HUD Secretary Ben Carson speaks during a news conference after touring a housing development in Baltimore. Carson: “There are problems and we can’t sweep them under the rug.”
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HUD Secretary Ben Carson speaks during a news conference after touring a housing development in Baltimore. Carson: “There are problems and we can’t sweep them under the rug.”
Julio Cortez/AP
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson made a visit to Baltimore Wednesday where he renewed his defense of President Trump’s disparaging comments about the city, and reiterated his own critique of the city where he lived for more than three decades.
“There are good things in Baltimore. There are bad things in Baltimore,” Carson told reporters near a recently-renovated, affordable housing development. “But there are problems and we can’t sweep them under the rug.”
Carson, who built a career as a widely-respected pediatric neurosurgeon at The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, went on to liken the city’s social and economic woes to someone afflicted with cancer.
“You can dress them up and put a nice suit on him and you can try to ignore it, but that cancer is going to have a devastating effect. You have to be willing to address that issue if you’re ever going to solve it,” Carson said.
Baltimore and Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., whose majority African American district encompasses much of the city, have been the targets of a series of controversial Trump tweets that began over the weekend.
In comments widely condemned as racist, Trump referred to Cummings, who is black, as “a brutal bully,” said the city was “a “disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess.” He also tweeted “no human being would want to live there.”
At the White House Tuesday, President Trump accused Baltimore officials of being corrupt and stealing billions of dollars.
“What Elijah Cummings should do is, he should take his oversight committee, bring them down to Baltimore…and really study the billions and billions of dollars that’s been stolen,” Trump said.
Carson, who is also black, on Wednesday reaffirmed his support for some of the president’s remarks about Baltimore. He said that while he was a practicing physician in Baltimore he was often caught in a “dilemma,” over whether to send some children back to their homes in poor neighborhoods in East or West Baltimore.
“Where there were rats and roaches and mice and ticks, where there was just unabated lead problems that were having devastating effects on the mental development of young people,” Carson said. “That was a problem for me and it stayed on my mind a lot.”
On Monday, Carson told Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson that he would sometimes order additional tests to allow patients to spend a few more days in the hospital before going home.
Carson’s Wednesday press conference was originally scheduled for an open field across from the Hollins House, a high-rise building with 130 units and the site of a multi-million dollar renovation that began under the Obama administration.
Morning Star Baptist Church member Gregory Evans speaks to reporters about why asked HUD officials to move their press conference from the church’s property. “There was no permission granted.”
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Morning Star Baptist Church member Gregory Evans speaks to reporters about why asked HUD officials to move their press conference from the church’s property. “There was no permission granted.”
Brakkton Booker/NPR
But it had to be hurriedly moved to an alleyway because a member of Morning Star Baptist Church, Gregory Evans, objected to the event being held on church’s property.
“You have not asked for any permission to be here,” Evans told a Carson handler.
Carson addressed the matter during his remarks saying it was important to work together and called it “madness” that a church would boot them off their property “when we’re talking about helping people.”
Evans said no one informed the church that HUD would be holding a press conference on its property and said he did not believe that the Trump administration was doing enough to help people in his community.
“You can look across the street from the church and see the dilapidated housing. You can see the houses on both sides of the church are falling down,” Evans said. “You don’t need me to point that out.”
Carson did not unveil any new housing policy at the event, but did tout the benefits of a Trump-backed opportunity zones program that offers tax incentives to attract investment to distressed neighborhoods.
Trump said he would visit Baltimore himself “at the right time.” Carson said he’s spoken with the president over the last few days and said Trump was “very willing to work with the people here in Baltimore, including with Elijah Cummings.”
Carson added: “You know, the president’s emphasis is on the people.”
São Paulo –Flora Néctar, Brazilian honey producer, plans to resume exporting to the Arab market. The company already exported to Saudi Arabia around three years ago and is scheduled to take part in food sector trade fair, Sial Middle East, next year, with the intention to resume sales to the Arabs. The fair is held annually in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The previous export to Jeddah was 35 tonnes large, according to Flora Néctar’s director and owner, José Eduardo Anibal.
Press release
Flora Néctar: partnership with beekeepers
“The Arab market is very interesting. During Ramadan, they consume a lot of honey. There is a large consumption,” says Anibal. The difficulty with selling to the region, according to the Brazilian businessman, is the competition with China. He says the Asian country usually exports honey to Germany and from there the product is sold to the Arab market. The competition against Chinese honey is not a hindrance to sell only to the Arabs, but to other countries in general. “But the quality of the Chinese honey is quite inferior”, says Flora Néctar’s owner.
The plant is in Barretos, São Paulo’s countryside, and it focuses on exporting. Currently 82% of the production is intended to the foreign markets. There are seven countries purchasing from the company, the United States and Canada are the largest buyers. And perspectives for exporting are bright. In the first five months of this year alone, Flora Néctar has already matched 2013’s total sales, driven by the good sales both domestically and abroad. Last year production stood at 2.5 million tonnes of honey.
Press release
Pure honey is sold in a variety of packages
In Brazil Flora Néctar sells honey in several sizes and packages, ranging from sachets to packages of over one kilo. Abroad the product is usually sent in 280-kilo barrels. The choice of sending the product in bulk is to make the price more appealing. The company from Barretos sells both pure and compound honey, i.e. mixed to propolis, eucalyptus, guaco other extracts. They even produce honey in packages aimed at children.
Flora Néctar processes all the honey in its Barretos unit. The raw material, however, comes from virtually all Brazil, from beekeepers associated to the company. The company also has one of the largest projects for the production of organic honey in the country. Currently, around 80% of the honey sold by the company is organic.
