Month: April 2022

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – An Australian man has been sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison for killing a Singaporean man and injuring his wife by throwing a bottle of liquor at them on Friday, a court has said.

Andrew Gosling threw an empty bottle of wine at an ethnic Malay Muslim dinner on the second floor of his apartment in August 2019, hitting Nasiri Suni on the head. He grabbed the bottle and hit his wife on the shoulder. Nasiari, a 73-year-old delivery driver, suffered severe head injuries and died the next morning.

Gosling pleaded guilty in February to two counts of murder and injury.

Judge Victor Yoo Khe Ying said Gosling displayed a “high degree of agility” and ignored the safety of the team when he threw the bottle. His drinking may harm his judgment but not to the extent of creating a restless mind, the judge said.

Gosling shouted religiously accused obscenity after throwing the bottle and the prosecution showed religious hostility to his actions. The judge agreed and said that enduring criminal acts like Gosling would undermine Singapore’s ethnic and religious harmony. Muslims make up about 15% of Singapore’s 6 million multinational population.

The judge added that the punishment should be a deterrent so that people could not throw dangerous objects from high ground in a country where many people live.

The judge said he considered that Gosling was remorseful, turned himself in, pleaded guilty and voluntarily paid some compensation to the family.

He sentenced Gosling to four years in prison for killing Nasiari and 18 months for injuring Nasiari’s wife. These convictions will continue from the day he surrendered in 2019.

Nasiri’s wife, Monissah Sitri, declined to comment. “It’s fate,” he was quoted as saying by Channel News Asia. Her son also said: “It’s hard to forgive, only time will heal it.”

Gosling was in Singapore for just one month before the incident. He told police he thought of using a weapon like a gun but decided it was a “heinous act.” He then finds the liquor bottle in a trash can and throws it from the seventh floor to the party attending a housewarming party.

Gosling surrendered to police 10 days later. He told police he threw the bottle to “surprise” the group because he was angry at the Islamic militant attacks on the Indonesian island of Bali in 2002 and Melbourne in 2018 that killed Australians.

Four members of the United States Secret Service, a member who was in the defense of First Lady Jill Biden, were fired after receiving gifts from two men accused of being involved and pretending to be Homeland Security Investigation Agents.

The two men, Aryan Taherzadeh and Haider Ali, have been accused of disguising federal law enforcement officers and allegedly gifting members of the Secret Service যেমন 40,000 worth of rent-free apartments, surveillance systems, a drone, law enforcement equipment and more. , Court documents. Says

“All staff involved are on administrative leave and have limited access to the Secret Service facilities, equipment and systems. The Secret Service adheres to the highest level of professional standards and conduct and will remain in active coordination with the Department of Justice and Homeland Security.” Service.

According to court documents released Wednesday night, Taherzadeh and Ali have been accused of posing as “special police”, claiming to be involved in “undercover gang-related investigations as well as conducting investigations into violence in the US capital.”

Taherzadeh went so far as to show a person identified as “Witness 1” in court documents as an “HSI case file” that they were “working” to be identified as “confidential”. They even went as far as the identical Chevy Tahoes fitted with police lights.

“Taherzadeh told Witness 1 that as part of the recruitment process, Taherzadeh should be shot with an air rifle to assess the response and pain tolerance of witness 1. According to witness 1, because he believed it was a DHS / HSI recruitment process, he He agreed to shoot, and later Taherzadeh shot him. Ali was present during the shooting. “

Another witness interviewed in court documents, and in the description of the first woman, Taherzadeh said he was in a “secret task force” and that he provided many benefits to members of law enforcement agencies. He also offered to give an AR-style rifle to a witness who did not want to be named.

In addition, Taherzadeh told the anonymous Secret Service agent in the First Lady’s details that the agency had the gun that the witness had.

Taherzadeh brought a Glock 19 Generation 5 to a legal tactical holster in Witness 2’s apartment. Want to give a holster ৷ still in possession of this holster. “

Another witness, whose name has not been released, allegedly saw the fraudulent section of the certificate at the Homeland Security Computer and Federal Training Center in Taherzadeh.

The men told residents of the Navy Yard apartment complex where they lived that they were renting apartments provided by DHS and set up a surveillance system around the apartment complex where residents could access it at any time from their mobile devices.

“These residents say they believe that Taherzadeh and Ali had access to the personal information of all the residents of the apartment complex.”

An eyewitness believes the two men had access codes throughout the building because of their pretense to be law enforcement.

Taherzadeh allegedly went to another DHS employee who worked for HSI. However, when the employee searched for him in the database, he was not found.

The investigation began when the suspects witnessed an attack involving a letter bearer and postal inspection agents.

The USPIS inspector passed the information to the DHS Office of the Inspector General, who later referred the information to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for further investigation. As stated in the document.

The names of the sacked Secret Service members have not been released. The court documents did not say when the alleged interaction took place.

WASHINGTON – The United States, the United Kingdom and Australia announced on Tuesday that they would work together to develop a hypersonic missile through a newly formed security alliance known as the AUKUS.

