UN votes to approve new world map which will show true size of Africa

Leer en EspañolThe UN general assembly has voted to replace the traditional world map with one that more accurately reflects the size of all nations.
The approved resolution calls for the world to move away from the traditional Mercator map, which shrinks the size of Africa and exaggerates northern landmasses.
The “Correct the Map” resolution, sponsored by Togo, passed with the support of 164 nations, including the UK. The US was the only nation to vote against it, with six other abstentions.
The resolution is non-binding, but asks governments, schools, international organisations, and technology companies to adopt the Equal Earth projection and other equal-area maps wherever the true scale of continents matters, with the aim of establishing more proportionally accurate maps as a new global norm. It does not seek to ban the Mercator projection outright.
The Mercator projection, which is currently used worldwide, increases distortion the further a region sits from the equator. Since Afr..

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Georgia cop reveals why he shot dead a family’s pet donkey

A Georgia cop has revealed why he shot a family’s beloved pet donkey as his department released the officer’s report to quell outrage over the killing.
Trenton Garner, an officer in Cedartown, Georgia, shot and killed the donkey, named “HeeHaw,” on August 30.
He was sent along with a K-9 handler and a bloodhound team to search for a girl who had been reported missing approximately two hours prior, according to his report.
Garner said he and the other officers were following a trail through the woods and into a pasture. They found footprints near the route and began to search the area with the help of the dogs and a drone team from the Rockmart Fire Department, CBS News reports.
The officers' presence near the fence line scared the horses in the pasture off, but — according to Garner's account — the miniature donkey HeeHaw instead charged at the officers.
open image in galleryHannah Israel with her donkey HeeHaw. The animal was shot and killed by Cedartown, Georgia, polic..

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Ukraine-Russia war latest: Putin orders 72-hour pause in Kyiv strikes, Moscow claims – as Trump’s envoys fly in

Russian drones hit Coca-Cola plant outside Kyiv, says ZelenskyVladimir Putin’s deputy foreign minister has issued a warning to Donald Trump as envoys for the US president are believed to be heading to Moscow for talks to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“The key question ​is the extent ⁠to which ⁠the US administration is prepared to invest in ‌finding a real solution to the current crisis, considering ‌the realities on the ground,” Sergei Ryabkov said.
This, Mr Ryabkov sought to claim, was a situation which was not developing in Kyiv's favour, Russian state news agency TASS reported.
Trump’s envoys, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, are expected to meet Russian president Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Saturday before travelling to Kyiv on Sunday to meet Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, according to US officials.
The trip comes as Russia continues its attacks despite Zelensky’s offer of a temporary air truce. “There will be no airstrikes from our side, and Russia must reciproca..

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Sailors on USS Abraham Lincoln describe ‘the worst deployment that they have ever experienced’ after docking in Thailand

Leer en EspañolU.S. service members assigned to the USS Abraham Lincoln are speaking out about their record-long, nearly nine-month deployment at sea, during which they supported the ongoing Iran war.
The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier — some of whose crew had reportedly suffered from deteriorating mental health — laid anchor off Thailand this week, affording its 5,000 sailors and Marines their first port call in 286 days.
While on shore in the resort town of Pattaya, some service members spoke with MS NOW Pentagon Correspondent Priya Sridhar, who recounted her discussions with them during a subsequent on-camera interview.
“Many of them told me that this was, in fact, the worst deployment that they have ever experienced,” said Sridhar, who formerly served as an officer in the Navy Reserve, according to Mediaite. “It was incredibly hard, and many of them expressed to me that they actually wish that they hadn’t even done a port call at this point.”
“They wanted to just go directly home,”..

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Pennsylvania confirms second death of child with measles after RFK Jr. told CDC director to delete numbers

A Pennsylvania coroner has confirmed a second measles death in a child in the state.
The measles deaths are the first reported in the United States this year amid a 35-year high in infections.
“Just today, we received a report of another child who died with measles, and we’re in the process of doing an investigation,” Lancaster County Coroner, Dr. Stephen Diamantoni, told WHTM Wednesday.
It is unclear if the second death reported by the coroner is further clarification of two deaths already reported, or if this brings the death toll to three.
There has been unusual friction between the state and the federal government after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. asked his newly appointed CDC director to remove a reference to two Pennsylvania fatalities from the agency’s online measles tracker after questioning whether the virus contributed to the deaths, according to a new report.
open image in galleryHealth and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks in Washington, D.C…

