"[Russia
deployed a combination of satellites over the past year that] we would
describe as having the characteristic of a weapon and they practised a
manoeuvre that we would say could only have been done to deliberately
destroy another satellite."
"[China
continues to] develop anti-satellite technology and that's everything
from missiles that directly target satellites, to laser dazzle weapons,
to electronic jamming to physically ramming other satellites."
"[China practises against] their own redundant satellites, demonstrating the ability to do it."
"A
future conflict may not start in space but I'm in no doubt that it will
come very quickly to space, and it may well be won or lost in space."
"If we don't think, and prepare for that today then we won't be ready when the time comes."
Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston, United Kingdom
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket
launches the AEHF-4 satellite for the U.S. Air Force from Cape Canaveral
Air Force Station in Florida in the early-morning hours.
(United Launch Alliance)
Sounding
the alarm. That in the considered opinion of Great Britain's
top-echelon military elite, taking into consideration intelligence
gained and gathered and shared with allies, that Russia and China are
responsible through their activities, of a threat to militarize and
weaponize space. Not, by any means a new concept or concern, it has long
been debated, but now proof emerges that both countries are engaged in
preparations to do both, obviously considering it in their best
interests to engage in the unthinkable.
Now, chief of the British Royal Air Force claims that in the future conflicts would be "won or lost"
above the Earth's atmosphere. Taking Earthly disagreements and their
protagonists' ambitions to the heavens above. According to Air Chief Sir
Wigston, both Moscow and Beijing engage in "questionable" activity like flying satellites within "close proximity" to others'. More "dangerous activity" is also on the horizon, planning to destroy other nations' satellites.
Take,
for example, the Islamic Republic of Iran's deliberate stealth attacks
on ships belonging to other nations such as the UAE, the U.S. and Israel
in international waters that the Islamic Republic likes to consider its
unrecognized own. The military-grade speedboats operated by the IRGC
designed for hit-and-run and divers skilled in placing undervessel
limpet mines to explode a ship owned by its 'enemies' creating a
destabilizing situation of maritime uncertainty.
Now
translate that to deep, dark space and the general picture has clarity.
Who owns space? Is space to be considered the latest target for
conquest?
British military brass is unequivocal; they witness "reckless" behaviour from China and Russia acting as adversaries "several times a year".
Then it was over to General Sir Patrick Sanders, head of Strategic
Command, who stressed the disruptive implications implicit in a space
war for civilian populations and the military alike, that not only does
space provide "critical capabilities" to the military, but it also enables technology "we all recognize on our mobile phones to the technology that enables us to navigate the Carrier Strike Group around the globe".
The HMS Queen Elizabeth is part of the UK Carrier Strike Group sailing through the South China Sea PA Media
That
would be the very Carrier Strike Group en route to Japan sailing
through the South China Sea which the CCP regards as its very own,
giving it the authority to warn Britain that it would do well not to
carry out any "improper acts". The Global Times
had its own stark warning, of the People's Liberation Army Navy in a
high state of combat readiness, as China monitors the eastward progress
of the Carrier Strike Group. Britain, seethes Beijing, is "still living in its colonial days".
A
month earlier, it was Moscow warning Britain that it had no patience
for the games it was playing, sailing close to the Crimean coast. To
emphasize its ire, twenty Russian warplanes and two coastguard vessels
shadowed the British warship. A Russian patrol ship fired warning shots
while a jet dropped bombs in front of the steaming HMS Defender sailing
12 miles off the Crimean (Ukrainian) coast, according to Moscow's
defence ministry.
The two British chiefs spoke at the launch of
Space Command at RAF High Wycombe, a newly-initiated joint force to be
staffed by the Royal Air Force, the British Army, the Royal Navy and the
civil service, which at full operating capacity will provide command
and control of space capabilities, including the Space Operations
Cnetre, RAF Fyligdales in North Yorkshire and SKY-NET satellites for
military communications.
Beijing destroyed a satellite with an anti-satellite weapon, creating debris that is still circulating Earth. File pic
The
new unit plans to focus on sharing information on developing threats to
include the use of ground-based and space-based radars; information
gathering "from other like-minded allies". Its aim, to build a network of satellites to "move data around seamlessly" and garner "intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance from space", according to Sir Patrick.
"Those are the sort of capability areas that we're looking at. The
starting point is to understand what's up there and to get the basics
right."
"The Russian satellite system used to conduct this on-orbit
weapons test is the same satellite system that we raised concerns about
earlier this year, when Russia manoeuvred near a U.S. government
satellite."
"This is further evidence of
Russia's continuing efforts to develop and test space-based systems, and
consistent with the Kremlin's published military doctrine to employ
weapons that hold U.S. and allied space assets at risk."
Gen. John W. Raymond, commander, Space Command, head, U.S. Space Force
The Russian Defence Ministry stated the disputed event involved "a small
space vehicle" that "inspected one of the national satellites from a
close distance using special equipment", the inspection
"provided valuable information about the object that was inspected,
which was transmitted to the ground-based control facilities."
China hopes the Afghan #Taliban
will put Afghanistan's national interests first, uphold commitment to
peace talks, embrace the goal of peace, create a positive image and
adopt an inclusive policy.
"The
hasty withdrawal of the U.S. and NATO troops from Afghanistan
actually marks the failure of the U.S. policy toward Afghanistan.
[Beijing stresses the need for foreign forces to stage a] responsible
withdrawal [to ensure no security vacuum is
created]."
"[The
movement -- East Turkestan Islamic Movement; ETIM] poses a direct
threat to China's national security and territorial integrity."
"It is the common responsibility of the international community to fight against ETIM."
"We hope the Afghan Taliban will make a clean break with all terrorist
organizations, including the ETIM, and resolutely and effectively combat
them to remove obstacles, play a positive role and create enabling
conditions for security, stability, development and cooperation in the
region."
