#austria 2021 friday

[umseb]

sebastian vettel in the garage on practice day, austria - july 2, 2021 📷 glenn dunbar / motorsport images

[tomorrowusa]

Despite the war, Ukraine has continued to allow Russian gas to pass through its pipelines to countries to the west. That came to an end this week.

Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico has been following in the footsteps of neighbor Hungary by getting chummy with Vladimir Putin. Fico even said he consider stop supplying electricity to Ukraine.

So Ukraine has ended its agreement to allow Russian gas to pass through its pipelines.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said earlier that his country would not allow Russia to "earn additional billions on our blood" and had given the EU a year to prepare. The European Commission said the continent's gas system was "resilient and flexible" and that it could cope with the change. Slovakia, however, could face disruption and Moldova, which is not in the EU, is already suffering shortages. Russia can still send gas to Hungary, Turkey and Serbia through the TurkStream pipeline across the Black Sea.

Europe began to cut down on Russian gas use when the full scale invasion of Ukraine began almost three years ago. Most countries have adjusted to a significant reduction of Russian gas.

The EU has significantly reduced imports of gas from Russia since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, but a number of eastern member states still depend largely on the supplies, making Russia about €5bn ($5.2bn; £4.2bn) a year. Russian gas was less than 10% of the EU's gas imports in 2023, according to the bloc. That figure was 40% in 2021. But several EU members, including Slovakia and Austria, continued to import significant amounts of gas from Russia. Austria's energy regulator said that it did not forecast any disruption as it had diversified sources and built up reserves.

Fico is an idiot and his country will be hurt most by Ukraine's cutoff of Russian gas.

On Friday, Fico - who had just made a surprise visit to Moscow for talks with Putin - threatened to stop supplying electricity to Ukraine. This prompted Zelensky to accuse Fico of helping Putin "fund the war and weaken Ukraine". "Fico is dragging Slovakia into Russia's attempts to cause more suffering for Ukrainians," the Ukrainian president said. Poland has offered to support Kyiv in case Slovakia cuts off its electricity exports - supplies that are crucial to Ukraine, whose power plants come under regular attack from Russia.

With routes into the EU blocked by Ukraine and Poland, Russian gas has a much harder time getting into the EU.

[chrisis-averted]

Eurovision 2023 Songs ABRIDGED

Yes, I’m doing that again. You’re welcome!  😙 Once again, this is for humor purpose, don’t take it too seriously.

Albania: treasure your family, it’s not going to be there forever 👨‍👩‍👧‍👧

Armenia: I want to meet my soulmate 🥺

Australia: dare to try new things 🤩

Austria: yeah, fuck the music industry, it just exploits artists 👻

Azerbaijan: we broke up but I still think about you 🥺

Belgium: you got me to love myself 🥰

Croatia: yeah, fuck Russia 😈

Cyprus: you’re toxic as hell, girl 😠

Czechia: yeah, fuck gender inequality 🧕

Denmark: I’m afraid of starting a relationship because it might go bad 😥

Estonia: I want to connect with people 🤗

Finland: it’s Friday, I’m tired as fuck, I just want to party and get drunk 🥴

France: I have changed, for good and for ill 😌

Georgia: I have faith there will be better days 😌 

Germany: we are made of beautiful and ugly things 🤩

Greece: it’s those who are broken that help others more 🥰

Iceland: I got out of a toxic relationship and I’m euphoric 😃

Ireland: treasure your uniqueness 🌈

Israel: I’m rare and precious, like a mythical creature 🦄

Italy: I’m a hopeless romantic 🥺

Latvia: I lost hope in this world 😔

Lithuania: I got out of depression thanks to you 🥰

Malta: I’d rather stay at home than get out and party 😴

Moldova: I shall marry you in the forest under the sun and moon 🦌

Netherlands: I lost fascination with life and I’m scared I’m wasting time 😥

Norway: I’m a goddamn queen 👸

Poland: I slept with half the jury because sure as hell I can’t sing I am sexy and want to party 🥴

Portugal: oh fuck I’ve fallen in love and I’m a mess 😵

Romania: I’ve fallen head over heels for a girl who’s toying with me 🙃

San Marino: oh wow, you’re sexy, wanna come home with me? 😍

Serbia: the world is severely fucked up 😡

Slovenia: our generation sees no hope in the future, so we at least we enjoy the moment 🙃

Spain: I love you, my child 👩‍👧

Sweden: I want the only man I cannot have 🥰

Switzerland: our generation feels trapped in the wars caused by people who don’t care about us 😡

Ukraine: we are stronger than they think 😡

United Kingdom: I got cheated on, so now I’m having fun without him 😏

Eurovision Songs Abridged 2021 | 2022

[thatsonemorbidcorvid]

Police in Vienna are investigating the deaths of four women and a teenage girl in a 24-hour period.

Three women were stabbed to death by a man in a brothel in Austria's capital on Friday. A suspect was arrested.

Another woman and her daughter were killed in an unrelated incident. Investigators believe the girl's father was responsible.

Campaigners described the day as "Black Friday" and called for urgent action to stop violence against women.

The bodies of three women, believed to be Chinese nationals, were found in a building in the central Brigittenau district at around 21:00 local time (20:00 GMT) after a witness called the emergency services.

The suspect, whom police have described as a 27-year-old Afghan national, was found hiding near the brothel with a knife in his hand.

On Sunday, police said the man had "basically confessed" to the killings during his first interrogation.

The motive is currently unclear but further questioning and investigations are to follow.

Autopsies will be carried out on the bodies of the three victims later on Sunday.

Earlier on Friday, a 51-year-old woman and her 13-year-old daughter were found dead in an apartment in the Erdberg area - about 12km (seven miles) from where the other incident happened.

There is no suggestion they are connected.

Police are still searching for the woman's husband, who is also the girl's father, as investigators suspect he may have strangled or choked them to death.

"The initial investigations, which are currently under way, indicate that blunt force was involved," said police spokesman Philip Hasslinger.

Eva-Maria Holzleitner, the leader of the women's policy department of the opposition Social Democratic Party (SPO), has urged the federal government to call a crisis meeting to discuss the issue of femicide in the country.

"We mourn the murdered women, are thinking about the survivors and call for a national action plan to protect against violence to finally be implemented in order to protect women's lives in Austria," said Ms Holzleitner.

Klaudia Frieben, leader of umbrella organisation the Austrian Women's Ring (OFR), wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that "this day will go down in history as Black Friday with five dead women".

According to the latest data on femicide rates in Austria, published by the Institute of Conflict Research, some 319 women were killed in the country between 2010 and 2020 - mostly by male partners or ex-partners.

The coalition government has vowed to crack down on the issue - pledging almost €25m (£21m) in 2021 to initiatives aimed at protecting women against violence.

[dailyanarchistposts]

Anarchist utopias are alive and well, not only in Chiapas or Rojava but also in the heart of capitalist Europe. In Germany, police repression and gentrification have dealt a decisive blow to traditional anarchist strongholds like Berlin, with numerous free spaces closed down since the pandemic started.

