The owners of one of Wellington’s landmark buildings have been granted a 10-year extension to their earthquake strengthening deadline. The St Gerard’s monastery and church buildings sit on a prominent clifftop above Oriental Bay….
Category Archives: headline
Mellow yellow: Sunflowers in bloom near Oamaru
The sunflowers near Weston are in full bloom, and are attracting more than just birds.Owners Peter and Sandra Mitchell said the flowers generated a lot of interest from the public and it was not uncommon for people to stop and take…
SPCA Whanganui calling for public help after box of puppies dumped
A box of newborn puppies has been dumped at a Whanganui beach and SPCA Whanganui is seeking help to find out where they came from.The box of nine puppies was discovered at the North Mole on Tuesday afternoon by a person who was…
Herald morning quiz: January 28
Test your brains with the Herald’s morning quiz. Be sure to check back on nzherald.co.nz at 3pm for the afternoon quiz. To challenge yourself with more quizzes, CLICK HERE.
Barry Soper: Why Kiwi taxpayers are paying Covid wage subsidy in Cook Islands
OPINION: What’s so special about businesses in the Cook Islands?Well, they must have something worth preserving that our businesses here don’t have. Their Prime Minister, Mark Brown, told Heather du Plessis-Allan on Newstalk…
'Blame Trump' defence emerging from alleged US Capitol rioters
The "Trump defence" is taking shape among some alleged US Capitol rioters.
One by one, die-hard supporters of former President Donald Trump are now blaming him for their actions that day, after being charged by federal prosecutors and facing possible jail time.
A lawyer for one rioter who allegedly attacked police officers with a baseball bat said he was "inspired" by Trump's incendiary speech at a rally beforehand. The so-called QAnon shaman, whose horned bearskin headdress made him go viral, now claims he was "duped" by Trump, his lawyer said.
At this point, the statements may be more of a public relations strategy than an articulated legal defence. But they dovetail with Democrats' case in favour of impeaching and convicting Trump; they agree that the former president incited the deadly insurrection that overwhelmed the Capitol on January 6.
More than 150 people have been charged in connection with the attack, according to CNN's latest tally.
READ MORE: Two Virginia police officers fired for storming US Capitol
"You become very self-interested very quickly when you've been charged by the Department of Justice," said Elie Honig, a CNN legal analyst and former federal prosecutor.
"Whatever political mission these people thought they were on while invading the Capitol, now that they might get locked up, they'll point the finger wherever they need to. Political goals now go out the window."
'Inspired' and 'roused' by Trump
Democrats cited some of initial arrests in their hurried House Judiciary Committee report released before the impeachment vote. The 76-page document claimed the charges proved that Trump's rhetoric during the transition had motivated his staunchest supporters to attack the Capitol.
Meanwhile, defence attorneys for some alleged rioters are tacitly making the Democrats' case.
At a recent hearing, a lawyer for Emanuel Jackson blamed Trump while arguing that he should be released before trial. Jackson, 20, of Maryland, was charged with five crimes, including assaulting law enforcement, after he was seen on bodycam footage hitting officers with a baseball bat.
"The nature and circumstances of this offence must be viewed through the lens of an event inspired by the President of the United States," defence attorney Brandi Harden wrote in court filings, adding that Jackson attended the rally beforehand where "Trump roused the crowd" by telling supporters to "fight like hell" against lawmakers who refused to overturn the results.
At the hearing, Harden said Jackson had been unduly influenced by "some kind of propaganda," and referred to several right-wing theories that Jackson embraced after Trump promoted them.
The judge sided with the Justice Department and ordered Jackson to stay in jail before his trial.
Lawyers for another defendant, Edward Lang of New York, put out a news release last week citing comments from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell that Trump had "provoked" the violence. Lang was charged after posting incriminating photos on social media from the riot.
Fodder for Democrats
There is plenty of new fodder for Democrats in the latest batch of unsealed criminal charges.
In charging papers unsealed Tuesday, prosecutors cited messages sent by another alleged rioter, Kenneth Grayson of Pennsylvania, 51, where he said he was following Trump's orders.
"I'm there for the greatest celebration of all time after Pence leads the Senate flip!! OR IM THERE IF TRUMP TELLS US TO STORM THE F—— CAPITAL IMA DO THAT THEN!" Grayson told a friend on Facebook, referring to Trump's effort to pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence to overturn his loss by nullifying dozens of electoral votes for President Joe Biden.
Separately, an alleged rioter from Texas implicated Trump this week after he was charged with five federal crimes, including death threats against Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York.
