Category Archives: High Seas

This summer, there will be more than just sharks in the water. Five years after the surprise success of Jason Statham's movie The Meg, its long-awaited sequel, The Meg 2: The Trench is preparing to wade into the choppy summer waters. And ahead of its August release, a new international poster has just been released, giving us a glimpse into a sucker of a new oceanic threat.

The new international poster shows a giant squid taking down a helicopter. One tentacle holds a woman in its grasp, while another is wrapped around the helicopter. A man holds on to the bottom of the helicopter and reaches out to the woman, who is about to be plunged into the depths of the ocean. The new poster teases at a sequence shown briefly in the trailer for the film. The new poster showcases the plethora of giant animals to be featured in the film, which looks to have its heart set on outdoing its ridiculously outsized first installment. Both The Meg 2: The Trench and The Meg are based on novels by writer Steve Alten.

Originally released in 2018, The Meg followed a group of scientists who encounter a giant shark while on a rescue mission on the ocean floor. The group is led by rescue diver Jonas Taylor, played by Statham, who puts his action chops to the test in the often ridiculous but always entertaining film. The sequel, however, looks to outdo the scale of the original. The trailer opens with a T. Rex being gobbled up by a megalodon while hunting down its prey on the beach. And that's just in the first minute. The rest of the trailer goes on to show how much damage these prehistoric creatures can and will do, from swallowing up paddle-boaters to chomping on undersea influencers, no one is safe from these gigantic, aquatic creatures.

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The Meg 2: The Trench is directed by Ben Wheatley. It is based on a screenplay by Jon Hoeber and Erich Hoeber. Along with Jason Statham, the film also stars Wu Jing, Sophia Cai, Cliff Curtis, Page Kennedy, and Skyler Samuels among others. The film comes from Warner Bros. Pictures. The film will be released to theaters at the tail end of summer, hitting theaters on August 4. Until then, however, you can check out the new poster for the film below.

Read more:

It's Chaos on the High Seas in New 'The Meg 2' Poster - Collider

SOUTH DAKOTA (AGAIN)

Thanks to a friend for forwarding me an email sent from South Dakotas Division of Banking to the states trust companies after the $1.5 million fine imposed on Kingdom Trust by FinCEN (about which I wrote last week). It sets out a long list of actions that all state-chartered trust companies must now perform: identify high-risk customers and business lines, evaluate if trust companies have the procedures and personnel to comply with financial regulations, check whether they have been filing an adequate number of Suspicious Activity Reports, identify occasions when a bank has closed accounts held by the trust company and describe why that happened, check up on any business relationship with third parties that refer customers to them.

An initial assessment must be completed within 30 days, then remedial actions must be finished within 90 days, as well as various other bits/bobs, which are all very good/necessary, while also being too little/late.

I now look forward to statements from the states Division of Agriculture advising South Dakotan horse owners on the correct mechanism for closing stable doors and any remedial action to be taken on occasions when the horse has already bolted. If its following the lead from the Division of Banking, however, it wont worry itself too much with attempting to recover any runaway horses. There is no mention in the statement of follow-up investigative work to prosecute dishonest clients who have put illicit funds into the states trust structures, to confiscate any illicit funds that are found or indeed to investigate any dishonest trust providers.

Of course, thanks to the delights of South Dakotas trust legislation, were any of the trusts to be found to have been created fraudulently, any creditors would need to bring a case at a criminal standard of proof (unlike in many other states) and to do so within two years. There is potentially very rich irony in South Dakotas desire to attract trust business and consequent campaign to pass more generous trust legislation, preventing the state from cleaning up that same trust business. Though that does rely on the state actually wanting to clean up the trust business, which isnt a given.

Many years ago, when I was studying history at university, I wrote an essay about criminal justice policy in early modern England, which was almost certainly as boring as it sounds. My tutor managed to remain awake long enough, however, to take issue with my argument that ever-stricter laws imposing the death penalty for minor crimes against property meant the government took these crimes seriously. But, Oliver, if theyd solved the problem, why did they keep needing to pass laws? And, if they failed for decades to solve the problem, how could you say theyre taking it seriously? Hmmm, good points.

It was, as they say, a teachable moment.

Anyway, I dont want you to think that Im comparing the European Unions approach to money laundering to the fact that by the 18th century a starving English person could be hanged for catching a rabbit. However, it does seem to me that some EU officials are hoping that well accept their production of anti-money laundering directives as a substitute for actually stopping money laundering. And I also think that we need to guard against the mistake my 19-year-old self made and not assume that this regular production of anti-money laundering directives means that European countries are actually taking the problem seriously. Because theyre not. If they were, just one directive would have done the job.

Anyway, the broad parameters of the sixth directive (6AMLD) were agreed two and half years ago to widespread indifference, building on the successes of 1AMLD (1991, criminalized money laundering), 2AMLD (2001, expanded the list of predicate offenses), 3AMLD (2005, addressed terrorist financing), 4AMLD (2015, did something about designated non-financial businesses and professions) and 5AMLD (2018, required the publication of company ownership information). This was all plain sailing, until late last year when as regular readers of this newsletter will remember the European Court of Justice ruled on a case from Luxembourg and decided that a rich persons right to hide their wealth was of greater import than the right of the rest of us to know how they hid it. That destroyed a central element of 5AMLD, thus giving 6AMLD greater import than it had previously assumed, since it now not only has to restore the ability of journalists, investigators and others to find out who owns companies registered in the EU but also has to do all the other stuff it was already intended to do.

Members of the European Parliament have voted in favor of tougher measures. And some of these measures are potentially transformative, including the creation of an EU-wide Anti-Money Laundering Authority with a registry of offshore companies owning property in the EU.

However, this being the EU, that is only the beginning of the matter, since the measures have to be agreed with the EU Council and Commission too.

Negotiations will go on deep into the fall. And even then, that wont be the end of things, since legislation only makes a difference if its enforced.

It is perfectly possible for an EU member state to have maintained an open corporate registry (Latvia has, for example) despite the Court of Justice ruling. It just requires a bit of political will and legal cleverness. However, it is also perfectly possible for an EU member state that lacks such political will to have hidden behind the same court ruling, waved its hands in the air and declared that theres nothing it can do. Cyprus has decided that from now on, only banks or other similar organizations that submit a solemn declaration can access ownership information and that any information so gathered can only be used for the purposes of making compliance checks on current and prospective clients. Lawyers warn it could be perjury to misrepresent the purpose of your search if for example youre a journalist or researcher trying to work out who exactly owns a Cypriot company that has won a cushy state contract somewhere and who pretends to be someone else in order to do so.

In short, its not enough to pass an anti-money laundering directive, whether its the sixth or 16th, it also has to be enforced properly.

Funnily enough, the same thing was true for legislation protecting property in early modern England. The Parliament kept on creating new capital offenses (by 1815, there were more than 200 different crimes bearing the death penalty, including going out at night with your face blackened), but the enforcement agencies of the time (juries in the law courts) refused to enforce them. Fewer people were hanged under this so-called bloody code than previously, and judges would go to extreme lengths to find reasons not to sentence people to death. Then as now, it was all about the battle between political will and political wont.

So why does it matter that we know who owns companies? Lets take the case of Gatik Ship Management. Its website says almost nothing, but it has over 18 months accumulated a fleet of oil tankers worth $1.6 billion and shipped vast amounts of crude oil from Russia to India, becoming one of the largest shipping companies in the world. And no one has any idea who owns it, or, rather, someone does but theyre not saying.

A connection to the Russian oil company Rosneft is certainly suggestive.

But getting beyond such hints and suggestions is extremely hard. Each Gatik ship is owned by a company in the Marshall Islands, which does not reveal who owns its corporations. That makes it difficult to know if they are compliant with Western sanctions that prevent insurance companies from covering cargoes that breach the price cap on Russian crude. The continuing trade is helping raise money for the Russian budget and keeping its war effort afloat (although it is not perhaps a very good long term strategy, as this analysis makes clear).

Global Witness did a great job exposing the bonkers nature of the situation. A real ship carries real oil through the English Channel. If it goes wrong, the pollution will destroy a real ocean environment. And, once refined in India, the Russian crude returns to the West in the form of gasoline, diesel or other products. All hidden behind shell companies.

There are quite a lot of people that think Im a bit hardline in my approach to company ownership information. As far as Im concerned, if society limits your liability, society has a right to know who you are. But there are others who say that wealthy people risk being kidnapped or extorted from or otherwise targeted if they have to publicize what they own.

If youre on that side of the fence, then I think its worth asking why your concern about one hypothetical person being kidnapped thanks to a non-anonymous company outweighs the entirely concrete reality of Russia funding a war of aggression that has already killed thousands of people on the back of an anonymous company.

Im sure many of you already listen to the BBC podcast More or Less, which you can find both on Radio 4 and on the World Service. Both versions delve into the statistics in the news with wit and passion, though this weeks edition on U.S. life expectancy was unexpectedly harrowing. A few years ago, I wrote a book about Russias demographic crisis, which is driven by the combination of a low birth rate and high mortality, particularly among young men.

I was struck by similarities in the story I told back then and the developing U.S. situation, where young men die early thanks to violence and overdoses. In Russia, there was marked inequality in the figures. People with higher educational qualifications lived as long as people in Western Europe, whereas people without qualifications had the life expectancy equivalent to that of sub-Saharan Africans. Life expectancy in Hawaii is around the same as that in Sweden, but Mississippi is akin to Tajikistan. That surely deserves more discussion.

Another excellent BBC podcast is The Lazarus Heist, which delves into North Koreas clandestine activities in cyberspace. Its very well made, and I recommend it. On the subject of murky online matters, this piece from Wired on suspect hackers working for Russias foreign intelligence service is excellent as well.

Excerpt from:

From South Dakota to the high seas, the world gets less transparent - Coda Story

Climate action is urgently needed, with reports appearing regularly highlighting the current state of the planet and scientific understanding of what is to come. There are steps being made that should be celebrated, but more is needed.

Time is running out. This is the message that came through from the Synthesis Report of the IPCC 6th Assessment Report. Evoking messages such as final warning1 and humanity is on thin ice2 highlight the need for urgent action.

Credit: Jorge Juan Perez/EyeEm/EyeEm/Getty

The World Meteorological Organizations State of the Global Climate 2022 report3, released April 2023, repeats the message that progress on climate action is not moving fast enough. The report tells of record ocean heat content, glacial melt and sea-level rise changes that will persist even if emissions were immediately halted. The last 8 years (20152022) are the warmest on record, a concerning finding when the El Nio Southern Oscillation has been in the cool La Nia phase for the most recent 3 years. It is now routine to hear of extreme events occurring across the globe for example, the current (at the time of writing) record temperatures and a severe heatwave in Asia with temperatures exceeding 40 C in many locations.

