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Known to American intelligence as the Taliban emissary to Al Qaeda, Mr. Haqqani showed up in Kabul last week as their new chief of security, brazenly armed with an American-made M4 rifle, with a protection squad dressed in American combat gear.

“Governing a war-ravaged country will be the real test and imposing challenge especially as the Taliban have been a warring force, not one adept at governing,” Maleeha Lohdi, a former Pakistani ambassador to the United Nations, wrote in a column in The Dawn newspaper this week.

During the war the Americans tolerated Pakistan’s duplicitous game because they saw little choice, preferring to fight a chaotic war in Afghanistan to warring with nuclear-armed Pakistan. Moreover, Pakistan’s ports and airfields provided the main entry points and supply lines for American military equipment needed in Afghanistan.

Pakistan did that, even as its spy agency provided planning assistance, training expertise and sometimes on the ground advice to the Taliban all through the war, American officials said.

Though Pakistan was supposed to be an American ally, it always worked toward its own interests, as nations do. Those interests did not include a large American military presence on its border, an autonomous Afghanistan with a democratic government it could not control, or a strong and centralized military.

Rather, Pakistan’s goal in Afghanistan was to create a sphere of influence to block its archnemesis, India. The Pakistanis insist that India uses separatist groups like the Balochistan Liberation Army, operating from havens in Afghanistan, to stir dissent in Pakistan.

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/26/world/asia/afghanistan-pakistan-taliban.html

São Paulo – Sudan has opportunities to develop its agriculture, but needs to promote investment and improve management of its agribusiness. According to the final statement of the Sudanese Mining and Food Security Forum, released this Thursday (11th) in Khartoum, the North African country must also solve the United States’ funding boycott, enforce legal certainty of contracts, seek out international cooperation and develop its infrastructure.

The Forum took place on Wednesday and Thursday this week and was sponsored by the General Union of Arab Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture. The event was attended by business executives, government officials and delegates from the Arab Chambers of Commerce in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, Mauritania, Qatar, Jordan, Lebanon, Germany, Belgium, Australia, Austria and Greece. The Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce was represented by its CEO, Michel Alaby.

Arab Chamber

Social responsibility was on the agenda of Arab chambers forum

According to Alaby, on Thursday, the event featured panels focusing on food security and ways to increase agricultural production in Sudan. The meeting was opened by the Egyptian minister of Supply and Domestic Trade, Khaled Hanify, who said Sudan’s natural resources must be managed wisely. He advised on the creation of cooperative-like condominium systems for production and sale of agricultural products. He also suggested that a futures and commodities exchange be established by Arab countries, in order to provide funding to small and medium farmers.

Alaby also reported that the forum’s final statement outlines suggestions for the public and private sectors to foster the development of agriculture and mining in Sudan. One of the issues is legal uncertainty. “The laws are changed constantly and arbitration is not employed when it comes to contracts. When it comes to government-to-government negotiations, such as between China and Sudan, rules are more stable, but between government and private enterprises, contracts get breached and it takes as long as four years before claims are tried in first instance,” said Alaby.

The Brazilian example

At the summit, Alaby presented Brazilian projects and figures in agriculture and livestock production. Brazil’s grain crop amounted to 200 million tonnes in 2014 and may be as high asd 400 million tonnes by 2020. The country has implemented the Bolsa Família income transfer program to assist the neediest, as well as social projects targeting small farmers. In turn, Brazil requires further financing projects for small farmers, minimum price guarantees for agriculture and livestock products and surplus production purchases by government.

Alaby said that following the meeting, attendees met with the Sudanese vice president, Bakry Ahmad Hassan.

Social responsibility

This Thursday also saw the annual forum of secretary generals and CEOs of Arab and foreign chambers of commerce. At the forum, the secretary general of the General Union of Arab Chambers of Commerce, industry and Agriculture, Emad Shehab, introduced the Union’s new president, Mohamedou Ould Mohamed Mahmoud, who also chairs the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture of Mauritania.

The theme of this year’s forum was the social responsibilities of Arab chambers and sponsoring entrepreneurship. At the event, Shehab said the General Union will enter into a partnership with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (Unido) to support Arab business incubators. Towards the end of this month, the Unido is set to hold an event showcasing incubator success cases.

At the forum, Alaby discussed social and professional development projects carried out by the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, such as Programa Jovem Aprendiz (Young Apprentice Program), Programa de Estágio Remunerado (Paid Internship Program) and clothes donations to impoverished people.

*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum

Source Article from http://www2.anba.com.br/noticia/21864894/macro-en/sudan-needs-international-partnership-for-agriculture/

A woman receives the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 at a drive-in vaccination event last week in Meerbusch, Germany.

Lukas Schulze/Getty Images


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A woman receives the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 at a drive-in vaccination event last week in Meerbusch, Germany.

Lukas Schulze/Getty Images

The emergence of new and more infectious variants of the coronavirus has raised a troubling question: Will the current crop of COVID-19 vaccine prevent these variants from causing disease?

A study out Wednesday in the journal Nature suggests the answer is yes.

The research was fairly straightforward. Scientists took blood from volunteers who had received the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine and looked at the levels of neutralizing antibodies, the kind that prevent a virus from entering cells.

“What we showed is that the neutralizing antibodies are reduced about fivefold to the B.1.351 variant,” says Dan Barouch, director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. Under the new nomenclature proposed by the World Health Organization, B.1.351 is now called Beta. It first appeared in South Africa.

“That’s very similar to what other investigators have shown with other vaccines,” he says. “But what we also showed is that there’s many other types of immune responses other than neutralizing antibodies, including binding antibodies, FC functional antibodies and T-cell responses.”

And it’s that last immune response, the T-cell response, that Barouch says is critically important. Because T cells, particularly CD8 T cells, play a crucial role in preventing illness.