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Are Jan 6 rioters getting taxpayer payouts? New lawsuit claims DOJ refuses to say

Donald Trump’s administration insists that a compensation fund for pardoned January 6 rioters is dead for good, but the Department of Justice has refused to say whether government lawyers are working on backdoor plans for taxpayer-funded payouts.
The Justice Department has denied several Freedom of Information Act requests filed by a nonprofit watchdog group, according to a newly filed federal lawsuit. The group is now asking a judge to intervene to force the government to answer.
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington wants to know whether the Justice Department is working on settlement deals with pardoned rioters after hundreds of members of the mob filed lawsuits against the government “seeking millions of dollars for what they claim are injuries incurred during the investigation and prosecution of their federal crimes,” according to the lawsuit.
They’re all suing under the Federal Tort Claims Act, which taps into the government’s permanent Judgment Fund used to pay co..

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Mike Johnson abruptly cancels final weeks of House votes amid panic over midterm elections

The House of Representatives abruptly canceled the final two weeks of votes for September, effectively giving the House four days of work before the midterm elections and not being in session during August.
The move comes 60 days before the midterm elections polling shows Democrats poised to win control of the House of Representatives.
But it also comes as Republicans still face major questions about President Donald Trump’s increasingly unpopular war in Iran, the rising cost of living and the president’s plans for overhauling the nation’s capital.
The House passed a continuing resolution earlier this week to keep the government open until December, sending the bill the Senate passed before the recess to the president’s desk. That averted a government shutdown.
House Speaker Mike Johnson continues to face an unruly caucus. Earlier this week, a rule to begin debate on multiple pieces of legislation looked poised to fail after five Republicans defected to vote “no.”
The Republicans i..

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Horrific mugshot shows injuries of Florida man who is accused of attacking cop in the hospital

A man accused of fighting a police officer in a Florida hospital appears to be covered in blood and bruises in his chilling mugshot.
​Ronald Jeffery Johnson, 51, was arrested Saturday after attacking a Fort Lauderdale Police officer at the Broward Health Medical Center, authorities said.
An arrest report obtained by The Independent revealed that an active warrant was already out for Johnson in Georgia, after he failed to appear on “terroristic threats.”
​In his Florida mugshot, Johnson’s blood-covered face looks heavily bruised, with one mark turning purple underneath his eye. The cheek on that side of his face looks heavily swollen. Blood has dried around his nose and mouth, with even one of his ears was soaked red. ​Some of the blood has splattered down onto his heavily tattooed chest.
A gloved hand also appears to be propping Johnson up.
open image in galleryThe mugshot of a man who allegedly attacked a cop in a Florida healthcare facility has been released (Broward County Sheriff&..

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Times Square stabbing victim Erin Piacenti was new mom just back from maternity leave

The Bank of America vice president fatally stabbed in Times Square was a new mother on her first week back from maternity leave, according to a report.
​Erin Piacenti, 32, was one of two people randomly attacked a short distance from her firm’s tower block in New York City Monday afternoon.
She had stopped in front of a vendor selling sunglasses while heading home from work she was stabbed, The New York Times reported. NYPD officers shot and killed the attacker, later named as 49 year-old Pamela Cisneros of Queens.
Just days before the fatal incident, Piacenti had posted a picture on social media holding her newborn daughter and grinning, according to The Times.
open image in gallery​Erin Piacenti, 32-year-old executive at Bank of America, was fatally stabbed in Times Square on Monday (Facebook)​“As my maternity leave comes to an end,” she wrote, “I could not be more grateful for every day of the last five months spent with this amazing little girl.”
Piacenti and her husband Frank h..

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Texas facing massive 30 inches of rain in 24 hours as rescues already underway

Water rescues are underway in southern Texas as former Tropical Storm Edouard continued to dump heavy rain, flooding streets and trapping people in their homes.
An unidentified woman and her four children were rescued from their Livingston mobile home after a creek overflowed, according to Click 2 Houston.
And people in the area were pulled from their cars stuck in flooded roads, KTRE said.
A flash flood emergency has been declared in Hardin and Tyler Counties, northeast of Houston, with rain expected to continue throughout the day and into tomorrow.
The storm has dropped 30 inches over Texas in the course of just 24 hours, WFLA meteorologist Jeff Berardelli wrote on social media.
This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.

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