Jumat, 08 Maret 2024

State of the Union: Biden draws election battle lines in fiery speech - BBC

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President Joe Biden delivered a fiery State of the Union address on Thursday, taking repeated swipes at Donald Trump and covering the broad themes of his re-election campaign.

Mr Biden used the term "my predecessor" to refer to Mr Trump 13 times in a speech that lasted more than an hour.

He accused his likely election opponent of "bowing down" to Russia and criticised him over the Capitol riot.

Mr Biden also covered immigration, abortion, the economy and Gaza.

The atmosphere in the House chamber was raucous at times, with loud cheering from Democrats and heckling from some Republicans.

It was a spectacle more typical of a political convention than a State of Union address - a constitutionally mandated report that is usually heavy on pageantry and policy.

But this is an election year and the stakes for Mr Biden were high. He was feisty and confrontational as he sought to draw the battle lines for his nascent campaign.

Taking aim at Trump

Unsurprisingly, many of his barbs were aimed at Mr Trump given he is almost certain to be his opponent in November's general election.

"My predecessor failed the most basic duty any president owes the American people - the duty to care," he said in reference to Mr Trump's handling of the Covid pandemic. "That is unforgivable."

He criticised Mr Trump for his recent comments about Russia and Nato, and said that he sought to "bury the truth" about the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol.

He blamed him for the Supreme Court decision to overturn the Roe v Wade ruling which guaranteed abortion rights and for blocking bipartisan immigration reforms.

Mr Trump, meanwhile, had promised to react in real time to the speech on his Truth Social platform. "Biden is on the run from his record and lying like crazy to try to escape accountability for the horrific devastation he and his party have created," he wrote.

"They continue the very policies that are causing this horror show to go," he said.

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Mr Biden aggressive approach on Thursday may have been born, at least in part, out of necessity. At 81, he is the oldest president in US history and has been beset by questions about his age and mental acuity.

His approval ratings are the lowest of any modern president seeking re-election. He is in a statistical dead heat with Mr Trump, however, who also is viewed negatively by voters.

Even when Mr Biden addressed his age, he did so with a jab at Mr Trump, who at 77 is only a few years younger than him.

"I know it may not look like it, but I've been around for a while," he said. After rattling off a list of positive attributes he said defined America, he added a kicker.

"Some other people my age see a different story: an American story of resentment, revenge and retribution."

A punchy exchange on immigration

Mr Biden regularly ad-libbed responses to what was at times a hostile audience on the Republican side of the chamber. He quipped, parried and expressed mock surprise at their outbursts.

When the topic turned to immigration, a subject of political vulnerability for the president, he was once again ready to engage. But here, he stumbled.

After Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene accused him of ignoring the murder of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley, allegedly by an undocumented Venezuelan immigrant, Mr Biden held up a button with her name on it - one Ms Greene had given him as he walked in.

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After seemingly mispronouncing her name as "Lincoln" Riley, he said she was murdered by an "illegal" - a term criticised by immigrant-rights groups.

Mr Biden went on to call for Republicans to support the bipartisan immigration legislation passed by the Senate and accused Mr Trump of "playing politics" by opposing the bill for electoral gain. The damage, however, may have been done.

A sales pitch for November

When Mr Biden wasn't throwing haymakers at his opponent, he sought to highlight what he characterised as a record of accomplishment during his first term and outline a sales pitch for his re-election.

"I inherited an economy that was on the brink," he said, "and now our economy is the envy of the world."

Figures on the American economy have been trending up for months now. The public perception of the economy, however, has been much darker.

Mr Biden nodded at this split, calling the US economic revival "the greatest story never told".

Whether the president's words will be enough to change minds, however, remains to be seen.

It was a speech geared toward the American middle class - the voters of moderate means who make up the bulk of the electorate.

It included a variety of new proposals, most of which would require congressional legislation to enact - an unlikely scenario unless Democrats retake the House of Representatives in November.

He pitched a tax credit for new home buyers, who have seen their purchasing power eroded by higher mortgage rates. He also called for expanding a cap on prescription drug spending to every American who has health insurance and raising taxes on corporations.

Walking the line on Gaza

Mr Biden opened his speech with a call for military aid to Ukraine, but the bulk of his discussion of foreign policy came towards the end when he turned his attention to the Middle East.

