Author: SeeUS

Disney Sues Florida Governor DeSantis, Calling Park Takeover ‘Retaliation’

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Disney sued Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday over the Republican’s takeover of its theme park district, alleging the governor waged a “targeted campaign of government retaliation” after the company opposed a law critics call “Don’t Say Gay.”

The suit, filed in Tallahassee, was filed minutes after a Disney World oversight board appointed by DeSantis voted to void a deal that placed theme park design and construction decisions in the company’s hands.

It’s the latest conflict in an ongoing feud between DeSantis, a Republican expected to run for president, and Disney, a powerful political player and major tourism driver in Florida.

The dispute with Disney has drawn significant criticism from the governor’s White House rivals and business leaders who view it as an extraordinary rejection of the small-government tenets of conservatism.

The fight began last year after Disney, in the face of significant pressure, publicly opposed a state law that bans classroom lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in early grades, a policy critics call “Don’t Say Gay.”

As punishment, DeSantis took over Disney World’s self-governing district and appointed a new board of supervisors that would oversee municipal services in the sprawling theme parks. But before the new board came in, the company pushed though an 11th hour agreement that stripped the new supervisors of much of their authority.

The DeSantis board on Wednesday said Disney’s move to retain control over their property was effectively unlawful and performed without proper public notice.

“Disney picked the fight with this board. We were not looking out for a fight,” said Martin Garcia, chair of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, adding “bottom line, what our lawyers have told us, is factually and legally what they created is an absolute legal mess. It will not work.”

DeSantis has also vowed additional retribution, with proposals to enhance state oversight of the resort’s rides and monorail, as well as a suggestion to build a prison nearby.

Disney has said all agreements made with the previous board were legal and approved in a public forum. Disney CEO Bob Iger has also said that any actions against the company that threaten jobs or expansion at its Florida resort was not only “anti-business” but “anti-Florida.”
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FBI: Active Shooter Incidents Fell in 2022 But Remained Relatively High    

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The FBI is reporting a slight decline in the number of “active shooter” incidents last year but says the tally still surpassed the levels seen in most of the last five years.

The FBI defines an active shooter as “one or more individuals actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area” such as a school or night club.

Not all shootings are counted as active shooter incidents by the FBI. Excluded are cases of self-defense, gang violence, drug violence, and domestic disputes.

In a report released on Wednesday, the FBI said it counted a total of 50 active shooter incidents in 2022, down from 61 the previous year.

But that number is still 67% higher than five years ago when there were 30 active shooter incidents in the country.

“While we see a decrease from 2021 to 2022, we see over time, over the past 20 years since we’ve been reporting on active shooter incidents, and certainly in the last five years, there has been an overall increase in this number,” a senior FBI official said during a press call with reporters.

The biggest increase in recent years came in 2021, when the number of active shooter incidents jumped from 40 to 61, according to the report.

Although fewer people died in active shooter incidents in 2022 than in 2021, the total casualty count — deaths and injuries combined — was higher last year than the year before.

The shootings caused a combined 313 casualties, including 100 killed and 213 wounded, up from 243 in 2021, including 103 people killed and 140 wounded, the report said.

Last year’s casualty count was the highest in five years, the report said.

According to the report, 13 of the 50 incidents last year resulted in mass killings, defined as four or more people shot dead in a single incident.

Not everyone agrees on what constitutes a mass shooting, however. The Gun Violence Archive uses a broader definition that encompasses incidents with at least four victims, either injured or killed. By this definition, the non-profit tallied 646 mass shootings last year, more than ten times the number reported by the FBI.

In its report, the FBI singled out four incidents that claimed the most lives or inflicted the most injuries last year.

On May 24, a gunman entered Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, opening fire on students and staff. Nineteen children and two adults were killed.

It was the deadliest school shooting since 2012, when a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

Ten days before the Uvalde massacre, another gunman entered a supermarket in a predominantly African American neighborhood of Buffalo, New York, killing ten people and injuring three.

The two incidents with the highest number of injuries but fewer deaths occurred in Highland Park, Illinois, and Colorado Springs, Colorado.

On July 4, a gunman perched atop a commercial building fired into an Independence Day parade crowd, killing seven and wounding 48 others.

On November 19, five people were killed and 28 others wounded when a gunman opened fire in an LGBTQ club.

The FBI says it tracks active shooter incidents to give law enforcement agencies and the public a baseline understanding of the problem.

This year’s report offers a wealth of details about the shooters, the time and location of the shootings, and the types of weapons used in the assaults.

Among the report’s key findings:

Of the 50 shooters, 47 were male. They ranged in age between 15 and 70 years old. Four shooters wore body armor, while two acted as snipers.
In nearly half of the incidents, the shooter had a known connection to the location, the victim or both.
In the incidents, the shooters used a total of 61 weapons, including 29 handguns, 26 rifles, three shotguns, and three unknown firearms.
The 50 active shooter incidents occurred in 25 states and the District of Columbia, with Texas reporting six incidents, more than any other state.
The shootings took place in seven types of locations, including open spaces, commercial buildings, residences, educational facilities, government buildings, houses of worship, and a healthcare facility.

For 2021, FBI highlighted an emerging trend involving “roving active shooters,” or gunmen who shoot in multiple locations.

That trend was observed in 2022 as well, the senior FBI official said without giving a number.
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Biden & Yoon Agree No Nuclear Weapons for South Korea

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In return for a greater decision-making role in U.S. contingency planning in the event of a North Korean nuclear attack, South Korea has agreed not to pursue its own nuclear weapons program.

The United States and South Korea are set to announce the agreement Wednesday, as President Joe Biden hosts his South Korean counterpart President Yoon Suk Yeol at the White House for a state visit to celebrate the two countries’ 70th year of bilateral relations and discuss the two allies’ future relationship.

The “Washington Declaration,” is the result of a series of steps negotiated over many months and designed to reaffirm U.S. deterrence commitments to the Republic of Korea, a senior administration official said in a Tuesday briefing to reporters.

Under the deal, the official said Seoul will “maintain its non-nuclear status and continue to abide by all the conditions of its signatory status to the Non-Proliferation Treaty.” The NPT, which South Korea ratified in 1975, prohibits states-parties from developing nuclear weapons.

The two countries will also establish the U.S. – ROK Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG), a “regular bilateral consultation mechanism that will focus on nuclear and strategic planning issues and will give our ROK allies additional insight in how we think about planning for major contingencies,” the official added. Beyond greater information sharing, Seoul will have a greater voice in the deliberations of U.S. weapons deployment, he said.

The NCG mechanism is similar to how the U.S. coordinated its nuclear deterrence decisions with some NATO allies during the Cold War.

Growing doubt

The U.S.-ROK Mutual Defense Treaty, signed in 1953 at the end of the Korean War, commits Washington to help South Korea defend itself, particularly from North Korea. But as Pyongyang moves rapidly with its nuclear weapons program, including developing missiles that can target American cities, there has been growing doubt among South Koreans on whether Washington would risk its own safety to protect Seoul and whether Seoul should continue to rely on U.S. “extended deterrence,” a term also known as the American nuclear umbrella.

