Category: News
Breezy Johnson gana descenso olímpico en día marcado por caída de Lindsey Vonn
Por ANDREW DAMPF y PAT GRAHAM
CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italia (AP) — La esquiadora estadounidense Breezy Johnson ganó el descenso olímpico el domingo con una carrera audaz en un día empañado por el accidente de su compañera de equipo Lindsey Vonn, quien fue trasladada en helicóptero fuera de la montaña.
Johnson fue la sexta competidora y encontró velocidad con un recorrido arriesgado a lo largo del icónico circuito Olympia delle Tofana en Cortina. Estaba en la casilla de líder cuando Vonn, la competidora número 13, cortó una esquina demasiado cerca y giró antes de estrellarse. La carrera se detuvo por más de 20 minutos.
Johnson, de 30 años, se une a Vonn, de 41, como las únicas mujeres estadounidenses en ganar el descenso olímpico. Johnson terminó en 1 minuto, 36,10 segundos para superar a Emma Aicher de Alemania por solo 0,04 segundos, asegurando la primera medalla para Estados Unidos en estos Juegos de Invierno. La italiana Sofia Goggia, ganadora del descenso olímpico en 2018 y medallista de plata en 2022, terminó con el bronce.
Las lágrimas comenzaron a brotar en los ojos de Johnson después de ver que ninguna competidora lograba superar su tiempo.
“Tenía un buen presentimiento sobre hoy. Aún no puedo creerlo del todo”, dijo Johnson. “No sé cuándo lo asimilaré”.
Ha sido un camino tumultuoso hacia la cima para Johnson, quien se perdió los Juegos Olímpicos de Beijing 2022 por una lesión en la rodilla. Recibió una suspensión de 14 meses que expiró en diciembre de 2024 por faltar a tres exámenes antidopaje y violar las reglas de “paradero”. Regresó para ganar el campeonato mundial en febrero pasado.
Ahora, es medallista de oro olímpica en descenso. Su compañera de equipo Jacqueline Wiles terminó a solo 0,27 segundos de una medalla, empatando en el cuarto lugar.
El accidente de Vonn ensombreció el evento. Vonn, quien ganó el descenso en los Juegos de Vancouver 2010, era favorita para la medalla de oro antes de su accidente en Suiza la semana pasada, cuando sufrió una rotura de ligamento cruzado anterior.
Regresó a las competencias de esquí de élite la temporada pasada después de casi seis años y tras recibir un reemplazo parcial de rodilla de titanio en su rodilla derecha.
“Espero que no sea tan grave como parecía”, dijo Johnson. “A veces, porque amas tanto este circuito, cuando te caes en él y te lastima así, duele mucho más. Mi corazón está con ella”.
Cande Moreno de Andorra se torció la rodilla izquierda al aterrizar en un salto. Al igual que Vonn, fue retirada del circuito en helicóptero y la carrera se detuvo nuevamente.
Ambos oros en descenso este fin de semana fueron ganados por los campeones mundiales reinantes después de que Franjo von Allmen de Suiza ganara la carrera masculina el sábado. Ambas carreras también contaron con medallistas de plata emergentes (Aicher, Giovanni Franzoni de Italia) y veteranos italianos en posición de bronce (Goggia, Dominik Paris).
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Graham contribuyó desde Bormio, Italia.
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Deportes AP: https://apnews.com/hub/deportes
Pentagon To Cut Academic Ties With Harvard, Hegseth Says
Pentagon To Cut Academic Ties With Harvard, Hegseth Says
Authored by Aldgra Fredly via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said on Feb. 6 that the Pentagon will cut all academic ties with Harvard University as the institution “no longer meets the needs of the War Department or the military services.”
Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., on July 4, 2025. Learner Liu/The Epoch Times
Hegseth said the Pentagon would discontinue graduate-level professional military education, fellowships, and certificate programs with the Ivy League school beginning in the 2026-27 academic year for active duty service members.
