by Associated Press in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania on (#68F16)
Members of Phil’s ‘inner circle’ say rotund rodent saw his shadow, meaning six more weeks of winterPunxsutawney Phil, the famous groundhog named for the western Pennsylvania town where he lives in a tree stump, predicted six more weeks of winter on Thursday, during an annual Groundhog Day celebration.People gathered at Gobbler’s Knob as members of Phil’s “inner circle” summoned the rotund rodent from his stump at dawn to learn if he has seen his shadow. The inner circle said he did. Continue reading...
When celebrities reach a certain level of prominence they can’t keep posting online in the same way. People will disbelieve and then get annoyedI’ve decided that celebrities should hire me. Not to write their TV shows or movies (although yes, that would also be good), but for a more important social media-based role. My job would be to warn them when they are about to cross The Relatability Line. The Relatability Line is a rope across the entry of your descent into Twitter Hell.This job may seem needless but we are living through unprecedented times. At no point in history have normies had this kind of direct access to famous people and their thoughts, and vice versa – I do wish I could have followed @maewest. Added into this mix is the fact there is a generation of famous people, or getting-famous people, who grew up using social media just as much as their fans. They are good at it and funny, they like it, and slinging off content comes to them like breathing. It can be hard for them to know when is best to stop. Continue reading...
by Associated Press in North Las Vegas on (#68EZZ)
Possible charges against Nathan Chasing Horse, who is believed to be a cult leader, include sex trafficking and sexual assaultA former Dances with Wolves actor who faces at least five felony charges for allegedly sexually abusing Indigenous girls was scheduled to face a judge on Thursday.Possible charges against Nathan Chasing Horse, 46, include sex trafficking and sexual assault, according to court records. Clark county prosecutors have not said when they will formally charge him or if more charges will be filed. Continue reading...
From magic to a World Cup hug that went viral, there is more to the USA left-back they call Jedi at Fulham than meets the eye“I just try to be a good person because if everyone had that mindset then, yeah, you’d have world peace,” Antonee Robinson says as he remembers his reaction when he comforted Ramin Rezaeian a few minutes after the USA had knocked Iran out of the World Cup last November. The heartfelt embrace between two defenders from very different countries went viral as Robinson consoled and hugged a sobbing Rezaeian for a long time.In a setting as divisive and discriminatory as Qatar, Robinson’s warmth and humanity not only helped Rezaeian but turned the vitriolic world of social media into a briefly unified haven. His empathy was striking because, before their opening game against England, Rezaeian and his teammates had refused to sing the national anthem in protest against state oppression and violence towards women in Iran. Continue reading...
Private equity firms managing millions of Americans’ retirement savings may be inflating their investmentsAs public officials across America prepare to funnel even more of government workers’ savings to private equity moguls, an alarm just sounded for anyone bothering to listen. It is a warning that Wall Street executives, busy skimming fees off retirement nest eggs, want you to ignore. The longer the warning goes unheeded, however, the bigger the financial time bomb may be for workers, retirees and the governments that pay them.Earlier this month, PitchBook – the go-to news outlet of the private equity industry – declared that “private equity returns are a major threat to pension plans’ ability to pay retirees in 2023”. Continue reading...
What happened in Atlanta is clearly part of a dangerous trend of US law enforcement attacking climate leadersManuel Esteban Paez Terán, a brave environmentalist known as Tortuguita was shot and killed by the police on January 18 as he encamped in a forest he and other activists have been trying to defend from being razed and turned into an enormous $90m “urban warfare” style police academy. This tragedy is an obscene escalation in the decades long war the United States has been waging on climate activists.What’s even more troubling is the lack of contrition exhibited by the state that is responsible for his death. Since Tortuguita’s murder, the governor of Georgia, the police, and their allies, the pro-corporate courts, have doubled down. Seven of the surviving protesters from Atlanta have been arrested and charged with “domestic terrorism” following the fatal shooting of their comrade by the police. Continue reading...
