uphillbothways

The ability to 'boost' your own comments/threads has been used by a very small number of users in a way that seriously degrades conversation on the platform. These users constantly move their own contributions to the top of the conversation without regard to their value. If allowed to continue it will likely become standard for everyone to do the same and the value of the 'boost' feature will be lessened.

I can't see a downside to removing the ability to do so, and it seems like it would be very easy to implement. Though, I am open to discussion on the topic.

Thank you. (And, once again, I apologize if there is a thread about this topic already. I searched, but didn't see one.)

Earlier this year it was clear Antarctic sea ice levels were low. Now, as the continent enters spring, it’s obvious that “it’s a really exceptional year.”

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Winter is over in the Southern Hemisphere and sea ice around Antarctica has likely grown as much as it’s going to for 2023, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. Antarctic sea ice reached its lowest peak by a wide margin for any year since 1979, when the continuous satellite record began.

“The ice this year is so far out of the range of all the other years that it’s a really exceptional year,” said Ariaan Purich, a climate scientist at Monash University in Australia.

By Sept. 10, sea ice had grown to cover 6.5 million square miles around the continent, or just under 17 million square kilometers. The difference this year from the 1981 to 2010 average is an area roughly the size of Alaska.

Why It Matters: Sea ice protects the continent’s ice shelf and wildlife.
Antarctica has ice both on land, in the form of its massive continental ice sheet, and in the waters around it, in the form of seasonal sea ice. The ice in the water helps protect the land ice from the warming ocean. Less sea ice could mean that the continental ice sheet melts and breaks faster, contributing to faster sea-level rise around the world.

That sea ice supports a whole ecosystem of wildlife, including both Adélie and emperor penguins. Last year, several emperor penguin colonies suffered a widespread loss of their chicks when the ice broke up early.

Background: This year’s record low follows several years of decline.
Antarctic sea ice has been growing sluggishly and staying at record lows for each month since April.

“Things got really strange,” said Walt Meier, a senior research scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center. “It started diverging from anything we’d seen before.”

Satellite data from 1966 showed a similarly low sea ice extent, but Dr. Meier cautioned that this earlier data is less reliable and should not be used as a direct comparison to today’s observations.

The departure from previous years is particularly significant right now, but follows several years of declining sea ice. Until 2016, the sea ice around Antarctica had remained relatively stable, unlike ice in the Arctic Ocean, even as the global temperature rose. But in the past seven years, Antarctic sea ice has reached record lows numerous times.

What’s Next: A potential new, unstable era for Antarctic sea ice.
A complicated mix of atmospheric and oceanic factors influence how much sea ice forms around Antarctica each year, and scientists still debate the relative importance of each factor. But ocean warming from global climate change seems to be a growing influence, said Dr. Purich, who published a study in September on trends for this year’s Antarctic sea ice, suggesting that Antarctica and the Southern Ocean may be tipping into a new state with persistently low sea ice.

This year’s trends might continue into 2024 thanks to the potential of what’s known as a positive feedback loop. White ice reflects sunlight, while dark ocean water absorbs it. So the less sea ice there is, the more local sea-surface temperatures are likely to rise and melt the ice further, said Marilyn Raphael, a geography professor and director of the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at University of California, Los Angeles.

She recently helped reconstruct a longer record of Antarctic sea ice that includes seasonal averages stretching back to 1905 using historical weather observations. The average sea-ice cover from June through August this year was far outside any other winter average even in this longer record.

A correction was made on Oct. 5, 2023: An earlier version of this article characterized incorrectly the cycle of melting described by Marilyn Raphael. It is a positive feedback loop (because the product of the reaction leads to an increase in that reaction) not a negative feedback loop.

