(date: 2024-09-29 21:04:00)
date: 2024-09-30, from: VOA News USA
During any campaign, it is crucial that voters and candidates have a way to measure the state of public opinion. Polling — surveying representative samples of the electorate — allows everyone to understand and adapt to prevailing sentiments. But it has its flaws.
https://www.voanews.com/a/understanding-political-polls-from-history-to-interpretation/7804204.html
date: 2024-09-30, updated: 2024-09-30, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Infosec In Brief Put away that screwdriver and USB charging cable – the latest way to steal a Kia just requires a cellphone and the victim’s license plate number.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/30/infosec_in_brief/
date: 2024-09-30, from: NASA breaking news
Earth planning date: Friday, Sept. 27, 2024 We’re wrapping up our time in the channel with the highly anticipated examination of the “Sheep Creek” white stones. Last plan’s reposition was a success, so we are able to go ahead with contact science on them this weekend. MAHLI and APXS picked three targets to investigate: “Cloud […]
https://science.nasa.gov/blog/sols-4318-4320-one-last-weekend-in-the-channel/
date: 2024-09-30, from: VOA News USA
Jimmy Carter is the first U.S. president to reach the age of 100. VOA’s Kane Farabaugh has more from Georgia on the historic milestone.
date: 2024-09-30, updated: 2024-09-30, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
ASIA IN BRIEF It’s not often The Register writes about a cryptocurrency outfit being on the right side of a scam or crime, but last week crypto exchange Binance claimed it helped Indian authorities to investigate a scam gaming app.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/30/asia_tech_news_in_brief/
date: 2024-09-30, from: VOA News USA
date: 2024-09-29, from: VOA News USA
Los Angeles — Kris Kristofferson, a Rhodes scholar with a deft writing style and rough charisma who became a country music superstar and A-list Hollywood actor, has died.
Kristofferson died at his home in Maui, Hawaii on Saturday, family spokesperson Ebie McFarland said in an email. He was 88.
McFarland said Kristofferson died peacefully, surrounded by his family. No cause was given. He was 88.
Starting in the late 1960s, the Brownsville, Texas native wrote such classics standards as “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down,” “Help Me Make It Through the Night,” “For the Good Times” and “Me and Bobby McGee.” Kristofferson was a singer himself, but many of his songs were best known as performed by others, whether Ray Price crooning “For the Good Times” or Janis Joplin belting out “Me and Bobby McGee.”
Kristofferson, who could recite William Blake from memory, wove intricate folk music lyrics about loneliness and tender romance into popular country music. With his long hair and bell-bottomed slacks and counterculture songs influenced by Bob Dylan, he represented a new breed of country songwriters along with such peers as Willie Nelson, John Prine and Tom T. Hall.
“There’s no better songwriter alive than Kris Kristofferson,” Nelson said during a November 2009 award ceremony for Kristofferson held by BMI. “Everything he writes is a standard and we’re all just going to have to live with that.”
As an actor, he played the leading man opposite Barbara Streisand and Ellen Burstyn, but also had a fondness for shoot-out Westerns and cowboy dramas.
He was a Golden Gloves boxer and football player in college, received a master’s degree in English from Merton College at the University of Oxford in England and turned down an appointment to teach at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, to pursue songwriting in Nashville. Hoping to break into the industry, he worked as a part-time janitor at Columbia Records’ Music Row studio in 1966 when Dylan recorded tracks for the seminal “Blonde on Blonde” double album.
At times, the legend of Kristofferson was larger than real life. Johnny Cash liked to tell a mostly exaggerated story of how Kristofferson, a former U.S. Army pilot, landed a helicopter on Cash’s lawn to give him a tape of “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” with a beer in one hand. Over the years in interviews, Kristofferson said with all respect to Cash, while he did land a helicopter at Cash’s house, the ‘man in black’ wasn’t even home at the time, the demo tape was a song that no one ever actually cut, and he certainly couldn’t fly a helicopter holding a beer.
In a 2006 interview with The Associated Press, he said he might not have had a career without Cash.
“Shaking his hand when I was still in the Army backstage at the Grand Ole Opry was the moment I’d decided I’d come back,” Kristofferson said. “It was electric. He kind of took me under his wing before he cut any of my songs. He cut my first record that was record of the year. He put me on stage the first time.”
One of his most recorded songs, “Me and Bobby McGee,” was written based on a recommendation from Monument Records founder Fred Foster. Foster had a song title in his head called “Me and Bobby McKee,” named after a female secretary in his building. Kristofferson said in an interview in the magazine, Performing Songwriter, that he was inspired to write the lyrics about a man and woman on the road together after watching the Frederico Fellini film, “La Strada.”
Joplin, who had a close relationship with Kristofferson, changed the lyrics to make Bobby McGee a man and cut her version just days before she died in 1970 from a drug overdose. The recording became a posthumous No. 1 hit for Joplin.
Hits that Kristofferson recorded include “Why Me,” “Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do),” “Watch Closely Now,” “Desperados Waiting for a Train,” “A Song I’d Like to Sing” and “Jesus Was a Capricorn.”
In 1973, he married fellow songwriter Rita Coolidge and together they had a successful duet career that earned them two Grammy awards. They divorced in 1980.
https://www.voanews.com/a/kris-kristofferson-singer-songwriter-and-actor-dies-at-88/7803884.html
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-29, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Kris Kristofferson, Revered Songwriter Transcended Genre, Dead at 88.
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/kris-kristofferson-dead-1107074/
date: 2024-09-29, from: VOA News USA
Los Angeles — Vice President Kamala Harris is set to rally in Las Vegas on Sunday night as both she and Republican Donald Trump continue to make frequent trips to Nevada, looking to gain momentum in the swing state as Election Day nears.
The rally is part of Harris’ latest West Coast swing, which included making her first trip to the U.S.-Mexico border since taking over for President Joe Biden atop the Democratic presidential ticket. On Friday, the vice president walked alongside a towering, rust-colored border wall fitted with barbed wire in Douglas, Arizona, and met with federal authorities.
She attended a San Francisco fundraiser Saturday and had plans for a Sunday event in Los Angeles before heading to Nevada, with a return to Washington set for Monday night.
“This race is as close as it could possibly be,” she said Saturday to a raucous crowd of donors. “This is a margin-of-error race.”
Harris said even if there is enthusiasm, she’s running like an underdog. And she invited people to “join our team in battleground states” to help get voters to the polls — even if it’s Californians making calls from home.
On Sunday, former Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake became the latest prominent Republican to endorse Harris and Walz. He credited them with a “fine character and love of country” and said he wants a president who does not treat political adversaries as enemies or try to subvert the will of voters.
Flake, a longtime critic of the former president, joins a list of anti-Trump Republicans who have said they will vote for the Democratic ticket, not just refrain from voting for Trump. Among them is Dick Cheney, the deeply conservative former vice president, and his daughter, Liz.
On Sunday, Maryland Senate candidate Larry Hogan, a former Republican governor and a sharp critic of Trump, said Harris has yet to earn his vote, though Trump won’t get it.
In Nevada, all voters automatically receive ballots by mail unless they opt out — a pandemic-era change that was set in state law. That means most ballots could start going out in a matter of weeks, well before Election Day on Nov. 5.
Harris plans to be back in Las Vegas on Oct. 10 for a town hall with Hispanic voters. Both she and Republican rival Donald Trump have campaigned frequently in the city, highlighting the critical role that Nevada, and its mere six votes in the Electoral College, could play in deciding an election expected to be exceedingly close.
Trump held his own Las Vegas rally on Sept. 13 at the Expo World Market Center, where Harris is speaking Sunday. Her campaign has frequently scheduled events in the same venue where her opponent previously spoke, including in Milwaukee, Atlanta and suburban Phoenix. During his Las Vegas event, the former president singled out people crossing into the U.S. illegally, saying Harris “would be the president of invasion.”
During a campaign stop in the city in June, Trump promised to eliminate taxes on tips received by waiters, hotel workers and thousands of other service industry employees. Harris used her own Las Vegas rally in August to make the same promise.
Fully doing away with federal taxes on tips would probably require an act from Congress. Still, Nevada’s Culinary Union, which represents 60,000 hospitality workers in Las Vegas and Reno, has endorsed Harris.
Ted Pappageorge, the culinary union’s secretary-treasurer, said the difference between the dueling no-taxes-on-tips proposals is that Harris has also pledged to tackle what his union calls “sub-minimum wage,” where employers pay service industry workers small salaries and meet minimum wage thresholds by expecting employees to supplement those with tips.
Harris has no public schedule for Tuesday, when her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, squares off against Republican Ohio Sen. JD Vance for the first and only vice presidential debate of the campaign. But Harris and Walz will campaign jointly on Wednesday, making a bus tour with various stops through central Pennsylvania.
The campaign says that during that swing, both will emphasize plans to energize U.S. manufacturing, including by using tax credits to encourage steel production and overhaul federal permitting systems to increase American construction.
https://www.voanews.com/a/harris-to-campaign-again-in-swing-state-nevada/7803883.html
date: 2024-09-29, from: Advent of Computing
Programming, as a practice and study, has been steadily evolving for the past 70 or so years. Over the languages have become more sophisticated and user friendly. New tools have been developed that make programming easier and better. But what was that first step? When exactly did programmers start trying to improve their lot in life? It probably all started with assembly language. Well, probably…
Selected Sources:
https://albert.ias.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/d47626a1-c739-4445-b0d7-cc3ef692d381/content - Coding for ARC
https://sci-hub.se/10.1088/0950-7671/26/12/301 -
The EDSAC
http://bitsavers.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/pdf//ibm/periodicals/Applied_Sci_Tech_Newsletter/Appl_Sci_Tech_Newsletter_10_Oct55.pdf
- IBM Applied Sci Tech Newsletter
https://adventofcomputing.libsyn.com/episode-140-assembling-code
date: 2024-09-29, from: VOA News USA
Cape Canaveral, Florida — The two astronauts stuck at the International Space Station since June welcomed their new ride home with Sunday’s arrival of a SpaceX capsule.
