Category: Security

This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.

Despite criticism that it has saddled some countries with unsustainable levels of debt since being launched 10 years ago, Chinese leader Xi Jinping is expected to tout the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as a foreign policy success while showcasing it as an alternative development model to the West at a major summit in Beijing.

The third Belt and Road Forum will begin on October 17 and is set to be attended by representatives from around the world as China looks to cement the program championed by Xi as a key part of the country’s foreign policy.

“This is the 10-year anniversary for the first big foreign policy idea that Xi pushed out,” Raffaello Pantucci, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, told RFE/RL. “Everyone always focuses on individual projects, but [BRI] is ultimately a Chinese vision for how to engage with the world and Beijing is looking to celebrate that idea.”

Formally launched in 2013 following speeches by Xi in Kazakhstan and Indonesia shortly after he became China’s leader, the BRI has financed the construction of ports, power plants, railroads, highways, and other infrastructure projects and invested hundreds of billions of dollars in dozens of countries to boost trade and investment by improving China’s transport links with the rest of the world.

Ahead of the upcoming Belt and Road Forum — the first since 2019 — the Chinese government released a report praising the program’s accomplishments as a sustainable development model and framing it in opposition to the West, with Li Kexin, the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s director for international economics affairs, telling reporters on October 10 that the BRI “transcends the old mindset of geopolitical games and creates a new paradigm of international cooperation.”

Many experts say the BRI has directed much-needed funding to poorer countries, but that this has also come with a cost. Over the past decade it has grappled with scandals over corruption, environmental degradation, and contributing to a rising debt crisis in the Global South.

The BRI has seen the amount of financing decline since 2016 and fewer projects being funded following numerous high-profile scandals over soaring debts tied to projects that left host governments unable to make repayments, such as a nearly $1 billion highway in Montenegro and a port in Sri Lanka.

Analysts say these problems have led to Beijing becoming more risk-averse.

A study earlier in October by Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center said the BRI had delivered more than $330 billion in loans to developing countries through 2021, lending more than the World Bank in some years. But the study also noted that many recipients of Chinese loans are now struggling with their overall debt and that many Chinese-funded power plants abroad are greatly adding to greenhouse gas emissions.

Despite these obstacles, the BRI is far from fading away, Pantucci said, adding that Xi is likely to use the Belt and Road Forum to respond to these criticisms while enshrining the program as a “foundation within Xi’s foreign policy vision” for a “new global order where China is at the center.”

“The BRI was always a concept with very fluid goals and very fluid goal posts,” Pantucci said. “So, Beijing can move the goal posts and redefine what success looks like.”

What To Look For At The Forum

The BRI has been central to Chinese efforts to raise its international stature over the years and experts say Beijing will be looking to carefully manage the optics of the Belt and Road Forum.

Central to that will be ensuring a large delegation of attending officials from around the world.

Beijing has not released an official guest list yet, but the Chinese Foreign Ministry said “representatives from more than 130 countries as well as many international organizations” will attend. However, it’s unclear how senior these officials will be.

The first Belt and Road Forum in 2017 had 30 heads of state or government in attendance and the second gathering, in 2019, had 37. Beijing will be looking to grow that figure as it celebrates the BRI’s 10th anniversary, but it may face some difficulties, especially as many top officials around the globe find themselves dealing with the crisis between Israel and Hamas.

Ensuring strong representation across Europe may also be difficult. While pro-Beijing governments in Hungary and Serbia have said they will send high-profile delegations led by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Serbian President Aleksandr Vucic, it’s unclear who else will attend, particularly among European Union members.

European countries formed some of the largest contingents of leaders at the previous meetings, but fallout from China’s handling of the pandemic, its support for Russia since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and numerous scandals related to BRI projects have seen Beijing’s standing fall and ties fray. Italy, which was the only Group of Seven country to join the BRI, announced its intent earlier this year to withdraw from the program.