The Gaza war has divided Democrats, with a vocal portion of the president's liberal flank calling for the US to use every means at its disposal to push for a ceasefire. Some took to the Washington streets on Thursday evening in an unsuccessful attempt to block the president's motorcade from reaching the Capitol.

Mr Biden said his administration was working towards a ceasefire that would last "at least 6 weeks," and he detailed a new plan - announced earlier in the day - for the US to construct a temporary seaport in Gaza to allow humanitarian aid to enter by ship.

He had some harsh words for Israel, calling the civilian casualties in Gaza "heartbreaking" and saying it had a "fundamental responsibility" to protect innocent lives.

Mr Biden's speech, because it was delivered without any significant stumbles or gaffes, is a hurdle cleared for the president - and its content could serve as a guide to how his campaign plans to sell the American public on another four years of Democratic governance.

At the very least, it will probably convince nervous Democrats that their presumptive nominee is ready to go toe-to-toe with his Republican opponent in November.

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2024-03-08 05:21:56Z
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Biden to announce plan for US military to set up temporary Gaza aid port - Al Jazeera English

United States President Joe Biden will announce a plan to create a new port in Gaza to increase deliveries of humanitarian aid to the war-ravaged enclave, senior US officials told reporters.

The officials said Biden will make the announcement on Thursday night during his State of the Union speech, an annual address delivered to members of the US Congress.

Under the plan, the US military would set up the pier off the coast of Gaza, but US troops would not be on the ground, the officials said.

They did not provide further logistics of the plan, but one official said the US has “unique capabilities” and can do things from “just offshore”.

A United Nations spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, said his organisation welcomed the announcement in a statement to the press.

“Any way to get more aid into Gaza, whether by sea or airdrop, is obviously good,” Dujarric told reporters. “We need more entry points, and we need a larger volume of aid to come in by land.”

However, he emphasised that the international community needs to focus on large-scale food deliveries by land, in order to address the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza.

An unnamed Israeli official, speaking to the Reuters news agency, likewise said Israel “fully supports” the construction of a “temporary dock” in Gaza.

The announcement has come as President Biden continues to face outrage for his administration’s political and material support for Israel in the war on Gaza.

The Biden administration has refused to call for a complete ceasefire and has continued to supply weapons to Israel for its war.

Israel’s bombardment and ground operations have killed at least 30,800 Palestinians since October 7, when the Palestinian group Hamas launched an attack on southern Israel that killed at least 1,139 people.

However, amid increasing political pressure, the administration has shifted its tone slightly in recent weeks.

Last week, Vice President Kamala Harris called for a temporary “ceasefire” for the first time, although she was only referring to a pause in fighting while Hamas and Israel negotiated a hostage exchange.

Over the weekend, the US began airdropping aid to Gaza, where Jamie McGoldrick, the UN’s Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, told reporters on Wednesday that “children are dying from hunger”.

The UN has said that a state of famine in Gaza is “almost inevitable” and could be declared as early as next week. McGoldrick said that, while air drops and naval deliveries help to distribute aid, an increase in reliable ground deliveries is more urgently needed.

Aid groups have accused Israeli forces of restricting ground deliveries, both into and within Gaza. But Israel has denied it is impeding relief efforts.

‘Destroying the food system’

In a post on the social media platform X on Thursday, Sarah Leah Whitson, the executive director of the Washington-based Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), called the latest Biden plan one of many “workarounds to Israel’s deliberate [and] persistent blockade of aid to Gaza”.

Earlier in the day, Michael Fakhri, the UN special rapporteur on the right to food, also warned that Israel’s actions go beyond short-term impediments, representing a broader assault on Gaza’s stability.

“Israel is not only denying and restricting the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza. Israel is destroying the food system in Gaza,” he said in a speech to the UN Human Rights Council.

Fakhri called it a “starvation campaign”.

For their part, the senior US officials said the new port “will provide the capacity for hundreds of additional truckloads of assistance each day”.

One official added that “significant capability will take a number of weeks to plan and execute”. Transporting supplies will also involve establishing a maritime corridor from Cyprus.

The officials said Israel had been informed about the plan, and the two countries were working together on security requirements.

They added the US was also coordinating with “partners and allies”, including the UN and aid organisations.