SpaceX launched the rescue mission on Saturday with a downsized crew of two astronauts and two empty seats reserved for Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who will return next year. The Dragon capsule docked in darkness high over Botswana as the two craft soared 420 kilometers above Earth.
NASA switched Wilmore and Williams to SpaceX following concerns over the safety of their Boeing Starliner capsule. It was the first Starliner test flight with a crew, and NASA decided the thruster failures and helium leaks that cropped up after liftoff were too serious and poorly understood to risk the test pilots’ return. So Starliner returned to Earth empty earlier this month.
The Dragon carrying NASA’s Nick Hague and the Russian Space Agency’s Alexander Gorbunov will remain at the space station until February, turning what should have been a weeklong trip for Wilmore and Williams into a mission lasting more than eight months.
Two NASA astronauts were pulled from the mission to make room for Wilmore and Williams on the return leg.
NASA likes to replace its station crews every six months or so. SpaceX has provided the taxi service since the company’s first astronaut flight in 2020. NASA also hired Boeing for ferry flights after the space shuttles were retired, but flawed software and other Starliner issues led to years of delays and more than $1 billion in repairs.
Starliner inspections are underway at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, with post-flight reviews of data set to begin this week.
“We’re a long way from saying, ‘Hey, we’re writing off Boeing,’” NASA’s associate administrator Jim Free said at a pre-launch briefing.
The arrival of two fresh astronauts means the four who have been up there since March can now return to Earth in their own SpaceX capsule in just over a week. Their stay was extended a month because of the Starliner turmoil.
Although Saturday’s liftoff went well, SpaceX said the rocket’s spent upper stage ended up outside its targeted impact zone in the Pacific because of a bad engine firing. The company has halted all Falcon launches until it figures out what went wrong.
date: 2024-09-29, from: VOA News USA
Sacramento, California — California Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed a landmark bill aimed at establishing first-in-the-nation safety measures for large artificial intelligence models Sunday.
The decision is a major blow to efforts attempting to rein in the homegrown industry that is rapidly evolving with little oversight. The bill would have established some of the first regulations on large-scale AI models in the nation and paved the way for AI safety regulations across the country, supporters said.
Earlier in September, the Democratic governor told an audience at Dreamforce, an annual conference hosted by software giant Salesforce, that California must lead in regulating AI in the face of federal inaction but that the proposal “can have a chilling effect on the industry.”
The proposal, which drew fierce opposition from startups, tech giants and several Democratic House members, could have hurt the homegrown industry by establishing rigid requirements, Newsom said.
“While well-intentioned, SB 1047 does not take into account whether an AI system is deployed in high-risk environments, involves critical decision-making or the use of sensitive data,” Newsom said in a statement. “Instead, the bill applies stringent standards to even the most basic functions — so long as a large system deploys it. I do not believe this is the best approach to protecting the public from real threats posed by the technology.”
Newsom on Sunday instead announced that the state will partner with several industry experts, including AI pioneer Fei-Fei Li, to develop guardrails around powerful AI models. Li opposed the AI safety proposal.
The measure, aimed at reducing potential risks created by AI, would have required companies to test their models and publicly disclose their safety protocols to prevent the models from being manipulated to, for example, wipe out the state’s electric grid or help build chemical weapons. Experts say those scenarios could be possible in the future as the industry continues to rapidly advance. It also would have provided whistleblower protections to workers.
The legislation is among a host of bills passed by the legislature this year to regulate AI, fight deepfakes and protect workers. State lawmakers said California must take action this year, citing hard lessons they learned from failing to rein in social media companies when they might have had a chance.
Proponents of the measure, including Elon Musk and Anthropic, said the proposal could have injected some levels of transparency and accountability around large-scale AI models, as developers and experts say they still don’t have a full understanding of how AI models behave and why.
The bill targeted systems that require more than $100 million to build. No current AI models have hit that threshold, but some experts said that could change within the next year.
“This is because of the massive investment scale-up within the industry,” said Daniel Kokotajlo, a former OpenAI researcher who resigned in April over what he saw as the company’s disregard for AI risks. “This is a crazy amount of power to have any private company control unaccountably, and it’s also incredibly risky.”
The United States is already behind Europe in regulating AI to limit risks. The California proposal wasn’t as comprehensive as regulations in Europe, but it would have been a good first step to set guardrails around the rapidly growing technology that is raising concerns about job loss, misinformation, invasions of privacy and automation bias, supporters said.
A number of leading AI companies last year voluntarily agreed to follow safeguards set by the White House, such as testing and sharing information about their models. The California bill would have mandated that AI developers follow requirements similar to those commitments, said the measure’s supporters.
But critics, including former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, argued that the bill would “kill California tech” and stifle innovation. It would have discouraged AI developers from investing in large models or sharing open-source software, they said.
Newsom’s decision to veto the bill marks another win in California for big tech companies and AI developers, many of whom spent the past year lobbying alongside the California Chamber of Commerce to sway the governor and lawmakers from advancing AI regulations.
Two other sweeping AI proposals, which also faced mounting opposition from the tech industry and others, died ahead of a legislative deadline in August. The bills would have required AI developers to label AI-generated content and ban discrimination from AI tools used to make employment decisions.
The governor said earlier this summer he wanted to protect California’s status as a global leader in AI, noting that 32 of the world’s top 50 AI companies are located in the state.
He has promoted California as an early adopter as the state could soon deploy generative AI tools to address highway congestion, provide tax guidance and streamline homelessness programs. The state also announced last month a voluntary partnership with AI giant Nvidia to help train students, college faculty, developers and data scientists. California is also considering new rules against AI discrimination in hiring practices.
Earlier in September, Newsom signed some of the toughest laws in the country to crack down on election deepfakes and measures to protect Hollywood workers from unauthorized AI use.
But even with Newsom’s veto, the California safety proposal is inspiring lawmakers in other states to take up similar measures, said Tatiana Rice, deputy director of the Future of Privacy Forum, a nonprofit that works with lawmakers on technology and privacy proposals.
“They are going to potentially either copy it or do something similar next legislative session,” Rice said. “So it’s not going away.”
date: 2024-09-29, from: VOA News USA
date: 2024-09-29, from: Liliputing
The Radxa X4 is a credit card-sized single-board computer with a Intel N100 quad-core processor, support for up to 16GB of RAM, and an M.2 connector with support for PCIe 3.0 x4 NVMe SSDs or other expansion cards. First introduced in July, the Radxa X4 is now available for purchase with prices starting at around […]
The post Radxa X4 is a Raspberry Pi-sized computer with an Intel N100 chip, M.2 slot, and 2.5 GbE LAN appeared first on Liliputing.
date: 2024-09-29, from: Liliputing
Radxa has launched two low-cost single-board computers powered by Rockchip RK3528A processors with four ARM Cortex-A53 CPU cores, Mali-450 graphics. The Radxa ROCK 2A is a credit card-sized computer with a Raspberry Pi-like 40-pin GPIO header, while the Radxa ROCK 2F is a smaller board with fewer ports. But both support 4K video playback, WiFi […]
The post Radxa ROCK 2A and ROCK 2F single-board PCs with RK3528A chips now available for $10 and up appeared first on Liliputing.
https://liliputing.com/radxa-introduced-rock-2a-and-rock-2f-single-board-pcs-with-rk3528a-chips/
date: 2024-09-29, from: VOA News USA
PERRY, Fla. — Authorities struggled to get water and other supplies to isolated, flood-stricken areas across the U.S. Southeast in the wake of Hurricane Helene as the death toll from the storm rose.
A North Carolina county that includes the mountain city of Asheville reported 30 people killed due to the storm, pushing the overall death toll to at least 84 people across several states.
Supplies were being airlifted to the region around the isolated city. Buncombe County Manager Avril Pinder pledged that she would have food and water into Ashville — which is known for its arts, culture and natural attractions — by Monday.
“We hear you. We need food and we need water,” Pinder said on a Sunday call with reporters. “My staff has been making every request possible to the state for support and we’ve been working with every single organization that has reached out. What I promise you is that we are very close.”
Officials warned that rebuilding from the widespread loss of homes and property would be lengthy and difficult. The storm upended life throughout the Southeast. Deaths also were reported in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper predicted the toll would rise as rescuers and other emergency workers reached areas isolated by collapsed roads, failing infrastructure and widespread flooding.
He implored residents in western North Carolina to avoid travel, both for their own safety and to keep roads clear for emergency vehicles. More than 50 search teams spread throughout the region in search of stranded people.
One rescue effort involved saving 41 people north of Asheville. Another mission focused on saving a single infant. The teams found people through both 911 calls and social media messages, North Carolina National Guard Adjutant General Todd Hunt said.
President Joe Biden described the impact of the storm as “stunning” and said he would visit the area this week as long as it does not disrupt rescues or recovery work.
Hurricane Helene roared ashore late Thursday in Florida’s Big Bend region as a Category 4 hurricane with 225 kph winds. A weakened Helene quickly moved through Georgia, then soaked the Carolinas and Tennessee with torrential rains that flooded creeks and rivers and strained dams.
There have been hundreds of water rescues, including in rural Unicoi County in East Tennessee, where dozens of patients and staff were plucked by helicopter from a hospital rooftop Friday.
