Barranquilla: the hungriest city in Colombia - Barranquilla - Colombia

“There are times that I have only eaten one dish in the day…”. are the words of Antonio Mejiaa 72-year-old man from Barranquilla who goes out every day to search for “any peso” in the Barranquilla Center.

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His economic situation prevents him from being part of that 36.6 percent of households that can still say that at least in the last few days they ate three meals a day in the capital of the Atlantic, according to Dane figures.

Since the pandemic issue began, it has ruined my work financially and morally

This data from the national statistics authority was produced in the Social Pulse Surveycorresponding to the November 2021 – January 2022 quarter, which ranked the city and its metropolitan area in last place for food security.

In the Dane report, in addition to Barranquilla, 22 other cities in the country were taken into account, with which the entity was able to define the percentage of households that consume three or more meals a day.

Two other towns in the Caribbean region, such as Sincelejo (45.5 percent) and Cartagena (39.6 percent), are located in the penultimate and penultimate place, respectively.

In the case of ‘Toño’, as he is known in the city center, he is in charge of his children and partner, so bringing enough money to meet the needs basic is not an impossible mission, but it has been difficult since the pandemic began.

“Since the pandemic issue began, it has ruined my work financially and morally. That is going to be two full years next month, so I see it as very bad, because we do not see a solution,” said Mejía.

Colleagues of ‘Toño’ are desperate for the situation. They seek visibility so that everything improves.

Photo:

Vanexa Romero /THE TIME

To whatever God wants, because one already has to resign oneself. One cannot compose things oneself, but only the one who is up there

In that sense, he does not forget that recently he had to go out without breakfast and how little he gathered shining shoes downtown Cívico –work to which he has been dedicated since the 80s- did not have enough for lunch and he preferred to save the day’s produce to share dinner with the family.

That was the only dish that this Barranquilla native and his family saw that day. He leaves on his bicycle at 6 am in the direction of his workplace, from the Carrizal neighborhood, in the Metropolitan area of ​​Barranquilla, hoping that “the sun shines every day.”

“Whatever God wants, because one already has to resign oneself. One cannot compose things oneself, but only the one who is up there. There are times when I have only eaten one…”, said Mejía, who had to suspend the interview to serve a new client. Duty calls.

And it is that the accounts that the citizen makes are in accordance with the Dane report, because before the covid-19 pandemic, 79.6 percent of households in the capital of the Atlantic had the resources to consume all three meals.

Barranquilla is the latest in food safety

Now, comparing this last quarter reported by the statistics agency with that corresponding to the immediately previous quarter (October 2021 – December 2021), the indicator shows a slight improvement.

Since, that time, the percentage of households that were able to consume three or more meals on average daily was 33.9.

However, another fact that arises when comparing these two periods is that at that time Barranquilla was penultimate in the list of 23 cities, which closed Cartagena. Today, ‘La Heroica’ relegated ‘La Arenosa’ to the pitiful position of the Colombian city that suffers the most from hunger.

The panorama if the metropolitan area were excluded

In February 2021, 61 percent said they had not had access to their three meals due to lack of resources, in November it was 50 percent

For the director of Barranquilla How We Are Going, Katherine Diartt Pombo, this situation is due to the pandemic. And with it, the social backwardness that the economic decline brought with it. Therefore, she considers that this is not just a challenge for the city, but also for most intermediate cities in the world.

“If you analyze the FAO reports, wars, health crises, inflationary bubbles, sadly always end up affecting the vulnerable population and their ability to access a healthy diet to a greater extent,” said Diartt.

He recalled that in the survey of Barranquilla How are we doingin which they only measure perception in the city, have observed a slight improvement in that area.

“In February 2021, 61 percent said they had not had access to their three meals due to lack of resources, in November it was 50 percent. That is, we observe a reduction of 10 percent. There is still a lot to work on and recover in this aspect, but we are also beginning to witness the positive that the economic reactivation brings with it,” Diartt said.

This is how the ‘megaproject’ announced by the District goes

190,000 million pesos (between 2021 and 2023) where the most adverse social indicators converge

These figures are known six months after the District Mayor’s Office announced a “megaproject” to combat hunger and poverty in the city.

When the strategy was socialized, the administration informed that it would be possible through education programshealth, social management, and recreation and sports by localities and vulnerable groups.

