Christmas trees being recycled as food for goats

"They love them. They snack on them like its a special treat, like candy."

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  • Meet the 1st Black woman to lead a White House press briefing

    The first time a Black woman served as the main voice of the presidency came in 1991, when Judy Smith stepped behind the podium as a deputy press secretary for President George H.W. Bush.

  • Mike Pence throws his support behind Republican senators challenging Joe Biden’s victory

    US vice-president Mike Pence has given his backing to a dozen Republican senators who plan to object to the confirmation of Joe Biden’s election win when it comes before Congress on Wednesday. Mr Pence, who will preside over what is normally a routine ceremonial occasion, issued a statement over the weekend saying he “shares the concerns of millions of Americans about voter fraud and irregularities in the last election.” One congressman, Louie Gohmert, the Republican congressman who asked a court to give Mike Pence the power to overturn Mr Biden’s victory, has called for Mr Trump’s supporters to take to the streets. Over the weekend it emerged that Mr Trump put pressure on Georgia’s Republican secretary of state Brad Raffensperger to find the 11,780 votes needed to overturn Mr Biden’s victory in the state. A recording of the hour-long call on Saturday were leaked to the Washington Post, providing further evidence of the desperate attempts by Mr Trump and his allies to “win” an election he comprehensively lost.

  • Pelosi supporters 'a little nervous' about House speaker vote but believe enough lawmakers will be present

    With the 117th Congress set to be sworn in Sunday, some Democrats are feeling "a little nervous" about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-Calif.) chances of retaining the gavel, Rep. Filemon (D-Texas) told The Hill. The concern is over whether enough lawmakers will actually show up to give her the required majority of those present and voting. If they do, she's on track to win as expected.Filemon said the worries stem from the coronavirus pandemic, and Democrats are hoping no one falls ill before the vote. Reps. Gwen Moore (D-Wisc.) and Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) tested positive for COVID-19 in late December, though Larsen is out of quarantine. And although it's unclear, it sounds as if Moore will free from isolation as well, with Jake Sherman reporting that 221 out of the 222 Democratic members of the new House are expected to be present. Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.), who is being treated for pancreatic cancer, will not be at the Capitol.> NEWS on Dem attendance. Alcee Hastings, an ailing Florida Dem, is not going to make it to the speaker vote today. Jamie Raskin, who recently lost his son, is going to make it. > > Democrats believe they’ll have 221 present today. > > Pelosi needs a majority of present and voting> > — Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) January 3, 2021If there are indeed 221 Democrats on hand, as well as all 211 Republicans, Pelosi could only afford to have four Democrats vote for someone else, The Hill notes. While there may be a few Democrats who don't back Pelosi, they may vote "present" which essentially renders them absent and would not be counted against the final tally, likely allowing her to capture the majority. There's also no guarantee every Republican will be there."I think she'll win," Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) said of Pelosi. "But I'm just not sure how she gets there." Read more at The Hill.More stories from theweek.com Fears rise over Indonesia's Jurassic Park 5 inexcusably funny cartoons about Trump's disgraceful pardons America was always going to bungle the vaccine rollout

  • Squatters issue death threats to archaeologist who discovered oldest city in the Americas

