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👁 :67
The Invisible Ship Experiment
Catagory: History
Author:
Posted Date:11/21/2024
Posted By:utopia online

Allegedly, in the fall of 1943 a U.S. Navy destroyer was made invisible and teleported from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Norfolk, Virginia, in an incident known as the Philadelphia Experiment. Records in the Archives Branch of the Naval History and Heritage Command have been repeatedly searched, but no documents have been located which confirm the event or any interest by the Navy in attempting such an achievement. The ship involved in the experiment was supposedly the USS Eldridge. The Archives has reviewed the deck log and war diary from Eldridge's commissioning on 27 August 1943 at the New York Navy Yard through December 1943. The following description of Eldridge's activities are summarized from the ship's war diary. After commissioning, Eldridge remained in New York and in the Long Island Sound until 16 September when it sailed to Bermuda. From 18 September, the ship was in the vicinity of Bermuda undergoing training and sea trials until 15 October when Eldridge left in a convoy for New York where the convoy entered on 18 October. Eldridge remained in New York harbor until 1 November when it was part of the escort for Convoy UGS-23 (New York Section). On 2 November the convoy entered Naval Operating Base, Norfolk. On 3 November, Eldridge and Convoy UGS-23 left for Casablanca where it arrived on 22 November. On 29 November, Eldridge left as one of escorts for Convoy GUS-22 and arrived with the convoy on 17 December at New York harbor. Eldridge remained in New York on availability training and in Block Island Sound until 31 December when it steamed to Norfolk with four other ships. During this time frame, Eldridge was never in Philadelphia. A copy of Eldridge's complete World War II action report and war diary coverage, including the remarks section of the 1943 deck log, is held by the Archives on microfilm, NRS-1978-26. The original file is held by the National Archives. Supposedly, the crew of the civilian merchant ship SS Andrew Furuseth observed the arrival via teleportation of the Eldridge into the Norfolk area. Andrew Furuseth's movement report cards are in the Tenth Fleet records in the custody of the Modern Military Branch, National Archives and Records Administration, (8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD 20740-6001), which also has custody of the action reports, war diaries and deck logs of all World War II Navy ships, including Eldridge. The movement report cards list the merchant ship's ports of call, the dates of the visit, and convoy designation, if any. The movement report card shows that Andrew Furuseth left Norfolk with Convoy UGS-15 on 16 August 1943 and arrived at Casablanca on 2 September. The ship left Casablanca on 19 September and arrived off Cape Henry on 4 October. Andrew Furuseth left Norfolk with Convoy UGS-22 on 25 October and arrived at Oran on 12 November. The ship remained in the Mediterranean until it returned with Convoy GUS-25 to Hampton Roads on 17 January 1944. The Archives has a letter from Lieutenant Junior Grade William S. Dodge, USNR, (Ret.), the Master of Andrew Furuseth in 1943, categorically denying that he or his crew observed any unusual event while in Norfolk. Eldridge and Andrew Furuseth were not even in Norfolk at the same time. The Office of Naval Research (ONR) has stated that the use of force fields to make a ship and her crew invisible does not conform to known physical laws. ONR also claims that Dr. Albert Einstein's Unified Field Theory was never completed. During 1943-1944, Einstein was a part-time consultant with the Navy's Bureau of Ordnance, undertaking theoretical research on explosives and explosions. There is no indication that Einstein was involved in research relevant to invisibility or to teleportation. View ONR's information sheet on the Philadelphia Experiment. The Philadelphia Experiment has also been called "Project Rainbow." A comprehensive search of the Archives has failed to identify records of a Project Rainbow relating to teleportation or making a ship disappear. In the 1940s, the code name RAINBOW was used to refer to the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis. The RAINBOW plans were the war plans to defeat Italy, Germany and Japan. RAINBOW V, the plan in effect on 7 December 1941 when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, was the plan the U.S. used to fight the Axis powers. Some researchers have erroneously concluded that degaussing has a connection with making an object invisible. Degaussing is a process in which a system of electrical cables are installed around the circumference of ship's hull, running from bow to stern on both sides. A measured electrical current is passed through these cables to cancel out the ship's magnetic field. Degaussing equipment was installed in the hull of Navy ships and could be turned on whenever the ship was in waters that might contain magnetic mines, usually shallow waters in combat areas. It could be said that degaussing, correctly done, makes a ship "invisible" to the sensors of magnetic mines, but the ship remains visible to the human eye, radar, and underwater listening devices. Reference https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/p/philadelphia-experiment.html


