Desmond Milligan

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位於港鐵大埔墟站附近的大埔泮涌村，今天（18日）突然停電，經民聯大埔南區議員羅曉楓到場了解，聯絡中電及水務署跟進，料最快同日晚上八時完成修復。 8月18日，大埔泮涌村突然停電，經民聯大埔南區議員羅曉楓到場了解，聯絡中電及水務署跟進，料最快同日晚上八時完成修復。（羅曉楓Facebook）8月18日，大埔泮涌村突然停電，經民聯大埔南區議員羅曉楓到場了解，聯絡中電及水務署跟進，料最快同日晚上八時完成修復。（羅曉楓Facebook）泮涌村多戶今天停電，羅曉楓在社交網站Facebook表示，初步懷疑附近工程期間意外損及電線與水管，導致供電中斷，影響區內居民日常生活。 8月18日，大埔泮涌村突然停電，經民聯大埔南區議員羅曉楓到場了解，聯絡中電及水務署跟進，料最快同日晚上八時完成修復。（羅曉楓Facebook）羅曉楓到場視察，並聯絡中華電力及水務署跟進事件，要求盡快完成搶修，及早恢復電力供應，減低對居民的影響。他引述有關方面預計最快今晚八時前完成修復。 8月18日，大埔泮涌村突然停電，經民聯大埔南區議員羅曉楓到場了解，聯絡中電及水務署跟進，料最快同日晚上八時完成修復。（羅曉楓Facebook）8月18日，大埔泮涌村突然停電，經民聯大埔南區議員羅曉楓到場了解，聯絡中電及水務署跟進，料最快同日晚上八時完成修復。（羅曉楓Facebook）明苑中心停電｜梁熙指物監局處理緊急事故守則可優化　列復電時間爆水管淹明苑中心｜徹夜停電居民嘆煎熬　今晚未復修就「瞓酒店」水務署指明苑中心停電多幢大廈停水　議員冀上午8時恢復供水爆水管淹明苑中心│川菜館：嘭一聲停電　三四檯客走數　失約8千元 View the full article

A 2008 Tesla Roadster.Andrew LambrechtTesla's first car, the 2008 Roadster, was pivotal in establishing the company's market presence. Andrew Lambrecht drove one and noted how features like the lack of power steering stand out. Overall, the Roadster demonstrated that electric cars could be fast, efficient, and stylish. In 2006, Tesla CEO Elon Musk published a blog post titled "The Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan (just between you and me)." Tesla hadn't built any cars yet, but the post outlined its planned strategy for success. "So, in short, the master plan is: 1. Build {a} sports car; 2. Use that money to build an affordable car; 3. Use that money to build an even more affordable car; 4. While doing above, also provide zero-emission electric power generation options," Musk wrote. Tesla followed this strategy. Its first product was the 2008 Roadster, a $100,000 two-seater sports car. Tesla then built the more mainstream Model S and Model X, eventually paving the way to the Model 3 and Y. Tesla is almost unrecognizable from its original form when the Roadster launched in 2008. In 12 years, it went from a cash-strapped startup to the world's most valuable automaker. The Silicon Valley tech firm is now worth over a trillion dollars. But we cannot forget where Tesla started, and the vehicle that thrust the company into relevance was the Roadster. The little Roadster that couldThe back of a 2008 Tesla Roadster.Andrew LambrechtWhen Tesla started, the goal was straightforward: to make a product cool enough to generate interest among the populace. There were many previous attempts at electric cars, primarily in the 1990s, but none of them became mainstream. Tesla wanted to prove that efficiency, power, and looks were not mutually exclusive pillars to achieve. The result was designing a fast and zingy electric sports car. The Roadster could thrust itself to 60 miles per hour in just 3.7 seconds and had a range of 244 miles. It could go further than other EVs at the time, squashing the Nissan Leaf's 73-mile range and the Mitsubishi i-Miev's 62-mile estimate. Most importantly, it didn't look or feel like anything electric on the market. But the numbers only tell part of the story. On the road, it was completely different from anything I've ever driven. Back to Tesla's rootsWhen I was in California last summer, my friend Wade Higgins asked me if I would like to drive his Tesla Roadster. Naturally, I cleared out my calendar. Wade worked at Tesla from 2013 to 2015. In 2014, he sold some of his Tesla stock and picked up a used Roadster he found online. Wade estimates his Roadster could be worth three times what he originally paid, which was $55K. Still, with Elon Musk's polarizing right-wing presence and the small number of used Roadsters on the market, current values remain uncertain. The designAs I reached Wade's house, the doors from his garage lifted, and the silver 2008 Roadster was unsheathed. I had only seen one on the road prior, so merely being in its presence was a surreal experience. The first thing I noticed was that the Roadster was tiny — its hood barely made it up to my knees. The Roadster was so small because it was based on the Lotus Elise platform. While many newer EVs are built from the ground up on electric platforms, Tesla didn't have the resources back in the old days to do so. Therefore, Tesla partnered with the then-struggling Lotus Cars to procure the vehicle's chassis and help with engineering support. The result is a 155.1-inch-long car measuring only 44.4 inches in height. For comparison, it's about 30.7 inches shorter than a Model 3. This small form factor is excellent for its electric powertrainAerodynamics are key to securing the range. Simply put, a smaller car means a smaller frontal area. Less area means the vehicle won't have to push as much air out of the way when driving. The car also uses a relatively small battery. Its 53-kilowatt-hour battery pack allows it to achieve its 244-mile range. A smaller battery means less weight and fewer battery cells to keep cool. Wade's Roadster is also still on its original battery pack, which, seventeen years later, is still operating normally. The 2008 Roadster weighs about 2,900 pounds. The low weight means the car doesn't need mountains of horsepower to go fast. The original Roadster "only" made 248 horsepower, which is far lower than most modern sporty EVs. The feelThe two seats in the Roadster.Andrew LambrechtThe tight dimensions become immediately apparent when you get behind the driver's seat. Everything feels miniature. You'll literally sit shoulder-to-shoulder with the passenger. Starting the Roadster is also different from any other modern Tesla. There's no app or sleek keycard — instead, owners have a physical key. Slide it into the receptacle to the right of the wheel, twist it, and you'll hear a muted electronic hum, an analog ritual for an electric car. The only attribute the Roadster shares with modern Teslas is the minimalist "TESLA" typeface across the rear. Beneath its sleek exterior, a brutal and raw sports car resides. Another interesting quirk? There's no power steering.The steering wheel.Andrew LambrechtAt low speeds, the driver receives a complimentary bicep workout. Especially when navigating through parking lots, you must supply a decent amount of force to make the car turn. The lack of power steering also means there's no intermediary between the road and the steering column. Every bump, crack, and imperfection in the asphalt's surface permeates up the steering rack and into your fingertips. The ride is just as unforgiving. The taught suspension transfers shocks directly into the cabin, creating a bumpy but visceral driving experience. Every jolt and vibration reminds you that comfort was never a priority in the Roadster. All of these attributes deliver a raw and engaging ride. It was truly one of the most fun EVs I've driven in recent years, but I could assume the harshness would get old if I drove this car frequently. ChargingThe Roadster can't use Superchargers because it launched four years before the first one was built. Therefore, it cannot DC fast charge, meaning you're limited to slower AC charging. At home, the Roadster will charge at 70 amps, which is high even for today's standards. Most EVs top out at 40 or 48 amps. This means the Tesla Roadster can charge at 15.4 kilowatts, adding about 60 miles of range per hour. A zero-to-full charge takes three and a half hours. Public charging the Roadster adds some complexity. It uses an obsolete charging connector, so a regular Tesla NACS connector won't work. You'll need an adapter if you want to charge on a public level 2 station. The Tesla Roadster wasn't made to be a mass-market vehicleThe Roadster was made to show the world what electric cars could be. Despite being 17 years old, the Tesla Roadster still breaks many preconceptions. It's lightweight, blisteringly quick, and still running strong, thanks to the long-lasting battery pack. If it hadn't been for the Roadster, Tesla would likely not be where it is today. I think it's the most important car of the 2000s. Read the original article on Business Insider View the full article

