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Euronews
30-04-2025
- Euronews
Ukrainian journalist's body missing organs after Russian captivity and torture, investigation says
ADVERTISEMENT Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna was captured in the summer of 2023 near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station in Southern Ukraine. In April 2024, Russia officially admitted that Roshchyna was being held captive. Few months later, in October of the same year, Roshchyna's family received a letter from Russian authorities informing them of her death but providing no details or circumstances about it. This is when Forbidden Stories journalism network launched an investigation into her death. This February, Moscow handed over the bodies of 757 Ukrainians to Kyiv. Roshchyna's body was among them, but wrongly recorded in Russian documents as an "unidentified male" with the number "757" and a marking "SPAS" in Russian (СПАС) — an acronym for heart failure. During an initial examination, pathologists determined that the body belonged to a woman. An investigation conducted by the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office has revealed a 99% DNA match with Roshchyna. Investigation into Viktoriia's death The condition of the body made it impossible to establish the cause of death through the forensic examination, the head of the War Department at the Prosecutor General's Office Yurii Bielousov said. However, "bodily injuries were inflicted during her lifetime, therefore, there is a high probability that she was exposed to torture," he added. Yurii Bielousov stated that numerous signs of abuse and cruel treatment have been found on Roshchyna's body, particularly abrasions and bruises on various parts and a broken rib. Experts also noted possible indications of electric shock being used. The further investigation stated that her body showed evidence of an autopsy conducted in Russia before it was returned to Ukraine. During the examination in Ukraine, it turned out that several organs were missing, including Roshchyna's brain, eyes, and part of the trachea. Investigators say that a bruise was found on Roshchyna's neck, along with a suspected fracture of the hyoid bone, a common indicator of strangulation. However, the overall condition of the journalist's body has made it impossible to determine the exact cause of death. The Russian abbreviation "SPAS" found on her body is said to stand for "total failure of the arteries of the heart," a designation that may have been used by Russian authorities to fabricate an official cause of death.
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Perspective: Hard truths about government efficiency
During the height of the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant recalled an anecdote about future Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg. While Bragg was a young quartermaster lieutenant, he took over the duties of his commanding officer while the more senior officer was away. Filling both the roles of commander and unit provisioner, Bragg sent himself an order for supplies. Bragg then declined the order, saying that the commander (himself) had completed the form incorrectly. Outraged, Bragg then sent another letter (to himself) demanding that Bragg (as quartermaster) send the supplies immediately. This confusing dialogue continued until Bragg's commander returned and remarked, 'Mr. Bragg, you have quarreled with every officer in the Army, and now you are quarreling with yourself!' While the story may be apocryphal, it represents how many citizens see their federal government: bloated, convoluted, overregulated, spending too much money to provide services that are over budget, often late and of poor quality. And they can usually find examples to back up their view. It seems that inefficiency touches each level of government, from the national to the local. For example, it took the War Department 16 months to build the Pentagon, but the expansion of New York City's Second Avenue Subway is still not complete after its initial environmental impact application in 2004. This is in a part of the city that has not had subway access since 1940. California's high-speed rail project is another example. In the works for more than 15 years, with no end in sight, it's said to be $100 billion over budget. Economists define efficiency as maximizing an outcome per dollar, or resource spent. Given budget constraints, decision-makers should consider how each dollar increases outcomes along with a program's costs, particularly when balancing competing demands. In the private sector, companies seek profits, but public sector goals are more complex given the mandate to solve collective action problems that may not be profitable but needed for markets to function. Our nation has serious budgetary issues. Large deficits (and future ones) caused by the last two presidents during times of low interest rates will soon refinance at higher rates. Future appropriators will need to use scarce dollars to pay off the interest bills to stave off default. Appropriators will need to measure each dollar against the benefit it derives the public. However, our current approach is potentially unhelpful. The federal budget has four main parts: interest on previous debt, national defense, entitlements (such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security) and the so-called 'discretionary spending.' The last category has been the focus of recent cuts, but it's the customer