“A lot has happened since 2019 and many countries have been shocked by China’s leadership and how it’s navigated certain issues,” Niva Yau, a nonresident fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub, told RFE/RL. “This shift has now changed how China can use and market the [BRI]. It’s no longer seen simply as this public good that China is providing to the world.”

One world leader who confirmed his attendance long ago is Russian President Vladimir Putin, who will be making his first trip to China since his February 2022 invasion of Ukraine and is expected to raise a variety of issues with Xi, including the future of the much-sought-after Power of Siberia-2 gas pipeline.

In an October 15 interview in Moscow with the state-owned China Media Corporation, Putin praised Xi and the BRI and took aim at the West’s own history of development assistance across the world, saying the main difference for BRI is that “no one imposes anything on others” and that the program doesn’t have the same “colonialist flavor” as other projects.

Adapting For The Future

The BRI’s official goal since its launch a decade ago has been to boost trade and investment by improving China’s transport links with the rest of the world and to build up China’s economic and political influence in the process.

Yau says that while the BRI’s main narrative has been about building and funding infrastructure, the project itself shows that “China feels so confident about its own practices that it is ready to offer them to the world.”

“The BRI is much more than a global infrastructure and connectivity project. The BRI has instead communicated a clear Chinese conviction that China believes it’s ready to articulate its own vision and values to the world,” Yau said.

This attitude was on display ahead of the Belt and Road Forum, with a new Chinese government report on the BRI saying the program offered a new approach that wouldn’t look to “dominate world economic development, control economic rules, and enjoy development fruits.”

But Chinese officials also looked to respond to criticism against the BRI in the report, saying China would adhere to “the principle of sustainable debt” and work with indebted countries toward “a sustainable and risk-controllable investment and financing system.”

Christoph Nedopil, director of the Asia Institute at Griffith University in Australia, told RFE/RL that in response to debt crises in multiple countries and also because China has less money to lend as its own economy slows down, Chinese banks have become more selective of projects and partners and are increasingly prioritizing investments in renewable energy and digital initiatives that are seen as more likely to bring a return on investment.

Nedopil adds that this shift away from large-scale lending by Chinese policy banks seen in the early years of the BRI has coincided with an uptick of involvement from Chinese private companies in recent years that looks set to continue into the future.

“This is partly because Chinese banks might be turning their attention away from developing countries and toward the domestic market,” Nedopil said. “But lots of these private companies are now investing because they are far more competitive globally than they were when [the BRI] was originally launched.”

Costco Wholesale Corp. cannot be held liable for the fentanyl-related death of an employee who bought the drug from another co-worker in a transaction that did not occur at the store, the Indiana Court of Appeals has ruled.

A lawsuit was filed against Costco and an employee by Bobby Timbrook whose son Maxwell, 28, of Whitestown, died of fentanyl intoxication in 2020. The father claimed that Costco negligently hired and retained Kurt Russell, 53, although he had overdosed twice while working at Costco.

Maxwell Timbrook became addicted to narcotic pain medications due to injuries at work and in the military, according to court records. Costco helped him obtain rehabilitation following an overdose.

After returning to work, Timbrook purchased heroin from Russell. Timbrook died from fentanyl intoxication on Jan. 18, 2020. The drug transaction did not occur at Costco nor did Timbrook’s death.

After the lawsuit was filed, Costco moved to dismiss the complaint. A Marion Superior Court judge entered a summary judgment in favor of Costco. The appellate court upheld the local court decision.

Russell was the first person to be convicted in Boone County under a new law that holds drug dealers responsible for deaths caused by the drugs they sell. That law took effect in July 2018, and the only higher charge in Indiana is murder.

A Boone County jury found Russell guilty in August 2022, and Boone Superior Court I Judge Matthew Kincaid sentenced him in September 2022 to 25 years in prison. The sentence range for a level 1 felony is 20 to 40 years and up to a $10,000 fine.

Russell appealed his conviction in September 2022. He claimed the lower court abused its discretion by admitting evidence found on a cell phone. He also claimed the state didn’t prove he delivered fentanyl to Timbrook, nor that Timbrook died after ingesting fentanyl provided by Russell.

