Ethiopia's Tigray crisis: About 2.3 million children cut off from aid, UN says


Wed, December 16, 2020
Children are among tens of thousands of people who have fled Ethiopia's Tigray region to Sudan

About 2.3 million children in Ethiopia's northern Tigray region are cut off from humanitarian assistance as violence continues, the UN has warned.

"Protecting these children, many of whom are refugees and internally displaced... must be a priority," said the UN's children's agency Unicef.

Despite deals with the Ethiopian government, humanitarian agencies say they are being denied access to Tigray.


Government forces have been battling Tigray fighters since 4 November.

The government says it is in control of the region and the conflict is over. But the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) says it is still fighting on various fronts.

Hundreds, even thousands, of people are thought to have been killed in the conflict, while about 50,000 have fled to neighbouring Sudan.


The Nobel Peace Prize winner who sent his troops to battle


Cutting through the information blackout


'My uncle has lost contact with his family'

In a statement, Unicef said: "The longer access to [the children] is delayed, the worse their situation will become as supplies of food, including ready-to-use therapeutic food for the treatment of child malnutrition, medicines, water, fuel and other essentials run low."

It added: "We call for urgent, sustained, unconditional and impartial humanitarian access to all families in need wherever they are."

Neither the Ethiopian government nor the TPLF have commented on the issue.
What is the conflict about?

The conflict escalated in November, when Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed ordered a military offensive against regional forces in Tigray.

He said he did so in response to an attack on a military base housing government troops in Tigray.

The escalation came after months of feuding between Mr Abiy's government and leaders of the TPLF - the region's dominant political party.

For almost three decades, the party was at the centre of power, before it was sidelined after Mr Abiy took office in 2018 in the wake of anti-government protests.

A dinosaur with 'hair' and 'ribbons' has scientists enthralled


Will Dunham
Tue, December 15, 2020

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - About 110 million years ago along the shores of an ancient lagoon in what is now northeastern Brazil, a two-legged chicken-sized Cretaceous Period dinosaur made a living hunting insects and perhaps small vertebrates like frogs and lizards.

On the inside, it was ordinary, with a skeleton similar to many small dinosaurs from the preceding Jurassic Period, scientists said on Tuesday. On the outside, it was anything but.

This dinosaur, called Ubirajara jubatus, possessed a mane of hair-like structures while also boasting two utterly unique, stiff, ribbon-like features probably made of keratin - the same substance that makes up hair and fingernails - protruding from its shoulders.

"There are plenty of other strange dinosaurs, but this one is unlike any of them," said paleobiology professor David Martill of the University of Portsmouth in England, who helped lead the study published in the journal Cretaceous Research.

Ubirajara's hair-like structures appear to be a rudimentary form of feathers called protofeathers. This was not actual hair, an exclusively mammalian feature. Many dinosaurs had feathers. In fact, birds evolved from small feathered dinosaurs about 150 million years ago.

"Likely from a distance it looked hairy rather than feathery," Martill said. "Likely it had hair-like protofeathers over much of its body but they are only preserved along its neck, back and arms. The ones on its back are very long and give it a sort of mane that is unique for dinosaurs."

Ubirajara's ribbon-like structures may have been used for display, possibly to attract mates or intimidate adversaries or in inter-male rivalry, Martill added. Such displays often are made by male animals - think of a peacock's elaborate tail feathers - leading Martill to make an "educated guess" that this Ubirajara individual was male.

"The ribbons that seem to come from the shoulders are like nothing I have seen in nature before," Martill said.

While it is impossible to know from the fossil, Martill said Ubirajara may have been colorful.

"I bet it was," he added.

Dancing chicken-sized dinosaur had mane of long fur and ribbons for peacock-like displays

Rob Waugh
·Contributor
Tue, December 15, 2020

The dinosaur had a mane of fur and strange 'ribbons'. (University of Portsmouth)

Birds like peacocks may have inherited their ability to ‘show off’ from the dinosaurs, after the discovery of an eye-catching dinosaur which could dance to impress mates.

The new species, Ubirajara jubatus, was chicken-sized with a mane of long fur down its back and stiff ribbons projecting out and back from its shoulders.

It’s unlike any previous fossil, and scientists believe its flamboyant features may have helped it find mates - or intimate enemies.

Lead author Robert Smyth, of the University of Portsmouth, said: “These are such extravagant features for such a small animal and not at all what we would predict if we only had the skeleton preserved. Why adorn yourself in a way that makes you more obvious to both your prey and to potential predators?

“The truth is that for many animals, evolutionary success is about more than just surviving, you also have to look good if you want to pass your genes on to the next generation.

“Modern birds are famed for their elaborate plumage and displays that are used to attract mates - the peacock’s tail and male birds-of-paradise are textbook examples of this,” Smyth said.

“Ubirajara shows us that this tendency to show off is not a uniquely avian characteristic, but something that birds inherited from their dinosaur ancestors.”

Ubirajara jubatus is named after a Tupi Indian name for ‘lord of the spear’, in reference to the creature’s stiff, elongated spikes, and jubatus from the Latin meaning ‘maned’ or ‘crested’.

