An Afghan interpreter who was by the side of an Australian soldier slain in battle says he has been abandoned by the Australian government and is resigned to his all but certain death, as Taliban forces seize back swathes of the country.
Australia is preparing to evacuate hundreds of people from Afghanistan, the ABC reported on Sunday, but on the ground former interpreters and contractors for the ADF have said they hold out little hope of rescue.
The RAAF would fly out Afghan people who served with the Australian forces from Kabul, in coordination with US and British security forces, the ABC report said, as well as Australians working for nongovernment organisations.
At a media conference on Sunday, prime minister Scott Morrison declined to outline any detail of the plans, saying only that Australia was “working closely with our partners”.
Defence sources told the Guardian two of the three infantry battalions comprising Australia’s battle ready group, based in Townsville, were preparing to deploy within days, and would arrive in the region on RAAF planes by the end of the week.
NGO staff members still in Kabul have been told to send all their Afghan staff home and prepare to leave within 72 hours, well-placed sources said.
Immigration staff would be needed to accompany the troops to rapidly work through outstanding visa applications for Afghans who assisted Australia, as well as anyone fleeing on humanitarian grounds.
But it will be almost impossible for anyone to be evacuated from anywhere other than Kabul, leaving those in southern Afghanistan without a lifeline.
In the past few days Guardian Australia has spoken to numerous Afghans who worked with Australian forces. Many fear they will be left to their fate as the Taliban tighten their grip around the capital, regardless of any evacuation effort. In some cases they are unable to get to Kabul because of the fighting, and would have no guarantee of being accepted on to flights even if they could do so.
Mohammad, a former interpreter for Australian troops, was on operation in 2009 in the Taliban stronghold of Baluchi Valley in southern Afghanistan when Private Benjamin Ranaudo stepped on a bomb, killing him instantly. Former Private Paul Warren lost his leg in the same blast.
“After this mission I got many threats from the Taliban,” Mohammad said on Saturday.
“Taliban was following me and they killed my father in front of my eyes.
“He was trying to stop them and my father was telling them that I won’t work again with any military any more.”
He escaped, but said on another occasion he was shot three times.
Mohammad, who has a wife and young children, said the Taliban would show him and his family no mercy when they found him. He said he was spending his days hiding in his home, but the Taliban had captured areas within kilometres of his village.
Mohammad stopped working with the Australian defence force in 2010. His application to be granted a safe haven in Australia was rejected after the Defence department found him not eligible because he didn’t apply within six months of ending his employment.
The locally engaged employee (LEE) program, which includes the six-month provision, did not come into force until 1 January 2013.
Mohammad has tried to have his employment verified retrospectively, but until recently was unable to contact his supervisor, who worked for a contractor to the ADF, or to get corroborating material from soldiers he worked with.
“My late application is because I had no papers – when I found my supervisor and got employment papers it was in December 2020,” he said.
Mohammad has written to the prime minister and the defence minister, Peter Dutton, out of desperation, but has received no reply, he said.
“I am hopeless that no one is able to help us.”
Corporal Benjamin Byrne, who was standing next to Mohammad when the bomb that killed Ranaudo detonated, said he had written a letter of support for him.
“That’s a moment in my life I could tell in quite brutal detail and something I obviously still deal with, and he [Mohammad] was part of that,” he said.
“He was more or less one of the boys.
“It pisses me off a bit that they’re getting screwed around as much as they are. I feel like he’s getting a bit ripped off.”
The Australian government has said the visa program for Afghans who worked with Australian forces was a “high priority” and had only a few dozen applications left to process “as quickly as possible”.
But advocates argue figures provided by Home Affairs don’t include those waiting to be certified by Defence, the foreign affairs department, AusAID or the Australian federal police, in what is a multi-stage application process requiring involvement by numerous agencies.
At the weekend the first US troops began arriving in Afghanistan to evacuate citizens and visa applicants, amid the rapid Taliban advance towards Kabul, where so many have fled for refuge.
On Friday the Taliban captured Afghanistan’s second-biggest city, Kandahar; on Saturday the northern stronghold of Mazar-i-Sharif also fell; and by Sunday they were reported to be within kilometres of Kabul.
With most of the landlocked country’s borders controlled by the Taliban, those who assisted Australia have run out of options to flee as they are actively hunted for assisting “infidels”.
Sources in Afghanistan said Taliban militants were going door to door in villages searching for journalists, female doctors, government staff and those who worked with foreign forces.
The US embassy in Kabul said on Thursday it had received reports of the Taliban executing members of the Afghan military who had surrendered. “Deeply disturbing & could constitute war crimes,” the embassy said on Twitter.
Morrison said on Friday Australia was working closely with the US to fulfil Australia’s responsibility to relocate Afghans who were in danger for their work alongside Australian troops.
But he would not say how many more would be resettled in Australia under the program, which has been shrouded in secrecy.
Migration lawyer Glenn Kolomeitz said his Canberra law firm, GAP Veteran and Legal Services, represented 140 Afghan security guards and was monitoring the visa applications of more than 100 interpreters.
The LEE visa grants are counted within the annual humanitarian program quota, set at 13,750 for 2021-22.
It’s understood the government may reconsider the intake cap in the light of the dire situation in Afghanistan.
The Justice Department is investigating possible schemes to exchange money for a presidential pardon, according to a document filed in federal court.
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
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The Justice Department is investigating possible schemes to exchange money for a presidential pardon, according to a document filed in federal court.
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
The Justice Department is investigating a possible secret scheme involving a bribe in exchange for a presidential pardon, according to court documents unsealed Tuesday.
The 18-page court opinion is heavily redacted, and the names of the individuals under investigation are blacked out as is the identity of the person to be pardoned under the alleged plan. Still, the filings provide a glimpse into what investigators are probing.
The federal court order, signed by Chief Judge Beryl Howell in Washington, D.C., is dated Aug. 28. It stems from her review of a government request to access certain communications believed to document a secret lobbying scheme and a related bribery-for-pardon scheme.
The filing says a government filter team was sorting through more than 50 digital devices such as iPhones and laptops as part of an investigation when they came across emails pointing to the two alleged schemes.
The secret lobbying scheme, the document says, allegedly involved two individuals whose names are redacted who lobbied senior White House officials to try to secure clemency for a third individual whose name is blacked out.
The related bribery conspiracy allegedly involved the offer of “a substantial political contribution in exchange for a presidential pardon or reprieve of sentence” for an individual whose identity is redacted.
News of the investigation was first reported by CNN.
A Justice Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “no government official was or is currently a subject or target of the investigation disclosed in this filing.”
The fight over the communications revolved around whether the emails were covered by attorney-client privilege, which would shield them from the government.
Chief Judge Howell ultimately found that the emails were not privileged materials because each of the emails in question was sent to an individual who is not a lawyer.
“The attorney-client privilege applies only when the participants in the communication are the client and the client’s attorney, who is a ‘member of the bar,’ ” Howell wrote.
The decision means prosecutors can use the materials to confront the subjects of the investigation.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a progressive Democrat from New York, argued that Democrats now have “two options” if they want to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour—either disregard the Senate parliamentarian’s ruling or end the legislative filibuster.
The Senate’s parliamentarian ruled last week that the minimum wage hike would not be eligible to pass through the complicated budget reconciliation process. Democrats have turned to that process to push through President Joe Biden‘s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan. Legislation passed through budget reconciliation requires only a simple majority to pass in the Senate, instead of the 60 votes generally required because of the legislative filibuster rule, and would not necessarily require any Republican support, given the upper chamber’s current makeup.
