Tag: Faces

Biden Faces a Tragedy He Labored to Keep away from

Post author By
Post date August 27, 2021

WASHINGTON – That was exactly what President Biden feared most.

His decision to end America’s longest war was driven by his determination not to sacrifice a single military man in an effort that he had long believed was no longer in the interests of the United States.

But on Thursday morning, the withdrawal he initiated claimed the lives of 13 US soldiers and numerous Afghan civilians – the first American casualties in Afghanistan in 18 months and the deadliest day for the US military since 2011.

In burning remarks from the East Room of the White House Thursday evening, Mr Biden promised to “hunt down” the terrorists who blamed the Kabul airport bombings but said the hectic, dangerous evacuation of US citizens and allies from Afghanistan would continue for a few more days.

“Those who carried out this attack, as well as those who want to harm America, know we will not forgive,” Biden said in a language that echoed the warnings of President George W. Bush following the terrorist attacks on Nov. September 2001. “We will not forget. We’ll hunt you down and make you pay. “

America’s stormy exit from Afghanistan has dragged Mr Biden’s approval ratings down, and Thursday’s bombings are sure to open him up to political criticism. However, it was unclear what would hurt his presidency in the long term, as he is leaving a war that most Americans will get out of.

Prior to the attacks, the president’s advisors said privately that they did not believe in any long-term political harm to Mr Biden, especially since the military successfully evacuated more than 100,000 people in less than two weeks. But the deaths of American soldiers – and numerous Afghans – could upset these calculations.

The president’s Republican critics picked up the bombings and vowed to hold him accountable for the consequences of his troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.

“It was the direct result of terribly misguided decisions by President Biden. It requires a painful accountability, “said New York MP John Katko, the Republican chief on the Homeland Security Committee. “Our Commander-in-Chief was missing and failed to get to this crucial moment in our history.”

In the hours following the attacks, few Democratic MPs jumped to defend Mr Biden. Instead, most expressed grief over the loss of life in Kabul.

“I’m upset about the despicable terrorist attacks at Hamid Karzai Airport,” said Senator Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island. “Today’s loss of life is tragic.”

Mr Biden held his comments on the bombings hours after the Pentagon confirmed that suicide bombers had carried out the deadliest attack on US forces in Afghanistan in a decade. Expressing “heartbreak” over a “tough day,” he said he had asked his commanders to target ISIS-K, the Afghan branch of Islamic State, which admitted responsibility for the attacks.

“We will respond with force and precision at the place of our choice and at the moment of our choice,” he said.

Mr Biden saluted the sacrifice of the soldiers, 12 of whom were Marines, who lost their lives and the 18 other American soldiers who were injured in the explosions while the military worked to implement its decision to withdraw completely from Afghanistan.

He promised that the United States would honor its “sacred obligation” to the families of the fallen in Afghanistan, calling those who died in the attacks “heroes engaged in a dangerous, selfless mission to do this To save the lives of others ”.

Mr Biden said that as president he was responsible for “everything that happened” but he again denied that his decision to withdraw troops by the end of the summer inevitably led to the chaotic evacuation scenes at the airport or the deaths in the hands of the terrorists.

“I only had one alternative: send thousands more troops back to Afghanistan,” he said. “I never thought we should sacrifice American life to try to establish a democratic government in Afghanistan.”

But that is unlikely to please his critics, including some members of his own party who disapproved of the way Mr Biden ended the war.

Updated

Aug. 26, 2021, 9:44 a.m. ET

As news of the attacks spread on Thursday morning, Senator Bob Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey and chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, called the situation in Kabul “a full blown humanitarian crisis”. He said the Biden government must complete the evacuation as planned.

Going against the advice of his generals and overriding some of his senior foreign policy advisers, Mr Biden announced in April his decision to withdraw the remaining 2,500 American troops from the country. The president said he did not want to call the parents of any other marine, soldier or airman who was killed in Afghanistan.

But the rapid takeover of the country by the Taliban surprised the administration and set in motion a chaotic evacuation in which almost 6,000 American soldiers tried to secure the Kabul airport against the Taliban and terrorist groups. Earlier this week, Mr Biden declined calls by lawmakers, activists and other world leaders to extend the American presence at the airport beyond August 31, citing the potential for terrorist attacks.

Since August 14, shortly before the Taliban took control of Kabul, the government has reportedly evacuated more than 100,000 people and brought them to safety. But government officials admit that there are more Americans and Afghan allies who want to leave the country.

On Thursday, Mr Biden said he still intends to meet his August 31 deadline for a full withdrawal. But he also said he would not speed up the departure because of the bombings. He said his senior military officials told him they had the resources to continue evacuations despite ongoing threats while protecting the airport from the further attacks expected in the coming days.

And he said continuing the evacuation would prove to the rest of the world that “what America says matters”.

“They made it clear that we can and must complete this mission and we will, and I have commanded them to do so,” Mr Biden said of his military advisers. “We don’t let terrorists scare us off. We won’t let them stop our mission. We will continue the evacuation. “

Understanding the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan

Map 1 of 5

Who are the Taliban? The Taliban emerged in 1994 amid the unrest following the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan in 1989. They used brutal public punishments, including flogging, amputation and mass executions, to enforce their rules. Here is more about their genesis and track record as rulers.

Who are the Taliban leaders? These are the top leaders of the Taliban, men who for years have been on the run, in hiding, in prison and dodging American drones. Little is known about them or how they plan to govern, including whether they will be as tolerant as they say they are.

What is happening to the women of Afghanistan? When the Taliban was last in power, they banned women and girls from most jobs or from going to school. Afghan women have gained a lot since the Taliban was overthrown, but now they fear that they are losing ground. Taliban officials are trying to reassure women that things will be different, but there are indications that they have begun to reintroduce the old order in at least some areas.

Mr Biden said the United States would continue to try to help Americans and others flee Afghanistan after the military left, in part by trying to work with the Taliban to get them out. He said the Taliban are interested in working with the United States and other Western nations, at least for the time being.

The Taliban, Biden said, are eager for economic and other aid as they seek to rule the country again in the coming months. This gives the United States leverage over the Taliban that could help find and evacuate Americans and other personnel, he said.