Birds like peacocks may have inherited their flamboyant displays from the dinosaurs. (Getty)

Researchers at the University of Portsmouth and the State Museum of Natural History, Karlsruhe, Germany discovered the new species while examining fossils in Karlsruhe’s collection.

The study is published in the scientific journal Cretaceous Research.

Professor David Martill said: “What is especially unusual about the beast is the presence of two very long, probably stiff ribbons on either side of its shoulders that were probably used for display, for mate attraction, inter-male rivalry or to frighten off foe.

“We cannot prove that the specimen is a male, but given the disparity between male and female birds, it appears likely the specimen was a male, and young, too, which is surprising given most complex display abilities are reserved for mature adult males.

“Given its flamboyance, we can imagine that the dinosaur may have indulged in elaborate dancing to show off its display structures.”

The ribbons are not scales or fur, nor are they feathers in the modern sense. They appear to be structures unique to this animal.

Ubirajara jubatus lived about 110 million years ago, during the Aptian stage of the Cretaceous period, and is closely related to the European Jurassic dinosaur Compsognathus.

A section of the long, thick mane running down the animal’s back is preserved nearly intact.

The arms were also covered in fur-like filaments down to the hands.

The mane is thought to have been controlled by muscles allowing it to be raised, in a similar way a dog raises its hackles or a porcupine raises its spines when threatened.

Ubirajara could lower its mane close to the skin when not in a display mode allowing the creature to move fast without getting tangled in vegetation.

Professor Martill said: “Any creature with movable hair or feathers as a body coverage has a great advantage in streamlining the body contour for faster hunts or escapes but also to capture or release heat.”

Florida's Sun Sentinel found an odd gap in state COVID-19 deaths ahead of the election


Catherine Garcia
Tue, December 15, 2020


While looking at Florida's COVID-19 death tally, the South Florida Sun Sentinel found a pattern suggesting the state "manipulated a backlog of unrecorded fatalities" so the daily death numbers were artificially low ahead of the November presidential election, the newspaper reported Tuesday.

There is a lag between the date a person dies of COVID-19 in Florida and the date the state reports the death as part of the public count. The Sun Sentinel found that with just a few exceptions, starting on Oct. 24, Florida stopped including deaths that occurred more than a month earlier in daily counts. It wasn't until Nov. 17, two weeks after the election, that these backlogged deaths were consistently included in the daily tally.

These deaths have "long formed a significant part of the daily totals in Florida" because it can take some time for death reports to make it from a doctor's office to the health department, the Sun Sentinel reports. For example, from Sept. 23 to Oct. 20, the state included in its daily tallies 1,128 deaths that took place at least one month earlier. This accounted for 44 percent of the deaths that were announced over those four weeks.

On Oct. 21, the state said it would start conducting additional reviews of each suspected COVID-19 death in Florida before adding it to the official count. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), a supporter of President Trump, has a history of downplaying the coronavirus pandemic, and the Sun Sentinel reports he has also speculated that the death statistics in the state were inflated. The Sun Sentinel said it asked several state officials about the data patterns, including the spokesman for the Florida Department of Health, and no one would comment.

Scott David Herr, a Florida computer scientist who tracks the state's daily COVID-19 data, told the Sun Sentinel "it's hard to know if there was a limitation around election time or random other things were happening. The Department of Health hasn't explained why lags have been inconsistent. When they keep changing whatever is going on behind the scenes, when the lags keep changing, that is where it gets confusing." Read more at the Sun Sentinel.

Hack may have exposed deep US secrets; damage yet unknown



Treasury Department HackedFILE - The U.S. Treasury Department building viewed from the Washington Monument, Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2019, in Washington. Hackers got into computers at the U.S. Treasury Department and possibly other federal agencies, touching off a government response involving the National Security Council. Security Council spokesperson John Ullyot said Sunday, Dec. 13, 2020 that the government is aware of reports about the hacks. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, file)




FRANK BAJAK
Tue, December 15, 2020


BOSTON (AP) — Some of America’s most deeply held secrets may have been stolen in a disciplined, monthslong operation being blamed on elite Russian government hackers. The possibilities of what might have been purloined are mind-boggling.

Could hackers have obtained nuclear secrets? COVID-19 vaccine data? Blueprints for next-generation weapons systems?

It will take weeks, maybe years in some cases, for digital sleuths combing through U.S. government and private industry networks to get the answers. These hackers are consummate pros at covering their tracks, experts say. Some theft may never be detected.


What’s seems clear is that this campaign — which cybersecurity experts says exhibits the tactics and techniques of Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence agency — will rank among the most prolific in the annals of cyberespionage.

U.S. government agencies, including the Treasury and Commerce departments, were among dozens of high-value public- and private-sector targets known to have been infiltrated as far back as March through a commercial software update distributed to thousands of companies and government agencies worldwide. A Pentagon statement Monday indicated it used the software. It said it had “issued guidance and directives to protect” its networks. It would not say — for “operational security reasons” — whether any of its systems may have been hacked.

On Tuesday, acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller told CBS News there was so far no evidence of compromise.

