Category: World

Specialist divers continue to search for six people who were onboard a luxury superyacht which capsized off the coast of Sicily on Monday morning – but questions have been asked about why the vessel sank.
According to vessel tracking app Vesselfinder, the boat left the Sicilian port of Milazzo on 14 August and was last tracked east of Palermo on Sunday evening, with a navigation status of “at anchor”.
It is believed the ship was struck by a tornado over the water – otherwise known as a waterspout – causing Bayesian to capsize.
There are separate reports the boat’s mast snapped during the freak storm and other factors in the boat’s sinking include water entering through hatches and doors which had been left open because of warm weather off the Italian coast.

Soaring across the scenic landscape, it’s indisputably one of the most beautiful bridges in the world.

Often swathed by mist, so that it feels like crossing through clouds, it is so famous that it has its own visitor center, and people plan trips to the area solely to drive across it. The bridge can even be easily seen from space.

The Golden Gate? No. This is the Millau Viaduct, a perfect example of where engineering meets art. Cantilevered high over the Tarn gorge in southern France, and yawning 2,460 meters (8,070 feet) in length, the Millau Viaduct is the world’s tallest bridge, with a structural height of 336.4 meters (1,104 feet).

But not even those impressive statistics do it justice.

Unlike other famous bridges, which usually connect two points of similar altitude, the Millau Viaduct effectively becomes the opposite of a rollercoaster, plying a flat course across the valley, as the land ripples up and down underneath it.

The seven piers range from 78 meters to 245 meters (256-804 feet) in height, each calculated to the millimeter to make a perfectly smooth experience for drivers soaring across the Tarn. There’s a 342m (1,122ft) span between each pairing – large enough for the Eiffel Tower to slot in the gap. The piers are coupled with seven steel pylons, each 87 meters (285 feet) high, with 11 cable stays fanning out on either side. This all helps keep the “deck” – the road surface, which is around 14 feet thick and weighs 36,000 tons, or the equivalent of 5,100 African elephants – steady.

At the same time as being a work of absolute precision, it’s also beautiful. The Gorges du Tarn area is a protected landscape, yet instead of spoiling the view, the Millau Viaduct enhances it.

It’s a “wonder of the modern world” and an “engineering marvel,” says David Knight, director of design and engineering at Cake Industries and specialist adviser to the Institution of Civil Engineers.

“It’s that perfect interplay of architecture and engineering that means that everybody who sees it thinks it’s spectacular.”

Those living in the valley below look up with wonder; those driving across it – this road, the A75 from Clermont-Ferrand to Béziers, is one of the main north-south routes in France – see the gentle curve arcing across the landscape as they approach. “It gives everyone who uses it a sense of awe,” says Knight.

No wonder that for many, driving across the viaduct is something you travel to do, not something you do while traveling.

So how did this wonder of the modern world come to be built in the middle of France? Why did it take two decades to plan, before opening to traffic in December 2004? And how did it effectively change the map of Europe?

A bridge too far?

The answer to all those questions is geography. The Massif Central is a vast area of highlands cut by deep valleys and gorges, roughly located in the middle part of the bottom half of France. Sprawling across about 15% of the country, and bordered by the Alps to the east, it’s one of the obstacles anyone traveling from north to south of the country – or from northern Europe to Spain – must pass.

So important was this viaduct – but also so difficult – that it was two decades in the planning, according to Michel Virlogeux, the engineer who led the design team – and who first started work on it in September 1987.

“The first problem was not what bridge to build, but where the motorway would pass,” he says.

At the time the Massif Central was remote, despite its central location. There was a single-track railway line, and the roads “weren’t very good,” he says. “The central part of France couldn’t develop due to lack of transport.”

So in the 1980s, the French government decided to upgrade the road network, with then-president Valery Giscard d’Estaing deciding on a freeway. One of the aims was to unclog the notoriously choked road around Millau, where the road descended into the valley and crossed the Tarn river in the city center. Every day there were tailbacks of around 20 kilometers (12.5 miles) either side of the town.

“Going through Millau used to be a traffic blackspot for tourists,” says Emmanuelle Gazel, current mayor of Millau. “There were lots of traffic jams. There were kilometers and kilometers of tailbacks. It gave a very bad image of our area… in terms of pollution it was terrible. And locals took a long time getting from one point to another.”

In the words of Lord Norman Foster, who became the architect of the bridge, the area was “a valley of extreme beauty which had become one of France’s worst bottlenecks.”

The decision to build a bridge around Millau was taken in September 1986, says Virlogeux, who at the time was head of the large bridges division of the French administration. There was just one problem: the geography of the area meant there was no obvious solution. “We started looking where was possible, but many options were bad, and it took almost three years to find a solution,” he says.

One idea was to route the freeway east of Millau, keeping the road on the plateaus, with two suspension bridges to cross the valleys on either side. But that wouldn’t have allowed a connection with Millau – “the only big city between Clermont-Ferrand and Béziers,” says Virlogeux – which needed the economic boost.

So they called in the experts: geologists, geo technologists, road engineers and Virlogeux, who had already designed the Pont de Normandie – the 7,032-foot bridge spanning the river Seine in the northern region of Normandy.

The team’s first idea was to run west of Millau, bringing the road lower in altitude down into the valley, across a bridge at a lower level and up again to the plateau and then a tunnel. They were in the stages of planning when the team’s road engineer, Jacques Soubeyran, had a lightbulb moment.

“He asked, ‘Why are you going into the valley?’ and it was a big shock,” remembers Virlogeux. “The motorway was passing 300 meters above the river. I hadn’t even considered the possibility of passing at a high level. Immediately, I said we were being stupid. We started working on the idea of passing plateau to plateau.”

After just eight days they had detailed drawings of the rippling ground levels, as well as a possible altitude for a freeway snaking across it.

The importance of elegance

They knew where they wanted the viaduct – but what should it look like?

Virlogeux immediately knew that the best option would be a cable-stayed bridge. “Cable is the most efficient structure to carry a load, and you can have a very slender deck so it’s much better to look at,” he says.

Slenderness was important. There was already controversy about the idea of running a bridge through such a famous landscape. To avoid ruining the landscape, it had to “look very quiet.”

Getting the go-ahead took some years. The French government started a competition for the design of the bridge, and in 1996 the commission was won by a group led by Virlogeux as engineer (who had left his previous job a year earlier) and the UK’s Norman Foster – now Lord Foster – as architect. Foster calls their plan to span the valley, rather than the river, a “philosophical concept” that distinguished them from other competitors.

But with the local community up in arms at the idea of their area of natural beauty being spoiled, they face what Foster calls a “design challenge… to create something that would enhance the landscape, sit gently on the floor of the valley – to be the most delicate and light intervention.” Virlogeux says it had to be “pure and simple.”

Yet this precious landscape, which had to be protected aesthetically, was extremely difficult to work around.

“The wind forces at this level are huge and the columns have to accommodate the enormous expansion and contraction of the deck,” says Foster. And we’re not just talking a gentle bounce. The 2,460-meter (8,070-foot) bridge can expand or contract by 50 centimeters (1.6 feet) depending on the weather. Their solution was to add extension joints.

Luckily, while the old adage is that architects and engineers should be at loggerheads, and while you might imagine that two titans of architecture and engineering might clash, Foster and Virlogeux have nothing but praise for each other. Virlogeux says it was a “very easy” working relationship, while for Foster it was a “meeting of minds.” The team had twice-monthly meetings in London while working on the design. “He would ask me, ‘Why do you want this and not that?’ and after that he’d take a decision in five minutes,” says Virlogeux. “Once there was a major controversy about the shape of the deck. He asked me what I proposed, if I was sure it would work. Then he said, ‘OK – architecture must not go against scientific needs.’”

Above the road, the sturdy columns “split” into two more flexible arms, making an artistic statement out of an engineering necessity.

The same goes for the curve of the road, which gently arcs across the valley. It’s not just beautiful; it ensures that there’s no visual overlap – and therefore confusion – for drivers at such a great height. Meanwhile the piers become slimmer as they rise towards the roadway, more or less halving from 24 meters wide at the bottom to 11 meters at the top.

Their design for a cable-stayed bridge with seven elegant piers marching across the landscape and what Foster calls “the snake of a road, improbably thin like a razor blade,” has stood the test of time.

The anxious build

If the design wasn’t challenging enough, then came the construction which started in October 2001. The project cost a cool 400 million euros ($437 million) and was financed by Eiffage, a private construction company which still has the concession for the bridge today. There were 290,000 tons of steel and concrete used to build it, and around 600 builders working on it.

“The huge challenge is what happens when you build it,” says Knight. “As you put the weight in different locations, it moves in different directions. There are different materials interacting with each other – this is as difficult as engineering gets.”

Foster calls the assembly of the deck “a true challenge.”

“It was serenely and slowly launched simultaneously from both sides over the temporary structural supports, meeting in the middle with millimeter precision.”

Virlogeux remembers the “critical wind situation” which risked damaging the structure during the build. Each “launching” operation – during which the deck was installed from both sides – would take up to three days, so they had to monitor the five-day forecast before starting out, to avoid causing damage before the deck reached the next pier.

It was only as the viaduct was put into place that the team could see if their design had worked – from an aesthetic point of view as much as an engineering one.

Every detail had been considered for its potential effect on the landscape, as well as whether it could resist the forces at that altitude.

Foster says that the first time he went to see it, “I was anxious to the point of almost being physically ill.” He had “agonized” over the color of the 154 cable stays – if they were light, they’d blend in with the sky but stand out against the landscape. He went with white – “but the agony was that I wouldn’t know if it was the right decision until it was built – and then it would be too late to change it.”

Luckily for him, the white worked. “I was almost sick with apprehension, but I remember arriving in a car and the bridge gradually coming into view and finally realizing that it was, after all, the right decision.”

Virlogeux was more sanguine. For him, the greatest challenge was overcoming local opposition to be able to build. Getting the contract signed, he says, was the most stressful part. Signing it was “the moment I knew we would build it.”

President Jacques Chirac came to open the bridge and shake hands with the construction workers. Two days later, Virlogeux drove across it on his way back to Paris.

Source: https://edition.cnn.com/travel/millau-viaduct-tallest-bridge-construction/index.html

“America, I love you,” declared President Joe Biden tonight in his keynote speech at the first night of the Democratic National Convention as delegates from across the land cheered “We love Joe!” over and over.

Even with his constant evocation of Irish poetry over the decades, Biden has never been anyone’s idea of a great orator. However, on Monday, the 46th President of the United States gave one of the best speeches of his long stint in public life.

Combative, on-point, evocative and relatively succinct for Biden, the valedictory had a job for the campaign. A job that Biden obviously enjoyed. Ripping his 2020 antagonist Donald Trump as a “loser” and “a liar,” Biden went on to lament how “sad” his predecessor is “putting himself first and America last.”

“I’ve got five months left in my presidency and I’ve got a lot to do,” Biden told the crowd, many of whom had tears dripping down their faces. “I intend to get it done,” Biden added after cataloging his efforts to get a ceasefire in the Gaza War and bring a greater peace to the Middle East.

Quoting Norah Jones’ “American Anthem” song, Biden recited “America, America, I gave my best to you.”

“I made a lot of mistakes in my career, but I gave my best to you,” the president continued as an almost chorus. “For 50 years, like many of you, I gave my heart and soul to our nation, and I have been blessed a million times in return with the support of the American people,” Biden added to a suddenly near silent arena. “I may have been too young to be in the Senate, because I wasn’t 30 yet, and too old to stay as president,” he went on, to sounds of near shock at his bluntness. “But I hope you know how grateful I am to all of you.”

As the convention thundered for Biden at the end of his just over 45-minute speech, Vice President and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff came on-stage with the president’s family. The 2024 nominee could clearly been seen telling the 2020 nominee that she loved him as the two hugged.

Biden being Biden, there was an occasional stumble. A bizarre reference to a compliment over his Ukraine policy from the now dead Henry Kissinger didn’t get the reception the president sought. A nod to the ancient Greeks could have gone off the rails. Much of the occasional self-mocking Biden’s bellowed remarks were a litany of achievements and well-worn anecdotes that clearly came from the acceptance speech he intended to be giving this week as recently as two months ago.

It didn’t really matter.

Playing to those at home and on the go more than those in Chicago’s United Center, the 81-year-old Biden was in a fighting spirit that we haven’t seen since the State of the Union earlier this year. In fact, you could say the gist of this speech was the state of the Biden-Harris administration. According to the president, it was in a very good state and good hands.

No wonder Harris was smiling as the man who wants to be her predecessor heaped acclaim on his party’s new standard bearer and the “47th President of the United States.” Beside calling his choice of Harris to be his running mate in 2020 “the best decision of my whole career,” the aside of “thank you Kamala” from Biden to chants of “thank you Joe!” was a spontaneous moment that said it all.

In a scene unseen in America since career politician Lyndon Baines Johnson withdrew from the 1968 race, career politician Joe Biden tonight figuratively handed over power in the pursuit of defeating a long-time foe. Unlike LBJ, who never showed his face at the chaotic ’68 DNC and was listless in his support of his VP Hubert Humphrey’s pursuit of the White House, Biden basked in love and respect from his party.

With a constant chorus of “Thank You Joe!” the DNC’s opening night and intimate words from First Lady Dr. Jill Biden and First Daughter Ashley Biden, the President was preceded over Monday evening by a tribute to Civil Rights leaders and trailblazers like Shirley Chisholm, an array of governors, senators, congressmen and congresswoman.

For a newly streamlined party that has stressed discipline over the change of nominees, it got flabby with too many speeches from too many politicians we see every day. James Taylor (but not Taylor Swift) was set to play but ended up getting bounced because of runaway program. The film that extolled documentary director Dawn Porter made as part of a Biden tribute was pushed off the schedule too to make up time — though both POTUS and VPOTUS put the 11 minute effort up on social media on Monday.

More importantly, the overflow of speakers took President Biden out of primetime with POTUS not taking the stage until 11:26 pm ET.

Then again, from the “We love you Joe!” roar of the on the feet Democrats when consummate retail pol Biden did step up to the microphone, it sure sounded like they could have gone all night.

It was a remarkable shift from just over a month ago when Biden was insisting he was staying in the race despite POTUS’s disastrous and sometimes painful debate performance against Trump on June 27 on CNN.

After loyal donors like Watchmen boss Damon Lindelof, in a Deadline exclusive, and George Clooney started withholding checks, party insiders like Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi moving the chess pieces in the background, the writing was on the wall for Biden. Even with crashing numbers, only a fool would think that the president planned to drop out before hosting the NATO Summit in D.C. in early July. After a press conference of ups and downs on July 11 at the end of the summit, Biden suddenly revealed on Sunday July 21 that he was stepping aside. Minutes later POTUS endorsed VPOTUS for the Democrats’ nomination, which the California native clinched within less than 36 hours.

In a handover that appeared improbable just a few weeks ago, Biden’s decision to pass the torch to his loyal VP has been near seamless – as was evident tonight. Biden’s forced hand turned this into a real race with the Democrats now holding a thin lead. If Harris is elected, that handover is set to be as much a part of the incumbent’s legacy as his legislative and foreign policy successes.

Also on stage at the DNC on Monday night were singers Mickey Guyton and Jason Isbell and various labor leaders. Tellingly, Teamsters boss Sean O’Brien, who spoke to mixed results at the hard-nosed GOP convention last month, was not among those at the lectern on Monday.

Source: https://deadline.com/2024/08/biden-dnc-speech-1236044394/

In eight years of working as a taxi driver in Kenya’s capital, Judith Chepkwony has never seen business this bad.
A bruising price war between ride-hailing companies Uber Technologies (UBER.N), opens new tab, Estonia’s Bolt and local start-ups Little and Faras has driven fares down to a level that many drivers say is unsustainable, forcing them to set their own higher rates.
“Most of us have these cars on loan and the cost of living has risen,” Chepkwony told Reuters. “I try to convince the customers to agree to the higher rates. If they can’t pay, we cancel and let them find another driver.”

Mike Lynch is missing along with his daughter, Hannah, though his wife has been rescued. Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley International, and Chris Morvillo, a lawyer at major firm Clifford Chance, are also among the missing.

British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter are among six tourists missing after a luxury yacht sank in a tornado off the coast of Italy.

One person has been confirmed dead, believed to be the vessel’s Canadian chef, while four of the missing passengers are British and two American, according to Italian newspaper la Repubblica.

The Palermo Port Authority told Canadian broadcaster CBC News officials recovered the body of Recaldo Thomas, a Canadian-born man who had been living in Antigua.

The British-flagged yacht, called Bayesian, had 10 crew and 12 passengers on board and sank at about 5am local time off the coast of Palermo.

Salvo Cocina of Sicily’s civil protection agency said: “They were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

He added Jonathan Bloomer, chairman of Morgan Stanley International, and Chris Morvillo, a lawyer at major firm Clifford Chance, are among the missing.

Mr Lynch’s daughter, Hannah Lynch, also remains unaccounted for but his wife, Angela Bacares, was rescued along with 14 others – including a mother who held her one-year-old baby above the waves.

Charlotte Golunski, 35, told la Repubblica she lost her baby Sofia for “two seconds”, adding: “I held her afloat with all my strength, my arms stretched upwards to keep her from drowning.

“It was all dark. In the water I couldn’t keep my eyes open. I screamed for help but all I could hear around me was the screams of others.”

The girl’s father James Emsley also survived, Mr Cocina said. According to her LinkedIn profile, Ms Golunski is a partner at Mr Lynch’s firm, called Invoke Capital.

Mr Lynch, described as the British Bill Gates, was cleared earlier this year of conducting a massive fraud over the sale of software company Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard (HP) in 2011.

His co-defendant in that trial, Stephen Chamberlain, was separately confirmed dead after he was hit by a car on Saturday.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/search-continues-for-british-tech-tycoon-mike-lynch-and-daughter-after-yacht-sinks-in-sicily-tornado-13200009

One child is strip searched every 14 hours, according to a new report by the children’s commissioner.

