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Elon Musk has announced his company will continue to pay for Starlink satellite internet services in war-torn Ukraine a day after suggesting he cannot keep funding the project.

“The hell with it,” the world’s richest man wrote on Saturday on Twitter.

“Even though Starlink is still losing money & other companies are getting billions of taxpayer $, we’ll just keep funding Ukraine govt for free.”

Although it was not immediately clear whether Musk’s change of mind was genuine, he later appeared to indicate it was. When a Twitter user told Musk “No good deed goes unpunished”, he replied, “Even so, we should still do good deeds”.

A day earlier, Musk had said on Twitter that SpaceX would not be able to pay for Starlink in Ukraine indefinitely. And the US military confirmed it was communicating with the billionaire’s company about funding for the critical network.

The discussions come as Musk has been embroiled in public spats with Ukrainian leaders who were angered by his controversial proposals for de-escalating the conflict.

While Ukraine has long maintained it will never agree to relinquish land taken by force, Musk suggested that it permanently cede the Crimea region to Russia, that new referendums be held under United Nations auspices to determine the fate of Russian-controlled territory, and that Ukraine agree to neutrality.

Starlink, a constellation of more than 3,000 small satellites in low Earth orbit, has been vital to Ukraine’s communications as it fights against Russia’s invasion.

Musk activated Starlink in late February after Ukraine’s internet services were disrupted because of Russia’s invasion. Its internet terminals have since been crucial in keeping the Ukrainian military online.

SpaceX has donated some 25,000 ground terminals to Ukraine, according to an updated figure given by Musk last week.

The disruption of the service may have dire consequences for Ukraine. Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said this week that Starlink services helped restore energy and communications infrastructure in critical areas after more than 100 Russian cruise missile attacks.

Encrypted satellite messages have been used for military communications after the local mobile phone network was severed during heavy shelling.

Mykola Balaban, the deputy head of the Ukraine Centre for Strategic Communications and Information Security, told Al Jazeera that Musk’s support is crucial for Ukrainian military efforts.

“For the last six months, Ukraine has showed very good strategic communication,” he added. “Of course there is sometimes lags in the communication and some misunderstanding, but at the end of the day, as you see with this tweet [from Musk], we managed to communicate to our partners around the world the importance of supporting Ukraine and Ukrainian people in their fight against the war from Russia.”

Source Article from https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/10/15/in-reversal-musk-says-will-continue-funding-starlink-in-ukraine

A sign calls for Britney Griner’s release at a game between Portland Thorns FC and Angel City FC in Los Angeles earlier this month.

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A sign calls for Britney Griner’s release at a game between Portland Thorns FC and Angel City FC in Los Angeles earlier this month.

Ronald Martinez/Getty Images

The Biden administration is facing increasing public pressure to secure the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner, who is on trial in Russia after being detained on drug charges in February.

A Russian judge has ordered Griner to be detained for the length of her trial, which began last Friday. Her next court appearance is slated to begin on Thursday at 2:30 p.m. local time/7:30 a.m. ET.

Griner appealed directly to the president in a handwritten letter delivered to the White House on Monday, urging him not to “forget about me and the other American Detainees.”

Griner isn’t the only American considered wrongfully detained in Russia. Notably, while Trevor Reed was released in a prisoner exchange in April, fellow former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan is serving a 16-year sentence of hard labor on espionage charges.

“As I sit here in a Russian prison, alone with my thoughts and without the protection of my wife, family, friends, Olympic jersey, or any accomplishments, I’m terrified I might be here forever,” wrote the Phoenix Mercury center and two-time Olympic gold medalist, in an excerpt her representatives shared with the Associated Press.

The White House said that Biden read the letter on Tuesday, though Griner’s wife Cherelle told CBS News that same day that she was disheartened that she still hadn’t heard from him directly.

On Wednesday, the White House announced that both Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris had spoken with Cherelle, and reassured her that they are working to free Griner and other U.S. nationals being held in Russia and around the world. The president also reportedly read her a draft of a letter he will send Griner on Wednesday, the White House said.

“The President offered his support to Cherelle and Brittney’s family, and he committed to ensuring they are provided with all possible assistance while his administration pursues every avenue to bring Brittney home,” the White House said, adding that Biden directed his national security team to remain in regular contact with the families of those being detained abroad.

