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Biden launches defense of student debt relief at Supreme Court

January 5, 2023 Published by

Politics, Policy, Political News Top Stories 

President Joe Biden’s efforts to cancel student debt for millions of Americans “fall comfortably” within the law and enjoy “clear authorization” from Congress, the Justice Department argued Wednesday in its opening brief defending the policy before the Supreme Court.

The court filing, submitted late Wednesday evening, marks the beginning of a high-stakes battle at the court in the coming months over the fate of one of Biden’s major domestic policy programs.

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in February in two cases challenging the debt relief program, which provides up to $20,000 of loan forgiveness for tens of millions of borrowers.

One case is a lawsuit by six Republican-led states, led by Nebraska and Missouri. A second case was brought by a conservative advocacy group on behalf of two Texas student loan borrowers who were partially or fully excluded from the program.

The brief filed Wednesday largely echos the legal arguments that the Biden administration has been making in lower courts over the past several months.

It argues, first, that the Supreme Court should toss out the case because the GOP states and Texas borrowers lack legal standing to bring the case. But, the Biden administration argues, the program is clearly legal in any event.

Administration officials argue that they have the authority to cancel large amounts of debt under the HEROES Act, a 2003 law that gives the Education Department the power to waive the laws that typically govern federal student loans during national emergencies.

Education Secretary Miguel Cardona’s “actions fall comfortably within the plain text” of the HEROES Act, the brief says.

The brief also laments lower court decisions that have frozen the program since this fall.

“The lower courts’ orders have erroneously deprived the Secretary of his statutory authority to provide targeted student-loan debt relief to borrowers affected by national emergencies, leaving millions of economically vulnerable borrowers in limbo,” the Justice Department wrote.

The Justice Department framed the student debt relief program as a logical way for the Biden administration to wind down the unprecedented pause on student loan payments that has been in place since March 2020.

The Biden administration determined“that ending that pause without providing some additional relief for lower-income borrowers would cause delinquency and default rates to spike above pre-pandemic levels,” the Justice Department wrote in its brief. “This Court should not compel that damaging and destabilizing result.”

Both the Republican officials and the conservative group argue that the Biden administration is using the Covid-19 pandemic as a pretext for circumventing Congressional approval for a sweeping new program that will cost hundreds of billions of dollars. They both argue that the program is flatly illegal and an abuse of authority.

The states argue the debt relief plan will reduce tax revenues or other funding that is related to state-related entities that own, manage or invest in federal student loans. A key part of their argument relies on how the debt relief plan would affect the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority, known as MOHELA, a loan servicing company created by the state of Missouri.

The two loan borrowers from Texas argue they are injured because they were illegally deprived of the opportunity to provide feedback on the administration’s plan before it was finalized. They say they would have advocated for a more expansive program that provides them with more benefits.

The Education Department has approved some 16 million borrowers for loan forgiveness under the debt relief program, which has been paused by court orders since the fall. Nearly 10 million additional borrowers are in line for relief, according to the Education Department.

Biden administration officials have extended the pause on federal student loan payments and interest while the Supreme Court considers the case. The administration has said that payments could remain suspended through as late as Aug. 30.

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First on CNN: McCarthy proposes key concessions after House adjourns for second day without electing a speaker

January 5, 2023 Published by



CNN
 — 

After suffering yet another stinging defeat on Wednesday, in which he lost a sixth round of voting for House speaker, Kevin McCarthy proposed more key concessions in his push to get 218 votes – including agreeing to propose a rules change that would allow just one member to call for a vote to oust a sitting speaker, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

The major concession comes as McCarthy is struggling to find a path forward with the House adjourned until 12 p.m. ET on Thursday.

The House GOP majority has been stuck at a contentious stalemate amid opposition to McCarthy from a group of conservatives. The fight, which began on the first day of the 118th Congress, has thrown the new House GOP majority into chaos and undercut the party’s agenda.

The House will continue to be paralyzed until this standoff is resolved. The situation has grown dire for McCarthy’s political future as Republican allies are beginning to fear that the House GOP leader may not be able to pull off his gamble for speaker if the fight goes much longer.

It’s not at all clear whether McCarthy and his allies will be able to lock down the votes – and the longer the fight drags on, the more imperiled his speakership bid has become. But there were signs Wednesday that negotiations are progressing.

McCarthy’s latest concession would be a significant win for hardline conservatives – after the California Republican had already proposed a five-member threshold, down from current conference rules that require half of the GOP to call for such a vote. But many more moderate members had been concerned about giving in to the far-right on this matter since it could weaken the speakership and cause chaos in the ranks.

