News of the World

[kyonides]

Now comes a weird situation that is quite uncommon for journalism in general. They have posted 2 articles that are pretty much the same but with minimal changes.  

Joe Biden Offered Vladimir Putin 20 Percent of Ukraine to End War

The White House and the CIA have responded to a report that CIA Director, William Burns, offered Russian President Vladimir Putin a fifth of Ukraine's territory to end the ongoing war as part of a peace plan drawn up on behalf of President Joe Biden.

A CIA official told Newsweek that claims in the report from Swiss-German newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) that Burns took a secret trip to Moscow in January and that there was a peace proposal put forward by the director on behalf of the White House were "completely false."

Last month, Burns traveled in secret to meet and brief Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv, The Washington Post reported.

Burns is said to have submitted the plan in mid-January to put an end to the war, which began on February 24, 2022. The story was reported by NZZ on Thursday, citing high-ranking German foreign politicians.

Both Kyiv and Moscow reportedly rejected the proposal.
...
According to the newspaper, the proposal offered "around 20 percent of Ukraine's territory"—approximately the size of Ukraine's eastern Donbas region.

Kyiv reportedly shut down the proposal "because they are not willing to have their territory divided" while Russian officials said they "will win the war in the long run anyway," reported NZZ, which has been described as the Swiss newspaper of record.

Sean Savett, the deputy spokesperson at White House's National Security Council, told Newsweek that the report from NZZ is "not accurate," and that the CIA would say the same.

According to the news outlet the German politicians said Biden wanted to avoid a protracted war in Ukraine, and so, offered the territory as part of the peace plan.

And when Ukraine and Russia both rejected the proposal, the Biden administration pledged to provide Kyiv with Abrams tanks, NZZ reported.

Then the same reporter rushed to published pretty much the same article again with slight modifications. Or should I say WH's requests for editing the contents?  After the Twitter files, everything is possible.

White House Denies Joe Biden Offered to Give Ukrainian Territory to Putin

Google didn't offer a link to the original article at all, claiming that the information changes quickly.  As if.

And concerning the Chinese "weather balloon" many of us saw floating in the air...

F-22 Shoots Down Chinese Spy Balloon Off Carolinas With Missile

The U.S. has shot down a Chinese surveillance balloon off the coast of South Carolina as multiple assets have entered the area to recover its debris.

The saga that began with the balloon's appearance high above Billings, Montana, on February 1 reached its climax Saturday with an explosion and the balloon's subsequent fall from high altitude. Videos of the shootdown showed an F-22 Raptor launching an air-to-air missile at the balloon for the kill. This would be the F-22's first 'kill.'
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"On Wednesday, President Biden gave his authorization to take down the surveillance balloon as soon as the mission could be accomplished without undue risk to American lives under the balloon’s path," Austin said. "After careful analysis, U.S. military commanders had determined downing the balloon while over land posed an undue risk to people across a wide area due to the size and altitude of the balloon and its surveillance payload. ... Today’s deliberate and lawful action demonstrates that President Biden and his national security team will always put the safety and security of the American people first while responding effectively to the PRC’s unacceptable violation of our sovereignty."

Austin also thanked the Canadian government for its assistance in tracking the balloon in its part of North American Aerospace Defense Command. In remarks to the press pool, President Biden confirmed he ordered the balloon shot down on Wednesday once it could be done without risk of collateral damage.

Pentagon confirms second Chinese ‘surveillance balloon’ seen over Latin America

A second Chinese “surveillance balloon” was spotted flying over Latin America after another one traveling across the continental U.S. was detected earlier in the day, officials confirmed Friday evening.

“We are seeing reports of a balloon transiting Latin America.  We now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon,” Brig. Gen Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said. “We have no further information to provide at this time.”

The Chinese Foreign Ministry confirmed in a statement earlier on Friday that the high-altitude balloon that was first seen over Montana on Wednesday belongs to China, but claimed it is a weather balloon that was blown off course by wind.

U.S. officials countered the comment, instead speculating that it is a surveillance balloon. They have not shot it down over fears that doing so could risk public safety.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponed a scheduled trip to China after the balloon was detected. A State Department official said the conditions are “not right” for Blinken to make the trip at this time and noted that the balloon is a violation of international law and U.S. sovereignty.
...
Republicans slammed the Biden administration after reports of the first balloon surfaced, saying that the balloon should be shot down immediately.

Montana Authorities Address ‘Massive Explosion’ Rumors in Sky
Where Chinese Spy Balloon Was Spotted

Montana officials have issued a statement saying that reports of a “massive explosion” taking place in the sky near where a Chinese spy balloon was spotted are inaccurate after a video went viral on social media purporting to show several blasts in the sky over Billings and what could be debris falling to the ground.

Two explosions and a trail of smoke in the sky over Billings Montana, where the balloon had been flying over the region, were captured on camera on Friday.

Dolly Moore, who shot the video and shared it on Twitter, said she saw a jet zooming by “so fast” followed by explosions.
...
In an appearance on Tucker Carlson Tonight, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte said he had just been informed of an apparent explosion and that authorities were “monitoring the situation” and would provide an update when more information became available.

