Month: May 2021

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World News

Biden rejects Trump’s strategy to North Korea

Biden rejects Trump's approach to North Korea

U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in hold a joint news conference after a day of meetings at the White House, in Washington, U.S. May 21, 2021.

Jonathan Ernst | Reuters

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Friday rejected his predecessor’s approach to North Korea and said his goal as president was to achieve a “total denuclearization” of the Korean Peninsula.

Speaking at a joint press conference with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, Biden used the example of former President Donald Trump’s high-profile meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un to illustrate what he, Biden, would never do.

“If there was a commitment on which we met, then I would meet with [Kim],” said Biden. “And the commitment has to be that there is discussion about his nuclear arsenal.”

“What I would not do is what has been done in the recent past,” the president said. “I would not give him all he’s looking for, international recognition as legitimate, and give him what allowed him to move in a direction of appearing to be more serious about what he wasn’t at all serious about.”

Trump held three high-profile meetings with Kim, one in Singapore in June of 2018, another in Hanoi the following February, and the last one in June of 2019. During their third meeting, Trump took several steps onto North Korean soil, becoming the first American president to do so.

All three meetings between Trump and Kim were ostensibly focused on denuclearization. Yet rather than reduce his stockpile, Kim doubled his country’s arsenal of nuclear weapons during the four years Trump was president.

Biden and Moon pledged to work together to continue the effort to denuclearize North Korea.

As part of this process, Biden announced Friday that Ambassador Sung Kim will serve as the U.S. special envoy for North Korea.

Sung Kim is a career diplomat and a former ambassador to South Korea. He was recently nominated to be the assistant secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs.

Another important topic during Biden and Moon’s meeting on Friday was their countries’ ongoing response to Covid-19.

South Korea is currently experiencing a shortage of coronavirus vaccines. Approximately 7% of South Koreans have received at least one shot of the vaccine, according to data by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.

By contrast, more than 48% of Americans have received one shot, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

During the press conference, Moon and Biden announced that the United States would provide 550,000 Korean service members with Covid-19 vaccines.

Biden and Moon’s press conference followed an afternoon of meetings and ceremonies, including the awarding of the Presidential Medal of Honor to a U.S. veteran of the Korean War.

The visit was Biden’s second time as president hosting a foreign leader at the White House. And it offered the president an opportunity to showcase that, in his words, “America is back.”

After four years of Trump’s isolationist approach to foreign policy, Moon welcomed the new tone.

“The world is welcoming America’s return and keeping their hopes high for America’s leadership more than ever before,” Moon said Friday.

But foreign policy is not where Biden has devoted the lion’s share of his attention as president.

Aides to the president say he is chiefly focused on enacting his domestic agenda: two massive proposals, to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure and to fund a range of family and social services.

As the past week has shown, however, events on the ground can quickly force any White House to shift its attention overseas.

Most recently, renewed fighting between Israel and the Islamic militant group Hamas in Gaza consumed much of the attention of the world during the past 11 days.

Biden said Friday that a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinian Authority is “the only answer.”

And despite pressure from some Democrats to take a harder line on Israel’s airstrikes, Biden emphasized that nothing in his approach to the longtime U.S. ally has changed.

“There is no shift in my commitment to the security of Israel. Period.”

He also praised Egypt’s president, Abdel Al-Sisi, for doing what Biden said was a “commendable job” securing the cooperation of Hamas on a cease-fire that began early Friday morning.

Categories
Politics

U.S. Grants Momentary Protections to Hundreds of Haitians

U.S. Grants Temporary Protections to Thousands of Haitians

The Biden government on Saturday granted special protection to Haitians temporarily residing in the US after being displaced by a devastating 2010 earthquake and reversed efforts by the previous government to force them to leave the country.

The decision, announced by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro N. Mayorkas, keeps President Biden’s election promise to restore a program that will protect thousands of Haitian migrants from the threat of deportation under the restrictive policies established under the President Donald J. Trump.

Mr Mayorkas said the new 18-month term known as Temporary Protection Status would apply to Haitians living in the United States as of Friday.

