Month: November 2017

Authorities say the deaths of 12 of the 14 Florida nursing home patients who died after Hurricane Irma have been ruled homicides.

The Sun-Sentinel of South Florida said autopsy results from the Broward County medical examiner’s office were released Wednesday.

No arrests have been made. Police spokeswoman Miranda Grossman said the investigation would continue and part of that would be determining who should be charged.

The Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills lost the use of its air conditioner on September 10, shortly after Irma slammed into Florida. On September 13, eight residents died and the others were evacuated from the sweltering facility. Six more died over the following weeks, though two deaths were found to not be related to the lack of power or air conditioning.
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One of the nation’s biggest outdoor holiday events, the parade makes its way through 2 miles of Manhattan with marching bands, performers from Broadway hits, elaborate floats and signature giant balloons. Olaf from the Disney movie “Frozen” and Chase from the TV cartoon “Paw Patrol” will be among the new balloons Thursday, along with a new version of the Grinch of Dr. Seuss fame.

The parade also will feature heavy security, including officers with assault weapons and portable radiation detectors among the crowds, sharpshooters on rooftops and sand-filled city sanitation trucks poised as imposing barriers to traffic at every cross street. 

“Every year the NYPD has done more to keep this event tonight and the parade itself safer,” Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio told crowds gathered to watch the balloons being inflated Wednesday. “Because we understand we are dealing with a very challenging world. And so the amount of resources and personnel we put in has increased each year to make us safer.” 

Authorities say there is no confirmation of a credible threat to the parade, but it comes after a truck attack on a bike path near the World Trade Center killed eight people in October. Weeks earlier, a gunman in a 32nd-floor Las Vegas hotel room rained bullets on a crowd at a country music festival, killing 58 and injuring hundreds.

 New York City’s mayor and police brass have repeatedly stressed that layers of security, along with hundreds of officers, will be in place for the Thanksgiving parade and that visitors shouldn’t be deterred. But they’re asking spectators to be alert for anything suspicious. 

Police officers will escort each of the giant balloons to help monitor wind speeds and ensure the wafting characters don’t go off course, but winds weren’t expected to climb above 17 mph.

 In 2005, a balloon caught an unexpected gust of wind and struck a lamppost in Times Square, injuring two people. Since then, the parade has been accident-free. 

The 91st annual parade begins at 9 a.m. and will be broadcast live on NBC. Smokey Robinson, Jimmy Fallon, The Roots, Flo Rida and Wyclef Jean will be among the stars celebrating, along with performances from the casts of Broadway’s “Anastasia,” “Dear Evan Hansen” and “SpongeBob SquarePants,” plus a dozen marching bands. 
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Australia on Thursday called on the United States to build a strong presence in Asia and bolster ties with “like-minded” partners while warning against China’s rising influence.

A more insular United States would be detrimental to the liberal nature of the world’s “rules-based order,” the government said in a 115-page foreign policy white paper.

“Australia believes that international challenges can only be tackled effectively when the world’s wealthiest, most innovative and most powerful country is engaged in solving them,” the government said.

Roadmap to future

The white paper is a guide for Australian diplomacy and provides a roadmap for advancing its interests.

The election of President Donald Trump represented a step toward a more isolationist world, which could be negative for Australia’s export-dependent economy, commentators have said.

Trump withdrew from the Trans-Pacific Partnership regional trade agreement in January, shortly after he took office.

“Strong and sustained U.S. engagement in the international system remains fundamental to international stability and prosperity,” the government said in the paper.

“Without such engagement, the effectiveness and liberal character of the international order would erode.”

Australia is one of the staunchest U.S. allies, and troops from the two countries have fought alongside each other in all major conflicts for generations.

But the economic growth and power that the United States has enjoyed since the end of the World War II is now being challenged by China, Australia said.

Australia and China have close economic ties, but China is suspicious of Australia’s close military relationship with the United States.

‘Tensions, benefits’

Australia warned in the paper of risks it faces, particularly in the “Indo-Pacific region” because of a shift in the balance of power.

While the government recognized the economic benefits from China’s rise, it was also trying to “wish China away,” said Jane Golley, deputy director at the Australian Centre on China in the World, Australian National University.

“To actually drop the word ‘Asia’ from ‘Asia-Pacific’ undoes three decades of diplomatic effort,” Golley said, referring to the use of the phrase “Indo-Pacific” which came up 120 times in the paper. “Asia-Pacific” was not used once.

The United States and some of its allies have recently been talking up their vision of the “Indo-Pacific,” instead of the “Asia-Pacific,” in a play on words aimed at undermining the influence of China.

“There is a small reference to China’s geo-economic strategy in the paper, but the emphasis is on the tensions that could create, rather than the economic benefits,” Golley said.

