[FoxNews] SWAT team found man dead on Canfield Mountain in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho after hours-long manhunt
At least he won’t be doing that again.
A SWAT team has located a deceased man and a nearby firearm hours after a sniper shot and killed two firefighters and injured another while they were battling a wildfire in Idaho, authorities confirmed late Sunday.
The Kootenai County Sheriff's office said the deceased male was located on Canfield Mountain. A shelter in place was lifted, but an active wildfire remained, the sheriff's office said.
The update came hours after the International Association of Fire Fighters confirmed that the two victims who were killed were firefighters. Some 300 law enforcement officers were on scene.
"While responding to a fire earlier today in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, IAFF members were ambushed in a heinous act of violence. Two of our brothers were killed by a sniper, and a third brother remains in surgery," the association said. "Please keep them, their families, and law enforcement in your prayers."
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said the agency responded to the scene [quickly] to provide tactical and operational support.
"FBI technical teams and tactical assets are currently on the scene providing support. It remains an active, and very dangerous scene," Bongino said just before 9 p.m.
During a news conference, Kootenai County Sheriff Robert Norris said two firefighters were killed and a third was fighting for his life but was in stable condition after undergoing surgery.
"We do believe the suspect started the fire and we do believe that it was an ambush and it was intentional," he said, noting that a preliminary investigation suggests there was only one gunman. "This was a total ambush. These firefighters did not have a chance."
The sheriff said a recommendation was made at about 6:30 p.m. to neutralize the shooter. Law enforcement was able to track a cellphone signal to the suspect's location.
He added that the fire compromised evidence at the crime scene, saying: "we felt that as the fire was approaching we needed to scoop up that body."
It is unclear if the suspect had more than one weapon. That determination will not be made until the fire diminishes. The investigation will continue Monday morning, the sheriff said. Crews will continue working through the night.
The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office issued an alert earlier Sunday afternoon stating: "Active shooter at Canfield Mountain. Injuries have been reported, though the severity remains unknown. Please avoid the area."
Norris had said that they were developing a plan to move people out of the mountains as soon as they had the fire under control.
Officials confirmed that the firefighters were responding to a brush fire near East Nettleton Gulch Road when the shooting started.
Norris said earlier that the suspect used what appeared to be "modern-day, high-powered, sporting rifles."
"We're taking rapid fire," Norris said.
Due to the danger, fire crews had to retreat, and the brush fire continues to pose a threat. Authorities were urging residents in the vicinity to stay vigilant and exercise caution as the situation develops.
"I would encourage all of you to tell people to stay away from the area, do not come to the area. Stay away from the area," Norris said earlier. "This is going to be if these, individuals are not neutralized quickly, this is going to be a likely a multi-day operation."
Attorney General Pam Bondi shared a statement and said more support was heading to Idaho.
"Thank you to our incredible @FBI agents on the ground assisting local authorities in Idaho. We are praying for all," Bondi wrote.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem also said their department is actively monitoring the situation and that "justice will be served."
Because 1st responders don't give a rat's a$$ of a person's Color, Race, sexual oddity, pronoun, political party or whatever. Shouldn't we all agree to strongly encourage anyone seeing a person(s) conducting criminal acts against 1st responders, to act quickly to neutralize such a situation?
Now the usual question:
How many Far Left kook copycat shooters will pop up in the coming weeks?
#3
Very sad for my adopted state but proud of the response during a crisis. That area is very remote in places, Skid and that might be what they though they needed at the time. Don't believe they knew it was a single shooter.
The usual liberal news will quickly paint this as a dangerous Trump supporter.
Two firefighters were killed by a sniper in Idaho on the 24th anniversary of a local Neo-Nazi compound being burned by the fire department for a training exercise.
#5
Idaho is home to my wife and my families. CDA is home mine. Canfield is a little hiking spot next to the lake. So the Sherriff announce if you see the shooter, shoot him. That is so Idaho! CDA, prior to the late 80's, was a logging and outdoorsman community. It has since turned into a tourist resort community where the mills were turned into condos and the price of home have driven most locals out. Too bad it has come to this...
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
06/30/2025 11:03 Comments ||
Top||
[FoxNews] 'This is not an ordinary fraud case,' Judge Nina Wang said, adding that the details warranted the maximum sentence
The owner of a Colorado funeral home received the maximum prison sentence after he was found guilty of stashing nearly 190 bodies in a decrepit building and sending families fake ashes instead of their loved ones.