Giving South Korea a greater say in U.S. strategic deliberations is a necessary step to address the country’s increasing sense of vulnerability in the face of a nuclear threat from Pyongyang, said Scott Snyder, director of the program on U.S.-Korea policy at the Council on Foreign Relations. Through the Washington Declaration, the Biden administration is trying to demonstrate that its pledge to defend South Korea is “credible and rock-solid,” Snyder told VOA.

In January, Yoon told his defense and foreign ministry officials that if the threat posed by North Korea “gets worse,” his country may “introduce tactical nuclear weapons or build them on our own.”

Seoul walked back Yoon’s comments following an international backlash. However, the narrative of South Korea having its own nuclear deterrence capability has become more mainstream in the country’s national security discourse.

A 2022 poll by the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations showed that 71% of South Koreans say their country should build its own nuclear weapons.

More muscular deterrence

The U.S. official said the deal would mean enhanced integration of South Korean conventional weapons into U.S. strategic planning, and a more muscular approach to deterrence through increased war games and deployments of military assets including U.S. nuclear ballistic submarine visits to South Korea, which has not happened since the early 1980s.

Go Myong-hyun, a research fellow at Seoul’s Asan Institute for Policy Studies, a prominent conservative think tank in Seoul, told VOA that the creation of the NCG mechanism and additional deployment of assets will be considered a win for the Yoon government.

While the White House is currently opposed to positioning nuclear assets, including tactical nuclear weapons in South Korea, regular visits by a U.S. nuclear submarine amount to “hinting at a dedicated nuclear submarine option, which could be fully fleshed out in the next round of discussions between the two allies,” Go added.

The creation of the NCG does not mean the group will be deciding when Washington will launch nuclear strikes, another senior administration official said. She emphasized that the decision for nuclear use is “the sole authority” of the U.S. president.

China reaction

China, which has long seen North Korea as a buffer against U.S. influence in the region, is expected to react strongly to additional deployment of U.S. assets, particularly in light of simmering tensions between Washington and Beijing over Taiwan and various other thorny issues.

“We are briefing the Chinese in advance and laying out very clearly our rationale for why we are taking these steps,” the U.S. official said, adding that Washington has been “disappointed” Beijing has not been able to influence its ally Pyongyang to halt its “many provocations.”

The official said the administration has urged Kim Jong Un’s government to return to dialogue. “They have chosen not to and instead have taken a series of increasingly provocative and destabilizing steps,” he said.

North Korea has conducted at least 13 missile launches this year alone, including three intercontinental ballistic missile launches. Pyongyang insists they are a response to expanded U.S.-South Korea military drills that it sees as rehearsals for an invasion.

VOA’s Anita Powell and William Gallo contributed to this report.
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US South Korea State Visit Comes During Challenging Times

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U.S. President Joe Biden will pull out all the stops Wednesday when he hosts South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol at a pomp-filled state dinner to cap a day grounded by serious discussions.     

White House officials say the leaders will discuss the threats posed by an increasingly bold North Korea, how the two nations can cooperate economically, and ways to counter an increasingly powerful China among other issues.  

Presidents Biden and Yoon will hold a news conference after their discussions.   

Yoon will also speak before Congress while he is in Washington.

Yoon’s visit marks 70 years of U.S.-South Korea relations.    

While Yoon and Biden talk, the White House says their wives will visit the National Gallery of Art in Washington “in celebration of their shared appreciation of the arts and the continuing friendship between the two countries.” 

Tuesday, Biden, Yoon and their wives paid a solemn visit to the Korean War Memorial on the National Mall in Washington.   
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China Accepts US Envoy’s Credentials More Than a Year After His Arrival

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U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns presented his credentials to Chinese President Xi Jinping this week, more than one year after Burns arrived in Beijing. While the U.S. State Department downplayed the implication of the delay, some analysts said it reflects “the frozen nature” of current US-China diplomatic ties.

In a tweet on Tuesday, Burns said: “I presented my credentials to President Xi Jinping in the Great Hall of the People. It is an honor to represent the United States as Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China.”

Burns arrived in China in March 2022. He was among 70 ambassadors whose credentials Xi received on Monday.

During the ceremony, Xi noted the Chinese government will “provide support and convenience for ambassadors to perform their duties,” adding China is ready to “expand mutually beneficial cooperation” with people of other countries on the basis of “equality.”

When asked about the delay, State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told VOA: “That’s a question for the Chinese MFA [Ministry of Foreign Affairs]. I will let them speak to their schedule on how they have their diplomats present credentials.”

“I don’t think so. … I’m not going to speculate,” Patel said when asked if it’s a retaliatory move by the Beijing government amid the strained U.S.-China relationship.

The presentation of credentials (formerly called Letter of Credence) is usually arranged upon arrival at a new post, according to the U.S. State Department Foreign Affairs Manual.

“There is no question Beijing was sending a message,” said Dennis Wilder, an assistant professor of Asian studies at Georgetown University.

Burns was received with 69 other diplomats, showing China did not consider the U.S. emissary particularly special, he added.

“Beijing will probably try to excuse the tardiness of the ceremony by claiming that zero COVID had made it difficult. But no other U.S. ambassador has ever been treated as just another member of the diplomatic corps,” according to Wilder, who served from 2009 to 2015 as senior editor of the U.S. president’s daily brief.

On July 12, 2017, Xi accepted the credentials of then-U.S. Ambassador Terry Branstad two weeks after Branstad arrived in Beijing. The ceremony was personal as Xi and Branstad had first met in 1985 when Xi was a young agricultural official visiting Iowa. Branstad was Iowa governor at that time.

According to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, ambassadors officially assume duties when their credentials are accepted.
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Vulnerable to Chinese Air Attack, Taiwan Signs Deal With US to Maintain Fighter Aircraft

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Taiwan and the U.S. have signed two deals worth close to $420 million for maintaining fighter aircraft operated by the self-governing island that China considers its own territory.

Based on the agreement, around $323 million will be allocated for a parts contract that runs through March 2028, according to a local news report.

The smaller deal, which runs through June 2027, covers nonstandard parts and aviation materials. The deals were signed on Sunday.

Taiwan has relied on the U.S. for air defense capability to secure its airspace and prepare for a possible Chinese invasion. China has been ramping up military pressure in recent years to try to force the island to accept integration with mainland China.

Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang said on April 21 that Taiwan’s return to China is an integral part of the international order after World War II: “Once China’s land is recovered, it will never be lost again…anyone who plays with fire on the Taiwan issue will set himself on fire.”

The Washington Post on April 15 quoted confidential documents leaked from the Pentagon that Taiwan is unlikely to thwart Chinese military air superiority in a cross-strait conflict as its airfields and radar positions are all within the range of Beijing’s land-based missiles. According to the documents, just over half of Taiwan’s aircraft are fully mission capable and Taiwanese officials doubt the ability of their air defenses to “accurately detect missile launches.”

The documents also said Taiwan feared it could take days to move the planes to shelters, leaving them vulnerable to Chinese missiles.

Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense on April 16 said that the documents’ content did not conform to the facts.

Phillip Saunders, director of the Center for the Study of Chinese Military Affairs and distinguished research fellow at the National Defense University, told VOA Mandarin on April 20 at an event hosted by the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, that air defense is going to be a huge problem for Taiwan as its airfields and radar are all within range of China’s land-based missiles.

