“He’s basically saying the United States will not secure our border and that is a big welcome sign to migrants from across the world,” Cotton said.
Cotton’s comments underscored the political pressure growing on Biden to address the growing surge of migrants reaching the southern border. In February, U.S. border agents apprehended more than 100,000 people, a 28 percent increase from January.
A repeated talking point by Mayorkas on Sunday was that the Trump administration, which took a hard line on border policy, was to blame because it “dismantled the orderly, humane and efficient way” of dealing with the migrant children. Mayorkas said the U.S. was expelling families and adults but will not turn back “young, vulnerable children.” He said the U.S. was working to address the issue with Mexico and Central American countries where the asylum seekers are coming from.
Cotton said Biden should embrace the Trump administration’s policies to address the situation at the border.
Cotton said Biden should reinstate a “public health” restriction that he lifted for minors reaching the border. Cotton said Biden should also embrace Trump-era policies intended to keep pending asylum seekers in Mexico and force migrants to make asylum claims in the first country they pass through.
“Joe Biden could reimpose all three of those things this week if he wanted to,” Cotton said.
La suma de la publicidad en todos los medios escritos en papel más digitales en Estados Unidos en 2016 se redujo a sólo un tercio de lo que fue en 2006 mientras el total de la publicidad aumentó. Pero se la quedaron quienes no producen contenido sino que lo distribuyen, como, esencialmente, Google y Facebook. El presidente de la asociación que agrupa a los medios digitales e impresos de Estados Unidos, David Chavern, fue entrevistado por la principal cadena de televisión norteamericana: CBS (de Viacom, dueña en Argentina de Telefe), para anunciar su primer reclamo ante el Congreso de Estados Unidos (Europa ya multó a Google con 2.700 millones de euros) solicitando que obligue a Google y a Facebook a devolver de alguna forma la publicidad que obtienen mientras sus audiencias asisten a contenidos producidos por los medios (ver con subtítulos en español en e.perfil.com/medios-contra-google-y-facebook).
La comunicación incluye tanto la publicidad como el periodismo, pero no hay que confundirlos
Paralelamente, el viernes pasado, en Amcham, la Cámara de Comercio Norteamericana en Argentina presentó el informe de la consultora internacional Ovum –que en Londres tiene un media center con más de 150 analistas– sobre el futuro de las telecomunicaciones. El evento fue promovido por el gigante mundial del sector AT&T, y muy posible futuro dueño de Time Warner (CNN, HBO, Turner, AOL), ya que sólo falta la aprobación del gobierno de su país.
En esa conferencia me tocó exponer junto al presidente del Enacom, Miguel de Godoy; al secretario de Tecnologías de la Información y las Comunicaciones, Héctor Huici; al vicepresidente de International External Affairs de AT&T, Karim Lesina; al presidente de Cablevisión, Carlos Moltini, y al CEO del diario La Nación, Guillermo Rivaben.
Mi posición fue idéntica a la de David Chavern: hay un error conceptual al confundir las noticias con el resto de los contenidos. Spotify o Netflix proponen a sus clientes música o películas en función de sus preferencias registradas en su historial. El mismo tipo de algoritmos utilizan Facebook o Twitter para seleccionar de todas las noticias principalmente aquellas cuya tendencia el usuario ya haya demostrado preferencia en sesiones anteriores.
Que a quien le guste el rock más que la música clásica o las películas de aventuras antes que los dramas se le facilite seguir sus preferencias es una práctica de “satisfacción del cliente”. Pero que a quienes tienen una inclinación política se le seleccionen las noticias que refuerzan su favoritismo pasa a ser nocivo para la posibilidad de esa persona de ampliar y contrastar sus opiniones. Además de una desgracia para la democracia, porque crea polarizaciones entre grupos que se retroalimentan con informaciones que confirmen sus prejuicios.
