(The Hill) – Russia has sent a formal letter to the U.S. warning that shipments of sensitive weapons from the U.S. and NATO were exacerbating tensions in Ukraine and could lead to “unpredictable consequences,” The Washington Post reported. The State Department declined to confirm any private diplomatic correspondence.
The letter, which was viewed by the Post, added that the U.S. has flouted the rules governing the transfer of weapons to conflict zones. According to the letter, dated Tuesday, Russia accused NATO of impeding early peace negotiations with Ukraine “in order to continue the bloodshed.”
However, a spokesperson added that it can confirm that along with allies and partners, “we are providing Ukraine with billions of dollars worth of security assistance, which our Ukrainian partners are using to extraordinary effect to defend their country against Russia’s unprovoked aggression and horrific acts of violence.”
The news of the diplomatic letter comes as President Biden announced an additional $800 million in military assistance to Ukraine this week, which for the first time included advanced munitions that the war-torn country has requested. The most recent round of U.S. security assistance includes a mixture of arms and other supplies that Washington has already provided Kyiv, as well as new capabilities that had not previously been sent over.
“The Ukrainian military has used the weapons we are providing to devastating effect. As Russia prepares to intensify its attack in the Donbas region, the United States will continue to provide Ukraine with the capabilities to defend itself,” Biden said.
According to the Pentagon, the aid package includes 11 Mi-17 helicopters, 300 Switchblade drones, 200 M113 armored personnel carriers, 18 howitzers, 40,000 artillery rounds, 10 counter-artillery radars, 500 Javelin missiles, unmanned coastal defense vessels, and protective equipment in the event of a chemical or biological weapons attack.
The president has also imposed a raft of sanctions on Russia in response to the invasion. The Russians have withdrawn forces from around the Ukrainian capital after weeks of trying to capture Kyiv unsuccessfully and are expected to focus attacks on the south and east, including the Donbas region.Copyright 2022 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The female dolphin washed up on Quintana Beach Sunday and was reportedly pushed back to sea while beachgoers tried to “swim with and ride the sick animal.”
A female dolphin that washed up on Quintana Beach in Texas on April 10, 2022.Courtesy Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network
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A dolphin stranded on a Texas beach died after a crowd of people “harassed” the animal and tried to ride it, rescue officials said.
The female dolphin washed up on Quintana Beach Sunday evening and was reportedly pushed back to sea while beachgoers tried to “swim with and ride the sick animal,” the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network said in a Facebook post.
“She ultimately stranded and was further harassed by a crowd of people on the beach where she later died before rescuers could arrive on scene,” the organization said.
Harassing stranded sea animals causes stress and can also be dangerous for the people who interact with them, but it is also illegal, rescue officials said in the post.
Violating the Marine Mammal Protection Act could lead to civil penalties of up to $11,000 and up to a year in prison.
“If a live dolphin or whale strands in Texas, please DO NOT PUSH the animal back to sea, do not attempt to swim or interact with them, do not crowd them,” the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network said.
Ultimately, a person at the beach called Quintana Beach County Park for assistance. The park called the incident a “tragedy.”
Sundance, who has lived in captivity at Miami Seaquarium for his entire life, can then be seen ramming the trainer towards the pool’s edge.
The trainer was taken by ambulance to a local hospital, according to Local10.com. Miami-Dade safety authorities were contacted as a precaution, the media outlet said, but the trainer did not appear to suffer any serious injuries.
Photographer Shannon Carpenter, from Kentucky, who filmed the episode, was visiting the show with her family when the dolphin appeared to become aggressive. “The kids were cheering and thinking this was neat. You could tell the adults knew something was wrong,” she said, per the New York Post.
The most notable streaming TV shows in the works based on video games, from ‘Halo’ to ‘God of War’
Hollywood is mining video games for IP to boost streaming services.
Video-game movies have a history of flopping, but there are plenty of notable shows in the works.
Game industry professionals Insider has spoken to think TV is the best medium for adaptations.
Sony’s video-game movie “Uncharted” is doing decent business at the box office, with $271 million worldwide since opening last month. It cost $120 million to make.
While it’s not a flop by pandemic standards, the history of video-game movie adaptations is riddled with epic misfires both critically and financially.
Hollywood still has plenty of game adaptations on the way. The most notable ones are being developed for the small screen, though. For instance, Deadline first reported on Monday that Amazon was eyeing a “God of War” series.
Game sales hit a record $56.9 billion in 2020, according to a report by the research firm NPD. As media companies compete for well-established IP to attract (or keep) subscribers for their streaming services, they’ve set their sights on the video-game industry.
