April 2022 - Page 9 of 22

British PM Johnson Apologizes Over Attending Illegal Parties During COVID Lockdowns

Posted on 04/19/2022 by SeeEU

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson gave a “wholehearted” apology Tuesday for attending parties that were banned during COVID-19 lockdowns.

However, he did say he didn’t know he was breaking the rules.

Johnson and Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak have been under investigation for 12 parties at both 10 Downing Street and the Cabinet Office, some of which were attended by the ministers and their staff.

Police said some 50 people could face fines or other penalties over the parties.

The political opposition in Britain has called for Johnson’s resignation over the scandal. This week, there will be a parliamentary debate and vote on whether to censure Johnson.

Johnson previously apologized over one incident saying he thought it was a work event.

The parties were held during 2020 and 2021, according to news reports.

One event captured in a photo published by the BBC, shows Johnson and others gathered at the Downing Street garden drinking wine in May 2020 when other Brits were not allowed leave their homes without a reason, and outdoor gatherings were limited to two for exercise.

Investigations into other parties could lead to more fines for Johnson, which could lead to more pressure on him from his own party.

Some information in this report comes from The Associated Press.
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Blinken, Mayorkas Head to Panama to Discuss Migration, Other Issues

Posted on 04/19/2022 by SeeUS

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas were set to travel to Panama Tuesday for a two-day summit to discuss migration and other bilateral issues.

Panama has become a transit point for migrants seeking to come to the United States, with record numbers entering the country, Reuters reported.

The U.S. saw a record number of migrants trying to cross the southern border in the first year of President Joe Biden’s administration.

An even higher number is expected this year.

Early in the administration, Biden promised to address the root causes of migration and promised $1.2 billion in assistance to Central American countries.

“The United States is the largest humanitarian donor to international organizations in Panama, whose work complements the Government of Panama’s efforts to provide humanitarian assistance and protection to vulnerable migrants and refugees,” Blinken said in a statement.

Some information in this report comes from Reuters.
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IMF Predicts Slower Economic Growth Due to Russia-Ukraine War

Posted on 04/19/2022 by SeeEU

The world economy will grow at a slower pace because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the International Monetary Fund said in a report Tuesday.

The organization forecasts growth of 3.6% this year, compared to 6.1% last year. Originally, it had predicted 4.4% growth this year.

“The economic effects of the war are spreading far and wide,” the IMF said in its report.

The war has exacerbated negative economic trends such as disrupted commerce and price hikes for fuel and food.

“In the matter of a few weeks, the world has yet again experienced a major, transformative shock,” IMF chief economist Pierre-Olivier Gourinchas wrote in the foreword to the fund’s World Economic Outlook report. “Just as a durable recovery from the pandemic-induced global economic collapse appeared in sight, the war has created the very real prospect that a large part of the recent gains will be erased.”

The IMF predicts the Russian economy will shrink by 8.5% this year, and Ukraine’s will fall by a whopping 35%.

The United States, China and Europe were also expected to see slower growth as a result of the war.

Some information in this report comes from The Associated Press.
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Why Are Solomon Islands Newest Battleground in US-China Geopolitics?

Posted on 04/19/2022 by SeeUS

Deputy U.S. Secretary of State Wendy Sherman is heading to Brussels on Tuesday to consult with European allies on China and a strategy to ramp up diplomatic outreach to ensure a free and open Asia-Pacific region.

Sherman is leading the delegation on U.S.-EU Dialogue on China on Thursday, and the U.S.-EU consultations on the Indo-Pacific on Friday.

Meanwhile, senior U.S. officials are heading to the Solomon Islands as a security agreement between the island country and China renews concerns over Beijing’s increasing influence in the Pacific.

This week, White House Coordinator for the Indo-Pacific Kurt Campbell, and Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Kritenbrink will lead officials from the Defense Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development to Fiji, Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands to deepen “enduring ties with the region” and ensure the U.S. partnerships “deliver prosperity, security, and peace across the Pacific Islands and the Indo-Pacific.”

The implications of a security agreement between the Solomon Islands and China are expected to be high on the agenda. According to a leaked draft of the agreement, China could send armed police and military forces if requested by the Solomon Islands government. China could also be allowed to base its navy ships off the coast of the Pacific Island nation.

“We understand the Solomon Islands and the PRC [People’s Republic of China] are discussing a broad security-related agreement building on recently signed police cooperation,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said during a briefing Monday. “Despite the Solomon Islands government’s comments, the broad nature of the security agreement leaves open the door for the deployments of PRC military forces to the Solomon Islands. We believe that signing such an agreement could increase destabilization within the Solomon Islands and will set concerning precedent for the wider Pacific Island region.”

Australia and New Zealand have had long-standing law enforcement and security ties with the Solomon Islands. An Australia-led multinational peacekeeping force from Fiji, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea was sent to Honiara, the island nation’s capital, following the outbreak of riots last November.

A goal of the visit will be to share perspectives and concerns about how the security agreement between the Solomons and China may threaten current regional security paradigms, Price added.

Former U.S. officials said the U.S. must increase its support to the Asia-Pacific region to fend off China’s growing influence.

In an interview with VOA Mandarin, Catherine Ebert-Gray, the former U.S. ambassador to Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, highlighted the strategic location of the Solomon Islands.

“Solomon Islands is a transit point for a lot of cargo that moves throughout the south part of the Pacific,” she said. “It is also important to the navigation not only of those sea vessels, but of aircraft, many of which from Australia and New Zealand need to go through that territory to go north to Asia, or from the United States, to go to parts of the Pacific and parts of Asia.”

“More than half of the tuna fish of the world come from that region of the world. So the freedom of navigation of fishing vessels is critical,” she added.

The U.S. is also ramping up people-to-people ties with the Solomon Islands as the Peace Corps resumes operations in the South Pacific nation after nearly a 20-year pause.

VOA Mandarin contributed to this report.
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WHO: Ukraine Conflict Prevents Medical Aid from Reaching Those in Need

Posted on 04/19/2022 by SeeEU

The World Health Organization says escalating fighting in Ukraine is preventing emergency medical supplies and health personnel from reaching many people in need of help.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine nearly two months ago, the World Health Organization has delivered some 218 metric tons of emergency medical supplies. Roughly two-thirds have reached their intended destinations, mostly in the east and north of the country where the need is greatest.

