>The revolution is here in Australia.
holy fraggle rock the double posting is annoying
what happened to "file exists" warning?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_E._Hyten
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/26/us/politics/hyten-assault-joint-chiefs.html
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/senator-who-survived-sexual-assault-defends-trumps-pick-to-be-militarys-no-2-against-similar-allegations/2019/07/30/7c51c4b8-b2d5-11e9-8f6c-7828e68cb15f_story.html
https://apnews.com/6e641b4721f22c6dab1435a539d39ed7
Trudeau’s party wins Canada vote but fails to get majority
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party secured victory in parliamentary elections but failed to get the majority he wanted in a vote that focused on the coronavirus pandemic but that many Canadians saw as unnecessary.
Trudeau entered Monday’s election leading a stable minority government that wasn’t under threat of being toppled — but he was hoping Canadians would reward him with a majority for navigating the pandemic better than many other leaders. Still, Trudeau struggled to justify why he called the election early given the virus, and the opposition was relentless in accusing him of holding the vote two years before the deadline for his own personal ambition.
In the end, the gamble did not pay off, and the results nearly mirrored those of two years ago. The Liberal Party was leading or elected in 156 seats — one less than they won 2019, and 14 short of the 170 needed for a majority in the House of Commons.
The Conservatives were leading or elected in 121 seats, the same number they won in 2019. The leftist New Democrats were leading or elected in 27, a gain of three seats, while the Bloc Québécois remained unchanged with 32 seats and the Greens were down to two.
https://apnews.com/article/united-nations-general-assembly-health-china-coronavirus-pandemic-africa-3284c8ff8739dd7cfaf78db214098403
World leaders return to UN and face many escalating crises
World leaders will be back at the United Nations for the first time in two years on Tuesday with a formidable agenda of escalating crises to tackle, including the still raging COVID-19 pandemic and a relentlessly warming planet.
Other pressing issues are rising U.S.-China tensions, Afghanistan’s unsettled future under its new Taliban rulers and ongoing conflicts in Yemen, Syria and Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region.
Last year, no leaders came to the U.N. because the coronavirus was sweeping the globe, so all their addresses were pre-recorded. This year, the General Assembly offered leaders a choice of coming to New York or remaining online, and more than 100 heads of state and government decided to appear in person in the General Assembly hall.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Gutteres, who opens the week-long event, “will pull no punches in expressing his concern about the state of the world, and he will lay out a vision to bridge the numerous divides that stand in the way of progress,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
https://apnews.com/article/k-pop-bts-united-nations-70ac72b9d2672582f72aa7147b17f005
K-pop stars BTS dip into global diplomacy at UN gathering
It was a United Nations speech that got attention like few others — a plug for vaccines, young people and the earth’s well being from superstar K-pop band BTS.
Addressing the stage for a sustainability event, the seven-member musical juggernaut appeared before the renowned green-marbled backdrop in the General Assembly hall on Monday to help promote U.N. goals for 2030 including ending extreme poverty, preserving the planet and achieving gender equality.
“Every choice we make is the beginning of change, not the end,” said RM, the band’s leader.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in introduced the pop stars as special presidential envoys and an “exceptionally outstanding group of young men who are connecting with the youth across the world.”
The gravity of the moment wasn’t lost on the musicians standing before world leaders and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Nerves were evident when band member Jimin stumbled over his words while talking about young people trying to navigate the pandemic. Jimin apologized before taking a breath to recollect himself. It was a moment that prompted the “BTS ARMY” of fans to rally behind him in a show of support on social media. The artists took turns on stage during their seven-minute speech.
https://apnews.com/article/united-nations-general-assembly-donald-trump-joe-biden-europe-united-nations-9915463af38a47a4545f9dccff826c28
Biden looks to turn page on 20 years of war in UN address
President Joe Biden began his first visit to the U.N. General Assembly ready to make the case to world leaders that after closing the book on 20 years of war, the U.S. aims to rally allies and adversaries to work together on a slew of crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and trade and economics.
The president faced a healthy measure of skepticism when he arrived in New York on Monday to start a week of high-level diplomacy. The opening months of his presidency have included a series of difficult moments with friendly nations that were expecting greater cooperation from Biden following four years of Donald Trump’s “America first” approach to foreign policy.
To that end, soon after arriving in New York Monday evening, the president’s first stop was to meet with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to offer endorsements for the body’s relevance and multilateral coordination.
https://apnews.com/article/europe-health-russia-poisoning-england-4da518d02ed41ed2d5d7aaa33539cd61
UK police charge 3rd Russian in 2018 poisoning of ex-spy
British police said Tuesday they are charging a third Russian suspect in the 2018 nerve agent attack on a former Russian agent in England.