“Haiti is currently suffering from serious security concerns, social unrest, an increase in human rights abuses, crippling poverty and a lack of basic resources exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic,” Mayorkas said in a statement on Saturday.

The protection created in a 1990 law enables foreigners who have been forced to flee their homes due to natural disasters and conflict to work and live in the United States. Haiti is one of eleven countries to benefit from the program, according to US Citizenship and Immigration Services. The Obama administration granted temporary protection status to Haitians who lived illegally in the US after the 7.0 magnitude earthquake in January 2010.

Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the new designation could protect up to 150,000 Haitians from returning to the political and security crisis in their home country.

“The last thing our country should do is force an entire community in the US to choose between packing up their lives and tearing up their families through self-deportation, or being undocumented and forced into the shadows of our society,” she said Menendez said in a statement on Saturday.

As part of its tough efforts to curb legal and illegal immigration, the Trump administration sought to end protection for approximately 400,000 immigrants living in the United States, including Haitians. At the time, officials said the emergency conditions that forced immigrants to flee their countries – earthquakes, hurricanes, civil war – had occurred long ago and that most immigrants no longer needed the port provided by the United States.

Lawsuits blocked the cancellations, but in September a federal appeals court joined the Trump administration, alerting hundreds of thousands of immigrants to the need to leave the country or be deported. Many of those affected had lived in the United States for years. The Trump administration agreed to keep protection in place until at least early 2021, which means a new administration could decide to continue the policy.

Immigration advocates have urged the Biden government to restore the temporary designation to Haitians and other immigrants living in the country and welcomed the decision announced on Saturday.

“Better late than never,” wrote the National TPS Alliance, a grassroots organization, on Twitter.

In March, the Biden government issued special protection for up to 320,000 Venezuelans living in the United States, citing the country’s extraordinary humanitarian crisis led by President Nicolás Maduro.

However, some said more needed to be done to allow many of these immigrants to live in the United States permanently.

“Haitians have been living in uncertainty for several months,” said Erika Andiola, chief advocacy officer of the nonprofit Raices, in a statement. “In the future, this could uncertainly be resolved through a permanent solution through laws that put TPS holders on the path to citizenship,” she added, using the acronym for the program.

This month the House passed law to pave the way for citizenship for an estimated four million undocumented immigrants living in the United States, including those granted temporary protection status on humanitarian grounds. The law was passed largely on a partisan basis and getting it through the more even Senate will be a challenge.

Categories
Entertainment

The Parks and Recreation Solid Had a Mini Reunion

The Parks and Recreation Cast Had a Mini Reunion

Rob Lowe turned his guest-hosting gig on The Ellen DeGeneres Show into a mini Parks and Recreation reunion, and we’re (*Chris Traeger voice*) lit’rally overcome with nostalgia. Lowe invited both Adam Scott (Ben Wyatt) and Kathryn Hahn (Jennifer Barkley) onto the show to reminisce about starring on the NBC sitcom, which aired from 2009 to 2015 and hosted a one-time-only reunion special last year to support Feeding America’s COVID-19 Response Fund. Lowe first interviewed each costar separately before the trio played a game called Literally Local Laws, which challenged them to fill in the blanks on rather peculiar regulations in random cities across the country. Grab a plateful of whipped-cream-covered waffles and watch each adorable clip ahead to transport yourself right back to Pawnee, IN.

Categories
Health

France’s Le Maire says peace and safety in danger if African Covid restoration left behind

France's Le Maire says peace and security at risk if African Covid recovery left behind

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire on Wednesday warned that peace, security and global stability are in danger if the world’s economic superpowers do not contribute to Africa’s economic recovery from the Covid-19 crisis.

African leaders met in Paris over the past two days in a summit convened by France to strike a multibillion-dollar “New Deal” to aid the continent’s economic and health revival.

The Summit on the Financing of African Economies brought together 21 heads of state from Africa and leaders of continental organizations along with European leaders and the heads of major international finance organizations. In a press conference Tuesday night, French President Emmanuel Macron said the summit had yielded “a New Deal for Africa and by Africa.”

