(Reuters) -Russian artillery fire killed at least two people and wounded five at a humanitarian aid distribution point on Wednesday as Moscow’s forces bombarded towns and cities in eastern Ukraine, local officials said.
Authorities in the eastern region of Luhansk urged civilians to evacuate “while it is safe,” warning that Russian bombardments could cut off escape routes.
Ukraine says Russian troops that invaded on Feb. 24 are regrouping and preparing for a new offensive in the Donbas area, which includes both the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.
Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko shared online photos from the town of Vuhledar, where he said Russian artillery fire had struck a humanitarian aid distribution point.
The photos showed two women stretched out on the ground. Another person had a serious leg wound and a fourth was shown with a bloodied leg, being helped into a rescue vehicle.
“At the moment it’s known that two people were killed and five were injured. We document all the crimes committed by the Russian Federation on our land,” Kyrylenko wrote.
Russia has denied targeting civilians. Reuters was unable immediately to verify Kyrlyenko’s account of the incident.
Local officials reported fighting in many part of eastern Ukraine and there were also reports of shelling and fighting in the south, where the port city of Mariupol is surrounded and under siege from Russian forces.
Mariupol’s capture could enable Russia to entrench a land passage between two separatist, self-proclaimed people’s republics in Donbas and the Crimea region which Russia seized and annexed in 2014.
CALL TO EVACUATE
Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Ukraine was trying to evacuate trapped civilians through 11 humanitarian corridors across Ukraine, but that people trying to flee Mariupol would have to use their own vehicles.
The city mayor said last week up to 170,000 civilians were trapped in Mariupol with no power and dwindling supplies.
The Luhansk region governor, Serhiy Gaidai, said Russian forces now controlled 60% of the eastern town of Rubizhne and reported 81 mortar, artillery and rocket strikes across the region over the previous day.
“I appeal to every resident of the Luhansk region – evacuate while it is safe,” he wrote in an online post earlier on Wednesday. “While there are buses and trains – take this opportunity.”
Gaidai said rail connections in the Donetsk region of Donbas had been damaged this week and took several hours to repair.
“This is another alarm bell,” he said.
Gaidai said separately that Russian forces were destroying “everything in their path” and would “stop at nothing.”
Russia says its “special military operation” is aimed at demilitarizing and “denazifying” Ukraine. The Kremlin’s position is rejected by Ukraine and the West as a pretext for an unprovoked invasion.
Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal demanded that the administration turn over over six years’ worth of President Donald Trump’s tax returns — but Democrats may face a tougher-than-normal situation with taxpayer secrecy rules. | Andrew Harnik/AP Photo
There will be a period, possibly lasting months, when Democrats will have seen the president’s taxes, but they won’t be able to talk about them.
Democrats’ bid to seize President Donald Trump’s tax returns will come with some serious legal risk to themselves.
Lawmakers are concerned that, even if they get the president’s filings, his returns will still be protected by strict confidentiality laws — it is a felony, punishable by up to five years, to improperly disclose private tax information.
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There are ways around the dilemma, and Democrats intend to make at least some information about Trump’s taxes public — that is much of the point of their entire effort. But that probably won’t happen right away. Lawmakers say they will likely take some time to examine his filings behind closed doors before making anything publicly available.
That means there will be a period, possibly lasting months, when Democrats will have finally seen the president’s long-hidden taxes — and they will be inundated with questions about what’s in them — but they won’t be able to talk about them. If they let anything slip, Republicans will surely jump, demanding an investigation by the Justice Department.
“We’re going to have to be circumspect in terms of the way we handle this,” said Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.), a senior member of the House Ways and Means Committee. “That’s the responsibility of every member.”
It’s a risk that’s been barely acknowledged in the battle over Trump’s returns, though it is one reason why Democrats have taken so long to formally request them.
Of course, Democrats have to get the returns first, and they’re a long way from that. Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) demanded this week that the administration turn over six years’ worth of Trump’s individual and business tax returns, giving them a deadline of April 10.
