Category: ESTA News

Foreign media reported on the 4th that residents of the Southern Mountains of California are anxiously awaiting rescue as they are trapped in unusual heavy snowfall.

According to the Associated Press, towns in the San Bernardino Mountains, not far from Los Angeles (LA), were isolated as a recent winter storm hit southern California, which shows mild weather even in winter.

Houses and shops were buried in heavy snow, and major highways connected to the outside were blocked due to avalanches.

Unlike Northern California, which is accustomed to snowfall, disaster response authorities and residents in the South are having a hard time with this winter’s storms.

More than 1,200 rescue calls have been received by the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Office, but county authorities have not even been able to accurately determine how many people will be trapped in vacation homes and rental homes.

A villager who was cut off from the outside world left a message “Help Us” (Help Us) with footprints in the white snow field.

San Bernardino County authorities first mobilized helicopters to deliver relief goods, and created narrow roads that could be entered by vehicles to provide emergency assistance such as food, medicine, and baby products to isolated villages such as Big Bear and Lake Arrowhead.

Authorities said that more time is needed to ensure smooth supply of goods to the mountain village, and that some residents will have to wait for relief in isolation for another week.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on the 25th that millennials in their 30s in the United States have been hit harder than other generations by the changes in recent years, such as the Corona 19 pandemic and inflation.

Stacey Cocklin (31), who lives in Miami and raises a teenage daughter, was trying to buy her first home right before the Corona 19 pandemic. He works as a construction project manager and earns $40,000 a year, but he lived with his parents for two years to put together a down payment and pay off his credit card debt.

However, as schools closed due to COVID-19, and she had to spend $1,200 a month on childcare for her two children, her credit card loans increased again. As interest rates rose amid soaring inflation, he eventually forgot his savings and ended up in debt of more than $20,000, including credit card loans and personal loans.

WSJ analyzed that the millennial generation was put in a disadvantageous situation from the start. I started working from 2007 to 2009, when the economy was in a slump due to the financial crisis, and there were many cases where income was restricted due to this influence.

This generation was more shocked than other generations when they experienced the COVID-19 pandemic when they were in the midst of giving birth and raising children and buying their own home for the first time.

As schools closed, I spent thousands of dollars on unplanned childcare and private education, and when I was trying to buy my first house, I was pressured by high interest rates and rising house prices.

Such is the case with Mr. Cocklin. He said, “Starting with shampoo, everything that my children need as they grow up has become more expensive. I have no idea what to do.”

According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, the total debt of millennials increased by 27% from the end of 2019 to more than $3.8 trillion as of the fourth quarter of last year.

Debt growth among millennials is the steepest among all age groups. The three-year rate of debt accumulation in this age group is the fastest since the 2008 financial crisis.

In an analysis by credit information company Vantage Score Solutions, the average credit card balance of millennial borrowers last month was about $6,750 (about 8.9 million won), up 26% from three years ago. The balance of the older generation, Generation X, is almost unchanged, compared to an 11-15% decline in the older generation.

The average personal loan balance of millennials also increased more than all borrowers. Also, according to the New York Fed, younger borrowers are more likely than other age groups to be late on their car payments.

Credit rating agency TransUnion analyzed that millennials are delinquent on credit card payments more than before the Corona 19 pandemic. In contrast, the rate of card delinquency among the elderly decreased over the same period.

The WSJ pointed out that the rising debt of the millennial generation can deepen the gap between the rich and the poor between generations.

This generation also experienced difficult times such as the economic crisis, felt financially unstable even when the economic situation was good, and analyzed that they were relatively passive about opportunities to increase their income, such as starting a business or investing.

“Younger, less affluent borrowers are under financial pressure as their incomes are unable to keep pace with rising living costs and inflation, and in that sense, a ‘credit gap’ is emerging,” said Silvio Tavares, CEO of Vantage Score Solutions. We don’t see this in people,” he said.

“For millennials, they’re being beaten in all directions. They feel they have no control over their finances,” said Charlotte Principato, a financial services analyst for younger consumers at market research firm MorningConsult. The millennials will also follow in the footsteps of the millennial generation.”

Although the US government is tightening regulations on Chinese investment, it has been found that there are not a few US companies betting on the Chinese market.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on the 26th that despite the recent change in the investment environment due to the US-China conflict, an increase in US food and clothing companies are expecting the Chinese market to normalize after the pandemic.

Starbucks has recently announced its plans to open 3,000 of its stores in China by 2025.

As of December, last year, Starbucks sales in China plunged 42% compared to the same period last year, but the company cannot give up the possibility of the Chinese market in the long run.

