President Joe Biden likely has the BA.5 Covid-19 variant but his symptoms “continue to improve,” according to the White House.
“His primary symptoms, though less troublesome, now include sore throat, rhinorrhea, loose cough and body aches,” White House physician Kevin O’Connor said in a memorandum on Saturday.
The president on Friday completed his second full day of Pfizer’s Paxlovid, an antiviral pill that can reduce the risk of hospitalization for Covid-19 patients, O’Connor said.
While the president is responding to the therapy “as expected,” he has likely contracted the Covid-19 BA.5 variant, which is currently responsible for 70% to 85% of U.S. infections.
Biden, who is fully vaccinated and received two booster shots, tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday and has reported “very mild symptoms.”
In media news today, Winsome Sears and CNN spar over critical race theory, CBS’ Face the Nation’ continues to claim Rittenhouse crossed state lines ‘armed for battle,’ and The Associated Press accuses Republicans of using Rittenhouse case ‘to exploit national divide’ on race
CNN’s ratings-challenged “Reliable Sources” claims to examine the top media stories on a weekly basis, but left-wing host Brian Stelter gave MSNBC a pass on Sunday and ignored the liberal network being banned from the Kyle Rittenhouse trial.
In a brief statement before the court Thursday, Judge Bruce Schroeder addressed an incident in which a person who identified himself as an employee for MSNBC allegedly followed a sealed bus with blocked out windows as it left the courthouse to transport jurors to an undisclosed location. The story made immediate headlines but wasn’t mentioned during Stelter’s program as the CNN host continued his tradition of downplaying or dismissing stories that would put liberal news organizations in a negative light.
CNN’s Brian Stelter. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for CNN) (Kevin Mazur)
The man spotted following the bus identified himself as James J. Morrison – and he told investigators he was instructed to follow the vehicle, Schroeder added. The judge said Morrison claimed to be working under the supervision of an MSNBC producer based in New York. As a result, MSNBC was banished from the remainder of the trial.
NBC News eventually admitted Morrison was employed by the network as a freelancer, but claimed he “never contacted or intended to contact the jurors during deliberations, and never photographed or intended to photograph them.”
A major news network being shunned from a polarizing trial as it dominates the national news cycle would seem perfect for a program that claims to cover the media industry, but Stelter has a long history of focusing only on content critical of conservatives or non-liberal news outlets.
MSNBC was not mentioned once during the hour-long program, according to a search of transcripts via Grabien Media.
MSNBC was banned from the Kyle Rittenhouse trial by Judge Bruce Schroeder. (Photo by Kim Kulish/Corbis via Getty Images) (Kim Kulish/Corbis via Getty Images)
Instead, Stelter treated viewers to segments on conservative media coverage of the Rittenhouse trial, an interview with left-wing “1619 Project” author Nikole Hannah-Jones, a promotional interview with ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl about his new book on Donald Trump, a diatribe about “news whiplash,” and complaining that CNN can’t air trials related to the January 6. Capitol riot because cameras aren’t allowed in Federal court.
Stelter has had a hard time attracting viewers during the Biden era and set 2021 ratings lows on back-to-back weeks heading into Sunday’s episode. “Reliable Sources averaged only 645,000 viewers on Nov. 7 for its smallest audience of the year. It only garnered 76,000 viewers among the key demographic of adults age 25-54 on Nov. 14, for its smallest audience in the advertiser-coveted category.
Stelter also ignored Liberty Media chairman John Malone, who sits on the Discovery Communications Inc. board of directors, declaring he wants CNN to revert back to nonpartisan journalism following the completion of a merger that would put the liberal network under the Discovery umbrella.
Brian Stelter has a long history of shielding his tiny audience from media stories that make his liberal peers look bad. (REUTERS/Andrew Kelly)
Earlier this month, the Washington Post corrected and removed large chunks of its own reporting on the discredited Steele dossier but Stelter ignored it.
In October, he failed to acknowledge CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta’s viral interview with podcast giant Joe Rogan, who forced Gupta to admit CNN should not have characterized Rogan’s use of ivermectin as “horse dewormer” amid his recovery from COVID. His show previously ignored a sexual harassment allegation against CNN host Chris Cuomo, when veteran TV producer Shelley Ross said the “Cuomo Prime Time” namesake groped her when they worked together at ABC News.
Stelter has also glossed over the Washington Post’s major correction of its January report that accused Trump of urging Georgia election officials to “find the fraud,” the major MSNBC leadership shakeup, Toobin’s firing from The New Yorker following his Zoom call masturbation scandal, and the ousting of MSNBC contributor Jon Meacham after it was revealed he was moonlighting as a speechwriter for the Biden campaign.
Just before midnight local time, a buoy near Sand Point measured a rise in water level of about six inches. Another near Old Harbor on Kodiak Island measured just over eight inches.
A tsunami watch was also briefly issued for Hawaii and canceled a little over an hour later, Gov. David Ige said on Twitter.