The administration has indicated it plans to fight the demand in court.
“From what I understand, the law is 100 percent on my side,” Trump said Friday.
That Democrats may have to keep Trump’s taxes secret for a time has been largely overlooked in the debate over the returns, probably because of a misconception of how the law Democrats are tapping works.
They are relying on a statute that allows the heads of Congress’s tax committees to examine anyone’s confidential taxes. Advocates of the effort emphasize that the law says the Treasury Secretary “shall” hand over any requested returns.
But that’s just the question of whether the administration must give up the documents — even if Trump’s returns are handed over, they will still be protected by privacy laws. Making them public will be a separate matter.
Experts say lawmakers can do that by essentially having the Ways and Means Committee vote in a closed session to release them.
Though Democrats haven’t worked out exactly how they’ll proceed, there’s likely to be some time between when they receive the returns and when they consider divulging them.
There seems to be a “false presumption” that lawmakers will simply release the returns the moment they get them, said Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), another Democratic tax writer who has helped lead the push to get the president’s returns.
“There is a need for a thorough review of them to see if there’s anything in them that justifies releasing them and that’s something that could take awhile to do because they are, according to the president, very complex,” he said. “I hope it’s not months, but I don’t think it will be days.”
“Until such time as that review is complete and a vote is taken to forward them to congress and the public, they will be protected.”
Democrats may want to redact certain information from the returns. Trump’s filings could reveal private information about other people he’s in business with who are of little interest to lawmakers, for example.
Tax veterans say the period between when Democrats get Trump’s returns and if and when they release something will be stressful for lawmakers, given the criminal penalties for even inadvertent disclosure. Democrats won’t be able to discuss even basic things about Trump’s returns, like how much he paid in taxes, what he reported earning or if he gave to charity.
“When we’ve had members in these situations before, we frequently have members say, ‘I don’t know if I want you to tell me or not, because I don’t know if I can trust myself not to say anything,’” said Rick Grafmeyer, a former deputy head of the bipartisan Joint Committee on Taxation and expert on taxpayer privacy laws.
Tax writers typically use their power to examine private tax returns to help inform the policymaking process. If they are trying to write legislation outlawing a corporate tax shelter, for example, they might look at an individual company’s tax documents to better understand how the dodge works.
Some say Democrats’ situation will be tougher than what most lawmakers deal with when it comes to taxpayer secrecy rules. Everyone will likely know Democrats have Trump’s returns and lawmakers would be besieged with questions from reporters, constituents and other lawmakers. That’s a lot different than when lawmakers quietly examine an oil company’s tax return.
Also, the Ways and Means Committee is loaded with new members who aren’t steeped in the intricacies of the tax secrecy rules — the closest analogue many say is when lawmakers received classified intelligence briefings.
“I’m sure that there will be briefings about all the ethical issues that surround this,” said Larson.
Many of the details of how exactly Democrats would handle the returns have not been worked out.
Neal could keep Trump’s documents to himself and a few close aides — and not even let other members of his panel see them. He has already said he won’t share the returns with any other committees, including the Judiciary and Oversight panels, which have been conducting their own high-profile investigations of the administration.
That would keep the circle of people who’ve seen Trump’s taxes tight — and the more people who see the returns, the more likely there will be leaks.
But many of his colleagues have been clamoring for the president’s returns for months, and will surely be unhappy to learn they won’t be able to examine them.
Another option: Lawmakers turn the filings over to the JCT and ask its staff of tax experts to analyze Trump’s returns and report back on what they find.
“They’re going to have to think carefully about how they’re going to want to do this,” said Dean Zerbe, a former Senate tax aide. “The penalties are certainly quite real.”
Rodrigo Canosa, nuevo jugador del América de Cali. Bernardo Peña – El País
El defensa central uruguayo Rodrigo Canosa arribó el domingo en la noche para incorporarse al América de Cali y disputar el segundo semestre del Torneo Águila 2015.
