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Then US Vice President Dick Cheney addresses Marines at Al-Asad Air Base in Iraq December 18, 2005. [Lawrence Jackson/Reuters] In an unsurprising yet telling development, Republican former Vice President Dick Cheney has thrown his support behind the Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, over his party’s candidate, framing former President Donald Trump as an unprecedented threat to the United States. On its face, this endorsement might appear as a principled defence of democracy from a longstanding Republican stalwart. But beneath the surface lies a troubling irony. Cheney, the architect of some of the most disastrous foreign and domestic policies of the early 21st century, now seeks to claim the moral high ground. The legacy of his policies – particularly the havoc unleashed during the Iraq War and the broader “war on terror” – continues to reverberate globally, causing suffering and instability that far surpass anything Trump has wrought to date. During Tuesday’s presidential debate, Harris proudly touted Dick Cheney’s endorsement as a badge of honour – a moment as baffling as it was revealing. Embracing a man whose policies left a trail of death and destabilisation in their wake as a champion of American values lacks any semblance of moral clarity. Cheney, whose hands are stained with the blood of countless innocents from Iraq to Guantanamo, who undermined American democracy and terrorised countless innocent Americans under the “war on terror”, should not be celebrated, especially by someone seeking the mantle of progressive leadership. Cheney’s tenure as vice president under George W Bush is synonymous with neoconservative ambition, a vision of American dominance built on military intervention and disregard for international law. The invasion of Iraq in 2003 is perhaps the most glaring example of this approach. Alongside President Bush, Cheney pushed for a war based on false premises, most notably the existence of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in Iraq, and a supposed link between Saddam Hussein’s regime and the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Both claims were categorically debunked in the years that followed, yet the human and financial costs of the war are staggering. Estimates of Iraqi civilian deaths range from hundreds of thousands to well over a million, depending on the source. This war destabilised an entire region, paving the way for the rise of extremist groups like ISIL (ISIS) and contributing to ongoing cycles of violence and displacement. The political vacuum created by the toppling of Hussein remains unfilled, as Iraq continues to grapple with internal conflicts and external influences. Domestically, the costs were equally profound. The war drained trillions from the United States economy, money that could have been directed toward infrastructure, education or healthcare. Thousands of US troops lost their lives, and many more returned with life-altering physical and psychological wounds. Veterans of the Iraq conflict have some of the highest rates of PTSD and suicide among recent generations of American soldiers, underscoring the toll of this misadventure. And yet, those celebrating Cheney’s endorsement of Harris over Trump are now portraying him as a defender of democracy, as if the destabilising effects of his policies were somehow a lesser evil. The truth is that while Trump’s brand of populist nationalism has damaged the social fabric of the United States, the neoconservative project Cheney helped lead caused immense human suffering on a global scale – far beyond anything Trump has so far accomplished. Cheney’s endorsement of Harris, framed as a repudiation of Trump’s divisiveness, conveniently ignores his own role in eroding civil liberties in the US and across the world. One of Cheney’s signature policies, the “war on terror”, brought with it the expansion of executive power and a profound shift in the relationship between the American government and its citizens – especially Muslim Americans. The Patriot Act, passed in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, granted the US government sweeping surveillance powers, many of which were abused in the name of national security. Cheney was one of the most ardent advocates of these measures, arguing that extraordinary threats required extraordinary responses. In practice, these measures disproportionately targeted minorities, particularly Muslim Americans. Programmes like the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS) singled out men from predominantly Muslim countries, leading to widespread racial profiling and unconstitutional detentions. Muslim communities in the US were left to bear the brunt of Cheney’s overreach, living under a cloud of suspicion that persists to this day. Internationally, the “war on terror” led to even graver abuses. Cheney oversaw the use of torture in US military operations. “Enhanced interrogation techniques,” such as waterboarding, were deployed at facilities like Guantanamo Bay and CIA black sites across the globe. These practices violated basic human rights and international law, leaving a stain on America’s global reputation. Many of the individuals detained and tortured were never formally charged with any crime. To this day, Guantanamo Bay remains a symbol of injustice, where detainees languish without trial or meaningful recourse. The erosion of civil liberties Cheney helped to engineer not only devastated communities but also created a culture of fear that Trump later capitalised on during his rise to power. Anti-Muslim rhetoric, which played a key role in Trump’s 2016 campaign, has its roots in the fear-mongering that Cheney and his neoconservative allies perpetuated during the Bush administration. In this sense, the groundwork for Trump’s policies on immigration and national security was laid by Cheney himself. When examining Cheney’s legacy, no issue looms larger than the invasion of Iraq. The war, waged on false pretences, remains one of the costliest misadventures in modern American history. Under Cheney’s influence, the Bush administration