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WASHINGTON — In the final days of 2020, the United States saw coronavirus deaths spike, cases surge to staggering levels, hospitals strained and the rollout of desperately needed vaccines fall short of expectations.

December was the deadliest month for America during the pandemic. Yet President Donald Trump barely uttered a word about Covid-19’s tragic toll.

Instead, the president spent the month obsessing over unfounded claims of a stolen election, delaying relief legislation before signing it, weighing in on cable news broadcasts, and lashing out at members of his own party.

And, on Thursday, the last day of the month and the year, Trump tweeted a video in which he boasted about his administration’s response to the pandemic.

During December, the country plunged into what would become its toughest battle against Covid-19, even as vaccines started to go out. The nation reported more than 6.1 million new infections and more than 74,140 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

The latest totals make December the deadliest month of the Covid-19 pandemic in the United States, surpassing April, when more than 60,738 Americans lost their lives to the coronavirus.

Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/31/trump-boasts-about-covid-response-as-december-becomes-deadliest-month-yet.html

Seguir las noticias por Twitter requiere cierto nivel de experiencia en la red social. Identificar el hashtag correcto y las fuentes puede ser algo complejo para un nuevo usuario. Por eso, la compañía trata de establecer un “ambiente amigable” para encontrar los tuits de mayor interés. Sin embargo, según BuzzFeed, Twitter estaría preparando una plataforma para buscar y seguir noticias en vez de personas.

Este nuevo proyecto se llama Project Lightning y será “una nueva forma de ver los tuits”. Gracias a este nuevo enfoque, un equipo de personas de la empresa estará encargada de seguir las tendencias y resaltar las historias más importantes que vayan surgiendo. Esto significará que los usuarios no recurrirán a una sola fuente sino que tendrán variedad de contenido en un solo lugar.

“Vimos que en la red social hay mucha conversación en torno a los eventos. Pero nuestro desafío real es comportarnos como una televisión sin una guía de canales”, explicó el vicepresidente de producto de Twitter, Kevin Weily, y afirmó que tienen “el mejor contenido del mundo en un solo lugar”.

En su versión mobile, el nuevo producto de Twitter convivirá en un columna de la plataforma original. Al ingresar, se desplegará en la pantalla completa y mostrará toda la información, incluyendo Vines, fotos, videos y Periscopes, acerca de las noticias y los eventos. Cada “colección de noticias” será actualizada en forma real e instantánea.

Además, la nueva funcionalidad podrá ser utilizada si el usuario no es activo en Twitter. Las “colecciones” podrán ser embebidas online y en otras apps. De esta forma, Twitter busca atraer nuevos usuarios. Esta plataforma será lanzada en algunos meses, aunque todavía no hay una fecha específica.

Source Article from http://www.lavoz.com.ar/tecnologia/se-viene-un-gran-cambio-en-twitter-se-podran-seguir-noticias-y-eventos-en-vez-de-usuarios

Decenas de personas esperaban angustiadas la noche del domingo por información sobre sus familiares, a dos cuadras del club nocturno de Orlando en el que un asaltante solitario mató a cuando menos 50 personas e hirió a otras 53, en lo que es considerado como el peor tiroteo masivo en la historia de Estados Unidos.

Algunos estaban allí para expresar su solidaridad con las víctimas del tiroteo, mientras otras buscaban averiguar el paradero de sus seres queridos.

 

Entre ellos Rafael Rivera, un vecino del sector de origen puertorriqueño, quien expresó su preocupación por dos de sus amigos que se encontraban en el club Pulse en la madrugada del domingo y de quienes no ha tenido noticia desde entonces.

“Si no están acá, vamos a ir de hospital en hospital hasta que los encontremos”, dijo Rivera. “Estamos todos preocupados, orando y esperando que estén bien”.

Al parecer las víctimas son en su mayoría de origen hispano, ya que los sábados en la noche era fiesta latina, aseguró Siomaira Hernández, quien frecuentaba el lugar.

 

De hecho, las autoridades han dado a conocer hasta ahora los nombres de siete víctimas mortales, todas hispanas. Ellos son Edward Sotomayor Jr., de 34 años, Stanley Almodovar III, de 23 años, Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo, de 20 años, Juan Ramón Guerrero, de 22 años, Eric Iván Ortiz-Rivera, de 36 años, Peter O. González-Cruz, de 22 años y Luis S. Vielma, de 22 años.

De acuerdo con versiones periodísticas, en el interior de la discoteca todavía hay decenas de cadáveres en proceso de identificación.

 

La tragedia ocurrió la madrugada del domingo, cuando Omar Mateen, un ciudadano estadounidense de origen afgano, ingresó al local armado con un fusil de asalto AR-15 y una pistola de mano y comenzó a disparar sobre una multitud de al menos 300 personas. El Pulse es uno de los clubes gay más populares de Orlando.

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Imágenes de Omar Mateen en redes sociales

La ex esposa de Omar Mateen, presunto responsable por la masacre en Orlando que dejó un saldo de al menos 50 muertos, identificó estas fotografías subidas a la red social My Space, en declaraciones al diario Washington Post.

Fotos tomadas de My Space

 

En las cercanías del club, personas de diferentes orígenes, nacionalidades, identidades sexuales y religiones también acudieron al lugar a expresar su voz de rechazo. Uno de ellos, Hasan Shibly, director ejecutivo del Consejo de las Relaciones Americanas e Islámicas, dijo que estaba allí para reiterar que el autor de la masacre no representaba la ideología de la religión islámica.

“Estoy acá para rechazar todo tipo de violencia contra mis conciudadanos de la Florida”, dijo Shibly.

Cientos de personas se presentaron también a las instalaciones de OneBlood con el objetivo de donar sangre para los heridos. Sin embargo, esta organización se ciñe a las normas de la FDA (Administración de Alimentos y Drogas), que no permite que las personas que hayan tenido relaciones homosexuales durante el último año, donen su sangre.

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Obama: Tiroteo en Orlando es un ataque contra todos nosotros

El presidente Barack Obama calificó el ataque contra un club nocturno de Orlando como un acto de terror y odio. Un hombre armado atacó la madrugada del domingo una discoteca gay en Orlando, matando al menos a 50 personas y dejando heridas a otras 53.

