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Senate Democrats face new pressure to pass assault weapons ban
Democrats in Congress are under new pressure to advance an assault weapons ban after a 21-year-old gunman killed seven people at a July 4 parade in Highland Park.
The Senate just approved a bipartisan gun-safety bill last month that was signed into law by President Biden, but even at the time it was seen as an effort insufficient to truly cut into gun violence.
The narrow legislation won support from all 50 of the Senate’s Democrats and 15 Senate Republicans, but was opposed by most of the GOP in the House and Senate.
And Democrats themselves are divided over an assault weapons ban, which could be a risky vote for vulnerable Democratic incumbents in swing states.
Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) sidestepped such a vote after deadly shootings at a Buffalo supermarket and Uvalde, Texas elementary school, opting to work with Republicans on more modest reforms.
That strategy resulted in the passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which provided money for states to administer red-flag laws and enhanced background checks for gun buyers between the ages of 18 and 21.
It’s unclear whether that bill would have done anything to prevent the violence in Highland Park, Ill., where a 21-year-old has confessed to the shootings, according to officials. Robert Crimo III was accused of killing seven people with a Smith & Wesson M&P 15, an assault-style rifle that carries 30 rounds of military-caliber 5.56mm NATO/.223.
Vice President Kamala Harris led the charge for more action on Tuesday during a visit to Chicago to speak to a teachers’ convention, telling the National Education Association: “Congress needs to have the courage to act and renew the assault weapons ban.”
“An assault weapon is designed to kill a lot of human beings quickly,” she argued.
The vice president’s rallying cry was followed Thursday by Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), the chairwoman of the Senate Rules Committee and a member of Schumer’s leadership team.
“Enough is enough. Reinstate the assault weapons ban. We can save lives,” tweeted Klobuchar, a presidential candidate in 2020.
Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), another member of the leadership team, is an original co-sponsor of the Senate’s Assault Weapons Ban, which is supported by 37 Senate Democrats and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.).
Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D), an Army combat veteran who lost her legs in Iraq, said reviewing the video of Highland Park shooting reminded her of being in a war zone.
“Let me tell you that the last time I heard a weapon with that capacity firing that rapidly on Fourth of July was Iraq,” she said.
Duckworth also supports a national assault weapons ban.
“No one needs a 50round drum. No one needs a 30-round magazine. No one needs a weapon of war on our streets,” Duckworth tweeted Thursday.
Democrats are finding themselves embroiled once again in a debate over whether to bring an assault weapons ban and high-capacity magazine ban — as well as universal background checks — to the Senate and House floors a few months before a difficult midterm election.
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Gary Peters (D-Mich.) after the shooting in Uvalde, Texas, said he preferred to move legislation that had a chance of passing and saving lives and predicted an assault weapons ban would get little Republican support.
“I think right now we just need to focus on trying to see if we can get some Republicans to support us on something common sense,” he said in May.
An assault weapons ban has no chance of passing because Republicans will block it in the Senate with a filibuster and it’s not even guaranteed to get the support of all 50 members of the Senate Democratic caucus.
Democratic Sens. Michael Bennet (Colo.), Martin Heinrich (N.M.), Joe Manchin (W.Va.), Jon Tester (Mont.) and Mark Warner (Va.) voted against an assault weapons ban sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) in 2013. So did Sen. Angus King (Maine), an independent who caucuses with Democrats.
Warner, however, is now a cosponsor of Feinstein’s new assault weapons ban introduced in March of last year.
Christian Heyne, the vice president of policy at Brady, a gun-violence prevention advocacy group, said an assault weapons ban probably has the votes to pass in the House but the path forward in the Senate is unclear.
“Certainly we’ve heard enough Democrats and Republicans calling for this that I suspect the House could pass it and send it to the Senate. Then the Senate has to figure out what they’re going to do,” he said.
“We do live in a reality where the negotiations for the bipartisan [gun-safety] package started at a place where universal background checks were off the table. So I have to imagine there’s daylight where this package was and where an assault weapons ban would be and it probably comes down to a procedural filibuster that requires 60 votes” to bypass, he said.