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2024-03-07 19:15:18Z
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Texas company claims to have new evidence in search for missing flight MH370 - The Independent

A Texas-based company is claiming that they have scientific evidence of the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370’s final resting place.

Ocean Infinity has announced a proposal for a new search in the southern Indian Ocean where the plane is believed to have crashed a decade ago. It has already submitted the proposal to the Malaysian government.

Ocean Infinity has proposed a “no-cure, no-fee” search – when the client is only required to pay for the services if the company secures a positive outcome.

The company’s chief executive officer Oliver Plunkett said: “We now feel in a position to be able to return to the search for MH370, and have submitted a proposal to the Malaysian government.

“Finding MH370 and bringing some resolution for all connected with the loss of the aircraft has been a constant in our minds since we left the southern Indian Ocean in 2018.

“Since then, we have focused on driving the transformation of operations at sea; innovating with technology and robotics to further advance our ocean search capabilities,” he said.

Just after midnight local time on 8 March 2014, the Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, a Boeing 777, vanished from air traffic control radars while flying over the South China Sea shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur. In the weeks that followed, meticulous examination of radar data and a series of satellite “pings” revealed that the aircraft deviated from its planned route, heading west across the Southeast Asia peninsula before altering its path southward over the Indian Ocean.

On board were 239 people, including 12 crew members. Malaysia’s transport minister Anthony Loke told reporters that he has invited Ocean Infinity to discuss a “no cure, no fee” proposal to resume the search for MH370.

“I am very, very confident that the government of Malaysia and cabinet will approve such a proposal,” he said.

Mr Plunkett said the company was analysing the data in the hopes of narrowing the search area. “This search is arguably the most challenging, and indeed the most pertinent one out there.

“We’ve been working with many experts, some outside of Ocean Infinity, to continue analysing the data in the hopes of narrowing the search area down to one in which success becomes potentially achievable.

“We hope to get back to the search soon.”

In 2018, Ocean Infinity undertook a three-month search on a “no cure, no fee” basis, spanning approximately 112,000 square kilometres, yet this effort too ended without yielding any new findings.

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2024-03-08 05:16:19Z
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Kamis, 07 Maret 2024

The Gaza hospital where treatment is by torchlight and '13 babies died of malnutrition on one day' - Sky News

In a hospital in northern Gaza, it's been claimed 13 babies died of malnutrition in a single day last week.

A Sky News camera team has filmed inside the hospital, where treatments are being carried out by the torchlight from mobile phones because the electricity isn't working.

Mothers being treated there are said to be too malnourished to breastfeed newborn babies, further adding to the crisis.

It comes as Gazan families say they are starving, with aid agencies warning of a looming famine unless significantly more aid reaches the strip, with one charity saying up to 4,000 trucks of aid are needed every single day to make a difference.

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Children in Gaza stage hunger protest

Over the past fortnight, an average of just 102 food trucks have entered Gaza each day.

The United Nations has said hunger in Gaza has reached "catastrophic levels" and the US State Department has described the crisis as "horrific".

Middle East latest:
US to build Gaza port to deliver aid

A Sky News team filmed in a hospital where it's claimed 13 babies died of malnutrition in a single day

Although the Israeli government has said there is no "ceiling" on the amount of aid allowed into Gaza, the Israeli government body in charge of the Gaza border has told Sky News more border crossings could be opened for aid to access northern Gaza directly, if the Israeli cabinet gave them the order.

The US administration has publicly called for more crossings to be opened and the Israeli COGAT (Co-ordinator for Government Activities in the Territories) admitted that could be possible.

"That would be a decision that needs to be made by the government," Shimon Freedman, a spokesman for COGAT told Sky News.

"If they were to make such a decision, then we would find a way to facilitate their decision. If the directive came from the government, then COGAT would find a way to fulfil that mission. As we've done with many different humanitarian initiatives throughout the war."

It is a notable admission and puts into question the Israeli government's claim it is doing all it can to allow aid into Gaza.

Shimon Freedman, spokesman for COGAT
Image: Shimon Freedman, spokesman for COGAT

'I cannot feed my children'

Gazans in the southern town of Rafah have told Sky News their families are starving.

"When they distribute meals, a family of 10 gets one serving," said Rami, a father waiting for food.

"True they are helping people, but it is not enough," he said. "There are crowds wherever you go: queues to get water, bread, everything.

