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We're still sobbing about the Volkswagen Golf GTI and Golf R losing their manual transmissions. Turns out, it wasn't us North Americans who doomed the Golf's do-it-yourself gearbox but the other global markets that basically didn't did buy any of them. In fact, the U.S. market is strong for the manual gearbox. According to Volkswagen, 40 percent of Golfs were manual here, similar to the take rate for the Jetta GLI's six-speed. However, the Jetta is a North America-only model, whereas the Golf is a global unit, and that gave the bean counters more justification to preserve the manual­ in VW's compact sedan. What's New and Different The Jetta GLI enters 2025 largely unchanged, and that's not a bad thing. Exterior enhancements include a more attractive front fascia and grille design. Because red still apparently means performance, there's a red chinstrap at the lower edge, something we could certainly live without. A new unibrow light bar connects the updated LED lighting elements, and the 18-inch wheels have a revised look. The model designation on the front fenders is replaced by a G-L-I letters on the doors. Out back, there's a new trunk lid and taillights that span the width of the back end. The GLI's interior sees fewer changes. There's a new, better-looking dash that houses the 10.3-inch digital instrument cluster and 8.0-inch infotainment touchscreen, which, thankfully, is still the older and easier-to-navigate operating system rather than the still-teething software Volkswagen offers in the GTI. There's an inductive charging pad, and the steering wheel is now heated. However, the formerly knob-controlled dual-zone climate interface has been converted to a touch-capacitive unit. It's responsive enough and looks more modern, and with some acclimation is just as easy operate as the ol' dials. The Jetta GLI is only offered in the kitchen-sink Autobahn trim, which includes everything the Jetta lineup has to offer. That means for $33,940 the GLI comes standard with heated and ventilated front seats and leather upholstery with red stitching. These seats don't offer the lateral support of the GTI's, but they're plenty comfortable. Other fripperies include a punchy BeatsAudio system, a sunroof, and VW's IQ.DRIVE driver-assist package that includes blind-spot monitoring, rear cross-traffic alert, adaptive cruise control, and lane-keeping assist. What's Not Mechanically speaking, the GLI stays the same. That means a turbocharged 2.0-liter inline-four with 228 horsepower and 258-pound feet of torque sent through a six-speed manual gearbox or a no-cost seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. An electronically controlled limited-slip differential distributes the torque across the front axle. The GLI is equipped with the 13.4-inch front brake rotors and big floating calipers from the seventh-generation Golf R, as well as three-way-adjustable adaptive dampers. Though the dual-clutch gearbox offers launch control, naturally, we prefer the manual 'box. At the test track, it's a constant battle between wheelspin and traction-control intervention. There's some secret sauce to launching the GLI: Bring the revs up to around 4000 rpm and release the clutch but not all the way. Just enough to trick the pedal sensor—this will keep the traction-control gremlins sleeping. Get it right and 60 mph arrives in 6.0 seconds, and the quarter-mile passes in the 14.5 seconds at 102 mph. Sadly, all-season tires are the only shoes offered. A nice set of summer rubber would likely remove a few tenths from its standing-start times. A sticky set of rubber would also do wonders for the chassis. Around the skidpad, the Hankook Kinergy GT all-seasons howl like a coyote on a fresh kill. Even so, the 0.88-g showing is respectable. The non-sporty tires do not highlight how good the brakes are either, requiring 177 feet to stop from 70 mph and 363 feet from 100 mph. We cannot stress how much a decent tire would improve nearly every performance metric of this hotted-up compact sedan. Previous GLIs we've tested on Hankook summer tires have circled the skidpad at 0.98 g and stopped more than 20 feet shorter from 70 mph. Out in the streets, the GLI is a joy to drive. We prefer the Custom drive mode setup with dampers in Comfort, engine and steering in Sport, and the synthesized engine soundtrack turned off. The turbo four is punchy from corner to corner, and though the shifter's throws might be longer we'd like, its action is smooth. The steering effort in Sport is spot-on, and the soft damper setting effectively absorbs bigger impacts. Though we've yet to test it on our 75-mph highway fuel-economy loop, we expect a better showing than the 2019 Jetta GLI's 36 mpg on the then-optional summer tires. The GLI's other strong points include an interior that feels just at spacious the GTI's and a trunk that seems bigger that its 14 cubic feet suggest. The Jetta GLI faces some strong competition. Hyundai's Elantra N is the clear performance champ, but it's more a teenager to the grown-up GLI. The Honda Civic Si isn't as quick, but its shift action is a thing of beauty. Let's not forget Subaru's WRX, whose all-wheel drive makes it quicker, but its bulbous fender cladding can't match the GLI's curb appeal. And all three of those can be had with summer tires. We love the Golf GTI and Golf R. But the Jetta GLI offers nearly the same thrills for a much cheaper price. Applying those savings to a set of tires is a wise investment. Specifications 2025 Volkswagen Jetta GLI Vehicle Type: front-engine, front-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door sedan PRICE Base/As Tested: $33,940/$35,045 Options: GLI Black package (black wheels, mirror caps, and trunk-lid spoiler), $650; Monument Gray with Deep Black roof, $455 ENGINE turbocharged and intercooled DOHC 16-valve inline-4, iron block and aluminum head, direct fuel injection Displacement: 121 in3, 1984 cm3 Power: 228 hp @ 6700 rpm Torque: 258 lb-ft @ 1700 rpm TRANSMISSION 6-speed manual CHASSIS Suspension, F/R: struts/multilink Brakes, F/R: 13.4-in vented disc/11.8-in disc Tires: Hankook Kinergy GT 225/45R-18 91H M+S DIMENSIONS Wheelbase: 105.6 in Length: 186.9 in Width: 70.8 in Height: 57.3 in Passenger Volume, F/R: 51/43 ft3 Trunk Volume: 14 ft3 Curb Weight: 3537 lb C/D TEST RESULTS 60 mph: 6.0 sec 100 mph: 14.0 sec 1/4-Mile: 14.5 sec @ 102 mph Results above omit 1-ft rollout of 0.4 sec. Rolling Start, 5–60 mph: 6.8 sec Top Gear, 30–50 mph: 12.5 sec Top Gear, 50–70 mph: 8.8 sec Top Speed (gov ltd): 126 mph Braking, 70–0 mph: 177 ft Braking, 100–0 mph: 363 ft Roadholding, 300-ft Skidpad: 0.88 g C/D FUEL ECONOMY Observed: 26 mpg EPA FUEL ECONOMY Combined/City https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a62021190/2025-volkswagen-jetta-gli-test/

Nicola Zalewski shows his delight after scoring Poland’s 97th-minute winner at Hampden Park. Photograph: Stu Forster/Getty Images The knockout blows keep landing on Steve Clarke and Scotland. Just when it seemed as if damage incurred at a horrible Euro 2024 – and in the first half here – looked like being repaired, Poland snatched a 97th-minute win. Grant Hanley’s lunge triggered a penalty which only added to despondency around the Scotland camp. Until that point, even the extending of a run to one win in 13 felt unimportant. Clarke’s team had recovered from two goals behind at half-time to level the scores. The key problem with what happened next is this always looked the softest of Scotland’s Nations League fixtures. Clarke faces a stiff task in trying to raise spirits before Sunday’s meeting with Portugal in Lisbon. “We shouldn’t have lost but if you make errors at this level you get punished,” said Clarke. “There were lots of good things but it is still a defeat. I feel really disappointed for the players because I felt their efforts deserved a point from the game.” Clarke had used pre-match media duties to assert evolution of his team was far more feasible than revolution. Supporters, angry at Scotland’s showing in Germany, sought the latter; in terms of attitude if not personnel. The subdued atmosphere around kick-off suggested those in the stands were unsure about Clarke’s approach to a fresh start. Fans want new