“A Pakistani court granted bail Wednesday to former Prime Minister Imran Khan in a graft case, his lawyer said. But with a slew of other charges pending against him, the opposition leader is staying behind bars. Still, the order by a superior court in the capital, Islamabad, was a boost for Khan in the case in which he is accused, along with his wife, Bushra Bibi, of keeping and selling state gifts in violation of government rules when he was in power. Khan, who was ousted in a no-confidence vote in parliament in 2022, has denied the charge. The hearings in the trial on the graft charges started in July and are still ongoing. Khan has so far been embroiled in over 150 cases and has been sentenced in several, including to three years, 10 years, 14 years and seven years to be served concurrently under Pakistani law.” (11/20/24)
“The Biden administration will provide Ukraine with controversial anti-personnel mines in its war against Russia, a U.S. official confirmed to CBS News Tuesday night. Anti-personnel mines, or APLs, are designed to be used against people, not vehicles. They can be rapidly deployed and are meant to blunt the advances of ground forces, making them useful for Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s advances in Eastern Ukraine, the official said. The U.S. sought commitments from the Ukrainians on their use to further limit the risk to civilians, the official said, noting that Ukrainians are committed to not employing the mines in areas populated with their own civilians.” (11/19/24)
“Members of the House Committee on Ethics deadlocked on releasing a report of its investigation into attorney general-designate Matt Gaetz, the panel’s chairman said Wednesday. Rep. Michael Guest (R-Miss.) told reporters that the 10 members reached ‘no agreement on releasing the report’ into the probe of whether Gaetz violated congressional rules against sexual misconduct and illicit drug use, among other transgressions. Prior to the committee’s closed-door meeting, which lasted more than two hours, Guest said he had ‘reservations’ about releasing the report, which he said was ‘an unfinished work product’ and still in the ‘final review’ stages. Guest did not clarify whether the committee had voted on either releasing the report or transmitting it directly to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is expected to consider Gaetz’s nomination to lead the Justice Department early next year.'” (11/20/24)
“A suicide attack by Islamist militants on an outpost killed 12 soldiers in northwest Pakistan, the country’s military said on Wednesday. Militants rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the perimeter wall of the outpost in northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and damaged the adjoining infrastructure during the attack on Tuesday, the military’s media wing said in a statement. … The military did not provide details on who was behind the attack, but Hafiz Gul Bahadur, an Islamist militant group claimed responsibility.” (11/20/24)
“Researchers have created an early map of some of the human body’s estimated 37.2 trillion cells. Each type of cell has a unique role, and knowing what all the cells do can help scientists better understand health and diseases such as cancer. Scientists focused on certain organs — plotting the jobs of cells in the mouth, stomach and intestines, as well as cells that guide how bones and joints develop. They also explored which cells group into tissues, where they’re located in the body and how they change over time. They hope the high-resolution, open-access atlas — considered a first draft — will help researchers fight diseases that damage or corrupt human cells. ‘When things go wrong, they go wrong with our cells first and foremost,’ said Aviv Regev, co-chair of the Human Cell Atlas consortium who was involved with the research.” (11/20/24)
“SpaceX on Tuesday launched another Starship rocket, but passed up catching the booster with giant mechanical arms. Unlike last month’s success, the booster was directed to a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico. The catch was called off just four minutes into the test flight from Texas for unspecified reasons, and the booster hit the water three minutes later. Not all of the criteria for a booster catch was met and so the flight director did not command the booster to return to the launch site, said SpaceX spokesman Dan Huot. He did not specify what went wrong. At the same time, the empty spacecraft launched from Texas atop Starship soared across the Gulf of Mexico on a near loop around the world similar to October’s test flight. Skimming space, the shiny retro-looking craft descended into the Indian Ocean for a controlled but destructive end to the hourlong demo.” (11/19/24)
THANK YOU to supporters WT and DZ! Their $35 in donations yesterday bring our year-end fundraiser total to $1,927 — only $748.50 short of our goal!
That goal is $5,531. Supporter GL has pledged to “match funds” for half once we raise the FIRST half — $2,675.50.
We can wrap this up with only 30 contributions of $25 each, 100 contributions of $7.50 each, or any of various combinations … YOUR contribution is the one we’re waiting for! Help out at:
“Russian President Vladimir Putin formally lowered the threshold for Moscow’s deployment of nuclear weapons on Tuesday, seemingly in response to the US loosening restrictions on Ukraine’s use of long-range weapons to strike deep inside Russian territory. Separately, Russia also claimed that Ukraine had fired six US-supplied long-range missiles at a military facility in the Bryansk border region, Russian state media reported, in what would be the first such attack since Washington announced a policy shift. Russia will now regard any attack by a non-nuclear country supported by a nuclear power as a joint attack, and ‘reserves the right to consider a nuclear response,’ the Russian state news agency TASS reported.” (11/19/24)
“Bitcoin rose to a record high above $94,000 as a report that Donald Trump’s social media company was in talks to buy crypto trading firm Bakkt added to hopes of a cryptocurrency-friendly regime under the incoming Trump administration. Bitcoin, the world’s biggest and best-known cryptocurrency, has more than doubled this year. It was last at $92,104 in Asian hours on Wednesday, having touched a record high $94,078 just toward the end of the previous session.” (11/19/24)
“Iran has agreed to stop producing uranium enriched close to the level required for nuclear weapons, according to United Nations inspectors. Monitors from the International Atomic Energy Agency said Tuesday that Iran has begun implementing measures ‘aimed at stopping the increase of its stockpile,’ according to a 12-page report seen by Bloomberg News. The Islamic Republic’s engineers have already taken the first steps necessary to cap output, the report said. … The IAEA’s safeguards report is the last before US President-Elect Donald Trump takes office in January.” (11/19/24)