The finger-pointing began as soon as the waters started to recede. Within hours of last month’s floods in Kerr County, Texas, which killed more than 130 people, pundits were already battling over who — or what — was responsible. Over the next few weeks, people blamed insufficient warning systems, sleeping officials, and even nature itself. But Governor Greg Abbott had a different target in mind: the blamers themselves. “Who’s to blame? Know this: That’s the word choice of losers,” Abbott said at a press conference, before launching into a drawn-out metaphor about how losing teams point fingers, while winners “talk about solutions.” It was a familiar dodge (albeit with a sporty twist), but there was at least a kernel of truth to what Abbott was saying. The blame game that erupts after a tragedy can distract from getting things done. These early narratives often outpace evidence, and the conversation quickly devolves into talking points pitting one side against another. “Everybody starts pointing a finger at everyone else, and then what’ll happen is everything gets lost in the shuffle,” said Stephen Strader, a hazards geographer at Villanova University. “Days, months, years afterwards, and we’re right back to where we were.” A woman puts her hand on the shoulder of Governor Greg Abbott while a woman talks to him with an emotional expressionTalking about mistakes is essential to finding real solutions — a fact that wasn’t lost on the many football fans, who criticized Abbott’s “loser” remarks. It’s hard to improve if you don’t unpack what went wrong. But people in power can weaponize the public’s distaste for the blame game in order to dodge questions about accountability. Few bother to distinguish between knee-jerk finger pointing and more nuanced, careful examinations of what factors put people in harm’s way. “Understanding what went wrong is often a bit different than blaming,” said Sarah Anderson, an environmental science and management professor at UC Santa Barbara. Ideally, the momentum coming out of a crisis can become a springboard for better long-term preparedness — not only in the affected region, but in other communities facing similar risks. A Kerr County-type flooding disaster, after all, could unfold in any state across the country. All the necessary ingredients are there: homes built in risky places, inadequate warning systems, and outdated flood maps that fail to account for the effects of climate change. The period after a disaster can be a rare window of opportunity to enact real change. With the damage still fresh in their minds, people are more willing to take bold action and prepare for future disasters. “‘Do something, do anything!’ That is sort of how I characterize that period,” Anderson said. That more thorough assessment doesn’t need to happen immediately, she said, but in the weeks and months that follow a tragedy. For the Texas floods, that means now. And yet our national attention span burns out fast, like a match fueled by hot takes — flaring out long before the hard work of recovery and preparation can begin. It’s a fundamental mismatch: By the time we finally have the distance and data to learn from what went wrong, it already feels like the moment to act has passed. There’s a natural instinct to find someone (or something) to blame right after a tragedy. It’s a way to regain a sense of control when the world feels chaotic and dangerous. Deb Anderson, a lecturer at Monash University in Australia who has researched post-disaster blame games, said that in these times of grief, people are often “looking for something solid to latch on to in a space where everything’s disappearing.” That search frequently follows political fault lines. After Australia’s “Black Saturday” bushfires, which in 2009 killed 173 people, Anderson found that the public discourse around blame quickly devolved into partisan bickering. Environmentalists were accused of blocking efforts to reduce fuels in forests, while government officials were targeted mainly based on political grievances. “It intensified in ways that almost defied belief,” she said. “It silenced the need for a really nuanced and difficult and complex discussion in terms of fire science in this country.” A firefighter picks his way through burned rubblepeople watch a screen of hearings in a libraryLast month’s Texas floods followed a similar pattern. Left-leaning news sites (and some local Texas officials) quickly latched on to the idea that the Trump administration’s staffing cuts to the National Weather Service might have worsened the disaster. That narrative made it all the way to Congress, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, calling for an investigation into the matter. But that blame narrative, while emotionally compelling, was premature. An examination by Wired found that the National Weather Service had performed its job — the real communication breakdown had happened elsewhere. The federal cuts have the potential to lead to disasters somewhere else, but it’s not fair to tie them directly to the Texas floods, said Isaac Saul, who runs the nonpartisan newsletter Tangle, which sorts through views from across the political spectrum. “It’s complicated, which is how a lot of this stuff usually is,” he said. Democrats weren’t the only ones playing the blame game. Conservative commentators rejected the idea that any policy failures had occurred. They downplayed the role of Kerr County’s decision not to install outdoor warning sirens. The right-leaning blog Hot Air went so far as to claim that “no amount of government spending” could stop people from dying in flash floods: “Whatever people think, we have not tamed nature … And if you think that warnings will prevent tragedies, you are also mistaken.” The idea that disasters are an inevitable force of fate drew swift pushback. “The whole point of politics and government is to create the conditions that try to shield people from the very worst,” wrote MSNBC’s Chris Hayes. In The Atlantic article “We Should, in Fact, Politicize the Tragedy,” Olga Khazan cited research showing that when politicians are held accountable, people’s lives are better. “Tragedy is part of life,” Khazan wrote. “But we should not invite more tragedies than are necessary by pretending we are powerless to stop them.” a man walks by two submerged vehicles piled in flood watersPart of the problem is that “politicizing” a tragedy can mean two very different things: the actual work of governing needed to keep society functioning smoothly, or the culture war clashes that overshadow meaningful debate. A tragedy often reveals the cracks in the former, a system that needs to be repaired to keep people safe. Yet when people object to a tragedy becoming “politicized,” it’s that second definition from which they’re recoiling, distracting them from having necessary, life-saving discussions about policy or process. In the weeks after the Texas floods, there were heartbreaking personal accounts, sharp reporting on what went wrong, and even citizen investigations into how local Kerr County officials were so unprepared despite the well-known risks. But those stories landed after the discourse had already hardened — the complexity of the situation flattened by misinformation and partisanship before the facts had a chance to emerge. “The desire to have an explanation, and the desire for that explanation to be tidy and aligned with one’s politics, easily becomes a willingness to accept what fits,” author Rebecca Solnit wrote in The Guardian. Why dig into the details when you’re already satisfied? In recent years, an increasing number of people have pointed fingers at another extreme weather culprit: climate change. That’s for good reason — greenhouse gas emissions have warmed the planet, intensifying floods, heat waves, and other climate-related disasters. But there’s a debate about the best way to bring climate change into the conversation in a way that leads to action, rather than deflection. Friederike Otto, a climate science professor at Imperial College London, warned that blaming climate change for a disaster can create similar problems as blaming “nature.” It can give people an excuse to avoid looking at other human failures, such as poor planning or knowingly building in harm’s way. “Even if climate change plays a big role in the weather event, what turns weather into a disaster is always strongly shaped by vulnerability and exposure,” Otto said. The 2022 floods in Pakistan, for example, were likely made 50 percent more extreme by climate change. But the devastation was largely driven by the country’s outdated river management system and densely populated floodplains. In Kerr County, some similar dynamics were at play. Some of the cabins at Camp Mystic — the girls’ camp where 27 children and counselors died — were built in “extremely hazardous” floodplains. On top of that, the changing climate probably intensified the speed and scale of flooding along the Guadalupe River. “From a scientific point of view, it is the kind of event where we absolutely expect climate change to make it worse, because the rain fell in just a few hours,” Otto said. “That’s where we see, wherever we have studies, quite a strong impact of climate change.” The answer isn’t to leave climate change out of the story, but to place it in context alongside the other policy decisions that put people in danger. After extreme weather events, people are actively looking for answers about the role that climate change played, according to Will Howard, head of insights at Potential Energy, a nonpartisan marketing firm focused on climate action. But when he analyzed the social media conversation a few days after the Texas floods, he found that only 2 percent of posts connected the problem to climate change. They were far outnumbered by posts promoting conspiracy theories about the event’s causes. The narratives that really took off online revolved around blame. While the immediate post-disaster discourse often falls into familiar political camps, Howard has advised climate groups to begin with shared values: that dangerous weather is affecting everyone, and events like the Kerr County floods could happen anywhere. “You can go from there to: ‘We really have to acknowledge the problem and start preparing for it if we want to protect the people that we love,’” he said. a spray painted broken heart on a tree branchHoward said that framing the event as a “climate tragedy” can nod to a root cause while still being sensitive to the grief and hardship people have endured. The organization’s research shows that emphasizing disaster preparation can be just as effective at building support for climate action as talking about the need to cut carbon emissions. They have also found that framing extreme weather as an “unnatural disaster” made worse by “fossil fuel pollution” can increase demand for solutions — but much more so when the event is still fresh in people’s minds. That window of opportunity doesn’t stay open for long. In an attention-driven economy, it may be a matter of days before it closes, said John Marshall, the firm’s founder and CEO. That’s long before scientific studies can tell us exactly how climate change contributed to a given disaster. Scientists have tried to move faster, at times even firing off rapid analysis before a hurricane hits the shore. But science, along with disaster recovery, typically moves at a snail’s pace compared to the news cycle, churning out results long after most people have moved on. Disaster survivors, on the other hand, don’t have the luxury of simply “moving on.” While national, state, and local officials are busy pointing fingers at each other, hoping to avoid footing the bill, survivors are living in horrific conditions — lacking running water and dealing with their houses rotting from mold, said Emma Tai, the managing director for Organizing Resilience, an initiative built to support grassroots organizing after a disaster. All the media attention has some benefits — it can lead to an initial outpouring of volunteers and donations. But as the country stops paying attention to a tragedy, that help often vanishes, making it more difficult to translate the initial outrage into long-term change. Elected officials, for their part, are much more likely to be rewarded for a speedy recovery than for long-term planning, even if returning to “normal” just sets the stage for the next catastrophe. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Tai’s group was founded on the idea that climate disasters are moments that can drive sweeping economic, social, cultural, and political change — and that survivors should be at the forefront of driving those developments. “There’s a real need to stand up these locally grown organizing committees that can fight and advocate for what they need after the cameras and the pallets of water bottles go away,” Tai said. After the Texas floods, Organizing Resilience helped people affected by the disaster testify at a state hearing about the floods in Austin, more than a two-hour drive away from Kerr County, to speak out about their needs. They called for a warning system based on the precise level of river rise, sirens tied to federal weather alerts, and more robust rescue and recovery efforts. “Disasters are windows when we can not just restore the status quo, but make it better and more just,” Tai said. Blame can be a distraction from that hard work — or the beginning of it. Too often, it’s used to entrench divides after a disaster. But approached differently — as an opportunity to ask tough questions, identify what failed, and rebuild with the future in mind — it can be a tool for change. In the end, what’s dangerous isn’t the blame itself. It’s letting the moment pass without doing anything differently. This story was originally published by Grist with the headline After the Texas floods, when is the right time to ask what went wrong? on Aug 18, 2025. View the full article

