Internal – USMAIL24.COM

According to an internal Israeli report, a fifth of the remaining hostages have died.

Sabir Ansary — Tue, 06 Feb 2024 17:47:33 +0000

More than a fifth of the remaining hostages held in Gaza are dead, according to an internal assessment conducted by the Israeli military.

Israeli intelligence officers have concluded that at least 32 of the remaining 136 hostages captured by Hamas and its allies on October 7 have been killed since the war began, according to a confidential assessment reviewed by The New York Times. The families of the 32 hostages whose deaths have been confirmed have been informed, according to four military officials who spoke anonymously to discuss a sensitive matter.

The four officials said agents were also assessing unconfirmed intelligence indicating that at least 20 other hostages may also have been killed.

The figure of 32 is higher than any previous figure publicly available to Israeli authorities revealed of hostages who are dead. In a response to a request for comment, the Israeli military said most of the dead were killed on October 7.

The news is likely to worsen fury in Israel, where a debate over the Gaza government's handling of the hostages has been divisive.

More than 240 hostages were captured by Hamas and its allies during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, prompting Israel to retaliate with massive airstrikes and then a ground invasion.

About half the hostages have been released, almost all during a temporary ceasefire in November, when they were exchanged for 240 Palestinian prisoners and detainees held in Israeli prisons.

Since that ceasefire, the Israeli government has said its military operations in Gaza would pave the way for further hostage releases. Officials have argued that any Israeli military success puts Hamas under more pressure to negotiate a new exchange, and makes the military better able to rescue remaining prisoners by force.

But dozens of survivors and families of the hostages have said the military campaign is endangering the lives of their loved ones. They want the government to make it a priority to reach a new hostage deal, rather than continuing with the invasion for fear of their relatives being killed in crossfire. Only one hostage has been released by an Israeli military rescue operation. At least three were accidentally killed by Israeli soldiers.

Asked for comment, the Israeli military said in a statement that it was “using all available resources to locate and retrieve as much information as possible regarding the hostages currently held by Hamas.”

The post According to an internal Israeli report, a fifth of the remaining hostages have died. appeared first on USMAIL24.COM.

An internal ABC report shows the national broadcaster spent most of its time speaking to Yes campaigners ahead of the Voice referendum – before the majority of the country voted No

Albert Elence — Mon, 04 Dec 2023 18:27:48 +0000

By Max Aitchison for Daily Mail Australia

Published: 08:56 EST, December 4, 2023 | Updated: 12:52 EST, December 4, 2023

An internal ABC review has found that coverage of the Voice referendum was dominated by Yes supporters.

The national broadcaster’s 2023 Voice to Parliament Referendum report found that 51 per cent of votes appearing on the ABC during referendum coverage were in favor of a yes vote.

In contrast, only 23 percent of ABC-backed speakers were in favor of a no vote, with the rest neutral or undecided. The Australian reported.

More than 60 percent of Australians supported the No campaign in the October 14 referendum, while only 40 percent voted Yes.

The report, compiled by editorial policy manager Mark Maley and published on Monday, found the ABC received 383 complaints about its coverage of the referendum – more than 80 per cent of which related to claims of bias or lack of balance.

The national broadcaster’s 2023 Voice to Parliament Referendum report shows that 51 percent of those appearing on the ABC during its referendum coverage were in favor of a Yes vote (photo: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during a Yes vote campaign event)

Only 121 complaints were investigated and only four were upheld.

It is unclear what exactly those complaints were.

The report also said that balance was not necessary.

“Teams were explicitly told that a 50/50 balance between advocates was not required,” Mr Maley said.

‘The aim was to ensure that the public on all platforms was presented with the main arguments for and against the positions in the referendum within a reasonable time.

‘This worked.’

The report praised Radio National’s breakfast show, led by Q+A presenter Patricia Karvelas, for its ‘influential role in media reporting’.

The report praised Radio National’s breakfast show, led by Q+A presenter Patricia Karvelas (pictured), for its ‘influential role in media reporting’.

“Notable interviews included: Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, Noel Pearson, Marcia Langton, Tony Abbott and Anthony Albanese,” Mr Maley said in the report.

The review also said that RN’s reporting, including on the programs Late Night Live and Between the Lines, “sought a diversity of perspectives.”

The latter is presented by academic and respected news editor Tom Switzer, often described as one of the ABC’s few conservative voices.

He recently announced he is leaving ABC, with an insider suggesting Switzer had “ruffled feathers” with his choice of guests.

The report also addressed the ABC’s problems with its coverage of the Garma Festival in north-east Arnhem Land in August, celebrating indigenous culture.

