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https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/health-specials/why-do-we-all-catch-the-cold-and-flu-in-winter-study-explains-how-its-all-in-the-nose-8347003/lite/ We all know that there is an increased tendency to contract the cold and flu in winter but scientists have so far been unable to explain the mechanism underlying it. Now for the first time, a Harvard Medical School study has given an exact picture of why we tend to contract the cold in winter regardless of our body condition and general immunity levels. The study’s lead author, Dr Benjamin Bleier, Associate Professor of Otolaryngology at Harvard Medical School, was quoted as saying, “We found that the drop in temperature significantly reduced the innate immune response in the nose, decreasing not only the quantity of extracellular vesicles (EVs) that swarmed the virus but their quality and strength. This reduced response makes the virus stick to and then infect the nasal cells, where they can then divide and cause the infection…. These findings offer one of the first true mechanistic, biological explanations of why people are more likely to catch colds and other viruses that cause upper respiratory infections in cooler weather.” The study, which has been published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, even shows that the mucosa doesn’t lose any of its protective ability in high heat. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are nothing but tiny membrane-bound particles that can carry DNA, RNA and proteins that are released by cells to trigger an antiviral response. In the nose, these sacs can prevent viruses from binding to uninfected cells. If they themselves are weakened by cold ambient temperatures, then the virus stubbornly gets stuck to the mucosa,” says Dr Nikhil Modi, Senior Consultant, Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, Delhi. “This is the first, definitive, data-driven evidence of how the body reacts to the virus in winter. In that sense, the nose pretty much becomes the gateway for the virus. It also tells us how the nasal cavity, due to its proximity to the cold air outside, is more sensitive and loses its immunity faster than any other organ in the body,” he adds. However, Dr Modi mentions that this does not mean that we focus only on reduction in immunity that predisposes us to flu. “We are just as prone to allergens and extreme weather conditions. These are not infections but have common symptoms like nose blocks and watering of eyes. That’s why it is better to mask up when going outdoors and inhale steam regularly to decongest your airways. Second, build up your immunity with a healthy diet rich in antioxidants, vitamins and proteins, all of which are required for immune cells. In other words, up your quotient of seasonal fruits and vegetables. Exercise and build a sleep discipline allowing your body to heal and fight back. If you follow these simple basic rules, you do not need vitamin C supplements,” he adds. The researchers examined the impact of cold ambient temperatures on the antiviral immune response in the nasal cavity. They first used endoscopy to assess changes in temperature inside the nasal cavity of healthy individuals in response to cold temperatures typically observed during winter. A drop in the ambient temperature from 23.3 degrees celsius to 4.4 degrees celsius was associated with a decline in temperature inside the nasal cavity by about five degrees celsius. The researchers simulated this 5-degree celsius drop in intranasal temperatures in the laboratory by culturing human nasal mucosal cells at 32 degrees Celsius instead of 37 degrees Celsius. Lowering the temperature reduced the release of EVs.

https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/china-border-quarantine-travel-reax-intl-hnk/index.html China's partial reopening has been met with an outpouring of joy and relief from citizens -- both the hundreds of millions isolated inside the country for the past three years and those overseas separated from their loved ones. Authorities announced Monday that starting January 8, China will drop quarantine requirements for all international arrivals, its most significant move yet in transitioning away from its stringent zero-Covid policy. The border remains largely closed to foreigners, apart from a limited number of business or family visits -- though the government signaled Monday this could loosen, too. For many Chinese nationals abroad, who have been unable to return or unwilling to endure the lengthy quarantine, the news meant they could finally go home -- a bittersweet victory after much sacrifice. "Finally, everybody can (live) their normal life," said one Chinese national living in New York, who hasn't been home for four years. She called the separation "very painful," saying several of her family members and the beloved pet dog she grew up with had died during that time. Her family "missed (my graduation). They missed so many things," she said. "And I also missed so many things for my family. All my friends, they got married during the pandemic. Even some of them had babies. I feel like I missed everything, I missed the most important points in their lives." May Ma, 28, has been unable to go home for nearly three years while living in South Korea. The worst thing about the quarantine requirements had been worrying about her grandparents' health, and not knowing if she'd be able to return in time to say goodbye if anything were to happen, she said. Throughout the pandemic, "the scariest thing was ... not knowing where the end is, not knowing when I can go back," she said. "I definitely feel very happy, I can finally see the end." Those within China are also celebrating and anticipating outbound travel. Most have not left the country for several years and are now flooding booking sites to plan long-awaited vacations. Online searches for outbound flights and overseas hotels jumped to a three-year peak on Trip.com, a Chinese travel booking website, according to company data. Searches for po[CENSORED]r destinations increased tenfold within half an hour of the announcement, with many people searching for outbound group tours during the Lunar New Year holiday season in late January, data shows. Macao, Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand, South Korea, the United States and the United Kingdom were among the website's top 10 destinations with the fastest growth in search volume since the announcement. But the border relaxations have sparked concern among some as China fights its most severe wave of Covid infections since the pandemic began. Cases have skyrocketed since China abandoned zero-Covid, with empty streets and packed hospital wards. When CNN visited a Beijing crematorium last week, cars lined up to enter, filled with grieving family members who had been waiting more than a day to cremate loved ones who died of Covid. Last Friday, Bloomberg News and the Financial Times reported that almost 250 million people in China may have caught Covid in the first 20 days of December, a figure presented during an internal meeting of China's National Health Commission, according to both outlets. They cited sources familiar with the matter or involved in the discussions. If correct, the estimate -- which CNN cannot independently confirm -- would account for roughly 18% of China's 1.4 billion people and represent the largest Covid-19 outbreak to date globally. "I feel like right now, it's totally a mess," said the Chinese national in New York. "Everybody is sick. So, at least I think right now, it's not the best time to visit my family. Maybe two or three months later." Related content Leaked notes from Chinese health officials estimate 250 million Covid-19 infections in December: reports Some overseas destinations are also on guard. Officials in Italy's northern Lombardy region have asked Milan's Malpensa airport -- one of the country's largest international airports -- to conduct PCR tests for all arrivals from China from now until the end of January. India, which borders China, has ordered travelers from China and several other countries to show proof of a negative Covid test on arrival. And Japan announced Friday that travelers from mainland China, or who had been in China within a week, would be tested for Covid upon entry. In both India and Japan, those found positive upon arrival will be required to quarantine. But for many Chinese nationals, hungry for travel and reunion, the overwhelming emotion remains relief. "It doesn't matter if I can get back in time for Spring Festival," said Ma in South Korea, referring to Lunar New Year. "There is hope after all, I can bear waiting for a little while longer."

