text string | url string | crawl_date timestamp[ms] | label int64 | id string |
|---|---|---|---|---|
SeaWorld Orlando visitors frequently see the theme park’s dolphins in midair, showing off their athletic skills. But that presentation is only a sliver of the dolphins’ everyday routine. In honor of National Dolphin Day, we spent time with the animals and Michael Hunt, SeaWorld’s curator for dolphins.
SeaWorld’s dolphins live in pools at the theater for “Dolphin Adventures,” in its Key West area and in the nursery near the park’s entrance. The company also has dolphins at its Discovery Cove day resort and at Aquatica, its water park, which features Commerson’s dolphins.
“We condition them to be an active participant in their own health care. While you may see the show and see flips and spins and jumps, that’s not the most important training that we do,” Hunt said Wednesday morning. “Teaching them to participate in the veterinary care is probably where we burn most of our calories.”
Tail tales
As part of the regular medical routine at SeaWorld, a dolphin named Potter is ready to give blood. He swims near the edge of the pool, where he is greeted by animal-care specialists who will take the blood from his tail.
“The tail is one of the most vascular parts of the body, sort of like looking at your arm and seeing the veins inside, the blood vessels in the tail are very close to the surface,” Hunt said.
The physical-exam process takes a few days per dolphin. The team gathers saliva, gastric, urine and fecal samples. The dolphins are even trained to take a deep breath and help with digital ultrasounds.
“They’re conditioned to present all different parts of their body for the doctor to see. They’re very good patients,” Hunt said. “And it’s because of the relationship that we have with them and the amount of time that we spend that they’re able to trust us to do things that may put them in a situation that could be, at first glance, something that doesn’t look comfortable.”
The right touch
But Potter looks comfortable. He lays flat back, head in water, fins open wide, tail in the lap of the poolside trainer. He assumes the pose after being stroked under his jaw and gently pushed up and backward.
“They love to be touched, especially if the touches are soft. So if you’re rubbing their body, their belly, their fins, they’ll close their eyes and relax. … We capitalize on that,” Hunt said.
While one member of the SeaWorld team caresses the fin, another one finds a vein to take blood from. Getting Potter and other dolphins accustomed to this position is a gradual process.
“They may just want us to hold it for a couple of seconds. Then we build it up until we can hold their tail for several minutes, rubbing it and rubbing it — like getting a back massage,” Hunt said.
“Once they’re comfortable with that, we begin to desensitize them to the other elements — the veterinarian being here, with the vet tech being here,” he said. “The trainers will actually go as far as putting alcohol on their tail to prep them for what that feels like.”
When the time comes, they do feel the needle, Hunt said.
“It probably feels like a mosquito bite … just a little, little pressure,” he said.
What a dolphin hides
The blood tests and other exams are processed in labs at SeaWorld Orlando and studied by the park’s veterinarians.
“We’re looking at red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, chemistries, which are kidney values, liver values, protein, inflammatory parameters,” said Dr. Lydia Staggs, a SeaWorld Orlando veterinarian. “What you would get as a human, we do for the dolphins.”
In general, the weakest system within dolphins is their lungs, she said.
“We always worry about pneumonia with them because they have a blowhole that goes straight into their trachea,” Staggs said.
But when it comes to sickness, a dolphin puts a happy face, so SeaWorld constantly monitors their health.
“They hide their illnesses really well,” Staggs said. That’s a genetic leftover from living with predators.
“If you’re ill in the wild, you get picked on, so they’re like, ‘Oh, I’m fine. I’m fine. I’m fine.’ So, they hide it,” she said.
Out to the buoy game
SeaWorld workers assigned to dolphins know their individual personalities.
“They’re not robots,” Hunt said. “And that is what makes every day different.”
Their attitudes can be reflected with the enhancements they receive. Most dolphins like playing with their toys, small buoyant items tossed into the water. Some are buoy hogs, trying to wrangle two or more toys into their possession. At times, animal-care specialists gather at the round pool and toss a toy in the water. The dolphins swim out to fetch and return to the trainer. Repeat. All seven dolphins in the back pool got in on the act Wednesday. There also was a big black ball to bounce around.
“They would rather play with the toys than eat the breakfast,” Hunt said.
Active age
The elder statesman of SeaWorld Orlando’s dolphins? That’s Starbuck, who turns 44 years old this summer.
“Starbuck has exceeded the average [age] by far for bottlenose dolphins,” Hunt said. “What we’re finding now is that with the type of care that Dr. Staggs and her colleagues provide, the animals are living longer lives. That’s not just true in zoo animals. Because of advances in veterinary science, dogs and cats are living longer lives than they did in the ‘60s and ‘70s.”
And Starbuck still has spring in his leap, which SeaWorld Orlando visitors may see at the park’s dolphin presentation.
“He jumps higher than the youngsters,” Hunt said. “You would never know that he was the oldest one.”
Email me at dbevil@orlandosentinel.com. Want more theme park news? Subscribe to the Theme Park Rangers newsletter at orlandosentinel.com/newsletters or the Theme Park Rangers podcast at orlandosentinel.com/travel/attractions/theme-park-rangers-podcast | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/travel/attractions/seaworld/os-et-national-dolphin-day-seaworld-orlando-show-20220414-uj2svo4htvbm7oex2mnwywibcy-story.html | 2022-04-14T10:45:41 | 1 | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/travel/attractions/seaworld/os-et-national-dolphin-day-seaworld-orlando-show-20220414-uj2svo4htvbm7oex2mnwywibcy-story.html |
A new sound of music is tinkling out of Epcot’s American Adventure rotunda. Longtime Walt Disney World pianist Carol Stein began a new gig there this week with an All-American repertoire steeped in jazz, Broadway tunes and Disney classics.
Sometimes those genres overlap.
“I decided to put a little bit of a jazz twist to it,” Stein said before breaking into the playful “Winnie the Pooh,” a Sherman Brothers creation, this week.
Stein’s previous Epcot assignments were beneath the United Kingdom gazebo and inside the nearby Rose and Crown pub. She’s also known for her stretch as a pianist for Comedy Warehouse, the now-gone improv nightclub at Pleasure Island.
In American Adventure, the piano is set up on the east side of the rotunda area. The pianist alternates sets with Voices of Liberty, the long-running a cappella group that recently finished its stint outside at the America Gardens Theater and has moved back inside the rotunda,
The piano music soars through this acoustically happy place. Stein also talks through some history of the songs with an emphasis on jazz. “The Soul of Jazz: An American Adventure” exhibit is nearby in the rotunda as well.
In sets this week she played “I Wan’na Be Like You” from “The Jungle Book” (more Shermans), “He’s a Tramp” (written by Peggy Lee) with jazzy flair, “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore” and “My Romance,” a ballad. Stein merrily demonstrated different jazz styles in renditions of “Row, Row, Row Your Boat.”
She took requests, which, given the setting, naturally resulted in Disney tunes such as “Let It Go” from “Frozen.” On Sunday, impromptu audience members started a “Sound of Music” singalong.
Some Epcot visitors wandering in, looking for the American Adventure film upstairs, were startled by the new piano music. Others danced like no one was watching or snapped fingers.
“Play something from ‘Beauty and the Beast,’” one visitor tossed out. Stein instead played practically everything from “Beauty and the Beast” in a medley in which she used the length of the keyboard with energy and panache.
“You hate your job, don’t you?” the requester joked. Stein and everyone else laughed.
Stein is scheduled for multiple appearances daily at American Adventure Sunday through Thursday. Kelly DeWayne Richards plays there Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
Email me at dbevil@orlandosentinel.com. Want more theme park news? Subscribe to the Theme Park Rangers newsletter at orlandosentinel.com/newsletters or the Theme Park Rangers podcast at orlandosentinel.com/travel/attractions/theme-park-rangers-podcast | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/travel/attractions/the-daily-disney/os-et-disney-epcot-carol-stein-piano-american-adventure-jazz-20220414-ugdel6uhubeanoe2lcprzw4sde-story.html | 2022-04-14T10:45:47 | 1 | https://www.orlandosentinel.com/travel/attractions/the-daily-disney/os-et-disney-epcot-carol-stein-piano-american-adventure-jazz-20220414-ugdel6uhubeanoe2lcprzw4sde-story.html |
KYIV, Ukraine -- Ukrainian forces said they struck and seriously damaged the flagship of Russia's Black Sea fleet, dealing a potentially major setback to Moscow's forces as they try to regroup for a renewed offensive in eastern Ukraine after retreating from much of the north, including the capital.
Russia said Thursday the entire crew of the Moskva, a warship that would typically have 500 sailors on board, was forced to evacuate after a fire overnight and also reported it was badly damaged. It did not acknowledge any attack, which would also deal a major blow to Russian prestige seven weeks into a war that is already widely seen as a historic blunder.
The reported ship attack came hours after Ukraine's allies sought to rally new support for the embattled country. On a visit with leaders from three other countries on Russia's doorstep who fear they could next be in Moscow's sights, Lithuania's President Gitanas Nauseda declared that "the fight for Europe's future is happening here."
Meanwhile, U.S. President Joe Biden, who called Russia's actions in Ukraine "a genocide" this week, approved $800 million in new military assistance to Kyiv. He said weapons from the West have sustained Ukraine's fight so far and "we cannot rest now."
The news of the flagship's damage overshadowed Russian claims of advances in the southern port city of Mariupol, where they have been battling the Ukrainians since the early days of the invasion in some of the heaviest fighting of the war - at a horrific cost to civilians.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj.-Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Wednesday that 1,026 troops from the Ukrainian 36th Marine Brigade surrendered at a metals factory in the city. But Vadym Denysenko, adviser to Ukraine's interior minister, rejected the claim, telling Current Time TV that "the battle over the seaport is still ongoing today."
It was unclear when a surrender may have occurred or how many forces were still defending Mariupol.
Russian state television broadcast footage Wednesday that it said was from Mariupol showing dozens of men in camouflage walking with their hands up and carrying others on stretchers or in chair holds. One man held a white flag.
Mariupol's capture is critical for Russia because it would put a swath of territory in its control that would allow its forces in the south, who came up through the annexed Crimean Peninsula, to link up with troops in the eastern Donbas region, Ukraine's industrial heartland and the target of the coming offensive.
Moscow-backed separatists have been battling Ukraine in the Donbas since 2014, the same year Russia seized Crimea. Russia has recognized the independence of the rebel regions in the Donbas.
But the loss of the Moskva, which satellite images show was at the port of Sevastopol in Crimea a week ago, could set those efforts back.
The governor of the Odesa region, Maksym Marchenko, said the Ukrainians struck the guided-missile cruiser with two Neptune missiles and caused "serious damage." Russia's Defense Ministry said ammunition on board detonated as a result of a fire.
It was not clear if the ship was totally disabled, but even serious damage could be a major blow to Russia, which already saw its tank carrier Orsk hit late last month.
Hours after the attack was reported, Ukrainian authorities said on the Telegram messaging service that explosions had struck Odesa, Ukraine's largest port which lies on the Black Sea, as does Sevastopol. They urged residents to remain calm and said there is no danger to civilians.
Russia invaded on Feb. 24 with the goal, according to Western officials, of rapidly seizing Kyiv, toppling the government and installing a Moscow-friendly replacement. But the ground advance stalled in the face of strong Ukrainian resistance with the help of Western arms, and Russia has lost potentially thousands of fighters. The conflict has killed untold numbers of Ukrainian civilians and forced millions more to flee.
A U.N. task force warned that the war threatens to devastate the economies of many developing countries that are facing even higher food and energy costs and increasingly difficult financial conditions. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the war is "supercharging" a crisis in food, energy and finance in poorer countries that were already struggling to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and a lack of access to funding.
The war has also unsettled the post-Cold War balance in Europe - and particularly worried countries on NATO's eastern flank that fear they could next come under attack. As a result, those nations have been some of Ukraine's staunchest supporters.
The presidents of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia traveled Wednesday to war-ravaged areas in Ukraine and demanded accountability for what they called war crimes. They met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and visited Borodyanka, one of the towns near Kyiv where evidence of atrocities was found after Russian troops withdrew to focus on the country's east.
"There are no doubts that they committed war crimes. And for that, they should be accountable," Latvian President Egils Levits said.
Nauseda of Lithuania called for tougher sanctions, including against Russian oil and gas shipments and all the country's banks.
In his nightly address, Zelenskyy noted that the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court visited the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, which was controlled by Russian forces until recently and where evidence of mass killings and more than 400 bodies were found.
"It is inevitable that the Russian troops will be held responsible. We will drag everyone to a tribunal, and not only for what was done in Bucha," Zelenskyy said late Wednesday.
He also said work was continuing to clear tens of thousands of unexploded shells, mines and trip wires left in northern Ukraine by the departing Russians. He urged people returning to homes to be wary of any unfamiliar objects and report them to police.
___
Associated Press writer Robert Burns in Washington, and AP journalists around the world contributed to this report.
Biden approveds $800 million in new military assistance for Ukraine
By ADAM SCHRECK | https://abc7ny.com/ukraine-russia-volodymyr-zelenskyy-news/11746999/ | 2022-04-14T10:47:40 | 0 | https://abc7ny.com/ukraine-russia-volodymyr-zelenskyy-news/11746999/ |
This content is only available to subscribers.
Support Local Journalism
$1 for 6 Months.
Your subscription supports:
Are you a subscriber with digital access?
Sign in to your accountAre you a subscriber without digital access?
Activate your digital accountAre you a subscriber without digital access?
Activate your digital accountThis content is only available to subscribers.
Support Local Journalism
$1 for 6 Months.
Your subscription supports:
Are you a subscriber with digital access?
Sign in to your accountAre you a subscriber without digital access?
Activate your digital account | https://www.pjstar.com/restricted/?return=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pjstar.com%2Fstory%2Fentertainment%2Fdining%2F2022%2F04%2F14%2F20-food-trucks-peoria-offering-food-treats-on-wheels%2F7234732001%2F | 2022-04-14T10:49:31 | 1 | https://www.pjstar.com/restricted/?return=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pjstar.com%2Fstory%2Fentertainment%2Fdining%2F2022%2F04%2F14%2F20-food-trucks-peoria-offering-food-treats-on-wheels%2F7234732001%2F |
This content is only available to subscribers.
Support Local Journalism
$1 for 6 Months.
Your subscription supports:
Are you a subscriber with digital access?
Sign in to your accountAre you a subscriber without digital access?
Activate your digital accountAre you a subscriber without digital access?
Activate your digital accountThis content is only available to subscribers.
Support Local Journalism
$1 for 6 Months.
Your subscription supports:
Are you a subscriber with digital access?
Sign in to your accountAre you a subscriber without digital access?
Activate your digital account | https://www.pjstar.com/restricted/?return=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pjstar.com%2Fstory%2Fnews%2Fhistory%2F2022%2F04%2F14%2Fhow-putrid-perfume-essence-of-peoria-became-talk-of-town%2F9473480002%2F | 2022-04-14T10:49:37 | 1 | https://www.pjstar.com/restricted/?return=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pjstar.com%2Fstory%2Fnews%2Fhistory%2F2022%2F04%2F14%2Fhow-putrid-perfume-essence-of-peoria-became-talk-of-town%2F9473480002%2F |
ATLANTA (AP) — The Charlotte Hornets were delayed getting to the arena Wednesday for their NBA play-in game against the Atlanta Hawks.
By a freight train, of all things.
Tracks run all around State Farm Arena, a remnant of a time when the area was the site of the city’s two major passenger stations. Both stations were torn down decades ago, but many of the tracks that remain are still frequented by freight trains running near the heart of downtown Atlanta.
One of those trains stopped on a crossing before the game, blocking the Hornets’ chartered buses from reaching the players’ entrance on the bottom level of the arena.
The buses were forced to turn around and find an alternate route to the arena. They were delayed about 15 minutes.
“I’ve never seen that,” Hornets coach James Borrego said. “I’ve been coming to this arena for 20 years, and I’ve never seen a train stop before the game.”
He seemed to imply that the Hawks had something to do with the freight train stopping at the crossing.
“Somebody figure it out. I have no idea,” Borrego said. “But our guys noticed.”
He said the delay fired up the 10th-seeded Hornets, who were looking to earn their way into the playoffs for the first time since 2016.
“It’s good fuel for us,” Borrego said.
___
More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports | https://www.cenlanow.com/ap-strange-news/choo-choo-hornets-play-in-arrival-blocked-by-freight-train/ | 2022-04-14T10:53:42 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/ap-strange-news/choo-choo-hornets-play-in-arrival-blocked-by-freight-train/ |
FARGO, N.D. (AP) — A Florida man linked to dozens of motorized golf cart thefts in the Upper Midwest was sentenced Tuesday to two years in federal prison.
The FBI began investigating Nathan Rodney Nelson in July 2019 after the Cass County Sheriff’s Office in Fargo, North Dakota, asked for help in solving a series of golf cart thefts starting in 2017 in the Dakotas, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Nelson, a former Minnesota resident living in Apollo Beach, Florida, was eventually arrested in June 2020 while he was caught trying to steal golf carts from a dealer in Donalsonville, Georgia. He also was carrying pre-printed serial number labels and burglary tools, according to court documents.
Investigators say he stole at least 63 golf carts in seven states, worth at least $283,500.
Nelson would typically steal carts in pairs from rural Midwestern golf courses, usually at night. He sold many of the carts under the alias Mason Weber, at a cost of about $2,500 each, court documents show.
Defense attorney Lorelle Moeckel said in a sentencing memorandum that her client was not able to keep his business going and pay his bills. He came up with the idea to steal golf carts to solve his financial problems and “from there it became easier and easier for him to stray from his long held moral compass.”
Nelson pleaded guilty in December to interstate transportation of stolen property. His sentencing calls for him to serve three years of supervised release and pay back about $14,000. | https://www.cenlanow.com/ap-strange-news/man-gets-2-years-for-multistate-motorized-golf-cart-thefts/ | 2022-04-14T10:53:49 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/ap-strange-news/man-gets-2-years-for-multistate-motorized-golf-cart-thefts/ |
Amazon is taking a step to offset its rising costs, announcing Wednesday it will add a 5% “fuel and inflation surcharge” to fees it charges third-party sellers who use the e-commerce giant’s fulfillment services.
The Seattle-based company said on its website that the added fees, which take effect April 28, are “subject to change” and will apply to both apparel and non-apparel items.
The latest fee hike follows one announced in November and went into effect in January. Amazon didn’t immediately respond to a request for further details on the recent move. But in a notice sent to sellers Wednesday, the company said its costs had gone up since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic due to increases in hourly wages, the hiring of workers and construction of more warehouses.
It said it had absorbed costs whenever possible, and only increased fees to address permanent costs and to be competitive with other providers. Amazon competitors FedEx and UPS both have fuel surcharges.
“In 2022, we expected a return to normalcy as COVID-19 restrictions around the world eased, but fuel and inflation have presented further challenges,” the company said in the notice.
Federal data released Tuesday showed inflation jumped 8.5% in March, its fastest pace in more than 40 years.Gasoline prices have rocketed 48% in the past 12 months.
Though the company is blaming inflation and rising fuel costs for the surcharge, Stacy Mitchell, co-director for the anti-monopoly group Institute for Local Self-Reliance, criticized Wednesday’s announcement, saying Amazon was taking advantage of the moment.
“Amazon keeps increasing its fees on the sellers that have to depend on its platform,” Mitchell said, adding the new fees are a way “to take more money out of the pockets of independent businesses and put it into Amazon’s coffers.”
Amazon’s third-party marketplace, where independent merchants list millions of their products, is a huge part of its business. It has about 2 million sellers, and more than half the goods sold on Amazon.com come from these sellers.
Last year, sellers paid Amazon about $103 billion in fees, which made up about 22% of the company’s revenue. The online retailer said the new fees will apply to products ordered before April 28 but shipped and delivered after that date. Amazon is also expected to release its earnings report from the first three months of this year on April 28.
Amazon has long faced accusations of undercutting merchants that sell on its platform by making “knock-offs,” or very similar products, and boosting their presence on the site.
___
Associated Press journalist Manuel Valdes in Seattle contributed to this report. | https://www.cenlanow.com/business/amazon-adds-5-fuel-and-inflation-surcharge-to-seller-fees/ | 2022-04-14T10:53:56 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/business/amazon-adds-5-fuel-and-inflation-surcharge-to-seller-fees/ |
Bed Bath & Beyond was unable to overcome supply issues during the final quarter of the year that have tripped up the home goods chain for months and it warned Wednesday that those problems are carrying over into the new year.
It also reported a surprise loss in a quarter when many other retailers booked surging profits.
The retailer has been unable to secure popular merchandise and it’s dragging down sales. For the three months ended Feb. 26, sales fell 22% to $2.05 billion.
Shortages led to an estimated negative impact of about $175 million in sales during the quarter, CEO Mark Tritton said.
Comparable store sales, which includes online sales, slumped 12%.
“The lack of available inventory to sell proved to be a continuing impediment to sales through the remainder of the fourth quarter and into the early part of fiscal 2022,” Tritton said in prepared statement. “Specifically, despite our overall inventory levels, product in transit, not available for sale or held at port remained abnormally high, particularly in key items.”
Some industry analysts were skeptical. Global supply disruptions have been well documented as nations emerge from the worst economic shocks of the pandemic. But Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, said supply issues at Bed Bath & Beyond, “have been occurring for a long time and are deep seated.”
“Perhaps the most worrying thing is that if Bed Bath & Beyond is delivering such rotten numbers during a period of extremely elevated demand when consumer confidence was riding high, how will it fare now that the retail economy is turning sour?” Saunders asked. “In a more constrained economic environment, we are concerned that the company’s fortunes may well deteriorate further.”
Economists have grown concerned over the resiliency of consumer demand as inflation soars. On Tuesday, the U.S. reported that inflation in the past year rose at its fastest pace in more than four decades.
Shares of Bed Bath & Beyond, down 40% over the past year, slipped another 2% Wednesday.
Tritton said the Union, New Jersey, company is investing in supply chain and technological infrastructure to rectify its supply issues.
During the fourth quarter, Bed Bath & Beyond lost $159 million, or $1.79 per share. Stripping out nonrecurring benefits, it lost 92 cents per share. That caught industry analysts, who had been expecting a 2 cent per-share profit according to a poll by Zacks Investment Research, by surprise.
During the same quarter last year, the company earned $9 million, or 8 cents per share. | https://www.cenlanow.com/business/bed-bath-beyond-snared-by-ongoing-supply-issues/ | 2022-04-14T10:54:03 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/business/bed-bath-beyond-snared-by-ongoing-supply-issues/ |
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California wants electric vehicle sales to triple in the next four years to 35% of all new car purchases, an aggressive target set as part of the goal to phase out the sale of gas-powered cars by the middle of next decade.
The California Air Resources Board’s proposal would slowly raise the sale of new cars that are electric, hydrogen-powered or plug-in hybrids to 100% by 2035. About 11% of all new passenger car sales nationally happen in California, giving the state significant influence over the auto market. Californians would still be allowed to drive gas-powered cars and sell used ones, meaning planet-warming emissions will still spew from the state’s roadways.
The hoped-for boost in electric vehicle sales will also require a major increase in charging stations. California has set a goal of 250,000 charging stations by 2025, and right now there are fewer than 80,000 stations in public spaces or in parking lots at office buildings, apartment buildings and other shared spaces. The California Energy Commission last year approved spending $314 million over three years for passenger car charging stations and Newsom added more in his proposed state budget.
The release kicks off a months-long state review process and the plan requires approval from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The state is unlikely to face resistance from a Democratic White House. The Biden administration recently restored California’s power to set its own vehicle emissions standards under the Clean Air Act and the president has committed $5 billion to build more charging stations around the country.
A group representing the auto industry said meeting the requirements will be “extremely challenging.”
Passenger vehicles contribute about a quarter of the state’s total greenhouse gas emissions — more than any other single source, according to the air board. The program is one part of California’s efforts to drastically reduce carbon emissions. Between 2026 and 2040, state experts estimate the program would lower emissions by nearly 384 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent annually. That’s a little less than all emissions across California’s economy in a single year.
Elsewhere, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed a law last month setting a goal of requiring all new vehicles in the state to be electric by 2030, but regulators have until the end of 2023 to say how the state will get there.
California’s rules would require 35% of new car sales for model year 2026 to be zero-emission vehicles, including battery or hydrogen powered, or plug-in electric hybrids. That’s a sharp increase from 2021, when about 12% of all cars sold in the state were zero-emission, according to the air board. About 1 million of the 26 million cars currently on California roads are zero-emission.
That requirement ramps up to 100% of all new sales by 2035. Up to 20% of sales by 2035 could be plug-in hybrids that run on a combination of battery and gas power, though the regulations boost how far such cars must be able to travel on battery power alone.
Automakers including Ford and Toyota deferred to the Alliance for Automotive Innovation for a statement on the proposal. The group says the industry is “committed to electrification and a net-zero carbon transportation future” but raised questions about the drastic ramp up in the required zero-emission vehicle sales.
“Automakers will certainly work to meet whatever standards are eventually adopted, but these draft requirements will be extremely challenging even in California and may not be achievable in all the states that currently follow California’s program,” the group said.
Nine states follow California’s current zero-emission vehicle rules, which set rules through model year 2025, and five states plan to join in future years. If the federal government approves California’s new plan, the other states would have to decide whether to follow suit. New York also aims to phase out gas powered vehicles by 2035.
The regulations also require electric vehicles to get at least 150 miles (241 kilometers) per charge, up from 50 miles (80 kilometers), though most manufacturers exceed that. They establish an eight-year or 100,000-mile (161,000-kilometer) battery warranty.
All 17 carmakers that sell in California would be required to hit the 35% sales mark. But there is wiggle room. California’s existing electric vehicle standards let companies save credits if they sell a higher percentage of electric cars than required, and those credits can be used later to meet sales goals.
Companies can also make deals with each other to count each other’s sales as their own. Electric-vehicle maker Tesla has made such deals with many automakers in the past, state officials said.
Some environmental groups said the state should set an even more aggressive timeline, arguing heavily polluted communities can’t wait, and make it easier for low-income people to purchase electric vehicles.
“There’s no excuse for California to take the slow road to an all-electric future when we’re being gouged at the gas pump and facing epic drought and wildfires,” said Scott Hochberg a transportation attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute.
___
Associated Press journalist Tom Krisher in Detroit contributed. | https://www.cenlanow.com/business/california-plan-aims-to-triple-sale-of-electric-cars-by-2026/ | 2022-04-14T10:54:10 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/business/california-plan-aims-to-triple-sale-of-electric-cars-by-2026/ |
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A top civil rights lawyer for California was fired while working on a discrimination case against video game giant Activision Blizzard and her colleague quit in protest Wednesday, a whistleblower attorney said.
Janette Wipper was fired on March 29 in “the midst of her success” in pursuing the case as chief counsel for the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing, said her lawyer, Alexis Ronickher.
Melanie Proctor, an assistant chief counsel also involved in the Activision case, resigned Wednesday on what was Proctor’s official last day, the attorney said.
Ronickher didn’t specify why Wipper was terminated. However, she said Wipper is considering filing a claim under California’s whistleblower protection law.
The lawyer noted that Gov. Gavin Newsom had reappointed Wipper to her position just four months before she was being terminated.
Bloomberg was first to report the shakeup Wednesday, citing an email from Proctor to department staff accusing Newsom and his office of interfering with the Activision lawsuit.
“For there to be justice, those with political influence must be forced to play by the same set of laws and rules,” Ronickher said in a statement.
“Claims of interference by our office are categorically false,” Newsom spokesperson Erin Mellon said in a statement Wednesday.
The administration supports the fair employment department’s efforts “to fight all forms of discrimination and protect Californians,” Mellon said.
The agency sued the Santa Monica-based video game company in July, alleging a “frat boy” culture that had become a “breeding ground for harassment and discrimination against women.”
It was one of several legal problems affecting the maker of Call of Duty and Candy Crush, dragging down its stock price last year and paving the way for Xbox-maker Microsoft to make a takeover bid.
The $68.7 billion all-cash deal was announced in January. If approved by U.S. and overseas regulators, it could be one of the biggest tech acquisitions in history.
In announcing the agreement, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella noted the allegations about Activision and said it will be “critical” for the company to drive forward on longtime CEO Bobby Kotick’s commitments to improve its workplace culture.
Neither Microsoft nor Activision responded to a request for comment Wednesday.
Activision has come under fire from the government and even some shareholders over allegations that management ignored sexual harassment and discrimination against female employees.
A shareholder suit filed last year alleges that the company’s negligent response resulted in a loss of share value.
The company also agreed last year to pay $18 million to settle a complaint by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. After a nearly three-year investigation, the agency concluded that Activision failed to take effective action after employees complained about sexual harassment, discriminated against pregnant employees and retaliated against employees who spoke out, including by firing them.
A federal judge approved the settlement on March 29, the same day that Wipper was notified of her firing. The judge rejected a request by Wipper’s agency to delay the settlement as it pursued its own case. | https://www.cenlanow.com/business/california-state-lawyer-suing-activision-blizzard-is-fired/ | 2022-04-14T10:54:17 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/business/california-state-lawyer-suing-activision-blizzard-is-fired/ |
DENVER (AP) — Frontier Airlines has settled a discrimination lawsuit brought by a group of flight attendants who claimed the carrier discriminated against them during pregnancy and while breastfeeding.
Denver-based Frontier agreed to keep or change several policies to address the needs of pregnant and lactating personnel in settling the litigation, the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, which represented the employees, announced Wednesday.
In their 2019 federal lawsuit, the four employees alleged that Frontier forced them to take unpaid leave for pregnancy-related absences and did not make it possible for them to pump breast milk while working.
Frontier at the time insisted that it offered “a number of accommodations for pregnant and lactating pilots and flight attendants within the bounds of protecting public safety, which is always our top priority.”
Under the settlement, Frontier agreed to clarify that pregnancy-related absences are not subject to disciplinary action, The Denver Gazette reported.
Flight attendants unable to fly because of pregnancy or lactation will be provided the same accommodations as those with other medical conditions, including medical leave or temporary ground duty.
The airline also will keep in place a recent change allowing flight attendants to use wearable breast pumps during flight, provide lactation facilities at its base locations and provide information on lactation facilities at other airports.
“Future flight attendants won’t have to worry about how they are going to fit in pumping between flights or wonder where they will be able to pump safely,” plaintiff Melissa Hodgkins said in a statement released by the ACLU. “I gave up breastfeeding to provide for my family, and no one should have to make that choice again.”
“We’re proud to be at the forefront of accommodating the needs of pregnant and breastfeeding mothers in the airline industry,” said Jacalyn Peter, Frontier’s vice president of labor relations.
Two lawsuits originally were filed in 2019 by a New York law firm, the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Colorado and the Women’s Rights Project of the ACLU Foundation.
Attorneys filed two lawsuits because Frontier’s policies for flight attendants and pilots were different, according to the ACLU. The litigation involving the four female pilots continues in federal court in Denver. | https://www.cenlanow.com/business/flight-attendants-settle-frontier-discrimination-suit/ | 2022-04-14T10:54:24 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/business/flight-attendants-settle-frontier-discrimination-suit/ |
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Shortly after moving to South Florida for a new job with the U.S. military, Shannon Kaufman and his wife, Wendy, signed up for a whole other mission: buying a home.
For months, they scoured listings, strategizing late into the night on which homes to target and working out how much they could afford, even if it meant using some of their retirement savings.
After visiting 200 listings and making offers on 15 homes that ultimately didn’t pan out, the Kaufmans finally found a home that fits at least some of their needs. They’ll be renting it, however.
“We found a place that’s smaller than we want, but it’ll work until we have something built or until the market cools off,” said Shannon Kaufman, 47.
America’s housing market has grown increasingly frenzied, and prices are out of reach for many buyers, especially first-timers. This spring, traditionally the busiest season for home sales, is more likely to deliver frustration and disappointment for aspiring homebuyers than it is homeownership.
The number of homes for sale nationally remains near record lows, fueling fierce competition among buyers vying for fewer homes. From Los Angeles to Raleigh, North Carolina, when a house does hit the market, it typically sells within days.
Bidding wars are common, often driving the sale price well above what the owner was asking. And would-be buyers planning to finance their purchase with a home loan are often losing out to investors and others able to buy a home with cash. A quarter of all homes sold in February were purchased with cash, up from 22% a year ago, according to the National Association of Realtors. Real estate investors accounted for 19% of transactions in February, up from 17% a year ago.
Nichol Khan, a project manager, and her husband Ed moved to Mesa, Arizona, from Phoenix two years ago to shorten their commute to work. Home prices in the Phoenix area have jumped 20% from a year ago to $500,000, according to Realtor.com.
“The prices just keep going up and up,” Khan said.
The couple has lost out on more than a dozen homes they bid on. Some of the homes ended up selling for less in cash than the couple had offered.
“We don’t have $500,000 in cash,” said Khan, 42. “We just could not be competitive with that.”
Fewer homes on the market and high prices have been the hallmark of the housing market for the past 10 years or so. Now, rising mortgage rates further complicate the homebuying equation. Higher rates could limit the pool of buyers and cool the rate of home price growth — good news for buyers. But higher rates also weaken their buying power.
The average rate on a 30-year home loan has climbed to around 4.7%. A year ago, average rates hovered just above 3%, according to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac. The increase follows a sharp move up in 10-year Treasury yields, reflecting expectations of higher interest rates overall as the Federal Reserve moves to hike short-term rates in order to combat surging inflation.
Would-be buyers who applied for a home loan in February faced a median monthly mortgage payment of $1,653, including principal and interest, an increase of 8.3% from a year ago, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
“It’s hard to believe, but I do think it’s going to be tougher this year, in some respects, than it was in previous years,” said Danielle Hale, Realtor.com’s chief economist. “So far, at least, we have seen the number of homes for sale continue to decline and prices continue to rise. Those two factors combined suggest that the competitive market is going to keep buyers on their toes.”
Buyers should set their sights on homes that are listed well within what they can afford, experts say.
“You should be looking 15%-20% below their limit; that gives them room for appraisal gaps, it gives them room for negotiating,” said Tracy Hutton, a broker with Century 21 in Indianapolis.
Being well prepared sometimes isn’t enough when a homeowner prefers to accept an all-cash offer, rather than sell to a buyer with financing.
Wendy Kaufman in South Florida couldn’t even get into an open house for a property on the market after she revealed the couple had a mortgage backed by the Veterans Administration.
“When they saw I had a VA preapproval they said, ‘Sorry we don’t want to work with you.’” she said.
Sometimes, buyers don’t have a chance to make an offer before a home is snapped up, sight unseen.
In the Miami area, so-called “blind offers” have become common as a way to get around other buyers, said Rafael Corrales, a Redfin agent.
One reason is the ultra-low level of homes for sale, which for the greater Miami metropolitan area, was down 55% in February from a year ago, according to Realtor.com.
While every market is unique, there is one common hurdle across the U.S.: affordability. The median U.S. home price jumped 15% in February from a year earlier to $357,300, according to the National Association of Realtors.
The San Jose, California, metro area had 40% fewer homes for sale in February than a year ago, according to Realtor.com. Buyers there have to navigate some of the most expensive home prices in the nation. The median home listing price climbed 13.3% to about $1.36 million in February from a year earlier.
The market trends are a bit more welcoming for buyers in the Midwest, including the Indianapolis metropolitan area, where the number of homes for sale was down about 23% from a year ago. The median home price there stood at $287,000 in February, up 8.5% from a year earlier.
In Raleigh, home listings were down a whopping 55% in February from a year earlier. Competition for fewer homes helped push the median home price to $430,000, a 9% increase from February 2021.
Those trends made for a more competitive market for first-time buyers like Lisa Piercey and her husband, Alex Berardo. First-time buyers made up 29% of all homes sold nationally last month. That share has averaged 31% annually over the past 10 years.
The couple began looking in December for homes at $350,000 or below. They offered $5,000 over the asking price on two properties but lost out to rival bidders.
“That was all we could afford,” said Lisa Piercey, a 32-year old project manager. “It’s really defeating, really disappointing.”
In the end, the couple bought a townhome in a new construction community, though they see it as a stepping stone to a more spacious house with a big yard.
“Its big enough that we can still start our family and then move when the market hopefully dies down in a couple of years,” she said. | https://www.cenlanow.com/business/homebuyers-stymied-by-fewer-homes-high-prices-rising-rates/ | 2022-04-14T10:54:31 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/business/homebuyers-stymied-by-fewer-homes-high-prices-rising-rates/ |
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — A Japanese electric vehicle battery technology company will build a factory in Kentucky, creating 2,000 jobs in a $2 billion investment that reinforces the state’s leadership in battery production, Gov. Andy Beshear said Wednesday.
The Envision AESC plant at Bowling Green in south-central Kentucky will produce battery cells and modules to power the next generation of electric vehicles, the Democratic governor said.
The gigafactory’s products will be made for multiple auto manufacturers globally.
The announcement represents Kentucky’s second-largest economic development investment, the governor said, following an even larger battery production plant announcement last year.
“With today’s announcement, we solidify that the commonwealth of Kentucky is the undisputed electric battery production capital of the United States of America,” Beshear said as he gathered with other state leaders to celebrate the new project.
The Envision AESC announcement comes months after Bowling Green was among several Kentucky cities hard hit by tornadoes last December. Parts of Bowling Green were devastated by the storm.
Envision AESC Group CEO Shoichi Matsumoto said the Kentucky investment is part of the company’s next phase of battery strategy to power electric vehicles in the U.S.
“This major investment builds on our commitment to the U.S. market, supports growth of the electrification supply chain and secures high value jobs for future generations in the region,” he said.
“This commitment takes us one step further toward our ambition to make high-performance, longer-range batteries for a diverse range of automotive manufacturers worldwide to support the EV transition,” he added.
Plans for the Kentucky plant follow the company’s announcements last year to build gigafactories in France and the United Kingdom. Envision AESC has 4,000 employees and 10 production plants in Japan, the U.S., the United Kingdom, China and France.
Automakers are trying to outdo each other with electric vehicle announcements and proclamations that they plan to sell nothing but zero emissions vehicles in the next decade or so. At present, there are 38 fully electric models now on sale in the U.S., with more than 120 expected by 2025.
Automakers sold nearly 4.6 million electric vehicles worldwide last year. LMC Automotive, an industry consulting firm, expects that to rise to nearly 7 million this year and to more than 15 million by 2025. Still, that will be only about 15% of global vehicle sales.
In the U.S., LMC says just over 400,000 EVs were sold last year. The company expects that to rise to more than 2.2 million by 2025. Still, that’s only about 13% of new vehicle sales.
In Kentucky, the Envision AESC project follows last year’s announcement that Ford and its battery partner will build twin battery plants outside Glendale in central Kentucky. That mega-project will create 5,000 jobs to produce batteries for the automaker’s next generation of electric vehicles.
“So once again a company that is redefining the automobile industry is betting their future on Kentucky and our workforce,” Beshear said Wednesday of the Envision AESC project.
The Democratic governor thanked the state’s Republican-dominated legislature for its role in luring the new company. Republican Kentucky House Speaker David Osborne said the new plant announcement shows “great things can happen when we all pull in the same direction.” Soon after the plant celebration, Republican lawmakers started overriding the governor’s many vetoes.
The state’s new partnership provides the company up to $116.8 million from state incentive programs and up to $5 million in grant-in-aid for skills training, the governor’s office said.
Envision AESC picked a fast-growing college town with its plans to build the approximately 3 million-square-foot factory at the Kentucky Transpark in Bowling Green.
“The scale of this project is like nothing our community has ever seen before,” Bowling Green Mayor Todd Alcott said.
Bowling Green is also home to General Motors’ Corvette assembly plant.
___
Associated Press auto writer Tom Krisher in Detroit and Associated Press writer Piper Hudspeth Blackburn in Louisville, Kentucky, contributed to this report. | https://www.cenlanow.com/business/japanese-e-vehicle-battery-company-to-build-kentucky-plant/ | 2022-04-14T10:54:38 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/business/japanese-e-vehicle-battery-company-to-build-kentucky-plant/ |
NEW YORK (AP) — JPMorgan Chase said its first quarter profits dropped by 42% from last year, partly because the bank wrote down nearly $1.5 billion in assets due to higher inflation and Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The nation’s largest bank by assets said it earned a profit of $8.3 billion, or $2.63 per share, down from a profit of $14.3 billion, or $4.50 a share, in the same period a year earlier. The results missed the forecasts of Wall Street analysts, who were looking for JPMorgan to earn $2.72 a share, according to FactSet.
JPMorgan Chase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon said in a statement that the bank sees “significant geopolitical and economic challenges ahead due to high inflation, supply chain issues and the war in Ukraine.”
A year ago, JPMorgan boosted first-quarter profit by releasing more than $4 billion in credit reserves tied to the improving economy and waning COVID-19 pandemic. For more than a year, JPMorgan and other banks had been releasing the funds they had socked away to cover potentially bad loans. Those releases had boosted the banks’ profits significantly, but investors knew these one-time bumps in profits were temporary.
Now JPMorgan is going in reverse. The bank set aside $1.46 billion to write off its assets tied to Russia as well as assets that have been negatively exposed to persistently higher inflation. The bank said most of the Russian exposure was in its investment banking division as well as its asset management business.
In a call with reporters, JPMorgan Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Barnum said most of the Russian write downs were “name specific” Russian companies and assets, as well as some Russian-related derivatives.
JPMorgan is the first of Wall Street big banks to report their results for the first quarter. Analysts expect Wall Street will report a modest, but noticeable, hit to its profits as banks individually report their exposure to Russia. JPMorgan had a modest business in Russia. Citigroup, which had both an investment bank and a consumer banking business, will report its results on Thursday.
Dimon said JPMorgan is optimistic in the short-term about the U.S. economy and consumer spending.
Dimon has said publicly that he believes the U.S. consumer is in the best shape he’s seen in his career. Delinquencies are low and wages are rising, which should make it easier for consumers to pay their debts. JPMorgan’s consumer banking division saw credit card users spend more on their cards, and noticed a jump in travel and entertainment spending as well.
The volatility in markets the first three months of the year due to Russia’s invasion as well as inflation also negatively impacted the bank’s trading desks. JPMorgan’s corporate and investment bank posted a 26% decline in profits from a year earlier. Investment banking revenue and fees dropped sharply, as companies put deals on hold. Stock and bond trading revenues also declined.
