Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has offered a private apology to the Cherokee Nation for publicizing the results of a DNA test showing she might have distant Native American ancestry, the Tulsa World reported.
“We are encouraged by this dialogue and understanding that being a Cherokee Nation tribal citizen is rooted in centuries of culture and laws, not through DNA tests,” Julie Hubbard, the tribe’s executive director of communications, told Tulsa World. “We are encouraged by her action and hope that the slurs and mockery of tribal citizens and Indian history and heritage will now come to an end.”
The reason for the apology? Warren is at most 1/1024th American Indian according to the DNA test. But she had made plenty of hay from her supposed Native American heritage for decades before that.
Before embarrassing herself with her 23andMe stunt last October, Warren submitted recipes to the Pow Wow Chow cookbook, claimed Native American heritage on her Harvard Law School job application, and even fundraised off being nicknamed “Pocahontas” by the president.
It was that mockery that inspired Warren to take the DNA test. It didn’t go well.
The Cherokee Nation was one of the first to condemn Warren’s actions as “inappropriate and wrong.”
“It makes a mockery out of DNA tests and its legitimate uses while also dishonoring legitimate tribal governments and their citizens, whose ancestors are well documented and whose heritage is proven,” Cherokee Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin Jr. said last year. “Senator Warren is undermining tribal interests with her continued claims of tribal heritage.”
Warren has made amends for that mistake. Whether Warren can convince primary voters her judgment is sound is another question. The apology is a start.
Boos, jeers and profanities are nothing new for politicians, especially those who reach the White House. Former presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, as well as Trump, were all heckled, weathering protests along their motorcade routes and at events.
Nazarena Vélez vivió un año bastante complicado, especialmente por la situación que atravesó su hija Bárbara. La actriz se separó de Federico Bal en medio de un escándalo y lo denunció por violencia de género.
Aunque el tiempo pasó, hay heridas que no cierran. En los últimos días también se vio afectada por la muerte de su exsuegro, Nando Pucheta, que siempre fue muy amable con ella a pesar de su corto matrimonio con el papá de Barbie.
Ahora llegó diciembre y tuvo que lidiar con el boletín de su hijo Gonzalo, fruto de su amor con Daniel Agostini. El adolescente se llevó un montón de materias y pasará las vacaciones estudiando para rendir en marzo. En su cuenta de Instagram, Nazarena compartió un collage con su “Chino” y, aunque afirmó que era el más lindo y más bueno, le tiró un palito por su situación escolar.
El que sí le dio buenas noticias fue Thiago, el más pequeño. El niño que tuvo con Fabián Rodríguez terminó sala de 5 y el próximo año se sumergirá en el maravilloso mundo de primer grado.
Former Department of Justice prosecutor James Trusty says former acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe has very little credibility.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., vowed Sunday to investigate alleged discussions at the Department of Justice about invoking the 25th Amendment as a way to oust President Trump from office and threatened to subpoena former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe if he refused to testify on the matter before the Senate.
“We’re going to find out what happened here and the only way I know to find out is to call the people in under oath and find out, through questioning, who’s telling the truth because the underlying accusation is beyond stunning,” Graham, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
Graham added that he also plans to subpoena both McCabe and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein if they won’t voluntarily agree to testify before the committee.
“There is no organization beyond scrutiny,” Graham said. “There is no organization that can’t withstand scrutiny. And the FBI will come out stronger.”
He said: “But we’ve got to get to the bottom of it. What are people to think after they watch “60 Minutes” when they hear this accusation by the acting deputy — acting FBI director that the deputy attorney general encouraged him to try to find ways to count votes to replace the president? That can’t go unaddressed.”
Graham’s comments come on the heels of a Fox News story that reported that former FBI lawyer James Baker, in closed-door testimony to Congress, detailed alleged discussions among senior officials at the Justice Department about invoking the 25th Amendment.
The testimony was delivered last fall to the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees. Fox News has confirmed portions of the transcript. It provides additional insight into discussions that have returned to the spotlight in Washington as fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe revisits the matter during interviews promoting his forthcoming book.
Baker did not identify the two Cabinet officials. But in his testimony, the lawyer said McCabe and FBI lawyer Lisa Page came to him to relay their conversations with Rosenstein, including discussions of the 25th Amendment.
