Me refería yo aquí hace solo siete días a esa costumbre en ascenso que transmuta a los periodistas en publicitarios unos momentos mientras están ejerciendo su oficio, que es el de dar noticias y no el de recomendar, por decirlo de un modo suave, productos, o sea, hacer publicidad cuando se está ejerciendo el periodismo. Y, de pronto, salta la noticia, que no el anuncio, de que una empresa de televisión, Mediaset, ha sido multada nada menos que con 111.000 euros, como responsable de “una infracción administrativa continuada de carácter grave“, por confundir en algunos espacios la publicidad y los contenidos.
Hay una diferencia entre los dos casos. En el primero, se trata de una acción que sólo tiene reflejo en los códigos deontológico y no puede recibir más que una sanción moral; aunque también, añadamos, una sanción del público, que a lo mejor se hace remiso a la hora de tributar confianza al periodista que abunda en la combinación. En el segundo, la sanción pecuniaria es posible y real porque la prohibición de confundir anuncios con noticias en algunos medios está en una ley vigente y existe un organismo que se ocupa de corregir la transgresión.
La ley es la 7/2010, de 31 de marzo, General de la Comunicación Audiovisual, que regula todo lo concerniente a la actuación de las televisiones y radios de “cobertura estatal”; el organismo es la Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia; y la norma que considera violada es la que establece el artículo 14.2 de aquella que dice: “Tanto los mensajes publicitarios en televisión como la televenta deben estar claramente diferenciados de los programas mediante mecanismos acústicos y ópticos según los criterios generales establecidos por la autoridad audiovisual competente“.
Es notable que la norma que induce a la ley a velar por la defensa del consumidor, o sea, para que el receptor no sea desconcertado con mensajes que parecen una cosa y son otra, resulte ser la tradicional pauta del periodismo que, como veíamos en la entrega anterior, reproducen y mantienen los códigos deontológicos de la profesión. Hay que reconocer que no siempre hay voluntad de enredo cuando un informador interrumpe un espacio periodístico para emitir un mensaje publicitario y que a veces está muy clara la línea divisoria entre uno y otro, aunque no se pueda asegurar que todos los receptores de los mensajes sean igualmente conscientes de ello. La norma deontológica es previa a los efectos y persigue que, para evitarlos, se procure que la naturaleza del mensaje periodístico no sea deformada por ninguna causa.
Las emisoras de televisión sancionadas son la Cuatro y Energy. La información facilitada por la propia Comisión de la Competencia se puede ver aquí, y la resolución completa del procedimiento sancionador, aquí. No hay noticia por el momento de que Mediaset, empresa responsable de esos canales, haya recurrido la multa ante la Audiencia Nacional, que es la instancia indicada.
***
Este blog se publica también en el Observatorio de la Libertad de Expresión, de la Fundación Ciudadanía y Valores (www.funciva.org)
“Pido disculpas por el insulto. Aunque haya sido de manera privada. Pero mirá como miente la revista Noticias”, tuiteó hoy Jorge Rial desde su cuenta personal. Era una referencia al mensaje de audio que el conductor de “Intrusos” le mandó por Whatsapp a la periodista de NOTICIAS Daniela Bianco, donde la insultaba y amenazaba: “Daniela la verdad sos una mierda de persona. Lo acabo de decir en la radio y lo voy a decir en la tele. Mirá Intrusos. Sos una mierda de persona. Mala periodista”, y finalizaba: “Ya me voy a encargar. Quedate tranquila. Preparate”. La furia de Rial se desató tras la publicación de la nota “Rial, Majul y Del Moro: guerra de celos en América” en la edición de esta semana. El artículo analiza el juego de poder entre las figuras más importantes de la emisora. Rial fue consultado, entre otras fuentes del canal América, dos de ellas de alto rango. Al periodista lo enfureció que su opinión no prevaleciera frente a otras que afirmaban lo contrario. A tomar en cuenta distintas fuentes es lo que llama mentir.
El periodista omitió hablar de la amenaza, y hacer mención a que también la había agredido al aire el viernes 22 en su programa “Ciudad Góti K” por Radio La Red. En los últimos dos minutos al micrófono, descargó una catarata de improperios contra la periodista como “soreta”, “reverenda hija de puta”, “pelotuda”, “estúpida” y “sos una mierda”. Pueden escucharse aquí.
En su ira, Rial también se refirió al jefe de redacción de Noticias, al que llamó “el hijo de puta de Zunino”. El viernes por la tarde, Zunino contestó a las agresiones con una carta abierta: “’El hijo de puta de Zunino’ le responde al Señor Jorge Rial”. El sábado, Rial publicó en su sitio BigBangNews su versión de la nota, donde asegura que no dijo nada de lo que salió publicado en Noticias.
A lo largo de todo el fin de semana, las redes sociales se hicieron eco del conflicto. Cientos de personas expresaron su repudio al maltrato de Rial y su solidaridad con Daniela Bianco. Hoy, por fin, llegó la disculpa parcial.
Una camioneta blanca avanza con dificultad en una carretera de Laguna Salada, a medio camino entre la ciudad dominicana de Santiago y Dajabón, en la frontera con Haití.
Sillas, mesas, colchones, armarios, ollas, garrafas de agua , un neumático, una bombona de gas, un televisor… un enjambre de objetos apilados de manera caótica pero magistralmente colocados para que nada se caiga triplica la altura del vehículo.
Al volante, un inmigrante haitiano que, por miedo a perderlo todo, ha decidido reunir a su familia y regresar a su país con la casa a cuestas.
Es una imagen que se repite decenas de veces cada día en los numerosos puntos fronterizos que separan ambos países desde que culminase a mediados de junio el registro del plan de regularización de extranjeros al que se han acogido más de 288.000 indocumentados, la mayoría haitianos.
Lea también: ¿Cuánto invierte República Dominicana en los haitianos?
Los otros, los que no consigan reunir los requisitos para quedarse legalmente, viven bajo la amenaza de ser deportados que está dejando medio vacías algunas de las numerosas comunidades de inmigrantes haitianos en el país.
“Nos estamos yendo porque siempre vemos por la televisión que la cosa va a estar caliente y yo, con mi familia, no puedo dejar a mi hija aquí botada. Yo me voy”, le dice Rafael a BBC Mundo nada más sellar el papel que le certifica como inmigrante retornado en el puesto fronterizo de Ouanaminthe (Haití).
Tras pasar más de 4 años trabajando en campos de caña de azúcar y en la construcción en la localidad dominicana de Villa los Almácigos, este joven de 22 años ha decidido regresar junto con su mujer Joselyn, de 20, y su hija Janeire, de sólo 7 meses.
Vivir bajo la sombra de la deportación
Acaba de cruzar la frontera sobre el río Dajabón (río Masacre en Haití), que separa ambos países, y apostado delante de la moto con remolque que alquiló para trasladar sus pertenencias, Rafael sabe que el futuro que le espera en su país, el más pobre del continente, es incierto.
“Vamos a ver qué sale por allá para ponernos a trabajar. No sé todavía qué va a resolver uno allá”, lamenta el joven que presume de haber tenido una buena relación con sus vecinos dominicanos.
Los oficiales de inmigración haitianos que le han puesto el sello en sus documentos no pueden ocultar su enfado por la situación de sus compatriotas en República Dominicana mientras hablan con Jean Mari Josef, un haitiano de 52 años que asegura que fue deportado pese a tener una visa de trabajo.
Aunque las autoridades dominicanas dicen mantener el periodo de gracia previo a las temidas deportaciones de quienes no han conseguido regularizar su situación, este trabajador asegura que lo detuvieron y lo expulsaron a Haití cuando salía de su trabajo en un complejo hotelero en Puerto Plata.
Lea también: ¿Qué pierde República Dominicana si expulsa a los haitianos?
“Voy a subir a un motor (carro) y hay tres hombres que me llaman y me dicen: ven acá, moreno, dame tu cédula, y le dije: yo no tengo cédula pero tengo mi pasaporte y también yo voy a tener residencia. Y me deportan con doce personas”, afirma.