When Marlon realised his daughter was being groomed and sexually exploited by grown men, he engaged with police, doing everything he could to keep his 14-year-old child safe.

But one day, the police, who Marlon thought would protect his daughter, added to her trauma – when she was strip searched by officers after being accused of concealing an E-cigarette.

President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are hardly the only examples of politicians who work well into their golden years. Members of the baby-boom generation – Americans born between 1946 and 1964 – are the most numerous in the House, and in the Senate they outnumber lawmakers from all other generations combined.

All told, two-thirds of U.S. senators and nearly half of House lawmakers are eligible for full retirement benefits through the Federal Employees’ Retirement System. And yet they keep working. So do the four Supreme Court justices who are over 65.

They’re not alone. When given the choice, many Americans seem to prefer to work more rather than less. This is true in their weekly and annual work hours as well as the period of their life they spend working. About 1 in 5 Americans over 65 are working, even though they’ve passed the point where they are eligible for full retirement benefits and Social Security payments.

The share of older adults in the workforce is rising, although it’s not clear how many of them are still punching a clock because they want to and how many can’t afford to stop because of holes in the U.S. safety net.

As a historian and anthropologist of medicine in the U.S., I have spent years researching the ways that American adults have generally chosen to earn higher wages rather than reduce their work hours.

I believe that Biden’s decision to retire after years of public service offers an opportunity to consider what is at stake as a society when so many people over the age of 65 keep working, especially in prominent roles.

Retirement conventions in other countries
Maybe not for politicians, but in many occupations, it now takes fewer hours of work to achieve the same labor output as a century ago, thanks to advances in manufacturing and computing.

Yet, hardly anyone is reducing their workloads despite these increases in efficiency. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a government agency, most full-time U.S. employees log about 40 hours of work each week.

Many Europeans work shorter hours, take longer vacations, and get more generous retirement benefits from their governments than their U.S. counterparts. Not coincidentally, support of retirement at the age of 65 or earlier has broad support in the European Union.

In the U.S., later retirement is partly due to policy changes. For Americans born in 1960 or later, the federal retirement age has edged up to 67 from 65. That includes the tail end of those born during the baby boom, who will turn 65 between 2025 and 2028. Retirees eligible for Social Security benefits can collect a lower level of them at 62 and get rewarded with higher levels of Social Security benefits if they work until they turn 70.

As economist Dora Costa recounts in her book “The Evolution of Retirement,” the convention of a set retirement age arose in the early 20th century as a result of actuarial data on life expectancy and the establishment of pensions and social security systems.

Aging and health

To be sure, everyone ages differently, and there are benefits for society when older people remain on the job after their 65th birthday, including institutional memory and workplace experience.

There are recurrent debates about the benefits of working through one’s later life. In some cases, research supports the benefits some people derive from working after 65. But research also supports the importance of having hobbies and their health-promoting effects. What is clear is that remaining active later in life is the most important thing in staying healthy in old age.

But there are several drawbacks, too, related to the health issues associated with aging.

For example, routine illnesses can have outsized effects on aging bodies, and recovery from injuries and sickness can take longer when you’re over 65 than it does for younger adults. That can mean long stretches where an employee can’t do their job.

Cognitive abilities may barely decline for some people, while others experience the dramatic changes associated with age-related dementia.

Unfortunately, figuring out who really should retire if they don’t volunteer to do so is tough because cognitive tests are not always reliable. They often assess the capacities needed to take the test rather than underlying capacities.

For example, aural tests inadvertently assess hearing comprehension by attempting to measure the ability to remember a sequence of words. Many tests functionally test someone’s personality rather than their cognitive capacities. People with certain personality types can mask their cognitive changes. Moreover, bias in assessing cognitive changes is often based in the assessor’s experience of their interactions with the testee.

Except in cases where someone is obviously experiencing clear-cut changes in their cognitive capacity and ability to interact with others, arguing that somebody must retire is often rooted in ableist assumptions.

Source: https://studyfinds.org/mandatory-retirement-politicians/?nab=0

Madonna’s 66th birthday was a family affair.

The “Material Girl” singer shared a rare photo with all six of her children on Monday while giving fans an inside look at her birthday celebration in Italy.

She posted a carousel of heartwarming snaps on Instagram, including one that showed the pop star cozied up to Lourdes “Lola” Leon, 27, Rocco Ritchie, 24, David Banda, 18, Mercy James, 18, and twins Stella and Estere, 11.

Madonna looked glammed up in a white-laced dress with a black bustier underneath. She accessorized with a gold belt around her waist and chunky jewelry.

The “Vogue” songstress’ four daughters also donned dresses, with Leon and the twins topping off their looks with head scarves.

As for Ritchie, he wore a partially buttoned-up white shirt with black slacks, while Banda sported a striped polo shirt.

Another picture saw Madonna beaming as Banda lovingly hugged her from behind, while a third showed the seven-time Grammy winner posing in between her twin daughters.

The “Like a Prayer” hitmaker’s rumored boyfriend, Akeem Morris, was also involved in the festivities and was photographed holding hands with the music icon.

“La Dolce Vita……………..  ♥️,” she captioned the post.

Clutching a toothbrush and toothpaste, Kevin Lik waited for six hours in the main office of penal colony 14, near Arkhangelsk in Russia’s far north-west. It was late in the evening of Sunday 28 July, and the 19-year-old says he had no idea what was about to happen.
“Maybe you’re taking me to be shot,” he said to the governor of the colony.
“Don’t worry, everything will be fine,” came the reply.
Kevin says he was told the same thing by an officer from Russia’s FSB state security agency a year and a half ago, before they locked him up.
“I lost a lot of weight in the colony,” he explains shyly, as we speak on a video call. Kevin is about 6ft 4in tall (1.9m) but weighs only 11 stone (70kg).
Along with American journalist Evan Gershkovich, he is one of 16 people released by Russia on 1 August in a prisoner swap with the US and other Western countries.

He enthusiastically shows me certificates from national and local academic competitions that he won.

It was the 2018 Russian presidential election that sparked his interest in politics, he says. His mother – a public sector healthcare worker – would come home and say she and her colleagues had been bussed to polling stations where they were told: “Vote for Putin, or we’ll take away your bonus.”

He was only 12 at the time, but says he understood “there was almost no democracy in Russia”.

Kevin was enraged that almost every classroom in his school had a portrait of Putin.

“They constantly told us that school is not a place for politics. It’s just not right to hang portraits and promote a personality cult like that,” he says.

A year or so later, he caused a scandal when he swapped a school portrait of Putin for one of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

“One teacher said that during Stalin’s time, I would have been shot,” Kevin recalls – while a sympathetic teacher, he says, advised him to be careful.

His mother was called to the school: “They scolded her, yelled at her,” he says.

The BBC has asked the school for comment, but has not had a response.

Pizza but no handcuffs

As Kevin approached his final school year, his mother decided they should move back to Germany.

By this time, Russia had invaded Ukraine and, in order to leave the country permanently, Kevin’s name had to be removed from the military register.

Victoria was invited to the enlistment office to sort out her son’s paperwork. When she got there on 9 February 2023, the police met her. Kevin says they groundlessly accused her of swearing in public. She was sentenced to 10 days’ detention, which meant they had to delay their plans to leave.

Left alone, Kevin stopped going to school. He ventured out for a few hours one day, and says that when he returned to the apartment “things had been moved around”.

When Victoria was released, they tried to get to Germany by heading south to the city of Sochi, which has an international airport. After checking into a hotel, Kevin says they went out for a snack and he noticed a man in a medical mask and hoodie filming them on his phone. Within seconds, he says a minibus pulled up.

“Eight or nine FSB officers jumped out. One grabbed me by the arm. Another came up, showed his ID, and said: ‘A criminal case has been opened against you under article 275: treason.’

“My eyes were wide with shock.”

The minibus took them to the hotel, where they collected their luggage. On the way back to Maykop they were put in a car without licence plates and taken to a pizzeria.

“They ordered pizza and offered us some. They didn’t handcuff me or restrain me. I was thinking everything over in my head but couldn’t understand how I had committed treason,” says Kevin.

He asked if he would be put in jail. “Don’t worry, everything will be fine,” came the response.

Kevin remembered a former FSB operative, Vadim Krasikov, who was serving a life sentence in Germany for killing a man in Berlin on Kremlin orders. He started wondering if Russia planned to use him – a German citizen – “as a hostage” to get Krasikov back.

‘It’s a chess game – there was no justice’

They got home in the middle of the night. He shows me the video FSB officers made as they searched the apartment. They found a broken telescope – an old birthday present from his mother.

The authorities suspected he had used it to photograph military vehicles from his window to send to German intelligence. They took his phone and laptop and found pictures of the base.

Kevin freely admits he took the photos but says he had no intention of passing them on to anyone.
At 03:00, Kevin was taken to the local FSB building for interrogation. Because he was only 17, his mother went with him. He was scared.
Kevin says the lawyer assigned to him told him straight away that he should confess to reduce the sentence.
As we speak, he reels off details of Russia’s criminal code and uses legal terms to explain why he was wrongfully accused. But, back then, he had no idea how to handle the situation.

A confession had already been typed and Kevin agreed to sign it, which he later regretted. He says he was afraid if he didn’t sign, things would have “got worse because they could have started pressuring my mum”. The FSB investigator told them he had the power to seize their apartment, says Kevin.

“The testimony was absolute nonsense,” he says. “It’s a chess game, it was clear there was no justice.”

Because he was still a minor, he was taken to a special facility two hours’ drive away in Krasnodar and placed in a solitary cell. He had been up all night but couldn’t sleep.

“They brought me food but I couldn’t eat it. I really wanted to see my mum.”

A few months later, when he turned 18, he was moved to a different prison on the outskirts of Krasnodar where he mixed with other inmates.

Kevin says he was left terrified after a group of inmates beat him up. “They tied my hands, beat me, and even put out a cigarette on me. They hit me so hard in the chest I couldn’t breathe.”

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7v5rn8jr82o

A British mother on board a yacht which sank off the coast of Sicily has described holding her baby girl above the surface of the sea to save her from drowning.
The mother, named locally as Charlotte Golunski, her partner and one-year-old daughter are reported to be among 15 people to have been rescued from the luxury yacht Bayesian early on Monday.
Six people – including British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch – are missing with one man found dead outside the wreckage.
The 56m (183ft) vessel, which was carrying 10 crew and 12 passengers, sank half a mile off the coast of Palermo after encountering a heavy storm overnight that caused waterspouts, or rotating columns of air, to appear over the sea.
Charlotte told Italian newspaper La Repubblica her family survived because they were on deck when the yacht sank.
She said they were woken by “thunder, lightning and waves that made our boat dance”, and it felt like “the end of the world” before they were thrown into the water.

Queen Elizabeth II said Donald Trump was ‘very rude’: Astonishing claim revealed in new book which also reports that late monarch believed former US President must have an ‘arrangement’ with wife Melania

Queen Elizabeth found Donald Trump ‘very rude’, a sensational new biography of the late monarch claims.

The sovereign, who hosted the ex-US president twice during her reign, is said to have ‘particularly disliked’ the way he looked over her shoulder as if ‘in search of others more interesting’.

She also mused over his relationship with his wife Melania and said she believed they must have ‘some sort of arrangement’.

The astonishing claims are made by Craig Brown in his new book, A Voyage Around The Queen, which is being serialised in the Daily Mail.

He reports the conversation occurred at a lunch ‘weeks after’ one of Mr Trump’s visits.

In his final serialisation instalment today, Brown writes: ‘Over the course of her reign, Her Majesty entertained many controversial foreign leaders, including Bashar al-Assad, Robert Mugabe, Idi Amin, Donald Trump, Emperor Hirohito and Vladimir Putin.

‘She may not have found their company convivial; upon their departure, she may even have voiced a discreet word of disapproval.

‘A few weeks after President Trump’s visit, for instance, she confided in one lunch guest that she found him “very rude”: she particularly disliked the way he couldn’t stop looking over her shoulder, as though in search of others more interesting.

‘She also believed President Trump “must have some sort of arrangement” with his wife Melania, or else why would she have remained married to him?

‘For his part, Donald Trump was confident he had been her favourite guest ever. “There are those that say they have never seen the Queen have a better time, a more animated time,” he later told America’s Fox News.’

Buckingham Palace has not commented on the claim as they do not, by convention, comment on books or biographies generally.

The fascinating account will no doubt come as a blow to Mr Trump, who is currently seeking re-election as President.

Source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13758993/queen-elizabeth-donald-trump-melania-craig-brown.html

He’s a daredevil.

Robert De Niro’s oldest daughter, Drena De Niro, shared a video of her father leaping off a yacht in honor of his 81st birthday.

“Happy 81st Bday to my Dad and #1 ride or die,” she captioned the Instagram post. “Love you with all my ♥️♥️♥️ #BobbyD forever ✨👑.”

In the video, the shirtless “Goodfellas” actor jumped off a yacht into the ocean, wearing only a pair of red-and-blue striped Vilebrequin swim shorts.

Though Robert dived head first, he ended up hitting the water on his back.

“He’s so crazy. Oh my God. Oh my God. Are you alright?” Drena, 56, asked her father once he resurfaced in the water.

The dad of seven replied, “I’m OK.”

Drena then told Robert he was “sick” and “crazy” for the epic leap.

The actress asked a yacht employee how many feet her father jumped from, to which they responded, “36 feet.”

Drena’s comments section was flooded with birthday wishes for the legendary actor.

“HBD to 1 of 1, New York’s finest.🏛️🥂,” wrote one user.

“Happy Birthday To The Best Actor In The World❤️,” added another.

Source: https://pagesix.com/2024/08/18/entertainment/robert-de-niros-daughter-drena-shares-video-of-actor-leaping-off-a-yacht-for-81st-birthday/

Directors including Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino have acknowledged their debt to the film star.

French actor Alain Delon has died at the age of 88 after suffering from ill health, his family has announced.

The star was known for his roles in films such as Purple Noon in 1960, The Leopard in 1963, and Le Samourai in 1967.

A local councillor warns the operation to deal with the apparent “historic piece of munition” could take at least five days to resolve.

Hundreds of homes have been evacuated in Northern Ireland after a suspected Second World War bomb was discovered.

The “suspected historic piece of munition” was found on Friday at the Rivenwood housing development in Newtownards.

On Sunday, the Police Service of Northern Ireland evacuated around 450 nearby homes as they warned the operation “will continue for a number of days”.

Local councillor Pete Wray confirmed it was a suspected Second World War bomb and described the situation as “complex”.

He added that it would likely take at least five days to resolve.

An emergency support centre for affected residents is operating at the Ards Blair Mayne Leisure Complex.

Shiveluch started erupting after the earthquake struck off the east coast of Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula at a depth of 29km (18 miles).

One of Russia’s most active volcanoes has erupted, spewing massive plumes of ash into the atmosphere and putting aircraft on alert.

It was triggered by a powerful 7.0 magnitude earthquake off the east coast of Russia’s Kamchatka peninsula at 7.10am local time on Sunday (8.10pm UK time on Saturday), according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).

The quake struck at a depth of 18 miles (29km) and there were reports of “severe shaking” and “moderate to heavy damage” in the nearest city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, which has a population of more than 150,000 people.

According to the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team (KVERT), aircraft have been issued a “red” code warning, the highest alert level, for a significant amount of ash in the atmosphere.

It describes explosions from the Shiveluch volcano, sending ash up three miles (5km) in the air, with the plume extending about 930 miles (1,500km) to the east-south-east.

Initially the USGS reported the magnitude as 7.2 but – as more data was analysed – the figure was revised downward.

Satellite images show two lava domes growing on the volcano’s southwestern flank, according to the website volcanodiscovery.com.

Meanwhile, the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan (GSI) has issued a map showing the extent of the ash plume.

The Volcanic Ash Advisory Center (VAAC) in Tokyo is warning that “explosive activity” is continuing.

Duke of Sussex previously said he feared for his family’s safety visiting UK due to intense media scrutiny

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s latest trip abroad has raised eyebrows among royal experts about their alleged safety concerns.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex spent the past four days in Colombia at the invitation of Vice President Francia Márquez.

They arrived Thursday in Bogota where they met with Márquez and visited a charter school before taking part in an Insight Session about social media, according to People.

Prince Harry and Markle also met with the country’s Invictus Games athletes on Saturday. That same day, they joined in on a drum lesson and took in other cultural traditions and tours. Similar events continued through Sunday.

The couple also took part in several discussions and panels on digital safety, a primary focus of the couple’s work through their Archewell foundation.

During one such panel on Aug. 16, Markle told the audience, “We should model how we want our kids to be raised and for the world in which we raise them. It doesn’t matter where you live. It doesn’t matter who you are. Either you personally or someone you know is a victim to what’s happening online. And that’s something we can actively work on every day to remedy,” per People.

The concerns over safety both online and during travel have some experts questioning Harry and Meghan’s thought process.

“This entire tour is the height of Harry‘s hypocrisy,” Hilary Fordwich, royal expert, tells Fox News Digital. “Yet another stop on their ‘worldwide privacy tour.'”

Source: https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/prince-harry-meghan-markles-colombia-trip-height-hypocrisy-regarding-couples-safety-concerns-experts

The zoo says the piece, featuring an image of a gorilla, has been removed for “safekeeping” and replaced a reproduction of the work and a sign that said: “Banksy woz ere.”

London Zoo says it has removed a Banksy artwork for “safekeeping”.

The mural was the ninth and final piece in a series of animal-themed work by the illusive artist to appear across the capital over nine consecutive days.

The artwork at the zoo depicted a gorilla holding up part of a roll-down shutter allowing birds and a sea lion to escape.

London Zoo said it removed the Banksy work on Friday evening to preserve it and to return the zoo’s entrance to full operation after visitors flocked to see it over five days last week.

It was replaced with a reproduction of the work and a sign that said: “Banksy woz ere.”

Kathryn England, the zoo’s chief operating officer, said: “We’re thrilled by the joy this artwork has already brought to so many, but primarily, we’re incredibly grateful to Banksy, for putting wildlife in the spotlight.