Vulnerable incumbents and deficit hard-liners are joining forces in an unlikely partnership, pushing House GOP leaders to put earmarks on the table to head off a government funding fight this fall. The federal coffers are due to dry up Sept. 30. And, as part of any agreement to avert a shutdown Oct. 1, a significant segment of the House Republican Conference is now demanding the inclusion of so-called community project funding. That’s the name Democrats gave their earmark rebrand in 2021 after Republicans banned a more permissive version of the practice for a decade. Among those now agitating for earmarks — once shunned by most fiscal hawks — are members of the Main Street Caucus, a contingent of 83 business-friendly Republicans heavily stacked with frontliners. “We've been very clear with the speaker: An overwhelming majority of our members want community project funding in this budget,” said Main Street Caucus Chair Mike Flood (R-Neb.) in a recent interview. But even more remarkable is that many fiscal conservatives — seeing a strategic advantage — are actually promoting the idea, too. Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris of Maryland and his allies are suggesting that allowing earmarks to ride alongside a flat-funded, short-term spending bill — known as a continuing resolution, or CR — would help avoid a more dreaded scenario: passage of a larger, full-year package — called an omnibus — at higher funding levels. “Allowing earmarks on a CR is a hell of a lot cheaper than an omnibus if that’s what it takes to keep spending at least flat,” said one Republican with direct knowledge of the ongoing conversations. If Republican leaders choose the earmark route, they would have to also embrace a spending measure at current levels so as not to alienate the fiscal hawks who vowed earlier this year to oppose another stopgap this fall. This would mean making hard choices about a litany of programs across the federal government, including the Pentagon — which would spark intense pushback from GOP defense hawks. This proposal is under serious consideration by Republican leaders, who are increasingly expecting they’ll need to craft some sort of short-term punt as congressional negotiators don’t appear at all close to landing on a long-term spending plan. GOP leaders also appear willing to include a funding boost for the Defense Department if needed. Conversations around government funding are ongoing. But so far, signs point to earmarks being one of the most viable pathways for breaking the impasse. It’s a sweetener leaders can use to satisfy holdouts who want to be able to deliver wins for their districts — and represents a compromise for hard-liners like Harris who think this arrangement might present the best possible outcome for members who want to spend as little money as possible. Harris, who is also chair of the appropriations subcommittee with jurisdiction over the Department of Agriculture and FDA, has floated the year-long, flat-funded spending bill that contains earmarks — but paired with the guarantee that Congress will also pass several more rescissions packages to claw back funds already appropriated by Congress. He also wants the White House to send over a major package of pocket rescissions that would unilaterally cancel tens of billions of dollars. Unlike with a typical rescissions bill, where Congress has 45 days to pass it before the administration is forced to spend the money as lawmakers originally intended, a pocket rescissions measure is transmitted to Capitol Hill with 45 or fewer days left until the end of the current fiscal year — and if Congress doesn’t take any action by that deadline, the money is considered revoked. There’s no certainty Congress can even pass a second rescissions request, while legal experts and the federal government’s top watchdog have questioned the legality of the pocket rescissions process. But the pitch could be appealing to even the likes of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who is chair of a House Oversight subcommittee tasked with identifying government waste. She said in a social media post earlier this month she was uninterested in “another CR that will leave out much needed appropriation requests that benefit our districts.” “Funding to support critical infrastructure projects like water, roads, and community projects will AGAIN be left not funded,” she said of a government spending bill without earmarks. Greene’s position signals a critical opening for proponents of earmarks — and something of a change of tune for Republicans. Back in March, Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune jettisoned billions in previously-approved community project funding as part of the GOP-authored stopgap spending bill to win over fiscal conservatives. Republicans did, at that time, enthusiastically tout the major cost savings in that bill. But many of them also conceded disappointment that funding was scrapped for hyperlocal projects like a new elementary school on a military base and drinking water safety. Since the return of earmarks in the form of community project funding — which have more limitations on who can benefit from congressionally-directed dollars than in the prior system — lawmakers of both parties have happily requested money for initiatives in their districts. A vast number of earmark requests each appropriations season comes from House Republicans, who can argue their control of the House allows them to keep out projects they deem wasteful or “woke” while also being able to promote major wins for their constituents. With his party's fragile majority at stake ahead of the 2026 midterms, Johnson and his leadership circle understand the value of these earmarks for vulnerable Republicans. However, leadership will need to make this case to the biggest opponents of earmarks who may not be so easily swayed. Flood is also framing Main Street’s push for earmarks as a way to boost GOP incumbents in tough races next fall, hoping that message sticks. The group, he said, has “a lot of frontline members that have been working diligently on some of these projects in their districts.” Katherine Tully-McManus contributed to this report. View the full article

BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar’s military-appointed election commission announced Monday that elections will begin Dec. 28, setting a date for polls that critics have denounced as a sham intended to normalize the army’s 2021 seizure of power even as armed conflict rages throughout much of the country. The Union Election Commission said in a statement sent to journalists that the elections will be conducted in phases over several days and that a full schedule will be released soon. A separate statement from the commission, published Saturday in the state-run Myanma Alinn newspaper, said that all 330 townships in the country have been designated as constituencies for the election. Nearly 60 parties, including the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, have registered to run, according to the list on the commission’s website. It is unclear how polling can take place in many areas that are not under control of the military government but are held instead by pro-democracy resistance fighters or ethnic minority rebels. Much of the country is wracked by civil war. Several opposition organizations, including armed resistance groups, have said they will seek to derail the election. Last month, the military government enacted a new electoral law that imposes punishments of up to the death penalty for anyone who opposes or disrupts the elections. Critics have already said the military-planned election will be neither free nor fair because there is no free media and most of the leaders of Aung San Suu Kyi’s popular but now dissolved National League for Democracy party have been arrested. Suu Kyi’s party won a landslide victory in the last general election in 2020, but the military seized power from her government in February 2021, as it was about to begin a second five-year term. Suu Kyi, 80, is serving prison sentences totaling 27 years after being convicted in a series of politically tainted prosecutions brought by the military. The military justified its seizure of power by claiming massive fraud in the 2020 general election, though independent election observers did not find any major irregularities. The army takeover was met with widespread popular opposition, triggering armed resistance, and large parts of the country are embroiled in conflict. The ruling military said an election was its primary goal but repeatedly pushed back the date. The country’s current security situation poses a serious challenge to holding elections, with the military believed to control less than half the country. The military government had previously said the election would be conducted phase by phase in areas under its command. It has currently stepped up military activity, both on the ground and with airstrikes, in order to retake areas controlled by opposition forces ahead of the election, and there have been reports of increasing numbers of airstrikes killing scores of civilians in recent weeks. On Sunday, at least 24 people were reportedly killed and several injured after the military dropped bombs on a hospital in a small town of Mawchi, in Kayah state, also known as Karenni, Myanmar independent online media reported. The town is known as a center for the mining of wolfram and tungsten. In a separate attack, at least 21 people, including a pregnant woman, were killed last Thursday by an airstrike on the town of Mogok, the center of the Southeast Asian country’s lucrative gem-mining industry, according to numerous reports. The incidents were not confirmed by the army, which normally responds to similar reports by saying it only attacks legitimate targets of war, accusing the resistance forces of being terrorists. View the full article