“There are many reasons why they turned to not only us but others as well, why it would go on in their interest to get more staff that we want to get out,” he said.

In defending the way his government is handling the withdrawal of armed forces from Afghanistan last week, Mr Biden vowed that “any attack on our armed forces or any disruption to our airport operations will be met with a swift and forceful response . ”

On Thursday it was unclear whether a military response of any kind was already in the works. But military officials said US forces on the ground had the ability to strike back while also securing the airport.

General Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., chief of US Central Command, said the military will pursue those responsible for the attack. And Mr Biden later suggested that he would not let the attack go unresponsive even though he did not give a schedule of action.

Mr Biden asked for a minute’s silence on Thursday to remember the deceased.

“Each of these women and men in our armed forces are the heirs of this tradition,” he said, “of sacrifice, of voluntary willingness to be in danger, to risk everything, not for fame, not for profit, but to defend what we love and the people we love. “

Pentagon officials described the airport bombing as a “complex attack” that involved at least two explosions and shots by ISIS-K fighters at Americans and civilians.

Mr Biden received news of the deteriorating situation on Thursday morning as he met with senior national security advisers to provide regular updates on the evacuation status, officials said.

The bad news – punctuated online by gruesome video of bodies outside the walls around the airport – continued all day amid unconfirmed reports of other explosions near the airport and a steadily increasing number of injuries and deaths, including many Afghan civilians who have favourited desperately for a chance to evacuate.

All morning, Mr. Biden huddled with Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, and General Mark A. Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and other top aides for news of the explosions and what happened they could mean the final days of the hectic evacuation efforts in Afghanistan.

After the attacks became known, the president’s schedule was quickly turned inside out.

Less than 15 minutes before Mr Biden was due to meet with Naftali Bennett, Israel’s new Prime Minister, the White House announced that the meeting had been postponed. It was later postponed to Friday. And a meeting between Mr Biden and some of the nation’s governors has been canceled. The daily briefing from White House press secretary Jen Psaki was postponed until Mr Biden made his remarks on Thursday evening.

Tags Avoid, Biden, Faces, Tragedy, Worked

Politics

After Trumka’s Demise, A.F.L.-C.I.O. Faces a Crossroads

Post author By
Post date August 8, 2021

Richard Trumka’s twelve years as AFL-CIO president coincided with the ongoing decline of the organized workforce, but also with opportunities such as the election of a devout US president. With Mr Trumka’s death last week, the association faces a fundamental question: What is the purpose of the AFL-CIO?

For years, union leaders and senior officials have split into two big camps on this issue. On one side are those who argue that the AFL-CIO, which has around 12 million members, should play a supportive role for its constituent unions – that it should help build consensus on political and political priorities, for them To lobby Washington, provide research and communication support, and identify the best ways to organize and negotiate.

On the other side of the debate are those who argue that the Federation should play a leading role in building the labor movement – by investing resources in organizing more workers; by entering new branches of the economy; by funding non-traditional workers’ organizations, such as those representing undocumented workers; and by forging deeper alliances with other progressive groups, such as civil rights activists.

As President, Mr. Trumka identified more with the first approach, which several current and former union officials felt was particularly valuable given its close ties to President Biden. Liz Shuler, who has been acting president since Mr. Trumka’s death and hopes to succeed him, is said to have a similar orientation.

But while the association ponders its future, there is an inescapable fact that could sway the discussion: Mr Trumka’s approach did not seem to solve an existential crisis for the U.S. labor movement, where unions make up only 7 percent of the private sector workforce.

“The level of collective bargaining coverage of American workers is not comparable to that of any other similar democracy,” said Larry Cohen, a past president of Communications Workers of America. “If you’re not there to grow, you are in trouble. You’re just playing defense. You’ll be here until someone turns off the light. “

Funding for a dedicated department dedicated to the organization fell significantly during Mr Trumka’s presidency, to around 10 percent by 2019, according to documents on the Splinter website.

Ms. Shuler said in an interview on Friday that the department’s budget does not reflect other resources put into organizing, such as the millions of dollars the AFL-CIO sends to state unions and local labor councils that play an important role can organize campaigns.

Although union membership fell about 1.5 percentage points to below 11 percent during Mr. Trumka’s tenure, his influence in Washington contributed to several successes. These included a more worker-friendly revision of the North American free trade agreement, tens of billions of dollars in government aid to stabilize union pension plans, and a job creation bill now passing through Congress.

The economic rescue plan that Mr Biden signed in March sent hundreds of billions of dollars in aid to state and local governments that saw public sector unions, increasingly the face of the labor movement, as lifeguards.

But the cornerstone of Mr. Trumka’s plan to revitalize work was a law pending passage: the Right to Organize or PRO Law. The law would make organizing easier by prohibiting employers from requiring workers to attend anti-union meetings and fines against employers who violate labor laws. The association invested heavily in choosing officials who could help pass the measure.

During an interview with the New York Times in March, Mr. Trumka identified the PRO Act as the workers’ last best hope. “Because of growing inequality, our economy is on the way to implosion, ”he said. “We have to find a way so that workers have more power and employers less. And that works best with the PRO Act. “

Ms. Shuler repeated this point, arguing that if the measure becomes law, the workforce will be prepared for a resurgence. “We have everything in harmony,” she said. “All that’s left is the PRO Act to unleash what I would say the potential for unprecedented organizing.”

But so far, workers’ hopes for a bill strongly opposed by Republicans and the business community have been dubious. While the House of Representatives passed the bill in March and Mr Biden strongly supports it, the odds are high in a divided Senate.

When asked if the AFL-CIO could support Mr Biden’s multi-trillion dollar job plan if it comes to a vote with no prospect of the PRO Act being passed, Mr Trumka refused to consider the option that he would have to make such a decision.

“I don’t see that,” he said in an interview. “This president and this government understand the power to resolve inequalities through collective bargaining.”

An alternative approach could have given higher priority to building power outside Washington by adding union membership and increasing the influence of non-union workers.

Daily business briefing

Updated

Aug 6, 2021, 6:12 a.m. ET

According to Mr. Cohen, former communications workers leader, one benefit of a large investment in organizing is that it allows the labor movement to bet in a variety of industries and jobs where workers are increasingly excited about union work , but in which traditional unions do not have a large presence – like the video game industry and other technology sectors.