The report also addressed the ABC’s problems with its coverage of the Garma Festival in north-east Arnhem Land in August, celebrating indigenous culture. A special QA episode, filmed at the festival and presented by David Speers (pictured), led to the ABC issuing an embarrassing statement after a guest falsely accused the N campaign of using ‘AI-generated aborigines’ in their adverts

“Indigenous and planning teams knew it would include mostly Yes perspectives, so they did their best to include other voices,” the report said.

Prominent No campaigner Warren Mundine pulled out of a special Q+A episode filmed in Garma moderated by Insiders presenter David Speers.

At the time, the ABC was forced to issue an embarrassing statement after the Garma show made false claims that the official ‘No’ campaign used ‘AI-generated aborigines’ in their ads.

The post An internal ABC report shows the national broadcaster spent most of its time speaking to Yes campaigners ahead of the Voice referendum – before the majority of the country voted No appeared first on USMAIL24.COM.

The Supreme Court appears wary of internal SEC tribunals

Sabir Ansary — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 20:55:45 +0000

The conservative majority of the Supreme Court seemed receptive Wednesday to an attack on one of the key ways the Securities and Exchange Commission enforces securities fraud laws.

The agency, like other regulators, pursues some enforcement actions in internal tribunals rather than in federal courts. The practice has been criticized, especially by conservatives, for several reasons, including the fact that it violates the constitutional right to a jury trial, the separation of powers and fundamental fairness.

“The government can deprive you of your assets, your money, and significant sums of money,” Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh said during oral arguments Wednesday, “in a tribunal that is seen, at the very least, as not being impartial in the sense that it is an internal court. executive agency where the commissioners initiate the enforcement process, supervise the enforcers and then appoint the arbitrators and review the ruling. That does not seem to be a neutral process.”

The case, Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy, No. 22-859, is one of many challenges this term to the power of administrative agencies, long a target of the conservative legal movement. The court heard arguments in October about the constitutionality of how the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is funded. In January, it will consider overruling the Chevron Doctrine, a fundamental principle of administrative law that requires judicial deference to agencies’ reasonable interpretations of statutes.

Wednesday’s argument focused on a key difference between proceedings in administrative tribunals and proceedings in federal courts: only the latter guarantee suspects a constitutional right to a jury.

Justice Neil M. Gorsuch said the difference was crucial. “The right to a jury trial, whether criminal or civil,” he said, “is a very important fundamental freedom in American society and a check on all branches of government.”

Brian H. Fletcher, an attorney for the agency, said the two procedures serve different purposes with different rules. In administrative tribunals, he said, the government protected the rights of the public in general. “We are trying to defend the public’s right to fair and honest markets,” he said.

When the rights of the public are at stake, he said, the right to a jury trial is guaranteed by the Seventh Amendment in “lawsuits” was not applicable.

Judge Amy Coney Barrett said the court failed to draw an administrative line on this issue. “Our cases were not very clear on how to distinguish public from private rights,” she said.

But Judge Kavanaugh said the right to a jury is even more important in cases brought by the government.

“What’s the point of saying that the full constitutional protections apply when a private party sues you,” he asked, “but we’re going to override those basic constitutional historical protections when the government comes after you for the same money?”

The case concerns George Jarkesy, a hedge fund manager accused of misleading investors. The SEC filed a civil enforcement action against him before an administrative law judge employed by the agency, who ruled against Mr. Jarkesy. After an internal appeal, the agency ultimately ordered him and his company to pay a $300,000 civil penalty and spend $685,000 on what it said were illegal profits.

Mr. Jarkesy appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans. A divided panel of three judges from that court ruled against the agency on three different grounds, all with the potential to disrupt enforcement of not only securities laws but many other types of regulations.

Wednesday’s argument, which lasted about two and a half hours, focused almost entirely on that first argument, about the right to a jury trial. It only briefly addressed the appeals court’s ruling that the agency’s judges were excessively shielded from presidential oversight, and not at all the third position, that Congress could not let the agency decide for itself where to file lawsuits.

S. Michael McColloch, a lawyer for Mr. Jarkesy, said that “the right to a jury trial should especially apply when the government is pursuing a citizen for punishment.”

Deliberations by agencies without a jury are common, Mr. Fletcher said, adding that there are “two dozen agencies that have the authority to impose sanctions in administrative proceedings.”

Several justices appeared wary of a ruling that would be too broad and impact actions by, for example, the Federal Trade Commission, the Internal Revenue Service, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Social Security Administration, the National Labor Relations Board or the Occupational Safety and Health. Administration.

A broad ruling for Mr. Jarkesy could be “quite dramatic,” according to Judge Sonia Sotomayor.

