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Category: United States
United States news. The U.S. national government is a presidential constitutional republic and liberal democracy with three separate branches: legislative, executive, and judicial. It has a bicameral national legislature composed of the House of Representatives, a lower house based on population; and the Senate, an upper house based on equal representation for each state
Russia Takes Center Stage in US Political Battle
The death of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny has put Russia in the center of American political discourse and has increased pressure on congressional Republicans to support Ukraine. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden and his main challenger, former President Donald Trump, take opposing views heading into the November U.S. election. VOA’s Anita Powell reports from Washington.
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Russia Takes Center Stage in US Political Battle
washington — Russia has taken center stage in American political discourse after the death of a prominent opposition figure there, putting congressional Republicans under increased pressure to support Ukraine.
U.S. President Joe Biden has highlighted in his recent statements one of the differences between him and his challenger, former U.S. President Donald Trump.
At a recent rally, Trump said that if he were president and a NATO member fell short of its financial commitments to the security bloc, he would not protect that ally. “In fact, I would encourage them” — meaning Russia — “to do whatever the hell they want,” Trump said.
“Every president since Truman has been a rock-solid supporter of NATO, except for Donald Trump,” a stentorian male voice intones in an ad released this week by the Biden campaign. “Trump wants to walk away from NATO. He’s even given Putin and Russia the green light to attack America’s allies. … No president has ever said anything like it. It’s shameful. It’s weak. It’s dangerous. It’s un-American.”
The divide was further compounded by the death last week of opposition leader Alexey Navalny in a Russian prison.
Biden has been quick to lay blame and threaten stiff sanctions over the 47-year-old’s death in an Arctic penal colony, which Russian officials say was caused by “sudden death syndrome.”
“The fact of the matter is, Putin is responsible,” Biden said. “Whether he ordered it, he’s responsible for the circumstances they put that man in. And it’s a reflection of who he is. It just cannot be tolerated. I said there will be a price to pay.”
The Kremlin said Biden’s allegation is “unfounded” and “insolent,” but authorities have denied Navalny’s mother access to his body.
A different line
Trump and his Republican Party have taken a different line, with Trump saying he would not support NATO as strongly as Biden has. And, in a recent event with Fox News, he cast himself as a victim of political persecution, like Navalny.
“It’s a horrible thing, but it’s happening in our country, too,” Trump said Tuesday night. “We are turning into a communist country in many ways. And if you look at it, I’m the leading candidate. I get … I never heard of being indicted before. … I got indicted four times, I have eight or nine trials, all because of the fact that — and you know this — all because of the fact that I’m in politics.”
Trump was vague on how he’d end the war, instead saying that if he were president, Putin would never have invaded Ukraine.
Republicans have grown more vocal in questioning why they should fund the conflict. Russian forces recently captured a key Ukrainian city, Avdiivka, which the White House points to as proof that Ukrainian forces need urgent help.
In urging members of Congress to pass a $60 billion aid package for Ukraine, national security adviser Jake Sullivan argued it is “in our cold-blooded, national security interest to help Ukraine stand up to Putin’s vicious and brutal invasion.”
“We know from history that when dictators aren’t stopped, they keep going,” Sullivan told reporters this week in a briefing. “The cost for America rises, and the consequences get more and more severe for our NATO allies and elsewhere in the world.”
Some Republicans are confident that they will pass the stalled $95 billion aid package, most of which is for Ukraine.
“I think the slow response from Europe and the United States, of course, that hurts Ukraine,” Republican Representative Brian Fitzpatrick said on a recent visit to Ukraine. “And that’s why we can’t let this happen, why we’re going to get something done.”
War’s symbolism grows
Meanwhile, as Ukraine nears the second anniversary of the invasion and U.S. aid hangs in the balance, the war has taken on greater symbolic meaning.
“This has become about America,” journalist and author Peter Pomerantsev told VOA’s Russian Service via Skype. He is also a senior fellow at the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University. “Will America continue to play the role of a power that keeps its promises, that respects its alliances and that is capable of projecting strength?
“Or is America over as a serious power? That’s the question now,” he said. “It’s no longer about Russia or Ukraine. Now all eyes of the world are on America, and the way America decides will have epic consequences.”
VOA’s Rafael R. Saakyan contributed to this report from Washington.
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Biden’s Team Challenges How President Is Portrayed in Press
NEW YORK — Occupants of the White House have grumbled over news coverage practically since the place was built. Now it’s U.S. President Joe Biden’s turn: With a reelection campaign underway, there are signs that those behind the president are starting to more aggressively and publicly challenge how he is portrayed.
Within the past two weeks, an administration aide sent an unusual letter to the White House Correspondents’ Association complaining about coverage of a special counsel’s report on Biden’s handling of classified documents. In addition, the president’s campaign objected to its perception that negative stories about Biden’s age got more attention than remarks by Donald Trump about the NATO alliance.
It’s not quite “enemy of the people” territory. But it is noticeable.
“It is a strategy,” said Frank Sesno, a professor at George Washington University and former CNN Washington bureau chief. “It does several things at once. It makes the press a foil, which is a popular pattern for politicians of all stripes.”
It can also distract voters from bad news. And while some newsrooms quickly dismiss the criticism, he says, others may pause and think twice about what they write.
The letter from Ian Sams, spokesman for the White House counsel’s office, suggested that reporters improperly framed stories about the February 8 release of Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report. Sams pointed to stories by CBS News, The Wall Street Journal, The Associated Press and others emphasizing that Hur had found evidence that Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified material. Sams wrote that much of that so-called evidence didn’t hold up and was negated by Hur’s decision not to press charges.
He said it was critical to address it when “significant errors” like misstating the findings and conclusions of a federal investigation of a president occur.
It was Sams’ second foray into press criticism in a few months; last fall, he urged journalists to give more scrutiny to House Republicans and the reasons behind their impeachment inquiry of Biden.
“Everybody makes mistakes, and nobody’s perfect,” Sams told the AP. “But a healthy back and forth over what’s the full story helps make both the press and the government sharper in how the country and world get the news they need to hear.”
Kelly O’Donnell, president of the correspondents’ association and an NBC News correspondent, suggested Sams’ concerns were misdirected and should be addressed to individual news organizations.
“It is inappropriate for the White House to utilize internal pool distribution channels, primarily for logistics and the rapid sharing of need-to-know information, to disseminate generalized critiques of news coverage,” O’Donnell said.
In a separate statement, Biden campaign spokesman T.J. Ducklo criticized media outlets for time spent discussing the 81-year-old president’s age and mental capacity, an issue that was raised anew when Biden addressed the Hur report with reporters. He suggested that was less newsworthy and important than Trump’s NATO comments.
Americans deserve a press corps that covers Trump “with the seriousness and ferocity this moment requires,” said Ducklo, who resigned from the White House in 2021 for threatening a reporter.
To be fair, deadline times likely affected the initial disparity in coverage that Ducklo pointed out. And Trump’s remarks have hardly been ignored by media outlets.
The criticism comes amid the backdrop of unhappiness among some journalists about how much Biden is made available for questions — an issue that surfaced again when Biden turned down an opportunity to appear before tens of millions of Americans in an interview during the Super Bowl pregame show.
The 33 news conferences Biden has given during the first three years of his presidency is lower than any other American president in that time span since Ronald Reagan, said Martha Kumar, a Towson University professor emeritus and expert on presidents and the press. Similarly, the 86 interviews Biden has given is lower than any president since she began studying records with Reagan. By comparison, Barack Obama gave 422 interviews during his first three years.
Instead, Biden prefers more informal appearances where reporters ask a few questions, with comparatively little opportunity for follow-up, she said: The 535 such sessions that Biden conducted was second only to Trump’s 572.