The signatories called for an additional $650 billion of IMF Special Drawing Rights to be released to close the gap between developed and emerging economies. However, only $33 billion of this has been earmarked for African countries and European leaders have vowed to donate their own shares in order to bring the total for the continent close to $100 billion.

The IMF may also contribute some of its gold reserves and in a joint communique after the summit leaders suggested that “flexibility on debt and deficit ceilings” could be used to further alleviate the burden.

G-7 and G-20 urged to contribute

Le Maire indicated on Wednesday that the French government would be pushing for greater contributions from other major economies at the upcoming G-7 (Group of Seven) summit in the U.K. in mid-June, and would also be reaching out to the G-20.

“Developed countries have invested more than 25% of their GDP to fight against the consequences of the crisis and to engage a very strong economic recovery. In Africa, it is less than 2% of their GDP,” Le Maire told CNBC’s Steve Sedgwick, adding that this trajectory risked a great divergence in the recoveries of economies and health care systems.

Workers transport the second shipment of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 coronavirus vaccine upon its arrival at the O R Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg on February 27, 2021.

Kim Ludbrook | AFP | Getty Images

“This would be a very important danger not only from an economic point of view, but a real danger for security, for peace, for stability, for illegal immigration, so I really urge everybody to be aware of the current situation of the African countries and to be aware of the necessity of putting more money (into) Africa.”

He suggested that rather than just deploying grants, governments should look to invest in small and medium-sized enterprises, supporting African entrepreneurs who are “at the core of the economic recovery.”

Despite maintaining comparatively low Covid-19 infection and death rates compared to the rest of the world, sub-Saharan Africa is projected by the IMF to have experienced a 3.3% decline in economic activity in 2020, the region’s first recession in 25 years. GDP growth projections for 2021 also lag significantly behind the rest of the world’s 6% estimate.

The drop in activity is expected to cost the region $115 billion in output losses this year and could push another 40 million people into poverty, effectively wiping out five years of progress against poverty.

In Tuesday’s press conference, Macron also set a goal to vaccinate 40% of the population of Africa by the end of 2021, calling the current situation both “unfair and inefficient.”

‘Vaccine apartheid’

The summit has urged the World Health Organization, World Trade Organization and the Medicines Patent Pool to remove intellectual property patents blocking the production of certain vaccines.

IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva cautioned on Tuesday of dire global economic consequences if the vaccine rollout fails in developing countries and the health crisis continues.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday told France24 that he welcomed the group’s call for major economies in the northern hemisphere to share their vaccine supplies.

“They have a huge surplus and we have no access, and that to me is vaccine apartheid and it can also be characterized as vaccine imperialism,” Ramaphosa said.

“We will never be able to defeat the pandemic, Covid-19, if we try to defeat it in the northern hemisphere only and not in the south.”

A landmark proposal to waive intellectual property rights on Covid-19 vaccines was jointly submitted to the World Trade Organization by India and South Africa in October.

Several months on, however, it continues to be stonewalled by a small number of governments. These include the U.K., Switzerland, Japan, Norway, Canada, Australia, Brazil, the EU and — until recently — the United States.

Categories
Business

Delta faucets longtime GE exec Dan Janki as its new CFO

Delta taps longtime GE exec Dan Janki as its new CFO

Delta Air Lines Airbus A330neo or A330-900 aircraft with Neo engine option from the European aircraft manufacturer from Amsterdam Schiphol International Airport AMS EHAM.

Nicolas Economou | NurPhoto | Getty Images

Delta Air Lines appointed long-time General Electric manager Dan Janki as its new CFO on Friday. The announcement comes as the airline tries to contain losses after the coronavirus pandemic decimated demand for travel.

Former CFO of the airline, Paul Jacobson, left the Atlanta-based airline last year and was appointed CFO of General Motors in October. Gary Chase and Bill Carroll served as interim Co-CFOs at Delta.

Janki, 53, joined General Electric in 1992 and was most recently Senior Vice President and CEO of GE Power Plant. He is due to join Delta on July 12 and will receive annual base pay of $ 650,000 and a cash signing bonus of $ 1.5 million, Delta said in a release.