"Life is so difficult, we can barely get by. I cannot provide for myself.

"I don't know what to do. I cannot feed my children."

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Aid airdropped into Gaza

Another parent, Hanafi, described the aid as "a drop in the ocean".

"Every day there are people who die out of starvation. Every day children are taken to hospitals, but there are no services available because hospitals have no medicine, no beds, no equipment, no treatment. The situation is very bad."

In recent days Israel has come in for severe criticism by the US, UK and other Western countries over a lack of humanitarian aid being received in Gaza.

Lord Cameron, the UK's foreign secretary, admonished the Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz in a London meeting on Wednesday - saying the warning was "tough but necessary".

Israel insists it has sped up the process of checks on its side of the border, and says trucks are now backing up in a bottleneck. They blame aid organisations in Gaza for the crisis.

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Explosions seen on Gaza Strip skyline

Challenged on Israel's responsibility as the occupying power in Gaza, COGAT said the United Nations distributed aid in war zones around the world and Gaza should be no different.

"What Israel is trying to do is work with the international community and with international organisations to make sure that as much humanitarian aid as is necessary is reaching the people in Gaza," it said.

"The distribution itself is up to the organisations, but we are helping and we are doing what we can to help them do that in a better manner.

"And we're also trying to find ways to overcome those challenges of distribution, for example, through the airdrops of aid, facilitating those with different countries who are wanting to do that."

Ceasefire talks falter

A push for a ceasefire before Ramadan starts on 10 March seems to have faltered, with Israel and Hamas blaming each other for the impasse.

Without a ceasefire, it is likely to become increasingly hard to get aid to parts of Gaza and aid organisations are warning of imminent famine.

The French military has joined the Americans, Jordanians, Egyptians and Emiratis in carrying out aid drops, but they are only used as a last resort and it is difficult to ensure the aid gets to the right place.

Sea routes are being explored, with Cyprus being a possible staging post, but that will introduce further problems, with the port in Gaza being out of action and questions of how the ships would have secure and safe passage into Gaza.

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2024-03-07 17:34:43Z
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Three killed in Houthi missile attack on cargo ship - US military - BBC

A US Central Command image of the cargo shipCentcom

Three crew members have been killed in a Houthi missile strike on a cargo ship off southern Yemen, US officials say - the first deaths the group's attacks on merchant vessels have caused.

The Barbados-flagged True Confidence had been abandoned and was drifting with a fire on board after the strike.

It was hit at about 11:30 local time (08:30 GMT), the US military said.

The Houthis say their attacks are to support the Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

The US Central Command (Centcom), which oversees operations in the Middle East, said three crew members had been killed and at least four injured, including three critically.

"These reckless attacks by the Houthis have disrupted global trade and taken the lives of international seafarers," it posted on social media.

In a statement, the Iran-backed group said the True Confidence's crew had ignored warnings from Houthi naval forces.

The British embassy to Yemen said the sailors' deaths were the "sad but inevitable consequence of the Houthis recklessly firing missiles at international shipping" and insisted the attacks had to stop.

US and British officials had earlier reported two fatalities and six injuries.

The vessel had a crew of 20, comprising one Indian, four Vietnamese and 15 Filipino nationals. Three armed guards - two from Sri Lanka and one from Nepal - were also on board.

The attack happened about 50 nautical miles (93km) south-west of the Yemeni city of Aden, a spokesman for the ship's owners and managers said in a statement.

Following the attack, Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV reported on Wednesday evening that two US-led air strikes had targeted the international airport in the Houthi-controlled Red Sea port city of Hudaydah.

The True Confidence had been hailed over VHF radio by a group calling itself the "Yemeni navy" and told to change course, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency.

Nearby vessels then reported a loud bang and a large plume of smoke.

The UKMTO said the True Confidence was hit and suffered damage, and that naval vessels from a US-led international maritime coalition were supporting the ship and its crew.

The EU's Maritime Security Centre-Horn of Africa (MSCHOA) also said that rescue and salvage operations were under way.

The Houthis claimed in their statement that the True Confidence was an "American ship", but the spokesman said the vessel had "no current connection with any US entity".

A US State Department spokesperson said Washington would continue to hold the Houthis accountable for their attacks and called on governments around the world to do the same.