In Kodiak, where the earthquake could be felt, tsunami sirens blared and people began moving to higher ground.
Perryville, Alaska, with a population of 113, is 57 miles northwest of the quake’s epicenter, the United States Geological Survey said. Anchorage, with a population of nearly 300,000, was about 500 miles north northeast.
Since 1990, there have been 17 earthquakes of 8.2 magnitude or higher, according to U.S.G.S. data.
Full $1,400 payments are slated to go to those with adjusted gross incomes of up to $75,000 for individuals, $112,500 for heads of household and $150,000 for married couples filing jointly.
As with previous stimulus checks, the payments are reduced for those with income above those thresholds.
This time, however, the Senate has called to lower the income levels at which the payments get phased to zero.
Under those terms, the payments will be capped for individuals earning $80,000 in income, heads of household with $120,000 and married couples with $160,000.
Estimates indicate that change could make it so up to 12 million fewer adults may receive the stimulus money.
Another notable change is that dependents of all ages stand to be eligible for the payments. Previous checks have only includes those under 17.
Este sábado en conferencia de prensa, el Ministerio de Salud Pública confirmó la existencia de un caso de dengue autóctono en Montevideo. El caso se presenta en una mujer que no viajó a ningún otro país.
La muestra se analizó en el laboratorio del MSP y será enviada a uno del exterior. En las próximas horas el Ministerio comenzará a trabajar en la zona de Pocitos para controlar posibles criaderos. El ministro Jorge Basso aclaró: “Esta situación no nos encuentra desprevenidos. Podemos dar una respuesta integral”.
El ministro Jorge Basso había dicho ayer dijo que Uruguay estaba “en un escenario” en el que “es altamente probable que en algún momento tengamos un caso autóctono” y que ésto podría ocurrir en los primeros seis meses de este año.
Explicó que hay un gran “número de viajeros” que en este verano se han trasladado a “zonas donde hay estos virus y muchas veces al ingreso al país vienen incubando la enfermedad, la desarrollan en el país, en ese momento el mosquito Aedes aegypti está en todo el territorio nacional, más concentrado en algunos departamentos que en otros, entonces la posibilidad de que ese vector pique a esa persona y a partir de ahí ese mosquito infectado pique a un ciudadano en el país, es altamente probable”.
La Federación de Agencias de Noticias Árabes (FANA) anunció que renovará la retórica de los órganos informativos, a fin de garantizar el flujo de comunicación además de luchar contra la expansión terrorista en esa región.
Así lo señaló el jeque kuwaití Mubarak Al Daij Al-Ibrahim Al Sabah, durante la 43° asamblea de la FANA.
En ese sentido, el organismo de información árabe busca mayor cautela en su comunicación, en especial sobre hechos terroristas que ocurran en los países más afectados.
FANA convocó a sus miembros a beneficiarse de la denominada Estrategia Mediática Árabe para Combatir el Terrorismo, que ya fue aprobada por el Consejo de ministros de Información de esa comunidad de naciones, integrada por 22 estados, aunque Siria está suspendida desde 2011, destaca Prensa Latina.
EL DATO
En la misma, se trató el papel que juegan los medios digitales en la difusión de información precisa y confiable, tomando en cuenta que en la actualidad el sector de la prensa está más abierto.
En ese sentido, se habló de fortalecer y desarrollar la cooperación entre ese tipo de medios a fin de hacer florecer el futuro de la prensa árabe, mejorar sus estilos y mecanismos.
Asimismo, se refirió a la importancia de los jóvenes árabes, su potencialidad y las oportunidades que se deben brindar a los mismos.
The body of Paighton Houston, 29, was discovered Friday behind a home in Hueytown, which is southwest of Birmingham, the district attorney said. Houston was from Trussville, which is just northeast of Birmingham.
No arrests have been announced, and a cause of death was not released.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the Houston family as they begin the grieving process,” Trussville police said in a statement.
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office is handling the death investigation, Trussville police said, and sheriff’s Chief Deputy David Agee saidthat Houston’s death had not yet been determined to be a homicide, AL.com reported.
Paighton Lane Houston.via Facebook
Lynneice Washington, district attorney for Jefferson County Bessemer Cutoff District, said the body was intact and exhumed from a “shallow hole” in a muddy back yard area.
Washington said the body was wrapped up in a cloth, according to video of a briefing from NBC affiliate WVTM of Birmingham. The station reported that the home near where the body was found is vacant.
“Whenever you find the remains of a person, it’s always hard, because there are family members attached to those remains,” Washington said. “… The only thing we can do at this point is to try and give them justice.”
Houston’s whereabouts had been unknown since Dec. 20, officials have said.
She was last seen leaving a bar in Birmingham, the Tin Roof, with two men, and appeared to leave willingly, police have said.
Family members have said they received a text from Houston saying she didn’t know where she was and feared she was in trouble. After that text, calls to Houston’s phone went straight to voice mail, WVTM has reported, and her bank account had not been accessed.
