Ashley Cornell, email: [email protected]

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange looks out on the balcony of the Ecuadorian embassy in London on May 19, 2017 afp_tickers This content was published on August 15, 2022 – 18:29 August 15, 2022 – 18:29 (AFP)

US lawyers for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange sued the CIA and its former director Mike Pompeo on Monday, accusing them of recording their conversations and copying the content of their phones and computers.

The lawyers and two journalists who have joined the lawsuit, all Americans, allege that the CIA violated the constitutional right to protect confidential conversations, in this case with Australian Julian Assange.

They say the CIA worked with a security firm hired by the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where Assange was then living, to spy on the Wikileaks founder, his lawyers, journalists and others he met.

Assange was arrested by British police in 2019 after spending seven years taking refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London. Since then he has been imprisoned in Belmarsh near the British capital.

On June 17, the British government announced that it had signed the decree for his extradition to the United States, a decision that Assange appealed.

The United States accuses him of releasing US military and diplomatic documents related to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in 2010, for which he could be sentenced to up to 175 years in prison.

Richard Roth, the New York attorney representing the plaintiffs, says the alleged espionage by Assange’s attorneys means that “the Wikileaks founder’s right to a fair trial has been violated, if not destroyed.”

“Recording meetings with friends, with lawyers, and digitally copying information from their lawyers and friends misleads law enforcement because the government now knows the content of those communications,” Roth told reporters.

“Sanctions, up to and including dismissing these charges or withdrawing an extradition request, must be imposed in response to these manifestly unconstitutional activities,” he added.

The lawsuit was filed by attorneys Margaret Ratner Kunstler and Deborah Hrbek, and journalists Charles Glass and John Goetz.

They all visited Assange while he was living at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, which granted him political asylum before it was withdrawn years later.

The lawsuit cites the CIA, former agency director and former US Secretary of State Pompeo, and security firm Undercover Global and its CEO David Morales Guillén.

He alleges that Undercover Global, which had a security contract with the embassy, ​​appropriated the information from its electronic devices and made it available to the CIA.

He also placed microphones around the embassy and sent recordings and surveillance camera images to the CIA.

This violates the privacy of US citizens, says Roth.

Kenyans have been waiting for this moment under high tension for almost a week. On Monday, after a delay of several hours, the Independent Electoral Commission (IEBC) announced the winner of this year’s presidential election. Vice President William Ruto won the race with 50.4%. His challenger Raila Odinga received 48.9% of the vote. The rest was split between two outside candidates.

Claudia Broll

Political correspondent for Africa based in Cape Town.

Before the election results were announced, however, a scandal erupted. The commission’s vice chairman and three other panelists called the results “opaque” and declined to support them. The Vice President recommended that parties have election results examined in court. A riot broke out in the voting center. According to news agencies, diplomats and international observers were led out of the building. The counting of votes had already taken longer than many expected. There have repeatedly been delays and allegations of electoral manipulation by Odinga’s campaign team.

An era can end

Ruto, 55, entered this election with an appeal to class struggle. Their election slogan was “Hustlers vs. Dynasties”. “Hustlers” are poor, hardworking people. With dynasties, he alluded to the Odinga dynasty, which has shaped political events since Kenya’s independence in 1963. Odinga’s father was the first vice president of the Republic of Kenya and then the leader of the opposition for many years. It was his son’s fifth attempt to reach the highest office in the state. With repeated defeat, an era in Kenya could be coming to an end.

It wasn’t clear until Monday when the commission would announce the result. With just a few hours notice, she had announced the date on Monday at the “Bomas of Kenya”, the polling station. With each passing day, nervousness and assumptions grew across the country. In Nairobi, everyday life almost stopped, in the slums there was nothing else to do. According to the constitution, the commission had until this Tuesday to announce the result.

Whether Ruto will be sworn in smoothly as the fifth president after an election victory seemed highly questionable beforehand. In Kenya, election results and possible election fraud have been the subject of heated debate on several occasions in the past. The Supreme Court canceled the first vote in 2017 due to irregularities. At that time, Odinga had also complained of electoral fraud. However, the court did not agree with this view. After the 2007 election, in which Odinga was defeated by the incumbent Mwai Kibaki, serious riots broke out in which more than 1,200 people died. After mediation by the then Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, Kibaki and Odinga agreed to the division of power.

Low voter turnout and concerns about further unrest

This time, too, there were already reports of voting difficulties in some places. On Saturday night, Odinga supporters accused election commission officials of manipulating election results. In order to create transparency, the electoral commission posted photos of the forms submitted by 46,000 polling stations on its website after the vote. Numerous media outlets evaluated the data in parallel with the official vote count and continually provided provisional results.