In two more concessions, the sources said, he’s also agreed to allow for more members of the Freedom Caucus to serve on the powerful House Rules Committee, which dictates how and whether bills come to the floor, and to vote on a handful of bills that are priorities for the holdouts, including proposing term limits on members and a border security plan.

Nothing is final, however, since the negotiations are ongoing. And Republican sources say that even if McCarthy’s offer is accepted, it would still not get him the 218 votes he needs to be speaker. While these concessions could attract some new support, other opponents have raised different concerns that have yet to be fully addressed.

After a series of failed speaker votes earlier in the day, the House adjourned for several hours as Republicans continued talks.

Texas Rep. Chip Roy, one of the conservatives who has voted against McCarthy’s speakership bid, told GOP leaders that he thinks he can get 10 holdouts to come along if these ongoing negotiations pan out, according to GOP sources familiar with the internal discussions, and that there are additional detractors who may be willing to vote “present.”

Sources said the talks Wednesday between McCarthy allies and holdouts have been the most productive and serious ones to date. And in one sign of a breakthrough, a McCarthy-aligned super PAC agreed to not play in open Republican primaries in safe seats – one of the big demands that conservatives had asked for but that McCarthy had resisted until this point.

“We’ve had more discussions in the last two days as a body sitting there, than we’ve done in frickin’ four years,” Roy said when leaving the Capitol Wednesday night.

Still, even if these negotiations prove successful and 10 lawmakers do flip to McCarthy’s column – which is far from certain – that doesn’t get McCarthy to the 218 votes to win the speakership, so he would still have more work to do.

Incoming House Majority Whip Tom Emmer said Wednesday evening that the negotiations over the next speaker have been “very, very constructive.”

“There were a whole bunch of members that were involved in this and there are some folks now that are sitting down and talking about that discussion to see where they want to go with it next,” the Minnesota Republican said.

House Republicans hold 222 seats in the new Congress, so for McCarthy to reach 218, he can only afford to lose four GOP votes. His obstacle is that he faces a small but determined contingent of hardline conservatives who have so far been successful in denying him the votes to secure the gavel.

The group has used the leverage they have in the razor-thin Republican majority to extract concessions. McCarthy has already given in to a number of their demands, including making it increasingly easier to topple the sitting speaker, but so far his efforts have not been enough.

The House convened on Wednesday to continue voting after three rounds of votes on Tuesday. McCarthy has come up short each time, failing to hit the majority threshold needed to secure the speakership.

As the votes stretched on Tuesday, the situation appeared to become even more dire for McCarthy, as the vote count in opposition to his speaker bid grew.

The tally for the first ballot in the speaker vote was 203 for McCarthy, with 19 Republicans voting for other candidates. The tally for the second ballot was 203 votes for McCarthy with 19 votes for GOP Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio. In the third round of voting, there were 202 votes for McCarthy and 20 votes for Jordan, with Rep. Byron Donalds joining the 19 GOP lawmakers who had voted against McCarthy in the first two rounds.

It was the first time an election for speaker went to multiple ballots since 1923.

“My vote yesterday was basically to break a deadlock, because we were deadlocked, and we were not getting anywhere,” Donalds, a Florida Republican, said Wednesday on “CNN This Morning.” “Right now, (McCarthy) doesn’t have a pathway to get there. If that reemerges, yeah, I can be there, that’s fine, but what’s necessary now is that Republicans come together and find a way to elect a speaker.”

In the fourth round of voting, 20 Republicans voting together for Donalds as the group switched their collective support from Jordan to Donalds. Rep. Victoria Spartz of Indiana voted present, lowering McCarthy’s threshold to 217.

Spartz told CNN she did so because she wanted to allow for more negotiations within the conference to address the concerns of the 20 members.

The final tally for the fifth vote was again 201 votes for McCarthy, 20 for Donalds and one present vote.

The final tally for the sixth vote was the same: 201 for McCarthy, 20 for Donalds and one present vote.

Trump is watching closely as the dynamic plays out on Capitol Hill and his public support has been a key focus of McCarthy’s efforts.

Two GOP sources familiar with the matter said McCarthy’s allies were panicking on Tuesday after the former president gave a tepid response to NBC News when asked about his support for McCarthy. The former president also declined to issue a statement Monday reiterating his endorsement of McCarthy despite a behind-the-scenes effort from several McCarthy allies to get Trump to do so, two sources said.