El zaguero charrúa de 26 años superó ayer las pruebas médicas y en las próximas horas se sumará a los trabajos de pretemporada que adelantan los Diablos Rojos desde el lunes en Armenia.
Canosa ha militado en su país en equipos como Cerrito, Rampla Juniors, Villa Teresa y Cerro, su último club.
Esta será su segunda salida internacional luego de tener una incursión en 2012 con Olimpo de Argentina.
Con la llegada de Canosa ya son siete los refuerzos escarlatas: el arquero Carlos ‘Peto’ Rodríguez, el venezolano Laineker Zafra, el defensa Ramón Córdoba, el atacante David Cortés Armero, el panameño Amílkar Henríquez y Yesus Cabrera.
El América adelanta desde ayer sus trabajos de pretemporada en Armenia.
Noticias Telemundo’s “Inmigración, Trump y los Hispanos” (Immigration, Trump and the Hispanic Community) Town Hall broadcast on Sunday, February 12 at 7PM/6 C, ranked # 1 in Spanish-language TV in primetime across all key demographics, averaging 1.57 million total viewers, 708,000 adults 18 to 49 and 325,000 adults 18 to 34, according to Nielsen. The news special moderated by Noticias Telemundo News Anchor José Díaz-Balart also positioned Telemundo as the #1 Spanish-language network during the entire primetime on Sunday, across all key demos.
“Noticias Telemundo is empowering millions of Latinos with reliable and TRANSPARENT information at a time of change,” said José Díaz-Balart. “Viewers trust us because they know our only commitment is to present the facts the way they are, with professionalism and a total commitment to our community.”
“Immigration, Trump and the Hispanic Community” also reached 1.6 million viewers on Facebook, generating 23,000 global actions on the social network.
The Town Hall answered viewers’ questions about the impact of President Trump’s immigration policy on the Hispanic community. The news special featured a panel of experts, including immigration lawyer and Telemundo contributor Alma Rosa Nieto; Telemundo conservative political analyst Ana Navarro; the Deputy Vice President of the National Council of La Raza (NCLR), Clarissa Martínez, and CHIRLA’s Executive Director, Angélica Salas. In addition, “El Poder en Ti”, Telemundo’s robust community initiative, launched an Internet site for Hispanics looking for information, tools and resources on immigration in parallel to the Town Hall.
“Inmigración, Trump y los Hispanos” is part of a series of Noticias Telemundo specials, including “Trump en la Casa Blanca,” produced the day after the elections, and “Trump y los Latinos,” which aired on Inauguration Day. All of these programs share an emphasis on allowing audiences to express their views and empower them by giving them access to trustworthy, rigorous and relevant information presented under Noticias Telemundo’s banner “Telling It Like It Is” (“Las Cosas Como Son” in Spanish).
Noticias Telemundo is the information unit of Telemundo Network and a leader provider in news serving the US Hispanics across all broadcast and digital platforms. Its award-winning television news broadcasts include the daily newscast “Noticias Telemundo,” the Sunday current affairs show “Enfoque con José Díaz-Balart” and the daily news and entertainment magazine “Al Rojo Vivo con María Celeste.” The rapidly-growing “Noticias Telemundo Digital Team” provides continuous content to US Hispanics wherever they are, whenever they want it. Noticias Telemundo also produces award winning news specials, documentaries and news event such as political debates, forums and town halls.
Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, was sensitive to that argument. He clarified that the goal of the sanctions was “to change the behavior” of Mr. Deripaska, and “not to put Rusal out of business,” given the company’s pivotal role as a global supplier of aluminum.
The Treasury Department announced a deal last month to lift the sanctions in exchange for a restructuring that it said would reduce Mr. Deripaska’s control and ownership of the companies.
Representative Lloyd Doggett, a Texas Democrat who has been among the leading critics of the deal, said that allowing it to take effect “represents just one more step in undermining the sanctions law, which President Trump has obstructed at every opportunity, while Russian aggression remains unabated.”
But EN+ said in a statement that Sunday’s move was “a victory for the U.S. sanctions policy, successfully punishing the target but not at the expense of shareholders, employees and the wider market.”
