

¿Qué va a pasar con nosotros como sociedad? ¿Hasta dónde llegará nuestro cinismo? Lloramos los niños muertos de África y deploramos la situación de los inmigrantes ilegales de Europa. Pero aseguramos la puerta con tranca para que no se metan a nuestra zona de confort esos niños muertos de hambre de La Guajira o esos 6 millones de desplazados que nos rondan.

Mientras tanto, en Ciudad Mediática, todo lo malo viene de Venezuela y Maduro es nuestro Guasón.

Cristian Valencia
cristianovalencia@gmail.com

Source Article from http://www.eltiempo.com/opinion/columnistas/malas-noticias-con-y-sin-rating-cristian-valencia-columna-el-tiempo/16382744

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that COVID-19 restrictions are lifted immediately as 70 percent of New Yorkers aged 18 or older have received the first dose of their COVID-19 vaccination series. The State’s health guidance and New York Forward industry specific guidelines—including social gathering limits, capacity restrictions, social distancing, cleaning and disinfection, health screening, and contact information for tracing—are now optional for retail, food services, offices, gyms and fitness centers, amusement and family entertainment, hair salons, barber shops and personal care services, among other commercial settings. 


Unvaccinated individuals continue to be responsible for wearing masks, in accordance with federal CDC guidance. Consistent with the State’s implementation of the recent CDC guidance, masks are still required for unvaccinated individuals. Further, the State’s health guidelines continue to be in effect for large-scale indoor event venues, pre-K to grade 12 schools, public transit, homeless shelters, correctional facilities, nursing homes, and health care settings per CDC guidelines.

Source Article from https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-cuomo-announces-covid-19-restrictions-lifted-70-adult-new-yorkers-have-received-first

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Source Article from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-01-30/venezuela-has-20-tons-of-gold-ready-to-ship-destination-unknown

The G-7 summit rotates among sites chosen by the seven member countries, as well as by the European Union. The last time it took place in the United States, in 2012, President Barack Obama held it at the government-owned retreat at Camp David in Maryland. Before that, President George W. Bush held it at the exclusive, isolated resort of Sea Island, Ga., in 2004.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-has-awarded-next-years-g-7-summit-of-world-leaders-to-his-miami-area-resort-the-white-house-said/2019/10/17/221b32d6-ef52-11e9-89eb-ec56cd414732_story.html

The only rare earth metals-producing mine in the U.S. is facing short-term refining challenges as the nation to looks to reduce its reliance on China for the materials due to the trade war.

China dominates the refining and mining of rare earth minerals, which are key to the making of everything from iPhones to rechargeable batteries to military weapons.

“We’re it,” James Litinsky, co-chairman of MP Materials, which owns the Mountain Pass mine, said Thursday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box. ” “If we can’t be economic, there’s no hope for the U.S. industry.”

Mountain Pass, located in California, ships nearly 50,000 tons of rare earth concentrate to China each year for processing, according to a Reuters report.

“There’s no refining capacity in the world outside of China,” said Litinsky.

China has imposed a 25% tariff on rare earth imports during the trade war, making the operator of the Mountain Pass mine the only U.S. company affected by this specific retaliation.

Meanwhile, China threatened this week to cut off rare earth mineral sales to the U.S., after President Donald Trump blacklisted Chinese telecom giant Huawei. Speculation about payback first surfaced when Chinese President Xi Jinping visited rare earth mining and processing facilities during a domestic tour last week.

The Pentagon, according to Reuters, recently presented a report to Congress on the rare earths market and how to find alternative sources from China.

A move by Beijing to follow through on its threat would be a “major escalation” of the trade war, Ray Dalio, co-founder of the world’s largest hedge fund, wrote in a LinkedIn post Wednesday. Bridgewater Associates’ Dalio also called the materials a “critical import that American companies don’t produce and need to get from China.”

Litinsky estimated that Mountain Pass should be self-sufficient from China by next year and produce its own separated rare earth products.

But for now, Litinsky said, China is it when it comes to processing. “We’re talking to the [U.S.] government and hoping they’ll help us, but we’re not counting on it.”

— Reuters contributed to this report.

Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2019/05/30/if-we-cannot-challenge-china-no-one-can-warns-only-us-rare-earths-mine.html

La víctima deja cuatro hijos en orfandad. | Fuente: RPP Noticias

Un nuevo caso de feminicidio se registró la mañana de este lunes en la ciudad de Tarapoto (San Martin). Un sujeto ingresó a la peluquería donde trabajaba su expareja y le roció gasolina para posteriormente prenderle fuego. 

El autor de este hecho fue identificado como Fernando Ruiz del Águila, quien atacó a Maricela Pizarro Tuanama, la cual se encontraba al interior de un local que alquilaba en el jirón Leguía en el centro de la ciudad.

La víctima, que trabajaba en su peluquería ubicada en un local rentado en la cuadra 3 del jirón Leguía en Tarapoto, era madre de cuatro jóvenes, todos mayores de edad.

Según se conoce, Maricela Pizarro estaba separada de Fernando Ruiz del Águila, autor del atentado, quien no aceptaba que Maricela tenía otro compromiso.

Premeditado. Aprovechando la situación, Ruíz del Águila se acercó y lanzó el tanque con gasolina, al manipularlo también resultó herido con quemaduras. Debido a la gravedad de sus heridas, Pizarro Tuanama, falleció.

En un inicio se pensó que los autores serían ciudadanos colombianos que realizan préstamos en la ciudad; sin embargo, esto fue descartado por el coronel Ramiro Gálvez Matta, jefe de la Dirección Territorial de San Martín, quien indicó que el propio atacante reconoció el hecho siendo detenido. Un representante del Ministerio Público se prensentó al lugar del atentado para ampliar las investigaciones y conocer qué ocasionó el accionar del sujeto.

Sujeto lanzó artefacto ocasionando que explosión deje sin vida a su expareja, se desconocen las causas del hecho. | Fuente: Facebook: Televisión Tarapoto

Sujeto lanzó artefacto ocasionando que explosión deje sin vida a su expareja, se desconocen las causas del hecho. | Fuente: RPP | Fotógrafo: Adolfo Fasanando

Source Article from http://rpp.pe/peru/san-martin/tarapoto-mujer-muere-tras-explotar-tanque-de-gasolina-lanzado-por-expareja-noticia-1054001

The Georgia Board of Education is taking steps to prohibit schools from teaching that the U.S. is fundamentally racist and other controversial ideas associated with critical race theory (CRT).

By an 11-2 vote, the state adopted part of a resolution drafted by conservative think tank Ethics and Public Policy Center, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported. It contains language restricting external, private influences from changing school teaching — an apparent attempt to exclude diversity consultancies or activist nonprofits from administrators’ decision-making.

The resolution also prevents teachers from being forced to teach that an individual’s worth or sense of shame should be dependent on their race or sex.

It reads, in part: “[C]oncepts that impute fault, blame, a tendency to oppress others, or the need to feel guilt or anguish to persons solely because of their race or sex violate the premises of individual rights, equal opportunity, and individual merit underpinning our constitutional republic, and therefore have no place in training for teachers, administrators, or other employees of the public educational system of the State of Georgia.”

WHAT IS CRITICAL RACE THEORY?

Brian Kemp, the state’s Republican governor, reportedly urged the board last month to take steps against CRT, which is often seen as the source of these ideas.

Georgia’s is just the latest attempt to halt so-called “anti-racist” trainings and curricula in their tracks. Some have defended those types of teachings as a way to foster understanding and dismantle purportedly systemic inequities. Others, like Chris Rufo, have described them as a form of neo-racism that unfairly attributes certain concepts or actions to racial groups.

The issue gained steam in national media this year as controversial materials emerged. For example, the Oregon Department of Education was found to promote a teacher training program that argued white supremacy manifested itself in a focus on finding the right answer in math.

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Besides individual racial characteristics, American history has also been a subject of these trainings. Schools across the U.S. have started utilizing the “1619 Project,” which teaches, among other things, that the institution of slavery was the nation’s true founding. 

A series of the resolution’s statements seemed to be aimed at disputing those types of ideas. The board, it says, “[b]elieves the United States of America is not a racist country, and that the state of Georgia is not a racist state.”

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/us/georgia-board-of-education-critical-race-theory

As Washington eagerly awaits the release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report, President Trump’s team of lawyers is working feverishly to complete a counter-report to what Mueller’s redacted report might contain.