JPMorgan shares were down more than 3% in early trading. | https://www.cenlanow.com/business/jpmorgan-profits-drop-42-bank-writes-off-russian-assets/ | 2022-04-14T10:54:45 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/business/jpmorgan-profits-drop-42-bank-writes-off-russian-assets/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — The surging cost of energy pushed wholesale prices up a record 11.2% last month from a year earlier — another sign that inflationary pressure is widespread in the U.S. economy.
The Labor Department said Wednesday that its producer price index — which measures inflation before it reaches consumers — climbed at the fastest year-over-year pace in records going back to 2010 and rose 1.4% from February. Energy prices, which soared after Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, were up 36.7% from March 2021.
The wholesale inflation report came out a day after the Labor Department reported that consumer prices last month jumped 8.5% from a year earlier — fastest annual clip since December 1981.
Under pressure to combat rising prices, the Federal Reserve raised ts benchmark short-term rate by a quarter-point last month and has signaled that it plans several more hikes this year.
An unexpectedly quick economic recovery from the pandemic recession of 2020 caught businesses by surprise. Their scramble to meet surging customer demand overwhelmed factories, ports and freight yards. The Ukraine war and draconian COVID-19 lockdowns in China have further disrupted supply chains over the past month.
“With a new wave of lockdowns in China and the war in Ukraine raging on … risks to the inflation outlook remain firmly to the upside,” economists Mahir Rasheed and Kathy Bostjancic of Oxford Economics wrote in a research report. | https://www.cenlanow.com/business/producer-prices-surge-11-2-in-march-on-higher-energy-costs/ | 2022-04-14T10:54:52 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/business/producer-prices-surge-11-2-in-march-on-higher-energy-costs/ |
NEW YORK (AP) — Actor Cuba Gooding Jr. pleaded guilty Wednesday to forcibly kissing a worker at a New York nightclub in 2018 in a deal that is likely to keep him out of jail.
Gooding also publicly apologized for the first time to two other women who accused him of similar behavior in separate encounters, calling himself a “celebrity figure” who meant no harm.
His admissions were part of a plea deal that came nearly three years after the Oscar-winning “Jerry Maguire” star was arrested in the case that saw several delays as his lawyers sought to get charges reduced or dismissed.
“I apologize for making anybody ever feel inappropriately touched,” he said. “I am a celebrity figure. I come into contact with people. I never want them to feel slighted or uncomfortable in any way.”
Gooding, 54, accused of violating three different women at various Manhattan night spots in 2018 and 2019, pleaded guilty to just one of the allegations. He told the judge he “kissed the waitress on her lips” without consent at the LAVO New York club.
The deal lets Gooding avoid any possibility of jail time if he continues “alcohol and behavior modification” counseling for six months. After that, he can withdraw the misdemeanor plea and instead plead guilty to a lesser violation of harassment.
Gooding was arrested in June 2019 after a 29-year-old woman told police he fondled her without her consent at Magic Hour Rooftop Bar & Lounge near Times Square.
The accuser in that encounter, Kelsey Harbert, was allowed to speak in court on Wednesday, recounting how, out of nowhere, Gooding grabbed her breast “as if I was a piece of meat for dinner that night.”
Harbert, now 31, told the court she thought Gooding was getting off easy, while his accusers continue to suffer.
“I feel very sad and feel very lost for what I can do,” she said.
A few months after his arrest, Gooding was charged in two additional cases as more women came forward to accuse him of abuse. The new charges alleged he pinched a server’s buttocks after making a sexually suggestive remark to her at TAO Downtown and forcibly touched the woman at LAVO, both in 2018.
Gooding had previously pleaded not guilty to six misdemeanor counts and denied all allegations of wrongdoing. His lawyers have argued that overzealous prosecutors, caught up in the fervor of the #MeToo movement, are trying to turn “commonplace gestures” or misunderstandings into crimes.
Judge Curtis Farber earlier had ruled if the Gooding case went to trial, prosecutors could have called two additional women to testify about their allegations that Gooding also violated them. Prosecutors say the judge had since reversed that decision — a ruling that factored into their decision to not go to trial.
“We credit and believe all the survivors in this case,” said prosecutor Coleen Balbert. But under the circumstances, Wednesday’s outcome “is a fair and equitable disposition,” she added.
Along with the criminal case, Gooding is accused in a lawsuit of raping a woman in New York City in 2013. After a judge issued a default judgment in July because Gooding hadn’t responded to the lawsuit, the actor retained a lawyer and is fighting the allegations.
Gloria Allred, an attorney representing three of Gooding’s accusers, said in a statement that they would press ahead with civil litigation to hold him accountable.
“Justice was significantly delayed in this case for many reasons, and I do not feel that justice was achieved today with the entry of this plea, although I do understand why under the circumstances that the prosecution offered a plea,” she said. | https://www.cenlanow.com/entertainment-news/actor-cuba-gooding-jr-pleads-guilty-to-forcible-touching/ | 2022-04-14T10:54:59 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/entertainment-news/actor-cuba-gooding-jr-pleads-guilty-to-forcible-touching/ |
Amazon announced Wednesday its free streaming service IMDb TV will be renamed Amazon Freevee.
The new name will take effect on April 27, the company said in a news release.
The retailer said the streaming service will also expand its original programming by 70% in 2022, with spinoffs of shows such as “Bosh: Legacy” and other series. It will also add more original movies.
Amazon.com Inc. said the ad-supported service has tripled its monthly active users in the past two years and is expected to launch in Germany later this year.
“We’re looking forward to building on this momentum with an increasing slate of inventive and broadly appealing Originals, and are excited to establish Freevee as the premier AVOD (advertising-based video on demand) service with content audiences crave,” Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios, said in the news release.
Wednesday’s announcement comes as the retail giant embraces a path to boost its streaming services. Last month, the company closed an$8.5 billion deal to acquire Hollywood studio MGM, making it Amazon’s second-largest acquisition following its $13.7 billion deal with Whole Foods in 2017. That acquisition was targeted to make the company better compete against Netflix and Disney+. | https://www.cenlanow.com/entertainment-news/amazon-imdb-tv-will-be-renamed-amazon-freevee/ | 2022-04-14T10:55:06 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/entertainment-news/amazon-imdb-tv-will-be-renamed-amazon-freevee/ |
NEW YORK (AP) — Brandon Taylor’s “Filthy Animals” has won the Story Prize, a $20,000 honor for collections of short fiction.
“Taylor is incredibly attuned to the slightest shift in the emotional weather in his characters and writes with absolute precision and compassion about their desires, vulnerabilities, failings, joys, and longings,” prize judges wrote in a statement Wednesday. “His careful attention makes these very ordinary people extraordinary. His sentences are finely tuned, his language subtle and gorgeous.”
The finalists, Lily King for “Five Tuesdays in Winter” and J. Robert Lennon for “Think of Me,” will each receive $5,000.
The Story Prize was established in 2004. Previous winners include Lauren Groff, Anthony Doerr and Edwidge Danticat. | https://www.cenlanow.com/entertainment-news/brandon-taylors-filthy-animals-wins-20000-story-prize/ | 2022-04-14T10:55:12 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/entertainment-news/brandon-taylors-filthy-animals-wins-20000-story-prize/ |
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A pack of sled dogs belonging to an Iditarod veteran and reality TV star killed a family pet in Alaska, officials said.
Authorities in Wasilla are investigating the March 30 incident involving dogs owned by musher Jessie Holmes, who finished third in year’s Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race and stars in “Life Below Zero: Alaska” on the National Geographic channel.
Holmes, who lives in rural Alaska, was staying with his dog team at a Wasilla hotel that backs up to the adjacent homeowner’s yard. He let the dogs loose to relieve themselves when they attacked a pet dog named Lucky, who was attached to a lead in the yard.
When Lucky’s owner, Liza McCafferty, came outside to retrieve the 8-year-old Havanese, she saw a black dog dart from under her deck. It was part of a pack that suddenly appeared in her yard, she told the Anchorage Daily News.
She said the pack looked like it might attack her too, so she retreated. Then Holmes came down the hill to retrieve his sled dogs before returning to the home.
“He came in and was very, very apologetic,” McCafferty said. “He was on the verge of crying.”
Lucky was taken to a veterinary clinic but was dead.
“It was just a really terrible accident due to my negligence,” Holmes said.
Holmes said he has stayed at the hotel more than a dozen times and never had a problem letting his dogs loose to relieve themselves. He suspects two new dogs he had ventured off toward McCafferty’s yard, and the rest of the pack followed.
“There’s no way to not be distraught about this,” Holmes said. He said he’s fully accountable for this and wants to make things right.
Holmes said a Wasilla municipal official told him he would receive 10 loose dog citations and possibly another for animal cruelty, which could affect his mushing career.
Wasilla Mayor Glenda Ledford said in a statement that he incident was under investigation. | https://www.cenlanow.com/entertainment-news/dogs-owned-by-iditarod-vet-reality-tv-star-kill-family-pet/ | 2022-04-14T10:55:19 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/entertainment-news/dogs-owned-by-iditarod-vet-reality-tv-star-kill-family-pet/ |
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi Department of Archives and History is allowing the public to have access to additional papers from the late author Eudora Welty, including letters written by members of her family.
The release came Wednesday on the 113th anniversary of Welty’s birth. She died July 23, 2001. According to her will, the family correspondence was to remain private for 20 years after her death.
Welty, who lived most of her life in Jackson, was known for the lyrical quality of her short stories and was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1973 for her short novel, “The Optimist’s Daughter,” published in 1972. While establishing herself as a writer, Welty photographed scenes of everyday life in Mississippi during the Great Depression for the Works Progress Administration.
Welty’s niece, Mary Alice White, said in a news release from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History that the newly released letters begin with the courtship of Welty’s parents. White said they also include Welty’s correspondence with relatives and papers and letters from others in the family.
“Because these letters were not technically the property of Eudora — they belong to the letter writer — I think Eudora wanted them sealed to respect the privacy of those still living,” White said.
The Eudora Welty Collection was established in 1957, when she donated manuscripts, photographs and correspondence to the Mississippi Department of Archives and History.
The department said the Welty Collection has drafts, revised copies and printer’s versions of her works, including stories, books, essays, reviews, lectures, speeches and drama. The collection also contains incoming and outgoing correspondence of Welty, memorabilia, and negatives and photographs taken by Welty and her father.
Harriet Pollack, Welty scholar and affiliate professor at the College of Charleston, said in the news release that the newly released correspondence provides insight about Welty’s parents; her siblings and their families; her grandmother and great grandmother and their children.
“Through their intimate and everyday interactions with one another, we also come to know so much more about the woman and the writer, Eudora Welty,” Pollack said. “Astonishingly, a very private woman has unpredictably made generations of personal history available to those touched by her art, inviting us to better understand and to more fully engage the elusive woman behind it.” | https://www.cenlanow.com/entertainment-news/eudora-welty-letters-released-2-decades-after-authors-death/ | 2022-04-14T10:55:26 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/entertainment-news/eudora-welty-letters-released-2-decades-after-authors-death/ |
NEW YORK (AP) — A Netflix documentary about Jennifer Lopez titled “Halftime” will kick off the 21st Tribeca Festival.
The New York film festival announced its opening night film Wednesday. While Tribeca has traditionally been held in spring, this year it shifts to the summer, opening on June 8.
Organizers said “Halftime” follows Lopez “as she reflects on her milestones and evolution as an artist and navigates the second half of her career.” In 2020, Lopez hosted the Super Bowl halftime show alongside Shakira.
The film, which will debut June 14 on Netflix, will premiere at the United Palace in Manhattan’s Washington Heights. Tribeca opened last year in the same theater with the Lin-Manuel Miranda musical adaptation “In the Heights.”
Director Amanda Micheli said in a statement that it’s “so fitting to be celebrating this critical milestone in Jennifer’s life and career just miles from where she grew up. To have the opportunity to share this film on the big screen with a New York audience is a dream come true.”
Lopez, a Bronx native, r ecently suggested that she and Ben Affleck are engaged. A video posted on her members-only fan newsletter, showed Lopez gazing at a large green ring on her left hand.
The Tribeca Festival runs June 8-19. | https://www.cenlanow.com/entertainment-news/jennifer-lopez-doc-halftime-to-open-tribeca-festival/ | 2022-04-14T10:55:33 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/entertainment-news/jennifer-lopez-doc-halftime-to-open-tribeca-festival/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — A major effort to overhaul care for people in the United States with mental health and drug problems is gaining traction as Congress and the Biden administration work on overlapping plans to address concerns across dividing lines of politics, geography and race.
Top goals include responding to the mental health crisis among youth, increasing the supply of professional counselors and clinicians, narrowing a persistent gap between care for physical and mental health problems, and preserving access to telehealth services that proved their usefulness in the pandemic.
COVID-19 has laid bare the need.
The U.S. was already in a mental health crisis, with suicide rates climbing and chronic problems accessing treatment. The opioid epidemic had a firm grip on cities and small towns. But the coronavirus made everything worse.
An analysis of government data found that about 4 in 10 adults reported symptoms of anxiety or depression in the first year of the pandemic, compared with about 1 in 10 before that. More than 100,000 people died of drug overdoses from May 2020 to April 2021,a record for lethality, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Trying to translate need into action, the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee are working to produce bipartisan legislation this summer.
Leaders of the Finance Committee have enlisted pairs of senators — one Democrat, one Republican — to develop policy ideas in five broad areas. The committee has jurisdiction over major government health insurance programs while the other committee oversees private insurance and public health.
“I think everybody understands the challenge of threading the needle in a 50-50 Senate,” said the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. But, he added, “the most important takeaway for me is that the urgency is different … more people are falling between the cracks.”
President Joe Biden seems to be on the same page.
He released a comprehensive mental health and drug treatment plan as part of his State of the Union message. “Artificial distinctions between physical health and mental health are really not sustainable or relevant in the 21st century,” White House domestic policy adviser Susan Rice said in a recent speech to the Brookings Institution think thank.
House committees are also at work.
“There is a very nonpartisan aspect to this — I wouldn’t even say it’s bipartisan,” said policy expert Hannah Wesolowski of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. “The need for a rapid scale-up of mental health services is one of the few issues where the parties can come together.”
It’s happening as the government plans to roll out 988 — the new three-digit number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline — in July.
While lawmakers acknowledge the need for government action, details remain contentious. Democrats want bold strokes. Republicans are wary of new federal mandates and looking to restrain costs.
“This committee has a strong track record of generating consensus-based bills,” Sen. Mike Crapo of Idaho, the top Republican on Senate Finance Committee, said earlier this year. “I truly believe we can replicate that success here.”
A key player is noncommittal.
The office of Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky had no comment on efforts in that committee. If McConnell were to oppose legislation, that would greatly complicate the prospects.
Nothing seems to have rattled policymakers more than a sharp increase in mental health problems among youth. Isolation and loss in the pandemic compounded the usual trials of passage into adulthood. Emergency room visits for suspected suicide attempts increased, especially for adolescent girls, according to CDC.
As illicit drugs are routinely laced with potent fentanyl, new research shows a striking jump in overdose deaths among 14- to 18-year-olds.
The Finance Committee is considering increased spending on in-school mental health services, broader use of telehealth for youth and more financial support to train youth mental health workers. Young people in rural areas and minority communities have more difficulty getting services. Biden’s plan calls for more money for school-based services, along with new social media safeguards for kids — also an issue of interest on Capitol Hill.
An overarching focus both for the White House and lawmakers is the widely recognized shortage of mental health professionals. Plans would invest billions in building up the workforce by supporting training and education, but that could take years. There’s discussion about immediately increasing the supply of counselors by allowing a wider range of professionals, including family and marriage therapists, to bill government health programs.
There’s also support for Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics, a relatively new care model that offers services 24/7 to people dealing with drug and mental health crises. Centers rely on peer counselors, often in recovery from their own addictions.
A glaring inconsistency lawmakers want to address is the coverage gap between mental health and physical conditions. Parity is required by U.S. laws, but the reality can be far different. Some insurers honor parity on paper only, maintaining“ghost networks” of mental health providers who are not taking new patients — a dead end. Even Medicare falls short on parity. The program has a 190-day limit on inpatient psychiatric care.
Many Democrats would like to spell out mental health coverage requirements for private health insurance. But Republicans do not support new mandates. A compromise could involve civil fines on insurers that ignore legal obligations to cover mental health care.
One area where there does not seem to be much disagreement is telehealth, which was expanded in the pandemic. Video counseling and even voice-only sessions are becoming standard tools for mental health and drug treatment counseling. Making that coverage permanent would involve a cost. But lawmakers, particularly in rural areas, like the flexibility.
While there is clear momentum, that does not guarantee results in Congress. “I don’t know how it’s going to end up,” said Reyna Taylor, policy and advocacy chief for the National Council for Mental Wellbeing. “What I am happy to see is all the communication that is going on between the committees of jurisdiction.” | https://www.cenlanow.com/health/bipartisan-push-on-mental-health-crisis-that-covid-worsened/ | 2022-04-14T10:55:40 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/health/bipartisan-push-on-mental-health-crisis-that-covid-worsened/ |
CIUDAD DE GOSEN, Peru (AP) — Every day for more than two years, Cindy Cueto has woken up in the house she shares with her three children atop a desert hill in Peru’s capital, and wondered: “What are we going to eat?”
The 39-year-old bands together with her neighbors in impoverished Ciudad de Gosen each day to cook up a “common pot” of food, a survival strategy that surfaced in Lima’s sprawling shantytowns with the coronavirus pandemic. It has since expanded to ameliorate the impacts of the rising prices of food, fuel and fertilizer due to global inflation, the war in Ukraine and a government ineffective in keeping its promise to help the most vulnerable.
The common pot, comparable to a small-scale soup kitchen, provides them one meal a day. Cueto and her neighbors try to track down the cheapest food in the markets, buying cow bones, chicken offal, rice and potatoes. They keep their eyes open for any charity from more fortunate Peruvians.
“We don’t buy meat. It’s very expensive, we only have enough for bones to make soup,” Cueto, whose husband works as a security guard, said as she counted her coins. “The money goes like this,” she said, snapping her fingers.
On Monday — like 15 other days since January — the common pot was empty because they failed to raise any money. A day later, after collecting the equivalent of $16, they bought two kilos (4 1/2 pounds) of chicken bones, five kilos of potatoes and the same amount of rice to feed 70 people, especially children and the elderly.
The inflation sweeping the world has hit Peru’s 33 million inhabitants hard, especially the 10 million poor people who live on $3 a day. Monthly inflation in March reached 1.48%, the highest in a quarter of a century. Soaring prices for food and fuel, combined with the inefficiency of President Pedro Castillo’s government, have unleashed violent protests that have caused five deaths and led to calls for Castillo and Peru’s legislators to resign.
According to government data from February, there are at least 3,400 common pots in Peru, 70% of them in Lima. Most are in shantytowns like Ciudad de Gosen, where there is no running water, electricity is scarce and residents have built their own houses and roads in the dusty earth of the desert hills surrounding Lima. Neglected by the government, they now have had to organize their own food supply.
Ciudad de Gosen residents say the price of cooking gas has tripled since the start of the pandemic. Cueto and her neighbors feed the fire under their common pot with wood scraps they are given twice a month as charity from a carpenter’s shop.
Trinidad Espinoza, a local cooking gas vendor, said even she uses firewood.
“I can’t even afford a canister myself,” she said.
The response by Peru’s government to rising hunger and spreading unrest has been ineffective, this despite coming to office on promises to prioritize the poor.
Castillo, a rural teacher before winning election, has changed his Cabinet four times during just nine months in office and been criticized for appointing inexperienced allies and neophytes to key ministries. Peru’s unicameral congress has twice tried to remove him from office.
Surveys by Peru’s major polling companies show about three quarters of Peruvians disapproving of his performance as president, and 79% disapproving of congress.
“They don’t care about people, they fight all the time for their interests,” said Enedina Avilés, 66, who lives alone a few steps from the common pot.
To control the social unrest, protests and road blockades that have hit the Andean country in recent weeks, the government has prohibited protests on major highways for 30 days. It has also lifted a fuel tax, but people complain that prices remain high.
On April 5, authorities briefly ordered Lima’s 10 million residents to stay in their homes and shut down public transport in a lockdown reminiscent of the coronavirus pandemic. A Lima lawmaker angered many when he justified the 22-hour lockdown by calling those living in the impoverished hills surrounding Lima “looters.”
Cueto’s husband, Walter Ríos, works far away from Ciudad de Gosen in a wealthy Lima neighborhood. Without public transportation on April 5, he had to make the 36-kilometer (22-mile) round trip to and from work on foot.
When her husband arrived home that night, she had prepared a bucket of salty water to soak his swollen feet.
“They decide anything without thinking of the consequences,” she said. | https://www.cenlanow.com/health/facing-hunger-perus-poor-band-together-with-common-pots/ | 2022-04-14T10:55:47 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/health/facing-hunger-perus-poor-band-together-with-common-pots/ |
LONDON (AP) — It’s a weekend warrior’s nightmare. You’re playing hoops in the driveway and go up for a lay-up. You land and hear a pop: you’ve torn your Achilles tendon. Do you have surgery or hope it heals with just a cast and rehab? New research says both options led to similar outcomes about a year later.
The Achilles tendon, which connects the muscles in the back of the calf to the heel bone, is the most commonly torn tendon in the body. Most tears are due to trauma or accident while playing sports; men are much more prone to the injury than women.
In the biggest-ever study investigating which treatment is best, scientists in Norway tracked 526 patients — mostly men with an average age of 39 — who ripped their Achilles tendon. They either had minimally invasive surgery, a standard surgery or non-surgical treatment, a brace to immobilize the affected foot and physical therapy. All patients got rehab therapy and were told to avoid risky activities for six months.
There were only slight differences in how everyone had recovered about a year later. There were more people who re-injured their Achilles tendon among those who didn’t have surgery — 6.2% versus 0.6% of those who had an operation. And there were more nerve injuries reported in those who had surgery. About 5% of those who had the minimally invasive surgery reported nerve injuries afterward, compared to 2.8% of those who had the standard surgery and 0.6% of those who skipped surgery. The study was published online Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
“For the average person, who is not a high-performance athlete, there is no need to have surgery,” said Dr. Matthew Costa, a professor of orthopedic trauma surgery at the University of Oxford and not part of the study. Costas said the only benefit to an operation might be to avoid the chance of a repeat injury, but said the chances of that were similar to the risk of a standard complication from surgery, like a wound infection.
He also said surgery could be helpful in other cases, including for people who don’t realize they’ve torn the tendon until long after the injury. In those cases, the tendon may not have been able to heal properly.
Dr. William Levine, chair of orthopedic surgery at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, said patients should talk through their options with their doctor to explore if surgery is appropriate.
“If you tear a tendon, there is a natural healing process in the body that occurs,” Levine explained. “But it may heal in a position that’s not ideal, and surgeons are able to fix it more precisely.”
Dr. Stale Myhrvold, the study’s lead author, said that for people to successfully skip surgery, patients need to have their affected foot in a brace early — within the first three days.
“Most acute Achilles tendon ruptures in adults can be treated non-operatively,” he said in an email. “Most of my patients choose non-operative treatments after receiving this information.”
___
This story has been corrected to fix the spelling of the last name of an expert quoted in the story. It is Dr. Matthew Costa, not Costas.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content. | https://www.cenlanow.com/health/heal-thyself-most-who-tear-achilles-tendon-can-skip-surgery/ | 2022-04-14T10:55:54 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/health/heal-thyself-most-who-tear-achilles-tendon-can-skip-surgery/ |
LONDON (AP) — Scientists are investigating a puzzling spike in liver disease in children across the United Kingdom, including the cause and whether there are any links between the affected youngsters.
The U.K. Health Security Agency said this week that public health personnel are looking into 74 cases of hepatitis, or liver inflammation, detected in children since January.
The usual viruses that cause infectious hepatitis were not found in the cases, and scientists and doctors are considering other possible causes, including COVID-19, other viruses and environmental factors.
While some types of hepatitis are mild and don’t require treatment, other forms of the disease can become chronic and be fatal.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said doctors in other countries should also report potential infections in case the outbreak is not limited to Britain. It said doctors should be on the lookout for children with jaundice and symptoms including vomiting and stomach problems.
The European agency said most cases involved children ages 2 to 5. It said some children had suffered acute liver failure and a “small number have required liver transplantation.” It said there were no travel links between the affected children.
British officials said none of the affected children were vaccinated against the coronavirus, and they ruled out any links to COVID-19 vaccines.
“One of the possible causes that we are investigating is that this is linked to adenovirus infection,” said Dr. Meera Chand, director of clinical and emerging Infections at the U.K. Health Security Agency.
Adenoviruses are common viruses that cause problems like pink eye, a sore throat or diarrhea. They are often spread between people and by touching contaminated surfaces.
“The current crop of cases of hepatitis in children under the age of 10 years is very unusual,” Will Irving, a professor of virology at the University of Nottingham, said in a statement.
Adults are much more prone to suffer severe disease from hepatitis, and children are not usually affected, he said.
The public health investigation will likely focus on studying patient samples and trying to find potential toxins or viruses that might be responsible, Irving said. | https://www.cenlanow.com/health/uk-investigating-puzzling-spike-in-liver-disease-in-children/ | 2022-04-14T10:56:01 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/health/uk-investigating-puzzling-spike-in-liver-disease-in-children/ |
LONDON (AP) — The head of the World Health Organization has slammed the global community for its focus on the war in Ukraine, arguing that crises elsewhere, including in his home country of Ethiopia, are not being given equal consideration, possibly because those suffering are not white.
WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus questioned “if the world really gives equal attention to Black and white lives,” given that the ongoing emergencies in Ethiopia, Yemen, Afghanistan and Syria have garnered only a “fraction” of the global concern for Ukraine. He was speaking in a virtual press briefing from Geneva on Wednesday.
Last month, Tedros said there is ”nowhere on earth where the health of millions of people is more under threat” than Ethiopia’s Tigray region.
Since a truce was declared in Tigray three weeks ago, about 2,000 trucks should have been able to bring food, medicines and other essentials to the conflict-ridden area, he said. Instead, only about 20 trucks have arrived, said Tedros, a former minister of health in Ethiopia and an ethnic Tigrayan.
“As we speak, people are dying of starvation,” he said. “This is one of the longest and worst sieges by both Eritrean and Ethiopian forces in modern history.”
Tedros acknowledged that the war in Ukraine is globally significant, but asked if other crises are being accorded enough attention.
“I need to be blunt and honest that the world is not treating the human race the same way,” he said. “Some are more equal than others.”
Tedros described the situation in Tigray as “tragic” and said he “hopes the world comes back to its senses and treats all human life equally.” He also critiqued the press for its failure to document the ongoing atrocities in Ethiopia, noting that people had been burned alive in the region. “I don’t even know if that was taken seriously by the media.”
Earlier this year, the government of Ethiopia sent a letterto the World Health Organization, accusing Tedros of “misconduct” after his sharp criticism of the war and humanitarian crisis in the country.
The Ethiopian government said Tedros was using his office “to advance his political interest at the expense of Ethiopia” and said he continues to be an active member of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front; Tedros was Ethiopia’s foreign minister and health minister when the TPLF dominated the country’s ruling coalition. | https://www.cenlanow.com/health/who-chief-focus-on-ukraine-shows-bias-against-black-lives/ | 2022-04-14T10:56:08 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/health/who-chief-focus-on-ukraine-shows-bias-against-black-lives/ |
BEIRUT (AP) — The chilling scenes from Syria of victims twitching and gasping for air after chlorine cylinders were dropped from helicopters in towns and villages were broadcast over and over in the course of country’s civil war.
Legal and moral taboos were shattered. Hundreds were killed, including many children, in dozens of poison gas attacks widely blamed on President Bashar Assad’s forces under the protection of his chief ally, Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Several years later, concerns are growing that such weapons could be used in Ukraine, where Russian forces have been waging a devastating war for weeks.
As the conflict drags on, Western officials and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy have warned that Putin could deploy chemical agents.
“The world must react now,” Zelenskyy said.
Officials say they are investigatingan unconfirmed claim by a far-right Ukrainian regiment that a poisonous substance was dropped in the besieged city of Mariupol this week. The claim could not be confirmed by independent sources, and Ukrainian officials say it could have been phosphorus munitions – which cause horrendous burns but are not classed as chemical weapons.
LOWERING THE THRESHOLD
Putin has threatened to broaden the Ukraine war into a nuclear conflict, but it is unclear if chemical agents will be used to support his military operations. Analysts say the Syria war set a horrific precedent in terms of deploying chlorine, sulfur and the nerve agent sarin, completely disregarding international norms and with no accountability.
“From what we’re seeing now, it seems that Russia has drawn the conclusion that it’s safe to continue this modus operandi from Syria in the Ukrainian context as well,” said Aida Samani, legal adviser with Civil Rights Defenders, a Sweden-based group.
“Of course, that undermines the international regulations that we have in place and lowers the threshold for the use of such weapons,” Samani added.
She has joined with other nongovernmental organizations to file a criminal complaint on behalf of a group of Syrians living in Sweden against the Syrian government for war crimes and crimes against humanity related to its use of chemical weapons.
Western officials say Russia may be looking to borrow from the Syria playbook, where Assad’s forces tested the international community’s resolve by gradually ramping up the brutality of attacks and methods.
Part of the equation in Syria was the difficulty of proving anything in the aftermath of such attacks, largely due to the lack of immediate access. Assad, with Russia’s backing, consistently cast a cloud of confusion, accusing the opposition of fabricating evidence or deploying poison gas themselves to try to frame him.
An investigative mechanism set up by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons blamed Syrian government forces for multiple chemical attacks in Syria, including the use of chlorine and sarin in an attack on the town of Khan Sheikhoun in April 2017 that killed about 100 people. At least one mustard gas attack was blamed on the Islamic State group, which held territory in Syria and Iraq for several years during the war that killed half a million people.
In comments reminiscent of Syria, Russia accused Ukraine of running chemical and biological labswith U.S. support, leading to accusations Moscow was seeking to stage a false-flag incident. Ukraine does have a network of biological labs that have gotten funding and research support from the U.S. — but they are part of a program seeking to reduce the likelihood of deadly outbreaks by pathogens, whether natural or manmade. The U.S. efforts date to the 1990s to dismantle the former Soviet Union’s program for weapons of mass destruction.
RED LINES
The assault early on the morning of Aug. 21, 2013, on the rebel-held suburbs of Damascus known as Ghouta shocked a world that had grown largely numb to the carnage of Syria’s civil war.
Fueling the international outrage were dozens of online videos showing victims in spasms, gasping for breath and foaming at the mouth. The attack crossed what then-U.S. President Barack Obama had called a “red line” for possible military intervention in the Arab country.
Obama came close to ordering U.S.-led military strikes but abruptly backed down after failing to secure the necessary support from the U.S. Congress and instead struck a deal with Moscow to eliminate Syria’s chemical arsenal.
By August 2014, Assad’s government declared that the destruction of its chemical weapons was completed. But Syria’s initial declaration to the OPCW has remained in dispute, and the attacks continued.
In 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump launched several dozen cruise missiles at a Syrian air base in retaliation for a suspected nerve gas attack on the town of Khan Sheikhoun in rebel-held Idlib province that killed about 100 people. Experts from the U.N. and the chemical weapons watchdog blamed the Syrian government for the attack.
As Moscow pushes its offensive in Ukraine, world leaders and policymakers are grappling with how the West should respond to a Russian battlefield use of chemical or biological weapons. Members of Congress said the Biden administration and its allies will not stand by if that happens.
Unlike Syria, however, Russia is a nuclear power. Any reaction risks triggering a nuclear confrontation, which Putin has already alluded to.
ACHIEVING JUSTICE
Samani, of Civil Rights Defenders, faults the international community for not making a real effort to seek accountability for the chemical weapons attacks in Syria.
“There hasn’t really been any political appetite to explore how, for example, a special tribunal could be set up for Syria,” she said.
Last week, she and a group of NGOs presented new information relevant to the sarin gas attacks on Khan Sheikhun in 2017 and Ghouta in 2013 to investigative authorities in Germany, France and Sweden.
But justice appears to be a long way off.
“Holding the perpetrators of these crimes accountable for the use of illegal weapons is the first deterrent to ensure that they do not recur,” said Haneen Haddad, project leader for the Syrian Archive, a Syrian-led project that documents human rights violations and other crimes committed in Syria.
“Without meaningful accountability, cruel actors and their enablers think that they can do terrible things without real consequence from the international community.”
—-
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine | https://www.cenlanow.com/international/ap-international/chemical-weapons-use-from-syrian-war-stokes-ukraines-fears/ | 2022-04-14T10:56:15 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/international/ap-international/chemical-weapons-use-from-syrian-war-stokes-ukraines-fears/ |
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – Oxford Street is closed Thursday morning due to flooding.
Several drivers reported seeing high waters around 3:30 a. m. in the 4000 block of Oxford Street, between Meyer and Wayne Trace.
One car did get stuck and was towed out.
Emergency crews at the scene say the flooding is due to a water main break nearby.
City utilities will work to stop the water and make repairs. It’s unknown how long Oxford Street will be closed. | https://www.wane.com/news/oxford-street-closed-due-to-flooding/ | 2022-04-14T10:56:21 | 0 | https://www.wane.com/news/oxford-street-closed-due-to-flooding/ |
SAN FRANCISCO -- Elon Musk is offering to buy Twitter, just days after the Tesla CEO said he would no longer be joining the social media company's board of directors.
Twitter Inc. said in a regulatory filing on Thursday that Musk, who currently owns slightly more than 9% of its stock and is the company's biggest shareholder, provided a letter to the company on Wednesday that contained a proposal to buy the remaining shares of Twitter that he doesn't already own. Musk offered $54.20 per share of Twitter's stock.
"I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy," Musk says in the filing. "However, since making my investment I now realize the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form. Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company."
Shares of Twitter jumped nearly 12% before the market open.
Initial actions since taking over from co-founder Jack Dorsey in November have involved reorganizing divisions without making major changes. The company has long lagged behind its social media rivals and boasts far fewer users.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk offers to buy Twitter in cash deal
TWITTER | https://abc7ny.com/elon-musk-buying-twitter-board-of-directors-twitters-largest-shareholder/11747043/ | 2022-04-14T10:56:21 | 0 | https://abc7ny.com/elon-musk-buying-twitter-board-of-directors-twitters-largest-shareholder/11747043/ |
HELSINKI (AP) — European Union nations Finland and Sweden reached important stages Wednesday on their way to possible NATO membership as the Finnish government issued a security report to lawmakers and Sweden’s ruling party initiated a review of security policy options.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 triggered a surge in support for joining NATO in the two traditionally militarily non-aligned Nordic countries, with polls showing a majority of respondents willing to join the alliance in Finland and supporters of NATO in Sweden clearly outnumbering those against the idea.
Finland, a country of 5.5 million, shares the EU’s longest border with Russia, a 1,340-kilometer (833-mile) frontier. Sweden has no border with Russia.
Russia, for its part, has warned Sweden and Finland against joining NATO, with officials saying it would not contribute to stability in Europe. Officials said Russia would respond to such a move with retaliatory measures that would cause “military and political consequences” for Helsinki and Stockholm. One of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s reasons for invading Ukraine was that the country refused to promise that it would not join NATO.
Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin, speaking Wednesday in Stockholm in a joint news conference with her Swedish counterpart Magdalena Andersson, said Finland is ready to make a decision on NATO “within weeks” rather than months following an extensive debate in the 200-seat Eduskunta legislature.
Marin stressed that Finland and Sweden, two neighboring Nordic countries which have close economic, political and military ties, will make independent decisions regarding their security policy arrangements, including whether to join NATO.
“But we do that with a clear understanding that our choices will affect not only ourselves but our neighbors as well,” Marin said, adding that she would prefer seeing both Finland and Sweden becoming NATO members.
Andersson said Sweden and Finland would maintain “a very close dialogue and have a very straightforward and honest discussions” in the coming weeks over their countries respective choices on NATO.
The only real option to NATO membership could be an enhanced bilateral military cooperation added with the United States and Nordic NATO member Norway, Finnish experts have said.
Marin and Andersson lead the ruling Social Democratic Parties in their respective countries. The parties are expected to announce their NATO views in early and late May, respectively. Parliaments in both countries are ready to finally decide the matter — something that could happen in Finland in late May and a bit later in Sweden.
Complicating things in Sweden is the general election in September, which is likely to be dominated by the NATO issue.
In Finland, President Sauli Niinisto said he was convinced that his country’s decision on NATO will be ready well ahead of NATO’s June 29-30 summit in Madrid, Spain.
On Wednesday, the Finnish government issued a much-awaited report on changes in Finland’s security environment that lawmakers will start debating after the Easter break. The report addresses the pros and cons of Finland’s possible membership in NATO, focusing on supply threats, economic effects, cybersecurity and hydrid threats.
“The war started by Russia endangers security and stability in entire Europe,” Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said as he presented the report. “Russia’s attack on Ukraine will have a long-lasting impact on our own security environment. Trust in Russia has plummeted.”
Andersson said Wednesday that the Swedish government is working on a security environment analysis together with all parties in the 349-seat Riksdag legislature. She said the report is due May 31 but could be finished earlier. In addition, Andersson’s Social Democratic Party has initiated its own separate review of Sweden’s security environment.
___
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine | https://www.cenlanow.com/international/ap-international/finland-sweden-move-ahead-toward-possible-nato-membership/ | 2022-04-14T10:56:22 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/international/ap-international/finland-sweden-move-ahead-toward-possible-nato-membership/ |
The fire broke out in one home on Summit Way just before 10:30 p.m. Wednesday and quickly spread.
As many as six homes were damaged.
Two residents were treated for non life threatening injuries.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
WATCH | Witness describes chaos on subway train amid New York shooting
----------
* More Long Island news
* Send us a news tip
* Download the abc7NY app for breaking news alerts
* Follow us on YouTube
Submit a News Tip | https://abc7ny.com/syosset-fire-nassau-county-firefighters-long-island/11746946/ | 2022-04-14T10:56:27 | 1 | https://abc7ny.com/syosset-fire-nassau-county-firefighters-long-island/11746946/ |
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – The 2016 hit movie Trolls is taking their show to the stage and traveling around the US.
Trolls Live! is making a stop in Fort Wayne April 19th and 20th at the Memorial Coliseum.
Trolls have become so popular, there are now spin-offs and tv shows. Now, they’re hitting the stage. The movie is based off the toy dolls you might have had growing up. In the movie, the trolls set off on a journey to rescue their friend.
On the journey they try to save their village from destruction of the Bergens, creatures who eat Trolls to be happy.
Tommy Bennett, an actor in the live show, says even if you haven’t seen the movie or the tv shows, you should still come out.
“I can tell you right now, you are going to hear music that’s familiar that you’ve been hearing all the way from Motown, to current day music. You’re also going to get a unique show that’s never been seen before, but on Trolls live stage.”
Tommy Bennett
The show does a good job of drawing kids in. The music is fast paced, but it also teaches valuable lessons. Poppy, one of the main characters, teaches a different lesson in each show, and leaves kids learning something new. They also show that by working together, you can get anything done.
The show is for any age group, and kids can get a chance to get up close and personal to their favorite characters with their VIP ticket package. For more information on times and ticket information, you can visit their website. | https://www.wane.com/news/trolls-live-coming-to-fort-wayne/ | 2022-04-14T10:56:27 | 0 | https://www.wane.com/news/trolls-live-coming-to-fort-wayne/ |
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Flooding in South Africa’s Durban area has taken at least 259 lives and is a “catastrophe of enormous proportions,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said Wednesday.
“This disaster is part of climate change. It is telling us that climate change is serious, it is here,” said Ramaphosa, visiting flooded areas of Durban and the surrounding eThekwini metropolitan area.
“We no longer can postpone what we need to do, and the measures we need to take to deal with climate change,” he said.
The death toll is expected to continue rising as search and rescue operations continue in KwaZulu-Natal province, officials said. The province is about to be declared a disaster area by the national government, said Ramaphosa.
“KwaZulu-Natal is going to be declared a provincial area of disaster, so that we are able to do things quickly. The bridges have collapsed, the roads have collapsed, people have died and people are injured,” said Ramaphosa.
He said one family had lost 10 members in the devastating floods.
Residents have had to flee their homes as they were swept away, buildings collapsed and road infrastructure severely damaged. Durban port was flooded and shipping containers were swept away into a jumbled heap.
Authorities were also seeking to restore electricity to large parts of the province after heavy flooding at various power stations.
Rescue efforts by the South African National Defense Force were delayed as the military’s air wing was also affected by the floods, Gen. Rudzani Maphwanya said. The military was able to deploy personnel and helicopters around the province on Wednesday, he said.
The South Africa Weather Services has warned of continued winds and rains and the risk of continued flooding in Kwazulu-Natal and other provinces over the upcoming Easter weekend. South Africa’s Eastern Cape, Free State and North West provinces could be affected, it said. | https://www.cenlanow.com/international/ap-international/flooding-continues-in-south-africas-durban-area-259-dead/ | 2022-04-14T10:56:28 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/international/ap-international/flooding-continues-in-south-africas-durban-area-259-dead/ |
PARIS (AP) — French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen warned Wednesday against sending any more weapons to Ukraine, and called for a rapprochement between NATO and Russia once Moscow’s war in Ukraine winds down.
Le Pen, an outspoken nationalist who has long ties to Russia, also confirmed that if she unseats President Emmanuel Macron in France’s April 24 presidential runoff, she will pull France out of NATO’s military command and dial back French support for the whole European Union.
Macron, a pro-EU centrist, is facing a harder-than-expected fight to stay in power, in part because the economic impact of the war is hitting poor households the hardest. France’s European partners are worried that a possible Le Pen presidency could undermine Western unityas the U.S. and Europe seek to support Ukraine and end Russia’s ruinous war on its neighbor.
Asked about military aid to Ukraine, Le Pen said she would continue defense and intelligence support.
“(But) I’m more reserved about direct arms deliveries. Why? Because … the line is thin between aid and becoming a co-belligerent,” the far-right leader said, citing concerns about an “escalation of this conflict that could bring a whole number of countries into a military commitment.”
Earlier Wednesday, French government spokesman Gabriel Attal said France had sent 100 million euros ($109 million) worth of weapons to Ukraine in recent weeks as part of a flow of Western arms.
Earlier in his term, Macron had tried to reach out to Russian President Vladimir Putin to improve Russia’s relations with the West, and Macron met with Putin weeks before the Russian invasion in an unsuccessful effort to prevent it. Since then, however, France has supported EU sanctions against Moscow and has offered sustained support to Ukraine.