“We’ll have to see how China reacts to this but they’re not going to like this policy.”

Australia-China relations low

Relations between Australia and China sank to a low point this year after Australia rejected high-profile Chinese investments, citing “national interest.”

Australia has also shown little enthusiasm for China’s ambitious Belt and Road initiative, which aims to connect China to Europe and beyond with infrastructure projects.

The initiative was mentioned just once in the paper.

“We are not embracing the future,” Golley said. “We are holding on to the past and reaching on to the life jacket rather than thinking of building a whole new ship.”
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Search and rescue operations continued Thursday for three sailors still missing after a U.S. Navy transport plane crashed Wednesday into the western Pacific Ocean.

The Navy said the twin-propeller C2-A Greyhound aircraft plummeted into the sea about 925 kilometers (575 miles) southeast of Okinawa while it was on a routine mission taking passengers and cargo from a U.S. base in Japan to the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier.

It said eight of the 11 people aboard were rescued about 40 minutes later and taken to the Reagan where they were reported in good condition.

The Navy said several U.S. and Japanese naval ships and aircraft have, so far, covered more than 320 nautical miles in their search for the missing.

There was no immediate explanation for the crash, and the Navy said the incident is being investigated.

Military exercises

U.S. President Donald Trump, at his oceanfront Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida for the Thanksgiving weekend holiday, said via Twitter that he is monitoring the situation.

“Prayers for all involved,” he said.

The Reagan was operating in the Philippine Sea as part of joint exercises with Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force, part of 10 days of training designed to increase defensive readiness and interoperability in air and sea maneuvers between the two countries.

More than 14,000 U.S. personnel are participating in the drills, which also include the guided-missile destroyers USS Stethem, USS Chafee and USS Mustin, and a maritime patrol and reconnaissance squadron.

Fifth Navy incident this year

Wednesday’s crash was the fifth major Navy incident in Asian waters this year.

Two fatal accidents left 17 sailors dead and prompted the Defense Department to remove of eight top Navy officers from their posts, including the 7th Fleet commander.

The destroyer USS John S. McCain collided with an oil tanker in August off Singapore, leaving 10 U.S. sailors dead and five injured. The USS Fitzgerald, another destroyer, collided with a container ship in waters off Japan in June, killing seven sailors.

After investigations, the Navy concluded the collisions were avoidable, resulting from widespread failures by commanders and crew members, who did not recognize and respond quickly to the emergencies as they unfolded. The Navy has called for improved training, and increasing sleep and stress management for sailors. 

Separately, in January, the USS Antietam ran aground near Yosuka, Japan, and the USS Lake Champlain collided with a South Korean fishing vessel in May.

Carla Babb contributed to this report.
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When Gonzalo Perez bought the Castlewood Restaurant last December, it was one of the few outposts among the nearby corn and soybean fields hungry farmers could depend as a place to dine out.

It could become much more than that for Perez.

“It’s my lottery ticket,” he told VOA.

That’s because one of the largest economic development projects in the United States is moving in… right next door.

Taiwanese company Foxconn plans to build a massive flat screen manufacturing and technology facility in nearby Mount Pleasant, employing thousands of workers when completed.

It’s only a few kilometers away from Perez’s restaurant, and he hopes to start cashing in… soon.

“I hope I get a lot of business from construction people in the beginning,” he told VOA from the dining room of another restaurant he owns in a neighboring town which could also benefit from the economic boom the project could bring to the entire region.

WATCH: Foxconn deal

​ “You are going to probably bring a lot of hotels to the area, bring a lot of chain restaurants to the area. This is a big industry,” Perez explained.

“As they build this facility they are going to require 10,000 construction employees, plus around another 6,000 indirect employees,” says Mark Hogan, Secretary and CEO of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, or WEDC. 

“When this ecosystem is up and running in the state of Wisconsin it will be an additional 13,000 employees to the state, and another upwards of 20,000 indirect or induced jobs.”

Hogan’s WEDC is one of the chief institutions in the state that worked on the deal to attract Foxconn to Wisconsin.

“We passed special legislation which really created a pathway for the company to be successful in the state. And that had to do with environmental regulations. It had to do with incentives. It had to do with a lot of different things that just kind of cleared a pathway. All things that every other company in the state would have to comply with, but we wanted to create a faster lane for the company to be able to operate under.”

In the package offered to Foxconn is approximately $3 billion dollars in tax incentives if the company invests around $10 billion dollars in its facility and workforce. But those incentives meant to entice the company were also a concern among its critics.

“This is the largest in U.S. history, and it was somewhat surprising because Wisconsin does not generally play this game,” says Steven Deller, Professor of Applied Economics and an Economic Development Specialist with the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

 Deller says one of his concerns, not just as an academic but also as a taxpayer, is the potential for the state to actually owe money to Foxconn.