heroes, young heroes and want them now. What Clarke absolutely did not need was this damaging start. Billy Gilmour had his pocket picked by Kacper Urbanski – the pass to Gilmour from Kenny McLean was not particularly smart – with Robert Lewandowski next to receive the ball. Poland’s iconic striker fed Sebastian Szymanski, whose low drive from 25 yards flew in via Angus Gunn’s left-hand post. Gunn may feel he should have done better but the Fenerbahce midfielder was given far too much space to line up his shot. It took 20 minutes for the hosts to produce an attacking move of substance, Scott McTominay blazing over after being played in by Ryan Christie. Scotland’s key issue was out of possession, where Poland were being allowed to shift the ball far too quickly between the thirds. McTominay believed he had equalised midway through the half, only for the scrappy effort to be ruled out for handball. The Napoli man had beaten the Poland defence to an inswinging Andy Robertson free-kick. Robertson is now just the seventh Scottish player to earn 75 international caps. Scott McTominay punches the air after scoring Scotland’s equaliser. Photograph: Colin Poultney/ProSports/Shutterstock Scotland had actually shown promise before the visitors doubled their lead. McTominay had attackers in position but could not find them with a cut-back. Lyndon Dykes, having been found superbly by Christie at the back post, slashed at his goal attempt. Wastefulness was soon to prove costly. Anthony Ralston kicked the back of Nicola Zalewski’s foot as Poland marauded. Lewandowski did the rest from 12 yards for his 84th international goal. That Scotland did not deserve to be two goals adrift somehow felt irrelevant. Boos met the half-time whistle. It took just 23 seconds of the second period for Scotland to be afforded desperately needed hope. Poland were unconvincing in clearing a Dykes cross, which allowed Christie to lay the ball back into the path of Gilmour. The midfielder drilled just his second career goal past Marcin Bulka. After a lengthy check from the VAR – it was unclear what for – the goal stood. Scotland had a pulse. Szymanski almost restored Poland’s two-goal lead with a glorious curling shot from range that narrowly missed the upright. Clarke twisted by throwing in Ben Doak, Ryan Gauld and Lawrence Shankland. Poland removed Lewandowski, the coach, Michal Probierz, later saying because of the “long season ahead of him”. Clarke’s switch paid instant dividends. Doak played in the rampaging Ralston, who pulled back for McTominay. From six yards, the former Manchester United man confidently restored parity. Crucially, the spirit of this Scotland team had been proven intact. It was broken when Hanley needlessly upended Zalewski. The same player squeezed his penalty through Gunn. For the Scots, it was the latest in a long line of painful episodes. It was also the 17th goal they have conceded in this calendar year. Without some solidity, the tales of woe will continue. Match Stats Possession POL50SCO50% Attempts 8 Off target 3 On target 7 1 Corners 2 3 Fouls 12 17 Lineups Scotland 1 Angus Gunn 2 Anthony Ralston 5 Grant Hanley 6 Scott McKenna 3 Andrew Robertson 8 Billy Gilmour 23 Kenny McLean 7 John McGinn 4 Scott McTominay 11 Ryan Christie 9 Lyndon Dykes Substitutes 12 Jon McCracken 21 Zander Clark 10 Lawrence Shankland (s 71') 13 Josh Doig 14 Connor Barron 15 Ryan Porteous 16 John Souttar 17 Ben Doak (s 71') 19 Tommy Conway 18 Lewis Morgan (s 82') 20 Ryan Gauld (s 71') 22 Max Johnston Poland 12 Marcin Bulka 5 Jan Bednarek 3 Pawel Dawidowicz 14 Jakub Kiwior 19 Przemyslaw Frankowski 20 Sebastian Szymanski 10 Piotr Zielinski 7 Kacper Urbanski 21 Nicola Zalewski 23 Krzysztof Piatek 9 Robert Lewandowski Substitutes 22 Bartlomiej Dragowski 2 Kamil Piatkowski 4 Sebastian Walukiewicz (s 46') 6 Jakub Piotrowski (s 72') 8 Jakub Moder (s 82') 11 Karol Swiderski 13 Jakub Kaminski 15 Tymoteusz Puchacz 16 Adam Buksa (s 72') 17 Bartosz Slisz (s 82') 18 Bartosz Bereszynsk https://www.theguardian.com/football/article/2024/sep/05/scotland-poland-nations-league-match-report

Best of friends … Naomi and Mary in January 2023. When Mary got pregnant with her second child in lockdown, she was keen to connect with other mums in the same situation. “We moved from London to Pocklington in Yorkshire in 2020 and went straight into lockdown,” she says. “It made the culture shock even worse because I couldn’t easily get out to meet people.” In 2021, with most mother and baby groups still closed, she joined Peanut, an app for mothers to make friends. After a few false starts, she connected with Naomi, a patient advocacy director who had also moved to Yorkshire from London with her partner and little boy. Naomi had become pregnant with her second child not long after the move, and joined the app hoping to meet like-minded people. “We exchanged a few messages and clicked immediately,” she says. “We realised we had lived just streets away from each other in London and our children were born days apart.” “We had lots in common,” says Mary, who works in journalism. “We were both mums of boys and pregnant with boys.” Their family backgrounds were similar too. “We chatted about the fact that both of our sisters have complex additional needs, and what it was like to grow up in that situation,” says Naomi. In September 2021, Naomi was hospitalised and bed-bound with a haematoma, a buildup of blood that can happen during pregnancy. Although visiting was still restricted due to the pandemic, Mary managed to see Naomi before one of her scans at the same hospital. “It was great, but surreal because we were both wearing masks,” says Mary. “I felt so sorry for her because she couldn’t leave the hospital and she had a toddler at home.” Naomi says the visit really cheered her up. “Being in hospital was a scary time and I was going crazy sitting still all day. I was excited to meet Mary after messaging each other for so long.” Naomi, left, and Mary in December 2021 with their baby boys. Photograph: Courtesy of families The following month both women gave birth, and visited each other as soon as restrictions allowed. “Naomi couldn’t drive because she’d had a C-section. I came over with my baby and we had tea and chatted,” says Mary. From then on, they built a strong friendship, taking part in lots of activities together locally. As well as baby yoga, sensory classes and baby massage, they met for coffee and cake to make the most of maternity leave. Since then, they have enjoyed weekend spa breaks, theatre shows and fitness classes, as well as going out for dinner and drinks. When Mary’s sister died suddenly in 2022, Naomi was a tremendous support to her friend. “She helped me with the trauma, as well as the knock-on impact of all the things you deal with afterwards,” she says. “I can call Naomi anytime. To have someone reassure me and tell me I am still being a good mum despite all the stress has been a huge help.” Last year, Naomi and her partner separated, and Mary was there to offer the same level of support in turn. “It’s been emotional and stressful, but she’s been incredible,” says Naomi. “I don’t think I could have got through the last 15 months without her.” The two are also very close to each other’s children. “Because they’re the same age, we’ve been through the same milestones and challenges,” says Naomi. “Our kids are great friends too and because we don’t work on Fridays, we can always spend the day together.” Mary and Naomi’s boys are all good friends too. Photograph: Courtesy of families Mary describes her friend as resilient, with positive energy. “I admire her for holding down an amazing job, while looking after two boys and organising everything in the house. She’s so on it – she never forgets anything,” she says. “Naomi is someone who understands the importance of friendship and puts that time in with people, no matter what she’s got going on.” Naomi sees Mary as part of her family. “She’s been through so much with her sister but she stays motivated, no matter what, and goes above and beyond with all the little things,” she says. “Our friendship is built on trust and loyalty, but we also have a really good laugh. Whatever happens, we always know we’ll feel better from being in each other’s company.”