    Squatters reportedly belonging to one family claim site of 5,000 year-old ruins was given to them in the 1970sIllegal squatters have invaded the ruins of the oldest city in the Americas, and made death threats against Ruth Shady, the celebrated Peruvian archaeologist who discovered the 5,000 year-old civilization.The threats came via telephone calls and messages to various workers at the archeological site at the height of Peru’s Covid-19 pandemic. They followed reports to the police and prosecutors about the invasions of the ancient ruins of Caral.“They called the site’s lawyer and said if he continued to protect me they would kill him, along with me, and bury us five metres below the ground,” said Shady, 73.“Then they killed our dog as a warning. They poisoned her, as if to say, look at what will happen to you,” she said.It is not the first time Shady has been threatened or attacked. In 2003, she was shot in the chest during an assault on the 626-hectare (1,546-acre) archaeological complex which was declared a Unesco world heritage site in 2009.After nine invasions of the sacred city during the pandemic period, Shady and her team repeatedly asked the authorities to intervene.“There is a feeling that there is no authority dedicated to the protection and defence of our heritage. It’s a huge worry,” she said.Caral mapIn July, squatters using a heavy digger knocked down adobe walls and tore up the ground destroying ancient ceramics, tombs containing mummies, textiles and household remains, before police and the site’s staff were able to stop them.As a result of Shady’s pleas, a police car now patrols the archeological site day and night but nothing has been done to punish or evict the land invaders.The squatters are believed to belong to a single extended family, and claim the land was given to them in the 1970s during Peru’s controversial agrarian land reform which was pushed through by a leftist military dictatorship.Shady denies the claim: “They do not have a single land title. The owner of the land is the Peruvian state.”A planned eviction of one of the squatters was thwarted in December when a local prosecutor and official failed to give the order to proceed despite having the support of police officers, Shady said.Land prices in the area have risen from around $5,000 per hectare to as much as $50,000 per hectare, as outsiders rush to buy land around the prestigious archaeological site which is surrounded by a 56 sq mile buffer zone.Shady, who was named on the BBC’s 100 Women list last year, first visited Caral in 1978. But it was not until 1994 that she discovered the ancient city and began to properly excavate the site, which is situated on a dry desert terrace overlooking the Supe river valley nearly 200 km (124 miles) north of Lima.What she uncovered was the “oldest centre of civilization in the Americas” which Unesco describes as “exceptionally well-preserved” with a complex architectural design with “monumental stone and earthen platform mounts and sunken circular courts”. Organic material found at the site has been carbon-dated back to 2627 BCEShady and her team continue to investigate and excavate a dozen former settlements, half of the 24 situated in the Supe valley which form part of the Caral-Supe civilization. Their findings have revealed musical instruments such as flutes made of animal and bird bones and evidence of the cultivation of multi-coloured cotton used in textiles.“We can’t allow archeological sites to continue being invaded and destroyed because it is an unwritten history and we recover that history through our investigation,” said Shady. “If we can’t do that it is like burning a book which no one will ever read.”“I hope we can continue to investigate and continue to recover our history because it has such an interesting message,” she added. “It was a very, very peaceful society. We have not found even a single walled settlement.”“There is message there that we, human beings, should live in harmony between ourselves and nature,” Shady concluded. “We are living through this pandemic, in part, due to our mistreatment of nature.”

  • India's approval of homegrown vaccine criticised over lack of data

    India on Sunday granted emergency approval to Bharat Biotech's COVAXIN but faced questions from industry experts and opposition lawmakers after taking the step without publishing efficacy data for the homegrown coronavirus vaccine. The news, announced by the drugs controller general of India (DCGI), was hailed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ministers as a success in the country's self-reliance push. The government also approved the use of a vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University which will be the lead vaccine in India's immunisation programme.

  • More GOP lawmakers enlist in Trump effort to undo Biden win

    A growing number of Republican lawmakers are joining President Donald Trump's extraordinary effort to overturn the election, pledging to reject the results when Congress meets next week to count the Electoral College votes and certify President-elect Joe Biden's win. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas on Saturday announced a coalition of 11 senators and senators-elect who have been enlisted for Trump's effort to subvert the will of American voters. This follows the declaration from Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, who was the first to buck Senate leadership by saying he would join with House Republicans in objecting to the state tallies during Wednesday's joint session of Congress.

  • Japan considers declaring COVID-19 emergency

    Japan is considering issuing a new emergency declaration to tackle the country’s record surge in COVID-19 cases. The head of Japan’s pandemic response on Saturday said the government needs to consult with health experts before deciding on another declaration. As an interim measure, Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nakamura said restaurants and karaoke parlors in the Tokyo area would be asked to close at 8 PM, businesses serving alcohol - 7 PM. All this in response to a meeting he held earlier Saturday with the governors of Tokyo and three neighboring prefectures. The governors urged a new state of emergency declaration. Tokyo raised its COVID-19 alert level to its highest notch on December 17. On Thursday, new infections in the capital rose to a record 1,337 cases, and the country set a record with more than 4500 new cases. But Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has so far resisted calls to reinstate a national state of emergency.

