Current Stories
Giant ship blocking Suez Canal is freed; incident on key trade route cost the global economy billions of dollars
Billions of dollars in trade have been lost each day from the grounding of the carrier, one of the largest container ships in the world. As of Monday morning, 367 vessels were trapped in a massive maritime traffic jam in the canal, according to Leth Agencies. Many other shipping companies opted to detour around the southern tip of Africa, adding a week or two to their journeys and driving up fuel costs.
By Monday afternoon, it remained unclear when waiting ships would be able to begin their own passage through the canal. Experts expect a new set of headaches as vessels that were held up in the Suez all arrive in ports at the same time and find they have no room to dock and unload their cargo.AD
The steep financial losses caused by the delays are also expected to cause a cascade of insurance claims, which could soon raise thorny questions about who should be held liable for the incident.
With the Ever Given freed and on the move, the spotlight is likely to shine on the ongoing investigation into how the vessel got stuck, leading to billions of dollars in losses globally. While strong winds during a dust storm are widely seen as a major factor, the Suez Canal Authority has said that human or technical errors cannot be ruled out.
After allowing buzzer-beater in regulation, UCLA dominates Alabama in OT to reach Elite Eight
By Emily GiambalvoMarch 28, 2021 at 10:28 p.m. EDTAdd to list
INDIANAPOLIS — UCLA barely climbed into the NCAA men’s basketball tournament field. The Bruins lost four straight games before arriving in Indianapolis. They needed overtime to survive the “First Four” round. But here they are, with that No. 11 seed plastered in front of their name, outdueling Alabama in overtime Sunday night to advance to the Elite Eight.
The Bruins were at their best during those extra five minutes, playing with coolness in the game’s decisive stretch to extend their unexpected postseason run with an 88-78 win over the second-seeded Crimson Tide in the Sweet 16.
“We knew that we had nothing to worry about,” Jaime Jaquez Jr., a sophomore who made two baskets in overtime, said with his hair wet from a water-flinging locker room celebration.
UCLA had already gone to overtime five times this season with mixed results, and that offered reassurance. It didn’t matter that the Tide entered the extra session at Hinkle Fieldhouse with the momentum after senior forward Alex Reese nailed a long three-pointer at the buzzer to force the extra period.
Alaska helicopter crash kills five, including one of Europe’s richest people
By Teo Armus, Loveday Morris and Lateshia BeachumMarch 29, 2021 at 9:37 a.m. EDTAdd to list
A helicopter crash in the Alaskan wilderness killed five people, including one of Europe’s richest residents, after the chopper went down on Saturday during a backcountry heli-skiing trip.
Among the victims was Petr Kellner, 56, who was the Czech Republic’s richest person and one of the 70 richest people in the world last year, according to Forbes.
The Alaska Department of Public Safety said rescuers over the weekend recovered the bodies of Kellner and four others: Benjamin Larochaix, 50, a resident of the Czech Republic; heli-skiing guides Greg Harms, 52, and Sean McManamy, 38; and Zachary Russell, 33, who was piloting the helicopter.
A sixth person, who has not been named as of late Sunday night local time, was in serious but stable condition and being treated at a hospital in the Anchorage area. A rescue team found no other survivors.AD
It is not immediately clear what caused the Airbus AS350 B3 helicopter to crash. Authorities said Alaska State Troopers were notified around 10 p.m. local time on Saturday about an overdue helicopter and possible crash debris near Knik Glacier, about 60 miles northeast of Anchorage.
China’s propaganda machine kicks into high gear over Xinjiang criticism
By Eva DouMarch 29, 2021 at 7:24 a.m. EDTAdd to list
SEOUL — Boycotts. Threats of lawsuits. Travel bans for scholars’ families.
Beijing is stepping up its pressure campaign on Western multinationals and academics who raised concern about ethnic oppression in China’s northwest Xinjiang region.
Xinjiang officials warned international companies in a news conference on Monday to be careful of blowback, after state media fanned calls to boycott H&M, Nike and other brands that have shied away from Xinjiang cotton because of elevated risk of forced labor in the region.
“When you swing the big stick of sanctions at Xinjiang companies, you will also hit yourself,” said Xu Guixiang, a spokesman for the Xinjiang region’s government. “We hope that more companies like H&M will keep their eyes open and distinguish right from wrong.”
China attacks foreign clothing, shoe brands over Xinjiang
Beijing has been seeking to control the domestic narrative over Xinjiang, flooding social media platforms for days with official media posts defending the work conditions there, calls to boycott Western fashion brands, and cartoons depicting pre-Civil War slavery in the U.S. South.
Delta faces boycott threats for stance on new Georgia voting law
By Hannah SampsonMarch 29 at 12:45 PM Add to list
Georgia’s new voting law, which puts barriers in place for absentee and mail-in voting and makes it illegal for third-party groups to hand out food and water to voters in line, has earned widespread criticism from Democrats and voting rights advocates. President Biden called it “Jim Crow in the 21st Century.”
Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines, on the other hand, put out a statement on Friday saying the bill — which was signed into law Thursday night — had “improved considerably during the legislative process” and noted some elements for praise.
That statement from CEO Ed Bastian has prompted a #BoycottDelta trend on social media.