Cell phone records revealed a multi-text conversation that indicated Russell bought heroin from his dealer, quickly sold it to Timbrook, and threw in some Xanax at no charge because Timbrook had to wait longer than expected, police reported.

The court of appeals concluded in February that Boone County Prosecutor Kent Eastwood’s office presented sufficient evidence that Russell delivered fentanyl to Timbrook and Timbrook fatally overdosed after using it. The court also concluded that admitting evidence taken from Timbrook’s phone did not abuse the court’s discretion.

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(c) 2023 The Lebanon Reporter

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Oops … Britney Spears’ is about to hit hard at ex Justin Timberlake one more time.

According to sources, the “SexyBack” singer is “not going to be happy” when he sees what Spears has to say about him in her much-anticipated memoir, “The Woman in Me,” due out Oct. 24.

Noting that while “it’s not Britney’s intention to skewer anyone,” a source told Us Weekly that the book does “relay the facts from her perspective,” while another source says Spears “goes after [Timberlake] hard.”

Spears and the NSYNC breakout first met after getting cast on “The Mickey Mouse Club” in 1993, and later dated from 1999 to 2002 after they both hit it big. As depicted in the “Framing Britney Spears” doc, he and their relationship are perceived by some as having had a negative affect on Spears, for which Timberlake said in 2021 he was “deeply sorry.”

Fans are expecting to read all about what went down between the former couple, as well as Spears’ ongoing struggles with her family and lengthy conservatorship, terminated in late 2021.

Whether or not anything from the current year will be included in the book is yet to be seen, but it’s certainly been a tumultuous one for Spears.

In August, her third husband, Sam Asghari, filed for divorce after just 14 months of marriage. He called it quits after reportedly accusing Spears of violent outbursts and cheating on him with a house employee.

By mid-September, friends of Spears were concerned amid her rumored new relationship with former housekeeper and ex-con Paul Richard Soliz — though they quickly split.

Weeks later, she made headlines for posting bizarre videos of herself dancing with knives in hand. Though Spears insisted the blades were fake — and that she was “trolling” fans with the videos — concern from at least one person who knows her offline prompted a welfare check from the Los Angeles Police Department.

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© 2023 New York Daily News

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“Keep my wife’s name out your f— mouth,” were the eight words Will Smith screamed after slapping Chris Rock at the 2022 Academy Awards.

Jada Pinkett Smith was not expecting to hear those words that night — especially “wife.”

The “Set It Off” star recently shared that last year’s heated exchange between Smith and Rock surprised her in more ways than one during an interview with the “Today” show’s Hoda Kotb. “First of all, I’m really shocked … we haven’t called each other ‘husband’ and ‘wife’ in a long time. What is going on right now?” Pinkett Smith recalled the moment to Kotb.

Earlier this week, while promoting her upcoming memoir “Worthy,” Pinkett Smith revealed that she and Smith have been living separate lives since 2016. The former couple, who have gone through the official divorce process, share kids Jaden, 25, and Willow, 22.

Speaking to Kotb for an NBC News special set to air Friday at 8 p.m. Pacific time, Pinkett Smith revisited the infamous Oscars moment. She claimed that after the slap, comedian and Oscars host Rock apologized for his comment about her shaved head. Pinkett Smith lives with alopecia, which causes temporary or permanent hair loss.

“I’m just out of it ’cause I really worried about Will,” Pinkett Smith said. “Will’s still talking … now he’s mad because Chris is talking to me. And I go, ‘Chris, this is about some old s—.’”

On “Today,” Kotb explained that Smith invited his ex-wife to the Oscars because he thought it would be his “crowning moment.” Smith was a frontrunner for the actor in a leading role category for his work in “King Richard.” Smith ultimately won the award — but the Academy later decided to ban the actor from attending any Academy events or programs for 10 years.