Progressive Democrats have strongly criticized the parliamentarian’s decision, with some calling for the decision to be overridden or for the parliamentarian to be fired. Ocasio-Cortez said during a Sunday evening interview with MSNBC that voters are counting on Democrats to pass the wage increase, arguing that bold action is necessary to push it through.
“I do believe we should override the parliamentarian. I think that this is a matter of course and that constituents and people across this country put Democrats in power to, among many other things, establish a $15 minimum wage. We have a responsibility to do that,” she said.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez walks to the House floor on February 4. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty
Ocasio-Cortez said that Democrats should not view the parliamentarian’s decision as an obstacle. “Our two options are realistically this: override the parliamentarian or eliminate the filibuster. Those are the only two paths that we have in order to create substantive change in the United States, and that is what people across the country want,” the congresswoman said.
The White House has already signaled that it does not want to disregard the parliamentarian’s decision.
“President Biden is disappointed in this outcome, as he proposed having the $15 minimum wage as part of the American Rescue Plan,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement last Thursday. “He respects the parliamentarian’s decision and the Senate’s process. He will work with leaders in Congress to determine the best path forward, because no one in this country should work full time and live in poverty.”
Biden has previously expressed opposition to ending the filibuster, as have some moderate Democrats. Newsweek reached out to the White House for further comment but did not immediately receive a response.
A group progressive Democrats—led by Congressional Progressive Caucus Deputy Whip Ro Khanna—issued a statement on Monday morning urging the Biden administration to override the parliamentarian’s decision. Ocasio-Cortez signed on to the effort, which was backed by 23 members of the Progressive Caucus.
“This ruling is a bridge too far,” Khanna said in a statement. “[Progressives have] been asked, politely but firmly, to compromise on nearly all of our principles and goals. Not this time. If we don’t overrule the Senate parliamentarian, we are condoning poverty wages for millions of Americans. That’s why I’m leading my colleagues in urging the Biden Administration to lean on the clear precedent and overrule this misguided decision. Give America a raise.”
In a Sunday tweet, Representative Pramila Jayapal, chair of the Progressive Caucus, vowed that “the fight for a $15 minimum wage isn’t over.”
The congresswoman wrote: “People can’t live on $7.25/hour—and we can’t leave them hanging. I won’t stop fighting to give 27 million workers a raise and finally lift people out of poverty.”
Gabby Petito is one of three people who went missing in or near Grand Teton National Park this summer.
Petito, 22, was in the midst of a cross-country van trip with her also missing boyfriend, Brian Laundrie, when she disappeared in late August. Her family last spoke with her Aug. 24, when she said they were in Utah, headed to Wyoming to see the Tetons.
Rangers are searching for the 5-foot-5 Petito in the Teton backcountry — but she’s not the only missing person on their radar there, authorities said.
The last trace of Robert Lowery, a traveler from Texas, was a ping from his cellphone in Jackson on Aug. 23, police told the Jackson Hole News & Guide.
The 46-year-old was seen on video from Aug. 19 at a restaurant at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort in Teton Village, and may have taken a ride in a Lyft the following day.
Lowery had never been to the area before, his sister, Leigh Lowery, told the paper, and had recently gotten a sleeping bag and a tent, but had no camping experience.
Gabby Petito and Brian Laundrie were on a “van life” trip across the US when she went missing. Instagram
Gabby Petito’s last spoke to her family on Aug. 25. North Port/Florida Police/Handout via REUTERS
Before Lowery left his home in Houston, he canceled his mail, Jackson sheriff’s Deputy Chad Sachse told the paper.
In the third case, Cian McLaughlin, 27, was last seen June 8 hiking in the park by a local resident without a backpack. He was reported missing four days later.
Authorities are now searching for Gabby Petito’s boyfriend, Brian Laundrie. InstagramPolice have found no evidence or clues into Cian McLaughlin’s whereabouts. SARGENT SCHUTT / COURTESY PHOTO
The park conducted an investigation that involved tips from more than 140 people, and more than 45 helicopter searches, some using thermal imaging cameras and other high-tech equipment. No trace of McLaughlin was found.
Neither the Department of the Interior, which oversees the National Park Service, nor the Department of Agriculture’s US Forest Service keeps track of how many people vanish in American wilderness areas each year, but researchers suggest the number could be in the hundreds.
Robert Lowery was last seen in a restaurant at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort in Teton Village. Teton County Sheriff’s Office
A poster describes what Cian McLaughlin might be wearing when he was last seen on June 8. Grand Teton National Park / Facebook
Teton Park spokesman C.J. Adams told the paper there was no known connection between the three missing persons, or their cases.
El tifón “Hato” tocó tierra al mediodía de este miércoles en la ciudad de Zuhai, en Hong Kong,con vientos huracanados que alcanzaron los 160 km por hora. Foto:Anthony Wallace / AFP
La cifra de muertos por el tifón asciende a siete. Además se registra un desaparecido y cerca de 27.000 evacuados. Foto:ANTHONY WALLACE / AFP
Las autoridades de Hong Kong emitieron una alerta ante el riesgo de inundaciones causados por las intensas lluvias. Foto:ANTHONY WALLACE / AFP
Al rededor de dos millones de hogares y negocios sufrieron el corte de agua y luz, debido a los daños sufridos en la red de suministros. Foto:TENGKU BAHAR / AFP
Los servicios de rescate salvaron a 118 tripulantes que se encontraban en buques pesqueros, informó la agencia oficial Xinhua. Foto:STR / AFP
Al rededor de 12.000 buques quedaron atrapados en toda la región de Zuhai. Foto:ANTHONY WALLACE / AFP
Las escuelas y centros de trabajo tuvieron que cerrar debido a la alerta emitida por las autoridades. Foto:ANTHONY WALLACE / AFP
El observatorio meteorológico de Hong Kong elevó su alerta a nivel 10. Este aviso no se registraba desde el año 2012. Foto:ANTHONY WALLACE / AFP
La Bolsa de Hong Kong no abrió durante la jornada debido a la alerta máxima emitida por las autoridades. Foto:ANTHONY WALLACE / AFP
WASHINGTON—Three researchers from China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology became sick enough in November 2019 that they sought hospital care, according to a previously undisclosed U.S. intelligence report that could add weight to growing calls for a fuller probe of whether the Covid-19 virus may have escaped from the laboratory.
The details of the reporting go beyond a State Department fact sheet, issued during the final days of the Trump administration, which said that several researchers at the lab, a center for the study of coronaviruses and other pathogens, became sick in autumn 2019 “with symptoms consistent with both Covid-19 and common seasonal illness.”
The disclosure of the number of researchers, the timing of their illnesses and their hospital visits come on the eve of a meeting of the World Health Organization’s decision-making body, which is expected to discuss the next phase of an investigation into Covid-19’s origins.
Current and former officials familiar with the intelligence about the lab researchers expressed differing views about the strength of the supporting evidence for the assessment. One person said that it was provided by an international partner and was potentially significant but still in need of further investigation and additional corroboration.
Another person described the intelligence as stronger. “The information that we had coming from the various sources was of exquisite quality. It was very precise. What it didn’t tell you was exactly why they got sick,” he said, referring to the researchers.
At least one person died as Hurricane Ida slammed Louisiana on Sunday with 150 mph winds, damaging buildings, uprooting trees and power lines, causing 911 outages, and leaving a million people, including all of New Orleans, without power.