Casa Blanca

 

Mientras tanto, los helicópteros sobrevolaban el lugar de los hechos, y las autoridades vigilaban el perímetro. Algunas personas, como Ángel Ayala repartían agua a quienes se encontraban afuera del área acordonada.

“En estos momentos de necesidad sentimos que nos tenemos que desbordar y ayudar a los familiares de las víctimas y aportar un granito de arena de la forma en la que podamos”, dijo Ayala.

Source Article from http://www.elnuevoherald.com/noticias/sur-de-la-florida/article83364937.html

Attorneys on Wednesday asked a federal judge to hold the Trump administration in contempt and take immediate action to remedy unsafe conditions they say threaten the wellbeing of migrant children held at border facilities, according to court filings shared by CNN.

The attorneys said that conditions at U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facilities in the El Paso, Texas, and the Rio Grande Valley region in Texas pose “an imminent threat to the health and welfare of class member children detained for days and weeks.” 

“The children, including infants and expectant mothers, are dirty, cold, hungry and sleep-deprived,” the filing reads. 

The filing says that the facilities deny basic hygiene to the children, which has caused the flu to spread.

The lawsuit is based around lawyers claiming the Trump administration policies are breaking the 1997 Flores agreement, which limits the amount of time the U.S. can detain migrant children.

“With each passing day, more hospitalizations are occurring and more lives are at risk. Immediate judicial intervention is necessary to compel immediate compliance with the [Flores] Agreement, end this health and welfare crisis, and prevent more illness and child deaths at the border,” the filing reads.  

The Hill has reached out to the Department of Justice counsel for comment.

At a recent hearing, Department of Justice senior litigation counsel Sarah Fabian testified that the department is compliant with the law. Fabian said a toothbrush and soap were not necessary to fulfill safe and sanitary conditions for detained children. 

CBP has pushed back on allegations of unsafe conditions at border facilities. 

At least six migrant children have died in U.S. custody since September.

Backlash about the conditions at the facilities has intensified in recent weeks, prompting Democratic presidential candidates to visit the Homestead facility in Florida

Sen. Elizabeth WarrenElizabeth Ann WarrenWarren uses debate stage to embrace ‘Medicare for All’ Trump campaign official: Democratic debate a ‘two-hour infomercial’ for president’s reelection Delaney swipes at Warren: She ‘outsourced health care to someone who isn’t even a Democrat’ MORE (D-Mass.) visited the facility on Wednesday and said she peered over the fence to find children who were “being marched like little soldiers, like little prisoners.”

Congress is working to pass a border funding bill that would provide more money for resources for the agencies working at the border.

Source Article from https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/450603-lawyers-call-for-trump-administration-to-be-held-in-contempt-over

Centenares de manifestantes protestaban este sábado contra lo que llaman ‘la invasión de los extranjeros’ en Suecia. Foto: AFP

Los agentes de policía montan guardia con sus caballos, para evitar posibles desmanes. Foto: AFP

Las personas que participaron de la protesta eran antifascistas que se enfrentaron a la Policía. Foto: AFP

La policía logró implementar un cordón de seguridad para evitar posibles desmanes en la manifestación. Foto: AFP

Manifestantes antifascistas deseaban enfrentarse con los neonazis y las autoridades lo impidieron. Foto: AFP

La dispersión de la manifestación estuvo caracterizada por breves enfrentamientos que causaron dos heridos leves y algunos más detenidos. Foto: AFP

Miles de personas en contra de esta manifestación organizada por el Movimiento de Resistencia Nórdica (NMR) se aglomeraron en el centro de la capital sueca. Foto: AFP

Cinco personas fueron detenidas y dos resultaron heridas este sábado en la manifestación en Suecia de un movimiento neonazi. Foto: AFP

El Movimiento de Resistencia Nórdica (NMR), fue creado en el año 1997 en Estocolmo, Suecia. Foto: AFP

Según la revista Expo especializada en la extrema derecha, el NMR nunca había logrado congregar tantas personas. Foto: AFP

Un policía fue golpeado por los manifestantes y otra persona resultó herida en circunstancias aún no esclarecidas. Foto: AFP

Simpatizantes neonazis se manifestaron en el centro de Estocolmo este sábado para protestar contra los migrantes. Foto: AFP

Source Article from http://www.noticiasrcn.com/nacional-dialogos-paz/avanza-reunion-santos-uribe-rionegro-antioquia

The Biden administration has upgraded its travel advisory for India to an outright ban as the COVID-19 crisis in the country continues to spiral out of control — something President Biden once said would “not stop” coronavirus.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced the ban Friday afternoon, saying the decision was made on the advice of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

US ISSUES INDIA TRAVEL ADVISORY AS COVID-19 CRISIS DEEPENS

“The administration will restrict travel from India starting immediately,” Psaki told reporters. “The policy will be implemented in light of extraordinarily high COVID-19 caseloads and multiple variants circulating in India.”

The policy will take effect on Tuesday, May 4.

DR. GIROIR ON ‘MIXED MESSAGING’ FROM BIDEN: HE’S ‘CAUSING PEOPLE TO NOT HAVE FAITH’ IN VACCINES

President Biden has previously been critical of travel bans implemented by then-President Donald Trump as a tool to fight the spread of COVID-19, saying they “will not stop” the disease. 

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP 

“Banning all travel from Europe — or any other part of the world — will not stop it,” Biden tweeted in March 2020 at the very start of the pandemic.

“A wall will not stop the coronavirus,” he wrote. “Banning all travel from Europe — or any other part of the world — will not stop it. This disease could impact every nation and any person on the planet — and we need a plan to combat it.”

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-bans-travel-india-covid

Maloney said the campaign message crystallized after the pro-Trump siege on Jan. 6, which was fueled, in part, by false Internet theories. “It was at the heart of the violent attack on the Capitol, but it had its roots going back years,” he said.

The new chairman has the uneviable task of shielding a razor-thin Democratic majority during a redistricting cycle and a midterm, when the president’s party typically loses seats. But he’s betting Democrats can mount a successful offensive using the kind of culture-war attacks that the GOP ruthlessly deployed against Democrats last cycle — including the barrage of “defund the police” ads that forced moderates to run away from their party’s far left.