Indignado por que dice que los funcionarios que lo detuvieron no le dieron la oportunidad de ir a buscar sus documentos, Josef está dispuesto a tirar la toalla tras 17 años viviendo en el país donde tiene dos hijos, ambos con carrera universitaria.
“Voy a volver para vender lo que yo tengo, me dan mi liquidación. ¡Yo salgo de ese país y vengo para mi país ya! No puedo hacer nada porque no voy a coger vergüenza de acá para allá”, le dice a BBC Mundo, refiriéndose a cómo se sintió cuando fue expulsado.
Entre el miedo y la indignación
En el municipio dominicano de Guayubín, a 69 kilómetros de la frontera por donde expulsaron a Josef, otro inmigrante haitiano, Lance Neville, comparte ese sentimiento de hastío.
Sentado a la sombra de un árbol mientras deshace las pequeñas trenzas que lleva su esposa, Neville afirma que está tratando de reunir los papeles para conseguir regularizar su situación, pero que si tuviera que irse lo haría “sin problemas y tranquilo”.
“¿Tú ves cómo estoy ahora”?, pregunta el hombre apuntando al suelo de tierra de la comunidad de Ranchadero donde reside, un empobrecido conjunto de casas de latón y madera construidas de manera rudimentaria donde vive con un centenar de sus compatriotas.
Lea también: Haití se enfrenta a “crisis humanitaria” por deportaciones de R. Dominicana
“Cualquiera que me diga: ¡Vámonos para Haití ahora!… Yo me voy”, exclama el inmigrante que asegura que llegó con la idea de trabajar unos meses en el país para ganar unos pesos, pero que su estancia ya se extiende por más de una década.
Como la mayoría de sus vecinos, Neville se busca la vida trabajando en los campos de guineo (banano) y yuca, en la construcción, o en lo que surja, donde gana lo justo para sobrevivir y mantener a su mujer y sus cinco hijos –cuatro de los cuales estudian en Haití-.
“Alguna vez no puedes comer bien para que los hijos vayan a la escuela y no pasen hambre”, lamenta el inmigrante.
Precisamente los altos costos es uno de los principales problemas con el que se han encontrado muchos inmigrantes haitianos a la hora de registrarse en el plan de regularización.
Amenazas
A Neville lo está ayudando una organización de trabajadores a reunir los papeles, pero con los 250 pesos dominicanos que gana al día (unos US$5,5), no podría pagar los hasta 15.000 pesos (US$ 333) que pide un abogado para hacer los trámites.
Pero no todos sus vecinos están tan tranquilos.
De hecho, en su comunidad, muchas casas se han quedado vacías después de que las familias huyeran por miedo a las deportaciones forzosas.
“La mayoría ¿tú sabes por qué se fueron?”, explica Jackson Lorrain, el líder sindical que ayuda a Neville a reunir los papeles de los vecinos.
“Porque (algunos policías) llegan a la puerta de donde viven los migrantes y les dicen ¡ay!, ¿cuándo ustedes se van? Entonces contestan que ya pronto va a comenzar la deportación y que los van a devolver a todos. Los amenazan. Por eso la gente se está yendo de sus comunidades. No porque se quiera ir voluntariamente”, apunta.
Prefieren volver a su país con sus pertenencias y sus familias antes de que un oficial de migración los detenga en medio de la calle y los expulse.
El ministro del Interior dominicano, José Ramón Fadul, aseguró que se dieron instrucciones a la policía y las Fuerzas Armadas “para el trato a las personas y que no haya atropellos” a partir del 1 de agosto, la última fecha dada de cuando podrían comenzar las deportaciones.
Pero la posibilidad de que se produzcan agresiones u otras violaciones de derechos humanos en las eventuales expulsiones y un vacío de la ley que hace que algunos inmigrantes se queden en situación prácticamente de apátridas, hizo saltar las alarmas en los despachos de los organismos internacionales y las ONGs.
Residentes después de medio siglo
El plan que levanta las susceptibilidades a nivel internacional y en República Dominicana (que defiende su derecho a decidir sus propias políticas migratorias), para sus principales destinatarios –los haitianos, que son el 87% de los inmigrantes en el país- tiene muchos sentimientos y significados.
Como la justicia que le evoca a Osmán Noel, un haitiano menudo con una incipiente barba blanca que tras medio siglo exacto en República Dominicana -la mayoría de esos 600 meses picando caña de azúcar- por fin tiene un carnet que lo reconoce como residente legal en el país.
Con una camisa blanca impoluta y un sombrero marfil que contrastan con su piel oscura, Noel viajó desde el batey (finca) en el que vive en la provincia oriental del Seibo a Haina, ciudad aledaña a Santo Domingo, para recoger su tarjeta de residencia.
Muy elegante, como el resto de los cerca de 60 trabajadores de la caña jubilados con los que compartió un autobús verde algo destartalado, no puede ocultar su satisfacción:
“Este carnet es un derecho que me da el país y algo que dejaré a mis tres hijos”, le dice Noel a BBC Mundo delante de la puerta del “Centro de acogida vacacional Haina”, al lado del mar Caribe, y que, paradójicamente, se convertirá en una especie de centro de detención cuando comiencen las deportaciones.
Pero para quien Osman tiene palabras de agradecimiento es para Epifania Saint Charles, una joven dominicana de origen haitiano que trabaja en una organización que ayudó a los cañeros de los bateyes del Seibo a legalizar su situación y les costeó los trámites.
Para ella, la entrega de los carnets a los trabajadores de la caña jubilados –un sector ampliamente beneficiado por el plan de regularización- también es un acto de justicia.
“Son personas que tienen entre 40 y 60 años viviendo en el país. Yo nací y crecí en el batey y me encontré con ellos”, afirma en declaraciones a BBC Mundo. “Esas personas han echado toda la vida aquí, ya son de aquí. ¿Pa dónde van esos viejitos, pa dónde los van a llevar? Tienen familia, hijos… No es necesario que los deporten “.
Sin embargo, Saint Charles reconoce que el plan deja fuera a mucha gente –se estima que al menos 180.000 personas-, como los hijos de inmigrantes haitianos que nacieron después del año 2007 y que no pudieron registrarse por no poder demostrar la estadía legal de sus padres.
La OEA advirtó en un informe emitido esta misma semana y que fue fuertemente criticado por República Dominicana que esas personas corren el riesgo de quedar apátridas, de “no contar con ninguna nacionalidad conocida”.
GABBY Petito spent her 22th birthday with her fiancé Brian Laundrie on the Appalachian Trail – where search experts suspect he could be hiding.
Photos posted on her Instagram on March 27, nine days after her birthday, show the couple hiking and hanging out on the trail in Georgia.
“Went hiking for my bday #22,” Gabby captioned the post.
The first image shows Gabby making her way through the trail.
In the second photo, Brian is seen lying in a hammock by Gabby’s art supplies. It appears Gabby was also in the hammock taking the picture.
One of Gabby’s friends, Rose Davis, previously said she believes Brian could be hiding out on the trail because he knows how to survive alone in nature and has done it before.
She told the DailyMail.com: “I know he lived in the Appalachians for what I believe was three months, and he did it by himself, so I know he’s skilled at it.”
“Brian Laundrie photo from Pinterest @blaundrie1197 page, elite hiker, outdoorsman, on the run in the woods, may be headed for the Appalachian Trail,” said the PI of Bill Warner Investigations, based in Florida.
The Appalachian Trail is one of the most famous hiking spots in the US.
Located within 14 states, the trail attracts over three million visitors per year.
The entire trail takes up over 2,190 miles from start to finish and can take about five to seven months to hike.
Cops have been searching for Laundrie for the last seven days after the 22-year-old travel blogger’s death during their cross-country road trip.
He remains missing after returning to his home in North Port, Florida, on September 1 without Petito.
Gabby’s body was found at the Spread Creek Dispersed Campground in the Bridger-Teton National Forrest last Sunday in Wyoming – more than a week after she was reported missing.
She was last seen alive on August 24, and investigators appear to believe she was killed sometime between August 27 and 30.