sidelined diplomacy, dismissing warnings from the international community and bypassing the United Nations Security Council. The war not only violated international law but also undermined the very principles of sovereignty and self-determination that the US purported to champion. The ripple effects of the Iraq War are still being felt today. The instability it created in the Middle East has made it fertile ground for extremist groups, leading to a proliferation of violence that has engulfed nations far beyond Iraq’s borders. The rise of ISIL, the ongoing Syrian civil war, and the refugee crisis that has strained Europe can all be traced back, at least in part, to the power vacuum created by the toppling of Hussein. Yet, despite the overwhelming evidence of the war’s catastrophic consequences, Cheney has never fully reckoned with his role in bringing about this disaster. By endorsing Harris, he is attempting to paint himself as a responsible elder statesman, but his track record tells a different story – one of hubris, miscalculation and indifference to human suffering. One of the reasons Cheney’s endorsement may resonate with some Democrats and centrists is the perception that Trump represents an existential threat to American democracy. Trump’s brand of populism, his encouragement of far-right extremism, and his open disregard for democratic norms have indeed damaged the political fabric of the US. However, Cheney’s legacy of violence and imperialism abroad, coupled with his domestic assault on civil liberties, presents a far more troubling picture of the threats to democracy. Trump’s most egregious actions have played out on American soil, targeting immigrants, people of colour, and marginalised groups. His rhetoric has fuelled political violence and stoked deep divisions within American society. But the scope of Cheney’s policies, especially those that played out on the world stage, exceeds Trump’s in terms of sheer human suffering. The wars Cheney championed, particularly the Iraq War, claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and displaced millions. The torture and surveillance programs he helped oversee have left a lasting legacy of fear and suspicion, both at home and abroad. What makes Cheney’s endorsement, and the Democratic Party’s embrace of it, particularly galling is the way in which they gloss over these past sins in order to paint him as a guardian of American values. While Trump’s rhetoric and policies may have caused harm within the US, Cheney’s decisions inflicted untold suffering on far more people all across the globe. The selective moral outrage they direct at Trump while embracing Cheney as a saviour of democracy, is a testament to the hypocrisy of the liberal political establishment in the country. As we navigate American politics, we must be careful not to view figures like Cheney solely through a partisan lens. His critique of Trump, while valid in some respects, cannot erase the devastating impact of his own policies. Cheney’s endorsement of Harris should not be interpreted as an act of moral courage, but rather as a cynical attempt to rehabilitate his public image in the face of a deeply divided country. Advertisement Ultimately, both Trump and Cheney represent different forms of danger to American democracy and global stability. While Trump has undeniably stoked internal divisions and undermined democratic norms, Cheney’s actions as vice president set the stage for some of the most catastrophic conflicts of the 21st century. His policies eroded civil liberties, violated human rights, and destabilised entire regions, leaving a legacy of fear and instability that continues to haunt the world today. The Democratic Party and some of its liberal and progressive backers’ apparent decision to absolve Cheney of any responsibility for the havoc he unleashed on the world simply because he now opposes Trump is devoid of morality. Both men have caused irreparable harm, and neither should be celebrated for their actions. Instead, we should take this moment to reflect on the broader failures of the political system that allowed both Cheney and Trump to rise to power in the first place. Only then can we begin to chart a course towards a more just and equitable future. https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/9/12/cheneys-policies-as-vp-caused-immense-human-suffering-on-a-global-scale

Israeli soldiers keep position during a raid in Tulkarem camp on September 10, amid a large-scale military offensive in the occupied West Bank [Jaafar Ashtiyeh/AFP] Israeli forces have killed at least four Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, according to media reports, as Israel’s biggest military operation in the Palestinian territory since the early 2000s entered its third week. The Palestinian Wafa news agency said that three people were killed in a drone attack on a vehicle in the city of Tulkarem on Wednesday evening while another was killed by an Israeli sniper in the Far’a refugee camp, near the city of Tubas. The Israeli drone attack on Tulkarem set fire to the vehicle as well as a nearby home, Wafa reported. And in Far’a, the Israeli sniper killed 46-year-old Sufyan Jawad Fayez Abdul Jawad after shooting him in the heart, the agency said. There was no immediate comment from Israel. The killings took the overall death toll from Israel’s large-scale militarised operation, launched in the West Bank on August 28, to at least 50. The figure included five people who were killed in an air attack on Tubas early on Wednesday. Arrests About 40 people were arrested throughout the West Bank since Wednesday night, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society. One of those detained was pulled from a hospital where he was being treated, the group said on Thursday. The total number of Palestinians arrested since October 7 has reached 10,700, it added. Israel’s offensive, which the military claims targets Palestinian armed groups in the West Bank, came as it continues to bombard the Gaza Strip, killing more than 41,000 Palestinians since October 7. The West Bank operation is mostly concentrated in the territory’s northern governorates of