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Deb Dauphinais, a dive instructor, said she thought the shark was dead, but when it twitched she motioned for her husband to come over and help. A baby shark stuck in a work glove near Jamestown, R.I., on Monday. GLASTONBURY, Conn. — A Connecticut couple’s scuba diving trip in Rhode Island on Monday turned into a mission to rescue a baby shark. Deb and Steve Dauphinais, of Glastonbury, Connecticut, were diving on the sand flats off Jamestown, Rhode Island when Deb Dauphinais spotted the 16-inch juvenile shark with its head stuck inside a work glove at the bottom of about 35 feet of water. Deb Dauphinais, a dive instructor, said she thought the shark was dead, but when it twitched she motioned for her husband to come over and help. “He came over and did his own little double-take,” she said. She said her husband tugged on the glove, which seemed to be suctioned to the shark’s head, but it eventually popped free. Deb Dauphinais said they were not afraid of being attacked by what appeared to be a juvenile Dogfish shark, but were cautious, in case it snapped at them. “It kind of looked at both of us, didn’t look at all injured, got its equilibrium back and then swam off back to where it is supposed to be,” she said. Deb Dauphinais, who has been an instructor for about 30 years, said this is not the first time she has rescued a marine animal in distress. A few years ago, she freed a black sea bass that had been hooked on a discarded fishing line, she said. “There are countless stories of underwater sea creatures being killed by underwater sea trash,” she said. “It’s an ongoing issue that’s near and dear to my heart. But these are the only times I’ve been able to save something, at least a shark, like that.” by Taboola Sponsored Stories COMBAT SIEGE If you own a mouse, you will never turn off your computer again. ELVENAR If You Need To Relax On Your Computer, You Have To Play This Game. No Install Link

'One of the rarest jewels in Alfa Romeo's post-war portfolio' is easy-on-the-eyes and has superb racing pedigree This rather stunning 1953 Alfa Romeo 1900C Sprint Supergioiello is the last of six cars built by Ghia and one of three known to still be on the planet. That rarity, coupled with its racing prestige, means it could fetch as much as £640,000 when it heads to auction. To fully understand why this car could be valued so highly, we need a bit of a history lesson. The 1900 was Alfa Romeo’s first post-war production car. It was a four-door saloon that would prove a gamechanger for Alfa. Like all those other Alfa models that make us smile, the 1900 was beautiful. But it was also considered a proper ‘family car’, with mass-market appeal and production value. It was also the final Alfa to be offered to coachbuilders in volume. The 1900C Sprint was the shorter coupé version of the 1900. Carrozzerias Pininfarina, Zagato, Touring and Ghia – yes, all those famous coach builders we know and love – all had a go at creating 1900C Sprint bodywork. Tiny numbers of these variations on a theme exist today. In the case of Ghia's version – widely considered the best – only six were made (from a planned 18-20). This particular example was built in October 1953. It was bought and shipped to Spaniard Gumersindo Garcia Fernandez, a keen rally driver in 1954. Fernandez rallied numerous times, entering his Supergioiello into the 1955 Monte-Carlo Rally. He then passed the reins to another rally driver, Salvador Ros, who competed until 1961 when an accident took it off the road, or so the story goes. In recent years, Cognolato, a restoration company in Italy, brought it back to its factory finish in ‘metallic copper’, using photographic evidence collected by its owners throughout the 1990s. It’s been out-and-about at a number of prestigious motoring events, winning ‘Best in Show’ at Essen Motor Show in 2016. Car & Classic’s Dale Vinten said: “As one of the rarest jewels in Alfa Romeo’s post-war portfolio, the 1900 enjoyed success in high-profile rallies, including the Targa Florio, but the twin-cam 1900C Sprint with Ghia bodywork is even more special. “The final chassis to emerge from Ghia has a fascinating competition history, its immaculate condition and eligibility for prestigious modern day events such as the Mille Miglia Storica will merely add to its appeal." The seven-day auction starts on 17 September. Link

Former President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress accused President Joe Biden of paying ransom to Iran to secure the release of American prisoners. Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, are among the Republicans who are criticizing the administration for its prisoner exchange with Iran. WASHINGTON — Republicans are voicing outrage at the Biden administration's decision to carry out a prisoner exchange with Iran, accusing President Joe Biden of paying a ransom to a world state sponsor of terrorism. The administration notified Congress on Monday that it has proceeded with the agreement, which has involved issuing a waiver that will give Tehran access to $6 billion in oil revenue that the U.S. had frozen through sanctions. Under the agreement, the administration will free five Iranians under detention in the U.S., and in exchange, Iran will release five Americans who have been detained by Tehran. Former President Donald Trump lashed out at Biden in a post on Tuesday on Truth Social, saying the deal sets a "TERRIBLE precedent." "So, lets get this straight! We did a hostage TRADE with Iran. We gave them 5 very tough, smart people that they desperately wanted. We likewise got back 5 people BUT, we also gave them 6 BILLION DOLLARS! How much of a kickback does Crooked Joe Biden get? Does anyone realize how much money 6 Billion Dollars is?" The White House, however, said the U.S. is not giving Iran any money. "This isn’t a payment of any kind. These aren’t U.S. dollars. They aren’t taxpayer dollars, they are Iranian dollars the previous Administration allowed them to make," said National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson in a statement. To move forward with the deal, Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a waiver last week to international banks to