“Será un Brexit multiplicado por tres”, anticipó el republicano Donald Trump en uno de sus últimos actos de campaña.
Y no estaba equivocado.
Pese a que la posibilidad del triunfo de Trump en las elecciones estadounidenses se recordaba una y otra vez, lo cierto es que la demócrata Hillary Clinton seguía siendo la favorita.
¿Cómo se explica entonces la victoria del candidato republicano?
1. Rechazo al sistema y la clase política tradicional
Donald Trump, un multimillonario sin experiencia en política, conocido por sus edificios y por su reality de televisión The Apprentice, es alguien de fuera, y qué mejor que un extraño para cambiar un sistema que, a juicio de muchos, ya no funciona.
“Drenar el pantano” (drain the swamp) se convirtió en uno de los eslóganes más repetidos por Trump en los últimos diez días de campaña.
Desde que el director del Buró Federal de Investigaciones (FBI, por sus siglas en inglés), James Comey, anunciara que su agencia iba a investigar nuevos correos electrónicos, Trump reforzó sus ataques contra Clinton y empezó a corear esas tres palabras que resumen el sentir de muchos de sus seguidores.
Que dos días antes de las elecciones Comey exonerara a Clinton de nuevo, no pareció tener mucho peso.
“Tienes mucha experiencia, sí, pero es mala experiencia”, repitió Trump en los debates presidenciales que enfrentaron a los candidatos.
La idea de que Clinton era más de lo mismo en un Washington que se percibe como un entorno elitista y corrupto sirvió para pasar por alto los rasgos más controvertidos del republicano.
Los seguidores de Trump sienten que es el único que “dice las cosas como son” y da voz a sus insatisfacciones y frustraciones.
Los exabruptos del ganador de las elecciones son tolerables porque demuestran que no se deja llevar por lo políticamente correcto.
La herencia bélica del presidente Barack Obama, que deja la Casa Blanca con la situación de Irak y Afganistán sin resolver y el avispero de Siria más complicado que nunca, ha atraído a más electores hacia Trump, quien asegura tener la solución para poner orden en el “desastre de Medio Oriente”.
2. Desencanto con la situación económica
“En los últimos 8 años, el 80% de los estadounidenses no ha visto ninguna mejora en sus sueldos“, subraya Arthur Brooks, director del grupo conservador American Entreprise Institute, con sede en Washington.
“Durante todos esos años creció el populismo, eso se ve en otros países, surgen líderes como Marine Le Pen en Francia, Nigel Farage en Reino Unido… ahora aquí ya somos Europa”, añade.
El discurso de Trump ha calado de forma particular en las clases medias trabajadoras, cuyo voto se puede leer como una expresión del desencanto y la frustración que sienten al ver que su situación económica no mejora aunque los líderes insistan en que la crisis financiera de 2008 ya quedó atrás.
En especial los hombres blancos de más de 50 años, de zonas posindustriales, trabajadores de sectores energéticos tradicionales que ahora se ven atacados por quienes defienden las energías limpias o renovables han llenado los mítines de campaña de Trump y, en consecuencia, han acudido a las urnas en grandes cantidades.
Además, los electores han premiado el discurso proteccionista de Trump respecto a los tratados comerciales con otros países y su promesa de hacer que las empresas retornen la manufactura a Estados Unidos.
3. El discurso del miedo y el eco de los medios de comunicación
Relacionado con el desencanto de las clases medias está el temor a que la situación vaya a empeorar.
Ahí calan el miedo y rechazo al otro, al extranjero, al inmigrante que viene a quitar puestos de trabajo o a llevarse los fondos de un gobierno ya endeudado, al musulmán que quiere acabar con la cultura occidental por medio de ataques terroristas.
En ese sentido se explica el lema de campaña de Trump: “Hacer a Estados Unidos grandioso de nuevo”, en referencia a que los tiempos pasados eran mejores.
“Nunca hemos estado mejor que ahora”, le dice a BBC Mundo Michael Rosenblum, director de Rosenblumtv.
“No tenemos guerras mundiales, no hay una recesión económica importante, el autodenominado Estado Islámico no supone una amenaza real, es un grupo de apenas 30.000 personas que está muy lejos de aquí.
“Pero esto no vende. El periodismo para contar que todo va bien no tiene ningún sentido, la gente no sintonizaría las noticias.
“Para los medios es necesario hablar sobre la amenaza terrorista, sobre la afluencia masiva de mexicanos que quieren cruzar la frontera, aunque no sea verdad (de hecho, hay más mexicanos abandonando Estados Unidos que a la inversa), etcétera.
“Dicen que la primera víctima de la guerra es la verdad, pero me atrevería a modificar la frase y decir que la primera víctima del periodismo es la verdad“, opina Rosenblum.
4. La impopularidad de Hillary Clinton
Los seguidores de Bernie Sanders, quien se disputó con Hillary Clinton la nominación del Partido Demócrata, suspiran este martes por lo que consideran una ocasión perdida.
Y es que hay quienes aseguran que la principal razón que explica la victoria de Trump tiene nombre y apellido: Hillary Clinton.
La exprimera Dama y exsecretaria de Estado genera un rechazo casi sin precedentes en la clase política estadounidense y no sólo entre republicanos, sino también entre algunos demócratas y simpatizantes de otros partidos.
Desconfían de ella, dicen que es poco transparente y cuestionan su forma de manejar la Secretaría de Estado y la Fundación Clinton.
Esto sin entrar en el complicado caso de los correos electrónicos, un escándalo que persigue a la aspirante demócrata desde 2015.
“Yo podría disparar a alguien en la Quinta Avenida y no perdería ni un voto”, aseguró Trump en enero.
En el otro extremo está Clinton, a quien después de 30 años en política, no se le perdona un tropiezo.
5. Voto oculto
Una vez más tenemos que hacer referencia a los errores de las encuestas.
Con márgenes variables, más amplios o más estrechos, en general todas atribuían una ventaja a la candidata demócrata.
Se veía a los votantes latinos como los que le iban a adjudicar la victoria a Clinton, pero lo cierto es que el apoyo latino a la exsecretaria de Estado ha sido menor de lo anticipado.
La comunidad negra, por su parte, ha votado en proporciones menores que en las elecciones presidenciales de 2008 y 2012, cuando se impuso Barack Obama.
Las mujeres blancas con título universitario, que también se apuntaban como grupo esencial para Clinton, no han votado en cifras capaces de compensar el apoyo de los hombres blancos de clase trabajadora por Trump.
Sin embargo, se pasó por alto algo que ha repetido Kellyanne Conway, gerente de campaña de Trump, estos últimos días: el voto oculto que terminó por darle la presidencia a Donald Trump.
Su navegador no admite este contenido interactivo. Debe utilizar un navegador moderno con Javascript habilitado para poder ver los mapas de los resultados.
Florida governor Ron DeSantis earned a new moniker this week as the resurgent coronavirus continued to wreak havoc on his state: the “Pied Piper of Covid-19, leading everybody off a cliff.”
The stark assessment of the Republican politician from Dan Gelber, the mayor of Miami Beach, came as Florida continued to set records for new cases and hospitalizations, saw worrying surges in both deaths and rates of positivity, and led the nation in pediatric Covid admissions.
With the highly contagious Delta variant swirling, a state comprising little more than 6% of the US population was accounting for one in five of the country’s new cases, recording 50,997 in the three days to Tuesday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Meanwhile, DeSantis, who says the spike is “seasonal” and opposes lockdowns or new restrictions, was following up his signing of an executive order banning children from having to wear masks in schools by dismissing the burgeoning crisis in Florida’s hospitals as “media hysteria”.
“You try to fearmonger, you try to do this stuff,” DeSantis snapped at a reporter who asked him at a press conference in Miami on Tuesday about the state setting a new high for Covid hospitalizations of 11,863.
“Our hospitals are open for business. We’re not shutting down. We’re gonna have schools open. We’re protecting every Floridian’s job in this state, we are protecting people’s small businesses. These interventions have failed time and time again throughout this pandemic,” he said, referring to mask mandates.