This policy will apply to service members enrolling in future courses, while military personnel already enrolled at Harvard will still be allowed to finish their courses, according to the Pentagon chief.
“For too long, this department has sent our best and brightest officers to Harvard, hoping the university would better understand and appreciate our warrior class,” he said in a statement.
“Instead, too many of our officers came back looking too much like Harvard — heads full of globalist and radical ideologies that do not improve our fighting ranks.”
Hegseth said Harvard is no longer a welcoming institution for military personnel, citing its partnership with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on campus research programs and a campus culture he said enabled attacks on Jewish students and “promotes discrimination based on race in violation of Supreme Court decisions.”
In a separate post on X, Hegseth said the institution was promoting “woke” ideology, which goes against the department’s values.
File this under: LONG OVERDUE
The @DeptWar is formally ending ALL Professional Military Education, fellowships, and certificate programs with Harvard University.
Harvard is woke; The War Department is not. pic.twitter.com/0kpsvivtsQ
— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) February 6, 2026
The Pentagon and military services also will evaluate similar relationships with other Ivy League schools and civilian universities in the coming weeks, according to the statement.
“The goal is to determine whether or not they actually deliver cost-effective strategic education for future senior leaders when compared to, say, public universities and our military graduate programs,” Hegseth said.
The Epoch Times has reached out to Harvard for comment and did not receive a response by publication time.
Earlier this week, President Donald Trump said his administration would demand Harvard pay $1 billion in damages, accusing the university of being “strongly antisemitic.”
“Harvard has been, for a long time, behaving very badly! They wanted to do a convoluted job training concept, but it was turned down in that it was wholly inadequate and would not have been, in our opinion, successful,” he wrote on Truth Social.
The Trump administration has attempted to freeze billions of dollars in federal funding from Harvard following an investigation into diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and claims of anti-Semitism in higher education last year. The White House said in April 2025 that Harvard failed to protect its students from harassment and violence on campus.
Harvard President Alan Garber filed a lawsuit against the administration in April 2025, seeking to restore $2.2 billion in grants and contracts withheld by the government.
A federal judge later reversed the funding freeze, ruling that the government violated the First Amendment through its efforts to combat anti-Semitism. The Justice Department appealed the decision in December 2025.
Tyler Durden
Sun, 02/08/2026 – 09:20
https://www.zerohedge.com/military/pentagon-cut-academic-ties-harvard-hegseth-says
Lindsey Vonn crashes in Olympic downhill race and is taken away by helicopter
CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy — Lindsey Vonn, racing on a badly injured left knee, crashed early in the Olympic downhill on Sunday and was taken off the course by a helicopter after the 41-year-old American received medical attention on the snow for long, anguished minutes.
Vonn lost control over the opening traverse after cutting the line too tight and was spun around in the air. She was heard screaming out after the crash as she was surrounded by medical personnel before she was strapped to a gurney and flown away by a helicopter, possibly ending the skier’s storied career. Her condition was not immediately known, with the U.S. Ski Team saying simply she would be evaluated.
Breezy Johnson, Vonn’s teammate, won gold and became only the second American woman to win the Olympic downhill after Vonn did it 16 years ago. The 30-year-old Johnson held off Emma Aicher of Germany and Italy’s Sofia Goggia on a bittersweet day for Team USA.
Vonn had family in the stands, including her father, Alan Kildow, who stared down at the ground while his daughter was being treated after just 13 seconds on the course. Others in the crowd, including rapper Snoop Dogg, watched quietly as the star skier was finally taken off the course she knows so well and holds a record 12 World Cup wins.
Vonn’s crash was “tragic, but it’s ski racing,” said Johan Eliasch, president of the Internationl Ski and Snowboard Federation.
“I can only say thank you for what she has done for our sport,” he said, “because this race has been the talk of the games and it’s put our sport in the best possible light.”
