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Incredible GoPro footage takes you inside the gunfire-heavy raid that ended drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s six months on the run.

The video, obtained from Mexican authorities, looks as if it’s from an action movie. The camera follows the armed men as they storm the house, unleash grenades and bullets, and search room to room.

The Friday raid was called “Operation Black Swan,” according to the Mexican show “Primero Noticias.” Authorities decided to launch the raid Thursday after they got a tip about where Guzman was sleeping, the show reported.

Seventeen elite unit Mexican Marines launched their assault on the house in the city of Los Mochis at 4:40 a.m., “Primero Noticias” said.

They were met by about one dozen well-armed guards inside who were prepared for a fight, the show said.

The Marines moved from room to room, clearing the house. Upstairs they found two men in one room and found two women on the floor of a bathroom. All were captured, “Primero Noticias” said.

After 15 minutes, the Marines controlled the entire house, according to “Primero Noticias.”

In the end, five guards were killed and two men and two women were detained. One of the women was the same cook Guzman had with him when he was detained a couple years ago, according to “Primero Noticias.”

Eventually the marines determined that the only bedroom on the first floor was Guzman’s and they began pounding on the walls and moving furniture, finding hidden doors, the show said.

His room had a king-sized bed, bags from fashionable clothing stores, bread and cookie wrappers, and medicine including injectable testosterone, syringes, antibiotics and cough syrups, the show said. The two-story house had four bedrooms and five bathrooms. There were flat-screen TVs and Internet connection throughout the house, according to “Primero Noticias.”

The Marines eventually found a hidden passageway behind a mirror, with a handle hidden in the light fixture. The handle opened a secret door, leading down into the escape tunnel, the show explained.

The escape tunnel was fully lit and led to an access door for the city sewage system, “Primero Noticias” said, adding that Guzman had at least a 20-minute head start on the Marines.

The address where Guzman was captured had been monitored for a month, Mexican Attorney General Arely Gomez has said. According to Gomez, Guzman and his lieutenant escaped through that drainage system.

“Primero Noticias” said it obtained surveillance footage showing Guzman and his lieutenant emerging from the manhole cover, where they then stole two cars to flee, the show said.

Guzman was finally caught when he and the lieutenant were stopped on a highway by Mexican Federal Police, the show said.

Authorities took them to a motel to wait for reinforcement. The men were then taken to Los Mochis airport and transfered to Mexico City.

Rebecca Blackwell/AP PHOTO
Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is escorted by soldiers and marines to a waiting helicopter, at a federal hangar in Mexico City, Jan. 8, 2016.

Guzman is now back in prison as his lawyers fight his extradition to the U.S.

The drug kingpin escaped from the Altiplano prison near Mexico City on July 11, launching an active manhunt. When guards realized that he was missing from his cell, they found a ventilated tunnel and exit had been constructed in the bathtub inside Guzman’s cell. The tunnel extended for about a mile underground and featured an adapted motorcycle on rails that officials believe was used to transport the tools used to create the tunnel, Monte Alejandro Rubido, the head of the Mexican national security commission, said in July.

Guzman had been sent there after he was arrested in February 2014. He spent more than 10 years on the run after escaping from a different prison in 2001. It’s unclear exactly how he had escaped, but he did receive help from prison guards who were prosecuted and convicted.

Guzman, the leader of the Sinaloa cartel, was once described by the U.S. Treasury as “the most powerful drug trafficker in the world.” The Sinaloa cartel allegedly uses elaborate tunnels for drug trafficking and has been estimated to be responsible for 25 percent of all illegal drugs that enter the U.S. through Mexico.

Source Article from http://abcnews.go.com/International/inside-dramatic-raid-el-chapo/story?id=36216172

In Washington, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke to Abdul Mahdi and Iraqi President Barham Salih separately by phone Tuesday and “made clear the United States will protect and defend its people, who are there to support a sovereign and independent Iraq,” department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said. “Both Abdul Mahdi and Salih assured the secretary that they took seriously their responsibility for, and would guarantee the safety and security of, U.S. personnel and property,” she said.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/iran-backed-militia-supporters-converge-on-us-embassy-in-baghdad-shouting-death-to-america/2019/12/31/93f050b2-2bb1-11ea-bffe-020c88b3f120_story.html

A judge on Thursday granted prosecutors’ request to reinstate a third-degree murder charge against former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who is charged in connection with George Floyd’s death.

MINNEAPOLIS ‘AUTONOMOUS ZONE’ JEAPORDIZES RESIDENTS AMID DEREK CHAUVIN TRIAL, POLICE ASSOCIATION SAYS

Hennepin County Judge Peter Cahill added the charge after Minnesota’s Supreme Court denied an appeal from Chauvin Wednesday. Cahill had earlier rejected the charge as not warranted by the circumstances of Floyd’s death, but an appellate court ruling in an unrelated case established new grounds for it. Chauvin already faced second-degree murder and manslaughter charges.

Potential jurors in Chauvin’s trial return Thursday to continue the selection process. Five jurors had been seated by Wednesday after just two days of screening by Cahill, Special Attorney for the State Steven Schleicher and Chauvin’s attorney, Eric Nelson.

The dispute over the third-degree murder charge in Chauvin’s case revolves around the conviction of another former Minneapolis police officer in the unrelated killing of an Australian woman. The appeals court affirmed Mohamed Noor’s third-degree murder conviction in the 2017 shooting death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond.

Cahill reiterated Thursday that Noor and Chauvin are factually different cases, but because the Court of Appeals has defined that third-degree murder can be targeted at a single person, the judge is bound by the law in Minnesota right now.

“I am granting the motion because although these cases are factually different – that is Noor and the case before us – I don’t think there is a factual difference that denies the motion to reinstate,” Cahill said.

“When the intent is directed at a single person, then third-degree murder may apply,” the judge continued, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported. “Single acts directed at a single person fall within the gambit of third-degree … accordingly, I am bound by that.”

The state argued that the Noor affirmation established precedent for the third-degree murder charge under the circumstances of Floyd’s death. If the Minnesota Supreme Court had taken up Chauvin’s appeal, it might have meant months of delay in his trial. After their ruling, the Court of Appeals rejected as moot the state’s request to pause the trial pending the appeal.

Cahill finished by saying the third-degree murder charge reinstatement does not apply to the case against Chauvin’s three other co-defendants – Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao. Cahill will address that at a later date. They are scheduled for trial in August.

DEREK CHAUVIN TRIAL JUROR DISMISSED OVER CONCERNS GEORGE FLOYD RIOTERS COULD ATTACK HIS HOME

Floyd’s May 25 death last year sparked sometimes violent protests in Minneapolis and beyond, leading to a nationwide reckoning on race. In moments captured on cellphone video, Chauvin could be seen holding his knee against Floyd’s neck for about nine minutes.

Days after Floyd’s death, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office charged Chauvin with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. On June 3, 2020, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison added a charge of second-degree murder against Chauvin.

On Oct. 22, 2020, Hennepin County District Court upheld the charges of second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter against Chauvin – in addition to the charges of aiding and abetting second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter against his co-defendants. But Cahill dismissed the charge of third-degree murder against Chauvin at that time.

In a precedential opinion on Feb. 1, the Minnesota Court of Appeals upheld the conviction for third-degree murder of former Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor in the 2017 death of Justine Ruszczyk Damond. The court also ruled that Minnesota’s third-degree murder statute is applicable in the case of force being applied to a single person, a summary provided to Fox News by Ellison’s office said.

In response, on Feb. 4, state prosecutors moved to reinstate the charge of third-degree murder. On Feb. 11, the district court denied the motion. The state filed a notice of appeal to the Minnesota Court of Appeals on Feb. 12. The Court of Appeals held oral arguments on March 1. On Friday, March 5, the Court of Appeals ruled that the district court erred in not granting the state’s motion to reinstate the charge of third-degree murder against Chauvin in the death of Floyd.