São Paulo – The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revised down its world economic growth forecast by 0.3% for this year. As per an update of the World Economic Outlook (WEO) report, the global economy is expected to grow by 3.4%. According to the IMF, the revision stems from subpar performance in Q1 this year, especially in the United States, and from less optimistic expectations for several emerging countries, Brazil included.
For 2015, the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) forecast has been kept at 4%.
According to the document, international economic activity has slowed down more than expected, from 3.75% in Q1 2013 to 2.75% in the same period of 2014. The increase was 0.5% lower than previously estimated by the Fund.
The IMF reports that inventory overhang in the United States in late 2013 exceeded expectations, since demand declined due to a harsh winter, exports dropped significantly in Q1 this year from Q4 2013, and production decreased.
In China, domestic demand also slowed down more than expected, due to local government intervention to reign in credit expansion and “correct” real estate activity. In Russia, demand dropped as a consequence of “geopolitical tensions,” particularly the crisis with Ukraine, and affected growth significantly.
In other emerging countries, according to the IMF, economic growth was lower than expected as a result of lower external demand, mostly from the United States and China, and in many cases due to weakening domestic consumption and investment.
According to the Fund, however, international financial conditions have eased since April, when the first version of the WEO report was released. Long term interest rates in developed countries have dropped even further, price volatility expectations have diminished and equity prices have strengthened.
This scenario led to a recovery of capital flows to emerging markets, whose bond spreads also declined, and exchange rates and equity prices have stabilized or even strengthened in some of these economies.
Therefore, the IMF believes that performance improved in Q2 from Q1 2014. “This is consistent with the view that the unexpected weakness in the first quarter was in large part temporary,” according to the update.
However, some of these “weaknesses” are likely to persist, hence the downward revision of global growth projections for 2014.
Brazil and the Arabs
Also regarding emerging economies, the IMF expects 4.6% growth this year, down 0.2% from the April forecast, and 5.2% in 2015, down 0.1%.
In Brazil, the Fund believes tighter financial conditions and continued weakness in business and consumer confidence are holding back investment and dampening consumption growth.
The revised Brazilian economic growth forecast is 1.3% for 2014, down 0.6% from April, and 2% for 2015, also down 0.6%. This week, the Brazilian government itself has revised down its GDP growth estimate for this year from 2.5% to 1.8%.
For the Middle East and North Africa, plus Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Fund forecasts 3.1% growth this year, down 0.2% from April, and 4.8% in 2015, up 2%. This bloc comprises the Arab countries.
Concerning the Middle East, the Fund warns of issues affecting the region that may negatively influence the world economy as a whole. “Geopolitical risks have risen relative to April: risks of an oil price spike are higher due to recent developments in the Middle East while those related to Ukraine are still present.”
Since the original report was released in April, violence has escalated in Libya and Iraq, in addition to Israel’s attack on Gaza that has caused over 700 casualties. It is worth noting that the former two countries are major oil producers and exporters.
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.”
Three months after Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an unprecedented statewide stay-at-home order designed to stem the spread of the coronavirus, California recorded a new grim milestone: passing the threshold of 6,000 coronavirus-related deaths.
Tuesday’s news came one day after the state recorded its highest single-day count of COVID-19 cases. Monday’s tally of more than 8,000 infections broke the state’s daily record for the third time in eight days.
With coronavirus cases surging in California, the holiday weekend is a crucial test for whether residents can reduce risky behavior.
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In Los Angeles County, officials reported 45 additional deaths Tuesday and 2,779 more COVID-19 cases. It was the third consecutive day the county reported more than 2,100 cases following Monday’s highest single-day tally, which brought the county past 100,000 infections.
The enormous surge in cases, which now total more than 223,900 statewide, has prompted New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to order anyone traveling to the state from California — and 15 other states that have seen recent spikes — to self-quarantine for 14 days.
New York has been among the hardest hit of all states, recording more than 31,000 deaths. New Jersey follows with more than 15,000 deaths, Massachusetts has more than 8,000, and Illinois, Pennsylvania and Michigan each have over 6,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University’s coronavirus tracker.
If you’re traveling to New York from the following states you must self-quarantine for 14 days.
The states are: AL, AR, AZ, CA, FL, GA, IA, ID, LA, MS, NC, NV, SC, TN, TX, UT.
The California increase is not simply the result of expanded testing capacity, officials have said.
The growing rate of infections and a spike in hospitalizations are proof the virus is spreading within communities. Health officials have attributed the rising numbers to a combination of events: the further reopening of many businesses, mass protests over the death of George Floyd and clusters of private gatherings.
“We’ve been very clear — this shouldn’t surprise anybody watching — as you reopen the economy, as we move away and make the meaningful modifications which we did to our stay-at-home order, you’re going to see people mixing that were not mixing in the past,” Newsom said during a news conference Monday.
Newsom says the state will make an announcement Wednesday on efforts to “toggle back” on the current health order. The announcement will include tighter restrictions related to the July 4 weekend; the governor says holiday gatherings are a major concern.
“If you’re not going to stay home and you’re not going to wear masks in public, we have to enforce [rules],” he said Tuesday.
In the months since the pandemic struck the U.S., nothing in the fight against the virus has changed except people’s social behaviors, experts say. The state is now closely monitoring 19 counties for surges in cases — which recently have skewed toward younger residents — and hospitalizations, which still largely affect older residents and those with underlying health conditions.
