Category: ESTA News

Amid incidents caused by firearms in the United States, this time a 3-year-old child shot a gun and injured her mother. According to the Lafayette City Police on the 20th, a 3-year-old child fired a gun at an apartment in the area around 8 pm on the 18th and injured two people. One was the child’s mother, and the other was a local resident, a friend of the mother’s 20s.

He visited this house that day and was shot by a child. Neither the child’s mother nor her mother’s friend are in danger of death, police said. However, the child’s mother’s friend was immediately arrested by the police.

It was because he was wanted for murder in Cook County, Illinois, which borders Indiana. Lafayette City Police explained that they are cooperating with local Cook County Police regarding the arrest of the child’s mother’s friend.

On the 19th, around 10pm, a shooting occurred during a birthday party at an apartment in Birmingham, Alabama, killing one person and wounding three others. According to local police, the four people were taken to the hospital, but one of them in his 30s died.

Police explained that the other two did not have serious life-threatening injuries, and that the other did not appear to have been injured by a firearm. The police explained that they were “investigated to be having a birthday party” at the scene of the incident, and that “an unknown suspect approached them and started shooting.”

About 20 bullet casings were found at the scene of the incident, and the police said they were chasing the shooter against people around them.

The police department is experiencing a national labour shortage as police officers’ applicants dwindle in the wake of the 2020 George Floyd incident.

In particular, the negative gaze toward the police was pointed out as the biggest cause of reluctance to support police officers. Riverside Police Chief said at the time of the George Floyd case in 2020, it was difficult to say that a career as a police officer was a good job as negative feelings toward law enforcement agencies were rising nationwide.

As the hateful view of the police increased, it became difficult for existing officers to work, and it was a great difficulty in selecting new officers. The fact that the young generation’s image of the police is completely different from that of their parents’ generation due to the police overreaction incidents that are reported daily through the media is also a factor in reducing support for police officers.

Former Redlands Police Chief Jim Berman said young people who wanted to apply for police officers interpreted the negative image of police on social media as a negative image of the police force, making them reluctant to apply. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office said there were 20,857 applicants for officers in 2019, down to 181 in 2020 and 9,270 last year.

These days, young people value work-life balance and are reluctant to work nights and holidays at work, so the popularity of police officers whose working hours are not fixed is getting lower.

President Joe Biden, who declared a re-election challenge in the 2024 presidential election, visited a prestigious black university to criticize racial discrimination, including white supremacy, and started courting black and young voters.

Referring to the 2017 white supremacist violent protests in Charlottesville, Virginia, he said, “Neo-Nazis came out with angry faces, literally carrying torches and Nazi flags, shouting the same anti-Semitic remarks heard in Europe in the 1930s.” “The activists came out in broad daylight from dark rooms and internet anonymity to confront the decent Americans who stood in their way.” “This is something I never thought I would see in America,” he said.

“At the time, you heard the famous remark that ‘both sides are great people’,” he said. “That was when I knew I had to go back to public office,” he said. indicated that there was President Biden said, “We must vote for democracy and reject political extremism and political violence,” and “protect basic rights, women’s freedom to choose, and the freedom of transgender children.”

Previously, former President Trump said at a press conference immediately after the Charlottesville incident at the time, “I condemn the hatred and violence that appeared on many sides,” and “both sides are responsible,” and white supremacists as well as protest rallies at these rallies. The leftist group that staged the riot was also controversial when it said that it was responsible.

Howard University, which President Biden visited on this day, is a traditional black university (HBCU) established during the implementation of the US racial segregation policy.

There are about 100 HBCUs in the United States, and the Biden government is being evaluated as actively providing financial support to these universities.

Amid the recent mass shooting in Texas, President Joe Biden has once more called on Congress to strengthen gun control which would including the banning of sale of assault rifles. In a statement on the 7th, President Biden said, “An attacker armed with AR-15 style assault weapons and tactical gear yesterday opened fire on innocent people in a shopping mall, and this is not the first time.” Shocking,” he said.

“American society has experienced about 200 mass shootings this year”, “I again ask Congress to (pass) send me legislation to ban assault rifles and high-capacity magazines, to require universal background checks, to require secure storage locations, and to end immunity for gun manufacturers,” he said.

President Biden also ordered federal agencies to raise the flag early to mourn the victims of the Texas shooting. Earlier, on the 6th, a shooting occurred at a shopping mall in Allen, a small town outside of Dallas, Texas, and eight people were killed.