But a new form of protest is blossoming. Eco-anarchists are building momentum all over Germany. The black and green flag is stronger than ever and enjoys surprisingly widespread sympathy among the public.

The Dannenröder Forest, nicknamed “Danni,” fifty miles from Frankfurt, is suffering. A highway is being built, cutting through the forest like an open wound. It is a battlefield, a witness to environmental destruction and to resistance. Hundreds of activists occupied the route of the planned A49 highway from October 2019 to December 2020.

They were inspired by protests in the Hambacher Forst, known as “Hambi,” Germany’s most mediatized land occupation with a clear and organic growth from one protest to the other. Out of protesters’ imagination sprang a hundred tree houses, numerous massive wooden tripods and a dense constellation of zip lines, creating a unique ecosystem of resistance.

Organized in neighborhoods, life there was utopic. All decisions were made in a decentralized, unanimous manner, leaving space for activists to live without constraints or hierarchies. Anarcho-feminist, antiracist, and anti-capitalist slogans celebrating life in the forest echoed around the campfires.

But repression was on the way. Last December, nearly 3,000 police with water cannons, led by special commandos, invaded the forest. After destroying all barricades and tree houses, they cleared the way for the deforestation.

Cutting through the dense forest, the future road is heavily protected by barbed wire and massive police patrols. Yet the eco-anarchist resistance has not demobilized. Hundreds of activists reunited in April 2021 for a climate camp to reinvent the protest. They now legally occupy village structures and intend to build a resilient movement based on decentralized direct action.

Forest occupations (Waldbesetzungen) have seven lives. Somehow, being expelled by the police strengthens them. Activists disperse around the country, share their experiences and know-how and create new areas of protest.

An organic network of resistance is being woven across Germany, and sometimes the threads of individual action intersect and create nodes. Climate camps are exactly that—nodes that connect all the struggles.

The first of them began in Augsburg, a conservative Bavarian city. Dozens of climate activists from the Fridays for Future (FFF) group decided that weekly demonstrations were not enough. Last summer, they occupied the city’s central square. They built a wooden utopia in the middle of the shopping district, an eco-anarchist equivalent to Occupy Wall Street.

Like in Danni, they live without authority, cook with dumpstered food and are supported by a network of caring inhabitants. From FFF to eco-anarchy, they were radicalized by the tales of activists traveling from the Danni and Hambi. They, in turn, fostered eco-anarchist resistance in southern Germany.

The intentional family of Waldbesetzungen and climate camps is steadily growing. Central squares are being occupied in six other German cities, as are a dozen forests and meadows.

The Altdorfer Waldbesetzung, called Alti, is the newest. Since January 2021, the woods, close to the tourist city of Ravensburg, echo with the sound of hammers, music, and campfire tales. Protesting the expansion of mining gravel destined for export to Austria, ten to thirty activists live together, building dozens of tree houses in various neighborhoods, following the model of the other forest occupations.

The young anarchist utopia is strongly supported by the local inhabitants, who cook two meals a day for the activists, donate construction material, and flock to visit the occupation on weekends. Since deforestation season starts in October, the Alti has some more months to prepare for the pending police assault. In the meantime, banner actions, demonstrations and pranks against conservative politicians are carried out daily.

The eco-anarchist utopia is alive and well. It is growing steadily as an alternative to the Green Party, which is becoming Germany’s new mainstream, and may even lead the government after the next election.

Feminist, antiracist and anti-capitalist struggles are coming together in the woods, because all forms of oppression are interlinked. Black is the new green.

In times of greenwashing, green capitalism, and eco-fascism, the eco-anarchist Waldbesetzungen and climate camps offer a combative and beautiful spark of hope.

Philippe Pernot is a German-based photojournalist whose work focuses on anarchy, ecological resistance, and the interconnectedness between feminist, anti-capitalist and anti-racist struggles. After studying in France, he worked in Lebanon for one year, reporting about the Palestinian situation and those abandoned by the Lebanese state.

He co-published a report on a LNG-pipeline project in Quebec and a zine about a mall being built in his native village in southern France.

[sisionscreen]

RTL just announced that they will air the third season of Sisi (2021) on December 27th and 28th, 2023, on their main channel. Each night they will air three episodes. While they haven't given a time yet, it will most likely be at German prime time (8:15pm). It is also very likely that Austrian public broadcaster ORF will choose the same dates but I haven't seen an announcement yet. The new season becomes available for streaming on Friday, December 1st, on RTL+ in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

[game-set-canet]

Red Bull BassLine 2023 - besties, get ready for “Mira’s tennis experience - part 3”

long story short: last year's edition was better.

don't get me wrong it was really good this year, but i think last year's was better (and 2021's edition was better as well).

line-up 2023 was: Andrey Rublev, Domi Thiem, Jurij Rodionov, Fábián Marozsán, Frances Tiafoe and Alexander Zverev. obviously, i had my difficulties with a part of the line-up.

what was really sad was that 4 out of the 6 players left before the event was over. Andrey left after his last game, Tiafoe, Marozsán and Rodionov left before the break before the final, which means only the finalsts Domi and Zverev stayed until the very end.

Autographs i got an autograph from Domi - which i'm very very proud of!! 🥰🥰 but for most kids it's it wasn't very easy to get an autography. Andrey didn't do any (same for Marozsán), Rodionov only did like 5 autographs, Tiafoe didn't want to get up from his chair to write autographs...so he asked you to throw the stuff you wanted to get signed at him (works for all the tennis balls, doesn't work for pictures/photos, posters, etc. but he didn't really care), Domi and Zverev were the only ones to write LOTS of autographes after their final.

Andrey It was Andrey's birthday yesterday, so Domi and the whole crowd sung "happy birthday, dear Rublo" before their match <33 in Austria we say "laut, falsch und mit Begeisterung" when people sing something very enthusiastic but it doesn't match the notes 😂 and he got a "Sacher-Torte" a typically Austrian cake. They wanted Andrey to eat or at least taste it and while Andrey was discussing with the presenters if he wants to do it or not, Zverev cut the cake, put a piece of it on a plate and handed it over to Andrey. But because there were no forks Andrey had to bite off??? it was a bit of a chaos 😂 BUT I HAVE A VIDEO OF IT!

During Red Bull BassLine there is a DJ playing music almost during the whole event and Andrey was singing along almost the whole time. personally i think his best performance was during Friday by Nightcrawlers and Riton.

Domi Domi looked so happy when the crowd was cheering for him when he entered the arena <33 his tennis was quite good, a few mistakes but some BEAUTIFUL long line back hands 🥹 i've never seen something more beautiful (and i've seen Carlitos play live). and he is so unbelievable beautiful in real life 💕 his smile is so so cute, i honestly can't 😭😭

Zverev i was honestly so annoyed by him the whole evening bc he knew exactly what to do and to say that the crowd would cheer for him...at the end he stayed until almost every fan had an autography etc, he was the last to leave and of course ppl loved it 😒 and his tennis was really good yesterday. very high serves speed, lots of aces and he moved good on court 😒 it was disgusting.