Le Pen also said France should strike a more independent path from the U.S.-led NATO military alliance.
And despite the atrocities that Russian troops have committed in Ukraine, Le Pen said that NATO should seek a “strategic rapprochement” with Russia once the war is over. Such a relationship would be “in the interest of France and Europe and I think even of the United States,” she said, to stop Russia from forging a stronger alliance with world power China.
She did not directly address the horrors unfolding in Ukraine.
Le Pen was speaking at a press conference Wednesday to lay out her foreign policy plans, which include halting aid to African countries unless they take back “undesirable” migrants seeking entry to France. She also wants to slash support for international efforts to improve women’s reproductive health in poor countries, increase minority rights or solve environmental problems.
At the end of the event, protesters held up a poster showing a 2017 meeting between Le Pen and Putin. One activist was pulled out of the room. Anti-racism protesters also held a small demonstration outside.
“The election of Madame Le Pen would mean electing an admirer of Putin’s regime, an autocratic regime and an admirer of Putin’s imperialistic logic,” said Dominique Sopo, head of the group SOS Racism. “It would mean that France would become a vassal to Putin’s Russia.”
___
Follow all AP stories related to France’s 2022 presidential election at https://apnews.com/hub/ french-election-2022.
___
Follow all AP stories on Russia’s war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine. | https://www.cenlanow.com/international/ap-international/frances-le-pen-warns-against-sending-weapons-to-ukraine/ | 2022-04-14T10:56:35 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/international/ap-international/frances-le-pen-warns-against-sending-weapons-to-ukraine/ |
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday defied intensifying pressure over his new border policy that has gridlocked trucks entering the U.S. and shut down some of the world’s busiest trade bridges as the Mexican government, businesses and even some allies urge him to relent.
The two-term Republican governor, who has ordered that commercial trucks from Mexico undergo extra inspections as part of a fight with President Joe Biden’s administration over immigration, refused to fully reverse course as traffic remains snarled.
The standoff has stoked warnings by trade groups and experts that U.S. grocery shoppers could soon notice shortages on shelves and higher prices unless the normal flow of trucks resumes.
Abbott announced Wednesday that he would stop inspections at one bridge in Laredo after reaching an agreement with the governor of neighboring Nuevo Leon in Mexico. But some of the most dramatic truck backups and bridge closures have occurred elsewhere along Texas’ 1,200-mile border.
“I understand the concerns that businesses have trying to move product across the border,” Abbott said during a visit to Laredo. “But I also know well the frustration of my fellow Texans and my fellow Americans caused by the Biden administration not securing our border.”
Abbott said inbound commercial trucks elsewhere will continue to undergo thorough inspections by state troopers until leaders of Mexico’s three other neighboring states reach agreements with Texas over security. He did not spell out what those measures must entail.
At the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge, where more produce crosses than any other land port in the U.S., truckers protesting Abbott’s order had effectively shut down the bridge since Monday. But Wednesday afternoon, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said the protests had concluded and commercial traffic had resumed.
Nuevo Leon Gov. Samuel García joined Abbott in Laredo, where backups on the Colombia Solidarity Bridge have stretched for three hours or longer. Garcia said Nuevo Leon would begin checkpoints to assure Abbott they “would not have any trouble.”
Abbott said he was hopeful other Mexican states would soon follow and said those states had been in contact with his office. On Tuesday, the governors of Coahuila and Tamaulipas had sent a letter to Abbott calling the inspections overzealous.
“This policy will ultimately increase consumer costs in an already record 40-year inflated market — holding the border hostage is not the answer,” the letter read.
The slowdowns are the fallout of an initiative that Abbott says is needed to curb human trafficking and the flow of drugs. Abbott ordered the inspections as part of “unprecedented actions” he promised in response to the Biden administration winding down a public health law that has limited asylum-seekers in the name of preventing the spread of COVID-19.
In addition to the inspections, Abbott also said Texas would begin offering migrants bus rides to Washington, D.C., in a demonstration of frustration with the Biden administration and Congress. Hours before the news conference in Laredo, Abbott announced the first bus carrying 24 migrants had arrived in Washington.
During the last week of March, Border Protection officials said the border averaged more than 7,100 crossings daily.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki called Abbott’s order “unnecessary and redundant.” Trucks are inspected by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents upon entering the country, and while Texas troopers have previously done additional inspections on some vehicles, local officials and business owners say troopers have never stopped every truck until now.
Cross-border traffic has plummeted to a third of normal levels since the inspections began, according to Mexico’s government. Mexico is a major supplier of fresh vegetables to the U.S., and importers say the wait times and rerouting of trucks to other bridges as far away as Arizona has spoiled some produce shipments.
The escalating pressure on Abbott, who is up for reelection in November, has come from his supporters and members of his own party.
The Texas Trucking Association, which has endorsed Abbott, said that the current situation “cannot be sustained.”
John Esparza, the association’s president, said he agrees with attempts to find a remedy with Mexico’s governors. But he said if talks take long, congestion could overwhelm bridges where inspections by Texas are no longer being done.
“The longer that goes, the more the impact is felt across the country,” Esparza said. “ It is like when a disaster strikes.”
The slowdowns have set off some of widest backlash to date of Abbott’s multibillion-dollar border operation, which the two-term governor has made the cornerstone of his administration. Texas has thousands of state troopers and National Guard members on the border and has converted prisons into jails for migrants arrested on state trespassing charges.
Critics question how the inspections are meeting Abbott’s objective of stopping the flow of migrants and drugs. Asked what troopers had turned up in their truck inspections, Abbott directed the question to the Texas Department of Public Safety.
As of Monday, the agency said it had inspected more than 3,400 commercial vehicles and placed more than 800 “out of service” for violations that included defective brakes, tires and lighting. It made no mention of whether the inspections turned up migrants or drugs.
____
Associated Press reporters Acacia Coronado. Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Mark Stevenson in Mexico City contributed to this report.
___
This story has been corrected to show it’s Customs and Border Protection. | https://www.cenlanow.com/international/ap-international/frustration-grows-over-truck-backlogs-at-texas-mexico-border-2/ | 2022-04-14T10:56:43 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/international/ap-international/frustration-grows-over-truck-backlogs-at-texas-mexico-border-2/ |
BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday criticized a diplomatic snub by Ukraine for his country’s president and defended Berlin’s record on delivering weapons to Kyiv amid tensions that have flared at a delicate moment in German policymaking on the war.
President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany’s largely ceremonial head of state, had hoped to travel to Ukraine on Wednesday with his Polish and Baltic counterparts. But he said Tuesday that his presence “apparently … wasn’t wanted in Kyiv.” The German newspaper Bild quoted an unidentified Ukrainian diplomat as saying that Steinmeier was not welcome at the moment, pointing to his close relations with Russia in the past.
Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany later said the government would be glad to welcome Scholz — who, unlike Steinmeier, sets government policy. But the snub to Steinmeier may make that more difficult.
“The president would have liked to go to Ukraine,” Scholz told rbb24 Inforadio, noting that Steinmeier is Germany’s head of state and was recently reelected with broad support. “So it would have been good to receive him.”
“It is, in any case, somewhat irritating, to put it politely,” Scholz added, noting that Steinmeier has strongly criticized Russia’s war and called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to withdraw his troops from Ukraine.
The flap comes amid a discussion within Scholz’s governing coalition about whether Germany should authorize sending heavy weapons such as tanks to Ukraine as that nation prepares to face a stepped-up Russian offensive in the east. Germany broke with tradition after Russia’s invasion to supply arms to Ukraine but has faced criticism from Kyiv for perceived hesitancy and slowness in providing material.
A Ukrainian presidential advisor, Oleksiy Arestovych, told Germany’s ARD television that he didn’t know the reasons for the decision to reject a Steinmeier visit but also signaled that Kyiv would like to see Scholz so that “practical decisions” could be made on matters such as weapons.
A senior lawmaker with one of Germany’s three governing parties, Wolfgang Kubicki, said he didn’t think Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was “well advised” to reject a visit by Steinmeier.
“I cannot imagine that the chancellor … will travel to a country that designates our country’s head of state as an unwanted person,” he told the German news agency dpa. Another governing party lawmaker, Juergen Trittin, told the RND newspaper group that the move was “a big propaganda success for Vladimir Putin.”
Steinmeier, who became president in 2017, served twice as ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel’s foreign minister and before that as ex-Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s chief of staff. During that time, Germany pursued a dialogue with Putin and cultivated close energy ties.
Last week, Steinmeier admitted mistakes in Germany’s policies toward Russia, saying that “we failed on many points.”
Asked when would go to Ukraine, Scholz said only that he had visited Kyiv shortly before the war and regularly speaks to Zelenskyy.
Scholz said “the weapons we are delivering have made a very substantial contribution” to Ukraine foiling Russia’s plans for a quick conquest. He was tight-lipped on the possibilities of a bigger German contribution, but insisted that “we are delivering, we have delivered and we will deliver.”
On Monday, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock of the Green party said “Ukraine needs further military material, above all heavy weapons, and now is not the time for excuses — now is the time for creativity and pragmatism.”
The message appeared directed at more hesitant German politicians, particularly among Scholz’s Social Democrats.
Scholz said “we are delivering the weapons that all the others are also delivering.” He also said Germany won’t make unilateral decisions and stressed the need to prevent NATO countries from becoming a party to the war.
Germany, which has Europe’s biggest economy, also has faced criticism for opposing a quick halt to deliveries of natural gas from Russia, which accounts for about 40% of its gas supplies.
___
Follow all AP stories on Russia’s war on Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine. | https://www.cenlanow.com/international/ap-international/germany-irritated-by-ukraines-snub-of-a-presidential-visit/ | 2022-04-14T10:56:50 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/international/ap-international/germany-irritated-by-ukraines-snub-of-a-presidential-visit/ |
BERLIN (AP) — Germany’s Interior Ministry said Wednesday it has authorized raising the rainbow flag at federal government buildings on some occasions, a move meant to end discussions about unclear rules and signal acceptance of diversity.
The ministry said that flying the rainbow flag “must be related to a concrete date,” such as Pride marches or the June 28 anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall uprisings in New York that helped propel a global LGBTQ movement. There are some national holidays and other days when it won’t be allowed.
The ministry said that, until now, there had been no rule formally allowing the flag, “which in the past has frequently led to discussions.”
“We are a modern and diverse country,” Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said in a statement. “It is high time that we as state institutions also show that more clearly.”
“We want discrimination against people because of their sexual identity to end in all areas of society,” she added. “We want to show solidarity with all those who still experience exclusion.”
Faeser’s decision comes as Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s coalition of three socially liberal parties, which took office in December, pursues an agenda of social reforms.
The government has launched a drive to remove from the country’s criminal code aban on doctors “advertising” abortion services. Among other things, it also wants to legalize the sale of cannabis for recreational purposes, ease the path to German citizenship and lift restrictions on dual citizenship.
The government also wants to scrap 40-year-old legislation that requires transsexual people to get a psychological assessment and a court decision before officially changing gender, a process that often involves intimate questions. It is to be replaced with a new “self-determination law.” | https://www.cenlanow.com/international/ap-international/germany-oks-raising-rainbow-flag-at-government-buildings/ | 2022-04-14T10:56:57 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/international/ap-international/germany-oks-raising-rainbow-flag-at-government-buildings/ |
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) — Patients at the flagship hospital in Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region are dying amid shortages of life-saving drugs and oxygen, according to health officials.
At least 60 patients with kidney disease have died since July, the result of a lack of supplies needed for regular dialysis, a doctor at Ayder Hospital in Mekele, Tigray’s capital, told the Associated Press.
Another 81 patients have died “directly because of a lack of oxygen” since the conflict between the federal government and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, or TPLF, erupted in Nov. 2020, the doctor said.
The doctor spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
Tigray, in northern Ethiopia, has been cut off from the rest of the country since the TPLF recaptured most of the region in late June. Its road networks, banking services and phone lines are all severed, a situation the United Nations has described as a “de facto blockade” imposed by Ethiopia’s federal government.
Ethiopian authorities didn’t respond to a request for comment on dwindling supplies at Mekele’s Ayder Hospital. The institution is a federal teaching hospital, meaning the education ministry in Addis Ababa, the federal capital is responsible for allocating its budget.
The hospital’s 3,600 staff have not been paid for months and many do not have enough money to buy food, hospital officials said, highlighting challenges that reflect a wider humanitarian crisis in the region.
More than 90% of Tigray’s 6 million people require humanitarian assistance, including 115,000 children who are severely malnourished, according to U.N. figures.
Some shortages have been alleviated by aid flights operated by the World Health Organization and the International Committee of the Red Cross, which have flown in 438 metric tonnes (482 tons) of medical and nutrition supplies since late January.
But these supplies represent just 4% of what’s required, according to experts.
As a result, staff at Ayder Hospital say they have resorted to washing and reusing surgical gloves and treating patients with expired medicines. They are also recycling plastic breathing tubes and items used for dialysis.
“This is really risky for the patients; they can die of infections and other complications,” said the doctor. “Doctors elsewhere in the world would be shocked to hear we are doing this.”
The hospital also has been forced to cancel surgeries because of power cuts and a lack of supplies. Some services have been forced to close altogether, including the cancer center, which has treated 1,769 patients since Nov. 2020 but has now run out of drugs for chemotherapy.
“Since July we received no chemotherapy drugs at all,” he said. “We just tell the cancer patients to go back home and they die. There is nothing we can do for them.”
A surgeon at the hospital, who also asked not to be named for safety reasons, said the stock of intravenous fluids has run so low that colleagues have resorted to making their own using “different chemicals” from the hospital’s store.
“It is not ideal,” the surgeon said. “It means when patients go into shock, you can’t resuscitate them. It is so frustrating. You need to insert an IV line and give fluids, but there are no fluids.”
He said shortages are so dire that some patients’ relatives must personally buy medicines from private pharmacies at inflated prices and bring them to the hospital before their family members can be treated.
Patients with kidney disease are currently receiving dialysis once a week, down from three times a week before the war, while the hospital is unable to admit new patients with kidney disease due to a lack of supplies, the doctor said.
Ethiopian authorities declared an immediate humanitarian truce on March 24, a move they said would allow aid to enter Tigray. But since then just one convoy of 20 aid trucks and one fuel tanker have entered Tigray, far short of the 100 trucks the U.N. says must enter every day to meet the region’s needs.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the war, according to estimates by international aid groups.
But there is little hope for peace talks as Ethiopian authorities have outlawed the TPLF, effectively making its leaders fugitives on the run. | https://www.cenlanow.com/international/ap-international/hospital-in-ethiopias-tigray-struggles-to-treat-patients/ | 2022-04-14T10:57:04 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/international/ap-international/hospital-in-ethiopias-tigray-struggles-to-treat-patients/ |
ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — A military drone that apparently flew all the way from the Ukrainian war zone over three European NATO member states before crashing in the Croatian capital was armed with an explosive device, Croatian crash investigators said Wednesday.
The 6-ton Soviet-era aircraft apparently drifted uncontrolled out of Ukraine, crossed into Romania and Hungary before entering Croatia, slamming into a field near a student dormitory early morning on March 10 in Zagreb. About 40 parked cars were damaged in the large explosion, but no one was injured.
Members of the Croatian investigative team told reporters Wednesday that fragments of the drone found at the crash site showed that the device carried an “improvised aircraft bomb” that was filled with unknown type of explosives.
“It was unequivocally established that these were fragments of the OFAB 100-120 air bomb,” said Maj. Mile Tomic. “Both the bomb and its trigger were made in the former USSR.”
The investigators said that they have not yet conclusively determined which side in the war in Ukraine launched the TU-141 drone that was originally used in surveillance missions. But they indicated that the Ukrainians are more like to be behind the launch as “fresh” paint traces of their blue and yellow flag were found on the pieces of the wreckage that also included a red star, the Russian air force marking.
Both Russia and Ukraine have denied launching it.
NATO officials have refused to comment on the incident until an investigation is completed, but the alliance had increased its surveillance flights over countries near the war zone and a pair of US Air Force F-16s were deployed from Aviano Air Base, Italy, to Croatia on March 16, taking part in exercises and bolstering NATO’s southeastern flank.
Croatian officials had criticized NATO for what they called a slow reaction to a very serious incident and called into question the readiness of the military alliance’s member states to respond to a possible attack.
NATO said the alliance’s integrated air and missile defense had tracked the object’s flight path. But Croatian officials said the country’s authorities weren’t informed and that NATO reacted only after questions were posed by journalists.
___
AP writer Dusan Stojanovic contributed. | https://www.cenlanow.com/international/ap-international/investigators-drone-that-crashed-in-croatia-carried-a-bomb/ | 2022-04-14T10:57:12 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/international/ap-international/investigators-drone-that-crashed-in-croatia-carried-a-bomb/ |
LONDON (AP) — An Islamic State supporter was given a whole-life sentence Wednesday for stabbing a British lawmaker to death in revenge for his voting in support for airstrikes on Syria.
Ali Harbi Ali, 26, was convicted Monday of murdering Conservative lawmaker David Amess and preparing terrorist acts. A jury deliberated for just 18 minutes before finding him guilty.
“The defendant has no remorse or shame for what he has done — quite the reverse,” Justice Nigel Sweeney told the court. “This is a murder that struck at the heart of democracy.”
Ali stabbed Amess with a carving knife multiple times on Oct.15 while he was meeting with voters at a church hall in the town of Leigh-on-Sea in eastern England. Ali, a London man with Somali heritage, said he targeted Amess because he backed voting for airstrikes on Syria in 2014 and 2015.
The whole-life sentence means Ali will never be eligible for parole, and will likely spend the rest of his days in prison.
Amess’s family said “there is no elation” following the sentencing and described the crime as “beyond evil.”
“We will wake each day and immediately feel our loss. We will struggle through each day for the rest of our lives,” the family said in a statement. “It breaks our heart to know that our husband and father would have greeted the murderer with a smile of friendship and would have been anxious to help.”
Prosecutors described Ali as a committed, fanatical terrorist and said he spent years plotting an attack on British politicians. Counter-terrorism officers at the Metropolitan Police said they had evidence that he carried out reconnaissance around the Parliament building in London weeks before the murder.
During the trial, Ali told the court he took action in the U.K. to help Muslims in Syria because he couldn’t travel to join the Islamic State group. He also said he did not think he did anything wrong.
He added he had expected to be shot and die at the scene, but decided to drop his knife after seeing that the first police to arrive were not armed with guns.
Amess, 69, had been a member of Parliament since 1983. He was pronounced dead at the scene after the stabbing.
The slaying of Amess shook the nation and prompted questions about security protection for lawmakers because they often meet directly with the public. It came five years after Labour Party lawmaker Jo Cox was shot and stabbed to death by a far-right extremist. | https://www.cenlanow.com/international/ap-international/is-supporter-given-life-sentence-for-murdering-uk-lawmaker/ | 2022-04-14T10:57:19 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/international/ap-international/is-supporter-given-life-sentence-for-murdering-uk-lawmaker/ |
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli forces on Wednesday shot and killed three Palestinians, including a teenage boy, the Palestinian Health Ministry said, as Israeli troops continued a days-long operation in the occupied West Bank in response to a spate of deadly attacks.
The three deaths, all in separate incidents, were the latest in a wave of Israeli-Palestinian violence that has erupted as Muslims mark the holy month of Ramadan.
In two cases, the Israeli military said its troops fired at suspects who threw firebombs at soldiers during West Bank operations.
But Palestinian officials said one of the two, lawyer Mohammed Assaf, 34, just happened to inadvertently drive into a battle zone in the northern West Bank town of Beita.
The other was a 14-year-old, killed by Israeli army fire in Husan, a village near Bethlehem, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
The teen’s death is likely to draw international criticism of Israeli military tactics. Earlier this week, the fatal shooting of an unarmed Palestinian woman drew accusations from European officials that the military was using excessive force.
Murad Shtaiwe, a Fatah party spokesman, said Assaf, the lawyer, was driving relatives to school. They passed through an area where clashes were taking place and Assaf was fatally shot, Shtaiwe said.
“What happened today is a new crime,” he said.
Also, the Israeli police said that in a joint security operation with the army and Shin Bet intelligence agency, troops arrested four suspects in the town of Silwad, near Ramallah. The Palestinian Health Ministry said 20-year-old Omar Muhammad Alyan was killed after he was shot in the chest during the Israeli arrest raid.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Palestinian Health Ministry said at least 18 others were injured as a result of the Israeli military’s activities. The military said one soldier was lightly wounded in the clashes and that it arrested 15 people in its raids Wednesday.
Israel has sent troops to comb through Palestinians cities and villages in recent days, looking for suspects or accomplices tied to recent Palestinian attacks on Israelis. Last week, a Palestinian gunman opened fire on a packed Tel Aviv bar, killing three and fleeing the scene, sparking an hours-long manhunt that culminated in his killing by police.
That assault, as well as three other attacks elsewhere in Israel in recent weeks, have killed 14 people, the deadliest outburst of bloodshed against Israelis in years.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s office accused Israel of destabilizing the West Bank, saying the situation “has become dangerous and sensitive and is rapidly deteriorating.”
On Wednesday, Egypt’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Hafez said the Arab state strongly condemned Israel’s West Bank operations and what he called excessive force against Palestinians. Hafez urged in a statement for “containing such growing and accelerating developments,” which could lead to further escalation and mutual violence.
The tensions have escalated as Muslims mark Ramadan, which this year converges with major Jewish and Christian holidays. In the coming week as Passover and Easter commence, tens of thousands from the three faiths are expected to stream into Jerusalem’s Old City, the emotional heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and a frequent flashpoint for violence.
Unrest in Jerusalem during last year’s Ramadan escalated into an 11-day war between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza.
In the Gaza Strip, Palestinian militant groups called on Palestinian residents of the West Bank and Israel to camp out at Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque this weekend.
After a meeting with Hamas’s Gaza leader Yehiyeh Sinwar, the factions called for mass protests to break the Israeli restrictions recently imposed on the city of Jenin and said militants in Gaza were on alert “and ready to take the necessary decisions to protect our land, people, and holy sites.”
Israel’s government has sought to lower the flames by moving ahead on its plan to ease restrictions on Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip during the holy month. But, with two of the attackers in the recent violence from Jenin and the surrounding area, Israel has tightened restrictions on movement in and out of the city.
Jenin is considered a stronghold of Palestinian militants. Israeli forces often come under fire when operating in the area. Even the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the occupied West Bank and coordinates with Israel on security matters, appears to have little control.
Israel had made numerous arrests in recent days, and in some cases, Palestinians have protested against the raids. Several Palestinians have been killed in the raids or in response to attacks or attempted attacks.
Late Saturday, Palestinian protesters set fire to a West Bank shrine revered by Jews and smashed part of the the tomb inside. On Wednesday, Israel carried out repairs to the site, known to Jews as Joseph’s Tomb, and a day earlier the military said it arrested a suspect linked to the arson. The military said clashes also broke out nearby as the repairs were underway.
___
Associated Press writers Tia Goldenberg in Jerusalem and Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report. | https://www.cenlanow.com/international/ap-international/israeli-forces-kill-3-palestinians-in-raids-in-west-bank/ | 2022-04-14T10:57:26 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/international/ap-international/israeli-forces-kill-3-palestinians-in-raids-in-west-bank/ |
TOKYO (AP) — U.S. and Japanese warships, led by the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group, are conducting their joint naval exercise in waters between Japan and the Korean Peninsula for the first time in five years, in a show of their close military alliance amid growing speculation of North Korea’s missile or nuclear testing later this week.
The U.S. 7th Fleet and Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force said Wednesday they conducted a joint naval exercise at the Sea of Japan on Tuesday and Wednesday. It was the first time the U.S. aircraft carrier held the exercise in the area since 2017 and is seen as an apparent attempt to deter North Korea’s provocation.
Defense experts have warned that North Korea may launch another missile or even conduct a nuclear test as early as this week when Pyongyang marks the birth anniversary of its founding leader Kim Il Sung. Tension is rising in the region ahead of an annual joint military exercise between the United States and South Korea.
Japan has also stepped up joint military exercises with its closest ally, the United States, as well as regional partners in recent years amid rising concern over China’s increasingly assertive military actions in the regional seas.
Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters that the ongoing joint exercise is “aimed at strengthening military cooperation between Japan and the United States, and is not keeping in mind a specific country. … We will continue to strengthen deterrence and response capability of the Japan-U.S. alliance and to do utmost for the defense of our country.”
Details of the exercise will be released by the Japanese Defense Ministry “when the situation allows a disclosure.”
Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force said its destroyer JS Kongo and JS Inazuma, as well as Japanese F-2 fighters joined USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group “in order to strengthen the capability of Japan-US alliance for effective deterrence and response.”
“Our works contribute to the regional peace and stability,” the Japanese navy tweeted.
A Japanese Maritime Self-Defense official said they cannot provide specific dates and locations of the ongoing joint exercise until it’s finished.
Tension has risen in the area over North Korea’s spate of missile tests this year, including its first intercontinental ballistic missile launch in more than four years.
Some experts say the North’s recent missile tests were meant to perfect its weapons technology, boost its leverage in future negotiations with the U.S. and secure stronger internal loyalty. They say North Korea could soon conduct another ICBM launch, a launch of a satellite-carrying rocket or a test of a nuclear device in coming weeks. | https://www.cenlanow.com/international/ap-international/japan-us-hold-navy-drills-off-koreas-amid-nuke-test-worry/ | 2022-04-14T10:57:33 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/international/ap-international/japan-us-hold-navy-drills-off-koreas-amid-nuke-test-worry/ |
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Migrants in South Africa are living in fear of attacks and even death, Amnesty International said Wednesday, days after a Zimbabwean man was burned to death amid renewed violence against foreigners in some poor neighborhoods of Johannesburg.
Zimbabweans, who make up the largest number of migrants in Africa’s most advanced economy, are mostly targeted, according to the human rights group.
Amnesty International accused South African authorities of “inaction” and “a lack of political will” to stem the wave of anti-migrant violence witnessed in recent weeks.
The violence is driven by vigilante groups who blame foreigners from poorer African countries for South Africa’s rampant unemployment, said the report.
South Africa’s unemployment rate has reached 35%, according to figures released this month by StatsSA. The jobless rate for youths is more than 60%, according to the statistics.
A gang in Johannesburg’s poor Diepsloot township stoned and then burned to death Elvis Nyathi, a Zimbabwean, last week when he failed to produce identity documents showing that he was in the country legally, causing outrage in both South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Nyathi was one of seven people — two foreigners and five South Africans — who lost their lives “after attacks and counter-attacks by non-state actors” in the past week, said Amnesty International’s report, describing the deaths as “easily preventable.”
Migrants interviewed in the township by Amnesty said they are living in “constant fear” and “feel unsafe” due to constant harassment from both the police and anti-migrant gangs that move around demanding identity documents from migrants, said the group.
“These attacks represent just the latest wave in a rising tide of violence against migrants in South Africa,” said Amnesty, adding that the assaults are not isolated as they “mirror the heavily-orchestrated, anti-migrant attacks” witnessed in other poor townships in Johannesburg in recent months.
A group calling itself Operation Dudula has held anti-foreigner demonstrations in several South African cities in recent weeks.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa this week criticized the violence.
“We have seen people being attacked, hurt and even killed because of how they looked or because they have a particular accent,” he said in his weekly letter to the nation, appealing for restraint.
In Zimbabwe, authorities say they are engaging the South African government “at all levels,” while the country’s Parliamentarians called for an end to the attacks.
Once one of Africa’s most prosperous economies, Zimbabwe has battled a debilitating economic downturn over the past two decades that critics attribute to economic mismanagement, corruption and poor governance. President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government blames Western-imposed sanctions.
South Africa has said it will no longer renew special permits that allow Zimbabwean migrants to live and work in that country and gave about 250,000 holders of those permits until December this year to apply for regular permits.
It is estimated that as many as 3 million Zimbabweans live in South Africa without proper legal documentation.
Zimbabweans say it is difficult to return home because unemployment is even higher than in South Africa at more than 80%, according to some economists.
“The attacks are deplorable, but they can easily be solved if Zimbabwe fixes its economy,” opposition leader Nelson Chamisa told The Associated Press Wednesday.
“Zimbabweans are forced to run away from their country and live wretched lives elsewhere because they have no future in their own country,” Chamisa said.
Despite the threat of violence in South Africa, many Zimbabweans are still willing to risk sneaking across the border without documentation to try their luck in South Africa to escape the biting conditions at home.
“There is nothing for me here,” said Jonathan Sibanda 21, an unemployed resident of the capital, Harare. “I am willing to take that chance rather than die a slow death here in Zimbabwe.” | https://www.cenlanow.com/international/ap-international/migrants-to-south-africa-face-threats-says-amnesty-report/ | 2022-04-14T10:57:40 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/international/ap-international/migrants-to-south-africa-face-threats-says-amnesty-report/ |
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine said its forces struck and seriously damaged the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, dealing a potentially major setback to Moscow’s troops as they try to regroup for a renewed offensivein eastern Ukraine after retreating from much of the north, including the capital.
Russia said Thursday the entire crew of the Moskva, a warship that would typically have 500 sailors on board, was forced to evacuate after a fire overnight and also reported it was badly damaged. But it did not acknowledge any attack, which, in addition to any practical impact, would also deal a major blow to Russian prestige seven weeks into a war that is already widely seen as a historic blunder.
The damage to the ship came hours after some of Ukraine’s allies sought to rally new support for the embattled country. On a visit with leaders from three other EU countries on Russia’s doorstep who fear they could next be in Moscow’s sights, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda declared that “the fight for Europe’s future is happening here.”
Meanwhile, U.S. President Joe Biden, who called Russia’s actions in Ukraine “a genocide”this week, approved $800 million in new military assistanceto Kyiv. He said weapons from the West have sustained Ukraine’s fight so far and “we cannot rest now.”
The news of the flagship’s damage overshadowed Russian claims of advances in the southern port city of Mariupol, where they have been battling the Ukrainians since the early days of the invasion in some of the heaviest fighting of the war — at a horrific cost to civilians.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Wednesday that 1,026 troops from the Ukrainian 36th Marine Brigade surrendered at a metals factory in the city. But Vadym Denysenko, adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, rejected the claim, telling Current Time TV that “the battle over the seaport is still ongoing today.”
It was unclear when or over what time period a surrender may have occurred or how many forces were still defending Mariupol.
Russian state television broadcast footage that it said was from Mariupol showing dozens of men in camouflage walking with their hands up and carrying others on stretchers. One man held a white flag.
Mariupol’s capture is critical for Russia because it would put a swath of territory in its control that would allow its forces in the south, who came up through the annexed Crimean Peninsula, to link up with troops in the eastern Donbas region, Ukraine’s industrial heartland and the target of the coming offensive.
Moscow-backed separatists have been battling Ukraine in the Donbas since 2014, the same year Russia seized Crimea. Russia has recognized the independenceof the rebel regions in the Donbas.
But the loss of the Moskva, which fires missiles, could set those efforts back.
Satellite photos from Planet Labs PBC show the Moskva steaming out of the port of Sevastopol on the Crimean Peninsula on Sunday.
Maksym Marchenko, the governor of the Odesa region, across the Black Sea to the northwest of Sevastopol, said the Ukrainians struck the ship with two Neptune missiles and caused “serious damage.” Russia’s Defense Ministry said ammunition on board detonated as a result of a fire and that it was investigating the cause of the blaze.
The Neptune is an anti-ship missile that was recently developed by Ukraine and based on an earlier Soviet design. The launchers are mounted on trucks stationed near the coast, and, according to the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, the missiles can hit targets up to 280 kilometers (175 miles) away.
It was not clear if the ship was totally disabled, but even serious damage could be a major blow to Russia, which already saw its tank carrier Orsk hit late last month.
Hours after the damage to the ship was reported, Ukrainian authorities said on the Telegram messaging service that explosions had struck Odesa, Ukraine’s largest port. They urged residents to remain calm and said there is no danger to civilians.
Russia invaded on Feb. 24 with the goal, according to Western officials, of rapidly seizing Kyiv, toppling the government and installing a Moscow-friendly replacement. But the ground advance stalled in the face of strong Ukrainian resistance with the help of Western arms, and Russia has lost potentially thousands of fighters. The conflict has killed untold numbers of Ukrainian civilians and forced millions more to flee.
A U.N. task force warned that the war threatens to devastate the economies of many developing countriesthat are facing even higher food and energy costs and increasingly difficult financial conditions. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the war is “supercharging” a crisis in food, energy and finance in poorer countries that were already struggling to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and a lack of access to funding.
The war has also unsettled the post-Cold War balance in Europe — and particularly worried countries on NATO’s eastern flank that fear they could next come under attack. As a result, those nations have been some of Ukraine’s staunchest supporters.
The presidents of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia traveled Wednesday to war-ravaged areas in Ukraine and demanded accountability for what they called war crimes. They met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and visited Borodyanka, one of the towns near Kyiv where evidence of atrocities was found after Russian troops withdrew to focus on the country’s east.
“There are no doubts that they committed war crimes. And for that, they should be accountable,” Latvian President Egils Levits said.
Nauseda of Lithuania called for tougher sanctions, including against Russian oil and gas shipments and all the country’s banks.
Ireland’s Foreign Minister Simon Coveney, who is also defense minister, visited Kyiv on Thursday.
In his nightly address, Zelenskyy noted that the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court visited the Kyiv suburb of Bucha, which was controlled by Russian forces until recently and where evidence of mass killings and more than 400 bodies were found.
“It is inevitable that the Russian troops will be held responsible. We will drag everyone to a tribunal, and not only for what was done in Bucha,” Zelenskyy said late Wednesday.
He also said work was continuing to clear tens of thousands of unexploded shells, mines and trip wires left in northern Ukraine by the departing Russians. He urged people returning to homes to be wary of any unfamiliar objects and report them to police.
___
Associated Press writer Robert Burns in Washington, and AP journalists around the world contributed to this report.
___
Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine | https://www.cenlanow.com/international/ap-international/neighbors-back-ukraine-demand-accountability-for-war-crimes/ | 2022-04-14T10:57:47 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/international/ap-international/neighbors-back-ukraine-demand-accountability-for-war-crimes/ |
ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Armed gangs attacking remote communities in Nigeria’s troubled northwest are now working with extremist rebels who have waged a decade-long insurgency in the country’s northeast, a top government official said Wednesday.
The gunmen and the Islamist rebels are in “an unholy handshake,” Nigeria’s Minister of Information Lai Mohammed told reporters, for the first time confirming a collaboration that security analysts have warned of.
The result of the alliance is the recent deadly train attack near Abuja, Nigeria’s capital, said the minister. Explosives were used to blow up the rail track in that attack in which eight passengers were killed and more than 100 were abducted and remain missing.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country with 206 million people, has been battling violence in its troubled north and an alliance between the two groups could worsen the crisis, analysts told The Associated Press.
The security crisis is dominated by two groups: bandits many of whom are formerly herdsmen now carrying arms and Islamic extremist rebels of the Boko Haram group and its breakaway faction the Islamic State in West Africa Province.
The partnership between the groups “might drive further attacks on innocent civilians and state infrastructure,” said Oluwole Ojewale of the Africa-focused Institute of Security Studies, as the extremists move their insurgency beyond the northeast where they had been largely restricted for many years.
With the military already fighting factions of the extremists, Nigeria’s security situation is already “dangerous enough,” said Confidence MacHarry with the Lagos-based SBM Intelligence security firm.
“Adding Boko Haram to the terror problem in the northwest would greatly stretch the security forces to more than its capacity,” said MacHarry.
Nigeria’s security crisis continued Wednesday with the abduction of four female students by an armed gang that attacked their school in northwest Zamfara state and the killing of 23 persons in northcentral Benue state, local authorities said.
“It is becoming increasingly glaring every day that my people are now an endangered species and so we can no longer wait for help from anywhere,” Benue governor Samuel Ortom said, repeating his appeal for residents to be allowed to bear arms to “defend themselves.”
The persistent violence, including the killing of more than 100 villagers in the northcentral Plateau state during the weekend, has raised further doubts about the Nigerian government’s ability to restore peace in volatile areas despite having declared the armed gangs as terrorist organizations.
The major problem, though, is “the political will and the will to act,” said security analyst MacHarry. “Boosting the capacity of security services to respond to security crisis is one thing, but actually responding to the crisis is another,” he said.
Responding to such criticisms, Nigeria’s Minister of Defence Bashir Magashi said the government is still in control.
“We are really on top of the situation,” Magashi said. “We are planning hard and we will get it out as soon as possible.” | https://www.cenlanow.com/international/ap-international/nigeria-says-armed-gangs-in-north-are-working-with-militants/ | 2022-04-14T10:57:54 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/international/ap-international/nigeria-says-armed-gangs-in-north-are-working-with-militants/ |
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — In Ukraine, allegations mount of sexual violence against women by Russian soldiers. In northern Ethiopia, a woman taken to an Eritrean Defense Forces camp was raped by 27 soldiers and contracted AIDS. In Central African Republic the bodies of a woman and two girls were found days after their kidnapping and rape by armed fighters. And in Iraq, 2,800 Yazidi woman and children have been captives of the Islamic State extremist group for eight years, many subjected to sexual violence.
These are some of the examples raised at a U.N. Security Council meeting Wednesday on accountability for such acts in conflicts by Pramila Patten, the U.N. special representative on sexual violence in conflict, and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Nadia Murad, a member of Iraq’s Yazidi religious minority forced into sexual slavery in 2014 who escaped her Islamic State captors.
Patten’s opening words were aimed squarely at the U.N.’s most powerful body, which has approved five resolutions that focus on preventing and addressing conflict-related sexual violence. What do those resolutions mean right now, she asked, for a woman in Ukraine, Afghanistan, Myanmar or Ethiopia’s northern Tigray region?
At this time of “great global turbulence marked by multiple crises,” she said, the world has seen “increased militarization, including an epidemic of coups, which have turned back the clock on women’s rights.” And every new war has seen human tragedies “including new waves of war’s oldest, most silences, and least-condemned crime” — sexual violence and rape in those countries and others whose victims “cry out for justice and redress.”
Patten said the gap between commitments by the Security Council, and compliance and reality is evident: The latest U.N. report covering conflicts in 18 countries documents 3,293 U.N.-verified cases of sexual violence committed in 2021, a significant increase of 800 cases compared to 2020. Again, she said, the highest number — 1,016 — were recorded in Congo.
Patten also cited examples in other conflict areas: two women from the Rohingya minority in Myanmar’s Chin state gang-raped by government soldiers resulting in unwanted pregnancies; a woman allegedly raped at gunpoint by Puntland police officer in Somalia where she said “abduction, rape and forced marriage are rampant;” documented cases in Colombia of sexual violence against women ex-combatants and their families; and the torture and killing of a female police officer who was eight months pregnant in Afghanistan’s Ghor province.
The U.N. special representative said the few cases of courts convicting perpetrators “are still the exception that prove the rule of justice denied.” Justice must be delivered in communities as well as courtrooms, and victims must receive reparations to rebuild their shattered lives, she said, stressing that “justice, peace and security are inextricably linked.”
Murad said at moments of global instability — like today’s world shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic, a climate crisis and war — issues like conflict-related sexual violence “tend to be pushed aside as though they are somehow secondary to the real issues.” But she said “the truth is these are precisely the moment when protecting, supporting and investing in women and girls should be urgent priorities.”
History shows that when conflict erupts brutality comes to the fore, and “we are seeing this in Ukraine as we speak, with reports of sexual violence that should alarm us.” Later, she told reporters, “my heart is with the people of Ukraine, especially the women and girls out there that are facing this brutality.”
“Sexual violence is not a side effect of conflict,” Murad said. “It is a tactic of war as old as time.”
Last year, a German court convicted an Islamic State member of genocide in a Yazidi girl’s death in a historic verdict, she said. But despite reams of evidence documenting atrocities IS committed against women and girls, she said the extremist perpetrators have faced few, if any, consequences.
Murad said survivors need “more than moral outrage” and urged the Security Council to vote to refer the Islamic State extremist group to the International Criminal Court to be tried for genocide and sexual violence. against Yazidis. In the meantime, she urged other countries to follow Germany’s example and use the principle of universal jurisdiction to try alleged perpetrators for war crimes.
“If you want to establish deterrence, if you want to assure Yazidi women and survivors everywhere that you stand with us, do not delay justice anymore,” she said.
Britain’s Minister of State Lord Tariq Ahmad, who chaired the meeting, joined her in launching “The Murad Code” which aims to tell investigators, journalists and others in the international community how to support survivors of sexual violence by reducing the burden on them and ensuring that their experiences are recorded safely and strengthen the pursuit of justice.
“The pathway to justice must have obstacles removed,” he said. “So ultimately, it’s all about survivors, that they know what their options are. … They have to be the center of our response.” | https://www.cenlanow.com/international/ap-international/nobel-laureate-demands-justice-for-sexual-violence-victims/ | 2022-04-14T10:58:01 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/international/ap-international/nobel-laureate-demands-justice-for-sexual-violence-victims/ |
PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — The deployment of South Africa’s military in northern Mozambique has been extended while its role has shifted from aggressively fighting Islamic extremist rebels to a peacekeeping effort, a top general said Wednesday.
About 600 members of the South African National Defence Force have been in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province since October last year and have captured and destroyed several of the extremists’ bases, the chief of the South African mission to Mozambique, Gen. Rudzani Maphwanya said Wednesday.
The South African troops are part of a joint regional force of about 1,000 troops sent by the 16-nation Southern African Development Community to support Mozambique in its battle against the rebels. Other countries contributing troops include Angola, Botswana, Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia.
Rwanda has also deployed about 2,000 troops as part of a bilateral agreement with Mozambique.
Addressing the media in Pretoria on Wednesday, Gen. Maphwanya said the offensive by the regional force inflicted “massive losses” against the insurgents. The operation destroyed several bases and recovered weapons including grenade launchers, machine guns, AK-47 rifles, vehicles and technological devices, he said.
“During this operation, the SAMIM (SADC Mission in Mozambique) forces faced a strong resistance from the terrorists but were able to inflict fatal casualties and disrupt as well as continue to dominate and pursue the terrorists in the operational area,” said Maphwanya.
Many of the rebels have been forced out of their bases, according to South African National Defense Forces Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Lindile Yam.
“A lot has been done to dislodge them,” said Yam, adding that the insurgents are trying to get local residents to join their effort to establish Islamic Shariah law in northern Mozambique. “They are even recruiting children as young as five years old,” he said.