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz also announced plans to visit China for the first time this spring.

“Starbucks’ growth in China is still in its infancy,” Schultz said.

Hamburger maker McDonald’s also announced plans to open 900 new stores in China this year.

Spam maker Hormel also decided to significantly expand its operations in China, including building a new plant outside Shanghai.

Tapestry, the parent company of fashion brand Coach, and apparel maker Ralph Lauren are also adding new stores in China.

Such an investment atmosphere by US companies seems to be due to the growth potential of the Chinese economy.

Recently, Goldman Sachs raised China’s economic growth rate this year from 5.2% to 5.5% after scrapping the ‘zero corona’ policy.

The Chinese government’s recent forward-looking stance towards US companies also seems to have had an impact on the expansion of investment.

On the 22nd, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs released a photo of a meeting between an executive from US aircraft manufacturer Boeing and a senior foreign ministry official on its WeChat official account.

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs even left an article saying, “We will spare no support for American companies, including Boeing.”

China also allowed the release of a superhero movie by Marvel, a film production company affiliated with Disney, for the first time in 3 years and 7 months since 2019.

However, the WSJ said that the expansion of investment in China is centered on companies in the consumer goods sector, and technology and manufacturers are maintaining a cautious attitude toward China.

Demands for severance pay from laid-off employees are growing stronger as tech companies continue to cut jobs amidst concerns about the economic downturn.

To get more severance, pay, laid-off employees are putting pressure on companies by hiring experts in negotiations or even lawyers. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that tech companies are facing the reality of having to suffer the aftereffects of severe layoffs due to strong demands for severance pay.

According to the newspaper, there are an increasing number of cases in which employees who have been notified of layoffs by tech companies hire lawyers or experts to negotiate with the companies to secure more severance pay as part of self-rescue measures.

Brian Liu, founder of Laura, a negotiation consulting firm, said, “Since last May, employees who received notice of dismissal from tech companies have requested consulting on severance pay negotiations.”

Two years ago, there was little demand for consulting related to severance pay. Rather, mentioning the conditions for severance pay during the dismissal process at that time was a kind of taboo. This was because they were able to receive higher salaries while changing jobs due to manpower shortages.

But the situation was reversed. As the economy entered a recession due to high interest rates, tech companies made the management choice of reducing employees, resulting in a series of layoffs.

Tech companies that enjoyed a boom during the pandemic have been making massive job cuts since last year. Big tech companies such as Meta, Amazon, Microsoft (MS), and Alphabet joined the layoffs.

The laid-off employees are demanding severance pay, arguing that it is unfair to lay off large-scale workers just because of the economic downturn. Demand for severance pay, which serves as a cushion against financial shocks after layoffs, has increased as the possibility of re-employment is not as high as before and the opportunity for a salary increase has decreased.

Regarding severance pay, the reality is that even tech companies do not have that much room for maneuver. It is not easy to ignore the demand for severance pay, as it is possible to rehire employees who were laid off if the economy improves soon. This is because if the image of the company is damaged and the morale of the dismissed employee is damaged, the possibility of re-employment will be eliminated.

The media added that dismissed employees’ demands for retirement conditions include, in addition to monetary demands for severance pay, maintenance of medical insurance for a certain period and unpaid leave until re-employment.

Police are looking for a driver who deliberately hit and ran in the parking lot of a church in the Castro Valley.

The Alameda County Sheriff’s Office said on the 11th at around 7:25 pm that a black adult male driver deliberately hit and ran away from the parking lot of the First Presbyterian Church in the 2900 block of Grove Way.

At that time, the driver’s vehicle brushed the victim, and the victim shouted at the driver, and the driver also shouted, pulled the car back, hit the victim, and fled west toward Redwood Road. The suspect was driving a mid-2010s white Nissan Sentra.

The elderly victim fell to the ground after hitting the hood of the vehicle and was taken to the hospital and is not in a critical condition.

In Auckland, a resident trapped in the basement of a building collapsed and was rescued safely on the 10th.

According to a photo posted by the authorities on Twitter, a man trapped in the basement behind a building that appeared to be a house was safely rescued on the 10th, and the victim was wearing navy-blue jumpsuit and similar clothes and a hat.

Oakland and Alameda County Fire Services said the crash occurred when a building support wall collapsed. However, the Chronicle reported on the 12th that it was not known exactly how the man was imprisoned or where the accident occurred.

A man trapped on a rock under a steep coastal cliff near Stinson Beach in Marin County has been rescued.

The California Highway Patrol (CHP) and the Marin County Fire Department received a report at around 3:14 pm on the 12th and rescued a man who had taken off his shirt from a rock under Highway 1.

