US poised for largest gun control protest in a generation

WASHINGTON- Galvanized by a massacre at a Florida high school, hundreds of thousands of Americans are expected to take to the streets in cities across the United States on Saturday in the biggest protest for gun control in a generation.

The student-organized "March For Our Lives" is to feature rallies from coast to coast, with the main event scheduled to take place in Washington within sight of the US Capitol.

"The kids are leading the movement," said Democratic Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, where 20 children aged 6 and 7 years old were killed in December 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida -- where 17 people were shot dead on February 14 by a 19-year-old former classmate -- have been the driving force behind the march.

With a mixture of outrage and passion, they have been relentlessly badgering US lawmakers to enact a ban on assault rifles and to expand background checks to cover all gun purchases, even private sales.

"The march is just the start," said Aalayah Eastmond, a 17-year-old junior who took shelter beneath the body of a classmate during the Stoneman Douglas shooting.

"Columbine happened -- nothing's changed. Sandy Hook happened -- nothing's changed. Parkland happened -- nothing's changed," Eastmond said. 

"We will fight for this until change happens," she said at an event with members of US Congress.

Since the Parkland shooting, the state of Florida and the US Congress have made only modest tweaks to gun laws and President Donald Trump's proposal to arm teachers has been met with widespread resistance.

Organizers say more than 800 marches are being held across the country and around the world under the slogan #NeverAgain, with the Washington event alone anticipated to attract at least 500,000 people.

The protests are expected to be the largest for gun control in the United States -- which has more than 30,000 gun-related deaths a year -- since the Million Mom March in May 2000.

'ELECTORAL FORCE'

The appeals for stricter gun regulations have drawn the backing of Democratic lawmakers, and a slew of American celebrities have pledged $500,000 in donations to support the protests.

They include actor George Clooney and his wife Amal, a human rights lawyer, actress and media mogul Oprah Winfrey, and director Steven Spielberg and his actress wife, Kate Capshaw.

Performing at the rally in Washington are Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ben Platt, Ariana Grande, Jennifer Hudson, Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, Common, Andra Day and Vic Mensa.

The marchers have also attracted the support of former president Barack Obama, who tried but failed to reform gun laws following the Sandy Hook slaughter.

Obama and his wife Michelle released a letter to the "Students of Parkland" praising their "resilience, resolve and solidarity" and saying they have helped "awaken the conscience of the nation."

Former president Billl Clinton said America "owes its gratitude to the students of Stoneman Douglas and their peers across the country who have joined their cause."

Murphy, the Connecticut senator, told AFP the student-led movement needs to become an "electoral force, and this march may be the beginning of that."

Conscious of their growing political power, March For Our Lives organizers provided a link on their website for supporters to register to vote.

They have also called on supporters to vote against lawmakers who receive money from the National Rifle Association, the powerful US gun lobby that fiercely defends the Second Amendment's "right to bear arms."

"Either you stand with the kids or you stand with the NRA," said David Hogg, a Stoneman Douglas student.

Meanwhile, Lyft, the ride-hailing service, said it would offer free rides to 50 marches around the United States. Several restaurants in Washington said they would hand out free lunches to high school students.

Robert Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots, sent the American football team's plane to Parkland to fly the families of the 17 people killed at Stoneman Douglas to Washington along with injured students.

According to a Quinnipiac University poll, 63 percent of American voters approve of the march in support of tougher gun laws but are not optimistic it will lead to new legislation.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Melania taps little-known Hispanic designer for inaugural debut

WASHINGTON - Melania Trump on Thursday picked a little-known New York designer of Hispanic descent and daughter of a wounded veteran, for her first outfit celebrating husband Donald's presidential inauguration.

The choice of a knee-length, black coat from Norisol Ferrari for her visit to the Arlington National Cemetery was something of an inspired choice for Trump, who has been criticized in the past for favoring high-end European clothes.

A string of designers have refused to work with the incoming first lady because of her husband's divisive politics, making her sartorial choices for his inaugural events even more closely watched than usual.

"God, I hope we can be a less angry nation," Ferrari told Women's Wear Daily, saying she did not agree with designers who wanted to boycott Trump.

"I am absolutely opposed to discrimination in any way. I wanted to give her her own voice. Empowering women is all that matters to me," she told WWD.