The alarming recent surge in COVID-19 cases appears to be driven at least in part by increases in infections among Californians ages 18 to 49.
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Some counties, including several in the Bay Area, have begun to step back their reopening efforts.
L.A. County was one of seven counties ordered Sunday by the state to close its bars. On Monday, local officials announced that beaches would be closed over the July 4 weekend, a little over a month after reopening ahead of Memorial Day weekend. The county also has banned fireworks displays over the holiday.
Sheriff Alex Villanueva said in a tweet the Sheriff’s Department would enforce beach parking violations over the three-day weekend and that beaches would be patrolled.
L.A. County health officials now estimate that 1 in 140 people are unknowingly infected with the coronavirus, a massive increase since last week’s projection of 1 in 400. With that in mind, Health Services Director Dr. Christina Ghaly said that officials were preparing for a surge in hospitalizations and an “increase in mortality” in the coming weeks.
Officials had warned of the possibility of a spike in cases with a resurgence in activity, but they weren’t prepared for the speed at which the jump would occur.
“What we didn’t expect was to see this steep an increase this quickly,” Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer said Monday.
Republican congressman Adam Kinzinger condemned President Donald Trump on Sunday for quoting Pastor Robert Jeffress’ warning that impeachment might cause a “Civil War-like” fracture in the U.S.
“If the Democrats are successful in removing the President from office (which they will never be), it will cause a Civil War like fracture in this Nation from which our Country will never heal.’ Pastor Robert Jeffress,@FoxNews,” the president wrote on Sunday evening in a series of tweets.
In response, Kinzinger tweeted: “I have visited nations ravaged by civil war.@realDonaldTrump. I have never imagined such a quote to be repeated by a President. This is beyond repugnant.”
The president’s tweet came shortly after Jeffress’ appearance on Fox News, where he spoke about the impeachment inquiry into Trump announced by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday.
Jeffress, a prominent evangelical pastor of a Texas megachurch who’s also a vocal supporter of Trump, has been accused on numerous occasions of making controversial and offensive remarks. In March, he said Christian followers of Trump have “deeper convictions” than other devotees during an interview on Fox News.
“Even though the evangelical number has dropped as a whole, the number of evangelicals turning out at the ballot box is greater than other groups, and it’s because evangelicals have deeper convictions,” Jeffress said. “They believe in absolute moral and spiritual truth, and they tend to vote those convictions at the ballot box.”
In August, Jeffress condemned a church denomination for sheltering migrants and fighting deportations as the White House cracked down on illegal immigration. “The church has no business in doing that. And look, the Bible is very clear about this,” Jeffress said. “In Romans 13, Paul says, ‘Government is established by God. To resist government is to resist God himself.'”
According to a CBS News poll, released on Sunday morning, a majority of Americans say they support the Democrat-led House’s recently-announced impeachment inquiry, with 55 percent of respondents approving of the impeachment inquiry and 45 percent disapproving of the move.
The weekend poll shows a slight rise in public support for the impeachment proceedings as Trump faces increased public scrutiny after a whistleblower accused the White House of covering up a phone conversation made between the president and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky in July, during which the U.S. leader requested his foreign counterpart to look into former Vice President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden.
The last impeachment survey, an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll conducted on Wednesday, found that 49 percent of Americans approved of the impeachment inquiry, while 49 percent disapproved and five percent said they were unsure.
The Sri Lankan government blocked access to Facebook and other social-networking sites Sunday after suicide attacks killed more than 290 people, a move meant to stop misinformation from inciting further violence in a country where online mistruths have fomented deadly ethnic unrest.
But the blackout also had the effect of eliminating a key means of communication during a major terrorist event — a problem Sunday for both Sri Lankans and foreigners desperate to get information about security and check in with loved ones.
Analysts, meanwhile, question whether shutting down social media is effective at defusing strife. The Brussels-based International Federation of Journalists has said there is no “substantive” evidence to show that such bans, which are common in South Asia, can “scale down violence.”
Roshni Fernando moved to Colombo recently from London. After suicide bombers struck churches and hotels Sunday morning, she was frustrated by her inability to reach people back home.
“If I don’t reply to your messages it is because WhatsApp and Facebook appears to have been shutdown in Sri Lanka,” she wrote on Twitter.
“I have had friends in London trying to contact me through both,” she told The Washington Post, “and I can’t see them or message anybody.”
The rapid proliferation of falsehoods online has become a regular consequence of shootings, terrorist attacks and other major news events — one that Facebook, Google, Twitter and other social media sites have struggled to curtail. Within hours of the first bombings Sunday morning, researchers said they saw a spike in false reports about the perpetrators and the number of victims.
In response, Sri Lanka’s Defense Ministry said the government had “taken steps to temporarily block all the social media avenues until the investigations are concluded.” A state-run news service said “false news reports were spreading through social media.”
Facebook said it was “working to support first responders and law enforcement as well as to identify and remove content which violates our standards.” The social media giant said in a statement it was “committed to maintaining our services and helping the community and the country during this tragic time.”
Twitter declined to comment. Representatives for Snapchat and Google-owned YouTube did not respond to requests for comment.
Viber, a messaging app popular in Sri Lanka, did not comment on the ban, but the platform tweeted soon after the attacks, offering support and encouraging users to “be responsible and rely on updates from official and trusted sources.”
NetBlocks, a London-based digital rights organization, said its data show each of those services had been affected. Alp Toker, the group’s executive director, said it appeared that the Sri Lankan government had ordered local Internet providers to implement the blackout. The providers interpreted the order differently, he said, which explained why some social-networking services still seemed to be operable for some users.