Shooting in Atlanta part of dangerous escalation in the criminalization of environmental defenders, campaigners warn. Plus, how to escape learned loneliness
The Florida governor’s latest attack comes on the heels of a ban on an AP course in African American studies in high schoolsFlorida governor Ron DeSantis announced plans this week to block state colleges from having programs on diversity, equity and inclusion, and critical race theory in his latest attack on Black and LGBTQ+ people in the public education system..The second-term governor, who is widely expected to launch a 2024 White House bid in the late spring or early summer, previously blocked a new advanced placement course on African American studies from being taught in high schools, saying it violates state law, and championed a “don’t say gay” law prohibiting lessons about sexual orientation or gender identity in the state’s primary schools. Continue reading...
When I wrote my first young person’s novel, I wanted the next generation to feel seen and celebratedAs a teenager in the British Somali diaspora, there were several things I heard repeated in connection with my own culture. In no particular order, there was: drought, Black Hawk Down, high foreheads, piracy, famine, the peculiarity of banana and rice, terrorism, and the “look at me, I am the Captain now” meme. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t always feel “cool” to be Somali.When this feeling was coupled with the age-old question of who Somalis are, I found it hard to carve out my own sense of identity. Torn between the country’s physical location on the Horn of Africa, our ethnic homogeneity, and Somalia’s membership of the League of Arab States, it often felt as if I was being pulled in a million different directions. Was I Black, east African, Arab or simply … Somali? And how did my identity as a Muslim fit on to these racialised lines?Ayaan Mohamud is a British Somali author and medical studentDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
The New York congressman’s increasingly wild claims have all the thrill-seeking of a man running across a football field nakedIn retrospect, as it often seems to go in these cases, the evidence appears to have been so glaringly obvious, it’s a wonder we were ever taken in. George Santos – like Anna Sorokin, the “fake heiress” – even had the Scooby-Doo, black-rimmed glasses that might have come from a joke shop selling disguises. When the representative for New York’s third congressional district entered the House last November, he was briefly notable as the Republican’s first openly gay non-incumbent to win a seat.Now, his fame resides elsewhere. So wild and untrustworthy have statements made by Santos proved to be – Did his granny really survive the Holocaust? Was his mother’s death really related to 9/11? Did he ever appear in a movie alongside Uma Thurman? – that it would come as no surprise, at this stage, to discover that rather than a 34-year-old man, Santos is actually four children piled on top of each other beneath a trenchcoat.Emma Brockes is a Guardian columnist based in New YorkDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
The most successful quarterback of all time has retired. Will any current players be able to emulate his achievements at their chosen positions?The greatest to ever do it has retired – again.Tom Brady’s retirement leaves the NFL with a hole. His success is unparalleled. His longevity is unrivaled – he has spent more days in his life playing in the NFL than he has out of it. The game’s greats finish with a Hall of Fame career, Brady put together three. As measuring sticks go, there’s Brady, a cliff drop, and then everyone else. Continue reading...
Jane Fonda, Rita Moreno, Sally Field and Lily Tomlin make for soothing company in a silly but good-natured film about NFL fansDuring the Patriots dynasty of 17 division titles across our century’s first two decades, quarterback Tom Brady held a supernatural sway over the mature women of New England. In this ascended townie-jock, a housewife could see someone that while not literally named Sean, nonetheless presented a more handsome, wealthy and successful image of a man like her husband. (The fantasy worked both ways, too; at the time, having Tommy Touchdown meant a lady got to be Gisele Bündchen.) But mostly they loved him for the same reason anybody loves any athlete, which is to say because he’s a winner. When defeat seems all but assured, he’s the guy you want calling the shots, the unstoppable will that once brought come-from-behind victories now enough to make a wide-release audience temporarily forget how much they detest this ball-deflating ring-hoarder.His regular fourth-quarter miracles are a testament to the fact that being down isn’t the same as being out, and that can-do resilience forms the flimsy link connecting him to the quartet of greying legends who star in the mild, pleasurable 80 for Brady. New Hollywood icons Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Rita Moreno and Sally Field play a real-life group of Massachusetts galpals who found a new structure for their lifelong friendship in the weekly broadcast of Pats games during the Brady-Belichick era, coming together to check in and catch up over an activity more stimulating than bingo. Good company is the name of the game here, both in the nourishing bond between these geriatric besties as well as the chance for us to spend another 100 minutes in the presence of showbiz royalty. But for all its congenial upbeatitude, this salute to blue-hair camaraderie has been molded into the shape of a movie without much finesse. That never-say-die spirit, for instance, is crystallized with a pep talk from Tomlin that sees her resolve to beat cancer inspire Brady to battle the Atlanta Falcons into overtime. Continue reading...