El otro problema es que sólo Google y Facebook se quedan con el 70% de la publicidad mundial digital, construyendo un duopolio planetario que no tiene antecedentes. En la década del 80, el Congreso de Estados Unidos obligó a la compañía de teléfonos Bell a dividirse en siete empresas. Una de ellas fue la que dio origen a AT&T. El monopolio de hecho de Google en buscadores o la posición dominante de Facebook en redes sociales (compró Instagram y WhatsApp) es tanto mayor que aquella de la Bell, y sólo se comprende que el Congreso de Estados Unidos no las haya obligado aún a dividirse porque se trata de empresas importantes para la inteligencia militar y porque la publicidad de los demás países termina quedando en una empresa norteamericana (por eso China creó sus equivalentes a Google y Facebook).
Las noticias son una forma de contenidos, pero no son lo mismo que el entretenimiento
Pero ahora los propios norteamericanos están tomando conciencia de la amenaza que les genera dentro de su propio territorio. The Wall Street Journal escribió: “Cada vez que el presidente Trump ataca a CNN o reprueba al Washington Post, periodistas y defensores de la libertad de expresión se alzan para defender los medios y la Primera Enmienda. Mientras tanto, una mayor amenaza para la industria de noticias de Estados Unidos no pasa desapercibida: el dominio duopólico de Google y Facebook de la publicidad en línea, que podría causar mucho más daño a la prensa libre que cualquier cosa que el presidente publique en Twitter. (…) Google y Facebook dominan el tráfico web y los ingresos por anuncios en línea. Juntos, representan más del 70% de los US$ 73 mil millones gastados cada año en publicidad digital, y consumen la mayor parte del crecimiento. Casi el 80% de todo el tráfico de referencias en línea proviene de Google y Facebook. Este es un negocio inmensamente rentable. El ingreso neto de la compañía matriz de Google, Alphabet, fue de US$ 19 mil millones el año pasado. En Facebook fue de US$ 10 mil millones. Sin embargo, los dos gigantes digitales no emplean reporteros: no cavan a través de registros públicos para descubrir la corrupción, enviar corresponsales a zonas de guerra o asistir al partido de anoche para obtener los mejores momentos. Ellos esperan que una industria de noticias económicamente apretada haga ese costoso trabajo para ellos”.
Simplemente, si el Congreso norteamericano obligara a Google a dividirse en diferentes empresas para competir entre ellas, deberían disputarse a los productores de contenido y ya no se quedarían con la publicidad que genera el consumo de medios en sus plataformas o pagarían por el uso de los contenidos. Obviamente, eso subiría el costo de la publicidad para quienes compran publicidad en Google y Facebook, equilibrando el ecosistema.
Durante la conferencia en Amchan, donde la mayoría de los asistentes eran ejecutivos de empresas de telecomunicaciones, uno de ellos se refirió a la ventajas de comprar publicidad en Google y Facebook porque era más barata para el anunciante. Respondí que él estaba viendo una ventaja en alguna medida inmoral porque, salvando las enormes distancias, era como comprar barato algo robado (cuando se trata de contenidos producidos por medios), pero lo más importante es que resulta una ventaja insustentable a futuro. En economía se usa el ejemplo de los zorros y las liebres en Canadá, donde cíclicamente una y otra especie entra en peligro de extinción. Los zorros se comen las liebres, y cuando hay muchas liebres los zorros se reproducen en mayor proporción hasta que terminan exterminando a las liebres. Cuando esto sucede, son los zorros los que comienzan a extinguirse pues baja su tasa de reproducción porque no tienen suficiente alimento. En la medida en que la población de zorros desciende, la de liebres vuelve a crecer hasta el comienzo del nuevo ciclo. Tomándolo como metáfora, tiene que existir un equilibrio entre productores y distribuidores.
Si nadie paga por la producción de información, la verdadera información de calidad comenzará a extinguirse. De hecho, viene sucediendo eso en los últimos cinco años en Estados Unidos, donde había 55 mil periodistas trabajando en todos los medios (papel, digital, noticieros, señales de noticias) y en 2016 el mismo total se redujo a 27 mil, casi la mitad contando todos los nuevos sitios digitales que emplean periodistas.
Cuando en una columna anterior escribí sobre estos datos del Pew Research Center (www.journalism.org) y la amenaza de Google y Facebook, algunos comentaristas criticaron que los medios pretendiéramos cobrar con el mismo argumento del anunciante que se quejaba de que pretendiéramos aumentar el precio de la publicidad en Google y Facebook, que es ver sólo un beneficio presente (no pagar el consumidor y pagar menos el anunciante) sin comprender que no podrá seguir siendo así.
