LA Times in trouble losing roughly $30 million annually and cutting staff

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Important Takeaways:

  • Oh How the Mighty Have Fallen: The LA Times Appears to Be in a State of Imminent Collapse
  • The Los Angeles Times has been around since 1881 and has survived enormous ups and downs over the past 142 years. But one thing remained constant: the LA Times could be depended on for trustworthy and timely reporting of the news
  • …until now. Impending doom seems to have struck the Times, with new reports of “brutal” layoffs and exodus of senior editors
  • Tuesday’s big news was that the paper will be shedding a large percentage of the newsroom staff and editors (115 people to be laid off), and two of the four remaining senior editors (ironically they came from BuzzFeed) have called it quits. This comes just a few weeks after Executive Editor Kevin Merida abruptly left, citing differences with the paper’s owner.
  • No one seems to truly know what is going on, or what will come, as several employees are pointing their fingers or at the very least offering criticism at the owner, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong. An anonymous employee stated:
  • “We have a billionaire who doesn’t understand media and thinks he can cut his way to success…”
  • The critique of the leadership does not come without merit. The Times has lost roughly $30 million annually since he took over with his activist daughter, Nika Soon-Shiong. The Times is shedding editorial staff and general newsroom staff at an extremely concerning rate, whether by being laid off or outright quitting; the media giant has a historic attrition rate.

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California Dreaming? More Americans are Leaving

Revelations 13:16-18 “Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.”

Important Takeaways:

  • Gavin Newsom addresses California exodus, tells Americans ‘don’t count us out’
  • California lost 117,552 people between Jan. 1, 2021 and Jan. 1, 2022, according to the state’s Department of Finance, bringing its population back to where it was in 2016.
  • In 2022, Florida saw the biggest rush of new residents migrating from predominantly blue states with steep taxes, with about 319,000 Americans making the move there, according to data from the National Association of Realtors. That amounts to a population increase of nearly 2% – well above the 0.4% national growth rate recorded in the U.S. between July 2021 and July 2022.
  • California attributed its population slump to reduced births, immigration, an increase in deaths and people moving to other states.
  • But one complaint that seems to stick around the Golden State is its high cost of living.
  • California’s state income tax currently sits at 13.3% with the top 1% of Californians paying roughly half of the state’s bill

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Major Company to leave San Francisco due to crime and lack of leadership

Mathew 24:12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.

Important Takeaways:

  • Walking away: San Francisco mall owner hands property back to bank as exodus continues
  • Shopping center giant Westfield is walking away from its San Francisco Centre mall, becoming the latest major company to leave the California city amid rampant crime problems.
  • “For more than 20 years, Westfield has proudly and successfully operated San Francisco Centre, investing significantly over that time in the vitality of the property,” the company said in a statement.
  • Westfield’s move comes less than a week after Park Hotels & Resorts announced it had handed two prominent hotels back to the bank. The real estate investment trust said it was abandoning the Hilton San Francisco Union Square and Parc 55, saying the city’s streets are unsafe and expressing doubts about the area’s ability to recover.
  • Westfield’s decision to give up San Francisco Centre, which was first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle, appears to be due in part to Nordstrom shutting down both its downtown San Francisco locations.

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More people are seeking to leave the Golden State

Revelations 18:23:’For the merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.’

Important Takeaways:

  • California exodus continues: State’s population dwindles by 500,000 in two years
  • California has witnessed a sharp decline in its population in recent years, with 500,000 residents leaving the state over the course of the last two years.
  • The COVID-19 pandemic contributed to the population loss but is not the sole cause. High housing and cost of living prices, high crime rates in urban areas, and long commutes have all also contributed to the exodus, as residents move to less populated states, according to the Los Angeles Times.
  • States near California, such as Utah and Nevada, have seen an increase in migration. However, both states are attempting to discourage Californians from moving to their states, according to the outlet. But Texas and Florida have seen the highest influx of migration. They gained about 884,000 and 707,000 people between April 2020 and July 2022, respectively.