Ida weakened to a tropical storm early Monday, and is moving to Mississippi as officials warned of life-threatening flash flooding and dangerous storm surges over parts of southeastern Louisiana, southern Mississippi, and southern Alabama. Tornado threats also continued across the central Gulf states, the National Weather Service said.
One person died on Sunday after being possibly injured from a fallen tree at a residence in Ascension Parish, the sheriff’s office said.
Many 911 call centers throughout Louisiana were down, and people in New Orleans with emergencies were asked to go to their nearest fire station or flag down an officer.
More than 1,600 personnel, including the National Guard, have begun conducting search and rescue across the state, Gov. John Bel Edwards said.
Recibos de luz: A partir de noviembre de este año se realizará la devolución del dinero cobrado entre el 1 de mayo 2015 y el 26 de enero de 2017 por el Gasoducto Sur Peruano.
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Nuevos jugadores globales miran con fruición el sector eléctrico. Y, particularmente, el subsector de transmisión, que concita interés con tres proyectos de alta tensión que Pro Inversión licitará a fines de año. El principal de ellos, la línea en 500 kW Mantaro-Nueva Yanango-Carapongo y Nueva Yanango-Nueva Huánuco (con una inversión de US$509 millones), atrae a fuertes competidores internacionales, como la colombiana Isa, principal transmisor de energía del Perú y Sudamérica, y los recién llegados Transelec (Chile) y Terna (Italia).
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Ministerio de Ambiente publicó una resolución que modifica la RM 157-2011, que indicaba que toda la exploración minera entraba al sistema de Evaluación de Impacto Ambiental (EIA). Ahora solo deben cumplir con este requisito seis clases de proyectos de exploración minera de empresas grandes y medianas. (Foto: Archivo El Comercio)
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El Ministerio de la Producción (Produce) indicó que incubadoras, aceleradoras y universidades de las macrorregiones del norte, sur y Lima fueron beneficiadas con fondos de cofinanciamiento de Innóvate Perú por más de S/5 millones. (Foto: Difusión)
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Ya no es sólo la aerolínea low cost Viva Air: ahora tres nuevas empresas empiezan a apostar por el Perú como un potencial mercado aeronaútico, según afirmó a Gestión Juan Carlos Pavic, director general de la Dirección General de Aeronaútica. Estas empresas serían la compañía de origen chileno Latin American Wings (LAW), JetSmart, propiedad de Indigo Partners LLC y Volaris de Costa Rica. (Foto: El Comercio)
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El ministro de Comercio Exterior y Turismo, Eduardo Ferreyros, afirmó que al 2021, año en el que se conmemorará el Bicentenario de la Independencia del Perú, nuestro país superará la meta de los US$13 mil millones en exportación de servicios.
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El Ministerio de Energía y Minas (MEM) dijo que la cartera de proyectos mineros en el Perú asciende a US$51.102 millones a setiembre del 2017. Dicho portafolio comprende 48 proyectos principales.
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El 70% de la demanda internacional por servicios peruanos proviene de la región Latinoamericana, señaló este lunes el coordinador de Exportación de Servicios de Promperú, David Edery. (Foto: Andina).
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A fines de julio, Petro-Perú firmó un memorándum de entendimiento con la empresa Techint (constructor de Camisea) para reparar el Oleoducto Norperuano (ONP). Consultado acerca de los avances de esta asociación, el presidente del Directorio de Petro-Perú, Luis García Rosell dijo que aún existen aspectos del proyecto que deben definirse para concretar la operación mencionada.
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A raíz de cambios normativos que han permitido mejorar el flujo del mecanismo de Obras por Impuestos (OxI), Camilo Carrillo, director general de Política de Promoción de la Inversión Privada del Ministerio de Economía y Finanzas (MEF), resaltó que en el mediano plazo el Gobierno podría llegar a S/1.500 o S/2.000 millones en el mediano plazo (dos a 10 años).
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La semana inició con el anuncio de la devolución de los cobros a los usuarios del servicio eléctrico, hidrocarburos y gas natural, en el marco del proyecto del Gasoducto Sur Peruano (GSP). Pero no fue lo único que ocurrió esta semana.
Estas y otras noticias en la agenda economía del 2 de octubre al 6 de octubre.
Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin reports on the situation at Kabul airport after the Taliban took control of the Afghan capital.
Fox News has obtained an image of the U.S. Embassy flag being flown out of Kabul, Afghanistan.
The embassy in the Afghan capital closed down on Sunday following reports that officials there were destroying sensitive documents and equipment ahead of the Taliban’s arrival.
The Taliban now control Kabul and the rest of Afghanistan.
The US Embassy flag is flown out of Kabul in this photograph provided to Fox News. (Fox News) (Fox News)
The widespread destruction caused by extreme weather coast to coast, with Hurricane Ida spreading devastation from Louisiana to New York while record wildfires scorch California, prompted Joe Biden to level with America this week, saying it was “yet another reminder that … the climate crisis is here”.
“We need to be much better prepared. We need to act,” Biden said in a speech on Thursday at the White House.
The last week saw Hurricane Ida come ashore from the Gulf of Mexico as the fifth largest hurricane on record to hit the US.
The massive storms spawned in its aftermath battered states on the Gulf coast and all the way up into the north-east, killing at least 48 so far in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut after historic flooding, where officials admitted they were surprised by the tempest’s suddenness and ferocity.
In Louisiana, many fewer were killed, just over a dozen at the most recent count, but almost a million people have been left without electricity, some indefinitely, because of the storm.
Meanwhile, the Caldor wildfire in California has burned over 200,000 acres and is threatening more than 35,000 structures, edging close to the Lake Tahoe area and becoming one of few wildfires to rage from one side of the Sierra Nevada mountains to the other.
While the US president first laid out details of emergency relief efforts being deployed around the country, he ended his speech by talking about how the natural disasters will continue to happen, more often and with greater intensity, because of the climate crisis.
“This isn’t about politics. Hurricane Ida didn’t care if you were a Democrat or Republican, rural or urban,” he said. “It’s destruction everywhere. It’s a matter of life and death, and we’re all in this together,” he said, a day before he planned to fly to Louisiana to view the damage and returning via Philadelphia, which was flooded by the same vast storm system.
Biden’s remarks were a notable departure from what Americans had become accustomed to hearing about the climate crisis under Donald Trump, who as recently as last year denied that natural disasters in the US were increasingly related to human-caused climate change.
When pressed to consider the climate crisis as a main cause of the California wildfires last year, Trump responded: “I don’t think science knows.” He fluctuated between calling the phenomenon a hoax, making jokes about it and then sowing ambiguity and doubt throughout his election campaign and one-term presidency.
“It’ll start getting cooler,” he said after the deadly wildfires. “You watch.”
In contrast, Biden this summer released the most ambitious clean energy and environmental justice plans yet seen from the White House through his flagship “Build Back Better” infrastructure and budget proposals.
Last month, the Senate passed a $1tn bipartisan infrastructure bill that includes investments in improving roads, bridges, the electric grid and public transit, among other things, to make them more energy efficient, sustainable and resistant to extreme weather.
The bill still has to pass the House of Representatives and after good progress faces further contentious arguments on its details later this month. A related, massive $3.5tn budget bill that promises a 10-year cascade of federal resources for family support, health and education programs and an aggressive drive to heal the climate, can be passed without Republican support but needs every Democratic senator to vote for it and is currently in jeopardy.
Biden on Thursday said that when Congress goes back into session this month, he plans to push the Build Back Better plan.