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Hangzhou, China, Sept. 4, 2016. Credit - Wang Zhou—Pool/Getty Images India and China’s relationship is thawing as the U.S.’s ties with India chills under President Donald Trump. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is reportedly on a visit to New Delhi this week on his first trip to India in more than three years, to meet with India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. On the agenda is the possibility of reducing the number of troops on the disputed Himalayan border, which would be a significant step in improving India-China relations since a deadly 2020 border clash that froze ties for years. The regional neighbors’ warming ties is happening against the backdrop of Trump in recent months targeting India, a longtime friend of the U.S. that had been seen as a buffer against the influence of China in Asia. Trump imposed a “secondary tariff” on India as a penalty for its purchases of Russian oil, even as on Friday he ruled out doing the same for China, the biggest buyer of Russian oil, while Washington and Beijing engage in more trade talks. Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro attacked India’s Russian oil purchases once more as “opportunistic and deeply corrosive” in a column published in the Financial Times on Monday. “This two-pronged policy will hit India where it hurts—its access to U.S. markets—even as it seeks to cut off the financial lifeline it has extended to Russia’s war effort,” Navarro wrote. “If India wants to be treated as a strategic partner of the U.S., it needs to start acting like one.” The penalty has brought U.S. tariffs on India up to a staggering 50% rate. In the meantime, the Trump Administration has pressed India on agricultural concessions in order to reach a more favorable trade deal, which Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has refused to budge on. “For the U.S., the strategic goal of keeping close ties with India is to balance China, prop up Washington’s weakened global position and, at least until recently, support the crumbling U.S.-led international order,” says Ivan Lidarev, a visiting research fellow at the National University of Singapore’s Institute of South Asian Studies who specializes in India-China relations. But Trump’s volatile and at times punitive trade policies now appear to be pushing India towards China. Here’s what to know. Trump tariffs damage U.S.-India trustTrump’s strategy towards both U.S. adversaries like China and Russia as well as friends like India is “highly personalized, driven by domestic politics, inconsistent, and short-termist,” Lidarev says. “Nevertheless, there is a certain strategic logic,” he adds. “The administration likely seeks to strengthen the U.S. position vis-à-vis China and secure strategic and economic gains through its Russia and India policies.” The Trump Administration’s approach to India comes from a “trade perspective,” Vivek Mishra, deputy director of the Strategic Studies Programme at the Observer Research Foundation, tells TIME. At the center of Trump’s contentions with India, Mishra says, is “the idea that India should open its agriculture and dairy sectors,” which are politically sensitive markets. But Trump’s attempts to pressure India have instead “undermined mutual trust” between the U.S. and India, and shaken Trump’s friendship with Modi, says Lidarev. “This is not the way negotiations happen … Suddenly you have a team from the Trump Administration who have little experience in negotiations trying to enforce a certain decision,” Mishra adds. “This is almost like a breach of strategic trust that the U.S. and India have had for a long time.” Moreover, the U.S. has also warmed relations with Pakistan after Trump claimed credit for brokering a cease-fire between New Delhi and Islamabad earlier this year. The move “has been met with shock and indignation in India” which views Pakistan with hostility, says Lidarev, while Pakistan has long been supported by China. It also suggests that the U.S.-India relationship was already laden with “contradictions and false expectations,” he adds, noting: “It was unrealistic for Washington to expect that Delhi will align with it against Beijing, open fully its market to American companies and break off relations with Russia. Similarly, it was unrealistic for India to expect that U.S.’s strategic generosity toward it will continue indefinitely or that Washington will forsake developing relations with Islamabad to please Delhi.” “The damage to the relationship will be serious but not fatal because the two sides need each other too much and have invested too heavily in their relationship to let it crumble,” says Lidarev. “Simply put, the cost of a U.S.-India break up is too high for both sides. The recent tensions are likely to result in a more restrained but still solid and important relationship, with lower levels of trust and greater limits on how far the relationship will develop.” India-China ties warm as countries seek to diversify tradeLidarev tells TIME that India and China’s relationship had already been improving over the last few years, especially as the two countries agreed to disengage militarily at their disputed border late last year. India and China are aware of the “very high political, economic and military cost of frozen relations,” he says. “China felt it had pushed India too close to the U.S. while India realized that it was losing its vaunted strategic autonomy by getting too close to Washington and turning Beijing into an adversary.” India and China are planning to resume direct passenger flights next month after a five year pause. And last month, Jaishankar, the external affairs minister, visited Beijing in his first trip to China since 2020. Modi is also expected to visit China at the end of August in his first trip there in seven years. The seemingly accelerated detente has been catalyzed by Trump’s tariffs, which have made India and China, as well as the rest of the world, realize that they should diversify their trade. “Both sides realized the importance of their economic relationship and the huge potential of their bilateral trade and investment in an increasingly protectionist world,” Lidarev says. The 50% U.S. tariff on India will cripple many of its sectors, while Trump has also threatened even higher sectoral tariffs, such as on pharmaceuticals. Meanwhile, while China and the U.S. extended their deadline to reach a trade deal and are continuing negotiations, Beijing has courted countries across Asia, Africa, South America, and even the E.U. to develop trade ties. The Trump Administration “likely aims to force India to align strategically and economically with the U.S. and extract economic benefits by forcefully opening the Indian market” through its “secondary tariff” on India and its threats towards nations aligned with intergovernmental organization BRICS, Lidarev says. In so doing, the Administration hopes to use these gains as leverage in its negotiations with Beijing. India, however, has defended its Russian oil purchases, although some of the country’s refiners have reportedly begun looking for alternatives. Modi’s upcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, as well as meetings between Indian and Russian officials, also suggest that India is reluctant to buckle under U.S. pressure. Improved India-China ties could destabilize U.S. influence“Much depends on how long and deep the improvement of China-India relations will be,” says Lidarev, noting that relations have several times improved temporarily before straining again soon afterwards, especially over border disputes. In the short-term, improved Sino-Indian relations could lead to friction with the Trump Administration, says Lidarev, especially at a time when Trump is trying to rebalance global trade dynamics, including between the U.S. and China, in the U.S.’s favor. But, he adds, in the long-term, it could strengthen U.S. resolve to keep India as a friend, lest it lose its buffer in Asia. “While it will augment U.S. mistrust of India, it is likely to increase India’s value as a partner and push Washington to shore up its relations with Delhi as a result of the inherent logic of the competition between China and the U.S.,” says Lidarev. “Much of the rapprochement between the U.S. and India in the last two decades is the product of India’s position as the key ‘swing nation’ in this competition and Washington’s increasingly successful attempts to woo it to its side.” Ultimately, though, the perception of the U.S. as an unreliable partner will “increase the international trend toward greater multipolarity,” Lidarev tells TIME. “Not only will India’s role as an independent pole less tied to the U.S. grow, but its closer relations with China, Russia, and the E.U. will strengthen these actors’ positions as other major poles in the international system,” he says. Furthermore, the dynamic could legitimize emerging international institutions like BRICS “as a hedge against dependence on Washington.” India’s seemingly firm response to Trump’s threats may also have signaled to China that India has not walled itself off from developing ties with U.S. adversaries, says Lidarev. “The logic behind U.S. actions is based on the dubious proposition that the U.S. enjoys the same power position in the international system as it did in the 1990s and has decisive leverage over other powers such as India and Russia,” he says. “In this sense, U.S. policy toward India, Russia, and China is an important test for Trump’s vision of international relations and U.S. role in them. At present, the Trump administration is increasingly discovering the limits of American power.” Contact us at [email protected]. View the full article

直銷公司Nu Skin的時任男職員，涉藉機叫女同事到其家留宿，或與女同事出差時，以蔘湯或水等把女方迷暈，並脫下她們的衣服。有女同事揭發後，獲公司安排與被告會面時，指被告曾跪地痛哭認：「我同佢換衫咋⋯⋯瞓喺佢側邊，同佢傾偈。」但否認曾作性侵行為。男職員否認指控，更稱因遭女上司打至眼鏡飛脫，他覺得無人信他，才「假招供」自認是「易服癖」，及作出相關的事。案件早前經審後，被告今(14日)在區域法院被裁定罪名成立。 被告否認3項施用藥物罪被告潘迪偉（43歲，報稱商人），曾在直銷公司Nu Skin工作。他否認3項意圖使他人受損害、精神受創或惱怒而施用毒藥或其他殘害性物品或有害物品。控罪指他於2013年至2014年間，在廣播道柏苑某單位等地方，非法及惡意向3名女子施用催眠藥，意圖使她們受損害、精神受創或惱怒，3名女事主分別姓歐、何及周。 被告潘迪偉否認迷暈3女子。(陳曉欣攝)被告潘廸偉在區域法院受審。(黃浩謙攝)女事主均曾飲被告提供的蔘茶或飲品控方在審訊時曾傳召多名疑曾遭被告迷暈的女事主出庭，她們均曾在同一直銷公司工作，並曾到被告於廣播道的住所，或與被告到外地公幹時，飲過被告提供給她們的蔘茶等飲品後失去意識或記憶。 歐事主喝蔘茶醒來後一絲不掛歐姓女事主供稱，她在2013年左右一個晚上，因工作至夜深，被告邀她到其家借宿，她獲安排在被告家中的客房獨自休息。惟她當晚喝過被告給她的參湯後，洗澡時突失去意識暈倒，醒來已是第二天，驚覺自己一絲不掛睡在被睡房的床上，她以為只是健康問題而沒追究。被告則指歐過勞而暈低，才撬開洗手間的門救她。 何事主在被告家喝水後不省人事另一姓何事主則稱，她獲邀到被告夫婦家留宿，喝過被告給她的水後不省人事，醒來已經天光。被告指她太累，所以睡着。 周事主翻查酒店CCTV發現被告多次入房周姓事主稱，她在2015年兩度與被告單獨到深圳公幹，喝了被告自備的養生湯後，昏迷兼失憶，她第二次醒來時發現自己全身赤裸，覺得有古怪而提早退房回港。周事後返回涉事酒店，並索取閉路電視片段，赫見被告攬住一個大包裹用門卡擅進其房，先後三度進出她的房間。 被告曾跪地向周道歉公司後來安排周與被告在公司會面，被告曾跪地痛哭向她道歉，解釋他在網上購買了安眠藥，承認為周換了3套衣服，曾攬住沉睡中的周談天拍照，他自言無法自控，亦無心傷害周。 男聲在錄音稱同佢換衫及傾偈咋庭上曾播放一段2015年的錄音，期間有人追落藥的事，一把男聲泣稱：「我唔想傷害你哋⋯⋯」又稱在網上見到「F2」安眠藥，並說：「我冇諗過帶任何動機迷佢……」男聲又稱，他將水放在廚房，掉轉給了她都不知，直至他半夜發現沒有藥效，才懷疑是否別人吃了他的藥。男聲又說：「我控制唔到我自己。」又稱他想滿足其換衫的慾望，又說：「我同佢換衫咋⋯⋯瞓喺佢側邊，同佢傾偈。」但否認曾性侵對方。 幾名事主至2019年交談下，發現別人疑也有相同經驗，終決定報案。 被告指上司質問似審犯被告出庭自辯稱，他被上司質問時表現兇惡，像「審犯」般對他，並說：「唔出聲即係默認。」更打至他眼鏡飛脫。被告認為上司已認定他有落藥，他為了保住飯碗，故作出「假招認」，認曾有給蔘藥給周喝，訛稱有「易服癖」及趁周暈倒後為她換了3套衣服，並編造出有食安眠藥習慣，但稱這些均非事實。 案件編號：DCCC 89/2024 商人涉迷暈3女子　事主醒來全身赤裸　指被告認曾為她更衣並攬住商人涉迷暈3女子　事主指被告曾跪地道歉　指癖好源與妻房事不順商人涉迷暈3女　被告稱被上司打至眼鏡飛脫　為保飯碗假認易服癖商人涉迷暈3女子　被告跪地道歉為搏同情　若知有人錄音不會假認商人涉迷暈3女子　庭上播男聲錄音稱難自控　想滿足換衫的慾望商人涉迷暈3女子　第二事主指被告夫婦邀留宿　喝水後完全斷片商人涉十年間迷暈3女子　事主稱喝過被告蔘湯　洗澡時突失知覺 View the full article