Since 2017, the insurgency in Mozambique has been blamed for more than 3,000 deaths, with more than 800,000 people displaced and more than 1 million in need of food aid, according to the U.N. World Food Program.
A summit of leaders of southern African countries on Tuesday approved the transition of the regional force to a more stabilization role, after its more combative offensive against the rebels. | https://www.cenlanow.com/international/ap-international/south-african-army-extends-mission-against-mozambique-rebels/ | 2022-04-14T10:58:08 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/international/ap-international/south-african-army-extends-mission-against-mozambique-rebels/ |
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — The rival leaders of ethnically divided Cyprus on Wednesday kicked off an initiative to give women an equal say in any renewed push to reunify the eastern Mediterranean island nation.
Greek Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and the leader of the breakaway Turkish Cypriots, Ersin Tatar, inaugurated the plan at a United Nations compound off the defunct Nicosia airport, which is inside a buffer zone that runs for 180 kilometers (120 miles) across the island.
The meeting didn’t appear to go well. Anastasiades said after the event that he was “sincerely saddened” by Tatar’s “steady intransigence” after repeating his demand for recognition of the breakaway north as a sovereign state on par with the internationally recognized Cyprus government before peace talks can resume.
The hard-right Tatar upended a decades-long, U.N.-endorsed understanding between the two sides that any deal would be on the basis of a federation by insisting on a two-state peace deal. Greek Cypriots say they would never accept any arrangement that would formalize the island’s forced partition.
Anastasiades also said Tatar sidestepped his appeal to curb the steady stream of migrants who arrive in the north and cross the porous buffer zone to apply for asylum and European Union protection in the south.
Efforts to reunify Cyprus and potentially unlock the speedy exploitation of natural gas deposits off the island’s southern coastline to European markets have remained stalled since 2017, when the most recent top-level unity negotiations collapsed amid mutual recriminations as to who was to blame.
Cyprus was split in 1974 when Turkey invaded following a coup by supporters of union with Greece. Turkey and Turkish Cypriots accuse the Greek Cypriots of being unwilling to share power in an envisioned federation. On the other hand, Greek Cypriots fear a bid by Turkey to place the entire island under its control through Ankara’s demands for a permanent troop presence, military intervention rights and a Turkish Cypriot veto at all decision-making levels.
The initiative is hoped to be embraced as a small, but notable step forward in helping revive peace talks. It was set in motion following a U.N. Security Council resolution last year calling for the full, equal and meaningful participation of women in the peace process.
According to a U.N. statement, a committee made up of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots has been given the job of bolstering gender equality will reach out to women’s organizations, youth groups and others for their views on including gender perspectives in a renewed peace drive. | https://www.cenlanow.com/international/ap-international/split-cyprus-seeks-equal-say-for-women-in-future-peace-talks/ | 2022-04-14T10:58:15 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/international/ap-international/split-cyprus-seeks-equal-say-for-women-in-future-peace-talks/ |
LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s detention of fugitive Ukrainian oligarch Viktor Medvedchuk, the former leader of a pro-Russian opposition party and a close associate of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has been met with enthusiasm in Kyiv and irritation in Moscow.
Analysts saying Medvedchuk will become a valuable pawn in the Russia-Ukraine talks to end the devastating warthat the Kremlin has unleashed on its ex-Soviet neighbor.
Medvedchuk was detained on Tuesday in a special operation carried out by Ukraine’s state security service, or the SBU. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has proposed that Russia could win Medvedchuk’s freedom by trading Ukrainians now held captive by the Russians.
The 67-year-old oligarch escaped from house arrest several days before the hostilities broke out Feb. 24 in Ukraine. He is facing between 15 years and a life in prison on charges of treason and aiding and abetting a terrorist organization for mediating coal purchases for the separatist, Russia-backed Donetsk republic in eastern Ukraine.
Medvedchuk has close ties with Putin, who is believed to be the godfather of his youngest daughter. His detention has sparked a heated exchange between officials in Moscow and Kyiv.
Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chair of Russia’s Security Council and the country’s former president, posted threats to Ukrainian authorities on the messaging app Telegram, referring to them as “freaks” and warning them to “carefully look around and firmly lock the doors at night.”
Zelenskyy’s advisor Mykhailo Podolyak, in response, called Medvedev a “nobody,” and said his words were “nasty and, as usual, stupid.”
“The friendly relations between Putin and Medvedchuk turn him into a valuable trophy for Kyiv, and in the Kremlin they spark fury and a dangerous desire for revenge,” Volodymyr Fesenko, an analyst at the Penta Center, told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “The fate of Medvedchuk will undoubtedly become a subject of bargaining and one of the points of undercover agreements between Kyiv and Moscow.”
Zelenskyy has released a photo of Medvedchuk sitting in handcuffs and wearing a camouflage uniform with a Ukrainian flag patch, in which he looks tired but visibly unharmed.
Medvedchuk’s wife Oksana Marchenko has appealed to Zelenskyy, calling for her husband to be released and given guarantees that “his life would not be in danger.”
“My husband is being persecuted for political reasons against the laws of Ukraine,” Marchenko said.
Medvedchuk is the head of the political council of Ukraine’s pro-Russian Opposition Platform — For Life party, the largest opposition group in the Ukrainian parliament. He is one of its 44 lawmakers in the 450-seat Rada. The activity of his party has been was suspended for the duration of the war at Zelenskyy’s initiative.
“The war automatically turned Medvedchuk into (Russia’s) accomplice, since he personally advised Putin on Ukrainian affairs and directly or indirectly influenced many of the Kremlin’s decisions,” Fesenko said. “Zelenskyy no longer needs to be careful, and by arresting Medvedchuk, he wants to show that he is not afraid of the Kremlin and is ready to bargain, having different cards on the negotiating table.”
Ivan Bakanov, the head of Ukraine’s national security agency, said Wednesday that the Russian security service, the FSB, had planned to evacuate Medvedchuk, disguised as a Ukrainian serviceman, to Moscow through the disputed territory of Transnistria in Moldova, where Russia has troops stationed.
___
Follow all AP stories on the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine. | https://www.cenlanow.com/international/ap-international/ukraines-detention-of-oligarch-close-to-putin-angers-moscow/ | 2022-04-14T10:58:22 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/international/ap-international/ukraines-detention-of-oligarch-close-to-putin-angers-moscow/ |
LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has refused to resign after being fined for breaking his government’s pandemic lockdown rules, saying he would instead redouble his efforts to strengthen the economy and combat Russian aggression in Ukraine.
London police fined Johnson and other people Tuesday for attending a birthday party thrown for the prime minister at his Downing Street offices on June 19, 2020. The penalty made Johnson the first British prime minister ever found to have broken the law while in office.
Gatherings of more than two people were banned in Britain at the time of the birthday party to curb the spread of COVID-19.
“I understand the anger that many will feel that I, myself, fell short when it came to observing the very rules which the government I lead had introduced to protect the public. And I accept in all sincerity that people had the right to expect better,” Johnson said late Tuesday. “And now I feel an even greater sense of obligation to deliver on the priorities of the British people.”
The fine followed a police investigation and months of questions about lockdown-breaking parties at government offices, which Johnson had tried to bat away by saying there were no parties and that he believed no rules were broken.
Opposition lawmakers demanded Johnson’s resignation, arguing the fines given to him and Treasury chief Rishi Sunak were evidence of “criminality” at the heart of government. The opposition argued that the Downing Street gathering demonstrated that Johnson and his supporters believed the rules don’t apply to them.
On Wednesday, a Conservative member of the House of Lords resigned from his role as justice minister, criticizing “repeated rule-breaking and breaches of criminal law in Downing Street.”
“It is not just a question of what happened in Downing Street, or your own conduct,” David Wolfson wrote in a letter to Johnson. “It is also, and perhaps more so, the official response to what took place.”
While the “partygate” scandal poses a threat to Johnson’s government, the world has changed tremendously since the first reports of the parties surfaced late last year.
Johnson has been a leading figure in marshaling international opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and Britain is facing its worst cost-of-living crisis since the 1950s. His supporters are already arguing that whatever the prime minister may have done wrong, now is not time for a leadership contest.
That his Treasury chief also received an undermining fine helps Johnson, since Sunak had been seen as the leading Conservative candidate to succeed Johnson.
But Johnson still faces the possibility of additional fines. He is reported to have attended three other gatherings that the Metropolitan Police Service is still investigating.
He will also have to answer questions about whether he knowingly misled Parliament with his previous statements about the parties, said Jill Rutter, a senior fellow at the Institute for Government in London.
“Governments have to realize that they can’t just make laws and then skirt around them and rationalize themselves that it’s all OK because they’re very important people working at the center of government,” Rutter said.
___
Follow all AP stories on the pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic. | https://www.cenlanow.com/international/ap-international/uks-johnson-rejects-calls-to-resign-amid-partygate-fine/ | 2022-04-14T10:58:28 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/international/ap-international/uks-johnson-rejects-calls-to-resign-amid-partygate-fine/ |
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Russia’s war on Ukraine threatens to devastate the economies of many developing countries that are now facing even higher food and energy costs and increasingly difficult financial conditions, a U.N. task force warned Wednesday.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres released the report saying that the war is “supercharging” a crisis in food, energy and finance in poorer countries that were already struggling to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and a lack of access to adequate funding for economic recovery.
“We are now facing a perfect storm that threatens to devastate the economies of many developing countries,” Guterres said at a news conference. “As many as 1.7 billion people — one-third of whom are already living in poverty — are now highly exposed to disruptions in food, energy and finance systems that are triggering increases in poverty and hunger.”
Rebeca Grynspan, secretary-general of the U.N. agency promoting trade and development who coordinated the task force, said those people live in 107 countries that have “severe exposure” to at least one dimension of the crisis — rising food prices, increasing energy prices and tightening financial conditions.
In these countries, the report says, people struggle to afford healthy diets, imports are essential to meet food and energy needs, and “debt burdens and tightening resources limit government’s ability to cope with the vagaries of global financial conditions.”
The report says 69 of the countries, with a population of 1.2 billion people, face a “perfect storm” and are severely or significantly exposed to all three crises. They include 25 countries in Africa, 25 in Asia and the Pacific, and 19 in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, prices were already on the rise, “but the war has made a bad situation worse,” Guterres said.
Thirty-six countries rely on Russia and Ukraine for more than half their wheat imports, including some of the world’s poorest countries, he said, and wheat and corn prices have risen 30% just since the start of the year.
Russia is also the world’s top natural gas exporter and second-largest oil exporter, and Russia and neighboring Belarus export about 20% of the world’s fertilizers. Guterres said oil prices have increased more than 60% over the past year, natural gas prices have jumped 50% in recent months, and fertilizer prices have doubled.
The task force said the world is “on the brink of a global debt crisis.” Grynspan, who heads the U.N. Conference on Trade and Development, pointed to Sri Lanka’s default on a debt payment Tuesday and said other countries are asking for help.
Guterres said the world can act to tackle the “three-dimensional crisis” and “cushion the blow.”
The task force calls on countries to ensure a steady flow of food and fertilizer through open markets, lift export restrictions, and direct surpluses and reserves to those in need. Guterres said this would help keep a lid on food prices and calm volatility in food markets.
On energy, the task force urges governments to refrain from hoarding, immediately release strategic petroleum stockpiles and additional reserves, and reduce the use of wheat for biofuels. Guterres urged countries to use the crisis as an opportunity to accelerate the transition to renewable energy.
On finance, the task force issued “an urgent call for prompt and swift action from the international community” to help developing countries avoid another decade of lost economic development, “a generalized debt crisis, and social and political instability.”
The task force says international financial institutions should provide emergency concessional financing to countries experiencing social and economic distress.
It calls on the International Monetary Fund to increase limits for rapid financial assistance, suspend interest rate surcharges for two years, and explore the possibility of providing more liquidity “through special drawing rights or special measures targeted at the vulnerable and most affected countries.”
Guterres said the upcoming spring meetings of the IMF and the World Bank on April 18-24 are “a crucial moment” for decisions on many of these issues. He said it is crucial that their members understand the need to use money that is available to alleviate the suffering of people around the world.
The U.N. chief said political will is key, and announced that he has asked six leaders — the presidents of Senegal and Indonesia and the prime ministers of Germany, Barbados, Denmark and Bangladesh — to mobilize political leaders to ensure that developing countries in crisis get the help they need. | https://www.cenlanow.com/international/ap-international/un-says-ukraine-war-threatens-to-devastate-many-poor-nations/ | 2022-04-14T10:58:35 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/international/ap-international/un-says-ukraine-war-threatens-to-devastate-many-poor-nations/ |
SALADO, Texas (AP) — Nearly two dozen people were injured when tornadoes swept through central Texas as part of a storm system that was expected to spawn more twisters and damaging winds Wednesday.
The storms caused widespread damage Tuesday in Salado, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Austin. Bell County Judge David Blackburn said 23 people were injured, one of them critically. Twelve of the injured were taken to hospitals, Blackburn said.
“There’s not much left,” said Blackburn, the county’s top elected official. “Large trees are uprooted and overturned and stripped. Buildings really reduced to rubble. … Power lines, power poles, are scattered all over the place. It’s pretty devastating.”
Photos on social media showed grapefruit-size hail associated with that storm.
Tornadoes were also spotted Tuesday in Iowa, but there were no reports of serious injuries. In Lincoln, Nebraska, powerful wind gusts knocked down tree limbs and caused some roof damage. A possible tornado also caused damage in the small southern Minnesota town of Taopi near the state’s border with Iowa.
Mower County Sheriff Steve Sandvik said dispatchers began getting calls from residents trapped in their damaged homes not long after a tornado warning siren sounded at 10:30 p.m. Tuesday. There were no reports of serious injuries. Weather service crews were assessing damage in the area Wednesday.
More tornadoes were in the forecast Wednesday for parts of the mid-South and in the Mississippi River Valley, the Storm Prediction Center said.
Hurricane-force winds, intense tornadoes and large hail were possible in Arkansas, Illinois, Tennessee, Missouri, Kentucky, Mississippi, Indiana, Louisiana and Alabama, forecasters said. Little Rock, Arkansas, and Memphis, Tennessee, were among the cities that could see the worst weather Wednesday, the Storm Prediction Center said.
Elsewhere, the North Dakota Capitol, schools, government offices and interstates remained closed Wednesday as a blizzard continued to bear down on the state.
A blizzard warning issued by the National Weather Service remained in effect through Thursday for most of western and central North Dakota where up to 2 feet (60 centimeters) of snow was expected. | https://www.cenlanow.com/national/23-injured-in-texas-storms-more-tornadoes-forecast-in-us/ | 2022-04-14T10:58:42 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/national/23-injured-in-texas-storms-more-tornadoes-forecast-in-us/ |
NEW YORK (AP) — The shooting this week of 10 people by a man who deployed smoke grenades and fired at least 33 shots in a commuter-packed Brooklyn subway car was hardly the first time New Yorkers have grappled with an act of violence.
Over the past 40 years, New York has endured multiple subway and train shootings, bombing attempts, a vehicular attack on pedestrians and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack.
The suspect in the latest assault was taken into custody Wednesday, about 30 hours after the shooting. The attack left five victims in critical condition and put residents of the nation’s most populous city on edge
A look at some of the attacks in the city over the past four decades:
___
1984 SUBWAY SHOOTING
Thirty-eight years ago, a man shot four Black teenson the 2 train in Manhattan at a time of widespread crime in the city, sparking a nationwide debate on racism, gun control, and safety.
Bernhard Goetz said he shot the teens because they were attempting to rob him. The teens had sharpened screwdrivers and asked Goetz for $5. Goetz was charged with attempting to murder the four teens with an unlicensed firearm.
In 1987, Goetz was cleared of the attempted murder charge and spent less than a year in jail for a weapons conviction.
Darrell Cabey, one of the young men shot on the subway, was left paralyzed and suffered brain damage after the shooting. Several years later, he was awarded $43 million in a lawsuit against Goetz. The other three victims recovered from their wounds.
___
LONG ISLAND RAIL ROAD SHOOTING
In 1993, a man opened fire on the Long Island Rail Road, killing six people and injuring 19 others.
Passengers charged at shooter Colin Ferguson and held him down as the train pulled into a station.
Ferguson refused an insanity plea and represented himself at his 1995 trial. Under cross-examination, witnesses answered Ferguson’s questions by implicating him, telling Ferguson, “I saw you shoot me.”
Ferguson was convicted on six murder charges and 19 attempted murder charges. He was acquitted of 25 counts of civil rights violations on charges that accused Ferguson, who was Black, of targeting the victims based on their race. The people killed and injured were of multiple races.
___
CHELSEA BOMBING
In 2016, a pressure cooker device connected to a cellphone exploded in a Manhattan neighborhood, injuring 30 people. The Chelsea bombing triggered a two-day manhunt that came to a head in a shootout in New Jersey. Theconvicted bomber,Ahmad Khan Rahimi, is now serving a life sentence.
Former Mayor Bill de Blasio said the attack was “an intentional act” and initially called it terrorist-related. During Rahimi’s trial, prosecutors said he attempted to radicalize prisoners after his arrest with terrorist propaganda from speeches and lectures by al-Qaida founder Osama bin Laden and Anwar al-Awlaki, a U.S.-born cleric who inspired attacks on America and was killed in a U.S. airstrike in September 2011.
___
TIMES SQUARE SUBWAY BOMBING
In 2017, a man used Christmas lights, matches and a nine-volt battery toignite a pipe bomb under a Times Square subway station. But the bomb, which was strapped to the bomber’s chest, failed to launch. It injured three people and severely burned the bomber.
Akayed Ullah was sentenced to life in prison. Ullah said he was not motivated by religious extremism, but by anger sparked by former President Donald Trump’s anti-immigration rhetoric. Authorities said Ullah was radicalized online by Islamic State group extremists.
___
BIKE PATH KILLINGS
In 2017, a New Jersey man allegedly drove a truck on Halloween down a bicycle path along the Hudson River in Manhattan, killing eight people and injuring numerous others.
The truck driver, Sayfullo Saipov, was shot and wounded by police after he reportedly smashed into a school bus and then ran down the highway with a paintball gun while shouting “Allahu akbar.”
He was charged with terrorism and the murder of eight civilians.
Saipov is currently in jail awaiting trial, which has been delayed since 2019.
___
FAKE BOMBS IN FULTON STREET STATION
In 2019, a West Virginia man allegedly traveled to the cityto plant two pressure-cooker type devices in lower Manhattan’s Fulton Street subway station, triggering an evacuation in one of the city’s busiest stations and affecting thousands of commuters.
New York City police opened another investigation after a third device was found in the nearby Chelsea neighborhood.
Larry Kenton Griffin was arrested and charged with placing a false bomb. | https://www.cenlanow.com/national/a-look-at-acts-of-public-violence-in-nyc-over-past-40-years/ | 2022-04-14T10:58:49 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/national/a-look-at-acts-of-public-violence-in-nyc-over-past-40-years/ |
GREENWOOD, Miss. (AP) — A former Franciscan friar was convicted Wednesday of sexually abusing a grade school student during the 1990s at a Mississippi Catholic school.
A Leflore County jury deliberated less than an hour before finding Paul West, 62, guilty of one count of sexual battery and one count of gratification of lust, the Greenwood Commonwealth reported.
West was accused of sexually abusing La Jarvis Love, now 39. Circuit Judge Ashley Hines sentenced West to 30 years on the first count and 15 years on the second count, to be served consecutively.
Love began crying when the verdict was read.
“I want to thank the state. I want to thank everybody that represented us,” Love said. “I just want to thank God, the provider, the creator. He restored my faith today. I really appreciate him, and I believe again.”
Gaunt and relying on a walker, West made no comment when escorted by deputies from the Leflore County Civic Center, where the two-day trial was held.
As first reported by The Associated Press in 2019, La Jarvis Love and his cousin, Joshua Love, now 38, had accused West of numerous instances of sexual abuse while they were students at St. Francis of Assisi School in Greenwood.
Both Loves testified Tuesday of repeated abuse by West beginning when they were in the fourth grade. They testified the abuse occurred both at the school and on trips to New York and to Wisconsin, where the Franciscan Friars of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary are based. West was a member of the religious order.
West was also charged with two counts of abusing Joshua Love. It was not immediately clear why the jury did not act on those charges.
A third man, Joshua Love’s younger brother, Raphael Love, also alleged that West sexually abused him. He reported the abuse to church authorities in 1998, after which West returned to Wisconsin and left the order.
Mark Belenchia, volunteer state coordinator for Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said church officials should have taken more decisive action after learning of Rafael Love’s allegations.
“Justice delayed is justice denied,” Belenchia said. “This should have happened 20 years ago.”
West has been held in Mississippi’s Leflore County Jail since September 2020, when he was extradited from his home state of Wisconsin to face two counts of sexual battery and two counts of gratification of lust. He pleaded not guilty.
La Jarvis Love now lives in Senatobia, Mississippi, with his wife and four children. He identified West in the courtroom as his abuser and said this was the first time he had seen him in person in more than 20 years.
La Jarvis Love testified that he was in third grade when he first encountered West, who was his physical education teacher. West later became principal of the school, Love said, and received permission from Love’s grandmother to use corporal punishment, such as paddling.
La Jarvis Love said the sexual abuse began when he was in fourth grade, with touching, groping, and what he called “extra friendly” physical activity. The abuse lasted until eighth grade, he said. He also said West began calling him to his office, showing him pornography on West’s computer, and fondling him. La Jarvis Love testified that the abuse included oral sex and anal penetration.
La Jarvis Love said his grandmother allowed him to work various jobs at the school, which he said gave West more opportunities to abuse him. He said the only person he told about the abuse was his grandmother, who confronted West but was told nothing out of the ordinary was happening.
He said the abuse has left him with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.
When asked by West’s attorney, Wallie Stuckey, why he didn’t tell anyone, La Jarvis Love said he feared West.
“When you’re being groomed, you think everything is OK,” La Jarvis Love said.
Joshua Love, who lives in Greenwood, testified that West set himself up as a mentor and began abusing him when he was in fourth grade. He also said that his grandmother granted West permission to paddle him and said this began in 1996.
Joshua Love said the first instance of abuse he could remember happened in the school cafeteria, where West was going to paddle him for misbehaving. He said West excused the cafeteria workers before taking him to a back room to fondle him.
Joshua Love said the abuse included oral sex, anal penetration and showing him pornography. He also said West attempted to have him and La Jarvis Love perform sex acts on each other during a trip to New York.
Both cousins testified they never spoke to each other about the abuse at the time.
Joshua Love alleged that West threatened to kill him if he told anyone about the abuse. He said he did not know La Jarvis Love had been abused until he told church officials about five years ago.
After Joshua’s testimony, the prosecution rested its case. The defense declined to call witnesses, and West declined to testify. | https://www.cenlanow.com/national/former-franciscan-friar-convicted-of-1990s-child-sex-abuse/ | 2022-04-14T10:58:56 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/national/former-franciscan-friar-convicted-of-1990s-child-sex-abuse/ |
MIAMI (AP) — Police in Miami arrested a 41-year-old woman in the deaths of her two children, aged 3 and 5, after officers responded to repeated hang-up 911 calls from her apartment where they found their tied-up bodies.
“Come get them, I don’t want them anymore,” Odette Lysse Joassaint told officers who responded to the scene on Tuesday night, according to the arrest report. Police said she appeared to be irrational.
The officers entered the apartment and found a 3-year-old boy and a 5-year-old girl. The children were lying in a prone position on the bed with their arms, legs and neck tied, a police report said.
They tried to resuscitate the children until a Miami Fire Rescue crew arrived and pronounced them dead. The woman has been charged with two counts of murder.
Police have not said how many calls were made to 911 or whether she spoke to a dispatcher.
No other details were immediately released. | https://www.cenlanow.com/national/police-find-2-dead-kids-in-miami-apartment-mother-arrested/ | 2022-04-14T10:59:03 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/national/police-find-2-dead-kids-in-miami-apartment-mother-arrested/ |
VICTORVILLE, Calif. (AP) — A Southern California shoe store owner opened fire at two shoplifters, police said, but mistakenly shot a 9-year-old girl about to get her picture with a mall Easter bunny. The store owner fled the state and was arrested in Nevada, authorities said Wednesday.
Marqel Cockrell, 20, was chasing the shoplifters out of the store Tuesday evening at the Mall of Victor Valley in the small city of Victorville when he “fired multiple shots at the shoplifters,” Victorville police said in a statement.
“Cockrell’s shots missed the shoplifters and instead hit the 9-year-old female victim,” the statement said.
The girl, identified by family members as Ava Chruniak, had been getting ready for pictures with the Easter bunny in the mall when the shots were fired, said her grandmother, Robin Moraga-Saldarelli. The girl was left with three gunshot wounds, including two in her arm, Moraga-Saldarelli said.
One bullet fractured a bone.
“And it’s the kind of fracture they can’t surgically fix. She’s going to have to wear a special brace for it, and it’s going to take a lot longer to heal,” she told Fox 11 TV in Los Angeles.
“It’ll be awhile before the bone heals and then we will see the extent of the nerve damage, but she’s a trooper. She really is a tough little kid,” Moraga-Saldarelli told KNBC-TV.
Deputies responding to the reports of gunfire found Ava wounded at about 6:30 p.m., the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said.
She was airlifted to a hospital in stable condition, officials said. The mall’s stores were locked down and customers sheltered inside as deputies searched for the shooter.
Cockrell, a co-owner of the shoe store Sole Addicts, was arrested in his car at about 9 p.m. in Clark County by the Nevada Highway Patrol, Victorville police said.
He was being held Wednesday for lack of $1 million bail at the Clark County Detention Center “on an extraditable warrant, for attempted murder,” Victorville police said. An extradition hearing was scheduled for Thursday and jail and court records did not indicate whether Cockrell had an attorney representing him who could comment on his behalf.
“I’m glad they caught him and he will definitely pay for this. I really hope they throw the book at him,” Moraga-Saldarelli told KNBC-TV.
The mall was closed Tuesday after the shooting and reopened on Wednesday. | https://www.cenlanow.com/national/police-girl-shot-as-california-shop-owner-fires-at-thieves/ | 2022-04-14T10:59:10 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/national/police-girl-shot-as-california-shop-owner-fires-at-thieves/ |
If nations do all that they’ve promised to fight climate change, the world can still meet one of two internationally agreed upon goals for limiting warming. But the planet is blowing past the other threshold that scientists say will protect Earth more, a new study finds.
The world is potentially on track to keep global warming at, or a shade below, 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) hotter than pre-industrial times, a goal that once seemed out of reach, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature.
That will only happen if countries not only fulfill their specific pledged national targets for curbing carbon emissions by 2030, but also come through on more distant promises of reaching net zero carbon emissions by mid-century, the study says.
This 2 degree warmer world still represents what scientists characterize as a profoundly disrupted climate with fiercer storms, higher seas, animal and plant extinctions, disappearing coral, melting ice and more people dying from heat, smog and infectious disease. It’s not the goal that world leaders say they really want: 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times. The world will blast past that more prominent and promoted goal unless dramatic new emission cuts are promised and achieved this decade and probably within the next three years, study authors said.
Both goals of 1.5-degrees and 2-degrees are part of the 2015 Paris climate pact and the 2021 Glasgow follow-up agreement. The 2-degree goal goes back years earlier.
“For the first time we can possibly keep warming below the symbolic 2-degree mark with the promises on the table. That assumes of course that the countries follow through on the promises,” said study lead author Malte Meinshausen, a University of Melbourne climate scientist.
That’s a big if, outside climate scientists and the authors, say. It means political leaders actually doing what they promise
The study “examines only this optimistic scenario. It does not check whether governments are making efforts to implement their long-term targets and whether they are credible,” said Niklas Hohne of Germany, a New Climate Institute scientist who analyzes pledges for Climate Action Tracker and wasn’t part of this study. “We know that governments are far from implementing their long-term targets.”
Hohne’s team and others who track pledges have similarly found that limiting warming to 2 degrees is still possible, as Meinshausen’s team has. The difference is that Meinshausen’s study is the first to be peer-reviewed and published in a scientific journal.
Sure, the 2-degree world requires countries to do what they promise. But cheaper wind and solar have shown carbon emissions cuts can come faster than thought and some countries will exceed their promised cuts, Meinshausen said. He also said the way climate action works is starting with promises and then policies, so it’s not unreasonable to take countries at their word.
Mostly, he said, limiting warming to 2 degrees is still a big improvement compared to just five or ten years ago, when “everybody laughed like ‘ha we’ll never see targets on the table that bring us closer to 2 degrees’,” Meinshausen said. “Targets and implemented policies actually can turn the needle on future temperatures. I think that optimism is important for countries to see. Yes, there is hope.”
About 20% to 30% of that hope is due to the Paris climate agreement, but the rest is due to earlier investments by countries that made green energy technologies cheaper than dirty fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas, Meinshausen said.
Yet, even if that’s good news, it’s not all good, he said.
“Neither do we have a margin of error (on barely limiting to 2 degrees) nor do the pledges put us on a path close to 1.5 degrees,” Meinshausen said.
In 2018 the United Nations’ scientific expert team studied the differences between the 1.5- and 2-degree thresholds and found considerably worse and more extensive damages to Earth at 2 degrees of warming. So the world has recently tried to make the 1.5 degrees goal possible.
Earth has already warmed at least 1.1 degrees Celsius (2 degrees Fahrenheit) since pre-industrial times, often considered the late 1800s, so 2 degrees of warming really means another 0.9 degrees Celsius (1.6 degrees Fahrenheit) hotter than now.
Meinshausen’s analysis “looks good and solid, but there are always assumptions that could be important,” said Glen Peters, a climate scientist who tracks emissions with Global Carbon Project.
The biggest assumption is that nations somehow get to promised net zero carbon emissions, most of them by 2050 but a decade or two later for China and India, said Peters, research director of the Cicero Center for International Climate Research in Oslo, Norway.
“Making pledges for 2050 is cheap, backing them up with necessary short-term action is hard,” he said, noting that for most countries, there will be five or six elections between now and 2050.
___
Follow AP’s climate coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/climate
___
Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter at @borenbears
___
Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content. | https://www.cenlanow.com/national/study-keeping-climate-pledges-limits-warming-to-2-degrees/ | 2022-04-14T10:59:16 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/national/study-keeping-climate-pledges-limits-warming-to-2-degrees/ |
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A Black man face-down on the ground was fatally shot in the back of the head by a Michigan police officer, the violent climax of a traffic stop, brief foot chase and struggle over a stun gun, according to videos of the April 4 incident released Wednesday.
Patrick Lyoya, 26, was killed outside a house in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The white officer repeatedly ordered Lyoya to “let go” of his Taser, at one point demanding: “Drop the Taser!”
Citing a need for transparency, the city’s new police chief, Eric Winstrom, released four videos, including critical footage of the shooting recorded by a passenger in Lyoya’s car on that rainy morning.
“I view it as a tragedy. … It was a progression of sadness for me,” said Winstrom, a former high-ranking Chicago police commander who became Grand Rapids chief in March. The city of about 200,000 people is about 150 miles (240 kilometers) northwest of Detroit.
Video shows Lyoya running from the officer who stopped him for driving with a license plate that didn’t belong to the vehicle. They struggled in front of several homes while Lyoya’s passenger got out and watched.
Winstrom said the fight over the Taser lasted about 90 seconds. In the final moments, the officer was on top of Lyoya, kneeling on his back at times to subdue him.
“From my view of the video, Taser was deployed twice. Taser did not make contact,” Winstrom told reporters. “And Mr. Lyoya was shot in the head. However, that’s the only information that I have.”
State police are investigating the shooting. Kent County’s chief medical examiner, Dr. Stephen Cohle, said he completed the autopsy but toxicology tests haven’t been finished.
The traffic stop was tense from the start. Video shows Lyoya, a native of the Democratic Republic of Congo, getting out of the car before the officer approached. He ordered Lyoya to get back in the vehicle but the man declined.
The officer asked him if he spoke English and demanded his driver’s license. The foot chase began soon after, video shows.
Winstrom didn’t identify the officer, a seven-year veteran who is on paid leave during the investigation.
“Me being from Chicago for the last 20 years, I’ve handled many police shootings myself, so I do have a lot of experience in this,” the chief said. “I was hoping to never have to utilize that experience here.”
Video was collected from Lyoya’s passenger, the officer’s body-worn camera, the officer’s patrol car and a doorbell camera. Prosecutor Chris Becker, who will decide whether any charges are warranted, objected to the release but said Winstrom could act on his own.
Becker said the public shouldn’t expect a quick decision.
“While the videos released today are an important piece of evidence, they are not all of the evidence,” he said.
City Manager Mark Washington warned that the videos would lead to “expressions of shock, of anger and of pain.” Some downtown businesses boarded up their storefronts, and concrete barricades surrounded police headquarters.
Lyoya had two young daughters and five siblings, said Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who spoke to his family.
“He arrived in the United States as a refugee with his family fleeing violence. He had his whole life ahead of him,” Whitmer, a Democrat, said.
Prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump, speaking on behalf Lyoya’s family, on Wednesday called for the officer in the shooting to be fired and prosecuted.
“The video clearly shows that this was an unnecessary, excessive, and fatal use of force against an unarmed Black man who was confused by the encounter and terrified for his life,” Crump said in a release.
Crump and Lyoya’s family are expected to hold a news conference Thursday afternoon.
More than 100 people marched to Grand Rapids City Hallbefore a City Commission meeting Tuesday night, chanting “Black lives matter” and “No justice, no peace.”
On Wednesday, several hundred protesters gathered outside the Grand Rapids Police Department following the release of the videos with some cursing and shouting from behind barricades. The group demanded that officials make public the name of the officer in the shooting.
Some businesses cut their hours short Wednesday, closing early. Some boarded up windows. But the demonstration remained non-violent with protesters demanding justice for Lyoya and other Black lives lost in shootings involving police.
Winstrom last week said he met Lyoya’s father, Peter Lyoya, and that they both cried.
“I get it as a father. … It’s just heart-wrenching,” the chief told WOOD-TV.
As in many U.S. cities, Grand Rapids police have been occasionally criticized over the use of force, particularly against Black people, who make up 18% of the population.
In November, the Michigan Supreme Court heard arguments in a lawsuit over the practice of photographing and fingerprinting people who were never charged with a crime. Grand Rapids said the policy changed in 2015.
A downtown street has been designated Breonna Taylor Way, named for the Black woman and Grand Rapids native who was killed by police in Louisville, Kentucky, during a botched drug raid in 2020.
___
White reported from Detroit. AP reporters Corey Williams in West Bloomfield, Michigan; David Eggert in Lansing, Michigan; and John Flesher in Traverse City, Michigan, contributed to this story. | https://www.cenlanow.com/national/video-michigan-cop-on-black-mans-back-fatally-shot-him/ | 2022-04-14T10:59:23 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/national/video-michigan-cop-on-black-mans-back-fatally-shot-him/ |
NEW YORK (AP) — Frank James posted dozens of videos ranting about race, violence and his struggles with mental illness. One stands out for its relative calm: A silent shot of a packed New York City subway car in which he raises his finger to point out passengers, one by one.
Even as police arrested James on Wednesday in the Brooklyn subway shooting that wounded 10 people, they were still searching for a motive from a flood of details about the 62-year-old Black man’s life.
An erratic work history. Arrests for a string of mostly low-level crimes. A storage locker with more ammo. And hours of rambling, bigoted, profanity-laced videos on his YouTube channel that point to a deep, simmering anger.
“This nation was born in violence, it’s kept alive by violence or the threat thereof, and it’s going to die a violent death,” says James in a video where he takes on the moniker “Prophet of Doom.”
After a 30-hour manhunt, James was arrested without incident after a tipster — thought by police to be James himself — said he could be found near a McDonald’s on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Mayor Eric Adams triumphantly proclaimed “We got him!” Police said their top priority was getting the suspect, now charged with a federal terrorism offense, off the streets as they investigate their biggest unanswered question: Why?
A prime trove of evidence, they said, is his YouTube videos. He seems to have opinions about nearly everything — racism in America, New York City’s new mayor, the state of mental health services, 9/11, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and Black women.
A federal criminal complaint cited one in which James ranted about too many homeless people on the subway and put the blame on New York City’s mayor.
“What are you doing, brother?” he said in the video posted March 27. “Every car I went to was loaded with homeless people. It was so bad, I couldn’t even stand.”
James then railed about the treatment of Black people in an April 6 video cited in the complaint, saying, “And so the message to me is: I should have gotten a gun, and just started shooting.”
In a video posted a day before the attack, James criticizes crime against Black people and says things would only change if certain people were “stomped, kicked and tortured” out of their “comfort zone.”
Surveillance cameras spotted James entering the subway system turnstiles Tuesday morning, dressed as a maintenance or construction worker in a yellow hard hat and orange working jacket with reflective tape.
Police say fellow riders heard him say only “oops” as he set off one smoke grenade in a crowded subway car as it rolled into a station. He then set off a second smoke grenade and started firing, police said. In the smoke and chaos that ensued, police say James made his getaway by slipping into a R-train going the opposite direction and exited after the first stop.
Left behind at the scene was the gun, extended magazines, a hatchet, detonated and undetonated smoke grenades, a black garbage can, a rolling cart, gasoline and the key to a U-Haul van, police said.
That key led investigators to James, and clues to a life of setbacks and anger as he bounced among factory and maintenance jobs, got fired at least twice, moved among Milwaukee, Philadelphia, New Jersey and New York.
Investigators said James had 12 prior arrests in New York and New Jersey from 1990 to 2007, including for possession of burglary tools, criminal sex act, trespassing, larceny and disorderly conduct.
James had no felony convictions and was not prohibited from purchasing or owning a firearm. Police said the gun used in the attack was legally purchased at an Ohio pawn shop in 2011. A search of James’ Philadelphia storage unit and apartment turned up at least two types of ammunition, including the kind used with an AR-15 assault-style rifle, a taser and a blue smoke cannister.
Police said James was born and raised in New York City. In his videos, he said he finished a machine shop course in 1983 then worked as a gear machinist at Curtiss-Wright, an aerospace manufacturer in New Jersey, until 1991 when he was he was hit by a one-two punch of bad news: He was fired from his job and, soon after, his father whom he had lived with in New Jersey died.
Records show James filed a complaint against the aerospace company in federal court soon after he lost his job alleging racial discrimination, but it was dismissed a year later by a judge. He says in one video, without offering specifics, that he “couldn’t get any justice for what I went through.”
A spokesperson for Curtiss-Wright didn’t immediately respond to a call seeking comment.
James describes going in and out of several mental health facilities, including two in the Bronx borough of New York City in the 1970s.
“Mr. Mayor, let me say to you I’m a victim of your mental health program in New York City,” James says in a video earlier this year, adding he is “full of hate, full anger and bitterness.”
James says he later was a patient at Bridgeway House, a mental health facility in New Jersey, although that could not be immediately confirmed. Messages left with the facility were not returned.
“My goal at Bridgeway in 1997 was to get off Social Security and go back to f—— work,” he says in a video, adding that he enrolled in a college and took a course in computer-aided design and manufacturing.
James says he eventually got a job at telecommunications giant Lucent Technologies in Parsippany, New Jersey, but says he ended up getting fired and returned to Bridgeway House, this time not as a patient but as an employee on the maintenance staff. A message seeking comment was sent to Lucent Technologies.
“I just want to work. I want to be a person that’s productive,” he said.
Touches of that earnest, struggling man showed up after James’ parked car was hit in Milwaukee. Eugene Yarbrough, pastor of Mt. Zion Wings of Glory Church of God in Christ next door to James’ apartment, said James was impressed that the pastor owned up to hitting the car. Neither James nor anyone else was there to see the accident. And James called him up to say so.
“I just couldn’t believe it would be him,” Yarbrough said. “But who knows what people will do?”
___
AP reporters Michael Balsamo in Washington, Deepti Hajela in New York, Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia, Todd Richmond in Madison, Wisconsin and Carrie Antlfinger in Milwaukee contributed to this report.
___
On Twitter follow Bernard Condon at twitter.com/bernardfcondon, Michael Sisak at twitter.com/mikesisak and Michael Kunzelman at twitter.com/Kunzelman75 and send confidential news tips by visiting https://www.ap.org/tips/. | https://www.cenlanow.com/news/ap-top-headlines/prophet-of-doom-subway-suspect-left-ranting-video-clues/ | 2022-04-14T10:59:30 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/news/ap-top-headlines/prophet-of-doom-subway-suspect-left-ranting-video-clues/ |
Firefighters scouted the drought-stricken mountainsides around a New Mexico village on Wednesday as they looked for opportunities to slow a wind-driven wildfire that a day earlier had burned at least 150 homes and other structures while displacing thousands of residents and forcing the evacuation of two schools.
Homes were among the structures that had burned, but officials did not have a count of how many were destroyed in the blaze that torched at least 6.4 square miles (16.6 square kilometers) of forest, brush and grass on the east side of the community of Ruidoso, said Laura Rabon, spokesperson for the Lincoln National Forest.
Rabon announced emergency evacuations of a more densely populated area during a briefing Wednesday afternoon as the fire jumped a road where crews were trying to hold the line. She told people to get in their cars and go.
So far, no deaths or injuries were reported from the fire, which has been fanned by strong winds.
The winds prevented forced a suspension of the aerial attack on the flames and kept authorities from getting a better estimate of how large the fire has grown. But some planes returned to the air as winds subsided late in the day, and seven airtankers and two helicopters have now been assigned to the fire, Forest Service officials said Wednesday evening.
While the cause of the blaze was under investigation, fire officials and forecasters warned Wednesday that persistent dry and windy conditions had prompted red flag warnings for a wide swath that included almost all of New Mexico, half of Texas and parts of Colorado and the Midwest.
Five new large fires were reported Tuesday, and nearly 1,600 wildland firefighters and support personnel were assigned to large fires in the southwestern, southern and Rocky Mountain areas, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
Hotter and drier weather weather coupled with decades of fire suppression have contributed to an increase in the number of acres burned by wildfires, fire scientists say. And the problem is exacerbated by a more than 20-year Western megadrought that studies link to human-caused climate change. The fire season has become year-round given changing conditions that include earlier snowmelt and rain coming later in the fall.
In Ruidoso, officials declared a state of emergency and said school classes were canceled Wednesday as the village — about 140 miles (225 kilometers) northeast of El Paso, Texas — coped with power outages due to down power lines.