In the months since the update went out, the hackers carefully exfiltrated data, often encrypting it so it wasn't clear what was being taken, and expertly covering their tracks.

Thomas Rid, a Johns Hopkins cyberconflict expert, said the campaign's likely efficacy can be compared to Russia’s three-year 1990s “Moonlight Maze” hacking of U.S. government targets, including NASA and the Pentagon. A U.S. investigation determined the height of the documents stolen — if printed out and piled up — would triple the height of the Washington Monument.

In this case “several Washington Monument piles of documents that they took from different government agencies is probably a realistic estimate,” Rid said. “How would they use that? They themselves most likely don’t know yet.”

The Trump administration has not said which agencies were hacked. And so far no private-sector victims have come forward. Traditionally, defense contractors and telecommunications companies have been popular targets with state-backed cyber spies, Rid said.

Intelligence agents generally seek the latest on weapons technologies and missile defense systems — anything vital to national security. They also develop dossiers on rival government employees, potentially for recruitment as spies.

President Donald Trump's national security adviser, Robert O’Brien, cut short an overseas trip to hold meetings on the hack and was to convene a top-level interagency meeting later this week, the White House said in a statement.

O'Brien had been scheduled to return Saturday and had to scrap plans to visit officials in Italy, Germany, Switzerland and Britain, said an official familiar with his itinerary who was not authorized to discuss it and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Earlier, the White House said a coordinating team had been created to respond, including the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

At a briefing for congressional staffers Monday, DHS did not say how many agencies were hacked, a reflection of how little the Trump administration has been sharing with Congress on the case.

Critics have long complained that the Trump administration failed to address snowballing cybersecurity threats — including from ransomware attacks that have hobbled state and local governments, hospitals and even grammar schools.

“It’s been a frustrating time, the last four years. I mean, nothing has happened seriously at all in cybersecurity,” said Brandon Valeriano, a Marine Corps University scholar and adviser to the Cyber Solarium Commission, which was created by Congress to fortify the nation’s cyber defenses. “It’s tough to find anything that we moved forward on at all.”

Trump eliminated two key government positions: White House cybersecurity coordinator and State Department cybersecurity policy chief.

Valeriano said one of the few bright spots was the work of Chris Krebs, the head of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, whom Trump fired for defending the integrity of the election in the face of Trump's false claims of widespread fraud.

Hackers infiltrated government agencies by piggybacking malicious code on commercial network management software from SolarWinds, a Texas company, beginning in March.

The campaign was discovered by the cybersecurity company FireEye when it detected it had been hacked — it disclosed the breach Dec. 8 — and alerted the FBI and other federal agencies. FireEye executive Charles Carmakal said it was aware of “dozens of incredibly high-value targets” infiltrated by the hackers and was helping “a number of organizations respond to their intrusions.” He would not name any, and said he expected many more to learn in coming days that they, too, were compromised.

Carmakal said the hackers would have activated remote-access back doors only on targets sure to have prized data. It is manual, demanding work, and moving networks around risks detection.

The SolarWinds campaign highlights the lack of mandatory minimum security rules for commercial software used on federal computer networks. Zoom videoconferencing software is another example. It was approved for use on federal computer networks last year, yet security experts discovered various vulnerabilities exploitable by hackers — after federal workers sent home by the pandemic began using it.

Rep. Jim Langevin, a Rhode Island Democrat and Cyberspace Solarium Commission member, said the breach reminded him of the 2015 Chinese hack of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, in which the records of 22 million federal employees and government job applicants were stolen.

It highlights the need, he said, for a national cyber director at the White House, a position subject to Senate confirmation. Congress approved such a position in a recently passed defense bill.

“In all of the different departments and agencies, cybersecurity is never going to be their primary mission,” Langevin said.

Trump has threatened to veto the bill over objections to unrelated provisions.

—-

Associated Press writers Ben Fox, Deb Riechmann and Lolita Baldor in Washington and Matt O'Brien in Providence, Rhode Island, contributed to this report.

CANADA'S EPSTEIN
Fashion mogul Peter Nygard arrested in Canada on sex charges





Canada Fashion Mogul ArrestFILE - In this March 2, 2014, file photo, Peter Nygard attends the 24th Night of 100 Stars Oscars Viewing Gala at The Beverly Hills Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif. Nygard faces criminal charges in New York after his Canadian arrest on charges alleging that he dangled opportunities in fashion and modeling to lure dozens of women and girls to have sex with himself and others. The 79-year-old Nygard awaited an appearance in a Winnipeg courtroom after his Monday, Dec. 14, 2020 arrest in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada by Canadian authorities at the request of the United States. (Annie I. Bang /Invision/AP, File)

ROB GILLIES and LARRY NEUMEISTER
Tue, December 15, 2020
NEW YORK (AP) — Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygard was arrested on charges alleging he sexually abused women and girls after luring them into his orbit with opportunities in fashion and modeling over the last 25 years.

Nygard, 79, was detained after a Winnipeg, Canada, court appearance Tuesday following his Monday arrest by Canadian authorities at the request of the U.S. No date was set for a bail hearing, though he was due to return to court Jan. 13. His lawyer, Elkan Abramowitz, declined comment.