Nickname: Inmortal Video author:Alphasniper97 Name of the game: COD Warzone 2.0 Link video: Rate this video 1-10:10 God 👌

https://www.techradar.com/news/xbox-live-gold-free-games Xbox Games With Gold grants free games each month those who subscribe. These games tend to vary massively, with some being smaller indie titles, and other more well-known experiences. It's always worth checking to see what the free games are each month, as they can be downloaded and saved for later. Xbox Live Gold and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers can claim two games a month, ranging from AAA blockbusters to beloved indie titles. Unlike Sony's PlayStation Plus free games, Games with Gold takes a staggered approach. Microsoft typically adds its free games for Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S and Xbox One to the service throughout the month, with one available from the beginning of the new month to the end, and the other becoming available about halfway through the current month and then running into the following month.

https://www.pcgamer.com/amazons-adding-shorts-and-tights-to-a-new-lost-ark-class-to-dial-down-the-lewdness/ Isometric fantasy fashion parade Lost Ark is one of those games that's at slightly different points in different regions. The Korean version runs ahead of the western one, essentially, meaning that players of the Amazon Games published version over here usually have some idea of what they're getting: and one of the most anticipated additions has been the addition of a new class, the Artist The Artist is a young woman who, in the Korean version, favors extremely short skirts. And it appears that Amazon considers some of the Artist's Korean skins to be, well, just a bit too thirsty. "Nothing gameplay-related will change for the Artist Class, but some skins will be modified to better fit Western norms", reads the official announcement. "Specifically, skins with short skirts will have shorts added underneath the skirt, and other skins will have adjusted pant lengths or tights added." This class itself summons monsters by painting them, though I think they can also just whack monsters with their brush. The Artist is a support-leaning playstyle with damage on the low side but a whole bunch of ways to buff and heal the party, and the developers say it's the first of a new class category called specialists, with another example to arrive later in the year. February will see the one-year anniversary of the game's launch in the west, and is going to be celebrated with a series of quests set on the continent of Rowen. After completing these questlines players can choose a faction to compete in open-world PvP and the war over the continent begins, leading up to a new type of PvP activity being added in March. This is a 96-player (48vs48) battle with bases to capture and secondary objectives, which are held at certain times during the week. April and the Artist is as far as this 2023 roadmap goes, which doesn't quite seem to fulfil the brief but there we are. The Witcher's Kaer Morhen background art is pretty sweet, and in the runup to the collab Lost Ark players are getting the Summoner class and endgame Brelshaza legion raid, among many other goodies. As for Geralt, the man belongs in a tub but he's bloody everywhere these days. The Witcher crossovers include Monster Hunter World, Soulcalibur 6, and soon enough he'll be turning up in Fortnite Chapter 4.

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/extinct-panda-ancient-europe-highlights-debate-animals-origins-rcna40209 The discovery of an extinct panda that roamed the forests and swamps of Europe millions of years ago could reignite debate about whether the ancestors of China’s iconic national animal actually came from Europe. The only evidence of the newly-identified panda species — dubbed Agriarctos nikolovi — are two fossilized teeth found in a lump of coal in Bulgaria almost 50 years ago, according to a study published Sunday in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. But scientists say they show pandas were living in Europe about 6 million years ago and reinforce earlier discoveries. A 2017 report by China Daily — a news outlet run by the Chinese Communist Party — noted debate over the geographical origin of pandas goes back to the 1940s, when their fossils were found in Hungary. But giant pandas are now a celebrated national symbol in China, and the idea that their ancestors came from Europe is unwelcome there. China Daily said the notion is “still premature,” and quoted an expert from the Chinese Academy of Sciences to explain that pandas might have lived throughout Asia and Europe at different stages of their evolution. The newest European panda lived too recently to resolve that debate, and it wasn’t a direct ancestor of the giant panda, but the discovery of yet another panda species in Europe reinforces the idea that they originated there. “The paleontological data show that the oldest members of this group of bears were found in Europe, and the European fossil [species] are more numerous,” said the study’s lead author, paleontologist Nikolai Spassov of Bulgaria’s National Museum of Natural History in Sofia. “This suggests that the group may have developed in Europe and then headed to Asia, where they evolved later into Ailuropoda — the modern giant panda.” Spassov found the fossilized teeth in an old collection at the museum, where they had been stored by a former curator, the geologist Ivan Nikolov. A barely legible note stored with them said they’d been found in the 1970s in northwestern Bulgaria, near a mountain village known for its coal-bearing sediments. But the teeth then lay undisturbed for almost 50 years until Spassov and his team started to research them. Pandas are a type of bear, but genetic analysis shows their lineage diverged from other bears about 19 million years ago. They are recognized in fossils mainly from the distinct shapes of their teeth. The new study suggests the newest European panda was a bit smaller than the giant panda.