It is the governor’s single minded desire to keep the state open despite the Delta variant-fuelled spike that has drawn criticism from local political leaders to the White House, where Joe Biden said on Tuesday: “I say to these governors, ‘Please help’. But if you are not going to help, at least get out of the way of the people who are trying to do the right thing.”
DeSantis, a likely Republican presidential candidate in 2024 if Trump doesn’t run, and a possible running mate if he does, shares the former president’s prioritizing of the economy.
But Gelber said he thought DeSantis’s stance could backfire and end up hurting businesses.
“I’m the mayor of a hospitality town. I think most people coming here would rather be in a place that they feel safer than a place that they feel like they may be getting the virus,” he told CNN.
“He’s like the Pied Piper just leading everybody off a cliff right now, letting them know that they don’t have to like the CDC, they don’t have to wear masks, they can do whatever they want in the midst of an enormous pandemic and Florida, by wide margins, is easily the worst state in the country.”
The mayor said he felt “hamstrung” by legislation signed by DeSantis in May that gave him veto power over coronavirus mandates by municipalities.
“We’re not allowed a mask edict now. We were one of the first cities to require it and the governor stopped allowing us to do it, then immediately we saw a surge across our county and state.”
Charlie Crist, a former Florida governor and Democrat seeking to unseat DeSantis next year, accused his rival of “a blatant disregard for the health and wellbeing of children and teachers” over the order withholding state funds from school districts that impose mask mandates on students.
On Tuesday, officials in Broward county, the nation’s sixth-largest school district, which last week voted to enforce mask-wearing, said they would back down, although appeared to be reconsidering their position a day later.
“With his latest stunt the Governor ignores science and the facts – that masks work,” Crist said in a statement to the Guardian.
“For the past year, masks kept Florida’s schools from becoming major contributors to the virus’ spread. They enabled our kids to be in the classroom safely. Now, with only a week until school starts back, Florida tragically leads the nation in children hospitalized due to the virus.
“He wants to defund the school systems trying to keep them safe. It’s unconscionable.”
In an emailed response to the Guardian, DeSantis’s press secretary, Christina Pushaw, countered Gelber and Crists’s assertions that mask mandates were effective. In Texas, she said, cases declined following the lifting of a mandate in March, while in California numbers surged at the start of the year with a mandate in place.
“The governor and Florida department of health have always encouraged Floridians to protect themselves and their communities. The best way to do that is to get vaccinated,” she said.
Dr Jay Wolfson, professor of public health medicine at the University of South Florida, does not expect DeSantis to change course.
“The one driving force that most affects the governor’s decisions in the state’s policies is deaths. As long as deaths remain stable or under control, the rates of hospitalization and infectiousness are likely not going to elicit mandating masks or vaccines or doing anything else that would jeopardize the economic policies,” he said.
“Balancing public health policy interests against economic policy interests can be a delicate game and there are compelling interests on both sides.
“These judgment calls are not always based exclusively on educational or health issues, they’re based on political pragmatic realities, and thus far the governor has been successful in demonstrating he has a significant amount of political support for the positions that he’s taking.”
Jordanian security forces arrived unexpectedly at Moayyad al-Majali’s home one day in October 2019, detaining the lawyer, confiscating his laptop and phones and accusing him of one of the kingdom’s most serious offences.
His crime was slandering the country’s ruler, King Abdullah II, simply by asking a single question: how much land does the king own?
In a country propped up by billions of dollars in international financial aid – and where unemployment has nearly doubled over the past seven years – the topic is considered too sensitive for the Jordanian public to know about.
But today, the Guardian can reveal part of the answer, thanks to documents that form the Pandora papers, the largest ever trove of leaked offshore data.
The files expose that the Arab world’s longest-serving current monarch has spent the past decades amassing an international luxury property empire worth well in excess of $100m (£74m), with its footprint stretching from the clifftops of Malibu, California, to Washington DC and on to central London’s most exclusive postcodes.
Abdullah built this property empire showing the same zeal for secrecy he has demonstrated when asked about his finances at home. He has disguised his ownership through a series of offshore companies incorporated in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) , according to records shared by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists with the Guardian, the BBC and other media outlets around the world.
The multimillion-dollar properties were acquired as US economic and military aid to Jordan quadrupled and Jordanian citizens were subjected to austerity as part of an International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout for the resource-poor country.
Using offshore companies to acquire property is not illegal and it is sometimes done to protect privacy or security. But the secrecy the offshore system confers on those wealthy enough to keep their purchases from public view can also open the door to money laundering.
Perhaps the most palatial – and certainly the most expensive – of the king’s purchases revealed in the Pandora papers is a vast clifftop property on California’s Malibu coast. It is described as a “resort hotel-like mega mansion” containing 26 rooms, overlooking a stretch of coastline made famous as the location of the dramatic final scene in the original 1968 Planet of the Apes film.
Public records show the home passed from Hollywood producers to dotcom billionaires, before, the Pandora papers reveal, it was bought by Abdullah in August 2014 for $33.5m, estimated to be a record price for property in the area. The king then acquired the two neighbouring properties. In the previous two years, Abdullah had acquired three condominiums in Washington DC for a total of $13.8m.
The leak of papers also reveals how the Jordanian ruler secretly acquired a portfolio of seven luxury UK properties – including three in Belgravia, London. Purchased between 2003 and 2011, the UK properties are estimated to have a current market value of about £28m. The UK was sending up to £100m a year in bilateral aid to Jordan during much of the time covered by the papers.
The monarch says he owns his property in a personal capacity – but while there is no evidence of any wrongdoing, the king’s net worth and source of his income remain closely guarded.
The king’s lawyers said: “HM [His Majesty] has not at any point misused public monies or made any use whatsoever of the proceeds of aid or assistance intended for public use … HM cares deeply for Jordan and its people and acts with integrity and in the best interests of his country and its citizens at all times.”
Jordan appeared to have blocked the ICIJ website on Sunday, hours before the Pandora papers launched.
Abdullah has ruled Jordan since the death in 1999 of his father, Hussein, who positioned the kingdom as a key ally of the west and was known for his public displays of wealth. He would speed around the capital, Amman, in one of the dozens of sports cars he owned – most of which are now on display at a museum in the city.
His son has maintained the links to the west but is less publicly conspicuous in his spending – in keeping with economic conditions in the country described by US congressional researchers as “extremely difficult”, and which have driven several open challenges to his rule over the past decade.
About one in four Jordanians are unemployed, according to 2020 figures, while Jordan has implemented waves of austerity policies over the past three decades in exchange for access to IMF loans, a process Abdullah has accelerated.
The moves have led to successive tax hikes and cuts to subsidies on bread, electricity and fuel. The government is also launching a campaign to flush out tax cheats in order to rein in public debt, all of which contrasts starkly with the impact austerity has had on the king. “Under Jordanian laws, HM is not required to pay taxes,” his lawyers said.
Protests against cuts to the welfare state and for higher public sector wages have led Abdullah to dismiss several prime ministers over the past decade, in what is seen as a way to relieve public anger and deflect it away from the monarch. His lawyers say Abdullah gives a “significant percentage” of his personal wealth to charitable causes in line with his “vision towards achieving an equitable society”.
Nonetheless, the bulk of the Pandora papers property purchases came during a difficult past decade in which Abdullah has faced two public challenges to his rule.
The first came as part of the “Arab spring” that swept the Middle East in 2011. Those protests – in which the king and his wife, Queen Rania, were openly accused of “stealing” the country – were crushed by security forces while promises of more democracy have largely failed to materialise. The timing revealed by the Pandora papers raises questions about whether the monarch may have considered the need for a safe haven abroad for himself or his personal fortune.
The second challenge was an alleged coup plot in April of this year cultivated by the king’s half-brother Hamzah, who gained attention and support in some quarters by publicly criticising government corruption and attempts to reform the Jordanian economy by “repeatedly returning to people’s pockets”. Hamzah was placed under house arrest and his alleged accomplices in the sedition plot were sentenced to lengthy jail terms.
Eager to shore up a western-friendly ruler, the US has poured increasing financial aid into Jordan over the past decades amounting to a total of $22bn by 2018, and billions more in the years since.