“Right now, we have a lot more questions than answers,” Agee, the chief deputy, said, according to AL.com. “But we hope to have those answers real soon.”
Gov. Kate Ivey had offered a $5,000 reward for credible information in the case, which added to another $5,000 reward offered by Crime Stoppers.
A witness at Kyle Rittenhouse’s trial testified Monday that he confronted a rifle-toting Rittenhouse with a gun of his own to try to stop the bloodshed, and thought he was going to die as he closed in on the young man. Gaige Grosskreutz, 27, ended up getting shot and seriously wounded in the arm by Rittenhouse.
“I thought the defendant was an active shooter,” Grosskreutz said, recounting how he pulled out the pistol he had holstered.
Gaige Grosskreutz cries as he describes the moments where he was shot by Kyle Rittenhouse during the trial at the Kenosha County Courthouse in Kenosha, Wisconsin, on Monday, Nov. 8, 2021.
Sean Krajacic / AP
Asked what was going through his mind as he neared the 17-year-old Rittenhouse, he said, “That I was going to die.”
On cross-examination, defense attorney Corey Chirafisi sought to portray Grosskreutz as dishonest in his description of the moments right before he was shot, with Chirafisi asserting that Grosskreutz was chasing Rittenhouse with his gun out.
Grosskreutz said he was not chasing Rittenhouse.
Chirafisi also pointed to Grosskreutz’s lawsuit against the city of Kenosha, in which he alleges police enabled the violence by allowing an armed militia to have the run of the streets during the demonstration.
“If Mr. Rittenhouse is convicted, your chance of getting 10 million bucks is better, right?” Chirafisi said.
Rittenhouse, now 18, is on trial on charges of killing two men and wounding Grosskreutz in the streets of Kenosha during a turbulent protest against racial injustice in the summer of 2020. The one-time police youth cadet from Antioch, Illinois was 17 when he went to Kenosha with an AR-style rifle and a medical kit in what he said was an effort to safeguard property from the demonstrations that broke out over the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man, by a white Kenosha police officer.
Grosskreutz had a gun in has hand, with his arms raised, when Rittenhouse fired, shooting him in the bicep. A prosecutor asked Grosskreutz why he didn’t shoot Rittenhouse.
“Like I said, that’s not the kind of person that I am. That’s not why I was out there,” he said. “It’s not who I am. And definitely not somebody I would want to become.”
Earlier that night, Grosskreutz was recording on his cellphone for a livestream when he heard gunshots a few blocks away. He heard people yelling for a medic, and he began running toward the sound of the gunshots.
The video played in court showed Grosskreutz coming upon Rittenhouse as Rittenhouse was running away. He asked him what he was doing and if someone was shot. Rittenhouse said: “I’m going to the police. I didn’t do anything.” At the time, Grosskreutz testified, he he thought Rittenhouse said, “I’m working with the police.”
Grosskreutz ran along with Rittenhouse for a few seconds while trying to talk to him, but then turned to go help whoever might have been shot. But then Grosskreutz turned back toward Rittenhouse because he heard people saying that Rittenhouse had shot someone.
In the courtroom, Rittenhouse kept his eyes on Grosskreutz as he testified. When asked questions by prosecutors, Grosskreutz turned and looked straight at the jurors, who sat just feet away.
Kyle Rittenhouse and his defense team watch video of the shooting as Gaige Grosskreutz testifies about being shot in the right bicep during the Kyle Rittenhouse trial in Kenosha (Wisconsin) Circuit Court, Nov. 8, 2021.
Mark Hertzberg / AP
One juror nodded her head in agreement when the judge instructed the jury to disregard Grosskreutz’s referring to Rittenhouse’s fatal shooting of another protester as a “murder. ”
Rittenhouse is charged as an adult with two counts of first degree homicide and one count of attempted homicide. He is als charged with recklessly endangering the safety of two other victims and possessing a weapon while under the age of 18.
Grosskreutz, who was trained as a paramedic, testified that he volunteered as a medic at protests in Milwaukee in the days after George Floyd died under the knee of a Minneapolis police officer in May 2020. Grosskreutz said he attended around 75 protests before the night he was shot in August 2020, offering help to anyone needing medical attention.
Grosskreutz said he was wearing a hat that night that said “paramedic” and was carrying medical supplies, in addition to a loaded pistol. Grosskreutz said his permit to carry a concealed weapon had expired and he did not have a valid permit that night.
“I believe in the Second Amendment. I’m for people’s right to carry and bear arms,” he said, explaining why he was armed. “And that night was no different than any other day. It’s keys, phone, wallet, gun.”
He said he provided medical assistance to about 10 other people that night.
Rittenhouse is white, as are the three men he shot, but the case has raised polarizing questions about racial justice, policing, vigilantism and the right to bear arms.
Prosecutors have portrayed Rittenhouse as the instigator of the bloodshed. Rittenhouse’s lawyer has argued that he acted in self-defense, suggesting among other things that Rittenhouse feared his weapon would be taken and used against him.