  • U.S. officials are reportedly privately worried Russia stole blueprints for U.S. blackout restoration

    In public, American officials have said they do not believe Russia's SVR intelligence agency "pierced" classified systems and stole sensitive communications and plans during an alleged cyberattack on what may have been hundreds of networks in the United States, The New York Times reports. But privately, per the Times, those same officials reportedly say they still aren't sure exactly what was or was not taken.There are concerns that the SVR — which the U.S. intelligence agency and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are confident was behind the breach, despite President Trump suggesting China may have been involved instead of Moscow — was able to get its hands on delicate, albeit unclassified information from victims like the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. For example, it's reportedly possible the hackers accessed Black Start, the detailed technical blueprints for how the U.S. would restore power if there was a major blackout. If that was indeed the case, Russia would theoretically have a list of systems it could target to keep power from turning back on.The Times report sheds more light on the cyberattack, which may not be fully understood for months or even years. Some of the revelations include the fact that the hack appears to have been much broader in scope than originally thought and that the hackers "managed their intrusion from servers inside" the U.S. by "exploiting legal prohibitions on the National Security Agency." Read more at The New York Times.More stories from theweek.com Fears rise over Indonesia's Jurassic Park 5 inexcusably funny cartoons about Trump's disgraceful pardons America was always going to bungle the vaccine rollout

  • Inflatable costume could be behind Covid outbreak at California hospital

    At least 43 staff members tested positive for the virus after a staff member wore an inflatable costume on Christmas to cheer up patients.

  • U.S. distributes over 13.07 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines; 4.2 million administered -CDC

    The tally of vaccine doses distributed and the number of people who received the first dose are for both Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech, vaccines as of 9:00 a.m. ET on Saturday, the agency said. According to the tally posted on Dec. 30, the agency had administered 2,794,588 first doses of the vaccines and distributed 12,409,050 doses. A total of 2,217,025 vaccine doses were distributed for use on long-term care facilities and 282,740 people in the facilities got their first dose, the agency said.

  • Mystery surrounds whereabouts of Chinese billionaire Jack Ma who vanished from own reality TV show

    Chinese billionaire Jack Ma, who hasn’t been seen in public for several weeks after criticising China’s financial regulatory system, has now disappeared as a judge on a TV talent show that he created. Mr Ma was absent from the final of “The Apprentice”-style “Africa’s Business Heroes”, a show that offers budding African entrepreneurs the chance to compete for a share of US$1.5 million (£1.1 million) in prize money. Mr Ma was originally due to be part of the panel that judged contestants’ business ideas. But he was replaced as a judge by an executive from Alibaba, the ecommerce company that he founded, in the November final. His photograph has also been taken down from the judging webpage and he was left out of a promotional video, according to the Financial Times, which also reported that broadcast of the final has been delayed until the spring. The paper cited a spokesperson for Alibaba as saying that Mr Ma could no longer be part of the judging panel “due to a schedule conflict”. One of China’s most successful entrepreneurs, Mr Ma appears to have fallen foul of its leaders after he criticised the country’s regulators and its state-owned banks in late October. In a speech in Shanghai, he called for reform of the regulatory system, which he said was stifling innovation. About a week later, the Shanghai Stock Exchange ordered a US$37 billion initial public offering of Ant Group, a financial technology firm co-founded by Mr Ma, to be suspended. Mr Ma reportedly hasn’t been seen in public since then. In late December, Chinese authorities announced an investigation into Alibaba for suspected monopolistic behaviour, and ordered Ant Group to restructure its operations to meet regulatory guidelines. Chinese authorities are trying to tighten oversight of the country’s financial sector, but are also seen as wanting to rein in the huge influence of private tech giants. Mr Ma is a popular figure in China, and one of the country’s best-known businesspeople abroad. Formerly an English teacher, he founded Alibaba in 1999, which became China’s biggest online ecommerce company. He stepped down as the company’s chairman in 2019, but is still one of its largest shareholders.

  • The Latest: Graham criticizes Cruz's bid to dispute election

    Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham is calling the effort by Sen. Ted Cruz and other Republican senators to overturn the presidential election a “dodge” that doesn’t go far enough in helping President Donald Trump. Graham said in a statement Sunday that Cruz has a “high bar” to show there was evidence of problems with the election.