Yet at the same time, according to the Pandora papers, the king has spent millions burnishing his property portfolio.
The most recent Jordanian budget shows an annual sum of approximately $35m in public funds spent on the upkeep of the country’s royal palaces, but does not list any salary for the king or other working royals. Abdullah’s lawyers said: “The source of HM’s personal wealth is not from public monies, rather from personal sources.”
The lengths to which Abdullah has gone to hide details of the purchases also suggest he is aware they will be a politically awkward matter to explain to his subjects.
The leaked Pandora documents include a February 2017 internal memorandum between compliance managers at the Panamanian law firm Alcogal, which state that a Jordanian national client called Abdullah Al Hussein, born 30 January 1962 (Abdullah II’s birth date) and with an address of “Raghadan Palace“ (which is located in the royal court compound of al-Maquar in Amman, Jordan), was the beneficial owner of 16 companies that variously held assets in the US, the UK and Jersey.
Among those companies are Nabisco Holdings SA, Setara Limited and Timara Limited – which acquired the three Malibu clifftop properties – plus a series of other entities that own the king’s property assets in Washington DC and the UK.
According to the leaked files, Alcogal staff appear to have worked hard to safeguard the king’s secrecy by not identifying him on internal documents as a politically exposed person (PEP) and discussing ways to avoid storing his identity as beneficial owner.
Their reticence reached almost farcical levels, with one December 2017 email between Alcogal employees discussing the “final beneficiary” as a resident of Jordan, then referring to the king simply as “you know who”.
Alcogal said it had never “deliberately failed to identify a politically exposed person as such in its due diligence processes”. It said in this case, the beneficial ownership identity details were recorded on the BVI’s beneficial ownership secure search (Boss) system in November 2017 in compliance with the territory’s laws.
Moayyad al-Majali, the Jordanian lawyer, was ultimately released but fined.
Guardian Newsroom: The Pandora papers
Join Guardian journalist Paul Lewisand guests in this special livestreamed event looking in-depth into the Pandora papers investigation. On Monday 18 October, 8pm BST | 9pm CEST | 12am PDT | 3pm EDT. Book tickets here
“The police is still in combat with the assailants,” Charles said in a televised briefing late on Wednesday, “We blocked them en route as they left the scene of the crime. Since then, we have been battling with them.” Two of the attackers had been detained. Of the rest he said: “They will be killed or captured”.
Haiti’s communications secretary, Frantz Exantus, had earlier said police had arrested the “presumed assassins” without providing any further details. Three police officers held hostage by the suspected gunmen were freed late Wednesday, Charles said.
The killing of Moïse earlier on Wednesday, and the wounding of his wife, was expected to bring more chaos to the unstable Caribbean country already beset by gang violence, soaring inflation and protests by opposition supporters who accused Moïse of increasing authoritarianism.
Interim prime minister Claude Joseph said the police and military were in control of security. The poorest country in the Americas, Haiti has a history of dictatorship and political upheaval.
Speaking on a local radio station, Claude Joseph confirmed that Moïse, 53, had been killed, saying the attack was carried out by an “armed commando group” that included foreigners.
Members of the Haitian police force and forensics teams look for evidence outside the presidential residence after the killing of Jovenel Moïse. Photograph: Valerie Baeriswyl/AFP/Getty Images
In a televised national address, Joseph declared a state of emergency across the country, and made a call for calm. “The situation is under control,” he said.
In a later interview with the Associated Press, Joseph called for an international investigation into the assassination, said that elections scheduled for later this year should be held and pledged to work with Moïse’s allies and opponents alike.
“We need every single one to move the country forward,” Joseph said. He alluded to enemies of the president, describing him as “a man of courage” who had opposed “some oligarchs in the country, and we believe those things are not without consequences.”
According to the Haitian ambassador to Washington, Bocchit Edmond, Moïse’s killers claimed to be members of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) as they entered his guarded residence.
“This was a well-orchestrated commando attack,” Edmond told the Guardian. “They presented themselves as DEA agents, telling people they had come as part of a DEA operation.”
In videos circulating on social media, a man with an American accent is heard saying in English over a megaphone: “DEA operation. Everybody stand down. DEA operation. Everybody back up, stand down.”
Residents reported hearing gunshots and seeing men dressed in black running through the neighbourhood.
“It could be foreign mercenaries, because the video footage showed them speaking in Spanish,” Edmond said. “It was something carried out by professionals, by killers … But since the investigation has been just been opened, we prefer to wait on legal authorities to have a better assessment of the situation. We don’t know for sure, with real certainty, who’s behind this.
“This is an act of barbarity. It’s an attack on our democracy,” he said.
Edmond said he had asked the White House on Wednesday morning for US help in identifying and capturing the killers.
“We need a lot more information,” Joe Biden said later at the White House, calling the killing “very worrisome”.
In a written statement, the US president offered condolences and assistance. “We condemn this heinous act, and I am sending my sincere wishes for first lady Moïse’s recovery,” the statement said. “The United States offers condolences to the people of Haiti, and we stand ready to assist as we continue to work for a safe and secure Haiti.”
Journalists gather next to police officers standing guard near the private residence of Haiti’s president Jovenel Moise after he was shot dead by gunmen in Port-au-Prince, Haiti Photograph: Reuters
The UN Security Council condemned the assassination and called on all parties to “remain calm, exercise restraint and to avoid any act that could contribute to further instability.”
In a statement the 15-member council also called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice. The council is due to be briefed on the killing in a closed-door meeting on Thursday.
The attack took place at Moïse’s house in the Pelerin 5 district of Pétionville, a wealthy area with sometimes substantial and leafy villas in the hills above the capital, Port-au-Prince, with a reputation for being safe. It is an area critics of Moïse said he was loth to leave.
“Around one o’clock in the morning, during the night of Tuesday 6 to Wednesday 7 July 2021, a group of unidentified individuals, including some speaking Spanish, attacked the private residence of the president and fatally injured the head of state,” Joseph said in a statement quoted in the media.
Edmond said that Moïse’s three children were safe but his wife, Martine, was seriously wounded in the attack and was being taken to a hospital in Miami on Wednesday.
The attack happened barely 24 hours after Moïse had named a new prime minister, Ariel Henry, to take charge as head of the government and prepare the country for presidential elections in the next two months.
Moïse, a former entrepreneur, was the anointed political successor of the former president Michel Martelly. The assassination is likely to plunge the impoverished Caribbean nation into further turmoil after several years marked by political unrest and violence.
The US embassy said it would be closed on Wednesday owing to the “ongoing security situation”. “We’re still gathering information,” the White House press secretary, Jen Psaki, said on MSNBC. “We’re still assessing right now.”
“It’s a horrific crime,” Psaki added in an interview with CNN. “We stand ready and stand by them to provide any assistance that’s needed.”
Boris Johnson, the UK prime minister, said: “I am shocked and saddened at the death of President Moïse. Our condolences are with his family and the people of Haiti. This is an abhorrent act and I call for calm at this time.”
As details of the assassination emerged, the Colombian president, Iván Duque, called on the Organisation of American States to send an urgent mission to “protect the democratic order in Haiti”.
Moïse’s time in office was marked by an increase in political instability, allegations of corruption and a long-running dispute about when his period in office should end. He had been ruling by decree for more than a year after the country failed to hold legislative elections and he wanted to push through controversial constitutional changes.
There have been intermittent periods of protests and street violence and a rise in gang violence, some of it tied to political parties.
Instability has been exacerbated by the Petrocaribe scandal, a controversy that arose from a scheme to buy discounted oil from Venezuela on cheap credit. The idea was to free up funds for social schemes, but the money was pocketed by politicians.
Earlier this year amid allegations by Moïse of a coup attempt that planned to “murder him” and fresh protests, he moved to protect his position, ordering the arrest of 23 people including a supreme court judge and a senior police official, while declaring he was “not a dictator”.
Opponents had also accused Moïse’s government of fuelling political violence by providing gangs with guns and money to intimidate his adversaries.