In the years following their separation in 2016, Pinkett Smith, 52, and the “Bad Boys” actor, 55, faced rocky moments — including her “entanglement” with 31-year-old musician August Alsina. The former couple also kept up appearances at public events, including red carpets and awards shows.

The “Red Table Talk” host said, in another interview teaser shared Wednesday, that they did not want to go public with their separation as they were unsure how to present themselves to people.

When asked about why their marriage came to an end, Pinkett Smith told Kotb that after nearly 20 years of marriage, “We were just exhausted with trying.

“I think we were both just kinda stuck in our fantasy of what we thought the other person should be.”

“Worthy” hits shelves Oct. 17.

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© 2023 Los Angeles Times

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Piper Laurie, the Oscar- and Emmy-nominated actor who earned distinction in films such as “Carrie” and “Children of a Lesser God” and cult status in the quirky mystery drama series “Twin Peaks,” has died.

Laurie’s career spanned six decades, taking her from perky starlet roles during Hollywood’s golden era to a three-time Academy Award nominee who — despite the honors and accolades — repeatedly criticized what she saw as Hollywood’s superficiality.

Still acting until late in life, Laurie died Saturday morning in Los Angeles, her manager, Marion Rosenberg, confirmed. She was 91. An exact cause of death was not given.

“Ms. Laurie was one of the great talents of her generation, a true polymath and a very special human being,” Rosenberg said.

Born Rosetta Jacobs in Detroit on Jan. 22, 1932, she was painfully shy as a child but nevertheless knew she wanted to act. At 15, she lied her way into an acting class in Hollywood, then landed her first role at age 17 when someone from Universal spotted her. Thus began her early career as a token bombshell in one low-end picture after another.

In her first big role, 1950’s “Louisa,” she played the daughter of Ronald Reagan, whom — in real life —she later dated. (He was more than 20 years her senior.) Her character, Cathy Norton, was “ a caricature of a teenager,” she said.

Similar unremarkable roles kept coming her way — “Francis Goes to the Races,” “Son of Ali Baba” with Tony Curtis and “Ain’t Misbehavin’” with Rory Calhoun, among them. But she grew dissatisfied with the factory films the studio was churning out. As glamorous as the studio PR bosses tried to make her seem — posing her in swimsuits for publicity photos, telling the media her flawless skin was a result of eating flower petals and bathing in milk — she balked at being cast as a sex symbol.

“At the time I felt demeaned,” she said in a 1991 interview with United Press International. “But I was young, naive and frightened. I knew someday I would be a serious actress, but I didn’t know how. I was too shy to assert myself.”

She told the New York Times that she was told by the studio never to go outside without makeup, out of fear she wouldn’t look like a movie star. She also said the studio had simply given her a new name without consulting her.

At 23 she rebelled, breaking off her engagement to a man she said she realized she didn’t really want to marry and asking the studio to let her out of her contract.

“I was rebelling against everything I knew,” she told the L.A. Times in 2010. “My agent sent me a script, and it was a Western and the part was stupid and I said, ‘I can’t do it.’ I walked to the fireplace and dropped it in. I called my agent at home and said, ‘They can’t jail me. I don’t care what they do. I am not going to do this.’”

A week later, Universal let her out of her contract.

It proved more difficult to free herself from her sex-symbol status and the critics who berated her for turning her back on Hollywood. So she turned to theater and live television at a time when variety shows were coming into their own.

She set out for New York and got her break with a small part on “Robert Montgomery Presents” in 1955. She went on to appear in “The Glass Menagerie” on Broadway, the original “Days of Wine and Roses” with Cliff Robertson on “Playhouse 90” and “General Electric Theater.”

In 1961, she was cast as Paul Newman’s fragile girlfriend in “The Hustler,” which resulted in Oscar nominations for both. Though the film was heralded, Laurie said she found herself quickly typecast again.

“I got offers to play more girls like I played in ‘The Hustler,’ crippled and emotionally crippled girls,” she told the New York Times. “I started to turn things down, and after a while I realized nobody was offering me anything.”