“I was being told by some combination of Andy McCabe and Lisa Page, that, in a conversation with the deputy attorney general, he had stated that he — this was what was related to me — that he had at least two members of the president’s Cabinet who were ready to support, I guess you would call it, an action under the 25th Amendment,” Baker told the committees.
Graham’s comments on Sunday come after he floated the idea of a subpoena last week in a comment to Fox News about the Justice Department discussions.
“I would like to know what happened,” Graham told Fox News. “You’re having a conversation about whether or not you’re going to invoke the 25th Amendment. I imagine if the shoe were on the other foot, my Democratic colleagues would want to know about that conversation if it involved a Democrat.”
CBS News reported on McCabe’s comments after he told “60 Minutes” that Justice Department officials discussed the possibility of removing Trump via the 25th Amendment and that Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein had offered to wear a wire around the president.
The 25th Amendment provides a mechanism for removing a sitting president from office. One way that could happen is if a majority of the president’s Cabinet says the president is incapable of discharging his duties.
Since giving the interview to “60 Minutes,” McCabe has since made an about-face, with a spokesperson for the former FBI chief releasing a statement that says McCabe did not “participate in any extended discussions about the use of the 25th Amendment, nor is he aware of any such discussions.”
The Justice Department issued a statement calling McCabe’s comments “inaccurate and factually incorrect.”
Reports of the discussions of invoking the 25th Amendment and of Rosenstein wearing a wire were reported in The New York Times.
NEW YORK, Jun 04, 2015 (BUSINESS WIRE) —
Today, Time Warner Cable News NY1 Noticias, New York City’s only 24-hour
Spanish language local news network, announced it will commemorate the
10-year anniversary of Pura Política, with a special documentary
with highlights from the past decade of the longest-running local
Spanish language political talk show in New York City, on Friday, June 5th
at 6 p.m. and 11p.m.
The documentary special will feature guests including, Congresswoman,
Nydia Velazquez, State Senator, Adriano Espaillat, and City Council
Speaker, Melissa Mark-Viverito, who will explore the highs and lows
for Latinos during the past decade. The commemorative program will also
include an exclusive sit-down interview with New York City Mayor Bill
de Blasio where he is asked to name one Latino politician he
believes would be a strong candidate for New York City Mayor in the near
future.
Pura Política first premiered as a weekly political talk show on
June 3, 2005, with then Mayor Michael Bloomberg as its first guest.
Bloomberg had just kicked off his re-election campaign with a
Spanish-language commercial.
“Since we aired our first program, Hispanic influence has grown
tremendously and the Spanish language has become ubiquitous in city
politics. Pura Política is a key platform for political leaders looking
to engage Latinos and talk about their issues. We look forward to many
more decades of great interviews and political analysis,” said program
host, Juan Manuel Benitez.
NY1 Noticias’ Pura Política’s 10th
Anniversary Special will air Friday, June 5th at 6 p.m.
and 11p.m. on channel 95 and channel 831 on Time Warner Cable in New
York, and channel 194 on Cablevision in New York City.
Time Warner Cable News (TWC News) provides in-depth local news
programming exclusively for Time Warner Cable video customers. Time
Warner Cable’s 17 news networks operate in Texas (Austin, San Antonio);
New York (Rochester, Buffalo, Albany, Hudson Valley, Central New York
and the Southern Tier); North Carolina (Raleigh, Charlotte, Greensboro,
Wilmington); Antelope Valley, CA, and the group’s flagship network NY1
and Spanish language network TWC News NY1 Noticias in New York City. NY1
Noticias is also available online at http://ny1noticias.com.
Viewers can follow the news team on twitter @NY1Noticias or visit www.ny1noticias.com
for the latest news coverage on NY1 Noticias including real-time
updates.
is among the largest providers of
video, high-speed data and voice services in the United States,
connecting 15 million customers to entertainment, information and each
other. Time Warner Cable Business Class offers data, video and voice
services to businesses of all sizes, cell tower backhaul services to
wireless carriers and enterprise-class, cloud-enabled hosting, managed
applications and services. Time Warner Cable Media, the advertising
sales arm of Time Warner Cable, offers national, regional and local
companies innovative advertising solutions. More information about the
services of Time Warner Cable is available at www.twc.com, www.twcbc.com
and www.twcmedia.com.
Gen. Jack Keane shares his military outlook on warfare in Eastern Europe.