Los Estados son los que tienen la responsabilidad de cuidar que el mercado no tenga depredadores (monopolios o abusadores de posiciones dominantes): si en el mundo hay millones de productores de contenido y sólo dos empresas concentran el 80% de su distribución digital, deben actuar.
En la Argentina, además, se da la paradoja de que el Gobierno pasó a ser comprador de difusión en Google y Facebook. Una actitud frívola que no tiene conciencia de su posición en el sistema que integra.
The European Union is expected to recommend lifting the ban on nonessential travel for visitors from the United States on Friday, opening for American tourists just in time for the summer season, which is crucial to the economy of many members of the bloc.
On Wednesday, ambassadors of the E.U. countries indicated their support for adding the United States to the list of countries considered safe from an epidemiological point of view, a bloc official confirmed. The decision is expected to be formally adopted on Friday and would come into effect immediately.
In principle, all travelers from countries on the safe list, not just citizens or residents, would be allowed to enter the bloc for nonessential reasons, such as tourism or visiting family, even if they are not vaccinated, without any further restrictions. The European Commission, the European Union’s executive arm, recommended that a PCR test should be required, but it is ultimately up to national governments to set out the specific rules, including any need to quarantine.
The move is part of a broader attempt to restore tourism flows within and from outside the European Union. Travel from outside the bloc was practically suspended last year to limit the spread of the coronavirus, with the exception of a handful of countries that fulfilled specific criteria, such as low infection rates, number of tests performed, and their overall response to Covid-19.
According to publicly available flight data, a U.S. Army parachute plane took off from Joint Base Andrews outside Washington and was circling the area around the Capitol. The plane was part of a parachute stunt at Wednesday night’s Nationals baseball game, just south of the Capitol.
The Capitol Police had issued its evacuation alert around 6:32 p.m. and said there was no threat at 6:49 p.m. An all-clear notice was sent over an hour later. The initial notice had caused alarm among Hill staffers, though both the House and Senate are out of town, leaving the buildings mostly empty by the evening.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in a statement, criticized the Federal Aviation Administration’s “apparent failure” to notify Capitol Police of the Nationals Stadium flyover, calling it “outrageous and unacceptable.”
“The unnecessary panic caused by this apparent negligence was particularly harmful for Members, staff and institutional workers still grappling with the trauma of the attack on their workplace on January 6th,” Pelosi said, vowing an “after-action review.”
The FAA offered its own statement later in the evening.
“The FAA takes its role in protecting the national airspace seriously and will conduct a thorough and expeditious review of the events this evening and share updates. We know our actions affect others, especially in our nation’s capital region, and we must communicate early and often with our law enforcement partners,” the agency stated.
A spokesperson for NORAD, which has partnership jurisdiction over D.C.’s airspace along with the FAA, said that the flight was coordinated through FAA channels and that nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.
It’s not the first time in recent years an aircraft rattled Capitol Hill. In a now-notorious 2015 incident, a Florida mail carrier landed a gyrocopter on the West Lawn of the Capitol in protest of campaign finance laws.
Andrew Desiderio and Oriana Pawlyk contributed to this report.
Sonia Glenn from Fairfax, Virginia wears a Statue of Liberty costume at the rally in Lafayette Square park before the Women’s March in Washington, D.C., to protest the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.
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Sonia Glenn from Fairfax, Virginia wears a Statue of Liberty costume at the rally in Lafayette Square park before the Women’s March in Washington, D.C., to protest the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.
The Women’s March protesters said they want the White House to do more to support abortion rights around the country.
At least nine states have banned abortion so far and a dozen more states are expected to prohibit or restrict the procedure in the coming weeks.
Here’s a look at Saturday’s protest in Washington, D.C.
Ashley Taylor, from Augusta, Ga., with yellow shirt and green bandana around her neck, chants at the rally.
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Ashley Taylor, from Augusta, Ga., with yellow shirt and green bandana around her neck, chants at the rally.