Such funds can help workers who want to organize their free time from colleagues, as well as a small cadre of professionals to help them. “You have 100 people you pay $ 25,000 a year for and 15 full-time employees, and people can build where they live,” Cohen said.

Stewart Acuff, the AFL-CIO’s organizing director from 2002 to 2008 and then special assistant to its president, said the association’s role in organizing should include more than just directly funding these efforts. He said it was imperative to give membership a higher priority to all organized labor, as he had attempted under Mr. Trumka’s predecessor.

“We have challenged all levels of the labor movement to spend 30 percent of their resources on growth,” said Acuff, who criticized the leadership of the Federation under Mr. Trumka. “This wasn’t just referring to organizers. It meant using access to every lever, “such as pressure on companies to be more accepting of unions.

Mr Acuff also said the AFL-CIO must be more willing to place long bets on organizing workers who, with more members, may not pay off in the short term but help build power and influence for workers.

He cited the $ 15 struggle and a union, a year-long campaign to improve wages and facilitate union formation for fast food and other low-wage workers. The campaign, which received tens of millions of dollars from the Service Employees International Union, was successful in many ways, despite the fact that it produced few new union members. The AFL-CIO supported the US $ 15 battle but did not provide direct financial support.

Mr Cohen and Mr Acuff both cited the importance of building long-term alliances with outside groups – such as those advocating for civil rights or immigration or environmental issues – that can increase the power of workers, such as calling for an employer to resign while in a union Campaign.

During his tenure, Mr. Trumka tried at times to cultivate such alliances, but he was often hampered by resistance within the Federation.

Amid the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, for example, Mr Trumka attempted to throw the AFL-CIO’s weight behind civil rights matters, including a speech he gave in Ferguson, Missouri, after a young black man, Michael Brown, who was there in 2014 shot by a police officer.

But Mr Trumka faced a backlash on that front from more conservative unions who felt that the AFL-CIO’s real job was to focus on economic issues that affect members rather than issues like civil rights.

“There have been some unions – not just construction – that have felt that the work is not what we should be focusing on,” said Carmen Berkley, a former director of the AFL’s civil, human and women’s rights division -CIO, in an interview last year.

Since Mr Trumka’s death, union leaders have begun to discuss what the association’s organizational and political challenges mean for the election of a successor. According to its bylaws, the AFL-CIO’s Executive Board will meet within three weeks to elect a successor for Mr. Trumka’s term, which expires next year.

One of the top candidates will be Ms. Shuler, who became the acting president after the death of Mr. Trumka as secretary / treasurer. If the Council selects Ms. Shuler to succeed Mr Trumka, this could advance her to the presidency next year and consolidate the direction of the Federation, a prospect that some reformers within the labor movement are concerned about.

Some of these reformers support Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants, as the next president of the Federation. Ms. Nelson has advocated redirecting much of the tens of millions of dollars the labor movement spends on political activities to help more workers unionize.

But Ms. Shuler insists that choosing between investing in the organization and the other priorities of the association is the wrong one.

“I don’t think they’re mutually exclusive,” she said. “After the way modern organizations work, you no longer have large institutional budgets filled with line items. We organize everything related to the campaign. We’ll identify a target where it’s hot. ”Then, she said, the organizations raise money and get things done.

Tags AFLCIO, Crossroads, Death, Faces, Trumkas

Politics

Invoice to Change How Navy Prosecutes Felonies Faces Resistance

Post author By
Post date July 15, 2021

WASHINGTON – After years of opposition from Pentagon leaders, New York Democrat Senator Kirsten Gillibrand appeared to be nearing victory over a fundamental change in the way the military handles sexual assault cases. However, their emphasis on including all serious crimes in the measure for reasons of racial justice now threatens to weaken their support.

Ms. Gillibrand’s push to remove commanders from decisions in prosecuting sexual assault cases had received bipartisan support despite opposition from military leaders. Last month, President Biden and Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III endorsed a similar change recommended by an independent military body.

But Mr. Austin and some of Mrs. Gillibrand’s strongest allies in Congress on this issue are reluctant to make broader changes to the military justice system. Some lawmakers say they only recently focused on the details of the measure after months of discussion.

“Your bill is much broader than I thought,” said Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine and an early proponent of Ms. Gillibrand’s move. “I believe she has made a compelling case for sexual assault and related allegations to be removed from the chain of command.”

But Ms. Collins said she didn’t think there was any justification for removing other alleged crimes from the military justice system.

Ms. Gillibrand’s bill would overturn the decision to prosecute serious crimes such as sexual assault and other crimes such as murder from military commanders to military prosecutors. The Pentagon panel proposed a more limited change: that a special victim unit should be set up within the military for cases of sexual assault and some other crimes.

But Ms. Gillibrand argues that this would create an unequal system and has said that her proposal would also help fight racial injustice.

A bill that would cover most crimes is “necessary,” she said in the Senate on Tuesday, “because the current military justice system simply does not provide justice, especially for soldiers of color.”

This tactic has helped attract other voices to their cause.

“Racial and gender bias in the military has resulted in inadequate prosecution of sexual assault cases and excessive prosecution of black and brown officers,” said Anthony Brown, Rep. Anthony Brown, Democrat of Maryland, a veteran and former Army Attorney General an interview this week.

While there have been differences in prosecution in the military over time, he said, “I think after the tragic murder of George Floyd, it really got a lot of us to say, ‘Hey, this is a real opportunity here, this one Fix inequalities and differences. ‘“

Studies over the years have identified racial differences in the military justice system, including the way in which discipline is exercised.

The tensions over Ms. Gillibrand’s move and the closer changes recommended by the Military Commission are potentially difficult terrain for Mr. Austin. He said strengthening the fight against sexual assault, racism and extremism in the ranks is a top priority.

Many military leaders who oppose changes in sexual assault cases may also oppose the loss of other prosecutorial powers. But focusing on other crimes could also alienate some of Ms. Gillibrand’s supporters – many of whom were brought back after years of courting.