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1 Million Flee to Surrounding Nations as Russia’s Invasion Continues

Matthew 24:6 “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet.”

Important Takeaways:

  • Ukraine Refugee Count Hits 1 Million+ as Russia’s Invasion Rolls On
  • The surge in refugees follows the Russian capturing of the Ukrainian city of Kherson, the bombing of Kharkiv – where Russian forces have been accused of using devastating cluster bombs – as well as the ongoing siege of Kyiv and attacks across the East of Ukraine.
  • Filippo Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees released via Twitter that “in just seven days we have witnessed the exodus of one million refugees from Ukraine to neighboring countries.”
  • The U.N. informed the Associated Press more than two percent of Ukraine’s population had begun to flee the war-torn nation
  • Russia has reported nearly 500 soldiers dead alongside 1,600 casualties. The Ukrainian government however disputes this and suggests Russia has suffered as many as 9000 casualties – which presumably includes both injured and killed troops.
  • Kyiv has also suggested that Russia has lost 217 tanks, and about 60 aircraft including warplanes and helicopters, but these numbers also have not yet been independently verified.

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Cold and humiliated, Syrians displaced yet again by new Assad campaign

IDLIB, Syria (Reuters) – Khaled Sabri and his family huddle in the makeshift shelter in northern Idlib, still shell-shocked after fleeing the sudden bombardment of their rebel-held town earlier this week.

They are part of an exodus that has shaken northwest Syria, the last rebel redoubt in the country’s nine-year civil war, as hundreds of thousands push toward Turkey to escape a sudden and fast-moving advance by government forces.

Backed by heavy Russian airstrikes, President Bashar al-Assad’s forces have recaptured dozens of towns since last Friday in a major campaign that has stoked tensions between Ankara and Moscow and raised the specter of a new refugee crisis.

A view of the trucks carrying belongings of displaced Syrians, in northern Idlib, Syria January 30, 2020. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi

“We fled with just the clothes we were wearing because of the heavy bombing,” said 55-year-old Sabri. His city Maarat al-Numan, the second biggest in Idlib, was re-captured on Tuesday in a major milestone for Assad’s stated goal of reclaiming all of Syria.

At the camp outside Maarat Misrin, a northern Idlib town about 20 km (12 miles) south of the Turkish frontier, dozens of families sheltered in plastic white tents, many unsure of where they would wind up.

Jennah, 10, said it was the second time her family had been displaced. Like many others, they had sought refuge in Idlib after being ousted from other areas earlier in the war.

“I was forcibly displaced from eastern Ghouta, and then we went to Maarat al-Numan and the Syrian regime launched a military campaign on Maarat al-Numan, so we came here.”

A United Nations report on Thursday estimated that 390,000 people have fled northwest Syria from Dec. 1-Jan. 27, 80% of them women and children.

Moscow and Damascus say they are fighting jihadist militants who have stepped up attacks on civilians in Aleppo in northern Syria, but rights groups and rescue workers say air strikes and shelling have demolished hospitals, schools and homes.

Turkey, which fears a fresh wave of migrants piling into it territory, adding to the more than 3.6 million Syrians already there, said on Friday it would not tolerate new threats near its border and would act militarily if needed.

Trucks crowded with civilians’ furniture, mattresses and rugs were seen on Friday hauling out of towns across much of Idlib and western Aleppo, another area of northern Syria hit hard over the past week.

“Today we are homeless, humiliated, oppressed and cold. We want to be returned to our homes and towns,” said a woman who called herself Um Abdallah, or Abdullah’s mother, 30, from Maarat al-Numan.

(Reporting by Reuters TV in Idlib; Writing by Eric Knecht; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

In Lebanon, a monastery brings together Christians scattered by war

A view of the Monastery of Saint Anthony of Qozhaya in the heart of the Qadisha valley, in Zgharta district, LebanonJune 23, 2019. REUTERS/Imad Creidi

By Ayat Basma

QOZHAYA, Lebanon (Reuters) – The last time Samuel Botros stepped into the Lebanese monastery of Saint Anthony of Qozhaya was in 1978. He was 24, newly married, and the country was in the grip of an all-out war. Like many of his generation, he left. It took him 41 years to return.