More than 2 million homeowners and other utility customers were still without power Sunday night. South Carolina had the most outages and Gov. Henry McMaster asked for patience as crews dealt with widespread snapped power poles.
“We want people to remain calm. Help is on the way, it is just going to take time,” McMaster told reporters outside the airport in Aiken County.
The storm unleashed the worst flooding in a century in North Carolina. One community, Spruce Pine, was doused with over 61 centimeters of rain from Tuesday through Saturday.
Jessica Drye Turner in Texas had begged for someone to rescue her family members stranded on their rooftop in Asheville amid rising floodwaters. “They are watching 18-wheelers and cars floating by,” Turner wrote in an urgent Facebook post on Friday.
But in a follow-up message Saturday, Turner said help had not arrived in time to save her parents, both in their 70s, and her 6-year-old nephew. The roof collapsed and the three drowned.
“I cannot convey in words the sorrow, heartbreak and devastation my sisters and I are going through,” she wrote.
The state was sending water supplies and other items toward Buncombe County and Asheville, but mudslides blocking Interstate 40 and other highways prevented supplies from making it. The county’s own water supplies were on the other side of the Swannanoa River, away from where most of the 270,000 people in Buncombe County live, officials said.
Law enforcement was making plans to send officers to places that still had water, food or gas because of reports of arguments and threats of violence, the county sheriff said.
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell toured south Georgia on Sunday and planned to be in North Carolina Monday.
“It’s still very much an active search and rescue mission” in western North Carolina, Criswell said. “And we know that there’s many communities that are cut off just because of the geography” of the mountains, where damage to roads and bridges have cut off certain areas.
Biden on Saturday pledged federal government help for Helene’s “overwhelming” devastation. He also approved a disaster declaration for North Carolina, making federal funding available for affected individuals.
In Florida’s Big Bend, some lost nearly everything they own. With sanctuaries still darkened as of Sunday morning, some churches canceled regular services while others like Faith Baptist Church in Perry opted to worship outside.
Standing water and tree debris still covers the grounds of Faith Baptist Church. The church called on parishioners to come “pray for our community” in a message posted to the congregation’s Facebook page.
“We have power. We don’t have electricity,” Immaculate Conception Catholic Church parishioner Marie Ruttinger said. “Our God has power. That’s for sure.”
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said Saturday that it looked “like a bomb went off” after viewing splintered homes and debris-covered highways from the air.
In eastern Georgia near the border with South Carolina, officials notified Augusta residents Sunday morning that water service would be shut off for 24 to 48 hours in the city and surrounding Richmond County.
A news release said trash and debris from the storm “blocked our ability to pump water.” Officials were distributing bottled water.
With at least 25 killed in South Carolina, Helene was the deadliest tropical cyclone for the state since Hurricane Hugo made landfall north of Charleston in 1989, killing 35 people.
Moody’s Analytics said it expects $15 billion to $26 billion in property damage.
Climate change has exacerbated conditions that allow such storms to thrive, rapidly intensifying in warming waters and turning into powerful cyclones sometimes within hours.
A new tropical depression in the eastern Atlantic Ocean could become a “formidable hurricane” later this week, the National Hurricane Center said Sunday. The depression had sustained 55 kph winds and was located about 945 kilometers west-southwest of the Cape Verde Islands, the center said. It could become a hurricane by Wednesday.
date: 2024-09-29, from: Tedium site
Becoming a commentator-turned-creator? Hope you’re getting hazard pay. Some thoughts on the art of creation when you’re usually a critic.
https://feed.tedium.co/link/15204/16825215/mkbhd-critics-turned-creators-history
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-29, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
This is probably the first piece Doc Searls wrote about podcasting, exactly twenty years ago yesterday.
https://web.archive.org/web/20050115050245/http://garage.docsearls.com/node/view/462
date: 2024-09-29, from: Liliputing
Lenovo’s latest Android tablet built for gaming looks a lot like the models that the company released in 2022 and 2023, which is probably why the new Lenovo Legion Y700 gaming tablet has the same name as its predecessors. But the Legion Y700 (2024) model does bring a few significant upgrades. For one thing it now […]
The post Lenovo Legion Y700 (2024) gaming tablet launches in China (Flagship-class hardware at a mid-range price) appeared first on Liliputing.
date: 2024-09-29, updated: 2024-09-29, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Interview A hacker walked into a “very big city” building on a Wednesday morning with no keys to any doors or elevators, determined to steal sensitive data by breaking into both the physical space and the corporate Wi-Fi network.…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/29/interview_with_a_social_engineering/
date: 2024-09-29, from: Enlightenment Economics
Summer over in a flash, autumn wind and rain outside – perhaps cosy evenings will speed up both my reading and review-posting. I just finished AI Snake Oil by Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor, having long been a fan of … Continue reading
date: 2024-09-29, from: VOA News USA
Washington — The U.S. military said on Sunday it was increasing its air support capabilities in the Middle East and putting troops on a heightened readiness to deploy to the region as it warned Iran against expanding the ongoing conflict.
The announcement came two days after President Joe Biden directed the Pentagon to adjust U.S. force posture in the Middle East amid intensifying concern that Israel’s killing of the leader of Iran-backed Hezbollah could prompt Tehran to retaliate.
“The United States is determined to prevent Iran and Iranian-backed partners and proxies from exploiting the situation or expanding the conflict,” Pentagon spokesperson Major General Patrick Ryder said in a statement.
He also cautioned that if Iran or groups Tehran backs “use this moment to target American personnel or interests in the region, the United States will take every necessary measure to defend our people.”
The Pentagon statement offered few clues as to the size or scope of the new air deployment, saying only that “we will further reinforce our defensive air-support capabilities in the coming days.”
Israel struck more targets in Lebanon on Sunday, pressing Hezbollah with new attacks after killing the group’s leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, and a string of its other top commanders in an escalating military campaign.
The strikes have dealt a stunning succession of blows to Hezbollah after almost a year of cross-border fire, killing much of its leadership and revealing gaping security holes. But it has also raised questions about Washington’s publicly declared goals of containing the conflict and safeguarding U.S. personnel throughout the Middle East.
White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said on Sunday that the United States is watching to see what Hezbollah does to try to fill its leadership vacuum, “and is continuing to talk to the Israelis about what the right next steps are.”
The U.S. State Department has yet to order an evacuation from Lebanon. But last week, U.S. officials told Reuters the Pentagon was sending a few dozen additional troops to Cyprus to help the military prepare for scenarios including an evacuation of Americans from Lebanon.
The Pentagon said U.S. forces were being made ready to deploy, if needed.
“[Austin] increased the readiness of additional U.S. forces to deploy, elevating our preparedness to respond to various contingencies,” Ryder said in a statement.
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-09-29, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
One of the rushed fixes was to slap a “DispatchQueue.main.async” to invoke a @MainActor method from the URLSession.didFinishDownloadingTo - but this method deletes the file upon return, so my file was gone by the time the method was called. But took a week to catch the regression.
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/113221343787241164
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-09-29, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
Some observations on swift concurrency:
That said, I forgot how many times I used “foo!.bar” because I knew “this is never going to happen” and found it a few months later on the crash logs.
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/113221250820232066
date: 2024-09-29, from: Computer ads from the Past
The Premier Workplace Shell Calendar, Phone Book, To Do List, and Program Runner, too
https://computeradsfromthepast.substack.com/p/sundial-systems-relish
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-29, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Much easier than struggling with ActivityPub, would be a set of functionally equivalent APIs and a common understanding of what a “post” is among various social web systems. This how we created solid interop in the blogging world, and it would work here too.
http://scripting.com/2024/09/28/132152.html?title=interopInSocialWeb
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-09-29, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
Good morning pineapple.
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/113221032826610098
date: 2024-09-29, from: VOA News USA
BEIRUT — In Syria, 37 militants affiliated to the extremist Islamic State group and an al-Qaida-linked group were killed in two strikes, the United States military said Sunday.
Two of the dead were senior militants, it said.
U.S. Central Command said it struck northwestern Syria on Tuesday, targeting a senior militant from the al-Qaida-linked Hurras al-Deen group and eight others. They say he was responsible for overseeing military operations.
They also announced a strike from earlier this month on Sept. 16, where they conducted a “large-scale airstrike” on an IS training camp in a remote undisclosed location in central Syria. That attack killed 28 militants, including “at least four Syrian leaders.”
“The airstrike will disrupt ISIS’ capability to conduct operations against U.S. interests, as well as our allies and partners,” the statement read.
There are some 900 U.S. forces in Syria, along with an undisclosed number of contractors, mostly trying to prevent any comeback by the extremist IS group, which swept through Iraq and Syria in 2014, taking control of large swaths of territory.
U.S. forces advise and assist their key allies in northeastern Syria, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, located not far from strategic areas where Iran-backed militant groups are present, including a key border crossing with Iraq.
A “hello world” program in machine code on DOS
date: 2024-09-29, updated: 2024-09-29, from: Uninformative blog
https://www.uninformativ.de/blog/postings/2024-09-29/0/POSTING-en.html
date: 2024-09-29, from: The Lever News
Wall Street wants to regulate itself, and more from The Lever this week.
https://www.levernews.com/lever-weekly-were-looking-for-an-inside-man-in-finance/
date: 2024-09-29, updated: 2024-09-29, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Brit chipmaker Pragmatic Semiconductor has created a 32-bit microprocessor in a “flexible technology that is fully functional while flexed.”…
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/29/pragmatic_semiconductor_flexrv_chip/
date: 2024-09-29, from: VOA News USA
new york — U.S. suicides last year remained at about the highest level in the nation’s history, preliminary data suggests.