Saunders said, “I think the general assessment is Taiwan’s Air Force is going to be out of the fight pretty quickly because the airfields are going to be gone, and if the Air Force hits the sky, they’re within range of Chinese surface-to-air missiles based on the mainland.”

Harry Halem, a senior fellow at Yorktown Institute, a Washington, D.C., think tank, told VOA Mandarin in an email on April 20 that the Taiwanese’s biggest issue is geographic.

Halem said, “Taiwan is densely populated with large cities, making it a hellish urban combat area, but it’s also very small, and therefore, (in theory) easy to blanket with reconnaissance elements to identify enemy targets.”

“Another major vulnerability of Taiwanese aircraft is their ability to be hit on the ground in a Chinese missile first strike,” he said. “The leaks and other information indicate that Taiwan doesn’t have the hardened aircraft shelters to protect its air force if it is caught on the ground, and given the numbers of Chinese aircraft, Taiwan could simply get overwhelmed.”

Chieh Chung, a researcher at the National Policy Foundation, a Taipei-based think tank, told VOA Mandarin that one of the main challenges for Taiwan’s Air Force is that airfields and early warning radar in western Taiwan are highly vulnerable to Chinese sabotage.

He told VOA Mandarin in a phone interview on April 21 that Taiwan’s air defense system, including various long-range radar, is still operating smoothly, and the effectiveness of the entire joint air defense is quite good. For example, when China launches a ballistic missile, Taiwan’s early warning radar provide at least seven minutes of early warning to the relevant anti-missile units.

“But the problem is that most of the long-range radar that make up our air defense system are in fixed positions. It is very likely that the effect of these long-range radar (positions) will be reduced after China’s first few waves of long-range ballistic missile attacks. If it starts to decrease significantly, it will affect the success rate of anti-aircraft missile interception,” he said.

And China has more air power than Taiwan. According to Global Firepower and Forces, the Chinese military has over 3,000 aircraft and nearly 400,000 people in its air force. Taiwan has slightly more than 700 aircraft in total and more than 30,000 air force troops.

Eric Chan, senior strategist at the United States Air Force, told VOA Mandarin that the largest air threats to Taiwan might come from large swarms of unmanned aerial vehicles or short-range ballistic missiles. In an email on April 20, he said in an invasion scenario, China could attempt to use mass firepower to suppress Taiwan’s defenders, gain air superiority, and, thus, overcome the disadvantage of attacking into challenging terrain.

Losing air supremacy would have severe consequences for Taiwan. Halem said that unless the United States and its allies can help Taiwan regain air supremacy, Taiwan may lose a Taiwan Strait war.

Chan said the U.S. could work with allies to provide Taiwan with more air defense systems and missiles, creating a multilayered, integrated air and missile defense system.

Chung believes that the U.S. still needs to share early warning information to help Taiwan carry out fighter jet transfers and consider selling AGM-158C long-range anti-ship missiles to Taiwan to prevent Chinese aircraft from entering the waters east of Taiwan, as well as providing F-35 fighters to respond to China’s attacks on airfields and runways.

Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
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After Weeks of Hinting, Biden Announces Reelection Bid

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After weeks of hinting he would run for reelection, U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday formally announced his candidacy for 2024 in a three-minute video that drew a stark picture of what he believes is at stake: the very soul of America. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from Washington on the prospect of another election battle between Biden and his likely challenger, former President Donald Trump.
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Venezuela’s Guaido in Miami After Surprise Colombia Visit

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Former Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido arrived in Miami on Tuesday following a surprise visit to Colombia the previous day, where he had hoped to meet with participants at an international summit.

Guaido unexpectedly arrived in Colombia on the eve of the summit, organized by the government of leftist President Gustavo Petro with the aim of restarting stalled negotiations between Venezuela’s government and opposition politicians.

He boarded a plane in Colombia’s capital Bogota on Monday, just hours after saying on Twitter he had crossed into Colombia on foot.

“After 70 hours or more of travel I’m still very worried about my family and team,” Guaido told journalists after arriving in Miami, referring to threats he said they had received.

Guaido’s visit drew criticism from Colombian officials, with Foreign Minister Alvaro Leyva sayingon Mondaythat Guaido had entered the country inappropriately.

Colombia’s migration agency accompanied Guaido to Bogota’s airport to ensure his departure to the United States, the ministry said on Monday.

Leyva told journalists on Tuesday that Guaido was accompanied by some U.S. officials at the airport and his ticket was provided by the United States. The U.S. government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“Just enter with your passport and ask for asylum. With pleasure it would have been offered. You don’t need to enter illegally,” Petro tweeted, adding that Guaido was offered transit permissions.

Guaido had said that he hoped to meet delegations in Bogota for the summit. He urged participants to speak for Venezuelans in exile, serving as “the voice [Venezuelan President Nicolas] Maduro wanted to take from me.”

The Tuesday conference, set to be attended by representatives of 19 countries and the European Union, is meant to help restart the stalled talks in Mexico.

Guaido, a 39-year-old engineer, headed an interim government for nearly three years before being replaced as head of the opposition legislature at the end of 2022.

Guaido’s Popular Will party in a statement said it rejected his treatment by Colombia’s government.
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After Weeks of Hinting, Biden Announces Re-Election Bid

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After weeks of hinting at a run for reelection, U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday formally announced his candidacy for 2024, in a three-minute video ad that drew a stark picture of what he believes is at stake: the very soul of America. 

“When I ran for president four years ago, I said we are in a battle for the soul of America. And we still are,” Biden says in the video, released on his website.

Biden said in the video he had righted the affairs of state in America and can advance the cause of democracy with another four-year term in the White House.

“The question we are facing is whether in the years ahead we have more freedom or less freedom, more rights or fewer,” Biden said in the video. “I know what I want the answer to be. This is not a time to be complacent. That’s why I’m running for reelection.”

Biden’s long-awaited announcement, released in the early hours of Tuesday, opens with an evocative image: that of a violent mob thronging the U.S. Capitol as it prepared to mount a failed insurrection attempt on Jan 6, 2021. While Biden shows three elected representatives he has described as “MAGA extremists” – a reference to former president Donald Trump’s slogan, “Make America Great Again” – the ad makes no overt mention of Trump, whose claim to have won the 2020 poll led his followers to storm the Capitol that day. 

A recent Yahoo News-YouGov poll shows that 38 percent of Americans feel “exhaustion” at the idea of a second round between Biden and Trump.

And 29 percent said the idea of a rematch  provoked feelings of “fear.” More than half of respondents – 56 percent – said in the poll, conducted earlier this month, that they didn’t feel Biden should run again. 

Trump released a statement Tuesday in which he continued to maintain the 2020 election was rigged against him, despite multiple recounts and court rulings that found it was not. 

“With such a calamitous and failed presidency, it is almost inconceivable that Biden would even think of running for reelection,” Trump said. “… There has never been a greater contrast between two successive administrations in all of American history. Ours being greatness, and theirs being failure.”

The Biden ad also cites the debate over abortion access in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision last year to allow each of the 50 states to set its own abortion policy. Vice President Kamala Harris is used to illustrate the administration’s stance in supporting abortion access. Video of her is also used to illustrate that she is the only woman to have risen to such a senior role in American leadership, and further, that her multiethnic identity made that rise even more difficult. 