“Those are the killer T cells,” Barouch says. “Those are the types of T cells that can basically seek out and destroy cells that are infected and help clear infection directly.”

They don’t prevent infection; they help keep an infection from spreading.

“The T-cell responses actually are not reduced — at all — to the variants,” Barouch says. It’s not just the Beta variant, but also the Alpha and Gamma variants.

That may help explain why the Johnson & Johnson vaccine prevented serious disease when tested in volunteers South Africa, where worrisome variants are circulating.

“The data is very solid,” says Alessandro Sette, an immunologist at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology. “Dan Barouch’s data really show very nicely that there is no appreciable decrease in [CD8 T-cell] reactivity.”

Sette’s lab has had similar results with the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna COVID-19 vaccines. So has Marcela Maus at Massachusetts General Hospital. Although it will take studies in people to be certain the vaccines will work against variants, “Anything that generates a T-cell immune response to the SARS-CoV-2, I would say has promise as being potentially protective,” Maus says.

What’s not clear yet is how long the T-cell response will last, but several labs are working to answer that question.

Source Article from https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/06/09/1004738276/new-evidence-suggests-covid-19-vaccines-remain-effective-against-variants

Former Vice President Joe Biden speaks at a campaign event in New Hampshire. Biden came under fire from fellow Democrats after his remarks on working with segregationists during his time in the U.S. Senate.

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Former Vice President Joe Biden speaks at a campaign event in New Hampshire. Biden came under fire from fellow Democrats after his remarks on working with segregationists during his time in the U.S. Senate.

Scott Eisen/Getty Images

The day after former Vice President Joe Biden recalled his “civil” and productive working relationships decades ago with two longtime segregationist and racist fellow lawmakers, fellow Democrats are pouncing.

At a New York City fundraiser Tuesday night, Biden told donors he has reached across the aisle throughout his career. “I was in a caucus with James O. Eastland,” Biden said, according to a pool report. “He never called me ‘boy’; he always called me ‘son.’ “

“Well, guess what? At least there was some civility,” Biden said, also pointing to a working relationship he forged with Georgia Sen. Herman Talmadge, another segregationist Democrat. “We got things done. We didn’t agree on much of anything. We got things done. We got it finished. But today, you look at the other side and you’re the enemy. Not the opposition, the enemy. We don’t talk to each other anymore.”

Eastland represented Mississippi in the Senate for decades. He decried integration in public schools, the military and elsewhere and was a staunch opponent of civil rights legislation.

At the height of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s landmark Montgomery bus boycott, Eastland told a segregationist rally that “In every stage of the bus boycott we have been oppressed and degraded because of black, slimy, juicy, unbearably stinking n*****s.” According to Robert Caro’s Master Of The Senate, Eastland went on to urge the crowd to “abolish the Negro race” with “guns, bows and arrows, slingshots, and knives.”

“You don’t joke about calling black men ‘boys,’ ” New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, one of three black Democratic candidates for president, said in a statement Wednesday. “Vice President Biden’s relationships with proud segregationists are not the model for how we make America a safer and more inclusive place for black people, and for everyone. I have to tell Vice President Biden, as someone I respect, that he is wrong for using his relationships with Eastland and Talmadge as examples of how to bring our country together.”

Booker said in a statement that he was disappointed Biden had not offered an immediate apology. The Biden campaign has not yet responded to NPR’s requests for additional comment.

Booker wasn’t the only 2020 candidate to weigh in. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted that “it’s past time for apologies or evolution from Joe Biden. He repeatedly demonstrates that he is out of step with the values of the modern Democratic Party.”

Some of the sharpest criticism came from Connie Schultz, the Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist married to Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio. “That segregationist never called you ‘boy’ because you are white,” she tweeted. “If you want to boast about your relationship with a racist, you are not who we need to succeed the racist in the White House.”

Throughout his career, Biden has said the civil rights movement was his motivation for entering politics. He has framed his 2020 presidential campaign as a rescue mission of sorts for the United States’ national character, pointing to President Trump’s response to the deadly 2017 Charlottesville white supremacist rallies as the moment he decided to enter the race.

Polls repeatedly show Biden with far more support from voters of color than any other Democratic candidate, and many African American voters say their main reason for backing him are his eight years as Barack Obama’s vice president.

As Biden has maintained his double-digit lead on the rest of the 23-candidate field, fellow Democrats have begun to take increasingly vocal shots at Biden’s moderate approach to governing. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders have both begun to routinely criticize incremental and “middle ground” Democratic policies, though both have made a point to, for the most part, avoid calling out Biden specifically.

Biden’s reminiscence for his “civil” and productive relationship with Talmadge and Eastland moved the criticism from implicit to explicit — and did so a week before Biden will appear on a televised debate stage with nine other Democratic candidates.

Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2019/06/19/734103488/democrats-blast-biden-for-recalling-civil-relationship-with-segregationists

São Paulo – Arab companies which took part of the supermarket sector’s fair, Apas, finished this Thursday (8th), in São Paulo, promise to come back to the event next year. Invited to present their products at the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce’s stand at Expo Center Norte, the exhibitors stated that the show offered the opportunity to reach a large number of purchasing public and to meet with people capable of deciding or not on the closing of deals.

Marcos Carrieri/ANBA

Arab products in exhibition

 “Apas is a great opportunity for companies from Tunisia and other Arab countries to show their products and learn about the food consumed in Brazil and Latin America. It is also an opportunity for them to meet clients and distributors in Brazil. This was our first time at the fair, but it will not be the last”, said the Middle East and Africa Exporters Association (Maex)’s general-secretary, Zied Jaouadi.

