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South Sudan's President Salva Kiir held an urgent meeting of top security brass on Friday after a shootout at the home of powerful former spy chief Akol Koor, who was sacked almost two months ago amid rumours of a coup plot. Gunfire erupted on Thursday evening in the capital Juba, sparking concerns about the stability of the world's youngest country that is already plagued by power struggles, ethnic infighting and a deep economic malaise. The shooting around the home of Koor, who was fired by Kiir in early October and placed under house arrest, caused panic among local residents before it was contained after about an hour. Following the meeting, South Sudan People's Defence Forces (SSPDF) spokesman Lul Ruai Koang said the incident took place after a "misunderstanding" between security forces attempting to relocate the ex-head of the National Security Services. Koang said Koor had now agreed to the relocation "with his dear wife, one bodyguard, and a cook" elsewhere in the city. He would be provided with additional army protection at his new residence, but Koang emphasised he was not under "their (army) detention." He said four people, two civilians and two soldiers, had been killed during the confrontation. The meeting convened by Kiir included the heads of defence, police, national security and military intelligence. A source in the presidency press unit said Koor was also present. The Sudans Post newspaper quoted a security official as saying the meeting had "resolved all outstanding tensions" and that the spy chief and his family "have been assured of their safety". In an alert to its staff on the ground on Thursday, the United Nations in South Sudan had said the shooting was linked to the arrest of the former spymaster and advised people to take cover. Koang told AFP that Koor "remains at his house", and denied claims circulating on social media that he had fled to the UN compound in Juba. There was a heavy deployment of military forces around his home in the Thongpiny district, an AFP correspondent said, but traffic has resumed and people were going about their daily business. Police spokesman John Kassara said the situation was now calm but that Thongpiny remained sealed off and residents "should remain vigilant". Koor became head of the feared National Security Services (NSS) after South Sudan's independence in 2011 but was sacked in October leading to widespread speculation he had been planning to overthrow Kiir. After his dismissal from the NSS, Koor was appointed governor of Warrap State, Kiir's home state, but this was abruptly revoked by the president before he took the oath of office. Koang said there had been a "misunderstanding" between two security services forces present at Koor's residence when a third unit arrived for the relocation. "That was the start of the armed confrontation that you heard," he said. Four people, two servicemen and two civilians, were killed in the incident, he said, and two civilians were wounded. Koor's sacking came just two weeks after Kiir again postponed by two years, to December 2026, the first elections in the nation's history. The delay has exasperated the international community, which has been pressing the country's leaders to complete a transitional process, including unifying rival armed forces and drawing up a constitution. The NSS was at the centre of controversy in July when parliament approved amendments to legislation allowing the agency to continue to arrest -- without a warrant -- anyone accused of offences against the state, raising alarm among rights groups and South Sudan's international partners. The country has struggled to recover from a brutal civil war between forces loyal to Kiir and his now deputy Riek Machar from 2013 to 2018 that killed about 400,000 people and drove millions from their homes. It remains one of the poorest and most corrupt countries on the planet and continues to be plagued by chronic instability and climate disasters. str-txw-rbu/givUS lawmakers voted Wednesday after fraught negotiations to move forward with a contentious 2025 defense budget that raises troops' pay but blocks funding of gender-affirming care for some transgender children of service members. The centerpiece of the $884 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) -- which was green-lit by the Republican-led House of Representatives but still needs Senate approval -- is a 14.5 percent pay increase for junior enlisted service members and 4.5 percent for other personnel. But talks over the 1,800-page-plus text were complicated by a last-minute Republican intervention to prevent the military's health program from covering gender-affirming care for children of service members if it results in "sterilization." "Citizens don't want their tax dollars to go to this, and underaged people often regret these surgeries later in life," Nebraska Republican Don Bacon told CNN. "It's a bad hill to die on for Democrats." Gender-affirming health care for children is just one of multiple fronts in the so-called "culture wars" that polarize US politics and divide the country, with Republicans using the issue as a cudgel against Democrats in November's elections. The funding block angered progressives, and prompted the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee to come out against the legislation. "As I said a few days ago, blanketly denying health care to people who need it -- just because of a biased notion against transgender people -- is wrong," Adam Smith, who