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On Wednesday, the Minnesota Supreme Court denied Chauvin’s petition for review of the Court of Appeals decision. In response, the Court of Appeals ordered judgment in its March 5 ruling to be immediately entered. On Thursday, the district court reinstated the third-degree murder charge. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/us/derek-chauvin-trial-judge-reinstates-third-degree-murder-charge-ex-minneapolis-cop

The IRS said Wednesday it is delaying the April 15 tax filing deadline to May 17 giving taxpayers more time to prepare their filings amid the slew of pandemic-related tax changes.

The Treasury Department and the IRS said “the federal income tax filing due date for individuals for the 2020 tax year will be automatically extended from April 15, 2021, to May 17, 2021.”

This will happen automatically, and individuals don’t need to file any forms or contact the IRS, the agency said in a statement.

“Individual taxpayers can also postpone federal income tax payments for the 2020 tax year due on April 15, 2021, to May 17, 2021, without penalties and interest, regardless of the amount owed,” the IRS said.

These changes don’t apply to state tax returns and payments, the IRS noted.

The relief does not apply to estimated tax payments that are still due on April 15, 2021, the IRS said.

“This continues to be a tough time for many people, and the IRS wants to continue to do everything possible to help taxpayers navigate the unusual circumstances related to the pandemic, while also working on important tax administration responsibilities,” IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig said in a news release. “Even with the new deadline, we urge taxpayers to consider filing as soon as possible, especially those who are owed refunds. Filing electronically with direct deposit is the quickest way to get refunds, and it can help some taxpayers more quickly receive any remaining stimulus payments they may be entitled to,” he said.

Rettig was set to testify Thursday before the House Ways and Means Committee about the 2021 filing season.

“This extension is absolutely necessary to give Americans some needed flexibility in a time of unprecedented crisis,” Reps. Richard Neal and Bill Pascrell said in a joint statement.

“Under titanic stress and strain, American taxpayers and tax preparers must have more time to file tax returns. And the IRS itself started the filing season late, continues to be behind schedule, and now must implement changes from the American Rescue Plan.

“We are gratified that the IRS has recognized the need and heeded our calls for additional time, and while we are pleased with this 30-day extension, we will continue to monitor developments during this hectic filing season,” they said.

Source Article from https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/irs-delays-tax-filing-deadline-17-covid-related/story?id=76517481

The law, which was passed in 1988 but never before used, will give police “more tools” to bring order to areas where public assemblies “constitute illegal and dangerous activities,” Trudeau said. Financial institutions, meanwhile, will get sweeping powers to halt the flow of funding to the self-styled “Freedom Convoy.”

Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/14/canada-ottawa-trucker-protests-bridge/

Key developments in the global coronavirus outbreak today include:

Known cases surpass three quarters of a million

According to Johns Hopkins University, at least 777,286 people around the world are known to have been infected since the outbreak began, though the true figure is likely to be higher. The institution says 37,140 people have died and 164,435 have recovered.

France suffers its worst daily death toll

French health authorities report 418 new deaths, taking the total in the country to 3,024. It has become the fourth nation to cross the 3,000 fatalities threshold after China, Italy and Spain.

The daily government tally only accounts for those dying in hospital but authorities say they will very soon be able to compile data on deaths in retirement homes, which is likely to result in a big increase in registered fatalities.

Israeli prime minister tests negative

Benjamin Netanyahu and his key advisers isolated themselves after one of the prime minister’s aides tested positive for the coronavirus. Later, it was confirmed that Netanyahu had tested negative, though his spokesman said he would remain quarantined until further instructions were issued by the Israeli ministry of health.

Italians face lockdown extension despite slowing growth in cases

The lockdown imposed on Italians is being extended at least until Easter, health minister Roberto Speranza says. Italy has been under lockdown for three weeks and the restrictions were due to end on Friday.

Earlier, it was revealed that the number of new cases rose by just 4,050 on Monday; the lowest nominal increase since 17 March.

UK police to get lockdown guidelines

New guidance is being drawn up warning police forces not to overreach their lockdown enforcement powers after some were criticised for deploying controversial tactics in recent days.

Study reveals increased risks from middle age onwards

The first comprehensive study of Covid-19 deaths and hospital admissions in mainland China reveals the increase in risk for patients once they reach middle age. The analysis finds that, while the average death rate for confirmed cases is 1.38%, the rate rises sharply with age – from 0.0016% in the under 10s, to 7.8% for those in their 80s and over.

Tasmania records its second death

Peter Gutwein, the Tasmanian premier, says a man died overnight, bringing the state’s total to two. “This is … two deaths too many, and it serves as a warning to us all that these are going to be tough and difficult times and we must all do our part to keep Tasmania safe,” he said. The new deaths bring Australia’s death toll to 19.

Covid-19 cluster in Bondi

There are signs of community transmission in Waverley and Bondi in New South Wales in Australia, according to the state’s premier Gladys Berejiklian. She says it is too early to say NSW is beating the curve and reduce any restrictions. “Do not leave your home unless you absolutely have to,” she tells residents.

US ‘faces hundreds of thousands of deaths’

As many as 200,000 people in the US may die even if Washington plays its response to the outbreak “almost perfectly”, according Dr Deborah Birx, the response coordinator for the White House coronavirus taskforce.

“If we do things together well, almost perfectly, we could get in the range of 100,000 to 200,000 fatalities,” she told NBC News’ Today. We don’t even want to see that … the best-case scenario would be 100% of Americans doing precisely what is required, but we’re not sure … that all of America is responding in a uniform way to protect one another.”

Rescue flights to repatriate Britons

Tens of thousands of people stranded abroad will be flown back to the UK by airlines including British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Titan Airways on chartered planes as part of a partnership between the government and private enterprise announced by the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab.

Source Article from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/31/coronavirus-latest-at-a-glance

Politica de protección de datos personales

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Al registrarse en alguno de los sitios de Dominio de ARTE GRAFICO EDITORIAL ARGENTINO S.A. (en adelante AGEA), EL USUARIO deberá brinda información personal, prestando su consentimiento para que la misma sea almacenada directamente en una BASE DE DATOS, lencontrándose protegida electrónicamente, utilizando los mecanismos de seguridad informática de protección de la información más completos y eficaces para mantenerla en total confidencialidad, conforme a la Ley Nº 25.326 de Hábeas Data, no obstante lo cual, el Usuario puede informarse al respecto en http://www.jus.gov.ar/datospersonales/pdf/ley_25326.pdf, siendo la Dirección Nacional de Protección de Datos Personales, del Ministerio de Justicia, Seguridad y Derechos Humanos, el órgano de control de la citada norma legal (http://www.jus.gov.ar/datospersonales/).

AGEA se reserva el derecho a modificar la presente política para adaptarla a novedades legislativas o jurisprudenciales así como a prácticas de la industria. En dichos supuestos, anunciará en esta página los cambios introducidos con razonable antelación a su puesta en práctica.

Mediante el presente, toda persona que se registra en un sitio de Internet de dominio de AGEA (en adelante USUARIO) y vuelque información respecto de su nombre, domicilio, documento nacional de identidad, identificación tributaria, teléfono, dirección de correo electrónico y/o datos vinculados a productos financieros (DATOS PERSONALES), presta su consentimiento para que dicha información sea almacenada directamente en una BASE DE DATOS de propiedad de AGEA.

El Usuario garantiza que los Datos Personales facilitados a AGEA son veraces y se hace responsable de comunicar a ésta cualquier modificación en los mismos.

Se deja expresamente aclarado que ciertos Servicios prestados por éste sitio u otros sitios vinculados pueden contener Condiciones Particulares con previsiones específicas en materia de protección de Datos Personales.

Los Datos Personales serán incorporados a una base de datos que es de titularidad de AGEA (la “Base”).

EL USUARIO presta su consentimiento para que AGEA realice operaciones y procedimientos sistemáticos, electrónicos o no, que permitan la recolección, conservación, ordenación, almacenamiento, modificación, evaluación, bloqueo y en general, el procesamiento de sus DATOS PERSONALES (en adelante TRATAMIENTO DE DATOS PERSONALES).

