Two staffers for the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) resigned after expressing frustrations about a hold on military assistance to Ukraine that is now at the center of the impeachment inquiry, a witness has testified.
Mark Sandy, an OMB staffer, testified this month that the two staffers, one of whom was in the legal division, had resigned partially due to frustrations with the unexplained aid freeze, according to a transcript of his testimony released Tuesday.
Sandy recalled that one individual who resigned had “expressed some frustrations about not understanding the reason for the hold,” according to the transcript, but he noted that he was “reluctant to speak to someone else’s motivations.”
He was also asked whether the OMB legal division employee said they were leaving “at least in part because of their concerns on frustrations about the hold on Ukraine security assistance.”
“Yes, in terms of that process, in part,” Sandy responded.
The officials were not named in the transcript.
A senior administration official categorized the assertion that the two officials resigned in part over the aid freeze as false in an email to The Hill.
Sandy also testified that he believed President TrumpDonald John TrumpTrump puts Kushner in charge of overseeing border wall construction: report Trump 2020 national spokesperson gives birth to daughter New McCarthy ad praising Trump includes Russian stock footage MORE had directed the hold on Ukraine aid.
His testimony was part of the House’s impeachment inquiry into Trump’s dealings with Ukraine, including the freeze on security assistance.
The transcript of Sandy’s closed-door interview was one of the latest released by House Democrats. They also released testimony from a closed-door session with Philip Reeker, the acting assistant secretary of State in charge of European and Eurasian Affairs.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam SchiffAdam Bennett SchiffNunes faces potential ethics review over alleged meeting with Ukrainian official Poll: Interest in impeachment inquiry dips among Democratic voters Schiff: Judiciary Committee to receive impeachment report ‘soon after’ Thanksgiving recess MORE (D-Calif.), Oversight and Reform Committee Chairwoman Carolyn MaloneyCarolyn Bosher MaloneyThe Hill’s Morning Report – Sondland stuns; Dems pull punches in fifth debate Maloney wins House Oversight gavel The Hill’s Morning Report – Wild Wednesday: Sondland testimony, Dem debate take center stage MORE (D-N.Y.), and Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot EngelEliot Lance EngelOvernight Defense — Presented by Boeing — House chairmen demand answers on Open Skies Treaty | China warns US to stay out of South China Sea | Army conducting security assessment of TikTok House chairmen demand answers on surveillance flight treaty Maloney wins House Oversight gavel MORE (D-N.Y.) said in a statement Tuesday that the Reeker and Sandy interviews bolster their case against Trump.
“The testimonies from Ambassador Reeker and Mr. Sandy continue to paint a portrait of hand-picked political appointees corrupting the official levers of U.S. government power, including by withholding taxpayer funded military assistance to Ukraine, to further the President’s own personal political agenda,” they said.
Hours after Democrats released the transcripts, Trump appeared at a campaign rally in Florida, where he blasted the ongoing impeachment inquiry, with supporters breaking into a chant of “bullshit” when he insisted that the inquiry was falling flat with voters.
The transcripts’ release comes as Schiff’s panel works to put together a report for the Judiciary Committee that will be used to determine whether to draft articles of impeachment against Trump.
The House launched the inquiry after revelations that Trump had asked Ukraine’s president to look into former Vice President Joe BidenJoe BidenKennedy walks back comments on potential Ukraine interference: ‘I was wrong’ Nunes faces potential ethics review over alleged meeting with Ukrainian official Bloomberg campaign chief: Trump is winning 2020 election right now MORE, a top political rival and leading candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.
Updated: 10 p.m.
Source Article from https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/472202-two-omb-staffers-resigned-after-voicing-concerns-about-halted
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto faced fresh questions on Wednesday about his dealings with a company at the center of a conflict-of-interest scandal, after it emerged that he enjoyed rent-free use of a house belonging to the firm as a campaign office.
Already under pressure over the government’s handling of the presumed massacre of 43 students abducted by corrupt police in southwestern Mexico in September, Pena Nieto is facing his most difficult period since taking office two years ago.
On Nov. 3, the government announced a Chinese-led consortium had won a no bid contract to build a $3.75 billion high-speed rail link in central Mexico.
Three days later, the government abruptly canceled the deal, just before a report by news site Aristegui Noticias showed that a subsidiary of Grupo Higa, a company that formed part of the consortium and had won various previous contracts, owned the luxury house of first lady Angelica Rivera.
Under public pressure, Rivera said she would give up the house. But neither she nor Pena Nieto have addressed the apparent conflict of interest stemming from the government’s business with Grupo Higa.
On Wednesday, Aristegui Noticias published a new story that said Pena Nieto used a different property belonging to another Grupo Higa subsidiary as an office when he was president-elect in 2012.
Eduardo Sanchez, the president’s spokesman, said Pena Nieto unwittingly used the property. Sanchez said it was leased from the Grupo Higa firm by Humberto Castillejos, the president’s legal adviser, who lent it rent-free to Pena Nieto’s team.
“If I invite you to my house, do you come to my house and ask me under whose name it is? Neither does the president,” Sanchez said, denying there were conflicts of interest.
The spokesman also said there were no more properties Pena Nieto or his team had used belonging to Grupo Higa.
“No, there is no other house that was used in a professional capacity,” Sanchez said.
