#Thursday 8 October 2020

[zoe-oneesama]

I know you said you're not doing time travel-related episodes in the SLau, but I was wondering where they'd fit into the timeline? Like, which seasons/which episode numbers they'd be using your organisation? Purely out of curiosity, since you're not doing the rabbit miraculous/time travel, and there's no pressure for an answer, just wondering where you'd place them in the timeline

Alright, you asked for it. This is an alternate universe where the Pandemic didn't happen btw, for my own sanity:

September 2019:

Origins part 1: Mon, Sept 2 (First Day of School)

Origins part 2: Tues, Sept 3

Stormy Weather: Sat, Sept 14

Bubbler: Mon, Sept 16 (SL Adrien's Bday!) and Tues, Sept 17

Lady Wifi: Thurs, Sept 26-Sat, Sept 28 (all 3 days)

October 2019:

Copycat: Wed, Oct 2 and Thursday, Oct 3

Mr. Pigeon: Mon, Oct 7

The Pharaoh: Fri, Oct 16

Horrificator: Sat, Oct 26 and Sun, Oct 27 (over "Fall Break")

November 2019:

Rogercop: Fri, Nov 4 (after "Fall Break" ends)

Darkblade: Tues, Nov 11 and Wed, Nov 12 (biggest inaccuracy since this isn't when mayoral elections would take place)

Gamer: Thurs, Nov 14 and Fri, Nov 15

Reflekta: Mon, Nov 25

December 2019 (Where I start keeping a physical planner because my digital one kept deleting notes):

Timebreaker: Sat, Dec 7 (SL Alix's Bday!)

Simon Says: Sun, Dec 8 and the next Sun, Dec 15

Volpina: Wed, Dec 18

Collector: Wed, Dec 18, Thurs, Dec 19, and Fri, Dec 20

Befana: Fri, Dec 20 and Tues, Dec 24 (SL Marinette's Bday!) (During "Christmas Winter Break")

January 2020:

Kung Food: Fri, Jan 3 (End "Christmas Winter Break")

Evillustrator: Mon, Jan 6 (SL Nathaniel's Bday!), Tues, Jan 7

Vanisher: Mon, Jan 13 - Wed, Jan 15 (all 3 days)

Riposte: Fri, Jan 17 and Mon, Jan 20

Captain Hardrock: Sat, Jan 25

February 2020:

Syren: Sat, Feb 1

Dark Cupid: Fri, Feb 14

Interlude 1: Mon, Feb 17

Animan: Fri, Feb 21, and Sat, Feb 22

Puppeteer: Mon, Feb 24, and Tues, Feb 25 (during "Winter Break")

March 2020:

Pixelator: Fri, March 13

Guitar Villain: Sat, March 14-Mon, March 16 (all 3 days)

Princess Fragrance: Fri, March 27

Despair Bear: Mon, March 30

April 2020 (Things get weird here thanks to reordering some episodes):

Sapotis: Fri, April 3 and Sat, April 4

Anansi: Mon, April 20 (during "Spring Break")

Troublemaker: Sat, April 25-Mon, April 27 (technically "spring break" should still be going but we'll pretend it's done)

[Silencer Montague Sequence starts from Fri, April 17, since the contest is for the bands to make something in 2 weeks]

May 2020:

Silencer (the main episode): Fri, May 1 and Sat, May 2

Desperada: Sun, May 3

Ikari Gozen: Fri, May 15 and Sat, May 16

Crocoduel: Thrus, May 21 and Sat, May 23 (SL Luka and Juleka's Bday!)

Robostus: Mon, May 25

Prime Queen: Fri, May 29

June 2020:

Zombizou: Tues, June 2 (SL Caline's Bday!), and Wed, June 3

The Mime: Fri, June 5

Gorizilla: Sat, June 6

Sandboy: Mon, June 8

Reverser: Tues, June 9 - Fri, June 12 (all 4 days)

Party Crasher (all dates after this point are loose guesses): Sat, June 13

Frozer: Between Mon, June 15-Friday, June 19

Frightningale: Sat, June 20

Malediktator: Fri, June 26

Style Queen: Sat, June 27

Queen Wasp: Sat, June 27 and Sun, June 28

July 2020:

Catalyst/Mayura: Fri, July 3 (Last Day of School)

#sl ask #scarlet lady calender #episode order

[bcacstuff]

Timeline 8 June - July 2023

For completeness and to consult when there’s discussion about his whereabouts. In addition to the previous timelines.

Timeline 8 covers 1 June 2023 - 31 July 2023

For previous dates see timeline 7

OL promo for S7 starts on June 1st 2023 at ATX TV Festival in Texas with CB and Maril as the women panel.

4 June S arrived in NYC, the next day he's spotted, first of the many pics and videos you can find in my archive, around the dates between 4 and 13 June and around the events, GMA, Live with Kelly and Mark, The Today Show, HSC/92NY, video and video on YT, and the premiere at Tribeca of which many pics and video's and the panel, including the afterparty at Veronika NYC.

On 10 June he was spotted at the airport in Brussels, returning for filming TCND in the next week. Though no pics from filming, his sm times confirm filming, especially the nightshoots. He recorded a podcast with Alex Z as well from Belgium in this week.

On Sunday 18 June he is seen at a sports event in Ratingen (Germany). He's spotted with GE. The next day, 19 June he's spotted at an airport, even though the fan posting the pic doesn't say what airport, it's pretty obvious it's Düsseldorf International Airport, close to Ratingen. She didn't know where he was heading.

While there's already a pic from the 'TCND-camping' in Malmedy posted on Tuesday 27 June and a fun story on 28 June. Confirmation on 29 June, he's there as well on a video of a chair dance and foam slide with the crew and many pics, videos, footage from all the BTS fun. Footage from the night shoot on Friday 30 June as well, all in Malmedy as a local newspaper article reported.

A fan pic was taken in Brussels on Sunday 2 July, the fan confirming he's hanging around with Eleanor Tomlinson. Monday 3 July seems to be another night shoot and other days of the week as well. Friday 8 July a story of an ice truck on set for the crew and cast, thanking Sam for it, is posted.

As of Monday 10 July, the crew is filming stunt driving near Theux in the Liege region, on Tuesday 11 July S posts a call sheet and some animals in his stories from the Safari park nearby. Joel Morris posts they've wrapped (for their parts)

Though not sure if he's involved in scenes after the post on Tuesday, filming went on and on Friday 14 July was officially wrapped. Our hopes of seeing some glimpse of the wrap party on Friday night got rewarded with some pics and a video.

Already the next day, Saturday 15 July, he's spotted at the airport of Miami by a fan.

On 16 July he was spotted by a fan on the beach at W Hotel South Beach. The story was posted RT but only later on discovered as a post.

On 21 July he posted some pics of a trip to Key West on his IG

Meanwhile the full list of his booze events SS tour was posted

On 23 July, a pic was posted in his stories, showing him and AN, he tagged an event in NOLA. In the next days several pics and videos were posted showing their activities. They stayed until Wednesday 26 July.

Thursday 27 July, the first stop of the SS tour was in Florida, where some thought they need to be there at 4am. Others just found the back entrance and when leaving they practically were in his car. After the signing session, he shows up in the South bar/restaurant Canyon in Ft Lauderdale, the South bar & kitchen in Pompano as well as the YOT Bar&Kitchen apparently doing some pop-up SS events.

The next day, 28 July he's a spot on South Florida Live tv shown at the nbs6 website.

On 30 July he pops up at the Si Si restaurant and resort at the Sunday Brunch as surprise guest serving some cocktails and drinks and apparently got interviewed for the Hamptons Social. He's there with his team and photographer.

On 31 July he's papped in NYC by backgrid in running outfit with AN.