His arrest on sex trafficking, racketeering and related charges came after the FBI raided Nygard’s Manhattan offices earlier this year.


The raid came soon after 10 women sued Nygard, saying he enticed young and impoverished women to his Bahamas estate with cash and promises of modeling and fashion opportunities. Several plaintiffs in the suit, filed in New York City, said they were 14 or 15 years old when Nygard gave them alcohol or drugs and then raped them.

Nygard has denied all allegations and blames a conspiracy caused by a feud with his billionaire neighbor in the Bahamas.

In announcing criminal charges, authorities said Nygard used the prestige of an international clothing design, manufacturing, and supply business he founded and headquartered in Winnipeg, Canada, to persuade victims, sometimes with a history of being abused, to submit to his demands.

According to an indictment, he capitalized on the Nygard Group’s influence, using its employees, funds, and resources to recruit women and girls under the age of 18. The indictment alleged that Nygard and his co-conspirators, including Nygard Group employees, used force, fraud, and coercion to enlist the women and girls, who were sexually abused and assaulted by Nygard and others.

The indictment said Nygard offered false promises of modeling opportunities and other career advancement, along with financial support, to lure victims, while restricting their movements to isolate them. It said he forcibly sexually assaulted some victims while others were forcibly assaulted by his associates or were drugged to ensure compliance with sexual demands.

The indictment said he maintained personal and quasi-professional relationships with some victims, referring to them as “girlfriends” or “assistants" while requiring them to travel with him regularly and to engage in sexual activity at his direction with himself, with each other or with others.

It said he also directed them to recruit new women and minor-aged girls to be sexually abused.

Nygard abused some women and girls at his properties in Marina del Rey, California, and in the Bahamas, during so-called “Pamper Parties" where some women, including minors, were drugged to force compliance with his sexual demands, the indictment said. It added that he sometimes paid the women and girls amounts ranging from hundreds of dollars to several thousand dollars.

He also directed and pressured “girlfriends” to have sex with other men at sex and “swingers” clubs in New York City, Miami, Los Angeles and Winnepeg and utilized sexual “swaps” in which male friends and business associates would bring Nygard a “date” for sex in exchange for sexual access to one of Nygard's “girlfriends,” the indictment said.

Meanwhile, 57 women, including 18 Canadians, have joined the lawsuit, which alleges that Nygard used his company, bribery of Bahamian officials and “considerable influence in the fashion industry” to recruit victims in the Bahamas, United States and Canada.

It alleges he kept a database on a corporate server containing the names of thousands of potential victims.

Nygard’s accusers had their passports taken from them when they were flown into the Bahamas, the lawsuit alleges, adding the designer “expected a sex act before he was willing to consider releasing any person” from his estate.

A spokesman for Nygard said earlier this year he was stepping down as chairman of Nygard companies and would divest his ownership interest.

Nygard International began in Winnipeg as a sportswear manufacturer. Its website says its retail division has more than 170 stores in North America.

___

Associated Press Writer Rob Gillies reported from Toronto.

SHARES A ROYAL PAL WITH EPSTEIN

Peter Nygard, fashion tycoon with links to Duke of York, arrested on sex trafficking charges   

Josie Ensor
Tue, December 15, 2020

Watch: Canadian fashion mogul indicted for sex crimes

Peter Nygard, a Canadian fashion designer who has been linked to Prince Andrew, was arrested yesterday on charges of sexually assaulting dozens of teenage girls in the US, Canada and the Bahamas.

Canadian police took Mr Nygard, 79, into custody in Winnipeg after the US requested a warrant that would allow his extradition.

The criminal charges of sex trafficking and racketeering were announced on Tuesday by Acting US Attorney Audrey Strauss in Manhattan, as well as by the FBI and New York City police.

Mr Nygard, who headed Nygard International clothing brand, is also facing class-action civil litigation in Manhattan, brought by 57 women accusing him of sexual misconduct over a 25-year period. He has denied allegations of wrongdoing.

Peter Nygard has denied allegations of wrongdoing in previous civil litigation. - Getty

In a statement, Ms Strauss said that since at least 1995, Mr Nygard used his influence and businesses to "recruit and maintain" women and underage girls for his own sexual gratification, and the sexual gratification of friends and business associates.

Mr Nygard is alleged to have thrown “pamper parties” at his California home and his Bahamas properties, where he is accused in a lawsuit of luring young women with the promise of cash and modeling opportunities.

The Duke of York is reported to have stayed at the lavish Caribbean estate in 2000 with his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson and their children.

Sarah Ferguson (left) and Peter Nygard (right) with Princess Beatrice (bottom right) and Princess Eugenie (bottom second right).

The Times published a photograph of the duchess with Mr Nygard and princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.

Mr Nygard's website boasts of guests including George Bush, the former US president, Robert De Niro, the actor; Michael Jackson, the late pop singer, as well as the duke and duchess.

There is no suggestion the Duke knew of Mr Nygard's alleged criminality.

Born in Finland, Mr Nygard grew up in Manitoba, eventually running his own namesake clothing companies. He stepped down in February as chairman of Nygard International after its New York headquarters near Times Square was raided by the FBI.

