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The Biden administration has authorized Ukraine to use the long-range ATACMS missile system against targets within Russia’s pre-2014 borders, according to a Sunday report. This move represents a significant escalation a mere two months before it is set to leave office. The decision, which has allegedly divided President Joe Biden’s advisors, is supposed to assist the ongoing Ukrainian incursion in Russia’s Kursk region in response to the alleged deployment of North Korean troops by Russia.  The ATACMS targeting system relies on an American-operated GPS system, which uses data collected and transmitted by U.S. satellites. As a result, the operation of the system requires the active use of American assets. Because of this, the U.S. and U.K. deferred making a decision in September when the possibility of allowing such strikes was being openly discussed by Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.  In September, Russia indicated that strikes against Russia with the ATACMS would be a major escalation, with the Vyacheslav Volodin, the chairman of the State Duma, stating that Russia would have to use “more powerful and destructive weapons” if the Biden administration allowed ATACMS strikes against Russia.  At the time, President Vladimir Putin publicly commented that the use of the ATACMS system against Russia would be escalatory. “If this decision is made, it will mean nothing less than the direct participation of NATO countries, the United States, the European countries, in the war in Ukraine,” Putin told Russian state television. “This changes the very nature of the conflict.”  Putin also cited the targeting system of the ATACMS as to why such a decision would be escalatory, commenting:  The key point is that only servicemen of NATO countries can input flight missions into these missile systems. Ukrainian servicemen cannot do this. Therefore this is not about permitting or not permitting the Ukrainian regime to strike Russia with these weapons. This is about whether or not NATO countries take the decision to directly participate in the military conflict. While the U.S. has provided Ukraine with and permitted Ukrainian use of the ATACMS system in the current conflict, its use has been limited to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders.  Despite the stated redlines, Russia may eschew escalatory retaliation; President-elect Donald Trump has indicated a desire to end the conflict.  The post Biden Permits Ukraine to Use ATACMS System Against Russian Territory appeared first on The American Conservative.

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There's nothing like the magic of new motherhood, when you find yourself spending hours marveling at the incredible being you helped create and gazing at their impossibly tiny and adorable features. It's sweet when humans do it, but seeing animals have those kinds of tender moments with their babies is so endearing.Sekali, a Sumatran orangutan who lives at the Toronto Zoo, gave birth to a baby in April. In a video shared by the zoo, the baby gets some "tummy time" while Sekali gently strokes and cuddles him. "Sekali continues to take excellent care of her little one, and he appears to be more alert and mobile," the zoo shared. "Keepers are seeing the baby standing up while holding onto mom and sitting up on his own now, so he is growing stronger each day."The little guy is cute cute cute, but Sekali picking up his foot and "kissing" it is the sweetest darn thing ever. Orangutan TummyTimePeople gushed over the video on the zoo's Facebook page. "LOOKS LIKE ALL MOMMA'S COUNTING THOSE LITTLE TOES AND FINGERS.... SHE APPEARS TO BE SUCH A TENDER MOM!! I LOVE THIS!!!! " wrote one commenter. "Clearly his Mom just adores him so much," wrote another. "She is such a good Mom.........he's so sweet and bright-eyed .....a happy and content little guy.""I’m going to get in trouble for saying this, but, that little one is cuter than a lot of babies!!!! Just look how gentle she is with baby!!!" shared another.The story isn't all sunshine and roses, however. Sekali and her baby's species is in trouble. In 2017, Sumatran orangutans were moved from the International Union for Conservation and Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species' "endangered" category to "critically endangered," with their habitat in the wild threatened by deforestation, primarily due to palm oil plantations replacing rainforests. According to the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme, there are only around 14,000 orangutans left in the wild.Orangutan breeding in captivity is not without its controversy, however. The purpose of captive breeding programs like the Orangutan Species Survival Plan is not to release the animals into the wild, but rather to maintain genetic diversity, enable research and educate the public about these magnificent creatures. Zoos have come a long way in recent decades, creating habitats that look and feel much less like cages and more like the wild, and studies have shown that zoos have a positive impact on people's interest in conservation. Orangutans in human care, like Sekali, may help motivate more people to care about what's happening to the species in their home habitats.“We are incredibly excited to welcome this new addition to the Toronto Zoo family,” said Toronto Zoo CEO Dolf DeJong. “This orangutan baby is an important contribution to a genetically healthy Sumatran orangutan population in human care. Meanwhile, Sumatran orangutans are under increasing pressure in the wild due to habitat loss and the palm oil crisis, which we are working with partners to address. We are proud to play an important role in the conservation of this amazing species.” If you'd like to learn more about orangutan conservation and how to help, visit the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme or check out the Toronto Zoo Wildlife Conservancy.This article originally appeared two years ago.