“This has become a significant moment in our history that we’re keen to properly preserve.”

The zoo protected the mural when it was on display behind a see-through plastic shield and guarded by security officers.

It has not yet announced what it will do with the artwork.

The zoo said the mural had sparked thought-provoking conversations, with some suggesting it was a play on guerrilla art or a comment on the role of zoos.

Israel lured out an elusive Hezbollah commander with a mysterious phone call moments before launching the deadly airstrike that would kill him and cause the terror group to vow revenge, according to a new report.

Fuad Shukr, who had evaded even the US for four decades, was killed on July 30 when he received a phone call in the southern Beirut neighborhood of Dahiyeh, a Hezbollah official told the Wall Street Journal.

The evening call instructed the Hezbollah commander to go up to the seventh floor of his building, with an Israel missile slamming into the complex at around 7 p.m., killing him, his family and injuring 70 others, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.

Officials in the terror group believe the call came from someone who had breached its internal communications network, exposing failures in Hezbollah’s intelligence network that compromised one of its most senior and elusive leaders.

Shukr was one of Hezbollah’s key founders and trusted ally of chief Hassan Nasrallah, both of whom backed the terror group’s ongoing attacks on Israel since Oct. 8.

Despite his high-ranking position, the commander had remained out of the public spotlight since the 1983 Beirut bombings, where militants detonated two truck bombs at military barracks in the city, killing 241 American servicemen.

Shukr was so elusive that even people living in the same building where he hid and operated had no idea who he was.

“What was their crime? … Did they kill a Jew? Did they shoot at the Jews? Did they launch rockets at the Jews? … What did they do to deserve this?” asked Khattab.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. Israel has denied targeting civilians as it hunts down Hamas militants, accusing the group of operating from civilian facilities including schools and hospitals. Hamas denies this.

The Israeli military said it destroyed rocket launchers used to hit Israel from the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, the scene of intense fighting in recent weeks, and killed 20 Palestinian militants.
In the occupied West Bank, where violence has escalated since the war in Gaza broke out in October last year, an Israeli man died from wounds sustained in an attack, according to a hospital spokesperson.
CLOSING GAPS
The talks towards a ceasefire are set to continue this week in Cairo, following a two-day meeting in Doha last week. Blinken will try to secure a breakthrough after the U.S. put forward bridging proposals that the mediating countries believe would close gaps between the warring parties.
The war erupted on Oct. 7 when Hamas militants rampaged into Israel, killing around 1,200 people and seizing around 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s subsequent military campaign has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to Palestinian health authorities, and reduced much of Gaza to rubble. Israel says it has killed 17,000 Hamas combatants.
There has been increased urgency to reach a ceasefire deal amid fears of escalation across the wider region. Iran has threatened to retaliate against Israel after the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on July 31.
Israel remained firmly committed to principles established for its security in the May 27 outline proposals, Netanyahu’s office said in a statement following a meeting of the cabinet.
“I would like to emphasise: We are conducting negotiations and not a scenario in which we just give and give,” Netanyahu told the meeting. “There are things we can be flexible on and… things that we cannot be flexible on, which we will insist on.”

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/blinken-push-gaza-ceasefire-israel-launches-fresh-strikes-2024-08-18/

X owner Elon Musk called the judge ‘an utter disgrace’ for the legal threats

Social media giant X is closing its offices in Brazil due to legal threats from Brazilian judge Alexandre de Moraes.

The company claimed Saturday that executives were “forced to make this decision” after de Moraes threatened arrests if the platform did not take down content deemed problematic by the Brazilian government.

“Last night, Alexandre de Moraes threatened our legal representative in Brazil with arrest if we do not comply with his censorship orders,” the X Global Government Affairs office announced via the platform. “He did so in a secret order, which we share here to expose his actions.”

“Despite our numerous appeals to the Supreme Court not being heard, the Brazilian public not being informed about these orders and our Brazilian staff having no responsibility or control over whether content is blocked on our platform, Moraes has chosen to threaten our staff in Brazil rather than respect the law or due process. As a result, to protect the safety of our staff, we have made the decision to close our operation in Brazil, effective immediately.”

De Moraes ordered X to take down specific accounts earlier this year, accusing the platform of harboring “digital militias” he claims were spreading misinformation and hateful material regarding former President Jair Bolsonaro.

“Due to demands by “Justice” [de Moraes] in Brazil that would require us to break (in secret) Brazilian, Argentinian, American and international law, 𝕏 has no choice but to close our local operations in Brazil,” X owner Elon Musk said on social media Saturday. “He is an utter disgrace to justice.”

Musk later followed-up on that message, writing, “The decision to close the 𝕏 office in Brazil was difficult, but, if we had agreed to [de Moraes]’s (illegal) secret censorship and private information handover demands, there was no way we could explain our actions without being ashamed.”

X representatives previously told the Supreme Court of Brazil that it would comply with legal rulings ordering the censorship of problematic accounts.

Source: https://www.foxbusiness.com/fox-news-tech/x-closes-brazilian-office-after-judge-threatens-arrests-over-censorship-orders

Chechnya President Ramzan Kadyrov invited Tesla CEO Elon Musk to Russia on Saturday after being filmed behind the wheel of one of the company’s Cybertrucks mounted with a machine gun.

In a clip posted on Kadyrov’s Telegram channel, the self-styled strongman was seen taking the stainless steel-clad Cybertruck for a leisurely drive before standing astride the machine gun mounted in the truck bed, draped with belts of ammunition.

In a gushing post, Kadyrov, who rules over Chechnya, a republic within the Russian Federation, described the vehicle as “undoubtedly one of the best cars in the world. I literally fell in love.”

He also said he would donate the vehicle to Russian forces fighting in the invasion of Ukraine. “It’s not for nothing that they call this a cyberbeast,” he said. “I’m sure that this beast will bring plenty of benefits to our troops.”

Kadyrov, who was sanctioned by the U.S. after being linked to numerous human rights violations, said he received the truck from Musk, although this was not independently confirmed. Messages left with Tesla seeking comment were not immediately returned.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/russia-chechnya-kadyrov-cybertruck-musk-33b123d4bd7fe0036e80952026a54a74#

The artist who created the famous “Hope” posters for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign has made a similar design for Kamala Harris.

The artist who created the famous Hope posters for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign has made a similar design for Kamala Harris.

Artist Shepard Fairey recently released the posters featuring the Democratic nominee in blue hues with red lipstick. She’s looking up with a smile on her face and her signature pearls around her neck.

Instead of Hope, the new poster uses the word Forward. Fairey said in a news release the adverb signifies Harris’ message of “We’re not going back.”

He wrote: “These words from Kamala Harris summarize the moment we are in, and in order not to go back, we must go FORWARD!

“While we have not achieved all the goals we might be seeking, we are making progress – all in the face of expanding threats and regressive political adversaries.”

Fairey went on to endorse Harris and Tim Walz, saying they are the country’s “best chance to push back on encroaching fascism and threats to democracy, and our best chance for creating the world we all desire and deserve.”

The “Hope” poster featuring Obama was widely shared and described as iconic during his first presidential campaign. Fairey has not received monetary compensation for either poster, as he says it’s a form of grassroots activism.

At the end of Obama’s term in 2015, Fairey said the former president didn’t live up to his promise. The artist, who has been openly critical of Donald Trump since 2016, didn’t create a poster for his opponent Hillary Clinton because he didn’t find her “inspiring enough.”

Source : https://www.irishstar.com/news/us-news/kamala-harris-obama-hope-poster-33481971

Gold prices soared to an all-time high on Friday as the dollar weakened on growing expectations for an interest-rate cut from the Federal Reserve in September, and as tensions in the Middle East bolstered demand for bullion.

Spot gold was up 1.7% to $2,498.72 per ounce by 02:27 p.m. EDT (1827 GMT), after hitting a record high of $2,500.99 earlier. U.S. gold futures settled 1.8% higher at $2,537.80. Bullion rose 2.8% this week.

The dollar index fell 0.4% and posted a fourth week of losses, making gold more appealing for buyers overseas. [USD/] [US/]

“Gold surged to a fresh all-time high and breached $2,500 after two weeks of extremely choppy trading as bulls finally impose their will,” Tai Wong, a New York-based independent metals trader, said.

“Attention will now shift to focus on Jackson Hole and Fed Chair Powell’s speech a week from today to provide a more detailed outlook on the shape of the upcoming rate cuts.”

U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is scheduled to deliver remarks on the economic outlook next Friday, the first full day of the Kansas City Fed’s annual economic symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

The July releases of the producer price index and consumer price index this week indicated inflation was subsiding, which could keep the Fed on track for a 25-basis-point rate cut next month.

Fed Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee said the U.S. economy is not showing signs of overheating, so central-bank officials should be wary of keeping restrictive policy in place longer than necessary.

“Ongoing geopolitical strife and potential escalation that Iran could get involved, and the war in Ukraine, those factors all contribute to safe-haven demand for gold,” said Everett Millman, chief market analyst with Gainesville Coins.

Source : https://sg.finance.yahoo.com/news/gold-eyes-weekly-gain-us-034840590.html?guccounter=2

China will monitor people and goods entering the country for mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, for the next six months, its customs administration said on Friday, after the WHO designated the outbreak a global public health emergency earlier this week. Pakistan on Friday confirmed the first case in Asia of a new mpox variant, a day after Sweden reported the first case outside Africa.

China announced Friday it will begin screening people and goods entering the country for mpox over the next six months, just two days after the World Health Organization sounded its highest possible alarm over the worsening mpox situation in Africa.

People travelling from countries where virus outbreaks have occurred, who have been in contact with mpox cases or display symptoms should “take the initiative to declare to customs when entering the country”, China’s customs administration said in a statement.

Vehicles, containers and items from areas with mpox cases should also be sanitised, the statement added.

Sweden on Thursday announced the first case outside Africa of a more dangerous variant of mpox, with the WHO warning that further imported cases of this new strain in Europe was likely.

Pakistani health officials also reported a first case on Friday, adding that the affected person had travelled from a Gulf country.

The WHO on Wednesday had sounded its highest possible alarm over the worsening mpox situation in Africa, calling it a global public health emergency.

Just a day before, the African Union’s health watchdog declared its own public health emergency over the intensifying outbreak.

Mpox has swept through the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the virus formerly called monkeypox was first discovered in humans in 1970, and spread to other countries.

Mpox is an infectious disease caused by a virus transmitted to humans by infected animals, but can also be passed from human to human through close physical contact.

Source : https://www.france24.com/en/asia-pacific/20240816-china-to-screen-people-and-goods-entering-the-country-for-mpox

The Supreme Leader has rejected offers of foreign aid, insisting that his government has the recovery operation under control

Kim Jong-un has been pictured surrounded by crying children reaching for food in a dining hall in Pyongyang.

More than 15,000 North Koreans have flocked to the capital after devastating flooding struck the country.

Kim has rejected offers for help, including those from Russian president Vladimir Putin, saying that his government has already taken measures to conduct recovery work. North Korea has denied that there were any casualties.

Kim travelled to flood-hit areas earlier this week in his bulletproof train, with his large armoured car on board.

Other photographs taken in Pyongyang on Thursday showed Kim being greeted by waving crowds as he visited lodging areas for those who had escaped the floods.

North Korea’s state news agency said thousands of victims travelled to Pyongyang from flood-hit areas in the North Pyongan, Jagang and Ryanggang provinces.

Severe flooding struck North Korea earlier this month, with reports from South Korea that the number of dead or missing people could be as high as 1,500.

It is thought that more than 4,000 homes in north-western areas have been affected.

Source : https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/08/16/kim-jong-un-weeping-north-korean-children-flooding 

Kamala Harris outlined proposals to cut taxes for most Americans, ban “price gouging” by grocers and build more affordable housing on Friday as part of the “opportunity economy” she plans to pursue if she wins the White House.

In her first major economy-focused speech as the Democratic presidential nominee, Harris pledged to introduce a new child tax credit of as much as $6,000 for families with infants, cut taxes for families with kids and lower prescription drug costs.

The vice president also called for the construction of 3 million new housing units over four years and a tax incentive for home builders who build homes for first-time buyers.

Harris told supporters at a rally in North Carolina, a state she hopes to win in the Nov. 5 election, that the U.S. economy was strong but prices were still too high. She said she would be laser-focused on the middle class as president.

“Together we will build what I call an opportunity economy,” she said. “Building up the middle class will be a defining goal of my presidency because I strongly believe when the middle class is strong, America is strong.”

Her agenda may run into resistance from both corporations and Congress, which rejected similar proposals when they came from President Joe Biden.

Harris, who said she would reveal more details of her economic plans in the weeks to come, is aiming to draw a contrast with her opponent, Republican Donald Trump, on broad economic values, and specifically on tariffs and taxes.

The former president has proposed new across-the-board tariffs on imports, an idea Harris rejects.

“He wants to impose what is in effect a national sales tax on everyday products and basic necessities that we import from other countries,” Harris said. “That will devastate Americans.”

“It will mean higher prices on just about every one of your daily needs: A Trump tax on gas. A Trump tax on food. A Trump tax on clothing. A Trump tax on over-the-counter medication.”

In a call with reporters on Friday, Trump economic advisers Kevin Hassett and Stephen Moore argued that Harris’ proposals would boost inflation and damage the economy. A proposal to offer as much as $25,000 to first-time homeowners would do little more than jack up home prices, they said.

Republicans fault Biden and Harris for presiding over an economy in which prices have risen and blame their policies for driving inflation.

Harris’ plans are meant to address that by appealing to a broad segment of the working public who often see Republicans as better economic stewards and are anxious over both higher costs and their economic prospects.

Some of her policies, including ones on housing and groceries, have come under attack as ill-considered and overly liberal populism by Republicans and some industry groups.

The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimated that Harris’ economic plan would increase deficits by a net $1.7 trillion over a decade, a number that could grow to $2 trillion if temporary housing policies were made permanent.

FOOD AND HOUSING

Harris’ plan includes a federal ban on price gouging on food and groceries, which her campaign says aims to stop big corporations from unfairly exploiting consumers while generating excessive corporate profits.

As president, she would direct the Federal Trade Commission to impose “harsh penalties” on companies that break new limits on price gouging, campaign officials said.

“I know most businesses are creating jobs, contributing to our economy and playing by the rules,” Harris said. “But some are not, and that’s just not right. And we need to take action when that is the case.”

Progressive economic ideas poll well with voters, but they have proven tough to pass into law. Most of Harris’ and Trump’s economic priorities need to secure majority support in Congress. A child tax credit bill passed the House of Representatives but stalled in the Senate this year.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/us/harris-economic-plan-mirrors-bidens-aims-lower-taxes-prices-2024-08-16

An influential aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that the West and the U.S.-led NATO alliance had helped to plan Ukraine’s surprise attack on Russia’s Kursk region, something Washington has denied.

The lightning incursion, the biggest into Russia by a foreign power since World War Two, began on Aug. 6 when thousands of Ukrainian troops crossed Russia’s western border in a major embarrassment for Putin’s military.

Ukraine said the incursion was needed to force Russia, which sent its forces into Ukraine in February 2022, to start “fair” peace talks.

But the United States and Western powers, eager to avoid direct military confrontation with Russia, said Ukraine had not given advance notice and that Washington was not involved, though weaponry provided by Britain and the U.S. is reported to have been used on Russian soil.

Influential veteran Kremlin hawk Nikolai Patrushev dismissed the Western assertions in an interview with the Izvestia newspaper.

“The operation in the Kursk region was also planned with the participation of NATO and Western special services,” he was quoted as saying, without offering evidence.

“Without their participation and direct support, Kyiv would not have ventured into Russian territory.”

The remarks implied that Ukraine’s first acknowledged foray into sovereign Russian territory carried a high risk of escalation.

Putin chaired a meeting of Russia’s Security Council, including Patrushev, and said the discussion would focus on “new technical solutions” being employed in what Russia calls its special military operation.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/kremlin-aide-says-nato-west-helped-ukraine-attack-russia-2024-08-16

The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Friday to let President Joe Biden’s administration enforce a key part of a new rule protecting LGBT students from discrimination in schools and colleges based on gender identity in 10 Republican-led states that had challenged it.

The justices denied the administration’s request to partially lift lower court injunctions that had blocked the entirety of the rule expanding protections under Title IX, a law that bars sex discrimination in federally funded education programs, while litigation continues. The lower court decisions had prevented the U.S. Education Department from enforcing the new rule, announced in April and set to take effect on Aug. 1, in Tennessee, Louisiana and eight other states.

The administration had sought to restore a key provision of clarifying that discrimination “on the basis of sex” encompasses sexual orientation and gender identity, as well as the rule’s numerous other provisions that do not address gender identity.

Biden’s administration had asked the Supreme Court to intervene on an emergency basis in a lawsuit by Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Idaho, and numerous Louisiana school boards, and another lawsuit by Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Virginia, West Virginia and an association of Christian educators.

“These final regulations clarify Title IX’s requirement that schools promptly and effectively address all forms of sex discrimination,” U.S. Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine Lhamon said when the rule was announced, opens new tab. “We look forward to working with schools, students and families to prevent and eliminate sex discrimination.”

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill called the rule a federal overreach that would eviscerate Title IX, and criticized what she called Biden’s “extreme gender ideology.”

“This is all for a political agenda, ignoring significant safety concerns for young women students in pre-schools, elementary schools, middle schools, high schools, colleges and universities across Louisiana and the entire country,” Murrill said of the federal rule when she announced the state’s lawsuit

“These schools now have to change the way they behave and the way they speak, and whether they can have private spaces for little girls or women. It is enormously invasive, and it is much more than a suggestion; it is a mandate that well exceeds their statutory authority,” Murrill added.

The states and the other plaintiffs had argued that the rule would force schools to allow transgender students to use restrooms and locker rooms, and faculty to use transgender students’ pronouns, that correspond to their gender identities.

The lawsuits are two among several that have successfully blocked the law in 22 states – nearly all Republican-governed – arguing that the Democratic president’s administration is unlawfully rewriting a law designed more than a half century ago to protect women from discrimination in education.

