Category: World

The United States announced criminal charges on Tuesday against Hamas’ top leaders over their roles in planning, supporting and perpetrating the deadly Oct. 7 attack in southern Israel.
The charges against Yahya Sinwar, the militant group’s chief, and at least five others accuse them of orchestrating the Oct. 7 attack, which killed 1,200 people, including more than 40 Americans.
That attack triggered an Israeli assault on Gaza that has killed more than 40,800 Palestinians and laid waste to much of the territory.

In the vast, mysterious depths of the Atlantic Ocean, a gruesome crime has been committed. The victim: a pregnant porbeagle shark, once thought to be near the top of the ocean’s food chain. The culprit: unknown, but a new study suggests that this shark’s killer may have been a member of its own species!

This scientific thriller, recently published in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science, marks a groundbreaking discovery in the world of shark research. For the first time ever, scientists have documented evidence of another ocean predator killing an adult porbeagle shark, a finding that sends ripples through our understanding of marine ecosystems and raises alarm bells for the conservation of this vulnerable species.

“This is the first documented predation event of a porbeagle shark anywhere in the world,” says lead author Dr. Brooke Anderson, a former graduate student at Arizona State University, in a media release. “In one event, the population not only lost a reproductive female that could contribute to population growth, but it also lost all her developing babies. If predation is more widespread than previously thought, there could be major impacts for the porbeagle shark population that is already suffering due to historic overfishing.”

The porbeagle shark, a cold-water predator known for its endurance and agility, has long been considered one of the ocean’s formidable hunters. Growing up to 3.7 meters long (12 feet) and weighing up to 230kg (507lbs), these sharks are no small fry. As this groundbreaking study reveals, however, even apex predators can fall prey to larger, more voracious hunters.

The story begins off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where researchers tagged a pregnant female porbeagle shark with two types of satellite tags: a fin-mounted transmitter and a pop-off satellite archival tag (PSAT). These high-tech devices were the key to unraveling the mystery that was about to unfold.

For five months, the tagged shark behaved typically, diving between 100-200 meters at night and 600-800 meters during the day. On March 24, 2021, something extraordinary happened. The tag’s data showed a sudden and dramatic change in temperature patterns, indicating that it had likely been swallowed by another, much larger predator.

“The predation of one of our pregnant porbeagles was an unexpected discovery,” Anderson explains. “We often think of large sharks as being apex predators. But with technological advancements, we have started to discover that large predator interactions could be even more complex than previously thought.”

The identity of the porbeagle’s predator remains a mystery, but the researchers have narrowed it down to two prime suspects: the infamous white shark, known for its massive size and powerful bite, and the sleek and speedy shortfin mako shark. Both species are known to inhabit the waters near Bermuda, where the killing of this porbeagle shark likely occurred.

What makes this discovery particularly intriguing is that it occurred in the mesopelagic zone, often referred to as the ocean’s “twilight zone.” This vast, dimly lit region between 200 and 1000 meters deep is home to a diverse array of marine life and plays a crucial role in the ocean’s food web and carbon cycle. The fact that such large predators are actively hunting in this zone highlights the importance of these deep-water habitats and the need for their conservation.

The implications of this study extend far beyond a single predation event. It raises important questions about the natural mortality rates of porbeagle sharks, which are currently listed as endangered in the Northwest Atlantic and critically endangered in the Northeast Atlantic and Mediterranean on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. If predation on adult sharks is more common than previously thought, it could have significant impacts on population dynamics and conservation efforts.

“We need to continue studying predator interactions, to estimate how often large sharks hunt each other. This will help us uncover what cascading impacts these interactions could have on the ecosystem,” Anderson concludes.

Source: https://studyfinds.org/evidence-sharks-hunting-each-other/?nab=0

Gwyneth Paltrow has her daughter to thank for her big movie comeback.

The “Iron Man” actress reportedly ended her five-year hiatus from acting all because Apple Martin, 20, “has had a crush” on Timothée Chalamet “for years.”

The 28-year-old actor, who is currently dating Kylie Jenner, will appear alongside her mom in the upcoming A24 movie “Marty Supreme.”

An insider told the Daily Mail on Tuesday, “As soon as Gwyneth told Apple that Timothée is not only a producer but also the lead actor, she pleaded with her mom to accept.

“After reading it and loving it, despite having no major wish to act right now, she was convinced by Apple, who intends to be on set as much as possible.”

The actress, 51, was last on the big screen as Pepper Potts in “Avengers: End Game,” which came out in 2019. However, she has appeared in a series of shorts since then, as well as Netflix’s “The Politician” which was produced by her husband, Brad Falchuk, “She Said” in 2022 and an episode of “American Horror Stories” last year.

Despite Chalamet inspiring her to return to the big screen, she previously told “Entertainment Tonight” that only one of her “Iron Man” co-stars could bring her back.

“Well, it would be very hard for me to do any acting right at the moment, just because of my job,” Paltrow said. “But, I guess Robert Downey Jr. could probably always get me back.”

“You know, to some degree,” she told the outlet.

Source: https://pagesix.com/2024/09/03/entertainment/gwyneth-paltrow-returning-to-big-screen-after-5-year-absence/

“I’m warning you: She loves to dominate a teddy bear,” Demi Moore says as her teacup Chihuahua, Pilaf, toddles into the room. Moore, perched on a kitchen stool in her Los Angeles home, watches her dog with a sly smile. “You’re going to see some humping.”

Pilaf has had a busy year — she was featured in Vogue, and seen in the front rows of Paris Fashion Week — so bringing her to the Cannes Film Festival in May was a risk: Would the pint-size bundle of cuteness upstage her owner at the premiere of her blood-drenched horror film “The Substance”? Perhaps Moore knew the role was more beastly than her little pet could ever be.

“I didn’t know how the movie was going to go,” Moore admits as Pilaf, now in the family room, ravages her stuffed animal in a patch of sunlight. “It’s so out of the box. It could have either really worked or been a disaster. To be completely transparent, body horror is not a genre I was extremely familiar with.”

But French writer-director Coralie Fargeat clearly was, drawing on Robert Zemeckis’ “Death Becomes Her,” David Cronenberg’s “The Fly” and Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining” as she depicts Moore literally splitting open to reveal a younger, more perfect version of herself, played by Margaret Qualley. Moore’s character, Elisabeth Sparkle — an Oscar-winning actress who became a daytime-TV fitness guru in later life — is bereft after a vile network executive (Dennis Quaid) cancels her show. So much so that she takes a back-alley drug that uses her DNA to create an improved replica, with the strict rule that Elisabeth must switch between her two identities, old and young, every seven days — or else. It’s symbolically rich twice over: first, for anyone who’s ever noticed a wrinkle in the mirror and wanted to wish it away, and second, for those of us seeing Moore in a fresh light.

As the faded star whose self-loathing creates a kind of self-absorbed doppelgänger who could destroy them both, Moore has never been more electric onscreen. “The part needed to be embodied by an actress who was a symbol herself,” Fargeat says. “But I knew those kinds of actresses would be frightened by jumping into something that confronts them with their own phobias. Demi was at a stage in her life where she has confronted all the fears her character has and the violence and self-hatred it can bring on you. She has processed all that in a peaceful way.”

In stark contrast to Elisabeth, who strips away her flesh while seeking approval from men, Moore, at 61, has never been more comfortable in her own skin. “The film raises an important idea: When you chase after something you think is better, you risk losing what you have,” she says.

It was a long road to get here: After Moore established herself as an actress to watch in 1984’s “St. Elmo’s Fire” and 1986’s “About Last Night,” her career exploded in the 1990s when she led the box office with hits such as “Indecent Proposal,” “Disclosure” and, of course, “Ghost.” But when she entered her highest-paid-female-star-in-the-world era, with films like “Striptease” and “G.I. Jane,” and appeared nude and very pregnant on the cover of Vanity Fair, her body was the story. Somehow, her talent was an afterthought.

After suffering a string of flops, she stepped out of the spotlight before the spotlight could abandon her as it did Elisabeth Sparkle, raising her three children (with then-husband Bruce Willis) in Hailey, Idaho.

But with her revealing 2019 memoir “Inside Out” and dark turns in projects like “Feud: Capote vs. the Swans” and now “The Substance,” Moore has shown a willingness to crack open her iconic image to reveal something grittier within. Qualley says Moore was relentless in fine-tuning her character, “always on the tip of refinement, understanding it more after every take.”

“The Substance,” which thrilled Cannes and will screen at the Toronto International Film Festival this week, has earned Moore the best reviews of her career and even some Oscar buzz. It’s a reminder of just what audiences have been missing.

Get ready for the Demi-ssance.

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Let’s start with the 11-minute standing ovation this movie got in Cannes, your first time with a film in competition.

I’ve read some stories that said it was 13 minutes.

After this, I will sit you down for a long talk about how Variety calculates standing ovations at festivals. It’s fair to say “The Substance” is one of the most brutal films about aging in Hollywood ever made. Why did you say yes?

I felt like it was one of the most interesting ways to explore the subject. While it’s framed around women, I really felt like it was relatable to all of us as humans — the feeling of being discarded, overlooked. A lack of appreciation for who we are.

Coralie told me that you gave her a copy of your autobiography before your first meeting. Why did you do that?

Coralie is extremely cautious and thorough. All in, we met six times before I was officially offered the part. She was meeting with a lot of people, looking to find the right match for the two main characters. I gave her the book as a way of knowing me — my experience with my body, and the value I gave to my body. The personal torture I put myself through. All that seemed to connect to her big time. She knew that I really understood who the character was.

You were open in your book about your struggle to stay thin, and how it almost cost you work. Were you concerned about doing a project that was so body-centric?

I had no fear about the subject matter. I know how relatable the story really is. But I put a lot of thoughtful consideration into the level of vulnerability and rawness that was required. The things that push you out of your comfort zone are also what give you the greatest opportunity for growth.

Source: https://variety.com/2024/film/features/demi-moore-the-substance-ghost-remake-body-positivity-1236125626/

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels attacked two crude oil tankers – the Saudi-flagged Amjad and the Panama-flagged Blue Lagoon I – in the Red Sea on Monday, the U.S. military said, calling the assaults “reckless acts of terrorism”.
The Houthis late on Monday claimed responsibility for targeting the Blue Lagoon with multiple missiles and drones but did not make any mention of the Saudi tanker.
The U.S. Central Command said the Houthis attacked the two tankers with two ballistic missiles and a one-way attack uncrewed aerial system, hitting both vessels.

Protesters staging hunger strikes against tourism developments. Local officials threatening to cut off water to illegal vacation rentals. Residents spraying tourists with water pistols.

With Labor Day, the unofficial end of summer, upon us, European hot spots like Barcelona, Athens and the Greek island of Santorini have reached a breaking point, making tourists the targets of a major backlash. While final visitor numbers for this summer aren’t in, they are expected to surpass 2019 levels; in the second quarter alone, international arrivals exceeded 2019 by six percent, according to the European Travel Commission.

The Villa Vie Odyssey is now three months past its original launch date.

Passengers planning to travel the world on a three-year cruise are speaking out as they remain stuck on land, waiting for their ship to depart.

Holly Hennessy said she has been stuck in Belfast, Ireland, for three months as she and her fellow passengers wait for the cruise ship, the Villa Vie Odyssey, to be repaired.

“It’s cold. It’s windy. It’s damp. It usually rains,” Hennessy told “Good Morning America,” describing the past three months in Belfast. “I’ve been moved five times to different accommodations.”

Johan Bodin and his partner Lanette Canen have spent the past three months traveling around Europe as they wait for the ship to depart from Belfast. The couple relocated from Maui, Hawaii, to spend the next several years on the Villa Vie Odyssey, according to their website, where they post travel content.

“We intend to stay on for a long haul, but who knows how we feel after a year,” Bodin told “GMA.”

Bodin and other passengers on the Villa Vie Odyssey, operated by Villa Vie Residences, have been waiting since May for the cruise to depart.

Mikael Petterson, the founder and CEO of Villa Vie Residences, told “GMA” the Villa Vie Odyssey is a 30-year-old ship. He said the ship made the trip to Belfast on its own power before other maintenance issues were discovered.

“The rudder stocks took six weeks to get done, and now we’re dealing with a couple of other things,” Petterson said. “But overall, I think three months is actually not that bad given the circumstances.”

Petterson added that the ship’s repairs are in their final stages, and said he expects the ship to depart the week of Sept. 9.

The cruise is advertised to visit 475 destinations in 147 countries. The price to purchase an all-inclusive cabin starts at around $100,000, with an additional monthly fee for at least 15 years.

Source: https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Travel/passengers-3-year-cruise-speak-ship-remains-stuck/story?id=113326747

The terrifying hole is known as the “Gateway to the Underworld” or “Gateway to Hell.”

A colossal chasm in Siberia, ominously known as the “Gateway to Hell,” has seen its size balloon threefold since 1991, and scientists say it may reveal secrets about Earth’s past.

This megaslump, a vast collapsed area of permafrost on a hillside, goes by the official name Batagay and ranks as the planet’s second-oldest permafrost. Permafrost is becoming an issue with new threats revealed as the ice melts. In December 2023, a brave explorer walked into a separate “hell gateway” in Turkmenistan which was thought to be the world’s biggest – but the Siberia hole appears to be expanding.

Now so immense that its observable from space, this hole – named Batagaika – is drawing scientific interest worldwide as researchers ponder what insights it might offer into our world’s history.

Roger Michaelides, a geophysicist at Washington University, shared insights with Business Insider about its significance: “You’re talking mostly about frozen dirt underground, which by definition you often can’t see unless it’s been exposed somehow, like in this megaslump.”

He believes Batagaika offers a prime opportunity for understanding environmental dynamics: “I think there is a lot we can learn from Batagaika, not only in terms of understanding how Batagaika will evolve with time, but also how similar features might develop and evolve over the Arctic.”

Michaelides highlighted the broader implications despite disparities in scale: “Even if they’re a tenth or a hundredth the size of Batagaika, the physics is fundamentally the same.”

Local residents in Yauktia, Russia, were the first to notice the ominous permafrost, after being disturbed by bone-chilling booms and “screams” emanating from the aberration leading them to dub it the Gateway to the Underworld.

Source: https://www.the-express.com/news/world-news/147520/earth-gateway-to-hell-siberia-visible-from-space

The 29-year-old from Kazakhstan was booed by the crowd after an awkward exchange with a ball girl, before eventually crashing out of the tournament in straight sets.

Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva has apologised after she came under fire for her “terrible behaviour” towards a ball girl at the US Open.

The 29-year-old was on her way to a third-round defeat to Italy’s Jasmine Paolini when she was booed by the crowd at the Louis Armstrong Stadium in New York after appearing to snub a ball girl.

Footage shows three balls being tossed towards Putintseva ahead of her next serve – but the player ignored them, staring back at the girl without moving her position.

It appeared to leave the ball girl in an awkward position before Putintseva eventually scooped up one of the balls to resume the match.

But the angry crowd turned against Putintseva, while tennis commentators from across the world also expressed their surprise at the player’s behaviour.

Former US Open champion Boris Becker wrote on X: “Who does Putintseva think she is … Terrible behaviour towards the ball girl !!!”

Putintseva later revealed she was frustrated after missing the chance to capitalise on two break points in the second set.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/yulia-putintseva-apologises-to-ball-girl-after-terrible-behaviour-at-us-open-13208453

The discovery of a 25-foot ancient bridge submerged in a Spanish cave has rearranged the timeline of when humans first arrived in the Mediterranean. These new findings now suggest that humans settled there at least 5,600 years ago — much earlier than researchers previously estimated.

The study, published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, analyzed the submerged stone bridge to settle a long archeological controversy about when humans crossed the western Mediterranean islands. Creating a historical timeline of when humans inhabited the Mediterranean islands has been difficult because of insufficient archaeological evidence.

However, the 25-foot bridge inside Genovesa Cave, found on the Spanish island of Mallorca, paints a new perspective of early human history.

“The presence of this submerged bridge and other artifacts indicates a sophisticated level of activity, implying that early settlers recognized the cave’s water resources and strategically built infrastructure to navigate it,” explains study lead author Bogdan Onac, a professor of geology at the University of South Florida, in a media release.

The Spanish cave preserved the bridge after rising sea levels flooded the passageways. When there’s high tide, these caves create calcite encrustations, which form a light-colored band on the submerged bridge. This allowed archaeologists to trace historical sea-level changes and when the bridge was first made. Researchers specifically looked at the overgrowths of minerals attached to the bridge and measured the coloration band on the bridge.

The new findings show the bridge was created close to 6,000 years ago. The latest conclusion is 2,000 years earlier than previous estimates, shortening the timeline between when humans settled in the eastern and western Mediterranean.

Mallorca is the sixth largest island in the Mediterranean and the last colonized territory. Previous evidence estimated humans landed on the island about 9,000 years ago. However, this date has always been contested because artifacts, such as bones and pottery, used for radiocarbon dating were not in the best conditions.

Other research studying the timeline of human settlement estimated that humans arrived in the Mediterranean around 4,400 years ago after analyzing the island’s charcoal, ash, and bones. An earlier timeline of human activity would align with significant environmental changes, such as the extinction of the goat-antelope genus Myotragus balearicus.

The researchers believe this recent discovery settles a long-standing debate among archaeologists and creates a more accurate timeline of when ancient human nomads traveled worldwide.

“This research underscores the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration in uncovering historical truths and advancing our understanding of human history,” Onac concludes.

The authors are continuing to investigate cave systems, especially those with mineral deposits dating back millions of years, to measure sea levels before human activity in the area. These measurements will help paint another important picture: how greenhouse warming has affected sea levels over time.

Source: https://studyfinds.org/ancient-bridge-mediterranean/?nab=0

Visually impaired Italian Valentina Petrillo, 51, finished second in her heat in Paris, progressing as the sixth-fastest runner in a time of 58.35 seconds but failed to make the final.

A transgender athlete, who previously won 11 men’s national titles, has run in the semi-finals of the women’s T12 400m event at the Paralympics – but failed to make the final.

Visually impaired Italian Valentina Petrillo finished second in her heat in Paris but progressed to Monday’s semi-final as the sixth-fastest runner in a time of 58.35 seconds.

Naples-born Petrillo, 51, who transitioned in 2019, is believed to be one of the first openly transgender Paralympians.

At 14, she was diagnosed with Stargardt disease – a retinal condition that causes a progressive loss of vision.

Ms Petrillo initially gave up running but has been competing in Para sport since she was 41.

Ms Petrillo collected bronze medals in the 200m and 400m world championship races in 2023 with times of 26.31 and 58.24 seconds respectively.

She said: “From today I don’t want to hear anything more about discrimination, prejudices against transgender people.

“There are lots of people dying only for being trans, people are killed because they are trans, people commit suicide because they are trans and lose their jobs, or (they are) are not included in sport. But I made it. If I can make it, everyone can make it.”

She previously expressed hope of receiving “love” in France, while saying it was “only fair” she was allowed to compete.

“The atmosphere in the stadium is great, it’s just a dream come true,” Petrillo added.

“We are here finally, it’s 2 September 2024, let’s sign this historical date (in our diary).

“I thought about Paris from the day I knew I was not making it to Tokyo (Paralympics), on 1 August 2021 – the most amazing day for Italian athletics, when Jacobs (Lamont Marcell, 100 metres) and Tamberi (Gianmarco, long jump) won gold.