The announcement by Biden, at 80, already the oldest U.S. president, marks another milestone for one of the most enduring political figures in U.S. history. He has been a public figure for a half-century, 36 years as a U.S. senator from the small eastern state of Delaware, eight years as vice president under President Barack Obama, and then elected as the country’s president and commander in chief in 2020.

While the ad released Tuesday doesn’t reference his age, Biden has repeatedly joked about the matter in recent days, as if to provoke those who say that, at 80, he is too old to hold the world’s most stressful job. 

Last week, he wished Colombia’s president a happy birthday and joked, “it’s very difficult turning 40 years of age.”

President Gustavo Petro, who in fact had turned 63, replied “being 63 is like being 40 in the old generation.”

“I fully subscribe to that,” Biden said. 

While at least two minor candidates have announced a run against Biden for the Democratic nomination, his incumbent status makes it unlikely, given U.S. political precedent, that the party would choose another standard bearer when it meets in summer 2024 in Chicago to officially pick its nominee. Polls show that many Democrats think that Biden would stand the best chance of defeating Trump or another Republican.

Trump is leading nomination polls of Republican voters, although several other figures have announced their candidacy opposing him, or are contemplating a run for the nomination, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis; Trump’s vice president, Mike Pence, and others.

Ken Bredemeier contributed to this report.
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Donald Trump Goes to Trial, Accused of Rape

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Donald Trump goes to trial on Tuesday, where the writer E. Jean Carroll is accusing the former U.S. president in a civil lawsuit of raping her in a department store dressing room in the mid-1990s.

Jury selection is expected to begin in Manhattan federal court, where the former Elle magazine advice columnist is also accusing Trump of defamation.

Trump, 76, has denied raping Carroll, 79, He called her claim a “hoax” and “complete Scam” in a October 2022 post on his Truth Social platform. He has said she made up the encounter to promote her memoir and declared that she was “not my type!”

Trump is not required to attend the trial. His lawyers have said he may not appear, citing the likelihood of security concerns and traffic delays. Carroll’s lawyers have said they do not plan to call Trump as a witness.

If Trump testified, he would likely face an aggressive cross-examination. Trump has repeatedly attacked Carroll and in personal terms since she first publicly accused him of rape in 2019. He has claimed she is mentally ill.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who oversees the case, is keeping jurors anonymous from the public, including the lawyers, to shield them from potential harassment by Trump supporters.

The trial could last one to two weeks.

Trump, the Republican front-runner for the 2024 presidential election, faces a slew of lawsuits and investigations.

These include Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s criminal charges over hush money payments to a porn star.

Trump pleaded not guilty to those charges on April 4 at a New York state courthouse, a three-minute walk from Tuesday’s trial.

The former president also faces civil fraud charges by New York Attorney General Letitia James into his namesake company.

Trump also faces criminal probes into interference in Georgia’s 2020 presidential race and into classified government documents recovered at his Mar-a-Lago residence, plus inquiries into his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

In all of these cases, Trump has denied wrongdoing.

Other accusers may testify

Carroll said her encounter with Trump at the Bergdorf Goodman store occurred in late 1995 or early 1996.

She said Trump recognized her, calling her “that advice lady,” and asked for help in buying a gift for another woman.

Carroll said Trump “maneuvered” her into a dressing room where he shut the door, forced her against a wall, pulled down her tights and penetrated her. She said she broke free after two to three minutes.

Trump’s lawyers may try to undermine Carroll’s credibility by noting that she did not call the police and remained publicly silent for more than two decades.

They may also challenge her inability to remember the date or even the month of the alleged attack.

Carroll has said the #MeToo movement inspired her to come forward.

Two women in whom she said she confided after the attack, author Lisa Birnbach and former news anchor Carol Martin, are expected to testify.

Carroll’s witness list also includes two other women who have accused Trump of sexual misconduct, which Trump denies.

Lawyers for Carroll could use their testimony to establish a pattern of Trump’s alleged mistreatment of women.

They are also expected to play for jurors a 2005 “Access Hollywood” tape where Trump made graphic, vulgar comments about women.

Carroll is also suing Trump for defamation after he first denied her rape claim in June 2019, when he was still president.

That case remains pending before Kaplan.
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Biden Launches Re-Election Campaign

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U.S. President Joe Biden officially launched his re-election campaign Tuesday, appealing to voters in a video to grant him more time to “finish the job” his administration began two years ago.

The official candidates from the country’s two main political parties, the Democrats and the Republicans, will not be selected for more than a year, just months ahead of the November 2024 election.

But Biden’s incumbent status means it would be unlikely, given precedent, that Democrats would select someone else as their candidate.  He defeated Republican President Donald Trump in the 2020 election to earn his first term in office.

Trump refused to accept the results of the election, making baseless claims of election fraud. A mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol as Congress met to certify the election in January 2021, and Biden’s campaign used scenes from the assault to begin Tuesday’s announcement.

“Every generation of Americans has faced a moment when they have to defend democracy,” Biden said.  “Stand up for our personal freedoms.  Stand up for the right to vote and our civil rights.”

He cast Republicans as working to restrict access to abortions, cut Social Security, limit voting rights and “telling people who they can love.”

Biden, who was the nation’s oldest president at the time of his inauguration, has downplayed concerns about his age ahead of another presidential campaign.  He would be 82 years old at the start of a new term.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press.
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SpaceX Wins Approval to Add Fifth U.S. Rocket Launch Site

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The U.S. Space Force said on Monday that Elon Musk’s SpaceX was granted approval to lease a second rocket launch complex at a military base in California, setting the space company up for its fifth launch site in the United States. 

Under the lease, SpaceX will launch its workhorse Falcon rockets from Space Launch Complex-6 at Vandenberg Space Force Base, a military launch site north of Los Angeles where the space company operates another launchpad. It has two others in Florida and its private Starbase site in south Texas. 

A Monday night Space Force statement said a letter of support for the decision was signed on Friday by Space Launch Delta 30 commander Col. Rob Long. The statement did not mention a duration for SpaceX’s lease. 

The new launch site, vacated last year by the Boeing-Lockheed joint venture United Launch Alliance, gives SpaceX more room to handle an increasingly busy launch schedule for commercial, government and internal satellite launches. 

Vandenberg Space Force Base allows for launches in a southern trajectory over the Pacific Ocean, which is often used for weather-monitoring, military or spy satellites that commonly rely on polar Earth orbits. 

SpaceX’s grant of Space Launch Complex-6 comes as rocket companies prepare to compete for the Pentagon’s Phase 3 National Security Space Launch program, a watershed military launch procurement effort expected to begin in the next year or so. 
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US Sends First Deportation Flight to Cuba Since 2020

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The United States on Monday sent its first deportation flight to Cuba since 2020, months after Cuba agreed for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic to accept flights carrying Cubans caught at the U.S.-Mexico border. 

“On April 24, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) resumed normal removals processing for Cuban nationals who have received final orders of removal,” a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson said in an emailed statement. 

The Cuban government confirmed the flight’s arrival, saying on Twitter it included 40 Cubans intercepted in boats and 83 detained at the U.S.-Mexico border. 

