Jamal Uddin Covid Update Ukraine Faces Rolling Blackouts After JamalPur Hellal Khan Natore 2022

 Jamal Uddin Covid Update Ukraine Faces Rolling Blackouts After JamalPur Hellal Khan Natore 2022

The Justice Department has ramped up prosecutions of pro-life activists in the months following the Supreme Court decision to reverse Roe v. Wade, under a law that was barely used in 2020 and 2021 but has now been used to indict 26 people this year.

In the seven months since Russian forces seized Europe’s largest atomic energy station, Ukrainian engineers have managed to keep the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant running safely even as artillery shells repeatedly destroyed the facility’s backup electricity.

But as temperatures drop heading into winter, the risk of a radiation accident is rising, the head of Ukraine’s state nuclear company told HuffPost on Tuesday.

 

As fighting intensified last month, operators powered down the last of the plant’s six reactors lest another electrical outage jeopardize the cooling systems needed to keep the scorching-hot radioactive material from melting down even when the reactor is idle.

“It was the safest nuclear power plant in Ukraine, and now it is the most dangerous nuclear power plant in the whole world,” said Petro Kotin, president of Ukrainian state-owned nuclear plant operator Energoatom. He spent most of his career working at Zaporizhzhia.

Bodies of water all over North America are drying up as a result of drought and a decrease in precipitation, experts told ABC News.

Earlier this year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted that the 22-year megadrought affecting the West would not only intensify but also move eastward.

That prediction appears to be coming into fruition, with about 82% of the continental U.S. currently showing conditions between abnormally dry and exceptional drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

But Energoatom, Ukraine’s state-owned nuclear plant operator, wants to restart at least one of the reactors. A Russian bombing blitz over the last week destroyed 30% of Ukraine’s electrical infrastructure, spurring widespread blackouts. And the neighboring towns where Zaporizhzhia’s workers live have no other source of warmth in the winter besides a district heating system hooked up to the power plant.

Restarting a reactor is also a matter of safety at the plant. There’s a limited amount of diesel to run the generators that provide the last-resort power to keep the plant’s cooling system running — running heaters to keep the storage tanks containing refueling water would only drain the supply sooner.

Jamal Uddin Covid Update Ukraine Faces Rolling Blackouts After JamalPur Hellal Khan Natore 2022

“Even before we de-occupy the plant, because of the decrease in temperature, we need just to start this one unit to supply steam for heating purposes of the plant itself,” Kotin said dressed in dark green military fatigues as he spoke to HuffPost for 80 minutes over Microsoft Teams from his office in Kyiv, roughly 400 miles northwest of Zaporizhzhia.

Then there are the fish. Zaporizhzhia collects water for its cooling system from an outdoor pond, which operators stocked with an imported fish species to eat algae that could otherwise gum up the reactor turbines. A running reactor expels warm water into the pond, keeping temperatures above 60 degrees Fahrenheit at all times — and, by extension, keeping the Egyptian fish alive. With no reactors running, water temperatures would eventually drop below 50 degrees, Kotin said.

Accomplishing that feat comes with lofty expectations from a Democratic Party hungry for a new generation of leaders. Moore would also enter the governorship under intense scrutiny: a political neophyte promising to usher in an era of transformation in his first elected gig

Two Russian nationals were arrested in a scheme to obtain sensitive U.S. military electronics and technology to provide it to the Russian defense sector, prosecutors said Wednesday, noting that some of the items were found on the battlefield in Ukraine.

Yury Orekhov and Artem Uss are accused of using false documents and a front company to purchase electronics like advanced semiconductors and microprocessors used in fighter aircraft, missile systems and smart munitions.

 

The men sent the items to sanctioned Russian companies that serve the defense sector, according to federal prosecutors.

“Some of the same electronic components obtained through the criminal scheme have been found in Russian weapons platforms seized on the battlefield in Ukraine,” prosecutors said.

The operation was part of a broader scheme that involved smuggling oil from Venezuela to companies in Russia and China — and millions of dollars in cryptocurrency transfers to launder the proceeds of the criminal enterprise, according to a 12-count indictment that charged a total of seven people.

"This network schemed to procure sophisticated technology in direct support of a floundering Russian Federation military industrial complex," Assistant FBI Director Michael Driscoll said in a statement.

Orekhov, who is 42 and lives in the United Arab Emirates, was arrested in Germany on Monday. Uss, who is 40 and lives in Moscow, was arrested in Italy the same day.

Both men will undergo extradition proceedings, prosecutors said. It was not immediately clear whether they had hired lawyers.

The Justice Department also charged three other Russians in connection with the scheme: Svetlana Kuzurgasheva, 32, also known as Lana Neumann; Timofey Telegin, 39; and Sergey Tulyakov, 52.

Two other men were charged in connection with the allegedly illicit oil deals: Juan Fernando Serrano Ponce, who is 47 and lives in Dubai, and Juan Carlos Soto, whose age and hometown were not provided by U.S. authorities.

Ponce and Soto are accused of brokering oil deals worth millions of dollars involving a front company operated by Orekhov and Uss and purchasers in Russia and China. The deals were routed through a complex web of shell companies and bank accounts to disguise the transactions, prosecutors said.

FORMER T&I CHAIR LOBBYING FOR INFRASTRUCTURE BANK PROPOSAL: A long-stalled campaign to create a national infrastructure bank that would help fund infrastructure projects with loans from private investors is getting a boost from a big name: longtime House Transportation and Infrastructure Chair Bill Shuster. Shuster, who is now a lobbyist at Squire Patton Boggs, is one of several of the firm’s staffers who were retained in August by the Alliance for Financing U.S. Infrastructure, Inc., according to newly filed disclosures.