A man armed with a knife detained a teenage girl in a residential area in Fort Lee, a town densely populated by Koreans in New Jersey, and was shot and killed by police during a confrontation with police.

According to the New Jersey State Prosecutor’s Office, the police received a report that a man was holding a teenager in a condominium in Fort Lee John Street at 8:13 am on the 4th.

While the confrontation between the dispatched police and the man continued for a long time, police agents tried to rescue the teenager from the condo on the third floor. During this process, the man, who was believed to be carrying a knife, suddenly acted violently and eventually the police fired a gun to quell it.

The gunshot victim at the hands of the police died at 10:39 am on the same day. Information about the man’s identity, his relationship with the detained teenager, and the motive for the incident have not been released as of 4:00 pm on the 5th.

In this regard, according to NBC, it is known that he visited Fort Lee from Las Vegas with his family.

California is known for having strict gun laws in the United States. There are more than 100-gun control laws, including about 10 passed last year.

Domestic violence criminals are prohibited from possessing firearms, and those who have been judged to be dangerous to others or themselves are not eligible to own firearms. Large-capacity magazines or silencers that reduce gunfire are illegal. Semi-automatic guns, also called ‘assault weapons’, are also banned.

However, mass shootings in California are continuing. It is said that there is a lot of gun control, but it is only slightly better than other US states with poor management.

The New York Times (NYT), through an article on the 30th, reported a series of mass shootings in California and the conflicting diagnosis and countermeasures of arguments in favor of and against regulations surrounding them.

Proponents of gun control point out that California’s gun laws are among the strictest in the country, but still have many loopholes, and argue that stronger measures should be implemented not only in California but throughout the country.

For example, under current California law, there is no way to take away the right to own a gun if it was legal at the time of purchase, even if the purchase is prohibited.

There are also cases in which the right to own a firearm is maintained because no report has been filed with the court or law enforcement agency even though the person has behaved to be considered a dangerous person.

There are many unregistered ‘ghost guns’, and illegal weapons are brought in from other neighboring states, where regulations are less regulated.

Because of these circumstances, California authorities are realizing that it is very difficult to strike a balance between safety and freedom through state law.

Opponents of gun control, on the other hand, argue that enacting more regulatory laws will not work, and that the only way to ensure that citizens are legally armed is the ultimate guarantee of safety.

Sam Pareders, president of the California Gun Owners Association, criticized attempts to tighten regulations, saying murder was already illegal, saying, “What are we going to do? Make it ‘more illegal’?”

However, California Assemblyman Jesse Gabriel, who co-chairs the Legislative Working Group on Gun Violence Prevention, said the meeting had been moved forward to discuss additional gun control legislation.

Proposed legislation would include an excise tax on ammunition and firearms in California, an additional three-year limit on gun ownership for those with restraining orders for domestic violence, and a plan to protect unregistered ‘ghosts’. ’ These include making possession of a firearm a felony and allowing people experiencing mental health crises to put their names on the ‘No Guns Selling’ list.

There is also a campaign to spread the word about the existence of an injunction system to prevent gun violence.

In addition, as a federal Supreme Court precedent recognizing the right to carry a handgun in public places came out in June last year, the need to amend the law has been raised in more than six states, including California.

According to California police figures quoted by ABC News on the 29th, a total of six mass shootings occurred in the area from January 1 to 29 this year. According to the ‘Archive of Gun Violence’, a non-profit organization that tracks gun violence in the United States, there were 48 mass shootings across the United States during the same period. The group classifies “if there are four or more shooting casualties excluding the gunman” as a “mass shooting” and counts them.

Among them, a gunman killed 11 people at a dance school in Monterey Park near Los Angeles, California on the 21st, and a farm worker in Half Moon Bay near San Francisco killed 7 of his colleagues on the 23rd.

On the 28th, three people were shot dead and four were seriously injured in Beverly Crest, near Los Angeles.

The White House announced that it has already approved more than 16 million of the student debt relief applications it has received.

The White House announced on the 27th through the FACT SHEET, “A total of 26 million people in 50 states have applied for debt relief, and more than 16 million of them have completed the approval process.” According to the fact sheet, 26.26 million people applied and 16.486 million were approved.

By state, the number of student loans approved for forgiveness was 429,000 in Virginia (685,000 total applicants) and 323,000 in Maryland (522,000 total applicants). However, even if approval is granted, the benefits of indemnity are not immediately realized.

In August of last year, the Biden administration issued an executive order to forgive up to $20,000 for federal student loan debtors and began accepting applications in October.