"The Houthis have continued to launch these reckless attacks with no regard for the well-being of innocent civilians who are transiting through the Red Sea and now they have unfortunately and tragically killed innocent civilians," Matthew Miller said.

UK Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron said: "We condemn the Houthis' reckless and indiscriminate attacks on global shipping and demand they stop."

"We will continue to stand up for freedom of navigation and back our words with actions," he posted on social media.

The True Confidence is owned by True Confidence Shipping SA, which is registered to an address in Liberia, and operated by Third January Maritime Ltd in Greece, both firms said in a statement.

However it had previously been owned by US-based Oaktree Capital Management, AP reported. Oaktree declined to comment to AP.

Map showing location of reported attack in the Gulf of Aden on 6 March 2024

The bulk carrier had been sailing to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia from Lianyungang in China, tracking data showed, and was carrying a cargo of steel products and trucks, a spokesman said.

After nearly four months of sustained drone and missile attacks by the Houthis against shipping passing through the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea a fatal attack was perhaps, as the British Embassy stated, inevitable.

The US-led naval taskforce in the region has been shooting down as many of these missiles and drones as it can but there are simply too many for them to destroy every single one.

The Houthis seem to have an inexhaustible supply of them. This calls into question the efficacy of the US-led campaign of airstrikes that has been targeting Houthi launch sites, ammo depots and Command and Control posts.

Now that the Houthi attacks have turned deadly there are bound to be calls to step up retaliation against them, expanding the range of targets inside Yemen. But this in turn risks escalation in a region already tense due to the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

The Houthis say their attacks are in support of the Palestinians. The US, UK, Bahrain and several other nations have demanded an immediate end to the Houthi attacks on shipping.

On Tuesday, US forces shot down a ballistic missile and three drones launched from Yemen at the destroyer USS Carney, followed by three anti-ship missiles and three sea drones.

Meanwhile, on Monday the Indian navy helped put out a fire on board the container ship MSC Sky II, which its operator said had been hit by a missile that caused a small fire and no injuries.

On Sunday, a Belize-flagged cargo ship, Rubymar, sank in the Red Sea two weeks after hit by missiles fired by Houthis. It was the first ship to have been sunk since the Houthi attacks began in November.

The Rubymar was near the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which connects the Gulf of Aden with the Red Sea, when it was attacked. The crew was rescued and the vessel began slowly taking on water.

It was carrying a cargo of 21,000 metric tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertiliser, which the US military said presented an environmental risk in the Red Sea.

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2024-03-06 22:41:44Z
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Russian missiles strike near Zelenskiy and visiting Greek prime minister - The Guardian

A deadly Russian missile strike on the Ukrainian port city of Odesa appeared to land near President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and visiting Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who described the moment of the bombardment as “intense”.

The attack on port infrastructure on Wednesday killed five people and left an unspecified number of wounded, according to Ukraine’s navy.

“We heard the sound of sirens and explosions that took place near us,” said Mitsotakis, who was holding talks with Zelenskiy. “We did not have time to get to a shelter. It is a very intense experience,” Mitsotakis added, through an interpreter in Odesa.

Ukraine stepped up its own attacks behind Russian lines with the apparent killing of a Russian election official on Wednesday with a car bomb and a drone assault on a metal plant.

Russia and Ukraine have increased aerial attacks as Moscow’s troops advance on the frontlines and Kyiv faces a shortage of manpower and weapons.

Spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk confirmed that the Odesa strike came as the Greek delegation was visiting the port with Zelenskiy.

Russian forces “don’t care whether [targets] are military or civilians; whoever they are, whether they are international guests, these people don’t care,” Zelenskiy said.

According to the White House spokesperson in Washington, “It appears that [the rocket] landed near the convoy.”

But the Russian defence ministry claimed that the strike was on a “hangar in a commercial port area of Odesa in which crewless cutters were being prepared for combat use by the Ukrainian armed forces”.

The attack came just days after 12 people, including five children, were killed when a Russian drone hit a residential block in the same Black Sea city, one of the deadliest attacks on civilians in weeks.

As the White House struggles to end Republican stonewalling on new US aid packages to Ukraine, a spokesperson for President Joe Biden’s national security council said the Odesa attack showed the “urgent need” for weapons. “This strike is yet another reminder of how Russia is continuing to attack Ukraine recklessly every single day,” they said.

