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SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – Firefighters battled a blaze early Wednesday that damaged an apartment building in southwest Shreveport.
Just after midnight firefighters were called out to The Aspen Apartments on the 9700 block of Baird Rd. in the Summer Grove neighborhood. At one point there were 18 units on the scene. When crews arrived, smoke could be seen rising from the roof of the apartment building.
Officials have not yet released if anyone was injured. The Shreveport Fire Department is investigating to determine the cause of the fire.
This is a developing story. More information will be provided as it becomes available.
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https://www.ktalnews.com/news/local-news/crews-battle-apartment-fire-in-southwest-shreveport/
| 2022-09-21T06:56:47Z
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SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) — The Shreveport Police Department is searching for a woman who has been missing since June.
SPD said in a release Tuesday, that 43-year-old Carzie B. Rhodes has been missing since June 5, 2022. A family member last spoke to her on that day, over the phone.
Rhodes has black hair, brown eyes, and a nose ring. She is 5’4″ tall and weighs approximately 240 pounds and goes by the nickname ‘Moo Moo’.
Police are asking anyone with information or who knows Rhodes’s location to contact SPD at 318-673-7300 #3.
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https://www.ktalnews.com/news/local-news/police-searching-for-shreveport-woman-missing-since-june/
| 2022-09-21T06:56:53Z
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https://www.ktalnews.com/news/local-news/police-searching-for-shreveport-woman-missing-since-june/
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FRISCO, TX (Silver Star Nation) – After his impressive final drive that resulted in a big win for the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, Cooper Rush is getting a lot of praise from both coaches and the media.
Rush, who was forced into action as the starter after Dak Prescott had hand surgery last week, was impressive out the gate on Sunday against the Super Bowl runner-up Cincinnati Bengals.
Although the second half performance was not as strong as the first, it was the final drive that Rush used to lead the team into range for a 50-yard last second field goal by Brett Maher to seal the 20-17 win for Dallas.
Cowboys insider Mickey Spagnola has some thoughts on Cooper Rush as a backup quarterback and also looks at a potential timeline for Dak Prescott to rejoin the team on the field.
The Cowboys don’t play again until Monday when they travel to face the New York Giants on Monday Night Football.
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https://www.ktalnews.com/news/mickey-rush-is-a-solid-backup-for-dak/
| 2022-09-21T06:56:59Z
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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas is known for many great things including its lakes, diamond mine and being the overall Natural State. However, a new study shows that it is among the unhappiest states in the United States.
According to WalletHub, Arkansas ranked 48 out of 50 in a list of the happiest states in America. Breaking down the study, researchers determined each state’s ranking based on 30 key metrics including emotional and physical well-being, work environment, community and depression rate.
With one representing the best conditions, Arkansas received a score of 47 in emotional and physical well-being. The Natural State received a 46 in work environment and a 31 in community and environment. The study also noted that Arkansas was one of the top states with the highest depression rate among adults.
Louisiana ranked just below Arkansas while West Virginia took the title of the unhappiest state in the nation, according to the study.
To view the full report on the happiest states in America, visit WalletHub.com.
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https://www.ktalnews.com/news/state-news/arkansas/wallethub-arkansas-ranks-third-unhappiest-state-in-the-nation/
| 2022-09-21T06:57:05Z
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AUSTIN (KXAN) — Texas Secretary of State John B. Scott shared details about a campaign aimed at educating voters before the November elections on Tuesday in east Austin.
This comes the same day as National Voter Registration Day, a holiday that’s been recognized for at least a decade now. According to the National Voter Registration Day website, nearly 4.7 million voters have registered to vote on the holiday to date.
Scott discussed the “VoteReady” statewide campaign. Its goal is to inform voters about the seven approved forms of photo identification that can be presented at polls to vote:
- Texas Driver License issued by the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS)
- Texas Election Identification Certificate issued by DPS
- Texas Personal Identification Card issued by DPS
- Texas Handgun License issued by DPS
- United States Military Identification Card containing the person’s photograph
- United States Citizenship Certificate containing the person’s photograph
- United States Passport (book or card)
The campaign will also explain what voters should do if they can’t get one of these IDs.
VoteReady will also cover who’s eligible for mail-in voting.
The last day for Texans to register to vote or change their address before this election is Oct. 11. The in-person early voting period in Texas starts Oct. 24 and lasts until Nov. 4. Election Day will happen the following Tuesday, Nov. 8.
If someone would like to apply for a vote-by-mail ballot, the final day to do so is Oct. 28.
The campaign comes about a year after Gov. Greg Abbott signed a controversial elections bill into law. Senate Bill 1 includes a ban on 24-hour polling places, increased ID requirements, restrictions on drive-thru voting and limits voting by mail.
Republicans have said it’s a way to ensure Texas elections are secure, but Democrats said the law makes it harder for certain Texans to vote, including people of color.
Challenges to the law were filed, and in May, the Supreme Court of Texas heard oral arguments related to a provision of the law that prohibits public election officials from promoting mail-in voting.
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https://www.ktalnews.com/news/state-news/texas/texas-politics/texas-secretary-of-state-discusses-effort-to-educate-voters-on-national-voter-registration-day/
| 2022-09-21T06:57:17Z
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https://www.ktalnews.com/news/state-news/texas/texas-politics/texas-secretary-of-state-discusses-effort-to-educate-voters-on-national-voter-registration-day/
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U.S. doctors should regularly screen all adults under 65 for anxiety, an influential health guidelines group proposed Tuesday.
It’s the first time the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has recommended anxiety screening in primary care for adults without symptoms. The proposal is open for public comment until Oct. 17, but the group usually affirms its draft guidance.
The recommendations are based on a review that began before the COVID-19 pandemic, evaluating studies showing potential benefits and risks from screening. Given reports of a surge in mental health problems linked with pandemic isolation and stress, the guidance is “very timely,” said Lori Pbert, a task force member and co-author. Pbert is a psychologist-researcher at the University of Massachusetts’ Chan Medical School.
The task force said evidence for benefits, including effective treatments, outweighs any risks, which include inaccurate screening results that could lead to unnecessary follow-up care.
Anxiety disorders are among the most common mental health complaints, affecting about 40% of U.S. women at some point in their lives and more than 1 in 4 men, Pbert noted.
Black people, those living in poverty, people who have lost partners and those who have other mental health issues are among adults who face higher risks for developing anxiety, which can manifest as panic attacks, phobias or feeling always on edge. Also, about 1 in 10 pregnant and postpartum women experience anxiety.
Common screening tools include brief questionnaires about symptoms such as fears and worries that interfere with usual activities. These can easily be given in a primary care setting, the task force said, although it didn’t specify how often patients should be screened.
“The most important thing to recognize is that a screening test alone is not sufficient to diagnose anxiety,” Pbert said. The next step is a more thorough evaluation by a mental health professional, though Pbert acknowledged that finding mental health care can be difficult given shortages of specialists.
Megan Whalen, a 31-year-old marketing specialist who was diagnosed with anxiety in 2013, says regular doctors should screen for mental health issues as commonly as they do for physical problems.
“Health is health, whether the problem is visible or not,” said Whalen, of Hoboken, New Jersey.
She has gotten help from medicine and talk therapy, but her symptoms worsened during the pandemic and she temporarily moved back home.
“The pandemic made me afraid to leave home, my anxiety telling me anywhere outside of my childhood house was unsafe,” Whelan said. “I absolutely still struggle with feelings of dread and fear sometimes. It’s just a part of my life at this point, and I try to manage it as best as I can.”
The task force said there isn’t enough solid research in older adults to recommend for or against anxiety screening in those aged 65 and up.
The group continues to recommend depression screening for adults and children, but said there isn’t enough evidence to evaluate potential benefits and harms of suicide screening in adults who show no worrisome symptoms.
In April, the group issued similar draft guidance for children and teens, recommending anxiety screening but stating that more research is needed on potential benefits and harms of suicide screening kids with no obvious signs.
Guidelines from the task force often determine insurance coverage, but anxiety is already on the radar of many primary care doctors. In 2020, a group affiliated with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommended routine primary care anxiety screening for women and girls starting at age 13.
Melissa Lewis-Duarte, a wellness coach in Scottsdale, Arizona, says rhythmic breathing, meditation and making a daily list of three things for which she is grateful have all helped with her anxiety.
“Doctors say, ‘Make sure you’re sleeping, control your stress.’ Yeah, I get that,” but not everyone knows how, said the 42-year-old mother of three. “It’s difficult to prioritize self-care, but that’s what’s necessary.”
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https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/all-adults-should-get-routine-anxiety-screening-panel-says/
| 2022-09-21T06:57:19Z
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NEW YORK (The Hill) — President Biden on Tuesday sought to clarify his comments from days earlier that the coronavirus pandemic “is over,” telling guests at a fundraiser that the COVID-19 situation is not as bad as it was.
Biden attended a Democratic National Committee fundraiser in New York City ahead of his speech Wednesday to the United Nations General Assembly. At one point, speaking about efforts on the pandemic, Biden referenced his comments to Scott Pelley of CBS last week in which he said the pandemic was “over.”
Biden acknowledged he was “criticized” for the remarks, adding, “But it basically is not where it was.”
The president also urged those in attendance to get their booster shots if they have not already.
Biden drew heat from public health experts and some lawmakers for his remarks to “60 Minutes” at the Detroit Auto Show last week, which was the first time the event was able to be held at full capacity since the onset of the pandemic.
“The pandemic is over,” he told the program. “We still have a problem with COVID. We’re still doing a lotta work on it. It’s — but the pandemic is over. If you notice, no one’s wearing masks. Everybody seems to be in pretty good shape. And so I think it’s changing. And I think this is a perfect example of it.”
The United States is still recording an average of more than 400 deaths per day from COVID-19, according to New York Times data, and more than 1 million Americans have died from the virus since the pandemic began in early 2020.
Highly contagious variants have spread throughout the globe, making it nearly impossible to fully eradicate COVID-19.
As a result, the Biden administration has focused its messaging on the importance of getting vaccinated and receiving booster shots to increase immunity, as well as the wide availability of antiviral pills and other forms of treatment for those who contract the virus.
Tuesday’s fundraiser featured roughly 100 guests and raised nearly $2 million for the Democratic National Committee. Attendees included New York Mayor Eric Adams and actor Robert De Niro.
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https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/biden-clarifies-covid-comments-pandemic-basically-is-not-where-it-was/
| 2022-09-21T06:57:27Z
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From year to year in Niagara County the rate of vehicle theft rises every summer and 2022 is no exception. Sheriff Michael J. Filicetti recently issued a warning to county residents in the hope that they’ll try to do a better job of securing their own valuable property.
“We want people to be aware that it’s going on to try to prevent some of our future thefts,” Filicetti said.
In all of 2021, the sheriff’s office fielded 55 stolen vehicle reports. This year, between Jan. 1 and Sept. 14, NCSO fielded 39 reports of stolen vehicles, mostly since late spring when warm weather kicked in. The data shows most of the thefts occurred in the Niagara / Erie county border towns of Niagara, Wheatfield, Pendleton and Lockport; and Filicetti said many of those vehicles were later recovered in Erie County.
The sheriff believes most of the thefts were spontaneous, not organized, and were committed by “joy riders” from the other side of the border.
“We have suspects who are in Erie County, and they’re looking for areas that are closer to the county line,” he said. “There are some exceptions where there’s damage, or there’s things missing from the vehicles, but for the most part the perpetrators are stealing and using the cars, and then we recover them.”
That’s surely a relief for the ones whose ride was “borrowed” without their permission, but the tracking down of these stolen vehicles consumes significant resources of the sheriff’s office, and the fact of the matter is, many times this wouldn’t be necessary if the owners took better care of their property.
No, it’s not fair to “blame the victim,” and yes, it’s lousy to think we must keep our valuables under lock and key even at home, but if an ounce of prevention produces a pound of cure, what’s to debate?
The risk of losing your ride briefly or forever is real year-round, not just in summertime when joy riders go out looking for low hanging fruit. With that in mind, the sheriff’s office again shared a few basic theft prevention tips that every vehicle owner should know and practice:
— Lock your parked vehicle, always.
— Keep your key fob with you, not inside your vehicle.
— Keep valuables inside your vehicle out of plain sight.
— Park your vehicle in a well-lit place whenever possible.
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https://www.lockportjournal.com/opinion/our-view-how-not-to-be-the-victim-of-grand-theft-auto/article_45f922ec-3920-11ed-adc3-a72525db86ab.html
| 2022-09-21T06:57:30Z
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https://www.lockportjournal.com/opinion/our-view-how-not-to-be-the-victim-of-grand-theft-auto/article_45f922ec-3920-11ed-adc3-a72525db86ab.html
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(NewsNation) — President Joe Biden said in an interview that aired Sunday that the “pandemic is over,” but neither COVID-19 cases nor pandemic-related relief efforts have entirely disappeared.
Biden made the remarks during an interview on “60 Minutes,” but as of Monday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention still classified the COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic.
The World Health Organization reports that COVID-19 deaths are the lowest they’ve been since March 2020, and the CDC data also shows deaths have declined by 75%.
Despite the president’s claim that the pandemic is over, the White House has made a $22 billion emergency request to Congress for COVID-19 relief ahead of a potential surge of cases in the fall.
Below is a look at some of the relief efforts announced early during the pandemic and where they stand now.
Testing access
The federal free at-home test program was suspended on Sept. 2. Free antigen and PCR COVID-19 tests are still available at more than 20,000 sites nationwide, including to people without insurance.
At-home tests may be available for sale at local stores and pharmacies.
Those with health insurance through their employer or Marketplace can also be reimbursed for eight at-home tests monthly for each person on the plan.
Vaccine availability
COVID-19 vaccines remain available for free to people 6 months and older in the U.S. regardless of immigration or insurance status, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.
About 67% of eligible Americans were vaccinated as of Monday and half of those received at least a single booster shot, NIAID Director Anthony Fauci said during a seasonal COVID-19 update Monday.
“Unfortunately for us, the complicated situation at its best is difficult when it is being confronted with a whole wave of misinformation and disinformation and conspiracy theories,” Fauci said. “It understandably confuses the general public.”
The White House is urging Americans to receive a second booster.
Vaccine locations can be located through the CDC website.
Child Tax Credit
The American Rescue Plan increased the Child Tax Credit and expanded its coverage to as much as $3,600 per child younger than 6 and $3,000 for children ages 6-17.
That program expired last December, but Republican lawmakers have proposed its resurrection in the form of the Family Security Act 2.0.
Under the proposed plan, families would receive $350 a month for each child 5 or younger, amounting to $4,200 a year, and $250 a month for children ages 6 to 17, totaling $3,000 a year. Benefits would be limited to up to six children each year, and families would need to earn $10,000 in the previous year to qualify for full benefits.
Those who earn less than $10,000 each year would receive a benefit that’s proportional to their earnings. For example, a family earning $5,000 would get 50% of the maximum child tax credit, according to The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan research and policy institute.
Student Loan Payments
Student loan payments were suspended with 0% interest during the pandemic and will resume after Dec. 31.
As many as 43 million Americans, however, are expected to have some or all of their federal student loans forgiven by the Biden administration, following an announcement in late August.
Some borrowers will be eligible for as much as $10,000 in forgiveness and Pell Grant recipients can apply for twice as much.
The majority of forgiveness is expected to benefit borrowers who are no longer in college and make less than $75,000 annually.
The application will be available before the student loan repayment pause ends on Dec. 31.
Unemployment assistance
Assistance including the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation program ended in September 2021.
The temporary emergency measure provided an additional $300 per week to people already collecting certain kinds of unemployment benefits.
The CARES Act, a pandemic-era law, gave states the option to extend unemployment compensation to independent contractors and other workers who wouldn’t typically be considered eligible for unemployment benefits. You can find the contact information for your state’s unemployment insurance office here.
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https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/biden-says-pandemic-over-what-relief-is-still-available/
| 2022-09-21T06:57:34Z
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RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) will intentionally crash into a small asteroid next week to test whether it would be possible to redirect a future asteroid that might threaten Earth.
DART will be the first-ever space mission to demonstrate asteroid deflection by “kinetic impactor,” according to NASA.
DART’s target is the binary asteroid system Didymos, which means “twin” in Greek. The system is composed of two asteroids: the larger asteroid Didymos (diameter: 780 meters, 0.48 miles), and the smaller moonlet asteroid, Dimorphos (diameter: 160 meters, 525 feet), which orbits the larger asteroid.
The DART spacecraft will impact Dimorphos nearly head-on, according to the space agency, in theory shortening the time it takes the small asteroid moonlet to orbit Didymos by several minutes.
DART blasted off for its mission on Nov. 24, 2021, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
The DART mission is one part of NASA’s larger planetary defense strategy and is the first mission being flown by NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO), which was established in 2016.
“DART is turning science fiction into science fact and is a testament to NASA’s proactivity and innovation for the benefit of all,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “In addition to all the ways NASA studies our universe and our home planet, we’re also working to protect that home, and this test will help prove out one viable way to protect our planet from a hazardous asteroid should one ever be discovered that is headed toward Earth.”
NASA said there is no “significant risk” to Earth from an asteroid for the next 100 years, but the PDCO is always working to stay prepared and aware of potential risks.
“We have not yet found any significant asteroid impact threat to Earth, but we continue to search for that sizable population we know is still to be found. Our goal is to find any possible impact, years to decades in advance, so it can be deflected with a capability like DART that is possible with the technology we currently have,” said Lindley Johnson, planetary defense officer at NASA Headquarters.
The test is scheduled to happen Monday, Sept. 26, at 7:14 p.m. EST. NASA will stream the mission live on its website, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
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https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/brace-for-impact-nasa-hopes-to-redirect-asteroid-in-first-planetary-defense-test/
| 2022-09-21T06:57:42Z
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Republican governors have been sending more migrants released at the U.S. border with Mexico to Democratic strongholds, raising questions about their legal status, how they are lured on board buses and planes and the cost to taxpayers.
Florida’s Ron DeSantis flew about 50 Venezuelans last week to the small, upscale island of Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. During the weekend, Texas’ Greg Abbott bused more migrants to Vice President Kamala Harris’ Washington home.
U.S. authorities are grappling with unusually large numbers of migrants crossing the border from Mexico amid rapidly changing demographics. The administration said Monday that people from Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua accounted for more than one of three migrants stopped at the border in August. Authorities stopped migrants 2.15 million times from October through August, the first time above 2 million during the government’s fiscal year.
Since April, Texas has bused about 8,000 migrants to Washington, 2,200 to New York and 300 to Chicago. Arizona bused more than 1,800 to Washington since May, while the city of El Paso, Texas, bused more than 1,100 to New York since Aug. 23.
Here are some questions and answers:
ARE MIGRANTS LEGALLY IN THE UNITED STATES?
Yes, temporarily. Tens of thousands of migrants who cross the border illegally from Mexico are released in the United States each month with notices to appear in immigration court to pursue asylum or on humanitarian parole with requirements to report regularly to immigration authorities. Migrants may seek asylum if they enter the country illegally under U.S. and international law, and U.S. authorities have broad authority to grant parole based on individual circumstances.
Migrants must keep a current address with authorities, who schedule appointments in a city with the nearest court or immigration office. They must apply separately for permission to work.
Last year, it took an average of nearly four years for asylum cases to be decided in immigration court, according to the Biden administration, leaving migrants in a legal purgatory that shields them from deportation. The backlog in immigration courts has mushroomed to more than 1.9 million cases, according to Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse.
To avoid massive overcrowding in detention facilities, the administration began releasing many migrants on humanitarian parole. The Border Patrol paroled nearly 250,000 migrants from August through June, including 40,151 in June, the latest figures released. In the previous seven months, it paroled only 11 migrants.
ARE THESE MIGRANTS KIDNAPPED?
Kidnapping is a high legal threshold, but migrants flown to Martha’s Vineyard say they were taken there on false pretenses. Migrants sign waivers that the transportation is free and voluntary.
DeSantis used a state program in which migrants deemed “unauthorized aliens” can be moved “from Florida,” though the governor has acknowledged the flights originated in Texas.
They stopped first in Florida, before going to Martha’s Vineyard, but DeSantis has not emphasized that. Instead, he maintains that the two flights were a legitimate use of funds because the migrants otherwise would have aimed to go to Florida, though he offered no evidence of that and did not say how migrants might have been vetted.
Migrants who boarded the flights told The Associated Press that a woman who approached them at a San Antonio shelter promised jobs and three months of housing in Washington, New York, Philadelphia and Boston.
On Monday, Javier Salazar, the sheriff of Bexar County, which includes San Antonio, opened an investigation into the flights, but the elected Democrat didn’t say what laws may have been broken. Other Democrats have urged the U.S. Justice Department to investigate, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom and U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, whose district includes San Antonio.
DOESN’T THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION BUS AND FLY MIGRANTS AROUND THE COUNTRY?
Yes, but under different circumstances. Like earlier administrations, it transports migrants between detention facilities, often on their way to being removed from the country.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement had more than 4,800 domestic flights in the last year, including 434 in August, according to Witness to the Border, a group that criticizes U.S. enforcement. The top five destinations from March to August were: Alexandria, Louisiana; Laredo, Texas; Phoenix; and Harlingen and El Paso in Texas. ICE also buses many migrants.
The Department of Health and Human Services transports unaccompanied children to “sponsors,” who are often family, or child-only detention facilities.
DID ANYONE ASK FOR THIS?
Republican-led states say they are sending migrants to “sanctuary” cities that welcome immigrants. While the definition of a sanctuary city is slippery, a sudden influx of migrants can test attitudes and limits of generosity.
Chicago’s “Welcoming City Ordinance” prohibits asking people about their immigration status, denying services based on immigration status and disclosing information to federal immigration authorities.
New York limits cooperation with U.S. immigration authorities, partly by prohibiting police officers from participating in joint enforcement or by letting immigration agents work in city jails.
In Martha’s Vineyard, the six towns that make up the island south of Boston haven’t issued any “sanctuary” declarations.
The Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for restrictions, keeps an extensive list of “sanctuary” jurisdictions, which, by its definition, limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities. They include Boston and seven other Massachusetts cities. None of the towns in Martha’s Vineyard are on the list.
WHO’S PAYING AND HOW MUCH?
Texas has committed billions of dollars to Abbott’s “Operation Lone Star,” an unprecedented move into border security that includes the bus trips, prosecuting border crossers for trespassing and massive presence of state troopers and National Guard.
The Florida Legislature allocated $12 million for its program for the current budget year.
The city of El Paso, which last week contracted a private bus company at a cost of up to $2 million, plans to seek reimbursement from the federal government.
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https://www.ktalnews.com/news/u-s-world/bused-flown-migrants-can-live-in-the-us-for-now-heres-why/
| 2022-09-21T06:57:49Z
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(The Conversation) – Have you ever wondered exactly how many ants live on Earth? Possibly not, but it’s certainly a question we’ve asked ourselves.
Our research published today provides an approximate answer. We conservatively estimate our planet harbours about 20 quadrillion ants. That’s 20 thousand million millions, or in numerical form, 20,000,000,000,000,000 (20 with 15 zeroes).
We further estimate the world’s ants collectively constitute about 12 million tonnes of dry carbon. This exceeds the mass of all the world’s wild birds and wild mammals combined. It’s also equal to about one-fifth of the total weight of humans.
Eminent biologist Edward O. Wilson once said insects and other invertebrates are “the little things that run the world” – and he was right. Ants, in particular, are a crucial part of nature. Among other roles, ants aerate the soil, disperse seeds, break down organic material, create habitat for other animals and form an important part of the food chain.
Estimating ant numbers and mass provides an important baseline from which to monitor ant populations amid worrying environmental changes.
Counting the world’s ants
There are more than 15,700 named species and subspecies of ants, and many others not yet named by science. Ants’ high degree of social organisation has enabled them to colonise nearly all ecosystems and regions around the globe.
The astounding ubiquity of ants has prompted many naturalists to contemplate their exact number on Earth. But these were basically educated guesses. Systematic, evidence-based estimates have been lacking.
Our research involved an analysis of 489 studies of ant populations conducted by fellow ant scientists from around the world. This included non-English literature, in languages such as Spanish, French, German, Russian, Mandarin and Portuguese.
The research spanned all continents and major habitats including forests, deserts, grasslands and cities. They used standardised methods for collecting and counting ants such as pitfall traps and leaf litter samples. As you can imagine, this is often tedious work.
Read more: In defence of ants
From all this, we estimate there are approximately 20 quadrillion ants on Earth. This figure, though conservative, is between two and 20 times higher than previous estimates.
Th previous figures employed a “top-down” approach by assuming ants comprise about 1% of the world’s estimated insect population. In contrast, our “bottom-up” estimate is more reliable because it uses data on ants observed directly in the field and makes fewer assumptions.
Our next step was to work out how much all these ants weigh. The mass of organisms is typically measured in terms of their carbon makeup. We estimated that 20 quadrillion average-sized ants corresponds to a dry weight or “biomass” of approximately 12 million tonnes of carbon.
This is more than the combined biomass of wild birds and mammals – and about 20% of total human biomass.
Carbon makes up about half the dry weight of an ant. If the weight of other bodily elements was included, the total mass of the world’s ants would be higher still.
We also found ants are distributed unevenly on Earth’s surface. They vary sixfold between habitats and generally peak in the tropics. This underscores the importance of tropical regions in maintaining healthy ant populations.
Ants were also particularly abundant in forests, and surprisingly, in arid regions. But they become less common in human-made habitats.
Our findings come with a few caveats. For example, the sampling locations in our dataset are unevenly distributed across geographic regions. And the vast majority of samples were collected from the ground layer, meaning we have very little information about ant numbers in trees or underground. This means our findings are somewhat incomplete.
Read more: Where are all the ants? World-first ‘treasure map’ reveals hotspots for rare species
We all need ants
Ants also provide vital “ecosystem services” for humans. For instance, a recent study found ants can be more effective than pesticides at helping farmers produce food.
Ants have also developed tight interactions with other organisms – and some species cannot survive without them.
For example, some birds rely on ants to flush out their prey. And thousands of plant species either feed or house ants in exchange for protection, or dispersal of their seeds. And many ants are predators, helping to keep populations of other insects in check.
Alarmingly, global insect numbers are declining due to threats such as habitat destruction and fragmentation, chemical use, invasive species and climate change.
But data on insect biodiversity is alarmingly scarce. We hope our study provides a baseline for further research to help fill this gap.
It’s in humanity’s interest to monitor ant populations. Counting ants is not difficult, and citizen scientists from all over the world could help investigate how these important animals are faring at a time of great environmental change.
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| 2022-09-21T06:58:03Z
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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal authorities charged 47 people in Minnesota with conspiracy and other counts in what they said Tuesday was the largest fraud scheme yet to take advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic by stealing $250 million from a federal program that provides meals to low-income children.
Prosecutors say the defendants created companies that claimed to be offering food to tens of thousands of children across Minnesota, then sought reimbursement for those meals through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s food nutrition programs. Prosecutors say few meals were actually served, and the defendants used the money to buy luxury cars, property and jewelry.
“This $250 million is the floor,” Andy Luger, the U.S. attorney for Minnesota, said at a news conference. “Our investigation continues.”
Many of the companies that claimed to be serving food were sponsored by a nonprofit called Feeding Our Future, which submitted the companies’ claims for reimbursement. Feeding Our Future’s founder and executive director, Aimee Bock, was among those indicted, and authorities say she and others in her organization submitted the fraudulent claims for reimbursement and received kickbacks.
Bock’s attorney, Kenneth Udoibok, said the indictment “doesn’t indicate guilt or innocence.” He said he wouldn’t comment further until seeing the indictment.
In interviews after law enforcement searched multiple sites in January, including Bock’s home and offices, Bock denied stealing money and said she never saw evidence of fraud.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Justice made prosecuting pandemic-related fraud a priority. The department has already taken enforcement actions related to more than $8 billion in suspected pandemic fraud, including bringing charges in more than 1,000 criminal cases involving losses in excess of $1.1 billion.
Federal officials repeatedly described the alleged fraud as “brazen,” and decried that it involved a program intended to feed children who needed help during the pandemic. Michael Paul, special agent in charge of the Minneapolis FBI office, called it “an astonishing display of deceit.”
Luger said the government was billed for more than 125 million fake meals, with some defendants making up names for children by using an online random name generator. He displayed one form for reimbursement that claimed a site served exactly 2,500 meals each day Monday through Friday — with no children ever getting sick or otherwise missing from the program.
“These children were simply invented,” Luger said.
He said the government has so far recovered $50 million in money and property and expects to recover more.
The defendants in Minnesota face multiple counts, including conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering and bribery. Luger said some of them were arrested Tuesday morning.
According to court documents, the alleged scheme targeted the USDA’s federal child nutrition programs, which provide food to low-income children and adults. In Minnesota, the funds are administered by the state Department of Education, and meals have historically been provided to kids through educational programs, such as schools or day care centers.
The sites that serve the food are sponsored by public or nonprofit groups, such as Feeding Our Future. The sponsoring agency keeps 10% to 15% of the reimbursement funds as an administrative fee in exchange for submitting claims, sponsoring the sites and disbursing the funds.
But during the pandemic, some of the standard requirements for sites to participate in the federal food nutrition programs were waived. The USDA allowed for-profit restaurants to participate, and allowed food to be distributed outside educational programs. The charging documents say the defendants exploited such changes “to enrich themselves.”
The documents say Bock oversaw the scheme and that she and Feeding Our Future sponsored the opening of nearly 200 federal child nutrition program sites throughout the state, knowing that the sites intended to submit fraudulent claims.
“The sites fraudulently claimed to be serving meals to thousands of children a day within just days or weeks of being formed and despite having few, if any staff and little to no experience serving this volume of meals,” according to the indictments.
One example described a small storefront restaurant in Willmar, in west-central Minnesota, that typically served only a few dozen people a day. Two defendants offered the owner $40,000 a month to use his restaurant, then billed the government for some 1.6 million meals through 11 months of 2021, according to one indictment. They listed the names of around 2,000 children — nearly half of the local school district’s total enrollment — and only 33 names matched actual students, the indictment said.
Feeding Our Future received nearly $18 million in federal child nutrition program funds as administrative fees in 2021 alone, and Bock and other employees received additional kickbacks, which were often disguised as “consulting fees” paid to shell companies, the charging documents said.
According to an FBI affidavit unsealed earlier this year, Feeding Our Future received $307,000 in reimbursements from the USDA in 2018, $3.45 million in 2019 and $42.7 million in 2020. The amount of reimbursements jumped to $197.9 million in 2021.
Court documents say the Minnesota Department of Education was growing concerned about the rapid increase in the number of sites sponsored by Feeding Our Future, as well as the increase in reimbursements.
The department began scrutinizing Feeding Our Future’s site applications more carefully and denied dozens of them. In response, Bock sued the department in November 2020, alleging discrimination, saying the majority of her sites were based in immigrant communities. That case has since been dismissed.