Over the weekend, Russian troops launched an assault on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, which was repelled in a counteroffensive, Ukrainian officials said Sunday.
The city was still in Ukrainian hands after shelling that sent thousands into underground shelters and as battles raged on the street. As Russian troops continue to try and capture the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, other assaults are happening on several fronts.
Officials have said Russian forces are firing indiscriminately on civilian areas in Kharkiv, which has seen some of the most fierce fighting since the unprovoked invasion began last week. The attack on civilian targets represents an escalation of Russian aggression.
“Dozens of dead and hundreds of wounded! This horror must be seen by the whole world! Death to the occupiers!” Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, wrote on his Facebook page.
Russia briefly took control of the city on Sunday before it was taken back hours later. Despite the onslaught, big cities remain under Ukrainian control, officials said.
Kharkiv matters because of its significance. The city has a population of nearly 1.5 million people and is located in the country’s northeast, around 20 miles from its northern border with Russia, making it the largest of Ukraine’s cities near that nation.
The city is also a central piece to Russia’s strategy to defeat Ukraine as it faces unanticipated resistance in trying to capture Kyiv.
A map of Kharkiv and Kyiv in Ukraine. Kharkiv, the second-largest city, has seen some of the most intense fighting since Russian troops invaded Ukraine last week. (iStock)
“The longer this thing goes, the worse it is for them,” Dan Hoffman, a former CIA senior officer and station chief, told Fox News. “It’s an intelligence failure on their part. That’s an intelligence failure that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin didn’t have that all figured out. He comes from an intelligence background, so he should have known all this stuff.”
Kharkiv was founded in 1654 and has become a large industrial, scientific, educational and transpiration hub.
Historically, Kharkiv was the Ukrainian capital from 1920 to 1934, when Ukraine first became was part of the Soviet Union, before it was moved to Kyiv. In World War II, it changed hands between Soviet and Nazi German forces several times and suffered heavy destruction.
Culturally, it has strong ties to Russia. Many residents speak Russian and travel back and forth between both nations is common.
In 2014, when demonstrators help oust pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych, Kharkiv became a key point for opponents of the new government in an effort to restore him to power. Yanukovych eventually fled to the city where he held a wider base.
His pro-Russia supporters, at one point, stormed the City Hall and briefly took it over.
Currently, Kharkiv is a major transpiration hub and is home to more than 60 universities, according to Eurocities. In addition, the city manufactures diesel locomotives, machine tools and electronics.
U.S. Border Patrol agents on horseback block migrants crossing the Rio Grande on Sunday near the Del Rio-Acuña Port of Entry in Del Rio, Texas. Horse patrols at that part of the border have been suspended, the White House press secretary says.
Eric Thayer/Bloomberg via Getty Images
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Eric Thayer/Bloomberg via Getty Images
U.S. Border Patrol agents on horseback block migrants crossing the Rio Grande on Sunday near the Del Rio-Acuña Port of Entry in Del Rio, Texas. Horse patrols at that part of the border have been suspended, the White House press secretary says.
Eric Thayer/Bloomberg via Getty Images
President Biden says U.S. Border Patrol agents’ use of horses — and in at least one instance, long reins — to chase Haitian migrants was “outrageous,” promising consequences for those responsible for the controversial incident at the border in Texas.
Biden was asked about the agents’ actions near the international bridge in Del Rio, Texas, during a news briefing Friday morning. Photos from the border interdiction quickly triggered outrage in the U.S. and beyond as well as criticism of the Biden administration’s policy of rounding up Haitian migrants to be deported.
Asked if he takes responsibility for the chaos that has emerged at the border, Biden replied, “Of course I take responsibility. I’m president,” adding it was “horrible” to see how federal agents treated the migrants.
“To see people treated like they did — horses [unintelligible] running them over, people being strapped. It’s outrageous. I promise you, those people will pay,” Biden said.
The president noted that the matter is being investigated.
“It’s an embarrassment — it’s beyond an embarrassment,” Biden added. “It’s dangerous, it’s wrong. It sends the wrong message around the world; it sends the wrong message at home. It’s simply not who we are.”
Horse patrols at that part of the border are now suspended, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Thursday. Earlier this week, Psaki repeatedly called the scene “horrific.”
Many of the migrants who were caught up in the border agents’ actions were attempting to bring food back from Mexico to a huge encampment under the international bridge in Del Rio, where more than 14,000 people had massed.