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi
"Politics,
economy and issues related to the security of both countries and the
current situation of Afghanistan and the peace process were discussed in
the meeting."
"Wang pointed out that the Afghan Taliban is an important military and
political force in Afghanistan and is expected to play an important role
in the country's peace, reconciliation and reconstruction process."
Mohammad Naeem, spokesperson, political office, Taliban
"With a U.S. exit from Afghanistan and the inability of [Afghan]
President Ashraf Ghani to secure the country's borders, neighbors and
regional powers have to hedge their bets regarding the future."
"While the Taliban give promises of security to Afghanistan's
neighbors, Kabul keeps asking for help." "This perception of an embattled
President Ghani doesn't make for good looks."
Torek Farhadi, former Afghan government adviser
"[The Taliban] will never allow any force to use Afghan territory to engage in acts detrimental to China."
"The Afghan Taliban has the utmost sincerity to work toward and realize
peace. It stands ready to work with other parties to establish a
political framework in Afghanistan that is broadly-based, inclusive and
accepted by the people and protect human rights, especially rights of
women and children."
Taliban deputy political chief Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar
Brazen
lies. For consumption by the international community. China, on the
other hand knows full well with whom it deals in making a pact with the
devil. Afghan Taliban politics is quite familiar to Beijing; a
reflection of their own, where stark reality is in conflict with the
comforting language of tolerance, sweetness and light. Each, China and
the aspiring, soon-to-be reconquest of Afghanistan, are devoted to the
ruthless journey of subduing and commanding their respective populations
by all and any means.
The
awkwardness between reality and diplomatic assurances shielded by the
exercise in public relations where each paints itself as cognizant of
the well-being of those whose lives they directly impact being uppermost
in mind. Not that their manner of dictatorial rule must prevail and
nothing must stand in the way of complete control. For the Chinese
government that means any dissenters, be they ordinary citizens
rebelling against tyranny or Chinese billionaires who risk all to
criticize government be rewarded with the death sentence of life
imprisonment.
The
Taliban, not the least bit squeamish over distinctions of applying
capital punishment for those who defy their theocratic dictatorship,
simply slaughter those who stand in their way, those who make overtures
to representatives of the democratic west, those who assume their
protests will be allowed impunity. The hushed world looking in at the
implosion of yet another country whom violent Islamists have destroyed,
deplore the fate of women and girls once again imprisoned in their
homes.
The
Taliban with its links to al-Qaeda, the Islamic State, the Pakistan
intelligence service, employs the empty pantomime of 'peace talks' with
the legitimate government of Afghanistan, its transparent intention to
imitate such talks to appease outside critics while rampaging through
the country attacking the Afghan national police and armed forces,
sending suicide bombers to message civilians and foreign diplomats and
NGOs that they will brook no resistance, expand the territory they
control.
Humvees belonging to Afghan Special Forces destroyed during heavy clashes with Taliban, Kandahar Province, July 13, 2021.
They
now have complete control of Afghanistan's border crossings with
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Iran, China and Pakistan; Afghan government
revenues from customs now in Taliban hands, as are the routes for trade.
The Chinese Communist party in Beijing congratulates the Taliban on its
demonstrated journey toward 'peace and reconciliation' with the
government of Afghanistan which it is slowly and inevitably destroying.
The
Taliban leadership, however, is anxious for good relations with its
neighbours to support its own legitimacy to claim itself the new
government of Afghanistan, returning after an unfortunate hiatus. And
China is only too happy to oblige, to legitimize its treachery. For a
price, for nothing is ever as simple as it may appear. China, prepared
to support the Taliban's rule giving it the opportunity to append a
critical addendum; the Taliban must fulfill an obligation to China for
China's full blessing.
When
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi welcomed a nine-person delegation of
the Taliban the opportunity to negotiate support for Taliban rule in
exchange for an obligation to pledge non-support for Islamic separatist
elements in Xinjiang making one contingent upon the other was timely and
to the point. China through Mr.Wang stating its expectation the Taliban
"play an important role in the process of peace, reconciliation and reconstruction" of Afghanistan. Even while the Taliban is actively engaged in destroying 'peace, reconciliation and reconstruction'.
This
is not cynicism. This is diplomacy, Beijing-style. Where the U.S. and
NATO failed because they attempted to destroy the ambitions of the
Islamist Taliban and free Afghanistan from their anti-humanitarian
shackles, what transpired was a "hasty withdrawal" concluding two
decades of Western effort to pull Afghanistan up by its own bootstraps
with foreign aid, investment, military strength and NGO efforts to
democratize and opportunize the country to the benefit of its people.
China's
sequestration of its Uyghurs and other Muslims in 're-education' camps,
to neutralize Beijing's fears of Islamist uprisings in Xinjiang
province not a matter for the Taliban to raise in solidarity with other
Islamist groups in a country hostile to their presence in the currently
far-greater interests of Chinese support for Taliban rule in
Afghanistan. So for the present the Taliban surrenders its support for
and assistance to the Islamist insurgents in Xinjiang. All in good time,
all in good time.
A guard stands in a watchtower in Kashgar, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China, May 3, 2021
"China’s construction of nearly 250 new silos has serious implications
for international relations and China’s role in the world. The Chinese
government has for decades insisted it has a minimum deterrent and that
it is not part of any nuclear arms race. Although it remains unclear how
many silos will actually be filled with missiles, the massive silo
construction and China’s other nuclear modernization programs are on a
scale that appears to contradict these polices: the build-up is anything
but “minimum” and appears to be part of a race for more nuclear arms to
better compete with China’s adversaries."
"The silo construction will
likely further deepen military tension, fuel fear of China’s intentions,
embolden arguments that arms control and constraints are naïve, and
that US and Russian nuclear arsenals cannot be reduced further but
instead must be adjusted to take into account the Chinese nuclear
build-up.?