service arm of the federal government. Mass layoffs may prove to be terribly inefficient. First, federal employees account for only 4% of the total budget, but the return on investment for many of the programs they run is quite high. They preserve our national parks, take care of our veterans, procure defense systems that ensure national security and provide research that drives the technologies of tomorrow. Even IRS agents generate nearly $12 of new revenue for one dollar of investment. For a rounding error in the federal budget, PEPFAR — the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief — increased the life expectancy in Africa from 49.2 to 60.5 years and promoted America's soft power in the region. Zeroing out federal employees or foreign aid would do little to solve our budget issues but would hamstring the ability to provide the necessary public goods that markets and societies need to coexist. The main driver of our systematic budget issues are entitlement spending. However, these programs are the 'third rail' of politics (tellingly mislabeled 'mandatory' spending). Social Security will not be solvent for future generations if we do not consider gradually lifting the retirement age, some form of means testing and raising the annual cap of Social Security contributions on high-income earners. Medicare also needs to be carefully reevaluated so it can serve future seniors, as do military pensions and veteran care. Finally, the past couple months feel out of balance because recent executive orders harm the heart of our constitutional system: separation of powers. The founders assigned the power of the purse not to the executive but to the House of Representatives. In the House, James Madison proposed, all regions and types of citizens would have a voice. Compromise and accommodation is needed to steer a large, diverse country such as ours. Constitutional scholar Yuval Levin recently explained that political incentives are such that Congress no longer wants to engage in policymaking but rather social media stardom and the politics of grievance. The failure of Congress to do its constitutional duties yields power to the executive, a dangerous precedent for those wishing to conserve liberty. We need to update and reimagine government but we must do so with outcomes in mind, while following the process our constitutional framers envisioned for a healthy republic.
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Opinion: Utah once said ‘Never Again.' Do we mean it?
In a climate of fear and suspicion following the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 on Feb. 19, 1942, authorizing the War Department to create 'military zones.' Those military zones would be overseen by the secretary of war, given broad powers to decide the 'right of any person to enter, remain in, or leave' those zones. In March 1942, Congress passed a law codifying the executive order and in May, people of Japanese descent were rounded up and shipped to internment camps. Tens of thousands of West Coast residents were given almost no warning to ready themselves to be shipped off to points unknown. Many of them lost everything — their homes, their farms, their businesses, their bank accounts and almost all of their worldly possessions. Of the more than 120,000 people of Japanese descent sent to internment camps, about two-thirds were citizens of the United States. Some had been in the U.S. for multiple generations. West of Delta, Utah, lies a testament to a time when Americans were driven by fear and racial prejudice. The Topaz Internment Camp Site housed over 11,000 people in the three years of its existence. While people were detained there, it was the fifth-largest city in Utah. The first 8,000 detainees arrived at Topaz in September 1942 and came from the Tanforan Racetrack in San Bruno, California, where they had already been detained in converted horse stalls for six months. Initially, Utah's governor at the time, Herbert B. Maw, was opposed to the internment camp, but eventually allowed it because the state needed workers for sugar beet farms, according to the 'I Love Utah History' government website. One of the residents of the Topaz Internment Camp was Fred Korematsu. Korematsu had been living in California when Executive Order 9066 was issued and refused to relocate. He was jailed and convicted of violating the order. He appealed and his case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court that ruled 6-3 in 1944 that the exclusion order was lawful. In 1983, a U.S. district court judge in California overturned his conviction after learning the federal government had suppressed information showing Japanese Americans, in fact, had not posed a threat. Rep. Celeste Maloy has introduced legislation that would posthumously award Korematsu with the Congressional Gold Medal. He died in 2005. In 1980, a bipartisan federal commission was directed by Congress to review the facts and circumstances around Executive Order 9066 and its impacts on American citizens and permanent legal residents. In December 1982, the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians released a unanimous 467-page report on that dark period in our country's history. The report became a book titled 'Personal Justice Denied,' and found 'the broad historical causes which shaped these decisions were race prejudice, war hysteria and failure of political leadership.' In 2022, to mark the 80th anniversary of the opening of the Topaz Internment Camp, the Utah Capitol featured an exhibit of artwork, photographs, artifacts and stories from the years of the camp. The 'Topaz Stories' exhibit was supported by Friends of Topaz and the Topaz Museum, plus numerous state entities, including the Utah Department of Cultural & Community Engagement, the Utah Division of Arts & Museums, the Capitol Preservation Board, the Governor's Office, and the Utah House and Senate. At the reception kicking off the months-long exhibit, Utah Senate President Stuart Adams commented on the diversity of the crowd, praising Utahns for their tolerance and respect for all peoples. 