On July 30, the administration scored a win when a federal judge in Alabama refused to block the rule in that state, as well as Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. That ruling was temporarily halted the next day by the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/legal/us-supreme-court-wont-allow-lgbt-student-protection-certain-states-2024-08-16

Thailand’s parliament elected political neophyte Paetongtarn Shinawatra as its youngest prime minister on Friday, only a day after she was thrust into the spotlight amid an unrelenting power struggle between the country’s warring elites.

The 37-year-old daughter of divisive political heavyweight Thaksin Shinawatra sailed through a house vote and now faces a baptism of fire, just two days after ally Srettha Thavisin was dismissed as premier by a judiciary central to Thailand’s two decades of intermittent turmoil.

At stake for Paetongtarn could be the legacy and political future of the billionaire Shinawatra family, whose once unstoppable populist juggernaut suffered its first election defeat in over two decades last year, and had to do a deal with its bitter enemies in the military to form a government.

She will become Thailand’s second female prime minister and the third Shinawatra, opens new tab to take the top job after aunt Yingluck Shinawatra, and father Thaksin, the country’s most influential and polarising politician.

In her first media comments as prime minister-elect, Paetongtarn said she had been saddened and confused by Srettha’s dismissal and decided it was time to step up.

“I talked to Srettha, my family and people in my party and decided it was about time to do something for the country and the party,” she told reporters.

“I hope I can do my best to make the country go forward. That’s what I’m trying to do. Today I’m honoured and I feel very happy.”

Paetongtarn won easily with 319 votes, or nearly two-thirds of the house. Her response after winning was posting on Instagram a picture of her lunch – chicken rice – with the caption: “The first meal after listening to the vote.”

ROLL OF THE DICE

Paetongtarn has never served in government and the decision to put her in play is a roll of the dice for Pheu Thai and its 75-year-old figurehead Thaksin.

She will immediately face challenges on multiple fronts, with the economy floundering, competition from a rival party growing, and Pheu Thai’s popularity dwindling, having yet to deliver on its flagship cash handout programme worth 500 billion baht ($14.25 billion).

Thailand’s benchmark index(.SETI), opens new tab was up about 1.1% by 0900 GMT on Friday, having after lost nearly 9% this year.

“The Shinawatras’ gambit here is risky,” said Nattabhorn Buamahakul, Managing Partner at government affairs consultancy, Vero Advocacy.

“It puts Thaksin’s daughter in the crosshairs and a vulnerable position.”

The fall of Srettha after less than a year in office will be a stark reminder of the kind of hostility Paetongtarn could face, with Thailand trapped in a tumultuous cycle of coups and court rulings that have disbanded political parties and toppled multiple governments and prime ministers.

The Shinawatras and their business allies have borne the brunt of the crisis, which pits parties with mass appeal against a powerful nexus of conservatives, old money families and royalist generals with deep connections in key institutions.

HIGH STAKES FOR SHINAWATRAS

Nine days ago, the same court that dismissed Srettha over a cabinet appointment also dissolved the anti-establishment Move Forward Party – the 2023 election winner – over a campaign to amend a law against insulting the crown, which it said risked undermining the constitutional monarchy.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/baptism-fire-awaits-paetongtarn-thailand-gears-up-pm-vote-2024-08-16

Opposition politician Can Atalay, of the Workers’ Party of Turkey, was jailed for 18 years after allegations he tried to overthrow the government by organising nationwide protests in 2013.

A fistfight broke out in Turkey’s parliament on Friday when an opposition deputy was attacked after calling for his jailed colleague to be freed.

The country’s MPs came together in an extraordinary meeting to discuss jailed opposition politician Can Atalay and his return to the chamber.

However, during the session, as the Workers’ Party of Turkey (TIP) politician Ahmet Sik was speaking, another MP, from the ruling AK party, Alpay Ozalan, confronted him at the speaker’s podium.

Video footage showed MPs for the ruling AK party rushing forward as one punched Mr Sik, and dozens more joined the melee, some trying to hold people back.

Blood was seen on the white steps of the speaker’s podium.

Several other politicians vacated their seats and rushed forward and a couple of MPs could be spotted filming the row as more people got involved.

“We’re not surprised that you call Can Atalay a terrorist, just as you do everyone who does not side with you,” Mr Sik told AK lawmakers in a speech.

“But the biggest terrorists are the ones sitting in these seats,” he added.

The deputy parliament speaker declared a 45-minute recess after the punch-up.

The TIP also called for Mr Atalay’s release from prison.

Earlier this year, following months of legal and political turmoil that saw Turkey’s two highest courts clash, a decision by the Court of Appeals to strip lawyer and human rights activist Mr Atalay of his seat was read in parliament.

As the decision to strip Mr Atalay of his parliamentary seat was read out in January, by deputy speaker Bekir Bozdag, opposition lawmakers rushed the podium.

Some booed and held up signs reading “Freedom to Can Atalay”, while one threw a copy of the Turkish constitution at Mr Bozdag.

In August, following contrasting rulings from different courts over his conviction, the Constitutional Court came down in Mr Atalay’s favour over the decision to strip him of his parliamentary status, saying it was “null and void”.

Opposition parties then demanded a special session to discuss the outcome of the case.

Source : https://news.sky.com/story/turkish-parliament-descends-into-fistfight-during-meeting-over-jailed-opposition-politician-13197843

The EU’s public health body has said it is “highly likely” Europe will have “more imported cases of mpox” after the virus was detected in at least 16 African nations.

People should get vaccinated against mpox if travelling to an African country affected by the latest outbreak, the EU’s public health body has said.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) has updated its advice after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global emergency following the detection of a more contagious strain of the virus in 16 African countries.

The outbreak of the strain – called clade 1b – was first detected in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The endemic form of the virus, clade 1, has also been spreading throughout Africa.

More than 17,000 mpox cases and at least 571 deaths have been confirmed in Africa this year, officials have said. The figures exceed last year’s totals.

The UK has been preparing for cases after a person in Sweden was found to have the clade 1b strain of mpox.

The disease, previously known as monkeypox, is a viral infection that causes pus-filled lesions and flu-like symptoms. It is usually mild but can kill.

It is passed on through close physical contact and symptoms include a high temperature, headache, muscle aches, backache, and a rash.

Following its latest risk assessment, the ECDC said it is “highly likely” Europe will have “more imported cases of mpox caused by the clade I virus currently circulating in Africa”.

It therefore increased its risk level assessment from “low” to “moderate” in relation to the chance of sporadic cases appearing in EU countries.

However, the ECDC has said “strengthened surveillance and preparedness activities” as well as “robust healthcare” across Europe means the impact of mpox on the continent “will be low”.

As part of measures to try and prevent the spread of the virus, the public health body is also advising travellers to “epidemic areas” to “consult their healthcare provider or travel health clinic regarding eligibility for vaccination against mpox”.

Source : https://news.sky.com/story/mpox-people-advised-to-get-vaccine-if-they-are-travelling-to-affected-african-countries-13197907

The election of Paetongtarn Shinawatra as Thailand’s prime minister represents a remarkable comeback for the political dynasty founded by her billionaire father, Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted by a military coup in 2006.

Paetongtarn, 37, a former executive in a hotel business run by her family, becomes the third close member of the Shinawatra clan to take the prime minister’s job. Thaksin’s sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, was Thailand’s first female prime minister from 2011 to 2014. An in-law, Somchai Wongsawat, also served briefly in 2008.

Although Thaksin was a vastly popular politician who handily won three elections, Thailand’s royalist establishment was disturbed that his populist policies appeared to threaten their status and that of the monarchy at the heart of Thai identity. Months of protests helped drive both him and Yingluck out of office and into exile.

Then last year, Thaksin alienated many of his old supporters with what looked like a self-serving deal with his former conservative foes. It allowed his return from exile and his party to form the new government, while sidelining the progressive Move Forward Party, which finished first in a national election but was seen by the establishment as a greater threat.

When Paetongtarn was on the campaign trail for the Thaksin-backed Pheu Thai party, she acknowledged her family ties but insisted she was not her father’s proxy. “It’s not the shadow of my dad. I am my dad’s daughter, always and forever, but I have my own decisions,” she told a reporter.

As she comes to power, however, there are no signs she has carved her own niche with ideas that would distinguish her policies from those endorsed by her party or her father, a smorgasbord of measures including loosened tourist entry rules to help rev up a sagging economy.

And not everything has been squared away with her family’s enemies. Yingluck remains in exile, and legal problems — arguably politically inspired — could see her jailed if she returns to Thailand. Thaksin also still faces some legal challenges.

However, Paetongtarn exuded confidence and empathy as she campaigned last year, traveling extensively and addressing rallies around the country while pregnant with her second child. Her son, Prutthasin, was born less than two weeks before the election. Her husband, Pitaka Suksawat, was a commercial pilot, but after their marriage began working in one of the Shinawatras’ real estate ventures.

Paetongtarn, widely known by her nickname “Ung Ing,” is the youngest of Thaksin’s three children, and it’s clear she is the one chosen to carry on her father’s legacy.

Her public entry into politics came in 2021 when the Pheu Thai party named her chief of its Inclusion and Innovation Advisory Committee.

Asked then if she would become a politician or a candidate for prime minister, she told reporters: “I feel safer to be an adviser than a politician. I want to make my project successful. For other things, I am not ready yet.”

Politics watchers, however, could read the tea leaves.

Paetongtarn’s appointment showed that Thaksin remained influential in Pheu Thai and has been its main decision-maker, said Kovit Wongsurawat, an associate professor in the law school at Bangkok’s Assumption University.

“Previously, Thaksin let people outside his family run the party and nothing seemed to get better,” Kovit said, referring to the time Thaksin was in exile. “I am not surprised that he let his daughter take this position. It is not easy for him to find someone he can really trust.”

In late 2022, as Thailand geared up for elections, Paetongtarn raised her profile, speaking like a candidate for prime minister. Pheu Thai named her as one of its three official prime ministerial candidates ahead of the polls.

“The next four years will be the years that our country will bounce back and regain our dignity and pride,” Paetongtarn said at a campaign rally. “To think big and act smart will help rebuild our country and improve the livelihood of Thai people — as if it’s a miracle. Only political stability will help us.”

Source : https://apnews.com/article/paetongtarn-thaksin-shinawatra-thailand-pheu-thai-087fae9ad578b7ed9171142dadc01bdc

A Missouri woman has been arrested on charges she orchestrated a brazen scheme to defraud Elvis Presley’s family by trying to auction off his Graceland mansion and property before a judge halted the mysterious foreclosure sale, the Justice Department said Friday.

Lisa Jeanine Findley, 53, of Kimberling City, falsely claimed Presley’s daughter borrowed $3.8 million from a bogus private lender and had pledged Graceland as collateral for the loan before her death last year, prosecutors said. She then threatened to sell Graceland to the higher bidder if Presley’s family didn’t pay a $2.85 million settlement, according to authorities.

Finley posed as three different people allegedly involved with the fake lender, fabricated loan documents, and published a fraudulent foreclosure notice in a Memphis newspaper announcing the auction of Graceland in May, prosecutors said. A judge stopped the sale after Presley’s granddaughter sued.

Experts were baffled by the attempt to sell off one of the most storied pieces of real estate in the country using names, emails and documents that were quickly suspected to be phony.

Graceland opened as a museum and tourist attraction in 1982 and draws hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. A large Presley-themed entertainment complex across the street from the museum is owned by Elvis Presley Enterprises. The announcement of charges came on the 47th anniversary of Presley’s death at the age of 42.

“Ms. Findley allegedly took advantage of the very public and tragic occurrences in the Presley family as an opportunity to prey on the name and financial status of the heirs to the Graceland estate, attempting to steal what rightfully belongs to the Presley family for her personal gain,” said Eric Shen, inspector in charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service Criminal Investigations Group.

An attorney for Findley, who used multiple aliases, was not listed in court documents. A voicemail left with a phone number believed to be associated with Findley was not immediately returned, nor was an email sent to an address prosecutors say she had used in the scheme.

She’s charged with mail fraud and aggravated identity theft. The mail fraud charge carries up to 20 years in prison. She remained in custody after a brief federal court appearance in Missouri, according to court papers.

In May, a public notice for a foreclosure sale of the 13-acre (5-hectare) estate said Promenade Trust, which controls the Graceland museum, owes $3.8 million after failing to repay a 2018 loan. Riley Keough, Presley’s granddaughter and an actor, inherited the trust and ownership of the home after the death of her mother, Lisa Marie Presley, last year. An attorney for Keough didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment on Friday.

Keough filed a lawsuit claiming fraud, and a judge halted the proposed auction with an injunction. Naussany Investments and Private Lending — the bogus lender authorities now say Findley created — said Lisa Marie Presley had used Graceland as collateral for the loan, according to the foreclosure sale notice. Keough’s lawsuit alleged that Naussany presented fraudulent documents regarding the loan in September 2023 and that Lisa Maria Presley never borrowed money from Naussany.

Kimberly Philbrick, the notary whose name is listed on Naussany’s documents, indicated she never met Lisa Marie Presley nor notarized any documents for her, according to the estate’s lawsuit. The judge said the notary’s affidavit brings into question “the authenticity of the signature.”

The judge in May halted the foreclosure sale of the beloved Memphis tourist attraction, saying Elvis Presley’s estate could be successful in arguing that a company’s attempt to auction Graceland was fraudulent.

The Tennessee attorney general’s office had been investigating the Graceland controversy, then confirmed in June that it handed the probe over to federal authorities.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/graceland-elvis-presley-sale-fraudulent-d6431df76860570e5d31526e81974f7d

With less than a month to go before the 76th Emmy Awards, the telecast’s hosts are finally set. As expected, the father-son duo of Eugene Levy and Dan Levy will emcee this year’s Emmys, which take place on Sunday, Sept. 15, live on ABC.

The two made history in 2020 as the first father and son to win major awards in the same year, thanks to “Schitt’s Creek.” That year — in which winners appeared remotely, due to the COVID-19 pandemic — saw Eugene Levy win for outstanding comedy actor and Dan Levy win for supporting comedy actor. Dan Levy also picked up wins for writing and directing, while both won the outstanding comedy series Emmy as exec producers.

“For two Canadians who won our Emmys in a literal quarantine tent, the idea of being asked to host this year in an actual theater was incentive enough,” The Levys said in a statement. “We’re thrilled to be able to raise a glass to this extraordinary season of television and can’t wait to spend the evening with you all on Sept. 15.”

Eugene Levy and Dan Levy rep the first-ever father-son hosting partners for the Emmys; they’re also the first duo to do it since 2018 (when Colin Jost and Michael Che co-hosted) and only the second duo to host this century.

“Eugene’s and Dan’s comedic intuition and uncanny ability to capture the hearts of viewers will make for a memorable Emmys telecast honoring this year’s best and brightest,” said Craig Erwich, president, Disney Television Group.

It will be a big night for Eugene Levy: He’s nominated this year for his Apple TV+ series “The Reluctant Traveler With Eugene Levy,” which is up for outstanding hosted nonfiction series or special.

“We are thrilled to welcome two generations of comedy genius to the Emmy’s stage as hosts,” said TV Academy chair Cris Abrego. “Eugene and Dan Levy are known for creating unforgettable laugh-out-loud moments on screen, and together, they are super-charged. I cannot wait for Emmy fans to see what they have in store for all of us.”

Eugene Levy and Dan Levy will work closely Emmy producers Jesse Collins, Dionne Harmon and Jeannae Rouzan-Clay of Jesse Collins Entertainment, who earned raves in January for producing the previous Emmy telecast, hosted by Anthony Anderson.

“Eugene and Dan Levy created two of the most iconic TV characters in recent history and are a perfect fit to host television’s biggest night,” Collins, Harmon and Rouzan-Clay said in a joint statement. “We look forward to the audience having an unforgettable experience with this dynamic duo.”

Source: https://variety.com/2024/tv/news/eugene-dan-levy-emmys-host-sept-15-1236108670/

The tech review world has been full of murky deals between companies and influencers for years, but it appears Google finally crossed a line with the Pixel 9. The company’s invite-only Team Pixel program — which seeds Pixel products to influencers before public availability — stipulated that participating influencers were not allowed to feature Pixel products alongside competitors, and those who showed a preference for competing phones risked being kicked out of the program. For those hoping to break into the world of tech reviews, the new terms meant having to choose between keeping access or keeping their integrity.

The Verge has independently confirmed screenshots of the clause in this year’s Team Pixel agreement for the new Pixel phones, which various influencers began posting on X and Threads last night. The agreement tells participants they’re “expected to feature the Google Pixel device in place of any competitor mobile devices.” It also notes that “if it appears other brands are being preferred over the Pixel, we will need to cease the relationship between the brand and the creator.” The link to the form appears to have since been shut down.

When asked, Google communications manager Kayla Geier told The Verge that “#TeamPixel is a distinct program, separate from our press and creator reviews programs. The goal of #TeamPixel is to get Pixel devices into the hands of content creators, not press and tech reviewers. We missed the mark with this new language that appeared in the #TeamPixel form yesterday, and it has been removed.”

Those terms certainly caused confusion online, with some assuming such terms apply to all product reviewers. However, that isn’t the case. Google’s official Pixel review program for publications like The Verge requires no such stipulations. (And, to be clear, The Verge would never accept such terms, in accordance with our ethics policy.)

So then, what is Team Pixel, exactly? Officially, it’s a program handled by PR agency 1000heads that seeds early units to influencers and superfans to drum up interest as brand ambassadors. While Google partners with 1000heads, it doesn’t directly run the program, and there are distinct differences from the traditional reviews program. For example, journalists and influencers in the official reviews program often get briefed and given products under embargo before or during an event. Team Pixel participants get the devices shortly after launch but before the public — all in exchange for some coverage on social media. For smaller creators, this can be a big leg up in terms of access.