allow the transfer of $6 billion in frozen Iranian funds from South Korea to Qatar. The agreement allows Iran to use the funds to buy food, medicine and other humanitarian items allowed by U.S. economic sanctions. A senior Biden administration official said that the money in South Korea is Iran's. The official said the Trump administration had allowed several other countries, like India and Turkey, to continue to buy oil from Iran and deposit the funds in special accounts. "No funds are going to Iran directly," the official said. "These funds will be moved to restricted accounts in Qatar, and the United States will have oversight as to how and when these funds are used." The State Department did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday about the GOP backlash to the deal. Some Republicans said the administration's deal will encourage enemies of the U.S. to take more Americans hostage. "I am always glad when Americans are released from captivity," tweeted Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. "However, this agreement will entice rogue regimes, like Iran, to take even more Americans hostage. The ayatollah and his henchmen are terrorists and truly represent a terrorist state." Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., tweeted, "The U.S. should be unrelenting in its efforts to bring detained Americans home, but Iran will now count pallets of ransom money, putting its leaders in a better position to develop a nuclear weapon and fund terrorists. And the price to release U.S. hostages will only go up." Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., chair of the House Republican Conference, tweeted that Biden's policies are "emboldening our adversaries while putting Americans’ safety and security at risk." She said that when the contours of the deal were announced, she joined House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., and Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, in demanding answers from the administration, but said their request was "ignored." Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, alleged in a tweet that Biden had struck a "secret nuclear deal with the Iranian regime" and it's being "kept from Congress and the American people." "The Biden administration must keep their deal secret because if they disclosed it, the law requires them to come to Congress and defend it, and this appeasement is utterly indefensible," he wrote, without providing evidence for his claims or other details. "Instead they will continue lying about their policies until Congress forces them to do otherwise." The administration informed Congress about the steps taken in the deal and said additional briefings are already scheduled for this week. A number of GOP lawmakers also blasted the administration for disclosing the latest developments on the 22nd anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks. In a statement, McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the agreement "creates a direct incentive for America’s adversaries to conduct future hostage-taking. It’s particularly egregious that this is taking place on the same week as the anniversaries of 9/11 — as Iran is actively harboring the leader of Al Qaeda — and Mahsa Amini’s murder by Iran’s so-called ‘morality police.’ The administration is demonstrating weakness that only further endangers Americans and freedom-loving people around the world." "First Joe Biden used 9/11 as an excuse to flee Afghanistan," tweeted Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark. "Now he desecrates this day by paying ransom to the world’s worst state sponsor of terrorism. Shameful." Speaking to reporters at the Capitol on Tuesday, Cotton said the way to prevent Iran from taking Americans hostage is "to not use carrots in the form of $6 billion, but to use sticks in the form of threats to things that Iran holds dear." He added, "I don’t think the radical ayatollahs in Tehran are going to use this for children’s hospitals. They’re going to use it to find more attacks on Israel, more attacks on American troops in the region through their proxies. They’re to use it to send more missiles and drones to Russia for its war of aggression against Ukraine." The terrorist attacks on 9/11 were not perpetrated by Iran, but by members of al Qaeda who were mostly Saudi nationals. The White House said Tuesday that the unfrozen funds can only be used for humanitarian reasons and are subject to more legal restrictions than they were in South Korea. "These funds will be monitored by rigorous due diligence standards required by the U.S. Treasury Department," Watson said. " If Iran tries to divert the funds, we will take action to lock them up again." Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., appeared to be the only Democrat willing to engage with reporters at the Capitol on Tuesday about the deal. He expressed concern that while Iran might assure the U.S. will use the unfrozen funds for humanitarian aid, "there’s no guarantees of that." "So, I’m very much concerned about this," he said. "So, we’re looking into a much deeper, but I’m very concerned." The deal is expected to be completed this month, a senior administration official said. Watson said Monday that “no individuals have been or will be released into U.S. custody this week.” Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said in a new interview with NBC News' Lester Holt in Tehran that his government will decide how it will spend the $6 billion in previously frozen funds. Qatar’s central bank will oversee the funds, which Iran will be able to use only for humanitarian purposes, as allowed by U.S. sanctions, U.S. officials have said. But during the interview, Raisi said that Iran would have “authority” over how the funds would be spent. “This money belongs to the Iranian people, the Iranian government, so the Islamic Republic of Iran will decide what to do with this money,” he said, according to an Iranian government translator. Link