“That’s going to make historic investments in electrical infrastructure, modernizing our roads, bridges, our water systems, sewer and draining systems, electric grids and transmission lines and make them more resilient to these superstorms, wildfires and floods that are going to happen with increasing frequency and ferocity,” he said.
Despite his advocacy for his infrastructure bill, Biden has been coming under criticism after the White House announced this week that it will open tens of millions of acres in the Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas exploration. Environmental groups have filed a lawsuit against the federal government for the leases.
“How does this align with [the] Biden Administration’s commitment to take ‘bold steps to combat the climate crisis?” tweeted environmental group Ocean Conservancy on Wednesday.
¿Cómo está hoy la salud del pequeño de tres años? “Parece que está mejor, que respondió bien el nene, que se redujo el tumorcito”, dijo Guillermo Francella, quien tiene una comunicación fluida con Lopilato ya que, además de hacer juntos Casados con hijos, hoy protagonizan Los que aman odian, film que está en pleno rodaje.
Wall Street analysts downgraded shares of Boeing and Southwest Airlines on Monday as troubles worsen for the airplane maker’s popular 737 Max jets.
Boeing announced late Friday plans to cut production of the jet, which has been grounded following the March 10 crash of an Ethiopian Airlines flight that killed all 157 people aboard. It was the second fatal crash of the popular aircraft in less than five months and investigators suspect that faulty data feeding into the aircraft’s automated flight system played a major role in both accidents.
Shares of Boeing tumbled 4.1 percent while Southwest slid 2.7 percent in midday trading.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch cut its rating on Boeing to neutral from buy Monday, saying it expects production to be delayed by six to nine months.
Raymond James downgraded Southwest Airlines stock and lowered its earnings projections, citing concerns that the grounding could last through peak summer travel.
Southwest has 34 Max jets out of its fleet of about 750 aircraft, accounting for roughly 4 percent of its passenger capacity.
The airline, which reports earnings April 25, said it expects to lose $150 million in revenue in the first quarter of 2019 due to the Max groundings, among other factors like weather-related cancellations, maintenance issues and slowed travel demand. Raymond James said groundings were a “one time” situation, and it expects recuperation through maintenance credits or lower ownership costs of future aircraft.
American Airlines said it’s extending cancellations of 90 daily flights involving the 737 Max jet by more than a month to June 5.
Raymond James downgraded Southwest from the equivalent of a buy rating to a hold rating, and lowered its earnings-per-share estimate by 5 cents to $4.40.
“The reputational loss from these events could erode long-term market share and pricing power of the 737 MAX,” BofA analyst Ronald Epstein said in a note to clients. “A six-month delay also means lower margins due to penalties owed to customers, weaker negotiating position with airlines as airlines consider cancellations, and operational inefficiencies from the production disruption.”
Boeing is slashing 737 Max production by 20 percent as it tries to find a software fix to get the jets back in the air. The company’s shares have have fallen nearly 9 percent in the past month.
Despite the groundings, Raymond James said it’s confident in Southwest’s overall ability to maintain “longer term superior margins, FCF profile, and low leverage while capitalizing on technology catch-up and international growth opportunities.”
The groundings will likely have less impact for American and United since those airlines have fewer 737 Max jets than Southwest, the report noted.
La elección de Arabia Saudita como miembro de la Comisión de las Naciones Unidas para los Derechos de la Mujer de 2018 a 2022 generó un escándalo en la ONU, ya que el reino árabe es considerado uno de los países más machistas del planeta. En efecto, con base en la ley islámica, o sharía, cada mujer de ese país debe tener un guardián masculino, quien decide sobre aspectos importantes de su vida como sus opciones laborales, sus viajes al extranjero, su matrimonio e incluso a qué procedimientos quirúrgicos puede someterse. Igualmente, a ellas se les prohíbe transitar por las calles sin el velo islámico, relacionarse con hombres que no sean sus parientes y manejar vehículos. Además, solo el 13 por ciento de la fuerza laboral es femenina y desde 2015 se les permitió votar. Con ello, organizaciones defensoras de los derechos humanos pusieron el grito en el cielo. “¿Cómo puede Arabia Saudita promover los derechos de la mujer a nivel global, cuando en casa las discriminan y las tratan como a menores de edad durante toda su vida?”, preguntó Rothna Begum, activista de Human Rights Watch. Esta no es la primera vez que a un país sexista se le otorga un asiento en esta comisión, pues Irán, nación que impone serias barreras a las libertades de la mujer, es miembro desde 2010.
Rusia Nostalgia bélica
El presidente ruso, Vladimir Putin, quiere aumentar el nacionalismo en su país al revivir las victorias militares de antaño. En efecto, ordenó construir una réplica del Reichstag, el Parlamento alemán, para un evento simbólico en el que 2.000 actores recrearon la toma de este edificio que lideró el Ejército Rojo en 1945. La bandera de la Unión Soviética ondeando sobre el Parlamento en Berlín es uno de los símbolos más recordados de la victoria de la Unión Soviética sobre el Tercer Reich en la Segunda Guerra Mundial, triunfo que Putin quiere consolidar como el hito fundacional de la Rusia moderna. La ‘celebración’ le puso los pelos de punta a los alemanes, pues el modelo a escala del Reichstag no se basó en el edificio de esa época, sino que tomó como referencia la construcción contemporánea, sede actual del Parlamento federal germano.
Filipinas ¿Seguirá impune?
Por la imposibilidad de impugnar al mandatario, la oposición filipina recurrió a la comunidad internacional para traer ante la justicia al autoritario presidente Rodrigo Duterte. El abogado Jude Sabio presentó la primera demanda contra Duterte ante la Corte Penal Internacional, en la que afirma que el mandatario es responsable por los 1.000 asesinatos que ejecutó el escuadrón de la muerte de la ciudad de Davao cuando él era alcalde. Igualmente, Sabio denunció que desde la llegada de Duterte al poder en junio de 2016 las autoridades han asesinado extrajudicialmente a 7.000 personas en el marco de la sanguinaria guerra contra las drogas, la política insignia del gobierno. Sin embargo, lo más probable es que el presidente se salga con la suya, pues la CPI solo ha emitido seis fallos desde su creación en 2002.
Israel Con los crespos hechos
Mientras el primer ministro israelí, Benjamin Netanyahu, encabeza la derechización de Israel y se acerca al gobierno de Donald Trump, su relación con los países europeos que le exigen frenar su política de asentamientos en territorio palestino empeora. En efecto, el mandatario dejó plantado al vicecanciller alemán, Sigmar Gabriel, en un encuentro en Jerusalén. Esta disputa diplomática surgió por cuenta de una reunión entre Gabriel y los líderes de la organización Breaking the Silence, que reúne testimonios de soldados israelíes retirados que denuncian los abusos del Ejército hacia los palestinos en Cisjordania. Como respuesta, Netanyahu justificó su desplante y afirmó que no se reunirá “con diplomáticos que visiten Israel y se relacionen con organizaciones que menosprecien a los soldados israelíes y quieran enjuiciarlos como criminales de guerra”.
Moments after the Senate voted in an unusually bipartisan way to advance a $1tn infrastructure deal, Kyrsten Sinema hobbled on a broken foot to a press conference to mark the occasion. At the podium, the Arizona Democrat was greeted by Rob Portman, a Republican from Ohio with whom she had led negotiations over how to repair ageing roads and bridges and broadband networks.
“You go first,” Sinema whispered.
“No, you go first,” Portman replied.
“No, no,” Sinema insisted. “You go first. It shows bipartisanship. It’s the right thing to do.”