  • ‘SoHo Karen’ has history of unruly behavior, run-ins with police

    The plot thickens for the woman dubbed the “Soho Karen.” The woman, identified as Miya Ponsetto, who allegedly attacked and accused 14-year-old Keyon Harrold Jr. of stealing her iPhone just over a week ago at a New York City hotel apparently has a history of unlawful behavior. As previously reported by theGrio, Ponsetto made headlines after Grammy-winning trumpet player Keyon Harrold posted an Instagram video of her hastily accusing his teenage son of taking her cellphone while in the lobby of the Arlo SoHo Hotel in Manhattan where the Harrold’s were staying.

  • Russia inoculates over 800,000 people against COVID-19, issues vaccination certificates

    MOSCOW (Reuters) -More than 800,000 people in Russia have been inoculated so far against the new coronavirus and more than 1.5 million vaccine doses have been dispatched, Health Minister Mikhail Murashko said on Saturday. Russia, which began rolling out its Sputnik V vaccine in early December, has the world's fourth higher number of COVID-19 cases and is putting high hopes on several vaccines it plans to produce. From Jan. 1, people who are inoculated in Russia will get an electronic vaccination certificate, the TASS news agency quoted Murashko as saying.

  • Britons living in EU countries barred from returning in post-Brexit residency row

    Britons living in EU countries have been barred from returning to them after Christmas in a post-Brexit row over residency. People trying to return to Spain and Italy after their Christmas holidays were either turned back on arrival or barred from getting onto flights after being told that their pre-Brexit "green cards" were not valid for entry. The problems began on Saturday when border officials at airports in Madrid and Barcelona refused to recognise the documents despite declarations by the Spanish and Italian governments that they should be treated as valid for entry. Instead, border officials insisted they would not allow entry to anyone without a new post Brexit photo-ID card, which most British residents have applied for but have yet to receive. As a result, British passengers were turned back on arrival on at least two flights to Barcelona and had to return to the UK. Passengers on one flight from Newcastle had to fly back without their baggage, which was left at the airport. The problems spiralled when airlines also started refusing to fly resident Britons back to Spain or Italy without the new post-Brexit foreign identity card. Airlines can be fined if they allow people to fly to a country without the right documentation. At least nine people were prevented from boarding a BA/Iberia flight from Heathrow to Madrid on Saturday night despite having pre-Brexit "green cards". One of them, Patricia Moody, a 69-year-old retiree living in the southern Spanish town of Zurgena, said: "Throughout all the months of negotiating Brexit, we were always assured that nothing would change for us." Referring to the airlines and authorities in both countries, she added: "It's horrendous, and we are suffering because of their incompetence." A further 30 people were blocked from flying to Pisa from Manchester on Saturday. They included Dr Caitlin Procter, a professor at the European University Institute in Florence. She was told she must have either an Italian passport or a new photo-ID residency card when she tried to board her Ryanair flight on Saturday, even though the Italian government had been "crystal clear" that it would recognise pre-Brexit "green cards". She also had a copy of her work contract. "I travelled home to Sheffield to be with my Mum at Christmas. I followed all the rules, and it's ridiculous that airlines somehow have the authority to decide who can travel," Dr Procter said. "It's a rude wake-up to Brexit. "There are no other direct flights to Pisa for weeks, and I will have to pay £160 again for another Covid test as the one I have won't be valid from Monday, which is when I am due back at work." Dr Procter said she had applied for the photo-ID card but there is a three-month backlog of applications. Another British traveller reported chaos on Saturday night as he was turned back on arrival at Barcelona. "As we landed and left the plane, we were met by a gauntlet of armed police," he said. "All Spanish and Andorran nationals were let through and all other passengers herded like cattle to the side. The police then started checking all the 'green cards'. It quickly escalated to the police telling everyone they must board the plane and fly back to London." The British Embassy intervened on Saturday as the refusal of entry amounted to a potential breach of the Withdrawal Agreement, under which the Spanish government would recognise both the "green cards" and new post-Brexit photo ID cards for entry to Spain. A Foreign Office spokesman told The Telegraph: "We have worked closely with the Spanish government to resolve these issues. "The Spanish Embassy in London has re-confirmed today that both the green residence certificate and the new residence TIE card [Photo-ID card] are equally valid in terms of proving residence in Spain, as set out in the Withdrawal Agreement." The Spanish embassy in London also confirmed that it would recognise the pre-Brexit "green cards" and promised a seven-day grace period from January 4 to allow anyone who could show they had applied for the new photo-ID card to travel to Spain. Around 300,000 British citizens are registered as permanent residents in Spain, although before Brexit many more had been living full or part-time in the country without officially registering. Have you been impacted by the post-Brexit residency row? Share your story in the comments section below.