represents a district in Washington state, said in a statement. "The inclusion of this harmful provision puts the lives of children at risk and may force thousands of service members to make the choice of continuing their military service or leaving to ensure their child can get the health care they need." Smith slammed House Speaker Mike Johnson for pandering to "the most extreme elements of his party" by including the transgender provision. The must-pass NDAA -- a bill that Congress has sent to the president's desk without fail every year since 1961 -- cleared the chamber in a 281-140 vote and now moves to the Senate, with final passage expected next week. The topline figure is one percent above last year's total and, with funding from other sources, brings the total defense budget to just under $900 billion. Some foreign policy hawks on the Republican side of the Senate wanted $25 billion more for the Pentagon but they are still expected to support the bill. "The safety and security of the American people is our top priority, and this year's NDAA ensures our military has the resources and the capabilities needed to remain the most powerful fighting force on the planet," Johnson told reporters. ft/mlm
Musk heads to US Congress to discuss slashing government costs
Developing nations call $300b COP29 climate deal ‘an insult’Researchers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) are testing two new methods of transforming coal into the scarce mineral graphite used in batteries for electric vehicles and renewable energy storage. This coal-to-graphite project features a diverse team of engineers, materials scientists and computational chemists across the laboratory, who will will be responsible for developing and improving state-of-the-art graphite production processes, verifying their economic viability and scaling them up for manufacturing. For the project, the ORNL researchers first optimized a process to heat the coal without oxygen, which prevents burning and transforms it into two major products: gases that can be condensed into coal liquids, and coal char. One branch of the research team invented a method to treat the liquid byproduct before using an existing pressure-spray technique to make fine particles. Meanwhile, colleagues developed a recipe for converting either the particles or the char into graphite inside an electrochemical reactor. Project lead Edgar Lara-Curzio said the project has three key benefits: enabling wider adoption of electric vehicles to slow climate change impacts; protecting national security by reducing dependence on foreign materials; and bringing economic development to former coal mining communities. Bishnu Prasad Thapaliya, an electrochemist on the research team, added the potential impact is inspiring. “We can pivot from using coal to generate electricity to using coal to enable clean energy technologies, while helping people get back jobs and diversifying the supply chain for industry,” he said. The US Geological Survey has classified graphite as a critical material because of America’s lack of domestic supply and reliance on foreign imports, especially its main rival China. Coal, on the other hand, is both abundant and affordable within the US. “Lithium and cobalt are two critical minerals in batteries that grab all the headlines, but the biggest material by weight in the EV battery is graphite,” said Eric Wolfe, an engineer leading ORNL’s effort to scale up the electrochemical reactor. “The better the quality of graphite, the better battery you’re going to have. We can’t mine it here in the US but now we can make it.” The ORNL is the largest science and energy national laboratory within the US Department of Energy. The project was funded by the DOE’s Fossil Energy and Carbon Management Program. Preliminary analysis A preliminary techno-economic analysis by the ORNL has found that the new process could be less expensive than conventional methods of making graphite. Test batteries made using ORNL’s graphite maintain their capacity after hundreds of cycles almost as effectively as their commercial counterparts, the study claims. ORNL said its electrochemical approach is able to create graphite from coal byproducts at just 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit, compared to the 4,000 degrees required in the conventional synthetic graphite approach. The method also creates no emissions or waste products. The ORNL method can even make graphite with waste from coal processing and old mines, creating value while performing environmental restoration. “We are very excited because we have found a way to utilize as much coal waste as possible,” Lara-Curzio said. The University of Kentucky Center for Applied Energy Research partnered with ORNL to prepare and supply pitches, coal and waste coal materials for use in the project. Industry partner Ramaco Resources, which owns coal mines in Wyoming and Appalachia, supplies coal for the project and is poised to commercialize the technology. “We are encouraged by the progress and breakthroughs we’ve made working with ORNL and are actively reviewing plans to design and build a pilot production facility that we can ramp into larger-scale production,” said Ramaco chairman and CEO Randy Atkins. The economic analysis led by ORNL researcher Prashant Nagapurkar confirmed that the electrochemical approach could be scaled up profitably. Based on a factory manufacturing 10,000 tonnes a year, the new process would cost about 13% less than the cost of the conventional Acheson process, it said.
