Tag: Status

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Politics

State Dept. Presents Potential Refugee Standing to Extra Afghans Who Labored With U.S.

State Dept. Offers Potential Refugee Status to More Afghans Who Worked With U.S.

The State Department is offering potential refugee status to new categories of Afghans who helped the United States during the war in Afghanistan, including those who have worked for the news media and non-governmental organizations.

The ministry announced in an announcement on Monday that the measure was intended to protect Afghans “who may be at risk because of their affiliation with the US,” but who were not eligible for a special immigrant visa program that has started with it , Thousands of Afghans and their family members.

The White House is under heavy pressure to protect Afghans who have worked with the US military for the past 20 years and who may face Taliban reprisals if the United States withdraws its troops from Afghanistan. As the Taliban gains territorial gains across the country, Biden government officials and prominent members of Congress are increasingly concerned about the threat posed by ties to the United States.

The first plane load of more than 200 Afghan interpreters, drivers and other US military aides arrived in the Washington area last week to relocate them as part of a government initiative under two special visa programs prepared by Congress.

Congress created the Special Immigrant Visa Program to provide refuge to Afghans and Iraqis who have helped the US military. But the State Department’s actions on Monday reflected concerns that the program is still putting many Afghans with US ties at risk.

Last month, a coalition of news media organizations – including The New York Times, along with The Washington Post, ABC News, CNN, Fox News, and several others – sent letters to President Biden and the leaders of Congress urging them to take further action To undertake protection of Afghans who had worked as reporters, translators and support staff for the US media in Afghanistan.

The letters indicated that the special immigrant visa program “did not reach the Afghans who served US news organizations. But they and their families face the same threat of retaliation from the Taliban that the American press see as a legitimate target. “

The Taliban “long waged a campaign of threats and killing of journalists,” the letter read, and estimated that around 1,000 Afghans were at risk because of their journalistic affiliations.

The refugee program will also provide shelter for Afghans who worked on US government-funded programs and projects in the country, as well as non-governmental organizations long targeted by the Taliban.

The State Department said Afghans who fail to meet the minimum tenure of the special immigrant visa program would also be granted potential refugee status.

Those eligible for the program would undergo a “comprehensive security clearance” before being allowed to relocate to the United States as refugees, the department said.

While it offers relocation opportunities to new categories of Afghans, the United States continues to work to protect thousands more who have helped the military and are eligible for the special immigrant visa program.

Approximately 2,500 Afghans are being relocated to Fort Lee, Virginia, as part of an effort known by the White House as Operation Allies Refuge to remove them while they are completing their visa and permanent relocation applications in the United States.

Federal officials say around 4,000 more Afghans in the middle of the application process will soon be flown to other countries along with their immediate families before those who have been granted visas are taken to the United States.

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Politics

Biden requiring federal staff to show Covid vaccine standing or undergo strict security guidelines

Biden requiring federal workers to prove Covid vaccine status or submit to strict safety rules

U.S. President Joe Biden speaks about the pace of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccinations in the United States during remarks in the East Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., July 29, 2021.

Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters

“This is not about red states and blue states. It’s literally about life and death,” he said. “With freedom comes responsibility. Your decision to be unvaccinated impacts someone else.”

The new rules and perks come as officials at all levels of government struggle to bolster Covid vaccination rates that have flattened out in recent weeks, even as the highly transmissible delta variant spreads nationwide.

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Some state and regional leaders have already put new vaccine protocols in place. California and New York announced earlier this week that they will require most state employees to either get vaccinated or face mandatory weekly Covid testing.

Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser earlier Thursday reimposed a requirement that masks be worn indoors, a measure that had been lifted months earlier, when new cases and deaths from Covid were on the decline.

Some major private corporations, such as Facebook and Google, are also making vaccination mandatory in order for employees in the U.S. to return to work.

In its own buildings, the federal government is requiring that every employee and on-site contractor “attest,” or confirm, their vaccination status, according to a White House fact sheet.

Those who do not will be required to wear a mask on the job, regardless of their location, and must comply with Covid testing once or twice per week, the White House said.

They will also have to be physically distanced from all other employees and visitors, and they may face restrictions on official travel, according to the fact sheet.

“It’s an American blessing that we have vaccines for each and every American,” Biden said Thursday afternoon. “It’s such a shame to squander that blessing.”

Biden also announced that a Covid reimbursement program, which paid back small- and medium-sized businesses that offered paid leave for their employees to get vaccinated, would be expanded to include workers’ family members and kids, as well.

And Biden called on school districts across the country to host pop-up vaccination clinics in the coming weeks, while directing federal pharmacy program partners to work with schools.

In his speech, Biden repeatedly stressed that despite the rise in cases, the vaccines remain highly effective at saving lives and preventing severe illness from Covid, including the delta variant. He noted that the overwhelming majority of people hospitalized and killed from the virus have not been inoculated, describing the current crisis as a “pandemic of the unvaccinated.”

Biden also attempted to assuage fears about so-called breakthrough infections among vaccinated people, saying that such cases are rare. He added that as of now, medical officials say there is no need for fully vaccinated people to seek out a booster shot — though he suggested that could change in the future.

“The vaccines are safe, highly effective. There’s nothing political about them,” Biden said, underscoring the point by praising Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky for consistently supporting vaccinations.

“And his state’s in pretty good shape,” Biden added.

The Biden administration had previously discouraged federal agencies from requiring vaccination for on-site work.