Rescue teams in Libya are struggling to retrieve the bodies of victims that have been swept out to sea in tsunami-like flood waters. At least 2,300 have been killed, according to the ambulance authority in Derna, the worst affected city. Two dams and four bridges collapsed in Derna, submerging much of the city when Storm Daniel hit on Sunday. About 10,000 people are reported missing, the Red Crescent says, and the death toll is expected to rise further. Some aid has started to arrive, including from Egypt, but rescue efforts have been hampered by the political situation in Libya, with the country split between two rival governments. The US, Germany, Iran, Italy, Qatar and Turkey are among the countries that have said they have sent or are ready to send aid. Video footage recorded after dark on Sunday shows a river of floodwater churning through the city with cars bobbing helplessly in the current. There are harrowing stories of people being swept out to sea, while others clung onto rooftops to survive. "I was shocked by what I saw, it's like a tsunami," Hisham Chkiouat, from Libya's eastern-based government, said. He told BBC Newshour that the collapse of one of the dams to the south of Derna had dragged large parts of the city into the sea. "A massive neighbourhood has been destroyed - there is a large number of victims, which is increasing each hour." Mr Al-Dbeibah said rescue teams were struggling to recover some bodies, and that the navy and divers were trying to retrieve bodies from the sea. Derna was badly flooded by heavy rain and burst dams Drag button to see extent of flooding An investigation has been launched into why the floods were able to cause such devastation, he said, adding that 2.5bn Libyan Dinar ($515m) would be given to help rebuild Derna and the eastern city of Benghazi. The cities of Soussa, Al-Marj and Misrata were also affected by Sunday's storm. Water engineering experts told the BBC it is likely the upper dam, around 12km (eight miles) from the city, had failed first, sending its water sweeping down the river valley towards the second dam, which lies closer to Derna - where neighbourhoods were inundated. "At first we just thought it was heavy rain but at midnight we heard a huge explosion and it was the dam bursting," Raja Sassi, who survived along with his wife and small daughter, told Reuters news agency. Libyan journalist Noura Eljerbi, who is based in Tunisia told the BBC she only found out that around 35 of her relatives who all lived in the same apartment block in Derna were still alive after contacting a local rescue team. "The house has been destroyed but my family managed to get out before things got worse. They are safe now," she said. Rescue worker Kasim Al-Qatani told BBC Newsnight that there is no clean drinking water in Derna, and a lack of medical supplies. He added that the only hospital in Derna could no longer take patients because "there are more than 700 dead bodies waiting in the hospital and it's not that big." The low-lying areas of Derna near the sea have been worst affected Libya has been in political chaos since long-serving ruler Col Muammar Gaddafi was overthrown and killed in 2011 - leaving the oil-rich nation effectively split with an interim, internationally recognised government operating from the capital, Tripoli, and another one in the east. Libyan journalist Abdulkader Assad said the confusion around this was hampering rescue efforts. "You have people who are pledging help but the help is not coming," he told the BBC. "There are no rescue teams, there are no trained rescuers in Libya. Everything over the last 12 years was about war." But despite the split, the government in Tripoli has sent a plane with 14 tonnes of medical supplies, body bags and more than 80 doctors and paramedics. Brian Lander, the deputy director of emergencies at the UN's World Food Programme, said the organisation had food supplies for 5,000 families. Whole neighbourhoods in Derna were washed out to sea Derna, about 250km east of Benghazi along the coast, is surrounded by the nearby hills of the fertile Jabal Akhdar region. The city was once where militants from the Islamic State group built a presence in Libya, after Gaddafi's fall. They were driven out some years later by the Libyan National Army (LNA), forces loyal to Gen Khalifa Haftar who is allied to the eastern administration. The powerful general said eastern officials are currently assessing damage caused by the floods so roads can be reconstructed and electricity restored to help rescue efforts. Libya's leading Al-Wasat news website has suggested that failures to properly rebuild and maintain infrastructure in Derna after years of conflict is partly to blame for the high death toll. "The security chaos and Libyan authorities' laxity in carrying out close monitoring of safety measures [of the dams] led to the catastrophe," it quoted economic expert Mohammed Ahmed as saying. Link

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Nick movie: Aquaman Time: November 26, 2018 Netflix / Amazon / HBO: HBO Duration of the movie: M Trailer:

Wilmut set off a global discussion about the ethics of cloning when he announced that his team had cloned Dolly using the nucleus of a cell from an adult sheep. Professor Ian Wilmut with Dolly the sheep on display in the National Museums of Scotland, in 2003. Ian Wilmut, the cloning pioneer whose work was critical to the creation of Dolly the Sheep in 1996, has died, the University of Edinburgh in Scotland said Monday. He was 79. Wilmut set off a global discussion about the ethics of cloning when he announced that his team at the university’s Roslin Institute for animal biosciences had cloned Dolly using the nucleus of a cell from an adult sheep. It marked the first time that a genetically identical mammal was created from an adult cell and spurred questions about the potential cloning of humans. Wilmut later focused on using cloning techniques to make stem cells that could be used in regenerative medicine. “With the sad news today of Ian Wilmut’s passing, science has lost a household name,’’ Bruce Whitelaw, the director of the Roslin Institute, said. “Ian led the research team that produced the first cloned mammal in Dolly. This animal has had such a positive impact on how society engages with science, and how scientists engage with society.’’ Link

