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Top Hezbollah commander killed in Israeli strike on Beirut
Catagory:News
Author:
Posted Date:09/21/2024
Posted By:utopia online

Republicans absorb a political shockwave in must-win North Carolina In a statement, Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman Daniel Hagari said Aqil, a senior commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan forces, was killed alongside senior operatives in the group’s operations staff and other Radwan commanders. Hagari said they "were gathered underground under a residential building in the heart of the Dahiyah neighbourhood [in southern Beirut], hiding among Lebanese civilians, using them as human shields". The IDF spokesman added that the individuals killed were “planning Hezbollah’s 'Conquer the Galilee' attack plan, in which Hezbollah intended to infiltrate Israeli communities and murder innocent civilians". The plan was first reported by the Israeli military in 2018, when the IDF said it was blocking tunnels dug by Hezbollah to penetrate Israeli territory and kidnap and murder civilians. In April, Washington said it was searching for Aqil, also known as Tahsin, and offered financial rewards to anyone with "information leading to his identification, location, arrest and/or conviction". He was wanted by the US due to his links and seniority within Hezbollah, a group that has been proscribed a terrorist organisation by Israel, the UK, US and other countries. In the 1980s, Aqil was a member of the group that orchestrated the bombings of the US embassy in Beirut and a marine barracks, killing hundreds of people. Confirming Aqil's death in a post on social media, Hezbollah described him as one of its "great jihadist leaders". The group was established in the early 1980s by the region's most dominant Shia power, Iran, to oppose Israel. At the time, Israel's forces had occupied southern Lebanon during the country's civil war.Earlier on Friday, Hezbollah said it had launched strikes on military sites in northern Israel. The IDF said 140 rockets were fired into the north of the country, while Israeli police issued warnings about damage to roads. It came after Israel carried out extensive air strikes on southern Lebanon, saying its warplanes had hit more than 100 Hezbollah rocket launchers and other "terrorist sites" including a weapons storage facility. The cross-border fighting between Israel and Hezbollah escalated on 8 October 2023 - the day after the unprecedented attack on Israel by Hamas gunmen from Gaza - when Hezbollah fired at Israeli positions in solidarity with the Palestinians. Since then hundreds of people, most of them Hezbollah fighters, have been killed in the cross-border fighting, while tens of thousands have also been displaced on both sides of the border. Israel recently added the return of people displaced from the north of the country to its list of war goals, and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Thursday that his country is entering a "new phase of the war", concentrating more of its efforts on the north.After the pager and walkie-talkie explosions across Lebanon earlier this week, there has been a deepened sense of unease in the Middle Eastern country. It was an unprecedented security breach that indicated how deeply Israel had managed to penetrate the group’s communication system. Many of the explosions occurred simultaneously, with walkie-talkie explosions on Wednesday occurring in the vicinity of a large crowd that had gathered for the funerals of four victims of Tuesday's pager blasts. Hezbollah and Lebanese authorities have blamed Israel for the explosions. Israeli officials have not commented on the allegations, but most analysts agree that it is behind the attack. In a televised address on Thursday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said: “The enemy crossed all rules, laws and red lines. It didn't care about anything at all, not morally, not humanely, not legally." Nasrallah vowed a harsh punishment, but indicated his group was not interested in an escalation of its current conflict with Israel. Lebanese Foreign Minister Abdallah Bou Habbib told the UN Security Council on Friday that Israel had "deliberately undermined" diplomatic efforts for a ceasefire in Gaza and "all attempts of the Lebanese government to de-escalate and exercise self-restraint". Israel's UN envoy Danny Danon said that while his country is not seeking a wider conflict, it "will not allow Hezbollah to continue its provocation". UN political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo told the Security Council: "We risk seeing a conflagration that could dwarf even the devastation and suffering witnessed so far," "I also strongly urge member states with influence over the parties to leverage it now," she added. US and UK authorities have urged their citizens not to travel to Lebanon. The White House said it was involved in intense diplomacy to prevent escalation of the conflict along the Israel-Lebanon border.