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/08/01/politics/joe-biden-counter-terrorism/index.html The United States killed al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in a drone strike, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. Zawahiri, who just turned 71 years old, had remained a visible international symbol of the group, 11 years after the US killed Osama bin Laden. At one point, he acted as bin Laden's personal physician. The US government has not yet confirmed his death. President Joe Biden will speak at 7:30 p.m. ET on "a successful counterterrorism operation" against al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, the White House said Monday. "Over the weekend, the United States conducted a counterterrorism operation against a significant Al Qaeda target in Afghanistan. The operation was successful and there were no civilian casualties," a senior administration official said. Biden, who tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday as he deals with a rebound case of the virus, will speak outdoors from the Blue Room Balcony at the White House. In a series of tweets, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said, "An air strike was carried out on a residential house in Sherpur area of Kabul city on July 31." He said, "The nature of the incident was not apparent at first" but the security and intelligence services of the Islamic Emirate investigated the incident and "initial findings determined that the strike was carried out by an American drone." The tweets by Mujahid came out prior to CNN reporting Zawahiri's death. Mujahid said the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan "strongly condemns this attack on any pretext and calls it a clear violation of international principles and the Doha Agreement." Zawahiri's targeted killing comes a year after the US' military withdrawal from Afghanistan and the Taliban's takeover of the country. Around the time of Kabul's fall, Biden indicated that there would be enduring US military capabilities -- namely, drones -- to target terrorists. Close ally of bin Laden Zawahiri comes from a distinguished Egyptian family, according to the New York Times. His grandfather, Rabia'a al-Zawahiri, was an imam at al-Azhar University in Cairo. His great-uncle, Abdel Rahman Azzam, was the first secretary of the Arab League. He eventually helped to mastermind the deadliest terror attack on American soil, when hijackers turned US airliners into missiles. "Those 19 brothers who went out and gave their souls to Allah almighty, God almighty has granted them this victory we are enjoying now," al-Zawahiri said in a videotaped message released in April 2002. It was the first of many taunting messages the terrorist -- who became al Qaeda's leader after US forces killed bin Laden in 2011 -- would send out over the years, urging militants to continue the fight against America and chiding US leaders. Zawahiri was constantly on the move once the US-led invasion of Afghanistan began after the September 11, 2001, attacks. At one point, he narrowly escaped a US onslaught in the rugged, mountainous Tora Bora region of Afghanistan, an attack that left his wife and children dead. He made his public debut as a Muslim militant when he was in prison for his involvement in the 1981 assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. "We want to speak to the whole world. Who are we? Who are we?" he said in a jailhouse interview. By that time, al-Zawahiri, a young doctor, was already a committed terrorist who conspired to overthrow the Egyptian government for years and sought to replace it with fundamentalist Islamic rule. He proudly endorsed Sadat's assassination after the Egyptian leader made peace with Israel. He spent three years in prison after Sadat's assassination and claimed he was tortured while in detention. After his release, he made his way to Pakistan, where he treated wounded mujahadeen fighters who fought against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. That was when he met bin Laden and found a common cause. "We are working with brother bin Laden," he said in announcing the merger of his terror group, Egyptian Islamic Jihad, with al Qaeda in May 1998. "We know him since more than 10 years now. We fought with him here in Afghanistan." Together, the two terror leaders signed a fatwa, or declaration: "The judgment to kill and fight Americans and their allies, whether civilians or military, is an obligation for every Muslim." Mastermind of 9/11 The attacks against the United States and its facilities began weeks later, with the suicide bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed more than 200 people and wounded more than 5,000 others. Zawahiri and bin Laden gloated after they escaped a US cruise missile attack in Afghanistan that had been launched in retaliation. Then, there was the attack on the USS Cole in Yemen in October 2000, when suicide bombers on a dinghy detonated their boat, killing 17 American sailors and wounding 39 others. The culmination of Zawahiri's terror plotting came on September 11, 2001, when nearly 3,000 people were killed in the attacks on the twin towers of the World Trade Center and Pentagon. A fourth hijacked airliner, headed for Washington, crashed in a Pennsylvania field after passengers fought back. Since then, al-Zawahiri raised his public profile, appearing on numerous video and audiotapes to urge Muslims to join the jihad against the United States and its allies. Some of his tapes were followed closely by terrorist attacks. In May 2003, for instance, almost simultaneous suicide bombings in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, killed 23 people, including nine Americans, days after a tape thought to contain Zawahiri's voice was released.

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/07/25/politics/donald-trump-january-6-video-speeches/index.html Donald Trump repeatedly refused to offer harsh and widespread condemnation of those who rioted at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, going against guidance from his aides -- and, at times, scripted words -- as he sought to navigate his way through a morass of his own creation. Trump's unwillingness to place blame on the rioters was made clear, again, on Monday in a new video released by Democratic Rep. Elaine Luria of Virginia, who serves on the House select committee investigating January 6. A copy of the speech Trump gave on January 7 -- the day after the insurrection -- was shown on screen, with edits that Ivanka Trump identified as coming from her father. Among the lines Trump crossed out was this one: "I am directing the Department of Justice to ensure all lawbreakers are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. We must send a clear message not with mercy but with JUSTICE. Legal consequences must be swift and firm." He also got rid of these lines: "I want to be very clear you do not represent me. You do not represent our movement." And instead of saying, "if you broke the law, you belong in jail," Trump changed it to, "if you broke the law, you will pay." Obviously, Trump's edits take some significant sting away from his remarks on January 7. The elimination -- in its entirety -- of the line about using the DOJ to investigate and prosecute those who broke the law on January 6 suggests that Trump did not feel as though what was happening was a matter for the department. That impression is furthered by Trump's decision to take out a reference to jail time for those involved in the riot -- changing it to the less specific "you will pay." Trump's edits -- and what he either failed or refused to say -- has been a running theme of the January 6 investigation. Consider: * In those remarks he gave January 7, Trump made other edits. "I don't want to say the election's over, I just want to say 'Congress has certified the results' without saying the election's over, okay?" Trump said at one point. At another he said, "If you broke the law ... can't say that." * On January 6, Trump resisted adding a mention of peace to a 2:38 p.m. Eastern tweet in which he expressed support for law enforcement. Former deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews testified that it was only when Ivanka Trump suggested to add the words "stay peaceful" that the then-President acquiesced. * On January 6, a script of Trump's remarks -- delivered via a Twitter video posted shortly after 4 p.m. -- included these lines: "I urge all my supporters to do exactly as 99.9% of them have already been doing -- express their passions and opinions peacefully. My supporters have a right to have their voices heard but make no mistake -- NO ONE should be using violence or threats of violence to express themselves. Especially at the US Capitol. Let's respect our institutions. Let's all do better. I am asking you to leave the Capitol Hill region NOW and go home in a peaceful way." But Trump's actual remarks deviated wildly from that message. At no point did he directly condemn the violence happening at the Capitol. Instead, he told the rioters that "we love you" and "you're very special," while continuing to push the false idea that election had been stolen. The message from these omissions is obvious to anyone paying attention: Trump did not want to suggest that those who rioted at the Capitol would be subject to criminal penalties, including jail time. (What's remarkable is that throughout his presidency, Trump pushed the Justice Department to investigate his political enemies. But when it came those who supported him, Trump was unwilling to call on DOJ to get involved.) He was also resistant to separating out those who had stormed the Capitol that day from the broader group who attended the "Stop the Steal" rally. Seen through that lens, what Trump was told to say -- and his refusal to do so -- provides a very clear picture of a president who, even amid an insurrection at the US Capitol, didn't seem to, well, get it. Yes, Trump addressed the nation on January 6 and January 7. But the words he failed to use speak volumes about his intentions. And they are damning.

https://www.motorcyclenews.com/news/new-bikes/2023-yamaha-tracer-9-gt/ Despite receiving a full update in 2020 to meet stringent Euro5, Yamaha’s po[CENSORED]r Tracer 9 GT looks set to undergo another refresh for 2023, with new spy shots showing a bike in the works fitted with radar cruise control and a more conventional TFT colour dash. Papped in early July in an undisclosed European location, the Japanese three-cylinder test mule looks almost identical to the bike already on sale – with a closer examination of the pictures revealing the subtle updates. Most noticeable is a new black box hanging above the front 17-in wheel, which is made more prominent by the exposed wiring positioned between the front riding lights and beneath the main headlights and air intake. Yamaha Tracer 9 GT from back Not seen on the current production model, it strongly suggests the adoption of the increasingly common radar-controlled cruise control – something already featuring on some BMWs, Ducatis, KTMs and Kawasakis, but no Yamaha models. What’s more, the rear-on shot gives a glimpse of the test bike’s instruments, which clearly now comprise a new, large, single-screen TFT display. This differs from the current bike’s gimmicky split TFT, which looks an awful lot like the old man from the film ‘Up’ and has been criticised for being hard to read. We can’t tell from the pictures if the switchgear has been updated, too.