But even if Senate passage of an assault weapons ban is highly, highly unlikely, Heyne says Congress still needs to tackle the issue.
“We absolutely need to deal with assault weapons. They are what make our mass casualty shootings so regular here in America, so uniquely American when compared to the industrial nations around the world,” he said. “It’s long past time that we reinstate the assault weapons ban and pass a more improved assault weapons ban, like the ones that have been introduced.”
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in early June that the House would have a hearing and committee mark up of an assault weapons ban but the House debate was soon eclipsed by bipartisan Senate negotiations over the gun safety bill.
In those talks, Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), immediately rejected proposals to implement universal background checks, ban assault weapons for people between the ages of 18 and 21, and to ban high-capacity magazines.
Schumer has expressed his reluctance to hold accountability votes on gun-control legislation, in which Democrats bring a bill to the floor that has little chance of passing. Such votes are risky because while they fire up the Democratic base, they also risk a back-lash from Second Amendment-driven voters.
The Democratic leader told colleague on the floor after the Uvalde massacre that he was more interested in working with Republicans than holding political messaging votes on the floor on assault weapons and high-capacity clips.
But with prominent Democratic leaders renewing calls for an assault weapons ban, Schumer will be under pressure to address it before the midterm election.
Nick Wilson, the senior director of gun violence prevention at Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank and advocacy group, said his organization is pushing for Congress to vote on an assault weapons ban before the end of the year.
“We think this is gaining momentum in the House, where the bill now has 210 cosponsors,” he said. “The Senate will continue to be a challenge, not just on gun safety measures but all types of important legislation.
Wilson said the passage of the gun safety bill last month and the expected confirmation of Steve Dettelbach to head the ATF before the August recess “shows that progress is still possible.”
Source: TEST FEED1
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Gavin Newsom punches GOP to Democratic applause
When California Gov. Gavin Newsom launched a bold, in-your-face ad in Florida this week, Democrats thirsty for an aggressive voice in their party began to take notice.
“Democrats have been wanting someone who is willing to proactively throw a punch or two at Republicans and we haven’t seen much of that from the White House or other Democratic leaders lately,” said one top donor in the party. “It was somewhat refreshing.”
The spot, which aired on Fox News programming across Florida on Monday, went after former President Donald Trump and Fla. Gov. Ron Desantis and the conservative culture of the Sunshine State.
The ad was aimed at hitting Republicans, but it got the attention of Democrats who are worried about who could take on Trump or DeSantis — two likely prospects for the Republican nomination — in 2024 if President Biden chooses not to seek a second term.
It was particularly resonant in taking on DeSantis in his home state of Florida, which has been tilting toward the GOP but was won twice by former President Barack Obama.
“It’s Independence Day, so let’s talk about what’s going on it America,” Newsom says in the ad. “Freedom, it’s under attack in your state. Republican leaders, they’re banning books, making it harder to vote, restricting speech in classrooms, even criminalizing women and doctors.
“I urge all of you living in Florida to join the fight, or join us in California, where we still believe in freedom — freedom of speech, freedom to choose, freedom from hate and the freedom to love,” he concludes.
Newsom’s punch might have been particularly welcome to Democrats given the rough year they are having.
The party is facing the prospect of losing control of the House and possibly the Senate amid sky-high inflation and plummeting approval ratings for Biden.
Just last month, a conservative-majority Supreme Court with three justices nominated by Trump overturned the Roe v. Wade decision, effectively outlawing abortion in a number of states.
That thunderbolt happened amid a stretch of other decisions touching on gun rights, religious freedom and climate change that were all bad from the point of view of the left.
Democrats have also been incensed by the lack of a message or strategy coming from the White House, particularly on the abortion issue.
Newsom hasn’t been at the top of 2024 lists should Biden not run for a second term, but that started to shift with the ad.
Nathan Click, Newsom’s political spokesman, said in an email that the governor “believes now is not the time for Democrats to roll over and accept defeat.
“Now is the time for Democrats to fight,” Click said. “It’s about taking the fight to the GOP and calling them out for taking away Americans’ freedoms.”
Newsom, who is up for reelection in California this year, started fundraising off the ad earlier this week.