Plus: Chinese brand wants to sell you O-Fashion, promote O-Life and let you join the O-Club for an affordable £24,000. O good Omoda has some big plans. If you haven’t heard of the brand, don’t worry, we’ll come onto that. Firstly though, you need to know it’s launching the Omoda 5, a crossover SUV which has earned a five-star safety rating from Euro NCAP ahead of its UK launch. The car is going to debut in March 2024 starting at a reasonable £24,000. Looking suspiciously like a Hyundai Tucson/Genesis/Range Rover mash-up, surprisingly enough, it's not totally hideous. There are two trim levels, the cheaper 'Comfort' and the £27,000 'Noble' variant. Built on Omoda’s T1X platform – not to be confused with a London black cab TX1 – the 5 has a 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol engine, pushing 187bhp and delivering 213lb ft of torque. It claims a fuel economy of 31.4mpg. Omoda says it wants to offer "an environmentally conscious driving experience… for drivers who wish to continue using traditionally fuelled powertrains". Despite this, there's also an electric version – wildly named the Omoda 5 EV – at launch. But we've yet to have more details on this. With its extensive suite of driver assistance features, like adaptive cruise control, lane-keep assist and forward collision warning, both trim levels are well-kitted out – on paper, at least. There's Apple Carplay and Android Auto, wireless charging for two handsets, interior adaptive lighting and LED headlights as standard. The sportier Noble gets a 360-degree camera, heated leather steering wheel, power sunroof and 18in alloys. Omoda who? Ah yes, it's a brand in the Chery portfolio, the Chinese-state owned carmaker based out of Wuhu, Anhui province in China. With its 'responsible price point', Omoda hopes to target younger drivers who will evangelise the brand to their mates, preferably via social media. Using concepts like O-Fashion and O-Life, Omoders (as those in this community will be called) will belong to the O-Club. O-kaaay. Mr. Chen Chunqing, CEO of Omoda UK said: "The automotive industry has entered an unprecedented era of intelligent and new energy technology products. Marked by a surge in demand for personalisation and individual expression, we’ve seen the ascent of the SUV segment which now dominates the ten best-selling models globally. Omoda aims to stand at the forefront of this transformation.” These are laudable aspirations. The brand is targeting 1.4 million units by 2030 and we're curious to drive the thing when it arrives at the end of the year. For all the creativity the brand claims, though, we would have hoped they could do better than calling the car, the 5. Could be handbags at dawn with Polestar? Link

Both sides have signaled they’re willing to battle over the state's new rule for allocating delegates. Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis. The biggest GOP showdown in California this month might not be the second presidential primary debate, scheduled to be held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Instead, it looks as if it will take place behind the scenes at the state Republican Party’s convention days later, as allies of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former President Donald Trump signal they are preparing to fight over the state party’s new delegate rules — a battle with major implications for the important Super Tuesday contest. California is a significant prize in the presidential primaries, with more delegates than any other state. Previously, California Republicans used to assign delegates by congressional district. In other words, candidates could more easily target certain areas of the large and expensive state rather than fight over the statewide vote. But in late July, the party wrote a new rule to change the way it operates, making the transition to a potential winner-take-all state. So as things stand for the 2024 race, whoever wins more than 50% of the statewide vote will get all the delegates. Should no one hit that threshold, delegates will be allocated proportionally. DeSantis allies blasted the change, which the Trump campaign supported. Delegates were previously awarded to the top two finishers in each congressional district, which would have allowed DeSantis, the second-highest-polling contender in the GOP primary, to obtain a large delegate haul. Those rules also would have encouraged DeSantis allies to spend more liberally in specific congressional districts where it felt the GOP electorates were more receptive to his candidacy. When Never Back Down, the super PAC backing DeSantis’ presidential bid, ended its door-knocking operations in the state last month, the group pointed to the rule change as a leading factor in its decision, NBC News first reported. Erin Perrine, a spokesperson for the super PAC, described the change at the time as “making grassroots involvement impossible” and called it a “Trump-inspired rigging,” though she expressed hope that the rule could be altered this month at the convention — which features both DeSantis and Trump as scheduled speakers. What’s more, a Trump campaign adviser took note of Perrine’s comments, seeing them as proof that DeSantis’ allies would be working hard behind the scenes to change the decision. “If I were going to try and do that, I sure as hell wouldn’t telegraph it,” this person said of an effort to lobby the delegates to amend the new rule. “Because she said that, I’m going be ready for it. And the president can be ready for it, because he’s going to be there.” This adviser noted, though, that it would be a big lift for DeSantis’ allies to get the rule changed. Jessica Millan Patterson, the chairwoman of the state Republican Party, said a change at this point would require an amendment to pass through the rules committee, in addition to winning the support of a majority of the state party’s delegation. Without support from the rules committee, two-thirds of the state party convention delegation would have to back any change — which is in excess of 1,400 members. Patterson said the new rule wasn’t about boosting Trump but about getting in compliance with the Republican National Committee’s rules on allocating delegates and creating an environment in which more of the party’s primary candidates believe it is worthwhile to campaign there — viewing