“My inclination now is to commit sexual assault,” said Senator Angus King, Maine Independent, after previously saying he would register with Ms. Gillibrand. “That has been the goal of our work for eight years.”

Among the 70 or so senators from both parties who joined this spring, Ms. Gillibrand still seems to enjoy support. Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, has been with their side for years, while some Democrats, like Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, recently joined their efforts.

“There are many reasons to professionalize crime-dealing,” said Kaine, who previously worked as a lawyer. “Kirsten has a bright line that was maybe a little different from the one she drew earlier. But it’s a line that makes sense for us lawyers. “

Republican Senator Josh Hawley from Missouri agreed. “As a lawyer and former prosecutor, I think there is some value in having continuity and saying that every crime is handled the same way no matter what it is. I like that as a former prosecutor and I like it as a defense attorney. For me it’s a plus. “

Both men said they support the bill in writing but welcome further debate on the proposed changes that would require a Congressional resolution.

Senator Jack Reed, Democrat of Rhode Island and chairman of the Senate Armed Forces Committee, now supports changing the prosecution for sexual assault after years of opposition. But he is a leading voice against extending this trial to other crimes.

Data on racial differences is mixed and sometimes inconclusive, in large part due to the military’s lack of consistent data on race and the justice system, several reports say.

A recent report by the Government Accountability Office found that black and Hispanic military personnel were more likely than whites to be tried in a military trial, but that race “was not a statistically significant factor in conviction.”

A report by the Air Force Inspector General last year found that black service members were 1.64 times more likely to be suspicious in Office of Special Investigations criminal cases, but said that “identifying racial differences does not automatically imply racial bias or racism available”. . “

Tags Bill, change, Faces, Felonies, Military, Prosecutes, Resistance

Health

Asia faces ‘bumpy street’ forward as Covid instances stay excessive

Post author By
Post date June 30, 2021

A woman is given a dose of Covid-19 vaccine during the mass vaccination at Tanah Abang Textile Market in Jakarta, Indonesia on June 19, 2021.

Agung Kuncahya B. | Xinhua News Agency | Getty Images

Asia’s fight against the coronavirus is far from over, but an expected increase in the spread of Covid vaccines in the coming months could defuse the situation, according to investment bank HSBC.

India was the hardest hit country this year, suffering from a devastating second wave that saw cases soar between February and early May. Although the daily reported numbers of infections have dropped significantly from a peak of over 414,000 cases in a day, the South Asian nation still reports an average of 50,000 cases per day.

Countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and Nepal have seen a sharp surge in cases recently, while the numbers of infections in other places continue to rise. Nations like Singapore, South Korea, Japan, and China have also faced outbreaks recently.

“It’s easy to believe or tempting to think we’ve got through it all, but the reality is, if you look at Asia ex-India, we’re currently seeing record numbers of daily infections,” said Frederic Neumann, co-head of Asian economic research at HSBC, said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia” on Wednesday.

“There are still terrible human tariffs in many parts of Southeast Asia and even in India,” he said.

Delta variant

Experts say the closely watched coronavirus mutation known as the delta variant is partly responsible for the rise in new cases in many parts of the world. First discovered in India and now present in over 80 countries, Delta is said to be more contagious than previous variants.

Although it remains unclear whether the variant is more deadly than previous strains, its increased transmissibility, especially in environments with low vaccination and minimal social distancing, means that in absolute terms it is likely to infect more people, according to analysts at political risk advisory group Eurasia Group.

“Countries with younger populations and wetter climates could therefore experience more severe outbreaks than previous waves, even if the proportion of young people with serious illnesses remains the same,” said Eurasia Group analysts in a recent statement. They added that there is a growing risk of health system overload in many emerging markets.

Asia lags far behind North America and Europe in vaccines. The data showed that just over 23% of the population received at least one Covid vaccine dose, compared to over 40% or more in the other two regions.

“We are far from finished,” said Neumann from HSBC. “That said, if we look at the third quarter, there’s still a risk that at least some glitches will get through. We just need these vaccines. We need more supply. We have to introduce them. “

Economic recovery

Neumann said that based on publicly available information, HSBC predicts that many Asian countries will not achieve herd immunity until early 2022 at the earliest.

“That means some of the restrictions, especially on travel, remain in place, and unfortunately that still means a bit of a bumpy road for the next few months,” he said.

When a country reaches herd immunity, it means that the virus can no longer spread rapidly because most of the population is either fully vaccinated or would have become immune from infection.

In a release, Neumann and other HSBC analysts said they expect local demand growth in the region to pick up pace over the next six months. It is due to a large, expected surge in vaccine distribution, they said.

According to the bank, exports remain strong despite ongoing transport disruptions and supply chain bottlenecks.

“The latter should slowly subside as demand for services recalibrates and factories make up for lost time. However, the crisis has shown that there is an urgent need for more investment in capacity – expect investment to rise as the region tiptoe out of the pandemic, ”wrote the HSBC analysts.

The investment bank forecast that Asia (excluding Australia and New Zealand) will grow 6.6% year-on-year in 2021 – compared to a 0.9% decline in the previous year – and 4.6% in 2022.

Tags ahead, Asia, bumpy, cases, Covid, Faces, high, remain, Road

Politics

Bipartisan Senate plan faces opposition from Democrats

Post author By
Post date June 15, 2021

The Democratic and Republican senators who propose an infrastructure deal face the first hurdles to get their $ 1 trillion plan through Congress.

The bipartisan proposal, elaborated by 10 senators, would focus on transportation, broadband and water and not increase taxes to offset costs. A handful of Democrats seeking a broader plan to tackle climate change and social programs, paid for by raising taxes on business or the rich, have opposed the framework.

Senators have to walk a fine line because concessions to win one party jeopardize the support of the other. Despite growing opposition from Liberals, one Republican who worked on the plan is hoping the group will be supported by enough GOP senators to overcome the Democrats’ loss of votes.