Other timelines:

Pre Hawaii timeline

Timeline 1 August 2020 Timeline 2 September 2021 Timeline 3 February 2022 Timeline 4 August 2022 Timeline 5 October 2022 Timeline 6 January 2023 Timeline 7 April 2023

#timeline #june 2023 #july 2023

[child-of-peace]

I’m trying to figure out the timeline of Headless and this is what I have so far:

We know for a fact that Ichabod’s court session was on a Monday, so we’ll centre it on that: Episode 5 takes place on a Monday and will be our touchstone. So looking at the earlier episodes, Episode 4 must take place on Sunday. The episode exists in a single day and towards the end of it, Ichabod gets a reminder that he would be in court the next day.

Episode 3 is a little more uncertain. I think it must start before Saturday (it spans two days and given Douffé gets stabbed, there was definitely at least a day before Ichabod turned up at the drugstore on Sunday) so maybe it’s Friday-Saturday. Episode 2 has Ichabod and Brom teaching, so is definitively a school day, so I’d reckon it’s most likely Thursday, but it could also be Wednesday. As for Episode 1, Ichabod said in Episode 5 that he’d been in Sleepy Hollow for less than a week, so the earliest day he could have moved there was Tuesday. (Again, it could also be Wednesday.)

Now for the episodes after Episode 5, Episode 6 must take place on Tuesday. Kat asks Ichabod after his court session to dinner with her dad the next day.

Episode 7 starts on Tuesday late evening, but it spans three days. At no point does it definitively say that the next part happens the following day, though given their rush and the likelihood of Ichabod having studied Elizabeth Van Tassel’s diary Tuesday night/Wednesday morning, it would be safe to assume that the next part takes place on Wednesday. Except, Brom, in Episode 9, says that Ichabod started his community service on 7th October, which, in 2022, was a Friday.

There are three possible explanations for this. 1) Brom is just wrong - given that Brom says their google calendars are linked and Ichabod doesn’t have a google calendar, Brom may have been confused. 2) This show does not take place in 2022 - I thought it was, but now I’m not entirely sure. The last time 7th October was on a Wednesday was in 2020. 3) It is a Friday, and it took them a couple of days after Tuesday to figure out the matching symbols in Anneke’ and Davy “Gravy” Jones’ books.

So, for the sake of this, I’m going to go with Option 1: Part 2 of Episode 7 takes place on Wednesday. Part 3 of Episode 7, therefore, takes place on Thursday. Brom says he’ll go ask Lucretia to see the basement and we’re told that happens the next day.

That means Episode 8 also takes place on Thursday. Lucretia says to Brom that she has a wedding that very day and that’s when the heist happens.

If Episode 8 is Thursday, Episode 9 must be Friday. Each head only lasts 24 hours and Paulie is still active. It must start in the late morning/early afternoon, since the gang starts off in jail and then, an hour later, Paulie shows up and his head promptly dissolves naturally.

This means that the gang were in jail for at least 10 hours - the heist canonically took 15 minutes on Thursday afternoon/early evening. And finally, Episode 10. The start of this episode would take place on Friday evening (or Sunday evening if we went with Option 3). Kat tells them after the jailbreak to head to her house later that evening for “the world’s weirdest scavenger hunt”.

We know when midnight hits as that is definitively stated, so we know it filters over into Saturday (or Monday), and the gang walk around with Henrietta in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Also, I don’t know how American school terms work, but I’m assuming that Episode 5-10 take place during half term (I think the American equivalent is semester break?), since Ichabod and Brom don’t seem to spend any time in school. Half term for us is typically the last week of October, but I’m not sure how semester break works (I did try to look it up, but couldn’t find anything) so could it be early October?

Me, writing this post:

Anyway, what do other people think? Have I missed anything obvious?

To simplify it:

Tuesday - 1️⃣

Thursday - 2️⃣

Friday - 3️⃣

Saturday - 3️⃣

Sunday - 4️⃣

Monday - 5️⃣

Tuesday - 6️⃣7️⃣

Wednesday - 7️⃣

Thursday - 7️⃣8️⃣

Friday - 9️⃣🔟

Saturday - 🔟

#Please appreciate that I wrote this from memory #I am obsessed with this show and have watched it so many times #This is kinda relevant for my fic of the show from Matilda’s POV #Can you tell I'm autistic? #I wrote this instead of paying attention to a lecture so it may have mistakes or not make a lot of sense #Headless: A Sleepy Hollow Story #Headless Shipwrecked #Shipwrecked Comedy #Own Post

[beardedmrbean]

LOS ANGELES -- The driver suspected of causing a fiery crash that killed multiple people, including a pregnant woman, was charged Monday with murder.

Nicole Lorraine Linton was charged with six counts of murder and five counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney's office. One murder charge was filed for the pregnant woman's unborn child.

She could face 90 years to life in prison if convicted of all charges.

Linton, a 37-year-old traveling nurse from Houston, Texas, made her first court appearance Monday after being released from a hospital over the weekend. Linton, who appeared in a wheelchair, didn't enter a plea and her arraignment was continued to October. She was ordered held without bail pending a bail hearing next week.

Prosecutors said Linton's Mercedes-Benz was doing 90 mph (144 kph) last Thursday when it ran a red light and smashed into cars in a crowded intersection in unincorporated Windsor Hills about 10 miles (16 km) southwest of downtown Los Angeles. Several victims were thrown from the cars and several vehicles caught fire.

The crash killed 23-year-old Asherey Ryan, her 11-month-old son Alonzo Quintero and her boyfriend, Reynold Lester, Sha'seana Kerr said in a GoFundMe posting.

Lester's family told KABC-TV that the 24-year-old security guard was the father of Ryan's 8 1/2-month-old unborn child. The family has said Ryan was on the way to a doctor's appointment for a prenatal checkup when she was killed.

One murder charge - but not an additional charge of vehicular manslaughter - was filed for the fetus, who was identified by the coroner's office as Armani Lester and listed as born on the same day he died.

"A young family was destroyed in the blink of an eye," District Attorney George Gascón said at a news conference.

Two other women were also killed but their names weren't made public as of Monday.

"While the wreckage of this fiery crash at this intersection was removed and traffic eventually resumed, there is catastrophic damage to the families and friends of those killed and injured," Gascón said. "It is not only a tremendous loss to the families but our entire community who learned of this incredible tragedy or have watched the now viral video of the collision," he said.

In court, Linton's lawyer, Halim Dhanidina, said his client has an out-of-state history of "profound mental health issues" that might be linked to the crash but didn't specify, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Authorities said they haven't found any evidence that Linton was under the influence of alcohol but prosecutors said she had at least 13 previous crashes - including a 2020 injury accident that totaled two cars - and knew the threat posed by her driving behavior, the Times said.

#nunyas news

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

A federal judge on Thursday spared former President Donald Trump and his lawyers from having to submit a sworn declaration about whether they believe the FBI inaccurately summarized the items seized from his South Florida home.

Judge Aileen Cannon's ruling wiped away an earlier decision from the outsider arbiter — known as a "special master" — she herself had appointed to review the more than 11,000 documents retrieved from Mar-Lago during an August 8 search of Trump's residence and private club in West Palm Beach. That special master, Senior Judge Raymond Dearie, had ordered Trump's lawyers to address by October 7 whether they contested the completeness and accuracy of the FBI's inventory of records discovered during the search.

In a six-page ruling, Cannon said her order appointing Dearie "did not contemplate that obligation" for Trump's lawyers and the former president, who has repeatedly claimed without evidence that the FBI planted some of the highly-sensitive documents seized from Mar-a-Lago.

The decision plainly exposed power dynamics at play in the high-stakes dispute between Trump and the Justice Department over records seized from the FBI's unprecedented search of a former president's home. While Dearie is closest to the review, Cannon's decision marked a clear exertion of force over proceedings.