So she turned her back on Hollywood again.

She married journalist Joe Morgenstern, moved to upstate New York and became a full-time homemaker and mother. She became politically active, campaigning for George McGovern’s presidency among other causes, and pursued her passion for sculpting, a hobby she continued until late in life.

“I became a mother. I sculpted. I baked a lot of bread. The Vietnam War started, and I just lost my interest in acting. I didn’t have my heart in it,” she told the L.A. Times. “It seemed so irrelevant.”

When director Brian De Palma called her about taking the role of the neurotic mother in his film “Carrie,” Laurie agreed to end her 15-year hiatus.

“I didn’t feel the life-or-death pressure I had put on myself,” she told the L.A. Times. “That’s not bad for a young actress to have, but being a mother and having some perspective about the world changes you and your values.”

Laurie earned an Oscar nomination for her performance in “Carrie” and then another for 1986’s “Children of a Lesser God.”

In 1981 she was cast as Magda Goebbels, the wife of Nazi Germany’s propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, in “The Bunker,” a made-for-television war movie that starred Anthony Hopkins as Hitler. She said, being a woman of Jewish descent, the role was difficult.

“I had a knot in my stomach the whole time I was reading [the script],” she told Pop Matter in 2012. “I had, even as a child, a violent response to Hitler as, I suppose you can call him a ‘human being,’ though I really don’t think he deserved that title. He was alive at one point, he was a person, but I just had nightmares about him when I was a little girl. It was kind of treacherous getting into this material and trying to empathize with such people.”

In 1986, she won an Emmy for supporting actress for her role in the miniseries “Promise” opposite James Garner and James Woods.

Her performance as Catherine Martell, the impervious lumber mill owner in director David Lynch’s “Twin Peaks,” also earned her a Golden Globe Award in 1991 and two Emmy nominations. When Martell disappeared from the series’ storyline, Laurie’s cast mates assumed the actress had been dropped from the series. But she later reemerged in the edgy show, unrecognizably, as the mustachioed Japanese businessman Fumio Yamaguchi.

“It was horrible. I couldn’t tell my friends or family what I was doing. David insisted it be kept a tight secret,” she told United Press International. “When Yamaguchi’s identity was finally revealed, everybody on the show, except for the six or seven in on the plot, was totally astounded.”

She was nominated for eight Emmys in all for her work on “Twin Peaks,” “St. Elsewhere” and “Frasier,” among others. She also made a guest appearance on “Will & Grace” and played George Clooney’s mother on “ER.”

She said the awards and nomination over the years were appreciated but ultimately meant little.

“I really didn’t care,” Laurie said in a 2015 interview with the Archive of American Television. “I just didn’t believe in awarding performances or judging performances, this job is better than that.”

In her candid 2011 memoir, “Learning to Live Out Loud,” which she wrote herself, the actress outlined her transformation from a withdrawn child into an outspoken woman. She revealed that her parents put her and her sister in a children’s asylum and that she lost her virginity to Reagan, and provided insight about a young Mel Gibson, who played her young lover in 1979’s “Tim.”

Later in life, she wrote and directed the short film “Property” and directed Jim Brochu’s one-man drama “Zero Hour” in 2011.

Asked if there was anything she missed about her early studio days, Laurie paused only briefly.

“There was a great salad in the commissary,” she said. “That’s the only thing I miss.”

Laurie is survived by her daughter, Anna Grace Morgenstern.

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© 2023 Los Angeles Times

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

In a strategic move amplifying the presence of the U.S. military in the Mediterranean, the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), known as a rapid response force, is currently on its way “to the waters off of Israel,” according to a defense official with knowledge about the military’s planning.

The latest move comes as tensions continue to rise with the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas that ignited earlier this month after Hamas terrorists attacked Israel. According to Military.com, the Pentagon’s decision to redirect the 26th MEU from its training in Kuwait is in conjunction with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s orders to enhance military capabilities in the region.