“I joined the program over five years ago because it was a great way to get a phone and either relatively early or on time, which, in the review world, is big,” says creator Adam Matlock, who reviews tech on his TechOdyssey YouTube channel. Matlock says previously, there was no obligation, other than to use hashtags #teampixel or #giftfromgoogle to comply with FTC disclosure requirements. Matlock and others saw Team Pixel as a means to grow their channels or a pathway to becoming future reviewers and journalists, but the new Team Pixel terms seem aggressive in a new way that many found uncomfortable — especially since Google’s approach to defining “press,” “tech reviewer,” and “content creator” appears arbitrary.

Popular tech YouTuber Marques Brownlee posted on X clarifying that he wasn’t part of the Team Pixel program and was not beholden to those terms. Meanwhile, The Verge spoke with other independent reviewers and freelance tech journalists who say that they were grouped into the Team Pixel program for review units in the past. For those in the latter group, the new stipulation is a threat to their integrity and livelihood. Matlock says he’s since quit the Team Pixel program over the new terms.

YouTuber Kevin Nether, who runs The Tech Ninja channel, also says the clause led him to quit the Team Pixel program. “As someone who reviews technology for a living, I work with many brands. To be cornered into using one product — that doesn’t work for me, and that’s nothing I want to participate in.”

Source: https://www.theverge.com/2024/8/16/24221755/google-team-pixel-reviews-influencers

A Missouri woman is accused of trying to defraud Elvis Presley’s family of millions of dollars and steal the family’s ownership interest in Graceland, the US singing legend’s family home.
Lisa Jeanine Findley, who used a variety of aliases, was arrested for allegedly orchestrating a scheme to conduct a fraudulent sale of Graceland, located in Memphis, Tennessee home.
Ms Findley, 53, was federally charged with mail fraud and aggravated identity theft and was expected to appear in court Friday. If convicted, she could face up to 20 years in prison.
The Presley family has not publicly commented on the charges.

The indictment alleges that Ms Sangha’s distribution of ketamine on 24 October 2023 caused Perry’s death.
Ketamine is a dissociative anaesthetic that has some hallucinogenic effects, according to the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). It can distort perception of sight and sound and makes the user feel disconnected and not in control.
It is used as an injectable anaesthetic for humans and animals because it makes patients feel detached from their pain and environment.
The substance is supposed to be administered only by a physician, investigators say, and patients who have taken the drug should be monitored by a professional because of its possible harmful effects.
Ms Sangha is alleged to have supplied ketamine from her “stash house” since at least 2019.
Her North Hollywood home was a “drug-selling emporium”, Martin Estrada, the US attorney for California’s Central District, told a news conference on Thursday.
More than 80 vials of ketamine were allegedly found there in a search, along with thousands of pills that included methamphetamine, cocaine and Xanax.
The home, called the “Sangha Stash House” in the indictment, was where she is alleged to have packaged and distributed drugs.
She “only deal[s] with high end and celebs,” the indictment quoted her co-accused Erik Fleming as saying of Ms Sangha.
At the same time, she lived a jetsetter life which she shared widely on social media.
Ms Sangha is said to have mixed with celebrities socially as well, with one of her friends telling the Daily Mail she attended the Golden Globes and the Oscars.

Shortly after Perry’s overdose she posted pictures depicting her extravagant lifestyle, including parties and a trip to Japan and Mexico.
And the day before arrests were announced, her social media activity suggests she went to a hairdresser and dyed her hair purple.
The Instagram account where these posts were shared was confirmed as belonging to her by a spokesman for the US Attorney’s Office Central District of California.
Prosecutors claim Ms Sangha came to supply ketamine to Perry after fellow defendant Dr Salvador Plasencia initially learned that the actor was interested in the drug. Dr Plasencia sourced it from Dr Mark Chavez, another defendant in the case who had previously operated a ketamine clinic.
They allege Dr Plasencia also taught Perry’s live-in assistant, co-accused Kenneth Iwamasa, how to inject Perry with ketamine.
Beginning in October 2023, Ms Sangha began supplying Mr Iwamasa with ketamine and prosecutors say she knew the ketamine she distributed could be deadly.
“These defendants cared more about profiting off of Mr Perry than caring for his well-being,” said Mr Estrada.
He also alleged that Ms Sangha was a “major source of supply for ketamine to others as well as Perry”.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cd052vxr5yko

With inflation and high grocery prices still frustrating many voters, Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday proposed a ban on “price gouging” by food suppliers and grocery stores, as part of a broader agenda aimed at lowering the cost of housing, medicine, and food.

It’s an attempt to tackle a clear vulnerability of Harris’ head-on: Under the Biden-Harris administration, grocery prices have shot up 21%, part of an inflation surge that has raised overall costs by about 19% and soured many Americans on the economy, even as unemployment fell to historic lows. Wages have also risen sharply since the pandemic, and have outpaced prices for more than a year. Still, surveys find Americans continue to struggle with higher costs.

“We all know that prices went up during the pandemic when the supply chains shut down and failed,” Harris said Friday in Raleigh, North Carolina. “But our supply chains have now improved and prices are still too high.”

Will her proposals do much to lower prices? And what even is “price gouging”? The answers to those and other questions are below:

What is price gouging?
There is no strict definition that economists would agree on, but it generally refers to spikes in prices that typically follow a disruption in supply, such as after a hurricane or other natural disaster. Consumer advocates charge that gouging occurs when retailers sharply increase prices, particularly for necessities, under such circumstances.

Is it already illegal?
Several states already restrict price gouging, but there is no federal-level ban.

There are federal restrictions on related but different practices, such as price-fixing laws that bar companies from agreeing to not compete against each other and set higher prices.

Will Harris’ proposal lower grocery prices?
Most economists would say no, though her plan could have an impact on future crises. For one thing, it’s unclear how much price gouging is going on right now.

Grocery prices are still painfully high compared to four years ago, but they increased just 1.1% in July compared with a year earlier, according to the most recent inflation report. That is in line with pre-pandemic increases.

President Joe Biden said Wednesday that inflation has been defeated after Wednesday’s inflation report showed that it fell to 2.9% in July, the smallest increase in three years.

“There’s some dissonance between claiming victory on the inflation front in one breath and then arguing that there’s all this price gouging happening that is leading consumers to face really high prices in another breath,” said Michael Strain, an economist at the American Enterprise Institute.

In general, after an inflationary spike, it’s very hard to return prices to where they were. Sustained price declines typically only happen in steep, protracted recessions. Instead, economists generally argue that the better approach is for wages to keep rising enough so that Americans can handle the higher costs.

So why is Harris talking about this now?
Probably because inflation remains a highly salient issue politically. And plenty of voters do blame grocery stores, fast food chains, and food and packaged goods makers for the surge of inflation in the past three years. Corporate profits soared in 2021 and 2022.

“It could be that they’re looking at opinion polls that show that the number one concern facing voters is inflation and that a large number of voters blame corporations for inflation,” Strain said.

At the same time, even if prices aren’t going up as much, as Harris noted, they remain high, even as supply chain kinks have been resolved.

Elizabeth Pancotti, a policy analyst at Roosevelt Forward, a progressive advocacy group, points to the wood pulp used in diapers. The price of wood pulp has fallen by half from its post-pandemic peak, yet diaper prices haven’t.

“So that just increases the (profit) margins for both the manufacturers and the retailers,” she said.

Did price gouging cause inflation?
Most economists would say no, that it was a more straightforward case of supply and demand. When the pandemic hit, meat processing plants were occasionally closed after COVID-19 outbreaks, among other disruptions to supply. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine lifted the cost of wheat and other grains on global markets. Auto prices rose as carmakers were unable to get all the semiconductors they needed from Taiwan to manufacture cars, and many car plants shut down temporarily.

At the same time, several rounds of stimulus checks fattened Americans’ bank accounts, and after hunkering down during the early phase of the pandemic, so-called “revenge spending” took over. The combination of stronger demand and reduced supply was a recipe for rising prices.

Still, some economists have argued that large food and consumer goods companies took advantage of pandemic-era disruptions. Consumers saw empty store shelves and heard numerous stories about disrupted supply chains, and at least temporarily felt they had little choice but to accept the higher prices.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/kamala-harris-price-gouging-ban-inflation-65dc8844bb41159d76886f752b6cab28

Kim Dotcom, who is facing criminal charges relating to the defunct file-sharing website Megaupload, will be extradited to the United States from New Zealand, the New Zealand justice minister said on Thursday.
German-born Dotcom, who has New Zealand residency, has been fighting extradition to the United States since 2012 following a FBI-ordered raid on his Auckland mansion.
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith signed an extradition order for Dotcom, a spokesperson for the Minister of Justice said

“I considered all of the information carefully, and have decided that Mr Dotcom should be surrendered to the U.S. to face trial,” Goldsmith said in a statement.
“As is common practice, I have allowed Mr Dotcom a short period of time to consider and take advice on my decision. I will not, therefore, be commenting further at this stage.”
In a post on social media website X on Tuesday, Dotcom said, opens new tab “the obedient US colony in the South Pacific just decided to extradite me for what users uploaded to Megaupload”, in what appears to be a reference to the extradition order.

Ukraine has chalked up a string of victories more than a week since blindsiding Russia with a lightning cross-border assault, but the risks are piling up as its troops make plans to hold territory and Russia recovers its footing.
Ukraine poured thousands of troops into the western Russian region of Kursk last week, pulling down Russian flags in towns seized by its soldiers and wresting the war initiative from Moscow for the first time in months.

On Wednesday, officials in Kyiv said Ukraine would use seized Russian territory as a “buffer zone” to shield its north from Russian strikes. Oleksandr Syrskyi, head of the Ukrainian armed forces, said on Thursday that Kyiv had set up a military commandant’s office in the occupied part of Kursk, suggesting ambitions to dig in.
The occupied area exceeds 1,150 sq km, Syrskyi said.
Ukraine’s goals in Kursk include distracting Russian forces from the eastern Ukrainian region of Donbas, where Russia has made steady advances for months and which it is seeking to take in its entirety, former Ukrainian defence minister Andriy Zagorodnyuk said in an interview.

There is little about Marc Fogel’s past that could have predicted he would one day end up in a Russian prison.
An American history teacher who made a career working at international schools across multiple continents, the 63-year-old had been a “happy-go-lucky” person since boyhood, the kind of educator whom students remember fondly their whole lives, said his mother, Malphine Fogel.
In 2012, Fogel, his wife Jane and their two sons moved to Moscow, where Fogel took up a position teaching history at the now-shuttered Anglo-American school. Some of his proudest achievements there were scored on the softball field, where Fogel coached the girls’ team to multiple championships.

That all came to an end in August 2021, when customs officials at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport found about half an ounce of medical marijuana in Fogel’s luggage. Doctors in the United States had prescribed the drugs to treat chronic pain.
Ten months later, the Pennsylvania native was sentenced to 14 years in prison for drug trafficking.
Fogel is now serving one of the longest sentences of Americans held in Russia following a major prisoner swap between Moscow and Western countries earlier this month. That exchange freed, among others, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. marine Paul Whelan, who were both given 16 years in separate cases. About half a dozen other Americans remain behind bars in Russia.

In interviews, his mother and sister Anne said they were outraged when they heard Fogel was left out of the swap.
“It just seems like an unbelievable occurrence to think that they released all those prisoners and they didn’t include Marc,” his mother said by phone from her home outside Pittsburgh.
No one, though, was more crushed than Fogel himself.
“It just took the heart right out of him when he heard,” his mother said. “He’s just shattered.”

‘JUST A TEACHER’

More than 30,000 Britons were infected with deadly diseases after being given contaminated blood and blood products in the 1970s and 1980s in the worst treatment disaster in NHS history.

Victims of the infected blood scandal will receive financial support for life, the government has confirmed.

Announcing the updated multi-billion-pound compensation scheme, the government said there would also be additional payments for victims of the scandal who were subjected to “unethical research”.

More than 30,000 Britons contracted HIV or hepatitis after being given contaminated blood and blood products in the 1970s and 1980s in what has been called the worst treatment disaster in NHS history.

A long-awaited report from the Infected Blood Inquiry, published earlier this year, found the scandal, which has so far claimed the lives of around 3,000 people, “could largely have been avoided” and there was a “pervasive” cover-up to hide the truth.

The government has now confirmed regular support scheme payments, including for bereaved partners, will continue for life.

Infected people – both living and the families of those who died – will start receiving payments through the new framework by the end of this year, while for others affected by the scandal, payments will begin in 2025, the Cabinet Office said.

Those subjected to “unethical research” without their knowledge, identified by the Infected Blood Inquiry, will receive an additional £10,000 payment.

For those who underwent treatment as children at Lord Mayor’s Treloar’s College in Hampshire, in what has been described as a “particularly egregious” case of unethical testing, that figure will be £15,000.

Pupils at the school were treated for haemophilia using plasma blood products infected with HIV and hepatitis. The Infected Blood Inquiry found NHS clinicians continued with treatments to further their medical research despite knowing the dangers.

Victims include Richard Warwick, a former pupil at the school who was infected with HIV and Hepatitis C.

He told Sky News he welcomes the continuation of support payments, but described the £15,000 figure as a “kick in the teeth”.

“£15,000 is derisory and insulting, and it is just a kick in the teeth for all the victims and the families and parents of the children who didn’t make it out of that school alive,” he said.

Speaking to Sky News earlier this year, he recalled how boys at the school were made to inject the syringes filled with potentially deadly viruses into their own veins.

“We were playing Russian roulette. We didn’t know what we were giving ourselves,” he said.

Stuart Mclean was given factor 8 in 1978 when he was eight years old – treatment he did not need. He learnt that he was infected with Hepatitis C in 2013, when he was 43 years old.

Mr Mclean told Sky News: “I’m happy with the support schemes staying for life but I am hoping for more clarity on the finer details around the compensation payments, including recognising those who were infected with Hepatitis C and may suffer from severe mental health and anxiety issues.”

The compensation updates are based on 74 recommendations put forward by interim chair of the Infected Blood Compensation Authority, Sir Robert Francis KC, to address concerns with current compensation plans.

The government has said it has accepted “the majority” of recommendations from the independent review.

The updates will also see additional routes established for victims to apply for compensation, including allowing people who have health conditions that are not recognised by the “core” route to make a personalised application.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/infected-blood-scandal-victims-to-receive-financial-support-for-life-13197445

An annual competition to showcase scientific work in action has revealed its winners, with spectacular photos from around the world taking the top spots. See all the winners and runners-up below.

A dramatic image of a whale shark rising from the depths to feed on a bait ball has won an international scientific photography competition.

The BMC Ecology and Evolution and BMC Zoology image competition is an annual contest between scientific researchers who snap shots of science and nature in action as they work.

“The slow-moving whale sharks feed on snipefish, herded into tight groups at the surface by large schools of speedy bluefin and smaller tropical tuna, leading to a feeding frenzy,” explained Jorge Fontes from the University of the Azores in Portugal.

A photo of a Kiwikiu being carefully dosed with a few drops of medicine by a scientist was the winner in the Research in Action category.

A single bite from a mosquito carrying avian malaria can be deadly to this endangered species.

The birds used to seek refuge from the insects on the upper slopes of the Haleakala volcano, but because of climate change, the mosquitoes spread to these previously safe areas.

Now, researchers are developing plans to preserve the species.

The runner-up in the category shows a researcher collecting a sediment core in the wetlands of the Florida Everglades, as part of a study investigating methods of reducing phosphorous pollution in the area.

The Protecting Our Planet category winner shows a park ranger assessing coral health at Lady Musgrave Reef in the

The Great Barrier Reef experienced its fifth mass bleaching episode since 2016 between February 2023 and April 2024, each episode caused by heat stress linked to manmade climate change.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/science-in-pictures-whale-sharks-birds-coral-and-wasps-win-scientific-photography-competition-13197348

It is hoped the visit will help showcase Colombia’s cultural heritage, but also draw a focus to the Sussexes’ personal priorities, such as the impact of the digital world on young people, celebrating the military community and female empowerment.

Prince Harry and Meghan have landed in Colombia for their second major overseas tour outside of the Royal Family.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were welcomed by vice president Francia Marquez to her private residence after she invited them for the four-day visit.

It’s hoped the visit will help showcase the cultural heritage of the country but also draw a focus on to the couple’s personal priorities, such as the impact of the digital world on young people, celebrating the military community and female empowerment.

Ahead of the visit the vice president described how watching their Netflix documentary about leaving the Royal Family had inspired her to send the invitation.

She said: “[The documentary] moved me and made me say that this is a woman who deserves to come to our country to tell her story. This exchange will undoubtedly empower so many women in the world.”

Their first day is due to be spent in the capital Bogota and will see them visit a school to meet teenagers at a session on online safety, watch a cultural showcase and attend a summit hosted by Ms Marquez looking at the urgent need to tackle the harmful aspects of technology and digital platforms.

Their decision to travel there has particularly drawn attention because of the issues of security.

The US travel advice for Colombia is at level 3, urging people to “reconsider travel”, but in contrast the couple currently say they don’t believe it is safe for them to visit the UK after their police protection was removed.

Simon Morgan, a former royal protection officer and now a private security consultant, told Sky News they will get local security in Colombia alongside their private team but only because they were invited, which is what makes it different from Harry’s personal trips to the UK where he isn’t given security.

He said: “Whilst it’s not a place that you would go ‘yes it’s ideal to go to’, you can still go there, but you’ve got to put a lot more in place because of the nature of environment and the current threat and risk in relation to Colombia not just with the drug cartels but also with the far-left terrorists that are there as well.

“Because [those groups] ultimately will look at this occasion to add embarrassment to the government, cause destabilisation… And it’s an ideal opportunity because the Sussexes going to Colombia is going to be a world event, it’s going to be focused on and therefore that sheds light on to the cartels and the far-left terrorist cause.”

In February, Prince Harry lost a High Court challenge over the decision to downgrade his security protection since leaving the Royal Family and moving abroad.

But he was later given the right to appeal.