All eyes had been on Vonn, the feel-good story heading into the Olympics. She had returned to elite ski racing last season after nearly six years, a remarkable decision given her age but she also had a partial titanium knee replacement in her right knee, too. Many wondered how she would fare as she sought a gold medal to join the one she won in the downhill at the 2010 Vancouver Games.
The four-time overall World Cup champion stunned everyone by being a contender almost immediately. She came to the Olympics as the leader in the World Cup downhill standings and was a gold-medal favorite before her crash in Switzerland nine days ago, when she suffered her latest knee injury. In addition to a ruptured ACL, she also had a bone bruise and meniscus damage.
Still, no one counted her out even then. In truth, she has skied through injuries for three decades at the top of the sport. In 2006, ahead of the Turin Olympics, Vonn took a bad fall during downhill training and went to the hospital. She competed less than 48 hours later, racing in all four events she’d planned, with a top result of seventh in the super-G.
“It’s definitely weird,” she said then, “going from the hospital bed to the start gate.”
Cortina has always had many treasured memories for Vonn beyond the record wins. She is called the queen of Cortina, and the Olympia delle Tofana is a course that had always suited Vonn. She tested out the knee twice in downill training runs over the past three days before the awful crash on Sunday in clear, sunny conditions.
“This would be the best comeback I’ve done so far,” Vonn said before the race. “Definitely the most dramatic.”
After the crash, the celebration for the medalists was held and fellow skiers thought about Vonn’s legacy.
“She has been my idol since I started watching ski racing,” said Kajsa Vickhoff Lie of Norway. “We still have a World Cup to do after Olympics … I wouldn’t be surprised if she suddenly shows up on the start gate, but the crash didn’t look good.”
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/08/lindsey-vonn-crashes-olympics/
Chicago Bears reportedly set to promote Press Taylor to offensive coordinator
Ben Johnson has found his next offensive coordinator. The Chicago Bears are set to promote Press Taylor, filling the role previously held by Declan Doyle.
The 38-year-old Taylor spent the 2025 season as the passing game coordinator on Johnson’s staff. Taylor has previous experience as the offensive coordinator for the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2022-24 under coach Doug Pederson.
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Johnson will continue to be the guiding force behind the Bears offense and call plays on game days. But Taylor will take on a pivotal role behind the scenes.
Doyle left the Bears after just one season as offensive coordinator to take the same job with the Baltimore Ravens. He will have a chance to call plays in Baltimore, something he didn’t do under Johnson in Chicago.
As passing game coordinator, Taylor worked with Johnson, Doyle, quarterbacks coach J.T. Barrett and others to build a game plan for quarterback Caleb Williams and his receivers.
Taylor, the younger brother of Cincinnati Bengals coach Zac Taylor, came up through the coaching ranks as a quarterbacks coach. He worked for the Philadelphia Eagles from 2013-20 under Chip Kelly and Pederson. He started with the Eagles as an offensive quality control coach, worked his way up to quarterbacks coach and eventually added passing game coordinator to his title.
After the Eagles fired Pederson following the 2020 season, Taylor worked under coach Frank Reich with the Indianapolis Colts as a senior offensive assistant in 2021. When Pederson landed the Jaguars job in 2022, Taylor followed him to Jacksonville.
Johnson and Taylor hadn’t worked together before the 2025 season. Under the first-year coaching staff, the Bears passing attack went from 31st in the NFL in 2024 to 10th with 225.1 yards per game. Williams set a franchise record with 3,942 passing yards while throwing 27 touchdown passes and only seven interceptions.
The Bears reportedly interviewed Arizona Cardinals passing game specialist Connor Senger for the position but ultimately elected to go with an internal hire.
Taylor was a college quarterback at Marshall and at Butler (Kan.) Community College, where he won two NJCAA national titles.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/2026/02/08/chicago-bears-press-taylor-offensive-coordinator/
Cardi B elogia a Bad Bunny por su próximo show en el Super Bowl y habla de su nueva gira
Por JONATHAN LANDRUM Jr.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Mientras Bad Bunny se prepara para encabezar el espectáculo de medio tiempo del Super Bowl, Cardi B dice que está orgullosa de verlo subir al escenario más grande del mundo, elogiando su impacto cultural y su disposición a hablar sobre las redadas migratorias.