He also added that the megaproject would exceed an investment “of 190,000 million pesos (between 2021 and 2023) where the most adverse social indicators converge,” according to the manager of Social Development, Alfredo Carbonell.

Among the strategies are: nutritional assistance and food securitytraining for work and employability, double bachelor’s degree-labor technicians and targeting of programs to combat poverty traps.

Barranquilleros go to the ‘rebusque’ to be able to feed their family.

Photo:

Vanexa Romero / TIME

In order to find out how this megaproject is progressing, EL TIEMPO consulted Carbonell, who stated that food security has become “one of the main challenges of Mayor Jaime Pumarejo’s administration.”

“In the first place, we have focused important efforts, seeking to guarantee nutritional support to children and expectant mothers, through the Early Childhood programs and the PAE,” said the official.

He added that, through social management, with programs of feeding in the CDIapproximately 47,800 children and expectant mothers are beneficiaries of the nutritional delivery and recovery programs.

“Early childhood has an investment of $60 billion, an increase of 9 percent compared to 2021, within the framework of the early childhood care agreement with the ICBF. With the PAE there is an investment of $41 billion, 126,000 students are served”, he said.

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While, with respect to programs for the elderly, he estimates a $8 billion investment and 8,260 older adults are benefiting from comprehensive and nutritional care in the life and wellness centers.

“In addition, in subsidy for the elderly during the current term, about $ 3,200 million will be delivered. Likewise, the programs for homeless people have an investment of $1,619 million, reaching 500 homeless people to benefit,” said Carbonell.

Thus, Mr. ‘Toño’ Mejía and 63.4 percent of Barranquilla households that do not manage to consume the three dishes of the day keep the hope of eating again “as God intended.”

Deivis Lopez Ortega
Correspondent of EL TIEMPO Barranquilla
On twitter: @dejholopez
Write me at deilop@eltiempo.com

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US Sanctions Putin Inner Circle; Russia Takes Control of Ukrainian Port City

Washington on Thursday piled another round of sanctions on a circle of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest allies, hours after Russian and Ukrainian officials said Russian forces had taken control of the strategic Ukrainian port city of Kherson and had shelled major cities in an offensive that has forced more than 1 million people to flee the country.

Among the newly sanctioned oligarchs is close Putin ally Alisher Usmanov, one of Russia’s wealthiest individuals. German authorities have seized his 512-foot yacht, estimated to be worth nearly $600 million. Under the directive, his private jet is also open to seizure. The directive also bans more than 50 wealthy Russians from traveling to the U.S.

“Today I’m announcing that we’re adding dozens of names to the list, including one of Russia’s wealthiest billionaires, and I’m banning travel to America by more than 50 Russian oligarchs, their families and their close associates,” President Joe Biden said Thursday ahead of a Cabinet meeting. “And we’re going to continue to support the Ukrainian people with direct assistance.”

The sanctions list also includes some of Putin’s oldest friends, a former judo partner and others with connections to the mercenary Wagner Group, and Putin’s press secretary, Dmitry Peskov.

“One of the big factors is of course the proximity to President Putin,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki. “We want him to feel the squeeze. We want the people around him to feel the squeeze. I don’t believe this is going to be the last set of oligarchs. Making them a priority and a focus of our individual sanctions is something the president has been focused on.”

On the ground

Meanwhile, Moscow’s attempt to quickly take over the Ukrainian capital has apparently stalled, but the military has made significant gains in the south in an effort to sever the country’s connection to the Black and Azov seas.

Local government officials and the Russian military confirmed the seizure of Kherson, the first city to fall in Russia’s week-old invasion of Ukraine, following days of disputed claims over who was in control. A U.S. defense official said Washington was unable to confirm the development.

Despite Russian assaults on Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Mariupol, they all remained in Ukrainian hands, Britain’s Defense Ministry said Thursday.

“We are a people who in a week have destroyed the plans of the enemy,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a video address early Thursday. “They will have no peace here. They will have no food. They will have here not one quiet moment.”

Russian troops were also besieging the port city of Mariupol east of Kherson, an attempt Mayor Vadym Boichenko said was aimed at isolating Ukraine.

“They are trying to create a blockade here,” Boichenko said Thursday in a broadcast video. He said the Russians were attacking rail stations to prevent civilian evacuations and that the attacks had cut off water and power.

Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov cited expectations ahead of the invasion that Russia would quickly overtake Ukraine, writing on Facebook, “No one, neither in Russia nor in the West, believed that we would last a week.” He added that while there were challenges ahead, Ukraine had “every reason to be confident.”