https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/health/vision-centres-can-help-reduce-blindness-vision-impairment-8051365/lite/ NEW longitudinal eye health study of the urban low-income po[CENSORED]tion in Pune showed that the prevalence of blindness and vision impairment reduced over four years from 2015 to 2019, blindness from 0.26% to 0.1%, and vision impairment from 0.16% to 0.05%. Published recently in the Indian Journal of Ophthalmology, the study has indicated that vision centres can help in reducing blindness and vision impairment. In a novel initiative, researchers from the Community Eye Care Foundation led by consultant ophthalmologist Dr Parikshit Gogate attempted to estimate the prevalence of blindness and severe visual impairment (SVI) by using a door-to-door screening and vision centre (VC) examination strategy in Pune slums across a po[CENSORED]tion of nearly 50,000 in 2015 and then repeated the exercise after four years to study its impact. “We observed a reduction of blindness and visual impairment over the years, and the gender gap in eyes with vision <6/12 narrowed. Our teams screened close to 50,000 persons in their homes in 2015-16 and then again in 2019. Prevalence of blindness reduced by 40 per cent. More women were blind as compared to men. However, this reduced in five years though the difference still persisted between men and women. Now, nearly 60 per cent of people visiting the vision centres were women as access to care is not a barrier. What the study has shown is that services should be easily available," Dr Gogate said. A dedicated team led by Dr Supriya Phadke of four trained community health workers measured the visual acuity and performed an external ocular examination in patients’ homes. If vision is 20/60 (6/18), the person can read at 20ft (6 metres) what people with normal vision can read at 60 ft (18 metres). Hence, people with vision <6/18 were urged to visit the vision centre for a comprehensive eye examination by an optometrist. An ophthalmologist examined people whose vision did not improve to 6/12. A home examination was done for people who did not visit the vision centre despite two requests. The same po[CENSORED]tion of around 50,000 was examined twice in an interval of four years. “The principal cause of blindness was cataract, with a proportion of 44.9% and 41.6% in the first and second surveys, respectively. In 2015, cataract patients had more severe grades of visual disabilities compared to those in 2019. In four years, 2015–2019, the vision centre examined 8,211 patients (3,377 males, including 529 boys, and 4,834 females, including 520 girls).

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/07/25/china/china-us-pelosi-visit-concerns-intl-hnk-mic/index.html The United States is no stranger to China's angry responses over its support for Taiwan, a self-governing island that Beijing claims as its own territory. But last week, China's warnings against a potential trip by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi's to Taipei appeared to have caused concern in Washington. Following reports of Pelosi's plans, China's Foreign Ministry vowed last Tuesday to take "resolute and forceful measures" if the trip goes ahead. Since then, a flurry of remarks from US officials have only added to the sense of alarm. On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden told reporters the US military thinks a Taiwan visit by Pelosi is "not a good idea right now." On Thursday, Pelosi said it's important to show support for Taiwan but declined to discuss any travel plans citing security. "I think what the President was saying is that maybe the military was afraid of my plane getting shot down or something like that. I don't know exactly," Pelosi said. On Sunday, former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also weighed in, offering to join Pelosi on her reported trip. "Nancy, I'll go with you. I'm banned in China, but not freedom-loving Taiwan. See you there!" Pompeo wrote on Twitter. Pelosi&#39;s possible visit to Taiwan raises concerns China might interfere with airspace, US official says Pelosi's possible visit to Taiwan raises concerns China might interfere with airspace, US official says In private, Biden administration officials have expressed concern that China could seek to declare a no-fly zone over Taiwan to upend the possible trip, a US official told CNN. The Chinese government has not specified in public what "forceful measures" it is planning to take, but some Chinese experts say Beijing's reaction could involve a military component. "China will respond with unprecedented countermeasures -- the strongest it has ever taken since the Taiwan Strait crises," said Shi Yinhong, an international relations professor at China's Renmin University. Military conflicts flared across the Taiwan Strait in the 1950s -- the decade after the founding of Communist China, with Beijing shelling several outlying islands controlled by Taipei on two separate occasions. The last major crisis took place in 1995-1996, after Taiwan's president at the time, Lee Teng-hui, visited the US. Enraged by the visit, China fired missiles into waters around Taiwan, and the crisis ended only after the US sent two aircraft carrier battle groups to the area in a forceful show of support for Taipei. "If Pelosi goes ahead with her visit, the United States will certainly prepare to respond militarily to a possible Chinese military response," said Shi. "The situation between China and the US will be very tense." Pelosi's reported trip wouldn't be the first time a sitting US House speaker has visited Taiwan. In 1997, Newt Gingrich met Lee, the island's first democratically elected President, in Taipei only days after his trip to Beijing and Shanghai, where Gingrich said he warned Chinese leaders that the US would intervene militarily if Taiwan was attacked. According to Gingrich, the response he received at the time was "calm." Publicly, China's Foreign Ministry criticized Gingrich after his Taiwan visit, but the response was limited to rhetoric. Beijing has indicated things would be different this time around. Twenty-five years on, China is stronger, more powerful and confident, and its leader Xi Jinping has made it clear that Beijing will no longer tolerate any perceived slights or challenge to its interests. "It's a completely different regime in Beijing with Xi Jinping. China is in a position to be more assertive, to impose costs and consequences to countries that don't take China's interest into consideration in their policy making or actions," said Drew Thompson, a visiting senior research fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. "So in that respect, it's a very different China from when Newt Gingrich visited in 1997." Under Xi, a rising wave of nationalism has swept China, and support for "reuniting" with Taiwan -- possibly by force -- is running high. Hu Xijin, former editor of state-run nationalist tabloid the Global Times and a prominent hawkish voice in Chinese online punditry, has suggested the Chinese Liberation Army's warplanes should "accompany" Pelosi's aircraft to Taiwan and fly over the island. That would be a significant infringement of Taiwan's autonomy. As cross-strait tensions soar to their highest level in recent decades, China has sent record numbers of warplanes into Taiwan's self-declared air defense identification zone, with Taiwan scrambling jets to warn them away -- but so far the PLA jets have not entered the island's territorial airspace. "If Taiwanese military dares to fire on the PLA fighter jets, we will respond resolutely by shooting down Taiwanese warplanes or striking Taiwanese military bases. If the US and Taiwan want an all-out war, then the moment to liberate Taiwan is coming," Hu wrote. While Hu's belligerent remarks toward Taiwan have long resonated with China's nationalist circles, they do not represent the official stance of Beijing (and some of Hu's previous threats made against Taiwan have turned out to be empty). But as Thompson points out, the fact that Hu's statements have gone uncensored in China's tightly controlled media shows "a certain degree of support among the Communist Party" -- even if it's only for propaganda value. Pelosi's reported trip would come at a sensitive time for China. The PLA is celebrating its founding anniversary on August 1, while Xi, the country's most powerful leader in decades, is preparing to break conventions and seek a third term at the ruling Communist Party's 20th congress this fall. While the politically sensitive timing could trigger a stronger response from Beijing, it could also mean that the Party would want to ensure stability and prevent things from getting out of control, experts say. "Honestly, this isn't a good time for Xi Jinping to provoke a military conflict right before the 20th party congress. It's in Xi Jinping's interest to manage this rationally and not instigate a crisis on top of all the other crises he has to deal with," Thompson said, citing China's slowing economy, deepening real estate crisis, rising unemployment, and constant struggle to curb sporadic outbreaks under its zero-Covid policy. "So I think whatever they do, it will be measured, it will be calculated. They'll certainly attempt to put more pressure on Taiwan, but I think they'll stop well short of anything that's particularly risky, or that could create conditions that they can't control," he said. Shi, the professor at Renmin University in Beijing, agreed that tension between the US and China is unlikely to escalate into a full blown military conflict. "Unless things got out of control by accident in a way that no one can predict, there is no chance of a military conflict between US and China," he said. But Shi said right now it is hard to predict what China will do. "It is a very difficult situation to deal with. Firstly, (Beijing) must resolutely take unprecedented countermeasures. Secondly, it must prevent military conflicts between the United States and China," he said. "We won't know how things will turn out until the last minute."