Sanjana Hattotuwa, a senior researcher at Center for Policy Alternatives in Colombo who monitors social media for fake news, said he saw a significant uptick in false reports after the bombings Sunday.
There was a significant amount of misinformation on the death toll, he said, and unverified information on perpetrators was spreading rapidly on Facebook and Twitter. He cited two instances of widely shared unverified information: An Indian media report attributing the attack to Muslim suicide bombers, and a tweet from a Sri Lankan minister about an intelligence report warning of an attack.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks. The government made 13 arrests on Sunday, but has not identified the suspects.
Hattotuwa has asked users to flag such content directly to him.
“There are new Twitter accounts popping up putting out unverified information,” he said. “There are Facebook posts which violate the guidelines through either intent or are graphic in nature.”
Hattotuwa was sharing the information with Facebook and Twitter. He said the platforms were on “high alert.”
South Asia saw the highest number of shutdowns globally in 2018, according to the International Federation of Journalists. The organization said authorities justified most of these shutdowns by citing “law and order” imperatives, saying the measures were intended to preempt violence, or were undertaken in response to it.
Governments around the world have expressed deep unease with the spread of misinformation and violence on social media, particularly during shootings and terrorist attacks. Facebook and YouTube, for example, struggled to remove graphic video from the deadly attack on two mosques in New Zealand last month. The New Zealand government has proposed rules that would compel companies to take down such content faster or face penalties, an idea that European regulators also have considered in recent weeks.
Sri Lanka’s government shut down access to social media platforms in March 2018 out of concerns that sites had helped militants foment deadly ethnic unrest in the deeply divided country. Anti-Muslim riots left three dead and prompted officials to declare a state of emergency.
Officials said Facebook and Facebook-owned WhatsApp had “been used to destroy families, lives and private property.” And they accused the tech giant of failing to act swiftly and aggressively enough to take down content that had been deemed a national security risk.
But Hattotuwa said Sri Lanka’s action in 2018 was undertaken too late, after the violence had already broken out.
“While a ban on social media helps to contain the spread of rumors, it also hampers efforts by journalists to push back on them,” he said.
The FBI on Wednesday raided Democratic Congressman Henry Cuellar’s home and campaign office in Texas as part of a wide-ranging federal probe relating to the former Soviet state of Azerbaijan and several U.S. businessmen, a source familiar with the matter told ABC News.
A federal grand jury in Washington is investigating the matter, but it’s unclear if Cuellar is a target of the grand jury’s probe, ABC News was told.
After FBI agents executed a search warrant at Cuellar’s home in Laredo, Texas, an aide to Cuellar said in a statement that the congressman “will fully cooperate in any investigation.”
“He is committed to ensuring that justice and the law are upheld,” the statement said.
On Wednesday, an FBI spokesperson emphasized that any “law enforcement activity” at Cuellar’s home and campaign office was “court-authorized.”
Cuellar, who represents Texas’ 28th Congressional District along the U.S.-Mexico border, has been in Congress since 2005. In recent years he has served as a co-chair of the Congressional Azerbaijan Caucus, and repeatedly met with Azerbaijan officials, including the ambassador of Azerbaijan, Elin Suleymanov.
Over the past year, Cuellar has frequently criticized the Biden administration for some of its border-related policies.
Spokespeople for the FBI and Justice Department declined to comment for this story.
ABC News’ Luke Barr, Alexander Mallin and Benjamin Siegel contributed to this report.
Republican U.S. Senator David Perdue and Democratic Candidate for U.S. Senate Jon Ossoff were supposed to go head-to-head in a debate on Sunday, but Purdue declined to attend the event at the Atlanta Press Club, leaving Ossoff debating with an empty podium.
Ossoff is hoping to replace Perdue as senator for Georiga in the January runoffs and has encouraged his supporters to vote early. However, rather than sparking a conversation about the candidates and their policies, yesterday’s debate had viewers talking for all the wrong reasons.
Viewers took to social media to share memes and jokes at Perdue’s expense, with many taking the lead from Ossoff who shared a photo of himself gesturing to an empty podium simply captioned with a chicken emoji.
Ossoff also tweeted: “I showed up to debate tonight. David Perdue pleaded the fifth.”
Twitter user @AdamTexDavis said: “Clint Eastwood interviewing David Perdue after tonight’s debate,” with a photo of Eastwood gesturing to an empty chair at the 2012 Republican National Convention when he pretended the empty chair was then-President Barack Obama.
Writer Charles Bethea said: “Live shot of David Perdue at the APC debate” with a photo of a microphone with nobody standing behind it.
Former director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics Walter Shaub simply said: “Here is a complete transcript of David Perdue’s remarks in his debate with Jon Ossoff:” with nothing following the statement.
Here is a complete transcript of David Perdue’s remarks in his debate with Jon Ossoff:
A Twitter user replied to Shaub and said: “You missed the visual that went with Perdue’s performance at his debate with Jon Ossoff,” and attached a GIF of Dipsy from the Teletubbies running away.
Twitter user Jennifer D. Meglich said: “Visual representation of Perdue at tonight’s debate. @ossoff for the win,” and attached a photo of chickens.
Georgia Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler also had viewers talking about her debate against Democratic opponent Rev. Raphael Warnock on at the Atlanta Press Club on Sunday. Viewers were struck by how Loeffler dodged questions, continously repeated the term “radical liberal,” and appeared listless and robotic.