The GOP’s waffling on QAnon has been on full display in recent days, as party leaders struggle to contain the fallout from the extremist rhetoric of freshman Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.). McCarthy has been largely silent as Democrats have moved to sanction her. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, however, took the highly unusual step of denouncing a House member, a move that Democrats say underscores the GOP’s split.

“They can do QAnon, or they can do college-educated voters. They cannot do both,” Maloney said.

The DCCC’s $500,000 TV and digital ad campaign will run in the districts of seven vulnerable members: Reps. Mike Garcia (R-Calif.), Young Kim (R-Calif.), Michelle Steel (R-Calif.), Maria Elvira Salazar (R-Fla.), Don Bacon (R-Neb.), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) and Beth Van Duyne (R-Texas). The spots use footage of rioters storming the U.S. Capitol and accuses Republican members of standing “with Q not you.”

Party strategists are betting that the right’s embrace of the far-fetched conspiracy theory will be politically toxic and hamper their efforts to win back the House in 2022. Already Democrats are seeing some encouraging signs: Challengers in Republican-held districts are beginning to jump off the sidelines, citing the attack last month as a motivation for running.

“Republicans have done a hell of a thing by motivating really top-tier quality candidates to raise their hand,” said Tim Persico, the DCCC’s executive director. “The events of Jan. 6, and the subsequent coddling of QAnon and the refusal to take any responsibility — I think that that has had a profound impact on people’s interest in running.”

Democratic recruiters said they’ve heard increased interest from potential challengers to Fitzpatrick, Garcia, Bacon and Reps. Lee Zeldin (R-N.Y.), John Katko (R-N.Y.) and Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) since the attack on the Capitol. A few others have already formally declared their bids, part of what Maloney described as a “game-changer” for recruitment.

One of those newly launched Democratic candidates is Jay Chen, a lieutenant commander in the Navy Reserves, who lost his race for an Orange County-based seat in 2012. He thought he might return to politics one day, but after watching the events of Jan. 6 and Kim’s decision not to impeach then-President Donald Trump, he quickly launched a campaign against her — an unusually early move in the January right after an election.

Chen was a Naval intelligence officer stationed in Kuwait when a Shiite militia stormed the U.S. embassy in Baghdad in December 2019, attacks that he monitored in real-time. He said he experienced déjà vu watching domestic terrorists invade the seat of U.S. government.

“If this was orchestrated by any other country, this attack on the Capitol, it would have been considered an act of war,” Chen said, arguing the U.S. would have retaliated. “But because these were Trump supporters, because this was incited by the president, then all of a sudden patriotism is thrown out the window. Accountability is thrown out the window. And the No. 1 consideration is partisan politics and not offending Trump’s base. And that’s wrong.”

A focus on the riots and QAnon marks a shift from Democrats’ messaging in recent elections, which has been more squarely focused on health care and the economy — even as Republicans lobbed attacks claiming Democrats wanted to shrink law-enforcement budgets or ban private health insurance. Many Democrats blamed at least part of their unexpected losses last year on those GOP attacks.

Maloney argues there’s a big difference between the GOP’s attacks in 2020, which exaggerated Democrats’ position on policing reform and other issues, to the Democrats’ attacks against QAnon.

“Their characterization of our party in the last election was a lie and an effort to demagogue,” Maloney said. “What I’m talking about is a clear-eyed description of the power Marjorie Taylor Greene and others have right now in that caucus.”

Democrats want Republicans to spend the off-year answering for Q-curious members like Greene and Boebert, as well as the 139 House members who voted to block certification of the election results just hours after a violent mob overtook the Capitol.

They see an opening against many of those members — including Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), who witnesses said nearly stoked a fistfight on the floor the night of the Jan. 6 attack.

Harris’s current eastern Maryland district is overwhelmingly Republican. But Democrats in Annapolis could draw a new congressional map that makes his district more competitive, and would-be challengers are ready to take advantage. Heather Mizeur, a 2014 Democratic candidate for governor and former congressional staffer and state legislator, said she had not been considering a return to politics until Jan. 6, after which she decided to challenge Harris: “It was like waking a hibernating bear. It’s like my fiercest mama bear came out.”

Mizeur said what Harris did in the aftermath of the riot — including violating House rules by attempting to bring a gun to the floor, just days after the siege — “compelled me into the race. It could not stand unchallenged.”

GOP campaign officials, meanwhile, have brushed off the Democratic line of attack, arguing that many Americans are not familiar with the intricacies of QAnon — whose followers believe Trump was secretly battling a cabal of Satan-worshiping child sex traffickers who worked in the “deep state” of his administration.

The real threats of QAnon, Republicans say, aren’t as readily apparent to the average voter, unlike Democrats’ policy proposals like policing or health care reforms.

And they point out that all but 17 Republicans voted to condemn QAnon in a floor vote last fall. The three non-freshman Republican members targeted in the ad campaign voted against it.

“We are going to continue hammering House Democrats for their job-killing, socialist agenda and leave elevating fringe conspiracies to the DCCC,” said Michael McAdams, an NRCC spokesman. “If anyone wants to know which strategy is more effective, just look at last cycle’s House results,” he said, noting that Republicans won 28 out of the 29 races that handicappers rated as the most competitive going into Election Day.

But DCCC officials say they’ve studied polling on fringe groups like QAnon and found that the issue does register with most voters: A poll conducted on behalf of the DCCC by two Democratic pollsters found that 68 percent of voters surveyed in battleground districts were familiar with QAnon — and that it had unfavorable rating of 63 percent.

“The American people are knowledgeable about QAnon and know it’s dangerous,” Maloney said.

Democrats, broadly speaking, say they expect Republicans to grapple with their ties to conspiracy theorists throughout the next two years, with Greene’s profile only rising in her first month in Congress as a trove of offensive comments she made resurfaces. And that could be crucial to turning out Democratic voters in a midterm just two years after their House candidates lost seats despite President Joe Biden’s win.