Nickname: Inmortal Age: 16 Link with your forum profile: @Inmortal How much time do you spend on our channel ts every day?: i no have ts3, i have a phone Where do you want to moderate? Check this topic: Devil club How much time you can be active on the Journalists Channel?: All days maybe Link with your last request to join in our Team: https://csblackdevil.com/forums/topic/420143-request-journalist-ïnmörtäl/ Last 5 topics that you made on our section:

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/07/21/politics/poll-biden-presidential-bid-2024/index.html Two polls out in recent days make a pretty clear point: many people do NOT want President Joe Biden to run for a second term in 2024. 1) Around 7 in 10 Americans (71%) said they did not want Biden to run for president again in a new Quinnipiac University national poll. While large majorities of Republicans (81%) and independents (77%) felt that way, so did a majority (54%) of Democrats. 2) A new Des Moines Register Iowa poll -- conducted by the highly esteemed pollster J. Ann Selzer -- showed that two-thirds of Iowans (67%) hoped that Biden would not run again in 2024. Again, that number included a majority -- 52% -- of Democrats. Those two polls come just a week after a national New York Times/Siena College poll, which showed that 64% of those who planned to participate in the 2024 Democratic primaries preferred someone other than Biden as the party's next presidential nominee. That series of numbers comes even as Biden is doing everything he can to signal that he is, at least right now, planning to run again. "The next election I would be very fortunate if I had that same man running against me," Biden said in March of the possibility of facing former President Donald Trump for a second time in 2024. "I'm not predicting," Biden said during his recent Middle East trip of a possible rematch with Trump. "But I would not be disappointed." And Biden's team is ramping up their own preparations for a formal announcement in the spring of next year. As The Washington Post noted of these activities in a story last month: "With Biden's approval ratings continuing to slide and the odds of a recession next year rising, the planning is in part an effort, though not entirely successful, to dampen broad concern in the party about his ability to mount a conventional campaign due to his age and energy level." (Sidebar: After Biden's positive Covid-19 diagnosis on Thursday, the White House was quick to share an image of him working despite the illness. Biden also posted a video on social media in which he said he was "doing well.") The question for Biden and his team is whether the large majorities of Americans who say they don't want him to run for reelection are really just expressing general displeasure with how his presidency has gone so far, or if there is a deeper reason (or reasons) for their expressed interest in moving on. There's no question that Biden's approval numbers in the two new polls are very, very low. Just 31% of Americans in the Quinnipiac poll approved of the job he is doing, while an even lower 27% of Iowans approve of Biden's job performance. (Biden lost Iowa by 8 points in the 2020 election.) The hope among the Biden team would be that if and when his approval numbers improve, the percentages of people who don't want to see him run again will begin to drop. Which, maybe! But the X-factor in all of this is Biden's age. He is 79 years old, the oldest person ever elected to a first term as president. And in the New York Times/Siena College poll, 1 in 3 Democratic voters who said they wanted someone other than Biden as the party's 2024 nominee cited his age as their main reason.

https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/french-bulldog-meetup-new-york-became-center-viral-debate-rcna39127 across the U.S. But in recent years, thanks to apps like Instagram and Nextdoor, and forums like Facebook groups, issues within small communities have unfolded more publicly online. Most recently, the internet has been captivated by a viral Twitter thread about a French bulldog meetup on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Once a week, roughly two dozen French bulldogs meetup in Carl Schurz Park's small dog park. There, the bulldogs — including Nacho Rosenblatt-King, this reporter's pup — meet for roughly an hour, playing with one another as well as the other breeds who happen to be in the park that day. The Instagram account responsible for these weekly hour-long meetups, Frenchies of UES, started in August 2021. There are about 1,500 followers of the account, which in its description says it's made up of a "community of Frenchies snorting their way around the Upper East Side." But as the community of frenchies and their owners approaches the one year anniversary of the meet-ups, they're faced with recent resistance from one local resident who is pleading to "stop the meetups" via an Instagram account of the same name. The account creator, who declined an interview request, has a simple goal posted in their Instagram page's bio: "Stop overcrowded, weekly meetups in Carl Schurz Small Dog Run! FYI, this is not to bash frenchies. We love all dogs!" Their main complaint is this: The park is too small for such a gathering. Their suggestion is that the meetups move to somewhere with a larger dog run. On Tuesday, the stop_the_meetups account garnered backlash after this reporter’s Twitter thread revealed the existence of a bubbling conflict within the community. The Twitter thread's virality likely also stems from an overall interest in people obsessing over minor community issues. For example, there's a Twitter account called @BestofNextdoor that highlights content found on the platform. There's also a highly po[CENSORED]r podcast called "Normal Gossip," which as it says in its description, focuses on "juicy, strange, funny, and utterly banal gossip about people you’ll never know and never meet." Stop_the_meetups has said the overcrowding of the park has caused issues for other dog owners. "With that many people and hyperactive dogs in such a small space, there are many fights, which means the dogs are then put on leashes inside the run, which is against the rules, and puts the leashed dogs at a disadvantage if attacked," the account wrote in a post on June 30. "It also doesn’t allow for owners to properly keep track of their dogs!" They complained about the person who runs the “Frenchies of UES” Instagram account, calling her “holier than thou” and saying she’s “rude and looks down on other breeds of dogs.” The Frenchies of UES account creator declined to comment, and referred this reporter to its most recent post, which states: "I am always open to respectful feedback on how to improve our relationship with one another and believe a lot of this could've been avoided if this was done. However, harassment online does not result in productive conversation that allows all sides to be heard."

