#its China v Belarus

[sunshineandlyrics]

x

✨ Manifesting Louis content at the Australian Open in Melbourne Park on Saturday 27 January 2024 because Louis could attend both ✨ ....

The DMAs, Ruel and the Jungle Giants play in the AO Finals Festival in John Cain Arena from 2.00-7.00pm x

🎾 The Women's singles final in Rod Laver Arena which starts at 7.30pm x

[fuckyeah-hetalia]

Status: Complete

Summary:

Jones Conglomerates Incorporated controls the government. Its runaway heiress seeks to dethrone her brother Alfred, her husband Arthur, and the massive empire. While the mobs keep fleeing from the police, and others have suspicions, only Sergeant Gilbert Bielschmidt knows first-hand that Mathilda is hiding nearby.

Chapters: 46/46 Words: 100,398

Creator: missycanucks

Fandoms: Hetalia: Axis Powers

Rating: Teen and Up

Warnings: Creator Chose Not to Archive Warnings

Categories: Multi

Relationships: Female Canada/Russia, Canada/Spain, Female Canada/Germany, Female Canada/England, Hungary/South Italy, China/Ukraine, North Italy/Ukraine, Belarus/Prussia

Characters: Germany, Prussia, Belarus, Russia, Spain, America, England, South Italy, North Italy, Hungary, Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine, China, Netherlands, Belgium, Japan, Austria, Female Canada, France

Tags: Human AU, Murder, Mystery, Action, evil corporation, Anarchy, Overthrowing the government, Police, Rebellion, Mobs, Gang activity, Girl Power, Inspired by Batman, Inspired by V for Vendetta, Parallels to Reality, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Past Domestic Violence, Implied/Referenced Abortion, Implied/Referenced Drug Use

[toscanoirriverente]

GENEVA, September 13, 2024 — Today the UN rapporteur on sanctions will declare that all US, EU, British and Canadian sanctions on China over its human rights abuses constitute illegal “unilateral coercive measures” under international law.

Alena Douhan, a Belarus-based investigator who was appointed by the UN Human Rights Council — under a mandate created by the Iranian regime and other dictatorships — will today in Geneva present a new report that calls for lifting all Western sanctions that have been imposed on the Chinese regime over its human rights abuses against Uighurs, including forced labor, stifling democracy in Hong Kong, and arming sanctioned regimes such as Russia, Iran and North Korea.

“Douhan epitomizes the Orwellian nature of the UN’s human rights system. The world’s worst dictatorships initiated this UN mandate ten years ago in order to declare that all sanctions which seek to hold accountable their regimes for human rights abuses are themselves illegal measures,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, an independent non-governmental human rights group based in Geneva.

Neuer will be taking the floor today in the UN debate with Douhan.

“Absurdly, this so-called UN human rights expert has conducted major propaganda visits for Ayatollah Khamenei’s Islamic Regime in Iran, Assad’s Syria, Maduro’s Venezuela, and now Xi Jinping’s China. She inverts reality and morality by speaking out for the supposed human rights of the perpetrator regimes, instead of speaking for their victims,” said Neuer.

(Watch Video: Alena Douhan at the conclusion of her May 2024 visit to China. “Unilateral sanctions against China do not conform with a broad number of international legal norms and cannot be justified as countermeasures under the law of international responsibility.”)

Prior to being selected for her post in March 2022, Douhan appeared on the 2017 biennial panel on unilateral coercive measures — dubbed the Mother of all Rogues’ Galleries — alongside other longtime UN apologists for dictators like  Jean Ziegler, Idris Jazairy and Alfred de Zayas.

In December 2022, when Iran was condemned at the UN for its assault on protesters in the wake of Mahsa Amini’s death, Douhan penned a letter to the United States blaming all of Iran’s problems on U.S. sanctions.

Douhan’s Office Took $200,000 From China

In 2021, Douhan received $200,000 from China at the same time as she helped the regime whitewash its ethnic cleansing of Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang, appearing at a Chinese regime propaganda event falsely portraying Xinjiang as a utopia. 

All of Douhan’s country visits to date — to Iran, Zimbabwe, Venezuela, Qatar, and Syria — have been propaganda opportunities for those regimes to whitewash their human rights abuses.

Her report on Syria, which she visited in 2022, commended the Assad regime for its “cooperation,” and declared that Western sanctions against the regime “may amount to a crime against humanity, against all Syrian people.”

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 6.28 (affter 1920)

1921 – Serbian King Alexander I proclaims the new constitution of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, known thereafter as the Vidovdan Constitution. 1922 – The Irish Civil War begins with the shelling of the Four Courts in Dublin by Free State forces. 1926 – Mercedes-Benz is formed by Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz merging their two companies. 1936 – The Japanese puppet state of Mengjiang is formed in northern China. 1940 – Romania cedes Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina to the Soviet Union after facing an ultimatum. 1942 – World War II: Nazi Germany starts its strategic summer offensive against the Soviet Union, codenamed Case Blue. 1945 – Poland's Soviet-allied Provisional Government of National Unity is formed over a month after V-E Day. 1948 – Cold War: The Tito–Stalin Split results in the expulsion of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia from the Cominform. 1948 – Boxer Dick Turpin beats Vince Hawkins at Villa Park in Birmingham to become the first black British boxing champion in the modern era. 1950 – Korean War: Suspected communist sympathizers (between 60,000 and 200,000) are executed in the Bodo League massacre. 1950 – Korean War: Packed with its own refugees fleeing Seoul and leaving their 5th Division stranded, South Korean forces blow up the Hangang Bridge in an attempt to slow North Korea's offensive. The city falls later that day. 1950 – Korean War: The Korean People's Army kills almost a thousand doctors, nurses, inpatient civilians and wounded soldiers in the Seoul National University Hospital massacre. 1956 – In Poznań, workers from HCP factory go to the streets, sparking one of the first major protests against communist government both in Poland and Europe. 1964 – Malcolm X forms the Organization of Afro-American Unity. 1969 – Stonewall riots begin in New York City, marking the start of the Gay Rights Movement. 1973 – Elections are held for the Northern Ireland Assembly, which will lead to power-sharing between unionists and nationalists in Northern Ireland for the first time. 1976 – The Angolan court sentences US and UK mercenaries to death sentences and prison terms in the Luanda Trial. 1978 – The United States Supreme Court, in Regents of the University of California v. Bakke bars quota systems in college admissions. 1981 – A powerful bomb explodes in Tehran, killing 73 officials of the Islamic Republican Party. 1982 – Aeroflot Flight 8641 crashes in Mazyr, Belarus, killing 132 people. 1987 – For the first time in military history, a civilian population is targeted for chemical attack when Iraqi warplanes bombed the Iranian town of Sardasht. 1989 – On the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo, Slobodan Milošević delivers the Gazimestan speech at the site of the historic battle. 1997 – Holyfield–Tyson II: Mike Tyson is disqualified in the third round for biting a piece off Evander Holyfield's ear. 2001 – Slobodan Milošević is extradited to the ICTY in The Hague to stand trial. 2004 – Iraq War: Sovereign power is handed to the interim government of Iraq by the Coalition Provisional Authority, ending the U.S.-led rule of that nation. 2009 – Honduran president Manuel Zelaya is ousted by a local military coup following a failed request to hold a referendum to rewrite the Honduran Constitution. This was the start of the 2009 Honduran constitutional crisis. 2016 – A terrorist attack in Turkey's Istanbul Atatürk Airport kills 42 people and injures more than 230 others.

[patricksmorch]

Olympic Council of Asia happy for Russia to compete at future Asian Games | Asian Games 2023

Olympic Council of Asia happy for Russia to compete at future Asian Games | Asian Games 2023 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWsdHq7zM78 The Olympic Council of Asia. has left the door open for Russia to compete at future Asian Games. Acting OCA president Raja Randhir Singh told a press conference on Sunday in Hangzhou, China that it was "up to them' IF Russia wants to compete as the Asiad. Russia and Belarus had been invited to this year's Asian Games to help its athletes gain qualification for the Paris Summer Olympics. Singh said the Russians were unable to attend due to logistical issues, this after the IOC had made a u-turn on its approval of the idea just weeks before the Asian Games were to begin. The OCA also said the North Korean flag can continue to fly at the Asian Games despite a World Anti-Doping Agency ban against its display. North Korea’s National Anti-Doping Agency (NADO) has been deemed "non-compliant" by WADA) since October 2021 for what it calLed "non-conformities in implementing an effective testing programme" . Singh said OCA are trying to resolve the issue with WADA for guidance, but until an agreement is reached, the North Korean flag can continue to fly at Asian Games venues. Singh also said talks continue at the diplomatic level on allowing three Indian Wushu athletes into China to compete at the Asian Games. Indian officials said the three athletes from the disputed border state of Arunachal Pradesh were not able to use their Asian Games accreditation as a visa like other members of the team. China does not recognise Arunachal Pradesh as Indian territory and normally issues stapled visas rather than normal entry visas to residents of the region as a sign of its position. Visit the WeShow Football store: https://www.youtube.com/weshowfootball/store LIKE our videos? Please SUBSCRIBE here 👉 https://www.youtube.com/weshowfootball?sub_confirmation=1 to support our Channel 👍 #WeShowFootball features previews, reactions and behind-the-scenes footage from Europe's elite football competitions. For more international sports news content, visit SNTV at http://www.sntv.com via WeShow Sports https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5yB3mDwRyLNeRvfCSdKMeg September 25, 2023 at 05:44AM

[anantradingpvtltd]

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[pinksoultyphoon]