“Happy, healthy voters don’t show up to vote in midterms. It’s the pissed-off, angry ones,” said Ian Russell, a Democratic strategist who works with several endangered House Democrats. “Who do you really want in charge? Do you want Joe Biden and the Democrats, or this cast of crazy? It’s not just QAnon. It’s the whole package. Republicans have thrown us a midterm lifeline that we might not have had otherwise.”

Source Article from https://www.politico.com/news/2021/02/02/qanon-gop-465157

Health experts agree the COVID-19 vaccines have proved to be extremely effective against the virus, including providing protection from the highly contagious Delta variant.

Those safeguards are highlighted by the percentage of people who are now testing positive for the coronavirus in Los Angeles County, where more than 10,000 new cases have been reported in the last week. In an alarming spike in cases, 99% of new infections involve people who have not been vaccinated.

And now, in the wake of that increased transmission, local officials are requiring not only the unvaccinated but also those who have been inoculated against the disease to wear masks in public indoor settings.

Why?

L.A. County now requires masks in indoor public places, opening a new battle line as the coronavirus is rising significantly among the unvaccinated.

All those hospitalized for COVID-19 in L.A. County’s public hospitals have not been fully vaccinated

L.A. County’s massive public hospital system has not had to hospitalize anyone for COVID-19 who has been fully vaccinated, Health Services Director Dr. Christina Ghaly said.

“We have not admitted any single person for COVID who is fully vaccinated — with either the J&J, Pfizer or Moderna vaccines,” Ghaly told the county Board of Supervisors last week.

L.A. County’s public hospital system has a vast reach and primarily serves people especially vulnerable to COVID-19. There are four county-run hospitals.

Those hospitalizations could be mitigated by the vaccines, health experts say.

“The vaccines are extraordinarily effective (even against the delta variant),” tweeted Dr. Monica Gandhi, infectious diseases expert at UC San Francisco.

99.8% of COVID-19 deaths in L.A. County have been among unvaccinated people

Between Dec. 7 and June 7, unvaccinated people in L.A. County made up 99.6% of the region’s coronavirus cases, 98.7% of COVID-19 hospitalizations and 99.8% of deaths.

San Diego County has reported similar numbers.

Residents there who are either unvaccinated or partly vaccinated represent 99.1% of coronavirus cases, 99.88% of COVID-19 hospitalizations and 99.8% of deaths.

‘Anything is on the table if things continue to get worse, which is why we want to take action now,’ the L.A. County health officer said.

Of fully vaccinated people in L.A. County, 0.06% subsequently tested positive for the virus

In Los Angeles County, about 4.67 million residents have been fully vaccinated.

Of them, 0.06% have subsequently tested positive; 0.004% were later hospitalized for COVID-19; and 0.0004% died.

The vaccines are as effective against the Delta variant as other strains

Among L.A. County coronavirus cases that were further analyzed to identify its strain in June, only a small percentage were among fully vaccinated people.

Officials said that 89% of identified Delta variant cases in June were among people who weren’t fully vaccinated.

The results were similar to the Alpha variant: 91% of identified cases were among people who weren’t fully vaccinated.

Well-done studies elsewhere point to high effectiveness against Delta

Data from Britain cited by Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s top infectious-diseases expert, say that the two-dose course of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is 96% effective in preventing hospitalization from COVID-19, 88% effective in preventing symptomatic infection and 79% effective in preventing lab-confirmed infection. Experts believe the Moderna vaccine — because it’s based on the same technology as Pfizer’s — is similarly effective.

Fauci also expressed confidence in the Johnson & Johnson vaccine’s effectiveness. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine uses technology similar to one used in the AstraZeneca vaccine, which studies in Britain show is 92% effective against hospitalization and 60% effective against either symptomatic disease or lab-confirmed infection.

Invariably, there have been scattered reports that have occasionally raised questions about whether vaccines have lowered effectiveness against the Delta variant, including one that emerged out of Israel suggesting that the effectiveness of vaccines available there to protect against symptomatic illness had fallen to 64%, although they remained 93% effective in preventing hospitalization.

The differing results of the Israeli report may be caused by different methodologies, such as rigorously testing vaccinated people for a coronavirus infection even though they had no symptoms, while other studies might test only those who are visibly ill, said UCLA epidemiologist and infectious diseases expert Dr. Robert Kim-Farley.

“Bottom line, however, is that all these studies continue to show very good efficacy against severe disease and death,” Kim-Farley said. “The vaccines continue to do what we need them to do most.”

In addition, the Israeli report reviewed just 300 patients, and small studies can be inaccurate, said Gandhi, the infectious diseases expert at UC San Francisco. Studies from Britain, Canada and Singapore — reviewing records of many more people — showed 80% to 90% vaccine effectiveness against any symptomatic infection and 93% to 96% effectiveness against severe disease.

A growing contingent of medical experts is questioning the conventional wisdom that healthy children should get COVID-19 shots as soon as possible.

How can children be protected if they’re too young to be vaccinated for now?

Children under the age of 12 do not have access to vaccines for now, and it’s important that as many adults around them get vaccinated, Gandhi tweeted.

“The best thing we can do for children right now is to get as many adults vaccinated as possible while young children clinical trials of [vaccines] are ongoing, especially anyone who will be teaching children or sending them to school (e.g. teachers/parents),” Gandhi wrote.

Young children already are less likely to contract the coronavirus because they have far fewer proteins called ACE2 receptors in their noses that the coronavirus needs to access to infect the body.

Officials described the mask mandate as a minimally disruptive tactic to blunt rapidly rising coronavirus transmission. But does it make any sense?

So why wear a mask?

L.A. County officials say there’s a real need to take action now. Though infections and serious COVID-19 illness are still only a fraction of what was seen over the fall and winter, daily coronavirus cases are now six times what they were on June 15, when California fully reopened, and COVID-19 hospitalizations have doubled since then.

In its reopening last month, California implemented a statewide honor system: Unvaccinated people still had to wear masks in indoor public spaces, even though businesses were under no obligation to verify their inoculation status.

L.A. County officials are now worried that unvaccinated people instead responded by not masking up in required settings. And with cases and hospitalizations growing, authorities say they hope reinstituting masking as a social norm will help reduce disease transmission.

