Victoria Fox's Blog, page 274
March 9, 2023
Biden administration releases Guantánamo inmate, its fourth transfer in a month
A Saudi Arabian man held at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, for more than two decades without being put on trial has been released by the U.S. military, making him the fourth inmate transferred out of Guantánamo in roughly the past month.
This week’s release of 48-year-old Ghassan Abdullah al-Sharbi to Saudi Arabia — and last month’s release of two detainees to Pakistan and one to Belize — indicates that the Biden administration is accelerating its efforts to close Guantánamo, or at least reduce its inmate population to only those facing criminal charges.
Approximately 780 prisoners have passed through Guantánamo’s military prison since 2002, and it currently holds 31 men. Of those, 17 have never been charged and are approved for release, but remain behind bars while the U.S. searches for countries to take them. In some cases, they may be repatriated to their native countries. In others, they may be resettled in new ones.
Al-Sharbi had been cleared for release for more than a year, but the U.S. continued to hold him for another 13 months without explanation.
A fluent English speaker with a degree in electrical engineering, al-Sharbi was a “skilled bomb maker” who attended a U.S. flight school, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Arizona, where he “associated with two 9/11 hijackers,” according to the Defense Department.
In March 2002 he was captured during a raid of an al-Qaeda guest house in Pakistan and in June 2002 he was sent to Guantánamo, where the military court tried unsuccessfully to prosecute him.
Al-Sharbi remained there in indefinite detention — one of Guantánamo’s so-called forever prisoners — for the next 21 years.
In 2016, a parole-like board described al-Sharbi as “mostly non-compliant and hostile with the guards.” It also said he “espouses a strong dislike for the U.S.” and “has told interrogators that he will re-engage in terrorist activity” if released. Based on that assessment, the U.S. continued to hold him.
But in February 2022, the board determined that al-Sharbi was no longer a significant security threat and could be released with security monitoring and travel restrictions. The board based its decision in part on “the detainee’s lack of a leadership or facilitator position in al-Qaeda or the Taliban” and “improved record of compliance in detention.”
Al-Sharbi may ultimately be admitted to a Saudi Arabian rehabilitation and deradicalization center for jihadists and Muslim extremists.
Al-Sharbi’s transfer to Saudi Arabia suggests that the Biden administration is quietly ramping up its work to find countries willing to accept Guantánamo inmates who have been cleared for release. The State Department office that negotiates those prisoner transfers — a complicated process — was eliminated by the Trump administration, but restored by President Biden.
Guantánamo held 40 prisoners when Biden entered office.
This Jeopardy! Mistake Might Be the Show’s Biggest Flub Yet
We’ll take “Spoiler Alert” for $200, please.
Fans of Jeopardy! didn’t need to sit through the quiz show’s March 8 broadcast to find out who won the game. After all, the results of the match were accidentally shown in an apparent editing error at the very beginning of the episode.
As seen in a video circulating on social media, host Mayim Bialik congratulated students Justin Bolsen, Maya Wright and Jackson Jones for making it to the finals of Jeopardy!‘s High School Reunion Tournament. However, as the camera cut to the trio, a shot of the contestants with scores clearly listed out on their respective podiums was shown.
By the end of the episode, the players’ final dollar amounts matched what was seen during the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment.
“An inexcusable production error,” one viewer tweeted, while another fan quipped, “That’s a pretty significant screwup.”
Several were killed in a shooting at a Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Hall in Germany
Enlarge this image Armed police officers are seen near Thursday’s shooting in Hamburg, Germany. Jonas Walzberg/dpa via AP
Jonas Walzberg/dpa via AP
BERLIN — Shots were fired inside a building used by Jehovah’s Witnesses in the northern German city of Hamburg on Thursday evening, and several people were killed or wounded, police said.
The shooting took place in the Gross Borstel district, a few kilometers (miles) north of the downtown area of Germany’s second-biggest city.
“We only know that several people died here; several people are wounded, they were taken to hospitals,” police spokesman Holger Vehren said.
He said he had no information on the severity of the injuries suffered by the wounded.
The scene of the shooting was the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Kingdom Hall, a modern and boxy three-story building next door to an auto repair shop.
Vehren said police were alerted to the shooting about 9:15 p.m. and were on the scene quickly.
He said that after officers arrived and found people with apparent gunshot wounds on the ground floor, they heard a shot from an upper floor and found a fatally wounded person upstairs who may have been a shooter. He said police did not have to use their firearms.
Vehren said there was no indication that a shooter was on the run and that it appeared likely that the perpetrator was either in the building or among the dead.
Two witnesses interviewed on n-tv television, whose names weren’t given, said they heard 12 shots.
Police had no information on the event that was under way in the building when the shooting took place.
They also had no immediate information on a possible motive. Vehren said that “the background is still completely unclear.”
Hamburg Mayor Peter Tschentscher tweeted that the news was “shocking” and offered his sympathy to the victims’ relatives.