“And I am here now. Finally, I made it.”

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/valentina-petrillo-trans-paralympian-qualifies-for-womens-t12-400m-semi-final-13208574

The aircraft was used extensively for foreign travel by Mr Maduro, including trips to Guyana and Cuba earlier this year and a US-Venezuelan prisoner swap in December.

Venezuela’s equivalent to Air Force One has been seized by US officials, who claim the luxury presidential jet was bought illegally and smuggled out of the country to get around US export control laws.

The white Dassault Falcon 900EX, used by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores during state visits, was seized in the Dominican Republic and flown to Florida, the US Justice Department said on Monday.

Registered in San Marino, the aircraft was used extensively for foreign trips by Mr Maduro and his senior officials, including trips to Guyana and Cuba earlier this year.

It landed at Florida’s Fort Lauderdale shortly before noon after being seized, according to flight tracking websites.

Washington has said the plane, valued at $13m (£10m), was bought from sellers in Florida in late 2022 and early the following year.

Officials have said the deal was done through a Caribbean-based shell company used to hide the involvement of associates of the Venezuelan leader.

According to officials, it was then exported to Caracas through the Caribbean in April last year, in an arrangement designed to get around an executive order barring Americans from making deals with anyone involved in Mr Maduro’s government.

US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement that it had been smuggled out of the US for use by “Maduro and his cronies.”

Matthew Axelrod, from the US Commerce Department, said in a statement: “Let this seizure send a clear message: aircraft illegally acquired from the United States for the benefit of sanctioned Venezuelan officials cannot just fly off into the sunset.”

It’s less than a month since Mr Maduro was returned to office in a widely disputed presidential poll in which electoral authorities loyal to him declared the incumbent the winner without providing any detailed results.

The lack of transparency has been widely condemned by other countries.

Opponents of the Maduro regime obtained more than 80% of vote tally sheets, which suggested he had actually lost by a wide margin to former diplomat Edmundo Gonzalez.

The plane was previously registered in the US and owned by Florida-based Six G Aviation, a broker that buys and sells used aircraft, according to several flight tracking websites.

It was exported to St Vincent and the Grenadines and de-registered in the US in January 2023, according to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) records.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/luxury-jet-used-by-venezuelan-president-nicolas-maduro-seized-by-us-officials-13208735

Members of the International Criminal Court (ICC) should detain suspects if an arrest warrant has been issued, but the Kremlin has said it isn’t worried about the visit to Mongolia, which is heavily reliant on Moscow for fuel and electricity.

Mongolia’s failure to arrest Vladimir Putin during his visit to the country has dealt a severe blow to the international criminal law system, Ukraine’s foreign ministry says.

The Russian president arrived in Mongolia on Monday on his first visit to a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC) since it issued a warrant for his arrest nearly 18 months ago on charges of war crimes in Ukraine.

Mr Putin is due to meet Mongolian leader Ukhnaa Khurelsukh on Tuesday.

“Mongolia has allowed an accused criminal to evade justice, thereby sharing responsibility for the war crimes,” Ukraine’s foreign ministry spokesperson Heorhiy Tykhyi posted on Telegram.

The country would work with its allies to ensure Mongolia felt the consequences, he added.

Ukraine wanted Mongolia to arrest Mr Putin and hand him over to the court in The Hague, the Netherlands, but the Kremlin said last week it was not worried about the visit.

ICC members are expected to detain suspects if an arrest warrant has been issued, but the court cannot enforce the rule.

Mongolia, a large, sparsely populated country between Russia and China, is heavily dependent on Moscow for fuel and electricity and on Beijing for investment in its mining industry.

Mr Putin is accused by the court of abducting children from Ukraine, where the fighting has raged for two-and-a-half years since Russia’s March 2022 invasion.

Mr Putin and Mr Khurelsukh will attend a ceremony marking the 1939 victory of Soviet and Mongolian troops over the Japanese army that had taken control of Manchuria in northeastern China.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-russia-war-vladimir-putin-arrives-in-mongolia-with-no-fear-of-war-crimes-arrest-13208651

Vice President Kamala Harris used a joint campaign appearance with President Joe Biden in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania on Monday to say that U.S. Steel should remain domestically owned — concurring with the White House’s monthslong opposition to the company’s planned sale to Japan’s Nippon Steel.

Her comments came during a rally before cheering union members marking Labor Day in the industrial city of Pittsburgh, where Harris said U.S. Steel was “an historic American company and it is vital for our country to maintain strong American steel companies.”

“U.S. Steel should remain American-owned and American-operated, and I will always have the backs of America’s steelworkers,” she said.

That echoes Biden, who repeated Monday what he’s said since March — that he opposes U.S. Steel’s would-be sale to Nippon, believing it would hurt the country’s steelworkers. It also overlaps with Republican former President Donald Trump. It’s little surprise that Harris would agree with Biden on the issue, but it nonetheless constitutes a major policy position for the vice president, who has offered relatively few of them since Biden abandoned his reelection bid and endorsed his vice president in July.

Biden took the stage first and was met with chants of “Thank You, Joe” as he and Harris appeared in an International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers hall.

The president called Harris the only “rational” choice for president in November. He said choosing her to be vice president was the “single best” decision of his presidency and told the union members that electing her will be “the best decision you will ever make.”

Biden also started to say, “Kamala Harris and I are going to build on this” as if he were still running and she was his running mate — but he corrected himself. It underscored just how much the race has changed and how Harris has been careful to balance presenting herself as “a new way forward” while remaining intensely loyal to Biden and the policies he has pushed.

Her delivery is very different — and in some cases she’s pushed to move faster than Biden’s administration — but the overall goal of expanding government programs to buoy the middle class is the same.

“We know this is going to be a tight race till the very end,” Harris told the Pittsburgh crowd.

The joint rally with Biden was Harris’ second of the day and followed Pittsburgh’s Labor Day parade, one of the country’s largest. It was their first joint appearance at a campaign event since the election shakeup six weeks ago.

Harris opened her Labor Day campaigning solo with an event in Detroit, where hundreds of audience members wore bright yellow union shirts and hoisted “Union strong” signs. The vice president said “every person in our nation has benefited” from unions’ work.

“Everywhere I go, I tell people, ‘Look, you may not be a union member, you’d better thank a union member,” Harris said, noting that collective bargaining by organized labor helped secure the five-day work week, sick pay and other key benefits and solidify safer working conditions.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/harris-biden-election-2024-afd4b7fbd9d747e307a8fb5c1f60d5fa

The Para-triathlon events at the Paris 2024 Paralympics have been postponed by 24 hours because of poor water quality in the River Seine.

All 11 triathlon races had been due to take place on Sunday but heavy rain in Paris has caused water quality in the Seine to drop, World Triathlon said in a statement.

The events will now take place on Monday, subject to further tests.

It is the latest difficulty for Paris 2024 organisers surrounding Olympic and Paralympic events taking place in the River Seine.

The Olympic triathlon events were subject to several delays caused by heavy rain during the early stages of the Games.

And the Paralympic triathlon was originally supposed to take place over two days – Sunday 1 and Monday, 2 September – before all the events were switched to Sunday because of the forecast of bad weather.

That weather arrived earlier than expected, meaning the triathlon is now due to happen on Monday – the day initially vacated by organisers.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/sport/triathlon/articles/cn9lqqw9pwdo

Benjamin Netanyahu has asked for “forgiveness” from Israelis for failing to return six hostages found dead in Gaza on Saturday, as Hamas warned more could be “returned to their families in shrouds” if a ceasefire isn’t reached.
His comments came as intense street protests over his handling of negotiations entered a second night in Israel.
Pressure also mounted internationally as the UK suspended some arms sales to Israel, citing a risk of equipment being used to violate international law.
But Israel’s prime minister struck a defiant tone, insisting its troops must control Gaza’s Philadelphi Corridor – a strategically important strip of land which is a sticking point in negotiations with Hamas.

Thousands of Israelis took to the streets on Monday in fresh protests called by hostages’ families to express their anger at Mr Netanyahu’s failure to bring home their loved ones after almost 11 months.

The Times of Israel reported that police were using considerable aggression at one protest outside the prime minister’s home in Jerusalem, including violently pushing protesters, throwing some to the ground, and dragging many away.

One member of the police squeezed the throat of a Times of Israel reporter, according to the newspaper.

The latest demonstrations come after hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets in protests across the country on Sunday, with some demonstrators blocking a major highway in Tel Aviv. Many wore Israeli flags and hung yellow ribbons – a symbol of solidarity with the hostages – from a bridge overlooking the Ayalon Highway.

A total of 97 hostages remain unaccounted for after being kidnapped by Hamas on 7 October last year.

Hamas said on Monday that hostages would be returned “inside coffins” if military pressure from Israel continues and added that “new instructions” have been given to militants guarding captives if they are approached by Israeli troops.

Lady Gaga showed off her massive engagement ring as she pulled up to the Venice Film Festival with her fiancé, Michael Polansky, on Monday.

The happy couple was photographed packing on the PDA, sharing a smooch on the lips as they exited their vehicle in Venice, Italy, ahead of the premiere of her new film, “Joker: Folie à Deux.”

The “Poker Face” singer, 38, stunned in a black-and-white polka dot mini dress, which she paired with black sunglasses. She kept her long platinum blond hair in a half-up, half-down style.

Gaga, born Stefani Germanotta, finished the look with a pair of black tights and a classic black pump — plus, her new gigantic jewelry piece.

Meanwhile, Polansky, 46, sported an all-black ensemble, wearing a jacket over his shirt and matching pants. He also coordinated with Gaga’s black sunglasses by sporting a similar pair.

The Harvard University grad stayed by the pop star’s side as she entered the festival.

Gaga first revealed her engagement at the Paris Olympics in July when she referred to her longtime partner as her fiancé while introducing him to France’s Prime Minister Gabriel Attal.

That month, a source told Page Six that the “Bad Romance” songstress and Polansky had been engaged for “several months” before her announcement.

According to People, Polansky had proposed to the pop star by the time she celebrated her 38th birthday in March.

However, she kept the news under wraps, opting to not wear her engagement ring to her birthday dinner party so she wouldn’t be photographed with it, the outlet claimed.

Source: https://pagesix.com/2024/09/02/celebrity-news/lady-gaga-flashes-engagement-ring-as-she-and-fiance-michael-polansky-arrive-at-venice-film-festival/

Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton stunned the Venice Film Festival on Monday night with the premiere of Pedro Almodóvar‘s “The Room Next Door,” which received a 17-minute standing ovation, the longest of the 2024 edition so far.

After the film ended, the Spanish auteur kissed the cheeks of both Swinton and Moore and lifted up their arms like champion boxers. He then descended the stairs with his new muses, prolonging the ovation by shaking hands with fans in the theater. Swinton, in a white Chanel suit, hugged Moore, dressed in a gold shimmering gown. Moore looked misty-eyed as Almodóvar — in a cotton-candy pink suit — eagerly soaked in all the applause, with the crowd chanting, “Pedro! Pedro! Pedro!”

Almodóvar seemed to be individually waving to each fan in the Sala Grande theater throughout the rapturous applause. He clapped as Moore clutched his arm. As the ovation wound down, around minute 14, Almodóvar extended the clapping by running back down the stairs from the theater’s balcony to sign autographs and take selfies with fans. Moore and Swinton laughed as they tried to gauge exactly when they should try to make their escape out of the theater.

The applause for “The Room Next Door” has so far eclipsed the other big standing ovations of the festival: Brady Corbet’s “The Brutalist” (12 minutes), Pablo Larrain’s “Maria” (eight minutes) starring Angelina Jolie as the famous opera singer Maria Callas and Justin Kurzel’s “The Order (seven minutes), a 1980s crime thriller starring Jude Law.

The film, Almodóvar’s first English-language feature, debuted on a night in Venice where unbearable heat wave that has defined this year’s festivities broke for a few hours. Moore and Swinton held hands in the light drizzling rain on the red carpet, posing for photos as the paparazzi called out their names.

“The Room Next Door” stars the two Oscar winners in the roles of Ingrid (Moore) and Martha (Swinton), one-time friends who worked at the same New York magazine early in their careers. Ingrid, now a best-selling novelist, reconnects with Martha as she’s dealing with the late stages of cancer. The film features Almodóvar’s trademark plot twists even in a new city (though the brightly colored, perfectly lit apartments of these two women look more like they could be living in Madrid, not Manhattan).

Source: https://variety.com/2024/film/festivals/julianne-moore-tilda-swinton-venice-standing-ovation-room-next-door-pedro-almodovar-1236118063/

Volkswagen is weighing whether to close factories in Germany for the first time in its 87-year history as it moves to deepen cost cuts amid rising competition from China’s electric vehicle makers.

In a statement Monday, the German automaker, one of the world’s biggest car companies, said that it could not rule out plant closures its home country. Other measures to “future-proof” the company include trying to terminate an employment protection agreement with labor unions, which has been in place since 1994.

“The European automotive industry is in a very demanding and serious situation,” said Volkswagen Group CEO Oliver Blume. “The economic environment became even tougher, and new competitors are entering the European market. Germany in particular as a manufacturing location is falling further behind in terms of competitiveness.

Volkswagen, which embarked on a €10 billion ($11.1 billion) cost-cutting effort late last year, is losing market share in China, its single biggest market. In the first half of the year, deliveries to customers in that country slipped 7% on the same period in 2023. Group operating profit tumbled 11.4% to €10.1 billion ($11.2 billion).

The lackluster performance in China comes as the company loses out to local EV brands, notably BYD, which also pose an increasing threat to its business in Europe.

“Our main area of action is cost cutting,” Blume told analysts on an earnings call last month, citing planned reductions to factory, supply chain and labor expenses. “We have done all the organizational steps needed. And now it is about costs, costs and costs,” he added.

Volkswagen’s cost-cutting plans will face heavy resistance from labor representatives, which hold almost half the seats on the company’s supervisory board, the body that appoints executive managers.

IG Metall, one of Germany’s most powerful unions, on Monday blamed mismanagement for the firm’s shortcomings and vowed to fight to protect jobs.

“Today, the board presented an irresponsible plan that shakes the very foundations of Volkswagen, massively threatening jobs and locations,” IG Metall lead negotiator Thorsten Groeger said in a statement.

Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2024/09/02/investing/volkswagen-factory-closure-germany/index.html

Britain will immediately suspend 30 of its 350 arms export licences with Israel because there was a risk such equipment might be used to commit serious violations of international humanitarian law, foreign minister David Lammy said on Monday.
Lammy said the decision to suspend the licences did not amount to a blanket ban or an arms embargo, but only involved those that could be used in the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza.

“We recognise, of course, Israel’s need to defend itself against security threats, but we are deeply worried by the methods that Israel’s employed, and by reports of civilian casualties and the destruction of civilian infrastructure particularly,” Lammy told parliament.
Soon after the Labour Party won an election in July, Lammy said he would update a review on arms sales to Britain’s ally Israel to ensure these complied with international law.

Russia’s trade with India is booming and bilateral payments are proceeding smoothly without the glitches that have been hampering trade with other countries, Anatoly Popov, deputy CEO of Russia’s largest lender, Sberbank, told Reuters.
Sberbank handles payments for up to 70% of all Russian exports to India. Russia’s trade with India nearly doubled to $65 billion in 2023, with the country becoming a major importer of Russian oil after Western sanctions imposed in 2022 over a conflict in Ukraine.

Millions of people have long suspected it, but now a leak suggests that out phones really are listening to us.

An apparent pitch deck from one of Facebook’s marketing partners appears to detail how the firm eavesdrops on users’ conversations to create targeted ads.

In a slideshow, Cox Media Group (CMG) claims that its ‘Active-Listening’ software uses AI to collect and analyze ‘real-time intent data’ by listening to what you say through your phone, laptop or home assistant microphone.

‘Advertisers can pair this voice-data with behavioral data to target in-market consumers,’ the deck states.

The pitch deck goes on to tout Facebook, Google and Amazon as clients of CMG, suggesting they could be using its Active-Listening service to target users.

The pitch deck was leaked to reporters at 404 Media that showcases the capabilities of Active-Listening software to prospective customers.

Since the story broke, Google removed the media group from their ‘Partners Program’ website.

Meta – Facebook’s parent company – admitted it is reviewing CMG for any terms of service violations.

Amazon responded to 404 Media by stating that its ads arm ‘has never worked with CMG on this program and has no plans to do so.’

But the spokesperson added that that if one of its marketing partners violates its rules, the company will take action, leaving the status of Amazon’s relationship with CMG somewhat unclear.

The slideshow details the six-step process that CMG’s Active-Listening software uses to collect consumer’s voice data through seemingly any microphone-equipped device, including your smartphone, laptop or home assistant.

It’s unclear from the slideshow whether the Active-Listening software is eavesdropping constantly, or only at specific times when the phone mic is activated, such as during a call.

Advertisers then use these insights to target ‘in-market consumers,’ which are people actively considering buying a particular product or service.

If your voice or behavioral data suggests you are considering buying something, they will serve you advertisements for that item.

For example, talking about or searching for Toyota cars could prompt you to start seeing ads for their newest models.

‘Once launched, the technology automatically analyzes your site traffic and customers to fuel audience targeting on an ongoing basis,’ the deck states.

So, if you feel like you see more ads for a particular product after talking about it with a friend, or searching for it online, this may be the reason why.

For years, smart-device users have speculated that their phones or tablets are listening to what they say. But most tech companies have flat-out denied these claims.

For example, Meta’s online privacy center states, ‘We understand that sometimes ads can be so specific, it seems like we must be listening to your conversations through your microphone, but we’re not.’

But this leak is just the latest development in a wave of reporting that suggests your phone really is listening to you, and that sites like Facebook may be cashing in on what you say.

404 Media first revealed the existence of CMG’s Active-Listening service in December 2023.

A day later, they exposed a small AI marketing company called MindSift for bragging on a podcast about using smart device speakers to target ads.

Although it may seem surprising, Active Listening is perfectly legal, CMG claimed in a since-deleted blog post from November 2023.

‘We know what you’re thinking. Is this even legal? The short answer is: yes. It is legal for phones and devices to listen to you,’ the post reads.

‘When a new app download or update prompts consumers with a multi-page terms of use agreement somewhere in the fine print, Active Listening is often included.’

This could explain how CMG is getting away with this in states with wiretapping laws that prohibits recording somebody without their knowledge, like California.

CMG did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment, and has not yet responded to similar inquiries from other news sites, including Futurism and Gizmodo.

CMG is a an American media conglomerate based in Atlanta, Georgia. The company provides broadcast media, digital media, advertising and marketing services, and it generated $22.1 billion in revenue in 2022.

Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-13805393/Facebook-partner-brags-listening-phones-microphone-serve-ads.html

Rock stars get to see more of the world than most of us, but when members of the quintessential 2000s’ rock band Hoobastank jetted into the US military base of Camp Humphreys in South Korea, they were struck by the familiarity.

“When we came in through the gates, I was like ‘dude, this is, this looks like Texas somewhere,’” lead singer Doug Robb told CNN before the band headlined the Fourth of July celebrations for service members and their families.

“It’s like we’re in a different part of the world, and then, all of a sudden, we’re back in the States,” Robb said of the sprawling US base, home to 41,000 people, south of the capital Seoul.