the chance of winning some delegates in a proportional, statewide system as more appealing than in the previous setup, in which contenders had to finish among the top two candidates in individual congressional districts to leave the state with convention delegates. “We saw right away, as soon as we made this rule change, multiple candidates saying, ‘We want to be at your convention,’” Patterson said. “They are now playing in California. The ability to walk away from a Super Tuesday with a percentage of the delegates is really exciting for a lot of these candidates.” Complaints about the new system, she said, were limited to “really one camp.” “Certainly, when you’re in that first or second spot and you would be walking away with some delegates, I get it,” she said. “But our job is to make sure that this is a fair process for all of the candidates that are entering this race.” DeSantis’ campaign declined to comment, as did representatives for other major GOP presidential campaigns. Delegate rules will be finalized on the last day of the convention — Oct. 1, which also happens to be the deadline to file any changes with the RNC, Patterson said. The convention is set to be well-attended by GOP primary candidates. In addition to Trump and DeSantis, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy will speak, and Patterson hinted at more announcements in the coming days. “There is no playing favorites in this whole process,” she said. “And as you can see by the candidates who are coming to our convention who are not named Donald Trump, they feel like this is an opportunity for them, too.” Yet a recent survey by the University of California-Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies and the Los Angeles Times showed how the new rules might be very beneficial to Trump. The poll found that Trump is on track to win all of the state’s massive delegate haul — the largest in the country — under the new rule, as 55% of likely GOP voters in the state planned to cast ballots for him. Just 16% backed DeSantis. It’s a huge reversal from a February survey by the same pollster, which found DeSantis leading Trump by 8 points. Ahead of his campaign, DeSantis’ allies signaled that part of their strategy was to pay attention early to states that will vote in March and later, in hope of building up delegates to outlast Trump in the long run. The Trump campaign adviser described DeSantis’ effort as “the participation trophy strategy.” California isn’t the only place where such a battle is underway. In Nevada, a critical early voting state, two campaigns lodged accusations that the contentious process is being driven by an effort to benefit Trump, NBC News reported last week. The Trump campaign and the state GOP chair forcefully pushed back against the accusation, with the former saying it amounted to an excuse for DeSantis’ underperforming. Back in California, Patterson is preparing for a convention that was already certain to be livelier than gatherings in recent years. “This puts us in a unique position where candidates are working really hard, not just for a fundraiser in California, because we’re used to that, but to really earn our votes,” she said. “And that’s exciting.” Link

Rescue workers carry the body of a victim killed in the village of Talat N'Yaaqoub Rescuers in Morocco have been using their bare hands as desperate search efforts continue for survivors of Friday's powerful earthquake. A total of 2,681 people are known to have died in the tremor - the country's deadliest in 60 years. Morocco's government is under pressure to accept more international aid, as rescuers battle with exhaustion. So far, it has accepted help from only four countries - Spain, the UK, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The 6.8 magnitude tremor hit the High Atlas mountains south of Marrakesh, and destroyed many rural and remote villages. One of them - Tafeghaghte - has had its po[CENSORED]tion of 200 people nearly halved, and many are still missing. Heavy lifting equipment is struggling to get through roads blocked by boulders and other debris. In the village of Moulay Brahim, 26-year-old Said told the BBC that he saw his neighbour's house collapse. "A family of six people lived there. The father was outside at the time and is still alive, but his wife and four children were there and died," he said, in a state of shock. "The daughters were 15, eight and five years old. The last child was a little boy about to turn three" he explained. Said has not been able to sleep or eat since Friday night. "The situation is catastrophic. I don't know how I will recover from this," he said. Tom Godfrey, the team lead for UK rescue charity EMT, said the worst impact is in the south-west, where humanitarian relief is desperately needed. Speaking to the BBC en route the village of Amizmiz, he said his team are expecting to treat traumatic injuries initially, with the risk of disease increasing if aid is further delayed. 'I had to choose to save my parents or my son' Why Morocco is wary of earthquake help from abroad Morocco earthquake movement mapped from space The World Health Organization said more than 300,000 people have been affected by the disaster. The Tinmel Mosque, a historic site in the mountains, has been severely damaged, and Marrakesh's old city, a World Heritage Site has suffered collapsed buildings. Pressure - and anger - is mounting on Morocco's government to accept the help offered by several nations. The United States, Tunisia, Turkey, Taiwan and France - a former colonial power of Morocco - are some of the nations which have offered support. Neighbouring Algeria, which has a long history of fraught relations with Morocco, has offered specialised rescue workers, medical personnel and sniffer dogs, as well as beds, tents and blankets. But the Moroccan government has said it does not want to risk a chaotic situation with dozens of countries and aid organisations arriving to help. "A lack of co-ordination in such cases would be counterproductive," authorities said. Dr Clare McCaughey, a GP based in Marrakesh, told the BBC that private clinics like hers will not hesitate to "provide care to any earthquake victims free of charge". "Moroccans are doing what Moroccans do best," she said, adding that it has been "incredible" to see the outpouring of support from the community. "There are huge trucks going up to the mountains, but also people [taking their cars] to the supermarkets and getting them up the hill to the people". Link