“It should definitely be,” Senator Rob Portman, R-Ohio, told CNBC on Tuesday when asked if there would be enough Republican support to pass the plan. “I mean, this is a proposal for infrastructure that Republicans have traditionally supported. It is also a proposal with no increase in income taxes. … I think there will be a lot of support on both sides of the aisle. “

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President Joe Biden’s second major legislative initiative proposed an infrastructure and economic stimulus program worth $ 2.3 trillion. After its talks with Republicans failed due to disagreements about what to include in law and how to pay for it, lawmakers made a last-ditch effort to work out a bipartisan plan.

While the 10 Senators are trying to win support for their proposal, the Democrats have laid the groundwork to pass a bill themselves through a budget reconciliation. During a meeting with House Democrats on Tuesday, White House aide Steve Ricchetti said the government would wait “a week or 10 days” to see if a bipartisan deal was reached, the House Budget Committee chairman said , John Yarmuth, D-Ky. If not, “the Democrats go along with the reconciliation for everything,” said Yarmuth.

A Democratic-only bill seems blocked for the time being, however, as at least one Democrat involved in the talks, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, insists on wanting to pass a bipartisan support plan.

Congress leaders have a math problem. To get through the evenly split Senate in the normal process, the legislation would need the support of all Democratic factions and at least 10 Republicans – or more if Democrats are defective. If the Democrats try to legislate on budget balancing themselves, they cannot lose a single vote.

U.S. Senators Mitt Romney, Kyrsten Sinema, Susan Collins, Joe Manchin and Mark Warner are leaving after they passed away on Aug.

Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters

The bipartisan strategy faces its share of skeptics. Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent Vermonter who works with the Democrats, told reporters Monday he would not vote for the plan.

“The bottom line is that there are many needs in this country,” he said. “Now is the time to meet those needs and it has to be paid for in a progressive way as we have massive income and wealth inequality in America.”

At least two other Democrats – Sens. Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Jeff Merkley of Oregon – have signaled that they will oppose an infrastructure deal unless more is invested in fighting climate change.

Passing a bill in the Senate will also depend on whether the bipartisan group can win over Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. No senator approved the framework.

McConnell is “open-minded, as he has told the media. … I think the Democrats are talking to Senator Schumer too, and I think he’s open-minded too, ”Portman told CNBC.

While McConnell said he hopes to reach a bipartisan infrastructure deal, he has also vowed to combat Biden’s economic agenda.

Schumer said Monday that “discussions about infrastructure investments are advancing in two ways”. The Democrat added that during the bipartisan talks, the Senate committees are also working on a plan based on Biden’s proposal, “which will be considered even if he does not have bipartisan support”.

He also signaled that he would like greater investments in climate protection.

“And as a reminder of the Senate, a reminder of the Senate: As I said from the start, in order to make progress on infrastructure, we must take courageous measures to protect the climate,” he said.

The challenges are not limited to the Senate. House progressives have begun to oppose a bipartisan plan smaller than the one proposed by Biden. House spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi, D-California, also said a provision to index gas taxes to inflation would not receive the blessings of the White House.

“The President of the United States is a big factor in this, and he said he would not support taxes for those earning less than $ 400,000 a year, and that includes increasing gas taxes,” she said on Sunday opposite CNN.

Portman said Tuesday that the bipartisan framework would include a “slight increase” in the tax.

Pelosi did not rule out on Sunday that her group would support a tighter infrastructure package. She said the Democrats would likely need assurances that they will next pass a broader bill that includes more party priorities.

“If [a bipartisan deal] is something to be agreed on, I don’t know how we can sell it to our group unless we know there is more to come, “she said.

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Tags bipartisan, Democrats, Faces, Opposition, Plan, Senate

Health

Covid-Sniffing Canines Are Correct, However Extensive Use Faces Hurdles

Post author By
Post date June 12, 2021

Dog noses are great Covid-19 detectors, according to numerous laboratory studies, and Covid detection dogs have already started working at airports in other countries and at some events in the US, like a Miami Heat basketball game.

However, some public health and sniffer dog training experts say more information and planning is needed to ensure they are accurate in real-life situations.

“There are no national standards” for scented dogs, said Cynthia M. Otto, director of the Penn Vet Working Dog Center at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine and one of the authors of a new article on the use of scented dogs in Covid detection.

And while private groups certify drug sniffing and bomb and rescue dogs, there are no similar medical detection programs in place in the journal Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, according to the new paper.

Lois Privor-Dumm, a public health researcher at Johns Hopkins University and lead author of the article, said there is no question that dogs have great potential in medical fields. But she wants to investigate how they could be used on a large scale, for example by the government.

“What are all the ethical considerations? What are the regulatory considerations? How practical is that? ”She asked. Not only the quality of detection, but logistics and cost would be central to any widespread application, as with any public health intervention.

Quality control is a first step and a big one. Medical odor detection is more complicated than detecting drugs or bombs, said Dr. Otto. A dog working to detect drugs or explosives in an airport has a consistent context and a fairly simple target odor. With Covid detection, researchers know that dogs can differentiate between sweat and urine from an infected person. But they don’t know what chemicals the dog is identifying.

Because human smells vary, medical sniffer dogs must be trained on many different people. “We have all races and ages and diets and all these things that make people smell,” said Dr. Otto.

The symptoms of many illnesses are similar to those of Covid, and dogs smelling odors related to fever or pneumonia would be ineffective. Therefore, according to Dr. Otto “include many people who are negative but might have a cough or a fever or other things”. Obviously, if the dogs mistake flu for Covid, that would be a critical mistake.

Dogs can also be trained on sweat, saliva, or urine. In the United Arab Emirates, the dogs worked with urine samples. In Miami they just walked past a number of people.

Any positive cases of Covid infection that the dogs detect are usually confirmed using today’s gold standard to confirm the presence of the coronavirus, a PCR test. However, a review of the research published last week concluded that dogs fared better than the test.

But these are experimental results. Dogs are good at remotely detecting explosives and other substances, but so far, Dr. Otto that she is not aware of any published research showing the accuracy of dogs who sniff people in a line instead of urine or sweat.

If the government were to officially conduct or approve dogs for Covid detection, some standards would need to be set for how dogs should be trained and their performance assessed. Dr. Otto is on a committee of the National Institute of Standards and Technology that is now meeting to develop standards for scent detection dogs in a variety of situations, including detecting Covid.

