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Wednesday, June 21, 2023

6/21 WAKE-UP CALL: Searchers Believe They Hear Tapping Sounds

 A Canadian airplane aiding in the search for the missing Titanic-bound submersible recently detected “banging” every 30 minutes in the area where the vessel lost radio contact with its surface ship. Details of the potential signs of life aboard the OceanGate Expeditions’ submersible were included in internal emails sent to the Department of Homeland Security and separately confirmed early Wednesday by the US Coast Guard.

The search intensified Tuesday for the submersible that vanished two days ago in the North Atlantic Ocean, as ships and aircraft from U.S. and Canada joined the effort to locate the small vessel carrying five people to the Titanic wreckage site before it runs out of oxygen. Capt. Jamie Frederick of the First Coast Guard District in Boston said the Titan, as the submersible is known, had "about 40 hours of breathable air left" around 1 p.m. ET Tuesday, meaning its oxygen supply could get depleted by Thursday morning. He added that an underwater robot had started searching in the vicinity of the Titanic and that there was a push to get salvage equipment to the scene in case the sub is found. Besides that, three C-130 aircraft and three C-17 transport planes from the U.S. military have been aiding the search, and the Canadian military said it provided a patrol aircraft and two surface ships.

Still, the remote location − 900 miles east of Cape Cod and up 13,000 feet below sea level − make the pursuit "an incredibly complex operation,'' Frederick said. The carbon-fiber submersible had a 96-hour oxygen supply when it went to sea at about 6 a.m. Sunday, according to David Concannon, an adviser to OceanGate Expeditions, the deep-sea exploration company that owns the vessel. The company that operated the expedition, OceanGate Expeditions, listed Titanic trips for tourists at $250,000 this year. The Titanic sank in 1912 in the North Atlantic after hitting an iceberg, killing an estimated 1,500 passengers and crew.

➤HUNTER MAKES A DEAL: Hunter Biden has agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor tax charges and resolve a gun violation. The deal means avoiding a politically explosive prosecution while his father campaigns for re-election. Federal prosecutors have agreed to recommend probation, a person familiar with the matter said; a judge will decide the sentence, which likely will include a fine. (Misdemeanor tax prosecutions, without other charges, rarely lead to prison time.)

President Biden’s son failed to pay income tax in 2017 and 2018, despite owing more than $100,000 each year. The deal is the denouement of an investigation launched in 2018 that began by examining the junior Biden’s foreign business dealings.

➤HUNTER, BABY MAMA SETTLE: Hunter Biden and his baby mama have privately settled their child support dispute in Arkansas, according to a source close to the first son. Lunden Roberts, 32, the mother of Hunter’s long-unacknowledged 4-year-old daughter, agreed to her $20,000 monthly child support payments being slashed after she showed up in person to his deposition in Little Rock last week. Roberts’ lawyer, Clint Lancaster, told The Post late Thursday that final terms were still to be determined and declined to confirm that his client had agreed to a reduced monthly payment of $5,000.  “The case is sealed, and these are financial terms that should never be disclosed,” he said, warning that leaks about details of the settlement would derail talks and end up with Hunter back in an Arkansas court on July 11.


➤RUSSIANS STRIKE KYIV: Russia on Tuesday struck military and infrastructure targets in Ukraine's capital Kyiv and across other parts of the country, including western areas far from the front lines, Ukrainian officials said. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy praised Ukraine's air defences for downing more than 30 drones and defiantly said that Ukraine's forces were destroying Russian forces in the two main theatres of the conflict, the east and south. His commander of land forces and the deputy defence minister reported successes with a counteroffensive in both areas. Russia's Defence Ministry said that Russian forces hit and destroyed eight ammunition warehouses across Ukraine in the prior 24 hours and repelled Ukrainian attacks in three areas. It said Ukrainian forces had tried to attack the Russian-held eastern city of Donetsk and the southern Zaporizhzhia region, but had been repelled.

➤CHINA TO TRAIN IN CUBA: China and Cuba are planning to establish a new joint military training facility on the island. The prospect of stationing Beijing’s troops and security and intelligence operations just 100 miles off Florida’s coast has Washington worried, according to current and former U.S. officials. The Biden administration is trying to get Havana to stall the deal by tapping into what it thinks might be Cuban concerns about ceding sovereignty. The White House declined to comment. Separately, NATO’s largest-ever aerial wargame has Russia and China in mind; two weeks of German-led drills over Europe end Friday.

🍺A-B SALES TANK EVEN MORE: Bud Light suffered its worst weekly sales drop since the nation’s No. 1 beer brand launched an ill-fated marketing tie-up with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney. For the week ending June 10, Bud Light sales dropped by a whopping 26.8%, according to the latest data from Bump Williams Consulting and NielsenIQ. That’s wider than the 24.4% drop seen during the prior week — and topped the all-time previous worst plunge of 25.7% during the week ended May 20 — since the beer giant got into bed with Mulvaney on April 1. Anheuser-Busch’s other brands also took a step backwards for the week ended June 10, according to the data. Sales of Budweiser were down 10% compared to a 7.8% decline the previous week, while Natural Light was down 2.3% vs. a 1% decline. Michelob Ultra – the nation’s No. 3 beer — was down 2.4%.

“This was a tough week for Bud Light and other beer brands” owned by Anheuser-Busch, said Bump Williams, head of the eponymous consulting firm. The calls for a boycott from conservative corners of the country over the Mulvaney campaign has cost the Belgian-based beer company more than $20 billion.

➤IRAN SAYS 10 DEAD AFTER CONSUMING TAINTED BOOZE AT PARTY: Ten people died after drinking home-made liquor made with methanol at a party, Iranian state media reported Tuesday, as the number of such deaths increases in the Islamic Republic.  Dozens of people were reportedly hospitalized last week after drinking the tainted booze at a party in Alborz province, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) west of the capital Tehran, the IRNA news agency reported. Besides the fatalities, more than 140 partygoers were sickened, including four who were in critical condition, officials said.