"The disclosure of the second Chinese silo missile field comes only
days before US and Russian negotiators meet to discuss strategic
stability and potential arms control measures. Responding to the Chinese
build-up with more nuclear weapons would be unlikely to produce
positive results and could cause China build up even more. Moreover,
even when the new silos become operational, the Chinese nuclear arsenal
will still to be significantly smaller than those of Russia and the
United States."
"The clearest path to reining in China’s nuclear arsenal is through
arms control, but this is challenging. The United States has been trying to engage China on nuclear issues
since the late-1990s, but so far with minimal success. Rather than
discuss specific limitations on weapon systems, these efforts have been
limited to increasing transparency about force structure plans and
strategy, and well as discussing nuclear doctrine and intentions."
"The Trump administration correctly sought to broaden nuclear arms
control to include China, but fumbled the effort by turning it into a public-relations pressure stunt
and insisting that China should be part of a New START treaty
extension. Beijing not surprisingly rejected the effort, and Chinese
officials have plainly stated
that “it is unrealistic to expect China to join [the United States and
Russia] in a negotiation aimed at nuclear arms reduction,” particularly
while China’s arsenal remains a fraction of the size."
Matt Korda and Hans Kristensen, Federation of American Scientists
The Hami missile silo field domes are identical to silo domes seen
at the Yumen missile silo field and the Jilantai training area.
"[The Chinese nuclear weapons stockpile was] expected to double, if not triple or quadruple, over the next decade."
Admiral Charles Richard,commander U.S. nuclear forces
"The silo construction at Humen and Hami constitutes the most significant expansion of the Chinese nuclear arsenal ever."
Matt Korda and Hans M.Kristensen
China
has certainly not endeared itself to the freedom-loving Western
democracies of late. Its aggression over territorial rights in the
Himalaya with India, in the South China Sea with its near neighbours,
disputes over land, sea and air rights have all alerted its neighbours
to a sovereignty agenda whose fulfillment will most certainly diminish
their own disputed rights. Taiwan is in Beijing's crosshairs, and Hong
Kong has suffered a blow to its hopes for the future as a bastion of
democracy.
Life
in prison is the sentence that people in Hong Kong face for daring to
challenge the supremacy of China and this is just what a young activist,
Tong Ying-kit, 24, is now facing for hoisting a protest flag on July
1st last year reading "Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of Our Times".
He was convicted of terrorism and inciting secession under the
controversial national security law meant to stamp out dissent that
mightily offends Beijing.
So
it is with a jaundiced eye that the United States looks in at what
intelligence agencies suspect is the latest move by China to assert
itself. As though to complement Chinese President Xi Jinping's assertion
to "bash the heads" of any foreign intrusive powers that plan to
interfere with Beijing's sovereign rights on its own territory. As, for
example, global criticism of the oppression of Tibetans and of Uyghurs
in Xinjiang.
Beijing
has had a lot on its plate recently from its Belt & Road initiative
with massive investments all over the world meant ultimately to benefit
China's status as a trade and production colossus on the world stage
where Beijing longs to be recognized as a world power at least on par
with the United States of America. United China is Beijing's goal and it
will brook no interference nor questioning of its right to act as it
will in securing 'harmony' among its many restive parts.
The Hami missile silo field covers an area of about 800 square
kilometers and is in the early phases of construction.
Now,
according to satellite images, it appears that China has been busy,
building a second nuclear missile base able to hold dozens of
intercontinental ballistic missiles. Spread over 300 square miles in the
Xinjiang region, the vast site is theorized to hold 110 silos for
launching weapons. "The most significant expansion of the Chinese nuclear arsenal ever."
Civilian
satellite was utilized by the Federation of American Scientists to
examine the Gobi Desert close to Hami where Uyghur Muslims are believed
to be kept in "re-education camps". A series of large inflatable domes
typical of those generally made use of by construction teams on military
bases to shield from view work they are performing within, were
identified.
Only
weeks earlier another silo field had been spotted in Yumen, northeast
China. There, according to the James Martin Center for Non-proliferation
Studies, are located 120 missile silos, as well. China's version of the
issue of missile silos and their projectiles are that it maintains a
"minimum deterrent" of nuclear weapons, estimated to number some 300, by
experts. The United States and Russia both maintain strategic arsenals
easily five times that size, along with stockpiles of roughly 5,000
weapons each.
At
the same event when President Xi made his "bash the heads" threat, he
pledged to build up China's military. He also spoke of the nation's
commitment to the "reunification" of Taiwan, reiterating the importance
of social stability which would be more certain in Hong Kong under
Beijing's thumb, and at the same time enhancing Beijing's thrust toward
security and sovereignty. It is President Xi casual scorn of security
and sovereignty of other nations that is found so offensive.
"Just because you build the silo doesn't mean you have to fill them all with missiles. they can move them around."
"It's
not insane. They make the United States target a lot of silos that may
be empty. They can fill these silos slowly if they need to build up
their force. And they get leverage in arms control."
"I'm surprised they didn't do this a decade ago."
Vipin Narang, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Hami and Yumen missile silo fields are located deeper inside
China than any other ICBM base and beyond the reach of conventional
cruise missiles. Image: Google Earth.
Women Athletes Play Their Sport -- Don't Sport Bikinis
"We are athletes who just want to be playing our sport."
"I don't understand why we have to wear these kinds of clothes when it takes all the focus away from the sport that we love."
"You have to be running, doing gymnastic moves [harder when you're wearing a bikini]."
"We never get attention for our medals or how well we do. In the media, it's all about the panties."
Elisabeth Hammerstad, Norwegian women's handball team
"I'm VERY proud of the Norwegian female beach handball team FOR PROTESTING THE VERY SEXIST RULES ABOUT THEIR 'uniform'."