He also got Democrats talking about how to be effective in their messaging when targeting Republicans.
“I like it,” Gov. Phil Murphy of New Jersey said when asked by CNN’s Brianna Keilar what he thought of Newsom’s ad.
“I think we need to stand up and be counted and make sure we remind folks around the country, if you value values come to states like New Jersey and I suspect that’s exactly what Gov. Newsom has in mind in terms of California’s values,” Murphy said.
Political observers point out that Newsom and DeSantis have been targeting one another since the start of the pandemic when the Florida governor criticized California’s policies. But Newsom cranked it up several notches with the ad.
Chris Lehane, a longtime Democratic strategist who is based in California and has known Newsom for years, credited the governor for the move.
“It’s an opening for the California brand and his own brand too,” Lehane said. “It’s just smart politics.”
“Obviously he’s a really smart guy,” he added. “It’s not lost on him that people on the Democratic side are looking for leaders and it’s something Democrats will take note of.”
There are certainly doubts about Newsom, who was the subject of a recall effort in the state less than a year ago.
The Los Angeles Times ran a column Thursday with the headline, “Ignore the Noise. Here’s why Gavin Newsom is not running for president in 2024.”
In the piece, veteran political journalist Mark Z. Barabak noted that Newsom is simply “getting people to notice him” maybe not for 2024 but further down the road.
Barabak said he wouldn’t run against Biden if he chose to run and has “indicated to those around him he has no intention of challenging [Vice President] Harris if she were to run in 2024, which is probably wise.”
“Taking the nomination away from a sitting vice president would also pose a steep challenge.”
Cooper Teboe, a Democratic strategist based in California, said that Newsom’s move does tap into a party that is craving a certain brashness and leaders in the party who aren’t afraid to get in the faces of Republicans.
“Democrats are looking for a fighter whose anger matches the injustices that we’re currently seeing out of Washington,” Teboe said.
But more importantly, he said voters are also looking for someone to take on more than just the culture wars in the country, especially at a time when many Americans are feeling an economic strain.
“Voters are struggling. They’re hearing about layoffs, and they don’t know how they’re going to put food on the table or buy shoes for back to school,” he said. “They need an economic message.”
Other Democrats say Newsom’s ad shoed that the party should enlist a variety of people in their party — and not just Biden— to highlight their messaging across various platforms.
Democratic strategist Rodell Mollineau said Newsom, “can do and say things that quite frankly Biden can’t.”
“We should embrace that we have multiple talented spokespeople in the party who I would hope could work together to craft a narrative that is going to take hold in this country and not only bring Democrats together but show the delineation between Democrats and Republicans,” Mollineau said. “This does not need to come from the White House or one man. That’s why I think what Gov. Newsom is doing should be welcomed. It shouldn’t be seen as an either-or proposition.”
Mollineau said he wouldn’t speculate on what it meant for Newsom’s political prospects.
“As far as I know, President Biden will be running for reelection, and I would expect Gov. Newsom to be one of his big supporters,” he said.
Source: TEST FEED1
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Flight cancellations loom large over summer travel season
Airlines endured a better-than-expected Fourth of July holiday weekend, but staffing shortages and other root causes of flight disruptions continue to loom large over the busy summer travel season.
U.S. carriers canceled roughly 1,400 flights between Friday and Monday, according to data from flight analytics firm masFlight. The number is down from Memorial Day weekend and last month’s Juneteenth holiday, when U.S. airlines canceled more than 3,400 flights over four days.
The data indicates that Independence Day wasn’t a total meltdown as some predicted.
But still, thousands of flights were canceled in the week leading up to the holiday, and around one-in-five travelers experienced delays at the airport during the long weekend.
“The numbers appear to have improved relative to Memorial Day but we’re still seeing elevated cancellations, and some stories we’re hearing from passengers are just unacceptable in terms of their consumer experience,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in an on-air interview with CNBC.
Over the last calendar month, U.S. airlines have canceled more than 18,000 flights, or roughly 3 percent of scheduled trips, including nearly 1,000 flights in the three days after the holiday weekend, according to masFlight.
Carriers blame a shortage of workers, particularly pilots, in addition to poor weather and scheduling errors.