Among the skill sets of the 26th MEU are amphibious operations and crisis response. As the 26th MEU approach Israel’s waters, the precise mission remains ambiguous, though the Pentagon has hinted at the potential mobilization of other U.S. military assets to the region.

“The 26th MEU is currently headed to the waters off of Israel. Should they be ordered, they could participate in some type of operation in support of Israel,” a defense official told Military.com on Monday. This boost in maritime force is a testament to the U.S. commitment to deterrence and is the most significant show of force in the Mediterranean since last year’s events in Ukraine.

The MEU, distributed across three Navy ships — the USS Bataan, USS Mesa Verde, and USS Carter Hall — will join the USS Gerald R. Ford strike group, which includes the aircraft carrier, four accompanying destroyers, and a cruiser. Additionally, Austin has confirmed the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, escorted by its cruiser and two destroyers, will join theUSS Gerald R. Ford off Israel’s coast.

Further showcasing the United States’ strengthened position in the region, additional F-15E Strike Eagle and A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft were deployed in the Middle East last week. The Defense Department, while bolstering its presence in the region, has remained focused on deterrence rather than direct combat.

Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh reiterated the Biden administration’s focus on deterrence in the Middle East, leaving questions of legal authority to President Joe Biden and adding that the military’s current focus is “to strictly be in a position to deter.”

READ MORE: 2,000 US troops preparing for deployment to support Israel if needed, officials say

A military spokesperson confirmed to Military.com that the 26th MEU’s recent termination of its training in Kuwait was directly linked to the Israel-Hamas conflict. Capt. Joe Wright, a spokesperson for Marine Corps Forces Central Command, remarked that the early end to the training was “a prudent measure to remain ready and alert.”

According to Military.com the 26th MEU was previously deployed in the Middle East to help deter Iran from intimidating commercial vessels in the Persian Gulf. It recently was given the designation of “special operations capable” after an intensive pre-deployment training program.

Col. Dennis Sampson, the unit’s commander, highlighted the collaborative potential between special operators from Naval Special Warfare or MARSOC. “They can support us, we can support them, we can work together in support of a mission,” Sampson said.

While the Pentagon has not yet indicated whether special operations forces will be utilized in roles outside the bounds of intelligence-gathering and advising, Singh told reporters it is possible that U.S. special operations forces could assist in intelligence-gathering, if Israel initiated a ground incursion.

“If Israel were to launch a ground incursion … they would be engaging in hostage recovery — of course we’re going to be providing intelligence for them to do so,” Singh said.

This news article was partially created with the assistance of artificial intelligence and edited and fact-checked by a human editor.

Derion Kendrick, an NFL cornerback with the Los Angeles Rams, was arrested Sunday after Los Angeles police discovered an unregistered weapon in his vehicle just hours after the Rams beat the Arizona Cardinals.  

According to CBS News, Kendrick, age 23, was pulled over by Los Angeles Police Department officers for having illegally tinted windows on his vehicle. During the police stop, the officers found an open marijuana container, which resulted in a full vehicle search.

The police officers eventually discovered an unregistered firearm in Kendrick’s vehicle, resulting in the NFL cornerback being charged for a felony possession of a firearm in a vehicle.

According to The New York Post, Kendrick was booked at 2:14 a.m. on Monday at a Los Angeles County jail and was still in custody by Monday night.

READ MORE: Fmr. NFL wide receiver dies at 36

Rams Head Coach Sean McVay addressed reports of Kendrick’s arrest during a press conference on Monday.

“I think the first thing is, in all sincerity, you want to gather the appropriate information before you speak on things without knowing the totality of it all,” McVay said. “And there’s still information we’re gathering. There are still some things that don’t have full clarity and I think once you have that, then you can use these as opportunities to try to be able to educate and see exactly what happens.”

McVay went on to say he did not want to be “quick to pass judgement” on the Rams’ cornerback before all the details of the incident were released.