Tiafoe, Marozán, Rodionov and i know i sound ignorante now or like i don't care about the others but...i don't know what to say about the other three 😂 Tiafoe looked happy to be here, but his tennis wasn't that good, he made a lot of mistakes, played a bit too fast and lost his matched really clear. Marozsán seems quite nice but he didn't do anything...his tennis was nice but he didn't interact with the crowd or the other players. And almost the same for Rodionov, he said he was very nervous to play this kind of tennis-event with such different rules and all that stuff (and his puls was the highest of all six during playing (Zverev had the lowest))

[f1]

Another wet weekend forecast in Austria with rain likeliest during sprint race | 2023 Austrian Grand Prix weather

Formula 1 drivers are likely to do some wet weather racing at the Red Bull Ring this weekend – though the Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday is expected to be dry. The inclusion of a sprint race means there are qualifying sessions on Friday and Saturday, and so the grid for both may also be influenced by the weather. Any rubber that is on the track surface once the F1 paddock arrives will likely be washed off by the time they actually get on track for first practice on Friday afternoon as it is wet and windy at the Red Bull Ring today. Friday morning will be sunny, but only the support series will be on track then for their practice sessions. That does mean rubber will be laid down on the racing line, particularly as there are 30 cars in the Formula 3 field, but F1 drivers may not be able to benefit as clouds are set to converge over the circuit in the afternoon and stay there throughout, with an increasing chance of rain. Qualifying for the grand prix will take place towards the end of the day, putting it at greater risk of rain. Even if the wet weather does not appear then the track temperature will be low due to the cloud cover. The F1 cars will take to the track at midday and again at the end of the day on Saturday, and there is a very high chance of rain throughout according to the official forecast. The predicted air temperature is 19C for the morning’s sprint race qualifying session, falling to 18C for the sprint race, but the 80%-plus chance of rainfall is likely to be the greater concern. That is cooler than the conditions F1 raced in last year in Austria, which was already one of the coolest races of the season. It ranked only 18th out of the 22 rounds for ambient temperature, and had the 15th highest track temperature. Sunday’s forecast is far warmer, however, with afternoon sunshine bringing a high of 25C air temperature before the grand prix takes place. Some clouds will remain in the area later in the day, leaving F1 vulnerable to the type of brief showers that cause anxiety on the pit wall as strategists debate whether or not to pit for intermediates tyres before the rain stops and the track dries up again. NB. The track also held the Styrian Grand Prix in 2020 and 2021. Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free For more updates on the track conditions during each session keep an eye on RaceFans Live and the RaceFans Twitter account. 2023 Austrian Grand Prix Browse all 2023 Austrian Grand Prix articles via RaceFans - Independent Motorsport Coverage https://www.racefans.net/

[heartsoftruth]

Thank you @l8tof1 for tagging me! 🥰 1) where do you follow a race?  I watch it via F1TV, because I sure as hell won’t pay to hear Dutch commentary😜. For FP and Quali I always have the same set-up: Mainfeed on my tv (with Sky commentary) and on my MacBook splitscreen. So on my left side the F1.com livetiming and on the right side Lewis onboard. Only thing I change for the race day is that I change the F1 livetiming for the F1TV timing board. I like to watch the mini sectors and timing (for long runs for example) a bit closer during FP and quali, but during the race just the lap times are enough.  2) Do you watch by yourself or with others? By myself. When I was a kid I used to watch it with my father (since he’s also the one who got me into this sport), but ever since I live by myself I watch it on my own. It’s because 1) I’m from Max Verstappen land what the hell am I going to do in the middle of all these Max fans? 2) I like my set-up (as written above) and I get a bit anxious when I don’t know why Lewis is slow/not set a lap etc etc. With his onboard I know he’s managing or was held up etc etc.  I did it once for a race in 2021 - when my friend had her bday party in a room full of Max fans - and luckily for me it was a race not much much happened between those 2. And twice during FP in 2022 (one at the office and Lewis was P1 so I said: ‘So we gonna watch together on Sunday again? haha😂). 3) Do you watch every race and all sessions? Yes. That’s one of the pro’s of the new way of working: from home and at the office. So on F1-weekends I always work from home on Friday. I luckily rarely have meetings during FP so I can watch it haha. If I miss something during the F1-weekend I 99% of the time make sure it isn’t raceday. The 1% for this season was last Sunday when I went to the Nations League final haha.   4) Do you have any superstitions? ... *runs* *hides*. OK BUT I AM NOT CRAZY. I have a few ok. I’m already a very superstitious girl in general so...  Ever since the mess in Monaco I have a new ‘ritual’. So we all know it was not a good weekend with Lewis crashing during FP3 as the cherry on top. So I bought a certain drink for quali and Sunday and put on my Plus44 shirt and for quali it worked (at least out-qualifying his teammate). Sunday I put the same shirt on, open up the drink during the formation lap and take seven sips (now don’t come for me with EIGHT EIGHT!!!!). Mind you I watched the start inside a football stadium last Sunday and during the formation lap I took seven sips of whatever drink I had just to be sure. My friend was: ?????? HAHAHHA. And you all be DAMN sure when that formation lap starts in Austria and I’m standing in the stands watching him warm up next week I WILL take my seven sips 😂😂😭

5) what do you do after a race? Put F1TV on on mute waiting for Lewis’s interview and put a Sky stream on.  Besides that scroll, scroll, scrolllllll. On here, Twitter and Reddit. Just scroll and take in the comments/reaction/content. 

[newstfionline]

Friday, December 13, 2024

Data shows global conflict surged in 2024 (Washington Post) The world saw a staggering surge in conflicts over the past year. At least 233,000 people were estimated to be killed in conflicts in 2024, according to new data released Thursday by a prominent nonprofit analysis and crisis mapping project. The data, released today by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED), shows in raw numbers how the level of conflicts around the world have doubled over the past five years, amid wars in Ukraine, Gaza, Myanmar and elsewhere. Among the data for this year, ACLED found that the number of people killed in conflicts in 2024 had grown by 30 percent since the preceding year, from 179,099 deaths in 2023 to 233,597 in 2024. The war in Ukraine was the deadliest in 2024, with 67,000 reported deaths, while 35,000 deaths were reported in the Palestinian territories of Gaza and the West Bank. By the end of the year, the number of acts of violence recorded by ACLED is projected to reach almost 200,000, a quarter higher than last year and double what it was five years ago.

Canada euthanasia now accounts for nearly one in 20 deaths (BBC) The rate of medical assistance in dying—also known as euthanasia—has grown in Canada for the fifth straight year, albeit at a slower pace. The country released its fifth annual report since legalising assisted dying in 2016. Around 15,300 people underwent assisted dying last year, accounting for 4.7% of deaths in the country. Canada lawmakers are currently seeking to expand access to euthanasia to cover people with mental illnesses by 2027. Canada is among a few countries that have introduced assisted dying laws in the past decade. Others include Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Austria.