Faithful gather to pray for peace in Ukraine, amid Russia’s invasion in Ukraine, in St. Peter’s Square, at the Vatican, March 2, 2022.

Little hope for peace talks

The two sides held a second round of peace talks in Belarus on Thursday and agreed to set up humanitarian corridors with cease-fire zones so that civilians could safely flee the combat. Ukraine had pushed for a general cease-fire.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov — who is also under direct U.S. sanctions — told reporters Thursday that Russian forces would continue their effort to destroy Ukraine’s military infrastructure and would not allow its neighbor to represent a military threat to Russia.

In a 90-minute telephone conversation Thursday with Emmanuel Macron, Putin told the French president that Russia would achieve its goals, including the demilitarization and neutrality of Ukraine, by any means necessary, the Kremlin said in a statement.

Macron told his Russian counterpart the war he started against Ukraine was a “major mistake,” according to a French official. Macron told Putin that if he thought his goals were realistic, “you are lying to yourself,” the official said, adding that the Russian president “wanted to seize control of the whole of Ukraine.”

Poland has taken in one-half of the more than 1 million refugees who have fled Ukraine in the past week, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. The U.N. body has said it expects 4 million people could leave Ukraine because of the conflict.

Ukraine’s emergency agency said Wednesday that Russia’s attacks had killed more than 2,000 people across the country.

Russia’s Defense Ministry put out its first casualties report, saying 498 of its troops had been killed in Ukraine, while more than 1,500 others had been wounded.

Ukrainian service members warm themselves around a fire in the Luhansk region, March 3, 2022.

Russians still outside Kyiv

A senior U.S. defense official said Thursday that the Russian forces in northern Ukraine and outside Kyiv remained “largely stalled” despite U.S. assessments that 90% of the combat power that Russia prepared for the invasion had entered Ukraine.

The official said the cities in northern and eastern Ukraine, including Kyiv, Chernihiv and Kharkiv, had been subjected Thursday to “heavy bombardment” but that Russian forces in the north were still facing stiff resistance from Ukrainians.

“We continue to see them resist and fight and defend their territory and their resources quite effectively,” said the official, who added that Russia had launched more than 480 missiles since the invasion began.

Putin offered a more optimistic assessment Thursday, telling members of his security council on a video call that Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine was progressing “according to plan.” He added, “All tasks are being successfully carried out.”

Putin mentioned the safe passageways for Ukrainian civilians to leave areas of combat and, without providing evidence, accused Ukrainian nationalist groups of preventing civilians from fleeing and using them as human shields.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon also announced Thursday that it was postponing a nuclear missile test launch scheduled for this week. The decision came days after Putin’s decision to put his nuclear forces on higher alert.

Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made the decision to delay the test of a Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile. He added that the United States would like to see Moscow reciprocate by “taking the temperature down” in the crisis over Ukraine.

VOA State Department Bureau Chief Nike Ching, National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin, Pentagon Correspondent Carla Babb, Istanbul Foreign Correspondent Heather Murdock and White House Correspondent Anita Powell contributed to this report. Some information came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.

Cali: the mask will continue to be mandatory in the city - Cali - Colombia

The decision of the Ministry of Health not to require the mask in open spaces as of this Wednesday does not apply in Cali because vaccination against covid-19, with complete schedules, is not 70 percent or more.

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The Secretary of Health of the capital of Valle del Cauca, Miyerlandi Torres, pointed out that in this city there are still The conditions required to remove the use of mandatory face masks in open spaces are not met.

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​
“We are at 83.6 percent coverage of the first dose and 67 percent with the complete scheme,” explained Torres.

In the last hours, the public health authority of Cali changed the vaccination strategy to increase its coverage. As of March 1, only five mega-vaccination centers will remain in Cali: La 14 in Calima, the Pascual Guerrero Stadium, Premier El Limonar, La 14 in Pasoancho and the Unicentro Shopping Center.

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The Secretary of Health pointed out that there has been no evidence of relevant assistance to the megacenters, so the task will focus on bringing the biologicals to the territories to strengthen immunization.

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“It seeks to strengthen extramurality and be in the territories where people who have been reluctant to vaccination are. For this reason, it is necessary to be on the street again,” Torres said, explaining that “the megacenters will be left for the population that continues to arrive sporadically and spontaneously, with the application of between 500 and 600 doses per day, for which it is pertinent keep them”.