Tulkarem, Tubas and Jenin, and has displaced hundreds of people and inflicted widespread damage to roads, water and sewerage networks, according to the United Nations. In the Jenin governorate, from where Israeli forces withdrew last week after a 10-day operation that saw the use of “lethal, war-like tactics”, at least 21 Palestinians have been killed and dozens more wounded, according to Wafa and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). In its latest update on the situation in the West Bank, OCHA said Israel’s operation in Jenin displaced 1,000 families. Most of them have returned to their homes, but at least 297 people, including 102 children, remain displaced after Israeli forces rendered their homes inhabitable. Israeli forces also bulldozed 70 percent of Jenin city’s roads and the underlying water and sewage networks, “severely impacting the safety of movement and access to essential services of water, sanitation, healthcare, education, and markets”, OCHA reported. As a result of the destruction, water supply has been cut to approximately 35,000 residents of the camp and its surrounding neighbourhoods since August 28, it said. The Israel-wrought destruction was similar in the Tulkarem and Nur Shams refugee camps in the Tulkarem governorate, where at least 12 people have been killed. OCHA said about 327 Palestinians, including 123 children, remain displaced in the two camps after Israeli forces damaged 400 homes and rendered 61 of them uninhabitable. More than 2.6km (1.6 miles) of water and sewage networks in the camps have also been bulldozed, cutting off water to approximately 33,000 people in the camps and resulting in sewage overflows, the agency added. Alleged truck ramming As Israeli operations continued in the West Bank, the military reported a ramming attack east of the city of Ramallah on Wednesday. It said the driver of a “Palestinian truck” drove towards Israeli troops, and was “neutralised”. An Israeli soldier was killed in the incident, while the condition of the suspected assailant was not clear. On Thursday, Almog Cohen, an MP with the far-right Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party, said Israel must collectively punish Palestinians in the West Bank. “A siege must be imposed on the villages or cities from which terrorists emerge,” said Cohen, in comments carried by Israeli public radio. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/12/four-killed-as-israels-large-scale-raids-on-west-bank-enter-third-week

Nick movie: Wolf Man | Official Teaser Time: Universal Pictures Netflix / Amazon / HBO: N/A Duration of the movie: 1min Trailer:

Music title: Chappell Roan - Good Luck, Babe! Signer: Chappell Roan Release date: 2024/04/18 Official YouTube link:

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#Accepted! Message me on discord.

#Rejected! [1] - Low Activity. [2] - Wrong password, read the rules to know it. [3] - You should have at least 10 hours playing, and you have only some minutes. Make another request after 7 days. #رفض! [1] - نشاط ضعيف ولاعب جديد [2] - باسوورد الأدمن خطأ, أقرء القوانين حتى تعرفه. [3] - لازم يكون عندك أقل شي 10 ساعات لعب بالسيرفر, وانت ماعندك غير بس شوي دقايق اعمل طلب ادمن ثاني بعد 7 ايام بعد ما تحسن نشاطك. T/C

PRO! Nice activity and deserve a chance Good luck mate!

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From the September/October 2024 issue of Car and Driver. Starting a successful car company is hard, as Henrik Fisker well knows. After working at BMW and Aston Martin, the talented designer struck out with Fisker Coachbuild (the Fisker Tramonto and the Latigo CS), Fisker Automotive (the Karma), and VLF Automotive (the Force 1 V10). The latest endeavor, Fisker Inc., produced the Ocean electric. We sampled the Ocean One, a limited-production launch edition equipped with everything on the top-of-the-line Extreme model, plus a few unique features. That means two-motor all-wheel drive, a total of 564 horsepower and 543 pound-feet of torque, a 106.5-kWh battery promising 360 miles of EPA range, and solar cells on the roof. This two-row electric SUV is a little longer and wider than a Volvo XC60. It looks aggressive, with plenty of bumps and grinds in the bodywork and a high kickup toward the rear of the beltline. We encountered a number of passersby who were smitten by the Ocean's looks, perhaps taken by its matte Big Sur Blue paint and 22-inch F6 Vortex wheels. The interior is comfortable enough for four adults, though the rear seat cushions are a little low and short. Fisker is big on sustainability, and the upholstery in our car consisted of Mali-Blu microsuede, with various recycled and synthetic materials on other surfaces. The overall effect doesn't feel rich, though it is functional. In general, the Ocean drives decently. The steering is accurate, and the brake feel isn't bad. But ride comfort could be better on rough roads, and with a 70-mph sound level of 69 decibels, the Ocean lacks the hushed interior of many EVs. In the mildest of the Ocean One's three drive modes, Earth, accelerator response from rest is sluggish and generally inconsistent. Even keeping up with normal traffic seems difficult, which is ridiculous for a car that can hit 60 mph in 3.9 seconds and cover the quarter-mile in 12.5. In Fun mode, the Ocean is livelier and generally behaves as we'd expect. It's no sports car, however. The undefeatable stability-control system limits the Ocean's cornering grip to 0.79 g. And stopping distances are lengthy, with the SUV requiring 173 feet to halt from 70 mph and 350 feet from 100. Fisker enhanced the Ocean with a number of novel ideas. California mode, for example, opens the four main side windows, the tiny and visually useless "doggie" rear quarter-windows, the liftgate window, and the large glass sunroof with a single button press. The Ocean's 17.1-inch infotainment touchscreen can rotate from vertical to horizontal in the One, letting you watch videos while parked. When you press what looks like a glovebox release button, a small "taco tray" extends from the dashboard. A second mini table unfolds from the central console. On our top-trim example, the solar cells embedded