WHO has released 15 generators from its warehouse in Lviv Tuesday with plans to deliver them this week to hospitals across the country. Speaking from Lviv, WHO spokesman, Bhanu Bhatnagar, says three will be sent to Luhansk and Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. That is where heavy fighting is underway, and the power supply is badly affected.

Other generators, he says are destined for places such as Kharkiv, which has been devastated by Russian shelling, and the besieged city of Mariupol.

“We will only move the generators to their final destinations when we can ensure the safety of our personnel and the precious cargo they are transporting. These generators will help meet the sort of minimum energy needs of medical and surgical units of referral hospitals, where power supply is either limited or non-existent,” he said.

Bhatnagar says access to a reliable power supply is critical, noting even a momentary power failure can have serious consequences for patients. He says providing care in this dangerous environment is becoming ever more difficult.

As of now, he says WHO has verified 147 attacks on health care facilities, ambulances, and medical personnel. He adds at least 73 people have been killed and 52 injured. Attacks such as these, he says are hampering efforts to reach the people who need help.

“An increase in fighting in certain parts of the country could really threaten our supply chains in and out of some of the affected areas. To mitigate this risk, we are ramping up our donations to the Ministry of Health. We are also assessing the possibility of pre-positioning supplies in additional locations to sort of build a network of warehouses to reach affected areas,” said Bhatnagar.

Mariupol has been subjected to heavy bombardment by Russian forces since the start of the war. The city has been demolished, thousands of people reportedly have been killed and thousands more remain trapped.

Bhatnagar says WHO fears the worst for the health system of Mariupol. He says no one has access to the city. But he adds WHO is positioning generators and other supplies nearby. This, so it can bring in life-saving medicines and equipment the moment this becomes possible.
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Autonomous Tractors May Signal Changes in Farming

Posted on 04/19/2022 by SeeUS

Farmers across the country and around the world might one day leave the confines of their tractor cabs and operate autonomous tractors remotely through an app. But will farmers, big and small, be willing to trust the technology? VOA’s Julie Taboh has more.
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Cameroon Deploys Troops to CAR Border to Stop Rebel Abductions

Posted on 04/19/2022 by SeeAF

Cameroon’s military has deployed hundreds of troops to its eastern border with the Central African Republic after CAR rebels this month abducted at least 35 people.  The military says the rebels are targeting merchants, farmers, and ranchers and stealing money and cattle.

Cameroon’s military says scores of troops on Monday raided villages and forests on its eastern border with the Central African Republic to free civilians held captive by CAR rebels.

Speaking via a messaging application, Colonel Dominique Njoka says he led troops on the rescue mission in Mbere, a border administrative unit, where rebels were holding hostages.

“When we arrived, unfortunately they [suspected rebels] saw us. So, they opened fire, but we reacted immediately, and, in the confrontation, they ran away. Before running away, they killed one hostage and one was seriously wounded, so he died. However, out of the seven we liberated, five arrived {home} safely. We keep on asking the population to cooperate, to give us information at the appropriate time so that we can react,” he said.

Njoka said some of the rebels escaped across the porous border while others are still hiding in forests in Cameroon.

He said they deployed hundreds of troops to the area to flush out the rebels, who have abducted at least 35 civilians in Cameroon in the past three weeks.

CAR authorities say since March fighting with rebels has increased.

The U.N. peacekeeping mission to the CAR, MINUSCA, last week said rebels pushed out of several towns were hiding on the border with Cameroon.

MINUSCA said the CAR rebels were fighting to control border towns, including Bambari and Alindao.

Authorities say the rebels are crossing the border to escape fighting with the CAR’s military and to steal and abduct for ransom.

Fifty-year-old Cameroonian cattle rancher Bouba Alami said his son was among the freed hostages.

He spoke on Cameroonian media Canal 2 TV and Equinox Radio.

Alami said a strange visitor informed him that his 20-year-old son was in captivity in the forest on the border with the Central African Republic. He said the stranger told him the captors wanted at least a $5,000 ransom for his release but did not tell him where and how the ransom should be paid. Alami said he spent two sleepless nights not knowing how to get in touch with either the abductors or his son.

Cameroon’s military says they were able to free the five hostages after villagers informed them where the rebels were hiding in the forest.

Cameroon shares a more than 900-kilometer-long border with the Central African Republic.

Cameroon this month sent its chief of defense to the border area to mobilize troops to stop the rebels from entering its territory.

The Central African Republic descended into violence in 2013 when then President Francois Bozize was ousted by the Séléka, a coalition from the Muslim minority that accused him of breaking peace deals.

The CAR government in 2020 accused Bozize of supporting rebel attacks, which he denied.

The ongoing fighting has forced close to a million Central Africans to flee neighboring countries, including Cameroon, Chad, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Nigeria.

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Ukraine’s Zelenskyy Says Battle for Eastern Ukraine Has Started 

Posted on 04/19/2022 by SeeEU

Ukraine says Russia has begun its offensive to take control of eastern Ukraine while a Russian missile attack hit the western city of Lviv, killing at least seven people. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video address Monday, “Now, we can already state that the Russian troops have begun the battle for the Donbas, for which they have been preparing for a long time.” 

He said a “significant part of the entire Russian army is now concentrated on this offensive.” The Donbas region includes Luhansk and Donetsk, two provinces that are already partly held by Russian-backed separatists, along with the port city of Mariupol to the south. Capturing the region would allow Russia to control a land corridor to the Crimean Peninsula, which it seized in 2014.     

Russia’s withdrawal of its forces from areas around Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and other parts of the north in recent weeks prompted assessments from Western military officials that Russia was reinforcing and redeploying those assets to eastern Ukraine.

In the western city of Lviv, regional Governor Maksym Kozystkiy said three missiles hit military infrastructure sites, while another struck a car tire repair shop.  Lviv, which is about 60 kilometers from Poland, had previously escaped the worst of the violence of the Russian invasion that began nearly two months ago.   

The city is a major transportation hub in Ukraine, which has been receiving weapons from Western allies. 

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the United States has no indication that any Western aid was targeted in Lviv.   

The new barrage came as Russian President Vladimir Putin contended during a video call with economic officials that the sanctions imposed by the United States and its allies had failed.  

He said the West “expected to quickly upset the financial-economic situation, provoke panic in the markets, the collapse of the banking system and shortages in stores.” However, he added, “The strategy of the economic blitz has failed.”  

Western officials say the sanctions have pushed Russia into a sharp recession that will hurt its economy for years.   