Abstract: The study aimed to evaluate the potential use of spent coffee powder (SCP) and spent tea powder (STP) as bioactive supplements for sponge cake. To achieve this aim, we initially compared the chemical properties of spent tea and coffee powders with those of their raw forms. Subsequently, three supplemented cake blends were prepared (1, 2, and 3% of SCP and STP) to test the effect of their addition on the chemophysical characteristics, sensory attributes, and shelf life of the final products. Our results indicated that spent tea and coffee are prospective materials for polyphenols. Spent tea powder could retain up to 72% (theaflavin trigallate), while spent coffee powder could retain up to 63.9% (1-caffeoylquinic acid) of the identified compounds compared to the raw materials. Furthermore, spent tea and coffee powders contained high levels of dietary fiber (18.95 and 31.65 g/100 g dry weight) and the elements potassium (254.6 and 1218.2 mg/100 g of DW), phosphorus (189.8 and 161.3 mg/100 g of DW), calcium (904.1 and 237.8 mg/100 g of DW), and magnesium (158.8 and 199.6 mg/100 g of DW). In addition, the fortified samples with SCP and STP significantly enhanced the nutritional values while retaining good sensory qualities compared to those of the control sample. Moreover, cakes fortified with the highest concentrations of SCP and STP (3%) showed a significant decrease in malondialdehyde content (MDA; 17.7 and 18.0 μg/g) and microbiological counts (2.4 and 2.5 log cfu/g) compared to the control cake after 14 days of storage. These findings suggest that incorporating SCP and STP into cakes not only enhances their nutritional value but also extends their shelf life. By utilizing these waste products, we can contribute to a more sustainable and ecofriendly food industry.

Introduction

For many years, human development and population growth have been accompanied by the exhaustion and depletion of natural resources and the generation of a significant amount of agri-food waste due to following the linear economy model of “produce, use, then throw away”. (1)

Tea and coffee are the most consumed beverages around the world due to their pleasant aroma, health benefits, and even religious beliefs. (2,3) They are rich in bioactive substances, and their consumption is linked to health benefits, including anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antiviral, antiallergic, anticancer, and cardiovascular benefits. (4,5) Furthermore, they could enhance memory, mood, and cognitive ability. (6,7)

For both products, around 10% of the dry weight is extracted during brewing in their infusions while around 90% is finally disposed into landfills. (2,8) However, only low molecular weight components are extracted in their respective infusions while the spent coffee powders and tea leaves still retain considerable amounts of bioactive substances, including polyphenols, fibers, and essential elements. (2,9−11)

Currently, the awareness of the general farmers and consumers of terms including sustainable development and circular bioeconomy helped in mitigating this problem, and agri-food waste is now accepted as a valuable resource and re-entered the supply chain via recycling, valorization, energy recovery, and other uses. (2,12−17) In this context, there have been studies on the use of used spent coffee and tea leaves in the field of livestock nutrition, agricultural compost, or production of biogas, or valorized for their bioactive molecules. (2,13,18−21) However, there is a lack of research on the use of spent tea and coffee in the production of novel foods. (22−24)

It has been noted that research on natural functional food additives, including those that exhibit high antioxidant activity, has been developing rapidly in recent years. Consumers prefer antioxidants derived from natural plant sources versus possibly hazardous, manufactured chemicals. (25−28) In this context, several studies have explored the effects of fortifying bakery products with coffee, tea, or their extracts on the technological and nutritional properties of the final products. (29−33) However, to our knowledge, less effort is made to incorporate spent tea or Arabic coffee in making sponge cakes and to investigate their effects on the sensorial, technological, and shelf lives of the final products. Therefore, the current study aimed to (I) evaluate the use of byproducts of tea and Arabic coffee as a novel functional food ingredient in bakery goods; (II) study the impact of adding spent tea or Arabic coffee ground on the sensory qualities, nutritional values, and shelf life of the final product; and (III) validate our findings using chemometric methods. All in all, we aimed to provide normal households with easy-to-use methods to reduce their carbon footprint by utilizing their nutrient-rich food wastes to prepare diverse food concepts to their liking, social habits, and lifestyle.

.....