The Paris Agreement (adopted in 2015) set the scene for coordinated international action, and the first global stocktake of progress towards it will conclude at the UN Climate Conference (COP28) later this year. The two-year process will assess where countries are now in terms of emissions reductions as well as identifying gaps, and ratcheting of ambition. But it is unlikely that the results have improved substantially since the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) Synthesis Report, published October 2022, which showed emissions were reducing but not sufficiently to stay under 1.5 C of warming (ref. 4).

However, outside the climate negotiations sphere, there has been recent international agreement to put environment protections in place. In December 2022, the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15) adopted the KunmingMontreal Global Biodiversity Framework, for which the headline message is the 30x30 commitment to protect 30% of land and ocean by 2030. Biodiversity is in rapid decline. A report in 2022 found that there has been around 69% decline over the last 50 years (ref. 5). Protecting and maintaining ecosystems is essential to ensure that they continue to provide the many services that humanity rely on.

In a move that will help achieve the 30x30 ambition, the High Seas Treaty, under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, will provide stringent protection of areas of the ocean outside national borders the high sea and the deep seafloor as well as rules on resource use. Agreed in March 2023, the treaty includes the need for environmental impact assessments for exploitation of marine resources, including marine genetic resources, commercial activities and large projects (for example, geoengineering solutions).

The ocean has been under-regulated so far, with only 1% of international waters protected currently. Thirty-nine per cent of the ocean is within national boundaries, where varying levels of protections apply; however, overall, it is estimated that around 8% of the ocean is protected, compared with around 17% of land.

There are criticisms of 30x30 and the High Seas Treaty, but to have achieved international agreement in the right direction for environmental protection should be applauded. Hopefully, these new agreements, and increased international cooperation, will be just the starting point. To ensure a healthy planet for all, these agreements including the Paris Agreement should be seen as something to overachieve on; getting them implemented ahead of schedule is a worthy ambition.

Read more from the original source:

Stepping up action - Nature.com

Stricken cargo vessel the Shiling is likely returning to Wellington after a high-seas breakdown and rescue.

A mayday was sent from the 294-metre vessel on Friday when it lost all power and steering in rough seas off Farewell Spit at the top of the South Island, triggering a large emergency response from air and sea as the captain considered ordering all 24 crew to abandon ship.

As luck had it, open water vessel Skandi Emerald was working at Taranaki for the petrochemical industry and was able to divert to the ship and haul it to safety in Tasman Bay, where the 66,000-tonne Shiling remained on Sunday morning still attached to the Skandi Emerald.

A statement from Maritime NZ on Sunday said it was understood there was an agreement to tow the ship back to Wellington. The ships owner and insurer would pay for the tow.

READ MORE:* Drifting, powerless cargo ship MV Shiling to remain at sea overnight* Powerless cargo ship continues slow journey back to safety* MV Shiling to stay put overnight after ocean-going tug reaches ship

"While the decisions around passage, anchoring locations and towage are managed by the owners of the Shiling, Maritime NZ has oversight, and is liaising with CentrePort and the Wellington Harbour Master to ensure the process is managed safely, incident controller Kenny Crawford said.

"The Skandi Emerald is a very capable towage vessel, and its crew are highly experienced in traversing conditions such as what could be experienced in the Cook Strait.

Supplied

The container ship Shiling photographed off Farwell Spit on Friday by Carl Babe a crew member of the Nelson Marlborough Rescue Helicopter.

It was not yet decided when the ship would be towed to Wellington,

Nelson harbour master Stuart Whitehouse said the ship was too big to enter the port at Nelson so the current plan was to haul it back to Wellington.

The terms of this were being sorted out with the ships classification society the organisation that maintains standards for the ship operations.

The Singaporean-flagged Shiling has already spent weeks in Wellington after losing power as it was leaving the capital in mid-April. The powerless ship drifted over the shallow Falcon Shoals near the harbour heads and could have easily hit the sea floor in a lower tide.

It was taken back to port in Wellington and Maritime NZ detained it in the capital.

It was last week given permission to leave but under strict orders to go directly to Singapore for repairs.

However, after leaving Wellington it hit 8-metre swells off the top of the Marlborough Sounds and, with very little cargo on board, got thrashed around in the waves and the captain took shelter.

It was finally on its way to Singapore on Friday on a route that would take it near Australias Great Barrier Reef when it had the breakdown and a mayday was issued.

Greater Wellington Regional Council chairperson Daran Ponter confirmed that discussions started late on Saturday about the ship returning to Wellington and space had been found for it to dock in the capital.

But it would involve having to move it around regularly so other ships could dock, he said.

It is a hassle for the port company.

CentrePort marine operations manager Josh Rodgers said the Shiling would be moved around berths at the port as required.

However, as the Shiling is a large vessel there may be some minor disruption, which we will do our very best to minimise."

Originally posted here:

Stricken Shiling tipped to return to Wellington the scene of its ... - Stuff

James S. Brady Press Briefing Room

1:10 P.M. EDTMS. JEAN-PIERRE: All right. Good afternoon, everybody.

Q Good afternoon.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Youre good? Okay. No losing pens.

All right. Today, the COVID-19 public health emergency ends, and I want to take just a moment to talk about the important work that has happened under this administration to prepare the nation for the next phase of our response to COVID-19.

To date, the administration has taken significant steps to ensure Americans have continued access to life-saving protections such as vaccines, treatments, and tests, following the expiration of the public health emergency.

Under this President, we launched the largest adult vaccination program in U.S. history, with over 270 million Americans receiving at least one shot of COVID-19 vaccine.

And as you all know, our efforts have not been limited to the United States alone. Our government has been the largest single donor of vaccines, having shared nearly 700 million doses with 117 countries around the world.

Since January 20, 2021, COVID-19 deaths have declined by 95 percent. New COVID-19 hospitalizations are down nearly 90 percent. And COVID-19 deaths globally are at their lowest levels.

But I want to be clear: This administration takes the threat of future surges or pandemics very seriously, which is why access to vaccine, tests, and treatments will remain widely available after today. Were protecting millions of people who are uninsured by providing them with the tools they need to stay protected from COVID-19.

Projects like Next Gen, run out of run out of HHS, will invest at least $5 billion to accelerate the rapid development of next generation vaccine and treatments.

Were working to tackle the effects of long COVID and ensure people who are experiencing it have the help that they need.

Were working to stand up the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response here at the White House. And were calling on Congress, through the Presidents budget, to invest in our nations ability to prepare and respond to future threats.

So the work wont stop, but wont stop today, but the nation is well prepared to manage the risk of COVID-19 going forward.And the continued availability of vaccinations, tests, and treatments, and programs that provide equitable access to these tools has put the nation and the world in a strong position as the po- public health emergency for COVID-19 ends and we move into the next phase of our response.

This morning, you all saw, we continued progress on our efforts to bring inflation down. The official measure of inflation for producers of goods and services fell to 2.3 percent. Thats the average rate of producer price inflation in 2018 and 2019, and the lowest level in more than two years. And it follows news we received yesterday showing that consumer inflation declined for 10 month in a row. That includes a second month of falling grocery prices.

So while there is more work to do to level to lower costs for families, we are making important progress at a time when our job market remains historically strong.

Unemployment is at its lowest level in more than 50 years. The share of working-age Americans in the workforce is the highest in 15 years. And unemployment for African Americans at is at the lowest that weve ever seen.

Our historic recovery and falling inflation is thanks to in part because of the Presidents work and what hes done over the last two years, including lowering costs for prescription drugs, insulin, energy bills, and gas.

With that, thank you for your time. Id like to introduce, as we have promised, Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, to provide you all with with the update on the our robust work underway as Title 42 lifts later today.

Secretary, the podium is yours.

SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Thank you very much, Karine. And good afternoon.

Tonight at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time, the pandemic-era Title 42 public health order will end.

Starting at midnight, people who arrive at our southern border will be subject to our immigration enforcement authorities under Title 8 of the United States Code.

Here is what that means:

If anyone arrives at our southern border after midnight tonight, they will be presumed ineligible for asylum and subject to steeper consequences for unlawful entry, including a minimum five-year ban on reentry and potential criminal prosecution.

The transition to Title 8 processing will be swift and immediate. We have surged 24,000 Border Patrol agents and officers; thousands of troops, contractors; and over a thousand asylum officers and judges to see this through.

We are clear-eyed about the challenges we are likely to face in the days and weeks ahead, and we are ready to meet them.

We expected to see large numbers of encounters initially. We are already seeing high numbers of encounters in certain sectors.

This places an incredible strain on our personnel, our facilities, and our communities with whom we partner closely.

We prepared for this moment for almost two years, and our plan will deliver results. It will take time for those results to be fully realized. And it is essential that we all take this into account.