iPhone 17系列還有不到一個月的時間就要發佈了，目前各方面爆料層出不窮。 權威爆料者Majin Bu曝光了iPhone 17 Pro工程機的SIM卡槽，確認蘋果依然在內部保留了實體SIM卡結構，以保證部分不支援eSIM的國家和地區正常上市。 蘋果自從iPhone 14系列，就開始在美國美國市場全系取消SIM卡槽，全面轉向eSIM。 蘋果在2022發佈iPhone 14系列時候表示，eSIM相比實體SIM更安全，因為iPhone就算失竊也無法物理移除SIM卡，相當於是無法斷網，只要開機就會上傳位置，可以進行抹除。 +8此前有爆料提到，中國可能也會開始放開eSIM，iPhone 17 Air有可能拿下首發。 iPhone 17 Air作為一款超薄機型，直接在設計上就取消了SIM卡結構，這就導致沒有eSIM的市場將無法上市、使用。如果iPhone 17 Air真的能做到國行首發eSIM，那麼下一代iPhone 18系列開始，蘋果可能也會在中國全系標配eSIM，推動行業發展。 另外，爆料還提到目前國產各廠商也都在評估eSIM，中國落地後會迅速推出eSIM機型。 延伸閲讀：iPhone 17 Pro新爆料　8倍光學變焦+頂部相機按鍵　影相更專業（點擊連結看全文） iPhone 17系列中美版電池尺寸有異　eSIM技術揭開容量差真相iPhone還要保留128GB機型？App容量大與清理麻煩　旗艦機型難適配iPhone 17將於9月9日發布？開賣日曝光　仲有4款硬件同步發布【本文獲「快科技」授權轉載，微信公眾號：mydrivers】 View the full article

A sack of “square groupers,” more than 50 pounds of cocaine, was discovered near a marina in the Florida Keys, deputies announced. A fishing captain found over a dozen clear-wrapped packages containing what authorities believe to be about 55 pounds of cocaine near the Square Grouper Marina in Islamorada, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said. The suspected cocaine was turned over to the U.S. Border Patrol. The marina takes its namesake from local slang. Square Grouper, coincidentally, is what residents in the ‘70s and ‘80s would call drug bundles. View the full article

Beerfest, a fan favorite where attendees will be able to sample beers from several local breweries, is back at the 2025 Kentucky State Fair. The event is one of many taking place at the Kentucky Exposition Center now through Aug. 24. The State Fair includes dozens of entertainment acts, including the Texas Roadhouse Free Concert featuring Blue Öyster Cult, Sawyer Brown and Sister Sledge. It also features the best in Kentucky livestock, crowning the Five-Gaited World’s Grand Champion at the World’s Championship Horse Show, award winning blue ribbon exhibitions, loads of your favorite fair food, a Latin Festival, and much more. Here's what to know about Beerfest and the Kentucky State Fair. When is 2025 Beerfest at the Kentucky State Fair?Beerfest takes places from 1-4 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 23. Tickets cost $30 online or $35 at the door and include fair admission, parking and a souvenir glass. Attendees will be able to sample beer from around a dozen local vendors and there will be live music and photo opportunities at the event. Tickets are limited and participants must be 21+ with a valid ID. More: 95-year-old man eyes win in 2025 Kentucky State Fair apple pie, pound cake contests Where is Beerfest taking place?Beerfest is taking place at the Kentucky Exposition Center, which is located at 937 Phillips Lane in Louisville. Where do I park for Beerfest at the Kentucky State Fair?Parking for the Kentucky State Fair will be in Parking Lot A at the Kentucky Exposition Center. More: It's here! The 2025 Kentucky State Fair 'Your Favorite Cake' blue ribbon winner and recipe How much are tickets for the 2025 Kentucky State Fair?Daily admission is $12 and parking is $10. Visit kystatefair.org/tickets for details. Beerfest tickets will include daily admission on Aug. 23. Thrill Ville wristbands, which have to be purchased separately, cost $35. Kentucky State Fair 2025 What's the forecast for the Kentucky State Fair? See weather outlook for Louisville Reporter Kirby Adams contributed. Reach Marina Johnson at [email protected]. This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Beerfest is taking place at the 2025 Kentucky State Fair. Learn more View the full article

Boasting more than 80 distinct ecosystems, Florida is a biodiversity hot spot. In fact, more than 4,000 animal species are native to the Sunshine State. In the heat of summer, a growing number of species are on the move, meaning more interactions with humans. Through the University of Florida’s “Critter of the Month” series, we’re highlighting native animals that wildlife watchers are likely to encounter and providing bite-sized guides to their behavior. Katie Mastenbrook is a Florida Sea Grant agent for UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) Extension Pinellas County. She’s based at Weedon Island Preserve, a well-known gopher tortoise habitat. Below, Mastenbrook provides some insight into the species, which originated about 60 million years ago. Gophers in the summertimeA gopher tortoise hunkered inside its shell.Q. What are gopher tortoises up to this time of year? A. Gopher tortoises tend to be solitary animals, but during the summer, they socialize because it’s mating season. Males can be territorial and engage in shoving matches. Females may lay eggs or have just created a fresh nest, and eggs may hatch. Mothers typically dig their nests near the entrance of their burrow, a spot called the apron. Otherwise, typical activity for both genders involves foraging in the mornings and evenings, when it’s cooler, and sunbathing in the afternoons, when it’s warmer. We’re also likely to see them burrowing or deepening burrows to escape the heat. Life cycle of a tortoiseQ. How would you characterize the gopher tortoise life cycle? A. Gopher tortoise eggs will typically hatch between 80 and 100 days after being laid. Just like marine turtles, gopher tortoise parents do not provide parental care for their nest or young, and hatchlings fend for themselves. They don’t reach sexual maturity until they are between 10 and 25 years old, with the rate dependent on the sex of the tortoise, food availability and environmental conditions; females typically reach sexual maturity later than males. In the wild, gopher tortoises live between 40 and 60 years, but they are known to live significantly longer in captivity. A gopher tortoise burrow at the Ordway-Swisher Biological Station in Hawthorne.Herbaceous dietQ. What do gopher tortoises eat? A. Gopher tortoises are herbivores, and they typically eat a variety of low-growing plants, including grasses. On Weedon Island Preserve, we’ve seen them munch on prickly pear cactuses, sensitive briar, milk pea, silkgrass, blue-eyed grasses, groundcherries and cutleaf evening primrose. Through their herbaceous diet, gopher tortoises play an important role as seed dispersers, and their digging behavior helps aerate soil, improving conditions for plant seeds to root. Engineering marvelsQ. Gopher tortoises are well known for their burrows. What’s special about these earthen homes? A. Burrows are engineering marvels that can reach up to 40 feet in length and up to 10 feet in depth. They provide a stable habitat for gopher tortoises by maintaining a more consistent temperature and humidity year round. They offer protection from wildfires and other environmental factors like predators. Sometimes, gopher tortoises will dig several burrows within their territory, a foraging area that ranges in size from 1 to 4 acres. A baby gopher tortoise is shown for education at Forest Lodge Farms, LLC in Camilla, Ga. Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2018. A threatened keystone speciesQ. Gopher tortoises are considered a threatened species. Why is it important to protect them? A. Gopher tortoise burrows — in addition to providing shelter for tortoises – provide homes to more than 350 different species. This makes the gopher tortoise a keystone species, or an organism that supports an entire ecosystem. By protecting gopher tortoises, we are protecting these other animals, some of which are endangered or threatened, like the Eastern indigo snake and gopher frogs. We are also protecting the surrounding natural spaces and larger parcels of land, parts of which can be used for recreation. How to protect gophersQ. What should people keep in mind when interacting with gopher tortoises? A. Gopher tortoises are land animals and are unable to swim, so do not put them in saltwater or freshwater. They get all the water they need through the food they eat and the rain puddles they encounter in their habitat. Do not disturb gopher tortoise burrows. Digging, filling or walking near burrows can harm tortoises and other species inside. Instead, enjoy gopher tortoises from a safe distance and observe them foraging or digging. If walking near a gopher tortoise habitat, keep pets on a leash and close by. Dogs especially have been known to destroy burrows or chase after tortoises when they’re off their leash. If you suspect a tortoise is injured, contact your local wildlife agency or wildlife rehabilitation facility. Do not move a tortoise because they typically have an established territory. Lastly, follow wildlife signage along roadways and stay vigilant while driving near gopher tortoise habitats. This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Summer is an active time for Florida's native gopher tortoises View the full article