Trump’s team has been working on the counter-report for months, with news coming out last August that it would focus on whether the initiation of Mueller’s 22-month investigation was legitimate.

The counter report is now reportedly 140 pages long, but Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani said he hopes to shave it down to 50 pages by the time the Mueller report is released, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Since Attorney General William Barr’s four-page summary of the report said Mueller could not establish that members of the Trump campaign conspired with Russia, Giuliani said the bulk of the counter-report will likely focus on obstruction of justice claims, with much of its collusion material removed.

Since Mueller didn’t exonerate Trump on obstruction claims, Giuliani said he expects the report to show an internal debate within Mueller’s team about whether the president obstructed justice, a point that Trump’s team will actively dispute in the counter-report. Barr wrote in his summary that he and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein concluded there was insufficient evidence to establish obstruction.

Barr has signaled that the release of the report would come this week, confirming at a Senate hearing last Wednesday that the report would be released in the coming days.

“I’m landing the plane right now,” he said. “The report’s going to be out next week.”

How much of that report will be redacted remains a large question looming over Washington. Barr, Rosenstein, and Mueller’s team have been working to redact certain information from the lengthy report.

In a letter to the congressional judiciary committees, Barr said redactions would be made for grand jury material, material that could compromise “sources and methods” of the intelligence community, material that could affect other ongoing legal matters, and material that could cause privacy or reputational concerns to “peripheral third parties.” During testimony last week, Barr said the redactions will be color-coded by category so the public will know what type of information is being masked.

The House Judiciary Committee voted in favor of subpoenaing Barr to turn over the report in its entirety, although Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., said he would not issue a subpoena until it sees the redacted version of the report.

As they wait for the report’s release, congressional staffers are reportedly stocking up on whiskey and planning pizza orders in anticipation of a reading marathon for the 400-page document.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/trump-legal-team-working-to-refine-140-page-counter-report-to-mueller-findings

São Paulo – Last Tuesday evening (23rd) in São Paulo, the embassy of Oman in Brasília inaugurated the exhibition Tolerance, Understanding, Coexistence –Oman’s Message on Islam, featuring panels of photographs and texts portraying the history and the culture of the Gulf country. The show was designed by the Omani Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs, backed by the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce and will be short-lived, lasting until next Friday (27th). From June 30th through July 4th it will feature in Foz do Iguaçu, Paraná.

Marcos Carrieri/ANBA

Panels recount the history of the country

The exhibition features books written in Arabic and 44 panels recounting the history of Oman, highlighting its culture, architecture, the role of women in society, arts and handicraft. The panels also show that in Oman, Islam, Christianity and Judaism coexist in harmony, as do the Islamic branches of the Sunnis, Shiites and Ibadis. Some of the panels depict the Arab country’s natural landscapes, its economy, the legal system, tourism and infrastructure. All photographs are accompanied by explanatory texts.

Marcos Carrieri/ANBA

Al-Mamari: the show has travelled the world

 The show also features four panels with Arabic phrases and words written in relief. When lit up, the words cast shadows resembling people praying.

World tour

At the opening cocktail party held by the Omani embassy, the advisor to the Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs, Mohammed Said Al-Mamari, stated that the exhibition aims to show the respect to diversity is a reality in Oman. The show has been to 47 cities in Japan, Germany, United States, United Kingdom, Austria, Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Estonia, Lithuania and Kuwait.

“It is good to be able to hold the show in Brazil at a time when the country is in the spotlight because of the World Cup. It is a great opportunity to convey our message of tolerance and respect,” said Mamari. “We want to show that our country is a place where different people and cultures coexist peacefully,” he said. After Foz do Iguaçu, the exhibit will leave Brazil and should keep travelling for another three years. According to Mamari, cities in South and North America should host the show.

Marcos Carrieri/ANBA

Artwork: religious images in the shadows of words

 Arab Chamber president Marcelo Sallum said he has travelled to Oman and that the country is a role model when it comes to being in good terms with all Middle East nations. “Commerce requires peace in order to take place. Thus being, we provide support to events of this kind with utmost satisfaction,” he told ANBA.