One close McCarthy ally then began working behind the scenes to do clean-up duty and started pressing for Trump to put out a statement clarifying his support. McCarthy and Trump then connected by phone, where McCarthy said Trump expressed he was still committed to backing him. Trump put out a strong endorsement on Truth Social Wednesday morning, imploring Republicans not to “TURN A GREAT TRIUMPH INTO A GIANT & EMBARRASSING DEFEAT” and urging them to vote for McCarthy.

Although Trump’s statement might not move the needle among the fiercest McCarthy foes, one of the sources said McCarthy world was worried about looking “weak” and like he was bleeding support, so they felt it was important to reverse the narrative.

Gaetz, one of the House Republicans opposing McCarthy’s bid for speaker, dismissed Trump’s latest effort to help the California Republican as “sad.”

“This changes neither my view of McCarthy nor Trump nor my vote,” Gaetz said in a statement to Fox News Digital on Wednesday, shortly after Trump came to McCarthy’s defense in the Truth Social post.

Long a staunch Trump ally, Gaetz’s refusal to bow to Trump’s desire for a McCarthy speakership raises new questions about the former president’s dwindling influence over Republicans in the midst of his third presidential campaign.

“If Matt Gaetz is ignoring you, that’s not a good sign,” said one Trump ally who is involved with his 2024 campaign.

Trump has been making calls on McCarthy’s behalf over the last 24 hours in an attempt to break the conservative blockade against him, this person said, but his efforts have so far been fruitless.

One lawmaker who spoke with Trump late Tuesday suggested the former president should run for speaker himself, according to a person briefed on the call. Trump demurred and continued to push this person to support McCarthy, claiming that he would be a solid “America First” supporter.

This story and headline have been updated with additional developments.

source

California storm prompts evacuation orders as state braces for flooding

January 5, 2023 Published by

US Top News and Analysis 

An aerial view shows the damage after rainstorms caused a levee to break, flooding Sacramento County roads near Wilton, California, U.S., January 1, 2023.
Fred Greaves | Reuters

Trees fell and wires were downed in San Francisco as a powerful storm hit California and prompted evacuation orders in other parts of the state Wednesday, officials said.

Gov. Gavin Newsom earlier declared a state of emergency as the weather was expected to bring heavy rain, snow and flooding. The declaration will allow state agencies to respond quickly as the storm develops and support local jurisdictions.

The heaviest rain was expected to hit Northern California Wednesday and Thursday morning, Newsom’s office said. In Southern California, the heaviest rain was forecast for Wednesday night through Thursday.

Mandatory evacuation orders were in effect for several cities in Northern California, including Richmond in the Bay Area and Watsonville in Santa Cruz County.

Thousands without power, trees down

More than 197,000 households or businesses were without power as of 10 p.m., mostly along the coast from Monterey County to Oregon, according to tracking website Poweroutage.us. The city of Santa Cruz said 80 people were at its emergency shelter, and a warming center was also open.

The storm was also bringing high and potentially dangerous winds. In Marin County, north of San Francisco, wind gusts of 85 mph were recorded, the National Weather Service said. Sacramento Executive Airport saw a 46 mph gust.

The San Francisco Fire Department said it was responding to dozens of trees and wires down, and flooding. A tree fell on a vehicle, trapping a family inside. They were rescued and are OK, the department said.

Interstate 280 in San Bruno in San Mateo Country was almost totally blocked by “multiple” downed 80-foot trees, the California Highway Patrol said.

Flooding possible with heavy rain

The Los Angeles area, as well as cities like Ojai and Oxnard, were under a flood watch began at 10 p.m. Wednesday and last through 4 p.m. Thursday.

Excessive rain could cause flooding, especially in burn scars and urban areas, the weather service said. Urban areas could see 2 to 4 inches and the mountains could get up to 8 inches.

San Francisco Mayor London Breed said late Wednesday afternoon that the storm’s impacts were already there.

“San Francisco has been upgraded to a flood warning which means floods are inevitable,” Breed said. San Francisco and other counties were under a flood warning until 12:30 a.m. Thursday.

North of San Francisco, in Mill Valley, heavy flooding was reported on a busy freeway underpass, and the city of San Jose in Silicon Valley declared a state of emergency before Newsom’s announcement.

“We anticipate this may be one of the most challenging storms in California,” said Nancy Ward, director of the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services.

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Several communities experiencing some of the biggest downpours were still cleaning up from flooding caused by a storm over the weekend.

In Sacramento, a second body was found Wednesday near where another body had been discovered previously inside a submerged vehicle.

Law enforcement officers recovered the second body while towing cars stranded during a New Year’s Eve deluge, according to Mark Leavitt, public information officer with the California Highway Patrol’s South Sacramento division.