Maex is based in Tunisia. At the event, Jaouadi presented dates produced in the country to visitors. He has already been to another Brazilian fair, Sial, last year.

The businessman suggested that in the next edition the fair organizers should bring together companies from other Arab countries and Brazilian suppliers to discuss business opportunities. “It would be a way to promote exports and imports”, said Jaouadi.

Chairman of the Egyptian company Elmokkadem Co. for Export and Import, Mohamed El Mokkadem came to Apas to show products such as potato snacks, dates, flavoring, among others. Besides looking for clients, he met with companies which are willing to export to Egypt.

Marcos Carrieri/ANBA

Khoury (left): Lebanese olive oil

 “The Brazilian market was unknown to us and we learn a little about it every day. I think I will be able to do business with the companies from here because my products are interesting to the Egyptian consumers and vice-versa. Dates are not grown here, for example, and there we don’t have tropical fruit we can find here. Brazil is also very technologically advanced in food processing. I would like to take this technology to Egypt. There will be even more opportunities in the next edition”, he said.

During Apas, Mokkadem met with a candy company from Brazil that wishes to import flavoring components. He may also buy fruit for Egypt. “For now it is time for Brazilian fruit, which have a large market in Europe, to be shipped. The price is a little high, so we have to wait for it to lower”, he said.

Owner of the importer and exporter Comercial Khoury, Amin Khoury, expects to close deals with the contacts he met at the fair. He exports to Brazil the olive oil Nasr, manufactured by his relatives in Lebanon. “Two olive oil specialists tasted our product and said it is very good. They will recommend it to their clients. Besides that, I have established import contacts with supermarkets in the São Paulo countryside and other states”, he said.

*Translated by Rodrigo Mendonça

Source Article from http://www2.anba.com.br/noticia/21863688/business-opportunities/arabs-promise-to-come-back-to-apas-in-2015/

Search and rescue teams in Alabama are using dogs and heat-detecting drones to search for victims of the deadly tornado that tore through the southeastern part of the state, as new drone video and photos show the scale of the devastation.

Lee County Sheriff Jay Jones said Monday at least 23 people were killed and 90 were injured when the giant EF4 twister with 170 mph winds hit the rural community of Beauregard, and dozens are still missing.

The tornado impacted what the sheriff described as a rural area that had a lot of mobile homes and manufactured-type housing. The twister created a debris field that spread over hundreds of yards, according to Jones, with some debris being thrown a half-mile away.

ALABAMA TORNADO SENDS BILLBOARD 20 MILES AWAY INTO GEORGIA YARD

Authorities were expected to give an update on search and rescue efforts at 11 a.m. ET, but said earlier that crews were  “basically using everything we can get our hands on” to comb through what was left of homes.

Debris litters a yard the day after a deadly tornado damaged a home in Beauregard, Ala., Monday, March 4, 2019.
(AP Photo/David Goldman)

Jones said dogs were being brought in from across the state, in addition to dogs equipped with “infrared capability to detect heat signatures.”

Debris from a home litters a yard the day after a tornado blew it off its foundation, lower right, in Beauregard, Ala., Monday, March 4, 2019.
(AP Photo/David Goldman)

Photos taken in the area on Monday show what was previously mobile homes tucked among tall pine trees now smashed into unrecognizable piles of rubble.

Friends in eastern Alabama are helping tornado survivors retrieve the scattered pieces of their lives after devastating winds destroyed their homes and killed at least 23 people.
(Mickey Welsh/Montgomery Advertiser via AP)

Toys, clothes, insulation, water heaters and pieces of metal were scattered across the hillsides where once towering pines were snapped in half.

Tornado damage near Beauregard, Ala., on Monday March 4, 2019.
(Mickey Welsh/Montgomery Advertiser via AP)

ALABAMA TORNADO DAMAGE LOOKS LIKE ‘SOMEONE TOOK A GIANT KNIFE AND JUST SCRAPED THE GROUND,’ SHERIFF SAYS

As residents began picking through the debris on Monday, some made gruesome discoveries.

Beauregard resident Carol Dean told the Associated Press that the body of her husband, 53-year-old David Wayne Dean, was discovered on the side of an embankment in the neighbor’s yard.

Carol Dean, right, cries while embraced by Megan Anderson and her 18-month-old daughter Madilyn, as Dean sifts through the debris of the home she shared with her husband, David Wayne Dean, who died when a tornado destroyed the house in Beauregard, Ala., Monday, March 4, 2019.
(AP Photo/David Goldman)

“Our son found him. He was done and gone before we got to him,” an emotional Dean told the AP. “My life is gone. He was the reason I lived, the reason that I got up.”

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Lee County Coroner Bill Harris said at an afternoon news conference that three children, ages 6, 9 and 10 were among the dead in Sunday’s tornado.

Debris from a home litters a yard the day after a tornado blew it off its foundation, at right, in Beauregard, Ala., Monday, March 4, 2019.
(AP Photo/David Goldman)

Harris said all but six of the people killed in the storm have been identified, and his office soon will begin contacting families about funeral homes and arrangements. He also warned that the overall death toll could still increase as searches continue.

Chris Darden, meteorologist-in-charge at the NWS’ Birmingham office said at a news conference it was the deadliest tornado in the United States since the twister that hit Moore, Oklahoma in 2013. The storm had a track of at least 24 miles.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said the tornado ravaged a “tight-knit” community of people.

“We lost children, mothers, fathers, neighbors, and friends,” she said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/us/alabama-tornado-devastation-seen-in-drone-video-as-search-ongoing-for-victims-in-rubble


“There’s a failure to understand how one’s actions impact others,” Sen. Tammy Baldwin said of former Vice President Joe Biden. | Alex Wong/Getty Images

Congress

Senate Democrats are struggling with how to respond to allegations of inappropriate behavior toward women by their former colleague.