Delta shares closed down 0.4% at $ 45.21 on Friday, up 12% so far this year.

Categories
Business

CNN Drops Rick Santorum After Dismissive Feedback About Native People

CNN Drops Rick Santorum After Dismissive Comments About Native Americans

Rick Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator and Republican presidential candidate, has been dropped from his role as a CNN political commentator amid controversy over recent remarks in which he seemed to erase the role of Native Americans in U.S. history.

Matt Dornic, head of strategic communications at CNN, confirmed in an email on Saturday that the network had “parted ways” with the former senator.

Mr. Santorum’s departure from CNN came after comments he made about Native Americans at a Young America’s Foundation event last month.

“We birthed a nation from nothing — I mean, there was nothing here,” Mr. Santorum said at the event. “I mean, yes, we have Native Americans, but candidly, there isn’t much Native American culture in American culture.”

Days after the event, Mr. Santorum walked back his comments on CNN’s “Cuomo Prime Time.”

“I misspoke,” Mr. Santorum told the program’s host, Chris Cuomo. “I was talking about the founding of our country. I had given a long talk about the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and the ideas behind those, and that I was saying we sort of created that anew, if you will. And I was not trying to dismiss Native Americans.”

In a statement on Saturday, Mr. Santorum said: “When I signed on with CNN, I understood that I would be providing commentary that is not regularly heard by the typical CNN viewer. I greatly appreciate the opportunity CNN provided me over the past four years and I am committed to continuing the fight for our conservative principles and values.”

After Mr. Santorum’s comments were made public, many called for him to be dropped from the network, including Fawn R. Sharp, president of the National Congress of American Indians.

“It wasn’t a matter of if, but when,” Ms. Sharp said on Twitter on Saturday after Mr. Santorum’s departure from CNN was reported. “Justice is served.”

The National Congress of American Indians did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Saturday.

Before Mr. Santorum’s departure, Ms. Sharp said in a letter dated April 26 that any media organization should fire him or face a boycott from more than 500 tribal nations.

“Rick Santorum is an unhinged and embarrassing racist who disgraces CNN and any other media company that provides him a platform,” Ms. Sharp wrote in the letter. “Do you stand with white supremacists justifying Native American genocide, or do you stand with Native Americans?”

After Mr. Santorum’s comments in April, the Native American Journalists Association also called on CNN to dismiss the former senator and urged its members to avoid working with the network.

“With a lack of accountability or ethics around multiple racist and insensitive comments from CNN staff, the Native American Journalists Association urges its members to avoid working with the network to avoid harassment and racism,” the association said in a statement. “NAJA also calls on advertisers, funders and journalism diversity organizations to withdraw their support from CNN indefinitely.”

Categories
Health

Paul J. Hanly Jr., Prime Litigator in Opioid Instances, Dies at 70

Paul J. Hanly Jr., Top Litigator in Opioid Cases, Dies at 70

Paul J. Hanly Jr., a top litigation attorney who has been the focus of the current statewide litigation against drug companies and others in the supply chain for his role in the deadly opioid epidemic, died Saturday at his Miami Beach home. He was 70 years old.

The cause was anaplastic thyroid cancer, an extremely rare and aggressive disease, said Jayne Conroy, his longtime legal partner.

During his four decades-long career, Mr. Hanly, a class plaintiff attorney, has tried and administered numerous complex legal cases, including terrorist funding for the 9/11 2001 attacks and allegations of the sexual abuse of dozens of boys by a man, who ran an orphanage and school in Haiti.

But nothing compares to the national opioid cases pending in federal court in Cleveland on behalf of thousands of communities and tribes against manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioid pain relievers. The federal opioid litigation is considered by many to be perhaps the most complex in American legal history – even more intricate and far-reaching than the epic tobacco industry litigation.