Type:Social
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Republicans absorb a political shockwave in must-win North Carolina
Catagory:News
Author:
Posted Date:09/21/2024
Posted By:utopia online

Controversy swirling around a North Carolina Republican candidate for governor is causing political turbulence in a must-win swing state for Donald Trump. The BBC asked conservatives there what they make of the alleged scandal. It was during a regular meeting of the Johnston County Republican Women’s committee that they heard the news. All around North Carolina on Thursday, Republicans and Democrats alike had been waiting for what was billed as a bombshell exposé about Republican Lt Gov Mark Robinson. The furniture maker-turned-politician, who is running to be the state’s first black governor, had called himself a “black Nazi” on a porn website more than a decade ago,But when the news finally did break, it barely caused a stir, at least not among this polite gathering of women in Johnston County. “If the accusations are accurate, it’s something for him and his wife to deal with. It’s not my business. It’s a marital issue,” said Adele Walker, 52. Soon afterwards, the group discussed their planned $200 donation to his campaign, in which he is already trailing the Democratic candidate Josh Stein, the state's attorney general. “What we decided is that we’re going to donate even more money to Mr Robinson,” she said.The opinions of conservative women like Walker are being closely watched this election, not just in North Carolina, but across the US. The Tar Heel State has one of the closest races in the country with November's election looming. Trump had previously offered a glowing endorsement of Robinson, calling him "Martin Luther King on steroids"He has faced backlash over 2019 comments in a Facebook video about abortion on demand, when he said women should be "responsible enough to keep your skirt down". In 2021, he said children in schools should not be learning about "transgenderism, homosexuality, any of that filth", and later rejected calls to apologise. “I think it's fair to call the Robinson campaign a dumpster fire at this point,” said North Carolina State University political scientist Steven Greene. There are fears among some Republicans that Robinson could be a political albatross, causing their voters to stay home, or driving Democratic turnout. North Carolina has remained “stubbornly Republican”, said Greene. Barack Obama was the only Democrat to win the state in 44 years, and he could only succeed once, in 2008. But the state’s growing urban centres have tilted the political scales towards Democrats, who hope this is the year they can turn North Carolina blue.That is still well within the margin of error, which means the race is very much up in the air. This state is essential for the Republican White House candidate, Greene said. “It's a lot harder to see Donald Trump getting to 270 without North Carolina than Kamala Harris,” he said, referring to the number of electoral college votes needed to clinch the US presidency.Scott Lassiter, a Republican running for state Senate, expressed disappointment that Robinson did not drop out before a state deadline on Thursday, allowing another candidate from the party to take his place. Lassiter said Robinson is a gift to Democrats, who “would love for every race on the ballot to be about Mark Robinson at this point”. Once a regular at Trump’s campaign events in the state, Robinson will not attend the former president’s rally in Wilmington on Saturday, according to reports. US election polls: Who is ahead - Harris or Trump? Seven swing states set to decide the 2024 US election But those close to Robinson are sticking by him. Guilford County chairman Chris Meadows, a Republican, said he’s known Robinson, who's from the area, for years. “Our position is that these are unsubstantiated allegations, accusations," he said. “In the age of the improvement of AI, I really don’t put any credibility in any of this until he admits it.In the end, Greene said the presidential race will all come down to voter turnout, and it’s unclear how Robinson will affect that. He was already known for outlandish statements. People’s minds are probably largely made up, he said. It certainly seemed that way in Johnston County. One Republican voter, who did not want to be named, said he would not vote for Robinson, who he said “had a loud mouth”. But he has no problem voting for Trump. “I don’t know what Trump knew about Robinson. The news of Robinson has no effect on me,” he said. Evelyn Costelloe, 66, who has voted for Republicans in the past but not recently, said she will back the Democrats because of their stance on abortion. And Robinson’s comments didn’t help either, she said. “I don’t know about all these accusations, but I do know the stuff he’s said. Stuff like that makes me want to vote for sure,Given that Trump only won North Carolina by about 75,000 votes in 2020, even a little bit of political damage spilling over from Robinson could make a difference. For now, however, North Carolina remains a deep shade of purple.North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher makes sense of the race for the White House in his weekly US Election Unspun newsletter.