Reuters first reported late last year that Cuba agreed to give U.S. authorities a new but limited tool to deter record numbers of Cuban border crossers. 

After U.S. President Joe Biden adopted more restrictive border security measures in January, the number of Cubans and other migrants caught at the border plummeted. 

However, the Biden administration is preparing for a possible rise in illegal crossings with COVID restrictions at the U.S.-Mexico border set to lift on May 11. The administration will say more about its preparations this week, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters on Thursday. 

U.S. and Cuban officials discussed migration issues earlier this month as the Biden administration braced for the end of COVID-era border restrictions that have blocked Cubans in recent months from crossing into the United States from Mexico. 

The U.S. embassy in Havana resumed full immigrant visa processing and consular services in January for the first time since 2017 in a bid to stem record numbers of Cubans trying to enter the United States from Mexico. 

“The United States continues to encourage Cubans to use lawful processes,” the DHS spokesperson said on Monday. 

The Biden administration in January began expelling Cubans, Haitians, and Nicaraguans crossing the U.S.-Mexico border back to Mexico under restrictions known as Title 42, while also opening new legal pathways for those groups. 
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US Sanctions Target Three in China Linked to North Korean Hackers

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The United States on Monday announced sanctions on three people it said were involved in laundering virtual currency stolen by North Korean hackers to help finance Pyongyang’s weapons programs.

A U.S. Treasury statement said the three were a China-based virtual currency trader, another currency trader based in Hong Kong, and a representative of North Korea’s Korea Kwangson Banking Corp, who recently relocated to Dandong, China.

China-based trader Wu Huihui facilitated the conversion of virtual currency stolen by North Korea’s cybercriminal syndicate, the Lazarus Group, the statement said. The Hong Kong-based trader, Cheng Hung Man, worked with Wu to remit payments in exchange for virtual currency, it said.

Also targeted was Sim Hyon Sop for acting on behalf of the Kwangson Banking Corp., an entity previously designated for sanctions by the United States.

Wu processed multiple transactions that converted millions of dollars’ worth of virtual currency, the statement said.

The U.S. sanctions freeze any U.S. assets of the individuals and make those who do business with them also liable to sanctions.

U.S. Treasury Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian Nelson said North Korea “continues to exploit virtual currency and extensive illicit facilitation networks to access the international financial system and generate revenue.”

Nelson said Washington was committed to holding accountable those who enable North Korea’s “destabilizing activities, especially in light of the three intercontinental ballistic missiles Pyongyang has launched this year alone.”

Years of U.S.-led sanctions have failed to halt North Korea’s nuclear bomb and missile programs. The latest Treasury Department action was announced before a visit to the United States this week by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.

A February report by U.S.-based blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis said North Korea-linked hackers such as those in the Lazarus Group stole an estimated $1.7 billion in cryptocurrency attacks last year.
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US-South Korea State Visit Could Feature Quiet Talks on China

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U.S. President Joe Biden will pull out all the stops Wednesday when he hosts South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol for a pomp-filled state visit to cap a day grounded by serious discussions, including, analysts say, quiet talks about countering an increasingly powerful China.

White House officials say the leaders will discuss the threats posed by an increasingly bold North Korea, how the two nations can cooperate economically and more.

Yoon will also speak before Congress while he is in Washington.

“Under the Biden-Harris administration, the U.S.-[Republic of Korea] alliance has grown far beyond the Korean peninsula, and is now a force for good in the Indo-Pacific and around the world,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Monday.

The leaders “will announce major deliverables on extended deterrence on cyber cooperation and climate mitigation assistance, investment and on strengthening our people-to-people ties,” Sullivan added.

Monday morning, the flags of South Korea and the U.S. fluttered side by side on White House grounds. This is just the second state visit of Biden’s presidency — the first was for French President Emmanuel Macron last year.

Yoon’s visit marks 70 years of U.S.-South Korea relations.

Korea expert Jean Lee, who will participate in Yoon’s arrival and attend a White House luncheon, said the visit shows how far the countries’ relationship has come.

“It started out as the United States vowing to help defend South Korea from North Korean aggression,” said Lee, a Wilson Center fellow and a veteran journalist who established the first foreign news bureau in Pyongyang. “But it has evolved into so much more. … South Korea several years ago was an impoverished, destroyed country. Seventy years later, it is the world’s 10th-largest economy, a powerhouse in so many different industries … and in many ways has become more of a partner to the United States than just this poor little country that the United States had to defend.”

The two leaders are likely to discuss China, said Victor Cha, senior vice president for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, but “I don’t think any of it will be very public.”

Sullivan, in previewing the visit on Monday, did not mention China.

But in recent days, Beijing has chastised Yoon for what state-run media described as “wrong remarks” after the Korean leader said in an interview that “the Taiwan issue is not simply an issue between China and Taiwan but, like the issue of North Korea, it is a global issue.”

China’s vice foreign minister fired back at those comments in a statement that called them “totally unacceptable.” China claims the island as part of its territory, and has this year increased its military activity over Taiwan’s defense space.

“Traditionally,” Cha said, “Koreans have been very shy to talk about Taiwan and very shy to get involved in any sort of contentions between the United States and China. Sort of classic entrapment fears, not wanting to get caught in between their main security patron and their main economic patron. But the situation is changing. Or, the situation has changed.”

But any words are likely to be carefully measured, said Nicholas Szechenyi, deputy director for Asia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“I don’t think it’s so much about what South Korea or Japan says about China,” he said at a briefing previewing the state visit. “It’s about what they do to strengthen deterrence and prevent China from thinking that it could drive a wedge between the United States and its two treaty allies.

“I think there’s wide recognition in the U.S. that as countries on the front lines of the China challenge, Korea and Japan are going to use more nuanced language, and their strategy is going to be more subtle,” Szechenyi said.

Lee pointed to one way Yoon may be trying to counter China’s economic dominance.

“I think it’s interesting if we look at who President Yoon is bringing with him,” she said. “It’s a lot of major players from South Korea’s chaebols — these are the big conglomerates — because many of those companies dominate, particularly in the semiconductor industry. And I think that that’s very specific and it’s very, very deliberate.”

Lee, of the Wilson Center, said this is also a not-so-subtle way for the U.S. to show how other countries benefit from being partners.

“This is a moment for the two countries to show that off, to market, to honor it, and also show the rest of the world what can happen if countries ally with the United States,” she said.
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Former Minnesota Police Officer Who Killed Daunte Wright Released from Prison

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Potter mistook her gun for a taser and shot Wright, a Black man
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US Sanctions 5 Iranians Linked to Suppression of Protests, Online News

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The U.S. on Monday sanctioned four senior Iranian officials it said were responsible for the “brutal suppression” of protests that erupted last year against Tehran’s morality police for the arrest and death of a young woman detained for not properly wearing a hajib.

The U.S. also sanctioned a fifth official it said has blocked popular online news sites and spying on journalists and dissidents.

The Treasury Department action was the 11th time the U.S. has blacklisted Iranian officials linked to the death last September of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. The move was in coordination with Britain, which also imposed similar sanctions against senior Iranian officials.  

Several hundred Iranian protesters have been killed in the street demonstrations, along with a much smaller number of security agents and police.