Conclusion and Future Perspectives

In conclusion, evaluating spent coffee and tea powders as bioactive supplements for sponge cake showed promising results. Both spent tea and coffee powders were rich sources of bioactive compounds, including polyphenols, and retained high levels of important dietary elements. By incorporation of spent tea and coffee powders into the sponge cake blend, the nutritional value of the cake can be enhanced, providing additional health benefits to consumers. The presence of bioactive compounds in the powders also contributes to the potential antioxidant activity and reduction of peroxide production and delays microbial growth during storage. Finally, further research could explore the potential applications of leftover coffee and tea powders in other food products such as bread or snacks. Additionally, investigating the economic feasibility of large-scale utilization of these waste products would be beneficial in determining their viability for commercial production.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) said on Tuesday its computer system had been hacked, a breach at one of the world's most high-profile international institutions and one that handles highly sensitive information about war crimes.

The ICC said it had detected unusual activity on its computer network at the end of last week, prompting a response that was still ongoing. A spokesperson declined to comment on how serious the hack was, whether it has been fully resolved, or who might be behind it.

"Immediate measures were adopted to respond to this cybersecurity incident and to mitigate its impact," the ICC said in a short statement.

The ICC is the permanent war crimes tribunal in the Dutch city of The Hague, established in 2002 to try war crimes and crimes against humanity. Prosecutors at the court are currently conducting 17 investigations into situations in Ukraine, Uganda, Venezuela, Afghanistan and the Philippines, among others.

In March, the court made headlines when it issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin on suspicion of illegally deporting children from Ukraine. The Kremlin rejects the accusations and the court's jurisdiction.

Highly sensitive documents at the ICC could include anything from criminal evidence to names of protected witnesses, though the court did not disclose what part of its systems had been accessed.

The court said in its statement that it was continuing to "analyse and mitigate the impact of this incident" with the assistance of the Dutch government. It said it was also taking steps to strengthen its cybersecurity.

A spokesperson for the Dutch Justice Ministry confirmed the country's National Cyber Security Centre was supporting the investigation but declined further comment.

The president of the ICC's bar association, Marie-Hélène Proulx, said lawyers for defendants and victims had been impacted "in the same manner as the court's staff" by unspecified security measures taken in response to the incident.

"We commend efforts ... in securing the court's information systems and hope that the situation will be resolved promptly," she said.

The Dutch intelligence agency (AIVD) said in its 2022 annual report that the ICC was "of interest to Russia because it is investigating possible Russian war crimes in Georgia and Ukraine". In June 2022, the AIVD disclosed it had found a Russian military agent posing as a Brazilian in an attempt to infiltrate the court.

In August 2023, ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said that cyber attacks could be part of future war crimes investigations. He warned that the ICC itself could be vulnerable and should strengthen its defences.

"Disinformation, destruction, the alteration of data, and the leaking of confidential information may obstruct the administration of justice at the ICC and, as such, constitute crimes within the ICC’s jurisdiction that might be investigated or prosecuted," he wrote in a Foreign Policy Analytics report funded by Microsoft.

"But prevention remains better than cure."

archive: https://ghostarchive.org/archive/Uj7S1

International Court of Justice heard arguments on whether Russia’s invasion can be challenged under 1948 treaty.

archive: https://ghostarchive.org/archive/DaOnS

Moscow and Kyiv faced off this week in The Hague over Ukraine’s claim that Russia’s 2022 invasion violates a landmark treaty, the Genocide Convention of 1948.

The case before the International Court of Justice, an arm of the United Nations, proceeded decorously as bombs exploded 2,000 miles away and Russia continued to ignore the court’s preliminary orders last year to halt its attacks. Findings by the world court and other international tribunals could influence both allied support for Ukraine and the shape of an eventual peace, meaning the record both sides sought to establish could someday have consequences.

Russia argues that however its invasion is characterized—“special military operation” is the Kremlin’s term—it isn’t covered by the Genocide Convention and therefore Ukraine’s complaint should be dismissed. Kyiv argues that Russia violated the treaty by falsely accusing Ukraine of committing genocide in the country’s Donbas region to justify the invasion.

“For nine years we have endured lies about genocide from the highest level of the Russian government. For a year and a half we have suffered terrible attacks because of those lies. Today Ukraine is simply asking for its day in court,” Ukrainian Ambassador Anton Korynevych told the court Tuesday.