Castillejos could not immediately be reached for comment.
Jorge Luis Lavalle, a senator with the opposition conservative National Action Party, said the public saw a clear conflict of interest in the dealings of Pena Nieto and his government with Grupo Higa.
“It needs to be investigated. All these doubts need to be dispelled fully and clearly,” he said. “We now have another case with no explanation.”
(Additional reporting by Ana Isabel Martinez; Editing by Simon Gardner and Tom Brown)
Source Article from http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/26/us-mexico-president-idUSKCN0JA22220141126
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New York (CNN)A transformer explosion at a power plant in Queens temporarily lit up the New York City skyline in a brilliant blue Thursday night.
Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/27/us/ny-fires-con-ed-power-plant/index.html
The Senate kicked off a “vote-a-rama” on Friday with a vote on a $15-an-hour minimum wage, but the proceedings stalled out because of a late clash over unemployment benefits in the Democratic relief package. It highlighted the delicate shape of the Democratic majority.
Senate Democrats struck a deal on a last-minute change to the relief bill, cutting the federal unemployment benefit to $300 a week instead of $400. It would last through September, and not August 29 as in the House version of the legislation. It would also waive tax payments on the first $10,200 in jobless aid. The White House endorsed the plan.
But Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia appeared reluctant to back the new plan, according to a person familiar with internal discussions. He objected to the duration and size of the benefit.
Instead, he considered voting for a dueling amendment from Republican Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio. That proposal would extend a $300 weekly benefit through July 18. It would not include any tax relief for the unemployed, some of whom could get a surprise tax bill later this year.
Read more: Inside Secretary Pete’s quest to make the Transportation Department cool again
Manchin’s resistance brought proceedings to a halt for at least eight hours on Friday. Negotiations were underway to draw his support so the vote-a-rama could restart. Republicans were quick to assail Democrats for the misstep. They strongly oppose the coronavirus relief package, blasting it as too large and partisan.
“There is some bipartisanship, we believe, to change the bill,” Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said at a press conference. “But apparently that’s an unpardonable sin on the other side.”
The delay underscored the fragile state of the Democratic majority in an evenly divided Senate. Its one-vote edge over Republicans in the chamber — with Vice President Kamala Harris as the tiebreaker — means any Democratic legislative effort could be derailed without every Senate Democrat on board.
“In a 50-50 Senate, every vote is precious. Every vote matters,” Zach Moller, the deputy director of economic policy at Third Way, a centrist think tank, told Insider. “If Democrats want to control the bill, they need to have unanimity in their party.”
“I think this is the indication of how we’re gonna see the Senate operate for the next two years,” Jim Manley, a former Democratic senior aide, told Insider. “The irony of all this is this bill was going to be the easy one and everything to come is going to be a hell of a lot tougher.”
Democrats are employing a tactic known as reconciliation to approve the relief bill with a simple majority of 51 votes, circumventing Republicans in the process. But the legislation must comply with strict budgetary rules or parts of it could be tossed out.
Any major changes to the bill could prompt a revolt among progressives in the House who have expressed criticism after a provision for a $15-an-hour minimum wage was tossed out in the Senate. Democrats have rushed to approve the bill before March 14, the date that enhanced unemployment insurance starts expiring.
“If it gets to a certain level, it may require renegotiating with the House and the White House,” Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland told reporters. He said it was “not a desirable” outcome and that “the clock is ticking.”
The “vote-a-rama” is a lengthy process in which some Democrats and Republicans offer amendments to modify the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill. Democrats finalized changes to the legislation in recent days, including tightening eligibility for a third stimulus check and adjusting aid formulas for state and local aid.
The possible changes to unemployment aid within the legislation prompted concern from experts that summer would be too soon for the federal government to pull the plug on benefit programs.
“People are still going to be long-term unemployed over summer,” Andrew Stettner, a senior fellow at the left-leaning Century Foundation, told Insider. “People wouldn’t have enough money to get by when then aren’t ample job opportunities out there.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the procedure may stretch on for many hours. But Democrats were intent to approve the bill sometime over the weekend.
“The Senate is going to take a lot of votes. But we are going to power through and finish this bill, however long it takes,” he said on Friday. “The American people are counting on us, and our nation depends on it.”
Senate Democrats opened the proceedings with an 11 a.m. vote to restore a $15-an-hour minimum wage in the bill. It was technically still ongoing as of Friday afternoon, since Democrats are working to settle their dispute on unemployment aid before moving forward.
The plan is set to be defeated in a 58-42 vote. All 50 Republican senators voted against it, as did seven Democrats and an independent who caucuses with Democrats.
The non-Republican senators in opposition were Jon Tester of Montana, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, Chris Coons of Delaware, Tom Carper of Delaware, Angus King of Maine, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, and Maggie Hassan of Maine.
The Senate parliamentarian struck that part of the relief legislation, ruling it as out of bounds with Senate guidelines last month. Sen. Bernie Sanders, the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, said Friday he believed the official was “dead wrong” in the move.
“It is an absurd process that we allow an unelected staffer … to make a decision as to whether 30 million Americans get a pay raise or not,” Sanders said during a floor speech.
Republicans in the Senate are staunchly opposed to the $15-an-hour minimum wage. They say raising wages during a downturn would cost many jobs and worsen unemployment.