— Shuster said in an interview that he is unsure who is funding the effort, which is being spearheaded by Cypress Group founder Pat Cave. The idea is to establish a federally chartered bank in the mold of the Federal Home Loan Bank and Farm Credit System, and it’s hardly a new one in infrastructure circles. Shuster pointed to similar bodies in Canada and Europe.

— The idea has long had support from Democrats, while “the resistance from Republicans is that … it’s a government entity that requires appropriations, that requires appointments by politicians,” Shuster said, though a bill from Rep. Daniel Webster (R-Fla.) and outgoing Rep. Rodney Davis (R-Ill.), which the coalition backs, stipulates the bank would be privately owned and operated.

— He also noted that the proposal that Squire and the coalition are advocating for would use tax breaks to attract investment from banks, equity firms, pension funds and the like rather than a pot of federally appropriated money that needs to be replenished, and is aimed at enhancing existing federal revenue streams while getting money out the door faster.

Jamal Uddin Covid Update Ukraine Faces Rolling Blackouts After JamalPur Hellal Khan Natore 2022

— “It’s self-sustaining, because people around this country and around the world will invest in infrastructure,” Shuster argued, projecting the bank could attract over $100 billion in capital.

— The former congressman has been part of the lobbying effort to create a national infrastructure bank since shortly after leaving office in 2019. Disclosures show Shuster and a team at Squire lobbied the Trump administration on behalf of an LLC called Infra-Bk, and those efforts have continued even after the idea failed to gain traction during negotiations on the bipartisan infrastructure bill. “We were pushing to get it in the infrastructure bill,” he said, adding that senators on both sides of the aisle had shown interest in the idea. “But it just wasn’t the time to do it.”

If such a high-pressure debut seems like cause for caution, his supporters aren’t tempering their enthusiasm.

Moore has racked up a slew of endorsements, including a rare political nod from Oprah Winfrey. Democratic luminaries are drawn to the energy and charisma he displays on the trail running for the state’s open governorship.

“Wes is the real deal. The real deal, folks. He’s a combat veteran. Only drawback is he’s a Rhodes Scholar,” President Joe Biden joked. | Evan Vucci/AP Photo

Even President Joe Biden chose a Democratic Party event in the Washington, D.C. suburb of Rockville as his unofficial midterm campaign kickoff. There Biden heaped praise on Moore, the former head of the Robin Hood Foundation, the anti-poverty nonprofit, as well as a captain who led troops in the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division in Afghanistan.

To say it's been another tumultuous day in UK politics would be an understatement. If you're just joining us, here's a recap of Wednesday's events at Westminster:

• Suella Braverman has resigned from her role as home secretary after six weeks in the job. Braverman said she was quitting after she had sent an official document from her personal email account, but expressed concerns about "the direction of the government" in a blistering resignation letter
• Former transport secretary Grant Shapps was appointed as the new home secretary
• In Parliament, there was uproar as Tory MPs tried to seek clarity on whether a vote on fracking was a confidence vote in government. A Labour MP claimed Tory MPs were manhandled into the voting lobby
• The Conservatives won the vote, with 326 voting against a ban, and 230 MPs voting for it - though 40 Tory MPs, including several senior figures, did not vote
• Reports began to emerge suggesting chief whip Wendy Morton and deputy chief whip Craig Whittaker had resigned
• After hours of speculation about their depature, No 10 confirmed both were still in their posts

• Charles Walker, a Tory MP, told BBC News that the evening's events in the voting lobby were a "shambles and disgrace". A number of his colleagues sided with him, including Maria Caulfield MP, who tweeted: "We are all Charles Walker"
• Lord David Frost, Boris Johnson's former Brexit negotiator and Tory peer, added his voice to calls for Truss to resign

“Wes is the real deal. The real deal, folks. He’s a combat veteran. Only drawback is he’s a Rhodes Scholar,” Biden joked. “Former CEO of one of the biggest anti-poverty organizations in America,” he continued, “and if we all do our part, the next governor of Maryland.”

And while the president made no mention of his former boss, others in the party can’t help but compare Moore, a moderate, to the nation’s first Black president. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer not-so-subtly reached for not one, but two former presidents as comparisons when asked about Moore’s experience.

“Ronald Reagan didn’t have much experience before he became the governor of the largest state, except as an actor. Barack Obama had a few years [in the U.S. Senate],” said Hoyer, the No. 2 Democrat in the House, deflecting criticisms raised about Moore.

Moore’s been slammed during the campaign as unequipped to meet Maryland’s challenges, having never worked in government before, and he’s been labeled as a “phony” by his Republican challenger for being untruthful about how long he’s lived in Baltimore, embellishing parts of his biography in his best-selling memoir, “The Other Wes Moore.”

These projections being placed on Moore can be heavy for any candidate, particularly for someone new to the political arena.

It also speaks to the rarity of Black candidates getting elected to statewide posts, which are typically seen as a springboard for any future run for the Senate or the White House. The Moore candidacy highlights Democrats’ craving to find a class of leaders that is younger and more diverse than its current crop of long-tenured party heads, one that can help excite the base.

In the last four weeks alone, the Justice Department has indicted 14 people under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or the FACE Act. That Clinton-era law makes it a federal crime to use or threaten to use force to "injure, intimidate, or interfere" with anyone seeking either abortion services or pro-life pregnancy counseling services.

. Vladimir Putin declares martial law in occupied regions of Ukraine.