A lawyer for Russia, Alfredo Crosato, said the Kremlin’s political rhetoric about genocide was legally irrelevant.

“What this case is really about is the legality of the special military operation and the recognition of the DPR and LPR as states,” Crosato said at Monday arguments, using abbreviations for the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic, puppet states Moscow has recognized in occupied portions of Ukraine.

“The legality of these actions [falls] not under the Genocide Convention, but under the U.N. Charter and customary international law,” Crosato said, and therefore outside the world court’s jurisdiction.

Proceedings will continue into next week, including arguments from Australia, Canada, the U.K. and 29 other countries that have intervened in support of Ukraine. If the court declines to dismiss the case, a future round will consider the merits of Ukraine’s claim.

The U.S. also sought to intervene in support of Ukraine, but the ICJ ruled that Washington was ineligible because it hasn’t itself agreed to be bound by the court’s application of the Genocide Convention.

The 15-judge world court hears disputes between nations that consent to its jurisdiction but has no independent enforcement power. Its current president, Joan Donoghue, is a former official with the U.S. State Department. The court issued its March 2022 order for Russia to halt its military operations by a 13-2 vote, with the Russian and Chinese judges dissenting.

Russia and its leaders face legal scrutiny from several international bodies, including the International Criminal Court, which in March issued warrants for President Vladimir Putin and a senior Kremlin official, Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, over the forced deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia. A Kremlin spokesman dismissed the ICC warrants as an outrage and said Russia wasn’t subject to the court’s jurisdiction.

Like the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court has no police force and must rely on the cooperation of national governments for enforcement of its orders.

By Jess Bravin
Updated Sept. 19, 2023 2:59 pm ET

Plans could include delaying a ban on sales of new petrol cars and the phasing out of gas boilers.

BBC News - Rishi Sunak is considering weakening some of the government's key green commitments in a major policy shift.

It could include delaying a ban on the sales of new petrol and diesel cars and phasing out gas boilers, multiple sources have told the BBC.

The PM is preparing to set out the changes in a speech in the coming days.

Responding to the reported plans, he said the government was committed to reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050 but in a "more proportionate way".

The prime minister said: "For too many years politicians in governments of all stripes have not been honest about costs and trade-offs. Instead they have taken the easy way out, saying we can have it all.

"This realism doesn't mean losing our ambition or abandoning our commitments. Far from it.

"I am proud that Britain is leading the world on climate change."

He added that the UK was committed to international climate agreements it had already made.

Mr Sunak said he would give a speech later this week "to set out an important long-term decision we need to make so our country becomes the place I know we all want it to be for our children".

If he presses ahead with the plan it would represent a significant shift in the Conservative Party's approach to net zero policy, as well as establishing a clear dividing line with the Labour Party.

According to multiple sources briefed on Downing Street's thinking, Mr Sunak would use the speech to hail the UK as a world leader on net zero.

But he would also argue that Britain has over-delivered on confronting climate change and that other countries need to do more to pull their weight.

Some specifics of the speech are still thought to be under discussion, but as it stands it could include as many as seven core policy changes or commitments, documents seen by the BBC suggest.

First, the government would push the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars - currently set to come into force in 2030 - back to 2035. The 2030 date has been government policy since 2020.

Second, the government would significantly weaken the plan to phase out the installation of gas boilers by 2035, saying that they only want 80% to be phased out by that year.

Third, homeowners and landlords would be told that there will be no new energy efficiency regulations on homes. Ministers had been considering imposing fines on landlords who fail to upgrade their properties to a certain level of energy efficiency.

Fourth, the 2026 ban on off-grid oil boilers will be delayed to 2035, with only an 80% phase out target at that date.

In addition, Britons will be told that there will be no new taxes to discourage flying, no government policies to change people's diets and no measures to encourage carpooling.

Mr Sunak is also likely to rule out what he sees as burdensome recycling schemes.

The government had reportedly been considering a recycling strategy in which households would have had "seven bins" - with six separate recycling bins plus one for general waste.

A Labour spokesperson said: "This is a total farce. The country cannot go on with a Conservative government in total disarray, stumbling from crisis to crisis.