Asked Monday if the Biden administration is considering more sanctions against Russia, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters the United States will “continue to expand our sanctions targets and continue to take steps to both further tighten our sanctions to prevent evasion.”

U.S. President Joe Biden is holding a video call with allies Tuesday to discuss what the White House called “our continued support for Ukraine and efforts to hold Russia accountable.”

Russia initially described its aims as disarming Ukraine and defeating nationalists there. Kyiv and its Western allies say those are bogus justifications for an unprovoked war of aggression that has driven a quarter of Ukraine’s 44 million people from their homes.       

 Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse
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Late US Justice Ginsburg’s Art and Collectibles Up for Auction

Posted on 04/19/2022 by SeeUS

Picasso ceramics, old masters works, and a fur coat are among the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s artworks and personal items that will be auctioned off near Washington this month.

Proceeds from the sale will go to the Washington National Opera to support an art form close to the iconic Supreme Court justice’s heart.

The sale, organized by an auction house in Alexandria, Virginia, will take place on April 27 and 28, and underscores the superstar status of the late judge, popularly known as “RBG” when she died in September 2020 at age 87.

She first rose to prominence in the 1970s as a lawyer, winning several court battles that brought down a host of laws that discriminated against women.

In 1993, nominated by former president Bill Clinton, Ginsburg became the second woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court; Sandra Day O’Connor was the first.

Ginsburg defended progressive causes, including the rights of sexual minorities and immigrants.

Through her work, she became an icon; younger generations nicknamed her “The Notorious RBG” in reference to the murdered rapper “The Notorious B.I.G.”

“RBG” also became known for accessorizing her judicial robe with fine-knit gloves, a pearl necklace, and muslin collars now so recognizable that they have become Halloween staples for kids.

Several plaques and medals that she was awarded during her long career are among the hundreds of personal items featured in the sale.

In 2016, the audience at Washington’s Kennedy Center gave the justice a standing ovation when she appeared on stage for a small speaking role in an opera.

“The Justice was a champion of the arts at large – but nothing came close to her passion for opera,” said the Washington National Opera, which she recently attended.
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Sweden Links Riots to Criminal Gangs That Target Police

Posted on 04/19/2022 by SeeEU

Swedish police said Monday that the riots that have shaken several cities and towns in the Nordic country are extremely serious crimes against society and suspect some protesters are linked to criminal gangs that intentionally target police.

Sweden, a nation of 10 million, has seen unrest, scuffles, arson and violence since Thursday that has left some police officers and protesters injured. It was triggered by Danish far-right politician Rasmus Paludan’s meetings and planned Quran burnings across the country.

“We suspect that those involved (in the riots) have links to criminal gangs,” National Police Commissioner Anders Thornberg told a news conference on Monday, adding that some of those “criminal individuals” are known to police. “I have been in touch with the public prosecutor to prosecute these individuals.”

Sweden’s National Police Commander Jonas Hysing said Monday that 26 police officers and 14 individuals — protesters or other people — have been injured in the riots, and 20 police vehicles have been destroyed or damaged.

The latest riots broke out Sunday night in Malmo, Sweden’s third-largest city, as an angry crowd of mainly young people set fire to car tires, debris and garbage cans in the Rosengard district. Protesters threw stones, and police responded by firing tear gas into the crowd. A school and several cars were set on fire, but the situation calmed down early Monday.

A total of 11 people were detained, and three people were arrested in Malmo. No serious injuries were reported.

Since Thursday, in addition to Malmo, riots, unrest and violent clashes have been reported in Stockholm, the central city of Orebro, the eastern cities of Linkoping and Norrkoping and the southern town of Landskrona.

Police have been forced to use weapons in self-defense, Hysing said. Three people were hurt in Norrkoping on Sunday as they were hit by ricochets as police fired warning shots into a crowd of protesters.

“There is a lot to suggest that the police were targeted,” Hysing said, adding that some protesters were suspected of attempted murder, aggravated assault and violence against an official.

Both Thornberg and Hysing stressed that the main target for the rioters was Swedish police and society, not Paludan — seen by many Swedes merely as an agent provocateur — and his Stram Kurs (Hard Line) Party, which runs on an anti-immigrant, anti-Islam agenda.

Thornberg, Sweden’s supreme police chief, said “criminal individuals” who took advantage of the situation with Paludan’s Swedish Easter tour and joined the riots, were the main suspects for the violent flare-ups of violence. The unrest escalated quickly after Paludan’s first demonstrations, which were met by counter-protesters in many places last week.

“We must put an end to this early. What we see here is a very serious crime,” Thornberg said, referring to the riots.

Justice Minister Morgan Johansson said Monday that he continues to have great confidence in the Swedish police, despite the unrest over the weekend, and pledged more resources to law enforcement.

“When you end up in these critical and aggressive situations, there’s nothing else police officers can do but to put up a hard fight,” Johansson told Swedish news outlets. “We cannot accept that perpetrators commit this type of violence.”

Iraq’s Foreign Ministry on Sunday summoned Sweden’s charge d’affaires over Paludan’s planned Quran burnings, reportedly saying that such activity could seriously endanger Sweden’s relations with the Muslim world.

In Iran, dozens of students gathered Monday at Sweden’s embassy to protest Paludan’s planned Quran burnings. Chanting “Insulters of Quran must be condemned!” they also repeated slogans such as “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”
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IRS Struggles as US Taxpayers File Their Returns

Posted on 04/18/2022 by SeeUS

Taxpayers across the United States were required to file their federal tax returns by April 18, and they did so amid a barrage of news about the Internal Revenue Service facing a significant backlog of tax returns, a staffing shortage and uncertainty about its funding.

That the U.S.’s tax authority is in bad shape is no secret. Nor are the reasons behind its troubles. The agency’s budget has been slashed by 18% over the past decade, and a yearslong hiring freeze means that as experienced auditors and other specialists retire, the pipeline of workers trained to take their places is running dry.

The agency is facing an excess of 7 million returns from last year that still haven’t been processed. And the Biden administration has estimated that some $600 billion in taxes owed by the wealthiest Americans go uncollected every year because the agency doesn’t have the manpower to audit returns for compliance with basic tax law.

Additionally, funding cuts have left the IRS playing catch-up when it comes to technology. Agency employees must manually enter information from paper returns, even though the technology exists that would allow the process to be automated.