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| 2022-09-21T06:58:26Z
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SHOREHAM, N.Y. (WPIX) — Police came to the rescue of two brothers who fell overboard while fishing in the Long Island Sound on Monday evening and clung to an inflatable seat cushion until help arrived, authorities said.
Sometime after launching their 6-foot inflatable raft off of Shoreham Beach in New York, Gustavo and Gusmil Quinones were struck by a rogue wave and knocked overboard, officials said. When the brothers had not returned to shore by 7:30 p.m., police were contacted.
After about a half-hour of searching, officers Cory Kim and Robert Reed of the department’s Marine Bureau heard the brothers’ cries for help, but couldn’t see them in the darkness, authorities said.
With the help of a spotlight cast by a department aviation unit, Kim and Reed found the brothers and pulled them to safety, officials said.
Despite being in the water for more than an hour, clinging to an inflatable seat cushion from the raft until their rescue, neither Gustavo, 30, nor Gusmil, 35, was injured, according to authorities.
The brothers, who are from Brooklyn, New York, were wearing life jackets when they went over, officials said.
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| 2022-09-21T06:58:34Z
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NEW YORK (AP) — After a year spent off-air, the Golden Globe Awards are returning to NBC in January, as the embattled Hollywood Foreign Press Association seeks a primetime comeback after more than a year of turmoil.
NBC, the Hollywood Press Association and Dick Clark Productions on Tuesday made the Globes’ return official. The 80th Golden Globes will be held January 10, airing both on NBC and Peacock.
For the past year and half, Hollywood has effectively boycotted the Globes, for years one of the most-watched award shows after the Academy Awards. But after the Los Angeles Times reported ahead of the 2021 broadcast that the HFPA’s 87 members of non-American journalists included no Black members, studios, publicists and stars said they would cease participating in the Globes. Tom Cruise returned his three Golden Globe awards.
Since then, the HFPA has reorganized itself, revamped its membership and enacted reforms designed to curtail the kinds of unethical behavior the group has long been criticized for. The HFPA added new members, including six Black voting members, and recently added 103 international, nonmember voters. The HFPA on Tuesday said their voting body is now 52% female, 19.5% Latino, 12% Asian, 10% Black and 10% Middle Eastern.
“We recognize the HFPA’s commitment to ongoing change and look forward to welcoming back the Golden Globes to NBC for its landmark 80th Anniversary in January 2023,” said Frances Berwick, chairman of entertainment networks for NBCUniversal.
NBC had reason to want to get the Globes back on the air. In 2018, the network signed an eight-year deal to continue airing the awards through 2026. Citing the HFPA’s ongoing reforms, NBC elected not to televise the previous Golden Globes in January. The organization went ahead announcing awards, anyway, in an untelevised and little-noticed gathering unattended by nominees.
This year’s ceremony, the organizations said, will be broadcast in a one-year agreement. Terms were unavailable but the deal is expected to be less than the approximately $60 million the network previously paid annually to air the Globes. With backlash swirling and the ceremony scaled down because of the pandemic, the 2021 Globes were watched by 6.9 million people, according to Nielsen, down from more than 18 million the year before.
Whether NBC’s endorsement will be enough to return the Globes to Hollywood’s good graces, however, remains to be seen. Would Cruise and “Top Gun: Maverick” want anything to do with the Globes? Or how about Brendan Fraser, a major best actor contender this year for his performance in “The Whale,” who said the HFPA dismissed his allegation of groping by then HFPA president Philip Berk at a luncheon in 2003 as a “joke.”
But the Globes have long played a vital role in Hollywood’s awards season as a bridge between the rush of December releases and the Oscars, this year to be held March 13 — long after the contenders have debuted. For studios, the Globes are an important marketing opportunity that may not directly influence the Academy Awards but can impact box office. Nominations to the Globes will be announced Dec. 12.
The HFPA is currently being run by interim Chief Executive Todd Boehly, whose investment firm, Eldridge Industries, bought the Globes and turned it from a nonprofit into a for-profit venture. Boehly’s firm is also the parent company of dick clark productions, the awards’ producer, and an owner of the Globes’ longtime home, the Beverly Hilton.
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| 2022-09-21T06:58:41Z
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(NEXSTAR) – Over 40 million Americans are expected to qualify for federal student loan forgiveness from the Biden administration, with as many as 20 million likely to have their remaining balances entirely erased.
New figures from the White House show no state will see less than 45,000 residents qualify for up to $10,000 in debt relief. For some states, that estimated number of eligible residents is in the millions.
Last month, President Biden announced his plans to forgive thousands of dollars in federal student loan debt for qualifying borrowers: those with federal student loans who earned less than $125,000 (or $250,000 for a couple) in 2020 or 2021 can receive up to $10,000 in relief, and those who received a Pell Grant are eligible for up to $20,000. More details on who qualifies and how to determine how much you’ll receive can be found here.
According to the White House, 90% of this student loan relief will go to borrowers earning less than $75,000 a year. The number of borrowers impacted in each state, however, will vary – drastically, in some cases.
The latest data from the White House shows states with larger populations will see the most amount of borrowers impacted by relief: California, Florida, New York, and Texas each have more than 2 million borrowers expected to qualify for up to $10,000 in debt relief. Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina, New Jersey, Ohio, and Pennsylvania are each expected to have more than 1 million borrowers in that category.
In California, over 3.5 million borrowers are expected to receive up to $10,000 in student debt cancelation. Texas has the second-highest total at 3.2 million.
On the opposite end of the scale are, of course, states with smaller populations – in Wyoming, for example, 49,600 borrowers will receive up to $10,000. For nearby North Dakota, it’s about 82,000 borrowers, and in Alaska, it’s 60,500.
When it comes to borrowers eligible for up to $20,000 in relief (those that received a Pell Grant), California and Texas both have more than 2.3 million expected to qualify. Four other states – Florida, Georgia, New York, and Ohio – each have more than 1 million borrowers meeting the same criteria.
Wyoming again has the fewest borrowers in this category at 31,400, followed by Vermont at 37,100 and North Dakota at 49,600.
Below is a state-by-state breakdown of how many borrowers in each state are expected to receive student loan forgiveness, according to the White House:
In many of the states receiving the most relief – California, Georgia, and Florida, especially – the average student loan debt held by residents is higher, according to the latest data from the Department of Education. The opposite is true for the states with fewer borrowers expected to benefit – North Dakota and Wyoming have some of the lowest average debts in the country.
This isn’t exactly the case in Texas. While millions of borrowers in the Lone Star State are expected to benefit from Biden’s student debt relief, Texans have one of the lowest average debt burdens in the country at roughly $33,000, a level similar to that of North Dakota and Wyoming.
While 8 million borrowers are expected to qualify for automatic federal student loan forgiveness, the majority of eligible borrowers will need to wait until early October to apply for debt relief, according to the Department of Education. Here’s what you can do while waiting for more details to be announced.
Exact details about how the federal debt forgiveness will be administered haven’t been released yet. Some borrowers may also receive an automatic refund for payments they’ve made on their loans since March 2020.
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| 2022-09-21T06:58:49Z
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(KTLA) – Happy Meals might get a little spooky this October.
McDonald’s is rumored to be resurrecting its Halloween Happy Meal pumpkin pails, which first debuted nationwide in 1986. According to the blog, Nightmare Nostalgia, McDonald’s employees have been sharing the news on social media.
Though McDonald’s has yet to confirm the rumor or respond to a request for more details from Nexstar’s KTLA, employees at multiple franchise locations told us they expect the pails to be available soon.
The buckets, which can adequately hold burgers and fries, and also plenty of Halloween candy, will return on Oct. 18 with the promotion ending on the holiday itself, Oct. 31, the website claims.
The original iteration of the Halloween pails were three orange jack-o-lantern pails named McPunk’n, McBoo, and McGoblin. According to Eat This Not That, the buckets were changed to a white ghost, green witch, and orange pumpkin during the 1990s.
The favorite items continued to transform throughout the years, with some themed for shows like “Scooby-Doo” and “Monster High,” or characters like Mr. Potato Head.
The buckets were last seen in 2016 when McDonald’s designed them based on the Halloween classic film, “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.”
The fast food chain recently brought back its Cheese Danish, another customer-favorite item, to its menu at participating locations.
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| 2022-09-21T06:59:04Z
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(The Hill) – The group of Venezuelan migrants flown from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard last week by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) filed a class action suit against the governor and the state’s transportation secretary on Tuesday.
The suit provides a detailed account of how the migrants allegedly came to board the two planes under false pretenses, arguing the relocations violated their Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights and the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
“These immigrants, who are pursuing the proper channels for lawful immigration status in the United States, experienced cruelty akin to what they fled in their home country,” the suit alleges.
“Defendants manipulated them, stripped them of their dignity, deprived them of their liberty, bodily autonomy, due process and equal protection under law, and impermissibly interfered with the Federal Government’s exclusive control over immigration in furtherance of an unlawful goal and a personal political agenda,” it continues.
The suit, filed in a federal trial court in Massachusetts, asks a judge to declare DeSantis’s relocations illegal under the Constitution as well as federal and state laws. It also asks the judge to prevent Florida from inducing immigrants to travel across state laws by fraud and misrepresentation.
The Hill has reached out to DeSantis’s office and the Florida Department of Transportation for comment. DeSantis has said the flights were “clearly voluntary.”
DeSantis became the latest GOP governor to relocate migrants to northern areas of the country in protest of President Biden’s immigration policies and so-called “sanctuary cities.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R) has bused migrants to Washington, D.C., while Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) has sent individuals to D.C., New York City and Chicago, arguing the moves relieve border communities overwhelmed by an influx of migrants.
The relocations have fueled fury among Democrats, who accuse the GOP governors of using the migrants as political pawns — a sentiment echoed throughout the class action suit.
A Texas sheriff separately opened an investigation into the Martha’s Vineyard flights on Monday.
DeSantis said the flights were paid for using a $12 million fund approved by the state legislature for migrant relocations. The suit names the state transportation department and its head as defendants, as the fund was appropriated to the department.
Alianza Americas, a network of groups supporting immigrants, filed the class action suit with three unnamed migrants DeSantis relocated, claiming the scheme also constituted intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress, false imprisonment and fraud.
“For the Governor of Florida to cynically use recently arrived immigrants who have applied for asylum in the U.S. to advance a hate-driven agenda intended to create confusion and rejection throughout the country, is not only morally despicable, but utterly contrary to the best traditions of humanitarian protection embraced by most Americans,” Oscar Chacòn, Alianza Americas’ executive director, said in a statement.
The complaint lays out the most detailed narrative yet as to how the migrants came to board the flight.
The plaintiffs allege the migrants were located at a migrant resource center in San Antonio, Texas and other localities, where individuals who identified themselves as “Perla” and “Emanuel” approached them and offered items like $10 McDonald’s gift cards for those experiencing food insecurity.
The individuals, portraying themselves as good Samaritans, collected some of the migrants’ immigration paperwork, and if they “fit the bill,” the individuals proceeded to make false promises of benefits if they agreed to board flights to other states, according to the suit.
The migrants were then allegedly given free hotel stays in Texas until they left for the airport.
The plaintiffs said the migrants boarded the flights with the belief they would land in Washington, D.C. or Boston, but they were told while in the air they would instead be arriving in Martha’s Vineyard.
They were also allegedly given a brochure that outlined support services in Massachusetts, but the programs referenced had “highly specific eligibility requirements” that the migrants did not meet, the suit said.
“Once the individual Plaintiffs and class members landed, it became clear that the promises made to induce them on the planes were in fact bold-faced lies,” the suit states.
The migrants have since been relocated to a military base elsewhere in Massachusetts.
DeSantis has said the flights were paid for using a $12 million fund approved by the state legislature for migrant relocations.
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| 2022-09-21T06:59:11Z
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CHICAGO (WGN) — Multiple people were hospitalized after a building explosion in Chicago on Tuesday morning.
First responders were on the scene at a three-story, 36-unit apartment building just before 9:30 a.m. in the South Austin neighborhood after a portion of the top floor collapsed. At least 10 ambulances were at the location.
The Chicago Fire Department said eight people were transported to the hospital. Officials said three people were in serious to critical condition. One person who was hospitalized was at the building across the street. Many residents were displaced.
“Our first concern is the health, well-being and safety of our residents,” Roman Viere, owner of the building, said in a statement. “We are doing everything we can to cooperate with emergency services, and we are ready to do whatever we can to support our residents.”
The building next door was evacuated, according to fire officials.
A woman who was near the building when the explosion happened said she thought it was a bomb that went off.
Several people who lived in the building said they were home when the explosion happened. They said the explosion rocked the entire building.
“I was asleep, and all of a sudden, there was a loud booming,” said resident Lawrence Lewis. “I woke up to my windows gone, my front door blown open. I just saw smoke, and I ran out of the house. I was asleep. I’m shook up right now.”
Some people who left not long before the explosion said they smelled something in the hallway.
People’s Gas said there is no reason to believe this was a gas explosion. The fire department reportedly told them there was no odor of gas or equipment issues.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot issued the following statement:
“I am closely monitoring the events and both the Chicago Fire Department and the Department of Buildings are onsite at the collapse. We will provide updates as the situation develops. My thoughts are with those who were injured and displaced in the building collapse in the Austin neighborhood. We must also thank the brave men and women of the Chicago Fire Department who are working to abate the dangerous conditions.”
The incident is under investigation. No further information was provided.
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| 2022-09-21T06:59:19Z
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CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A NASA lander on Mars has captured the vibrations and sounds of four meteoroids striking the planet’s surface.
Scientists reported Monday that Mars InSight detected seismic and acoustic waves from a series of impacts in 2020 and 2021. A satellite orbiting the red planet confirmed the impact locations, as far as 180 miles (290 kilometers) from the lander.
Scientists are delighted by the detections — a first for another planet.
The first confirmed meteoroid exploded into at least three pieces, each leaving its own crater. An 11-second audio snippet of this strike includes three “bloops,” as NASA calls them, one of sounding like metal flapping loudly in the wind here on Earth.
“After three years of InSight waiting to detect an impact, those craters looked beautiful,” Brown University’s Ingrid Daubar, a co-author of the research paper in the journal Nature Geoscience, said in a statement.
The InSight team expected to pick up numerous meteoroid strikes, given Mars’ proximity to the asteroid belt and the planet’s thin atmosphere, which tends to keep entering space rocks from burning up. But the lander’s French-built seismometer may have missed impacts because of interfering noise from the Martian wind or seasonal changes in the atmosphere. Now scientists know what to look for, according to NASA, likely resulting in a surge of detections.
“Impacts are the clocks of the solar system,” French lead author Raphael Garcia said in a statement from the Higher Institute of Aeronautics and Space in Toulouse. “We need to know the impact rate today to estimate the age of different surfaces.”
Launched in 2018, InSight has already detected more than 1,300 marsquakes. The largest measured a magnitude 5 earlier this year. By comparison, the marsquakes generated by the meteoroid impacts registered no more than a magnitude 2.
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| 2022-09-21T06:59:27Z
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(The Hill) – Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced on Monday that the chamber will vote later this week on proposed legislation to disclose super PAC donors.
“Today, I am announcing the Senate will vote this week to take up a measure critical to fighting the cancer of dark money in our elections: the DISCLOSE Act,” Schumer said in a statement, also thanking the legislation’s sponsor, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), for his efforts.
The DISCLOSE Act, introduced by Whitehouse earlier in April, will require super PACs and other dark money groups to report those who contribute $10,000 or more during and election season.
On Tuesday, President Biden endorsed the legislation.
“Dark money erodes public trust. We need to erode public trust and I’m determined to do that,” Biden said in remarks at the White House. “Dark money has become so common in our politics. I believe sunlight is the best disinfectant.”
Biden mentioned a recent $1.6 billion donation to a political advocacy group, which is the largest donation to such an entity in U.S. history, from a conservative activist who had worked to overturn Roe v. Wade. The donation was only discovered because of reporting from the New York Times.
“There’s much too much money that flows in the shadows to influence our elections. It’s called dark money. Its hidden. Right now, advocacy groups can run ads on issues attacking or supporting a candidate right until election day without disclosing who’s paying for that ad,” he said.
“When was the last time any of us heard voters say it’s better for billionaires and special interests to buy elections in secret, rather than be held accountable to the public?,” Schumer added. “Of course, they don’t think that! Unless they themselves are the ones cutting the multi-million dollar checks.”
Schumer noted that the legislation’s purpose is to make sure Americans know who is trying to influence elections, mentioning how a previous Supreme Court ruling lead to this motive.
“Their ruling has paved the way for billions in unlimited campaign contributions by Super PACs and other dark money groups over the last decade,” Schumer said. “Ordinary citizens, meanwhile, have had their voices drowned out by elites who have millions to spare for political donations.”
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| 2022-09-21T06:59:35Z
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GUILFORD COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP/NEXSTAR) – A good Samaritan helped rescue four abandoned puppies early Saturday morning after noticing a suitcase seemingly moving on its own on the side of a North Carolina highway, according to Guilford County Animal Services (GCAS).
A photo shows the four young dogs, all mostly black with small white patches, stuffed inside a blue suitcase. The piece of luggage, which was dumped along a road in Guilford County, was almost completely zipped up, except for one small section, according to the shelter.
Animal Services workers said the person who found the puppies was shocked and brought them to the shelter immediately.
“Shout out to all the Good Samaritans who take the time to help animals in need,” GCAS posted on Facebook Saturday.
A spokesperson for Guilford County Animal Services, Stephen Carlson, said that the puppies, all four of which are females, are doing fine.
However, the medical team says they are very under-socialized and will require foster-to-adopt homes with experienced caretakers before they can be put up for adoption.
“They will require lots of human interaction, affection and patience,” Carlson told Nexstar.
For now, the puppies – Tumi, Samsonite, Stowaway and Carion (carry-on) – are settling into a new environment, thanks to a good Samaritan’s decision to investigate a discarded suitcase.
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| 2022-09-21T06:59:41Z
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Trade flow volatility key driver for new offering aimed to mitigate food security challenges
BRUSSELS, Sept. 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Kpler, a fast-growing leader in technology-led data, analytics, and market insight, today announced the expansion of its offering to agricultural commodities.
Grains & Oilseeds Flows brings real-time visibility on 90% of the global seaborne trade across more than 17 food and feed commodities, including wheat, corn, barley, soybeans and soybean meal. The new data offering is aimed at analysts, traders, procurement managers and policy makers who need real-time data to support their market monitoring and trading decisions.
Recent supply disruptions, such as the war in Ukraine and global inflation, coupled with the need to track resilience of the food security supply chain are key drivers for these new Kpler Flows.
Since 2014, Kpler has pioneered the use of data technologies to bring real-time transparency on the commodity global supply chains, starting with seaborn flows. Blending hundreds of sources including satellite imagery, AIS and ground intelligence, Kpler Flows have become an industry-standard solution providing real-time data & analytics across dozens of commodities to the benefit of thousands of professionals.
Grains & Oilseeds Flows are the latest addition to Kpler Dry Bulk Flows (Coal, Iron Ore and Metals). Along with the recent launch of Biofuels and Chemicals, which include biodiesel and vegetable oils, Kpler strives to provide a one-stop solution to facilitate the understanding and forecasting of global supply and demand across the entire agricultural complex.
François Cazor, Kpler's CEO, said: "We have seen in recent years the commodity market convergence breaking down silos. The turmoil in energy markets is filtering through to food commodities, ramping up fertilizer prices and agricultural fuels to unprecedented levels. Simultaneously, supply chain dislocation coupled with a surge in protectionist measures have added another layer of uncertainty to global food security. In this context, we look forward to bringing essential data to stakeholders across the supply chain that help address vital challenges. This is part of Kpler's mission to facilitate efficient and sustainable trade."
Kpler Grains & Oilseeds Flows can be accessed from today (21 September) for users.
About Kpler:
Kpler is a fast-growing company on a mission to facilitate sustainable and efficient trade to meet the changing needs of our world. From numerous disparate and unstructured sources, Kpler creates technology-led data, analytics, and insight, that bring transparency to dynamic markets characterised by opaque and incomplete information, such as commodity and power markets. Kpler delivers its unique offering through technology solutions built in an agile and inventive way, enabling market professionals to make informed and timely trading decisions. Headquartered in Brussels, Kpler employs 250 people across the world. Visit: www.kpler.com
View original content:
SOURCE Kpler
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| 2022-09-21T06:59:42Z
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CHICAGO (NewsNation) — Interest rates have more than doubled over the past year, which has led to a slowdown in the housing market nationally.
A new report from real estate data company ATTOM Data Solutions highlighted a number of factors that make some metro areas more vulnerable to housing market declines in an economic downturn.
Its Special Housing Risk Report, for the second quarter of 2022, listed nearly 600 U.S. counties’ value decline, based on “home affordability, underwater mortgages, foreclosures and unemployment.”
The report showed that 33 of 50 counties most vulnerable to potential declines were located in New Jersey, Illinois and California.
Six counties around the Chicago metropolitan area, 13 throughout California, nine around New York City and three in the Philadelphia area are among the top 50 most vulnerable, according to the report.
Here are some of ATTOM’s most at-risk counties near metropolitan areas:
- Kings County, NY (Brooklyn)
- Richmond County, NY (Staten Island)
- Philadelphia County, PA (Philadelphia)
- Camden and Gloucester counties, NJ (Philadelphia)
- Cook, Kane, Kendall, McHenry, and Will counties, IL (Chicago)
- Lake County, IN (Chicago)
- Solano County, CA (Sacramento)
- Fresno, Kings and Madera counties, CA (Fresno)
- Kern County, CA (Bakersfield)
- San Bernardino County, CA (San Bernardino)
According to the report, in determining affordability, ATTOM looked at how much of the median household’s income would be required to buy a median-priced home in the market. The national average is 31.5%, but the data showed that in many of the riskiest markets, it was above 50%.
According to the data, 25 of the 50 counties least vulnerable were in the South, and another 14 were in the Midwest.
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| 2022-09-21T06:59:56Z
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(The Hill) – The judge assigned to review the documents seized from Mar-a-Lago pushed back against attorneys for Donald Trump on Tuesday as they dance around whether the former president ever declassified the documents in his home.
Trump’s attorneys rebuffed a request from Judge Raymond Dearie, one of Trump’s candidates chosen to serve as the special master in the case, in a Monday filing that sought more details about the former president’s claims around declassification.
In a Tuesday conference, Dearie appeared unsatisfied with the response, indicating that further explanation would be necessary only if criminal charges were filed.
He said if Trump’s lawyers will not actually assert that the records have been declassified and the Justice Department instead makes an acceptable case that they remain classified, then “as far as I’m concerned, that’s the end of it.”
James Trusty, a lawyer for Trump, said they were “not in a position” to say whether they were classified without first reviewing the documents, to which Dearie responded, “You did bring a lawsuit.”
Trump’s legal team has failed to assert in court that Trump declassified the documents even as it seeks to cast doubt on whether the documents are still classified.
“You can’t have your cake and eat it,” Dearie said.
Dearie also seemed to cast doubt on whether Trump’s legal team would be able to review all the classified documents, noting that some of the records are restricted to those with a need to know.
The Justice Department noted that some of its own investigators would not have sufficient clearances to review the documents, prompting Trusty to say it was “astounding” that the government would argue Trump’s legal team wouldn’t have a need to know.
The exchanges took place in the first conference between Dearie and both parties following a ruling from a Florida judge granting Trump’s request for a special master. The decision also blocks DOJ from accessing the documents, including the classified material, until Dearie’s review is completed as late as Nov. 30.
The Justice Department has appealed that decision, asking the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to grant a request that would allow them to begin reviewing just the 100 classified records taken during their Aug. 8 search of Mar-a-Lago.
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| 2022-09-21T07:00:04Z
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WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – An investigation into deaths in jails and prisons has lawmakers calling for more transparency and accountability.
Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., and Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., say in a new report that the Department of Justice failed to count and report the deaths of nearly 1,000 people in prisons and jails in 2021. They held a hearing on Tuesday to present their findings and hear from witnesses who have been impacted by those deaths.
Belinda Maley was one of the witnesses. She says her son Matthew died from heart problems after being in jail in Chatham County, Georgia.
“It’s the most painful thing I’ve ever had to endure and I don’t want anyone else to have to do that, to have to go through this,” Maley said.
Vanessa Fano shares that tragic connection with Maley, and also testified in front of lawmakers at the hearing. Her brother Jonathan died by suicide while he was in a Baton Rouge, Louisiana prison.
“People who are going into those prisons are coming out in caskets,” Fano said. “My brother needed support, needed medical aid, needed psychiatric care and he received none of those.”
Senators Johnson and Ossoff says the deaths are part of a problematic pattern of uncounted deaths.
“The American people deserve the truth here,” Johnson said.
Sen. Ossoff says the DOJ not accurately recording who is dying and how it’s happening makes it impossible to implement life-saving reforms.
“What the United States is allowing to happen on our watch in prisons, jails and detention centers nationwide is a moral disgrace,” Ossoff said.
While it’s too late for Jonathan and Matthew, their families want their stories to inspire change.
“Because your government is supposed to be watching for your best interests,” Maley said.
“Acknowledging that there are flaws and pushing for changes to occur so that those flaws don’t continue taking other lives,” Fano added.
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| 2022-09-21T07:00:10Z
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(NEXSTAR) – Nuclear security experts are sounding the alarm over China and Russia’s rising nuclear programs.
On Tuesday, at a Senate hearing, they warned the U.S. could be underprepared without new investments.
Experts are urging Congress to quickly address what they call growing threats from the two countries.
“The doomsday clock tool is now set to 100 seconds to midnight – in contrast, at the end of the Cold War, the clock setting was 17 minutes to midnight,” said Madelyn Creedon, research professor at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs.
The panel of experts warned senators that both China and Russia have dramatically increased their nuclear capabilities.
“The world is very different now,” said Franklin Miller, a foreign policy and nuclear security expert with The Scowcroft Group. Miller, who also served as a special assistant to former President George W. Bush, said that as Russia and China continue a more aggressive global strategy, the U.S. must proactively prepare for how to respond if those two countries unite.
“Our goal must be a secure and effective deterrent,” Miller said.
The experts emphasized that creating such a deterrent would require the U.S. to modernize its technology, recruit more talent and pursue updated treaties with both countries.
“It is urgently needed,” said Rose Gottemoeller, who served as deputy secretary general of NATO from 2016 to 2019. “Going forward I think we should be looking at all different instruments.”
Michigan Democratic Senator Gary Peters says he’s also concerned about what happens if China or Russia develop autonomous nuclear weapons.
“Because clearly, this is coming – this is not if, this is when,” Peters said. “If we go that route we have to make sure that we can respond.”
Oklahoma Republican Senator Jim Inhofe says a bipartisan group of lawmakers are working together right now to ensure the country’s defenses do not fall behind.
“It’s clear we are not prepared for this reality,” Inhofe said.
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| 2022-09-21T07:00:16Z
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AUSTIN (Nexstar) — A new report by PEN America reveals Texas has banned more books than any other state. PEN advocates for freedom of expression.
This news comes at the start of “Banned Books Week,” an annual campaign by the American Library Association and Amnesty International that celebrates the freedom to read.
Students at the Austin Independent School District’s Liberal Arts and Science Academy are making magnets during lunch to participate.
“This one just says, ‘read banned books, read banned books,'” freshman Tvisha Gurung said.
Gurung and her classmates are sticking together, taking a stand on their right to read all books.
“It’s really important that everyone gets to read what they want to have proper representation throughout,” junior Rebecca Scaramuzzi said.
According to PEN, almost 142 districts in 32 states banned more than 2,500 books in the 2021-22 school year.
Texas has banned 801 books in 22 districts, PEN says.
The PEN report shows most of the banned books involve themes surrounding the LGBTQ community or include prominent characters of color. Some other books banned include content that educates readers on issues of race and racism.
The Liberal Arts and Science Academy put out a note to its students, welcoming them to come educate themselves on their right to read during Banned Books Week.
“Banned Books Week is celebrated during the week of Sept. 19-24. This past year we have seen an escalating number of book challenges and outright bans across nearly every state, with a huge number happening in Texas. Educate yourself on your First Amendment rights and stop by the library that week for some related activities,” the note reads.
Librarian Elizabeth Switek is leading the efforts on her campus to encourage book inclusivity.
“Ultimately, they’re going to find a way to read what they would like to read,” Switek said.
Still, there are advocates like Fort Worth Rep. Matt Krause, who feel school just isn’t the place for some topics to be explored.
“I understand some schools, some districts may be celebrating Banned Books Week, but we need to make sure that only age-appropriate materials are in our kids’ schools,” Krause said. “I think that’s perfectly reasonable for parents to demand and expect that, and I think what you’re seeing is a lot of parents moving in that direction.”
Students at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy are hoping by celebrating all books, it might make a difference.
“We can only do so much, but what we do still matters,” freshman Haven Lee said. “As long as we’re making like a tiny difference, I think it counts.”
It’s worth pointing out PEN found nationwide, school administrators or board members made the overwhelming majority of the decisions to ban books. Sometimes they circumvented their own rules to do so.
Less than 4% of books banned followed challenge guidelines set by the American Library Association.
PEN also looked at the the impact of organized groups pushing for book bans. Its tracking shows at least 20% of book bans in the last school year came after direct actions by such groups.
They add there is evidence influence by these groups contributed to another 30% of the bans. PEN does track banned books nationwide.
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| 2022-09-21T07:00:22Z
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FRISCO, TX (SILVER STAR NATION) – Dallas Cowboys backup quarterback Cooper Rush drew plenty of praise from coaches, fans and the media this week after leading the team to a big win over the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday at AT&T Stadium.
Rush, who was forced to start the game after Dak Prescott underwent hand surgery last Monday, was strong out of the gate, moving the offense down the field for points.
In the second half, the offense was not as effective, but with strong defense and a great final drive, Rush managed to get the team in position for a last second field goal from Brett Maher.
Cowboys insider Mickey Spagnola says Rush is just what the team needs right now. He also talks about Dak’s timeline for returning to the team.
The Cowboys face the New York Giants on Monday Night Football at Met Life Stadium.
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| 2022-09-21T07:00:28Z
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BLANCHARD, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – A crash involving an 18-wheeler Tuesday night caused the closure of Hwy 173 in Blanchard.
The Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office is working to clear the scene near Alexander Ave. after the truck crashed into a SWEPCO pole just before 7:30 p.m. Officials say power lines are down, causing stoplights at the intersection to no longer work.
SWEPCO is reporting power outages across a large portion of West Blanchard.
Officers ask the public to be cautious and avoid the area. There is not currently an estimated time for repairs.
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| 2022-09-21T07:00:34Z
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Temperatures will continue to be well above normal for this time of year with near record highs possible Thursday. A cold front will move through the area Sunday night bringing a slight chance of rain and cooler temperatures. Could we see a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico next week?