Type:Social
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US soldier who fled to North Korea sentenced for desertion
Catagory:News
Author:
Posted Date:09/21/2024
Posted By:utopia online

Travis King, the US soldier who fled from South to North Korea last year before being returned home, has been sentenced to one year of confinement and dishonourably discharged from the military. He faced charges including desertion in July 2023 and assault of a non-commissioned officer. But with time already served and credit for good behaviour, the 24-year-old Army private walked free, his legal team told the BBC. At Friday's hearing at Fort Bliss, Texas, he pleaded guilty to five of the original 14 military charges that had been filed against him. The other counts were dismissed.King joined the army in January 2021 and was in South Korea as part of a unit rotation when he crossed into North Korea. At the hearing, King told military judge Lt Col Rick Mathew that he had decided to flee the US Army because he was “dissatisfied” with work and had been thinking about leaving for about a year before he bolted into North Korea. “I wanted to desert from the US Army and never come back,” King said, according to reporters inside the courtroom. He also said he had been diagnosed with mental health conditions, though he maintained he was fit to stand trial and understood the charges. King's lawyer, Franklin Rosenblatt, said in a statement that his client accepts full responsibility for what happened and added that King "faced significant challenges in his life, including a difficult upbringing, exposure to criminal environments, and struggles with mental health". "All these factors have compounded the hardships he faced in the military," Mr Rosenblatt said. King illegally crossed into North Korea while on a civilian tour of the village of Panmunjom, located on the heavily guarded Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea. He joined the civilian tour after he was released from a South Korean prison where he had served nearly two months on charges that he assaulted two people and kicked a police car. After his release, he was taken to the airport so he could return to the Fort Bliss base to face disciplinary action. But instead of getting on the plane, King joined the civilian tour and ultimately bolted into North Korea, where he was detained by local authorities. At the time, North Korean media reported that he had fled because of “inhuman treatment” and racism within the US military. He became the first American to be detained in North Korea in nearly five years. King was released two months later after “intense diplomacy”, US officials said at the time. He was taken by a state department aircraft to a US airbase in South Korea. On 28 September 2023, he was flown back to Texas and had been in custody there since. The following month, he was charged by the US military with desertion, kicking and punching other officers, unlawfully possessing alcohol, making a false statement and possessing a video of a child engaged in sexual activity. King pleaded guilty to charges including desertion, three counts of disobeying an officer and assault on a non-commissioned officer. The other charges, however, were dismissed after the government made a motion to do so, which was granted by the judge. The Associated Press reported in July that King’s lawyers were in talks with military prosecutors to work out a plea deal. A preliminary hearing was scheduled that month, but was postponed so both sides could negotiate. In his statement, Mr Rosenblatt said he believes that despite his client walking away free on Friday, "the negative public perception" and the time King has spent in custody "represents an ongoing punishment that he will endure for the rest of his life".


Type:Social
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Volunteers dying as Russia’s war dead tops 70,000
Catagory:News
Author:
Posted Date:09/20/2024
Posted By:utopia online