Senate Democrats are keeping their distance from Joe Biden as he undergoes new scrutiny over his interactions with women — with one potential presidential rival warning he will have to explain behavior that “demeaned” a woman if he enters the 2020 race.

Biden was hit with the second allegation of inappropriate physical contact with a woman on Monday, with Amy Lappos of Connecticut joining Lucy Flores of Nevada in describing untoward conduct by the longtime Delaware Democratic senator and two-term vice president.

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“Lucy Flores felt demeaned and that’s never OK. And if Vice President Biden decides to run for president this is something he’s going to have to address directly with the American people,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) said Monday evening outside the Senate chamber.

Neither Gillibrand nor any other Senate Democrats said that Biden should be disqualified from seeking the nomination. But a series of interviews Monday made clear that the caucus was still grappling with how to respond to the blowback facing a beloved member of the party.

Democrats have agonized over their handling of the case of former Sen. Al Franken, whom they ousted over alleged groping of women, and are clearly struggling with how to deal with seeing Biden in a new political light.

Many Senate Democrats had privately predicted for weeks that Biden could lock up more support within the Senate than anyone else, and some of his closest allies are standing by him.

But now there is discomfort with defending Biden among Democrats who are eager to create a sharp contrast to President Donald Trump, who bragged about sexually assaulting women on the “Access Hollywood” tape. While Senate Democrats aren’t calling for Biden’s head, they acknowledged that he’d displayed a lack of awareness about his behavior.

After a long pause, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) said of Biden: “There’s a failure to understand how one’s actions impact others.”

“I was surprised by the allegation. It is clear that Lucy Flores felt it was inappropriate. It took courage for her to come forward and share her story, and I am glad she did,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.). “All of us, including the vice president, need to continue to work on changing our culture.”

“The focus isn’t on what his intentions were, it is how his behavior is experienced and one should not invade personal space. He needs to be a lot more aware of that,” said Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii). “I would say with Trump it’s many, many degrees of worseness if there is such a word.”

Biden is well-known for getting affectionate with supporters; he frequently hugged women when swearing in senators or interacting on the campaign trail. His supporters say it’s a core part of who he is and his down-home style of politics.

Biden’s defenders in the Senate, several of whom acted out Biden’s touchy-feely style for reporters Monday to brush away charges of impropriety, said he will not be dissuaded from entering the race.

Biden is “a warm, tactile person. He reaches out and he touches and it’s like this and that. It’s hardly sexy,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), gently touching an aide. “It’s a new thing that people have been affronted by it. Over 25 years I’ve never seen that before.”

“I’m confident he’s going to run and that Joe Biden is someone who hugs people and encourages people and is incredibly engaged with people is I think a pretty well-known feature of his personality,” said Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), who has been swept up in the new story because of video footage of Biden sidling up to his teenage daughter during his swearing-in.

Coons said those who are dredging up that video are missing crucial context: “She doesn’t think there’s anything inappropriate or unkind or in anyway unusual. And he was simply trying to encourage her in a moment that would be tough for any teenager, to have a bank of 50 TV and print cameras.”

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) lightly grabbed a reporter on the shoulder to demonstrate how Biden is and said simply: “If you’re looking for him to have his hand on shoulders there might be a lot of them. I just know Joe Biden, this is how he does it.”

Manchin blamed presidential politics for bringing the spotlight to Biden’s history around women, noting that Flores supported Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in 2016. He called attacks on Biden “totally wrong.”

But most Democrats took a different tack: They said they hadn’t observed the behavior themselves and that Flores and Lappos shouldn’t be dismissed.

“Everybody who makes an allegation should be listened to and heard and then it has to be examined in the context of how it happened. I appreciate what Lucy brought forward. I don’t have that experience with the vice president myself,” said Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.).

Bill Russo, a spokesman for Biden, pushed back hard Monday, blasting descriptions of images that suggested Biden acted inappropriately with the wife of former Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Coons’ daughter.

Russo said the descriptions of those images are “smears and forgeries” that have been exploited by “right wing trolls.” He added that while Biden has said he will listen to the women who have spoken out against his behavior, “the important conversation about these issues are not advanced, nor are any criticisms of Vice President Biden validated, by … a failure to be vigilant about a cottage industry of lies.”

Yet Lappos and Flores aren’t being accused of lying. Flores said that before an event, Biden smelled her hair and kissed her head; Lappos said he rubbed noses with her. In a statement released on Monday evening, Lappos said Biden should “step aside” if he supports women and gender equality.

Biden’s potential rivals in the presidential race aren’t going there, yet.

Gillibrand, who called on Franken to resign in 2017, said simply that Biden will have to do a lot more explaining if he got in the race. Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) had nothing new to say Monday after expressing their concerns about the Flores incident over the weekend.

“I personally have campaigned with him a lot in Minnesota and other places and I didn’t see anything like this, but I have no reason to believe they’re not telling the truth,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who is also running for president, said in an interview.

Other Democrats were waiting to see how the Biden storyline would play out before commenting. For a party used to watching Republicans squirm over Trump’s offensive behavior, Democrats were clearly at pains as they sought to address Biden’s controversy.

“We all know Joe and how he is and the caring guy that he is, but he needs to be sensitive to his actions and it’s important that he be hearing from the women,” said Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.). “It’s an important issue in the context of running against this president and all that he has done to women.”

Source Article from https://www.politico.com/story/2019/04/01/biden-democrats-1247116

The wind effects of Zeta, which came ashore in Cocodrie, Louisiana, and barreled northeast, were felt all the way from the Gulf Coast to southern New Jersey. At the height of the outages, as many as 2.6 million people were without power across seven states from Louisiana to Virginia. Utility crews were out assessing the damage and fixing it.