In the first week of Rittenhouse’s trial, witnesses testified that the first man shot and killed that night, Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, was “hyperaggressive” and “acting belligerently” that night.
Richie McGinniss, who was recording events on a cellphone that night for conservative website The Daily Caller, testified that Rosenbaum made a lunge for Rittenhouse’s gun.
“I think it was very clear to me that he was reaching specifically for the weapon,” McGinniss said.
Rosenbaum’s killing set in motion the bloodshed that followed moments later: Rittenhouse shot and killed Anthony Huber, a 26-year-old protester seen on bystander video hitting Rittenhouse with a skateboard. Rittenhouse then wounded Grosskreutz.
Grosskreutz has a tattoo on the arm where he was shot. It is the common medical image of a snake wrapped around a staff, and at the top it has a banner that says, “Do no harm” and at the bottom, a banner reading “Do know harm.”
Grosskreutz testified that he has difficulty lifting heavy objects with his right arm and has a loss of feeling extending from his bicep to his thumb.
Prosecutors said the juror asked a courtroom deputy, “Why did the Kenosha police shoot Jacob Blake seven times? Because they ran out of bullets,” saying the joke was in poor taste and showed racial bias.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to clarify the charges against Rittenhouse.
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Just a few days before President Joe Biden marks his first 100 days in office, a trio of new polls from NBC, CBS, and the Washington Post and ABC show that Americans give Biden high marks for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, while his overall job approval rating remains positive.
But Biden also faces criticism from respondents over his handling of an influx of migrants arriving at the US’s southern border, and Sunday’s NBC News poll underscores the apparent durability of Republican voter fraud lies.
In all three polls, better than 60 percent of adults approved of Biden’s coronavirus response, and a comfortable majority were enthusiastic about his recent infrastructure proposal, which calls for $2 trillion in spending on everything from roads and bridges to green energy and high-speed broadband.
Americans were also much happier with Biden’s first 100 days than with former President Donald Trump’s early tenure in 2017. While Trump’s approval rating sat in the low 40s shortly after taking office, according to all three polls, over half of respondents approve of the job Biden has done in the first 100 days.
In particular, the IOP poll found, young people of color feel far more positively about America now than in 2017.
Biden’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic appears to have played a significant role in these positive numbers. Prior to taking office, Biden promised to administer 100 million vaccine doses within his first 100 days. He’s made good on that promise and then some: On Wednesday, his administration announced that 200 million vaccine doses have been administered in the US.
In the NBC poll, a plurality of Americans — about 30 percent — said the coronavirus was the top issue facing the country, followed by “uniting the country” at 25 percent.
However, other issues are already shaping up to be a challenge for the Biden administration. According to all three polls, a majority of Americans disapprove of Biden’s early handling of immigration issues and the southern border.
However, as Vox’s Nicole Narea reported last month, the situation at the border isn’t exactly new — there have been surges of migrants at the border before, and “the current situation is not an aberration, but a recurring problem.”
The “big lie” isn’t going away
Though recent polls by and large paint a positive picture of Biden’s first 100 days in office, there’s at least one persistent burr. According to Sunday’s CBS/YouGov poll, just 68 percent of Americans believe that Biden was elected legitimately — and only a quarter of Trump voters say that.
Those numbers are almost identical to what a number of major polls found in January 2021, shortly before Biden took office. Then, according to a CNN-SSRS poll, 65 percent of Americans believed Biden’s win was legitimate, and 75 percent of Republicans either suspected that Biden did not win legitimately, or believed there was “solid evidence” he did not.
There is no such evidence — election officials of both parties, at both the state and federal levels, say the 2020 election was actually the most secure in history — but relatively static beliefs about Biden’s legitimacy suggest that the GOP’s “big lie,” an all-consuming voter fraud mythology with no basis in fact, isn’t going anywhere any time soon.
In fact, lawmakers in 47 states have introduced a staggering number of restrictive new voting bills to address a nonexistent “election integrity” problem, according to the Brennan Center for Justice, including a Georgia bill that has already been signed into law.
This mythology does translate into loyalty among Trump’s diehard base, according to NBC’s most recent poll. As of this month, 32 percent of Americans hold a somewhat or very positive view of the former president. But that represents a dip from January, when his favorability stood at about 40 percent. Meanwhile, Biden’s favorability has increased to 50 percent since taking office, up from 44 percent in January.
“We are prepared to move; we just need to make sure we have unanimity in our caucus and that’s what we are working on and we will start on that next week when we return,” Cardin told host Mike Emanuel.
The $1.7 trillion legislation included a wide range of policy items, including universal preschool, paid family leave, child nutrition assistance, and Medicare and Medicaid expansion. Clean energy measures were a significant part of the bill. The legislation would also make the current child tax credit permanent.
Emanuel asked Cardin if Democrats risked losing the support of progressives if they scaled the legislation back. The senator acknowledged that Democrats needed to find a “sweet spot” to get legislation through without losing votes from the Democratic caucus.