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Tolima Lottery fell in the city of Medellin, how much was the prize? - Other Cities - Colombia

In Medellin The long-awaited and dreamed-of jackpot of the Tolima Lotterywhat pay 2,000 million pesos to its winners. The jackpot for the draw on Monday, February 14, 2022 was won by the purchaser of number 5535 of the 066 series.

Every week, the company awards many prizes, but now it is looking for the happy winner of the ticket that was sold in the capital of Antioquia by the Lotired company, which allows its customers to buy online.

Fortune came to an Antioquian who we know will change his life, because he won the $2,000 million of our jackpot, we are looking for him to immediately pay his prize

“Since the beginning of 2022 we have been registering the fall of multiple prizes and today we celebrate the fall of this Jackpot. Today, fortune came to an Antioquian who we know will change his life, because he won the $2,000 million of our jackpot We are looking for him to immediately pay his prize,” said the manager of the Tolima Lottery, Victoria Castillo González.

The manager added that the Tolima Lottery has a large technical reserve that allows the prizes to be improved with special promotions each month. “We are pleased with this news because we have been registering a significant increase in sales and this is due to the trust and credibility of our product,” she said.

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The spectacular mayor of the Tolima Lottery was not the only prize of the night to fall. The company is also looking for the winner of a Fortnight award, of 24 million pesos, corresponding to number 0812 of the 034 series, sold in Bogotá, and an Emprende award, of 5 million pesos, corresponding to number 4426 of the 004 series. in the city of Cali.With these prizes, there are already more than $2,700 million that have fallen this year with the Tolima Lottery.

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'Cali needs technology and to become a smart city' - Cali - Colombia

When talking about ‘Calinteligente’, some sectors of the city relate it to the draft Agreement that the Town hall from Cali presented last year and that did not reach a first debate in the Council.

But engineer Marcela Patino, leader of ‘warmsmart’, He replies that it is much more than that. This is what the official maintains, who has faced the great challenge of carrying out this commitment so that Cali can transform itself and achieve its sustainable development with technology. In this challenge, she has had to avoid criticism for alleged businesses already ‘tied up’ and even for being part of the cabinet of Mayor Jorge Iván Ospina.
This responded to THE TIME.

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What is ‘Smart Heat’?

The draft Agreement before the Council and ‘Calinteligente’ are two different things. The first follows from everything that means ‘Calinteligente’. It was a little bit of the big project. Some think that it sank or that ‘Calinteligente’ is over and it turns out not. It is much bigger.

It is in the Development Plan, it follows and cuts across all the secretariats and departments of the district. Of course to Emcali, as responsible for the provision of home public services.

It is a whole structuring of the great project, designed to improve the quality of life of Caleñas and Caleños, in mobility, transportation, security, public services, civic culture and environmental impact.

The engineer Marcela Patiño, leader of ‘Calinteligente’.

The most important thing is the people, trying to provide the best possible city. The priority will be to define a smart city/district model for Cali that allows it to position itself nationally and internationally. The vision to 2036 will be a smart city by using technology and developing solutions to territorial problems.

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Under what axes has this model been designed?

The dimension of the model is based on intelligent security with strengthening of the video surveillance system; intelligent mobility with a new intelligent traffic light system; quality of life with a new connected public lighting service; governance and sustainable development (environment, economy, science and technology)

But first we have clear needs in mobility, security, lighting, transportation and it is the first thing that must be resolved. Basic connectivity infrastructure needs to be improved.

How will public lighting work?

30 percent of more than 100,000 lights in Cali is led. The others are obsolete. First they need to be replaced and we are not talking about a smart city. It’s a change of light bulbs led to reduce consumption and less impact on the environment.

That change costs 200,000 million pesos that the municipality does not have, because there are more than 100,000 lights.

If we continue to do it at this rate of small replacements with excess payments of the public lighting rate, that change could take eight to 10 years. We need an injection of capital.

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What was the proposal before the Council?

It was that of a decentralized entity with the Mayor’s Office and with Emcali.

The mixed company…

It was to look for an investment partner or a private source to inject those resources in a short time and he was paid with the same lighting rate, but in a term of 20 years. That was the financial model. But it was also (that investor) to operate Wi-Fi zones or maintain fiber optics. This type of alliance must be made to quickly give the impetus that we need as a city with technological advances.