Source Article from https://www.orlandosentinel.com/weather/hurricane/os-ne-tropics-saturday-october-31-20201031-aamwwdcrirbgzf6lu3jon5ttnu-story.html

El presidente de Rusia, Vladimir Putin, describió el derribamiento de un avión de combate ruso por la fuerza aérea de Turquía como “una puñalada en la espalda”.

Cazas F-16 de Turquía derribaron este martes un avión ruso que, dice Ankara, violó su espacio aéreo.

El incidente ocurrió cerca de la frontera con Siria, donde Rusia realiza bombardeos aéreos contra grupos de oposición armada al gobierno del presidente sirio Bashar al Asad.

Turquía denunció que el avión de combate, un Su-24 ruso, ignoró al menos 10 advertencias emitidas por su fuerza aérea turca, por lo que dos aviones caza lo derribaron.

Por su parte, Moscú aceptó que uno de sus aviones había sido derribado pero negó que algún momento hubiese entrado en el espacio aéreo de Turquía.

En un principio el Kremlin dijo que su nave había sido derribada desde tierra, por fuego antiaéreo, pero luego el propio Putin dijo que había sido por misiles aire-aire desde otro avión.

Putin calificó lo ocurrido de “puñalada en la espalda” por parte de “cómplices de los terroristas”. Putin estaba hablando durante una reunión con el rey Abdalá II de Jordania, en la ciudad rusa de Sochi este martes.

Por su parte, el presidente de Estados Unidos, Barack Obama, dijo desde Washigton que Turquía está en su derecho de defender su espacio aéreo.

Reunido con su par francés, François Hollande, para tratar sobre cómo combatir al autodenominado Estado Islámico, Obama insistió en que la prioridad ahora es evitar una escalada del conflicto.

Entretanto, el primer ministro de Turquía, Ahmet Davutoglu, ordenó al Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores a consultar con OTAN, la ONU y países involucrados de los recientes acontecimientos en la frontera siria.

La alianza de la OTAN, de la que Turquía es miembro, dijo estar siguiendo la situación “de cerca” y que estaba en contacto con las autoridades turcas.

La OTAN estará realizando una “reunión informal” de embajadores, en Bruselas, para analizar el caso.

“Serias consecuencias”

Es la primera vez que un avión ruso es derribado en Siria desde que Moscú lanzó, a finales de septiembre, su campaña de ataques aéreos contra los grupos armados que combaten las fuerzas del gobierno de Asad.

El presidente Putin advirtió que el incidente tendrá “serias consecuencias” en la relación de Moscú con Turquía.

Image copyright
EPA

Image caption

En lo único en que coinciden turcos y rusos es que el avión cayó en Siria.

Explicó que el avión de combate realizaba una operación contra el autodenominado Estado Islámico en las montañas del norte de Latakia, donde se concentran los extremistas que, en su mayoría originan desde territorio ruso.

“Así que llevaban a cabo una tarea de ataques preventivos contra aquellos que podrían regresar a Rusia a cualquier momento. Estas son personas que deben ser directamente catalogadas como terroristas internacionales”, recalcó el mandatario

“De todas formas, nuestros pilotos, los aviones en ningún sentido amenazaron el territorio turco. Eso está muy claro”, concluyó

Los pilotos

El avión se estrelló en territorio de Siria a unos 4 kilómetros de la frontera, según Putin.

Un canal de televisión turco mostró imágenes del avión cayendo en las montañas cerca de la frontera.

Image copyright
EPA

Image caption

Los círculos enmarcan los paracaídas de los dos pilotos que lograron abandonar la nave por eyección.

Los dos pilotos lograron salir por eyección de la aeronave en llamas, que luego se estrelló contra la falda de una montaña en Siria.

Imágenes de video muestran dos paracaídas descendiendo en territorio controlado por rebeldes.

Luego se publicaron otras imágenes de lo que parece ser el cadáver de uno de los pilotos rodeado de rebeldes armados.

No se conoce la suerte del segundo piloto.

Rusia envió un helicóptero en misión de rescate y confirmó que fue derribado por los rebeldes.

En esa región, aviones de combate sirios y rusos han estado lanzando ataques contra militantes yihadistas y grupos rebeldes sirios que están apoyados por Occidente.

Rusia han realizado cientos de misiones sobre el norte de Siria desde septiembre.

Moscú insiste en que los objetivos han sido exclusivamente “terroristas”, pero activistas aseguran que los ataques han sido mayoritariamente contra grupos rebeldes respaldados por Occidente.

Image copyright
Reuters

Image caption

El avión cayó en una región montañosa, cerca de la frontera.

La corresponsal de la BBC en Turquía, Selin Girit, comentó que el derribamiento del avión es un momento significativo en torno a cómo está el gobierno de Ankara involucrado en el conflicto en Siria.

Girit señala que el avión parece haberse estrellado cerca de un campamento de refugiados turcomanos.

Los turcomanos, una etnia cercana a la turca dentro de Siria, han estado huyendo de los ataques aéreos rusos y de la guerra contra las fuerzas del presidente sirio Bashar al Asad.

Turquía ha expresado su preocupación sobre la suerte de los turcomanos y, recientemente, abrió la frontera para permitir la entrada de algunos refugiados de esta etnia, informó la corresponsal.

Peligro latente

Según Jonathan Marcus, corresponsal de asuntos internacionales de la BBC, este incidente es precisamente el tipo de riesgo que se temía cuando Rusia lanzó sus operativos aéreos en Siria.

Los peligros de volar cerca de la frontera turca han quedado en evidencia, señala Marcus.

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EPA

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La televisión turca trasmitió lo que dijo ser un Sukhoi Su-24 estrellado en territorio sirio.

Aviones turcos ya habían derribado por lo menos un jet de la Fuerza Aérea siria y posiblemente un helicóptero, informa el corresponsal.