As the Russia-Ukraine war enters its 369th day, we take a look at the main developments.Here is the situation as it stands on Monday, February 27, 2023: Fighting Ukraine’s armed forces said Russia is continuing to concentrate its main efforts on offensive actions along the Kupiansk, Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Shakhtar parts of the front line. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy dismissed Eduard Moskalyov as commander of the joint forces of Ukraine, which are engaged in battles in the Donbas region. Members of Belarus’s exiled government and partisans in the country said a Russian A-50 surveillance aircraft was damaged in a drone attack at an airfield near the capital, Minsk. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOaG02TeIr8[/embed] Diplomacy The United States has warned China of serious consequences if it provides arms to support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Beijing, which last week introduced a 12-point plan to seek peace in the conflict, has denied it plans to send weapons. German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius on Sunday reacted with scepticism to a Chinese ceasefire proposal for the war in Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin cast the confrontation with the West over the Ukraine war as an existential battle for the survival of Russia and the Russian people – and said he was forced to take into account NATO’s nuclear capabilities. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJu2vfUQ51Q[/embed] Former Russian president and Putin ally Dmitry Medvedev said the continued arms supply to Kyiv risks a global nuclear catastrophe, reiterating his threat of nuclear war over Ukraine. The European Union has decided to increase pressure on Moscow “until Ukraine is liberated” as it adopted a 10th package of sanctions on Russia on Saturday, a day after the first anniversary of the invasion of Ukraine. The UN Human Rights Council will begin a session in Geneva on Monday, with Russia set to send its highest-level envoy since Moscow terminated its membership following a vote by the UN General Assembly to suspend it in the wake of the invasion.

[tianshiisdead]

Oh! For that Character Ask... Can I pick up Portugal, Netherlands, Liechtenstein and Belarus? (sorry for the multi characters and for being random)

I am doing all of them so buckle up lmao (Liechtenstein and Netherlands are under the read more! sorry beforehand idk that much about these characters jfkdlgh)

Belarus

How I feel about this character

MY BELOVED!! Ik I never talk about her but she's one of my top fav characters she's such a babe also I had a crush on her when I first watched. She's so pretty and fashionable also I love sharp and arrogant girls. She reminds me I'm a lesbian, also her irritated expression is really cute. I don't know much about the country but I hope to learn more soon since I'm rlly interested in the history and culture of that part of the world!

All the people I ship romantically with this character

Myself UWU, Lithuania (was introduced thru @doomspiral 's art its so good), I ship all characters with China at least a little no matter how crack-y so uh yeah that as well, but she tops

I ship some other characters with her but nothing I want to say out loud here lmao don't want to get cancelled

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Ukraine... I rlly like her relationship w Russia as well but we don't see her interact w Ukraine as much and I wanna see more.

My unpopular opinion about this character

uhhh I think her yandere-ness is charming also she's my wife

One thing I wish would happen/had happened with this character in canon.

I wanna see her interact with Ukraine and characters other than Russia more!!

Portugal

How I feel about this character

I think he's cute! I love his design, his little mole and fluffy hair. Idk much about him tho as a character or as a country tho

All the people I ship romantically with this character

Idk many of his ships but I've seen some cute UK/Portugal content! I keep seeing NedPort fanart on my dash and those are usually pretty cute as well. I like most ships with him because he's a very pretty character. Obligatory China mention as well ofc ming dynasty porcelain trade era aka the only history i know a lot about that involves Portugal (i am sorry i am Not well versed in history outside of easia and russia fkdlhg)

My non-romantic OTP for this character

I feel like Portugal and Spain is the default for this, I'd love to learn more about the history here as well. It'd be also interesting to see his relations w former colonies?

My unpopular opinion about this character

dunno if this is unpopular but why does he look like Tyki Mikk from DGM...

One thing I wish would happen/had happened with this character in canon.

I mean we pretty much never see him so it'd be nice to see More of him lmaooo

other two after the read more

Liechtenstein

How I feel about this character

I like the clingy baby sibling trope so I think she's cute. Idk I don't feel super strongly about her tho

All the people I ship romantically with this character

(redacted)

My non-romantic OTP for this character

ehh Switzerland (the default), idk much about the country's history and relations so I can't say much else.

My unpopular opinion about this character

She strikes me as the yandere brocon type like Belarus but more subtle

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

maybe expanding more on her relations with other countries?

Netherlands

How I feel about this character

He's very tall isn't he

All the people I ship romantically with this character

I used to ship him with Denmark in like, man, middle school LOL I've seen some Netherlands x Canada which is cute.

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Benelux! Also Japan... platonic only, but I do think their relationship and interactions are v interesting in history. I'd like to see explorations of that sometime idk

My unpopular opinion about this character

Um. I have no thoughts dljkhgfdlkj I'm sorry

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

Does he show up in canon much? It'd be cool to have an arc about his history or something I don't think that's been touched on much idk

[mapsontheweb]

A map of nations when asked the question "Which of your country's foreign relations do you view most favourably?"

MapsnStats

This map shows which other country people around the world view as their nation's most favourable foreign relation.

A few details about this map:

Russia was the most common response with 9 countries viewing it more favourably than anywhere else.

The UK-Canadian relationship is the longest distance mutually favourable relationship on this map.

Brunei viewing the UK as its most favourable foreign relation is the longest distance on this map.

List of sources (Letters A to J):

Albania [Kosovo]------> https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=PFCbBW18yU4C&pg=PA182&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false

Algeria [Tunisia]------> https://web.archive.org/web/20130218145130/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+dz0156)

Australia [New Zealand]------> https://www.lowyinstitute.org/publications/2018-lowy-institute-poll

Austria [Germany]------> https://www.ecfr.eu/page/ECFR269_EU_COALITION_EXPLORER_2018_V1.10.pdf

Argentina [Uruguay]------> http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0102-85292016000100241 & https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/argentinapulse-poll-5-argentines-perceptions-the-world-order-foreign-policy-and-global

Armenia [Russia]------> https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/05/11/orthodox-christians-in-central-and-eastern-europe-favor-strong-role-for-russia-in-geopolitics-religion/ & https://www.iri.org/sites/default/files/2018.11.23_armenia_poll.pdf

Azerbaijan [Turkey]------> https://eurasianet.org/azerbaijan-quickly-becoming-turks-best-only-friend

Bahrain [Saudi Arabia]------> https://web.archive.org/web/20090110042108/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+bh0044 & https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-42008809 & https://www.ejinsight.com/eji/article/id/2053816/20190204-how-saudi-arabia-and-bahrain-are-benefiting-from-each-other)

Belarus [Russia]------> https://www.pewforum.org/2017/05/10/views-on-role-of-russia-in-the-region-and-the-soviet-union/ & https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/05/11/orthodox-christians-in-central-and-eastern-europe-favor-strong-role-for-russia-in-geopolitics-religion/

Belgium [Luxembourg]------> https://www.ecfr.eu/page/ECFR269_EU_COALITION_EXPLORER_2018_V1.10.pdf

Belize [UK]------> https://www.jstor.org/stable/166131?seq=1 & http://countrystudies.us/belize/87.htm

Bhutan [India]------> https://www.bti-project.org/en/reports/country-reports/detail/itc/btn/ity/2018/itr/aso/ & https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/IDAN/2015/565888/EPRS_IDA%282015%29565888_EN.pdf & http://164.100.47.193/Refinput/New_Reference_Notes/English/India-Bhutan%20Relations.pdf

Bosnia [Turkey]------> https://balkaninsight.com/2018/06/20/bosnians-are-pessimistic-about-future-national-poll-reveals-06-20-2018/

Botswana [South Africa]------> https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/botswana/forrel.htm

Brunei [United Kingdom]------> https://www.mofa.go.jp/files/100023172.pdf

Canada [UK]------>

https://secureservercdn.net/198.71.233.47/823.910.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/2019-1411-Atlantik-Brueke-Populated-Report-w-tabs.pdf & https://secureservercdn.net/198.71.233.47/823.910.myftpupload.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/2019-1486-Carleton-Brexit-Omni-September-Populated-report-w-Changes-and-tabs.pdf

Chile [Brazil]------> http://countrystudies.us/chile/112.htm & https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2007/07/24/chapter-6-latin-america/

China [Russia]------> https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2014/07/14/chapter-4-how-asians-view-each-other/

Colombia [USA]------> https://www.mofa.go.jp/files/000458759.pdf

Croatia [Germany]------> https://www.ecfr.eu/page/ECFR269_EU_COALITION_EXPLORER_2018_V1.10.pdf

Cyprus [Greece]------> https://www.ecfr.eu/page/ECFR269_EU_COALITION_EXPLORER_2018_V1.10.pdf & The Complete and Independent Guide to the Eurovision Song Contest 2009

Czechia [Slovakia]------> https://cvvm.soc.cas.cz/media/com_form2content/documents/c2/a4791/f9/pm190108.pdf & https://visegradinsight.eu/we-the-visegrad-citizens-neighbours-and-allies/ & https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2009/11/02/chapter-8-views-of-other-countries-and-organizations/

Denmark [Norway]------> The Complete and Independent Guide to the Eurovision Song Contest 2009

Egypt [Saudi Arabia]------> https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2013/10/17/saudi-arabias-image-falters-among-middle-east-neighbors/ & https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-42008809 & https://www.mofa.go.jp/files/000511488.pdf

Estonia [Finland]------> https://www.ecfr.eu/page/ECFR269_EU_COALITION_EXPLORER_2018_V1.10.pdf

Finland [Sweden]------> https://www.ecfr.eu/page/ECFR269_EU_COALITION_EXPLORER_2018_V1.10.pdf

France [Germany]------> https://www.ecfr.eu/page/ECFR269_EU_COALITION_EXPLORER_2018_V1.10.pdf & https://www.mofa.go.jp/files/000481585.pdf