From 2006, white-nose syndrome began wiping out bat colonies – which eat many crop-eating pests – in the US. Photograph: Joel Sartore Photography/Alamy In 2006, a deadly fungus started killing bat colonies across the United States. Now, an environmental economist has linked their loss to the deaths of more than 1,300 children. The study, published in Science on Thursday, found that farmers dramatically increased pesticide use after the bat die-offs, which was in turn linked to an average infant mortality increase of nearly 8%. Unusually, the research suggests a causative link between human and bat wellbeing. “That’s just quite rare – to get good, empirical, grounded estimates of how much value the species is providing,” said environmental economist Charles Taylor from the Harvard Kennedy School, who was not involved in the study. “Putting actual numbers to it in a credible way is tough.” The crisis for bat colonies began in 2006, when a fungus called Pseudogymnoascus destructans hitchhiked from Europe to the US. P destructans grows on hibernating bats in winter, sprouting as white fuzz on their noses. It can extinguish a bat colony in as little as five years. When Eyal Frank, an assistant professor at the University of Chicago, learned about the disease, called white-nose syndrome, he realised it provided a perfect natural experiment to demonstrate the value of a bat. Bats eat 40% or more of their bodyweight in insects every night, including many crop pests. What would their disappearance mean? In infected areas, he found, farmers compensated for the loss of bats by significantly increasing their use of insecticides – by 31.1% on average. Next, Frank looked at infant mortality – a metric commonly used to judge the impact of environmental toxins. Infected counties had an infant death rate 7.9% higher, on average, than counties with healthy bats, despite pesticide use being within regulatory limits. That equates to 1,334 extra infant deaths. A brown bat with white-nose syndrome caused by the Pseudogymnoascus destructans fungus in New York. Photograph: Ryan von Linden/AP Frank tested other factors that might plausibly explain the rise in deaths: unemployment, the opioid epidemic, the weather, differences among mothers, or the introduction of genetically modified crops, but none explained the increase in pesticide use or the rise in infant deaths. He spent a year “kicking the tyres on the study”, and the results held. It provided “compelling evidence”, he said, “that farmers did respond to the decline in insect-eating bats, and that response had an adverse health impact on human infants”. It is unusual for a study of this type to suggest causation, not just correlation, said Taylor. “A lot of papers that try to link pesticides to outcomes are correlational in nature,” said Taylor. “People who are exposed to more pesticides, for example, might have other risk factors – like, farm workers are exposed to a whole host of other socioeconomic risks that could explain why there might be different health outcomes.” White-nose syndrome, however, essentially creates a randomised controlled trial: because the spread of white-nose syndrome was closely monitored, Frank could compare counties that had lost their bats with those the disease had not yet reached. “The bat disease wasn’t expected, and it shouldn’t have preferentially targeted certain groups over others,” Taylor said. A number of recent studies have shown how collapsing po[CENSORED]tions of wildlife can have unexpected knock-on effects for people. In June, Frank and another researcher estimated that the collapse of India’s vulture po[CENSORED]tion may have resulted in 500,000 human deaths – because without the scavenging birds to eat rotting meat, rabies and other infections proliferated. The findings on pesticide use also echo previous research, including a study of Taylor’s. In the US, cicadas emerge en masse at intervals of 13 to 17 years. Taylor found that pesticide use increased in cicada seasons, as did infant mortality. People born in cicada years had lower test scores and were more likely to drop out of school. Columbia history professor David Rosner, who has spent his career investigating environmental toxins, said the study joins a body of evidence going back to the 1960s that pesticides adversely affect human health. “We’re dumping these synthetic materials into our environment, not knowing anything about what their impacts are going to be,” he said. “It’s not surprising – it’s just kind of shocking that we discover it every year.” Find more age of extinction coverage here, and follow biodiversity reporters Phoebe Weston and Patrick Greenfield on Twitter for all the latest news and features https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/sep/05/loss-of-bats-to-lethal-fungus-linked-to-1300-child-deaths-in-us-study-says-aoe

Trump lawyers Emil Bove, left, and Todd Blanche leave a US Federal Courthouse in Washington, DC, after a hearing before District Judge Tanya Chutkan on September 5 [Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo] A tense hearing has unfolded in one of former United States President Donald Trump’s four criminal cases, as his defence team questioned the legitimacy of the proceedings. Thursday’s hearing took place before US District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan in Washington, DC, where Trump faces four felony counts for attempting to overturn the 2020 US presidential election. Trump himself was not present at the proceedings. But from the outset, defence lawyer John Lauro cast doubt on the validity of the charges and the timing of the case. “We may be dealing with an illegitimate indictment from the get-go,” Lauro told the court. He also asserted that a recent Supreme Court decision granting presumptive immunity to a range of presidential actions should result in the case’s outright dismissal. “We want an orderly process that does justice to the Supreme Court opinion,” he said. But it was Lauro’s suggestion that the court’s actions were unfair that sparked a sharp exchange with Judge Chutkan. Lauro called the proceedings “enormously prejudicial” to Trump, who is currently running as the Republican nominee in the 2024 presidential election. “This process is inherently unfair, particularly during this sensitive time,” Lauro told Chutkan. The judge quickly shot back, saying her concern was only the four criminal counts in front of her court. “The timing of the election,” she explained, was “not relevant” to her decisions. “This court is not concerned with the electoral schedule,” she said. “That’s not something I’m going to consider.” Bill Christeson, left, and Nadine Seiler protest outside of the E Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse on September 5 [Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo] Lauro pushed back throughout the hearing. “We’re talking about the presidency of the United States,” he said at one point. But Chutkan was quick to tamp down that argument. “I’m not talking about the presidency of the United States. I’m talking about a four-count indictment,” she replied. She questioned whether Trump’s defence team may be angling to delay the trial until after the election. Lauro, meanwhile, said prosecutors were “rushing to judgement” with their court filings. Chutkan, however, dismissed any suggestion that the case was progressing too quickly. “This case has been pending for over a year,” she said. “We’re hardly sprinting to the finish here.” Thursday’s hearing was one of the first in nearly a year’s time, something Chutkan and Lauro joked about at the start of the day. “Life was almost meaningless without seeing you,” Lauro in a lighthearted moment with the judge. “Enjoy it while it lasts,” Chutkan responded. The Washington, DC, criminal case had been delayed multiple times, as courts weighed the question of Trump’s immunity from prosecution. Trump had claimed “absolute” immunity for any action taken while he was president, from 2017 to 2021. On July 1, the Supreme Court issued a decision, dismissing any claims to absolute immunity but nevertheless granting broad “presumptive immunity” to any “official” actions the president might take. The decision itself did not clearly delineate what counts as an “official” or “unofficial” action, but it suggested that interactions with government officials like the vice president would be protected from prosecution. The ruling was therefore seen as a broadening of presidential power, beyond what is established under the US Constitution. Special Counsel Jack Smith leads the two federal indictments against Donald Trump [Jonathan Ernst/Reuters] In August, in response to the Supreme Court’s decision, the prosecution in the Washington, DC, case — led by Special Counsel Jack Smith — issued an updated indictment against Trump that zeroed in on actions it considered “unofficial”. Those included actions Trump took as a presidential candidate in the 2020 election cycle, and actions taken by his re-election campaign. The four counts Trump faces remain the same. He is accused of conspiracy to defraud the US, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, attempting to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy to prevent the free exercise of rights under the US Constitution. Those charges stem from his actions after the 2020 election, which he lost to President Joe Biden, a Democrat. Trump repeatedly claimed that the result was “rigged”, and he and his allies are accused of pressuring election officials to change the outcome. After he encouraged his supporters to continue fighting the results, thousands swarmed the US Capitol building, in an attempt to interrupt the certification of the Electoral College votes on January 6, 2021. On Thursday, Trump’s defence team formally resubmitted his plea of not guilty to the superseding indictment. Trump has pleaded not guilty in all the criminal cases against him so far. When Lauro, the defence lawyer, suggested that the recent Supreme Court case would nullify interactions included in the updated indictment, Chutkan was firm. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/5/trumps-lawyers-spar-with-judge-in-washington-election-interference-case