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The Women’s March made its way to the White House.
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The Women’s March made its way to the White House.
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Demonstrators tie their green bandanas to the White House fence.
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After tying bandanas to the fence, they staged a sit-in in front of the White House.
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Demonstrators embrace in front of the White House as the march arrives.
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Renea Delong from Bowling Green, Ky., stands in front of the White House as the march arrives. “I came here in hopes of meeting with Sen. Rand Paul to talk about the choices that women should have,” Delong said.
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Participants in the Women’s March in Washington, D.C., assemble in Lafayette Square park before the march.
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A Women’s March participant, right, confronts an anti-abortion protester, left, along the route.
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A demonstrator listens at the Women’s March in Washington, D.C.
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Protesters shout at the Women’s March in Washington, D.C.
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Protesters gather at a sit-in in front of the White House.
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The Women’s March proceeded to the White House through Black Lives Matter Plaza.
“The so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ of Iran, who has not been so Supreme lately, had some nasty things to say about the United States and Europe,” Trump, who is in Palm Beach, Fla., for a fundraiser, tweeted Friday evening. “Their economy is crashing, and their people are suffering. He should be very careful with his words!”
Trump went on to urge Iran’s leaders to “abandon terror” and “Make Iran Great Again.”
“The noble people of Iran—who love America—deserve a government that’s more interested in helping them achieve their dreams than killing them for demanding respect,” Trump tweeted. “Instead of leading Iran toward ruin, its leaders should abandon terror and Make Iran Great Again!”
Khamenei used his first sermon in Tehran in eight years to rail against the recent U.S. strike against Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani and claim that Iran’s retaliatory missile attack on Iraqi bases had dealt a “blow to America’s image.” He also claimed the U.S. only pretends to support the Iranian people but actually wants to “push a poison dagger” into their backs.
Trump has recently voiced support for anti-government protesters in Iran who have demonstrated against Tehran’s apparently accidental downing of a Ukrainian jetliner in the country.
Trump authorized what his administration has described as a defensive airstrike against Soleimani in Baghdad on Jan. 3. Officials have accused Soleimani, who led the Quds Force, a designated terrorist organization, of plotting imminent attacks that threatened American lives, though they’ve offered few details and at times conflicting information about the alleged plots.
The strike came after a series of escalatory actions blamed on Iran and its proxies in the Middle East, and raised concerns about the possibility it would stoke further conflict in the region.
Following Iran’s missile strike on bases in Iraq housing U.S. troops, Trump claimed that the nation appeared to be “standing down” and imposed sanctions on Tehran while holding off on further military engagement.
The missile strikes did not result in any American deaths, though reports surfaced late Thursday that 11 troops were treated for traumatic brain injury following the attack despite officials claiming at the time there were no casualties.
Parecería ser que la reunión no fue demasiado buena para Ferrari. Malone quería saber de la propia fuente, cuáles eran los términos exactos del ventajoso contrato que la categoría tiene actualmente con el equipo más antiguo del certamen mundial.
Luego de que Marchionne le explicó a Malone, cómo y porqué a Ferrari se le pagaba mucho más que a otros equipos, Malone le explicó que esa no era una política que él iba a mantener cuando se renovaran los contratos para el año 2020.
¿Dos gladiadores enfrentados?
Por otra parte, Monza ha aceptado un nuevo contrato de tres años con la Fórmula Uno, para ser la sede del Gran Premio de Italia. No ha sido firmado, hasta que se complete el traspaso de CVC a LIberty Media, pero sí arreglado de palabra. Las primas se han elevado de siete a veintidós millones de dólares anuales, que los organizadores esperan cubrir, con la instalación de mayor cantidad de sitios para espectadores, en las partes del circuito donde no hay gradas.
Dec 24 (Reuters) – (Please note language in second paragraph some readers may find offensive)
A vulgar anti-Biden slogan made for an awkward moment on Friday during President Joe Biden’s phone calls with children tracking Santa’s flight when a father said, “Let’s Go Brandon.”
The refrain, a sanitized version of “Fuck Joe Biden,” has been an internet sensation since a television journalist told race car driver Brandon Brown that a NASCAR crowd shouting the vulgarity was actually saying, “Let’s go Brandon.”