Both deaths appeared to be weather-related, he said.

Storms could test infrastructure

While the precipitation appears out-of-character for the drought-stricken state, California would normally expect to see this type of rainfall during an average winter, experts said.

“These are not huge storms, I think yet, by California standards historically, but they’re big storms during this drought period we’ve had the last few years,” said Jay Lund, vice director of watershed sciences at the University of California Davis.

The storm systems could test infrastructure that hasn’t seen heavy flows in years.

“With flood infrastructure, you don’t know if you have a problem until it’s too late, there’s just so many ways levees can go wrong, and we have thousands of miles of levees downstream of reservoirs,” Lund said. “They haven’t been tested in several years.”

Operators of some of California’s smaller reservoirs, such as Folsom Lake, were already full and had to release water despite the drought. But larger reservoirs still had lots of capacity. Lake Shasta was 34% full and Lake Oroville was 39% full on Wednesday, according to the California Department of Water Resources website.

“They’re still pretty low, and I would be impressed if these storms fill those two pretty large reservoirs that are still down quite a bit after a few years of drought,” Lund said.

More snow anticipated

This year, the state’s snowpack is off to one of its best starts in 40 years, at 174% of the historical average, the third-best measurement in the past four decades, state officials said. Even more snow is expected later this week and over the weekend.

Water officials remain cautiously optimistic about the effects the current precipitation will have on the lingering drought.

“The significant Sierra snowpack is good news but unfortunately these same storms are bringing flooding to parts of California,” Karla Nemeth, director of the state Department of Water Resources said in a statement. “This is a prime example of the threat of extreme flooding during a prolonged drought as California experiences more swings between wet and dry periods brought on by our changing climate.”

In December 2021, California’s snowpack was nearly 100% its normal range for that time of year after powerful storms blanketed the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Hopes for drought relief quickly faded after heavy snow and rain were followed by three months of extremely dry conditions.

Much of California’s water comes from melting snow in the Sierra Nevada mountains through the winter months, but it remains to be seen whether the state’s recent pattern will be enough to offset the ongoing drought.

“We don’t know if it’s going to be a wet year or a dry year until the end of March. There’s very little correlation from one month to the next,” Lund said. April 1 is a typical high point for snowpack in California, where snow melt feeds reservoirs in May and June. But that dynamic is changing.

“With the warmer climate we’ve had the last decade or so, we’re seeing generally less snowpack than we’re used to and we’re seeing it melt off faster and we’re seeing more evaporation off the watersheds,” Lund said.

Most of the state remains in severe to extreme drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

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McCarthy, House Freedom Caucus discussing concessions in effort to sway 20 Republican voters

January 5, 2023 Published by

Latest & Breaking News on Fox News 

Rep.-elect Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and members of the House Freedom Caucus are reportedly discussing additional concessions in efforts to sway more Republican voters toward electing McCarthy as Speaker of the House.

A GOP aide confirmed to Fox News that McCarthy is considering giving more power to HFC members as he tries to gain the 218 votes needed to be elected to the position. 

The ideas being discussed include adding more HFC members to top committees, more representation on the steering committee and commitments for votes on major bill items the HFC wants votes on.

The items were reportedly discussed before Wednesday night’s motion to adjourn until noon on Thursday.

THE VOTE FOR HOUSE SPEAKER: LIVE UPDATES

The GOP aide also said there is movement on a motion to vacate the chair, and that moving to a one-member threshold is becoming “less of an issue” from McCarthy’s end.

The House is expected to begin its seventh vote on Thursday as McCarthy has failed to secure the votes six total times: three times on both Tuesday and Wednesday. The most he received came on Tuesday with 203 votes.

Twenty Republicans are standing in McCarthy’s way to the speakership, with most of them being members of the House Freedom Caucus. One of the preferred candidates for the 20 representatives is Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who has said he isn’t interested and announced his support for McCarthy.

During the last three rounds of voting, Republicans put up Rep.-elect Byron Donalds, R-Fla., as an alternative, but he never gained more than 20 votes.

Those opposing McCarthy have said they want to ensure they are not forced to give up committee assignments, they want investigative inquiries into the FBI and others, and they want to reinstate the motion to vacate — a process of the majority party voting out the current speaker, should they lose faith in his or her leadership.

REPUBLICAN MILITARY VETERANS URGE SUPPORT FOR MCCARTHY: ‘IT’S ACTUALLY BECOMING DETRIMENTAL TO OUR NATION’

Before the narrow 216-214 decision to adjourn Wednesday night, McCarthy said some progress had been made with those voting against him, adding that private discussions are more productive than forcing more votes.