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Nick movie: Scary Movie Time: July 7, 2000 Netflix / Amazon / HBO: N/A Duration of the movie: 88 M Trailer:

Raised ride height and racing stripes included A few weeks on from its camo’d debut at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, the production-ready Mustang Mach-E Rally has been de-robed by Ford ahead of order books opening next year. Looks… half decent, no? Those racing stripes are standard, while the rear spoiler is inspired by that of the Focus RS (anyone see any resemblance?), claims Ford. Other additions include various body mouldings, a front splitter, black steel roof and a front panel that houses the ‘rally-inspired’ fog lights (i.e. they are round). Don’t worry, there is some substance to it all: the suspension setup is unique to the Mach-E Rally, riding 20mm higher than the GT version on which it’s all based with tuned springs, MagneRide shocks and 385mm front brake discs with red Brembo calipers. Ford has been unusually blunt in its description of testing for the Rally: the prototypes were ‘abused’ by engineers and technicians, who subjected the car to 800km tests on a specially-designed rally track at its Michigan Proving ground. Serious business indeed. Apparently the RallySport driving mode allows for big slides, while the throttle response has been tightened up for a more linear response and the handling improved by way of ‘aggressive damping’ and 19s (check out those alloys!) shod with 235/55 R19 Michelin CrossClimate2 tyres. For extra grip on the loose stuff, you understand. The powertrain has been fettled too, the GT’s dual motor system now chucking out 480bhp and 649lb ft. The battery is a 91kWh unit, though range is unspecified for now. Inside you get gloss white accents on the dash, lower steering wheel spokes and seatbacks, and there’s contrast stitching on the doors. Ford-designed performance seats, too. For keeping you upright on a demanding gravel stage, you understand. Colour options include Grabber Blue, Shadow Black, Eruption Green and Grabber Yellow; Star White and Glacier Gray are cost options. “Just a year ago, this was merely an idea, and what you see today is a testament to the passion and intense creativity of our Model e team,” said Donna Dickson, chief engineer of the Mustang Mach-E. “We have always explored new areas of performance, and the combination of a rally-tuned suspension, dual motor electric powertrain, and wicked styling makes the Mustang Mach‑E Rally a different kind of performance vehicle that will excite customers chasing their next adventure.” And Ford CEO Jim Farley added: “Mustang Mach-E Rally puts Ford’s decades of passion for rally championships around the world right in the hands of our customers. It takes Mustang where it hasn’t been before – to gravel and dirt roads. Inspired by true driving enthusiasts, a driving experience like never before for the pure joy of driving.” As mentioned, Ford will start taking orders early in 2024 and the first deliveries will arrive shortly after. Tempted? Link

For a man who likes his name in lights, his government-funded, post-presidential office is as nondescript as they come. Former President Donald Trump arrives at a rally Friday hosted by the South Dakota Republican Party in Rapid City. WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Donald Trump likes to put his name on everything — except his taxpayer-funded, post-presidential office here on North Flagler Drive. Trump’s website doesn’t list the address, which is about a 10-minute drive from his Mar-a-Lago club. The nameplate on the hallway wall is blank. There is no seal, official or unofficial, on the frosted-glass door. And the name Trump — a brand the former president estimates to be worth billions of dollars — is nowhere to be found. It’s so hush-hush that his spokesman, Steven Cheung, claimed no knowledge of its existence. “I’ve never heard of a North Flagler office,” Cheung said, when NBC News asked about the suite Wednesday. But it’s here, across the hall from an IRS suite with a door marked “criminal investigation” and one floor below an outpost for Trump’s Secret Service detail. Three sources confirmed the location of the office. Under the Former Presidents Act, the federal General Services Administration provides funding for post-presidential offices, including money to pay staff. There are reasons — including security — that some ex-presidents choose to shine less light on their offices than Bill Clinton did when he moved into a space on West 125th Street in New York's Harlem more than two decades ago. What stands out about this suite is that it has played a little-noticed role in Trump’s affairs as he takes the unusual step of seeking a return to the White House following his 2020 defeat. It has apparently housed classified material and, according to a person familiar with Trump’s operation, been searched by a private firm at the direction of Trump’s lawyers. Long after that inspection, bankers' boxes were still piled against the wall and in the middle of the main room, according to two sources familiar with the office. “Boxes everywhere,” one of the sources said. “The state of that office is generally cluttered. If there weren’t boxes and bins, I’d think that something happened.” There's no indication that Trump has used the office himself. It is not clear what is currently in the boxes, and it is not clear whether he knows what is in them. Former President Donald Trump's post-presidential office in West Palm Beach, Fla. The suite number was obscured by NBC News In June, Trump pleaded not guilty in federal court in Miami to charges that he unlawfully held and hid classified documents after he left the White House. A spokesperson for special counsel Jack Smith declined to comment on what prosecutors know about the office and its contents. Aside from the classified-documents case, Trump’s unique triple-hatted role as former president, candidate and