Type:Science
👁 :42
The Father of Cell Phone
Catagory:Biography
Author:
Posted Date:11/21/2024
Posted By:utopia online

Martin Cooper (born December 26, 1928, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.) is an American engineer who led the team that in 1972–73 built the first mobile cell phone and made the first cell phone call. He is widely regarded as the father of the cellular phone. Cooper graduated from the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in Chicago with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering (1950). He joined the U.S. Navy and served during the Korean War. After the war, he joined the Teletype Corporation, and in 1954 he began working at Motorola. He earned a master’s in electrical engineering from IIT (1957). At Motorola, Cooper worked on many projects involving wireless communications, such as the first radio-controlled traffic-light system, which he patented in 1960, and the first handheld police radios, which were introduced in 1967. He later served as a vice president and director of research and development (1978–83) for the company. In 1986 Cooper co-founded Cellular Payphone Inc. (CPPI), the parent company of Great Call, Inc., Innovator of the Jitterbug cell phone (in partnership with Samsung). Great Call is the first complete end-to-end value-added service provider in the cellular industry to focus on simplicity with its primary emphasis on senior citizens. Cooper worked at Motorola for 29 years; building and managing both its paging and cellular businesses. He also led the creation of trunked mobile radio, quartz crystal oscillators, liquid crystal displays, piezo-electric components, Motorola A.M. stereo technology and various mobile and portable two-way radio product lines. Reference https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Cooper_(inventor) https://www.britannica.com/biography/Martin-Cooper


Type:Technology
👁 :147
Who Is Ronaldinho?
Catagory:Biography
Author:
Posted Date:11/21/2024
Posted By:utopia online