On the 7th, in Brownsville, a border town in southern Texas, a sports utility vehicle (SUV) crashed into a bus stop in front of an immigration detention center, killing seven people and injuring at least six others.

According to the Associated Press and local media, the local police said that the accident occurred at the city bus stop in front of the ‘Bishop Enrique San Pedro Ojanam Center’, an immigrant shelter, at 8:30 am on the same day.

There are no signs or benches at the bus stop across the street in front of the shelter, and the victims were found to have been victimized while waiting for the bus to sit along the curb.

Victor Maldenado, director of the non-profit migrant shelter, said that after reviewing footage recorded by on-site surveillance cameras, a Range Rover drove from about 30 meters away, ignoring traffic lights, and hit people sitting at a bus stop.

Maldonado said most of the victims were male Venezuelan nationals.

The shelter is the only overnight shelter in Brownsville and is a temporary shelter for immigrants released from federal detention until they can find a place to live.

“We have accommodated 250 to 380 people a day for the past two months,” Maldonado said. “Many of the people who arrive here (spent the night) leave the same day.”

He explained that the city had declared a state of emergency due to a surge in people crossing the border in recent weeks.

A 28-year-old American woman has been arrested while trying to enter Australia with a handgun plated in 24K gold, BBC reported on the 25th.

The woman, who recently departed from Los Angeles (LA) on a flight, arrived at Sydney Airport when she was found carrying a handgun in her bag during an X-ray baggage scan.

Australian Border Force (ABF) arrested her on the spot after authorities confirmed that he had not been issued a permit to bring a firearm.

The suspect has been released on bail but could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted at trial, the BBC explained. She may be deported from Australia with visa cancellation.

In the United States, passengers on domestic flights can board unloaded firearms sealed in hard cases.

Australia, on the other hand, has enacted and is operating the most comprehensive gun laws in the world, including a complete ban on the possession of automatic and semi-automatic weapons after a man with a gun killed 35 people in Tasmania in 1996.

After the corona pandemic situation ended, it appeared that there was a big deviation depending on the region.

Among the big cities in California, San Diego has entered the level of full recovery, LA is in the middle, and San Francisco is showing the worst recovery rate.

After analyzing the degree of recovery of major cities in California after the corona pandemic, San Diego showed a complete recovery rate of 99%, LA showed a recovery rate of 65%, and San Francisco showed a recovery rate of 31%.

The degree of COVID-19 recovery by city is based on foot traffic statistics compiled by the University of Toronto through cell phone data for 62 cities in North America.

The rapid recovery of the San Diego area to normal life can be attributed to the strong tourism industry and active development of residential complexes in the area.

In contrast, in San Francisco, the local economy is almost entirely dependent on office workers, but with the outbreak of the corona, many office workers have switched to telecommuting, and because of the concentration of tech companies, the rate of working from home is still high even after the corona has ended. The fact that this is high and the successive job cuts by Big Tech companies are acting as a great difficulty for the local economy to recover to pre-coronavirus.

Currently, the office occupancy in the San Francisco area remains at 40 percent, which is the lowest office occupancy in the country, making downtown San Francisco the emptiest town in the country.

Local business owners pointed out that the tech companies that played a pivotal role in driving the San Francisco economy into a boom are now negatively affecting the local economy, and San Francisco is unable to break the vicious cycle after Corona.

The intensifying homelessness and fentanyl problem in San Francisco is also bad news.

In the case of LA, the current office occupancy rate in downtown LA is 47 percent compared to the pre-pandemic level, and the high office vacancy rate is a problem.

Even before the pandemic, downtown LA was bustling with tourists, restaurants and bars overflowing with celebrity chefs, and the arts district attracting young people with a cool vibe.

One of the difficulties for LA City to recover quickly before Corona is pointed out as the intensifying homelessness problem.

This is because as homeless people camp all over the streets of LA, residents are reluctant to walk on the streets, and there are many residents who are even more reluctant to walk on the streets in the evening when it is dark after work.

It has been found that consumers in the United States continue to open their wallets despite the price hikes of various products.

This result suggests that it may take a long time for prices of daily necessities to subside, but some point out that consumers’ ability to accommodate inflation is approaching its limit.

According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 25th, McDonald’s disclosed its first quarter earnings on the same day and announced that same-store sales increased by 12.6% compared to the same period last year.

This is a result that far exceeds the forecast of Wall Street analysts (8.2%). Overall sales also exceeded the market forecast at $5.9 billion, and net profit soared 63% from the same period last year to $1.8 billion.