The president in May had also proclaimed that, “If you’ve been vaccinated, you don’t have to wear your mask.”

But after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reversed its guidance on wearing masks indoors, Biden, who is fully vaccinated, said he would follow the agency’s recommendations.

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World News

Uber grants U.Ok. drivers employee standing after dropping main labor battle

Uber grants U.K. drivers worker status after losing major labor battle

A smartphone displaying the Uber app in London.

Oli Scarff | Getty Images

Shortly after losing a major labor dispute in the UK, Uber will classify all UK based drivers as workers.

Under the new designation, more than 70,000 drivers will receive some benefits, including minimum wage, vacation time and pension contributions, but will not receive full employee benefits.

Uber announced the change to an SEC filing, adding that UK ridesharing accounted for 6.4% of all gross bookings for mobility in the fourth quarter of 2020.

While the move will increase Uber’s costs in the UK, the company continues to aim for adjusted EBITDA profitability through the year-end.

Earlier this year, Uber lost a major legal battle in the UK over the issue. The country’s Supreme Court upheld a ruling that a group of drivers were workers and not independent contractors. While the decision was made with a small group of drivers, thousands more have taken action against the company.

In a comment in The Evening Standard, Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber, wrote that following the Supreme Court ruling, “we could continue to challenge drivers’ rights to any of these protections in court. Instead, we decided to turn the page.” “”

Khosrowshahi admits, “I know many observers will not pat us on the back if we take this step, which comes after a five-year legal battle. They are right, although I hope the path we have chosen will change our willingness to change shows. “”

Meanwhile, Uber and the gig economy as a whole are facing regulatory challenges around the world. Uber has spent millions addressing these challenges in other regions.

In California, Uber pushed back against Assembly Bill 5, a gig economy bill passed by law in 2019 that tightened the rules for classifying workers as independent contractors.

After a widespread campaign that cost over $ 200 million – the most expensive election campaign in the state’s history – Uber and a handful of other gig economy companies used Uber to convince voters to support an election campaign called Proposition 22 and other gig economy platforms have been exempted from state labor law.

In return, gig workers received some benefits without full employment status. Some of the additional cost of providing benefits has been passed on to carpooling.

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Business

Diego Rivera Mural to Get Landmark Standing, Blocking Potential Sale

Diego Rivera Mural to Get Landmark Status, Blocking Potential Sale

On Tuesday, the San Francisco Board of Trustees voted 11-0 to begin the process of designating a popular Diego Rivera mural as a landmark after the San Francisco Art Institute, which owns the $ 50 million painting, said that the sale would help pay off $ 19.7 million in debt.

Designating the mural as a landmark would severely limit the leverage of the 150-year-old institution, and officials behind the measure say the sale will likely be off the table for now. Removing the landmark mural would require approval from the city’s Historic Preservation Commission, which has extensive powers.

“There’s a lot of money in this city,” said Andrew Peskin, a board member from the district in which the institute is located and sponsor of the proposal. “There are better ways to get out of your mess than a mind-bending scheme to sell the mural.”

During a public hearing on the resolution Monday, Art Institute officials objected to the idea. Pam Rorke Levy, chairman of the art institute’s board of directors, said: “If the mural is milestone now, when there is no significant risk of sale, without taking sufficient account of the SFAI’s position, it would deprive the SFAI of its primary and most valuable asset . “

The 1931 work entitled “The Making of a Fresco Showing the Building of a City” is a fresco within a fresco. The tableau shows the creation of a city and a mural – with architects, engineers, craftsmen, sculptors and painters who work hard. Rivera himself can be seen from behind, holding a palette and a paintbrush with his assistants. It is one of three frescoes by the Mexican muralist in San Francisco that had a tremendous impact on other artists in the city.

Years of costly expansions and declining enrollments have placed the SFAI in a difficult financial position made worse by the pandemic and loan default. In July last year, a private bank announced it would sell the school’s collateral – including the Chestnut Street campus, the Rivera mural, and 18 other works of art – before the University of California’s Board of Regents bought the debt in October. A new agreement gives the institute six years to buy back the property. Otherwise, the University of California would take possession of the campus.

Faced with the threat of foreclosure, the school administrators have been looking for a suitable buyer, although Ms. Levy has said the school’s “first choice is to loan the mural on the spot and attract patrons or a partner institution who can raise substantial funds for it would allow us to preserve, protect and present the mural to the public. “

Last month, Ms. Levy discussed two options with board members and employees. For one, filmmaker George Lucas bought the mural for the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles. (The museum said it wouldn’t comment on speculation about acquisitions.) Another would have seen the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art take possession of the mural but leave it as an adjoining room on campus.

However, a museum spokeswoman said nothing came from early discussions. “We have no plans to acquire or rent the SFAI mural,” said Jill Lynch, communications officer for SFMOMA, to the New York Times.

The school’s Chestnut Street campus has been a landmark since 1977, but it was possible that the mural could be sold as part of the interior or removed.

In recent days, former students and faculty members have organized to oppose a sale of the mural. This included the famous artist Catherine Opie, who published an open letter condemning the actions of the school board and announcing the withdrawal of a photo she was planning to sell in a fundraiser for the institute.

“I can no longer be part of a legacy that sells an essential unique piece of history,” she wrote.

After hearing that the mural would likely receive landmark status, Ms. Opie breathed a sigh of relief.

“I’m thrilled and relieved,” she told the Times. “I’m tired of seeing art being used as a first line of defense asset for institutions.”