Above-normal temperatures continue: Temperatures have been above normal for the past few days and we will likely see that trend continue. Upper-level high pressure that is centered near the ArkLaTex will allow the heat to intensify over the next few days. Lows Wednesday morning will once again be above normal as we fall into the lower 70s. Daytime highs Wednesday will be a little hotter as we top out in the upper 90s over most of the area. The hottest day of the week will likely be Thursday with highs in the upper 90s to near 100 degrees. The record high in Shreveport for Thursday’s date is 101 degrees.
The sunny days continue: Futurecast shows that we will see a clear sky over the ArkLaTex once again Tuesday night. Expect a mostly sunny sky Wednesday and a clear to partly cloudy sky once again Wednesday night. Thursday will also be another dry day under a partly to mostly sunny sky. We will likely see temperatures ease a little Friday and this weekend. Highs will fall into the middle 90s while lows stay mainly in the lower 70s.
Cold front brings relief: Fortunately, it appears that the upper ridge won’t stick around too long. A large upper-level trough will develop over the eastern third of the country by the end of the weekend. This will allow a decent cold front to race through the ArkLaTex late Sunday and Sunday night. The front will bring a chance of rain, but it likely won’t be much. Most models show that rainfall totals will be less than ¼”. Overnight temperatures behind the front will fall into the upper 50s to lower 60s. Daytime highs next week behind the front will be nearly ten degrees cooler in the middle 80s.
A gulf hurricane next week? While hurricane Fiona strengthens to a major hurricane and heads north well away from the US coast, a second disturbance will likely develop late this week and move into the Caribbean this weekend and early next week. Long-range models show that this system could become a hurricane and move into the Gulf of Mexico during the last half of next week. You can see one model’s outlook for next Wednesday evening below. While the majority track this system through the eastern gulf, there is obviously a great deal of uncertainty at this point. Stay tuned!
Get daily forecasts and exclusive severe weather details on storms as they approach your area by downloading the Arklatex Weather Authority app now available in the App Store and Google Play
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| 2022-09-21T07:00:40Z
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SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – We are headed into the final days of summer with very hot and humid weather expected through the weekend before comfortable air returns next week.
Highs in the mid-90s today: Temperatures will be in the low 70s at sunrise, warming into the low 90s by noon, with highs expected to reach the mid and upper 90s this afternoon. Highs in the mid-90s, and high humidity will bring a heat index or ‘feels like’ temperature of 100 to 104 degrees today. We are nearing the kind of summer heat that triggered heat advisories for much of July and August, but no heat advisory today. It will be a mostly sunny day with no wind to cool us off, as the breeze will be light and variable at less than 5 miles per hour.
Heat intensifies over the next 2 to 3 days: High pressure will continue to strengthen with the peak of this week’s heat arriving Wednesday and Thursday. High temperatures will be in the upper 90s to near 100 degrees approaching record highs. There will be lots of sun and no chance for any rain to cool us off through Saturday.
The next cold front arrives Sunday, comfortable pattern next week: We should cool a few degrees Friday, but it will remain uncomfortably hot and humid Friday through Sunday. Our next cold front will arrive late Sunday bringing a slight chance of rain and storms Sunday afternoon through early Monday.
This front will scoop up the heat and humidity and send it away from us. Dry and comfortable Fall air will return for much of next week with highs in the 80s and lows in the 50s and 60s.
Tropics heating up: In addition to Hurricane Fiona which is no threat to the United States, the National Hurricane Center is monitoring a wave moving into the Caribbean. This wave has a medium chance of development this week and will continue to drift west emerging near the Gulf Of Mexico next week. This will be something to monitor over the upcoming week.
Get exclusive severe weather details on storms as they approach your area by downloading the Arklatex Weather Authority app, now available in the App Store and Google Play
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| 2022-09-21T07:00:52Z
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Bugatti has been toying with the idea of a second model line for more than a decade, with the company even previewing a potential sedan in 2009 with the Galibier 16C concept.
Under the reign of former chief Stephan Winkelmann, Bugatti’s focus was centered on an SUV-like vehicle as the second model line, one powered by batteries.
However, things have taken a turn since Bugatti’s merger last fall with the hypercar division of electric vehicle technology company Rimac, which formed the new company Bugatti Rimac led by Rimac CEO and founder Mate Rimac.
In an interview with Autocar published on Tuesday, Achim Anscheidt, Bugatti’s design chief, said the brand is now concerned a more practical, higher-volume model could dilute the exclusivity of Bugatti.
“We always had an idea of what a second model line could be,” he said. “But then we were also [thinking] at one point, are you starting to sell out the brand?”
Anscheidt didn’t completely rule out the idea, however. He said if Bugatti were too launch a model with higher volumes, then it would require the hypercar line to become even more exclusive to ensure some balance between the two.
Winkelmann’s predecessor, Wolfgang Duerheimer, revealed in 2016 that four options were on the table for Bugatti’s second model line: a sedan, SUV, EV, and more attainable supercar. Given the trend toward SUVs, with even Ferrari launching one earlier in September in the form of the Purosangue—a high-riding Bugatti makes a lot of sense.
Bugatti has plenty of time to decide. Mate Rimac, in an interview with Automobilwoche (subscription required) published earlier in September, said there would be no Bugatti SUV or EV within the next 10 years. He has previously said Bugatti is focused on hybrid powertrains for its next chapter, though the current quad-turbo 8.0-liter W-16 engine first introduced with the Veyron won’t stick around. The final model to feature the engine is the Mistral roadster unveiled in August.
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- GAC’s Aion EV brand unveils 1,200-hp hypercar
- Select 2003-2020 Porsches recalled for missing headlight covers
- Ferrari Purosangue first with Multimatic’s new True Active spool valve dampers
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| 2022-09-21T07:10:02Z
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China’s GAC may have given up on its ambitions to enter the U.S., but the automaker is rapidly expanding elsewhere and in 2020 established the new brand Aion devoted to electric vehicles.
Aion currently operates exclusively in China, where last week it held a brand event that saw the reveal of an electric hypercar boasting 1,206 hp, or enough to deliver a 0-60 mph time of 1.9 seconds, according to the company’s claims.
The new hypercar is called the Aion Hyper SSR, and it’s slated to go on sale in China in late 2023 at a starting price of 1.286 million renminbi (approximately $172,500). That’s for a standard model with rear-wheel drive.
Full performance is unlocked by upgrading to the Hyper SSR Ultimate which is priced at 1.688 million renminbi ($240,650) and adds all-wheel drive.
Aion is short on details but describes the Hyper SSR as featuring carbon-fiber construction, a 2-speed transmission, and silicon carbide chips, a technology that helps boost range and reduce charge times for EVs.
Related Articles
- Mullen Five RS coming with Tesla Plaid performance
- Bugatti cautious on more practical vehicle for second model line
- Modern Delage to offer open-top version of D12 hypercar
- Lamborghini Huracán successor to downsize to turbo V-8?
- Le Mans Hypercar-derived Vanwall Vandervell 1000 starts testing
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| 2022-09-21T07:10:09Z
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For half a decade, friends and colleagues have said the Goodwood Revival in the U.K. is the single greatest automotive event of the year.
They are right, and it pains me to admit when Motor Authority Editorial Director Marty Padgett and Senior Editor Kirk Bell are correct.
Over the weekend I attended the 2022 Goodwood Revival. The best way to sum up Revival would be to call it the best cosplay party and racing crossover event imaginable. It’s where the classics congregate and celebrate—and sometimes, where they even collide.
Nearly canceled
This year, Goodwood’s organizers nearly shut it down at the 11th hour, when, on Thursday, Sept. 8, Queen Elizabeth II died. Her funeral would take place on Monday, Sept. 19; had it taken place on Sunday, Sept. 18, the Revival would have been canceled—as would be proper, as the whole country mourned its sovereign.
Goodwood’s director of sponsorship Mark Featherstone told MA that emergency meetings were held to determine whether it was appropriate to go forward with Revival. It was decided that the event would go forward as the Queen’s viewpoint on life was to maintain normalcy during a time of crisis, and she loved both Goodwood and the racing (both horse and automotive) that took place there.
Each day there was a short speech and then a video montage highlighting the Queen’s involvement at Goodwood, both in terms of motor racing and horse racing. Afterwards a moment of silence began and ended with a cannon firing. All flags were flown at half mast, and most European attendees wore a black arm band as a sign of mourning. One of the military displays also featured a memorial for Her Majesty.
Fit for all ages
From infants and kids to adults and grandparents, Revival is a family event fit for all ages. Extra points for the families with the period-correct strollers.
There were two pedal-car races both Saturday and Sunday morning for kids up to the age of 10. The (shortened) circuit even included a chicane. These kids have their own paddock within the paddock for their cars, mechanics, and crew members.
Witnessing the children obsess over their cars, including one that was insistent on cleaning their car before the race to ensure it shined, much to the chagrin of his mother (I see and understand you, young lad), was heartwarming for this neurotic dad.
Some parents were there dressed to the nines while others were racing later in the day and wore their race suits, but all were there supporting their young racers.
Dress to impress
Period-correct dress is “encouraged,” but it’s nearly a requirement. Those in t-shirts and jeans stood out like a sore thumb.
Nearly everyone wore clothes that would place them in the ‘40s, ‘50s, and ‘60s (some pushed into the ‘70s bordering on disco, but we’ll just call them forward thinkers).
From Navy sailor outfits and mechanics’ jumpsuits to three-piece wool suits (hi, it’s me, and yes, it was rather warm in that suit), it’s fun to play dress up and immerse yourself in the moment.
That paddock
Seeing mechanics in grease-covered coveralls wearing a tie or ascot while wrenching on multi-million dollar Ferraris and Maseratis is just a normal thing at the Goodwood Revival.
An ascot or tie are technically required to enter the paddock, though I did see that rule was only loosely enforced.
A lineup of ERAs, classic Maseratis, Ferraris, Lotuses, and Cobras filled the paddock. But there was a sole Bugatti, a 1945 Type 37C, and I was told it refused to start on Saturday.
A 1952 BRM Type 15 Mk1 Chassis IV sat quietly in the paddock, but it was anything but quiet on the track. Powered by a 1.5-liter V-16 engine that put out over 450 hp and spun to over 12,000 rpm, the BRM was a screamer. When it worked. It didn’t complete the Goodwood Trophy race in which it competed on Saturday.
This is all before even addressing the white with a red hardtop 1963 Jaguar E-Type Lightweight, at least that’s what it looked like and claimed to be. Perhaps the most controversial car at Revival this year, impressions from those who saw it up close in the paddock ranged from, “that seems to have an awful lot in common with an AMG GT” to “this might have more in common with an F1 race car than it does an E-Type.” No one seemed to truly know what the entire running gear was, but figures like $20,000 per corner per shock were thrown around in discussion over drinks.
The parking lot
On Saturday people kept asking me, “Have you been to the parking lot?”
As a first timer, it was a confusing question. Why would I go to the parking lot instead of hanging in the paddock or watching the race? On Sunday, I learned why.
The parking lot itself is a car show. From a dirty, water-spot-covered black Mercedes-Benz 300SL and Aston Martin DB2, or Jaguar E-Types, Aston Martin Superleggeras, and Ferrari Dinos, the grass-covered lot you enter via a gravel road was chock full of rare, expensive, and eclectic metal.
People milled about the parking lot as if it were indeed a car show. Two gentlemen sat on the rear of a Bentley while sipping champagne while another group of friends held a picnic out of the rear of a Jaguar E-Type coupe.
Let’s go racing
There are few events that have 1934 ERA A-Type R3As racing around a track at 125 mph one moment and a 1963 Ford Galaxie pushing probably over 600 hp screaming around the track the next. Revival does.
The former was driven to victory by MA friend and Volkswagen of America spokesperson Mark Gilles during the Goodwood Trophy race on Saturday. The latter was driven to victory on Saturday during the St. Mary’s Trophy Part I race with NASCAR super star Jimmie Johnson behind the wheel.
Witnessing the massive, heavy, white Ford–which we believe had a worked-over 427–gap everything else on the track as it thundered down the straight was a sight to see. It was Jimmie’s first time racing at Revival.
But he participated in a number of races, including what might’ve been the most exciting race, the hour-long Royal Automobile Club TT Celebration.
Jenson Button started the hour-long race behind the wheel of the controversial white 1963 Jaguar E-Type Lightweight. From the moment it hit the track it expanded its gap ahead of the pack of AC Cobras, Jaguars, and Corvettes until it started lapping the cars at the back of the pack.
Until about lap 20 when driver changes began it almost appeared like an unfair race and the modified E-Type was going to walk away with the trophy without even trying.
Then disaster struck.
After Harrison Newey swapped into the driver’s seat–yes, son of F1 racing legend Adrian Newey–the white E-Type pulled to the side of the track onto the grass just past pit lane with smoke coming from under its hood. Featherstone told MA Button had gone too hard during the first half of the race, which “ended up cooking the car.” Perhaps that’s better than if it had collided with another car—which happens often at the Revival, and usually ends only in a polite ¯_(ã)_/¯ from the owner as they mull over afternoon-tea options, without a worry about the car’s eventual repair.
Driver’s lounge
The one part of the show that almost no one has access to is the custom-built driver’s lounge. Situated to the side of the airfield and manned by two guards at the gate that ensure no one gets in that shouldn’t be there, it’s built as a getaway oasis for the drivers.
Featherstone noted the drivers get mobbed when they are out and about around the grounds. The crew builds this makeshift building out of balsa wood walls and it all comes down after the event. “It’s like a mirage,” Featherstone said. “Smoke and mirrors.”
Driver’s get access to the lounge and are each given four passes to give to friends and loved ones.
Each year the lounge exterior is given a theme. Featherstone said this year’s theme was Egypt, and specifically, King Tut’s tomb as a not entirely apologetic acknowledgement of Britain’s colonial plundering in Egypt.
Inside there are leather couches, time sheets and standings, food, cots to lay on, and this year the 24 Hours of Le Mans trophy, which Featherstone said was no easy feat to make happen.
Jimmie Johnson spoke with us in the lounge and said friends have been trying to get him to race at Revival for years, but the timing simply never lined up. Having raced in multiple events over the weekend the driver noted Revival is indeed unlike anything else. He’ll be back.
The future
While the entire event is a throwback in time, Featherstone said it’s hard to ignore the future.
There won’t be modern electric cars or supercars racing at Revival (that’s what Festival of Speed is for, right?), but the team found a way to integrate what’s going on in modern times into the event.
Inside the Sky Cinema building adjacent to Earls Court Studios is Earls Court Motor Show.
Featherstone told MA the team’s incorporating the future by relating it to the past.
Automakers set up a handful of booths that pair their original model next to their latest model. BMW had a first-generation 7-Series parked in front of the new i7, Range Rover placed a first-gen SUV adjacent to the latest model, Mini had their original and latest, and Aston Martin had a DBX and Valhalla along with a classic DB model.
There were also new cars that had no past to look back at including the Polestar Precept concept, which previews the Polestar 5. The electric Deus Vayanna was also on display along with an electric Mustang from the startup Charge. Pininfarina and Porsche were displaying their wares as well.
Everything else
From a small carnival complete with a ferris wheel and carousel to vendors, a hair salon, an airfield full of classic airplanes, and live music with a dance floor, there is an activity and entertainment for everyone.
Racing is only part of the fun.
Experiencing is believing
I had been told about Revival, seen the Revival online and on social media, and via TV. I’d written about Revival and talked about Revival.
But nothing can come close to actually experiencing the event itself. From the smell of the classic rubber and methanol to the ground shaking as the engines rumble by, Revival must be attended to fully grasp.
I’d recommend putting it on your bucket list and start planning today. Dress tastefully and just embrace its cosplay. You won’t be judged—well, only if you’re not dressed in something retro.
Subaru paid for travel and lodging for Motor Authority to sweat in a three-piece wool suit to bring you this firsthand report.
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| 2022-09-21T07:10:17Z
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Lamborghini is set to compete at the top level of endurance racing by 2024, with an entry in the premier classes of the IMSA SportsCar Championship and FIA World Endurance Championship—GTP and Hypercar, respectively.
Both classes are open to new LMDh race cars as well as those built to existing LMH rules, and the former is Lamborghini’s weapon of choice. Following an initial tease in May, Lamborghini on Monday released a new teaser for its LMDh race car and confirmed the first specs.
Lamborghini’s LMDh will run a V-8 hybrid powertrain, with the V-8 to be a new twin-turbo unit developed by the automaker’s Squadra Corse racing arm, though one thought to be related to the twin-turbo 4.0-liter V-8 fitted in Lamborghini’s Urus SUV. The hybrid component will be a single motor-generator integrated with a 7-speed transmission.
In line with LMDh regulations, the powertrain can generate at any time a maximum output of around 670 hp from both power sources. Other specs include a top speed of 211 mph and a minimum weight of 2,270 lb without the fuel and driver.
To ensure even competition between the LMDh and LMH cars, the organizers have decided to implement Balance of Performance rules. But unlike LMH, which requires bespoke entries, LMDh has been developed with a view of keeping a lid on costs, so teams need to use a spec chassis similar to a current LMP2 chassis, sourced from one of four suppliers: Dallara, Ligier, Multimatic, and Oreca.
Lamborghini has chosen a chassis from Ligier, due to the design’s flexibility, the automaker said. Fellow Volkswagen Group brand Porsche is developing its own LMDh race car due to start racing in 2023, and has chosen Multimatic as its chassis supplier.
Lamborghini in July also named Andrea Caldarelli and Mirko Bortolotti as its first two drivers for the LMDh program.
The first race for Lamborghini’s LMDh will likely be the 2024 24 Hours of Daytona, the race that serves as the opening round of the SportsCar Championship.
Acura, Alpine, BMW, and Cadillac are also committed to LMDh, while ByKolles, Ferrari, Glickenhaus, Peugeot, and Toyota are all committed to LMH. Audi was also set to join LMDh in 2023 but in August announced it had canceled the effort to focus resources on a planned Formula 1 entry in 2026.
News of the V-8 hybrid powertrain comes just as rumors surface that Lamborghini is planning a twin-turbo V-8 in hybrid configuration for its HuracaÌn successor due by the end of 2024. Such a powertrain is also expected to feature in the Urus.
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| 2022-09-21T07:10:24Z
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Fresh from its acquisition of Bollinger earlier in September, fellow U.S. electric vehicle startup Mullen last week announced plans for a version of its upcoming Five crossover with performance to rival Plaid versions of Tesla’s Model S and Model X.
First shown at the 2021 Los Angeles Auto Show, the Mullen Five is a small crossover designed to go up against the Tesla Model Y and Volkswagen ID.4. However, Mullen is developing a Five RS flagship that will boast over 1,000 hp, or enough for 0-60 mph acceleration in 1.9 seconds, placing it in a similar league to Tesla’s Plaid models, as well as Rimac’s Nevera hypercar.
The Five RS is slated for a reveal next spring. Other confirmed specs include a top speed of over 200 mph, made possible by a 2-speed transmission, as well as an 800-volt electrical system, which should enable rapid charge times when using a DC fast charger.
“From the inception of Mullen, it has been my mission to bring an ultra-high-performance EV to market,” David Michery, Mullen’s chairman and CEO, said in a statement. “The Five RS is intended to be one of the fastest vehicles on the planet, competing with some of the best and most well-known and regarded automotive marques.”
Mullen plans to build the Five crossover at a plant in Tunica, Mississippi. The standard version will start at about $55,000 and come with a range of 325 miles and enough horsepower for 0-60 acceleration in 3.2 seconds and a top speed of 155 mph. The company has previously pointed to 2024 for the start of deliveries.
Mullen has also previously shown a sports car called the Dragonfly K50, though timing for this model is unclear.
With its recent acquisition of Bollinger, Mullen plans to launch electric commercial trucks under the Bollinger brand. It will also revive plans for Bollinger’s B1 and B2 electric SUV and pickup truck.
Mullen will present the Five and new Five RS during a promotional tour across the U.S., known as the Strikingly Different tour. Details of the tour will be announced at a later date but Mullen has confirmed it will have an IndyCar racing driver on hand to showcase the performance of the Five RS and offer rides to the public.
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| 2022-09-21T07:10:39Z
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BMW’s X7 was updated for 2023 and on Tuesday the automaker showed off the high-performance version developed by Alpina, the BMW Alpina XB7.
Alpina has been making BMWs go faster for more than 50 years, and has generally operated as a semi-official tuner. However, BMW made the partnership official in March by buying the rights to the Alpina brand. Starting from 2025, Alpina vehicles will be built by BMW at its own plants. Alpina’s own operations will focus on vehicle development, as well as servicing, plus parts and accessories. The move will enable BMW to substantially increase the number of Alpinas built annually from the current rate of only a few thousand vehicles per year.
The updated X7 reaches dealerships this fall and the updated XB7 will follow early next year, also as a 2023 model. Order books for the XB7 are already open and the starting price is confirmed at $145,995, including a $995 destination charge.
Like the regular X7, the updated XB7 sports a new look with split headlights, an illuminated grille, a front end with pronounced air intakes, and an Alpina-specific look at the rear. Alpina also has separate wheel designs for the updated XB7. There are two standard designs, both measuring 21 inches in diameter, as well as a 23-inch option with Alpina’s signature 20-spoke design. Buyers can choose between summer performance tires or all-season run flats.
The big news concerning the updated XB7 is the new powertrain. It consists of a newly developed twin-turbo 4.4-liter V-8 mated to a mild-hybrid system. The same engine is found in the X7 but Alpina’s version sports an Alpina-specific engine management system and upgrades to various cooling systems, including the intercooler for the turbocharging system.
The V-8 alone delivers a peak 630 hp and 590 lb-ft of torque, and the 48-volt mild-hybrid system can add a temporary boost during high-load situations. Alpina quotes a 0-60 mph time of 3.9 seconds, a quarter-mile ET of 12.4 seconds, and a top speed of 180 mph.
The engine is mated to the same 8-speed automatic transmission used in the X7, albeit with upgrades designed to cope with the extra torque while also providing quicker shifts. Drive is to all four wheels, and a limited-slip differential at the rear axle further helps to improve handling at the limit. All-wheel steering, active roll stabilization, and an air suspension with Alpina-specific damper tuning are standard. Stopping power comes from 4-piston Brembos, with 15.5-inch rotors up front and 15.7-inch rotors in back.
Alpina also adds its own touches in the cabin, like a new steering wheel and distinctive seat trim. The updated X7 on which this BX7 is based has benefited from a major step up in luxury over the previous X7, including a new design for the center console, as well as the addition of a floating screen for the instrument cluster and infotainment hub, with unique graphics added in the Alpina.
The vehicle runs the latest version of BMW’s iDrive infotainment system and also includes the latest in BMW electronic driver-assist features. One of these is Maneuver Assistant, a feature that can record GPS data and steering inputs for tricky maneuvers, like a tight parking garage at work or a narrow driveway at home, and then execute them automatically. Up to ten maneuvers can be stored.
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| 2022-09-21T07:10:47Z
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Chevrolet won’t follow sibling General Motors brands Buick and Cadillac in offering buyouts to dealerships that don’t want to sell electric vehicles, a GM executive said in a recent interview with The Verge.
In fact, the dealerships that take buyouts for their Buick and Cadillac franchises could end up selling Chevys exclusively, GM global vice president Scott Bell said in the interview.
“The minute they pull back and say, ‘You know what, I’m not ready to go all-in for those brands,’ they’re now 100% a Chevy dealer, which is a good thing for Chevrolet,” Bell said.
Because while Buick and Cadillac are slated to go all-electric by the end of the decade, and GM has said it “aspires” to eliminate tailpipes from its light-duty vehicles by 2035, the automaker hasn’t set a firm date for Chevy to stop selling internal-combustion vehicles.
Buick’s boss recently said the brand would offer buyouts to all of the brand’s roughly 2,000 franchised dealers if they didn’t want to go all-in on EVs. This follows a similar offer of buyouts from Cadillac.
Selling EVs often comes with mandates for additional investments in charging equipment. Cadillac has required a big investment from dealers, including 80-amp chargers, estimated to cost up to $200,000 per dealership.
While increased investment could be a turn-off, it’s worth noting that many GMC dealers made some investments to sell the Hummer EV. And dealers representing 95% of Chevy’s sales are already selling the Bolt EV, Bell told The Verge.
In addition to dealership costs, increased EV sales also beg the question of whether automakers should switch from the franchise model to the direct-sales model demonstrated by Tesla, Rivian, and Lucid. Ford has tried to bridge the gap by retaining franchised dealers for its Model E division, but with new contracts that will require non-negotiable pricing for EVs.
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| 2022-09-21T07:10:54Z
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Volkswagen unveiled an ID.Buzz paramedics’ van at the 2022 IAA Transportation commercial vehicle show in Hannover, Germany, showing the upfit potential of the new electric van for government fleets and businesses.
VW didn’t offer much detail on the ID.Buzz emergency vehicle, only noting that it was built in collaboration with German upfitter Bösenberg. Other ID.Buzz derivatives are also slated to debut at the IAA Transportation show, VW said in a press release.
While it sports retro styling inspired by the classic VW Microbus and shares the MEB platform with passenger cars like the ID.4, the ID.Buzz is a product of the automaker’s commercial-vehicle division. So it’s possible the electric van will actually see service with paramedics—and in other fleet applications—as production ramps up.
We recently drove European-spec versions and found the short-wheelbase version and the ID.Buzz Cargo quite charming to drive. However, the U.S. version won’t arrive until 2024, and it will have a different configuration to the European models shown thus far.
Initial production versions slated for Europe include the ID.Buzz Cargo and a five-seat passenger version. America will get a longer-wheelbase version of the van with three rows of seating, scheduled to be shown for the first time in 2023.
While the commercial future for VW’s electric vans may remain unspecified for the U.S., upfits are big business. And as vans go electric, Ford is looking to capture a large piece of this business with its E-Transit van. The E-Transit is based on the existing internal-combustion Transit, and Ford carried over mounting points that are familiar to companies already upfitting Transits to make working on the electric version even easier.
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| 2022-09-21T07:11:02Z
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LONDON (AP) — At least 250,000 people joined the huge line to see Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin lying in state for four days in London’s Westminster Hall at Parliament, an official said Tuesday.
The figure was released a day after Britain ended 10 days of national mourning for the late monarch, who died on Sept. 8 in Scotland at age 96 after 70 years on the throne. On Monday, hundreds of world leaders and dignitaries attended her state funeral at Westminster Abbey, and huge crowds thronged the streets of London and Windsor to witness history and bid a final farewell to their queen before she was laid to rest in Windsor.
Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan said officials were still “crunching the numbers,” but estimated that about a quarter-million people joined the longest queue most have ever seen for a chance to file past the queen’s coffin from Sept. 14 until shortly before her state funeral on Monday.
Many in the queue waited for up to 13 hours, braving the autumnal chill and spending entire nights shuffling for miles along the River Thames to pay their respects. The London Ambulance Service said staff and volunteers cared for around 2,000 people who lined up, and took 240 in for hospital treatment.
The queen was interred late Monday alongside her late husband Prince Philip and her parents in Windsor Castle’s St. George’s Chapel, a gothic church steeped in royal history for centuries. Elizabeth’s parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, known as the Queen Mother in later years, were interred there, as were the ashes of Elizabeth’s sister Princess Margaret.
Outside Windsor Castle on Tuesday, cleaners were busy clearing up and international news crews were taking down their equipment a day after thousands packed the streets to watch the military procession escort the queen’s coffin from London to Windsor.
“The nation certainly has come together. As for the crowd yesterday, it was unbelievable, really,” said Marion Brettle, 73. “I think the whole nation stopped, and thought, and listened, and watched.”
More than 26 million people in the U.K. watched the queen’s funeral service on television, provisional figures show, making the event one of the country’s biggest-ever TV audiences. That compares to about 32.1 million viewers who watched Princess Diana’s funeral in 1997.
The royal family were observing another week of mourning and aren’t expected to carry out official engagements. British media including Sky News reported that King Charles III and his wife Camilla, the queen consort, flew to Scotland on Tuesday to grieve privately.
Flags on British government buildings returned to flying at full-staff Tuesday, but those at royal residences will remain at half-staff until after the final day of royal mourning.
___
Follow all AP stories on the death of Queen Elizabeth II and the U.K. monarchy at https://apnews.com/hub/queen-elizabeth-ii
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| 2022-09-21T07:11:09Z
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HELSINKI (AP) — Hollywood’s Brad Pitt and Australian musician Nick Cave have debuted as artists in an exhibition in Finland that displays sculptures and ceramics created by the movie star and the singer-songwriter.
The Sara Hilden Art Museum, located in the southern Finnish city of Tampere, was initially scheduled to exhibit solely the wide variety of works by British artist Thomas Houseago — known for his sculptures — but he reportedly persuaded the museum include works by his friends Pitt and Cave.
“Cave and Pitt are already renowned in their respective fields of music and cinema, but this is the first time ever they have exhibited their artwork — pieces which were created during the course of an ongoing dialogue with Houseago,” the Finnish museum said.
Pitt and Cave traveled to Tampere, a university city known for its vibrant culture and music scene, for a pre-opening event on Saturday. Finnish media reported that both men acknowledged being excited and nervous about presenting their art in public for the first time.
Among the nine works on show by the 58-year-old Pitt is a house-shaped structure molded in clear silicon and shot with bullets and a plaster panel depicting a shooting scene. Pitt reportedly began making ceramic art following his divorce from Angelina Jolie in 2017.
Pitt told the Finnish public broadcaster YLE that his work was about “self-reflection.”
“It’s about, you know, where have I gotten it wrong in my relationships? Where have I misstepped? Where I am complicit?” he said.
“It was borne out of ownership of really what I call a radical inventory of self, getting really, brutally honest with me and … taking account of those I may have hurt and moments I’ve just gotten wrong,” the American Oscar-winning actor and film producer told YLE.
Cave, known for his dark baritone voice as the front man for his band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, produced a series of ceramic figurines that depict the life of the devil. He designed, painted and glazed the 17 figures between 2020 and this year.
“I wanted to do a devil because it was red. And I like the color of red glaze,” Cave told YLE. “Eventually I decided to make the life story of the devil itself.”
“For me, personally, it speaks into something about the idea of forgiveness or the need to be forgiven. It’s a very personal work for me.”
The exhibition opened Sunday and runs through Jan. 15, 2023.
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| 2022-09-21T07:11:15Z
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NEW YORK (AP) — Former FBI Director James Comey is on a career path both new and familiar — crime fiction.
Comey has a deal to write two novels for The Mysterious Press, an imprint of Penzler Publishers. The first is called “Central Park West,” and it features an assistant U.S. Attorney looking into ties between the Mafia and the murder of a local politician. The book is scheduled for next spring.
“I’m excited to take readers inside fascinating worlds I’ve come to know from my time in government and the private sector,” Comey, who served an assistant U.S. Attorney from 1996-2001, said in a statement. “These stories are fiction, but, inspired by real work I’ve done, they will offer a rarely-seen view of interesting people and institutions.”
Comey is best known for his brief time as FBI director, from 2013-2017, that ended when he was fired by President Donald Trump amid the bureau’s probe into allegations of ties between Russian officials and Trump’s presidential campaign. Comey wrote about his career in the best-selling memoir “A Higher Loyalty.”