AGEA podrá contratar a terceros para el tratamiento de Datos Personales.

La finalidad de la recogida y tratamiento de los Datos Personales es la que se detalla a continuación:

  • Para habilitar su participación en promociones, premios o concursos en línea.
  • Para el desarrollo de nuevos productos y servicios que satisfagan las necesidades del Usuario.
  • Para contactarse, vía mail o telefónicamente, con el Usuario a fin de relevar opiniones sobre el servicio y para informar sobre productos y servicios de cualquiera de los sitios editoriales o productos de AGEA.

AGEA ha adoptado los niveles de seguridad de protección de los Datos Personales legalmente requeridos, y ha instalado todos los medios y medidas técnicas a su alcance para evitar la pérdida, mal uso, alteración, acceso no autorizado y robo de los Datos Personales facilitados a AGEA. Ello no obstante, el Usuario debe ser consciente de que las medidas de seguridad en Internet no son inexpugnables. Por tal motivo, debe tener presente que siempre que divulguen voluntariamente información personal online, ésta puede ser recogida y utilizada por otros. Por lo tanto, si bien ponemos nuestro mayor esfuerzo por proteger su información personal, AGEA no será responsable por la difusión de los datos personales de nuestros visitantes efectuada por fuentes ajenas a ésta ni será responsable por los daños y perjuicios que la misma genere.

El Usuario tiene reconocidos los derechos de acceso, cancelación, rectificación y oposición, así como tienen reconocido el derecho a ser informados de los permisos de acceso realizados contactándose con AGEA a través del correo electrónico datospersonales@agea.com.ar

El Usuario puede modificar sus Datos Personales en cualquier momento, accediendo directamente a “Editar Perfil”, valiéndose de su Usuario y Contraseña, podrá dar de alta, modificar y/o dar de baja los datos personales que hubieran ingresado en la Base.

Las estructuras de la Base no requiere ni permite el ingreso de datos ‘sensibles’ en los términos del artículo 7° y concordantes de la Ley 25.326 de Protección de Datos Personales y su Reglamentación.

Source Article from http://www.clarin.com/sociedad/Clarin-inauguro-redaccion-noticias-celulares_0_1224477637.html


Former President Barack Obama remains a revered figure within the party. | Mark Makela/Getty Images

2020 elections

Party officials are frustrated that the former president’s record was collateral damage in the debate attacks on Joe Biden.

Joe Biden is fair game. Barack Obama is not.

Former Obama White House officials and allies responded in force Thursday to stress that message after several Democratic contenders criticized the former president in a debate that featured uncharacteristically tough assessments of his policies.

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The disparagement of aspects of Obama’s record led to stern warnings that the tactic could backfire on the presidential candidates themselves — and perhaps arm Republicans with ammunition to attack the eventual Democratic nominee next fall.

“Stay away from Barack Obama,” advised Steve Elmendorf, a well-known Democratic lobbyist who worked on John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign.

“I don’t know why you would attack Barack Obama or his record or any part of him when he’s the most popular person in the party,” he added. “And I don’t think it helps for the general election voters, either. I don’t know what they’re thinking.”

Republicans have already seized on the division. Donald Trump Jr., President Donald Trump’s eldest son, tweeted Thursday morning how nice it was “to see Democrats finally go after Obama’s failed policies very aggressively.”

On Thursday night at a campaign rally in Cincinnati, the president echoed the theme.

“The Democrats spent more time attacking Barack Obama than they did attacking me, practically,” he said. “This morning, that’s all the fake news was talking about.“

Obama, who endorsed dozens of party candidates in 2018 and was active on the campaign trail, remains a revered figure within the party. Several presidential hopefuls have sought the two-term president’s advice and counsel, and he continues to have periodic conversations with candidates, according to a source close to the former president.

But as rivals attempted to level attacks on Biden, Obama got caught in the crossfire Wednesday. The former president, once referred to by critics as the “deporter in chief,” came under fire for the rate of deportations under his watch, and his signature health care law also drew heavy scrutiny.

In large part, it’s because Biden’s eight-year service to the nation’s first black president has made him a difficult target in the primary. He often calls Obama by his first name to illustrate their closeness and makes references to the “Obama-Biden administration.” More recently, he used Obama’s decision to tap him as a running mate in 2008 to swat down criticism of his record on criminal justice.

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker accused Biden of invoking Obama more than any other candidate on stage Wednesday. “You can’t have it both ways,” he said. “You can’t do it when it’s convenient and then dodge it when it’s not.”

But Booker wasn’t the only one to call out Biden. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio asked Biden if he used his power as VP to stop the deportations. Biden said he was keeping his recommendations private but said Obama “moved to fundamentally change the system.”

“But much more has to be done,” Biden said. “Much more has to be done.”

Biden asserted he would “absolutely not” deport immigrants at the rate the Obama administration did in its first two years. The administration’s nearly 800,000 deportations were more than the number of deportations during the Trump administration’s first two years.

In a discussion with California Sen. Kamala Harris over her “Medicare for All” style plan, Biden stressed that “Obamacare is working” and Democrats should build on its success.

It was one of many instances in which Biden was forced into a defensive posture over the Obama record, leaving some Democrats frustrated.

“The GOP didn’t attack Reagan, they built him up for decades,” tweeted Neera Tanden, CEO and president of the liberal think tank Center for American Progress and the Obama campaign’s domestic policy director. “Dem Candidates who attack Obama are wrong and terrible. Obama wasn’t perfect, but come on people, next to Trump, he kind of is.”

Kate Bedingfield, Biden’s deputy campaign manager and communications director, told MSNBC, “It was interesting last night to see a debate in which a lot of Democrats on the stage decided to attack the legacy of Barack Obama rather than to take it directly to Donald Trump.”

Biden himself told reporters in Detroit on Thursday he was proud to serve alongside Obama and proud of what he accomplished. He said he was surprised by the “degree of criticism” but insisted Obama had nothing to apologize for.

“The next debate, I hope we can talk about how we fix our answers, to fix things that Trump has broken, not how Barack Obama made all these mistakes,” Biden said. “He didn’t. He didn’t.”

Obama, who has largely stayed on the sidelines and has no plans to endorse in the primary, understands that the Democratic Party has changed since 2008 and candidates won’t be entirely in lockstep with him, according to the source close to him.

He wants to see them share a forward-looking vision for the country but doesn’t mind a fact-based criticism of his record, said the source, who described talking about what the Obama administration did — and what the candidates would do differently — as the appropriate way to criticize him.

In TV interviews Thursday morning, Harris and Booker heaped praise on Obama but also defended their approaches in the debate. Harris framed her health care proposal to MSNBC as a plan that builds on Obamacare. Booker, meanwhile, told CNN that “nothing is without” criticism in public service and not even Obama is perfect.

Still, many Democrats feel going after Obama is the wrong way to go.

“I think attacking President Obama is bad policy and bad politics,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said.

“No sane political person would advise any candidate to run on a policy platform of third Obama term because the issues facing our country have changed and the debates have progressed,” said Jen Psaki, who served as the Obama White House’s communications director. “But every minute spent arguing over the record of a former president who is supported by 95 percent of the Democratic electorate and not on making the case for why a Democrat should replace Donald Trump is a minute wasted.”

Henry Crespo, former chair of the Democratic Black Caucus of Florida, who watched the debate with about a dozen fellow black Democratic officials and operatives, cold-called a POLITICO reporter outraged with what he saw transpire on the debate stage Tuesday and the following day, when Harris and Booker appeared to him to be insufficiently supportive of Obama.

“Obama is an icon in our community. And they’re attacking his legacy Obamacare? And Joe Biden is the one defending it?” he asked.

“We were sitting here watching this and wondering: ‘What the hell are you doing? What is wrong with our party?’ It’s like they want to lose,” Crespo said, adding that Democrats like him resent Harris and Booker for attacking Biden’s record on race.

“Joe Biden is not Bull Connor,” Crespo said. “You just can’t make us believe it.”

Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-La.), Biden’s campaign co-chair and the former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, said Obamacare is widely supported among African Americans because it’s good policy and people know how hard it was for Obama to pass his signature health law.

“I don’t think it’s the wisest move to go after it. You’ve got to realize when you go after it, you’re doing exactly what Trump and Republicans have tried to do, which is repeal Obamacare,” he said. “When you talk about the Affordable Care Act, there’s deep, deep appreciation for it. That was a hard-fought win.”

Though two prominent African American senators — Harris and Booker — have emerged as prominent Biden critics in the primary, Biden has a significant edge in support from black voters.

“The attacks, particularly from Harris and Booker, have been backfiring with black voters who always show up in Democratic primaries,” said Patrick Murray, a Monmouth University pollster who released a survey last week showing Biden capturing 51 percent of the African-American vote in South Carolina’s Democratic primary, where more than 60 percent of the electorate is black.

“Black voters are significantly less liberal than white voters in the Democratic primary,” Murray said. “So if their strategy is to attack him because he’s not woke enough on race or left enough on issues like Medicare for All, it’s not going to help you with these voters.”

Murray said polls show the dismissal of Obamacare made no sense more broadly with Democratic voters who like the program. Surveys also show voters prefer Biden’s proposal to add a Medicare-like public option to Obamacare rather than scrapping all private insurance and instituting a Medicare for All plan.

Several members of the Obama administration let his first attorney general, Eric Holder, speak for them, retweeting a now-viral message to the field he posted Wednesday night.

“To my fellow Democrats. Be wary of attacking the Obama record,” he wrote. “Build on it. Expand it. But there is little to be gained — for you or the party — by attacking a very successful and still popular Democratic President.”

Alex Thompson, Quint Forgey and James Arkin contributed to this report.

Source Article from https://www.politico.com/story/2019/08/01/democratic-debate-obama-biden-1444825

Voters stand in line to cast their ballots during the first day of early voting in the U.S. Senate runoffs at Lenora Park in Atlanta in December 2020.

Tami Chappell/AFP via Getty Images


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Voters stand in line to cast their ballots during the first day of early voting in the U.S. Senate runoffs at Lenora Park in Atlanta in December 2020.

Tami Chappell/AFP via Getty Images

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Thursday signed a massive overhaul of election laws, shortly after the Republican-controlled state legislature approved it. The bill enacts new limitations on mail-in voting, expands most voters’ access to in-person early voting and caps a months-long battle over voting in a battleground state.

“With Senate bill 202, Georgia will take another step toward ensuring our elections are secure, accessible and fair,” Kemp told reporters Thursday evening.

Kemp’s remarks during the signing appeared to have been cut short as Democratic state Rep. Park Cannon was escorted out of the building and arrested by Georgia State Patrol. Cannon was seen on video before that knocking on the governor’s door as he spoke. According to the Fulton County Department of Public Safety website, Cannon was charged with willful obstruction of law enforcement officers by use of threats or violence and preventing or disrupting general assembly sessions.

The Georgia State Constitution states that lawmakers “shall be free from arrest during sessions of the General Assembly” except for treason, felony, or breach of the peace.

The 96-page bill makes dramatic alterations to Georgia’s absentee voting rules, adding new identification requirements, moving back the request deadline and other changes after a record 1.3 million absentee ballots overwhelmed local elections officials and raised Republican skepticism of a voting method they created.

Previous plans to require an excuse to vote by mail, as well as restrict weekend voting hours primarily used in larger Democratic-leaning counties, were scrapped amid mounting opposition from voting rights groups, Democrats and county elections supervisors.

On a 100-75 party-line vote, the state House approved SB 202 early Thursday, and the Senate voted later Thursday to agree with the House changes 34-20 on a party-line vote as well.

“Included in SB 202 are topics that are important to all Georgians,” Ethics Committee Chair and state Sen. Max Burns said when presenting the bill, ticking through provisions like a new fraud hotline for the attorney general’s office to a new expansion of early voting.

Earlier law required three weeks of in-person early voting Monday through Friday, plus one Saturday, during “normal business hours. The new bill adds an extra Saturday, makes both Sundays optional for counties, and standardizes hours from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. or as long as 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

SB 202 also criminalizes passing out food or drinks to voters waiting in line, except for a self-serve water station.

Many of the measures in SB 202 will streamline the election administration process at the local level, such as allowing officials to process absentee ballots sooner, require them to count ballots nonstop once the polls close and allow flexibility with voting equipment for smaller, lower-turnout races. Poll workers could serve in neighboring counties, after the pandemic saw a shortage of trained workers.

Precincts with more than 2,000 voters that have lines longer than an hour at three different points throughout the day have to add more machines, add more staff or split up the poll. The absentee ballot request window is narrower, starting for most Georgians 11 weeks before the election and ending 11 days before.

Third-party absentee ballot applications must be more clearly labeled, and state and local governments are not be allowed to send unsolicited applications.

The bill will also shorten Georgia’s nine-week runoff period to four weeks by sending military and overseas voters instant-runoff ranked choice absentee ballots and only requiring in-person early voting starting the Monday eight days before election day.

Democrats opposed several pieces of the bill, including language that removes the secretary of state as chair of the State Election Board, allowing the SEB and lawmakers a process to temporarily take over elections offices and limiting the number, location and access to secure absentee drop boxes.

Drop boxes were enacted as an emergency rule of the SEB because of the coronavirus pandemic, so this codifies their existence, requires all counties to have at least one, and would only allow voters to use the drop boxes during early voting hours and inside early voting locations.

“How does this bill help to build voter trust and confidence?” state Rep. Debbie Buckner said. “The bill adds up to more burdens and cost and returns to old practices that were abandoned years ago for security, convenience and safety.”

Voters who show up to the wrong precinct will not have provisional ballots counted, unless it’s after 5 p.m. and they signed a statement they could not make it to the correct poll.

A performance review of local elections officials could be initiated by the county commission or a certain threshold of General Assembly members. The SEB could also create an independent performance review board, and no more than four elections superintendents could be suspended at any given time.

Democratic Rep. Kim Alexander said county elections officials shared concern about the timing and the cost of the legislation, including a requirement for more expensive security paper for ballots.

“We have heard testimony from county election officials … that more time is needed to fully understand the fiscal and logistical impacts the provisions in these bills would have,” she said. “Given the substantial changes we’d be making with this legislation, why not take more time to get county input on the proposed legislation and take this up next session?”

In the Senate, Democrats objected to the bill being brought up without a fiscal analysis of the cost to the state and counties, but Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan ruled that the bill did not meet requirements that needed that sort of analysis.

Elsewhere in the bill, the secretary of state will be required to conduct a pilot of posting scanned ballot images from elections, and those images would be public records. Ballots used in the election will have to be on special security paper, which will cost more to use.

Overall, the bill will touch nearly every facet of elections, like a section that aims to provide more information about vote totals as results come in.

As soon as possible, but no later than 10 p.m. on election night, counties must publish the total number of votes cast by each method, and all absentee ballots have to be counted by 5 p.m. the day after the election, otherwise a county supervisor could face the state’s new performance review process.

The 20-candidate special election to fill the remainder of Sen. Johnny Isakson’s term and accompanying runoff between then-Sen. Kelly Loeffler and current Sen. Raphael Warnock is no more: special elections have special primaries.

Fulton County is no longer be able to use its two mobile voting buses for early voting, as the bill limits mobile polls to emergencies.

Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2021/03/25/981357583/georgia-legislature-approves-election-overhaul-including-changes-to-absentee-vot

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Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/31/politics/infrastructure-congress-phase-four-talks/index.html

Wilbur Scoville ganhou um Doodle do Google com direito a um jogo que simula o ‘teste da escala quente’ de pimentas. Hoje, o Google celebra o nascimento do químico há 151 anos (1865-1942). Scoville, além de receber a homenagem desta sexta-feira (22), é conhecido por ter inventado um método de avaliação do nível de ardência de vários tipos de pimenta, a famosa Escala de Scoville, disponível abaixo em app. 