Gabon [France]------> https://www.reuters.com/article/gabon-france-immigration/gabon-threatens-france-with-tit-for-tat-deportation-idUSL0493323920080304

Georgia [Ukraine]------> https://jamestown.org/program/georgia-ukraine-welcome-new-thaw-bilateral-relations/ & https://www.iri.org/sites/default/files/wysiwyg/georgia_poll_11.18.2019_final.pdf

Germany [France]------> https://www.ecfr.eu/page/ECFR269_EU_COALITION_EXPLORER_2018_V1.10.pdf & https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2009/11/02/chapter-8-views-of-other-countries-and-organizations/ & https://www.mofa.go.jp/files/000481585.pdf

Greece [Cyprus]------> https://www.ecfr.eu/page/ECFR269_EU_COALITION_EXPLORER_2018_V1.10.pdf & The Complete and Independent Guide to the Eurovision Song Contest 2009

Hungary [Poland]------> https://www.ecfr.eu/page/ECFR269_EU_COALITION_EXPLORER_2018_V1.10.pdf

Iceland [Norway]------> https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327074905_Iceland's_Relations_with_its_Regional_Powers_Alignment_with_the_EU-US_sanctions_on_Russia & https://guidetoiceland.is/history-culture/international-relations-of-iceland

India [Bhutan]------> https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/IDAN/2015/565888/EPRS_IDA%282015%29565888_EN.pdf & https://www.lowyinstitute.org/sites/default/files/india_poll_2013_0_0.pdf

Indonesia [Saudi Arabia]------> https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2015/09/02/how-asia-pacific-publics-see-each-other-and-their-national-leaders/ & https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2013/10/17/saudi-arabias-image-falters-among-middle-east-neighbors/

Iran [Syria]------> https://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/28/world/middleeast/28syria.html?_r=0

Israel [USA]------> https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2017/06/26/tarnished-american-brand/ & https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-two-years-later-israelis-love-trump-more-than-almost-any-other-nation-poll-shows-1.6515377

Italy [Spain]------> https://www.ecfr.eu/page/ECFR269_EU_COALITION_EXPLORER_2018_V1.10.pdf & http://www.city-data.com/forum/europe/1551484-italians-more-tune-spaniards-french.html

Ivory Coast [France]------> https://www.mofa.go.jp/files/100023180.pdf

Jamaica [United Kingdom]------> https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-13952592

Japan [Taiwan]------> https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/12/28/national/majority-japanese-favorable-feelings-toward-taiwan-poll/#.XpW8kshKiUm

Jordan [Saudi Arabia] https://web.archive.org/web/20090109100717/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+jo0112 & https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-42008809 & https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2013/10/17/saudi-arabias-image-falters-among-middle-east-neighbors/

List of sources (Letters T to Z + notes):

Taiwan [Japan]------> https://focustaiwan.tw/society/201911140016

Tajikistan [Russia]------> https://www.mofa.go.jp/files/000481006.pdf

Tanzania [Uganda]------> https://www.twaweza.org/uploads/files/EAC%20-%20English.pdf

Thailand [Japan] http://countrystudies.us/thailand/83.htm & https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2014/07/14/chapter-4-how-asians-view-each-other/ & https://www.mofa.go.jp/files/100023172.pdf

Trinidad & Tobago [USA]------> https://www.mofa.go.jp/files/000458759.pdf

Tunisia [Algeria]------> https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/12/05/u-s-is-seen-as-a-top-ally-in-many-countries-but-others-view-it-as-a-threat/ & https://web.archive.org/web/20130218145130/http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+dz0156)

Turkey [Azerbaijan]------> https://eurasianet.org/azerbaijan-quickly-becoming-turks-best-only-friend & https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/12/05/u-s-is-seen-as-a-top-ally-in-many-countries-but-others-view-it-as-a-threat/

Uganda [Tanzania]------> https://www.chathamhouse.org/expert/comment/tanzania-pipeline-deal-reflects-uganda-s-practical-and-strategic-concerns & http://countrystudies.us/uganda/67.htm

Ukraine [Georgia]------> https://jamestown.org/program/georgia-ukraine-welcome-new-thaw-bilateral-relations/

United Arab Emirates [Saudi Arabia]------> https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2013/10/17/saudi-arabias-image-falters-among-middle-east-neighbors/ & https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-42008809 & https://www.mofa.go.jp/files/000511488.pdf

United Kingdom [Canada]------> https://www.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/from_the_outside_in.pdf

United States [Canada]------> https://news.gallup.com/poll/1624/perceptions-foreign-countries.aspx & https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/cdfai/pages/4131/attachments/original/1558031388/Keynote_Presentation_by_Jacob_Poushter_from_Pew_Research_Center.pdf?1558031388

Uruguay [Argentina]------> https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/uruguay/forrel.htm & https://www.bizlatinhub.com/overview-argentina-uruguay-paraguay-trade-relations/ & https://www.marines.mil/Portals/1/Publications/Uruguay%20Study_1.pdf

Uzbekistan [Russia]------> https://www.mofa.go.jp/files/000481006.pdf

Vietnam [Japan]------> https://www.mofa.go.jp/files/100023172.pdf & https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2014/07/14/chapter-4-how-asians-view-each-other/

Zimbabwe [South Africa]------> https://www.iol.co.za/news/africa/south-africa-will-help-our-neighbour-zimbabwe-18943175 & https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/sa-zimbabwe-to-strengthen-relations/

================================================================

NOTES

* Surveys conducted by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs were used to a limited extent for this map. These surveys included leading questions focusing on important foreign partnerships and reliability which would typically skew results in favour of larger and more powerful countries. Results were only used where there was a very clear preference towards a single country.

* For the UK, a YouGov puts Australia and New Zealand ahead of Canada -- all three are effectively on equal footing.

[187days]

Day One Hundred Fifty-Five

“Bro, if you give me 65 bucks, I can totally get you an alligator.”

“We’re a dumpster fire, but, like, not as much as the sophomores.”

“How am I supposed to handle this without cake?”

Things I overheard in the ninth grade hall today...

It was another rough day in our building. There weren’t any fights today, but there was some vandalism, some vaping, some other drug-related things. The SRO was still in his office doing paperwork when I got out of track practice, so that’s telling.

But it was a good day for me! The administration bought us teachers breakfast as part of Teacher Appreciation week, and the students in the teacher education program hosted an ice cream and cornhole (excellent combination) event for us after school, and that’s all very nice. Plus, I did some excellent teaching today, if I do say so myself.

In World, I went over the assignment I gave yesterday about the Belt and Road and B3W Initiatives; first, we discussed what they are and how they work, and then I asked my students to make connections between these competing attempts to expand economic and cultural influence and what they’d learned about central Africa. That’s challenging because it requires some educated guesswork, some inferences, etc... but what I wanted them to get was that countries emerging from conflict are countries China and the US see as places to expand; they could become the new “battlegrounds” of this competition. The fact that they did get it was confidence-boosting, I think, because when I challenged them  to connect the war in Ukraine to the Belt and Road Initiative, so many hands shot up. Their answers were excellent (ie- China’s alliance with Russia could pull its focus away from these projects, slow down development, etc...) and I was so pleased that they were able to understand the world’s interconnectedness, which is my bigger point. 

I pivoted a bit, towards the end of the block, to show two short video clips: one of Ukrainian refugees fleeing to Poland a couple weeks ago, and one of Iraqi and Syrian refugees being denied (and violently) entry into Poland from Belarus back in December. I asked them to jot down questions afterwards, and I got some good ones: How did those refugees get to Belarus? Why were they fleeing from Iraq and Syria? Why was Poland’s reaction so different? 

Then I said, “You’ll start finding out the answers next class.” Cue the bell.

There was some definite outrage- and a lot of glee on my part- that I ended on a cliffhanger like that. Bodes well for student engagement tomorrow!

I had no cliffhanger in APUSGOV. My students asked if we could talk about the draft opinion that was leaked regarding Roe v. Wade. I had them read this Vox article because it’s clear about what’s happening and makes several good points. After students did the reading, I fielded questions on the whole situation. Then I just gave them the floor to say whatever they were feeling. We wrapped with about ten minutes remaining in class, and it’s a beautiful day, so we took a walk around outside. It’s good to get some sunshine after a heavy discussion, you know?

It’s also good to have sunshine at track practice. I think this was the first really nice day- no clouds, no rain, no wind- all season, and my sprinters spent it doing some 50m repeats and block starts. They’ll do a hard workout tomorrow since we don’t have a meet this weekend, and that’s going to be good, too.

[bitchapalooza]

Crimes the nations have committed and got away with

Veneziano: Pirated the entirety of Grease on a library computer. It lives on his flash drive forever now.

Germany: Played the piano after midnight.

Russia: Spontaneous murder.

China: Literally everything he owns he stole from England's house. Has yet to be caught despite security alarms going off.

Taiwan: Stole a dog from someone's yard.

Estonia: Bribed a judge with bitcoins.

America: His boss made it illegal for him to die more than 15 times a month. And then he mysteriously died with a pipe in his chest...

Belarus: Selling counterfeit Cabbage Patch Kids dolls.

Molossia: Driving without a license.

Sealand: Operating a lemonade stand on an airport runway without a permit.

France: Hijacked a bus while drunk.

England: Helped France. But he wasn't drunk for once.

Denmark: Stole the whale peepee from Iceland's peepee museum. Sold it on eBay.

Switzerland: Attempted murder. Surprisingly its not related to a gun. No he shot various arrows at Veneziano for touching his car.

Latvia: Illegal Beanie Baby smuggling ring.

Austria: Insurance fraud.

Spain: T a x e v a s i o n.

Canada: Accidental identity theft.

Japan: Crimes against muppets.