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| 2022-09-21T07:11:21Z
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NEW YORK (AP) — After a year spent off-air, the Golden Globe Awards are returning to NBC in January, as the embattled Hollywood Foreign Press Association seeks a primetime comeback after more than a year of turmoil.
NBC, the Hollywood Press Association and dick clark productions on Tuesday made the Globes’ return official. The 80th Golden Globes will be held January 10, airing both on NBC and Peacock.
For the past year and half, Hollywood has effectively boycotted the Globes, for years one of the most-watched award shows after the Academy Awards. But after the Los Angeles Times reported ahead of the 2021 broadcast that the HFPA’s 87 members of non-American journalists included no Black members, studios, publicists and stars said they would cease participating in the Globes. Tom Cruise returned his three Golden Globe awards.
Since then, the HFPA has reorganized itself, revamped its membership and enacted reforms designed to curtail the kinds of unethical behavior the group has long been criticized for. The HFPA added new members, including six Black voting members, and recently added 103 international, nonmember voters. The HFPA on Tuesday said their voting body is now 52% female, 19.5% Latino, 12% Asian, 10% Black and 10% Middle Eastern.
“We recognize the HFPA’s commitment to ongoing change and look forward to welcoming back the Golden Globes to NBC for its landmark 80th Anniversary in January 2023,” said Frances Berwick, chairman of entertainment networks for NBCUniversal.
NBC had reason to want to get the Globes back on the air. In 2018, the network signed an eight-year deal to continue airing the awards through 2026. Citing the HFPA’s ongoing reforms, NBC elected not to televise the previous Golden Globes in January. The organization went ahead announcing awards, anyway, in an untelevised and little-noticed gathering unattended by nominees.
This year’s ceremony, the organizations said, will be broadcast in a one-year agreement. Terms were unavailable but the deal is expected to be less than the approximately $60 million the network previously paid annually to air the Globes. With backlash swirling and the ceremony scaled down because of the pandemic, the 2021 Globes were watched by 6.9 million people, according to Nielsen, down from more than 18 million the year before.
Whether NBC’s endorsement will be enough to return the Globes to Hollywood’s good graces, however, remains to be seen. Would Cruise and “Top Gun: Maverick” want anything to do with the Globes? Or how about Brendan Fraser, a major best actor contender this year for his performance in “The Whale,” who said the HFPA dismissed his allegation of groping by then HFPA president Philip Berk at a luncheon in 2003 as a “joke.”
But the Globes have long played a vital role in Hollywood’s awards season as a bridge between the rush of December releases and the Oscars, this year to be held March 13 — long after the contenders have debuted. For studios, the Globes are an important marketing opportunity that may not directly influence the Academy Awards but can impact box office. Nominations to the Globes will be announced Dec. 12.
The HFPA is currently being run by interim Chief Executive Todd Boehly, whose investment firm, Eldridge Industries, bought the Globes and turned it from a nonprofit into a for-profit venture. Boehly’s firm is also the parent company of dick clark productions, the awards’ producer, and an owner of the Globes’ longtime home, the Beverly Hilton.
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Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP
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| 2022-09-21T07:11:27Z
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jimmy Kimmel celebrated his 20th anniversary as ABC’s late-night host early, signing a three-year contract extension for “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
“After two decades at ABC, I am now looking forward to three years of what they call ‘quiet quitting,’” Kimmel quipped in a statement Tuesday.
His show debuted in January 2003, and the new deal means he will remain with it into the 2025-26 season — giving him a generous window to make comedic hay out of politicians, who are favorite monologue targets, and the 2024 presidential election.
Among network late-night hosts, Kimmel, CBS’ Stephen Colbert and James Corden and NBC’s Seth Meyers wade regularly into political humor, with Kimmel amping up the focus during the Donald Trump years inside and outside of the White House.
Kimmel’s decision contrasts with changes in late-night programming. Conan O’Brien wrapped his show in 2021, Corden announced that he’s leaving “The Late Late Show” next year for other opportunities, and TBS said that “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee” was ending after seven seasons.
Besides his late-night job, Kimmel has become a mainstay as an awards hosts — including for 2017 Oscars when he tried to smooth over the best picture envelopw mix-up that led presenters Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway to wrongly announce “La La Land” as the winner over “Moonlight.”
The three-time Emmys host had a misstep of his own at the Sept. 12 TV awards ceremony, during the presentation of the comedy series writing trophy to Quinta Brunson, creator-star of ABC’s comedy “Abbott Elementary.”
A pretend-drunk Kimmel had been dragged on stage by co-presenter Will Arnett, who announced Brunson’s award, and Kimmel remained flat on his back during her acceptance speech. He was roasted online as thoughtless by some and cited as an example of white-male arrogance by others, and offered an on-air apology to Brunson two days later on his show.
“The last thing I would ever want to do is upset you, because I think so much of you. I think you know that. I hope you know that,” he told her, with Brunson replying, “It’s very kind of you to say that.”
Kimmel also hosts and, with Norman Lear, is executive producer of ABC’s specials “Live in Front of a Studio Audience,” which revisit episodes of classic Lear sitcoms including “All in the Family.” Kimmel also is the creator of the game show, “Generation Gap,” hosted by Kelly Ripa.
He’ll be taking his late-night show, nominated 12 consecutive times for best variety-talk series, to Brooklyn for a week this month. Kimmel, whose long-time sidekick is Guillermo Rodriguez, is known for comedy bits including “I Told My Kids I Ate All Their Halloween Candy,” which are seen on the show and on the YouTube channel that has extended his audience.
Craig Erwich, president of ABC Entertainment, said in a statement that Kimmel has not only entertained viewers with his irreverent humor and interviews but also “gotten us through some of the most momentous events in our history with optimism and heart.”
The host has shared moving details about his young son’s medical issue and called for health care reforms.
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| 2022-09-21T07:11:33Z
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Detectives have handed the results of their 19-month investigation into sexual assault allegations against Marilyn Manson to prosecutors, who said Tuesday they need more evidence gathered before they can consider criminal charges.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement that on Monday their investigators handed off the case, which involves sex assault and domestic violence allegations dating from 2009 to 2011 against the 53-year-old rocker, to the District Attorney’s Office.
The office called the case it received “partial.”
“Once we receive everything, experienced prosecutors will carefully and deliberatively review everything that has been submitted prior to making a filing decision,” the office said in a statement. “This review will take some time but rest assured our office takes these allegations very seriously.”
Representatives for Manson, whose legal name is Brian Hugh Warner, did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but his attorney has called the allegations “provably false.”
The investigation included a November search of Manson’s home in West Hollywood, where media devices and other items were seized.
Authorities have not identified the women involved, but several have publicly alleged that they were physically, sexually and emotionally abused by Manson around the time of the incidents under investigation, and some have filed civil lawsuits.
They include “Game of Thrones” actor Esmé Bianco, whose attorney said she also gave interviews to law enforcement.
Manson is himself suing his former fiancée, “Westworld” actor Evan Rachel Wood, whose February 2021 Instagram post alleging he had “horrifically abused me for years” set off the wave of public allegations against him.
The suit calls her assault allegations fabricated, and said she and another woman used false pretenses including a phony letter from the FBI to convince other women to come forward.
Wood’s attorneys said in court documents that the suit is meritless, and an example of the retaliation Manson long threatened Wood with if she spoke out about his abuse.
Manson emerged as a musical star in the mid-1990s, known as much for courting public controversy as for hit songs like “The Beautiful People” and hit albums like 1996’s “Antichrist Superstar” and 1998’s “Mechanical Animals.”
The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they have come forward publicly as Bianco and Wood have.
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Follow AP Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton on Twitter: https://twitter.com/andyjamesdalton
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| 2022-09-21T07:11:40Z
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NEW ORLEANS (AP) — New Orleans will be the site of the 71st Miss Universe contest, bringing together nearly 90 women contestants from around the world in January, the Miss Universe Organization said.
“The City of New Orleans and the Miss Universe Organization share common values of celebrating inclusion, culture and the empowerment of women,” New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said Monday.
She noted in a news release that former contestants and winners have gone on to become surgeons, diplomats, politicians and business leaders, adding “they all champion social causes that are important to them.”
The competition will be aired on Jan. 14, 2023 — a Saturday — at the city’s convention center, according to the statement. The live broadcast will culminate with the 70th Miss Universe — Bollywood actress Harnaaz Sandhu of India — crowning the winner.
“There is no place like New Orleans. This vibrant city has been at the top of our list to host for quite some time due to its rich cultural history, as well as its unique arts, entertainment, and culinary scene,” said Paula Shugart, president of The Miss Universe Organization.
Last year’s pageant in Eilat, Israel, was held in the middle of the night to accommodate the U.S. primetime TV schedule.
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To follow AP coverage of beauty pageants, go to https://apnews.com/hub/beauty-pageants.
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NEW YORK (AP) — The expanding audio books market has a major new retailer: Spotify.
On Tuesday, the music streaming service announced its long-rumored audiobook initiative, launching a store that includes more than 300,000 titles, including such popular works as Delia Owens’ “Where the Crawdads Sing,” Michelle Obama’s “Becoming” and Colleen Hoover’s “It Ends With Us.” Spotify has previously offered audio books on a limited basis, including J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” and such public domain novels as Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” and Jane Austen’s “Persuasion.”
“We’ve always believed that the potential for audio is limitless, and have been saying for a while now that our ambition is to be the complete package for everyone’s listening needs,” Nir Zicherman, Spotify’s vice president and global head of audiobooks and Gated Content, said Tuesday.
“Audiobooks are next to come into the picture because we see a substantial untapped market: while audiobooks represent just a 6-7% share of the wider book market, the category is growing by 20% year over year.”
Other available works include Dave Grohl’s “The Storyteller,” James McBride’s “Deacon King Kong” and Emily Henry’s “People We Meet On Vacation.”
At least initially, Spotify will sell audio books individually, not on a subscription basis, at prices that are “competitive” with other sellers. According to a Spotify spokesperson, “After assessing testing and user research, we found that the best initial offering would allow users to purchase books individually,” a policy which “allows for pricing flexibility and for more casual listeners to access audio books easily.”
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| 2022-09-21T07:11:52Z
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NEW YORK (AP) — The Nielsen company’s list of the 20 most popular prime-time programs for the week of Sept. 12-18, their networks and viewerships:
1. NFL Football: Chicago at Green Bay, NBC, 19.55 million.
2. “NFL Pregame” (Sunday), NBC, 14.55 million.
3. “NFL Postgame” (Sunday), Fox, 10.77 million.
4. NFL Football: Denver at Seattle, ABC, 10.3 million.
5. “60 Minutes,” CBS, 10.2 million.
6. “Football Night in America,” NBC, 8.36 million.
7. NFL Football: Denver at Seattle, ESPN, 8 million.
8. “America’s Got Talent” (Tuesday), NBC, 7.03 million.
9. “America’s Got Talent” (Wednesday), NBC, 6.82 million.
10. “NFL Pregame” (Monday), ABC, 6.31 million.
11. “Emmy Awards,” NBC, 5.92 million.
12. “Big Brother” (Sunday), CBS, 4.47 million.
13. “Password” (Wednesday), NBC, 4.43 million.
14. “NFL Pregame (Monday), ESPN, 4.33 million.
15. “Password” (Tuesday), NBC, 3.88 million.
16. “FBI,” CBS, 3.86 million.
17. “Big Brother” (Wednesday), CBS, 3.85 million.
18. “Celebrity Family Feud,” ABC, 3.83 million.
19. “The Bachelorette,” ABC, 3.55 million.
20. “Young Sheldon,” CBS, 3.51 million.
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| 2022-09-21T07:11:58Z
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NEW YORK (AP) — Straight out of “Top Gun: Maverick,” actor Miles Teller will host the opening episode of the 48th season of “Saturday Night Live” on Oct. 1.
Pulitzer Prize winner Kendrick Lamar will be the musical guest on opening night, his third appearance on “SNL,” NBC said on Tuesday.
It promises to be a transition season for NBC’s comedy institution, which has seen the departure of eight cast members.
Actor Brendan Gleeson, star of the upcoming film “The Banshees of Inisherin,” will host the Oct. 8 edition of the show. Willow makes her “SNL” debut as musical guest.
Megan Thee Stallion earns double duty on Oct. 15 as the host and musical guest, NBC said on Tuesday.
The Lorne Michaels-produced show soldiers on this season minus cast members Pete Davidson, Kate McKinnon, Aidy Bryant, Christopher Redd, Alex Moffat, Kyle Mooney, Aristotle Athari and Melissa Villaseñor.
The show has named four new cast members as replacements.
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| 2022-09-21T07:12:04Z
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TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — A nighttime bus crash that killed 27 people in southwest China this week has set off a storm of anger online over the harshness of the country’s strict COVID-19 policies.
The initial police report did not say who the passengers were and where they were going, but it later emerged they were headed to a quarantine location outside their city of Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou province.
The bus with 47 people on board crashed about 2:40 a.m. Sunday. City officials announced many hours later that the passengers were under “medical observation,” confirming reports they were being taken to quarantine.
Following public anger, Guiyang fired three officials in charge of Yunyan district, where the residents had been picked up, the provincial government said Monday. Guiyang’s deputy mayor apologized at a news conference, bowing and observing a moment of silence.
Online, many wondered at the logic behind transporting people outside of Guiyang, accusing the government of moving them so that the city would no longer report any new cases.
“Will this ever end? On the top searches (on social media), there’s all sorts of pandemic prevention situations every day, creating unnecessary panic and making people jittery,” one person wrote. “Is there scientific validity to hauling people to quarantine, one car after another?”
Guiyang officials had announced the city would achieve “societal zero-COVID” by Monday, one day after the crash.
The phrase means new infections are found only among people already under surveillance — such as those in a centralized quarantine facility or who are close contacts of existing patients — so the virus is no longer spreading in the community.
China has managed the pandemic through a series of measures known as “clearing to zero,” or “zero COVID,” maintained through strict lockdowns and mass testing.
The approach saved lives before vaccines were widely available, as people refrained from public gatherings and wore masks regularly. However, as other countries have opened up and loosened some of the most onerous restrictions, China has held steadfast to its zero-COVID strategy.
While China has cut down its quarantine time for overseas arrivals and said it would start issuing student visas, the policy remains strict at home. Officials are concerned about the potential death toll and the impact any loosening would have on the country’s stretched medical system.
Zero COVID also has become a political issue, and at one point was celebrated by many Chinese as signifying the superiority of their country over the U.S., which has had more than a million COVID deaths.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has cited China’s approach as a “major strategic success” and evidence of the “significant advantages” of its political system over Western liberal democracies.
Yet, even as other countries open up, the humanitarian costs to China’s pandemic approach has grown.
Earlier this year in Shanghai, desperate residents complained of being unable to get medicines or even groceries during the city’s two-month lockdown, while some died in hospitals from lack of medical care as the city restricted movement. Last week, residents in the western region of Xinjiang said they went hungry under a more than 40-day lockdown.
According to FreeWeibo, a website that tracks censored posts on the popular social media platform, three of top 10 searches on Weibo related to the bus accident.
Many fixated on images of the bus shared by social media users. One photo showed the bus after it had been retrieved from the accident site. Its roof was crushed and portions missing. Another photo allegedly showed the driver decked out in a full white protective suit.
Users online questioned how a driver could see properly when his face was covered up, and why he was driving so late at night. Many comments were censored but some that expressed discontent with the current approach to the pandemic did remain up.
“I hope that the price of this pain can push for change faster, but if it’s possible, I don’t want to pay such a high price for such change,” said the comment with the most likes on an online report about the accident by state broadcaster CCTV. “Condolences.”
One of the passengers on the bus said her whole building had been taken for central quarantine, according to a report by Caixin, a business news outlet. Yet her apartment building had not reported a single case, according to a friend who shared their text conversation with Caixin.
Another popular comment quoted a proverb, “These human lives are like straw.”
On Tuesday, Guizhou reported 41 new COVID-19 cases in the entire province. The province has been on high alert in the past few weeks after discovering one case at the end of August. It has locked down its capital city, using the euphemistic “quiet period” to describe the move, which means people are not allowed to leave their homes.
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Associated Press news assistant Caroline Chen in Beijing contributed to this report.
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NEW YORK (AP) — Leaders from Europe, the Americas and Africa called Tuesday for urgent action and funding to ease a growing global food security crisis that has been exacerbated by Russia’s war with Ukraine and, thanks to climate change, threatens to get worse in coming years.
Speaking at a Global Food Security Summit on the sidelines of the annual U.N. General Assembly, the leaders demanded an end to the war, with each calling it a needless “aggression” and Spain’s prime minister accusing Russian President Vladimir Putin of trying to “blackmail” the world with hunger by causing severe disruptions in the export of Ukrainian grain.
The leaders also took Russia to task for spreading misinformation about the destination of Ukrainian grain that has been shipped out of the Black Sea under a U.N.-brokered agreement mediated by Turkey.
“Russia must end its illegal war against Ukraine, which has certainly been an essential source of the world’s food supply,” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez told the gathering. “The truth is that Putin is trying to blackmail the international community with a large part of the world’s food needs. We cannot combat hunger without peace. The world is expecting much from us. Let’s act together, and let’s act now.”
Last week, the U.N. food chief warned the world is facing “a global emergency of unprecedented magnitude,” with up to 345 million people marching toward starvation — and 70 million pushed closer to starvation by the war in Ukraine. David Beasley, executive director of the U.N. World Food Program, told the U.N. Security Council that the number is 2½ times the number of acutely food-insecure people before the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020 and that there is a real risk of “multiple famines” this year.
“This is not acceptable. This is not sustainable,” said European Commission President Charles Michel. “Russia’s war against the people of Ukraine is a test — a test of our international rules-based order.”
Along with Sanchez, the event featured Senegalese President Macky Sall, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Colombian President Gustavo Petro and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken filling in for President Joe Biden. Michel opened the event by calling out what he said were Russia’s lies about Ukrainian grain not getting to countries that need it most.
“Contrary to Russian disinformation, this food is getting to Africa, the Middle East and Asia,” he said.
“We must not believe Russia’s disinformation,” Scholz echoed. “Data clearly shows that the majority of grain exports facilitated goes to developing and emerging countries and has global impacts on grain availability and prices.”
He said next year may be even more difficult as the food shortage will be compounded by a lack of fertilizer, something Sall said was particularly worrisome for African nations.
Blinken called the numbers “staggering” and said Biden would be announcing additional U.S. contributions to fight the crisis on Wednesday. Blinken called on other countries to follow suit.
“Some countries with the capacity to do more are among those doing the least,” he said. “That needs to change. No matter what countries have done so far, every country is called upon to do more.”
Blinken also called for the renewal of the July agreement on the shipments of Ukrainian grain.
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| 2022-09-21T07:12:17Z
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NEW YORK (AP) — Too few U.S. kids with sickle cell anemia get a needed screening for stroke, according to a study released Tuesday.
The study found fewer than half get the screening and only about half or fewer get a treatment that can help with pain and anemia. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the study, and called for more screening and treatment.
One type of sickle cell disease, called sickle cell anemia, is a leading cause of stroke in children. The disease can shorten life expectancy by more than 20 years and lead to complications, said the CDC’s Dr. Karen Remley.
“These complications are preventable — not inevitable,” she said in a statement.
Sickle cell disease is a group of inherited disorders in which red blood cells — normally round — become hard, sticky and crescent shaped. The misshapen cells clog the flow of blood, which can lead to problems like infections, pain and other complications. More than 90% of the estimated 100,000 Americans with sickle cell disease are Black people.
The research involved 3,300 children with sickle cell anemia in 2019. It found 47% of children aged 2–9 years and 38% of those aged 10–16 received an ultrasound scan to check blood flow and assess their risk for stroke. Blood transfusions can help those at high risk.
The study also found 38% of the younger kids and 53% of the older ones used hydroxyurea, a drug that can reduce periods of severe pain and other complications.
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The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
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KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — Ugandan health authorities on Tuesday reported that a man who died a day earlier had tested positive for the virus that causes Ebola.
They said it’s still unknown how the 24-year-old man became infected with the Sudan strain of Ebola, for which there is no approved vaccine. He lived in the central Ugandan district of Mubende, 150 kilometers (93 miles) west of the capital, Kampala.
“We are right now gathering more information on the possible source of infection,” said the ministry of health, which referred to a potential new outbreak because six other people in the same area — including three children — died earlier in September after suffering what local officials had called a strange illness.
The confirmed Ebola victim was initially treated for other illnesses, including malaria and pneumonia, when he sought care in his hometown, the statement said.
The World Health Organization in a separate statement reported eight suspected Ebola patients who are getting care in this East African country of 45 million people.
“Uganda is no stranger to effective Ebola control. Thanks to its expertise, action has been taken to quickly to detect the virus and we can bank on this knowledge to halt the spread of infections,” said Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, World Health Organization regional director for Africa.
WHO is helping Ugandan health authorities with investigations and is deploying staff to the affected area, it said.
Ebola, which is spread by contact with bodily fluids of an infected person or contaminated materials, manifests as a deadly hemorrhagic fever. Symptoms include fever, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle pain and at times internal and external bleeding.
Uganda has had multiple Ebola outbreaks, including one in 2000 that killed hundreds.
Last month authorities in Congo said a new case of Ebola in the eastern city of Beni was linked to a previous outbreak.
Congo’s 10th outbreak of Ebola in the provinces of North Kivu and Ituri killed more than 2,000 people from 2018 to 2020. During that time, neighboring Uganda reported some cases that authorities said were linked to the outbreak in Congo.
Ebola first appeared in 1976 in two simultaneous outbreaks in South Sudan and Congo, where it occurred in a village near the Ebola River after which the disease is named.
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| 2022-09-21T07:12:32Z
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U.S. doctors should regularly screen all adults under 65 for anxiety, an influential health guidelines group proposed Tuesday.
It’s the first time the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has recommended anxiety screening in primary care for adults without symptoms. The proposal is open for public comment until Oct. 17, but the group usually affirms its draft guidance.
The recommendations are based on a review that began before the COVID-19 pandemic, evaluating studies showing potential benefits and risks from screening. Given reports of a surge in mental health problems linked with pandemic isolation and stress, the guidance is “very timely,” said Lori Pbert, a task force member and co-author. Pbert is a psychologist-researcher at the University of Massachusetts’ Chan Medical School.
The task force said evidence for benefits, including effective treatments, outweighs any risks, which include inaccurate screening results that could lead to unnecessary follow-up care.
Anxiety disorders are among the most common mental health complaints, affecting about 40% of U.S. women at some point in their lives and more than 1 in 4 men, Pbert noted.
Black people, those living in poverty, people who have lost partners and those who have other mental health issues are among adults who face higher risks for developing anxiety, which can manifest as panic attacks, phobias or feeling always on edge. Also, about 1 in 10 pregnant and postpartum women experience anxiety.
Common screening tools include brief questionnaires about symptoms such as fears and worries that interfere with usual activities. These can easily be given in a primary care setting, the task force said, although it didn’t specify how often patients should be screened.
“The most important thing to recognize is that a screening test alone is not sufficient to diagnose anxiety,” Pbert said. The next step is a more thorough evaluation by a mental health professional, though Pbert acknowledged that finding mental health care can be difficult given shortages of specialists.
Megan Whalen, a 31-year-old marketing specialist who was diagnosed with anxiety in 2013, says regular doctors should screen for mental health issues as commonly as they do for physical problems.
“Health is health, whether the problem is visible or not,” said Whalen, of Hoboken, New Jersey.
She has gotten help from medicine and talk therapy, but her symptoms worsened during the pandemic and she temporarily moved back home.
“The pandemic made me afraid to leave home, my anxiety telling me anywhere outside of my childhood house was unsafe,” Whelan said. “I absolutely still struggle with feelings of dread and fear sometimes. It’s just a part of my life at this point, and I try to manage it as best as I can.”
The task force said there isn’t enough solid research in older adults to recommend for or against anxiety screening in those aged 65 and up.
The group continues to recommend depression screening for adults and children, but said there isn’t enough evidence to evaluate potential benefits and harms of suicide screening in adults who show no worrisome symptoms.
In April, the group issued similar draft guidance for children and teens, recommending anxiety screening but stating that more research is needed on potential benefits and harms of suicide screening kids with no obvious signs.
Guidelines from the task force often determine insurance coverage, but anxiety is already on the radar of many primary care doctors. In 2020, a group affiliated with the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommended routine primary care anxiety screening for women and girls starting at age 13.
Melissa Lewis-Duarte, a wellness coach in Scottsdale, Arizona, says rhythmic breathing, meditation and making a daily list of three things for which she is grateful have all helped with her anxiety.
“Doctors say, ‘Make sure you’re sleeping, control your stress.’ Yeah, I get that,” but not everyone knows how, said the 42-year-old mother of three. “It’s difficult to prioritize self-care, but that’s what’s necessary.”
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Follow AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner at @LindseyTanner.
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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.
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| 2022-09-21T07:12:40Z
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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — In director Adam McKay’s “Don’t Look Up,” a 2021 satire about two scientists who try in vain to warn the world about a planet-destroying comet, the scientists’ desperate plea for action ultimately doesn’t work.
But don’t take that as McKay’s view on the power of activism to change the course of the climate crisis, the existential threat his movie was really about.
McKay on Tuesday plans to announce a $4 million donation to the Climate Emergency Fund, an organization dedicated to getting money into the hands of activists engaged in disruptive demonstrations urging swifter, more aggressive climate action. It’s the largest donation the fund has received since it started in 2019, and McKay’s biggest personal gift. He joined the organization’s board in August.
Climate change is “extremely alarming, extremely frightening, and quickly becoming the only thing I’m thinking about on a daily basis, even as I’m writing scripts and directing or producing,” McKay said in a recent interview with The Associated Press.
From the overthrowing of monarchies to labor movements and the Civil Rights Era, activism is an “incredibly kinetic, powerful, transformative” force that’s created change throughout history, he said.
The Climate Emergency Fund has awarded $7 million to organizations supporting mostly volunteer climate activists around the globe. Those activists have done everything from marching in the streets of France to urge people to “look up” — a reference to McKay’s film — to demonstrating on the water near West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin’s boat about the need for federal climate legislation.
The fund’s goal is to provide a bridge for more traditional wealthy donors with activists looking to make a statement — two groups that don’t always see eye to eye, said Margaret Klein Salamon, the fund’s executive director and a clinical psychologist.
As for the ending of “ Don’t Look Up,” Salamon said it was an “important psychological, cultural intervention” that put the stakes of the climate fight on stark display.
McKay, for his part, said he’s hesitant to attribute any direct action to his movie. But he sees both film and disruptive protest as actions that change culture, which can be a major step toward influencing policy. The film, he said, sparked an incredible reaction around the globe from ordinary viewers and scientists who have been fighting for climate action for decades.
“It was really beautiful to see people who have been fighting this fight for much longer than me really feel seen,” he said.
McKay, 54, started his career in comedy writing and became known for movies like “Anchorman” and “Step Brothers.” In recent years, his work has taken on a more political tone, though it’s still in the realm of comedy — if dark. He wrote and directed “The Big Short,” about the 2008 financial collapse, and “Vice,” about former Vice President Dick Cheney’s influence, and he’s the executive producer for “Succession,” the television show about a media mogul and his children who want to take over the company.
He says his own climate awakening came several years ago when he read a report by the International Panel on Climate Change that highlighted the vast differences that would occur if the planet warmed by 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) instead of 1.5 degrees (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-Industrial levels. It was the moment, he said, that he went from someone who was concerned about climate change to someone who saw it as a hair-on-fire situation.
In the years since, the situation has only grown more dire, he said, pointing to the drying of the Colorado River, flooding in Pakistan and Europe’s summer heatwave as evidence that action is urgent.
“I really do believe, without any hyperbole, scientifically speaking, this is the greatest challenge, story, threat, in human history,” he said.
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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.
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| 2022-09-21T07:12:48Z
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BOISE, Idaho (AP) — The University of Idaho’s plan to build the nation’s largest research dairy and experimental farm cleared a big hurdle on Tuesday.
Idaho Gov. Brad Little and two other statewide-elected officials on the Idaho Land Board approved the university’s plan to use $23 million to buy roughly 640 acres of farmland in south-central Idaho, the heart of the state’s dairy industry.
That would be the main focus of the school’s proposed Center for Agriculture, Food and the Environment, or CAFE.
Idaho’s dairy industry is the third-largest dairy producer in the nation, behind California and Wisconsin. But the industry in Idaho — and in general — faces a range of challenges with greenhouse gas emissions from animals, land and water pollution, and waste systems from dairies that can have thousands of cows that produce tons of manure.
University of Idaho’s president Scott Green, who called the vote a big win for the state, the university and the dairy industry, said the school hasn’t been able to do the large-scale research the industry needs to find solutions for those and other complex problems.
“The research that we do there is going to help us improve the water quality within the state,” Green said after the vote. “It’s going to help us utilize waste products from the dairy industry in a way that’s beneficial to the environment and to agriculture.”
Green said students will get the education needed to work on the cutting edge of agribusiness and dairy sciences. He also said CAFE opens the doors for the school to receive millions in research grant money, potentially leading to new ideas and innovation.
If CAFE succeeds as envisioned, the operation would include an experimental farm and 2,000-cow research dairy in Minidoka County. Classrooms, labs and faculty offices would be constructed in Jerome County near where Interstate 84 and U.S. Route 93 intersect. A food processing pilot plant with a workforce training and education facility would be located at the College of Southern Idaho campus in Twin Falls County.
The state’s dairy industry has supported the plan, donating more than $8.5 million to date, according to state officials.
Specifically, the board on Tuesday voted to use $23 million from the 2021 sale of 282 acres of endowment land in Caldwell benefitting the University of Idaho’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences to buy roughly 640 acres of farmland in Minidoka County north of Rupert owned by the university — turning that into endowment land. The school will now use that endowment land and money to build the research dairy.
Endowment land is land Idaho received at statehood and that the Land Board manages to produce the maximum return over the long term for beneficiaries, mainly public education.
Land Board members had other options for the money. It could have transferred the $23 million to a fund that would generate money through investments. It also could have kept the money for potential investments in timberland, the most dependable revenue generator for state land.
Choosing the university option was unique in that it recognized research as an asset.
“If this was more affordable research, private industry would be doing it,” Little said after the meeting. “These are the kinds of things government has to do, these long-term, low-return (investments). If we get research out of this that creates a more sustainable, cleaner way to have a dairy industry in Idaho, that’s a win-win for everybody.”
Immediately after the vote, applause broke out in the meeting room at the Statehouse, an unusual occurrence at a Land Board meeting that typically deals with staid financial management decisions involving the state’s 3,900 square miles (10,100 square kilometers) of endowment land.
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| 2022-09-21T07:12:54Z
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ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Nearly every single Alaskan got a financial windfall amounting to more than $3,000 Tuesday, the day the state began distributing payments from Alaska’s investment fund that has been seeded with money from the state’s oil riches.