“I crawl before I walk, I walk before I run,” McCarthy said after the House adjourned. “I felt as though we had a very good discussion.”

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Electing a speaker must be the first action of a new session of Congress. It must happen before swearing-in ceremonies for new members. The last time a speaker vote failed was in 1923.

 

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Pope Benedict XVI’s funeral: Pope Francis remembers the dead pontiff’s life, legacy and courage

January 5, 2023 Published by

Latest & Breaking News on Fox News 

Former Pope Benedict XVI was laid to rest with a funeral mass before thousands of mourners in St. Peter’s Square Thursday, with Pope Francis presiding over the event and honoring his predecessor’s courage.

Thousands watched and mourned and bells tolled as pallbearers carried Benedict’s cypress coffin from St. Peter’s Basilica and placed it at the altar. Pope Benedict, born Joseph Ratzinger, died Dec. 31 at age 95. 

Francis, wearing the crimson vestments, opened the Mass with a prayer.

“Holding fast to the Lord’s last words and to the witness of his entire life, we too, as an ecclesial community, want to follow in his steps and to commend our brother into the hands of the Father,” Francis said at the end.

POPE EMERITUS BENEDICT XVI FUNERAL MASS HELD IN SAINT PETER’S SQUARE, PRESIDED OVER BY POPE FRANCIS

A book of the Gospels was also placed open on the coffin and Benedict’s longtime secretary, Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, bent down and kissed it.

Heads of state and royalty, clergy, and thousands of people from around the world attended the ceremony, despite Benedict’s requests for simplicity.

Italy and Germany were uniquely invited to send official delegations, but leaders from other countries took the Vatican up on its offer and come in their “private capacity.” The notable guests included several heads of state, at least four prime ministers and two delegations of royal representatives. 

In addition, a host of patriarchs joined 125 cardinals in seats adjacent to the altar.

Many regular people traveled from Benedict’s native Bavaria and wore traditional dress, including boiled wool coats to guard against the morning chill.

The funeral ritual had some modifications from the traditional processions as Benedict was not a reigning pontiff when he died.

POPE EMERITUS BENEDICT XVI DEAD AT 95, VATICAN SAYS

Benedict is considered one of the 20th century’s greatest theologians and spent his lifetime upholding church doctrine. His singular, revolutionary act of retiring from the papacy — becoming the first pope in six centuries to do so — however, put him in the history books.

Benedict’s retirement lasted nearly 10 years and paved the way for the papacy to evaluate how a retired pope should live alongside a reigning one, as the situation was unprecedented.

In his remarks, Francis praised Benedict’s courage to step aside, saying it “opened the door” to allow future popes to do the same. The reigning pontiff previously shared he too has left written instructions outlining his resignation conditions.

POPE BENEDICT’S VISION OF CATHOLICISM, VATICAN II, AND THE FUTURE OF THE CHURCH ENDURE THROUGH HIS TEACHINGS

Authorities estimated some 100,000 would attend Benedict’s funeral, Italian media reported. Some 200,000 people paid their respects during public viewings from Monday to Wednesday, the Vatican said.

Matteo Colonna, a 20-year-old seminarian from Teramo, Italy, said the funeral had personal resonance for him.

“The first spark of my vocation started under the pontificate of Benedict, but then it became even stronger under Pope Francis,” Colonna said, sitting in prayer in St. Peter’s Square before the mass. “I see a continuity between these two popes and the fact that today Francis is celebrating the funeral in Benedict’s memory is an historical event.”

POPE BENEDICT’S LAST WORDS, ACCORDING TO HIS BEDSIDE NURSE

Early Thursday the Vatican released the official history of Benedict’s life, a short document in Latin that was also placed in a metal cylinder in his coffin. Coins and medallions minted during his papacy and his pallium stoles were also placed in the coffin.

The document highlighted Benedict’s historic resignation, which he announced on Feb. 11, 2013.

As cardinal and pope, he passed sweeping church legislation and oversaw controversial revelations of abuse within the church my hundreds of its clergymen. Survivors still held the former pope responsible for the crisis.

Benedict’s final coffin will be placed in the crypt in the grottos underneath St. Peter’s Basilica, also the resting place of St. John Paul II, before it was moved upstairs.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

 

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Climate change increases ‘domestic violence’ risks for women, Washington Post claims

January 5, 2023 Published by

Latest & Breaking News on Fox News 

The Washington Post used the suffering of abused women in Asia and Africa to argue that “more frequent and intense extreme weather events have led to escalating threats against women and girls.”