"I was in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021, because I believed I was following the instructions of former President Trump and he was my president and the commander-in-chief. His statements also had me believing the election was stolen from him," Garret Miller, 34, said in a statement released by his attorney, where he also apologised directly to Ocasio-Cortez.
Miller said he was willing to testify at "any trial or Congressional proceeding." His attorney Clinton Broden told CNN on Tuesday that this includes Trump's impeachment trial in the Senate.
A judge ordered Miller to remain in jail before trial, according to the Justice Department.
At this early stage in the proceedings, political comments like these are more about posturing and messaging in the court of public opinion than about securing favourable outcomes in court.
It has yet to be seen how many defendants will proceed to trial and then, at that point, would mount a "Trump defence."
"The best-case scenario for a defence like that is that you catch the ear of a sympathetic juror and get a hung jury," Honig said. "But as a legal matter, it won't carry the defence strategy."
Haitian Child Held by US Reunited with Family
A 9-year-old Haitian boy who was separated from his older brother by US immigration authorities was reunited with his family late Tuesday after spending about nine days in government custody, his attorney said.
On Jan. 17, Vladimir Fardin and his brother Christian Laporte, 19, were detained by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) shortly after landing at San Francisco International Airport. CBP officers took away their visas because of missing paperwork in Laporte’s case and in Fardin’s case for previously attending elementary school in the US in violation of his tourist visa.
Because Laporte was deported by CBP, Fardin was in the US without a “legally-acceptable and court-recognized guardian” and was thus classified as an unaccompanied minor and placed in the custody of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), which cares for immigrant children.
In the days that followed the separation, attorneys and advocates tried to quickly have Fardin returned to his family, but faced an obstacle when ORR initially said the boy had to remain in a foster home for a 14-day quarantine because of the pandemic. The continued pushback from ORR, advocates said, was an example of how difficult it can be to get a child released from government custody.
Attorney Marc Van Der Hout, who is representing the two brothers, said the detention was “absurd” and pushed ORR to release Fardin before 14 days. Not only was Fardin suffering psychologically because this was the first time he had ever been away from his family, the attorney said, but keeping him in custody for two weeks only made sense if he intended on staying in the US to fight his case and would eventually be sent to a location with more children.
“This is a 9-year-old kid who has never been alone a day in his life who is suffering tremendously,” Van Der Hout told BuzzFeed News. “We just want to get him home to his mother, he’s going through a lot in custody.”
Van Der Hout said he and attorney Johnny Sinodis worked with ICE and ORR through the weekend to win Fardin’s release.
“What ultimately happened is we had to go up the chain to ORR’s DC office because the local office was insisting on not releasing [Fardin] for 14 days,” Van Der Hout said. “We kept telling them that policy only applies if he was going to be sent to general population in ORR and not if he’s planning on leaving.”
In a statement, ORR said it does not comment on specific cases or identify unaccompanied immigrant children.
“As you know, by law HHS is required to provide care for UAC who are referred by another federal agency,” said an ORR spokesperson. “Once in our care we work to put them in immediate contact with parents or family members so they may be united with a suitable sponsor as soon as possible.”
Van Der Hout said the two brothers shouldn’t have been separated in the first place because CBP could’ve released them under a process called “deferred inspection” and allowed Laporte to get his paperwork together.
Last Friday, ICE dropped removal proceedings against Fardin so he no longer has an active immigration case to fight in the US.
Amy Cohen — a child psychologist and executive director with the non-profit Every Last One, which works with immigrant children — spoke with Fardin via video while he was in ORR custody.
“He was tearful through the entire 70 minutes we spoke,” Cohen told BuzzFeed News. “He broke down and at some point sobbed so much he wasn’t able to talk.”
Cohen said Fardin was already suffering from separation anxiety and this experience will likely deepen that trauma.
“He’s [had] continued anxiety and distress,” Cohen said. “Not only was this unnecessary, but it endangers him psychologically and physiologically.”
Traumatic stress can negatively impact a child’s brain development, as well as their immune and cardiological systems, Cohen said.
But not every child is released as quickly as Fardin, she noted.
“This is a child who has two excellent private attorneys and the director of a national non-profit advocating on his behalf,” Cohen said. “Now think of all the children in the custody of ORR who don’t have that kind of advocacy and are not able to get out of these institutions.”
The post Haitian Child Held by US Reunited with Family appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.
Biden-Putin in 1st Phone Call on Cyber Spying, Bounties on US Troops
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. President Joe Biden and Russian leader Vladimir Putin held their first conversation as counterparts Tuesday in a phone call that underscored troubled relations and the delicate balance between the former Cold War foes.