In May he travelled to London without Meghan, and it is understood he won’t be coming back to the UK for the funeral of his uncle Sir Robert Fellowes this summer.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/prince-harry-and-meghan-arrive-in-colombia-after-vice-president-moved-by-netflix-documentary-13197567

British teacher Kevin Nightingale, 39, died of a heart attack in Cambodia. But to his parents’ horror, the body authorities sent back to the UK was not their son’s.

A father who scrambled to raise nearly £7,000 to get his son’s body returned to the UK after he died in Cambodia has described the shock at finding he and his family had mistakenly been sent the body of a 77-year-old man.

Stephen Nightingale, from Nottingham, said his son Kevin, died of a heart attack on 1 May. But it wasn’t until days later that the 39-year-old was found in his flat by a colleague.

On 9 May, two UK police officers showed up at Mr Nightingale’s doorstep to tell him his son had passed.

The 63-year-old immediately called Kevin’s mother, Maureen Thompson, before launching efforts to get their son back through Cambodian firm Evergreen Funeral Services.

A body initially believed to be that of Kevin’s arrived in the UK around 10 June, and Ms Thompson went to identify him with Kevin’s brother, Sean.

“I got a phone call while they were there and I knew something was wrong. It wasn’t Kevin,” Mr Nightingale, who borrowed most of the money to repatriate his son’s body as a GoFundMe campaign hadn’t raised enough in time, said.

“If Maureen hadn’t viewed him, we would’ve buried this guy who no one knew with Kevin’s grandma.”

‘We know our own son’

He called the Cambodian firm and told them: “This has gone wrong, this is terrible”.

But the firm was “just demanding photos” of the body despite Mr Nightingale repeating: “We are telling you, it’s not our Kevin. It’s a 77-year-old bloke, it’s not our Kevin.”

He added: “We know our own son.”

The body of the 77-year-old man was cremated in the UK and had his ashes sent back to Cambodia.

Kevin’s body was returned a week after the mistake was reported, Mr Nightingale said. But he then got another “distressing call” by Ms Thompson as she sought to identify her son for the second time.

“It is Kevin, but he is in such a state,” she cried. Kevin’s parents claim he had gone so long without being embalmed that his body had badly decomposed.

“Sean just collapsed on the floor. Maureen was hysterical, I could hear her crying in the background,” Mr Nightingale said.

He believes Evergreen Funeral Services embalmed the 77-year-old thinking it was Kevin. As a result, he believes his son wasn’t embalmed until the blunder was reported.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/grieving-familys-horror-as-wrong-body-returned-to-uk-following-sons-death-in-cambodia-13197413

Taylor Swift’s history-making Eras Tour made a triumphant return, accompanied by Ed Sheeran, in London Thursday night.

He joined the headliner on stage at Wembley Stadium for the acoustic section, playing on two of their collaborations, “Everything Has Changed” and “Endgame,” before a burst of Sheeran’s hit “Thinking Out Loud.”

Swift teased the audience before his appearance, which lead to loud screaming from an audience that had already been energetically singing, dancing and doing heart hands throughout the show.

Sheeran’s appearance was one of the highlights of the finely-honed stage spectacular and musical celebration of Swift’s career to date.

It’s been tough few weeks for the singer and tour.

Heartbreak remains after the death of three young fans in Southport, northern England, who were killed by an attacker at their Swift themed dance class.

And fear followed the foiled plan to attack her concert venue in Austria, where police arrested three Islamic State-inspired extremists.

The August shows in Vienna were canceled, making Thursday’s Wembley concert the return of the Eras Tour to the stage. Neither were addressed on stage by Swift, who kicked things off with an “Oh hi London,” and admitted her “mind went blank” when she first greeted the crowd, which she likened to a “love system overload.”

She thanked the 92,000-strong audience for making the effort to attend, which had involved increased security measures.

Swift has four remaining dates at Wembley Stadium, which will make it a record breaking solo residency at the venue and round out the European leg of The Eras Tour.

It picks up again in Toronto in November.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/taylor-swift-eras-tour-london-wembley-6a8aff0c9f0bb45382602a75dfc77904

While the statement prompted the Opposition to attack the BJP government, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant tried to do some damage control by claiming that the minister was not talking about Goa.

Panaji: Goa Law Minister Aleixo Sequeira on Thursday put his own government on the spot by saying that drugs were available everywhere and no action was being taken.

While the statement prompted the Opposition to attack the BJP government, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant tried to do some damage control by claiming that the minister was not talking about Goa.

Talking to reporters after hoisting the tricolour at Margao on Independence Day, Sequeira came out in support of the Sunburn EDM (Electronic Dance Music) festival which is annually organised in the coastal state but faces opposition from some quarters for alleged drug use.

Source: https://www.deccanherald.com/india/goa/drugs-available-everywhere-says-goa-minister-provides-ammunition-to-opposition-3152012

Sweden on Thursday (Aug 15) announced the first case outside Africa of the more dangerous variant of mpox, which the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared a global public health emergency.

The country’s public health agency confirmed to AFP that it was the same strain of the virus that has surged in the Democratic Republic of Congo since September 2023, known as the clade 1b subclade.

“A person who sought care (in Stockholm) has been diagnosed with mpox caused by the clade I variant. It is the first case caused by clade I to be diagnosed outside the African continent,” the agency said in a statement.

The person was infected during a visit to “the part of Africa where there is a major outbreak of mpox clade I”, state epidemiologist Magnus Gisslen said in the statement.

The patient “has received care”, Gisslen said. The agency added that Sweden “has a preparedness to diagnose, isolate and treat people with mpox safely”.

“The fact that a patient with mpox is treated in the country does not affect the risk to the general population, a risk that the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) currently considers very low,” it said.

The outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has killed 548 people since the start of the year.
Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/mpox-monkeypox-sweden-reports-first-case-deadly-virus-strain-outside-africa-4548996

Tiers of graves are stacked deep underground in a bloated Gaza cemetery, where Sa’di Baraka spends his days hacking at the earth, making room for more dead.

“Sometimes we make graves on top of graves,” he said.

Baraka and his solemn corps of volunteer gravediggers in the Deir al-Balah cemetery start at sunrise, digging new trenches or reopening existing ones. The dead can sometimes come from kilometers (miles) away, stretches of Gaza where burial grounds are destroyed or unreachable.

The cemetery is 70 years old. A quarter of its graves are new.

The death toll in Gaza since the beginning of the 10-month-old Israel-Hamas war has passed 40,000, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run territory. The count does not distinguish civilians from militants.

The small, densely populated strip of land is now packed with bodies.

They fill morgues and overflow cemeteries. Families, fleeing repeatedly to escape offensives, bury their dead wherever possible: in backyards and parking lots, beneath staircases and along roadsides, according to witness accounts and video footage. Others lie under rubble, their families unsure they will ever be counted.

“One large cemetery”
A steady drumbeat of death since October has claimed nearly 2% of Gaza’s prewar population. Health officials and civil defense workers say the true toll could be thousands more, including bodies under rubble that the United Nations says weighs 40 million tons.

“It seems,” Palestinian author Yousri Alghoul wrote for the Institute for Palestine Studies, “that Gaza’s fate is to become one large cemetery, with its streets, parks, and homes, where the living are merely dead awaiting their turn.”

Israel began striking Gaza after Hamas-led militants stormed across the Israeli border on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking some 250 others hostage. Israel seeks Hamas’ destruction and claims it confines its attacks to militants. It blames Hamas for civilian deaths, saying the militants operate from residential neighborhoods laced with tunnels. The fighting has killed 329 Israeli soldiers.

Even in death, Palestinians have been displaced by Israel’s offensives.

Palestinians move corpses, shielding them from the path of war. Israel’s military has dug up, plowed over and bombed more than 20 cemeteries, according to satellite imagery analyzed by investigative outlet Bellingcat. Troops have taken scores of bodies into Israel, searching for hostages. Trucked back to Gaza, the bodies are often decomposed and unidentifiable, buried quickly in a mass grave.

Israel’s military told The Associated Press that it is attempting to rescue hostage bodies where intelligence indicates they may be located. It said bodies determined not to be hostages are returned “with dignity and respect.”

Haneen Salem, a photographer and writer from northern Gaza, has lost over 270 extended family members in bombardments and shelling. Salem said between 15 and 20 of them have been disinterred — some after troops destroyed cemeteries and others moved by relatives out of fear Israeli forces would destroy their graves.

“I don’t know how to explain what it feels like to see the bodies of my loved ones lying on the ground, scattered, a piece of flesh here and bone there,” she said. “After the war, if we remain alive, we will dig a new grave and spread roses and water over it for their good souls.”

Honoring the dead

In peacetime, Gaza funerals were large family affairs.

The corpse would be washed and wrapped in a shroud, according to Islamic tradition. After prayers over the body at a mosque, a procession would take it to the graveyard, where it would be laid on its right side facing east, toward Mecca.

The rituals are the most basic way to honor the dead, said Hassan Fares. “This does not exist in Gaza.”

Twenty-five members of Fares’ family were killed by an airstrike on Oct. 13 in northern Gaza. Without gravediggers available, Fares dug three ditches in a cemetery, burying four cousins, his aunt and his uncle. Survivors whispered quick prayers over the distant hum of warplanes.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/gaza-war-hamas-dead-graves-40000-988d16b648e06e222f04964dc9440da0#

Jasveen Sangha, a 41-year-old dual British and American citizen, has been under the radar of federal authorities for her involvement in the distribution of dangerous narcotics.

New Delhi: Among the five people who have been charged in actor Matthew Perry’s death due to a drug overdose last year is a woman called Jasveen Sangha, popularly known as “the Ketamine Queen”. According to investigators, Ms Sangha provided the lethal dose of ketamine that led to Mr Perry’s death.
Ms Sangha, a 41-year-old dual British and American citizen, has been under the radar of federal authorities for her involvement in the distribution of dangerous narcotics. Dubbed the “Ketamine Queen of Los Angeles,” Ms Sangha allegedly ran a drug operation out of her North Hollywood home, where officials claim she stored, packaged, and distributed various narcotics. According to a federal indictment, her residence was described as a “drug-selling emporium” filled with methamphetamine, cocaine, and prescription drugs like Xanax.

Ms Sangha’s operation, which dates back to at least June 2019, came under scrutiny after she was busted in March for selling methamphetamine in an unrelated case. During the raid on her home, federal agents seized 79 bottles of liquid ketamine and nearly 2,000 meth pills, highlighting the scale of her illicit activities.

Source: https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/matthew-perry-jasveen-sangha-who-is-jasveen-sangha-ketamine-queen-charged-for-matthew-perrys-death-6347441

A Chinese woman had to be escorted off a plane after she refused to store her designer bag under the seat in front of her

A Chinese woman had to be escorted off a plane after she refused to store her designer bag under the seat in front of her, as is the rule in most flights. The woman’s refusal to put her Louis Vuitton bag on the floor caused a delay of one hour, and passengers applauded when she was kicked off the flight, reported South China Morning Post.

The incident went viral after a co-passenger shared a video on the Chinese social media platform Douyin, where it has racked up over 4 million views.

The passenger who shared the video on social media said the unnamed woman was sitting in the economy class of a China Express Airlines flight. She was requested to put her Louis Vuitton bag under the seat in front of her. However, the woman insisted on keeping the bag next to her.

The incident occurred at an airport in the Chongqing municipality of China on August 10. The woman’s refusal led to a long delay for other flyers, who were only too happy to see her off the plane.

Reports suggest that the flight was already departing and had to return to the boarding gate so the unruly flyer could be escorted off.

Fair or not?
China Express Airlines refused to comment on the incident or share the passenger’s identity. However, the video led to mixed reactions on Chinese social media. While some users criticised the woman for holding up the flight and inconveniencing other passengers, others said they understood her reluctance to put an expensive designer bag on the floor and said a middle ground should have been reached rather than kicking her off the plane.

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/trending/chinese-woman-kicked-off-flight-for-refusing-to-put-louis-vuitton-bag-under-seat-101723723236315.html

The U.S. Navy’s deployment of new extremely long-range air-to-air missiles in the Indo-Pacific could erase China’s advantage in aerial reach, experts say, part of an intensifying focus on projecting power amid high tensions in the region.
The AIM-174B, developed from the readily available Raytheon (RTX.N), opens new tab SM-6 air defence missile, is the longest-range such missile the United States has ever fielded and was officially acknowledged in July.

Ukraine’s forces advanced further into Russia’s Kursk region on Wednesday as Kyiv said its gains would provide a strategic buffer zone to protect its border areas from Russian attacks.
Kyiv’s surge into Russian territory last week caught Moscow by surprise. Russian forces that began a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 had been grinding out steady gains all year.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he met top officials to discuss the humanitarian situation and establishing a military commandant’s offices “if needed” in an occupied area that Kyiv says exceeds 1,000 sq km (390 sq miles).

Ernst & Young (EY) and KPMG have snapped up over half of PwC’s corporate clients in China that have fled the market’s leading accounting firm as it faces a regulatory probe, filings show.
Chinese authorities have been investigating PwC’s role in auditing China Evergrande Group (3333.HK), opens new tab, after the securities regulator accused the troubled property developer in March of a $78-billion fraud. PwC audited Evergrande for almost 14 years until early 2023.

A U.S. judge on Wednesday said he was planning to issue an order forcing Alphabet’s Google to give Android users more ways to download apps, but would not micromanage the tech giant’s business, following a jury verdict last year for “Fortnite” maker Epic Games.
U.S. District Judge James Donato in San Francisco heard from technology experts and lawyers for Epic and Google (GOOGL.O), opens new tab about proposed reforms in the blockbuster antitrust case.

Travis Kelce won’t be kneeling on the ground and pulling out a ring for Taylor Swift without an “ironclad prenup,” Life & Style reports.

“There’s just no way Taylor would walk down the aisle without a prenup,” an insider told the publication for a report released Wednesday.

While the pair are reportedly talking about what their agreement will look like, they haven’t solidified anything due to their extenuating circumstances.

“The formalities are just their schedules that have gotten in the way, as well as the logistics of a prenup, which is obviously complicated by the vast amounts of money involved on both sides,” the source explained.

“This is a lot further along than either Taylor or Travis would care to admit, since they’ve considered themselves unofficially engaged for a while and are both 100 percent committed to spending the rest of their lives together and starting a family.”

Page Six did not receive an immediate response from reps for Swift or Kelce.

We exclusively reported in December 2023 that the football star asked the singer’s father, Scott Swift’s, permission for her hand in marriage. We were told he “wholeheartedly” gave Kelce his support.

Furthermore, a person close to Kelce’s camp told Page Six earlier this month that an engagement is “happening soon.”

The “Karma” singer and the Kansas City Chiefs tight end, both 34, have been dating for just over a year.

They took their relationship public in September 2023 when Taylor cheered her him on at his NFL game against the Chicago Bears on his home turf at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.

Source: https://pagesix.com/2024/08/14/entertainment/travis-kelce-wont-propose-to-taylor-swift-without-an-ironclad-prenup/

Sky News meets a group of Russian detainees who say their families do not know what has happened to them.

The Russian prisoners of war – mostly young conscripts – were grouped together in a line of cells along a dimly-lit corridor at a detention site in Ukraine.

They had been captured during a shock advance by Ukrainian troops into Russia’s Kursk region.

Sky News is not showing the detainees in compliance with international law.

But we did talk to some of them – including conscripts, aged between 19 and 21.

Standing together in a cell, next to some bunk beds, the young men described the shock of being taken when Ukrainian troops attacked the Kursk region.

They said it all happened very quickly and they just surrendered.

The men we spoke to said their families did not know what had happened to them and that they hoped to be swapped in any exchange with Ukrainian prisoners of war so they could go home.

More people are being evacuated from a district in Russia’s Kursk border region after Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces were continuing to push ahead into Russian territory. Listen to a Daily podcast on how Ukraine broke through Vladimir Putin’s “red line” as you scroll.

Russian detainees in Ukraine reveal Kursk reality
The Russian prisoners of war – mostly young conscripts – were grouped together in a line of cells along a dimly-lit corridor at a detention site in Ukraine.

They had been captured during a shock advance by Ukrainian troops into Russia’s Kursk region.

Sky News is not showing the detainees in compliance with international law.

But we did talk to some of them – including conscripts, aged between 19 and 21.

Ukrainian MP: Kursk invasion sends ‘very clear’ message to NATO
A Ukrainian MP has told Sky News that her country’s invasion into Russia’s Kursk region should send a “very clear message” to NATO members that Ukraine needs long-range weaponry.

Maria Mezentseva says Ukraine wants the ability to use such weapons to strike air bases and missile launch sites deep into Russian territory.

If it had this, Ms Mezentseva says, Ukraine would not have been “forced” into creating a “buffer zone” inside Russia.

Asked by Sky News what the invasion into the Kursk region had done for Ukraine, she said: “In the Kharkiv region, it became more peaceful.

“And it keeps the morale going that Russia’s army is not the second-bravest, largest, and most advanced in the world.

“This also sends a very clear message to all our allies in NATO, all our Western allies in the G7, that we really need long-range weaponry so that we would not be forced to create this buffer zone.”

The UK’s Ministry of Defence signalled last night that Ukraine was free to use weapons gifted by the UK as they continue their advances into Russia.

It said there was “no change in UK government policy” and that Ukraine has a “clear right” to use weapons for its self-defence.

Source: https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-russia-latest-invasion-incursion-war-putin-live-updates-12541713

Gena Rowlands, whose seminal and fearless performance in “A Woman Under the Influence” inspired a generation and who starred in many other John Cassavetes features as well as the romance “The Notebook,” died Wednesday at her home in Indian Wells, Calif. She was 94.

Her death was confirmed by the office of her son’s agent. In June, Nick Cassavetes, who directed his mother in “The Notebook,” shared that the three-time Emmy winner and two-time Oscar nominee had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

Rowlands’ role as Mabel Longhetti in the 1974 drama “A Woman Under the Influence,” written for her and directed by husband John Cassavetes, landed the actor the first of two Academy Award nominations. The other nom was for “Gloria” (1980), also directed by her husband. In November 2015, she was awarded an honorary Academy Award at the annual Governors Awards in recognition of her storied career.

