“Russia, the United States and China have all built new facilities and dug new tunnels at their nuclear test sites in recent years, satellite images obtained exclusively by CNN show, at a time when tensions between the three major nuclear powers have risen to their highest in decades. While there is no evidence to suggest that Russia, the US or China is preparing for an imminent nuclear test, the images, obtained and provided by a prominent analyst in military nonproliferation studies, illustrate recent expansions at three nuclear test sites compared with just a few years ago. One is operated by China in the far western region of Xinjiang, one by Russia in an Arctic Ocean archipelago, and another in the US in the Nevada desert.” (09/22/23)
“At least one person was killed in Russian shelling of the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson on Friday, the regional governor said. The governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, said on the Telegram messaging app that a 25-year-old man had been killed and another person wounded when residential districts came under fire in the city … Kyiv drove Russian forces out of part of the Kherson region last November after several months of occupation, but Russian troops have continued shelling the regional capital and areas around it from across the Dnipro River.” (09/22/23)
“The administration of President Joe Biden has extended temporary legal [sic] status to an estimated 472,000 Venezuelans living in the United States, citing ‘extraordinary’ circumstances. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced the decision late on Wednesday, saying that ‘the conditions in their home country prevent their safe return.’ … The decision to extend Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, will allow hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans already living in the US to apply for work authorisation, a move Democrats hope will alleviate stress on social service programmes. It also offers protection from deportation, at least temporarily. The latest TPS designation lasts 18 months and applies only to Venezuelans who entered the US before July 31.” [editor’s note: It would be better for the Biden regime to just admit that it has precisely zero constitutional authority to regulate where they go or whether they work. But better than nothing, I guess – TLK] (09/21/23)
“Wall Street tanked in a broad sell-off on Thursday, as investor risk appetite was dashed by worries that the Federal Reserve’s restrictive monetary policy will remain in place for longer than anticipated. All three major U.S. stock indexes tumbled more than 1% and benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yields touched a 16-year peak the day after Fed Chairman Jerome Powell warned inflation still has a long way to go before approaching the central bank’s 2% target. Interest rate-sensitive megacaps, led by Amazon.com, Nvidia Corp, Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc dragged the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq to their lowest closing levels since June.” (09/21/23)
“Oil resumed its breakneck rally on Thursday after Russia banned gasoline and diesel exports, further tightening an already stressed global fuel market. The measures, designed to stabilize Russia’s domestic fuel prices, will remove supplies from the global diesel market at a time when refiners are struggling to meet demand. So far this year, Russia was the world’s single biggest seaborne exporter of diesel. West Texas Intermediate rose above $90 a barrel while diesel futures soared as much as 4.6%. Prices had retreated earlier in the day, mirroring losses in other risk assets, after the Federal Reserve flagged that borrowing costs would likely stay higher for longer. Russia’s export ban comes after its shipments of the fuel already were down by a third this month, which had helped push Europe’s diesel benchmark near to $130 a barrel this month.” (09/21/23)
“House conservatives on Thursday defeated a procedural vote on a Pentagon funding bill, preventing the legislation from moving forward in the chamber for the second time this week and dealing an embarrassing blow to Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). Six Republicans joined Democrats in voting against the rule for the Pentagon appropriations bill, which was enough to defeat the effort. The final vote was 212-216. The failed vote marks another disappointment for McCarthy, who has tried to advance the appropriations process — and appease the conference’s right flank — as the end-of-the-month government funding deadline inches closer.” (09/21/23)
“John Grisham, Jodi Picoult and Game of Thrones novelist George R R Martin are among 17 authors who have sued OpenAI, the latest in a wave of legal action by writers concerned that artificial intelligence programs are using their copyrighted works without permission. The proposed class-action lawsuit filed late on Tuesday by the Authors Guild joins several others from writers, source code owners and visual artists against generative AI providers. In addition to Microsoft-backed OpenAI, similar lawsuits are pending against Meta Platforms and Stability AI over the data used to train their AI systems. Other authors involved in the latest lawsuit include The Lincoln Lawyer writer Michael Connelly and lawyer-novelists David Baldacci and Scott Turow. OpenAI and other AI defendants have [pointed out that] their use of training data scraped from the internet qualifies as fair use under US copyright law.” (09/21/23)
“Beijing-based Galactic Energy’s winning record of nine successful launch missions for its Ceres-1 rocket ended on Thursday, potentially delaying the expansion of China’s Jilin-1, the world’s largest Earth observation satellite network. Its latest rocket failed to send a high-resolution imaging satellite into orbit. The company made the announcement six hours after the 12.59pm Beijing time lift-off from the Jiuquan satellite launch centre in the Gobi Desert. … A rocket engineer in Beijing, who asked not to be named because he is not authorised to speak to the media, said it appeared to be second- or third-stage engine breakdown. … The failed mission is the first major setback for the 20 metre (65ft 7 ins) long, four-stage, solid-fuel rocket, which has become one of the best-performing commercial rockets in China since its maiden flight in November 2020.” (09/22/23)
“The Canadian-founded video platform that has gained currency among right-wing pundits and websites is rejecting a request from a British parliamentary committee to stop Russell Brand from being able to monetize his content online as sexual assault allegations against the comic are being investigated. Rumble, founded in Toronto, characterized the request from the chair of the House of Commons media committee as “extremely disturbing” and said it wouldn’t ‘join a cancel culture mob.’ ‘We regard it as deeply inappropriate and dangerous that the U.K. Parliament would attempt to control who is allowed to speak on our platform or to earn a living from doing so,’ the company said in a statement. … YouTube, the Google-owned video giant, said on Tuesday monetization of Brand’s account, which has 6.6 million subscribers, was being suspended due to the ‘serious allegations.’ As well, the BBC removed some of Brand’s material from its streaming archive.” (09/21/23)
“Vice President Kamala Harris will lead a new federal office of gun violence prevention [sic], the White House said Thursday. President Joe Biden will formally announce the new office Friday during a Rose Garden event where several advocates and lawmakers have been invited to attend. Harris, who has played a leading role in [victim disarmament] policy, will oversee the office, according to a White House statement. Longtime Biden aide Stefanie Feldman, who has worked on [victim disarmament] policy for more than a decade, will serve as its director.” (09/21/23)