Pandemic added responsibilities

The advent of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 created a whole new set of challenges for the agency. In addition to having to navigate pandemic-related lockdowns, it was given the task of administering much of the relief effort, including stimulus checks, and later, the implementation of a refundable child tax credit that sent millions of Americans monthly payments.

“The incredible challenges with our system (are) how much we ask of it,” William Gentry, a professor of economics at Williams College, told VOA. “We don’t just ask it to raise revenue. We ask it to serve all sorts of social functions.”

The agency finally saw a budget increase in the current fiscal year, to $12.6 billion from just under $12 billion the previous year. But because it has no certainty about its future budget prospects, IRS Commissioner Charles P. Rettig has warned lawmakers that it is difficult for the agency to plan for the long term.

International comparisons

As troubled as the IRS may appear to U.S. citizens, it is far more effective and efficient than tax authorities in many countries around the world, experts say. This is especially the case in developing nations, where the administrative capacity to operate something as complicated as a nationwide income tax assessment is limited.

Daniel Bunn, executive vice president of the Tax Foundation, a think tank in Washington, told VOA that in many developing countries, it is practically impossible for the government to track economic activity in a way that makes taxing personal income effective.

“There’s a decent amount of activity that goes on in the cash economy, or the gray economy, or the black market — whatever term you use,” he said.

Because governments can only tax what they can measure, many developing countries rely on taxation of established businesses for a much higher share of their overall revenue than countries like the U.S. Bunn said that while developed countries rely on business taxes for only about 9% of their total tax revenue, developing nations average about 16%.

Consumption taxes

A unique feature of the federal tax system in the U.S. is its lack of a consumption tax component. Most other countries — developed and developing alike — use a value-added tax system, which adds incremental tax payments on goods and services at each stage of their production.

“For historical reasons, we’ve left consumption taxes — the taxes you would pay at the cash register — to the states through retail sales taxes,” Gentry said.

Economists are often frustrated by the lack of a value-added tax (VAT) in the U.S., which is seen as being more efficient than taxes on personal income.

“They distort economic activity less because they don’t affect investment,” Thornton Matheson, a senior fellow at the Tax Policy Institute, told VOA. “They don’t tax business profits, so they don’t affect investment. They can affect labor decisions, but generally speaking, a VAT is more efficient than labor taxes, like the personal income tax, payroll taxes and Social Security taxes.”

Administrative ‘nightmare’

As much as they believe a VAT would be a better way for the United States to raise some of its revenue, experts acknowledge that the political effort involved would be enormous.

In addition to finding a way to replace or reallocate the revenue that consumption taxes already deliver to the individual states, it would require rationalizing the disparate systems that have developed over the years. Some states have no sales tax, while others tax different things.

“It would require harmonizing all the states, and they don’t want to harmonize,” said Gentry. “New Hampshire doesn’t have a sales tax. Tennessee taxes food, but Massachusetts doesn’t tax food. And so, there are all these complicated choices.”

He added, “And then you start selling goods online, and it starts getting to be a nightmare.”

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Migrant Crossings Spike as US Plans to Lift Curb on Asylum

Posted on 04/18/2022 by SeeUS

Migrants attempted to cross the U.S.-Mexico border at the highest level in two decades as the U.S. prepares for even larger numbers with the expected lifting of a pandemic-era order that turned away asylum-seekers.

Immigration authorities stopped migrants 221,303 times along the Southwest border in March, a 34% increase from a month earlier, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data filed with a federal court in Texas.

The new figures were disclosed as the Biden administration comes under increasing pressure over the looming expiration of a public health order that enabled U.S. authorities to turn back most migrants, including people seeking asylum from persecution.

The number of migrant encounters has gone up nearly every month since President Joe Biden took office, becoming fodder for political opponents who point to the increase as evidence that this administration is weaker on border security than its predecessor.

A backlog of people waiting outside the country to seek asylum, as well as dire economic and political conditions in much of Latin America and the Caribbean, is partially responsible for the increase in migrants. Administration critics blame Biden, arguing his administration’s moves to roll back Trump-era policies has encouraged people to come.

The number of illegal crossings, or those outside official ports of entry, totaled 209,906 in March, surpassing the previous high of Biden’s presidency of 200,658 set in July, and the highest level since March 2000, when it reached 220,063.

Former President Donald Trump also faced a sharp increase in migrant border crossings, but the number plummeted with the start of the pandemic. In March 2020, the previous administration invoked Title 42, a little-used public health authority to quickly expel nearly anyone encountered along the Southwest border.

U.S. authorities have expelled migrants more than 1.7 million times under Title 42 authority, named for a 1944 public health law, using the threat of COVID-19 to deny migrants a chance to seek asylum as required under U.S. law and international treaty.

With COVID-19 cases in decline, the Biden administration has said it intends to end the use of Title 42 at the border on May 23.

Several moderate Democrats have joined Republican leaders to call for an extension of Title 42 authority, most recently Senator Chris Coons on Sunday. Senator Mark Kelly, who is up for election this year, toured the border last week and warned that the Biden administration is unprepared for asylum restrictions to be lifted.

The rapid expulsions under Title 42 are a significant component of the increase. Migrants are turned back without any legal consequences, and many simply try to cross again and are therefore counted more than once in the total.

More than half of the 221,303 stopped were quickly turned away, either to Mexico or their homelands, according to data supplied to a federal court in Texas as part of that state’s challenge of Biden administration immigration policies.

Most of the rest were processed under immigration authority, known as Title 8, and their ultimate fates vary. About 34,000 were allowed to remain in the U.S. under parole, which will allow them to pursue asylum or legal residency through other avenues. If they are unsuccessful, they could face deportation.
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US Judge Strikes Down National Mask Mandate on Airplanes

Posted on 04/18/2022 by SeeUS

A U.S. federal judge has ruled a national mask mandate on airplanes and other public transportation is not lawful, overturning a Biden administration policy.

The ruling Monday by U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle in Tampa, Florida, said health officials had exceeded their authority in issuing the mandate.

The judge said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) failed to properly justify its decision and did not follow procedures in issuing the mandate.

Earlier this month, the CDC extended its mask mandate on public transportation by 15 days until May 3. Health authorities said they needed time to assess the impact of the BA.2 omicron subvariant of the coronavirus, which is causing cases to rise in some parts of the country.

The mask mandate, which was first issued in February 2021, covers airplanes, trains, transit hubs, taxis and ride-share vehicles.