“I care about these guys a whole lot. I want to continue to help them make all the right decisions and try to avoid situations like this, but I also know that life isn’t perfect,” he said. “I’ve certainly made my mistakes and how can we continuously educate guys on how to avoid these, and then also understand all the layers that are involved in a situation like this before I dive deep into having an opinion and passing judgment.”

According to TMZ Sports, the Rams drafted Kendrick in 2022. This season, Kendrick has played an important role on the team’s defense, including Sunday’s 26-9 win over the Arizona Cardinals at SoFi Stadium where Kendrick played almost every down on defense.

In a tense standoff over international waters, a Chinese military jet took “aggressive” actions against a Canadian Armed Forces Aurora aircraft on Monday.

The Canadian aircraft was part of Operation NEON, Canada’s initiative in support of enforcing United Nations sanctions against North Korea, according to Global News.

Maj. Gen. Iain Huddleston, told Global News, “They became very aggressive and to a degree we would deem it unsafe and unprofessional.” The incident occurred during a mission in which Global News reporters were present on the Canadian military aircraft.

Huddleston further elaborated on the situation, noting an unwarranted increase in aggression, stating, “It’s a ramp-up of the aggressiveness that’s really unexpected and unnecessary in the context of the mission that we’re flying.”

Throughout the mission, which spanned over eight hours, the Canadian aircraft faced consistent interceptions by at least two Chinese jets. The interceptions brought the Chinese aircraft alarmingly close to the Canadian aircraft, with distances shrinking to just five meters.

While many of the encounters were considered professional by the Canadian Armed Forces members on board, one specific Chinese jet equipped with air-to-air missiles acted especially aggressively, maneuvering dangerously close and positioning itself in the Canadian aircraft’s blind spot.

READ MORE: Video: Sen. Fetterman attacks China for buying farmland in US

Discussing the unsettling proximity of the encounter, Huddleston said, “I’m concerned when they do that. There’s a heightened risk to those sorts of interactions and we’d like to avoid those as much as we can. We record these things up through the chain with the evidence we gather and then allow our diplomatic agencies to become involved.”

Adding to the alarming situation, the Chinese jet deployed several firework-like flares near the Canadian plane, according to Global News. “In terms of escalation that’s a very unsafe act,” Huddleston commented on the flare incident.

During the Canadian aircraft’s mission, the 13-member crew identified a “vessel of interest” linked to illegal oil shipments to North Korea. Emphasizing their purpose, Huddleston said, “We’re here enforcing a United Nations resolution. We are not here acting against the Chinese. We don’t want to have anything untoward happen that would result in loss of life.”

The underlying reasons for such aggressive posturing by the Chinese jets remain unclear. However, the Canadian team, committed to their mission, maintained their position in international waters, making sure to communicate their identity and purpose to the Chinese pilots by radio.

This news article was partially created with the assistance of artificial intelligence and edited and fact-checked by a human editor.

The Wexner Foundation, a nonprofit created by Victoria’s Secret founder Leslie Wexner, has taken a bold step by severing its connection with Harvard University as a result of the university’s “dismal failure” to condemn the brutal killing of Israeli civilians by Hamas.

In a firm letter dispatched to Harvard’s board on Monday, the foundation, started by Wexner and his wife Abigail, stated, “We are stunned and sickened by the dismal failure of Harvard’s leadership to take a clear and unequivocal stance against the barbaric murders of innocent Israeli civilians.”

BIG NEWS:

The Wexner Foundation announces that it is cutting ties with @Harvard over “the dismal failure of Harvard’s leadership to take a clear and unequivocal stand against the barbaric murders of innocent Israeli civilians by terrorists last Saturday.” pic.twitter.com/qg1C2grn2j

— Judah Ari Gross (@JudahAriGross) October 16, 2023

The letter, later shared by StopAntisemitism, further detailed how the lack of condemnation from Harvard against the brutal Hamas attacks against Israel left Israeli students at the college feeling “abandoned.”

