Category Archives: headline

headline

Bezos Donates $100 million Each to CNN Contributor Van Jones and Chef Jose Andres

By Oliver Darcy, CNN BusinesS

New York (CNN Business)Jeff Bezos, the Amazon (AMZN) founder and world’s wealthiest man, said Tuesday after flying to the edge of space that he planned to award $100 million each to CNN contributor Van Jones and chef José Andrés.

Bezos said that Jones and Andres were free to do “what they want” with the money.
“They can give it all to their own charity,” Bezos said at a press conference after his trip to space. “Or they can share the wealth. It is up to them.”
The money, Bezos said, was tied to a “surprise” philanthropic initiative he wanted to announce called the Courage and Civility Award.
The award aims to honor those who have “demonstrated courage” and tried to be a unifier in a divisive world, Bezos added.
“We need unifiers and not vilifiers,” Bezos said. “We need people who argue hard and act hard for what they believe. But they do that always with civility and never ad hominem attacks. Unfortunately, we live in a world where this is too often not the case. But we do have role models.”
Jones, accepting the award, said that “sometimes dreams come true.”
“You bet on me and I appreciate it,” Jones told Bezos, later adding that it was money for him to “give to others who have a similar spirit.”
Andrés, who has poured his efforts into feeding those in need around the world, said that the award itself “cannot feed the world on its own.”
“But,” Andrés added, “this is a start of a new chapter for us.”
Anderson Cooper, who was anchoring CNN’s special coverage on Tuesday, said on-air after Bezos announced the award that it was “quite a surprise.”
“None of us knew anything about it,” Cooper said.
The philanthropic initiative from Bezos comes as he and fellow billionaires such as Richard Branson, the Virgin Galactic investor, face criticism for spending their wealth on space tourism. Bezos has previously been criticized for not contributing more to philanthropy, but has donated billions of dollars in recent years to causes including climate change and food banks.
Critics have said that the world’s richest people should work to improve the conditions for people here on Earth, instead of flying off into space. Bezos and supporters of the space programs, however, have countered that both are possible.
“Well, I say they’re largely right. We have to do both,” he said in an interview with CNN Monday. “You know, we have lots of problems here and now on Earth and we need to work on those, and we always need to look to the future. We’ve always done that as a species, as a civilization. We have to do both.”

The post Bezos Donates $100 million Each to CNN Contributor Van Jones and Chef Jose Andres appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

headline

Biden Pressured on Haitian Immigrants to US

President Joe Biden speaks during. News conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, July 15, 2021. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Several Haitian American legislators and groups in New York have called on the Joe Biden administration to “create an easier pathway” for Haitians seeking political asylum in the United States.

In their letter, the elected officials, including New York State Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, chair of the Brooklyn Democratic Party, urged the administration to create this “easier pathway” by lifting the refugee admission ceiling, temporarily halting the deportation of Haitian migrants and providing Haitians with humanitarian aid in the form of food assistance and additional COVID-19 vaccine doses.

“There is a crisis in Haiti that demands our immediate attention as Americans, and begs the continued action of your leadership,” according to the letter that was also signed by New York State Assembly members Michaelle Solages and Kimberly Jean-Pierre; New York City Council Member Farah N. Louis; and Democratic Party nominees for New York City Council Rita Joseph and Chi Osse.

“Haitian-Americans served en masse as health care workers and frontline essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now is the time to give back to our Haitian-American community. Now is the time to protect those who protected us, by ensuring that the relatives of Haitian-Americans living abroad, receive the humanitarian protections necessary to save their lives and livelihoods.

“The United States is a nation built by immigrants in pursuit of freedom, and the promise of a better life. Today, Americans have an opportunity to help the people of Haiti escape persecution,” the letter stated.

“We ask that you employ the full powers of your office to raise the refugee admission ceiling from where it currently stands to help accommodate Haitian applicants; temporarily halt the deportation of Haitian migrants from the US; and supply the people of Haiti with humanitarian aid in the form of food assistance and additional COVID-19 doses.”

Meanwhile, a group of over 200 current and former Haitian American elected officials has also written to the Biden administration, requesting an “urgent” meeting to discuss US policy toward Haiti in the wake of the July 7 assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse.

The Washington-based National Haitian-American Elected Officials Network (NHAEON), considered the largest network of Haitian-American elected and appointed officials in the US, has written to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

“We have been working to build a relationship with the Biden administration vis-a-vis its foreign policy towards Haiti,” states the letter, signed by NHAEON Chairperson Alix Desulme, a council member in North Miami, Florida.

“While we are pleased with President Biden’s extension of TPS (Temporary Protected Status), we grow weary and frustrated with the lack of communication of the ongoing instability in Haiti,” the letter states, adding “NHAEON members are the elected representatives closest to the Haitian community and have a keen understanding of the dynamics in Haiti and its impact on our communities.

“We are ready to work with you to add value to the trajectory of US foreign policy towards Haiti To this end, we are requesting immediate scheduling of a briefing with your office on the aforementioned issues.”

NHAEON said its members represent millions of constituents across the United States but primarily in Florida, New York and New Jersey.

It said its members are “dedicated to supporting domestic policies, legislation and issues affecting Haitians living in the United States”.

CMC

The post Biden Pressured on Haitian Immigrants to US appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.

headline

WHO Leader Says Virus Risk Inevitable at Tokyo Olympics

TOKYO (AP) — The Tokyo Olympics should not be judged by the tally of COVID-19 cases that arise because eliminating risk is impossible, the head of the World Health Organization told sports officials Wednesday as events began in Japan.

How infections are handled is what matters most, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a speech to an International Olympic Committee meeting.

“The mark of success is making sure that any cases are identified, isolated, traced and cared for as quickly as possible and onward transmission is interrupted,” he said.

The number of Games-linked COVID-19 cases in Japan this month was 79 on Wednesday, with more international athletes testing positive at home and unable to travel

“The mark of success in the coming fortnight is not zero cases,” Tedros said, noting the athletes who already tested positive in Japan, including at the athletes village in Tokyo Bay, where most of the 11,000 competitors will stay.

Teammates classed as close contacts of infected athletes can continue training and preparing for events under a regime of isolation and extra monitoring.

Health experts in Japan have warned of the Olympics becoming a “super-spreader” event bringing tens of thousands of athletes, officials and workers during a local state of emergency.

“There is no zero risk in life,” said Tedros, who began his keynote speech minutes after the first softball game began in Fukushima, and added Japan was “giving courage to the whole world.”

The WHO leader also had a more critical message and a challenge for leaders of richer countries about sharing vaccines more fairly in the world.

“The pandemic is a test and the world is failing,” Tedros said, predicting more than 100,000 deaths from COVID-19 worldwide before the Olympic flame goes out in Tokyo on Aug. 8.

It was a “horrifying injustice,” he said, that 75% of the vaccine shots delivered globally so far were in only 10 countries.

Tedros warned anyone who believed the pandemic was over because it was under control in their part of the world lived in “a fool’s paradise.”

The world needs to produce 11 billion doses next year and the WHO wanted governments to help reach a target of vaccinating 70% of people in every country by the middle of next year.

“The pandemic will end when the world chooses to end it,” Tedros said. “It is in our hands.”

Advertisement

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

LEAVE A REPLY

The post WHO Leader Says Virus Risk Inevitable at Tokyo Olympics appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.