Thirteen people are dead after a passenger jet burst into flames during an emergency landing.
The plane took off from Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow Sunday evening, but began an emergency landing at the same airport just minutes after taking off. There were 78 passengers on board, and although the extent of the casualties is not yet known, Russian media is reporting that 13 were killed.
The Russian-made Sukhoi Superjet was seen spewing smoke and flames as it made the emergency descent. After it came to stop perpendicular to the runway, passengers were seen running from the burning plane.
The jet was en route to Murmansk, a city in northern Russia. It is not yet clear what prompted the emergency landing or caused the fire.
New more contagious variants of the coronavirus are being investigated in the United States, raising questions about whether the Covid vaccines currently in use will provide protection against mutations.
There are multiple more contagious variants emerging around the globe, in the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil. In the U.S., variants from New York City and California have been identified.
(There are several reasons the antibodies generated after receiving a vaccine might recognize a variant but not fight it as well. For instance, antibodies protect you by attaching to each individual spike protein on the surface of the coronavirus, which prevents it from infecting your cell. If a variant produces many times more virus, the antibodies may not be able to attach to all those virus pieces as precisely or efficiently.)
But boosters and new versions of vaccines that target the variants are already being explored.
The three vaccines that have been authorized by the Food and Drug Administration for emergency use from Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech and Johnson & Johnson work in different ways, and therefore have different approaches to handling variants. Here’s what we know:
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said it would be a serious mistake for President Trump to pardon his former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort.
In court documents filed Friday evening, special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of possible Russian interference in the 2016 election accused Paul Manafort of lying to them about his contact with senior officials from the Trump administration while under indictment. Trump still speaks highly of Manafort, and has told the New York Post that he wouldn’t take pardoning Manafort “off the table.”
ABC News reporter Martha Raddatz asked Rubio on “This Week” Sunday morning whether he thinks pardoning Manafort would constitute obstruction of justice.
“I think it would be a terrible mistake if he did that. I do. I believe it’d be a terrible mistake,” Rubio replied. “You know, pardons should be used judiciously. They’re used for cases with extraordinary circumstances. And I just haven’t heard that the White House was thinking about doing it. I know he hasn’t ruled it out but I haven’t heard anyone say, We’re thinking about doing it.”
Paul Manafort, former campaign manager for Donald Trump, walks out of the U.S. Courthouse after a bond hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Monday, Nov. 6, 2017. Manafort, 68, an international political consultant, was accused along with his right-hand man, Rick Gates, of lying to U.S. authorities about their work in Ukraine, laundering millions of dollars, and hiding offshore accounts. Both pleaded not guilty on Oct. 30. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Paul Manafort, former campaign manager for Donald Trump, right, arrives to the U.S. Courthouse for a bond hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Monday, Nov. 6, 2017. Manafort, 68, an international political consultant, was accused along with his right-hand man, Rick Gates, of lying to U.S. authorities about their work in Ukraine, laundering millions of dollars, and hiding offshore accounts. Both pleaded not guilty on Oct. 30. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Paul Manafort, former campaign manager for Donald Trump, right, exits the U.S. Courthouse in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Monday, Oct. 30, 2017. The federal investigation into whether President Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia took a major turn Monday as authorities charged three people a former campaign chief, his business associate and an ex-policy adviser — with crimes including money laundering, lying to the FBI and conspiracy. Photographer: Zach Gibson/Bloomberg via Getty Images
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Rubio suggested that if he were part of Trump’s inner circle, he would advise strongly against pardoning Manafort and will be a critical voice in Congress if it comes to pass. He said a presidential pardon in this situation would undercut the very reason for their existence and could result in contentious wrangling over that presidential power granted by the Constitution.
“I don’t believe that any pardon should be used with relation to these particular cases. Frankly, not only does it not pass the smell test, I think it undermines the reason why we have presidential pardons in the first place,” Rubio said. “And I think, in fact, if something like that were to happen, it could trigger a debate about whether the pardon powers should be amended, given these circumstances.”