Turkey: Arson.

Prussia: His literal existence of being an active nation.

[gwendolynlerman]

Languages of the world

Esperanto (Esperanto)

Basic facts

Number of speakers: 1,000

Language of diaspora: Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Burundi, Canada, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of the Congo, Romania, Rwanda, Russia, Serbia, Senegal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Vietnam

Script: Latin, 28 letters

Grammatical cases: 2

Linguistic typology: agglutinative, SVO

Language family: constructed

Number of dialects: 0

History

1878 - first primitive version

1887 - publication of the book introducing modern Esperanto

1889 - publication of the first magazine

1905 - first World Congress

Esperanto was created by Ludwig Lazar Zamenhof, who based it on the vocabulary of Indo-European languages, especially of Romance and Germanic languages. However, since it was to be easy to learn, its grammar is agglutinative, a characteristic feature of Turkic and Finno-Ugric languages, and isolating at a deeper level, as Mandarin Chinese and Vietnamese. The language has a completely regular grammar and allows the creation of a large quantity of words by combining lexical roots and about forty affixes. 

Writing system and pronunciation

These are the letters that make up the alphabet: a b c ĉ d e f g ĝ h ĥ i j ĵ k l m n o p r s ŝ t u ŭ v z.

Esperanto is read as it is written. Each letter always has the same sound, the same sound is always expressed by the same letter, and the stress is always on the next to last syllable.

Grammar

All nouns end in -o, all adjectives end in -a, all infinitive verbs end in -i, and most adverbs end in -e.

Nouns have no gender, two numbers (singular and plural), and two cases (nominative and accusative). The accusative is formed by adding -n to the nominative.

The plural of nouns and adjectives is formed by the ending -j added after the -o or -a ending.

Verbs are conjugated for tense, mood (conditional, imperative, indicative, jussive), and aspect. In the present tense, the ending is -as, while the past tense ending is -is, and the ending for the future tense is -os.

[libertariantaoist]

News Roundup 8/17/20

by Kyle Anzalone

US News

Joe Biden calls for a nationwide mask mandate. [Link]

Minneapolis business owners are struggling to rebuild after riots because of city regulations. The regulations require businesses to prepay taxes to get a demolition permit. [Link]

The Secret Service requested a Blackhawk helicopter and spy planes from CBP during protests outside the White House. [Link]

Former FBI Kevin Clinesmith will plead guilty to lying in an application to get a FISA warrant on Carter Page. Clinesmith altered an email to make it appear the CIA confirms FBI suspicions Carter Page was a Russian spy. The CIA email actually dismissed this as a possibility as Carter Page was working with the CIA. [Link]

Trump says he is looking into a pardon for Edward Snowden. [Link]* The Department of Justice study finds Yale has a bias against white and Asian students. The study supports a lawsuit by Asian students against Yale. [Link]

Foreign Policy

The US and South Korea delay their annual military drills due to Covid. [Link]

The US aircraft carriers the USS Ronald Reagan carried out naval exercises in the South China Sea. [Link]

Europe

Tensions between NATO and Russia are heating up in Belarus. NATO countries are supporting the protests and demanding a new election. Russia has offered Belarus security support. [Link]

Turkey says it will not back down in its dispute with Greece over territorial claims in the eastern Mederrtarrian Sea. [Link]

Afghanistan

France objects to the Afghan government releasing members of the Taliban that killed French citizens. Some Taliban that were convicted of killing French citizens are among the prisoners to be released to initiate peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban. [Link]

The Afghan government confirmed it is delaying the release of the last 400 Taliban prisoners because of concerns by France, the US, and Australia. [Link]

Iran

The US lost a vote at the UN Security Council to extend the arms embargo against Iran. The US and the Dominican Republic voted for the resolution, while Russia and China objected. US allies – France, UK, and Germany – abstained from voting. After the vote, Russian President Putin proposed a summit to resolve the Iran Nuclear Deal issue. [Link]

Trump dismissed the offer by Putin, saying he was unlikely to participate. [Link]

The US confirmed it seized over a million barrels of Iranian oil that were being transported to Venezuela. The US is beginning the oil to Houston. [Link]

Read More

[crimemind]

Pervis Tyrone Payne

You can listen to the United States of Crime episode (#2) about this case here.

TW: MURDER, MURDER OF CHILDREN, DISCUSSION OF SEXUAL ASSAULT/RAPE

The Death Penalty has been utilized as a form of punishment since man had a moral code. But today, only 53 countries offer the death penalty as a sentencing option for those convicted of a crime. The majority of countries in the world have either abolished the death penalty entirely or have made it available only in extreme cases. Belarus is the only holdout in Europe and most of the counties making up northeast Africa and the middle east retain the death penalty as a method of punishment. Guatemala, Guyana, and Cuba still practice capital punishment in Central and South America. Many Asian nations, such as Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand keep the death penalty as an option but only enforce it in rare cases or for specific crimes. America is one of only five first world nations, alongside Japan, China, India, South Korea, and Taiwan, to still actively sentence people to death. The United States stands alone as the only western country to still execute people. Japan only allows the execution of people convicted of murder and especially brutal crimes and the only method of execution is by hanging. India and South Korea also only executed prisoners by hanging. Mainland China offers two methods of execution, death by firing squad or lethal injection. Taiwan executes prisoners using a single handgun aimed at the prisoner’s heart or their brain stem under the ear if they consent to organ donation. Currently, Kazakhstan, Brazil, and Peru only exercise the death penalty in extreme cases. The current methods of execution used worldwide include beheading, electrocution, hanging, shooting, and lethal injection. 

In 2019, 22 people, all male, were executed in the United States. An additional 34 people were sentenced to death last year and the total number of people on death row across the country is estimated at 2,656. In America, 30 states still have the death penalty and 20 have either abolished it or put a moratorium on capital punishment. On March 23rd, 2020 as I was writing this episode Colorado, which had put a moratorium on capital punishment, voted to abolish the death penalty. 

The morality of the death penalty has been a polarizing issue for Americans for decades. The 1972 Supreme Court decision in Furman v. George ruled the death penalty as it was practiced at that time unconstitutional. This decision was based on the inconsistencies in sentencing at the time because defendants who were convicted very different crimes ranging in severity were given death sentences. However, the Supreme Court left it open for States to impose their own death penalties as long as clear standards were provided. In the four years following the Furman ruling, 35 states enacted their own capital punishment laws. Two main types of death penalty laws were written, the first stated clearly which crimes could be punishable by death and how variables in a case should be weighed. These variables include mitigating circumstances and aggravating circumstances. Mitigating factors explain and/or offer an explanation for the crime while aggravating factors reveal the aspects of the crime that are extraordinary and call for a harsher sentence. The second kind of death penalty law that was enacted made capital punishment mandatory for certain so-called capital crimes. 

In 1976 the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Gregg v. Georgia and upheld the first type of death penalty laws which take into account mitigating and aggravating factors. The ruling struck down the mandatory death penalty laws on the grounds that they were “unduly harsh and rigid”. Executions, which had completely ceased in 1972, resumed in 1977. 50 executions took place between 1977 and 1985 as the Supreme Court heard the case of McCleskey v. Kemp, which dealt with how capital punishment had been utilized in the state of Georgia. The case was based on a study conducted by University of Iowa professor David Baldus who found that African American defendants who were charged with killing white people were given a death sentence seven times as often as white people who had been tried for killing African Americans. The Supreme Court ruled that while there was statistical evidence of racial discrimination, this was not enough to repeal the law. This ruling was based on the finding that the state itself had not encouraged racial discrimination in its courts. 

In 2002 the Supreme court ruled on the case of Atkins v. Virginia and found that the execution of people with intellectual disabilities violated the 8th amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishments. In 2005 the case of Roper v. Simmons was decided by the Supreme Court. This landmark case made it illegal to execute people who were under the age of 18 when they committed their crimes. Crimes that do not result in death are now not death penalty eligible crimes. 

This topic is one that I’m deeply interested in and fascinated by and in posts to follow I will discuss other aspects of the Death Penalty in America, such as execution methods and their flaws, the elderly on death row, the appeals process, and the cost of upholding the death penalty. But today’s case relates to the Atkins v. Virginia ruling and the execution of individuals with intellectual disabilities or limitations. 

The case we’ll be talking about today is that of Pervis Tyrone Payne. In 1987, Payne, an African American man, was 20-years-old and living in Shelby County, Tennessee. Payne was dating a woman named Bobbie Thomas of Millington, TN and on the morning of Saturday, June 27th, Payne went to Thomas’ apartment at the Hiwasse Apartment complex to wait for her. She had been out of town on a trip and was expected to arrive home that night and the two had plans to spend the weekend together. He brought an overnight bag with three cans of Colt 45 malt liquor with him and left this bag at the door of the apartment. According to the version of events presented later at trial, Payne stayed around the apartment complex for most of the day and spent his time injecting Cocaine and drinking beer. He left the apartment sometime during the day to ride in his friend’s car with him. The two men took turns driving so that while the one in the passenger seat could read a pornographic magazine.

At 3:00 in the afternoon, Payne returned to Thomas’ apartment complex but Thomas was still not home. Across the hall from Thomas lived Charisse Christopher and her two children, 3-year-old Nicholas and 2-year-old Lacie. It is unclear how well Payne knew Christopher from spending time at Thomas’ apartment, it is believed that they had possibly seen one another in passing. Regardless Payne entered the apartment of Charisse Christopher without permission. When Christopher saw Payne in her home she began screaming at him to get out. The apartment complex’s resident manager lived in the unit directly below Christopher’s and heard her screams. She reported hearing a “blood-curdling scream” come from the apartment and called the police. In between making the call and when the police arrived, the manager reported that the screaming had stopped and she had heard someone using the sink in the bathroom of the upstairs unit. Mere minutes after the police were called, the first officer arrived at the scene. 