A historic ceremony was held on Aug. 12 in Sioux Falls when a diverse group of community members, religious leaders and public officials broke ground on the Chabad Jewish Community Center, a first-of-its-kind project in the state of South Dakota, said to be a “vibrant hub of Jewish life.” On a 2.3-acre parcel of land at 1221 W. 85th St., attendees came in droves, many having to park multiple blocks away from the groundbreaking site. The future 15,000-square-foot community center will include a synagogue and mikva, social hall, commercial Kosher kitchen, community room, early childhood education center, adult and youth classrooms, a space for children with special needs, Judaic and children’s libraries, lounge, ritual women’s mikva (ritual bath), office spaces, an outdoor playground and an indoor play area. Rabbi Mendel Alperowitz said the construction, with contractor Reynolds Construction Management (RCM) Services, of Sioux Falls, will begin sometime this fall and will take 12 to 18 months to complete. The Sioux Falls Chabad Jewish Community Center is said to be “the first and only facility of its kind” in the state, as well as the region, according to the Sioux Falls Development Foundation, whose Chair-elect Clark Meyer, of Knife River, commenced the groundbreaking event. “Our team promotes Sioux Falls as a place where quality, life and quality of community is outstanding, meaning that we offer positive experiences, not just physical, but also socially and culturally,” Meyer said. “We value the cultures of people that make our city vibrant, and with that, it's truly special to see a space like this, the new communities that are being celebrated here today.” Alperowitz, the first full-time rabbi in South Dakota in nearly 30 years since he and his family moved from New York in 2017, said in an Aug. 11 email to the Argus Leader, that the groundbreaking “marks the beginning of a long-envisioned project that will serve as a vibrant hub for Jewish life, education and community in the state.” During the ceremony, Alperowitz expressed the significance of the Sioux Falls Chabad Jewish Community Center as a place that welcomes and brings people together, “standing as a lighthouse” for the next century and beyond. Rendering of the Sioux Falls Chabad Jewish Community Center, located at 1221 W. 85th St., South Dakota's first Jewish community center. The new Center will include a synagogue, educational and community spaces, a kosher kitchen and South Dakota’s first-ever mikvah.More: Incoming rabbi a 'resource' for Sioux Falls' small Jewish community “Today, we stand on the shoulders of those who came before us, and we are planting the seeds for generations to come…who will be able to contribute to the fabric of Sioux Falls professionally, socially, educationally and philanthropically as a result of having this Chabad Jewish Community Center,” Alperowitz said. 'A beacon of hope'South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden was one of several state and national political figures to address the sizeable crowd during the afternoon’s occasion, recounting his business-driven trade mission trip to Israel earlier this summer. “That trip connected me to the country of Israel, into the Jewish faith,” Rhoden said. “I'd like to commend Rabbi Mendel and his wife Mussie. …Your heart of service is phenomenal.” In a later interview with media, Rhoden stated how South Dakota has become a “beacon of hope” for the nation when it comes to freedom. “I say many times without reservation that South Dakota is the freest state in the nation,” Rhoden said. “We're setting an example for a nation during a time when anti-Semitism is running rampant…We think about things differently in South Dakota.” U.S. Sen. John Thune returned to Sioux Falls to take part in the celebration and offer support for the endeavor. More: Minnesota electric company planning a 200-megawatt wind project in North Dakota: What to know “Projects like this one demonstrate the values of a community and a commitment to putting those values into action, to serving others, to making a real difference in people's lives," he said. "That's exactly what this new community center is designed to do." U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson also congratulated project leaders, commending the values and principles of the Jewish faith that “many in the world tried to break.” “This community center is not only a community center for Jewish people, these are the principles and the values that will make us all stronger, that will let us all live a more just and a more verdant life,” Johnson said. Mayor Paul TenHaken praised Alperowitz’s leadership in the Sioux Falls community. “I appreciate all you've done to bring this city together through what are quite divisive times, and I think the testament to that is how many people are here today to support this.” U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds also shared his support of the Chabad Jewish Community Center on social media after meeting with Mendel and Mussie Alperowitz and Stephen and Carol Rosenthal earlier this month. Stephen Rosenthal, a member of the Chabad board, also highlighted the significance of the afternoon’s event, especially “in today’s social climate.” “In my lifetime, I have never witnessed a moment of such promise for our Jewish community,” Rosenthal said. “This moment declares loud and clear that the Jewish community is welcome here. We are embraced. We are woven into the very fabric of this set of this city and this state.” Steve Schwartz, vice president of sales and marketing at Gage Brothers and Chabad building committee member said the new community center would be an opportunity for others to learn about the Jewish faith. “We are one world,” Schwarz stated. Adam Bergman, the founder of IRA Financial, also stated his support for the new community center. “You made this house of prayer be a light, not only for the Jewish Community, but for the entire Community, a place where faith is nurtured, friendships are strengthened and the bonds between us grow even stronger,” Bergman said. PREMIER Bankcard CEO and Greater Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce Chair, Miles Beacom, was also in attendance. He stated how the Chabad Jewish Community Center is a significant asset to the community of Sioux Falls. “It doesn't matter, business or faith, we want people to come in and continue to help our community be the best that it can be," Beacon said. "It's amazing when you look back over the years with that type of growth, how strong Sioux Falls is today, and it's continuing to get stronger every single day." Mendal Alperowitz said the Chabad Jewish Community Center will “help put Sioux Falls further on the map” as a welcoming and “forward-looking city”, and expressed how grateful he is for the community’s support. “The support we’ve received from across the community, especially the business community, has been incredibly heartwarming. When I speak to colleagues around the country, it makes me realize again just how unmatched Sioux Falls is,” Mendel Alperowitz said. "This project shows that no one should ever bet against Sioux Falls or South Dakota.” Vanessa Carlson Bender is the real estate and development reporter for the Sioux Falls Argus Leader. Reach her at [email protected]. This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: SD's new Jewish center will be a ‘lighthouse’ for unity, leaders say View the full article

埼玉県戸田市 　埼玉県戸田市のごみ処理施設「蕨戸田衛生センター」で7月に発生した火災について、同センター組合は18日、施設復旧や近隣自治体へのごみ処理委託費などの総額が約41億円になると明らかにした。焼却施設の再稼働は来年3月になる見通し。 　火災は7月12日正午ごろ発生。粗大ごみ処理施設地下1階の破砕物排出コンベヤー付近が火元とみられる。施設内の機器類に電力を供給する配線が火災で損傷し、復旧工事費に約21億1200万円、設備の点検整備委託費に約1億8400万円かかる見込み。 Advertisement 　一時停止していたごみ収集は7月17日に再開したが、集めたごみの処理は、さいたま市や川越市などの県内近隣自治体、東京二十三区清掃一部事務組合などに委託している。来年3月までの処理委託費は約18億円に上るとみられる。 　18日に記者会見した組合管理者の頼高英雄・蕨市長は、処理委託費の一部に国の特別交付税を充てると強調し、「（市民に）税金がかかるという想定はしていない。施設の早期復旧に向けて全力で取り組んでいきたい」と話した。【加藤佑輔】 View the full article

写真はイメージ＝ゲッティ 　交流サイト（SNS）などでの激しい中傷を受け、今年1月に亡くなった元兵庫県議の竹内英明さん（当時50歳）の同僚県議らが18日、竹内さんの子供2人を支援していくための基金を設立したと発表した。 　竹内さんは、斎藤元彦知事らが文書で告発された疑惑を調べる県議会調査特別委員会（百条委員会）のメンバーだった。竹内さんの妻は政治団体「NHK党」党首の立花孝志氏について、うその情報を発信したとして名誉毀損（きそん）の容疑で刑事告訴している。 Advertisement 　基金は、インターネット上に専用サイトを設け、11月18日まで寄付を受け付ける。記者会見した藤本百男県議（自民党）は「子供たちには健やかに成長し、勉学の志を持ってほしい」と話した。【木山友里亜】 View the full article

