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TOKYO -- Military helicopters took off from Chinese and Russian warships sailing near a Japanese island, according to the Ministry of Defense, days after a Sino-Russian naval passage through a chokepoint in Japan's north. The latest incident took place around 4 a.m. Thursday about 50 km to 100 km southwest of Sumisu Island, part of the Izu archipelago stretching south of Tokyo off Japan's Pacific side. Two helicopters flew from frigates operated by China and Russia. Japan scrambled Air Self-Defense Force fighter jets in response. The two helicopters returned to their respective frigates without violating Japanese airspace. Chinese and Russian...

The Supreme Court on Friday declined to immediately block a Texas anti-abortion law that bars abortions once cardiac activity is detected, but it agreed to review whether it is constitutional. The high court wrote in its order (pdf) that it would consider the question of whether “the United States bring suit in federal court and obtain injunctive or declaratory relief against the State, state court judges, state court clerks, other state officials, or all private parties to prohibit S.B. 8 from being enforced,” referring to Senate Bill 8, the name of the law that has been in effect since Sept....

The White House has walked back a number of remarks President Biden made in a CNN town hall Thursday night. A White House official said that the Biden administration is 'not actively pursuing the use of the National Guard on a federal level.' 'Requesting the use of the National Guard at the state level is under the purview of governors,' the official clarified, according to multiple news outlets. 'The answer is yes,' the president said, asked if he would send in the guard to alleviate supply chain issues that are leading to product shortages and rampant inflation. 'Absolutely, positively,' he...

Leader of U.S. pandemic response says, 'I don't understand what is going on in society'Despite the fact that more than 730,000 Americans have died of COVID-19, the U.S. has a comparatively low vaccination rate — only about 57 per cent of the population is fully vaccinated. Dr. Anthony Fauci believes that misinformation has had a major role to play in that. Fauci, who is the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has been one of the world's most visible leaders in the COVID-19 pandemic response. The physician has been NIAID director since 1984, and over nearly...

Employees at a General Electric plant in Greenville, South Carolina, staged a walkout on Thursday in protest of their company's vaccine mandate for employees ahead of an early December deadline by which employees must either be vaccinated or granted an exemption on medical or religious grounds to remain employed. According to local outlet Greenville News, GE employees were joined by others during the protest that included more than 100 people, a mix of GE workers and members of the community who wished to show their support. Some held up signs bearing messages such as "I stand for medical freedom," "coercion...

For the first time, physicists have been able to directly measure one of the ways exploding stars forge the heaviest elements in the Universe. By probing an accelerated beam of radioactive ions, a team led by physicist Gavin Lotay of the University of Surrey in the UK observed the proton-capture process thought to occur in core-collapse supernovae. Not only have scientists now seen how this happens in detail, the measurements are allowing us to better understand the production and abundances of mysterious isotopes called p-nuclei. On the most basic level, stars can be thought of as the element factories of...

Intelligence officials on Friday warned of China's threat to the U.S. private sector National Counterintelligence and Security Center painted an alarming picture An official said China is involved in COVID-19 tests and genetic testing That could ultimately leave the U.S. health care sector dependent on Beijing, said Edward You, the center's office for emerging technology It is part of a push to use tech dominance to gain a military edge, said the report It comes after two senior Pentagon figures warned the U.S. was losing to Beijing And amid growing tensions over the island of Taiwan Intelligence officials on Friday...

We are at the edge of the precipice. The "pretending it's fine" aspect of the charade evokes a deep terror pic.twitter.com/sNvfHVyiwx — Keque🚀 (@Keque_Mage) October 19, 2021 https://twitter.com/i/status/1450588529499643910 Our Safeway appears to be trying to hide the supply shortage by using single lines of products to fill shelves. Leading to this: pic.twitter.com/CDXR67FYRu — Ashe Short (@AsheSchow) October 21, 2021 Ugggh. The milk situation is still not great, Bob. At the Walmart in Thornton. pic.twitter.com/cFlkuNZjpZ — Kelly Maher (@okmaher) October 20, 2021

Chris Wallace called out various bits of rhetoric from President Joe Biden — arguing that his words often don’t “hold up to scrutiny.” Appearing on America’s Newsroom Friday, the Fox News Sunday anchor addressed a comment the president made at a CNN town hall Thursday in which he said that he would consider deploying the national guard to alleviate supply chain issues. The White House later walked back those comments, as that power rests with governors. “There’s the question of people’s confidence that when the president says something that it’s gonna happen, or that he understand how it’s gonna to...