Most of the migrants are from Haiti, although some are from Cuba, Brazil and other countries.
President Trump said Thursday that he will not allow former White House counsel Don McGahn to appear before Congress to testify about his possible obstruction of justice.
“I’ve had him testifying already for 30 hours,” Trump said during a Fox News interview, referring to McGahn’s interviews with special counsel Robert Mueller.
McGahn told Mueller that he resisted orders from Trump to fire the special counsel. The orders are a key area of interest for Democrats seeking to impeach Trump, though Attorney General William Barr found they were insufficient evidence of criminal obstruction. Mueller found no underlying criminal conspiracy with Russia.
“Congress shouldn’t be looking anymore. This is all. It’s done,” Trump said.
“I assume they looked at my taxes. I assume Mueller looked at my financial statements, having 20 people and 49 FBI agents and all of the staff and all the money that was spent,” Trump said. “I assume for the $35 million, my taxes, my financial statements, which are phenomenal, they’ve gone through anything. And I’m so clean. Think of it, two and a half years and all that money spent, nothing. Very few people could have sustained that.”
Estas son algunas sugerencias de Facebook para sus usuarios:
1. Duda de los títulos: De acuerdo con la red social, este tipo de contenidos suelen tener títulos llamativos escritos en mayúsculas y con signos de exclamación.
2. Observa con atención el URL: Una dirección falsa o que imita una origianl puede ser una señal evidente de contenido falso. Muchos sitios de noticias falsas realizan pequeños cambios en las URL de las fuentes de noticias auténticas para imitarlas.
3. Investiga la fuente: Asegúrate que la noticia esté escrita por una fuente de confianza. Si proviene de una organización desconocida, verifica la sección “información” para obtener más detalles.
4. Detecta si el formato es poco común: Muchos sitios de noticias de este tipo contienen errores ortográficos o diseños extraños.
5. Presta atención a las fotos: Las noticias falsas suelen contener imágenes o videos manipulados. En ocasiones, es posible que la foto sea auténtica, pero que la hayan sacado de contexto.
6. Comprueba las fechas: El orden cronológico de las noticias falsas puede resultar ilógico, o incluso pueden estar alteradas las fechas de los eventos.
7. Verifica las pruebas: Comprueba las fuentes del autor para confirmar que sean precisas. Si no se aportan pruebas o se confía en expertos cuya identidad no se menciona, es posible que la noticia sea falsa.
8. Consulta otros informes periodísticos. Si ningún otro medio está reportando la noticia, es posible que sea falsa. Si aparece en varias fuentes de confianza, es más probable que sea verdadera.
9.¿La noticia es un engaño o una broma? Facebook asegura que es difícil distinguir una noticia falsa de una publicación humorística o satírica, por lo que sugiere comprobar si la fuente de donde proviene suele realizar parodias, y si los detalles y el tono de la noticia sugieren que puede tratarse de una broma.
10. Algunas noticias son falsas de forma intencional. Reflexiona acerca de las noticias que lees y comparte solo las que sabes que son creíbles.
El gigante de las redes sociales también publicó anuncios en la prensa británica con consejos sobre cómo detectar ese tipo de contenidos mal sustentados. Sugiere a los lectores “ser escépticos ante cada titular” y “examinar cuidadosamente el URL”.
La empresa aseguró que ha mejorado sus herramientas para que los usuarios puedan detectar las mentiras con más facilidad.
Simon Milner, director de políticas de Facebook en Gran Bretaña, dijo que la empresa quiere llegar “a la raíz del problema” y que está colaborando con otras organizaciones a fin de analizar y verificar los contenidos relacionados con la elección.
“Estamos haciendo todo lo posible para lidiar con el problema de las noticias falsas”, añadió.
President Donald Trump told POLITICO he expects former Vice President Joe Biden to dominate Democrats leading up to 2020. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
In an exclusive interview with POLITICO, the president predicted the former vice president would steamroll Democratic rivals who ‘aren’t registering.’
President Donald Trump sees parallels between Joe Biden’s early surge to the front of the crowded 2020 Democratic presidential field and his own runaway success in the 2016 Republican primaries.
In an interview with POLITICO on Friday afternoon, Trump cast the former vice president as a clear, if flawed, front runner, noting that Biden had recently flubbed the name of Britain’s prime minister. And he compared Biden’s early success in a heavily crowded field to his own entry and rapid ascent in the 2016 Republican campaign.