"The European handball federation SHOULD BE FINED FOR SEXISM."
"Good on ya, ladies I'll be happy to pay your fines for you. Keep it up."
Pink, girl group Choice, American singer, songwriter
"I can confirm that the EHF [European Handball Federation] will do all it can to ensure that a change of athlete uniform regulations can be implemented."
"Significant efforts will be made in order to further promote the sport in the best way possible for everyone, regardless of gender."
Michael Wiederer president, European Handball Federation
Norway team line up during 2018 Women's Beach Handball World Cup final against Greece on July 29, 2018 in Kazan, Russia. (Epsilon/Getty Images)
Elisabeth Hammerstad of the Norwegian women's handball team does in actual fact, know quite well why the official uniform required of women playing her sport includes a bikini bottom. Her team, after all, has been advocating for the last fifteen years for different uniforms. Male players, they have long pointed out, compete in a uniform comprised of tank tops and shorts. And it's just what the women themselves would prefer to compete in.
It's harder, she points out, to concentrate on the sport, wearing a bikini. The uniform could conceivably slip out of place when the wearer is so energetically playing the game. Leaving a photographer with a pictorial scoop, capturing an embarrassing, unflattering or revealing picture, actually a photograph encapsulating all of these inconvenient details to the chagrin of the wearer. And it is patently unfair, when the women want to be able to concentrate on their game.
Games that women excel at leave the impression that they're less exciting, less skill involved; while endurance, strength and competence is required equal to men's games. Injecting a little more photogenic interest by having women wear a uniform that exposes and features women in revealing, skimpy outfits adds a special zing appreciated by male onlookers, not necessarily the women who tune in to view women excelling at physical endeavours.
The Olympic Games remain a man's world to command, even as women compete at a level comparable to men given the differences in their physical endowments. The German women's gymnastics team cut out bikini-cut leotards favouring instead full-body versions stretching to the ankles, with the German Gymnastics Federation stating the outfits represent a statement rejecting "sexualization in gymnastics".
Sport codes in athletic sports like beach volleyball, beach handball and gymnastics reflect men's preferences not women's. "It's about patriarchy and sexism. Let's be real here", stated Cheryl Cooky, a professor of American studies at Purdue University, specializing in gender and athletics. It has "a very strong foothold".
Current rules mandate that female athletes must don bikini bottoms "with a close fit and cut on an upper angle toward the top of the leg", while men are allowed to wear shorts as long as 10 centimetres above their knees, as long as they aren't "too baggy". The women determined it was time for a a rebellion. And for doing just that, setting aside the bikini bottoms for shorts, the Norwegian women's team was fined 1,400 euros each player by the International Handball Federation.
The rejected outfits are a measure forcing athletes to "better align with our cultural expectations for women". Women playing on national athletic teams are "powerful and dominant, strong and competitive", explained Cheryl Cooky, qualities that defy traditional norms of femininity. Forcing women to play handball while wearing bikinis is symbolic of the view that women and men are fundamentally at variance even at the highest levels of athletic competition.
Norway's beach handball players were each fined 150 euros for wearing shorts rather than t he required bikini bottoms. The team wore thigh-length elastic shorts in their bronze-medal match Sunday to protest the regulation bikini-bottom design. Norwegian Handball Federation via ABACAPress.com
"It happens like this. When they catch men, they behead them. they kidnap children. They take women to the bush. When they catch old people, they beat them."
"My house was burned down. I don't know where my mother is, or where my father is."
"Tanzania does not want Mozambican people. We don't know why."
Heka Amisse, refugee from Palma, Cabo Delgado, Mozambique
"Those pushed back from Tanzania end up in a dire situation at the border."
"UNHCR reiterates its call for those fleeing the conflict to have access to territory and asylum, and [for] the principle of nonrefoulement [no forced return] to be respected."
"Refugees must not be forced back into danger."
UNHCR spokesman
"Tanzania used to be a world leader on refugees. In the '60s and '70s it not only let them in and let them stay indefinitely but it had pathways to citizenship, it had laws on inclusion into health systems, education, labour markets."
"That allows richer countries and countries farther away from conflict countries to essentially do nothing, or do the minimal, and leave all the burden to neighbouring countries."
"And the neighbouring countries, like Tanzania, are very understandably not pleased with this situation."
Leah Zamore, Centre on International Cooperation, New York University
Displaced women and children wait at a building used as shelter after they fled attacks in Palma, Mozambique
Islamists again. Islamists everywhere. Wreaking havoc, destroying towns and villages, creating hundreds of thousands of desperate refugees fleeing mass murder, kidnapping and slavery. Africa is overrun with Islamist terrorists. Refugees like Heka Amisse streamed out of their city of Palma located in the northernmost province of Mozambique bordering Tanzania. Increasing violence in the region brought the refugees for haven to neighbouring Tanzania.
And Tanzania is responding by enacting a program of return in direct contravention of international agreements, by returning these displaced people to the very country they fled in terror. Rwandan and South African troops have been sent to quell the violence along the border between the two countries where civilians are caught in the conflict pitting Mozambican forces against the Islamist terrorist hordes aligned with Islamic State's vicious ideology.
This is an escalating insurgency in Cabo Delgado, ongoing since 2017 where the Islamic State-affiliated terroristts have slaughtered some three thousand, forcing another 800,000 to flee for refuge. The recent discovery of great quantities of liquefied natural gas offshore of Palma has seen it become a hot spot of the conflict where French oil giant Total Energies has been stopped by the increasing attacks in Palma.
Heka Amisse and her husband, like thousands of other Mozambican citizens, were returned by the Tanzanian military to Negomano, a border town in Mozambique. The refugees are being forcibly returned to the country they fled. Over 9,600 people looking for haven in Tanzania were returned through the Negomano border since January. In a two-day period in June close to 1,000 people were forced back into the country they fled.