Humphreys’ main street on the Fourth wouldn’t seem out of place in hundreds of small American cities. Kids splashed in a sidewalk fountain. Mobile food trucks served up barbecue, American and Korean. Schools and scouts held fundraisers. Military spouses sold sweets from their home-based businesses.

The difference here is that these scenes played out under the protection of Patriot missile defense launchers, just 60 miles from North Korea, and just a few minutes’ flight time for the arsenal of rocket launchers and artillery guns that point south and are commanded by Kim Jong Un, one of the world’s most isolated autocrats.

The largest US overseas military base is in South Korea
Camp Humphreys, home to more than 40,000 people and covering an area of more than 3,500 acres, is 40 miles south of Seoul and about 60 miles from the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that divides North and South Korea.

Camp Humphreys’ importance has only grown as North Korea has expanded its military threat in recent years, building a nuclear missile program in defiance of United Nations resolutions banning it, and releasing a steady stream of bellicose rhetoric against South Korea and its American ally.

North and South Korea agreed an armistice deal to end fighting in 1953, but no peace treaty was ever signed, so they’re still technically at war. Meanwhile, South Korea and the United States have a decades-old mutual defense treaty which means both must come to the aid of the other if they are ever attacked.

As tensions have steadily increased along the demilitarized zone over the past several years, so too has Camp Humphreys grown.

Garrison commander Col. Ryan Workman calls the base the “center of gravity of the military alliance” between South Korea and the United States.

But as the largest US base in South Korea, its presence also sends a message of deterrence across Northeast Asia.

Speaking to the Senate Armed Services Committee in March, the commander of US troops in South Korea, Army Gen. Paul LaCamera, said US adversaries China and Russia must be “mindful” of the tens of thousands of US troops on the peninsula in any conflict scenario.

LaCamera called South Korea the “linchpin of security in Northeast Asia and a treaty ally we must defend.”

A bull’s eye on the peninsula
Some say in the event of a renewed war on the Korean Peninsula, Camp Humphreys would be North Korea’s biggest target.

Humphreys is the headquarters of US Forces Korea, the US Eighth Army and the Army’s 2nd Infantry Division.

It also hosts the US-South Korea Combined Forces Command and the United Nations Command, which was created to fight the Korean War and lives on as an international guarantor of South Korean security.

The installation has the US Army’s most-active airfield in the Pacific, humming with helicopter units and intelligence aircraft.

A drive around its miles of roads reveals hundreds of military vehicles and logistical equipment, all ensuring US units are ready – as the base’s motto says – to “fight tonight.”

“We do have a real mission here in Korea. And that is really to defend both of our homelands and maintain peace and security in the region,” says Col. Workman.

That mission, and that conglomeration of commands on Humphreys’ 3,600 acres, make it an obvious target for North Korea, said Mark Hertling, a retired US Army general and CNN military analyst.

“It is a huge target … a big bull’s eye,” he said.

Hertling, a former commander of the US Army Europe, said that ever-looming threat means everyone – from generals to high school juniors – must always be in a state of readiness. Military members must be ready to deploy at a moment’s notice, the troops to the fight, the families to safer areas to the south.

Everyone keeps a “go bag” – vital documents, medicines, essential clothes – in their quarters, and they drill on evacuation protocols, he says. If they have a car on base, they are required to keep a minimum amount of fuel in it to ensure a hasty retreat.

“Just like soldiers practice going to the front lines, family members will have rehearsals of what to do in case there is a threat that seems significant and that they have to get off the peninsula,” Hertling said.

Holding down the homefront

Most of the ingredients for the doughnuts are imported from the States, said Choi Sung Ha, manager of the Army Air Force Exchange (AAFES) Bakery on Camp Humphreys, who is also an Army veteran and naturalized American.

He said, for families stationed at the base, biting into those gooey doughnuts is like biting into a piece of home.

“That’s our intent, and that’s what I’m proud of,” Choi said.

The 300 dozen Krispy Kremes the bakery produces daily are just one of the products hot off its production lines. Its bakers also produce Wonder Bread – 1,400 loaves a day – brioche buns for Popeye’s chicken sandwiches and sesame seed buns for Burger King Whoppers.

All told, the bakery goes through 5,400 pounds of dough a day, officials said.

Believe it or not, familiar baked goods are a subliminal part of military readiness, according to Air Force Col. Jason Beck, Pacific region commander for AAFES.

If a soldier in the field knows their family back on base is enjoying “a taste of home,” they’re more likely to be more focused on their mission, Beck said.

And troops that know their families are happy are more likely to stay in the military and stay in South Korea, he said.

The Cook’s military-supplied apartment has echoes of home, with three bedrooms, modern American appliances and a large, comfortable couch.

Its electrical sockets take American plugs, which means small appliances brought from the US are easily used without adapters.

“That’s so simple and little” but provides “a piece of comfort of home,” said Re.

Another military spouse, Dymen McCoy, started a home-based business, LeahCole’s Delights, after arriving in South Korea two years ago from North Carolina.

During the July Fourth festival, she sold baked treats from a stand on the base’s main promenade. Business was brisk. By midafternoon, cupcakes were still available, but the brownies were gone, save for a few crumbs she offered as a sample.

“I hit my stride here, when we got to Korea,” McCoy said, explaining that the business is now finding customers across Humphreys’ many commands and those in nearby Osan Air Base.

“We just kinda blew up here bigger than we imagined,” McCoy said, as customers stopped by, with some saying friends had told them about her “must try” products.

Long before it was called Camp Humphreys or later, US Army Garrison Humphreys, K-6 airfield south of Seoul, Korea was home to US Marine Air Group 12 during the Korean War.

100% commitment to South Korea
The military history of Camp Humphreys dates back more than 100 years, when the Japanese colonial occupiers of Korea built Pyeongtaek Airfield on the site. During the Korean War, US forces repaired and expanded it for American use, naming it K-6.

In 1962, K-6 was renamed Camp Humphreys in honor of Army Chief Warrant Officer Benjamin Humphreys, a helicopter pilot who was killed in an accident.

The base took on various functions for more than four decades until 2007, when land was broken for an expanded Humphreys to be known as US Army Garrison Humphreys.

Under a 2004 deal with the South Korean government, the US moved troops from bases in and north of the South Korean capital, including the US Forces Korea headquarters at Yongsan in central Seoul, to Humphreys.

It saw the footprint of Humphreys triple, from 1,210 acres to more than 3,600 acres.

In the 2000s, that expansion saw protests as some South Koreans decried forced evictions of local landowners and the effects on land prices and noise levels the expanded Humphreys would bring.

But the South Korean government stressed the need for the base, especially having Yongsan return to Korean control. In a 2006 statement, then-Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook called it “a matter of boosting national pride.”

After more than 10 years of work, the transformation became official on June 29, 2018, when the new, relocated headquarters of UN Command and US Forces Korea opened at Humphreys.

The expansion had cost $10.8 billion, 90% of which was paid by the South Korean government, Gen. Vincent Brooks, then-commander of USFK, said in a dedication speech that day.

“For that 90%, the US remains with you, 100%!” Brooks told the Koreans in attendance.

Then-South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo told the crowd the UN and US forces at Humphreys would play “a crucial role of contributing to the world’s peace by achieving a balance as the stabilizer of Northeast Asia and peace on the Korean Peninsula.”

Since 2018, the base has continued to expand with construction cranes towering over new housing blocks as the US military adds capacity.

At the end of May, two eight-story housing blocks opened for enlisted personnel without families, with room for more than 300 residents in each tower.

The $67 million cost was funded by South Korea, an Army release said.

Eleven projects valued at more than $1 billion are expected to be completed by September 2026 under the Humphreys modernization plan, said Daniel Hancock, deputy to the garrison commander. Those include barracks, vehicle maintenance facilities, a satellite communications facility, an elementary school, and aircraft support facilities.

Plans for the next decade include more aviation hangars, a new airport runway and aircraft parking areas, a consolidated headquarters and new maintenance, laundry and dining facilities, Hancock said.

Camp Humphreys is preparing for a workday population of 45,000 in the next three to five years – almost double the 26,000 people who report for duty each day at the Pentagon in Washington DC.

“We’ve grown exponentially and continue to grow,” Hancock says.

Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2024/09/02/asia/camp-humphreys-us-south-korea-dst-intl-hnk/index.html

The United States has seized Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro’s airplane after determining that its acquisition was in violation of US sanctions, among other criminal issues. The US flew the aircraft to Florida on Monday, according to two US officials.

It’s the latest development in what has long been a frosty relationship between the US and Venezuela, and its seizure in the Dominican Republic marks an escalation as the US continues to investigate what it regards as corrupt practices by Venezuela’s government.

“This sends a message all the way up to the top,” one of the US officials told CNN. “Seizing the foreign head of state’s plane is unheard-of for criminal matters. We’re sending a clear message here that no one is above the law, no one is above the reach of US sanctions.”

The plane has been described by officials as Venezuela’s equivalent to Air Force One and it has been pictured in previous state visits by Maduro around the world.

The Dominican Republic’s President Luis Abinader said the plane seized by the US on Monday was not registered under the name of the Venezuelan government, but rather under “the name of an individual.”

Foreign Minister of the Dominican Republic Roberto Álvarez said the country’s Attorney General’s Office received an order last May from a national court to “immobilize” the plane. The US had requested it be immobilized so they could search it for “evidence and objects linked to fraud activities, smuggling of goods for illicit activities and money laundering,” he said.

In a statement, US Attorney General Merrick Garland said that “the Justice Department seized an aircraft we allege was illegally purchased for $13 million through a shell company and smuggled out of the United States for use by Nicolás Maduro and his cronies.”

The plane, a Dassault Falcon 900EX, was purchased from a company in Florida, the Justice Department said, and was illegally exported in April 2023 from the United States to Venezuela through the Caribbean. It was used for Maduro’s international travels, and flew “almost exclusively to and from a military base in Venezuela,” according to the Justice Department.

Records show that the plane’s last registered flight was in March, flying from Caracas to the Dominican capital of Santo Domingo.

The Venezuelan government described the seizure as “piracy” in a statement on Monday, and accused Washington of escalating “aggression” toward Maduro’s government following a contested presidential election this July.

“Once again, the authorities of the USA, in a recurring criminal practice that could not be labeled anything but piracy, have illegally seized an aircraft that has been used by the president of the Republic, justifying its action in coercive measures that, illegally and unilaterally, they impose around the world,” it said.

“The United States has already demonstrated that it uses its economic and military power to intimidate and pressure states such as the Dominican Republic to serve as accomplices in its criminal acts. This is an example of the supposed ‘rules-based order’, which, disregarding international law, seeks to establish the law of the strongest,” it said.

Multiple agencies involved
For years, US officials have sought to disrupt the flow of billions of dollars to the regime. Homeland Security Investigations — the second largest investigative agency in the federal government — has seized dozens of luxury vehicles, among other assets, heading to Venezuela.

“The plane was seized in violation of US sanctions with Venezuela and other criminal matters that we’re still looking at regarding this aircraft,” Anthony Salisbury,
Special Agent in Charge, Homeland Security Investigations told CNN.

A high-ranking official from the Dominican Republic told CNN that Maduro’s aircraft had been in Dominican territory undergoing maintenance at the time it was seized by US authorities. The source added that the government had no record that Maduro’s private plane was in the country until it was seized.

US officials worked closely with the Dominican Republic, which notified Venezuela of the seizure, according to one of the US officials.

Multiple federal agencies were involved in the seizure, including Homeland Security Investigations; Commerce agents, the Bureau of Industry and Security; and the Justice Department.

The Dominican Republic’s Foreign Minister said the government did not participate in the US’ investigation and only “international legal cooperation” was required under the two countries’ bilateral agreements.

One of the next steps, upon arriving to the US, will be pursuing forfeiture, meaning the Venezuelan government has a chance to petition for it, and collecting evidence from the aircraft.

The US recently placed pressure on the Venezuelan government to “immediately” release specific data regarding its presidential election, citing concerns about the credibility of Maduro’s claimed victory.

Venezuela’s opposition has published more than 80% of tallies printed and collected from voting machines across the country. Though partial, the documentation appears to show that the opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia actually won the vote, several experts told CNN.

The situation in Venezuela has had implications for US politics as millions flee the country, many of whom have chosen to migrate to the US-Mexico border.

Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2024/09/02/politics/us-seizes-venezuela-president-maduros-airplane/index.html

Coco Gauff’s U.S. Open title defence ended in a 6-3 4-6 6-3 loss to fellow American Emma Navarro in the fourth round on Sunday, the reigning women’s champion becoming the latest big name to make an early exit at Flushing Meadows this year.
Gauff had been looking to avenge her fourth-round loss at this year’s Wimbledon but Navarro stunned the crowd at Arthur Ashe Stadium with an aggressive all-round display to reach the quarter-finals for the first time.

At least 47 people, including five children, were injured on Sunday after Russian missiles struck a shopping mall and events complex in Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kharkiv, officials said.

Earlier in the day, Russia said Kyiv had launched one of the biggest drone attacks against it since the full-scale war began, targeting power plants and an oil refinery, while Moscow’s forces made further gains towards a key town in eastern Ukraine.

The Kharkiv attack prompted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to renew calls on allies to allow Kyiv to fire Western-supplied missiles deeper into enemy territory and reduce the military threat posed by Russia.
The fighting comes at a critical juncture in the two-and-a-half year conflict. Russia is pressing an offensive in eastern Ukraine while trying to expel Ukrainian forces that broke through its western border in a surprise incursion on Aug. 6.

The party won 32.8% of the vote in Thuringia, followed by the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) with 23.6%.

A far-right party has won a regional election in Germany for the first time since the Second World War.

Alternative for Germany (AfD), founded in 2013 with an anti-migration and eurosceptic agenda, picked up the most votes in the eastern state of Thuringia.

The party won 32.8% of the vote, followed by mainstream conservatives the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) with 23.6%.

It is the first time a far-right party has won the most seats in a German state parliament since the Second World War.

But AfD is almost certain to be excluded from power by rival parties.

AfD also performed well in the neighbouring state of Saxony, where it was a close second behind the CDU by just half a percentage point, a ZDF exit poll said.

The CDU, which has governed Saxony since German reunification more than 30 years ago and is the main opposition party at national level, appeared set to secure 32% of the vote in the state.

But the AfD was narrowly behind with 31.5% on Sunday, according to the poll.

Speaking after the results, AfD’s leader in Thuringia Bjorn Hocke said he felt “a great, great deal of pride”.

However, when it was pointed out that Germany’s domestic intelligence agency has his local party branch under official surveillance as a “proven right-wing extremist” group, he bristled at the question and said: “Please stop stigmatising me. We are the number one party in Thuringia.

“You don’t want to classify one-third of the voters in Thuringia as right-wing extremists.”

Hocke himself has been convicted of knowingly using a Nazi slogan at political events – he is appealing.

Brad Pitt and his girlfriend, Ines de Ramon, stepped out for a double date with George Clooney and his wife, Amal Clooney, in Italy on Saturday.

The “Fight Club” star and the model cozied up for a taxi boat ride while heading to dinner in Venice alongside their A-list pals.

Pitt, 60, and de Ramon, 34, sat in the back of the boat as they took in the sights of the city.

At one point, the “Bullet Train” actor wrapped his arm around de Ramon and waved at the paparazzi as she smiled.

Pitt sported a partially buttoned-up shirt for the outing, while de Ramon donned a skintight midi black dress.

George and Amal, meanwhile, stood at the front of the boat with the driver.

The “Up in the Air” star, 63, sported a blue suit while the lawyer, 46, wore a black dress.

The two smiled and held hands before later sitting down under a covered portion of the boat with Pitt and de Ramon.

They appeared to be having an animated conversation as Pitt waved his hands in the air while chatting with his friends.

Once the foursome arrived at George and Amal’s favorite Ristorante Da Ivo, per People, they were helped out of the boat by employees. The gentlemen also offered a hand to their respective partners.

After dinner, George was photographed helping his wife back onto the boat.

The group’s outing comes after Pitt and George attended the Venice Film Festival earlier in the day to promote their forthcoming film, “Wolfs.”

Pitt appeared in good spirits as he waved to photographers while de Ramon beamed beside him.

Source: https://pagesix.com/2024/09/01/celebrity-news/brad-pitt-and-ines-de-ramon-have-double-date-with-george-and-amal-clooney-in-venice/

The 68-year-old musician, who joined the goth rock band in 1987, said cancer “can be beaten but if you are diagnosed early enough you stand a way better chance”.

A long-time member of British band The Cure says he has been undergoing treatment for nearly a year after being diagnosed with an “aggressive” form of blood cancer.

Keyboardist Roger O’Donnell, 68, revealed on Instagram that he “ignored the symptoms for a few months” before having a scan and then surgery.

A subsequent biopsy showed in September 2023 he had a “very rare and aggressive form of lymphoma”, with O’Donnell calling the result “devastating”.

The musician, who joined the goth rock band in 1987, added he has “completed 11 months of treatment under some of the finest specialists in the world and with second opinions”.

He had advice from treatment teams, who worked on the cancer drugs he took, along with the latest immunotherapy.

O’Donnell said the “last phase of treatment was radiotherapy”, and he is “fine and the prognosis is amazing”.

In 2019, a previous drummer for the band, Andy Anderson, died at the age of 68 after being diagnosed with cancer.

O’Donnell wrote the message on social media on Sunday as he said September was blood cancer awareness month “so it’s a good opportunity to have a dialogue about these diseases”.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/the-cure-keyboardist-roger-odonnell-diagnosed-with-rare-and-aggressive-form-of-blood-cancer-13208144

Morteza Mehrzadselakjani, better known as Mehrzad, spent five years alone in his house because he was too embarrassed to go outside. Now, he’s hoping to become a three-time Paralympic champion.

The world’s second tallest man is competing in the Paralympics – but he is so tall, he has to sleep on the floor.

Morteza Mehrzadselakjani, better known as Mehrzad, is 8ft 0.85in tall and a two-time Paralympic champion in sitting volleyball, representing Iran.

But even though he had a custom-made bed for the Tokyo Paralympics, he’s having to sleep on the floor in Paris, according to his coach.

“He doesn’t have a special bed, but he has got the most important aim in his mind,” head coach Hadi Rezaeigarkani told Olympics.com.

“It doesn’t matter for him whether he will lay on the floor or he’s not going to have enough to eat. He has the mind to become a champion.”

Iran has won seven of the nine tournaments they have competed at since their first try at Seoul 1988.

A gold at Paris 2024 would be a hat-trick for Mehrzad who made his Paralympic debut in 2016, also becoming the tallest athlete to ever compete at a Paralympic Games.

Coach Rezaeigarkani was the one who discovered him when the future athlete appeared on an Iranian reality TV show in 2011 to talk about the challenges he faces in everyday life.

Azerbaijan’s ruling party was set to retain its majority in Sunday’s snap parliamentary election, election officials said, in the country’s first vote since staging a lightning offensive a year ago to recapture the breakaway territory of Karabakh.
President Ilham Aliyev’s party was on course to win 67 out of 125 seats in the parliament, based on 91% of the vote count, Central Election Commission chief Mazahir Panakhov said at a media conference.