Turquía se opone vehementemente al presidente sirio Asad y ha advertido contra las violaciones de su espacio aéreo por aviones rusos y sirios.

El mes pasado Ankara dijo que sus F-16 habían interceptado un jet ruso que cruzó hacia su territorio, y que dos jets turcos habían sido hostigados por un MiG-29 no identificado.

Pero esta es la primera vez que un avión de combate ruso es derribado.

El mes pasado, aviones turcos derribaron un dron de supuesta fabricación rusa que también había violado el espacio aéreo de ese país.

Source Article from http://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias/2015/11/151124_turquia_siria_avion_combate_derribamiento_wbm

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Source Article from http://www.multichannel.com/twc-noticias-ny1-launches-series-honoring-new-yorks-latin-american-communities/374437

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has seized thousands of falsified COVID-19 vaccine cards from China in Memphis, Tenn.

Border Patrol agents have had 121 seizures of fake vaccination cards so far this fiscal year, amounting to 3,017 falsified cards confiscated, according to a statement from the agency on released Friday. 

One of the shipments described in the statement included was a package from Shenzhen, China, going to New Orleans labeled “PAPER CARD, PAPER.” The shipment contained 51 falsified vaccination cards.

Officers already knew the shipment would contain false documents, according to the statement. The shipments with fake vaccination cards are “always from China” and are commonly labeled “Paper Greeting Cards/ Use For-Greeting Card” and “PAPER PAPER CARD.”

The fake cards have the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) logo along with blank lines to fill in information such as name and the dates the shots were given. The cards normally come in packs of 20, 50 or 100.

However, the statement says there are multiple ways to tell these cards are fake. For example, the cards contain typos, misspelled Spanish verbiage on the back and they are not imported from a medical facility. 

“These vaccinations are free and available everywhere,” Michael Neipert, Area Port Director of Memphis, said.

“If you do not wish to receive a vaccine, that is your decision. But don’t order a counterfeit, waste my officer’s time, break the law, and misrepresent yourself. CBP Officers at the Area Port of Memphis remain committed to stopping counterfeit smuggling and helping to protect our communities. But just know that when you order a fake vaxx card, you are using my officers time as they also seize fentanyl and methamphetamines,” Neipert added.

Falsifying vaccination cards is a crime that can land someone a fine and five years of prison time.

News of the false cards come as cities across the U.S. have begun to mandate proof of vaccination via a vaccine card in restaurants, theaters and other indoor businesses.

The newest requirement by localities was driven in part by the spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus, which has shown to penetrate the vaccine, causing breakthrough infections. However, the majority of those with breakthrough infections have reported mild symptoms. 

Matthew Dyman, a public affairs specialist for the CBP, told The Hill he has looked to see if fake vaccine cards were confiscated by border patrol agents in other areas, “but as of right now the cards are only being found shipped through Memphis.”

The cards have only been found in Memphis as it is the “shipping hub location” for the CBP and “has the ability to screen cargo,” Dyman said.

Updated 10:30 p.m.

Source Article from https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/567904-border-patrol-seizes-thousands-of-falsified-covid-19-vaccine-cards

Former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, center, arrives on Capitol Hill, Friday, Oct. 11, 2019, in Washington, as she is scheduled to testify before congressional lawmakers on Friday as part of the House impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump.
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite


Yovanovitch testified behind closed doors that Trump and Giuliani wanted her removed since the summer of 2018 because she refused to let Giuliani use the US Embassy in Ukraine in his efforts to obtain political dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden.

She said she felt “shocked” and “threatened” by the attacks leveled against her.

Yovanovitch also told Congress a top State Department official confirmed to her that her recall in May came despite her having “done nothing wrong.”

Multiple witnesses, including Bill Taylor, now the US’s chief envoy in Ukraine, and George Kent, a senior State Department official, have corroborated Yovanovitch’s claims.

Yovanovitch raised concerns with senior State Department officials about Giuliani before her ouster, but despite having their own concerns, they didn’t think they could stop him. After Yovanovitch was recalled, the acting assistant secretary of state, Philip T. Reeker, told her Secretary of State Mike Pompeo “was no longer able” to protect her from Trump.

Michael McKinley, who served as a top deputy to Pompeo, quit a few days before his testimony to Congress because of the State Department’s unwillingness to issue a statement supporting Yovanovitch. He also testified that several department employees had their careers derailed for political reasons.

Several government officials, including Taylor and Kent, have already testified to Congress behind closed doors, and their revelations paint a damaging portrait of a concerted effort across the administration to leverage US foreign policy to pressure Ukraine into acceding to Trump’s demands.

Specifically, the president wanted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to make a public statement committing to investigate the Bidens and a bogus conspiracy theory suggesting it was Ukraine, not Russia, that interfered in the 2016 election.

Officials also outlined the lengths White House officials went to in order to conceal records of a July 25 phone call between Trump and Zelensky.

Witnesses have testified that five men were part of an effort to condition security assistance to Ukraine and a White House meeting on Zelensky publicly announcing the investigations Trump wanted.

The men are Giuliani; the US ambassador to the European Union, Gordon Sondland; the special representative to Ukraine at the time, Kurt Volker; the acting White House chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney; and the outgoing energy secretary, Rick Perry.

The president’s defenders have said he did nothing wrong and that this is a normal part of how diplomacy and foreign policy are conducted.

But national security veterans, legal scholars, and at times Trump’s own officials who have testified have suggested his actions open him up to a variety of charges including abuse of power, bribery, extortion, misappropriation of taxpayer funds, and soliciting foreign interference in the 2020 election.

Eight more diplomats and national security officials are expected to testify publicly in the next week. Here’s the latest impeachment hearings schedule.