Jehovah’s Witnesses are part of an international church, founded in the United States in the 19th century and headquartered in Warwick, New York. It claims a worldwide membership of about 8.7 million, with about 170,000 in Germany.
Members are known for their evangelistic efforts that include knocking on doors and distributing literature in public squares. The denomination’s distinctive practices include a refusal to bear arms, receive blood transfusions, salute a national flag or participate in secular government.
Get to Know Top Chef’s Season 20 Contestants
Top Chef is toasting to 20 seasons of fierce food competition.
The Emmy-nominated Bravo series’ latest season, World All-Stars, marks the franchise’s first time heading abroad since it debuted 17 years ago. Set in London, 16 past winners and finalists from 11 international Top Chef series are going head-to-head for the $250,000 prize and title of Top Chef World All-Star.
The new crop of chef-testants represent a broad range of cultures and culinary backgrounds, hailing from countries like Thailand, Poland, Lebanon, Canada, Mexico, France and, of course, the United States.
While many of the contestants will be new faces to American viewers, fans probably recognize former Top Chef U.S. competitors Dawn Burrell, Buddha Lo, Sara Bradley and Amar Santana, who are all returning for another round of rivalry.
Also returning are fan-favorite judges Padma Lakshmi, Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons, who will be joined by distinguished judges from the international versions throughout the season.
Georgia’s ruling party plans to withdraw foreign agents bill after protests
TBILISI, Georgia — Facing mounting pressure from protesters, Georgia’s ruling party said in a statement Thursday that it had decided to withdraw the “foreign agents” bill that critics said mimicked a law used by the Kremlin to thwart opposition media and civil society.
The decision came after a second consecutive night of large protests in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, with riot police using tear gas, water cannons and stun grenades to disperse a crowd after midnight. In a statement on Thursday, police said they arrested 133 protesters on charges of petty hooliganism and disobedience over the two days of protests.
The proposal, which received initial parliamentary approval on Tuesday, would require Georgian news outlets and non-governmental organizations that receive a substantial part of their funding from abroad to register as agents of influence. foreign. They would face a hefty fine if they failed to comply.
Georgian opposition members said the law was inspired by similar legislation introduced in 2012 in Russia aimed at pressuring civil society and pro-Western news media. Protesters in the streets chanted “No to Russian law” during the two nights of demonstrations.
Georgian President Salome Zurabishvili joined protesters in denouncing the legislation as a stealth effort to introduce one of the most powerful tools Russian President Vladimir V. Putin has used to crush dissent in his country. The measure that was under consideration in Georgia was also seen as hurting the country’s already stalled efforts to join the European Union.
Ms Zurabishvili has distanced herself from the Dream party since they initially backed her campaign in 2018. Experts disagreed on the extent to which the proposed ‘foreign agents law’ represents a sign that the Georgia has returned to Russia’s control orbit or if, for domestic political reasons after more than a decade in power, the ruling party adopts Mr. Putin’s tried and true methods to stay in power indefinitely.
A country of 3.6 million people, Georgia fought a painful war with Russia in 2008. Since then, Moscow has maintained military control over about 20% of Georgian territory.
According to Georgian political analyst Mikheil Kechaqmadze, the ruling party’s decision represents a “tactical victory” for the country’s opposition and civil society. However, he said, it is not certain that “this page with this law is actually closed”.
“There’s not a lot of trust between the government and its opponents,” he said.
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Labor launches election battle over childcare – POLITICO
LONDON — Britain’s opposition Labor Party will play a major role in young parents’ votes with a speech Thursday to a centre-right think tank.
In a speech at Onward, shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson will promise to make reforming the childcare system her “top priority in government.”
Phillipson will argue that rising child care costs and an insufficient number of free child care hours deprive parents of opportunities elsewhere.
“The child care model the Conservatives have put in place is failing everyone, depriving parents of the ability to do the jobs they want, to give their children the opportunities they want, and is not of the quality that the staff wish to offer,” she said.
The party will promise 30 hours of free childcare per week if they enter government.
Childcare is likely to be a key battleground ahead of the next election, with the government also mulling its own reform proposals as families feel the pinch of inflation.
Research published this week by think tank Nesta shows that some single parents have to spend up to 80% of their after-tax income on childcare. A separate study by charity Coram found that only half of local authorities in England said they had enough childcare places to meet the needs of full-time parents.
Liz Truss’ brief administration also planned to expand free childcare – and drastically reduce staff-to-child ratios in nurseries – as part of a series of proposals to tackle the problem.
Labor is heavily favored to win the next election, with a considerable lead in the polls over Rishi Sunak’s Tories.
The fact that the Labor speech is delivered in Onward – whose former manager Will Tanner is now a senior member of Sunak’s Downing Street operation – will also be seen as a sign that the party is trying to park its tanks on the Tory lawn .
POLITICO
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Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell hospitalized after falling from hotel
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell was hospitalized following a fall at a Washington hotel on Wednesday night, a spokesman for the senator said.
“Tonight, Chef McConnell stumbled into a local hotel during a private dinner,” spokesman David Popp told USA TODAY. “He was admitted to hospital where he is receiving treatment.”