The issue was intensified when 34 student groups published a letter that held Israel “entirely responsible” for the attacks on its citizens. “In the absence of this clear moral stand, we have determined that the Harvard Kennedy School and the Wexner Foundation are no longer compatible partners,” the foundation’s letter stated.

The Wexner Foundation’s disassociation with Harvard is not the first demonstration of disapproval towards the school’s response. Previously, Israeli billionaire Idan Ofer and his wife, Batia, resigned from the executive board of the Harvard Kennedy School, echoing similar disappointments, according to The New York Post.

READ MORE: Harvard anti-Israeli letter led by perfume icon’s son: Report

A representative from Harvard conveyed gratitude to the Wexner Foundation for support over the years in a statement to CNN, saying, “We are grateful to the Wexner Foundation for its very long-standing support of student scholarships.”

The Harvard spokesperson also referenced a video statement from Harvard University President Claudine Gay. In the video, Gay emphasized Harvard’s commitment to free expression, even if those views are “objectionable” or “outrageous.” She noted, “We do not punish or sanction people for expressing such views, but that is a far cry from endorsing them.”

The university’s response also faced backlash from former university president, Larry Summers, and Bill Ackman, the founder of the multibillion-dollar hedge fund Pershing Square Capital Management. Both demanded a clear stance from Harvard on the issue.

“In nearly 50 years of @Harvard affiliation, I have never been as disillusioned and alienated as I am today,’ Summers tweeted.

Ackman has also urged for the release of names of students associated with the anti-Israeli statement.

This news article was partially created with the assistance of artificial intelligence and edited and fact-checked by a human editor.

The Supreme Court vacated a lower court ruling Monday, enabling the Biden administration to continue to enforce regulations against “ghost gun” sales.

According to The Associated Press, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Blackhawk Manufacturing and Defense Distributed, two gun manufacturers in Texas, must comply with the Biden administration’s regulations that are intended to reduce the difficulty of tracing ghost guns, which are firearms that lack serial numbers.

The Supreme Court vacated the U.S. Judge Reed O’Connor’s Sept. 14 injunction that prevented the Biden administration from enforcing a federal regulation implemented in 2022 to target the sale of ghost guns.

According to The Hill, the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision marks the second time the court has intervened to allow the Biden administration to enforce its regulations against ghost gun sales. The Supreme Court’s latest intervention came after the Biden administration claimed that lower courts ignored the Supreme Court’s authority and prior ruling against ghost guns.

“The application to vacate injunction presented to Justice Alito and by him referred to the Court is granted,” the Supreme Court order states. “The September 14, 2023 order of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Texas, case No. 4:22-cv-691, is vacated.”

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The Supreme Court’s first intervention on behalf of the Biden administration’s regulation against ghost guns occurred in August, when the Supreme Court handed the Biden administration a temporary victory by pausing a lower court’s ruling against the ghost gun regulation until the Biden administration could present a full appeal.

In court filings for the most recent Supreme Court intervention, President Joe Biden’s Justice Department described the lower court’s rulings as “extraordinary and unprecedented.” The Justice Department argued that the Supreme Court’s first ruling that the Biden administration could continue enforcing the 2022 ghost gun regulation should have been followed by lower courts.

“The district court and the Fifth Circuit have effectively countermanded this Court’s authoritative determination about the status quo that should prevail during appellate proceedings in this case,” the Justice Department wrote. “In so doing, the lower courts openly relied on arguments that this Court had necessarily rejected to grant relief that this Court had withheld.”

Last year, the Biden administration implemented the ghost gun regulation, expanding federal mandates such as background check requirements, records of gun sales, and serial numbers pertaining to ghost guns, according to The Hill.

The regulation expanded the definition of a firearm to include unfinished parts of firearms, such as a handgun frame or a long gun receiver in order to allow guns to be more easily tracked. The controversial mandate pertains to ghost guns made from gun kits, 3D printers, or from the assembly of individual firearm parts.

The Biden administration’s full appeal is currently moving forward with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.