More than 70,000 people fighting in Russia’s military have now died in Ukraine, according to data analysed And for the first time, volunteers - civilians who joined the armed forces after the start of the war - now make up the highest number of people killed on the battlefield since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022. Every day, the names of those killed in Ukraine, their obituaries and photographs from their funerals are published across Russia in the media and on social networks. BBC Russian and the independent website Mediazona have collated these names, along with names from other open sources, including official reports. We checked that the information had been shared by authorities or relatives of the deceased - and that they had been identified as dying in the war.New graves in cemeteries have also helped provide the names of soldiers killed in Ukraine - these are usually marked by flags and wreaths sent by the defence ministry. We have identified the names of 70,112 Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine, but the actual number is believed to be considerably higher. Some families do not share details of their relatives’ deaths publicly - and our analysis does not include names we were unable to check, or the deaths of militia in Russian-occupied Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine.Among them, 13,781 were volunteers - about 20% - and fatalities among volunteers now exceed other categories. Former prisoners, who joined up in return for pardons for their crimes, were previously the highest but they now account for 19% of all confirmed deaths. Mobilised soldiers - citizens called up to fight - account for 13%. Since October last year, weekly fatalities of volunteers have not dipped below 100 - and, in some weeks, we have recorded more than 310 volunteer deaths. As for Ukraine - it rarely comments on the scale of its deaths on the battlefield. In February, its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers had been killed, but estimates based on US intelligence suggest greater losses. The story of Rinat Khusniyarov is typical of many of the volunteer soldiers who died. He was from Ufa in Bashkortostan and had been working two jobs to make ends meet - at a tram depot and a plywood factory. He was 62 years old when he signed his contract with the Russian army in November last year. He survived less than three months of fighting and was killed on 27 February. His obituary, in a local online memorial website, simply called him “a hardworking, decent man”.According to the data we analysed, most of the men signing up come from small towns in parts of Russia where stable, well-paid work is hard to find. Most appear to have joined up willingly, although some in the republic of Chechnya have told human rights activists and lawyers of coercion and threats. Some of the volunteers have said they did not understand the contracts they were signing had no end date, and have since approached pro-Kremlin journalists to, unsuccessfully, ask them for help ending their service. Salaries in the military can be five to seven times higher than average wages in less affluent parts of the country, plus soldiers get social benefits, including free childcare and tax breaks. One-off payments for people who sign up have also repeatedly risen in value in many parts of Russia. Most of the volunteers dying at the front are aged between 42 and 50. They number 4,100 men in our list of more than 13,000 volunteers. The oldest volunteer killed was 71 years old - a total of 250 volunteers above the age of 60 have died in the war. Soldiers have told the BBC that rising casualties among volunteers are, in part, down to their deployment to the most operationally challenging areas on the front line, notably in the Donetsk region in the east, where they form the backbone of reinforcements for depleted units, Russian soldiers told the