A lawyer for Mr Nygard declined to comment.

Fashion mogul Peter Nygard has been arrested in Canada on a US warrant, on charges of sex trafficking.
Harriet Alexander
Tue, December 15, 2020

A sign featuring a picture of Peter Nygard outside his Times Square headquarters in New York City(AP)

Fashion mogul Peter Nygard has been arrested in Canada on a US warrant, on charges of sex trafficking.

The 79-year-old Canadian is accused of “a decades-long pattern of criminal conduct” in the United States, the Bahamas and Canada, prosecutors said. He was detained in Winnipeg on Monday.

Prosecutors in Manhattan said that Mr Nygard used the influence of his company and its employees to “recruit and maintain adult and minor-aged female victims” over a 25-year period for the sexual gratification of himself and his associates.

Many of his victims came from poor and disadvantaged backgrounds, prosecutors said.

They allege that Mr Nygard sexually assaulted some of the women and girls, while others were assaulted or drugged by his associates “to ensure their compliance with his sexual demands.”

He began his brand 50 years ago, with Nygard International starting out in Winnipeg as a sportswear manufacturer. Its website says its retail division has more than 170 stores in North America.

Yet this year a darker side began to emerge, with allegations of abuse.

He stepped down from Nygard International in February, after federal authorities raided his home in Los Angeles and corporate headquarters in New York, and major customers dropped his fashion lines.

The FBI searched the designer’s Times Square offices less than two weeks after 10 women filed a lawsuit accusing Mr Nygard of enticing young and impoverished women to his estate in the Bahamas with cash and promises of modelling opportunities.

Several plaintiffs in the suit said they were 14 or 15 years old when Mr Nygard allegedly gave them alcohol or drugs and then raped them.

The designer is facing a class action lawsuit in the United States alleging the sexual assault of dozens of women.

Fifty-seven women – including 18 Canadians – have joined the lawsuit, which alleges that Mr Nygard used violence, intimidation, bribery and company employees to lure victims and avoid accountability for decades.

Mr Nygard has denied all allegations and blames a conspiracy caused by a feud with his billionaire neighbour in the Bahamas.

His lawyer in New York, Elkan Abramowitz, declined to comment on the charges.

THIRD WORLD USA

Birth on a riverbank: Woman's ordeal shows risks at border

CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY




Immigration Border Birth 

FILE - In this Nov. 18, 2020, file photo, a young girl plays in her family's tent at a camp of asylum seekers stuck at America's doorstep, in Matamoros, Mexico. Increasing numbers of parents and children are crossing the border, driven by violence and poverty in Central America and growing desperation in migrant camps in Mexico. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Monday, Dec. 14, 2020 that it made 4,592 apprehensions of unaccompanied immigrant children in November, more than six times the figure in April.(AP Photo/Eric Gay File)

NOMAAN MERCHANT
Tue, December 15, 2020

HOUSTON (AP) — The Honduran woman walked alone through the dark brush of the South Texas borderlands after being pushed across a nearby river in a tire.

Her labor pains were getting worse. From the other side of the river, the smugglers yelled at her to keep moving.

Finally, she fell to the ground and screamed for help.

Merín gave birth to her daughter next to the Rio Grande, attended to by two Border Patrol agents, showing how lives routinely end up at risk at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Increasing numbers of parents and children are crossing the border, driven by violence and poverty in Central America and growing desperation in migrant camps in Mexico. While crossings have not reached the levels seen in previous years, facilities that hold migrants are approaching capacity, which has been reduced because of the coronavirus pandemic.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Monday that it made roughly 4,500 apprehensions of unaccompanied immigrant children in November, more than six times the figure in April. In South Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, children and their parents are usually taken to a small station where some young people report having to use old masks and being detained in cramped quarters.

Merín and her daughter are safe after she gave birth on Nov. 22.

“They treated me well, thank God,” said Merín, who didn't want her last name used because she fears retribution if she's forced to leave the country.

Agents Chris Croy and Raul Hernandez were called to help by another agent who found her. Merín said the first agent told her to get up and keep walking, but she couldn’t. She says he accused her of lying.

“When I look, I see the head of a child,” Croy said. “I just kneel down to go ahead and support the child’s head.”

Hernandez saw that Merín's clothing was obstructing the baby’s head. He pulled out a small knife and carefully cut it away. Croy kept hold of the baby’s head.

“She had another big contraction and out came the baby,” he said.

It took another 10 minutes for an ambulance to arrive. Croy and Hernandez took clothes from Merín's bag to keep the baby warm in the meantime.

Mother and child were hospitalized for three days, then processed at a Border Patrol station before being released to Catholic Charities. They soon boarded a bus to join family in the U.S.

Hundreds of people die each year trying to cross the border. Photos last year of a father and daughter who drowned trying to cross the Rio Grande — not far from where Merín made her journey — were shared worldwide.

“There’s so many women in great danger,” said Sister Norma Pimentel, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley. “They must really think before they do what they do and risk the life of their unborn child.”