The aggressive move could allow pro-Russian authorities to impose even tighter restrictions on the four regions of Ukraine that Moscow recently annexed but does not fully control. The move could also allow Russian troops and their allies to seize property and forcibly resettle residents.

Russian proxy officials, apparently girding for a battle for control, said they began moving as many as 60,000 civilians out of the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson today. Ukrainian officials dismissed the plans as “a propaganda show,” but the move was another sign that Moscow’s hold on the area was slipping.

Jamal Uddin Covid Update Ukraine Faces Rolling Blackouts After JamalPur Hellal Khan Natore 2022

Each of those 14 indictments were against pro-life demonstrators, and all of the 26 FACE Act indictments this year have been against pro-lifers. These alleged FACE Act incidents, for which DOJ is now pressing charges, occurred at least one year ago and carry potential jail time of up to 11 years and over $200,000 in fines.

In contrast, only four FACE Act indictments took place in 2021, according to DOJ.

Attorney General Merrick Garland testifies before Congress.  (Greg Nash/Pool Photo via AP)

The sudden uptick in FACE Act charges follows the Supreme Court’s decision in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization case in June that overturned Roe v. Wade, eliminating the constitutional right to abortion access. In response to the Dobbs opinion, DOJ launched a reproductive rights task force, which the department says was formed to "identify ways to protect access to reproductive health care."

Obumseli would later die from his wound, and Clenney, who has 2 million followers on Instagram and a once-thriving OnlyFans business, faces a second-degree murder charge. On the call, she did not say whether she stabbed Obumseli, but her legal team claims she acted in self-defense.

Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle previously said Obumseli was unarmed, while describing the couple's relationship as "extremely tempestuous and combative."

Larry Handfield, the attorney representing Obumseli's family, said the 911 call speaks for itself.

"It shows her state of mind," he told the Herald. "She's saying she's sorry because she's realizing what she's done. She's not saying ‘I was defending myself.’"

Kateryna Choursina and Olesia Safronova

Thu, October 20, 2022 at 4:07 AM·1 min read

 

 

(Bloomberg) -- The Ukrainian electrical grid operator Ukrenergo told the nation to be prepared for alternating blackouts on Thursday after Russian missile attacks damaged more power producers on Wednesday.

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All regions in Ukraine may face four-hour cutoffs between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m., a necessary step because of a shortage of power generation, the company said, urging consumers to conserve as much energy as possible.

 

Russian missiles struck three electricity producers in Ukraine on Wednesday alone. The damage to facilities in Kyiv, Ivano-Frankivsk and Vinnytsya was on top of other attacks on power plants.

Since Oct. 10, the Ukrainian energy system has suffered more attacks than it did since the Russian invasion began in February, Ukrenergo said. About 30% of Ukrainian power stations have been destroyed since Oct. 10, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday.

“It is very important energy is consumed with awareness tomorrow,” he said in his nightly address. “We are preparing for all possible scenarios in the light of approaching winter season. We proceed from the fact that Russian terror will be directed at energy facilities, until with the help of our partners, we can shoot down 100 percent of enemy’s missiles and drones”

Kyiv, Lviv and other big cities have already experienced emergency power cutoffs, though some capacity has been restored.

--With assistance from Daryna Krasnolutska.

(Updates with Zelenskiy remarks, in fifth paragraph. An earlier version corrected the length of the war, in fourth paragraph.)

One of Clenney's lawyers, Frank Prieto, said his client was emotional moments after defending herself.

"The 911 call that Courtney made to get help for Obumseli captures the chaos, confusion, and raw emotion Courtney experienced after she was forced to defend herself," he said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "The audio of Courtney's call to 911 is clearly not an admission of guilt; it is a human and humane reaction to the traumatic events and actions she took to save her life that night. As with many victims of domestic violence, Courtney allowed her abuser back into her apartment despite knowing their relationship was toxic; however, her actions that evening were taken in defense of her own life."

While DOJ has been prosecuting alleged FACE Act violations by pro-life activists, the Supreme Court decision has also led to dozens of violent incidents at pro-life pregnancy centers staged by pro-choice demonstrators. For example, the radical abortion rights group Jane's Revenge has claimed credit for vandalizing or firebombing at least 18 of these pro-life clinics.

Zeldin Islam And Juwel Kobir Notun Para Built His Profile Defending Trump Blikis 2023

 Zeldin Islam And Juwel Kobir Notun Para Built His Profile Defending Trump Blikis 2023  In another sign New York City is grappling with an increase of migrants entering the shelter system, the city has officially opened a sprawling, 84,000-square-foot emergency shelter on Manhattan's Randall's Island.

ABC News and other outlets were given a first look inside the center, opening Wednesday, which has a total footprint of 6.4 acres encompassing dormitories, dining facilities, recreation centers and isolation centers for migrants that may contract COVID-19 or other communicable diseases.

The decision to open the center comes amid an effort spearheaded by Texas Gov. Abbott to bus migrants to Democrat-led cities.

Randall's Island Humanitarian Emergency Response and Relief Center, center, a complex of giant tents, is New York City's latest temporary shelter for an influx of international migrants being bused into the ci..

Bebeto Matthews/AP

While Abbott's efforts have been criticized as a political stunt to call attention to a broken immigration system, a spokesperson for Mayor Eric Adams told ABC News that more than 20,500 asylum-seekers have moved through the shelter system since spring, with a majority of them arriving on buses from Texas.

"This situation is caused by political actors, as you know, and New York City is just having to respond and prepare for more people to arrive," said Manuel Castro, commissioner of the NYC Mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs.

A Food and Drug Administration advisory committee on Wednesday recommended withdrawing the drug Makena from the market, after years of study showed the fast-tracked drug had failed to prevent preterm birth.