When Rwandans and people from Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo desperately sought refuge, Tanzania had responded by helping them in offering asylum. Tanzania was recognized in 2019 by Filippe Grandi, agency head of UNHCR as "one of the most important refugee asylum countries in Africa". That refugee asylum country with its outstanding humanitarian record is bitter about its recognition as a host country.
Lacking international financial support to assist them in integrating refugees into host communities, it groans under the weight of a responsibility left to it alone. Systems working with refugees fail to distribute responsibility of hosting fairly or evenly among nations, leaving the refugees to be coped with by a small number of developing countries where the refugees are concentrated in countries neighbouring those embroiled in conflict.
Displaced Mozambicans gather at Negomano Border point after being forcibly returned from Tanzania. UNHCR/Eduardo Burmeister
"The
Othram genealogy team used the profile to develop investigative leads
that were returned to LVMPD [Las Vegas Metropolitan Police
Department]."
"This was a huge milestone."
"When
you can access information from such a small amount of DNA, it really
opens up the opportunity to so many other cases that have been
historically considered cold and unsolvable."
"One of the advantages of having your own lab and doing everything
in-house is that you can really refine the methods. I’m hoping that this case will inspire other agencies to dig through
their backlogs and find cases that may look hopeless or unsolvable, but
really are tractable with some of this new technology."
David Mittelman, chief executive, Othram, genome-sequencing laboratory
"I'm glad they found who murdered my daughter. I never believed the case would be solved."
"It's good to have some closure, but there is no justice for Stephanie at all."
"We will never have complete closure because nothing will ever bring my daughter back to us."
Mother of Stephanie Isaacson
"Othram scientists used Forensic-Grade Genome Sequencing® to build a
genealogical profile from the remaining DNA evidence — only 120
picograms (or 0.12 nanograms) of DNA. This sets a new lower limit on the
quantity of DNA required to build a genealogical profile for a suspect
of a crime."
"The Othram genealogy team used the profile to develop
investigative leads that were returned to LVMPD. LVMPD detectives were
able to confirm the identity of the suspect in Stephanie's sexual
assault and murder as Darren Roy Marchand. The suspect died in 1995 by
suicide but has been tied to other crimes."
DNASolves.com
Fourteen-year-old Stephanie Isaacson's case had been cold for 32 years Police handout
It
was Stephanie Isaacson's daily routine, to walk to her Las Vegas high
school from her home, through an empty sandlot as a shortcut, setting
out at 6:30 a.m. On June 1, 1989 her father called the school, and then
some of her school friends, when his daughter failed to return home from
school as usual. No one had seen the 14-year-old that day; she hadn't
appeared at school, her friends hadn't seen her at all. Next call was to
the Las Vegas Police.
An
air and ground search by law enforcement agencies followed. The search
ended at 8:40 p.m. when investigators came across a few of the school
books belonging to the girl in a "desert area" close to her home. Which
then led to search parties scouring the area, eventually finding
Stephanie's body roughly 25 metres off the trail she took walking to
school on a daily basis.
She was found through the autopsy that followed to have had "significant blunt force trauma injuries and that she had been sexually assaulted".
And, according to the notes left by the Clark County Coroner's Office,
her death was caused by strangulation. Several suspects were identified
over the following years, leading investigators to travel to Washington
State, Ohio and Texas, following up on promising leads.
The
Coroner's Office forensic laboratory attempted to test evidence for DNA
with the use of technology that is now obsolete, back in 1998. Another
attempt was made in 2007, succeeding in obtaining a DNA profile from
semen found on the girl's shirt, according to Kim Murga, the director of
the lab. The DNA profile was subsequently uploaded to an FBI database,
but no match was ever received.
Everything
in the cold case changed when a genome-sequencing lab specializing in
assisting with cold cases contacted lab director Murga's forensic team
with an offer of services with the use of new technology. There would be
no cost associated, since an unnamed individual donated funding for the
lab to aid in the solving of a cold case with the LVMPD. The laboratory
worked for seven months to gather the data they required to build a
genetic profile with the minuscule amount of DNA they had to work with.
"Stephanie's case was chosen specifically because of the minimal amount of DNA evidence that was available."
"It appears to [have been] a random attack while she was walking to school."
LVMPD Lt. Ray Spencer
It
took thirty-two years for the cold case to be solved, when the Texas
laboratory -- Othram -- with the use of new technology, used the
equivalent of 15 human cells to find the link that had so long eluded
Las Vegas investigators, identifying the young girl's killer as Darren
Marchand. The man had a criminal history, explained Lt.Spencer, arrested
in 1985, age 20, charged with fatally strangling 24-year-old Nanette
Vanderburg in her home.
There
was no conviction for lack of evidence. At that time DNA testing was
not available but police were able to compare the DNA from her case with
the DNA found in the young girl's case which proved to be a match.
Frustratingly, Darren Marchand murdered two women and the legal system
still will not be able to extract some form of justice for his
unspeakable crimes. By his own action he removed himself from the reach
of the criminal justice system by committing suicide at age 29 in 1995.
Sending Workers to Sick Bay Results in Worker Shortage
"Large quantities of products are being delivered to stores daily and our colleagues are focused on getting them onto the shelves as quickly as they can."
Britain's second largest grocer, Sainsbury's
"We are experiencing some fuel supply issues at some of our retail sites
in the UK and unfortunately have therefore seen a handful of sites
temporarily close due to a lack of both unleaded and diesel grades."
BP
A customer looks at the depleted stock of ice cream at a Lidl supermarket.
Technological inventions allow for the most interesting and useful communication through specially designed apps meant to alert people to potential health threats and directing them to temporarily isolate to ensure that their infectious state does not have the opportunity to communicate infections to others in the community. In a country with a steadily rising case load through an outbreak of a highly contagious virus like the Delta strain, those communications result in a whole range of people been informed they must self-isolate.