The move comes amid growing concerns from the United States and its allies over China’s growing military presence in the Pacific. The plan was announced after US President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison checked in on the progress of the Indo-Pacific Alliance AUKUS launched by the three countries in September.

The leaders said in a joint statement that they were “committed to launching new trilateral cooperation today on hypersonics and counter-hypersonics and electronic warfare capabilities, as well as expanding information sharing and deepening cooperation in defense innovation.”

The United States, Russia, and China have all focused on developing a hypersonic missile – a system so fast that it cannot be stopped by the current missile defense system.

In October, General Mark Millie, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, confirmed that China had tested a hypersonic weapons system as part of an aggressive effort to advance space and military technology.

In an interview with Bloomberg Television, Millie described the Chinese test as “a very important event in the testing of hypersonic weapons systems and a matter of grave concern.”

Russia has used “multiple” hypersonic missiles in Ukraine, according to the top US commander in Europe.

Last fall, as US intelligence officials became concerned about the growing number of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border, Russian President Vladimir Putin called on the country’s arms manufacturers to develop more advanced hypersonic missiles to keep the country afloat in military technology.

The Russian military says its avant-garde system is capable of flying 27 times faster than the speed of sound and can devise sharp tactics on the way to target targets to evade enemy missile shields. It replaces the old type of warhead with existing Soviet-built intercontinental ballistic missiles, and the first unit equipped with an avant-garde entered operation in December 2019.

According to Russian officials, the Kinzhal, carried by MiG-31 fighter jets, has a range of 2,000 kilometers (about 1,250 miles) and flies at 10 times the speed of sound.

The Pentagon’s 2023 budget request already includes $ 4.7 billion for research and development of hypersonic weapons. It includes plans to field a hypersonic missile battery by next year, a sea-based missile by 2025 and an air-based cruise missile by 2027.

Biden, Johnson and Morrison billed AUKUS as an opportunity to create a larger share of the defense capabilities. As their first major step, the alliance said it would help equip Australia with nuclear-powered submarines.

Morrison said the development of the hypersonic missile, which was published two years ago in line with Australia’s strategic plan, was to increase the military’s long-range strike capability.

“The ultimate goal is to get that capability as quickly as possible and make sure it’s in the best form we can work with our partners,” Morrison told reporters.

Australian Defense Minister Peter Dutton had earlier announced plans to spend 2. 2.6 billion to acquire long-range strike missiles for warplanes and warships amid growing threats from Russia and China.

A draft security agreement between the Solomon Islands and China has raised concerns about a possible Chinese naval presence 1,200 miles off the northeast Australian coast. The Solomon Islands government has said it will not allow China to build a military base there, and China has denied having a military presence on the islands.

A

Robert Burns, Associated Press writer from Canberra, Australia, Lolita C. Baldor and Rod McGuire contributed to this report.

NEW YORK – When a detachment of former and current warehouse workers on Staten Island, New York, faced Amazon in a union election, many compared it to a battle between David and Goliath.

David won. And Friday’s catastrophic crash came as a surprise to organizers and activist supporters who realized victory for the fledgling Amazon Labor Union when many more established labor groups failed in front of them, most recently Bessemer, Alabama.

Preliminary results from that election show that the retail, wholesale and department store unions fell by 118 votes, with most Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer rejecting the bid to form a union. The final results are still in the air with 416 outstanding challenging ballots hanging in the balance. A hearing to review the ballot is expected to begin in the coming weeks.

Chris Smalls, a laid-back Amazon employee who heads ALU, has criticized RWDSU’s campaign, saying it does not have enough local support. Instead, he chose an independent path, believing that workers would be more effective at organizing themselves and downplaying Amazon’s description that “third party” groups were pursuing union efforts.

“They’re not considered outsiders, so it’s important,” said Ruth Milkman, a sociologist in the labor and labor movement at New York City University.

Although disagreements piled up against both union drives, where organizers confronted a deep-pocket retailer with an uninterrupted track record to keep unions away from its U.S. activities, ALU was significantly less funded and less staffed than RWDSU. Smalls said that as of early March, ALU had collected and spent about $ 100,000 and was working on a week-to-week budget. The group did not have its own office space, and relied on community groups and two unions to help. Legal aid comes from a lawyer who provides pro-bono assistance.

Meanwhile, Amazon has used all its strength to thwart organizational efforts, forcing unions to hold regular mandatory meetings with workers to argue why it is a bad idea. In a filing released last week, the company revealed that it spent about $ 4.2 million last year on labor consultants who, organizers say, hired Amazon workers to persuade them not to unionize.

Unmatched financially, Smalls and others create TikTok videos, offer free marijuana, and rely on their ability to reach out to employees more personally through barbecues and cookouts. A few weeks before the election, the younger aunt prepared a soul meal for a Union Patlak, which included macaroni and cheese, collard greens, ham and baked chicken. Another pro-union activist brought his neighbor to prepare jolof rice, a West African food organizer believed would help them enter their warehouse with migrant workers.