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/07/23/health/monkeypox-who-intl/index.html The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. The decision was announced Saturday morning after WHO convened its second emergency committee on the issue on Thursday. Monkeypox spreading in &#39;cluster events,&#39; but vaccines can help stop it, local health officials say Monkeypox spreading in 'cluster events,' but vaccines can help stop it, local health officials say "I have decided that the global monkeypox outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern," WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced on Saturday morning. Tedros said while the committee was unable to reach a consensus, he came to the decision after considering the five elements required on deciding whether an outbreak constitutes a public health emergency of international concern. He added that while he was declaring monkeypox a public health emergency of international concern, "For the moment this is an outbreak that's concentrated among men who have sex with men, especially those who have multiple partners, that means that this is an outbreak that can be stopped with the right strategies in the right right groups." WHO initially stopped short of declaring the monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern after its first emergency committee meeting on June 23. At the time, Tedros said the emergency committee advised that at the moment, "the event does not constitute a Public Health Emergency of International Concern" but acknowledged the "evolving health threat" that WHO would be following extremely closely. WHO says monkeypox is not an international public health emergency, but it should continue to be monitored WHO says monkeypox is not an international public health emergency, but it should continue to be monitored WHO defines a public health emergency of international concern, or PHEIC, as "an extraordinary event" that constitutes a "public health risk to other States through the international spread of disease" and "to potentially require a coordinated international response." The organization's emergency committee on monkeypox first met in late June, when its members reported serious concerns about the scale and speed of the virus outbreak but said it didn't constitute a PHEIC. Tedros reconvened the committee in order to provide the latest information, he has said. The PHEIC designation comes from the International Health Regulations created in 2005, and it represents an international agreement to help the prevent and respond to public health risks that have the potential to spread around the globe. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes the regulations as "a legally binding agreement of 196 countries to build the capability to detect and report potential public health emergencies worldwide. IHR require that all countries have the ability to detect, assess, report, and respond to public health events." There are two ongoing public health emergencies: polio, which began in 2014, and Covid-19, starting in 2020. Four other PHEICs have been declared since the regulations were put into place: H1N1 influenza from 2009 to 2010; Ebola from 2014 to 2016 and from 2019 to 2020; and the Zika virus in 2016. Currently, the US is reporting over 2,800 probable or confirmed monkeypox cases in 44 states, DC and Puerto Rico, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Globally, there are over 16,500 cases reported in 74 countries.

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/07/18/politics/jill-biden-rating/index.html First lady Jill Biden's favorability rating is narrowly positive, according to a new CNN poll conducted by SSRS. Thirty-four percent of Americans hold a favorable opinion of her, 29% an unfavorable opinion and 37% are unsure. Her husband, President Joe Biden, has a favorability rating of 36%, but his unfavorable rating is much higher at 54%. Those with a positive opinion of Jill Biden fall primarily down party lines -- 67% of Democrats hold her in favorable esteem, while just 5% held an unfavorable opinion. The first lady also did well with Black Americans (47% favorable) and women (39% favorable). Biden's unfavorable rating is largely unchanged since the last CNN poll that asked about the then-incoming first lady, in January 2021. At that time, she stood at 28% unfavorable. CNN Poll: Most Americans are discontented with Biden, the economy and the state of the country CNN Poll: Most Americans are discontented with Biden, the economy and the state of the country Traditionally, first ladies are uniformly admired, and Americans tend to have a higher opinion of them than they do of the president. The position is unelected and normally uncontroversial. Yet Biden's numbers are indicative of the trend America is reflecting in their views on the President. At a Saturday fundraiser in Massachusetts for the Democratic National Committee, the first lady lamented the hindered success of her husband's administration. In comparison to her most recent predecessors, Biden's numbers are far less positive, per past CNN polls. In 2002, around the same time in her tenure, then-first lady Laura Bush saw her favorable rating at 67%. And in 2010, Michelle Obama, also about this far into her time as first lady, stood at 62% favorable, and 25% unfavorable. Melania Trump's poll numbers swung during her four years in the White House. In June 2018, 51% of Americans had a favorable opinion of Trump, 29% unfavorable. Trump left the White House with the lowest likability numbers for any first lady at the end of her term in polling history: A January 2021 ranking found her at 42% favorable and 47% unfavorable. At least some of the difference between views of Jill Biden and those of her predecessors lies in the larger share saying they have no opinion about Biden. That is likely less about a large shift in views of Biden and more about the difference between surveys conducted online, such as the new CNN poll, where a no opinion response is offered to respondents, and those conducted on the phone, where a no opinion response would typically need to be volunteered.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/escaped-cat-back-home-3-weeks-avoiding-capture-boston-airport-rcna38144 A family’s beloved pet cat that’s been dodging airport personnel, airline employees, and animal experts since escaping from a pet carrier at Boston’s Logan International Airport about three weeks ago was finally caught Wednesday. “Whether out of fatigue or hunger we’ll never know, but this morning she finally let herself be caught,” an airport spokesperson said of the cat named Rowdy in a statement. Rowdy was given a health check and will be returned to her family. “I’m kind of in disbelief,” said her owner, Patty Sahli. “I thought, ‘What are the odds we’re actually going to get her back?’ But I got a call this morning and I am just so shocked.” Rowdy’s time on the lam began June 24, as Sahli and her husband, Rich, returned to the U.S. from 15 years in Germany with the Army. When their Lufthansa flight landed, the 4-year-old black cat with green eyes escaped her cage, in pursuit of some birds.

https://www.motorcyclenews.com/news/new-bikes/vespa-primavera-picnic/ Vespa have announced a new version of their Primavera scooter called the Pic Nic, which comes fitted with everything you need for – you guessed it – a picnic. Building on the standard Primavera scooter, which is a name that’s been with us since the 1960s, the new model features a wooden picnic basket to the rear, which is intertwined with rattan weave. Vespa pic nic side on To help make your picnic that little more special, the basket also includes a removable cooler bag and waterproof blanket – perfect for those five days of sunshine we get in the UK every year. Available in two colours (grey or pastel green), the city scoot also features front and rear chrome-plated luggage racks, with a leather belt in place to stop your tea and cakes escaping from the rear wooden compartment. You also get a two-colour saddle, complete with small Italian flag detailing. vespa pic nic back side Available in in UK dealers with a Euro5-friendly 125 engine for £4500. A 50cc version is also being built for other markets.

https://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/fashion/cannot-talk-busy-hot-fashion-8035776/lite/ Edwyna Estime was wearing a heavy, shapeless graduation gown. It was the color of charcoal, and it reached all the way down to her ankles. And yet she had never felt hotter. As she crossed the stage to accept her diploma, she heard the cheers from friends and family members. She was graduating from law school — and that, to her, was extremely hot.