The 1975-90 civil war may be over in Lebanon but conflicts in nearby countries like Iraq and Syria have devastated entire communities where Christians once lived alongside Muslims. That has triggered an exodus among people of both faiths, especially among minority sects – like Botros’ Syriac Orthodox community whose roots are in early Christianity.

The monastery, which is nestled in a remote valley in the northern Lebanese mountains and dates from the fourth century, is a meeting place for Christians who have fled conflict.

“It is the war that did this to us. It is the wars that continue to leave behind destruction and force people to leave,” said Botros, visiting the monastery as part of a gathering of his community’s scout group – their first in the region since the 1950s.

The scout group’s roughly 150 members include people living in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinian Territories and further afield. Lebanon was the only country where they could all meet easily and safely, Botros said.

In Iraq, years of conflict, most recently with Islamic State, erased much of the Christian heritage in ancient cities like Mosul and Sinjar in the north. In Syria’s civil war, some of the oldest churches in Aleppo, Homs and other cities were damaged.

Botros, now 65, is about to retire in Sweden where he made his home years ago. He is father and grandfather to children who know Lebanon only through photos.

“I would like them to visit so that when I pass, there is something to pull them back,” he said.

ANCIENT SANCTUARY

On Sundays and public holidays, the monastery’s small church, with the bell tower and facade, etched into the cliffs is full of people huddled in the pews or standing at the back of the vaulted interior.

Its patron is Saint Anthony, a monk who is believed to have lived in rural Egypt in the fourth or fifth century.

“This place has always been a shrine…we don’t even know when it started. Even when there was no development…people still came,” said Father Fadi Imad, the priest who gives sermons.

Qozhaya lies within a valley known as the Valley of Saints, or Qannoubine in ancient Syriac, part of a wider valley network called Qadisha that has a long history as a refuge for monks. At one time, Qadisha was home to hundreds of hermitages, churches, caves and monasteries. The monastery of Saint Anthony is the last surviving one.

It was an early home for Lebanon’s Christian Maronites, the first followers of the Roman Catholic church in the East.

The Maronites and sometimes the Druze, a Muslim sect, sought the sanctuary of the mountains away from the political and religious dynasties of the times with whom they did not always agree, Father Imad said.

“The inhabitants of this mountain…and they were not only Christians, came here because they were persecuted and weak,” he said.

“Qozhaya holds in its heart 1,600 years of history and it doesn’t belong to anyone, church or faith, … it belongs to the homeland,” he said.

The monastery is surrounded by forests of pine and cedar and orchards that can only be reached via a narrow, winding road.

Its grounds include a cave where visitors light candles, a museum housing the Middle East’s oldest printing press in ancient Syriac and halls for resident priests.

Visitors nowadays include foreign and Arab tourists and local residents including Muslims who sometimes come to ask for a blessing.

Father Imad said the monastery was the safest it had been in its history despite being surrounded by countries at war or suffering its aftermath.

“No one is telling us that they are coming to kill us anymore … at least in Lebanon,” he said.

Before he left, Botros and his fellows stood for a final photo outside the building with the valley behind. With their flags and scarves around their necks, they smiled and cheered as the bells rang.

“What I have seen today I will never forget for as long as I live,” Botros said.

“No matter how long it takes, the son always returns to the mother.”

(Reporting by Ayat Basma; Editing by Frances Kerry)

Biblical vistas, modern-day security along Israel-Egypt border road

A general view shows the border fence between Israel and Egypt in southern Israel September 26, 2018. REUTERS/ Amir Cohen

ISRAEL-EGYPT BORDER (Reuters) – A normally sealed-off road along the Israel-Egypt border was opened for a Jewish holiday, giving travelers on the Israeli side a glimpse into the Sinai desert backdrop to the biblical journey commemorated by the festival.

