- American trapped in Gaza says he feels like ‘second-class citizen’ Al Jazeera English
- They followed evacuation orders. An Israeli airstrike killed them the next day. CNN
- ‘There is no way I can leave family members behind’: Palestinian-Americans in Gaza face unthinkable choice CNN
- ‘No safe area’: CNN journalist details his family’s desperate flight south from Gaza City CNN
- This American family with roots in besieged Gaza suffers the consequences of Israel’s war on Hamas CNN
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Tag Archives: citizen
Justin Trudeau confronted by angry Canadian citizen: ‘I am not shaking your hand…’ – The Economic Times
- Justin Trudeau confronted by angry Canadian citizen: ‘I am not shaking your hand…’ The Economic Times
- Gravitas: Canada’s Justin Trudeau to lose his job over fight with India? WION
- ‘Piece of s***’: Angry citizen lashes out at Canada’s Justin Trudeau | Watch video | Mint Mint
- ‘You F****d The Country’: Canadian Man Humiliates Trudeau; Calls Him ‘Piece Of ‘S**t’ On Cam | Viral Hindustan Times
- ‘Piece of sh*t… You f**ked up this entire country’: Canadian man calls out Justin Trudeau, refuses to shake hands |WATCH Firstpost
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Jung Kook Performs BTS Song ‘Butter’ | Global Citizen Festival 2023 – Global Citizen
- Jung Kook Performs BTS Song ‘Butter’ | Global Citizen Festival 2023 Global Citizen
- ‘My English is bad’: Jungkook’s exchange with Nomzamo Mbatha wins hearts for her kind response to BTS member PINKVILLA
- “Who Was It?” BTS’s Jungkook Calls Out The Person Who Spoiled The “3D” Digital Single Announcement Before His “Global Citizen Festival” Performance Koreaboo
- 2023 Global Citizen Festival held in Central Park WABC-TV
- Singer Jung Kook Performs BTS Song ‘Euphoria’ | Global Citizen Festival 2023 Global Citizen
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Jung Kook Hints ‘3D’ Is Coming, Brings Out Latto & Performs ‘Still With You’ Live for the First Time at Global Citizen 2023 – Billboard
- Jung Kook Hints ‘3D’ Is Coming, Brings Out Latto & Performs ‘Still With You’ Live for the First Time at Global Citizen 2023 Billboard
- 2023 Global Citizen Festival kicks off in Central Park Eyewitness News ABC7NY
- “This Is Not What Jungkook Meant” — ARMYs Enraged Over Video Of The BTS Member Getting Mobbed At Airport Koreaboo
- Watch the 2023 Global Citizen Festival: Stream live here WABC-TV
- “Hot suspense”: BTS’ Jungkook’s fans express excitement as the singer teases a glimpse of new album 3D at Global Citizen Music festival Sportskeeda
- View Full Coverage on Google News
‘A crime on every citizen:’ Shaker Heights lawyer who donated to Trump headed to prison in election fraud case – cleveland.com
- ‘A crime on every citizen:’ Shaker Heights lawyer who donated to Trump headed to prison in election fraud case cleveland.com
- Guilty verdict for Columbus, Neb, man accused of voter fraud Lincoln Journal Star
- 3News Investigates: Judge hands down 3-year prison sentence for Shaker Heights attorney who illegally voted twice in multiple elections WKYC.com
- ‘Clearly knew better’: Former attorney sentenced for voter fraud WJW FOX 8 News Cleveland
- ‘The poster child for voter fraud’ gets 3-year prison sentence for voting twice in 2020, 2022 elections News 5 Cleveland WEWS
Alireza Akbari: Iran executes dual British-Iranian citizen
CNN
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A dual British-Iranian citizen was hanged by Iran on charges of espionage and corruption, a state-affiliated media outlet reported Saturday, the latest in a string of executions carried out by a regime grappling with unprecedented protests across the country.