During the height of the pandemic, the spread of COVID-19 stifled demand for flights, and airlines offered early retirements to tens of thousands of workers and furloughed even more.
That’s made it difficult to accommodate the influx of travelers this summer as some Americans take their first real vacation since the start of the pandemic.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said it screened nearly 2.5 million travelers on July 1, up from 2.2 million on the same day in 2019. That’s the highest single-day figure since February 2020.
“We are back to pre-pandemic checkpoint volume,” TSA spokesperson Lisa Farbstein tweeted.
Carriers reduced their flight schedules by about 15 percent from June to August in an effort to lessen the number of potential disruptions and mitigate the impact of higher fuel costs. The recent cancellations suggest that their plans were still too ambitious.
Experts say that pilot staffing will remain an issue for at least two years because there aren’t enough pilots currently undergoing training to plug the expected shortfall. Airlines have responded by launching their own training programs and flight schools, and boosting pilot pay.
There’s also a shortage of pilot instructors leading to a bottleneck of trainees, according to Dennis Tajer, spokesperson for the Allied Pilots Association, which represents American Airlines pilots.
American Airlines experienced a scheduling error over the weekend that allowed pilots to drop some of their July flights, leading to over 12,000 flights without pilots. The Texas-based carrier fixed the issue and agreed to triple pilot pay for holidays and other busy stretches.
Pilots are hopeful that they can work with American Airlines CEO Robert Isom to address other issues, such as aggressive scheduling that they say leads to overbooked flights and fatigued pilots.
“We’re cautiously optimistic that Isom is finally listening to us,” Tajer said. “Now we’re going to see if he can motivate his management team to deliver on his continued vision to restore the reliability of our airline.”
Chaos at airports has sparked criticism from Capitol Hill and Biden administration officials who note that Congress gave $54 billion to airlines to ensure that they would be ready for a travel recovery.
Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) sent a letter to airline executives demanding data on cancellations, delays and customer refunds, while stating that staffing shortages are “no excuse” for disruptions. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) wrote a separate letter calling on Buttigieg to fine airlines for scheduling flights they cannot properly staff.
“After receiving $54 billion in pandemic relief to help save the airlines from mass layoffs and bankruptcy, the American people deserve to have their expectations met,” a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) spokesperson said in a statement.
Airlines for America, which represents U.S. carriers, told lawmakers last year that the federal aid covered 77 percent of U.S. airlines’ payroll costs, saving hundreds of thousands of jobs but still forcing carriers to offer early retirements and furloughs. The trade group said that airlines had to make more cuts when COVID-19 relief briefly lapsed in late 2020.
Airline executives and FAA officials met last week to discuss solutions to flight disruptions, indicating that they’re eager to work together even as both sides trade blame for delays and cancellations.
“We appreciate the enhanced coordination with the FAA to address a range of shared challenges as we worked collaboratively to minimize disruptions and provide safe, efficient travel,” Hannah Walden, communications manager at Airlines for America, said in an email.
Buttigieg on Thursday unveiled $1 billion from the bipartisan infrastructure bill to 85 airports across the country to improve terminals. He said that the funding could help improve traveler flow at airports by upgrading baggage handling or ticket counters.
Industry representatives have pointed out that carriers in other countries are having an even tougher time dealing with the summer travel boom.
European airlines have canceled tens of thousands of flights in recent months amid severe staffing shortages. The situation is particularly dire in the Netherlands, where the nation’s largest airport reduced flight capacity by around 13,500 seats per day due to a lack of security workers and baggage handlers.
The largest European airlines made huge job cuts in the early months of the pandemic and have acknowledged that they are struggling to find their replacements.
“Did we go too far in cutting costs here and there, under the pressure of the more than 10 billion euros in pandemic-related losses? Certainly, that too,” Carsten Spohr, CEO of German carrier Lufthansa, which cut nearly one-third of its workforce in 2020, told employees in a recent memo apologizing for staffing issues.