Biden and his wife Jill Biden were taking calls into the North American Aerospace Defense Command Santa Tracker, which follows the progress of Santa’s reindeer-guided sleigh for millions of children.
At the end of one call, a parent who gave his name as Jared said, “Merry Christmas and Let’s go Brandon.”
“Let’s go Brandon, I agree,” a relaxed Biden responded, before asking Jared if he was in Oregon. By that point, the call was disconnected.
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U.S. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden participate in NORAD Santa tracker phone calls from South Court Auditorium at the White House in Washington, U.S., December 24, 2021. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz
Much about the Christmas Eve exchange was not immediately clear, including what the caller intended, why Biden repeated the slogan and whether either knew the origin of the phrase.
The White House did not respond to requests seeking comment. Jared’s full name and contact information were not immediately available.
The slogan has become popular among supporters of former President Donald Trump, who caused a social media storm during his own Christmas Eve phone call with children in 2018.
Trump asked seven-year-old Collman Lloyd from South Carolina if she still believed in Santa “because at seven it’s marginal, right?” Lloyd later told the media that she did indeed believe in Santa and had no idea what marginal meant.
Brandon Brown himself has expressed displeasure at the appropriation of his name for an anti-Biden slogan.
“I don’t want to be the substitute for a cuss word,” he recently told The New York Times.
Mr. Perry has been instrumental in supporting what President Trump has called a policy of American “energy dominance,” which includes increasing the exports of United States fossil fuels to Ukraine and elsewhere.
As energy secretary, Mr. Perry oversaw a sharp increase in the production of fossil fuels, particularly liquefied natural gas, and promoted it with a patriotic fervor — even dubbing the fossil fuel “freedom gas” and likening its export to Europe to the United States efforts to liberate the continent during World War II.
“The United States is again delivering a form of freedom to the European continent,” Mr. Perry told reporters in Brussels in May, according to Euractiv.com. “And rather than in the form of young American soldiers,” Mr. Perry said, “it’s in the form of liquefied natural gas.”
Mr. Perry also led a failed effort to engineer a federal bailout for struggling coal and nuclear power plants. Though the plan ultimately ran afoul of White House advisers, Mr. Perry has continued to maintain that the government still has the option of keeping aging plants operating, even as he asserted that incentives might be a better path forward.
HBO’s John Oliver called President Trump nominating Amy Coney Barrett a “f—ing travesty” because the Supreme Court “is about to lurch to the right for the foreseeable future.”
“We’re at the end of a generational battle and the heartbreaking thing is — we lost,” Oliver said during a lengthy rant on Sunday’s “Last Week Tonight.”
“It’s going to hurt for a long time for a lot of people,” he added.
Barrett on Saturday accepted the nomination, filling the seat vacated by the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. If she’s confirmed by the Senate, the move would significantly shift the nation’s highest court to the right — and clearly Oliver isn’t a fan.
HBO’s John Oliver called President Trump nominating Amy Coney Barrett a “f—–g travesty” because the Supreme Court “is about to lurch to the right for the foreseeable future” during a lengthy rant on Sunday. (HBO)
“Trump is about to replace a liberal icon with an extremely conservative justice who has been called ‘the female Antonin Scalia,’ and she could serve for a long time,” Oliver said. “If, and almost certainly when, Barret is conformed to the Supreme Court, impacts could be dire.”
The far-left HBO host listed the Affordable Care Act, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and abortion as issues that he’s concerned about with Barrett’s potential confirmation on the horizon. He then took a shot at Senate Republicans, saying they’re hypocrites for rushing to confirm Barrett in an election year.
WARNING: THIS VIDEO CONTAINS GRAPHIC LANGUAGE
“There is clearly no point holding on to hope that conservatives might choose to respect the precedent they set by refusing to even consider Merrick Garland in an election year, because that was always in bad faith, as was obvious at the time,” Oliver said.
Oliver bashed Sen. Mitt Romney for suggesting that Americans are largely “center right” these days and critics from the left got too used to the Supreme Court leaning to the left.