Source Article from https://www.businessinsider.com/stimulus-senate-starts-vote-a-rama-clash-unemployment-benefits-manchin-2021-3
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AP
Al menos 28 personas murieron y otras 61 resultaron heridas en Turquía en una explosión de un carro bomba en Ankara, la capital del país.
Las autoridades dijeron que los explosivos fueron detonados cuando autobuses que transportaban personal militar estaban detenidos en un semáforo cerca del Parlamento y de un cuartel militar.
El ministro de Justicia, Bekir Bozdag, calificó lo ocurrido como un acto “terrorista”.
El presidente Recep Tayip Erdogan y el primer ministro Ahmet Davutoglu han cancelado viajes que tenían planificados al extranjero.
Image copyright
Reuters
El ataque ocurre en un momento en el que Turquía se ha implicado más en el conflicto de Siria, mientras intenta contener una escalada de violencia al sur del país, en zonas habitadas mayormente por población kurda.
Davutoglu iba a viajar este jueves a Bruselas para participar en una mini cumbre con 11 de los 28 países de la Unión Europea a propósito de la crisis de refugiados sirios que se han asentado en Turquía.
Durante el último año, Turquía ha sufrido una serie de ataques con explosivos que han sido mayormente atribuidos al autodenominado Estado Islámico.
En este caso, hasta ahora, nadie se ha atribuido la responsabilidad por lo ocurrido.
Enero de 2016 Un ataque suicida en Estambul atribuido al autodenominado Estado Islámico causa 10 muertos, principalmente turistas alemanes.
Octubre de 2015 Mueren más de 100 personas en un doble atentado suicida contra una manifestación por la paz de grupos pro-kurdos en Ankara.
Julio de 2015 Unas 30 personas fallecen en un ataque suicida en Suruc, ubicada junto a la frontera con Siria.
“Escuché una explosión enorme. Había humo y un olor realmente fuerte, pese a que la detonación ocurrió a varias calles de distancia”, le dijo a Reuters un testigo.
“Inmediatamente podías oír las sirenas de las ambulancias y de las patrullas policiales acercándose al lugar”, agregó.
Image copyright
Getty
Largas columnas de humo podían ser vistas en el cielo, saliendo del lugar donde ocurrió el suceso.
Tras la explosión, las fuerzas de seguridad realizaron la detonación controlada de un paquete sospechoso.
Source Article from http://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias/2016/02/160217_turquia_explosion_carro_ankara_muertos_ab
En nba en las últimas 24 horas
Source Article from http://www.marca.com/2014/08/21/baloncesto/nba/noticias/1408609006.html
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Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/31/politics/trump-protests-george-floyd/index.html
U.S. Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., asks 2014 Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai a question at the Kennedy School’s Institute of Politics at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., Dec. 6, 2018. (Associated Press)
A majority of voters support a proposal floated by U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to dramatically increase the highest tax rate on the wealthiest Americans to as high as 70 percent.
Around 59 percent of registered voters support the idea, according to a Hill-HarrisX survey, which was conducted Jan. 12-13 after the New York Democrat set off a nationwide debate with her comments on CBS’s “60 Minutes” that she would support the increase to fund her climate change plan.
The proposed tax hike would affect those making $10 million or more, she said.
OCASIO-CORTEZ QUESTIONS TRUMP’S WEALTH AFTER PRESIDENTIAL SWIPE
“That doesn’t mean all $10 million are taxed at an extremely high rate, but it means that as you climb up this ladder you should be contributing more,” Ocasio-Cortez said during the interview.
Women supported the proposal by 62-38 percent and men favored it by 55-45 percent, according to the Hill. Southerners back the concept by a 57 to 43 percent margin and 45 percent of Republican voters also viewed it positively.
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During the “60 Minutes” interview, Ocasio-Cortez referenced tax rates returning to levels seen in the 1950s and 1960s, when the richest Americans were taxed at up to 90 percent.
Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/most-voters-support-70-percent-tax-hike-on-richest-americans-poll
¿Sabes cuánta gente veÃa La Comay en Puerto Rico? ¿Tienes alguna idea realmente del nivel al que llega nuestro gusto por lo “cafreâ€�? Bueno… esta columna puede ofenderte.
Escucho continuamente a las personas diciendo que la prensa es negativa. Que la prensa no escribe sobre temas positivos y que pasan todos los dÃas cosas muy buenas en Puerto Rico. Estaba compartiendo con unas amigas en RÃo Grande y me dijeron: “La prensa es sensacionalista, amarillista a nivel de ‘Primer Impacto’ a la séptima potenciaâ€�. “Parece que los periódicos del PaÃs son una revista de chisme y que lo que hacen es controlar a las masasâ€�.
Hoy les voy a contestar. Los periodistas y la prensa quisieran escribir de cosas mejores, más interesantes y seguramente más profundas. Pero, el mercado es el mercado y la prensa y los medios son un negocio igual que cualquier otro. Es decir, ¿verdad que los restaurantes no dejan de vender productos que hacen daño porque te causen problemas de salud? ¿Verdad que sigues consumiendo esas papitas fritas, arroz blanco grasoso con chuletas y hamburgers con kétchup y mayonesa de la mala? Ahhh, pero que no falte el refresco de “dieta�.