Escala Scoville; app salva de pimenta ‘muito quente’

O Doodle do Google, além de animado, é interativo. No jogo, os usuários devem fazer com que um sorvete acerte a pimenta para acabar com a ardência na boca de Scoville, após o químico prová-la. O leite, muito presente no sorvete, é um dos principais componentes neutralizadores do ardor da pimenta.

Doodle de Wilbur Scoville brinca com jogo que usa ‘teste da pimenta’ (Foto: (Foto: Reprodução/Google))

A cada degustação que Wilbur Scoville prova, uma pimenta diferente e as suas propriedades e curiosidades também são reveladas. Após terminar as “lutas”, que você pode ganhar (e aí desbloquear “novas pimentas” para enfrentar) ou perder (e fazer com que Scoville caia no chão com a boca “pelando”), um sistema de compartilhamento dos resultados do jogo nas redes sociais é exibido.

Ralador de pimenta bloqueia Wi-Fi e deixa todo mundo ’em família

O Doodle foi produzido pela artista e doodler do Google Olivia Huynh. Para a designer, a melhor parte do trabalho foi desenhar as pimentas e as reações de Scoville. “O conceito de picante é universal, cômico, e foi o que tentei usar para criar esse jogo de luta”, explica Huynh, em post do Google.

“Fiz storyboards de como poderia ser, rascunhos e testamos um protótipo. Depois vieram os cenários e animações. Desenhar as pimentas e as reações de Scoville foram minhas partes favoritas”, conta. 

Doodle também é informativo, detalhando tipos de pimentas  (Foto: Reprodução/Google)

Escala de Scoville

Wilbur Lincoln Scoville nasceu em Bridgeport, nos Estados Unidos, em 22 de janeiro de 1865 e morreu em 10 de março de 1942. O trabalho do americano como farmacêutico é reconhecido mundialmente: criou o Teste Organoléptico de Scoville, que gerou a já conhecida Escala de Scoville.

Com este método, Wilbur Lincoln Scoville definiu o grau de pungência de vários tipos de pimenta, através da detecção da concentração de capsaicina, substância responsável pela ardência da pimenta.

Qual é o melhor Doodle do Google? Comente no Fórum do TechTudo. 

O teste é um Procedimento de Diluição e Prova. Scoville misturava as pimentas puras com uma solução de água com açúcar, e quanto mais solução fosse necessária para diluir a pimenta, mais alta seria sua picância. Depois disso, o método foi melhorado e foram criadas as unidades de calor Scoville (Scoville Heat Units, ou SHU).

Doodle Wilbur Scoville (Foto: Reprodução/Google)

Uma xícara de pimenta que equivale a 1.000 xícaras de água é uma unidade na escala de Scoville. A substância Capsaicina, que gera a ardência nas pimentas, equivale a 15 milhões de unidades Scoville.

A pimenta mexicana Habanero chega a 300 mil, uma “Red Savina Habanero”, modificada, tem 577 mil, e a Tezpur indiana, 877 mil.

Entretanto, este não foi o único trabalho de Scoville. “The Art of Compounding” (A Arte dos Compostos), de 1895, é um de seus livros, que foi usado como referência na farmacologia até os anos 60.

Scoville também publicou um livro com centenas de fórmulas de perfumes e outras essências, que foi chamado de “Extract and Perfumes” (Extratos e perfumes).

Em 1922, Scoville recebeu o Prêmio Ebert, e em 1929 ganhou a sua Medalha de Honra Remington e o título de Doutor honoris causa em Ciências pela Universidade de Columbia. O pesquisador morreu no dia 10 de março de 1942, deixando mulher e dois filhos.

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Curtiu o Doodle? Veja a história dos Doodles do Google; vídeo

Via Google Doodles

*Colaborou Roberto Caligari

Source Article from http://www.techtudo.com.br/noticias/noticia/2016/01/wilbur-scoville-ganha-homenagem-do-doodle-em-seu-151-aniversario.html

Broadsided by floods and powerful tornadoes, the Philadelphia region was stunned by Ida’s deadly intensity.

But to scientists, clues were abundant Ida might prove formidable when it made landfall near Port Fourchon, La., as a Category 4 hurricane on Aug. 29. The scene was set 1,100 miles away for it to make history here three days later. The Philadelphia region was already pumped full of water and primed by heat to make whatever remnant tracked its way even worse — a signature of climate change.

» READ MORE: A timeline of Ida’s Philly destruction

Consider that as Ida was forming in the tropics in late August, Philly’s weather had been much hotter and wetter than normal all month. The average temperature was 79.2 degrees — 2.3 degrees above normal. And 6.18 inches of rain had fallen, 144% over the average for the last 20 years.

Climate experts and a growing chorus of political leaders agree climate change can make the impact of storms far more dramatic and even deadly.

”Ida fed on an extreme level of heat content in the Gulf of Mexico,” Michael Mann, a Penn State climate scientist and director of the school’s Earth System Science Center, said in an email. “That record heat is tied directly to human-caused warming. That heat favored the dramatic, rapid intensification of Ida. So in short, yeah — this is climate change.”

» READ MORE: Philly’s summer temps have risen 3 degrees since 1970 — and nights have gotten even warmer

Jessica Spaccio, a climatologist at the Northeast Regional Climate Center at Cornell, says there’s little doubt climate change contributed to Ida’s power.

“To what degree is a harder question to answer,” Spaccio said. “But that it played a role is not a question. We are in a warming world. These storms are just so devastating. We definitely need to take climate change seriously and adapt.”

“Some people say Ida would not have happened if not for climate change. Well, that’s not true,” said Sean Sublette, a meteorologist with Climate Central, a nonprofit comprising scientists and journalists. “But climate change was unquestionably a factor.”

Sublette estimates that Philly likely got 10% more rain than it would have had if it weren’t for climate change. Warmer, wetter conditions do more than increase rainfall; they might be enough to push a hurricane’s wind speeds from a Category 3 to a much more destructive 4.

“When we try to quantify how much rain came down as a result of climate change it is exceedingly difficult,” Sublette said. “It might have rained like hell anyway. But instead of a near-record flood, you got a record flood. So instead of getting an inch or two of flooding on the Vine Street Expressway, you get enough for people to jump in and float.”

» READ MORE: Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York had more tornadoes than Kansas in 2020

Scientists also agree that events like Ida are not freak occurrences.

“We’ve shown that these extreme floods are becoming more common in the past several decades,” said Dartmouth earth sciences researcher Evan Dethier, who lived in Philadelphia for several years. “There’s not really any reason for us right now to believe that they won’t continue to do so.”

Weather is defined as a single meteorological event, perhaps spanning days or weeks. Climate spans decades or longer. So it’s overly simplistic to blame every bad day on climate change. What scientists look for are patterns.

Scientists say the connection between warming and climate change is well understood. A warmer, moister atmosphere generates more energy for storms to feed on. Based on an Inquirer analysis of moisture in the air, as measured by the dew points, 2021 was likely the muggiest summer since 1995.

Looking at data from the last 50 years, Augusts in Philadelphia are getting hotter, leading to a 1.8-degree increase in average temperatures. And more days are cresting 90 degrees.

So, a rainstorm that might have dumped 5 inches without a changed climate might dump 6 inches. While that might not seem like much, it translates to millions of gallons of additional water flowing into regional waterways.

» READ MORE: Protecting New Jersey’s back bays from climate change-fueled storms could cost $16 billion, federal report finds

Precisely how climate change could contribute to tornadoes is trickier to establish, Sublette said. Cornell’s Spaccio said more research is needed.

Though the United States has not experienced an increase in days of tornado outbreaks, on days when there are outbreaks, more tornadoes are spawned than in the past.

That’s what happened here. On Wednesday evening, seven tornadoes struck the Philly region. Tornado ratings are based on the EF scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest winds. The tornado that struck Gloucester County was an EF-3 with peak winds of 150 mph and carved a 12-mile path, well over a typical path of 1.5 miles. Though EF-3s are rare in the region, consider that one struck Bensalem Township on July 29.

But even before Wednesday, tornadoes already were accelerating in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

As big as Ida may seem, consider it was only little more than a year ago that remnants of Hurricane Isaias dumped 9 inches of rain in some local areas, caused the Schuylkill to overflow, flooded Boathouse Row, ruined homes in the city’s Eastwick neighborhood, and even trapped a dredge barge at the I-676 ramp to I-76 in Center City, forcing the road to close.

During Ida, the Schuylkill at 30th Street Station in Philadelphia rose to 16.28 feet. Flood stage is nine feet, and 14 feet is considered a major flood. The average flow at the location is 1,460 cubic feet per second. It reached a flow of 125,000 cubic feet per second on Thursday.

Dozens of sewage and storm-water pipes overflowed, emptying untreated water directly into Philadelphia’s major waterways. So if you saw pictures on social media of people diving into the water and paddling around for fun, they were almost assuredly swimming in diluted sewage.

During big storms, 60% of the city’s aging sewage lines are designed to bypass at-capacity water treatment plants and flow directly into the Delaware River and the Schuylkill, as well as creeks such as the Tacony.

Philadelphia is not alone in its aging storm-water system. As climate change makes storms heavier, officials from around the region fear their systems won’t be able to keep up.

The damage from more intense storms gets even more expensive because of development near waterways. Water runs over paved surfaces directly into streams and rivers instead of being absorbed into the ground. Aging storm systems were not designed to handle such heavy loads.

Like other scientists, Dethier said he can’t “explicitly connect” the size of Ida to climate change. But the storm is part of the “dominant signal” researchers are seeing, given the sogginess of the Northeast this summer.

“It’s sort of like the precursor to having a big event like this,” Dethier said. “Because if you get eight inches of rain, but it’s been really dry, you might be able to absorb it and it might result in a minor flood. But in this case, it’s sort of like the system was primed to have a big event. We had the rain from Ida that just pushed it over the top.”

» READ MORE: Ida’s costs could reach $95 billion. On top of COVID-19, ‘it’s one more painful thing.’

Another point of universal agreement: Preparing for more Idas will cost billions in infrastructure improvements. AccuWeather estimates Ida caused $95 billion in damage.

As Gov. Phil Murphy toured an area of Gloucester County devastated by a tornado spawned during Ida, he said he hopes Congress approves the Biden administration’s infrastructure bill to pay for roads, bridges, and utility systems that can handle ever-bigger storms.

“The world is changing,” Murphy said. “These storms are coming in more frequently, they’re coming in with more intensity. … We have got to get a leap forward and get out ahead of this.”

Sen. Bob Casey, who also toured flood damage, agreed.

”I don’t think anyone should have any doubts in the aftermath of this storm about the gravity of the threat that we face from climate change,” Casey said.

Staff writer Laura McCrystal contributed to this article.

Source Article from https://www.inquirer.com/science/climate/ida-climate-change-philadelphia-flooding-tornado-20210904.html

Embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said he was willing to negotiate on Wednesday in an interview with a Russian television program. “I am ready to sit at the negotiating table with the opposition,” Maduro said on RIA Novosti, “so that we can talk for the good of Venezuela, for peace and its future.”

His words, however, were not all forward-looking and optimistic. Indeed, in the same interview, he accused President Trump of plotting to have him killed, although he gave no evidence to support the claim.

Russia also took advantage of its ties to Caracas to push back on what it likely sees as heavy-handed U.S. influence in negotiations with Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov demanding that preconditions for talks be dropped: “We call on the opposition to refuse ultimatums and to work together independently, guided only by the interest of the Venezuelan people.”

China, which like Russia has investments tied up in Venezuela, also has criticized U.S. involvement. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang warned, “We believe that Venezuela’s affairs must and can only be chosen and determined by its own people, and we oppose unilateral sanctions.” He added, “China will continue to advance across-the-board cooperation with Venezuela to deliver more benefits to the people in both countries.”

In the United States, President Trump made clear that U.S. support for opposition leader Juan Guaido wasn’t going away. On Wednesday he spoke with Guaido and offered additional public support after imposing new sanctions against Maduro on Monday, tweeting:

Those split alliances, with Russia and China siding with Maduro and the United States and its allies backing Guaido, form the subtext for Maduro’s calls for international mediation. Any successful talks would require cooperation from both sides and their international backers.

Should those negotiations be successful, paving the way for new elections, a peaceful transition, and setting Venezuela on the path of recovery, that would be a tremendous victory for diplomacy and demonstrate that the world is not yet so polarized that world powers cannot work together to solve regional crises.

The other possibility, of course, is that entrenched differences and escalating tensions between Washington and Beijing and Moscow make negotiations impossible, leading to an ongoing standoff in Venezuela — or something worse. Given the billions of dollars at stake in lost investments, competing interests in Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, and the lure of a foothold in Latin America for Russia and China, that’s not an unlikely outcome.

However the negotiations on Venezuela’s future play out, the international interests at play make the conflict a key indicator of global stability and the reality of renewed Cold War-style tensions. It’s surely a fight to watch with broad implications for future conflicts.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/cold-war-like-tensions-escalate-as-world-powers-take-sides-in-venezuela

“No. The president has made clear that he is focused on ensuring that vaccines are accessible to every American. That is our focus,” Psaki told reporters at a White House press briefing.

“The next step is economic recovery. And that is ensuring that our neighbors, Mexico and Canada, have similarly managed the pandemic, so that we can open our borders and build back better,” she added.

For the time being, however, “the administration’s focus is on ensuring that every American is vaccinated,” Psaki said. “And once we accomplish that objective, we’re happy to discus further steps beyond that.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas will join Biden for his meeting with López Obrador. The leaders will discuss “a new phase of the U.S.-Mexico bilateral relationship,” Psaki said, with a specific emphasis on “migration, recovery from Covid-19, climate change and security.”

On Saturday, the Food and Drug Administration authorized emergency use of Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine — the third shot to be cleared for use in the U.S., after those from Pfizer and Moderna.

Weekly vaccine shipments to states have ramped up to 14.5 million over the past month, and drugmakers testified last week that the U.S. is on track to have 3 million doses per day available by April.

Source Article from https://www.politico.com/news/2021/03/01/biden-mexico-covid-vaccine-sharing-471939

São Paulo – The countries in the Middle East and North Africa should grow less than expected in 2014 and 2015, and so should the world economy. The same holds true of developing countries such as Brazil and South Africa, but not of advanced economies. So says the latest World Economic Outlook (WEO) released this Tuesday (8th) by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The Fund believes the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will be up 3.6% this year and 3.9% in 2015; both rates are down 0.1% from the WEO revision issued in January. The GDP of Middle East and North Africa countries should be up 3.2% on average this year (down 0.1% from January) and 4.5% in 2015. The prior forecast for 2015 was 4.8%.

In a statement released alongside the WEO, IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard said the beginning of the world economic recovery in October last year is not only “strong,” but also “broader.” Still, old risks and new challenges continue to threaten the world’s recovery from the 2008 crisis. The hazards listed by the IMF include high rates of indebtedness, high unemployment and concerns over emerging markets. New challenges include the risk of deflation in advanced economies and geopolitical tensions.

The document notes that advanced economies such as the United States, Japan, China and the Eurozone are driving global growth, but the challenge for emerging countries lies in growing despite domestic adjustments and scarcer credit.

“Many (emerging) economies need a new round of structural reforms that include investment in infrastructure, removal of barriers to entry in product and services markets, and in China, rebalancing growth away from investment toward consumption,” said Blanchard.

Arab growth

As per the report, oil output in Arab countries has declined, partly due to political instability in Libya, low growth in private investment and higher government spending stemming from conflicts and political transitions. Nevertheless, Arab economies are expected to grow this year, driven by higher exports and investment.