The Iranian official, Alireza Akbari, was executed for crimes including “corruption on earth,” according the Iranian judiciary-affiliated outlet Mizan. Akbari had also been accused of “extensive cooperation with British intelligence officers” for which he received “huge sums of money.”
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said he was “appalled by the execution.” He added on Twitter: “This was a callous and cowardly act, carried out by a barbaric regime with no respect for the human rights of their own people. My thoughts are with Alireza’s friends and family.”
Mizan did not specify when the execution was carried out. Akbari’s death sentence was announced just days ago, on January 11, after his conviction on spying for the United Kingdom. Akbari had denied the charges.
According to allegations published in Mizan on Wednesday, Akbari had been arrested “some time ago.” The BBC reported Akbari was arrested in 2019.
“On this basis and after filing an indictment against the accused, the file was referred to court and hearings were held in the presence of the accused’s lawyer and based on the valid documents in this person’s file, he was sentenced to death for spying for the UK,” Mizan said.
Akbari previously served as Iran’s deputy defense minister and was the head of the Strategic Research Institute, as well as a member of the military organization that implemented the United Nations resolution that ended the Iran-Iraq war, according to Iranian pro-reform outlet Shargh Daily. He served under Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, a reformist who was in office from 1997 to 2005, according to the BBC.
Though Iran does not recognize dual nationality, the execution of an individual holding British citizenship will likely further fuel tensions between Tehran and Western democracies, which have been critical of the regime’s response to anti-government demonstrations that began in September last year.
Iran has long ranked among the world’s top executioners, and Akbari is one of three individuals to receive a death sentence in the first weeks of 2023. Two young men, a karate champion and a volunteer children’s coach, were hanged last weekend after being convicted of killing a member of the country’s Basij paramilitary force. Both had allegedly taken part in the protests that began after a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman, Mahsa Amini, died while in custody of the country’s morality police.
Amini’s death sparked massive nationwide demonstrations against a regime often criticized as theocratic and dictatorial.
Critics have accused Tehran of responding to protests with excessive force – activist groups HRANA and Iran Human Rights say that 481 protesters have been killed – and using the country’s unjust judicial system to intimidate would-be demonstrators. United Nations human rights chief Volker Türk alleged that Tehran was “weaponizing” criminal procedures to carry out “state-sanctioned killing” of protesters.
As many as 41 more protesters have received death sentences in recent months, according to statements from both Iranian officials and in Iranian media reviewed by CNN and 1500Tasvir, but the number could be much higher.
Iranian state media has reported that dozens of government agents, from security officials to officers of the basij paramilitary force, have been killed in the unrest.
Though Akbari’s execution was, on its surface, unrelated to the recent protests, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverley alleged that the act was “politically motivated.” He said Iran’s charge d’affaires would be summoned over the execution “to make clear our disgust at Iran’s actions.”
“The execution of British-Iranian Alireza Akbari is a barbaric act that deserves condemnation in the strongest possible terms. Through this politically motivated act, the Iranian regime has once again shown its callous disregard for human life,” Cleverly said on Twitter. “This will not stand unchallenged.”
The UK government had urged Iran not to execute Akbari, and the Foreign Office said it would continue to support his family.
Star Citizen is free to play until the end of November
Star Citizen is free to play from now until the end of the month.
As part of the in-game annual Intergalactic Aerospace Expo (IAE), players are welcome to “freely test-fly” 120+ ships, including the Drake Corsair which supports a crew of up to four players and boasts living quarters and “strong armaments”.
Players will be able to “explore the digital event as they would any convention, from strolling through fully interactive expo halls and seeing the latest ships on display each day in incredible detail, to meeting up with friends to explore and partake in exciting activities, or chance encounters with strangers that launch new friendships”.
“Get ready for the biggest, best Whitley’s Guide IAE Special you’ve ever seen!” developer Cloud Imperium Games teases. “It’s going to be full of exclusive looks, new vehicles, a special appearance by Drake CEO Anden Arden, and so much more. This year we won’t be leaving anything out. Don’t miss it!”