Entonces, si sigues consumiendo cosas que te hacen daño y aun asà te las metes al cuerpo y alguien te las vende y las compras… ¿por qué la prensa debe ser diferente?
Esta semana hice un experimento en mi página de Facebook. TÃpicamente un mensaje que escribo en mi página pública llega a entre 80 mil y 120 mil personas (cuando tienes un Fan Page te dice ese tipo de información). Me siguen en Facebook unas 610 mil personas. Un dÃa de la semana participé del Radiomaratón a favor del Hospital del Niño en Guaynabo y en mis redes sociales solamente escribà cosas positivas relacionadas a cooperar y ayudar a un lugar tan especial como ese. Hice la prueba; en la misma hora verifiqué el “reachâ€� de mis “postsâ€� cuando hago crÃticas polÃticas y lo positivo que estaba escribiendo ese dÃa. La diferencia fue impresionante por lo enorme.
Mientras que la noticia positiva solo tenÃa un “reachâ€� de 12 mil a 15 mil personas, si hacÃa en el mismo horario comentarios polÃticos de crÃtica, señalamiento y denuncia estos podÃan llegar a sobrepasar el “reachâ€� de 120 mil fácilmente. Incluso, he publicado en los mismos horarios noticias sobre Maripily e igualmente llegó a sobrepasar el “reachâ€� de 120 mil.
De hecho, la columna que he escrito que mayor “reachâ€� alcanzó fue la que titulé “El gistro amarillo coge gasolinaâ€�. El negocio de los medios es el “ratingâ€�, es el nivel de “likesâ€� y “sharesâ€� igual que el tuyo en una tienda es vender un producto y en un “dealerâ€� vender carros. Por tanto, a nosotros se nos juzga por la cantidad de gente que nos escucha, lee o patrocina. De hecho, cada vez que alguien pide periodismo investigativo debe comprender algo: este es costosÃsimo y te expone a demandas, a costos legales, a denuncias, a perder clientes y todo para el mismo nivel de “ratingâ€� y a veces menos de lo que te genera una noticia sobre Maripily.
Cada vez que tú coges una noticia y la lees, le das “copyâ€�, le das “pasteâ€� en tu Facebook y escribes “¿a quién le importa?â€�, pues caramba, ¿a quién le importa? PUES A TI… porque si no te importara no le dedicarÃas tanto tiempo. Incluso, el mero hecho de que comentes en esas noticias que alegas no interesar leer, estás endosándolas y pidiendo más porque lo que se vende en la prensa es precisamente el nivel de personas que la vieron y demás, no si te gustó o no que se publicara el asunto.
Por si acaso, sà los medios tienen una responsabilidad social y claro que se intenta, pero como cualquier negocio se le da al cliente lo que el cliente compra. En este caso el cliente es el pueblo de Puerto Rico. Para que usted tenga una idea del cliente que somos, La Comay, a quien alegadamente nadie la veÃa, tenÃa un millón de televidentes. Anderson Cooper, de CNN, tiene en todo Estados Unidos unos 800 mil televidentes. SÃ, a ese nivel llegaba La Comay en esta isla. Asà que si fueras tú el dueño del negocio y sin correr riesgos y con bien poquitos gastos publicas una noticia de Maripily y logras 300 mil “viewsâ€� y una noticia de periodismo investigativo con montones de costos y riesgos logra solo 120 mil y una noticia positiva como la del Hospital del Niño logra 20 mil “viewsâ€�, ¿qué harÃas?
Finalmente, en una ocasión la gente dijo en un grupo focal que se hizo para saber “los gustos y preferenciasâ€� al investigador que “no le gustaba la polÃticaâ€�, que preferÃan noticias de “saludâ€� y de “cosas positivasâ€�. Cuando a esa gente se le preguntó sobre los programas de radio que escuchaban, ninguno tenÃa ni remotamente algo parecido a lo que alegaban querer escuchar en su programa de radio. De hecho, los programas de salud y de cosas positivas tienen pésimos ratings.
¿Por qué crees que se publican tantas noticias de Maripily? Para perder dinero no es…
Vamos, seamos honestos y honestas en cuanto a qué es lo que nos gusta y qué es lo que nos llama la atención. Queremos mejor televisión, mejor radio, mejor prensa… estoy seguro que hay muchÃsima gente que quiere crear mejor radio, prensa y televisión… para lograrlo comencemos con el primer paso de dejar de ser hipócritas.
Source Article from http://www.primerahora.com/noticias/puerto-rico/columna/jay-fonseca/columnas/notegustanlasnoticiasbuenasna-1039762/
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Source Article from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-28/world-s-biggest-plane-destroyed-in-russian-attack-on-airfield
The jewelry designer behind Michelle Obama’s “VOTE” necklace at the 2020 Democratic National Convention says the brand has been inundated with offers thanks to the primetime moment.
Chari Cuthbert, who owns the Los Angeles boutique ByChari, said the brand saw “a significant uptick in sales” in just the hour after the former first lady debuted the $430 gold chain, the Daily Beast reported.
“My finance guy just texted me a bunch of exclamation points, so I assume that’s a good thing,” Cuthbert said. “He said, I’m so happy for you, this is everything you’ve worked for.”