Why would a woman cross the river in labor? Law enforcement and human rights groups give sharply different answers.

The Border Patrol blames smugglers for using people in medical distress as decoys, drawing attention from others trying to sneak into the country. In Merín's case, agents said, the smugglers who pushed her across the river then brought through a group of five people. When agents chased the group, they went back across the river into Mexico.

The agency also said in a statement that U.S. birthright citizenship laws “could lead some to cross illegally as they are giving birth.” It didn't have numbers on how often that happens.

Under President Donald Trump, the Border Patrol has been criticized for its treatment of immigrant parents and children. Since 2017, six children have died shortly after being detained. Agents separated thousands of families in 2017 and 2018 and have been accused of refusing entry to pregnant women or forcing them to return to Mexico under government policies restricting asylum.

The Border Patrol defends how it treats immigrants and the medical care they receive. Its parent agency, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, said in a statement that agents’ priority in emergencies “is the preservation of life of everyone they encounter regardless of citizenship or background. The enforcement of laws becomes secondary.”

Advocates say government policies to deter migrants push desperate people into more dangerous situations.

Having fled Honduras with her teenage son when her then-husband threatened to kill her, Merín said she lived for several months in southern Mexico before trying to report drug dealers to police. That made her a target, and she fled again.

She settled in the northern city of Monterrey with her now-partner. Her son went to the border city of Matamoros and crossed a bridge in January as an unaccompanied child.

Thousands of other migrants are waiting in Mexican border cities for a chance to enter the U.S. — some for years. The Trump administration has turned away tens of thousands at legal border crossings, first citing a shortage of space and then telling people to wait for court dates under its “Remain in Mexico” policy.

So Merín used the river. Smugglers are known to control crossings on the Rio Grande and attack migrants who don't obey.

Merín reported one threat: “If you don’t pay and you try to cross, you’re going to die. We will cut your head off.”

Aside from the first agent, she said she was grateful for how she was treated in the U.S. She hoped to find work and support relatives in Honduras. She still could face deportation if she loses her case in immigration court.

Since the pandemic, the government has expelled more than 200,000 people within hours or days, citing a public-health declaration. In its final days, the Trump administration is formalizing new restrictions on asylum and other immigration protections that would take months or years for President-elect Joe Biden to unwind.

Pimentel, of Catholic Charities, wants reforms to allow people to enter the U.S. safely and pursue their immigration cases, reducing the chance that desperate families will risk their lives in the hands of smugglers.

“There needs to be a process for that, and it doesn’t exist at this point,” Pimentel said.

TEAMSTERS UNION & TRUCKING EMPLOYERS ASSOC.

CONGRATULATE BUTTIGIEG AS TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY

International Brotherhood Of Teamsters

Hoffa: Looking Forward To Partnering With Buttigieg As Next DOT Secretary

PR Newswire

WASHINGTON, Dec. 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The following is a statement from Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa on President-elect Joe Biden's nomination of former South Bend, Indiana mayor and presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg as the next U.S. Secretary of Transportation.

"For too long, the nation's transportation needs have been overlooked. That's why the Teamsters are pleased to see that President-elect Biden is making such a high-profile pick to lead the U.S. Transportation Department in his administration with his choice of Pete Buttigieg.

"I got a chance to meet Pete during the Teamsters' presidential candidate forum last December and spoke to him again today. Both times I was left impressed by what I heard. He is a problem-solver that we require at a time when elected officials in the nation's capital have talked a big game about upgrading the nation's infrastructure but gotten little done.

"We need a strong voice to lead the effort to improve the nation's transportation networks so they can handle the needs of a 21st century economy. Pete Buttigieg is solid choice to do so.

As the largest transportation union in North America, we look forward to working with Pete to improve the lives of workers, and I urge the Senate to promptly confirm him as Transportation Secretary once lawmakers are sworn in next month."

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. Visit www.teamster.org for more information. Follow us on Twitter @Teamsters and "like" us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/teamsters.


View original content to download multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hoffa-looking-forward-to-partnering-with-buttigieg-as-next-dot-secretary-301193590.html

SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters

ATA Congratulates Pete Buttigieg on Nomination to be Transportation Secretary


ARLINGTON, Va., Dec. 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- American Trucking Associations President and CEO Chris Spear issued the following statement regarding reports President-Elect Biden intends to nominate former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Pete Buttigieg, to be Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation:

American Trucking Associations is the largest national trade association for the trucking industry. Through a federation of 50 affiliated state trucking associations and industry-related conferences and councils, ATA is the voice of the industry America depends on most to move our nation's freight.Trucking Moves America Forward. (PRNewsFoto/American Trucking Associations)More

"Transportation is an issue that touches all Americans – urban, rural, coastal and in the heartland of our nation. Having served as a mayor, Pete Buttigieg has had an up close and personal look at how our infrastructure problems are impacting Americans, and how important it is to solve them.

"On behalf of the trucking and freight transportation industry, I'd like to congratulate Pete Buttigieg on his nomination to lead the Department of Transportation. We look forward to rolling up our sleeves and working with him to begin the important work of rebuilding our nation's infrastructure."