“Heat waves, floods, climate-induced disasters increase sexual harassment, mental and physical abuse, femicide, reduce economic and educational opportunity and increase the risk of trafficking due to forced migration,” Terry McGovern, an expert on “Population and Family Health,” told The Post. 

The Washington Post’s tweet of the article soon received backlash on Twitter, with reporter Tatjana Pasalic responding to the article by tagging the CEO of The Babylon Bee, a conservative satire site. “damnit @SethDillon,” she wrote. 

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The article used McGovern and other “scientists” to contend that domestic violence was closely linked to climate change. And the problem was global in scale, according to The Post. 

“For these and many other women around the world, the threat of violence could become more common as climate change makes extreme weather events more intense and frequent.”

The liberal media has taken flack in recent weeks for raising the stakes on climate rhetoric, with one New York Times columnist recommending that mating “with shorter people” could help save the planet from destruction. 

NEW YORK TIMES MOCKED FOR ESSAY ON SHORT PEOPLE BEING BETTER FOR THE PLANET: ‘RIDICULOUS’

“60 Minutes” rang in the New Year with a segment featuring the disgraced author and biologist behind “The Population Bomb,” a book that predicted four billion would die from starvation by 1989. 

The “doomsday celebrity,” as CBS host Scott Pelley called biologist Paul Ehrlich, took to Twitter to whine about the “right-wing” backlash against his “60 Minutes” appearance. 

“If I’m always wrong so is science, since my work is always peer-reviewed, including the POPULATION BOMB and I’ve gotten virtually every scientific honor. Sure I’ve made some mistakes, but no basic ones.” 

The tweet was soon eviscerated online by a collection of journalists and even YouTuber Hank Green. 

Podcast host Noah Blum mocked Ehrlich’s tweet, summing up his argument. “I’m not wrong. Source: me.”

’60 MINUTES’ USES FAILED DOOMSDAY BIOLOGIST TO PREDICT ‘MASS EXTINCTION’ OF HUMANITY

The Washington Post later undermined its warnings of climate change fueling abuse because it wasn’t totally scientific.

“Unlike the hard science of climate change, they said, the complex drivers of violence cannot easily be captured in numbers.”

As a result, the article explained, multiple “academics, activists and humanitarian workers said the links between violence against women and extreme weather events need more research.” 

And a final concession from the Post: “Scientists emphasize that extreme weather events do not cause domestic or gender-based violence, but instead exacerbate existing pressures or make it easier for perpetrators to carry out such violence.”

Fox News’ Scott Whitlock and Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report. 

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US to send Ukraine dozens of Bradleys in $2.85B aid package

January 5, 2023 Published by

Top News: US & International Top News Stories Today | AP News 

FILE – American soldiers drive a Bradley fighting vehicle during a joint exercise with Syrian Democratic Forces at the countryside of Deir Ezzor in northeastern Syria, Dec. 8, 2021. President Joe Biden said on Jan. 4, 2023, that’s he’s weighing sending Bradley Fighting Vehicles to help Ukraine in its effort to combat Russia’s ongoing invasion. (AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. will send Ukraine nearly $3 billion in military aid, in a massive new package that will for the first time include several dozen Bradley fighting vehicles, U.S. officials said Thursday, in the Biden administration’s latest step to send increasingly lethal and powerful weapons to help Ukraine beat back Russian forces.

The aid — totaling about $2.85 billion — is the largest in a series of packages of military equipment that the Pentagon has pulled from its stockpiles to send to Ukraine. It is aimed at getting as much to the Ukrainian forces as possible during the winter months, before spring sets in and an expected increase in fighting begins.

An announcement is expected Friday, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because details of the package have not been publicly announced.

President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz confirmed in a joint statement Thursday that the U.S. would provide Bradleys to Ukraine while Germany would provide Marder armored personnel carriers. The statement did not reveal the number of vehicles the countries intended to supply.

The Bradley fighting vehicles are medium-armored combat vehicles that can serve as a fortified troop carrier on the battlefield. It has tracks rather than wheels, but is lighter and more agile than a tank. It can carry about 10 personnel, and is seen as a critical way to move troops safely into battle.

Hub peek embed (apf-politics) – Compressed layout (automatic embed)

Also included in the aid package will be HUMVEES, Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, or MRAPs, and a large amount of missiles and other ammunition, according to U.S. officials.

The aid comes on the heels of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s dramatic visit to Washington last month, when he slipped secretly out of his war-torn nation for the first time to thank America and predict that 2023 would be a “turning point” in the conflict. In urging more support for his country’s war effort, he told Congress, “Your money is not charity,” and instead is ”an investment in the global security and democracy that we handle in the most responsible way.”