“We want to see it as comprehensive as possible, but we need to make sure we have the votes to pass it, so that means it will be different than some of us would like to see,” he said.
Cardin said Democrats are open to potentially passing some parts of the bill as standalone items.
“That’s a strategy decision that’s being negotiated. We are open to a way to reach the finish line,” Cardin said.
Speaking on the same show, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) made it clear that he still opposed the overall package, but said he assumed there were things in the bill that he could support as standalone items, citing an initiative he had been working on with Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.).
“Surely there is something in there that I would be for, Sen. Stabenow and I have worked for years to try to see that we treat mental health like all other health. That’s a relatively small item in this bill. I think it’s in there, but that’s an item if we put on the floor by itself, Republicans and Democrats would vote for,” Blunt said.
After a federal judge in Florida on Monday voided the national mask mandate for airlines and other forms of public transportation, multiple agencies in Northern California said they will stop requiring face coverings.
Because of that court ruling, the TSA told KCRA 3 it would “no longer enforce its Security Directives and Emergency Amendment requiring mask use on public transportation and transportation hubs.”
The change in policy took effect immediately.
A spokesperson with Sacramento International Airport said in an email that the airport won’t be requiring face masks of passengers and staff, due to the TSA’s new directive.
Amtrak is also following suit, saying that both passengers and employees are no longer required to wear masks while onboard trains or in stations. Masks are welcome if people choose to still wear one.
Sacramento Regional Transit in a written statement said it will recommend masks be worn on transit but will no longer require them.
“Crews will be working over the next couple days to remove all mask requirement signage on our buses and trains,” SacRT said in a statement.
United Airlines, American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Hawaiian Arilines and Southwest are also allowing people to wear masks if they want to continue to do so but will not be enforcing the mandate anymore.
Delta Air Lines says it is making masks optional, and warned travelers they “may experience inconsistent enforcement during the next 24 hours as this news is more broadly communicated.”
KCRA 3 was inside Sacramento International Airport as government entities and airlines were announcing the sweeping changes.
Some passengers and airline staff continued to mask up, while others did not.
“I’m glad you don’t have to wear a mask,” traveler Bruce Gillard said. “Obviously, I didn’t have one when I walked in and wasn’t planning on wearing one.”
“I hate wearing these things,” Jason Tamayo, a passenger from Woodland, told KCRA 3.” If I don’t have to, I’m not wearing it.”
Some were indifferent, like Javier Oropeza.
“I don’t really mind wearing a mask,” he said and explained there will be times when he will choose to either wear a mask or not wear one.
Other Sacramento travelers feel it’s too soon to go onto a plane mask-free.
“I think it’s just safety,” Natalie Leighton said. “I think especially when you’re in a closed compartment with a group of other people, we’ll probably feel wearing it for peace of mind.”
The previous federal travel mask mandate, recently extended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, covered a vast array of transportation, from airplanes and trains to city subways and ride-sharing vehicles such as Uber.
The decision by U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle in Tampa, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, also said the CDC improperly failed to justify its decision and did not follow proper rulemaking procedures that left it fatally flawed.
In her 59-page ruling, Mizelle said the only remedy was to vacate the rule entirely across the country because it would be impossible to end it for the limited group of people who objected in the lawsuit.
The Justice Department declined to comment Monday when asked if the government planned to appeal the ruling. The CDC also declined to comment.
The mother of a US Marine killed in Thursday’s terror bombing outside Kabul’s airport claimed that Americans who voted for President Biden “just killed my son.”
Kathy McCollum, whose 20-year-old son, Rylee, was among 13 US service members killed in the attack, told SiriusXM talk show host Andrew Wilkow on “The Wilkow Majority” show that she blamed the “dementia-ridden” president for his death, Newsweek reported.
“Twenty years and six-months-old, getting ready to go home from freaking Jordan to be home with his wife to watch the birth of his son, and that feckless, dementia-ridden piece of crap just sent my son to die,” she told Wilkow.
“I woke up at 4 o’clock this morning,” McCollum said. “Two Marines at my door telling me that my son was dead.
“I just want all you Democrats who cheated in the election, or who voted for him legitimately, you just killed my son,” she claimed. “With a dementia-ridden piece of crap who doesn’t even know he’s in the White House, who still thinks he’s a senator.
Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Rylee J. McCollum was among the 13 US service members killed in the attack on Kabul airport.US Marines via AP
“So, I’m gonna try to calm down,” she added. “Sorry.”
Meanwhile, donations for Rylee McCollum’s widow and unborn child had risen to nearly $500,000 as of Sunday morning, the Associated Press reported.
Two separate fundraisers for the slain Marine’s family totaled $487,000.
McCollum, who is from Bondurant, Wyo., was on his first deployment when he was killed in the terror explosion.
The rush to evacuate comes after US forces near the deadline to withdraw from the war-torn country after a protracted 21-year occupation — with US-armed Afghan forces fleeing in the face of an onslaught by the extremist Taliban.