Kate Andreas, a law professor at Columbia University and an expert in labor law, noted that a successful union – whether local or national – must always be built by the workers themselves.

“It was a clear example of that,” Andreas said. “The workers did it themselves.”

Amazon’s own missteps could contribute to Staten Island’s election results. Bert Flickinger III, managing director of the consulting firm Strategic Resources Group, said derogatory remarks by a company executive leaked from an internal meeting that sought to make Smalls “smart or outspoken” and “the face of the whole union / organized movement.” “Counter fire

“It came out as reprehensible and helped shake up the workers,” said Flickinger, who consults with major trade unions.

In another instance, Smalls and two organizers were arrested in February after being charged with trespassing on a Staten Island warehouse. Just days before the union election, the ALU used the arrests to their advantage, teaming up with an art collector to project “they arrested your colleague” in white letters above the warehouse. “They fired someone you know,” another projection said.

“A lot of the workers who were on tour or even against the union were upset because of the situation,” Smalls said.

Experts believe that compared to RWDSU, it is difficult to know how much the grassroots nature of ALU contributed to its victory. In contrast to New York, Alabama is a labor rights state that prohibits a company and a union from signing a contract for which workers have to pay arrears to the union representing them.

Bessemer also had a grassroots element of Union Drive, which began when Amazon contacted RWDSU about organizing a team of workers there.

In a virtual press conference hosted by RWDSU on Thursday after the preliminary results in Alabama, President Stuart Appelbaum said he believed the New York election benefited because it was held in a union-friendly state and that Amazon workers on Staten Island voted in person, not. As was done in Alabama by mail.

Despite some friction over election leadership, there has been a friendly rapprochement between the two labor groups over the past few days, Applebam praised Smalls at Thursday’s news conference, calling him a “charismatic, smart, dedicated leader.” Similarly, Smalls offered words of encouragement to RWDSU after their initial electoral defeat.

For now, ALU is focused on its victory. Organizers say Amazon employees from more than 20 states have reached out to them to ask about organizing their warehouses. But they have their hands full with their own warehouses, and a neighboring facility is set to elect a separate union later this month.

Organizers are also preparing for a challenging negotiation process for a labor contract The group has demanded that Amazon officials come to the table in early May. But experts say the retail giants, who have hinted at plans to challenge the election results, are likely to drag their feet.

“The number one thing is going to be fighting for a deal,” Smalls said. “We need to start that process now because we know that as long as the contract lasts, workers will lose hope and interest.”

Meanwhile, some workers are waiting to see what happens.

Tinia Greenway, a warehouse worker in Brooklyn, said she felt pressured by the messages she heard from both Amazon and ALU organizers before the election and simply wanted to make her own decision. When the time comes, he votes against the union because he has had bad experiences with another union in the past that he says did not fight for him.

“They won,” he said of ALU. “So let’s see if they survive the deal they’re going to do.”

A

Follow Hallelujah Hadero: http://twitter.com/masayett

Follow Anne D’Innocenzio: http://twitter.com/ADInnocenzio

Hunter Biden is apparently spending his father’s presidency living a luxurious life in Malibu – and so is his taxpayer-funded security account.

Details of the Secret Service to protect the president’s controversial son have been paying more than $ 30,000 a month to rent an extraordinary Malibu palace in California for nearly a year, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

The agency responsible for protecting the president and his family – among other ranking government officials – has selected the property to be located as close as possible to Biden’s own rented mansion where he is paying about $ 20,000 a month according to the property list, sources told ABC News.

Retired senior Secret Service agent Don Mihalek, now a contributor to ABC News, says the arrangement is “the cost of doing business for the Secret Service,” adding that under federal law, the agency has a mandatory defense responsibility for the president, first the family, and anyone else. Nominated by the President for protection.

“Typically, wherever a security guard sets up their residence, the Secret Service is forced to find somewhere to rent near market prices,” Mihalek said, adding that the agency is also renting property to protect President Joe Biden’s residences in Wilmington and Rehoboth Beach. , Delaware.

“It’s not new,” Mihalek said. “The service has had to do this in past administrations, and unfortunately, the housing market has pushed up prices significantly at the moment.”

A White House official referred ABC News to the Secret Service for comment. When asked about the cost of security, a Secret Service representative simply said: “Because of the need to maintain operational security, the US Secret Service does not comment on the methods, procedures or resources used to conduct our defense operations.”

A spokesman for Hunter Biden declined to comment on ABC News’ request for comment.

Hunter Biden’s California lifestyle is coming into focus just as his federal investigation into the tax has intensified, sources familiar with the matter recently told ABC News.

A growing number of witnesses have appeared before a grand jury in Wilmington, Delaware in recent months, sources said, and were asked about the payments Hunter Biden received while serving on the board of the Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma. In other questions about how Biden has paid his tax liabilities in recent years.

