Author: Verified News Online

Chantal Doecke at Onkaparinga River in Adelaide A commercial DNA test has helped an Australian woman discover that she has a twin brother living only a short flight away. Chantal Doecke was evacuated from Saigon as a newborn in 1975 and brought to Australia during Operation Babylift, an international effort to move children out of Vietnam as the war came to an end. Doecke was taken to Adelaide in April 1975. She was carried onto the evacuation flight in a shoebox, with her umbilical cord still attached. For most of her life, she knew very little about her biological family or where she came from. Forty-nine years later, a DNA match revealed that she had a twin brother named Glenn, who was living in Brisbane. Doecke described the extraordinary discovery in a first-person account published by The Guardian as part of its “Experience” series.Evacuated in a shoeboxIn early 1975, Doecke’s adoptive parents answered an advertisement in an Australian newspaper asking families to adopt orphaned ..

Taiwan’s push to build a modern counter-drone shield has come under renewed scrutiny after an official audit uncovered technical shortcomings and a key procurement programme collapsed following repeated testing failures.
The developments have fuelled concerns that Taipei’s efforts to match Beijing’s rapidly evolving drone technology are being undermined by capability gaps, procurement failures and delays in building an integrated counter-drone network.
According to a recent report by Taiwan’s…

Hong Kong authorities have conducted a counterterrorism drill at the revamped Huanggang border crossing and used a new “crowd flow” test to simulate an unexpected surge in passenger numbers, with about 5,000 civil servants taking part.
The counterterrorism exercise on Saturday was the first such drill to be held at the redeveloped checkpoint building.
A Security Bureau spokesman said civil servants from around 30 bureaus took part in the drill, which aimed to test authorities’ management of…

In 1968, a California landowner demanded $100 an acre for land inside Pinnacles that officials valued at $17; A long legal and property dispute between the US federal government and Utah businessman Dean Brimhall over commercial activities on protected land ended with a $400,000 buyout and the demolition of several private facilities near the park boundary.According to historical land-management records in the National Park Service Fact Guide for Capitol Reef National Park, federal authorities bought Brimhall's private property and later ordered the demolition of a tourist lodge and petrol station. Commercial stone quarrying on the site was also ended.The settlement closed a period of conflict in southern Utah, where private property rights came into direct conflict with conservation efforts during the mid-twentieth century.Commercial enterprise caused federal conflictThe dispute began in 1964, when Brimhall built a modern service station and visitor lodge along Utah State Route 2..

Prince Edward and Sophie’s son James is set to begin university this autumn after receiving his A-level results. Buckingham Palace has seemingly confirmed that James, Earl of Wessex, the youngest grandchild of the late Queen Elizabeth II, will not be taking on his royal titles as an adult. The 18-year-old son of Prince Edward and Sophie, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, has earned the necessary grades from his A-level exams to take the next steps towards his future career, but it appears that won’t be as a working senior royal.On Thursday, August 13, the palace announced that James is set to attend the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, beginning this fall. A palace spokesperson said, “The Earl of Wessex will be going to the Royal Agricultural University to study Rural Land & Property Management. He will head straight there without taking a year out.”The palace’s decision to refer to James as simply the “Earl of Wessex” in an official announcement about hi..