'We do more together in Utah than we ever do apart,' Adams said. Ruth Sasaki, the editor of 'Topaz Stories,' said the survivors' remembrances are more important than ever, given contemporary incidents of injustice and violence against minorities. 'It can happen again. I think they are happening again,' she said in 2022. Indeed. Today, the current administration is talking about massive detention centers to hold migrants, and potentially their families, prior to deportation. This proposed move has some clear differences with Topaz, which housed U.S. citizens of Japanese decent. The Trump administration proposal would be to have detention centers for those in the country illegally. Yet such centers certainly bring echoes of that time. Today's efforts come after attempts to end birthright citizenship, to strip legal status from over a million immigrants who are (were) documented from Venezuela and Haiti, instructing ICE to deport unaccompanied migrant children, and removing the acting ICE director because deportations aren't happening fast enough. This weekend, The New York Times reported that the Trump administration is ramping up plans to use U.S. military bases as detention centers, beginning with Fort Bliss in Texas. The Fort Bliss site could eventually hold up to 10,000 people who are in the U.S. without appropriate documentation, and would serve as a model to develop more detention center sites across the U.S. One potential site is Hill Air Force Base in northern Utah. Gil Kerlikowske, the former commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, said military facilities are not designed for a project like this. 'It's beyond odd,' Kerlikowske said. When asked about the possibility of Hill Air Force Base being used for a detention center, Sen. John Curtis said, 'Hill Air Force Base is a cornerstone of our national defense, playing a vital role in sustaining the readiness of our Armed Forces and strengthening our strategic deterrence capabilities. Its mission is critical, and we must ensure nothing detracts from its core responsibilities.' Gov. Spencer Cox recently reaffirmed his support for the Utah Compact and has also said he will support President Donald Trump's deportation plans for immigrants living in the country illegally that have committed crimes and who pose a threat to public safety. His office also told the Deseret News that the governor is in touch with Hill AFB leadership and they have not received any direction or requests from the federal government at this point. As the mother of a U.S. citizen born in Guatemala who now feels that she must carry papers with her to prove her legal status, I hope that Utah never again becomes a place where we round people up and detain them in 'camps' for unspecified periods of time. We need more than hope. We need action. We need to let our elected officials know how we feel. We need to advocate for humane and compassionate immigration policies. We need to speak up and speak out, especially when other voices are being silenced. We can support organizations working to protect immigrant rights and promote public awareness through education and historical context. We can share stories like those of the Japanese internment to highlight the dangers of racial prejudice and fear-driven policies. And we can love our neighbors — all of our neighbors. Even the ones who don't look like us.
Yahoo
11-02-2025
- Yahoo
What's in a name: Courtney Campbell Causeway
The Brief Tampa businessman and engineer Ben T. Davis began the seven-year construction project in 1927, which cost $1 million to complete. The War Department seized control of the causeway during World War II and eliminated tolls on the causeway as part of the war effort. U.S. Representative Courtney W. Campbell had the causeway dedicated to him after he directed government funding toward the rehabilitation and improvement of the highway. TAMPA, Fla. - It's 10 of the most beautiful miles in the Tampa Bay area. The Courtney Campbell "Scenic" Highway certainly lives up to its designation. But the causeway didn't always go by that name. The backstory It was originally built as the Ben T. Davis Causeway. In the 1920s, Tampa businessman and engineer Ben T. Davis saw a business opportunity in upper Tampa Bay. RELATED: What's in a name: Gandy Bridge "Even though the Gandy Bridge existed in the 1920s and early 1930s, it was still inconvenient to get from Tampa to Clearwater because either you go all the way over the top through Oldsmar, or you go kind of around through St Pete for the Gandy Bridge," says Tampa Bay History Center Historian, Rodney Kite-Powell. Davis wanted to offer an easier way to get to the Clearwater beaches. Dredging of the causeway began in 1927, and construction was completed seven years later at a final cost of $1 million. "It was a toll road. Davis didn't want to miss any income or any opportunities to collect tolls day or night. So, when he built the toll booth, he