Zelenskyy and other Ukrainian officials have pressed Western leaders to provide more advanced weapons, including armored vehicles and Patriot missile batteries. The $1.85 billion aid package last month included for the first time a Patriot battery, the most advanced surface-to-air missile system the West has provided to Ukraine in the war effort. It also provided an undisclosed number of Joint Direct Attack Munitions kits, to modify massive bombs by adding tail fins and precision navigation systems so they can be guided to a target.

The German government in a statement Thursday announced it would also provide Ukraine with a Patriot missile battery.

 

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[World] China Covid: Celebrity deaths spark fears over death toll

January 5, 2023 Published by

BBC News world 

State TV

Opera singer Chu Lanlan died in December aged 40
By Fan Wang
BBC News

The growing number of Chinese public figures whose deaths are being made public is prompting people to question the official Covid death toll.

The death of Chu Lanlan, a 40-year-old opera singer, last month came as a shock to many, given how young she was.

Her family said they were saddened by her “abrupt departure”, but did not give details of the cause of her death.

China scrapped its strict zero-Covid policy in December and has seen a rapid surge of infections and deaths.

There are reports of hospitals and crematoria becoming overwhelmed.

But the country has stopped publishing daily cases data, and has announced only 22 Covid deaths since December, using its own strict criteria.

Now only those who die from respiratory illnesses such as pneumonia are counted.

On Wednesday the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that China was under-representing the true impact of Covid in the country – in particular deaths.

How is China trying to beat its latest Covid surge?China under-representing Covid deaths, WHO warns

But the deaths of Chu Lanlan and others is sparking speculation about greater losses than those reported on official accounts.

According to the specialist news website Operawire, Chu Lanlan was a soprano who specialised in Peking Opera – a theatrical art in which performers use speech, song, dance and combat movements to tell stories – and was also involved in charitable causes.

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WATCH: Ros Atkins on… China’s Covid surge

On New Year’s Day news of the death of actor Gong Jintang devastated many Chinese internet users.

Gong, 83, was known to many households for his performance in the country’s longest-running TV series, In-Laws, Out-laws. His portrait of Father Kang had captivated fans for more than two decades since the show first aired in 2000.

The cause of his death is unclear, but many social media users linked it to the recent deaths of other older people.

“Please god, please treat the elderly better,” his co-star Hu Yanfen wrote on Chinese social media platform Weibo.

“R.I.P Father Kang. This wave have really claimed many elders’ lives, let’s make sure we protect the elderly in our families,” one user wrote on Weibo.

Acclaimed scriptwriter Ni Zhen was also among recent deaths. The 84-year-old was famous for his work on the 1991 film Raise the Red Lantern, which is widely considered to be one of the best Chinese films by critics.

Meanwhile Hu Fuming, a former journalist and retired professor of Nanjing University, died on 2 January at the age of 87.

He was the main author of a famous commentary published in 1978 that marked the start of the China’s “Boluan Fanzheng” period – a time of eliminating chaos and returning to normal after the upheaval of the Cultural Revolution under the country’s first Communist leader Mao Zedong.

According to a tally by Chinese media, 16 scientists from the country’s top science and engineering academies died between 21 and 26 December.

None of these deaths were linked to Covid in their obituaries, but that hasn’t prevented speculation online.

“Did he also die of ‘bad flu’?” one of the top-rated comments under news of Mr Ni’s death said.

“Even if you trawl through the whole internet you can’t find any reference to his cause of death,” said another internet user.

But there was also criticism of demonstrators who took to the streets in November in rare political protests calling for the end of leader Xi Jinping’s zero-Covid policy.

“Are those people happy now, seeing old people… now paving the way for their freedom?” asked one social media user.

The new generation powering China’s protests

Mr Xi appeared to refer obliquely to the protests in his New Year’s address, saying it was natural in such a big country for people to have different opinions.

But he urged people to come together and show unity as China entered a “new phase” in its approach to Covid.

The Chinese authorities are aware of the widespread scepticism although they continue to play down the severity of this wave of Covid sweeping the country.

In an interview with state TV, the director of Beijing’s Institute of Respiratory Diseases admitted the number of deaths of elderly people so far this winter was “definitely more” than in past years, while also stressing that critical cases remained a minority of the overall number of Covid cases.

This week the People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s official newspaper, urged citizens to work towards a “final victory” over Covid and dismissed criticism of the previous zero-Covid policy.