East Coast storm makes a mess at ski resorts as strong winds cause power outages (AP) A storm that swept up the East Coast delivered a blow to New England, packing powerful gusts that knocked out power along with a deluge of rain and warming temperatures that washed away snow and dampened ski resorts. An atmospheric river transported moisture northward from the tropics and brought heavy rain. In Maine, nearly 57,000 customers had lost power as of Wednesday night, according to poweroutage.us. In Massachusetts, nearly 8,000 people were without power.

An unprecedented surge (NYT) The immigration surge since 2021 has been the largest in U.S. history, surpassing even the levels of the late 1800s and early 1900s. Total net migration—the number of people coming to the country minus the number leaving—will likely exceed eight million people over the past four years, government statistics suggest. That number includes both legal and illegal immigration. Even after adjusting for today’s larger population, the surge is slightly larger than that during the peak years of Ellis Island traffic, when millions of Europeans came to the United States. Of the roughly eight million net migrants who came to the U.S. over the past four years, about five million—or 62 percent—were unauthorized, according to an estimate by Goldman Sachs. The unprecedented scale of recent immigration helps explain why the issue played such a big role in the 2024 election. Polls showed that the sharp rise in immigration was unpopular with most Americans, especially among working-class voters, some of whom complained of strained social services, crowded schools and increased homelessness.

Haiti’s main international airport reopens a month after gang gunfire forced it to close (AP) Haiti’s main international airport reopened on Wednesday to commercial flights, one month after gangs opened fire on planes. It was the second closing this year because of gang violence. Soldiers and police, bolstered by Kenyan police leading a U.N.-backed mission to quell the violence, have boosted security in the area, and a test flight was successful, Haiti’s government said in a statement. However, there were no flights and no passengers Wednesday afternoon, with heavily armed police setting up checkpoints by the airport and stopping public transport. An airport parking lot normally packed with hundreds of cars had about several dozen vehicles, the majority belonging to employees.

No ID necessary (Foreign Policy) European interior ministers voted on Thursday to formally admit Bulgaria and Romania into the Schengen Zone starting on Jan. 1, 2025. The area, now encompassing 29 countries, has abolished internal border controls for all members except in the cases of specific threats. This means that one can now drive from Portugal to Estonia to Greece without ever having to show a passport. Thursday’s vote was a “historic decision” that completes “a major objective of both the Republic of Bulgaria and Romania since their accession to the European Union” 17 years ago, the two nations’ foreign ministries said in a joint statement.

In Defiant Speech, South Korea’s President Defends Martial Law Decree (NYT) President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday defended his botched attempt to put South Korea under martial law last week, vowing to “fight to the end” despite the opposition-dominated legislature’s push to impeach him and his own party’s demand that he resign from office. In an unexpected speech, Mr. Yoon said he had never meant to disrupt the “constitutional order” when he declared martial law on Dec. 3 and sent hundreds of troops into the National Assembly. He said he had done so to “save the country” from what he called the “anti-state” opposition parties, which he accused of using their legislative majority to paralyze the nation. Mr. Yoon’s People Power Party, which blocked opposition lawmakers’ attempt to impeach him on Saturday, recommended this week that he instead resign in February or March. But Mr. Yoon indicated in his speech that he intended to remain in office, and that he would fight his removal at the Constitutional Court if he were impeached. South Koreans have been staging massive protests calling for Yoon to step down ever since the attempted coup, and police attempted to raid the president’s office yesterday. They were stopped at the gate by secret service members, who apparently negotiated which documents office staff would hand over to police.

Syrians flock to morgues looking for loved ones who perished in Assad’s prisons (AP) Mohammad Chaeeb spoke softly into his phone, telling a relative the grim news: He found his brother at the morgue. The dead man was jailed five months ago, disappearing into a dark prison system under the rule of President Bashar al-Assad. His body is just one of many found in Syrian detention centers and prisons since Assad’s government fell last weekend. Morgue officials who examined the corpses have seen bullet wounds and marks that appeared to be the result of torture, a doctor said. An estimated 150,000 people have been detained or reported missing in Syria since 2011. Under Assad’s rule, any whiff of dissent could send someone to prison immediately. For years, it was a sentence akin to death, as few ever emerged from the system.

Netanyahu Finally Takes the Stand in His Corruption Trial (NYT) Outside the courthouse, he is one of the most powerful men in the Middle East, overseeing Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, its occupation of southern Lebanon and recent strikes in Syria. As he stepped into a cramped and sweltering underground courtroom in Tel Aviv on Tuesday morning, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel morphed into the defendant in Case 67104-01-20—charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust. Eight years after the police started investigating him and four years after his trial began, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister was taking the stand for the first time to respond to accusations of corruption that have defined and disrupted Israeli public life for nearly a decade.

Israeli strikes kill 35, UN demands immediate ceasefire (Worldcrunch) Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that at least 35 people were killed on Thursday in Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip. The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for an "immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire" and a release of "all hostages" on Wednesday. Washington vetoed the text, as it did the last one.

Dozens of civilians killed in two days of intense fighting in Sudan (Reuters) At least 127 people, mostly civilians, were killed over two days in Sudan as fighting between the army and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) intensifies, according to officials, activists and rights groups. The 20-month conflict, which has killed tens of thousands, has become increasingly violent, with the army stepping up air attacks in areas under the RSF control and the paramilitary forces staging raids and carrying out intense artillery strikes.

Houthi Attacks Turn Back the Clock for Shipping as Costs Pile Up (NYT) Before this year, Tobias Kammann, a German container ship captain, had only once sailed around the southern tip of Africa, and the lack of other vessels in the little-trafficked waters made him feel very much alone. But these days, there are so many ships there, he said, that “it’s a bit like the autobahn.” To get from Asia to Europe and back, global shipping companies have for decades sailed through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. But a year ago, the Houthi insurgents in Yemen began targeting vessels in the Red Sea with drones and missiles, forcing shipping companies to divert their cargo around the Cape of Good Hope at Africa’s southern tip, a route that is some 3,500 nautical miles and 10 days longer. It’s as if the shipping industry had been transported back to the days before the Suez Canal opened in 1869. “This is one of the most significant challenges that shipping has faced in a long time,” said Salvatore Mercogliano, a maritime historian and an associate professor at Campbell University in North Carolina.