Loeffler’s performance was compared to Perdue’s no-show by some Twitter users, like Covie, who said: “Perdue’s empty podium was more life-like than Kelly Loeffler,” and Jo, who said: “David Perdue was livelier in his debate performance tonight than Kelly Loeffler was in hers. And Perdue didn’t even show up.”
Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) attends a rally with Vice President Mike Pence in support of both he and Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) on December 4, 2020 in Savannah, Georgia. Perdue skipped a debate with Jon Ossoff on Sunday, leaving the Democratic candidate for the U.S. senate to debate with an empty podium. Spencer Platt/Getty
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Rodeado de una multitud que lo aclamaba, Erdogan dijo: “El gobierno está en control”.
El presidente de Turquía, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, regresó a Estambul tras iniciarse en la noche de este viernes un intento de golpe de Estado en su contra por parte de un grupo de militares.
Y el nuevo jefe interino del estado mayor del ejército, Ümit Dündar, informó en televisión que el intento de golpe fue “frustrado”.
El primer ministro Binali Yildirim nombró a Dündar en sustitución de Hulusi Akar, del se que informó fue capturado por los rebeldes durante el levantamiento y cuyo paradero actual no está claro.
Aunque la versión del ministro Para Asuntos Europeos, Ömer Çelik,difiere un poco de ésta.
Çelik dijo este sábado que la situación está “un 90% bajo control”, ya que “algunos rehenes no han sido aún liberados”.
Según las autoridades, el levantamiento y la respuesta para controlarlo dejaron como consecuencia161 muertos, “la mayoría de ellos civiles”, más de 1.000 heridos y más de 2.800 militares vinculados al golpe arrestados.
“Este levantamiento, este movimiento es un gran regalo de Dios para nosotros. Porque el ejército será limpiado“, aseguró el mandatario en una rueda de prensa realizada tras su llegada a Estambul desde el sur del país, donde se encontraba de vacaciones.
Horas después el gobierno turco informaría que 29 coroneles y 5 generales fueron apartados de sus cargos.
Los golpistas “pagarán caro este acto de traición”, agregó Erdogan en su desafiante discurso en el que señaló como culpables del intento de derrocamiento a los seguidores del clérigo musulmán turco Fethullah Gulen.
Así se ha vivido el intento de golpe en Turquía.
En la mañana del sábado, frente a una multitud que lo aclamaba en el aeropuerto de Estambul, Erdogan dijo: “El gobierno está en control”.
Poco después, la televisión turca mostró a decenas de soldados presuntamente involucrados en el intento de golpe de Estado rindiéndose en Estambul, abandonando los tanques con las manos en alto.
En cambio, en la capital, Ankara, todavía había reportes de escaramuzas.
Image copyright Getty Images
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Un grupo de partidarios de Erdogan festeja sobre uno de los tanques militares que bloquearon los puentes en el Bósforo.
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Las autoridades turcas informaron de que decenas de militares fueron apartados de sus cargos y la televisión turca mostró estas imágenes de soldados golpistas rindiéndose.
Disparos y explosiones
En la noche de este viernes, un grupo de militares de los cuales no se sabe aún quién los dirigía, aseguró tener el control de Turquía tras posicionar escuadrones de soldados en puntos estratégicos de Estambul y Ankara, las dos principales ciudades del país.
Decretaron el toque de queda y la ley marcial, y en un comunicado leído en la televisión estatal aseguraron haber instalado en el gobierno a un “consejo para la paz de la patria”.
Image copyright Reuters
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Un hombre se enfrentó solo a un tanque de guerra que intentaba entrar en el aeropuerto de Ataturk en Estambul.
Miles de personas ignoraron el toque de queda y salieron a protestar en apoyo a Erdogan, algunos incluso saltando sobre los tanques en actitud desafiante.
Durante toda la noche, las imágenes y reportes de medios locales mostraron enfrentamientos entre militares y civiles, y explosiones en edificios gubernamentales.
Image copyright EPA
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Erdogan dijo que “el ejército será limpiado” y que los golpistas pagarán por su “traición”.
En la plaza Taksim, en Estambul, por ejemplo, se escucharon dos explosiones grandes. Las mismas fueron acompañadas por el sonido de aviones de combate.
Los medios estatales informaron que una bomba impactó el edificio del Parlamento en Ankara.
Por otra parte, un avión de combate del gobierno derribó un helicóptero militar que era tripulado por fuerzas golpistas.
Image copyright Getty Images
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Hay reportes de 17 policías muertos en el cuartel de las fuerzas especiales de la capital.
El primer ministro de Turquía, Binali Yildirim, había dado la orden de derribar cualquier aeronave secuestrada por los golpistas. Según informó, jets militares habían despegado de la base militar ubicada en Eskisehir, al este de Ankara.
También se reportaron tiroteos y una explosión cerca del complejo presidencial en Ankara, y que sólo en el cuartel de las fuerzas especiales de la capital 17 policías habían muerto, aunque no se tiene claro si estas víctimas están incluidas en la cifra de fallecidos general.
“Orden democrático”
Horas antes, los uniformados emitieron en la televisión estatal un comunicado en el que aseguran haber tomado el poder para “preservar el orden democrático”.
Image copyright Getty Images
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Tras el levantamiento militar, el presidente Erdogan habló con CNN Turk y aseguró que seguía en ejercicio de su cargo.
El comunicado del grupo militar, leído por un presentador del canal nacional de televisión TRT— según él, obligado a punta de pistola—, aseguraba que el imperio de la ley democrática y secular se había visto erosionado por el actual gobierno, y que entraría en vigencia una nueva Constitución.