A little more than 49,300 suicide deaths were reported in 2023, according to provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That number that could grow a little as some death investigations are wrapped up and reported.
Just under 49,500 were reported in 2022, according to final data released Thursday. The numbers are close enough that the suicide rate for the two years are the same, CDC officials said.
U.S. suicide rates have been rising for nearly 20 years, aside from a two-year drop around the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. So “a leveling off of any increase in suicide is cautiously promising news,” said Katherine Keyes, a Columbia University public health professor who studies suicide.
Indeed, there’s reason for optimism. A 2-year-old national crisis line allows anyone in the U.S. to dial 988 to reach mental health specialists. That and other efforts may be starting to pay off, Keyes said, but it “really remains to be seen.”
Experts caution that suicide — the nation’s 11th-leading cause of death in 2022 — is complicated and that attempts can be driven by a range of factors. Contributors include higher rates of depression, limited availability of mental health services, and the availability of guns. About 55% of all suicide deaths in 2022 involved firearms, according to CDC data.
The CDC’s Thursday report said:
—Suicide was the second-leading cause of death for people ages 10–14 and 20–34, and the third-leading cause for people ages 15–19.
—Deaths continue to be more common among boys and men than girls and women. The highest suicide rate for any group — by far — was in men ages 75 and older, at about 44 suicides per 100,000 men that age.
—Among women, the highest rate was in those who were middle-aged, about 9 per 100,000. But more dramatic increases have been seen in teens and young women, with the rate for that group doubling in the last two decades.
—The overall suicide rate in 2022 and 2023 was 14.2 per 100,000. It also was that high in 2018. Before then, it hadn’t been that high since 1941.
date: 2024-09-29, from: VOA News USA
WASHINGTON — Fall means it’s time for just about everybody to get up to date on their flu and COVID-19 vaccines – and a lot of older adults also need protection against another risky winter virus, RSV.
Yes, you can get your flu and COVID-19 shots at the same time. Don’t call them boosters — they’re not just another dose of last year’s protection. The coronavirus and influenza are escape artists that constantly mutate to evade your body’s immune defenses, so both vaccines are reformulated annually to target newer strains.
“Right now is the best time” to get all the recommended fall vaccinations, said Dr. Mandy Cohen, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as she got her flu shot Wednesday. She has an appointment for her COVID-19 shot, too. It’s “the single most effective thing you can do to protect yourself, your family, your community.”
While they’re not perfect, vaccinations offer strong protection against a bad case of flu or COVID-19 — or dying from it.
“It may not prevent every infection but those infections are going to be less severe,” said CDC’s Dr. Demetre Daskalakis. “I would rather have my grandmother or my great-grandmother have a sniffle than have to go to the emergency room on Thanksgiving.”
The challenge: Getting more Americans to roll up their sleeves. Last year, just 45% of adults got a flu vaccination and even fewer, 23%, got a COVID-19 shot. A survey released Wednesday by the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases shows an equally low number intend to this fall.
And the coronavirus still killed more Americans than flu last year.
“Maybe we believe that it’s not going to be me but let’s not take a chance,” said Dr. Michael Knight of George Washington University. “Why not get a vaccine that’s going to help you reduce that risk?”
Who needs a fall COVID-19 or flu vaccination?
The CDC urges both an updated COVID-19 shot and yearly flu vaccine for everyone ages 6 months and older. If you recently had COVID-19, you can wait two or three months but still should get an updated vaccination because of the expected winter surge.
Both viruses can be especially dangerous to certain groups including older people and those with weak immune systems and lung or heart disease. Young children also are more vulnerable. The CDC counted 199 child deaths from flu last year.
Pregnancy also increases the chances of serious COVID-19 or flu – and vaccination guards mom plus ensures the newborn has some protection, too.
What’s new about the COVID-19 shots?
Last fall’s shots targeted a coronavirus strain that’s no longer spreading while this year’s are tailored to a new section of the coronavirus family tree. The Pfizer and Moderna shots are formulated against a virus subtype called KP.2 while the Novavax vaccine targets its parent strain, JN.1. Daskalakis said all should offer good cross protection to other subtypes now spreading.
The Pfizer and Moderna mRNA vaccines can be used by adults and children as young as 6 months. The Novavax shot is a more traditional protein vaccine combined with an immune booster, and open to anyone 12 and older.
Which flu vaccine to choose?
High-dose shots and one with a special immune booster are designed for people 65 and older, but if they can’t find one easily they can choose a regular all-ages flu shot.
For the shot-averse, the nasal spray FluMist is available for ages 2 to 49 at pharmacies and clinics — although next year it’s set to be available for use at home.
All flu vaccinations this year will guard against two Type A flu strains and one Type B strain. Another once-common form of Type B flu quit spreading a few years ago and was removed from the vaccine.
What about that other virus, RSV?
RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, is a coldlike nuisance for most people but it, too, packs hospitals every winter and can be deadly for children under 5, the elderly and people with certain high-risk health problems.
The CDC recommends an RSV vaccination for everyone 75 and older, and for people 60 to 74 who are at increased risk. This is a one-time shot, not a yearly vaccination – but only 24% of seniors got it last year. It’s also recommended late in pregnancy to protect babies born during the fall and winter.
And while “your arm may hurt and you may feel crummy for a day,” it’s also fine to get the RSV, flu and COVID-19 vaccines at the same time, Daskalakis said.
What will it cost?
The vaccines are supposed to be free under Medicare, Medicaid and most private insurance plans if people use an in-network provider.
About 1.5 million uninsured adults got free COVID-19 vaccinations through a federal program last year but that has ended. Instead, the CDC is providing $62 million to health departments to help improve access – and states and large cities are starting to roll out their plans.
Call your local health department to ask about options because in many areas, “availability of vaccine at lower or no cost is expected to trickle in over the next couple of weeks,” advised Dr. Raynard Washington, who heads the Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, health department.
Check the government website, vaccines.gov, for availability at local pharmacies.
https://www.voanews.com/a/in-us-it-s-time-to-roll-up-sleeves-for-new-covid-flu-shots-/7801310.html
date: 2024-09-29, from: VOA News USA
PRAIRIE DU CHIEN, Wisconsin — Former President Donald Trump meandered Saturday through a list of grievances against Vice President Kamala Harris and other issues during an event intended to link his Democratic opponent to illegal border crossings.
A day after Harris discussed immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border, Trump spoke to a crowd in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, about immigration. He blamed Harris for migrants committing crimes after entering the U.S. illegally, alleging she was responsible for “erasing our border.”
“I will liberate Wisconsin from the mass migrant invasion,” he said. “We’re going to liberate the country.”
Trump hopes frustration over illegal immigration will translate to votes in Wisconsin and other crucial swing states. The Republican nominee has denounced people who cross the U.S.-Mexico border as “poisoning the blood of the country” and vowed to stage the largest deportation operation in American history if elected. And polls show Americans believe Trump would do a better job than Harris on handling immigration.
Trump shifted from topic to topic so quickly that it was hard to keep track of what he meant at times. He talked about the two assassination attempts against him and blamed the U.S. Secret Service for not being able to hold a large outdoor rally instead of an event in a smaller indoor space. But he also offered asides about climate change, Harris’ father, how his beach body was better than President Joe Biden’s, and a fly that was buzzing near him.
“I wonder where the fly came from,” he said. “Two years ago, I wouldn’t have had a fly up here. You’re changing rapidly. But we can’t take it any longer. We can’t take it any longer.”
Trump repeatedly brought up Harris’ Friday event in Douglas, Arizona, where she announced a push to further restrict asylum claims beyond Biden’s executive order announced earlier this year. Harris denounced Trump’s handling of the border while president and his opposing a bipartisan border package earlier this year, saying Trump “prefers to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem.”
“I had to sit there and listen” to Harris last night Trump said, eliciting cheers. “And who puts it on? Fox News. They should not be allowed to put it on. It’s all lies. Everything she says is lies.”
The Republican nominee also intensified his personal attacks against Harris, insulting her as “mentally impaired” and a “disaster.”
Trump professed not to understand what Harris meant when she said he was responsible for taking children from their parents. Under his administration, border agents separated children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border in a policy that was condemned globally as inhumane and one that Trump himself ended under pressure from his own party.
Harris, at a rally in San Francisco, told supporters there were “two very different visions for our nation” and voters see it “every day on the campaign trail.”
“Donald Trump is the same old tired show,” she said. “The same tired playbook we have heard for years.”
She said Trump was “a very unserious man.” “However, the consequences of putting him back in the White House are extremely serious.”
At Trump’s event, on either side of the stage were poster-sized mug shots of men in the U.S. illegally accused of a crime, including Alejandro Jose Coronel Zarate, a case Trump cited in his speech.
Wisconsin Republicans in recent days have cited the story of Coronel Zarate’s arrest in Prairie du Chien as more evidence that people in the country illegally are committing crimes across the United States, not just in southern border states. Prosecutors charged Coronel Zarate on September 18 with sexual assault, child abuse, strangulation and domestic abuse. His lawyers declined to comment.
date: 2024-09-29, from: VOA News USA
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida — SpaceX launched a rescue mission for the two stuck astronauts at the International Space Station on Saturday, sending up a downsized crew to bring them home but not until next year.
The capsule rocketed into orbit to fetch the test pilots whose Boeing spacecraft returned to Earth empty earlier this month because of safety concerns. The switch in rides left it to NASA’s Nick Hague and Russia’s Alexander Gorbunov to retrieve Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams.
