[VANGUARDNGR] A U.S. citizen is scheduled to be executed in Alabama on Thursday evening after dropping his appeals, saying he was guilty of raping and murdering a woman in 2010.
The convict said he did not want to keep ''wasting everybody's time'' and money.
James Osgood, 55, will be executed by lethal injection at 6 p.m. CDT at William Holman Correctional Facility in Atmore, Alabama.
This will make him join the approximately one in 10 people on death rows across America who have asked for their own executions.
A jury convicted Osgood of capital murder for the killing of Tracy Lynn Brown in Chilton County.
Prosecutors said Osgood cut Brown's throat after he and his girlfriend sexually assaulted her.
Osgood told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named that he wanted to apologise to Brown's family and that he dropped his appeals because, ''I am guilty of murder.''
In a letter to his lawyer explaining his decision to seek an execution date, he wrote that he was tired and no longer felt like he was ''even existing.''
''I'm a firm believer in, like I said in court, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. I took a life so mine was forfeited.
''I don't believe in sitting here and wasting everybody's time and everybody's money,'' Osgood told the AP.
Brown was found dead in her home on Oct. 23, 2010.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2025 00:00 ||
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[VANGUARDNGR] Authorities charged a teenager with aggravated arson, prosecutors said Thursday, after a forest fire scorched 15,000 acres of land in New Jersey, in the northeastern United States, forcing thousands of people to flee their homes.
The fires spreading in Ocean County, the coastal region of New Jersey, south of New York, are only half contained, according to the latest update from firefighters posted on Facebook.
The fire, which has so far destroyed a commercial building, could become the largest in New Jersey for 20 years.
Prosecutors said that on Wednesday they charged a 19-year-old man from the region with aggravated arson following what they allege was an improperly extinguished bonfire.
Since Tuesday, images have shown thick smoke in the sky above the region.
New York health authorities warned Thursday morning that air quality would be degraded, recommending vulnerable communities limit their outdoor activities.
The blaze erupted in the pine forests of New Jersey, one of the largest protected areas on the East Coast. The state was put under drought alert in March.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2025 00:00 ||
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#1
I always thought the term "arson" implied intent, not just culpable stupidity.
#2
Homeless people need to stay warm! I don’t know about your areas, but the police in my town frequently raid homeless camps and confiscate everything they find. Why, because they start forest and ranch land fires.
Posted by: Old Salty ||
04/25/2025 9:59 Comments ||
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[FoxNews] sentenced Thursday to life in prison without the possibility of parole, with a judge describing him as "irreparably corrupt and beyond any rehabilitation."
given seven consecutive sentences of natural life in prison
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] Turkey may experience a larger earthquake in the future than the one recorded in Istanbul on April 23. This was warned by Turkish seismologist Ahmet Ercan.
“Wednesday’s earthquake is a warning about an earthquake of magnitude 7–7.2 expected in the Thrace region, or a kind of training session before it,” RIA Novosti quoted the expert as saying.
According to him, a seismic event is expected between 2045 and 2075. The focus of the new earthquake will be located in the same place, at a depth of seven to 13 km, and the tremors will be 22 times more powerful, Ercan added.
The seismologist reassured citizens living in houses built after 1999. He replied that they should worry less, since stricter regulations for building houses were adopted that year.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, the earthquake in western Turkey began at about 12:50 Moscow time on April 23 and lasted for about 10-15 seconds, followed by aftershocks. The tremors, felt in several provinces, caused panic in Istanbul. The source was located at a depth of almost 7 km underground.
The country's Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya confirmed the magnitude of the earthquake and also said that Turkish authorities have begun assessing the damage from the incident.
The first seismic event was followed by another, weaker one. The magnitude of the second earthquake was about 3.9–4.2. It was recorded in the Silivri area of Istanbul.
According to the Istanbul Governor's Office, 151 people were injured in the earthquake, but there were no casualties as a result of the tremors.
The press services of Istanbul airports reported that flights are operating as usual after the earthquake. The Turkish Ministry of Transport stated that the transport infrastructure was not damaged by the seismic event. No damage or adverse effects were found on highways, airports, trains or the subway.