"Judge Cannon is reminding Judge Dearie and the rest of us that she is still in charge here," said Barb McQuade, a University of Michigan law professor who served as the top federal prosecutor in Detroit during the Obama administration.

"She is essentially reversing Judge Dearie's order requiring Trump to put up or shut up about 'planted' evidence," McQuade told Insider. "Judge Cannon's order permits Trump to preserve that defense without any supporting facts, at least for now."

Dearie, who was appointed to sift out records potentially covered by attorney-client or executive privilege, said Trump's lawyers could not suggest in court filings that the inventory of seized items was inaccurate without providing evidence in support of that claim. In ordering the sworn declaration, Dearie wrote, "This submission shall be Trump's final opportunity to raise any factual dispute as to the completeness and accuracy of the Detailed Property Inventory."

Trump filed a lawsuit on August 22 demanding that Cannon appoint a special master to review records seized from Mar-a-Lago. In her time presiding over the case, Cannon, a Trump appointee confirmed in 2020, has drawn criticism over rulings that legal experts have seen as showing unusual solicitude to the former President.

Cannon initially included more than 100 documents marked as classified in the special master review, preventing the Justice Department from accessing them as part of its criminal investigation into the handling of government records found at Mar-a-Lago. But the US Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit reversed that key portion of her ruling, with a three-judge panel embracing the Justice Department's arguments that any further delay in reviewing the records would compromise national security and cause "irreparable harm" to the government and public.

In addition to tossing Dearie's demand for a sworn declaration, Cannon on Thursday extended the end date for the special master review from November 30 to December 16.

Dearie had suggested he could work on a more expedited schedule. But Trump's lawyers pushed back against that pace, arguing that it was too fast and that they could not find outside vendors to assist with the review that was willing to work on that timeline.

"This modest enlargement is necessary to permit adequate time for the Special Master's review and recommendations given the circumstances as they have evolved since entry of the Appointment Order," Cannon wrote.

#us politics #news #donald trump #business insider #2022 #mar a lago #fbi #fbi raid #department of justice #judge aileen cannon #11th circuit court of appeals #judge raymond dearie #special master #Barb McQuade #top secret documents #classified documents #national security

[vex-verlain]

I should have written this a long time ago, but debilitating depression being what it is…

I am not doing well. I need you all to know that.  I am trying so hard but it does not seem to be enough.

In August of 2020, I started the @multifandompostcardexchange.  It was the first time I felt like a human being in years. I had motivation.  I had energy.

At some point after that, things changed.  I don’t know why.  All I know is that I haven’t queued postcards on a regular basis since October 16th of 2021.  I have stopped participating in Postcrossing.  The @mdzs-fans-against-hate follow-up auction I had planned still has not come to fruition.

I thought I had reached the lowest point when I could barely get up in the morning and Rebel had to help me dress.  But I was wrong—the lowest point was when my therapist of over 8 years abruptly ended our therapeutic relationship because I kept missing appointments.  I was paying out of pocket for each session because my insurance stopped covering her a couple years ago, and I would have gladly paid for each missed session.  But there was no discussion—just an email on January 13th, 2022, saying the following:

I’m so sorry to hear that your depression remains so debilitating for you. I haven’t seen you for an appt for almost two months(*) and I think that our bi-weekly 45-minute sessions have not been helpful enough for you. I know you were considering higher-level treatments such as Ketamine to target treatment-resistant depression and I hope that has become an option for you.

I don’t have the training or expertise in treatment-resistant depression to provide you with the higher level of mental health care that I believe you need and deserve.

At this point, I would recommend that you work with a therapist who is a [MY INSURANCE] Provider to supplement higher-level treatments. You can then have more regular pscyhotherapy that is not out-of-pocket for you, especially given the prohibitive cost of Ketamine treatments.

I will cancel our appt for Thursday January 27 and I wish you the very best with treatment that will bring you relief. I know how very hard this has been on you.

(*) I had last seen her on November 18th.  I cancelled my December 2nd appointment with over a weeks’ notice because I had to take my dad to a vision appointment after driving him two hours out of town for a specialist appointment the day before.  I cancelled my December 16th appointment with less than 24 hours’ notice because I was “completely overwhelmed” and cancelled my December 30th appointment at the same time (so with two weeks’ notice) because I was going to be out of town.

On January 13th I woke up and burst into tears and could not get myself going.  I emailed before my appointment time to let her know this.  I managed to get myself in a better frame of mind, get up and get ready, and even drive myself to Caribou Coffee for a treat before heading in to work.  I sat down at my desk, checked my email, and started bawling. I called my partner.  I called my mother.  Both of them knew my therapist.  Both of them were bewildered.

The feeling of abandonment that comes when a therapist severs ties with you is unique.  And I was at a point where I needed help the most. I thought, I can’t even pay someone to put up with me! I couldn’t comprehend what I had done to deserve this.

She told me she thought our sessions weren’t enough for me.  She didn’t ask what I thought.

My therapist was with me through the last 8+ years that Rebel and I have lived in crisis.  She knows everything that has happened.  How could she not have understood the value of her knowing?  Now I have to start again with someone new, someone who doesn’t know.  I will have to explain everything and it is exhausting to even consider it.

Others in the field have told me that the way she chose to end our therapeutic relationship was unprofessional.  That she should have at least called, if not talked to me in person at our next session. That she should have offered resources or the name of an appropriate replacement for her.

But what good would a name do me?  Therapists are booked out months into the future.  I would have had a lapse in care regardless of whether she’d given me a name.

Anyway.  Maybe I’m a little better now?  I can dress myself, at least.  I am trying very hard to take control of my life.  I have upcoming appointments with two new therapists.  I have scheduled every health appointment I have been ignoring since the pandemic began.  I am actually reading the books on trauma I have been avoiding.  I am still going to my Spravato (esketamine) treatments--and only paying $10 each appointment, thank goodness.

I am also tackling the thing that seems impossible: writing out the background information that my new therapist(s) will need.

I really hope things get better.  I want to be excited again.  I want to throw myself into the MFPE.

In the meantime, please allow me some grace.  And if you have any spare energy, please send healing thoughts my way.

#this is a vex original post #vex gets personal

[alexbkrieger13]

nice article:) and a funny bit 😂

How Ève Périsset adapted perfectly to Chelsea

The first Frenchwoman in history to play for Chelsea, the 27-year-old defender finds PSG this Thursday evening in the Champions League, to testify to her good adaptation to England

Entering the legend of Les Bleues on July 23, by transforming with aplomb the penalty of victory during the quarter-final of the suffocating Euro against the Netherlands in Rotherham (1-0 ap) , Ève Périsset now wants to write that of the Blues.

After going around the question in France, playing successively for OL (2009-2016), PSG (2016-2020) and Bordeaux (2020-2022), the 27-year-old defender dared to leave her zone. of comfort by signing for Chelsea in early June, a first for a French player. While she will find PSG this Thursday evening at Stamford Bridge, in a final for first place in Group A of the Champions League, Périsset quickly fell in love with her new life in London.

The adventure however began like a whirlwind, since she had not even had time to unpack her boxes in London, mid-August, that she was already going on tour in the United States. Barely returned to England, Périsset then joined the selection. “After two and a half weeks of post-Euro holidays, the recovery was sporty, that's clear (laughs) . But since mid-September, I found my marks, I settled in my house, ten minutes by car from the Cobham training center (south-west of London) ”, she relates, little disturbed. by the weather but who sometimes feels the "lack of French bread" .