Drake Interplanetary, Anvil Aerospace, and Roberts Space Industries will also be revealing new vehicles throughout IAE 2952 “as they take to the show floor”, whilst from 27th November, players can “look forward to rewards from this year’s Ship Showdown competition”.
The final four – The Carrack, Mercury, C8X Pisces Expedition, and Scorpius – will “all receive limited-edition paint options”, too, as well as limited-time manufacturer challenge coins.
If you’re curious and fancy stopping by, you can sign up right here and give it a try for free until 30th November.
Star Citizen has now raised more than half a billion dollars in funding from backers. As Matt recently summarised for us, its exceedingly lengthy development is well-documented with the game still in alpha over a decade after production began. And while it’s attracted some private funding in that time, the overwhelming bulk has come via crowdfunding, beginning with a successful $2m USD Kickstarter in 2012 and ballooning from there.
In September 2022, Star Citizen hit a milestone of $500,075,150 USD in crowdfunding. Its previous major milestone of $400m USD raised was reached this time last year, meaning it’s taken a further ten months to accrue an additional $100m.
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US State Department confirms detention of US citizen in Saudi Arabia
CNN
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The son of an American citizen imprisoned in Saudi Arabia for criticizing the Saudi government said Tuesday evening that his father is “nowhere near being a dissident.”
“My father is a senior American citizen who just wants to live freely and happy in the United States where he got his education,” Saad Ibrahim Almadi’s son, Ibrahim Almadi, told CNN’s Erin Burnett on “OutFront.”
The US State Department confirmed earlier Tuesday that 72-year-old Saad Ibrahim Almadi has been imprisoned in Saudi Arabia after being given a 16-year sentence for tweets critical of the Saudi government.
Almadi’s imprisonment was first reported by The Washington Post.
Ibrahim Almadi told CNN on Tuesday that if his father had been held in Russia or Iran, “we’d see his name in the headlines every morning.”
State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said at a news briefing that officials have “consistently and intensively raised our concerns regarding the case at senior levels of the Saudi government, both through channels in Riyadh and Washington, DC, as well … as recently as yesterday.”
Patel also confirmed that there was no State Department official at Almadi’s sentencing hearing, which he said was because the Saudi government moved up the hearing date without telling the US embassy and never responded to the embassy’s request to attend the hearing weeks before it was originally scheduled. The last time the US had consular access to Almadi was August 10, according to Patel.
The State Department, he said, is still going through the process to determine whether Almadi will be designated as “wrongfully detained.”
“Exercising the freedom of expression should never be criminalized,” Patel said.
The State Department communicated with the Saudi ambassador in Washington on Monday about Almadi’s case, a US official told CNN.
This headline and story have been updated with additional developments Tuesday.
Hamas releases video of Israeli citizen held captive since 2015 | Hamas
Gaza’s Hamas rulers have released a video of a captive Israeli citizen held incommunicado since 2015, showing the man lying in a hospital bed wearing an oxygen mask.
It was the first image of Hisham al-Sayed to be released since he wandered across the frontier from southern Israel into Gaza. Its release came a day after Hamas said the condition of one of the Israelis it was holding captive had deteriorated.
In the video, Sayed, 34, is seen lying in bed with a mask over his mouth and nose and what appears to be an oxygen canister next to him. He appears tired and dazed. He does not speak and there is no audio.
Other parts of the video show an intravenous drip next to the bed as well as an image of Sayed’s Israeli identification card. Sayed is a member of Israel’s Bedouin Arab minority.
The video is titled “Footage of the soldier in the army of occupation, Hisham Sayed, detained by the Qassam Brigades”. It is not dated, but a TV screen in the video shows images of the Qatar Economic Forum, which was held in Doha last week.
Sayed is one of two Israeli civilians believed to be held by Hamas. Rights groups say that both suffer from mental illness. The Islamic militant group has given no details on the conditions or whereabouts of its prisoners and it has never allowed the Red Cross to visit them.