An “extreme heat belt” will form in the Midwest by 2053, resulting in over 100 million Americans regularly experiencing days hotter than 125°F, according to a new study.

The intense heat belt will cover a stretch of land from the Appalachian Mountains of western Kentucky and Tennessee to eastern parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska and most of Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.

Parts of the Atlantic coast from Georgia to Delaware in the north will be similarly affected, as will parts of Florida, southern California and Arizona.

The study was released by the New York City-based First Street Foundation as part of an ongoing series of reports designed to show Americans how their homes may be affected by climate change. Previously, the group published studies showing expected risks of flooding and fire damage.

The report comes after a devastating heatwave killed at least 19 people this year and left the nation ablaze throughout July, according to Fox News.

The end of a summer was also marked by a series of unprecedented fires and floods that have claimed dozens of lives across the country.

An “extreme heat belt” will form in the Midwest by 2053, resulting in over 100 million Americans regularly experiencing days hotter than 125°F, according to a new study

The map shows those parts of the country that will face at least one day of temperatures above 125°F in 2023. In 30 years, much of the Midwest will be affected

The study shows that while eight million Americans are now exposed to extreme heat at some point a year, in 30 years that number will increase to 107 million people who will be exposed to temperatures greater than 125°F at least once a year.

Five major metropolitan areas will face these extreme heat hazards, including St. Louis, Kansas City, Memphis, Tulsa and Chicago.

According to the study, today’s hottest temperatures, which currently hit the country for about seven days a year, will be present across most of the country for about 18 days a year in 2053.

Outside the heat belt, parts of the West Coast, Gulf Coast and southeast Atlantic Coast will face days with temperatures dangerously above those those regions are used to.

In Miami-Dade County, Florida, for example, the seven hottest days from today — above 103°F — through 2053 will be present for about 34 days a year.

The study found that while the heat belt is not typically a region associated with extreme heat, its inland location, where there are “no coastal influences to mitigate extreme temperatures,” means it will suffer seriously. (Picture from a picture agency)

Because residents in many of the affected regions are “unaccustomed to warmer weather compared to their normal climate,” they will face significant health risks from extreme heat, according to the report

First Street produced the study by examining current greenhouse gas levels in conjunction with address-specific data to predict temperature trends.

They looked at factors as granular as tree cover in neighborhoods, proximity of homes to parking lots and sidewalks, elevation, and proximity to bodies of water.

The study found that while the heat belt is not typically a region associated with extreme heat, its inland location, where there are “no coastal influences to mitigate extreme temperatures,” means it will suffer seriously.

Because residents of many of the affected regions are “unaccustomed to warmer weather compared to their normal climate,” the risks they face from extreme heat are significant.

The study found that in June 2021, a heatwave in Portland, Oregon that saw temperatures soar to 116°F over five days — 20°F above typical highs — resulted in the deaths of 60 people. An extreme heat event of 2053 temperatures spanning much of the Midwest would likely result in a significantly higher number of deaths and hazards.

Although most climate change models tend to focus on annual averages, First Street founder Matthew Eby said it’s important to show the expected extremes of climate change to show the severity of real-world hazards.

“Rising temperatures on annual averages are widely discussed, but the focus should be on the extent of the extreme tail events expected in any given year,” Eby told Bloomberg.

The foundation released a tool alongside the study that allows people to enter their address to determine the risk factors their homes will face in the decades to come.

A home in Kentucky destroyed by the unprecedented floods that devastated the state in July

The study was released on the same day that a new poll found the number of Americans concerned about climate change has fallen in recent years.

The poll, compiled by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, found that while 35 percent of American adults are very or extremely concerned about how climate change will affect them, that number is down 9 percent from 2019.

The number of people who said they weren’t concerned about the effects of climate change on them increased by 7 percent.

The stunning new climate change data comes as the US has been hit by a series of extreme weather events, including unprecedented flooding that devastated communities across the country.

In June, severe flooding ravaged Yellowstone National Park in Montana and Wyoming, altering the landscape of the iconic preserve and leaving thousands of locals stranded and evacuated.

In just one week in July, three floods considered to be unique events in a thousand years hit St. Louis, Missouri, causing at least $10 million in damage in Illinois and killing at least 39 people in Kentucky.

Flooding also hit West Virginia and Tennessee, and just last week the Las Vegas Strip was inundated as desert rains battered the casino city.