Brazilian soccer star Ronaldinho came from a family of soccer players to reach the pinnacle of success in the sport. After a celebrated youth career, Ronaldinho became a key member of the Brazilian team that won the 2002 World Cup. He has played for clubs in Brazil, France, Spain and Italy, and has twice been named FIFA World Player of the Year. Early Life Ronaldinho was born Ronaldo de Assis Moreira on March 21, 1980, in Porto Alegre, Brazil. His father, João Moreira, was a former professional soccer player who also worked as a welder in a shipyard, and his mother, Miguelina de Assis, was a cosmetics saleswoman who later became a nurse. Ronaldinho's older brother, Roberto Assis, was also a professional soccer player; Ronaldinho was surrounded by soccer from the day he was born. "I come from a family where soccer has always been very present," he said. "My uncles, my father and my brother were all players. Living with that kind of background, I learned a great deal from them. I tried to devote myself to it more and more with the passage of time." In particular, he idolized his father, who suffered a fatal heart attack when Ronaldinho was 8 years old. "He was one of the most important people for me and in my career, even though he died when I was very young," he said. "He gave me some of the best advice I've ever had. Off the field: 'Do the right thing and be an honest, straight-up guy.' And on the field: 'Play soccer as simply as possible.' He always said one of the most complicated things you can do is to play it simple." Ronaldinho began playing organized youth soccer at the age of 7, and it was as a youth soccer player that he first received the nickname "Ronaldinho," the diminutive form of his birth name, Ronaldo. "They always called me that when I was little because I was really small," the player explains, "and I played with players who were older than me. When I got to the senior national team there was another Ronaldo, so they started calling me Ronaldinho because I was younger." Growing up in a relatively poor, hardscrabble neighborhood, Ronaldinho's youth teams had to make do with makeshift playing fields. "The only grass on the field was in the corner," Ronaldinho remembers. "There was no grass in the middle! It was just sand." In addition to soccer, Ronaldinho also played futsal—an offshoot of soccer played indoors on a hard court surface and with only five players on each side. Ronaldinho's early experiences with futsal helped shape his unique playing style, marked by his remarkable touch and close control on the ball. "A lot of the moves I make originate from futsal," Ronaldinho once said, explaining, "It's played in a very small space, and the ball control is different in futsal. And to this day, my ball control is pretty similar to a futsal player's control." Ronaldinho quickly developed into one of Brazil's most talented youth soccer players. When he was 13 years old, he once scored a ridiculous 23 goals in a single game. While leading his team to a variety of junior championships, Ronaldinho immersed himself in Brazil's long and glorious soccer history, studying past greats such as Pelé, Rivelino and Ronaldo, and dreaming of following in their footsteps. Then, in 1997, a teenaged Ronaldinho won a call-up to Brazil's Under-17 national team. The squad won the FIFA Under-17 World Championship in Egypt, and Ronaldinho was selected as the tournament's best player. Soon afterward, Ronaldinho signed his first professional contract to play for Grêmio, one of the most celebrated teams in the Brazilian league. Professional Career Ronaldinho made his senior debut for Grêmio in the 1998 Copa Libertadores tournament. The next year, he was invited to join the senior Brazilian national team to compete in the Confederations Cup in Mexico. Brazil turned in a second-place finish, and Ronaldinho won the Golden Ball Award as the tournament's best player as well as the Golden Boot Award as its leading goal scorer. Firmly established as a star on the international stage, in 2001, Ronaldinho left Brazil for Europe, signing a contract to play for Paris Saint-Germain in France. A year later, he participated in his first World Cup on a loaded Brazilian squad that also featured Ronaldo and Rivaldo. Ronaldinho scored two goals in five matches, including the game-winner in a quarter-final victory over England, and Brazil went on to defeat Germany in the finals to claim its fifth World Cup title. In 2003, Ronaldinho fulfilled a lifelong dream by joining FC Barcelona of the Spanish league, one of the world's most storied clubs, and winning the legendary No. 10 jersey typically worn by the squad's greatest creative player. In 2004 and 2005, Ronaldinho won back-to-back FIFA World Player of the Year awards, the sport's highest individual honor. He also led his teammates to the pinnacle of club success in 2006 with a triumphant run through the prestigious Champions League tournament. The following month, Ronaldinho headlined a very talented Brazilian squad that entered the World Cup with sky-high expectations. However, the tournament ended in disappointment for the defending champs, as France knocked Brazil out with a stunning upset in the quarter-finals. In 2008, Ronaldinho left Barcelona to join another of the world's most renowned clubs, A.C. Milan, but his performance for the Italian Series A giant was mostly nondescript. Underscoring his fading status, the former World Player of the Year was not included in the 2010 Brazilian team that competed in the World Cup in South Africa. In 2011, Ronaldinho returned to Brazil to play for Flamengo in Rio de Janeiro. The relationship between the club and its most prominent player got off to a great start when Flamengo won the 2011 Campeonato Carioca, but things turned sour by the following season. Ronaldinho missed several practices and performed indifferently in games, and eventually had his contract terminated due to unpaid wages. Ronaldinho signed with Atlético Mineiro in June 2012, a move that reignited his dynamic playmaking abilities, and he was given another shot with the national team to make the 2014 World Cup roster. Personal Life and Legacy In 2005, Ronaldinho and Brazilian dancer Janaína Mendes had a son, named João, after Ronaldinho's late father. The Brazilian superstar remains close to his family, with brother Roberto serving as his agent and sister Deisy acting as his press coordinator. An absolute wizard with a soccer ball, Ronaldinho is considered by many to be the greatest player of his generation and one of the best in history. He says that his soccer career has been an emotional roller coaster filled with high highs, low lows and a lifetime of unforgettable moments. "For me, soccer provides so many emotions, a different feeling every day," Ronaldinho said. "I've had the good fortune to take part in major competitions like the Olympics, and winning the World Cup was also unforgettable. We lost in the Olympics and won in the World Cup, and I'll never forget either feeling." QUICK FACTS • Name: Ronaldinho • Birth Year: 1980 • Birth date: March 21, 1980 • Birth City: Porto Alegre • Birth Country: Brazil • Gender: Male • Best Known For: Soccer superstar Ronaldinho was a member of Brazil's 2002 World Cup championship team and twice won the FIFA World Player of the Year award. • Industries o Sports • Astrological Sign: Aries • Nacionalities o Brazilian SOURCE : https://www.biography.com/athlete/ronaldinho • Website Name: The Biography.com website • Url: https://www.biography.com/athletes/ronaldinho


Type:Event
👁 :
Is nuclear power gaining new energy?
Catagory:Reading
Author:
Posted Date:11/21/2024
Posted By:utopia online