in the glass sunroof can provide a claimed 2000 or more miles of driving per year, assuming you don't regularly park in a shaded lot or a garage. In fact, on our test car, this sunroof powered about 10 percent of the miles driven. In our 75-mph highway range test, the Ocean delivered a solid 290 miles. Unfortunately, many of the controls are odd. For example, the cruise control uses a thumb-wheel and a couple of opaque buttons. Annoyingly, Fisker buries the odometer in the menus of the touchscreen. And while the Ocean offers an electronic display of the rear camera feed in the rearview mirror, it requires that the driver change eye focus when shifting from the road to the display—this quickly grew tiresome. And there were several quality issues. The liftgate frequently failed to open fully when its external button was pressed. Sometimes the climate-control system wouldn't produce enough heat; at other times it seemed too cold. A paired phone wouldn't automatically connect after a restart, even though the car showed the phone on the list of paired devices. After each start, the car operated with low regen, even though the settings menu showed that high was selected. During acceleration testing, the launch-control mode stopped working after a couple of tries. And this SUV has the world's loudest turn-signal clicks. All of this suggests that Fisker rushed the Ocean's development and production started prematurely. Resolving such glitches is not glamorous work, but it appears Fisker won't get the chance. Obituary: Fisker Inc. Fisker Inc. of Los Angeles died on June 17, 2024. It was seven years old. Fisker Inc. was born on October 3, 2016, to famed automotive designer and serial entrepreneur Henrik Fisker and his wife, Geeta Gupta-Fisker, who was responsible for finance and operations. In 2020, the company unveiled its first vehicle, the Ocean electric SUV, to be built by Magna Steyr of Graz, Austria. Intended to be the first of a multivehicle lineup, the Ocean wound up being the sole model Fisker produced. The first U.S.-spec vehicles were delivered to customers in June 2023. The good news for Fisker ended soon after. Following a grim earnings call this past March, the company announced it would pause development of the Pear SUV and the Alaska pickup while also laying off roughly 15 percent of its staff. Hope for a major cash infusion fizzled, leaving Fisker scrambling for capital. The bad news compounded, resulting in a pause in Ocean production and price cuts of up to $24,000. On June 5, Fisker issued a recall of 6864 Ocean SUVs—believed to be all the vehicles in public hands in the United States—over a control-unit defect. On June 17, the automaker's operating subsidiary filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, effectively sealing the company's fate. As part of the bankruptcy filings, Fisker agreed to sell the remaining 3231 vehicles in its possession along with "all relevant source code" to a New York–based leasing firm as it liquidates its assets. —Jack Fitzgerald Specifications 2023 Fisker Ocean One front- and rear-motor, all-wheel-drive, 5-passenger, 4-door wagon PRICE Base/As Tested: $71,437/$79,212 Options: Big Sur Blue paint, $4500; 22-inch Vortex black wheels, $1450; tow hitch, $1200; recycled floor mats, $250; retractable cargo cover, $375 POWERTRAIN Front Motor: permanent-magnet synchronous AC Rear Motor: permanent-magnet synchronous AC Combined Power: 564 hp Combined Torque: 543 lb-ft Battery Pack: liquid-cooled lithium-ion, 106.5 kWh Onboard Charger: 11.0 kW Peak DC Fast-Charge Rate: 250 kW Transmissions, F/R: direct-drive CHASSIS Suspension, F/R: struts/multilink Tires: Bridgestone Alenza Sport A/S Enliten 255/45R-22 107W M+S FSR DIMENSIONS Wheelbase: 115.0 in Length: 188.0 in Width: 78.5 in Height: 64.1 in Passenger Volume, F/R: 55/50 ft3 Cargo Volume, Behind F/R: 32/17 ft3 Curb Weight: 5389 lb C/D TEST RESULTS 60 mph: 3.9 sec 100 mph: 10.1 sec 1/4-Mile: 12.5 sec @ 110 mph Results above omit 1-ft rollout of 0.3 sec. Rolling Start, 5–60 mph: 4.2 sec Top Gear, 30–50 mph: 2.2 sec Top Gear, 50–70 mph: 2.5 sec Top Speed (gov ltd): 129 mph Braking, 70–0 mph: 173 ft Braking, 100–0 mph: 350 ft Roadholding, 300-ft Skidpad: 0.79 g C/D FUEL ECONOMY AND CHARGING Observed: 79 MPGe 75-mph Highway Range: 290 mi Average DC Fast-Charge Rate, 10–90%: 96 kW DC Fast-Charge Time, 10–90%: 57 min EPA FUEL ECONOMY Combined/City/Highway: 92/99/84 MPGe Range: 360 mi C/D TESTING EXPLAINED https://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/a62068406/2023-fisker-ocean-one-test/

Sri Lanka's Pathum Nissanka hits out as the tourists made short work of the victory chase on day four. Photograph: John Walton/PA A summer of renewal for England’s Test team delivered five straight wins, two series victories and, with that eye on the future, ushered in a few new faces. It also ended with a sloppy defeat to Sri Lanka at the Oval, the tourists shepherded to a deserved first win on English soil in 10 years by a sublime unbeaten 127 from Pathum Nissanka. England came into the fourth day still hopeful of being able to induce some jeopardy like the collapse they themselves suffered on that pivotal third day. Nine wickets needed, 125 runs to defend, a perfect home season to strive for; it was a grey, acutely end-of-season Monday and the crowd was sparse but there was no reason not to throw everything at it. But on the day there was only one twist when Shoaib Bashir dived full stretch in the deep to remove Kusal Mendis and reward Gus Atkinson’s determination to push through a thigh niggle and keep bowling. Otherwise it was a cruise, Nissanka throttling back a touch from the previous evening’s rapid half-century, reaching his second Test century from 107 balls, and then at 1.03pm rocking back to cut his 13th four off Bashir and seal an eight-wicket win. It was fitting that Angelo Mathews should be there at the end with him, 32 not out. The catalyst for his side’s 1-0 series win here in 2014, the 37-year-old Mathews provided a second calm head in what became a pretty clinical victory push. England’s attack was simply unable to generate the same movement that derailed their own batters 24 