Jon Hallford, owner of Return to Nature Funeral Home, was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Friday for cheating customers and defrauding the federal government out of nearly $900,000 in COVID-19 aid. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in federal court last year.
Separately, Hallford pleaded guilty to 191 counts of corpse abuse in state court and will be sentenced in August.
During Friday's hearing, federal prosecutors asked for a 15-year sentence while Hallford’s attorney requested 10 years.
Judge Nina Wang said that despite the case only focusing on a single fraud charge, the circumstances and scale of Hallford's crime, as well as the emotional impact on the families, warranted the maximum sentence.
"This is not an ordinary fraud case," she said.
Ahead of the sentencing, Hallford told the judge that he opened the funeral home to make a positive impact on people's lives before "everything got completely out of control, especially me."
"I am so deeply sorry for my actions," he said. "I still hate myself for what I’ve done."
Hallford and his wife, Carie, were accused of storing the bodies between 2019 and 2023 and sending families fake ashes. Investigators found the bodies in 2023 stacked on top of each other throughout a squat, bug-infested building in Penrose, Colorado.
Investigators could not move into some rooms because the bodies were piled so high and in various states of decay. FBI agents had to put boards down so they could walk above the fluid.
Many families learned after the discovery that their loved ones were not cremated and that the ashes they had received were fake. In two cases, the wrong body was buried.
Federal prosecutors accused both Hallfords of pandemic aid fraud, siphoning the money and spending it and customers' payments on a GMC Yukon and Infiniti worth over $120,000 combined, as well as $31,000 in cryptocurrency, luxury items from stores such as Gucci and Tiffany & Co., and laser body sculpting.
Carie Hallford is scheduled to go to trial in the federal case in September, the same month as her next hearing in the state case in which she is also charged with 191 counts of corpse abuse.
Continued on Page 47
2019 to 2023 and 190+ bodies.
I have to wonder how many families got the correct body back, given it was the 2023 Biden (LSD) Puppet Admin Colorado (D) agencies handling it?
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] People will go to all sorts of lengths to keep their homes safe, from fancy locks to security cameras.
But an expert has warned there’s one thing homeowners are forgetting to do that could be putting their house at risk.
Blurring your home on Google Maps could help to deter burglars who use the tool to learn about entryways, security measures and possible possessions, he said.
And the simple tactic could stop would-be robbers from targeting your home.
Ryan Railsback, an officer in the Riverside Police Department in Southern California, said he is aware of some homeowners already taking the protective step.
And he urged others to consider doing it too.
‘The crooks are looking for new and innovative ways to victimise people,’ he told ABC News. ‘It’s good for the public to be aware of that and counter what the criminals are already doing.’
So, how do you go about blurring your home?
To blur Google Street View you must send a request.
1. Find your home in Google Maps.
2. Open the Street View image that you want to blur.
3. In the bottom right, click 'Report a problem'.
4. Complete the 'Report a problem' form and submit.
[MoneyWise] If a mystery package shows up on your doorstep, don’t assume it’s a lucky break. It could mean your personal information has been exposed.
The U.S. Postal Service is warning Americans about a fast-growing scheme known as a “brushing” scam. It may look like a harmless delivery, like a keychain, some socks, a random kitchen gadget, but it’s often a red flag that cybercriminals have gotten hold of your name and address.
Worse, experts say these schemes can be just the beginning of a broader attempt to exploit your identity or financial accounts.
Will that be before or after Chancellor Mertz’s government arrests Bibi to make the International Criminal Court happy?
[IsraelTimes] Visiting interior minister’s 5-point plan to boost ties said to include greater cooperation with Mossad, joint research center; ‘Military defense alone is not sufficient,’ he says
They need energy independence from Russia without demanding that France carry their burden, and trade independence from China, right? Are they doing anything in those directions?
Germany is aiming to establish a joint German-Israeli cyber research center and deepen collaboration between the two countries’ intelligence and security agencies, German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said on Sunday.
Germany is among Israel’s closest allies in Europe, and Berlin has increasingly looked to draw upon Israel’s defense expertise as it boosts its military capabilities and contributions to NATO in the face of perceived growing threats from Russia and China.
“Military defense alone is not sufficient for this turning point in security. A significant upgrade in civil defense is also essential to strengthen our overall defensive capabilities,” Dobrindt said during a visit to Israel, as reported by Germany’s Bild newspaper.
Dobrindt, who was appointed by new German Chancellor Friedrich Merz last month, arrived in Israel on Saturday. On Sunday, Dobrindt visited the site of an Iranian missile strike in Bat Yam where nine people, including three children, were killed and hundreds wounded overnight on June 14-15.