Turkish Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş has called on the country's institutions and citizens to be prepared for another earthquake that is already "on the doorstep."
Spoiler alert: it’s measles. Generally speaking, infectious and dangerous are inversely related.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news. Health officials are sounding the alarm over a potential measles exposure at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
An infected infant visited the airport's S Concourse with their family, potentially exposing others to the world's most infectious disease.
The person was at the airport - the largest in the Pacific North West, and one of the busiest in America - on April 17 between 4:50pm to 7:45pm.
The individual also passed through the customs and baggage claim areas before exiting through the south end of main terminal.
They later visited Seattle Children's Emergency Department after developing symptoms on April 17, 18 and 20, and they were admitted on April 20. Their condition remains unknown.
Officials are warning anyone who fears they may have been exposed to contact their health provider and monitor for symptoms in what is the latest in a string of measles scares to rock America's major airports.
It marks the fifth case of measles in Washington state this year, three of which have been infants.
In the past month, New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport and John F. Kennedy airport along with hubs in Washington DC and Los Angeles were all plunged into chaos over measles alerts.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Regnum] The ash emission to a height of 11 km from the Kamchatka volcano Bezymyanny did not affect air traffic. This was reported by the press secretary of the Federal Air Transport Agency Artem Korenyako in the Telegram channel.
He stressed that air traffic safety in Kamchatka is fully ensured.
“The activity of the Bezymyanny volcano in Kamchatka did not affect the operation of flights to Yelizovo airport and transit flights of foreign carriers,” the statement said.
Rosaviatsia and the state corporation for air traffic management have stepped up monitoring of civil aviation operations in the region. In particular, information notices are being published for airspace users, the agency representative noted.
Since the morning of April 24, there has been a tendency for Bezymyanny's activity to decrease. The Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team has downgraded the aviation hazard code from red to orange, Korenyako added.
Earlier, the Kamchatka Main Directorate of the Ministry of Emergency Situations reported that the ash plume over Bezymyanny (2882 m) rose to a height of 11 km above sea level. The plume spread to the northeast, deep into the peninsula. The department did not rule out minor ashfall in the area of the village of Klyuchi in the Ust-Kamchatsky District. The volcano was assigned a "red" aviation hazard code. Tourists were asked not to visit the vicinity of Bezymyanny.
As reported by the Regnum news agency, specialists recorded a glow in the summit crater of the Bezymyanny volcano. Before that, lava flows were observed on its slopes.
An eruption also began on Klyuchevskaya Sopka, the highest active volcano in Eurasia. On the night of April 21, a glow was recorded on the crater that lasted for several minutes.
[TWZ] The air combat exercises between Egypt and China serve multiple purposes, but Beijing's eye on Africa is highlighted by the drills.
In another sign of China’s growing interest in the Middle East and Africa, the People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) has sent multiple combat aircraft to Wadi Abu Rish Air Base for "Eagles of Civilization 2025," its first aerial training exercise with Egypt. The PLAAF deployed a Y-20U aerial refueling tanker, a KJ-500 AWACS aircraft, and J-10B/C fighters from the 18th Air Brigade and the 177th Air Brigade, according to the China 3 Army Telegram channel. Egypt is flying its MiG-29M/M2 Fulcrum multirole fighters in the drills. All this is taking place against the backdrop of conflicting claims about Cairo purchasing J-10Cs and America’s gaze turning away from Africa.
The exercise kicked off on Sunday and runs through the middle of May. It "aims to enhance the technical and tactical levels of the participating troops on both sides and is of great significance to promoting pragmatic cooperation and enhancing mutual trust and friendship between the two armies," according to the official Chinese CCTV media outlet.
The exercise, being staged at a base about 60 miles west of the Gulf of Suez, will allow Egypt to work with one of China’s top airborne early warning and control platforms, its primary medium-weight multi-role fighter, and its relatively new refueler. Moving all these planes, support equipment and troops from China also demonstrates Beijing’s growing global air mobility capabilities.
"The air unit has adopted a mixed force formation that combines air transfer and aerial transportation, which ensured full deployment of all personnel and equipment by Tuesday after they completed a journey of nearly 6,000 kilometers (about 3,700 miles)," according to CCTV.