That is nearly on par with the 69 seats in the outgoing parliament.
Just over 2 million people in Azerbaijan, a country that’s bounded by the Caspian Sea and Caucasus Mountains, voted, bringing the turnout at the time of the close of polling stations to 37.3%, Panakhov said.
According to exit polls, dozens of other seats were set to go to candidates who are nominally independent of political parties but in practice back the government, and to minor pro-government parties.

The man who walked out into the rain in Dhaka hadn’t seen the sun in more than five years.
Even on a cloudy day, his eyes struggled to adjust after half a decade locked in a dimly lit room, where his days had been spent listening to the whirr of industrial fans and the screams of the tortured.
Standing on the street, he struggled to remember his sister’s telephone number.
More than 200km away, that same sister was reading about the men emerging from a reported detention facility in Bangladesh’s infamous military intelligence headquarters, known as Aynaghor, or “House of Mirrors”.
They were men who had allegedly been “disappeared” under the increasingly autocratic rule of Sheikh Hasina – largely critics of the government who were there one day, and gone the next.
But Sheikh Hasina had now fled the country, unseated by student-led protests, and these men were being released.
In a remote corner of Bangladesh, the young woman staring at her computer wondered if her brother – whose funeral they had held just two years ago, after every avenue to uncover his whereabouts proved fruitless – might be among them?

Outside the detention facility, for Minti Chakma the shock of her brother’s disappearance was being replaced with panic.

“We went to several police stations to enquire, but they said they had no information on him and he was not in their custody,” she recalls. “Months passed and we started getting panicky. My father was also getting unwell.”

A massive campaign was launched to find Michael, and Minti filed a writ petition in the High Court in 2020.

Nothing brought any answers.

“The whole family went through a lot of trauma and agony. It was terrible not knowing the whereabouts of my brother,” she says.

Then in August 2020, Michael’s father died during Covid. Some 18 months later, the family decided that Michael must have died as well.

“We gave up hope,” Minti says, simply. “So as per our Buddhist tradition we decided to do hold his funeral so that the soul can be freed from his body. With a heavy heart we did that. We all cried a lot.”

Rights groups in Bangladesh say they have documented about 600 cases of alleged enforced disappearances since 2009, the year Sheikh Hasina was elected.
In the years that followed, Sheikh Hasina’s government would be accused of targeting their critics and dissenters in an attempt to stifle any dissent which posed a threat to their rule – an accusation she and the government always denied.
Some of the so-called disappeared were eventually released or produced in court, others were found dead. Human Rights Watch says nearly 100 people remain missing.
Rumours of secret prisons run by various Bangladeshi security agencies circulated among families and friends. Minti watched videos detailing the disappearances, praying her brother was in custody somewhere.
But the existence of such a facility in the capital was only revealed following an investigation by Netra News in May 2022.
The report found it was inside the Dhaka military encampment, right in the heart of the city. It also managed to get hold of first-hand accounts from inside the building – many of which tally with Michael’s description of being held in a cell without sunlight.
The descriptions also echo those of Maroof Zaman, a former Bangladeshi ambassador to Qatar and Vietnam, who was first detained in the House of Mirrors in December 2017.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdd7nqzj20qo

Japan, a nation so hardworking its language has a term for literally working oneself to death, is trying to address a worrisome labor shortage by coaxing more people and companies to adopt four-day workweeks.

The Japanese government first expressed support for a shorter working week in 2021, after lawmakers endorsed the idea. The concept has been slow to catch on, however; about 8% of companies in Japan allow employees to take three or more days off per week, while 7% give their workers the legally mandated one day off, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

Hoping to produce more takers, especially among small and medium-sized businesses, the government launched a “work style reform” campaign that promotes shorter hours and other flexible arrangements along with overtime limits and paid annual leave. The labor ministry recently started offering free consulting, grants and a growing library of success stories as further motivation.

“By realizing a society in which workers can choose from a variety of working styles based on their circumstances, we aim to create a virtuous cycle of growth and distribution and enable each and every worker to have a better outlook for the future,” states a ministry website about the “hatarakikata kaikaku” campaign, which translates to “innovating how we work.”

The department overseeing the new support services for businesses says only three companies have come forward so far to request advice on making changes, relevant regulations and available subsidies, illustrating the challenges the initiative faces.

Perhaps more telling: of the 63,000 Panasonic Holdings Corp. employees who are eligible for four-day schedules at the electronics maker and its group companies in Japan, only 150 employees have opted to take them, according to Yohei Mori, who oversees the initiative at one Panasonic company.

The government’s official backing of a better work-life balance represents a marked change in Japan, a country whose reputed culture of workaholic stoicism often got credited for the national recovery and stellar economic growth after World War II.

Conformist pressures to sacrifice for one’s company are intense. Citizens typically take vacations at the same time of year as their colleagues — during the Bon holidays in the summer and around New Year’s — so co-workers can’t accuse them of being neglectful or uncaring.

Long hours are the norm. Although 85% of employers report giving their workers two days off a week and there are legal restrictions on overtime hours, which are negotiated with labor unions and detailed in contracts. But some Japanese do “service overtime,” meaning it’s unreported and performed without compensation.

A recent government white paper on “karoshi,” the Japanese term that in English means “death from overwork, said Japan has at least 54 such fatalities a year, including from heart attacks.

Japan’s “serious, conscientious and hard-working” people tend to value their relationships with their colleagues and form a bond with their companies, and Japanese TV shows and manga comics often focus on the workplace, said Tim Craig, the author of a book called “Cool Japan: Case Studies from Japan’s Cultural and Creative Industries.”

“Work is a big deal here. It’s not just a way to make money, although it is that, too,” said Craig, who previously taught at Doshisha Business School and founded editing and translation firm BlueSky Academic Services.

Some officials consider changing that mindset as crucial to maintaining a viable workforce amid Japan’s nosediving birth rate. At the current rate, which is partly attributed to the country’s job-focused culture, the working age population is expected to decline 40% to 45 million people in 2065, from the current 74 million, according to government data.

Proponents of the three-days-off model say it encourages people raising children, those caring for older relatives, retirees living on pensions and others looking for flexibility or additional income to remain in the workforce for longer.

Akiko Yokohama, who works at Spelldata, a small Tokyo-based technology company that allows employees to work a four-day schedule, takes Wednesdays off along with Saturdays and Sundays. The extra day off allows her to get her hair done, attend other appointments or go shopping.

“It’s hard when you aren’t feeling well to keep going for five days in a row. The rest allows you to recover or go see the doctor. Emotionally, it’s less stressful,” Yokohama said.

Her husband, a real estate broker, also gets Wednesdays off but works weekends, which is common in his industry. Yokohama said that allows the couple to go on midweek family outings with their elementary-school age child.

Fast Retailing Co., the Japanese company that owns Uniqlo, Theory, J Brand and other clothing brands, pharmaceutical company Shionogi & Co., and electronics companies Ricoh Co. and Hitachi also began offering a four-day workweek in recent years.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/japan-4day-work-week-campaign-f78a95a89d99e7b323f7554721088d66

A white beluga whale named “Hvaldimir,” first spotted in Norway not far from Russian waters with a harness that ignited rumors he may be a Moscow spy, has been found dead.

The Norwegian public broadcaster NRK reported that the whale carcass was found floating at the Risavika Bay in southern Norway Saturday by a father and son who were fishing.

The beluga, named by combining the Norwegian word for whale — hval — and Russian President Putin’s first name Vladimir, was lifted out of the water with a crane and taken to a nearby harbor where experts will examine it.

“Unfortunately, we found Hvaldimir floating in the sea. He has passed away but it’s not immediately clear what the cause of death is,” marine biologist Sebastian Strand told NRK, adding that no major external injuries were visible on the animal.

Strand, who has monitored Hvaldimir’s adventures for the past three years on behalf of the Norway-based Marine Mind non-profit organization, said he was deeply affected by the whale’s sudden death.

“It’s absolutely horrible,” Strand said. “He was apparently in good condition as of (Friday). So we just have to figure out what might have happened here.”

The 4.2-meter (14-foot) long and 1,225-kilogram (2,700-pound) whale was first spotted by fishermen near the northern island of Ingøya, not far from the Arctic city of Hammerfest, in April 2019 wearing a harness and what appeared to be a mount for a small camera and a buckle marked with text “Equipment St. Petersburg”.

That sparked allegations that the beluga was “a spy whale.” Experts said the Russian navy is known to have trained whales for military purposes.

Over the years, the beluga was seen in several Norwegian coastal towns and it quickly became clear that he was very tame and enjoyed playing with people, NRK said.

NGO Marine Mind said on its site that Hvaldimir was very interested in people and responded to hand signals.

“Based on these observations, it appeared as if Hvaldimir arrived in Norway by crossing over from Russian waters, where it is presumed he was held in captivity,” it said.

Norwegian media have speculated whether Hvaldimir could have been used as “a therapy whale” of some sort in Russia.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/norway-beluga-spy-whale-russia-561865d7ea0a3278793f4c27f8739d94

Usha Chilukuri Vance loves her “meat and potatoes” husband, JD Vance. She explained to a rapt Republican National Convention audience how their vice-presidential candidate adapted to her vegetarian diet and even learned to cook Indian food from her immigrant mother.
That image of her white, Christian husband making the spicy cuisine of her parents’ native state in South India is atypical for the leaders of a party whose members are still largely white and Christian. Her presence at the RNC sparked enthusiasm on social media among some Indian American conservatives, particularly Hindu Americans, although most Indian Americans identify as Democrats.
But for all Usha Vance shared about their identity-blending marriage in her speech last month in Milwaukee, which was a little over four minutes, she made no mention of her Hindu upbringing or her personal faith and their interfaith relationship – biographical details that have exposed her to online vitriol and hate.While some political analysts say her strong presence as a Hindu American still makes the community proud, others question whether the Republican Party is really ready for a Hindu second lady.

Usha Vance is choosing to remain silent about her religion in the run-up to the election and declined to speak with The Associated Press about it. She opted not to answer questions about whether she is a practicing Hindu or if she attends Mass with her Catholic husband, an adult convert to the faith, or in which faith tradition their three children are being raised.

Brought up in San Diego by immigrant parents, both professors, in a Hindu household, Usha Vance did confirm that one of their children has an Indian name, and she and JD Vance were married in both “an Indian and an American wedding.” The pair met as students at Yale Law School.

Her Hindu background could appeal to some South Asian voters, which might add value in swing states with larger South Asian communities like Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina, said Dheepa Sundaram, a Hindu Studies professor at the University of Denver. Sundaram says that while some Indian and Hindu conservatives may be eager to embrace Usha Vance, that doesn’t appear to be part of the party’s public-facing strategy.

“To me it seems like her Hindu identity is more of a liability than an asset,” she said. “It also feels like the campaign wants to have it both ways: Usha may be Hindu, which is great, but we don’t want to talk about it.”

Sundaram said Usha Vance would appeal particularly to those Hindu Americans who support the politics of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, under whom Hindu nationalism has surged.

There are deep divisions within some Indian American communities over issues such as taxes, education, relations with India and anti-caste discrimination legislation that gained momentum in Seattle and California. Caste is a division of people based on birth or descent and calls to outlaw related discrimination are growing in the U.S.

About 7 in 10 Indian Americans identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party, while about 3 in 10 identify with or lean toward the Republican Party, according to Pew Research Center surveys conducted in 2022 and 2023. AAPI Data/AP-NORC surveys from earlier this year found that less than 1 in 10 South Asian Americans trust the Republican Party over the Democrats on key issues like abortion, gun policy and climate change, while around half or more trusted the Democratic Party more than the Republicans.

Still Usha Vance, “a second lady who looks like us and speaks like us,” may help capture the attention of a block of voters that has been challenging for Republicans to reach, said Ohio State Sen. Niraj Antani, a Republican and Hindu American who is the youngest member of the state senate.

“If Republicans don’t reach out to minority groups, we will lose elections.”

Vivek Ramaswamy, the 39-year-old biotech entrepreneur who ran for president in 2020 and now supports the Trump-Vance ticket, made his Hindu faith front and center during his campaign last year. He said Hindu teachings had much in common with Judeo-Christian values. He declined to comment about Usha Vance’s religious background.

Usha Vance’s silence about her religion and Ramaswamy’s defeat in the primary election may indicate that being anything other than Christian in the Republican Party might still be an issue for a part of the base, said Karthick Ramakrishnan, a researcher at the University of California, Berkeley, and executive director of AAPI Data.

“What we’ve seen since the convention is more exclusionary elements within the Republican Party speaking up and against Usha and JD Vance,” Ramakrishnan said. “This, to me, suggests that there is a political price to pay in terms of being open about one’s religious identity that is not Christian. There’s still a long way to go.”

Antani, a Hindu candidate who has won several Ohio state elections in a region that is mostly Christian and deeply conservative, said “the racism in the Republican Party is coming from racists, not Republicans.” Antani, who celebrated Usha Vance speaking about her Indian heritage at the RNC, believes Ramaswamy lost not because he is Hindu, because he was not as well-known as the other candidates.

Vance was baptized and converted to Catholicism in 2019, and says he and his family now call the church their home. The campaign did not answer questions as to whether the three children had been baptized. He has also talked about how his wife helped him find his Catholic faith after a roller coaster of a spiritual journey as he was raised Protestant and became an atheist in college.

Suhag Shukla, executive director of the Hindu American Foundation, said the fact that Usha Vance inspired her husband on his religious journey to become Catholic is “as Hindu as it gets.”

“Hinduism is about finding your own path and getting in touch with your own spirituality,” she said, adding that the definition of a “practicing Hindu” ranges from someone who goes to temple and performs rituals to someone who is a cultural Hindu who observes festivals such as Diwali, or just engages in a spiritual practice such as meditation.

Usha Vance is an example of the positive contributions made by Hindu Americans, and her interfaith marriage and her ability to listen to different perspectives are reflective of Hindu teachings, she said.

“Hindu Americans assimilate, but also hold on to what inspired them from their tradition and culture,” Shukla said. “Our pluralistic background puts us in a good position to get along with different people without compromising who we are. Hindu culture is very comfortable with differences of opinion.”

Shukla said those who are turning to the Republican party are reacting to anti-Hindu prejudice against Hindu Democrats that is not being shut down by their own party.

“There is this perception that the Democratic Party does not care about the well-being of Hindu Americans or is deaf to the community’s concerns,” she said, referring to legislation including caste as a category in anti-discrimination laws, which was proposed and passed in Seattle. Similar legislation was vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in California.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/usha-vance-hindu-faith-2024-election-509313f4b9fc33f92e7846a31ea2025a

RUSSIA has suffered its biggest ever air raid in the war so far as Ukraine fights back with kamikaze drones in a series of onslaughts across the country.

Dramatic footage shows the self destructive Ukrainian drones break into a bright orange blaze as they ramp up their attack on Putin.

Onlookers screamed in horror as the Moscow Oil Refinery burned in the capital’s southeastern Kapotnya district as part of Ukraine’s latest incursion.

Grey smoke is seen billowing from the refinery’s towers before turning into a mushroom cloud.

The Moscow Oil Refinery is owned by state-owned Gazprom, part of Russian energy giant Gazprom.

Unprepared Russian defenders were stuck using machine guns to shoot down the unmanned planes as they descended.

One dramatic video shows a Lyuty Ukrainian drone approach the oil refinery unimpeded watched by workers – before diving an exploding in a pinpoint strike.

Another unmanned plane struck the Konakovo Power Station in Tver, two hours from Moscow, which is said to be the largest energy producer in central Russia.

The shocking clip shows the building, right next to a lake, go up in flames as a dark grey cloud of smoke appears as passersby stroll past as drones flew low into what appeared to be a residential area.

One man can be heard saying “They’re ****ing annoying. We’ve ****ed up everything. They’re shooting them with machine guns.”

Kashira Power Plant in Moscow region was also targeted.

A staggering 160 or so kamikaze drones were deployed as Russia suffered its biggest air raid since the war began in February 2022.

The drone siege covering 16 separate regions was filmed by panic-stricken residents who happened to be nearby.

The first wave occurred near Podolsk after 1am; another was shot down in Stupino district around 3am.

While the attack on the Moscow Oil Refinery at Kapotnya came at around 6:30am.

Three Moscow airports – Vnukovo, Domodedovo and Zhukovsky – have since imposed flight restrictions.

The departure of 74 flights was delayed, and 43 incoming aircraft were forced to divert.

On the approaches to Moscow, air defence forces intercepted nine drones, according to the city’s mayor Sergey Sobyanin.

More were intercepted in the Odintsovo and Leninsky districts at 5am.

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/news/12341950/ukraine-kamikaze-drones-across-russia/

Including additional markers in the blood test gave scientists a more complete picture of patients’ long-term heart disease risk.

A new approach to a routine blood test could predict a person’s 30-year risk of heart disease, research published Saturday in the New England Journal of Medicine found.

Doctors have long assessed their patients’ risk for cardiovascular disease by using a blood test to look at cholesterol levels, focusing particularly on LDL or “bad” cholesterol. But limiting blood testing to just cholesterol misses important — and usually silent — risk factors, experts say.

“We have other biomarkers that tell us about other kinds of biological problems our patients who are destined to have cardiovascular disease are likely to have,” said lead study author Dr. Paul Ridker, director of the Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.

Ridker and his team found that in addition to LDL cholesterol, two other markers — a type of fat in the blood called lipoprotein (a), or Lp(a), and an indicator of inflammation — are important predictors of a person’s risk of heart attack, stroke and coronary heart disease.

The findings were also presented Saturday at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2024 in London.

In the study, the researchers analyzed data from nearly 30,000 U.S. women who were part of the Women’s Health Study. On average, the women were 55 years old when they enrolled in the years 1992 through 1995. About 13% — roughly 3,600 participants — had either a heart attack or stroke, had surgery to fix a narrowed or blocked artery, or died from heart disease over the 30-year follow-up period.

Though the research was done in women, Ridker said the findings would likely also apply to men.

Still, the focus on women was on purpose, he said. “This is a largely preventable disease, but women tend to be under treated and underdiagnosed.”

All of the women had blood tests done at the beginning of the study to measure their LDL cholesterol, Lp(a) and C-reactive protein levels, a marker of inflammation in the body.

These measurements, individually as well as together, appeared to predict a woman’s heart health over the next three decades, the study found.

Women with the highest levels of LDL cholesterol had a 36% higher risk for heart disease compared with those with the lowest levels. The highest levels of Lp(a) indicated a 33% elevated risk, and those with the highest levels of CRP were 70% more at risk for heart disease.

When the three were looked at together, women who had the highest levels were 1.5 times more likely to have a stroke and over three times more likely to develop coronary heart disease over the next 30 years compared with women with the lowest levels.

All of the markers have been individually linked to higher risk of heart disease, but “all three represent different biological processes. They tell us why someone is actually at risk,” Ridker said.

Intervening early
Traditional risk factors for heart disease include obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels. Testing for Lp(a) and CRP can reveal less obvious risk factors.

“You can have no traditional risk factors and just by having that high Lp(a), you are at higher risk,” said Dr. Rachel Bond, system director of women’s heart health at Dignity Health in Arizona, who was not involved with the study.

Bond said everyone should get their Lp(a) tested once in their lives. If they have elevated levels at any point, they will for life. There is one caveat: Post-menopausal women can develop high Lp(a) and may want to have their levels tested again at that time, Bond said.