The residences that burned were mostly a mix of trailers and single-family homes, and close to 4,000 people were displaced by evacuations that were ordered Tuesday. That number was expected to grow with the latest call for residents to leave.
Village spokeswoman Kerry Gladden said authorities spent part of Wednesday surveying as much damage as possible before the winds kicked up again. Air tankers also were able to drop a few loads of slurry, and more air support was expected Thursday.
“Right now, everybody is just rallying around those who had to be evacuated,” Gladden said. “We’re just trying to reach out to make sure everyone has places to stay.”
Donations were pouring in from other communities in southern New Mexico. State officials said emergency grants have been approved that will provide resources to firefighters and for other emergency efforts.
Ruidoso in 2012 was hit by one of the most destructive wildfires in New Mexico history, when a lightning-sparked blaze destroyed more than 240 homes and burned nearly 70 square miles (181 square kilometers).
Rabon said Wednesday that no precipitation was in the forecast and humidity levels remained in the single digits, which would make stopping the flames more difficult.
“Those extremely dry conditions are not in our favor,” she said.
Another wildfire in the Lincoln National Forest northwest of Ruidoso burned at least 400 acres (1.6 square kilometers) after it was sparked Tuesday by power lines downed by high winds. Crews confirmed Wednesday that 10 structures there were lost.
Elsewhere in New Mexico, wildfires were burning along the Rio Grande south of Albuquerque, in mountains northwest of the community of Las Vegas and in grasslands along the Pecos River near the town of Roswell.
In Colorado, crews were battling wind-whipped grass fires that had destroyed two homes and forced temporary evacuations.
___
Montoya Bryan reported from Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Davenport from Phoenix. | https://www.cenlanow.com/news/ap-top-headlines/wind-whips-destructive-wildfires-in-new-mexico-colorado/ | 2022-04-14T10:59:37 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/news/ap-top-headlines/wind-whips-destructive-wildfires-in-new-mexico-colorado/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — In anticipation of a new Russian offensive in eastern Ukraine, President Joe Biden on Wednesday approved an $800 million package of military assistance, including additional helicopters and the first provision of American artillery.
The Ukrainians also will receive armored personnel carriers, armored Humvees, naval drone vessels used in coastal defense, and gear and equipment used to protect soldiers in chemical, biological, nuclear and radiological attacks.
“This new package of assistance will contain many of the highly effective weapons systems we have already provided and new capabilities tailored to the wider assault we expect Russia to launch in eastern Ukraine,” Biden said in a statement.
“The steady supply of weapons the United States and its allies and partners have provided to Ukraine has been critical in sustaining its fight against the Russian invasion,” Biden added. “It has helped ensure that (Russia President Vladimir) Putin failed in his initial war aims to conquer and control Ukraine. We cannot rest now.”
Biden announced the aid after a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. It is the latest in a series of U.S. security assistance packages valued at a combined $2.6 billion that has been committed to Ukraine since Russia invaded on Feb. 24. The weaponry and support material has played an important role in Ukraine’s successful defense thus far.
Biden is under pressure from members of both parties in Congress to expand and accelerate U.S. aid.
Robert Gates, a former CIA director and defense secretary, said Wednesday he believes the administration needs to push hard for weapon donations by NATO members in Eastern Europe, whose arsenals include Soviet-era tanks and other weaponry and equipment that could help Ukraine immediately.
“The United States ought to be acting, 24/7 — how do we mobilize the equipment and how do we get it into Ukraine and into the hands of the Ukrainians,” Gates said in an online forum sponsored by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
“It’s critically important and critically urgent, and we ought to be sort of ransacking the arsenals of those states, and I think they would be cooperative, particularly” if they are given assurances that the Pentagon will provide American replacements for the donated weapons.
The Pentagon said the $800 million package announced by Biden includes weapons and equipment that will require some training for a Ukrainian military not fully accustomed to American military technology. U.S. and allied forces had been present inside Ukraine to provide training for eight years before pulling out in advance of the Russia’s latest invasion.
The new arms package includes 18 of the U.S. Army’s 155mm howitzers and 40,000 artillery rounds, two air surveillance radars, 300 Switchblade “kamikaze” armed drones, and 500 Javelin missiles designed to knock out tanks and other armor. Also included are 10 counter-artillery radars used to track incoming artillery and other projectiles to determine their point of origin for counter attacks.
Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said delivery of the material will be expedited, but he offered no specific timetable.
“This list came directly out of multiple conversations with Ukrainians in the last few days as we began to see the Russians now start to reprioritize the Donbas fight,” he said, referring to Russia’s shift from a failed offensive in Ukraine’s north aimed at Kyiv, the capital, to a force buildup in the country’s eastern Donbas region, where Russian-backed separatists have been fighting since 2014.
Ukrainian military personnel will need training on the radars as well as the howitzers and the Switchblade drones, Kirby said. He said the training may be done by U.S. soldiers in Europe and the arrangements are being worked out.
“These are not highly complex systems,” Kirby said, and so extensive training will not likely be required.
Among the other items in the package are 11 Soviet-era Mi-17 helicopters that the United States had planned to provide to Afghanistan before Biden last year decided to fully withdraw from the country. They are transport helicopters that also can function in an attack role. The Pentagon previously had sent five Mi-17s to Ukraine, Kirby said. | https://www.cenlanow.com/politics/ap-politics/biden-approves-800m-in-artillery-helicopters-for-ukraine/ | 2022-04-14T10:59:44 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/politics/ap-politics/biden-approves-800m-in-artillery-helicopters-for-ukraine/ |
An Ohio man charged with storming the U.S. Capitol and stealing a coat rack testified that he joined thousands of protesters in ransacking the building last year on what he thought were orders from the president, Donald Trump.
Dustin Byron Thompson, 38, of Columbus, Ohio, said Wednesday he took to websites after being laid off from his exterminator job in March 2020 and in his pandemic doldrums fell under Trump’s sway as he bought into conspiracy theories and “went down the rabbit hole on the internet.”
On trial in U.S. District Court in Washington, Thompson testified that the claim that the election was stolen seemed credible to him because it was coming from the president. His defense team is the first to argue that Trump and those connected to him were responsible for the actions of the mob that day.
“It seems like everyone was attacking him (Trump). He needed someone to stand up for him, and I was trying to do that,” Thompson said.
Under questioning by the prosecution, Thompson acknowledged that he ignored signs he shouldn’t be at the Capitol — broken glass, alarms, chemical irritants in the air — and said he stole the coat rack to keep others from using it as a weapon. He also said he witnessed fierce fighting between police and rioters outside the building, and later ran away from officers. He said he realized weeks later that what he had done was wrong and now feels shame for his actions.
Thompson’s jury trial is the third among hundreds of Capitol riot prosecutions. The first two ended with jurors convicting both defendants on all counts. Thompson’s defense team is the first to argue that Trump and those connected to him were responsible for the actions of the mob that day.
“If the president is giving you almost an order to do something, I felt obligated to do that,” Thompson testified.
Thompson’s lawyer sought subpoenas to call Trump and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani as witnesses, but U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton rejected that request. Jurors on Wednesday began listening to recordings of speeches that Trump and Giuliani delivered at a rally before the riot. They were expected to finish listening to recordings Thursday morning and begin deliberations later in the day.
Thompson’s wife, Sarah Thompson, testified that she voted for Democrat Joe Biden, as well as Democratic presidential nominees Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. She said her husband’s views were more moderate then but shifted during the Trump years as he started encountering conspiracy theories. She said she did not share his views but helped arrange his travel to Washington for the “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House because he had a right to protest and she enjoyed having a quiet house.
Much of the prosecution’s case was built around testimony from several Capitol Police officers placing Thompson at the scene, wearing a bulletproof vest that he said he found, and carrying a coat rack he took from the Senate Parliamentarian’s Office.
More than 770 people have been charged with federal crimes arising from the Jan. 6, 2021, riot. Over 250 of them have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanors. Thompson is the fifth person to be tried on riot-related charges.
On Monday, a jury convicted a former Virginia police officer, Thomas Robertson, of storming the Capitol with another off-duty officer to obstruct Congress from certifying Biden’s 2020 electoral victory. Last month, a jury convicted a Texas man, Guy Reffitt, of storming the Capitol with a holstered handgun.
A judge hearing testimony without a jury decided cases against two other Capitol riot defendants at separate bench trials. U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden acquitted one of them of all charges and partially acquitted the other.
Thompson is charged with six counts: obstructing Congress’ joint session to certify the Electoral College vote, theft of government property, entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly or disruptive conduct in a Capitol building, and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
A co-defendant, Robert Lyon, 27, pleaded guilty in March to theft of government property and disorderly conduct. Both counts are misdemeanors punishable by a maximum of one year imprisonment. Walton is scheduled to sentence Lyon on June 3. | https://www.cenlanow.com/politics/ap-politics/capitol-riot-defendant-i-was-following-trumps-instructions-2/ | 2022-04-14T10:59:51 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/politics/ap-politics/capitol-riot-defendant-i-was-following-trumps-instructions-2/ |
An Ohio man charged with storming the U.S. Capitol and stealing a coat rack testified Wednesday that he joined thousands of protesters in ransacking the building last year on what he thought were orders from the president, Donald Trump.
Dustin Byron Thompson, 38, of Columbus, Ohio, said he took to websites and the internet after being laid off from his exterminator job in March 2020 and in his pandemic doldrums fell under Trump’s sway as he bought into conspiracy theories and “went down the rabbit hole on the internet.”
On trial in U.S. District Court in Washington, Thompson testified that the claim that the election was stolen seemed credible to him because it was coming from the president. His defense team is the first to argue that Trump and those connected to him were responsible for the actions of the mob that day.
“It seems like everyone was attacking him (Trump). He needed someone to stand up for him, and I was trying to do that,” Thompson said.
Under questioning by the prosecution, Thompson acknowledged that he ignored signs he shouldn’t be at the Capitol — broken glass, alarms, chemical irritants in the air — and said he stole the coat rack to keep others from using it as a weapon. He also said he witnessed fierce fighting between police and rioters outside the building, and later ran away from officers. He said he realized weeks later that what he had done was wrong and now feels shame for his actions.
Thompson’s jury trial is the third among hundreds of Capitol riot prosecutions. The first two ended with jurors convicting both defendants on all counts. Thompson’s defense team is the first to argue that Trump and those connected to him were responsible for the actions of the mob that day.
“If the president is giving you almost an order to do something, I felt obligated to do that,” Thompson testified.
Thompson’s lawyer sought subpoenas to call Trump and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani as witnesses, but U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton rejected that request. Jurors on Wednesday began listening to recordings of speeches that Trump and Giuliani delivered at a rally before the riot. They were expected to finish listening to recordings Thursday morning and begin deliberations later in the day.
Thompson’s wife, Sarah Thompson, testified that she voted for Democrat Joe Biden, as well as Democratic presidential nominees Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. She said her husband’s views were more moderate then but shifted during the Trump years as he started encountering conspiracy theories. She said she did not share his views but helped arrange his travel to Washington for the “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House because he had a right to protest and she enjoyed having a quiet house.
Much of the prosecution’s case was built around testimony from several Capitol Police officers placing Thompson at the scene, wearing a bulletproof vest that he said he found, and carrying a coat rack he took from the Senate Parliamentarian’s Office.
More than 770 people have been charged with federal crimes arising from the Jan. 6, 2021, riot. Over 250 of them have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanors. Thompson is the fifth person to be tried on riot-related charges.
On Monday, a jury convicted a former Virginia police officer, Thomas Robertson, of storming the Capitol with another off-duty officer to obstruct Congress from certifying Biden’s 2020 electoral victory. Last month, a jury convicted a Texas man, Guy Reffitt, of storming the Capitol with a holstered handgun.
A judge hearing testimony without a jury decided cases against two other Capitol riot defendants at separate bench trials. U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden acquitted one of them of all charges and partially acquitted the other.
Thompson is charged with six counts: obstructing Congress’ joint session to certify the Electoral College vote, theft of government property, entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly or disruptive conduct in a Capitol building, and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
A co-defendant, Robert Lyon, 27, pleaded guilty in March to theft of government property and disorderly conduct. Both counts are misdemeanors punishable by a maximum of one year imprisonment. Walton is scheduled to sentence Lyon on June 3. | https://www.cenlanow.com/politics/ap-politics/capitol-riot-defendant-i-was-following-trumps-instructions/ | 2022-04-14T10:59:58 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/politics/ap-politics/capitol-riot-defendant-i-was-following-trumps-instructions/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — The criminal prosecution of a Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer charged with lying to the FBI during the Trump-Russia investigation can move forward, a judge ruled Wednesday in denying a defense bid to dismiss the case.
The ruling means Michael Sussmann, charged last year by special counsel John Durham, remains set for trial on May 16 in Washington’s federal court.
Sussmann ischarged with lying to the FBI during a September 2016meeting in which he relayed concerns from cybersecurity researchers about a potential secret back channel of communications between servers of the Trump Organization and Russia-based Alfa Bank. The FBI investigated the matter but ultimately found no such suspicious links.
Prosecutors allege that Sussmann misled the FBI’s then-general counsel by saying that he was not attending the meeting on behalf of a particular client when he was actually presenting the information on behalf of the Clinton campaign and a technology executive with whom he had worked.
In order to prosecute someone for a false statement, the Justice Department must prove that the statement was not only fictitious but also “material” — that is, capable of influencing a government agency’s decision-making or functions.
In this case, Durham’s team says that had the FBI known Sussmann was representing the interests of the Clinton campaign at the meeting, it would have done more to examine his motives and the reliability of his information as it considered whether to open an investigation based on the tip he provided.
Sussmann’s lawyers have argued that his ties to the Clinton campaign were already well-known to the FBI, and have rejected the idea that the full disclosure of that relationship could have meaningfully influenced the FBI’s decision to investigate or act on his tip.
U.S. District Judge Christopher “Casey” Cooper said in a six-page ruling Wednesday that the dispute was ultimately up to a jury to decide.
“The battle lines thus are drawn, but the Court cannot resolve this standoff prior to trial,” Cooper wrote.
Durham, a former U.S. attorney in Connecticut, was appointed in 2019 by then-Attorney General William Barr to look for government misconduct during the investigation into Russian election interference in 2016 and possible ties to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
Sussmann is one of three people charged so far. The other two are Kevin Clinesmith, a former FBI lawyer who pleaded guiltyto altering an emailand received probation, and Igor Danchenko, a Russian analyst and source of information for Christopher Steele, the former British intelligence operative who assembled a dossier of anti-Trump research. Danchenko was charged in Novemberwith lying to the FBI during a 2017 interview.
____
Follow Eric Tucker on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/etuckerAP | https://www.cenlanow.com/politics/ap-politics/case-against-clinton-lawyer-in-counsels-probe-can-proceed/ | 2022-04-14T11:00:05 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/politics/ap-politics/case-against-clinton-lawyer-in-counsels-probe-can-proceed/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — When President Joe Biden declares Russia’s Ukraine war“genocide,” it isn’t just another strong word.
Calling a campaign that’s aimed at wiping out a targeted group “genocide” not only increases pressure on a country to act, it can oblige it to. That’s partly because of a genocide treaty approved by the U.N. General Assembly after World War II, signed by the United States and more than 150 other nations.
The convention was the work of, among others, a Polish Jew whose family was murdered by Nazi Germany and its accomplices. The advocates pushed for something that would make the world not just condemn but actually prevent and ensure prosecution for future genocides.
In comments Tuesday,Biden accused Russian President Vladimir Putinof trying to “wipe out the idea of even being a Ukrainian.” Other world leaders have not gone as far. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said Russia’s behavior in Ukraine “doesn’t look far short of genocide,” but the U.K. has not officially used the term, saying only a court can make such a designation.
A look at what’s involved in that decision, and what it means when a world leader declares a genocide:
WHAT DOES ‘GENOCIDE’ MEAN?
It’s a surprisingly modern word for an ancient crime. A Jewish lawyer from Poland, Raphael Lemkin, coined it at the height of World War II and the Holocaust. Lemkin wanted a word to describe what Nazi Germany was then doing to Europe’s Jews, and what Turkey had done to Armenians in the 1910s: killing members of a targeted group of people, and ruthlessly working to eradicate their cultures.
Lemkin paired “geno,” a Greek word meaning race, and “cide,” a Latin word meaning kill. Lemkin dedicated his life to having genocide recognized and criminalized.
In 1948, after Adolf Hitler and his accomplices systematically murdered 6 million Jews in Europe, the U.N. General Assembly approved the Convention on the Prevention of the Crime of Genocide.
WHAT’S THE LEGAL DEFINITION?
Under the genocide convention, the crime is trying to destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, in part or in whole.
That includes mass killings, but also actions including forced sterilization, abuse that inflicts serious harm or mental suffering, or wrenching children of a targeted group away to be raised by others.
IS RUSSIA COMMITTING GENOCIDE IN UKRAINE?
The case may hang in part on Putin’s own words.
Russian forces are widely accused of carrying out wholesale abuses of Ukraine’s civilians, including mass killings.
Those would be war crimes. But do they amount to genocide?
It’s all about intent, argues Bohdan Vitvitsky, a former U.S. federal prosecutor and former special adviser to Ukraine’s prosecutor general.
“Any attempt to determine whether the crimes committed by Russian troops in Ukraine are driven by genocidal intent must necessarily focus on the statements of Russian President Vladimir Putin,” Vitvisky wrote for the Atlantic Council think tank this week.
Putin long has denied any standing for Ukraine to exist as a separate nation, or Ukrainians as a separate people. He cites history, when Ukraine was part of the Russian empire, and later of the Soviet Union.
In a long essay last year, “On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians,” Putin made clear the depth of his determination on the matter. He called the modern border dividing Russia and Ukraine “our great common misfortune and tragedy.”
Putin and Russian state media falsely call Ukrainian leaders “Nazis” and “drug addicts.” Putin has called his military campaign in Ukraine one of de-Nazification.
Gissou Nia, a human-rights lawyer who worked on war crime trials at the Hague, points to two alleged acts by Russia in Ukraine as also possibly showing intent of genocide: Reports of deportation of thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia, and an account, from Ukraine’s government, of Russian soldiers telling 25 detained women and girls in Bucha that the Russians aimed to rape them to the point that they never bear any Ukrainian children.
WHY DOES IT MATTER IF WORLD LEADERS USE “GENOCIDE” TO DESCRIBE RUSSIA’S ACTIONS?
Embedded in the genocide convention is an obligation that the U.S. and other signers of the treaty have treated warily —if they acknowledge a genocide is occurring, they’re committed to ensuring investigation and prosecution, at the least.
People and countries committing genocide “shall be punished,” the treaty declares, seeking to crush any wiggle room.
U.S. leaders for decades dodged using the word “genocide” to avoid increasing the pressure on them to act as mass killings targeted classes of people or ethnic groups in Cambodia, Bosnia, Iraq, Rwanda and elsewhere.
Regretting his failure to do more to stop the killing of 800,000 ethnic Tutsis by Hutus in Rwanda in 1994, Bill Clinton in June 1999 became the first U.S. president to recognize an act of genocide as it was playing out, saying Serb forces carrying out a deadly campaign against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo were attempting genocide.
NATO intervened, lobbing 78 days of airstrikes that forced Serbian fighters’ withdrawal from Kosovo. An international tribunal charged Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic with war crimes, although Milosevic died before his trial concluded.
Starting in 2005, world also leaders embraced – in principle – responsibility for collective action to stop genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Atrocities and targeted campaigns against groups continue around the world, however, and the so-called responsibility to protect is seldom invoked.
WHAT HAPPENS IF THE U.S. DOES DECLARE RUSSIAN ACTIONS TO BE GENOCIDE?
U.S. leaders long have feared that acknowledging genocide would require them to intervene, even to send in troops, with all the risks, costs and political backlash that would entail. It’s been a main reason leaders limit themselves to angry statements and humanitarian aid.
Biden is adamant the U.S. will not use its own military to confront Russian forces on behalf of Ukraine. Doing so would risk World War III, he says.
He and allies in Europe and elsewhere already are intervening by sanctioning Russia and by sending weapons and other support to Ukraine for its defense.
Biden and other Western leaders also have called for war crimes trials. The International Criminal Court already has started an investigation. But longstanding U.S. opposition to the International Criminal Court, over worries that U.S. troops could face prosecution there one day, complicates such prosecutions. So can Russia’s veto power on the U.N. Security Council. And practically speaking, bringing Putin before a court is a long shot.
In the past, Americans’ opposition to entanglement in foreign wars also has helped discourage U.S. leaders from doing more to stop possible acts of genocide.
But Russia’s invasion of a neighboring country and brutality against Ukraine’s people have angered Americans in a way that genocidal campaigns in Cambodia, Kurdish areas of Iraq and elsewhere did not.
A recent poll by the Associated Press and NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that 40% of people in America believe the U.S. should have a “major role” in ending Russia’s invasion. Just 13% think the U.S. shouldn’t be involved at all. | https://www.cenlanow.com/politics/ap-politics/explainer-why-does-it-matter-if-us-calls-ukraine-genocide/ | 2022-04-14T11:00:12 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/politics/ap-politics/explainer-why-does-it-matter-if-us-calls-ukraine-genocide/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly three dozen House Democrats are pushing the administration to get tougher with Saudi Arabia, calling it a bad strategic partner after it has refused to help ease the world’s oil supply crunch during Russia’s Ukraine invasion.
Rep. Gerry Connolly, a Virginia Democrat and senior member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and Rep. Jim McGovern, a Massachusetts Democrat and chairman of the Committee on Rules, led lawmakers in a letter asking Secretary of State Antony Blinken for a “recalibration” of the U.S.-Saudi relationship.
The Saudi Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
President Joe Biden started out his presidency freezing out the kingdom’s crown prince and de facto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman, over Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen and abuses including the killing of American-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi at a Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Tight oil supply and rising oil prices that are driving inflation have led the Biden administration to try to improve its relationship with Saudi rulers since then, however.
Blinken and other U.S. diplomats and military leaders have called on Saudi officials, dialed back public criticism of Saudi imprisonment of dissidents, and emphasized U.S. defensive support for the kingdom against cross-border missile attacks on Saudi oil sites and other targets by Houthi rebels in Yemen.
There are no signs the U.S. overtures have assuaged affronted Saudi rulers, and the kingdom has refused to make the drastic increases in oil pumping that the U.S. hopes for.
The House Democrats’ letter noted the kingdom’s ongoing harsh treatment of rights advocates and the 2018 killing of Khashoggi, which the U.S. intelligence community concluded Prince Mohammed ordered.
And currently, the Democrats wrote, Saudi Arabia is doing nothing to help the West as it tries to freeze out Russia for its war in Ukraine. Russia is a top global oil and gas producer, and the conflict has worsened an already tight global oil supply.
“Instead of accepting appeals from our government to produce more oil, an initial step that would immediately lower prices for Americans across the country,” Saudi rulers are reportedly talking with China about pricing part of its oil sales in the Chinese yuan, a move that could weaken the U.S. dollar, the Democrats wrote.
“Governments that have formed genuine, ironclad alliances with the United States, forged in shared values of democratic norms and respect for human rights, have answered the call to action in the wake of unprovoked invasion. Unfortunately, our long-standing relationship with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has not produced a similar response,” Democrats wrote.
“Saudi Arabia’s inability to stand up for international law exemplifies the short- and long-term risks associated with maintaining uncritical U.S. support for the Saudi regime,” the letter added. It asked Blinken to rebalance U.S. dealings with Saudi Arabia accordingly.
The Saudi Embassy in Washington separately said Wednesday it would provide up to $10 million in support for Ukrainian refugees.
___
Associated Press writers Farnoush Amiri and Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report. | https://www.cenlanow.com/politics/ap-politics/house-democrats-ask-biden-to-get-tougher-with-saudi-arabia/ | 2022-04-14T11:00:19 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/politics/ap-politics/house-democrats-ask-biden-to-get-tougher-with-saudi-arabia/ |
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — The school closures, stay-at-home mandates and curfews that Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine imposed early in the pandemic still infuriate Donald Trump’s most loyal supporters. His dismissal of the former president’s stolen election lieand criticism that Trump “poured gas on the fire” before the U.S. Capitol riot put him at odds with many GOP voters.
But that may not be enough to topple DeWine in the state’s upcoming May 3 primary.
Despite some notable splits with Trump, he is entering the final stretch of the campaign in a strong position to win the GOP’s nomination for another four-year term. He’s facing challenges from three lesser-known conservatives who could essentially split the far-right faithful, with DeWine potentially emerging as a Republican who crossed Trump’s base and managed to survive.
“Whatever happens in the election happens, but this was a crucial time in our history,” DeWine, 75, said in an interview, referring to his management of the pandemic.
The dynamics harken back to an era when Ohio prized middle-of-the-road candidates, making it a bellwether for presidential elections for decades. But that reputation for moderation eroded under Trump, who won the state in the 2016 and 2020 campaigns. The higher-profile race for an open U.S. Senate seat is perhaps more reflective of Ohio’s rightward shift as candidates have spent months trying to out-Trump one another as they seek his coveted endorsement.
So far, the former president has stayed quiet in the governor’s race, a credit to DeWine’s ability to walk a fine line of expressing support for Trump while also keeping him at a distance. Despite their different approach to the pandemic, which Trump sought to minimize, there was only one hint of a genuine rift between the two men.
That was when DeWine suggested in November 2020 that it was time for Trump to acknowledge that Joe Biden had won the White House. Trump’s response was a tweet wondering who would challenge DeWine in this year’s primary. “Will be hotly contested!” Trump predicted.
Former U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci, who served four terms in Congress, was thought to be DeWine’s biggest threat, especially if he could win an endorsement from Trump after getting his backing four years ago in a failed U.S. Senate bid. But some recent polls show Renacci splitting the anti-DeWine vote with Joe Blystone, a farmer who jumped in the race early and built a following in rural Ohio.
Much of the frustration toward DeWine has bubbled up in Republican-dominated rural counties where mask mandates and school shutdowns were met with resistance. Those areas hold the fewest votes yet carry significant weight because Republicans often pile up big enough margins to negate the strong Democratic turnout in the state’s big cities.
“They say in politics people forget things. Down here they haven’t forgotten,” said Dennis Cooper, a member of the Clermont County Republican Party, which overwhelmingly endorsed Renacci over DeWine earlier this year. “It wasn’t just one thing. It was one thing on top of another that made no sense.”
Still, DeWine has a huge fundraising advantage and a network of supporters built from a political career spanning more than 40 years. Both are why more prominent Republicans in the state decided against challenging him even as dissatisfaction grew.
Ryan Stubenrauch, a former DeWine policy adviser who’s now a GOP consultant, thinks the anger is coming from a vocal minority.
“There’s a whole lot of people mad at a lot of things. The last two years have been really rough on people,” he said. “I don’t know if the party has changed or all of our politics have shifted over the last two years.”
One thing that hasn’t changed, he said, is DeWine. “He values life just about over everything,” Stubenrauch said.
He’s an old-school conservative who just months into his first term as governor signed into law what at the time was one of the most stringent abortion restrictionsin the nation.
DeWine has leaned on his pro-life stance to explain why that also includes protecting people from COVID-19. He was widely praised early in 2020 for not downplaying the pandemic when he became the first governor to shut down schools statewide.
But the mood soured among Republicans who quickly tired of mask mandates and health orders that closed many small businesses but allowed large retailers to remain open. They saw him putting in restrictions that ran counter to what they were hearing from Trump and conservative governors such as Ron DeSantis in Florida and South Dakota’s Kristi Noem.
A hostile state Legislature dominated by DeWine’s own party overrode his veto of a bill weakening the governor’s ability to respond to public health emergencies.
Renacci said DeWine prioritized “fear over freedom.”
Some conservatives have vowed never to vote for DeWine again, according to a handful of county GOP chairs, even if that means sitting out in November.
The winner of the Republican primary will face the Democratic nominee, either former Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley or ex-Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley.
“They’re not going to vote again for someone who has disappointed them and not represented them well,” said Shelby County Republican Chairwoman Theresa Kerg. “I think people are frustrated and tired of just accepting whoever is given to them.”
___
Associated Press writer Julie Carr Smyth in Columbus, Ohio, contributed to this report. | https://www.cenlanow.com/politics/ap-politics/ohios-gop-governor-aims-to-overcome-anger-in-party-base/ | 2022-04-14T11:00:26 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/politics/ap-politics/ohios-gop-governor-aims-to-overcome-anger-in-party-base/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — With his sweeping domestic agenda on hold and images of horror in Ukraine dominating headlines, President Joe Biden is scrounging for ways to demonstrate that he’s still making progress for Americans at a time when many feel the country is heading in the wrong direction.
Six months out from the midterm elections, Biden’s team is betting that smaller, discrete announcements can break through to voters better than talk of transformational plans that are so far only aspirational. And as the global focus is on Ukraine, the White House is eager for Americans to see Biden tackling the kitchen table issues important to them –- none more so than the searing inflation exacerbated by the Russian invasion.
Last week, that meant aides positioned big rigs outside the White House so Biden could talk about efforts to get more truck drivers on the road. A day later, he welcomed back former President Barack Obama for the signing of an executive order updating the Affordable Care Act. And after that, he signed bipartisan legislation intended to safeguard the U.S. Postal Service’s financial future.
This week, he’s notching his heaviest domestic travel in months. On Thursday, he is to visit Greensboro, North Carolina, to highlight his plans to boost domestic supply chains and high-tech workforces. It comes after a Tuesday stop in Iowa to announce that his administration was granting a waiver to allow more ethanol in gasoline year-round, a move that officials estimated would shave 10 cents per gallon off gasoline prices — but at just 2,300 gas stations out of the nation’s more than 100,000.
The White House says the public focus on the war in Ukraine is “understandable” and it’s realistic about the challenges facing Biden in breaking through.
“While the world needs to understand and see how he is leading on the war, the country needs to see how he is continuing to lead on the economy,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday. “Being able to continue to speak to our domestic audience about that is a huge priority. And his schedule tells the story of how much of a priority it is.”
All of the policies Biden is touting will have direct impact on American lives — but they also fall far short of the goals that Biden set for himself when taking office. Taken together, they show how the White House is trying to regain momentum at a time when Biden is under pressure to recalibrate his ambitions.
“I think it makes good strategic sense that, if you’re going to be stymied by Congress, you take matters into your own hands,” said Eric Schultz, a communications official in the Obama White House.
It’s a dynamic that Obama himself confronted, particularly in his second term in office, when he used his executive authority to push forward his agenda as much as possible.
“It’s not a coincidence that this strategy emerged when Republicans threw up their hands and decided they didn’t want to be governing partners,” Schultz said.
Schultz said Democrats need to demonstrate they’re making progress even if they’re not passing the sweeping legislation they promised.
“Did we accomplish everything we wanted to? No,” he said. “But did we roll up our sleeves every day and push the needle forward? Yes.”
While there have been successes, notably the confirmation of Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to be the first Black woman on the Supreme Court, much of Biden’s agenda remains stalemated — or worse.
Lawmakers are struggling to hash out a bipartisan compromise on legislation that’s intended to help the U.S. compete economically with China. Biden’s sweeping Build Back Better legislation is dead in the water, waiting for Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin to decide what, if anything, he’ll support. Immigration reform, gun control legislation and voting reform have fallen out of the national conversation.
That’s left Biden touting the benefits of infrastructure legislation that passed last year — old bridges slated for replacement are a staple of his domestic travels — and looking for other, small policies that can be advanced.
Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, said smaller initiatives are only going to help if they “lay the groundwork for passing much bigger policies.”
“Singles are fine if they’re a prelude to a grand slam,” he said, adding that Democrats face “a motivation challenge” ahead of the midterms. “Democrats are not going to get people to the polls with a lot of singles.”
William Galston, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said Biden is trying to make the most of a difficult situation.
“He’s doing what he can now that some of his grander plans have been sidetracked,” he said.
Galston recalled a similar strategy when he worked on domestic policy for President Bill Clinton. Before the midterms in 1994, the White House worked on “running up the score” with policy proposals that were less controversial.
“It was just what happened when the White House conceded defeat on its central agenda item,” which was health care reform for Clinton.
“Those smaller victories made absolutely no difference in the midterms. The fact that they were below the radar screen was good news for passing legislation, but bad news for their political effectiveness,” he said. For Biden, “that’s likely to be the case this time, too.” | https://www.cenlanow.com/politics/ap-politics/thinking-small-biden-scrounges-for-ways-to-break-through/ | 2022-04-14T11:00:33 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/politics/ap-politics/thinking-small-biden-scrounges-for-ways-to-break-through/ |
Administration unveils steps to boost racial equity in govt
(AP) - The Justice Department is improving language access to its programs to help people with limited English proficiency better report crimes. The Interior Department is providing technical assistance to Native American tribes to help them apply for grants. The Energy Department is helping low-income households access programs to weatherize their homes and save energy.
Those efforts are among hundreds of strategies and commitments the Biden administration was announcing Thursday. They are the product of an executive order that President Joe Biden signed hours after taking office with the goal of advancing racial equity and support for underserved communities across the federal government.
The order was the first of its kind by a president, said Chiraag Bains, deputy assistant to the president for racial justice and equity.
“We set the mission and the mandate for every agency, the entire federal government, to center equity in all that we do,” Bains told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
After more than a year of review, more than 90 federal agencies, including all major Cabinet departments, were releasing their “equity action plans” on Thursday.
The plans outline more than 300 strategies and commitments that aim to make federal policies fairer for everyone, including poorer communities and communities of color; tribal, rural and LGBTQ communities; and people with disabilities and women and girls.
They were to be discussed at a White House event hosted Thursday by domestic policy adviser Susan Rice, budget director Shalanda Young and members of the Cabinet. Biden, a Democrat, has one of the most diverse Cabinets, with Black and Hispanic people leading major departments, including Defense, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, and the Environmental Protection Agency.
Some of the equity plans have been announced, such as work by the Department of Housing and Urban Development to close the racial gap in homeownership, address disproportionate rates of homelessness among underserved communities and reduce bias in home appraisals.
Others strategies are being made public for the first time, such as Defense Department efforts to promote the use of artificial intelligence technology to reduce algorithmic bias by investing in the development of a more diverse AI workforce. That work includes partnerships with historically Black colleges and universities.
Equity action teams at every agency led the reviews. Bains said that, taken together, the strategies “will advance equity and justice so that everybody can thrive in America.”
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.1011now.com/2022/04/14/administration-unveils-steps-boost-racial-equity-govt/ | 2022-04-14T11:00:38 | 1 | https://www.1011now.com/2022/04/14/administration-unveils-steps-boost-racial-equity-govt/ |
ATLANTA (AP) — Former President Donald Trump’s political action committee has given $500,000 to a group that is running attack ads in Georgia against Republican Gov. Brian Kemp.
The spending appears aimed at boosting former U.S. Sen. David Perdue, whom Trump has endorsed in the GOP gubernatorial primary, but the ad never mentions Perdue by name.
It’s the first major outlay from Trump’s Save America PAC, underlining Trump’s continuing obsession with beating Kemp. Trump views Kemp as disloyal for refusing to help overturn his defeat in the state’s 2020 presidential election.
The ad criticizes Kemp for not doing enough to combat voter fraud, citing discredited claims that a Georgia law enforcement agency examined and dismissed.
The Save America PAC entered the year with $120 million in cash. But until now, the former president has been reluctant to spend that money beyond small contributions to candidates and money spent on rallies he is now holding almost every week.
Federal campaign records show the donation went to a group called Get Georgia Right PAC in March, as first reported by Politico.
The ad began airing earlier this month, according to Kantar Media. The Associated Press also obtained a copy of a text message the group sent urging people to watch the ad.
The spending comes at a time that Perdue is trailing in the polls and is being outspent by Kemp. Perdue, who’s worth $50 million, has suggested he could kick in some of his own money.
“We’re going to make sure this thing is well funded,” Perdue told reporters in March. “We’re going to get our message out.”
Kemp remains dismissive of Trump, with spokesperson Cody Hall attacking Perdue about remarks the challenger made Tuesday criticizing Kemp’s stewardship of the state police.
“David Perdue is going to need a lot more than $500,000 to distract from his unhinged rant attacking the Georgia State Patrol,” Hall said.
A Perdue loss in Georgia in the state’s May 24 primary could be particularly embarrassing for Trump, who recruited Perdue to challenge Kemp and pressed another Republican — Vernon Jones — to exit the governor’s race and run for Congress instead. Trump has also endorsed an extensive slate of other Republicans in Georgia running for statewide and congressional offices.
Trump called Kemp a “turncoat,” a “coward” and “a complete and total disaster” at a rally in Commerce, Georgia, last month. But the former president was noncommittal in an April 6 interview with conservative radio host John Fredericks about whether he would do an additional rally for Perdue. He told Fredericks that it’s “not easy to beat a sitting governor, just remember that,” adding that “it’s a close race and we’ll see what happens.”
Perdue has parroted Trump’s lies in his own attacks against Kemp, declaring at the Commerce rally that “our elections in 2020 were absolutely stolen.”
___
Associated Press writer Jill Colvin contributed to this report from New York. | https://www.cenlanow.com/politics/ap-politics/trump-pac-gives-500000-to-attack-georgias-brian-kemp/ | 2022-04-14T11:00:40 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/politics/ap-politics/trump-pac-gives-500000-to-attack-georgias-brian-kemp/ |
Tesla CEO Elon Musk offers to buy Twitter in cash deal
NEW YORK (AP) — Elon Musk is offering to buy Twitter, just days after the Tesla CEO said he would no longer be joining the social media company’s board of directors.
Twitter Inc. said in a regulatory filing on Thursday that Musk, who currently owns slightly more than 9% of its stock and is the company’s biggest shareholder, provided a letter to the company on Wednesday that contained a proposal to buy the remaining shares of Twitter that he doesn’t already own. Musk offered $54.20 per share of Twitter’s stock.
He called that price his best and final offer.
“I invested in Twitter as I believe in its potential to be the platform for free speech around the globe, and I believe free speech is a societal imperative for a functioning democracy,” Musk says in the filing. “However, since making my investment I now realize the company will neither thrive nor serve this societal imperative in its current form. Twitter needs to be transformed as a private company.”
The buyout offer from Musk is just the latest development in his relationship with Twitter. The billionaire revealed in regulatory filings over recent weeks that he’d been buying shares in almost daily batches starting Jan. 31. Only Vanguard Group’s suite of mutual funds and ETFs controls more Twitter shares.
At that point Twitter quickly gave Musk a seat on its board on the condition that he not own more than 14.9% of the company’s outstanding stock, according to a filing. But Musk backed out of the deal.
Musk’s 81 million Twitter followers make him one of the most popular figures on the platform, rivaling pop stars like Ariana Grande and Lady Gaga. But his prolific tweeting has sometimes gotten him into trouble with the SEC and others.
Musk and Tesla in 2018 agreed to pay $40 million in civil fines and for Musk to have his tweets approved by a corporate lawyer after he tweeted about having the money to take Tesla private at $420 per share. That didn’t happen but the tweet caused Tesla’s stock price to jump. Musk’s latest trouble with the SEC could be his delay in notifying regulators of his growing stake in Twitter.
Musk has described himself as a “free speech absolutist” and has said he doesn’t think Twitter is living up to free speech principles — an opinion shared by followers of Donald Trump and a number of other right-wing political figures who’ve had their accounts suspended for violating Twitter content rules.
Shares of Twitter jumped 11% before the market open.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.1011now.com/2022/04/14/elon-musk-offers-buy-twitter/ | 2022-04-14T11:00:46 | 1 | https://www.1011now.com/2022/04/14/elon-musk-offers-buy-twitter/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — There’s no such thing as a purely personal opinion from the Oval Office on policies that matter. Armchair quarterbacking when you’re the president is fraught when you’re the one with the ball.
Armies can move on your words; markets can convulse; diplomacy can unravel.
That has not stopped President Joe Biden from viscerally weighing in onthe Ukraine war— labeling Russia’s Vladimir Putin a war criminal, appearing to advocate an overthrow in Moscow, branding Russian war actions as genocide — then saying it’s all his personal, not presidential, opinion.
It’s sowing confusion in dangerous times.
America is no mere bystander in this conflict. The U.S. is Ukraine’s chief supplier of arms from the West, a key source of military intelligence for Kyiv and a driving force behind global sanctions against Russia. It has generations of experience in how to talk to and about its historic nuclear rival.
But on consequential superpower subjects, Biden these days is “speaking from his heart,” his aides have said repeatedly. Not unlike his predecessor, he is reacting at times to what he sees on TV. He’s not always to be taken literally, it is argued.
A declaration of genocide is history’s harshest judgment against a country, one that can bind the signers of a United Nations treaty to intervene. Concern about that obligation dissuaded the U.S. from recognizing the Rwandan Hutus’ killing of 800,000 ethnic Tutsis in 1994 as genocide. It took more than a century for a U.S. president, Biden last year, to recognize the Armenian genocide.
But in remarks in Iowa on Tuesday, Biden equated Russia’s mass killings of Ukrainian civilians to genocide and stuck with that position on his way back to Washington: “Yes, I called it genocide,” he affirmed. Lawyers will decide if Russia’s conduct met the international standard, the president added, but “it sure seems that way to me.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised Biden’s remarks. “True words of a true leader,” he tweeted. “Calling things by their names is essential to stand up to evil.”
But as the war unfolds in Europe, French President Emmanuel Macron warned, “I’m not sure if the escalation of words serves our cause.”
“I am prudent with terms today,” Macron said. “Genocide has a meaning. … It’s madness what’s happening today. It’s unbelievable brutality and a return to war in Europe. But at the same time I look at the facts, and I want to continue to try the utmost to be able to stop the war and restore peace.”
At the White House last month, Biden said of Putin, “I think he is a war criminal,” in response to a shouted question as he walked out of an unrelated bill-signing reception. He said the same again when visiting U.S. troops in Poland.
The White House hastened to say that did not necessarily signal U.S. policy.
“He was speaking from his heart and speaking from what he’s seen on television, which is barbaric actions by a brutal dictator, through his invasion of a foreign country,” said press secretary Jen Psaki.
Psaki on Wednesday dismissed the notion that anyone was confused by the idea of Biden’s personal comments not reflecting federal policy. She said Biden ran for office promising “he would shoot from the shoulder, is his phrase that he often uses, and tell it to them straight. And his comments yesterday, not once but twice, and on war crimes are an exact reflection of that.”