BBC. Russia’s “meat grinder” strategy continues unabated, according to Russian soldiers we have spoken to. The term has been used to describe the way Moscow sends waves of soldiers forward relentlessly to try to wear down Ukrainian forces and expose their locations to Russian artillery. Drone footage shared online shows Russian forces attacking Ukrainian positions with little or no equipment or support from artillery or military vehicles.Sometimes, hundreds of men have been killed on a single day. In recent weeks, the Russian military have made desperate, but unsuccessful, attempts to seize the eastern Ukrainian towns of Chasiv Yar and Pokrovsk with such tactics. An official study by the primary military medical directorate of the Russian defence ministry says that 39% of soldiers’ deaths are a result of limb injuries and that mortality rates would be significantly improved if first aid and subsequent medical care were better. The Russian government’s actions suggests it is keen to avoid forcing people to fight through a new, official wave of mobilisation - instead, it is ramping up calls for service volunteers, along with the incentives to do so. Remarks by regional officials in local parliaments suggest they have been tasked from the top with trying to recruit people from their local districts. They advertise on job vacancy websites, contact men who have debt and bailiff problems, and conduct recruitment campaigns in higher education establishments. Since 2022, convicted prisoners have also been encouraged to join up in return for their release, but now a new policy means people facing criminal prosecution can accept a deal to go to war instead of facing trial in court. In return, their cases are frozen and potentially dropped altogether.A small number of the volunteers killed have been from other countries. We have identified the names of 272 such men, many of whom were from Central Asia - 47 from Uzbekistan, 51 from Tajikistan, and 26 from Kyrgyzstan. Last year saw reports of Russia recruiting people in Cuba, Iraq, Yemen and Serbia. Foreigners already living in Russia without valid work permits or visas, who agree to “work for the state”, are promised they will not be deported and are offered a simplified route to citizenship if they survive the war. Many have later complained that they did not understand the paperwork - as with Russian citizens, they have turned to the media for help. The governments of India and Nepal have called on Moscow to stop sending their citizens to Ukraine and repatriate the bodies of the dead. So far, the calls have not been acted upon. Many new recruits who have joined the military have criticised the training they have received. A man who signed a contract with the Russian army in November last year told the BBC he had been promised two weeks of training at a shooting range before deployment to the front. "In reality, people were just thrown out onto the parade ground, and dished out some gear,” he said, adding the equipment was poorly made. “We were loaded on to trains, then trucks, and sent to the front. About half of us were thrown into battle straight from the road. As a result, some people went from the recruitment office to the front line in just a week,” he said. Samuel Cranny-Evans, an analyst at the Royal United Services Institute in the UK says: “Basic understanding of things like camouflage and concealment or how to move quietly at night, how to move without creating a profile for yourself during the day,” should be taught as basic infantry skills. Another soldier also told the that equipment is a problem, saying it “varies, but most often it's some random set of uniforms, standard boots that wear out within a day, and a kit bag with a label showing it was made in the mid-20th Century”. “A random bulletproof vest and a cheap helmet. It's impossible to fight in this. If you want to survive, you have to buy your own equipment.”