It can be attributed to the fact that more customers visited McDonald’s stores despite the price hike of products such as hamburgers.

PepsiCo also announced its first-quarter earnings on the same day, saying that despite raising consumer prices by more than 13% last quarter, sales were $17.9 billion, up 10% from the same period last year.

Thanks to still strong consumer demand, we also raised our annual sales growth forecast for this year from 6% to 8%.

Kimberly-Clark, famous for Huggis and Kleenex, also saw both sales and profits grow, and earnings per share far exceeded the Wall Street consensus. Despite raising prices by more than 10% for two consecutive quarters, it seems that they have not been hit at all.

Automaker General Motors (GM), which also released its first quarter results on the same day, exceeded market expectations in both sales ($39.99 billion) and earnings per share ($2.21) thanks to strong demand for luxury models. GM also raised its annual profit guidance for this year from 10.5 to 12.5 billion dollars to 11 billion to 13 billion dollars on the same day.

Procter & Gamble (P&G), which released its first quarter results on the 21st, also announced that sales increased by 4% compared to the same period last year because of raising prices to double digits for two consecutive quarters.

However, not all companies benefited from the price increase.

In the case of Nestlé, sales fell below market expectations in the aftermath of a price increase of nearly 10%.

There are signs that consumers’ patience with price hikes is running out due to concerns about the recent cooling labor market and economic recession.

AT&T, a large telecommunications company, said in its recent earnings announcement that new demand for wireless communication is decreasing in the aftermath of corporate layoffs and cost cuts, and that Americans continue to use old cell phones.

Competitor Verizon also announced on the same day that its sales decreased by 1.9% due to a decrease in wireless subscribers.

Amid this, Corona Beer announced that it would reduce the range of price hikes in consideration of the slowdown in sales growth, and Coca-Cola, which is still showing an increase in both sales and profits, said it would slow down its price increase within the year.

Hawaii Korean Sports Association (Acting President Kim Young-tae) held a regular board meeting at Impact College on the 19th and discussed the resumption of the Korean American Sports Festival, which is participating for the first time this year, and the Korean Folk Festival in September.

At the meeting, the Hawaii Korean Athletics Association decided to support accommodation costs and uniforms for the convenience of the athletes participating for the first time in Hawaii at the Korean American Athletics Championships to be held in New York from June 23rd to 25th.

In addition, it was decided to create a venue for communication and harmony in the Korean community through physical education by holding a tennis tournament for the president of the sports venue in June and a golf tournament in November.

In addition, the Korean Sports Association announced at the meeting that the Korean Folk Festival, which had been suspended due to corona, would resume in three years.

The Hawaii Korean Folk Festival, which is held every September on Labor Day, celebrates its 35th anniversary this year.

Meanwhile, it was also time to approve Acting Chairman Kim Young-tae and Chairman Lee In-so, who will serve for the remainder of the term of the former chairman who recently resigned.

The state of Florida has expanded the ban on sexual identity and gender education for lower grades to the 12th grade.

The Washington Post (WP) and Reuters reported on the 19th that the Florida Board of Education voted on the same day to pass a new rule that would expand the legal provisions banning gender identity and gender education up to the 3rd grade of elementary school to all public education up to the 12th grade.

As a result, teachers who teach classes on sexual minority issues in Florida could be suspended or expelled under the new rules.

The measure does not require legislative approval, and the Republican-dominated state legislature is considering passing a separate bill extending the ban on gender identity classes to eighth grade, the WP reported.

The vote came as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is about to run for the Republican presidential nomination.

The ‘Don’t say gay’ bill, which was passed last year and caused a national stir due to discrimination against LGBTQ people, played a decisive role in solidifying Governor Disantis’ political position in the hardline conservative camp.

Critics from the Democratic Party, including President Joe Biden, have expressed concern about the possibility that LGBTQ students who are already marginalized by this measure will be further marginalized.

However, there is a conflicting situation as conservative groups, centering on the measures, actively expressed their support for protecting children.

A Reuters and Ipsos poll last month found that 72% of Democratic supporters said they would vote for a candidate in favor of gender identity education in the next presidential election, while 76% of Republicans said they would not support such a candidate.

DeSantis has also been at odds with Disney for years against the “don’t say gay” bill.

To exert influence on Disney, he newly formed the Supervisory Board of the Special Administrative District, where Disney World is located, with his aides.