Payne was observed exiting Christopher’s apartment while carrying his shoes, he then picked up his overnight bag, and descended the stairs. The officer approached him at the bottom of the steps and noticed that he was covered in blood the officer later stated: “It looked like he was sweating blood”. The officer stopped Payne and asked him who he was, Payne responded “I’m the complainant”, which doesn’t make any sense. Payne was then asked what was going on upstairs and proceeded to hit the officer with the overnight bag. Payne dropped his shoes and began running away from the apartment building to another one. The officer attempted to catch up with Payne but could not before he disappeared. 

Additional officers had arrived on the scene at this point. They entered Christopher’s apartment and found Charisse Christopher Laci, and Nicholas on the kitchen floor. 3-year-old Nicholas had been stabbed multiple times completely through his abdomen but was still breathing. Laci and Charisse were deceased. Charisse had been stabbed an excessive number of times with a butcher’s knife in her abdomen, back, and head. There does not seem to be a consensus on how many times she was stabbed, I found sourced that stated it was 9 times, 42 times, and 84 times. Regardless, it appeared that the fatal injury was a cut through her aorta. She was found lying on her back with her shorts pushed up on her body and a used tampon had been placed next to her. The butcher knife was lying at her feet and her hand and forearm had been stuck through the adjustment strap at the back of Payne’s baseball cap. 2-year-old Laci was found deceased next to her mother, having bled out before help arrived.

Inside of the apartment Police recovered the three cans of Colt 45 malt liquor, which had Payne’s fingerprints on them. Another empty beer can was found outside of the apartment. Additionally, Payne’s fingerprints were found on the telephone and the kitchen counter of Christopher’s apartment. Investigators had the officer’s description of Payne and the search for him began immediately. He was found later the same day in the attic of an ex-girlfriend’s house. As he was escorted out of the house, Payne told the police “Man, I ain’t killed no woman”. Officers noted that Payme had a “wild look about him. His pupils were contracted. He was foaming at the mouth, saliva. He appeared to be very nervous. He was breathing real rapid.” When Payne was taken into custody, he was still wearing blood-soaked clothing and had multiple scratch marks across his chest. His watch also had blood stains on it and in his pockets police found a packet with Cocaine residue, the wrapper from a hypodermic syringe, and the cap of a hypodermic syringe. He had ditched his overnight bag in a nearby dumpster and it was later found with a bloody white shirt inside. 

Pervis Payne was charged for the murders of 28-year-old Charisse and 2-year-old Laci Jo. 3-year-old Nicholas survived the attack. Payne was prosecuted for two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder. The trial began in 1988 and several neighbors testified as to what they experienced on July 27th, 1987. Multiple people heard Chairsse’s screams and heard someone frantically trying to close the back door to the yard shared by residents. One woman testified that she had seen the hand of someone whom she perceived to be an African American man reach over the yard fence. Below the hand at the wrist was a gold watch, similar in description to the one Payne was wearing when he was apprehended. 

The medical examiner testified as to the state of Charisse and Laci’s bodies. He told the court that Charisse was menstruating at the time of her death, hence the used tampon found near her body. He swabbed her vagina and there was acid phosphatase present, which indicated the presence of sperm, but ultimately no sperm was recovered. Acid Phosphatase is found where high concentrations of seminal fluid recently were. Because there was no sperm found in the body, this enzyme could have been left by pre-ejaculate. 

Payne took the stand at his own trial, which is extremely rare in murder cases. There are many reasons why Defendants do not testify in murder trials. Most are advised not to by their counsel to avoid self-incrimination, protect from the brutality of cross-examination, and to deprive the prosecution of the opportunity to make the defendant look bad. Payne told the court that he did not hurt any member of the Christopher family. He claimed that another man had pushed by him when he was walking up the stairs and that man had burst into Charisse Christopher’s apartment. He said that he had heard a baby crying and Charisse calling for help. According to Payne, he found the door open and called to Charisse before entering. He described the scene as follows:

“I saw the worst thing I ever saw in my life and like my breath just had--had tooken--just took out of me. . . . she was looking at me. She had the knife in her throat with her hand on the knife like she had been trying to get it out and her mouth was just moving but words had faded away. And I didn’t know what to do”

Payne explained that his clothing had been stained when he tried to remove the butcher knife from Charisse’s neck. He claimed that Charisse was still alive and reached out to him and grabbed his shirt. This unnerved Payne and he fled the apartment when he heard police sirens approaching. 

Payne was them cross-examined by the prosecution. He was questioned as to why the left leg of his pants had bloodstains on it. During the exchange, Payne said that Charisse’s blood got on his pants when she “hit the wall”. He asserted that she had grabbed his arms and he recoiled, at which point she fell backward onto the wall and the floor. Payne was asked four times if the blood got on his leg when Charisse fell back into the pool of blood as he had claimed. On the fourth reiteration of the question, Payne changed his answer. He was asked by the prosecuting attorney “Is that what you said, sir, that she got blood on your when she hit the wall?”. Payne then, for the first time, did not affirm that this is what he said. He responded, “I didn’t say she got blood on me when she hit the wall”. The attorney asked if he had not just said the opposite and he responses that he had not said that blood had gotten on him when Charisse “hit the wall”. 

This piece of the cross-examination stands out to me. The fact that Payne said the same thing more than four times and then suddenly denied that he had said it is not normal, even if a defendant is lying. It shows that there is some confusion or lack of understanding on Payne’s part.

Payne was ultimately found guilty of all charges. He was eligible for the death penalty. Before sentencing, mitigating and aggravating factors were presented to the court. Payne’s girlfriend, Bobby Thomas, testified that Payne went to church wither her often, which in itself doesn’t really speak to someone’s character, just their belief system. She also told the court that her three children loved Payne and that he was a great father figure to them. She knew him as a caring person that did not use drugs or drink and would never hurt someone.

Payne’s parents also testified. They explained that he had no criminal record whatsoever and had never been arrested. Like Thomas, they testified that Payne did not use drugs or alcohol. He had been a hard worker and assisted his father, who was a painter. They described him as a good son and an exemplary father figure for Thomas’ children. 

A clinical psychologist also testified during the sentencing phase. The psychologist had administered an IQ test to Payne. The results showed that Payne’s verbal IQ was 78 and his performance IQ was 82. Generally, the IQ threshold for a diagnosis of intellectual disability commonly referred to as mental retardation is a score of 75. Because of this, Payne was considered by the psychologist to be “mentally handicapped”. He noted that Payne was the most polite prisoner he had ever interviewed. 

Along with the aggravating factors of the case, Charisse Christopher’s mother testified to the distress and hardship her daughter and granddaughter’s murders had imposed on her. She told the court that Nicholas, Charisse’s surviving son, still cried for his mother and sister even a year later. Nicholas experienced severe physical and mental trauma from the attack. Payne was sentenced to death for both murder counts and an additional 30 years for the attempted murder of Nicholas. 

Payne appealed his sentence to the Tennessee Supreme Court. Payne’s legal team filed the appeal on several grounds. They asserted that the victim impact statement given by Charisse’s mother emotionally influenced the jury against him, thus violating his 8th amendment right of protection against cruel and unusual punishment. The court ruled against Payne and affirmed both of the death sentences. In 1991, Payne appealed his case to the Supreme Court. The question at hand was whether the 8th amendment prohibits the jury in a capital case from considering the impact of the crime of the surviving family members.  In a 6 to 3 decision, the court ruled against Payne. This decision effectively overruled the decision in the 1987 case of Booth v Maryland, which had established that such emotional testimony did infringe on a defendant’s 8th amendment rights. 

Pervis Tyrone Payne never admitted to the murders and maintains his innocence. He has been living on Death Row in Tennessee ever since, having exhausted all of his appeals. He twice had execution dates set, both in 2007 and before each date arrived he received a stay of execution. In September of 2019, the state of Tennessee filed a motion to set the execution date for Payne for December 3rd, 2020. His legal team filed a 120-page response to the state’s motion to set an execution date in December of 2019. Supervisory Assistant for the Federal Public Defender Kelley J. Henry and Assistance Chief of the Capital Habeas Unit Amy D. Harwell allege that Pervis Payne is “indisputably intellectually disabled” and in adherence to Atkins v. Virginia, his execution would be illegal. In 2019, Payne’s IQ was retested by Dr. Daniel Martell and it was found to be only 72. Dr. Martell identified neurocognitive impairments and adaptive behavior deficits in Payne that had been documented at the age onset. 

Dr. Martell explained that a factor at play in this case in something known as the Flynn Effect. The Flynn Effect states, in layman’s terms, that a person’s IQ score increased over time. This effect has been noted in the United States and similar countries and it is believed that the average rate of 0.3 IQ points per year. Not only is the Flynn Effect fascinating, but it also exemplifies the failings of using IQ tests when deciding who is eligible for the death penalty. Because of the Flynn Effect, a person could be considered mentally unfit for execution and then years later become fit for execution. Also, to be able to accurately measure current IQ scores against past scores, a reduction of 0.3 points per year between tests is required. The Atkins decision gives states discretion in how they define intellectual disability as a matter of law. Most states use IQ-based definitions, but do not adjust for the Flynn Effect. The inconsistent definitions and thresholds to determine intellectual disability are cause for concern when talking about the decision to execute someone or to sentence them to life in prison.  