In the United Kingdom that has resulted in supermarkets finding themselves in short supply on their shelves, and gas stations forced to close up shop. The official health app contacted hundreds of thousands of workers, instructing them to isolate following contact with someone else who has symptoms of COVID-19. Photographs of supermarket empty shelves have featured in British newspapers, front page, above the fold, with "PINGDEMIC" in big, bold lettering.
Government, according to its Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng was "very concerned" with the situation. Britain has seen COVID cases rising to 50,000 on a daily basis with hundreds of thousands of people placed out of commission after having been "pinged" by the contact-tracing app of the National Health Service, instructing them to prepare for a ten-day isolation period.
Staffing reductions have resulted and chaos has arisen from the fact that insufficient personnel can be relied upon to conduct the most basic and important of public services; distributing food and pumping gas. The situation that has arisen impacts food supplies, transport, supermarkets, hospitality, manufacturing and media. In sheer frustration people have taken to deleting the app from their cellphones.
A lack of fuel has forced BP to close a number of their gas stations, resulting from a shortfall in available truck drivers thanks to COVID isolation. Specifically bottled water, soft drinks, salad and meat products appear to be the items most in short supply on store shelves. Food supply chains were "right on the edge of failing" according to one meat industry body, reflecting absences caused by COVID-19 aggravating a critical shortage of labour already in existence.
The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in London.Photo by REUTERS/Henry Nicholls/File Photo
Close to 620,000 people had been instructed to isolate in England and Wales in the weeks leading up to July 14, according to official data, thanks to the app. An app that government ministers characterize as important in countering the spread of the coronavirus which has ended the lives of approximately 129,000 people in Britain, representing the seventh-highest death toll in the world.
For the past several weeks infections have risen sharply in Britain. The vaccination program has succeeded in inoculating 88 percent of adults with one vaccine dose, and over 69 percent with two doses. That has had the desired result of diminishing the link between infections and deaths, where daily fatalities are now ebbing.
"I was really scared, but the most terrifying thing was not the water, but the diminishing air supply in the [subway train] carriage."
Resident of Zhengzhon, Henan Province, China
"[I had] no water, no electricity, and no internet."
"Never
in my life had I seen so much rain. There was one hour
where the rain was just pouring down on us from the heavens, and
everything went completely white."
Mr Liu, 27, Zhengzhon resident
People walk through floodwaters in Zhengzhou, China, on July 20, 2021. (Chinatopix via AP)
China's central province of Henan has experienced a disastrous flood resulting from torrential rain falling in a short period of several days, equal to the amount of rain the province would normally receive throughout the course of a year. In the provincial capital Zhengzhou, a city of 12 million people some 650 kilometres from Beijing, bus service was halted and people were forced to spend the night at their office buildings.
"That's why many people took the subway, and the tragedy happened", said a resident of the city whose name was Guo, and who had opted to spend the night at his office. The tragedy he mentioned caused the death of 25 people at last count. Half of those people lost their lives in a subway line when flood waters rushed into the tunnel, entering the subway cars and passengers swiftly found themselves trapped in water rising progressively higher.
Roughly 100,000 people had to be evacuated in the city, which is an industrial and transport hub. Rail and road links were disrupted, dams and reservoirs swelled to danger levels leading thousands of troops from the People's Liberation Army to be dispatched to take part in the provincial rescue effort. Social media showed train commuters immersed chest-deep in water in the dark. One station appeared as a large brown pool.
Over 500 passengers were pulled to safety when one of the subway tunnels flooded. With electricity out, they had been trapped, unable to open doors or windows, trying desperately to keep their heads above water. Taller passengers helped shorter people survive by holding them up to gasp at the diminishing quality of air they gulped to survive.
Cities and towns built too close to the Yellow River, on floodplains that themselves proved inadequate to contain the massive overflow when 617.1 mm of rain fell in Zhengzhou, where the annual average stands at 640.8 mm. Three days of unrelenting rain realized a level seen only "once in a thousand years", according to the Zhengzhou weather bureau.
Due to the
rain, the authorities halted bus services, as the vehicles are powered
by electricity and many took the subways only to get trapped inside.
In the city of Gongyi located like Zhengzhou on the banks of the Yellow River, there was a widespread collapse of homes and structures succumbing to the force of the floods. More rain is being forecast across the province for the rest of the week. The People's Liberation Army is helping with search and rescue.
The province itself is a logistics hub with a population of about 100 million. Train services have been suspended across the province and highways have been closed and flights delayed or cancelled. Food and water were needed for hundreds of people stranded on a train that had stopped beyond city limits of Zhengzhou two days earlier.
The sheer volume of the rainfall had caused a 20-metre breach in the Yihetan dam in the city of Luoyang, with expectations that the dam could collapse at any time.
"The fire is so large and generating so much energy and extreme heat that it's changing the weather."
"Normally the weather predicts what the fire will do. In this case, the fire is predicting what the weather will do."
"We are fighting the fire aggressively, and there are active efforts to build a containment line wherever it is safe to do so."
Marcus Kauffman, spokesman, state forestry department, Oregon
A firefighting aircraft drops flame-retarding chemicals on the Bootleg Fire in Bly, Oregon, on July 15.
Drought-parched Oregon is host to a wildfire so large the area it covers is analogous to the size of Los Angeles. It is so large, its atmospheric impact so affecting that it is being seen to generate its own weather system. The "Bootleg Fire" is so far this year the largest to burn in the United States. No less than 1,372 square kilometres of forest and grassland have been burnt, with more yet to be consumed. Over 2,000 people have been displaced of necessity.