 

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CES startups face cautious investors amid economic woes

January 5, 2023 Published by

Top News: US & International Top News Stories Today | AP News 

FILE – Mohamed Soliman of Atmos Gear dons Atmos Gear inline electric skates during CES Unveiled before the start of the CES tech show, Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023, in Las Vegas. More than a thousand startups are showcasing their products at the annual CES tech show in Las Vegas, hoping to create some buzz around their gadgets and capture the eyes of investors who can help their businesses grow.(AP Photo/John Locher, File)

LAS VEGAS (AP) — More than a thousand startups are showcasing their products at the annual CES tech show in Las Vegas, hoping to create some buzz around their gadgets and capture the eyes of investors who can help their businesses grow.

But amid the slew of layoffs in the tech industry and an economic landscape battered with high inflation and interest rates, many may be met with cautious investors looking for products that can deliver quick returns instead of hype.

Analysts say the event this year has somewhat of a muted tone compared to prior shows, when many companies routinely unveiled pie-in-the-sky projects that never saw the light of day. Carolina Milanesi, president and principal analyst at the consumer tech research firm Creative Strategies, said this time around, many of the tech items displayed during the show’s media preview days, which occurred Tuesday and Wednesday, have been less “flamboyant” compared to prior years, which showcased things like talking microwaves and smart jeans that vibrate to direct users.

“The economy — and I think the mood in general — is a little bit negative around tech,” Milanesi said. “It’s really getting companies to focus on real value for customers.“

Hub peek embed (apf-technology) – Compressed layout (automatic embed)

CES, the most influential tech gathering in the world, officially begins on Thursday to attendees in the industry. Roughly 3,000 companies have registered to attend the event, including big companies like Amazon that are laying off thousands of employees and axing unprofitable areas of their business amid uncertainty in the wider economy.

Simultaneously, many startups are attempting to find their wings at a time when consumers are tightening their belts and being more picky about how to spend their money. And experts note the somber economic climate can be particularly difficult for companies who make hardware products — they typically require robust investments to manufacture their gadgets and often encounter challenges with securing the money they need.

Marco Snikkers, founder and CEO of OneThird, a startup that tests produce ripeness, said investors have been much more critical this year about which companies to fund. Securing investments for his own company took much longer than anticipated but luckily, he said, some existing investors stepped up to help and the company didn’t run out of cash. They were able to secure more funding last month.

“We can hopefully survive 2023 with what we have today,” Snikkers said, adding the Netherlands-based company, which also has an app, hopes to expand their products to the U.S.

Another CES attendee, Mohamed Soliman, founder of the French electric skates startup AtmosGear, said investors have been more fearful about putting money into projects during the entire pandemic and are asking for a higher level of maturity from companies before they put some skin in the game.

“I think CES could be a ‘do or die’ time for many startups,” said Wedbush analyst Dan Ives. “The clock struck midnight in terms of tech investors just giving away free money. There’s a lot more competing for capital.”

Saving money has now become a big priority for the tech industry, a shift from the past when more analysts and investors were more focused on how companies were growing. Ives said unlike products that received a lot of buzz during prior shows but didn’t have a clear revenue path, like drones, investors are now looking to fund things that can be deployed, such as artificial intelligence, chip technology and electric vehicles.

More transformational tech themes, such as broader use of virtual reality and immersive experiences in the metaverse, are also being showcased at the show. Though the metaverse has its skeptics, Ives said he believes all these technologies could lay the groundwork for what’s likely to be a fourth industrial revolution.

But as of now, a recession is potentially on the doorstep, he said. “And I think that’s the elephant in the room at this year’s CES.”

Event organizers for their part say excitement hasn’t dampened. Brian Comiskey, the director of thematic programs at the Consumer Technology Association, the trade group putting together the show, said many startups are excited to be back at the event and mingle in person with investors after COVID kept many of them away for the past two shows.

The organization also has a program, called CTA Match, that pairs startups with investors who might be interested in their products, he said, adding many companies have showcased items that can be rolled out soon, or are innovations that could be deployed if they meet the right investors.

But even entrepreneurs that raise money are facing higher costs due to inflation. That, coupled with a more challenging investment scene could mean more companies won’t be able to make it — or won’t be able to make it with the cash they have on hand, a scenario that could lead to more mergers with big companies, said Peter Csathy, chairman of the media and tech advisory firm Creative Media.

Still, startups are trying to get the most out of the show and will attempt to create buzz around their products in an effort to grab some headlines and get free marketing, Csathy said.

“I don’t think the pie-in-the-sky, ultra-cool, ultra-novel gadgets go away,” he said. “They just may not be getting the emphasis that they otherwise would have had in a vibrant economic environment.”

 

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