The judges spent much of the discussion wrestling a 1977 Supreme Court decision with some saying they fully supported the government’s position.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said government agencies have much more power today, suggesting the precedent warrants a new investigation. “The scale of the impact of government agencies on daily life today is vastly more important than it was 50 years ago,” he said.

Justice Elena Kagan countered that the 1977 decision required a ruling by the agency, adding that it had not been challenged in the intervening decades. “No one has had the, you know, chutzpah,” she said, “to quote my people.”

The post The Supreme Court appears wary of internal SEC tribunals appeared first on USMAIL24.COM.

The Biden campaign was hardly shocked: the internal polls were also worrying.

Sabir Ansary — Mon, 06 Nov 2023 15:10:38 +0000

The sour numbers for President Biden in the new polls from battleground states from The New York Times and Siena College came as no surprise to officials in his re-election campaign.

The campaign’s internal polling in recent weeks had shown Biden losing ground among voters of color, a key Democratic Party constituency, and trailing former President Donald J. Trump in key battleground states.

On Sunday, the Biden campaign circulated talking points among its surrogates that downplayed the relevance of polls in general, questioned how many voters are tuned into the 2024 presidential contest a year before Election Day and offered a reminder that past presidents have had poor approval ratings before. be re-elected.

“Our campaign is being built to win an election in November 2024 – not the next New York Times poll,” said Kevin Munoz, spokesman for the Biden campaign.

Biden aides pointed to it an excerpt from Donna Brazilethe veteran Democratic operative, delivering an authorized “don’t worry” message during a Sunday morning appearance on the ABC program “This Week.”

“I am old enough to remember when Ronald Reagan was gunning for re-election in 1980,” Ms. Brazile said. “I’m old enough to remember when Bill Clinton was on the back foot, and Barack Obama was laughed at just before the 2012 re-election. Don’t count out Joe Biden.”

The post The Biden campaign was hardly shocked: the internal polls were also worrying. appeared first on USMAIL24.COM.

Chhattisgarh IED Blast: BSF operative and several polling station members injured

Sabir Ansary — Mon, 06 Nov 2023 13:24:58 +0000

A joint party of BSF and District Force went from Marbeda camp to Rengaghati Rengagondi polling station with four polling teams from Chhotebetiya police station in Kanker district.

Answers

Chhattisgarh: A BSF officer and two polling station members were injured in an IED blast that took place in Kanker today. A joint party of BSF and District Force went from Marbeda camp to Rengaghati Rengagondi polling station with four polling teams from Chhotebetiya police station in Kanker district. The injured are being treated and their condition is said to be normal according to police, news agency ANI said.

BJP leader killed just three days before polls

Just a few days ago, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader was allegedly killed by the Maoists in Chhattisgarh’s Narayanpur district just three days before the first phase of assembly elections, police said on Saturday. According to police, Ratan Dube was attacked by the Maoists when he was campaigning for a BJP candidate in Kaushaltar area of Narayanpur district.

A group of Maoists attacked him with an ax when Dube interacted with the people. Dube was the president of the BJP’s Narayanpur district unit. After the incident, a team of police rushed to the spot. However, no arrest has been made so far. A search was underway.

Chhattisgarh Assembly Election 2023: Election and Counting Dates

Voting date: November 7, 2023 and November 17, 2023
Date of count: Sunday December 3, 2023

Chhattisgarh Assembly Election 2023: Other Important Dates

Date of issuance of Gazette Notice (Ph-1): October 13, 2023 (Friday)
Date of issuance of Gazette Notice (Ph-2): October 21, 2023 (Saturday)
Last date of nominations (Ph-1): October 20, 2023 (Friday)
Last date of nominations (Ph-2): October 30, 2023 (Monday)
Date for examination of nominations (Ph-1): October 21, 2023 (Saturday)
Date for examination of nominations (Ph-2): October 31, 2023 (Tuesday)
Last date for withdrawal of applications (Ph-1): October 23, 2023 (Monday)
Last date for withdrawal of applications (Ph-2): November 2, 2023 (Thursday)
Poll date (Ph-1): November 7, 2023 (Tuesday)
Date before which election will be completed: December 5, 2023 (Tuesday)

The post Chhattisgarh IED Blast: BSF operative and several polling station members injured appeared first on USMAIL24.COM.

Whip Jan Fran leaks internal email from SBS news director instructing staff to be ‘balanced’ in reporting on Israel-Palestine war

Albert Elence — Sun, 05 Nov 2023 03:03:52 +0000

SBS star Jan Fran has lashed out at the mainstream media, sharing an old email from a news director who instructed staff on how to report on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Fran, whose full name is Jeanette Francis, used an Instagram post on Sunday to leak an email from SBS instructing reporters to use neutral terms about the fighting.