In the meantime, more of Griner’s supporters are speaking out about her case and urging the Biden administration to accelerate its efforts to bring her home safely. And some of them are also sending letters to his residence.

Hundreds of Black women leaders urge Biden to do more

More than a thousand Black women leaders from across the U.S. have petitioned Biden to make a deal to free Griner, according to the collective Win With Black Women, which helped write the letter.

The collective said that nearly 1,200 Black women leaders in various fields — including entertainment, media and sports — signed the letter, which was delivered to the White House on Tuesday.

It claims that Griner is “enduring inhumane conditions” in prison and demands that Biden take concrete action to “this ongoing human rights crisis,” according to the Washington Post. NPR has reached out to the organization for a copy of the letter.

“More than prioritizing her immediate return in word, you must do so in deed and make a deal to bring Brittney home,” it reads in part.

The group says the letter’s signatories include numerous WNBA players, coaches and executives, as well as prominent signatories such as former acting chair of the Democratic National Committee Donna Brazile, Bernice King — CEO of the King Center and daughter of Martin Luther King, Jr. — and Dawn Staley, the University of South Carolina women’s basketball coach and three-time Olympic gold medalist.

In an interview with the Post, Staley described the letter as “support from a group of Black women who are trying to save another Black woman.”

“I think about Brittney throughout the entire day, every day,” she added. “I try to put myself in her shoes, and I’d want somebody fighting for me — people who won’t shut up.”

Tennessee State Sen. Raumesh Akbari, a self-described proud signatory of the letter, said on Twitter that Win With Black Women is “always at the forefront of fighting for and defending” Black women. The group calls itself a “collective of intergenerational, intersectional Black women leaders throughout the nation making a difference.”

Their letter comes on the heels of recent comments made by Mercury head coach Vanessa Nygaard, in which she invoked Griner’s race, gender and sexual orientation and questioned the message being sent by not bringing her home sooner.

“If it was LeBron, he’d be home, right?” Nygaard told reporters on Monday. “It’s a statement about the value of women. It’s a statement about the value of a Black person. It’s a statement about the value of a gay person. All of those things. We know it, and so that’s what hurts a little more.”

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre addressed those comments at a Monday briefing, saying that Biden has fought for marginalized communities throughout his career and reiterating that Griner’s release is a priority for him.

WNBA star and Olympic medalist Brittney Griner arrives at a hearing at the Khimki Court, outside Moscow on June 27.

Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images


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WNBA star and Olympic medalist Brittney Griner arrives at a hearing at the Khimki Court, outside Moscow on June 27.

Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images

Griner’s supporters and loved ones speak out

One of the organizers of the letter, per the Post, is Terri Jackson — executive director of the Women’s National Basketball Players Association, the union for the WNBA players. She spoke to Morning Edition last week, which she noted was more than 130 days into Griner’s detention.

“But we know at the end of the day that this government is going to do whatever it takes to get BG home,” Jackson said. “What we want is to know that she is … a high priority, the highest priority, quite honestly. She’s one of ours, so we want to know that she’s the highest priority of the Biden administration.”

She also called for Biden to have a face-to-face meeting with Cherelle Griner, because “she deserves that.”

Cherelle has also recently broken her silence, telling CBS News about her written communications with Griner and her own efforts to try to get her home safely.

“Initially I was told, you know, we are going to try to reserve, we’re going to try to handle this behind [the] scenes and let’s not raise her value and, you know, stay quiet … I did that and respectfully, we’re over 140 days at this point. That does not work,” she said on Tuesday. “So I will not be quiet anymore. I will find that balance of, you know, harm versus help in pushing our government to do everything that’s possible because being quiet, they’re not moving, they’re not doing anything. So my wife is struggling, and we have to help her.”

She also discussed Griner’s case on an episode of the talk show Keepin’ It Real with Al Sharpton last week.

And on Tuesday, Sharpton publicly called on the Biden administration to arrange a meeting with him, Griner and other religious leaders. He reiterated those calls on MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Wednesday.

“It’s my intention to be in Russia next week and I hope the White House will help to make it possible for me to do a clergy visit to let her know of the support and to let her know that her family and everyone is concerned about her, and to pray with her,” he said.

Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2022/07/06/1110024565/biden-letter-brittney-griner-wife

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Sacramento police arrested a man Monday connected to the shooting that killed six people and wounded a dozen others in the heart of California’s capital as multiple shooters fired more than 100 rapid-fire rounds and people ran for their lives.

Police said they booked Dandrae Martin, 26, as a “related suspect” on charges of assault with a deadly weapon and being a convict carrying a loaded gun. Detectives and SWAT team members found one handgun during searches of three area homes.

The arrest came as the three women and three men killed were identified in the shooting that occurred at about 2 a.m. Sunday as bars were closing and patrons filled the streets near the state Capitol.

The fallen included a father of four, a young woman who wanted to be a social worker, a man described as the life of the party, and a woman who lived on the streets nearby and was looking for housing.

The Sacramento County coroner identified the women killed as Johntaya Alexander, 21; Melinda Davis, 57; and Yamile Martinez-Andrade, 21. The three men were Sergio Harris, 38; Joshua Hoye-Lucchesi, 32; and De’vazia Turner, 29.

Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg read their names during a vigil Monday evening attended by grieving relatives, friends and community members.

“So we gather here to remember the victims and to commit ourselves to doing all we can to ending the stain of violence, not only in our community but throughout the state, throughout the country, and throughout the world,” Steinberg said.

Turner, who had three daughters and a son, was a “protector” who worked as the night manager at an inventory company, his mother, Penelope Scott, told The Associated Press. He rarely went out, and she had no reason to believe he would be in harm’s way when he left her house after he visited Saturday night.

“My son was walking down the street and somebody started shooting, and he got shot. Why is that to happen?” Scott said. “I feel like I’ve got a hole in my heart.”

The burst of gunshots sent people running in terror in the neighborhood just a few blocks from the arena where the NBA’s Sacramento Kings play.

Detectives were trying to determine if a stolen handgun found at the crime scene was connected to the shooting, Police Chief Kathy Lester said. Witnesses answered her plea for help by providing more than 100 videos and photos of evidence.

District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert noted Martin was not arrested on suspicion of homicide, but suggested investigators were making progress.

“The investigation is highly complex involving many witnesses, videos of numerous types and significant physical evidence,” Schubert said in a statement. “This is an ongoing investigation and we anticipate more arrests in this case.”

Martin was held without bail and was scheduled to appear in Sacramento County Superior Court on Tuesday, according to jail records.

Martin was freed from an Arizona prison in 2020 after serving just over 1 1/2 years for violating probation in separate cases involving a felony conviction for aggravated assault in 2016 and a conviction on a marijuana charge in 2018.

Court records show he pleaded guilty to punching, kicking and choking a woman in a hotel room when she refused to work for him as a prostitute.

He was also wanted on a misdemeanor warrant by the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in Southern California.

It was not immediately clear whether Martin had an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

Of the 12 wounded, at least four suffered critical injuries, the Sacramento Fire Department said. At least seven of the victims had been released from hospitals by Monday.

At the scene where the chaos erupted, streets were reopened Monday and police tape had been removed.

Memorials with candles and flowers began to grow on sidewalks where video showed people screaming and running for shelter as gunshots rang out and others laying on the ground writhing in pain. One balloon had a message on it saying in part: “You will forever be in our hearts and thoughts. Nothing will ever be the same.”

A small bouquet of purple roses was dedicated to Davis, who lived on the streets for years, with a note saying “Melinda Rest In Peace.”

Harris was regular at the London nightclub, near the shooting scene.

“My son was a very vivacious young man,” his mother, Pamela Harris, told KCRA-TV. “Fun to be around, liked to party, smiling all the time. Don’t bother people. For this to happen is crazy. … I don’t even feel like this is real. I feel like this is a dream.”

Alexander was a doting aunt who wanted to work with children as a social worker.

“She was just beginning her life,” her father, John Alexander, told the Los Angeles Times, sobbing. “Stop all this senseless shooting.”

Politicians decried the violence, and some Democrats, including President Joe Biden, called for tougher action against gun violence.

California has some of the nation’s toughest restrictions on firearms, requiring background checks to buy guns and ammunition, limiting magazines to 10 bullets, and banning firearms that fall into its definition of assault weapons.