“Estoy orgullosa de todo lo que ha estado defendiendo contra el ICE y todo eso”, dijo Cardi B a The Associated Press antes de su actuación en la fiesta Fanatics Super Bowl Party de Michael Rubin el sábado, que contó con presentaciones de SZA, Don Toliver y Travis Scott.
La ganadora del Grammy habló con admiración y unidad sobre Bad Bunn y, quien apareció junto con ella y J Balvin en el éxito que encabezó las listas, “I Like It”. La colaboración ayudó a impulsar la música latina aún más en el mainstream global.
Bad Bunny está listo para subir al escenario del Super Bowl el domingo, una semana después de ganar el álbum del año en los Grammys 2026 por “Debí Tirar Más Fotos”. Es la primera vez que un álbum completamente en español se lleva el premio principal.
En los Grammys, la superestrella puertorriqueña dijo “ICE fuera” al aceptar el premio, criticando a la administración del presidente Donald Trump por su dramática expansión de los arrestos de inmigración.
“Simplemente se siente como si todo estuviera alineado ahora mismo”, dijo Cardi B, quien es de ascendencia afrocaribeña con raíces en Trinidad y República Dominicana. “Simplemente muestra cómo los hispanos, los latinos… Estamos de pie. Ellos están de pie. Todos estamos de pie”.
Con el entusiasmo del Super Bowl girando en torno a “I Like It” y la posibilidad de invitados sorpresa, se le preguntó a Cardi B qué significaría compartir el escenario con Bad Bunny en una plataforma tan masiva.
“Eso sería emocionante”, dijo.
Mientras Bad Bunny se prepara para su momento en el medio tiempo, Cardi B se está preparando para el lanzamiento de su esperada gira, que comienza el 11 de febrero en Palm Desert, California. Es su primera gira de arenas como cabeza de cartel y su primer tour en seis años.
La gira llega tras el lanzamiento de su segundo álbum, “Am I the Drama”, solo cuatro meses después del nacimiento de su primer hijo con el receptor de los Patriots de Nueva Inglaterra, Stefon Diggs; es el cuarto hijo de ella.
Su preparación se ha centrado en largos días de ensayo que también funcionan como entrenamiento físico, construyendo impulso y confianza antes de la gira, dijo Cardi B.
“Ensayar es mi ejercicio”, dijo. “Solo estoy haciendo mi trabajo”.
Con su reciente proyecto conectando fuertemente con los fans y planes para trabajar en su nuevo álbum mientras está de gira, Cardi B dijo que ahora es un buen momento para regresar al escenario.
“Me siento realmente confiada”, comentó. “Saber que los fans van a estar allí y conocer la música. Es emocionante”.
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Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con la ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.
Russia Accused Of Intercepting, Shadowing European Satellites For Signals Intelligence
Russia Accused Of Intercepting, Shadowing European Satellites For Signals Intelligence
Russian spacecraft have reportedly been intercepting the communications of at least a dozen high-value European satellites, according to EU security officials, in the latest Ukraine-related ‘scare’ by Moscow. However, any information gleaned would be from communications that the satellite operators failed to encrypt.
Officials told the Financial Times that such interceptions risk exposing sensitive data and could even give Russia the ability to interfere with satellite trajectories or even force them offline entirely.
“Two Russian satellites ‘Luch-1’ and ‘Luch-2’ repeatedly approached European communication satellites and could intercept information from at least ten key geostationary satellites located over Europe,” the report says.
It was already widely reported that Russian spacecraft have increasingly shadowed European satellites in recent years, tracking them closely as tensions with the West spiraled related to Ukraine – a trend also highlighting how space is fast becoming the next battlefield.