Pack a ‘Go Bag’ for Extreme Weather (NYT) Extreme weather is happening more frequently across the country, as we have seen this year with Hurricane Helene’s catastrophic impact on Asheville, N.C., November’s wildfires in New York and New Jersey and this month’s fast-spreading Malibu fire. Nearly 20 percent of all Americans have had to evacuate their homes because of unexpected severe weather, according to a new study by the analytics firm YouGov. More and more people are looking for a way to protect themselves from the next hurricane, tornado, flash flood or fire. Fortunately, there’s an affordable and easy way to be better prepared: by packing an extreme-weather go bag. An extreme-weather go bag is an emergency kit you can keep in your home or car—some people make one for each—that’s filled with items that can quickly become invaluable during a crisis, or if you have to evacuate. A properly packed go bag will have the essentials for at least 72 hours, as recommended by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It will eliminate the panic of wondering what to bring with you, and it may end up saving your life. “If you don’t take the time to address these questions before a disaster strikes, you’ll be hard pressed to do so in the rush of a potential crisis,” said Stephanie Fox, a spokeswoman for the American Red Cross.

Flights (Skift) Globally, the average airfare next year is projected to come in at $380, down 1.8 percent compared to this year and down 44 percent since 2014. Given 5 billion people on 40 million flights in 2025, and projected profits for the industry coming in at $36.6 billion globally, the average profit per passenger is coming in at a modest $7 per passenger.

[umseb]

sebastian vettel in the garage on practice day, austria - july 2, 2021 📷 glenn dunbar / motorsport images

[brookston]

Holidays 3.22

Holidays

Age Is Just A Number Day

Arab League Day

Army Day (Philippines)

As Young As You Feel Day

Baltic Sea Day

Banned in Boston Day

Bihar Day (India)

Captain James T. Kirk Day

Cinematograph Film Day

Cornstarch Day

Daffodil Day

Day of the Berlin Bear (Germany)

Day of the People’s Party (Laos)

Earth Day [Original Date]

Emancipation Day (a.k.a. Día de la Abolición de la Esclavitud; Puerto Rico)

Festival of Immortality

Gryffindor Pride Day

International Day of the Seal

International Goof-Off Day (a.k.a. National Goof-Off Day)

International Gurjar Day

International Taxi Driver Day (Russia)

John Magufuli Day (Tanzania)

Labour Day (Christmas Island)

Laser Day

Lynch Syndrome Awareness Day

National Badminton Day [also 3.30]

National

National Day of the Podenco (Spain)

National Day of Work-Integrated Learning Day (Canada)

National Donald Day

National Rehabilitation Counselors Appreciation Day

National Ride2School Day )Australia)

National Sing-Out Day

National Tree Day (Sent Maarten)

National West Virginia Day

Newlyweds Day (Serbia)

Plane Tree Day (French Republic)

Resident Evil Anniversary Day

Stamp Act Day

Stanley Cup Day

Sun-Earth Day

Talk Like William Shatner Day

Tuskegee Airmen Day

World Cloud Security Day

World Coma Day

World Day of Metta!

World Doula Day

World Mime Day

World Organic Research Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Bavarian Crepes Day

Brewing Water Day

Coq au Vin Day

We Love Broccoli Day

World Water Day (a.k.a. World Day for Water; UN)

4th Friday in March

Friday of Sorrows [4th Friday]

Fry Day (Pastafarian; Fritism) [Every Friday]

Pliny the Younger Day (Normally 1st Friday in February but moved in 2023)

Wear a Hat Day (Ireland) [4th Friday]

Independence & Related Days

Bihar (State founded; India; 1912)

Malus (Declared; 2021) [unrecognized]

New Year’s Days

Nowruz (New Year) [Day 3, Around Spring Equinox] (a.k.a. ... 

Dita e Nevruzit (Albania)

Nauryz Meyramy (Kazakhstan)

Navruz (Tajikistan, Uzbekistan)

Nevruz (Albania)

Nooroz (Iran)

Novruz (Azerbaijan)

Festivals Beginning March 22, 2024

Barcelona Beer Festival (Barcelona, Spain) [thru 3.24]

Bluebonnet Brew-Off (Dallas, Texas) [thru 3.24]

California Artisan Cheese Festival (Santa Rosa, California) [thru 3.24]

Hammond Smokin’ BBQ Challenge (Hammond, Louisiana) [thru 3.23]

Hermann Wurstfest (Hermann, Missouri) [thru 3.24]

Kirkland Wine, Beer & Spirits Walk (Kirkland, Washington)

Lollapalooza (São Paulo, Brazil) [thru 3.24]

Litchfield Restaurant Week (Litchfield, Connecticut) [thru 3.29]

MN Brewers Conference (St. Paul, Minnesota)

Salzburg Easter Festival (Salzburg, Austria) [thru 4.1]

Sydney Royal Easter Show (Sydney, Australia) [thru 4.2]

Ultra Music Festival (Miami, Florida) [thru 3.24]

Vossa Jazz (Vossevangen, Norway) [thru 3.24]

Feast Days

Anthony Van Dyck (Artology)

Anton Raphael Mengs (Artology)

Attis Arbour Intrat (Procession of Pine Trees, dedicated to Cybele, Ops for Rhea; Ancient Rome)

Basil of Ancyra (Christian; Saint)

Benvenuto of Osimo (Christian; Saint)

Catharine of Sweden (Christian; Saint)

Clemens August Graf von Galen (Christian; Saint)

Darerca of Ireland (Christian; Saint)

Deogratias, Bishop of Carthage (Christian; Saint)

Dies Violae (Laying of Flowers at Tombs; Ancient Rome)

Epaphroditus (Christian; Saint)

Festival of Cybele (Attis’ self-mutilation; Ancient Rome)

Festival of the Entry of the Tree (Ancient Rome)

Hola Mohalla (Sikh)

John Frederick Kensett (Artology)

Jonathan Edwards (Lutheranism)

Justin (Positivist; Saint)

Keep Richards Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Lea of Rome (Christian; Saint)

Nicholas Owen (Christian; Saint)

Nicholas von Flue (Christian; Saint)

Paul of Narbonne (Christian; Saint)

Pretend to Be Sober Day (Pastafarian)

Rite of Eostre (Everyday Wicca)

Quinquatria, Day 4: Poet’s Day (Pagan)

Rosh Chodesh Nisan (Judaism) [1 Nisan]

Slightly Silly Day (Pastafarian)

Toothbrush (Muppetism)

Hebrew Calendar Holidays [Begins at Sundown Day Before]

Shabbat Zachor (Remembrance) [13 Adair]

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Tomobiki (友引 Japan) [Good luck all day, except at noon.]