People protest against the Israeli government in Tel Aviv on September 2, 2024 [Florion Goga/Reuters] In July 2014, shortly after the kickoff of Israel’s “Operation Protective Edge” in the Gaza Strip – a 51-day affair that ultimately killed 2,251 Palestinians, including 551 children – Danish journalist Nikolaj Krak penned a dispatch from Israel for the Copenhagen-based Kristeligt Dagblad newspaper. Describing the scene on a hill on the outskirts of the Israeli city of Sderot near the Gaza border, Krak noted that the area had been “transformed into something that most closely resembles the front row of a reality war theatre”. Israelis had “dragged camping chairs and sofas” to the hilltop, where some spectators sat “with crackling bags of popcorn”, while others partook of hookahs and cheerful banter. Fiery, earth-shaking air strikes on Gaza across the way were met with cheers and “solid applause”. To be sure, Israelis have always enjoyed a good murderous spectacle – which is hardly surprising for a nation whose very existence is predicated on mass slaughter. But as it turns out, the applause is not quite so solid when Israeli lives are caught up in the explosive apocalyptic display. For the past 11 months, Israel’s “reality war theatre” has offered a view of all-out genocide in the Gaza Strip, where the official death toll has reached nearly 41,000. A July Lancet study found that the true number of deaths may well top 186,000 – and that is only if the killing ends soon. Now, massive protests have broken out across Israel demanding that the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu enact a ceasefire and hostage deal to free the remaining 100 or so Israeli captives held in Gaza. On Sunday, when the Israeli military recovered the bodies of six captives, CNN reported that some 700,000 protesters had taken to the streets across the country. And on Monday, a general strike spearheaded by Israel’s primary labour union succeeded in shutting much of the economy down for several hours. Although certain wannabe peaceniks among the international commentariat have blindly attributed the protests to a desire to end the bloodshed, the fact of the matter is that Palestinian blood is not high on the list of concerns. Rather, the only lives that matter in the besieged, pulverised, and genocide-stricken Gaza Strip are the lives of the captives – whose captivity, it bears underscoring, is entirely a result of Israeli policy and Israel’s unceasing sadistic treatment of Palestinians. As Israeli analyst Nimrod Flaschenberg recently commented to Al Jazeera regarding the aims of the current protests, “the issue of returning the hostages is centre stage”. Acknowledging that “an understanding that a deal would also mean an end to the conflict is there, but rarely stated”, Flaschenberg emphasised that “as far as the protests’ leadership goes, no, it’s all about the hostages”. The captives, then, have assumed centre stage in Israel’s latest bout of blood-soaked war theatrics, while for some Israelis the present genocide is evidently not nearly genocidal enough. During a recent episode of the po[CENSORED]r English-language Israeli podcast “Two Nice Jewish Boys”, the podcasting duo in question suggested that it would be cool to just press a button and wipe out “every single living being in Gaza” as well as in the West Bank. Time to break out the popcorn and hookahs. At the end of the day, the disproportionate value assigned to the lives of the Israeli captives in Gaza vis-à-vis the lives of the Palestinians who are being annihilated is of a piece with Israel’s trademark chauvinism. This outlook casts Israelis as the perennial victims of Palestinian “terrorism” even as Palestinians are consistently massacred at astronomically higher rates by the Israeli military. During Operation Protective Edge in 2014, for example, no more than six Israeli civilians were killed. And yet Israel maintained its monopoly on victimisation. In June of this year, the Israeli army undertook a rescue operation in Gaza that freed four captives but reportedly killed 210 Palestinians in the process – no doubt par for the disproportionate course. Meanwhile, following the recovery of the bodies of the six captives on Sunday, Netanyahu blamed Hamas for their demise, declaring: “Whoever murders hostages doesn’t want a deal.” But what about “whoever” continues to preside over a genocide while assassinating the top ceasefire negotiator for Hamas and sabotaging prospects for a deal at every turn? As the protests now demonstrate, many Israelis are on to Netanyahu. But the issue with the protests is that genocide is not the issue. Even among Netanyahu’s detractors, there persists a general consensus as to the unilateral sacrosanctity of Israeli life, which translates into the assumption of an inalienable right to slaughter Palestinians. And as the latest episode of Israel’s “reality war theatre” drags on – with related Israeli killing sprees available for viewing in the West Bank and Lebanon, too – this show is really getting old. One would hope Israeli audiences will eventually tire of it all and walk out, but for the time being bloodbaths are a guaranteed blockbuster. https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/9/5/netanyahu-and-the-israeli-protesters-are-on-the-same-genocidal-page

Nick movie: Smile 2 Time: Paramount Pictures Netflix / Amazon / HBO: Duration of the movie: 2min Trailer:

Music title: FIFTY FIFTY (피프티피프티) ‘Starry Night’ Official MV Signer: 피프티피프티 Release date: 2024/08/30 Official YouTube link:

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The Bentley Flying Spur is getting a facelift that includes a heart transplant. The Flying Spur is adding the same plug-in-hybrid V-8 powertrain as the refreshed Continental GT. The new unit pairs the combustion engine with an electric motor and 25.9-kWh battery to produce 771 horsepower and 738 pound-feet of torque. UPDATE 9/3/2024: Bentley today released a new teaser photo of the upcoming Flying Spur, which the company also announced will be revealed on Tuesday, September 10. This news comes after Bentley confirmed back in July that the new Flying Spur will feature its 771-hp plug-in-hybrid V-8 powertrain. We've known about Bentley's plans to kill off the W-12 for a while now, but we haven't known how those plans would affect the Flying Spur—until now. The automaker has announced a facelifted version of the extravagant sedan that includes the new plug-in-hybrid V-8 from the refreshed Continental GT. The powertrain, which Bentley calls the "Ultra Performance Hybrid," combines a twin-turbo 4.0-liter V-8 that peaks at 584 horsepower with a 187-hp electric motor squashed between the engine and the eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. The two combine for a total output of 771 horsepower and 738 pound-feet of torque. The electric motor sources its power from a 25.9-kWh battery, which is claimed to provide up to 51 miles of EV-only driving range based on the rather optimistic European WLTP test cycle. That's likely closer to 40 miles using the EPA's methodology. In the Conti, the electric motor can propel the car at speeds up to 87 mph using electricity alone, though that may change for the Flying Spur. If all of these figures seem familiar to you, that's because they are. On top of powering the refreshed Continental GT, the mighty PHEV powertrain has been making the rounds throughout the greater Volkswagen Group's production facilities. The recently announced plug-in-hybrid Lamborghini Urus SE uses a slightly more powerful version of the same setup, while Porsche just announced a new Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid with the same system. Not much else is known about the facelifted Flying Spur beyond the powertrain. The manufacturer released a single teaser image of the new car showcasing a slightly revised front end. Bentley promises to reveal more information "in due course," so we'll have to sit tight until then. https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a61639146/2025-bentley-flying-spur-plug-in-hybrid-revealed/