"Ministers need to urgently provide clarity on all eight of the policies reportedly up for review."

Conservative MP Chris Skidmore, the former chairman of the UK government's net zero review, said diluting green policies would "cost the UK jobs, inward investment, and future economic growth that could have been ours by committing to the industries of the future".

"Rishi Sunak still has time to think again and not make the greatest mistake of his premiership, condemning the UK to missing out on what can be the opportunity of the decade to deliver growth, jobs and future prosperity," he said.

Former Conservative minister, Sir Alok Sharma, who was president of the COP26 climate summit, said the UK had been a leader on climate action "but we cannot rest on our laurels".

"For any party to resile from this agenda will not help economically or electorally," he added.

Green Party MP, Caroline Lucas called any rollback on net zero "economically illiterate, historically inaccurate and environmentally bone-headed".

But Tory MP Craig Mackinlay, who chairs the net zero scrutiny group, said he was "pleased to see some pragmatism" from Mr Sunak.

Moving back dates for net zero targets "will take pie in the sky 'greenwash' measures out of clearly unachievable deadlines".

Former Conservative minister Andrea Jenkyns told Sky News she backs weakening green pledges "a million per cent".

She said constituents in her red wall seat "don't buy the net zero - it's not only the freedom argument, it's the economic argument".

On Thursday, the King will be on a State Visit to France, where he will host what is known as a Climate Mobilisation Forum.

The event convenes specialists in climate finance, and aims to help developing economies make adjustments to cut emissions.

The King will be accompanied by Foreign Secretary James Cleverly.

Reporting By Henry Zeffman & Chris Mason & Brian Wheeler

archive: https://ghostarchive.org/archive/xQwhm

The crash site for a stealth fighter jet that went missing during the weekend after its pilot ejected has been located in rural South Carolina after the military asked the public for help finding an aircraft built to elude detection.

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — The crash site for a stealth fighter jet that went missing during the weekend after its pilot ejected was located Monday in rural South Carolina after the military asked the public for help finding an aircraft built to elude detection.

The debris field was discovered in Williamsburg County, about two hours northeast of Joint Base Charleston. Residents were being asked to avoid the area while a recovery team worked to secure it.

“We are transferring incident command to the USMC this evening, as they begin the recovery process,” the base posted Monday on the X social media platform.

Authorities had been searching for the jet since the pilot, whose name hasn’t been released, parachuted to safety into a North Charleston neighborhood about 2 p.m. Sunday. He was taken to a hospital, where he was in stable condition, Marines Maj. Melanie Salinas said.

“The mishap is currently under investigation, and we are unable to provide additional details to preserve the integrity of the investigative process,” the Marine Corps said in a news release on Monday evening.

The Marine Corps announced earlier Monday it was pausing aviation operations for two days after the fighter jet’s crash — the third costly accident in recent weeks.

Gen. Eric Smith, the acting commandant of the Marine Corps, ordered the stand-down while authorities searched near two South Carolina lakes for the missing FB-35B Lightning II aircraft.

It’s the third event documented as a “Class-A mishap” over the past six weeks, according to a Marine Corps announcement. Such incidents occur when damages reach $2.5 million or more, a Department of Defense aircraft is destroyed, or someone dies or is permanently disabled.

Commanders will spend the stand-down reinforcing safe flying policies, practices and procedures with their Marines, according to the Monday release.

The announcement gave no details on the two previous incidents. But in August, three U.S. Marines were killed in the crash of a V-22B Osprey tiltrotor aircraft during a training exercise in Australia, and a Marine Corps pilot was killed when his combat jet crashed near a San Diego base during a training flight.

Cpl. Christian Cortez, a Marine with the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, said the details of what prompted the pilot to eject from the aircraft Sunday were under investigation.

Based on the missing plane’s location and trajectory, the search was initially focused on Lake Moultrie and Lake Marion, said Senior Master Sgt. Heather Stanton at Joint Base Charleston. Both lakes are north of North Charleston.