Hunter Biden told ABC News anchor Amy Robach in October 2019 about her role on the Burismar board and the impact of her foreign business dealings on her father’s political career. . “Do I think it was a weak verdict because I don’t believe it now, when I look back at it – I know it was there – nothing went wrong. Anyway, was it a weak verdict in the middle? Something that … A wetland – in – many ways? Yes. “

When Joe Biden was elected Democratic president in June 2020, Biden, along with other members of the Biden family, began receiving 24-hour protection from the Secret Service. The family was given a stronger protection when they grew up. Biden won the presidency, which is customary for all members of the president’s family.

In Malibu, Hunter Biden’s excavations include a four-bedroom, three-bathroom “resort-style” house with an open floor plan, arched high ceilings, a chef’s kitchen and French doors, according to a description of its property list. According to the list, the palace has a “spacious park-like courtyard” with a pool, a spa, a built-in barbecue bar and Alfresco dining.

The property is located on 0.7 acres of land on a hill, and the 180-degree panoramic sea view is proud to be “discussed”, the list said.

The side door where sources say Biden’s team of Secret Service agents is living and working.

The Spanish-style estate rented by the Secret Service sits on a 0.7-acre site off the coast of Malibu and has a list of “excellent sea views”.

Six bedrooms, six bathrooms, a gym, a testing room, a built-in barbecue, a pool, a spa and a spiral staircase leading to the “castle-like tower at the master retreat with wet bars.” The luxury mansion boasts of “the best lifestyle in resort style” and lists it as “a perfect retreat for discerning clients.”

The cost of protecting the first families has raised eyebrows in the past.

In the first year of Donald Trump’s presidency, the Secret Service requested $ 60 million in additional funding to protect Trump and his family, with about $ 27 million going to protect their private homes in the Trump Tower in New York City, according to internal agency documents obtained by the Washington Post at the time.

During Trump’s entire presidency, his family business came under fire for charging for space on various Trump properties used by agents to protect Trump and his family members around the world to bring in revenue from the Secret Service.

It is difficult to estimate the total amount the Secret Service has paid for Trump’s family business so far, but according to an analysis by the Washington Post, records released so far show that the Secret Service has spent at least 1.2 million. While protecting the Trump family, various Trump properties range from $ 650 per night for a room at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club to $ 17,000 a month for a cottage at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster in New Jersey.

Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., and the numerous foreign business trips taken by Eric Trump also came under scrutiny for spending several thousand dollars each time on the Secret Service during Trump’s presidency, records show. And for security details to protect Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, taxpayers spend $ 3,000 a month to rent a studio apartment from the couple’s home in Washington, D.C., throughout Trump’s presidency, sources confirmed to ABC News at the time.

During Obama’s presidency, President Barack Obama’s two daughters lived in the White House, and the president himself visited his private residence in Chicago only a few times – but his family regularly visited the Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts and paid family visits to Honolulu. During Christmas, the Secret Service spends millions of dollars every time.

The Secret Service spent 2. 2.7 million on a trip to Marthas Vineyard in August 2016, including $ 2.5 million in hotels and $ 90,000 in rental cars, when the family had their final Christmas, according to a record of spending obtained by right-leaning watchdog group Judicial Watch. The agency spent $ 1.9 million on Honolulu travel in late 2016, including $ 1.8 million in hotels.

In 2014, 2015 and 2016, First Lady Michelle Obama’s trip to Aspen cost the Secret Service taxpayer more than $ 319,000, of which about $ 166,000 was received from the 2016 trip, a record obtained by the group show.

And Joe Biden, as vice president during Obama’s presidency, raised $ 2,200 a month to pay the Secret Service by renting a cottage on his Delaware property for agents to protect him, according to past media reports and federal spending records.

Sometimes in the high costs associated with protecting members of the president’s family, Mihalek said, “I think it’s all relative.”

“Hunters are out in Malibu, which is not a low-cost area,” Mihalek said “And Trump’s kids, too, don’t live in low-cost areas.”

Mihalek said that in order for the Secret Service to function effectively, their security guards must have a command post – even if it costs more.

“There can’t be a command post in the city next to the Secret Service,” he said. “It won’t do them any good.”

Craig Holman, a public affairs lobbyist at Progressive Good-Governance Group Public Citizen, told ABC News that secret service security is essential for the president and the president’s family – but they must recognize that the agency has its own protection and assistance by reducing unnecessary travel or their own. Reduce taxpayer costs by sharing property for free.

“Their house should have been opened to Ivanka and Jared’s Secret Service, as Hunter Biden should have done at his Malibur residence,” Hallman said.

“Hunter needs to recognize the sheer cost of his own security in the exclusive Malibu neighborhood and cooperate with the Secret Service to reduce costs,” Holman said. “Renting a house in Malibu next to Hunter costs $ 30,000 a month for the Secret Service is an unwelcome burden for taxpayers, all for the personal benefit of Hunter Biden. Hunter should realize this and compromise his security details in his own home.”

SEOUL, South Korea – The influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called South Korea’s defense minister a “scandalous man” for talking about a prearranged attack in the North, warning Sunday that the South could “pose a serious threat.”

Kim Yoo-jung’s statement comes amid intense tensions between rival Korea over its northern weapons test this year, including the launch of the first intercontinental ballistic missile in more than four years. Some experts say his statement could indicate that North Korea will soon conduct more significant weapons tests and take a tougher stance against South Korea.

