News of the World

[kyonides]

‘Rust’ Movie Medic Gets $1.15 Million Partial Settlement

A New Mexico judge has approved a $1.15 million settlement between a medic who worked on the “Rust” film set and one of several defendants she accused of negligence in the fatal 2021 shooting of a cinematographer by Alec Baldwin during a rehearsal.

Court records show the partial settlement between Cherlyn Schaefer and prop master Sarah Zachry was approved during a hearing Monday. Schaefer told the judge there’s not a day that goes by when she doesn’t think about what happened, the Santa Fe New Mexican reported.

In her civil complaint, Schaefer said she fought desperately in a failed attempt to save the life of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. She said the shock, trauma, and emotional distress that followed has made it impossible for her to continue working in her field.

Prosecutors dismissed an involuntary manslaughter charge against the actor and producer last month, citing new evidence and the need for more time to investigate.

I don't want to be mean here, but aren't doctors, especially surgeons supposed to endure this kind of horrible scenes? Why did she become a doctor in the first place!?

‘We’re Preparing to Restart Repayment’
said Education Secretary on Federal Student Loans

During a May 11 hearing of the Senate Committee on Appropriations, Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) cited remarks by White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre who said, regarding the debt ceiling, that “if you buy a car, you are expected to pay the monthly payments. If you buy a home, you are expected to pay the mortgage every month. That is the expectation.”

Britt said she believes “that same logic must apply to student loans,” to which Cardona responded, “We agree and we’re preparing to restart repayment because the emergency period is over, and we’re preparing our borrowers to restart.”

At the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020, student loan payments were suspended by the government. Since then, two presidential administrations have pushed back the end of the suspension period eight times.
...
At present, the Supreme Court is reviewing the orders of a lower court that blocked the Biden administration’s student debt forgiveness plan. Payments are scheduled to resume either 60 days after June 30 or 60 days after the court ruling if the ruling comes before June 30. The court is expected to issue a ruling on the matter this summer.

Back in November, the Department of Education revealed that it had received applications from 26 million individuals for the loan forgiveness program—out of which 16 million were approved. The lower court order prevented the department from considering more applicants as well as forgiving student debt.

Cardona added that the HEROES Act, signed into law by President George W. Bush in January 2002, allows him to “create a waiver for those who are impacted significantly by the pandemic.”

Merrick Garland Approves Transfer of Russian Assets to Ukraine

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced on Wednesday that he had given the go-ahead for the first transfer of confiscated Russian assets to Ukraine.

The U.S. Department of Justice charged Konstantin Malofeyev, a Russian oligarch, with breaching sanctions imposed on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine last year. The United States claimed that he had provided funds to Russians who were promoting separatism in Crimea.

Malofeyev accumulated his wealth through investments in various industries, including banking, telecommunications, and media.

Garland also revealed that last year authorities had seized millions of dollars from an account at a U.S. financial institution that could be linked to Malofeyev’s sanctions violations. In February, he authorized the transfer of that money to Ukraine.

“While this represents the United States’ first transfer of forfeited funds for the rebuilding of Ukraine. It will not be the last,” Garland said in a statement.

The expropriated money will be sent for the reconstruction of Ukraine in response to Moscow’s military operation, which began in February 2022.

Hong Kong English Online Media ‘Transit Jam’ Shut Down
After Founder Attacked by Local CCP Media as a Foreign Agent

James Ockenden, the founder of the English online media Transit Jam, announced on Twitter on Tuesday (May 9) that Transit Jam is to stop operation. No reason was given. However, the suspension came after he was named and accused by local Chinese Communist Party (CCP) media at the end of April as a “proxy and spy under masquerade for foreign agents.”

In addition to local transport focus, Ockenden and Transit Jam also dabbled in current affair exclusives, including organizing rallies on environmental issues. Ockenden petitioned outside the Legislative Council during the visit of Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office Director Xia Baolong last month (April), demanding the setup of an exclusive pedestrian zone on Queen’s Road Central, the timing of which coincided with his being targeted by local CCP media.
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Launched in 2020, Transit Jam mainly covered traffic news. Its webpage describes itself as “Hong Kong’s first and only registered media dedicated to sustainable transport and road safety.” Ockenden told the English-language online media Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP) that Transit Jam’s media registration was revoked on April 23 by the government. The Transit Jam website also shows that it is no longer a registered media under the Registration of Local Newspapers Ordinance.

Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), visited Hong Kong last month and met with members of the Legislative Council on the morning of April 16.

So now reporting traffic news has become a communist deadly sin!?

House GOP Demands Information
From Homeland Security Chief
on Chinese Tech Used at US Ports

The lawmakers have demanded Mayorkas provide information on what his department and the Biden administration are doing to prevent the CCP from using the technology it develops and produces, which is used in cargo cranes and other shipping infrastructure in American seaports, to spy on and orchestrate sabotage against the United States.

Two chairs of House committees, and four chairs of House subcommittees, signed and sent a letter, dated May 10, insisting that Mayorkas immediately provide the information which House Committee on Homeland Security members requested in a letter sent to him on April 23.
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A story published in The Epoch Times on May 11 reported on a bill introduced the previous day by Representatives Carlos A. Giménez (R-Fla.) and John Garamendi (D-Calif.) that focused on inspecting and monitoring port cranes made in China to ensure that they do not contain technology used to spy, create societal disorder, inflict physical damage, and disrupt the function of seaports, which are critically important to the U.S. supply chain.

Shanghai Zhenhua Heavy Industries (ZPMC), a Chinese company, makes about 80 percent of the cranes used in American seaports. Chinese-made cranes are in operation at ports that the U.S. military uses.
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The letter said that the dominant presence of ZPMC cranes in U.S. ports while noting that ZPMC holds 70 percent of the global port crane market, presents a “significant risk to U.S. homeland security”.

Those “security risks include cyberattacks, espionage, and supply chain vulnerabilities due to the shared software and interconnectivity among ZPMC cranes operating at our nation’s ports.”