A decade ago, it seemed as though the global nuclear industry was in an irreversible decline. Concerns over safety, cost, and what to do with radioactive waste had sapped enthusiasm for a technology once seen as a revolutionary source of abundant cheap energy. Yet now there is widespread talk of a revival, fuelled by tech giants Microsoft, Google and Amazon all announcing investments in the sector, as well as the growing pressures on wealthy nations to curb their carbon emissions. But how real is the comeback? When commercial nuclear power was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s, governments were seduced by its seemingly unlimited potential. Nuclear reactors could harness and control the same awesome forces released by atomic bombs - to provide electricity for millions of homes. With a single kilogram of uranium yielding some 20,000 times as much energy as a kilogram of coal, it seemed like the future. But the technology also inspired public fear. And that fear seemed to be justified by the Chernobyl disaster, which spread radioactive contamination across Europe in early 1986. It fuelled widespread public and political opposition – and slowed the growth of the industry. Another accident, at the Fukushima Daichi plant in Japan in 2011, re-energised concerns about nuclear safety. Japan itself shut down all of its reactors in the immediate aftermath, and only 12 have since restarted. Germany decided to phase out nuclear power altogether. Other countries scaled back plans to invest in new power plants, or extend the lives of ageing facilities. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, this led to the loss of 48GW of electric power generation globally between 2011 and 2020.But nuclear development did not stop. In China, for example, there were 13 nuclear reactors in 2011. There are now 55, with another 23 under construction. For Beijing, scrambling to meet rapidly growing electricity demand, nuclear had, and still has, a vital role to play. Now interest in the sector seems to be growing elsewhere once again. This is partly because developed countries are hunting for ways to meet energy demand, while striving to meet emissions reduction targets under the Paris Agreement. With 2024 projected to be the warmest year on record, the pressure to cut carbon emissions is mounting. A renewed focus on energy security, in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has also been a factor. South Korea, for example, recently scrapped plans to phase out its large fleet of nuclear power stations over the next four decades – and will build more instead. And France has reversed plans to reduce its own reliance on nuclear energy, which provides 70% of its electricity. Instead, it wants to build up to eight new reactors. In addition, last week the US government reaffirmed at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, or Cop29, held in Azerbaijan, that it intends to triple nuclear power generation by 2050. The White House had originally pledged to do this on the side lines of last year's conference, Cop28. A total of 31 countries have now agreed to try to triple their use of nuclear power by 2050, including the UK, France and Japan. Also at Cop29, which ends on Friday, 22 November, the US and UK announced that they would collaborate to speed up the development of new nuclear power technology. This follows after it was agreed in the final statement or “stocktake” of last year's Cop28 that nuclear should be one of the zero or low emission technologies to be “accelerated” to help combat climate change. But hunger for clean power is not just coming from governments. Technology giants are striving to develop more and more applications that use artificial intelligence. Yet AI relies on data – and data centres need constant, reliable electricity. According to Barclays Research, data centres account for 3.5% of electricity consumption in the US today, but that figure could rise to more than 9% by the end of the decade. In September, Microsoft signed a 20-year deal to buy power from Constellation Energy, which will lead to the reopening of the infamous Three Mile Island power station in Pennsylvania – the site of the worst nuclear accident in US history, where a reactor suffered a partial meltdown in 1979. Despite its tainted public image, another reactor at the plant continued to generate electricity until 2019. Constellation’s chief executive Joe Dominguez described the deal to reopen it as a "powerful symbol of the rebirth of nuclear power as a clean and reliable energy resource". Other tech giants have taken a different approach. Google plans to buy energy produced from a handful of so-called Small Modular Reactors or SMRs – a nascent technology intended to make nuclear energy easier and cheaper to deploy. Amazon is also supporting SMR development and construction. SMRs themselves are being promoted, in part, as a solution to one of the biggest drawbacks facing nuclear power today. In western nations, new power stations have to be built to exacting modern safety standards. This makes them prohibitively expensive and complicated to build. Hinkley Point C is a good example. Britain’s first new nuclear power station since the mid-1990s is being built on a stretch of remote coastline in southwest England. It is meant to be the first of a batch of new plants to replace the country’s ageing reactor fleet. But the project is running some five years behind schedule and will cost up to £9bn ($11.5bn) more than planned. It is not an isolated case. The US’s newest reactors at Plant Vogtle in Georgia opened seven years late, and cost more than $35bn – well over double their original budget. SMRs are designed to solve this problem. They will be smaller than traditional reactors, using standardised parts that can be assembled quickly, at sites close to where the power is needed. But while there are some 80 different designs under development globally, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the concept has yet to be proven commercially.Opinions about nuclear power remain highly polarised. Supporters claim the technology is indispensable if climate targets are to be reached. Among them is Rod Adams, whose Nucleation Capital fund promotes investment in nuclear technology. “Nuclear fission has a seven-decade history showing it is one of the safest power sources available," he explains. “It is a durable, reliable source of power with low ongoing costs already, but capital costs have been too high in Western countries." Opponents though, insist nuclear power is not the answer. According to Professor M.V. Ramana of the University of British Columbia, it is “a folly to consider nuclear energy as clean”. It is, he says, "one of the most expensive ways to generate electricity. Investing in cheaper low-carbon sources of energy will provide more emissions reductions per dollar." If current trends do herald a new nuclear age, one old problem remains. After 70 years of atomic power, there is still disagreement over what to do with the accumulated radioactive waste - some of which will remain hazardous for hundreds of thousands of years. The answer being pursued by many governments is geological disposal - burying the waste in sealed tunnels deep underground. But only one country, Finland, has actually built such a facility, while environmentalists and anti-nuclear campaigners argue that dumping waste out of sight and out of mind is simply too risky. Solving that conundrum may be a key factor in dictating whether there really will be a new age of nuclear power.