“We have to be very careful with the terminology and figures we use in our reports,” said the email, which dated from an Israeli raid on Gaza in 2012.

Fran said reporters have been told not to call the Palestinian territories “occupied” or “disputed” but instead to use only geographical terms.

Fran, who is also a presenter for the ABC, took aim at the journalism industry, labeling it an ‘evil, biased, agenda-driven institution controlled by lobby groups’.

SBS and ABC reporter and journalist Jan Fran has criticized media attempts to remain ‘balanced’ on the war between Israel and Hamas

Fran said she has seen several newsrooms conscientiously ensure that each interview is balanced from one side by airing an interview of equal length from the other side with roughly the same emotional tone.

This is what “the noble pursuit of impartiality and balance looks like in my profession,” Fran writes.

“Good journalism, we are told, is impartial. It doesn’t take sides,” she said.

It shows ‘that both parties are complicit in the horror’.

She said the staff email makes it clear that some of this is to avoid backlash, which Fran calls a “headache” for “understaffed” organizations.

“We are being closely watched from both sides and any mistakes or perceived imbalance will bring the inevitable stream of complaints,” the email said.

However, Fran said that balance is largely sought for balance’s sake.

“It is fair, confident that it acts ethically in its pursuit of fair and balanced reporting,” she wrote.

“It’s doing something good, the only thing it can do.”

However, Fran accused some unnamed media outlets of being compromised.

“I don’t blame those who look at coverage of Israel/Palestine and think the mainstream media is an evil, biased, agenda-driven institution controlled by lobby groups. That’s possible,” she said.

She argued that efforts to be “unbiased” could even have the opposite effect of helping one side over the other.

In a long Instagram post, Fran leaked some of the guidelines that SBS reporters are given to report on the conflict

“What if, in pursuit of these righteous goals, we obscure the truth and exercise power over the powerful? she asked.

She stated that close reports from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and a UN special rapporteur had called Israel’s action against the Palestinians “apartheid.”

“States that choose to take Israel into account will find themselves on the wrong side of history,” Fran quotes from the 2022 Amnesty report.

Although Fran admits that ‘apartheid’, the system of racial segregation practiced in South Africa, is a ‘loaded’ word, she says the conclusion is ‘drawn from decades of research and evidence gathered by aid agencies on the ground’.

With this in mind, she argues that “balanced” reporting distorts the truth.

“If the world can view Israel/Palestine as a ‘conflict’ between two sides, despite mounting, readily available evidence showing a gross asymmetry of power and authority, who does that serve?” she writes.

“In whose interest is it that journalists do not use the word ‘occupied’ to describe the Palestinian territories?”

Smoke rises from the Gaza city of Beit Hanoun as Israel continues its military action against Hamas

She said that while some media might continue to pursue balance to avoid complaints, “some will do so in blissful ignorance, unaware that in their dogged pursuit of balance, the first casualty is the truth.”

“The great irony in pursuing this balance is that they may have done the very thing they tried so hard not to do, and they have chosen a side,” she writes.

The post has generated more than 3,000 likes and mainly positive comments.

“Jan says the media needs to report with more truth – instead of trying to present both sides as if they are both valid points of view,” one comment read.

“When good people remain silent, they join the side of the oppressor.”

Israel’s military action in the Gaza Strip in response to Hamas’ bloody invasion on October 7 is estimated to have claimed more than 9,000 Palestinian lives.

The post Whip Jan Fran leaks internal email from SBS news director instructing staff to be ‘balanced’ in reporting on Israel-Palestine war appeared first on USMAIL24.COM.

Searchers for Titanic Tourist Sub Heard ‘Banging’ From Area, Internal Comms Reveal

Albert Elence — Wed, 21 Jun 2023 02:51:10 +0000

Hope of finding the Titan five – the crew on board a missing sub on an expedition to the Titanic shipwreck – have grown after rescue groups reported ‘signs of life’ and ‘banging sounds.’

A Canadian Aircraft, part of the enormous search mission looking for the missing Titanic tourists, heard ‘banging’ at 30-minute intervals in the area the submarine disappeared.

The banging was noted in emails exchanged with the US Department of Homeland Security and seen by Rolling Stone.

Richard Garriot de Cayeux, President of The Explorers Club, confirmed in a Tuesday night social media post that ‘there is cause for hope.’

In a statement he said: ‘We have much greater confidence that 1) There is cause for hope, based on data from the field – we understand that likely signs of life have been detected at the site.’