defendant raises questions about whether and how his aides keep their work separated. Several Trump aides on the payroll of his Save America political action committee, his 2024 presidential campaign or both have worked at the post-presidential office since it opened two years ago, according to campaign finance records and people familiar with the office. Cheung did not respond to a follow-up email seeking details about the office and its operations, including whether aides on Trump’s political payroll who have worked there are also paid by the government or a private noncampaign entity. It is possible for one person to split time between a campaign and government work, according to election finance experts. For example, most executive branch employees — including political appointees — can participate in certain partisan political activities outside of work, so long as they don’t use government resources. And it could be that Trump’s aides are careful not to mix political work with official business. But there is a strict prohibition on performing political duties on government time — or in a government-occupied building or room. It is not clear what steps Trump is taking to ensure a wall of separation between official and campaign business for aides who are on his political payroll. “The general rule is, even where dual-hatting is allowed, and even when it’s being done without pay on either or both jobs, you definitely cannot conduct [political] work in your government office,” said a former Federal Election Commission lawyer who asked to remain anonymous to discuss the Trump situation. “That is pretty close to an ironclad rule.” Most former presidents don’t have to contemplate mounting a legal defense and a presidential campaign as their aides reply to correspondence from fans and dignitaries. “Donald Trump is the first ex-president of our time who has declared for re-election. At the same time, his political fundraising committees are contributing money to his personal legal defense,” said Michael Beschloss, a presidential historian. “Since Nixon’s rocky and much-criticized first months out of office, American ex-presidents have abided by fairly strict traditions and practices,” Beschloss said. “Such practices would not include non-government officials using American taxpayer-funded office space and services to conduct an ex-president’s campaign or to work on his private legal defense, if either of those things happened.” Political Payroll When a surprised-to-be-packing Trump left the White House in January 2021, his aides scrambled to collect the items he wanted to take with him and ship them to multiple locations, including Mar-a-Lago and a temporary transition office in the Washington suburbs. Toward the end of the six-month transition process, Trump aides worked with GSA to relocate the office in the Washington suburbs to West Palm Beach. Kathy Geisler, the GSA point person for the transition, noted in an email to Trump aides that the agency would pay for only one location — meaning that the “correspondence office” had to be either at a West Palm Beach suite or at Mar-a-Lago, not both. “If the Former President’s Office determines that the Correspondence Office in West Palm Beach will be the single office that GSA provides and furnishes, furniture and other items from the Mar-a-lago location will need to be moved [from] the existing location to the new location,” Geisler wrote to Trump’s team in June 2021. The office on North Flagler Drive appears to be the final location for that “correspondence office,” also known as the office of the former president. Trump, who continues to falsely claim that he won the 2020 election, does not refer to himself as a “former” president and his staff generally avoid that construction, as well. It is "the only office space that GSA has rented for Former President Trump’s Office," a GSA spokesperson said. Several of his aides, all of whom worked in operations or correspondence roles at the White House, have been seen at the North Flagler Drive office since it opened in late 2021, according to two of the people familiar with the office. The set includes Beau Harrison, Molly Michael and Desiree Thompson, these people said. Michael, who no longer works for Trump, was on the payroll of his Save America political action committee from July 2021 until September 2022, the month after the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago in search of classified documents. An attorney for Michael did not respond to questions about the work she did for Trump at the North Flagler Drive office. Harrison was at times paid by Save America — for advance work, a year-end bonus, basic pay and reimbursement for travel and office expenses — according to the PAC’s federal finance disclosures. The last payment was on Aug. 15, 2022, a week after the raid on Mar-a-Lago. Harrison did not respond to a text message from NBC. Cheung, the Trump spokesman, confirmed Wednesday that Thompson still works for Trump. She remains on Save America’s payroll, earning a salary of about $120,000 per year, according to the PAC’s most recent filing. Reached briefly by phone Friday, Thompson politely said she had to “refer” questions about the office. She did not call back. Classified material When the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago on Aug. 8, 2022, a box that contained Trump White House schedules, including some with classified markings, was sitting at a West Palm Beach office uninspected, The Guardian reported earlier this year. According to the newspaper, a junior aide who went by the nickname ROTUS — receptionist of the United States — had moved the box from a Mar-a-Lago workspace to a government-leased West Palm Beach office when she was relocated to the office in 2022. She was later moved back to Mar-a-Lago, along with the schedules, and she had also scanned them into a laptop, the paper reported, citing two sources familiar with the matter. ROTUS is a moniker used by Chamberlain Harris, who held the informal title at the tail end of the Trump administration. One of the people familiar with the office confirmed that she worked there for a time. Harris did not reply to a text message or a LinkedIn message seeking comment