“But there is the Wisconsin Agricultural and Manufacturing Tax Credit,” he explained to VOA. “The way that the taxpayers may be on the hook for paying some money, if Foxconn is not paying taxes, and they have a tax credit, that means the state is paying Foxconn. So a lot of it is going to hinge on how big that facility becomes. Right not its starting at 3,000 – it could go up to 13,000. We have no idea how big it will actually become.”

For Gonzalo Perez, who came to the U.S. from Mexico 30 years ago and worked his way up from being a laborer in restaurants to now owning two of them, his biggest concern isn’t the size of the plant’s workforce or the tax incentives … it’s the potential increase in the number of his customers.

Right now he says about 200 people visit his restaurant on a good day.

“I hope to triple that,” he says.

He may not have to wait long to see an uptick in business. 

Groundbreaking on the new facility is planned for 2018, and as many as 1000 Foxconn employees could be working in the state later that year. 
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Lys Isma was brought to the U.S. illegally as a 9-month-old baby when her parents moved from Haiti. But she says she never felt undocumented.

“I didn’t have memories about living anywhere else,” Isma said.

Isma has been receiving protection under the security program known as TPS, or Temporary Protected Status, since she was 15. TPS has allowed Haitians, who were in the U.S., to legally live and work after the 2010 earthquake that devastated the island nation. Almost 60,000 Haitians are TPS holders.

Trump administration ends TPS

But on Monday, the administration of Donald Trump announced that TPS will be ending for Haitians because the U.S. government says Haiti has recovered enough to welcome its citizens back. The government gave Haitian TPS holders until July 2019 to return to Haiti or apply for another kind of legal status.

Isma says she has been “thinking a lot” what would it mean to live in a place she has no memories of.

“I’ve never had to navigate the world as an undocumented adult,” Isma said. “Every time I went to that job interview and they asked for work permit, I’ve had it. Every time I drove, I drove legally with a license. Every time I went past a law enforcement officer, I knew that I had the ability to be here legally present and that’s going to change in a year and a half,” she said.

Isma at 22 is no longer a child, but her story is representative of thousands of children who have Haitian parents in the TPS program. Many, like Isma, were brought to the U.S. from Haiti by their parents. In addition, the Center for Migration Studies estimates that Haitian TPS holders have 27,000 children who were born on U.S. soil.

​Toll on children

Stress, fear of losing parents or being forcibly relocated to Haiti while experiencing elevated levels of anxiety can leave long-term impacts, said Lawrence Palinkas, professor of social policy and health at the University of Southern California.

“You will likely see instances of anxiety, depressed aspects, disruption in behavior, and [low] performance in school. There will be a period of stress in terms of the relocation itself. The quality of life Haiti is going to be very different than it has been in the United States,” Palinkas told VOA.

After many years in the U.S., Palinkas said moving away from school, recreation activities, and friends would be a major disruption.

“The separation of those networks and sources of support will undoubtedly be stressful. … That in turn will require a new set of adjustments in addition to an elevated level of stress and strain on the family as they try to cope with both the relocation and residence in Haiti from a very different Haiti than the one which they left,” he said.

When ending TPS, government officials said conditions in Haiti had “significantly improved such that they no longer prevent nationals of Haiti from returning safely.”

But Archange Antoine, executive director of Faith in New Jersey, a faith-based community organization, says the community is nervous and “in total shock” after the announcement.

“You’re talking about a country that’s been through back-to-back natural disasters over the last five to six years, and has been devastated with flooding as well as hurricanes. And a government that is still trying to mobilize and deal with people — still from the earthquake,” Antoine said.

“Right now, we are not taking consideration the real reason of why they were given protection. And we’re making political decisions that are hurting families, and it’s just terrible,” he added.

US born children

For Haitian parents who may be thinking of taking their U.S. citizen children back to Haiti when TPS ends in 18 months, the State Department offers some advice.

A State Department official said in an email to VOA that American embassies and consulates overseas “stand ready to provide appropriate consular services for U.S. citizens.”

The official, speaking on background, said they encourage parents to apply for a passport for their U.S.-born children, before leaving the United States, to document citizenship and identity.

“U.S. citizen children in Haiti will need to have sufficient documentation to meet local authorities’ requirements for access to education and social services. A child’s Haitian citizenship should be documented in order to facilitate such integration,” the official wrote.

State said to refer to the government of Haiti for “more details on what is required to enter school and access health care and other services.”

But Isma, a student who works in a biology genetics lab at her university in Florida, says her community is willing to fight to keep its children in the U.S.

“In my community, we are not the kind of people to break up our families and leave our children behind. … And I know that that is going to be very hard. … [but] they are going to fight to stay here for their kids. And they are not going to have their families separated,” Isma said.
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