hours early, with this Sri Lankan victory very much to the efforts of their seamers. A 2-1 series win for England, then, and perhaps a useful reminder that a drop in intensity can be costly. Sri Lanka, by contrast, could have easily felt beaten after a ragged first day, and again after conceding a 62-run deficit on first innings. Instead the tourists dug deep, stayed serious, and found a way to flip this Test match, with Vishwa Fernando’s removals of Joe Root and Harry Brook in the third innings providing the spark for this fire. But there was no doubt which way the player of the match was heading, with Nissanka, who did not start the series, delivering 191 runs across the two innings and suggesting a player who made his first Test century on debut three years ago is more than just the ODI star he has become in the intervening time. Compact, orthodox and skilful enough to score his runs briskly, the 26-year-old could well become a fan favourite in this format. He certainly was on the day, with the 25.3 overs it took to reel in the remainder of the target meaning a 50% refund for ticket-holders. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/article/2024/sep/09/brilliant-nissanka-leads-sri-lanka-to-emphatic-test-victory-over-england

Composite: Guardian Design; Getty Images Ihave just discovered how the deep-sea anglerfish mates. My apologies if this is old ichthyological news to you, but it is new news to me, and it is very definitely going to be the hook for this week’s column. The female deep-sea anglerfish is very large compared with the male deep-sea anglerfish. In some species, he sniffs her out (using his giant nostrils) and upon finding his mate, he bites into her, his teeth and lips then dissolving into her flesh. His little fishy body dangling off hers like a limp appendage, he loses himself utterly, including the use of his eyes – what is the point of them, when he has hers? Some males “become little more than blobs or skin tags”, says James Maclaine, senior curator of fish at the Natural History Museum. The two fuse together so completely as to become one physiological entity, with one combined bloodstream, living one life and, eventually, dying one death. I mention this because I do not think it only applies to deep-sea anglerfish. There is a particular way of being in a relationship in which two people allow themselves to be – perhaps crave being, as well as fear being – totally fused together, losing their own sense of identity completely, so that they are no longer two separate individuals together but one seamless entity. Not seeing with two sets of eyes, but with one. In fact, I think it is quite common. This does not happen as dramatically in humans as it does with anglerfish. There is no permanent physical fusing, of course – it is all taking place in a psychological dimension, deep in the unconscious, so it can be more subtle to spot. But we all know when we lose a friend to a relationship like this; when we watch the vibrant, independent person we cherished disappear, as they seem to forget about their own needs and wants and friendships, conforming to a new sense of identity inside someone else. It can be less easy to spot when it is happening to you. One sign you might be caught up in a relationship, or indeed a friendship, with tendencies like this is if you find yourself in absolute fury when your “other half” deviates from a particular script you didn’t even realise you had in mind for them. For example, they have a desire to do something different from what you want them to do, or they feel differently about a political issue from how you want them to feel, or their idea of a good holiday is different from your idea of a good holiday, and they do not immediately comply with your wishes. In other words, they are acting as their own, separate person. One of my friends, who recognised the universality in this description of the deep-sea anglerfish, asked me: “What is the alternative? What is a healthy fish pairing? I bet salmon don’t do this.” The problem is, I think, that we don’t see this way of relating as an unhealthy pairing; in fact, we idealise it. This is how we romanticise falling in love. My other half. I’m yours. You complete me. Two become one. We don’t want to be salmon; a part of us unconsciously longs for this kind of merging. This makes sense. Every single one of us begins our existence in this state of non-separate fusion, of total enmeshment, within our mother’s body, receiving nourishment from her placenta, taking the oxygen we need from her blood through the umbilical cord – though, unlike the anglerfish, we never share a bloodstream. Our minds are folded up together in a state of apparently perpetual oneness. A part of us, I think, is always longing to go back to this, a way of being where needs are met before they can even become needs, so we do not have to experience the vulnerability and difference and aloneness necessary to recognise we are receiving something from somebody else. Where there is no hunger, no cold, no hard edges, nothing asked of us and nothing to ask for. The immersive sense of timelessness and boundlessness some seek in heroin, or gambling, or video games, or social media. Maybe all of us, deep down, want to find someone who loves us unconditionally, as if we are a part of them. But to build better relationships, to build a better life, you have to do it as a separate person. Being a separate person, and tolerating your partner being a separate person, is hard. It is painful. It is a feat of psychological growth. It involves taking responsibility for your own life but also understanding how that life is inevitably shaped by people outside your control. That they too are responsible for their own lives. It involves accepting that there are things that only you can offer yourself – like emotional freedom, personal fulfilment, self-acceptance. And understanding that there are things that only your partner can offer you if they so choose – like their thoughts, their body, their love. It is hard. It is painful. But it is important. Because otherwise you might wake up one morning and realise that you have lost the use of your own eyes, and that you have been seeing the world through someone else’s. That although – unless you are particularly unlucky – your lips and teeth have not fused irretrievably with your lover’s body, you have nevertheless become a limp appendage to another person’s life. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/article/2024/sep/09/do-you-dream-of-becoming-one-with-your-partner-the-deep-sea-anglerfish-shows-how-badly-that-can-end