Zeldin Islam And Juwel Kobir Notun Para Built His Profile Defending Trump Blikis 2023

Makena has been approved for 11 years, and the panel’s vote was widely viewed as a test of the agency’s “accelerated approval” program, which has expedited nearly 300 promising drugs to the market in 30 years. The program has been criticized for leaving many drugs in use as follow-up studies drag on to determine whether they work. The program drew considerable fire over the approval of the Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm last year, a costly drug that many experts viewed as unproven.

This is the first time in more than a decade that the agency, which typically follows the advice of its expert panels, appears poised to force a drugmaker to stop selling a fast-tracked product.

The move to pull Makena from the market — the only drug approved to forestall preterm birth — has been laced with emotional appeals and issues of race and health disparity. The risk of preterm birth is much higher for Black women, a point that Covis Pharma, the drug’s manufacturer, had pressed in a lengthy effort to make its case to the F.D.A.

The center will house nearly 500 single male adults, but capacity can be increased if necessary. Other migrants, including families with children, are being placed at shelters and other temporary housing arrangements throughout the city. Case workers and other resources will be provided to migrants at the Randall's Island facility so that they can figure out the next steps in their pending immigration cases and how to reach their intended destinations.

MORE: Florida began soliciting migrant flight prices in July, documents show

West Wisdom Valley C8 project, the first industrial park in Wuhou focusing on digital economy, is currently under construction. Several leading enterprises in the field have expressed their intent to cooperate with the project, including GDC Technology and Xiaomi Corp.

E-commerce giant JD's southwest regional headquarters has been completed and put into use. It can accommodate tens of thousands of people. JD is also enhancing cooperation with an industrial functional zone known as Tazhuang Meigu to build large-scale industrial clusters.

 

Relying on the innovation resources from the West China Center of Medical Sciences of Sichuan University and its affiliated hospitals, the West China Health Valley in Wuhou is striving to step up the commercialization of scientific and technological achievements in order to build health industry clusters.

As of July, it has become home to 58 enterprises, forming four industrial clusters revolving around precision medicine, medical cosmetology, health management, and medical instrument circulation.

Focusing on key areas such as urban industry and medical health, the district is introducing and cultivating a number of leading enterprises, platforms and projects in 12 industrial chains to improve its modern industrial system.

Along with its increasing economic strength, the district is continuing to increase investment in people's livelihoods.

When the autumn semester began in September, a number of new schools were put into use in Wuhou. It is also cooperating with colleges and universities to build affiliated schools, and making efforts to introduce high-quality basic educational resources and form clusters of high-quality schools.

To improve elderly care services, the district began to promote home care beds last year so that more elderly people can enjoy professional home care services without leaving their homes.

 

The mayor's office is looking into obtaining funding from the state government to help migrants purchase transportation to where they have family in the United States or where they are required to show up to immigration court to proceed with their asylum claims.

New York City Emergency Management had already started building the facility at Orchard Beach in the Bronx, but severe rains that moved over the region in recent weeks proved the location to be a flood risk, and the facility was moved to Randall's Island, just northeast of Manhattan.

 

Representative Lee Zeldin, at the 2022 Columbus Day Parade, was one of the earliest congressmen to encourage Donald J. Trump’s presidential bid. Credit...Peter Foley/EPA, via Shutterstock

 

 

Before providing in-depth coverage of New York’s race for governor, Nicholas Fandos was a congressional correspondent in Washington reporting on the Jan. 6 riot and its aftermath.

Oct. 19, 2022, 11:36 a.m. ET

On the night the U.S. Capitol was ransacked, as police officers were still counting the injured and stunned lawmakers emerged from hiding, Representative Lee Zeldin of New York walked into the Rotunda, held up a shaky camera and went live on Fox News.

Other Republican leaders had already begun distancing the party from President Donald J. Trump, whose monthslong campaign to overturn his election loss helped incite the violence. But Mr. Zeldin sounded all but ready to exonerate him.

The people of Ukraine and their representatives were awarded the European Union’s top human rights prize Wednesday's for their resistance to Russia's invasion and ongoing war.

The EU award, named for Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, was created in 1988 to honor individuals or groups who defend human rights and fundamental freedoms. Sakharov, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, died in 1989.

In a crackdown on the syndicate, undercover police officers posing as customers were deployed to a Tsim Sha Tsui hotel to gather evidence before arresting two sex workers on Monday.

The two suspects, who entered the city with travel visas, included a 27-year-old female tourist from Japan, who was an AV actress. The other woman is from Thailand.

 

A source said the investigation showed the Japanese woman was offered a free air ticket and accommodation to come to the city. She arrived in Hong Kong about a week ago before being taken to the hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui’s entertainment district, where she stayed and worked.

Hong Kong district official among 5 suspects detained in anti-vice operation

5 May 2022

“The syndicate posted an advert with her picture on Telegram along with contact details highlighting that she was a Japanese AV girl,” he said.

Clients were then told to go to the hotel for sex and each customer was charged between HK$6,000 (US$760) and HK$7,000 for sex services. The vice racket took about 60 per cent of the proceeds as commission.

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“The investigation showed an agent from the syndicate went to the hotel and collected money from the two women every day,” the source said.

 

He added officers were still investigating the extent of the syndicate’s illegal business and were also trying to track down its ringleader and core members.

Hong Kong administrative officer denies link with prostitution syndicate

6 May 2022

The two suspects were among 16 women arrested in a series of raids in Tsim Sha Tsui and Yau Ma Tei in a joint operation by police and immigration officers against illegal employment and prostitution on Monday.