“Do not fly Delta. Do not spend money with Delta. Boycott Delta. Ruin Delta,” political commentator Keith Olbermann wrote in a tweet while quoting the airline’s statement.
[Georgia governor signs into law sweeping voting bill]
A Delta post about flights to Iceland on Friday was inundated during the weekend with responses about the Georgia law. Some said they would be eager to fly to the country — on another airline. Others vowed not to fly anywhere with Delta again.
Feuds, fibs and finger-pointing: Trump officials say coronavirus response was worse than known
By Dan Diamond March 29, 2021 at 2:32 p.m. EDTAdd to list
Several top doctors in the Trump administration offered their most pointed and direct criticism of the government response to the coronavirus last year, with one of them arguing that hundreds of thousands of covid-19 deaths could have been prevented.
They also admitted their own missteps as part of a CNN special that aired Sunday night, saying that some Trump administration statements the White House fiercely defended last year were misleading or outright falsehoods.
“When we said there were millions of tests available, there weren’t, right?” said Brett Giroir, who served as the nation’s coronavirus testing czar, referencing the administration’s repeated claims in March 2020 that anyone who sought a coronavirus test could get one. “There were components of the test available, but not the full meal deal.”
White House dramatically increased tax proposal as it sought to address tensions over next big spending plan
By Jeff SteinMarch 29, 2021 at 10:48 a.m. EDTAdd to list
When President Biden’s team began putting together his infrastructure and jobs package this February, the White House National Economic Council circulated an internal proposal calling for about $3 trillion in new spending and $1 trillion in new tax hikes, according to three people with knowledge of the matter.
But soon enough, some members of the economic team second-guessed themselves, concerned that the plan could jeopardize the nation’s long-term financial stability. The officials worried that the large gap between spending and revenue would widen the deficit by such a large degree that it could risk triggering a spike in interest rates, which could in turn cause federal debt payments to skyrocket, said the people familiar with the matter.
Partially in response, the two-pronged package Biden will begin unveiling this week includes higher amounts of federal spending but also significantly more in new tax revenue — with possibly as much as $4 trillion in new spending and more than $3 trillion in tax increases, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private dynamics.
Pfizer, Moderna vaccines are 90% effective after two doses in study of real-life conditions, CDC confirms
By Lena H. SunMarch 29, 2021 at 12:28 p.m. EDTAdd to list
The Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines being deployed to fight the coronavirus pandemic are robustly effective in preventing infections in real-life conditions, according to a federal study released Monday that provides reassurance of protection for front-line workers in the United States.
In a study of about 4,000 health-care personnel, police, firefighters and other essential workers, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that the vaccines reduced the risk of infection by 80 percent after one shot. Protection increased to 90 percent following the second dose. The findings are consistent with clinical trial results and studies showing strong effectiveness in Israel and the United Kingdom, and in initial studies of health-care workers at the UT Southwestern Medical Center and in Southern California.
The CDC report is significant, experts said, because it analyzed how well the vaccines worked among a diverse group of front-line working-age adults whose jobs make them more likely to be exposed to the virus and to spread it.
Against the odds, Cuba could become a coronavirus vaccine powerhouse
By Anthony Faiola and Ana Vanessa HerreroMarch 29, 2021 at 6:00 a.m. EDTAdd to list
Cuban leader Fidel Castro vowed to build a biotech juggernaut in the Caribbean, advancing the idea in the early 1980s with six researchers in a tiny Havana lab.
Forty years later, the communist island nation could beon the cusp of a singular breakthrough: Becoming the world’s smallest country to develop not just one, but multiple coronavirus vaccines.
Five vaccine candidates are in development, two in late-stage trials with the goal of a broader rollout by May. Should they prove successful, the vaccines would be an against-the-odds feat of medical prowess — as well as a public relations coup — for an isolatedcountry of 11 million that was added back to the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism in the final days of the Trump administration.
Cuban officials say they’re developing cheap and easy-to-store serums. They are able to lastat room temperature for weeks, and in long-term storage as high as 46.4 degrees, potentially making them a viable option for low-income, tropical countries that have been pushed aside by bigger, wealthier nations in the international scrum for coronavirus vaccines.
Summer travelers grapple with a vaccine gap
By Christopher ElliottColumnistMarch 24, 2021 at 12:00 p.m. EDTAdd to list
The chasm between vaccinated and unvaccinated travelers is widening. As the summer vacation season comes into focus and doses become widely available, people are grappling with how this vaccine gap will affect their trips.
R. Anne Miller and her husband are in one camp. They were vaccinated in February. “We’ve observed all precautions and quarantined for the last year,” says Miller, a retired lawyer from Tucson. “We desperately want to travel.”
Katy Kassian, a business consultant and frequent traveler from Regan, N.D., is in another camp. She is unvaccinated and plans to stay that way. “I don’t feel the need to get vaccinated,” she says. “And I’m comfortable with that choice.”
So how to accommodate those with and without shots? We’re about to find out.
Categorizing travelers based on their vaccination status makes some sense from a public health perspective. Already, some travel companies are requiring proof of vaccination. The travel industry, particularly airlines, has a lot of experience with partitioning customers based on elite status or ticket prices. But separating them based on whether they have been vaccinated is new territory.