Type:Social
👁 :
Russia and US battle for advantage in Ukraine war ahead of Trump's return
Catagory:News
Author:
Posted Date:11/21/2024
Posted By:utopia online

In a matter of days US President Joe Biden's administration and Russia have made separate - but significant - moves aimed at influencing the outcome of the war in Ukraine, two months ahead of Donald Trump’s return to the White House. There is a sense of Moscow maximising its gains and of Biden abandoning long-held red lines before Trump seeks to deliver on his claim to end the war in 24 hours. Ukraine has already acted on Biden’s decision to let Kyiv fire first long-range Atacms missiles deep into Russian territory. As Kyiv struggles to hold on to its territory in the east, Biden has promised to send anti-personnel landmines too as part of new military assistance worth nearly $300m (£239m). What prompted Biden’s change of heart appears to have been the arrival of thousands of North Koreans deployed to the front line, which the US sees as a “massive escalation”. But Russia's President Vladimir Putin has ratcheted up the tension still further by loosening the conditions of use for Russia’s nuclear weapons. That “effectively eliminates” defeat on the battlefield, claims Moscow. One Russia commentator suggested Putin might view the current situation as an “in-between” moment that gives him the sense he has the upper hand in Ukraine.At the start of this week, Russia launched its biggest aerial attack on Ukraine for almost three months. Amid fears of a renewed strike on Wednesday, several Western embassies closed their doors. "It’s all connected," says Mykhaylo Samus, head of the New Geopolitics Research Network in Ukraine. He argues Russia has been stockpiling hundreds of Iskander and Kinzhal missiles for weeks to enable it to carry out strikes and thus send a psychological message ahead of the transfer of power in Washington DC. Ukraine's capital, Kyiv, may have been spared on Wednesday, but the message got through. “Everything is about preparing for a strong position for talks with Trump, to understand Russia is not going to make compromise and everything depends on [Ukraine's President Volodymyr] Zelensky.” “There’s clearly an effort ahead of Trump to maximise their standings,” agrees Jade McGlynn, from the war studies department at King’s College London. She is highly sceptical that a deal with Putin is possible - and that ultimately his aim is to subjugate Russia’s south-western neighbour.Ukraine marked 1,000 days since Russia's full-scale invasion on Tuesday with Russian forces waging relentless attacks in a bid to seize key hubs in the east of Ukraine. The mood in Moscow appears to be that it is only a matter of time before Ukraine is in its hands, says Tatiana Stanovaya of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center. From January, however, Putin will have to consider other factors, she says: “He will have to deal with the fact that Trump now is responsible for the situation. If Putin escalates, it can worsen the chances for a deal. He will have to be more flexible, more open to different options.”The Biden administration announced new military assistance for Ukraine to include ammunition, missiles and drones, as well as anti-personnel landmines. The US leader's decision to allow Kyiv to begin firing Atacms into Russian territory was clearly directed at helping Kyiv, but it was felt by the Trump entourage, too. Although Trump has so far said nothing, his pick for National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz, spoke of “another step up the escalation ladder and nobody knows where this is going”. He did not go as far as some on the Trump team. Donald Trump Jr complained Biden was trying to “get World War Three” going before his father could even return to the White House. "There's one president at a time," said state department spokesman Matthew Miller "When the next president takes office, he can make his own decisions.” Some Republicans have backed Biden’s move, although Sen Lindsay Graham said he should have done it “to help Ukraine and he’s playing politics with it”.Russia’s reaction may or may not be an empty threat. Under its revised nuclear doctrine, Moscow will now be able to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear countries that are backed by nuclear powers, and if it comes under “massive” air attack, too. Alexander Yermakov from the Russian International Affairs Council says the change is not so much as an operational manual for using nuclear weapons, but “primarily it serves as a declaration to potential adversaries, outlining the scenarios in which such measures could be considered”.Tatiana Stanovaya believes it is not that he wants to start World War Three, but because “he believes he must scare the Western elites to show they are playing with fire”. What happens beyond January is anyone's guess. Kremlin insiders have already begun briefing about their minimal demands from any Trump initiative to end the war, and Volodymyr Zelensky has begun making his position clear too. Asked in a US TV interview what would happen to Ukraine