Israel’s prime minister, Naftali Bennett, condemned the release of the video and said Hamas was holding two mentally ill people against “all international laws.”
“Issuing a video of a sick person is a despicable and desperate act,” his office said in a statement.
It described Sayid as a civilian with mental illness who had crossed the border into Gaza a number of times previously. “The actions of Hamas are proof that it is a cynical terror and criminal organisation,” the statement said, adding that the video delayed any chance of a deal.
Hamas has demanded the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, including people convicted in deadly attacks, in exchange for the captive Israelis.
Israel and Hamas are bitter enemies. They have fought four wars and dozens of smaller skirmishes since Hamas took control of Gaza 15 years ago.
Israel and Egypt have maintained a tight blockade over the territory since. Israel says the closure is needed to prevent Hamas from building up its military capabilities, but critics say the policy amounts to collective punishment of Gaza’s 2 million Palestinian residents.
Israel says there can be no major moves toward lifting the blockade until the soldiers’ remains and captive civilians are released.
Bennett’s office said Israel would continue working through Egyptian mediation to bring about the release of the captives.
Citizen scientists help discover more than 1,000 new asteroids
Enlarge / This mosaic consists of 16 different data sets from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope that were studied as part of the Asteroid Hunter citizen science project. Each of these data sets was assigned a color based on the time sequence of exposures. The blue tones represent the first exposure in which the asteroid was captured, and the red tones represent the last.
On International Asteroid Day in 2019, a group of research institutions launched a program that could make a deep impact on our knowledge of the diminutive bodies. Using citizen science to train a machine-learning algorithm, the Hubble Asteroid Hunter project identified more than 1,000 new asteroids; the discoveries could help scientists better understand the ring of heavenly bodies that primarily float between Mars and Jupiter.
Asteroid Hunter is a collaborative effort between various groups, including the European Science and Technology Centre, the European Space Astronomy Centre’s Science Data Centre, the Zooniverse citizen science platform, and Google.
In 2019, the researchers sent out a call for citizen scientists to collaborate on the crowd-sourced effort. Through the Zooniverse platform, 11,400 members of the public from around the world identified asteroid trails in 37,000 composite images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope between 2002 and 2021. The citizen scientists pored over the images for a year and identified more than 1,000 trails.
“Hubble is an amazing mission, and it produced a very rich database of astronomical observation over the years that we should take advantage of,” Sandor Kruk, a postdoc at the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics, told Ars. “We should pay more attention to this long time span of data [that is] starting to be available.” Kruk is involved with Asteroid Hunter.
Searching the sky
The results of the citizen science work were used to train a machine-learning algorithm called AutoM, which was created by Google. When provided with enough data, the algorithm can now be used to quickly classify images.
According to Kruk, there is a lot of diversity in the asteroid trails picked up by Hubble. Normally, when taking a long-exposure image of an asteroid from the ground, the resulting trail in the image is a line. But the combined movement of the asteroids with Hubble’s movement produces curved trails. These are harder to classify using machine learning because they come in a wide variety of shapes.
“That’s why you needed a sample of them detected by humans,” Kruk said. “What took us a year to classify with the citizen scientists—it took only about 10 hours with the [algorithm]. But you do need the training set.”
When worlds collide
The combined effort between human and machine resulted in a data set containing 1,701 trails in 1,316 Hubble images. Participants also identified other objects in the images, such as galaxies and nebulae. They matched these trails against those in the team Minor Planet Centre database, the largest database of asteroids, and found that 670 of them were previously identified.
The original ones Asteroid Hunter found appeared far fainter than the ones identified before, meaning they were smaller in size, Kruk said. He noted that this work could be used to get a better sense of the distribution of asteroid sizes in the asteroid belt, and that data could be used to understand more about their evolution and how asteroids are produced from fragmentation and collision within the belt.