However, it has not been implemented in practice as opposition lawsuits from the Republican side have been filed one after another.

In November of last year, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order barring the implementation of the student loan debt relief program in response to a lawsuit brought by six Republican states.

Then, in the same month, the Texas District Court ruled that President Biden’s administrative order for student loan relief was unconstitutional in response to a lawsuit filed by the conservative group’ Job Creation Network Foundation’ (JCNF), and even the application for student loan debt relief was suspended.

The Biden administration expressed its dissatisfaction with the successive court decisions, and eventually the Federal Supreme Court made the final decision on whether to implement student loan debt relief.

The Supreme Court plans to hear the student loan debt relief lawsuit on February 29. According to the Student Loan Forgiveness website (studentaid.gov), student loan repayment begins 60 days after the lawsuit is resolved.

President Joe Biden issued an executive order on August 24 of last year, saying that up to $10,000 will be forgiven when an individual earns an annual income of $125,000 and a couple earns less than $250,000. And he agreed to write off up to $20,000 for those receiving a Pell Grant for the poor.

Reuters and CBS reported citing related sources that the federal government is piloting a system that allows citizens’ personal sponsorship to expand refugee entry.

According to sources, the program is a system in which five or more people residing in the United States form a “Welcome Corps” to raise $2,275 per refugee, pass background checks, and submit a support plan for entrants, which the government approves. to be. So far, refugees who have entered the United States have gone through the process of settling with the help of nine federally funded non-profit organizations.

For the first time in history, this system, which uses individual sponsorship for refugee entry and settlement, can bring about a dramatic change in US refugee policy, CBS predicted. Reuters evaluated the system to encourage refugee entry while reducing government costs.

Under this program, government-approved individual sponsors provide refugees with the assistance they need to resettle in the United States, including housing, food, medical care, education, and public welfare, just as traditional settlement agencies have done.

Finding sponsors for 5,000 refugees by the end of this fiscal year in September is a priority for the US government, Reuters reported. At the beginning of the ‘Welcome Group’ program, refugees selected through the United Nations and U.S. embassies will be brought in.

The Joe Biden administration set the upper limit for refugee permits for fiscal year 2023, which began in October of last year, at 125,000, but the number of refugees who entered the country between November and December last year was only 6,750. Since former President Donald Trump drastically reduced refugee acceptance, the size of federal permits has not recovered to previous levels, Reuters reported.

Officially institutionalized in 1980, the U.S. refugee program has provided safe haven to more than 3 million refugees fleeing armed conflict, ethnic persecution and other forms of violence. Refugees undergo interviews, security screenings, and health screenings over several years before coming to the United States.

The number of victims of a mass shooting that occurred on the 21st in Monterey Park near Los Angeles (LA) has increased to 11 people.

The medical center said the victim suffered “extensive wounds” after being shot. The sex and specific identity of the deceased were not known.

The death toll from an indiscriminate shooting at Star Dance Studio, a dance school in Monterey Park, has risen to 11.

Ten people which include five women and five men, were shot dead at the scene by gunman Huu Can Tran.

But the death toll could rise as LAC+USC Medical Center said there were three more victims with severe injuries.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office said two of the 10 people killed at the scene were My Nhan, 65, and Lilan Li, 63. Nationality unknown.

While the investigative authorities focused on finding a motive for the crime, it was found that the gunman Tran aimed at some victims and fired a gun.

According to the New York Times (NYT), an official from the investigative authorities said that based on the testimony of witnesses, it is believed that Tran aimed and fired a gun at some victims.

The official said the gunman appeared to have specifically targeted some of the dead and then randomly opened fire on others.

However, it is not known who the specific victims he was targeting were.

In addition, there were testimonies that the rampage was a regular at the dance school where the incident occurred, and that he hated the people at the school.

According to her friends, Tran was a regular at the dance school, informally tutoring others and meeting her ex-wife.

His ex-wife said he met Tran here 20 years ago and they divorced her in 2005. After her divorce, he reportedly never remarried and never had a girlfriend.

There were also testimonies that the rampant was quick-tempered and distrustful of the people at the training center.

His ex-wife told CNN that Tran taught her how to dance for free. “Tran wasn’t violent, but he would quickly get angry if he stumbled a step while dancing,” his ex-wife told CNN.

“He’s hot-tempered, aggressive and doesn’t trust people,” Adam Hood, who said he spoke often, told Reuters.

He added, “He was mad at the people in the studio, and he distrusted them.”

CNN, citing an unnamed friend, said Nansha-beom was unhappy that dance instructors had “said bad things” about him, and that he was hostile towards many people in the studio.