In the Council there were criticisms from Emcali lobbyists and unions who point to a risk for the public company…

The project of Agreement for a decentralized entity had objections, but I consider that it was taken more from the political point of view. We did not have a counterproposal or a joint proposal. There was no feedback. It was just no.

Do you give up a new entity with the private partner?

It would no longer be a partner, but an ally that arrives to make that impulse. There are several exits, another draft Agreement, but under different conditions. Or a public-private partnership for a specific goal. Do it with Emcali, but Emcali also has no resources. It has some very powerful things in terms of knowledge and technology (…), but the project is going because it goes with Emcali.

In infrastructure…

Think of an information system for management works and geographic information on the state of the roads, but it is necessary to have the capacity to join databases on infrastructure and mobility. (…) We had the intelligent building with a command control center.

Is the smart building maintained, in Paradise City?

Currently not. When the social outbreak occurred, in 2021, we had planned the purchase of the lot (with 18,000 million pesos) and what happened is that the Mayor’s Office had to make decisions to allocate those monies to the critical situation. Back to the topic of resources.

What projects are advancing within ‘Calinteligente’?

Smart traffic lights advance by intervening at 480 intersections with technology, sensors and cameras that collect data and send it to a central unit, so that the traffic lights are synchronized, according to mobility demand.

At the end of the year, the installation is expected at 60 intersections to calculate another 70 later and reach 200. But that implies works that are worked on with the city’s Mobility Secretariat. This traffic light costs 120,000 million pesos and they leave the loan.

There is also the public bicycle system. It costs about 15,000 million pesos, but its source of financing is still not clear because the municipality has no resources.

Arrangements of traffic lights and stations of the Cali MIO

In Cali, not a few citizens they keep wondering about the operation of all the traffic lightsafter they were damaged during the national strike last year.

According to the Secretary of Mobility of the district, 41 intersection points are missing for the network of traffic lights to have a complete ‘green light’.

The Personería, for its part, indicated that it is attentive, after the call for attention in a preventive action to the Ministry of Mobility.

The repair amounts to about 7,500 million pesos, a figure that was set in 2021.

However, according to the city’s Secretary of Mobility, William Vallejo, of the 155 traffic light networks throughout Cali, 112 have been recovered, after being out of service since the social outbreak, attacks that were recorded, especially, in the middle of the last year. This is equivalent, according to the district Mobility Secretary, to the fact that 90 percent of these intersections are operating. This data has a cut-off as of December 31, 2021.

The leader of the ‘Calinteligente’ project, Marcela Patino, pointed out the importance of this initiative, because when a camera does not work, in the case of security or photo fine, it may be that the optical fiber is damaged or has been stolen. Waiting for a new public hiring, times are delayed. She pointed out that a tender can take about three months.

The reactivation of OWN it goes step by step with more than twenty of the 55 stations that have returned to operating. The second phase with 7 stations is 85% complete.

CALI

New York City Set to Fire Thousands of Municipal Workers for Not Getting Shots

New York City is preparing to fire up to 4,000 government workers for failing to comply with the city’s vaccine mandate.

Among those impacted are teachers, police officers, sanitation workers and firefighters.

Then-Mayor Bill de Blasio imposed vaccine mandates on municipal and private sector workers last year.

City workers have until the end of business Friday to comply with the mandate or lose their jobs. Most of those impacted have been on unpaid leave.

“We have to be very clear — people must be vaccinated if they are New York City employees,” Eric Adams, a Democrat who took over as mayor in January, said at a news conference Thursday.

Labor unions representing city workers have fought against the mandates by suing the city. So far, those efforts have failed.
On Monday, city workers staged a protest by walking across the Brooklyn Bridge to City Hall.

The firings come as infection rates are falling sharply and many states and countries around the world are lifting many COVID-19-related restrictions, including vaccine mandates in some cases.

An estimated 95% of the city’s roughly 370,000 workers are vaccinated, according to news reports.

Barranquilla: Batteries! Road closures announced this Wednesday in the city - Barranquilla - Colombia

Through a statement on the page of the Mayor’s Office of Barranquilla, the Secretariat of Traffic and Road Safety announced that today, Wednesday February 9there will be closures on some city roads for repairs.

These works, which are given for works of construction of urban roadschange of tension lines and structures in type C poles, will be executed from 4:30 am to 6:00 pm

Thus, the roads that will be affected will be Carrera 49 C between Calles 99 and 102 and Calle 99 between Carreras 49 C and 46.