She wasn’t aware that Obama would be wearing the design for the DNC until it appeared on television screens across the nation during her speech, which headlined the first night of the convention.
Cuthbert previously told The Post she designed a VOTE necklace for the 2016 election and was planning on selling one again this time around.
“I was honored when Michelle Obama’s stylist asked for one and am thrilled she is wearing it!” she said in a statement.
Source Article from https://nypost.com/2020/08/18/bychari-inundated-with-orders-for-michelle-obamas-vote-necklace/
LOS ANGELES, July 30, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — KWHY-TV Noticias 22, the MundoFOX Los Angeles television network affiliate’s award-winning newscast, Noticias 22, “La voz de Tu Ciudad,” “The voice of your city”, scored as the fastest growing late Spanish language newscast in Nielsen’s recently completed July 2015 Sweeps for Los Angeles, the city with the largest Hispanic market in the nation.
“Our growth is a strong statement of relevance and support to our news team and editorial direction,” stated Palmira Perez, Noticias 22 MundoFOX News Anchor. “Noticias 22 continues to produce the most engaging, compelling news and information daily for our community, and as part of Meruelo Media, together we’re committed to journalistic excellence,” added Otto Padron, President of Meruelo Media.
KWHY-TV Noticias 22 MundoFOX Los Angeles July 2015 Sweeps Highlights:
Source: Los Angeles NSI Ratings, July 2015
For more information on KWHY-TV Noticias 22 MundoFOX, please visit www.mundofox22.com.
About Meruelo Media
Meruelo Media (MM) is the media division of The Meruelo Group. MM currently operates two Southern California Legendary media platforms; the classic hip-hop and R&B radio station, 93.5 KDAY and one of Los Angeles’ oldest Hispanic TV stations, KWHY-TV Canal 22, which is currently the flagship of MundoFOX Television Network. MM also owns the first and only US Hispanic Super Station, Super 22, airing on its KWHY-TV second digital stream and reaching over 6 Million Homes over various multiple video delivery providers. MM also broadcasts in Houston and Santa Barbara. The Meruelo Group is a minority owned, privately-held management company serving a diversified portfolio of affiliated entities with interests in banking and financial services; food services, manufacturing, distribution and restaurant operations; construction and engineering; hospitality and gaming; real estate management; media, public and private equity investing. For more information please visit www.meruelogroup.com.
Rebekah Salgado
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562.228.8191
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Source Article from http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/kwhy-tv-noticias-22-mundofox-reigns-as-las-fastest-growing-late-spanish-newscast-in-july-2015-sweeps-300121156.html
A boarded-up Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. The Grove, one of the city’s premier dining and retail centers, staggering with several stores looted. National Guard troops deployed in the streets, and an entire police department mobilized for the first time in 25 years.
That’s what Los Angeles woke up to this morning, as an overnight curfew attempted to quell the mob rule that dominated most of Saturday. The protests marked the fourth straight day of activity, and there is little to indicate that passions and violence will cool over the next few days.
For a fragile city that is still in an economic recovery from the two-month shutdown of business by the pandemic, Friday and Saturday’s arson, looting, and general chaos is a blow that will make it that much tougher for Los Angeles to revive.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti held a press conference at 4 PM on Saturday offering a velvet hand out to protesters, expressing hopes that everyone would simply stop any violent actions. He pooh-poohed the idea of bringing in the National Guard, saying that’s not what the city is about. He also limited the curfew he instituted to the downtown area, despite a massive gathering already brewing in midtown, where a police car had been burned and other police vehicles were damaged.
Hours later, Garcetti was begging Governor Gavin Newsom to send troops and declaring a state of emergency.
Garcetti’s misread of the city’s street situation and the mood as the protests devolved was just one step along the way toward Saturday night’s chaos. Police were stretched, having to cover looting activities across the span of the city. More than 550 people were arrested on Friday in downtown’s protest activities, and although no officials totals for Saturday have been released, it’s likely at least several hundred people were detained on Saturday.
Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore, who earlier in the week issued a YouTube video saying he welcomed protests, spoke to the Los Angeles Times from the ransacked Nordstrom’s store at the Grove.
“This is not the solution,” he said. “We haven’t given up on L.A., and L.A. shouldn’t give up on itself. We can pull around this…Policing doesn’t fix these kinds of societal problems. I need all of L.A. to step up right now and be part of the solution.”
Source Article from https://deadline.com/2020/05/los-angeles-awakens-ater-day-of-chaos-on-streets-1202947609/
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WASHINGTON — American defense firms Lockheed Martin and Raytheon are preparing to make massive adjustments to their production processes as the U.S. tries to pressure Turkey not to follow through with a multibillion-dollar deal to buy a Russian missile system, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.
If Turkey goes through with the Russian deal, Lockheed Martin would have to rework its supply chain on components for the F-35 fighter jet, while also making changes to its production schedule. Yet if Turkey abandons its deal with Russia, Raytheon would reorganize the Patriot missile defense system production schedule to guarantee that Turkey could receive the missile system within a faster time frame.
As it stands, Turkey faces removal from the F-35 program, forfeiture of 100 promised F-35 jets, cancellation of a Patriot missile deal and the imposition of U.S. sanctions as well as potential blowback from NATO if the deal with Russia is completed. Lockheed Martin makes the F-35, while Raytheon produces the Patriot system.