According to Dr. Martell, Payne’s functional IQ, taking the Flynn Effect into account, is 68.4, well under the standard of 75 points as a determination of mental fitness. Dr. Reschly, an expert in Intellectual Disability, also evaluated Payne and reported a full-scale IQ of 74, before adjustment for the Flynn Effect. This score puts Payne into the intellectually disabled category according to the American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. According to documents and testimony from his family members, Payne had a long history of developmental delays. In school, he was known to teachers and fellow classmates as “slow” and he was unable to graduate high school and failed the Tennessee Proficiency Exam five times before dropping out. For reference, an average 9th-grade student would pass this exam on the first try, Payne took the exam every year starting in 9th grade for five years. When Payne was in the 9th grade, he was unable to complete writing assignments and his teachers had stopped grading him based on his ability to reach the required level of comprehension based on his grade and instead graded him for his effort in class. According to one teacher, Martha Faye, “Pervis was slow and had low comprehension...He didn’t read well enough to understand the material on his own, and even when the material was explained to him, he had to be told over and over what to do. He couldn’t retain instructions or information from one day to the next”.

Family members also noticed Payne’s deficits. Rolanda, Payne’s younger sister by 7 years, claims that Payne couldn’t help her with her homework as a kid. His family was aware of his inability to comprehend anything more complicated than simple, short instructions and his mother did not allow him to iron or wash clothing because he could never complete a task without destroying something. Despite this, his parents never demanded that he do better in school and accepted his limitations. In his teen years, Payne worked at Pizza Hut and his supervisor described him as “mentally challenged”. He always had to refer to instruction sheets that were posted at all work stations long after he had finished training and had been working there for a while. 

When Payne went to work for his father, Carl Payne, the patriarch understood that instructions had to be repeated several times to make sure that Payne understood them. He was unable to follow instructions with too many steps. Carl Payne reports that as a child Payne was delayed in learning to walk and talk. He could not feed himself until he was 5 years old and he was also plagued by a stutter until early adulthood. His mother believed that Payne’s difficulties were because he was born prematurely. After dropping out of high school, Payne still could not count money, add up the cost of items, use a tape measure, read aloud, or identify street names and follow maps. 

Payne’s attorneys also allege that there is a strong chance that Payne did not commit the crimes. The document by Henry and Harwell includes Payne’s version of events. He claims that he was going up to his girlfriend’s apartment and heard a noise come from Charisse’s unit. He went inside to help whoever was crying out and was so overwhelmed by the gruesome scene that he panicked and fled the apartment. These actions would be more aligned with Payne’s history of mental deficiency, his reported lack of violence and drug use, and his reputation as a kind and gentle person. The motive for the crime as put forth by the prosecution was Payne’s desire to sexually assault Christopher, a woman whom he did not know. 

The story about Payne using cocaine and drinking beer before the murders is also unsubstantiated. Payne was not drug tested when he was apprehended, despite his mother’s request that he be tested. The defense also alleges that the tampon was recovered two days after the murders and does not appear in any of the crime scene photographs. Payne’s injuries, mainly the scratches, were not consistent with a violent struggle and the blood on his clothing matched his description of events. 

The acid phosphatase also could not be linked definitively to Payne. According to the defense, the original prosecution did not present testimony from Darryl Shanks, Charisse’s boyfriends at the time. Shanks told investigators that he and Charisse had consensual sex just hours before her murder. After the trial during a post-conviction hearing, Shanks recanted his affidavit. Payne’s counsel claims that they were never made aware of Shanks’ interview or this potentially critical evidence. As a side note, this seems like a Brady violation to me. For those who may not know a Brady Violation occurs when a piece of evidence that could be exculpatory is willfully or negligently hidden from the defense by the prosecution. This affidavit from Shanks would have cast substantial doubt on the prosecution theory of motive, which could have swayed the jury’s decision. 

One of the more egregious pieces of possible prosecutorial misconduct is the alleged suppression of blood and semen evidence. Henry and Harwell discovered residue evidence that had not been introduced at Payne’s first trial. They attempted to obtain this evidence but the Shelby County Criminal Court Clerk’s staff refused to give it to them without a court order. According to Henry and Harwell, they had never been outright denied evidence while working on a case before. An Emergency Motion to be Permitted to View Evidence was granted on December 20th, 2019 and that day Payne’s counsel examined the evidence in Memphis, TN. Among the pieces of evidence was a comforter with bloodstains, bloody sheets, and one bloody pillow. These pieces of evidence are in contrast to the prosecution’s assertion that the kitchen of Christopher’s apartment was the only area considered a crime scene. The victim’s tampon was also kept as evidence and may have traces of sperm that could be tested for DNA. According to Tennessee Code 40-30-304(2), If evidence is still in existence and in good enough condition to be tested, the court shall order DNA analysis. In 2006, Payne had filed a Petition for Post-Conviction DNA analysis, which was denied. 

Now that we’ve gone over the contrasting evidence and the mitigating factors laid out by the defense, let’s talk about alternative suspects. At the time of her death, Charisse Christopher was divorced from her husband, Kenneth Christopher. It is well documented that Mr. Christopher was physically, mentally, and emotionally abusive toward Charisse during their marriage. Charisse eventually fled the couple’s home and moved to her hometown of Millington where she filed for divorce. In the divorce complaint, Charisse cited cruel and inhumane treatment, abandonment, and neglect as grounds for the divorce. Mr. Christopher had a long and violent criminal history predating the marriage and continuing on after it had ended. Mr. Christopher had no less than 9 DUI charges and he had been escorted by police from his mother’s home due to his drunkenness after she called for help. 

At first, investigators ruled Mr. Christopher out because he was serving the last year of the five year prison sentence for aggravated assault. He was housed at the Fort Pillow State Penitentiary, which was renamed the Cold Creek Correctional Facility in Lauderdale County, TN. However, Mr. Christopher was allowed to leave the premises on weekends if they were considered minimum security. Mr. Christopher could have left the prison on the morning of the murder, which was a Saturday, committed the crime, and return to the prison without repercussion or much notice. According to the filing, Mr. Christopher was aware that Charisse was in a new relationship and knew where she lived. 

Pervis Payne also maintains that a man was already inside of Charisse Christopher’s apartment before he entered. He described the man as a black guy with a long white or beige tropical shirt that was covered in blood. He said that he observed the man jump from the landing on the second floor to the steps before running past Payne. Payne claims that the unknown man dropped coins and items while fleeing and that he picked them up and put them in his pocket, hence the drug paraphernalia later found on him. He told officers about this man in the tropical shirt while being transported to police headquarters. A neighbor, John Edward Williams, came forward in 1992 and said that he had seen Payne walking to the apartment building as another African American man rushed out of the building, got in a car, and drove away. Minutes later, Williams saw Payne running from the upstairs unit. According to Williams, the same black man he had seen run past Payne had been to Christopher’s apartment several times before and had observed Christopher and the man arguing. 

Williams and a man named Leroy Jones gave affidavits which included their knowledge of Charisse Christopher’s use of illegal drugs. Now, this information is absolutely not to diminish the extreme tragedy of Charisse and Laci’s deaths or to paint Charisse in a negative light. It is being mentioned to create a clearer picture of the situation and one of the possible theories presented by the defense. Jones was involved in drug trafficking in the area and knew that his brother, Charles Jones, had enlisted Christopher to sell drugs for him. According to Leroy Jones, Charles Jones had told an associate name William Hall to “take care of the Christopher woman”. This conversation took place one week before the murders. Williams, Jones, and Kenneth Christopher all admitted to having used drugs with Charisse Christopher in the past, specifically amphetamines. Methamphetamine and amphetamine were present in Christopher’s blood at the time of her death according to the toxicology report. The theory alluded to in Payne’s defense filing is that Charisse Christopher was murdered by William Hall on the orders of Charles Jones to silence her or enact some form of revenge. 

Henry and Harwell site five similar cases in which defendants were wrongfully convicted of murder after stumbling upon the crime scene. Those defendants, Chad Heins and Clemente Aguirre of Florida, John Nolley and Darryl Adams of Texas, and David Ayers of Ohio, have been exonerated. We don’t have time to discuss this extremely heavy topic on this episode but I want to note that the response by Henry and Harwell also includes a section entitled, The Death Penalty is Racist which details how capital punishment had been used to systematically oppress African Americans in Tennessee for centuries. The section begins on page 64 and I have included the link to the entire response in case anyone wants to read it. 

Despite this, in my opinion, extremely well-crafted response in opposition to the motion to set an execution date, the state of Tennessee’s motion to set the date was granted on February 24th, 2020. Currently, there are no attempts to save Pervis Tyrone Payne’s life in motion. This case has evolved so much since Payne’s initial trial in 1988 and the work of Kelley Henry and Amy Harwell has completely changed my view of this situation. I’m sure many of you, like me, heard the initial version of events and thought “well it sounds pretty obvious that he did it”. When I was researching this case I thought that this episode was going to be about the issue of executing a likely intellectually disabled, but 100% guilty person because of a flawed measurement of mental functioning. But this case is about those measurements AND about the impending execution of a man who I, personally, could not in good conscience say is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. 

The accounts from Payne’s teachers, classmates, and family members support the conclusion that his intellectual functioning is impaired, which would render his sentence of death unconstitutional under the Atkins ruling. Payne was always a nonviolent, caring, and person as his girlfriend and family members testified to. People with intellectual disabilities do not randomly attack a mother and two small children in this manner. The crime was extremely brutal and I have a hard time believing that Payne simply decided to sexually assault and then murder a woman he did not know while waiting for his girlfriend to come home.

Murderers most often have a criminal history of violence before they commit a homicide. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, around 70% of people convicted of murder have previous arrests and/or convictions. Payne did not have any criminal history whatsoever, nor did he have a history of violence. Furthermore, people with intellectual disabilities, like Payne, are much more likely to be victims of violence than to be perpetrators. According to a study conducted by Lovell and Skellern, people with mental disabilities in a clinical setting tend to react violently when they are confronted with communication difficulties, frustration, and emotional distress. 