The March 24 ICBM test, which broke a four-year moratorium on North Korea’s major weapons test, was an embarrassment for South Korean liberal President Moon Jae-in, who has worked hard to reach a broader agreement between the two countries and find a peaceful solution to the North. Korea’s nuclear crisis.

During a visit to the country’s Strategic Missile Command on Friday, South Korean Defense Minister Suu Kyi said that South Korea has the capability and preparedness to launch a subtle attack on North Korea if it wants to launch a missile at North Korea. Seoul has long pursued such offensive tactics to counter North Korea’s growing missile and nuclear threat, but it was highly unusual for a senior official in Seoul to discuss the matter publicly under the Moon’s administration.

On Sunday, Kim’s sister, Kim Yoo-jung, delivered explosive speeches aimed at threatening Suh and Seoul.

Kim Yoo-jung said in a statement to state media, “The ignorant and dirty man dares to refer to a ‘pre-strike’ in the state of nuclear weapons. “South Korea could face serious threats due to the reckless remarks of its defense minister.”

“South Korea must discipline itself if it wants to prevent a catastrophe,” he said.

Kim Yoo-jung, a senior official with the ruling Workers’ Party in the north, is in charge of relations with Seoul and Washington. South Korea’s intelligence service says he is the No. 2 officer in the North behind his brother.

Workers’ Party Central Committee Secretary Pak Jung Chon separately warned that “any slight misconception and bad rhetoric that disturbs the other side in the current situation” could trigger a “dangerous conflict and a full-blown war.”

Pak has said that if South Korea launches a pre-emptive strike on North Korea, North Korea will “mercilessly order the military to destroy Seoul and the main targets of the South Korean military.”

Relations between the two Koreas developed briefly in 2018 after North Korea abruptly reached out to South Korea and the United States and expressed a desire to keep its nuclear program on the negotiating table. At that time, Kim Yoo Jung traveled to South Korea to attend the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics, and Moon invited his brother to visit the North. Kim Jong Un and Moon finally met three times in 2018.

But North Korea turned its cold shoulder to the moon and severed ties with South Korea in 2019 after a wide-ranging nuclear diplomacy with the United States broke down over a dispute with North Korea over US-led economic sanctions.

“Kim Yoo-jung’s remarks foreshadow another important military test,” said Leif-Eric Izli, a professor at Ewa University in Seoul. “The way Moscow and Beijing try to enlighten the world that Russia’s attack on Ukraine is partly NATO’s fault, Pyongyang will blame the US-South Korea alliance for its nuclear and missile advances.”

Cheong Seong-chang, an analyst at the private Sejong Institute in South Korea, said North Korea’s North Korean statements indicated it would take tough action against South Korea. He said Pyongyang was sensitive to Seoul’s predetermined offensive capabilities because it lacked military resources and the ability to anticipate South Korean attacks.

But Cheung is concerned that Seoul’s public comments about the planned strike would strengthen the voices of Pyongyang’s hardline officials and increase tensions within Korea.

Moon’s single five-year term will end in May, when he will be replaced by the conservative Eun Sook Yol, who openly discussed offensive tactics against North Korea during his campaign. His liberal rivals criticized him for unnecessarily provoking North Korea, but Eun said he would follow a policy approach to Pyongyang.

The United States has called on North Korea to return to talks without preconditions, but North Korea has rejected such an onslaught, saying the United States must first relinquish its hostility to it. As the diplomatic standoff with Washington continues, Kim Jong Un has repeatedly promised to expand his nuclear arsenal.

Some experts say the North’s recent missile tests were aimed at perfecting its weapons technology, enhancing its advantage in future negotiations with the United States and securing a stronger internal allegiance. They say North Korea could soon launch another ICBM, launch a satellite-carrying rocket or test a nuclear device next week.

WASHINGTON – Former President Donald Trump was acquitted by the Senate last year on charges of inciting a capitalist uprising. But neither Trump nor any of his top advisers have faced charges of assaulting the court of law, and it is uncertain if they will ever do so.

But increasingly, lawmakers in the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack are pressuring Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate Trump and his associates. They have raised the possibility of criminal charges being filed in at least one court and openly discussing others, all related to the violent attacks of that day by Trump supporters seeking to disrupt the official credentials of Congress in his re-election defeat.

Here are some of the crimes proposed by the House panel:

Criminal conspiracy to deceive the United States

After several months of exposing potential offenders, panel lawmakers put it on paper for the first time in a March court filing. The filing was in response to a lawsuit filed by John Eastman, a lawyer and law professor who consulted with Trump while trying to cancel the election and who tried to withhold documents from the committee.

The committee argued that there was evidence to support the notion that Trump, Eastman and other former president’s allies had “entered into an agreement to deceive the United States.” The panel said Trump and his associates interfered in the election certification process, spread false information about electoral fraud and pressured state and federal officials to assist in that effort.