A South Carolina Law Enforcement Division helicopter joined the search after some bad weather cleared in the area, Stanton said. Military officials appealed in online posts Sunday for any help from the public in locating the aircraft.

The pilot of a second F-35 returned safely to Joint Base Charleston, Salinas said.

The planes and pilots were with the Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 501 with the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing based in Beaufort, near the South Carolina coast.

archive: https://ghostarchive.org/archive/FLK1X

Zelenskyy warns Putin could cause World War III if not stopped in Ukraine, says Putin counting on U.S. instability during the 2024 election and says drone strikes will continue if Russia keeps attacking infrastructure.

We met President Zelenskyy as he prepared to depart Kyiv for the United States. This week, he will speak at the U.N. and meet President Biden. It is a critical time. U.S. officials tell us that over nearly 600 days, almost half a million troops have been killed or wounded—both sides, all together—part of the cost, so far, of Vladimir Putin's unprovoked invasion. We spoke to Zelenskyy on Thursday. He told us that his people are dying every day to prevent World War III.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (translated): We're defending the values of the whole world. And these are Ukrainian people who are paying the highest price. We are truly fighting for our freedom, we are dying we are not fiction, we are not a book. We are fighting for real with a nuclear state that threatens to destroy the world.

Scott Pelley: The United States has contributed about $70 billion to your war effort, and I wonder if you expect that level of support to continue?

Zelenskyy (translated): The United States of America [is] supporting Ukraine financially and I'm grateful for this. I just think they're not supporting only Ukraine alone. If Ukraine falls, Putin will surely go further. What will the United States of America do when Putin reaches the Baltic states? When he reaches the Polish border? He will. This is a lot of money. We have a lot of gratitude. What else must Ukraine do for everyone to measure our huge gratitude? We are dying in this war. (PAUSE) Look, if Ukraine falls, what will happen in ten years? Just think about it. If [the Russians] reach Poland, what's next? A Third World War?

Pelley: What will it take? Another $70 billion?

Zelenskyy (translated): I don't have an answer. The whole world [has to] decide whether we want to stop Putin, or whether we want to start the beginning of a world war. We can't change Putin. Russian society has [lost] the respect of the world. They elected him, and re-elected him and raised a second Hitler. They did this. We cannot go back in time. But we can stop it here.

Ukraine stopped the Russian advance, but at a terrible cost. Ruined cities, millions of refugees, untold thousands of dead, all for Vladimir Putin's nation-building vanity.

Today the war is fought on a 700-mile front. The red area is the 20% of Ukraine still occupied by Russia. That is where western donated tanks were supposed to punch through cutting the Russian force in half. But trenches, minefields and artillery stopped the armored advance. Now, it's an artillery duel with each side firing about 40,000 shells a day. Ukrainian infantry is advancing bloody yards at a time. It's World War I with drones.

Pelley: How would you describe the fighting at the front?

Zelenskyy (translated): It's a difficult question. I will be completely honest with you. We have the initiative. This is a plus. We stopped the Russian offensive and we moved into a counter-offensive. [But] despite that, it's not very fast. It is important that we are moving forward every day and liberating territory.

Pelley: You have about six weeks of good weather left, and I wonder, after that point will the front be frozen in place?

Zelenskyy (translated): We need to liberate our territory as much as possible and move forward, even if it's less than [half a mile or] a hundred [yards] we must do it. we can't lose time. Forget about the weather, and the like. In places that we can't get through in an armored vehicle - let's fly. If we can't fly – let's send drones. We mustn't give Putin a break.

If the front is stationary, Ukrainian drones have vaulted into Russia itself, hitting the Kremlin, warplanes and Moscow high rises. Officially, Ukraine does not acknowledge these attacks.

Pelley: The drone strikes in Russia are being done on your orders?

Zelenskyy (translated): No.

Pelley: Not on your orders?

Zelenskyy (translated): Well, you know…

Pelley: How was it happening?

Zelenskyy (translated): You know that we don't shoot at the territory of the Russian Federation.

We decided to try the question another way.

Pelley: What message is being sent with these drone strikes in Russia?