Mizelle was appointed by former President Donald Trump. The lawsuit against the mask mandate was filed last year in Florida by a group called the Health Freedom Defense Fund.

Airlines had lobbied for months for federal officials to end the mask mandate, arguing that advanced filters on planes make transmission of the coronavirus on flights unlikely.

It is not clear if the judge’s order would take immediate effect or if the Biden administration would attempt to block the ruling.

The White House and the CDC did not immediately comment on the judge’s decision.

Some information in this report came from the Associated Press and Reuters.

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Kenyans Chebet, Jepchirchir Win Boston Marathon in Race’s Spring Return

Posted on 04/18/2022 by SeeUS

Evans Chebet of Kenya won the Boston Marathon on Monday as the race returned to its traditional Patriots’ Day spot in the schedule for the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

The men’s lead pack of about 20 winnowed to two as it came out of Heartbreak Hill, then Chebet pulled away from Gabriel Geay of Tanzania with about four miles to go to win in an unofficial time of 2 hours, 6 minutes, 50 seconds.

In the women’s division, reigning Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya won in 2:21:01, 4 seconds ahead of Ethiopia’s Ababel Yeshaneh. The two traded places eight times in the final mile, with Jepchirchir pulling ahead for good in the final 385 yards.

American Daniel Romanchuk won his second career men’s wheelchair title in 1:26:58. Switzerland’s Manuela Schar won her second straight Boston crown and fourth overall, finishing in 1:41:08.

Sharing a weekend with the Red Sox baseball home opener — the city’s other sporting rite of spring — more than 28,000 runners returned to the streets from Hopkinton to Copley Square six months after a smaller and socially distanced event that was the only fall race in the marathon’s 126-year history.

Fans waved Ukrainian flags in support of the few dozen runners whose 26.2-mile run from Hopkinton to Copley Square was the easiest part of their journey. Athletes from Russia and Belarus were disinvited in response to the invasion of Ukraine.

Ukrainians who were unable to make it to Boston were offered a deferral or refund.

“Whatever they want to do, they can do,” Boston Athletic Association President Tom Grilk said. “Run this year, run next year. You want a puppy? Whatever. There is no group we want to be more helpful to.”

The 125th race was first postponed, then called off because of the pandemic — the first cancellation since the event began in 1897. In 2021, it was as postponed until October.

This year’s race marked the 50th anniversary of Nina Kuscsik’s victory as the first official women’s winner. (The actual first woman to finish the race was Bobbi Gibb, who first ran in 1966 among the unofficial runners known as bandits.)

Valerie Rogosheske, who finished sixth in 1972, said she had been planning to hide in the bushes and run as a bandit before women got the go-ahead a few weeks before the race. She ran this year with her daughters and served as the honorary starter for the women’s elite field.

“There was just this feeling of, ‘Boy, we’re going to do this. No one can drop out. There are eyes upon us,'” she said Monday about the 1972 race. “Many people didn’t think we should be running a marathon. So that’s why we really felt that pressure but opportunity as well to finish this marathon.”
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Cybersecurity Group Says Catalan Leaders Targeted With Spyware

Posted on 04/18/2022 by SeeEU

A group of Catalan separatists, including several members of the European Parliament, other politicians, lawyers and activists from Spain’s northeastern region, had their phones hacked with a controversial spyware called Pegasus, a cybersecurity firm said Monday.

Citizens Lab, which is associated with the University of Toronto, said at least 65 people were targeted using the Israeli-made software that is only available to governments.

The maker of the software, NSO, said the allegations were “false.”

The spyware infections allegedly took place between 2017 and 2020 after a failed Catalan independence bid.

The movement for an independent Catalonia dates back more than a century and has been a problem for Spain’s central government. Catalonia enjoys some regional autonomy under the Spanish constitution.

Citizens Lab said it could not pinpoint the source of the hacking but said on its website that “a range of circumstantial evidence points to a strong nexus with one or more entities within the Spanish government.”

The Spanish government declined a request for comment by Reuters.

On Twitter, Catalonian government President Pere Aragones called the hacks an “unjustifiable disgrace.”

Some information in this report comes from Reuters and The Associated Press.
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Turkish Forces Attack Kurdish Rebel Positions in Iraq

Posted on 04/18/2022 by SeeEU

Turkish military forces using planes, helicopters and drones attacked Kurdish rebel positions inside northern Iraq, the Turkish Defense Ministry said Monday.

The targets included camps and ammunition depots in the regions of Metina, Zap, and Avashin-Basyan, the military said.

Kurdish rebels have launched attacks in Turkey from northern Iraq, and Ankara said they were planning another attack in Turkey.

The Associated Press reported 19 Kurdish rebels were killed and four Turkish military members were wounded.

“Our operation is continuing successfully as planned,” the state-owned Anadolu news agency quoted Defense Minister Hulusi Akar as saying. “The targets identified in the first phase have been captured.”

Turkish military forces have repeatedly attacked Kurdish groups such as the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, which Ankara considers terrorist organizations.

The PKK has been active since 1984. It has bases in southeastern Turkey and northern Iraq.

Kurdish people are spread throughout a region covering parts of Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran.

(Some information in this report comes from Reuters and The Associated Press.)

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Al-Shabab Claims Mortar Attack on Somali Parliament

Posted on 04/18/2022 by SeeAF

Terrorist group al-Shabab has claimed responsibility for a mortar attack on Somalia’s parliament Monday that injured at least six people during a joint session.

Somalia’s newly elected members of parliament were meeting Monday to approve procedures for the election of speakers when the grounds were hit by a mortar attack.

In a Facebook post, lawmaker and presidential candidate Abdirahman Abdishakur Warsame said several rounds were fired and several people wounded, including two of his bodyguards.

Somali militant group al-Shabab, in media posts, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Somalia’s Office of Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble condemned the assault, which it called a terrorist act.

In posts on social media, it said the attack was a cowardly attempt to intimidate parliament, which is in the process of finishing Somalia’s indirect election.

Roble commended the efforts of lawmakers to expedite the elections.

Before the attack Monday, lawmakers unanimously agreed to elect the speaker of the Upper House on April 26 and the Speaker of the Lower House a day later.

Somalia’s indirect elections were delayed for months because of political wrangling between the prime minister and President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, known as Farmaajo.

Farmaajo had sought to extend his term in office, but backed off under intense domestic and international pressure.