Our current situation is the outcome of Congress leaving a broken, outdated immigration system in place for over two decades, despite unanimous agreement that we desperately need legislative reform. It is also the result of Congresss decision not to provide us with the resources we need and that we requested.Our efforts within the constraints of our broken immigration system are focused on ensuring that the process is safe, orderly, and humane, all while protecting our dedicated workforce and our communities.I want to be very clear: Our borders are not open. People who cross our border unlawfully and without a legal basis to remain will be promptly processed and removed.An individual who was removed under Title 8 is subject to at least a five-year ban on reentry into the United States and can face criminal prosecution if they attempt to cross again.Smugglers have been long hard at work, spreading false information that the border will be open. They are lying.To people who are thinking of making the journey to our southern border, know this: Smugglers care only about profits, not people. Do not risk your life and your life savings only to be removed from the United States if and when you arrive here.Our approach to build lawful, safe, and orderly pathways for people to come to the United States and to impose tougher consequences on those who choose not to use those pathways works.President Biden has led the largest expansion of lawful pathways in decades. People from Cuba, Haiti, Venezua- Venezuela, and Nicaragua have arrived through lawfully available pathways. And we reduced border encounters from these groups by 90 percent between December of last year and March of this year.We are launching new and expanded family reunification parole processes for nationals of Colombia, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, and Honduras and are increasing use of the CBP One mobile app for individuals to schedule appointments at our ports of entry.To those who do not use our available lawful pathways, we will deliver tougher consequences using our immigration law authorities.The new rule finalized yesterday presumes that those who do not use lawful pathways to enter the United States are ineligible for asylum. It allows us, the United States, to remove individuals who do not establish a reasonable fear of persecution.We announced that eligible families will be placed in expedited removal proceedings, and those that receive a final negative credible fear determination will generally be removed within 30 days of being placed in those proceedings.We began planning in 2021 for the end of Title 42. Just a few highlights:In addition to securing the first increase in Border Patrol agent hiring in more than a decade, we are in the process of surging personnel to the border, including over 1,400 DHS personnel, 1,000 processing coordinators, and an additional 1,500 Department of Defense personnel.We are delivering tougher consequences for unlawful entry. During the first half of this fiscal year, we returned, removed, and expelled more than 665,000 people. We are conducting dozens of removal flights each week, and we continue to increase them. Just yesterday, we worked with the Mexican government to expel nearly 1,000 Venezuelans who did not take advantage of our available lawful pathways to enter the United States.We are bolstering the capacity of local governments and NGOs. Last week, we announced the distribution of an additional $332 million to support communities along the south southern border and in the interior of our country.And we are going after the smugglers, leading an unprecedented law enforcement disruption campaign that has led to the arrest of more than 10,000 smugglers who mislead and profit from vulnerable migrants.The United States is also working closely with regional partners to impose stiffer consequences at our border, expand lawful pathways for orderly migration, and coordinate enforcement efforts.This includes Mexico announcing for the first time ever that they will accept the returns under Title 8 authorities of nationals of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela so that we can continue the parole processes that have been so successful in reducing migration from those countries.It includes working with Colombia and Panama to launch a historic anti-smuggling campaign in the Darin to target criminal networks that prey on migrants.And it includes dramatically scaling up the number of removal flights we can operate to countries throughout the hemisphere, including Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador.We are we are a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws. We are doing everything possible to enforce those laws in a safe, orderly, and humane way.We are working with countries throughout the region, addressing a regional challenge with regional solutions.We again, yet again, call on Congress to pass desperately needed immigration reform and deliver the resources, clear authorities, and modernize processes that we need.MS. JEAN-PIERRE: All right. Go ahead.Q Okay. Sorry, just making sure. Hi, Secretary Mayorkas.SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Good afternoon.Q I have two questions. One is: How do you decide which nationalities are going to be able to use the legal pathways, for example, with the Venezuelans and the Haitians, Cubans, Nicaraguans? How did you decide who is allowed to avail themselves of legal pathways and who isnt, on that particular track?And then I have a SECRETARY MAYORKAS: For the parole programs Q Yeah.SECRETARY MAYORKAS: that yes. So what we did is we met the need with the parole programs. That was the demographic that was causing us the greatest challenge at our southern border, and we tailored our parole processes accordingly.Q So is it possible that those nationalities could shift as you see shifting nationalities at the border?SECRETARY MAYORKAS: So we have shifted our programs according to the needs that we need to meet. So youll recall perhaps that in November we developed the parole process for Venezuelans. That was then the most significant challenge. We pivoted in January to not only expand the program for Venezuelans but also expand it for Cubans, Haitians, and Nicaraguans. So we will meet the moment.Q And then, on overcrowding. If the Border Patrol facilities are overcrowded and some migrants have to be released, does that send the very message youre trying to avoid, which is that people will be released into the interior?SECRETARY MAYORKAS: So I have to say two things in response. Number one: We cannot overstate the extraordinary talent and heroism of the United States Border Patrol and the personnel of the Department of Homeland Security that are managing through an extraordinary challenge and doing so successfully. Number one.Number two: It is very important to understand that the great majority of people will be removed if they do not qualify for relief under the laws of the United States.MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Go ahead, Nancy.Q Thank you very much, Secretary Mayorkas. You talked about all the personnel that youre surging to the border. You didnt mention FEMA personnel. And the mayors and county judges in border towns that weve spoken to say that what they really need is not just FEMA dollars but FEMA personnel themselves to house and feed these migrants as your department releases them.Why not send FEMA personnel to the border the way you would in any other emergency?SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Well, the the deployment of FEMA personnel is specific to a particular type of emergency, an emergent event. This is an ongoing challenge that, quite frankly, has vexed this country for decades, because this country has been unable Congress has been unable to pass immigration reform that everyone agrees and understands is desperately needed.We are working with an immigration system that was last reformed in the 1990s. Migration has changed dramatically since then, and we need our laws updated.Q So are you saying that basically your hands are tied and you cant send FEMA personnel even if you wanted to?SECRETARY MAYORKAS: No, Im Im not saying that at all. And, as a matter of fact, our FEMA personnel are coordinating with local communities and cities across the country to provide them with the information they need. And FEMA is going to be playing a pivotal role in our Shelter and Services Program that is poised to distribute $363 million to cities and communities in need of funding.MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Go ahead, JJ.Q Im wondering about your communications with foreign countries. Have you had conversations in the last couple days or so with any foreign government officials ahead of this lifting?SECRETARY MAYORKAS: So I should take a step back and say: When I speak of the fact that it is a regional challenge for which reas- regional solutions are needed, let me let me put a finer point on that.There are approximately 20 million displaced people throughout our hemisphere. The challenge that we are encountering at our southern border is by no means unique to the southern border of the United States. And I have learned that powerfully, not only through the information and analysis that we undertake in the United States government but in our conversations with our foreign partners.Just this week, I spoke with the foreign secretary of Panama. Last week, I spoke with the President of Guatemala. Three weeks ago, I was in Panama to speak with the Panamanian foreign minister and the Colombian foreign minister.We are engaged and, of course, Secrede- Secretary Blinken is leading the diplomatic engagements.Diplomacy is a key pillar of our effort.MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Go ahead, April. And then Ill come to you.Q My question is I want to I want to focus in on Black migrants from Africa and the Caribbean nations. Nana Gyamfi, who has met with President Biden on this issue, and other civil rights leaders said that the lifting of Title 42 suppresses Black asylum seekers who are required to ask for asylum in countries they transit through. Many of those countries are too dangerous for Black migrants to request asylum. And she gives the example of the African Americans who traveled to Mexico. Some were killed. They were thought to be Haitian migrants.What do you say to that? And what is an eff- is there an effort? And what will you do to safety net or safeguard some of these Black migrants who are trying to come now for asylum who are in countries or transiting through countries where they cannot ask for asylum through under the laws that the Biden administration has put in place?

SECRETARY MAYORKAS: So let me let me share with you one way in which migration has changed dramatically over the years. It is no longer the case that individuals can on their own reach the southern border of the United States. They have to place their lives and their life savings in the hands of ruthless smugglers that exploit them, and ruthlessly do so. And we have not only a security obligation but a humanitarian obligation to cut those smugglers out. And that is indeed what we are doing.

And this President, President Biden, has rebuilt our refugee processing capabilities and has committed to a large number of refugee admissions to the United States.

Our President, President Biden, has expanded lawful pathways for migrants like no other president past.

And what we are doing is we are extending an out- outstretched arm of humanitarian relief to reach people where they are so they do not have to place their lives in the hands of those smuggling organizations.

Q But the southern border but the so- the southern border is not just Mexicans, it is Haitians, its Africans, as we as weve seen, particularly with that issue with the Haitians being whipped with the reins on the horses. What is there

SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Well, let me just correct you right there, because

Q Please correct me.

SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Act- actually, the investigation concluded that the whipping did not occur.

Q Im sorry, I saw it differently. They were whipped with something from the horse reins from a horse. I I maybe the video or the picture was fixed, but what I saw was totally different. Im sorry

SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Yeah, Im going to leave you as

Q Yes, I know. But

SECRETARY MAYORKAS: corrected.

Q But what happened again, the Mexican border is not just Mexicans; its Africans and Haitians. What is there in place, as you hear from people who are advocates for immigrants, like Nana Gyamfi, to help those who are trying to seek asylum in place from places like Haiti that has gangs? They cant even have an election because things the atrocities there are just so great.

SECRETARY MAYORKAS: So, a few a few responses.Number one, we have set up the CBP One app to enable people to make appointments and arrive at ports of entry safely if they qualify for exceptions under the public health authority of Title 42, which, of course is set to expire at 11:59 p.m.

We have admitted approximately 740 people through that CBP One app per day. The majority of the individuals admitted have been Haitian. We are expanding that CBP One app to reach as many as a thousand people a day.And we are setting up regional processing centers throughout the region, working very closely with countries to the south, working with Colombia and others. And we expect to set up as many as 100 or more of those processing centers that will be open to people of all nationalities to obtain humanitarian relief.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Go ahead, Jeremy.

Q Thank you. Mr. Secretary, thank you for being here. The President said this week that the situation on the southern border is going to be chaotic for a while. Given the fact that youve had nearly two years to prepare for this moment, how can chaos be the expectation?

SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Well, I have said for months and months that the challenge at the border is and is going to be very difficult. And we have spoken repeatedly about the fact that that difficulty may actually only increase at this time of transition.

It is going to take a period of time for our approach to actually gain traction and show results. And Ive been very clear about that.

The fundamental reason the fundamental reason why we have a challenge at our border and weve had this challenge many a time before is because we are working within the constraints of a broken a fundamentally broken immigration system. And we also are operating on resources that are far less than those that we need and that weve requested.

Q But some of the some of the measures that you have been talking about to put in place to mitigate this surge, some of those arent even in place yet. It was it wasnt until two weeks ago that you announced these plans to open these regional processing centers. As far as Im aware, theyre not open yet. Of the 1,500 troops that the President deployed, only 550 are actually on the ground.

So, given how long you have known that Title 42 is ending on May 11th, why arent all these measures already in place?

SECRETARY MAYORKAS: So, we have implemented measures well before those few that you identify. Our parole processes would be an example. While we deployed 1,500 additional Department of Defense personnel, weve had 2,500 Department of Defense personnel well in place already.

We have surged resources of all types over months and months, not just personnel but transportation facilities, technology, additional bed space. So we have been, in fact, not

Q Youre confident youve done all you can at this point?

SECRETARY MAYORKAS: We have done all we can with the resources that we have and within the system that we are operating under.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Peter, go ahead.