One example followed Biden’s remarks Friday after the death of Russian dissident Alexey Navalny. Another was Biden’s early evening availability following the release of Hur’s report, a chaotic scene where reporters tried to outshout one another. The president’s performance, and remarks about his forgetfulness that were made in Hur’s report, led to more questions about the impact of age on his ability.
“It did not serve him well,” Kumar said. Some on Biden’s team, meanwhile, believe the president showed a combativeness in the face of criticism that Americans will appreciate.
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Head of Boeing’s 737 MAX Program Leaves After Midair Incident
WASHINGTON — Boeing said on Wednesday it was replacing the head of its troubled 737 MAX program effective immediately, the first major executive departure since the January 5 midair panel blowout of a new Alaska Airlines MAX 9.
Ed Clark, who had been with the plane-maker for nearly 18 years, departed as Boeing has been dealing with its latest crisis and has vowed to ramp up quality efforts.
Regulators have curbed the plane-maker’s production, and lawmakers and customers have been scrutinizing production and safety measures.
Boeing has scrambled to explain and strengthen safety procedures after a door panel detached during flight on a new Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9, forcing pilots to make an emergency landing while passengers were exposed to a gaping hole 16,000 feet above the ground.
Clark’s departure came after Boeing’s board met this week and approved the changes, according to sources familiar with the matter. He oversaw the company’s production facility in Renton, Washington, where the plane involved in the accident was completed.
Clark was previously chief mechanic and engineer for the 737 before being named head of the program in 2021. He was the fifth person in four years to run the 737 program.
Katie Ringgold is replacing him as vice president and general manager of the 737 program, according to a memo seen by Reuters sent to staff by Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Stan Deal, who said the plane-maker was working to ensure “that every airplane we deliver meets or exceeds all quality and safety requirements. Our customers demand, and deserve, nothing less.”
The latest mishap occurred as Boeing was still working to rebuild its reputation following the 20-month grounding of the 737 MAX following two fatal crashes that killed a total of 346 people. That grounding was lifted in November 2020.
Airline industry executives have expressed frustration with Boeing’s quality control. The only other major manufacturer of commercial aircraft is France’s Airbus.
The memo was first reported by the Seattle Times.
The FAA grounded the MAX 9 for several weeks in January and has capped Boeing’s production of the MAX while it audits the plane-maker’s manufacturing process, which has suffered a string of quality issues in recent years.
The door panel that flew off the MAX 9 appeared to be missing four key bolts, according to a preliminary report from the U.S. National Safety Transportation Board in early February. The panel is a plug-in placed on some 737 MAX 9s instead of an additional emergency exit.
According to the report, the door plug in question was removed to repair rivet damage, but the NTSB has not found evidence the bolts were reinstalled.
The disclosure has prompted anger among Boeing’s airline customers. Some, including Alaska Airlines, announced they would conduct enhanced quality oversight of planes before they leave the Boeing factory.
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James Biden Tells Lawmakers Joe Biden Had No Involvement in Family’s Business Dealings
Washington — James Biden told congressional investigators that his brother, President Joe Biden, “never had any involvement” in the family’s business dealings as James Biden appeared for a private interview Wednesday on Capitol Hill as part of House Republicans’ impeachment inquiry.
“I have had a 50-year career in a variety of business ventures. Joe Biden has never had any involvement or any direct or indirect financial interest in those activities,” the younger Biden said in an opening statement obtained by The Associated Press. “None.”
The interview with James Biden is the latest in a series that Republican lawmakers have conducted recently as they seek to rebuild momentum for an impeachment process surrounding the Biden family’s overseas finances that has stalled in recent months.
Criticism over the lack of evidence directly related to the president has grown even among those in the Republican Party who have thrown cold water on allegations that Biden was directly involved in his family members’ supposed efforts to leverage the last name into corporate paydays domestically and abroad.
The Republican investigation was undercut again last week when an FBI informant who claimed there was a multimillion-dollar bribery scheme involving the president, his son Hunter, and a Ukrainian energy company was charged with fabricating the story.
The informant’s claims had been central to the Republican effort in Congress to investigate the president and his family. An attorney for Hunter Biden, who is expected to give a deposition next week, said the charges show the probe is “based on dishonest, uncredible allegations and witnesses.”
Both James and Hunter Biden were subpoenaed by the committee in November. Lawyers for James Biden have said that there was no justification for the subpoena because the committee had already reviewed private bank records and transactions between the two brothers. The committee found records of two loans that were made when Joe Biden was not in office or a candidate for president.
“With my appearance here today, the committees will have the information to conclude that the negative and destructive assumptions about me and my relationship with my brother Joe are wrong,” James Biden said in his. “There is no basis for this inquiry to continue.”
But Republicans have pushed back on the Biden family’s defense, saying the evidence they have gathered since early last year paints a troubling picture of “influence peddling” in the family’s business dealings, particularly with international clients.
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US Lawyers Say Assange Wanted for ‘Indiscriminately’ Publishing Sources’ Names
LONDON — Julian Assange is being prosecuted for publishing sources’ names and not his political opinions, lawyers representing the United States said on Wednesday as the WikiLeaks founder fights to stop his extradition from Britain.
U.S. prosecutors are seeking to put Assange, 52, on trial over WikiLeaks’ high-profile release of vast troves of confidential U.S. military records and diplomatic cables.
They argue the leaks imperiled the lives of their agents and there was no excuse for his criminality. Assange’s supporters, however, hail him as a journalist and a hero who is being persecuted for exposing U.S. wrongdoing.
Assange’s lawyers told London’s High Court on Tuesday that the case was politically motivated, arguing Assange was targeted for his exposure of “state-level crimes” and that former U.S. President Donald Trump had requested “detailed options” on how to kill him.
But, on Wednesday, lawyers for the U.S. said Assange’s prosecution was “based on the rule of law and evidence.”
Clair Dobbin told the court: “The appellant’s prosecution might be unprecedented, but what he did was unprecedented.”
Assange “indiscriminately and knowingly published to the world the names of individuals who acted as sources of information to the U.S.,” Dobbin said.
“It is these facts which distinguish him, not his political opinions,” she added.
Dobbin also responded to Assange’s lawyers who cited an alleged U.S. plan to kidnap or murder Assange while he was in London’s Ecuadorean embassy, reported by Yahoo News in 2021.
She said the United States had given assurances about how Assange would be treated that “wholly undermine this suggestion … that anything could happen to him.”
Dobbin argued that the material Wikileaks published was obtained by encouraging people to steal documents and contained unredacted names of U.S. sources.
Therefore Assange could not be “treated as akin to an ordinary journalist or Wikileaks akin to an ordinary publisher,” she said.
Assange himself was again not in court on Wednesday nor watching remotely because he was unwell, his lawyers and his wife Stella Assange said.
The Australian’s legal battles began in 2010, and he spent seven years holed up in Ecuador’s embassy before he was dragged out and jailed in 2019 for breaching bail conditions.
He has been held in a maximum-security jail in London ever since, even getting married there, while Britain finally approved his extradition to the U.S. in 2022.
Assange’s lawyers say that he could be given a sentence as long as 175 years, but likely to be at least 30 to 40 years. U.S. prosecutors have said it would be no more than 63 months.
If Assange wins this case, a full appeal hearing will be held. If he loses, his only remaining option would be at the European Court of Human Rights and his wife has said his lawyers would apply to the European judges for an emergency injunction if necessary.
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Israeli Airstrikes Hit Northern, Southern Gaza
United Nations — The Israeli military said Wednesday it carried out airstrikes in northern and southern Gaza, a day after the United States vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution that called for an immediate humanitarian cease-fire, scaled up aid access and rejected the forced displacement of Palestinians.