Taylor Fritz (right) shakes hands with Alexander Zverev following his quarter-final win. Photograph: Al Bello/Getty Images As a massive opportunity to finally reach his first grand slam semi-final came into view, Taylor Fritz refused to let the moment pass him by. He threw himself inside the baseline, desperately trying to take the initiative and impose his weapons on the match. Even when he sprayed unforced errors on key break points and offered his opponent, Alexander Zverev, chances to take command, Fritz was determined to control his own destiny until the end. Fritz, the highest ranked player in the US, was rewarded for his courage as he marched into a grand slam semi-final for the first time in his career on home soil at the US Open, toppling Zverev, the fourth seed, 7-6 (2), 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3) on Arthur Ashe Stadium. In a remarkable tournament that has completely opened up after early exits for Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz, leaving the rest of the tour fighting to take advantage, this match-up was a particularly notable encounter. Zverev and Fritz were born just six months apart in 1997 and they both reached No 1 in the junior rankings, transitioning to the professional tour as two of the most hyped players of their generation. While Zverev rapidly broke through, it has taken Fritz some time to catch up. He was still ranked outside the top 100 when Zverev won his first Masters 1000 title in 2017 and it would take the 26-year-old another five years to break into the top 20. While Fritz possesses an excellent first serve and is solid off the ground, he is far from a natural athlete like Zverev. He has had to work tirelessly to find ways to be effective in other ways, becoming more comfortable with taking control of the baseline with his forehand, making steady improvements with his movement over a long period of time and learning how to battle in the tight moments. Even after reaching the top 10, it has taken Fritz even longer to be effective at grand slam tournaments. In his third grand slam quarter-final of the year, he took another step forward in his development. For Zverev, meanwhile, this match encapsulated his on-court difficulties. Zverev has enjoyed an extremely accomplished career, winning six Masters 1000 titles, the ATP Finals, an Olympic gold medal and reaching two grand slam finals. Although his achievements suggest that he should also be a grand slam title winner, Zverev’s head has often failed him in the biggest moments of his career. Despite striking more winners than Fritz throughout the match, 52 in total, Zverev cowered in all of the most important moments, retreating far behind the baseline and hoping for misses that never came. Every year, the plight of American men’s tennis is one of the pressing subjects at the US Open, the shadows of both Andy Roddick’s 2003 triumph – the last time a US man won a grand slam title – and the long history of extraordinary US male tennis players looming over the draws. But in recent years, the narrative has changed as this generation of US tennis players has enjoyed modest success. The US Open began with five US male players ranked inside the top 20 – Fritz, Ben Shelton, Tommy Paul, Sebastian Korda and Frances Tiafoe. While none of them are yet to produce a truly spectacular achievement, they have continued to improve and many of them are arriving at their peak years at exactly the right time as the tour opens up in the post-big three era. Instead of facing a multiple grand slam title winner with years of experience, Fritz will face either the ninth seed Grigor Dimitrov or his compatriot Tiafoe, seeded 20th, who will battle overnight. Regardless of the outcome, there will be a first-time grand slam finalist this year in New York. Meanwhile, Emma Navarro continued her breakout run in New York, the city of her birth, as the 23-year-old followed up her win against Coco Gauff by defeating another former top-two player, Paula Badosa, 6-2, 7-5 to reach a grand slam semi-final for the first time in her career. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/article/2024/sep/03/taylor-fritz-stuns-alexander-zverev-in-four-sets-to-reach-us-open-semi-final

The baby was born. I woke the next morning and felt an instant, brutal claw across the heart. I saw the baby in her little plastic cot, I saw the back of the baby’s head and thought at once: the baby is dead. The baby’s floss of hair was matted with blood. The baby had been crushed or gored by a forest predator. I sat up. It wasn’t true, of course. The baby was fine, only sleeping stiffly with her gnome’s face tightly shut. I swung my legs over the edge of the bed, still dopey and numb from the epidural. I looked at the baby evenly. A nurse swiped her head around one of the blue flannel curtains – it was still dark; the cubicle was lit cloudily by the lamp at the nurses’ station. In the ward a different person’s baby began crying, then another. The nurse asked, Has that baby been fed? Last night, I said. What? asked the nurse. What, not fed since last night? She never woke up, I said. The nurse was appalled. Feed her right away, she said. I jumped on to my spongy legs. Somehow they carried me across the space to the plastic cot to tip the baby over, lift the baby up, cradle the baby and return to bed. The baby woke and looked at me with black, dilated eyes. After a moment she began to cry shrilly as I rolled up my top and released one slightly – only very slightly – engorged breast. When the baby latched, the pain was like a cheese grater raking across my nipple. I gasped, closing my eyes until the burn passed because I couldn’t yank the baby off me, no – this feed would be the first of many painful and durational obligations. Not even the first. Childbirth had been the first – the pain so personal it felt vindictive, all that bucking and baying and vomiting. How mortifying to have left the baby to sleep all night unfed. But didn’t they wake for it, naturally? Didn’t they instigate it? Why didn’t I know this already? I cooed her new name as she fed. I was still getting used to it. The name had been chosen in Norway, during the lunch break of an art event in Svolvær. Speakers were mingling on the icy stoop of a workmen’s club and ladling dal – dispiriting as every conference catering experience of my life – on to paper plates. On long piers by the shore there stood huge wooden drying racks for fish and, although there was no fish drying just then, the whole region stank, and the smell would become linked with my nostalgia for that early and agile and totally notional portion of pregnancy when I felt healthy and smug and had no real responsibilities. The name we chose appeared on a list of storms slated to take place in 2023 and 24. How do you pronounce that? my partner asked. So many people have asked me the same thing ever since. On her first night alive I had left her all night without feeding. She hadn’t woken once. Now, as she tried to feed, the latch came and went. It was unbearable. Each time the baby re-attached herself I pictured the surface of my nipple as swollen and grainy and scraping her lips. This image was an inversion of the sensation I was experiencing: of the baby’s mouth sucking urgently on what felt like an open wound. I simultaneously pictured and experienced the sensation, a telepathic sympathy with visual correlations – a ragged nail bed, say, or a mouth ulcer – that were also sense memories, standalone examples of pain. Telepathy would become an important new context for everything we went through now. The nurse was back. Have you really not fed her all night? No. I wished I could cry, to piss the woman off. But I could not. I still felt stunned and a little stoned. The doctor, I suppose, will be around to see you soon. The baby appeared fine. She was sucking away when the breakfast trays were delivered. By now my tit was completely numb, and I was able to cradle the baby against it with one arm while using the other to reach for my cornflakes and toast. I ate every last bit, blackened crusts and all, then slurped the milk and drained the pot of tea. I hadn’t eaten in more than 24 hours, and breastfeeding made me feel like a running tap; every minute she drank left me thirsty and ravenous and then finally high. The baby detached and settled limply against my arm. My breast looked pointed and slack as a piping bag. I tucked it into my bra and whipped out one of the plastic sheets they had given me to catch blood and mucus. I laid this out and placed the baby on it, opening the nappy to reveal a smear of black pulp, no messier than the seed-thickened droppings of a little bird. Good little clever bird, I said. The latch – the baby’s ability or, as we later considered, willingness to attach securely and ergonomically to my breast – did not improve. A lactation consultant called into my cubicle and mashed the baby’s face into my breast while performing some sort of practised twist, and succeeded in making her feed – proving