Al-Shabab has taken advantage of the political instability to launch a series of deadly attacks on Somali security forces and politicians.

Somalia’s lawmakers are expected to vote for the next president as early as May.
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Recovery of South Africa Flood Victims Hampered by Rains

Posted on 04/18/2022 by SeeAF

The South African army says it is deploying 10,000 troops to areas affected by record floods to help restore power and water, and support recovery missions. The death toll from the floods in the country’s eastern provinces has risen to more than 440. The return of rains over the weekend complicated rescue efforts and contributed to the death of at least one responder.

Officials say 14 search and rescue teams have been dispatched from Durban’s Virginia Airport to recover victims of last week’s deadly floods. Durban is in the hard-hit province of KwaZulu-Natal.

Travis Trower, director for volunteer organization Rescue South Africa, said one rescuer, Busisiwe Mjwara, drowned Sunday along with her dog Leah while searching the Msunduzi River.

“The more water that’s falling, the heavier the ground becomes, which causes more mudslides, which makes it a lot more dangerous for us,” Trower said. “To lose somebody that is part of the team has a massive impact on everybody. We’re all close to the member and to know that that has happened definitely sets everyone back and changes the tone of the rescues.”

Trower, who is also an emergency medical care lecturer at Nelson Mandela University, said despite the weather conditions, rescuers managed to recover six bodies Sunday.

At least 443 people were confirmed dead by provincial officials. Dozens of people remain missing.

In the riverside community of Mariannhill, in west Durban, the arrival of search and rescue teams Friday brought momentary relief to families of missing loved ones.

Sinenhlanhla Menela’s 26-year-old sister and her two children were swept into the river in a landslide.

Menela said local police have been overwhelmed by calls but that he hopes the arrival of a canine unit will help.

“No one wants to help us, even the police, they don’t want to help. We see dogs, maybe they will, they will try to help us.”

Further downstream, Philsiwe Nene was among dozens of people searching the riverbanks for their neighbor’s missing son.

She said without a body, the family is denied a proper funeral.

“It gives us some peace when we know where we bury the body. His mother is crying now and again, whole days. It’s bad, it’s bad.

Trower called the devastation “vast” and says it is impossible for authorities to be fully prepared for a disaster of this scale. He said he has seen the heartbreak in communities and rescuers are doing their best with the resources they have while keeping safety in mind.

“We really need to do things slowly. And hopefully, in time, we’ll be able to bring everyone back and then give these families closure. But I think at the moment it is just patience. You know, it’s a very difficult time. And the guys will work, they will work until the job is done.”

People across the country are coming together to donate funds and resources to the KwaZulu-Natal province.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has also cancelled plans to go to Saudi Arabia Tuesday so he can focus on the recovery.
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Tourism-Reliant Cyprus Scraps Virus Tests for Most Travelers

Posted on 04/18/2022 by SeeEU

Cyprus authorities on Monday made traveling to the east Mediterranean island nation easier as the summer tourist season kicks into gear by rescinding the need to undergo any COVID-19 tests prior to boarding a flight or on arrival.

According to the new regulations, only unvaccinated people who haven’t contracted and recovered from the coronavirus must undergo a PCR test 72 hours prior to boarding or a rapid test 24 hours before departure.

All Cyprus-bound passengers are no longer required to fill in a form — also known as a Cyprus Flight Pass — providing information that enables authorities to trace them if they do test positive for COVID-19 during their stay.

Vaccinated and recovered passengers will need a valid European Union health certificate. Health certificates from third countries are accepted if they’ve joined the EU’s COVID certificate system.

All adults are considered vaccinated for nine months after receiving their second dose or have received a 3rd booster shot. Individuals are designated as recently recovered from COVID-19 seven days after testing positive and for six months thereafter.

Tourism directly accounts for 13% of the island nation’s economy and authorities are keen to attract new markets to make up for the significant loss of Russian and Ukrainian tourists in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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Perfect Spring Weather Greets Boston Marathon’s April Return

Posted on 04/18/2022 by SeeUS

The daffodils have sprouted, the fall foliage has all been raked away, and the Boston Marathon is back in the spring where it belongs.

The world’s most prestigious marathon will return to the streets from Hopkinton to Copley Square on April 18, three years after the last Patriots Day race and six months after its 125th edition was delayed, canceled, and delayed again by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We went for a run this morning and I was like, ‘OK, this is what it’s supposed to be. This feels normal,'” 2018 winner Des Linden said last week. “The energy feels right back where we left off. So that was a nice reminder.”

After a smaller and socially distanced field ran in October, more than 28,000 runners signed up for this year’s 42-kilometer (26.2-mile) slog, including 11 former champions and what could be the fastest field ever.

Also moving quickly: Organizers who had 30 months between the 2019 and 2021 events and then just 139 days since the only fall race in Boston Marathon history.

“And we can’t wait,” Boston Athletic Association President Tom Grilk said.

The race day forecast calls for temperatures in the 50s with no rain, and only the possibility of a slight headwind late in the afternoon for the stragglers.

Top field

The women’s field is one of the strongest ever in Boston, with reigning Olympic gold medalist Peres Jepchirchir, London and New York winner Joyciline Jepkosgei, and Ethiopia’s Degitu Azimeraw all bringing personal bests under 2 hours, 18 minutes — two minutes faster than the Boston course record.

Linden and Tokyo bronze medalist Molly Seidel are the top American contenders.

Benson Kipruto of Kenya is attempting to become the first back-to-back Boston champion since Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot won three straight from 2006-08. Eight others have shown the speed to beat him, including Boston winners Lawrence Cherono (2019), Lemi Berhanu (2016) and Lelisa Desisa (2013, 2015).

Colin Bennie, of Princeton, Massachusetts, and CJ Albertson, or Fresno, California, are back after finishing in the top 10 in October.

Pandemic protocols

In October, participants were required to be vaccinated, tested, and masked whenever indoors. The race cut its field by more than one-third, and a rolling start was instituted to allow for social distancing on the course and in Hopkinton.

Six months later, vaccinations (or an exemption) are required, but testing is optional. Masks are required on the buses that take athletes to the start, but the state’s indoor mandate has been lifted.

“We’re in a good place,” marathon medical director Aaron Baggish said. “Viral prevalence in the community is low, and we’ve done a good job weathering the storm.”

Terrorism watch

The shooting on the New York City subway last week had Boston authorities redoubling their efforts to provide a safe environment for the athletes and fans on Patriots Day.