Type:News
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Why chocolate might not be behind your acne
Catagory:Education
Author:
Posted Date:09/20/2024
Posted By:utopia online

Chocolate has long had a reputation for causing spots. Is there any truth to it? Or is it just something parents tell their kids to avoid shelling out on sweet treats at the supermarket? In the 1960s, several studies analysed the relationship between chocolate and acne. The biggest study – which only recruited 65 participants – found no relationship between the two. But this study has since been criticised for having numerous design flaws. While chocolate may be off the hook, more recent studies suggest that there could, in fact, be many connections between diet and acne – particularly the Western diet, which is high in saturated fat, sugar and dairy. Acne is a common skin condition where hair follicles in the skin become blocked by oil and dead skin cells, which causes spots to form. Severe or persistent acne from adolescence and adulthood is mostly caused by genetics, says Beibei Du-Harpur, dermatologist and clinical lecturer at Kings College London. This is because our genes determine the size of our skin's sebaceous glands, which produce oil.Cases of adult acne have been on the rise in recent years, especially in women, but there's no one single reason for this, says Du-Harpur. But, she adds, certain environmental factors in our daily lives that could be playing a role. "Generally, our lifestyles aren't good for the human body, and perhaps acne is a manifestation of that," she says. In one study, researchers argue that acne is aggravated by modern lifestyles – including a Western diet high in sugar and fat – but added that the interplay between health, immune function, diet, inflammation, stress and environmental exposures needs more research. Such triggers could include stress, fighting infections, or having PMS, says Zainab Laftah, a consultant dermatologist at Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital in London and spokesperson for the British Skin Foundation. Can chocolate cause acne? Sixty years after first being blamed for possibly causing acne, many people still regard chocolate as a possible trigger. Around nine in every 10 patients Laftah sees in her clinic ask her what foods they can cut out of their diets to improve their acne – and chocolate is one of the most common foods they ask her about. "There's some misconception, and a tiny bit of truth, as well," she says. One reason for a link between acne and diet more generally could come down to foods' glycaemic index While the main factor is genetic predisposition, certain components in a person's diet could provoke inflammation, Laftah says. Some people will respond strongly to specific food groups, such as dairy, she adds, but this is rare, and could be related to an intolerance. Some researchers have tried to tease out the effects of individual components of chocolate to see which ingredients may be linked to acne, but studies are far from conclusive and are relatively small. One study in 2011 examined the effects of 100% dark chocolate on acne, which means it tested the effects of chocolate independent of its sugar content. They found that chocolate consumption was still linked to exacerbated acne, but the study only included 10 participants, and there was no placebo control group. One reason for a link between acne and diet more generally could come down to foods' glycaemic index (GI), which indicates how quickly a food can raise blood sugar levels in the body. Numerous studies have found a link between high GI foods – such as fruit, bread and pasta – and acne symptoms. The reason high GI foods can exacerbate acne, Laftah says, is because they cause a spike in insulin levels in the body, which drives up inflammation, which increases the production of sebum on the skin, which can then clog our pores and lead to breakouts. However, chocolate actually has a low- to medium-GI. Another body of research has looked more broadly at the relationship between acne and the Western diet (which is also known to be packed with high-GI foods). Numerous population studies show an association between acne and eating high-fat, high-sugar foods. The largest study of its kind, published in 2020, compared the self-assessed acne and dietary patterns of more than 24,000 people. The researchers identified that the Western diet probably plays a role in acne. One population study found that there are no instances of acne among the Kitavan islanders of Papua New Guinea. The researchers conclude that this could be because of their low-GI diets. There are a lot of relationships between acne and other Western diseases, such as diabetes and obesity – Bodo Melnik However, while the researchers did adjust for some confounding factors that could have muddied the association between diet and acne, such as overall calorie intake. Population studies are generally known to have limitations when it comes to concretely proving a direct cause-and-effect. But scientists have looked further into some of the specific pathways behind this relationship. "Acne is a metabolic syndrome of the skin," says Bodo Melnik, professor of dermatology and senior lecturer at the University of Osnabrück, Germany. "There are a lot of relationships between acne and other Western diseases, such as diabetes and obesity."In a 2015 paper, he argued refined carbohydrates (which are often high-GI), milk and saturated and trans fats promote acne. This, he says, is because a diet high in high-GI foods triggers a 'danger response' to the sebaceous follicles that increases the production of sebum and changes its composition. So, chocolate itself doesn't cause acne? Chocolate does contain a lot of saturated fat, and can contain a lot of sugar. However, not only does any potential effects of this depend on your overall diet, it may also depend on the type of chocolate you're eating, as high-percentage dark chocolate is lower in sugar. Also, there may be some dermatological upsides to eating certain dark chocolate. Some studies indicate that dark chocolate reduces oxidative stress in the skin, which contributes to inflammation. However, this may be more of a benefit to the skin's visible signs of ageing, than reducing severity or risk of acne. More like this: • Is dark chocolate really good for you? • Is it time to stop blaming our acne on our diet? • Are nut butters bad for your health? "There are some benefits to the skin from eating dark chocolate because of its flavonoid content," Laftah says, in particular flavanols, "which are a powerful antioxidant that play crucial role in skin oxidative stress-caused free radicals, which is linked to skin's ageing". Crucially, while certain dietary patterns – high calories, low nutrients – will probably contribute to low grade inflammation across the body, this may manifest as acne only in someone who is already genetically prone to it, Du-Harpur says. Generally, a diet that's good for general health – high in fruits and vegetables and other antioxidant-rich foods – is good for our skin, she says. "The body works in coordination, so things that are good for the heart and gut and brain are good for the skin, too," Du-Harpur says. source.BBC


Type:Education
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Harris says anyone breaking into her home is 'getting shot'
Catagory:News
Author:
Posted Date:09/20/2024
Posted By:utopia online