Story Continued Below
“I look at it like my race” in 2016, the president said in a phone interview, predicting that Biden will remain at the head of the pack of 22 Democrats running for president.
Recalling his June 2015 campaign announcement at Trump Tower, he boasted, “If you remember, from the day I came down the escalator until the end of the primaries, I was in the number-one position. I was center stage every debate. And, you know, nobody came close.”
Trump actually polled near the bottom of the then twelve-candidate Republican primary field when he first joined the race in mid-June 2015. But he became the clear GOP front runner within several weeks, and no other candidate ever decisively claimed that mantle from him.
Trump appeared to be following Biden’s early days on the campaign trail closely. At one point, he mocked the former vice president for last week mistakenly referring to Margaret Thatcher instead of the current British prime minister, Theresa May. Biden quickly corrected himself, calling it a “Freudian slip.”
“Is that a good front runner? I don’t know. That was a beauty,” Trump said.
He suggested that he doesn’t see his other Democratic rivals as serious threats. “It seems that many of them aren’t registering with, you know, the public,” Trump said. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), he added, “seems to be going in the wrong direction.”
Asked specifically about South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Trump was dismissive.
“Alfred E. Neuman cannot become president of the United States,” he said, comparing Buttigieg to the iconic boyish Mad Magazine cartoon character.
Asked by POLITICO in San Francisco on Friday night to respond to Trump’s new nickname, Buttigieg said: “I’ll be honest. I had to Google that. I guess it’s just a generational thing. I didn’t get the reference. It’s kind of funny, I guess. But he’s also the president of the United States and I’m surprised he’s not spending more time trying to salvage this China deal.”
In the 15-minute interview, which stemmed from POLITICO’s inquiries for a separate story, the president touched on North Korea, his former campaign aide David Bossie, the Senate Intelligence Committee’s subpoena to his son, his view of Steve Bannon and Rudy Giuliani’s upcoming trip to Ukraine.
Trump again expressed frustration that the Senate Intelligence Committee subpoenaed his oldest son, Donald Trump Jr., to testify as part of the panel’s ongoing investigation into 2016 Russian election interference. But he said he had not spoken to Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.), the panel’s chairman, who has come under fire from some Republicans for signing off on the subpoena.
“I won the state of North Carolina and frankly had another Republican won [the primary], they would not have won the state. I have a great relationship to that state. So I was very surprised,” Trump said. “[Burr] came in, ran along with me. I didn’t know him well but he ran along with me. So yeah, I was very surprised to see that.”
The president also gently criticized his former deputy campaign manager and longtime friend David Bossie, who has been accused of using his political group to scam Republican voters out of millions of dollars for personal financial gain under the guise of supporting Trump’s re-election.
“I would be disappointed in David if he did that,” he said, later adding: “I would be disappointed if everything wasn’t on the up and up.”
Trump’s 2020 campaign issued a sharply-worded statement on Tuesday saying that it “condemns any organization that deceptively uses the President’s name, likeness, trademarks, or branding and confuses voters.” The campaign encouraged authorities “to investigate all alleged scam groups for potential illegal activities.”
Trump said he has not spoken to Bossie about the subject.
In a statement, Bossie said, “For 15 years we have scrupulously complied with every campaign law and regulation that exists. The accusations are false and personally offensive to me.” He added that he has “worked tirelessly to support President Trump and his agenda and I am not going to let smears from old enemies on the left stop me.”
Even amid his apparent anger at one close ally, Trump hinted at a softened view towards a former one: Steve Bannon, whom Trump excommunicated last year after the strategist was quoted in Michael Wolff’s incendiary book about the White House, “Fire and Fury.”
“Well, I always liked Steve and I mean the last seven months or eight months, I mean, you can’t have nicer statements stated about yourself than the things he’s been saying about me,” Trump said, adding later, “You’ve seen what he’s said on the various shows and you’ve seen what he’s written and it’s very nice and I appreciate it. But I haven’t spoken to Steve in a while.”
Trump also touched on the business activities in Ukraine of Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, a subject that has drawn scrutiny among conservatives in recent days and which Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, says should be investigated further. As vice president, Joe Biden pressured Ukraine’s government to oust a top anti-corruption official who had reportedly investigated a Ukrainian energy company in which Hunter Biden had a financial interest, although no evidence has emerged that Joe Biden was acting to assist his son, and it is not clear that the official was probing the company at the time.