American Trucking Associations is the largest national trade association for the trucking industry. Through a federation of 50 affiliated state trucking associations and industry-related conferences and councils, ATA is the voice of the industry America depends on most to move our nation's freight. Follow ATA on Twitter, Facebook, or at Trucking Moves America Forward.
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Biden taps Pete Buttigieg for transportation post 

and Jennifer Granholm for energy


Daniel Strauss and Vivian Ho
Tue, December 15, 2020, 

Photograph: Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters

Joe Biden has picked Pete Buttigieg, his former rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, to be his transportation secretary, in a move which would make the former South Bend mayor first out gay person to be confirmed by the Senate to a cabinet post.

The nomination came as more picks for senior positions in Biden’s incoming administration emerged on Tuesday, including Jennifer Granholm, the former governor of Michigan, to run the energy department.

Buttigieg confirmed he had been tapped as transportation secretary in a tweet on Tuesday evening, saying he was “honored”.

This is a moment of tremendous opportunity—to create jobs, meet the climate challenge, and enhance equity for all.

I'm honored that the President-elect has asked me to serve our nation as Secretary of Transportation.

— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) December 16, 2020


Biden said in a statement that Buttigieg was a “patriot and a problem-solver who speaks to the best of who we are as a nation”.

“I am nominating him for secretary of transportation because this position stands at the nexus of so many of the interlocking challenges and opportunities ahead of us,” Biden said, “Jobs, infrastructure, equity, and climate all come together at the DOT, the site of some of our most ambitious plans to build back better.”

Biden’s decisions comes as he rounds out his cabinet of top officials to run federal agencies, having already selected former Obama adviser Tony Blinken as his secretary of state, retired Army Gen Lloyd Austin as his secretary of defense and former Fed chair Janet Yellen as his treasury secretary. He’s also picked former agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack to reprise that role in the Biden administration, and Ohio representative Marcia Fudge to serve as housing secretary.

Buttigieg is one of the few white men Biden has picked to serve as a cabinet secretary.

Granholm’s selection as energy secretary was widely reported on Tuesday and confirmed to the Associated Press by four people familiar with the plans, although Granholm has yet to comment publicly.

Granholm served two terms as Michigan’s governor and defeated the husband of the US education secretary, Betsy DeVos, to win her second term. In November, she penned an op-ed for the Detroit News calling for Michigan’s auto industry to invest in a low-carbon economy, stating that “the time for a low-carbon recovery is now”.

“She’s really a student of the [energy] transition,” Skip Pruss, who directed the Michigan department of energy, labor, and economic growth under Granholm, told Politico. “If you were to ask me what was a limitation in Michigan, I would say that she was slightly ahead of her time.”

Buttigieg, 38, ran an upstart presidential campaign and proved to be a competitive candidate with a knack for building a notable warchest. After he dropped out of the Democratic primary for president, he quickly endorsed Biden.

Buttigieg’s name had floated around lists for multiple cabinet positions. He was often mentioned as a possible candidate for ambassador to the United Nations, a position that some of his supporters noted could help improve his international relations credentials and give him an opening to New York donors. But Buttigieg was passed up for Linda Thomas-Greenfield, a veteran American diplomat.

His name had been mentioned for other positions including secretary of Veterans Affairs. But Buttigieg, a navy veteran, was not interested in that job, according to multiple Democratic supporters. Buttigieg’s team has denied any report or suggestion that he turned down an offer to run that department. He had also been mentioned as a possible secretary of commerce.

Jennifer Granholm speaks during the the Democratic national convention in 2016. 

Photograph: Paul Sancya/AP

Throughout his presidential campaign, Buttigieg struggled to get any traction among African American voters. He will probably face similar questions on how his tenure as mayor of South Bend affected African Americans. Still, as transportation secretary Buttigieg will be involved in a part of the Biden administration that affects African Americans across the country.

Buttigieg’s appointment was met with praise by some high-profile Democrats.

“As a former mayor, he knows the importance of investing in safer, more efficient interstate roads and bridges, and in the connections provided by a secure rail network,” New Jersey’s governor, Phil Murphy, said in a statement. “President-elect Biden has chosen the right person to lead on delivering the promise of clean energy and electric vehicles, on creating new union jobs, and on investments in environmental justice – all of which are inextricably intertwined within our transportation infrastructure.”

Biden’s selection of Buttigieg for transportation secretary drew praise from LGBTQ rights groups, with one calling it “a new milestone in a decades-long effort” to have LGBTQ representation in the US government.

“Its impact will reverberate well-beyond the department he will lead,” added Annise Parker, president and CEO of the LGBTQ Victory Institute.

The South Bend chapter of Black Lives Matter, however, denounced Buttigieg‘s impending nomination. The group had made their displeasure of Buttigieg known during his presidential campaign, following the 2019 South Bend shooting of a Black man by a white police officer.

“We saw Black communities have their houses torn down by his administration,” said Jorden Giger, BLM’s South Bend leader, in a statement, referring to Buttigieg‘s effort to tear down substandard housing. “We saw the machinery of his police turned against Black people.”