The Israel Defense Forces reported killing dozens of militants, including in the Khan Younis area of the southern part of the Gaza Strip.
The Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said Wednesday it recorded 118 deaths during the past day, pushing the total number of Palestinians killed to 29,313 with another 69,333 injured since the war began in October.
“Demanding an immediate, unconditional cease-fire without an agreement requiring Hamas to release the hostages will not bring about a durable peace,” said U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield of the Algerian-drafted resolution.
For weeks, the United States, Egypt, Qatar and Israel have been involved in delicate negotiations aimed at the release of all hostages and an extended pause in the fighting.
“Instead, it could extend the fighting between Hamas and Israel, extend the hostages’ time in captivity, an experience described by former hostages as ‘hell,’ and extend the dire humanitarian crisis Palestinians are facing in Gaza,” Thomas-Greenfield said, adding “none of us want that.”
Algeria first presented the 15-member Security Council with its text three weeks ago and delayed a vote to give those negotiations time. But the country’s Ambassador Amar Bendjama said silence is no longer an option and it is time for the council to act.
“We are rapidly approaching a critical juncture where the call to halt the machinery of violence will lose its significance,” he said of Israel’s impending incursion on the southern city of Rafah, where 1.5 million Palestinians are sheltering.
“Today, every Palestinian is a target for death, extermination and genocide,” he said. “We should ask ourselves; how many innocent lives must be sacrificed before the council deems it necessary to call for a cease-fire?”
The Algerian text had strong council support – 13 members voted for it, Britain abstained, and the U.S. cast its veto. It is the third time Washington has used its council veto to block a cease-fire measure.
“The call for a cease-fire should have been agreed to a long time ago,” Palestinian envoy Riyad Mansour said. “What fresh hell needs to be crossed for this council to finally demand a cease-fire?”
Israel’s envoy called the idea of a cease-fire “absurd” and not a magic solution.
“So why is the council charged with security so fixated on aiding these monsters staying in power?” Ambassador Gilad Erdan asked, warning Hamas would attack Israel again given the chance.
Erdan urged the council as a whole to condemn the Hamas terror attack of Oct. 7, which it has so far not done. Several council members said in their remarks that the council should take this step.
US counter-proposal
The United States is proposing its own draft resolution, which several diplomats said had not yet been officially circulated at the council.
Seen by VOA, it calls for a temporary cease-fire “as soon as practicable” and based on a formula of all hostages being released. It also notes the “urgent need for a viable plan” to protect civilians from an Israeli offensive in Rafah.
The U.S. proposal “underscores that such a major ground offensive should not proceed under current circumstances” and “rejects any other effort at forced displacement of the civilian population in Gaza.”
“Colleagues, this is not, as some members have claimed, an American effort to cover for an imminent ground incursion,” Thomas-Greenfield said of the U.S. text. “Rather, it is a sincere statement of our concern for the 1.5 million civilians who have sought refuge in Rafah.”
Thomas-Greenfield told reporters that the United States would work with other council members in good faith to get the resolution “over the finish line.”
Israel has warned it plans to carry out an offensive in Rafah, the area of southern Gaza along the Egyptian border. Israeli officials say the operation is necessary to target Hamas members there. The officials have also mentioned evacuations of civilians without providing any detailed plans.
United Nations officials have repeatedly said no place is safe for civilians to go in Gaza.
Egypt objects to the evacuation of Palestinians into its territory, saying it would amount to their forced displacement. Israel denies that is its intention.
The World Food Program said it is pausing deliveries in northern Gaza, until safe conditions are in place for distribution. About 300,000 people are believed to still be living in the north, in dire conditions including looming famine.
WFP said it resumed deliveries Sunday after a three-week suspension after an aid truck was hit in an air strike. But chaotic situations with crowds climbing aboard their trucks, looting and violence, including gunfire, had impeded food distribution and made it unsafe.
Israel began its military campaign to eliminate Hamas after the group’s fighters crossed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people according to Israeli officials and taking about 250 others hostage. Hamas, designated a terror group by the U.S., the U.K. and EU, is believed to still be holding about 130 hostages in Gaza, including 30 who are believed to be dead.
Some material in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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Commercial Spaceship Set for Lunar Touchdown, in Test for US Industry
WASHINGTON — A company from Texas is poised to attempt a feat that until now has only been accomplished by a handful of national space agencies but could soon become commonplace for the private sector: landing on the moon.
If all goes to plan, Houston-based Intuitive Machines will guide its spaceship named Odysseus to a gentle touchdown near the lunar south pole on Thursday at 2249 GMT, then run experiments for NASA that will help pave the way for the return of astronauts later this decade.
A previous effort by another U.S. company last month ended in failure, raising the stakes to demonstrate private industry has what it takes to put an American lander on Earth’s cosmic companion for the first time since the Apollo era.
“Accepting risk was a challenge posed by the United States to the commercial business sector,” Intuitive Machines CEO Steve Altemus said ahead of launch. “Our collective aim is to return to the moon for the first time in 52 years.”
The company plans to run a live stream on its website, with flight controllers expected to confirm landing around 15 seconds after the milestone is achieved, because of the time it takes for radio signals to return.
As it approaches the surface, Odysseus will shoot out an external “EagleCam” that captures images of the lander in the final seconds of its descent.
About the size of a big golf cart, Odysseus is hexagon-shaped and stands on six legs.
It launched on Feb. 15 atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, and boasts a new type of supercooled liquid oxygen, liquid methane propulsion system that allowed it to race through space in quick time, snapping pictures of our planet along the way.
Its destination, Malapert A, is an impact crater 300 kilometers (180 miles) from the lunar south pole.
NASA hopes to eventually build a long-term presence and harvest ice there for both drinking water and rocket fuel under Artemis, its flagship Moon-to-Mars program.
The U.S. space agency paid Intuitive Machines $118 million to ship science hardware to better understand and mitigate environmental risks for astronauts, the first of whom are scheduled to land no sooner than 2026.
Instruments include cameras to investigate how the lunar surface changes as a result of the engine plume from a spaceship, and a device to analyze clouds of charged dust particles that hang over the surface at twilight as a result of solar radiation.
The rest of the cargo was paid for by Intuitive Machines’ private clients and includes 125 stainless steel mini moons by the artist Jeff Koons.
After touchdown, the experiments are expected to run for roughly seven days before lunar night sets in on the south pole, with the lack of solar power rendering Odysseus inoperable.
Dubbed IM-1, the mission is the second under a NASA initiative called Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS), which it created to delegate cargo services to the private sector to achieve savings and stimulate a wider lunar economy.
Four more CLPS launches are expected this year, which would make 2024 among the busiest ever for moon landings.
The first, by Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic, launched in January, but its Peregrine spacecraft sprung a fuel leak and it was eventually brought back to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere.
Spaceships landing on the moon have to navigate treacherous boulders and craters and, absent an atmosphere to support parachutes, must rely on thrusters to control their descent. Roughly half of the more than 50 attempts have failed.
The Soviet Union was the first country to achieve a survivable landing on a celestial body when its Luna 9 spaceship touched down and transmitted pictures back from the moon in February 1966.
Next came the United States, which is still the only country to also put people on the surface.
In America’s long absence, China has landed three times since 2013. India reached the moon in 2023, and Japan was the latest, last month.
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Honduras Ex-President Hernandez, Once a US Ally, Faces Drug Trafficking Trial
NEW YORK — Former Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernandez’s trial on U.S. drug trafficking charges began Tuesday, giving a New York jury the chance to determine whether Washington’s onetime key anti-drug ally actually ran the Central American country as a “narco-state.”
Hernandez was close to Washington during his 2014-2022 tenure. Honduras received more than $50 million in U.S. anti-narcotics assistance and tens of millions more in security and military aid during his presidency, and he won support from former President Donald Trump for cracking down on migration.