Also, this isn’t the first time some very specific allegations have been publicly made, as last year German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Russian Luch Olymp surveillance satellites were trailing Germany’s Intelsat satellites, which are also used by other governments.
The Russian craft are said to linger near their targets for weeks at a time, with Luch-2 in particular being known to have approached at least 17 satellites.
German officials have bluntly alleged that these Russian satellites are not benign or for civilian use, but clearly are in the “signals intelligence business”.
In the background, there are fears that Ukraine and its European backers are far outmatched by Russia’s space capabilities. One publication called this a wake-up call:
Russia, they found, could draw on a fleet of roughly 200 satellites with military utility. Ukraine had just one. The disparity underlined not only Kyiv’s vulnerability in the early stages of the war, but a broader strategic gap that now occupies European policymakers: in modern conflict, space-based intelligence isn’t a luxury but a prerequisite for survival.
Since then, Ukraine has ramped up its domestic capability and secured access to images from commercial and allied constellations.
The lesson hasn’t been lost on Brussels.The EU’s commissioner for defense and space, Andrius Kubilius, has called for a “big bang” approach to space, arguing that investments must match those of more traditional defense priorities.
Very early in the conflict the Kremlin had warned that non-military satellites used by Ukraine “constitute indirect involvement in military conflicts” – warning that they could eventually be targeted.
At that early phase (in 2022) the deputy chief of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s arms control and nonproliferation department, Konstantin Vorontsov, has said “Quasi-civilian infrastructure could be a legitimate target for retaliation.“
Tyler Durden
Sun, 02/08/2026 – 08:45
Foreign Meddling? Brussels-Funded German NGO Sues X For Access To Data On Hungary’s Upcoming Election
Foreign Meddling? Brussels-Funded German NGO Sues X For Access To Data On Hungary’s Upcoming Election
Authored by Thomas Brooke via Remix News,
A German non-governmental organization that receives substantial funding from the European Union, as well as the German and Dutch governments, has filed a lawsuit seeking access to social media platform X’s data related to Hungary’s upcoming parliamentary elections.
Berlin-based Democracy Reporting International (DRI) has taken legal action in Germany against the social media giant, demanding access to platform data under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA). The group says the data is necessary to study potential disinformation and interference surrounding Hungary’s parliamentary elections scheduled for April 12.
Another German NGO, the Society for Civil Rights (Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte, GFF), and law firm Hausfeld Rechtsanwälte are also parties to the lawsuit.
According to court filings reported by EUObserver, this is the second legal action brought by the same plaintiffs against X in Germany, after a previous case seeking access to platform data around Germany’s 2025 snap federal election.
With campaigning intensifying ahead of Hungary’s April vote, the legal battle over platform data now adds another layer to an already charged political environment, one in which the question of who defines and defends democratic legitimacy remains deeply contested across Europe.
Under the DSA, very large online platforms are required to provide researchers access to data when studies concern systemic risks to the European Union, including election integrity. DRI argues that X has failed to comply with that obligation, saying repeated requests for data access have been rejected.
Critics, however, argue that the DSA is being used as a vehicle by the European Commission and those it funds to control the narrative during critical election cycles, a claim amplified by the U.S. House Judiciary Committee in its bombshell report published on Feb. 3.
X has previously argued that broad data access risks infringing user privacy and free expression, and has also challenged whether German courts have jurisdiction over disputes involving the platform, whose European headquarters are located in Ireland.
The new lawsuit comes as Hungary prepares for what analysts describe as one of the most competitive elections in recent years, with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán facing a consolidated opposition campaign amid continuing tensions between Budapest and Brussels over rule-of-law disputes, migration policy, and EU governance.
Orbán has repeatedly accused EU institutions of attempting to influence domestic Hungarian politics. Responding to criticism over election conditions earlier this week, he wrote on social media, “Keep your hands off our elections! Decisions about Hungary’s future belong to Hungarians alone. Foreign meddling will not be tolerated.”