Portman looked unsure. Sinema nodded firmly: “It is the right thing to do.” Portman stepped forward.
Until this year, Sinema had spent her political career in the minority. Working with Republicans was her only option. Now, in a Senate divided 50-50, she has options – and power.
In her new role, Sinema holds an effective veto over her party’s priorities. She is at the center of every major legislative battle, an enigma to many colleagues in Washington, to many who helped elect her she is an impediment to progress.
With the fate of Joe Biden’s historic proposal to expand the social safety net hanging in the balance, Democrats are racing to solve the riddle: what does Kyrsten Sinema really want?
Since arriving in the Senate, Sinema has emerged as one of her party’s most elusive and contentious figures. She has preached bipartisanship, even when it conflicts with Democratic goals. She has vowed to uphold the filibuster, a rule imposing a 60-vote threshold on most legislation.
Though Sinema can stand out in the starchy chamber with her candy-colored wigs (her temporary solution to salon closures during the pandemic) and bold sartorial choices (she once presided over the chamber in a shirt that read “DANGEROUS CREATURE”), she lately prefers not engage publicly. She rarely sits for interviews with the national press and avoids questions from reporters on Capitol Hill.
Earlier this summer, Sinema made clear that she would not support the $3.5tn price tag for Biden’s social policy and climate change bill. But unlike Joe Manchin, a three-term senator from West Virginia who is one of the most conservative Democrats in Congress, she has not publicly detailed her concerns with the legislation.
“Senator Sinema’s position has been that she doesn’t ‘negotiate publicly’ and I don’t know what that means,” Senator Bernie Sanders, a progressive from Vermont, said this week, calling it “wrong” for her and Manchin to stand in the way of a bill supported by most of the party and the president.
Sinema’s relative silence was even parodied on the season premiere of Saturday Night Live.
“What do I want from this bill?” Cecily Strong asked, playing Sinema. “I’ll never tell.”
Biden has invited Sinema to the White House on multiple occasions. According to her office, she has shared with the president and the Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer of New York, “detailed concerns and priorities, including dollar figures”. But no deal has been reached and Democrats are growing exasperated.
“Maybe she knows what she’s doing; maybe she’s got a strategy that she’s just not sharing with us; maybe her blueprint is the way to go,” said Yolanda Bejarano, the Phoenix-based national legislative and political field director for the Communications Workers of America, a major union.
“But it’s getting more and more difficult to explain it away.”
Allies and critics have long considered Sinema one of the savviest politicians in the state, in part because she understands the Arizona electorate better than anyone else.
For years, Sinema has honed a brand of centrism that observers say better aligns with the politics of Arizona, a once Republican stronghold shaped by the conservatism of Barry Goldwater, a senator and nominee for president in 1964. Invoking the late senator John McCain as a hero, Sinema promised to be an “independent voice” and appealed to suburban women, independents and disaffected Republicans. In 2018, Arizona duly sent a Democrat to the Senate for the first time in 30 years.
“Her ideological core is pragmatism,” said Chuck Coughlin, a Phoenix-based political consultant who left the Republican party after Donald Trump became president. “She understands that if she is to succeed in Arizona, she must succeed in this lane.”
But she now faces a growing backlash among the party faithful in her home state, the progressive activists and Democratic voters who knocked on doors in brutal summer heat to help get her elected.
A protester outside Sinema’s office in Phoenix. Photograph: Alexandra Buxbaum/REX/Shutterstock
Activists with a grassroots organization, Lucha, disrupted a class Sinema was teaching at Arizona State University and followed her into a bathroom, demanding she support Biden’s social policy bill and pass immigration reform. She was confronted again on the plane as she returned to Washington. An online fundraiser to support a potential primary challenge raised more than $100,000 in a few days.
In a scathing statement, Sinema denounced the bathroom incident “not legitimate protest”.
Lucha defended its actions, accusing the senator of becoming “completely inaccessible”. “We’re sick of the political games, stop playing with our lives,” the groups said.
Sinema’s office denied the accusation that she had become inaccessible. “The senator and her team meet regularly with individuals and groups from across Arizona on a consistent basis – including Lucha,” said spokesman John LaBombard, adding that they had met directly with activists from Lucha “at least a half-dozen times” since 2019.
The state Democratic party has threatened a vote of no confidence. Garrick McFadden, a former vice-chair, called Sinema an “obstructionist” and predicted an exodus from the state party in support of a primary challenge in 2024.
“She has betrayed her friends and the promise she made to the Arizona people,” he wrote on Twitter. “She wants to play games, well in 2023 we start playing games with her.”
Sinema isn’t up for re-election until 2024. But there are early signs she may be vulnerable to a primary challenge. A recent poll by OH Predictive Insights, a Phoenix firm, found that just 56% of Arizona Democrats had a favorable view of Sinema. Nearly one in three had an unfavorable view
Saundra Cole, a retired ATT telephone operator, is among them. She phone-banked for Sinema several times, first when she ran for the House and later for the Senate. Cole was drawn to her story of personal hardship, and believed she would be a champion for working families. Now the 72-year-old struggles to see how she could vote for her again.
When Sinema delivered an emphatic thumbs-down to a proposal that would have raised the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, Cole was shocked.
“It was like a slap in the face,” she said.
Some speculated Sinema was channeling McCain, whose last major legislative act was to block his own party’s attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act with a dramatic thumbs-down. Cole rejected the comparison.
“She’s not John McCain,” Cole said. “She’s not a maverick. I didn’t agree with him on many things but at least we knew where he stood.”
In her telling, Sinema was born to a middle-class family in Tucson. When her father lost his job, the life they built began to unravel. After Sinema’s parents divorced, her mother and stepfather moved to the Florida Panhandle, where she has said they lived in an abandoned gas station for three years. Sinema describes her years living in poverty as formative, guiding her into a career in politics.
“We got by thanks to help from family, church and, sometimes, even the government,” she said in a video that launched her Senate bid.
After graduating from Brigham Young University in just two years, Sinema returned to Arizona, where she started working as a social worker. She first encountered politics as a Green Party activist working for Ralph Nader. She spent the early 2000s agitating against wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. At the time, she condemned capitalism and likened political donations to “bribery”. She ran twice for local office as an independent – and lost.
In 2004, Sinema changed her affiliation to Democratic and won a seat in the state legislature. Her progressive credentials were unimpeachable.
“People ask all the time whether she has changed her views on issues,” said David Lujan, who served with Sinema in the state capitol. “I honestly don’t know. I think only Kyrsten can answer that. What has changed is her approach.”
In her book, Unite and Conquer: How to Build Coalitions That Win – and Last, Sinema details her metamorphosis from “bomb-thrower” to stubborn bipartisan. She recalls railing against bills in floor speeches and interviews, only to watch them pass with overwhelming support in the Republican-held chamber.
“In short, my first legislative session was a bust,” she wrote, calling herself the “patron saint of lost causes”. She returned with a plan, to befriend colleagues, search from common ground and hopefully “be at least marginally more successful”.
In 2006, she helped lead the opposition to a ballot initiative amending the state’s constitution to ban same-sex marriage. Lujan said she applied lessons learned in the legislature to the effort, centering the campaign on how the amendment would impact unwed, elderly straight couples. The strategy was not without its critics, notably from the LGBTQ+ community, in which she identified as a bisexual woman. But the proposal failed, making Arizona became the first state to defeat a same-sex marriage ban at the polls.