The Caribbean country – the world’s first black republic after its revolution against French rule – has a history marked by poverty, authoritarian rule, political instability and external interference including a long US occupation. It has struggled to rebuild since a devastating earthquake in 2010 and Hurricane Matthew in 2016.
Las noticias falsas o erróneas lo han hecho de nuevo. En la era de la inmediatez, las emociones que generan ciertos titulares no dan tiempo a muchas personas de leer la información completa y conocer de qué se trata una u otra noticia, haciendo cada vez más difusa la barrera entre las noticias reales, las falsas y las inexactas. Ocurrió en las elecciones de EE. UU., en el plebiscito colombiano y en la tragedia del avión de Chapecoense, hechos recientes en los que se compartieron en redes sociales verdaderas avalanchas de rumores, especulaciones, memes, mentiras y contenidos cortos cuidadosamente creados para confundir a la población.
Las festividades de fin de año, una de las épocas que más emociones generan en los colombianos, han generado una gran confusión por cuenta de una noticia que el fin de semana fue ampliamente difundida.Una nota del diario la Prensa, de Panamá, publicada en la tarde del 11 de diciembre afirmaba que, según el Ministerio de Trabajo, los lunes 26 de diciembre de 2016 y 2 de enero de 2017 serán festivos, debido a que tanto 25 de diciembre como 1 de enero son festivos y caen un domingo.
En este caso no se trató de una noticia falsa, sino de una inexacta. Efectivamente, los días 26 de diciembre y 2 de enero son festivos en Panamá. Por eso, si un colombiano se tomó el trabajo de ingresar a la nota del periódico panameño, se dio cuenta que tenía insertada la declaración de Luis Ernesto Carles, ministro de Trabajo de Panamá, y no de Clara López, la encargada de esa cartera en nuestro país, en el que los festivos son los tradicionales 25 de diciembre y 1 de enero (domingos). En este orden de ideas: los dos lunes a los que se refiere el diario panameño, pese a que sí son festivos en el vecino país, en Colombia serán laborales y hábiles.
La noticia fue una de las más compartidas del fin de semana de ese diario: más de 26.000 veces. Fue tan lejos, que en el espacio de los comentarios de la noticia hay una gran cantidad de personas preguntando de qué país es el hecho, “corrigiendo” los artículos del Código de Trabajo en los que se basa la decisión, o generando debates que solo con haber leído la nota se hubieran evitado.
The maker of OxyContin, Purdue Pharma, and its owners, the Sackler family, are offering to settle more than 2,000 lawsuits against the company for $10 billion to $12 billion. The potential deal was part of confidential conversations and discussed by Purdue’s lawyers at a meeting in Cleveland last Tuesday, Aug. 20, according to two people familiar with the mediation.
At least 10 state attorneys general and the plaintiffs’ attorneys gathered in Cleveland, where David Sackler represented the Sackler family, according to two people familiar with the meeting. David Sackler, who was a board member of the company, has recently been the de facto family spokesperson.
The lawsuits that Purdue and the Sacklers are seeking to settle allege that their company’s sales practices were deceptive and at least partly responsible for the opioid crisis, which claimed more than 400,000 lives from 1999 to 2017, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Some of the lawsuits also allege that after 2007 the Sackler family drained the company of money to enrich themselves.
“The Sackler family built a multibillion-dollar drug empire based on addiction,” New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said in May when his state joined others in suing the Sackler family and their company. Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey was the first to name family members in her suit in January.
A pharmacist holds prescription painkiller OxyContin, 40mg pills, made by Purdue Pharma L.D. at a local pharmacy, in Provo, Utah on April 25, 2017.George Frey / Reuters file
Purdue Pharma, which makes the opioid painkiller OxyContin, and the Sackler family have denied the allegations laid out in the lawsuits.
In a statement to NBC News, the company said: “While Purdue Pharma is prepared to defend itself vigorously in the opioid litigation, the company has made clear that it sees little good coming from years of wasteful litigation and appeals.”
“The people and communities affected by the opioid crisis need help now. Purdue believes a constructive global resolution is the best path forward, and the company is actively working with the state attorneys general and other plaintiffs to achieve this outcome,” the company added.
A representative for the Sackler family did not respond to a request for comment.
At the Cleveland meeting, the company presented a plan for Purdue to declare Chapter 11 bankruptcy and then restructure into a for-profit “public benefit trust,” according to the summary term sheet that was read to NBC News and another source who is familiar with the potential deal.
The Purdue lawyers claim the value of the trust to plaintiffs would include more than $4 billion in drugs that would be provided to cities, counties and states, the people familiar with the matter said. Some of the drugs are used to rescue people from overdoses.
The in-kind drugs, combined with profits from the sale of drugs, would add up to a total Purdue settlement ranging from $7 billion to $8 billion, according to two people familiar with the offer.
Family and friends who have lost loved ones to OxyContin and opioid overdoses leave pill bottles with protest messages on them outside the headquarters of Purdue Pharma, which is owned by the Sackler family, in Stamford, Connecticut on Aug. 17, 2018.Jessica Hill / AP file
The trust would exist for at least 10 years. Three “well-recognized expert” trustees would be independently appointed by a bankruptcy court, according to the terms of the potential deal. Those trustees would in turn choose a board of directors to run the trust, according to the term sheet.
Any profits from the sale of Purdue’s drugs such as OxyContin or Nalmefene, a drug that has been fast-tracked by the FDA and would be used for emergency treatment of opioid overdoses, would go to the cities, counties and states if they agree to the settlement.
The Sackler family would give up ownership of the company and would no longer be involved, according to two people familiar with the matter.
For their part, the Sackler family, which has faced an increasingly hostile activist movement, would pay at least $3 billion. Forbes ranks the family as the 19th richest in America, with a fortune of at least $13 billion shared by an estimated 20 family members.
The Sackler money would be obtained by the family selling off Mundipharma, a separate global pharmaceutical company they own, according to a person briefed on the potential settlement deal. An additional $1.5 billion may be tacked onto the $3 billion if the sale of Mundipharma exceeds $3 billion.
Mundipharma describes itself on its website as a privately owned network of “independent associated companies” with “a presence in over 120 countries.” Mundipharma is controlled by the Sackler family.
Purdue Pharma’s legal team informed the assembled plaintiffs’ attorneys that if they did not take the potential settlement, the company would go ahead and declare bankruptcy, the people familiar with the matter said. The company’s lawyers claim the value of a fully liquidated Purdue in a standard bankruptcy would be considerably lower than the current settlement offer amount, according to documents read to NBC News.
Purdue Pharma is just one of the opioid companies being sued by more than 2,000 cities and counties for “grossly” misrepresenting “the risks of long-term use of those drugs for persons with chronic pain,” according to court documents. The cases against a variety of opioid companiesare being overseen by U.S. District Judge Dan Aaron Polster of Northern Ohio, who attended the meeting last week, according to two people familiar with the meeting.
The states have brought their cases separately. But the Purdue settlement deal was presented as a global deal for all plaintiffs, including the states, according to people familiar with the potential deal.
The opioid crisis has cost the United States more than $504 billion, according to a 2017 report by the White House Council of Economic Advisers. Purdue Pharma has earned more than $35 billion from the sale of OxyContin.
Image caption
Ya hay cinco personas muertas durante el paro de 48 horas convocado por la Mesa de la Unidad Nacional.
El Departamento de Estado de Estados Unidos ordenó este jueves la salida de Venezuela de los familiares de su personal en la embajada de Caracas, tres días antes de que se lleven a cabo las elecciones para elegir a los integrantes de la Constituyente convocada por el presidente Nicolás Maduro.
El gobierno estadounidense también informó que autorizó la salida voluntaria de su personal en la capital de la nación latinoamericana, sacudida por una grave crisis política y social desde inicios de abril.
En una advertencia de viaje, el Departamento de Estado justificó esta decisión por los “disturbios sociales”, los “crímenes violentos” y la falta “generalizada de alimentos y medicinas” en ese país.
“La situación política y de seguridad en Venezuela es impredecible y puede cambiar rápidamente”, justifica el comunicado.