The Discovery show “MythBusters” delighted investigative junkies and movie buffs alike in the years following its launch in the early 2000s. The stunt-filled show featured special effects experts Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman testing out the validity of everything from duct tape islands to mechanical sharks using scientific methods. Back in 2007, 39-year-old John Galvan was 21 years into serving a life sentence for a crime he didn’t commit, when he caught a rerun of “MythBusters” on the prison television. The episode, “Hollywood on Trial,” which originally aired in 2005, shows Hyneman and Savage failing to light a pool of gasoline using a cigarette—a classic action film trope. Not even a rolling fully lit cigarette could ignite a flame. In other words, the myth was officially “busted.” This bit of information immediately caught Galvan’s attention, for it would be the very catalyst needed to prove his innocence and reclaim his freedom.In September 1986, a fire broke out in a two-flat apartment building in southwest Chicago, killing two brothers—one of whom was suspected to be involved in a gang called the Latin Kings. Their siblings managed to escape and told police that a female neighbor had threatened to burn the building down as retaliation for her own brother’s death, an act supposedly committed by the gang.The woman denied involvement and instead pointed the blame at Galvan, along with other neighbors interviewed by the police. Although Galvan had been asleep at his grandmother’s the night of the fire, he had no other evidence proving his innocence, and was arrested. He was only 18 years old.Using violence, torture and deception tactics (which remain legal in 46 states), Detective Victor Switski eventually coerced Galvan into signing a confession after threatening that he could face the death penalty and end up “laying next to” his late father.Galvan’s signed statement claimed he had started the fire by throwing a bottle filled with gasoline at the building and then tossing a cigarette into the pool of gasoline on the porch to ignite it. Which, again, is scientifically impossible.Galvan immediately called his lawyer Tara Thompson, who had serendipitously been watching the same episode. Thompson and Galvan had been working on his third post-conviction petition, and both were thrilled to have stumbled upon some compelling evidence in the most unlikely of places.“I remember I was excited, I was extremely happy because that just added to the other things that were coming together at that time. I felt like finally this is starting to all come out,” Galvan recalled.Thompson added, “It was honestly shocking to me … I feel like all of us have seen movies — like Payback is a famous one — where they light the gasoline in the street with a cigarette and a car explodes, and I really had never given much thought to whether or not that might be real.”“When I watched this MythBusters episode, as a lawyer, it made me realize that there are things you have to look deeper into — you can’t assume that you understand the science until you’ve looked into it,” she added.The show’s findings were echoed by experiments conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). It made more than 2,000 attempts to ignite gasoline with a cigarette under various conditions and every attempt failed.It wouldn’t be until 2017 that Galvan got his evidentiary hearing on his post-conviction claims. Thompson not only presented their findings, but also seven witnesses—including those who attested to also being tortured by the same detective who had interrogated Galvan, and an arson expert who testified that what Galvan falsely confessed to was scientifically impossible.Despite the overwhelming evidence, prosecutors still denied that the science was correct. “Even then, they really did not want to accept that this was not possible,” Ms. Thompson recalled. “I find that very telling about the state of science and the law … that these things that we probably should accept as true in the legal space, the system does not always want to accept.”Galvan would have to wait until 2022—and after several appeals—to gain his freedom. He was exonerated largely based on the fact that he was abused into involuntarily signing his confession, rather than any changes to the science of the case.Rebecca Brown, director of policy for the Innocence Project, says it speaks to “the critical importance of establishing mechanisms for people to get back into court when science changes or evolves, or when experts repudiate past testimony.”“A ‘change-in-science’ statute here would have allowed for a presentation reflecting those changes in arson science and could have likely expedited Mr. Galvan’s exoneration,” she explained. Adjusting to a new life outside the prison walls after 35 years has been no easy task, but Galvan is nonetheless taking his newfound freedom in stride. He’s most looking forward to having his own space to call home and getting back to drawing and painting. If you would like to support Galvan, check out his Amazon wish list.This article originally appeared two years ago.