Dithyrambic about the evolution of women's football in England (see L'Equipe of October 19), highlighting an "extraordinary enthusiasm" , a "very homogeneous level" and "top infrastructure, with real billiards everywhere" , Périsset plunged into this new bath all of a sudden. “The first home game against Tottenham, in a friendly, I took an ankle sole, with stitches in the key. It was a welcome message to Anglet Erre”, she laughs. “Then we were supposed to play our first in the Championship at Stamford Bridge, against West Ham, but the game was postponed due to the death of the queen (September 8). It was a very special time, the whole country was in mourning, with the face of Elizabeth II everywhere. I really understood where I was, ” continues the new Chelsea player.

Not always a starter at the start, his place in the eleven is now almost assured

Close to the Czech Katerina Svitkova, who arrived at the same time as her, the Frenchwoman knew how to be accepted despite the language barrier, overcoming the shyness that could have slowed her down when she started out as a pro: "In the locker room, they listen to French music, including Djadja by Aya Nakamura, so I sang that for my hazing. I did 10 seconds on my own, then the whole team came with me. »

Not always a starter at the start, Périsset's place in the eleven is almost assured now, while she alternates between the right side of the defense, and a right axial position when Chelsea play five in defense. The staff are waiting for her progress in English so that she can completely free herself, but immediately flashed on her fighting qualities. Admirer of coach Emma Hayes, in place for ten years, an "extraordinary character, always with a smile and with a real touch on the game" , Eve the Londoner has found her new Garden of Eden

#eve perisset #chelsea fcw #chelsea article #frawnt

[sleepysera]

10.30.22 Headlines

WORLD NEWS

South Korea: Shock, grief as 153 die in Halloween crowd surge (AP)

“Concerned relatives raced to hospitals in search of their loved ones Sunday as South Korea mourned the deaths of more than 150 people, mostly in their 20s and 30s, who got trapped and crushed after a huge Halloween party crowd surged into a narrow alley in a nightlife district in Seoul.”

Somalia: Twin bombings kill 100 in capital (BBC)

“Twin car bomb explosions near a busy junction in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, killed at least 100 people, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud says. Among the victims "who were massacred [were] mothers with their children in their arms", the AFP news agency quotes the president as saying. He appealed for international medical help to deal with the 300 injured. The president blamed the al-Shabab militant group for Saturday's attack which targeted the education ministry. The pro-jihadist Somali Memo website has reported that the group has said it was behind the blasts.”

India: At least 32 dead, many injured after bridge collapse (AP)

“At least 32 people died and several are feared injured after a cable bridge collapsed into a river in the western Indian state of Gujarat on Sunday evening, according to the Press Trust of India news agency. Local media reports said hundreds plunged into the Machchu river when the bridge in the state’s Morbi district collapsed. It was not immediately clear how many people were on the bridge.”

US NEWS

Abortion: Access could hinge on state election results (AP)

“Now, it’s a state-by-state question that’s the subject of ballot measures in some states and is a major issue in many elections across the U.S. on Nov. 8. Outcomes of elections for governors, state lawmakers, supreme court justices and attorneys general could determine abortion access. Beyond that, a nationwide ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy has been proposed in Congress.”

NASA: Two spacecraft detect biggest meteor strikes at Mars (AP)

“Two NASA spacecraft at Mars — one on the surface and the other in orbit — have recorded the biggest meteor strikes and impact craters yet. The high-speed barrages last year sent seismic waves rippling thousands of miles across Mars, the first ever detected near the surface of another planet, and carved out craters nearly 500 feet (150 meters) across, scientists reported Thursday in the journal Science.”

Maurice Hastings: US man in prison for 38 years freed by new DNA evidence (BBC)

“A US man who spent nearly four decades in prison for murder has been released after new DNA evidence pointed to a different person. Maurice Hastings served more than 38 years in state prison for the 1983 murder of Roberta Wydermyer in California and two attempted murders. But new DNA evidence instead pointed to another man who died in prison in 2020. Now 69, Mr Hastings has been released from prison after his 1988 conviction was vacated on 20 October.”

#current events #news #south korea #somalia #terrorism #india #united states #abortion #nasa #space #mars #maurice hastings #crime

[x--daughters-of-darkness--x]

LACUNA COIL Kicks Off Summer/Fall 2022 North American Tour In Harrisburg

Italian heavy rockers LACUNA COIL kicked off their summer/fall 2022 North American tour last night (Thursday, September 8) at HMAC in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Fan-filmed video of the performance is available below.

As previously reported, "Comalies XX", a "deconstructed" and "transported" version of LACUNA COIL's third album, "Comalies", will be made available on October 14 via Century Media Records.

Back in 2002, LACUNA COIL released an album which is now undeniably an anthem-laden millennial classic that established them as a band with the stamina to go the distance. Now, 20 years later, the current lineup of LACUNA COIL decided to revisit the songs, but not to just re-record them as they were but deconstruct and transport them into 2022.

"This is not a reboot or a spin-off or anything like that," said LACUNA COIL vocalist Cristina Scabbia. "We just wanted to give these songs a 2022 dress and see how this guy or girl who was born 20 years ago would still look fucking slick in 2022."

"Comalies XX" track listing:

CD 1:

01. Swamped XX 02. Heaven's A Lie XX 03. Daylight Dancer XX 04. Humane XX 05. Self Deception XX 06. Aeon XX 07. Tight Rope XX 08. The Ghost Woman And The Hunter XX 09. Unspoken XX 10. Entwined XX 11. The Prophet Said XX 12. Angel's Punishment XX 13. Comalies XX

CD 2:

01. Swamped 02. Heaven's A Lie 03. Daylight Dancer 04. Humane 05. Self Deception 06. Aeon 07. Tight Rope 08. The Ghost Woman And The Hunter 09. Unspoken 10. Entwined 11. The Prophet Said 12. Angel's Punishment 13. Comalies

LACUNA COIL will celebrate the 20th anniversary of "Comalies", by performing it in its entirety at a one-night-only concert on Saturday, October 15 at Fabrique in Milano.

"Comalies" was originally released on October 29, 2002 through Century Media Records. The LP, which featured the band's breakthrough single "Heaven's A Lie", has reportedly gone on to sell over 300,000 copies in the United States alone.

Regarding the "Comalies" title, Scabbia said: "[During the album's recording], we had a sort of creative explosion. We were working in a coma, sort of like in a different dimension. First of all we just wanted to use the word 'coma' but there was something missing so we played with the two words coma and lies."

The "Comalies" song "Swamped" is available as a downloadable track for the music video game series "Rock Band" and also appeared in the 2004 video game "Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines".

LACUNA COIL played its first show in front of an audience in more than two years on April 7 as the support act for APOCALYPTICA at the Masquerade in Atlanta, Georgia.

Prior to the Atlanta concert, the last time LACUNA COIL played together was at the group's special September 2020 livestream event where the bandmembers performed their latest album, "Black Anima", in its entirety with no audience in attendance at the Alcatraz Club in Milan, Italy. That show was released as a live album, "Live From The Apocalypse", via Century Media.

LACUNA COIL hadn't played in front of a crowd since the completion of the band's South American tour in February 2020.

Last June, Scabbia told Revolver that she and her bandmates didn't use the coronavirus downtime to work on new music. "We didn't want to force the fact that because we were home, we had to write music," she explained. "We always thought that to write music, you need to be inspired. And inspiration comes from the outside, comes from experiences that you have, things that you live. At least this is valid for us.

"Everything we do in a regular life, in a normal life enriches us and gives us input that we can put in our music," she said. "And also we like to write together. So, if Marco [Coti Zelati, bass] creates the basis of the music together with the other musicians in the band, then Andrea [Ferro, vocals] and I jump in with the lyrics and vocal lines. But we do that together. We need to enter in songwriting mode. So we didn't really like the fact that we had to write separately just because we have to put a record [together] because it's quarantine. Now we are starting to collect ideas 'cause we feel a little bit happier."