It’s unclear when the banging sounds were hurt, and officials have not confirmed the reports or said they have found the crew that has been stuck in the deep Atlantic Ocean since the submersible launched Sunday and quickly lost contact with others.

A Canadian Aircraft heard ‘banging’ at 30-minute intervals in the area the submarine disappeared, a leaked memo suggests

Last known sighting: The Titan was pictured just before it embarked on the dive into the Atlantic Ocean to view the Titanic shipwreck

Billionaire Hamish Harding, French explorer Paul-Henri Nargeolet, OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush and Shahzada Dawood, 48, a UK-based board member of the Prince’s Trust charity, and his son Sulaiman Dawood, 19, are reported to be the people stuck in the sub.

The DHS memo on the banging sounsd read: ‘RCC Halifax launched a P8, Poseidon, which has underwater detection capabilities from the air,’ the DHS memo read, ‘reported a contact in a position close to the distress position.

‘The P8 heard banging sounds in the area every 30 minutes. Four hours later additional sonar was deployed and banging was still heard.’

The timing – or cause – of the banging is not revealed by the memo.

Garriot de Cayeux added The Explorers Club are confident the U.S. Coast Guard ‘precisely understand the experienced personnel and tech we can deeply’ and ‘believe they are doing everything possible with all resources they have’.

One of the five men on the ship, Harding, is a founding member of the Board of Trustees for the Explorers Club.

The group said they have a direct lines to Congress, The Coast Guard, Air Force and Nave and the White House.

A DHS announcement also stated that ‘the Joint Rescue Coordination Centre is working to find an underwater remote-operated vehicle through partner organizations to possibly assist.’

A massive search operation remains underway to find the missing OceanGate submersible, the Titan, after it lost contact with the mothership during its descent to the shipwreck on Sunday morning.

Rear Admiral John Mauger, who is helping coordinate the search, said it could be stuck.

‘We don’t have equipment onsite that can do a survey of the bottom,’ Mauger said on Tuesday.

‘There is a lot of debris, so locating it will be difficult. Right now, we’re focused on trying to locate it.’

Royal Navy Rear Admiral Chris Parry likened the bottom of the Atlantic to ‘being in space’, saying: ‘It’s utterly dark down there, and you have also got a lot of mud and other stuff getting swept up. You can only see about 20 feet in front of you with searchlights. There are very strong ocean currents which are pushing you along.’

The missing OceanGate submersible, the Titan, lost contact with the mothership during its descent to the shipwreck on Sunday morning

At 9.45am – an hour and 45 minutes into the dive – it lost contact with its mothership, the Polar Prince. But it wasn’t reported as missing to the US Coast Guard until 5.40pm, eight hours later. Canada ‘s Coast Guard wasn’t alerted until even later – 9.13pm on Sunday night.

The 21ft submersible has an oxygen supply of up to 96 hours but it is thought the crew of five have just 40 hours of breathable air left

The Coast Guard is coordinating the enormous search for the missing OceanGate submarine

Among those taking part in the expedition is billionaire Hamish Harding (pictured), CEO of Action Aviation in Dubai. He excitedly posted to social media about being there on Sunday

The search site is some 900 miles off the coast of Cape Cod, 400 miles southeast of Newfoundland. Getting there is a difficult enough feat without finding the missing sub beneath the ocean surface

If the mini-sub has lost power, with no working propellers, lights or heating, its five passengers will be in total darkness in temperatures of around 3C (37F) as the doomed craft rolls along the seabed.

Oceanographer and Titanic expert David Gallo said: ‘Where is it? Is it on the bottom, is it floating, is it mid-water? That is something that has not been determined yet.

‘The water is very deep – two miles plus. It’s like a visit to another planet. It is a sunless, cold environment and high pressure.’

The basic problem is that the submersible, Titan, has stopped transmitting signals, making it almost impossible to locate. It is supposed to send a sonar ‘ping’ (radar and GPS not functioning underwater) to mothership Polar Prince every 15 minutes, but the last one was at 9.45am on Sunday – an hour and 45 minutes into the dive as it was floating right above the Titanic.

For some reason, OceanGate Expeditions, the company that runs the tours of the Titanic, took eight hours to call the coastguard on Sunday. It was reported to the US Coastguard at 5.40pm, and Canada’s Coastguard was alerted even later, at 9.13pm.

Among those taking part in the expedition is billionaire Hamish Harding, CEO of Action Aviation in Dubai, and Shahzada Dawood, 48, a UK-based board member of the Prince’s Trust charity, and his son Sulaiman Dawood, 19.

The submarine’s oxygen supply was estimated at 96 hours, which gives rescue teams until Thursday morning to find the vessel.