  • Trump news - live: White House advisor calls to delay inauguration as President blasted for wild Covid tweets

    The Constitution mandates that a new president’s term must begin on 20 January

  • Police officer pays for shoplifting suspects' holiday dinner

    The women said they had fallen on hard times and were trying to provide a Christmas dinner for the children. Lima says he was reminded of his own children and used his own money to buy $250 in grocery gift cards.

  • We caught bacteria from the most pristine air on earth to help solve a climate modeling mystery

    The Southern Ocean is a vast band of open water that encircles the entire planet between Antarctica and the Southern Hemisphere landmasses. It is the cloudiest place on Earth, and the amount of sunlight that reflects off or passes through those clouds plays a surprisingly important role in global climate. It affects weather patterns, ocean currents, Antarctic sea ice cover, sea surface temperature and even rainfall in the tropics.But due to how remote the Southern Ocean is, there have been very few actual studies of the clouds there. Because of this lack of data, computer models that simulate present and future climates overpredict how much sunlight reaches the ocean surface compared to what satellites actually observe. The main reason for this inaccuracy is due to how the models simulate clouds, but nobody knew exactly why the clouds were off. For the models to run correctly, researchers needed to understand how the clouds were being formed.To discover what is actually happening in clouds over the Southern Ocean, a small army of atmospheric scientists, including us, went to find out how and when clouds form in this remote part of the world. What we found was surprising – unlike the Northern Hemisphere oceans, the air we sampled over the Southern Ocean contained almost no particles from land. This means the clouds might be different from those above other oceans, and we can use this knowledge to help improve the climate models. Ice clouds and liquid cloudsClouds are made of tiny water droplets or ice crystals, or often a mixture of the two. These form on small particles in the air. The type of particle plays a big role in determining whether a liquid droplet or ice crystal forms. These particles can be natural – like sea spray, pollen, dust or even bacteria – or from human sources like cars, stoves, power plants and so on.To the untrained eye, an ice cloud and a liquid cloud look much the same, but they have very different properties. Ice clouds reflect less sunlight, precipitate more and don’t last as long as liquid clouds. It matters to the weather – and to climate models – what kinds of clouds are around. Climate models tend to predict too many ice clouds over the Southern Ocean and not enough liquid clouds when compared to satellite readings. But satellite measurements around the poles are hard to make and less accurate than other regions, so we wanted to collect direct evidence of how many liquid clouds are actually present and determine why there were more than the models predict.This was the mystery: Why are there more liquid clouds than the models think there are? To solve it, we needed to know what kinds of particles are floating around in the atmosphere around Antarctica.Before we went down there, we had a few clues. Previous modeling studies have suggested that the ice–forming particles found over the Southern Ocean may be very different from those found in the Northern Hemisphere. Dust is a great ice cloud seeder, but due to the lack of dusty land sources in the Southern Hemisphere, some scientists have hypothesized that other types of particles might be driving ice cloud formation over the Southern Ocean.Since most models are based on data from the Northern Hemisphere, if the particles in the atmosphere were somehow different in the Southern Hemisphere, that might explain the errors. Bacterial mapsIt’s hard to directly measure the composition of particles over the Southern Ocean – there simply aren’t very many particles around. So, to help us track down what is inside the clouds, we used an indirect approach: the bacteria in the air. The atmosphere is full of microorganisms that are carried hundreds to thousands of kilometers on air currents before returning to Earth. These bacteria are like airborne license plates, they are unique and tell you where the car – or air – came from. Since scientists know where most bacteria live, it’s possible to look at the microbes in an air sample and determine where that air came from. And once you know that, you can predict where the particles in the air came from as well - the same place the bacteria usually live.In order to sample airborne bacteria in this remote ocean region, one of us headed out on the Australian Marine National Facility’s R/V Investigator for a six-week expedition. The weather was unruly and the waves were often white-capped, but for one to two days at a time, we sucked air from the bow of the ship through a filter that caught the airborne particles and bacteria. We then froze the filters to keep the bacterial DNA intact. Ocean bacteria aloneIn most ocean regions around the world, especially in the Northern Hemisphere where there is a lot of land, the air contains both marine and terrestrial particles. That’s what we expected to find down south.With the frozen filters safely back at our lab in Colorado, we extracted DNA from the bacteria and sequenced it to determine what species we had caught. Much to our surprise, the bacteria were essentially all marine species that live in the Southern Ocean. We found almost no land-based bacteria. If the bacteria were from the ocean, then so were the cloud-forming particles. This was the answer we were looking for. Ice nucleating particles are very rare in seawater and marine particles are very good at forming liquid clouds. With mostly marine-based particles in the air, we’d expect the clouds to mostly be made of liquid droplets, which is what we observed. Since most models treat clouds in this region the same way they do clouds in the dustier Northern Hemisphere, it’s no wonder the models were off. Going forwardNow that we know the summertime Southern Ocean clouds are being formed from purely marine particles, we need to figure out if the same is true in other seasons and at higher altitudes. The larger project, which involved planes as well as ships, has given atmospheric scientists a much better idea of the clouds both close to the ocean surface and high up in the atmosphere. The climate modelers among us are already incorporating these new data into their models and will hopefully have results to share soon.Discovering that the airborne particles over the Southern Ocean are mostly coming from the ocean is a remarkable finding. It not only improves global climate models, it also means we confirmed the Southern Ocean is one of the most environmentally pristine regions on Earth – a place that has probably changed very little due to human activities. Our work will hopefully improve climate models, but has also given researchers a baseline for what a truly pristine marine environment looks like. [You’re smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversation’s authors and editors. You can get our highlights each weekend.]This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. Read more: * * * This research was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). Related research was funded by the Department of Energy. I also receive funding from the NSF through a Graduate Research Fellowship.The research is funded by the National Science Foundation. This research was supported by US NSF Award 1660486 in support of SOCRATES. Related research was funded by the Department of Energy.