Premieres

All Shook Up, by Elvis Presley (Song; 1957)

Apostrophe (‘), by Frank Zappa (Album; 1974)

Behold the Man, by Michael Moorcock (Novel; 1969)

The Bible, printed by Johannes Gutenberg (Book; 1457)

Bosko the Speed King (WB LT Cartoon; 1933)

Bringing It All Back Home, by Bob Dylan (Album; 1965)

Bullwinkle Scores Again or Fool’s Goal (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S6, Ep. 356; 1965)

The Clock (Film; 1945)

The Croods (Animated Film; 2013)

Defending Your Life (Film; 1991)

D-I-V-O-R-C-E, recorded by Tammy Wynette (Song; 1968)

East St. Louis Toddle-oo, recorded by Duke Ellington (Song; 1927)

The Egg Cracker Suite (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Swing Symphony Cartoon; 1943)

The Explorer, featuring Farmer Al Falfa (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1931)

Far Beyond Driven, by Pantera (Album; 1994)

Fist of Fury (Film; 1972)

Flames in the Sky, by Pierre Clostermann (Novel; 1951)

The Golden Touch (Disney Silly Symphony Cartoon; 1935)

Gutenberg Bible (Religious Text; 1457)

How Should We Then Live? The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture, by Francis A. Schaeffer (Philosophy Book; 1975)

Luca (Pixar Animated Film; 2024)

Mr. Wonderful (Broadway Musical; 1956)

Much Ado About Nothing (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1940)

Olympus Has Fallen (Film; 2013)

On the Border, by The Eagles (Album; 1974)

Pleased to Meet Cha! (Fleischer Popeye Cartoon; 1935)

Please Please Me by The Beatles (Album; 1963)

Power to the People, by John Lennon (Song; 1971)

The Rules: All You Need Is Cash (TV Rockumentary Special; 1978)

Sing Smokey, by The Temptation (Album; 1965)

Sleepy Time Chimes (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1971)

Spring Breakers (Film; 2013)

Standing Room Only or Bullwinkle Sells Out (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S6, Ep. 355; 1965)

Station 19 (TV Series; 2018)

Stealin Aint Honest (Fleischer Popeye Cartoon; 1940)

Symphony No. 1, the Poem of the Forest, by Albert Roussel (Symphony; 1908)

Us (Film; 2019)

Today’s Name Days

Clemens, Elmar, Klemens, Lea (Austria)

Rosen, Rositsa (Bulgaria)

Lea, Leonarda, Oktavijan (Croatia)

Leona (Czech Republic)

Paulus (Denmark)

Viktor, Viktoria (Estonia)

Vihtori, Viktor (Finland)

Léa (France)

Elmar, Lea, Reinhilde (Germany)

Drosos, Drosoula (Greece)

Beáta, Izolda (Hungary)

Benevenuto, Caterina, Lavinia, Lea, Muzio, Onofrio, Nilda, Nilde (Italy)

Dziedra, Giedra, Ralfs, Tamāra (Latvia)

Gedgaudas, Gedgaudė, Kotryna (Lithuania)

Paula, Pauline (Norway)

Bazylissa, Bogusław, Godzisław, Katarzyna, Kazimierz, Paweł (Poland)

Drosida, Vasile (Romania)

Beňadik (Slovakia)

Bienvenido, Lea (Spain)

Kennet, Kent, Viktor (Sweden)

Lea, Leah, Lee, Leigh, Leighton, Parker (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 82 of 2024; 284 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 5 of week 12 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Fearn (Alder) [Day 6 of 28]

Chinese: Month 2 (Ding-Mao), Day 13 (Yi-You)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025)

Hebrew: 12 Adair II 5784

Islamic: 12 Ramadan 1445

J Cal: 22 Green; Oneday [21 of 30]

Julian: 9 March 2024

Moon: 94%: Waxing Gibbous

Positivist: 26 Aristotle (3rd Month) [Clement of Alexandria]

Runic Half Month: Beore (Birch Tree) [Day 13 of 15]

Season: Spring (Day 4 of 92)

Week: 3rd Week of March

Zodiac: Aries (Day 2 of 31)

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 3.22

Holidays

Age Is Just A Number Day

Arab League Day

Army Day (Philippines)

As Young As You Feel Day

Baltic Sea Day

Banned in Boston Day

Bihar Day (India)

Captain James T. Kirk Day

Cinematograph Film Day

Cornstarch Day

Daffodil Day

Day of the Berlin Bear (Germany)

Day of the People’s Party (Laos)

Earth Day [Original Date]

Emancipation Day (a.k.a. Día de la Abolición de la Esclavitud; Puerto Rico)

Festival of Immortality

Gryffindor Pride Day

International Day of the Seal

International Goof-Off Day (a.k.a. National Goof-Off Day)

International Gurjar Day

International Taxi Driver Day (Russia)

John Magufuli Day (Tanzania)

Labour Day (Christmas Island)

Laser Day

Lynch Syndrome Awareness Day

National Badminton Day [also 3.30]

National

National Day of the Podenco (Spain)

National Day of Work-Integrated Learning Day (Canada)

National Donald Day

National Rehabilitation Counselors Appreciation Day

National Ride2School Day )Australia)

National Sing-Out Day

National Tree Day (Sent Maarten)

National West Virginia Day

Newlyweds Day (Serbia)

Plane Tree Day (French Republic)

Resident Evil Anniversary Day

Stamp Act Day

Stanley Cup Day

Sun-Earth Day

Talk Like William Shatner Day

Tuskegee Airmen Day

World Cloud Security Day

World Coma Day

World Day of Metta!

World Doula Day

World Mime Day

World Organic Research Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Bavarian Crepes Day

Brewing Water Day

Coq au Vin Day

We Love Broccoli Day

World Water Day (a.k.a. World Day for Water; UN)

4th Friday in March

Friday of Sorrows [4th Friday]

Fry Day (Pastafarian; Fritism) [Every Friday]

Pliny the Younger Day (Normally 1st Friday in February but moved in 2023)

Wear a Hat Day (Ireland) [4th Friday]

Independence & Related Days

Bihar (State founded; India; 1912)

Malus (Declared; 2021) [unrecognized]

New Year’s Days

Nowruz (New Year) [Day 3, Around Spring Equinox] (a.k.a. ... 

Dita e Nevruzit (Albania)

Nauryz Meyramy (Kazakhstan)

Navruz (Tajikistan, Uzbekistan)

Nevruz (Albania)

Nooroz (Iran)

Novruz (Azerbaijan)

Festivals Beginning March 22, 2024

Barcelona Beer Festival (Barcelona, Spain) [thru 3.24]

Bluebonnet Brew-Off (Dallas, Texas) [thru 3.24]

California Artisan Cheese Festival (Santa Rosa, California) [thru 3.24]

Hammond Smokin’ BBQ Challenge (Hammond, Louisiana) [thru 3.23]

Hermann Wurstfest (Hermann, Missouri) [thru 3.24]

Kirkland Wine, Beer & Spirits Walk (Kirkland, Washington)

Lollapalooza (São Paulo, Brazil) [thru 3.24]

Litchfield Restaurant Week (Litchfield, Connecticut) [thru 3.29]

MN Brewers Conference (St. Paul, Minnesota)

Salzburg Easter Festival (Salzburg, Austria) [thru 4.1]

Sydney Royal Easter Show (Sydney, Australia) [thru 4.2]

Ultra Music Festival (Miami, Florida) [thru 3.24]

Vossa Jazz (Vossevangen, Norway) [thru 3.24]

Feast Days

Anthony Van Dyck (Artology)