Obstruction of an official procedure

Late last month, U.S. District Court Judge David Carter was somewhat influenced by the panel’s arguments. In order to order Eastman to return the materials, Carter wrote that the court “found President Trump more likely than not to try to obstruct the joint session of Congress on January 6, 2021.”

In the filing, the committee argued that Trump either attempted or succeeded in obstructing, influencing, or obstructing the January 6 formal process, and while presiding over the session, “corrupted” Vice President Mike Pence by pressuring him to reverse the results. Pence refuses to do so.

“President Trump and members of his campaign knew he did not receive enough legitimate state election votes to declare the winner of the 2020 presidential election in the joint session of Congress on January 6, but the president tried to use the vice president to manipulate it. The results were in his favor,” the committee wrote. .

General law fraud

The committee also raised allegations of “general law fraud” or misrepresentation of information. Trump launched a wide-ranging campaign to convince the public and federal judges that the 2020 election was rigged and that he won, not Biden, but the results of the Electoral College. Electoral officials and courts across the country, including Trump’s attorney general, have rejected the claims.

As an example of such fraud, the committee noted in the Eastman filing that a Justice Department official told Trump directly that a Facebook video posted by his campaign “to show Georgia officials dragging ballot suitcases from under the table” was false, yet the campaign continued to run. Georgia officials have repeatedly denied the allegations.

The committee said in a statement that it had “relied on the allegations in an attempt to overturn the results of the presidential election.”

Neglect of duty

Although they did not disclose this in the Eastman filing, House panel leaders suggested earlier this year that they believe Trump may be responsible for “negligence of duty” or even inaction because his supporters violently smashed windows and doors. US Capital.

Rep. Benny Thompson, de-Miss., Chairman of the committee, said in January that “the damage I see is that the president of the United States was sent to the capital by people who saw him under siege and did nothing সময়ের during that time.”

Vice Chairman of the Committee, Ripa. Liz Cheney, R-Wyming, noted the same month that the panel knew from “first evidence” that Trump had seen the attack on television. “We know he did not walk too far into the White House briefing room, immediately came to the camera and told people to stop and go home,” he said.

Cheney said it was harder to “imagine a more significant and more serious neglect of duty” than Trump’s failure to quell the insurgency.

Financial crime

Although the committee did not disclose specific details, it did set up an internal task force to investigate funding for the massive rally at the National Mall on the morning of January 6 and any donors who could support transportation or other costs that might help. Violence

Asked by CNN earlier this year if they had any evidence of financial fraud, Thompson said committee members “have some concerns, but we have not disclosed those concerns at this time.”

“We think it’s extremely worrying on our part that people have raised money for an activity, and we can’t find money to spend on that particular activity,” Thompson said. “So, we will continue to see it. And financing is one of the things we’re going to look at very closely. “

Uncertainty ahead

More than 775 rioters have been arrested for mutiny. Yet the legal consequences were elusive for Trump and other top officials who lied about electoral fraud and laid the groundwork for their actions.

Congress has no jurisdiction to prosecute, but so-called criminals can send referrals to the judiciary. Mala can then decide whether to act.

The judiciary will stay away from confirming the action. And it is uncertain whether any charges against the repeatedly investigated president will stand up in court. It could be difficult for prosecutors to make a winning case against Trump.

The president called a large crowd of his supporters that morning and returned to the White House to watch them enter the Capitol on television. The rioters beat the police, chased lawmakers and intercepted President Joe Biden’s credentials.

With Moscow’s forces trapped in Ukraine, many young Russians of the draft age are increasingly concerned about the possibility of sending them to war. These fears are particularly sharpened by the joining of an annual spring that begins on Friday and aims to round up 134,500 men for a one-year military duty tour.

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu promised at a meeting of the military brass this week that new recruits would not be sent to the front line or “hot spot”.

But the statement met with skepticism from many in Russia who recall the separatist war in the southern republic of Chechnya in the 1990s and early 2000s, when thousands of poorly trained young men were killed.

“I do not trust them when they say they will not send personnel to the war. They lie all the time, “said Vladislav, a 22-year-old man who is finishing his studies and fears he may face the draft soon after graduation. He pleaded not to use his last name for fear of retaliation.

All Russian men aged 18-27 must serve in the military for one year, but a large number avoid drafts for health reasons or for delays granted to university students. The proportion of men who avoided the draft is large, especially in Moscow and other large cities.

Even President Vladimir Putin and his officials say many of the detainees appear to have been detained in the early days of what Russian officials called “special military operations in Ukraine.” Videos of Russian captives from Ukraine have surfaced, some have been shown calling their parents and posted on social media.

The mother of one of the detainees said she recognized her 20-year-old draft son in a video even though he was shown blindfolded.

“I recognized her by her lips, by her chin. You know, I could recognize her by her fingers,” said the woman, who for security reasons only identified her by her first name, Leubov. “I breast-fed her.” I raised him. “

The Defense Ministry was forced to back down from its statement, acknowledging that some personnel had been “accidentally” sent to Ukraine and detained while serving with a supply unit far from the front.