Zelenskyy (translated): You do know that we use our partners' weapons on the territory of Ukraine only. And this is true. But these are not punitive operations, such as they carry out killing civilians. But Russia needs to know that wherever it is, whichever place they use for launching missiles to strike Ukraine, Ukraine has every moral right to send a response to those places. We are responding to them saying: "Your sky is not as well protected, as you think."

Last winter, it was Ukrainian skies that were filled with missiles in a Russian bombardment to destroy powerplants. Millions shivered in the dark. With winter approaching again, Zelenskyy had this warning.

Zelenskyy (translated): They must know if you cut off our power, deprive us of electricity, deprive us of water, deprive us of gasoline you need to know we have the right to do it [to you].

Russia takes Zelenskyy seriously now because Putin's mass invasion was a fiasco. The red marks where Ukraine stopped Russia's advance last year. It also marks the stain of Russia's war crimes.

Pelley: Mr. President, in traveling around Ukraine for the last year and a half we spoke to people in bombed-out schools in Chernihiv, we've seen destroyed apartment blocks in Borodyanka, a bombed hospital in Izium, civilians in a mass grave in Bucha. These are not military targets. What is Vladimir Putin trying to do?

Zelenskyy (translated): To break [us]. And by choosing civilian targets, Putin wanted to achieve exactly this – to break [us]. this person who has made his way with such bloody actions, with everything he has said, cannot be trusted. There is no trust in such a person because he has not been a human being for a long time.

Pelley: The Russians have suffered grievous losses without resorting to nuclear weapons, and I wonder if you believe that the threat of nuclear war is now behind us.

Zelenskyy (translated): I think he's going to continue threatening. He is waiting for the United States to become less stable. He thinks that's going to happen during the U.S. election.

He will be looking for instability in Europe and the United States of America. He will use the risk of using nuclear weapons to fuel that [instability]. He will keep on threatening.

That U.S. election he mentioned worries him. His negotiations with President Biden have been contentious at times. But Zelenskyy tends to get what he asks for, even if, in Zelenskyy's opinion, it's generally, six months too late. This week, Zelenskyy will press Mr. Biden for missiles with longer range. Congress is debating another 24 billion dollar package.

Zelenskyy (translated): And if Ukraine had enough of these modern systems, we would have already restored the territorial integrity of Ukraine. We would have already done that. These systems exist.

We first met Zelenskyy not long after the invasion when his office was a blacked-out bunker. Now a year and a half later, we noticed a difference. As we were setting up the interview, the former actor used his talent to mask the strain. He smiled at a compliment to his wife.

And then, instantly, he seemed pulled beneath a depth no one can know. We don't know what he was thinking, it looked like empathy for the lost and for those who might be saved.

Our time with Zelenskyy began in silence--a remembrance of the fallen during a ceremony to award medals of valor. Ukrainian officials tell us Ukraine and Russia have lost their professional armies. Now the forces are made up of volunteers, draftees, and, in Russia's case, prison inmates. Zelenskyy counts his dead in casualty reports each morning.

Pelley: You are the President, but it must be humbling to meet those men. I wonder what they mean to you?

Zelenskyy (translated): First of all, it is a great honor for me. I look into their eyes and it makes me proud that we have such strong people because this is a big risk, a big risk, you can definitely lose your life… for the sake of [saving] other lives. [And] when I say, "other lives", I don't speak in general, I mean my own life, [the] lives of my children and I understand completely what risks are involved.

That empathy for life has Volodymyr Zelenskyy reaching out, again, to the United Nations and the United States hoping to convince the allies that the world can be safe only when Ukraine is whole.

Pelley: Can you give up any part of Ukraine for peace?

Zelenskyy (translated): No. This is our territory.

Pelley: You must have it all? Including Crimea?

Zelenskyy (translated): Today you and I… you said it to me… you saw me awarding people [medals]. [Well] today is a day like that. A week ago, I gave awards to parents [of soldiers who have been killed]. There were 24 families of the dead. There was a woman. She was with three children. There were parents, very old. They could barely walk and they had had only one son. One of the women was pregnant. She arrived holding a baby in her arms. And she was pregnant. And that baby will never see… what should I tell them? That all of them died so that we could say, "It's okay, [Russia] you can take it all." It's a difficult job. You understand me, right? Giving awards to people whose faces show their whole world has collapsed. And all I can give them, all I can give them – is victory.