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/07/18/asia/sri-lanka-acting-president-exclusive-interview-intl-hnk/index.html Sri Lanka's acting President Ranil Wickremesinghe has said the country's previous administration was "covering up facts" about its crippling financial crisis. Former leader Gotabaya Rajapaksa's government did not tell the truth, that Sri Lanka was "bankrupt" and "needed to go to the International Monetary Fund (IMF)," Wickremesinghe told CNN from parliament in the nation's administrative capital Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte Monday. I would like to tell the people I know what they are suffering," he added. "We have gone back. We have to pull ourselves up by the bootstraps. We don't need five years or 10 years. By the end of next year let's start stabilizing, and certainly by 2024 let's have a functioning economy which will start growing." Wickremesinghe's exclusive interview with CNN was his first with an international news organization since he was appointed acting president by former leader Rajapaksa, who fled the crisis-hit country last week. Sri Lanka crisis: How do you fix a broken country? Sri Lanka crisis: How do you fix a broken country? Wickremesinghe added he that had spoken to Rajapaksa since he first fled Sri Lanka for Maldives, and then traveled to Singapore. However, Wickremesinghe said he does not know whether the former leader is still in Singapore, or elsewhere. Wickremesinghe is now vying to be Sri Lanka's next president, with parliament set to elect a new leader on Wednesday. The former six-time prime minister, who is being backed by the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna political party, will face off against at least three other candidates But Wickremesinghe's nomination has threatened to inflame an already volatile situation in the South Asian nation of 22 million Since March, Sri Lanka has been brought to its knees by a growing economic crisis that has left the country struggling to buy essential imports, including fuel, food and medicine Protesters have taken to the streets to demand the resignations of the country's leaders and last week appeared to have scored a victory when Rajapaksa vowed to resign, then fled the country after thousands of demonstrators stormed his residence, and some swam in his pool. Wickremesinghe's private residence was set on fire by angry protesters shortly after Wickremesinghe -- prime minister before Rajapaksa stepped down -- vowed to resign to make way for a unity government He told CNN that his torched home and much of its contents were not salvageabl He lost more than 4,000 books, including some that were centuries old, Wickremesinghe said. A 125-year-old piano was also destroyed in the fire, he added But despite this, on Monday, he reiterated his desire to compete for the top position, telling CNN that he was "not the same administration. "I'm not the same, people know that," he said. "I came here to handle the economy. When asked why he wanted to be president and make himself a further potential target, Wickremesinghe said: "I don't want this happening in the country. What happened to me I don't want others to suffer ... Certainly I don't want that to happen to anyone else. """.e......yone else." Meanwhile, life for Sri Lankans remains chaotic as they navigate the country's paralyzing crisis. People continue to line up outside gas stations for hours -- even days -- desperately hoping to purchase fuel. Many local businesses are shut and supermarket shelves are increasingly barren. As anger continues to build, Wickremesinghe said people could protest "peacefully." "Don't obstruct the parliamentarians and the parliament from carrying out their duty," he said. Wickremesinghe had declared a nationwide state of emergency from Monday, in a bid to quell any possible social unrest ahead of parliament's presidential vote on July 20. "We are trying to prevent (the police and military) from using weapons," Wickremesinghe said. "They have been attacked on some occasions but we still told them try your best not to use weapons." But Wickremesinghe said he can "understand what the (people of Sri Lanka) are going through." "I told them there have been three bad weeks ... And the whole system had broken down," he said. "We were not going to have gas, we were not going to have diesel. It was bad." Wickremesinghe said he will not let protesters to obstruct parliament from voting Wednesday, or allow more buildings to be stormed. "There has to be law and order in the country," he said.