“Everybody was shocked that they were able to do it,” Lujan said. The experience, he believes, helped validate her philosophy that “taking a different approach and forming different types of coalitions” could also deliver results.
In 2012, Sinema ran for Congress in a newly drawn district encompassing parts of East Valley, in Phoenix. Republicans tried to use her activist past against her but the strategy failed. Sinema won narrowly, becoming the first openly bisexual member of Congress. She is now the first female senator from Arizona and the only lawmaker on Capitol Hill to claim no religious affiliation – she was sworn in on a copy of the US constitution.
Friends and colleagues in both parties invariably describe her as disciplined and extremely intelligent. While in office, she earned a law degree and an MBA. Away from Washington, she runs Ironman triathlons and teaches college courses on social work.
As Sinema climbed the ranks of Arizona politics, the state was changing. After Barack Obama’s election as president in 2008, anti-immigrant fervor sent Arizona lurching further right. Hope of turning the state blue faded as national Democrats and progressive groups effectively abandoned the state, recalled Josh Ulibarri, a Phoenix-based Democratic pollster.
“Everybody left,” he said.
In the vacuum, a liberal grassroots resistance emerged, led by young Latinos who were the targets of harsh immigration policies. They slowly built political clout. Their advocacy helped oust Sheriff Joe Arpaio in 2016, and to pass the largest minimum-wage increase in the country. Two years later, they helped send Sinema to the Senate.
“She benefited from their work, their struggle – the sweat and the blood, the arrests and the deportations – all of it,” Ulibarri said. “So the way she’s become the public face of [resistance to Biden’s agenda], it’s not just a political betrayal, it’s a deep, personal betrayal.”
Frustration reached a turning point this summer after Sinema doubled down in her support for the filibuster, which Republicans have used to block voting rights legislation. Two civil rights leaders, the Rev Jesse Jackson and the Rev William Barber, were arrested during a protest outside of her Phoenix office.
Gilbert Romero, a prominent progressive activist in Phoenix who interned for Sinema in 2014, said he doesn’t see such anger abating anytime soon, especially if she continues to stand in the way of Democratic policy goals. In his view, Sinema underestimates the threat of a progressive primary challenge.
“She thinks she’s like Teflon and nothing is going to stick to her – that’s misguided,” he said, adding: “We’ve [unseated] much more powerful people than Kyrsten Sinema.”
What many activists find baffling is that Sinema has moved right as her state has moved left. In 2020, Biden narrowly won Arizona, as did Mark Kelly, who now serves alongside Sinema in the Senate. Democrats also hold five of the nine congressional seats. Manchin, the other key holdout, is the only Democrat left in the congressional delegation from West Virginia, a state that voted for Trump by nearly 40 points.
“The Arizona that existed in 2012 when she first got elected to Congress is not the Arizona that exists in 2021,” Romero said. “It’s a completely different landscape now.”
Independence is a prized quality in Arizona, where nearly a third of the electorate is unaffiliated with either major party. Sinema has it, said Danny Seiden, president and chief executive of the Arizona chamber of commerce, who believes it is the source of her broad appeal.
Rob Portman and Sinema answer questions from the press. Photograph: Alex Wong/Getty Images
“It’s a willingness to listen and not just toe the party line on all issues,” he said. “I think that’s a rarity amongst both Democrats and Republicans these days.”
His organization supports the bipartisan infrastructure deal but has concerns about the size of the spending package. Seiden had no guesses as to how Sinema will eventually vote, but expects she will “do what she thinks is right for Arizona”.
How she chooses to proceed will almost certainly have long-reaching consequences for her party’s legislative ambitions, and possibly her own. It may also decide the fate of the infrastructure deal she negotiated, which risks becoming collateral damage if talks on the social policy package fail.
According to her office, Sinema is engaged in “good-faith discussions with both President Biden and Senator Schumer to find common ground”, as Democrats work to trim the package and win her support.
Finally in the majority, and holding the key to her party’s ambitious agenda, Sinema has an opportunity that she could only have dreamed of when she first ran for office, said David Lujan, her former colleague in the state legislature. He doesn’t believe she would squander it.
“It would counter my entire understanding of why she changed her approach in the first place,” he said. “She wants to be seen as somebody who can get things done.”
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El irreverente “youtuber” uruguayo Adrián Nario, más conocido como “El bananero”, que alcanzó la popularidad con su serie de hilarantes videos y como creador de personajes como “El Impotente Hulk”, “Iván el Trolazo”, “Harry el Sucio Potter”, “El Hombre que Araña”, y la recordada “Muñeca System”, visitará los estudios de RPP Noticias este jueves a las 2 p.m.
Nuestros seguidores en redes sociales podrán hacerle todo tipo de preguntas a “El Bananero” utilizando el hashtag #RPPSape.
“El Bananero” llega a Lima en exclusiva para el Fan Expo Perú 2014, la Primera Convención de Fans en Perú a realizarse este sábado y domingo en el C.C. Claro de Plaza San Miguel, donde entre otros atractivos habrán concursos, conferencias, tiendas especializadas en artículos de colección para todos los fanáticos y para todas las edades, cosplays, invitados internacionales y nacionales, premios, guerra de bandas, fans clubs, talleres de manga, cómic, anime y más.
Además de “El Bananero” se contará con la participación del reconocido “youtuber” peruano BrunoAcme. el músico Charlie Parra, la mexicana Dalin Cosplay, quien es toda una súper estrella en el mundo del cosplay internacional.
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The numbers show the implausibility of Trump’s claims that fraud cost him Arizona’s electoral votes.
The results in Arizona are similar to early findings in other battleground states.
Aside from double voting, officials mostly flagged cases involving a ballot cast after someone died.
PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona county election officials have identified fewer than 200 cases of potential voter fraud out of more than 3 million ballots cast in last year’s presidential election, undercutting former President Donald Trump’s claims of a stolen election as his allies continue a disputed ballot review in the state’s most populous county.
An Associated Press investigation found 182 cases where problems were clear enough that officials referred them to investigators for further review. So far, only four cases have led to charges, including those identified in a separate state investigation. No one has been convicted. No person’s vote was counted twice.
While it’s possible more cases could emerge, the numbers illustrate the implausibility of Trump’s claims that fraud and irregularities in Arizona cost him the state’s electoral votes. In final, certified and audited results, Biden won 10,400 more votes than Trump out of 3.4 million cast.
AP’s findings align with previous studies showing voter fraud is rare. Numerous safeguards are built into the system to not only prevent fraud from happening but to detect it when it does.
“The fact of the matter is that election officials across the state are highly invested in helping to ensure the integrity of our elections and the public’s confidence in them,” said Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat. “And part of that entails taking potential voter fraud seriously.”
Arizona’s potential cases also illustrate another reality: Voter fraud is often bipartisan. Of the four Arizona cases that have resulted in criminal charges, two involved Democratic voters and two involved Republicans.
AP’s review supports statements made by many state and local elections officials — and even some Republican county officials and GOP Gov. Doug Ducey — that Arizona’s presidential election was secure and its results valid.
And still, Arizona’s GOP-led state Senate has for months been conducting what it describes as a “forensic audit” of results in Phoenix’s Maricopa County. The effort has been discredited by election experts and faced bipartisan criticism, but some Republicans, including Trump, have suggested it will uncover evidence of widespread fraud.
“This is not a massive issue,” said Adrian Fontes, a Democrat who oversaw the Maricopa County election office during the 2020 election and lost his re-election bid. “It is a lie that has developed over time. It’s been fed by conspiracy theorists.”