The payments, officially called the Permanent Fund Dividend or the PFD locally, amounted to $2,622 — the highest amount ever. Alaska lawmakers added $662 as a one-time benefit to help residents with high energy costs.
A total of $1.6 billion in direct deposits began hitting bank accounts Tuesday, and checks will arrive later for those who opted for them.
Residents use the money in various ways, from buying big-screen TVs, vehicles or other goods, using it for vacations or putting it in savings or college funds. In rural Alaska, the money can help offset the enormous costs of fuel and food, like $14 for a 12-pack of soda, $4 for a celery bunch and $3 for a small container of Greek yogurt.
“We’re experiencing record high inflation that we haven’t seen since the first PFD was paid in 1982,” Gov. Mike Dunleavy said in a video. “Alaskans have been bearing the brunt of this inflation from the gas pump to the grocery store, and this year’s PFD will provide much needed relief as we head into winter.”
The timing of the checks couldn’t have come at a better time for those living on the state’s vast western coast, which was devastated last weekend by the remnants of Typhoon Merbok. Damage to homes and infrastructure was widespread along a 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometers) of coastline.
Among the communities experiencing the greatest damage was Nome, the largest city on the coast with about 3,500 residents and known for being the end point of the world’s most famous sled dog race.
Howard Farley, now 90, helped secure Nome as the Iditarod’s finish line over 50 years ago. His century-old home was safe from the storm on high ground in Nome, but they did lose about 100 feet (30.48 meters) of frontage and one building at the family’s camp site about 5 miles (8 kilometers) east of town.
“The beach is a lot closer,” he said.
He said the payments — which would be more than $16,000 for a family of five — are much needed.
“Even people that didn’t have damage, with the inflation up here, that’s really, really hitting hard,” he said.
Farley said gas is $7 a gallon and will remain that way until the next shipment arrives next spring because barges can’t deliver once the Bering Sea freezes.
“The price won’t go down like it does in Anchorage and other places because you guys can get deliveries almost any time,” he said.
“What it will mean for a lot of families is that they can break even with the high prices we’re paying,” he said.
The oil-wealth check, which some in Alaska see as an entitlement, typically is derived from the earnings of the nest-egg investment account. The diversified fund was established during construction of the trans-Alaska pipeline in the 1970s and now is worth $73.6 billion.
There is a yearly application process and residency requirements to qualify for a dividend. Dividends traditionally have been paid using earnings from the Alaska Permanent Fund. Lawmakers in 2018 began using fund earnings to also help pay for government and sought to limit how much can be withdrawn from earnings for both purposes. The amount going to the dividend this year represents half the authorized draw.
Residents received the first check, $1,000, in 1982. Amounts have varied over the years, and traditionally were calculated on a five-year rolling average to buffer downturns in the economy.
The smallest check ever was $331 in 1983. The largest before this year’s check was $2,072 in 2015. If someone has collected every check since 1982, it would amount to $47,049.
Mildred Jonathan, 74, and her husband, Alfred, 79, live about 100 miles (161 kilometers) west of the Canadian border in the interior Alaska village of Tanacross.
There will be no frivolous spending when they receive their paper check in October. Instead, the Jonathans’ major purchase will be firewood.
“The wood I’m hoping to get is $1,600, and it’s a 10-cord load,” she said. “I’ll survive the winter if I buy that.”
Snow was already falling on nearby mountains, and temperatures in the Athabascan village during the winter are typically well below zero. “It’s cold, cold, cold,” she said.
Any money the couple have left over will go to a new hot water system, flooring for their home and Christmas gifts for their grandchildren, who want new phones.
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| 2022-09-21T07:13:00Z
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PARIS (AP) — Paris’ Champs-Elysees says it will be switching off the lights on the famed avenue hours earlier each night until further notice to help save energy as the war in Ukraine squeezes the electricity market in Europe.
The plan announced Tuesday means that lights on the avenue will go dark at 10 p.m. instead of the current 1 a.m. It will take effect on Oct. 15. Shops on the avenue that remain open past 10 p.m. will “naturally” have an exemption, the committee governing the avenue said. The ruling affects dozens of luxury boutiques but will not affect public street lamps.
The avenue’s dazzling Christmas illuminations will also be affected — and will now be switched off at 11:45 p.m. instead of 2 a.m.
The initiatives follow plans by Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo to save energy across several of the City of Light’s iconic monuments.
Last week, it was announced that lights will be switched off at the Eiffel Tower at 11:45 p.m. — as soon as the last tourist leaves — instead of the current 1 a.m.
Other Paris landmarks, like City Hall, will turn off their lights at 10 p.m.
Hidalgo said she feared that energy demands would increase over winter and she hoped to avoid shortages.
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Follow all AP stories on the impact of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine.
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| 2022-09-21T07:13:07Z
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TOKYO (AP) — Asian shares mostly rose Tuesday, after Wall Street closed higher on a late buying spree following recent losses as investors await another interest rate increase by the U.S. Federal Reserve.
Markets have been jittery over whether the Fed’s plan to cool the hottest U.S. inflation in four decades might be too aggressive and throw the economy into a recession by pumping the brakes on growth too hard.
Japan reported that its consumer inflation jumped in August to 3.0%, its highest level since November 1991 but well below the 8% plus readings in the U.S. Core inflation excluding volatile fresh food prices climbed 2.8%. The Bank of Japan is set to have a two-day monetary policy meeting later this week, although analysts expect the central bank to stick to its easy monetary policy.
“Expectations are that easy monetary policies are to remain in the upcoming meeting this week. The BOJ Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda previously mentioned that he wanted to see a ‘stable and sustainable rise’ in both wages and prices before considering any policy shift,” Yeap Jun Rong, a market strategist at IG in Singapore, said in a report.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 added 0.4% to finish at 27,688.42. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 jumped 1.3% to 6,806.40. South Korea’s Kospi added 0.6% to 2,368.52. In China, where the loan prime rate was kept unchanged, the Shanghai Composite added nearly 0.1% to 3,118.36. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng climbed 1.0% to 18,753.53.
On Monday, Wall Street indexes swayed between modest gains and losses for much of the day before a burst of buying in the final hour of trading. The S&P 500 rose 0.7%, climbing back from a 0.9% slide. It closed at 3,899.89.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6% to 31,019.68 and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.8% to 11,535.02.
Technology stocks, retailers, banks and industrial companies helped lift the market. Apple rose 2.5%, Home Depot gained 1.6%, Bank of America rose 1.7% and United Airlines closed 3.3% higher.
Health care and real estate stocks fell, tempering gains elsewhere in the market. Pfizer fell 1.3% and Welltower slid 2.2%.
The yield on the 2-year Treasury, which tends to follow expectations for Fed action, rose to 3.94% from 3.87% late Friday. The 10-year yield, which influences mortgage rates, rose to 3.49% from 3.45%.
Smaller company stocks also gained ground. The Russell 2000 closed 0.8% higher.
The U.S. market is coming off of its worst week in three months following a surprisingly hot report on inflation and big companies, including FedEx, warning about worsening trends in the economy.
Investors will get another update on the housing sector Wednesday when the National Association of Realtors releases August figures for sales of previously occupied homes.
Average long-term U.S. mortgage rates climbed above 6% last week for the first time since the housing crash of 2008. The higher rates could make an already tight housing market even more expensive for American homebuyers.
In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude gained 3 cents to $85.76 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, the international standard, picked up 23 cents to $92.23 a barrel.
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar edged down to 143.36 Japanese yen from 143.22 yen. The euro rose to $1.0029 from $1.0024.
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Yuri Kageyama is on Twitter https:/twitter.com/yurikageyama
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| 2022-09-21T07:13:15Z
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The Asian Development Bank has downgraded its forecasts for growth in the region, citing the war in Ukraine, rising interest rates to combat decades-high inflation, and China’s slowing economy.
The Manila, Philippines-based lending agency revised its estimate for growth in developing Asian economies to 4.3%, down from an earlier forecast of 5.2%. Growth in 2023 was cut to 4.9% from 5.3% in the revised regional outlook released Wednesday.
ADB economists said that for the first time in three decades, other developing Asian economies would grow faster than China’s.
The updated outlook forecast that the world’s second-largest economy would expand at a 3.3% annual pace this year, down from 8.1% in 2021 and far below the ADB’s April estimate of a 5.0% expansion. The setback represents a long-time slowing of China’s growth coupled with disruptions from outbreaks of COVID-19 and lockdowns and other measures to fight the virus.
India and Maldives were forecast to see the fastest expansions, at 7% and 8.2%, respectively. In Sri Lanka, where a financial crisis has left the country unable to pay its debts and afford imports, the economy is forecast to contract by 8.8%, down from a 3.3% pace of growth last year.
The ADB’s forecast for inflation in Asia remains less severe than in the U.S. and some other economies, at 4.5% in 2022 and 4.0% next year. But the report put inflation in Sri Lanka at nearly 45% this year, while prices were forecast to rise 16% in Myanmar and nearly 15% in Mongolia.
Inflation has also risen sharply in Laos and in Pakistan, two other countries with economies imperiled by rising debt burdens and weaker growth.
Surging costs for grain and for oil and gas have been the main factors behind price increases, the report showed, noting that “While global food and energy prices have been decreasing recently, it will take time for these declines to translate into lower domestic prices.”
Most Southeast Asian economies are expected to keep up a robust pace of growth as they reopen to tourism and demand recovers. Domestic consumer spending, investment and remittances from overseas workers also are driving stronger business activity, the report said.
But the demand driving growth remains relatively weak: While exports across the region rose 15% from a year earlier in the first half of the year, most of that reflected higher prices, with the real volumes of exports up only 5.2%. Exports fell in July and August.
Meanwhile, the pandemic boom in demand for electronics products and their components, as people adjusted to remote work and schooling, has subsided, also slowing export growth.
The silver lining of that moderation in demand was that supply delays and shortages have abated and shipping costs have dropped sharply. By late August, shipping a container from East Asia to the U.S. cost $7,000, down from $16,000 in January.
The report noted that coronavirus vaccination rates across the region, at 73% fully vaccinated as of the end of August, were similar to those in the European Union, with only a handful of countries having nearly universal coverage.
Further outbreaks remain a risk for the region, it said. So do developments in Ukraine as governments enforce sanctions against Moscow, such as the EU’s decision to ban seaborne imports of Russian oil by the year’s end.
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| 2022-09-21T07:13:22Z
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — The campaign that could bring legalized sports betting to California is the most expensive ballot-initiative fight in U.S. history at about $400 million and counting, pitting wealthy Native American tribes against online gambling companies and less-affluent tribes over what’s expected to be a multibillion-dollar marketplace.
A torrent of advertising has buffeted Californians for months, much of it making promises far beyond a plump payoff from a game wager. Some ads coming from the consortium of gambling companies barely mention online betting.
Instead, the ads tease a cornucopia of benefits from new revenues — helping the homeless, aiding the mentally ill and providing financial security for poorer tribes that haven’t seen a windfall from casino gambling. Further clouding the issue: There are two sports betting questions on the ballot.
The skeptics include Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who hasn’t taken a position on either proposal but has said Proposition 27 “is not a homeless initiative” despite the claims in advertising.
Claremont McKenna College political scientist Jack Pitney said “something for nothing” promises have been used in the past to sell state lotteries as a boundless source for education funding. It’s political salesmanship, “not a cure-all,” he said.
With the stakes high, over $400 million has been raised so far – easily a national record for a ballot initiative fight, and nearly doubling the previous mark in California set in 2020 — with another seven weeks to go until balloting ends on Nov. 8.
“They are spending hundreds of millions because billions are on the line,” said longtime Democratic consultant Steven Maviglio, referring to potential future profits from expanded gambling in the state of nearly 40 million people.
“Both sides stand to really get rich for the long term,” said Maviglio, who is not involved in the campaign. It could become “a permanent funding source for a handful of companies — or a handful of tribes.”
All of it could be a bad bet.
With the midterm elections approaching, voters are in a foul mood and cynical about political sales pitches. And with two similar proposals on the ballot, history suggests that voters are inclined to be confused and grab the “no” lever on both.
“When in doubt, people vote no,” Pitney said.
In California, gambling now is permitted on horse races, at Indian casinos, in cardrooms and the state lottery. But the state has been something of a laggard in sports betting, which has been spreading across the country.
The two proposals would open the way for sports betting, but in strikingly different ways.
Proposition 27 is backed by DraftKings, BetMGM, FanDuel — the latter is the official odds provider for The Associated Press — and other national sports betting operators. The proposal would change state law to allow online sports betting for adults over the internet and on phones or other mobile devices.
Multistate operators would be required to partner with a tribe involved in gambling, or licensed tribes could enter on their own. However, the tribes argue they would have to surrender some of their independence to enter the deal. A tax would cover regulatory costs, with the bulk of the remainder earmarked for homeless programs, and a slice going to tribes not involved in online betting.
A rival proposal backed by many tribes, Proposition 26, would let people wager on sporting events in person at retail locations — casinos operated by tribes and the state’s four licensed horse racing tracks. A portion of a 10% tax would help pay for enforcement of gambling laws and programs to help people who have a gambling addiction. It also could open the way for roulette and dice games at tribal casinos.
A handful of political committees are in the center of the fight, raising funds and dueling for public support.
The Yes on 26, No on 27 committee, sponsored by more than two dozen Indian tribes, has raised about $108 million through this month, state records show. Among the major donors: Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria ($30 million), the Pechanga Band of Indians ($25 million) and the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation ($20 million). All have been enriched by their own casinos.
Another committee seeking to defeat Proposition 27 is backed by tribes including the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians and has pulled in about $91 million.
Their main rival, the Yes on 27 committee backed by sports betting companies, has generated about $169 million in loans and donations.
A committee opposing Proposition 26, backed by card clubs, has piled up over $41 million for the fight. The proposition includes changes in enforcement that the clubs see as an attempt to give tribes a virtual monopoly on all gaming in the state.
Despite the lofty claims about new income for the state, it’s not clear what the fiscal benefits might be with either proposal.
With Proposition 27, the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office concluded its effect on revenues and costs are uncertain, in part because it’s not known how many entities would offer betting or how many people would place bets. It’s possible it could bring in hundreds of millions of dollars each year.
But the office also concluded some of the income would not be new dollars since people could shift their spending habits, placing sports bets rather than buying lottery tickets or shopping at the mall.
The state analysts also found the fiscal impacts of rival Proposition 26 are unclear, in part because it’s not known how state-tribal compacts would be modified to allow for sports betting. They found the proposition could increase state revenues, possibly by tens of millions of dollars each year, but would increase costs for enforcement and regulation, too.
A muddle of political endorsements are in the mix. The California Republican Party opposes both proposals. State Democrats oppose Proposition 27, but are neutral on Proposition 26. Major League Baseball is backing Proposition 27.
Voters are witnessing a deluge of competing claims.
The No on 26 committee says wealthy tribes are looking to game the system to gain unprecedented gambling income and political influence.
Rob Stutzman, a spokesman for the No on 27 committee, warned that up to 90% of the profits from the proposal could go to the gambling companies and “you know a measure is bad news when both the Democratic and Republican parties oppose it.”
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| 2022-09-21T07:13:30Z
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A top executive at plant-based food company Beyond Meat has been charged with felony battery after a fight outside a college football game in which he was accused of biting a man’s nose.
Doug Ramsey was also charged with making a terroristic threat after the attack Saturday in a parking garage outside a University of Arkansas football game in Fayetteville.
Beyond Meat said Tuesday it has suspended Ramsey indefinitely.
According to a police report, Ramsey was angered when another driver inched in front of him in a traffic lane and made contact with the front passenger wheel on Ramsey’s Ford Bronco SUV.
The police report alleges that Ramsey got out of his vehicle and punched through the back windshield of the other driver’s car. The driver told police he got out of his car and Ramsey pulled him close and began punching him. Ramsey also bit the tip of the other driver’s nose, ripping the flesh, according to the police report.
The driver and witnesses told police that Ramsey threatened to kill the other man. Occupants of both vehicles got out and separated the two men.
Washington County court records show Ramsey was released Sunday on a $11,085 bond. A court appearance is scheduled for Oct. 19. Court officials were unable to provide the name of an attorney for Ramsey on Tuesday.
Ramsey, 53, spent more than 30 years at Springdale, Arkansas-based Tyson Foods before joining Beyond Meat as chief operating officer late last year. He held top leadership positions at Tyson, including president of its poultry division and president of its global McDonald’s business.
At Beyond Meat, he has guided partnerships with fast food companies including McDonald’s, Panda Express and KFC.
Beyond Meat said Jonathan Nelson, its senior vice president for manufacturing operations, will oversee the company’s operations on an interim basis.
Beyond Meat shares hit a 52-week low of $15.97 Tuesday before closing at $16.03. The company’s shares have tumbled more than 75% since the start of this year.
The El Segundo, California-based company has struggled as customers dealing with soaring grocery bills have bypassed its higher-priced products. McDonald’s also recently ended a U.S. trial of its McPlant meatless burger — developed with Beyond Meat — without confirming future plans for the product.
Beyond Meat laid off 4% of its workforce in August.
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AP Writer Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Arkansas, contributed.
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| 2022-09-21T07:13:37Z
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — An insurance company that was ordered to pay more than a billion dirhams in damages for a 2015 New Year’s Eve fire in Dubai has lost a civil lawsuit that it filed to try and recover the money.
Two years after the massive fire rocked the Address Downtown hotel, Orient Insurance was ordered to pay Dubai’s state-backed developer Emaar 1.25 billion dirhams (more than $340 million) in a settlement. Emaar is behind projects like the world’s tallest skyscraper, the Burj Khalifa.
Orient then filed a civil lawsuit in 2018 against the contractors who worked on the design, construction and maintenance of the hotel. It said they failed to implement fire safety requirements, contributing to the spread of the blaze.
Orient Insurance asked the contractors to pay back the insurance claim it paid to Emaar. The case involved leading contractors including Belhasa JV, Arabtec, Mirage, and ALEC Engineering and Construction.
Court papers show that a seven-member expert committee concluded that the fire was caused by an electrical short-circuit on a spotlight. It also stated that there was no conclusive evidence to show there were technical errors or violations by the defendants, and that the building cladding might have contributed to the spread of the fire but was not the cause of it.
“The report confirmed our client’s position that it had properly constructed the work that it was mandated to construct,” said Mohamed ElGhatit, a lawyer representing government-owned ALEC Engineering and Construction.
Dramatic fires have hit skyscrapers in Dubai and other cities in the United Arab Emirates in recent years. Building and safety experts have cited a popular type of cladding covering the buildings that can be highly flammable. Authorities say they’ve changed fire safety rules in the emirate to address the danger.
The court’s ruling against Orient came last week.
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Follow Malak Harb on Twitter at www.twitter.com/malakharb.
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| 2022-09-21T07:13:45Z
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THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Dutch King Willem-Alexander unveiled plans Tuesday from the Dutch government to help households squeezed by rising costs, in his annual address to the nation.
Inflation, energy prices and the war in Ukraine were just some of the “uncertainties” the country is facing, the monarch said in his annual speech, made every year on the third Tuesday in September. The speech is immediately followed by the release of the budget for the upcoming year.
Boos could be heard from the crowd as the royal family — just back from the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in London — traveled from their palace in The Hague to the National Theater by horse-drawn carriage in a pomp-filled ceremony.
“People are feeling increasingly uncertain about both the immediate and the longer-term future,” the king said, speaking to a joint sitting of both houses of parliament. He pledged an 18 billion euro ($17.9 million) aid package to help low- and middle-income households.
Notably missing from the budget was an energy price cap that politicians and energy companies reached an agreement on Monday, although the king alluded to the plan in his speech. As recently as last week, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte was resistant to the idea of a cap, saying any help would have to wait until the new year.
The measure sets a price ceiling for gas and electricity based on average use from January 2022. The government expects the limit to save households an average of 190 euros ($189) per month.
Around 10,000 people turned out to watch the procession, which took place for the first time since 2019 after two years of pandemic restrictions. Elementary schools in The Hague were closed so children could participate in the festivities.
“I just want to see the horses,” 3-year-old Emma told The Associated Press while waiting behind barricades along the route.
For the first time, Princess Amelia accompanied her parents. She turned 18 this year and is now expected to pick up a number of royal duties.
Not everyone was happy with the day. Protesters held signs saying “Not my king” and “Rutte must go.” One man carrying an upside-down Dutch flag, a symbol of anti-government protests, described his struggle with soaring gas bills and supermarket prices.
The police reported five people were arrested and they confiscated six tractors. Farmers, upset about environmental regulations restricting their operations, have been protesting over the past year by driving their tractors into The Hague. Last week, the city announced that no large vehicles would be allowed on the streets as a security measure.
Echoing the king’s sober sentiment, Finance Minister Sigrid Kaag told reporters, “It is not a festive time for many Dutch people” when she presented the official budget. The package includes an increase in the minimum wage, a reduction in income tax levels and an expansion of child and health care subsidies.
The new budget includes 3.9 billion euros ($3.9 billion) for Ukraine, in both military and humanitarian aid. Last month, the Dutch sent 90 soldiers to provide basic training for Ukrainian military personnel.
The government has also allotted one billion euros ($1 billion) to build housing for refugees. Hundreds of asylum-seekers have been sleeping outside of an asylum reception center in squalid conditions because there aren’t enough beds.
Bold hats could be seen around the city as part of the annual “hoedjesparade,” a tradition where women wear striking headgear to the event.
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| 2022-09-21T07:14:00Z
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MILAN (AP) — Giambarini Group’s plants in northern Italy must keep zinc baths that rustproof steel and iron parts super-heated around the clock, seven days a week, an energy-intensive process that has grown exponentially more costly as natural gas prices spike.
Methane to create molten zinc that forms a protective coating over high-rise support beams and wrought-iron fences used to take up just 3% of operating costs, but now it’s as much as 30%. The family-run company has passed some of the extra cost to customers, but business is uncertain as rising prices for raw materials freezes the construction industry that Giambarini supplies.
“We don’t know the future. We don’t know if it will get worse or better, since clients don’t know if they will have work,’’ said CEO Alberto Giambarini, the third generation in his family to run the business. He has orders for the coming 10 days, instead of through Christmas, like in the past. “We are living day to day.”
The energy crisis facing Italian industry and households — like those across Europe — is a top voter concern going into Sunday’s parliamentary elections as fears grow that astronomically high bills will shutter some businesses, at least temporarily, and force household rationing by winter. Prices started going up a year ago and have only been exacerbated as Russia has cut back natural gas used to generate electricity, heat and cool homes, and run factories as Europe supports war-torn Ukraine.
Already in July and August, industrial energy use dropped by double digits mostly because of scaled-back production — which experts say could affect economic growth and employment in the coming months.
At the same time, three-quarters of Italian households expect even more pain this fall with higher bills, according to the SWG polling institute. Already, 80% report important sacrifices to pay energy costs, such as delaying vacations, major purchases and eating out.
Never in an Italian election campaign has energy been such a central talking point. Candidates have sparred over whether debt-laden Italy, which has already spent more than 60 billion euros to help families, businesses and local governments, should incur yet more debt to finance new relief. They’re also facing off on whether Italy should consider investing in new nuclear technologies.
But no party is discussing mandatory conservation measures, like many of Italy’s European neighbors.
“It is remarkable to see how much all these people are commenting on energy. Before the current situation, no one would mention the issue. But at the same time, they are neglecting if not ignoring completely the climate side of this,’’ said Matteo Di Castelnuovo, an energy economist at Milan’s Bocconi University. “No one is going to talk about rationing or reducing consumption.”
Most major parties, including Giorgia Meloni’s far-right Brothers of Italy and Enrico Letta’s center-left Democratic Party, are largely following strategies pursued by the outgoing government of Premier Mario Draghi. They both advocate a European Union cap on natural gas prices, despite a failure to gain EU consensus in months of discussion, along with varying formulas to help families and offer tax breaks to businesses.
Pollsters and energy experts say these similarities have made it difficult for voters to be moved by energy policy.
Broadly, the campaign has focused on continued natural gas investments.
For the Democratic Party, plants that regasify liquid natural gas are positioned as a bridge to other technologies as it sets a target to add 85 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2030 in a country that for years has averaged just 1 gigawatt a year. The center-right coalition that Meloni’s party is leading wants to expand pipeline deliveries to Italy, which fits a longer-term strategy of making Italy a gas hub for Europe but does not address the EU goal of emission reductions by 2030.
The right-wing coalition and small centrist parties also advocate a return to nuclear power, which Italians have rejected in two referendums decades apart. In addition to societal resistance, the technology would take at least two decades to implement, too late to help Italy’s commitment with the Group of 7 wealthy economies to fully decarbonize by 2035, said Matteo Leonardi, executive director of the environmental think tank ECCO.
The political debate is largely focusing on lowering gas prices but not diversifying or discouraging households from consuming resources that would better support industry, Leonardi said.
“The response to this crisis, as they are saying in the rest of Europe, are renewables and efficiency,” Leonardi said. “You cannot face a war without arms. You cannot give the message that the state will take care of it, consume what you want.”
Italy’s famed textile industry, which gives French and Italian fashion houses their luxury edge, also is suffering. The small and medium operators that form the backbone of the system risk closure without a swift, systemic response from both Europe and Italy, said Sergio Tamborini, head of the SMI Italian Fashion System association.
“The bills that arrived in June and July were explosive,’’ Tamborini said.
Italy’s textile industry — along with leather and accessories accounting for revenue of 100 billion euros a year — is a luxury niche that Tamborini worries will be weakened by cheaper markets if costs aren’t reduced.
Dying and printing textiles is especially energy intensive, Tamborini said, and for some, “it is a problem of survival.”
“We should have had help already in September. We cannot wait for the next government to be active, because it could be Christmas or even after,” he said, given the fractured nature of Italian politics.
Meanwhile, Giambarini said his business has no immediate plans for short-term layoffs of 250 workers, but the outgoing government has been discussing new layoff programs to give businesses a way to avoid crippling energy costs.
Shutting down even temporarily would be devastating, taking months to relaunch, said Giambarini, adding he was still deciding which party to back.
“We are waiting for the election and hope we will get a government that will indicate a better road out of this period of crisis,’’ Giambarini said.
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| 2022-09-21T07:14:07Z
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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — United States authorities charged 48 people in Minnesota with conspiracy and other counts in what they said Tuesday was the largest pandemic-related fraud scheme yet, stealing $250 million from a federal program that provides meals to low-income children.
Federal prosecutors say the defendants created companies that claimed to be offering food to tens of thousands of children across Minnesota, then sought reimbursement for those meals through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s food nutrition programs. Prosecutors say few meals were actually served, and the defendants used the money to buy luxury cars, property and jewelry.
“This $250 million is the floor,” Andy Luger, the U.S. attorney for Minnesota, said at a news conference. “Our investigation continues.”
Many of the companies that claimed to be serving food were sponsored by a nonprofit called Feeding Our Future, which submitted the companies’ claims for reimbursement. Feeding Our Future’s founder and executive director, Aimee Bock, was among those indicted, and authorities say she and others in her organization submitted the fraudulent claims for reimbursement and received kickbacks.
Bock’s attorney, Kenneth Udoibok, said the indictment “doesn’t indicate guilt or innocence.” He said he wouldn’t comment further until seeing the indictment.
In interviews after law enforcement searched multiple sites in January, including Bock’s home and offices, Bock denied stealing money and said she never saw evidence of fraud.
Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Justice made prosecuting pandemic-related fraud a priority. The department has already taken enforcement actions related to more than $8 billion in suspected pandemic fraud, including bringing charges in more than 1,000 criminal cases involving losses in excess of $1.1 billion.
Federal officials repeatedly described the alleged fraud as “brazen,” and decried that it involved a program intended to feed children who needed help during the pandemic. Michael Paul, special agent in charge of the Minneapolis FBI office, called it “an astonishing display of deceit.”
Luger said the government was billed for more than 125 million fake meals, with some defendants making up names for children by using an online random name generator. He displayed one form for reimbursement that claimed a site served exactly 2,500 meals each day Monday through Friday — with no children ever getting sick or otherwise missing from the program.
“These children were simply invented,” Luger said.
He said the government has so far recovered $50 million in money and property and expects to recover more.
The defendants in Minnesota face multiple counts, including conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering and bribery. Luger said some of them were arrested Tuesday morning. Authorities announced 47 indictments at the news conference. A 48th person, who according to a criminal complaint was scheduled to board a one-way flight to Ethiopia on Tuesday evening, was arrested sometime after the prosecutors’ press conference.
According to court documents, the alleged scheme targeted the USDA’s federal child nutrition programs, which provide food to low-income children and adults. In Minnesota, the funds are administered by the state Department of Education, and meals have historically been provided to kids through educational programs, such as schools or day care centers.
The sites that serve the food are sponsored by public or nonprofit groups, such as Feeding Our Future. The sponsoring agency keeps 10% to 15% of the reimbursement funds as an administrative fee in exchange for submitting claims, sponsoring the sites and disbursing the funds.
But during the pandemic, some of the standard requirements for sites to participate in the federal food nutrition programs were waived. The USDA allowed for-profit restaurants to participate, and allowed food to be distributed outside educational programs. The charging documents say the defendants exploited such changes “to enrich themselves.”
The documents say Bock oversaw the scheme and that she and Feeding Our Future sponsored the opening of nearly 200 federal child nutrition program sites throughout the state, knowing that the sites intended to submit fraudulent claims.
“The sites fraudulently claimed to be serving meals to thousands of children a day within just days or weeks of being formed and despite having few, if any staff and little to no experience serving this volume of meals,” according to the indictments.
One example described a small storefront restaurant in Willmar, in west-central Minnesota, that typically served only a few dozen people a day. Two defendants offered the owner $40,000 a month to use his restaurant, then billed the government for some 1.6 million meals through 11 months of 2021, according to one indictment. They listed the names of around 2,000 children — nearly half of the local school district’s total enrollment — and only 33 names matched actual students, the indictment said.
Feeding Our Future received nearly $18 million in federal child nutrition program funds as administrative fees in 2021 alone, and Bock and other employees received additional kickbacks, which were often disguised as “consulting fees” paid to shell companies, the charging documents said.
According to an FBI affidavit unsealed earlier this year, Feeding Our Future received $307,000 in reimbursements from the USDA in 2018, $3.45 million in 2019 and $42.7 million in 2020. The amount of reimbursements jumped to $197.9 million in 2021.
Court documents say the Minnesota Department of Education was growing concerned about the rapid increase in the number of sites sponsored by Feeding Our Future, as well as the increase in reimbursements.
The department began scrutinizing Feeding Our Future’s site applications more carefully, and denied dozens of them. In response, Bock sued the department in November 2020, alleging discrimination, saying the majority of her sites were based in immigrant communities. That case has since been dismissed.
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| 2022-09-21T07:14:15Z
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BERLIN (AP) — Natural gas supplier Uniper said Tuesday that it’s in “final discussions” for Germany to nationalize the company, ramping up the government’s intervention in the gas and oil industry as Russia’s war in Ukraine provokes an energy crisis.