And as long as Hollywood keeps mining games for content, industry professionals are glad it’s embracing TV.
“We play our favorite games for hundreds of hours,” said Christian Linke, a creative director at Riot Games and the showrunner of Netflix’s “League of Legends” animated series, “Arcane.” “Movies don’t do the experience justice when you only stick with that world for two hours.”
Mac Walters, the project director for “Mass Effect: Legendary Edition” — a remastered collection of the sci-fi series’ original three games — told Insider during an interview last year that a planned “Mass Effect” movie was scrapped a decade ago.
“If you’re going to tell a story that’s as fleshed out as ‘Mass Effect,’ TV is the way to do it,” Walters said. “There’s a natural way it fits well with episodic content.”
Insider looked at the major video-game shows in the works for streaming platforms, from Paramount+‘s “Halo” to Netflix’s “Assassin’s Creed.”
Miami Seaquarium did not respond to Insider’s request for comment, but according to a statement provided to CBS News, an investigation concluded that the trainer had accidentally scratched the dolphin.
“A dolphin and trainer accidentally collided in the water on Saturday while performing a routine behavior as part of the Flipper Show. This was an uncomfortable interaction for both of them and the dolphin reacted by breaking away from the routine and striking the trainer,” the statement said.
The dolphin was also not injured, per CBS News.
Jenna Wallace, a veterinarian who formerly worked at Miami Seaquarium, told Local10.com that she believes it was not an isolated incident.
“I have been told by previous veterinarians and staff that this animal had rammed another trainer in the abdomen,” Wallace told the media outlet.
“When dolphins become aggressive like this, there’s always some underlying thing,” she continued.
Animal rights organization PETA denounced the “exploitation of dolphins” at Miami Seaquarium in a statement published on Tuesday.
“Time is up for the Miami Seaquarium, where long-suffering dolphins desperately need protection and workers are at risk,” said the organization’s general counsel for animal law Jared Goodman.
“PETA urges this abusement park to end its exploitation of dolphins by getting them to sanctuaries as quickly as possible so that they’d never be used in tawdry shows again and no one else would get hurt,” the statement continued.
The report mentioned the feeding of rotten fish to animals, dolphins dying, pools being in disrepair, and inadequate care for the animals.
The Miami Seaquarium is also home to the orca Lolita who has been performing for audiences for 52 years. She has become the focus of a campaign to release her from her orca tank, the world’s smallest, into a sea sanctuary in her native northeast Pacific, reported euronews.
The note was sent as the US was preparing to announce a new aid package for Ukraine.
Russia this week sent a diplomatic note to the State Department calling the US to stop sending military aid to Ukraine.
The Washington Postfirst reported on the document, also called a demarche. “We call on the United States and its allies to stop the irresponsible militarization of Ukraine, which implies unpredictable consequences for regional and international security,” it read.
Russian air force Tu-22M bombers flew into Ukrainian air space on Thursday and dropped unguided bombs on Ukrainian troops in the besieged city of Mariupol, on the Sea of Azov coast.
It was the first time the 120-ton, swing-wing, supersonic bombers directly have raided Ukraine since Russia widened its war on the country starting the night of Feb. 23. Before the Mariupol mission, the Tu-22Ms attacked Ukraine without leaving Russian air space—by firing long-range cruise missiles.
The bombing run, which was recorded by a Russian drone andlater confirmed by Ukrainian officials, could indicate that the Kremlin is running low on cruise missiles.
It requires a certain amount of recklessness, or desperation, to fly the big bombers…
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN Friday that “all of the countries of the world” should be prepared for the possibility that Russian President Vladimir Putin could use tactical nuclear weapons in his war on Ukraine.
Zelensky told CNN’s Jake Tapper in an exclusive interview from the office of the president in Kyiv on Friday that Putin could turn to either nuclear orchemical weaponsbecause he does not value the lives of the people of Ukraine.
“Not only me — all of the world, all of the countries have to be worried because it can be not real information, but it can be truth,” Zelensky said, switching into English to emphasize his point.
WASHINGTON – The price of eggs has soared in recent weeks in part because of a huge bird flu wave that has infected nearly 27 million chickens and turkeys in the United States, forcing many farmers to “depopulate” or destroy their animals to prevent a further spread.
The virus has impacted many different bird species, including penguins and bald eagles. But its spread among poultry has been tremendous, particularly among chickens raised for their eggs.