“The ball is very much in their court,” a U.S. defense official familiar with the matter told CNBC. “There is a lot to lose on the line and Turkey should know that these aren’t idle threats.”
Turkey is slated to receive the Russian-made S-400 missile system later this year after brokering a deal reportedly worth $2.5 billion with the Kremlin in 2017.
Turkey has helped finance Lockheed Martin’s F-35 program, America’s most expensive weapons system and the world’s most advanced fighter jet.
For Lockheed Martin, the adjustments include replacing Turkey’s role in manufacturing elements for the F-35’s fuselage and landing gear. Therefore, a new supplier would have to take over making those specific jet components. Additionally, the 100 F-35 jets Turkey hoped to add to its budding arsenal will be shuffled in the company’s intricate production schedule as to ensure the defense giant’s assembly line will hum along without skipping a beat.
On Thursday, the head of the F-35 program at the Pentagon told lawmakers that Turkey’s removal would impact the aircraft production rate and strain the jet’s intricate global supply chain.
“The evaluation of Turkey stopping would be between 50 and 75 airplane impact over a two-year period,” Navy Vice Adm. Mat Winter told members during a House Armed Services subcommittee hearing.
“From a timeline we would see within 45 to 90 days an impact of the slowing down or stopping of those parts to the three production lines,” Winter said, adding that Turkey produces approximately 7 percent of the jet’s parts.
In September, CNBC learned that Turkey was in the process of constructing a site for the Russian S-400 system despite warnings from the United States to not buy the platform, according to a source with firsthand knowledge of an intelligence report.
In multiple efforts to deter Turkey from buying the S-400, the U.S. State Department offered in 2013 and 2017 to sell it a Patriot missile system. Ankara passed on Patriot both times because the U.S. declined to provide a transfer of the system’s sensitive missile technology.
The intelligence assessment included satellite imagery of a concrete launch facility as well as bunkers, according to the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The new construction fits the pattern for Russia’s S-400 surface-to-air missile system, the source indicated.
The S-400 missile system, equipped with eight launchers and 32 missiles, is capable of targeting and collecting valuable technical intelligence from the F-35. Similarly, the S-400 cannot be operated alongside NATO defense systems.
The Turkey-U.S. military relationship took more anxious turns Monday, when the U.S. halted delivery of two F-35 fighter jets to Ankara and an agreement to sell the Patriot system to Turkey expired.
On Tuesday, Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said he expected the dispute with Turkey over its planned purchase of Russia’s S-400 system to be resolved.
“I expect we’ll solve the problem so that they have the right defense equipment in terms of Patriots and F-35s,” Shanahan told a small group of reporters at the Pentagon.
Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/04/lockheed-martin-raytheon-prepare-big-changes-amid-us-dispute-with-turkey-on-russian-arms-deal.html
The FBI on Tuesday announced that it had concluded its investigation into the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, in which 58 people were killed. But the conclusion left a big mystery open: Investigators could not figure out the shooter’s motive, meaning we may never know why he carried out the attack.
It’s certainly unsatisfying and upsetting that we’ll never know why this happened. For the families and friends of the victims, it may rob them of closure. And for policymakers and law enforcement, not knowing the motive may make it harder to implement steps to prevent similar attacks in the future.
But just because we don’t know the motive does not mean that we don’t know why the shooting happened. We don’t know what drove the shooter to kill 58 people. But we know why he was able to: He lived in a country where he could get nearly 50 guns — comprising everything from handguns to assault rifles, sometimes modified with bump stocks that can make these weapons more lethal.
After mass shootings, politicians and other officials try to point to all sorts of explanations for why an attack happened. It’s mental illness. It’s misogyny. It’s anti-Semitism. It’s some other form of extremism or hate.
In individual shootings, these all of course can play a role. But when you want to explain why America sees so many of these mass shootings in general — 27 so far in 2019 alone, by one estimate — and why America suffers more gun violence than other developed nations, none of these factors in individual shootings give a satisfying answer. Only guns are the common factor.
To put it another way: America does not have a monopoly on mental health issues, bigots, or extremists. What is unique about the US is that it makes it so easy for people with these issues to obtain a gun.
It comes down to two basic problems.
First, America has uniquely weak gun laws. Other developed nations at the very least require one or more background checks and almost always something more rigorous beyond that to get a gun, from specific training courses to rules for locking up firearms to more arduous licensing requirements to specific justifications, besides self-defense, for owning a gun.
In the US, even a background check isn’t a total requirement; the current federal law is riddled with loopholes and snared by poor enforcement, so there are many ways around even a basic background check. And if a state enacts stricter measures than federal laws, someone can simply cross state lines to buy guns in a jurisdiction with looser rules. There are simply very few barriers, if any, to getting a gun in the US.
Second, the US has a ton of guns. It has far more than not just other developed nations, but any other country period. Estimated for 2017, the number of civilian-owned firearms in the US was 120.5 guns per 100 residents, meaning there were more firearms than people. The world’s second-ranked country was Yemen, a quasi-failed state torn by civil war, where there were 52.8 guns per 100 residents, according to an analysis from the Small Arms Survey.
Both of these factors come together to make it uniquely easy for someone with any violent intent to find a firearm, allowing them to carry out a horrific shooting.