Derechos de autor de la imagen Reuters
Image caption
El Departamento de Estado de EE.UU. ordenó a los familiares de su personal que abandonen la embajada estadounidense en Caracas.
Y agrega que “el crimen violento indiscriminado es endémico en todo el país y puede ocurrir en cualquier lugar y en cualquier momento”.
Esta noticia se conoce un día después de que la Casa Blanca anunciara una nueva ronda de sanciones contra altos funcionarios de Venezuela, en esta ocasión 13 relacionados con la elección a la Asamblea Constituyente, la represión de las protestas de los últimos meses y el manejo de áreas clave de la economía.
El anuncio del Departamento de Estado se produce en medio de los dos días de huelga general convocados por la oposición, en los que han muerto al menos seis personas, y a tres de la realización el próximo domingo de la elección los miembros de la Asamblea Nacional Constituyente, que deben redactar una nueva Carta Magna.
Prohibición
Derechos de autor de la imagen Reuters
Image caption
“Le digo al emperador Donald Trump: en Venezuela manda el pueblo de Venezuela”, dijo Maduro en el cierre del acto de campaña en Caracas.
Este jueves el gobierno de Venezuela decretó la prohibición de manifestaciones y protestas de cara a las elecciones del domingo.
El ministro del Interior venezolano, Néstor Reverol, dijo en un mensaje emitido por televisión que que quienes organicen, instiguen y participen en marchas o eventos similares para protestar contra la votación recibirán penas que pueden ir de 5 a 10 años de prisión.
Tras conocerse esta noticia, la oposición, que preparaba para este viernes una protesta en Caracas contra la Constituyente, decidió ahora extenderla a todo el país.
“La dictadura dice que no podemos manifestar a partir de mañana. ¿Entonces? Mañana ya no es la toma de Caracas, ¡sino de toda Venezuela!”, escribió en su cuenta de Twitter el diputado opositor Freddy Guevara.
En la tarde de este jueves el parlamentario opositor Jorge Millán precisó que la llamada “Toma de Venezuela” se iniciará a las 12:30 PM del viernes y se prolongará durante tres días.
Derechos de autor de la imagen AFP
Image caption
Henrique Capriles Radonski, gobernador del estado Miranda y excandidato presidencial, confirmó el llamado a protestar contra la Asamblea Nacional Constituyente en toda Venezuela.
En tanto, el presidente Nicolás Maduro cerró en Caracas el acto de fin de campaña del chavismo de cara a la Constituyente.
“¿Qué hacemos? ¿A quién obedecemos? ¿Quién manda en Venezuela? Le digo al emperador Donald Trump: en Venezuela manda el pueblo de Venezuela“, aseguró el mandatario en el evento, en el que también hizo un llamado a la oposición a “abandonar el camino de la insurrección” y a sentarse a dialogar en una “mesa de paz”.
La actual oleada de protestas en Venezuela -en la que han muerto más de 100 personas -se inició el pasado abril cuando el Tribunal Supremo de Justicia (TSJ) emitió dos polémicas sentencias en las que asumía temporalmente todas las competencias correspondientes a la Asamblea Nacional (AN), que está en manos de la oposición y a la que el gobierno considera en desacato.
Aunque días después el TSJ suprimió varias partes de los fallos, las manifestaciones continuaron en todo el territorio nacional.
Derechos de autor de la imagen EPA
Image caption
Desde que comenzaron las protestas en abril, más de 100 personas perdieron la vida.
La oposición ha llamado a los venezolanos a desconocer la autoridad del presidente, al que considera un dictador.
El gobierno, por su parte, atribuye la grave crisis que vive el país -donde escasean bienes básicos y se registra una inflación de tres cifras- a una “guerra económica” fomentada por la oposición y Estados Unidos.
Además, cataloga a los miembros de la oposición de “terroristas” que tratan de dar un golpe de Estado y fomentar una intervención internacional.
En este contexto, a principios de mayo el presidente Maduro anunció la convocatoria de una Asamblea Constituyente para redactar una nueva Carta Magna que sustituya la de 1999, lo que ha sido calificado por la oposición de “golpe de Estado”.
Each time, Mr. López Obrador has adopted a measured posture, urging dialogue and counting on mutual economic interest to prevail. And so far, his bet has paid off, as Mr. Trump has stepped back from his threats.
Mr. López Obrador said Friday that while his administration could employ “legal mechanisms” to forestall tariffs, he would eschew that tactic — for now.
“We want there to be dialogue, understanding, and that an agreement is arrived at without the need for a legal process,” he said. “What we want is to convince, persuade that free trade is convenient” to both countries.
Mr. López Obrador took office in December, promising a shift away from what he said was an enforcement-first migration policy and toward a more humanitarian approach.
During his first few months in office, detentions and deportations by the Mexican authorities fell sharply, even as the flow of migrants from Central America and elsewhere surged.
Initially, his administration largely accommodated the enormous migrant caravans that made their way north from Central America toward the American border, doing little to stop them from crossing Mexico’s highly porous southern border and allowing them to travel essentially unfettered across Mexican territory.
As the adage goes, there are only two certainties in life: death and taxes. And if Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders’ new tax plan were to go into effect, death would trigger much higher taxes for the billionaire set.
(For the calculations, Sanders’ office used the net worth list from Forbes, as of Monday, “and then applied our proposed rates” to determine what each billionaire would pay if the new tax plan were implemented, Sanders’ spokesperson Josh Miller-Lewis tells CNBC Make It. To determine a baseline of what each billionaire would have to pay in estate tax under current law, Sanders’ office applied the 40 percent estate tax rate on the Forbes net worth of the given person as of Monday.)
Amazon co-founder Jeff Bezos, 55, is currently set to pay $53 billion in estate taxes, and would have to pay $101 billion under Sanders’ plan.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, 63, is currently set to pay $38 billion in estate taxes, and would have to pay $74 billion under Sanders’ plan.
Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett, 88, is currently set to pay $33 billion in estate taxes, and would have to pay $64 billion under Sanders’ plan.
Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, 74, is currently set to pay $24 billion in estate taxes, and would have to pay $46 billion under Sanders’ plan.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, 34, is currently set to pay $22 billion in estate taxes, and would have to pay $41 billion under Sanders’ new plan.
The proposed estate tax rates under Sanders’ new plan are tiered and impact the top 0.2 percent of Americans: from $3.5 million up to $10 million in assets owned upon time of death, the tax rate would be 45 percent; from $10 million to $50 million, the tax rate would be 50 percent; and from greater than $50 million to $1 billion, the tax rate would be 55 percent tax.
Changing the estate tax is not unheard of: Indeed, the estate tax has fluctuated from year to year for most of the last 20 years “creating uncertainty for taxpayers and their advisors,” the Joint Committee on Taxation says in a primer on the U.S. Federal Wealth Transfer Tax System published in 2015.
The Sanders’ tax plan could make $2.2 trillion from 588 billionaires in the United States, according to a written statement from Sanders’ office published Thursday. (The precise date as to when this $2.2 trillion could be reaped is “hard to say,” Miller-Lewis tells CNBC Make It, because it’s impossible to know when an estate tax will be levied since a person’s time of death is unknown.)
The goal, which is a common theme for the progressive Senator from Vermont, is to stem the tide of wealth inequality.
“At a time of massive wealth and income inequality, when the three richest Americans own more wealth than 160 million Americans, it is literally beyond belief that the Republican leadership wants to provide hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks to the top 0.2 percent,” Sanders says in the written statement. “Our bill does what the American people want by substantially increasing the estate tax on the wealthiest families in this country and dramatically reducing wealth inequality. From a moral, economic, and political perspective our nation will not thrive when so few have so much and so many have so little.”
“I don’t think I need a tax cut,” Buffett said. “[I]f they passed the bill that they’re talking about, I could leave $75 billion to a bunch of children and grandchildren and great grandchildren, and if I left it to 35 of them, they would each have a couple of billion dollars. They could put it out at 5 percent and have $100 million.
“Is that a great way to allocate resources in the United States?” Buffett continued. “That’s what you are doing through the tax code is you are affecting the allocation of resources.”