“We’re not where we need to be for the millions at risk of infection here in Los Angeles County, and waiting to do something will be too late given what we’re seeing now,” said Dr. Muntu Davis, the county’s health officer.

In essence, they hope requiring everyone to wear masks indoors will force the unvaccinated to do so, giving them more protection.

Source Article from https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-07-19/covid-vaccines-work-why-is-la-mask-mandate-necessary

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton slammed Facebook during her commencement speech at Hunter College in New York City on Wednesday over the social media giant’s failure to take down a doctored video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

Last week, a three-minute clip of Pelosi speaking at the Center for American Progress was uploaded on Facebook by a group called “Politics WatchDog.” Experts believe the video was slowed down, and Pelosi’s pitch manipulated, to make her sound as if she were drunk and slurring her words.

While copies of the clips were removed on YouTube, the original video remains on Facebook, where it has racked up millions of views.

Clinton blasted the social media giant’s inaction.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“When Facebook refused to take down a fake video of Nancy Pelosi, it wasn’t even a close call,” Clinton told the graduates. “The video is sexist trash. And YouTube took it down but Facebook kept it up.”

The former presidential candidate then suggested that a message be sent to Facebook to show opposition to the tech giant’s decision, and she warned that the site would be “flooded” with “false and doctored videos” if nothing happens.

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/hillary-clinton-blasts-facebook-for-not-pulling-doctored-pelosi-video-she-dubbed-sexist-trash

Sgt. Bill Rowley, a spokesman for the Aurora Police Department, said the police had no record of being notified by the state police that Mr. Martin had not volunteered his firearm as required in 2014. It was unclear whether Mr. Martin, who lived in Aurora at the time of his death, also lived there in 2014.

A day after the shooting, police gave a fuller account of the deadly events inside the Henry Pratt Company warehouse on Friday afternoon, and identified the five workers — all apparently co-workers of Mr. Martin — who were killed.

The victims included some of the company’s most experienced workers but also its newest: Josh Pinkard, who was the plant manager of the warehouse, perished in the shooting, as did Trevor Wehner, who was a student at Northern Illinois University and an intern in the company’s human resources department. Mr. Wehner was expected to graduate from college in May. Friday, when the shooting occurred, was the first day of his internship, according to officials from Northern Illinois University.

Also killed, the police said, were Vicente Juarez, a stock room attendant and forklift operator; Clayton Parks, the human resources manager; and Russell Beyer, a mold operator. Officials at Northern Illinois said that Mr. Parks had also graduated from the university, in 2014, and said it was offering counseling help to those in need. (The school, in DeKalb, Ill., was the site of another mass shooting 11 years ago.)

Police first received several 911 calls at 1:24 p.m. on Friday, as frantic callers said there was a shooter at the warehouse. Mr. Martin had been summoned to what police described as a “termination meeting” at the warehouse where he had worked for at least 15 years. At least two victims were shot at the scene of that meeting.

Four minutes later, police arrived and were confronted by the gunman. Two of the first four officers to arrive were shot and transported to hospitals with injuries that were not life-threatening.

According to the police, Mr. Martin then retreated into the 29,000-square-foot building, hiding from officers in a machine shop near the back of the facility. It took about 90 minutes for officers to find, shoot and kill him.

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/16/us/aurora-illinois-shooting.html

As President Trump’s appointees have worked doggedly to assemble the most ambitious and costly Fourth of July ceremony the nation’s capital has ever seen, they have been guided by one overriding principle: It cannot be a repeat of his 2017 inauguration.

The transformation of the Lincoln Memorial’s grounds into a made-for-TV setting, complete with a VIP seating section for donors and other political supporters, represents the culmination of a four-month-long effort to produce the military celebration the president has envisioned for nearly two years.

For a public gathering that is ostensibly targeting an audience of hundreds of millions of Americans, the display of weaponry, aircraft and pyrotechnics has been scripted primarily to satisfy an audience of one. By having Trump speak to a select audience, flanked by armored tactical vehicles, organizers hope he will avoid the prospect of facing a smaller crowd of the sort that gathered on the Mall for his swearing-in.

But the White House has also been scrambling in recent days to line up enough attendees, as Trump’s aides fret that either thunderstorms or the traditional free concert on the other end of the Mall could diminish the crowd for Trump’s 6:30 p.m. speech. The issue of crowd size has been a sore point with Trump since his inauguration, when far fewer people showed up compared with Barack Obama’s 2009 inaugural ceremony and the president pressed National Park Service officials for nonexistent photographic evidence of a larger audience.

The administration has provided 5,000 tickets to the military, the Pentagon announced Wednesday. Trump’s reelection campaign has handed passes out to allies, donors and trade associations — from the American Bankers Association to the British Embassy, according to people familiar with the matter, while several fundraisers and operatives also were tasked to hand out tickets.

The White House has been a bit clumsy in some of its attempts to give away the passes, however, and officials said there were plenty of tickets still available this week. Members of one nonprofit advocacy organization — which does not accept any gifts from the government — received an email from the Office of Public Liaison this week, offering up to five tickets for Trump’s remarks.

The event will easily be the most expensive Independence Day fete on the Mall in history. The Park Service has committed to spending nearly $2.5 million for Trump’s involvement alone, and the air show and transport of tanks and other heavy machinery will also run into the millions. The president, however, described it Wednesday as a bargain.

“The cost of our great Salute to America tomorrow will be very little compared to what it is worth,” the president tweeted. “We own the planes, we have the pilots, the airport is right next door (Andrews), all we need is the fuel. We own the tanks and all. Fireworks are donated by two of the greats. Nice!”

While work on the project has accelerated in recent weeks, it can be traced directly back to the president’s July 2017 visit to Paris, where he attended a Bastille Day parade along the Avenue des Champs-Elysees. Current and former aides recalled that they were texting during the parade as they watched Trump’s reaction to the jet booms, gun trucks and marching troops, aware that he would want to replicate it back home.

Riding in the president’s specially armored limousine on the way to Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, Trump again brought up a celebration of military might — and began sketching out a parade with tanks, flyovers and more before Air Force One even took off. Aides who warned him that tanks would tear up the streets said he dismissed such concerns — and said there would be ways around them.