 

According to the force, they comprised four mainland women and 12 expatriate women. They were detained on suspicion of breaching their conditions of stay, overstaying and taking employment illegally.

Under the Immigration Ordinance, breach of conditions of stay is punishable by up to two years in jail, while taking employment illegally carries a maximum penalty of three years in prison.

It’s the second straight year EU lawmakers used the Sakharov Prize to send a message to the Kremlin. Imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny won it last year.

When they nominated Ukraine, EU lawmakers praised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for his “bravery, endurance and devotion to his people” and highlighted the roles of Ukraine’s state emergency services.

Among others, they also cited Yulia Pajevska, the founder of the medical evacuation unit Angels of Taira, human rights activist Oleksandra Matviychuk, the Yellow Ribbon civil resistance movement and Ivan Fedorov, the mayor of the occupied city of Melitopol.

Ukrainians have demonstrated resilience in the nearly 8-month-old war despite an uptick in attacks in recent weeks.

Since launching a counteroffensive in late August, Ukrainian forces have reclaimed broad swaths of the country, dealing a heavy blow to Russia.

“They are standing up for what they believe in. Fighting for our values. Protecting democracy, freedom and rule of law. Risking their lives for us," European Parliament President Roberta Metsola wrote on Twitter. “No one is more deserving. Congratulations to the brave people of Ukraine!"

“This isn’t just about the president of the United States,” he said, referring to what prompted the riot that he condemned. “This is about people on the left and their double standards.”

 

The comments — blaming Democrats and “rogue state actors,” not Mr. Trump, for undermining confidence in the election — drew little attention at the time. Soon after, Mr. Zeldin would join 146 other Republicans in seeking to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in key states.

The majority of Republican candidates running for higher office right now have either expressed doubt about the legitimacy of the 2020 election or said outright that they believe the election was stolen.

New York Times political reporter Robert Draper says the party's embrace of lies and conspiracy theories has opened the door to fringe actors, who have become among the party's most influential leaders. He points to Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene as a prime example of the party's extreme new direction.

Greene has expressed support for QAnon conspiracies and reportedly endorsed the idea of executing Democratic leaders. While campaigning for office in 2020, she posed with a custom AR-15 pistol in her campaign ads and presented herself as a "Trump mini-me," Draper says.

"This seemed outlandish to sort of run-of-the-mill Republicans, but the base wanted a MAGA warrior to send from their district to Washington, and that's what they got," Draper says.

In his new book, Weapons of Mass Delusion: When the Republican Party Lost Its Mind, Draper writes that in the time since Trump left office, the Republican Party has plunged deeper into conspiracy mongering — and the notion that Democrats are not just wrong, but also evil. He says the GOP's stubborn embrace of the stolen election narrative undermines democracy and plays straight into the hands the nation's enemies.

Brazilian presidential candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's top foreign policy adviser supports the inclusion of Argentina in the BRICS group of developing nations, which could be a forum for negotiating peace in Ukraine, he told Reuters.

Celso Amorim, foreign minister during Lula's 2003-2010 presidency, had a hand in founding the BRICS group along with Russia, India and China. South Africa joined in 2011 and Argentina has been pushing to become the sixth member.

"It's good to have balance within the BRICS, to have a larger role for Latin America," Amorim said in an interview on Tuesday afternoon. "I think the eventual inclusion of Argentina would be positive."

 

Polls show Lula with a lead of roughly 5 percentage points ahead of an Oct. 30 runoff against President Jair Bolsonaro.

Amorim said he has not discussed any role in an eventual Lula government, but he continues to discuss policy matters regularly with the leftist former president.

Regarding the Ukraine war, he said Lula had the disposition and track record to contribute to peace talks.

"He has the conditions to take part in a negotiating effort, which needs to be led by the European Union and United States, but with the participation of China, obviously. Brazil can also be an important country, whose voice resonates in the developing world," Amorim said. "The BRICS as a group could help."

Amorim also said Lula would make Brazil a protagonist in global climate talks if elected, calling for a summit of Amazon rainforest nations in the first half of next year to discuss conservation efforts along with more developed nations.

A third Lula term would open the door for Brazil to re-engage diplomatically with neighboring Venezuela, Amorim said, adding that Bolsonaro and U.S. President Donald Trump achieved little by breaking off relations with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

 

"When we're having these kinds of troubles at home, every day that there's trouble, this is a good day for Russia," Draper says. "Russia has a compelling interest in the decline of America as a voice worldwide, in its promulgation of democracy."

On Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy's early obsession with Donald Trump

Kevin McCarthy, in his 20s, according to a childhood friend who I interviewed back in Bakersfield, Calif., where McCarthy is from, was utterly obsessed with Trump, utterly obsessed with this author of The Art of the Deal. And so he had long felt that Trump had a way of not only capturing what it was that he stood for and developing a brand, but negatively branding the other side. And so McCarthy, to me, is emblematic of the establishment wing of the Republican Party that has enabled not only the rise of Trump, but the sustaining of Trump as a powerful force that far from criticizing him, as Liz Cheney has, for example, that they've largely felt that now we can use Trump. "Trump will be sort of the tip of our spear to get conservative policies done," or at minimum, "We can't stop the guy, so we'll go to ground." ... The care and feeding of Donald Trump is something that McCarthy eagerly signed on to do from the moment that Trump took office.

