Rx_Hawk

Companies like Eli Lilly, Merck, GSK, Bristol-Meyers Squibb cause and perpetuate massive amounts of human suffering. I view them on the same level as Raytheon and Lockheed Martin. Input?

Police in Slovakia are trying to find out who sent more than 1,000 bomb threats to schools and other institutions on Tuesday.

Emails from an anonymous sender reportedly began arriving at 05:00, alleging that explosives were stored in hundreds of schools spanning the country's eight regions.

Classes were suspended as specialist teams investigated the alerts. The vast majority were sent to schools, but Slovakia's national police announced on social media that at least 110 banks and 40 electrical stores also received the bomb threats.

It comes after similar emails were reportedly sent to more than 120 schools in the Bratislava region last week, according to police.

In April, Slovakia's newly elected populist-nationalist leader, Robert Fico, pledged not to send "one more round of ammunition" to Ukraine.

… Mr Fico has refused to join about 20 countries that have signed up to a Czech-led operation to procure large quantities of artillery ammunition on the global arms market.

NASA astronauts will have to wait until another day to launch to orbit in the Boeing Starliner spacecraft. The planned launch was called off Monday night because of a problem in the Atlas V rocket that was to send them to space.

Engineers will work through the night to assess whether the two astronauts, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, can get back on the launchpad on Tuesday, or if repairs will be needed that could delay the flight by at least several days.

Before a door-size panel blew out of a Boeing 737 Max, leaving a gaping hole in the side of an Alaska Airlines aircraft shortly after takeoff; before whistleblowers came forward to say they were threatened for bringing up safety issues at the company; and before the Justice Department opened a criminal investigation into the blowout incident, Boeing was struggling with another set of issues, on another high-profile vehicle.

Its Starliner spacecraft, designed to fly astronauts to orbit under a $4.2 billion contract from NASA, had suffered a series of problems that put its launch with astronauts years behind schedule. Its onboard computer had failed during its first test flight. A second test flight was scrubbed after valves in the vehicle’s service module stuck and wouldn’t operate. Then, after the craft finally flew a test mission successfully without anyone on board, Boeing discovered that tape used as insulation on wiring inside the capsule was flammable and would need to be removed. The parachute system also had problems, which forced the company to redesign and strengthen a link between the parachutes and the spacecraft.

Now, a decade after NASA awarded Boeing a contract to fly astronauts to the International Space Station, Boeing will finally attempt to fly its Starliner spacecraft with people onboard. If all goes to plan, at 10:34 p.m. on Monday, the company is set to fly a pair of veteran astronauts, Sunita Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore, on a mission that will be one of the most significant tests for Boeing’s space division — and for NASA — in years.

I hate the privatization of space flight soooo much.

A decision by the Ukrainian government to suspend consular services for military-aged men living abroad has left some men uncertain about their futures.

Ukraine has canceled its consular services for all military-aged men living abroad. This means all Ukrainian men between the ages of 18 and 60 who reside outside of the country are currently not able to renew their passports or receive other important government documents such as marriage certificates.

Israeli forces have killed Adnan al Bursh, 50, who was the head of the orthopaedic department at al-Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza, a local non-governmental organisation has said.

One more detainee identified as Ismail Khader, 33, has also died at Israeli prisons, the Palestinian Prisoner Society said on Thursday.

Al Bursh was arrested by the Israeli army last December as he was treating patients at al-Adwa Hospital in northern Gaza.

The NGO said al Bursh lost his life at the Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank on April 19 and his body is still withheld by the Israeli forces, while Khader died in custody and his body was released at the Kerem Shalom crossing on Thursday.

"The two victims died of torture and crimes committed against Gaza detainees," the statement said.

A U.S. drone strike in Syria last year killed a 56-year-old shepherd after confusing him for a terrorist leader, an internal investigation concluded, underscoring the Pentagon’s persistent struggle to avoid unintentional casualties despite the Biden administration’s pledge to curb such incidents.

The new assessment by U.S. Central Command, which oversees American military activity throughout the Middle East, affirms a Washington Post investigation published a year ago that cast doubt on officials’ initial public claim to have slain a senior al-Qaeda figure. A summary of the investigation’s findings was provided to The Post ahead of an anticipated release later Thursday.

My new job has these Sailor Moon cans, didn’t get one today but I wonder which will be the best.

Also, no Sailor Jupiter?

Hala Rharrit, the Arabic-language spokeswoman for the US State Department, has resigned in protest against White House support for Israel’s war on Gaza.

Her resignation, effective Wednesday, was confirmed through her State Department biography page. The State Department is the US equivalent of other nations’ foreign ministries.

In a statement on the social networking site LinkedIn, Rharrit stated, “I resigned in April 2024 after 18 years of distinguished service in opposition to the United States’ Gaza policy. Diplomacy, not arms. Be a force for peace and unity.”

Rharrit worked for the State Department for almost two decades, including as the Deputy Director of the Dubai Regional Media Hub. She fulfilled assignments in various countries, including Yemen, Hong Kong, Qatar, and South Africa.

Rharrit is the third to submit her resignation to the State Department in protest of President Joe Biden’s and Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s Gaza policy.

CW