But three months after he left office, federal prosecutors in Manhattan charged him with accepting millions of dollars in bribes from cocaine traffickers in exchange for using his position to protect them. Attorney General Merrick Garland said he abused his power to operate the country as a “narco-state.”
That came nearly three years after his brother, former congressman Tony Hernandez, was convicted on U.S. drug charges and sentenced to life in prison. A prosecutor at that trial said Juan Orlando Hernandez protected his brother.
Juan Orlando Hernandez has pleaded not guilty to three counts of cocaine importation conspiracy and illegal weapons possession. He has been detained at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center since his April 2022 extradition.
He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 40 years and up to life in prison if convicted on all counts. The trial began with jury selection on Tuesday and is expected to last between two and three weeks.
Prosecutors said that while Hernandez was campaigning in 2013, he accepted $1 million from Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the leader of Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel. He used that money to bribe officials to manipulate voting results in his favor, and used similar tactics for his 2017 re-election, prosecutors said.
“This rampant corruption and massive cocaine trafficking came at a cost to the people of Honduras,” Damian Williams, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, told reporters after Hernandez was extradited.
Hernandez has argued that drug traffickers have smeared him to seek to lighten their own sentences and to extract revenge over his administration’s law enforcement actions.
That argument has been used by other high-ranking Latin American officials who have been charged by the United States in recent years, including former Mexican security minister Genaro Garcia Luna, who was convicted last year on charges of taking bribes from El Chapo.
“I’m really curious to see if this is going to be a prosecution that is just going to exhibit a long list of finger-pointing at him by convicted former drug dealers, or if this is going to be a prosecution showing unquestionable evidence that he was actually involved,” said Edgar Zurita, a former law enforcement official at Mexico’s U.S. embassy and current managing director at investigations firm Nardello & Co.
El Chapo was himself convicted of drug trafficking in 2019 and sentenced to life in prison.
Earlier in February, two co-defendants who were initially set to be tried alongside Hernandez – his cousin Mauricio Hernandez and former Honduras national police chief Juan Carlos Bonilla – pleaded guilty to drug trafficking
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Alabama Supreme Court Rules Frozen Embryos Are ‘Children’ Under State Law
Montgomery, Alabama — The Alabama Supreme Court has ruled that frozen embryos can be considered children under state law, a ruling critics said could have sweeping implications for fertility treatments.
The decision was issued in a pair of wrongful death cases brought by three couples who had frozen embryos destroyed in an accident at a fertility clinic. Justices, citing anti-abortion language in the Alabama Constitution, ruled that an 1872 state law allowing parents to sue over the death of a minor child “applies to all unborn children, regardless of their location.”
“Unborn children are ‘children’ … without exception based on developmental stage, physical location, or any other ancillary characteristics,” Justice Jay Mitchell wrote in the majority ruling Friday from the all-Republican court.
Mitchell said the court had previously ruled that fetuses killed while a woman is pregnant are covered under Alabama’s Wrongful Death of a Minor Act and nothing excludes “extrauterine children from the Act’s coverage.”
The ruling brought a rush of warnings about the potential impact on fertility treatments and the freezing of embryos, which had previously been considered property by the courts.
“This ruling is stating that a fertilized egg, which is a clump of cells, is now a person. It really puts into question the practice of IVF,” Barbara Collura, CEO of RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association, said in an interview Tuesday. The group called the decision a “terrifying development for the 1 in 6 people impacted by infertility” who need in-vitro fertilization.
She said it raises questions for providers and patients, including if they can freeze future embryos created during fertility treatment or if patients could ever donate or destroy unused embryos.
The plaintiffs in the Alabama case had undergone IVF treatments that led to the creation of several embryos, some of which were implanted and resulted in healthy births. The couples had paid to keep others frozen in a storage facility at the Mobile Infirmary Medical Center. A patient in 2020 wandered into the area and removed several embryos, dropping them on the floor and “killing them,” the ruling said.
The justices ruled that wrongful death lawsuits by the couples could proceed.
An anti-abortion group cheered the decision. “Each person, from the tiniest embryo to an elder nearing the end of his life, has incalculable value that deserves and is guaranteed legal protection,” Lila Rose, president and founder of Live Action said in a statement.
Chief Justice Tom Parker issued a concurring opinion that quoted the Bible as he discussed the meaning of the phrase “the sanctity of unborn life” in the Alabama Constitution.
“Even before birth, all human beings bear the image of God, and their lives cannot be destroyed without effacing his glory,” Parker said.
Justice Greg Cook, who filed the only full dissent to the majority opinion, said the 1872 law did not define “minor child” and was being stretched from the original intent to cover frozen embryos.
“Moreover, there are other significant reasons to be concerned about the main opinion’s holding. No court — anywhere in the country — has reached the conclusion the main opinion reaches,” he wrote, adding the ruling “almost certainly ends the creation of frozen embryos through in vitro fertilization (IVF) in Alabama.”
The Alabama Supreme Court decision partly hinged on anti-abortion language added to the Alabama Constitution in 2018, stating that it is the “public policy of this state to ensure the protection of the rights of the unborn child.”
Supporters at the time said it would “be a declaration of voters’ beliefs” and would have no impact unless states gain more control over abortion access. States gained control of abortion access in 2022. Critics at the time said it would have broad ramifications for civil and criminal law beyond abortion access and that it was essentially a “personhood” measure that would establish constitutional rights for fertilized eggs.
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Two Charged With Murder Over Super Bowl Parade Shooting
Washington — Two men have been charged with murder over the shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl parade which left one person dead and 22 wounded, officials said Tuesday.
Dominic Miller and Lyndell Mays, both local residents, were charged with second-degree murder, armed criminal action and unlawful use of a weapon, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker told reporters.
Peters Baker said Mays got into a verbal altercation with other individuals at the parade that “very quickly escalated.”
She said Miller allegedly fired the shots that killed a local DJ, Lisa Lopez-Galvan.
Peters Baker said both men were being held on $1 million bond and face a potential sentence of life in prison on the murder charges.
The prosecutor said the arrests of Miller and Mays were in addition to those of two juveniles whose arrests were announced last week.
The pair, who were not identified because of their ages, are facing gun-related charges and are accused of resisting arrest.
The shooting took place on Wednesday at the victory parade which had attracted up to a million fans to downtown Kansas City.
The Chiefs were celebrating their third Super Bowl title in five seasons after beating the San Francisco 49ers in Las Vegas on Sunday.
Mass shootings are common in the United States, where there are more guns than people and about a third of adults own a firearm.
President Joe Biden deplored the shooting and issued a rallying call for Americans to back his pleas for Congress to enact gun reform.
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Supreme Court Rejects Appeal From Trump-Allied Lawyers Over 2020 Election Lawsuit
Washington — The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected an appeal from Sidney Powell and other lawyers allied with former President Donald Trump over $150,000 in sanctions they were ordered to pay for abusing the court system with a sham lawsuit challenging the 2020 election results in Michigan.
The justices did not comment in leaving in place the sanctions against seven lawyers who were part of the lawsuit filed on behalf of six Republican voters after Joe Biden’s 154,000-vote victory over Trump in the state.
Among the lawyers is L. Lin Wood, whose name was on the lawsuit. Wood has insisted he had no role other than to tell Powell he would be available if she needed a seasoned litigator.
The money is owed to the state and Detroit, for their costs in defending the lawsuit. The sanctions initially totaled $175,000, but a federal appeals court reduced them by about $25,000.
In October, Powell pleaded guilty to state criminal charges in Georgia over her efforts to overturn Trump’s loss in the state. She pleaded guilty to six misdemeanors accusing her of conspiring to intentionally interfere with the performance of election duties.