Concerning investment in the region, the WEO cites Qatar’s investment plan for hosting the 2022 World Cup, and the United Arab Emirates’ for hosting the 2020 World Expo, in Dubai. Still, the WEO posits that Arab countries, especially non-oil exporting ones, are plagued by high unemployment, high indebtedness and low competitiveness. The WEO’s calculations include the economies of Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan, which are located in the Middle East but are not Arab countries.

The IMF forecasts growth of 4.1% in 2014 and 4.2% in 2015 for Saudi Arabia; 4.3% in 2014 and 4.1% in 2015 for Algeria; 4.4% and 4.2% for the United Arab Emirates; 5.9% and 7.1% for Qatar; 2.6% and 3% for Kuwait; 5.9% and 6.7% for Iraq; 2.3% and 4.1% for Egypt; 3.9% and 4.9% for Morocco; 3% and 4.5% for Tunisia; 2.7% and 4.6% for Sudan; 1% and 2.5% for Lebanon; and 3.5% and 4% for Jordan.

Slower growth in Brazil

The WEO has revised down its Brazilian economic growth forecast. The document names low private investment, low competitiveness and restricted domestic supplies as the reasons for 1.8% growth this year and 2.7% in 2015. The prior forecast was 2.3% in 2014 and 2.9% in 2015. The growth expectancy for Brazil is lower than the global rate and the estimate for emerging countries, which is 4.9% this year and 5.3% in 2015. The WEO forecast for China has been maintained at 7.5% this year and 7.3% in 2015.

*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum

Source Article from http://www2.anba.com.br/noticia/21863427/macro-en/imf-sees-slower-growth-for-arabs/

Few Americans alive today have set foot inside North Korea, the isolated, nuclear-armed dictatorship sometimes called the Hermit Kingdom.

On Sunday, Ivanka Trump became one of them, capping a consequential three-day Asian trip in which the president’s eldest daughter played a very public role that blended family ties with diplomatic work that is usually performed by diplomats.

She pronounced the short walk to the other side of one of the world’s most fortified borders “surreal.”

Previously, at the Group of 20 economic summit in Japan, Ivanka Trump was everywhere — at her father’s side at times when other leaders’ spouses were present (first lady Melania Trump skipped the trip), in meetings where her presence puzzled other participants, and even giving an awkward video “readout” of Trump’s meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Another video of Ivanka Trump talking with British Prime Minister Theresa May, French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde at the G-20 also went viral over the weekend. Lagarde’s impatient side-eye as Ivanka Trump interjects in what appears to have been a back-and-forth between Macron and May suggested irritation at finding herself standing alongside the daughter of the U.S. president — rather than the president himself.

“As soon as you charge them with that economic aspect of it, a lot of people start listening who otherwise wouldn’t listen,” May can be heard saying, as Lagarde nods in agreement.

“And the same with the defense side of it, in terms of the whole business that’s been, sort of, male-dominated,” Ivanka Trump then says, as a startled-looking Lagarde turns toward her, then purses her lips.

The first daughter’s prominence in Japan and South Korea appeared to be by design — a sign of her influence with President Trump and the current absence of influential opponents within the administration.

It’s not clear, however, to what end.

Ivanka Trump shuttered her clothing business after joining the administration, although not right away, and has largely stepped away from her old life as an entrepreneur and social mainstay in New York. She and her husband, senior White House adviser Jared Kushner, let it be known last year that they would remain in Washington and in the White House indefinitely.

Her ambitions are unknown — she demurs on any desire for public office. Over time, her work on women’s issues and entre­pre­neur­ship has increasingly resembled that of a State Department envoy. She made a lengthy trip to India in November 2017, and several others since, sometimes with her father and sometimes on her own. On a solo Africa trip in April, Trump said she would campaign for women’s right to own and inherit land in Africa and promote a $50 million U.S. development project in Ethiopia.

The gray area she occupies — family, employee, envoy, advocate — frequently overlaps with the work of career diplomats. But her unfamiliarity with some elements of diplomacy were on display on this trip, including when she pronounced India a “critical ally.” It is a partner in many areas, but U.S. diplomats avoid the higher terminology of ally.

Mostly, her prominence on a major foreign trip sends a message about who other countries should listen to or court, said Christopher R. Hill, a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea and other nations.

“It looks to the rest of the world like we have a kind of a constitutional monarchy,” said Hill, who oversaw nuclear talks with North Korea at the close of the George W. Bush administration.

“It’s increasingly problematic in terms of our credibility,” Hill said. “It says to our allies, to everyone we do business with, that the only people who matter are Trump and his family members.”

Ivanka Trump had front-row seats at nearly every televised session in Japan and for President Trump’s visit to South Korea, where the trip to the demilitarized zone was the main event. She and Kushner were among the small U.S. delegation at the border, which included Secretary of State Mike Pompeo but not White House national security adviser John Bolton, a longtime skeptic of diplomacy with North Korea. Bolton instead had left to fly to Mongolia.

Ivanka Trump worked the room at a meeting of South Korean business leaders on Saturday, with cameras catching the smiling interactions. Pompeo did not attend. She remained in the front row at Trump’s news conference in Seoul, nodding in agreement as the president spoke, after Pompeo ducked out minutes into the event.

Along the way were opportunities for the kind of “branding” Ivanka Trump espouses as a tool for empowering women — a main theme of her work as presidential adviser, some of it captured on her Instagram account.

A video shows Ivanka Trump looking into the camera as she recounts meetings with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Modi and others at the G-20, and touts a program launched by G-20 members to expand access to capital for women in the developing world.

“It’s been a great success; one of the truly great deliverables of the G-20 in Hamburg” two years ago, Ivanka Trump says. “Very excited to talk about the deliverables of this important initiative.”

She also posted a photo in which she and Kushner pose with Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

“Today, President Trump held dynamic and productive meetings with many world leaders to discuss key security and economic issues. It is an honor to be a member of the U.S. delegation during an incredible first day of the #G20OsakaSummit,” she wrote.

But the final day of Trump’s trip — with the history-making trip to the DMZ and an address to U.S. forces stationed in South Korea that had at times sounded like a campaign rally — produced the most dramatic images of Ivanka Trump in her hybrid and often inscrutable role.

Trump invited Pompeo onstage at the Osan Air Base, and gave a nod to traditional diplomacy by saying that a “whole team” would follow up on Trump’s third face-to-face discussion with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Pompeo trotted onto the stage and started toward Trump but hadn’t made it to the lectern when Trump moved on to the big reveal.

“And you know who else I have?” he asked, leaning toward the crowd for dramatic effect.

“Has anybody ever heard of Ivanka? he asked, to whoops from the crowd.

“Come up here,” he commanded, as Ivanka Trump appeared at the rear of the stage.

“She’s going to steal the show,” Trump said, grinning.

As Pompeo fell in beside Ivanka Trump and the two walked toward him, President Trump quipped, “What a beautiful couple,” and the audience howled. “Mike! Beauty and the beast,” Trump went on, as he also acknowledged Harry Harris, the U.S. ambassador to South Korea.

Pompeo appeared to gesture to Ivanka Trump to go first, but she stepped aside and signaled for him to speak. After Pompeo briefly thanked the troops, there was a roar as Ivanka Trump stepped forward. President Trump and Pompeo flanked her, grinning, as she also thanked the troops and their spouses and families.

“They made the trip with me, and we spent a lot of time, a lot of time,” the president said.

Ivanka Trump’s presence at the DMZ is particularly troubling, said Jenny Town, a North Korea specialist at the Stimson Center and editor of 38 North, a publication focused on North Korea.

“It was not appropriate for Trump to bring his kids to this meeting,” Town said. “But it was a weird mix of people on the U.S. side to begin with. What’s notable, however, is who wasn’t there: Bolton.”

Trump has sidelined or fired some professional national security advisers and undercut others, including at times Pompeo and Bolton. He has never publicly criticized or contradicted Ivanka Trump or Jared Kushner, although he has jokingly teased Kushner at times.

Pompeo spoke to reporters after the DMZ visit and outlined some of the bureaucratic next steps with North Korea.