Scotland Yard said prosecutors believe there is sufficient evidence to charge a man known as Sergey Fedotov with conspiracy to murder, attempted murder, possessing and using a chemical weapon, and causing grievous bodily harm.
Former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, were targeted in a nerve agent attack in March 2018 in Salisbury, England, that British authorities said had almost certainly approved been “at a senior level of the Russian state.” Moscow has vehemently denied the allegations.
The Skripals survived, but the attack later claimed the life of a British woman and left a man seriously ill.
Police previously charged two other Russian military intelligence agents, known by their aliases Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, saying they traveled to the U.K. for the poisoning operation. Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed the suspects were civilians, and the two suspects appeared on Russian television claiming they had visited Salisbury as tourists.
Police said Tuesday they have evidence that the third suspect, “Sergey Fedotov” is an alias for Denis Sergeev, a member of the Russian military intelligence service known as the GRU.
Arrest warrants have been issued for all three men. Police said they will apply for Interpol notices for Fedotov on Tuesday.
Police said the three suspects had previously worked together for the GRU “as part of operations outside of Russia.”
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Dean Haydon, who has been leading the investigation, said the case has been one of the most complex ever undertaken by the counter-terror team. He appealed for anyone who had seen the three men in the U.K. in March 2018 to come forward.
“Whilst public attention gradually moved away from what happened in Salisbury and Amesbury, the investigation team has remained absolutely focused, meticulously poring over the evidence and building our case,” he said in a statement.
Skripal, a Russian military intelligence officer turned double agent for Britain, and his daughter Yulia, who was visiting him, spent weeks in critical condition after the attack. Three months later, two local residents who apparently came across a discarded vial that contained the nerve agent fell ill. One recovered, but the other died.
The case ignited a diplomatic confrontation in which hundreds of envoys were expelled by both Russia and Western nations.
https://apnews.com/article/business-immigration-filibusters-b974c0118f3dbe99bf44c2a002018cf5
Dems, backers face uphill immigration path after Senate blow
Senate Democrats launched an uphill fight to rescue their drive to help millions of immigrants remain legally in the U.S., their pathway unclear and the uncertainty exposing tensions between party leaders and progressive groups demanding bold results.
Lawmakers and advocacy organizations said Monday they were already weighing fresh options, a day after the Senate parliamentarian said their sweeping proposal must fall from a $3.5 trillion measure that’s shielded against bill-killing Republican filibusters. But it seemed strongly likely that Democrats might have to winnow their measure to help fewer than the 8 million immigrants they envisioned, and even then faced daunting prospects to prevail.
https://apnews.com/article/united-states-humanitarian-crises-f0e2e2fe8626ed7555f74f2dabff6f77
Biden follows through on pledge to take in more refugees
The Biden administration said the U.S. would take in 125,000 refugees and their families next year, fulfilling an earlier pledge to raise a cap that had been cut to a historic low under his predecessor.
The White House set the proposed annual cap in a report to Congress, saying there was unprecedented number of displaced people around the world because of conflict, humanitarian crises and climate change. Administrations make an annual recommendation in consultation with lawmakers.
Officials had earlier announced their intention to raise it to 125,000 for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1.
“The United States is committed to leading efforts to provide protection and promote durable solutions to humanitarian crises, to include providing resettlement for the most vulnerable,” the State Department said Monday in releasing the report.
In setting the target, the administration said it would focus on several key groups, including Central Americans, Afghans at risk due to their affiliation with the United States, LGBQT refugees and members of the predominantly Muslim Uighur ethnic group who are the targets of Chinese government campaign to eradicate their culture.
https://apnews.com/article/business-science-health-coronavirus-pandemic-coronavirus-vaccine-202cb6e44b90270ec4d1f19690ed94c5
Pfizer says COVID-19 vaccine works in kids ages 5 to 11
Pfizer said Monday its COVID-19 vaccine works for children ages 5 to 11 and that it will seek U.S. authorization for this age group soon — a key step toward beginning vaccinations for youngsters.
The vaccine made by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech already is available for anyone 12 and older. But with kids now back in school and the extra-contagious delta variant causing a huge jump in pediatric infections, many parents are anxiously awaiting vaccinations for their younger children.
For elementary school-aged kids, Pfizer tested a much lower dose — a third of the amount that’s in each shot given now. Yet after their second dose, children ages 5 to 11 developed coronavirus-fighting antibody levels just as strong as teenagers and young adults getting the regular-strength shots, Dr. Bill Gruber, a Pfizer senior vice president, told The Associated Press.