“The Iranian people deserve freedom of expression without the threat of violent retaliation and censorship from those in power,” Treasury official Brian Nelson said in a statement. “Along with our key allies and partners, such as the United Kingdom, the United States will continue to take action against those responsible for the regime’s violent repression and censorship.”

The sanctions block the Iranian officials from use of any U.S. funds and property they may own and prohibits Americans from doing business with them.

The U.S. identified those blacklisted as Parviz Absalan, Amanollah Goshtasbi and Ahmed Seyedoshohada of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps; Salman Adinehvand, the commander of the Tehran Police Relief Unit, the primary security organization in charge of crowd control and protest suppression, and cyberspace chief Seyyed Aghamiri.

 
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Tucker Carlson Out at Fox News, Network Confirms

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Fox News said Monday it has “agreed to part ways” with Tucker Carlson, its popular and controversial host, less than a week after settling a lawsuit over the network’s 2020 election reporting.

The American news network said in a press release that the last program of “Tucker Carlson Tonight” aired Friday.

“We thank him for his service to the network as a host and prior to that as a contributor,” the press release from the network said.

Carlson became Fox’s most popular personality after replacing Bill O’Reilly in Fox’s prime-time lineup in 2016. He’s also consistently drawn headlines for controversial coverage, including most recently airing tapes from the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection to minimize the impact of the deadly attack.

There was no immediate explanation from Fox about why Carlson was leaving.

His name came up during the recently settled case with Dominion Voting Systems, primarily because of email and text messages that were revealed as part of the lawsuit. In some of them, Carlson privately criticized former President Donald Trump, saying he hated him passionately.

A few weeks ago, Carlson devoted his entire show to an interview with Trump.

“Fox News Tonight” will air in Carlson’s 8 p.m. ET prime-time slot, hosted by a rotating array of network personalities, for the time being.
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US Supreme Court to Decide If Public Officials Can Block Critics on Social Media

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The U.S. Supreme Court, exploring free speech rights in the social media era, on Monday agreed to consider whether the Constitution’s First Amendment bars government officials from blocking their critics on platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

The justices took up an appeal by two members of a public school board from the city of Poway in Southern California of a lower court’s ruling in favor of school parents who sued after being blocked from Facebook pages and a Twitter account maintained by the officials. 

The justices also took up an appeal by a Michigan man of a lower court’s ruling against him after he sued a city official in Port Huron who blocked him on Facebook following critical posts made by the plaintiff about the local government’s COVID-19 response.

At issue is whether a public official’s social media activity can amount to governmental action bound by First Amendment limits on government regulation of speech.

The justices faced a similar First Amendment issue in 2021 involving a legal dispute over former President Donald Trump’s effort to block critics from his Twitter account. The justices brought an end to that court fight after Trump had left office by deciding the case was moot, throwing out a lower court’s decision that found that the former president had violated constitutional free speech rights.

The California case involves Michelle O’Connor-Ratcliff and T.J. Zane, elected members of the Poway Unified School District. They blocked Christopher and Kimberly Garnier, the parents of three students at district schools, on Facebook and Twitter after the couple made hundreds of critical posts on issues such as race and the handling of school finances.

The Garniers sued O’Connor-Ratcliff and Zane in federal court, claiming their free speech rights under the First Amendment were violated.

Zane and O’Connor-Ratcliff each had public Facebook pages identifying them as government officials, according to the Garniers’ court filing. Zane’s page was entitled “T.J. Zane, Poway Unified School District Trustee” and included a picture of a school district signage.

O’Connor-Ratcliff also had a public Twitter profile. On that account and her Facebook page, she identified herself as “President of the PUSD Board of Education” and linked to her official email address, the court filing said.

A federal judge in California ruled in favor of the parents in 2021. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last July agreed, finding that the school board members had presented their social media accounts as “channels of communication with the public” about school board business.

The Michigan case involves Port Huron resident Kevin Lindke, who was blocked from City Manager James Freed’s public Facebook page after posting criticism relating to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Lindke sued Freed in federal court, also claiming his First Amendment rights were violated.

Freed’s account was a public Facebook page that identified him as a “public figure,” included a picture of him wearing his city manager pin and frequently included information about city programs and policies, according to Lindke’s court filing.

A federal judge ruled in favor of Freed in 2021. The Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last July agreed, finding that Freed had not been acting in his official capacity when he blocked Lindke from Facebook.

The petitioners in both disputes told the Supreme Court that the divergent outcomes in their cases reflected a divide among lower courts that the justices should resolve. 
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US Personnel Evacuated from Sudan Returning to Washington

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A majority of U.S. government personnel who were evacuated from Sudan’s capital, Khartoum, will arrive in Washington Monday afternoon, an official who has knowledge of the operation but wishes not to be named told VOA.

Meanwhile, a senior Pentagon official said the United States is looking for options to help other Americans who wish to leave the embattled central African country.

“One of those ways is to potentially make the overland routes out of Sudan potentially more viable,” said Chris Maier, the assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict, during a phone briefing late Saturday. “DOD is at present considering actions that may include: use of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities to be able to observe routes and detect threats,” he added. 

Washington does not plan to coordinate a large-scale evacuation of private U.S. citizens in Sudan due to volatile security situations and closure of Khartoum’s main airport.  There are believed to be about 16,000 Americans in Sudan, many of them dual nationals and aid workers.

The U.S. Agency for International Development has deployed a team of disaster response experts for Sudan. The team will operate out of Kenya amid deadly fighting in Sudan between rival factions — the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group.

“We are in communication with U.S. citizens requesting assistance departing Sudan, and their families in the United States. This is an unfolding situation, and we cannot provide more details for security reasons,” a State Department spokesperson told VOA.

The State Department declines to say how many private U.S. citizens may intend to leave Sudan.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said the State Department will continue to assist Americans in Sudan in planning for their safety.

Over the weekend, U.S. special operations forces evacuated all American diplomats and their families from the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum, using helicopters that flew from a base in Djibouti and refueled in Ethiopia. They were not fired on during the evacuation.  

Several diplomats from other countries were also evacuated in the operations.

The White House said U.S. military forces will remain deployed in Djibouti to protect U.S. personnel and others until the security situation in Sudan no longer requires their presence. It said additional forces are prepared to deploy to the region if needed.

On Monday, Blinken holds meetings with Kenya’s top diplomat, Alfred Mutua, with Sudan seen as high on the agenda.

Washington is also in close contact with Sudan’s military and civilian leaders to see if an Eid-al-Fitr cease-fire, which reduced but did not stop the clashes, can be extended to facilitate humanitarian arrangements. Eid-al-Fitr marks the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

More than 420 people have been killed and more than 3,500 injured in Sudan.

Two-thirds of the hospitals have closed since fighting erupted more than a week ago.

The World Health Organization has urged the warring military factions to halt fighting to allow a humanitarian corridor for health workers, patients, and ambulances.

There needs to have “pathways” so civilians “can get to safer parts of the country,” Rebecca Hamilton, a law professor at American University and a former lawyer for the International Criminal Court, told VOA. 