Anton Raphael Mengs (Artology)

Attis Arbour Intrat (Procession of Pine Trees, dedicated to Cybele, Ops for Rhea; Ancient Rome)

Basil of Ancyra (Christian; Saint)

Benvenuto of Osimo (Christian; Saint)

Catharine of Sweden (Christian; Saint)

Clemens August Graf von Galen (Christian; Saint)

Darerca of Ireland (Christian; Saint)

Deogratias, Bishop of Carthage (Christian; Saint)

Dies Violae (Laying of Flowers at Tombs; Ancient Rome)

Epaphroditus (Christian; Saint)

Festival of Cybele (Attis’ self-mutilation; Ancient Rome)

Festival of the Entry of the Tree (Ancient Rome)

Hola Mohalla (Sikh)

John Frederick Kensett (Artology)

Jonathan Edwards (Lutheranism)

Justin (Positivist; Saint)

Keep Richards Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Lea of Rome (Christian; Saint)

Nicholas Owen (Christian; Saint)

Nicholas von Flue (Christian; Saint)

Paul of Narbonne (Christian; Saint)

Pretend to Be Sober Day (Pastafarian)

Rite of Eostre (Everyday Wicca)

Quinquatria, Day 4: Poet’s Day (Pagan)

Rosh Chodesh Nisan (Judaism) [1 Nisan]

Slightly Silly Day (Pastafarian)

Toothbrush (Muppetism)

Hebrew Calendar Holidays [Begins at Sundown Day Before]

Shabbat Zachor (Remembrance) [13 Adair]

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Tomobiki (友引 Japan) [Good luck all day, except at noon.]

Premieres

All Shook Up, by Elvis Presley (Song; 1957)

Apostrophe (‘), by Frank Zappa (Album; 1974)

Behold the Man, by Michael Moorcock (Novel; 1969)

The Bible, printed by Johannes Gutenberg (Book; 1457)

Bosko the Speed King (WB LT Cartoon; 1933)

Bringing It All Back Home, by Bob Dylan (Album; 1965)

Bullwinkle Scores Again or Fool’s Goal (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S6, Ep. 356; 1965)

The Clock (Film; 1945)

The Croods (Animated Film; 2013)

Defending Your Life (Film; 1991)

D-I-V-O-R-C-E, recorded by Tammy Wynette (Song; 1968)

East St. Louis Toddle-oo, recorded by Duke Ellington (Song; 1927)

The Egg Cracker Suite (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Swing Symphony Cartoon; 1943)

The Explorer, featuring Farmer Al Falfa (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1931)

Far Beyond Driven, by Pantera (Album; 1994)

Fist of Fury (Film; 1972)

Flames in the Sky, by Pierre Clostermann (Novel; 1951)

The Golden Touch (Disney Silly Symphony Cartoon; 1935)

Gutenberg Bible (Religious Text; 1457)

How Should We Then Live? The Rise and Decline of Western Thought and Culture, by Francis A. Schaeffer (Philosophy Book; 1975)

Luca (Pixar Animated Film; 2024)

Mr. Wonderful (Broadway Musical; 1956)

Much Ado About Nothing (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1940)

Olympus Has Fallen (Film; 2013)

On the Border, by The Eagles (Album; 1974)

Pleased to Meet Cha! (Fleischer Popeye Cartoon; 1935)

Please Please Me by The Beatles (Album; 1963)

Power to the People, by John Lennon (Song; 1971)

The Rules: All You Need Is Cash (TV Rockumentary Special; 1978)

Sing Smokey, by The Temptation (Album; 1965)

Sleepy Time Chimes (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1971)

Spring Breakers (Film; 2013)

Standing Room Only or Bullwinkle Sells Out (Rocky & Bullwinkle Cartoon, S6, Ep. 355; 1965)

Station 19 (TV Series; 2018)

Stealin Aint Honest (Fleischer Popeye Cartoon; 1940)

Symphony No. 1, the Poem of the Forest, by Albert Roussel (Symphony; 1908)

Us (Film; 2019)

Today’s Name Days

Clemens, Elmar, Klemens, Lea (Austria)

Rosen, Rositsa (Bulgaria)

Lea, Leonarda, Oktavijan (Croatia)

Leona (Czech Republic)

Paulus (Denmark)

Viktor, Viktoria (Estonia)

Vihtori, Viktor (Finland)

Léa (France)

Elmar, Lea, Reinhilde (Germany)

Drosos, Drosoula (Greece)

Beáta, Izolda (Hungary)

Benevenuto, Caterina, Lavinia, Lea, Muzio, Onofrio, Nilda, Nilde (Italy)

Dziedra, Giedra, Ralfs, Tamāra (Latvia)

Gedgaudas, Gedgaudė, Kotryna (Lithuania)

Paula, Pauline (Norway)

Bazylissa, Bogusław, Godzisław, Katarzyna, Kazimierz, Paweł (Poland)

Drosida, Vasile (Romania)

Beňadik (Slovakia)

Bienvenido, Lea (Spain)

Kennet, Kent, Viktor (Sweden)

Lea, Leah, Lee, Leigh, Leighton, Parker (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 82 of 2024; 284 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 5 of week 12 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Fearn (Alder) [Day 6 of 28]

Chinese: Month 2 (Ding-Mao), Day 13 (Yi-You)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025)

Hebrew: 12 Adair II 5784

Islamic: 12 Ramadan 1445

J Cal: 22 Green; Oneday [21 of 30]

Julian: 9 March 2024

Moon: 94%: Waxing Gibbous

Positivist: 26 Aristotle (3rd Month) [Clement of Alexandria]

Runic Half Month: Beore (Birch Tree) [Day 13 of 15]

Season: Spring (Day 4 of 92)

Week: 3rd Week of March

Zodiac: Aries (Day 2 of 31)

[oceansoulmatesblog]

US pointman on Iran on leave as clearance reviewed

AFP , Friday 30 Jun 2023 The US pointman on Iran has been placed on leave, the State Department said Thursday, as reports said that his handling of sensitive material was under review. Robert Malley, U.S. Special Envoy for Iran, is shown on June 20, 2021, in Vienna, Austria. AP Special envoy Rob Malley, in a statement to several news outlets, confirmed that his security clearance was under…

[msclaritea]

WATCH: Garland announces charges against El Chapo sons and Sinaloa cartel for fentanyl trafficking | PBS NewsHour

"The Justice Department on Friday charged 28 members of Mexico's powerful Sinaloa cartel, including sons of notorious drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, in a sprawling fentanyl-trafficking investigation.

Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the charges Friday alongside Drug Enforcement Administration chief Anne Milgram and other top federal prosecutors. The charges were filed against cartel leaders, as well alleged chemical suppliers, lab managers, fentanyl traffickers, security leaders, financiers and weapons traffickers.

The indictments announced Friday charge three of Guzman's sons — Ovidio Guzmán López, Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar and Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Sálazar — who are known as the Chapitos, or little Chapos, and who have earned a reputation as the more violent and aggressive faction of the cartel.