The defendants – including everyone in the opioid manufacturing, distribution and dispensing chain – are charged with aggressively marketing pain relievers while downplaying the risk of addiction and overdose. Their actions, Hanly said, contributed to the opioid epidemic that has raged across the country for two decades, killing hundreds of thousands of people who have started abusing pain relievers like OxyContin and switched to street drugs like heroin and fentanyl.

“This was probably the most complicated set of lawsuits ever to come to court in my tenure,” said Ohio District Judge Dan A. Polster, who oversees the sprawling case, in a telephone interview on Saturday. “I was fortunate to have the best lawyers in the country on all sides, and Paul was one of them.”

“He was an excellent lawyer, an accomplished professional,” added the judge. “He fought hard. He fought fair. And that’s exactly what you want from a lawyer, from a lawyer. “He said that Mr. Hanly was leading” in helping organize and hold the plaintiffs’ side together “.

Mr. Hanly of Simmons Hanly Conroy in New York played a leading role in the litigation as one of three plaintiffs’ attorneys appointed by Judge Polster to handle important aspects of the cases, including negotiations. The others were Joe Rice of Motley Rice, South Carolina and Paul T. Farrell Jr. of Farrell Law, West Virginia.

At the same time, there are several cases of opioid occurring at the state level. Mr. Hanly had also prepared for a lawsuit against manufacturers and dealers due to go on trial next month in Suffolk County, NY

He had long been at the forefront of efforts to hold drug companies accountable. He filed one of the first major lawsuits against Purdue Pharma in 2003 for warning no more than 5,000 patients about the addictive properties of OxyContin. His clients eventually settled for $ 75 million in Purdue. It was one of the few cases where a drug company agreed to pay individual patients who accused them of gently pedaling the risk of addiction.

Mr. Hanly had taken up complex cases with a large number of plaintiffs in the past. Shortly after the 2001 terrorist attacks, he represented some of the families who had lost loved ones on the planes and in the World Trade Center. He also filed a lawsuit to stop the sale of tanzanite, a rough stone used as a cash alternative to fund terrorist activities. This lawsuit was extended to foreign governments, banks, and others who supported al-Qaeda. Parts of it are still pending.

Another major case was a landmark US $ 12 million settlement in 2013 on behalf of 24 Haitian boys who said they were sexually abused by Douglas Perlitz, who ran programs for underprivileged boys, and was subsequently sentenced to 19 years in prison . Mr Hanly said the defendants, including the Society of Jesus of New England, Fairfield University and others, did not properly supervise Mr Perliitz. Mr. Hanly filed additional charges in 2015, bringing the total number of juveniles abused to over 100 between the late 1990s and 2010.

“Paul was an attorney’s attorney,” said Ms. Conroy, his legal partner. She said he was known for his extensive preparation for the process, his creative strategies for the process, and his almost photographic memory of the contents of documents.

He was also known for moving away from the muted grays and blacks of most lawyers to brisk dresses in bright yellows, blues, and pinks. He preferred bespoke styles that were eye-catching yet sophisticated. His two-tone shoes were all handmade.

In a recently published book on the opioid industry, Empire of Pain, Patrick Radden Keefe described Mr. Hanly as “like a lawyer in a Dick Tracy cartoon” with his bold colors and tailored shirts with stiff, contrasting collars. But none of this, Mr. Keefe made clear, diminished his competitive advantage.

“Paul was a man of few words and a tremendous presence,” said David Nachman, who recently retired from the New York attorney general where he was the state’s chief counsel for the state’s opioid case and worked with Mr. Hanly on it to bring case to court in Suffolk County.

“When he walked into a room everyone noticed,” Nachman said via email. “When he spoke, everyone listened and when he smiled, you knew everything would be fine.”

Paul James Hanly Jr. was born on April 18, 1951 in Jersey City, New Jersey. His father held a variety of government posts including assistant director of Hudson County Penitentiary and hospital administrator. His mother, Catherine (Kenny) Hanly, was a housewife.

His family was notorious in New Jersey; Some members had been charged with corruption and spent time in prison. These included his maternal grandfather, John V. Kenny, a former Jersey City mayor and a powerful Democratic chief of Hudson County known as the “Pope of Jersey City” who was jailed in the 1970s after pleading guilty of tax evasion would have.