Manafort is a longtime Republican political consultant who advised presidential campaigns for Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and Bob Dole. Manafort pleaded guilty in September to several charges, including making false statements about his work in Ukraine, financial fraud and obstructing justice. As part of his plea deal, he agreed to cooperate with Mueller’s probe into possible collusion, but the allegation that he’s been lying prompted even more speculation that he’s angling for a pardon from Trump.
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El actor Christian Meier celebró en su cuenta de Twitter el merecido triunfo de la selección alemana por sobre su par de Argentina, en el partido final del Mundial Brasil 2014 y que le valió hacerse el merecedor a la Copa del Mundo de la FIFA.
Meier, de descendencia alemana, celebró el triunfo de su “equipo de nacimiento” y recordó que es la cuarta vez en la historia que Alemania se corona como campeón mundial.
“Todos tenemos de nacimiento un equipo favorito. El mío, hoy se coronó campeón mundial por cuarta vez. Schadenfreude #GER”, escribió el recordado “Zorro” en el popular microblogging.
Como se recuerda, Alemania triunfó sobre Argentina por la mínima diferencia con un sorpresivo y contundente gol en los tiempos suplementarios del volante Mario Götze.
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Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush is calling for a Republican challenger to President Trump in the 2020 elections.
Jeb Bush believes a Republican should challenge President Trump for the nomination in 2020 — slamming the president’s “dangerous” policies on trade and other issues.
In the latest salvo between the two former rivals, Bush, who ran unsuccessfully for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016, made the comments Saturday during an interview with ex-Obama adviser David Axelrod.
“I think someone should run just because Republicans ought to be given a choice,” Bush said on CNN’s “The Axe Files.” “It’s hard to beat a sitting president, but to have a conversation about what it is to be a conservative, I think it’s important.”
Bush, whose father George. H.W. Bush was the 41st president of the United States and his brother, George W. Bush, was the 43rd, reportedly added that Republican voters should be given more of a choice between different ideologies.
“And our country needs to have competing ideologies that people — that are dynamic, that focus on the world we’re in and the world we’re moving toward rather than revert back to a nostalgic time,” he said on CNN, seeming to take aim at Trump’s “Make America Great Again” 2016 slogan.
Bush elaborated about his disagreements with Trump during the interview.
“We haven’t had a major crisis to deal with, but this unilateralism or going-alone-ism I think is really dangerous,” Bush said of Trump’s foreign policy moves, according to The Hill.
“Our friends no longer believe they can trust the United States and our enemies, in many cases, feel emboldened by this approach,” he reportedly added. “I think it defies the…bipartisan kind of consensus on foreign policy that has, by and large, kept America safe.”
According to The Hill, Bush also critiqued Trump’s ability to handle the more symbolic aspects of running the country, such as responding during moments of crisis.
However, he did praise Trump’s tax policy, regulatory changes and judicial nominations.
“You can honestly say he’s done good things in terms of policy and applaud them,” Bush said. “I think the symbolic, you know the kingly duties of the presidency, that’s where he falls short, and it’s important.”
The interview is the latest in a series of back-and-forth jabs between the two men.
Bush blasted Trump in September 2018 as a bad role model for young children, telling the Detroit Free Press: “He is not my role model as it relates to values I would share with my children and grandchildren.”
During a June 2018 interview with CNBC, Bush criticized Trump for going negative, saying that candidates must be civil with one another.
“The kind of campaign [Trump] ran would have never been successful a decade ago or in the age of [Ronald] Reagan and Bush, for example,” said Bush.
The ends don’t justify the means, Bush said, referring to the way Trump goes negative. “It’s not worth disparaging people.”
Bush told Axelrod that Republicans need to “offer a compelling alternative” to Democratic ideas rather than just calling their ideas “bad.”
So far, the only person to hint at challenging Trump for the 2020 GOP nomination is former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, who formed an exploratory committee in February.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is intensifying his efforts to discredit a highly anticipated report on the special counsel’s Russia investigation.