On Thursday, Baldwin fired a prop gun on the set of 'Rust,' killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins On Thursday, Baldwin fired a prop gun on the set of 'Rust,' killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins

House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-SC) on Friday sounded a different tune than President Joe Biden on the cost of his so-called Build Back Better agenda. Biden and his administration have maintained that the $3.5 trillion spending package would come with “zero cost” to the American people, but Clyburn told MSNBC’s “Craig Melvin Reports” that “there’s no way to pay” for a $6 trillion program or even a $3.5 trillion program. The South Carolina congressman said Democrats are “committed” to paying for what they deem necessary and emphasized they are “close to finding that sweet spot.”

More than 11,000 State of Ohio employees -- 22% of the state’s workforce -- will be paid $300 bonuses because at least 65% of their co-workers attested to getting coronavirus vaccinations, according to data released Wednesday. Under an incentive program set up by Gov. Mike DeWine’s office, 37 of 56 participating state agencies, boards, and commissions met the threshold to have at least 65% of their workers sign forms attesting that they have received least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, according to Melissa Vince, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Administrative Services. Not surprisingly, agencies with smaller staffs...

The repercussions over Poland’s unwillingness to adhere to European law are increasing by the day, with the EU leaders divided and its institutions at war. However the situation is resolved, it’s proving very damaging to the bloc. Poland’s refusal to bow to European Union pressure has revealed a fissure at the heart of the bloc. Brussels simply does not know how to proceed in its battle with Poland over the supremacy of EU law. Some want the Poles punished now, others want more negotiations, while Hungary is steadfastly standing by its ally. European leaders met on Thursday in Brussels to...

Contra Costa County and two other Bay Area health jurisdictions—San Francisco County and the city of Berkeley—have mandated that restaurants ask customers for proof of vaccination if they wish to eat indoors. The location was served with a notice of violation on Oct. 5, and subsequently fined $250 on Oct. 14 and $500 on Oct. 19, a spokesperson for Contra Costa County’s health department told SFGate, adding that the In-N-Out faced “repeated complaints from members of the public.”

Phunware stock (NASDAQ:PHUN) was defying all conventions Friday as it rose 1,468% on speculation that the company is being tapped to build former U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposed social media platform. Trading in the stock was halted later. It jumped 1,000% after it resumed. The stock touched a high of $24.04 during the session. It had closed at $1.53 Thursday. More than 197 million shares of the company changed hands on Nasdaq in less than an hour of trading. The speculation has its roots in a USA Today article from May 2020 highlighting a partnership between Phunware and the Trump...

On “a beautiful autumn day” this date in 1941, four dozen French leftists were executed by that country’s occupiers as punishment for the murder of a German officer. On October 20, 1941 — sixteen months into the German occupation — a pair of Communist commandos assassinated the Feldkommandant of Nantes, Lt. Col. Karl Hotz (French link). News of this crime went straight to Adolf Hitler himself, who personally ordered a fearful reprisal. Accordingly, the collaborationist Petain government was induced to select 50 persons from among the ranks of detained German political prisoners. Pierre Pucheu, who would later be executed himself,*...

A rap song titled “Let’s Go Brandon!” has become so popular that it is now trending at number one on Apple Music’s Hip Hop charts. PopVortex.com’s record of what's trending on Apple Music shows that the song is currently in the number one slot on the streaming giant’s Hip Hop charts and it’s number two in iTunes “top 100 pop songs” chart, only behind Adele’s “Easy On Me.” For those who haven’t kept up with the many interesting and vital nuances of political humor these days, “Let’s Go Brandon” is not actually a song in support of people named Brandon...

The production of the upcoming western movie Rust came to a tragic halt on Thursday afternoon in New Mexico, after actor and producer Alec Baldwin discharged a prop firearm that resulted in the death of the film’s cinematographer. Halyna Hutchins, 42, was reportedly struck in the stomach and was airlifted to the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque, where she died, according to Deadline. -snip- “Rule number one, when you’re doing these rehearsals, the firearm, even though it has blanks, it’s never fired at anybody, the angles are always cheated,” Howell says. “Those angles always look to the viewer...

TWENTY-NINTH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME LUKE 12:54-59 Friends, the famous call of the Vatican II fathers to "read the signs of the times" is grounded in Jesus’ exhortation in the Gospel for today. Followers of Jesus are meant to look at the world with clear eyes, to see what is happening, to be attentive. But this attention is of a particular type. It is not the attention of the scientist or the philosopher or the politician—though it can include those. It is an attention to the things of God. I have often argued that many of us today are still...

A local news station reports that regular unleaded gasoline costs $7.59 per gallon, while premium gas costs $8.50 per gallon. A s prices for commodities continue to increase across the country, one California town is seeing gas prices above $7 per gallon. According to KFSN, the only gas station in the remote central coast town of Gorda boasts the nation's highest gas prices. The local news station reports that regular unleaded gasoline costs $7.59 per gallon, while premium gas costs $8.50 per gallon. This town has been home to the nation's highest gas prices for quite some time, and the...