The scientists tracked the eels’ escape from the stomach of the predator fish using X-ray video. Photograph: Current Biology Hasegawa It sounds like the plot of a horror movie – a predator swallows its prey only for the creature to burst out of its captor’s body. But it seems Japanese eels do just that. Scientists in Japan have discovered that when swallowed by a dark sleeper fish, the eels can escape. In a manoeuvre reminiscent of the fosbury flop high-jump technique, the eels back up the digestive tract of the predator fish towards its oesophagus, poke their tail through its gills, and complete their attempt at freedom by pulling their head free. The researchers say they initially assumed the eels were escaping the predator via its mouth. “However, contrary to our expectations, witnessing the eels’ desperate escape from the predator’s stomach to the gills was truly astonishing for us,” said Yuha Hasegawa, first author of the research from Nagasaki University. Writing in the journal Current Biology, the team reports how it began with 104 Japanese eels. The researchers placed one eel at a time in a tank that also contained one dark sleeper fish out of a collection of 11. The eels had barium sulfate injected into their abdominal cavity and tail, which allowed a swallowed eel to be tracked using an X-ray video system. The team recorded 32 eels being captured and swallowed by the sleeper fish. Some fully entered the predator’s stomach and were observed circling, apparently looking for a way out. Nine eels that were swallowed managed to break out, employing a tail-first approach. “The predatory fish were not harmed. However, the eels that managed to escape sometimes showed signs of abrasions,” said Hasegawa. Not all of the eels were successful. Four got their tail out of the predator’s gills but did not complete their exit, while two failed because they poked their tails in the direction of the predator’s vent rather than its oesophagus. The team says its findings are a first. While previous studies have observed other species of eel dying while attempting to escape from predators’ stomachs, the latest study shows the Japanese eels escaped alive. “At this point, the Japanese eel is the only species of fish confirmed to be able to escape from the digestive tract of the predatory fish after being captured,” said Yuuki Kawabata, another author of the research. The researchers add the elongated shape of the eels may have aided their escape by increasing the chance of their tail remaining in the predator’s oesophagus when swallowed headfirst. They are now planning to explore specific factors that could be involved in a successful escape, with experiments involving other eels and fish with a similar body shape. “Before capturing the first X-ray footage, we never imagined that eels could escape from the stomach of a predatory fish,” said Hasegawa. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/article/2024/sep/09/japanese-eels-escape-predator-stomach-gills-study

Vice President Kamala Harris will confront former President Donald Trump on September 10 in their first head-to-head debate [File: AP Photo] Former United States President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are preparing to face-off in their first presidential debate, with the election less than two months away. Tuesday’s debate will be the first time Trump and Harris — the candidates for the Republican and Democratic parties, respectively — will share a stage. The two have never met in person. The debate is also set to be a reflection of how dramatically the race has shifted in recent months. Trump was originally expected to face President Joe Biden at Tuesday’s event. But after an initial debate in June, Biden quit the race amid pressure over his stumbling performance and advanced age. The Democratic Party has since rallied around Harris, naming her its nominee for the presidency. That change has galvanised Democratic voters and led to a significant improvement in national and state-level polls. Meanwhile, the Trump campaign has struggled to respond to the opposition’s newfound enthusiasm. With Harris on the upswing and Trump looking for a way to blunt her momentum, the debate could be their only direct encounter ahead of the vote on November 5. What will Tuesday’s debate look like? What issues will be discussed? And what effect could the debate have on the race, with voting just on the horizon? When and where is the debate? The debate will take place at 9pm US Eastern Time on September 10 (01:00 GMT on Wednesday) at the National Constitution Center (NCC) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is set to last 90 minutes. The NCC is a nonprofit organisation that houses a museum and promotes education about the US Constitution. It has served as a venue for national political events in the past, including a Democratic presidential primary debate in 2008 and two ABC News town halls ahead of the 2020 election. How to watch the debate? The debate is being hosted by ABC News in collaboration with its local affiliate, WPVI-TV/6ABC. The debate will air on ABC and be available to stream on platforms such as ABC News Live, Disney+ and Hulu. Who will moderate the debate? ABC’s World News Tonight host David Muir and ABC News Live Prime anchor Linsey Davis will serve as moderators. Muir had moderated a Republican primary debate in February 2016, featuring then-candidate Trump in his first successful run for office. He and Davis also co-helmed the Democratic primary debates in September 2019 and February 2020. What is at stake in the debate? With Biden’s decision to end his campaign upending the dynamics of the race, Harris and Trump will use the debate to build momentum