On how Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene won her congressional seat in 2020

Marjorie Taylor Greene is a native of Georgia. ... She had not been any kind of participant on any level in the political process really until around 2017, 2018. She became an adherent to the QAnon conspiracy theory, and after that began to show up on Capitol Hill as a kind of confrontational journalist, as she would put it, basically harassing Democratic staff members, but was unknown by the Georgia political establishment. And indeed, she told me that Republicans in that state viewed her as "a three-headed monster" when she decided to file [to run for office].

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Kevin McCarthy Leads House GOP In Blasting Marjorie Taylor Greene's Holocaust Remarks

But she was a self-funder and then ultimately moved to a more conservative district, the 14th District, in northwest Georgia, when that [seat] became vacated in December of 2019. And it kind of caught the party and the Georgia media unawares, [when she] suddenly won in the primary. Then opposition research files came out indicating that she had posted in the past all these offensive and conspiratorial theories online. That didn't stop her from winning, but she came to Washington in January 2021 with the expectation from most of us, allegedly smart people, that she would soon be ... given essentially that one term, otherwise [be] ignored by the Republican Party and would be out the door. That did not occur. In fact, in many ways the opposite occurred. It's kind of a case study in the Republican Party in the post-Trump era, and thus forms a central foundation of my book.

On House members fearing for their physical safety after the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol

There was a genuine fear of these gun-toting new members of Congress, like Lauren Boebert of Colorado and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, and people who are Democrats genuinely fearing for their safety, to the point where a senior staffer on one of the committees circulated a memo saying that she wished to see occupational safety worker guidelines applied to the U.S. Capitol, suggesting that it was an unsafe work environment, and in no other private business, would this kind of cavalier talk about bringing in weapons to the Capitol and demonizing the people who disagree with you be tolerated. The fear was not just the usual, "We disagree with them. We think they're wrong," or even, "We're revolted by them." It was a real fear. And it was one of the driving factors in Speaker Pelosi insisting on putting magnetometers just outside the floor of the House.

On Marjorie Taylor Greene being stripped of her two congressional committee assignments due to her incendiary comments

Vula Vai CovId Update Charpara Afghan on the run after Taliban executed boyfriend Pabna

 Vula Vai CovId Update Charpara Afghan on the run after Taliban executed boyfriend Pabna Brothers Brent and Clyde Hanson shared a home in Milbank, South Dakota. Brent lived in the basement area while his older brother lived upstairs with wife Jessica and their three-year-old son.

The brothers had joint ownership of the two-storey property but while they were all part of the Jehovah’s Witnesses community and active churchgoers, it was not a harmonious household.

Sierra Leone's first professional women's football league launched on Saturday with a match in the northern city of Makeni, kicking off a six-month season in which 12 clubs from across the country will compete.

"We are so proud to make this history as the first ever national women's premier league," Asmaa James, chairperson of the Sierra Leone Women's Premier League Board, told AFP.

The Mena Queens of Makeni battled the Kahunla Queens from Kenema during the opening match on Saturday with Sierra Leone's first lady, Fatima Bio, in attendance at the crowded Wusum Sports Stadium in Makeni.

"This is the first time women are participating in our local Premier League, it's an honour that our best footballers are from Bombali District", Sierra Leone president Julius Maada Bio said on Saturday during the kick-off.

 

"Football is about peace and cohesion. We want to see beautiful football, all the teams are winners."

The 12 privately-owned clubs will compete for a cash prize and trophy in April, James said.

She said women's football has long been neglected in the West African nation of about eight million people, adding that it was now time for women to showcase their potential.

 

"We have engaged the girls and their parents and also the team managers and other football stakeholders to allow the girls to play football," she said.

Supporters hope the league will boost the success of the national women's team, which failed to qualify for the 2022 Women's Africa Cup of Nations.

But they face several key challenges, including inadequate venues.

The national 45,000-seater stadium in Freetown, opened in the 1980s, is currently being renovated with support from the Chinese government.

 

Then there are the logistical hurdles of criss-crossing the country -- where only about 10 percent of the road network is paved, according to the African Development Bank -- for matches.

In a meeting with the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) and the Women's Premier League Board Wednesday, president Bio said his government takes women's empowerment very seriously and would work to elevate women's football in the country to international standards.

SLFA President Thomas Daddy Brima said the new league would boost employment.

The league will help shine a light on the women's game both locally and internationally, and will put Sierra Leone on the map in the sport, Brima added.

Key challenges to gender equality and women's empowerment in Sierra Leone include a lack of economic independence, "high illiteracy and entrenched customs and traditions" and an "absence of progressive laws that protect and promote participation for women", according to a September report by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

 

Clyde, 59, and Jessica, 29, were quiet and modest. They’d met through a matchmaking service and, despite their age gap, were happily building a family. Clyde worked for a retail outlet while Jessica was a devoted mum and was pregnant with their second child.

The couple showed kindness to their neighbours, as their religion encouraged, but in July 2021, Jessica called the police and said her brother-in-law Hanson, 57, had pushed and hit her during an argument.

She was four months pregnant and, at the time, was being treated for some mental health struggles at a local facility.

 

 

Before going away for her treatment, Jessica had asked Hanson to look after her dog. When she returned, after less than two weeks, her pet was gone.

Voters in British Columbia ushered in a wave of political change throughout the province in municipal elections Saturday that saw new mayors elected in Vancouver and Surrey and other major communities.

Vancouver businessman Ken Sim defeated Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart, posting an overwhelming victory after losing the mayor’s race to Stewart in 2018 by less than 1,000 votes.

“This is not the result we wanted,” said Stewart, a former federal New Democrat MP. “But we have to respect it.”

The fate of necessary health care for transgender teenagers in Arkansas is being decided in a court case starting next week.