“We must deepen our support for Israel,” said Dobrindt, standing amid the rubble with Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, in the first visit by a senior foreign official since the Israel-Iran war ended.
Bild said Germany’s decision to expand cyber cooperation with Israel was due at least in part to the role Israeli cyber capabilities played in thwarting larger Iranian attacks during the 12-day war that ended with a US-brokered ceasefire on Tuesday.
According to the Bild report, Dobrindt has outlined a five-point plan aimed at establishing what he called a “Cyber Dome” for Germany, as part of its cyber-defense strategy.
The plan reportedly calls for establishing a joint German-Israel cyber research center; strengthening cooperation on cyber defense; increasing cooperation between Mossad and its German counterpart, the BND; expanding Germany’s anti-drone defenses; and developing a system of civil shelters and emergency warnings like that used in Israel during the Iran war.
Earlier on Sunday, Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Soeder also called for the acquisition of 2,000 interceptor missiles to equip Germany with an “Iron Dome” system similar to Israel’s short-range missile defense technology.
Iran launched over 500 ballistic missiles and around 1,100 drones at Israel in retaliation for Israeli strikes targeting Iran’s nuclear program, missile production and leadership. The Iranian attacks killed 28 people and wounded over 3,000 in Israel, according to health officials and hospitals.
Israel said its operation in Iran was necessary to prevent the Islamic Republic from realizing its avowed goal to destroy the Jewish state.
While Iran has denied seeking nuclear weapons, it enriched uranium to levels that have no peaceful application, obstructed international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities, and expanded its ballistic missile capabilities. Israel said Iran had recently taken steps toward weaponization.
Speaking in Bat Yam, Dobrindt said Israel has “our support in destroying Iran’s nuclear program” and that “if Iran had the atom bomb, it would use it against Israel,” according to Bild.
Text taken from a news article posted in vfokuse.mail.ru Why was the holiday of June 28 chosen to launch the color revolution in Belgrade
Taking advantage of the fact that the events surrounding the short-lived Iran-Israel war distracted the world community's attention from Belgrade and the torcida
…the internet says that’s a formal association of soccer fans. I had no idea there was such a thing…
unleashed against the country's leader Aleksandar Vucic, the anti-government forces in Serbia came into motion. The "assembly point" of the new architecture of the coup d'etat was the national Serbian holiday Vidovdan - the day of remembrance of all the holy martyrs of Serbia and the day of remembrance of the Battle of Kosovo.
On this day, all of Serbia comes into motion; the masses are seized by festive excitement, people are possessed by emotions that can easily be turned both in a positive and negative direction (directed against the current government and its specific representatives). Emotions "warm up" the masses, creating a basis for any revolutionary and especially pseudo-revolutionary actions.
In this regard, the holiday works in the same way as elections. The election issue wedged itself into the emotional upsurge of the Serbs along with the color revolution activists who appeared on the streets: the activists who emerged from the crowd of Serbs celebrating the holiday began to demand that the authorities set a date for early parliamentary elections and dismantle the tent camp of Vucic's supporters near the parliament building. Thus, the day of remembrance and sorrow became politicized. The hidden rebellion once again gave its "metastasis".
The organizers of the rebellion announced that the ultimatum expires at 21:00 local time (22:00 Moscow time), after which, if the demands are ignored, they will be ready to resort to measures of "civil disobedience" (that is, violence in the form of mass riots). Vucic himself confirmed this, stating that violence will happen: "they can no longer refuse it... But we are ready."
This showed that Vucic, unlike Yanukovych and Assad, is ready to fight for power and will not hesitate to use counter-violence (like Alexander Lukashenko in 2020).
Vucic also appealed to the protest organizers not to disturb public order: “In the evening, you will see angry people who will eventually resort to violence because they have no other choice. I again ask them in a fatherly way not to do this. It is always better to retreat than to do something stupid that you will regret for the rest of your life. I have absolutely no doubt about the final result. I just want people to be saved, especially the youth.” In the practice of information operations, this technique is known and is called “Information vaccination.” Vucic used it wisely.
But will this save the "father of Serbian democracy"? I doubt it very much. Color revolutions are not a joke, they are an extremely dangerous tool for dismantling power, and student protests on the streets of Belgrade are just the tip of the iceberg. The enemies of Serbia and Vucic are active, they act quickly and have full operational initiative, imposing their "flash mobs" on the authorities at the time and place that are beneficial to them. Imposing their rules of the game on the current authorities. And even mocking them, throwing a huge number of round badges with images of flowers and the inscription "color revolution" for some reason in Russian on the markets of Belgrade.