🚨The EU Censorship Files, Part II
For more than a year, the Committee has been warning that European censorship laws threaten U.S. free speech online.
Now, we have proof: Big Tech is censoring Americans’ speech in the U.S., including true information, to comply with Europe’s… pic.twitter.com/Fg0gxzoTxD
— House Judiciary GOP 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@JudiciaryGOP) February 3, 2026
His remarks followed a recent report by the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, which argued that European authorities have used regulatory pressure and cooperation with digital platforms in ways that affected political debate in at least eight EU member states since the introduction of the DSA in 2023.
Entries in Germany’s Bundestag Lobby Register reveal that DRI received substantial public grants during the 2024 fiscal year, including funding from the European Commission totaling approximately €3.9 million, as well as roughly €1.9 million from Germany’s Federal Foreign Office and associated agencies, and approximately €880,000 from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs for “democracy-related projects” abroad.
GFF, DRI’s co-plaintiff, has also received support from EU-funded initiatives and participates in projects financed under various European civil society and rights programs, according to a written response by the European Commission to a parliamentary question in 2025.
“The Digital Freedom Fund is the beneficiary of an EU grant for the implementation of project DIGIRISE, ‘Developing Information, Guidance, and Interconnectedness for (Charter) Rights Integration in Strategies for Enforcement,” it wrote. The funding amount was not disclosed.
Critics argue that litigation seeking access to election-related data by organizations financed in part by European institutions risks creating the perception of external supervision over national political processes, particularly in countries already engaged in disputes with Brussels.
Tyler Durden
Sun, 02/08/2026 – 08:10
Humanoid Robots Get “Brains” As Dual-Use Fears Mount
Humanoid Robots Get “Brains” As Dual-Use Fears Mount
Chinese humanoid robotics firms are laser-focused on advancing “robot brains” for next-gen platforms already entering series production and headed to factory floors this year. Once these intelligent models push beyond scripted video stunts – we’ve all seen in promotional videos – into real-world autonomy, the systems become battlefield-ready, dual-use robots.
The Shanghai Morning Post reports that China-based robotics firm Dobot has developed Dobot-VLA, a vision-language-action model that allows its full-size humanoid Atom robot to “see through” clusters of tasks, “understand” ambiguous instructions, and make autonomous decisions to “get the job done.”
“[This] ability to adapt autonomously based on an understanding of the environment is the starting point for humanoid robots to create value in industrial applications,” the company told SCMP.
Rival UBTech open-sourced its humanoid-focused multimodal model, “Thinker,” on GitHub and Hugging Face, aiming to address common embodied-robot issues such as lag and spatial inaccuracies.
UBTech claims strong benchmark results against Nvidia and ByteDance models and reports near-perfect performance (99.9%) on certain factory-floor tasks, such as moving boxes and sorting parts, with its “Walker S2” humanoid robot.
SCMP pointed out, “China’s robotics industry is accelerating a shift from physical stunts that rely on preprogrammed routines to sophisticated abilities that require learning and adapting in the real world, seen as essential for mass commercial adoption in manufacturing and other scenarios.”
The broader theme is that humanoid robot brains are being developed at hyperspeed, suggesting these robots will be marching on factory floors in the very near term, not just in China but also across the Western world, starting later this year.
We’ve warned readers that “Humanoid Robots Begin March on Assembly Lines and Beyond,” meaning some of these systems could be dual-use and could soon appear at polygon weapon-testing facilities in Ukraine, potentially headed for battlefield deployment later this year if there’s no peace deal by spring. The same could be said of Russian forces, which may soon be experimenting with Chinese bots.
Read the latest:
AI’s Next Frontier Is Physical As Humanoid Robots Begin March On Assembly Lines And Beyond
Watch: Russian Soldiers Surrender To Gun-Wielding Robot; Humanoid Warfare Nears
Skynet is already here.