The designer, who was born in the United States and is of Colombian and Venezuelan descent, said she was "honored" to dress Melania Trump, who will on Friday become only the second foreign-born first lady in US history.

"Mrs Trump's visit to Arlington was particularly poignant for me, as my biological father is a wounded veteran. His experience and the lifelong disabilities he sustained, affected my family deeply," she told WWD.

Ferrari declined to say how she voted in last year's election, in which much of the fashion industry supported Trump's Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, and said she appreciated the exposure.

"I'm an independent designer, female-owned business, a first-generation minority woman," she told WWD.

"Women in general don't get opportunities like this in fashion. I'm very fortunate to one have such a beautiful muse."

Clever choice or not, the 46-year-old former model was heavily criticized on social media for appearing grumpy, hiding behind dark sunglasses at the cemetery and arriving in Washington from New York looking funereal.

But US media did gush over the green cascading coat and matching dress worn by her 35-year-old step daughter Ivanka, who unlike Melania is moving straight to Washington with her husband, Jared Kushner, an incoming White House advisor.

Ivanka's outfit was reportedly the work of famed New York designer Carolina Herrera, who was born and brought up in Venezuela before moving to the United States and becoming a designer par excellence of timeless elegance.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Shutdown averted for now as Congress extends US funding

WASHINGTON -- The US Senate on Saturday gave itself four additional days to pass a $1.1 trillion federal spending bill, easing the threat of a government shutdown that was looming at midnight.

Amid deep divisions between Republicans and Democrats over how to proceed on funding government through September, feuding lawmakers unanimously passed a measure that extends funds to late Wednesday.

The extension was the second passed by Congress in as many days as leaders struggle to finalize the spending bill and bid farewell to the 113th Congress, one of the least productive sessions in modern history.

The funding has already been approved by the House of Representatives. It faces a procedural test vote at 1:00 am (0600 GMT) Sunday, and is then expected to pass the Senate on Monday and head to President Barack Obama's desk for his signature.

The battle over the bill has been a bruising one.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had expressed hope that a deal would be reached for a final vote Friday on funding nearly all federal operations through the end of fiscal 2015.

But that collapsed when conservative Republicans like Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, furious that the legislation failed to roll back Obama's recent unilateral immigration action to shield millions from deportation, refused to cooperate.

"Regrettably, a small group of Senate Republicans has determined that it is in their political interests to hold this legislation hostage," Reid told the chamber at the start of a rare Saturday session.

- Obama's immigration order -

Cruz, widely accused by Democrats of causing last year's 16-day government shutdown, appeared in no hurry to ease passage of the spending bill Friday, giving a fiery floor speech attacking congressional leaders for their failure to stand up to Obama's immigration order.

"Before the United States Senate is a bill that does nothing, absolutely nothing to stop President Obama's illegal and unconstitutional amnesty," Cruz said.

The political tempest triggered by Cruz and fellow conservative Senator Mike Lee may have backfired for the Republican Party.

It enabled Reid to use a procedural maneuver to allow votes on up to 20 of Obama's nominees, some of them controversial, including the president's pick for surgeon general.

The Senate was grinding through a slog of nomination-related votes Saturday, and Republicans did not shy away from criticizing Cruz's tactics.

"It will have the end result of causing nominees whom I think are not well-qualified to be confirmed, so I don't understand the approach that he is taking, and I think it's very unfortunate and counterproductive," Senate Republican Susan Collins said, according to The New York Times.

"This reminds me very much of the shutdown last year, where the strategy made absolutely no sense and was counterproductive."

The spending bill funds all government agencies through September except the Department of Homeland Security, which is tasked with carrying out Obama's immigration order.

DHS funding would last until February, setting up another immigration-related fight but this time in a Congress under full Republican control.

Otherwise the bill leaves Obama's executive order intact.

It contains $1.014 trillion in discretionary domestic spending, plus $64 billion in military overseas contingency operations in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.

The measure provides $5 billion for operations to counter the Islamic State extremist group, and $5.4 billion in emergency funding was secured to respond to the Ebola crisis -- slightly less than the $6 billion requested by Obama.

Progressive Democrats have expressed outrage about the 1,603-page bill because of two policy riders inserted late in the negotiation process, including one that rolls back key financial regulations on Wall Street banks.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com