TIMELINE OF EVENTS: The Titan lost contact with the surface sparking panic. All timings given in BST, five hours ahead of EST.

French Navy veteran PH Nargeolet (left) is believed to be taking part in the expedition, along with Stockton Rush (right), CEO of the OceanGate Expedition

‘Passengers have to sign a waiver which mentions DEATH three times’

A former Titan passenger has revealed how adventurers have to sign a waiver warning them of deadly risks before embarking on the submarine.

Mike Reiss, a New York-based writer who travelled on the Titan to the Titanic wreckage last year, said that communication failures were commonplace.

He told the BBC: ‘I have taken three different dives with this company, one at the Titanic and two others and you almost always lost communication.’ He added: ‘Nobody walked into this with any illusions. You sign a waiver before you even get on the boat. It mentions death, and three different ways you can die, on page one.

‘If, in the worst case, they are down at the bottom of the ocean, I can’t see how anyone can get to them, much less rescue them.’

As families wait in agony for news, OceanGate, who started dives to the Titanic in 2021, are facing questions after it emerged the Titan suffered electrical damage and had to be rebuilt for not being able to withstand the ocean before it vanished.

The tourist company responsible for the missing submersible also took eight hours to report it to the Coast Guard after it lost contact an hour and 45 minutes into its descent on Sunday, the DailyMail.com revealed yesterday.

By yesterday, a fleet of US and Canadian rescue ships and aircraft had swarmed to the scene, along with a growing number of private vessels.

Speaking at search headquarters in Boston, Captain Jamie Frederick of the US Coastguard announced: ‘Those search efforts have not yielded any results.’

But last night some of the commercial vessels with specialist underwater drones were sending them down. Frederick offered his ‘most heartfelt thoughts and prayers’ to the lost crew and their loved ones, and pledged they were doing ‘everything possible’. But he admitted the rescuers were entering the final hours.

When he was asked ‘Even with that amount of time left, if you were to find the submersible at this moment, would that give you enough time to save those five people on board?’ he replied: ‘I don’t know the answer to that question. All I know is we will do everything within our power to effect a rescue.’

The Titanic wreckage lies at 12,500ft, and Titan was one of the only craft in the world capable of reaching it. Even nuclear submarines cannot safely go that deep. Deep water dive specialists are assisting coastguards in the ‘unique and challenging’ operation, said Frederick.

Standing on a dockside, he told reporters: ‘Getting salvage equipment on scene is a top priority. It is very heavy equipment, it is very complex, but the best experts are on scene. If the sub is located, the experts will look at the best course of action for recovering the sub.’

Among the equipment is a decompression chamber for the five passengers should they be brought to the surface.

A thrill-seeker who intended to join billionaire Hamish Harding on the missing Titanic sub pulled out of the dive because he thought OceanGate was ‘cutting too many corners’, it has emerged.

Chris Brown, 61, had paid the deposit to go on the doomed voyage, but says he changed his mind after becoming concerned by the quality of technology and materials used in the vessel, The Sun reported on Tuesday night.

Among his concerns were OceanGate’s use of ‘old scaffolding poles’ for the ballast and the fact that its controls were ‘based on computer game-style controllers’.

He told the newspaper that despite being ‘one of the first people to sign up for this trip’, he ultimately decided the ‘risks were too high’.

Who is Stockton Rush?

Seattle-born Rush, 61, founded OceanGate Expeditions in 2009 – after trying, and failing, to buy explorer and businessman Steve Fossett’s submersible, after the adventurer died in a 2007 plane crash.

As a young man, Rush was more interested in space than deep seas: At 19, he became the youngest jet transport-rated pilot in the world, qualifying with the United Airlines Jet Training Institute.

For the next three years he flew for Saudi Arabian Airlines on his summer holidays from his aerospace engineering course at Princeton.

From 1984 he worked with the US Air Force on F-15s and anti-satellite missile programs, with the aim of eventually taking part in the space program.

Rush obtained an MBA from Berkeley and went on to work for multiple companies, specializing in sonar, subsea technology and radars.

Stockton Rush, CEO of OceanGate

He built a Glasair III experimental aircraft which he flew regularly, and his own Kittredge K-350 two-man submersible.

Rush always intended to take tourists to the Titanic: in 2017, he said he planned to then branch out to excursions to hydrothermal vents or deep-sea canyons, and underwater battlefield tours.

He then hoped to work with oil and gas exploration.

In 2018, the Manned Underwater Vehicles committee of the Marine Technology Society, a 60-year-old trade group, warned that the ‘current ‘experimental’ approach’ of the company could result in problems ‘from minor to catastrophic.’