she could feed – for about 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes, she stopped. But she wasn’t full. She howled and howled and latched again, badly. My breasts never became milk-plump enough to allow her to latch easily. I was not unhappy. As far as I knew, this was all normal. I still hummed with adrenaline from the labour, which had lasted a mere five hours. I felt sleek and oiled by that hormone you get in pregnancy that makes your joints supple and bendable to the point of easy freakery. Very thirsty, though. I was thirsty all the time. At 3am on the third day a night nurse skidded into the cubicle, where the baby was wailing and I was palpating another listless unready breast. Do you want formula? the nurse asked. Composite: Aflo/Guardian Design/Getty There was a pause between us. In the world of midwifery, formula is taboo. I’d been instructed during my antenatal Zoom class to forgo buying any formula milk, any bottle machines – to avoid so much as looking at these treacherous toys designed for the corrupt and the weak of heart. But this woman – and I remember her even now, young and pretty and losing patience – anticipated me and added: It won’t stop her taking the breast. It won’t? I asked. It will just mean you get some sleep. Oh. OK! I said. The baby took a tiny bottle, a doll’s bottle, of Aptamil and fell asleep. The next day we took her home, blasting through the hills of Clare at a time of year when things had yet to open and integrate. It was grey, oppressive, and unceasingly strange to me to look out at this place, once familiar and now transformed by something menacing, and feel as though I were floating beside my body rather than occupying it. Three days later the public health nurse arrived and took one look at the baby and said, No, no. She is thin. She is close to jaundice. Oh, I said. I was taken aback. The nurse turned to me anxiously. The breastfeeding? Well, it’s not going all that well. I was given a contact number for the local lactation consultant, a service I would have to pay for. I was, by now, beginning to feel a creeping guilt. The original proposition – to breastfeed exclusively – had seemed an obvious one, an easy one, for a woman like me: healthy, spared any calamitous birth injuries, granted a whole year of maternity leave. My complacency was born of the same ignorance that had left me outraged by the insanity of labour contractions, but my ongoing commitment to the original proposition related to shame. If I couldn’t do it, I would be letting the baby down. I’d read a lot of ranting about the crimes of Nestlé and a lot of gushing at the womanly art of breastfeeding. There would be no other children. There would still be a career. Some embarrassment lingered, too, about the epidural, since I’d spent months practising hypnobirthing techniques and determining to avoid medical intervention where possible, only to demand this intervention within minutes of the amniotomy. I have met myself, I told a friend in a rueful, abrasive WhatsApp voice note in the days after the baby was born; I have met myself and I am not the kind of person I thought I was. But I still wanted to be a person who could breastfeed. I was sitting in my feeding chair, an armchair hauled upstairs to the bedroom, when the lactation consultant arrived. By that time I had been awake, for the most part, for a week, blasted out of bed by the baby’s cries to feed every two hours, and stewing with anxiety in between; walking and feeding and tending and shopping and washing and vibrating with excitement all day. The lactation consultant sprinted up the stairs and declared frankly, That baby needs formula milk right now. She was a spry and vigorous countrywoman who spoke sharply, telling me my nursing bras were ornamental. She clearly didn’t suffer fools, and I imagined that she probably met all manner of fools in her line of work. Fools like me, who had no idea breastfeeding was difficult. Who couldn’t even buy a proper bra. I never advise this, she said. I never say this, but that child needs formula now or it’s back to the hospital. Oh, I said. During most of these exchanges with professionals in the early days of motherhood, I was monosyllabic in this way, all Oh and Wow and Ah. At best I was capable, sometimes, of a blunted curiosity. I did not feel anxious, but dissociated. It also happened, at that particular moment of friction with the lactation lady, that my six-year-old stepson, who was visiting, charged up the stairs with a helium balloon crying, Where’s my baby, where’s my baby? The consultant looked at me with further, irritated, concern. You need rest, she instructed, or you will not be able to produce milk. Let me take a look at you. Women with your physique – you are like me, she added, I’m like that – women with your body type, I have found it is harder for them to breastfeed. Small breasts, I offered. Nothing much to draw on, she explained. It happens. You need rest and protein. You’re not one of those vegans? No. Good. She didn’t smile. She produced a doll’s bottle of formula milk, an unsponsored film prop, and watched the baby take it greedily and suck without restraint. Then the baby transferred back to the breast and turned her face away and cried. Ah, said the consultant. She’s a cute one. She prefers the teat. This made sense. The teat was reliable. The breast was not. A solution presented itself – pump into a bottle, feed her that way. My pump was yielding mere greasy flickers of milk after 40 minutes of exertion, but everyone was determined, and a plan to continue breastfeeding with formula as a supplement was decided upon. At this point the great threat to breastfeeding success was the abundant, standardised flow of formula – satisfaction guaranteed – as opposed to my phantasmal milk supply, which increasingly felt like a moral failing. What was I eating? How often was I eating? I was going to have to eat an awful lot more. Protein, protein, protein, the lactation consultant said. And lemon water first thing every morning, for the constipation. Two things I had never known existed – nor given even a peripheral thought to the need for – now became central to my life. The first was a worm-thin rubber straw, to be threaded through the baby’s lips as she latched, with the business end immersed in a bottle of formula. She would, it was hoped, mistake the flow from the straw for my milk and relearn trust in the breast. It was a delicate operation and rarely worked because the worm-thin straw made the baby gag. There is a photo of me, taken at this time, looking softly happy, rollneck rolled up and baby apparently latched. At my elbow, almost out of sight, is a single-serve bottle of Aptamil and the tiny plastic bottle I used for attaching the straw. It is one of my favourite photographs, one of many I had taken or took myself with baby at breast, because it achieves what I wanted those photographs to achieve – to make normal a process that never felt normal for me. The presence of the formula bottle is a snake in paradise, as is the nipple shield – the second novel and canonical object to enter life at this time – visible in the form of a faint and extra aureole above the baby’s mouth. Only I know what it is, and that it’s there, and that every feeding session required logistics and sterilisation and peril, and that by now my partner had returned to work and I was alone all day. Photograph: Courtesy of Niamh Campbell The supply remained paltry. I lost weight and my complexion turned kind of yellow. I look back on this time and remember no painful emotions, however – only the animal compliancy of process, day upon day. A sense of tidy and productive urgency and, after this, a growing sense of diffuse happiness. The baby was beautiful, the radio played all the time. Day and night tessellating. I lived in a green zone of suspended animation, life pared to its nobler necessities like laundry and long walks, the baby growing plump from formula and wedged between us every morning as we talked and drank coffee in bed. In the dark, during the small hours of ambient sound, of two Velux windows that depicted a lighted bungalow on the mountainside, strange things happened. Things stranger than the telepathic countdown to the baby’s demand for milk, which I experienced as an articulate interruption to whatever dream I was having and a seltzer tingle in my breasts. One night in the feeding chair I looked down and saw the baby apparently smiling for the first time, but not happily; she was smiling grotesquely, her face fogged over by another face, and I knew where I’d seen the smile before, it was clear immediately that I had seen this febrile grin in the video for Windowlicker by Aphex Twin, which used to play on MTV when I was babysitting as a teenager. This is when I realised I was hallucinating. I felt angry at whatever entity had bled into my consciousness in this state of open-minded vulnerability and concocted a cheap hallucination, and I shook it off, looking away and looking back, to find the baby’s normal adorable features restored. Despite bliss – and truly, it was