Source: TEST FEED1
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Biden administration to distribute 144,000 additional doses of monkeypox vaccine as cases spike
The Biden administration announced on Thursday that it will distribute 144,000 more doses of the Jynneos vaccine across the country to address a recent spike in confirmed cases of monkeypox.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said in a press release it would begin shipping the vaccines from the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) on Monday.
HHS has already distributed more than 41,000 doses of the Jynneos vaccine, which was made to combat smallpox, a cousin of monkeypox, since the first cases of the virus were detected in the nation in May.
The administration is sending vaccine doses to areas where the transmission is highest and populations are most at risk.
Steve Adams, the director of the SNS, said health officials were “using every tool we have” to accelerate vaccination among at-risk populations.
“These are critical components of our overall effort to combat this virus, and we will continue to coordinate closely with states and jurisdictional partners to make sure they have the vaccines, testing, and treatments needed to respond to the current outbreak,” Adams said in a statement.
Monkeypox has primarily spread among men who have sex with men (MSM) and was tied to two raves in Europe. It’s typically spread through prolonged contact and can cause skin lesions, a rash or a swelling of the lymph nodes, among other symptoms.
There have been no confirmed deaths from monkeypox in the U.S.
While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has warned the MSM community is most at risk and should take preventive action, it has also warned against stigmatizing and explained anyone could be at risk of infection.
The CDC has confirmed more than 600 cases in more than 30 states as well as Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, since May.
On Wednesday, the CDC also announced that Labcorp, one of the largest commercial laboratories in the U.S., would begin testing for the virus with tests used to detect orthopoxviruses such as smallpox and monkeypox.
HHS plans to distribute 1.9 million doses of the Jynneos vaccine in 2022 and 2.2 million for the first half of 2023.
Source: TEST FEED1
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Former Japanese prime minister Abe collapses during speech, gunshots heard: report
Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe collapsed Friday morning local time in the Japanese city of Nara after apparently being shot while giving a speech, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reports.
The local fire department reported to NHK that Abe was showing no vital signs, according to NHK.
Japanese police have taken a man into custody, the outlet reported.
Abe was giving a speech to campaign for a Liberal Democratic Party candidate on the street near the city’s train station at the time of the apparent shooting, according to NHK.
A reporter for the outlet reported hearing what sounded like gunfire and also reported seeing the former Japanese leader bleeding.
This story is developing.
Source: TEST FEED1
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Officer who fatally shot Tamir Rice withdraws from small-town police force
The police officer who fatally shot 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland, Ohio, in 2014 withdrew his application on Thursday to become a small-town police officer in Pennsylvania.
Timothy Loehmann was sworn in Tuesday as the sole police officer for the city of Tioga but withdrew his application on Thursday, according to the town borough’s website.
Loehmann, whose hiring drew protests and fierce criticism from the small town about four hours outside of Philadelphia, Pa., was a former Cleveland officer who faced national anger after he shot and killed Rice, who is Black.
Rice was playing with a pellet gun when Loehmann, then a rookie officer, responded to the report of a person waving a gun around. The caller specified the person may be a child and the gun may have been a fake, but Loehmann, who is white, fatally shot the boy shortly after arriving on scene.
Loehmann was cleared in the shooting by a grand jury, but was fired by the Cleveland Police Department in 2017 for allegedly omitting information about his employment history. In 2016, the city of Cleveland reached a $6 million settlement with Rice’s family, who had filed a wrongful death suit. Loehman has never been formally cahrged.
Both Democrats and Rice’s family last year called on the Biden administration to re-open a probe into the shooting in following the 2020 death of George Floyd at the hands of a white officer in Minneapolis, which reignited a worldwide racial justice movement.
After Loehmann was sworn in to police Tioga Borough on Tuesday, dozens demonstrated outside the town hall offices, according to local news outlet WENY News. Mayor David Wilcox, who appeared at the protest, told the publication he had been unaware of Loehmann’s background until after the swearing-in ceremony.
Subodh Chandra, an attorney who represented Rice’s family, said in a statement on Wednesday that Tioga officials “apparently don’t care” that Loehmann “slew a child.”
“He’s damaged goods and no community should ever want him responsible for enforcing their laws,” Chandra wrote on his website. “Officials who do are betraying the trust of their citizens.”