Biden also plans to tap the former Environmental Protection Agency chief Gina McCarthy to become his domestic climate czar, spearheading Biden’s ambitions for a massive, coordinated domestic campaign to slow climate change. Her counterpart in climate efforts will be the former secretary of state John Kerry, earlier named by Biden as his climate envoy for national security issues.

The Associated Press contributed reporting

Biden's agriculture secretary pick disappoints

Black farmers

By Christopher Walljasper

Fri, December 11, 2020

CHICAGO (Reuters) - President-elect Joe Biden has promised to address racial inequality in agriculture. But some Black farmers aren't so sure he picked the right man for the job after settling on former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack for agriculture secretary.

Vilsack led the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) under former President Barack Obama. His likely return to the post comes at a time of racial reckoning in the United States, and Black voters won't soon forget they helped deliver Biden's victory.

Biden's transition team has said Vilsack's prior experience as USDA chief offers a head start in addressing issues facing the new administration.

"With how many farmers are struggling, the president-elect has been prioritizing experienced leaders – people he knows can hit the ground on day one to get things done," said Sean Savett, spokesman for the Biden transition team.

But Black farmers, who have long viewed the department suspiciously, say Vilsack comes back to his old job carrying plenty of baggage.

"USDA has historically not demonstrated a commitment to racial justice, and we particularly see the track record of Vilsack in the past," said Dara Cooper, co-founder of the National Black Food and Justice Alliance.

"That’s what caused a great concern," said Cooper, whose organization focuses on equitable access to food and land for Black farmers and communities.

Cooper's group, as well as the National Black Farmers Association, say alleged discriminatory practices continued at the USDA while under Vilsack's leadership, including the denial of loans to Black farmers and a decrease in the percentage of dollars loaned to minority farmers.

Vilsack declined to comment but said during the announcement of his nomination Friday he was committed to "rooting out inequities and systemic racism in the systems we govern and the programs we lead."

Many groups representing Black farmers endorsed Biden, who has pledged to "close racial wealth gaps – including for rural Americans of color."

But John Boyd Jr., a farmer and president of the National Black Farmers Association, voiced surprise that Biden picked Vilsack for the USDA over someone like Ohio congresswoman Marcia Fudge, a vocal proponent of increased nutrition funding for black communities and addressing racial discrimination.

"In my one-on-one meeting with him (Biden), he committed that there would be change at USDA for Black farmers," Boyd said.

Fudge, who would have been the first Black woman to lead the agency, reached out to Boyd in late November to discuss issues critical to Black farmers, he said. Vilsack contacted him on Thursday, he added, after the announcement of his selection.

Biden's transition team has announced Fudge will run the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Among other past issues, Vilsack forced Shirley Sherrod, a Black woman, to resign from her position as Georgia state director of rural development for the USDA in 2010, due to an edited tape of a speech that misconstrued Sherrod’s statements as prejudicial against white farmers.

Vilsack later apologized and offered Sherrod a new position, which she declined.

Vilsack's nomination follows Georgia lawmaker David Scott’s selection as the first African American to chair the House Agriculture Committee. Scott has pledged to back a proposal from U.S. Senators Cory Booker and Elizabeth Warren that would provide grants to Black farmers to purchase farmland and protect them from further losses.

Discriminatory lending practices, often at local USDA offices, denied Black farmers access to funds needed to operate, maintain and purchase farmland, leading to a loss of $120 billion in farmland value, according to a 2018 analysis by Melissa Gordon of Tufts University.

"We talk about the wrongs of the USDA as if it were in the past, but the reality is that they still continue, so there has to be some drastic overhaul," said Cooper.

(Reporting by Christopher Walljasper; Editing by Caroline Stauffer and To

Biden Picks Former Michigan Governor Granholm to Lead Energy


Jennifer Epstein, Jennifer Jacobs and Ari Natter
Tue, December 15, 2020



(Bloomberg) -- President-elect Joe Biden has chosen Jennifer Granholm, the former governor of the politically pivotal state of Michigan, to lead the Department of Energy, three people familiar with the matter said.

The agency is expected to play an enlarged role in the battle against climate change.

Granholm served as energy adviser to Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign and has been credited with expanding Michigan’s clean energy industry during her two terms as governor.

She served as Michigan’s attorney general from 1999 to 2003, has been an adviser to the Pew Charitable Trusts’ clean energy program and is a professor at the University of California, Berkeley.

A Granholm representative didn’t respond to an email seeking comment. The Biden transition team declined comment.

If confirmed, Granholm, 61, will take over an agency with an annual budget of $35 billion and a sprawling mission that includes maintaining the nation’s nuclear warheads, its emergency stockpile of oil and researching subjects as varied as super computers and carbon dioxide emissions.

Under Biden, the department is expected to have a role in Covid-related economic stimulus that the president-elect has said will be one of his top priorities. The department was instrumental in dispensing some $90 billion in clean energy stimulus spending under the Recovery Act in 2009 under President Barack Obama.

The Biden administration is expected to restart the department’s energy efficiency standard shop, which ground to a halt under Trump, as well as reinvigorate the agency’s loan programs which holds billions of dollars in loan authority for clean energy projects.