Vucic behaves passively. This is either infantilism mixed with the same childish naivety and irrational belief in miracles. Or the hope that at the very last moment he will still be saved - perhaps by those who prompted him to create his own public movement in support of himself, his beloved - a kind of "People's Vucic Front", and, at the same time, to pitch a tent camp of his supporters on the central square - so that no one else could pitch their tents there: the place is already occupied. But the "good people" may not make it in time this time. Because they themselves are not working for the result, but for the sake of "checking the box".
A TOOL FOR ORGANIZING COUPS D'ETAT
Modern color revolutions are technologies for organizing coups d'etat, passed off by their organizers as a "spontaneous uprising of the masses" directed against the current government. The driving force of a color revolution is a mass youth protest movement, organized by specially trained activists; the main instrument of pressure on the government is an aggressive "political" crowd formed on the "Maidan" (a permanent camp in the center of the capital's metropolis, also called the "island" (or territory) of "freedom"), into which new streams of protesters pour.
The main method of pressure on the government is blackmail, combined with the presentation of increasingly radical ultimatums. This model of a color revolution first took shape in Serbia, during the events of 2000, when the regime of Slobodan Milosevic was overthrown in Belgrade (the so-called bulldozer revolution). From that moment on, it was the "bulldozer revolution" that became the classic example and template for imitation - the organization of color revolutions in other countries. It is according to this scenario that events are developing in Serbia now, in the organization of the mass protest movement all the signs of a classic color revolution are clearly visible.
EVOLUTION OF COLOR REVOLUTION TECHNOLOGIES
In 2018, 2019 and 2020, the technologies of color revolutions underwent a change, or hybridization: their ideologists and organizers again began to give preference to faster, cruder and, at first glance, more effective tools of "hard power" - direct forceful coercion: thus, the end of the color revolution in Bolivia in 2019 was put by an ultimatum from the army command, which demanded that President Morales immediately leave his post.
In the same year, the United States attempted to overthrow the Maduro regime in Venezuela, amid mass protests, almost agreeing on the "neutralization" of Maduro with some people from his inner circle; in 2020, the United States made the same attempt when organizing a color revolution in Belarus (the physical elimination of Lukashenko was also planned there, and mass protests and riots served as a factor distracting the attention of the Belarusian leadership from the actions of the "conspirators" from President Lukashenko's inner circle); In Kazakhstan in 2022, the color revolution immediately transitioned into an armed rebellion. In principle, such a threat can also await Serbia in 2025: mass protests, transforming into mass riots, can pave the way for crime and radical nationalists, who will become the driving force of a classic armed rebellion.
But the most dangerous thing about the hybrid color revolution that unfolded in Belarus in 2020 was that Minsk became the "assembly point" for the organizers of color revolutions of the so-called best practices (for the most dangerous methods and technologies) of organizing color revolutions.
The general scheme for organizing a color revolution in Belarus is an exact copy of the Kiev Maidan of 2013-2014. (but without the Maidan itself, a permanent camp), the technologies of communication and coordination of protest groups are taken from Hong Kong 2019-2020, the technologies of conflict mobilization under a non-political agenda are borrowed from the Yerevan "electro-Maidan" of 2015.
The general scheme of the coup d'etat is an exact copy of the "Venezuelan precedent" - the technology of organizing a coup d'etat in Venezuela in 2019. There is little that is actually Belarusian in the Minsk protests: their own authentic symbols, the actual absence of a Maidan (which could be blocked, covered and dispersed) - it is now mobile, like a gypsy camp, and moves with crowds of protesters, and the widespread use of a new means of protest communication - Telegram channels.
This is being repeated in Serbia, where classic techniques of color revolutions are already being used - in particular, the "march on Rome" (when protests flare up on the outskirts, surround the capital with a "ring of fire" and this ring begins to quickly shrink as columns of protesters move from the outskirts to the center of the country, absorbing more and more crowds of people dissatisfied with the current government).
In recent times, we have seen many Western specialists in organizing color revolutions in action, and in various corners of the globe: they were underfoot in the Sahel, extremely keenly interested in how, on the basis of our methodology for training information special forces (the “Information and Hybrid Wars” program of the APN) and the experience of our leading practitioners of the Alter Academy of Political Sciences, the countries of the Sahel Defense Alliance are preparing the best information operations specialists on the African continent from ordinary peasants (especially when these specialists began to operate in the combat formations of operational-combat groups of classic special forces, making them “hybrid”).