often bliss – my milk supply did not increase. The baby, entering cluster-feed stage, fed and dosed in cycles so short that, what with the battery of accessories involved in setting up the mixed-feeding conceit, I largely just sat in the feeding chair for hours attempting, sometimes, to hold up Anna Karenina with a single hand. Even now I can’t explain why Anna Karenina except to point to the same high-minded, mildly manic impulse that kept me breastfeeding at all – a desire for excellence to the point of pantomime. I discussed my breasts with doctors and nurses and relatives and other mothers on Instagram and in the local support group. I took milk thistle and fenugreek. I hosed pouches of skyr, a nutrient-dense Icelandic dairy product, into myself. Cry, the doctor advised. If you feel like crying, crying brings the supply in. He also prescribed crying for postnatal depression and, in that regard, it probably worked. I lay on the sofa and howled like a child. I took to crunching around the quiet country village in the dead of night, between feeds, piping hot with adrenaline and repenting of every single decision I’d ever made, including being kind of lax with contraception that time. I hated my life and then, on other days, the pendulum would take an energetic upswing, joy would overtake me, I liked nothing better than excusing myself to sit under the baby for hours on end. By now she was taking much more formula than breastmilk, though, and suffering catastrophic reflux and gastrointestinal pain. This meant a daily routine of painful breastfeeds followed by formula top-ups followed by baby curled in agony and bellowing followed by intervals of an hour or so before it all began again. I sat in the feeding chair and listened to fat crows thud about on the roof slates. One day I heard every incremental movement as an ancient slate detached itself, skied hoarsely down the slope of the roof, and smashed with the precise, almost deliberate density of a dinner plate outside the front door. I envied, in some respects, those women who successfully breastfed. I envied them in the same way I envy people who enthuse about their parents introducing them to Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell or Bert Jansch in smoke-filled kitchens (whereas my childhood was punctuated by whole Sunday afternoons of Garth Brooks’s No Fences in surround sound). The way I envy the children of professionals I met at college, young people who’d learned Latin and attended actual operas or just had families that didn’t think their graduate studies were a baffling mistake. My envy, that is, came with a flipside of triumph derived from reverse snobbery. On a cold day, when the baby was two months old, I travelled to a literary festival to meet a friend. It was not possible to bring the baby into events, and so I didn’t attend a single one. My friend and I met in a coffee shop. Sitting there, facing a man I’d known for years with another underperforming breast, another fussily obfuscated latch, in the path of blasts of wind that travelled through the room every time the door opened, I felt exposed. My friend kept rabbiting on about his trip to New Orleans; had I seen, he pressed, all those photos of Mardi Gras? I had been in hospital, having the baby, when those photos appeared on my phone. There had been so many they were still loading and glitching after the fact. I showed him, now, my own photo, taken moments after the baby was born and revealing the conical shape of her head as sculpted by my pelvis as she corkscrewed into the world. His face fell in horror, and we were amused – Oh yes! I said, so many things they never tell you about. The lactation consultant receded. Keep supplementing, she said, and pump. We can revisit. We did not revisit. Her profile photo on WhatsApp showed her enjoying a meal with two girls I took to be her daughters – how many babies, I thought, how many mothers and jaundice and latches and atmospheres, the dim rooms of how many chaotic houses, has this woman seen? And did she know, when she looked at me, that I would fail, that there was no hope for me? I suspected this. I suspected everyone could see how daft I had been. What more to say? The supply, emphatically, did not come in. The abandoned pump accrued mould where it fell behind a radiator. The nipple shield, being translucent, disappeared for hours at a time. Formula became king, but also generated pain and reflux responses so shocking that my mother-in-law left the room during a session, shaking. The GP was invested in this cause, and when lactose-free Aptamil produced the same effect, he had us order Nutramigen through the pharmacist. It smelled like a cross between Ovaltine and chicken feed. My stepson composed a tender song: She smells like a chick-en, she smells like a chick-en. He himself had been breastfed, fully breastfed, without controversy, by the woman before me – my partner’s ex – who was, evidently, good at it. I was not good at it. This felt embarrassing. I asked my partner, Would you hold it against me if I just quit? Of course not, he replied. I quit. More or less from one day to the next. Afterwards, there was no leakage, no mastitis, no punishment. The whole thing had been a cosmic comedy. I put the baby on soya formula to ease her symptoms of intolerance, which disappeared overnight. It is strange, now, to remember this all at what feels like a great remove, but was in reality less than a year ago. A year from now I might have forgotten the present time, the present stage of the baby, who is weaned and fat, charging around like a puppy. Would she like a pancake? Panshake! she agrees. Is it bathtime? No-no-no, in a breathy, wondering tone. She beats out of the room on her hands and knees. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/article/2024/sep/03/like-a-cheese-grater-raking-across-my-nipple-why-i-kept-trying-to-breastfeed-for-so-long

The findings could have implications for understanding the evolution of human language, say experts. Photograph: Biology Letters Dog owners may have trouble remembering which toy is Mr Squeaky, but such names can be seared into the memory of their pets, researchers have found. Scientists previously discovered some dogs have a remarkable ability to learn the names of toys, with a border collie known as Chaser having learned the labels of more than 1,000 objects. Now researchers have discovered some dogs can remember the name of a toy even when they have not seen it for two years. Shany Dror of Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary, the first author of the study, said the results showed such dogs stored object names in their long-term memory, rather than simply having their memory refreshed by their owners through frequent play with the item. Dror added the findings could have implications for understanding the evolution of human language, given memory is one of its many components. “Why is language uniquely human? To understand that, we need to understand what parts of language are available in other animals in which part are not,” she said. Some dogs had a success rate of up to 60%, researchers say. Photograph: Whisky the dog/Helge O Svela The experiment was carried out twice for each dog, and was also repeated for four of the dogs using their remaining test toys. The results reveal that, overall, the dogs picked the correct toy 44% of the time on average – with some having a success rate of up to 60%. These figures, the researchers add, are far above the level expected by chance. The results were driven by the prowess of four dogs, with these canines remembering the names of between three and nine of their test toys. The team stress that just because some dogs can learn object names, not every canine can do so, with the factors behind the skill still unclear. However, Dror noted dogs with the talent often had owners who spent a lot of time engaging with them. “The more you invest in your dog, the more you will get back from the relationship,” she said. https://www.theguardian.com/science/article/2024/sep/04/dogs-remember-names-toys-years-study-pets-memory