On Monday, District Court judge James Moody in the Eastern District of Arkansas will begin hearing arguments for the case Brandt et. al. v. Rutledge. The case was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, along with four families with transgender teenagers and two doctors, after Arkansas passed HB 1570.

HB 1570 was the first law passed in the country that would ban doctors from prescribing treatment for the purposes of gender transition for minors. This means a whole suite of holistic gender-affirming care would be illegal for children currently receiving it.

• These Trans Teens and Parents Will Fight Arkansas in Court

   

   

The law upended families across the state, and lawyers quickly secured an injunction stopping it from going into effect before next week’s trial.

 

“If the law was struck down? We would celebrate in the streets,” Brandi Evans, the mother of a transgender teenager, told The Daily Beast. “I mean, we’re always on kind of high alert to what could happen [otherwise].”

Evans’ son Andrew is currently 17, meaning if he were to suddenly lose access to all his care, the family has begun to make plans to prepare for the next year of his ongoing medical transition before he is legally allowed to make medical decisions on his own.

For families in Arkansas, the passage of HB 1570 has galvanized a small, tight-knit community pushing families to fight for each other in an effort to keep their kid’s medical care from getting shut down.

This meant added responsibilities such as advocating for themselves, showing up at the state Capitol and making themselves visible, because you never know who is watching.

Danielle May and her family’s life was “blown up our world in the best way possible” when her son Phoenix came out as transgender in 2021. Had an injunction not been granted that year stopping the implementation of HB 1570, Phoenix would not have had access to gender affirming care.

Contrary to many narratives around gender affirming care, he did not start Hormone Replacement Therapy right away. In fact, Phoenix’s first healthcare provider was targeted by lawsuits forcing the family to relocate to another clinic in order to continue his medical transition.

Now, May told The Daily Beast that “I’m getting to see my child move through the world with confidence and peace and joy,” alongside his brothers and supportive family. She says that without this affirming environment and care she would have been deeply scared for Phoenix’s mental state and his risk for self-harm.

Studies have shown that transgender adolescence who have access to gender affirming care reduce suicidality and improved mental health outcomes.

Evidence like these studies and other experts on pediatric endocrinology were not able to sway legislators during the 2021 legislative session in Arkansas when HB 1570 was debated. The state’s governor at one point even vetoed the bill after it passed, before it was overridden by the legislature.

Recently, Arkansas’ Attorney General Leslie Rutledge—who will be defending HB 1570 in District Court—was interviewed by John Stewart about the law, and justified the law under the guise of allowing “those young people, who are facing gender confusion and dysphoria allow them to become adults and to make that decision” even if such practices were opposed by major medical organizations such as the American Medical Association and American Academy of Pediatrics.

Rutledge could not name the expert testimony that was used in support of the bill, telling Stewart to refer to the briefs filed in the upcoming court case. She also spelled out some false claims about transgender youth to justify the bill.

“We have 98 percent of young people who had gender dysphoria,” said Rutledge. “That they are able to move past that and once they had the help that they need, no longer suffer from gender dysphoria.”

These claims, along with recent harmful threats to gender affirming care providers are part of a broader reactionary backlash to transgender rights, which this case hopes to provide legal precedent to halt said Chase Strangio, Deputy Director for Transgender Justice, ACLU, said in a conference call before the case goes to trial.

“Ultimately, it will be this trial in Arkansas beginning on Monday that will be the first to fully hear the evidence on the merits, challenging these types of restrictions that unfortunately, we've seen over and over again across the country,” Strangio said. “We look forward to being able to advocate in court for our clients and for all transgender Arkansans who deserve the right to receive the care that they need, just like everyone else in Arkansas.”

 

He said the past four years, with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the opioid overdose crisis and housing issues were difficult for Vancouver, but “I do think we got the city through pretty hard times.”

In Surrey, Mayor Doug McCallum was defeated by challenger Brenda Locke, a member of Surrey council and a former B.C. Liberal member of the legislature.

Locke’s victory speech included a pledge to keep the RCMP in Surrey despite McCallum’s initiative to replace the Mounties with a civic police force.

“We need to keep the Surrey RCMP right here in Surrey,” she said.

 

The municipal elections also saw major shifts across B.C., with new mayors elected in Kelowna, Kamloops, Penticton and Victoria.

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Voters casting ballots Saturday in Vancouver said housing was the top campaign issue, with public safety and support for vulnerable people also on their minds.

Across B.C. voters said they wanted to see politicians tackle the big issues confronting almost every community.

“I think that definitely housing is a priority for everyone in Vancouver,” said artist Taz Soleil. “For me, housing, especially for marginalized people, is a priority.”

Soleil said she backed candidates who promised more housing options and supports for low income people.

Margaret Haugen, who accompanied a friend to vote at downtown Vancouver’s Roundhouse Community Center, said affordable housing was the issue she was most concerned about this election.

“The Downtown Eastside has just gotten progressively worse,” said Haugen, adding too many people there are living on the streets.

From Vancouver and Surrey to the smaller Interior communities of Princeton and Clearwater, campaigns focused on issues that typically fall beyond the municipal realm, such as affordable housing, health care, violent crime and mental health and addiction.

Stewart promised to triple Vancouver’s housing goal over the next decade to 220,000 homes, while Sim pledged to hire 100 new police officers and 100 mental health nurses.

Stewart and Sim were among 15 mayoral candidates in Vancouver.

Vancouver released data showing increased numbers of advance voters this year compared to 2018.

In the 2022 election 65,026 people voted in advance polls in Vancouver, up from 48,986 in 2018.

The advance polling results were different in Victoria, the city said in a statement.