Source Article from https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-impeachment-hearings-yovanovitch-testimony-updates-2019-11

BOSTON — Actresses and chief executives are among 50 people arrested in a nationwide college admissions cheating scam, authorities announced Tuesday.

According to charging documents, actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin are among those involved facing charges.

The suspects allegedly paid bribes of up to $6 million to get their kids into elite colleges, including Yale, Stanford, Georgetown and USC.

In most cases, the students did not know their admission was contingent on a bribe.

University athletic coaches and administrators of college entrance exams were also among those arrested.

The alleged scam centered around a man in California who ran a business helping students get into the college of their choice.

Authorities say parents would pay him a predetermined amount, with full knowledge of what they were doing. He would then steer the money to one of two places: either an SAT or ACT administrator, or a college athletic coach.

The coaches would allegedly arrange a fake profile that listed the prospective student as an athlete, and exam administrators would either hire proctors to take the test or correct the answers of a student.

The bribes ranged from a few thousand dollars to up to 6 million, according to officials. The charging documents, unsealed in Boston federal court, are more than 200 pages long.

They allege that Huffman and her husband “made a purported charitable contribution of $15,000…to participate in the college entrance exam cheating scheme on behalf of her eldest daughter. Huffman later made arrangements to pursue the scheme a second time, for her younger daughter, before deciding not to do so.”

Federal agents say they have recorded telephone calls with Huffman and a cooperating witness.

The documents say that Loughlin and her husband “agreed to pay bribes totaling $500,000 in exchange for having their two daughters designated as recruits to the USC crew team — despite the fact that they did not participate in crew — thereby facilitating their admission to USC.”

Officials say they have emails from Loughlin.

Source Article from https://abc7chicago.com/actresses-ceos-charged-in-alleged-college-admissions-scam/5186103/

“¡Buenos días a todos! Empezamos con las noticias”, anuncia a bordo de un destartalado colectivo de Caracas un grupo de jóvenes periodistas que se apresta a contar, sin control oficial, lo último de la crisis que vive Venezuela en más de dos meses de protestas.

Sujetándose del pasamanos para no caer en cada frenazo, María Gabriela Fernández y Dereck Blanco se asoman, ante la mirada curiosa de los pasajeros, detrás de un marco de cartón negro y perilla roja que imitan a un televisor, bajo un rótulo en letras azules: “El Bus TV”.

“Esta iniciativa surge de la necesidad de romper con el cerco comunicacional que hay en el país y llevar noticias veraces a través de un transporte tan masivo como el autobús”, explicó a AFP la redactora creativa Claudia Lizardo.

En tres minutos, Bus TV informa a los pasajeros -más habituados a la música que pone a todo volumen el chofer-, sobre seguridad, salud, deportes, espectáculos y, por supuesto, economía y política: infaltables en un país con severa escasez e inflación, envuelto en una ola de protestas que deja 68 muertos.

Mirá también

Nuevos disturbios en Venezuela tras un recurso contra la Constituyente

“Cada bomba lacrimógena cuesta 40 dólares, al cambio del dólar paralelo unos 200.000 bolívares, es decir un salario mínimo integral”, dice Blanco, al referirse a los enfrentamientos entre fuerzas de seguridad y manifestantes opositores, que no se ven en las pantallas de televisión.

Entrando de primera a los autobuses, la periodista y productora Laura Castillo negocia con los conductores. Casi siempre se les permite subir, sin cobrarles el pasaje.

Laura Castillo (izq.), Maria Gabriela Fernandez (centro) y Dereck Blanco (der.) presentan las noticias en colectivo. / AFP

“Es una maravillosa idea. Me gusta cuando las cosas son claras, sin violencia. Me parece muy importante que nos informen de lo que está ocurriendo, para abrir los ojos”, declaró Glenda Guerrero, ama de casa de 68 años, tras escuchar atenta el noticiero.

Suben y bajan, en las mañanas, tomando varias rutas de la capital. “¡Qué valientes!”, les grita una mujer. “¡Están locos!”, afirma un señor.

Blanco, presentador en un telenoticiero nacional, se sumó al Bus TV al admitir que hay “presiones” oficiales que impiden la difusión de ciertas noticias: “Es un reto, el periodista debe reinventarse para llevar la información a la gente”.

Dereck Blanco, Laura Castillo, Maria Gabriela Fernandez Y Abril Mejias se dirigen a una parada de colectivo para informar. / AFP

Con seis periodistas y artistas, el Bus TV arrancó al 28 de mayo para marcar el décimo aniversario del cierre de Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV), el que era el canal más antiguo del país, crítico del gobierno del entonces presidente Hugo Chávez, fallecido en 2013.

Su sucesor, Nicolás Maduro, casualmente un ex chofer de autobús, acusa a un sector de la prensa de una campaña de desprestigio en su contra como parte de una conspiración para derrocarlo.

Pero la ONG Espacio Público y el Sindicato Nacional de Periodistas (SNTP) denuncian que el gobierno “censura” a los medios que le son incómodos.

Los jóvenes periodistas embarcan en un colectivo para dar las últimas noticias sin censura. / AFP

Ha sacado del aire programas radiales y a la cadena internacional CNN en español, y a algunos diarios les limita la entrega papel -monopolio del Estado- para dejarlos fuera de circulación, aseguran.

Varios medios, como el diario El Nacional -el principal del país- y el digital La Patilla, fueron demandados y otros comprados por figuras vinculadas al gobierno para cambiar su línea editorial, según Espacio Público.

“El gobierno ha ganado el pulso de la hegemonía comunicacional. Las fuentes de información son entonces las redes sociales, pero no todos tienen acceso a ellas y mucho allí es rumor. Bus TV informa lo que no sale en los medios tradicionales”, comentó Castillo.