In addition, it has been suggested that China can use the exercise to train against relatively modern MiG-29s, a type that remains a primary fighter for the Indian Air Force and Navy.
On the larger geopolitical elements of this exercise, Eagles of Civilization 2025 gives China an inroad into a key U.S. Middle East ally at a time of increasing regional tensions and rising questions about U.S. reliability as a primary security partner.
Egypt, which received nearly $1.5 billion in U.S. military aid last year, is caught between wanting to continue that support and opposing calls by the Trump administration to deport residents of Gaza, where Israel and Hamas have been engaged in a brutal war since Oct. 7, 2023. Cairo has been a key player in trying to end that conflict, helping to negotiate a ceasefire that has since collapsed.
With the real possibility of drastic foreign aid cuts to beneficiaries like Egypt, Cairo could see Beijing as an alternative to Washington’s largesse and resulting attached strings. A former commander of U.S. Central Command gave us his thoughts on the situation.
"I don’t know that this exercise portends any significant direct risk for us — but it is a reminder that our partners (in this case Egypt) have choices as well," retired Army Gen. Joseph Votel, now a Distinguished Military Fellow at the Middle East Institute, told us Monday morning. "Clearly, China is trying to grow influence with countries in the region, who also have well-established ties to the U.S., so that they are viewed more positively. This is linked to a desire to be seen as an alternative military equipment supplier to Egypt and other countries in the region. To this end, China will portray themselves as a more timely and effective supplier — and partner — than the United States." There's more at the link, and it includes formatting I'm leaving out. And lots of pictures.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain ||
04/25/2025 00:00 ||
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[VANGUARDNGR] A Badagry Chief Magistrates' Court sitting in Lagos, yesterday remanded a 23-year-old man, Mautin Odun in prison custody, for allegedly defiling an eight-year-old girl.
Chief Magistrate Patrick Adekomaiya, ordered that Odu should be remanded in the Awarjigoh prison, Badagry, after he pleaded not guilty "Wudn't me." to defilement and unlawful touching.
He ordered that the case file should be duplicated and sent to the office of the Director for Public Prosecution, DPP, for legal advice.
Adekomaiya adjourned the case until June 3, for ruling on the bail application and for DPP legal advice.
Earlier, the police prosecutor, Ayodele Adeosun, told the court that the defendant committed the offences on April 23, at 3p.m.., at Sikiru House, Tozunkanmeh, Ajara, Badagry, Lagos.
The prosecutor said the offence contravened the provisions of Section 261 and 263 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2015.
[VANGUARDNGR] Transgender women have been banned from the female category of Ultimate Pool Group (UPG) events following last week's UK Supreme Court ruling. "Too many balls on the table!"
The sport in this country has been mired in controversy over its transgender inclusion policies.
Trans woman Harriet Haynes is suing the English Blackball Pool Federation (EBPF) after it changed its rules to ban trans women from its female category.
A group of female players had challenged the UPG and World Eightball Pool Federation (WEPF) rules which allowed Trans women to compete.
The Supreme Court declared last week that the words ''woman and sex'' in the Equality Act 2010 referred to a biological woman and biological sex.
The UPG changed course however, and became the first sports body to update its policies since.
The UPG also said the change in policy was prompted by receipt of a report which confirmed pool was a gender-affected sport under the Equality Act.
It therefore permits the lawful exclusion of athletes based on sex.
''Since its inception UPG has been caught in a vacuum of uncertainty surrounding the issue of eligibility to participate in its women's series,'' the announcement from UPG read.
''The clear conclusion of the biological and cue sports expert who jointly authored the report was that eight ball pool was a gender-affected sport.
That was in cue sports female players have unique disadvantages compared to male players and that transgender women retain male advantages.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/25/2025 00:00 ||
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[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] A knife rampage at a French school has left one girl dead and multiple children fighting for their lives.
A student armed with a knife launched the attack during a lunch brea at the private Notre-Dame-de-Toutes-Aides high school in Doulon area of Nantes, western France, on Thursday.