But state lawmakers plan to go further. A bill getting its first hearing Tuesday would allow citizens to sue those who possess illegal weapons, a measure patterned after a controversial Texas bill aimed at abortions.

Other proposed California legislation this year would make it easier for people to sue gun companies and target unregistered “ghost guns.”

The California Assembly held a moment of silence Monday in honor of the victims.

Assemblymember Kevin McCarty, a Democrat who represents Sacramento, noted lawmakers could see the crime scene from the building’s balcony.

“Tragic is too small of a word to describe what occurred just two nights ago as a devastating loss for our city,” McCarty said.

Police were investigating whether the shooting was connected with a street fight that broke out just before gunfire erupted. Several people could be seen in videos scrapping on a street lined with an upscale hotel, nightclubs and bars when gunshots sent people scattering.

Scott, a hospice social worker who deals with death for a living, said she was not prepared for this kind of grief.

“I know the process of bereavement but, you know, this is my kid,” she said. “It’s tragic and sudden. I’d just seen him, just had him in my house. He’s got children. He’s got a wife.”

___

This story has corrected the spelling of the suspect’s first name to Dandrae, not Dandre,

___

Associated Press writers Stefanie Dazio, Brian Melley and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles, Don Thompson in Sacramento, Jacques Billeaud in Phoenix and News Researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York City contributed to this story.

Source Article from https://apnews.com/cb792c0ce70b5bd2c59dae52a97422b1

Congressional Democrats and the White House have reached an agreement on a “framework” to pay for a massive social welfare spending package, party leaders said Thursday.

But they have no deal on how much they’ll spend on the legislation, which initially came with a $3.5 trillion price tag that some party centrists say is too high.

“The revenue side of this, we have an agreement on a framework,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters Thursday.

LIBERAL SENATE DEMOCRATS URGE HOUSE DEMOCRATS TO POSTPONE CRUCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE VOTE

The New York Democrat has been working to corral lawmakers in his party to agree to the terms of a $3.5 trillion social welfare spending package that has stalled over objections from centrists.

Democrats plan to use tax increases on corporations to pay for at least part of the bill, but some centrist party lawmakers disagree with some of the new taxes. That appears to be settled, according to Schumer, who did not provide details.

Pelosi said the House Budget Committee will advance a bill “in a timely fashion” and that the revenue plan Democrats have agreed to “can cover the proposal the president put forth to build back better, his vision for the country.”

Lawmakers are racing to show at least the framework of an agreement by next week, when House Democrats plan to take up a $1.2 trillion infrastructure package that liberals say they won’t vote for unless the social welfare bill passes ahead of it.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat who appeared alongside Schumer, told reporters the Democrats “have made great progress” toward a final deal on the social welfare package, but they have not written the bill, she said.

Lawmakers, she said, are determining “what is affordable, what is effective, and what gets the best results” out of an array of “so many good provisions.”

The bill aims to pay for a new package of government programs, including free community college, free preschool, paid family and medical leave, expanded Medicare benefits, and an extension of child tax credits, among many other provisions.

Pelosi declined to give details on the forthcoming agreement.

“The House, the Senate, and the White House came to an agreement on how we can go forward in a way to pay for this, Pelosi said. “This was great progress.”

Pelosi downplayed the “price tag” and said the party is focused on “what’s in the bill.”

Democrats disagree on how much to spend.

Two Senate centrists, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, said they won’t vote for a bill that spends $3.5 trillion and are seeking to lower the cost.

Their opposition means Democrats cannot pass the measure in the evenly split Senate, where the party planned to use a budgetary tactic to advance the bill with a simple majority.

The announcement from Schumer and Pelosi comes a day after President Joe Biden met with Senate centrists and liberals, seeking to broker a deal on cost, scope, and revenue.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE IN THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Pelosi wouldn’t say how much the bill might end up costing, and she would not promise the House will remain on schedule to take up the infrastructure measure next week.

“We take it one day at a time,” Pelosi said. “I’m confident we will pass both bills.”

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Tags: News, Congress, Corporate tax, government spending, Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Infrastructure

Original Author: Susan Ferrechio

Original Location: Democrats say they have a deal on tax increases

Source Article from https://news.yahoo.com/democrats-deal-tax-increases-160200256.html