There are allegations that before the attack, some personnel were forced to sign military contracts that allowed them to go to war – a duty usually reserved for volunteers in the military. Some captive soldiers said their commanding officers said they were going to a military exercise but suddenly saw them fighting in Ukraine.

In early March, Lyudmila Narusova, a member of the upper house of the Russian parliament, spoke of a company of 100 men who were forced to sign such an agreement and sent to the war zone – and only four survived. Military officials did not comment on the allegations.

St. Petersburg Human Rights Commissioner Svetlana Agapitova said Wednesday that relatives of the seven soldiers had written to her alleging that the men had been forced to sign the treaty and sent to Ukraine against their will. He said two of them had already been repatriated to Russia.

In recent years, the Kremlin’s volunteer agreement has focused on increasing troop numbers as it seeks to modernize the military and improve its readiness. The 1 million force now has 400,000 contract troops, including 147,000 infantry. If the war continues, these numbers may be insufficient to sustain the operation.

The Kremlin may eventually face a choice: continue fighting with a limited number of troops and visit offensive stalls, or try to replenish ranks with a broad draft and create the risk of public outrage that could increase anti-draft sentiment and destabilize the political situation. One such incident occurred during the war in Chechnya.

Dimitri, a 25-year-old IT specialist, has given a moratorium that should keep him out of the draft due to treatment. But he is still as nervous as many others, fearing that the authorities may abruptly waive some delays in order to strengthen the military.

“I hate war. I think it’s a complete disaster, “said Dmitry, who asked not to be identified by last name for fear of retaliation.” I fear the government may change the rules and I may face a draft. If not, then why should I believe what they say about the draft?

The proposed law would simplify the draft by allowing military recruiters to make concept calls more easily, but the bill is currently on hold.

Nevertheless, it has raised public concern.

Alexei Tabalov, a lawyer who advises hiring, said the medical panel at the hiring office often admits young people who should be fired because of their illness. Now, he adds, their attitudes could be tougher.

“It’s very likely that doctors would close their eyes to their illness and declare them fit for military service,” Tabalov said.

In addition to lowering the standard of treatment for drafts, there are fears that the government may try to impose some martial law that would bar Russian men from leaving the country and force them to fight, as in Ukraine.

“We’ve got a lot of calls from people who are afraid to gather,” Tabalov said. “People are afraid of everything in this situation. No one has ever thought of the need to analyze the organizing law. ”

The Kremlin has vehemently rejected any such plan, and military officials have insisted that the army has enough contracted troops to serve in Ukraine. Still, many Russians are skeptical of officials’ denials based on their track record.

“What kind of belief could there be if Putin one day says that the concept will not be sent there … and then the Ministry of Defense admits that they were there?” Tabalov asked.

An existing law allows 21 months of alternative civil service in hospitals, nursing homes and other facilities for those who consider military responsibility to be consistent with their beliefs, but military recruitment offices often largely ignore such service requests.

Since the war began, Tabalov said his team has seen a huge increase in inquiries into alternative service laws, which are vaguely phrased and allow military officers to easily reject applications.

“We are concerned that in the current military climate, military recruitment offices may take a tougher stance and reject applications for alternative civil services,” he said.

A

Follow the War AP coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

SEOUL, South Korea – Two South Korean Air Force planes collided in mid-air during training Friday and crashed into a mountain in the southeastern city of Sacheon, killing three people and injuring one, emergency officials said.

Officials, citing department rules, said on condition of anonymity that they had not received any reports of civilian casualties or damage to the ground.

Three helicopters, 20 vehicles and dozens of emergency workers were dispatched to the scene, officials said.

The Air Force has confirmed the collision of two KT-1 instructor aircraft. However, the Air Force said in a statement that it was trying to confirm the reported casualties and whether the pilots tried to get out safely. It is said that the KT-100 aircraft is a two-seater aircraft.

The cause of the collision was not immediately known.

Friday’s incident comes months after a South Korean Air Force pilot died in January when his F-5E fighter jet crashed into a mountain in the town of Hawaseong, south of the capital Seoul.

South Korea has about 560,000 troops under a deployment system to help prevent a possible North Korean aggression, with about 1.3 million troops, one of the largest in the world. About 28,500 American troops are stationed in South Korea, the legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended with a ceasefire, not a peace treaty.

Wilfred Tebah does not call on the United States to provide quick humanitarian protection to Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s devastating invasion of their homeland.

But the 27-year-old, who fled Cameroon during the ongoing conflict, can’t help but wonder what would happen if the millions of people fleeing the Eastern European country were of a different color.

As the United States prepares to welcome the thousands of Ukrainians fleeing the war, the country continues to repatriate many African and Caribbean refugees to unstable and violent homeland where they have faced rape, torture, arbitrary arrest and other forms of torture.

“They don’t care about a black man,” Columbus, a Ohio resident, told U.S. politicians. “The difference is really obvious. They know what’s going on there, and they’ve decided to close their eyes and ears.”