Because NASA rotates space station crews approximately every six months, this newly launched flight with two empty seats reserved for Wilmore and Williams won’t return until late February. Officials said there wasn’t a way to bring them back earlier on SpaceX without interrupting other scheduled missions.
By the time they return, the pair will have logged more than eight months in space. They expected to be gone just a week when they signed up for Boeing’s first astronaut flight that launched in June.
NASA ultimately decided that Boeing’s Starliner was too risky after a cascade of thruster troubles and helium leaks marred its trip to the orbiting complex. The space agency cut two astronauts from this SpaceX launch to make room on the Dragon capsule’s return leg for Wilmore and Williams.
Wilmore and Williams watched the liftoff via a live link sent to the space station, prompting a cheer of “Go Dragon!” from Williams, NASA deputy program manager Dina Contella said.
Williams has been promoted to commander of the space station, which will soon be back to its normal population of seven. Once Hague and Gorbunov arrive Sunday, four astronauts living there since March can leave in their own SpaceX capsule. Their homecoming was delayed a month by Starliner’s turmoil.
Hague noted before the flight that change is the one constant in human spaceflight.
“There’s always something that is changing. Maybe this time it’s been a little more visible to the public,” he said.
Hague was thrust into the commander’s job for the rescue mission based on his experience and handling of a launch emergency six years ago. The Russian rocket failed shortly after liftoff, and the capsule carrying him and a cosmonaut catapulted off the top to safety.
Rookie NASA astronaut Zena Cardman and veteran space flier Stephanie Wilson were pulled from this flight after NASA opted to go with SpaceX to bring the stuck astronauts home. Promised a future space mission, both were at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, taking part in the launch livestream. Gorbunov remained on the flight under an exchange agreement between NASA and the Russian Space Agency.
“Every crewed launch that I have ever watched has really brought me a lot of emotion. This one today was especially unique,” a teary-eyed Cardman said following the early afternoon liftoff. “It was hard not to watch that rocket lift off without thinking, ‘That’s my rocket and that’s my crew.’”
Moments before liftoff, Hague paid tribute to his two colleagues left behind: “Unbreakable. We did it together.” Once in orbit, he called it a “sweet ride” and thanked everyone who made it possible.
Earlier, Hague acknowledged the challenges of launching with half a crew and returning with two astronauts trained on another spacecraft.
“We’ve got a dynamic challenge ahead of us,” Hague said after arriving from Houston last weekend. “We know each other and we’re professionals and we step up and do what’s asked of us.”
SpaceX has long been the leader in NASA’s commercial crew program, established as the space shuttles were retiring more than a decade ago. SpaceX beat Boeing in delivering astronauts to the space station in 2020, and it is now up to 10 crew flights for NASA.
Boeing has struggled with a variety of issues over the years, repeating a Starliner test flight with no one on board after the first one veered off course. The Starliner that left Wilmore and Williams in space landed without any issues in the New Mexico desert on September 6, and has since returned to Kennedy Space Center. A week ago, Boeing’s defense and space chief was replaced.
Delayed by Hurricane Helene pounding Florida, the latest SpaceX liftoff marked the first for astronauts from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. SpaceX took over the old Titan rocket pad nearly two decades ago and used it for satellite and station cargo launches, while flying crews from Kennedy’s former Apollo and shuttle pad next door. The company wanted more flexibility as more Falcon rockets soared.
date: 2024-09-29, from: VOA News USA
date: 2024-09-29, updated: 2024-09-29, from: Tom Kellog blog
I’m blown away by NotebookLM. It seems there’s nothing too hard to learn when you can get a podcast-style overview and then ask any question in an interactive learning session. So let’s think big; why can’t my 8 year old child learn about cutting edge PhD research? How far can we get?
http://timkellogg.me/blog/2024/09/29/notebooklm
date: 2024-09-28, from: Port Hueneme
11th Annual BananaFest Celebrating a Diverse Working Port Themed “Charging Forward to a Zero Emission Future” Download Press Release Contact: Letitia Austin Public and Gov’t Relations Manager Laustin@Portofh.org …
The post GOING BANANAS AT PORT OF HUENEME! appeared first on The Port of Hueneme.
https://www.portofhueneme.org/banana-festival-2024/
date: 2024-09-28, from: VOA News USA
REHOBOTH BEACH, Delaware — The Israeli strike that killed Hezbollah’s Hassan Nasrallah was a “measure of justice” for victims of a four-decade “reign of terror,” President Joe Biden said Saturday.
The comments came after Lebanon’s Hezbollah group confirmed earlier Saturday that Nasrallah, one of the group’s founders, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut the previous day.
Biden noted that the operation to take out Nasrallah took place in the broader context of the conflict that began with Hamas’ massacre of Israelis on October 7, 2023.
“Nasrallah, the next day, made the fateful decision to join hands with Hamas and open what he called a ‘northern front’ against Israel,” Biden said in a statement.
He also noted that Hezbollah under Nasrallah’s watch has been responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans, Israelis and Lebanese.
Hezbollah attacks against U.S. interests include the truck bombing of the U.S. Embassy and multinational force barracks in Beirut in 1983 and the kidnapping of the Central Intelligence Agency chief of station in Beirut, who died while held captive. The U.S. said Hezbollah leaders armed and trained militias that carried out attacks on U.S. forces during the war in Iraq.
The White House sees the death of Nasrallah as a huge blow to Hezbollah. At the same time, the administration has sought to tread carefully as it has tried to contain Israel’s war with Hamas, which, like Hezbollah, is backed by Iran, from exploding into an all-out regional conflict.
The White House and Pentagon were quick Friday, shortly after the strike, to say publicly that Israel offered it no forewarning of the operation.
“President Biden and I do not want to see conflict in the Middle East escalate into a broader regional war,” Vice President Kamala Harris said in a statement Saturday that echoed Biden’s description of a “measure of justice.” She added, “diplomacy remains the best path forward to protect civilians and achieve lasting stability in the region.”
The confirmation of Nasrallah’s death comes during a week that began with Biden’s top national security aides working on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly to build support for a 21-day Israel-Hezbollah cease-fire that they hoped might also breathe new life into stalled efforts to secure a truce in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a defiant speech Friday to the United Nations, vowing to keep up operations against Hezbollah until tens of thousands of Israeli citizens displaced by rocket attacks can return home. Shortly after, Israel carried out the strike that killed Nasrallah.
Biden reiterated Saturday that he wants to see cease-fires both in Gaza and between Israel and Hezbollah.
“It is time for these deals to close, for the threats to Israel to be removed, and for the broader Middle East region to gain greater stability,” Biden said.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian accused the United States of supporting the killing that took out Nasrallah and dozens of others.
“The world community will not forget that the order of the terrorist strike was issued from New York and the Americans cannot absolve themselves from complicity with the Zionists,” Pezeshkian was quoted as saying in a statement read on Iranian state television.
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-09-28, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
Part 3
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/113217537697420676
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-09-28, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
Part 2
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/113217532360330739
@Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed (date: 2024-09-28, from: Miguel de Icaza Mastondon feed)
Some observations from Twitter:
https://mastodon.social/@Migueldeicaza/113217525459817345
date: 2024-09-28, from: VOA News USA
united nations — Russia’s foreign minister reinforced the Kremlin’s disagreements with the West in his United Nations General Assembly remarks Saturday and showed no interest in a genuine peace with Ukraine.
“I’m not going to talk here about the senselessness and the danger of the very idea of trying to fight to victory with a nuclear power, which is what Russia is,” Sergey Lavrov said.
Earlier this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin revised his government’s nuclear doctrine, in a clear attempt to discourage the West from lifting its restrictions on Ukraine using long-range weapons to strike inside Russian territory.
Lavrov dismissed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s 10-point peace formula as “doomed,” and said a resolution of the conflict is not possible unless the root causes of the crisis, as Moscow sees them, are addressed.
The veteran diplomat also took the opportunity to repeat complaints about NATO, Washington, London and the European Union.
His speech came a few hours after Lebanese Hezbollah acknowledged the death of their leader, Hassan Nasrallah, following a series of targeted Israeli airstrikes in Beirut.
“We are particularly concerned by the now almost commonplace practice of political killings, as once again, took place yesterday in Beirut,” he told the assembly.
At a news conference following his speech, Lavrov expressed concerns about a wider regional war.
“A lot of people say that Israel wants to create the grounds to drag the U.S. directly into this,” he said. “And so, to create these grounds, is trying to provoke Iran and Hezbollah. So the Iran leadership, I think, are behaving extremely responsibly, and this is something that we should take due note of.”
War in Ukraine
In February 2022, Russia and China declared a “no limits partnership,” just days before President Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The United States has repeatedly accused China of assisting the Kremlin with its war.
“China, another permanent member of this council, is the top provider of machine tools, microelectronics, and other items that Russia is using to rebuild, to restock, to ramp up its war machine and sustain its brutal aggression,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday at a high-level U.N. Security Council meeting on Ukraine that President Zelenskyy attended.
Beijing denies the charge and has sought to distance itself publicly from Moscow on the war.
“The top priority is to commit to no expansion of the battlefield, no escalation of fighting, and no provocation by any party, and push for de-escalation of the situation as soon as possible,” Foreign Minister Wang Yi told the General Assembly on Saturday.
Beijing says it is committed to playing “a constructive role” in ending the conflict.
China and ‘multipolar world’
On the margins of the annual U.N. meetings, China and Brazil launched what they are calling the group of friends for peace for Ukraine, which includes several other countries from the global south.
In a sign of China’s desire to be recognized as a global economic and political power, Wang said international relations should be “more democratic.”