The expansion of Uniper’s July rescue deal would feature a capital increase of 8 billion euros (dollars) that the government would finance and involve it taking a majority stake now held by Finland-based Fortum, the company said. The Finnish government has the largest stake in Fortum.
Uniper’s losses have mounted as Russia has cut back natural gas supplies to European countries supporting Ukraine. Prices have soared for the fuel needed to heat homes, generate electricity and power factories, raising fears of business closures, rationing and a recession as the weather turns cold.
European countries have scrambled to counter the price spiral and prioritized securing their energy supplies for winter, including by filling their natural gas storage. Just last week, Germany also moved to take control of three Russian-owned oil refineries before an embargo on Russian oil takes effect next year.
The initial Uniper rescue package foresaw the government taking a roughly 30% stake in the company after Russia’s cutbacks forced it to buy gas at far higher prices on the market to fulfill its supply contracts.
Under the prospective new deal, “it is envisaged that the federal government will obtain a significant majority stake in Uniper,” said the company, which confirmed talks on a possible nationalization last week. It added that “the final agreement has not yet been concluded.”
While the government tries to stabilize Uniper, authorities say Germany’s gas storage facilities are now more than 90% full in preparation for the winter heating season despite Russia halting gas deliveries through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.
The head of the national network regulator, Klaus Mueller, tweeted late Monday that Germany had “achieved another milestone” and that the stored gas will help in managing any potential gas emergencies and will flow back into the market.
He cautioned that “nevertheless, we must continue to save” gas.
The government tightened storage requirements in July after Russia’s state-owned Gazprom started reducing gas supplies through Nord Stream 1, citing alleged technical problems. German officials dismissed that explanation as cover for a political decision to push up prices and create uncertainty.
Germany introduced a requirement for storage to be 75% full by Sept. 1 and raised the targets for October and November to 85% and 95%, respectively, from 80% and 90%. The November target is roughly equal to the amount of gas that Germany used in January and February this year, when temperatures were relatively mild.
Before the reductions started, Russia accounted for a bit more than a third of Germany’s natural gas supplies.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz says Germany is well-placed to get through the winter with enough energy, pointing to new liquefied natural gas terminals expected to start work in the coming months, among other things.
In a separate move last Friday, his government announced that German authorities were taking control of three Russian-owned refineries to ensure energy security. Two subsidiaries of Russian oil giant Rosneft are being put under the administration of Mueller’s Federal Network Agency.
Rosneft accounts for about 12% of Germany’s oil refining capacity, importing oil worth several hundred million euros (dollars) every month, according to the government, which said the trusteeship was initially due to last for six months.
The network regulator already was put in charge of Gazprom’s former German subsidiary in April, a decision that the government said was necessary to bring “order to the conditions” at the company after the Kremlin-controlled parent company abruptly cut ties with the unit.
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| 2022-09-21T07:14:22Z
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BERLIN (AP) — Germany and Slovenia have sealed a deal that will see Slovenia send 28 tanks of Soviet-era design to Ukraine and get 40 modern military trucks from Germany, the German Defense Ministry said Tuesday.
Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht agreed to sign a letter of intent on the deal with her Slovenian counterpart Marjan Sarec, her ministry said. It didn’t specify when the vehicles will be delivered.
The agreement foresees Slovenian handing over 28 M-55S tanks to Ukraine and getting 40 military trucks, including five tankers.
Germany has been keen to promote such deals under which eastern NATO allies hand off Soviet-era equipment to Kyiv and get modern equipment from Germany. Agreements were previously reached with the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Greece.
Germany has argued it’s an efficient way to get material to Ukraine that the country’s military is familiar with.
Berlin so far has balked at supplying Western-designed tanks to Ukraine, arguing that other allies haven’t done so and Germany won’t go it alone. Still, there is pressure from the opposition at home and parts of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s own governing coalition to rethink that stance.
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Follow all AP stories on the impact of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine.
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| 2022-09-21T07:14:30Z
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Last month, when Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell spoke at an economic conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, he issued a blunt warning: The Fed’s drive to curb inflation by aggressively raising interest rates, he said, would “bring some pain” for Americans.
When the Fed ends its latest meeting Wednesday and Powell holds a news conference, Americans will likely get a better idea of how much pain could be in store.
The central bank is expected to raise its key short-term rate by a substantial three-quarters of a point for the third consecutive time. Another hike that large would boost its benchmark rate — which affects many consumer and business loans — to a range of 3% to 3.25%, the highest level in 14 years.
Many Fed watchers, though, will be paying particular attention to Powell’s words at a news conference afterward. His remarks will be parsed for any hint of whether the Fed expects to moderate its rate hikes in the coming months — or instead to continue tightening credit significantly until it’s convinced that inflation is on its way down.
In a further sign of the Fed’s deepening concern about inflation, it will also likely signal Wednesday that it plans to raise rates much higher by year’s end than it had forecast three months ago — and to keep them higher for longer. Economists expect Fed officials to forecast that their key rate could go as high as 4% before the new year. They’re also likely to signal additional hikes in 2023, perhaps to as high as roughly 4.5%.
Short-term rates at that level would make a recession likelier next year by sharply raising the costs of mortgages, car loans and business loans. The Fed intends those higher borrowing costs to slow growth by cooling a still-robust job market to cap wage growth and other inflation pressures. Yet the risk is growing that the Fed may weaken the economy so much as to cause a downturn that would produce heavy job losses.
The economy hasn’t seen rates as high as the Fed is projecting since before the 2008 financial crisis. Last week, the average fixed mortgage rate topped 6%, its highest point in 14 years. Credit card borrowing costs have reached their highest level since 1996, according to Bankrate.com.
Powell and other Fed officials still say the Fed’s goal is to achieve a “soft landing,” by which they would slow the economy enough to tame inflation but not so much as to trigger a recession.
By last week, though, that goal appeared further out of reach after the government reported that inflation over the past year was a painful 8.3%. Even worse, so-called core prices, which exclude volatile food and energy costs, rose much faster than expected.
The inflation report also documented just how broadly inflation has spread through the economy, complicating the the Fed’s task. Inflation now appears increasingly fueled by higher wages and by consumers’ steady desire to spend and less by the supply shortages that had bedeviled the economy during the pandemic recession.
“They’re going try to avoid recession,” said William Dudley, formerly the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. “The problem is that the room to do that is virtually non-existent at this point.”
The Fed’s rapid rate hikes mirror steps that other major central banks are taking, contributing to concerns about a potential global recession. The European Central Bank last week raised its benchmark rate by three-quarters of a percentage point. The Bank of England, the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Bank of Canada have all carried out hefty rate increases in recent weeks.
And in China, the world’s second-largest economy, growth is already suffering from the government’s repeated COVID lockdowns. If recession sweeps through most large economies, that could derail the U.S. economy, too.
At his news conference Wednesday, Powell isn’t likely to drop any hints that the central bank will ease up on its credit tightening campaign. Most economists expect the Fed to stop raising rates in early 2023. But for now, they expect Powell to reinforce his hard-line anti-inflation stance.
“It’s going to end up being a hard landing,” said Kathy Bostjancic, an economist at Oxford Economics.
“He’s not going to say that,” Bostjancic said. But, referring to the most recent Fed meeting in July, when Powell raised hopes for an eventual pullback on rate hikes, she added: “He also wants to make sure that the markets don’t come away and rally. That’s what happened last time.”
Indeed, investors responded then by bidding up stock prices and buying bonds, which lowered rates on securities like the benchmark the 10-year Treasury. Higher stock prices and lower bond yields generally boost the economy — the opposite of what the Fed wants.
The central bank has already engaged in the fastest series of rate hikes since the early 1980s. Yet some economists — and some Fed officials — argue that they have yet to raise rates to a level that would actually restrict borrowing and spending and slow growth.
Loretta Mester, president of the Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank, and one of the 12 officials who will vote on the Fed’s decision Wednesday, said she thinks it will be necessary to raise the Fed’s rate to “somewhat above 4% by early next year and hold it there.”
“I do not anticipate the Fed cutting” rates next year, Mester added, dispelling the expectations of many investors on Wall Street who had hoped for such a reversal. Comments like Mester’s contributed to a sharp fall in stock prices last month that began after Powell’s stern anti-inflation speech at the conference in Jackson Hole.
“Our responsibility to deliver price stability is unconditional,” Powell said then — a remark widely interpreted to mean that the Fed will fight inflation even if it requires deep job losses and a recession.
Many economists sound convinced that a recession and widespread layoffs will be necessary to slow rising prices. Research published earlier this month under the auspices of the Brookings Institution concluded that unemployment might have to go as high as 7.5% to get inflation back to the Fed’s 2% target.
Only a downturn that harsh would reduce wage growth and consumer spending enough to cool inflation, according to the a paper by Johns Hopkins University economist Laurence Ball and two economists at the International Monetary Fund.
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COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Sweden’s central bank on Tuesday raised its key interest rate by a full percentage point to combat the highest inflation in more than 30 years, the first of a series of large hikes expected from central banks worldwide this week.
Riksbanken said inflation has risen rapidly — to 9% in August, the highest level since 1991 — “undermining households’ purchasing power and making it more difficult for both companies and households to plan their finances.”
The bank raised its policy rate to 1.75% and said it will keep tightening over the next six months as it tries to bring inflation back to its target of 2%. In making the big hike, it pointed to other central banks rapidly raising rates as consumer prices soar.
The U.S. Federal Reserve is expected Wednesday to carry out a large increase of three-quarters of a point for the third consecutive time, followed Thursday by the Bank of England, whose half-point hike last month was its biggest in 27 years and is forecast to make another.
“During the pandemic, global imbalances arose between supply and demand,” Sweden’s central bank said. “Russia’s war in Ukraine has pushed up prices even further on several important commodities and created serious disruptions on the energy markets in Europe, which has caused electricity and gas prices to rise to very high levels.”
It added that “the good economic activity in Sweden has also contributed.”
Sweden is part of the European Union but does not use the euro currency, so it is not part of European Central Bank.
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| 2022-09-21T07:14:52Z
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NEW YORK (AP) — Mortgage rates have jumped, home sales have slumped and credit cards and auto loans have gotten pricier. Savings rates are slightly juicier, though.
Yet as the Federal Reserve has rapidly increased interest rates, many economists say they fear that a recession is inevitable in the coming months — and with it, job losses that could cause hardship for households already hurt worst by inflation.
Even before the Federal Reserve acts again Wednesday to sharply raise its key short-term rate — a third straight three-quarter-point hike is likely to be announced – its previous rate hikes are being felt by households across the economy.
The Fed’s latest move is expected to raise its benchmark rate to a range of 3% to 3.25%, the highest level in 14 years. Its steady rate increases are making it increasingly costly for consumers and businesses to borrow — for homes, autos and other purchases. And more hikes are almost surely coming. Fed officials are expected to signal Wednesday that their benchmark rate could reach as high as 4.5% by early next year.
Here’s what to know:
HOW DOES RAISING INTEREST RATES REDUCE INFLATION?
If one definition of inflation is “too much money chasing too few goods,” then by making it more expensive to borrow money, the Fed hopes to reduce the amount of money in circulation, eventually lowering prices.
WHICH CONSUMERS ARE MOST AFFECTED?
Anyone borrowing money to make a large purchase, such as a home, car, or large appliance, will take a hit, said Scott Hoyt, an analyst with Moody’s Analytics.
“The new rate pretty dramatically increases your monthly payments and your cost,” he said. “It also affects consumers who have a lot of credit card debt — that will hit right away.”
That said, Hoyt noted that household debt payments, as a proportion of income, remain relatively low, though they have risen lately. So even as borrowing rates steadily rise, many households might not feel a much heavier debt burden immediately.
“I’m not sure interest rates are top of mind for most consumers right now,” Hoyt said. “They seem more worried about groceries and what’s going on at the gas pump. Rates can be something tricky for consumers to wrap their minds around.”
HOW WILL THIS AFFECT CREDIT CARD RATES?
Even before the Fed’s decision Wednesday, credit card borrowing rates have reached their highest level since 1996, according to Bankrate.com, and these will likely continue to rise.
And with inflation raging, there are signs that Americans are increasingly relying on credit cards to help maintain their spending. Total credit card balances have topped $900 billion, according to the Federal Reserve, a record high, though that amount isn’t adjusted for inflation.
John Leer, chief economist at Morning Consult, a survey research firm, said its polling suggests that more Americans are spending down the savings they accumulated during the pandemic and are using credit instead. Eventually, rising rates could make it harder for those households to pay off their debts.
Those who don’t qualify for low-rate credit cards because of weak credit scores are already paying significantly higher interest on their balances, and they’ll continue to.
As rates have risen, zero percent loans marketed as “Buy Now, Pay Later” have also become popular with consumers. Yet longer-term loans of more than four payments that these companies offer are subject to the same increased borrowing rates as credit cards.
For people who have home equity lines of credit or other variable-interest debt, rates will increase by roughly the same amount as the Fed hike, usually within one or two billing cycles. That’s because those rates are based in part on banks’ prime rate, which follows the Fed’s.
WHAT IF I WANT TO BUY A CAR?
Auto loans are at their highest levels since 2012, according to Bankrate.com’s Greg McBride. Rates on new auto loans are likely to go up by nearly as much as the Fed’s rate increase. That could knock some lower-income buyers out of the new-vehicle market, said Jessica Caldwell, executive director at Edmunds.com.
Caldwell added that the entire increase isn’t passed on to consumers; some automakers are subsidizing rates to attract buyers. Bankrate.com says a 60-month new vehicle loan averaged just over 5% last week, up from 3.86% in January. A 48-month used vehicle loan was 5.6%, up from 4.4% in January.
Many lower-income buyers have already been priced out of the new-vehicle market, according to Caldwell. Automakers have been able to get top dollar for their vehicles because demand is high and supply is low. For more than a year, the industry has been grappling with a shortage of computer chips that has slowed factories worldwide.
HOW ARE SAVERS AFFECTED?
The rising returns on high-yield savings accounts and certificates of deposit (CDs) have put them at levels not seen since 2009, which means households may want to boost savings wherever possible. You can also now earn more on bonds and other fixed-income investments.
Though savings, CDs, and money market accounts don’t typically track the Fed’s changes, online banks and others that offer high-yield savings accounts can be exceptions. These institutions typically compete aggressively for depositors. (The catch: They sometimes require significantly high deposits.)
In general, banks tend to capitalize on a higher-rate environment to boost their profits by imposing higher rates on borrowers, without necessarily offering juicer rates to savers.
WILL THIS AFFECT RENTS? HOME OWNERSHIP?
Last week, the average fixed mortgage rate topped 6%, its highest point in 14 years, meaning that rates on home loans are about twice as expensive as they were a year ago.
Mortgage rates don’t always move perfectly in tandem with the Fed increase, instead tracking the expected yield on the 10-year Treasury note. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note has reached nearly 3.6%, its highest level since 2011.
Asking rents are up 11% from last year, said Daryl Fairweather, an economist with the brokerage Redfin. But price growth has slowed, and some renters are moving to more affordable areas.
WILL IT BE EASIER TO FIND A HOUSE IF I’M STILL LOOKING TO BUY?
If you’re financially able to proceed with a home purchase, you’re likely to have more options than at any time in the past year. Sales of both new and existing homes have dropped steadily for months.
HOW HAVE THE RATE HIKES INFLUENCED CRYPTO?
Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin have dropped in value since the Fed began raising rates. So have many previously high-valued technology stocks. Bitcoin has plunged from a peak of about $68,000 to under $20,000.
Higher rates mean that safe assets like Treasuries have become more attractive to investors because their yields have increased. That makes risky assets like technology stocks and cryptocurrencies less attractive, in turn.
Still, bitcoin continues to suffer from problems separate from economic policy. Two major crypto firms have failed, shaking the confidence of crypto investors.
WHAT’S PROMPTING THE RATE INCREASES?
The short answer: Inflation. Over the past year, inflation has clocked in at a painful 8.3%. So-called core prices, which exclude food and energy, also rose faster than expected.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell warned last month that, “our responsibility to deliver price stability is unconditional” — a remark widely interpreted to mean the Fed will fight inflation with rate increases even if it requires deep job losses or a recession.
The goal is to slow consumer spending, thereby reducing demand for homes, cars and other goods and services, eventually cooling the economy and lowering prices.
Powell acknowledged that aggressively raising interest rates would “bring some pain.”
WHAT ABOUT MY JOB?
Some economists argue that widespread layoffs will be necessary to slow rising prices. One reason is that a tight labor market is fueling wage growth and higher inflation. In August, the economy gained 315,000 jobs. There are roughly two job openings advertised for every unemployed worker.
“Job openings continue to exceed job hires, indicating employers are still struggling to fill vacancies,” noted Odeta Kushi, an economist with First American.
As a result, some argue higher unemployment might cool wage pressures and tame inflation. Research published earlier this month by the Brookings Institution stated that unemployment might have to go as high as 7.5% to reduce inflation to the Fed’s 2% target.
WILL THIS AFFECT STUDENT LOANS?
Borrowers who take out new private student loans should prepare to pay more as as rates increase. The current range for federal loans is between about 5% and 7.5%.
That said, payments on federal student loans are suspended with zero interest until Dec. 31 as part of an emergency measure put in place early in the pandemic. President Joe Biden has also announced some loan forgiveness, of up to $10,000 for most borrowers, and up to $20,000 for Pell Grant recipients.
IS THERE A CHANCE THE RATE HIKES WILL BE REVERSED?
Stock prices rose in August based on hopes that the Fed would reverse course. But it looks increasingly unlikely that rates will come down anytime soon. Economists expect Fed officials to forecast that the key rate could reach 4% by the end of this year. They’re also likely to signal additional increases in 2023, even to 4.5%.
WILL THERE BE A RECESSION?
Short-term rates at these levels will make a recession likelier by increasing the cost of mortgages, car loans, and business loans. While the Fed hopes that higher borrowing costs will slow growth by cooling the hot job market and capping wage growth, the risk is that the Fed could weaken the economy, causing a recession that would produce significant job losses.
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AP Business Writers Christopher Rugaber in Washington, Tom Krisher in Detroit and Damien Troise and Ken Sweet in New York contributed to this report.
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The Associated Press receives support from Charles Schwab Foundation for educational and explanatory reporting to improve financial literacy. The independent foundation is separate from Charles Schwab and Co. Inc. The AP is solely responsible for its journalism.”
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| 2022-09-21T07:15:00Z
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BRUSSELS (AP) — Hungary needs time and is urging its European Union partners to be “tolerant,” the country’s justice minister said Tuesday, after the bloc’s executive branch recommended suspending billions of euros in funding over concerns about democratic backsliding and the possible mismanagement of EU money.
Justice Minister Judit Varga said that Hungary has proposed 17 measures which are “capable of remedying all the concerns” expressed by European Commission. EU Budget Commissioner Johannes Hahn recommended over the weekend that 7.5 billion euros (dollars) from Hungary’s EU funds be frozen.
“Time is needed, because even if there are accelerated procedures to adopt laws and amend legislation, you need to set up new institutions. For that, you have to hire new personnel,” Varga told reporters in Brussels. She said she expects Hungary to have until mid-November to show it’s on the right track.
The commission on Sunday took the unprecedented action of recommending that Hungary’s 26 EU partners vote to suspend the payments “to ensure the protection of the EU budget and the financial interests of the EU against breaches of the principles of the rule of law in Hungary.”
The commission’s fears focus on public procurement — purchases by the state of goods and services or for the execution of projects using EU funds — in particular that around half of the tender procedures have only involved one bidder.
Critics say the awarding of such contracts have allowed Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s nationalist government to channel large sums of EU money into the businesses of politically connected insiders.
The commission also has “serious concerns regarding the detection, prevention and correction of conflicts of interest,” and is reluctant to see EU money put into some public interest trusts which manage significant funds, notably in the area of education.
Despite the concerns, Hahn welcomed Hungary’s offer to fix the problem, saying that its proposed remedial action goes “in the right direction.” EU member countries have one month to decide whether to freeze the funds, but can in exceptional circumstances extend that period to two months.
Varga called on Hungary’s EU partners “to be tolerant, to be positive, to be constructive and forward-looking” because ultimately the main aim of the commission’s so-called rule of law action “is prevention not sanctioning.”
“There is no danger,” she said.
EU lawmakers see it differently.
“It is fatal that Viktor Orban can still avert these sanctions before the end of the year with a few pseudo-reforms,” said German Green Daniel Freund, a lead lawmaker on the rule of law. “A decisive stance is needed, not just a few improvements in Hungarian public procurement law.”
In contrast, officials in Orban’s government have depicted the commission’s decision as a victory, and emphasized their commitment to carrying out reforms they believe will unlock the funds.
In a tweet Sunday, the premier’s political director, Balazs Orban, called the decision “good news.” He wrote that Budapest “will fulfill 100% of its commitments & submit the necessary bills to Parliament, so there will be no obstacles to close the discussions in 3 months and to receive EU funds.”
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Justin Spike contributed to this report from Budapest, Hungary.
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TBILISI, Georgia (AP) — Police in the country of Georgia said 12 people who were held hostage in a bank by a gunman for hours Tuesday have been freed and hostage-taker has been arrested.
Georgian media reported that the gunman at the bank in the city of Kutaisi had demanded $2 million, a helicopter to leave the country and a Russian flag. The gunman reportedly announced his demands in a video posted on one of the hostages’ Facebook page.
Interior Ministry spokeswoman Ketevan Kovziashvili later said the hostages were freed and the gunman detained, but there were no further details.
Kutaisi is a city of 147,000, located 180 kilometers (110 miles) northeast of the Georgian capital, Tbilisi.
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| 2022-09-21T07:15:15Z
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MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday blasted what he described as U.S. efforts to preserve its global domination and ordered officials to boost weapons production amid the fighting in Ukraine.
Speaking while receiving credentials from foreign ambassadors to Moscow, Putin said “the objective development toward a multipolar world faces resistance of those who try to preserve their hegemony in global affairs and control everything — Latin America, Europe, Asia and Africa.”
He added that “the hegemon has succeeded in doing so for quite a long time, but it can’t go on forever … regardless of the developments in Ukraine.”
Putin has repeatedly cast his decision to send troops into Ukraine as a response to alleged Western encroachment on Russia’s vital security interests.
The Russian leader described Western sanctions against Russia over its action in Ukraine as part of efforts by the U.S. and its allies to strengthen their positions, but charged that that they have backfired against their organizers and also hurt poor countries.
“As for Russia, we won’t deviate from our sovereign course,” Putin said.
Speaking later during a separate meeting on military industries, he said Russian weapons have shown high efficiency during the fighting in Ukraine and told officials to quickly increase output of military industries.
“Our equipment efficiently confronts Western types of weapons,” Putin said. “Practically all of NATO weapons stockpiles have been brought to support the current regime in Kyiv.”
Putin added that Russia should study Western weapons to improve its own arsenals.
“We can and must learn about these arsenals, everything they have, everything they use against us to qualitatively increase our potential and improve our equipment, our weapons where we need to do it,” he noted.
Putin said he has ordered to boost allocations for new weapons, offer more loans to military industries and approve additional payments to their workers to increase weapons output.
“Structures of the military industrial complex must deliver the required weapons and equipment in the shortest time possible,” Putin said.
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| 2022-09-21T07:15:23Z
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UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Turkey’s leader, overseeing a nation encircled by regional disputes, used his speech at the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday to shine a spotlight on Turkish maneuvering in conflicts that span from Syria to Ukraine.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s speech comes as Turkey is beset by staggeringly high inflation — officially at 80%, but more than double that, analysts say.
Erdogan blamed inflation on globally high food and energy prices rather than his government’s economic policies. His speech, however, focused more on laying out his view of Turkey’s role in the world. He said Turkey is “trying to be part of the solution” in conflicts around the world.
Touching on multiple hot -button issues, he spoke about the need for stability in Iraq, fair elections in Libya, food security in the Horn of Africa, the need for Palestinian statehood, the rights of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and Uighur Muslims in China, and standing up to anti-Muslim sentiment globally.
His remarks also highlighted Turkey’s role in these many conflicts, either directly or indirectly. This includes direct attacks in eastern Syria against U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters, high-level diplomacy in Ukraine, a troop presence in Libya backing the Tripoli-based government, long-simmering tensions with Cyprus and Greece, and staunch support for Azerbaijan in its conflict with Armenia.
“All these disasters affecting millions of people show the United Nations will have to be much more effective, much more influential,” he said.
Erdogan has emerged as a key player in the Ukraine conflict. Turkey is a NATO member and has supplied Ukraine with lethal drones targeting Russian troops, but Erdogan has also met multiple times with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkey was a broker alongside the United Nations in securing the safe passage of Ukrainian grains exports through the Black Sea.
Turkey, he noted, has also hosted 4 million Syrian refugees in that country’s long-running war. At one point during his speech, Erdogan held up a photo of dead Syrian refugee children to emphasize the need for continued support.
He said the United Nations needs to be more inclusive — and the Security Council should be more democratic and functional.
“The world is greater than five,” he said, referring to the Security Council’s five permanent members.
Erdogan, 68, has led the country for almost 20 years, first as prime minister and then as president. Support for him and his party, however, has declined due to the cost-of-living crisis. He survived an alleged coup in 2016, unleashing in its wake a widespread crackdown against government critics, journalists, politicians and activists.
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Aya Batrawy, a Dubai-based correspondent for The Associated Press, is on assignment at the U.N. General Assembly. Follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ayaelb.
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| 2022-09-21T07:15:37Z
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NEW YORK (AP) — U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss said Tuesday that she’s ready to make “unpopular decisions” such as boosting bonuses for wealthy bankers in order to get the country’s sluggish economy growing.
Speaking before an emergency government budget statement on Friday, Truss said tax cuts were key to spurring economic growth, even though they benefit the wealthiest more than the poorest.
“We do have to take difficult decisions to get our economy right,” Truss said. “We have to look at our tax rates. So corporation tax needs to be competitive with other countries so that we can attract that investment.”
Truss, who has been prime minister for just two weeks — a period overshadowed by the death of Queen Elizabeth II — faces immediate pressure to deliver on her promises to tackle a cost-of-living crisis walloping the U.K. and an economy heading into a potentially lengthy recession.
She has already announced a cap on household energy bills that means average costs for heating and electricity will be no more than 2,500 pounds ($2,872) a year — far less than has been forecast. And she says businesses will find out details of similar relief on Friday.
But Truss has ruled out extending a windfall tax on oil and gas companies imposed under the previous government of Boris Johnson, and is scrapping plans to increase corporation tax.
Critics say her pro-free market, low-tax economic views, inspired by the likes of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, is the wrong response to the crisis.
Truss, who is in New York to attend the U.N. General Assembly, confirmed the budget statement will reverse an income tax hike brought in this year to help fund health care and will scrap a plan to raise corporation tax.
She also made clear that the government will lift a cap on bankers’ bonuses imposed after the 2008 global financial crisis, with the aim of attracting more jobs and money to London’s financial district.
“I don’t accept this argument that cutting taxes is somehow unfair,” Truss told British broadcasters in interviews on the 102nd floor of the Empire State Building.
“We should be setting our tax policy on the basis of what is going to help our country become successful — what is going to deliver that economy that benefits everybody in our country. What I don’t accept is the idea that tax cuts for business don’t help people in general.”
Truss denied her plans would hurt the already battered U.K. economy. The pound has fallen to almost four-decade lows against the dollar, to about $1.14. She said her priority was getting the “economic fundamentals right.”
She acknowledged the U.K. faces “incredibly tough” economic times, driven by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has sent global energy prices soaring.
But she denied her plans would cause pain to millions or ordinary Britons and could prove electorally disastrous.
“What I think working people will judge me and my government on at the next election is, have I got a good job, are my wages going up, have I seen improvements in my town or my city?” she said. “That’s what people care about and I believe that’s what people will vote on.”
As she was speaking, and seemingly by coincidence, U.S. President Joe Biden tweeted criticism of the type of economic policy Truss advocates. The two leaders are due to meet Wednesday on the sidelines of the U.N. summit.
“I am sick and tired of trickle-down economics. It has never worked,” he said.
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| 2022-09-21T07:15:46Z
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CHICAGO (AP) — United Airlines canceled about 18 flights this week when it realized that some of its Boeing 777-200 planes had not undergone required inspections of the front edges of the wings.
The airline canceled flights Monday night and Tuesday morning, and said it’s trying to rebook stranded passengers.
The Federal Aviation Administration said United grounded 25 of the jets after discovering it had failed to inspect slats on the wing edges that are used during takeoffs and landings.
The FAA said United reported the issue, and the FAA is reviewing circumstances that led to the missed inspections.
United said late Tuesday afternoon that it had inspected 10 of the planes and was working with the FAA to return the others to flying in the next two weeks without causing additional flight cancellations.
The matter was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
United’s Boeing 777-200s had been grounded until earlier this year by the failure of a Pratt & Whitney engine on one that caused parts of the housing to fall on the Denver area.
The planes seat between 276 and 364 passengers, according to United’s website, and are mostly used on long international flights.
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NEW YORK (AP) — Water.org announced a $1 billion plan Tuesday to help 100 million people in Africa, Asia and Latin America get lasting access to water and sanitation.
The Water.org Water & Climate Fund, unveiled at the Clinton Global Initiative conference in New York, plans to use $50 million in philanthropic money to create a billion-dollar investment portfolio to help bring new water delivery and wastewater treatment projects to underserved communities, then use those communities’ utility bills to fund further projects. Amazon donated the first $10 million of philanthropic money needed for the fund.
It was the day’s largest proposal at the conference, which convened world leaders from politics, business and philanthropy for the first time since 2016. And it showed how the conference encourages nonprofits to take on increasingly ambitious projects to tackle the world’s toughest problems.
Actor and water access activist Matt Damon said he and his water.org co-founder Gary White are “CGI OGs,” because of their long ties to the conference, and that he worried about making his first commitment in 2009 because he was afraid to let people down.
On Tuesday, he encouraged attendees not to worry about that. “Please don’t be afraid to engage,” he said.
It’s a message that echoed throughout the two-day conference.
“The world needs heroes,” said Joseph Deitch, founder of the Elevate Prize Foundation. Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai won the foundation’s $250,000 Elevate Prize Catalyst Award, which the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize winner said she will use to support alternative schooling and advocate for the reopening of girls’ secondary schools in Afghanistan that have been closed since the Taliban takeover last year.
“Afghanistan girls have seen what it means to be educated,” she said. “They will fight.”
Carolina García Jayaram, CEO of the Elevate Prize Foundation, said in an interview that the purpose of the award is to amplify the message of advocates like Yousafzai. “It’s how we inspire the world to feel more agency to do good,” she said.
Sasha Fisher, co-founder and executive director of nonprofit Spark MicroGrants, came to CGI seeking partners to provide $25 million to expand training and support programs in villages across Africa. The additional funding would be used to bring its community-building work to between three and five more countries.
