Leap Seconds Will Expire by 2035, Easing Time Trouble for Tech
C/NET
Leap seconds, used for a half century to synchronize atomic clocks with variations in the Earth's rotation, are being phased out. That's good news for tech giants that are worried about the adjustments' technical risks.
Timekeeping authorities from around the world voted Friday at a meeting of the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures, or BIPM, to stop using the temporal tweak.
"The ... introduction of leap seconds creates discontinuities that risk causing serious malfunctions in critical digital infrastructure," including satellite navigation systems, telecommunications and energy transmission, BIPM said of its reasoning for the move.
The change will take effect no later than 2035, though it's possible the group could phase it in sooner. The new policy is designed to last at least a century.
NASA Orion Spacecraft Snaps Spectacular Selfie Before Zipping Past Moon
C/NET
NASA's Artemis I mission blasted off in a blaze of glory last week. So how's our plucky Orion spacecraft buddy doing out there in the cold of space? Just fine, thank you. It's busy snapping selfies and buzzing the moon.Orion is kitted out with a collection of cameras both inside and out. Cameras attached to the ends of its solar arrays are perfect for capturing selfies.
The selfies were just the beginning of a busy few days for Orion. Next up was a key Monday morning flyby of the moon. The flyby was a success, NASA announced. The spacecraft slimmed by our lunar neighbor, passing just 81 miles (130 kilometers) above the surface while zipping along at a speed of 5,102 mph (8,211 km/h).
Iran stand with protesters as England and Wales bow to Fifa over armbands
The Guardian
England have never enjoyed an opening World Cup match like this. Six goals, and a performance soaked in exuberance and enticing possibilities, laid down an early marker for the next four weeks in Qatar. Yet this game will surely be remembered for something else entirely: the remarkable sight of Iran’s players refusing to sing the national anthem in a gesture of solidarity with oppressed women and protestors back home.
As the anthem rang out across the Khalifa International Stadium, Iran’s players pursed lips, bowed heads and locked shoulders. Their 1,000-yard stares told you something else too: that they, and their families, may soon pay a heavy price. And yet they carried on. The defiant, and the damned. A TV camera cut to an Iranian woman in the stands. She was crying.
World Cup 2022: Iran players decline to sing national anthem
BBC
Iran declined to sing their national anthem before their World Cup match with England in an apparent expression of support for anti-government protests in their home country.
Some fans shouted and jeered during the anthem and others held up signs saying "Woman, Life, Freedom".
Iran state TV cut its coverage of the anthem and switched to a previously shown wide shot of the stadium.Mass protests have been met with a fierce crackdown in recent months.
They have been sparked by the death in custody in September of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman who was detained by morality police for allegedly breaking the strict rules around head coverings.
Human rights activists have said more than 400 protesters have been killed and 16,800 others arrested in a crackdown by Iran's security forces.
Indonesia: Java quake kills 162 and injures hundreds
BBC
An earthquake on the main Indonesian island of Java has killed at least 162 people and injured hundreds, regional governor Ridwan Kamil has said.
The 5.6 magnitude quake struck Cianjur town in West Java, at a shallow depth of 10km (six miles), according to US Geological Survey data.
Scores of people were taken to hospital, with many treated outside.
Rescuers have worked through the night to try to save others thought to still be trapped under collapsed buildings.
The area where the quake struck is densely populated and prone to landslides, with poorly built houses reduced to rubble in many areas.
Earlier, Indonesia's National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said at least 62 people had died, according to the latest available data.
'Golden billion,' Putin's favorite conspiracy, explains his worldview and strategy
NPR
MOSCOW — As the war in Ukraine approaches the nine-month mark, Western governments have repeatedly accused Russia of imperialist expansionism, nuclear blackmail, weaponizing food, energy and winter — and a host of other hostilities that put the welfare of millions at risk.
Yet there's an increasingly common counternarrative in Moscow that argues it is the West instead that intends to subject the masses to misery.
Welcome to the "golden billion."
An idea that first emerged in the twilight years of the Soviet Union, the golden billion is a conspiracy theory that posits a cabal of 1 billion global elites seeks to hoard the world's wealth and resources, leaving the rest of the planet to suffer and starve.
Alabama is pausing executions after a 3rd failed lethal injection
NPR
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey sought a pause in executions and ordered a "top-to-bottom" review of the state's capital punishment system Monday after an unprecedented third failed lethal injection.
Ivey's office issued a statement saying she had both asked Attorney General Steve Marshall to withdraw motions seeking execution dates for two inmates and requested that the Department of Corrections undertake a full review of the state's execution process.
Ivey also requested that Marshall not seek additional execution dates for any other death row inmates until the review is complete.
US journalist Grant Wahl says he was detained in Qatar for rainbow shirt
The Guardian
US soccer journalist Grant Wahl says he was detained by security staff after he wore a rainbow shirt to USA’s World Cup opener against Wales.
Wahl, who works for CBS Sports and writes a popular Substack column, wore the shirt as a show of solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community to the game at Qatar’s Ahmad bin Ali Stadium. Homosexuality is illegal in Qatar.
However, he said a security guard told him the shirt was not allowed. Wahl said his phone was “forcibly ripped” from his hands by a guard as he tweeted about the incident. He said he was then detained for 25 minutes and told to remove his shirt, which a member of security staff said was “political”. He was also asked if he was from the UK.