“What the hell are you talking about, Mitt? Set aside the notion that a court that gutted the Voting Rights Act is a ‘liberal court,’ since when is this nation naturally center-right? Did we all take a BuzzFeed quiz I’m not remembering like, ‘Chose your four favorite lasagna ingredients to tell you which direction the nation’s electorate leans,’” Oliver said. “For the record, more Americans say they align more with the Democratic Party than the Republicans.”
Oliver was particularly worked up and wasn’t finished attacking Republicans and Barrett in the 20-plus minute segment.
“So, our country isn’t so much center-right as Mitt Romney is center-wrong. Look, this has been a very dark week for lots of people. The Supreme Court is about to lurch to the right for the foreseeable future, and if things seem hopeless right now, it’s because, to be completely honest, they basically are,” Oliver said before launching into a vulgar rant about “how the f—k” American ended up in this situation.
Oliver then slammed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the “deeply undemocratic nature” of America’s institutions.
“The unavoidable truth is that the system is already rigged and it’s rigged in a way that has allowed a party without popular support to drastically reshape an entire branch of government for the foreseeable future by appealing almost exclusively to white voters in some of the least populous parts of the country,” Oliver said.
“That is not a mandate,” he continued. “That is not democracy.”
Media captionBattle of the concerts held on either side of the Venezuela-Colombia border
Venezuela has said that its border with Colombia has been partially closed, shortly after opposition leader Juan Guaidó defied a travel ban to cross it.
Vice President Delcy Rodriguez tweeted to say the “total, temporary closure” was due to serious threats against the country’s sovereignty and security.
Tensions have been rising over a row about the delivery of humanitarian aid.
Two people were killed by Venezuelan security forces on Saturday near the border with Brazil.
The violence was condemned by the United States government, which said in a statement: “The Venezuelan military must allow humanitarian aid to peacefully enter the country. The world is watching.”
Mr Guaidó, the leader of the country’s opposition-dominated National Assembly, last month declared himself the country’s interim leader.
He has since won the backing of dozens of nations, including the US. He has called the rule of President Nicolas Maduro constitutionally illegitimate, claiming that Mr Maduro’s re-election in 2018 was marred by voting irregularities.
What happened on Friday?
Hundreds of tonnes of humanitarian aid sitting just outside Venezuela’s borders have become a flashpoint between Mr Guaidó and President Maduro.
Mr Maduro has so far refused to allow the aid, which includes food and medicine, to cross over into Venezuela. Mr Guaidó has vowed that hundreds of thousands of volunteers will help bring it in on Saturday.
Image copyright Reuters
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Mr Guaidó (centre) alongside Chile’s President Sebastian Pinera (left) and Paraguay’s President Mario Abdo Benitez (right) at a Cucuta aid warehouse
On Friday, rival concerts were held just 300m (980ft) away from each other on either side of the Venezuelan-Colombia border.
Mr Guaidó unexpectedly turned up at Venezuela Aid Live in Cucuta, organised by British businessman Richard Branson, on Friday.
He was greeted there by the presidents of Colombia, Chile and Paraguay – three of the nations who have recognised the 35-year-old lawmaker as interim president.
He alleged that he was able to cross over on Friday with the help of the Venezuelan armed forces. The claim is significant as President Nicolás Maduro has been able to retain power largely because of his military support.
Hours after his appearance, the announcement about the closure of bridges in Tachira state was made.
It follows a similar announcement made on Thursday about the closure of the border with Brazil – where another aid collection is being raised.
Violent clashes broke out there on Friday morning after members of an indigenous community reportedly confronted Venezuelan troops in the southern village of Kumarakapay.
Witnesses said that troops opened fire on individuals who tried to block a road to stop preventing military vehicles from passing.
Human rights campaigners said soldiers shot and killed two people and wounded 15 others.
Image copyright Reuters
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An ambulance photographed responding to violent clashes near the border with Brazil
A spokeswoman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he had a meeting with Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza on Friday in New York, in which he urged authorities to refrain from using lethal force against demonstrators.
Why is the aid delivery contentious?
Economic conditions have deteriorated rapidly since President Maduro took power in 2013.