“The things that are most scalable are also the most decentralized, so governments love the approach of getting small grants to villages to launch local projects and local businesses to accelerate economic development in their area,” Fisher said. “They know that it’s going to work if it’s started by people in that village.”
Villages that received funds from Spark MicroGrants weathered the pandemic better than those that didn’t, according to the nonprofit. Those villages have also seen an increase in female leadership and a decrease in domestic violence.
CGI also saw the launch of numerous new philanthropic ventures.
Dr. David Fajgenbaum’s new nonprofit Every Cure hopes to match generic drugs with rare diseases that currently have no treatment. It’s a process that he knows has potential because he used it to treat his Castleman’s Disease, a rare ailment where the immune system attacks vital organs.
“This is a huge issue,” Fajgenbaum said. “There are drugs at your neighborhood pharmacy that could cure you or someone you love, but the system is not built to uncover them.”
He chose to announce his nonprofit at CGI because it lets him tell his story with “the right people in the room.”
“I can share about how I’m alive because of one of these drugs and hopefully inspire people to want to support this work,” Fajgenbaum said.
His presentation was certainly effective. Fajgenbaum received a standing ovation from the full CGI crowd. And former President Bill Clinton had already been won over.
“What I think could be great is if the president’s cancer program could do this for peanuts compared to what it costs to launch major medical research,” Clinton told The Associated Press in an interview. “They might save a lot of lives.”
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Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.
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| 2022-09-21T07:16:01Z
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Elon Musk’s hope to operate his satellite internet firm in Iran requires permission from the Treasury Department, which said Tuesday it welcomes applications to support internet freedom in the country that is largely isolated from Wwestern economies.
The Tesla CEO tweeted Monday that his satellite internet firm Starlink would seek permission to operate in Iran. National security adviser Jake Sullivan said it’s up to Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control to decide on Starlink’s next steps.
“We have of course, in the past, provided for various forms of exemptions for the Iranian people’s ability to communicate with each other and with the world,” Sullivan said during a White House press briefing Tuesday.
Starlink, a division of spacecraft manufacturer SpaceX, also owned by Musk, has been in operation since 2019. It disperses thousands of satellites orbiting the Earth to provide broadband access globally.
The firm has attempted to provide internet access to the Ukrainian people during Russia’s invasion and has acquired contracts with the U.S. military since as early as 2021.
If Starlink internet access is provided to the Iranian general population, it could come at the objection of the government, which has tightly controlled internet access.
A Treasury spokesperson, speaking on condition of anonymity because no application has been received, said the Office of Foreign Assets Control welcomes applications for licenses to authorize activities supporting internet freedom in Iran.
In 2014, Treasury’s sanctions arm issued a license authorizing exports of software and services to Iran that would allow the free exchange of communication over the internet, with the intent to foster the free flow of information to Iranian citizens.
Despite the allowance, firms have been reluctant to do business in Iran, due to fears of violating existing sanctions and other laws that impose penalties.
However, in January 2021, Github — a source code storage service— announced that it secured a license from Treasury to offer its services to developers in Iran.
“We were able to demonstrate how developer use of GitHub advances human progress, international communication, and the enduring US foreign policy of promoting free speech and the free flow of information,” the company’s website states.
A representative from SpaceX did not respond to an Associated Press request for comment.
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DETROIT (AP) — The National Transportation Safety Board is recommending that all new vehicles in the U.S. be equipped with blood alcohol monitoring systems that can stop an intoxicated person from driving.
The recommendation, if enacted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, could reduce the number of alcohol-related crashes, one of the biggest causes of highway deaths in the U.S.
The new push to make roads safer was included in a report released Tuesday about a horrific crash last year in which a drunk driver collided head-on with another vehicle near Fresno, California, killing both adult drivers and seven children.
NHTSA said this week that roadway deaths in the U.S. are at crisis levels. Nearly 43,000 people were killed last year, the greatest number in 16 years, as Americans returned to roads after pandemic stay-at-home orders.
Early estimates show fatalities rising again through the first half of this year, but they declined from April through June, which authorities are hoping is a trend.
The NTSB, which has no regulatory authority and can only ask other agencies to act, said the recommendation is designed to put pressure on NHTSA to move. It could be effective as early as three years from now.
“We need NHTSA to act. We see the numbers,” NTSB Chairman Jennifer Homendy said. “We need to make sure that we’re doing all we can to save lives.”
The NTSB, she said, has been pushing NHTSA to explore alcohol monitoring technology since 2012. “The faster the technology is implemented the more lives that will be saved,” she said.
The recommendation also calls for systems to monitor a driver’s behavior, making sure they’re alert. She said many cars now have cameras pointed at the driver, which have the potential to limit impaired driving.
But Homendy says she also understands that perfecting the alcohol tests will take time. “We also know that it’s going to take time for NHTSA to evaluate what technologies are available and how to develop a standard.”
A message was left Tuesday seeking comment from NHTSA.
The agency and a group of 16 automakers have been jointly funding research on alcohol monitoring since 2008, forming a group called Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety.
The group has hired a Swedish company to research technology that would automatically test a driver’s breath for alcohol and stop a vehicle from moving if the driver is impaired, said Jake McCook, spokesman for the group. The driver wouldn’t have to blow into a tube, and a sensor would check the driver’s breath, McCook said.
Another company is working on light technology that could test for blood alcohol in a person’s finger, he said. Breath technology could be ready by the end of 2024, while the touch technology would come about a year later.
It could take one or two more model years after automakers get the technology for it to be in new vehicles, McCook said.
Once the technology is ready, it will take years for it to be in most of the roughly 280 million vehicles on U.S. roads.
Under last year’s bipartisan infrastructure law, Congress required NHTSA to make automakers install alcohol monitoring systems within three years. The agency can seek an extension. In the past it has been slow to enact such requirements.
The legislation doesn’t specify the technology, only that it must “passively monitor” a driver to determine if they are impaired.
In 2020, the most recent figures available, 11,654 people died in alcohol-related crashes, according to NHTSA data. That’s about 30% of all U.S. traffic deaths, and a 14% increase over 2019 figures, the last full year before the coronavirus pandemic, the NTSB said.
In the fatal crash included in the report, a 28-year-old driver of an SUV was headed home from a 2021 New Year’s Day party where he had been drinking. The SUV went off the right side of State Route 33, crossed the center line and hit a Ford F-150 pickup truck head-on near Avenal, California.
The pickup was carrying 34-year-old Gabriela Pulido and seven children ages 6 to 15 home after a trip to Pismo Beach. The truck quickly caught fire and bystanders couldn’t save the passengers, the NTSB said.
The SUV driver’s blood alcohol level was 0.21%, nearly three times California’s legal limit. He also had marijuana in his system, but the agency said the alcohol was more than enough to severely impair his driving. The SUV was traveling 88-to-98 miles per hour (142 to 158 kilometers per hour), the report said.
The crash happened less than a second from when the Journey re-entered the road, giving Pulido no time to avoid the collision, the NTSB said.
Juan Pulido, 37, whose wife and four children were killed in the crash, said he’s happy the NTSB is pushing for alcohol monitoring because it could stop another person from losing loved ones. “It’s something that their families have to live with,” he said. “It doesn’t go away tomorrow.”
Pulido’s lawyer, Paul Kiesel, says driver monitoring systems also could stop crashes caused by medical problems or drowsiness, saving anguish and billions in hospital treatment costs.
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JERUSALEM (AP) — A coalition of lawyers and advocacy groups said Tuesday it has referred the fatal shooting of Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh to the International Criminal Court on behalf of her family, calling on prosecutors to investigate what it described as Israel’s deliberate targeting of the veteran reporter.
Palestinian officials, Abu Akleh’s family and Al Jazeera accuse Israel of intentionally targeting and killing the 51-year-old journalist, who was wearing a helmet and a protective vest marked with the word “press” when she was shot last May in the occupied West Bank.
An international research group also presented its investigation into the fatal shooting, implicating an Israeli soldier in her death and alleging that the timing and trajectory of the bullets suggest Abu Akleh was deliberately targeted. Israel has acknowledged that Israeli fire probably killed Abu Akleh, but vigorously denied allegations that a soldier intentionally targeted her.
That point of contention has become central to Palestinian efforts to hold Israel accountable for the shooting. Abu Akleh’s advocates said on Tuesday they have added her case to a legal complaint taken by the ICC that accuses Israel of deliberately killing and wounding Palestinian journalists wearing press vests in the West Bank and Gaza.
“Our family shouldn’t have to wait another day for justice,” Anton Abu Akleh, Shireen’s brother, told reporters from The Hague. “No other Palestinian-American or journalist family should have to endure what ours has.”
Filing a complaint with the court does not guarantee that prosecutors will open an investigation. If opened, such an investigation could take years, with actual prosecution far off.
ICC prosecutors opened a preliminary examination into allegations of war crimes by Israel in Gaza and the occupied West Bank in 2015, but did not begin a formal investigation until last year. It is not known how long that probe will last.
Abu Akleh had covered the West Bank for Al Jazeera for two decades and was a household name in the Middle East. Her death sparked outrage across the world, throwing a spotlight on Israel’s operations in the West Bank. Some 90 Palestinians have been killed in nightly Israeli arrest raids in recent months, many of them said to be militants or Palestinian youth protesting the raids, making it the deadliest year in the occupied territory since 2016.
This month Israel acknowledged for the first time there was a “high probability” that one of its soldiers had mistakenly killed Abu Akleh during a raid in the northern West Bank. However, the military stopped short of accepting full responsibility and said no one would be punished for the shooting. Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid also rebuffed U.S. calls for Israel to review its open-fire policies.
Israel has claimed that its soldiers were battling Palestinian gunmen at the time, though witness accounts and amateur video have shown the area was quiet in the moments before her shooting.
On Tuesday from The Hague, the London-based group Forensic Architecture, working with the Palestinian human rights group Al Haq, presented a video reconstruction of the moments leading up to Abu Akleh’s killing.
Relying on what they said was previously unseen footage collected from Al Jazeera and interviews with witnesses, the groups traced at least 13 bullets allegedly fired from an Israeli armored vehicle some 200 meters (yards) up the road from Abu Akleh and her colleagues in the Jenin refugee camp. An analysis of the bullets’ trajectory, four of which struck a tree beside Abu Akleh, suggests “careful and precise aim” by the shooter who repeatedly targeted the journalists “in rapid succession,” the groups found.
“All shots were aimed above the shoulders and intended to kill,” they added, noting that a reconstruction of a soldier’s line of sight through an assault rifle’s optical scope indicated the journalists’ vests emblazoned with the word “press” would be visible. Footage also showed that a civilian attempting to help Abu Akleh, who was slumped on the ground, was targeted each time he entered the shooter’s line of sight, suggesting Israeli forces prevented Abu Akleh from receiving medical care, the groups said.
Israel has designated Al Haq as a terrorist organization over its alleged ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine — a secular, left-wing movement with a political party as well as an armed wing that has carried out attacks against Israelis.
A series of investigations by international media organizations, including The Associated Press, have found that Israeli troops most likely fired the fatal bullet. The United States concluded that an Israeli soldier likely killed her by mistake, but it did not explain how it reached that conclusion.
Israel had previously said only a forensic analysis of the bullet that killed Abu Akleh could confirm whether it was fired by an Israeli soldier or a Palestinian militant. However, a U.S.-led analysis of the bullet last July was inconclusive as investigators said the bullet had been badly damaged.
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| 2022-09-21T07:16:26Z
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PITTSBURGH (AP) — The long-delayed capital murder trial of Robert Bowers in the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue massacre will begin in April, a federal judge has ruled.
Robert Bowers, a Baldwin resident who has pleaded not guilty, could be sentenced to death if convicted of the shootings. He faces more than 60 federal charges stemming from the Oct. 27, 2018, attack at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh that killed 11 worshippers in the deadliest attack on Jewish people in U.S. history.
U.S. District Judge Robert Colville issued an order Monday setting the trial date for April 24, when jury selection will begin.
Bowers, armed with a rifle and three handguns, is accused of shooting 18 people and trading gunfire with officers, getting shot three times before he was taken into police custody. His social media history included posts about a false conspiracy theory that the Holocaust was a hoax and expressed contempt for a nonprofit Jewish group that helps refugees.
Bowers’ lawyers have long sought a deal for him to plead guilty and get a life sentence if the government would take the death penalty off the table. They and prosecutors have been sparring over pretrial motions and discovery issues for years.
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| 2022-09-21T07:16:38Z
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UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The head of the United Nations had just warned of a world gone badly wrong — a place where inequity was on the rise, war was back in Europe, fragmentation was everywhere, the pandemic was pushing onward and technology was tearing things apart as much as it was uniting them.
“Our world is in big trouble. Divides are growing deeper. Inequalities are growing wider. Challenges are spreading farther,” Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Tuesday morning as he opened the general debate at the 77th U.N. General Assembly. And he was, on all counts, incontrovertibly correct.
Yet barely an hour later, here were two U.N. delegates — one Asian, one African — grinning and standing in the sun-dappled lobby of the U.N. Secretariat Building, thrilled to be there in person on this particular morning as they snapped photos of each other, laughing along the way as they captured the moment.
Hope: It can be hard to find anywhere these days, much less for the people who walk the floors of the United Nations, where shouldering the world’s weight is central to the job description. After all, this is an institution that listened last year as the president of the not-yet-at-war nation of Ukraine described it as being “like a retired superhero who has long forgotten how great they once were.”
And when world leaders are trying to solve some of humanity’s thorniest problems — or, to be frank, sometimes to impede solutions to those same problems — it’s easy, from a distance, to lose sight of hope through the haze of negative adjectives.
Yet beneath the layers of existential gloom Tuesday — and this is no doubt a pandemic-exhausted group of people representing a world in a really bad mood from so many disquieting challenges — there were signs of brightness poking through like persistent clovers in the sidewalk cracks.
“For each and every one of us, the U.N. is a unique platform for dialogue and for cooperation,” Swiss President Ignazio Cassis said. Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. spoke of his country being an “optimistic” nation for whom “solutions are within our collective grasp.”
And David Kabua, president of the ocean-besieged Marshall Islands — a man who has little reason to express optimism these days — came to the United Nations and spoke of “this iconic hall, the symbol of humanity’s hope and aspiration for world peace, prosperity, and international cooperation.”
“As humanity strives to defend freedom and build lasting peace, the U.N.’s role is indispensable,” said South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.
There were many other such moments Tuesday. Taken together, they are noteworthy: There seems a collective sense — echoed by leader after leader in different, sometimes oblique ways — that even when it disappoints or falters, the United Nations must be a place of hope amid the cold-eyed pragmatism.
Why is that? Part of it is the unswerving commitment since the U.N.’s very beginnings to the principle of multilateralism, a $10 word for playing nicely with each other. And to play nicely when your feuds are ancient or bloody or seemingly insurmountable — to even try — requires hope.
That’s always been true, though. There’s also something else, something unique to this year, to this moment. In the frightening early pandemic days of 2020, the U.N. General Assembly was all virtual, and leaders stayed home and made videos. Last year, despite a theme of “Building Resilience Through Hope,” the hybrid General Assembly produced spotty leader attendance and little sense of the world congregating.
Now, though the pandemic persists, the U.N. grounds are alive with people from most of the planet’s backgrounds and traditions, interacting and talking and generally doing what the United Nations was built to do — take nations and turn them into people, as the late Sen. William Fulbright used to say.
Even when nothing is in session, they’re doing what the whole outfit was designed to do — figuring out, bit by bit, what the world should look like.
“It’s the only place in international organizations where there is this effort to define what is collectively shared,” says Katie Laatikainen, a professor of political science and international relations at Adelphi University in Garden City, New York, who studies the United Nations.
“They’re working to figure out what it means to be part of the international community,” she says. “They’ve learned the language of appealing to the `we,’ and it encourages others to define the `we’ and commit to the `we.’”
Guterres made sure to infuse that sensibility as he opened the proceedings with his doom-saturated speech. He told of a ship called the Brave Commander, loaded with Ukrainian grain and — helped by the warring nations of Ukraine and Russia — headed for the Horn of Africa, where it can help prevent famine.
It flew under a U.N. flag, and Guterres said it and the dozens of ships that followed were not only carrying grain; they were carrying “one of today’s rarest commodities” — hope.
“By acting as one,” he said, “we can nurture fragile shoots of hope.”
So, no: Hope is not absent at the United Nations this week. That much is certain. It’s contained, it’s muted, it’s tentative. But it is there, gossamer though it might be — even if some might find the notion naive. “Our opportunity is here and now,” said the president of the General Assembly, Csaba Kőrösi of Hungary.
The world, after all, is not an easy place. Was it ever? As the second secretary-general of the United Nations, Dag Hammarskjöld, understood that. “The United Nations was not created in order to bring us to heaven,” he said, “but in order to save us from hell.”
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Ted Anthony, AP’s director of new storytelling and newsroom innovation, has been writing about international affairs since 1995 and has supervised U.N. General Assembly coverage since 2017. Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/anthonyted and, for more AP coverage of the UNGA, visit https://apnews.com/hub/united-nations-general-assembly
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| 2022-09-21T07:16:44Z
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ROME (AP) — Belgian bishops on Tuesday published a proposed text for a prayer liturgy for same-sex couples that includes prayers, Scriptural readings and expressions of commitment, despite a 2021 Vatican directive barring church blessings for gay couples.
The Flemish-speaking bishops stressed that the “moment of prayer” was by no means akin to a sacramental marriage, which Catholic doctrine says is a lifelong union between a man and woman. Rather, they said their proposal is part of the Belgian church’s effort to be more responsive to its gay members and to “create a climate of respect, recognition and integration.” They cited Pope Francis’ call for the church to be more welcoming to gays.
The publication of the text, first reported by the Dutch newspaper Nederlands Dagblad, marks the latest salvo in efforts by more progressive churches to extend greater outreach to gays, led by the German church and its controversial “synodal” process of dialogue with the German laity.
Catholic teaching holds that gays must be treated with dignity and respect, but that homosexual acts are “intrinsically disordered.”
Last year, the Vatican’s doctrine office decreed that the church cannot bless same-sex unions “because God cannot bless sin.”
The proposed Belgian ceremony includes an “opening word, opening prayer, Scripture reading” as well as the texts of two proposed prayers — one committing both parties to themselves and the other, a prayer of the community for the couple — and ends with the “Our Father prayer, a closing prayer and a blessing.”
Tommy Scholtes, spokesman for Belgium’s bishops conference, denied the proposal amounted to a “blessing” much less a sacramental marriage. He said it was part of the Belgian bishops’ decision to create contact people within each diocese in charge of pastoral care for gays.
With such “point of contacts” created, Scholtes said there will be “an opportunity for homosexual couples to pray together, and others will also be able to pray for them.”
“But there is no blessing, no exchange of consent, there is nothing like a marriage,” he told The Associated Press.
The text of the proposed commitment prayer suggests that the couple thank God for letting them find each other and pledge to be there for one another throughout their lives. The community then responds with a prayer of its own, praying for God’s grace to “make their commitment to each other strong and faithful.”
The Rev. James Martin, who has championed greater church outreach to the LGBTQ community, said the Flemish-language text suggests a blessing.
Given a same-sex couple in the prayer, “then you are asking God to be with same-sex partners not only in the home they share, but in what the prayer calls their ‘commitment,’” Martin said. “So, unless I’m missing something in the translation, while the prayer is not a formal ratification of same-sex marriage, when you invoke the mercy of God on anyone, you are asking God to bless them.”
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Petrequin reported from Brussels.
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| 2022-09-21T07:16:50Z
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SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico politician and Trump supporter who was removed and barred from elected office for his role in the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, is attempting to appeal that decision to the state Supreme Court.
Cowboys for Trump cofounder and former county commissioner Couy Griffin on Tuesday notified the high court of his intent to appeal.
The ruling against Griffin this month from a Santa Fe-based District Court was the first to remove or bar an elected official from office in connection with the attack on the U.S. Capitol building that disrupted Congress as it was trying to certify President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory.
Griffin was previously convicted in federal court of a misdemeanor for entering the Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, without going inside the building. He was sentenced to 14 days and given credit for time served.
Griffin has invoked free speech guarantees in his defense and says his banishment from public office disenfranchises his political constituents in Otero County.
He was barred from office under provisions of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which holds that anyone who has taken an oath to uphold the Constitution can be barred from office for engaging in insurrection or rebellion. The provisions were put in place shortly after the Civil War.
A flurry of similar lawsuits around the country are seeking to use the provision to punish politicians who took part in Jan. 6.
Griffin says he continues to act as his own legal counsel in the case.
“Honestly I have felt very abandoned by many,” Griffin said.
Conservative activists aligned with Griffin have urged supporters to file disciplinary complaints against the judge who barred Griffin from office.
Griffin, a 48-year-old former rodeo rider and former pastor, helped found Cowboys for Trump in 2019. The promotional group staged horseback parades to spread President Donald Trump’s conservative message about gun rights, immigration controls and abortion restrictions.
This year, Griffin voted twice as a county commissioner against certifying New Mexico’s June 7 primary election, in a standoff over election integrity fueled by conspiracy theories about the security of voting equipment in the Republican-dominated county.
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| 2022-09-21T07:16:56Z
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NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Cyprus has assisted in rescue of a small wooden boat crammed with more than 300 migrants that was floating adrift 203 kilometers (126 miles) west of the island nation, a Cypriot official said Tuesday.
Cyprus Joint Rescue Coordination Center (JRCC) Commander Andreas Charalambides told the Associated Press that the captain of the 18-meter (60 foot) boat sent out a distress call Monday afternoon after experiencing engine trouble.
A helicopter and three naval and police patrol vessels were scrambled to offer assistance to the boat that Charalambides said had departed from Lebanon three days ago and was trying to reach Italy with many women and children aboard.
Authorities couldn’t immediately determine the nationality of the migrants aboard the boat but there was no indication that any had experienced any health issues, Charalambides said. All the migrants were safely transferred aboard the Marshall Islands-flagged cargo ship Paolo Topic which was in the vicinity.
Charalambides said authorities had asked the captain of the 250-meter (820-foot) Paolo Topic to set sail for the Cypriot port of Limassol so that the migrants could disembark. But he said the captain opted, under the directions of the company that owns the ship, to head to his original destination of Istanbul.
In a separate rescue mission Tuesday, JRCC spokesman Andreas Zachariou said two patrol boats intercepted a boat with 177 migrants aboard about 56 kilometers (35 miles) off the southern coastal town of Larnaca. The boat, which included 67 women and children, had departed from Lebanon.
Zachariou said all the migrants are in good health and are in the process of being transferred to a migrants’ reception facility on the island.
Once a country that received refugees, Lebanon has become a launching pad for dangerous migration by sea to Europe. As the country’s economic crisis deepened, more Lebanese, as well as Syrian and Palestinian refugees have set off to sea, with security agencies reporting foiled migration attempts almost weekly.
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| 2022-09-21T07:17:03Z
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DETROIT (AP) — Detroit sued the U.S. Census Bureau on Tuesday over population estimates from last year that show it lost an additional 7,100 residents, opening another front against the agency in a battle over how the city’s people have been counted in the past two years.
Mayor Mike Duggan told reporters that the city wants the Census Bureau to reveal how it produced its population loss estimates for Detroit. Duggan claimed the bureau was going against its own policy by refusing to divulge to Detroit the way the estimates for the city were calculated and not allowing challenges this year.
The lawsuit appears to be the first litigation to challenge population results since the release of 2020 census data, which traditionally has formed the foundation of the annual population estimates.
The Census Bureau’s refusal this year to consider evidence that the 2021 population estimates were wrong perpetuates racial inequality and threatens the city’s reputation, Detroit said in its lawsuit.
“The Bureau’s failure to consider evidence of its inaccurate 2021 estimate costs the City and its residents millions of dollars of funding to which they are entitled while threatening the City’s historic turnaround by advancing the narrative that Detroit is losing population,” the lawsuit said.
The Census Bureau said in an emailed statement that it doesn’t comment on litigation.
The bureau two years ago temporarily suspended its program allowing local governments to challenge their population estimates so more resources could be devoted to the execution of the once-a-decade census. The program isn’t expected to resume until next year.
Detroit’s lawsuit follows the city’s appeal of the 2020 census data that showed Detroit with 639,111 residents, while estimates from 2019 put the city’s population at 670,052 residents.
Undercounts from the census and population estimates could cost Detroit tens of millions of dollars in federal funding over the next decade. Over the past decade or so, the city has received around $3.5 billion in annual federal funding tied to census figures.
“We have absolutely no idea what formula they could have possibly used,” Duggan said Tuesday. “We don’t know what formula they used because they won’t tell us.”
Duggan said 14 new apartment buildings opened in Detroit last year. DTE Energy has said 7,544 new utility accounts have been added, while the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department said new service has been added to 6,964 housing units, he added.
The U.S. Postal Service also has said it is delivering mail to 4,475 more residences in the city, according to Duggan.
“It’s now clear the data coming out of the U.S. Census Bureau is completely divorced from reality,” he said. “We’re drawing a line in the sand, and we’re going to try to force accuracy out of these guys one way or the other. ”
“I think what the formula would show — it would show the error in their calculations, but if we get a formula that turns out they’re right, we’ll admit they’re right,” Duggan added.
Because of delays in releasing the 2020 census numbers, the Census Bureau broke with tradition and didn’t rely only on census figures for creating the foundation of its 2021 estimates of the U.S. population. Instead, statisticians “blended” the 2020 census numbers with other data sets to form the base of the annual population estimates used to help distribute $1.5 trillion in federal funding each year and measure annual population change through 2030.
Detroit is among several large cities to file a challenge of their figures from the 2020 census, following a national head count in which the Census Bureau acknowledged that a higher percentage of African Americans and Hispanics were undercounted than the previous decade. About 77% of Detroit’s residents are African American, and Hispanics make up almost 8% of the population.
Leaders of Michigan’s largest city had questioned the results of the 2020 census since December 2021, when they released a report suggesting that more than 8% of the occupied homes in 10 Detroit neighborhoods may have been undercounted.
Duggan has said in a letter to the Census Bureau that insufficient resources and not enough census takers were devoted to the count in Detroit, resulting in an undercount of unoccupied homes that could amount to tens of thousands of residents being overlooked.
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Schneider reported from Orlando, Florida.
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SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — South Dakota’s ethics board won’t publicly disclose the “appropriate action” it took after finding evidence Gov. Kristi Noem intervened with a state agency to influence her daughter’s application for a real estate appraiser license, a lawyer for the board told The Associated Press.
The state’s Government Accountability Board was created to provide a check on any misconduct by state officials, and the question of whether to discipline the Republican governor presented its first major test.
A lawyer hired by the board, Mark Haigh, responded to an open records request by telling the AP this week that the board’s response would remain “confidential.”
The board’s three retired judges considering the complaint voted unanimously last month to find that there was evidence that Noem, who is considered a potential 2024 White House contender, engaged in a conflict of interest and malfeasance when she held a meeting in July 2020 that included her daughter, Kassidy Peters, and key decision-makers in Peters’ licensure just days after the agency had moved to deny her a license. After the meeting, Peters got another opportunity to demonstrate she could meet federal standards and was ultimately awarded the license.
But the board appeared to let Noem decide whether to defend herself in a public hearing, known as a contested case hearing, or simply accept the “appropriate action” and let the matter quietly die. As a deadline passed last week to contest the board’s finding, Noem stayed silent, and the board’s lawyer says the case remains closed.
“This all looks like, frankly, an ethics board trying to engage in a cover-up,” said Kathleen Clark, a law professor who specializes in government ethics at the Washington University in St. Louis School of Law.
After reviewing the board’s statutes, Clark pointed out that South Dakota law says the board “shall” conduct a contested case hearing if the board members vote that there is enough evidence to believe an official engaged in misconduct. That vote then triggers a statute that makes the board’s files open to the public.
“This appears to be an end-run around the required transparency and disclosure,” Clark added.
The board’s attorney said by email that the board has “maintained confidentiality where required by the statute” and is “confident that it has interpreted the statutes correctly.”
He also took issue with Clark’s assertion that the board appeared to be engaged in a “cover-up,” saying that the two retired judges and retired justice of the state Supreme Court “are highly respected in the legal community and have served on this Board on a volunteer basis. They have absolutely no reason for a cover-up as you allege.”
Board members on Tuesday either did not respond to a request for comment on their action or referred questions to the attorney.
The board, which deliberated over the complaints for nearly a year in a series of closed-door meetings, has never handled such a high-profile case since its inception in 2017. It has navigated untested laws that could not anticipate the context around the complaint: Jason Ravnsborg, who was facing pressure from Noem to resign as attorney general for his conduct in a fatal car crash, announced he was filing the complaint to the board shortly after the AP reported on Noem’s hands-on role in her daughter’s licensure.
The South Dakota Legislature’s audit committee, controlled by Republicans, also unanimously approved a report in May that found Noem’s daughter got preferential treatment.
Board members have previously said the laws governing it are not clearly laid out.
Karen Soli, a former Democratic state lawmaker who helped create the board, suggested that the board is supposed to have some discretion, describing it as “a quiet, behind-the-scenes way to let someone know that they were doing something wrong in state government.”
The board is allowed under the law to issue a private reprimand. But the statute says it may take that action at the conclusion of a contested case hearing and after it has determined, by a majority vote, that there has been misconduct.
John Pelissero, a scholar at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, said it was best practice for ethics boards “to be as transparent as possible” once they take action.
Across states and local governments, ethics boards follow a variety of procedures, he said, but added: “Most announce the final actions to the public.”
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| 2022-09-21T07:17:21Z
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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A former Minneapolis police officer who pleaded guilty to a state charge of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter in the killing of George Floyd is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday.
Thomas Lane is already serving a 2 1/2-year federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights. When it comes to the state’s case, prosecutors and Lane’s attorneys agreed to a recommended sentence of three years, and prosecutors agreed to allow him to serve that penalty at the same time as his federal sentence, and in a federal prison.
It’s expected that Lane will get a state sentence that coincides with his federal time. Wednesday’s sentencing hearing will be held remotely, and Lane will appear via video from the Federal Correctional Institution Englewood, the low-security federal prison camp in Littleton, Colorado.
Floyd, 46, died in May 2020 after Officer Derek Chauvin, who is white, pinned him to the ground with a knee on Floyd’s neck as the Black man repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe. Lane, who is white, held down Floyd’s legs. J. Alexander Kueng, who is Black, knelt on Floyd’s back, and Tou Thao, who is Hmong American, kept bystanders from intervening during the 9 1/2-minute restraint.
The killing, captured on widely viewed bystander video, sparked protests in Minneapolis and around the globe as part of a reckoning over racial injustice.
Chauvin was convicted of murder and manslaughter and was given a 22 1/2-year state sentence in 2021. He also pleaded guilty to a federal count of violating Floyd’s civil rights, and his state and federal sentences are being served at the same time.
Kueng and Thao were also convicted on federal civil rights charges and were sentenced to three and 3 1/2 years respectively. They have not yet reported to federal prison, and are scheduled to go to trial on state charges of aiding and abetting both murder and manslaughter in October.