Mr. Hanly went a different way. He went to Cornell, where his roommate was Ed Marinaro, who later played professional football and later became an actor (best known for “Hill Street Blues”). Mr. Hanly, who played soccer with him, graduated with a major in philosophy in 1972 and received a sports scientist award as Cornell Varsity Football Senior, which combined the highest academic average with outstanding ability.

He earned a Masters in Philosophy from Cambridge University in 1976 and a law degree from Georgetown in 1979. He then worked as a clerk for Lawrence A. Whipple, a judge at the US District Court in New Jersey.

Mr. Hanly’s marriage to Joyce Roquemore in the mid-1980s ended in divorce. He is survived by two sons, Paul J. Hanly III and Burton J. Hanly; one daughter, Edith D. Hanly; a brother, John K. Hanly; and a sister, Margo Mullady.

He began his legal career as a national litigation and settlement advisor with Turner & Newall, a UK asbestos company, one of the world’s largest in its product liability cases. The company was bought by an American company, Federal-Mogul, in 1998. After that, it was overwhelmed with asbestos claims and filed for bankruptcy in 2001.

Mr. Hanly and Ms. Conroy spent much of their time negotiating with the plaintiffs’ attorneys. They soon switched to representing the plaintiffs themselves.

“We have come to realize over time that this is more important to us,” said Ms. Conroy, “to ensure that the victims are compensated for what happened.”

Jan Hoffman contributed to the coverage.

Categories
Politics

U.N. Safety Council requires full adherence to Gaza cease-fire

U.N. Security Council calls for full adherence to Gaza cease-fire

A woman gestures after finding her home collapsed after the cease-fire brokered by Egypt between Israel and Hamas in Beit Hanoun, Gaza on May 21, 2021.

Mustafa Hassona | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

The U.N. Security Council on Saturday called for a “full adherence” to the cease-fire in Gaza and urged immediate humanitarian aid for Palestinian civilians in its first statement on the 11-day war between Israel and Hamas.

The cease-fire, which took affect at 2 a.m. Friday local time, has held so far despite clashes in Jerusalem outside Al Aqsa mosque between Israeli police and Palestinians just hours after the truce officially began.

Al Aqsa mosque is one of the most sacred places in Islam and sits in a site known in Judaism as the Temple Mount, the religion’s holiest site. Clashes at the complex were one of the factors that sparked the war.

The security council urged a “restoration of calm in full” and emphasized “achieving a comprehensive peace based on the vision of a region where two democratic States, Israel and Palestine, live side by side in peace with secure and recognized borders.”

The U.S. had previously blocked the U.N’s most powerful body from calling for an end to the conflict, arguing that doing so would hinder diplomatic efforts by the Biden administration to help achieve a cease-fire.

Israel hit Gaza with scores of airstrikes and Hamas militants fired more than 4,000 rockets at Israel. Palestinian medical officials said at least 248 people were killed in Gaza, including 66 children and 39 women. At least 12 people were killed in Israel, all civilians except one soldier.

The security council “mourned the loss of civilian lives resulting from the violence” and expressed support the U.N. Secretary General’s call to develop an “integrated, robust package of support for a swift, sustainable reconstruction and recovery.”

More than 77,000 Palestinians have been displaced and reconstruction costs in Gaza could amount to tens of millions of dollars, according to Palestinian officials, with damage to infrastructure affecting water, sanitation and hygiene services.

The U.N. said Friday that it released $22.5 million in humanitarian aid to Gaza. A day earlier, President Joe Biden promised the U.S. would work with the U.N. to provide humanitarian assistance to Palestinians and help rebuild Gaza.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to travel to Israel and the West Bank next week to build on the cease-fire, according to Reuters. Egyptian mediators are also continuing talks with Hamas and Israel to secure longer-term calm after the truce

— Reuters contributed reporting

Categories
Business

Aerion Supersonic shuts down, ending plans for silent enterprise jets

Aerion Supersonic shuts down, ending plans for silent business jets

Artist’s drawing of a supersonic jet designed for speeds up to Mach 1.4, or approximately 1,000 miles per hour.