Produced by Maria Gavrilovic. Associate producer, Alex Ortiz. Broadcast associate, Michelle Karim. Edited by Peter M. Berman.

archive: https://ghostarchive.org/archive/UOMle

original interview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8qC2tVkGeU
https://piped.video/watch?v=Z8qC2tVkGeU

Search for F-35B Lightning II fighter jet focused on two lakes after Marine Corps pilot ejected over North Charleston for unknown reason

US military officials have appealed to the public for help to find a fighter jet after losing track of it somewhere over South Carolina when the pilot ejected.

A Marine Corps pilot safely escaped the F-35B Lightning II jet over North Charleston on Sunday afternoon after a “mishap”, military officials said, and the search for his missing aircraft was now focused on two lakes north of North Charleston.

The pilot parachuted safely into North Charleston at about 2pm and was taken to a local hospital, where he was in stable condition, said Maj Melanie Salinas. The pilot’s name has not been released.

Based on the missing plane’s location and trajectory, the search for the F-35 Lightning II jet was focused on Lake Moultrie and Lake Marion, said Senior Master Sergeant Heather Stanton at Joint Base Charleston. Both lakes are north of North Charleston.

Local congresswoman Nancy Mace said: “How in the hell do you lose an F-35? How is there not a tracking device and we’re asking the public to what, find a jet and turn it in?”

A South Carolina Law Enforcement Division helicopter joined the search for the F-35 after some bad weather cleared in the area, Stanton said.

Officials are still investigating why the pilot ejected, authorities said.

The pilot of a second F-35 returned safely to Joint Base Charleston, Salinas said.

The planes and pilots were with the Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 501 based in Beaufort, not far from South Carolina’s Atlantic coast.

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There’s a warning about a dangerous bacteria that might have infected a local woman who’s still recovering after nearly two months in the hospital. An online fundraising effort says she contracted the bacterial infection after eating fish and is now a quadruple amputee.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently issued a warning about a bacterial infection that people can get by eating raw or undercooked fish or by exposing an open wound to coastal waters. A friend tells us this San Jose woman likely got this specific infection after eating undercooked tilapia.

A San Jose mother’s life is changed forever. Laura Barajas, 40, has had her limbs amputated while battling a bacterial infection.

“It’s just been really heavy on all of us. It’s terrible. This could’ve happened to any of us,” said Barajas’ friend Anna Messina.

Messina says back in late July Barajas had bought tilapia from a local market for dinner. She cooked it and ate it alone. Within days, she got very ill and was then hospitalized.

“She almost lost her life. She was on a respirator,” Messina said. “They put her into a medically induced coma. Her fingers were black, her feet were black her bottom lip was black. She had complete sepsis and her kidneys were failing.”

Now, a month and a half later, Barajas is without her arms and legs.

Messina believes the infection was caused by Vibrio vulnificus — a bacterial infection the CDC has been warning about.

“The ways you can get infected with this bacteria are one-you can eat something that’s contaminated with it the other way is by having a cut or tattoo exposed to water in which this bug lives,” said UCSF Infectious Disease Expert Dr. Natasha Spottiswoode.

Spottiswoode says the bacteria is especially concerning for people who are immunocompromised.

The CDC says about 150-200 cases of the infections are reported each year and about one in five people with the infection die — sometimes within one to two days of becoming ill.

“People should take sensible precautions like if you have a cut avoid getting immersed in water until it’s well healed,” Spottiswoode said. “If you are someone immunocompromised keeping an eye on these things and avoiding those high-risk activities and foods.”

Messina says she and Barajas’ family are still waiting to learn more about what happened. She hopes people realize how precious life can be.

“Be thankful for what we have right now because it can be taken away so quickly so easily,” Messina said.

Messina has set up a GoFundMe to help with her friend’s medical expenses. So far, it has raised more than $20,000.

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