Many patients who acted out had a history of impulsive and unpredictable behavior. Generally, violent reactions were more strongly associated with disorders including ADHD, Dementia, and Bipolar disorder. People with mild intellectual disability were found to be more deliberate in their verbal and physical assaults, whereas people with moderate or severe intellectual disability were likely to lash out indiscriminately due to circumstantial stressors. Because of Payne’s specific intellectual disability and his lack of a criminal record, the likelihood of him being the murderer is statistically slim, but not impossible. It would be extremely unusual for the type of crime perpetrated against the Christopher family to be the offender’s first crime. 

The extent of violence inflicted on Charisse Christopher in particular is characteristic of an offender acting out of anger, retaliation, or passion. Payne had no discernible connection to Christopher that would elicit these feelings. The prosecution alleged that Payne made sexual advances toward Christopher and became violent when he was rebuked. But Payne had no history of sexual aggression or assault and he was waiting for his girlfriend to get home. It wouldn’t make sense that he would attack a random woman and her children instead of stifling his sexual desires until he was with his girlfriend.

Now, I would be remiss if I didn’t bring up a fairly touchy aspect of this case. Charisse Christopher and her children were white. Pervis Payne is black. As we discussed earlier in this episode, there is a documented history of African Americans being disproportionately sentenced to death for killing white people. It is also likely that the investigators for this case were majority white. In 2019, Nicholas Christopher, now 35-year-old, gave an interview to the british tabloid, the Sun. Nicholas recounts the events of his mother and sister’s murders with surprising detail. He claims that he did not see the face of his mother’s attacker, but his aunt Angie later said that Nicholas saw a picture of Payne on the news after he had recovered and he told her “That’s the man who killed my mom”.

While this seems like compelling evidence, and this analysis is not intended to diminish Nicholas Christopher’s experience or loss, there are well researched reasons why Nicholas could have easily misidentified Payne. Cross-Race bias, something that will come into play in future episodes, is a huge issue with Witness Identification. Cross-Racial bias is the reduced ability to differentiate people of races other than one’s own. In criminal cases, this can lead to misidentification if the defendant is a different race than the witness. Studies have shown that babies as young as 6 months old demonstrate a level of cross-racial bias. Nicholas may have seen Pervis Payne and identified him simply because he was black and wasn’t drastically different to the real killer. It should also be noted that Nicholas was only 3 years old. There is a good reason why children that young do not usually testify in criminal trials. Children that young are extremely open to outside influence, they lie, they can be re-traumatized by the experience, and they don’t have reliable memories. On top of all of that, Nicholas was an extremely traumatized child, who wouldn’t be after experiencing what he did? Trauma can cloud a person’s perception and their ability to code memories accurately. So while Nicholas’ interview is interesting, I would be hard pressed to weigh it against other more forensically solid aspects of this case.

 I think that the assertions made at trial by the prosecution that Payne had been doing drugs and drinking all day should not have been admitted without proof that drugs were in his body when he was arrested. Without proof, a claim like this is mere speculation. The failure to test the items from Christopher’s bedroom is another failing that I have trouble looking past. With modern forensic science at our disposal, I think there’s no excuse for not testing potentially critical evidence. The worst thing that can happen, from the prosecution’s standpoint, is that the DNA does not match Payne. Even in that scenario, wouldn’t you rather admit that your theory was wrong than be a party to the execution of an innocent man? It is in the interest of truth and justice for Charisse, Laci, and Nicholas Christopher to investigate every shred of evidence. If DNA proves that someone else was in Charisse Christopher’s apartment in the moments before her death, then Pervis Payne deserves another trial. 

A 2014 study conducted by Samuel Gross, Barbara O’Brien, Chen Hu, and Edward H. Kennedy concluded that at least 4.1% of people on death row at any given time are likely innocent and/or would be exonerated. According to th Death Penalty Information Database, there are 18 likely innocent people who have been executed since 1976, that we know of. The most recent addition to that list was made after the execution of Larry Swearingen on August 21st, 2019. As of now, Pervis Payne will join the ranks of executed but possibly innocent people on December 3rd, 2020. Despite the solid information pertaining to Payne’s intellectual disability, baseless assertions by prosecutors, the lack of forensic evidence against him, his enduring proclamation of innocence, alternative suspects, and the sheer lack of violent tendency or motive, the state of Tennessee does not seem to care that they may be executing an innocent, intellectually disabled man. But this isn’t a rare occurrence. It’s merely a story line that has played out in America for centuries, and even with all of our new technology and investigative strategies, it keeps replaying. Why? Because we let it. 

If you feel that Pervis Payne’s execution should be stopped, please call the office of Tennessee Governor Bill Lee at (615) 741-2001, you could tweet to him, his twitter username is @GovBillLee, or you can email him through the Tennessee Government website https://www.tn.gov/governor/contact-us.html.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 3.22 (before 1950)

106 – Start of the Bostran era, the calendar of the province of Arabia Petraea. 235 – Roman emperor Severus Alexander is murdered, marking the start of the Crisis of the Third Century. 871 – Æthelred of Wessex is defeated by a Danish invasion army at the Battle of Marton. 1185 – Battle of Yashima: the Japanese forces of the Taira clan are defeated by the Minamoto clan. 1312 – Vox in excelso: Pope Clement V dissolves the Order of the Knights Templar. 1508 – Ferdinand II of Aragon commissions Amerigo Vespucci chief navigator of the Spanish Empire. 1621 – The Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony sign a peace treaty with Massasoit of the Wampanoags. 1622 – Jamestown massacre: Algonquians kill 347 English settlers around Jamestown, Virginia, a third of the colony's population, during the Second Anglo-Powhatan War. 1631 – The Massachusetts Bay Colony outlaws the possession of cards, dice, and gaming tables. 1638 – Anne Hutchinson is expelled from Massachusetts Bay Colony for religious dissent. 1739 – Nader Shah occupies Delhi in India and sacks the city, stealing the jewels of the Peacock Throne. 1765 – The British Parliament passes the Stamp Act that introduces a tax to be levied directly on its American colonies. 1784 – The Emerald Buddha is moved with great ceremony to its current location in Wat Phra Kaew, Thailand. 1792 – Battle of Croix-des-Bouquets: Black slave insurgents gain a victory in the first major battle of the Haitian Revolution. 1794 – The Slave Trade Act of 1794 bans the export of slaves from the United States, and prohibits American citizens from outfitting a ship for the purpose of importing slaves. 1829 – In the London Protocol, the three protecting powers (United Kingdom, France and Russia) establish the borders of Greece. 1849 – The Austrians defeat the Piedmontese at the Battle of Novara. 1871 – In North Carolina, William Woods Holden becomes the first governor of a U.S. state to be removed from office by impeachment. 1873 – The Spanish National Assembly abolishes slavery in Puerto Rico. 1894 – The Stanley Cup ice hockey competition is held for the first time, in Montreal, Canada. 1895 – Before the Société pour L'Encouragement à l'Industrie, brothers Auguste and Louis Lumière demonstrate movie film technology publicly for the first time. 1896 – Charilaos Vasilakos wins the first modern Olympic marathon race with a time of three hours and 18 minutes. 1906 – The first England vs France rugby union match is played at Parc des Princes in Paris. 1913 – Mystic Phan Xích Long, the self-proclaimed Emperor of Vietnam, is arrested for organising a revolt against the colonial rule of French Indochina, which was nevertheless carried out by his supporters the following day. 1916 – Yuan Shikai abdicates as Emperor of China, restoring the Republic and returning to the Presidency. 1920 – Azeri and Turkish army soldiers with participation of Kurdish gangs attack the Armenian inhabitants of Shushi (Nagorno Karabakh). 1933 – Cullen–Harrison Act: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an amendment to the Volstead Act, legalizing the manufacture and sale of "3.2 beer" (3.2% alcohol by weight, approximately 4% alcohol by volume) and light wines. 1933 – Nazi Germany opens its first concentration camp, Dachau. 1934 – The first Masters Tournament is held at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia. 1939 – Germany takes Memel from Lithuania. 1942 – World War II: In the Mediterranean Sea, the Royal Navy confronts Italy's Regia Marina in the Second Battle of Sirte. 1943 – World War II: The entire village of Khatyn (in present-day Republic of Belarus) is burnt alive by Schutzmannschaft Battalion 118. 1945 – World War II: The city of Hildesheim, Germany, is heavily damaged in a British air raid, though it had little military significance and Germany was on the verge of final defeat. 1945 – The Arab League is founded when a charter is adopted in Cairo, Egypt. 1946 – The United Kingdom grants full independence to Transjordan.

[newstfionline]

Saturday, September 11, 2021

Record heat, fire danger plague West after hottest summer on record for U.S. (Washington Post) Punishing heat waves have plagued the West all summer and, even at the brink of fall, another sweltering blast has moved over the region. The heat has brought record-setting temperatures in the Southwest and is exacerbating a volatile fire situation farther north. This latest heat wave enveloping the West coincides with an announcement from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that the months of June through August matched the Dust Bowl summer of 1936 as the hottest on record for the Lower 48 states. “A record 18.4% of the contiguous U.S. experienced record-warm temperatures,” NOAA wrote. The excessively high temperatures of the moment are being generated by a large and unusually strong zone of high pressure or heat dome parked over the Four Corners area, a situation that has occurred repeatedly in recent months. Temperatures near the core of the heat dome are generally 10 to 20 degrees above average, and its influence extends everywhere west of the Central Plains. On Thursday, record highs in the 90s and low 100s are predicted from California to Colorado. Excessive heat warnings are in effect for parts of the desert Southwest, including Las Vegas, where the forecast high is around 105 degrees. Death Valley could hit 120 degrees.