As well, after meeting Ukrainian children torn from their families in the war, Biden sent his staff scrambling to explain his apparent endorsement of Moscow regime change when he said of Putin: “For God’s sake, this man cannot remain in power.”
Again, not U.S. policy.
“I was expressing the moral outrage that I felt toward this man,” Biden said days later. “I wasn’t articulating a policy change.”
It was Donald Trump who jettisoned the idea of a scripted presidency every way he could, with his multitude of tweets leading the way. Some reflected policy. Some just mirrored what was in his head at the moment.
“We made a dramatic transition during the Trump presidency” in coming to realize that a president may not be speaking for the government or the country at times, but only for himself, said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. She credits the Biden White House with being quick to set the record straight when that happens.
In Jamieson’s academic world of political rhetoric, some public figures like Barack Obama are considered self-monitors — they hear what they are saying as they say it and catch themselves in progress when they go adrift. Biden, she says, lacks this filter.
“Obama was a high self monitor,” she said. “Biden is not. The distance between thought and expression for Biden is not very wide.”
Along with longtime foreign-policy credentials and a deep knowledge of how government works, Biden has a history of loose lips and letting his emoting get the better of him.
That caused occasional friction when he was Obama’s vice president, as when Biden endorsed same-sex marriage rights in a 2012 TV interview before his boss was quite ready to do so. Biden “probably got out a little bit over his skis, but out of generosity of spirit,” Obama said at the time, adding that he would have “preferred to have done this in my own way, on my own terms.”
White House aides say Biden’s pronouncements reflect that he’s never been one to hold his tongue through his five decades in Washington, even when it gets him into trouble.
They see Biden’s declarations, separate from his government’s policies, as reactions not just to the horrifying scenes in Ukraine, but also to political pressure at home to say and do more in response to Russia’s invasion.
To David Axelrod, former adviser to the ever-cautious Obama, Biden’s remark that Putin “cannot remain in power” illustrated the Washington adage that “everyone’s strength is their weakness.”
Biden’s strength is his empathy and authenticity, Axelrod said on his recent podcast, and that can also be a weakness when a president says the wrong thing in a time of crisis.
The risk from off-the-cuff remarks is hardly new with Biden. In 2016, Axelrod foresaw a similar concern from Trump’s capacity for highly contentious comments.
“You can’t, when you’re president of the United States, just shoot first and think about it later in terms of what you say,” he said then, “because people can actually start shooting based on what you say.” | https://www.cenlanow.com/politics/ap-politics/when-biden-speaking-from-his-heart-doesnt-speak-for-us/ | 2022-04-14T11:00:47 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/politics/ap-politics/when-biden-speaking-from-his-heart-doesnt-speak-for-us/ |
Pope marks Holy Thursday ahead of prison feet-washing ritual
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis has celebrated Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica to mark Holy Thursday, hours before he was expected at an Italian prison to perform a foot-washing ritual for a dozen inmates in a gesture of humility.
Attending the Mass were some 1,800 priests. Francis in his homily advised priests not to focus on worldly concerns such as power, planning and bureaucracy. He exhorted them to “serve, with a clear conscience, the holy and faithful people of God.”
Francis made no reference to decades of scandals involving priests who sexually abused children and were often transferred from parish to parish by bishops who tried to avoid embarrassment rather than protect minors.
In the afternoon, Francis is expected at a prison in Civitavecchia, a port town 80 kilometers (50 miles) northwest of Rome, for the foot-washing ceremony that recalls Jesus’ gesture of humility for his apostles.
Francis has made paying attention to those on society’s margins — including refugees, migrants and people in prisons — a hallmark of his papacy. On Holy Thursday in past years, he has gone to prisons in or near Rome.
Holy Week, which draws hundreds of thousands of faithful to the Vatican, began with Palm Sunday Mass on April 10 in St. Peter’s Square.
This year, the Good Friday torch-lit Way of the Cross procession returns to its traditional venue at the ancient Colosseum after a two-year absence due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Vatican has invited a Russian woman and a Ukrainian woman, who work together at a Rome hospital, to carry a cross together during the procession. That has angered some Ukrainians, including Ukraine’s ambassador to the Holy See and the archbishop of Kyiv. Their objections center on whether such a gesture, implying reconciliation, is suitable, given Russia’s invasion of its neighbor Ukraine and ongoing war against the country’s people.
The Vatican is still going ahead with the procession’s lineup of participants, who take turns carrying a lightweight cross during the procession, which is presided over by the pontiff and recalls Jesus’ death by crucifixion.
Holy Week culminates on Easter Sunday, two days later.
Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. | https://www.1011now.com/2022/04/14/pope-marks-holy-thursday-ahead-prison-feet-washing-ritual/ | 2022-04-14T11:00:53 | 0 | https://www.1011now.com/2022/04/14/pope-marks-holy-thursday-ahead-prison-feet-washing-ritual/ |
WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Wednesday urged China to use its “special relationship with Russia” to persuade Russia to end the war in Ukraine.
Beijing “cannot expect the global community to respect its appeals to the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity in the future if it does not respect these principles now,” Yellen said at the Atlantic Council, a nonpartisan think tank.
Yellen’s speech at the Atlantic Council comes a week before the world’s finance ministers and central bank governors convene in Washington for the International Monetary Fund-World Bank Group Spring Meetings. Her direct appeal to China underscores an increasing frustration that the United States and its allies have with a country that has only deepened its ties with Russia since the invasion of Ukraine.
“The world’s attitude towards China and its willingness to embrace further economic integration may well be affected by China’s reaction to our call for resolute action on Russia,” she said.
The U.S. and its allies have used sanctions to weaponize the global economy against Russia over its war in Ukraine. There aren’t any countries yet subverting the sanctions, but there are fears among the allies that China, which has criticized the Western sanctions, could potentially do so. Also of concern is India, which has taken a neutral stance on the Russia-Ukraine war and recently made a major purchase of Russian oil, a source of tension with the U.S. as it tries to cut off Moscow’s energy income.
Yellen said that countries that undermine the sanctions the U.S. and its allies have imposed on Russia will face consequences for their actions.
“The unified coalition of sanctioning countries will not be indifferent to actions that undermine the sanctions we’ve put in place,” Yellen said.
Yellen, leaving open the question of what the consequences for flouting the sanctions could be, said Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine has “redrawn the contours” of the global economy, which includes “our conception of international cooperation going forward.”
The IMF and the World Bank hold an annual conference that addresses issues affecting the global economy. This year, the meetings will take place April 18-24 in Washington both virtually and in person. The Russian invasion of Ukraine — and how world powers should manage the spillover to economies — will take center stage.
Yellen, answering a question about how the prospect of worldwide food shortages and rising inflation could affect political unrest globally, said “this will be an urgent concern for us next week, to try to think about how we can stave off starvation around the world.”
Roughly 155 million people in 55 countries faced acute hunger in 2020, an increase of 20 million people from the year before, according to the World Food Program.
Last week, Yellen told a U.S. House panel that Russia’s aggression in Eastern Europe will have “enormous economic repercussions in Ukraine and beyond,” adding that the rising prices of energy, metal, wheat and corn that Russia and Ukraine produce are “going to escalate inflationary pressures as well.”
The U.S. is currently facing historic inflation rates not seen since December 1981. The Labor Department reported Tuesday that prices in March climbed 8.5% from a year ago.
While inflation began to increase before Russia invaded Ukraine in February, the war has strained supplies of oil and gasoline. Half of the past month’s increase in consumer prices came from gas.
Yellen said that she hopes cooperating countries can tackle the world’s biggest problems, despite the war.
“I see this,” she says, “as the right time to work to address the gaps in our international financial system that we are witnessing in real time.” | https://www.cenlanow.com/politics/ap-politics/yellen-nations-flouting-russia-sanctions-face-consequences/ | 2022-04-14T11:00:54 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/politics/ap-politics/yellen-nations-flouting-russia-sanctions-face-consequences/ |
Teen says gaming headset saved him from stray bullet
LOS ANGELES (KCAL/KCBS) - A family counts itself fortunate. They still don’t know where a bullet that struck an 18-year-old came from, but they now realize how close they came to tragedy.
A gaming headset is credited with saving the life of Jonathan Gonzalez.
“You can see the damage. It actually bent this piece of metal here and went through,” said Gonzalez, an active gamer.
He was on his PlayStation the morning of April 1 just after midnight listening to music and chatting with friends when he felt something hit his head.
“It felt like if you’re wearing a bike helmet, and someone just smacks the top of your head,” Gonzalez said.
He looked up and found the bullet hole in his bedroom window. The gunshot ripped his curtains down.
After it struck him in the head, the bullet ricocheted against the wall and landed in his bed.
“If it wasn’t for these on my head, it probably would’ve went through,” Gonzalez said.
He ran to his parents’ room shouting he thought he’d been shot.
Nearly two weeks later, his family is still trying to process this close call.
“It’s still a trigger for me to process the thought that I could’ve lost my son. We were asleep, and if it did hurt him, we would not have known until we woke up hours later,” said Janet Popoca, the teen’s mother.
When the Los Angeles Police Department responded, officers could not find the shooter. They don’t believe the gun was fired at close range.
Gonzalez’s mom says even officers couldn’t believe what happened. “They were just shocked,” she said.
Gonzalez said he keeps thinking about how an inch in either direction could’ve changed things drastically.
“Minding my own business in my own room, and I could’ve been gone. Just thinking about it for the first week made me sick,” he said.
Razor, the company that makes the headphones, sent him a replacement.
Gonzalez said he still loves to game, but he’s now leery of what’s happening outside his window.
Police are still investigating the shooting.
Gonzalez’s family said they hope for an arrest, but they are learning to appreciate life a lot more.
Copyright 2022 KCAL/KCBS via CNN Newsource. All rights reserved. | https://www.1011now.com/2022/04/14/teen-says-gaming-headset-saved-him-stray-bullet/ | 2022-04-14T11:00:59 | 1 | https://www.1011now.com/2022/04/14/teen-says-gaming-headset-saved-him-stray-bullet/ |
Why Dolby Atmos-enabled sound bars are still a good choice
While sound bars are better than integrated TV speakers, they haven’t always lived up to their reputation. With Dolby Atmos becoming increasingly common, it’s worth revisiting sound bars to see how much better they are than they used to be. A lot of them are on sale right now, so now’s a great time to get one.
We sat down with resident tech expert Jaime Vazquez to get his thoughts on how and why a Dolby Atmos sound bar is a good investment right now with the current discounts.
What is Dolby Atmos?
Dolby Atmos is a proprietary audio protocol designed for use with home theater systems, such as 7.1-channel surround sound. The protocol separates an audio track into separate streams similar to traditional surround sound. It also adds height channels and data that tells each stream which direction it’s supposed to come from.
Typically, you need satellite speakers mounted above viewers’ heads to take advantage of Dolby Atmos. As Vazquez noted, “The speaker knows where all the other speakers are. You have a much more customized experience because you’re getting things relative to your listening space, as opposed to hoping that the soundtrack matches your room.”
Instead of overhead speakers, Atmos-enabled sound bars leverage multiple drivers pointed in different directions to simulate spatial audio. Vazquez continued, “The big deal with sound bars now is that they got a lot better at bouncing sound around a room. They now are really good at faking surround sound.”
Why Dolby Atmos is worth it
For a few years, Dolby Atmos seemed like more of a marketing stunt than a useful home theater technology. This was largely because media, such as movies and TV shows, must be specifically mastered to support the protocol.
According to Vazquez, “It used to be that Atmos was a feature that was primarily found on Blu-ray discs and the Apple TV. But, the deal is now that if you have the gear, you can log into your Netflix, HBO Max or Paramount+ and give you the surround-sound experience.”
Previously, Dolby Atmos was more for early adopter tech enthusiasts. Now, it’s more worthwhile to be able to play back Dolby Atmos content because of the streaming services that support it. There’s not a single, specific reason why Dolby Atmos sound bars are priced so well right now. Overall, manufacturers are taking advantage of the standard’s increased adoption and offering a wider range of Dolby Atmos sound bars, and they are putting older and more basic models on sale.
How Dolby Atmos sound bars work
Affordable sound bars usually have just two or three full-range speakers, while a quality Dolby Atmos-enabled model will have more. “Typically, a Dolby Atmos sound bar has speakers firing in all directions to mimic the surround-sound effect. Whereas if you’re looking at a 2.1- or a 3.1-channel model, that’s just stereo, not surround,” Vazquez said.
Additionally, acoustic refinements and increased driver efficiency have led to better sound quality, especially in the low end. To sum it up, Vazquez said, “sound bars have hit the sweet spot of reliably being able to produce quality surround effects at an affordable price.”
How to pick a Dolby Atmos sound bar
Vazquez recommends a sound bar that comes with additional satellite speakers. At the top of the line, sound bar setups like the Samsung HW-Q950A boast several drivers in the front in addition to full-range satellites and a powerful subwoofer. The Vizio M512a-H6 costs considerably less, is outfitted with 11 speakers in total and approaches full-on surround sound systems in performance.
However, Vazquez advises caution when looking for an especially affordable solution. “There’s a big gap between budget-friendly and high-quality sound bars,” he said, “and some budget models give the whole category a bad name.” There are exceptions. The TCL Alto 8i delivers decent simulated spatial audio at a low price.
Sound bar features to consider
- Number of inputs: “If you’re a gamer or have multiple devices to plug in, you’ll need more than one input into the sound bar,” Vazquez noted.
- Audio/video connections: Many sound bars let you route the audio and video connection directly through the unit itself, but not all of them do. For some, you’ll need to use the audio return channel function to drive the sound bar. Make sure that your TV supports ARC or eARC before buying a sound bar that doesn’t allow for direct audio input.
- HDR pass-through: If your sound bar does accept direct connections, make sure it supports HDR10 or, ideally, Dolby Vision pass-through to take advantage of modern dynamic contrast.
- Wireless subwoofer: You can’t get a cinematic experience without a dedicated sub.
- Built-in apps: Premium sound bars often include features that tailor the output to the shape of the room, while others have built-in streaming platforms. The former is a great way to improve the audio experience, but most users won’t need the latter.
Best Dolby Atmos sound bars
It’s a high-end sound bar that sounds better than many full-featured surround-sound systems. Sold by Amazon
With two satellites, a subwoofer and consistently accurate sound, this midrange Vizio model is the perfect blend of price and performance. Sold by Amazon
There aren’t any other sound bars in its price range that perform as well. Sold by Amazon
It is more affordable than most and offers particularly impressive bass, although it doesn’t have much in the way of sound enhancement or room correction features. Sold by Amazon
Seven internal drivers help this moderately priced option deliver powerful simulated surround sound without the inconvenience of installing satellite speakers. Sold by Amazon
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Chris Thomas writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/as-dolby-atmos-sound-bars-are-placed-on-deep-discount-is-it-worth-getting-one-now/ | 2022-04-14T11:01:01 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/as-dolby-atmos-sound-bars-are-placed-on-deep-discount-is-it-worth-getting-one-now/ |
Which electric tiller is best?
Tilling the soil of your new garden doesn’t have to be as labor-intensive as it used to be, nor does it take an emissions-spewing, gas-powered tiller to get the job done. Electric tillers are just as capable and quieter to boot. Some are even cordless so you can till a garden anywhere you’d like.
The best electric tiller is the Greenworks Cordless Tiller. The lithium-ion battery operates at full power even when nearly empty, and it can till widths of up to 10 inches.
What to know before you buy an electric tiller
Pros and cons of an electric tiller
Electric tillers have a set of pros and cons compared to their gas-powered counterparts.
Pros: Electric tillers are easier to use and much more cost-effective than gas-powered models. They also require less maintenance and operate with less noise.
Cons: The most powerful electric tiller is still outclassed by an above-average gas-powered tiller. Large and tough grounds are possible to till with an electric model but are handled easier and faster by a gas-powered model.
Corded vs. cordless
Some electric tillers run on a battery, while others need to be plugged in.
- Battery-powered models can be used anywhere and you don’t have to worry about cords. However, their batteries only provide enough power to equal an above-average corded model. They’re also more expensive.
- Corded models need access to a power source, and you need to make sure your cord is kept out of the tiller’s way. Any extension cord you use should be thick enough not to melt or restrict power to your tiller. Using extra-long extension cords or chaining cords together is dangerous and power-restricting, so you should consider a battery- or gas-powered model instead if you find yourself far from your power source.
What to look for in a quality electric tiller
Power
Electric tiller manufacturers relate power using one or a combination of methods, all of which have their own ranges.
- Amps: Look for anything 6 amps and above minimum but preferably 10 and above.
- Watts: Look for anything with at least 500 amps.
- Volts: 20 volts is enough for a budget tiller, but anything 36 volts and above is better. If they give amp hours, look for anything with 4 Ah and above.
- Horsepower: Look for anything with at least half a horsepower.
Tines
Tines have shape, number and speed to consider.
- Shape: Most manufacturers use either an L-shaped tine or tines with a slight variation.
- Number: Electric tillers have two to six tines, with more being better.
Speed
Most electric tillers have only one speed, but others have variable speeds to better handle specific soils.
How much you can expect to spend on an electric tiller
Electric tillers typically cost $100-$300, with most costing no more than $200. For anything over $200, you’ll get more power and likely won’t have to deal with a cord.
Electric tiller FAQ
What’s the difference between an electric tiller and an electric cultivator?
A. They’re similar enough that many manufacturers use the terms interchangeably or claim that one tool can do both jobs. In reality, an electric tiller is more powerful than an electric cultivator. Both can chew up and maintain most ground types and hardnesses, but an electric tiller can have enough power to process new ground, which is usually too hard for a cultivator to process.
Are electric tillers powerful enough to till new, hard sod?
A. Depending on the model, yes. Many electric tillers struggle to till new, hard soil, but the best and strongest should be able to manage it, albeit slowly. Comparatively, gas-powered models are more powerful across the board and you rarely need to worry about if they can handle new ground — they’re able to till new ground faster than even the strongest electric tiller.
What’s the difference between front- and rear-line tillers?
A. All electric tillers use front-line tillers, meaning the tines are placed in front of the wheels and pull the tiller forward. Some gas-powered tillers use rear-line tillers, which are placed behind the motor and dragged forward by its power.
What’s the best electric tiller to buy?
Top electric tiller
Greenworks 40-Volt Cordless Tiller
What you need to know: With a tilling depth of up to 5 inches, this powerful model can till almost anything.
What you’ll love: The 40-volt lithium-ion battery provides enough power (and doesn’t wane as it empties) to till anything except the hardest ground. It features a width of 8.25-10 inches with up to 2,000 strikes per minute.
What you should consider: It’s on the pricey side. The battery only lasts for roughly 40 minutes, and a few consumers had issues with the battery not charging as it ages.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top electric tiller for the money
Black and Decker 20-Volt MAX Cordless Tiller
What you need to know: This quality model from a trusted brand is perfect for small jobs.
What you’ll love: It runs on a MAX lithium-ion battery that can till up to 325 square feet of ground on a full charge, and its counter-oscillating tines prevent roots from tangling in the head. It’s Energy Star-certified and has a two-year limited warranty.
What you should consider: The small head is not efficient for anything larger than a small flowerbed or garden. The batteries can take up to eight hours to charge.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon and Home Depot
Worth checking out
Sun Joe Electric 13.5-Amp Garden Tiller
What you need to know: This corded model is powerful with an extra-wide head.
What you’ll love: It has a tilling depth of up to 8 inches and a tilling width of up to 16 inches with six durable steel angled tines for chewing through almost anything. The handles fold up for space-saving storage and the wheels can be adjusted into three positions.
What you should consider: A few users felt the handles were uncomfortable to use for long periods, and a handful received tillers with missing parts.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Jordan C. Woika writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/best-electric-tiller/ | 2022-04-14T11:01:08 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/best-electric-tiller/ |
Which ‘Star Wars’ model kit is best?
“Star Wars” is among the most loved film franchises, spanning 12 feature-length productions across 45 years. Including several television show additions and spin-offs, the trademark is worth an estimated $70 billion.
With such an illustrious history, there is plenty of merchandise for fans to collect. Action figures and memorabilia might top the most-wanted list, but for those who want to get their hands dirty, there are model kits to build. For a real challenge, the amazing Lego “Star Wars” Ultimate Millennium Falcon is sure to keep you busy for hours.
What to know before you buy a ‘Star Wars’ model kit
Different kinds of model kits
“Star Wars” model kits are no different from others, like airplanes, ships or submarines. They are available in different kinds of builds, giving you the option of working in your preferred medium. Lego fans might opt to put together an officially licensed “Star Wars” Lego set, while there are paper-based kits for easier builds and 3D wood puzzles that can be painted when you are done.
The skill level will determine the complexity
Just as the models are available in different build types, so too are the skill level needed for completing them. Generally, the skill level will be indicated on the model’s packaging and should give you a rough indication of how difficult or easy it will be. But the skill level shouldn’t be seen as a deterrent. You might find it more enjoyable to tackle something complex than a build that only consists of a few pieces.
Consider the scale of the model
Inexperienced model builders often don’t realize how large model kits can be. The regular scale measurement won’t mean much to you if it’s based on a fictional object. Since there is no real-world reference point, the kits often indicate the measurements of the completed object. Keep this in mind if you want to display the model or if you have limited space where you live.
What to look for in a quality ‘Star Wars’ model kit
Highly detailed and accurate
Any model kit, no matter if it is “Star Wars” or World War II airplanes, must be highly-detailed to get the full enjoyment from finalizing the construction. The overall shape might be accurate, but it’s the smaller details that will bring a smile to your face. Look for a good-quality model kit that includes finer elements like trimmings, customizable parts and accurate color schemes.
Robust construction materials
It would be terribly unfortunate if you spent countless hours putting the model together, just for it to crumble to the floor from a slight breeze. A good-quality model kit will be made from robust construction materials which won’t fall apart easily. Most sturdy models are made from wood or plastic. Builds made out of paper are relatively stable, but extra needs to be taken to protect them from damage.
Officially licensed product
To ensure that you get the most accurate and high-quality model kits, you must look for kits that are officially licensed by Disney — which owns the “Star Wars” brand. If you buy a product that isn’t officially part of the merchandise, there would be no guarantee as to the authenticity of the detail or quality. Knockoff kits can be much cheaper than licensed items, but it isn’t worth the risk.
How much you can expect to spend on a ‘Star Wars’ model kit
The average price of a “Star Wars” model kit will depend on the medium and the intricacy of the build. An entry-level kit that consists of wood or paper can retail for $20-$40. Highly detailed, larger kits with thousands of pieces can retail for $800-$1,300.
‘Star Wars’ model kit FAQ
Do you need special tools to put the kit together?
A. While there might be some kits that require tools, the majority of model kits these days don’t. That is because the technology behind model kits has evolved to feature click-in or snap-together designs. For Lego builds, the pieces easily stay together.
How long does it take to build a ‘Star Wars’ model kit?
A. That will depend on the complexity of the build and how nimble your fingers are. Larger builds can take around 10-12 hours to complete, while smaller kits should only take a few hours.
What’s the best ‘Star Wars’ model kit to buy?
Top ‘Star Wars’ model kit
Lego “Star Wars” Ultimate Millennium Falcon
What you need to know: It’s going to take more than a few hours and a bunch of friends to complete this massive 7,541-piece kit. With intricate details and seven classic “Star Wars” minifigures, this Millennium Falcon will be the star attraction in any house.
What you’ll love: Any “Star Wars” fan will grab at the chance to tackle this enormous build, that measures 8 inches high, 33 inches long and 22 inches wide. It includes the smallest details to accurately replicate the famous Millennium Falcon, and it comes with minifigures of Han Solo, Chewbacca, Princess Leia, C-3PO, an older Han Solo, Rey and Finn. On the inside of the ship, you can put together the seating area, the Dejarik holographic game and the engine room with hyperdrive and console.
What you should consider: This kit is best suited for adults with lots of patience or expert builders.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top ‘Star Wars’ model kit for the money
“Star Wars” Tie Fighter 3D Wood Puzzle and Model Figure Kit
What you need to know: Made from sturdy wood, this iconic Tie Fighter kit can be painted with any colors that you want.
What you’ll love: The puzzle is made from 63 interlocking pieces to create a free-standing model. It comes with step-by-step instructions for assembly and the accompanying booklet delves deep into the history of Tie Fighters, the different variants and notable battles.
What you should consider: The assembled build is relatively small, standing 4.5 inches tall and 3.3 inches wide.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
“Star Wars” Imperial Star Destroyer Paper Model Kit
What you need to know: You’re going to need a delicate touch and steady hands to complete this paper-based model of the infamous Imperial Star Destroyer. It comprises 342 pieces, all held together with the included craft glue.
What you’ll love: Included in the build are step-by-step instructions and a display stand. But the set doesn’t just feature the Star Destroyer, as it also comes with smaller paper models of two Tie Fighters and an Imperial Shuttle.
What you should consider: You’ll need some extra room to display this build, as the Star Destroyer measures 30 inches long, 15.1 inches high and 16.5 inches wide.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Charlie Fripp writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/best-star-wars-model-kit/ | 2022-04-14T11:01:15 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/best-star-wars-model-kit/ |
Which steering wheel lock is best?
People tend to feel a close bond to their cars. If your car is damaged or destroyed in an accident, you may feel a great deal of frustration or loss. However, if someone steals your car, it’s far worse. It can feel like a violation, and people who have their car stolen tend to notice they don’t feel as safe or comfortable as before. Luckily, there are ways to deter thieves from targeting your car.
One popular theft deterrent is a steering wheel lock. One of the top steering wheel locks is The Club 1103 LX Series Steering Wheel Lock. It has a universal fit for most steering wheels and is safe against sawing, prying and hammering.
What to know before you buy a steering wheel lock
How a steering wheel lock works
There are a few different steering wheel lock designs available, but they all keep your steering wheel in place and deter thieves from trying to steal your car. Some use telescoping rods, while others lock the entire wheel in place completely. A few designs cover up the wheel entirely or press down on the clutch or brake for extra security.
Locks and keys
Steering wheel locks don’t use a normal lock and key, which experienced thieves can pick open easily. Instead, they use a variety of specialty locks and keys that are difficult or impossible to pick and equally challenging to copy. Most locks include two or three keys. If you need more, you can order them from the manufacturer.
Construction
Most steering wheel locks are made of some kind of steel, though you can also find ones with titanium elements. Many locks have a plastic coating too, which has a few uses. The plastic keeps your steering wheel scratch-free, and the bright color stands out to discourage thieves.
What to look for in a quality steering wheel lock
Size
The size of a steering wheel lock will determine how big of a steering wheel it can fit. It will also dictate how easy it is to store the lock when not in use. Telescoping rod locks are a great choice since they can lock all sizes of steering wheels while still being compact and storable.
Design
Manufacturers typically design steering wheel locks to look intimidating to thieves. The bare steel or bright colors will catch the attention of a potential thief and hopefully stop them from breaking through the door or window.
Hardened points
Some steering wheel locks have a hardened tip on one end, which functions as a window breaker in case of emergencies. Some may include a cap to prevent this tip from breaking or tearing something on accident. If this is a feature you’d like to have, be sure to check the product description for more information.
How much you can expect to spend on a steering wheel lock
Most steering wheel locks cost roughly $30-$50. Some cost as little as $20. The best and most intricate locks usually cost around $60 and can exceed $100.
Steering wheel lock FAQ
Can I make extra keys for my steering wheel lock?
A. Generally speaking, no. Most steering wheel locks use specialty-shaped keys that are either difficult or impossible to copy, even by the best locksmiths. Most manufacturers can send you extras if you request them, but you’ll need to provide information that confirms you are the owner. You’ll likely need to at least pay for the shipping and handling of extra keys.
How secure is a steering wheel lock?
A. It depends on the lock, but they’re usually incredibly secure. Most locks resist common workarounds, such as sawing, hammering or prying with a crowbar. Check reviews to see how others feel about their experience, and check the brand of the product to learn more about their reputation.
What’s the best steering wheel lock to buy?
Top steering wheel lock
The Club 1103 LX Series Steering Wheel Lock
What you need to know: This is an effective steering wheel lock at an affordable price.
What you’ll love: You can secure the lock with one tug. It comes with three laser encrypted keys that locksmiths can’t duplicate. It adjusts easily to fit any wheel and resists common breaking methods, including hammering and Freon combinations. It weighs 4.2 pounds and comes in three colors.
What you should consider: Some consumers complained of a sticky substance coating the lock. Others received units where the lock would not completely lock.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top steering wheel lock for the money
What you need to know: This budget theft deterrent is ideal for light security.
What you’ll love: The steel construction is thick enough to prevent sawing, and installation only takes seconds. It uses a crescent lock cylinder and includes two computer-coded keys. The black and yellow design stands out to thieves, and it only weighs 1.72 pounds.
What you should consider: The design doesn’t prevent airbag theft. It may not fit depending on your car’s combination of wheel size and dashboard height.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Tevlaphee Steering Wheel Lock for Cars
What you need to know: This steering wheel lock resists most breaking methods, including freon and hammer attacks.
What you’ll love: It fits steering wheel inner diameters between 6.6 and 12.5 inches. The inner hook is padded to prevent damage to the wheel. It includes a hardened window-breaking tip and comes in three colors.
What you should consider: Some consumers had issues with the key becoming stuck in the lock. There are rare reports of the keys failing to unlock the device.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Jordan C. Woika writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/best-steering-wheel-lock/ | 2022-04-14T11:01:22 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/best-steering-wheel-lock/ |
Which dog food is better: Blue Buffalo or Purina Pro Plan?
Your dog’s diet makes a huge impact on their health and well-being, so choosing the right dog food is important. If you’re stuck between Blue Buffalo dog food and Purina Pro Plan dog food, you might be wondering which is the best option.
As with most things in life, there isn’t a simple answer, so you’ll have to delve deeper and examine the pros and cons. Also, remember that all dogs are different, so the best food for one dog isn’t always the best for another.
Blue Buffalo dog food
Blue Buffalo dog food is touted as a healthy and holistic brand. It contains high-quality ingredients without unnecessary additives. Complete and balanced, it contains all the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients that your dog needs to stay healthy. It’s made in the USA, though from globally sourced ingredients.
You can buy both wet and dry dog food from Blue Buffalo, as well as dog treats. Bags of dry food cost roughly $15-$75, depending on the size and variety, while wet food costs roughly $2-$3 a can.
Blue Buffalo dog food pros
- Blue Buffalo dog food lists meat as the first ingredient, plus it often includes healthy whole grains and vegetables.
- It doesn’t contain any artificial flavors or preservatives and stays away from poultry by-product meal, corn, soy and other filler ingredients.
- You can choose from a range of varieties, including senior dog foods, small breed dog foods and limited ingredient dog foods for dogs with food allergies or sensitivities.
- Most dogs find Blue Buffalo foods palatable and you can select from a wide range of formulas or flavors to appeal to picky eaters.
Blue Buffalo dog food cons
- The company sells a range of grain -free dog food, but studies suggest a link between grain-free diets and canine heart disease, so you should avoid them unless your dog has a legitimate grain allergy, which is extremely rare.
- Blue Buffalo has had five dog food recalls, but only three posed a serious risk.
- It doesn’t offer quite as many specialist options as Purina Pro Plan, such as high-performance and sensitive skin formulas.
Best Blue Buffalo dog food
Blue Buffalo Wilderness High Protein Dog Food
An excellent choice for active dogs, this food is high in protein to give them the energy they need to keep going. Pick one of the versions with healthy whole grains as grain-free formulas may be detrimental to heart health.
Sold by Amazon
Blue Buffalo Life Protection Formula Adult Dry Dog Food
The perfect kibble for an average dog, you can choose from several formulas to best suit your dog. Options include small bite for dogs who like smaller pieces of kibble and healthy weight for dogs who need to lose eight or who gain weight easily.
Blue Buffalo Homestyle Recipe Wet Dog Food
This tasty wet food can be fed alone or mixed with kibble. Meat is the first ingredient and it also contains a blend of nutrient-rich veggies.
Purina Pro Plan dog food
Purina Pro Plan dog food is just one kind of dog food from Purina. It’s Purina’s high-end offering, containing better quality ingredients than its other foods. For the most part, it contains quality ingredients, though it does contain some fillers and by-products in some of its lines.
Buyers can choose from a range of formulas, some that suit most dogs and others tailored to need specific needs. It’s at a similar price point to Blue Buffalo, with bags of dry food priced from $15-$70 and cans of wet food around $1.50-$3 each.
Purina Pro Plan dog food pros
- All Purina Pro Plan dry foods and most wet foods contain heart-healthy whole grains.
- This food is made at a facility in the USA, though with ingredients sourced from around the globe.
- There’s only been one recall of Purina Pro Plan food, which suggests the company’s quality control is good.
- You can choose from a wide range of formulas to suit your dog, including small breed, large breed and performance.
Purina Pro Plan dog food cons
- Some formulas contain questionable ingredients, such as poultry by-product meal.
- You’re more likely to find fillers, such as corn gluten meal, in Purina Pro Plan foods compared to Blue Buffalo.
- Purina is owned by Nestle, a company known for unethical practices and which some buyers prefer to avoid.
Best Purina Pro Plan dog food
Purina Pro Plan Complete Essentials Dry Dog Food
A solid all-rounder of a dry food that suits most adult dogs. It has a chicken and rice flavor and comes in a range of bag sizes.
Sold by Amazon, Chewy and PetSmart
Purina Pro Plan Sensitive Skin and Stomach Dry Dog Food
This carefully formulated food is made using easily digestible ingredients and excludes common allergens, making it perfect for dogs with sensitive skin or stomachs. It contains a prebiotic formula to help digestion.
Sold by Amazon, Chewy and PetSmart
Purina Pro Plan Sport Wet Dog Food
Due to its high protein content, this wet food is suitable for very active dogs and working dogs. It also supports hydration, which is important for dogs who are always on the go.
Should you get Blue Buffalo dog food or Purina Pro Plan dog food?
There’s no clear winner between Blue Buffalo and Purina Pro Plan. Blue Buffalo has more consistently high-quality ingredients, but Purina Pro Plan only contains a small handful of questionable ingredients and not in all its formulas.
Purina has a slightly wider range of options tailored to the specific needs of dogs, but then again, most dogs are fine with a standard adult dog food — plus Blue Buffalo some tailored formulas, such as senior, small breed and large breed foods.
Ultimately, go with whichever option you think will best suit your dog and don’t be afraid to change your mind if your canine companion isn’t thriving on their new food after a reasonable transition period.
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Lauren Corona writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/blue-buffalo-dog-food-vs-purina-pro-plan-dog-food/ | 2022-04-14T11:01:29 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/blue-buffalo-dog-food-vs-purina-pro-plan-dog-food/ |
Which women’s hooded bathrobe is best?
Stepping out of the shower or bath on even a warm day is a chilly experience. No matter how little time it takes to dry off with your towel and put your clothes on, you still get a little cold. With a hooded bathrobe, you can skip both steps and go directly into a warm, soft shell that can also dry your hair.
The best one is the Arus Women’s Hooded Bathrobe. It’s made of cotton from the Aegean region of Turkey for a premium feel.
What to know before you buy a women’s hooded bathrobe
Size and length
Hooded bathrobes typically use the same nomenclature as other clothing — small, medium, large, etc. — but most manufacturers use their own sizing charts. This means one “small” robe may be larger than a different “small” robe, so compare your prospective robe’s chart to your measurements.
You also need to consider the length. Most robes are cut to end just above the knee, at mid-calf or around the ankle. However, length and size don’t always match up, so the arms and width may be sized right for your upper body but your height makes a robe fall outside its intended place. You may need to shop around for a while until you find the right size and length.
Fastening
Most women’s hooded bathrobes are secured with exterior waist ties. Some robes use other methods, such as buttons, zippers or interior waist ties. A few use a combination of methods.
What to look for in a quality women’s hooded bathrobe
Material
Women’s hooded bathrobes are typically made of terry cloth or various types of cotton or synthetics.
- Terry cloth is the same material towels are made from. Bathrobes made this way have all the softness and absorbency of your favorite towels and can be comfortably warm. However, it does lose softness over time.
- Cotton bathrobes are made from a variety of cotton types using a variety of weaves. Some are thin and lightweight, while others are thick and heavy, and they’re available at every price point.
- Synthetic bathrobes are typically made of microfiber polyester. It’s soft, reasonably absorbent and affordable.
Hood
A quality hood on a bathrobe is large enough to fully drape over the head while having the length to not pull down tightly on the head. It should also have enough give so you can ruffle it comfortably across your head to dry your hair.
Pockets
A bathrobe should be comfortable enough for you to want to wear it all over your home. As you move around, you’ll likely want to keep your phone and other items on you. Choose a robe with at least one pocket for this purpose so you can have your hands free for moving a glass of wine and a tray of snacks to the couch.
How much you can expect to spend on a women’s hooded bathrobe
They typically cost $20-$100. Low-cost options cost no more than $20 while most cost $30-$50. The best cost $50-$100, though some luxury designer brands can cost several hundred dollars.
Women’s hooded bathrobe FAQ
How do I wash a women’s hooded bathrobe?
A. That mostly depends on the material. Most are machine-washable, though the tags have specific care instructions. Those that are machine washable can’t always be put in the dryer, so double-check before you accidentally damage your new robe. If you’re truly concerned about damaging it, you can usually have it dry-cleaned.
Can I customize a women’s hooded bathrobe?
A. Yes, though few offer customization and personalization during the order process. Instead, you’ll need to take it to a tailor or even personalize it yourself. Any material can be taken in or let out, but some materials are easier than others to personalize, such as fleece. That doesn’t mean you can’t have a complex material personalized, you just might have to pay extra for it.
What’s the best women’s hooded bathrobe to buy?
Top women’s hooded bathrobe
What you need to know: It feels as premium as its cost. It’s made of Turkish terry cotton for premium softness, breathability and durability.
What you’ll love: The hood is large enough to drape comfortably and not pull on your head, and it has two deep pockets on either side. It’s available in three sizes and eight colors.
What you should consider: It’s among the priciest bathrobes. Some consumers found it a little thin.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon and Macy’s
Top women’s hooded bathrobe for the money
U2Skiin Short Women’s Hooded Bathrobe
What you need to know: Made of polyester fleece for a soft, lightweight feel, it’s short for hot summer days.
What you’ll love: Its hood is loose enough not to tug, and it has a small pocket on either side of the front. It comes in three sizes and 21 designs. It uses an outer and inner tying system.
What you should consider: The short length doesn’t provide enough coverage for chilly nights. A few reviewers had issues finding a size that fit appropriately.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
iCreat Women’s Long Hooded Bathrobe
What you need to know: This soft, quality robe is extra-long for freezing winter nights.
What you’ll love: It uses an outer-belt tie system. It has two small pockets on the front and the hood is just large enough not to be too tight. It comes in three sizes and four colors and is made of polyester fleece for warmth and softness.
What you should consider: It’s too long and thick for any climate other than a cold one. It isn’t long enough to be floor length for taller consumers.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Jordan C. Woika writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/br/apparel-br/bathrobes-pajamas-br/best-womens-hooded-bathrobe/ | 2022-04-14T11:01:36 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/br/apparel-br/bathrobes-pajamas-br/best-womens-hooded-bathrobe/ |
Egg prices have risen to more than $2.80 per dozen, on average, which is over double their price in March. This doesn’t bode well for Easter celebrations if you normally use painted eggs for decoration or egg hunts.
Instead, consider plastic eggs, which are reusable, save a lot of time and effort and are a vegan-friendly alternative to real eggs.
Why are egg prices rising?
Several factors have combined to lead to the sharply rising cost of eggs. A serious bird flu outbreak has led to the death of many hens. On top of that, the war in Ukraine has resulted in a significant rise in the price of grain used as feed for laying birds — a cost that farmers must pass on to avoid taking a loss. To a smaller degree, pandemic-related supply chain issues are still causing some price increases across the board.
What types of plastic eggs are available?
You’ll find a variety of plastic eggs available. The three main types are fillable, one-piece and realistic.
- Fillable plastic eggs: Most plastic eggs come in two parts that fit together, so you can fill them with small toys or candy. However, some come in one piece, which is the obvious choice if you don’t want to fill them.
- One-piece plastic eggs: These eggs come in one piece, so you can’t fill them. They’re a good choice for decoration or if you want to stick to the same egg hunt rules as you had with real eggs.
- Realistic plastic eggs: Realistic eggs are made to look like chicken eggs and come in white and brown varieties. These are great if you want to decorate them yourself or if you usually don’t paint or dye eggs at Easter.
Are there alternatives to plastic eggs?
If you’re not sold on plastic eggs, you can also buy wooden eggs as a more eco-friendly choice. These either come painted or plain so you can paint or decorate them yourself. This is a great choice if part of your Easter tradition is decorating eggs.
You can also find squishy faux eggs made from a squeezable foam material much like stress balls. These are great for any kids in a throwing phase who can’t be trusted not to launch hard plastic or wooden eggs at other kids or adults.
Best reusable Easter eggs
Prextex Bulk Plastic Easter Eggs
These solid-colored fillable Easter eggs come in a bulk pack of 100, which is ideal for Easter events or anyone planning a large family egg hunt. They’re hinged so the top and bottom parts won’t get separated when kids rip them open to see what’s inside.
Sold by Amazon
Joyin Plastic Printed Bright Easter Eggs
Featuring a printed exterior that resembles hand-painted designs, this is a great choice for anyone who prefers painting eggs rather than dying them. They are fillable, and you get 48 in a pack.
Sold by Amazon
Double Couple White Plastic Eggs
At first glance, these look like white chicken eggs, so they’re a great choice for anyone who would buy real eggs if it weren’t for the price hike. They are paintable and can be used year after year.
Sold by Amazon
Importer AM Pysanky Hand-Painted Polish Wooden Easter Eggs
These beautiful hand-painted wooden eggs are part of a Polish Easter tradition, but you don’t have to be Polish to appreciate their incredible design. They’re on the pricey side, but they’ll last for decades, and you’ll be proud to display them every Easter.
Sold by Amazon
Ufunga Slow Rising Squishy Easter Eggs
Made to look like painted eggs, these delightfully squishy Easter eggs are great alternatives to plastic or wooden eggs. You can choose from packs of 12 or 24.
Sold by Amazon
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Lauren Corona writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/br/apparel-br/holiday-br/with-egg-prices-on-the-rise-plastic-eggs-seem-like-the-obvious-choice-for-easter-festivities/ | 2022-04-14T11:01:43 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/br/apparel-br/holiday-br/with-egg-prices-on-the-rise-plastic-eggs-seem-like-the-obvious-choice-for-easter-festivities/ |
Which electric nail file for thick toenails is best?