This is borne out in the statistics. The US has nearly six times the gun homicide rate of Canada, more than seven times that of Sweden, and nearly 16 times that of Germany, according to United Nations data for 2012 compiled by the Guardian. (These gun deaths are a big reason America has a much higher overall homicide rate, which includes non-gun deaths, than other developed nations.)
Javier Zarracina/Vox
The research, compiled by the Harvard School of Public Health’s Injury Control Research Center, is also pretty clear: After controlling for variables such as socioeconomic factors and other crime, places with more guns have more gun deaths. Researchers have found this to be true not just with homicides, but also with suicides (which in recent years were around 60 percent of US gun deaths), domestic violence, and violence against police.
As a breakthrough analysis by UC Berkeley’s Franklin Zimring and Gordon Hawkins in the 1990s found, it’s not even that the US has more crime than other developed countries. This chart, based on data from Jeffrey Swanson at Duke University, shows that the US is not an outlier when it comes to overall crime:
Instead, the US appears to have more lethal violence — and that’s driven in large part by the prevalence of guns.
“A series of specific comparisons of the death rates from property crime and assault in New York City and London show how enormous differences in death risk can be explained even while general patterns are similar,” Zimring and Hawkins wrote. “A preference for crimes of personal force and the willingness and ability to use guns in robbery make similar levels of property crime 54 times as deadly in New York City as in London.”
This is in many ways intuitive: People of every country get into arguments and fights with friends, family, and peers. But in the US, it’s much more likely that someone will get angry at an argument and be able to pull out a gun and kill someone.
Researchers have found that stricter gun laws could help. A 2016 review of 130 studies in 10 countries, published in Epidemiologic Reviews, found that new legal restrictions on owning and purchasing guns tended to be followed by a drop in gun violence — a strong indicator that restricting access to guns can save lives. A review of the US evidence by RAND also linked some gun control measures, including background checks, to reduced injuries and deaths. A growing body of evidence, from Johns Hopkins researchers, also supports laws that require a license to buy and own guns.
That doesn’t mean that bigots and extremists will never be able to carry out a shooting in places with strict gun laws. Even the strictest gun laws can’t prevent every shooting.
And guns are not the only contributor to violence. Other factors include, for example, poverty, urbanization, alcohol consumption, and the strength of criminal justice systems. But when researchers control for other confounding variables, they have found time and time again that America’s loose access to guns is a major reason the US is so much worse in terms of gun violence than its developed peers.
So America, with its lax laws and abundance of firearms, makes it uniquely easy for people to commit massacres. Until the US confronts that issue, it will continue to see more gun deaths than the rest of the developed world.
For more on America’s gun problem, read Vox’s explainer.
Source Article from https://www.vox.com/2019/1/29/18202358/las-vegas-mass-shooting-motive-fbi
Corea del Norte anunció el domingo que llevó a cabo una prueba de una bomba de hidrógeno que puede ser transportada en un misil balístico de largo alcance.
El hermético país asiático indicó que ésta, su sexta prueba nuclear, fue “un éxito perfecto” y ocurrió después de que sismólogos detectaron fuertes temblores en la región.
La bomba de hidrógeno que Pyongyang dice haber probado es mucho más potente que una bomba atómica.
Los analistas, sin embargo, afirman que las afirmaciones de Corea del Norte deben tomarse con cautela, aunque es claro que sus capacidades nucleares están avanzando.
Japón condenó la prueba y Corea del Sur llamó a una reunión de emergencia de su Consejo de Seguridad.
El presidente surcoreano, Moon Jae-in declaró que la sexta prueba nuclear debe ser recibida con la “respuesta más fuerte posible”, incluidas nuevas sanciones de la ONU para “asilar completamente” al país.
Por su parte China, el único aliado importante de Corea del Norte, también condenó la prueba.
Declaró que Corea del Norte “ha ignorado la extensa oposición de la comunidad internacional al realizar, una vez más, una prueba nuclear”.
“El gobierno de China expresa una resuelta oposición y firme condena hacia esto”, declaró en un comunicado la Cancillería china.
Y el secretario general del gabinete japonés, Yoshihide Suga, también condenó la prueba y dijo que las sanciones contra el Norte deben incluir restricciones en el comercio de productos petroleros.
Derechos de autor de la imagen
Reuters
Poco antes Japón había confirmado que dos fuertes temblores de tierra reportados en Corea del Norte obedecieron a que Pyongyang realizó una nueva prueba nuclear.
“Después de examinar los datos, concluimos que se trataba de pruebas nucleares”, dijo el canciller japonés Taro Kono en una conferencia informativa por la emisora pública NHK tras una reunión del Consejo de Seguridad Nacional.
Se dijo que los temblores se originaron en un lugar donde el hermético país asiático ha realizado pruebas nucleares de este tipo en otras ocasiones, en el Condado de Kilju, donde está situado el sitio de pruebas de Punggye-ri.
El Ejército de Corea del Sur aseguró que el movimiento telúrico fue provocado por “causas no naturales”.
El Servicio Geológico de los Estados Unidos estimó inicialmente que el sismo, registrado a 10 kilómetros de profundidad, tuvo una magnitud 5,6 aunque luego la subió a 6,3.