Q Ill ask a couple questions, Mr. Secretary. Thanks for being here.First, on the CBP One app that you were speaking about right now. Migrants that are speaking to journalists, including our reporters on the ground, have indicated a series of frustrations. They say theyre having trouble logging on. Theyre having trouble getting appointments. Theyre having trouble with language barriers; perhaps they speak Indigenous languages or others. And theyre seeing technical glitches right now.So what specifically is being done to fix that right now? And does that app provide false hope to these migrants coming that will only lead to future frustration and surges, like we saw from Venezuelans only a matter of months ago?SECRETARY MAYORKAS: So, we have seen a tremendous acceptance of the CBP One app. We are utilizing it very effectively, as I referenced earlier in response to the reporters prior question that 740 people per day are reaching our port of entry. Those, by the way, are not individuals whove only made appointments, but actually a fraction of the people who have made appointments using the CBP One app. It has proven successful.We have identified glitches, and weve done so not unilaterally, exclusively, but also by speaking with individuals who have used the app, by speaking with migrants here in the United States who have reached the United States, as well as actually going into Mexico and meeting with migrants to understand the challenges.If I may so, we have addressed the challenges of which we are aware.The greatest challenge with respect to the CBP One app is not a technological challenge but rather the fact that we have many more migrants than we have the capacity to make appointments for.The greatest level of frustration is actually being able to make the appointment, not the utility of the CBP One app itself. That is, again, another example of a broken immigration system.Q If I could follow up on a foreign policy question, though, very broadly just quickly. The U.S. sanctions the U.S. has sanctions right now on a series of foreign nations: on Cuba, on Venezuela, on Nicaragua. So, does the Biden administrations foreign policy make this situation worse?SECRETARY MAYORKAS: So, Im going to leave that to our foreign policy specialists. But I will I will say this: The predicate of those principles are separate and apart from the immigration challenge that were confronting.MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Terry. And were going to try and get around. Terry, go ahead. And then Ill go to the back.Q Given the time you say this is going to take and based on what youre seeing now at the southern border and beyond in Mexico, I wonder if you could offer some details, paint a picture. What should Americans in those border communities and beyond expect in the coming days and weeks? Whats this going to look like for them?SECRETARY MAYORKAS: We could see very crowded as we are now we could see very crowded Border Patrol facilities. I cannot overstate the strain on our personnel and our facilities.But we know how to manage through such strain. As difficult as it will be, I have tremendous confidence and pride in our personnel.Let me share with you an example of how we manage through a very difficult situation.In El Paso, Texas, we saw individuals on the street. We engaged in a very sensitive and humane law enforcement operation to address that challenge. And we successfully have done so to the praise of the city of El Paso.MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Michael?Q And can I just follow up? Our teams in El Paso say that there are hundreds of migrants now in the open, in shelter with very limited access to food and water and bathrooms for days. Why arent they being processed? Is that what we can expect?SECRETARY MAYORKAS: So, we are working very closely with nonprofit organizations, with community groups to really deli- deliver a community response to the challenge.I cannot understate Im sorry, I cannot overstate how much of a challenge it is going to be and how we all have to deal with it as one administration and one country.Fundamentally fundamentally, we need Congress to act.MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Go ahead, Michael.Q Thank you. Mr. Secretary, thank you for doing this. Is this exclusively a challenge at the land border, or are you also seeing an increase in irregular migration by sea to Florida and to California, for that matter?And then secondly, on the regional processing centers, I know that your staff has said that youll have more announcements on exactly where those will be in the coming days. But just to echo my colleagues point, you know, did you want those to be ready ahead of the expiration of Title 42? And can you give any details on exactly where those processing centers will be?SECRETARY MAYORKAS: So, with respect to maritime migration: A number of months ago, we were experiencing pressure in the maritime environment, and we responded to that pressure with increased resources.It is incredibly perilous for individuals to take to the seas. The search and rescue operations that the United States Coast Guard has to undertake all too often to rescue people those seas are rough, and the vessels that they use are extraordinarily flimsy, and we see death on the high seas.And so, we we plussed up our resources our Coast Guard resources. We also activated more robustly the reunification programs that give a lawful pathway for individuals to reach a country of safety.MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Brian.SECRETARY MAYORKAS: There was a second part to that question. Sorry.MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Oh, Im so sorry. Im sorry, Michael. Trying to get as many Q No, I know.MS. JEAN-PIERRE: people as I can.SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Oh, the regional processing centers.MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Sorry about that.SECRETARY MAYORKAS: I apologize.So, the regional processing centers thats not something that the United States can set up unilaterally within a matter of weeks. This is a this is a subject that requires a diplomacy. We rely on our foreign partners, and it takes a great deal of partnering not only with the partners themselves but also with the international organizations that are part of the fabric of international human- humanitarian relief: the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Organization for Migration, and others.MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Go ahead, Brian.Q Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. A bus of migrants from Texas arrived in front of the Vice Presidents office this morning the Vice Presidents house this morning. Whats your response to to that to more buses of migrants being sent from Texas to Washington, D.C.?SECRETARY MAYORKAS: It is a both sad and tragic day when a government official uses migrants as a pawn for political purposes.MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Go ahead, Jacqui.Q Thank you, Karine. Thank you, Mr. Secretary, for being here. On the memo that the U.S. Border Patrol chief sent to sector chiefs last night allowing for parole releases if overcrowding becomes an issue thats not Title 8, like you said would happen. I mean, these migrants dont get an alien registration number that would be used to track them. They dont get a court date. Theyre instead asked to self-report to ICE within 60 days.You said at the beginning that youve prepared for this moment for almost two years. So why is part of that plan an honor system?SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Oh, it is it is not an honor system. What we what we do is we use the resources that we have to meet the challenges that we confront. This is a tool that has been used in the past. The vast majority of individuals will indeed be placed in expedited removal and, if they do not qualify, will be removed in a matter of days, if not weeks, from the United States.When we when we encounter a volume of individuals for which we need to address in a different way, we do so. If those individuals do not honor their commitment to surrender to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement Officer to be able to be placed in enforcement proceedings, they are a subject of our apprehension efforts. Q You said that it would be a fraction of migrants that this happens with. How many is a fraction when youve had almost 6 million illegal crossings under this administration?SECRETARY MAYORKAS: We, last year, removed, returned, and expelled approximately 1.4 million individuals. That is the most in any one year.Q Will you be on shaky legal ground though with mass releases?SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Well, first of all Q Or will this be on a case-by-case basis?SECRETARY MAYORKAS: First of all, your your question has a factual predicate with which I would disagree about mass releases, number one.But releases of individuals subject to immigration enforcement proceedings is not something particular to this administration.Q (Inaudible) on a case-by-case MS. JEAN-PIERRE: We got to keep we got to Q basis, and this would not be on a case-by-case basis.SECRETARY MAYORKAS: We we implement our operations in conjunction with the Department of Justice, and we have confidence in the lawfulness of our actions.MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Okay. Go ahead, Jeff.Q Thank you. Mr. Secretary, are you concerned that the new asylum regulations will encourage more children to leave their families since unaccompanied kids are exempt?SECRETARY MAYORKAS: No. No, we are no, we are not. It is an obligation for us to address the needs of unaccompanied children. So, we are we do not have that concern.And what we are driving to what we are fundamentally driving to is to build lawful pathways so people do not have to take have to make those difficult decisions, and they dont have to take the dangerous journey in the first place.And we are expanding lawful pathways to an unprecedented degree under the Presidents leadership.MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Go ahead.Q Mr. Secretary, just one more. What is your assessment of Mexicos enforcement of the border?SECRETARY MAYORKAS: We are working very closely with the government of Mexico. The President has spoken with the President of Mexico as recently as earlier this week. They have corresponded last week.And Mexico is taking very important enforcement measures that we greatly appreciate and that were taken in coordination with us.MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Go ahead, Peter.Q Yeah, so, Mr. Secretary, how is the administration redirecting the immigration judges to prioritize new arrivals? And will that affect the backlog thats already there for previous arrivals?SECRETARY MAYORKAS: So so, Peter, your your question, if I may, just to hit this point once again your question speaks of an immigration court backlog that is exceeds 2 million cases. What a powerful example of a broken immigration system.Not only are we surging asylum officers about a thousand asylum officers to conduct credible fear screenings in the context of expedited removal, but the Department of Justice is surging immigration judges alongside us.MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Steven.Q Thanks. Sir, if I could ask you about the MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Sorry, Peter.Q Its all right.MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Im trying to get sorry, go ahead.Q The Title 8 enforcement youre talking about youre trying to send a message. Your the critics of the administration would argue this is a message that you could and probably should have sent earlier on in the administration. Can you walk us through the deliberation? How did you arrive at the idea that there should be a presumption of ineligibility and why was that policy not announced earlier?SECRETARY MAYORKAS: So, in response to your precise question, we sought to end Title 42, the public health authority earlier. We sought to roll out our immigration enforcement authorities under Title 8 of the United States Code earlier. We were enjoined from doing so by a court.Q But specifically, the asylum policy, the presumption of inadmissibility why not come out with that sooner? Youre trying to send a message now. And SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Its not a its not a message. We we dont promulgate a regulation. We dont promulgate a law to send a message. We promulgate a law to achieve a policy and operational outcome.And the outcome that we seek to achieve through this regulation is to incentivize people to take the lawful pathways and disincentivize them to place their lives in the hands of ruthless smugglers.Q But, respectfully, sir, its on the screen behind you as deterrence: New regulation directing migrantsSECRETARY MAYORKAS: Thats not a thats not a message. Thats a thats an impact on human behavior.MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Okay. We got to go ahead. Go ahead. Ill go to the back. Right here.Q Thank you. Thank thank you, Secretary. First, have you ruled out family detention as an option?And then, two, you said that you have many more migrants than you have appointments for, so is there any effort to try to expand the appointments? And do you have numbers for how many appointments are confirmed per day?SECRETARY MAYORKAS: So, we are indeed expanding the use of CBP One app from approximately 740 arrivals at our ports of entry along the southern border to 1,000 a day. And we w- are exploring what other capabilities we can add to that.And the first part of your question was family detention. This administration ended family detention in March of 2021.MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Go ahead.Q And so youre not going to bring it back at all?SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Weve made weve made it clear that families who are in immigration enforcement proceedings including in expedited removal proceedings, a more accelerated immigration enforcement process will be on alternatives to detention. The conditions of alternatives to detention may be increased as the situation warrants.MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Go ahead.Q Increased to to what?SECRETARY MAYORKAS: So, for example, we could place heads of household under curfews so that we are better able to monitor their activities and, I should say, their compliance with our restrictions and obligations to appear in court.MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Go ahead, (inaudible).Q Me?MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Yes. Go ahead.Q Secretary SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Can you orient me? Sorry.MS. JEAN-PIERRE: VOA, and then well keep going to the back.Q Thank you, Karine. Mr. Secretary, can you describe how you will be treating any differently migrants at the border that come from countries where we dont have close working relationship? For example, weve seen reporting of migrants coming as far from China, Russia, Syria.And then my second question, Im going to try to ask Peters question a different way. With some Democrats urging that President Biden end sanctions on Cuba and Venezuela, do you support that?SECRETARY MAYORKAS: So, the you speak of different demographics arriving at our our southern border. This speaks to the fact that the challenge of migration is not exclusive to the southern border and is, in fact, not exclusive to the Western Hemisphere.It we are seeing a global displacement of people that is the greatest since at least World War Two.The challenge of encountering individuals from countries that are to which its not easy to remove people has been a longstanding challenge that our immigration laws have run into.Q So what do you do with those people actually now, people who are coming from Russia and China and so on? What do you do with them?SECRETARY MAYORKAS: So, we place them in in immigration enforcement proceedings. And they make a cl- if they make a claim for relief, we adjudicate those claims. And if in fact those claims are granted, then they have, under our laws, a basis on which to stay in the United States. If they do not, then we work with foreign governments to address the enforcement actions that we think are appropriate.MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Way in the back.Q And do you support any sanctions?SECRETARY MAYORKAS: That is a little bit outside the remit of todays discussion.MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Okay. Way in the back, in the fuchsia.Q Secretary, thank you. So youre talking about Congress needing to act on this. Any reaction to the immigration package that House Republicans are looking to vote on today?And second question, on the processing centers: Was it a mistake to not have them ready to prevent a surge?SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Can you repeat the second part of that question? And I would say the President President Biden presented Congress with a legislative package on day one of this administration, now about 28 months ago, and we are hopeful that sensible and needed legislative reform will be passed by Congress, and we do not concur with the bill that was presented today.MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Go ahead.Q So, on the processing centers specifically, though, was it a mistake to not have them ready in time to prevent a surge?SECRETARY MAYORKAS: As as I have said, the development of those processing centers is a complex undertaking that requires the work of our foreign partners, international organizations, and the like, and weve moved very swiftly.MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Go ahead, Franco.Q Thank you, Karine. Thank you, Secretary. Republicans repeatedly seek to paint the administration as being unable to secure the border. I wanted to ask: Do you see this as a test? Does the administration see this as a test or possibly an opportunity to show the American people that the administration does have the ability to manage the border under difficult circumstances?SECRETARY MAYORKAS: We we view this as a challenge, a challenge that we will meet.Q May I also ask, in regards to the overcrowding and some of these difficult conditions, how long are we talking that this chaotic-ness will be? Are we talking weeks, months, years before things take traction and you get more of a handle on it?SECRETARY MAYORKAS: We are working as hard as we can to make sure that that time it takes is as little as possible. Let me say an additional thing in in response to your your first question.This is a challenge, and were were going to meet this challenge. Were going to meet it within a broken immigration system while adhering to our values.MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Go ahead, Sabrina.Q Yes. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. Last year, there were some estimates from DHS officials putting the highest level of migrants coming across the border each day at about 18,000 if Title 42 is revoked. Is that still the estimate or do you have a clearer number of what youre anticipating?SECRETARY MAYORKAS: So, let me clarify the numbers the number that to which you refer. Those werent predictions. It is our responsibility in the Department of Homeland Security and across the administration to plan for different scenarios. Thats what we do. And so, what we developed was, in fact, different scenarios to which we plan. And so, we have done so and we continue to do so.Q And then, you know, youve talked about this being a challenging transition period, but how long do you expect a potential surge to last? Are we talking weeks, months, longer?SECRETARY MAYORKAS: We have confidence in the approach that we are taking, which is to to really present lawful pathways for individuals to take advantage of and to disincentivize individuals from from really placing their lives in the hands of smugglers.And let me s- let me share with you that the parole processes that we announced and implemented on January 5th for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans are a proof point of the success of our approach. We saw a tremendous demand to access those lawful pathways and we saw a 90 over 90 percent drop in the number of encounters of individuals from those four countries at our southern border. And we saw that very, very quickly.MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Okay. A couple more. Go ahead, Phil.Q Republicans have challenged you on this point on Capitol Hill, and I wanted to give you an opportunity to respond. You know, they point to Border Patrols own numbers, which show that, going back to October of last year, there were more than a million apprehensions, but then there were also more than 530,000 got-aways. Thats roughly the size of the population of the city of Baltimore. How can you say that the border is not open?SECRETARY MAYORKAS: So, we removed, returned, and expelled 1.4 million people last year. Ask those 1.4 million people if if they think the border is open. Our apprehension rate at the border is consistent with the appreha- apprehension rate in prior years Q And then, in El Paso, theyve declared a state of emer- SECRETARY MAYORKAS: thanks to the extraordinary work of the United States Border Patrol.Q Thank you. And in Palso [sic] in El Paso, theyve declared a state of emergency, but weve also seen this in other cities like New York and Chicago. Im wondering, while so much of the focus is on the southern border itself, can you tell us more about the steps that DHS is taking to support those cities elsewhere as, you know, this surge affects not just that geography but other cities and states across the country?