Nine years after the attacks at the marathon finish line that killed three people and injured hundreds more, a New York man shot 10 people in a Brooklyn subway car. Frank James, 62, was arrested the next day and is being held without bail.

Authorities say there was no evidence linking James to a larger terror plot. At a Boston Marathon public safety briefing last week, local, state and federal officials said they were ready.

“It’s all hands-on deck for these major events,” MBTA Police Chief Kenneth Green said. “But every day, every regular day we’re prepared. We’re out there. We’re vigilant. We’re at work, and we’re visible. You don’t have the luxury to relax because any individual got caught on the subway somewhere else.”

Ukraine

Residents or citizens of Ukraine who were registered for the race were offered a refund or deferral to a future race if they could not or did not want to run this year.

“Whatever they want to do, they can do,” Grilk said. “Run this year, run next year. You want a puppy, whatever. There is no group we want to be more helpful to.”

There were 44 Ukrainian citizens in the field, seven of them living abroad; however, residents of Russia and Belarus have been told they are not welcome.

Citizens of the two countries living abroad remained eligible to run, but they cannot display their national flags or emblems.
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Upcoming Executions Shine Spotlight on US Death Penalty

Posted on 04/18/2022 by SeeUS

Capital punishment has been on the wane in the United States but an upcoming slate of executions has refocused attention on the use of the death penalty.

Richard Moore, a 57-year-old African-American man, is to be executed in South Carolina on April 29 for the 1999 murder of a convenience store clerk during a robbery.

It would be the first execution in the southern state in over a decade.

Recent US executions have been carried out by lethal injection but South Carolina has been forced to abandon that method because drug manufacturers are refusing to supply the necessary ingredients.

So Moore had the choice between the electric chair and a firing squad made up of three rifle-toting volunteers from the Corrections Department.

He chose the firing squad.

Moore’s lawyers have challenged both methods of execution, however, claiming they violate a constitutional ban on “cruel and unusual punishment” A judge agreed on Thursday to hear their arguments.

“The electric chair and the firing squad are antiquated, barbaric methods of execution that virtually all American jurisdictions have left behind,” said Lindsey Vann, a lawyer for Moore. 

Electrocution has been used for seven of the 43 executions in South Carolina since 1985. The last time was in 2008.

A firing squad has been used only three times in the United States – all in the western state of Utah – since 1976, when the US Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment.

‘Unreliable confession’

There have been three executions in the United States this year. There were 11 in 2021, down from 17 in 2020.

Only one of the executions in 2021 was of a woman and of the more than 1,540 people executed in the United States since 1976, only 17 have been women.

Melissa Lucio, 53, could be the 18th.

Lucio, a Mexican-American mother of 14, is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection in Texas on April 27 for the 2007 death of her two-year-old daughter, Mariah.

Lucio claims a confession was coerced by police during a five-hour interrogation and that the toddler’s death was actually caused by an accidental fall down a staircase.

Her case has been championed by the Innocence Project, which fights for the wrongly convicted, and reality TV star Kim Kardashian, who has urged Texas Governor Greg Abbott to grant clemency for Lucio.

“The state extracted an unreliable ‘confession’ and used false scientific evidence to convict Melissa Lucio of a crime she did not commit and in fact never occurred,” said Vanessa Potkin, an attorney for Lucio.

“What we know today is this: Mariah died from medical complications after an accidental fall. She was not murdered.”

‘Torture’

Also scheduled to be executed in Texas in coming days is Carl Wayne Buntion, who was sentenced to death in 1991 for the murder of a Houston police officer.

Buntion, who does not dispute his guilt, is scheduled to die by lethal injection on April 21. 

At 78, he is the oldest man on Death Row in Texas and his lawyers have argued that executing him now – more than 30 years after the crime – would constitute “cruel and unusual punishment.”

Texas law also requires it be established that Buntion would “likely harm others if he is not executed,” his lawyers said.

Buntion, they  said, poses no danger to anyone and suffers from multiple ailments including arthritis, vertigo, hepatitis, sciatic nerve pain, and cirrhosis.

“Mr. Buntion is a frail, elderly man,” his lawyers said in a petition to the Texas Board of Pardons and Parole, “and will not be a threat to anyone in prison if his sentence is reduced to a lesser penalty.”

Buntion also has been in solitary confinement for the past 20 years, restricted to his cell for 23 hours a day.

“When someone’s sentenced to death, the jury isn’t agreeing to sentence them to 30, 40, 50 years of solitary confinement and then death,” Burke Butler, executive director of the Texas Defender Service, told AFP.

“That is torture,” Butler said. “It’s widely agreed across the world that solitary confinement is incredibly cruel. To confine someone to solitary confinement and then execute them is even crueler.”

Texas has carried out far more executions – 573 – than any other state since 1976. Virginia, which abolished the death penalty last year, is next with 113. 
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Zelenskyy Says Russian Forces Conducting ‘Deliberate Terror’  

Posted on 04/18/2022 by SeeEU

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russian forces of engaging in “deliberate terror” with mortar and artillery strikes on residential neighborhoods in Kharkiv, while Ukrainian forces in the southern city of Mariupol defied a Russian deadline to lay down their arms.

Zelenskyy, in a video address late Sunday, said he expects Russia to launch an offensive in the eastern Donbas region “in the near future.”

Capturing the Donbas region, which includes Luhansk and Donetsk, along with the port city of Mariupol to the south, would allow Russia to control a land corridor to the Crimea peninsula, which it seized in 2014.

Zelenskyy, in an interview with CNN taped Friday and aired Sunday, said for Ukraine the battle for Donbas will be critical, and that if Russia captures the area it could once again try to seize Kyiv.

“…It is very important for us to not allow them, to stand our ground, because this battle … can influence the course of the whole war,” Zelenskyy said. 

Russia has called on the remaining fighters in Mariupol to surrender, saying it controlled urban areas of the city, while an estimated 2,500 Ukrainian soldiers and 400 mercenaries remaining at the sprawling Azovstal steel mill.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told ABC’s “This Week” Sunday the country’s forces will “fight to the end” in Mariupol.

“The city still has not fallen,” he said, hours after the expiration of Russia’s declared deadline.

Asked about reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin believes Moscow is winning the war, Shmyhal noted that while several cities are under siege, only Kherson in the south has fallen under Russian control.   