Scabbia continued: "We didn't want anything connected to the negativity of the pandemic… That's why I used my time to do something completely different. Because I know that what I did that it's completely different from what I usually do will make me start again to do what I did before with passion — with the same passion. I was just afraid that if I would have used all the downtime making music when I didn't really want to, it would have had a negative influence on me. And it would have been, like, 'I really don't want to do that.' And I also wanted to prove to myself that, yeah, music is main passion. I love what I do for a living, and I hope that I can do it until the day I die. But I also wanted to show myself that I can be capable of doing something else as well."

#Cristina Scabbia #Lacuna Coil #Live 2022 #2022 news

[sageglobalresponse]

Who is Rishi Sunak, UK's new Prime Minister? 15 Quick facts

Rishi Sunak was named the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on Monday afternoon after his challenger, Penny Mordaunt pulled out of the race.

He has been confirmed the new Conservative Leader. He will take over from Liz Truss who resigned from the position last Thursday in just 44 days in office after a disastrous performance impeding on UK’s economy.

Who is Rishi Sunak? Here are 15 quick facts about him.

1. He will become the UK’s first British-Asian PM and at 42, the youngest in more than a century. He was born on 12 May, 1980.

2. He was Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2020 to 2022 and Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2019 to 2020.

3. Sunak has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Richmond (Yorks) since 2015.

4. He was born in Southampton to parents of Indian descent who migrated to Britain from East Africa in the 1960s.

5. Sunak was educated at Winchester College. He subsequently read philosophy, politics and economics (PPE) at Lincoln College, Oxford, and later gained an MBA from Stanford University in California as a Fulbright Scholar.

6. He is married to Akshata Murty, the daughter of N. R. Narayana Murthy, the Indian billionaire businessman who founded Infosys.

7. Sunak and Murty are the 222nd richest people in Britain, with a combined fortune of £730m as of 2022.

8. Sunak supported Brexit in the 2016 referendum on EU membership. He voted three times in favour of May’s Brexit withdrawal agreement.

9. He was appointed to Theresa May’s second government as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Local Government in the 2018 reshuffle.

10. After May resigned, Sunak supported Boris Johnson’s campaign to become Conservative leader.

11. After Johnson was elected and appointed Prime Minister, he appointed Sunak as Chief Secretary to the Treasury.

12. Sunak replaced Sajid Javid as Chancellor of the Exchequer after his resignation in the February 2020 cabinet reshuffle.

13. He resigned as chancellor on 5 July, 2022, citing his economic policy differences with Johnson in his resignation letter.

14. In July 2022, he stood in the Conservative party leadership election to replace Johnson and lost the members’ vote to Liz Truss.

15. Following Truss’ resignation amid a government crisis, Sunak won the October 2022 Conservative Party leadership election.

#uk prime minister #boris johnson gives thumbs up as he arrives back in the uk with support from big hitters to be pm – but rishi leads race #rishi sunak

[isupportzaynxliamxziam]

✒ Thursday, 8 October 2020

📷 Liam Payne: Enjoyed shooting this @hugo_official campaign with Photographer @matteomonranariphotography. We shot this at the start of the year before social distancing, back before I decided to grow my hair! Hope you like it. Stay tuned for the official launch of #HUGOeyewear

📷 Denise Lewis: Yes this works too 😍

📷 Ross Harris: Looking good chap 💪💪💪

#✒ 8 October 2020 #❤ Liam Payne #📷 Liam's Instagram #👓 HUGOeyewear 🕶 #📷 Denise Lewis' Instagram #📷 Ross Harris' Instagram

[bcacstuff]

Timeline Part 4 August 2022 - September 2022

Timeline part 4, Covering August 2022 - September 2022. For previous dates see part 3 here.

Only on August 1st 2022 the next picture was posted, from Zion National Park in the US, his hair was buzzed off. A fan pic in Wyoming on August 3 suggested he was doing a roadtrip through some national parks. Which the pictures he posted later on seems to confirm and made a dog the talk of the fandom.

On August 7 he was having a Live IG, book reveal, clearly in LA the hotel Shutters at the Beach in Santa Monica. A couple of days later (August 10) he posted a video about 24 hours in LV containing parts of a John Legend concert in LV. He attended that concert on August 6 as we found a number of pics and videos of other attendees and showing he was there with a woman. He was staying at the Wynn in Las Vegas on August 5&6 as also confirmed in a fan pic at Neiman Marcus in LV, posted on August 12 the fan confirming he was there the week before.

Meanwhile he was already in Mexico, like he told he'd go there in his live IG, as seen the first video by mezcalgirl on August 10, and a video and pics by himself, and his friend chiefmabooboo posting a final video showing they were at Hanky Panky in Mexico City where he was around August 15/16/17. He posted his first TikTok on August 21 but most likely was already back in

LA recording the announcement for the Sassenach Gin coming in 2023 posted on August 24. Some claim this video was already recorded before he went to Mexico, but you could take a look at the Hair Timeline post I did about that. Though the order is not full proof it gives you a good indication of what he has been doing in the month of August in LV, LA and Mexico. Together with some more TikTok videos he posted later on but clearly located in Mexico and Venice, LA.

Meanwhile we saw schedules appearing from extras that showed filming started up again mid August. A TikTok showing the trailers posted by himself and nightshoots on the 1st and 2nd of September near Forestmills. And Duncarron being seen as a location for filming. So traveled back home somewhere the week before. A fan pic showing him for the first time since July without a hat at EDA on September 13.

More schedules of extras showed filming still going on in the week of September 19 at Kinloch Rannoch, confirmed by pictures him being there. Even though many speculated he was off, because of a TikTok video doing a hike was posted on Thursday 22 September.

However on Friday September 23 his friend Cree showed him in a video in London while a fan posted a fan pic at the National Theatre in London.

On the same date Midhope Castle was being prepared and trailers were spotted going there, while at the same time we know filming would take place at Forestmill according to schedules of extras.

On September 29 he had a live IG (from his house) with the Tasting Alliance.

For October we saw he was filming something at Loch Lomond and on Conic Hill together with Valbo and we know he attends NYCC on October 8&9. Latest is the announcement of a book event in NYC on October 17. Before the launch of his new book on October 25, he'll be doing book events in Edinburgh and London on October 23 & 24. That's it for now.

I will keep documenting the future events in a timeline as well and post from time to time.

Other Timlines

Part 1 August 2020 Part 2 September 2021 Part 3 February 2022

[spacenutspod]