Still, some are fierce critics of the estate tax, even at current levels. “You work your whole life to build up a nest egg or a family-owned business or family farm. Then you pass away… Uncle Sam can swoop in and take over 40% of everything you’ve earned over a certain amount. It’s just wrong,” House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady said in August 2017, when the estate tax was being considered then, according to CNN.
Their model shows an especially sharp decline for China, with its population expected to fall from 1.41 billion now to about 730 million in 2100. If that happens, the population pyramid would essentially flip. Instead of a base of young workers supporting a narrower band of retirees, China would have as many 85-year-olds as 18-year-olds.
China’s rust belt, in the northeast, saw its population drop by 1.2 percent in the past decade, according to census figures released on Tuesday. In 2016, Heilongjiang Province became the first in the country to have its pension system run out of money. In Hegang, a “ghost city” in the province that has lost almost 10 percent of its population since 2010, homes cost so little that people compare them to cabbage.
Many countries are beginning to accept the need to adapt, not just resist. South Korea is pushing for universities to merge. In Japan, where adult diapers now outsell ones for babies, municipalities have been consolidated as towns age and shrink. In Sweden, some cities have shifted resources from schools to elder care. And almost everywhere, older people are being asked to keep working. Germany, which previously raised its retirement age to 67, is now considering a bump to 69.
Going further than many other nations, Germany has also worked through a program of urban contraction: Demolitions have removed around 330,000 units from the housing stock since 2002.
Troubles are mounting for a Texas website used to report violators of the state’s extreme anti-abortion legislation after the site was forced offline by two different web hosting platforms.
The site ProLifeWhistleblower.com was removed from its original web host by the provider GoDaddy on Friday before being suspended by its new host, an agency known for providing services to far-right groups.
“For all intents and purposes it is offline,” Ronald Guilmette, a web infrastructure expert, told the Guardian. “They are having technical difficulties. My personal speculation is that they are going to have trouble keeping it online moving forward.”
As of Tuesday, ProLifeWhistleblower.com redirects to Texas Right to Life’s main website.
Created by Texas Right to Life, an evangelical Christian group, the site allowed people to anonymously submit information about potential violations of the new law – which makes it illegal to help women in Texas access abortion after the sixth week of pregnancy.
In recent days, internet users have protested against the site by flooding it with false reports, memes and even porn in the hopes of rendering it less effective.
The website’s difficulties were compounded when GoDaddy, which provides the servers where the website lives, said the site had violated its privacy policies that bar the sharing of third-party personal information including data related to medical issues such as abortion.
The site was thenmoved to Epik, according to domain registration data first reported by Ars Technica. Epik is known for its “anything goes” attitude towards web hosting, servicing sites that other companies have deplatformed elsewhere for hate speech and other content violations – including 8chan, Gab and Parler.
According to reports from the Daily Beast, Epik contacted the website about potential violation of its own rules concerning the collection of medical data about people obtaining abortions.
“We contacted the owner of the domain, who agreed to disable the collection of user submissions on this domain,” it said in a statement to the Daily Beast.
Epik representatives did not respond to a message seeking comment on Tuesday. As of the time of publishing at 2pm PST on Tuesday, Epik remained the host for ProLifeWhistleblower.com, according to domain registration data available online, although the site does not appear to be operational.
A Texas Right to Life spokeswoman, Kimberlyn Schwartz, said on Tuesday that the website was in the process of moving to a new host, but was not yet disclosing which one.
The original website allowed anyone to submit an anonymous “report” of someone illegally obtaining an abortion, including a section where images can be uploaded for proof.
“Any Texan can bring a lawsuit against an abortionist or someone aiding and abetting an abortion after six weeks,” the website reads, and those proved to be violating the law liable for a minimum of $10,000 in damages.
Schwartz said they were working to get the tipster website back up but noted that in many ways it was symbolic since anyone can report a violation. And, she said, abortion clinics appear to be complying with the law.
“I think that people see the whistleblower website as a symbol of the law but the law is still enforced, with or without our website,” Schwartz said, adding, “It’s not the only way that people can report violations of the law.”
Rebecca Parma, Texas Right to Life’s senior legislative associate, said they expected people to try to overwhelm the site with fake tips, adding “we’re thankful for the publicity to the website that’s coming from all of this chatter about it.”
Winston Wallace, 9, raises his hand in class at iPrep Academy on the first day of school in Miami. A judge has ruled that Florida school districts may impose mask mandates.
Lynne Sladky/AP
hide caption
toggle caption
Lynne Sladky/AP
Winston Wallace, 9, raises his hand in class at iPrep Academy on the first day of school in Miami. A judge has ruled that Florida school districts may impose mask mandates.
Lynne Sladky/AP
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — A Florida judge ruled Wednesday that the state cannot enforce a ban on public schools mandating the use of masks to guard against the coronavirus, while an appeals court sorts out whether the ban is ultimately legal.
Leon County Circuit Judge John C. Cooper lifted an automatic stay of his decision last week that Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and state education officials exceeded their authority by imposing the blanket ban through executive order and tagging defiant pro-mask local school boards with financial penalties.
Cooper said the overwhelming evidence before him in a lawsuit by parents challenging the DeSantis ban is that wearing masks does provide some protection for children in crowded school settings, particularly those under 12 for whom no vaccine yet exists. The issue came to a head amid a recent surge in cases caused by the more contagious and deadly delta variant of the virus, which health statistics show has begun to wane.
“We’re not in normal times. We are in a pandemic,” Cooper said during a hearing held remotely. “We have a (coronavirus) variant that is more infectious and dangerous to children than the one we had last year.”
The state has an appeal against the judge’s order
Since DeSantis signed the mandatory mask ban order on July 30, 13 school boards representing more than half of Florida’s 2.8 million students have adopted mask requirements with an opt-out only for medical reasons. State education officials have begun going after rebellious school board members’ salaries as a form of punishment.
Jacob Oliva, public schools chancellor at the state Department of Education, said in a notice last week to local superintendents that “enforcement must cease if the stay is lifted.” That includes the effort to dock salaries of school board members or impose other financial penalties.
The case next goes before the 1st District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee. DeSantis said at an appearance Wednesday in Palm Harbor that he is confident the state will prevail. The matter could ultimately be decided by the Florida Supreme Court.
The core of the governor’s argument is that the recently passed Parents Bill of Rights gives decision-making authority to parents on whether their children should wear a mask to school.
“What we’ve found is in the trial courts in Tallahassee, state and federal, we typically lose if there’s a political component to it, but then in the appeals court we almost always win,” the governor said.
Cooper seemed to go out of his way to point out that he has frequently ruled in favor of Florida governors in the past, including cases involving GOP Govs. Jeb Bush and Rick Scott. Cooper has been a Leon County circuit judge since he was first elected in 2002.
“If you look at my record, it’s not somebody who runs all over the place, ruling against the governor,” Cooper said. “This case has generated a lot of heat and a lot of light.”
This is not the only pending legal action over DeSantis’ policies toward mask mandates in public schools
On the Parents Bill of Rights, Cooper said his previous order follows the law as passed earlier this year by the Legislature. The law, he said, reserves health and education decisions regarding children to parents unless a government entity such as a school board can show their broader action is reasonable and narrowly tailored to the issue at hand.
The DeSantis order impermissibly enforces only the first portion of that law, Cooper said.
“You have to show you have authority to do what you’re doing,” the judge said. “You cannot enforce part of that law but not all of it.”
In a separate case, parents of special needs children have filed a federal lawsuit claiming the DeSantis mandatory school mask ban violates the Americans with Disabilities Act by placing their medically sensitive children in jeopardy.
A federal judge in Miami did not immediately rule after a hearing Wednesday in that case.
Additionally, school officials in Broward, Alachua and Orange counties filed a petition to schedule a hearing before an administrative law judge. According to the filing, the local school officials want the judge to invalidate a state health department emergency rule against school mask requirements based on the governor’s executive order.
This is a widget area - If you go to "Appearance" in your WP-Admin you can change the content of this box in "Widgets", or you can remove this box completely under "Theme Options"