actually built his house on top of it," says Kite-Powell. The Davis family lived above a two-story toll booth. At the time, the toll cost just a quarter for cars to go one way, plus a nickel per passenger. READ: Florida regulators approve new rates for Citizens with changes taking effect June 1 "He used the tolls to both pay back the expense of building the bridge and then also as income," says Kite-Powell. Dig deeper Davis's cash cow didn't last long, however. During World War II, the War Department seized the causeway, paying Davis $1.1 million and eliminating tolls as part of the war effort. Over the years, however, the government did not maintain it very well. Then, U.S. Representative Courtney W. Campbell entered the picture. READ: Man on the hunt for $200M historic treasure that could be in waters near New Port Richey Local perspective "He (Campbell) was able to direct government funding towards the rehabilitation and improvement of the causeway," says Kite-Powell. As a thank-you for helping create some of Tampa Bay's most beautiful hangout spots, the roadway was renamed the Courtney Campbell Causeway in 1948. The Source FOX 13 traffic anchor Alyse Zwick and photojournalist Corey Beckman collected the information for this story. STAY CONNECTED WITH FOX 13 TAMPA: Download the FOX Local app for your smart TV Download FOX Local mobile app: Apple | Android Download the FOX 13 News app for breaking news alerts, latest headlines Download the SkyTower Radar app Sign up for FOX 13's daily newsletter
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
You have to see this Flintlock Machine Gun from the 1700s
In July 1813, British and Canadian forces approached the American Fort Mackinac in Michigan, surrounding it and demanding its surrender. The installation commander was Lt. Porter Hanks, who knew he was not only outnumbered but that no reinforcements could possibly arrive in time for him to hold the fort. To minimize the casualties to both his troops and the civilians in the fort, he surrendered it without a fight. The surrender had huge implications for the War of 1812 in the Great Lakes region. American troops in the area were suddenly on the defensive, Fort Dearborn had to be evacuated and the British controlled the critical Straits of Mackinac between Michigan's Upper and Lower Peninsulas. Some might wonder what would have happened if Porter had a couple of machine guns. Others might say that's ridiculous, because the machine gun wouldn't be invented until the late 1800s. According to the Forgotten Weapons YouTube Channel, there was a machine gun available. In May 1792, Joseph Gaston Chambers began to market a new weapon to President George Washington and the U.S. War Department. It was a weapon that had the potential to change the face of American warfare. It was a repeating flintlock musket that could fire up to 20 rounds per minute, and it was a musket that Ian McCollum believes could be considered a machine gun. In the early 1790s, the U.S. Army was suffering defeats at the hands of Native tribes in the Northwest Territory, which was then the areas surrounding the Great Lakes. Congress blamed the disasters of 1792 on the quality of the Army's weapons. So when Joseph Chambers approached the War Department with the idea of a repeating rifle, Secretary of War Henry Knox was more than eager to listen. His original design was one that would have a lock hooked up to the front of the weapon's barrel. With bullets at regular intervals down the length of the barrel, the user would pull a cord attached to the lock which fired off the first round. The specially-designed rounds had tips designed to ignite the powder of the next round. At the end of the musket, the regular trigger would be used to fire the last shot. Apparently, Chambers' demonstration for Knox didn't go well, and one may have even exploded. Knox took a hard pass and for the next twenty years, Chambers made no traction with his new designs. Then came the War of 1812. By the time the U.S. was again at war with Great Britain, Chambers had a new, more powerful design. It was a fully automatic pattern-fired, seven barrel gun that was capable of firing 224 rounds at 120 per minute. A single pull on the trigger cord would cause the weapon to fire for the next two minutes. It was a mounted machine gun that caught the U.S. Navy's interest, even if the War Department once again passed on adopting it. The navy not only adopted Chambers' automatic machine gun, but also purchased his single-barrel rifles and even a pistol that used a similar design. They weren't in service until 1814, so it wouldn't have helped Lt. Hanks at Fort Mackinac, but they were in one of the most important theaters for the young U.S. Navy: the Great Lakes. To prepare for combat, American sailors would have the Chambers rifle preloaded and ready to go. When it was time for action, all they had to do was prime and fire it. There was no need to think about reloading 224 bullets – if they couldn't clear an enemy's deck with hundreds of rounds at a time when each man would get one or two shots off, then it was never going to happen anyway. To see how the weapon was loaded, check out the Forgotten Weapons video above. One of the reasons the Chambers weapons aren't really well-known is that they didn't really catch on. If properly loaded and fired, the sailors had a roman candle-type of gun. If anything went wrong and a round failed to fire, they were holding a giant pipe bomb. It was eventually deemed unreliable and left service.