The rise of humanoid robotics, first on the factory floor and then on the modern battlefield, is inevitable.
Tyler Durden
Sun, 02/08/2026 – 07:35
https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/humanoid-robots-get-brains-dual-use-fears-mount
Comerciantes en Bagdad protestan por nuevos aranceles ante un descenso de ingresos petroleros
Por QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA
BAGDAD (AP) — Cientos de comerciantes y propietarios de empresas de despacho aduanero protestaron en el centro de Bagdad el domingo, exigiendo que el gobierno de Irak revierta las tarifas aduaneras impuestas recientemente, que, según ellos, han aumentado drásticamente sus costos e interrumpido el comercio.
Los nuevos aranceles que entraron en vigor el 1 de enero se impusieron como parte de un intento de reducir la deuda del país y su dependencia de los ingresos petroleros, ya que los precios del petróleo han caído.
Irak enfrenta una deuda de más de 90 billones de dinares iraquíes (69.000 millones de dólares) y un presupuesto estatal que sigue dependiendo del petróleo para aproximadamente el 90% de los ingresos, a pesar de los intentos de diversificación.
Pero los comerciantes dicen que los nuevo gravámenes, en algunos casos de hasta el 30%, han impuesto una carga injusta sobre ellos. Los opositores han presentado una demanda con el objetivo de reducir la medida, sobre la cual la Corte Suprema Federal iraquí debe pronunciarse el miércoles.
Los manifestantes se reunieron el domingo frente a la Dirección General de Aduanas, coreando consignas contra la corrupción y rechazando los nuevos aranceles.
“Solíamos pagar alrededor de tres millones de dinares por contenedor, pero ahora en algunos casos piden hasta 14 millones”, dijo Haider al-Safi, propietario de una empresa de transporte y despacho aduanero. “Incluso las tarifas de la leche infantil aumentaron de aproximadamente 495.000 dinares a casi tres millones”.
Dijo que las nuevas tarifas han causado un retraso en las mercancías en el puerto de Umm Qasr en el sur de Irak y agregó que los vehículos eléctricos, anteriormente exentos de derechos de aduana, ahora están sujetos a una tarifa del 15%.
“La principal víctima es el ciudadano con ingresos limitados, y el empleado del gobierno cuyo salario apenas cubre su vida diaria, aquellos que tienen que pagar alquiler y tienen hijos con gastos escolares, todos ellos se verán afectados por el mercado”, dijo Mohammed Samir, un comerciante mayorista de Bagdad.
Los manifestantes también acusaron a grupos influyentes de facilitar la entrega de mercancías a cambio de pagos no oficiales más bajos, calificándolo de corrupción generalizada. Muchos comerciantes, dijeron, ahora están considerando canalizar sus importaciones a través de la región del Kurdistán, donde las tarifas son más bajas.
Las protestas coincidieron con una huelga nacional de propietarios de tiendas, quienes cerraron mercados y tiendas en varias partes de Bagdad para oponerse al aumento de aranceles. En los principales distritos comerciales, las tiendas permanecieron cerradas y colgaron pancartas que decían “las tarifas aduaneras están matando a los ciudadanos”.
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Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de AP con la ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.
Column: Fox Valley parishes responding to archbishop’s call to prayer in wake of immigration enforcement violence
Keeping politics out of anything these days is becoming quite the challenge.
That includes the Scriptures, which are frequently cited by both the left, the right and those in the center to bolster their stance on policy issues, including the immigration crisis consuming this country.
You see it on television commercials, protest signs, social media posts and network news. You hear it in casual conversations, official statements, public debates and yes, even in Sunday morning sermons.
For Christians, the moral compass revolves around the phrase “What would Jesus do,” and draws heavily from the Beatitudes which call believers to compassion and justice for the poor and oppressed.