US President Joe Biden at a Labor Day campaign event with Kamala Harris in Pittsburgh [Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters] United States President Joe Biden has appeared at a campaign event with Vice President and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris for the first time since dropping out of the presidential race. The pair spoke at a rally in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on Monday to mark the Labor Day holiday. They hope to shore up support from unions and blue-collar workers. Pennsylvania is considered a key battleground in the November 5 election, in which Harris will face off with former President and Republican candidate Donald Trump. The 81-year-old Biden was the presidential candidate until July when he abruptly dropped out of the race following a debate performance that raised concerns over his age. Speaking on Monday, Biden promised he would “be on the sidelines” and “do everything I can to help” in the final stretch of the race. He condemned Trump as anti-union, saying, “He’d rather cross [a picket line] than walk one.” “I have no problem walking the picket line,” said Biden, who became the first US president in history last year to join striking workers on a picket line. “Neither does Kamala.” “I know her. I trust. The first decision I made as nominee in 2020 was selecting her as my vice president,” he said. “It was the single best decision I made as president of the United States of America”. Harris, meanwhile, led a chant of, “Thank you Joe” before pledging to continue Biden’s legacy as the most “pro-union administration in US history”. Echoing Biden, she also said she would work to keep the country’s steel production under US control. In March, Biden said industrial giant US Steel Corp, which has agreed to a takeover by Japan’s Nippon Steel for $14.9bn, must remain a domestically-owned US firm. “We will continue to strengthen America’s manufacturing sector,” Harris said. “And on that point… US Steel is a historic American company, and it is vital for our nation to maintain strong American steel companies. I couldn’t agree more with President Biden: US Steel should remain American-owned and American-operated.” Harris and Biden appeared together at the Democratic National Convention and at a White House event on Medicare drug price cuts last month. However, the event in Pittsburgh was their first joint appearance at a campaign rally since Harris officially became the nominee. Earlier in the day, the vice president held an event in Detroit, Michigan – another key battleground state – where she again faced protesters calling for Washington to immediately shift its material and political support for Israel amid its ongoing war on Gaza. ‘Thread this very fine needle’ Reporting from Pittsburgh, Al Jazeera’s Phil Lavelle said that while Harris wanted to benefit from her association with Biden, she also wanted people to know she was different from him. “She has to thread this very fine needle between being seen to be associated with Joe Biden, being linked to his perceived achievement… because Joe Biden, remember, was the first president to walk a picket line. He’s seen as very pro-union,” he said. “At the same time, she has to carve out her own direction and be seen as a change candidate, which is what she’s trying to project herself as, a candidate for change,” Lavelle said. “Now this is something that, of course, the other side is saying is not true. They’re saying that she is part of the current administration. How can she be a changed candidate?” Jeremy Zogby, an independent pollster, said it will be particularly important for Harris to draw a distinction on the economy, which has been central to Republican attacks on the Biden administration. Zogby added that while some polls suggest Harris is leading Trump nationally and in key battleground states, much could change before election day. Harris and Trump will face off in their first debate on September 10. “Battleground states are called battleground states because the needle is always moving,” he told Al Jazeera. “Right now, we’re kind of leaving this wave of the Kamala honeymoon, where there’s been a focus on personality. “I sense that that’s coming to an end and the issues are going to come back into the forefront. Between now and election day, you are going to have a lot of things happen.” https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/2/biden-joins-harris-at-first-joint-election-campaign-stop-since-leaving-race

A Palestinian child cries during a polio vaccination campaign conducted during the Gaza war in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza [Hussam Al-Masri/Reuters] Israeli forces have killed at least 35 people across Gaza, according to Palestinian officials, as brief and partial pauses in fighting in central Gaza have allowed medics to conduct a further day of polio vaccinations for children. Among those killed over the latest 24-hour reporting period were four women in the southern city of Rafah and eight people near a hospital in Gaza City in the north, the Palestinian Civil Emergency Service said on Tuesday. Later, an Israeli airstrike killed nine Palestinians inside a house near Omar Al-Mokhtar Street in the middle of Gaza City, medics said. Another strike hit near a college in Sheikh Radwan, a northern suburb of the city. Others were killed in air strikes across the territory, medics said. The Israeli military said it killed eight Palestinian gunmen, including a senior Hamas commander who took part in the October 7 attacks in Israel, at a command centre near the al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City. A statement said Ahmed Fozi Nazer Muhammad Wadia had taken command of a “massacre of civilians” in Israel’s Netiv HaAsara community near the Gaza border. There was no immediate response from Hamas. The armed wings of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad said they were battling Israeli forces in the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza City and also in Rafah and Khan Younis in the south. Polio vaccination campaign ‘ahead of targets’ Nevertheless, the World Health Organization (WHO) said it was ahead of its targets for polio vaccinations in Gaza on Tuesday, the third day of a mass campaign, and had inoculated about a quarter of Gaza’s children under 10. After the first confirmed polio case in the territory in 25 years, a massive vaccination effort began on Sunday. The campaign relies on daily eight-hour pauses in fighting between Israel and Hamas fighters in specific areas of the besieged enclave. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres described the suspensions in fighting to allow children to be vaccinated as a “rare ray of hope and humanity in the cascade of horror”, his spokesperson said. “If the parties can act to protect children from a deadly virus, … surely they can and must act to protect children and all innocents from the horrors of war,” Stephane Dujarric said. With Gaza lying in ruins and the majority of its 2.3 million residents forced to flee their homes due to Israel’s military assault – often taking refuge in cramped and unsanitary conditions – disease has spread. Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, said medical teams were going around tents of displaced people to find children who need to be vaccinated. “Many families lined up early in the morning to provide their children with additional protection through two oral drops of the polio vaccine,” he said. “Meanwhile, areas excluded from the so-called humanitarian pause policy are suffering constant bombardment,” he said. “Consequently, people in these areas are struggling to bring their children to vaccination centres.” The campaign aims to fully vaccinate more than 640,000 children in the besieged territory, devastated by almost 11 months of war. Polio primarily affects children under five and can cause deformities, paralysis and in some cases death. Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO’s representative for the Palestinian territory, said it is vital for the vaccination campaign to reach at least 90-percent coverage to avoid the spread of the disease both within Gaza’s borders and beyond. The campaign began in the central part of the densely po[CENSORED]ted Gaza Strip, where the WHO initially expected to vaccinate 156,500 children under the age of 10. “Our target for the central zone was an underestimation,” Peeperkorn said, adding that this was probably due to more people being crowded into the area than anticipated. He said the vaccination drive was expected to shift to southern Gaza on Thursday with the aim of immunising 340,000 children there. It is to then move to the north of the Strip, where about 150,000 children are to be vaccinated. “We still have 10 days to go at least” for the initial portion of the campaign, Peeperkorn said, and the rollout of the necessary second dose would begin in four weeks. While polio vaccinations are best carried out in house-to-house campaigns, Peeperkorn said, those are impossible in Gaza because “there’s very few houses left and people are everywhere.” ‘Extremely concerned’ Peeperkorn also warned that the WHO is “extremely concerned” about Gaza’s wider health situation. With only 16 of 36 hospitals partially operational, the Strip has seen a “huge increase in infectious diseases”. “We’ve seen more than a million, mainly children, diagnosed with acute respiratory infections,” Peeperkorn said, adding that more than 600,000 children had suffered from diarrhoea. Israel launched its assault on Gaza after Hamas led an attack on southern Israel on October 7, killing at least 1,139 people, mostly civilians, according to an Al Jazeera tally based on official Israeli statistics. Promising to destroy Hamas, Israel launched an assault on Gaza, which has killed at least 40,819 people, mostly women and children, according to Palestinian officials. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/3/israeli-attacks-in-gaza-kill-35-people-as-polio-vaccinations-continue

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