On the other hand, LDL cholesterol and CRP levels fluctuate throughout a person’s life. Ridker supports doctors running the three-pronged blood test when patients are in their 30s or 40s, to catch potentially overlooked risk factors early, when there is time to intervene.

Although exercising, eating well and not smoking are all important, people with already elevated levels of Lp(a), LDL and CRP will likely require medication, said Dr. Steven Nissen, chief academic officer of the Heart, Vascular and Thoracic Institute at the Cleveland Clinic, who was not involved with the study.

“We can’t expect lifestyle interventions are going to do the job alone for most people,” Nissen said.

The study had several limitations that future research may address, including a lack of racial and ethnic diversity, which plays an important role in a person’s risk for heart disease. Nearly all of the participants — 94% — were white.

Nissen also noted that the study stopped measuring Lp(a) levels once they passed a certain threshold.

“The highest levels of lipoprotein (a) in this study weren’t even high enough to reach the clinical threshold at which a patient would be treated,” he said. “It tends to underestimate the risk of lipoprotein (a).”

Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/heart-health/simple-blood-test-predict-persons-heart-disease-risk-30-years-study-fi-rcna169009

AN uninhabited 19-mile isle that’s almost 1,500 miles away from human life boasts an internet domain despite no one living there.

Bouvet Island in the South Atlantic Ocean, dubbed the world’s loneliest island, lies halfway between South Africa and Antarctica.

A whopping 1,400 miles away from humans, the nearest inhabited land is British overseas territory Tristan da Cunha.

While its isolation may seem to be its standout feature, the desolate isle is also haunted by an eerie past with lots of unsolved questions.

Back in 1964, an abandoned boat was discovered on Bouvet without any passengers and their identities remain unknown, according to Atlas Obscura.

And in 1979, a US satellite mysteriously spotted a bright flash of light between Bouvet and Prince Edward Islands.

No one at the time could explain the illumination but it’s now thought the flash was caused by a secret South African-Israeli joint nuclear bomb detonation.

But neither country has owned up and it’s just widely believed speculation.

What the island lacks in humans, it makes up for in nature and animals.

Species known to roam Bouvet include penguins, orcas and humpback whales.

But that’s not all – its glaciers serve as a paradise funky bird species like snow petrels and Antarctic prions who also call Bouvet their home.

Desolate but not barren, vegetation includes lichens and mosses and the island is uniquely characterised by an ice-filled crater of an inactive volcano in its centre.

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/news/12336890/worlds-loneliest-island-dark-past/

When Pope Francis visits Indonesia next week, he will stop by a mosque in Jakarta that has an unusual feature – a tunnel connecting it to the city’s Catholic cathedral, as part of a push for interfaith harmony on his 12-day Asia-Pacific tour.
The 28.3-metre “Tunnel of Friendship”, connecting the iconic Istiqlal mosque to the Our Lady of the Assumption cathedral, was built by the government in 2020 as a symbol of religious harmony, a theme the global head of the Catholic church has also emphasised on his travels during his 11-year reign.

Shanghai Museum has pulled in crowds this summer for an exhibition of ancient Egyptian relics including cat statues and other feline imagery, and which on Saturday nights allows up to 200 visitors to bring along their own four-legged friends.
Inspired ancient Egyptians’ worship of Bastet, the goddess of protection – often depicted as a cat – the museum has given cats the chance to interact with part of the exhibition called “The Secrets of Saqqara”.

The bodies of six hostages taken by Hamas on 7 October have been recovered from a tunnel in the Rafah area of southern Gaza, the Israeli military has said. They have all been named and pictured.

Six Israeli hostages in Gaza have been confirmed dead by their families, hours after Israel’s army said it had found bodies in the territory.

The bodies of Carmel Gat, Eden Yerushalmi, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi, and Ori Danino were brought back to Israel, the Israeli military said in a statement.

All were abducted by Hamas-led militants on 7 October, with their bodies found in an underground tunnel in southern Gaza on Saturday, according to the Israel Defence Forces.

“According to our initial estimation, they were brutally murdered by Hamas terrorists a short time before we reached them,” military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said.

Hamas and its armed wing did not immediately comment on the accusations.

US President Joe Biden said he is “devastated and outraged” by the news.

“It is as tragic as it is reprehensible. Make no mistake, Hamas leaders will pay for these crimes,” he said.

“And we will keep working around the clock for a deal to secure the release of the remaining hostages.”

US vice president Kamala Harris and secretary of state Antony Blinken also shared their condolences with Mr Goldberg-Polin’s parents.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/israeli-hostages-confirmed-dead-after-army-finds-six-bodies-in-gaza-13207541

Wedding bells are ringing! Page Six is celebrating all of the betrothals that happened this year.

Here are the celebrities who said “yes” when their partners got down on one knee:

Jason Duggar and Maddie Grace

Jason Duggar will be the next member of the Duggar family to walk down the aisle.

The “Counting On” alum and his girlfriend Maddie Grace announced their engagement via Instagram on Aug. 30 — three months after they debuted their relationship online.

The 24-year-old popped the question in front of a romantic setting as they stood on the beach surrounded by candles and a display of roses arranged in the shape of a heart. The words “Will You Marry Me?” were lit up in a sign behind the happy couple.

“On 8/24, Jase asked me to marry him, and I could not be more excited!!” Maddie captioned the post.

Yolanda Hadid and Joseph Jingoli

Yolanda Hadid is reportedly engaged to her “cowboy” boyfriend of nearly six years, Joseph Jingoli.

Architectural Digest, which published a profile on the couple’s Texas mansion on Aug. 29, referred to Jingoli as Hadid’s “fiancé.”

The Dutch model and the construction company CEO met in Pennsylvania, where the former bought a farm and moved in 2017 after raising her children — daughters Gigi Hadid and Bella Hadid, as well as son Anwar Hadid — in Los Angeles.

According to AD, Jingoli “whisked [Yolanda] away” to Fort Worth, Texas, for their first date: a horse show. They celebrated their fifth anniversary in January.

Stella Banderas and Alex Gruszynski

Melanie Griffith and Antonio Banderas’ daughter, Stella Banderas, revealed her engagement to Alex Gruszynski on Aug. 19.

“I get to hang out with my favorite person on earth forever!” she gushed via Instagram.

The bride-to-be’s “excited” parents celebrated the childhood sweethearts’ milestone moment on social media the following day.

Christian Serratos and David Boyd

Congratulations are in order for Christian Serratos and David Boyd!

The “Walking Dead” actress announced she and Boyd are engaged via Instagram on Aug. 16.

“I’ve been calling my boyfriend ‘Husband’ for ten years,” she captioned her post which showed a photo of the actress posing with her ring on display next to her singer fiancé. “Now it’s OFFICIAL.”

She also revealed Boyd customized her engagement ring with the help of Brilliant Earth.

The couple shares a child together whom they welcomed in May 2017.

Ally Shapiro and Jordan Bilfeld

Jill Zarin’s daughter, Ally Shapiro, is engaged!

Shapiro announced on Aug. 16 that her boyfriend, Jordan Bilfeld, proposed in Spain during their European vacation.

The brunette beauty took to her Instagram Story to post numerous photos showing off her massive circular diamond ring, beginning with a selfie of the happy couple.

An animated emoji that read, “OMG,” flashed atop the picture.

Zarin explained that Bilfeld popped the question by the beach after lunch at Beach Club Gran Folies in Islas Baleares.

Though Zarin and her boyfriend, Gary Brody, were present for the meal, they “had ZERO clue” what would follow.

The “Real Housewives of New York City” alum insisted that although she was “shocked” and “surprised,” she is wholeheartedly “thrilled for the couple.”

Source: https://pagesix.com/celebrity-news/celebrity-engagements-2024/

It has been described as the “most invasive species” to ever hit Thailand – one which risks enormous damage to the environment, according to officials.
Attempts to control it have seen crowds wading out into lakes, and genetic modification.
And yet the blackchin tialapia continues to spread through Thailand’s waterways, so far impacting 17 provinces.
An investigation in parliament has aimed to uncover the cause and its proponent, with Bangkok MP Nattacha Boonchaiinsawat declaring: “We will not pass a devastated ecosystem to the next generation.”
So can Thai authorities win the battle – and how exactly did this West African fish end up causing havoc half a world away?

“My heart is filled with so much pain. Even today, I cry when I think about how that one encounter destroyed my life.”
The year was 1992. Sushma* said she was 18 when a man she knew took her to an abandoned warehouse under the pretext of watching video tapes. There, six to seven men tied her up, raped her and took photographs of the act.
The men belonged to rich, influential families in Ajmer, a city in the western Indian state of Rajasthan.
“After they raped me, one of them gave me 200 rupees [$2; £1] to buy lipstick. I didn’t take the money,” she said.
Last week, 32 years later, Sushma saw a court convict her rapists and sentence them to life imprisonment.
“I am 50 years old today and I finally feel like I got justice,” she said. “But it cannot bring back all that I have lost.”
She said she had endured years of slander and taunts from society because of what happened to her, and both her marriages ended in divorce when her husbands discovered her past.
Sushma is one of 16 survivors – all schoolchildren or students – who were raped and blackmailed by a group of powerful men in different places in Ajmer city over several months in 1992. The case became a massive scandal and sparked huge protests.
Last week, the court handed out life sentences to six of the 18 accused: Nafis Chishty, Iqbal Bhat, Saleem Chishty, Sayed Jamir Hussain, Naseem – also known as Tarzan – and Suhail Ghani.
They have not confessed to the crime and their lawyers said they will appeal the verdict in a higher court.

Social media influencers, reality stars and TV personalities were among the guests as the Norwegian king’s eldest child, Princess Märtha Louise, married an American self-professed shaman on Saturday in a wedding ceremony following three days of festivities.

The 52-year-old Märtha Louise and Durek Verrett, who claims to be a sixth-generation shaman from California, tied the knot in the picturesque small town of Geiranger, one of Norway’s major tourist attractions located on a fjord with stunning views.

Following festivities that started on Thursday, the actual wedding ceremony took place in a large white tent set up on a lush lawn. Guests told media outlets that Norwegian and U.S. artists performed at the event along with a gospel choir and a singer representing Norway’s indigenous Sámi people.

“It was fantastic! It was Hollywood meets Geiranger,” Norwegian TV personality Harald Rønneberg described the colorful ceremony to public broadcaster NRK. “It was gospel and love. We laughed, we clapped, and we were touched. It was absolutely beautiful.”

The couple has sold the wedding photo rights to British celebrity magazine Hello! and the film rights to Netflix. The deals prompted protests from Norwegian media, which say the arrangement goes against local practices. The couple have often lashed out against the press while promoting themselves on social media.

The 87-year-old King Harald, who has been in fragile health the past few years, attended his daughter’s wedding together with Queen Sonja and other member of the Norwegian royal house. Crown Princess Victoria and her husband Prince Daniel represented the Swedish royal house together with her brother, Prince Carl Philip, and his wife Princess Sofia. No other European royals attended the wedding.

The wedding comes amid widespread criticism of the couple’s actions and waning support for the Norwegian royals, who have also been plagued by negative reports about an unruly family member who faces preliminary domestic violence charges.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/norway-princess-martha-louise-wedding-shaman-verret-0db7408cbb24be2620ead00ebb1d6e58#

Vice President Kamala Harris said former President Donald Trump “disrespected sacred ground” in his recent appearance at Arlington National Cemetery, where the Republican nominee took and distributed images despite a federal prohibition on campaign activity on the grounds.

Harris, in a statement posted Saturday on the social media platform X, cited reports that Trump’s campaign aides created an altercation with a cemetery staffer and proceeded to take photographs and film the former president, including at the graves of Afghanistan war veterans, after being warned about rules at the site.

“Let me be clear: the former president disrespected sacred ground, all for the sake of a political stunt,” Harris said, calling Arlington a “solemn place where we come together to honor American heroes … not a place for politics.”

The original incident stemmed from Trump’s and Republicans’ continued criticism of President Joe Biden and now Harris for the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. At the invitation of some family members of service members killed during the withdrawal, Trump laid wreaths last Monday in honor of Sgt. Nicole Gee, Staff Sgt. Darin Hoover and Staff Sgt. Ryan Knauss. They were among 13 U.S. service members and more than 100 Afghans who died in an Aug. 26, 2021, bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport.

Trump’s campaign was warned about not taking photographs before an altercation at the cemetery, according to defense officials. Officials have said since that an Arlington employee whom two Trump campaign staff members allegedly “verbally abused and pushed” aside has declined to press charges. The Trump campaign has since lashed out at Pentagon officials, with a top campaign adviser, Chris LaCivita, referring to military spokespersons as “hacks.” Trump campaign officials say it had permission to bring someone to take video.

Since Biden ended his reelection bid, Trump has been zeroing in on Harris and her roles in foreign policy decisions. He has specifically highlighted the vice president’s statements that she was the last person in the room before Biden made the decision on Afghanistan.

Biden’s administration was following a withdrawal commitment and timeline that the Trump administration had negotiated with the Taliban in 2020. A 2022 review by a government-appointed special investigator concluded decisions made by both Trump and Biden were the key factors leading to the rapid collapse of Afghanistan’s military and the Taliban takeover.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/harris-trump-arlington-national-cemetery-afghanistan-403925774d9ca65034b7a3281701d7f6#

At the age of 53, in a 1999 interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Donald J. Trump described himself as “very pro-choice.”

In 2011, without any explanation about the change, he informed a packed room at a conservative conference that he was now “pro-life.”

In 2016, as a Republican candidate for president, he told the MSNBC host Chris Matthews that he had become so ardently opposed to abortion rights that he would even support punishments for women who got abortions. He did not realize that this position went too far even for the social conservatives to whom he was trying to pander, and he quickly reversed himself.

The 2024 version of Mr. Trump is once again tying himself in knots — but this time the stakes could not be higher.

The latest example came on Friday, when Mr. Trump — nearly a full day after his campaign had to clean up his suggestion that he might support a Florida ballot measure allowing abortion up to 24 weeks following backlash from social conservatives — told Fox News that he would vote against it.

Back in 2022, the former president had told allies — as the Supreme Court was preparing to overturn Roe v. Wade — that the move would hurt his party. Since that year, when Republicans underperformed expectations in the midterm elections, Mr. Trump has been privately emphatic with advisers that in his view the abortion issue alone could kill their chances of victory in November. And he is willing to make as many rhetorical and policy contortions as he deems necessary to win.

It is through that narrow political lens that Mr. Trump has been weighing the subject, despite his role in reshaping the Supreme Court that overturned the landmark 1973 abortion decision.

The results have been confusing and fluid, a contradictory mess of policy statements as he has once again tried to rebrand himself on an issue that many of his supporters view in strict moral terms, and had come to believe that he did, too.

Mr. Trump’s shifting views have been especially difficult for social conservatives to navigate. Some anti-abortion leaders in his orbit have tried lobbying him to align his public position with theirs. Many others are staying quiet and sticking by him, hoping that what he is saying now is just an act to get elected and that, if he does get elected, he will again govern as “the most pro-life president” in American history.

“I don’t think he’s losing support, but no question, his acquiescence is confusing to people,” said Chad Connelly, a former chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party who leads the nonprofit Faith Wins and has a following of hundreds of pastors.

However, he added that the contrast between Vice President Kamala Harris’s actions “versus Trump’s words” meant social conservatives would “look back and see the most pro-life president in American history.”

Still, even by Mr. Trump’s standards, the past few weeks have been head-spinning for people trying to keep track of his slippery social conservatism.

In 2016, Mr. Trump won with the help of a socially conservative running mate, Mike Pence, and with a promise that he would appoint justices who would end Roe. Publicly, Mr. Trump has repeatedly bragged about doing just that, and has falsely claimed that Democrats wanted it as much as Republicans did.

In private, Mr. Trump was agitated by the speeches at the Democratic National Convention, according to a person close to him, many of which tied him to Project 2025, an effort by people supportive of Mr. Trump to develop policy proposals for him if he wins that include restrictive ideas for reproductive measures. He was especially bothered by Ms. Harris’s assertions that a second Trump term would further imperil abortion rights.

He felt so defensive about the subject that on the morning of Aug. 23, the day after Ms. Harris’s speech, Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social a sentence that sounded as if it could have come from the head of Planned Parenthood rather than a Republican candidate for president.

“My Administration,” he wrote, “will be great for women and their reproductive rights.”

Asked to comment, Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for Mr. Trump, maintained in an emailed statement that Mr. Trump “has long been consistent in supporting the rights of states to make decisions on abortion and has been very clear that he will not sign a federal ban when he is back in the White House.”

Privately, Mr. Trump has been all over the place. He told advisers in the spring that he was inclined to come out in favor of a 16-week national abortion ban with exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother, but that he was waiting until the Republican presidential primaries were over. After reviewing polling, he backtracked and said abortion should be left to the states, adding that he was “proud” to have overturned Roe.

But he has not left it to the states.

He has intervened repeatedly in opposition to social conservatives. He has criticized various state abortion measures as overly harsh. In 2023, he condemned Florida’s six-week abortion ban, signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis, as a “terrible mistake.” This year, he said an Arizona high court ruling that outlawed abortion went too far, and he successfully pressured Republicans in the State Legislature to address it.

And on Thursday, he said in an interview with NBC News that women in Florida needed to be given more time than just six weeks to decide whether they want to have an abortion, and that he still could not say how he would vote in that state’s referendum on abortion in November.

In response to Mr. Trump’s most recent criticism of the Florida ban, the conservative National Review published an article titled, “Trump Stabs Florida Pro-Lifers in the Front.”

Tim Chapman, a conservative who leads Advancing American Freedom, a group created by Mr. Pence, posted a memo to the website X on Friday about the Florida amendment, which would protect abortion up to 24 weeks.

In the memo, Mr. Chapman said, “Sadly, President Trump has said that six weeks is ‘too short,’” adding that Mr. Trump misunderstood how the measure would increase abortion access.

“It almost seems to me like this is improvisational politics,” said Erick Erickson, the founder of the conservative website RedState, of Mr. Trump’s spate of recent statements. “There’s not really a plan — he’s ‘Live at the Improv,’ which is a problem for this.”

Mr. Trump has felt emboldened to cast aside the leaders of the social conservative movement, confident in the knowledge that they have no place else to go, and that evangelical voters increasingly self-identify on cultural grounds these days. He is further helped by the fact that his criminal prosecutions have bonded the evangelical base to him even tighter — a bond that may survive any policy transgression.

At the Republican National Convention in July, Mr. Trump ordered the watering-down of the abortion language in the party’s platform. And recently his running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, went on “Meet the Press” and said Mr. Trump would veto any national abortion ban that came to his desk. And Mr. Trump has added Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard, both former Democrats who have supported abortion rights in the past, as honorary co-chairs of his transition team.

Mr. Trump has tried to maintain a strategic ambiguity on abortion-related issues. He told Time magazine in April that he had “pretty strong views” on how a second-term Trump administration would regulate the abortion pill mifepristone and said he would announce his policy “probably over the next week.” Four months have passed, and he still has not clarified his position.

He had little understanding of in vitro fertilization, but when the issue was explained to him, he decided he would brand himself as a champion of I.V.F., again in opposition to some social conservatives who object to the destruction of human embryos. This week, Mr. Trump went even further, declaring without any policy detail that as president he would make the expensive I.V.F. treatments free for all Americans — an initiative that would put him to the left of many Democrats and would add billions to the national debt.