“There were many long conversations with the boss about this,” said one former senior administration official.

Trump’s initial idea, to hold a military parade coinciding with Veterans Day last year, was scuttled after its projected cost of up to $92 million became public.

One former White House official said that then-Chief of Staff John F. Kelly, who was sensitive to pushback he received from the Pentagon, helped put the brakes on the military parade that Trump has wanted for “forever.” But under current acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, this person added, Trump has more leeway to indulge his whims and impulses.

During Polish President Andrzej Duda’s visit to the White House last month, Trump arranged for an F-35 fighter jet to fly over the complex — and the president loved the display, one White House official said.

Discussions around the current event began at least as early as Feb. 21, when Trump brought it up in a lunch with Interior Secretary David Bernhardt, according to an individual familiar with the matter. Three days later, Trump urged Americans to prepare for “one of the biggest gatherings in the history of Washington, D.C., on July 4th . . . Major fireworks display, entertainment and an address by your favorite President, me!”

Since then, White House, Interior and Pentagon staffers have engaged in extended negotiations over what sort of commemoration the federal government could undertake without additional appropriations from Congress. Officials from both the Park Service and the Defense Department have raised logistical and budgetary concerns at several points, according to several government officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter. Many of those concerns have been brushed aside.

Two U.S. defense officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the Pentagon has been planning for the July 4 celebration since at least February, when specific requests for aircraft such as the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber were made by the White House.

Military officials did not see a problem with the requests, considering them to be part of a civic event that the Pentagon would typically support. Briefing slides with aircraft on them were created and distributed in some parts of the Pentagon, one of the defense officials said.

But as July neared, the Pentagon ran into a challenge: The White House did not want defense officials to detail the military’s involvement out of deference to the president’s desire to have surprises for observers during the aerial show. The situation created a dynamic in which it appeared the Pentagon was less organized for the celebration than it really was, one of the defense officials said.

One apparent exception was the president’s desire to include tanks in the celebration. A third defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said many top military officials were not aware that the president definitely wanted tanks involved until last week. Two M1A2 Abrams tanks were shipped up on rail cars from Fort Stewart in Georgia over the weekend along with other armored vehicles, including M2 Bradley Fighting Vehicles.

National Park Service officials remain concerned that the deployment of tanks on the Lincoln Memorial’s grounds could damage its curbs and sidewalks, which are not designed to hold the weight of a vehicle weighing more than 60 tons. The federal government spent $30.7 million to refurbish the memorial under the Obama administration, including its sidewalks, and the Trump inaugural committee still hasn’t reimbursed the agency for damage it inflicted to the memorial during its setup in January 2017.

With the event less than a day away, some details were still being worked out. White House officials have repeatedly urged Trump to stick to the script his staff has prepared for him to deliver Thursday, which includes a unifying message about patriotism and avoids political taunts or attacks, and aides say he has agreed not to give a political speech. But his aides were tentatively planning to play campaign music when he takes the stage, according to one individual familiar with the plan.

And while the Park Service has dipped into a pot of entrance and recreation fees to transfer nearly $2.5 million for the White House portion of the event, it is unclear which parks will end up losing funds as a result. At one point, Interior officials raised the idea of taking money from sites located in liberal communities such as San Francisco’s Golden Gate National Recreation Area, according to a person familiar with the discussion, but that has yet to take place.

The decision to tap funds normally reserved for projects aimed at enhancing visitors’ experience has sparked howls of protest from Democratic lawmakers and National Park Service advocates, who note the agency has a $11.9 billion deferred maintenance backlog.

Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), who chairs the House Appropriations subcommittee on environment appropriations, said Wednesday that she plans to “schedule a hearing to get a full accounting from Interior Secretary Bernhardt on the use of National Park fees to pay for this event.”

“This administration needs to be reminded that the power of the purse belongs to Congress,” she said.

Will Ritter, co-founder of Poolhouse, a Republican ad agency, said that while Thursday’s event is more elaborate than past July 4 observances, some of the criticisms are overblown.

“Panicking partisans that think this is the cinematic beginning of a military state need to grab a sparkler and a Bud,” Ritter said. “It’s much bigger than one person, much more important than showing off metal, nailing the president or ‘owning the libs.’ It should be an unapologetic celebration that we are blessed to live in the greatest nation on earth, during the best time in human history. Have a hot dog!”

The president’s advisers say Trump sees the event as a way to associate himself with the flag and patriotism, which will resonate with many Americans the way his comments criticizing National Football League players for kneeling during the national anthem did.

After wading into the anthem debate, according to two former senior administration officials speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations, Trump told his aides, “It’s a winning issue for me.”

“What are they going to say? I’m being too patriotic? I believe in America?” one official recounted Trump saying. “Give me a break.”

Asked about the event Wednesday, Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh was unapologetic. “President Trump loves this country,” Murtaugh said. “He’ll never apologize for that.”

Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/inside-the-effort-to-build-suspense–and-crowds–for-trumps-fourth-of-july/2019/07/03/10c2b00a-9da8-11e9-9ed4-c9089972ad5a_story.html

During debate late Sunday, State Representative Travis Clardy, a Republican, acknowledged that advancing the bill through the conference committee had proved to be a lengthy process, but he defended the panel’s methods.

“A lot of this was done late, I don’t get to control the clock,” Mr. Clardy said. “But I can assure you that the members of the committee did their absolute best, dead-level best, to make sure we’ve provided information to all members, including representative rows. And then we did everything that we could to make sure this was transparent.”

The effort in Texas, a major state with a booming population, represents the apex of the national Republican push to install tall new barriers to voting after President Donald J. Trump’s loss last year to Joseph R. Biden Jr., with expansive restrictions already becoming law in Iowa, Georgia and Florida in 2021. Fueled by Mr. Trump’s false claims of widespread fraud in the election, Republicans have passed the bills almost entirely along partisan lines, brushing off the protestations of Democrats, civil rights groups, voting rights groups, major corporations and faith leaders.