Trump has also alleged that Ukraine’s government aided Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign by releasing damaging information about his since-jailed campaign manager, Paul Manafort, who made millions doing political work in the country.
Some Democrats have expressed concern that Trump could direct the Justice Department to pursue the allegations, which they call a diversion from Russia’s systematic 2016 election meddling, and warn that it would be an abuse of power for political purposes.
When asked whether he would consider directing Attorney General Bill Barr to investigate the Bidens, as some Democrats fear, Trump said he had not spoken to Barr about the issue. But he left open the possibility, saying “certainly it would be an appropriate thing to” discuss with Barr.
“Certainly it is a very big issue and we’ll see what happens. I have not spoken to him about it. Would I speak to him about it? I haven’t thought of that. I mean, you’re asking me a question I just haven’t thought of,” he said, noting it “could be a very big situation” for Biden.
“Because he’s a Democrat it’s about 1/100 the size of the fact that if he were a Republican, it would be a lot bigger,” he alleged.
Trump also said that he plans to speak to Rudy Giuliani about his personal attorney’s imminent plans to go to Ukraine to reportedly encourage the Ukrainian president to investigate the origins of the Russia investigation and Hunter Biden’s role on the board of directors of an energy company owned by a Ukrainian oligarch.
“I will speak to him about it before he leaves. I’m just curious about that,” he said, adding that he has “not spoken to him at any great length” about it.
On foreign policy, the president, who once bragged about the cessation of North Korean missile tests during his presidency, downplayed the significance of North Korea’s recent decision to launch a pair of short-range missiles.
“They’re short-range and I don’t consider that a breach of trust at all. And, you know, at some point I may. But at this point no,” he said. “These were short-range missiles and very standard stuff. Very standard.”
Trump added that he might eventually lose faith in his friendly relationship with Kim Jong-un, the North Korean dictator. “I mean it’s possible that at some point I will, but right now not at all,” he said.
Minutes before the interview, Trump tweeted that trade talks with China would continue, suggesting that negotiators were unable to reach a compromise. Unprompted, the president marveled about the instant effect his China-related tweet had on stock prices.
“It seems to be having quite an impact on the market. I looked — the market was down,” he said. “Now I think it’s up 181.44. So, it shows you what happens.”
Media captionWhat’s life like in quarantined Wuhan?
Chinese President Xi Jinping has held a special government meeting on the Lunar New Year public holiday to warn that the spread of a deadly new virus is “accelerating”.
The country is facing a “grave situation” Mr Xi told senior officials, according to state television.
The coronavirus has killed at least 41 people and infected almost 1,300 since its discovery in the city of Wuhan.
Travel restrictions have already hit several affected cities.
And from Sunday, private vehicles will be banned from the central districts of Wuhan, the source of the outbreak.
A second emergency hospital is to be built there within weeks to handle 1,300 new patients, and will be finished in half a month, state newspaper the People’s Daily said. It is the second such rapid construction project: work on another 1,000-bed hospital has already begun.
Specialist military medical teams have also been flown into Hubei province, where Wuhan is located.
The urgency reflects concern both within China and elsewhere about the spread of the virus which first appeared in December.
Several other nations are each dealing with a handful of cases, with patients being treated in isolation.
What is the coronavirus, and what does it do?
A coronavirus is a family of viruses which include the common cold.
But this virus has never been seen before, so it’s been called 2019-nCov, for “novel coronavirus”.
New viruses can become common in humans after jumping across the species barrier from animals.
The Sars [Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome] outbreak of 2003 started in bats and transferred to the civet cat which passed it on to humans.
Image copyright AFP
Image caption
In Hong Kong’s Wong Tai Sin temple, people welcome the new year, some wearing masks
This new virus also causes severe acute respiratory infection.
Symptoms seem to start with a fever, followed by a dry cough and then, after a week, lead to shortness of breath and some patients needing hospital treatment.
Based on early information, it is believed that only a quarter of infected cases are “severe”, and the dead are mostly – though not exclusively – older people, some of whom have pre-existing conditions.
What’s happening at the source?
The city of Wuhan is effectively on lockdown, with heavy restrictions on travel in and out, and public transport options from buses to planes cancelled.