VOA’s Vero Balderas Iglesias contributed to this story.
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Pollution Lawsuit Could Curb Use of Aerial Fire Retardant

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A legal dispute in Montana could drastically curb the government’s use of aerial fire retardant to combat wildfires after environmentalists raised concerns about waterways that are being polluted with the potentially toxic red slurry that’s dropped from aircraft.

A coalition that includes Paradise, California — where a 2018 blaze killed 85 people and destroyed the town — said a court ruling against the U.S. Forest Service in the case could put lives, homes and forests at risk.

An advocacy group that’s suing the agency claims officials are flouting a federal clean water law by continuing to use retardant without taking adequate precautions to protect streams and rivers.

The group, Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, requested an injunction blocking officials from using aerial retardant until they get a pollution permit.

The dispute comes as wildfires across North America have grown bigger and more destructive over the past two decades because climate change, people moving into fire-prone areas, and overgrown forests are creating more catastrophic megafires that are harder to fight.

Forest Service officials acknowledged in court filings that retardant has been dropped into waterways more than 200 times over the past decade. They said it happens usually by mistake and in less than 1% of the thousands of drops annually, and that environmental damage from fires can exceed the pollution from retardant.

“The only way to prevent accidental discharges of retardant to waters is to prohibit its use entirely,” government attorneys wrote. “Such a prohibition would be tantamount to a complete ban of aerial discharges of retardant.”

Government officials and firefighters say fire retardant can be crucial to slowing the advance of a blaze so firefighters can try to stop it.

“It buys you time,” said Scott Upton, a former region chief and air attack group supervisor for California’s state fire agency. “We live in a populous state — there are people everywhere. It’s a high priority for us to be able to use the retardant, catch fires when they’re small.”

Forest Service officials said they are trying to come into compliance with the law by getting a pollution permit but that could take years.

“The Forest Service says it should be allowed to pollute, business as usual,” said Andy Stahl, who leads the Eugene, Oregon-based group behind the lawsuit. “Our position is that business as usual is illegal.”

A ruling from U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen is expected sometime after the opposing sides present their arguments during a Monday hearing in federal court in Missoula.

Christensen denied a request to intervene in the case by the coalition that includes Paradise, other California communities and trade groups such as the California Forestry Association. The judge is allowing the coalition’s attorney to present brief arguments.

As the 2023 fire season gets underway, California Forestry Association President Matt Dias said the prospect of not having fire retardant available to a federal agency that plays a key role on many blazes was “terrifying.”

“The devastation that could occur as a result of the Forest Service losing that tool could be just horrific,” Dias said.

More than 100 million gallons (378 million liters) of fire retardant were used during the past decade, according to the Department of Agriculture. It’s made up of water and other ingredients including fertilizers or salts that can be harmful to fish, frogs, crustaceans and other aquatic animals.

A government study found misapplied retardant could adversely affect dozens of imperiled species, including crawfish, spotted owls and fish such as shiners and suckers.

Health risks to firefighters or other people who come into contact with fire retardant are considered low, according to a 2021 risk assessment commissioned by the Forest Service.

To keep streams from getting polluted, officials in recent years have avoided drops inside buffer zones within 300 feet (92 meters) of waterways.

Under a 2011 government decision, fire retardant may only be applied inside the zones, known as “avoidance areas,” when human life or public safety is threatened and retardant could help. Of 213 instances of fire retardant landing in water between 2012 and 2019, 190 were accidents, officials said.

The remaining 23 drops were necessary to save lives or property, they said.

Stahl’s organization suggested in court filings that the buffer zones be increased, to 600 feet (182 meters) around lakes and streams.

In January — three months after the lawsuit was filed — the Forest Service asked the Environmental Protection Agency to issue a permit allowing the service to drop retardant into water under certain conditions. The process is expected to take more than two years.

Forest Service spokesperson Wade Muehlhof declined to comment on the case.
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‘People Are Suffering’: Food Stamp Woes Worsen Alaska Hunger

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Thousands of Alaskans who depend on government assistance have waited months for food stamp benefits, exacerbating a long-standing hunger crisis worsened by the pandemic, inflation and the remnants of a typhoon that wiped out stockpiles of fish and fishing equipment.

The backlog, which began last August, is especially concerning in a state where communities in far-flung areas, including Alaska Native villages, are often not connected by roads. They must have food shipped in by barge or airplane, making the cost of even basic goods exorbitant. Around 13% of the state’s roughly 735,000 residents received Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits — or SNAP — in July, before the troubles began.

“People are struggling and having to make choices of getting food or getting heating fuel,” said Daisy Lockwood Katcheak, city administrator in Stebbins, an Alaska Native village of 634 people, more than 400 miles (644 kilometers) northwest of Anchorage.

Faced with food shortages and rampant inflation, the city recently used $38,000 in funds raised for a children’s spring carnival to buy residents basic supplies. The community on Alaska’s western coast is also reeling from the remnants of a typhoon that destroyed a critical stockpile of fish and fishing boats at the same time problems with the food stamp program were emerging.

“My people are suffering first hand,” said Katcheak.

Alaska lawmakers have responded to the state’s sluggish response, as lawsuits have alleged failures in the state’s administration of the food stamps and a program that provides aid to low-income Alaskans who are blind, elderly or have disabilities.

Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy authorized $1.7 million to provide relief to communities in a state that is almost 2 1/2 times the size of Texas. Lawmakers approved emergency funding to hire staff to handle the crush of cases as food banks have reported the highest level of demand they have seen.

“We know a lot of people that are not eating multiple meals a day; they’ve drawn down to maybe a single meal,” said Anthony Reinert, director of programs at the Food Bank of Alaska. There has always “been a baseline of hunger in Alaska. But it’s spread and expanded pretty significantly in the last six months.”

The hunger crisis in Alaska stems from a perfect storm of cascading events, compounded by staffing and technology issues within the state health department.

During the pandemic, the regular renewal process for SNAP benefits — a federal program administered by states — was suspended. Problems emerged after the state ended its public health emergency last July and recertification requirements for SNAP were reinstituted, resulting in a flood of applications.

A cyberattack that targeted the state health department in 2021 complicated Alaska’s ability to process the applications, said Heidi Hedberg, who was appointed health commissioner late last year. Employees who were supposed to upgrade key department computer systems were pulled away to address the attack, leaving the upgrade work undone. But 100 positions that were set to be eliminated due to anticipated efficiencies with the upgrade nonetheless were still cut, Hedberg said.

In January, the backlog of applicants seeking to renew food assistance benefits had reached a high of 9,104. Officials hope to clear the recertification backlog this month and turn their attention to thousands of new applications, according to the department.

“This is not how SNAP systems are supposed to work, period,” said Nick Feronti, an attorney representing Alaskans who are suing over delays and other concerns with the food stamp program.

Stephanie Duboc is still waiting for assistance after submitting her application in December. She volunteers at the Chugiak-Eagle River Food Pantry in suburban Anchorage and said the food she receives from the pantry is essential.

“It would be a huge impact on my family financially,” without that help, she said.

Among those suing is Rose Carney, 68, who receives $172 a month in assistance.

Carney said she received a letter in September saying her benefits had been renewed — but a month later, got another letter saying her application was due the next day. She filled it out but didn’t start receiving benefits until last month after contacting a lawyer, she said. Meanwhile, she added water to stretch bean soup and visited a church food pantry to get by.