The AP tallied the potential cases after submitting public record requests to all Arizona counties. Most counties — 11 out of 15 — reported they had forwarded no potential cases to local prosecutors. The majority of cases identified so far involve people casting a ballot for a relative who had died or people who tried to cast two ballots.
In addition to the AP’s review of county election offices, an Election Integrity Unit of the state attorney general’s office that was created in 2019 to ferret out fraud has been reviewing potential cases of fraud.
A spokesman for Attorney General Mark Brnovich told the AP in April that the unit had 21 active investigations, although he did not specify if all were from last fall.
A month later, the office indicted a woman for casting a ballot on behalf of her dead mother in November. A spokeswoman declined to provide updated information this week.
Maricopa County, which is subject to the disputed ballot review ordered by state Senate Republicans, has identified just one case of potential fraud out of 2.1 million ballots cast. That was a voter who might have cast a ballot in another state. The case was sent to the county attorney’s office, which forwarded it to the state attorney general.
Virtually all the cases identified by county election officials are in Pima County, home to Tucson, and involved voters who attempted to cast two ballots.
The Pima County Recorder’s Office has a practice of referring all cases with even a hint of potential fraud to prosecutors for review, something the state’s 14 other county recorders do not do. Pima County officials forwarded 151 cases to prosecutors. They did not refer 25 others from voters over age 70 because there was a greater chance those errors — typically attempts to vote twice — were the result of memory lapses or confusion, not criminal intent, an election official said.
None of the 176 duplicate ballots was counted twice. A spokesman for the Pima County Attorney’s Office, Joe Watson, said Wednesday that the 151 cases it received were still being reviewed and that no charges had been filed.
Pima County’s tally was in line with previous elections, but there were some new patterns this year, said deputy recorder Pamela Franklin. An unusually high number of people appeared to have intentionally voted twice, often by voting early in person and then again by mail. In Arizona, where nearly 80% of voters cast ballots by mail, it’s not unusual for someone to forget they returned their mail-in ballot and then later ask for a replacement or try to vote in person, she said. But this pattern was new.
Franklin noted several factors at play, including worries about U.S. Postal Service delays. In addition, Trump at one point encouraged voters who cast their ballots early by mail to show up at their polling places on Election Day and vote again if poll workers couldn’t confirm their mail ballots had been received.
The results in Arizona are similar to early findings in other battleground states. Local election officials in Wisconsin identified just 27 potential cases of voter fraud out of 3.3 million ballots cast last November, according to records obtained by the AP under the state’s open records law. Potential voter fraud cases in other states where Trump and his allies mounted challenges have so far amounted to just a tiny fraction of Trump’s losing margin in those states.
The Associated Press conducted the review following months of Trump and his allies claiming without proof that he had won the 2020 election. His claims of widespread fraud have been rejected by election officials, judges, a group of election security officials and even Trump’s own attorney general at the time. Even so, supporters continue to repeat them and they have been cited by state lawmakers as justification for tighter voting rules across the country.
Maricopa County election review
In Arizona, Republican state lawmakers have used the unsubstantiated claims to justify the unprecedented outside Senate review of the election in Maricopa County and to pass legislation that could make it harder for infrequent voters to receive mail ballots automatically.
Senate President Karen Fann has repeatedly said her goal is not to overturn the election results. Instead, she has said she wants to find out if there were any problems and show voters who believe Trump’s claims whether they should trust the results.
“Everybody keeps saying, ‘Oh, there’s no evidence’ and it’s like, ‘Yeah well, let’s do the audit.’ And if there’s nothing there, then we say, ‘Look, there was nothing there,’” Fann told the AP in early May. “If we find something, and it’s a big if, but if we find something, then we can say, ‘OK, we do have evidence and now how do we fix this?’” Fann did not return calls this week to discuss the AP findings.
Aside from double voting, the cases flagged by officials mostly involved a ballot cast after someone had died, including three voters in Yavapai County who face felony charges for casting ballots for spouses who died before the election.
In Yuma County, one case of a voter attempting to cast two ballots was sent to the county attorney for review. Chief Civil Deputy William Kerekus told the AP that there was no intent at voter fraud and the case was closed without charges.
Cochise County Recorder David Stevens found mail-in ballots were received from two voters who died before mail ballots were sent in early October. Sheriff’s deputies investigating the cases found their homes were vacant and closed the cases. The votes were not counted.
Crekasafra Night was nervous when she spotted the skinny young man wandering in Kentucky early Wednesday morning, she said later that day. So were her neighbors. Only the deep bruising on his face and the clear anxiety with which he addressed a passing car alerted them to the possibility that he didn’t pose any danger — he was running from it.
“He walked up to my car and he went, ‘Can you help me?'” a 911 caller told dispatchers. “‘I just want to get home. Please help me.’ I asked him what’s going on, and he tells me he’s been kidnapped and he’s been traded through all these people and he just wanted to go home.”
When police arrived, according to a Sharonville report, he told them a story that could end an Illinois family’s years-long quest for answers and justice.
His name was Timmothy Pitzen. He was 14 years old. He’d escaped on foot from a pair of men who held him against his will for nearly eight years, most recently inside a Red Roof Inn. He didn’t remember where the motel was — just that he’d gotten out and run, crossing a bridge, until he reached Newport that morning.
Police will work with the FBI to determine whether he really is the Aurora, Illinois 6-year-old who vanished in 2011 following his mother’s suicide. DNA tests will take about 24 hours, according to Aurora police.
An FBI spokesperson in Louisville said the bureau was working with Newport police, Cincinnati police, the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office and Aurora, Illinois police on a missing child investigation.
Newport Police Chief Tom Collins said officers responded and the boy is receiving medical care.
According to a 911 caller, he described the kidnappers as two white males with “bodybuilder-type” builds. One had black curly hair and a spiderweb tattoo on his neck; he wore a Mountain Dew shirt and jeans. The other was short with a snake tattoo on his arms. They were driving a white newer model Ford SUV with yellow transfer paint, Wisconsin plates and a dent on the left back bumper.
Multiple police agencies, including Sharonville, said they’d been told to check Red Roof Inns in the Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky area. Workers at several area hotels said authorities had spoken to them or requested their guest lists, but they didn’t recall anyone who matched the description.
“It’s hard to remember people, to be honest, because of so many people coming in and out,” Kennedy Slusher, a worker at the Red Roof Inn Beechmont, said. “But to hear something like that, it’s kind of mind-blowing. It’s scary.”
Timmothy was last seen with his mother, 43-year-old Amy Fry-Pitzen, on May 11, 2011. She’d checked him out of his kindergarten class and driven him to a zoo and water parks before the boy seemingly disappeared after they checked out of a Wisconsin Dells resort.
Fry-Pitzen was then found dead by apparent suicide in a Rockford, Illinois hotel room. Police told ABC News at the time she’d left a note stating that she left Timmothy with people who “would care for him and love him” but didn’t name them.
The boy, his car booster seat and backpack were gone by the time her body was discovered. The note promised they would never be found.
The case drew widespread attention, and searchers spread across Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa but were unable to locate Timmothy. “Crime Watch Daily” covered the case in 2017, and the Amazon show “Fireball Run” also drew attention to Timmothy’s disappearance.
Angeline Hartmann, the director of digital and broadcast media for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, said they are aware of the reports about Timmothy.
“Timmothy Pitzen remains an active NCMEC case, and his missing poster is on our website,” she said.