My heart went out to whoever lost Rio Tinto’s dangerous capsule in the Australian outback. There but for the grace of God …Someone lost a radioactive capsule. Someone blundered. I shuddered at the news, because if I had been transporting that tiny object for Rio Tinto in Australia, that someone would have been me. I’m an accomplished loser of things. I may have lost more stuff than I ever had in the first place. This ought not to be possible, but if anyone can make it possible, it’s me. Still – losing a radioactive capsule. Wow. This sets a new benchmark among us useless, butter-fingered, forgetful, careless incompetents. I’m almost jealous, annoyed it wasn’t me. At least I’d then know I could never lose anything as important as this again.I leave things in pubs, restaurants, football grounds, airports, aircraft, taxis, buses, tubes and, on one occasion, a dodgem at a fair in Swansea. When I played golf, I’d obviously lose balls. On the only occasion I didn’t lose a ball, I lost a club. Another time I drove off after my round without my golf bag. At home I can’t find things that I had in my hand only moments before. It is terrifying when this happens; they could be anywhere. I know this, because more than once I’ve found that I absent-mindedly dropped my car key in the bin, while on another occasion my wallet turned up in the bottom drawer of the fridge. I frequently put important things away somewhere safe, where no one will find them – including me, because I forget where the safe place was. Some things never ever turn up again.Adrian Chiles is a broadcaster, writer and Guardian columnist Continue reading...
The familiar smell of roasted chiles is ‘unique to our state’, says lawmaker pushing to codify fragranceThe sweet smell of green chile roasting on an open flame permeates New Mexico every fall, wafting from roadside stands and grocery store parking lots and inducing mouth-watering visions of culinary wonders.Now one state lawmaker says it’s time for everyone to wake up and smell the chile. Continue reading...
The Kentucky man was on vacation in Las Vegas when he laid it all on the line to help a man in a car crashJustin Mouser had left behind his barber shop in western Kentucky to vacation in Las Vegas last week when he ended up risking it all to pull a man out of a crashed car that burst into flames.Now, the Sin City’s police department is hailing the tourist as a hero. Continue reading...
State department of fish and wildlife is investigating Tuesday’s incident in San Mateo countyA five-year-old boy who was attacked by a mountain lion while hiking in rural northern California with his mother and grandfather has been released from a hospital, authorities said Wednesday.The boy had raced ahead of the adults on a trail in San Mateo county, south of San Francisco, on Tuesday when the big cat pounced on him and pinned him to the ground, said Capt Patrick Foy, a spokesperson with the California department of fish and wildlife. Continue reading...
by Jonathan Barrett Senior business reporter on (#68EDQ)
As Gautam Adani drops down the world’s rich list, here’s what we know about Hindenburg Research’s accusations and what they mean for the Indian conglomerateThe sprawling empire of Gautam Adani, an Indian industrialist and one of the world’s richest men, seemed unstoppable until the US investor Hindenburg Research accused his company of “pulling the largest con in corporate history”.As soon as markets opened in Asia after the report was published, spooked investors offloaded their positions in the seven main listed Adani companies. Within days, the Adani Group companies had shed more than US$100bn (£81bn) in value, representing almost half the market value of its stocks. Continue reading...