Hegseth meets with moderate Sen. Collins as he lobbies for key votes in the SenateALBANY 93, PUERTO RICO-MAYAGUEZ 50
Elon Musk calls Trudeau 'insufferable' after remark on Kamala Harris defeat
By Joy Reid This is an adapted excerpt from the Dec. 16 episode of "The ReidOut." There’s a drone mystery gripping the Eastern Seaboard, with almost daily sightings over the past month. First spotted in New Jersey on Nov. 18, the drones appear to show up in the late hours of the night. There’s still a lot that we don’t know about them, like who is operating them or why. And it’s precisely what we don’t know that’s driving interest in them and demands that the federal government provide answers. Conspiracy has been part of our culture all the way back to the Salem witch trials and it’s only intensified with modern technology. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the federal government is sending high-tech drone detection resources to her state to investigate the phenomenon. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has also asked the White House for more federal resources to investigate the sightings. Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan posted about what he saw over his house — although students of astronomy were quick to point out that most of what he filmed was the constellation Orion. The Biden administration has provided some insight into this mystery. The government agencies investigating the sightings — the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security — said they “have no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or public safety threat or have a foreign nexus.” But since they’ve been unable to say where these objects came from or what they’re doing, the people who’ve decided they know exactly what’s happening have filled the void. Like noted conspiracy theorist Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who flat out said in a post on X that the government is in control of the drones and refuses to tell the American people what is going on. Of course, there’s no evidence to suggest that whatsoever. But she’s got plenty of company in the MAGA world believing that, all the way up to the highest levels. Donald Trump’s longtime ally Steve Bannon suggested the same thing at a New York Young Republicans Club event over the weekend. Last week, Trump called for the drones to be shot down and suggested that the government knows more than it’s telling. The president-elect doubled down on that claim at a news conference Monday. “The government knows what is happening,” Trump claimed without any evidence. “Look, our military knows where they took off from. If it’s a garage, they can go right into that garage. They know where it came from and where it went. And for some reason, they don’t want to comment. And I think they’d be better off saying what it is. our military knows and our president knows. And for some reason, they want to keep people in suspense,” he continued. According to a joint statement released by the government agencies looking into the sightings, their assessment indicates that these drones are “a combination of lawful commercial drones, hobbyist drones, and law enforcement drones, as well as manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and stars mistakenly reported as drones.” Now seems like a perfect time to remind you that America is one of the most conspiracy theory-prone countries in the world — it’s sort of in our DNA. It’s been part of our culture all the way back to the Salem witch trials and it’s only intensified with modern technology. On the eve of Halloween in 1938, when Orson Welles went on the radio and inadvertently started a panic with his broadcast of “The War of the Worlds.” Those who didn’t hear the beginning thought Martians really had invaded New Jersey. That event spawned a cottage industry of alien invasion movies and television shows. The propensity toward mass hysteria only intensified with the threat of the boogeyman of communism and the "Red Scare." After American cities began putting fluoride into drinking water in the 1940s, the far-right John Birch Society opposed the move on the grounds that it was an involuntary mass medical treatment — part of a communist plot. Of course, the granddaddy of them all for modern America is the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the only presidential assassination captured on film. It was followed by a slew of explanations that seemed to defy what people thought they saw, despite numerous investigations. Years later, Watergate came along and brought with it the end of American innocence, a tacit admission that American politicians sometimes really were liars and crooks. In the 1990s, one of my favorite ever television shows, “The X Files,” became a cultural touchstone telling America simply: “The truth is out there.” Add to that the rise of right-wing media and particularly right-wing talk radio. There, Rush Limbaugh pushed political conspiracies and led to the rise of ultra-conspiracists Glenn Beck and Alex Jones, who also happened to be key purveyors of some of the rampant conspiracy theories about President Barack Obama. Since Trump made his entry into politics by peddling conspiracy theories, it’s no surprise we’re back to it. It was Beck who wondered aloud whether the Federal Emergency Management Agency under Obama was setting up “concentration camps” for conservatives — you know, just asking questions. In 2015, Jones turned military training exercises in Texas into fearmongering about martial law claiming that it was a plan to target the local population. Jones helped stir up enough fear about it that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott actually had the Texas State Guard monitor the military training. Then, of course, there was the Obama conspiracy to end all conspiracies: birtherism, the racist idea that Obama was not born in the United States. That conspiracy was pushed, in part, by none other than Trump. Since Trump made his entry into politics by peddling conspiracy theories, it’s no surprise we’re back to it. After all, Trump’s idea that he won the 2020 election is its own elaborate conspiracy theory. But this time around, the incoming administration has a slew of conspiracy theorists on the team. I mean, why have a government that tries to keep people rational when you can potentially have a secretary of health and human services who questions whether chemicals in water can turn kids gay? Or a possible director of national intelligence who thinks there are secret U.S. biolabs in Ukraine developing weapons? Or a potential FBI director who has said supportive things about QAnon? But that’s where we are. The question now is: How do we confront a world where America is run by them? Allison Detzel contributed. Joy-Ann Reid is host of “The ReidOut” at 7 p.m. ET on MSNBC. “The ReidOut” features one-on-one conversations with politicians and newsmakers while addressing provocative political issues both inside and outside of the beltway.Patriots' coaches enter bye week confident Drake Maye can be a franchise quarterbackTriple-Digit Boost for TSX After Rate Cut
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