Pedestrians will be assisted by paleteros that will provide them with support in the location and traffic of the streets. In addition, there will also be paleteros and traffic assistants on the corners who will give way to the vehicles that pass through the area.

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Photo:

Government of the Atlantic Press

“The Secretariat of Traffic and Road Safety with the support of the Traffic Police and Mobility Advisors, will ensure road safety and will be vigilant to avoid congestion on these roads,” they assured in the statement.

It is important to remember that from YesterdayTuesday, February 8, works are being carried out on Carrera 12b between Calles 12b and Diagonal 5, on Carrera 22 between Calles 11 and 6, and on Calle 94 between Carreras 1e and 2 Sur.

These works will be carried out by the firm FSCR Ingeniería SAS, AIR-E’s contractor. Regarding the aspects technicians Of the projects, the Secretariat said: “Construction of the underground lines with technology without open trench, directed drilling for cable management of 110 KKVP, of the UPME STR-02 2019 project.”

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California City Approves 1st US Insurance Law for Gun Owners

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA — 

A California city voted Tuesday night to require gun owners to carry liability insurance in what’s believed to be the first measure of its kind in the United States.

The San Jose City Council overwhelmingly approved the measure despite opposition from gun owners who said it would violate their Second Amendment rights and promised to sue.

The Silicon Valley city of about 1 million followed a trend of other Democratic-led cities that have sought to rein in violence through stricter rules. But while similar laws have been proposed, San Jose is the first city to pass one, according to Brady United, a national nonprofit that advocates against gun violence.

Council members, including several who had lost friends to gun violence, said it was a step toward dealing with gun violence, which Councilman Sergio Jimenez described as “a scourge on our society.”

Having liability insurance would encourage people in the 55,000 households in San Jose who legally own at least one registered gun to have gun safes, install trigger locks and take gun safety classes, Mayor Sam Liccardo said.

The liability insurance would cover losses or damages resulting from any accidental use of the firearm, including death, injury, and property damage, according to the ordinance. If a gun is stolen or lost, the owner of the firearm would be considered liable until the theft or loss is reported to authorities.

However, gun owners who don’t have insurance won’t lose their guns or face any criminal charges, the mayor said.

The council also voted to require gun owners to pay an estimated $25 fee, which would be collected by a yet-to-be-named nonprofit and doled out to community groups to be used for firearm safety education and training, suicide prevention, domestic violence, and mental health services.

The proposed ordinance is part of a broad gun control plan that Liccardo announced following the May 26 mass shooting at the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority rail yard that left nine people dead, including the employee who opened fire on his colleagues and then killed himself.

At an hourslong meeting, critics argued that the fee and liability requirements violated their right to bear arms and would do nothing to stop gun crimes, including the use of untraceable build-it-yourself “ghost guns.”

“You cannot tax a constitutional right. This does nothing to reduce crime,” one speaker said.

The measure didn’t address the massive problem of illegally obtained weapons that are stolen or purchased without background checks.

Liccardo acknowledged those concerns.

“This won’t stop mass shootings and keep bad people from committing violent crime,” the mayor said, but he added that most gun deaths nationally are from suicide, accidental shootings or other causes and that many homicides stem from domestic violence.

Liccardo also said gun violence costs San Jose taxpayers $40 million a year in emergency response services.

Some speakers argued that the law would face costly and lengthy court challenges.

Before the vote, Sam Paredes, executive director of Gun Owners of California, said his group would sue if the proposal took effect, calling it “totally unconstitutional in any configuration.”

However, Liccardo said some attorneys had already offered to defend the city pro bono.

The lost city of Gede, the "Machu Picchu" of Kenya | culture and entertainment

Hidden deep in an East African rainforest lies a mystery: the ruins of the lost city of Gede, an intriguing archaeological wonder known as the “Machu Picchu” of Kenya.

This Swahili city has baffled archaeologists and historians for decades due to the lack of references to the site in historical sources, but its remains prove that it was home to an advanced civilization before it was abandoned in the 17th century.