In an interview with Fox Business Network to be aired Friday, Trump said: “I have a deputy, appoints a man to write a report on me, to make a determination on my presidency. People will not stand for it.”
Trump’s comments came as special counsel Robert Mueller is expected to soon deliver a report to the Justice Department on his investigation into Russian election meddling.
Trump complained about Mueller’s appointment, calling him a “best friend” to James Comey, who succeeded Mueller as FBI director. Trump fired Comey while he was leading an investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. There is no evidence the two are close friends.
Portland, Oregon, Mayor Ted Wheeler had a strong message for President Donald Trump after a man was shot and killed in Portland amid clashes between Black Lives Matter protesters and a pro-Trump caravan on Saturday.
“Do you seriously wonder, Mr. President, why this is the first time in decades that America has seen this level of violence?” Wheeler said at a news conference on Sunday. “It’s you who have created the hate and the division.”
Wheeler lashed out at Trump for his rhetoric, saying the caravan was “supported and energized by the president himself.”
“I’d appreciate that the president either supports us or he stays the hell out of the way,” Wheeler said.
Portland police said the group, made up of hundreds of cars and trucks, traveled for several hours throughout the city. It was organized by supporters of Trump in an apparent show of force and an attempt to counter the Black Lives Matter protests that have been ongoing in Oregon’s biggest city for months.
Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell also said on Sunday that there were some skirmishes between rally goers and counter demonstrators and that police made several arrests.
Police said it is unclear if the shooting was connected to the protests. They are still piecing together what happened, but Lovell said the vehicle caravan had already cleared the area when the shooting took place.
Lovell said he didn’t know if the shooting was politically motivated.
Portland has seen sustained protests since the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis in May.
During a wave of Black Lives Matter protests that have swept the country since Floyd’s death, Trump has attacked Democratically controlled cities and their leaders.
Wheeler, who is also Portland’s police commissioner, has also been criticized by demonstrators for his leadership of the city’s law enforcement.
Trump called Portland “a mess” in a tweet Monday morning.
“If this joke of a mayor doesn’t clean it up, we will go in and do it for them!” he added.
The president had earlier called for federal law enforcement to be sent to Portland to restore order, but Wheeler has publicly declined that offer.
On Sunday, he denounced the violence, saying “the tragedy of last night cannot be repeated” and calling on Portlanders to “pull together.”
Wheeler has also asked anyone planning to come to Portland “to seek retribution” to stay out of the city and help authorities deescalate the situation.
Saturday’s clashes came days after Kyle Rittenhouse, 17, was accused of having opened fire Tuesday during a Black Lives Matter protest in Kenosha, Wisconsin, killing two people. Demonstrators in Kenosha were protesting the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, which was captured on video.
A key Republican involved in the negotiations over a border security deal said talks are at a stalemate with the deadline to avert another government shutdown fast approaching.
“I think the talks are stalled right now. I’m hoping we can get off the dime later today or in the morning because time is ticking away, but we got some problems with the Democrats dealing with [Immigration and Customs Enforcement], that is detaining criminals that come into the U.S. And they want a cap on them, we don’t want a cap on that,” Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., said during an interview on “Fox News Sunday.”
Shelby is among the bipartisan group of lawmakers working to reach agreement on a border security deal before Friday, when funding for a slew of government agencies will lapse again. A 35-day partial government shutdown ended late last month after President Trump signed a stopgap measure.
A point of contention for congressional negotiators is funding for a wall along the southern border, for which Trump wants $5.7 billion. Democrats are opposed to the demand.
The two sides have also reached a stalemate over immigrant detention beds that Immigration and Customs Enforcement can use. Democrats want to cap funding for the beds while Republicans oppose the restrictions. In order for an illegal immigrant to be detained there must be a bed for them, and a cap on beds would limit the number of detentions.
Lawmakers working on the deal huddled at Camp David this weekend for further talks with acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, though Shelby and Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., who is also working on the border deal, indicated another shutdown is possible.