Indigenous advocates call for ban on unmuzzled police dogs in WA as ‘disturbing pattern’ emerges
Western Australia police have been urged to stop using unmuzzled dogs, as the state’s Aboriginal Legal Service raises concerns about the “disproportionate” number of canine-assisted arrests involving First Nations people.
The ALSWA said it was supporting the family of 13-year-old Noongar boy Jayden Abraham, who was hospitalised and needed surgery after being mauled by a police dog during an incident in Perth earlier this month.
Jayden’s aunt Maxine Abraham said the boy suffered severe injuries to his arm and face and could have been blinded from the attack.“He is going back to the hospital for skin grafts today,” she told Guardian Australia.
Colorado Springs shooting: suspect faces murder and hate crime charges
The Guardian
The suspect in a weekend gun attack on an LBGTQ+ nightclub in Colorado Springs will face five murder charges, and five additional hate crime counts of causing injury with “bias motivation”, preliminary records released on Monday afternoon show.
The details came as police updated the number of injured in the Saturday night rampage at Club Q to 18, and said the alleged shooter, 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich, remained in custody at a local hospital.
Officials said it was likely he would be released from hospital in the next couple of days and would then make a first court appearance on video.Earlier, the mayor of Colorado Springs, John Suthers, said the attack had “the trappings of a hate crime”, and spoke of the “tragic darkness” that descended on the community.
“The actions of this single individual, whatever his motivations, don’t reflect the city of Colorado Springs,” Suthers told ABC’s Good Morning America.
Belgium’s trade in Russian diamonds continues despite moral pressure
The Guardian
leisurely stroll through Antwerp’s diamond district takes only five minutes. Yet through just one sq km in a drab quarter of Belgium’s second city pass 86% of the world’s rough diamonds. Into Antwerp’s nondescript concrete offices arrive billion-year-old gemstones from the faraway depths of mines in Botswana, Canada, South Africa, Angola – and Russia.
Despite the atrocious war in Ukraine that has halted billions of dollars in trade, Belgium continues to import diamonds from Russia, albeit in much diminished quantities.
The EU has stopped importing Russian coal, is phasing out most Russian oiland has stopped buying numerous Russian goods, including gold, caviar and vodka. Yet diamonds have evaded the sanctions list again and again. The omission is even more striking as the trade affects only one EU member state – Belgium – which has always said it would not block a ban.
Ukrainians face life-threatening winter, as temperatures dip: WHO
Al Jazeera
Millions of people in Ukraine face a life-threatening winter this year, the World Health Organization has warned, as Russia continues to pound the country’s energy infrastructure while temperatures plummet.
In recent weeks, Russia has targeted energy infrastructure with missile strikes, including water and electricity stations, leaving homes across the country without power as winter sets in – further compounding the health crisis.
“Half of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure is either damaged or destroyed. This is already having knock-on effects on the health system and on people’s health,” said Hans Henri P Kluge, WHO regional director for Europe.
“This winter will be about survival,” he warned at a news conference in Kyiv, adding that 10 million Ukrainians are currently without power.
EU fails to resolve Serbia-Kosovo license plate row
Deutsche Welle
The EU's high representative, Josep Borrell, held fruitless talks on Monday with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti in Brussels, in a bid to resolve a long-running row over vehicle license plates.
Borrell said that since August "the dispute over license plates has worsened."
"After many hours of discussion … the two parties did not agree to a solution," Borrell said.
The row centers on a decision made by the Kosovo government earlier this month to ban Serbian-issued license plates after an almost two-year-long dispute.
The move prompted 10 Serb lawmakers, 10 prosecutors and 576 police officers in Kosovo's northern Mitrovica region to resign on November 5.
South Africa: Top court orders apartheid assassin's release
Al Jazeera
South Africa's Constitutional Court on Monday ordered that apartheid-era assassin Janusz Walus be granted parole.
Walus, an anti-communist Polish national, gunned down anti-apartheid leader Chris Hani in 1993.
He has served almost thirty years behind bars for the murder, a crime which many believe pushed South Africa to the brink of a civil conflict.
What did the Constitutional Court say?
In a unanimous judgment, Consitutional Court Chief Justice Raymond Zondo ordered that the justice minister place Walus "on parole on such terms and conditions as he may deem appropriate."
Zondo said that Walus should be placed on parole within the space of 10 days.
Walus "was convicted of very serious crime... cold blooded murder," said Zondo. The chief justice said that "his conduct nearly plunged this country into civil unrest", but he was entitled to parole, by law.
How Iran's security forces use rape to quell protests
Haje Omeran, Iraq (CNN)— A trickle of people passes through a normally busy border crossing in the mountains of northern Iraq. “It’s a big prison over there,” one Iranian woman says, gesturing to the hulking gate that marks the border with Iran’s Islamic Republic, which has been convulsed by protest for over two months.
A portrait of the founder of Iran’s clerical regime, Ruhollah Khomeini, looms against a backdrop of rolling hills studded with streetlights. Snatches of travelers’ muted conversations punctuate an eerie silence.
Fear of indiscriminate arrest has made many reluctant to risk the journey. Some of the few who cross say the noose is tightening: protesters gunned down, curfews in the border villages and nighttime raids on homes.
In hushed tones, they speak of female protesters in particular, and the horrors they say some have endured in Iran’s notorious detention facilities.
Iran’s government has closed the country off to non-accredited foreign journalists, regularly shuts down the internet and suppresses dissidents' voices with mass arrests. An extreme climate of fear prevails in Iran as the crackdown intensifies.