as the campaign enters its final stretch. Harris, in particular, has a relatively short time to pitch herself to voters before the vote as she replaced Biden in the race on July 21, a mere seven weeks ago. But the upheaval has been to her advantage as the Democrats have seen a substantial swing in their favour. According to national polling averages by Real Clear Politics, Democrats have gone from trailing Trump by 3.1 percent nationally to leading by 1.8 points in the weeks since Harris’s entry into the race. That is a nearly five-point improvement in just over a month. But Marc Trussler, director of data sciences at the Penn Program on Opinion Research and Election Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, said despite the impressive shift, Harris remains neck and neck with Trump. “After a remarkable period with a lot of unprecedented events, we’ve ended up in a place that feels pretty familiar, with the Democratic nominee holding a slight advantage in a tight race that will come down to tens of thousands of voters in a handful of swing states,” Trussler said. In fact, a national poll by The New York Times and Sienna College released on Sunday showed Trump and Harris in practically a dead heat, with the former president marginally ahead. The poll also suggests that the momentum that Harris gathered over the past month might have somewhat stalled. While presidential debates do not decide elections on their own, the narrow margin of this year’s race means that every success or slip-up can come with consequences. “Usually, we would say these debates don’t have much of an impact because the people who tune in tend to be those who have already made up their mind,” said Trussler. “But this is going to be a very close election, so anything that has the potential to move the needle even a little comes with high stakes.” What issues could be discussed? While a list of questions has not been released, a number of issues have dominated the race so far. They include the economy, immigration, abortion, Trump’s refusal to acknowledge his loss in the 2020 election and foreign policy, particularly with wars raging in Ukraine and Gaza. “Trump’s campaign will hope to emphasise inflation and immigration, where they think Harris is most vulnerable,” said Trussler. “For the Harris campaign, the emphasis will probably be on Trump’s general fitness for office and abortion.” What rules have been agreed to? The rules over the debate have been a point of contention between the two campaigns. For the first debate in June, Biden’s camp had asked that the microphones of both candidates be switched off while the other was speaking to avoid interruptions. But for Tuesday’s debate, the Harris campaign asked to reverse that sti[CENSORED]tion, on the premise that the rule worked to Trump’s advantage. Trump, after all, is known for outbursts and interruptions during debates, and Harris’s strategists suggested that a muted microphone may make him appear more disciplined than he really is. Both campaigns eventually agreed to keep the muted microphones. Only Trump and Harris are expected to appear onstage. No audience will be present at the live broadcast, and there will only be two breaks during the debate for commercials For each question they face, the candidates have two minutes to respond. Rebuttals will also be capped at two minutes, with the possibility of an extra minute for a further response. Both Harris and Trump will also have two minutes at the end of the night to offer a closing statement. What about third-party candidates? Third-party candidates in the US are generally considered long shots, and the threshold to qualify for Tuesday’s debate effectively limited their participation. To be on stage, participants had to show they had drawn at least 15 percent support in four separate national polls, a bar no third-party candidate has been able to clear. Will there be more debates after this one? For the moment, no additional debates are scheduled. Tuesday’s encounter between Trump and Harris could mark the only time voters have a chance to watch them square off before voting. Whether Tuesday’s debate would even happen was itself the subject of speculation. Trump previously suggested that he might skip it altogether and accused ABC News of bias. He reversed course in a social media post last month, saying he had agreed to the September 10 debate. But he included a swipe at the debate host in his message. “ABC FAKE NEWS,” he wrote, was “by far the nastiest and most unfair newscaster in the business”. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/9/trump-harris-first-presidential-debate-what-to-watch-for-on-tuesday

A view of the ruins of Lifta, a Palestinian village from where Palestinians were expelled by Jewish militias during the Nakba of 1948. Photo taken on June 18, 2021 [File: Reuters/Ammar Awad] It has been 11 months of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. The official death toll has exceeded 40,000 people but estimates put it much higher – in the hundreds of thousands. Intensifying starvation, and lack of sanitary conditions or clean water and medicines have caused mass death among the elderly, wounded, newborn, and chronically ill. Gaza has been turned into such a death trap that even if Israeli bombing were to stop tomorrow, those numbers would continue to rise for years. Simply trucking in more food would not stem mass death. Without clean water, toilets, and sewage disposal and treatment, without functioning hospitals and without an environment decontaminated from pathogens and poisons from Israeli bombs, people will continue to die from communicable diseases, chronic illnesses, and pollution. Israel and its supporters have used such concerns to push forward “solutions” which involve the mass expulsion and dispossession of the Palestinian po[CENSORED]tion in Gaza. Palestinians have outright rejected such schemes, and rightly so. However, there is a way to carry out temporary evacuation to allow for the cleaning up and rebuilding of Gaza and the preservation of the health and wellbeing of its people that does not involve their relocation out of historic