Initially, the City of Billings put out a statement on Twitter saying that they were aware of the video and claims of a “massive explosion” over Billings but that no plane crashes had been caught on radar and no emergency crews had been called in to respond to any incidents.

In a follow-up statement, the City of Billings said that Gianforte and the Montana Department of Emergency Services had confirmed there was no explosion in or around Billings, Montana.

 Oh really? So if it had done any damage to buildings or killed people or birds, they would still deny it?  

Jury: Musk Didn’t Defraud Investors With 2018 Tesla Tweets

A jury on Friday decided Elon Musk didn’t defraud investors with his 2018 tweets about electric automaker Tesla in a proposed deal that quickly unraveled and raised questions about whether the billionaire had misled investors.

The nine-member jury reached its verdict after less that two hours of deliberation following a three-week trial. It represents a major vindication for Musk, who spent about eight hours on the witness stand defending his motives for the August 2018 tweets at the center of the trial.
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Not long after the verdict came down, Musk took to Twitter—the social media platform he now owns—to celebrate.
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Nicholas Porritt, an attorney who represented aggrieved Tesla investors, said he was disappointed after urging the jurors in his closing arguments to rebuke Musk for reckless behavior that threatened to create “anarchy.”
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Shortly before boarding his private jet on Aug. 7, 2018, Musk wrote on Twitter that he had the financing to take Tesla private, even though it turned out he hadn’t gotten an iron-clad commitment for a deal that would have cost $20 billion to $70 billion to pull off. A few hours later, Musk sent another tweet indicating that the deal was imminent.

 

Judge Wants Answers After Jan. 6 Defendant Reverses Himself, Proclaims Innocence

U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta on Feb. 3 gave the defense and prosecutors one week to explain why he shouldn’t act following a published interview of Thomas Adams Jr., the defendant.

Adams told the State Journal-Register that he wouldn’t change anything he did on Jan. 6, adding: “I didn’t do anything. I still to this day, even though I had to admit guilt, don’t feel like I did what the charge is.”

The comments on Feb. 1 came one day after attorneys for Adams reached an agreement on facts in the case with prosecutors. In the agreement, the parties agreed that the government would show that Adams entered the U.S. Capitol through a breached door without authorization and made his way to the Senate chamber before being escorted out of the building by law enforcement officers.

The parties presented the agreement to Mehta, an Obama appointee. Mehta decided, based on the facts, that Adams was guilty of obstruction of an official proceeding and entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds.

The type of proceeding is called a stipulated trial. It’s a version of a bench trial, which features a judge deciding on guilt or innocence rather than a jury.

And it is a dangerous kind of trial for defendants for sure.

US Says ‘Significant Progress’ Made Toward
Australia’s Acquisition of Nuclear Subs at Earliest Date

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Saturday that “significant progress” has been made toward Australia’s acquisition of a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines “at the earliest possible date” under the AUKUS security pact.

Austin met with Australian defense minister Richard Marles in Washington on Saturday to discuss the trilateral AUKUS.
...
The two nations also seek to work closely with Japan to address regional challenges in the Indo-Pacific.
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For the AUKUS security pact, Marles reiterated that Australia, the United States, and Britain were building a “three-way ecosystem” that will benefit all three nations. The federal government is set to unveil its nuclear submarine plan in March.
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He noted that Washington’s complex regulations and export control laws, such as the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), could delay the transfer of necessary technologies for the submarines by years.

In recent months, there has been speculation that U.S. shipyards will be unable to supply Australia with additional submarines because of a lack of extra capacity.

After Recall, Should Americans Be Worried About Infection From Eye Drops?

The maker of a type of over-the-counter eye drops is recalling the product after federal officials linked it to drug-resistant infections that may have led to at least one death in the United States, said officials Thursday.

Global Pharma Healthcare issued a recall Wednesday for artificial tears made by EzriCare Artificial Tears after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued advisories saying they might be contaminated and linked to an outbreak of Pseudomonas aeruginosa bacteria.

“Global Pharma Healthcare is notifying the distributors of this product, Aru Pharma Inc. and Delsam Pharma and is requesting that wholesalers, retailers, and customers who have the recalled product should stop use,” the notice said.

Both the FDA and CDC said that there were 55 cases reported across 12 states, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Nevada, Texas, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin.

6th Memphis Police Officer Fired in Tyre Nichols’s Death

Nichols, 29, passed away in the hospital on Jan. 10, three days after a violent encounter with five Memphis police officers during a traffic stop that ultimately ended with Nichols succumbing to injuries sustained in the incident. The encounter was captured in video recordings made public by the city of Memphis on Jan. 27.

In a statement, Memphis PD said it concluded that former officer Preston Hemphill, 26, violated multiple department policies, resulting in his termination. Hemphill had already been suspended on Monday with pay, pending a hearing.

Hemphill was charged with violations of personal conduct, truthfulness, use of a conducted energy weapon (TASER), uniform and equipment regulations, and processing of recovered property, according to Memphis PD.

Memphis PD said the investigation into the five other officers charged over Nichols’s death is ongoing, with updates expected to be released in the near future.

Hemphill was hired by the MPD in March 2018.

Now they are even firing  officers that were not caught on that terrible video.