Sin embargo, Erdogan habló por medio de una videollamada desde un celular al canal de televisión CNN Turk para asegurar que seguía en ejercicio de su cargo e instó a sus partidarios a salir a las plazas y calles del país en favor de la democracia.
El mandatario se refirió al intento de golpe como “el levantamiento de una minoría”.
El inicio
Image copyright AP
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La plaza Taksim en Estambul fue uno de los lugares donde los partidarios de Erdogan se reunieron de a cientos para oponerse al golpe de Estado.
Los primeros reportes de una situación irregular en Turquía habían llegado cuando medios locales empezaron a hablar de sobrevuelo de aviones caza-bombarderos y helicópteros militares, así como disparos en Ankara.
Además, tanques bloqueaban dos puentes sobre el río Bósforo, en la ciudad de Estambul, la más grande del país. También impedían el acceso a los aeropuertos de esta ciudad y de la capital, Ankara.
Grupos de monitoreo de internet dijeron que el acceso a redes sociales como Facebook y Twitter estaba siendo restringido en Turquía, aunque no estaba claro quién bloqueaba el acceso.
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Militares bloquearon este viernes el puente sobre el río Bósforo en Estambul.
La televisión turca anunció que altos mandos militares fueron tomados rehenes en Ankara. Según informes, uno de ellos era el jefe del estado mayor de las fuerzas militares, general Hulusi Akar, cuyo paradero sigue siendo desconocido.
Entre tanto el secretario de Estado de EE.UU., John Kerry, dio una declaración desde Moscú diciendo que esperaba que hubiera paz y continuidad en Turquía.
Junto a Kerry, el ministro de Relaciones Exteriores de Rusia, Sergei Lavrov, dijo que “es necesario evitar cualquier enfrentamiento cruento y resolver los problemas por conductos constitucionales”.
Y un portavoz del Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, pidió que se volviera al “camino de la estabilidad y el orden” en Turquía.
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El primer ministro Binali Yildirim, dijo que las fuerzas de seguridad habían sido llamadas para manejar la situación.
El secretario general de Naciones Unidas, Ban Ki-moon, llamó a la calma.
“El secretario general está siguiendo de cerca los acontecimientos de Turquía”, informó un portavoz de la ONU, Farhan Haq.
“Naciones Unidas busca aclarar la situación en el terreno y llama a la calma”, añadió.
Además de hacer unas declaraciones similares y pedir “un respeto total para las instituciones democráticas de Turquía”, el secretario general de la Organización del Tratado del Atlántico Norte (OTAN), Jens Stoltenberg, recordó que Ankara es “un valioso aliado”.
Lo es sobre todo contra el gobierno del presidente Bashar al Asad en Siria y en el combate al grupo autodenominado Estado Islámico, ya que permite a la coalición internacional liderada por Estados Unidos su base de Incirlik para sus incursiones contra los yihadistas en Irak y Siria.
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Decenas de personas salieron a la calle en Estambul para rechazar lo que el presidente Erdogan denunció como un “intento de golpe” de Estado.
Por su parte, el presidente del Consejo Europeo, Donald Tusk, dijo que las tensiones en Turquía no se pueden resolver con armas.
Y agregó que la Unión Europea apoya totalmente al gobierno democráticamente electo del país, algo en lo que también insistió la canciller alemana Angela Merkel.
En unas palabras similares a las utilizadas por Erdogan, Qatar, la monarquía absoluta bañada por las aguas del Golfo Pérsico y aliado de Turquía, también denunció el “intento de golpe de Estado”.
“Pagarán el precio más alto”
El primer ministro turco dijo que las fuerzas de seguridad habían sido llamadas para manejar la situación y que “nada podrá perjudicar la democracia turca”.
“Estamos analizando la posibilidad de una intentona. No permitiremos esto”, dijo Yildirim, sin ofrecer más detalles.
“Aquellos que participen de este acto ilegal pagarán el precio más alto“, añadió.
Saudi Arabia‘s king has accused the kingdom’s key rival, Iran, of developing nuclear and ballistic missiles which threaten regional and global stability, telling regional leaders that action is needed to stop Iranian “escalations” following a series of attacks on oil assets in the Gulf.
The comments by King Salman Abdul Aziz came as Saudi Arabia on Thursday hosted in Mecca emergency meetings of the Gulf Cooperation Council, the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the Arab League to counter what it said was Iran’s growing influence.
A Gulf-Arab statement and a separate communique issued after the wider summit both supported the right of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to defend their interests after the attacks on oil pumping stations in the kingdom and tankers off the UAE.
But in a sign of regional tensions, Iraq, which has good ties with neighbouring Iran and the United States, said it objected to the Arab communique, which stated that any cooperation with Tehran should be based on “non-interference in other countries”.
‘Naked aggression’
Addressing Arab and Muslim leaders earlier, King Salman pressed the international community to “use all means to stop Iran from interfering in other countries’ affairs”.
He said Tehran’s actions threatened international maritime trade and global oil supplies in a “glaring violation of UN treaties”.
“This is naked aggression against our stability and international security,” the Saudi ruler told the gathered officials.
Iran’s “recent criminal acts … require that all of us work seriously to preserve the security… of GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] countries,” the king added.
In his opening remarks, Saudi Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Assaf said the alleged sabotage of oil tankers off the coast of the United Arab Emirates and drone attacks on a Saudi oil pipeline by Yemen’s Houthi rebels in recent weeks threaten the global economy and endanger regional and international security.
“We should confront it with all means of force and firmness,” he said.