if Washington slashed military aid, he was clear: "If they will cut, I think we will lose. Of course, anyway, we will stay and we will fight. We have production, but it’s not enough to prevail." Putin insists Ukraine will have to remain neutral for any relations to work, even though it is now part of Ukraine’s constitution to join both Nato and the European Union. A Reuters news agency report on Wednesday cited Russian officials saying Putin might be open to pulling out from relatively small patches of territory but nothing bigger. Zelensky on Tuesday presented his 10-point “resilience plan” to parliament, and one defiant message rang out in the Verkhovna Rada more than most. “Maybe Ukraine will have to outlive someone in Moscow in order to achieve all its goals... to restore the full integrity of Ukraine.” One day Russia would be without Putin, in other words, but Ukraine would be going nowhere. For Ukrainians that wait could take years, says Mykhaylo Samus, but they would never consent to abandoning Crimea or any other territory under Russian occupation. The most Zelensky might be prepared to sign would be a ceasefire without commitments, he believes. Anything else would lead to internal conflict as many would view it as a betrayal. Ahead of any talks Mykola Bielieskov of the National Institute for Strategic Studies in Kyiv believes the key is to prevent any major Russian breakthrough in the east. “For us it’s just necessary to localise [Russian] advances… using Atacms, anti-personnel landmines or whatever. Because if the Russians are successful they would try to dictate terms.” Speaking to the BBC from Kharkiv, Jade McGlynn said few Ukrainians believed Trump would be able to engineer any kind of lasting peace deal. Any kind of settlement that left Ukraine in a much worse position would lead to political chaos, she said. “Europe needs to step up,” she said, “and ultimately we know that the Scandinavians, Baltic states and Poland are not enough.”


Type:Social
👁 :
Las Vegas man who called 911 for help killed by police in his home
Catagory:News
Author:
Posted Date:11/21/2024
Posted By:utopia online

A 43-year-old man was fatally shot by police in Las Vegas after he called 911 for help while fighting off an intruder in his home. The family of Brandon Durham, including his 15-year-old daughter who was hiding in a nearby room, have asked for the officer to be fired. Mr Durham's teenage daughter said she was "disgusted" with Las Vegas police as they treated him like "the suspect" not "the victim". A lawyer for Alexander Bookman, the officer who shot Mr Durham, said he committed no crimes. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said Mr Bookman, 26, had been placed on paid administrative leave while they conduct an internal review of the 12 November incident. Mr Durham had called 911 to report that two people were shooting outside and were trying to break into his home, police said. Officers responding to the report found cars with broken windows outside. They also noticed damage to the house and heard shouting from inside, police said, prompting Mr Bookman to kick down the front door to enter. Body camera footage released by the police shows Mr Bookman walking through the home with his gun drawn, while screaming and banging can be heard out of view. Video shows Illinois police fatally shoot woman in her home Turning the corner of an L-shaped hallway, the officer finds a shirtless Mr Durham wrestling over a knife with a woman wearing a ski mask, later identified as 31-year-old Alejandra Boudreaux. Mr Bookman yells, "hey, drop the knife, drop the knife", seconds before firing a shot that hit Mr Durham and sent him and Ms Boudreaux to the ground. Mr Bookman then fires five more shots at Mr Durham and says "put your hands up", body-worn camera footage released by police showed. Mr Durham was pronounced dead at the scene. Ms Boudreaux was arrested and charged with four counts, including home invasion with a deadly weapon. "I am disgusted in how the Metropolitan Police told my father, after killing him, to stay down," Mr Durham's daughter told local news. "I'm disgusted that the Metropolitan Police will allow me to live fatherless for the rest of my life." The family's lawyer has asked for an immediate arrest warrant for Mr Bookman. “Unlike a civil case, in which an individual’s negligence is at issue, criminal cases require proof of a person’s criminal intent,” David Roger, general counsel for the Las Vegas Police Protective Association, said in a statement to CNN. “While Mr. Durham’s death is tragic, Officer Bookman was doing his job and did not intend to commit a crime.” Citing a police report, local news outlets said Mr Durham and Ms Boudreaux were previously in a romantic relationship. Assistant Sheriff Dori Koren said police did not find a gun on the scene, despite multiple reports of shots fired. The incident brought police shootings back into the spotlight, occurring just days before the justice department opened an investigation into the death of Sonya Massey, who was fatally shot in July by an officer inside her home in Illinois.