➤41 WOMEN DIE IN GRISLY RIOT IN HONDURAN PRISON THAT PRESIDENT BLAMES ON GANGS: A grisly riot at a women’s prison in Honduras Tuesday left at least 41 women dead, most burned to death, in violence the country’s president blamed on “mara” street gangs that often wield broad power inside penitentiaries. Twenty-six of the victims were burned to death and the remainder shot or stabbed at the prison in Tamara.

➤TATE BROTHERS HAVE A HEAP OF PROBLEMS: Andrew Tate and his brother, Tristan, were charged with rape, human trafficking and forming a criminal gang to exploit women, Romanian officials said Tuesday. Prosecutors filed the charges against the brothers and two Romanian women in Bucharest, the capital of Romania, Romania’s anti-organized crime agency, DIICOT, said. In a statement, the agency said the four defendants formed a criminal group in 2021 “in order to commit the crime of human trafficking” in Romania, the United States and Britain, the Associated Press reported. The agency said seven female victims were misled and transported to Romania, where they were sexually exploited and subjected to physical violence, according to the statement.


⚾MLB Yankees 3 Mariners 1:  New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole was clearly fired up during the seventh inning of the game against the Seattle Mariners Tuesday.  He wagged a finger 15 times at Seattle Mariners manager Scott Servais and threw a pitch to Jose Caballero that landed high up on the backstop. Cole's message was clear and simple: Don't mess with me 'Sometimes a high fastball can be a really effective pitch. Got to change eye level,' the Yankees starting pitcher deadpanned after a 3-1 win over Seattle on Tuesday night that stopped a four-game losing streak. 

Boosted by Anthony Rizzo's RBI double in the first inning and Billy McKinney's two-run homer in the second , New York improved to 7-0 when Cole pitches after a Yankees loss. Cole is 4-0 with a 1.87 ERA in those starts.

⚾MLB Orioles 8 Rays 6: Aaron Hicks homered and had four RBIs as the Baltimore Orioles beat the Tampa Bay Rays 8-6 after nearly blowing a seven-run lead Tuesday night in a matchup of the top two teams in the AL East. Anthony Santander and Ryan O'Hearn also went deep, and Kyle Bradish (3-3) gave up two runs and four hits over five innings for the Orioles, who moved within four games of the first-place Rays. Félix Bautista, the fifth Baltimore reliever, got four outs to earn his 20th save on his 28th birthday. Francisco Mejía had an RBI double off Bradish during a two-run fifth before Manuel Margot drove in two with a pinch-hit single in a four-run sixth against three Baltimore relievers as the Rays got within 7-6. Tampa Bay dropped to 31-8 at home and has lost three straight overall. The Rays entered as the only team in the majors without a three-game skid this year.

⚾MLB Reds 8 Rockies 6: TJ Friedl had a three-run homer on a four-hit night, rookie Elly De La Cruz added a solo shot and Cincinnati extended its winning streak to 10 games while handing Colorado its seventh straight loss. Will Benson hit a solo homer in the sixth, helping the NL Central-leading Reds to their longest winning streak since 2012, when they also won 10 straight. De La Cruz had three hits as fans chanted 'Elly! Elly!'

⚾MLB SCORES:

  • Braves 4 Phillies 2
  • Royals 1 Tigers 0
  • Cardinals 9 Nationals 3
  • Cubs 4 Pirates 0
  • Guardians 3  Athletics 2
  • Red Sox 10 Twins 4
  • Brewers 7 D-Backs 5
  • Astros 4 Mets 2
  • Giants 4 Padres 3
  • Dodgers 2 Angels 4

🏈MATT ARAIZA PLANNIG LAWSUIT: Former Bills punter Matt Araiza said he plans to sue attorney Dan Gilleon for defamation in regard to a civil lawsuit filed by the lawyer that alleged the player took part in a gang rape last year. Araiza was released by the Bills last August after he was accused of raping a 17-year-old girl along with two of his former San Diego State football teammates near the school's campus in the fall of 2021. However, last month, it was found that Araiza was apparently not present during the alleged 2021 gang rape.  Now, speaking on HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel on Tuesday night, Araiza revealed he has retained an attorney and will not settle the pending civil lawsuit, intending to sue Gilleon for defamation. 'I've already hired an attorney for it, and things have already been drafted,' Araiza told HBO's Andrea Kremer. 'I will never waive my right to sue him. That's coming.'

➤AT LEAST 30 RESCUED FROM FLOODED NORTH CAROLINA HOMES AS SEVERE STORMS PLAGUE SOUTH: Dozens of people had to be rescued from their homes in North Carolina Tuesday afternoon as thunderstorms dumped heavy rain across the South. According to officials in Kannapolis, just northeast of Charlotte,30 people had to be rescued in a mobile home neighborhood. Several streets in low-lying areas of the city have been closed because of flooding. No injuries have been reported.


➤WHERE T-S BRET HEADED? Tropical Storm Bret continues to spin toward the Caribbean Sea, according to the National Hurricane Center. Although it had been forecast to strengthen into the season's first hurricane, the system is now expected to remain below hurricane strength and then dissipate over the Caribbean over the next few days, the center said. Where's Bret headed? It's a bit too early to forecast the location and magnitude of damage, but Bret is forecast to move across the Lesser Antilles near hurricane intensity on Thursday and Friday, bringing a risk of flooding from heavy rainfall, strong winds, dangerous storm surge and waves. Areas of the eastern Caribbean could also see damage and flooding from gusty winds and heavy rain, AccuWeather said.



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