SECRETARY MAYORKAS: I would say the a number of things. Number one, were grateful to Leader Schumer and Congress for the Emergency Food and Shelter Program funding in the omnibus this past December of $800 million. Thats a significant increase over the prior years funding of $150 million.

Were working very closely with cities and communities along the border and in the interior of the United States. We need the system fixed.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Go ahead, Toluse.

Q Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Secretary. Back to the question of mass releases. I know youve pushed back against that, but the Florida attorney general has filed a lawsuit against you, alleging that you are about to conduct a policy of mass releases with the news that was released yesterday.

Whats your response to that? And more broadly, whats your message to the judicial branch, who is playing a role in this process as well?

SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Well, I dont I dont send messages to the judicial branch. The judges make the decisions that they believe are warranted under the facts and laws before them.

But I will say this: It is it is interesting to see some of the tools that we employ that are successful or operationally needed to be challenged at the in in the courts.

So, for example, the parole process that we announced and implemented on January 5th for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans. Immediately, that demonstrated a reduction in the number of those individuals arriving at our southern border of over 95 percent. And yet, its been challenged in a court.

And so our parole authority, when we use it to release a fraction of the people whom we encounter and that is challenged, I question the motives of the plaintiffs.MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Go ahead.

Q Thanks, Karine. Following up on the Emergency Food and Shelter Program that you just mentioned. Groups in El Paso that are helping to feed and house this influx of migrants, they say this program has a problem in that the funding can only be used to help migrants who have encountered DHS and been processed. Is that requirement realistic to the situation that these communities are facing?

SECRETARY MAYORKAS: It is it is necessary. And I should say, this past Friday, under the Emergency Food and Shelter Program, we distributed $332 million, primarily to border communities. We now have under the new structure that the omnibus that Congress equipped us with, we now have the Shelter and Services Program that we in the Department of Homeland Security will control. That will prove, I think, more nimble. And we, I think, have 363

Q But that still will have that same restriction, that it has to be can only be used for migrants who have been processed. So what about those that have not been processed? Is that not is there no way to help with addressing the humanitarian need there?

SECRETARY MAYORKAS: So, to just to finish my thought, I think we have about $363 million to distribute through the Shelter and Services Program. And I believe that nongovernmental organizations in the cities address the needs of individuals who have not been processed.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: All right. Three more. Go ahead.

Q Thank you so much, Karine.MS. JEAN-PIERRE: (Inaudible.)

SECRETARY MAYORKAS: If you could raise your hand so I can orient Q Sorry.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I was pointing to you, (inaudible), but go ahead, Raquel.

SECRETARY MAYORKAS: orient visually.

Oh, yeah. Thank you.

Q Thank you so much, Karine and Mr. Secretary. So they were saying here that Republicans have changed (inaudible) the administration on the border. But at the same time, some Democrats are saying that President Biden broke his promise of having a more humane immigration system and that he is finishing Trumps job.

So, I ask you: How is it more humane to expel people and penalize them, people who are fleeing violence and poverty? You were just saying that the number of the deportation was the highest last year of any year.

SECRETARY MAYORKAS: So let me just the words have legal significance. So an expulsion is what happens under the public health authority of Title 42. We sought to end the application of Title 42 some time ago.This administration stands markedly different than the prior administration. Markedly different.

We have, in fact, a Family Reunification Task Force that has now reunified, I think, more than 700 families that were cruelly separated. We have by the prior administration.

We have rescinded the public charge rule that punishes individuals whove migrated to the United States just for accessing public resources to which they are entitled.

We have granted temporary protected status to quite a number of countries.

This President has led the unprecedented expansion of lawful pathways. We stand markedly different than the prior administration. We do not resemble it at all.

What we do and, by the way, we have rebuilt an asylum system that was dismantled in the prior administration.We have resumed refugee processing ar- all around the world. And these regional processing centers are going to accelerate the (coughs) pardon me the refugee process in an unprecedented way.

We are a nation of immigrants, and we are a nation of laws. And those laws provide that if one qualifies for humanitarian relief, then one has established the basis to remain in the United States. And if one has not, then one is to be removed. And that is exactly what is going to happen.

MS. JEAN-PIERRE: All right, Ed. (Inaudible.)

(Cross-talk.)

We got- we got to go. Were were out of time. Go ahead, Ed.