The UN says about three million people have fled the country over the last few years.
Hyperinflation has caused the cost of essentials to soar, leaving many unable to afford basics like food and medicine.
Mr Guaidó has said the aid deliveries are necessary to stop Venezuelans dying. He has vowed to get his supporters to mobilise en-masse to get it in on Saturday.
‘Deeply uncertain’ day ahead
Analysis by Katy Watson, BBC News South America correspondent
This is the day Venezuela’s opposition has been waiting for. A day that will test the loyalty of the country’s armed forces towards Nicolas Maduro and determine his future.
Lorries laden with aid are expected to set off from both Colombia and Brazil and attempt to cross the border. A ship carrying aid is also travelling from Puerto Rico.
Throughout Venezuela, people will gather at military barracks to ask soldiers for their help in the aid effort.
Until now, senior officers have remained loyal to Mr Maduro – but with pressure being heaped on them to help the Venezuelan people, will they listen to their leader or change sides, support Juan Guaido and open the borders? These next few days are deeply uncertain.
President Maduro denies there is any crisis and has branded the aid plans a US-orchestrated show.
Performers at his rival concert on Friday performed in front of a backdrop that said #TrumpHandsoffVenezuela, the AFP news agency reports.
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The US President has led the effort to recognise Mr Guaidó as president, and has implemented economic sanctions to put pressure on President Maduro’s government.
At a speech earlier this week, he urged the Venezuelan military to switch sides and abandon their support of the president.
He has repeatedly reiterated that “all options are open” in regards to the US response to the unfolding crisis.
The search for Gabby Petito continues—as does a separate search for fiancée, Brian Laundrie, thousands of miles away. On Saturday, the Denver FBI announced it has extended the search for Petito to Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming.
Petito, 22, is believed to have gone missing while visiting the park with Laundrie in August. She was first reported missing on September 11.
She was reportedly last seen on August 24 at the Fairfield Inn & Suites in Salt Lake City. The couple had been making their way from Utah’s Arches National Park to Grand Teton. It was during this trip that she was last in contact with her family via Facetime on August 25.
The FBI confirmed the extension of the search via Twitter on Saturday. The bureau also urged the public to “maintain distance from any law enforcement personnel, equipment, vehicles, and their related activity” while the investigation is being conducted.
“The #FBI and our partners at the National Park Service, Teton County Sheriff’s Office & Jackson Police Department are currently conducting ground surveys in areas of Grand Teton National Park that are relevant to the investigation into Gabrielle Petito’s disappearance,” the tweet reads.
Grand Teton National Park covers around 310,000 acres in northwest Wyoming.
Meanwhile, the search continues for Laundrie, 23, in North Port, Florida. His family reported him missing in the town on Friday. Since then, dozens of FBI agents, police officers and others have been canvassing the Carlton Reserve, which spans over 24,000 acres in Venice, Florida.
Speaking to Fox News reporters, a man who lives near Carlton Reserve said that its waters are full of alligators.
“There’s just so much area here,” the man can be heard to say in a video posted to Twitter, in response to a question about the challenges facing law enforcement in its search for Laundrie. Shortly after this, he points out an alligator visible in a nearby body of water.
Police have been bringing search dogs and amphibious swamp buggies to aid in their search of Carlton Reserve.
While Laundrie’s condition remains unknown, Petito’s family have said they believe he is “hiding” to evade law enforcement and is not missing in the same way that their daughter is believed to be.
“Brian is not missing, he is hiding. Gabby is missing,” the family said through the law office representing them.
The search for Gabby Petito has been extended to Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming. In this photo, parents Tara and Joe Petito react while the City of North Port Chief of Police Todd Garrison speaks during a news conference about their missing daughter on September 16 in North Port, Florida. Octavio Jones/Getty Images
Earlier this week, the Moab City Police Department in Utah released body-cam footage from an interaction with the couple on August 12. Officers had been responding to an altercation between the two, with Petito claiming that Laundrie had locked her out of their van and told her to calm down. The two were advised to “stay away from each other” for the remainder of that night.
Petito had been active prior to her disappearance as a travel YouTuber working in the “van life” genre.
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