“I’m not positive we will end up with a deal, but with this group of people and the folks from the House, I think we are going to end up with something that deals with detention beds, with barriers, with technology, with the challenges we have on the southern border in a commonsense way,” Tester, who joined Shelby on “Fox News Sunday, said. “Chairman Shelby is correct, time is of the essence. We need to move forward, we need to keep our eyes on this but I’m very hopeful, not positive, but very hopeful we can come to an agreement.”
Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, who invited lawmakers to Camp David this weekend to work on a deal, would not rule out another government shutdown.
“The president has to sign a piece of legislation in order to keep the government open. He cannot sign everything they put in front of him. There will be some things that simply we couldn’t agree to,” Mulvaney said on “Fox News Sunday.” “So the government shutdown is technically still on the table. We do not want it to come to that, but that option is still open to the president and will remain so.”
Shelby, meanwhile, said there is a “50-50” chance they reach an agreement, and noted Monday is effectively a deadline for lawmakers in terms of moving legislation through the House and Senate before funding lapses Friday.
“I’m not confident we’re going to get there,” he said.
In addition to sending its own equipment, the United States is helping coordinate donations from European countries. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III is visiting Slovakia and Bulgaria this week in part to help with that effort.
Speaking to reporters Wednesday, a senior defense official said that the United States was focusing on sending supplies quickly, and that the Pentagon would figure out how to replenish its stockpiles later. The official said the focus now was to make sure that the Ukrainians get the items quickly. The Ukrainian military needs easy-to-carry and easy-to-use defensive weapons to continue to stall the Russian advance. The Ukrainians will succeed, U.S. and European military experts said, if they can operate in small teams, strike assembled Russian forces, then melt away to set a new ambush later.
As part of the package, the Biden administration will provide Switchblade drones, according to people briefed on the plans. Military officials call the weapon, which is carried in a backpack, the “kamikaze drone” because it can be flown directly at a tank or a group of troops, and is destroyed when it hits the target and explodes.
“These were designed for U.S. Special Operations Command and are exactly the type of weapons systems that can have an immediate impact on the battlefield,” said Mick Mulroy, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense.
Bigger, armed drones, like U.S.-made Predators or Reapers, would be difficult for Ukrainians to fly and would be easily destroyed by Russian fighter planes. But former officials said small, portable kamikaze drones could prove to be a cost-effective way to destroy Russian armored convoys.
GUADALAJARA, JALISCO (20/NOV/2014).- Revisa lo más importante del 20 de noviembre en México a través de este resumen de noticias publicadas a través de los sitios web de los medios que conforman los Periódicos Asociados en Red.
BAJA CALIFORNIA
Baja California se une a protestas por Ayotzinapa
El hartazgo social es el común denominador que unió a cientos de manifestantes en Tijuana, quienes llaman a la desaparición de los 43 normalistas de Ayotzinapa ‘’la gota que derramó el vaso’’.
Por otro lado, estudiantes y docentes de diversas facultades e institutos de la Universidad Autónoma de Baja California en Mexicali, se sumaron a las protestas nacionales por la desaparición de los 43 normalistas de Ayotzinapa.
CAMPECHE
Supuestos normalistas atacan alcaldía de Hecelchakán
Estudiantes de la Escuela Normal Rural “Justo Sierra Méndez“, de Hecelchakán, realizaron hoy una marcha de protesta que terminó con el intento de incendio de la puerta principal del Palacio Municipal. Tras momentos de gritos y consignas, los estudiantes se retiraron del lugar sin que hubiera reporte alguno de lesionados o detenidos. La puerta del Palacio registró daños mínimos.
Un grupo de encapuchados que protesta frente a Palacio Nacional ha lanzado cohetes (de pirotecnia) a los más de 40 elementos del Estado Mayor Presidencial (EMP) que resguardan la fachada principal del recinto.
La protesta inició casi de manera simultánea a la llegada de la última caravana al Zócalo de familiares de los 43 normalistas de Ayotzinapa.