Electric nail files, also known as electric nail drills, are the machines most frequently used in salons on both fingernails and toenails. For thick toenails, whether they’re naturally thick or coated in thick polish, you’ll need an electric file with enough power behind it. You should also look for one that includes plenty of bits.
The best electric nail file for thick toenails is the Makartt Electric Nail File. It has more than enough power to handle anything thick and comes with a variety of bits.
What to know before you buy an electric nail file for thick toenails
Power
An electric nail file’s power is measured in revolutions per minute. Most electric files have maximum RPMs between 10,000-30,000, though a few can go faster. Most natural nails can be comfortably filed with 15,000 rpm, but thick natural nails might be better served with 20,000 rpm. If you’re planning to file nails thick from acrylic polish, you’ll need 25,000-30,000 RPMs.
Bits
In order to focus the power of your electric nail file, you’ll need drill bits. Most electric files include a handful to get you started, but you can always buy any bit you may need separately — just be aware that not all bits fit all files. For simple filing, all you need is a bit that holds disposable sanding bands. For trimming and shaping, you’ll need natural-nail and carbide bits for natural and acrylic-coated nails, respectively. Under-nail and pedicure bits are also good choices.
Noise
Drills make noise, but that doesn’t mean an electric nail file has to make too much. Cheap drills have no noise-dampening and can be quite loud. This may not bother you if you’re trimming your own nails. However, if you need to trim clients’ nails, it’s best for their experience if you choose a noise-dampened drill.
What to look for in a quality electric nail file for thick toenails
Hands-free control
If you’re setting out to file your friend’s or client’s toenails, a hands-free control system will make it much easier and faster to finish the task. These typically take the form of foot pedals that can turn the bit off and on and change the direction the drill spins. Most still require hands-on action to alter the speed.
Vibration dampening
When setting out to file thick toenails, you don’t just file one. You file all 10. Cheap electric nail file motors cause the drill to noticeably vibrate, which can make long trimming sessions deeply uncomfortable. Look for a file with a vibration-dampened motor to avoid this issue.
How much you can expect to spend on an electric nail file for thick toenails
Electric nail files for thick toenails need a little more power behind them, so you’ll likely need to spend at least $20-$30. Better options with more bits usually cost $50-$100, while the best options cost $100-$200.
Electric nail file for thick toenails FAQ
Are electric nail files for thick toenails safe?
A. Yes, though the power electric nail files for thick toenails need to have can easily cause damage if you use the file improperly. The first step is to carefully read all use and safety instructions. Then, start cleaning your toenails or fingernails using the lowest possible speed until you feel comfortable using it. Keep increasing the speed little by little in order to get the hang of each speed setting.
How do I maintain an electric nail file for thick toenails?
A. You need to maintain the drill and the bits using separate processes. The drill shouldn’t come in contact with any water. To clean the drill, you’ll need to brush it off or blast it with a can of compressed air. The bits will need to be disinfected, not just cleaned. Start by scrubbing them while in warm soapy water, then let them soak in a metal-safe disinfecting solution for at least 20 minutes. Once done, dry them thoroughly before storing.
What’s the best electric nail file for thick toenails to buy?
Top electric nail file for thick toenails
What you need to know: This is powerful and reasonably priced.
What you’ll love: It has speeds that can reach up to 30,000 rpm, which is powerful enough to file away even tough acrylic nails. Additionally, it has forward and reverse spin modes. It has a hands-free foot switch and includes several drill bits and 30 sanding bands.
What you should consider: A few consumers had issues with overheating — in rare cases, it became hot enough to melt. Others had issues with the motor giving out in a few months.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top electric nail file for thick toenails for the money
What you need to know: This has just enough power for occasional toenail maintenance.
What you’ll love: It comes packed with accessories, including six drill bits, 30 sanding belts and a pair of nail clippers. The drill has speeds that can reach up to 20,000 rpm and can rotate forward or backward. It comes in silver and green.
What you should consider: A few consumers didn’t receive all the pieces it’s supposed to include. The 20,000 rpm maximum speed setting can’t handle acrylic-covered toenails.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Imene Portable Professional Nail Drill
What you need to know: This drill is perfect for professional use but may be too strong for at-home pedicures.
What you’ll love: It has a brushless vibration- and noise-dampened motor with variable speeds that can spin in either direction and can reach up to 35,000 rpm. It’s surprisingly small and rechargeable, making it easy to take on the go. It includes six drill bits and six sanding bands.
What you should consider: It’s expensive — too expensive for only occasional use. A few consumers had difficulty understanding the instructions. Few third-party drill bits are compatible.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Jordan C. Woika writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/br/beauty-personal-care-br/foot-care-br/best-electric-nail-file-for-thick-toenails/ | 2022-04-14T11:01:50 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/br/beauty-personal-care-br/foot-care-br/best-electric-nail-file-for-thick-toenails/ |
Which Valentino perfume is best?
Valentino has been one of the preferred fashion and fragrance brands of the rich and famous for more than a few decades. Their perfume is known for exuding elegance and opulence. Introduced for the first time in 1978, Valentino’s perfume line has grown to include numerous enticing concoctions that encompass a variety of fragrance profiles, from sweet and spicy to fruity and sour.
A good place to start is by checking out Valentino Donna Born In Roma Eau de Parfum, a pretty floral fragrance with notes of jasmine, blackcurrant and bourbon vanilla.
What to know before you buy a bottle of Valentino perfume
Perfume concentration
Valentino makes three concentrations of perfume: eau de toilette, eau de parfum and parfum.
- Eau de toilette: This is the weakest of the three but it still carries quite a bit of scent. With 10%-15% pure perfume oils, a high-quality eau de toilette can be intense and last all day.
- Eau de parfum: This is a stronger, longer-lasting fragrance, containing 15%-20% pure perfume oils.
- Parfum: This is the strongest concentration, with between 20%-40% perfume oils. Parfum is also the most expensive because perfume oil is the priciest ingredient in any fragrance.
What to look for in a quality Valentino perfume
Uniqueness
Valentino womenswear, which includes their perfumes, is designed around the philosophy that a “woman must cause heads to turn when she enters a room.” A clear indicator that a perfume adheres to this principle is the extent to which it smells completely one of a kind. The best Valentino perfume will excite your nose and leave a memorable impression on all those around you. This uniqueness is exactly why Valentino fragrances are prized by so many perfume connoisseurs.
Bottle design
Valentino’s partner, both in business and life, Giancarlo Giammetti, was a professional Italian architect at the time of their meeting. Because of this, Valentino perfume bottles have an especially provocative architectural feel and design. Be on the lookout for eye-catching bottles that feature Valentino’s signature three-dimensional spike or subtly tinted glass. These details allow each perfume bottle to serve as a display piece all on its own — even after the perfume is gone.
How much you can expect to spend on Valentino perfume
Expect to spend between $50-$90 for small- and medium-sized bottles of Valentino perfume and between $120-$150 for larger bottles.
Valentino perfume FAQ
Where should I apply my new Valentino perfume?
A. Where you choose to apply your perfume is really a matter of preference. However, there are certain areas you can spray that will naturally increase or decrease the intensity and longevity of your perfume. If you want your scent to smell more intense and last longer, spray it onto areas that are naturally warm and experience friction, such as the inner elbows, neck and the backs of your knees.
Can Valentino perfume expire?
A. Yes, once a bottle of perfume has been opened, it can last an average of two years, sometimes longer if you keep it in a cool area out of direct sunlight. You can tell that the perfume has gone bad if it no longer smells as it should or appears discolored.
What’s the best Valentino perfume to buy?
Top Valentino perfume
Valentino Donna Born In Roma Eau De Parfum
What you need to know: Encapsulated in a stunning studded bottle, this pink perfume has rich floral notes and an invitingly feminine scent profile.
What you’ll love: This scent is sophisticated, boasting top notes of bergamot and jasmine that enliven the senses, middle notes of Bulgarian rose and blackcurrant and base notes of warm vanilla and beechwood. This versatile perfume is bold and sensual and was inspired by the edgy yet elegant style of the nightlife scene in Rome.
What you should consider: Although this is an Eau de parfum, the sweetness of the initial scent doesn’t last as long as some wearers would have liked.
Where to buy: Sold by Sephora, Kohl’s and Ulta Beauty
Top Valentino perfume for the money
Valentino Voce Viva Eau De Parfum
What you need to know: If you’re in the market for a subtle yet long-lasting perfume with a unique scent profile and premium ingredients, look no further than Voce Viva.
What you’ll love: The initial scent profile contains robust top notes of bergamot, mandarin and orange blossom, which lend this perfume a distinct sense of citrus-powered awareness. These top notes eventually give way to heart notes gardenia and crystal moss accord, which is a rare ingredient that gives this perfume a sweet subtlety. Finally, the heart notes fade and the base notes of vanilla and tonka bean settle in.
What you should consider: Some wearers feel that the unique combination of ingredients give it a polarizing scent profile.
Where to buy: Sold by Sephora, Kohl’s, Macy’s, Amazon and Ulta Beauty
Worth checking out
Valentino Donna Yellow Dream Eau De Parfum
What you need to know: One of Valentino’s most popular scents, Donna Yellow Dream has a luxurious scent profile that includes complementary contrasts, such as vibrant florals and sweet musk.
What you’ll love: Introduced in 2021, this is one of Valentino’s newest additions to its perfume line, and as such, it’s properly modern. With top notes of Italian lemon, middle notes of luscious rose petal and base notes of white musk, this perfume is both light and breezy as well as mysterious and sensual.
What you should consider: Some wearers report that this perfume isn’t strong enough given the fact that it’s an Eau de parfum.
Where to buy: Sold by Sephora, Kohl’s and Ulta Beauty
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
William Briskin writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/br/beauty-personal-care-br/fragrance-br/the-best-valentino-perfume/ | 2022-04-14T11:01:57 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/br/beauty-personal-care-br/fragrance-br/the-best-valentino-perfume/ |
Which peach shower curtain is best?
Interior designers are in love with pastels right now — and for good reason. These softened tones open decorators up to the full color spectrum with just about every pastel hue being easy on the eyes. Chief among these is peach, the color of sunsets and fresh pitted fruit.
If you’re looking to add warmth and light to your bathroom, a peach shower curtain is the perfect mood booster. Which you choose comes down to the size of your bathtub and your bathroom’s decor, but you can’t go wrong with the delightful print of the Lifeel Peach Shower Curtain.
What to know before you buy a peach shower curtain
Psychology of peach
Peach is a warm mixture of red and yellow. Its properties put people at ease, projecting calm and contentment. This makes it an excellent color for your bathing routine, imbuing your shower or tub with positive and rejuvenating energy.
Colors that go with peach
As a pastel, peach plays well with other colors. The trick is matching the tone to its opposite and tertiary colors. Peach goes great with soft greens such as turquoise and teal and muted yellows such as ocher. It also pairs well with warm grays and light purples such as mauve. If you don’t want pastel overload, try using peach as an accent by pitting it against rich red backdrops.
Styling a peach shower curtain
Because it’s a bright and happy color, peach thrives when surrounded by open, minimal and natural interiors. Warm, raw woods match the energy of this color, as do rose-tinted metals.
If your decor is inspired by vintage aesthetics, you might find yourself struggling to match the color to luscious and saturated hues. In these scenarios, peach can integrate with the darker browns of antique furniture by using mid-tones to work the eye up to the brighter color. As for the severe black of modern interiors, gold, copper and brass are all great ways to guide your space in a warm direction so peach feels at home.
Solid color vs. patterned
Shower curtains are underappreciated canvases that offer excellent color-blocking potential, but that doesn’t mean you have to go peach all the way. A patterned curtain presents decorators with additional versatility. By opting for a peach motif, you can introduce a neutral backdrop that balances the color out and opens your bathroom’s palette up to further color exploration.
What to look for in a quality peach shower curtain
Material
Shower curtains come in three different materials that determine their look, feel and durability:
- Cotton: Soft, hefty and luxurious, cotton is a premium option that comes at a significant cost compared to other materials. It lasts the longest and can be machine-washed; just be prepared to use a liner to protect it from mold and mildew.
- Vinyl: The budget option, vinyl is completely waterproof but has a plasticky sheen and smell. These curtains are also available in non-toxic, eco-friendly PEVA and EVA.
- Polyester: These synthetic fibers offer a waterproof yet textured curtain material halfway between cotton and vinyl. They’re typically more affordable than cotton, and their durability makes them an attractive substitute, though they don’t last quite as long.
Size
- Standard: At 72 by 72 inches, the standard shower curtain is sized to cover one long edge of your typical bathtub.
- Extra-wide: For everything from claw-foots to basins, extra-wide shower curtains offer the additional coverage necessary to prevent water damage. Sized from 108-180 inches wide, these are designed to wrap around any tub with more than one exposed side.
- Extra-long: High ceilings and tall shower curtain rods leave standard curtains coming up short. Extra-long curtains add 1-2 more feet in length to block spillage and ensure your shower doesn’t look like it’s squeezing into a hand-me-down curtain.
- Narrow: Small bathrooms come with small showers, and excess curtain fabric can bunch up, consuming precious space. Narrow curtains are half the width of standard curtains to cover stalls and other diminutive showers.
Installation
Sewn into the top of your shower curtain are small, plastic- or metal-reinforced holes called grommets. If they’re big enough, you can slide the curtain rod directly through these grommets to install your shower curtain. While this method is the easiest, grommets make it harder to pull your curtain back and forth.
If you want to pull your curtain back with ease without any bunching or if your grommets are too small, you need to use hooks. These require a little more finesse to install but also present a fun decorative opportunity.
How much you can expect to spend on a peach shower curtain
Vinyl shower curtains typically cost $5-$20. Polyester can range from $15-$50, and high-quality cotton can be as much as $60-$120.
Peach shower curtain FAQ
Do I need to use a curtain liner?
A. Shower curtain liners act as a barrier that blocks soap scum, mold and mildew from penetrating your curtain. Cotton shower curtains aren’t waterproof and need these for protection. Neither vinyl nor polyester require a liner, but it can help boost their longevity and makes cleanup a lot easier.
How do I clean my shower curtain?
A. All three materials can be put through the wash; you should do this once a month. Vinyl can also be wiped down with household cleaner and paper towels. Just stay away from bleach, as this can damage the dyes and inks.
What’s the best peach shower curtain to buy?
Top peach shower curtain
What you need to know: This one may be a little on the nose, but the all-over peach motif has a beautiful, summery vibe.
What you’ll love: With a vintage-graphic quality, this curtain is ripe with color. It’s made from polyester and weighted at the bottom so you don’t have to worry about it fluttering about in a draft. It comes with 12 hooks to make installation easy.
What you should consider: You can only get this in a standard size.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top peach shower curtain for the money
Elaine Karen Vinyl Shower Curtain Liner with Metal Grommets
What you need to know: This vibrant peach liner makes for a great shower curtain on a budget.
What you’ll love: Because it’s made from vinyl, you don’t have to worry about waterproofing with this durable curtain. It’s dyed with a light peach color that can brighten up gloomy bathrooms. The magnets sewn into the bottom help prevent spills and billowing.
What you should consider: This curtain doesn’t come with hooks.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
August Grove Andes Solid Single Shower Curtain
What you need to know: This curtain adds a touch of texture to your bathroom decor with its ruffled design.
What you’ll love: The boho-chic frills of this peach curtain feel like the stuff of royalty. Made from polyester, it retains the fabric qualities of cotton without the risk of water damage. The grommets are subtle, reinforced by a hem rather than plastic or metal.
What you should consider: This is only available in standard sizing.
Where to buy: Sold by Wayfair
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Karl Daum writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/br/bed-bath-br/shower-accessories-br/best-peach-shower-curtain/ | 2022-04-14T11:02:04 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/br/bed-bath-br/shower-accessories-br/best-peach-shower-curtain/ |
Which online web design class is best?
In today’s world, web design is a highly useful skill that can lead to professional growth. If you’re interested in applying your creative skills in a way that’s lucrative and versatile, an online web design course is for you. Many of these courses teach certain aspects of web development as well, which is also profitable.
Udemy’s Web Design for Beginners: Real World Coding in HTML & CSS course is great for anyone starting out.
What to know before you buy an online web design class
Front-end development
Many online courses teach both web development and web design, since they often go hand in hand. Even if you choose to go with a beginner-friendly class, most still include basic development.
Web design is the overall setup and appearance of a website across any device, including mobile phones, tablets and computers. It includes the layout, interface design, graphics or other visuals and overall content of the site. When combined, these elements add to a comprehensive, user-friendly look and feel.
Many online web design classes teach both web design and front-end development, which is ideal for freelancers or anyone else looking to grow professionally. Even though front-end development doesn’t focus on the design aspect as much, it does affect how well the site runs. That’s why it’s a good idea to learn at least the basics, specifically coding and programming languages such as JavaScript, HTML and CSS.
Coding
In the past, if you wanted to learn how to design a website, you also had to understand web development; even the artwork and positioning of the text required some knowledge of coding. Today, most popular content management sites, including WordPress, handle the development aspect.
Although it’s possible to design websites without knowing coding or programming, many online web design courses still touch on the basics. For example, one course could teach CSS, which is useful for WordPress since it affects how content is displayed on the site. If the online course only covers the basics, you can also take a supplemental online course, such as JavaScript, to learn more.
Website builders
Many website builders, including Wix and Squarespace, use a drag and drop function that makes it much easier to design a website, even if you don’t have a background in the field. More complex builders, such as WordPress, boast features that offer much more customization and let you use certain coding knowledge.
Certain web design classes teach you how to use specific website builders, while others focus mostly on concepts such as layout or coding. Typically, the ones that focus on website builders don’t cover coding.
What to look for in a quality online web design class
Topics covered
Online web design courses usually focus on the following topics:
- Search engine optimization
- Typography
- Composition
- Graphic design software such as Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop
- Responsive design
- CSS3 and HTML
Courses that also emphasize web development go more in-depth into coding, programming and front-end and back-end development.
Level
Web design courses are multilayered, so choose a level suited to your current skill level. For instance, if you’re new to the subject, select a beginner class that teaches the basics such as layout and color theory. Just remember that one course might consider a topic introductory, while another could view it as intermediate.
Some online courses build upon each other, especially when taught by the same instructor. In this case, it’s a good idea to start with the first class and follow along in order unless you already have a solid understanding of the previous topics.
Course breakdown
Online classes usually come with a syllabus that outlines the course breakdown, including overarching modules and smaller lessons that reinforce key concepts.
For example, a beginner class could have a module on the general structure of websites with related subsections on how to code and use images. Meanwhile, a course made for WordPress design could cover everything from setting up pages and customizing post templates to installing and using plugins.
Many courses also feature assignments, quizzes and other supplemental materials you can download or complete as you learn.
Duration
Udemy, Coursera and similar online education sites list how long it will take to complete a class. The total duration usually includes the readings and videos, but not any assignments that are done outside of class. Most online web design classes are nine to 22 hours.
Certificate
Some courses offer a certificate you can display on LinkedIn, your resume or your new website. To receive a certificate, you might need to purchase the full course or have an active subscription to the platform it’s on.
How much you can expect to spend on an online web design class
A subscription to Coursera costs $59 a month, but you can also get a free seven-day trial. As for Udemy, web design and development courses usually cost $90-$140. Udemy also offers a free seven-day trial followed by a subscription service that costs $29.99 a month. Once you purchase the course, you receive lifetime access to it.
Online web design classes FAQ
Is web design difficult to learn?
A. Web design is a complex subject, but it can be easy to learn if you follow a class that’s laid out well. However, many classes teach you about the different technologies and methods that go along with website design and development. If you’re not technologically savvy, it can be challenging to learn some of the more complex components such as coding and back-end development.
What other skills should I know to be a web designer?
A. Enhance your skills by learning Adobe design software and studying user experience. Also, continue building upon your front-end and back-end development expertise.
What’s the best online web design class to buy?
Top web design class for you to take online
Web Design for Beginners: Real World Coding in HTML & CSS
What you need to know: This is an introductory course that teaches you the basics of design and development.
What you’ll love: It covers the essentials of web design, including HTML and CSS coding, responsive design and SaaS. Plus, it teaches you how to add media to web pages.
What you should consider: The course focuses a lot on back-end development, which can be overwhelming for complete beginners.
Where to buy: Sold by Udemy
Top web design class for you to take online for the money
Introduction to Web Development
What you need to know: Available for free on a trial basis or with a monthly subscription, this course teaches everything from the basics of web design to development.
What you’ll love: This course features 22 hours of content spread across six weeks. It includes several readings, videos and quizzes. It teaches you how to design a site from beginning to end using HTML.
What you should consider: There’s a lot of focus on web development.
Where to buy: Sold by Coursera
Worth checking out
WordPress for Beginners — Master WordPress Quickly
What you need to know: This course is great for anyone who wants to create a website using WordPress.
What you’ll love: It teaches you how to configure a WordPress site to create pages and posts. It is comprised of 107 lectures and has nine hours of content. There’s no coding experience necessary.
What you should consider: WordPress is a robust system, so the course might take longer to complete than listed.
Where to buy: Sold by Udemy
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Angela Watson writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/br/education-br/programming-design-br/best-online-web-design-class/ | 2022-04-14T11:02:11 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/br/education-br/programming-design-br/best-online-web-design-class/ |
Which USB-C hub adapter is best?
As laptops get smaller, thinner and more powerful, they tend to lose some of their functionalities. Where built-in USB 3.0 connections were once a common sight, it’s now unusual to see them on the side of a laptop.
If your USB-C laptop only has one or two connections, this is where a USB-C hub adapter can prove useful. Through a device such as the Hiearcool USB-C Dongle for MacBook Pro, you can connect multiple devices to your computer.
What to know before you buy a USB-C hub adapter
It could drain your laptop’s battery faster
Connecting several devices or accessories to your laptop through a hub comes at a price. While some adapters require an independent power source, others don’t — they use power from your laptop. This can cause your device to run flat much faster than usual if it’s not plugged into a charger.
Robust construction materials
A USB-C is incredibly important if you rely on one connection for all your portability needs. If it gets damaged, you could lose the ability to access vital devices or accessories. Keep in mind the construction materials of the hub, and try to get one that’s made from hardened plastic or aluminum.
Compatibility with your device
While USB-C is now a common connection type, not all devices are the same. Ensure that the hub you’re interested in is compatible with your device. For example, Apple’s Thunderbolt is a type of USB-C but is only compatible with certain gadgets. Similarly, Nintendo’s Switch console also uses USB-C, but the type used isn’t compatible with certain hubs or cables. The way to determine compatibility is to check with the manufacturer of the device.
What to look for in a quality USB-C hub adapter
USB-C Power Delivery
A key aspect to look for when deciding on an adapter is Power Delivery technology. This lets you use your laptop to charge other devices that are connected to the hub. The amount of power delivered to the connected device can vary, but the most common is around 100 watts.
Lengthy cable (or no cable at all)
You don’t want to struggle to get devices connected to your laptop, which is why a lengthy USB-C cable can be handy. The length also lets you move the adapter around to minimize any electromagnetic interference. On the other hand, there are adapters that have no cables at all. These sit flush with your laptop and are a great option if you have limited space.
Multiple connections
The purpose of an adapter is so you can connect multiple devices of different connections to your laptop. For that reason, it’s imperative that the adapter has as many as possible, which should include USB 3.0 ports, an HDMI connection and an SD card slot.
How much you can expect to spend on a USB-C hub adapter
The average cost of a USB-C adapter or hub depends on the number of ports and connections it has. An entry-level hub with a few slots can cost $15-$20, while a feature-packed adapter can go for $25-$35.
USB-C hub adapter FAQ
Can you connect a mouse and keyboard to an adapter?
A. Yes, you can, but you should keep in mind that due to their limited design, users often complain that the mouse is less responsive when an additional monitor is also connected.
What’s the difference between USB-C and Lightning?
A. The Lightning connection is the proprietary connection method for many Apple products and isn’t interchangeable with other devices. However, Apple’s Thunderbolt is a type of USB-C connection that can be used with other USB-C products or adapters.
What’s the best USB-C hub adapter to buy?
Top USB-C hub adapter
Hiearcool USB-C Dongle For MacBook Pro
What you need to know: This adapter has all the ports and connections that you could ever need. It features two USB 3.0 ports, an HDMI port for an external display and an SD card slot.
What you’ll love: You can recharge your laptop through the Power Delivery function, and it’s capable of displaying 4K content at 30 frames per second. The outer case is made from aluminum alloy, weighs only 2.4 ounces and is available in six colors.
What you should consider: The adapter isn’t compatible with Samsung’s DeX software, which lets you cast your device’s screen to a bigger monitor such as a TV. Unlike other hubs, this one is compatible with Nintendo Switch.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top USB-C hub adapter for the money
AorZ USB-C 7-in-1 Dongle Adapter
What you need to know: Not only does this hub have seven different connections, it can also power your laptop through USB-C Power Delivery technology.
What you’ll love: This hub features an HDMI connection, which lets you display content on an external monitor at 1080p resolution at 60 frames per second, or 4K resolution at 30 frames per second. It has three USB 3.0 ports, which is handy if you want to connect a keyboard or mouse. There’s also an SD card slot for transferring content such as photos from a camera.
What you should consider: This hub isn’t compatible with the Apple iPad Pro 11-inch or 21.9-inch before 2018.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
What you need to know: If you need to add a variety of useful connection ports to your laptop, this hub is a perfect choice.
What you’ll love: Its best feature is that it can handle an HDMI connection to an external monitor at a 4K resolution at 30 frames per second. In addition, this hub sports one connection for each of the most popular ports, so you’ll always have a way of connecting external devices. It has an SD card slot, USB-C input, USB-C data port and two USB 3.0 slots. It features USB-C Power Delivery so you can simultaneously charge your laptop.
What you should consider: This USB-C hub is only compatible with Apple’s MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and the Pixelbook. It isn’t compatible with the Nintendo Switch, even though it uses USB-C.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Charlie Fripp writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/br/electronics-br/best-usb-c-hub-adapter/ | 2022-04-14T11:02:18 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/br/electronics-br/best-usb-c-hub-adapter/ |
Best headphones for camping
Getting back to nature can be an amazing way to de-stress. Spending time in the forests of a national park or hiking the Midwestern plains can make you forget about your worries as you take in the sights.
While some prefer to wake up with the call of the mountain chickadee, others center themselves through music. It might seem counterproductive to listen to created sounds rather than nature’s own, but the two go surprisingly well together — if you have the right headphones for camping, that is.
Best wireless headphones
If you’re looking for a great pair of headphones that fit over your ears, this model from Sony is a perfect option. They use some of the best noise-canceling technology available, and through the Edge-AI system, they regulate and change the equalizer according to the music. They’re perfect for camping or hiking as they have a 30-hour battery life, and you can receive calls through the connected Bluetooth function.
Sold by Amazon
SoundCore by Anker Life Q30 Hybrid
To remove the sounds of people talking around you or when you just want to be alone, SoundCore Life Q30 headphones use Anker’s hybrid noise-canceling system that includes dual microphones to block up to 95% of ambient sounds. With large 40-millimeter audio drivers, this pair has a battery life of 40 hours and comes with a 3.5-millimeter cable, even though they’re capable of wireless connectivity.
Sold by Amazon
For Apple loyalists who enjoy camping, there are no better headphones to pack in your bag than the AirPods Max. Available in five colors, they feature active noise cancellation, respond to Siri through voice and provide up to 20 hours of listening time. As they’re wireless, they connect to your device through Bluetooth. No matter what you’re listening to, the Adaptive EQ changes the equalizer depending on the musical style and quality.
Sold by Amazon
Best headphones for running
Beats Powerbeats Pro Wireless Earbuds
If you want to stay in shape while on a camping trip, then you’re probably going to want to get in a run. To listen to music while doing so, you need a great pair of earbuds, and Powerbeats are a good option. They provide you with nine hours of battery life and are completely wireless. The ear hooks are adjustable to ensure a snug fit and they’re reinforced to protect against sweat and water. While they use Apple’s H1 internal chip, they’re compatible with iOS and Android devices.
Sold by Amazon
Available in several colors, these JBudsPRO earbuds stay put no matter how fast you’re running. The Cush Fins at the top of the earbuds fit comfortably into the ear, while three different size silicone tips provide added grip. For sound production, the audio drivers are 11 millimeters and use high-performance titanium for better quality. JBudsPRO have an in-line microphone so you can take and make hands-free calls while camping.
Sold by Amazon
The best choice for Apple fans who want a subtle listening experience, AirPods Pro come with active noise cancellation while still having transparency mode for when you need to hear what’s going on around you. Adaptive EQ automatically tunes the music, while spatial audio with dynamic head tracking makes it sound like the music is all around you. The tips are available in three different sizes and they’re sweat- and water-resistant.
Sold by Amazon
Best affordable headphones
When you go camping, you don’t always want to take the best or most expensive headphones with you. There are plenty of affordable headphones that are perfect for throwing in a backpack and hitting the trail, such as Riff Wireless. They connect to your mobile device through Bluetooth (a wired version is available too), give you 12 hours of battery life and provide two hours of listening from a 10-minute charge. They’re available in four colors and come with a built-in microphone, volume and track control and charge through a USB cable.
Sold by Amazon
Retailing for under $10, these headphones are perfect for camping if you aren’t too concerned about them getting dirty, wet or possibly damaged. The audio drivers measure 33 millimeters and sit inside swiveling ear cups that are covered with soft foam. These headphones aren’t wireless but connect to your mobile device with a 3.5-millimeter jack. If you have an iPhone, don’t forget to pack your Lightning 3.5-millimeter adapter.
Sold by Amazon
For a grab-and-go pair of earbuds, Pro from Philips get the job done. Whether you’re camping or on a hike, the 8.6-millimeter audio drivers produce clear music with no distortion. They feature passive noise cancellation to block out any ambient sounds and connect to your mobile device through a 3.5-millimeter connection. With the in-line microphone and volume controls, you can make and receive phone calls.
Sold by Amazon
With a tangle-free flat cable and foldable ear cups, the Tune 500 are a great pair of headphones to take on a camping trip. Their compact design makes them easy to throw into a backpack or keep around your neck. The 32-millimeter audio drivers incorporate JBL’s Pure Bass technology for crystal-clear sounds, and the padded headband reduces discomfort if you wear them for a long time. They feature an in-line microphone and volume controls that can also be used to activate Google Assistant or Siri.
Sold by Amazon
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Charlie Fripp writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/br/electronics-br/headphones-br/which-headphones-are-best-for-camping/ | 2022-04-14T11:02:25 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/br/electronics-br/headphones-br/which-headphones-are-best-for-camping/ |
Which Ethernet switch is best?
If you’re running several devices with wired Ethernet connections, it’s useful to have a switch. Having an Ethernet switch lets users maintain and modify a home internet network using multiple devices that use a LAN or Ethernet cable to connect to the internet. They can also offer performance benefits such as faster speeds and better overall traffic management.
The TrendNet Ethernet Switch offers five Ethernet ports, operation lights and 10 Gbps on file transfers.
What to know before you buy an Ethernet switch
Needs
Ethernet switches are used to connect to devices using a wired local area network, also called LAN and Ethernet cables. If you want a basic switch for optimizing traffic flow across devices, just about any switch will do, so long as it has the number of ports you want. But specific Ethernet switches may work better than others, depending on your data needs. Some come with upgrade features, including added security, faster speeds or additional power.
Unmanaged vs. managed
The most common type of Ethernet switch is an unmanaged switch. These offer basic traffic flow maintenance and don’t require users to set up parameters. While basic Ethernet switches work for most households, you can also buy upgraded or managed switches for adding a virtual LAN network or Quality of Service controls for managing data bottlenecks. These may be more useful for those using a switch in commercial or professional settings.
Power over Ethernet
Certain devices, such as security cameras, require power and can use the Ethernet cable to get it, rather than a separate power cable or a battery. This is where Power over Ethernet systems come into play. Another upgrade feature found on high-end switches, PoE lets you power devices and connect to the internet through the Ethernet cable. Other devices that often work with PoE switches include printers and media streaming devices.
What to look for in a quality Ethernet switch
Speed
The increased speed across devices offered by an Ethernet switch is the primary selling point for most users. Ethernet switches can support cumulative data speeds across devices of either 10, 100 or 1,000 Mbps, which equals 1 Gbps. Today’s vast majority of switches offer what they call “Gigabit” speeds, or speeds up to 1 Gbps. These can still work with lower-speed devices, and they offer faster speeds from one device to the next than if you just use a router.
Ports
The number of ports on an Ethernet switch determines how many wired connections you can use it to make. While most include around five Ethernet ports, you can also find some with just a few ports, or those with nine or more. Make sure any switch you choose has enough ports to support all the devices you want to use simultaneously.
Lights
While they don’t affect functionality on an Ethernet switch, many buyers prefer those with lights that indicate when certain LAN ports are operational, connected or working at full speed. Those without lights can be significantly more confusing to set up, making it harder to know when devices are active — which can be a total pain when troubleshooting issues.
How much you can expect to spend on an Ethernet switch
A cheap Ethernet switch costs as little as $10. However, most midrange switches run $15-$40, while high-end Ethernet switches for use in professional settings cost $50-$500.
Ethernet switch FAQ
Are Ethernet switches secure?
A. On their own, they aren’t particularly secure. However, there are steps you can take to lock your network down from outsiders. These include creating access passwords and implementing a Secure Shell or other encrypting protocols.
Can Ethernet switches be daisy-chained?
A. Yes, so long as you have fewer than three switches daisy-chained, though it isn’t usually recommended. Some do this to create multiple networks alongside each other, using the same switches. However, it’s almost always best to run Ethernet cables separately, using separate switch chains.
What’s the best Ethernet switch to buy?
Top Ethernet switch
TrendNet Five-Port Unmanaged Gigabit Desktop Ethernet Switch
What you need to know: This powerful five-port Ethernet switch comes at a fair price and offers up to 10 Gbps of data traffic across devices.
What you’ll love: This switch features GreenNet power consumption-reducing hardware and a standby mode for when devices aren’t in use. It also includes lights for when activity is detected, and it has a fan-less design for minimal noise.
What you should consider: Some buyers didn’t find this switch durable.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top Ethernet switch for the money
Tenda Five-Port Unmanaged Gigabit Ethernet Switch
What you need to know: This is a simple, affordable switch with activity lights and all the basics you need to distribute data speeds across multiple devices.
What you’ll love: This unmanaged switch works great for household use, offering up to 1,000 Mbps of data transfer speeds. You can also buy this brand in eight- and nine-port varieties.
What you should consider: This switch stopped working after a short period of use for a few buyers.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
TP-Link TL-SG105 Five-Port Unmanaged Gigabit Ethernet Switch
What you need to know: This five-port gigabit switch is powerful and mountable, offering upgrade functionality at a reasonable price.
What you’ll love: This switch lets users choose between VLAN and Quality of Service functions. It also has shielded ports, automatic traffic optimization and a fan-less design for low noise levels while active.
What you should consider: Some buyers had trouble keeping the power cable in.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Peter McGuthrie writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/br/electronics-br/internet-streaming-br/best-ethernet-switch/ | 2022-04-14T11:02:32 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/br/electronics-br/internet-streaming-br/best-ethernet-switch/ |
Which Canon printer is best?
Even if you don’t use your printer on a daily basis, it’s important to have one at home. Many feel they don’t need a printer since documents are available online, and you can sign and return them quickly through the internet. Even though printers have become somewhat less popular over the years, you’ll undoubtedly want to have one.
Canon is a trusted brand that offers a wide range of printers that are excellent for basic printing needs as well as scanning photos or making copies. If you want a functional printer that will save you money on ink, take a look at the Canon Maxify GX6020 All-in-One Wireless Supertank Printer.
What to know before you buy a Canon printer
The purpose of the printer
People typically use Canon printers to print documents onto paper, scan documents or photos, send emails and more. Decide what you think you’ll use your printer for the most to help you decide which model works best for your needs. If you only print black-and-white documents, there is no need to buy an expensive device that produces photo-quality images.
Inkjet vs. laser printer
Canon printers are generally available in inkjet or laser design, which refers to the different methods of printing out images or text. For example, inkjet printers use several tiny nozzles to deposit ink drops on the page. They tend to be cheaper, but the nozzles are prone to clogging, and the ink is expensive. On the other hand, laser printers use heat to melt the ink powder onto a page. While they are more costly, they last a long time, which helps even out the costs over time.
Types of Canon printers
Canon has different printers that cater to various needs. Here are some of the options you’ll come across.
Pixma printers are perfect for everyday use at home or in a small office. The inkjet design offers terrific print quality and speed. The Pixma line includes both all-in-one printers that can print, copy and scan as well as photo printers that can create first-rate prints of your favorite memories.
Selphy printers are small enough to fit in a backpack and feature an attractive design. They allow you to print quality photos from your smartphone or tablet even on the go.
Maxify printers are known for their power and efficiency. These multifunction, wireless inkjet printers provide quality prints at a reasonable price per page. They’re ideal for use at home or in small offices.
ImageClass color printers are ideal when your work demands high-quality prints in rich, bold hues (note that some models only print in black and white). These laser printers feature a touch screen that lets you customize the settings to suit your needs, and they’re fast.
Printing resolution
Canon printers produce images or text at a set resolution, measured in dots per inch (dpi). The more dots there are in a square inch, the better the quality will be. It’s best to find a dpi that goes hand in hand with what you plan on using the printer for. For example, black-and-white documents are perfect at a dpi of 400-600. But for high-quality images, you ideally want a dpi of 1,000-1,200.
What to look for in a quality Canon printer
Printing cost per page
Printer ink is notoriously expensive, so you need to factor in how much it costs you to print a page. This will vary depending on the printer, but black-and-white pages should only cost a couple of cents. Color prints are more costly, but even then, they shouldn’t cost more than 15 cents per page. Take time to figure out the cost-per-page for your printer, so you don’t spend a fortune on ink.
Wireless connectivity
While you can connect a Canon printer to a computer or laptop with a USB cable, the best option is to use a wireless connection. A good-quality printer can connect to your home’s Wi-Fi network, allowing anybody to access it. In addition, some printers connect through Bluetooth technology, which is a great option when printing from a mobile device.
Printing speed
The days of standing by the printer waiting for your pages to pop out are long gone. But with that said, some printers are faster than others. Look for a Canon printer that can produce high-quality prints in a few seconds. For example, a good-quality Canon printer can produce around 45 black-and-white pages per minute.
How much you can expect to spend on a Canon printer
The average cost of a Canon printer depends on the model and what printing technology it uses. Entry-level printers cost $250-$350, while high-quality devices that produce excellent photos are around $500-$700.
Canon printer FAQ
Why is printer ink so expensive?
A. Printer ink is expensive because the printers themselves are cheap to make. Manufacturers still need to profit, and they know that you can’t operate a printer without ink. So they tend to increase the cost of the ink to make a profit.
Can a Canon printer do double-sided printing?
A. Yes, several models can create double-sided prints. Some Canon printers even do this automatically, so you don’t have to turn over the page yourself.
What’s the best Canon printer to buy?
Top Canon printer
Canon Maxify GX6020 All-in-One Wireless Supertank Printer
What you need to know: Not only does this printer deliver high-quality photos, but it can also produce double-sided prints automatically.
What you’ll love: This printer features a 2.7-inch LCD touchscreen, making it easy to select the functions and get it set up. It can print 24 black and white pages per minute and displays the ink levels on the front panel, so you always know how much ink is left. It connects to devices through Wi-Fi or USB and can print glossy photos and labels.
What you should consider: It is best suited for a small office, as the initial cost can be a bit pricey for a home user.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top Canon printer for the money
Canon ImageClass D1620 Multifunction Printer
What you need to know: This all-in-one laser printer is perfect for a small or at-home office.
What you’ll love: One of the fastest Canon printers, it produces 45 black-and-white pages per minute. It can print, scan and copy, and has a paper tray that can hold up to 2,300 pages.
What you should consider: It’s a monochrome printer, so it won’t print in color.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Canon Wireless Pixma TR4520 Inkjet All-in-one Printer
What you need to know: The Pixma is a powerful printer in a small package, making it the best choice for everyday home use.
What you’ll love: This inkjet printer has a resolution of 4800 x 1200 dpi, making it perfect for printing photos or high-quality images for school projects. It has wireless connectivity and comes with an extra set of ink cartridges.
What you should consider: There is no mechanism to stop the paper from falling on the floor once printing is complete.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Charlie Fripp writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/br/electronics-br/printers-office-electronics-br/best-canon-printer/ | 2022-04-14T11:02:39 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/br/electronics-br/printers-office-electronics-br/best-canon-printer/ |
Which TV mount is best?
Swapping a bulky entertainment center for a slim TV wall mount frees up floor space and lightens the look of any room. It also gives your TV tilt and swivel functionality for multiple viewing angles.
Choosing the right wall mount comes down to compatibility, materials and size. If you’re looking for an affordable and versatile TV wall mount, the Mounting Dream MD2268-LK TV Mount is easy to use and supports most TV sizes.
What to know before you buy a TV mount
Along with the wall material, the wall mount and TV screen size impact which TV mount will work best for your space.
Types of wall mounts
There are three main types of TV mounts: the tilt and swivel mount, the tilt-only mount and the fixed mount.
- The tilt and swivel mount is the most versatile, offering a customizable viewing experience. You can tilt these mounts up or down and swivel left and right. These mounts are typically more expensive with such a flexible range of motion.
- The tiltable TV mount is ideal if you only need to adjust the screen a few degrees downward to avoid glare.
- A fixed mount remains in one position after it’s attached to the wall. These mounts are cheaper and easier to install, and they’re ideal if you don’t need to adjust the TV.
Wall material
For a safe and secure mount, attach the mounting bracket to wooden studs. Plain drywall will not hold the TV’s weight for long, and it’s not a safe surface to use for your brackets. Use a stud finder to find studs and locate drywall screws. Keep in mind that the location of your studs will dictate the general location of your TV, even if it means your TV is slightly off-center.
If you want to attach your mounting bracket to brick, stone or concrete, use concrete anchors. If you’re not sure how to mount your TV safely, you may want to hire a professional to help.
Screen size
Your TV’s screen size will determine what kind of mounts you can use. While it’s best to use the manufacturer’s measurements, you can estimate by measuring diagonally across your TV with a measuring tape.