Authorities in the Russian-occupied city of Berdiansk in southern Ukraine blamed Kyiv for a car bombing that it said killed a local election official. “A homemade explosive device was planted under the vehicle of a member of the precinct election commission,” the Investigative Committee said in a statement.

“The victim died from her injuries,” it added, publishing a video of a blown-out small beige car parked on a dirt track.

The attack came as early voting got under way across occupied Ukraine for this month’s Russian presidential election.

The Moscow-installed head of the Zaporizhzhia region, Yevgeny Balitsky, blamed Ukrainian authorities for the attack and said they were trying to “intimidate” residents ahead of the ballot.

A number of Russian-installed officials have been targeted since Moscow launched its full-scale military operation in Ukraine two years ago. Russia also said Ukraine hit a fuel tank at a metals plant in the Russia’s Kursk region in an early-morning drone strike.

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2024-03-07 02:31:00Z
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Armourer who handed gun to Alec Baldwin in Rust movie set shooting found guilty - The Independent

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, the armourer who gave Alec Baldwin a gun on the set of the doomed movie Rust has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in connection to the accidental 2021 shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.

The jury deliberated for 2.5 hours before delivering the verdict on Wednesday at the First Judicial District Courthouse in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Gutierrez-Reed, 26, did not take the stand in her own defence during the trial, which lasted nearly two weeks. She was also charged with evidence tampering, but was found not guilty on this charge.

The armourer did not appear to react as the verdicts were read out, though supporters gathered in the court were visibly upset. She was remanded in custody, with a date for her sentencing still to be set.

During closing arguments, prosecutor Kari Morrissey said Gutierrez-Reed “repeatedly” failed to maintain proper firearm safety and that her negligence led to the death of Ms Hutchins.

Hannah Gutierrez-Reed has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter

Gutierrez-Reed’s defence attorney Jason Bowles, however, had claimed that Gutierrez-Reed was a “convenient scapegoat” to take the fall for the shooting.

Mr Baldwin pulled a Colt 45 replica from his holster in practice for a scene. The gun went off and a bullet struck Hutchins in the chest, exiting her body and then striking director Joel Souza in the stomach. Hutchins died from her injuries, while Mr Souza survived.

The actor is also facing involuntary manslaughter charges related to the shooting. His trial will begin on 9 July.

Halyna Hutchins died following the incident on the set of the ‘Rust’ movie in October 2021

Prosecutors said Gutierrez-Reed unknowingly brought live ammunition onto the set at a ranch on the outskirts of Santa Fe, where the rounds lingered for at least 12 days until the fatal shooting.

Ms Morrissey described “constant, never-ending safety failures” on the set and Gutierrez-Reed’s “astonishing lack of diligence” with gun safety, making a fatal accident “willful and foreseeable."

“We end exactly where we began — in the pursuit of justice for Halyna Hutchins,” Ms Morrissey told the jury. “Hannah Gutierrez failed to maintain firearms safety, making a fatal accident willful and foreseeable.”

Prosecutors contended the armorer repeatedly skipped or skimped on standard gun-safety protocols that might have detected live rounds on set.

“This was a game of Russian roulette every time an actor had a gun with dummies,” Ms Morrissey said.

Alec Baldwin on the set of western movie, Rust

Defence attorneys said problems on the movie set extended far beyond Gutierrez-Reed’s control, including the mishandling of weapons by Mr Baldwin, the lead actor and co-producer who crew members were loath to confront.

They claimed prosecutors did not come close to proving where live ammunition originated, failing to fully investigate an Albuquerque-based ammunition supplier.

The prosecution painstakingly assembled photographic evidence and said traces the arrival and spread of live rounds on set, using testimony from eyewitnesses to the shooting including Mr Souza to reconstruct the day it happened on 21 October 2021.

Prosecutors said six live rounds found on the set bore mostly identical characteristics — and didn’t match live rounds seized from the movie’s supplier in Albuquerque.

Defence attorneys argued that the cluttered supply office was not searched until a month after the fatal shooting, undermining the significance of physical evidence there.

Dozens of witnesses testified over the course of 10 days at trial, ranging from FBI experts in firearms and crime-scene forensics, to a camera dolly operator who described the fatal gunshot and watched Hutchins “go flush” and lose feelings in her legs before death.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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2024-03-07 05:54:17Z
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