The wildfire, blazing for over two weeks to the present, has now begun affecting winds, disrupting the surrounding atmosphere. The fire is so large it is creating pyrocumulus clouds which can form when extreme heat from flames of a wildfire force air to rise rapidly, then condensing and cooling moisture on smoke particles the fire produces. These resulting clouds then morph into their very own thunderstorms with lightning and strong winds.
Smoke from the Bootleg Fire rises behind Bonanza, Oregon, on July 15.
Numerous such clouds have developed this season, resulting from wildfires, but primarily in Canada, which has been experiencing unusually hot and dry weather conditions, and the usual wildfire season developed earlier than usual, hotter than usual, drier and conducive to hosting greater numbers of wildfires, resulting in evacuations of wildfire-threatened towns. A mid-July heat wave smashed heat records in British Columbia.
A three-day immovable heat dome baked the town of Lytton, B.C. reaching an impossibly record-breaking high temperature of 49.4C, leading to dozens of extreme fires breaking out which then led to fiery, violent thunderstorms. Close to three quarters of a million pyrocumulonimbus-sparked lightening strikes hit British Columbia between June 30 and July 1.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Forest Service estimated that since The Bootleg fire erupted on July 6 the landscape was charred by another 40,000 acres on one day alone, reaching a total of close to 340,000 acres that have gone up in flames. Of 80 major active wildfires, The Bootleg is the largest that has seen a collective burn of nearly 1.2 million acres across 13 states, figures released by the National Interagency Fire Centre in Boise, Idaho confirm.
A pyrocumulus cloud from the Bootleg Fire drifts into the air Friday near Bly, Oregon
If The Government Doesn't, Veteran Volunteers Will!
"Were in constant contact with dozens of families, helping each work through a specific extraction plan while reassuring them that someone actually cares about their safety and well-being."
"We're operating very close to the wire financially, between housing, food, clothing, medical expenses, transportation."
Robin Rickards, retired corporal
"These Afghans believed in Canada and it's shameful that we still have not seen a full government plan and response."
"Individual veterans are stepping in to do what they can in the interim, but both our Veterans and these interpreters deserve so much better."
Kate Rusk, co-founder, Not Left Behind
An organization counting retired military officers and diplomats among
its ranks is looking for volunteers to welcome and help integrate any
former Afghan interpreters and their families who end up being evacuated
to Canada. The Star
A group of Canadian veterans is busy involving themselves aiding in the financing of the evacuation of interpreters and other people in Afghanistan who chose to work for the Canadian mission from regions in the country close to the capital Kabul. It is widely recognized as critically humanitarian to see that these compromised Afghan citizens leave the country before the Taliban succeed in their mission to take complete control. At which time it is fairly well guaranteed that the fate of Afghan civilians who had seen fit to aid foreign missions and their militaries in fighting the Taliban will be victims of vengeance.
A group has been formed named Not Left Behind whose mission it is to do what they can for as many Afghans as they can manage to rescue from their untenable position as sitting ducks for the Taliban. While the government of Canada has repeatedly stated its intention to rescue approximately 235 people linked to the Canadian presence in Afghanistan as part of a UN-authorized, U.S.-led mission to capture Osama bin Laden and aid in rescuing Afghanistan from the Islamist talons of the Taliban, it has as yet done nothing practical and time is short.
The group was co-founded by the sister of Capt.Nichola Goddard, killed in 2006 while on a mission in Afghanistan, representing the first Canadian female member of the military to die in action. They have so far managed to expedite the safe transfer of 20 families in the last few days, from Afghanistan to Canada. Kate Rusk, sister of Captain Goddard, has been heavily involved in this rescue effort, hoping the government itself will be moved to step in and facilitate the immediate transfer of those awaiting rescue from a certain bleak future.
The group awaiting rescue represents interpreters along with staff who worked at the Kabul-based Canadian diplomatic mission, along with their vulnerable family members. Countries that fought the counter-insurgency have been called upon by Human Rights Watch to organize an orderly and swift rescue of those Afghans who were involved with their day-to-day work in the country, all of whom have been threatened with reprisals by the Taliban.
"I know even in the last number of weeks that the situation has gotten worse, that lives are on the line. The most important thing I want to convey with regards to this operation is that we know that Afghans put their own lives at risk by helping the Canadian effort in the war there, and we want to do right by them", said Immigration Minister Marco Mendicino. But the Afghans in question are still waiting for official Canadian governmental action on their behalf.
Control of large areas of Afghanistan has fallen to the Taliban advance just in the three months since the U.S. announced its intention to remove remaining American forces. The Afghan National Military, without the support of their U.S. allies have been unable to counter the advance of the Taliban, who have already secured all border points with adjoining countries.
Afghan civilians have fled across their borders with countries like Tajikistan seeking haven; others attempt to procure travel documents before Afghan security collapses entirely. Although the Afghan military and the national police have greater fighting numbers than the Taliban, morale problems beset their efficacy, a situation that has become more pronounced by recent Taliban advances, encountering little opposition.
"Mr. Trudeau, I am a father. My daughter is a year-and-a-half old. From
one father to another, I beg you to please help me and my family to get
out of Afghanistan before the Taliban find us."
"If Canada does not act immediately, me and my wife, my daughter, and my
brothers will be captured by the Taliban. They will hang me, shoot me
and cut my head off. They will kill my wife and daughter. They will kill
my brothers … you promised me my family would one day come to Canada
[and] enjoy the peace that your family enjoy every day."
Sayed Shah, former Afghan interpreter for Canadian Forces in Afghanistan
Supporters of the Taliban carry the Taliban's signature white flags in
the Afghan-Pakistan border town of Chaman, Pakistan, Wednesday, July 14,
2021. (AP Photo/Tariq Achkzai)
"[A
Phase Two probe would require] audits of relevant laboratories and
research institutions operating in the area of the initial human cases
identified in December 2019."