SpaceX is debuting a new capability on their upcoming 30th cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. For the first time, a Dragon 2 capsule will lift off atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. This is possible thanks to the newly constructed crew and cargo access tower at the pad, assembled throughout 2023 in between the onslaught of Falcon 9 launches. CRS-30 is scheduled to lift off on Thursday, March 21 at 4:55 PM EDT (20:55 UTC). The launch weather forecast shows a 90 percent chance of favorable weather on Thursday, dropping to 15 percent on Friday should there be a delay in the launch. SLC-40 now joins Launch Complex 39A (LC-39A) as the second crew-capable launch pad in SpaceX’s arsenal. This gives SpaceX a backup crew site should there be an issue affecting launches at LC-39A, or if another mission requires use of LC-39A at the same time, including future Starship flights from the in-progress launch mount that recently resumed work. It was speculated initially that the crewed Axiom-3 mission in January could be the first flight to use this tower. However, more time was needed after installation of the access arm in early November and a full checkout of the infrastructure. Validation of the emergency egress system, a zip-line escape method for astronauts and crew to move away from the pad in the event of an emergency, was completed at the end of February. Other ground systems were validated during the Falcon launch of the CRS NG-20 mission in January – one of three rides purchased for Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus craft to fill the gap between the retired Antares 230+ and the upcoming Antares 330. Since the tower was only recently built, NASA preferred that a cargo flight be the first to make use of it. CRS-30 therefore forms part of the certification process ahead of the first crewed flight to use the tower. Certification of the tower for NASA crewed missions could be ready in time for the Crew 9 flight, but no decision has yet been made on when a crewed Dragon will fly from SLC-40. See AlsoCRS-30 UpdatesSpaceX Missions SectionNSF StoreClick here to Join L2 SpaceX has launched commercial resupply services (CRS) missions to the International Space Station (ISS) for over eleven years. Its first mission, CRS-1, lifted off in October 2012 carrying Cargo Dragon C103 on what was only the fourth Falcon 9 flight. The contract was initially signed in 2008 for 12 missions and was subsequently extended. SpaceX is currently contracted for a further five missions through CRS-35 in 2026 – though this will almost certainly be extended further. This mission will utilize Cargo Dragon C209, making its fourth flight. The new access arm will be used to perform late-loading of supplies beginning approximately 24 hours before launch. This pad previously hosted Dragon 1 cargo missions between 2010 and 2020 before the upgraded Cargo Dragon 2 was introduced. The new capsule boasts increased payload capacity, autonomous docking to the ISS, and the option of late-loading cargo while vertical using the crew access arm. Installation of the crew access arm on the new tower at SLC-40 in November 2023. (Credit: SpaceX) The booster for this mission, B1080-6, will return to land on the concrete pad at Landing Zone 1 to the south of SLC-40. Dragon is scheduled to dock autonomously to the ISS at the zenith port of the Harmony module on Saturday, March 23 at approximately 7:30 AM EDT (03:30 UTC). Both docking ports will be occupied between this craft and Crew Dragon Endeavour which recently launched Crew 8. After CRS-30 departs the station, Crew 8 will move to the zenith port to make way for the planned Starliner Crewed Flight Test in May. CRS-30 Payloads The more than 6,000 pounds (2.700 kilograms) of payloads onboard Cargo Dragon include food, supplies, and equipment for the crew of the ISS. Riding along are more than 40 science investigations to be conducted on the orbiting laboratory for NASA and its research partners. These include new sensors that will enable the Astrobee free-flying robots to map the environment around them in 3D as a forerunner for wider situational awareness applications. The science onboard also includes a study of plant metabolism in space, the measurement of sea ice and wave heights using reflectometry, and the creation of nanoparticle solar cells to improve solar cell efficiency. The multi-resolution scanning payload prototype is housed within an Astrobee robot at NASA’s Ames Research Center (with the front cover removed). (Credit: CSIRO / NASA) The astronauts aboard the ISS have been accompanied by the cube-shaped Astrobee robots named Honey, Queen, and Bumble since early 2019. These free-flying robots are approximately 32 centimeters wide and are modular so that they can be upgraded, enabling researchers to perform a wide range of experiments inside the Station. Astrobees have recently been involved in experiments such as a grappling demonstration back in January which observed how an Astrobee might propel itself around the Station using its perching arm rather than propellant. This month’s experiment will provide an Astrobee with additional sensors that will enable it to create 3D maps of the interior of the Station as it moves around using a multi-resolution scanner (MRS). Data is combined from multiple sensors, adding redundancy. Stereo vision cameras are complemented by multiple different sensor types that combine to generate accurate trajectory data and high-resolution 3D information. These will also provide deeper insight into how the Astrobee moves around in 3D space.  CSIRO project lead Dr. Marc Elmouttie with the Multi-Resolution Scanning payload, housed within an Astrobee robot. (Credit: CSIRO / NASA) The technology being tested is intended to add automation to a variety of situational awareness scenarios where robots would be able to sense their environment and conduct precise maneuvers in response to it. Potential applications include caretaking on future spacecraft, monitoring and operating the systems with little to no human occupancy – such as on the planned lunar Gateway station, or in autonomous vehicles that might be sent to other celestial bodies. The same technology could enable autonomous inspection or maintenance of spacecraft and it is hoped the experiment will also inform ways to improve robotic explorers that are sent into the harshest environments here on Earth.  The MRS was developed by the Australian Government’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Organisation in partnership with Boeing, integrating technology from their mining and robotics teams. The MRS was tested and certified at NASA’s Ames Research Center. Brachypodium and Setaria were grown in the Plant Growth Systems (PGS) and tested under International Space Station environmental conditions using the Veggie units at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center during the APEX-09 Experiment Verification Test. (Credit: NASA) A separate experiment will be observing photosynthesis for future bio-regenerative life support systems. The C4 Photosynthesis in Space Advanced Plant Experiment-09 (APEX-09) experiment will examine how the mechanism of capturing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in two types of grasses is affected by microgravity and other space flight stressors. Understanding the molecular changes in plants exposed to this environment would lead to a deeper understanding of photosynthesis in space and inform the design of future bio-regenerative support systems. Plants are expected to play a part in longer deep space exploration missions as part of the life support architecture and as a food source. There are a number of CubeSats aboard, including four for NASA’s ELaNa 51 mission and three Canadian satellites. One of the Canadian spacecraft is Killick-1. Using Global Navigation Satellite System reflectometry (GNSS-R), the 2U Killick-1 will measure sea ice and wave height to improve climate models and monitor ocean phenomena. GNSS-R measures satellite signals reflected from the Earth’s surface and will inform our knowledge of climate change, surface winds, and storm surges. Over 100 undergraduate and graduate engineering students at Memorial University in Canada have participated in Killick-1, a Canadian Space Agency project developed by C-CORE. C-CORE is a company specializing in remote sensing and geotechnical engineering solutions. The Killick-1 CubeSat is said to be low-cost, energy-efficient, and light in mass – potentially leading to cheaper solutions that could monitor and collect data on our oceans in the future. Fully assembled Killick-1 CubeSat with its Global Navigation Satellite System Reflectometry (GNSS-R) antenna deployed. (Credit: C-CORE and Memorial University / NASA) An additional science experiment onboard intends to improve solar cell efficiency by precisely arranging nanoparticles in space. The study will review the concentration and interaction of nanoparticles and microparticles within an electrical field in microgravity and how these relate to changes in their shape and charge. NASA has partnered with students in higher education to develop “Nano Particle Haloing Suspension” hardware for this investigation which will use charged nanoparticles to enable precise particle arrangements. The researchers hope that advances can be made in the production of solar cells synthesized with quantum dots – tiny spheres of semiconductor material with the potential to convert sunlight into energy much more efficiently. Inside Dragon’s trunk resides the Pump Module Assembly, which will be kept as a spare on orbit. This piece of equipment, if put into operation, will be used to cool electrical systems on the outside of the Station. After Dragon docks to the ISS, the Canadarm2 robotic arm will be used to remove the assembly from the trunk and place it into its storage location on the outside of the Station. Dragon C209 will spend around a month at the Station before returning to Earth. The capsule will splash down off the coast of Florida, carrying several tons of cargo and experiment results. C209 will be unloaded at Cape Canaveral and refurbished for its next flight. (Lead image: The new access arm connected to Cargo Dragon at SLC-40. Credit: SpaceX)  The post SpaceX’s 30th resupply mission to use new access tower at SLC-40 for the first time appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com.

#space #astronomy #news #science

[newstfionline]

Friday, March 8, 2024

Springing forward (AP) Once again, most Americans will set their clocks forward by one hour this weekend, losing perhaps a bit of sleep but gaining more glorious sunlight in the evenings as the days warm into summer. There’s been plenty of debate over the practice, but about 70 countries—about 40% of those across the globe—currently use what Americans call daylight saving time. While springing the clocks forward “kind of jolts our system,” the extra daylight gets people outdoors, exercising and having fun, says Anne Buckle, web editor at timeanddate.com, which features information on time, time zones and astronomy. “The really, really awesome advantage is the bright evenings, right?” she says. “It is actually having hours of daylight after you come home from work to spend time with your family or activities. And that is wonderful.”