She said even if the standards were clearly set, finding enough dogs to do widespread odor detection was another hurdle. Trained dogs are not easy to come by. “We have a shortage of bomb detection dogs in this country. We’ve been dealing with it for years, ”she said.

Dogs can be retrained from one smell to another, but that can be tricky. “Some countries take their bomb trained dogs and train them on Covid. But you know, all you have to do is think of an airport, if you have a dog that sniffs both covid and bombs and it alerts you, then what do you have? “

Well-trained dogs are also costly and require paid, well-trained human handlers. According to the report, dogs can cost $ 10,000 and odor training can cost $ 16,000 per dog. For example, the Transportation Security Administration has a $ 12 million explosive detection dog and handler training facility in San Antonio and estimates the cost of training dogs and handlers at $ 33,000 for explosives detection and $ 46,000 for passenger control.

All of these questions will determine how dogs will be used in the future. Your ability is there. “I think they absolutely can,” said Dr. Otto. “This is how we implement them.”

Tags Accurate, CovidSniffing, Dogs, Faces, Hurdles, wide

Health

Biogen faces robust questions on $56Okay-a-year worth of latest Alzheimer’s drug

Post author By
Post date June 8, 2021

A person skates past Biogen Inc. headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts on Monday, June 7, 2021.

Adam Glanzman | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Biogen faced tough questions from Wall Street analysts Tuesday about the annual cost of $ 56,000 for its newly approved Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm – a price that executives call “fair” and “responsible”.

Biogen’s shares rose 38% Monday after the FDA announced it had approved the company’s drug scientifically known as aducanumab. It’s the first drug approved by U.S. regulators to slow cognitive decline in people with Alzheimer’s, and the first new drug for the disease in nearly two decades.

The biotech company said it is charging $ 56,000 for an annual course of the new treatment, more than the $ 10,000-25,000 price some Wall Street analysts expected. This is the wholesale price, and the cost that patients actually pay depends on their health insurance plan.

Some analysts and stakeholders immediately questioned how the company could justify the price – about five times higher than expected – especially as medical experts continue to debate whether there is enough evidence that the drug actually works and the industry has been criticized for drug prices .

The FDA departed from the advice of its independent panel of external experts, which unexpectedly declined to approve the drug last fall, citing inconclusive data.

“Our only concern here is the annual cost of aducanumab and whether the sticker shock at $ 56,000 a year (we were at $ 10,000) could further stimulate drug price reviews,” Stifel analyst Jeff Preis told investors Monday in a note.

On a call to investors Tuesday morning, Evercore ISI analyst Umer Raffat congratulated the Massachusetts-based company on US approval of the drug before asking executives to explain the price.

“I think there is a discrepancy between some of the words you shared in your press releases like responsibility, access, health equity, and price, especially given the basic care population,” he told executives.

JP Morgan analyst Cory Kasimov later asked executives how much the state health insurance program Medicare is likely to pay for the drug and how concerned executives are about the “backlash” the industry will face on pricing.

Biogen executives said the overall price of the new treatment is “underpinned” by the value it is expected to bring to patients, caregivers and society. They insisted that the price was “responsible” and stated that the disease costs the US billions each year.

The Alzheimer’s Association estimates that more than 6 million Americans are living with the disease. The company said it currently has the capacity to deliver the drug to 1 million patients annually, with more than 900 locations in the U.S. poised to launch the new drug.

“We want to ensure that Aduhelm is affordable for patients and sustainable for health systems,” said one executive.

The company has pledged not to increase the price of the new drug over the next four years. However, executives said they were “open-minded” and suggested reconsidering the price as the company assesses demand over the next few years.

Michel Vounatsos, CEO of Biogen, joined CNBC on Monday and said the drug’s price will allow the company to continue investing in its pipeline of drugs for other diseases. He added that the company works closely with Medicare as well as private insurers.

Tags 56Kayear, Alzheimers, Biogen, Drug, Faces, Price, Questions, tough

Business

Tesla faces strain as EV competitors heats up, ex-Ford CEO says

Post author By
Post date June 3, 2021

Elon Musk brought electric vehicles into the mainstream with Tesla. Now the EV company is grappling with the consequences of its own innovation, former Ford Motor CEO Mark Fields told CNBC on Wednesday.

“One of the many things he did is he pushed the industry toward taking EV seriously,” Fields said of Musk, the chief executive of Tesla. “He has real competition now, and that’s why you’re seeing some of their share in some of the major markets under a lot of pressure.”

Tesla shares fell for the third-straight session against the backdrop of multiple challenging headlines for the car manufacturer. One, in particular, is that the San Carlos, California-based company lost some of its grip on the electric vehicle market in April.

Fields was critical of Tesla’s reliance on selling carbon credits to supplement its profits, suggesting it’s a harbinger of more challenges.

“When you look at their year-to-date earnings and their earnings last year, they made a heck of a lot more in selling CO2 credits than they did their total company profit and net profit,” Fields said. “As those credits dry up, there’s going to be a lot of pressure to make money and better margins on their vehicles.”

According to Credit Suisse analyst Dan Levy, Tesla’s global market share was 11% in April, down from 29% in March. He noted share losses in the China, Europe and U.S. markets.

Fields attributed the shift in EV market share to traditional auto giants, such as General Motors and Ford, making headway in the space as new products are announced and come online.

He highlighted that Volkswagen is now leading in EVs in Europe and the Ford Mach E is taking share in the U.S. Ford, which Fields led between 2014 and 2017, in May revealed its electric F-150 to much fanfare.

After soaring in 2020, Tesla shares have dropped more than 14% so far in 2021. The stock, which trades more like a tech stock, closed 3% lower Wednesday at $605.12 a share.

Shares of traditional car companies, taking the form of cyclical stocks, are up double digits this year and have outgained the market through Wednesday.

Ford shares have put up some of the biggest gains, rallying almost 69% this year to $14.91 at the close Wednesday.

Tags CEO, competition, exFord, Faces, heats, Pressure, Tesla

Business

Exxon Mobil Faces Local weather Change Battle at Annual Assembly: Reside Updates

Post author By
Post date May 26, 2021

Here’s what you need to know:

Credit…Peter Dejong/Associated Press

Exxon Mobil will face a big challenge over its climate change policies at an annual shareholder meeting on Wednesday as activists contest the election of one-third of the company’s board.