COAHUILA
Municipios de Coahuila se unen a marcha por normalistas
Durante el desfile del 104 Aniversario de la Revolución Mexicana en Saltillo un grupo de cien jóvenes exigieron justicia por la desaparición de los estudiantes de Guerrero. La manifestación duró alrededor de 30 minutos y concluyó sin incidentes.
En Torreón, más de 500 personas recorrieron el bulevar Revolución, la calzada Colón y la avenida Matamoros para llegar a la Plaza Mayor.
Sin embargo, la marcha terminó con dos incidentes violentos. El primer evento se registró en el bulevar Revolución, a la altura de la Francisco I. Madero, cuando un joven participante fue detenido por elementos de la Policía Municipal. Luego en la Plaza Mayor, al finalizar el mitin, jóvenes vandalizaron las paredes y lanzaron algunas piedras, estrellando uno de los cristales del edificio de la presidencia de Torreón.
Por último, en el municipio de Piedras Negras organismos civiles y ciudadanos en general vestidos de negro también se sumaron a las manifestaciones.
Maestros de la Coordinadora Estatal de Trabajadores de la Educación (Ceteg), realizan bloqueos intermitentes sobre las carreteras federales Acapulco-Zihuatanejo y Acapulco-Pinotepa, donde además de pedir cooperaciones voluntarias a los automovilistas, exigen el regreso con vida de los 43 normalistas desaparecidos.
Con un balance preliminar de cinco mil personas marchando y saldo blanco, terminó la manifestación por los desaparecidos de Ayotzinapa realizada esta tarde en Guadalajara. A lo largo de la manifestación se observó la presencia de jóvenes, adultos y hasta niños que caminaron los casi dos kilómetros de distancia gritando diversas consignas.
Numerosas pintas en establecimientos comerciales y bardas, fue el saldo que dejaron las cuatro movilizaciones que realizó la Sección 22 del SNTE, en la capital del estado. Las brigadas, como se les llamó en la convocatoria, tuvieron como finalidad la de informar a la ciudadanía sobre el caso Ayotzinapa y exigir la presentación con vida de los 43 estudiantes desaparecidos desde el pasado 26 de septiembre.
SINALOA
Estudiantes en Sinaloa marchan por Ayotzinapa
Alrededor de 300 personas partieron del Palacio Municipal de Mazatlán hacia la avenida Ejército Mexicano para manifestarse por los estudiantes de Ayotzinapa.
En los Mochis, un grupo de personas colocaro alrededor del kiosco de la Plazuela 27 de septiembre, las fotografías de los 43 estudiantes. Frente a cada una de las imágenes fueron puestas veladoras y fueron colocadas algunas mantas.
El Congreso del Estado fue tomado por manifestantes que exigen alto a la impunidad en el caso de los normalistas desaparecidos en Ayotzinapa.
Después de lanzar una serie de consignas en solidaridad con el movimiento a nivel nacional convocado por los padres de los 43 normalistas, un grupo de personas ingresó a las instalaciones del Congreso y tomó la tribuna.
Trabajadores telefonistas de Tampico, Ciudad Madero y Altamira, se sumaron al paro nacional convocado por la Unión Nacional de Trabajadores (UNT), en apoyo a las familias de los normalistas de Ayotzinapa. Unos 370 trabajadores telefonistas adheridos al Sinipas, con pancartas en mano y vestidos de negro, se manifestaron en las oficinas de Teléfonos de México, parando labores.
Un grupo de jóvenes, en su mayoría estudiantes de varias escuelas de la ciudad, realizaron una marcha en protesta por la desaparición de los normalistas. Alrededor de 200 personas se reunieron en el Monumento a la Patria y de ahí marcharon a la Plaza Grande, finalmente se detuvieron frente al Palacio de Gobierno. – See more at: http://par.mx/primera/2014/544370/6/reporte-nacional-paro-nacional-por-ayotzinapa.htm#sthash.QToK6xol.dpuf
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