“More than 900 cities, towns and villages…are freed from Russian occupation,” Shmyhal said, adding Ukraine has no intention of surrendering in the eastern Donbas region.  

 The prime minister added that Ukraine wants a diplomatic solution “if possible.” 

 “We won’t leave our country, our families, our land,” he said. 

Zelenskyy said in his Sunday night address that Western nations should increase their sanctions against Russia, including actions targeting Russia’s oil and banking sectors.

“Everyone in Europe and America already sees Russia openly using energy to destabilize Western societies,” Zelenskyy said. “All of this requires greater speed from Western countries in preparing a new, powerful package of sanctions.”

Earlier Sunday, the Ukrainian leader tweeted that he had discussed ensuring Ukraine’s financial stability and preparations for post-war reconstruction with International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva.  

Georgieva tweeted in response, saying that support was “essential to lay the foundations for rebuilding a modern competitive #Ukraine.” 

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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Greek Police say Migrant Shot Dead While Crossing From Turkey

Posted on 04/18/2022 by SeeEU

A migrant was killed by gunfire at the Greece-Turkey border while she and several others attempted to cross a river separating the two countries, Greek police said on April 17.

It wasn’t immediately clear who fired the shot that killed the woman the night before. An autopsy showed that the victim was shot in the back with a small-caliber weapon.

Greek police were patrolling the area where the Evros River, which is called Meric in Turkish, narrows to about 60 to 70 meters (around 200 feet) wide and through which many migrants attempt to cross, according to a police statement and additional information provided to The Associated Press by a police officer on condition of anonymity. The officers spotted numerous migrants on the Turkish side shortly before 9 p.m. on April 16.

Police said 11 people embarked on an inflatable dinghy, and officers directed flashlights at the boat and started shouting “Police. Go back.”

In response, said the police officer, a “barrage” of shots erupted from the Turkish side.

The Greek police patrol couldn’t detect the source of the shots in the darkness and fell to the ground to protect themselves, shooting warning shots in the air, according to the statement which the officer corroborated.

The dinghy came close to the Greek shore and five people disembarked — four made it to the shore while a fifth person was seen floating in the water. Police reached the body with some difficulty, according to the statement, and when they pulled it to the shore they determined that it belonged to a woman and that she was dead.

Police questioned the four survivors — three Pakistani males, one of them a minor (17 years old), and a woman from Eritrea. It wasn’t known what happened to the other six people who tried to cross, but authorities don’t believe they entered Greece.

Coroner Pavlos Pavlidis, who performed the autopsy on the woman in the northeastern city of Alexandroupolis, told the AP that the victim was between the ages of 20 and 25 and that she was most likely from one of the Horn of Africa countries.

She had a wound “in the upper right (back) area. She was shot from close distance and died almost instantly from post-hemorrhagic (blood loss) shock,” Pavlidis said.
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Tesla Stockholders Ask Judge to Silence Musk in Fraud Case

Posted on 04/18/2022 by SeeUS

A group of Tesla shareholders suing CEO Elon Musk over some 2018 tweets about taking the company private is asking a federal judge to order Musk to stop commenting on the case.

Lawyers for stockholders of the Austin, Texas-based company also say in court documents that the judge in the case has ruled that Musk’s tweets about having “funding secured” to take Tesla private were false, and that his comments also violate a 2018 court settlement with U.S. securities regulators in which Musk and Tesla each agreed to pay $20 million fines.

Musk, during an interview April 14 at the TED 2022 conference, said he had the funding to take Tesla private in 2018. He called the Securities and Exchange Commission a profane name and said he only settled because bankers told him they would stop providing capital if he didn’t, and Tesla would go bankrupt.

The interview and court action came just days after Musk, the world’s richest person, made a controversial offer to take over Twitter and turn it into a private company with a $43 billion offer that equals $54.20 per share. Twitter’s board on April 15 adopted a “poison pill” strategy that would make it prohibitively expensive for Musk to buy the shares.

In court documents filed April 15, lawyers for the Tesla shareholders alleged that Musk is trying to influence potential jurors in the lawsuit. They contend that Musk’s 2018 tweets about having the money to take Tesla private at $420 per share were written to manipulate the stock price, costing shareholders money.

Now, lawyers say Musk is campaigning to influence possible jurors as the case gets closer to trial.

“Musk’s comments risk confusing potential jurors with the false narrative that he did not knowingly make misrepresentations with his Aug. 7, 2018, tweets,” the lawyers wrote. “His present statements on that issue, an unsubtle attempt to absolve himself in the court of public opinion, will only have a prejudicial influence on a jury.”

The lawyers asked Judge Edward Chen in San Francisco to restrain Musk from making further public comments on the issue until after the trial. Chen gave Musk’s lawyers until April 20 to respond.

Alex Spiro, a lawyer representing Musk, wrote in an email April 17 that the plaintiffs’ lawyers are seeking a big payout. “Nothing will ever change the truth, which is that Elon Musk was considering taking Tesla private and could have,” he wrote. “All that’s left some half-decade later is random plaintiffs lawyers trying to make a buck and others trying to block that truth from coming to light, all to the detriment of free speech.”

But the shareholders’ lawyers wrote that Chen already ruled that Musk’s tweets were false and misleading, and “that no reasonable juror could conclude otherwise.”

Judge Chen’s order, issued April 1, was not in the public court file as of April 17. Adam Apton, a lawyer for the shareholders, said it was sealed because it has evidence that Musk and Tesla say is confidential. It will stay sealed until the parties agree if anything should remain sealed, he wrote in an email. “Our motion for TRO (temporary restraining order) accurately describes the issues decided by the court,” Apton wrote.

After Musk’s 2018 tweets, the SEC filed a complaint against him alleging securities law violations. Musk then agreed to the fine and signed the court agreement. Part of the agreement says that Musk “will not take any action or make or permit to be made any public statement denying, directly or indirectly, any allegation in the complaint or creating the impression that the complaint is without factual basis.”

If Musk violates the agreement, the SEC may ask the court to scrap it and restore the securities fraud complaint, the agreement says. A message was left April 17 seeking comment from the SEC.

Spiro, on behalf of Musk, already has asked a Manhattan federal court to throw out the agreement. He contends the SEC is using the pact and “near limitless resources” to chill Musk’s speech. Court documents filed by Spiro say Musk signed the agreement when Tesla was a less mature company and SEC action jeopardized its financing.
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