Type:Social
👁 :
US charges Indian billionaire with fraud
Catagory:News
Author:
Posted Date:11/21/2024
Posted By:utopia online

Indian billionaire Gautam Adani has been charged with fraud in the US, which has accused him of orchestrating a $250m (£198m) bribery scheme and concealing it to raise money in the US. The criminal charges, filed on Wednesday in New York, are the latest blow to 62-year-old Mr Adani, one of India's richest men, whose business empire extends from ports and airports to renewable energy. In the indictment, prosecutors alleged the tycoon and other senior executives had agreed to the payments to Indian officials to win contracts for his renewable energy company expected to yield more than $2bn in profits over 20 years. The Adani Group did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The conglomerate has been operating under a cloud in the US since 2023, when a high-profile company published a report accusing it of fraud. The claims, which Mr Adani denied, prompted a major market sell-off. Reports of this bribery probe have been circling for months. Prosecutors said the US started investigating the company in 2022, and found the inquiry obstructed. They allege that executives raised $3bn in loans and bonds, including from US firms, on the backs of false and misleading statements related to the firm's anti-bribery practices and policies, as well as reports of the bribery probe. “As alleged, the defendants orchestrated an elaborate scheme to bribe Indian government officials to secure contracts worth billions of dollars and... lied about the bribery scheme as they sought to raise capital from U.S. and international investors,” US Attorney Breon Peace said in a statement announcing the charges. “My office is committed to rooting out corruption in the international marketplace and protecting investors from those who seek to enrich themselves at the expense of the integrity of our financial markets,” he added. On several occasions Mr Adani met personally with government officials to advance the bribery scheme, officials said. Mr Adani is a close ally of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He has long faced claims from opposition politicians alleging that he has benefited from his political ties, which he denies. The US Attorney positions in the US are appointed by the president. The filing comes just weeks after Donald Trump won election to the White House, pledging to overhaul the US Justice Department. Last week on social media, Mr Adani congratulated Trump on his election win and pledged to invest $10bn in the US.


Type:Social
👁 :53
MONACO
Catagory: History
Author:
Posted Date:11/20/2024
Posted By:utopia online