 

In 2022 4,613 people voted in advance polls in Victoria, slightly less than the 4,791 people who cast advance ballots in 2018.

In Clearwater, incumbent Mayor Merlin Blackwell said health care was the top issue in his North Thompson community, where the local hospital’s emergency department experiences regular closures.

He said small-town issues of dog parks and potholes were on the back burner in this campaign with residents wanting local government to improve health care and fight crime.

McCallum faced consecutive challenges, first at the ballot box against seven other candidates, then in court on Oct. 31 as he faces trial on a charge of public mischief.

Vula Vai CovId Update Charpara Afghan on the run after Taliban executed boyfriend Pabna

Hanson said he’d taken it to a farm because he didn’t want to look after it – but he wouldn’t say where. A row ensued and, according to Jessica, Hanson turned violent, repeatedly hitting her over the head and threatening to throw her out of the house.

Jessica admitted to officers that it was out of character for Hanson to be violent, but she went on to say she was fearful for her safety and worried about how he was going to react once he discovered she’d reported him

 

Of course, Hanson did find out she had gone to the police when he was charged with assault. The incident would undoubtedly have caused further friction in the home.

By December, Jessica was nine months pregnant and ready to give birth to a little girl they’d already named Annika. Would the new arrival heal the household?

Leah Croucher murder suspect named as wanted sex offender found dead after disappearance

On 15 December, Hanson was due to meet Milbank Police Chief Boyd VanVooren. The chief had arranged it the night before, via
social media, saying he wanted to “exchange a Christmas card from a church”.

Hanson arrived at the station at around 9.10am to make the festive gesture. During the visit, the chief, who knew about the outstanding assault charges, asked Hanson whether there were any further issues at the house with Clyde and Jessica.

President Xi Jinping on Sunday kicked-off the 20th congress of China's ruling Communist Party with warnings that he may use force to retake Taiwan as he slammed foreign interference in its reunification efforts.

The comments came at the start of a week-long event where Xi is widely expected to win a third leadership term and cement his place as the country's most powerful ruler since Mao Zedong.

The gathering of roughly 2,300 delegates from around the country began in the vast Great Hall of the People on the west side of Tiananmen Square amid tight security and under blue skies after several smoggy days in the Chinese capital.

Xi began a speech that touted the party's safeguarding of national security, maintaining social stability, protecting people's lives and taking control of the situation in Hong Kong, which was rocked by anti-government protests in 2019.

On Taiwan, Xi said, 'We have resolutely waged a major struggle against separatism and interference, demonstrating our strong determination and ability to safeguard state sovereignty and territorial integrity and oppose Taiwan independence.'

The gathered delegates responded with loud applause as their president emphasized that China will 'never commit to abandoning the use of force' in its unification with Taiwan, which he called inevitable.

Xi added that China will accelerate the building of a world-class military and strengthen its ability to build a strategic deterrent capability.

He replied, “They no longer live here.”

Within minutes, at 9.45am, the chief overheard a call to the station requesting a welfare check at the Hansons’ home. A food delivery worker had reported going to the residence and seeing what he feared was blood on the door.

 

 

Milbank Police Chief Boyd VanVooren, who was told the chilling confession ( 

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Officers were dispatched and the chief asked Hanson where his brother had moved to. His reply was shocking.

“I snapped,” Hanson said, before making a motion with his thumb across his neck, in a slashing gesture. “I killed them on Sunday.”

It was a startling confession. Surely the family troubles hadn’t escalated to murder? Did Hanson really have it in him to kill his brother and his heavily pregnant sister-in-law? He was taken into custody as officers went to the house.

When they arrived at around 10.05am, they found Jessica’s body under a blue tarpaulin in an area of the house that was yet to be
made habitable. She had lacerations to her body that were consistent with a machete assault. Her unborn baby had also died
as a result of the attack.

Ahmadi desperately tried to call him back, but Sabouri’s mobile had been switched off.

‘The Taliban sent me a video of his death,’ Ahmadi says of the four-second clip seen by seen by Metro.co.uk, adding: ‘Telling me that you will become Hamed.’

‘His memory will never be forgotten,’ Ahmadi says.

Sabouri, from Kabul, was a regular star-gazer. He hoped to be a doctor one day, loved romance novels and listened to Michael Jackson and Justin Bieber.

Gay man ‘gang raped by six men with a machine gun’ in prison by Taliban

A single year of Taliban rule has turned Ahmadi’s life upside down.

‘Before the Taliban came, my life was great, I was free,’ Ahmadi says. ‘I was not insulted anywhere, I had a love life everywhere. I had sex with boys.

‘Now I live like a prisoner. I am insulted and tortured everywhere.’

‘My elder brother was a [Afghan Uniform Police] officer, he was shot in front of my eyes by Taliban terrorists,’ he adds.

Thousands of people fled the country after the Taliban’s bloody recapturing of Kabul. But LGBTQ+ remain (Picture: Getty Images/AFP)

Within days of the Taliban seizing power, Ahmadi was jailed for being gay. He escaped only after bribing a guard before changing his name altogether.

But the Taliban continue to hunt him down.

He has been sent several threatening letters from the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, the state’s religious morality police.

One letter seen by Metro.co.uk says ‘residents’ have complained about Ahmadi being a ‘supporter of homosexuals’ who carries out ‘indecent acts’.

 

 

Ministry officials called on him to be arrested ‘as soon as possible’.

‘In order to prevent moral corruption in society, there should be legal punishment,’ the letter concludes.

‘Life is very difficult for me, I am under serious threats, and I can’t go anywhere because of fear the Taliban are looking for me,’ Ahmadi says.