Pocos minutos después, la Administración de Terremotos de China registró un segundo temblor con una magnitud superior a 4 y los describió como resultado de una “sospecha de explosión”.
Corea del Sur convocó también a una reunión de emergencia de su Consejo de Seguridad, mientras el primer ministro de Japón, Shinzo Abe aseguró que una prueba nuclear sería “absolutamente inaceptable”.
Derechos de autor de la imagen
AFP
Corea del Norte realizó con anterioridad cinco pruebas de este tipo, la última de ellas en septiembre del año pasado.
El temblor se produjo pocas horas después de que el líder norcoreano Kim Jong-un fuera retratado junto a lo que los medios estatales calificaron como una “bomba de hidrógeno”.
Aunque no existe confirmación independiente sobre la veracidad de su existencia, la agencia de noticias estatal norcoreana KCNA indicó que se trataba de “un arma termonuclear multifuncional con gran poder destructivo que puede detonarse incluso en grandes altitudes”.
Corea del Norte ya ha declarado anteriormente que logró miniaturizar un arma nuclear pero los expertos expresan dudas al respecto.
Derechos de autor de la imagen
EPA/USGS
También hay escepticismo sobre las afirmaciones de Pyongyang de que desarrolló una bomba de hidrógeno, que es más poderosa que una bomba atómica.
Las de hidrógeno utilizan fusión de átomos para liberar enormes cantidades de energía, mientras que las bombas atómicas utilizan fisión nuclear, que es la división de los átomos.
El Ministerio de Defensa de Japón informó que envió tres aviones militares para probar los niveles de radiación en el lugar donde tuvo lugar la prueba.
Jonathan Marcus, corresponsal de asuntos de defensa de la BBC
La sexta prueba nuclear de Corea del Norte -y quizás la más poderosa hasta ahora- envía una clara señal política.
A pesar de la bravata y las amenazas de la administración de Trump en Washington, y de la condena casi universal del mundo, Pyongyang no va a detener o limitar sus actividades nucleares.
Lo que preocupa es que esto también sugiere que este es un programa que está progresando en todos los frentes a un ritmo más rápido de lo que se esperaba.
Hasta ahora todos los esfuerzos para presionar a Corea del Norte, las sanciones, el aislamiento y las amenazas militares, han fracasado.
¿Puede hacerse algo más? Ciertamente, pero una dura presión económica potencialmente podría paralizar al régimen y empujarlo hacia la catástrofe, algo que China no está dispuesta a aceptar.
La contención y la disuasión ahora pasarán a primer plano a medida que el mundo adapta su política para buscar una reducción del programa de armas de Pyongyang a una para vivir con una Corea del Norte armada nuclearmente.
“Un arma nuclear muy grande”
Bruce Bennett, un analista de la defensa de Rand Corporation, un think tank especializado en el tema, aseguró que un temblor de magnitud 6,3 significaría que Corea del Norte utilizó “una arma nuclear muy grande”.
“Todavía no es una verdadera bomba de hidrógeno, pero ciertamente está mucho más cerca de eso que cualquier cosa que hayan hecho antes“.
Indicó que China también se mostrará preocupada por el tamaño de la supuesta explosión.
“Los pobladores chinos que viven al otro lado de la frontera en esa zona, sin duda sintieron los enormes temblores”, dijo.
El servicio meteorológico de Japón estimó que la prueba realizada este domingo fue 10 veces mayor que las realizadas antes.
Corea del Norte llevó a cabo su última prueba nuclear en septiembre de 2016 desafiando las sanciones de la ONU y la presión internacional para que suspenda su programa de armas nucleares.
Source Article from http://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-internacional-41139231
And on Wednesday, even as he claimed that Pakistan had had no choice but to retaliate for India’s airstrikes around Balakot the day before, he also expressed concern that the two countries must calm hostilities rather than risk nuclear war.
Behind the calm exterior, though, is the widespread belief that Pakistan is in no shape right now to wage a major war. Its economy is in deep trouble, with the country running out of hard currency. And most other nations — including China, which has traditionally taken Pakistan’s side in disputes — have pressed Pakistan to take more action against terrorist groups.
In the propaganda war of the past few days, both countries have been guilty of missteps. Pakistan maintained for a day that it had shot down two Indian fighter jets and captured two pilots, only later revising it down to one on each count.
But it is India that has suffered the more glaring contradictions. The government has yet to offer any evidence publicly for its claim that it downed a Pakistan plane, which Indian officials say crashed beyond their border. Likewise, India has offered no proof that its initial airstrike on Tuesday killed “a very large number” of “terrorists, trainers, senior commanders and groups of jihadis,” as India’s foreign secretary has claimed.
Videos of a crushed building filled with bodies that soon began circulating widely on social media in India were quickly debunked. The images were not from the airstrike but from an earthquake in Pakistan more than 10 years ago.
This is beginning to take its toll on Mr. Modi, who is up for election in about two months and who until recently seemed invincible. But in some sectors, he is now being accused of military adventurism. One family of a fallen soldier called the government a liar.
Other Indians seem frustrated.
”The government has been lax and inaccurate in the way information is being let out,’’ said Mohammad Saquib, who works at a hotel in Delhi.
Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/28/world/asia/pakistan-india-pilot-kashmir.html