“Gone are the days when one or two major powers call the shots on everything,” he said. “We should advocate an equal and orderly multipolar world and see that all countries, regardless of their size, have their own place and role in the multipolar system.”
Wang also called for full U.N. membership for the Palestinians and urged implementation of a two-state solution.
“There must not be any delay in reaching a comprehensive cease-fire, and the fundamental way out lies in the two-state solution,” he said.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi asked the assembly how the international community could believe Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim on Friday that “Israel yearns for peace.”
“Yesterday, while he was here, Israel conducted an unprecedented, massive air attack on Beirut. Prime Minister Netanyahu wants the war to continue. We must stop that! I repeat, we must stop that! We must pressure Israel to come back to a political solution for a two-state solution,” she said to much applause.
Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister also expressed concern about regional stability following the escalation in Lebanon.
“We call on all parties to show wisdom and to show restraint in order to avoid a true war breaking out in the region,” Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud said.
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-28, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Scripting News: Making the social web really work.
http://scripting.com/2024/09/28/132152.html
date: 2024-09-28, from: VOA News USA
date: 2024-09-28, from: NASA breaking news
NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov will soon dock with the International Space Station as part of the agency’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission, a venture which will enhance scientific research and bolster the knowledge about how people can live and work in space. During the planned five-month mission, Hague’s mission tasks will include […]
date: 2024-09-28, from: Margaret Atwood’s substack
Right here on this website. But not for President.
https://margaretatwood.substack.com/p/ok-kids-you-get-to-vote
date: 2024-09-28, from: Tedium site
Word that CNN is getting a paywall feels like a sign that good information is more expensive than ever.
https://feed.tedium.co/link/15204/16824837/cnn-paywall-online-journalism-risks
date: 2024-09-28, from: NASA breaking news
The two crew members of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-9 mission launched at 1:17 p.m. EDT Saturday, for a science expedition aboard the International Space Station. This is the first human spaceflight mission launched from Space Launch Complex-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, and the agency’s ninth commercial crew rotation mission to the space […]
date: 2024-09-28, from: VOA News USA
In the American Midwest, a local fight over a Chinese electric vehicle battery factory reflects broader controversy over Chinese investments in the U.S. VOA’s Calla Yu reports on how the issue of U.S.-China competition is playing out in a small city in Michigan during this year’s U.S. presidential election. Videographer: Yu Gang
date: 2024-09-28, from: VOA News USA
MANILA, PHILIPPINES — The armed forces of five countries conducted joint maritime exercises in a portion of the South China Sea on Saturday as China carried out its own military drills in the disputed waterway.
The exercises involving the Philippines, United States, Australia, Japan and — for the first time — New Zealand took place in Manila’s exclusive economic zone and sought to improve the militaries’ interoperability, the Philippine armed forces said in a statement.
Saturday’s exercises included a Philippine warship, the United States’ USS Howard, Japan’s JS Sazanami and New Zealand’s HMNZS Aotearoa, the statement said.
Australia’s Department of Defense said the drills demonstrated “our collective commitment to strengthen regional and international cooperation in support of a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific.”
The exercises follow a series of air and sea encounters between the Philippines and China, which have sparred over disputed areas of the South China Sea, including the Scarborough Shoal, one of Asia’s most contested features. The shoal has been occupied by China’s coast guard for more than a decade.
On Wednesday, naval vessels from New Zealand and Australia sailed through the Taiwan Strait, part of the South China Sea.
China, which claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own, says it alone exercises sovereignty and jurisdiction over the strait. The U.S. and Taiwan say the strait — a major trade route through which about half of global container ships pass — is an international waterway.
Australia has “consistently pressed China on peace and stability in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait,” Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a speech to the U.N. General Assembly on Saturday.
“We have welcomed the resumption of leader- and military-level dialogue between the U.S. and China,” Wong said, according to a transcript.
Chinese air and naval forces conducted maneuvers in a disputed area of the sea hours after the country’s top diplomat discussed ways of reducing regional tension with his U.S. counterpart.
China claims nearly all of the South China Sea, despite overlapping maritime claims by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, angering its neighbors.
date: 2024-09-28, updated: 2024-09-28, from: Robin Rendle Essays
https://robinrendle.com/notes/coming-home/
date: 2024-09-28, from: Liliputing
Earlier this year Chinese PC maker CWWK launched the X86-P5 Dev Board with support for up to an Intel Core i3-N305 Alder Lake-N processor, support for up to 32GB of DDR5-4800 memory, and an M.2 slot for a PCIe 3.0 SSD. But what really makes the this little computer interesting is that there’s an optional […]
The post CWWK X86-P5 “Pocket NAS” is a cheap, tiny mini PC with dual 2.5 GbE LAN ports and up four M.2 2280 slots appeared first on Liliputing.
date: 2024-09-28, from: VOA News USA
PERRY, Florida — Massive rains from powerful Hurricane Helene left people stranded, without shelter and awaiting rescue, as the cleanup began from a tempest that killed at least 64 people, caused widespread destruction across the U.S. Southeast and knocked out power to millions of people.
“I’ve never seen so many people homeless as what I have right now,” said Janalea England of Steinhatchee, Florida, a small river town along the state’s rural Big Bend, as she turned her commercial fish market into a storm donation site for friends and neighbors, many of whom couldn’t get insurance on their homes.
Helene blew ashore in Florida’s Big Bend region as a Category 4 hurricane late Thursday with winds of 225 kph.
From there, it quickly moved through Georgia, where Gov. Brian Kemp said Saturday that it “looks like a bomb went off” after viewing splintered homes and debris-covered highways from the air. Weakened, Helene then soaked the Carolinas and Tennessee with torrential rains, sending creeks and rivers over their banks and straining dams.
Western North Carolina was isolated because of landslides and flooding that forced the closure of Interstate 40 and other roads. All those closures delayed the start of the East Tennessee State University football game against The Citadel because the Buccaneers’ drive to Charleston, South Carolina, took 16 hours.
There have been hundreds of water rescues, none more dramatic than in rural Unicoi County in East Tennessee, where dozens of patients and staff were plucked by helicopter from a hospital rooftop Friday. And the rescues continued into the following day in Buncombe County, North Carolina, where part of Asheville was under water.
“To say this caught us off guard would be an understatement,” said Quentin Miller, the county sheriff.
Asheville resident Mario Moraga said it was “heartbreaking” to see the damage in the Biltmore Village neighborhood and neighbors have been going house to house to check on each other and offer support.
“There’s no cell service here. There’s no electricity,” he said.
While there have been deaths in the county, Emergency Services Director Van Taylor Jones said he wasn’t ready to report specifics, partially because downed cell towers hindered efforts to contact next of kin. Relatives put out desperate pleas for help on Facebook.
The storm, now a post-tropical cyclone, was expected to hover over the Tennessee Valley on Saturday and Sunday, the National Hurricane Center said.
It unleashed the worst flooding in a century in North Carolina. One community, Spruce Pine, was doused with over 0.6 meters of rain from Tuesday through Saturday.
And in Atlanta, 28.24 centimeters of rain fell over 48 hours, the most the city has seen over two days since record keeping began in 1878.
President Joe Biden said Saturday that Helene’s devastation has been “overwhelming” and pledged to send help. He also approved a disaster declaration for North Carolina, making federal funding available for affected individuals.
With at least 25 killed in South Carolina, Helene is the deadliest tropical cyclone for the state since Hurricane Hugo killed 35 people when it came ashore just north of Charleston in 1989. Deaths also have been reported in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia.
Moody’s Analytics said it expects $15 billion to $26 billion in property damage. AccuWeather’s preliminary estimate of the total damage and economic loss from Helene in the U.S. is between $95 billion and $110 billion.
Evacuations began before the storm hit and continued as lakes overtopped dams, including one in North Carolina that forms a lake featured in the movie Dirty Dancing. Helicopters were used to rescue some people from flooded homes.
Among the 11 confirmed deaths in Florida were nine people who drowned in their homes in a mandatory evacuation area on the Gulf Coast in Pinellas County, Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said.
None of the victims were from Taylor County, which is where the storm made landfall. It came ashore near the mouth of the Aucilla River, about 30 kilometers northwest of where Hurricane Idalia hit last year at nearly the same ferocity.
Taylor County is in Florida’s Big Bend, went years without taking a direct hit from a hurricane. But after Idalia and two other storms in a little over a year, the area is beginning to feel like a hurricane superhighway.
“It’s bringing everybody to reality about what this is now with disasters,” said John Berg, 76, a resident of Steinhatchee, a small fishing town and weekend getaway.
Climate change has exacerbated conditions that allow such storms to thrive, rapidly intensifying in warming waters and turning into powerful cyclones sometimes in a matter of hours.
Helene was the eighth named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, which began June 1. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has predicted an above-average season this year because of record-warm ocean temperatures.