Powell gained notoriety for saying in November 2020 that she would “release the Kraken,” invoking a mythical sea monster when talking about a lawsuit she planned to file to challenge the results of the presidential election.
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Britain, US, EU, Allies Take Down Lockbit Cybercrime Gang
LONDON — Lockbit, a notorious cybercrime gang that holds its victims’ data for ransom, has been disrupted in a rare international law enforcement operation by Britain’s National Crime Agency, the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, Europol and a coalition of international police agencies, according to a post on the gang’s extortion website on Monday.
“This site is now under the control of the National Crime Agency of the UK, working in close cooperation with the FBI and the international law enforcement task force, ‘Operation Cronos,’” the post said.
An NCA spokesperson confirmed that the agency had disrupted the gang and said the operation was “ongoing and developing.”
A representative for Lockbit did not respond to messages from Reuters seeking comment but did post messages on an encrypted messaging app saying it had backup servers not affected by the law enforcement action.
The U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The post named other international police organizations from France, Japan, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, Sweden, the Netherlands, Finland and Germany.
Lockbit and its affiliates have hacked some of the world’s largest organizations in recent months. The gang makes money by stealing sensitive data and threatening to leak it if victims fail to pay an extortionate ransom. Its affiliates are like-minded criminal groups that are recruited by the group to wage attacks using Lockbit’s digital extortion tools.
Ransomware is malicious software that encrypts data. Lockbit makes money by coercing its targets into paying ransom to decrypt or unlock that data with a digital key.
Lockbit was discovered in 2020 when its eponymous malicious software was found on Russian-language cybercrime forums, leading some security analysts to believe the gang is based in Russia.
The gang has not professed support for any government, however, and no government has formally attributed it to a nation-state. On its now-defunct dark web site, the group said it was “located in the Netherlands, completely apolitical and only interested in money.”
“They are the Walmart of ransomware groups, they run it like a business — that’s what makes them different,” said Jon DiMaggio, chief security strategist at Analyst1, a U.S.-based cybersecurity firm. “They are arguably the biggest ransomware crew today.”
Officials in the United States, where Lockbit has hit more than 1,700 organizations in nearly every industry from financial services and food to schools, transportation and government departments, have described the group as the world’s top ransomware threat.
In November of last year, Lockbit published internal data from Boeing, one of the world’s largest defense and space contractors. In early 2023, Britain’s Royal Mail faced severe disruption after an attack by the group.
According to vx-underground, a cybersecurity research website, Lockbit said in a statement in Russian and shared on Tox, an encrypted messaging app, that the FBI hit its servers that run on the programming language PHP. The statement, which Reuters could not verify independently, added that it has backup servers without PHP that “are not touched.”
On X, formerly known as Twitter, vx-underground shared screenshots showing the control panel used by Lockbit’s affiliates to launch attacks had been replaced with a message from law enforcement: “We have source code, details of the victims you have attacked, the amount of money extorted, the data stolen, chats, and much, much more,” it said.
“We may be in touch with you very soon” it added. “Have a nice day.”
Before it was taken down, Lockbit’s website displayed an ever-growing gallery of victim organizations that was updated nearly daily. Next to their names were digital clocks that showed the number of days left to the deadline given to each organization to provide ransom payment.
On Monday, Lockbit’s site displayed a similar countdown, but from the law enforcement agencies who hacked the hackers: “Return here for more information at: 11:30 GMT on Tuesday 20th Feb.” the post said.
Don Smith, vice president of Secureworks, an arm of Dell Technologies, said Lockbit was the most prolific and dominant ransomware operator in a highly competitive underground market.
“To put today’s takedown into context, based on leak site data, Lockbit had a 25% share of the ransomware market. Their nearest rival was Blackcat at around 8.5%, and after that it really starts to fragment,” Smith said.
“Lockbit dwarfed all other groups and today’s action is highly significant.”
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Wet Winter Storm Closes Airport, Prompts Rescues in California
SAN FRANCISCO — Another wet winter storm swamped California with heavy rainfall on Monday, flooding the runways at a regional airport and leading to several rescues on swollen rivers and creeks.
The Santa Barbara airport, on the state’s central coast, closed Monday after as much as 25 centimeters of rain had fallen in the area by noon, covering the runways with water and closing the airport.
The National Weather Service had warned that California’s central coast was at risk of “significant flooding,” with up to 12 cm of rain predicted for many areas and isolated rain totals of 25 cm possible in the Santa Lucia and Santa Ynez mountain ranges as the storm headed toward greater Los Angeles.
The storm is expected to move through quicker than the devastating atmospheric river that parked itself over Southern California earlier this month, turning roads into rivers, causing hundreds of landslides and killing at least nine people.
Moderate showers were reported Monday afternoon, but more rain was expected to impact the state through the night and into Tuesday, forecasters said.
The storm has led to a number of rescues, including in San Luis Obispo County, where crews helped three people out of the rising Salinas River in the city of Paso Robles. Firefighters were getting ready to train on swift-water rescues when they received word that someone was stranded on an island in the river, Paso Robles Fire and Emergency Services Battalion Chief Scott Hallett told KSBY-TV.
Farther to the north, firefighters rescued two people from the top of their vehicle, which had stalled in flood waters in Sloughhouse, a community about 32 kilometers southeast of Sacramento, the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District said.
Hours earlier, a man was rescued along a creek in El Dorado Hills, northeast of Sacramento. The man, who had been camping in the area, was trapped in a tree as floodwaters rose, El Dorado Hills Deputy Fire Chief Dave Brady told KCRA-TV.
Thunderstorms in valleys around the state capital on Monday could bring “brief tornadoes, large amounts of small hail, heavy rain, lightning, and gusty winds,” the weather service in Sacramento warned on X.
Residents in the region, including Sacramento, Chico, Yuba City, Stockton and Modesto, “are advised to pay close attention to the weather,” the office said later in a separate statement.
Kelly Curtis, a personal trainer in Long Beach, prepared by getting sandbags to protect her home.
“I don’t think it will be as bad as the last storm, but last time I got flooded and I kept the sandbags just in case,” she said.
Forecasters said the storm would be strong enough to cause problems including flash flooding and power outages. Flood watches and warnings were issued in coastal and mountain areas up and down the state.
Several feet of snow is possible at elevations above about 2,070 meters across the Sierra Nevada, the weather service said. Motorists were urged to avoid mountain routes.
“Consider completing Sierra travel during the day Sunday, or rescheduling to later next week,” said the weather service office in Reno, Nevada. The office issued a backcountry avalanche watch for the greater Lake Tahoe area and the eastern Sierra in Inyo and Mono counties.
The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services activated its operations center Saturday and positioned personnel and equipment in areas most at risk.
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Blinken Heads to Brazil, Argentina as Lula Presides Over G20
state department — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken heads to Brazil and Argentina on Tuesday morning to hold talks and foster rapport with the independent-minded leaders from the two countries while also attending the Group of 20 foreign ministers’ meetings in Rio de Janeiro.
With Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also expected at the G20 meetings, there’s potential for a rare face-to-face interaction between the two.
Blinken’s visits to Brazil and Argentina will be his first as the top U.S. diplomat.
Blinken will meet with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Brasilia and the newly inaugurated Argentine President Javier Milei in Buenos Aires to discuss bilateral and global issues.
The State Department said Blinken will emphasize U.S. support for Brazil’s G20 presidency, the U.S.-Brazil Partnership for Workers Rights, cooperation on the clean energy transition and commemorations for the bicentennial of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Blinken also plans to discuss the Multinational Security Support Mission in Haiti with G20 partners on the sidelines of the meetings, addressing the Haitian people’s call for help to restore security and stability.