According to the White House, Biden raised concerns about the arrest of opposition figure Alexei Navalny, Russia’s alleged involvement in a massive cyber espionage campaign and reports of Russian bounties on American troops in Afghanistan. The Kremlin, meanwhile, focused on Putin’s response to Biden’s proposal to extend the last remaining U.S.-Russia arms control treaty.
While the readouts from the two capitals emphasized different elements, they both suggested that U.S-Russia relations will be guided, at least at the beginning of the Biden administration, by a desire to do no harm but also no urgency to repair existing damage.
The two presidents agreed to have their teams work urgently to complete a five-year extension of the New START nuclear weapons treaty that expires next month. Former President Donald Trump’s administration had withdrawn from two arms control treaties with Russia and had been prepared to let New START lapse.
Unlike his immediate predecessors — including Trump, who was enamored of Putin and frequently undercut his own administration’s tough stance on Russia — Biden has not held out hope for a “reset” in relations. Instead he has indicated he wants to manage differences without necessarily resolving them or improving ties.
And with a heavy domestic agenda and looming decisions needed on Iran and China, a direct confrontation with Russia is not likely something Biden seeks.
Although the leaders agreed to work together to extend New START before it expires Feb. 5 and to look at other areas of potential strategic cooperation, the White House said Biden was firm on U.S. support for Ukraine’s sovereignty, while Russia is supporting separatists in the country’s east.
Biden also raised the SolarWinds cyberhack, which has been attributed to Russia, reports of Russian bounties on American soldiers in Afghanistan, interference in the 2020 U.S. election, the poisoning of Navalny and the weekend crackdown on Navalny’s supporters.
“President Biden made clear that the United States will act firmly in defense of its national interests in response to actions by Russia that harm us or our allies,” the White House said. Biden told Putin in the phone call, first reported by The Associated Press, that the U.S. would defend itself and take action, which could include further sanctions, to ensure Moscow does not act with impunity, officials said.
Moscow had reached out last week to request the call, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter but not authorized to discuss it publicly. Biden agreed, but he wanted first to prepare with his staff and speak with European allies, including the leaders of Britain, France and Germany, which he did.
Before he spoke to Putin, Biden also called NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg to pledge U.S. commitment to the decades-old alliance founded as a bulwark against Russian aggression.
The Kremlin’s readout of the call did not address the most contentious issues between the countries, though it said the leaders also discussed other “acute issues on the bilateral and international agenda.”
It described the talk as “frank and businesslike” — often a diplomatic way of referring to tense discussions. It also said Putin congratulated Biden on becoming president and “noted that normalization of ties between Russia and the United States would serve the interests of both countries.”
Among the issues the Kremlin said were discussed were the coronavirus pandemic, the Iran nuclear agreement, Ukraine and issues related to trade and the economy.
The call came as Putin considers the aftermath of pro-Navalny protests that took place in more than 100 Russian cities over the weekend. Biden’s team has already reacted strongly to the crackdown on the protests, in which more than 3,700 people were arrested across Russia, including more than 1,400 in Moscow. More protests are planned for the coming weekend.
Navalny, an anti-corruption campaigner and Putin’s best-known critic, was arrested Jan. 17 as he returned to Russia from Germany, where he had spent nearly five months recovering from nerve-agent poisoning that he blames on the Kremlin. Biden has previously condemned the use of chemical weapons.
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Russian authorities deny the accusations.
Just from the public accounts, Biden’s discussion with Putin appeared diametrically opposed to Trump’s relationship with the Russian president.
Trump had seemed to seek Putin’s approval, frequently casting doubt on Russian interference in the 2016 elections, including when he stood next to Putin at their 2018 summit in Helsinki. He also downplayed Russia’s involvement in the hack of federal government agencies last year and the allegations that Russia offered the Taliban bounties.
Still, despite that conciliatory approach, Trump’s administration toed a tough line against Moscow, imposing sanctions on the country, Russian companies and business leaders for issues including Ukraine, energy supplies and attacks on dissidents.
Biden, in his call with Putin, broke sharply with Trump by declaring that he knew that Russia attempted to interfere with both the 2016 and 2020 U.S. elections.
___
Associated Press writer Vladimir Isachenkov in Moscow contributed to this report.
The post Biden-Putin in 1st Phone Call on Cyber Spying, Bounties on US Troops appeared first on The St Kitts Nevis Observer.