Loehmann was also hired to police the small town of Bellaire, Ohio, in 2018 but withdrew his application after similar objections.
Source: TEST FEED1
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Florida man sentenced to 20 years for creating instructional bomb-making video for ISIS
A Florida man was sentenced on Thursday to 20 years in federal prison and 15 years of supervised release after pleading guilty to attempting to provide material support to ISIS through an instructional bomb-making video.
The Department of Justice said in a press release, citing court documents, that Langhorne pledged his allegiance to the Islamic terrorist organization in 2014 and engaged in online activity supportive of the group — including posting support on social media, participating in ISIS chat rooms and sharing ISIS-produced videos on YouTube — in 2018 and 2019.
Beginning in 2019, Langhorne began communicating with an undercover FBI agent posing as an ISIS affiliate about creating a video teaching viewers how to make an explosive known as triacetone triperoxide (TATP), telling the agent that he was making the video to arm ISIS adherents and others to use in support of the group, per the DOJ.
The FBI made the video based on Langhorne’s instructions, but unknown to him included only an inert chemical formula for TATP that would not cause an explosion. Langhorne then uploaded it to a video-sharing platform, according to the department.
Langhorne also asked the agent in 2019 to work with him to create a recording of an ISIS member saying “Allah Akbar” and of children saying “kill them all” in order, he said, “to encourage justified retaliation” against the U.S. over its role in killing Muslims, per the DOJ.
Langhorne was arrested in Nov. 2019.
He admitted after his arrest that he had “probably at some point” pledged allegiance to former ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi as well as ISIS as an organization and that he had communicated with the FBI agent and uploaded the video, according to the DOJ. He pled guilty to one count of attempting to provide material support to ISIS in May 2021.
Source: TEST FEED1
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Dating sites operator Match halts some political donations after Roe ruling
Match Group, which owns several dating sites and apps, including Hinge and Tinder, will suspend all political donations to both the Democratic and Republican attorneys general associations.
A source within Match Group confirmed the news to The Hill. This comes after the company received criticism over contributions to GOP attorneys general who supported the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade and the 50-year constitutional right to abortion last month.
The New York Times was the first to report that Match Group was suspending some political donations to the two organizations. The source within Match Group confirmed that was accurate but said all donations would be halted to both groups.
Last year, Match Group donated more than $100,000 to the Republican Attorneys General Association, an organization that has supported restricting abortion access in states and worked to overturn Roe v. Wade, according to the Times. The company also donated more than $100,000 to the Democratic Attorneys General Association last year.
Since the Supreme Court ended the constitutional right to an abortion, around half of all states have moved to restrict or ban access to abortion. Attorneys general are the top legal officials in their respective states and will enforce the laws on abortion.
Match Group has joined other large corporations in financially supporting women who would need to travel out of state to get an abortion. On Tinder, users can now update their profile to declare their support for abortion.
Match Group also owns dating sites OKCupid, PlentyofFish and OurTime.
Source: TEST FEED1
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Amazon scraps New Jersey hub plans amid local resistance
Amazon canceled its plans on Thursday to establish a new cargo hub in Newark, N.J., after experiencing resistance from local groups.
“Unfortunately, the Port Authority and Amazon have been unable to reach an agreement on final lease terms and mutually concluded that further negotiations will not resolve the outstanding issues,” said Port Authority Chief Operating Officer Huntley Lawrence.
The cargo hub, which would have been located at the Newark Liberty International Airport, was set to create 1,000 jobs and invest millions of dollars during the course of its 20-year lease, according to The New York Times.
This marks the second change in plans for Amazon’s expansion plans near New York and New Jersey resulting from opposition from various groups.
Unions and labor advocacy groups called for Amazon to commit to measures including a zero-emissions benchmark for the New Jersey facility, saying if the tech giant did not agree to such concessions they would not support it establishing its new hub in the area.
Amazon said it was disappointed over the cancelled plans and reinforced that the company looks “forward to continued investments in the state” of New Jersey in a statement to the Times.
The Port Authority may join with a different company to establish the new hub at the airport following the failure to complete a deal with Amazon, it said in its statement on Thursday.
Source: TEST FEED1