“Working this long? I didn’t even think I’d be living this long,” she confessed to Variety ahead of the event in the roaring, throaty laugh instantly familiar from “A Woman Under the Influence,” as well as “Faces,” “Opening Night” and other Cassavetes-directed drams.

After her husband died in 1989, Rowlands continued working as an actor, especially for her own children who became actor-directors. She took roles in son Nick’s directorial debut, “Unhook the Stars” (1996), his hit film “The Notebook” (2004) and his 2012 effort “Yellow,” as well as a role in daughter Zoe’s “Broken English” (2007). She also led Terence Davies’ coming-of-age 1995 drama “The Neon Bible,” set in 1940’s Georgia.

Early in her career, she made a near-effortless transition from Broadway ingenue to grande dame. In an early interview. In her acceptance speech at the Governors Awards, she shared that “A lot of women, when they can’t keep doing young romantic roles, don’t want to consider character parts and quit sooner. But I just looked at the scripts and kept seeing what I’d like to do, and never worried about it.”

In a 1975 review of “A Woman Under the Influence” for the Boston Phoenix, film critic Janet Maslin said, “I don’t know of another actress who possesses the physical and emotional elasticity to skitter through Mabel’s moods the way Rowlands does,” calling the actor’s breakdown scene ”as blood-curdlingly authentic as anything she or Cassavetes has ever done.”

Rowlands final feature credits came in two 2014 films: sci-fi comedy “Parts Per Billion,” with Frank Langella, and an adaptation of the play “Dancing for Six Weeks” with Joshua Jackson.

On the occasion of Rowlands’ handprint and footprint ceremony at the Chinese Theater in December 2014, Variety wrote of the actress, “None is better known for anatomizing mental breakdown’s terror.”

Rowlands made her film debut in 1958 opposite Jose Ferrer in the light romantic comedy “The High Cost of Loving.” She played a sturdy earth mother-type opposite Kirk Douglas in “Lonely Are the Brave” (1962) but started to explore the neurotic core of roles to come as the troubled mother of a mentally handicapped son in “A Child Is Waiting” (1963), directed by Cassavetes.

Rowlands collaborated with Cassavetes on 10 films, including “Faces” (1968), “Minnie and Moskowitz” (1971), “Opening Night” (1977) and “Love Streams” (1984). Though she also worked with other name directors — Paul Mazursky (“Tempest”), Paul Schrader (“Light of Day”) and Woody Allen (“Another Woman”) — her work with Cassavetes defined the American independent cinema of the ’70s and ’80s.

Cassavetes reportedly had to drag performances out of Rowlands, who was largely a reluctant star. The director did not ease his demands even when his wife, playing a call girl in “Faces,” was pregnant with their second child during lensing of the film.

Like her husband, however, Rowlands took work in mainstream films in order to finance his films, appearing, for example, in “Two Minute Warning” and earlier, with Cassavetes and Peter Falk, in the Italian-made 1968 pic “Machine Gun McCain.”

Rowlands also enjoyed a successful career in television, drawing eight Emmy Awards nominations and winning three: In 1987 as lead actress in ABC’s “The Betty Ford Story”; in 1992, as lead actress in “Face of a Stranger” (CBS); and in 2003 as supporting actress in HBO’s “Hysterical Blindness.”

Rowlands also won a Daytime Emmy in 2004 as the title character in Showtime’s “The Incredible Mrs. Ritchie.” She played the estranged daughter of Bette Davis, one of her screen idols, in the 1979 CBS telepic “Strangers: The Story of a Mother and Daughter.” And in the 1985 NBC telepic “An Early Frost,” Rowlands starred as a mother whose son discovers he has AIDS. It is regarded as the first major film drama about the HIV/AIDS crisis.

Source: https://variety.com/2024/film/obituaries-people-news/gena-rowlands-dead-the-notebook-gloria-1236107324/

North Korea will reopen one city to foreign tourists in December after nearly five years of border closures due to the Covid pandemic.
At least two China-based tour operators have announced that tourists will soon be allowed to visit the mountainous northern city of Samjiyon.
Reclusive North Korea sealed itself off at the start of the pandemic in early 2020. It started to scale back restrictions only in the middle of last year.
The border closures also cut off imports of essential goods, leading to food shortages that were made worse by international sanctions because of the country’s nuclear programme.

It also claims Paektu is where the incumbent’s father, Kim Jong Il, was born.

Samjiyon has been undergoing major redevelopment in recent years, with Mr Kim revealing plans in July to rebuild its airport, convert a military ski base into a resort, and build new railways and hotels for foreign tourists, according to state media.

Mr Kim said plans to “revitalize international tourism” would be aimed at visitors from “friendly” nations.

KCNA reported at that time that the Mount Paektu-Samjiyon zone was envisioned to be a “four-season mountainous tourist area to meet the cultural and emotional needs of the people on the highest level and revitalize international tourism.”

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg3wzkx8k8o

The world’s highest single-arch rail bridge is set to connect Indian-administered Kashmir with the rest of the country by train for the first time.

It took more than 20 years for the Indian railways to finish the bridge over the River Chenab in the Reasi district of Jammu.
The showpiece infrastructure project is 35m taller than the Eiffel Tower and the first train on the bridge is set to run soon between Bakkal and Kauri areas.
The bridge is part of a 272km (169 miles) all-weather railway line that will pass through Jammu, ultimately going all the way to the Kashmir valley (there is no definite timeline yet for the completion). Currently, the road link to Kashmir valley is often cut off during winter months when heavy snowfall leads to blockages on the highway from Jammu.
Experts say the new railway line will give India a strategic advantage along the troubled border region.
The Himalayan region of Kashmir has been a flashpoint between India and Pakistan for decades. The nuclear-armed neighbours have fought two wars over it since independence in 1947. Both claim Kashmir in full but control only parts of it.
An armed insurgency against Delhi’s rule in the Indian-administered region since 1989 has claimed thousands of lives and there is heavy military presence in the area.

The construction of the Chenab bridge was approved in 2003, but faced delays and missed deadlines because of the region’s treacherous topography, safety concerns and court cases.

Engineers working on the project had to reach the remote location on foot or by mule during the early stages of construction.

The Himalayas are a young mountain range and their geo-technical features have still not been fully understood. The bridge is located in a highly seismic zone and the Indian railways had to carry out extensive exploration studies, modifying its shape and arches to ensure the bridge could withstand simulated wind speeds of up to 266km/h.

“Logistics was another major challenge given the inaccessibility of the location and the narrow roads. Many of the components of the bridge were built and fabricated on site,” said Mr Rajagopalan.

Besides the engineering complications, the railways had to design a blast-proof structure. Afcons claims the bridge can withstand a strong “explosion of up to 40kg of TNT” and trains would continue to ply, albeit at slower speeds, even if there was damage or a pillar was knocked out.

Experts say that enabling all-weather connectivity to the Kashmir valley could give the region’s economy a much-needed boost.

Poor connectivity during winter months has been a major bugbear for the valley’s largely farm-dependent businesses.

Seven in 10 Kashmiris live off perishable fruit cultivation, according to think-tank Observer Research Foundation.

Ubair Shah, who owns one of Kashmir’s largest cold storage facilities in Pulwama district in south Kashmir, said the impact of the rail link could be “huge”.

Right now, most of the plums and apples stored in his facility make their way to markets in northern states like Haryana, Punjab and Delhi. The new railway line would give farmers access to southern India which could eventually help increase their incomes, he said.

Source: about:blank

The World Health Organization declared Wednesday that the increasing spread of mpox in Africa is a global health emergency, warning the virus might ultimately spill across international borders.

The announcement by WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus came after a meeting of the U.N. health agency’s emergency committee. The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared mpox a public health emergency on the continent on Tuesday.

WHO said there have been more than 14,000 cases and 524 deaths in Africa this year, which already exceed last year’s figures.

So far, more than 96% of all cases and deaths are in a single country — Congo. Scientists are concerned by the spread of a new version of the disease there that might be more easily transmitted among people.

Here’s a look at what we know about mpox, and what might be done to contain it:

What is mpox?

Mpox, also known as monkeypox, was first identified by scientists in 1958 when there were outbreaks of a “pox-like” disease in monkeys. Until recently, most human cases were seen in people in central and West Africa who had close contact with infected animals.

A teenager on a field trip to see a Detroit court ended up in jail clothes and handcuffs because a judge said he didn’t like her attitude.

Judge Kenneth King even asked other kids in the courtroom Tuesday whether the 16-year-old girl should be taken to juvenile detention, WXYZ-TV reported.

King, who works at 36th District Court, defended his actions.

“I wanted this to look and feel very real to her, even though there’s probably no real chance of me putting her in jail. That was my own version of ‘Scared Straight,’” King said, referring to a documentary about teen offenders in New Jersey.

The teen was seeing King’s court as part of a visit organized by The Greening of Detroit, a nonprofit environmental group. During the visit, King noticed the girl falling asleep, WXYZ reported.

“You fall asleep in my courtroom one more time, I’m gonna put you in back, understood?” the judge said, according to video of his remarks.

King then had the girl change into jail clothes and wear handcuffs.

“It was her whole attitude and her whole disposition that disturbed me,” the judge told WXYZ. “I wanted to get through to her, show how serious this is and how you are to conduct yourself inside of a courtroom.”

King then had the girl change into jail clothes and wear handcuffs.

“It was her whole attitude and her whole disposition that disturbed me,” the judge told WXYZ. “I wanted to get through to her, show how serious this is and how you are to conduct yourself inside of a courtroom.”

King also threatened her with time in juvenile detention before releasing her.

“I’ll do whatever needs to be done to reach these kids and make sure that they don’t end up in front of me,” the judge said.

The Greening of Detroit released a statement, saying the “young lady was traumatized.”

“Although the judge was trying to teach a lesson of respect, his methods were unacceptable,” chairperson Marissa Ebersole Wood said. “The group of students should have been simply asked to leave the courtroom if he thought they were disrespectful.”

Judge Aliyah Sabree, who has the No. 2 leadership post at the court, released a statement Wednesday night, saying King’s conduct “does not reflect the standards we uphold at 36th District Court.”

Source: https://apnews.com/article/teen-detroit-field-trip-handcuffs-50ca8b3027ff3f40da0bf7aa98cefeb2

Only a ceasefire deal in Gaza stemming from hoped-for talks this week would hold Iran back from direct retaliation against Israel for the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on its soil, three senior Iranian officials said.
Iran has vowed a severe response to Haniyeh’s killing, which took place as he visited Tehran late last month and which it blamed on Israel. Israel has neither confirmed or denied its involvement. The U.S. Navy has deployed warships and a submarine to the Middle East to bolster Israeli defenses.

One of the sources, a senior Iranian security official, said Iran, along with allies such as Hezbollah, would launch a direct attack if the Gaza talks fail or it perceives Israel is dragging out negotiations. The sources did not say how long Iran would allow for talks to progress before responding.
With an increased risk of a broader Middle East war after the killings of Haniyeh and Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr, Iran has been involved in intense dialogue with Western countries and the United States in recent days on ways to calibrate retaliation, said the sources, who all spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.In comments published on Tuesday, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey confirmed Washington was asking allies to help convince Iran to de-escalate tensions. Three regional government sources described conversations with Tehran to avoid escalation ahead of the Gaza ceasefire talks, due to begin on Thursday in either Egypt or Qatar.
“We hope our response will be timed and executed in a way that does not harm a potential ceasefire,” Iran’s mission to the U.N. said on Friday in a statement. Iran’s foreign ministry on Tuesday said calls to exercise restraint “contradict principles of international law.”

Africa’s top public health body declared what it termed a “public health emergency of continental security” on Tuesday over an outbreak of mpox that has spread from the Democratic Republic of Congo to neighbouring countries.
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) had warned last week of an alarming rate of spread of the viral infection, which is transmitted through close contact and causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions.

Kaseya said in the briefing that the continent needs more than 10 million doses of the vaccine, but only about 200,000 are available. He promised that Africa CDC would work to quickly increase the supply to the continent.

“We have a clear plan to secure more than 10 million doses in Africa, starting with 3 million doses in 2024,” he added, without saying where the vaccines would be sourced.

The health body said that more than 15,000 mpox cases and 461 deaths were reported on the continent this year so far, representing a 160% increase from the same period last year. A total of 18 countries have reported cases.Mpox has been endemic in parts of Africa for decades after it was first detected in humans in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1970.
A milder version of the virus spread to more than a hundred countries in 2022, largely through sexual contact, prompting the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare a public health emergency of international concern, its highest level of alert.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/africa-cdc-declares-mpox-public-health-emergency-continental-security-director-2024-08-13/

Nearly five years after millions of euros’ worth of jewellery was stolen in a museum heist in eastern Germany, visitors can once again admire nearly all of the precious pieces in person.
In November 2019, thieves stole pieces that contained more than 4,300 diamonds with an estimated value of over 113 million euros ($124 million), from the Gruenes Gewoelbe (Green Vault) museum in Dresden, in the eastern German state of Saxony.

“There are certain things that perhaps absolute experts can see; we with the naked eye can actually barely see the damage,” said Marion Ackermann, Dresden State Museums director general.
“And this damage is mainly due to the fact that they were either broken out during the crime … or improperly stored by the perpetrators after the crime,” Ackermann added.

Five men, all members of the same family, were sentenced to several years behind bars in May 2023 for their involvement.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/jewels-stolen-germanys-green-vault-heist-back-display-2024-08-13/

A grand jury indicted an Ohio police officer on four counts of murder on Tuesday for his fatal shooting of a 21-year-old pregnant Black woman in a grocery-store parking lot.
Blendon Township Police Officer Connor Grubb and another officer approached Ta’Kiya Young in her car on Aug. 24, 2023, suspecting her of shoplifting.
Police released body-worn camera video that showed both officers ordering Young to get out of her car, which she refused, telling them she had not stolen anything. One of the officers, identified by county prosecutors as Grubb, stood in front of her car and aimed his gun at her through the windshield.

Street artist Banksy on Tuesday claimed the ninth – and perhaps final – mural of his animal-themed art trail across London, with a painting on the shutters of the capital’s zoo showing a gorilla freeing a sea lion and birds.
The series began with a mountain goat on Monday and was followed by eight other artworks, including three monkeys hanging from a railway bridge, the silhouette of a wolf on a satellite dish and two pelicans above a fish and chip shop.

The zoo painting shows a gorilla prising open a metal shutter to release birds and a sea lion. Banksy has posted pictures of all his murals on his Instagram account.
The BBC, citing Banksy’s team, said the gorilla artwork was the final piece of the series. The artist’s team did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment.

London Zoo staff were thrilled to find the latest mural had been painted on their doorstep and many passers-by have been popping over to admire it and take pictures, said zoo media manager Rebecca Blanchard.

“This is bringing so many smiles to people’s faces this morning,” Blanchard said as she stood in front of the mural. She said the zoo still had to decide what to do with it but they were “definitely keeping it and preserving it”.
Blanchard said the artwork might be the “grand finale” of what she described as an “incredible series celebrating animals”.
Theories have swirled on social media about the meaning of the works by an artist who has highlighted themes such as war and climate change in his previous work.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/banksy-frees-animals-london-zoo-mural-series-finale-2024-08-13/

Hannah Jacobs, who was severely allergic to dairy, died within hours of having a sip of a Costa Coffee hot chocolate on 8 February 2022. Urmi Akter, who served the teenager and her mother, said she “gave her the drink she requested”.

A 13-year-old girl who died after taking a sip of a Costa Coffee hot chocolate may have been served cow’s milk because of a possible “miscommunication”, an inquest has heard.

Hannah Jacobs, who had been severely allergic to dairy, fish and eggs since she was a toddler, died within hours of having a sip of the drink on 8 February 2022.

East London Coroner’s Court heard on Monday the teenager had an “immediate reaction” to the beverage, despite her mother ordering two hot chocolates with soya milk.

Urmi Akter told the court on Tuesday she took the order from Abimbola Duyile for the takeaway drinks. She had been working at the coffee shop in Barking, east London, for about eight months and said she could see and hear Ms Duyile “clearly” at the time.

Ms Akter said Ms Duyile had asked for two hot chocolates, and asked “can you wash the jug because my daughter has a dairy allergy?”

The court heard that under Costa’s rules, customers who ask for a non-dairy product or state they have a dietary requirement should be shown a book kept under the till which includes ingredients and details of how a drink is made.

In her statement, Ms Akter said she did not show Ms Duyile the book “as she told me washing the jug was fine”.

She added: “I thought she, as the mother, would know more about [it]. I gave her the drink she requested.”

Ms Akter then told the court she had repeated Ms Duyile’s request for the jug to be washed and pointed out that hot chocolate is made from milk.

She added Ms Duyile replied “that’s fine”.

Ms Akter was told she did not have to answer certain questions if she felt it would incriminate her as a legal right under coroner’s rules. She was also sat beside a Bengali interpreter as she gave evidence.

She declined to say whether she was trained in her own language, if she had been provided refresher training, if she knew what an allergen is, why she did not confirm whether cow’s milk was used in the drinks, and did not answer other questions.

Assistant coroner Dr Shirley Radcliffe said: “As far as I understand you said the mother mentioned the dairy allergy.

“The book was not shown to the mother and the only thing done was to make one drink, wash the jug and make the other drink.”

Source:https://news.sky.com/story/girl-who-died-after-taking-a-sip-of-costa-coffee-hot-chocolate-could-have-been-served-dairy-over-miscommunication-inquest-hears-13196432

In recent years, a seemingly innocuous toy has been causing serious injuries in children across the United States. Water beads, those colorful, marble-sized spheres that expand when soaked in water, have become increasingly popular as sensory toys and decorations. However, a new study reveals a disturbing trend: emergency room visits related to water bead injuries in children have more than doubled in just one year.

Water beads, made from superabsorbent polymers, can expand to hundreds of times their original size when exposed to fluids. Originally marketed as soil alternatives for plants, they’ve found their way into children’s play as sensory toys, decorations, and even ammunition for toy “gel blaster” guns. However, their harmless appearance hides a serious threat, especially to young children who might mistake them for candy.