Kathy McCollum called President Joe Biden a “feckless, dementia-ridden piece of crap” who “just sent my son to die.”Drew Angerer/Getty Images
The terror group ISIS-K has been blamed for carrying out the attack.
Este miércoles la Comisión Mixta de Alto Nivel China-Venezuela tuvo un encuentro para acordar el seguimiento de toda la cartera de inversión conjunta. Abordaron asuntos como la comercialización de productos desde Venezuela hacia la nación asiática, así como estratégicos acuerdos de cooperación en materia petrolera.
El vicepresidente de Planificación, Ricardo Menéndez, indicó que en la reunión se evaluó la posible ampliación de la participación del país asiático —con quien se tiene una cartera de inversión por 9.000 millones de dólares— en la empresa petrolera empresa mixta chino-venezolana Petrosinovensa, ubicada en la Faja Petrolífera del Orinoco (FPO) Hugo Chávez.
Detalló que China demostró su interés en participar en la reactivación de 800 pozos en la FPO, en el estado Anzoátegui, en el que se generará un incremento de producción de 42.000 barriles de petróleo diarios
Relación geopolítica firme Venezuela China.Revisión y profundización de cooperación productiva e inversión petrolera para el mutuo beneficio pic.twitter.com/HIJzrVWEVV
Por su parte, el ministro de Petróleo, Eulogio Del Pino, anunció que se desarrollará una nueva refinería en el país asiático junto a la petrolera China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC).
Destacó que la revisión periódica de acuerdos “viene acompañada de visitas a las áreas operativas para monitorear los procesos en vivo y hacer seguimiento a la buena marcha de los proyectos de inversión, apalancados por el Banco de Desarrollo de China”.
El presidente de Pdvsa, Nelson Martínez, expresó que “estas relaciones estratégicas vienen sin duda a combatir los efectos perversos que el imperio norteamericano pretende crear en el entorno económico del país. Para nadie es secreto que nuestras relaciones bilaterales estratégicas no son nuevas (…)”.
Los proyectos que desarrollan ambas naciones han contado con una inversión de 62.000 millones de dólares. De esa cifra, 20.000 millones corresponden al Fondo Conjunto, creado en el 2008, y 42.000 millones del Fondo Pesado y a Largo Plazo, iniciado en el 2010.
Las noticias de Afganistán (foto) son muy malas. Nadie lo dice, por supuesto. El presidente Ghani tiene un “gobierno de unidad nacional” que “apoya una fuerte asociación con los Estados Unidos”, según Barack Obama hace dos meses. Claro, Kunduz fue capturado por el talibán –pero entonces los afganos lo recuperaron (salvo un hospital que Estados Unidos bombardeó, junto con la mayoría de sus pacientes y médicos)–. Claro, Sangin fue capturado por el talibán –pero ahora el ejército afgano está luchando para recuperarlo–. Pero ¿no murieron más de un centenar de soldados británicos para mantener Sangin? Claro, pero las tropas estadounidenses en Irak murieron para mantener y conservar Mosul –y Mosul es ahora el hogar del líder del Estado Islámico (EI), Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi–. Y las tropas estadounidenses en Irak murieron para capturar Faluya, luego la perdieron y murieron nuevamente para recapturarla –y Faluya se encuentra ahora en manos del EI–.
Nosotros no damos “malas noticias” de Afganistán o Irak. Es como una película, que se repite una y otra vez cada Navidad. Hace sólo dos semanas, el general John F. Campbell, el comandante estadounidense de las fuerzas de Estados Unidos y de la OTAN en el país, admitió que el EI resurgió en Afganistán. Podría haber 3000 o 4000 o 5000 hombres del EI tratando ahora de consolidar vínculos con su “nave insignia” en Irak y Siria; tome nota del lenguaje de Hollywood aquí. El EI quiere establecer su “Khorasan” (patria musulmana) pre-afgana en la provincia de Nangarhar de Afganistán.
Pero Obama nos asegura que el compromiso de Estados Unidos “con Afganistán y su pueblo perdura” y las fuerzas afganas están “luchando por su país con valentía y tenacidad” y “continúan manteniendo la mayoría de las zonas urbanas (sic)”. Los éxitos del taliban eran “previsibles”, dice el presidente de Estados Unidos, pero casi 10.000 soldados permanecerán en Afganistán –a pesar de que la guerra terminó– y hace 14 meses David Cameron les dijo a los soldados británicos que sus logros en Afganistán “vivirán para siempre”. Ya no más.
Como el propio ex jefe del Estado Mayor británico, el general Dannatt, dijo la semana pasada, “no me sorprende” la caída de Sangin. Para nada. Después de todo, “siempre supimos que la situación sería difícil una vez que dejáramos Sangin. Nos fuimos de Afganistán en una situación en que los afganos estaban en el control y el futuro estaba en sus manos. No es una gran sorpresa que el talibán haya seguido empujando en el sur de Afganistán, que es su corazón”.