Q So so, you talked about cost. Whats the rough cost to American taxpayers since the roughly 4 million people have come into this country illegally, since January of 2021? As those people show up in community hospitals, as they enter the school system, as they get other government help do you have a taxpayer cost?SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Let me turn that question around a little bit, because Im going to turn it around to match the question that an international partner asked of me. And the question that the international partner asked of me is, What is the economic cost of your broken immigration system? Since there are businesses around this country that are desperate for workers, there are desperate workers looking for jobs in desperate workers in foreign countries that are looking for jobs in the United States where they can earn money lawfully and send much-needed remittances back home. What is the cost of a broken immigration system? That is the question that I am asked, and that is the question that I pose to Congress, because it is extraordinary.Q But do you have do you have the cost that the taxpayers are paying now?SECRETARY MAYORKAS: I I believe I have addressed your question.MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Okay, final two.Go ahead.Q I wanted to ask one more on the regional processing centers. I know you said it takes a ton of coordination, but can you give any more detail as to whats standing in between these actually being stood up? Is it a personnel thing? Is it a matter of nailing down location, working out agreements with international partners? Just a little bit more on that.SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Yes.Q All of them? (Laughter.)SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Yes.Q Okay.SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Yes. It it it there are a lot of moving pieces.MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Okay. Go ahead.Q Thank you MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Go ahead.Q Me?MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Yes.Q Thank you, Karine. So I just wanted to ask about messaging, because, for years, the administration has said that the border is closed, and migrant crossings continue to notch records. And you just said that your message to migrants who are traveling unlawfully is: Do not spend your life savings coming here only to be apprehended if and when you arrive here. But Im wondering what you think it will take for that message to land.SECRETARY MAYORKAS: The question is a very important one because it speaks of two things. One is, of course, the efforts we make. But the second is a phenomenon that we are confronting, and that is the smuggling organizations that spread disinformation to vulnerable migrants. They lie to migrants.And as a matter of fact, when I was in Panama, speaking to my counterpart the Foreign Secretary in Panama and the Secretary the Minister of Security they were speaking of the fact that smugglers in that region of the world, before the migrants enter the Darin, an incredibly treacherous terrain, they are deceived into thinking that they are going to be on a two-day tour.And so, the smuggling organizations prey on the vulnerability of migrants and exploit that vulnerability solely for profit.We are communicating to migrants in country to communicate the truth, the dangers of the journey, the exploitation of the smugglers. And just yesterday, we announced an extraordinary digital campaign to amplify that messaging, which is so vital.MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Final final question right there.Q I was just wondering if you could put some specifics on this plan. Lets say Border Patrol catches 10,000 migrants tomorrow. Of those, how many are going to be detained? How many will be caught and released? And how many will be removed and returned within 72 hours?SECRETARY MAYORKAS: So let me let me share with you that we have already encountered 10,000 individuals in a single day. You know, so we already have proven that we can manage through that. We have surged resources not just the Department of Homeland Security, but the Department of Justice in bringing immigration judges to work alongside asylum officers to address the expedited removal process. We have surged the resources that we have, given the resources that we have been given by Congress, which is less than what we need and less than what we requested, to meet the challenge to the best of our abilities.MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Thank you, sir. Appreciate it.SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Thank you very much, Karine. Thank you all.Q Thank you.SECRETARY MAYORKAS: Thank you.MS. JEAN-PIERRE: All right. Thank you. Appreciate it.Q Mr. Secretary, would you call it a crisis?Q Are you going to the border anytime soon?MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, guys, we are way over time. So even our amazing cleaning crew has come in a couple times. (Laughter.) So I can take a couple of questions, but we have to we really have to wrap up. Weve been going for almost I think about an hour, if not close.Okay. Yeah.Q Karine?Q Karine, in the back, please?MS. JEAN-PIERRE: It has to be somebody I havent called on yet.Q Yeah, right back. Right here.MS. JEAN-PIERRE: (Laughs.) Way way in the back. Right there.Q Thank you so much. New Hampshires Michael Delaney was not among the stalled nominees the Judiciary Committee voted on today, with Senator Dianne Feinstein back in Washington. Does President Biden still support him among apparent concerns from some Democrats? And what is the White House doing to get him over the finish line?MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, look, we take our our nominees very seriously. The President clearly puts forth nominees that he believes are are ready and equipped for the job. And so, of course, were always going to be make sure that we do everything that we can having conversations with the senators and their staff to try to move our nominees through. So we are committed, for certain.You had another question in there. It was oh, and then you mentioned Senator Fein- Feinstein. Were were glad to see her back.As you know, she is a longtime friend of of the President. And and were weve been hes been wishing her a speedy recovery and is glad to see her back back in back in the Senate. And Ill leave that there.Im trying to figure out who go ahead. Go ahead.Q Thanks, Karine. Has the President reached out to Senator Manchin after he said hell vote against the EPA nominees? Or whats the plan to get these nominees through if not?MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, look, I dont have anything more to say than what I shared yesterday on the on Senator Manchins comments.Look, Senator Manchin is a friend. Weve been able to do really historic move forward some historic pieces of legislation with Senator Manchin, including the Inflation Reduction Act and other bipartisan infrastructure bills and law now and other pieces of legislation.So we are going to continue to have conversations with him. Were going to continue to have a good relationship. I just dont have anything more than what I shared yesterday.Go ahead, Aurelia.Q Thank you so much. Can you update on the talks about the debt ceiling?And related to this, Donald Trump yesterday said that Republicans should actually trigger default if they dont get spending cuts. Does that make a default more likely?MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, look, I would remind you all what he said in 2019.And first, I got to be super, super careful. Let me just say that first. We respect the rule of law. He is a we know a presidential candidate.But what I will say more broadly and focus on what what he said in 2019, how Im paraphrasing here how defaulting is not something that we should be doing. And so, the question is: What has changed? What has changed now from 2019 to today?Look, weve been very clear that Congress needs to do their job. They must do their job. Its their constitutional duty to get this done. Weve done it three times under the last administration. Weve done it 78 times since 1960.But also, like I said, want to be very careful because he is a he is a presidential candidate. But I can speak to 2019 and his comments about the importance of of making sure that we do not default and were not a deadbeat nation.Okay. Let me see. Go ahead, (inaudible). I havent called on you.Q Thank you.Q Thanks, Karine. I have another question on the situation at the southern border. So, even ahead of the chaos of this week, morale amongst Border Patrol agents is low. Theyve been through a lot with the ongoing surge of people coming across the border. And according to the Acting Deputy Commissioner of the CBP, 36 agents died by suicide in the last three years alone. So what is President Biden doing to show Americas frontline police that he hears them and that he cares about the unprecedented issues theyre facing?MS. JEAN-PIERRE: And so, look, our hearts go out to those families of of those law enforcement members who, as you just stated, took their lives.So, look, Secretary Mayorkas spoke to this. He actually lifted up the the CBP and said the work that theyre doing is truly trem- tremendous.This is why the President has taken this so seriously, making sure that we have troops that go down to the border so that they can give some relief to the CBP the patrol, the law enforcement and be able so that they can be able to do their jobs. Right? And so thats why we put that we put forth.And what we have seen on our end is youve seen House Republicans who have voted to fire 2,000 law enforcement, those C- those same CBP members. They voted to fire at least 2,000, voted against giving giving resources for folks who are at the border, for DHS, for these law enforcement officers.And so, the President is doing everything that he can with the tools that he has in front of him. Thats why he asked Congress on his first day: Please, we have a comprehensive plan in front of you, we want you to we want you to take a look at this, we want to fix a system that has been broken for decades you heard the Secretary said since 1990s.And so, it is time to get to work. The President is doing everything that he can. We understand there is a challenge at the border, but we have are going to continue to put forth a robust multi-agency process to deal with an issue that has been around for decades and decades.Im trying to see who I have not called. Go ahead, Karen.Q Thanks, Karine. Do you have updates on when the President and congressional leaders will meet tomorrow, how much time the President is allotting for that meeting? And can you give us an update on the staff meeting that took place since that principals meeting?MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, what I Q And how would you characterize that?MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Absolutely. So, I dont have any updates for you yet for tomorrow.As you know, the President asked the four leaders, the congressional leaders, to come together again tomorrow to follow up on a conversation that they had just a couple of days ago.As you know, we dont read out private conversations and we certainly dont negotiate in public. But I can confirm, as you all have been reporting, that the staff met yesterday to follow up on the conversation, to talk about congressional leaders, to the four congressional leaders and how they saw moving forward on budget and spending.Thats regular order. That is something that has been done year after year, to talk about appropriations.And so, the staff are meeting again today, and dont have anything further beyond that, but certainly we will share once we have a time and more information and logistics to share on tomorrows meeting.Q And just just another quick one on the visit of the Spanish president tomorrow. Is there a two-and-two press conference thats been added for that?MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I dont have a press conference to read out to you. As you know, we are the President is very much looking forward to speaking w- to speaking with the leader. I just dont have anything more to share. Im sure NSC will be holding some sort of background call and more information to share with all of you.Q Karine?MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Okay. Im going to take one more. Go ahead, Courtney. Im just trying to call guys, Im trying to call on people that I have not called on today.Q Youve not called on me.MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, go ahead, Courtney.Q Thank you. You started at the top talking about the end of COVID emergency. Have you at this point or has the President put in place the plan for the White House pandemic team? I know you dont have a pandemic preparedness office up yet.Dr. Jha hasnt said if hes leaving, but I know his team is unwinding. Dr. Walensky is leaving. Can you talk a little bit about the leadership thats going to be in charge of the of COVID moving forward, especially if the tools that we have that youve been discussing dont work at a certain point or dont work as well?MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, I I dont have anything to share. I know you just asked me about the COVID team. We did as I mentioned at the top, we are we do have an Office of Pandemic Preparedness, as Ive mentioned multiple times. It was in the omnibus budget package for fiscal year 2023. So its Congress called on us to establish this office.So, we are working through that. And once we have more information, we will share that with all of you.I will be back tomorrow, everybody, and I will take well take more information.Q Howard University? Howard University Saturday?MS. JEAN-PIERRE: Ill Ill be back tomorrow, guys. Thanks, everybody.2:13 P.M EDT

Original post:

Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and Secretary ... - The White House

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Bangladesh: Dangerous Cyclone Mocha expected to make landfall on Sunday putting 1.5 million children at risk

Dhaka, 13th May 2023 - More than 1.5 million children are at risk, as Cyclone Mocha is expected to make landfall near the Bangladesh border on Sunday morning and threatens to be a major humanitarian disaster.[i]

Coxs Bazar Rohingya refugee camp, the largest in the world, is home to half a million children who live in poorly structured shelters and are at risk of being severely affected by high wind speeds during the landfall of Cyclone Mocha.[ii]

4.6 million people will be exposed to wind speeds of over 110 kilometers per hour and rough seas could reach astronomical surge heights of 12 feet as the dangerous cyclone crosses Coxs Bazar coast tomorrow morning.[iii] There are fears it will result in a major humanitarian crisis leading to death, injury, displacement, and psychosocial damage. Around 2.8 million people are at risk of displacement in the wake of this cyclonic storm.[iv]

Onno van Manen, Save the Childrens Country Director in Bangladesh, said: We are deeply concerned about the safety and well-being of half a million children living in the Rohingya refugee camps in Coxs Bazar and another million children in the host communities.[v] Considering the living conditions and poor shelter structures in Rohingya camps in Coxs Bazar, Cyclone Mocha could put many lives at risk. We are also concerned about the population living in the coastal areas and landslide-prone areas of Bangladesh. Its vital that we protect vulnerable communities from the effects of extreme weather.

Save the Childrens teams are closely monitoring the situation and preparing to respond. Volunteers have been supporting evacuation efforts from landslide prone areas and the aid organisation has an emergency medical team on standby to move to affected areas.