Argentina boasts one of the largest Jewish populations in South America. Following Milei’s recent visit to Israel, a senior U.S. official said Blinken will engage in discussions with Milei regarding “the way forward between Israel and Gaza.” Other topics high on the agenda include critical minerals and sustainable economic growth.
No G20 joint statement expected on Gaza, Ukraine
The G20, comprising 19 countries including the G7, the European Union and the African Union, represents about 85% of global GDP, 75% of global trade and two-thirds of the global population.
The G7 comprises the world’s richest and most powerful countries.
Last week, G7 foreign ministers expressed outrage over the detention death of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny and pledged unwavering support to Ukraine as the two-year mark of Russia’s invasion approaches.
The G7 foreign ministers’ joint statement also advocated for “prolonged and durable pauses in the hostilities leading to a sustainable cease-fire” in Gaza while expressing “deep concern” over the “devastating” impact of Israel’s planned military operations in Rafah, where more than a million civilians are taking refuge.
Ramin Toloui, assistant secretary of state for economic and business affairs, said the U.S. will underscore the damage caused by the “Kremlin’s war of aggression” and “encourage all G20 partners to redouble their calls for a just, peaceful and lasting end” to the war on Ukraine.
But Toloui said Brazil would not “attempt to mobilize a joint statement” during the upcoming G20 foreign ministers’ meetings.
Distinct foreign relations
Blinken’s diplomatic missions to Argentina and Brazil will navigate the countries’ distinct foreign relations concerning various countries and issues, such as Russia, Gaza and China.
Lula initially assured that Russian President Vladimir Putin, who faces an International Criminal Court arrest warrant, would not be arrested if he attended the G20 summit in November in Brazil. However, he later amended his stance, indicating that the decision would ultimately be in the hands of Brazil’s judiciary.
During his visit to Cairo, February 14 and 15, Lula strongly criticized Israel’s military actions in Gaza, advocating for a “definitive cease-fire.” He announced Brazil’s new contribution to the United Nations’ Palestinian refugee agency, or UNRWA, and supported Palestine’s recognition as a sovereign state with full U.N. membership.
Lula wrote on the social media platform X, “While Hamas militants’ attack on October 7 against Israeli civilians is indefensible and deserved strong condemnation from Brazil, Israel’s disproportionate and indiscriminate response is unacceptable.”
In contrast, during his visit to Israel in early February, Milei, a pro-Israel far-right leader, announced his intention to relocate Argentina’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a move previously made by only the United States and a few other countries.
Milei also announced his government’s intention to classify Hamas as a terrorist organization.
This visit marked his first bilateral trip since his inauguration in December.
Following his meeting with Blinken on Friday, Milei plans to visit Washington and speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, on February 24, a gathering expected to be filled with supporters of former U.S. President Donald Trump.
BRICS and China
In 2025, Brazil will lead the BRICS group (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) of emerging nations, in which China is a key player. During a state visit to Beijing last year, Lula called for BRICS countries to trade in their own currencies and end the U.S. dollar’s trade dominance. Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates officially joined the bloc on January 1.
Last month, Lula held talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in which the two pledged to strengthen a comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries.
In comparison, Milei has turned down an offer to join BRICS. During his presidential campaign, he said he would freeze relations with China.
Milei also chose to acquire secondhand American F-16 fighters from Denmark, favoring them over new Chinese JF-17 fighter aircraft.
“The United States is the largest source of foreign direct investment in Brazil, and we have a robust presence of U.S. companies in Brazil, as well as in Argentina, and we’re looking forward to deepening our economic ties between both of them,” Brian Nichols, the assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, told VOA in a recent phone briefing.
Nichols emphasized the importance of countries trading freely while understanding the trade-offs involved.
“The United States is offering up a comprehensive and powerful alternative to those who may not necessarily have others’ best interests at heart,” he said.
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Minnesota Community Mourns 2 Officers, 1 Firefighter Killed at the Scene of Domestic Call
BURNSVILLE, Minn. — A suburban Minneapolis community was in mourning on Monday after authorities said two police officers and a firefighter were killed by a heavily armed man who shot at them from inside a home that was filled with children.
The shooting on Sunday in a tree-lined neighborhood of Burnsville, Minnesota, left a third officer wounded. The suspect, who officials said had multiple guns and large amounts of ammunition, also died.
Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans said there was an exchange of gunfire, and authorities were still piecing together details of what he described as a “terrible day.”
The firefighter, who also works as a paramedic, was shot while providing aid to an injured officer, Evans said. He told reporters the paramedic was a part of a SWAT team that had been called to a domestic situation at the home.
Inside, an armed man had barricaded himself with his family, including seven children ranging in age from 2 to 15, Evans said.
He said negotiations lasted for hours before the suspect opened fire. He wasn’t specific on the exact amount of time, but the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association said the standoff lasted four hours before a SWAT team entered the home.
Evans said the suspect had several guns and large amounts of ammunition and shot at the police officers from multiple positions within the home, including the upper and lower floors. Evans said at least one officer was shot inside the home.
“We still don’t know the exact exchange of gunfire that occurred,” Evans said. “Certainly several officers did return fire.”
He said that around 8 a.m. the suspect was found dead and the family and children were released from the home. None of them were hurt.
City officials identified the slain officers as Paul Elmstrand and Matthew Ruge, both 27. Adam Finseth, 40, a firefighter and paramedic for the city since 2019, also was killed.
Elmstrand, a member of the department’s mobile command staff, joined the department in 2017. Ruge was hired in 2020 and was part of the department’s crisis negotiations team and was a physical evidence officer.
Another police officer, Sgt. Adam Medlicott, was injured and being treated at a hospital with what are believed to be non-life-threatening injuries, the city said.
As the bodies of the dead left a hospital, officers saluted, before they were taken in a convoy to the medical examiner’s office. Medical staff watched in scrubs.
“We’re hurting,” said Police Chief Tanya Schwartz. “Today, three members of our team made the ultimate sacrifice for this community. They are heroes.”
Neighbors were startled awake by loud pops about an hour before sunrise.
Alicia McCullum said she and her family dropped to the floor, uncertain whether the noise was gunshots. She and her husband peered out of their sunroom and saw squad cars and a phalanx of police officers.
“I didn’t think it was a gunshot at first, but then we opened the windows and we saw police everywhere and police hiding in our neighbors’ yards,” said McCullum, who lives two houses down from the source of the commotion.
“Then there were three more gunshots,” she said. “It was like a bunch of fireworks.” That’s when she and her husband and two children sought safety in a bathroom and dropped to the floor. They prayed.
McCullum said she was relieved to see a woman and children escorted out of their home. “We’re so thankful for those police officers that risked their lives to save those kids,” McCullum said. “And my heart goes out to that mother.”
Fire Chief BJ Jungmann said the community was grieving and asked for privacy for the families. None of the relatives of the officers or the firefighter immediately returned phone messages from The Associated Press seeking comment.
Evans said the medical examiner would identify the suspect and said autopsies were planned for Monday. There was no indication the home had been a source of troubles in the past.
“There have not been many calls for service at all,” Evans said.
As the investigation unfolded, the neighborhood was ringed with police cars to keep reporters and the public away. A police armored vehicle had bullet damage to its windshield, and Evans confirmed it sustained the damage in the gunfight.
Police scanner recordings on Broadcastify.com capture a rattled man saying, “I need any ambulance,” as he struggled to catch his breath. Someone later could be heard talking about three being loaded into ambulances, uttering the word “critical.”
As news spread, other law enforcement agencies immediately began posting messages of condolence on social media, including images of badges with blue bars through them. It is a mark of solidarity in mourning.
“In times like these, it is essential to come together as a community and support one another through the uncertainty and grief,” said Marty Kelly, the sheriff in neighboring Goodhue County.