由中學生研發、獲多個獎項的AI應用程式「藥倍安心（Medisafe）」，近月捲入非原創「請槍」爭議。香港資優教育學苑經過兩個月調查後今（18日）表示，確認該名學生於2023年10月已向老師提出其作品概念，接納「藥倍安心」為該學生的原創概念，又指作品符合比賽規則。 學苑又確定涉事的美國科技公司及該學生家長在2024年3月開始聯繫，時間點為該同學向「第 26 屆香港青少年創新科技大賽」及「少年警訊創新科技大賽 2023-24」遞交作品之後，不評論雙方及後交涉的商業活動。學苑建議，比賽主辦單位日後加強申報機制，並期望各界能停止對涉事人士的人身攻擊等行為，回歸理性，以冷靜和平的方式討論事情。 香港資優教育學苑表示，就事件持續進行了約兩個月的調查及跟進工作，指調查於2025 年6月展開，當中包括向相關人士及機構搜集資料，進一步檢視與確認資料的真確性，及有關比賽評審準則及過程。而調查目的及重點包括，了解該學生在學苑相關的比賽中（即香港青少年創新科技大賽、少年創科達人、國際科學比賽2025香港賽區選拔賽及日內瓦國際發明展），其作品概念是否為原創；核實其參賽過程是否符合相關比賽的評審機制及規則。 於2023年10月已向老師作品概念　接納「藥倍安心」為學生原創概念學苑表示，就原創概念的驗證，根據調查所獲得的資料顯示，該學生早在2024年1月及2月，分別向 「第 26 屆香港青少年創新科技大賽」及「少年警訊創新科技大賽 2023-24」遞交作品，當中該學生提交合共22頁的簡報，涵蓋了問題分析、原理、立論、個案例子、應用程式須具備的功能及建議解決方案等。學苑亦取得電郵資料，確認該學生於 2023年10月已向老師提出其作品概念，故接納「藥倍安心」為該學生的原創概念。 對於有指Medisafe於2022年在涉事美國科技公司網頁出現，該公司的公開聲明指出，其網站資訊刊於2024 年，「2022」的陳述僅屬網誌「佔位符」（placeholder）。根據相關事件的資料，該學生發展其作品的時間，早於該美國公司網站刊登有關資訊的時間。 學苑又指，在調查期間，曾收到不一致的訊息，經多番查詢及整理，最後確定該美國科技公司及該學生家長在2024年3月開始聯繫，時間點為該同學向「第 26 屆香港青少年創新科技大賽」（2024年1月）及「少年警訊創新科技大賽 2023-24」（2024年2月）遞交作品之後。 據學苑了解，雙方以有關同學的作品資料，包括設計理念及操作原理等資料為基礎，展開商討工作的方向。對於該美國科技公司提到其作品「完全從零開始」（entirely from scratch），學苑認為說法值得商榷，但指由於及後雙方交涉的商業活動不屬於學苑的調查範圍，故不作評論。 至於學生參賽作品與商業產品的關聯性，學苑指難以界定其父母與該美國科技公司之間的商業活動，與學生於日內瓦國際發明展所遞交的作品有直接關係，會以尊重主辦方的規則及決定為依歸。 病人數據僅為「模擬病人」數據　藥物數據可用非商業用途就病人數據方面，該學生在參賽時遞交的文字報告已註明資料僅為「模擬病人」（simulated patients）的數據，惟在部分展示品存在令人誤會的用詞，學苑已提醒該學生留意及改善情況。藥物數據方面，根據所得資料，並經該藥物數據庫澄清，該藥物數據可用於非商業用途，未有違反當時的使用條款。 學苑倡加強申報機制　冀各界回歸理性討論學苑建議，本地比賽機構在日後亦需要繼續強調、再三提醒和要求參賽者，必需留意各樣使用人工智能及數據的道德原則，包括需妥善申報任何涉及專業技術及第三方意見的情況。學苑強調，在過去兩個月，無論是該學生、學生家長，甚或最初對事件提出質疑的人士，各方都承受著網絡上超乎理性的意見、謾罵，以至人身攻擊，亦以遠離學生活動程度和規模的角度肆意批評，希望各界能停止相關行為，回歸理性，以冷靜和平的方式討論事情。 潘冬平女兒藥倍安心請槍爭議｜潘名醫開腔：信比賽單位會公正判斷一文解讀潘冬平女兒藥倍安心爭議　槍手爆潘太託研發　作品原創？潘冬平女兒藥倍安心請槍疑雲｜AI公司爆潘太委託製作　不知作比賽藥倍安心「請槍」爭議｜日內瓦獎評審團：符比賽標準　銀獎續保留 View the full article

其中一間政府飲用水供應商「鑫鼎鑫」，涉嫌冒充他人公司商標取得5,294萬元合約，警方及海關以涉嫌詐騙拘捕涉事公司一名股東及董事，同時通緝一內地男子。警方今日（18日）在記者會指，鑫鼎鑫曾聯絡樂百氏索取水質報告，之後未有再聯絡商討合作。警方相信被捕人將報告交給物流署，企圖令署方信服飲用水的品質達到合理水平。《香港01》獲悉，政府3月招標時只要求供應商檢驗食水中3種細菌含菌量，未有指明檢驗重金屬水平。 鑫鼎鑫商貿有限公司獲批5,294萬元合約，為港島和部分離島的政府辦公室供應「鑫樂觀音山」桶裝飲用水，被政府指未能信納可繼續履行合約，早前被即時停用並報警。（廖雁雄攝）鑫鼎鑫商貿有限公司為港島和部分離島的政府辦公室供應「鑫樂觀音山」桶裝飲用水，被政府指未能信納可繼續履行合約，早前被即時停用並報警。（廖雁雄攝）招標文件僅要求檢驗3種細菌含菌量據了解，政府物流署3月時就飲用水招標的文件，對食水安全要求「極基本」，僅要求服務供應商檢驗3種細菌的含菌量，只要不超標便合格。至於重金屬含量，據了解標書並沒有訂明任何標準及要求。 《香港01》正向物流署了解招標要求及細節。 據了解，政府物流署3月時就飲用水招標的文件，要求服務供應商檢驗3種細菌的含菌量。（廖雁雄攝）警方：被捕人及被通緝內地男曾向樂百氏索取水質報告警方引述製造商樂百氏（廣東）飲用水負責人指，不認識中標的鑫鼎鑫商貿有限公司，但記得被捕人及被通緝的內地男子曾接洽，要求索取水質報告，其後雙方未有再接觸。 當香港傳媒廣泛報道飲用水品牌後，樂百氏8月致函物流署，稱未曾提供或授權任何人提供飲用水予港府，與中標公司沒有任何業務來往。 警方料有人索報告以令物流署相信品質警方初步相信，涉案人士索取樂百氏的水質報告，再提交給物流署，證明飲用水水質水平。 初步相信佢係攞啲資料嚟去交畀物流署，從中令到物流署相信啲水係達到一個合理嘅水平。商業罪案調查科總警司黃震宇現時有3萬桶水已運獲香港島及離島各區，政府上月曾兩度檢驗，今月15日再交由政府化驗所化驗，證實可以安全飲用。警方稍後會於牛潭尾的貨倉的2,600桶水中，再抽查樣本化驗。 政府飲用水｜警拘鑫鼎鑫董事及股東通緝內地男　水來自東莞樟木頭政府飲用水｜鑫鼎鑫如何進名冊？江玉歡促港府即交代　勿等三個月政府飲用水｜審計署：如發現有不足或違規　定會如實報告及提建議連場黑雨　水塘存水量升至81%　大潭篤水塘「放水」｜多圖政府飲用水｜財庫局3招補鑊　邀審計署查招標疏漏　審視採購機制政府飲用水｜港島政府場地續有鑫鼎鑫飲用水　觀音山牌空桶砌成牆 View the full article

為港島和部分離島的政府辦公室供應「鑫樂觀音山」飲用水的鑫鼎鑫商貿公司，被揭發未經內地製造商批准投標，提供冒牌水，政府物流署叫停合約，即日起由改用屈臣氏飲用水。 《香港01》記者到政府總部、金鐘政府合署、海港政府大樓視察，屈臣氏已安排工人先後送水。有公務員直斥冒牌水事件荒謬，「揀供應商應該做多啲查證下，唔係好似人哋交到埋嚟就受」，坦言不少同事因而煲水或自行訂水。 8月17日下午在香港壁球中心後樓梯所見，大量「觀音山」牌飲用水空桶砌成一面牆。（廖雁雄攝）「鑫樂觀音山」被揭發為冒牌水　政府叫停5千萬元合約政府港島及新界區辦公室六月改為向內地品牌「鑫樂觀音山」、「Happy喜士」訂水，為期三年。其中港島區部門由「鑫鼎鑫商貿有限公司」中標，提供聲稱由內地樂百氏（廣東）飲用水廣州分公司製造的「鑫樂觀音山」樽裝水。該品牌2014年至2017年被內地官媒點名三年內六次上黑榜。 8月12日，灣仔胡忠大廈外有網購平台「HKTVmall」貨車停泊，卸下多箱樽裝水，然後送到某層政府部門的辦公室。（香港01攝）8月12日，灣仔胡忠大廈外有網購平台「HKTVmall」貨車停泊，卸下多箱樽裝水，然後送到某層政府部門的辦公室。（香港01攝）《香港01》上周報道，金鐘政府合署和灣仔胡忠大廈先後有公務員自行訂水，擔心食安問題。不足一周，「鑫鼎鑫商貿有限公司」被揭發未經內地製造商批准投標，提供「鑫樂觀音山」冒牌水，政府物流署上周六（16日）叫停合約，今日（18日）起由轉飲屈臣氏飲用水。 8月18日，記者到政府總部視察，有公務員仍選擇自行購水。（香港01攝）8月18日，記者到政府總部外視察。（香港01攝）8月18日，記者到政府總部外視察，有人自行購水。（香港01攝）屈臣氏安排送水政府總部　有人自行購水記者到政府總部、金鐘政府合署、海港政府大樓視察，屈臣氏已先後安排運輸工人送水，亦有政府總部上班的人仍選擇自行購水，婉拒接受訪問。 8月18日，記者到政府總部外視察。（香港01攝）有公務員斥造假荒謬　質疑把關不嚴：交到埋嚟就受有公務員接受《香港01》訪問時表示，對冒牌水事件感到錯諤，「本身個安排令人唔係好滿意，仲要係假，真係有點兒荒謬」，又認為相關部門把關不嚴，「揀供應商應該做多啲查證下，唔係好似人哋交到埋嚟就受，唔檢查下，就摻佢玩咁」，觀察不少同事早前自行煲水或私下訂水飲。 1樓飲水機旁擺放着一支全新的「觀音山水」。（廖雁雄攝）亦有公務員表示，政府有關部門應加強對中標供應商作背景審查，才批出標書，認為把關時理應更嚴謹，惟相信事件影響小，因短時間內已更換飲用水供應商。 政府冒牌水｜觀音山水質證明來自檢定中心？董事林健鋒：無做過！政府冒牌水｜立法會上月跟隨政府訂水　將轉飲屈臣氏兼提供維他水政府物流署買冒牌水　至少做七件離譜的事政府冒牌水風波｜立會跨黨派促檢討投標漏洞　如涉失職要追究責任 View the full article