A foiled fire (SF Chronicle) As California’s Caldor Fire burned through South Lake Tahoe, the blaze destroyed dozens of cabins. Standing tall in the face of the blaze, though, was a shining example of fire prevention: a house wrapped in what appeared to be tin foil. While the building wasn’t actually wrapped in everyone’s favorite food storage material, it was protected. It turns out, wrapping buildings in fire blankets or aluminized structure wrap is a legitimate fire prevention method, and clearly worked in this case. The wraps prevent embers from entering buildings, keep flames from making direct contact with the buildings, and reflect heat from nearby blazes. According to Fumiaki Takahashi, an engineering professor, wrapping houses against fires can block up to 92% of the convective heat and 96% of the radiation from nearby blazes, but is only effective for a short period “while the wildfire front passes—five to 10 minutes—but longer protection would be needed to prevent structure-to-structure ignition.” The foil used is also far from your standard Reynolds Wrap: while its outside is aluminum, its inside is made of woven threads of polyester and fiberglass, and it’s laminated with a high-temperature adhesive. 200-foot rolls are sold for just under $700.

“Death shaming” (The Atlantic) Recently, Elizabeth Bruenig, a staff writer at The Atlantic, called on news organizations to stop “death shaming” unvaccinated victims of COVID. Newspapers and TV stations have covered a number of these deaths as cautionary tales, “with notes of shame or contempt subtle in some tales and bold in others,” Bruenig writes. “If persuasion is the target, then the aim seems off—a general problem in our democracy, where persuasion is a key method of self-governance but something we’re less and less amenable to. In that sense, the strange case of vaccine persuasion is just another entry in the annals of our disillusionment with our own liberal democracy.”

Olaf weakens after hitting Mexico’s Los Cabos as Cat 2 storm (AP) Hurricane Olaf slipped back to tropical storm force on Friday after slamming into the Los Cabos resorts at the tip of Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula and then drenching the region with torrential rains. The storm came ashore near San Jose del Cabo late Thursday as a Category 2 hurricane with winds of 100 mph (155 kph), according to the U.S. National Hurricane Center. But winds had dropped to 50 mph (85 kph) by midday Friday, when it was centered about 20 miles (35 kilometers) south-southeast of Cabo San Lazaro. At least 700 local residents spent the night in shelters while while an estimated 20,000 foreign tourists hunkered down in their hotels. State Civil Defense Deputy Secretary Carlos Alfredo Godínez said he had received no reports of lives lost.

The other 9/11 (Foreign Policy) In the run-up to the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States this month, a leading Chilean university, the University of Concepción, held a series of panel discussions on their legacy. The program referred to the events as “the other Sept. 11.” “Other” because, in Chile, Sept. 11 is best known as the date of the country’s own national tragedy: the 1973 U.S.-backed coup against leftist President Salvador Allende that ushered in over 16 years of military rule. The Nixon administration worked to help foment the coup as part of its broader Cold War efforts against real and perceived Soviet-friendly governments across the globe, including in many Latin American countries. In its wake, Washington supported the government of general-turned-dictator Augusto Pinochet, despite knowledge that his security forces had killed political opponents. By the Pinochet dictatorship’s end in 1990, over 3,000 Chileans were dead or missing, and thousands more had gone into exile. In fact, the two 9/11s are linked: The U.S. role in the 1973 coup helps explain why Chile and other Latin American countries were reluctant to embrace the U.S.-led military interventions at the turn of the century.

France bans unvaccinated American travelers (CNN) A French government decree issued on Thursday bumped the United States and Israel from the country's "green" list, down to "orange," effectively prohibiting nonessential travel to France for unvaccinated visitors. Under France's rules, unvaccinated travelers from either country will still be allowed in provided they have an essential reason for travel, however they'll need a negative Covid-19 test before travel and must quarantine for seven days on arrival. France's move follow restrictions imposed on US travelers from several other European destinations. Earlier this week, Spain changed its entry policy for arrivals from the US, requiring them to have a certificate proving double vaccination.

Russia and Belarus Inch Closer to a Full-Blown Merger (NYT) President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia threw his embattled, authoritarian ally in Belarus a fresh lifeline on Thursday, pledging cheap natural gas and more than $600 million in new loans as part of a push to more closely integrate the post-Soviet neighbors. Mr. Putin and President Aleksandr G. Lukashenko of Belarus met in person for the sixth time in the past year, hammering out a long-delayed integration plan that some analysts had speculated could bring the two countries to the brink of a full-blown merger. Late Thursday evening at the Kremlin, the two leaders finally announced the contours of such a plan, but one that focused on aligning the two countries’ economies while leaving aside thornier political questions.

Hong Kong Tiananmen vigil leaders charged with subversion (AP) Three leaders of the group that organized an annual Tiananmen candlelight vigil were being held in custody Friday after they were charged with subversion under Hong Kong’s national security law, as authorities intensify a crackdown on dissent in the city. The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China’s chairman Lee Cheuk-yan, as well as vice-chairs Albert Ho and Chow Hang-tung were charged with inciting subversion of state power under the national security law. The alliance itself was also charged with subversion. For the past 30 years, the alliance organized the candlelight vigil that saw tens of thousands of people mass in the city’s Victoria Park to commemorate China’s bloody military crackdown against pro-democracy demonstrations in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989. It was the only large-scale public commemoration of the crackdown on Chinese soil, featuring crowds of people lighting candles and singing songs to support democracy.

Twin tropical storms threaten flooding, mudslides in Taiwan and Vietnam (CNN) Vietnam and Taiwan are bracing for twin tropical storms which are expected to make landfall over the coming days, with typhoon Chanthu strengthening into a Super Typhoon in the past 24 hours. Taiwan has issued a sea warning on Friday for Super Typhoon Chanthu, known as Kiko in the Philippines, which is currently expected to pass over the island on Saturday before heading north towards Shanghai and the Chinese coastline. Chanthu is currently displaying wind speeds of 240 kilometers per hour (149 miles per hour), although it may weaken slightly as it nears Taiwan. At the same time, in the South China Sea, tropical storm Conson is due to make landfall in Vietnam on Sunday afternoon, with the country putting 500,000 soldiers on standby ahead of its arrival. Conson is known as Jolina in the Philippines.

After over a year of confinement, Singapore looks to ease coronavirus restrictions on migrant laborers (Washington Post) In Singapore, praised by epidemiologists for its swift response to the coronavirus pandemic, and lately for its high vaccination rate—which, at 81 percent, is among the best in the world—migrant laborers have borne the brunt of measures to contain the virus. For nearly 17 months, more than 300,000 low-income workers, mostly men from India, Bangladesh or China, have endured social distancing curbs stricter and longer than the wider population. Since April 2020 they have been largely confined to their dormitories, allowed to leave only for work, essential errands or to visit designated “recreation centers” once a week. What once was seen as a necessary health policy to control the outbreak—which at its peak last year saw infections in the dormitories reach nearly 1,400 a day—now serves as salient reminder of the gap between migrant workers and other residents in the wealthy city-state, who’ve been leading relatively normal lives for months after the virus was almost stamped out. From Sept. 13, Singapore plans to “gradually ease” restrictions on these migrant workers, starting with a month-long trial program that will allow up to 500 each week from dormitories that have had no new cases in the last 14 days to visit preselected places for six hours.

As flights resume, plight of Afghan allies tests Biden’s vow (AP) Evacuation flights have resumed for Westerners, but thousands of at-risk Afghans who had helped the United States are still stranded in their homeland with the U.S. Embassy shuttered, all American diplomats and troops gone and the Taliban now in charge. With the United States and Taliban both insisting on travel documents that may no longer be possible to get in Afghanistan, the plight of those Afghans is testing President Joe Biden’s promises not to leave America’s allies behind. A particular worry are those whose U.S. special immigrant visas—meant for Afghans who helped Americans during the 20-year war—still were in the works when the Taliban took Kabul in a lightning offensive on Aug. 15. The U.S. abandoned its embassy building that same weekend. “For all intents and purposes, these people’s chances of escaping the Taliban ended the day we left them behind,” said Afghanistan war veteran Matt Zeller, founder of No One Left Behind. It’s among dozens of grassroots U.S. groups working to get out Afghan translators and others who supported Americans.

Facebook, Ray-Ban debut picture-taking smart glasses (Axios) Ray-Ban Stories, the smart glasses being debuted by Facebook and Ray-Ban today, are most notable for just how much they look like a standard pair of the brand’s sunglasses. That speaks to both the most promising and troublesome aspect of the $299 glasses: They look and feel just like a standard pair of Ray-Bans while adding the ability to capture photos and video. The $299 glasses have three main “smart” features: they can record photos and 30-second videos via dual 5-megapixel cameras, they can play “open-air” sound without headphones and they allow users to take phone calls. Photos and videos are shared only to a companion smartphone app, where the owner can then decide whether and where to share the images and videos.

Research on beards, wads of gum wins 2021 Ig Nobel prizes (AP) Beards aren’t just cool and trendy—they might also be an evolutionary development to help protect a man’s delicate facial bones from a punch to the face. That’s the conclusion of a trio of scientists from the University of Utah who are among the winners of this year’s Ig Nobel prizes, the Nobel Prize spoofs that honor—or maybe dishonor, depending on your point of view—strange scientific discoveries. The winners of the 31st annual Ig Nobels being announced Thursday included researchers who figured out how to better control cockroaches on U.S. Navy submarines; animal scientists who looked at whether it’s safer to transport an airborne rhinoceros upside-down; and a team that figured out just how disgusting that discarded gum stuck to your shoe is.