The company also fired David Lochridge, who was Director of Marine operations for the Titan project, after disagreeing with his demand for more rigorous safety checks on the submersible, including ‘testing to prove its integrity’.

Additionally, the company opted against having the craft ‘classed’, an industry-wide practice whereby independent inspectors ensure vessels meet accepted technical standards.

Brown added that he feels ‘really upset about Hamish’, who is among the five passengers on the submersible, called the Titan, that are currently missing.

Brown and Harding signed up for the then-£80,000 voyage after sharing a ‘few beers’ while holidaying on Sir Richard Branson’s Necker Island.

The pair paid the 10 per cent deposit for the trip, which has since more than doubled in price, while the Titan was still being developed, he claimed.

But Brown alleged that in the years that followed, he learned OceanGate had ‘missed key targets’ when depth-testing the submersible.

The multi-millionaire digital marketing tycoon found it concerning that the vessel was controlled by a modified Playstation controller.

He also is understood to have been worried by the technical issues and delays throughout the development process.

He told The Sun: ‘I found out they used old scaffolding poles for the sub’s ballast.

‘If you’re trying to build your own submarine you could probably use old scaffold poles. But this was a commercial craft.’

Brown, who says he is ‘not one to shy away from risk’, eventually emailed OceanGate and asked for a refund.

He is worried for his friend, but says Harding is not the panicking type. He believes the billionaire is likely keeping ‘extremely calm’ and ‘processing plans, schemes and ideas through his enormous brain’.

Brown said Harding will be ‘giving hope’ to the other passengers.

Marc Hagle, 74, and his wife Sharon, 73, went to space on Blue Origin’s fourth trip, in March 2022. They intended to visit the Titanic wreck with OceanGate, and paid in 2017, but sued in February this year for fraud

It has also emerged that a Florida couple sued the CEO of Titanic tourism company OceanGate Expeditions, accusing him of misleading them about their trip to visit the wreck and refusing to refund their $210,258 when they complained.

Marc and Sharon Hagle, who made their fortune in commercial real estate, are well known for their philanthropy and their adventurous spirit. In March 2022, they were on the fourth Blue Origin passenger space flight and became the first married couple to become space tourists.

In 2016, while on a trip to the South Pole, they decided their next adventure would be underwater. In 2017 they were announced as among the first customers for OceanGate, which was founded in 2009 by Seattle-born aviator and businessman Stockton Rush, now 61.

But they never got to take their trip, and in February this year sued Rush, accusing him of selling the adventure knowing it was not on schedule, and refusing to refund their cash.

The post Searchers for Titanic Tourist Sub Heard ‘Banging’ From Area, Internal Comms Reveal appeared first on USMAIL24.COM.

Richard Severo, Times Reporter in Internal Clash Over Book, dies at age 90

Sabir Ansary — Fri, 16 Jun 2023 17:51:57 +0000

Richard Severo, an award-winning reporter for The New York Times whose challenge of what he viewed as a sentencing transfer by the newspaper’s management became a cause célèbre among journalists in the 1980s, died June 12 at his home in Balmville, NY, in the Hudson Valley. He was 90.

His wife, Emóke Edith de Papp, said the cause was complications from Parkinson’s disease.

Throughout his Times career, from 1968 to 2006, Mr. Severo won a coveted George Polk Award from Long Island University in 1975 for reporting that millions of gallons of milk were produced by a New York State dairy cooperative, one of the largest in the nation, had been diluted with skim milk powder for more than five years while being sold as whole milk. He also won a Meyer “Mike” Berger Award from Columbia University for a report on an unmarried mother and the death of her child in 1977, and three Page One Awards from his union, the NewsGuild of New York.

But while reporting for the science section of The Times, Mr Severo clashed with his bosses when he decided to write a book based on his articles about a patient with neurofibromatosis – known as the “Elephant Man” disease – whose face was reconfigured after grueling surgery. .

Accounts of what happened next vary, but The Times, through its subsidiary Times Books, is said to have claimed first rights to the book because it was based on Mr Severo’s work for the paper. However, Mr. Severo, through his agent, had already started auctioning the rights to other publishers. Times Books eventually bid $37,500 (about $110,000 in today’s dollars), but Harper & Row won the rights with a bid of $50,000 (about $145,000).

The book, published in 1985 as “Lisa H: The True Story of an Extraordinary and Courageous Woman”, was described in The New York Times Book Review as “a sharp account”. But by then, Mr. Severo had been transferred to the capital bar, which he viewed as a demotion and retaliation for the book deal. Top editors at The Times said the move was because they had had enough of his constant complaining; Mr. Severo was known as a perfectionist, uncompromising and cantankerous.