《子夜歸》陸劇改編自晉江文學人氣小説《梅夫人寵夫日常》。有出品過《墨雨雲間》、《太子妃升職記》的侶皓吉吉為執導，由許凱、田曦薇領銜主演的一套以古裝奇幻愛情為題材的電視劇。許凱自《延禧攻略》成為陸劇男神後，近年以《你比星光美麗》、《承歡記》人氣再乘勢而上，此劇搭檔《大奉打更人》的田曦薇演繹對立人生的最強愛侶攻防戰！本文將會介紹這部電視劇的劇情大綱、更新時間、角色演員，人物關係以及追劇日曆。 >> 立即訂閱Disney +會員 << >> 訂閱年費可享86折優惠，每月低至$67.5 << 电视剧子夜归@Weibo《子夜歸》電視劇情大綱梅逐雨（許凱 飾）與武禎（田曦薇 飾）牽涉於一宗神秘案件中，被意外捲入了長安的奇幻世界，過著白天為愛侶、夜晚為宿敵的「雙面人生」，二人分別化身做捉妖道士和妖市守護者，從一開始互相試探，到慢慢了解對方，萌生愛情，與此同時，更是一場命運的交錯。梅逐雨白天是外表嚴肅冷漠的刑部官吏，夜晚則變成能力高超的捉妖師；而武禎表面上是瀟灑不羈的貴族千金，實則為富有妖力的貓妖，亦是長安妖市中力量雄厚的守護者。這對夫婦在日間會隱藏真實身份，享受甜蜜的愛情時光；夜晚則轉換身份，成為敵對的捉妖師與貓妖，彼此對立卻又相互支持，最終，他們聯手對抗長安城中的妖邪陰謀與人心險惡，共同守護人妖兩界的和平。 《子夜歸》播出時間｜最新追劇日曆子夜歸電視劇幾時播?子夜歸一共有38集，由騰訊視頻、Disney+播放，會員由而非會員就由。會員首日更新4集，SVIP每日搶先看1集。 >> 立即訂閱Disney +會員 << >> 訂閱年費可享86折優惠，每月低至$67.5 << 电视剧子夜归@Weibo《子夜歸》演員人物關係圖电视剧子夜归@Weibo《子夜歸》演員許凱 飾 梅逐雨刑部官吏，懂得捉妖之術，來自常曦宮的天師 电视剧子夜归@Weibo田曦薇 飾 武禎平常隱藏身份，是個有妖力的貓妖 电视剧子夜归@Weibo王佳怡 飾 柳太真电视剧子夜归@Weibo朱正廷 飾 裴季雅电视剧子夜归@Weibo View the full article

鑫鼎鑫商貿有限公司獲批5,294萬元合約，為港島和部份離島的政府辦公室供應「鑫樂觀音山」桶裝飲用水，被政府指未能信納可繼續履行合約，即時停用並報警。 警方昨日拘捕涉案公司董事及股東，同時正追緝一內地男子，指公司涉嫌在標書訛稱飲用水由內地某品牌供應商提供。追查發現該公司實際提供的飲用水來自東莞樟木頭一間廠房，有3萬桶已送到各區，政府化驗證實可安全飲用。 至於合約的5,294萬元費用，據警方初步了解，物流署「找數期」為供應服務後30日，相信尚未向涉案公司支付任何款項。警方又指，正調查有關飲用水有無流出市面。 警方昨日以欺詐罪名，拘捕鑫鼎鑫商貿有限公司的董事及股東，指公司涉嫌在標書訛稱飲用水由內地某品牌供應商提供。（梁曉煒攝）警方昨日以欺詐罪名，拘捕鑫鼎鑫商貿有限公司的董事及股東，指公司涉嫌在標書訛稱飲用水由內地某品牌供應商提供。（資料圖片／廖雁雄攝）警方昨日以欺詐罪名，拘捕鑫鼎鑫商貿有限公司的董事及股東，指公司涉嫌在標書訛稱飲用水由內地某品牌供應商提供。（廖雁雄攝）警方今日召開記者會交代案情指，警方於上周五（15日）接獲物流署舉報，指近期一個政府飲用水招標程序中，有服務供應商在標書中訛稱提供予政府的樽裝水將由一間內地特定公司生產，並之後成功中標；惟物流署收到該內地公司澄清，稱無向物流署提供過飲用水，亦不認識中標供應商，雙方無合作。 警方昨日在被捕人公司的北角辦公室及鯉景灣住所，拘捕一男一女，年齡分別61及57歲，二人為夫妻，分別擔任涉案公司的董事及股東。 警方經點算有約3萬桶飲用水七月起被送到各區，曾多次作化驗，證實可以安全飲用。該合約涉款5,294萬元，據警方初步了解，物流署「找數期」為供應服務後30日，相信尚未向涉案公司支付任何款項。被問到涉案的飲用水有否流出市面，警方表示是調查方向之一。 政府飲用水｜警拘鑫鼎鑫董事及股東通緝內地男　水來自東莞樟木頭政府飲用水｜鑫鼎鑫如何進名冊？江玉歡促港府即交代　勿等三個月政府飲用水｜審計署：如發現有不足或違規　定會如實報告及提建議政府飲用水｜財庫局3招補鑊　邀審計署查招標疏漏　審視採購機制政府飲用水｜港島政府場地續有鑫鼎鑫飲用水　觀音山牌空桶砌成牆政府飲用水｜供應港島區鑫樂符技術要求過關　中央投標委員會拍板政府飲用水｜江玉歡質疑政府無進行背景審查　採購部門或須問責政府飲用水｜鑫鼎鑫另獲批近700萬元渠務署合約　供應940噸化學物 View the full article

藍奕邦與鄧紫棋（G.E.M.）的恩怨由2012年爆發，當年鄧紫棋拍片公開質疑香港叱咤頒獎禮，引起軒然大波。2012年尾，當年只得21歲的G.E.M.疑未能入圍「叱咤最喜愛女歌手」，故在臨近樂壇頒獎禮的前夕，在YouTube上載了名為《G.E.M. 對香港頒獎禮的看法》的片段，表達自己對已變質頒獎禮的態度，當中提到「你想做一個一年度的event是沒問題的，想搞一個盛世，讓很多人來參與是沒問題的。但是，你一定要admit自己在做的這件事。你一定要be true to yourself。」其後，G.E.M.當時的經理人張丹曾公開表示「叱咤偏幫自己人，名義上話專業推介、掛名網上投票，其實係自己友埋堆。」並宣布G.E.M.缺席叱咤頒獎禮 G.E.M.成為首位在啟德主場館開騷的女歌手。2012年尾，G.E.M.拍片炮轟商台。藍奕邦隨後以「藍uncle」身份公開訓示鄧紫棋「飲水思源」及「謙虛」，當年不留口地批評後輩 G.E.M.︰「如果想改變世界，先改變自己心態。」又表示有意寫歌畀G.E.M.，但希望成事的話，歌名不需要叫《謙虛》，句句有骨。 近日，鄧紫棋啟德主場館連開五場演唱會大獲成功，網民再度翻炒兩人爭議，藍奕邦亦在私人Facebook不開名爆粗怒轟，指「宇宙巨星」靠「洗白工程」成功，言詞尖銳，令恩怨再度升溫。雙方粉絲各執一詞，話題持續發酵。 藍奕邦當年曾提議G.E.M.要飲水思源。（資料圖片）藍奕邦在文中強調，自己從未為了進軍內地市場而放棄香港觀眾，更沒有通過「表忠愛國」或公開支持特定政治人物來換取機會。他諷刺某些藝人雖然在商業上取得成功：「你可以有錢有地位，但我更可以有骨氣、尊嚴同品味。」 藍奕邦於私人FB開火。（網上圖片）藍奕邦於私人FB開火。（網上圖片）他提到，自某位「宇宙巨星」宣布重返香港開演唱會後，網絡上便出現大量為該藝人洗白的帖文，甚至翻出他十幾年前的言論來攻擊他。藍奕邦認為這是一場有組織的輿論操作，因此選擇沉默以對，避免被利用。藍奕邦也坦承，並不後悔當年對某些人的尖銳批評，更指對方如今顯得「窮得只有錢」。 G.E.M.鄧紫棋相隔8年再次在香港開騷。G.E.M.站在巨型獅子頂瑞霸氣出場！霸氣出場！G.E.M.之後以廣東話與觀眾打招呼。 View the full article