In 2019, the 81-year-old Kentucky Republican, who served as majority leader from 2015 to 2021, tripped and fell at his Kentucky home, suffering a broken shoulder.
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USA Today
Not all news on the site expresses the point of view of the site, but we transmit this news automatically and translate it through programmatic technology on the site and not from a human editor.
March 8, 2023
3 people are injured in a fiery West Virginia train derailment caused by a rockslide
Enlarge this image Smoke fills the sky after an empty CSX coal train hit a rockslide along tracks causing a fiery derailment, Wednesday, March 8, 2023, in a remote area just south of Sandstone, W.Va. Jenny Harnish/AP
Jenny Harnish/AP
SANDSTONE, W.Va. — An empty coal train hit a rockslide along tracks in West Virginia on Wednesday morning, causing a fiery derailment that injured three crewmembers, CSX Transportation said in a statement.
Four locomotives and 22 empty cars derailed in Summers County near the New River, CSX said. The lead locomotive, which carried a conductor, an engineer and an engineer trainee, caught fire and the crewmembers were being evaluated and treated for non-life threatening injuries, the company said.
CSX said an unoccupied locomotive was partially in the waterway where an unknown amount of diesel fuel and oil spilled, officials said. Environmental teams were deploying containment measures.
The derailment occurred in a remote area just south of Sandstone inside the New River National Park and Preserve, according to a statement from the West Virginia Emergency Management Division. Several state agencies are monitoring the situation and said public water systems downstream have been notified and are monitoring for any potential public health impacts.
No hazardous materials were being transported and there was no danger to the public, CSX said.
The company said employee and community safety was a top priority as it sends teams to assess the situation and develop a recovery plan.
More rain and snow bound for California as back-to-back atmospheric rivers approach
Enlarge this image Members of the California Army National Guard Joint Task Force Rattlesnake shovel snow from a rooftop after a series of winter storms dropped more than 100 inches of snow in the San Bernardino Mountains in Southern California on March 8, 2023 in Crestline, California. Mario Tama/Getty Images
Mario Tama/Getty Images
Another set of storms is expected to hit California in the coming days and over the weekend, continuing the state’s spate of recent extreme weather since the beginning of the year.
Starting Thursday back-to-back “atmospheric rivers” — a plume of tropical moisture that dump huge amounts of rain — are expected to bring heavy precipitation across central and northern California, while also dumping snow in higher elevations in the state, forecasters say.
The National Weather Service says a few warm thunderstorms will be possible Thursday night and early Friday, which will then be followed by a cold front.
Forecasters say up to 3.5 inches of rain is expected across the Valley and up to 8.5 inches is expected in the foothills and mountains starting Thursday and moving through the weekend.
Heavy flooding is a concern as rain may cause increase runoff from the snowpack, they say. “A Flood Watch remains in effect for elections below 4,000 feet for Thursday afternoon through Friday morning. Rock slides and local mudslides are possible in susceptible areas.”
There is also a potential danger for avalanches in places above 5,000 feet.
The second storm is expected to move in on Monday.
Officials are urging residents to prepare by gathering emergency supplies to keep in their homes, charge all devices that rely on electricity and to pack go-bags in preparation for potential evacuations. Residents in counties expected to get a lot of flooding — such as Monterey and Marin counties — are being told to sandbag their properties.
These expected storms are just the latest in a year of wild weather so far in California.
In January, three weeks of atmospheric rivers wreaked havoc across the state. More than 32 trillion gallons of water were dumped on the state, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Meanwhile, more a than 40,000 Californians in countries between San Francisco and Los Angeles were given evacuation orders and hundreds of thousands were left without power.
February then brought storms that caused heavy flooding in Los Angeles County and blizzard conditions in the mountains.
And just last week, 13 countries were put under a state of emergency with winter storms left parts of Southern California under as much as 10 feet of snow.
GOP leader Mitch McConnell is hospitalized after fall, his spokesman says
Enlarge this image Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., speaks to reporters following a closed-door policy meeting, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, March 7, 2023. J. Scott Applewhite/AP
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell was being treated at a local hospital after he fell at a hotel Wednesday evening, according to a spokesman.
The 81-year-old senator from Kentucky fell after he tripped at a hotel in Washington, D.C., his spokesman said.
“This evening, Leader McConnell tripped at a local hotel during a private dinner. He has been admitted to the hospital where he is receiving treatment” said McConnell spokesman Doug Andres.
McConnell is a survivor of polio from his childhood, when he was diagnosed before a vaccine had been developed. In 2018, he cited his personal battle as motivation to eradicate the disease around the world.
“I think it’s under-appreciated outside the public health community just how much hard work and innovation has to continue after a disease has dropped off the front pages,” McConnell said in a report from Roll Call. He warned that without continued support, “progress could erode rapidly.”
Currently the Senate minority leader, McConnell was first elected in 1984 to the U.S. Senate. In 2018 he became the longest-serving Senate leader before losing that position in 2021.
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