We saw them in Tehran and some other places, where they, having been “left to settle”, slowly and painfully “woke up” in the expectation that they would now be given the go-ahead (after air strikes) to strike the Iranian regime from within (their meeting with us did not pass without a trace for them). We saw across the Strait (and even closer) how the same CIA "specialists" are preparing Taiwan to become "Anti-China" - and according to the same patterns by which the "Collective West" made Ukraine "Anti-Russia" in 20 years. They are not children. And they should be treated accordingly.
VUCIC'S REACTION
The current protests began to spoil Vucic's blood not yesterday and not "six months ago" (as you can hear from the lips of some talking heads): attempts to undermine the government began more than two years ago. In December 2023, the same thing happened as in November-December 2024 - it is somehow not customary to talk about this. That is, Vucic has been tested for strength by various forms of "student", "patriotic" and "anti-corruption" protests for a long time. And for most of this time, the government behaved passively.
The first signs of active actions began suddenly and at the very moment when Vucic, unexpectedly for everyone, officially accused the West of preparing a "color revolution" and announced the creation of a nationwide movement called "For the People and the State". At a rally organized on April 15, 2025 by supporters of the government in front of the parliament building in Belgrade, a triumphant Vucic declared: "The color revolution is over. They can walk around as much as they want, but nothing will come of it," Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic told crowds of his supporters organized in support of the government.
The demonstration, organized under the slogan "We will not give up Serbia", began on Friday and lasted until Sunday. At the rally, everyone was invited to join the new movement. A 200-meter Serbian flag was unfurled near the parliament and ceremoniously carried through the streets of the city. Thousands of people from various Serbian cities, as well as Montenegro and the Republic of Srpska, came to the demonstration.
The "delegates" from Kosovo and Metohija arrived - allegedly "on foot" having slipped through the cordons of Albanian nationalists. Their speech was especially vivid and carried a colossal emotional charge. Then the "protesters in support of Vucic", in the best traditions of their ideological opponents and antagonists, occupied the main square and pitched their "Maidan" there - a permanent camp, occupying the entire city space so that future Maidanites would have nowhere to even spread a blanket.
Vucic demanded that the authorities "restore order" (probably forgetting at the moment that he himself is the authority), and also declared that it was necessary to find the "instigators of unrest" and not let them "paralyze the life of the country." And he calmed down on that. As the events of the last few days have shown - very much in vain. In general, the advice dictated to Vučić by the imported specialists who came to help was correct, although noticeably outdated: in the 2000s and even in the 2010s, it would have partially solved the problem, temporarily disrupting the rebels' plans. But not now.
In the years since the mutiny in Belarus in 2020, everyone has become smarter (the opponents first and foremost), except for the so-called Russian political strategists (or, more precisely, the people who consider themselves to be them). They just want to put on a show, and then let the grass not grow. How could they not have thought of organizing a bicycle-auto-motorcycle-bike rally in Serbia, under the slogan "Vučić's bees - against the honey of color revolutions." Like in "Radio Day." In the end, Vucic was not protected by his “Poles”: the movement in defense of the president with a new round of aggressive protests has disappeared somewhere, the tent camp of supporters is silent, the aggressive crowd has to be dispersed by means of extreme forms of “persuasion” - tear gas and flash-bang grenades. The question is, what were they fighting for?
In these conditions, Vucic is required to be constantly active: he is now like an elderly wrestler in the ring, at whom everyone is throwing themselves “from around the corner”. But instead, he did his number and left. Color revolutions today do not forgive such things.
CONCLUSION
The events in Serbia that have been taking place over the past two years (2024 and 2025) completely fit the description of modern color revolutions - technologies for organizing coups d'état, disguised as mass protests of citizens. If the government does not fight for itself and the preservation of the country, these technologies will inevitably lead to its overthrow.
Only well-trained specialists who have the trust of the country's leadership and broad powers can organize an effective fight against the organizers and executors of the color revolution, but it is unlikely that they exist in Serbia today.
As a result of the riots at the demonstrations in Belgrade, 48 police officers and 22 protesters were injured. This was reported on June 29 by the head of the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs Dragan Vasiljevic.
He specified that more than 20 people sought medical help after the night protests. Two of the victims received serious injuries.