Service

Exhibition Tolerance, Understanding, Coexistence –Oman’s Message on Islam
June 25th to 27th
From 10:00 am to 8:00 pm
Club Homs – Paulista Avenue, 735, Bela Vista, São Paulo – SP
Admittance is free

*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum

Source Article from http://www2.anba.com.br/noticia/21864115/arts/exhibition-showcases-religious-tolerance-in-oman/

  • Boris Johnson married Carrie Symonds at Westminster Cathedral in London on Saturday.
  • No. 10 Downing Street confirmed to the BBC that a “small ceremony” took place that afternoon.
  • Johnson and Symonds have a 1-year-old son Wilfred together.
  • See more stories on Insider’s business page.

Boris Johnson married his girlfriend Carrie Symonds at Westminster Cathedral in London over the weekend, according to UK newspapers including the Daily Mail and The Telegraph.

The British prime minister tied the knot in front of 30 guests, including close friends and family, on Saturday, the publications said.

No. 10 Downing Street confirmed the marriage to the BBC, saying that the couple were wed in a “small ceremony” on Saturday afternoon and planned to celebrate with friends and family in summer 2022.

The couple had sent out save the date invites for July 30, 2022, just days before the small ceremony at Westminster Cathedral, according to The Telegraph. The ceremony was so secret that some top aides only found out about the marriage afterward, the publication added.

Johnson and Symond’s one-year-old son, Wilfred Lawrie Nicholas Johnson, was also said to have attended the wedding along with two official witnesses.

COVID-19 guidelines in the UK state that up to 30 people can attend a wedding indoors as of May 17.

A staff member told The Sun: “Yes, there was a wedding — it was the prime minister. His bride looked beautiful. She had a long dress with no veil.

“He was extremely happy, as you can imagine. He looked very smart in a very dapper suit. She came down the aisle and he didn’t take his eyes off her. They read their vows then shared a kiss. They looked besotted,” they added.

Their son Wilfred had also been baptized at the Catholic cathedral in September 2020, The Telegraph reported at the time.

Symonds, 33, the Conservative Party’s former head of communications, is Johnson’s third wife. Johnson, 56, is twice divorced and has four children with ex-wife Maria Wheeler, and is also reported to have two other children he fathered outside of his marriages.

The couple’s relationship was first reported in June 2019. They became the first non-married couple to move into Downing Street together upon Johnson’s election as prime minister the following month. Symonds confirmed they got engaged at the end of 2019 in a private Instagram post, the BBC previously reported. 

Johnson is also the first British prime minister to get married while in office in almost 200 years — Lord Liverpool was the last prime minister to do so when he married Mary Chester in 1822. 

No. 10 Downing Street did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.

Source Article from https://www.businessinsider.com/boris-johnson-secretly-married-carrie-symonds-at-westminster-cathedral-2021-5

WEST WINDSOR, N.J. (AP) — Hundreds of mourners packed a temple in New Jersey for the funeral of a college student who authorities say mistakenly got into the wrong car and was kidnapped and killed in South Carolina.

Services for Samantha Josephson were held Wednesday at Congregation Beth Chaim in West Windsor. Josephson, 21, was from nearby Robbinsville and attended the University of South Carolina.

Josephson ordered an Uber ride early Friday but mistakenly got into a similar car driven by Nathaniel David Rowland , 24, authorities said. They allege that he killed Josephson and dumped her body.

Josephson had spent the night with friends at Columbia’s Five Points bar district, authorities said. She got separated from the group, so she called an Uber to take her home around 1:30 a.m. Friday.

The first dark car Josephson went up to was not her ride, her father, Seymour Josephson said. So she jumped into a second similar looking car, he said, adding that the vehicle’s child safety locks were on.

After Josephson got into Rowland’s car, he attacked her, causing numerous wounds to her head, neck, face, upper body, leg and foot with a sharp object, according to arrest warrants and the coroner’s report. The documents didn’t say what was used to attack her.

Josephson’s blood and cellphone were found in his car the next night when he was arrested two blocks from Five Points, authorities said.

Josephson’s body was found in Clarendon County, about 65 miles (105 kilometers) from Columbia, police said.

Rowland skipped a first court appearance, and records don’t show if he has a lawyer. He’s charged with kidnapping and murder.

In the wake of Josephson’s death, a bill has been introduced in the South Carolina Legislature to require Uber and Lyft drivers to have illuminated signs.

Source Article from https://www.snopes.com/ap/2019/04/03/funeral-held-for-student-killed-after-ride-share-mistake/