It is a major population centre with up to 11 million inhabitants – comparable in size to London.
Pharmacies in the city have begun to run out of supplies and hospitals have been filled with nervous members of the public.
But even for those free of infection, there has been an impact on daily life, as officials have urged people to avoid crowds and gatherings.
“The whole transport system has been shut down,” Kathleen Bell, who is is originally from the UK and works in Wuhan, told the BBC. “From midnight tonight private cars are not allowed on the road. And taxis aren’t running.”
“You have queues of people lining up to be seen, some may not have the virus, and some may, and they’re all in the same space,” she said.
Major Western brands such as McDonald’s and Starbucks have closed in the city and in others nearby.
“The streets are pretty much empty,” said Mustafa Siddiqui, a businessman in Wuhan. “No-one’s going outside.”
Media captionThe WHO’s regional director gives some measured advice on the outbreak
“There’s no real panic. There is calm. There is nothing really happening.”
The surrounding Hubei province is also deeply affected, with nearly a dozen cities enduring some sort of travel restriction.
Where has it spread?
There are now nearly 1,300 confirmed cases all across China, though most concentrated in those closest to Hubei.
But it has also spread abroad – in isolated cases affecting small numbers of patients.
On Saturday, Australia confirmed its first four cases – first in Melbourne, and then three more in Sydney.
It has also spread to Europe, with three cases confirmed in France. The UK is investigating a number of suspected cases, with officials trying to trace around 2,000 people who have recently flown to the UK from Hubei province.
The cases largely involve people who had recently travelled from the affected region in China.
China’s neighbours in the Asia region are on high alert, however, with cases reported in Thailand, Singapore, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam, South Korea and Nepal.
There are also cases in the United States.
The World Health Organization has not classed the virus as an “international emergency”, partly because of the low number of overseas cases.
What is the impact on new year celebrations?
The Lunar New Year is one of the most important dates in the calendar in China, where millions of people travel home – something that is a problem for preventing the spread of a virus.
Authorities have shut major tourist sites including the Forbidden City in Beijing and a section of the Great Wall, and cancelled major public events in other parts of the country, including:
Traditional temple fairs in Beijing
An international carnival in Hong Kong
Hong Kong’s annual football tournament
All public Lunar New Year celebrations in Macau
Shanghai’s Disney Resort is temporarily closing.
In the capital, Beijing, and also in Shanghai, officials have asked residents who return from affected areas to stay at home for 14 days to prevent the spread of the virus, local media report.
The suspect in Tuesday’s deadly shooting at UNC Charlotte is being held without bail at Mecklenburg County Jail, facing murder, attempted murder and other charges.
Two people died and four others were hurt in the shootings in a classroom in the Kennedy Building just before 6 p.m. Tuesday.
The suspect, Trystan Andrew Terrell, 22, is a Charlotte resident and former student at the school. He was captured by UNC Charlotte police shortly after they arrived on the scene, according to campus police chief Jeff Baker.
“Our dispatch received a call that a suspect was armed with a pistol and had shot several students. We responded, we were able to get into the building quick enough to where we actually took custody of the suspect. He was disarmed and he was taken into custody,” Baker said Tuesday night.
Terrell, who was armed with a pistol, didn’t have time to leave the room before he was confronted and disarmed,” Baker said.
“One officer immediately went to the suspect to take him down,” Baker said.
Terrell has lived in Charlotte since 2014, and lived previously in Mansfield, Texas. The Associated Press interviewed his grandfather, Paul Rold of Arlington, Texas, who said Terrell had moved to Charlotte with his father.
Rold said the actions don’t sound like his grandson. “This is not in his DNA,” he said.
Police have not suggested any motive for the killings.
He faces two counts of murder, four counts of attempted murder, four counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, possession of firearm on educational property, and discharging a firearm on educational property.
Terrell is scheduled to make his first appearance in court Thursday afternoon.
Correction: An earlier version of this post stated Terrell would appear in court on Tuesday afternoon.
Cuatro personas fallecieron este martes, víctimas de un deslave resgistrado en las últimas horas en el cantón Chunchi, provincia de Chimborazo, informó el ministro coordinador de Seguridad, César Navas.
Con las muertes de hoy suman ya 38 los fallecidos en Ecuador, víctimas de la temporada invernal. El deslizamiento de piedra y lodo afectó a varias casas y arrastró consigo algunos vehículos, indicó la central de llamadas ECU911.