But the party’s setback in Texas is unlikely to calm Democratic pressure in Washington to pass new federal voting laws. President Biden and key Democrats in Congress are confronting rising calls from their party to do whatever is needed — including abolishing the Senate filibuster, which moderate senators have resisted — to push through a major voting rights and elections overhaul that would counteract the wave of Republican laws.

After the Texas bill became public on Saturday, Mr. Biden denounced it, along with similar measures in Georgia and Florida, as “an assault on democracy,” blasting the moves in a statement as “disproportionately targeting Black and Brown Americans.”

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He urged Congress to pass Democrats’ voting bills, the most ambitious of which, the For the People Act, would expand access to the ballot, reduce the role of money in politics, strengthen enforcement of existing election laws and limit gerrymandering. Another measure, the narrower John Lewis Voting Rights Act, would restore crucial parts of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that were struck down by the Supreme Court in 2013, including the requirement that some states receive federal approval before changing their election laws.

Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/31/us/politics/texas-voting-bill.html

O meia Lucas Lima será reforço do Barcelona a partir do fim deste ano, informou a ESPN na última quarta-feira. Nesta quinta, a reportagem obteve detalhes do contrato do armador com a equipe catalã, inclusive o tempo de vínculo, o salário e o bônus que o atleta ganhará.

Segundo apuração, o camisa 10 do Santos assinará por cinco anos com os catalães.

Neste período, ganhará um salário de 4 milhões de euros (aproximadamente R$ 14,85 milhões) livres por temporada. Ou seja, R$ 1,2 milhão por mês.

Além disso, terá um bônus de 5 milhões de euros (R$ 18,57 milhões) distribuído nos cinco anos de contrato.

O jogador do Santos já tem tudo acertado com a equipe catalã e se apresentará no fim de 2017 ao clube blaugrana.

A contratação do camisa 10 alvinegro foi um pedido pessoal do atacante Neymar ao presidente do Barça, Josep Maria Bartomeu, que acatou e topou apostar no atleta da seleção brasileira.

A ideia é “abrasileirar” mais o elenco barcelonista, que no momento conta com Neymar, o meia Rafinha e o jovem zagueiro Marlon, ex-Fluminense, ainda tratado como aposta no Camp Nou.

Ainda segundo apuração da ESPN, porém, Rafinha pode não continuar no Barcelona na próxima temporada. O filho do ex-volante Mazinho e irmão do meia Thiago Alcântara tem proposta e pode ser negociado com o Arsenal, da Inglaterra, nesta janela.

Lucas Lima está desde 2014 no Santos, tendo conquistado dois Campeonatos Paulistas.

Na atual temporada, ele soma 20 jogos e dois gols com a camisa do “Peixe”.

No final do ano passado, aliás, o armador quase foi vendido ao futebol chinês. No entanto, o Santos conseguiu segurá-lo. Agora, porém, o Barcelona levará Lima no fim do ano.

Jogar na Espanha, aliás, já era sonho antigo de Lucas. Em participação no “Bola da Vez“, da ESPN Brasil, em fevereiro do ano passado, ele confessou que se via atuando por Real Madrid ou Barcelona em um futuro próximo.

Pela seleção brasileira, o meia tem 13 jogos e dois gols marcados.

Source Article from http://espn.uol.com.br/noticia/705395_exclusivo-salario-bonus-e-tempo-de-vinculo-veja-o-contrato-de-lucas-lima-com-o-barcelona

What the documents say: A memo the committee obtained that was sent by White House trade adviser Peter Navarro in March 2020 warned that the then-isolated cases of Covid-19 would balloon into “a very serious public health emergency” and lamented that “movement has been slow” to prepare. The memo advised the president to shore up domestic supply chains for PPE and accelerate development of diagnostics and therapeutics.

In the months that followed, according to other documents the committee released Wednesday, Navarro and other senior officials and outside advisers pushed federal agencies to give no-bid contracts for pharmaceutical ingredients and other supplies to companies that were recently formed and had political ties with the Trump administration.

One deal under investigation is a $354 million contract awarded to the Phlow Corporation — a first-time government contractor that had incorporated just a few months before receiving the funds. It was the largest contract ever awarded by BARDA, and it followed a series of emails from Navarro to agency leaders in March of 2020.

“Phlow needs to get greenlit as soon as humanly possible…Please move this puppy in Trump time,” he wrote. In a subsequent message he said: “My head is going to explode if this contract does not get immediately approved.”

Steven Hatfill, an adjunct assistant professor at George Washington University with ties to White House political advisor Stephen Bannon, was also involved in brokering the contract, the committee said.

The panel is also investigating a $3 million federal contract given to a company formed by former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Zachary Fuentes to provide respirator masks to the Navajo Nation through the Indian Health Services. Fuentes’ company received the contract just 11 days after its creation.

“When the respirator masks were delivered, IHS determined that they were unsuitable for use in a medical or surgical environment,” the committee wrote, asking for further records detailing how the contract was negotiated.

Why it matters: The Trump administration’s Covid contracting received some scrutiny last year. A plan to loan Eastman Kodak $765 million to shift to producing drug ingredients was scuttled after suspicious stock trades on the eve of the loan’s announcement prompted the U.S. International Development Finance Corp to cite “recent allegations of wrongdoing.”

But Democrats in charge of oversight panels on Capitol Hill say there is still more to uncover, in part because the Trump administration did not respond to requests for documents. Republicans on the committees are complaining that the panels are focusing too much on the past and failing to hold the Biden administration accountable.

Source Article from https://www.politico.com/news/2021/03/31/house-panel-trump-administration-covid-contracts-478697

“Fue una persona muy transparente, se mostraba en la pantalla de la misma forma que se mostraba en la familia, en la intimidad”, comenzó diciendo Gabriel Mesa sobre su padre en Por si las moscas, el ciclo radial de La Once Diez/Radio de la Ciudad. Calificó al fallecido actor, autor y director como “muy buen padre, muy buen amigo y muy buen profesional porque era un tipo muy generoso en todo sentido”.

Source Article from http://www.infobae.com/teleshow/humor-retro/2016/08/02/hoy-el-humor-de-mesa-de-noticias-no-existe-porque-no-se-animan-a-hacerlo/

All evacuation orders were lifted Wednesday night as crews battled a 650-acre brush fire in Castaic.