An Iranian official was at the meeting where Assaf spoke.Tehran has denied any involvement in the attacks.
John Bolton, a top US security official, alleged on Wednesday Iranian mines were “almost certainly” used in the tanker operation. He provided no proof, however.
An Iranian official dismissed Bolton’s remarks as “a ludicrous claim”.
Qatar’s blockade
King Salman invited Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, whose country is home to the largest US military base in the region, to the Mecca summit.
Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser Al Thani attended the meeting instead, the highest Qatari official to visit the kingdom since Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt imposed a land, sea, and air blockade on the gas-rich nation in June 2017.
Video images of Thursday’s gathering showed Sheikh Abdullah shaking King Salman’s hand.
Thomas Pickering, a former US ambassador the UN, told Al Jazeera the Qatari prime minister’s presence at the summit was an important step.
“The invitation has opened the door more than just a little bit. His [Sheikh Abdullah’s] presence there and the handshake is a sign that Saudi Arabia wants unity in the Gulf Cooperation Council and that unity is spreading,” said Pickering.
Analysts said the emergency summit will be watched closely for whether or not the Saudis will endorse Qatar as a mediator in the dispute with Iran the same way the US has.
Earlier this month, Al Jazeera reported that Qatar’s foreign minister had held talks with his Iranian counterpart in Tehran, aiming to defuse the escalating tensions in the Gulf.
“Washington seems to have bet on Doha to de-escalate by opening back channels with Tehran. The question is whether Saudi and especially UAE can agree on Doha as a mediator,” Andreas Krieg from King’s College London told Al Jazeera.
“The fact that the Saudis contacted the emir of Qatar directly suggests that the tension with Iran is taken very seriously in Riyadh. So, the kingdom is ready to build a broader-than-usual consensus on how to deal with Iran,” Krieg said.
Gulf states have a joint defence force under the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), but the 39-year-old alliance has been fractured by the Qatar blockade.
Tensions with Iran
Animosity has risen between the US and Iran after Washington pulled out of a multinational nuclear deal with Tehran, reimposed sanctions and boosted its military presence in the Gulf.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on a trip to Iraq this month that Tehran wanted balanced ties with their Gulf neighbours and had proposed signing a non-aggression pact with them.
One of the UAE’s main newspapers said in an editorial, which is usually state-approved, the offer was “bizarre”.
“No Mr Zarif. We are not buying your ‘nice neighbour’ routine,” said the front-page editorial in Gulf News daily.
The FBI acknowledges that fake emails came from FBI email addresses.
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The FBI acknowledges that fake emails came from FBI email addresses.
Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is acknowledging that hackers compromised its email servers on Saturday and sent spam messages.
The fake emails appeared to be from a legitimate FBI email address ending in @ic.fbi.gov, the FBI said in a statement. The agency described it as an “ongoing situation.” The hardware impacted by the incident “was taken offline quickly upon discovery of the issue,” the FBI said.
The spam emails went to 100,000 people, according to NBC News, and warned recipients of a cyberattack on their systems. The FBI and Department of Homeland Security routinely send legitimate emails to companies warning them about cyber threats. This is the first known instance of hackers using that same system to send spam messages to a large group of people, NBC reports.
The Spamhaus Project, a threat-tracking organization, posted on Twitter what it said was a copy of one such email. It showed a subject line of “Urgent: Threat actor in systems” and appeared to end with a sign-off from the Department of Homeland Security.
Both the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency are aware of the incident, the FBI statement said.
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.
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Newark Saturday afternoon to protest the killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis and to help bring attention to police brutality and other social issues.
The protest, organized by the People’s Organization for Progress, started as a rally in front of the Lincoln statue near the city’s historic courthouse, with demonstrators loudly chanting “George Floyd,” “I can’t breathe,” “Power to the people” and calls for justice for Floyd.
“Arrest them all! Arrest them all!” the crowd chanted, referring to the four Minneapolis police officers who were seen on video during the apprehension of Floyd.
The protest remained peaceful as demonstrators began to march down Market Street and onto Broad Street, with hundreds of additional people joining the original group of marchers. Most walked on the hot pavement past Newark City Hall and then headed back to Market Street, where they gathered again near the statue of a seated Abraham Lincoln at about 2:30 p.m. and chanted, “Black lives matter.”
Police presence was light, with just a few police cruisers blocking streets to keep vehicles away from the demonstrators, many carrying signs reading “I Can’t Breathe” and “Black Lives Matter.” Other signs were critical of cops and some railed against white supremacy.
The orderly demonstration in Newark was in sharp contrast to the violent protests, riots and looting that broke out in other cities across the nation during the past two nights. Protesters in other cities clashed with police, set fire to police cars and other vehicles, and torched businesses.
Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, died Monday after Derek Chauvin, a white Minneapolis police officer, knelt on his neck for several minutes while Floyd was handcuffed. Floyd, who was not armed and did not appear to be resisting arrest, was later pronounced dead at a hospital.
Four police officers who were at the scene have been fired, and Chauvin was charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the case.
Prior to the demonstration in Newark, Mayor Ras Baraka called Floyd’s death outright murder, and demanded that all the officers involved be arrested.
“He was killed on purpose and murdered on purpose,” Baraka said.
The People’s Organization for Progress was formed to help eradicate racism and take on relevant social issues.