Monaco, sovereign principality located along the Mediterranean Sea in the midst of the resort area of the Côte d’Azur (French Riviera). The city of Nice, France, lies 9 miles (15 km) to the west, the Italian border 5 miles (8 km) to the east. Monaco’s tiny territory occupies a set of densely clustered hills and a headland that looks southward over the Mediterranean. Many unusual features, however, have made Monaco among the most luxurious tourist resorts in the world and have given it a fame far exceeding its size. Many visitors to Monaco alternate their hours between its beaches and boating facilities, its international sports-car races, and its world-famous Place du Casino, the gambling centre in the Monte-Carlo section that made Monte-Carlo an international byword for the extravagant display and reckless dispersal of wealth. The country has a mild Mediterranean climate with annual temperatures averaging 61 °F (16 °C) and with only about 60 days of rainfall. Monthly average temperatures range from 50 °F (10 °C) in January to 75 °F (24 °C) in August. Evidences of Stone Age settlements in Monaco are preserved in the principality’s Museum of Prehistoric Anthropology. In ancient times the headland was known to the Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, and Romans. In 1191 the Genoese took possession of it, and in 1297 the long reign of the Grimaldi family began. The Grimaldis allied themselves with France except for the period from 1524 to 1641, when they were under the protection of Spain. In 1793 they were dispossessed by the French Revolutionary regime, and Monaco was annexed to France. With the fall of Napoleon I, however, the Grimaldis returned; the Congress of Vienna (1815) put Monaco under the protection of Sardinia. The principality lost the neighbouring towns of Menton and Roquebrune in 1848 and finally ceded them to France under the terms of the Franco-Monegasque treaty of 1861. The treaty did restore Monaco’s independence, however, and in 1865 a customs union was established between the two countries. Another treaty that was made with France, in 1918, contained a clause providing that, in the event that the Grimaldi dynasty should become extinct, Monaco would become an autonomous state under French protection. A revision to the constitution in 2002 added females and their legitimate children to the line of succession. In 1997 the Grimaldi family commemorated 700 years of rule, and in 1999 Prince Rainier III marked 50 years on the throne. Upon his death in April 2005, he was succeeded by his son, Albert; Albert formally assumed the throne on July 12, 2005. The principality joined the United Nations in 1993. Though not a member of the European Union (EU), Monaco phased out the French franc for the single European currency of the euro by 2002. Monaco’s refusal to impose income taxes on its residents and on international businesses that have established headquarters in the principality led to a severe crisis with France in 1962. A compromise was reached by which French citizens with less than five years residence in Monaco were taxed at French rates and taxes were imposed on Monegasque companies doing more than 25 percent of their business outside the principality. In the early 21st century, some European nations criticized Monaco’s loose banking regulations, claiming that the principality sheltered tax evaders and money launderers. In 2002 the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) added Monaco to its “blacklist” of uncooperative tax havens. The principality was removed from the blacklist in 2009 after committing to OECD transparency standards. Monaco’s constitution of 1911 provided for an elected National Council, but in 1959 Prince Rainier III suspended part of the constitution and dissolved the National Council because of a disagreement over the budget. In 1961 he appointed instead a national assembly. The aforementioned crisis of 1962 with France led him to restore the National Council and to grant a new, liberal constitution. The council comprises 18 members, elected by universal suffrage for a term of five years. Government is carried on by a minister of state (who must be a French citizen) and three state councillors acting under the authority of the prince, who is the official chief of state. Legislative power is shared by the prince and the National Council. Since 1819 the judicial system has been based on that of France; since 1962 the highest judicial authority has been the Supreme Tribunal A substantial portion of the government’s revenues comes from taxes on commercial transactions; additional revenue is drawn from franchises on radio, television, and the casino, from state-operated monopolies on tobacco and postage stamps, from sales taxes, and from the taxes imposed since 1962. Monaco’s chief industry is tourism, and its facilities make it one of Europe’s most luxurious resorts. Once a winter attraction, it now draws summer visitors as well to its beaches and expanded mooring facilities. Business conferences are especially important. The social life of Monte-Carlo revolves around the Place du Casino. The casino was built in 1861, and in 1967 its operations were taken over by the principality. Banking and finance and real estate are other important components of the diverse services sector. More than one-fourth of Monaco’s population is composed of French citizens, and a smaller but significant number are Italian, Swiss, and Belgian. Only about one-fifth of the population claims Monegasque descent. Most of the people are Roman Catholics. The official language is French. The four sections, or quartiers, of Monaco are the town of Monaco, or “the Rock,” a headland jutting into the sea on which the old town is located; La Condamine, the business district on the west of the bay, with its natural harbour; Monte-Carlo, including the gambling casino; and the newer zone of Fontvieille, in which various light industries have developed. In Monaco are the Roman Catholic cathedral, the prince’s Genoese and Renaissance palace, and the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco, built in 1910. The casino itself contains a theatre designed by the 19th-century French architect Charles Garnier, which is the home of the Opéra de Monte Carlo. During the 1920s many of the works of the famous Ballets Russes of Serge Diaghilev were given their premieres there. There is also a Monte-Carlo national orchestra. The best known of the automobile events held in the principality are the Monte-Carlo Rally and the Grand Prix de Monaco. SOURCE : https://www.britannica.com/science/Mediterranean-climate


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