De manera que los hombres del EI ahora están luchando de a miles en el país que llegamos a “liberar” hace 14 años, bien separados de las decenas de miles de miembros del talibán que empujan hacia a su “corazón” en torno de Sangin (esos logros que viven para siempren de Cameron) Y sin embargo, Obama les dice a los estadounidenses de que en el corrupto gobierno afgano, Estados Unidos tiene “un socio serio”, un “aliado estable y comprometido” para evitar “amenazas futuras”.
Fue en 1940, cuando los soldados alemanes entraban a manadas en Francia –manadas bastante más peligrosas que la que obsesiona a Cameron hoy en exactamente en la misma área– que Churchill decidió decirles a los británicos la verdad. “Las noticias de Francia son muy malas…”, comenzó. Y los soldados británicos, en sus miles, se estaban muriendo para detener la invasión. Su “logro” no era la victoria, sino Dunkerque.
Sin embargo, no se nos permite usar esta misma expresión –“muy malas”– sobre Afganistán. No, Cameron tuvo que hablar de un “logro”, y ahora la madre de un soldado terriblemente herido habla de su “desesperada sensación de desperdicio”. Para el general Dannatt, el futuro está en manos del ejército afgano ahora. No es gran cosa; siempre supimos que el talibán seguiría luchando.
Sólo hay que leer los informes de los periodistas afganos del país para saber que incluso la frase del viejo Churchill, “muy malas”, es un poco optimista. Tomemos el caso de los musulmanes chiítas hazaras afganos sacados de un autobús en el camino a Kabul este año. Los muchachos del EI detuvieron el autobús, secuestraron a 30 chiítas y querían cambiarlos por prisioneros de la familia –uzbekos, parece– en manos del gobierno afgano. Los cautivos fueron sometidos al tratamiento habitual del EI: al menos una decapitación, días de palizas, más videos de los chiítas llevando cinturones suicidas. Sólo después de nueve meses fueron liberados, después de un ataque armado a sus captores del EI por el talibán. Sí, los chicos malos de repente se convirtieron en los buenos, los mismos chicos malos que capturaron Sangin, pero ahora están luchando contra otros chicos malos, incluso peores. Si esto no fuera trágico, sería una farsa.
Y, sólo por si acaso, tome la reciente historia local en Afganistán sobre el pobre Qais Rahmani quien, junto con su familia, incluyendo su bebé de cuatro meses, formó parte del ejército de refugiados que partió rumbo a Europa. En Turquía se subió a un barco con destino a Grecia, que casi inmediatamente se hundió. El bebé de Qais murió en sus brazos. Sólo otro Alan Kurdi, podrá decir usted, pero lo que shoqueó a los afganos fue que Qais era un presentador de televisión muy conocido, su esposa y familia tenían educación universitaria. Los Rahmani no pertenecían a la masa de los pobres. Eran de clase media, las mismas personas que deberían haber querido quedarse y construir el nuevo Afganistán y trabajar por su gobierno, que está –cito a Obama de nuevo– “trabajando para combatir la corrupción, fortalecer las instituciones, y defender el estado de derecho”.
Dé tan sólo un paso atrás y mire el guión. El talibán puso fin al régimen sin ley de las milicias afganas y controló la casi totalidad de Afganistán en 1996. Pero también albergó a Al Qaida después del 11 de septiembre. Así que invadimos Afganistán para destruir a Al Qaida y el vil, misógino, asesino y antidemocrático talibán. Pero el talibán no fue conquistado. Y ahora está ganando. Y hoy, seguramente queremos que luche en contra del aún más vil, misógino y asesino EI. Razón por la cual, escondido al final de su perorata al pueblo estadounidense, Obama dijo que todo el mundo debe “presionar al talibán para hacer su parte en la búsqueda de la paz que los afganos se merecen”. Así que el horrendo talibán puede convertirse en el bueno y valiente talibán de nuevo. En verdad, las noticias de Afganistán son muy malas.
* De The Independent de Gran Bretaña. Especial para Página/12.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s top advisers successfully pushed state health officials to strip a public report of data showing that more nursing-home residents had died of Covid-19 than the administration had acknowledged, according to people with knowledge of the report’s production.
The July report, which examined the factors that led to the spread of the virus in nursing homes, focused only on residents who died inside long-term-care facilities, leaving out those who had died in hospitals after becoming sick in nursing homes. As a result, the report said 6,432 nursing-home residents had died—a significant undercount of the death toll attributed to the state’s most vulnerable population, the people said. The initial version of the report said nearly 10,000 nursing-home residents had died in New York by July last year, one of the people said.
The changes Mr. Cuomo’s aides and health officials made to the nursing-home report, which haven’t been previously disclosed, reveal that the state possessed a fuller accounting of out-of-facility nursing-home deaths as early as the summer. The Health Department resisted calls by state and federal lawmakers, media outlets and others to release the data for another eight months.