Hundreds braved the cold in Tennessee to grieve the 29-year-old Black motorist who died after being beaten by five officersOn a frigid Wednesday afternoon, RowVaughn Wells looked into the crowd of hundreds inside the Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church, and gave her own call to action in the funeral service for her son Tyre Nichols, who was beaten to death by Memphis police earlier this month. Her voice cracked as she joined a fellowship of other Black mothers who lost their children to police violence over the years.Wells remembered her son as a “beautiful person”, adding that “for this to happen to him is unimaginable”. Continue reading...
The Rev Al Sharpton delivers passionate eulogy at church service to Black man, 29, who died at hands of police in JanuaryThousands of mourners on Wednesday attended the funeral of Tyre Nichols, a 29-year-old Black man who died three days after Memphis police officers beat him following a traffic stop last month.Nichols’ beating shocked many in the US after being captured on camera, and triggered yet another bout of soul-searching over racism and police brutality. The five officers involved have been charged with murder and other crimes. Continue reading...
Two officers were reprimanded for failing to document incidents and two others were suspended for infractions, records showTwo of the since-fired Memphis police officers charged with murdering Tyre Nichols failed to document their use of force in prior cases, and a pair of others were suspended from the department for other infractions, according to personnel records released on Tuesday evening.Two of the officers charged in connection with Nichols’s beating death received written reprimands in 2021 for failing to fill out a department-required form after an instance in which force was needed to detain someone who was purportedly resisting arrest. Another officer had been twice suspended, once after a gun was discovered in the backseat of his squad car and another time for failing to submit paperwork. A fourth officer was suspended after being involved in a car accident in 2021 in an unmarked police vehicle. Continue reading...
Tom Brady, the most successful quarterback in NFL history, has announced that he is retiring 'for good'. Brady’s list of achievements is almost as long as his career. His seven Super Bowl wins are the most by any player in NFL history and he also holds the NFL record for career passing touchdowns (649) and passing yards (89,214). An emotional Brady finished his announcement and signed off on a truly remarkable career by saying 'thank you guys for allowing me to live my absolute dream'
‘This is about vengeance,’ says James McGovern of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the House rules committeeA House Republican attempt to remove Ilhan Omar from the foreign affairs committee, expected as soon as Wednesday, is about “vengeance” and “spite”, one of the Minnesotan’s fellow Democrats said.“This is about vengeance. This is about spite. This is about politics,” said James McGovern of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the rules committee, as Republicans called a hurried meeting late on Tuesday to consider the matter. Continue reading...
The landmark decision, that luxury glass-walled flats opposite the museum’s new viewing gallery are being disturbed, could lead to a shift in how public life in cities operatesThe verdict is in: people who live in glass houses may thrown stones with impunity. After six years of legal battles, the highest court in the land has ruled that the residents of the luxury glass-walled flats opposite Tate Modern’s viewing gallery face an unacceptable level of “constant visual intrusion”. They bought into the dream of living in an overpriced goldfish bowl next to one of the most visited museums in the world, and now they have decided they’ve had quite enough of being looked at, thank you very much.The unprecedented ruling marks a hugely damaging step for the future of public life in our cities. It suggests that the mere ability of others to look through your windows is enough to have those people banished, that space shut down, and the surrounding urban environment regulated so that nothing may impinge on your own personal bubble. The residents of Neo Bankside enjoy a panorama of the London skyline, replete with telescopes adorning their glass-walled terraces, but it appears they only want their crow’s nest views to work in one direction. With this ruling, the view of just five wealthy flat owners trumps the enjoyment of that very same view by millions of other people a year. The insistence of a few to live without curtains quashes the use of one of the capital’s most thrilling public spaces. Continue reading...
by Hugo Lowell in Washington and Martin Pengelly in N on (#68DV0)
Biden’s lawyer says planned search has concluded with FBI taking some materials from his time as vice-presidentThe FBI found no classified-marked documents during a planned search of Joe Biden’s vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, on Wednesday, a person familiar with the matter said, as federal investigators continued to look into the potential mishandling of classified information.The search was consensual and performed with the cooperation of Biden and his legal team, who previously searched the property and found no marked documents. Continue reading...