  • Lockdown puppy boom has failed to boost rare breeds, Kennel Club says

    The boom in people buying dogs during the Covid lockdowns has failed to help boost the number of puppies from rare breeds. Although the lockdowns saw a huge demand for puppies, with breeders of popular dogs cashing in on the surge, it has been a "logistical nightmare" for the owners of vulnerable species. Breeding programmes for sought-after Labradors and French bulldogs were ramped up last year, and prices have rocketed to as much as £10,000 a pup. But for those trying to keep rare and dying breeds going, the pandemic has had the reverse effect. Owners have been unable to travel to find suitable stud dogs, while face-to-face vetting of prospective and responsible owners has also proved difficult. Limited veterinary services for after-care treatment of puppies is another reason why breeding programmes have been largely put on hold. The most up-to-date figures of puppy registrations from the Kennel Club show that the numbers for some are incredibly low. In July and August last year, just five Dandie Dinmont terrier puppies were registered and no Glen of Imaal terriers were logged at all. In the same time period, 5,642 Labradors and 5,539 French bulldogs were registered.

  • Small plane crashes and kills in Michigan home

    Oakland County Sheriff's Office told local media on Saturday that the fatalities were believed to be the pilot and its two passengers. Local media who spoke with the affected residents said that the plane struck the living room of a house where the family of five had narrowly missed being hit as they were in other rooms of the home. The family's cat were killed in the accident. Victor Vulaj, a neighbour in the Orchard of Lyons area, told Reuters that he heard "loud zooming noise and a boom... to be honest with you it was trash day, and I hear a lot of noise outside so I didn't pay too much mind to it. I figured it was the garbage trucks." Local media reported that the Federal Aviation Administration has been contacted about the crash.