Because of his efforts to appeal to all sides, Mr. Trump’s campaign has often had to clean up his statements. After his interview with NBC News on Thursday, his spokeswoman, Ms. Leavitt, issued a statement saying that Mr. Trump had not yet said how he would vote on Florida’s abortion measure.

Source: https://dnyuz.com/2024/08/31/trump-contorts-himself-on-abortion-in-search-of-political-gain/

Thousands of fans spent their Saturday on ticket selling websites to try and bag themselves a way into one of the 17 shows across London, Cardiff, Manchester, Edinburgh and Dublin as part of the Oasis Live 25 tour.

Oasis fans have scrambled for tickets for the band’s reunion tour, battling technical issues and waiting for hours in virtual queues.

Noel and Liam Gallagher confirmed the band’s long-awaited reunion on Tuesday, saying: “The great wait is over.”

Tickets for the Oasis Live 25 tour sold out within hours, with the band posting on X at 7pm that tickets for all 17 shows across London, Cardiff, Manchester, Edinburgh and Dublin were gone.

The frenzy for tickets started way before they went on sale at 9am (8am for the two gigs n Dublin) as Manchester-based promoter SJM Concerts’ website Gigs and Tours, Ticketmaster and See Tickets all told website visitors they would need to wait for the page to refresh to join a queue.

Within minutes, online queues were in excess of 500,000 people.

Gigs and Tours and See Tickets then both appeared to experience issues from 8.30am until around 12.30pm.

A spokeswoman for Ticketmaster denied the website had crashed, despite fans posting grabs of their screens showing error messages, while others reported the website was being slow.

Some ticket hopefuls also reported being “suspended” by Ticketmaster UK and Ireland after it accused them of being “bots”.

The company advised people through its customer service account on X to ensure they are only using one tab, clearing cookies and not using any VPN software.

‘The countdown is on’

For those that did manage to get their hands on tickets, the countdown is now on for the live shows.

Olivia Bridge – who has a Live Forever tattoo in honour of her favourite Oasis song – told Sky News that she kept checking her email to “make sure it was real” after securing tickets for Manchester’s Heaton Park.

The Women’s Amputee World Cup is due to take place in Colombia this November, and will be the first time the Amputee Lionesses have competed as an all female team.

For England’s women’s amputee football team, one thing is standing in the way of competing at the Women’s Amputee World Cup.

The tournament is due to take place in Colombia this November, and will be the first time the Amputee Lionesses have competed as an all female team.

But in order to do so, they need to raise £50,000 to cover costs associated with preparing the team.

A GoFundMe has been set up for the England Amputee Football Association and has reached just over £10,000 so far.

Lauren Cooper, 33, found the team after her leg was amputated two years ago and thought her active lifestyle was over.

She told Sky News that she initially thought she would not be able to do any sport.

“I lost my leg in 2022 following Storm Eunice, a brick wall blew over and on to me,” Lauren explained.

“I used to play netball excessively, about five times a week… immediately, I was thinking, ‘I am not going to be able to do anything’.”

But things changed for Lauren when she received a message on Instagram inviting her to a taster session of amputee football.

“It sounds cliche, I think, but it was almost like finding yourself again by finding out that you can carry on with sport, it was an incredible thing for me,” she added.

She explains that whilst she and the team make it look easy, “it’s harder than people think”.

“The girls can say how many times I’ve fallen over because I’ve tried to put my left foot down, even though my left is not there,” she said.

“I’ll try and stop the ball with my left foot. So it’s actually really difficult to get the co-ordination of balance on crutches while you kick and then recover. It’s a lot trickier than it looks.”

Goalkeeper Tate Willis said playing the sport all her family love has not only helped her gain friends who understand her battles, but also helped to build up her self-esteem.

“One school I was physically beaten up on the playground, which wasn’t too nice for a nine-year-old child,” the 17-year-old, who was born without a left hand, said.

“[The team] made me more confident at school, in myself and also within football,” she added.

“When I started, I was really shy. I always wore long sleeves. I didn’t want to show much of myself. So to be where I am now, it’s really good for me.”

Meanwhile, 29-year-old Shelbee Clarke said she “knew football was where I was going to be in life, it was always something I loved”.

After receiving a scholarship at the age of 18 to play football in the US, she was diagnosed with cancer, which ultimately led to the amputation of her left leg.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/englands-womens-amputee-footballers-hoping-to-make-history-in-colombia-13207014

The musician, famous for his 2003 hit Be Faithful, was seen collapsing on stage during a performance in Connecticut.

US rapper and hype man Fatman Scoop has died aged 53.

The musician’s family confirmed the news with “profound sadness and very heavy hearts” in a post on his Instagram page.

Earlier, the artist, famous for his 2003 hit Be Faithful and its sampling of Faith Evans’s Love Like This, was seen collapsing on stage during a performance in Connecticut.

The New York-born rapper – whose real name is Isaac Freeman III – had taken off his shirt and walked behind a DJ booth when he appeared to fall.

While those nearby tried to administer CPR to the performer, his hype men attempted to calm the crowd by playing more songs.

Lauren Garrett, the mayor of Hamden, wrote on Facebook earlier on Friday: “Tonight, while performing at Hamden Town Center Park, Isaac Freeman, aka Fatman Scoop, had a medical emergency on stage.

“He is being transported by ambulance to the hospital. We will provide updates when they are available. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.”

‘A radiant soul’

Fatman Scoop’s family said the world had “lost a radiant soul, a beacon of light on the stage and in life”, adding that he was “not just a world class performer, he was a father, brother, uncle and a friend”.

“His music made us dance and embrace life with positivity. His joy was infectious and the generosity he extended to all will be deeply missed but never forgotten.”

Birch Michael – known as Pure Cold – also announced the musician’s death, and said in his statement: “You taught me how to be the man I am today.

“I love you Scoop, thank you so much for everything you gave to me.”

Missy Elliott pays tribute

Missy Elliott, who collaborated with Scoop on her 2005 hit Lose Control, said his “voice and energy have contributed to many songs that made the people happy and want to dance for over two decades”.

“Your impact is huge and will never be forgotten,” she added.

Scoop’s talent agency MN2S also paid tribute to “our dear friend and client”, adding: “Scoop was a beloved figure in the music world, whose work was loved by countless fans across the globe.

“His iconic voice, infectious energy and great personality made an indelible mark on the industry, and his legacy will live on through his timeless music.”

Sharron Elkabas, one of the founders of MN2S, said: “I spoke to him just a few days ago, and he was in such good spirits. It’s hard to believe he is no longer with us.”

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/us-rapper-fatman-scoop-dies-aged-53-tour-manager-says-13206910

Dozens were also injured in the crash early on Saturday morning. The Warren County sheriff called the accident “tragic”.

Seven people have been killed and dozens more injured after a bus crash in Mississippi.

A six-year-old boy and his 16-year-old sister were among those who died when the bus overturned on a major motorway near Bovina in Warren County just before 1am on Saturday morning.

Pictures from the scene showed the severely damaged red bus, with broken windows along one side.

Some of the passenger’s belongings, including what looked like a pink coat, was seen hanging out the side of the bus.

Six of the passengers were pronounced dead at the scene on Interstate 20, according to the Mississippi Highway Patrol.

Another passenger died in hospital. A total of 37 people were taken to hospitals in Vicksburg and Jackson.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/seven-killed-and-dozens-injured-after-bus-overturns-on-mississippi-motorway-13207285

THE UNITED States Space Force will become a “combat credible arm of the military” to battle increasing threats from enemies like Russia, China and Iran.

The specialist organisation dedicated to orbital warfare has spent five years in the “establishment phase” since being signed off by ex-pres Donald Trump in 2019.

But bosses visiting the UK this week warn they now need to be more ready for attacks off Earth than ever before as space is being rapidly weaponised.

Lt Gen David N. Miller said today at the US Embassy in London: “We are moving from establishment into developing the service into a combat credible military service.

“Increasingly the character of warfare that includes space as an operational domain for warfighting is becoming more and more apparent to everyone.

“In order to compete in today’s environment, deter conflict and prevail conflict, we’re going to have to take similar approaches to developing, generating and fielding capability.”

Chief Master Sergeant Caleb M. Lloyd said: “The domain has changed.

“We recognise and talk about space as a warfighting domain.

“The particular focus for us is the development of our people.”

The U.S accused Russia of launching a counter space weapon capable of attacking satellites into low Earth orbit in May.

It claims Moscow has done this twice before and was especially concerned by tests of Russia’s anti-satellite missile and China’s Fractional Orbital Bombardment System in 2021.

Lt Gen Miller added: “The risk is higher. You have to be ready for it.

“We’ve got to provide a full spectrum deterrent and that means that they’ve got to know that we will have a response to any threat vector that they provide to us.”

Technological attacks deployed in Putin’s bloody invasion of Ukraine since February 2022 has also proved “space will be a part of any battlespace in the future”.

Lt Gen Miller said: “The character of warfare in the 21st Century will have space as an operational domain from which capabilities will be derived for the benefit of the military forces involved.

“Adversaries will also seek to deny that benefit and will develop systems to disrupt or defeat the advantage you gain from space. It validates why we have a space force in my opinion.”

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/news/12332645/us-china-russia-war-space-missile-moon/

THE world’s most expensive superyacht is a £4billion floating masterpiece with gold-plated sides and walls made of T-Rex bones.

Although the flashy floater is supposedly a jaw-dropping sight it remains shrouded in mystery as no one has ever actually seen it.

Dubbed History Supreme the vessel is covered in 100,000kg of gold and dazzles with jewels – but most don’t even believe it exists.

The railings, decking, dining area and even the base of the boat is all wrapped in gold and even the anchor was specially made to be dipped in liquid gold.

Commissioned by a mysterious Malaysian billionaire and designed by controversial artist Stuart Hughes the brilliant boat also supposedly boasts a more quirky feature.

Inside there is reportedly a statue made from genuine Tyrannosaurus Rex bones with the walls also featuring shavings of the dino bones.

They were allegedly sourced from a skeleton sourced in Arizona, USA. Pieces of the thigh bone alone come in at about £68,000.

Construction reportedly took world-renowned UK designer Stuart Hughes just over three years to complete.

Mr Hughes told news.com.au that he was quite excited when approached by a friend in the yachting circle to design the luxury liner. He had free reign to construct it how he liked.

The History Supreme has been dubbed the “world’s most expensive yacht”, worth £3.6 billion.

Mr Hughes said much of the staggering sum is owed to its gold and dinosaur bone features.

The base of the yacht as well as the deck, dining areas, rails and anchor are wrapped in solid gold and the sleeping areas are covered in platinum.

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/news/12329186/most-expensive-superyacht-gold-plated-boat/

Nicole Kidman was in the house Thursday as writer-director Halina Reijn’s Babygirl had its world premiere screening at the Venice Film Festival. The A24 erotic thriller garnered a seven-minute-plus ovation from the Sala Grande audience.

Kidman was joined at the premiere by fellow cast members Harris Dickinson, Antonio Banderas and Sophie Wilde, as well as filmmaker Reijn.

After the screening, Reijn and Kidman hugged and chatted as they made their way down from the theater gallery. The woo-hooing only stopped when they were escorted out of the building.

Babygirl centers on Kidman’s high-powered CEO who puts her life’s work on the line when she begins a torrid affair with her much-younger intern. A24 will next take the film to TIFF before releasing the film in the U.S. on Christmas Day.

Source: https://deadline.com/2024/08/nicole-kidman-babygirl-ovation-venice-1236073661/

Michael Jackson would have turned 66 this week, so Express.co.uk asked AI-imaging tool Midjourney to reveal what he would look like now if he were still alive

Michael Jackson would have turned 66 years old this week and eerie AI images show what he would look like if he were still alive.

The King of Pop’s death on June 25, 2009, sent shockwaves around the world.

Just three weeks before his concert residency in London, the 50-year-old was found unresponsive in his Los Angeles home. He died from cardiac arrest caused by a lethal combination of sedatives and propofol.

Yesterday (August 29) would have marked his 66th birthday and so Express.co.uk asked Artificial Intelligence imaging tool Midjourney to imagine what he would look like now.

The pictures show MJ’s iconic black locks are as thick and long as ever.

Stubble is appearing around his chin and above his lips and there are visibly more lines around his face.

He appears to be wearing a colourful jacket and top hat – creating a resemblance to Johnny Depp’s character of Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean movie franchise.

It comes after Jackson’s last bodyguard revealed what he thought “really” caused the music legend’s death.

Bill Whitfield claimed the child sexual abuse allegations made against the music legend caused him to become a shell of himself and stressed.

Source: https://www.express.co.uk/celebrity-news/1942500/AI-imagines-Michael-Jackson-now

Two airline passengers who locked a stranger’s crying grandchild in a plane restroom have caused outrage in China and sparked a heated online debate on how to handle upset children in public spaces.

The incident went viral this week after one of the two women involved posted a video on Chinese social media, which showed them inside a locked lavatory with the wailing girl, who appeared to be about a year old.

“We won’t let you out unless you stop crying,” a woman sitting on the toilet told the toddler as she struggled out of the adult’s lap and reached for the door, according to the video posted on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok.

As the girl stopped crying, the woman filming the video picked her up and told her: “If you make any noise again, we’ll come back (to the bathroom).”

The incident took place August 24 aboard a Juneyao Airlines flight from the southwestern city of Guiyang to Shanghai.

The toddler was flying with her grandparents and cried non-stop during the nearly three-hour flight, the airline said in a statement Monday. The two passengers took the child to the restroom to “educate her” with her grandmother’s consent, the statement added.

But a day later, as criticism mounted, the airline’s customer service department apologized for the incident and “oversight of the crew,” adding it condemned the two passengers’ behavior, according to the state-run Southern Metropolis Daily.

One of the women, who posted the video online, said her intention was to ensure a “restful flight” for other passengers. But her post quickly met a backlash, with many social media users accusing her of being heartless and bullying the child. The video was later deleted.

“Adults in their 30s can have emotional breakdowns, but people don’t allow toddlers to have theirs,” said one comment on China’s X-like Weibo platform, garnering thousands of likes.

“We were all once children … Don’t be a cold-blooded adult,” read another popular comment.

Many others expressed concern that the incident may negatively impact the child’s mental health.

Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2024/08/30/china/china-crying-toddler-airplane-bathroom-hnk-intl/index.html

MONKEYS give each other nicknames, just like humans, and the behavior is thought to afford them a competitive edge in the wild.

Marmoset monkeys, in particular, have a surprising method of naming each other – and scientists say they’ve found the first evidence of such behavior.

Marmosets are native to South America, with a range that extends outside Brazil. The species includes some of the smallest primates in the world.

They are known for having complex speech patterns that help them communicate in tight-knit family groups.

A study published today in Science reveals that marmosets use specific sounds, dubbed phee-calls, to name each other.

Scientists say this behavior was previously known only to exist in humans, dolphins, and elephants.

The naming of others is a “highly advanced cognitive ability” only observed in social animals.

But our closest evolutionary relatives – nonhuman primates like the chimpanzee and bonobo – weren’t thought to be able to do so.

A team of researchers from the David Omer Lab at Hebrew University in Jerusalem made the groundbreaking discovery after closely observing marmoset behavior.

The team recorded conversations between monkey pairs as well as interactions between the tiny creatures and a computer system.

The marmosets were revealed to use their phee-calls to address specific individuals.

Furthermore, the monkeys could tell when a call was directed at them and were able to respond “more accurately,” according to the study.

“This discovery highlights the complexity of social communication among marmosets,” Omer said.

“These calls are not just used for self-localization, as previously thought— marmosets use these specific calls to label and address specific individuals.”

This behavior is even present among adult marmosets who aren’t blood relatives, indicating they learn vocal labels from other members of their family group.

Cows at three dairy farms in California, the top U.S. milk-producing state, tested positive for bird flu, the state’s agriculture department said on Friday.
The infections expand a U.S. outbreak of the H5N1 virus in dairy cattle to a 14th state. More than 190 herds have been infected nationally since March, along with 13 dairy and poultry farm workers, according to federal data.
The virus’s jump to cows from birds has heightened concerns it could adapt to spread among humans. Federal officials say bird flu is a low risk for the general public and pasteurization inactivates the virus in milk.

A private school in London is opening the UK’s first classroom taught by artificial intelligence instead of human teachers. They say the technology allows for precise, bespoke learning while critics argue AI teaching will lead to a “soulless, bleak future”.

The UK’s first “teacherless” GCSE class, using artificial intelligence instead of human teachers, is about to start lessons.

David Game College, a private school in London, opens its new teacherless course for 20 GCSE students in September.

The students will learn using a mixture of artificial intelligence platforms on their computers and virtual reality headsets.

The platforms learn what the student excels in and what they need more help with, and then adapt their lesson plans for the term.

Strong topics are moved to the end of term so they can be revised, while weak topics will be tackled more immediately, and each student’s lesson plan is bespoke to them.

“There are many excellent teachers out there but we’re all fallible,” said John Dalton, the school’s co-principal.

“I think it’s very difficult to achieve [AI’s] level of precision and accuracy, and also that continuous evaluation.

“Ultimately, if you really want to know exactly why a child is not learning, I think the AI systems can pinpoint that more effectively.”

The 20 students will pay around £27,000 a year.

“A teacher doesn’t really know your flaws because he has so many students,” said Joseph, a GCSE student at David Game College who has been testing the system.

“So he doesn’t know your flaws while the AI will figure out what your flaws are and help you improve.”

The students are not just left to fend for themselves in the classroom; three “learning coaches” will be present to monitor behaviour and give support.

They will also teach the subjects AI currently struggles with, like art and sex education.

A witness, who was at the Orlando theme park with his family when panic broke out on Thursday night, describes how security instructed people to take cover as many cried in fear of its Magic Kingdom park coming under attack.

Mass panic broke out at Disney World in Florida amid fears of a shooting – only for police to find it was a fight and a “popping balloon” that triggered the chaos.

Visitors at the park posted accounts that people were running and children were crying during the confusion on Thursday night.

But the Orange County Sheriff’s Office looked into the reports and swiftly put them to rest, saying there was “no active shooter”.

“A fight occurred, and a ‘popping’ sound was heard that we believe was a balloon. Guests began running and that’s how the active shooter rumour started,” it said in a post on X.

No details of the reported fight were provided and no one was arrested, a spokesperson for the office said on Friday.

Glenn Brady, who had been visiting the theme park in Orlando with his family from Kansas, told local news outlet Fox35: “People were running in, getting down in a crouch position. The security people were, telling us to ‘get down’.”

“We were walking down Main Street, heading out of the park, when we – my family was in one of the stores – and then all of a sudden, people came rushing into the store,” he said.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/shooting-fears-spark-mass-panic-at-disney-world-but-loud-sound-turns-out-to-be-popping-balloon-13206060

Oasis have issued a warning against reselling tickets to their comeback tour, after some were listed for thousands of pounds within minutes of a pre-sale.
A limited number of fans were able to buy the first batch of tickets during a three-hour window on Friday evening.
Shortly after, tickets were being listed online for more than £6,000 – around 40 times the face value of a standing ticket.
Oasis urged people not to resell tickets at higher prices on websites not linked to their promoter, and said they would be “cancelled”.

Tropical Storm Shanshan slowly made its way northeast through Japan toward the capital Saturday, setting off a mudslide that killed three people, halting trains and leaving underground passages brimming with water.