"Finding
the origins of this virus is a scientific exercise that must be kept
free from politics. For that to happen, we expect China to support this
next phase of the scientific process by sharing all relevant data in a
spirit of transparency."
"We ask China to be transparent and open and to co-operate."
"We owe it to the millions who suffered and the millions who died, to know what happened."
"[It was] premature to discount the lab theory [As the first WHO probe concluded it to be unlikely.] As you know, I was a
lab technician myself, an immunologist, and have worked in the lab. And
lab accidents happen. It’s common."
"[A new WHO International Scientific Advisory Group for Origins of Novel
Pathogens (SAGO)]will play a vital role in the next phase of studies
into the origins of SARS-CoV-2, as well as the origins of future new
pathogens."
"[There is a need for more] studies of animal markets in and around Wuhan,
including continuing studies on animals sold at the Huanan wholesale
market."
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom
Ghebreyesus wants China to allow a biosecurity audit of some of its
virology labs. Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone vía AP
"It’s a sign that the WHO might be able to do [a] more credible or balanced investigation."
"Right now, the lack of clarity is in China’s interest."
Alina Chan, a gene therapy researcher at the Broad Institute
"I’m worried about delays and of course it’s a bit strange. We’re losing valuable time."
"[While it's] logical [to push for lab audits the demand right now
could backfire.] It’s not going to be popular with China, so I’m a
little bit worried that that will shut the doors to the rest of the
studies that we feel are needed."
Marion Koopmans, virologist, veterinarian, Erasmus University
Medical Center
Customers select seafood at a wet market in Dandong, Liaoning province, China Philip Wen/Reuters
In
the early stages of the pandemic WHO Director-General Adhonom
Ghebreyesus faced scathing criticism over a number of judgemental
lapses; the decision to take Beijing's word for its claim that it took
awhile to recognize the appearance of a new virus and its harsh impact,
the acceptance of Beijing's assurance it was not communicable, and the
lapse of time before the 'Wuhan virus' was declared a pandemic, thus
failing to alert the world community in a timely enough manner to a
fast-moving viral juggernaut that was soon to upend normalcy everywhere.
Since
then, the WHO head appears to have made a reversal. He is not viewed
more latterly as being quite as comfortable with China and its
assurances as he was back then. And he is under great pressure from some
countries -- Australia certainly comes to mind, in its strenuous
insistence from the beginning that an investigation into the origins of
the SARS-CoV-2 virus was badly needed, if for no other very good reason
that would inform scientists of its origins, trajectory and how better
the world might respond in future to new such viruses as they appear.
The
real pressure, however, comes from the WHO's greatest financial
supporter, the United States. Former President Donald Trump had little
use for the institution and threatened to halt its funding, and his
successor Joe Biden has continued to apply pressure on the World Health
Organization for a far more in-depth investigation into the origins of
COVID-19, which has taken such a dreadful world toll on the lives of
millions of people who succumbed to its lethal complications, much less
those living with a wide spectrum of COVID-induced symptoms.
It
should have come as no surprise to anyone -- much less Beijing -- that
another proposal for a second phase of studies into the origins of the
coronavirus would be recommended by the World Health Organization.
Suggesting audits of laboratories and markets in Wuhan, requiring
greater cooperation and transparency in the process from China. The plan
was presented to member states hard on the heels of a declaration that
investigations were being held up by the lack of raw data reflecting the
initial period of COVID-19's spread in China.
A
commitment to Phase Two would encompass studies of humans, wildlife and
animal markets in the city of Wuhan and certainly inclusive of the
Huanan wholesale animal market where the virus was first thought to have
emanated. China which has always been resistant to any deep scrutiny of
the virus linked to Wuhan, has no obvious wish to be cooperative in a
new study which promises to delve deeper than the previous one did,
where researchers submitted to official Chinese scrutiny and oversight
and the resulting paucity of requested data and documentation, much less
exposure to critical sites for review.
In
view of the fact that some scientists have raised their doubts over
China's explanations, including its suggestion that the virus emanated
from outside China; one theory that U.S. military brought it with them,
another that it was imported into China with frozen food; and that the
United States is adamantly pushing for a deeper investigation, the WHO
has little option but to proceed. The U.S. along with many scientists
demand a further investigation, and with particular attention into the
Wuhan Institute of Virology which at the time of the virus emergence had
been conducting research into virus vectors, bats.
Beijing
maintains that the theory the virus could be connected to the Wuhan
laboratory is beyond remote -- "absurd", repeatedly claiming that
"politicizing" the issue would only serve to hamper any investigation.
Any decision on continuing the probe "should be reached by all members through consultation",
responded Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian. As in,
perhaps, China, as a member of the UN Security Council having the
capability of scuppering international investigations of any kind by
veto.
A Chinese produce market.
Felix Wong/South China Morning Post/Getty
"[I wish Tedros
had owned up to past WHO] missteps. I don’t think he can simply just
take the next step and not worry about what’s happened so far."
"I’m very suspicious about dismissing the initial task force and now
allowing individuals and governments to nominate themselves, which will
result in a partisan, selective process and not lead to the best
composition."
"They’re not a truly independent body [World Health Organization]. They are the
product of a very political world, and what makes their problem 100
times worse is that they don’t have the resources to operate
independently."
David Relman, microbiome researcher, Stanford University
"The Chinese side noted the draft plan made by Tedros and the secretariat and the Chinese side is looking into it."
"Origin-tracing
is a scientific matter. All parties should respect the opinion of the
scientists and should refrain from politicizing origin-tracing."
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian
The Wuhan
Institute of Virology has carried out research on coronaviruses for
years because these pathogens are endemic to the region where it's
located.Credit: Kyodo News via Getty
This represents a general opinion site for its author. It also offers a space for the author to record her experiences and perceptions,both personal and public. This is rendered obvious by the content contained in the blog, but the space is here inviting me to write. And so I do.
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