“I was really upset because that was like income that I was depending on, even though it was just food stamps,” said Carney.

Feronti, her attorney, has 10 clients seeking class-action status, but the case has been on hold as the parties work toward a possible resolution that could compel long-term changes.

The National Center for Law and Economic Justice, also involved in the case, has filed a similar lawsuit in Missouri, but Alaska’s situation is “in the extreme,” said Saima Akhtar, an attorney with the center.

The $1.7 million allocated by Dunleavy in February was for the food banks to address urgent needs, including the bulk purchases of goods and distribution of cash cards so people in rural communities can buy groceries on their own and support local stores.

Reinert, with the food bank, said about $800,000 was used to buy staples like oatmeal, pasta, beans, canned fruit and shelf-stable cheese at cheaper prices in Washington state. The goods were then shipped to Alaska for distribution.

Those supplies are beginning to reach the most needy communities, where the cost of groceries in the store are astronomically high due to the logistics of getting them there.

In Bethel, a hub community in southwest Alaska, the Bethel Community Services Foundation provides food to about 350 households a month — nearly six times as many as before the pandemic. Milk at the store costs about $12.50 a gallon, while a 20-pound bag of rice is $62.49 and a 40-pound bag of a discount brand of dog food is $82.49, said Carey Atchak, the foundation’s food security coordinator.

That’s cheap compared to the Yup’ik village of Kwethluk, a 12-mile (19-kilometer) flight from Bethel, where an 18-pack of eggs can cost almost $17 and a double pack of peanut butter goes for $25.69.

“When the lower 48 experiences these problems, they have workarounds, they have neighbors, they have connections, they have the ability to grow their own food. That’s not even an option up here,” Reinert said, using a term common in Alaska for the contiguous U.S. states.

“And so, we’re very, very dependent and reliant on these systems working to keep the lights on and the traffic moving up here.”
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‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ Is No. 1 for Third Week

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“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” continued to rack up coins at the box office, leading ticket sales for the third straight weekend, as the animation hit neared $1 billion after just 18 days in theaters.

The weekend’s top new release, the horror reboot “Evil Dead Rise” debuted solidly, launching with $23.5 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. But that was no match for Universal Pictures’ “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which grossed $58.2 million in its third weekend.

“The Super Mario Bros. Movie” is setting a torrid pace for an animated movie. This week, it became the highest-grossing animated released of the pandemic era, with domestic ticket sales up to $434.3 million through Sunday and its global tally at $871.1 million. When “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” soon passes $1 billion worldwide, it will be just the fourth film of the pandemic era to reach that benchmark, following “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” “Top Gun Maverick” and “Avatar: The Way of Water.”

“Evil Dead Rise,” From Warner Bros. and New Line, is the fifth installment (and first in a decade) in the thriller franchise that Sam Raimi began with this 1981 ultra-low-budget classic, “Evil Dead.” Though Raimi’s subsequent and much-adored films starring Bruce Campbell grew increasingly slapstick, marrying comedy and horror, the 2013 reboot and “Evil Dead Rise” (with Raimi as an executive producer) rely on chillier frights.

“Evil Dead Rise,” which had a reported budget of $17 million, also had originally been planned as an HBO Max release. When Warner Bros. decided direct-to-streaming films weren’t financially appealing, it pushed some films – including “Magic Mike’s Last Dance” and “House Party” – to theaters, and simply canned a few others including “Batgirl” and “Scoob! Holiday Haunt.”

Amazon Studios’ “Air,” likewise initially was intended to go straight to streaming, has also continued to perform well theatrically. The Ben Affleck-directed film, about Nike’s courting of Michael Jordan, dipped a modest 29% in its third weekend with $5.5 million to bring its cumulative total to $41.3 million.

But while horror remains one of the most dependable genres at the box office, and families — after a long dry spell of all-audience releases — have flocked to “Super Mario,” some adult-oriented releases have continued to have a harder time attracting audiences.

Guy Ritchie’s “The Covenant,” starring Jake Gyllenhaal as an injured army sergeant in Afghanistan, opened with $6.3 million in 2,611 theaters. But with mostly good reviews (81% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and an “A” CinemaScore from ticket buyers, the MGM release may hold well in coming weeks.

Ari Aster’s “Beau Is Afraid,” the most expensive movie ever made by specialty studio A24, expanded until near-wide release, going from four theaters to 926. Aster’s three-hour opus, received with more mixed reviews than his previous two films (“Hereditary,” “Midsommar”), took in $2.7 million.

Searchlight’s “Chevalier,” starring Kelvin Harrison as the 18th century French composer and violinist Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, also failed to make a dent. It took in $1.5 million in 1,275 theaters.

But with overall business in movie theaters largely thriving thanks to spring hits like “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” and “John Wick: Chapter 4” ($168.9 million domestically in five weeks of release), the theatrical industry will have much to celebrate when it convenes Monday in Las Vegas for the annual CinemaCon. Studios, beginning with Sony Pictures on Monday, will hype their summer blockbusters as Hollywood looks to return to pre-pandemic box-office levels.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

  1. “Super Mario Bros,” $58.2 million.

  2. “Evil Dead Rise,” $23.5 million.

  3. “The Covenant,” $6.3 million.

  4. “John Wick: Chapter 4,” $5.8 million.

  5. “Air,” $5.5 million.

  6. “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves,” $5.4 million.

  7. “The Pope’s Exorcist,” $3.3 million.

  8. “Renfield,” $3.1 million.

  9. “Beau Is Afraid,” $2.7 million.

  10. “Suzume,” $1.6 million.
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US Deploying Disaster Response Team for Sudan as It Faces Humanitarian Crisis

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The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has deployed a team of disaster response experts for Sudan in the region to coordinate the humanitarian response as fighting rocks the country, USAID head Samantha Power said on Sunday.

In a statement, Power said the Disaster Assistance Response Team will operate out of Kenya for the initial phase, adding that the experts are working with the international community and partners to identify priority needs and safely deliver humanitarian assistance.

“The United States is mobilizing to ramp up assistance to the people of Sudan ensnared between the warring factions,” Power said.

The eruption of fighting eight days ago between the army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group has triggered a humanitarian crisis, killed hundreds of people and trapped millions of Sudanese without access to basic services.

Sudan’s sudden collapse into warfare has dashed plans to restore civilian rule, brought an already impoverished country to the brink of humanitarian disaster, and threatened a wider conflict that could draw in outside powers.

“Fighting between the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan has claimed hundreds of lives, injured thousands, and yet again dashed the democratic aspirations of the Sudanese people. Civilians trapped in their homes cannot access desperately needed medicines, and face the prospect of protracted power, water, and food shortages,” Power said.

“All of this suffering compounds an already dire situation – one-third of Sudan’s population, nearly 16 million people, already needed humanitarian assistance to meet basic human needs before this outbreak of violence.”

Power reiterated calls on Sunday for the parties to abide by the cease-fire for the Muslim Eid al-Fitr holiday, end the fighting, and comply with international humanitarian law, including by enabling safe and unhindered access for humanitarian and medical workers.

The United States on Saturday evacuated U.S. government personnel from its embassy in Khartoum and temporarily suspended operations at the embassy due to security risks.
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