Meteorological officials warned of torrential rains they compared to a waterfall in major cities like Osaka and Tokyo.

The storm, packing winds of up to 65 kilometers (40 miles) per hour, crawled over the southwestern island of Shikoku and the main Honshu island at a speed of 10 kph (6 mph), forecast to affect parts of Japan through Sunday and Monday, although its exact route was uncertain, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

At least six deaths were believed to be related to the storm, according to public broadcaster NHK, including a person who was swept by a river, another crushed by a fallen roof, and a man slammed onto the road by a blast of wind in southwestern Japan, as well as the three killed in the mudslide.

A man who went out on a boat was missing and 125 people were injured, according to NHK, which compiled tallies from local governments.

Damage from the heavy rainfall hit a wide area, including more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) away from the center of the storm. News footage showed overflooded rivers and cars immersed in muddied waters in Kanagawa Prefecture, southwest of Tokyo, when the storm was technically still in southwestern Kyushu.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/japan-storm-shanshan-weather-flooding-mudslides-cf26bd348b557b3b1c77c22267fede09

Ukraine has pleaded for the country of Genghis Khan to arrest the dictator

VLADIMIR Putin could be put behind bars as the brazen tyrant is set to visit a country that has signed up to arrest him.

The dictator is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) after tens of thousands of Ukrainian children have been snatched by Russia.

Putin is due to visit Mongolia on September 3 giving the country a chance to play a decisive role in ending the invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine has called on the Mongolian government to arrest Putin blasting him as a war criminal.

They said: “The Ukrainian side hopes that the Government of Mongolia is aware of the fact that Vladimir Putin is a war criminal.”

But Putin’s mouthpiece Dmitry Peskov shot back at suggestions of an arrest saying: “No, no worries about this. We have a great dialogue with our friends from Mongolia.”

The Kremlin spokesperson said: “Obviously the visit, all of the aspects of the visit have been thoroughly discussed.”

Arresting the dictator and sending him to The Hague is up to the signatory countries as the ICC doesn’t have its own police force.

Many powerful countries are not members of the court – such as the US, Russia, and China.

The ICC issued an arrest warrant in March of last year against Putin, accusing him of the war crime of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine.

The Kremlin has dismissed the accusation, saying it is politically motivated.

The warrant obliges the court’s 124 member states, including Mongolia, to arrest Putin and transfer him to The Hague for trial if he sets foot on their territory.

Source: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/30175917/vladimir-putin-arrest-ukraine-mongolia-icc-war/

Brazil started blocking Elon Musk’s social media platform X early Saturday, making it largely inaccessible on both the web and through mobile apps after the billionaire refused to name a legal representative to the country.

The move escalates a monthslong feud between Musk and a Brazilian Supreme Court justice over free speech, far-right accounts and misinformation. Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the suspension on Friday.

To block X, Brazil’s telecommunications regulator, Anatel, told internet service providers to suspend users’ access to the social media platform. As of Saturday after midnight local time, major operators had begun doing so.

De Moraes had warned Musk on Wednesday night that X could be blocked in Brazil if he failed to comply with his order to name a representative, and established a 24-hour deadline. The company hasn’t had a representative in the country since earlier this month.

“Elon Musk showed his total disrespect for Brazilian sovereignty and, in particular, for the judiciary, setting himself up as a true supranational entity and immune to the laws of each country,” de Moraes wrote in his decision on Friday.

“Elon Musk showed his total disrespect for Brazilian sovereignty and, in particular, for the judiciary, setting himself up as a true supranational entity and immune to the laws of each country,” de Moraes wrote in his decision on Friday.

The justice said the platform will stay suspended until it complies with his orders, and also set a daily fine of 50,000 reais ($8,900) for people or companies using VPNs to access it.

In a later ruling, he backtracked on his initial decision to establish a 5-day deadline for internet service providers themselves — and not just the telecommunications regulator — to block access to X, as well as his directive for app stores to remove virtual private networks, or VPNs.

Brazil is one of the biggest markets for X, which has struggled with the loss of advertisers since Musk purchased the former Twitter in 2022. Market research group Emarketer says some 40 million Brazilians, roughly one-fifth of the population, access X at least once per month.

“This is a sad day for X users around the world, especially those in Brazil, who are being denied access to our platform. I wish it did not have to come to this – it breaks my heart,” X’s CEO Linda Yaccarino said Friday night, adding that Brazil is failing to uphold its constitution’s pledge to forbid censorship.

X had posted on its official Global Government Affairs page late Thursday that it expected X to be shut down by de Moraes, “simply because we would not comply with his illegal orders to censor his political opponents.”

“When we attempted to defend ourselves in court, Judge de Moraes threatened our Brazilian legal representative with imprisonment. Even after she resigned, he froze all of her bank accounts,” the company wrote.

X has clashed with de Moraes over its reluctance to comply with orders to block users.

Accounts that the platform previously has shut down on Brazilian orders include lawmakers affiliated with former President Jair Bolsonaro’s right-wing party and activists accused of undermining Brazilian democracy. X’s lawyers in April sent a document to the Supreme Court in April, saying that since 2019 it had suspended or blocked 226 users.

In his decision Friday, de Moraes’ cited Musk’s statements as evidence that X’s conduct “clearly intends to continue to encourage posts with extremism, hate speech and anti-democratic discourse, and to try to withdraw them from jurisdictional control.”

In April, de Moraes included Musk as a target in an ongoing investigation over the dissemination of fake news and opened a separate investigation into the executive for alleged obstruction.

Musk, a self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist,” has repeatedly claimed the justice’s actions amount to censorship, and his argument has been echoed by Brazil’s political right. He has often insulted de Moraes on his platform, characterizing him as a dictator and tyrant.

De Moraes’ defenders have said his actions aimed at X have been lawful, supported by most of the court’s full bench and have served to protect democracy at a time it is imperiled. He wrote Friday that his ruling is based on Brazilian law requiring internet services companies to have representation in the country so they can be notified when there are relevant court decisions and take requisite action — specifying the takedown of illicit content posted by users, and an anticipated churn of misinformation during October municipal elections.

The looming shutdown is not unprecedented in Brazil.

Lone Brazilian judges shut down Meta’s WhatsApp, the nation’s most widely used messaging app, several times in 2015 and 2016 due to the company’s refusal to comply with police requests for user data. In 2022, de Moraes threatened the messaging app Telegram with a nationwide shutdown, arguing it had repeatedly ignored Brazilian authorities’ requests to block profiles and provide information. He ordered Telegram to appoint a local representative; the company ultimately complied and stayed online.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/brazil-musk-x-suspended-de-moraes-46c9d5c5c895e17d9adfac43e6ac20fd#

A decision reportedly made to move a painting in the prime minister’s residence has caused outrage among Tory MPs.

Sir Keir Starmer has provoked outrage from senior Tories and political grandees for removing a portrait of Margaret Thatcher from inside 10 Downing Street.

Just eight weeks after he moved into Number 10, it has been claimed by his biographer that he found the £100,000 painting, commissioned by former Labour premier Gordon Brown, “unsettling”.

But his removal of the portrait has been condemned as “vindictive” and “petty” by Tory MPs and prompted calls for the prime minister to return it to its place inside Downing Street.

Sir Keir’s apparent snub to Lady Thatcher, prime minister for 11 years from 1979 until 1990, is all the more remarkable because just months before the general election he lavished praise on her in a newspaper article.

In comments furiously attacked by trade union leaders and left-wing Labour MPs at the time, Sir Keir praised her for bringing about “meaningful change” in British politics.

“Margaret Thatcher sought to drag Britain out of its stupor by setting loose our natural entrepreneurialism,” he wrote in The Sunday Telegraph last December.

Sir Keir’s removal of the painting was revealed by Tom Baldwin, a senior adviser to Ed Miliband when he was Labour leader and author of an insightful and acclaimed biography of Sir Keir.

The painting was commissioned by Mr Brown after Lady Thatcher visited him at Number 10 when he was prime minister.

It was funded by an anonymous £100,000 donation and unveiled in 2009.

Speaking at a book festival in Glasgow, Mr Baldwin said Sir Keir told him the portrait had been hung in a study in Downing Street unofficially called the “Thatcher Room”.

‘We don’t comment on the interior’

In a conversation first reported by Glasgow’s Herald newspaper, Mr Baldwin said Sir Keir told him the study was a “place where we can go and have a quiet talk”.

He told his audience: “We sat there, and I go: ‘It’s a bit unsettling with her staring down at you like that, isn’t it?'”

He said the prime minister issued a one-word response: “Yeah.”

Mr Baldwin said he then asked if Sir Keir would “get rid of” the portrait, prompting a nod from Starmer. He then added: “And he has.”

Asked about the claims by Mr Baldwin about the removal of the portrait, a Downing Street spokesperson told Sky News: “We don’t comment on the interior of the house.”

But the widespread reporting of the painting’s removal has quickly triggered a furious row, with senior opposition politicians angrily denouncing the prime minister.

Leading the onslaught, former Northern Ireland first minister Baroness Arlene Foster wrote on X: “I think it is ‘unsettling’ that the PM should remove the first female PM from No 10.

“He cannot deny her role in our nation – the most significant PM after Churchill. Not a good start from Labour, looks and feels vindictive and petty.”

‘Petty approach’

Former Tory minister Esther McVey told the Daily Express: “What a pathetic, petty-minded little man Keir Starmer is – removing a picture of the first female prime minister and one of the longest-serving prime ministers.

“Maybe he doesn’t want to be reminded of a towering politician he could never live up to.”

In Scotland, the three candidates for the leadership of the Scottish Conservative Party all attacked Mr Baldwin’s claims.

Russell Findlay said: “Gordon Brown commissioned this portrait after calling the first female prime minister ‘a conviction politician who saw the need for change’.

“I agree with Gordon Brown’s reasonable position to treat his political opponents with decency and respect… Keir Starmer seems to have a much more petty approach.”

Rival leadership candidate Meghan Gallacher said: “It’s disgraceful that Keir Starmer would remove a picture of Britain’s first female prime minister…

“Regardless of your opinions on Margaret Thatcher, she paved the way for women in politics and tackled sexist stereotypes head-on.

“She’s an inspiration for many, a defining figure in British politics and she deserves to be recognised for her many achievements… Her legacy should be honoured – the portrait should be returned.”

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/starmer-attacked-for-petty-removal-of-thatcher-portrait-from-no-10-13205761

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has mandated more people show photo identification when buying tobacco products, as the health regulator raised the age verification requirement by three years.
As part of a rule finalized by the agency on Thursday, the FDA now requires retailers to verify the age of anyone under 30 when they buy tobacco products, from under 27 previously.
The FDA also said retailers cannot sell tobacco products via vending machine in places where individuals under 21 are present or permitted to enter, from 18 years previously.

The United States has been cracking down on the use of tobacco over the past few years to curb preventable deaths from smoking and other products, as well as stop the use of e-cigarettes by minors.
“Decades of science have shown that keeping tobacco products away from youth is critical to reducing the number of people who ultimately become addicted to these products,” said Brian King, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products.

The World Health Organization had said in May tobacco companies were trying to hook a new generation on nicotine by actively targeting them via social media, sports and music festivals.
The FDA had raised the minimum age for tobacco use to 21 years from 18 in 2019.
According to the American Lung Association, smoking kills more than 480,000 people per year in the United States, making it the leading preventable cause of death in the country.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/fda-says-those-under-age-30-need-photo-identification-buy-tobacco-products-2024-08-29/

During the 36-minute video, the reality TV star and influencer said: “I don’t really ever plan on talking about the past couple of weeks, it’s not something I feel comfortable with.”

Molly-Mae Hague has spoken about her split with Tommy Fury in a video, saying: “It is not drama, it is not tea, it is not a publicity stunt.”

The couple, who met during the 2019 series of ITV2 reality show Love Island, announced the break-up in separate social media posts earlier this month.

In January last year, the 25-year-olds had welcomed the birth of their only child, a daughter named Bambi.

“The last two weeks have been very, very real,” the reality TV star and influencer said during the 36-minute video.

“It’s real life, something that we have been going through as privately as we can, but obviously not privately whatsoever because I haven’t really been able to get away from it in the last couple of weeks. And the last thing I want to do is come on here and fuel that more.”

She added: “I don’t really ever plan on talking about the past couple of weeks, it’s not something I feel comfortable with.

“Like I say this is real life. It is not drama, it is not tea it is not a publicity stunt, as much as I wish it was. This is real life and very sad and it’s very deep.”

She said she would not comment further out of respect to Fury, “because it’s just not nice”, adding: “And I feel like everything over the last couple of weeks… it’s been a lot and been blown way out of proportion.

“It’s all gotten a bit carried away with itself. And the last thing I want to do is be fuelling that fire anymore and stirring the pot when it doesn’t need to be stirred.”

Speaking of Fury, Hague said: “He is Bambi’s dad and I will always value him and respect him and obviously always have a lot of love for him. We were together for five years and it is very, very sad.”

Fury says speculation has been ‘horrendous’

Earlier this week Fury said speculation over the split has been “horrendous”.

“These last few weeks have been heartbreaking,” the professional boxer wrote on Instagram.

“The false allegations about me have been horrendous, thank you to everybody who has stood by me through this.”

Hague thanks ‘best online friends’

Hague also thanked her fans for their support in the wake of the break-up.

She posted a photo of herself leaning on a wooden railing overlooking a body of water on Instagram with the caption: “Thank you for being the best online friends I could’ve ever wished for.”

The influencer announced their split in an Instagram story earlier this month, saying: “Never in a million years did I think I’d ever have to write this.

“After five years of being together I never imagined our story would end, especially not this way.

“I am extremely upset to announce that mine and Tommy’s relationship has come to an end.

“I will forever be grateful for the most important thing to me now and always, my beautiful daughter.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/molly-mae-hague-says-split-from-tommy-fury-is-not-a-publicity-stunt-in-new-video-13205683

The chef also worked under Marcus Wareing and Alain Ducasse. He was unconscious with a head injury when police found him in west London late on Monday evening.

A chef who has worked under Gordon Ramsay is critically injured in hospital after being attacked near the Notting Hill Carnival, police have said.

Mussie Imnetu was unconscious with a head injury when he was found by officers in Queensway, west London, just before 11.30pm on Monday.

The police provided emergency first aid until paramedics arrived.

Mr Imnetu, 41, also worked under other acclaimed chefs Marcus Wareing and Alain Ducasse, according to The Sun.

He worked at The Arts Club in Dubai, an offshoot of the The Arts Club, described on its website as a “historic London private members’ club”.

The Metropolitan Police said in a statement on Thursday it was taking “the unusual step of naming” the victim and issuing pictures of him, “in the hope it triggers someone’s memory and prompts them to come forward”.

The statement said: “He left The Arts Club on Dover Street, W1 shortly after 1pm on Monday. He was alone and wearing a blue T-shirt and black jeans. He later bought a white baseball cap.

“He arrived at Dr Power restaurant in Queensway at around 10.30pm and again, he was alone.

“The restaurant was serving food from stalls outside and playing music. The venue and surrounding area were extremely busy with people who had been to Carnival.”

The force also said it wanted to speak to customers at the venue who tried to stop the attack, which happened at around 11.20pm.

Detectives from the Specialist Crime Command arrested a 31-year-old man at an address in Newham on suspicion of attempted murder on Wednesday.

He remains in custody at a south London police station.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/mussie-imnetu-gordon-ramsay-trained-chef-critically-ill-after-being-attacked-near-notting-hill-carnival-13205304

Pakistan blames mystery internet slowdown on underwater cables

Digital rights experts believe the state is testing a firewall a security system that monitors network traffic but can also be used to control online spaces.

The government has previously blamed a surge in VPN use for the slowdown whilst also admitting that the country was “undergoing a transition”.

“The ongoing internet slowdown across the country is mainly due to fault in two of the seven international submarine cables connecting Pakistan internationally,” Pakistan’s Telecommunications Authority said in a statement on Wednesday, adding that the fault would be repaired by early October.

Internet networks have been up to 40 percent slower than normal since July, according to one IT association, while WhatsApp and VPN connections are severely disrupted.

The government and PTA for weeks refused to comment on the slowdown.

At the start of the month, defence minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said the country was “undergoing a transition.”

He added that “there will be some controls to prevent threatening and defamatory content against the state and individuals.”

IT minister Shaza Fatima Khawaja later denied that the government was behind the internet slowdown, blaming it on a surge in VPN use.

It comes as Pakistan’s military the country’s most powerful institution says it is battling so-called “digital terrorism”.

Analysts say the main target of the digital disruption is the party of jailed opposition leader Imran Khan, still wildly popular and boosted by a young, tech-savvy voter base.

Global rights watchdog Amnesty International urged Pakistan authorities to be transparent.

“The opacity of the Pakistani authorities regarding the use of monitoring and surveillance technologies that block content, slow down and control internet speeds is an alarming concern,” said the organisation’s technology expert Jurre Van Bergen.

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/pakistan-blames-mystery-internet-slowdown-on-underwater-cables-101724921802499.html

Typhoon Shanshan deluged large parts of Japan with torrential rain on Friday, prompting warnings for flooding and landslides hundreds of miles from the storm’s centre, halting travel services and shutting production at major factories.
In the southwestern region of Kyushu, where what authorities say could be one of the strongest storms ever to hit the region made landfall on Thursday, residents in Fukuoka city were hunkering down, with streets quiet and shops shuttered.

At least three people have been killed and 78 injured in storm-related incidents in recent days, according to the disaster management agency.

Bringing gusts of up to 50 metres per second (180 km per hour/112 mph), strong enough to blow over moving trucks, the typhoon was near the coastal city of Kunisaki in Oita Prefecture at 8:45 a.m. (2345 GMT) and moving northeast, according to authorities.

Around 125,000 households in seven prefectures were without power in Kyushu, according to Kyushu Electric Power Co.

But the warm and moist air flowing around the typhoon have also brought heavy rains in areas far from the main body, which authorities say is concerning given its slower than expected movement across the country.

Notices advising residents to be ready to evacuate have been issued to more than 4 million people across the country, mainly in the hard-hit Kyushu area but as far away as the capital Tokyo and nearby Yokohama. Authorities in Yokohama said there were risks of landslides in some areas due to heavy rain.
But, as of Thursday, only some 30,000 had been evacuated, mainly in Kyushu, disaster management minister Yoshifumi Matsumura said.
After moving from Kyushu, the storm was expected to approach the central and eastern regions, which includes Tokyo, around the weekend, the weather agency said.
Toyota (7203.T), opens new tab suspended operations in all of its domestic plants due to the storm, while other automakers Nissan (7201.T), opens new tab and Honda (7267.T), opens new tab, semiconductor firms Renesas (6723.T), opens new tab and Tokyo Electron (8035.T), opens new tab, and electonics giant Sony also temporarily halted production at some factories.
Airlines, including ANA Holdings (9202.T), opens new tab and Japan Airlines (9201.T), opens new tab, have announced cancellations of hundreds of domestic and some international flights. Many ferry and rail services, including the bullet train between Tokyo and the central city of Nagoya, were suspended on Friday morning.
Lin Yue-Hua, a 60-year-old tourist from Taiwan, had her flight from Fukuoka back home cancelled on Thursday. She was told to book another flight but did not know when she could return.
“We were very worried and upset because we didn’t know what to do,” she said.
“We stayed one more day in Japan. Then we saw it in the news that our flight from Taiwan couldn’t land in Japan after flying around the area for about 40 minutes and it flew back to Taiwan. So we have been busy trying to find our way home.”