Aerion Corporation

Aerion Supersonic, the Nevada-based company that wanted to build business jets that can silently fly almost twice as fast as commercial aircraft, is being shut down, CNBC confirmed on Friday.

“In the current financial environment, it has proven extremely difficult to meet the planned and necessary large new capital requirements,” the company said in a statement to begin production of its AS2 supersonic jet.

“Aerion Corporation is now taking the appropriate steps to accommodate this ongoing financial environment,” the company said.

Florida Today first reported on the company’s abrupt shutdown.

Aerion wanted to fly its first AS2 jet by 2024, with the goal of entering commercial service by 2026. The company developed a patented technology called “Boomless Cruise” that would allow AS2 to fly without generating a sonic boom – a problem that plagued supersonic Concorde jets of the past.

The AS2 was priced at $ 120 million per jet. Aerion CEO Tom Vice said at a UBS conference in January 2020 that he expected AS2 development to cost the company approximately $ 4 billion, with $ 1 billion to develop an engine at this point had been issued.

The company had entered into several partnerships along the way – including with NetJets from Boeing, General Electric and Berkshire Hathaway – and achieved sales of $ 11.2 billion for its AS2 jets. Earlier this year, Aerion announced in a press conference with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis that a $ 375 million manufacturing facility would be built at Orlando Melbourne International Airport.

An Aerion spokesperson did not respond to requests for comment on what will happen to Aerion’s assets.

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Categories
World News

Ana Turns into First Named Storm of Atlantic Hurricane Season

Ana Becomes First Named Storm of Atlantic Hurricane Season

The Atlantic recorded its first storm of hurricane season on Saturday after a sub-tropical storm developed northeast of Bermuda, the National Hurricane Center said.

Storm Ana developed long before June 1, when hurricane season begins. It was the seventh year in a row that a named storm developed in the Atlantic prior to the official start of the season.

By early Saturday the storm had winds of up to 45 mph and was moving slowly west at 3 mph. For subtropical storm Ana to become a hurricane, it would have to reach wind speeds of up to 74 miles per hour, which is not expected to happen, the Hurricane Center said.

Jack Beven, a senior hurricane specialist at the center, said in a forecast update that the strength of subtropical storm Ana is unlikely to change during the daytime on Saturday and that it would weaken until Saturday evening and Sunday.

Dennis Feltgen, a spokesman and meteorologist at Miami’s Hurricane Center, said subtropical storms can still have significant effects.

“They can do just as much damage and do just as much,” he said. “That probably won’t happen with this one.”

The storm was expected to drift further northeast into the Atlantic before resolving in a few days. It is not expected to reach land, the Hurricane Center said.

A storm is only named after it has reached wind speeds of at least 39 miles per hour. Although the storm formed on Saturday had wind speeds similar to a tropical storm, it was considered subtropical because of its location and wind flow, Beven said in an update.

However, the subtropical storm Ana was the first in what is expected to be a busy hurricane season.

The Climate Prediction Center said the Atlantic could have 13 to 20 named storms this year, of which six to 10 could become hurricanes. Three to five could become large hurricanes with winds in excess of 200 km / h – enough to damage well-built homes, uproot trees, and make electricity and water inaccessible for days to weeks.

“While NOAA scientists don’t expect this season to be as busy as last year, it only takes one storm to destroy a community,” said Ben Friedman, acting administrator of NOAA, the country’s climate science agency, this week.

Last year, a record 30 storms developed in the Atlantic, of which 13 became hurricanes, according to NOAA, including six that intensified into larger hurricanes, according to NOAA.

It was the highest number of registered storms, surpassing the 28 in 2005, and became the second highest number of registered hurricanes, the agency said. Last September, five active storm systems moved simultaneously across the Atlantic.

There were so many storms in the Atlantic last year that NOAA ran out of a list of 21 names for the season and had to name storms by Greek letters for the second time in the agency’s history.

The next named storm to develop in the Atlantic this year will be Bill, followed by Claudette.