Los pasajeros escuchan. / AFP

La iniciativa se extiende, cuenta la periodista, y ya hay Bus TV en la ciudad de Valencia (oeste) y otro en Puerto La Cruz (este), adaptado a la situación local.

Venezuela, donde el SNTP ha registrado 300 agresiones a periodistas durante las protestas, ocupa el puesto 137 -de 180 países- en el ránking de libertad prensa de Reporteros Sin Fronteras.

El Bus TV, dice Fernández, quien trabaja en un periódico nacional y usa a diario el colectivo, informa de la realidad cotidiana del venezolano que no reflejan los medios tradicionales: “Somos una alternativa necesaria”, aseguró.

“En economía: Un kilo de alitas de pollo cuesta 9.700 bolívares; el venezolano que gana sueldo mínimo debe de trabajar un día y medio para poder pagarlo”, prosiguen Blanco y Fernández en la lectura de noticias.

Este día, el Bus TV informó de la reaparición de enfermedades que estaban erradicadas, de la pérdida de peso de muchos venezolanos por mala alimentación, del histórico éxito de la vinotinto en el Mundial Sub-20 de Fútbol y, en espectáculos, del mensaje de solidaridad de Ricky Martin con Venezuela.

En política, continúan, “el presidente Maduro cambiará la Constitución de Chávez sin consultar antes a los venezolanos en un referendo”.

“Y mientras tanto, las panaderías continúan sin pan”, concluye el noticiero, entre aplausos de los pasajeros: “¡Muchas gracias!. Esto fue el Bus TV. Seguiremos informando”.

Fuente: AFP

Source Article from https://www.clarin.com/mundo/censura-noticias-venezuela-viajan-colectivo_0_HkBoY9pfW.html

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart vivió solo 35 años, pero su basto legado musical lo comenzó cuando era un niño de 5 años.

Es el mejor lanzamiento de 2016, y este genio de la música ni siquiera canta. Tampoco toca algún instrumento de esta grabación, ni está vivo.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), una de las mentes más prolíficas de la música clásica, vendió 1,25 millones de discos compactos en noviembre, convirtiéndose en el mejor lanzamiento del año para Billboard.

El sitio especializado en la industria musical dio a conocer la noticia, pero hay algunos detalles que muestran la verdadera razón por la que Mozart logró ese asombroso lanzamiento.

“Mozart 225: La nueva edición completa” es una de las mayores recopilaciones de la obra del austriaco que se haya puesto en circulación: 200 discos compactos en un gran paquete lanzado el 28 de octubre pasado.

Son 240 horas de música interpretada por 600 solistas y 60 orquestas que fueron editadas y curadas en 18 meses por el sello Universal.

Billboard cuenta cada CD del paquete como una venta individual, lo quiere decir que esta gran complicación vendió en realidad 6.250 piezasque multiplicadas por los 200 discos que forman cada caja, da lugar al número mágico de los 1,25 millones de ventas.

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Getty Images

Image caption

Mozart demostró desde pequeño dotes únicos para el piano, pero también tocó el violón y fue director.

En la era de las ventas en línea de discos, además de las reproducciones mediante servicios como Spotify o Apple Music, el cantante canadiense Drake logró vender 852.000 copias de su álbum Viewsen una semana.

De todos modos, las 6.250 copias vendidas de “Mozart 225”, titulado así por el 225 aniversario de su muerte, es igualmente un buen dato si se considera que este año se han vendido apenas 50 millones de discos, un 11.6% menos que en 2015, según Billboard.

Lo que además no queda en duda es la genialidad de Mozart, un hombre capaz de componer tanta música en su corta vida como para ocupar 200 discos.

Source Article from http://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-38308971

A co-founder of the Federalist Society, which famously compiled a list from which President Trump selected his two Supreme Court nominees, described the president’s Thursday tweet about “delay[ing] the election until people can properly, securely and safely vote” as grounds for “immediate impeachment.”

Northwestern University Law Professor Steven Calabresi wrote in a New York Times opinion piece published late Thursday that Trump “should be removed unless he relents” the sentiment expressed in the tweet.

Calabresi said he voted for Trump in 2016, and has voted Republican in every presidential election since 1980. He added that he staunchly defended Trump against what he called an “unconstitutional investigation by Robert Mueller” into alleged collusion with Russia and penned another op-ed opposing the president’s impeachment earlier this year.

“But I am frankly appalled by the president’s recent tweet seeking to postpone the November election,” he wrote. “Until recently, I had taken as political hyperbole the Democrats’ assertion that President Trump is a fascist.

STIREWALT ON TRUMP SUGGESTING ELECTION DELAY: ‘FLAGRANT EXPRESSION OF WEAKNESS’

“But this latest tweet is fascistic and is itself grounds for the president’s immediate impeachment again … and his removal from office by the Senate.”

In the tweet, Trump slammed the prospect of mass mail-in voting as a prelude to the “most inaccurate and fraudulent election in history” and a “great embarrassment to the USA.”

Calabresi emphasized that the U.S. “has never canceled or delayed a presidential election. Not in 1864, when President Abraham Lincoln was expected to lose and the South looked as if it might defeat the North. Not in 1932 in the depths of the Great Depression. Not in 1944 during World War II.”

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The professor went on to say that the date of each election is fixed by an 1845 federal law and noted it is up to each state to determine whether they will implement universal mail-in voting, since “Article II of the Constitution explicitly gives the states total power over the selection of presidential electors.”

Meanwhile, Calabresi called on “every Republican in Congress” to inform Trump that postponing the election would be “illegal, unconstitutional, and without precedent in American history.

“Anyone who says otherwise should never be elected to Congress again.”

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/media/steven-calabresi-federalist-society-trump-tweet-election