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/typhoon-shanshan-pounds-japan-with-torrential-rains-severe-wind-2024-08-30/

The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Wednesday to revive President Joe Biden’s student debt relief plan, giving a boost to Republican-led states that have sued to block it.
The justices rejected the administration’s request to temporarily lift a judicial decision that paused the plan, which is designed to lower monthly payments for millions of borrowers and speed up loan forgiveness for some.
Following the Supreme Court’s June 2023 decision blocking Biden’s earlier plan to cancel hundreds of billions of dollars in debt, his administration said it would continue providing student debt relief to as many borrowers as possible.

A French judge put Telegram boss Pavel Durov under formal investigation on Wednesday in a probe into organized crime on the messaging app, but granted the entrepreneur bail on condition he pays 5 million euros, reports twice a week to police and does not leave French territory.
Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in a statement the judge found there were grounds to formally investigate Durov on all the charges for which he was initially arrested four days ago.

The judge’s decision came after Russian-born Durov was arrested at an airport near Paris on Saturday evening.
Durov’s detention has fuelled debate on where freedom of speech ends and enforcement of the law begins. It also underlines the uneasy relationship between governments and Telegram, which has close to 1 billion users, while serving as a warning shot to tech titans who refuse to comply with authorities over alleged illegality on their platforms.Russian state news agency RIA published a video on Telegram that appeared to show Durov, dressed in black in a baseball cap and sunglasses, leaving the prosecutor’s office and entering a waiting vehicle. Reuters was unable to authenticate the images.
Beccuau said Telegram had been used in various criminal cases, and that the “almost total lack of response from Telegram to judicial requisitions” eventually caught the attention of the Paris prosecutor’s office cybercrime unit.
“Other French investigation services and public prosecutors’ offices as well as various partners within Eurojust, in particular Belgian ones, shared the same observation,” about Telegram’s lack of compliance, Beccuau said.
That prompted the Paris prosecutor’s organized crime office to open a probe “into the possible criminal liability of the managers of this messaging service in the commission of these offences,” she said in her statement.
The probe began in February, with the investigations carried out by the National Office for Minors, with an introductory indictment in July, Beccuau said.

Telegram has barely commented on Durov’s arrest.

In a statement on Monday, it said it abided by European Union laws and its moderation was “within industry standards and constantly improving.”

“Telegram’s CEO Pavel Durov has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe,” it said. “It is absurd to claim that a platform, or its owner, are responsible for abuse of that platform.”

DIPLOMATIC WAVES

The arrest of Durov, who has French as well as Russian nationality, has had major diplomatic impact, hammering ties between Paris and Moscow.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that ties between the two nations had reached a nadir.

France has accused Russia of trying to destabilise it ahead of the Paris Olympics in response to its more hawkish stance on the Ukraine war – claims Russia has denied.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call on Tuesday that Russia was ready to provide Durov with all necessary assistance given his Russian citizenship, but that his French citizenship complicated the situation. Durov also holds a UAE passport.

Telegram has become crucial to battlefield communications in the war in Ukraine and is used by governments and soldiers on both sides of the conflict to share news and propaganda.

Telegram presents itself as a haven for free speech, but is also widely used by far-right, anti-vaccination and conspiracist movements, as well as political dissidents.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/french-judges-decide-next-step-durov-probe-2024-08-28/

U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan held wide-ranging talks with one of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s top military officials on Thursday, wrapping up three days of talks in Beijing intended to ease tension between the two superpowers.
Sullivan pushed for enhanced working-level military to military communications in the session with General Zhang Youxia, vice chairman of China’s paramount military body, the Central Military Commission.

Nearly 1,500 academics, researchers and scientists specializing in Antarctica gathered in southern Chile for the 11th Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research conference this week to share the most cutting-edge research from the vast white continent.
Nearly every aspect of science, from geology to biology and glaciology to arts, was covered but a major undercurrent ran through the conference. Antarctica is changing, faster than expected.

The 47-year-old, who is leading the UK’s Ineos Britannia team in the America’s Cup, was mugged by a gang while leaving a restaurant on Saturday night, local media reported.

British former Olympic yachtsman Sir Ben Ainslie has been robbed of his Rolex watch at knifepoint in Barcelona.

The 47-year-old, who is leading the UK’s Ineos Britannia team in the America’s Cup, was mugged by a gang while leaving a restaurant on Saturday night, local media reported.

The watch was said to be valued at around €20,000 (£16,858).

Sir Ben reported the theft to police in Barcelona on Monday.

He told The Daily Telegraph: “Barcelona is a fantastic host city for the America’s Cup, and the team has felt welcomed and is enjoying our stay in this vibrant city.

“Like in all big cities, you can be affected by opportunistic crime and my situation is no different. This matter is now with the local authorities.”

Barcelona has seen a spate of luxury watch thefts and the city has a police team specialising in the theft of high-value watches.

Russia has launched several air attacks on Ukraine this week, costing Moscow a reported $1.3bn. Last night, Kyiv came under drone attack for the third night in four days, with debris injuring people and damaging buildings.

Ukrainian MP calls on Western allies to change minds over weapons call
Ukraine’s allies must give Kyiv permission to use weapons to hit military targets in Russia “sooner rather than later”, says one of the country’s MPs.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly asked Western leaders to let Ukraine use long-range weapons on Russian territory.

During his nightly address yesterday, the president said such restrictions being lifted would “help us to end the war as soon as possible in a fair way for Ukraine and the world as a whole”.

This week, Sir Keir Starmer said there had been “no new decisions” on the matter, with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz saying the same yesterday in Berlin.

Speaking on Sky News this morning, Ukrainian MP Kira Rudik said the situation across the country remains difficult and urged Kyiv’s allies to speed up their decision-making process.

She said: “It seems for us that the only way to defend our people and defend our territories is to be able to hit Russian missiles and Russian planes at the start of their launches, not when they are approaching our energy infrastructure or our homes.

“And this is why we need the ability to use long-range weapons to destroy Russia’s ability to attack us.

“It’s a pure act of defence. And we hope that, sooner rather than later, our allies will understand that.”

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-russia-latest-invasion-kursk-putin-war-live-updates-12541713

Eighteen people have been injured this summer in a seaside town in Japan by what is likely to be a solitary dolphin that has been separated from its pod.

A dolphin thought to be responsible for nearly 50 attacks on humans in recent years may be lashing out because it is lonely, experts have said.

There have been 18 attacks on swimmers at a seaside town in southern Japan since 21 July, all believed to have been carried out by the same male bottlenose dolphin according to NBC, Sky’s US partner, quoting Japanese broadcaster NHK.

The attacks have consistently involved a single dolphin that appears to be on its own, which is unusual as bottlenose dolphins are a highly social species that stick closely together in pods.

NBC quoted Tadamichi Morisaka from the Cetacean Research Center at Japan’s Mie University who has seen photographs from the incidents in Mihama.

Mr Morisaka, who is part of the Dolphin Communication Project, told NBC it’s unusual for bottlenose dolphins of this kind to approach people at all, let alone bite them.

This one appears to have got used to interacting with people after doing it for several years.

He said the bites appear to be playful, suggesting the dolphin “mainly wants to interact with humans”, rather than attack or harm them.

But because dolphins have lots of sharp teeth, even a gentle bite can cause injury to humans.

Swimmers in the area are now being warned to get out of the water if they see a dolphin.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/lonely-dolphin-behind-multiple-attacks-on-humans-in-southern-japan-experts-say-13204828

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie will avoid any awkward run-in this week while promoting their movies at the Venice International Film Festival — as programmers have taken extra precaution to keep the embattled exes apart.

In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera said the fest took special care to keep the famous exes’ films from overlapping on its schedule.

“Angelina will be on the first day, on Thursday [Aug. 29], and she will leave right after with [‘Maria’ director] Pablo Larraín” for the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado, Barbera said. “So Brad will arrive only on Saturday, to Venice. There is no way that they can cross each other at the Lido,” the famed island on which the fest takes place.

A source tells us the Hollywood stars did not request that the fest space out their films.

“Neither asked for that, they were wise enough to realize,” said our source.

Jolie arrived on Wednesday in Italy, and she’ll debut her film “Maria,” about opera singer Maria Callas.

Pitt will be in town for the premiere of his movie with George Clooney, “Wolfs,” on Sept. 1.

Jolie filed for divorce in 2016 and the exes have been battling it out ever since.

The former couple’s divorce is still pending — though both are legally single — and they continue to bitterly hash out issues including ownership over their famed French winery, Château Miraval.

Source: https://pagesix.com/2024/08/28/celebrity-news/venice-makes-sure-brad-pitt-and-angelina-jolie-wont-meet/

A new flashpoint has emerged in the ongoing maritime dispute between China and the Philippines, with both countries clashing over yet another spot in the South China Sea.
Both China and the Philippines have staked their claims on various islands and zones in the Sea – their dispute increasingly escalating over the years with more vessel collisions, scuffles, and allegations of armed threats.
But last week, things came to a head when Beijing and Manila’s vessels collided near the Sabina Shoal- both accusing the other of ramming them on purpose.
The shoal, claimed by China as Xianbin Jiao and as Escoda Shoal by the Philippines, is located some 75 nautical miles from the Philippines’ west coast and 630 nautical miles from China.

What’s happened at the Sabina Shoal?
On 19 August, several Chinese and Philippine vessels collided near the shoal in the disputed Spratly Islands – an area rich in oil and gas, which has been claimed by both countries for years.
The Chinese coast guard said that the Philippine vessel “deliberately collided” into them, while the Philippines said the Chinese vessels were conducting “aggressive manoeuvres”.
A second round of collisions took place on Sunday, with both sides once again blaming each other. Several other countries including the UK, Japan, Australia and South Korea, as well as the EU, have criticised China’s actions.

On Monday, the Philippines said 40 Chinese ships prevented two of their boats from conducting a “humanitarian mission” to restock the Teresa Magbuana, a Philippine coast guard ship deployed months earlier to the shoal.
The Philippines suspects China is attempting to reclaim land at Sabina Shoal. It has pointed to underwater mounds of crushed coral on Sabina’s sandbars, which its coast guard filmed, saying Beijing is using that material to expand the shoal. Chinese state media has called such accusations “groundless”.
Authorities sent the Teresa Magbuana to Sabina in April as part of a prolonged presence they plan to maintain at the shoal. Manila sees it as key to their efforts to explore the Spratlys for oil and gas.
China meanwhile sees the presence of the Teresa Magbuana as evidence of the Philippines’ intentions to occupy the shoal.
A recent commentary by Chinese state news outlet Xinhua pointed to a decrepit World War Two era ship grounded by the Philippines in 1999 on the Second Thomas Shoal, known in Chinese as the Ren’ai Jiao.
A handful of soldiers are still stationed there and require regular rations. For years, the ship has been a source of constant friction between both countries, with China routinely attempting to block re-supply missions to the ship.
“25 years on, it is still there. Clearly, the Philippines is attempting to repeat this scenario at Xianbin Jiao,” said the commentary.
“China will never be deceived by the Philippines again.”

Is this an escalation in the China and Philippines dispute?
There has been a string of dangerous encounters in recent months as the two sides sought to enforce their claims on disputed reefs and outcrops, including the Second Thomas Shoal and the Scarborough Shoal.
The collisions usually arise from the cat-and-mouse games the boats engage in, as they attempt to chase the other side away.
China has increasingly blasted powerful water cannon and lasers at Philippine ships, with the Filipinos also accusing the Chinese of boarding their boats, leading to scuffles, as well as confiscating items and puncturing their inflatable vessels.
One of the latest accusations from Manila was that Chinese coast guard personnel armed with knives, spears and swords boarded one of their military ships and threatened their soldiers.
“We are struggling against a more powerful adversary,” the Philippines defence chief Gilberto Teodoro said on Tuesday, while appealing to the international community to issue “a strong call-out against China”.
So far there have been no fatalities, though the Philippines says several of its soldiers have sustained injuries. But President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has warned that any Filipino deaths resulting from China’s actions would be considered an “act of war”.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp3d4rz922do

The 81st edition of the Venice Film Festival kicked off in Hollywood fashion with the world premiere of “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” Wednesday evening on the Lido.

To make the sequel, Tim Burton reunited with several key cast members from his 1988 horror-comedy, including Michael Keaton playing the titular ghoul, Catherine O’Hara, and Winona Ryder as Lydia, now mother to her own sullen teen played by Jenna Ortega.

“I’m not out to do a big sequel for money,” Burton said a few hours before the premiere, with his cast alongside him. “I wanted to make this for very personal reasons.”

The reason, he said, was that he’d become disillusioned with the film industry in the past few years. “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” was the kick he needed to fall in love with the process again.

“I just realized if I’m going to do anything again, I just wanted to do it from my heart. Something that I wanted to do,” Burton said. “It’s a bit like the Lydia character. Sometimes your life takes a little bit of a turn, you go down a different path. I sort of lost myself a little bit.”

The film comes 36 years after audiences first met the Deetz family. Though the original “Beetlejuice” was a hit, the tenth highest grossing film of 1988, and remains a beloved staple, Burton said he never quite understood why it was such a success. In fact, he didn’t even watch it to prepare to make this one. He remembered the spirit well enough.

“There are so few opportunities to be in something that you can say is 100% original and unique,” said Keaton, who joked about his character’s evolution.

“I think my character has matured,” Keaton said. “As suave and sensitive as he was in the first, I think he’s even more so in this one.”

“Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” which Warner Bros. opens in theaters worldwide next week, may be a major Hollywood studio release, but it was made with a scrappy and improvisational energy which extended from the cast to the crew, who were often building puppets on the spot.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/beetlejuice-venice-film-festival-ryder-ortega-8c7c94259c411231d6b73d81dbd47369

Walt Disney’s (DIS.N), opens new tab ESPN signed a deal with the United States Tennis Association to continue broadcasting the U.S. Open tournament through 2037, the network said on Wednesday.
ESPN, which is currently airing this year’s U.S. Open, will air the tournament in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean under a new agreement that starts in 2026. The deal also gives ESPN the rights to offer more U.S. Open programming through streaming.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/disneys-espn-signs-deal-air-us-open-tennis-through-2037-2024-08-28/

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Wednesday that a Listeria outbreak linked to deli meats has resulted in 14 new illnesses and five additional deaths.
This brings the total to 57 cases, all of which required hospitalization, with eight fatalities overall.
The outbreak is now the largest listeriosis incident since the 2011 cantaloupe-associated outbreak.
The five recent deaths occurred in Florida, Tennessee, New Mexico, and South Carolina, according to the agency.

Israeli forces sent tanks deeper into Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip and launched strikes across the enclave as they battled Hamas-led militants, killing at least 34 Palestinians on Wednesday, according to medics.
Residents of Khan Younis said Israeli tanks made a surprise advance into the centre of the city, and the military ordered evacuations in the east, forcing many families to run for safety, while others were trapped at home.

Palestinian health officials said the Israeli strikes in Khan Younis killed at least 11 people.
In the central city of Deir Al-Balah, where at least a million people were sheltering, an Israeli airstrike killed eight Palestinians near a school housing displaced families, medics said.
In Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, journalist Mohammed Abed-Rabbo was killed along with his sister in an Israeli attack on their house, medics said. Gaza’s Hamas-run government media office said Abed-Rabbo’s death raised the number of Palestinian journalists killed by Israeli fire to 172 since Oct. 7.

In recent days, Israel has issued several evacuation orders across Gaza, the most since the beginning of the nearly 11-month-old war, prompting an outcry from Palestinians, the United Nations, and relief officials over the shrinking of humanitarian zones and the absence of safe areas.
The Israeli military said it ordered the evacuation in areas where Hamas and other militants staged attacks, including rocket firing into Israel.

The armed wings of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad said fighters were engaged in clashes with Israeli forces in different areas across the territory, firing anti-tank rockets and mortar fire.
More than 40,500 Palestinians have been killed in the war, according to Gaza’s health ministry. The crowded enclave has been laid to waste. Most of its 2.3 million people have been displaced multiple times and face acute shortages of food and medicine, humanitarian agencies say.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-forces-launch-strikes-across-gaza-push-tanks-into-central-khan-younis-2024-08-28/

Venture capitalists pledging support for Kamala Harris’ White House campaign listed priorities in a survey released on Wednesday that include women’s reproductive rights, climate change and a friendlier stance toward startups.
Of about 800 venture capitalists who signed an open letter of support, 225 chose to detail their reasons for endorsing the Democratic candidate and the policies they favor in a survey, opens new tab being reported first by Reuters.

Nearly all of the 225 thought it was a mistake for the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, which recognized abortion rights. Some felt this hurt women at work.
“These are not social issues. These are actually business issues,” said Leslie Feinzaig, CEO of Graham & Walker who started the pledge.

Israeli special forces have recovered an Israeli hostage from a tunnel in southern Gaza in “a complex rescue operation”, the military said on Tuesday, more than 10 months after he was abducted by Hamas-led gunmen.
It said 52-year-old Qaid Farhan Alkadi, a member of the Bedouin community in southern Israel who worked as a security guard on a kibbutz near the Gaza border, had been transferred to hospital and his condition was stable.

“Farhan was found by the troops when he was alone, and was rescued from the tunnel,” the official said. “As part of the preparations for the operation, lessons were learned from previous events and encounters with hostages.”

Israeli media quoted Alkadi as saying he had not seen the sun for almost eight months, and that another hostage who was with him for two months had “died next to me”.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said he had spoken with Alkadi, commended the troops for the rescue and said Israel would work “tirelessly” for the return of all the hostages.

“We do this in two main ways: through negotiations and rescue operations. Both ways together require our military presence in the field, and unceasing military pressure on Hamas,” he said.
During the phone conversation, Netanyahu told Alkadi he was “so happy to speak with you”. Alkadi replied: “I thank you for this work, that you have reached a situation in which I see my family and am here. You truly did sacred work. There are other people who are waiting.”
The operation was hailed by Israeli leaders, desperate for good news almost a year into a grinding military campaign against Hamas during which pressure has mounted on the government to do more to bring over 100 hostages back home.
‘MIRACULOUS‘

President Isaac Herzog said the rescue was “a moment of joy for the State of Israel and Israeli society as a whole”.

Israel’s Hostage Families Forum called Alkadi’s return “nothing short of miraculous” but that military operations alone will not free the remaining hostages “who have suffered 326 days of abuse and terror.

“A negotiated deal is the only way forward,” the group said in a statement. “We urgently call on the international community to maintain pressure on Hamas to accept the proposed deal and release all hostages. The remaining hostages cannot afford to wait for another such miracle.”

As the rescue was confirmed, Israeli television stations showed a military helicopter landing at a hospital as medical staff and ambulance stood by waiting to receive Alkadi.

“He is in good condition. He is now going through tests,” his brother Hathem Alkadi told Channel 12 TV, saying Qaid had lost a lot of weight in captivity.

“We are happy we saw him and saw him alive, first and foremost. He asked about his family, if his kids were OK and his mother was OK.”

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israeli-military-says-gaza-hostage-rescued-complex-operation-2024-08-27/