Biden’s big move on Gaza (Politico) President Joe Biden announced that the U.S. military will establish a temporary seaport in Gaza, effectively sidestepping a de facto Israeli blockade to allow more humanitarian aid in. The move to expand aid flows also includes “the opening of a third land crossing into Gaza, which the United Nations confirmed Thursday will allow aid to flow into the northern part of the territory.” It will be a complex operation that could take 45 to 60 days to establish a “regular cadence of large assistance packages” into Gaza through Cyprus. And it will somehow be done without U.S. troops having to set foot in Palestinian territory: “The U.S. military has ‘unique capabilities’ that allow it to construct a port or causeway without having to send forces to Gaza’s shores, said one of the officials.”

The Biden-Trump rematch feared by many voters has now arrived (Washington Post) President Biden’s campaign aides have long said that once the presidential race becomes a clear contrast between two choices, their electoral prospects would brighten as voters come face to face with the stark prospect of Donald Trump’s return to the White House. With the Super Tuesday contests completed and Trump’s last major GOP rival, former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, suspending her campaign, Biden’s allies now have their chance—and eight months of political combat—to prove their theory. The 2024 general election has kicked off in earnest—promising to be the longest, most expensive and, perhaps, most divisive presidential race in recent memory. The reactions of both men to Tuesday’s results—with each rushing to attack the other and casting the election as an existential moment for the country—offered a hint of what voters can expect to see in a rematch of the 2020 race that many have long said they dreaded.

Profound Damage Found in Maine Gunman’s Brain, Possibly From Blasts (NYT) A specialized laboratory examining the brain of the gunman who committed Maine’s deadliest mass shooting found profound brain damage of the kind that has been seen in veterans exposed to repeated blasts from weapons use. The gunman, Robert Card, was a grenade instructor in the Army Reserve. In 2023, after eight years of being exposed to thousands of skull-shaking blasts on the training range, he began hearing voices and was stalked by paranoid delusions, his family said. He grew increasingly erratic and violent in the months before the October rampage in Lewiston, in which he killed 18 people and then himself. According to the lab’s report, throughout Mr. Card’s brain there was scarring and inflammation suggesting repeated trauma. It was a characteristic pattern of damage that has been found before in military veterans who were repeatedly exposed to weapons blasts during their service.

Haitian leader, unable to return to country, faces pressure to resign (Washington Post) The United States is urging Haiti’s embattled prime minister to clear the way for the election of a new president, a position vacant since 2021, amid growing pressure from armed rebels at home and governments abroad. Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told reporters Wednesday that the U.S. government has asked Prime Minister Ariel Henry to “move forward on a political process that will lead to the establishment of a presidential transitional council that will lead to elections.” As the armed gangs that control an estimated 80 percent of Haiti’s capital called for Henry’s ouster, the prime minister was having difficulty returning to the country. The 74-year-old physician, unelected and increasingly isolated, has declined so far to step down.

Hondurans glued to their former president’s US drug trafficking trial (AP) Hondurans call it the “Trial of the Century,” but it’s occurring in a New York courtroom some 3,500 miles (5,630 kilometers) away. Former Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández has been on trial since February in a federal courthouse in Manhattan, accused of taking bribes to protect drug traffickers, even as he portrayed himself publicly as an ally in the U.S. drug war. The trial is not televised, but some Honduran news outlets sent their own reporters to New York to cover the prosecution, with each pre-trial motion dissected by local news outlets.

Anger over corruption and Portugal’s economy could help a radical right party in Sunday’s election (AP) Home furnishings giant Ikea recently placed billboards in Portugal advertising a self-assembly bookcase, with a wink at the country’s political upheaval. “A good place to stash books. Or to stash 75,800 euros,” it said. That’s the amount of cash, equivalent to $82,000, police found stuffed in envelopes on bookshelves when they searched the office of the prime minister’s chief of staff last year during a corruption investigation. The discovery triggered a scandal that brought down the government and led to an early general election on Sunday. Outrage over the scandal could give further momentum to a rightward drift in European politics as a radical right populist party benefits from disenchantment with mainstream political parties. Similar trends gripped neighboring Spain and France.

Poland sees its most violent protest yet against Ukraine imports, EU rules (AP) Poland saw its most violent protest by farmers and supporters yet Wednesday as some participants threw stones at police and tried to push through barriers around parliament, injuring several officers, police said. Police used tear gas and said they detained over a dozen people and prevented the protesters from getting through to the Sejm, the Polish parliament. Farmers are angry over European Union climate policies and food imports from Ukraine that they say threaten their livelihoods. Such protests have occurred across the 27-member EU in recent weeks, but this one was decidedly angrier than earlier demonstrations in the central European nation. The protesters are demanding a withdrawal from the EU’s Green Deal, requiring farmers to reduce the excessive use of polluting chemicals to boost their crops. The protesters also want the Polish-Ukrainian border closed to stop the imports of Ukrainian food products, which farmers say drive down market prices and put Poland’s agricultural sector in jeopardy.

Russian missile strike hits near Zelensky motorcade in Odessa (Washington Post) A Russian missile strike appeared to target Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday, landing near his motorcade in the Black Sea port city of Odessa, where the president was meeting with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Zelensky and members of the Greek delegation were not harmed, despite the missile landing some 500 feet away. Foreign leaders have made frequent trips to Ukraine throughout the country’s two years of war with Russia, and this isn’t the first time there has been a strike on a city at the same time as one’s visit. But Wednesday’s incident stood out for how close the missile strike was to both Zelensky and Mitsotakis.

More Chinese women choosing singledom as economy stutters (Reuters) Freelance copywriter Chai Wanrou thinks marriage is an unfair institution. Like many young women in China, she is part of a growing movement that envisions a future with no husband and no children, presenting the government with a challenge it could do without. President Xi Jinping last year stressed the need to “cultivate a new culture of marriage and childbearing” as China’s population fell for a second consecutive year and new births reached historic lows. The Communist Party views the nuclear family as the bedrock of social stability, with unmarried mothers stigmatised and largely denied benefits. But a growing number of educated women, facing unprecedented insecurity amid record youth unemployment and an economic downturn, are espousing “singleism” instead.

Israel-Hamas Talks Over Hostage Releases and a Cease-Fire Stall (NYT) Talks between Israel and Hamas over the release of dozens of Israeli hostages held in Gaza have stalled, dimming hopes that a deal could be reached before Ramadan begins in a few days, according to several people briefed on the conversations. Negotiators had been discussing a proposal for an initial six-week cease-fire during which Hamas would release about 40 people—including women, elderly and ill hostages, and five female Israeli soldiers—for a substantial number of Palestinian prisoners. But in recent days, Hamas has backed away from the proposed agreement and made demands that Israel refuses to meet, according to officials briefed on the talks.

Concerns raised Israel is deliberately targeting journalists in Gaza (Press Gazette) The International Federation of Journalists alleges that the Israeli Defense Forces are using technology to specifically track and target journalists. The Committee to Protect Journalism estimates that 94 media workers have been killed since the conflict began, while the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate says that 120 journalists—or 10% of its membership—have been killed since October.

Houthi missile strike on ship kills 3 civilian mariners, U.S. says (Washington Post) Houthi militants struck a Barbados-flagged, Liberian-owned commercial vessel off the coast of Yemen on Wednesday, killing three civilian mariners, U.S. officials said—the first known fatalities since the Houthis began targeting ships in what they describe as a response to Israel’s actions in Gaza. On Wednesday evening local time, the United States conducted self-defense strikes against two unmanned aerial vehicles that threatened U.S. Navy and maritime vessels in the area. At least four people were injured in the Houthi missile attack; three are in critical condition, said U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in the region. The crew of True Confidence abandoned the ship, and allied warships responded.