Pompeo was asked whether his presence at the DMZ was a signal to North Korea, which has complained about him and reportedly sought to go around him with Trump. Pompeo, who enjoys a close relationship with Trump, did not mention Ivanka Trump in his answer, though her presence Sunday had served to underscore the personal nature of Trump’s direct diplomacy with Kim.

“So far as I know, President Trump has always had me in charge” of negotiations, Pompeo said.

John Hudson in Washington, Simon Denyer in Seoul, Seung Min Kim in Panmunjon, Korea, and Carol Morello in Anchorage contributed to this report.

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Even as so many Americans decry the events of January 6, the day has had lasting impacts on the nation’s psyche, the most immediate of which is that millions of Americans think more violence is coming, and that democracy itself might be threatened. 

The reality — and this won’t allay all those fears — is that there are some Americans who generally view force or political violence undertaken by others as justifiable, depending on the situation. That applies to the violence on January 6, and to a few for whom 2020 remains unsettled, but also extends to other issues, from abortion to gun policy to civil rights. And it’s partially related to beliefs that political opponents are an existential threat, or being convinced they’ll do worse to you. We stress this is not how most people feel, and that those who do are a low number in percentage terms. But then, we’ve also seen that it doesn’t take large numbers to provoke these wider concerns in the nation.

So, when people feel democracy is threatened, their concerns about violence become even more critical, and here’s where public opinion really matters: democracy depends on its citizens adhering to its norms both because they believe in them, and because they expect others will, too.

More violence to come?

The implications of January 6 are reverberating through the polity: two-thirds see the events as a harbinger of increasing political violence, not an isolated incident. That leads to larger misgivings. When people see it as a sign of increasing violence, they’re more likely to think violence is a reason democracy is threatened. 

January 6 views — then and now

The events of January 6 were widely condemned when they happened and still are today by majorities of both parties. But there is an alternative set of descriptors and interpretations of those events, and of what should happen next, largely on the right, along with a softening of their disapproval that’s worthy of attention.

Despite overall disapproval of the events on January 6, Republicans do stand apart from others in offering descriptions that are less harsh. One, the intensity with which Republicans disapprove softened over the summer and has stayed softer. A year ago, most Republicans strongly disapproved, but today, their disapproval is spread between strongly and a bit more only somewhat disapproving.

Americans who no longer strongly disapprove are less likely to describe the day’s events as an insurrection than they were in January. They are also much likelier to consume conservative media than those consistent in strongly disapproving.

Moreover, four in 10 Republicans have a different conception of who was involved in the first place, saying most of those who forced their way into the Capitol were left-leaning groups pretending to be Trump supporters.

Outright approval of what happened comes only from a minority of Americans, but it certainly is there. Those who approve are younger and use right-leaning news sources and social media more, but they also have what seem like larger items than just their views about 2020 or an election. They are more likely to say the United States should divide into “red” and “blue” countries. There’s a relationship between approval and conspiracy theories: among Americans who think QAnon ideas are at least probably true, approval of the Capitol events goes up to 50%.

Descriptions of what happened are also similar to how they were a year ago after it happened. People widely call it a protest that went too far, but how much further becomes more partisan. Most Americans — including most Democrats, but just a fifth of Republicans — call it an insurrection and describe it as an attempt to overturn the election and the government.

Four in 10 Republicans say those who went into the Capitol were actually left-leaning groups pretending to be Trump supporters. 

Only a quarter of Americans call what happened “patriotism” or “defending freedom.” They tend to be on the political right, identifying as conservatives. When asked why they describe it that way, they say those who entered the Capitol were “exercising their right to protest” and drawing attention to (what they see as) election fraud — more than twice as often as they say January 6 participants were trying to stop the electoral count, per se. So, they are still supportive of the act, even though it didn’t meet its alleged goals, which could partially explain why they’re also willing to see other actions as justified.

What should Trump do next?

So, what do they want now? There is 12% of the country, and a fifth of Trump’s 2020 voters, that want Trump to fight to retake the presidency right now, before the next election. 

When we follow up with them on that idea, they mostly say they would like to see that done through legal channels. But then a third of the people within that 12% say he should use force if necessary. While that only amounts to 4% of the population, it still translates into millions of Americans effectively willing to see a forceful change in the executive branch.

The specter hanging over the next election

In particular — and perhaps because it’s still so tangible — a majority of the nation now expect there will be violence from the losing side of a future presidential election. 

We then followed up and asked, “If that’s your side that loses and there is in fact violence, would you be in favor of that or not?” It’s an abstraction right now, of course, and a mere 2% would favor it. But another quarter left it open, saying it depends on the circumstance — and in that, we start to see political differences, with 2020 Trump voters twice as likely as Biden voters to say that it depends.

Specifically, those who claim widespread voter fraud in 2020 and those who don’t consider Biden legitimate now are relatively more likely to be in favor, should violence occur after their side loses a future election. And they’re more likely to say that violence over election results might be justified in general.

It’s not just elections

The idea of political violence historically isn’t confined to anger over elections, of course. And to be clear, most don’t condone it on the left or right. But there are some Americans who could see justification for political violence over some issues, at least in principle. We’d also stress this by no means suggests they would do it themselves. 

Gun policies, abortion policies, civil rights, labor issues, and even vaccine and coronavirus issues are each issues at least a quarter of Americans say are important enough that violence might be justified, depending on the situation.

Among liberals and Democrats, about four in 10 say civil rights and equality issues are important enough that violence might be justified over them, and a quarter name labor issues and abortion policies. For the right — that is, conservatives and Republicans — it’s more likely to be gun policies and election results, with about four in ten saying force might be justified on these issues.

Then there’s how people respond to political actors who might call for violence, or otherwise violate political norms. It’s 14% who feel that elected officials or candidates might be justified in calling for violence in public speeches. This is somewhat lower than the one in five who say that public insults might be justified.

Within each group, those who would justify violence tend to be younger, and somewhat more ideologically extreme — that is, identifying as very liberal or conservative. It’s important to note they also report being less likely to vote, which may reflect an inclination to seek political outcomes by other, less traditional means.

But it’s also associated with attitudes toward opponents: the partisans among them are more inclined to think the other side threatens their way of life and less likely to favor compromise in general.

On that, too, we see what looks like a vicious circle: Americans who consider violence potentially justified aren’t necessarily eager for it, but may feel it is forced upon them. For example, looking at people who say that calls for force from political leaders can be justified, about half say this approach can be justified because their opponents do the same or worse.

This is not wholly relegated to one ideology or political party, because on several issues, like labor issues, civil rights, abortion, and vaccines, we find comparable numbers of Democrats and Republicans saying violence might be justified, though Republicans are more apt to say so on elections and guns. Across all six issues tested, Republicans are slightly more likely than Democrats to select at least one issue as important enough to possibly justify violence. The formation of citizen militias — which for the purposes of this study, is not directly measuring action or violence — is acceptable to three in 10 Americans, driven by those on the right.

The good news?

It’s not necessarily related to violence but speaks to some of the mood that underpins animosity: not all partisans think of the opposition as enemies threatening their way of life. Those who do tend to be more ideological, though. And few Americans favor the idea — as far-fetched as it might be — of a “national divorce” between red and blue states.

Given all this, going forward, the important divisions into 2022 and beyond might be not just along partisan lines, but between that large group of Americans who don’t condone violence, along with those who don’t see themselves as engaged in an existential struggle with an opposing party, and those smaller numbers who do. 

What does run throughout public sentiment, though, is that wider apprehension about the state of democracy, and that measure may be the most important of all to watch. On a certain level, democracy has to be self-reinforcing; when people adhere to its norms, they need to believe and trust in its stability, particularly that others will adhere to them as well.


This CBS News/YouGov survey was conducted with a nationally representative sample of 2,063 U.S. adult residents interviewed between December 27-30, 2021. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, and education based on the U.S. Census American Community Survey and Current Population Survey, as well as to 2020 presidential vote. The margin of error is ±2.6 points.

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Source Article from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/january-6-opinion-poll-2022/