In total, the police detained 77 participants in the protest, 38 of whom were arrested.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, mass protests by students and the opposition began in the Serbian capital on the evening of June 28. Their participants took to the streets demanding that the country's parliament be dissolved and a date for early elections be set. At some point, clashes between protesters and the police began. The protesters began throwing cans, firecrackers and other objects at the security forces, and the law enforcement officers had to use force.
As the head of the Serbian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ivica Dacic, emphasized, those who attacked law enforcement officers during the protests in Belgrade will be identified, detained and brought to justice.
[FoxBusinessNews] Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will resume trade talks with U.S. President Donald Trump after Canada said late Sunday it was rescinding a digital services tax on American tech companies. "We didn't mean it."
The Canadian government said it was rescinding the Digital Services Tax "in anticipation of a mutually beneficial comprehensive trade arrangement with the United States."
"Consistent with this action, Prime Minister Carney and President Trump have agreed that parties will resume negotiations with a view towards agreeing on a deal by July 21, 2025," Canada’s Department of Finance said in a news release.
It added that a June 30, 2025 collection will be halted, and legislation is pending to rescind the Digital Services Tax Act.
Continued on Page 47
#5
France, India, Indonesia, Italy and the UK had digital taxes of some kind in 2024.
I'm not sure of what the situation is today.
These taxes do provide some revenue but it is not enormous. For example, the UK netted about $500M in 2024.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
06/30/2025 10:33 Comments ||
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#6
I saw a tweet that claimed that Canada takes something like 16% of American exports — our biggest recipient — and we take something like 70% of theirs, if I recall the numbers correctly.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] An Amazon delivery van has gone up in flames in Washington DC, sending plumes of black smoke into the air that could be seen for miles.
The black petrol-powered Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van caught fire on Clark Street S near 23rd Street South in Arlington, Virginia.
Arlington Fire and EMS said the van 'caught fire due to a malfunctioning engine. There was no explosion, and no packages were involved'.
The fire spread to nearby bushes in the parking lot where it was left but buildings did not catch fire. No one was injured.
The smoke could be seen from the other side of the city in the northeast suburbs.
Mercedes in 2023 ordered a recall of 53,000 Sprinter vans from model years 2019 and 2020 after 11 of them caught on fire.
The layout of fuses can cause a wiring harness in their climate control systems to overheat, potentially leading to a vehicle fire, the recall warned.
Whether the van that exploded was one of those subject to the recall is unknown.
[FoxNews] A potentially deadly fungus known as "pharaoh's curse fungus" could offer an unexpected path to fighting cancer, recent research shows.
Scientists from the University of Pennsylvania modified molecules from the fungus — which is officially called Aspergillus flavus — to create a new compound and enhance its cancer-killing properties.
"Fungi gave us penicillin," said Dr. Xue (Sherry) Gao, an associate professor at UPenn and leader of the study, in a press release. "These results show that many more medicines derived from natural products remain to be found."
The findings were published in the journal Nature Chemical Biology.
Aspergillus flavus is found in decaying leaves and compost, as well as on trees, plants and some crops, according to Mayo Clinic.
While the fungus doesn't endanger most healthy people, it can cause respiratory issues for those who have weakened immune systems or are taking certain medications.
Some of the more severe complications of the fungus can include bleeding in the lungs and life-threatening infections in the brain, heart and kidneys, Mayo Clinic stated.
HISTORY OF THE ‘CURSE’
After archaeologists opened King Tut’s tomb in the 1920s, multiple members of the excavation team died suddenly, fueling rumors of a "curse" upon those who dared interfere with the pharaoh’s rest, according to the UPenn press release.
Decades later, doctors hypothesized that fungal spores, which had been dormant for thousands of years, could have infected the team.
In the 1970s, it happened again, the university stated.
A dozen scientists entered another tomb, this time in Poland — and 10 died within a few weeks. Later investigations were said to reveal the presence of Aspergillus flavus in the tomb.
CANCER-FIGHTING POTENTIAL
Now, the same fungus linked to King Tut's tomb could have the capability to fight leukemia in a new form of cancer therapy.
"There are a variety of compounds able to be produced by fungus," Gao told Fox News Digital.
These compounds can be toxic to different cells, she noted, depending on the "biological management we are able to mitigate."
The study aimed to find a specific kind of compound — ribosomally synthesized and post-translationally modified peptides, or "RiPPs" — within Aspergillus flavus, which was previously shown to be a good source.
When this compound is able to enter cancer cells, Gao said, it may be able to stop their growth.
"Cancer cells divide uncontrollably," Gao said in the release. "These compounds block the formation of microtubules, which are essential for cell division."
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