A coalition of investors concerned about the environment has argued that Exxon has not invested enough in cleaner energy, which will hurt its profits in the future.

These investors argue that the company should follow European oil companies like BP and Total that have begun investing heavily in renewables like wind and solar energy.

The hedge fund leading this campaign, Engine No. 1, is seeking to defeat the election of four of the company’s director candidates and has proposed four of its own. A victory for even one of its nominees would be a sharp rebuke to Darren W. Woods, Exxon’s chairman and chief executive. Some big pension funds, including the New York State Common Retirement Fund and the California Public Employees’ Retirement System, have joined Engine No. 1, which was started last year.

“We listen, and we hear,” Mr. Woods said in an interview in which he tried to take a conciliatory tone. “We don’t always agree, but we always understand there is an opportunity to improve.”

Exxon has argued that its investments in carbon capture and storage, including a proposal to capture the emissions from industrial plants along the Houston Ship Channel, demonstrate that the company is changing in its approach to climate change. This week, it announced that it would add two new directors to the board, including a climate expert, but it has not committed to investing in renewable energy.

Engine No. 1 dismissed the move, saying, “This vote is too important to be influenced by this type of cynical, last-minute maneuvering.”

Credit…Michael Nelson/EPA, via Shutterstock

Amazon’s investors are gathering virtually on Wednesday for the company’s annual shareholder meeting. There is much to discuss, according to the DealBook newsletter: good, bad and ugly (from the perspective of Amazon’s management).

The e-commerce giant’s bumper profits are likely to be overshadowed by three major developments: Reports that the company is about to make an expensive bet on the Hollywood studio MGM, a series of shareholder proposals that company directors don’t want to pass and an antitrust suit filed against the company that landed on Tuesday.

Amazon is said to be considering spending $9 billion to acquire MGM, which would buy classic films like “Rocky” and “Singin’ in the Rain,” as well as the James Bond franchise. If a deal is reached, approval from regulators would rest on Amazon’s argument that it’s a small player in entertainment. (Lina Khan, a nominee for the F.T.C. who is awaiting Senate confirmation, made her name with a paper about Amazon’s alleged antitrust abuses.)

The backers of several shareholder proposals, all opposed by Amazon’s management, say their aim is to make the company a better corporate citizen, reacting to accusations of labor and environmental abuses. New York State’s pension fund is calling on Amazon to conduct an independent racial equity audit of its practices related to civil rights, equity, diversity and inclusion. (Calls for racial audits have been a feature at many shareholder meetings recently.)

Another proposal would bar Jeff Bezos from leading Amazon’s board after he steps down as chief executive this year.

The District of Columbia sued Amazon on Tuesday, accusing the company of effectively prohibited sellers on its site from charging lower prices for the same products elsewhere, which raised prices on Amazon and beyond. “Amazon has used its dominant position in the online retail market to win at all costs,” said Karl Racine, the district’s attorney general.

It is believed to be the first antitrust suit against Amazon by an American government authority, but because it is based on local rather than federal law, its effect could be limited even if successful. Nonetheless, Mr. Racine’s argument “is both old-school and novel, and it might become a blueprint for crimping Big Tech power,” wrote Shira Ovide, The Times’s On Tech columnist.

Credit…Andrew Harnik/Associated Press

The chief executives of the six biggest American lenders will testify before the Senate Banking Committee on Wednesday, the first time the committee has summoned all the top bankers since the financial crisis of 2008. (They will also appear at the House Committee on Financial Services on Thursday, for the first time since 2019.)

At the Senate hearing, Sherrod Brown, Democrat of Ohio and the committee’s chairman, has promised to press the bank chiefs on a range of subjects, sending them a list of questions on topics including the riskiness of their assets, the diversity of their work forces, actions on climate change, pledges on racial equity and more. It could make for a disjointed hearing as senators veer from issue to issue, trying to catch the chief executives off guard or unprepared.

Their prepared testimonies address the committee’s questions in varying depth and detail, while all make the case that their institutions are healthier, safer and more law-abiding since 2008.

Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase turned in a nine-page paper urging business, government and society to address inequities and “unleash the extraordinary vibrancy of the American economy.”
Jane Fraser of Citigroup prepared 11 pages (and a three-page addendum with data and tables) that note her bank’s approach to cryptocurrencies, saying that it is “focusing resources and efforts to understand changes in the digital asset space.”
James Gorman of Morgan Stanley assembled a 20-page report with few frills that includes a short introduction and responses to each question in order.
Charles Scharf of Wells Fargo and David Solomon of Goldman Sachs each submitted 15 pages heavy on environmental, social and governance issues.
Brian Moynihan of Bank of America had the most to say, with 32 pages that devote a lot of space to the bank’s “responsible growth” principles. “We embrace our dual responsibility to drive both profits and purpose,” he wrote.

Credit…Wolfgang Rattay/Reuters

U.S. stocks were expected to rise on Wednesday and a benchmark European index climbed to a record high and then fell.

The S&P 500 was set to open 0.4 percent higher when Wall Street starts trading.

Oil prices fell. West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. crude benchmark, dropped 0.3 percent to $65.86 a barrel.

‘Transitory’ inflation in Europe

The Stoxx Europe 600 slipped 0.1 percent after hitting a fresh record earlier on Wednesday. The euro fell 0.1 percent against the U.S. dollar to $1.22.
Fabio Panetta, a member of the executive board of the European Central Bank, said on Wednesday that “‘we are currently seeing a transitory increase in inflation,” adding his voice to the chorus of central bankers arguing that price increases are temporary and there is no current need to pull back monetary stimulus. Mr. Panetta said that the central bank did not need to reduce the pace of its bond-buying program.
Over the next two years, the European Central Bank forecasts the annual inflation rate to be no more than 1.4 percent, below the bank’s 2 percent target.
“We should not extrapolate from what is happening in the United States,” Mr. Panetta said in the interview published by the central bank. “We don’t expect the same kind of surging demand and tight labor markets that would generate stronger lasting price pressures.”