on her work at the North Flagler Drive office and asking her whether she moved the box of schedules to Mar-a-Lago Harris has been on the Save America payroll since July 2021 and has been on Trump’s re-election payroll since December 2022, according to campaign finance records. Together, Trump-affiliated political committees paid her $163,000, including travel reimbursements, from July 2021 through June 30, 2023, which is the last date for which campaign finance records are available. In late 2022, federal investigators pressed Trump’s lawyers to turn over any remaining classified material in the former president’s possession. That prompted his legal team to hire a private firm to conduct searches at several locations, including the North Flagler Drive office, according to a person familiar with the probes. The person said there were no additional classified materials discovered by the private team. There is no indication that the FBI ever searched the premises for classified documents or other materials that belong to the government under the Presidential Records Act. The FBI did not respond to a request for comment. Link

Emergency workers search a destroyed house in Amizmiz, Morocco Morocco faces a race against time to save those trapped under the rubble by Friday's earthquake, as emergency services battle to supply remote areas. Villagers continue to dig by hand and shovel to find survivors, as response teams struggle to bring in machinery. Those same tools may now be needed to prepare graves for some of the thousands killed in the quake. People "have nothing left," a villager told the BBC. "People are starving. Children want water. They need help." Friday's earthquake, the country's deadliest in 60 years, struck below a remote cluster of mountainous villages south of Marrakesh. The government reported that at least 2,122 people were killed and more than 2,421 injured, many critically. The 6.8-magnitude tremor collapsed homes, blocked roads and swayed buildings as far away as the country's northern coast. Marrakesh's old city, a Unesco World Heritage site, suffered damage. Mountain villages plunged into grief by Morocco quake 'It was total chaos': Voices from the earthquake Such a powerful earthquake is unusual for Morocco Morocco's King Mohammed VI declared three days of national mourning on Saturday, as the aftermath continued to unfold. Civil protection units were deployed to increase stocks in blood banks, water, food, tents and blankets, the palace said. But it conceded that some of the worst-affected areas were so remote that it was impossible to reach them in the hours after the quake - the most crucial period for many of the injured. Fallen rocks had partially blocked the already poorly maintained roads into the High Atlas mountains, the site of many of the worst-affected areas. Survivors in remote villages have begun to bury loved ones Many buildings have been reduced to rubble in the small town of Amizmiz, in a valley in the mountains about 34 miles (55km) south of Marrakesh. The local hospital is empty and deemed unsafe to enter. Patients are instead treated in tents in the hospital grounds - but staff are overwhelmed. A hospital official, who asked not to be named, said that around 100 bodies were brought there on Saturday. "I was crying because there were so many dead people, especially the young children," he said. "Since the earthquake I haven't slept. None of us have." Beyond the hospital the streets are packed with rubble from destroyed buildings, heavy traffic and those who have lost everything to the quake. A woman wails in grief and is held by those around her. There are more tents at the side of the roads for people who have lost their homes, but not everyone has them. Dozens of people are sleeping on rugs laid on the ground in the central square. Abdelkarim Brouri, 63, is one of those whose house partially collapsed and has nothing to protect him from the elements. "I can't go back home," he said, pleading for more help. "We're helping each other. There's no help coming from outside." "We used blankets to make a tent," said Ali Ait Youssef, another Amizmiz resident. "The tents the government distributed are not enough." In a nearby village, crude graves covered with sticks and stones marked out some of the 100 residents killed. Gravediggers were preparing more as locals said they had yet to receive any official support and were left to find and bury the dead themselves. 'Ready to deploy' International efforts to aid the recovery have begin to increase in pace. The UK said Morocco had accepted an offer to deploy emergency response teams, including rescue specialists, a medical team, search dogs and equipment . Spain and Qatar have also said they received formal requests and would send search and rescue teams. France said it "stood ready" to help but was awaiting a formal request from Morocco. "The second they request this aid, it will be deployed," said President Emmanuel Macron. The US said "search and rescue teams ready to deploy... We are also ready to release funds at the right time." Turkey, which suffered its own catastrophic quake in February that killed 50,000, had also offered but received no formal request. A BBC reporter saw Spanish sniffer dogs in a village in the Atlas Mountains on Sunday. Caroline Holt, of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), told Reuters that the next "two to three days will be critical for finding people trapped under the rubble". Meanwhile relatives began to bury dozens of dead in the almost entirely destroyed village of Tafeghaghte, 37 miles (60km) southwest of Marrakesh. "Three of my grandchildren and their mother are dead," said 72-year-old Omar Benhanna. "They're still under the debris. It wasn't so long ago that we were playing together." In Agadir city, along the southern Atlantic coast, a woman named Hakima described how she fled her village, Msouna, after losing four relatives in the "catastrophic" shocks. Neighbours pulled her out of the rubble, she said - but no aid had yet reached Msouna and nearby settlements. "My family has lost their homes, their belongings - they have nothing left," she said. "People are starving. Children just want water. They need help." Link