In England, just 4% of people consume 30% of the alcohol sold. Harm reduction measures, such as those in Scotland, are essentialAnd so the longest month of the year – at least it feels that way – is finally over. But as the days get ever so slightly longer, and as new year resolutions start to falter, what to make of that programme of month-long abstinence that so many Britons seemed to engage in?Dry January is a public health campaign that was started in 2013 by Alcohol Change UK. As you may know, it involves avoiding all alcohol for the month; this has individual benefits such as saving money, avoiding hangovers, better sleep, fewer empty calories and better overall energy levels. It comes at a time that has seen a transition towards not drinking at all in younger generations, with an estimated 20% of the population now never consuming alcohol.Prof Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh Continue reading...
Watches and warnings stretch from Texas to Tennessee and Mississippi, causing traffic delays and flight cancellationsDangerous road conditions from bands of sleet and snow were blamed for six deaths as a winter storm snarled traffic across parts of the US, forcing the cancelation of flights and leaving hundreds of thousands without power in several southern states.Watches and warnings stretched from Texas to Tennessee and Mississippi. Several rounds of mixed precipitation, including freezing rain and sleet, were in store for many areas throughout Wednesday, meaning some regions could be hit multiple times, forecasters said. Continue reading...
Telegram channel reportedly distributed lessons plans which included writing exercises based on Hitler quotesAn alleged “Nazi homeschooling group” based in Ohio has been widely condemned, amid reports that it distributed lesson plans which included writing exercises based on quotes by Adolf Hitler.A couple calling themselves “Mr and Mrs Saxon” established the “Dissident Homeschool” channel on Telegram in 2021, according to reporting by Anonymous Comrades Collective, an anti-fascist research group, verified by Huffpost and Vice. Continue reading...
The seven-time Super Bowl champion announced on a video posted on social media that he is retiring from NFLTom Brady, the most successful quarterback in NFL history, announced on Wednesday that he is retiring from the sport he has dominated for years.“I know the process was a pretty big deal last time, so when I woke up this morning, I figured I’d just press record and let you guys know first,” Brady said in a video on Twitter. “I won’t be longwinded. You only get one super emotional retirement essay, and I used mine up last year, so really thank you guys so much to every single one of you for supporting me.” Continue reading...
by Associated Press in North Las Vegas on (#68DM2)
Nathan Chasing Horse ‘used spiritual traditions … as a tool to sexually assault young girls’, warrant saysLas Vegas police on Tuesday arrested and raided the home of a Dances With Wolves actor turned alleged cult leader accused of sexually assaulting young Indigenous girls over two decades, according to police records.Nathan Lee Chasing His Horse, who goes by Nathan Chasing Horse, was taken into custody in the afternoon near the north Las Vegas home he is said to have shared with his five wives. Continue reading...
Former South Carolina governor and Trump UN ambassador has trailed run while clashing with possible foe PompeoThe former South Carolina governor and US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley will announce her run for the Republican presidential nomination in her home state on 15 February, a local newspaper reported.The Post and Courier said it had seen an invitation “soon going out to her backers”, for a “special announcement” at The Shed at Charleston Visitor Center on 15 February. Continue reading...
Pocan is introducing legislation prohibiting insurance companies from preying on seniors and marketing their plans as ‘Medicare’Democrats may not control the House of Representatives anymore, but congressman Mark Pocan is not giving up on his legislative agenda. Pocan, a Wisconsin Democrat and the former co-chair of the congressional progressive caucus (CPC), instead focuses on playing “the long game” of policymaking.Pocan’s commitment to promoting progressive policies will be on display Wednesday, as he reintroduces the Save Medicare Act. The congressman points to his advocacy for the legislation as just one example of how progressives can keep advancing their ideals in a Republican-controlled House and ensure that Democrats will be ready to act when they regain full control of Congress. Continue reading...