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-28, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
2017: I want my old blog back. (And it was a good move, glad I gave up on making the ghost of Google Reader happy.)
http://scripting.com/2017/05/05/iWantMyOldBlogBack.html
date: 2024-09-28, from: Gary Marcus blog
And what that might mean for Generative AI more broadly
https://garymarcus.substack.com/p/five-reasons-why-openais-150b-financing
date: 2024-09-28, from: 404 Media Group
Cannibalism, the cheese mummy, and a star-broiled Earth.
https://www.404media.co/an-update-on-the-end-of-the-world/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-28, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
POSSE: Reclaiming social media in a fragmented world.
https://www.citationneeded.news/posse/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-28, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Knicks trade Julius Randle to Timberwolves for Karl-Anthony Towns in rare player swap between contenders.
date: 2024-09-28, from: The Lever News
Antimonopolists are coming for meddling drug middlemen and lousy landlords, the tide turns on overdoses, and carbon goes under the sea.
https://www.levernews.com/you-love-to-see-it-good-regulators-come-for-bad-medicine/
date: 2024-09-28, updated: 2024-09-28, from: The Register (UK I.T. News)
Soldiers bear a heavy burden while serving their homelands, which is why the US Army has awarded contracts this week to two companies for a new generation of equipment-hauling robots. …
https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/09/28/us_army_robot_equipment/
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-28, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Flaw in Kia’s web portal let researchers track, hack cars.
https://arstechnica.com/cars/2024/09/flaw-in-kia-web-portal-let-researchers-track-hack-cars/
date: 2024-09-28, from: VOA News USA
BALTIMORE — Glock pistols are a popular choice for people committing gun crimes, in part because they can be easily converted into fully automatic weapons using a small device, according to a new report based on data from nearly three dozen U.S. cities.
Often called Glock switches or auto sears, the devices have received heightened attention in recent years because they’re increasingly turning up at crime scenes. They effectively turn semiautomatic weapons, which fire one bullet per trigger pull, into machine guns that can spray continuous gunfire.
Authorities believe the shooters who killed four people and injured 17 others in Birmingham, Alabama, last weekend were using conversion devices to make their guns more powerful. About 100 shell casings were recovered from the scene.
A report by the anti-violence organization Everytown for Gun Safety says criminals often choose Glocks because they’re relatively cheap and easy to operate and modify. But the brand is perhaps best known for its popularity among law enforcement officers, who almost exclusively carry Glock handguns.
The report was released this week ahead of a conference Thursday in Baltimore hosted by Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a group that falls under Everytown’s umbrella. The organization called on Glock and other weapons manufacturers to take responsibility for their products and do more to prevent violence.
“We have to build that level of accountability for them as well,” Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said in an interview. “At some point, as a country, the sanctity of the lives of Americans has to begin to outweigh the sanctity of American guns.”
A spokesperson for Glock didn’t respond to an email seeking comment.
Scott and other mayors said while local elected officials are often at the forefront of pushing for better gun policies, Congress must also step up and address the issue.
Researchers found that four gun manufacturers accounted for more than 40% of the recovered guns they studied, with Glock alone accounting for 18%. The team compiled data from 34 U.S. cities about guns recovered from crime scenes in 2023.
“They’re basically profiting off of pain,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown. “They’re prioritizing profits over safety.”
Meanwhile, the prevalence of machine gun conversion devices has increased dramatically — 570% between 2017 and 2021, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The devices are banned under federal law. Most are small pieces of metal or plastic made with a 3D printer or ordered online.
The report also found that recoveries of Polymer80 ghost guns — untraceable, unassembled firearms that can be purchased online — increased nearly 1,200% across 28 cities over the past five years. Those numbers have started trending downward following the implementation of a new federal rule and a wave of state legislation banning the weapons, according to the report. Polymer80, once a leading manufacturer of ghost guns in the U.S., also shut down operations last month after a deluge of lawsuits.
The city of Baltimore was among those who filed suit. City officials announced a settlement agreement in February after the Nevada-based company agreed to stop selling its products to Maryland residents.
The city’s lawsuit accused Polymer80 of intentionally undermining federal and state firearms laws by designing, manufacturing and providing gun assembly kits without serial numbers to buyers who don’t undergo background checks. It was filed the same day Maryland’s statewide ban on ghost guns went into effect in 2022 following a law change that expanded the definition of a firearm to include “an unfinished frame or receiver.”
A year later, recoveries of ghost guns in Baltimore had dropped 25%, according to the report.
Gun violence has also decreased significantly in the city over roughly the past two years, a positive trend that experts and officials attribute to a wide range of factors, including expanded anti-violence programs and ongoing police reform. Violence is trending downward nationally as well following a sharp spike during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The report suggests several actions that manufacturers could take to keep their firearms out of the hands of criminals, including through increased oversight of the gun dealers they work with. Manufacturers could also focus on producing safer weapons that aren’t easily modified and fund advertising campaigns to increase public awareness of gun safety.
“I think common sense can get through to people. I think wanting to save the lives of our children can get through to people,” said Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas. “Manufacturers could do things tomorrow that would make guns safer and save lives.”
date: 2024-09-28, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/halloween-superfans-see-the-culture-catching-up-to-them/7801323.html
date: 2024-09-28, from: VOA News USA
NEW YORK — The rush for gold just keeps coming.
Gold hit another all-time high this week. Recent gains for the precious metal are largely credited to ongoing economic uncertainty, geopolitical tensions and strong demand from central banks around the world.
If trends continue, analysts have bullish outlooks on the price of gold for the months ahead. But the future is never promised. Here’s what you need to know.
Where does the price of gold stand today?
The New York spot price of gold closed Tuesday at just over $2,657 per Troy ounce — the standard for measuring precious metals, which is equivalent to 31 grams — the highest recorded to date, per FactSet. That would make a gold bar or brick weighing 400 Troy ounces worth more than $1.06 million today.
This week’s record high means that the price of gold has climbed hundreds of dollars per Troy ounce over the last year. Tuesday’s price is up nearly $145 from a month ago and more than $740 from this time in 2023.
The price of gold is up nearly 30% year to date, analysts note — outpacing the benchmark S&P 500’s roughly 20% gain since the start of 2024.
Why is the price of gold going up?
There are a few factors behind the recent gains.
Interest in buying gold often comes at times of uncertainty — with potential concerns around inflation and the strength of the U.S. dollar, for example, causing some to look for alternative places to park their money. Gold also surged in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Among sources of uncertainty today are geopolitical tensions — which escalated over recent days with Israel’s deadly strikes in Lebanon. And the ongoing wars in Gaza and Ukraine have continued to fuel fears about the future worldwide.
In markets like the U.S., there’s also particular concern about the health of the job market. Last week’s larger-than-usual half-point cut by the Federal Reserve signals a new focus on slowing employment numbers, and more rate cuts are expected before the end of the year. And such action arrives in the midst of a tumultuous election year — which could prove crucial to economic policy in the road ahead, too.
In the near future, people are considering “any case of turbulence in the economy,” FxPro senior market analyst Michel Saliby explained. “This is why they’re keeping a decent portion of gold in their portfolio as a ‘safe haven.’”
Analysts also point to strong demand from central banks around the world. Joe Cavatoni, senior market strategist at the World Gold Council, noted last month that central bank demand was well-above the five year average — reflecting “heightened concern with inflation and economic stability.”
Recent stimulus measures in China aimed at boosting consumer spending are also expected to up retail investments, Saliby added, further boosting gold’s performance.
Is gold worth the investment?
Advocates of investing in gold call it a “safe haven,” arguing the commodity can serve to diversify and balance your investment portfolio, as well as mitigate possible risks down the road. Some also take comfort in buying something tangible that has the potential to increase in value over time.
Experts caution against putting all your eggs in one basket.
Both retail and institutional investors shouldn’t be influenced by the “FOMO effect,” or fear of missing out, Saliby notes — explaining that people should not risk all their money just because they are seeing others rake in gains. He advises investors to watch the market and always have a clear risk management strategy for their position.
If geopolitical tensions cool, Saliby expects the price of gold to correct slightly, perhaps falling around $50 to $80. But he remains bullish overall for the near future — expecting gold’s spot price to soon surpass the $2,700 mark previously predicted for 2025, and perhaps reach as high as $2,800 or $2,900 if trends continue.
Still, future gains are never promised and not everyone agrees gold is a good investment. Critics say gold isn’t always the inflation hedge many say it is — and that there are more efficient ways to protect against potential loss of capital, such as through derivative-based investments.
The Commodity Futures Trade Commission has also previously warned people to be wary of investing in gold. Precious metals can be highly volatile, the commission said, and prices rise as demand goes up — meaning “when economic anxiety or instability is high, the people who typically profit from precious metals are the sellers.”
If you do choose to invest in gold, the commission adds, it’s important to educate yourself on safe trading practices and be cautious of potential scams and counterfeits on the market.
date: 2024-09-28, from: VOA News USA
https://www.voanews.com/a/severe-obesity-on-the-rise-in-us-/7799858.html
date: 2024-09-28, from: VOA News USA
SAO PAULO/BRASILIA BRAZIL — Brazil’s Supreme Court said on Friday that social platform X still needs to pay just over $5 million in pending fines, including a new one, before it will be allowed to resume its service in the country, according to a court document.
Earlier this week, the Elon Musk-owned U.S. firm told the court it had complied with orders to stop the spread of misinformation and asked it to lift a ban on the platform.
But Judge Alexandre de Moraes responded on Friday with a ruling that X and its legal representative in Brazil must still agree to pay a total of $3.4 million in pending fines that were previously ordered by the court.
In his decision, the judge said that the court can use resources already frozen from X and Starlink accounts in Brazil, but to do so the satellite company, also owned by Musk, had to drop its pending appeal against the fund blockage.
The judge also demanded a new $1.8 million fine related to a brief period last week when X became available again for some users in Brazil.
X, formerly known as Twitter, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
According to a person close to X, the tech firm will likely pay all the fines but will consider challenging the fine that was imposed by the court after the platform ban.
X has been suspended since late August in Brazil, one of its largest and most coveted markets, after Moraes ruled it had failed to comply with orders related to restricting hate speech and naming a local legal representative.
Musk, who had denounced the orders as censorship and called Moraes a “dictator,” backed down and started to reverse his position last week, when X lawyers said the platform tapped a local representative and would comply with court rulings.