Onno van Manen, Save the Childrens Country Director in Bangladesh, concluded; Our teams are closely monitoring the situation and working tirelessly in the camps, rushing to repair and tighten the loose and damaged structures so that we can minimize the loss during the cyclone in Coxs Bazar. Our teams in coastal areas are prepared for an emergency response. We have large quantities of medical supplies and emergency shelter kits located at Coxs Bazar and are ready to distribute them.

ENDS

Notes to editors

[i]According to the latest data from UNHCR Bangladesh is home to 982,772 refugees

[ii] According to the latest Unicef data there are half a million children living in Coxs Bazar refugee camp

[iii] According to the Situation Overview and Anticipatory Impact Analysis Cyclone Mocha 4.6 million people will be exposed to 118 hm/hr wind speeds.

[iv] According to the Situation Overview and Anticipatory Impact Analysis Cyclone Mocha 2.8 million people are estimated to be displaced

[v] According to the latest Unicef data there are half a million children living in Coxs Bazar refugee camp

*******************************************************************************************************************

For further enquiries, our media out of hours (BST) contact is media@savethechildren.org.uk / +44(0)7831 650409

Please also check our Twitter account @Save_GlobalNews for news alerts, quotes, statements and location Vlogs.

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Bangladesh: Dangerous Cyclone Mocha expected to make landfall ... - Save the Children International

Stricken cargo vessel the Shiling is likely returning to Wellington after a high-seas breakdown and rescue.

A mayday was sent from the 294-metre vessel on Friday when it lost all power and steering in rough seas off Farewell Spit at the top of the South Island, triggering a large emergency response from air and sea as the captain considered ordering all 24 crew to abandon ship.

As luck had it, open water vessel Skandi Emerald was working at Taranaki for the petrochemical industry and was able to divert to the ship and haul it to safety in Tasman Bay, where the 66,000-tonne Shiling remained on Sunday morning still attached to the Skandi Emerald.

A statement from Maritime NZ on Sunday said it was understood there was an agreement to tow the ship back to Wellington. The ships owner and insurer would pay for the tow.

READ MORE:* Drifting, powerless cargo ship MV Shiling to remain at sea overnight* Powerless cargo ship continues slow journey back to safety* MV Shiling to stay put overnight after ocean-going tug reaches ship

"While the decisions around passage, anchoring locations and towage are managed by the owners of the Shiling, Maritime NZ has oversight, and is liaising with CentrePort and the Wellington Harbour Master to ensure the process is managed safely, incident controller Kenny Crawford said.

"The Skandi Emerald is a very capable towage vessel, and its crew are highly experienced in traversing conditions such as what could be experienced in the Cook Strait.

Supplied

The container ship Shiling photographed off Farwell Spit on Friday by Carl Babe a crew member of the Nelson Marlborough Rescue Helicopter.

It was not yet decided when the ship would be towed to Wellington,

Nelson harbour master Stuart Whitehouse said the ship was too big to enter the port at Nelson so the current plan was to haul it back to Wellington.

The terms of this were being sorted out with the ships classification society the organisation that maintains standards for the ship operations.

The Singaporean-flagged Shiling has already spent weeks in Wellington after losing power as it was leaving the capital in mid-April. The powerless ship drifted over the shallow Falcon Shoals near the harbour heads and could have easily hit the sea floor in a lower tide.

It was taken back to port in Wellington and Maritime NZ detained it in the capital.

It was last week given permission to leave but under strict orders to go directly to Singapore for repairs.

However, after leaving Wellington it hit 8-metre swells off the top of the Marlborough Sounds and, with very little cargo on board, got thrashed around in the waves and the captain took shelter.

It was finally on its way to Singapore on Friday on a route that would take it near Australias Great Barrier Reef when it had the breakdown and a mayday was issued.

Greater Wellington Regional Council chairperson Daran Ponter confirmed that discussions started late on Saturday about the ship returning to Wellington and space had been found for it to dock in the capital.

But it would involve having to move it around regularly so other ships could dock, he said.

It is a hassle for the port company.

CentrePort marine operations manager Josh Rodgers said the Shiling would be moved around berths at the port as required.

However, as the Shiling is a large vessel there may be some minor disruption, which we will do our very best to minimise."

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Stricken 294-metre Shiling tipped to return to Wellington - the scene ... - Stuff.co.nz

Editors note: TPGs Gene Sloan accepted a free trip to the shipyard in Finland building Icon of the Seas in order to get an early look at the vessel. The opinions expressed below are entirely his and werent subject to review by the line.

When it comes to building the most amazing megaresorts at sea, Royal Caribbean these days is basically just competing with itself.

It's a strong statement, for sure. I'm guessing that many Norwegian Cruise Line and Carnival Cruise Line fans will quibble with it. But it's what kept swirling through my head Wednesday during a sneak peek at the line's next new ship, Icon of the Seas.

At 250,800 gross tons, the much-awaited, 20-deck-high vessel will be the biggest cruise ship in the world when it debuts in 2024. But it's not just its giant size about 6% bigger than the next biggest cruise ship that will set it apart.

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What became clear to me on Wednesday as Tim Klauda, Royal Caribbean's vice president for product development, took me deck-by-deck through the partly-finished vessel at a shipyard in Finland, was that it would also have no rival in the cruise world when it comes to the breadth and depth of its offerings, particularly for families.

From an unprecedently massive water park at its top with six waterslides to the most innovative interior promenade of restaurants, bars and shops ever on a cruise vessel (just wait until you see the soaring glass wall that bathes the space with natural light), there's just never been anything quite like what you're going to see on Icon of the Seas and I say that as someone who has sailed on nearly every major cruise ship afloat.

In short, Icon of the Seas, the first of an all-new class of vessels for Royal Caribbean, will be, hands down, the ultimate megaresort at sea. And as a result, it'll be the ship that finally tops Royal Caribbean's hugely successful Oasis-class vessels to reign supreme in the world of giant cruise ships.

Related: The 6 classes of Royal Caribbean ships, explained

That's notable, as the Oasis-class ships have dominated the world of megaresorts at sea for nearly 15 years. Other lines have tried to match what the Oasis-class vessels offer with new ships over the years and have fallen short though a few have come close.

To put it another way, in the great game of cruise ship design one-upmanship that has raged among the biggest cruise lines for decades, it seems that only Royal Caribbean these days can top Royal Caribbean.

It's as if the other major lines right now aren't even on the playing field.

With seven months of construction to go before Icon of the Seas is ready to sail, there is much still unfinished on the vessel.

As is typical at this stage of construction of a new ship, the exterior of Icon of the Seas and the framing for its interior spaces is mostly complete, but lots of finishing work remains. Some spaces remain little more than empty shells.

That said, the epic nature of what is to come was clearly visible as Klauda took me and several other cruise writers around the vessel on Wednesday amid a cacophony of hammering, welding and sanding.

The tour came as the ship was tied up at a wet dock at the Meyer Turku shipyard in Turku, Finland, where the nearly $2 billion ship has been under construction for nearly two years. More than 2,500 shipyard workers were on board working at the time.

Here are some of the most notable elements of Icon of the Seas that I saw during the tour that will put it over the top as the new king of big-ship cruising.

While still far from done, the top deck of Icon of the Seas already is shaping up as a sight to behold, in large part because it has a water park the likes of which you've never seen on a cruise ship.

We're talking six separate water slides none of them small.

Only about 20% of the biggest slides were in place as we walked around the area, but the massive towers from which the slides will descend essentially were finished, and the sheer size of the footprint for the park was stunning. There aren't many resorts on land where you will find something like this.

Called Category 6, the water park will include such thrills as an open free-fall slide, the tallest drop slide at sea, family raft slides that accommodate four riders at once and two mat-racing slides.

The water slides basically take up the whole back third of the ship's top deck, along with such additional signature Royal Caribbean amusements as a FlowRider surfing simulator, a miniature golf course called Lost Dunes, a rock climbing wall and a sports court.

In addition, I saw the makings of a ropes course-style attraction based around a giant version of the ship's crown-and-anchor logo (which was in place but wrapped up so it didn't get dinged during the rest of construction).

I also strolled through a large casual dining area not far from the waterslides called Basecamp, where you'll be able to grab your breath after careening down one of the slides with quickie snacks and drinks.

Collectively, the whole area will be known as Thrill Island, and that pretty much sums up what it'll be.

Balancing the thrill zone that is Thrill Island, the center part of the ship's top is devoted to chilling in the form of kicking back in lounge chairs, hot tubs and pools.

When it comes to the latter, what struck me most during the tour was the enormous size of the main Royal Bay Pool. It seemed to run half the length of the ship (Royal Caribbean claims this is the largest pool ever built on a cruise ship, and we don't doubt them).

Related: Everything you need to know about booking an Icon of the Seas cruise

The Royal Bay Pool was just one of three pools taking shape in the area, which will be called Chill Island. The others included a pool with a swim-up bar called Swim and Tonic a first for Royal Caribbean.

In addition to lounge chairs, hot tubs and pools, Chill Island will also feature cabanas available for an extra charge and a multistory Lime and Coconut Bar (a Royal Caribbean signature).

The AquaDome is one of those crazily ambitious attractions that Royal Caribbean does on its ships from time to time that just makes your jaw drop. If you've seen the North Star rides on the line's Quantum-class ships, you know what I'm talking about. But the AquaDome is on an even bigger scale than the North Star rides.

It's basically a giant glass dome and we mean giant plopped onto the front of the ship that enshrouds an aqua theater of the sort found at the back of Royal Caribbean's Oasis-class ships. There are also dining and drinking venues and even some enclosed-within-the-dome cabins.

Before I saw the AquaDome in person, I really didn't get the scale of what it would be. You likely won't, either, until you see it.

It's a glass dome to top all glass domes. We're told it was so big and heavy (363 tons) that there really wasn't any shipyard crane in the world that could lift it into place except the giant crane at the Meyer Turku shipyard, which itself is a marvel.

When you're standing under it, you're looking up four or five stories to its top.

The aqua theater itself will be one of Icon of the Seas' marquee attractions, with shows that combine diving and aerial performers, dancing fountains and other high-tech features.

The space also will attract passengers throughout the day and night with its dining and drinking venues and cozy seating areas. A version of the Hooked Seafood restaurant found on some other Royal Caribbean ships will be among the options.

Royal Caribbean already is arguably the ultimate family cruise line. But as I saw this week, Icon of the Seas will take its family focus to even greater heights.