The incident provoked an unusual public confrontation over a company’s prerogative to transfer an employee and the extent to which a news organization can claim ownership of a reporter’s articles if the reporter decides to write a book based on that work. The conflict was discussed not only in the news industry, but also outside it.

“Seldom at the pinnacle of journalism does a conflict between a reporter and his boss become as bitter and public as Richard Severo’s case against The New York Times,” wrote Eleanor Randolph in The Washington Post in 1984.

The boss was AM Rosenthal, the editor-in-chief, who was believed to be similar in temperament to Mr. Severo.

Four years of arbitration hearings followed, during which Mr. Severo took unpaid leave. Gradually, an internal revolt arose by a cadre of Pulitzer Prize winners when management demanded that Mr. Severo hand over his diaries and other personal papers. Finally, in September 1988, an arbitrator ruled in favor of The Times.

When he ended his leave, Mr. Severo returned and accepted the transfer to the metropolitan bar. He was later assigned to the obituary desk where he prepared many in-depth celebrity obituaries prior to their deaths.

(Under current Times policy, as set out in its “Ethical Journalism” handbook, the company requires staff who intend to write a non-fiction book based on their work for The Times to notify The Times in advance and refraining from accepting an offer from an outside publisher until The Times decides whether to make a competitive offer for the book.)

As a Times reporter earlier in his career, Mr. Severo went undercover in the Hunts Point section of the Bronx for four months to cover the heroin trade and its impact. In 1977, he wrote a cover story for The New York Times Magazine revealing that the nation’s first nuclear waste reprocessing plant was leaking nuclear waste into Lake Erie. And in 1979, he described the impact of the weed killer Agent Orange on US troops returning from Vietnam.

While on leave from the arbitration hearings, he wrote “The Wages of War: When America’s Soldiers Came Home: From Valley Forge to Vietnam” (1989), with Lewis Milford.

In his memoir “City Room” (2003), Arthur Gelb, a former metropolitan editor and editor-in-chief at The Times, called Mr. Severo “one of the most courageous reporters on my staff”.

Thomas Richard Severo, who was known as Dick, was born on November 22, 1932, in Newburgh, NY, to Thomas and Mary Theresa (Farina) Severo, Italian immigrants. His father owned a liquor store and his mother was a housewife.

After receiving a bachelor’s degree in history from Colgate University in 1954, Mr. Severo hired as a news assistant at CBS. He continued with a series of reports at The Poughkeepsie New Yorker, a now-closed Hudson Valley newspaper; The Associated Press in Newark, NJ; The New York Herald Tribune; and The Washington Post before The Times recruited him in 1968.

His wife, known as Mokey, is his only direct survivor.

The post Richard Severo, Times Reporter in Internal Clash Over Book, dies at age 90 appeared first on USMAIL24.COM.

Internal blast likely breached Ukrainian dam, experts say (cautiously)

Sabir Ansary — Wed, 07 Jun 2023 00:14:17 +0000

Ukraine appeared to be launching a long-awaited counter-offensive against Russian forces on Sunday, and its officials said Moscow blew up the dam to impede their advance by causing flooding and removing the only remaining river crossing between the enemies. However, it is not clear whether Ukraine’s plans call for a major crossing of the lower Dnipro.

Ukrainians wondered why they would want to destroy their own infrastructure, towns and farms, noting that these were often targets of ruthless Russian warfare. Moscow wanted to “show that they are ready for anything” if Kiev aggressively continues its counter-offensive, said Roman Kostenko, chairman of the defense and intelligence committee in the Ukrainian parliament. “They are doing everything they can to stop our counterattack.”

Kremlin spokesman Mr Peskov claimed that Ukraine destroyed the dam to cut off water flow through a canal from the Dnipro to the Crimean peninsula. After Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014, Ukraine shut down the flow, but Russia restarted it last year after capturing the dam.

Other Russian officials claimed the attack was intended to support a Ukrainian offensive they said was sputtering — possibly to allow Kiev to reposition some troops, or to allow floodwaters to push back Russian artillery near the river to insist.

Some Western military analysts issued a cautionary note about being quick to assign blame, or even saying whether the dam’s collapse was intentional.

“It’s too early to say,” said Michael Kofman, the director of Russian studies at CNA, a research institute in Arlington, Va. The disaster, he said, “ultimately benefits no one.”

Reporting contributed by Riley Mellen, Hayley Willis, Thomas Gibbons Neff, Paul Son, Andrew E. Kramer, Matthew Mpoke Bigg, Eric Schmitt And Victoria Kim.

The post Internal blast likely breached Ukrainian dam, experts say (cautiously) appeared first on USMAIL24.COM.