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Showing posts from August, 2023

2 years on, the withdrawal from Afghanistan continues to cast pall over Biden administration: ANALYSIS

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Two years on, the Afghanistan withdrawal continues to cast a pall as President Joe Biden seeks reelection, experts tell ABC News. Shortly after then-Sen. Joe Biden joined his colleagues in unanimously approving waging war in Afghanistan, he declared the effort required Military boots on the ground and predicted the world would judge the U.S. harshly if it did not stay the course, allowing "the hope of a liberated Afghanistan to evaporate." Twenty years later, President Biden defended his decision to withdraw from Afghanistan with the same level of confidence, portraying it as a moral imperative while forcefully rejecting criticism over the chaotic exit and new era of Taliban rule that saw millions of Afghans' hard-won freedoms vaporize virtually overnight. And upon completion of the withdrawal, Biden applauded the "extraordinary success of this mission." President Joe Biden delivers remarks on the end of the war in Afghanistan in the State Dining Room at the Wh

Rare video shows American Paul Whelan inside Russian prison

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U.S. efforts to free the jailed American remain at an impasse. Russian state media has released rare footage showing Paul Whelan inside a notorious prison camp, providing the first publicly available video images of the im prison ed American in more than three years. Broadcast on Monday, the recording shows Whelan, a Marine veteran, wearing a black uniform and hat among other inmates in what appear to be various areas within IK-17, a maximum-security penal colony in Mordovia -- a remote, wooded region of Russia. It was not clear when the video was taken but it comes amid continuing, high-level U.S. efforts to get him freed. In one scene, Whelan works at a sewing machine and speaks to a reporter, telling him "Sir, you understand when I say I can't do an interview, which means I can't answer any questions." Other shots show Whelan eating at a table and holding up what appears to be an identification card. American Paul Whelan, who is being held in Russian jail, is

Chipotle agrees to $300,000 settlement over child labor allegations in DC

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Chipotle has agreed to a six-figure settlement in D.C. after prosecutors “identified over 800 potential violations of D.C.’s child labor laws over the past three years" Chipotle Mexican Grill has agreed to a six-figure settlement after an investigation in the nation's capital "identified over 800 potential violations of Washington, D.C.'s child labor laws over the past three years," D.C. Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb announced on Monday. Schwalb's office alleges that since April 2020, the popular restaurant chain violated several child labor laws, with employees under the age of 18 working more than eight hours in a day, more than 48 hours in a week and more than six consecutive days in a work week. The settlement also accuses Chipotle of violating the city's laws by allowing children to work after 10 p.m. local time. Chipotle operates 20 stores in the district. The investigation by Schwalb's office was launched in May 2022. Chipotle will pay D

US will help train Ukrainian pilots on F-16s after all

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U.S. will help train Ukrainian F-16 pilots after all, with language training beginning next month, flight training to begin in October. The United States will be training Ukrainian pilots how to operate F-16 fighter aircraft after all, but only in support of the Netherlands and Denmark that will take the lead in the training of Ukrainian pilots. The Pentagon on Thursday announced that beginning in October the U.S. will provide F-16 train ing to a small number of Ukrainian pilots and maintenance teams in addition to the much larger number that will be train ed in Europe. Netherlands' Air Force F-16 fighter jets simulating aerial interceptions during a media day illustrating how NATO Air Policing safeguards the Allies' airspace in the northern and northeastern region of the Alliance, July 4, 2023. Piroschka Van De Wouw/Reuters MORE: Russia-Ukraine live updates: Ukrainian forces land in Russia-occupied Crimea, official says Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told repor

Affirmative action: What to know about the Supreme Court cases

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The court has rolled back the use of race in college admissions. The Supreme Court on Thursday set new limits on affirmative action programs in cases involving whether public and private colleges and universities can continue to use race as one factor among many in student admissions. The court held, in a 6-3 opinion for the conservative majority written by Chief Justice John Roberts, that Harvard and the University of North Carolina's admissions programs violate the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. MORE: Supreme Court sets new limits on affirmative action programs in landmark ruling While 40 years of legal precedent supports consideration of race in college admissions, a conservative advocacy group had asked the justices anew to reverse course and issue a blanket ban on the practice. Fordham University, a Jesuit institution in the Bronx, N.Y., has defended affirmative action in college admissions as a moral imperative and critical tool for building a diverse

Supreme Court rules employers must be more accommodating of religious observance

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A former mail carrier didn't want to work Sundays to observe the Sabbath. A unanimous Supreme Court on Thursday ruled in favor of a former U.S. Postal Service letter carrier from Pennsylvania who didn't want to work on Sundays in order to observe the Sabbath and was disciplined for skipping shifts. The decision by Justice Samuel Alito gives Gerald Groff, the carrier, a chance to potentially get his job back and more broadly raises the bar for when employers can legally refuse to accommodate the religious practice of their employees. Gerald Groff of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, resigned as a Postal Service letter carrier in 2019 after his boss would not excuse him from Sunday shifts to observe the Sabbath. ABC News MORE: Supreme Court showdown over Sabbath could change workplaces across US The Civil Rights Act of 1964 requires employers to accommodate the employee unless it would pose an "undue hardship." The U.S. Supreme Court is seen on June 23, 2023 in Washingt

Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson blasts 'let-them-eat-cake obliviousness' in Supreme Court affirmative action dissent

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The first Black female justice accused the Supreme Court's conservative majority of a "let-them-eat-cake obliviousness" on the issue of race. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson accused the Supreme Court's conservative majority of a "let-them -eat-cake obliviousness " on the issue of race in its landmark ruling on affirmative action . The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down the way Harvard University and the University of North Carolina use race-conscious admissions policies, stating they violated the equal protections clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Chief Justice John Roberts, who authored the opinion, said the schools' programs had employed race "in a negative manner" and lacked meaningful end points. Instead, the court said institutions of higher education can only consider how race has impacted an individual applicant through their personal experiences or narrative. "In other words, the student must be treated based on his or her exp