What to look for in a quality TV mount
High-quality TV mounts use strong materials and allow you to easily access the cables either from the back or the side.
Materials
TV mounts are often either plastic, aluminum, steel or a combination of materials. Plastic mounts are cheaper and lighter, but they aren’t as sturdy. An all-steel mount will be heavier, but it will offer the strongest support.
Some mounts use aluminum or combined materials to create a sturdy, midweight option. If the mount is mostly plastic, it’s best to pair it with a lightweight TV.
Compatibility
Make sure your TV mount is compatible with your TV’s make, model and size. Look for a TV mount approved by the Video Electronics Standards Association, and find out what sizes your mount supports on their website. Then, cross-check the VESA size with the size of your TV to confirm they will work together. Only use a VESA-compliant mount that matches the size of your TV.
Cable hookups
When you use a TV mount, you have a few options for cable management. Instead of letting cables dangle from your TV mount, use a cable organizer to hide them against the wall or floor. You can even find paintable covers, so you can paint them to match your walls.
How much you can expect to spend on a TV mount
Pricing for TV wall mounts varies and can cost between $20-$500. The pricing depends on the size, brand and materials. Adjustable mounts are at the higher end of the price range.
TV mount FAQ
Why do I need a VESA-compliant TV mount?
A. Every TV mount comes with a VESA size. The rating refers to the screw hole pattern on the mounting bracket and TV. This rating determines if you can safely use the mount with your TV. It also ensures the screw holes on the mount and your TV will align properly.
How do I know if the mount will support my TV’s weight?
A. The most important part of choosing a TV mount is making sure it’s compatible with your TV. The mount manufacturer should list what TVs it is compatible with, as will your TV’s manual. Cross-reference these lists to ensure both pieces are compatible, and mount the bracket as instructed for the safest, sturdiest TV display.
What’s the best TV mount to buy?
Top TV mount
Mounting Dream MD2268-LK TV Mount
What you need to know: This mount works with several TV brands and sizes. It also has a high weight capacity.
What you’ll love: You can install this mount on 16- to 24-inch stud measurements, and it holds TVs up to 132 pounds. The 1.5-inch profile is slim and sleek, and it has the ability to tilt forward to reduce glare.
What you should consider: You should use your own level instead of the one provided in the mounting kit. Additionally, it’s best to plug in your cords before mounting the brackets.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top TV mount for the money
VideoSecu ML531BE2 TV Wall Mount Kit
What you need to know: This versatile mount tilts and swivels for easy viewing.
What you’ll love: The mount holds a decent range of TV models and offers 20 inches of swivel extension for an excellent range of motion. The mounting kit includes a level, a 6-foot long HDMI cable and a magnetic stud finder.
What you should consider: The weight limit is 88 pounds, and you have to install it on a stud or another solid surface, such as brick concrete or stone.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
AENTGIU Studless TV Wall Mount
What you need to know: This TV wall mount doesn’t require any studs or power tools to install.
What you’ll love: The mount is compatible with most TVs between 16 and 55 inches. It is made of heavy-duty steel and can support up to 110 pounds if installed in wood or concrete.
What you should consider: You may need to use larger nails than what’s included in the mounting kit to add stability.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Katy Palmer writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/br/electronics-br/tv-video-br/best-tv-mount/ | 2022-04-14T11:02:46 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/br/electronics-br/tv-video-br/best-tv-mount/ |
Which Wonder Woman jewelry is best?
Looking to channel your inner Wonder Woman? Maybe you want a pair of earrings that show off the heroine’s signature “W” logo or a bracelet that channels her iconic gauntlets? There are great options when it comes to choosing the jewelry for celebrating Diana, Princess of the Amazons, a.k.a. Wonder Woman.
For a ring that can’t be beat, check out the Alari Design Wonder Woman Crown Ring, which has a timeless design that honors the spirit of Wonder Woman.
What to know before you buy Wonder Woman jewelry
Choosing a style era
While some Wonder Woman jewelry universally represents the superhero, it’s helpful to know which incarnation you’re looking to channel. There are stylistic differences between vintage and contemporary designs, particularly when it comes to comparing the original logo from the 1940s DC comic books to popular Wonder Woman toys and the Gal Gadot films of 2017 and 2020.
The first version of Wonder Woman’s logo was a yellow eagle against a red backdrop, though over the years the eagle has evolved into a golden W against several backdrops, including a red one and a gray one.
Replicas and costume-inspired jewelry
Are you looking for jewelry that celebrates Wonder Woman or emulates her? Jewelry that celebrates Wonder Woman features her logo, color scheme or other recognizable flourishes. Jewelry that emulates Wonder Woman is designed to look like jewelry or armor she wear in the comics or films. Such pieces include Wonder Woman’s golden tiara and extra-strong “gauntlets” that serve as matching bracelets on her wrists or forearms.
Fashion jewelry vs. fine jewelry
Fashion jewelry is not made from precious metals and is less expensive, while fine jewelry uses precious metals like gold, silver or platinum. Fine jewelry costs more and is designed to last longer. There’s lot of both kind of Wonder Woman jewelry, so consider which style and price best suits your needs.
What to look for in quality Wonder Woman jewelry
Signature color scheme
An excellent piece of Wonder Woman jewelry pays close attention to detail, and that means working the superhero’s signature colors into the design. Gold, red and blue are the original colors, though silver is sometimes added.
Recognizable symbols
There are several symbols closely associated with the hero, from the logo on her costume to the star in her tiara. When you look at these symbols, you recognize them immediately.
- Eagle: If you’re going for a more vintage look, the original 1941 Wonder Woman logo was an eagle. Since that logo has evolved over the years, however, this is probably the type of design only a die-hard Wonder Woman fan will notice.
- W: The contemporary W logo, based on the eagle design, is the most easily recognized symbol associated with Wonder Woman. You can still see traces of that eagle in the emblem’s wing-like edges.
- Star: A number of Wonder Woman designs feature a red star in the center of her tiara, and the symbol has been incorporated into a lot of jewelry designed to honor her.
- Tiara point: The triangular point of Wonder Woman’s tiara has become popular in ring designs based on the character and is usually accompanied by a star.
Strong materials
Most Wonder Woman jewelry involves metal, and since she is one of the most indestructible comic characters, you’ll want jewelry that lives up to that standard. Quality metals won’t chip or turn green over time. Gold, silver and stainless steel are especially known for their durability. Silver does tarnish, but can be polished. If metal isn’t the primary material, then the cord is made from something reliable like leather, wax or nylon.
How much you can expect to spend on Wonder Woman jewelry
Wonder Woman fashion jewelry costs $10-$40, while fine jewelry with the same theme costs $50-$1,000.
Wonder Woman jewelry FAQ
Which metals tarnish?
A. Brass, copper, aluminum and silver are more likely to tarnish. Gold can tarnish but does so less noticeably. Cobalt and platinum do not tarnish.
What is an alloy metal?
A. An alloy metal is a material that combines at least one metallic base other non-metallic elements. Alloy metals tend to be strong, affordable and resistant to corrosion. Most fine jewelry is made of alloys rather than pure metal, because pure gold and silver are too soft to stand alone.
What’s the best Wonder Woman jewelry to buy?
Top Wonder Woman jewelry
Alari Design Wonder Woman Crown Ring
What you need to know: This tiara-shaped ring is handmade in sterling silver with a deeply cut star engraved at the top.
What you’ll love: It’s well-crafted with a simple but elegant design. It comes in a wide variety of sizes. It can be engraved on the inside or outside for an additional fee and can be made in other metals, such as gold or bronze, upon request.
What you should consider: The thickest portion of the band is a little under half an inch.
Where to buy: Sold by Etsy
Top Wonder Woman jewelry for the money
Fandom Emporium Design Wonder Woman Charm Necklace Or Anklet
What you need to know: This necklace or ankle bracelet features a dozen colorful charms with iconic Wonder Woman imagery.
What you’ll love: The charms include Wonder Woman’s shield, sword, lasso, gauntlets and more. There are a wide array of necklace and anklet lengths. It’s made of alloy metals that are nickel-free.
What you should consider: It cannot be returned.
Where to buy: Sold by Etsy
Worth checking out
Alex and Ani Wonder Woman Expandable Bangle Bracelet
What you need to know: This gold-toned bangle bracelet is 2.4 inches in diameter and a little under an inch in width, with the Wonder Woman “W” logo etched across the surface.
What you’ll love: The details are beautiful and pair well with the metal’s golden shine. The cuff style is a fun callback to Diana’s gauntlets and the size is adjustable.
What you should consider: It might be too big for thinner wrists.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Emily Verona writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/br/fashion-accessories-br/jewelry-br/best-wonder-woman-jewelry/ | 2022-04-14T11:02:53 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/br/fashion-accessories-br/jewelry-br/best-wonder-woman-jewelry/ |
Which back massager for knots is best?
Muscle knots always seem to appear in the most difficult locations to reach, with the back being one of the worst. Massaging them away is usually the best solution, but you can’t reach the knots with just your hands. There are a huge variety of tools you can use instead, including guns, chairs and simple balls.
The best back massager for knots is TheraGun Pro Massage Gun. It includes several massage heads for targeting your back and everywhere else, but can be a challenge to use alone.
What to know before you buy a back massager for knots
Back massager types
There are four types of back massagers that can target knots.
- Manual massagers are good for traveling as they require no power source and are usually small to medium in size. They commonly take the form of balls or tubes but can be nearly any shape. For targeting knots, you need to place the massager on the ground or against a wall and press yourself into it in order to feel the benefits.
- Handheld massagers also take a few forms. Many look like showerheads or guns. These models usually have the widest range of features, such as heating and variable vibration strength. Some are easy to target knots on your own, though others may require another pair of hands to target the knot for you.
- Pillow massagers aren’t the best at targeting specific knots — instead, they target a small area of the back and soothe that area.
- Seat massagers come in a wide range of qualities. Some cheap models just vibrate the whole back, while better ones use multiple rolling balls to target your back area of choice, including a specific knot. Many also massage your neck while they’re at it.
Power source
Back massagers are either battery-powered or plug into an outlet.
- Battery-powered massagers are the easiest to operate since they have no cord to deal with. However, the quality of the battery varies greatly. Some can take hours to charge and only operate for 15 minutes, while others chew through disposable batteries. The best use rechargeable batteries that last for at least 30 minutes.
- Outlet-powered massagers don’t ever die in the middle of a session, but if the cord is short or oddly placed, it can be difficult to wield.
What to look for in a quality back massager for knots
Heat
Better back massagers have heat settings to soothe knots away while they’re targeted, with some including variable heat settings.
Timer
Over-massaging a knot is just as bad for it as ignoring it, so some back massagers have programmable timers to prevent such a thing from happening.
Variable vibration
Quality back massagers are able to decrease or increase their vibration power to treat knots of varying sizes and intensities.
How much you can expect to spend on a back massager for knots
Back massagers for knots can cost anywhere from $10-$1,000, and sometimes more. Basic manual massagers typically cost $50 or less, while the average powered massager usually costs $50-$150. The best massagers cost $150-plus.
Back massager for knots FAQ
Should I use a back massager on bare skin or over my clothes?
A. Most back massagers can be used on either bare skin or clothing with minimal changes in effect and operation. That said, it’s always best to wear thin clothing or none at all when using a back massager so your muscles can be better targeted. Some consumers have issues with their clothing causing chafing if they use a back massager. Others find skin-to-massager contact uncomfortable. Experiment to see which is most comfortable for you.
Can I use a back massager after back surgery?
A. Yes, but you need to give your doctor precise details of your back massager and how you intend to use it so they can tell you whether it’s safe. Without your doctor’s approval, never use a back massager after surgery.
Which type of back massager is easiest to aim?
A. Most back massagers are more than capable of targeting any stretch of your back. However, manual massagers can be tricky to properly place, and gun massagers can require someone else to aim it to hit certain spots. Seat massagers are the easiest to use solo, but most cover the whole back or a small zone rather than pinpointing one knot.
What’s the best back massager for knots to buy?
Top back massager for knots
What you need to know: This massager is powerful and treats any knot, not just those in your back.
What you’ll love: It’s among the most powerful massage guns, and it includes six swappable heads designed to target specific areas all over the body. The arm can rotate 90 degrees to more easily target specific areas, and it uses rechargeable batteries that can last for up to five hours.
What you should consider: It’s expensive. Some settings and head combinations are powerful enough to cause damage if used incorrectly. You may need help to treat your back.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon and Therabody
Top back massager for knots for the money
4Kor Fitness Ultimate Massage Ball
What you need to know: This manual massager is good for working out the occasional knot.
What you’ll love: It’s among the largest massage balls, with a 4.75-inch diameter. It’s made of thermoplastic rubber for durability and has a unique tread pattern to better grip your skin and clothing for increased control, and provide increased deep tissue massage performance.
What you should consider: A few consumers thought the ball was too hard and caused more pain rather than relieving it. It takes some effort to press it into your back.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Snailax Shiatsu Neck & Back Massager with Heat
What you need to know: This seat covers your entire back and neck at once.
What you’ll love: It can be placed into almost any chair to turn it into a massage chair, and it can also be used on couches. It can be set to target either the upper or lower back, entire back or a specific target area.
What you should consider: It’s a little pricey. Shorter people will need to add cushions in order to be positioned properly for full coverage.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Jordan C. Woika writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/br/health-wellness-br/massage-relaxation-br/best-back-massager-for-knots/ | 2022-04-14T11:03:00 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/br/health-wellness-br/massage-relaxation-br/best-back-massager-for-knots/ |
Which blood pressure monitor with extra-large cuff is best?
If you need to monitor your blood pressure, it’s imperative to have the proper equipment to measure accurately. Not having a cuff that fits appropriately will lead to inaccurate results, which can be life-threatening. Some blood pressure monitors can use extra-large cuffs purchased after the fact, but buying the monitor and cuff together is simpler and more cost-effective.
The best combination is the Life Source Upper-Arm Blood Pressure Monitor With Extra-Large Cuff. It fits biceps up to 23.6 inches in circumference.
What to know before you buy a blood pressure monitor with extra-large cuff
Automatic vs. manual
Most blood pressure monitors outside of a doctor’s office are automatic, constricting and taking readings at the touch of a button. This is because it’s surprisingly complex to get an accurate reading using a manual monitor. They take more accurate readings, but it takes significant training and practice for medical staff to be able to use them correctly. Unless you have the training, always choose an automatic monitor.
Cuff size
Most cuffs included with a blood pressure monitor are one-size-fits-all, which is typically too small for those with extra-large arms. Most product descriptions state the circumferences the included cuff is sized for — simply measure your bicep and compare.
Extra-large cuffs usually fit biceps up to 17-18 inches in circumference, though some go as large as 24 inches. If your arm is larger than this , you may need to search harder for specialty medical gear.
What to look for in a quality blood pressure monitor with extra-large cuff
Speed
Taking a blood pressure reading can be uncomfortable, which is why searching for one that requires less time is preferred. The best typically need 20 seconds or less to get a reading while the worst can take more than a minute.
Alerts
It can be difficult to understand what all the numbers mean on a blood pressure monitor. That’s why some include alert systems that explicitly tell you if your blood pressure is too high or low. More advanced monitors also check your heartbeat and alert you if they detect an irregular beat. Don’t rely solely on your monitor, though — if it gives you an alert, always double-check with your doctor as soon as possible.
Multi-user
Some blood pressure monitors can save and track the results of more than one user at once.
How much you can expect to spend on a blood pressure monitor with extra-large cuff
Basic blood pressure monitors with extra-large cuffs can cost as little as $20-$40, though most cost $50-$80. More feature-rich models can cost $100 or more.
Blood pressure monitor with extra-large cuff FAQ
What are the best practices for getting accurate readings?
A. Here’s what to do:
- Read and carefully follow your monitor’s instructions.
- Sit in a backed chair with your feet firmly on the ground and your arms by your side.
- Don’t exercise or consume cigarettes or coffee within 30 minutes of your planned reading.
- Take your readings as close to the same time as possible each day.
- Take three readings one minute apart from the others for an average.
Are at-home blood pressure monitors less reliable than those found in doctors’ offices?
A. It’s difficult to generalize as there are so many blood pressure monitors. The best way to gauge reliability is by comparing a reading from your at-home monitor to a reading taken by your doctor. At-home and doctors’ office monitors both need to be calibrated every few years to ensure they’re still giving accurate results, meaning both have the opportunity to be unreliable.
What’s the best blood pressure monitor with extra-large cuff to buy?
Top blood pressure monitor with extra-large cuff
Life Source Upper Arm Blood Pressure Monitor With Extra-Large Cuff
What you need to know: This has one of the largest included cuffs.
What you’ll love: Its cuff fits bicep circumferences of 16.5-23.6 inches and its accuracy has been clinically validated. It can store up to 60 readings and has a five-year warranty on the monitor and a two-year warranty on the cuff.
What you should consider: It doesn’t read and display as many data points as other monitors. Amazon doesn’t allow returns of this monitor, so make sure your arm and the cuff sizes line up.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon and Staples
Top blood pressure monitor with extra-large cuff for the money
Yuwell Blood Pressure Monitor With Extra-Large Upper Arm Cuff
What you need to know: This is good for those who need to keep a more casual eye on their blood pressure.
What you’ll love: The included cuff fits bicep circumferences of 8.8-17.7 inches. It takes a huge variety of readings and reads them out with an American-accent voice. It can store up to 99 readings and is certified by the Food and Drug Administration.
What you should consider: A few consumers had issues with readings that were higher than they should be, with follow-up readings showing a more accurate result.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
What you need to know: This is easy to use and packed with data points.
What you’ll love: The included cuff fits bicep circumferences of 8-17 inches. The large LCD screen is backlit for easy reading in any light and it only takes 30 seconds for a reading to be taken. It can also store separate readings for two people.
What you should consider: A few consumers reported readings that were slightly higher than what was accurate. Others had issues with the buttons not responding on occasion.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Jordan C. Woika writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/br/health-wellness-br/medical-supplies-equipment-br/best-blood-pressure-monitor-with-extra-large-cuff/ | 2022-04-14T11:03:07 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/br/health-wellness-br/medical-supplies-equipment-br/best-blood-pressure-monitor-with-extra-large-cuff/ |
Which pergola is best?
A pergola is similar to a gazebo, except that the roof has open slats rather than being fully covered. Good pergolas still provide plenty of shade, but they offer a design some consider more attractive. It’s important to purchase pergolas with durable materials that can outlast the wind, sun and rain, as they’re too expensive to keep replacing.
The best pergola is the Vita Avalon Vinyl Pergola. Its slats are adjustable so you’re always sitting in shade, and the vinyl is highly weather-resistant.
What to know before you buy a pergola
Roof designs
Pergolas have one of three roof designs: traditional, gabled and pitched.
- Traditional roofs are flat, with slats that are usually in a lattice pattern.
- Gabled roofs are triangular, like most modern American housing.
- Pitched roofs are flat, but one end is higher than the other. They are usually installed flush with your home rather than further out into your yard.
Coverings
Some pergolas, either in addition to or instead of slats, use coverings hung underneath the roof to protect you from sun and rain. Many are adjustable. Cloth is the most common material, with plastic, PVC and steel also available.
Size
Most pergolas are sized between 7 by 7 and 12 by 12 feet, with heights from 7-10 feet.
Shape
Pergolas are typically square or rectangular, though some can be found in circular or octagonal shapes. Other shapes are possible, but you’ll likely need to have it custom-made rather than find it available to order.
What to look for in a quality pergola
Material
In order of general quality, pergolas are typically made of metal, vinyl or wood.
- Metal pergolas are typically made of aluminum or steel. Freestanding aluminum is the most affordable, but also can be dented or bent, and is the most likely to be blown away by heavy wind. Metal pergolas are available in the widest range of colors and provide a more modern aesthetic. However, If the metal isn’t treated properly, you need to worry about rusting.
- Vinyl pergolas are the most durable, requiring little to no maintenance compared to metal and wood. They are naturally resistant to most weather, including water, wind and ultraviolet rays. They aren’t the most expensive, either. However, they have two major negatives. First, they are rarely any color but a shade of white — it’s possible to paint them with acrylic paint, but you’ll need to keep reapplying as it fades away. Second, their plasticky looks are rarely thought aesthetically pleasing.
- Wood pergolas are the most common. They’re expensive, but wood is easy to stain or paint to match your home, and there are many varieties of wood to choose from. Generally, they can be divided between softwoods and hardwoods, with softwoods less expensive, a bit less durable and a little lighter than hardwoods.
Warranty
The best pergolas tend to have the best warranties, as manufacturers will stand by their best products. Twenty-year warranties are the best, but 10-year ones are acceptable. Some pergolas have different warranties for certain parts.
How much you can expect to spend on a pergola
Depending on their size and material, pergolas can cost less than $500 or more than $4,000. Metal pergolas are typically the most affordable, followed by vinyl and then wood.
Pergola FAQ
Do I need a permit to install a pergola?
A. It’s possible, depending on your state and local laws as well as the size of the pergola. Your municipal building department should be able to answer this question.
Are pergolas accepted by homeowners associations?
A. That depends on your homeowners’ association. Always check with yours, if you have one, before making any large changes to your home.
Should wood pergolas be stained before or after assembly?
A. Neither method is better than the other. Staining it before means you have easier access to all the materials, but you’ll need to stain in two rounds to make sure every piece is properly covered. Staining it afterward means you only need to stain the surfaces you can see, but you need to go up and down a ladder.
What’s the best pergola to buy?
Top pergola
What you need to know: This quality option is gorgeous, durable and has adjustable shading.
What you’ll love: The vinyl construction is resistant to water, wind, UV rays and other causes of rot, and it includes a 20-year warranty for the pergola and a 5-year warranty for the louvers. It measures 10 by 10 by 8.67 feet.
What you should consider: A few consumers felt the louvers were difficult to adjust. Others had issues with missing parts or no-show installers.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon and Wayfair
Top pergola for the money
Coolaroo Aurora Patio Shade Pergola
What you need to know: It’s money-saving without sacrificing function or style.
What you’ll love: It can be built and left freestanding — there’s no need to anchor it to the ground — and it has a weather-resistant and light-filtering retractable canopy that comes in three colors. It measures 9.84 by 9.84 by 7.17 feet.
What you should consider: If you want to mount or anchor it, you need to purchase a separate kit. The installation instructions can be difficult to understand and a few people received damaged parts.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon and Wayfair
Worth checking out
What you need to know: This is perfect for those who need large coverage.
What you’ll love: The vinyl construction is fully weather-resistant — it can even be safely cleaned by spraying it with your hose. It can be safely installed to most materials, including wooden and concrete patios. It measures 12 by 12 by 8.84 feet.
What you should consider: It doesn’t include a mounting or anchoring kit. Most reviewers needed a second set of hands to assemble it, though the instructions are easy to follow.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon and Home Depot
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Jordan C. Woika writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/br/home-br/decor-br/best-pergola-2/ | 2022-04-14T11:03:14 | 1 | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/br/home-br/decor-br/best-pergola-2/ |
Which fonio flour is best?
Fonio is the gluten-free super grain native to Africa that you didn’t know you needed. These cultivated grains are related to millet and are a staple of North African cuisine. They come in either white or black varieties. Fonio is prized for its deeply nutritious value and often served at celebratory events. When the whole grain is milled, the resulting flour is an excellent flour substitute for baked goods and savory dishes alike.
On its own, this “seed of the universe” has a mild nutty taste and adds a punch of nutrition to your food. Yolele Fonio Flour has a fine texture and is a great place to start exploring this versatile baking ingredient.
What to know before you buy fonio flour
Intended use
If you want to find a gluten-free flour substitute that is high in protein but works in a variety of applications, fonio is a great choice. For baked goods, make sure that the flour is light and easy to blend. This will help keep textures correct as you substitute it for traditional flours. For thickening, and for cooking that requires less finesse, a coarser blend works well.
Correct substitutions
Fonio flour is heavier than some other traditional gluten-free flour substitutes, such as rice flour or tapioca starch. It works best in place of heavier flours such as wheat or buckwheat.
Keep in mind that the final product of recipes that only use fonio flour may have a denser texture than you are used to.
Nutritional benefits
Fonio flour has a low glycemic index and works in paleo, vegan and keto diet plans. It is high in fiber and protein; this may aid in weight loss as it keeps you feeling full for a longer period of time.
What to look for in quality fonio flour
Non-GMO
The flour you buy should be made from non-GMO grains. This ensures that organic growing and harvesting practices are followed.
Finely milled
The last thing you want is a gritty texture in your exquisite baked goods. Look for flour that is finely milled to reduce grit in the final product.
No fillers
Look for an ingredient list with just one ingredient. Your flour should not include any fillers, binders or other unnecessary ingredients.
How to use fonio flour
- Origin: Seek out products sourced in Africa. Even if the grain is milled in the U.S., this is how you know the flour is authentic and of high quality.
- Measurement: Measure flour with the fluff-scoop-level technique. Use a spoon to fluff it, then scoop it into your measuring cup and use a knife to level.
- Grind it: Consider purchasing whole fonio grains and using a mortar and pestle (or heavy-duty food processor) to make your own fresh flour. This also lets you control its texture — very fine for lighter applications such as pastry, and coarse for muffins or quick bread.
- Cook it: If you want to experiment with the fonio grain itself, cook as you would rice, using a 2-to-1 ratio of water to fonio.
How much you can expect to spend on fonio flour
The harvesting process is labor-intensive, and fonio flour can be expensive. Expect to spend $10-$20 per pound.
Fonio flour FAQ
What is the difference between white and black fonio?
A. White fonio is also known as “hungry rice” across Europe. It is the most common variety found outside of Africa and is often used to efficiently feed populations at risk of starvation.
Black fonio is grown in Benin, Nigeria and Togo, and is less commonly exported to other regions. It has a nutritional profile similar to that of white fonio.
How do you use fonio flour?
A. For people who are avoiding gluten or who simply want to add more nutrition to their diet, fonio flour is a great option. The grain can be used in the same way as you would use quinoa or rice, but the flour is great for thickening soups and sauces. It’s perfect in:
- Breads
- Pancakes
- Waffles
- Muffins
- Cookies
- Cakes
- Smoothies
Substitute fonio for a heavier flour such as wheat or buckwheat when baking, or use a 1-to-1 ratio of fat to fonio flour to create a thickening roux or slurry for soups, stews and sauces.
What’s the best fonio flour to buy?
Top fonio flour
What you need to know: The mild flavor is perfect for those just starting to explore this ancient grain.
What you’ll love: It is fine-milled and has a mild, slightly sweet taste. It’s made from non-GMO fonio harvested in Africa. It has no fillers and is packed with protein, fiber and healthy amino acids. It’s vegan.
What you should consider: For gluten-free baking, adding too much fonio flour can result in very dry baked goods. Be sure to increase hydration accordingly.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top fonio flour for the money
Shipetaukin Multipurpose Fonio Flour
What you need to know: This protein-packed flour is mild and light — good for baking, especially.
What you’ll love: It’s non-GMO and free of all fillers or additional ingredients. Each quarter cup has 2 grams of protein. It is sourced in West Africa but packed in the U.S.
What you should consider: Although it is the cheapest option per pound, it’s a hefty price tag to try a new product.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
What you need to know: Adventurous cooks will appreciate the opportunity to try three new flours at once.
What you’ll love: This bundle includes fonio flour, plus cassava and tapioca. Each is made only from their respective grains, and all are kosher, vegan and gluten-free.
What you should consider: If you just want to try fonio, pass this by. But at the price it’s a great way to expand your cooking repertoire.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Suzannah Kolbeck writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/br/kitchen-br/best-fonio-flour/ | 2022-04-14T11:03:20 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/br/kitchen-br/best-fonio-flour/ |
Which convection microwave is best?
Most microwaves can’t effectively cook much more than a mug cake. Instead, they reheat leftovers or quickly melt foods, such as butter for your current recipe. A convection microwave changes this. It can be used to bake and broil foods just like a full-sized oven. Some of the more feature-rich models can even air-fry foods.
The best convection microwave is the Panasonic HomeChef 4-in-1 Microwave Oven. It can perform any task you need it to and it has a spacious interior and 1,000 watts of power.
What to know before you buy a convection microwave
Size and capacity
Convection microwaves have two dimensions to consider: exterior size and interior capacity. More often than not, one of these being larger doesn’t mean the other will be large too.
- Size: The size you can or should purchase is only limited by your counter space. When measuring your countertop to find your limitations, remember to add a few inches to the back and sides for proper ventilation space. Keep enough space in front for the swinging door.
- Capacity: Capacity restricts how much food you can cook at once. Most convection microwaves have higher capacities than standard microwaves, and those measurements are given in cubic feet. The smallest is rarely less than 1 cubic foot, and the biggest usually top out at 1.5 cubic feet — though there are always rare exceptions.
Wattage
A convection microwave’s power is given in watts, just like standard microwaves. Lower wattages will cook food slower and less evenly, so you should prioritize a microwave with at least 1,000 watts. Most convection microwaves have wattages between 700 and 1,500. Better microwaves will let you adjust how much wattage you can use for cooking smaller or more sensitive food.
What to look for in a quality convection microwave
Presets
Presets are the easiest way to cook the most commonly microwaved foods. They make it so you don’t have to Google how much power and time a given food needs, and you won’t have to manually punch in that power and time. The most common presets are popcorn and pizza, but many convection microwaves also have presets for baked potatoes and roast chicken or vegetables.
Cooking modes
The best convection microwaves include more cooking modes than just microwave, convection and microwave/convection. The most common additional modes are air frying and broiling, but some are also able to grill. It’s important to note that you’ll need appropriate accessories for air frying and grilling — a wire basket and grilling rack, respectively — but most microwaves with these cooking modes include them.
Humidity sensor
Humidity sensors take some of the guesswork out of cooking by adding or subtracting to the total cooking time based on the moisture in the food and the oven, preventing accidental overcooking.
How much you can expect to spend on a convection microwave
Convection microwaves are more expensive than standard microwaves, typically starting around $100-$150 with basic models topping out around $250. The best countertop models can reach $500, while built-in models can cost more than $1,500.
Convection microwave FAQ
Can I use metal in a convection microwave?
A. Possibly. It depends on if the microwave has a convection-only setting. This setting only uses heating elements, just like a standard oven, so aluminum takeout containers and metal baking trays are safe to use. Some convection microwaves use microwave and convection heating simultaneously with no way to turn off the microwave portion. These are just as incompatible with metal as a standard microwave. A quick way to tell if a convection microwave is safe for metal is if it includes metal accessories, such as a wire air fryer rack. If so, you’re good to go.
Do recipes intended for a standard oven need to be adapted for use in a convection microwave?
A. Typically yes, though not by much. Despite having less power than a standard oven, convection microwaves have drastically less space to heat. This makes their heating more focused on the food rather than the air around it. As such, many recipes need to drop their heat and timing requirements. Heat usually drops no more than 25 to 50 degrees, but timing doesn’t have an easy generalization, so you’ll need to keep a close eye on your recipe.
What’s the best convection microwave to buy?
Top convection microwave
Panasonic HomeChef 4-in-1 Microwave Oven
What you need to know: This model can do it all.
What you’ll love: The four functions are standard and convection microwaving, air frying and broiling. It has a 1.2-cubic-foot capacity and an easy-to-clean interior. It includes the accessories you need to cook, such as a wire rack, an air fryer basket and an enamel drip tray.
What you should consider: If the start button is accidentally pressed, it will begin sensor cooking mode, even if there’s nothing inside for it to cook.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Top convection microwave for the money
Toshiba Countertop Microwave Oven with Convection
What you need to know: This model is basic but excellent and affordable.
What you’ll love: It has a variety of special features, such as a power-saving ECO mode, smart cooking sensors, child safety locks and sound off/on for late-night snacks. It has a large 1.5-cubic-foot capacity and 1,000 watts of power.
What you should consider: A few consumers had issues with the upper heating element not functioning as it should. It takes up a large amount of counter space.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Worth checking out
Cuisinart 1.2-Cubic-Foot Convection Microwave Oven
What you need to know: This model is perfect for convection grilling, thanks to an included grill rack.
What you’ll love: It’s packed with preset cooking modes, including popcorn, roast chicken, baked potato, cake and pizza. It can also keep foods warm at low settings and has a memory mode to save time on repetitive tasks. It is BPA-free and includes a recipe book.
What you should consider: Extended use of the convection setting causes the exterior to become hot. A few consumers had issues with their microwave breaking down within a few months.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Jordan C. Woika writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/br/kitchen-br/microwaves-br/best-convection-microwave/ | 2022-04-14T11:03:27 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/br/kitchen-br/microwaves-br/best-convection-microwave/ |
Comparing lump charcoal and briquettes
One of the most heated debates in all of grilling is whether to use lump charcoal or briquettes. There are die-hard proponents on both sides, which makes sense since each has its benefits and drawbacks. Lump charcoal is carbonized wood without any impurities, which is why purists love it. Briquettes are often made with additives that let them burn longer and more consistently, making them easier for the average home griller.
Lump charcoal
Lump charcoal is wood that has been burned down to its purest form. It goes through a carbonization process called charring where it is burned in a low-oxygen environment to get rid of moisture, sap and other impurities. What’s left is pure carbon, ideal for grilling and barbecuing foods without imparting any unwanted flavors.
Lump charcoal pros
There are many things to like about lump charcoal.
- Quick lighting: It lights easily, without the need for lighter fluid, and burns hot and fast. This makes it perfect for meats you want to cook at very high heats or get a heavy sear on.
- No chemical flavor: The lack of impurities means that it will impart a nice smoky flavor to your foods without giving it any kind of chemical taste. This also results in it burning cleanly and leaving behind minimal ash in your charcoal grill.
- Responds fast: Lump charcoal fires respond quickly to added oxygen, so you can easily control the temperature if your grill has adjustable air vents. (Be careful not to give it too much oxygen, as it can quickly get so hot it burns your food.)
Lump charcoal cons
If you have never cooked with lump charcoal before, it can take some getting used to. It burns much quicker than briquettes, so you’ll need to periodically add more charcoal if cooking food for a long period. It also tends to be more expensive, so it may not be the right choice for those on a tight budget.
Best lump charcoal
Fogo Super Premium Oak Restaurant-Quality Lump Charcoal
This is designed to bridge the gap between the cooking times of lump charcoal and briquettes. It consists of pieces 4 inches or longer, so it burns longer than many other charcoals, yet still lights easily and can reach high temperatures for heavy searing.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon and Kohl’s
Best lump charcoal for the money
Jealous Devil All-Natural Hardwood Lump Charcoal
It’s made from dense South American hardwoods so it can burn hotter and longer than many other lump charcoals. This makes it a good choice for both high-temperature searing and low, slow barbecuing. It burns with little popping and sparks and leaves behind only a small amount of ash.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Briquettes
If you go to your neighborhood store and buy the first bag of charcoal you see, more than likely briquettes are what you will get. These small, squarish blocks are what come to mind when most people picture charcoal.
Briquettes are often made from a combination of sawdust and other wood byproducts, compressed together with additives to help them maintain their shape, light easier and burn longer and more consistently. The move to purer forms of fuel has carried over into the briquette world, though, and now you also can find some made from carbonized wood and little else.
Briquette pros
One of the main advantages briquettes offer over lump charcoal is consistency. A company’s briquettes always come in the same shape and size, so you know exactly how long they will burn. This also makes them easy to stack when making your fire.
Briquettes tend to burn longer than lump charcoal, which makes them ideal for large cuts of meat that require low, slow cooking. They also are more affordable.
Briquette cons
There are some downsides to briquettes you should consider before reaching for a bag.
They can be difficult to light without a charcoal chimney or lighter fluid. Because of that, many manufacturers sell some briquettes pre-infused with a chemical that helps them light quicker and easier. It is important to wait until these briquettes are entirely gray before you start cooking your food, or they can impart a noticeably chemical taste.
Their additives mean they don’t burn as cleanly, either. Most leave behind a large pile of ash, so expect more cleanup than when using lump charcoal.
Best briquettes
Kingsford Professional Competition Briquettes
Grill masters know to turn to Kingsford’s competition briquettes when they need fuel that will burn at a consistent temperature for a long time. They are ready to grill on after about 10 minutes, so you won’t have to wait long before you can start cooking, and they are made using one of Kingsford’s lowest-ash formulas.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Best briquettes for the money
Royal Oak Natural Organic Premium Hardwood Charcoal Briquettes
This is popular because it is both sustainably sourced and organic, so you can feel good about using it for a couple of reasons. That it’s affordably priced and gives food a nice smoky flavor are just bonuses.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon and Kohl’s
Should you buy lump charcoal or briquettes
The answer depends entirely on what you feel is most important. If you want the purest smoky flavor from your food and nothing else, and you don’t mind the learning curve that comes along with achieving a consistent fire with lump charcoal, it is probably the right option.
On the other hand, if you want something affordable, consistent, and easy to use, and you don’t mind not being able to create as heavy a sear on your foods, briquettes are the way to go.
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Brett Dvoretz writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/br/patio-br/grilling-outdoor-cooking-br/lump-charcoal-vs-briquettes-which-is-better/ | 2022-04-14T11:03:34 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/br/patio-br/grilling-outdoor-cooking-br/lump-charcoal-vs-briquettes-which-is-better/ |
Which puppy diaper is best?
Everyone loves a new puppy, but bringing one into your home and potty training it can be difficult and time-consuming. While it learns where and when to go to the bathroom, one method of keeping your house clean is to employ puppy diapers. Technically, there aren’t diapers meant specifically for puppies. That said, any standard dog diaper will work, as long as it’s the right size and fits your puppy’s sex.
The best puppy diapers are Paw Inspired Ultra Protection Disposable Female Dog Diapers. They’re soft and effective but may not work for male puppies.
What to know before you buy a puppy diaper
Your puppy’s gender
Puppy diapers are designed differently for females and males.
- Female diapers look just like human diapers, only they have a hole for the tail. These diapers work just fine for puppies of either sex, as male puppies’ penises have yet to grow large enough to need to switch to male diapers.
- Male diapers take the form of wraps that leave your puppy’s posterior open but cover their penis. Puppies are a little more likely to wiggle out of male diapers, plus the open back is counterintuitive to using a puppy diaper while you house train them.
Reusable vs. disposable
Most puppy diapers are disposable, and for good reason. Puppies grow fast, just like children, so purchasing a reusable diaper — which can’t be donated once used — may be better for the environment, but you’ll only be able to use it for a short time. However, some dog breeds don’t grow much bigger than their puppy stages. In these cases, it’s wise to go with a reusable diaper. Besides the environmental benefits, it saves money and you’ll still have a usable diaper if you need to travel long distances or they become incontinent years down the line.
What to look for in a quality puppy diaper
Elastic
The best puppy diapers have elastic in the hems. This lets the diaper seal around the edges to prevent even the smallest leak and also gives your puppy full range of motion without painful pinching or chafing. Elastic around the tail hole is particularly important for keeping any solids from slipping out.
Adjustability
Most puppy diapers use Velcro straps to close around your puppy. This lets you fit your diaper precisely to your puppy, and you can let more space out as it grows. Some disposable female puppy diapers use alternate methods for securing, including snap closures and the same sticky tabs as disposable baby diapers. These aren’t quite as freely adjustable, though they’re still secure enough to prevent leaks.
How much you can expect to spend on a puppy diaper
Puppy diaper packs usually cost $10-$30, though there are exceptions on either end. The quality of diapers and how many you get greatly vary within this price range, but most are still found within it.
Puppy diaper FAQ
How often should I change my puppy’s diaper?
A. As soon as you notice it’s soiled. Some disposable puppy diapers can be removed when you take the puppy outside for potty training and reattached if they haven’t been soiled. Reusable diapers have the same functionality.
My puppy’s diaper fits but still leaks. How do I fix it?
A. First, double-check that it still fits. Dogs, puppy or no, have a tendency to wiggle loose from diapers you were sure fit perfectly. Oftentimes, a diaper seems to fit perfectly but is in fact just loose enough around the edges to allow for some leakage. If it does indeed fit, you may be using diapers with poor absorbency — there’s nothing to do in this situation but try a new brand of puppy diaper.
What should I do with leftover disposable diapers my puppy has outgrown?
A. Donate them. Search for your nearest animal shelter and drop them off. Keep in mind that almost any pet-related leftovers you have, including food, toys and bowls, can also be taken to your local animal shelter. You can write the value off as a donation on your taxes. If you aren’t sure if they’ll accept something, just give them a call beforehand to check and potentially save yourself a trip.
What’s the best puppy diaper to buy?
Top puppy diaper
Paw Inspired Ultra Protection Disposable Female Dog Diapers
What you need to know: These are designed for females but can work for male puppies, too.
What you’ll love: These diapers have multiple urine-handling features, including converting it into gel immediately on contact and using leakproof edges that absorb urine before it can leak out. The fasteners are fur-resistant and can be repositioned for a custom fit and the interior uses soft quilting for comfort.
What you should consider: A few consumers had issues with waste getting loose through the tail hole. Hyperactive puppies may shimmy out of them over time.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon and Chewy
Top puppy diaper for the money
Out! Pet Care Disposable Male Dog Wraps
What you need to know: These are great male-focused diaper wraps.
What you’ll love: These wraps are secured using Velcro, which makes their fit adjustable and means the wrap can be removed and reused if it hasn’t yet been soiled. They have a wetness indicator, so there’s no need to spot-check for soiling.
What you should consider: There’s no protection from poo, only urine. More hyperactive puppies may be able to wiggle out of them.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon and Chewy
Worth checking out
Simple Solution Washable Female Dog Diapers
What you need to know: These reusable diapers make a good environmentally conscious choice.
What you’ll love: These can be machine-washed and become softer and more absorbent the more you wash them. They’re also compatible with most disposable liners if you still desire some disposable aspect. They use a large Velcro strap across the back for fine-tuning the fit as your puppy grows.
What you should consider: Depending on the breed, your puppy may outgrow these before you get sufficient use out of them. They don’t handle poo well.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon and Chewy
Sign up here to receive the BestReviews weekly newsletter for useful advice on new products and noteworthy deals.
Jordan C. Woika writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.
Copyright 2022 BestReviews, a Nexstar company. All rights reserved. | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/br/pets-br/dog-health-br/best-puppy-diaper/ | 2022-04-14T11:03:41 | 0 | https://www.cenlanow.com/reviews/br/pets-br/dog-health-br/best-puppy-diaper/ |