The attacker, a 15-year-old boy who has been named by local media as Justin P.,
…not a typical Muslim name…
first entered a classroom on the school's second floor around midday where he stabbed a one student before going back downstairs to knife at least three others.
One of the students, a girl, was killed and the other three were injured in the rampage, with two said to be in serious condition, according to outlet BFM. The deceased girl reportedly was the first to be attacked by Justin P.
Teachers managed to restrain the boy before police arrived at the scene.
As armed police approached, Justin P. shouted 'Shoot me in the head,' at them.
Sounds like attempted suicide by cop.
The attempt to end his life failed, as officers handcuffed him and led him away.
He was dressed in black, and wore a bicycle helmet and a balaclava,
…he had great faith in the French police officers’ target skills…
according to an investigating source, who added that two blades - including a hunting knife - were found next to the attacker.
The 15-year-old is a student at the school and was not previously known to police. A police spokesperson said there was no indication of a terrorist motive.
A dispute between students may have been the cause of the attack, French outlet RTL reports, with TF1 adding that Justin P. recently had a 'romantic disagreement'.
A young idiot.
The attack followed students and staff at the school all receiving an email on Thursday morning, reportedly sent from Justin P.'s email account, entitled: 'Immune Action - Revolt is already the greatest victory we can achieve.'
Possibly that made sense in the original French…
This was followed by a screed of text, referring to the 'ills of society' and 'social alienation'.
A classmate told BFM that Justin P. had been 'a little weird since the beginning of the year'. He was also described as 'gloomy and depressed' by TF1.
An official at the school, which is part of a complex housing a primary and middle school, would not comment on what happened, saying the school is concentrating on caring for the students who were on campus at the time.
Images from the scene showed police surrounding the school as the investigation got under way.
Worried parents rushed to the school, which was cordoned off by police as students were evacuated to the institution's multipurpose room.
#1
if ever there was a job for robots and AI, this is it
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
04/25/2025 15:23 Comments ||
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#2
A Federal judge somewhere will file against Trump on this one by Monday or Tuesday. They've tasted blood and will not stop until Trump in neutralized.
But don’t relax just yet. Because the man replacing Schwab—Peter Brabeck-Letmathe—is even worse. More on that in the next thread. (Hint: he once said water shouldn’t be a human right.) 17/18 pic.twitter.com/VcUssKHQki
[Daily Mail, where America sends its news] Israel is just sending their ambassador — they’re in the middle of fighting a regional war, and the fact that Pope Francis openly favoured Hamas, back before his ascension, made it harder.
[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] scientists have released the most detailed photo of our sun yet – and it gives a close-up glimpse of its intense magnetic energy.
The image was captured by the world’s most powerful solar telescope, which takes 2D snapshots of the sun at a range of wavelengths.
Several hundred images are taken in just a few seconds by three synchronised cameras using different settings – similar to taking a series of photographs using different filters.
Combining these images allows for a 3D view of the sun’s structures – as seen in this remarkable picture.
The newly released image reveals a cluster of sunspots on the Sun’s surface, measuring approximately 25,000km by 25,000km.
Sunspots - areas of intense magnetic activity - often lead to solar flares and coronal mass ejections, which are what is responsible for our Northern Light displays on Earth.
The image achieves a spatial resolution of 10km per pixel – showing the sunspots in unprecedented detail.
The Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope was first installed at the National Solar Observatory (NSO) near the summit of Maui’s Haleakalā volcano in 2022.
It has now achieved ‘first light’ – used to describe the first time a telescope lens is exposed to the night sky – with its most advanced instrument, the new Visible Tunable Filter (VTF).
Designed and built in Germany, the VTF arrived at the observatory last year and has since been carefully installed.
It weighs 5.6 tons and has a footprint roughly the size of a small garage, occupying two floors.
While it is not yet fully operational, science verification and commissioning are expected to begin in 2026.
‘Seeing those first spectral scans was a surreal moment,’ said Dr. Stacey Sueoka, Senior Optical Engineer at the observatory.
‘This is something no other instrument in the telescope can achieve in the same way.
‘It marked the culmination of months of optical alignment, testing, and cross-continental teamwork.
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.