The Belgian Malinois is a special breed of dog. It's highly intelligent, extremely athletic and needs a ton of interaction. While these attributes make the Belgian Malinois the perfect dog for police and military work, they can be a bit of a handful as a typical pet. As Belgian Malinois owner Erin Wilson jokingly told NPR, they’re basically "a German shepherd on steroids or crack or cocaine.” It was her Malinois Eva’s natural drive, however, that ended up saving Wilson’s life. See on Instagram According to a news release from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, Wilson had been walking down a path with Eva slightly ahead of her when a mountain lion suddenly appeared and swiped Wilson across the left shoulder. She quickly yelled Eva’s name and the dog’s instincts kicked in immediately. Eva rushed in to defend her owner.It wasn’t long, though, before the mountain lion won the upper hand, much to Wilson’s horror.cShe told TODAY, “They fought for a couple seconds, and then I heard her start crying. That’s when the cat latched on to her skull.”Wilson did everything she could to release Eva from the cat’s grasp. She told The Sacramento Bee that she threw rocks, tried choking it and gouging its eyes. But no luck. It wasn’t until she received help from a passing motorist, Sharon Houston, who had a PVC pipe and some pepper spray that the situation improved. The pair were finally able to get the mountain lion to let go, but not before it dragged poor Eva along the path trying to escape. She was quickly rushed to the vet.Wilson’s beloved canine companion was in life-threatening trouble. Wilson’s husband, Connor Kenny, told SFGATE that Eva had suffered two skull fractures, a punctured sinus cavity, severe damage to her left eye and experienced seizures. The pup’s situation was dire. To help cover the medical expenses, Wilson created a GoFundMe account and was soon surprised by the outpouring of love and support the public had for her heroic Malinois. The fundraiser gathered more than $30,000, well exceeding what the family needed. See on Instagram And luckily, Eva never lost her fighting spirit. As was posted on her own Instagram account, Eva recovered, returning home to her sister Mishka (and to new toys, no less). She even got a milkshake on the way home. And Wilson shared with The Sacramento Bee that there's going to be more treats where that came from, "stuffies" shall be chewed and steak dinners shall be had. See on Instagram Eva might technically be a Belgian Malinois, but her true breed is hero. Her fierce determination, loyalty to her loved ones and unbridled courage came out in full force. Because of her, a life was saved. She is, without a doubt, the goodest girl. This article originally appeared two years ago.

Imagine rummaging through secondhand finds in your local thrift store, only to find that some items include a bonus feline at no extra charge. Montequlla the orange tabby had somehow not gotten the memo that he and his family were moving. As they dropped off furniture, including a big recliner chair, to the Denver Arc Thrift Store on New Year’s Eve, they had no idea that poor little Montequlla was tucked away inside. Luckily, the staff began to notice the chair meowing.Though the family had already left, the store called Denver Animal Protection to make a report.Jenna Humphreys, the DAP officer who responded to the call, told the Denver Channel:"Sure enough, there's a recliner out front, and there's a little orange tabby stuck inside. Very friendly, couldn't get out. They said that they had noticed the meowing shortly after somebody had dropped it off."Officer Humphreys scanned Montequlla’s microchip and tried to call his owners, to no avail. According to the Denver Animal Shelter, the microchip had not been updated. A friendly reminder to keep your microchips updated, pet owners! Meanwhile, Montequlla’s family were back home, frantically searching for their beloved pet. When they eventually realized he might have accidentally become a furniture stowaway, they immediately called the thrift store. The stress of moving can often cause cats to hide. They are notoriously averse to change and try their best to escape the chaos in favor of something familiar. Fortunately there are ways to help soothe your anxious kitty into the unknown. While we’re on the subject, recliners can pose a huge risk to cats. There are several horror stories out there, and I won’t punish our readers by going into detail. But suffice it to say, you should always check underneath a chair to avoid serious injury. But this story does have a happy ending, as Montequlla is very much unharmed and back safely in the arms of his owners, who are “relieved” to be reunited with their furry adventurer, according to Humphreys.Judging from the look on his face in this photo, this cat will not forget his trip anytime soon. This article originally appeared two years ago.