Thursday, March 28

US

US Economy Unexpectedly Shrunk in First Quarter
Business, News, US

US Economy Unexpectedly Shrunk in First Quarter

The US economy shrank 0.4 percent in the first quarter of 2022 compared to the previous three months. This is partly because the United States exported less, and government spending fell.   In addition, fewer cars were produced, which meant that company inventories grew less rapidly, resulting from the great scarcity of parts such as chips. Economists had generally expected an increase. The US Department of Commerce reported a 1.4 percent contraction on an annualized basis, meaning the decline in the gross domestic product is imaginarily extending over four quarters. Government spending fell mainly in the field of defence. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), the trade deficit also widened, meaning the United States imported far more than it exported. Households sti...
Russia Bans Extremist Facebook and Instagram
News, Russia, Technology, US

Russia Bans Extremist Facebook and Instagram

Russian judges have banned Facebook and Instagram because they find the owner of the social media, the American company Meta Platforms, extremist.   Access to Facebook and Instagram had previously been blocked. In addition, WhatsApp, Meta's messaging service, is not covered by the verdict. A Moscow court labelled Meta an extremist organization at the urging of prosecutors. They believe that the platforms call for violence against Russians and Russian soldiers. For example, meta temporarily allowed statements such as "death to the Russian occupiers" on Facebook and Instagram after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Public Prosecution Service in Moscow sees this as inciting the murder of Russians and speaks of terrorist activities. Facebook and Instagram talked about a temporary ...
Patient Who Received Heart Transplant From Pig Dies
News, US

Patient Who Received Heart Transplant From Pig Dies

The 57-year-old man who became the first human to have a heart transplant from a genetically modified pig two months ago has died at the hospital in the American city of Baltimore where the transplant took place.   Shortly after the transplant, the New York Times spoke of a "medical first that offers hope for hundreds of thousands of patients with failing organs" shortly after the transplant. The patient had serious heart disease and had agreed to get a pig's heart as an experiment after being removed from several waiting lists to get a human heart. It is still unclear whether his body rejected the organ. "No clear cause has been identified at the time of his death," a spokeswoman for the University of Maryland Medical Center said.
NATO Refuses to Install No-Fly Zone Over Ukraine
News, Russia, Ukraine, US

NATO Refuses to Install No-Fly Zone Over Ukraine

NATO member states do not want to hear about establishing a 'no-fly zone' over Ukraine. In this way, the alliance wants to avoid being dragged into the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.   Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said this on Friday after an extraordinary meeting of NATO foreign ministers. Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky has called for a "no-fly zone" over his country several times. This would make it impossible for Russia to attack Ukrainian targets from the air any longer. But it also means that such a thing could lead to a direct confrontation between NATO troops and Russian forces. According to Stoltenberg, the 'no-fly zone' issue was discussed during the meeting with the foreign ministers. "But we agreed that we should not have NATO planes in Ukrainian air...
US: No Steps After Russia’s Nuclear Threat
News, Russia, US

US: No Steps After Russia’s Nuclear Threat

Recently, Russia's nuclear threats in the war with Ukraine, the United States is not taking any steps. The US government sees no reason to change nuclear alert levels at this time, the White House said.   Russian President Vladimir Putin had announced the readiness to use Russia's nuclear weapons as a deterrent. The Kremlin ruler was thus responding to the barrage of Western sanctions following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. US alert levels have not changed, "and we have not changed our own assessment on that front," a government spokeswoman said. At the same time, she stresses the need to be very realistic about Putin's use of threats.
Blinken Asks Russia to Declare Not to Attack Ukraine
News, Russia, Ukraine, US

Blinken Asks Russia to Declare Not to Attack Ukraine

On Thursday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Russia to withdraw and declare not to invade Ukraine.   If the country seeks peace, Blinken told the UN Security Council, "the Russian government can announce today without ambiguous reservation or evasion that Russia will not invade Ukraine." Blinken reiterated his warning that Russian troops are preparing to attack Ukraine "in the coming days". Russia would plan to come up with a rise for a raid in neighboring countries, for example, a fake or real attack with chemical weapons. The US Secretary of State said earlier in the day that he had sent a letter to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. In it, he proposes to meet in Europe next week to reach a diplomatic solution.
US First: Arms Manufacturer Liable for the Massacre
News, US

US First: Arms Manufacturer Liable for the Massacre

For the first time, a weapons manufacturer has been held liable for a mass shooting in the United States, US media report.   US firm Remington Arms has agreed to settle the families' claims of five adults and four children killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Newtown, Connecticut. Amounts have not yet been disclosed. The settlement comes nearly eight years after the families sued the manufacturer of the Bushmaster XM15-E2S semiautomatic rifle, according to the American ABC News. The families argued, among other things, that Remington had been negligent in entrusting civilians with an assault rifle suitable only for military and law enforcement use. In the drama on Friday, December 14, 2012, 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot and killed 26 people, including 20 children, ...
Holes in Trump Phone Records on the Day of Parliament Storming
News, US

Holes in Trump Phone Records on the Day of Parliament Storming

The White House log that records then-President Donald Trump's phone calls shows gaps on the day of the storming of parliament. The New York Times writes that the parliamentary committee investigating the January 6, 2021 storming has found few call data.   Investigators who wanted to know what Trump was doing at the time are known to have made many phone calls during the crucial hours of the attack, the paper said. But they found no evidence of tampering with log data. It is well known that Trump often called from his personal cell phone or that of confidants or associates. But, according to The New York Times, Trump made a habit of avoiding recording communications. The low number of calls made on official White House telephones poses a major obstacle to the investigative panel's ...
Largest US Attack in Syria Since 2019: US Units Kill New IS Leader in Counter-Terror Mission
News, Syria, US

Largest US Attack in Syria Since 2019: US Units Kill New IS Leader in Counter-Terror Mission

The US military took out Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, the new leader of Islamic State (IS), from Wednesday to Thursday during an operation in northwestern Syria. US President Joe Biden confirmed this on Thursday.   For now, the Americans have not released many details about the mission, but eyewitnesses tell various foreign media that several American helicopters were involved. For example, they would have already landed near the refugee camps in the town of Atmé. During the mission, they came under heavy fire from anti-aircraft fire. It would have been about two hours before the helicopters took off. New IS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi is said to have been disabled at the start of the mission after detonating a bomb. Several members of his family are also said ...
Moscow Accuses Washington Hysteria of Convening Security Council Meeting
News, Russia, US

Moscow Accuses Washington Hysteria of Convening Security Council Meeting

By convening a public meeting of the United Nations Security Council on the Ukraine crisis, the United States wants to "create hysteria" and "mislead the international community" with "baseless accusations".   Vassily Nebenzia, the Russian ambassador to the UN, said on Monday. The meeting started Monday at 3 p.m. UK time. Russia failed to prevent the meeting with a procedural vote. Ten of the fifteen members of the Security Council voted to hold the meeting. According to US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the deployment of more than 100,000 Russian soldiers on the border with Ukraine justifies a public debate at UN headquarters. The military deployment "threatens international security," the ambassador said.