Demonstrators gathered in Newark Saturday afternoon to protest the killing of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis and to call for an end to police brutality.Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
“MURIENDO POR CRUZAR,” AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE INCREASING NUMBER OF IMMIGRANT DEATHS ALONG THE BORDER, THIS SUNDAY, AUGUST 3 AT 6 P.M./5 C
Carmen Dominicci and Neida Sandoval present the Telemundo and The Weather Channel co-production
Miami – July 31, 2014 –Telemundo presents “Muriendo por Cruzar”, a documentary that investigates why increasing numbers of immigrants are dying while trying to cross the US-Mexican border near the city of Falfurrias, Texas, this Sunday, August 3 at 6PM/5 C. The Telemundo and The Weather Channel co-production, presented by Noticias Telemundo journalists Carmen Dominicci and Neida Sandoval, reveals the obstacles immigrants face once they cross into US territory, including extreme weather conditions, as they try to evade the border patrol. “Muriendo por Cruzar” is part of Noticias Telemundo’s special coverage of the crisis on the border and immigration reform.
“‘Muriendo por Cruzar’” dares to ask questions that reveal the actual conditions undocumented immigrants face as they try to start a new life in the United States,” said Alina Falcón, Telemundo’s Executive Vice President for News and Alternative Programming. “Our collaboration with The Weather Channel was very productive. They have a unique expertise in covering the impact of weather on people’s lives, as we do in covering immigration reform and the border crisis. The result is a compelling documentary that exposes a harrowing reality.”
“Muriendo por Cruzar” is the first co-production by Telemundo and The Weather Channel. Both networks are part of NBCUniversal.
Devastating flooding in Germany has killed more than 80 people, with scores missing in one district alone, as chancellor Angela Merkel expressed deep sympathy for victims of a “catastrophe” whose extent will only be seen in the coming days.
On Friday morning, German media reported at least 81 people had died in the two worst-hit states, Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia, with 50 and at least 30 deaths respectively.
On Thursday night, authorities in the district of Ahrweiler said the death toll was expected to climb, and they were trying to trace about 1,300 missing people, though the high figure is due to damaged mobile phone networks.
Regional interior minister Roger Lewentz told broadcaster SWR: “We believe there are still 40, 50 or 60 people missing, and when you haven’t heard for people for such a long time … you have to fear the worst.”
“The number of victims will likely keep rising in the coming days,” he added.
In the town of Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler alone, more than 1,000 rescue missions were carried out on Thursday, with some ongoing.
More than 1,000 emergency services personnel were helping the district, drawn from across the state of Rhineland-Palatinate and the neighbouring states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Baden-Württemberg. It was too early to tell the scale of the damage, said Ahrweiler officials.
The dead in Rhineland-Palatinate include nine residents of an assisted living facility for people with disabilities and two firefighters involved in rescue efforts. In North Rhine-Westphalia, the town of Euskirchen was worst-hit, with at least 15 deaths reported.
The death toll in Belgium has risen to at least 11, according to Belgian reports.
Continuing rain is forecast for parts of the west, where water levels in the Rhine river and its tributaries are rising dangerously. Authorities in the Rhine-Sieg county in North Rhine-Westphalia ordered the evacuation of several villages below the Steinbach reservoir amid fears a dam could break.
Malu Dreyer, the governor of Rhineland-Palatinate state, told the regional parliament: “There are people dead, there are people missing, there are many who are still in danger … We have never seen such a disaster. It’s really devastating.”
A flooded street in the town of Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, western Germany, on Thursday. Photograph: Christof Stache/AFP/Getty Images
Speaking at the White House during a trip to Washington, Merkel called it a day “characterised by fear, by despair, by suffering, and hundreds of thousands of people all of a sudden were faced with catastrophe”.
“My empathy and my heart goes out to all of those who in this catastrophe lost their loved ones, or who are still worrying about the fate of people still missing,” she said, noting many people in Luxembourg and the Netherlands were also suffering.
Merkel said her government would not leave those affected “alone with their suffering,” adding that it was doing its “utmost to help them in their distress”.
Standing at her side for a news conference after holding bilateral talks, US president Joe Biden called the flooding a tragedy.
“I want to express to you and to the people of Germany my sincere condolences and the condolences of the American people for the devastating loss of life and destruction due to the flooding over the past 24 hours in Germany and neighbouring countries,” Biden said.
Aerial footage of the floods in Bad Neuenahr – Ahrweiler. Photograph: NEWS5/AFP/Getty Images
Unusually heavy rains from a slow-moving low pressure system have inundated four countries, causing rivers to burst their banks and flooding streets in cities and towns, while power was knocked out for hundreds of thousands of households.
The storms have put climate change back at the centre of Germany’s election campaign ahead of a September 26 parliamentary poll marking the end of Merkel’s 16 years in power. Germany “must prepare much better” in future, interior minister Horst Seehofer said, adding that “this extreme weather is a consequence of climate change”.
In Germany, desperate residents sought refuge on the roofs of their homes as rescue helicopters circled above. In the town of Schuld in the Eifel mountains 70 people were reported missing after several houses collapsed overnight.
“It was catastrophic,” said 65-year-old Edgar Gillessen, whose family home was damaged. “All these people living here, I know them all. I feel so sorry for them, they’ve lost everything,” he told Reuters. “A friend had a workshop over there, nothing standing, the bakery, the butcher, it’s all gone. It’s scary. Unimaginable.”
Aerial footage shows flooding across Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands – video
The full extent of the damage across the region remains unclear after many villages were cut off by flood water and landslides that made roads impassable. Videos posted on social media showed cars floating down streets and houses partly collapsed.
EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen pledged to help, and Pope Francis sent condolences, with his office saying the pontiff was praying for those injured and missing, as well as those who have lost their livelihoods.
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