State officials now say more than 15,000 residents of nursing homes and other long-term-care facilities were confirmed or presumed to have died from Covid-19 since March of last year—counting both those who died in long-term-care facilities and those who died later in hospitals. That figure is about 50% higher than earlier official death tolls.
Mr. Cuomo now faces mounting political pressure over both his administration’s handling of the pandemic in nursing homes and accusations that he sexually harassed two former staffers. Republicans and some Democrats have called for the governor to resign from office or be impeached.
Less than three months before the collapse of the Champlain Towers South condo complex in Surfside, Fla., the president of the condominium association warned in a letter that the damage in the building had “gotten significantly worse” since it was highlighted in a 2018 inspection.
The letter was written to residents by Jean Wodnicki, president of the association’s board of directors, explaining why a list of extensive construction projects were worth a $15 million special assessment that residents were being asked to pay.
Along with the 2018 inspection, which warned of “major structural damage,” the letter, a copy of which The New York Times obtained, adds to a growing body of evidence that engineers had raised alarms about serious flaws in the building months and even years before the catastrophic building failure, which killed 11 people and left 150 unaccounted for.
Ms. Wodnicki could not immediately be reached for comment.
That 2018 inspection warned that concrete damage would “multiply exponentially” in the coming years, Ms. Wodnicki wrote in the letter, which was first reported by USA Today and The Wall Street Journal. The engineer who prepared that initial report, Frank Morabito, carried out “a much more detailed survey of the property” and found signs that this acceleration was indeed already happening. “When you can visually see the concrete spalling (cracking), that means that the rebar holding it together is rusting and deteriorating beneath the surface,” Ms. Wodnicki wrote.
Washington (CNN)Julian Assange faced a single criminal charge when he was pulled from the Ecuadorian embassy in London last week — but, according to a CNN review of court records, prosecutors have already given a roadmap about how they may be continuing to investigate WikiLeaks and suggested that more charges are to come.
El jefe de una organización que traficaba drogas y armas y que tenía vínculos directos con un violento cártel mexicano fue sentenciado a 27 años de prisión.
Cristian Berrelleza Verduzco, de 31 años, y su hermano Víctor eran los líderes en Estados Unidos de una poderosa organización delictiva mexicana que estaba ligada al cártel de Beltrán Leyva, de acuerdo con la fiscal federal del estado de Washington, Jenny Durkan. Su padre, el presunto líder de una organización del narcotráfico, es un fugitivo en México, subrayó la fiscal.
Berrelleza dirigió el contrabando de metanfetaminas y heroína desde México a Estados Unidos y posteriormente llevaba armas a territorio mexicano, de acuerdo con los expedientes en el tribunal. Durante conversaciones telefónicas intervenidas, frecuentemente amenazó con herir o matar a personas que creía le habían fallado, agregó Durkan en un comunicado.
“Esta sentencia nos ayuda a protegernos de un hombre y una organización muy peligrosos”, dijo Durkan después de que el fallo fue dictado el viernes. “Este acusado amasó enormes ganancias del flagelo de la adición a la heroína. El y su familia pretendieron controlar la cadena completa de suministro, desde el cultivo de la amapola, pasando por la producción de la heroína, hasta la venta en este distrito. Y así como cruzaban al norte sus drogas, querían llevar a México armas de fuego de alto poder para causar más violencia relacionada con los cárteles”.
Brad Bench, el agente especial a cargo de los Investigadores de Seguridad Nacional en Seattle, dijo que Berrelleza dirigió una operación multimillonaria de tráfico de heroína y metanfetaminas desde un pequeño vecindario en el Condado Snohomish. Fueron necesarias agencias municipales, estatales y federales en tres estados para desmantelar la organización, indicó Bench.
“Alimentó el hábito destructivo de los adictos de Washington e impulsó la violencia de los cárteles mexicanos con dinero proveniente de las drogas”, dijo el agente.En sus apuntes previos a su sentencia, Berrelleza negó ser un asesino o que haya traficado armas de fuego a México, pero reconoció haber trasladado armas a Arizona.
El hombre fue arrestado en Arizona en 2011, fue enjuiciado y deportado pero regresó al estado de Washington para continuar sus actividades ilegales, informó la fiscalía.Después de una larga investigación de agentes federales, las autoridades detuvieron a Berrelleza y otras 29 personas en marzo de 2012 y los acusaron de 20 cargos relacionados con drogas y armas de fuego. En abril de 2013, se declaró culpable de cinco de esos cargos y la fiscalía aceptó desechar 15 acusaciones.
El año pasado, Víctor Berrellez Verduzco fue sentenciado a 20 años de prisión y su hermano Iván recibió una pena de siete años.
Al dictar la sentencia, el juez federal de distrito Robert Lasnik dijo que los tres hermanos se encuentran en prisión en Estados Unidos debido a las acciones que fueron “puestas en marcha por su padre”.Lasnik dijo que si el acusado “es deportado de Estados Unidos, no deberá regresar a territorio estadounidense sin permiso por escrito de la secretaria del Departamento de Seguridad Nacional”.
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