How communities could mitigate future temperature extremes to stay safe during extreme heat

As severe heat events are expected to continue and become more extreme in the coming years, communities will be forced to adapt in ways other than simply turning up the air conditioning. According to a July BBC report, a number of communities around the world are already adopting the following measures:

• Painting roofs, streets, walls, sidewalks, and parking lots white helps keep things cool. Refinishing what would normally be a heat absorbing and radiant black with reflective white across an entire city could significantly reduce unnecessary heating bills

• Building waterways in cities and towns can do a lot to lower air temperatures in the area. Moving water absorbs heat without radiating it, while the evaporation process lowers the ambient temperature

• Planting more trees in cities not only provides invaluable shade, but canopies high above the ground reflect the sun and keep the streets cool. When the sun hits a tree’s leaves, water contained within them evaporates in a process known as “evapotranspiration,” causing surrounding areas to cool

• The principle of evapotranspiration can be enhanced by greening the roofs of buildings. Grass coverings and gardens on roofs would also serve the same purpose as painting a roof white and reduce the sun’s ability to heat buildings

• China holds drills near Taiwan while US lawmakers visit
• China shares images of Taiwan’s strategically important Penghu Islands
• President of Taiwan: committed to maintaining stability

BEIJING/TAIPEI, Aug 15 (Portal) – China’s military said it held further drills near Taiwan on Monday as a group of U.S. lawmakers visited the island claimed by China and met President Tsai Ing-wen, who said her government is committed to maintaining stability.

The five U.S. lawmakers, led by Senator Ed Markey, arrived in Taipei late Sunday for an unannounced visit, the second high-level group to visit after U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in early August, who met several Days on the way made Chinese war games.

The Chinese military unit in charge of the area bordering Taiwan, the People’s Liberation Army East Theater Command, said it organized joint combat readiness patrols and combat drills with multiple services in the sea and airspace around Taiwan on Monday.

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The exercises are “a stern deterrent to the United States and Taiwan, which continue to play political tricks and undermine cross-strait peace and stability,” she added.

China’s Defense Ministry said in a separate statement that the lawmaker’s trip violated China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and “completely bared the true face of the United States as a spoiler and spoiler of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”

“The Chinese People’s Liberation Army continues to train and prepare for war, resolutely defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and will resolutely crush any form of ‘Taiwan-independence’ separatism and foreign interference.”

The theater command said the drills took place near Taiwan’s Penghu Islands, which lie in the Taiwan Strait and is home to a major air force base, and showed close-up views of the islands captured by a Chinese air force plane.

Meeting with lawmakers at her office, Tsai said China’s drills have greatly impacted peace and stability in the region.

“We are working closely with international allies to closely monitor the military situation. At the same time, we are doing everything we can to let the world know that Taiwan is committed to maintaining stability and the status quo across the Taiwan Strait,” she said, in video footage made available by the presidential office.

Markey told Tsai that “we have a moral obligation” to do everything we can to prevent unnecessary conflict.

“Taiwan has shown incredible restraint and discretion in difficult times,” he added.

Amphibious armored vehicles under the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) take part in an assault wave formation exercise in Zhangzhou, Fujian province, China, August 14, 2022. cnsphoto via Portal

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Taiwan’s defense ministry said 15 Chinese planes crossed the Taiwan Strait median line Monday, an unofficial barrier between the two, adding it condemned China’s new drills and would face them “calmly.”

UNOBTRUSIVE

Pelosi’s visit infuriated China, which responded with initial ballistic missile test launches over Taipei and dropped some lines of dialogue with Washington, including military talks and on climate change.

That trip was much more low-key than Pelosis’s, however, as Tsai’s meeting with lawmakers was not livestreamed on her social media pages, which is the common practice when visiting high-ranking foreign guests.

The group left Taiwan late Monday afternoon, and only after that did the Presidential Office release footage of the meeting with Tsai.

It wasn’t immediately clear where they were going.

The de facto US embassy in Taipei said it also met with Foreign Minister Joseph Wu and members of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee of Taiwan’s parliament.

“Authoritarian China cannot dictate how democratic Taiwan makes friends,” Wu said on Twitter of their meeting.

The United States has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, but is required by law to provide the democratically-ruled island with the means of self-defense.

China has never ruled out using force to take control of Taiwan. Taiwan’s government says the People’s Republic of China has never ruled the island and therefore has no right to claim it, and that only its 23 million residents can decide its future.

Taiwan Premier Su Tseng-chang said they would not be put off by China’s reaction to such visits from foreign friends.

“We can’t just do nothing because there’s a bad neighbor next door and don’t dare let visitors or friends come,” he told reporters.

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Reporting by Ryan Woo and Ben Blanchard in Taipei; Edited by Himani Sarkar, Robert Birsel and Raissa Kasolowsky

Our standards: The Thomson Portal Trust Principles.