Israeli tourists stand at a watch point over looking the Israel-Egypt border during the Sukkot holiday in southern Israel September 26, 2018. REUTERS/ Amir Cohen

Israeli tourists stand at a watch point over looking the Israel-Egypt border during the Sukkot holiday in southern Israel September 26, 2018. REUTERS/ Amir Cohen

The Sukkot holiday celebrates the biblical story of God’s protection of the Israelites after their exodus from Egypt and 40-year sojourn in the wilderness, which religious scholars say included the Sinai.

Israel’s narrow Route 10 runs along the Egyptian border from the Gaza frontier in the north before connecting to a highway into Israel’s Red Sea resort of Eilat.

Curving along an Israeli security fence, it is usually closed to civilian traffic and patrolled regularly by the Israeli military. Egyptian watchtowers dot the other side.

Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty in 1979, but fighting has raged in areas of the Sinai in recent years between Islamic State militants and the Egyptian military.

(Writing by Jeffrey Heller; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Crisis moment approaching in Venezuelan exodus: U.N. agency

Venezuelan migrants queue to get the needed paperwork for a temporary residency permit at Interpol headquarters in Lima, Peru August 21, 2018. REUTERS/Mariana Bazo

GENEVA (Reuters) – The exodus of migrants from Venezuela is building towards a “crisis moment” comparable to events involving refugees in the Mediterranean, the U.N. migration agency said on Friday.

Growing numbers are fleeing economic meltdown and political turmoil in Venezuela, threatening to overwhelm neighboring countries. Officials from Colombia, Ecuador and Peru will meet in Bogota next week to seek a way forward.

Ecuador and Peru have this month tightened entry rules for Venezuelans, requiring them to carry valid passports instead of just national ID cards. While in Brazil, rioters drove hundreds back over the border.

Describing those events as early warning signs, International Organization for Migration (IOM) spokesman Joel Millman said funding and means of managing the outflow must be mobilized.

“This is building to a crisis moment that we’ve seen in other parts of the world, particularly in the Mediterranean,” he told a news briefing.

On Thursday, the IOM and U.N. refugee agency UNHCR called on Latin American countries to ease entry for Venezuelans, more than 1.6 million of whom have left since 2015.

UNHCR spokesman Andrej Mahecic said on Friday that governments had made “commendable” efforts despite some reception capacities and services being overwhelmed.

But “some disturbing images” had emerged from the region in the past week. “Those increase stigmatization of those who are forced to flee, they put at risk also the efforts for their integration,” he said.

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; editing by John Stonestreet)

U.N. rights forum to hold special session on Myanmar Rohingya – U.N. sources

U.N. rights forum to hold special session on Myanmar Rohingya - U.N. sources

By Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA (Reuters) – The U.N. Human Rights Council is expected to hold a special session on killings, rapes and other crimes committed against Muslim Rohingya in Myanmar that have driven more than 600,000 into Bangladesh since August, U.N. sources said on Monday.

“There will be a special session on December 5,” a senior United Nations source told Reuters.

Council spokesman Rolando Gomez could not confirm the date but said: “There are moves to convene a special session to address the human rights situation in the country.”

At least 16 of the 47 member states must request holding a special session of the Council, which are rare. Bangladesh and Muslim-majority countries were expected to back the call.

In March, the Council already set up a fact-finding team. The investigators reported after their first mission to Bangladesh last month that Rohingya refugees fleeing Myanmar had testified that a “consistent, methodical pattern of killings, torture, rape and arson is taking place”.

The latest Rohingya exodus from Rakhine state to Bangladesh’s southern tip began at the end of August, when Rohingya militants attacked security posts and the Myanmar army launched a counter-offensive.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein has described the army’s crackdown in Rakhine state as a textbook example of ethnic cleansing. The military has denied the accusations of murder, rape, torture and forced displacement.

Amnesty International and other activist groups, in an open letter sent last week to member states, said that a special session was “imperative to launch decisive action and ensure international scrutiny and monitoring of the situation”.

Pope Francis arrived in Myanmar on Monday on a diplomatically delicate visit for the leader of the Roman Catholic church to the majority-Buddhist country.

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; editing by Gareth Jones)