But compassion without respect for authority can only lead to chaos, argue those on the right, who cite Romans 13:1-7. And, while left-leaning Christians see the child Jesus as an immigrant displaced by violence and dependent on the mercy of a foreign land, the more conservative say that unlike some of this country’s undocumented, the Holy Family did not cross borders illegally, and eventually returned to the homeland of origin.
And so Scripture has become a lens for politics, which leads to debate and divisions.
What Christians universally believe in, however, is the power of prayer, turning to it not only for moral clarity but when feeling helpless, hurt, bitter or vengeful. And more than ever, our nation is struggling with all the above. Which is why, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops recently called for an “Hour of Prayer for Peace” in parishes across the country, a request linked to the killing of two people in Minneapolis by federal agents, as well as the death of a detained man in Texas.
As Archbishop Paul Coakley also noted in his statement, this hour of prayer is to address how “powerless” so many feel “in the face of violence, social injustice and social unrest.”
All of which seems as if the Catholic Church, which leans conservative but does not remain neutral when core moral principles are at stake, is making a strong statement against the current administration’s immigration tactics.
But the Rev. Michael Lavan of Holy Angels in Aurora describes the archbishop’s request as “pastoral rather than political” and says it is intended to “ratchet back the rhetoric and violence on the ground” while also asking for “God’s blessing and grace on a very messy situation.”
Messy is a polite way to describe the silos of vitriol that have turned hate into a national pastime.
At Rockford Diocese Bishop David Malloy’s Hour of Prayer for Peace, held Jan. 30 at the Cathedral of St. Peter in Rockford, he posed a question – asked by Archbishop Timothy Broglio last year – that should haunt all of us: “What happens to a nation when violence no longer shocks us?”
Malloy then cited a list of some of the bloody acts that took place in the last two years alone: the assassination attempt on Donald Trump that wounded him and killed a bystander; the slayings of a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband, Turning Point USA leader Charlie Kirk, United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson and two staff members of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C.; as well as the shooting at a Catholic mass in Minneapolis that left many injured and two small children dead.
Hatred, the bishop added, crosses all boundaries, including politics, ages, religions and opinions.
The problem is that too often it is based “not on what the person actually is but on a caricature” of what we think they are, said Holy Angels’ Father Lavan, referring to such things as labels, stereotypes, headlines, viral clips and political narratives.
And so, instead of talking to each other, we talk past each other.
But how will talking to God make any difference?
For one thing, it sure can’t hurt to ask for wisdom among those who lead us, especially in a climate where reaction often replaces reflection and common sense can seem in short supply.
And, as Father Lavan reminded me, “when God lets us make a mess of things, prayer helps us remember we do need God’s grace and wisdom to help us be more patient with those whom we disagree.”
This United States Conference of Catholic Bishops call for an hour of prayer, which can be offered publicly or privately, went out to every bishop, priest and the laity, according to Rockford Diocese spokesperson Penny Wiegert. Some have called the office and written through Facebook indicating they will be praying at their local adoration chapel and will follow the format posted online from the council of bishops, she noted, adding that “those private hours of prayer and adoration are very important as well.”
In the Fox Valley, parishes like St. Gall in Elburn, St. John Neumann in St. Charles, St. Peter in Geneva and Our Lady of Good Counsel in Aurora have already held that prayer hour. Others, including St. Katharine Drexel in Sugar Grove and Holy Angels in Aurora, plan to put it on the schedule.
At St. Gall’s on Wednesday evening, the Rev. Max Striedl used part of the 60 minutes to reflect on passages from Pope John Paul II’s World Day of Peace message, delivered in January of 2005, just weeks before the beloved pontiff’s death.
“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good,” the pope cautioned the world even as his health was dramatically failing.
“To pray for peace is to open the human heart to the inroads of God’s power to renew all things,” John Paul had said, adding that to pray for peace “is to see God’s forgiveness, and to implore the courage to forgive those who have trespassed against us.”
In other words, peace begins not at a protest but within each and every one of us.
Perhaps even on our knees.
dcrosby@tribpub.com