Tebab’s concerns echo this protest against the rapid expulsion of Haitian refugees across the border without a chance to take refuge this summer, with African and Middle Eastern refugees fleeing to Western Europe rather than the way African and Middle Eastern refugees have embraced displaced Ethiopians.

In March, when President Joe Biden welcomed 100,000 Ukrainian refugees, granted temporary protection to another 30,000 already in the United States and suspended Ukrainian deportation, two Democratic lawmakers called for similar humanitarian considerations for Haitians.

“There is every reason to extend the same level of sympathy,” Aina Presley, the US envoy to Massachusetts, and the Monder Jones administration in New York wrote to the administration. President of Haiti and a strong earthquake this summer.

Protesting in front of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorcas’ Washington residence and the office of leading members of Congress this month, Cameroonian lawyers similarly called for humanitarian relief.

Their call comes as thousands of people have been displaced in Cameroon in recent years due to the country’s civil war between its French-speaking government and English-speaking separatists, attacks by the terrorist group Boko Haram and other regional conflicts.

Advocacy group Human Rights Watch, in a February report, found that many Cameroonians deported from the United States had been subjected to harassment and human rights abuses since their return.

Tebah, a leading member of the Cameroon American Council, an advocacy group that organized the protests this month, said it was a fate he hoped to avoid.

Coming from the English-speaking northwest of the country, he said he was identified as a separatist and was arrested by the government for his activism as a college student. Tebah said he was able to escape, as many Cameroonians flew to Latin America, trekking overland on the US-Mexico border and applying for asylum in 2019.

“I will be kept in prison, I will be tortured and even killed if I am deported,” he said. “I am very scared. My life as a human being is also important.”

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees TPS and other humanitarian programs, declined to comment on allegations of racism in American immigration policy. It also declined to say whether it cares about paying TPS to Cameroonians or other African nationals, only saying in a written statement that it would “continue to monitor the situation in various countries.”

The agency noted, however, that it recently issued TPS titles for Haiti, Somalia, Sudan and South Sudan – all African or Caribbean countries – as well as for the more than 75,000 Afghans living in the United States since the Taliban took over the Central Asian country. . Haitians are the largest and long-term beneficiaries of TPS, currently in a position of over 40,000.

Other TPS countries include Burma, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen, and most of the approximately 320,000 migrants come from El Salvador.

Lisa Paricio, who helped Catholics in the fight against racism in immigration, argues that the program could easily help protect millions of other refugees fleeing danger, but has historically been underused and over-politicized.

The TPS, which issues a work permit and stops deportations for up to 18 months, does not limit the number of countries or people it can hold, said Parisio, who is the advocacy director for the Catholic Legal Immigration Network.

Yet former President Donald Trump, in a broader effort to limit immigration, reduced the TPS, allowing titles to expire for Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea in West Africa.

Although programs like TPS provide significant protection for vulnerable refugees, they can be left in legal limbo year after year without access to citizenship, said Carla Morales, 24, of El Salvador, who has been at TPS almost all her life. .

“It’s unreasonable to consider 20 years temporary in this country,” said a nursing student at Boston University in Massachusetts. “We need legitimacy because the work we do is appreciated and our lives are valued.”

In the case of Ukraine in particular, Biden appears to be motivated by the goal of a broader foreign policy in Europe rather than racial bias, advises Maria Christina Garcia, a history professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, focusing on refugees and immigrants.

But Tom Wong, the founding director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Center at the University of California, San Diego, said racial discrimination could not be clearer.

“The United States has responded without hesitation, extending the humanitarian protection of mainly white and European refugees,” he said. “All the time, mainly people of color from Africa, the Middle East and Asia are becoming impoverished.”

In addition to Cameroon, immigration lawyers also argue that Congo and Ethiopia should qualify for humanitarian relief because of their ongoing conflict, as Mauritania should, since slavery is still practiced there.

And they allege that Ukrainian asylum seekers are being exempted from asylum limits to prevent the spread of Kovid-19 while people from other countries are being repatriated.

“Black pain and black pain don’t get the same attention,” said Sylvie Bello, founder of the DC-based Cameron American Council. “The same anti-blackness that pervades American life pervades American immigration policy.”

Vera Arnott, a Ukrainian from Boston who is considering seeking TPS, said she did not know much about special status and was not aware of the concerns of color immigrants until after the war began. But Berkeley College of Music Sophomore hopes the relief could be extended to other eligible countries.

Arnott says TPS can help him find a job off campus with a better salary so he doesn’t have to rely on his family’s support, as most of Ukraine has lost their jobs because of the war.

“As human beings, Ukrainians are not accustomed to relying on others,” he said. “We want to work. We don’t want welfare. “

For Tebah, who lives with relatives in Ohio, TPS will make it easier for him to find a better job while opening a bank account, obtaining a driver’s license and waiting for a decision on his asylum case.

“We will continue to beg, we will continue to beg,” Tebah said. “We are in danger. I want to emphasize that. And only for Cameroon will TPS help us out of that danger. It is very important.”

A

Patrick Orsagos, a video journalist with the Associated Press in Columbus, Ohio, contributed to the story.