Flags also were lowered to half-staff, with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz urging those who walked past them to take a moment and think about the first responders who lost their lives.
“Minnesota mourns with you,” he said. “The state stands ready to assist in any way possible.”
Hundreds of people gathered in front of Burnsville City Hall on Sunday night for a candlelit vigil to remember the victims. Several uniformed officers from other departments also attended.
A fire truck and police car were in front of the building. The police vehicle had bouquets of flowers on the hood and handwritten signs tucked under the windshield wipers, one of which read: “We are praying for you.” Those gathered joined together in prayer and sang “Amazing Grace.”
“Right now is a time to grieve, to come together and grieve our community’s loss, and to support the families,” said U.S. Rep. Angie Craig.
“I can’t imagine the pain that you’re all going through,” Craig continued, “but what I can say is that to all our officers out there, the paramedics, our firefighters, thank you for what you do.” The crowd applauded.
“It’s an important community,” said area resident Kris Martin, “and we feel very saddened by what happened.”
Burnsville, a city of around 64,000, is located about 15 miles (24 kilometers) south of downtown Minneapolis.
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Miami Expects Trophies From Messi’s First Full Season in Major League Soccer
Miami, Florida — Lionel Messi and Inter Miami get the new Major League Soccer season under way on Wednesday with pressure on the Argentine star to deliver trophies for his club and more eyeballs on the league.
The World Cup winner joined Inter from Paris Saint Germain in mid-July, the biggest name ever to move to MLS and his signing caused a massive spurt in interest in American soccer.
The eight-times and current Ballon d’Or winner, made an instant impact, leading Miami to the Leagues Cup title, packing stadiums and massively increasing subscriptions to Apple TV’s MLS Season Pass broadcast package.
But the excitement waned as the 36-year-old struggled to maintain his fitness in the face of a hectic schedule and Miami were unable to overcome their poor early season results and make the playoffs.
Then Inter’s decision to undertake a grueling overseas pre-season tour backfired with Messi and the team booed in Hong Kong after the star sat out a high-profile friendly due to injury.
Poor performances added to the sense that money-spinning trips to El Salvador, Saudi Arabia and Japan had been a mis-step for a team looking to hit the ground running this season.
A long and busy season awaits for Messi and his team-mates who as well as competing in MLS, have qualified for the regional CONCACAF Champions Cup.
Miami will also aim to defend their Leagues Cup title — against Mexican as well as MLS opposition — and all those challenges come in a summer which will include Argentina’s bid for the Copa America in the USA.
Messi has been joined in Miami by another veteran striker in Uruguayan Luis Suarez, making up a quartet of former Barcelona players with midfielder Sergio Busquets and left-back Jordi Alba.
Coping with expectation
No MLS team has ever been able to draw on players of such pedigree and experience and with that comes the expectation that they will land the club’s first MLS title.
Messi is well used to such pressure but it is a new sensation for some of the younger players in Gerardo Martino’s squad.
Shanyder Borgelin, the 22-year-old striker who scored in last week’s home friendly against Argentine club Newells Old Boys, says the team can cope with the high expectations.
“That’s expected when you have the greatest player in the world, four of the greatest players in the world, but I think we’re ready,” he told the Miami Herald.
“We are all called up to a big task. I definitely think the (preseason) losses and everything that comes with that made us a lot stronger,” he added.
Miami kick-off their campaign on Wednesday at home to Real Salt Lake with the rest of the league getting under way on Saturday.
Defending champions Columbus Crew start their title defense at home to Atlanta United with their French coach Wilfried Nancy looking to maintain the momentum of a playoff campaign which ended in victory over Los Angles FC.
LAFC, the 2022 MLS Cup winners, host Western Conference rivals the Seattle Sounders in the biggest clash of the opening weekend.
LAFC have lost four regular starters from last season’s team including Italian Giorgio Chiellini, who has retired.
But Steve Cherundolo’s side have added a World Cup winner of their own with France goalkeeper Hugo Lloris joining from Tottenham Hotspur.
Top-scorer Denis Bouanga remains with the club despite reports he could head back to France but the future of the team’s talismanic Mexican forward Carlos Vela remains unclear.
The 34-year-old Vela is a free agent after his contract with the club was not yet renewed.
There are some new faces on the bench with former Aston Villa manager Dean Smith taking charge at Charlotte and Phil Neville, the former Manchester United player and ex-Inter Miami boss now at the Portland Timbers.
The opening games are set to be officiated by replacement referees after talks over a new collective deal between the refs union and the league’s Professional Referees.
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Presidents Day: From George Washington’s Modest Birthdays to Big Sales, 3-Day Weekends
NORFOLK, Va. — Like the other Founding Fathers, George Washington was uneasy about the idea of publicly celebrating his life. He was the first leader of a new republic — not a tyrant.
And yet the nation will once again commemorate the first U.S. president on Monday, 292 years after he was born.
The meaning of Presidents Day has changed dramatically, from being mostly unremarkable and filled with work for Washington in the 1700s to the consumerism bonanza it has become today. For some historians the holiday has lost all discernible meaning.
Historian Alexis Coe, author of “You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George of Washington,” said she thinks about Presidents Day in much the same way as the towering monument in D.C. that bears his name.
“It’s supposed to be about Washington, but can you really point to anything that looks or sounds like him?” she said. “Jefferson and Lincoln are presented as people with limbs and noses and words associated with their memorials. And he’s just a giant, granite point. He has been sanded down to have absolutely no identifiable features.”
Here is a look at how things have evolved:
Washington’s birthdays
Washington was born Feb. 22, 1732, on Popes Creek Plantation near the Potomac River in Virginia.
Technically, though, he was born Feb. 11 under the ancient Julian calendar, which was still in use for the first 20 years of his life. The Gregorian calendar, intended to more accurately mark the solar year, was adopted in 1752, adding 11 days.
Either way, Washington paid little attention to his birthday according to Mountvernon.org, the website of the organization that manages his estate. Surviving records make no mention of observances at Mount Vernon, while his diary shows he was often hard at work.
“If he had it his way, he would be at home with his family,” Coe said. “Maybe some beloved nieces and nephews (and friend) Marquis de Lafayette would be ideal. And Martha’s recipe for an indulgent cake. But that’s about it.”
Washington’s birthday was celebrated by his peers in government when he was president — mostly.
Congress voted during his first two terms to take a short commemorative break each year, with one exception, his last birthday in office, Coe said. By then Washington was less popular, partisanship was rampant and many members of his original Cabinet were gone, including Thomas Jefferson.
“One way to show their disdain for his Federalist policies was to keep working through his birthday,” Coe said.
The Library of Congress does note that a French military officer, the comte de Rochambeau, threw a ball celebrating Washington’s 50th birthday in 1782.
After his death
Washington was very aware of his inaugural role as president and its distinction from the British crown. He didn’t want to be honored like a king, said Seth Bruggeman, a history professor at Temple University in Philadelphia.
Still, he said, a market for Washington memorabilia sprang up almost immediately after his death in 1799 at age 67, with people snapping up pottery and reproductions of etchings portraying him as a divine figure going off into heaven.
“Even in that early moment, Americans kind of conflated consumerism with patriotic memory,” said Bruggeman, whose books include “Here, George Washington Was Born: Memory, Material Culture, and the Public History of a National Monument.”
Making it official
It wasn’t until 1832, the centennial of his birth, that Congress established a committee to arrange national “parades, orations and festivals,” according to the Congressional Research Service.
And only in 1879 was his birthday formally made into a legal holiday for federal employees in the District of Columbia.
The official designation is as Washington’s Birthday, although it has come to be known informally as Presidents Day. Arguments have been made to honor President Lincoln as well because his birthdate falls nearby, on Feb. 12.