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SOUTHAMPTON STOPS CITY, LIVERPOOL TAKES ADVANTAGE OF IT

Night city and bridge best photography

Night City

In a few minutes there was, so far as the soldier could see, not a living thing left upon the common, and every bush and tree upon it that was not already a blackened skeleton was burning. The hussars had been on the road beyond the curvature of the ground, and he saw nothing of them. He heard the Martians rattle for a time and then become still. The giant saved Woking station and its cluster of houses until the last; then in a moment the Heat-Ray was brought to bear, and the town became a heap of fiery ruins. Then the Thing shut off the Heat-Ray, and turning its back upon the artilleryman, began to waddle away towards the smouldering pine woods that sheltered the second cylinder. As it did so a second glittering Titan built itself up out of the pit.

The second monster followed the first, and at that the artilleryman began to crawl very cautiously across the hot heather ash towards Horsell. He managed to get alive into the ditch by the side of the road, and so escaped to Woking. There his story became ejaculatory. The place was impassable. It seems there were a few people alive there, frantic for the most part and many burned and scalded. He was turned aside by the fire, and hid among some almost scorching heaps of broken wall as one of the Martian giants returned. He saw this one pursue a man, catch him up in one of its steely tentacles, and knock his head against the trunk of a pine tree. At last, after nightfall, the artilleryman made a rush for it and got over the railway embankment.

Since then he had been skulking along towards Maybury, in the hope of getting out of danger Londonward. People were hiding in trenches and cellars, and many of the survivors had made off towards Woking village and Send. He had been consumed with thirst until he found one of the water mains near the railway arch smashed, and the water bubbling out like a spring upon the road.

That was the story I got from him, bit by bit. He grew calmer telling me and trying to make me see the things he had seen. He had eaten no food since midday, he told me early in his narrative, and I found some mutton and bread in the pantry and brought it into the room. We lit no lamp for fear of attracting the Martians, and ever and again our hands would touch upon bread or meat. As he talked, things about us came darkly out of the darkness, and the trampled bushes and broken rose trees outside the window grew distinct. It would seem that a number of men or animals had rushed across the lawn. I began to see his face, blackened and haggard, as no doubt mine was also.

When we had finished eating we went softly upstairs to my study, and I looked again out of the open window. In one night the valley had become a valley of ashes. The fires had dwindled now. Where flames had been there were now streamers of smoke; but the countless ruins of shattered and gutted houses and blasted and blackened trees that the night had hidden stood out now gaunt and terrible in the pitiless light of dawn. Yet here and there some object had had the luck to escape--a white railway signal here, the end of a greenhouse there, white and fresh amid the wreckage. Never before in the history of warfare had destruction been so indiscriminate and so universal. And shining with the growing light of the east, three of the metallic giants stood about the pit, their cowls rotating as though they were surveying the desolation they had made.

It seemed to me that the pit had been enlarged, and ever and again puffs of vivid green vapour streamed up and out of it towards the brightening dawn--streamed up, whirled, broke, and vanished.

Beyond were the pillars of fire about Chobham. They became pillars of bloodshot smoke at the first touch of day.

As the dawn grew brighter we withdrew from the window from which we had watched the Martians, and went very quietly downstairs.

The enormous broad tires of the chariots and the padded feet of the animals brought forth no sound from the moss-covered sea bottom; and so we moved in utter silence, like some huge phantasmagoria, except when the stillness was broken by the guttural growling of a goaded zitidar, or the squealing of fighting thoats. The green Martians converse but little, and then usually in monosyllables, low and like the faint rumbling of distant thunder.

We traversed a trackless waste of moss which, bending to the pressure of broad tire or padded foot, rose up again behind us, leaving no sign that we had passed. We might indeed have been the wraiths of the departed dead upon the dead sea of that dying planet for all the sound or sign we made in passing. It was the first march of a large body of men and animals I had ever witnessed which raised no dust and left no spoor; for there is no dust upon Mars except in the cultivated districts during the winter months, and even then the absence of high winds renders it almost unnoticeable.

We camped that night at the foot of the hills we had been approaching for two days and which marked the southern boundary of this particular sea. Our animals had been two days without drink, nor had they had water for nearly two months, not since shortly after leaving Thark; but, as Tars Tarkas explained to me, they require but little and can live almost indefinitely upon the moss which covers Barsoom, and which, he told me, holds in its tiny stems sufficient moisture to meet the limited demands of the animals.

After partaking of my evening meal of cheese-like food and vegetable milk I sought out Sola, whom I found working by the light of a torch upon some of Tars Tarkas' trappings.[right-post] She looked up at my approach, her face lighting with pleasure and with welcome.