The kid dosage also proved safe, with similar or fewer temporary side effects — such as sore arms, fever or achiness — that teens experience, he said.
https://apnews.com/article/swimming-soccer-sports-2020-tokyo-olympics-kuwait-d3a029a8635e50cb6adb88ea674b6277
Documents show US investigation of 2 Kuwaitis in FIFA case
Two senior Olympic officials from Kuwait, one reputed to be the “kingmaker” of IOC elections and another who is president of swimming’s international governing body, have been targeted by the U.S. Department of Justice for suspected racketeering and bribery related to FIFA and international soccer politics, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
The U.S. embassy in Kuwait made a formal request to local authorities in 2017 for assistance to secure evidence including records of multiple bank accounts held in the Gulf state, according to one document.
The request included a document dated June 7, 2017, titled: “Request for assistance in the investigation of Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah, Husain al-Musallam, Reza Charim, Vahid Kardany and others.”
The documents confirm that Sheikh Ahmad is under investigation and provide insight into the U.S. government’s probe of high-level foreign officials as part of the broad FIFA investigation that began more than a decade ago.
https://apnews.com/article/hotel-rwanda-terrorism-guilty-paul-rusesabagina-cebe0de9289c62eb93e4fac56df9420a
‘Hotel Rwanda’ hero sentenced to 25 years on terror charges
The man who inspired the film “Hotel Rwanda” for saving hundreds of his countrymen from genocide was convicted of terrorism offenses Monday and sentenced to 25 years at a trial that human rights watchdogs and other critics of Rwanda’s repressive government have described as an act of retaliation.
Paul Rusesabagina, credited with sheltering ethnic Tutsis during Rwanda’s 1994 genocide and a recipient of the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom, boycotted the announcement of the verdict after calling the trial a “sham.”
The U.S. resident and Belgian citizen was convicted on eight charges including membership in a terrorist group, murder and abduction. He was charged along with 20 other people.
The circumstances surrounding Rusesabagina’s arrest last year, his limited access to an independent legal team and his reported worsening health have drawn international concern for the 67-year-old who left Rwanda in 1996.
Rusesabagina, who remains in custody, has asserted that his arrest was in response to his criticism of longtime Rwandan President Paul Kagame over alleged human rights abuses. Kagame’s government has repeatedly denied targeting dissenting voices with arrests and extrajudicial killings.
Monday’s ruling comes more than a year after Rusesabagina disappeared during a visit to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, and appeared days later in Rwanda in handcuffs, accused of supporting the armed wing of his opposition political platform, the Rwandan Movement for Democratic Change.
The armed group claimed some responsibility for attacks in 2018 and 2019 in southern Rwanda in which nine Rwandans died. Rusesabagina testified at trial that he helped to form the armed group to help refugees but said he never supported violence — and sought to distance himself from its deadly attacks.
Throughout, Rusesabagina has maintained that he is not guilty of the charges against him but said he didn’t expect to get justice.
“We knew from the day he was kidnapped that the verdict would be ‘guilty’ on some or all of the false charges. We are happy that the charade of the trial is ending,” Rusesabagina’s family said in a statement.
A member of his legal team, Kate Gibson, added that “the only thing that has been surprising in watching this horror show unfold over the last year has been the brazenness and openness with which the Rwandan authorities have been willing to systematically violate all of the fair trial rights to which Paul was entitled.”
Government spokeswoman Yolande Makolo tweeted shortly after the sentencing that the evidence against Rusesabagina was “indisputable.”
“Rwandans will feel safer now justice has been delivered,” Makolo wrote.
Rusesabagina’s family alleges he was kidnapped and taken to Rwanda against his will to stand trial. But the court ruled that he wasn’t kidnapped when he was tricked into boarding a chartered flight. Rwanda’s government asserted that at the time he was going to Burundi to coordinate with armed groups based there and in Congo.
Rusesabagina said he was gagged and tortured before he was jailed, but Rwandan authorities denied that. His attorney, Felix Rudakemwa, has asserted that Rusesabagina’s legal papers were confiscated by prison authorities. His family has feared he might die from poor health behind bars.
Amnesty International criticized the proceedings, noting that Rusesabagina was initially denied the right to choose his own lawyer. It added that Kagame’s comments that “Rusesabagina had ‘done something terribly wrong, committed a crime,’ may have prejudiced the defendant’s right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.”
U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price said “the reported lack of fair trial guarantees calls into question the fairness of the verdict,” and he urged Rwanda’s government to examine ”shortcomings” in the case, including Rusesabagina’s reported lack of confidential, unimpeded access to his lawyers and case documents.
Belgium’s foreign minister, Sophie Wilmes, said that “despite repeated appeals from Belgium, it must be concluded that Mr. Rusesabagina has not been given a fair and equitable trial.” She said Belgium remained in close contact with him.
Rusesabagina is credited with saving more than 1,000 people by sheltering them at the hotel he managed during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda in which more than 800,000 Tutsi and Hutus who tried to protect them were killed.
kinda rude to bomb so many stories at the end of the bread, but hey, lemonade