Only Guzmán López is in custody, in Mexico.

The indictments also charge Chinese and Guatemalan citizens accused of supplying precursor chemicals required to make fentanyl. Others charged in the cases include those accused of running drug labs and providing security and weapons for the drug trafficking operation, prosecutors said.

Nearly 107,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in the U.S. in 2021. The Drug Enforcement Administration says most the fentanyl trafficked in the United States comes from the Sinaloa cartel.

The Sinaloa cartel's notorious drug lord was convicted in 2019 of running an industrial-scale smuggling operation. At his trial, prosecutors said evidence gathered since the late 1980s showed he and his murderous cartel made billions of dollars by smuggling tons of cocaine, heroin, meth and marijuana into the U.S.

In outlining the charges, Garland described the violence of the Sinaloa cartel, describing how its members have tortured perceived enemies, including Mexican law enforcement officials. In some cases, cartel members have also fed victims, some some still alive, to tigers owned by Guzman's sons, Garland said.

Eight of those charged in Friday's case have been arrested and remain in custody of law enforcement officials outside of the U.S. The U.S. government is offering rewards for several others charged in the case.

Ovidio Guzmán López, one of Guzmán's sons, was arrested in January in the Sinaloa capital of Culiacan. Ovidio Guzmán, nicknamed "the Mouse," had not been one of El Chapo's better-known sons until an aborted operation to capture him three years earlier. This time Mexico successfully got Guzmán out of Culiacan. In 2019, authorities had him, but released him after his gunmen began shooting up the city.

Some 30 people among authorities and suspected gunmen died in the operation that unleashed hours of shootouts shutting down the city's airport. The U.S. government is currently awaiting the younger Guzmán's extradition.

Ovidio Guzmán López and his brother Joaquín Guzmán López allegedly helped moved the Sinaloa cartel hard into methamphetamines, producing prodigious quantities in large labs. They were previously indicted in 2018 in Washington on drug trafficking charges.

The other two sons Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar and Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Sálazar, are believed to have been running cartel operations together with Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada. They were previously also charged in the U.S. in Chicago and San Diego.

Zambada had been rumoured to be be in poor health and isolated in the mountains leading the sons to try to assert a stronger role to keep the cartel together.

The DEA said it investigated the case in 10 countries: Australia, Austria, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Greece, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama and the United States.

"Death and destruction are central to their whole operation," Milgram said of the cartel."

Don't expect the do nothing but complain Progressives to say a word about this. China has been targeting the U.S. with these drugs. DOJ just put a stop to it. Merrick Garland is forever busy working to protect America. He deserves a thank you.

[dailyanarchistposts]

Anarchist utopias are alive and well, not only in Chiapas or Rojava but also in the heart of capitalist Europe. In Germany, police repression and gentrification have dealt a decisive blow to traditional anarchist strongholds like Berlin, with numerous free spaces closed down since the pandemic started.

But a new form of protest is blossoming. Eco-anarchists are building momentum all over Germany. The black and green flag is stronger than ever and enjoys surprisingly widespread sympathy among the public.

The Dannenröder Forest, nicknamed “Danni,” fifty miles from Frankfurt, is suffering. A highway is being built, cutting through the forest like an open wound. It is a battlefield, a witness to environmental destruction and to resistance. Hundreds of activists occupied the route of the planned A49 highway from October 2019 to December 2020.

They were inspired by protests in the Hambacher Forst, known as “Hambi,” Germany’s most mediatized land occupation with a clear and organic growth from one protest to the other. Out of protesters’ imagination sprang a hundred tree houses, numerous massive wooden tripods and a dense constellation of zip lines, creating a unique ecosystem of resistance.

Organized in neighborhoods, life there was utopic. All decisions were made in a decentralized, unanimous manner, leaving space for activists to live without constraints or hierarchies. Anarcho-feminist, antiracist, and anti-capitalist slogans celebrating life in the forest echoed around the campfires.

But repression was on the way. Last December, nearly 3,000 police with water cannons, led by special commandos, invaded the forest. After destroying all barricades and tree houses, they cleared the way for the deforestation.

Cutting through the dense forest, the future road is heavily protected by barbed wire and massive police patrols. Yet the eco-anarchist resistance has not demobilized. Hundreds of activists reunited in April 2021 for a climate camp to reinvent the protest. They now legally occupy village structures and intend to build a resilient movement based on decentralized direct action.

Forest occupations (Waldbesetzungen) have seven lives. Somehow, being expelled by the police strengthens them. Activists disperse around the country, share their experiences and know-how and create new areas of protest.

An organic network of resistance is being woven across Germany, and sometimes the threads of individual action intersect and create nodes. Climate camps are exactly that—nodes that connect all the struggles.

The first of them began in Augsburg, a conservative Bavarian city. Dozens of climate activists from the Fridays for Future (FFF) group decided that weekly demonstrations were not enough. Last summer, they occupied the city’s central square. They built a wooden utopia in the middle of the shopping district, an eco-anarchist equivalent to Occupy Wall Street.

Like in Danni, they live without authority, cook with dumpstered food and are supported by a network of caring inhabitants. From FFF to eco-anarchy, they were radicalized by the tales of activists traveling from the Danni and Hambi. They, in turn, fostered eco-anarchist resistance in southern Germany.

The intentional family of Waldbesetzungen and climate camps is steadily growing. Central squares are being occupied in six other German cities, as are a dozen forests and meadows.

The Altdorfer Waldbesetzung, called Alti, is the newest. Since January 2021, the woods, close to the tourist city of Ravensburg, echo with the sound of hammers, music, and campfire tales. Protesting the expansion of mining gravel destined for export to Austria, ten to thirty activists live together, building dozens of tree houses in various neighborhoods, following the model of the other forest occupations.

The young anarchist utopia is strongly supported by the local inhabitants, who cook two meals a day for the activists, donate construction material, and flock to visit the occupation on weekends. Since deforestation season starts in October, the Alti has some more months to prepare for the pending police assault. In the meantime, banner actions, demonstrations and pranks against conservative politicians are carried out daily.

The eco-anarchist utopia is alive and well. It is growing steadily as an alternative to the Green Party, which is becoming Germany’s new mainstream, and may even lead the government after the next election.

Feminist, antiracist and anti-capitalist struggles are coming together in the woods, because all forms of oppression are interlinked. Black is the new green.

In times of greenwashing, green capitalism, and eco-fascism, the eco-anarchist Waldbesetzungen and climate camps offer a combative and beautiful spark of hope.

Philippe Pernot is a German-based photojournalist whose work focuses on anarchy, ecological resistance, and the interconnectedness between feminist, anti-capitalist and anti-racist struggles. After studying in France, he worked in Lebanon for one year, reporting about the Palestinian situation and those abandoned by the Lebanese state.

He co-published a report on a LNG-pipeline project in Quebec and a zine about a mall being built in his native village in southern France.