A small number of states, including Illinois, observe Lincoln’s birthday as a public holiday, according to the Library of Congress. And some commemorate both Lincoln and Washington on Presidents Day.
But on the federal level, the day is still officially Washington’s Birthday.
Shift to consumerism
By the late 1960s, Washington’s Birthday was one of nine federal holidays that fell on specific dates on different days of the week, according to a 2004 article in the National Archives’ Prologue magazine.
Congress voted to move some of those to Mondays, following concerns that were in part about absenteeism among government workers when a holiday fell midweek. But lawmakers also noted clear benefits to the economy, including boosts in retail sales and travel on three-day weekends.
The Uniform Monday Holiday Act took effect in 1971, moving Presidents Day to the third Monday in February. Sales campaigns soared, historian C.L. Arbelbide wrote in Prologue.
Bruggeman said Washington and the other Founding Fathers “would have been deeply worried” by how the holiday became taken over by commercial and private interests.
“They were very nervous about corporations,” Bruggeman said. “It wasn’t that they forbade them. But they saw corporations as like little republics that potentially threatened the power of The Republic.”
Coe, who is also a fellow at the Washington think tank New America, said by now the day is devoid of recognizable traditions.
“There’s no moment of reflection,” Coe said. Given today’s widespread cynicism toward the office, she added, that sort of reflection “would probably be a good idea.”
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Flood Watches Issued, New Round of Wet Winter Storms Hits California
SAN FRANCISCO — The latest in a series of wet winter storms blew ashore in Northern California on Sunday, with forecasters warning of possible flooding, hail, strong winds and even brief tornadoes as the system moves south over the next few days.
Gusts topped 48 kph (30 mph) in Oakland and San Jose as a mild cold front late Saturday gave way to a more powerful storm that will gain strength into early Monday, said meteorologist Brayden Murdock with the National Weather Service office in San Francisco.
“The winds are here and getting stronger, and the rains will follow quickly,” he said Sunday afternoon.
California’s central coast is at risk of “significant flooding,” with up to 12 cm (5 inches) of rain predicted for many areas, according to the weather service. Isolated rain totals of 25 cm (10 inches) are possible in the Santa Lucia and Santa Ynez mountain ranges as the storm heads toward greater Los Angeles.
Thunderstorms in valleys around the state capital Monday could bring “brief tornadoes, large amounts of small hail, heavy rain, lightning, and gusty winds,” the weather service office in Sacramento warned on X, formerly Twitter.
The latest storm is expected to move through quicker than the devastating atmospheric river that parked itself over Southern California earlier this month, turning roads into rivers, causing hundreds of landslides and killing at least nine people.
“It’s not the ideal setup for an atmospheric river, but it does have some of the characteristics,” including a band of subtropical moisture bringing up the rear of the storm, Murdock said. “Otherwise, it’s just a cold front.”
But it’s a cold front strong enough to cause problems including flash flooding and power outages, forecasters said. Flood watches and warnings were issued in coastal and mountain areas up and down the state.
Rainfall will be widespread even in the mountains, but several feet of snow is possible at elevations above about 2,070 meters (6,800 feet)across the Sierra Nevada, the weather service said. Motorists are urged to avoid mountain routes.
“Consider completing Sierra travel during the day Sunday, or rescheduling [it] to later next week,” said the weather service office in Reno, Nevada. The office issued a backcountry avalanche watch for the greater Lake Tahoe area and the eastern Sierra in Inyo and Mono counties.
The California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services activated its operations center Saturday and positioned personnel and equipment in areas most at risk.
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‘Bob Marley: One Love’ Stirs Up $27.7 Million Weekend at Box Office
New York — Paramount Pictures’ Bob Marley biopic “Bob Marley: One Love” outperformed expectations to debut at No. 1 at the box office with a $27.7 million opening weekend, while Sony’s “Madame Web” flopped with one of the lowest debuts for a movie centered on a Marvel character.
Both films launched in theaters on Tuesday to rope in Valentine’s Day moviegoers. But on a weekend that was once expected to go to “Madame Web,” “One Love” emerged as the much-preferred option in theaters, despite largely poor reviews.
Instead, “One Love,” starring Kingsley Ben-Adir and produced with the involvement of the Marley estate, performed roughly on par with previous hit musical biopics like “Rocketman” and “Elvis.” Paramount is forecasting that “One Love” will gross $51 million over its first six days, including estimates for President’s Day on Monday. It added $29 million from 47 international territories.
Chris Aronson, distribution chief for Paramount, noted that pre-release projections forecast a six-day total closer to $30 million for “One Love.” But moviegoers from a wide range turned out for the first big-screen biopic of the Rastafarian legend.
“It was across all generations. It wasn’t just a movie for an older audience that grew up with Bob Marley’s music,” said Aronson. “Our highest quadrant was (age) 18 to 24. A third of the audience was under 25. That, to me, speaks volumes.”
Produced for about $70 million, “One Love,” directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green, chronicles Marley during the making of the 1977 album “Exodus” while leading up to a pivotal concert for his native Jamaica. Among the movie’s producers are Marley’s children, Ziggy and Cedella, and his wife, Rita.
Ziggy Marley, in a statement Sunday, said: “We thank the people for embracing this film and in so doing helping to highlight the message of one love.”
Though critics dinged the film (43% “fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes) for relying on biopic conventions, audiences gave it a much higher grade, with an “A” CinemaScore. That kind of audience response plus the strong opening should bode well for the film’s run.
“Madame Web,” however, was dead on arrival. Over six days, Sony is estimating a $15.2 million weekend and a six-day $25.8 million haul. Audiences (a “C+” CinemaScore) agreed with critics (13% “fresh”).
Such launches were once unfathomable for stand-alone superhero films. But the film, an extension of Sony’s universe of Spider-Man films, struggled to shed the bad buzz surrounding the $80 million project. In it, Dakota Johnson stars as a New York paramedic with clairvoyant powers.
“The entire superhero genre has had a really rough go of it over the past year,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for data firm Comscore. “Certain things are no longer a sure bet. Except maybe now, the musical biopic has become the go-to genre. It just shows how tastes can change.”
Sony’s Spider-Man spinoffs have been mostly hit and miss. Its two “Venom” films have together surpassed $1.3 billion worldwide. But 2022’s poorly received “Morbius” collected just $167.4 million globally. “Madame Web” still couldn’t come close to the $39 million domestic opening weekend for “Morbius.” In 61 overseas markets, “Madame Web” added $25.7 million.
The better news for Sony’s Spider-verse came Saturday night at the 51st Annie Awards, where “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” won best feature and collected seven prizes in total. “Across the Spider-Verse” is nominated for best animated feature at the Academy Awards — and the Annie Awards can often be a good predictor of winner.
The 2024 box office has gotten off to a sobering start for Hollywood, and the disappointing result for “Madame Web” won’t help. Moviegoing has slowed to a crawl in recent weeks, while 2023’s strikes have impacted this year’s release schedules. Even with the strong “One Love” opening, ticket sales were down 15% on the weekend compared to 2023, according to ComScore.
Expectations are high for “Dune: Part Two,” opening March 1. Until then, “Bob Marley: One Love” will be jammin’.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
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“Bob Marley: One Love,” $27.7 million.
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“Madame Web,” $15.2 million.
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“Argylle,” $4.7 million.
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“Migration,” $3.8 million.
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“The Chosen,” Episodes 4-6, $3.4 million.
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“Wonka,” $3.4 million.
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“The Beekeeper,” $3.3 million.
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“Anyone But You,” $2.4 million.
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“Lisa Frankenstein,” $2 million.
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“Land of Bad,” $1.8 million.
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