New attacks by IS-linked group in Mozambique leave over 70 children missing (AP) A surge of new attacks by an Islamic State-affiliated group in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province has left more than 70 children missing, with fears they may have drowned in a river or been kidnapped by militants as thousands of families fled, local authorities and a group of aid agencies said. The attacks have hit areas that had been relatively untouched since the start of the jihadist insurgency in Cabo Delgado in 2017. They may mark a new stage in a crisis that aid agencies say forced more than a million people to flee their homes during nearly seven years of violence. Thousands were killed.

Pope Francis’ health (AP) Pope Francis again asked an aide to read his remarks and was unable to get back onto his popemobile Wednesday, as lingering respiratory and mobility problems continued to take their toll on the 87-year-old pontiff. Francis presided over his weekly general audience, held outside for the first time this year in a chilly St. Peter’s Square. But he had an aide read his catechism lesson, as he has done for the past several days. Last Wednesday, Francis went to the hospital for unspecified diagnostic tests, the results of which have not been released. He has been suffering on and off this winter from what he and the Vatican have said was a cold, bouts of bronchitis and the flu. The Argentine pope had part of one lung removed as a young man because of a respiratory infection, and he often speaks in a whisper even when not sick. In 2021, he had a chunk of his colon removed and last year had surgery to repair an abdominal hernia and remove intestinal scar tissue.

#headlines #news

[bllsbailey]

Biden's Memory 'Hazy' and 'Poor': Report Raising Questions About His Age

What is the normal retirement age for 2023?

67 years old

The longstanding concerns about President Joe Biden's age and memory intensified on Thursday after the release of a special counsel's report investigating his possession of classified documents.

The report described the 81-year-old Democrat's memory as “hazy,” “fuzzy,” “faulty,” “poor" and having “significant limitations.” It noted that Biden could not recall defining milestones in his own life.

"He did not remember when he was vice president, forgetting on the first day of the interview when his term ended ('if it was 2013 — when did I stop being Vice President?'), and forgetting on the second day of the interview when his term began ('in 2009, am I still Vice President?')," the report said. “He did not remember, even within several years, when his son Beau died.”

While Biden will not face charges for mishandling classified documents, the report's assertions about his memory could undermine Biden's message to voters that he can manage the government and safeguard the country. Voters are already going into this year’s election with severe misgivings about Biden’s age, having scrutinized his gaffes, his coughing, his slow walking and even a tumble off his bicycle.

In ruling out a prosecution of Biden over his retention of highly classified materials as a private citizen, the report suggested he would seem too feeble to prosecute: “It would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him — by then a former president well into his eighties — of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness.”

The White House pushed back on the characterizations of Biden's memory in a Feb. 5 letter from the president's lawyers that was published in special counsel Robert Hur's report. The letter argues that Biden's “inability to recall dates or details of events that happened years ago is neither surprising nor unusual,” particularly about when certain documents were packed or moved.

“We do not believe that the report’s treatment of President Biden’s memory is accurate or appropriate,” the letter said. “The report uses highly prejudicial language to describe a commonplace occurrence among witnesses: a lack of recall of years-old events. Such comments have no place in a Department of Justice report.”

It is not unusual for the subjects of government investigations to say they don't recall an event or a conversation in order to avoid issues such as perjury. The special counsel did not release the transcript of the interviews with Biden, so some context is unclear. 

Biden noted in a statement issued Thursday that he had sat for five hours of interviews with Hur's team over two days on Oct. 8 and 9, “even though Israel had just been attacked on October 7th and I was in the middle of handling an international crisis.”

In an August poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs, 77% of U.S. adults said Biden is too old to be effective for four more years. It was one of the rare sources of bipartisan agreement during a politically polarized era, with 89% of Republicans and 69% of Democrats saying Biden’s age is a problem.

The release of the report overlapped with recent Biden speeches in which he mistakenly claimed to talk with European leaders — France’s Francois Mitterrand and Germany’s Helmut Kohl — who had, in fact, not held office since the 1990s and had died several years ago.

The 77-year-old former President Donald Trump also faces questions about recent memory lapses. In a January speech, Trump mistakenly and repeatedly confused former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, his major opponent for the GOP nomination, with Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

Pelosi was the House speaker during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection by Trump’s supporters who were seeking to stop the certification of the 2020 election results. Trump said it was Haley who led the House and alleged she should have done more to secure it.

But Republican critics were quick to pile on Thursday as the special counsel's report became public.

Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., said on X, formerly Twitter, that the report was “alarming” and it's clear that Biden “does not have the cognitive ability to be President.”

“If you’re too senile to stand trial, then you’re too senile to be president. Joe Biden is unfit to lead this nation,” said Alex Pfeiffer, a spokesman for Make America Great Again Inc., the main super PAC backing Trump's candidacy.

Shortly before the special counsel's report was publicly released, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was playing down Biden's gaffes at the daily news briefing. Jean-Pierre said the slip-ups are “common” for most public figures, including those younger than Biden.

“It happens to all of us,” said Jean-Pierre, who noted she herself has misspoken, as has House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.

Jean-Pierre tried to say that the public's attention should be focused more on the substance of what Biden was saying about his likely November opponent, Trump.

And Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Steven Horsford, D-Nev., on Thursday dismissed concerns about Biden’s mental acuity after the president’s mix-ups earlier this week.

“I was with the president on Sunday,” Horsford said, referring to Biden’s Nevada visit. “The president is very well suited to be our commander-in-chief and we’re going to continue to focus on the issues that the American people are focused on.”

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Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell lit into House Republicans on Thursday for seeking to Rep. Ilhan Omar from her seat on the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee over perceived antisemitic comments while waiting for weeks to tweet a praising Kanye West after the rapper proclaimed he would go "death con 3 on Jewish people."

"So, I thought we're going to hold someone accountable for antisemitism, surely it's the author of this tweet," Swalwell said on the House floor while pointing to a large printout of the tweet published on the official House Judiciary GOP account. "Kanye. Elon. Trump. October 6, written by Chairman Jim Jordan. October 8, what does Kanye say? I'm going to declare 'death con 3' on the Jews. So surely, this tweet came down? It was deleted? No. Two more months it was kept up. Two more months."

Swalwell then added, "So don't come here looking at us for antisemitism. Look in your own damn mirror before you ever come over here."

House Republicans later voted to remove Omar from the panel.

In response to Swalwell's comments, Russell Dye, the communications director for the House Judiciary Committee panel, said that Jordan, who now chairs the powerful committee, does not run the panel's Twitter account.

Insider previously reported that the tweet stayed up even after West began increasingly antisemitic comments that ended up with unbridled praise for Adolph Hitler. It was amid West's praise for Hitler that the tweet was deleted.

"Mr. Swalwell is lying much like he lies about his relationships with Chinese spies," Dye added, a reference to a 2020 Axios report that the California Democrat was targeted by a Chinese intelligence agent.

Swalwell has repeatedly claimed he did nothing wrong and ended all communication with the suspected spy after meeting with the FBI. House Republicans cited that report in a separate effort to remove Swalwell from the House Intelligence Committee.

The GOP had long vowed that it would punish the Minnesota Democrat for a series of comments she made in 2019, including that US support for Israel was "all about the Benjamins baby." Members of both parties condemned Omar's remarks and pointed out that the "Benjamins" comment furthered an old antisemitic trope. Omar has apologized for her past statements.

Just before the vote, Omar said that the punishment was aimed at silencing her voice. She vowed that the setback would not stop her.

"My leadership and voice will not be diminished if I am not on this committee for one term," Omar said on the House floor. "My voice will get louder and stronger and my leadership will be celebrated around the world as it has been."

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