Miembros del Cuerpo de Bomberos y del Ministerio de Salud, así como personal de la Policía, del GOE, SIAT y de la Dinased, así como maquinaria de la Secretaría de Gestión de Riesgos llegaron al lugar para trabajar en las tareas de rescate, señaló la central de emergencias.
Se realizan las tareas de limpieza para habilitar la vía y tratar de sacar el vehículo atrapado. (I)
Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to announce Wednesday that California will require all teachers and school employees to be vaccinated or submit to regular Covid-19 testing. | Jeff Chiu/AP Photo
Until now, the recall-threatened governor had stopped short of requiring teacher vaccinations for the upcoming academic year.
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom plans to announce Wednesday that California will require all teachers and school employees to be vaccinated or submit to regular Covid-19 testing, the first such requirement in the nation amid growing Delta variant concerns, according to sources familiar with the plan.
Under the policy, school employees would have to show proof of vaccination to their districts. The move comes after three large California districts announced similar requirements on their own Tuesday and just two days after American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten voiced support for such a mandate.
The plan was described to POLITICO by sources who were not authorized to speak ahead of a Wednesday morning press conference at a school in the Bay Area. Until now, the recall-threatened governor had stopped short of requiring teacher vaccinations for the upcoming academic year.
The state’s two major teachers unions — the California Teachers Association and the California Federation of Teachers — support the plan, sources said. CTA reports that nearly 90 percent of its members are vaccinated, based on a survey in March.
“We’re not shy about leaning into that space because of the importance of getting this disease behind us, but as it relates to schools, we’re confident in the approach we’re taking,” Newsom said last week at an event at a San Bernardino elementary school when asked about the prospect of a teacher vaccine mandate.
California has seen a rise in Covid-19 infections and hospitalizations this summer as the Delta variant took hold and the state reopened its economy on a wide scale.
The Democratic governor faces a recall election in less than five weeks, and he has shown no willingness to close businesses again while he has insisted that schools will remain open for full in-person instruction this academic year. Newsom is requiring that all students wear masks in school — a position criticized by Republican recall candidates — but he is not mandating that people wear masks at indoor businesses.
Newsom previously imposed vaccine-or-test requirements for state employees and an outright Sept. 30 mandate with limited exemptions for health care workers.
Districts in San Francisco, Long Beach, Oakland and Sacramento announced Tuesday that teachers must show proof of vaccination or get tested regularly for Covid-19 as their campuses reopen this month. They join San Jose Unified, which announced the same requirement last month.
“Long Beach is now the only big city in [the] state where all public employees at city, college, school district & state university have mandates,” Mayor Robert Garcia said in a tweet, noting that Long Beach Unified, which enrolls about 70,000 students, is the largest district in California so far to make the decision.
“All public institutions across the state and country should do the same,” Garcia added.
San Francisco Unified and Sacramento City Unified announced similar policies on Tuesday, with support from their unions. Together, the two districts represent about 15,000 employees and more than 100,000 students.
“As we all return to school buildings in person, we are glad that we can move forward welcoming students and families with excitement and ensuring the safest conditions possible in the midst of this continuing pandemic,” Cassondra Curiel, president of the United Educators of San Francisco, said in a statement.
The state’s largest districts in Los Angeles, San Diego and Fresno have not required vaccines for teachers, but will fall under the Newsom policy being announced Wednesday.
“We are implementing different layers of safety including, but not limited to, requiring periodic COVID testing for all students and staff, both vaccinated and unvaccinated, daily health screening, upgraded air filtration systems, requiring the use of face masks and additional staff to clean and sanitize the classrooms,” Los Angeles Unified spokesperson Shannon Haber said in an email.
At a Public Policy Institute of California event on Tuesday, Linda Darling-Hammond, president of the California State Board of Education, called vaccine-or-test rules “a very smart idea.”
In an interview last week, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said he is not against a mandate but worries that vaccine requirements, which would likely have to be negotiated with unions, are inefficient as many schools are racing against a clock. Many districts have already reopened in California, while others are set to do so over the next three weeks.
“What I can do right now is help more people get a vaccine,” Thurmound said, pointing to “vaccine town halls” and other outreach events hosted by the California Department of Education. “We’re literally pulling out all the stops that we can.”
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