Company news

The chief executives of six major American banks, including Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase and Brian Moynihan of Bank of America, will appear before a Senate congressional committee on Wednesday and then a House committee on Thursday. They are expected to answer questions on everything from the riskiness of their banks’ assets to work force diversity. They have already submitted written testimonies.
Shares at British Land, a major landowner and property developer, dropped 1.8 percent after the company said its profit dropped by more than a third in the year to March as its portfolio value fell nearly 11 percent because of drop in the value of retail properties. British Land said it also sold 1.2 billion pounds ($1.7 billion) of retail and office spaces over the year.
Marks & Spencer shares rose 6.7 percent as the retailer said it expected to generate a profit of as much as £350 million this fiscal year, swinging back from a loss of more than £200 million. The company, which sells food, clothing and housewares, has benefited from a recent partnership with Ocado, the online groceries retailer.

Australians will have some of the best views of the “super blood moon” this week, but passengers on a one-time flight departing from Sydney had an even better one. The Australian airline Qantas operated a three-hour flight on Wednesday (Tuesday evening in the United States) for about 100 passengers to see the moon enter the Earth’s shadow and turn a blood red color during a total lunar eclipse. Tickets went on sale this month for 499 Australian dollars (about $386) for economy class and 1,499 Australian dollars (about $1,162) for business class. The tickets sold out in less than half an hour.

Credit…Richard Drew/Associated Press

Fox News entered the streaming video market in November 2018 with Fox Nation, a digital subscription service that now encompasses hundreds of hours of original programming including political commentary, documentaries and travel specials like “Castles USA,” in which the host Jeanine Pirro tours castles around the country.

Until now, the network had resisted rebroadcasting its marquee prime-time shows on the streaming service. That is set to change next week, in a significant shift in digital strategy for the Rupert Murdoch-owned channel.

Starting June 2, episodes of “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” “Hannity” and “The Ingraham Angle” will be available on demand on Fox Nation the day after they are shown live on cable. The shift “will add incredible value for subscribers,” Fox Nation’s president, Jason Klarman, said in a statement on Tuesday.

Fox News had reasons to initially avoid duplicating its traditional TV programming on Fox Nation. The channel earns significant revenue from cable distributors that pay to carry Fox News. And the network has the largest total weeknight audience in cable news; viewers who switch over to watch the programs on Fox Nation will not be counted by Nielsen.

Other networks, though, have seen benefits from making their cable programs available in digital venues. The shows can attract new subscribers and widen their viewership to the younger audiences that prefer streaming services.

A monthly subscription to Fox Nation costs $6. The network has declined to share its total number of subscribers. Lachlan Murdoch, the executive chairman of the Fox Corporation, said on a recent earnings call that the first quarter of 2021 had generated Fox Nation’s “highest number of customer acquisitions since launch.”

Credit…Angela Weiss/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

The District of Columbia claimed in a complaint on Tuesday that the giant online marketplace is artificially raising prices for products by abusing its monopoly power.

The legal action is believed to be the first government antitrust suit against Amazon in the United States, report The New York Times’s David McCabe, Karen Weise and Cecilia Kang.

Here’s what you need to know:

What D.C. says

“Amazon has used its dominant position in the online retail market to win at all costs,” said Karl Racine, the attorney general for the District of Columbia. “It maximizes its profits at the expense of third-party sellers and consumers, while harming competition, stifling innovation and illegally tilting the playing field in its favor.”

What Amazon says

Mr. Racine “has it exactly backwards — sellers set their own prices for the products they offer in our store,” Jodi Seth, a spokeswoman for Amazon, said in a statement. She added that Amazon reserved the right “not to highlight offers to customers that are not priced competitively.”

The big picture

Amazon has attracted attention from critics because of the sweeping nature of its business. It operates a dominant web hosting operation and a streaming platform that competes with Netflix and Hulu, and it expanded into brick-and-mortar grocery stores with the 2017 acquisition of Whole Foods. But the lawsuit filed by Mr. Racine, a Democrat, concerns the core of its business: the online marketplace for outside merchants that accounts for more than half of the products it sells.

Tags annual, Battle, change, Climate, Exxon, Faces, Live, Meeting, Mobil, Updates

Business

Exxon Mobil Faces Off In opposition to Activist Buyers on Local weather Change

Post author By
Post date May 25, 2021

“I don’t expect a meaningful change in strategy such as large investments in renewables,” said Allen Good, a Morningstar analyst. But he said a victory for the dissidents “would be a signal that shareholders don’t think current initiatives have gone far enough, and that could spur further change.”

There have been several challenges to Exxon’s management over the years, but the dissidents gained strength last year when the company did not increase its dividend and slashed its $200 billion investment program by a third. And the company’s stock dropped by nearly half. Its share price has regained much of those losses in recent months but remains about 17 percent lower than it was in January 2020, before the pandemic took hold.

Engine No. 1’s candidates are Gregory Goff, a former chief executive of Andeavor, a refinery company; Kaisa Hietala, a former executive at Neste, a Finnish energy company; Alexander Karsner, a senior strategist at X, a lab owned by Google’s parent, Alphabet; and Anders Runevad, the former chief executive of Vestas Wind Systems, a wind turbine maker.

Much depends on whether shareholders with large stakes in Exxon vote with Engine No. 1.

Reuters reported on Tuesday that BlackRock, which has a 6.7 percent stake in Exxon, had backed Engine No. 1’s campaign by voting for three of the hedge fund’s candidates. A BlackRock representative declined to comment on the report or its Exxon votes.

BlackRock’s critics say its deeds have not matched its talk on getting companies to do more to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. But the investment firm has said that engaging with management has produced results, and it has contended that voting against directors proposed by management can compel companies to make changes that would benefit the environment. BlackRock said that last year it voted against 64 directors on the boards of companies that generate a lot of carbon emissions.

This year, BlackRock told The New York Times that its ambition was for its entire investment portfolio to be at “net zero” emissions by 2050 at the latest. In other words, the companies and other entities in which BlackRock invests would, in aggregate, be adding zero planet-warming gases to the atmosphere because they took out as much as they put in.

Tags activist, change, Climate, Exxon, Faces, investors, Mobil