When Lane pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter earlier this year, he admitted that he intentionally helped restrain Floyd in a way that created an unreasonable risk and caused his death. As part of the plea agreement, a more serious count of aiding and abetting second-degree unintentional murder was dismissed.
In his plea agreement, Lane admitted that he knew from his training that restraining Floyd in that way created a serious risk of death, and that he heard Floyd say he couldn’t breathe, knew Floyd fell silent, had no pulse and appeared to have lost consciousness.
The plea agreement says Lane knew Floyd should have been rolled onto his side — and evidence shows he asked twice if that should be done — but he continued to assist in the restraint despite the risk. Lane agreed the restraint was “unreasonable under the circumstances and constituted an unlawful use of force.”
Lane did not speak at his federal sentencing and it was not clear if he would speak on Wednesday, though he has a right to make a statement.
___
Find AP’s full coverage of the killing of George Floyd at: https://apnews.com/hub/death-of-george-floyd
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| 2022-09-21T07:17:27Z
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MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Department of Justice has charged 48 people in Minnesota in what prosecutors have called a $250 million scheme to defraud a federal meals program.
Prosecutors said just a fraction of the money went toward feeding kids, with the rest laundered through shell companies and spent on property, luxury cars and travel.
Here’s a look at how the alleged scheme worked, according to court documents:
ROOTS OF THE ALLEGED SCHEME
The defendants are accused of targeting federal child nutrition programs that provide free meals to low-income children and adults. The money comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, with oversight from state governments. In Minnesota, the funds are administered by the state Department of Education, with meals historically provided to kids through schools and day care centers. Sites that serve the food are sponsored by authorized public or nonprofit groups.
Some standard program requirements were relaxed during the COVID-19 pandemic; for-profit restaurants were allowed to participate, and food could be distributed outside educational programs.
Minnesota U.S. Attorney Andy Luger said Tuesday that a small group of people came up with a plan to exploit the relaxed rules and steal tens of millions of dollars by falsely claiming they were providing food to children.
Others soon joined, and the scheme grew to become what Luger called the largest pandemic-related fraud in the U.S.
HOW IT ALLEGEDLY WORKED
Several companies applied to provide meals to low-income children, many using Feeding Our Future as a sponsor to seek funding, according to court documents.
Authorities allege Feeding our Future employees recruited others to open program sites across Minnesota that inflated the number of children and meals they were serving, or didn’t serve any at all. The nonprofit then submitted false claims for reimbursement, receiving an administrative fee of 10% to 15% in addition to kickbacks from people who wanted to join the scheme, the charges allege.
The charges say the scheme used shell companies that falsified invoices showing meals were served and submitted fake attendance rosters purporting to list the names and ages of children being fed each day.
The FBI says one company claimed to be serving meals to 300 kids a day in January 2021. By February 2021, the group claimed it was providing daily meals for 3,290 children. In all, the group got $3.6 million in reimbursements in 2021, according to an FBI affidavit. Nearly that much was deposited into its bank account, then most of it went to another company. Little was used to buy food.
FEEDING OUR FUTURE
Feeding Our Future was formed in 2016 to help poor and minority communities secure federal food program funding. The nonprofit quickly became the largest independent sponsor of such programs in Minnesota.
Founder Aimee Bock told the Star Tribune this year that she employed 65 staff members who spoke 17 languages, and was working with 140 subcontractors to distribute 100,000 meals a day to Minnesota children.
An FBI affidavit traced the nonprofit’s rising reimbursements: $307,000 in 2018, $3.45 million in 2019, $42.7 million in 2020 and $197.9 million in 2021.
Bock said she never stole money and saw no evidence of fraud among her subcontractors. Feeding Our Future was dissolved in February.
POSSIBLE RED FLAGS
Court documents say the Department of Education grew concerned about the rapid growth in reimbursements and the number of sites sponsored by Feeding Our Future. The department said it reached out to the USDA in the summer of 2020 and began scrutinizing the nonprofit’s site applications. In one case, the agency denied an application for a group that claimed in March 2021 it was serving an after-school snack and supper to 5,000 kids a day; the FBI characterized this as “an exceedingly large number of children.”
The Department of Education went to the FBI in April 2021, and the FBI began investigating the following month. Last January, officers raided several properties including Feeding Our Future’s offices and Bock’s home.
Feeding Our Future received $244 million in federal reimbursements through the food nutrition programs between 2018 and 2021, the FBI said. Department of Education data puts the nonprofit’s total reimbursements at $268.4 million in the same years.
Charging documents made public Tuesday say Feeding our Future fraudulently obtained and disbursed more than $240 million in program funds during the pandemic.
Prosecutors say almost none of the money went to feed children, but was instead used to buy real estate, cars, and other luxury items including a half-million-dollar apartment in Kenya, lakeside homes in Minnesota, expensive trips and multiple properties in Minneapolis.
OTHER LEGAL BATTLES
After the Department of Education increased its scrutiny, Feeding Our Future sued the agency in November 2020. Feeding Our Future alleged discrimination, among other things, saying many of the groups it works with are in minority communities.
By December 2020, the Department of Education stopped approving new site applications for Feeding Our Future. By the following March, the department halted all payments to the group. But in April 2021, a state judge ruled that the agency didn’t have the authority to stop payments and ordered that the reimbursements continue. The case was dismissed after the FBI investigation became public in January.
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| 2022-09-21T07:17:33Z
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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Hurricane Fiona threatened to strengthen into a Category 4 storm Wednesday as it lashed the Turks and Caicos Islands and was forecast to squeeze past Bermuda later this week.
The storm was blamed for causing at least four direct deaths in its march through the Caribbean, where it unleashed torrential rain in Puerto Rico, leaving a majority without power or water as hundreds of thousands of people scraped mud out of their homes following what authorities described as “historic” flooding.
Power company officials initially said it would take a couple of days for electricity to be fully restored but then appeared to backtrack late Tuesday night.
“Hurricane Fiona has severely impacted electrical infrastructure and generation facilities throughout the island. We want to make it very clear that efforts to restore and reenergize continue and are being affected by severe flooding, impassable roads, downed trees, deteriorating equipment, and downed lines,” said Luma, the company that operates power transmission and distribution.
The hum of generators could be heard across the island as people became increasingly exasperated, with some still trying to recover from Hurricane Maria, which hit as a Category 4 storm five years ago, killing an estimated 2,975 people in its aftermath.
Luis Noguera, who was helping clear a landslide in the central mountain town of Cayey, said Maria left him without power for a year.
“We paid an electrician out of our own pocket to connect us,” he recalled, adding that he doesn’t think the government will be of much help again after Fiona.
Long lines were reported at several gas stations across Puerto Rico, and some pulled off a main highway to collect water from a stream.
“We thought we had a bad experience with Maria, but this was worse,” said Gerardo Rodríguez, who lives in the southern coastal town of Salinas.
Parts of the island had received more than 25 inches (64 centimeters) of rain and more had fallen on Tuesday.
By late Tuesday, authorities said they had restored power to nearly 300,000 of the island’s 1.47 million customers, while water service was cut to more than 760,000 customers — two thirds of the total on the island.
The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency traveled to Puerto Rico on Tuesday as the agency announced it was sending hundreds of additional personnel to boost local response efforts.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services declared a public health emergency on the island and deployed a couple of teams to the U.S. territory.
In the Turks and Caicos Islands, officials reported minimal damage and no deaths despite the storm’s eye passing close to Grand Turk, the small British territory’s capital island, on Tuesday morning.
Th government had imposed a curfew and urged people to flee flood-prone areas.
“Turks and Caicos had a phenomenal experience over the past 24 hours,” said Deputy Gov. Anya Williams. “It certainly came with its share of challenges.”
Late Tuesday night, Fiona was centered about 95 miles (155 kilometers) north of NORTH CAICOS ISLAND, with hurricane-force winds extending up to 30 miles (45 kilometers) from the center. It had maximum sustained winds of 125 mph (205 kph) and was moving north at 8 mph (13 kph), according to the Hurricane Center, which said the storm was likely to strengthen into a Category 4 hurricane as it approaches Bermuda on Friday.
The storm killed a man in the French Caribbean territory of Guadeloupe, another man in Puerto Rico who was swept away by a swollen river and two people in the Dominican Republic: one killed by a falling tree and the other by a falling electric post.
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Associated Press videographer Alejandro Granadillo contributed to this report.
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| 2022-09-21T07:17:39Z
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UNITED NATIONS (AP) — French President Emanuel Macron admonished countries Tuesday not to stay neutral about condemning Russia’s war in Ukraine as he declared that Moscow’s invasion amounts to a new form of imperialism.
Speaking to the U.N. General Assembly gathering of world leaders, Macron also insisted that any negotiation to end the more than six-month-old war can succeed only “if Ukraine’s sovereignty is respected, its territory liberated and its security protected.”
The war in Ukraine — and its effects on food prices, fuel costs, Ukrainian nuclear power plants, and the larger context of tensions between Russia and the West — is looming over the annual gathering of presidents, prime ministers, monarchs and other dignitaries. Neither Russia nor Ukraine has yet had its turn to speak during the nearly weeklong series of speeches.
Macron made the war the centerpiece of his speech, arguing that the conflict threatens to usher in a world where “the security and sovereignty of everyone no longer depends on a balance of strength, on the strength of alliances, but rather that of armed groups and militias.”
“Who here can defend the idea that the invasion of Ukraine justifies no sanction?” he asked. “Who of you here can consider that the day when something similar with a more powerful neighbor happens to you, there’ll be silence from the region, from the world?”
Speaking before him were leaders from Africa who said they do not want their continent to be “ the breeding ground of a new Cold War ” as nations pressure countries around the world take sides in the conflict.
So far, Africa has stayed somewhat neutral on Ukraine. The former Soviet Union backed many African movements that fought to end colonial rule, and Russia’s foreign minister has voiced support for reform of the U.N. Security Council to give African countries permanent seats and greater influence.
In two General Assembly votes soon after Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, about 140 of the U.N.’s member nations overwhelmingly deplored Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, called for an immediate cease-fire and withdrawal of all Russian forces, and urged protection for millions of civilians. But more than 30 countries abstained, including China, India and South Africa.
On April 7, some 58 nations abstained from voting on a measure calling for Russia’s suspension from the Human Rights Council. It passed, 93-24.
Macron called on the United Nations’ member countries “to act so that Russia rejects the path of war,” and he said that staying out of the matter isn’t an option.
“Those who are keeping silent today actually are, in a way, complicit with a cause of a new imperialism, a new order that is trampling over the current order, and there’s no peace possible here,” he said. “The war in Ukraine must not be a conflict that leaves anyone indifferent.”
“We’re not talking about choosing a camp here between the East and the West, between the North or the South, either,” the French president insisted. “What we’re talking about is everybody’s responsibility — everybody who’s committed to the respect of the (U.N.) Charter and our common, precious good: peace.”
Macron spoke shortly after Russian-controlled regions of eastern and southern Ukraine announced plans to start voting this week to become integral parts of Russia.
The Kremlin-backed votes, in territory Russia already controls, are virtually certain to go Moscow’s way. Western leaders who are backing Ukraine with military and other support have dismissed the votes as illegitimate.
“Russia declared war, it invaded this region, it bombed it, it killed people, it made other people flee, and now it explains that, in this same region, it is going to organize a referendum,” Macron told reporters before his speech. “If this were not tragic, we could laugh.”
___
Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer contributed to this report. For more AP coverage of the U.N. General Assembly, visit https://apnews.com/hub/united-nations-general-assembly
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| 2022-09-21T07:17:45Z
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PARIS (AP) — French authorities are investigating death threats against a Russian rights activist who exposes abuses in Russian prisons and says he was the target of a possible assassination attempt at his home in France.
Vladimir Osechkin, founder of prisoners’ rights group Gulagu.net, suspects Russian security services of trying to “shut his mouth” or scare him away from continuing his activism. His recent work has notably had links to the Ukraine war.
While carrying a plate of spaghetti to his two children in the Atlantic coast city of Biarritz last week, Osechkin said he saw a red dot appear on the wall, tracing his movements. The family dropped to the floor and went to a safe room. He said police and neighbors heard shots in the vicinity. No one was hurt.
“Me and my colleagues … are seen like enemies of (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, Putin’s regime,” Osechkin told The Associated Press on Tuesday. “He wants to destroy me.”
The prosecutor’s office for the region surrounding Biarritz issued a statement Tuesday saying that a preliminary investigation into death threats against the activist is underway as part of broader measures to ensure Osechkin’s protection.
“At this stage, there is no objective evidence that allows us to support the hypothesis of an assassination attempt that could have targeted Vladimir Osechkin last week,” the statement said.
Osechkin has been under French police protection for the past several months and had first reported death threats to police in March. He was warned Sept. 9 of a new possible threat to his life.
He said the incident on Sept. 12 could have been a “psychological attack” to scare him or a botched effort to kill him. He said he hopes further investigation clarifies what happened and who was behind it.
Russian officials have not publicly commented about him.
French local and national police and government ministries would not comment, citing the ongoing investigation.
Osechkin sought political asylum in France after fleeing Russia under pressure from authorities over his prison activism. Osechkin’s group routinely publishes videos and accounts of alleged torture and corruption in Russian prisons, and he was among the first to reveal that Russia’s military was recruiting prisoners to fight in Ukraine.
Gulagu.net also helped bring Russian fugitive paratrooper Pavel Filatiev to France last month. Filatiev served in the Ukraine war before being injured, and later published accounts online of what he saw, accusing the Russian military leadership of betraying their own troops out of incompetence and corruption.
While Osechkin described being accustomed to pressure from Russian authorities, he said the incident Sept. 12 made him consider for the first time stopping his work to protect his children. But he said giving up would only hand victory to Putin and his allies.
“It’s very difficult for us and to our family, but I think that we don’t have the choice. We need to stop Putin and his regime,” he said. “It’s not a battle against Putin. It’s a battle against totalitarianism. And we need to do something to win, to protect democracy and human rights and the future of the Russian Federation.”
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Follow AP coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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| 2022-09-21T07:17:51Z
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STATESBORO, Ga. (AP) — A biracial man who says he was fending off a racist attack on a Georgia highway when he fired a gun into a moving pickup truck and killed a teenage passenger was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison.
A judge imposed the maximum prison sentence for Marc Wilson, 23, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter last month by a Bulloch County jury in the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Haley Hutcheson. Prosecutors had unsuccessfully sought a conviction on felony murder charges.
Wilson’s attorneys insisted during his August trial that he was justified to shoot in self-defense when the pickup truck’s driver tried to run Wilson’s car off the road during the summer of 2020. Prosecutors argued Wilson had no legal grounds for firing a handgun in traffic and could have escaped if he was being harassed by another driver.
Superior Court Judge Ronnie Thompson rejected requests for leniency by Wilson’s attorneys, who noted that he had no prior criminal record. The judge said Wilson will receive credit for the 20 months he already served in jail awaiting trial, news outlets reported.
Defense attorneys acknowledged that Wilson fired the shot that killed Hutcheson, of Reidsville, on a bypass circling the southeast Georgia city of Statesboro the night of June 24, 2020. One of the bullets he fired pierced the truck’s rear window and struck Hutcheson in the head. She died after her friends rushed her to a hospital.
Wilson turned himself in and surrendered his gun to police three days after the shooting.
Prosecutors had charged Wilson with felony murder, arguing he caused Hutcheson’s death while committing another felony — aggravated assault — by firing his gun at the truck. The jury acquitted Wilson of both those charges and found him guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
Had Wilson been convicted of felony murder, he would have faced an automatic sentence of life in prison.
Wilson — the son of a Black father and white mother — and his white girlfriend had just picked up food from a Taco Bell about 12:30 a.m. when the pickup truck pulled alongside Wilson’s much smaller Ford Focus. Wilson told police the pickup truck tried to run his car off the road as white teenagers inside yelled racist slurs.
The driver of the pickup and two passengers who took the witness stand denied threatening or otherwise provoking Wilson. They also acknowledged that they had been drinking that night, but denied being drunk.
Emma Rigdon, Wilson’s girlfriend at the time, testified that she didn’t hear any racial slurs before the shooting. She recalled, however, being frightened when the pickup truck “started swerving into our lane” and forced Wilson’s car onto the shoulder of the highway.
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| 2022-09-21T07:17:57Z
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AMARILLO, Texas (AP) — A gunman shot three people, including two first responders, at the Tri-State Fair & Rodeo in Texas before he was shot and wounded by sheriff’s deputies, authorities said.
Just before 11 p.m. Monday, a man opened fire on Potter County deputies working off-duty at the fair in Amarillo, Potter County Sheriff Brian Thomas said.
Thomas said the “male suspect opened fire on the deputies, striking a deputy and an off-duty firefighter, also working at the fair, and a bystander.” Deputies returned fire, wounding the suspect.
The deputy, firefighter and bystander were transported to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries, authorities said. The gunman was taken to the hospital with injuries that were described as life-threatening.
Thomas did not identify any of the victims or the suspect. He did not offer a motive for the shooting, which is being investigated by the Texas Rangers.
Amarillo is about 365 miles (587 kilometers) northwest of Dallas.
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| 2022-09-21T07:18:03Z
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EAGLE PASS, Texas (AP) — It cost Nerio two months and everything he had to get from Venezuela to the U.S., traveling mainly by foot and watching as exhausted fellow migrants were assaulted or left behind to die.
Like an increasing number of Venezuelans, Nerio undertook a dangerous journey that included traveling through Panama’s notorious jungle, the Darien Gap, and Mexico, where migrants often face extortion and threats from government officials, in hopes of a better life in the U.S.
“We know that nobody wants us to make it here,” Nerio said last month in Eagle Pass, Texas, a city of 30,000 people that is at the center of the increase in Venezuelan migrants to the U.S. He asked that his last name not be published due to fears for his safety.
Last month, Venezuelans surpassed Guatemalans and Hondurans to become the second-largest nationality stopped at the U.S. border after Mexicans. Nerio, who traveled with about a dozen others fleeing poverty and violence in Venezuela, was among them.
Venezuelans were stopped 25,349 times, up 43% from 17,652 in July and four times the 6,301 encounters in August 2021, authorities said Monday, signaling a remarkably sudden demographic shift.
An estimated 6.8 million Venezuelans have fled their country since the economy tanked in 2014, mostly to Latin America and Caribbean countries. But the U.S. economy’s relative strength since the COVID-19 pandemic has caused Venezuelan migrants to look north. Also, U.S. policies and strained relations with the Venezuelan government make it extremely difficult to send send them home.
Word has spread in Venezuela as more family and neighbors reach Texas and are released with notices to appear in immigration court or on humanitarian parole.
“We hope that in a few years, the problems in Venezuela will be fixed so we can return to our home country, but until then we have to be migrants and endure what this journey will mean for us,” Nerio said.
The impact is reflected in daily headlines. About 50 migrants that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis flew to the upscale Massachusetts island of Martha’s Vineyard last week were Venezuelan, as were five of six men whom U.S. authorities found drowned in the Rio Grande near Eagle Pass in early September.
José, who asked to be identified only by his middle name due to fears for his safety, was on one of two DeSantis flights. He walked nearly three months before crossing the Rio Grande in an inflatable raft and surrendering to the Border Patrol.
While staying at a San Antonio migrant shelter, José met a woman promising at least three months of housing, a job, medical care, and free legal help. She told migrants they would be going to Washington, Chicago and other immigrant-friendly “sanctuary” cities.
“We imagined that she was a very important person, that she had lots of influence and could really help us,” said José, who needed to get to Philadelphia for a required check-in with immigration authorities at the end of September. “We believed in her. The ignorance of the immigrant.”
Yet when they reached Martha’s Vineyard, an enclave known as a summer vacation spot for former President Barack Obama, “Nobody was waiting for us, nobody knew who we were,” José, 27, said in a phone interview from a military base in Cape Cod, where Massachusetts Republican Gov. Charlie Baker moved them on Friday.
A Venezuelan family in Boston offered a room and food to José, who earned $20 a month as a garbage collector in Caracas and left his two children behind with his grandparents. He will let U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement know his new address and move his appointment with the agency to Boston.
“Now we are free, we can go anywhere we want,” said José. “I feel blessed by God.”
Venezuela has one of the world’s highest inflation rates and about three-quarters of the population lives on less than $1.90 a day, an international standard for extreme poverty. The monthly minimum wage, paid in bolivars despite a dollar-driven economy, is the equivalent of $15. Many lack access to clean, running water and electricity.
The pandemic made jobs across Latin America and Caribbean countries more scarce, and the U.S. more attractive as a place to live. At the same time, the United States’ strained relationship with Venezuela’s government makes it extremely challenging to expel Venezuelan migrants under a pandemic rule known as Title 42, which U.S. officials invoke to deny people a chance at seeking asylum on grounds of preventing the spread of COVID-19.
Mexico, under pressure from the Biden administration, introduced restrictions on air travel to limit Venezuelan migration to the United States, but many then shifted to the dangerous land journey.
Cuba and Nicaragua have also sent more migrants to the U.S. in the last year. Overall, migrants were stopped 203,597 times on the border in August, or 2.15 million times since October, topping 2 million for the first time in a government fiscal year.
Asked about immigration Tuesday, Biden said: “What’s on my watch now is Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua. The ability to send them back to those states is not rational.”
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro responded by saying the U.S. was “trying to politically use the suffering of a group of the Venezuelan population that, faced with sanctions and the economic war, made a personal decision to emigrate to other places.”
“North American imperialism tried to destroy our country and collapse it and Joe Biden appears today attacking Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua,” Maduro said during an event televised on state media.
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Salomon reported from Miami. Associated Press writers Regina Garcia Cano in Caracas, Venezuela, and Seung Min Kim in Washington contributed.
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| 2022-09-21T07:18:09Z
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A federal judge on Tuesday threw out three of four convictions against a Kansas researcher accused of illegally concealing work he was doing at a Chinese university while working at the University of Kansas, leaving only a conviction for making a false statement on a form.
A jury convicted researcher Feng “Franklin” Tao in April on three counts of wire fraud and one count of false statements. He was accused of not disclosing that he was working for Fuzhou University in China while employed at the Kansas university.
However, U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson ruled that federal prosecutors did not provide sufficient evidence to support the wire fraud convictions. She upheld the making a false statement conviction and denied Tao’s request for a new trial on that count.
Tao’s attorney, Peter Zeidenberg, said in a statement that the defense team was gratified that Robinson found Tao did not intend to defraud Kansas or the federal government, and that Tao was “an outstanding researcher and award-winning professor” at Kansas.
“This will hopefully drive a final stake through the heart of these China Initiative cases, where the government has claimed that the failure to disclose a relationship to China constitutes federal grant fraud even when the researcher has completed all of the work on the grant to the government’s complete satisfaction,” Zeidenberg wrote.
The U.S. Attorney’s office in Kansas said Tuesday it would have no comment on Robinson’s ruling.
Zeidenberg said the defense team is considering its next steps related to the filing a false statement conviction, which carries a possible sentence of up to five years.
Federal prosecutors argued during the trial that Tao concealed his work in China to defraud the University of Kansas, the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation. The federal agencies had awarded Tao grants for research projects at Kansas.
Defense attorneys argued that Tao was merely “moonlighting.” They said Tao completed all the research he received grants to conduct in Kansas and that his work in China wasn’t illegal because he wasn’t paid for it.
Robinson said Tao was deceptive in not disclosing his activities at Fuzhou University but there was no evidence Tao received money or property for the work, which is required for a wire fraud conviction.
“During the time period of the alleged scheme to defraud, Tao continued to rightfully receive his salary from KU for his services and continued to successfully perform the research required by DOE and NSF under their research grants,” Robinson wrote.
She said Tao did make a false statement to Kansas on a conflict of interest statement he submitted to the university in 2018.
The case against Tao was part of the U.S. Justice Department’s China Initiative, a program started in 2018 to crack down on efforts to transfer original ideas and intellectual property from U.S. universities to Chinese government institutions. The department ended the program in February amid public criticism and several failed prosecutions.
Tao did not disclose on conflict of interest forms that he was named to a Chinese talent program, the Changjiang Professorship. As part of that program he traveled to China to set up a laboratory and recruit staff for Fuzhou University, while telling Kansas officials that he was in Germany.
Zeidenberg noted during the trial that Tao listed his affiliation with both schools in some papers, suggesting he wasn’t hiding it. He also noted that the university honored Tao for his research efforts in April 2019, just months before his arrest.
Tao was born in China and moved to the U.S. in 2002. He began working in August 2014 as a tenured associate professor at the University of Kansas’ Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis, which conducts research on sustainable technology to conserve natural resources and energy.
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PADUCAH, Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky man who killed three students and wounded five more in a school shooting 25 years ago will have to wait another week to learn his fate in a high-stakes hearing that could see him released or denied the chance to ever leave prison.
Michael Carneal was a 14-year-old freshman on Dec. 1, 1997, when he fired a stolen pistol at a before-school prayer group in the lobby of Heath High School, near Paducah, Kentucky. School shootings were not yet a depressing part of the national consciousness, and Carneal was given the maximum sentence possible at the time for someone his age — life in prison but with the possibility of parole. A quarter century later, in the shadow of Uvalde and in a nation disgusted by the carnage of mass shootings, Carneal, now 39, is trying to convince the parole board he deserves to be freed.
At a hearing on Tuesday, a two-person panel of the Kentucky Parole Board said they had not reached a decision and were referring his case to the full board, which meets on Monday. Only the full board has the power to order Carneal to serve out his full sentence without another chance at parole.
Speaking on a videoconference from the Kentucky State Reformatory in La Grange, Carneal told the panel that at the time of the shooting, “I was hearing in my head to do certain things, but I should have known that stealing guns … was going to lead to something terrible.” He said that he has been receiving therapy and taking psychiatric medications in prison, however he admitted that he continues to hear voices. As recently as a couple of days ago, he heard voices telling him to jump off the stairs.
Parole Board Chair Ladeidra Jones told Carneal that his inmate file lists his mental health prognosis as “poor” and says that even with mental health services, he is still experiencing paranoid thoughts with violent imagery.
Asked how the board could be assured that he would not act on those thoughts, he said that he has learned to ignore them and hasn’t acted on them for many years. Carneal said there are days that he believes he deserves to die for what he did, but other days he thinks he can still do some good in the world, although he did not offer specific plans.
“It doesn’t have to be something grand,” he said. “Every little thing you do affects somebody. It could be listening to someone, carrying something. I would like to do something in the future that could contribute to society.”
Carneal said the shooting happened because of a combination of factors that included his mental health and immaturity, but he added that it was “not justified at all. There’s no excuse for it at all.”
Killed in the shooting were 14-year-old Nicole Hadley, 17-year-old Jessica James, and 15-year-old Kayce Steger.
Carneal said he knew all of his victims and did not harbor any ill will toward them.
“Nicole was a very good friend,” he said. “Some of them I knew more than others, but it was a small school and a lot of these people were in band with me. I’d went to several of them’s birthday parties. … None of them do I have any negative memories of them.”
He ended with an apology.
“I would like to say to you and the victims and their friends and families and the whole community that I’m sorry for what I did. I know it’s not going to change things or make anything better, but I am sorry for what I did.”
Watching from her home in Kirksey was Missy Jenkins Smith, who was paralyzed by one of Carneal’s bullets and uses a wheelchair. Her friend Kelly Hard Alsip, also wounded that day, and their children and other relatives were crowded onto a large sectional sofa.
They scoffed as they heard Carneal say he had not targeted the prayer group but simply shot at random. They also reacted with disbelief when he said he had heard voices just two days ago.
After the hearing, Jenkins Smith said she doesn’t like having to wait another week to find out what will happen, but “at least he’s not being released.”
She was one of the victims to testify to the parole board panel on Monday about the effect Carneal’s crime has had on them.
She said there are too many “what ifs” to release him. What if he stops taking his medication? What if his medication stops working?
“Continuing his life in prison is the only way his victims can feel comfortable and safe,” she said.
She also said it would be unfair to the girls he killed and their loved ones for Carneal to be set free.
“They will forever be a 17 year old, a 14 year old, and a 15 year old — allowed only one full decade of life. A consequence of Michael’s choice,” she said.
Also testifying Monday was Christina Hadley Ellegood, whose younger sister Nicole was killed in the shooting. Ellegood has written about the pain of seeing her sister’s body and having to call their mom and tell her Nicole had been shot.
“I had no one to turn to who understood what I was going through,” she said. “For me, it’s not fair for him to be able to roam around with freedom when we live in fear of where he might be.”
The two-person panel of the full parole board only has the option to release him or defer his next opportunity for parole for up to five years. Because they could not agree on those options, they sent the case to a meeting of the full board next Monday.
Hollan Holm, who was wounded that day, spoke Monday about lying on the floor of the high school lobby, bleeding from his head and believing he was going to die. But he said Carneal was too young to comprehend the full consequences of his actions and should have a chance at supervised release.
“When I think of Michael Carneal, I think of the child I rode the bus with every day,” he said. “I think of the child I shared a lunch table with in third grade. I think of what he could have become if, on that day, he had it somewhere in him to make a different choice or take a different path.”
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NEW YORK (AP) — British Prime Minister Liz Truss says the death of Queen Elizabeth II is a “very difficult moment” for the country, and acknowledged that dealing with it has been a challenge for her untested new government.
Truss took office just two days before the queen died on Sept. 8, and the first days of her term have been spent attending memorial services and the funeral of Britain’s longest-reigning monarch.
Truss has had to temporarily set aside her policy plans, and said she was “focused on making sure we as a nation mourn her late majesty and welcome King Charles.”
“It has been a momentous period and a period of great grief and sadness in the United Kingdom, and I think you have seen a huge outpouring of love and affection for her late majesty as well as a huge amount of warmth towards King Charles III,” Truss told reporters late Monday as she flew to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly.
“At the funeral we saw such huge public support and I have also seen that from world leaders who have come to London in unprecedented numbers,” she said.
Truss won a Conservative Party leadership contest on Sept. 5 and was formally appointed prime minister by the queen the next day at Balmoral Castle. Elizabeth died at her beloved Balmoral estate in the Scottish Highlands on Sept. 8, aged 96.
Truss said she was “hugely honored” to have been appointed by the queen in one of the monarch’s final acts.
With the queen’s death, the new prime minister had to put her policy plans on hold during 10 days of national mourning. She said that since the queen died she had had “the most tremendous support” from civil servants, royal staff and the armed forces who worked on the long-rehearsed plans for the monarch’s passing and its aftermath.
“What has been a very difficult moment for our nation, the way it has been handed is tremendous,” Truss said.
“I just feel it’s a very important part of my role as prime minister to make sure that we are marking this very important moment in our nation’s history.”
Britain’s usually rancorous politics, put on pause by the monarch’s death, are due to resume this week. Truss is spending two days at the U.N. trying to build bridges and shore up Western support for Ukraine.
Then on Friday, U.K. Treasury chief Kwasi Kwarteng is due to give an emergency budget statement with details of how the government plans to tackle soaring energy prices and surging inflation.
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