The study, published in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine, analyzed data from U.S. emergency departments over a 16-year period. The results are eye-opening: In 2022 alone, there were an estimated 3,300 water bead-related emergency room visits involving children and teenagers. This marks a staggering 130% increase from the previous year.

What makes these tiny spheres so dangerous?
When ingested, water beads can expand to many times their original size inside a child’s body, potentially causing intestinal blockages or other serious complications. They can also pose risks when inserted into ears or noses, leading to painful and sometimes damaging outcomes. In one tragic incident not included in the study, a 10-month-old child died after ingesting water beads.

“The number of pediatric water bead-related emergency department visits is increasing rapidly,” says Dr. Gary Smith, senior author of the study and director of the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, in a statement. “Although swallowing objects and putting them into an ear or the nose are common among children, water beads pose a unique increased risk of harm because of their expanding properties, and they’re hard to detect with X-rays.”

The research team found that children under five years-old were most at risk, accounting for more than half of all emergency room visits related to water beads. Ingestion was the most common type of injury, followed by insertion into the ear canal. While most cases were treated and released from the emergency department, some required hospitalization, especially among the youngest patients.

One particularly concerning finding was that children as young as seven months-old were among those injured. This challenges the notion that current safety measures, such as warning labels for children under three, are sufficient to prevent accidents.

The study’s findings have caught the attention of consumer safety advocates and lawmakers. In response to growing concerns, major retailers, including Amazon, Walmart, and Target, have announced they will stop selling water beads marketed to children. Additionally, legislation has been introduced in both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate to ban or restrict the sale of expandable water beads.

However, the researchers argue that current safety standards and regulations may not go far enough. The existing toy safety standard, ASTM F963, which limits the size to which water beads can expand, doesn’t account for the possibility of multiple beads forming a gelatinous mass in the intestines. It also doesn’t address injuries from insertion into ears or noses.

“Serious outcomes have occurred to children younger than 18 months, and one-fifth of the water beads swallowed in this study were among children younger than 18 months with the youngest child being 7 months old. Therefore, using intestinal measurements for 18-month-olds is not adequate,” Dr. Smith points out.

Study authors are calling for a more comprehensive approach to regulating water beads. They suggest focusing on the core characteristic that makes these products dangerous: their ability to expand when exposed to fluids. Drawing a parallel to regulations on high-powered magnets, which focused on magnetic strength to reduce ingestion risks, the researchers propose limiting water bead expansion to no more than 50% of their original size.

Source: https://studyfinds.org/water-bead-injuries-children/?nab=0

The Australian city of Melbourne has banned rental electronic scooters with officials saying they posed unacceptable safety risks.
The U-turn by the city’s council comes after it first welcomed the scooters in February 2022, saying they would operate a two-year trial.
However, hundreds of accidents since then have sparked complaints and outrage from the public.
Melbourne’s mayor said he was “fed up” with the bad behaviour of some scooter users.

“Too many people [are] riding on footpaths. People don’t park them properly. They’re tipped, they’re scattered around the city like confetti, like rubbish, creating tripping hazards,” Nicholas Reece told local radio station 3AW.
Melbourne is just the latest city in the world to remove hire scooters – which can go at up to 26km/h (16mph) – after a brief period of operation. The French capital Paris outlawed them last September – Mr Reece said he wanted to copy “the Paris option”.
City councillors voted 6-4 on Tuesday evening local time to ban the scooters almost immediately.
Operators Lime and Neuron have been ordered to remove the scooters within 30 days.
The companies still had six months left on their contracts to operate the vehicles and had been campaigning heavily in recent weeks, urging users to petition the council.
Both companies said they had invested significantly in recent months to improve safety and regulations around the use of scooters – with Neuron saying it was planning on installing AI cameras on scooters to prevent misuse.
A spokesman for the company decried the city council’s blanket ban on Tuesday, saying they had been in discussions with city officials to introduce measures like restricting the scooter use to less congested parts of the city, or setting up riding zones.
“This goes over and above the reforms announced by the state government,” Jayden Bryant from Neuron had earlier told Australian media.
“It is very odd that [a different] tabled proposal for the introduction of new e-scooter technology can change to become a proposal for a ban.”

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3w68ywqv2go

A study out recently has prompted much media attention about the role of plastics in developing autism.

In particular, the study focused on exposure to a component of hard plastics – bisphenol A, or BPA – in the womb and the risk of boys developing this neurodevelopmental disorder.

Importantly, the study doesn’t show plastics containing BPA cause autism.

But it suggests BPA might play a role in estrogen levels in infant and school-aged boys, which can then affect their chance of being diagnosed with autism.

Let’s tease out the details.

Remind me, what is BPA?
BPA is a component of hard plastics that has been used for a few decades. Because BPA is found in plastics used for food and some drink containers, many people are exposed to low levels of BPA every day.

But concerns about how BPA impacts our health have been around for some time because it can also weakly mimic the effects of the hormone estrogen in our body.

Even though this action is weak, there are worries about health because we are exposed to low levels across our lifetime. Some countries have banned BPA in baby bottles as a precaution; Australia is voluntarily phasing it out in baby bottles.

What is autism and what causes it?
Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder diagnosed based on difficulties with social communication and repetitive and/or restrictive behaviors.

People with autism may experience other issues, such as seizures, changes in motor function (for example, difficulties with fine motor coordination, such as holding a pencil or turning a key to open a door), anxiety, sensory issues, sleeping problems as well as gut upsets.

There’s a broad range of the intensity of these symptoms, so people with autism experience daily life in vastly different ways.

So far, most studies have described autistic people who are able to interact very well in the community and, in fact, may demonstrate outstanding skills in certain areas. But there’s a big gap in our knowledge around the large number of profoundly autistic people who require 24-hour care.

There is a strong influence of genetics in autism, with more than 1,000 genes associated with it. But we don’t know what causes autism in most cases. There are a few reasons for this.

It is not standard practice to undertake detailed gene sequencing for children with autism. Although there are clearly some individual genes responsible for certain types of autism, more often, autism may result from the complex interaction of many genes, which is very difficult to detect, even in large-scale studies.

Environmental factors can also contribute to developing autism. For example, some antiseizure medications are no longer prescribed for pregnant women due to the increased risk of their children developing neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism.

This latest study looks at another possible environmental factor: being exposed to BPA in the womb. There were several parts to the research, including studies with humans and mice.

What did they find in humans?
The researchers looked at a group (or cohort) of 1,074 Australian children; roughly half were boys. They found 43 children (29 boys and 14 girls) had an autism diagnosis by age seven to 11 (average age nine years).

They collected urine from 847 mothers late in their pregnancy and measured the amount of BPA. They then focused their analysis on samples with the highest levels of BPA.

They also measured gene changes by analysing blood from the umbilical cord at birth. This was to check aromatase enzyme activity, which is associated with estrogen levels. Children with gene changes that might indicate lower levels of estrogens were classified as having “low aromatase activity”.

The team found a link between high maternal BPA levels and a greater risk of autism in boys with low aromatase activity.

In the final analysis, the researchers said there were too few girls with an autism diagnosis plus low aromatase levels to analyze. So their conclusions were limited to boys.

What did they find in mice?
The team also studied the effect of mice being exposed to BPA in the womb.

In mice exposed to BPA this way, they saw increased grooming behavior (said to indicate repetitive behavior) and decreased social approach behavior (said to indicate reduced social interaction).

The team also saw changes in the amygdala region of the brain after BPA treatment. This region is important for processing social interactions.

Olympic javelin gold medalist Arshad Nadeem received a total of 250 million rupees ($897,000) on Tuesday as Pakistan continued to celebrate his record-breaking throw at the Paris Games.

Pakistan’s prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, announced 150 million rupees ($538,000) for Nadeem at a special ceremony to honor the star athlete in Islamabad. Sharif’s announcement came hours after Punjab’s chief minister Mariam Nawaz visited Nadeem’s house in a village in the Mian Channu district and presented him with a check for 100 million rupees ($359,000).

Nawaz also handed him the keys to a new car which has a special registration number of “PAK 92.97” to commemorate Nadeem’s throw of 92.97 meters at Paris, which was an Olympic record. Nadeem’s coach Salman Iqbal Butt was also given 5 million rupees ($18,000).

“You have doubled the delight of 250 million Pakistanis because we’ll also celebrate our Independence Day tomorrow,” Sharif said while announcing the money for Nadeem, whose father is a daily wage laborer. “Today every Pakistani is happy and the morale of the whole country is sky high.”

Last Thursday, Nadeem set off celebrations across Pakistan when his throw easily surpassed the previous Olympic mark of 90.57 set by Andreas Thorkildsen of Norway in 2008. It was also well clear of India’s Neeraj Chopra, the Tokyo champion, who reached a season-best 89.45 for silver.

“Arshad Nadeem has brought unprecedented happiness to the nation,” Nawaz said in a statement.

Nadeem won Pakistan’s first Olympic gold in 40 years, when the men’s field hockey team won at the 1984 Los Angeles Games. Pakistan’s last medal of any color was a field hockey bronze at the 1992 Barcelona Games.

“The heights that parents’ prayers take a person to,” Nawaz said in her post on X, formerly known as Twitter, while sharing a picture with Nadeem and his mother Razia Parveen.

Source: https://apnews.com/article/athletics-olympics-arshad-nadeem-pakistan-df1cb68a098d7b61cfe59a945802ae80

People are leaving New Zealand in record numbers as unemployment rises, interest rates remain high and economic growth is anaemic, government statistics show.

Data released by Statistics New Zealand on Tuesday showed that 131,200 people departed New Zealand in the year ended June 2024, provisionally the highest on record for an annual period. Around a third of these were headed to Australia.

While net migration, the number of those arriving minus those leaving, remains at high levels, economists also expect this to wane as the number of foreign nationals wanting to move to New Zealand falls due to the softer economy.

The data showed of those departing 80,174 were citizens, which was almost double the numbers seen leaving prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Merrily Allen is currently planning her move with her partner and 14-year-old daughter in early 2025 to Hobart on the Australian island state of Tasmania

“There is a lot of opportunity over there. They’re always, always looking for people in my profession,” said Allen, who works in dental administration.

“I’ve got a lot of friends that have gone (to Australia) … purely because of better work opportunities, better living. Australia just seems to have it together.”

During the pandemic, encouraged by the then government’s handling of the outbreak, New Zealanders living overseas returned home in historically high numbers.

But the love affair with the country of 5.3 million, is over for some. Economists say New Zealanders frustrated by the cost of living, high interest rates and fewer job opportunities, are looking to Australia, the UK and elsewhere.

New Zealand’s economy is struggling after the central bank hiked cash rates 521 basis points in its most aggressive tightening since the official cash rate was introduced in 1999. The economy annual growth of 0.2% in the first quarter, unemployment rose to 4.7% in the second quarter and inflation remains high at 3.3%.

Hong Kong’s top court on Monday unanimously dismissed the bid to overturn the convictions of media tycoon Jimmy Lai and six other pro-democracy campaigners for an unauthorised assembly in 2019.
Lai, 76, the founder of the pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, and six others including veteran democrat Martin Lee had been found guilty of organising and participating in an unauthorised assembly in August 2019 during months-long pro-democracy protests in the China-ruled city.

David Neuberger, a former head of Britain’s Supreme Court, was one of the five judges on the Court of Final Appeal (CFA) who heard the case, adding to the debate over whether foreign judges should continue to sit on the city’s highest court amid a national security crackdown.
The judgment came two months after the resignations of two British judges from Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal (CFA), Lawrence Collins and Jonathan Sumption. Sumption said Hong Kong was becoming a totalitarian state and the city’s rule of law had been “profoundly compromised”.

Neuberger told Reuters in mid-June he would remain on Hong Kong’s highest court “to support the rule of law in Hong Kong, as best I can”.

Neuberger said he agree with the main judgement, adding the “issue has been fully and impressively considered” and “gives important guidance as to the proper approach to what has been called “operational proportionality”.
Neuberger added the constitutional differences in Hong Kong and the U.K. “do not mandate a different approach when considering whether a restriction on the right of assembly is proportionate”, but they “do require a different approach if the court concludes that the restriction is or may not be proportionate”.
Beijing imposed a national security law in 2020 after months of pro-democracy protests in 2019 and the Hong Kong legislative council passed a new national security law, also known as Article 23 in March.
For organising and taking part in an unauthorised assembly in 2019, Lai and three former lawmakers Lee Cheuk-yan, 67, “Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung, 68 and Cyd Ho, 70 were jailed between eight and 18 months. They received a reduced sentence of 3 to 6 months after their conviction for organising was quashed.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/china/hong-kong-court-dismisses-bid-by-media-tycoon-jimmy-lai-overturn-conviction-2024-08-12/

Parts of the Russian region of Belgorod are evacuated, as the local governor reports “Ukrainian activity”. This follows local reports that Kyiv’s forces entered the region yesterday. In the nearby Kursk region, Ukraine’s invasion continues.

‘Remind me not to invade Ukraine’: US senators praise Zelenskyy in visit to Kyiv
US Senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal praised Ukraine’s invasion of the Kursk region yesterday during a meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The senators were visiting Kyiv as part of a US bipartisan congressional delegation.

“Taking this war to Putin and making him understand and pay a price is the right thing,” Mr Graham told Mr Zelenskyy, adding that the move was “bold and brilliant.”

“So two-and-a-half years later you’re still standing and you’re in Russia. Remind me not to invade Ukraine.

“I’m so proud of you, your people, your military, your leadership, your country.”

Ukraine’s top military commander said yesterday his forces now control 1,000sq km of Russian territory.

In pictures: Russia shows off captured Ukrainian equipment

Scientists say mouse model might be the key for a true ‘fountain of youth’

FARMINGTON, Conn. — Scientists at the University of Connecticut have made a remarkable breakthrough in the quest for longer, healthier lives. In a major study, the researchers successfully extended both lifespan and healthspan in mice by targeting specific cells in their bodies. This exciting development brings us closer to the dream of not just adding years to life, but life to years.

The study, published in Cell Metabolism, focuses on cells that highly express a protein called p21. These “p21-high” cells accumulate in various tissues as we age and appear to contribute to age-related decline. By periodically eliminating these cells in mice, the scientists were able to extend the animals’ lives by an average of 9%. That’s equivalent to about seven human years. More importantly, the mice remained healthier and more physically capable throughout their extended lives.

The finding addresses a critical challenge in aging science: how to increase lifespan while simultaneously improving quality of life. Currently, there’s often a gap between how long people live and how long they live in good health. In some countries, life expectancy is increasing faster than healthspan, meaning people are living longer but spending more time in poor health.

Targeting p21-high cells in mice
What makes this study particularly noteworthy is the comprehensive way the researchers assessed the mice’s health. Instead of just measuring lifespan or looking at health at a single point in time, they tracked the mice’s physical function monthly until natural death. This allowed them to show that the treatment improved health throughout the entire remaining lifespan, not just temporarily.

To achieve these remarkable results, the researchers employed an innovative approach. They used genetically modified mice that allowed them to specifically target and eliminate the p21-high cells. These mice were designed with a genetic switch that, when activated, would cause p21-high cells to self-destruct. The scientists began their intervention when the mice were 20 months old, equivalent to about 60-65 human years.

Once a month, the researchers administered a drug called tamoxifen to the mice. In the treated mice, this drug activated the genetic switch, causing the p21-high cells to die off. Control mice received the same drug but lacked the genetic switch, so their p21-high cells remained intact.

Fountain of youth effect

Halle Berry isn’t afraid to put her body on the line for a role.

The Oscar-winning actress revealed the long and painful list of injuries she has sustained in her acting career as she and co-star Mark Wahlberg promoted their upcoming Netflix comedy spy movie, “The Union.”

“I’ve been knocked out three times,” she said in a video shared on Instagram.

“Got an arm broken, broke ribs twice — two ribs one time, three ribs another time,” Berry, 57, continued.

“Broke a tailbone, broke two toes and a finger — this finger,” she added, while chuckling and holding up her middle finger.

Meanwhile, the “Ted” star, 53, shared that he has previously suffered a torn meniscus, a separated shoulder and a bruised ego “quite a few times” for the sake of his craft.

Berry has also performed some hair-raising feats onscreen over the years, including holding her breath underwater while shooting the 2012 film “Dark Tide.”

“I played a free diver. I had to hold my breath for almost two and a half minutes. And that felt like eternity. It felt like death was imminent,” the “Catwoman” star recalled.

Additionally, playing Storm in the “X-Men” movies wasn’t a cakewalk because Berry had to be suspended in the air on a wire for “a long time.”

“Actually it felt like the guy had gone to lunch,” she joked. “That’s how long I was up there and I was like, ‘Hello? Hello, anybody?’”

Source: https://pagesix.com/2024/08/12/entertainment/halle-berry-reveals-shes-broken-10-bones-in-her-acting-career/

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Tuesday said that US President Joe Biden was ousted from the 2024 election race due to a “coup.”

In an interview with X’s owner Elon Musk, Trump claimed that Biden’s performance in the debate was so decisive that he was compelled to withdraw.

“I beat Biden so bad in the debate, he was forced out of the race – one of the greatest debate performances ever. Biden’s exit, it was a coup,” Trump stated.

Trump’s debate reference is to June, when he and Biden—before the Democratic leader decided to withdraw from the presidential race—faced off in their first debate of the 2024 election cycle ahead of the November poll.

During the interview, Trump also told Musk that Russia would not have invaded Ukraine if Biden had not been president. He said that his close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin could have prevented the conflict.

Banknotes with a face value of £78,430 have raised more than 11 times that amount for charity following a series of auctions.
New £5, £10, £20 and £50 notes featuring King Charles III entered circulation in June.
A full set of the first issues were presented to the monarch, but hundreds of other low serial numbered banknotes have gone under the hammer.
One single £10 note with the serial number HB01 000002 sold for £17,000 during bidding.