Palestine. That can be done by rehousing Gaza’s po[CENSORED]tion to nearby areas in what is now Israel, which have the necessary infrastructure to sustain the temporary relocation of a large po[CENSORED]tion. No more exile: Palestinians must stay in Palestine Evacuation, even temporary, is a fraught topic for Palestinians precisely because the unlivable conditions in Gaza have been openly and deliberately created by Israel and its allies in the West to force the po[CENSORED]tion into exile. Last year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke of “thinning” the Palestinian po[CENSORED]tion in Gaza “to a minimum”, and his Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich spoke of getting it below 200,000 through emigration. “Our problem,” said Netanyahu, “is finding countries willing to accept them, and we are working on it.” There have been various Israeli proposals to exile the Palestinian po[CENSORED]tion to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Canada – thought to be especially suitable. Israeli government ministers, their US allies and pliant media have all openly endorsed such plans. Last year, the White House asked Congress for funding to support “Gazans fleeing to neighbouring countries”, while US officials reportedly presented a plan for a tent city in El Arish in Egypt. Cairo has been put under immense pressure by Israel and its allies to accept Palestinians into Sinai, but it has so far rejected such plans. Palestinian factions across the political spectrum have condemned any suggestion for expulsion of Palestinians from their homeland. Recognising the injustice of expulsion, we, along with other Palestinians and Israeli anti-Zionists, have called for temporary and voluntary evacuation within historic Palestine. Instead of exiling Palestinian survivors of the war to other countries, we propose that they be housed in temporary accommodation in other parts of historic Palestine falling within Israeli borders while Gaza is rebuilt. There is already a legal basis for such a relocation. Let us remember that some 74 percent of Gaza’s po[CENSORED]tion are refugees and descendants of refugees from historic Palestine and they have the right to return. In December 1948, a year after the Nakba began, the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 194, which guaranteed the right to return for Palestinians expelled from their homes by Israeli forces. This right is further enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, passed the same month. The Pinheiro principles, introduced in 2005, give guidance on how to implement housing and property restitution for returning refugees. Israel’s admission as a member state into the UN in 1949 was conditional on the implementation of Resolution 194, which it never fulfilled. Now, it is time to correct this mistake. Evacuate within Palestine: A just solution While relocating Palestinians from Gaza into what is now Israel will be a challenge, there are some circumstances that will facilitate it. First, there is space. Some 88 percent of the land in Israel is controlled by the military, is dedicated to nature reserves or is vacant; 87 percent of Israelis live on less than 6 percent of the country. Second, there are many suitable sites with existing roads, water, sewage, and electric infrastructure that can be quickly expanded, as demonstrated by the research of Palestinian scholar Salman Abu Sitta. Shelter and humanitarian aid can be scaled and distributed by UNRWA, and other local aid agencies, such as Palestine Red Crescent Society. It will be paid for by Israel and its allies in view of its obligations under international law to provide for the po[CENSORED]tion it occupies, as the recent advisory ruling by the International Court of Justice has reaffirmed. Importantly, proper housing does not mean concentration camps in the Naqab desert. During rehousing and rebuilding, the po[CENSORED]tion from Gaza can maintain access to their extant homes in Gaza and have the right to move freely. An international force can be deployed inside Israel to protect both the Palestinians and aid sent to them from Israeli attacks. The creation of such a force for the occupied Palestinian territory was already suggested by the UN Special Rapporteur for Palestine Francesca Albanese in her March 2024 report and by South Africa last October. Importantly, this must not mean occupation by forces from any country. The rebuilding of Gaza should be controlled by the Palestinian people and their political leadership. The people of Gaza should be employed in any necessary construction in Israel and the extensive, multiyear rebuilding of Gaza, as scoped out in numerous UN agency reports. The question of who should be “in control” of Gaza during this process has already been addressed in the Beijing Declaration, signed in July by 14 Palestinian factions. They committed to unity under the umbrella of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the creation of an interim reconciliation government to carry out reconstruction in Gaza and prepare for elections. The Israeli government will likely resist such a plan of relocation, which is why the UN must use all its power and tools of enforcement – including sanctions and suspension of membership – to force it to accept and fulfil its legal obligations. This is the least the UN can do to start correcting the errors it made in 1947 and after that. Exile is traumatic, elaborate, costly and unjust. Evacuation within historic Palestine, over the fence, is simple, efficient, walkable, and just. International law gives us all the tools we need to save lives in Palestine by fulfilling the Palestinian right to return. The views expressed in this article are the authors’ own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance. https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/9/9/the-people-of-gaza-belong-in-palestine-not-canada-or-drc

Nick movie: Megalopolis Time: Lionsgate Movies Netflix / Amazon / HBO: N/A Duration of the movie: Trailer:

Music title: Sabrina Carpenter - Please Please Please (Official Video) Signer: Sabrina Carpenter Release date: 2024/06/07 Official YouTube link: