Daily: 03/25/2018

Грицак: у битві з агресором загинули 23 співробітники СБУ

23 співробітники Служби безпеки України загинули «у битві» з Росією, заявив голова СБУ Василь Грицак з нагоди 26-ї річниці з дня створення спецслужби.

«Співробітники української спецслужби воюючи на видимих і невидимих фронтах ефективно захищають національні інтереси держави, законні права та свободи громадян. Передовою для нас стала вся країна. Ми знешкоджуємо ворога не лише в районі проведення антитерористичної операції, але й у глибокому тилу. Низький уклін 23 нашим героям, які віддали життя у битві з агресором, що занапастив рідну землю», – сказав Грицак.

Відносини між Україною й Росією загострилися після анексії Криму й початку збройного конфлікту на Донбасі.

Президент Петро Порошенко заявив, що протягом 2017 року Служба безпеки України затримала 591 людину за підозрою в терористичній діяльності, зборі розвідувальної інформації і сприяння підтримуваним Росією бойовикам. 

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Egypt Says Expelled British Reporter Had Expired Credentials

A British journalist expelled from the country last month did not have valid accreditation and was filming without a permit, Egyptian authorities said Sunday.

The State Information Service said in a statement that The Times of London correspondent Bel Trew, expelled after being threatened with military trial, also covered Egypt unfairly and published false information.

The move comes as part of a heavy crackdown on media ahead of this week’s presidential election, which general-turned-President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi is set to win after all serious competitors were arrested or intimidated into dropping out.

Trew, who had been in Egypt for seven years, was expelled in late February after being arrested while reporting in Shoubra, a central Cairo district. The SIS said she had not applied for a temporary press card while awaiting her annual one.

Neither The Times nor Trew did not immediately had responses to the claim. The SIS said that authorities had issued Trew with credentials allowing her to cover the election but did not clarify how she could return to the country after being expelled.

It also took aim at reporters who wrote about the expulsion, saying they did not ask authorities for their version of events.

Trew said in an account on The Times’ website that she has been listed as a persona non-grata and that Cairo authorities threatened to re-arrest her if she attempts to return.

She said her reporting in Shoubra was part of a story on a migrant boat that disappeared two years ago. An informer seems to have reported her to the police, she added. She was stopped shortly after she left a cafe where she was conducting an interview.

“The taxi had just pulled away from the café … when a minibus of plain-clothes police officers cut us off. Five men jumped out and took me to a nearby police station,” she said, adding that she provided the authorities with the audio recording of the interview. “It was either ignored and not listened to – or listened to and ignored,” she said.

Egypt has often detained, jailed and prosecuted journalists under el-Sissi, who led the military’s 2013 overthrow of the country’s first freely elected civilian President Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, after mass protests against his one-year divisive rule.

Advocacy group Reporters Without Borders ranked Egypt as 161 out of 180 countries on their 2017 World Press Freedom Index.

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French Bishop Pays Tribute to Police Officer Who Died in Hostage Incident

Survivors and families of victims of Friday’s terror attack in France attended a special mass to honor the four killed and three wounded, including an officer who swapped himself with a hostage in a supermarket in the southwestern town of Trebes.

The Bishop of Carcassonne and Narbonne Alain Planet celebrated mass, during which he praised the “extraordinary devotion” of Lieutenant-Colonel Arnaud Beltrame.

“I am here to share in people’s mourning, but also to warm myself to their profound solidarity. This event was also an opportunity to see an extraordinary act, extraordinary devotion by [Lieutenant] Colonel Arnaud Beltrame,” he said. “The whole of France has been touched by this, we were too, especially the Christian community, as he was one of ours. And at the start of this holy week, when we look at Christ take our place to save us from death, well his act takes on a whole new meaning and I’m sure he was aware of that when he did what he did.”

Planet said Friday’s events offered an opportunity to reflect on the suffering felt by countless people around the world.

After French President Emmanuel Macron said evidence suggested the gunman’s actions were considered terrorism, the Islamic State militant group’s propaganda arm claimed responsibility.

The Paris prosecutor’s office said counterterrorism authorities have assumed control of the investigation.

French authorities say two people have been arrested in connection with the shootings, including a woman who is reported to have been close to the assailant.

Islamic State extremist attacks have killed more than 200 people since 2015.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump denounced Friday’s attack in France in a message on Twitter Saturday.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims of the horrible attack in France yesterday, and we grieve the nation’s loss,” the president wrote, adding “We also condemn the violent actions of the attacker and anyone who would provide him support. We are with you @EmmanuelMacron!”

 

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Телеканал «Росія-24» показав «бойовий лазер» із каналізаційною трубою

Державний телеканал «Росія-24» у сюжеті про російські військові лазери «нового типу» показав установку, обладнану каналізаційною та димохідними трубами. На це звернув увагу портал Defence Blog.

Навіщо в конструкції лазера були використані такі труби, точно невідомо. У Defence Blog припускають, що це могло бути зроблено для захисту чутливих елементів нової системи.

У сюжеті «Росії-24» йдеться про лазери, які нібито пройшли державні випробування і поставлені на озброєння російської армії. Сюжет під назвою «Лазер захистить росіян від ворогів і хвороб» був опублікований 11 березня. За кілька днів до цього про розробку в Росії бойового лазерного комплекса заявив президент країни Володимир Путін.

Тоді ж у посланні Федеральним зборам російський лідер розповів про нову ядерну зброю. Ці слова Путіна були проілюстровані комп’ютерним роликом 11-річної давності, а ядерна ракета на відео вражає місто Сент-Пітерсберг у штаті Флорида в США.

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Рівень відносин із Росією не потребує додаткової висилки дипломатів – Геращенко

Перший заступник голови Верховної Ради Ірина Геращенко заявила, що дипломатичні відносини України та Росії перебувають на «критичному мінімумі», який не потребує додаткової висилки російських дипломатів.

«По фейсбуку розганяється чергова зрада, мовляв, всі країни ЄС висилають російських дипломатів, а ми – ліпецкаяфабрикаторгівлянакровіневисилаємо», – написала Геращенко у Facebook і назвала таку позицію «непрофесіоналізмом».

«По-перше, в Україні давно немає посла РФ, ми не прийняли агреман на нового посла. Так само немає посла України в РФ. Наші дипломатичні відносини зведені до критичного мінімуму, в посольствах залишається кілька рядових дипломатів і консули. Висилка російських консулів викличе висилку украінських консулів – й наші політв‘язні в РФ залишаться сам на сам з мордором, без шансу бодай раз на кілька місяців побачити украінського представника, відчути мінімальну підтримку. Ви правда цього хочете?» – запитує Геращенко, яка також працює в гуманітарній підгрупі Тристоронньої контактної групи з урегулювання на Донбасі й відповідає за звільнення утримуваних проросійськими сепаратистами людей.

Близько 20 європейських країн і США готуються вислати російських дипломатів у відповідь на отруєння у Великій Британії колишнього шпигуна Сергія Скрипаля і його дочки Юлії, повідомляє британське видання The Times. За даними The Times, дії з вислання дипломатів, пов’язаних зі шпигунськими мережами Москви, почнуться 26 березня з відкликання посла Європейського союзу в Росії. Його відкликають поки що на один місяць.

Днями на саміті в Брюсселі всі 28 країн ЄС визнали «дуже ймовірною» причетність Росії до отруєння в Британії хімічною речовиною військового призначення колишнього російського співробітника ГРУ, цим самим чітко ставши на боці Лондона.

Сергій Скрипаль і його дочка Юлія були госпіталізовані 4 березня. Слідчі вважають, що їх отруїли виробленою в Росії нервово-паралітичною речовиною «Новачок». 22 березня суддя Дейвід Вільямс, який видав слідству дозвіл на відбір зразків крові Скрипалів заявив, що може йтися про пошкодження мозку в обох через отруєння. Поліцейського, який теж постраждав від контакту з хімічною речовиною, уже виписали з лікарні.

Прем’єр-міністр Великої Британії Тереза Мей звинуватила Росію в отруєнні колишнього російського розвідника Сергія Скрипаля та його дочки Юлії й оголосила про вислання 23 російських дипломатів.

17 березня Росія оголосила персонами нон ґрата 23 дипломатів з Британії. Москва заперечує свою причетність до отруєння.

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У Німеччині затриманий каталонський сепаратист Карлес Пучдемон

У Німеччині 25 березня затриманий колишній лідер іспанського регіону Каталонії, сепаратист Карлес Пучдемон, повідомив його адвокат. Ордер на арешт Пучдемона видала Іспанія.

Як повідомляє агентство France-Presse, Пучдемон був зупинений, коли перетинав кордон Данії та Німеччини.

Раніше цього місяця Пучдемон відмовився знову очолити регіон. Про це він заявив у відеозверненні з Брюсселя. Пучдемон натомість закликав підтримати Йорді Санчеса – прихильника незалежності Каталонії, який перебуває під вартою за звинуваченням у підбурюванні до заколоту.

На дострокових парламентських виборах 21 грудня минулого року перемогу здобули прихильники незалежності регіону на чолі з Карлесом Пучдемоном, який переховувався в Бельгії, бо в Іспанії йому загрожує арешт.

Згідно із законодавством, перед початком першого раунду голосування кандидат на посаду голови Каталонії повинен з’явитися в парламент, щоб представити свою програму і взяти участь у дебатах. Дистанційної присутності за допомогою відеозв’язку регламент не передбачає.

Пучдемон заявив про намір у вигнанні відновити свої повноваження як керівника Каталонії. Мадрид наполягає, що керувати Каталонією з-за кордону буде «незаконно».

Дострокові вибори в парламент Каталонії призначили після того, як регіон оголосив про незалежність за підсумками місцевого референдуму в жовтні минулого року. Мадрид назвав голосування незаконним і ввів в Каталонії пряме правління.

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Pride, Loneliness in the Deep North: The Russians Who Refuse to Leave Dying Arctic City

In Russia’s far north, the city of Vorkuta is slowly being reclaimed by the Arctic tundra. The front lines of this battle between the urban and natural worlds are in the suburbs, where abandoned apartment blocks emerge from the towering snowdrifts. Huge icicles claw over the edges of buildings and emerge through shattered windows, seemingly pulling these brutalist relics deeper into their Arctic grave.

Vorkuta’s population began to plummet in the 1990s as one by one the local coal mines closed, leaving a handful operational today.

The suburb of Sovetsky once housed thousands of miners and their families, the pioneers of the Soviet Union’s push north to exploit Vorkuta’s rich coal deposits. The shells of former theaters and ice-bound playgrounds hint at happier times. Now there is little sound apart from the Arctic gales that whistle through the empty streets.

WATCH: Pride, Loneliness in the Deep North: Russians Who Refuse to Abandon Arctic City

Not quite everyone left. Eduard Parshin, a pensioner at 50, tends to his beloved cars in a garage below his apartment. It is a lonely existence.

“There are just three people in the block I live in, and I am the only one living in my section where there are 80 apartments. It is pretty much the same situation in the whole town. What can I say? The settlement is dying. You could say it is already dead,” Parshin told VOA.

Wider far north crisis

Vorkuta’s fate reflects a wider population crisis across the far north. Russia’s Arctic population is shrinking fast, by around 15 percent since 2000. The collapse of the centralized Soviet system led millions to seek better prospects further south, aided by government resettlement programs and money from the World Bank.

Vorkuta authorities want to move the remaining residents into the city center to save on infrastructure costs, and to allow the outlying suburbs to finally succumb to the ice. However, no one will buy the old apartments and there is no money to fund the move – so the remaining residents are stuck in their dying neighborhoods. The mayor of Vorkuta wants Moscow’s help.

“The costs are really high for a local government budget. That is why our task is really to ‘tighten’ the settlements with no prospects, to resettle the residents into the center,” Mayor Igor Gurlev said.

​Young population

Many of those who fled Vorkuta in recent decades were pensioners, and they left behind a young population. At the local college, mining and geology are top of the curriculum, and many students are fervently proud of their hometown.

“If it had not been for the coal, Vorkuta would not have existed. I believe it is my patriotic duty to be part of this industry,” student Artyom Koltakov told VOA.

At Vorkuta’s School of Art, the cultural talent on display offers a colorful antidote to the bitter extremes of coal and ice outside. Students practice classical music, drama and painting, and many of them hope their skills will lead to an alternative career, very different from that of elder family members toiling in the mines thousands of meters beneath the city.

Sergey Gagausov, the principal of the school, is sanguine about his city’s survival.

“Life is certainly not sweet in this city. The oxygen deficiency. The economic situation. But nevertheless, I believe that cities like Vorkuta — they are not dying cities,” he said.

To survive, Vorkuta must offer its young people a reason to stay in its unforgiving landscape. The remaining mines offer some hope, but there are growing doubts that coal offers a sustainable future.

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Pride, Loneliness in the Deep North: Russians Who Refuse to Abandon Arctic City

In Russia’s far north, the city of Vorkuta is slowly being reclaimed by the Arctic tundra. Its population has plummeted as the local coal mines have closed, and the very future of the city is in doubt. As Henry Ridgwell reports for VOA, Vorkuta’s fate reflects a wider population crisis across Russia’s far north as old Soviet industries have crumbled.

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Swelling Tourism Numbers Come at a Cost in Indonesia

Tourist numbers in Indonesia swelled last year on the back of overseas advertising and infrastructure development. President Joko Widodo has said he wants to “create 10 tourist destinations like the island of Bali.” But the pleasing economic numbers also come with a social and environmental cost as rampant development threatens ecosystems and traditional livelihoods. Jack Hewson has this report.

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Some Fear Steel Tariff Could Hurt Auto Industry in the South

German business leaders are expressing concerns that President Donald Trump’s 25 percent tariff on imported steel could affect the auto industry in the South.

 

WABE Radio reports Mercedes-Benz USA this month opened its new North American headquarters in Sandy Springs, Georgia, for 1,000 employees.

The luxury car manufacturer is owned by Germany-based Daimler, but Mercedes-Benz USA CEO Dietmar Exler used the grand opening to remind the crowd of the brand’s U.S. presence.

German automakers in US 

That includes operations in South Carolina and in Alabama.

 

“We are now in the midst of construction of our own factory here, which will open doors in the fall in Charleston, South Carolina, and we’ll make all of the Sprinter vans for North America right here,” Exler said at the grand opening of its headquarters in Sandy Springs, Georgia, just north of Atlanta.

 

“Right next to me you have a member of the most successful SUV family, a GLE Coupe,” Exler said. “As you know, the GLE and the GLS are produced in Alabama. Last year, 280,000 cars were produced here not just for the U.S. market, but for markets all over the world.”

 

German car factories in the U.S. made more than 800,000 vehicles last year, and about half were sold overseas, according to the German Association of the Automotive Industry.

 

This month, Volkswagen of America Inc. announced plans to build a new five-passenger SUV at its factory in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where it manufactures other vehicles. Volkswagen AG is based in Wolfsburg, Germany.

 

“During my time as governor, I’ve watched Volkswagen Chattanooga flourish from a single vehicle producer, starting with the Passat, into what it is today — a thriving U.S. manufacturing operation that can produce three models, and counting,” said Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam said in a statement Monday, when plans were announced.

 

“We value Volkswagen as a committed partner, whose investments in the state have not only created new jobs, but have helped us build a skilled Tennessee workforce,” Haslam said.

Volkswagen Chattanooga also manufactures the Passat and the Atlas.

​Trump proclamation, industry concern

Trump signed a proclamation last week to impose a 25 percent tariff on steel from every country except Canada and Mexico. The hope is to boost steel manufacturing in the U.S.

The concern among some industry experts is that tariffs on steel could hurt companies like Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and Porsche, all of which have significant operations in the South, said Stefan Mair of the Federation of German Industries in Berlin.

 

“Do you see the cars outside? There’s a lot of steel in there,” Mair said at the grand opening of the Georgia headquarters complex. “We think there will be some additional percentage points on the prices of cars.”

 

That price increase could be enough to stop people from buying new cars, said Lisa Cook, who teaches economics and international relations at Michigan State University.

 

“If consumers are price sensitive, and they are for many types of cars, this could cause people to postpone their decision to purchase a car,” Cook said.

US steel in cars

 

A little more than a quarter of all U.S. steel is used to make cars in this country, according to the German American Chamber of Commerce for the southern U.S.

 

“Approximately 25 percent of all steel is used in automotive manufacturing and 10 percent in machinery and equipment; both industries that German companies have heavily invested in the U.S. over the years,” said Stefanie Ziska, president of GACC South.

 

Making cars more expensive to build and export could hurt U.S. jobs, said Jeffrey Rosensweig, who teaches international business at Georgia’s Emory University.

 

“That would not only cost us jobs, it would hurt the U.S. and could potentially harm the U.S. trade balance,” Rosensweig said. “Just the opposite of what President Trump thinks he’s trying to achieve.”

 

He said the steel tariffs could trigger a trade war that would go beyond the auto industry.

 

“These foreign nations that we’re going to put these import taxes on, these tariffs, are not stupid,” Rosensweig said. “They’re going to retaliate against our exports, and they’re going to hit us where it hurts, which is often our farm exports.”

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Are Budget, Tax Cuts Enough for Voters to Stick With GOP?

With the passage of an enormous budget bill, the GOP-controlled Congress all but wrapped up its legislating for the year. But will it be enough to persuade voters to give Republicans another term at the helm?

In two big ways, Republicans have done what they promised. They passed a long-sought tax overhaul bill that slashed tax rates. They’ve rolled back regulations, in ways they claim are boosting the economy. In the Senate, they confirmed a justice to the Supreme Court.

But there are signs Americans wanted more: immigration reforms, gun control legislation, even an infrastructure plan that President Donald Trump promised voters. Tax cuts, for now, will have to do.

“It’s very clear that tax reform was going to be the biggest legislative crown jewel of this Congress,” said Matt Gorman, the spokesman for the House GOP’s campaign arm, the National Republican Congressional Committee. “That is a massive centerpiece of our campaign.”

​Mixed messages

But polls swing wildly these days, strategists said. Voters are rarely focused for too long on single issues that can make or break campaigns, as when Republicans seized control of the House in 2010 amid the economic downturn or Democrats pushed to the majority in 2006 over opposition to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and congressional ethics scandals.

Trump’s mixed messages on the GOP’s accomplishments only make the campaigning more difficult. At the White House on Friday, he toyed with a veto of the $1.3 trillion budget package, complaining it lacked his immigration deal and smacked of overspending, before ultimately signing it. Such shifting views leave Republicans without a reliable partner as they try to push through political headwinds in what’s expected to be a tough battle for majority control of the House and Senate.

Lawmakers left town for a two-week recess that marks the unofficial end of the legislating season having shelved resolution of other issues.

Leftovers: health care, DACA

Congress failed to pass legislation to curb rising health insurance premiums or protect young immigrants known as Dreamers from deportation, two issues that have stirred voters this year. And before the nationwide “March for Our Lives” protests against gun violence, lawmakers took modest steps to boost school safety funds and improve compliance with the federal gun purchase background check system.

Kris Brown, co-president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said the measures are “just not enough.”

“The American people have been screaming from the rooftops for real, bold change to fight against” tragedies such as the Florida and Las Vegas shootings, Brown said. “We have seen the consequences of Congress’s inaction.”

A modest agenda

Congress’ spring agenda is thin. It includes modest plans to finish a banking bill that rolls back some of the regulations put in place after the financial crisis and pass a big farm bill that sets agriculture and school nutrition policies. The Senate also has to begin confirmation hearings for Trump’s nominees for secretary of state and CIA director.

The one legislative lift will be another spending bill when the one Trump signed into law expires at the end of September. But it may bring more political risk than reward for Republicans, since conservatives largely sided with the president against this one, and could pose a more serious threat of voter revolt in the fall.

Strategists say it will be up to candidates to make the case that the GOP’s signature legislative accomplishment is worth their re-election.

Democrats have been hammering on the tax law as a giveaway to big business, in part because the steep reduction in corporate rates, from 35 percent to 21 percent, is permanent while the reduced rates for individuals and other provisions for families, including expanded child tax credits, expire in coming years.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has derided the lopsided benefits for households as “crumbs” — a quip Republicans eagerly throw back at Democrats. 

Millions in GOP ads

To prop up public opinion of the GOP’s top accomplishment, millions are being spent by outside groups. American Action Network, which is aligned with House Speaker Paul Ryan, is unleashing more than $30 million in ads, and the network backed by the influential Koch brothers will spend more than $20 million, heaping praise on lawmakers who voted for the tax cuts and informing voters about those who didn’t.

And with passage of tax cuts so important to the GOP election effort, Republicans might take the unusual step of trying to pass them again.

“We think there’s more we can do,” Ryan said.

House GOP leaders are seriously considering legislation this summer — “Tax Cuts 2” — that would try to build on the original bill that became law in December by making the individual tax cuts permanent.

A do-over tax cuts bill is not expected to pass this Congress. But setting up another showdown accomplishes political goals for Republicans by turning attention back on the tax law, and pushing Democrats into the uncomfortable position of voting against it, again.

Americans for Prosperity, one of the groups in the Koch network, launched an ad campaign urging Congress to fortify the law by making tax cuts permanent. “More needs to be done,” the group says on a website for its advocacy.

“Even if there are things that get passed between now and the fall, the bottom line is the single most important piece of legislation is going to be the tax bill,” said veteran strategist David Winston, who advises House and Senate GOP leadership. “That defines what this Congress is about.”

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Survivor Marks 6 Minutes of Strength, Silence at Rally

Chin high and tears streaming, Florida school shooting survivor Emma Gonzalez stood silent in front of thousands gathered for the “March for Our Lives” rally in Washington.

She continued to stand silently as a few crowd members shouted out support. She remained silent as tentative chants broke out. Her silence continued as those attending also fell quiet, many weeping.

The gripping moment stretched for 6 minutes and 20 seconds, the amount of time Gonzalez said it took a shooter to kill 17 people and wound 15 others at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, last month.

6 minutes and 20 seconds

“Everyone who has been touched by the cold grip of gun violence understands,” Gonzalez told the hushed crowd, describing the long hours spent waiting for authorities to identify their slain classmates, the horror of discovering many of them had breathed their last breaths before many students even knew a “code red” alert — designed to warn staffers and students of a potential threat — had been called.

“Six minutes and 20 seconds with an AR-15 and my friend Carmen [Schentrup] would never complain to me about piano practice,” she said, her voice strong but her throat momentarily catching. “Aaron Feis would never call Kyra ‘Miss Sunshine.’ Alex Schachter would never walk into school with his brother Ryan.”

Gonzalez went on, listing name after name of those killed at the school Feb. 14.

Silence spreads

And then she stopped, her breath heaving but remaining composed, looking straight ahead and silent.

Seemingly unsure what to do, the crowed waited. Some appeared to catch her intent right away, watching with hands covering mouths, foreheads wrinkled and tears falling. Chants of “never again” broke out for a time, and later someone came out from the wings of the stage to put a hand on her shoulder and whisper in her ear.

The silence by now had spread to the thousands thronging Pennsylvania Avenue. Protesters, parents, television news crews waited to see what Gonzalez would do next.

The beeping of a digital alarm broke the silence.

“Since the time that I came out here, it has been six minutes and 20 seconds. The shooter has ceased shooting and will soon abandon his rifle, blend in with the students as they escape and walk free for an hour before arrest,” she said, voice clear. “Fight for your lives before it’s someone else’s job.”

‘Get out there and vote’

Gonzalez is one of several teens from the school to become gun control activists in the wake of the shooting. Their efforts have galvanized youth nationwide, with hundreds of thousands attending similar rallies across the country.

As the three-hour rally wrapped up, Gonzalez assigned some homework for the demonstrators:

“One final plug,” she said. “Get out there and vote.”

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