US Vice-President Kamala Harris has spoken of her willingness to use her gun if an intruder entered her home. "If somebody breaks into my house, they're getting shot," she said in a jokey exchange during a livestreamed event in Michigan with host Oprah Winfrey on Thursday. After a laugh, the Democratic presidential nominee continued: "I probably shouldn't have said that, but my staff will deal with that later." Harris, who highlighted during the recent presidential debate that she was a gun-owner, went on to reiterate that she supported a ban on assault weapons. A firearm of that type was "literally designed to be a tool of war", she told Winfrey. "It has no place on the streets of a civil society." Asked by Winfrey to confirm if she had been a gun owner for "a while" herself, Harris replied that she had. She stressed that she was was a supporter of the US Second Amendment, which protects the right to gun ownership. But she went on to set out her case for a ban on assault weapons, citing America's problem with school shootings. It was "bone-chilling" for a child to have to go through a drill for such an incident, Harris said. "It doesn't have to be this way," she added. After one of the most recent US mass shootings, a 14-year-old boy has been charged with murdering four people at a high school in Georgia. During Thursday's event with Winfrey - who also spoke at last month's Democratic National Convention - Harris was also questioned on topics including immigration and the economy. Celebrities including Jennifer Lopez featured in the session, which was watched by about 300,000 people. Why Kamala Harris is highlighting her gun ownership Boy, 14, and father in court over Georgia school shooting Harris's gun ownership has been a matter of public record since 2019, when she said: “I own a gun for probably the reason a lot of people do – for personal safety. I was a career prosecutor.” But her ownership came to the attention of many in the US - including Winfrey, by her admission - during last week's presidential head-to-head with Republican rival Donald Trump. It marked the first time the issue had come up in a 2024 debate. Harris denied a Trump claim that she would "confiscate everybody's gun" if elected to the White House, pointing out that both she and her running-mate Tim Walz, a hunting enthusiast, had firearms of their own. Trump, too, has also owned three guns, though he had to surrender two of them and face restrictions on the third after facing criminal charges in New York. Harris's opponents have increasingly seized on the gun issue as indicative of her shifting policy positions as her November showdown with Trump approaches. Last week's ABC News debate moderator noted that Harris no longer supported a "buyback" programme that would force gun owners to hand over their AR-15s and other assault-style weapons to the government. But Harris reiterated to Winfrey on Thursday that she wanted tighter laws. The Democrat also outlined her stance at a recent rally in North Carolina, saying: "We who believe in the freedom to live safe from gun violence will finally pass an assault weapons ban, universal background checks and red-flag laws." So-called red-flag laws allow people to apply to a judge to confiscate another person's gun if they are deemed to be a risk to themselves or others.


Type:Social
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China’s Shanghai hit by second major typhoon in a week
Catagory:News
Author:
Posted Date:09/20/2024
Posted By:utopia online

Streets and neighborhoods in Shanghai were again flooded on Friday as the Chinese megacity was battered by Typhoon Pulasan, just days after Bebinca, the strongest storm to hit the megacity since 1949, according to several reports. Pulasan is the 14th typhoon this year. It made its second landfall in Shanghai on Thursday evening, after making its first landfall in Zhejiang Province earlier in the day. The torrent of rain broke local records in parts of Shanghai. Two weather stations recorded more than 300 millimeters (almost 1 foot) of rainfall in six hours, the highest in their districts since records began, the state-run Xinhua news agency said. Overall, 151 of 614 weather stations recorded heavy or extreme rainfall, Xinhua added. Videos posted on social media Friday showed Shanghai residents wading through calf-deep water in some neighborhoods, though there have been no reports of serious damage or casualties, Deustche Welle reported, citing Chinese media, Xinhua. Because of the typhoon, the city evacuated 112,000 people, Xinhua said, and some ferry and train services were suspended. The city’s flood control office said 649 ships were either evacuated or returned to port to seek shelter, 54 train services were suspended and 26 ferry services were halted. The storm is expected to gradually weaken as it moves inland, although rain continued to fall in the city on Friday morning, according to Xinhua. On Monday, the stronger Typhoon Bebinca felled more than 1,800 trees and knocked out power to 30,000 homes. Authorities evacuated more than 400,000 people in Shanghai ahead of the storm. Scientists say climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions is making extreme weather more frequent and intense. China is the world’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gases. But its per capita emissions pale in comparison to rival economic powerhouse the United States.


Type:News
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Ethiopian Airlines cements China presence with 3 additional flights to Guangzhou
Catagory:News
Author:
Posted Date:09/20/2024
Posted By:utopia online

Ethiopian Airlines, the leading African carrier, today announced the addition of three new flights from Addis Ababa to Guangzhou, China. The Airline reminded that it has been serving the portal city in South China six times weekly so far. The newly added flights will commence on September 27, 2024, further solidifying the airline’s extensive network in China, Ethiopian Airlines confirmed. Currently, the airline operates regular flights to all five of its gateways in China, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, and Hong Kong.


Type:News
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