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/21/politics/house-democrats-vote-unity/index.html It may be cold comfort as a stormy midterm election approaches, but House Democrats have achieved a modern milestone in this legislative session that crystallizes a fundamental transformation in how Congress operates. Working with a razor-thin majority, House Democrats have recorded the highest level of party unity in floor votes that either party has reached in at least 50 years, according to the authoritative statistics kept by Congressional Quarterly and Roll Call. House Democrats have passed legislation on virtually every element of their party's priority list -- from the sweeping Build Back Better investment and social welfare package to bills setting a national floor for voting and abortion rights to major gun control proposals, legalization for big groups of undocumented immigrants and ambitious police reform -- with dissenting votes from no more than two of their members and often opposition from only one or none. The immensity of that record has not received much attention because so many of the House bills have been blocked in the Senate by the Republican filibuster, opposition from Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, or both. But the consensus around this sweeping agenda stands in marked contrast to the Democratic experience under former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, when dozens of House Democrats routinely voted against the party on key measures, from Clinton's budget to Obama's Affordable Care Act. I think people feel that there's less tolerance for breaking with your party, that it could lead to a primary opponent and there's more [inclination] within each party to stick together "The ethos of the kind of norms and expectations within the caucus have shifted," says Democratic Rep. David Price of North Carolina, a former political science professor who is retiring this year after serving in Congress -- with one two-year break -- since 1986. "I think there's some really different behavior now and a different level of party discipline and loyalty." The increased unity, many observers agree, is a testament not only to the skill of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in wrangling her caucus; it also reflects a succession of tectonic shifts in the electoral and legislative landscape that have transformed the historically unruly House into something much closer to a parliamentary institution that demands exacting levels of loyalty within each party -- and produces far fewer possibilities of cooperation between them. These trends are virtually certain to survive if Republicans, whose own unity has been steadily growing over the past few decades, retake the House in November. No matter which party holds the majority, the House now seems locked into an irreversible path toward more polarization. "I think people feel that there's less tolerance for breaking with your party, that it could lead to a primary opponent and there's more [inclination] within each party to stick together," says former Rep. Henry Waxman of California, who engaged in epic internal struggles with fellow Democrats to pass landmark legislation on the environment, health care and other issues from the 1970s through his retirement in 2014. Unprecedented unity Centrist and liberal House Democrats certainly have had their disagreements in this Congress. For months, they feuded over the size and composition of the party's grab-bag Build Back Better bill. Even more pointedly, centrists fumed as progressives for months delayed passage of a separate bipartisan infrastructure package for fear that Manchin and Sinema would block the broader BBB legislation if the two bills were decoupled -- a concern that events have largely validated. But once the backroom negotiations have concluded and legislation reached the floor for final votes, House Democrats have achieved a level of unity unprecedented in modern times. In this Congress, Democrats have held, at most, a five-seat majority, leaving them achingly little margin for error. (Only twice since World War II has the governing party operated with a smaller majority.) Yet almost all of their major bills have passed with few or no dissenting votes. Just two House Democrats voted against the police reform legislation passed in March 2021 and the sweeping gun control package approved this month. Only a single House Democrat each time voted against a succession of high-profile bills the chamber approved in March 2021: HR 1, the party's sweeping election and voting bill; a bill establishing universal background checks for gun sales; a measure providing a pathway to legal status for undocumented farmworkers; and legislation long sought by organized labor to reduce legal barriers to union organizing. In September 2021, just one House Democrat voted against the bill to codify a nationwide right to abortion, and ultimately just a single Democrat voted against the Build Back Better bill when the House passed it two months later. Only a single House Democrat opposed the party's massive Covid-19 relief plan early in Biden's presidency. Earlier this month, only a single Democrat opposed the national red flag law the House passed, which would remove access to firearms for someone who is deemed a danger to themselves or others by a court. House Democrats voted unanimously in 2021 to remove the deadline for states to approve the Equal Rights Amendment; to establish a floor of nationwide LGBTQ rights; to provide a pathway to citizenship for young people brought to the US illegally by their parents; to restructure the Voting Rights Act to overwrite decisions weakening it by the Supreme Court's Republican-appointed majority; and for a sweeping executive branch package meant to combat some of former President Donald Trump's ethical abuses. The biggest exception to this pattern came when six liberal House Democrats voted against the bipartisan infrastructure bill to protest its separation from the broader Build Back Better package. Then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., speaks to GOP members of Congress at the Capitol in 1995. Then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., speaks to GOP members of Congress at the Capitol in 1995. On most of these measures, the sole dissenting vote came from Democratic Rep. Jared Golden, who represents a rural Maine district that voted for Donald Trump in both 2016 and 2020; Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas, who is currently locked in a recount against a progressive primary challenger, was the sole dissenter on the bills to ease union organizing and to codify a right to abortion. In turn, either no House Republicans, or virtually none, voted for most of these bills, with only a handful of the measures (including the legislation providing a legal pathway for young immigrants and farmworkers and imposing universal background checks on gun sales) drawing support from even six or more GOP representatives. The consensus among House Democrats during President Joe Biden's term stands in striking contrast with the experience under the party's last two presidents. Defections were endemic during Clinton's presidency in the 1990s. In 1993, 41 House Democrats voted against final passage of his economic plan, 69 voted against the Brady Bill establishing the national background check system for gun purchases and 156 -- a clear majority of the caucus -- opposed his North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/wisconsin-couple-kills-bear-attacked-home-rcna30049 MEDFORD, Wis. — A Wisconsin couple say they killed a bear that attacked them inside their home after they spotted it eating from their bird feeder. The Taylor County Sheriff’s office said the attack happened around 11 p.m. Friday at a home near Medford in north-central Wisconsin. The couple told authorities that the bear charged through a window after they yelled at it to go away. Both the husband and wife were injured before they were able to stab the bear with a kitchen knife. Eventually, the man was able to grab a firearm and kill the animal.

https://www.motorcyclenews.com/news/new-bikes/ccm-classic-tracker/ Bolton-based CCM have released a new Classic Tracker – a new flattrack inspired addition to their po[CENSORED]r single-cylinder Spitfire range that builds on the existing Street Tracker model. Previously reported by MCN in spyshots, the now finished machine will begin at £10,695 and climb to £11,495 for a chrome finish. Expect OTR charges of £117, too. But what does that money buy you? Well, starting at the back, there’s a slim new twin exit exhaust system running to the right of the rear wheel, complete with carbon end caps. CCM Classic Tracker exhaust These wheels are available in either petrol blue with black, or as a gold finish on the chrome version. Both colour schemes come on spoked 19in rims, which are wrapped in a set of road-legal Mitas flattracking tyres. To test its sideways ability, CCM took the bike to the Ride and Skid It school, where tutor and five-time British Flat Track champion Aiden Collins said: “This bike feels right – like it was built to race!” Outside of that, braking power is provided by J Juan, with a four-piston radial caliper up front. You also get scrambler-style mid position bars and a stitched saddle design for one person, said to be semi perforated. There’s a hydraulic clutch from Magura, too. Elsewhere, CCM have altered the suspension set up and installed a black rear coil spring for good measure. For those wanting to venture onto the flattrack oval, you also get a radiator guard as standard, finished in grey. It’s all topped off with LED lighting to the front and rear. Fresh spyshots captured by an eagle-eyed snapper have revealed CCM are making the finishing touches to a new flattrack-inspired Spitfire. The new bike, thought to be called the Classic Tracker looks to blend the current Street Tracker with more classic styling touches including a Monza fuel cap. It was spotted on two separate occasions – taking part in a photoshoot with CCM ambassador and former world trails champion Dougie Lampkin on the Cat & Fiddle in Cheshire, and on track at Aiden Collins’ Ride & Skid flattrack school in Buxton. CCM Classic Tracker undergoing testing In the latter it appears the bike is being ridden by former French supermoto champion and CCM works rider, Stephane Mezard, who took the French flattrack title in 2021 and is contesting it again this year on a CCM FT6 flattracker. The bike Lampkin is pictured on looks to be production-ready, finished in a classy retro silver livery. Like all Spitfires it’s powered by a BMW-designed, ex-Husqvarna liquid-cooled 600cc single producing around 55bhp and 43lb.ft giving a top speed of around 110mph. This lump is housed in a hand-crafted tubular steel frame. The new model appears to have 19in spoked rims wearing semi-knobbly tyres, adjustable Marzocchi inverted forks, J-Juan four-piston radial brakes and a racy, flattrack-style solo seat. Dougie Lampkin spotted on a new CCM model However, going by these pictures, this version does without the Street Tracker’s side-mounted number boards, has a lower front wheel-hugging mudguard, and retro badging. Lampkin’s silver bike also has gold not black anodised rims and silver instead of the black forks of the Street Tracker, although the green version spied continues with black wheels and forks. The closeness to the Street Tracker means we’d expect a similar, if not slightly higher price than that of the £10,995 Street, and its production readiness suggests it will be officially unveiled at this November’s Motorcycle Live show at the NEC – if not before.