The blaze, dubbed North Fire, sparked just after 1:30 p.m. in the 2900 block of The Old Road, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

As of 10 p.m., forward progress of the flames had stopped with 25% containment, the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station said.

A mandatory evacuation order was previously in place for residents in the following locations, according to L.A. County sheriff’s officials:

  • North and west of West Hills Drive
  • North and west of Tesoro Del Valle Drive
  • North of Iron Village Drive
  • North of Copper Hill Drive

The latest evacuation information will be posted at santaclaritaemergency.com.

Residents who evacuated and needed assistance finding lodging were told to contact the Red Cross, and Castaic Animal Shelter was taking all animals that were being evacuated.

West Hills Drive was also closed between Copper Hill and Iron Village drives until further notice.

Evacuation warnings had earlier been issued for the areas of Rye Canyon Loop, Sterling Court and Iron Village Drive.

There were at least 120 firefighters at the scene, working to put the flames out.

No injuries have been reported.

The city of Santa Clarita asked residents to avoid the area.

Source Article from https://ktla.com/news/local-news/crews-battle-150-acre-brush-fire-with-0-containment-in-castaic/

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday that the U.S. hopes to gain access soon to a former Marine who was arrested in Russia on espionage charges and that “if the detention is not appropriate we will demand his immediate return.”

Paul Whelan, who is head of global security for a Michigan-based auto parts supplier, was arrested on Friday. In announcing the arrest three days later, the Russian Federal Security Service said he was caught “during an espionage operation,” but it gave no details.

Whelan, 48, was in Moscow to attend a wedding when he suddenly disappeared, his brother David Whelan said Tuesday.

Pompeo, speaking in Brazil, said the U.S. is “hopeful within the next hours we’ll get consular access to see him and get a chance to learn more.”




The U.S. has “made clear to the Russians our expectation that we will learn more about the charges and come to understand what it is he’s been accused of and if the detention is not appropriate we will demand his immediate return,” Pompeo said.

Whelan’s family said in a statement David Whelan posted on Twitter, “We are deeply concerned for his safety and well-being. His innocence is undoubted and we trust that his rights will be respected.”

The Russian spying charges carry a prison sentence of up to 20 years.

David Whelan said in an interview that his brother had been to Russia several times previously, so when a fellow former Marine was planning a wedding in Moscow with a Russian woman he was asked to go along to help out.

The morning of his arrest, he had taken a group of wedding guests on a tour of the Kremlin museums. The last time anyone heard from him was at about 5 p.m. and then he failed to show up that evening for the wedding, his brother said.

“It was extraordinarily out of character,” he said.

The family feared he had been mugged or was in a car accident, David Whelan said, and it was when searching the internet on Monday that he learned of the arrest.

“I was looking for any stories about dead Americans in Moscow, so in a way it was better than finding out that he had died,” he said.

The State Department said Monday it had received formal notification from the Russian Foreign Ministry of the arrest and was pushing for consular access. David Whelan said the family was told by the U.S. Embassy in Moscow they have not been able to speak to Paul Whelan.

David Whelan said he has no idea why his brother was targeted by the Russian security services. Paul Whelan had traveled to Russia in the past for work and to visit friends he had met on social networks, his brother said.

“I don’t think there’s any chance that he’s a spy,” David Whelan told CNN on Wednesday.

Paul Whelan did multiple tours in Iraq with the Marine Corps, his brother said. He now lives in Novi, Michigan, and is director of global security for BorgWarner, where he has worked since early 2017.

“He is responsible for overseeing security at our facilities in Auburn Hills, Michigan and at other company locations around the world,” company spokeswoman Kathy Graham said in a statement.

She said BorgWarner does not have any facilities in Russia.

Paul Whelan previously worked for Kelly Services, which does maintain offices in Russia, his brother said.

The arrest comes as U.S.-Russian ties are severely strained, in part over Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

A Russian gun rights activist, Maria Butina, is in U.S. custody after admitting she acted as a secret agent for the Kremlin in trying to infiltrate conservative U.S. political groups as Donald Trump was seeking the presidency. She pleaded guilty in December to a conspiracy charge as part of a deal with federal prosecutors.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed that the case is fabricated and that Butina entered the guilty plea because of the threat of a long prison sentence.

___

Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed to this report.

Source Article from https://www.aol.com/article/news/2019/01/02/us-wants-access-to-american-held-in-moscow-on-spying-charges/23631943/

Hace menos de una semana el combate a los distintos focos de incendios forestales que azotaban al país movilizó no solo a los esfuerzos nacionales, si no que además llevó a que el Gobierno solicitara apoyo internacional.

Una de las preguntas que más rondó en la opinión pública tenía directa relación con quiénes debían ser los encargados primeramente del combate del fuego. El equipo de investigación de Ahora Noticias indagó a una serie de empresas españolas que han ganado licitaciones de Conaf, pero que tienen varias denuncias en su contra, tanto en su país como en otras naciones.

Colusión, tráfico de influencias, sobornos y cohecho internacional, entre otros delitos, han llevado a que la justicia investigara a fondo a las empresas de Faasa, Inaer y Martínez Vidau, para descubrir cómo llegaban a ganar varios concursos públicos.

El “Modus Operandi” también se habría repetido en el país ganando licitaciones en áreas que hace pocos días estuvieron en un arduo combate con el fuego, dejando damnificados además de miles de hectáreas quemadas.

Onemi envió un comunicado en que se refirió a la contratación de esas empresas, las cuales pese a las acusaciones en otros países no pueden quedar fuera de la licitación, pues sería un “trato discriminatorio”.

LEE TAMBIÉN: 

Cartel del Fuego: Ossandón pide la renuncia del director de Conaf y critica a Aleuy 

Cartel del Fuego: Las múltiples reacciones al reportaje de Ahora Noticias 

Michel De L’Herbe y “cartel del fuego”: “Se instala una sombra de duda”

Source Article from http://www.ahoranoticias.cl/programas/reportajes/189947-cartel-del-fuego-el-escandalo-tras-las-empresas-que-combaten-incendios-en-chile.html