A look at the surge in popularity of randomly selected councils that offer an alternative to politics as we know itWhen Fauzia Bajwa, a retired software developer who lives in St-Bruno-de-Montarville, Quebec, received an invitation to participate in something called a citizens’ assembly, her first impulse was to write the letter off as junk mail. It’s a common reaction: most recipients of such a mailing never bother to respond. Then Bajwa looked at it again. The sender was listed as the Canadian Commission on Democratic Expression, a nonprofit organization that compiles opinion reports to submit to the Canadian government. Though the mailing’s language was vague – the assembly would be on the subject of so-called “online harms” – Bajwa’s curiosity was piqued. After all, she’d just read a book about online surveillance, and at the time was waking up to a news cycle that seemed to revolve around the tweets of a certain president of the United States. “I found it quite concerning that people were using what I initially considered to be a very good and useful tool” – the internet – “to put out lies and fake information, so I was already thinking about these issues,” she says. She went online and signed up.Citizens’ assemblies, a phenomenon that is gaining in popularity around the globe, date back to ancient Athens, where legislative panels, courts and councils were chosen via random selection. In a practice known as sortition, Greek citizens over the age of 30 were enlisted to debate governmental matters from city finances to military strategy. More recently, citizens’ assemblies have convened to hammer out solutions to such issues as homelessness in Los Angeles, the allocation of a $5bn budget in Melbourne, Australia, and the longstanding ban on abortion in Ireland. Continue reading...
Leaked tax records suggest subsidiaries of international gas field contractors continued to make millions after coup. Plus, the secret life of André Leon Talley
As American football participation rates shrink among children, a more gentle version of the game is thriving with male and female playersFlag football used to be a sport for the young and old. And nothing in between.By the end of the decade, if the NFL has its way, it could be in the Olympics. Continue reading...
The Islamic extremists may not like it, nor the bigoted Islamophobes, but today’s Muslim women have revolutionised the narrative of the hijabAt first, he began with, “What the fuck are you staring at?” The man was shouting at my friend and me as we travelled through east London on the underground. Then he stood up and stepped towards me screaming, “F***ing Muslim whore”, beginning a tirade of disgusting Islamophobic abuse. Though it lasted about five minutes, it felt like hours. Finally, another male passenger confronted him and managed to make him sit down. But as he left at the next stop, he came up close to my face and said, “If you get off here, I’ll be waiting for you.”With depressing regularity, hijab-wearing women like myself are being subjected to appalling abuse and discrimination. Last year, a shocking video shared on social media showed a group of white men and youths in Sheffield launching a vicious attack on a veiled Muslim woman and her daughter. A 2019 paper from Nottingham Trent University reported that attacks against hijab-wearing women in the UK were on the increase, suggesting that this was because veiled Muslim women were “represented as ‘agents’ of terrorism”. And Tell Mama UK, the watchdog that monitors Muslim hate crime, reported in 2018 that 58% of recorded Islamophobic incidents were related to Muslim women because of their “overt religious identity”. Continue reading...
What do you do if your favourite social media platform penalises you for talking about sex? You invent your own code – even if that leaves older users mystifiedOK, quick: define “mascara”. If you answered “a substance you apply with a wand to your eyelashes” or something along those lines, then congratulations – you are officially not a young person on TikTok.If you run in those circles, however, then “mascara” is code for a variety of things ranging from a vibrator to a penis to a romantic partner. Continue reading...
Anthony Lowe’s family says they want to see Huntington Park police prosecuted: ‘I’m heartbroken and filled with rage’A southern California police department is facing national backlash after footage revealed that officers fatally shot a double amputee and wheelchair user who appeared to be hobbling away on the ground before he was killed.Anthony Lowe, 36, was killed by officers in Huntington Park, a city in southern Los Angeles county, last Thursday. Cellphone footage captured part of the incident, showing Lowe on a sidewalk next to his wheelchair appearing to try to flee as two officers approach him with weapons drawn. More police cars arrived as the officers followed Lowe, who seemed to be limping away, but the video did not capture the shooting. Continue reading...