On Friday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced yet another outbreak, this one in two flocks in Idaho, making that the 27th state in which the virus has been found since February.
According to the USDA, the price of a dozen eggs in November hovered around $1. Right now, that price is $2.95 and rising.
The illness affects commercial birds, hobbyists’ backyard chicken flocks and wild birds, and is spread via secretions and leads to paralysis, swelling and diminished egg production. There have been no human cases of these avian influenza viruses detected in the United States.
So far, about 1.3% of all U.S. chickens have been affected in this outbreak and about 6% of the U.S. turkey flock, said Grady Ferguson, senior research analyst for Gro Intelligence, an agriculture data platform.
Ferguson tracked the last major outbreak of bird flu in 2015, saying that this outbreak has the potential to be more significant and disruptive to the poultry and egg markets. During the last epidemic, at this point in the outbreak, 66 days after first detection, the percentage of total chickens affected was .02%, ultimately climbing to around 2.5% of chickens infected and 50 million birds destroyed.
“We are above and beyond the rate of spread we saw in 2015,” Ferguson said. “Last time, 81 percent of the cases were in the fourth and fifth month, as things exploded. What chicken egg prices did last time affected the market for years. We are two months into the outbreak now, and the safety protocols haven’t worked. I don’t want to be a Chicken Little, but I think it’s going to be worse than last time.”
He said in addition to higher prices for a carton of a dozen eggs, consumers “will see higher prices for all baked goods and a wide variety of processed foods from cupcakes to salad dressing. Restaurants are going to have a harder time justifying why they should give you a three-egg omelet for a dollar. And on the chicken meat side, the situation is also worse this time than it was last time.”
The majority of birds that had to be destroyed last time were laying hens and pullets (these are sexually immature birds that will be layers) and very few broilers (the birds consumers eat) were affected, Ferguson said. Thus far in this outbreak, 9% of affected animals are broiler chickens, he said, which will lead to already-high prices for chicken going even higher.
Tom Super, senior vice president of communications for the National Chicken Council, said that chicken farmers are “doubling and tripling down” on biosecurity at chicken farms, adding protocols like showers for workers as they enter and exit a facility, and antiseptic tire baths for trucks so that infection isn’t moved from one facility to another.
Super said that avian flu will add to the cost of chicken, but that it just one of several price pressures right now. He lists higher feed costs for animals, higher fuel costs for transporting animals and even the Biden administration’s decision to allow higher levels of ethanol in gasoline, which further drives up the price of corn and soy essential for animal feed.
Emily Metz, president of the American Egg Board, said that about 5% of laying hen flocks have been affected so far, but that she is more optimistic about the trajectory of this outbreak.
“The bottom like is we started a little bit earlier than we did in 2015 [with biosecurity protocols],” she said. “We learned some tough lessons in 2015, that our biosecurity wasn’t where it needed to be. We’ve invested in huge changes.”
She described high-tech new protocols such as laser light systems to ward off migratory birds to prevent them from landing on the farmland or buildings. And while she admits prices are rising, she points to farmers’ input costs as a greater factor than the specter of avian flu.
“It is alarming, and I share in the concern about affordability. But eggs are still one of the most affordable proteins, bar none,” she said.
– – –
The Washington Post’s Andrew Van Dam contributed to this report.
SEE BELOW FOR RULINGS ON CHARGES OF MISCHIEF (mischief must be proved in order to convict for break and enter).
1.judge dismissed the charge that activists sabotaged the pig torture-farm generator (judge stated that the farm showed “negligence” in its treatment of animals).
2.judge dismissed the charge that activists released a pig from a pen (and the judge says it’s “plausible” that the farmer actually did it).
3.judge dismisses charge that activists tampered with farm doors and thermostats. judge states that activists have animals’ “best interests” at heart. judge states that farmer has a “selective memory”.
4.judge finds activists guilty of mischief by delaying “proper care” of animals, such as the morning feeding, and allegedly creating a risk of introducing viruses by entering the pig torture chamber. judge didn’t mention that this filthy crowded hellhole full of mutilated horrifically confined animals NEVER ALLOWS PROPER CARE of pigs.
On charges of Obstructing Police:
The judge just ruled that, even though the 11 heroes did not physically resist arrest, they’re guilty of obstructing cops simply because they initially declined to leave the hellish farm.
The maximum sentence is 6 months imprisonment.
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Looks like the judge was more than reasonable in most of his judgements. The obstruction of police charge was probably beyond his control! I feel very badly that the verdict came down with any charges, it should not have, and yes these activists are truly heroes!!