In addition to the water park mentioned above, which will have your teens and tweens squealing with delight, Icon of the Seas is loaded with such family-friendly attractions as Surfside an entire themed section of the ship (Royal Caribbean calls them neighborhoods) dedicated to young families.

In an open-air space at the back of the vessel that is roughly where the New Jersey shore-themed Boardwalk area is found on the line's Oasis-class ships, Surfside is an all-day play area for families with kids ages 6 and under (though everyone is welcome).

The centerpiece of this zone will be a watery splash park for kids and adults called Splashaway Bay (and an adjacent Baby Bay for junior cruisers), as well as the Water's Edge pool for grownups. All were just starting to come together during my visit.

When it's all finished in a few months, Surfside will be lined with colorful deck chairs so parents can lounge with their feet up or soak in the pool while maintaining sightlines to their playing kids. It'll also have a carousel, just like the Boardwalk areas on Oasis-class ships.

In addition, Surfside will house family-friendly dining venues and bars serving exclusive-to-Surfside "mommy and me" drinks. Kids can order the nonalcoholic versions of their parents' tropical cocktails.

Plus, stairs from the zone will take you and your kids straight to the Adventure Ocean kids club, one deck below (as well as the family-friendly Playmakers Sports Bar and Arcade).

Icon of the Seas will also offer more family-aimed high-occupancy cabins than ever for a Royal Caribbean ship, including some rooms that can accommodate up to eight people.

These cabins will include a new category of Family Infinite Balcony rooms that can sleep up to six people, with an alcove featuring upper and lower beds for kids, a separate sleeping area for grown-ups, a living area and split bathroom (toilet and sink in one room and shower and sink in the other).

The ship will also be home to what may be the most epic family accommodation in the world, on land or sea: A 1,772-square-foot Ultimate Family Townhouse that will be three decks high and sleep up to eight people.

Alas, we didn't get to see the Ultimate Family Townhouse. But among its selling points will be an in-suite slide, movie-viewing room, karaoke machine and a "backyard" with a pingpong table, outdoor seating and a white picket fence leading directly to the Surfside area.

Like Royal Caribbean's Oasis-, Freedom- and Voyager-class ships, Icon of the Seas will have an indoor, mall-like space with eateries, bars and shops called the Royal Promenade running through the middle of its interior. But it'll be a Royal Promenade unlike any you've seen before.

The game-changing innovation here, which is hard to grasp from the deck plans of the vessel that the line has released, is that the space now is connected to the sea in a way it's never been before.

This new connectivity is thanks to a giant, four-deck-high glass wall that lines one side of the Promenade, allowing light to spill into the space.

Related: The ultimate guide to Royal Caribbean | The best Royal Caribbean cruise ships | The 5 best destinations you can visit on a Royal Caribbean ship

The glass wall will surely be one of the ship's great features. I know I'll be standing along it gazing out at the immensity of the ocean often when I'm on board the vessel.

However, it's also a marvel of engineering, as it is located at a structurally critical part of the ship's sidewall that ever since the Titanic split in half around its middle in 1912 before sinking most naval architects have been loath to pierce with a giant span of glass.

The naval architects that worked on Icon of the Seas got around the problem of structural integrity through the clever insertion of structural steel in a massive circular art installation/circular stairway called The Pearl that is located just steps away.

To the untrained eye, it's just an unusual focal point for the area that'll offer a show-like experience at times with sound and high-tech moving wall screens. But in reality, it's helping to hold the ship together.

We got a no-photos-allowed sneak peek inside the circular space for a very short snippet of the sound and moving wall experience that passengers can expect. All we can say is we can't wait to see more.

In addition to The Pearl, the first level of The Royal Promenade will feature Sorrentos Pizza, Starbucks, the ship's karaoke bar (called Spotlight Karaoke) and its pub (to be called the Point and Feather). One deck up, a second-story to the Royal Promenade will be home to such Royal Caribbean signatures as Giovannis Italian Kitchen, the nautical-themed Schooner Bar and Boleros (a bar and lounge for Latin music and dancing). Notably, you'll be able to circle the second story of the Royal Promenade completely, something you can't do on other Royal Caribbean ships. That's another big upgrade.

Surrounding the Royal Promenade are many of Icon of the Seas entertainment venues. The ships main Royal Theater is forward of the promenade. The ship's ice skating rink, which is newly named Absolute Zero and has a new oval design, is aft. The Music Hall and Casino Royale is one deck below, and an escape room, Diamond Club elite lounge and comedy club are nearby.

Royal Caribbean has dominated the world of massive megaresorts at sea for nearly 15 years, ever since its first Oasis-class vessel debuted.

Roughly 40% bigger than any other ship at sea when they first arrived on the scene, the Oasis-class ships are still the largest and most amenity-filled cruise vessels in the world.

However, they'll soon have a new rival in the form of Icon of the Seas, the first of a new series of even bigger, more amenity-filled Royal Caribbean vessels.

Planning a cruise? Start with these stories:

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Sneak peek: Inside Royal Caribbean's Icon of the Seas, the largest cruise ship ever - The Points Guy

Anniversary festivities are currently underway for Pirates of the Caribbean: Tides of War, which is celebrating its 6th year since launching for iOS and Android. To mark the occasion, JOYCITY has unveiled a new content update, bringing players a new Tactician, naval vessel, and a host of limited-time events.

Joining the ranks of Dark Talisman Tacticians, and adding a tough Viking aesthetic to the game, is Gunnar Nielson; a formidable sea-farer who promises to be an imposing force on the high seas. Gunnar will be helming the stunning, albeit foreboding vessel, The Hunter to the fray.

The 6th Anniversary update is also bringing a new casual block matching minigame, Blockblast, for whenever players need some respite from nautical warfare. Speaking of which, if youre a fan of the movie series then you can play through classic battles from the movies in Shansas Cave.

The highly anticipated Battle Pass is also now available, awarding those that participate with the Coral Reef Palace Territory Skin. More rewards are also up for grabs via an all-inclusive Attendance event, as well as new social events like the Gem Sweepstakes on Facebook.

With the anniversary celebration and all the new features it brings, now is a perfect time to dive into the game, especially if youre a fan of the movies. You can find Pirates of the Caribbean: Tides of War available to download for free on the iOS App Store and on the Google Play Store.

This article is sponsored content written by TouchArcade and published on behalf of JOYCITY to promote the 6th anniversary update for Pirates of the Caribbean: Tides of War. For questions or comments, please email [emailprotected]

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'Pirates of the Caribbean: Tides of War' is Celebrating Its 6th ... - Touch Arcade

One thing you need to know when booking a cruise is what deck you would like to be on. Cruise ships usually have over a dozen decks for guests to choose from, and they have their own qualities.

Deck 1, in particular, has a bad rap among cruisers. Many people tend to stay away from deck 1 on a cruise ship but dont have all of the facts about this level to fully inform their decision.

This article will explain where deck 1 is and everything you need to know about it.

Deck 1 is usually the lowest deck on the ship. Some cruise ships have decks lower than deck 1 for the crew and label them with letters instead (deck A, deck B, deck C, etc.).

For some cruise lines, it is the lowest available deck to passengers, sometimes containing cabins available for passengers to book. However, this isnt always the case, and it largely depends on the ship youre on.

For example, Royal Caribbean cruise ships usually restrict deck 1 to crew, and the lowest deck that passengers may book is deck 2 or 3.

In contrast, on most Disney cruise ships, deck 1 often contains staterooms for passengers to book. Some Carnival Cruise Line ships also allow passengers to stay on deck 1.

Now that you know where deck 1 is on a cruise ship, you might wonder, is deck 1 on a cruise ship bad? Lets find out.

Deck 1 isnt inherently a bad place to be on a cruise ship. However, like every deck on a cruise ship, there are pros and cons to staying on deck 1.To illustrate further, lets look at the pros and cons of deck 1.

For the most part, deck 1 has the most affordable cabins on the cruise ship because its seen as a less desirable deck, but thats definitely a subjective stance.

The top benefit of staying on deck 1 is that youll feel minimal motion sickness because the closer you are to the waterline, the less rocking youll feel from the ship. So if motion sickness is one of your main barriers to going on a cruise, you may be in luck if you book a stateroom on deck 1.

Whats more, being so close to the waterline, youll also have a great view of the ocean and have a better chance of spotting sea life from your cabin location.

One of the significant downsides to deck 1 is how noisy it is. While all cruise ship cabins can expect some noise, the worst is on deck 1. Much of this noise is from being closer to the ships operations.

In the decks just beneath deck 1 are the crew cabins, laundry facilities, and even the engine room. The engines and propellers of the ship are especially noisy and can be majorly disruptive for your stay, especially if youre a light sleeper.

If possible, avoiding rooms above these facilities is a good idea, even if you end up in a deck 1 cabin.

Another disadvantage is that, because of the decks proximity to the water, there are often no balconies in the suites offered. Some may even have no windows.

However, if you plan on doing numerous activities on the ship and only plan on sleeping in your cabin, this might be a fair trade-off for a more affordable cabin and less seasickness.

Finally, the lower deck is further from the action on the ship. This can be a good thing if you arent a fan of being around a lot of people, but depending on the size of your ship, it can also be a nuisance to go up and across the ship for your activities.

Cruise ships tend to have 12 to 16 decks, depending on the size.

If deck 1 is the lowest passenger deck, below it youll find all of the operations for the ship. This includes the crew cabins, crew dining facilities, and other important facilities such as a laundry room, engine room, storage rooms, and even a jail.

The best deck on a cruise ship largely depends on your needs. For most people, the higher the deck, the better. If youre looking for large suites and specialty cabins, you will most likely find them there. However, this preference does vary from person to person. For those who get seasick, a high deck may be a nightmare in rough seas, and deck 1 might make your cruise a more enjoyable experience.

On some cruise ships where deck 1 isnt accessible to passengers, it may be underwater. However, on cruise ships where deck 1 is accessible to passengers, it is above the waterline. This is because there are other decks for the crew below.If you want to be as close to the waterline as possible, deck 1 is your best bet!

To recap, the simple answer to is deck 1 on a cruise ship bad is no, its not. However, deck 1 is not for everyone.

If you are prone to seasickness and want to be as close as possible to the water line to catch a glimpse of sea life, you may enjoy deck 1.

Its also a more affordable option if you spend most of your time at different ports and take advantage of various activities on board. However, a higher deck is a better choice for those seeking a more luxurious cruise experience.

Continued here:

Is Deck 1 on a Cruise Ship Bad - Pros and Cons - Cruise Hive