In Friday’s decision, Moraes said that X had proved it had now blocked accounts as ordered by the court and had named the required legal representative in Brazil.
date: 2024-09-28, from: VOA News USA
The global coalition to ensure the defeat of Islamic State group terrorists is ending its military mission in Iraq. U.S. officials said a two-phased plan would not hinder counter-IS operations elsewhere in the region but did not detail how, or if, U.S. troop numbers would change. Carla Babb reports.
date: 2024-09-28, from: VOA News USA
new york — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday that China’s words and actions regarding ending Russia’s war on Ukraine do not “add up,” as the Beijing government continues to allow Chinese companies to “fuel Russia’s war machine.”
The United States and China are planning a call between President Joe Biden and President Xi Jinping in the coming days, with China’s material support for Russia in the war on Ukraine expected to be a key topic on the U.S. agenda.
Friday afternoon, Blinken held talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York.
Ukraine
Following talks that lasted more than an hour, Blinken told reporters at a news conference that any peace plan to end Russia’s war on Ukraine must be based on the principles of the U.N. Charter, particularly territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence.
“A peace in which the aggressor gets everything that it sought, and the victim does not have its rights upheld, is not a recipe for a lasting peace, and certainly not a just one,” Blinken said when asked about a peace proposal by China and Brazil.
Earlier on Friday, China and Brazil pushed forward with efforts to rally developing countries behind a plan to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, despite Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s rejection of the initiative, viewing it as favorable to Moscow’s interests.
The meeting between Blinken and Wang came amid growing U.S. concerns over Chinese firms supplying semiconductor chips and drones to Moscow, which have significantly bolstered Russia’s battlefield capabilities in its war against Ukraine.
Blinken said, “Roughly 70% of the machine tools that Russia’s importing, coming from China, Hong Kong. Ninety percent of the microelectronics, from China, Hong Kong. And this is materially helping the Russians produce the missiles, the rockets, the armored vehicles, the munitions that they need to perpetuate the war, to continue their aggression.”
In New York, Wang told reporters that China had discussed with other countries the importance of preventing escalation in Russia’s war on Ukraine.
“Russia and Ukraine are neighbors that cannot be moved away from each other and amity is the only realistic option,” Wang said, emphasizing that other nations should support an international peace conference involving Russia and Ukraine.
Taiwan
On Friday, Blinken said he also “emphasized the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait” during the meeting with his Chinese counterpart.
Rick Waters, former deputy assistant secretary of state for China and Taiwan, said the United States and China share an interest in maintaining diplomatic and military communication.
“You’re not going to resolve disputes over Taiwan or the South China Sea in those channels, but I don’t think either leader wants a military mishap to put them in a corner where they might have to contend with escalation or, even worse, conflict,” Waters, now managing director of Eurasia Group’s China practice, said in a recent interview with VOA.
The People’s Republic of China (PRC) will celebrate its National Day on Tuesday, commemorating the founding of the country in 1949.
Taiwan celebrates October 10, known as “Double 10,” as the anniversary of the founding of the Republic of China (ROC) in 1912. The Republic of China is Taiwan’s formal name.
Taiwan has been self-ruled since 1949, when Mao Zedong’s communists took power in Beijing after defeating Chiang Kai-shek’s Kuomintang nationalists in a civil war, prompting the nationalists’ relocation to the island.
PRC leaders usually carefully watch the speeches from leaders in Taiwan during its Double 10 celebrations.
Since Taiwan’s democratically elected President Lai Ching-te took office in May, Beijing has increased military pressure against Taiwan. The PRC has deemed Lai a separatist.
U.S. officials have stressed to their Chinese counterparts that the more pressure China applies to Taiwan, the more it risks pushing Taiwan further away, according to sources familiar with recent diplomatic discussions between Washington and Beijing.
Analysts indicate they do not expect Lai to advocate for issues considered taboo by China in the coming months.
“Taiwan President Lai has been quite careful not to touch China’s red lines in his public remarks since becoming the president of Taiwan,” Dennis Wilder, senior fellow for the Initiative for U.S.-China Dialogue on Global Issues at Georgetown University, told VOA. “I would guess that he will try again to reach out to Beijing and do not expect him to push independence themes.”
Wilder added, “The Chinese leadership came to the conclusion long ago that because of Lai’s deep green background they would never be able to trust him. Thus, there is very little he can do, as was the case as well with former President Tsai [Ing-wen], to convince Beijing that they should improve cross-strait relations while he is in office.” He was referring to Taiwan’s political coalition known for its pro-independence platform.
VOA’s Mandarin Service contributed to this report.
date: 2024-09-28, from: VOA News USA
DOUGLAS, Arizona — U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris walked a scrubby stretch of fence line along Arizona’s border with Mexico on Friday, seeking to project an image of strength against illegal migration as she confronts one of her biggest vulnerabilities in the November election.
In her first trip to the international boundary since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee, Harris chatted with local Border Patrol leaders as they strode along a rust-colored stretch of wall built during Barack Obama’s presidency. Temperatures in Douglas, Arizona, neared 37.7 degrees Celsius during a conversation that lasted about half an hour.
“They’ve got a tough job, and they need, rightly, support to do their job,” Harris said of the Border Patrol as she entered the Douglas port of entry for a briefing on efforts to block the flow of fentanyl across the border. “They are very dedicated. And so I’m here to talk with them about what we can continue to do to support them. And also thank them for the hard work they do.”
Later, she was expected to call for further tightening asylum restrictions, moving beyond President Joe Biden’s policy on an issue where her rival, former President Donald Trump, has an edge with voters. Hundreds of people packed into a gymnasium to hear her speak.
Trump and his fellow Republicans have pounded Harris relentlessly over the Biden administration’s record on migration and fault the vice president for spending little time visiting the border during her time in the White House.
Harris will outline her plan to crack down further on asylum claims and keep the restrictions in place longer compared with the executive order that Biden signed this summer, according to a campaign official who spoke on condition of anonymity because Harris had not yet made the announcement. The official briefed reporters aboard Air Force 2 en route to Arizona.
Harris arrived by helicopter in Douglas, where she met with Mayor Donald Huish, Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels and County Supervisor Ann English, along with Senator Mark Kelly and Attorney General Kris Mayes.
Immigration and border security are top issues in Arizona, the only battleground state that borders Mexico and one that contended with a record influx of asylum-seekers last year. Voters favor Trump on migration, and Harris has gone on offense to improve her standing on the issue and defuse a key line of political attack for Trump.
In nearly every campaign speech she gives, Harris recounts how a sweeping bipartisan package aiming to overhaul the federal immigration system collapsed in Congress earlier this year after Trump urged top Republicans to oppose it.
“The American people deserve a president who cares more about border security than playing political games,” Harris plans to say, according to an excerpt of her remarks previewed by her campaign.
After the immigration legislation stalled, the Biden administration announced rules that bar migrants from being granted asylum when U.S. officials deem that the southern border is overwhelmed. Since then, arrests for illegal border crossings have fallen.
Harris will also use her trip to remind voters about her work as attorney general of California in confronting crime along the border. During an August rally in Glendale, outside Phoenix, she talked about helping to prosecute drug- and people-smuggling gangs that operated transnationally and at the border.
“I prosecuted them in case after case, and I won,” Harris said then.
The vice president’s trip to Douglas thrusts the issue of immigration into the brightest spotlight yet less than six weeks before Election Day.
Trump didn’t wait for her to arrive there before pushing back. He pointed Friday to purported data about criminals entering the U.S. illegally in a bid to link Harris to violent crimes committed by migrants. In a scathing diatribe, he said “blood is on her hands.”
“These are hard, tough, vicious criminals that are free to roam in our country,” Trump said at a manufacturing plant in Michigan.
Earlier in the week, he told voters that “when Kamala speaks about the border, her credibility is less than zero.”
The Trump campaign has also countered with its own TV ads deriding the vice president as a failed “border czar.”
“Under Harris, over 10 million illegally here,” said one spot. However, estimates on how many people have entered the country illegally since the start of the Biden administration in 2021 vary widely.
Harris also never held the position of border czar. Instead, her assignment was to tackle the “root causes” of migration from three Central American nations — El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras — that were responsible for a significant share of border crossers.
The vice president took a long-term approach to an immediate problem, helping persuade multinational corporations and Latin American businesses to invest in the region. That, she argued, would create jobs and give locals more reasons to stay home rather than take the arduous trek north.
Still, Trump has continued to decry an “invasion” of border crossers.
Douglas, where Harris appeared, is an overwhelmingly Democratic border town in GOP-dominated Cochise County, where the Republicans on the board of supervisors are facing criminal charges for refusing to certify the 2022 election results. Trump was in the area last month, using a remote stretch of border wall and a pile of steel beams to draw a contrast between himself and Harris on border security.
The town of 16,000 people has strong ties to its much larger neighbor, Agua Prieta, Mexico, and a busy port of entry that’s slated for a long-sought upgrade. Many locals are as concerned with making legal border crossings more efficient as they are with combatting illegal ones.
https://www.voanews.com/a/harris-visits-border-patrol-leaders-in-arizona/7802688.html
@Dave Winer’s linkblog (date: 2024-09-28, from: Dave Winer’s linkblog)
Special Counsel Proposes Making Public More Evidence From Trump Election Case.
http://feedland.org/-election-interference.html?unlocked_article_code=1.N04.GXkO
date: 2024-09-28, from: VOA News USA
Michigan is one of the key swing states that may decide November’s presidential election between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. VOA White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara went to Michigan to see what the campaigns are doing. Camera: Rivan Dwiastono
https://www.voanews.com/a/harris-trump-vie-for-battleground-state-michigan-/7802655.html