Alana Anderson, Timmothy’s maternal grandmother, told ABC News that she has been in touch with Aurora police and is expecting them to call her again as soon as they have determined whether the boy is Timmothy. She said that, if the boy really is her grandson, the family still loves him and they’ve never stopped looking for him. They want to let him know that everything will be OK.
“(I’m) cautiously hopeful, very cautiously hopeful,” Anderson said. “And if it turns out to be him, we’ll be thrilled.”
President Joe Biden said U.S. regulators are looking at administering Covid-19 booster shots five months after people finish their primary immunizations, moving up the expected timetable for a third shot by about three months.
Biden, who was speaking with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Friday, said health officials were considering following that country’s lead on boosters.
“We’re considering the advice you’ve given that we should start earlier,” Biden said, adding that officials are debating whether the timeline should be shorter. “Should it be as little as five months and that’s being discussed.”
CNBC Health & Science
Read CNBC’s latest global coverage of the Covid pandemic:
Approval of the booster shots is expected to come sometime around Labor Day after federal health officials have time to review data from other countries and vaccine manufacturers that indicated booster dose efficacy six months after a previous dose.
In adults age 60 and older, a booster dose of a Covid-19 vaccine provided 4x as much protection against infection with the delta variant than the previous two-dose regimen, according to the Ministry of Health of Israel.
Distribution of the booster shots following Food and Drug Administration clearance and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendation is expected to begin on September 20. The Biden administration and vaccine manufacturers have indicated that there should be enough doses for any fully vaccinated adult seeking a third dose.
Correction: This article was updated to correct the timing of when a potential third Covid dose might be administered. It’s five months after full immunization.
En el estreno del tritrono, María ha querido acompañar a sus expretendientes en ese día tan especial. Avatar, Manu y Cristian la han vuelto a ver después del cara a cara que tuvieron tan tenso en el programa anterior y juntos han recordado los mejores momentos que han vivido durante el trono. Además, esta vez Manu ha saludado a su extronista, no está enfadado ya con ella pero sí un poco “decepcionado”, ha asegurado.
Al poco de sentarse Avatar, Manu y Cristian en sus tronos, María hacía su confesión después de que Manu le ha preguntado si era feliz junto a Noel. Ella aseguraba que en su vida sí, pero “ahora mismo no estamos muy allá”, le ha contestado muy serena. Las caras lo dicen todo y la pareja no ha podido ocultar lo que les está sucediendo, ya no están juntos. “Después de una vez, dos veces, casi tres, creo que no tenemos los mismos puntos de vista, miramos las cosas totalmente de diferentes maneras”, ha seguido explicando.
Ahora mismo María se encuentra bien pero “he estado muy mal”, ha adelantado. “Nos tenemos mucho cariño, hemos tenido mucho feeling pero creo que llega un momento donde se acaba, miramos cosas totalmente diferentes, no congeniamos en ciertas cosas que son fundamentales”, ha asegurado sobre su ruptura. Las ocasiones han sido muchas pero parece que no consiguen congeniar en muchos aspectos y han decidido dejarlo de mutua acuerdo. Noel pensaba que los fantasmas y los problemas del pasado desaparecieran pero no ha sido así. “La realidad es que no hemos estado bien, hemos estado más mal que bien”, ha explicado Noel y, ha aclarado para que no quede ninguna duda que “no ha habido ningún detonante morboso”.
Para los nuevos tronistas esta noticia no les ha impactado en absoluto, “me lo esperaba”, ha afirmado María, por otra parte Cristian ya había notado algo raro en María, no parecía ella, mientras que Avatar ya se lo advirtió en su momento.
Y llegaba la pregunta más esperada, “¿a quién hubiese elegido María en la final si no se hubiese ido con Noel?”, la extronista ha sacado una pequeña sonrisa y ha pronunciado tímidamente el nombre de “Manu”.
Gavin Williamson has been sacked as defence secretary following an inquiry into a leak from a top-level National Security Council meeting.
Downing Street said the PM had “lost confidence in his ability to serve” and Penny Mordaunt will take on the role.
The inquiry followed reports over a plan to allow Huawei limited access to help build the UK’s new 5G network.
Mr Williamson, who has been defence secretary since 2017, “strenuously” denies leaking the information.
In a meeting with Mr Williamson on Wednesday evening, Theresa May told him she had information that provided “compelling evidence” that he was responsible for the unauthorised disclosure.
In a letter confirming his dismissal, she said: “No other, credible version of events to explain this leak has been identified.”
Responding in a letter to the PM, Mr Williamson said he was “confident” that a “thorough and formal inquiry” would have “vindicated” his position.
“I appreciate you offering me the option to resign, but to resign would have been to accept that I, my civil servants, my military advisers or my staff were responsible: this was not the case,” he said.
The inquiry into the National Security Council leak began after the Daily Telegraph reported on the Huawei decision and subsequent warnings within cabinet about possible risks to national security over a deal with Huawei.
BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg said sources close to the former defence secretary had told her Mr Williamson did meet the Daily Telegraph’s deputy political editor, Steven Swinford, but, she pointed out “that absolutely does not prove” he leaked the story to him.
Security correspondent Frank Gardner said the BBC had been told “more than one concerning issue” had been uncovered regarding Mr Williamson during the leak inquiry and not just the Huawei conversation.
Downing Street has made a very serious accusation and is sure enough to carry out this sacking.
For the prime minister’s allies, it will show that she is, despite the political turmoil, still strong enough to move some of her ministers around – to hire and fire.
Mr Williamson is strenuously still denying that the leak was anything to do with him at all.
There is nothing fond, or anything conciliatory, in either the letter from the prime minister to him, or his reply back to her.
The National Security Council (NSC) is made up of senior cabinet ministers and its weekly meetings are chaired by the prime minister, with other ministers, officials and senior figures from the armed forces and intelligence agencies invited when needed.
It is a forum where secret intelligence can be shared by GCHQ, MI6 and MI5 with ministers, all of whom have signed the Official Secrets Act.
There has been no formal confirmation of Huawei’s role in the 5G network and No 10 said a final decision would be made at the end of spring.
Huawei has denied there is any risk of spying or sabotage, or that it is controlled by the Chinese government.
Mrs May said the leak from the meeting on 23 April was “an extremely serious matter and a deeply disappointing one”.
Theresa May’s letter to Gavin Williamson
It is vital for the operation of good government and for the UK’s national interest in some of the most sensitive and important areas that the members of the NSC – from our armed forces, our security and intelligence agencies, and the most senior level of government – are able to have frank and detailed discussions in full confidence that the advice and analysis provided is not discussed or divulged beyond that trusted environment.
“That is why I commissioned the cabinet secretary to establish an investigation into the unprecedented leak from the NSC meeting last week, and why I expected everyone connected to it – ministers and officials alike – to comply with it fully. You undertook to do so.
“I am therefore concerned by the manner in which you have engaged with this investigation.”
Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said the prime minister had no alternative but to sack Mr Williamson, but he said on a personal level he was “very sorry about what happened”.
Labour’s deputy leader Tom Watson has called for a police inquiry to investigate whether or not Mr Williamson breached the Official Secrets Act.
But Scotland Yard said in a statement that it was a matter for the National Security Council and the Cabinet Office, and it was not carrying out an investigation.
Defence Committee chairman Julian Lewis told the BBC that Mr Williamson’s sacking was a “loss” when looked at “purely” from the point of view of defence.
He said he thought “very highly” of Ms Mordaunt – the first woman to take the role of defence secretary.
Rory Stewart has been confirmed as the new international development secretary, taking over from Ms Mordaunt.
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