A new bill proposes that prisoners get at least two months off their sentences for donating bone marrow or organsPrisoners in Massachusetts may soon have the option to get their sentences reduced in exchange for donating their organs or bone marrow if a proposed law is passed in the US state.A new bill with the aim of establishing an organ and donation program within the state’s department of corrections has been proposed by two state lawmakers – both Democrats. Continue reading...
Internet video identified man as a fugitive four times even though he was either in jail or on probation at time of each airingDavid Gay says he lost his job and was left distressed after a Florida sheriff repeatedly accused him of being a fugitive in social media videos created to resemble the popular television gameshow Wheel of Fortune.But Gay wasn’t running from the law at any of those times – he was either already in the local jail in connection with a misdemeanor case or had already been released from custody after being given probation. Continue reading...
by Dominic Rushe in New York and Nick Mathiason in Lo on (#68DC7)
Leaked tax records suggest subsidiaries of international gas field contractors continued to make millions after the coupIn the two years since a murderous junta launched a coup in Myanmar, some of the world’s biggest oil and gas service companies continued to make millions of dollars from operations that have helped prop up the military regime, tax documents seen by the Guardian suggest.The Myanmar military seized power in February 2021 and according to the United Nations special rapporteur on Myanmar, it is “committing war crimes and crimes against humanity daily”. More than 2,940 people, including children, pro-democracy activists and other civilians have been killed, according to Assistance Association for Political Prisoners.US oil services giant Halliburton’s Singapore-based subsidiary Myanmar Energy Services reported pre-tax profits of $6.3m in Myanmar in the year to September 2021, which includes eight months while the junta was in power.Houston-headquartered oil services company Baker Hughes branch in Yangon reported pre-tax profits of $2.64m in the country in the six months to March 2022.US firm Diamond Offshore Drilling reported $37m in fees to the Myanmar tax authority during the year to September 2021 and another $24.2m from then until March 2022.Schlumberger Logelco (Yangon Branch), the Panama-based subsidiary of the US-listed world’s largest offshore drilling company, earned revenues of $51.7m in the year to September 2021 in Myanmar and as late as September 2022 was owed $200,000 in service fees from the junta’s energy ministry. Continue reading...
Other puzzling happenings – a dead vulture, an escaped clouded leopard and a damaged monkey cage – have authorities on edgeA mystery is unfolding at the Dallas zoo as two emperor tamarin monkeys were reported missing on Monday in what is now the fourth recent incident involving animals at the popular attraction in Texas.Previously a vulture was apparently killed and a clouded leopard escaped after its cage was cut open. Before that another monkey cage was deliberately damaged. Continue reading...
California highway patrol: ‘This was 100 percent preventable. There is no excuse. The signs are clear, visible, and unobstructed’For the second time in two weeks, a sinkhole in a collapsed road in California has swallowed a vehicle after a driver ignored road closure signs, according to law enforcement.The two-lane road near Tracy, a city in the Central valley, collapsed earlier this month following weeks of destructive storms that wreaked havoc across the state. The damage and signs warning of the road’s closure didn’t stop drivers from attempting to traverse Kasson Road, which commuters use to travel to nearby Stockton, Manteca and Modesto, according to the local California highway patrol (CHP) office. Continue reading...
The actor maintains his innocence and plans to fight the charge of involuntary slaughter of cinematographer Halyna HutchinsActor Alec Baldwin and a weapons specialist have been formally charged with involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on a New Mexico movie set, according to court documents filed by prosecutors Tuesday.The charges come with two alternate sanctions, one with a penalty of up to 18 months in jail and a $5,000 (£4,061) fine, and another that could bring a mandatory minimum prison term of five years. Continue reading...
Police responded with deadly force against 30-year-old white man with semi-automatic rifle ‘and plenty of ammunition’A man who entered a Target store in Omaha, Nebraska, and fired a rifle was shot dead by law enforcement officers on Tuesday.The Omaha police chief, Todd Schmaderer, spoke to reporters about the shooting, which happened shortly before 12 noon local time. Continue reading...
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