Why you need to update your iPhone right now
Apple is urging iPhone and iPad users to promptly update their operating systems to fix security bugs that may have already been exploited by hackers.
On its support webpage, the company said three security flaws "may have been actively exploited."
It did not reveal too many specifics about the bugs, noting "Apple does not disclose, discuss, or confirm security issues until an investigation has occurred and patches or releases are available."
READ MORE: Apple issues warning iPhone could mess with pacemakers
The issue is a link in an exploit chain, meaning a hacker would need to exploit further bugs for it to be fully executable.
The company declined to comment further on any attacks.
The company pushed out the security patches on Tuesday as part of its new iOS 14.4 software, which also includes fixes for keyboard lag and allows smaller QR codes to be read by the camera.
Apple said two security issues stem from its WebKit, an open source browser engine used by Safari and iOS browsers.
"A remote attacker may be able to cause arbitrary code execution," the company said in the description notes.
Meanwhile, Kernel, an Apple developer framework, was also affected.
The exploits were reported by "an anonymous researcher," according to the webpage.
Apple prides itself on device security but it's not immune to exploits.
Last year, Google researchers found several websites with code that allowed hackers to quietly infiltrate iPhones.
Meanwhile, an iOS13 bug exposed contact details stored in iPhones without requiring a passcode or biometric identification — a flaw that the company did not publicly address until several months after it was first reported.
Boeing 737 Max aircraft cleared to fly again
A modified version of the Boeing 737 Max, incorporating multiple safety upgrades, has been approved to resume flights in Europe, following nearly two years of reviews after the aircraft was involved in two deadly crashes that saw the planes grounded worldwide, the European aviation safety agency said on Wednesday.
Changes mandated by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) include a package of software upgrades, a reworking of the electrical system, maintenance checks, operations manual updates and new crew training.
READ MORE: Boeing hit with $3.2 billion fine after deceiving authorities about fatal flaw
"We have reached a significant milestone on a long road," EASA executive director Patrick Ky said.
"Following extensive analysis by EASA, we have determined that the 737 MAX can safely return to service.
"This assessment was carried out in full independence of Boeing or the Federal Aviation Administration and without any economic or political pressure – we asked difficult questions until we got answers and pushed for solutions which satisfied our exacting safety requirements.
"We carried out our own flight tests and simulator sessions and did not rely on others to do this for us."
The planes were grounded in March 2019 following the crashes of a Lion Air flight near Jakarta on October 29, 2018, and an Ethiopian Airlines flight on March 10, 2019, killing a total of 346 people.
Investigators determined that the cause of the crashes was a faulty computer system that pushed the plane's nose downward in flight and couldn't be overridden by pilots.
Changes mandated by EASA, based in Cologne, Germany, include a re-certification of the plane's flight-control system, called the Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS, which was not a part of previous 737 models.
"While the investigations assessed that the behaviour of the MCAS and related alerting systems were the clear main cause of the two crashes, EASA rapidly realised that a far wider review of the 737 MAX was needed," the agency said.
EASA extended its analysis to the entire flight control system, with a particular focus on human factors — "the actual experience for a pilot of flying the plane."
To that end, all 737 Max pilots will now need to undergo one-off special training, including on a simulator, to ensure they are fully familiar with the redesigned plane and able to handle specific scenarios that might arise during flight.
The European pilots' association ECA welcomed the new airworthiness directive, saying it was important that "European pilots continuously engaged with EASA to make sure the operational perspective of the line pilots are well reflected in the review process."
"One fundamentally wrong – and eventually fatal – idea had influenced the initial aircraft design and certification process: that pilot training is a burden, a cost, instead of being seen as an investment," ECA technical affairs director Tanja Harter said.
"It was important that the re-certification corrects this."
Mr Ky said EASA will continue to monitor 737 Max operations closely as the aircraft resumes service.
"Let me be quite clear that this journey does not end here," he said.
Despite the green-light from EASA, the actual return of the aircraft to the skies of Europe may still take some time.
Airlines will still need to ensure their pilots have received the training needed to fly the plane, and that the maintenance and changes necessary have been carried out after the long grounding.
Some EU states will have to lift their own individual grounding notices as well and the UK, which has left the bloc, will have to make its own ruling.
The pandemic, meanwhile, has caused severe travel restrictions.
Many airlines are flying a fraction of their usual routes, which EASA said could affect the pace of the aircraft's return to commercial operations.
The 737 Max returned to the skies in the United States last month, after the Federal Aviation Administration approved changes that Boeing made to the automated flight control system.
It has also been allowed by Brazil to resume flights, and has been cleared by Transport Canada.