Kansas voters rejected an amendment that would weaken the right to abortion in the state.
See results for Kansas congressional and state primaries here.
The amendment and the stakes:
Kansas voters were the first in the country to directly weigh on abortion rights since the Supreme Court in late June overturned the abortion protections in Roe v. Wade.
On Tuesday’s primary ballot, voters rejected a measure, Amendment 2, which, if passed, would establish no right to abortion and no right to public funding for abortion under the state constitution.
A “yes” vote on the measure would have eliminated the right to abortion under the state Constitution, while the “no” vote would leave the constitutional protections to abortion in Kansas unchanged.
The rejection of the ballot measures leaves intact a 2019 decision by the state Supreme Court establishing a right to abortion in the Kansas Bill of Rights.
The specific language of the amendment stated: “Because Kansans value both women and children, the constitution of the state of Kansas does not require government funding of abortion and does not create or secure a right to abortion.”
The amendment was on the ballot as a yes-no question, and required a simple majority of the vote to pass.
Four other states — Alabama, Louisiana, Tennessee, and West Virginia — have passed constitutional amendments establishing no right to abortion under their constitutions over the past decade. Those amendments have proven key to curtailing abortion access and allowing bans to go into effect in the post-Roe era.
Kansas is one of five US states where voters will directly decide the state of abortion access via ballot measures in 2022. In November, Kentucky will vote on a similar measure establishing no right to abortion, Montana will vote on a measure guaranteeing medical care to infants “born alive,” and two blue states, California and Vermont, will vote on amendments to enshrine the right to abortion in their state constitutions.
The times they are a-changin’ at Woolworths stores across the nation, and if you’re a fan of the fresh service counters, then you’ll probably want to double-check the new hours before you run in to grab a salmon fillet or sliced cacciatore salami.
The grocery giant has made a change to the trading hours of its fresh service counters across Australia, “due to a shift in customer shopping behaviour”.
The initiative was trialled in a handful of NSW stores in May 2022 and kicked off across stores in WA yesterday, August 1.
As a result, Woolies shoppers will now have a little less time to purchase fresh items from the meat, seafood, and deli counters.
From now on, the fresh service deli will trade from 8am to 8pm, seven days a week and the seafood and meat counters will be staffed from 9.30am to 7pm on weekdays and 9am to 7pm on weekends.
A handful of stores will operate longer fresh service counter hours, if there’s still high customer demand in those stores.
However, a Woolworths spokesperson told Perth Now that customers can still purchase similar products, such as chicken breast fillets and salmon, within the packed fresh convenience range in-stores.
“We’ve also moved to standardize our overall operating hours so we can offer a consistent customer experience across our store network,” they said, but this change doesn’t affect West Aussies all too much.
“Select stores across the country will open one hour later or close one hour earlier to align with other stores and better match customer shopping patterns.”
The only store in WA to be impacted by changing opening times will be Eaton Fair, as the majority of WA’s Woolies already open at 8am.
The spokesperson said the changes will be monitored over the coming months, and customer and team member feedback would be taken on board.
In-store signage has been placed at the fresh service counters and at the front of stores to inform customers of the altered trading hours.
If you want to know a little more about the deli meats on offer, a Woolworths worker caused quite a fuss last month when she gave a scathing review of the supermarket’s most popular meats.
Customers are encouraged to check the opening and closing hours of their local Woolworths.
The previously announced Batgirl film starring In the Heights actor Leslie Grace, Michael Keaton and Brendan Fraser will not be released at all, Warner Bros Discovery has unexpectedly announced, despite shooting already being completed and the film being in post-production.
Directed by Ms Marvel directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, the film was initially greenlit in 2021 as part of a wider move at Warner Bros to create feature films specifically for the streaming service HBO Max. But the studio confirmed on Tuesday that the film would never get any release, either theatrically or on HBO Max.
It declined to provide further comment.
Batgirl was to have Keaton reprise his role as Batman, alongside Grace as the titular hero Barbara Gordon, JK Simmons as Barbara’s father, Commissioner Gordon, and Fraser as the villain Firefly.
The Hollywood Reporter said Batgirl’s budget was a factor in the decision, having risen to nearly $90m (£74.1m, A$130m) due to costs relating to it being shot during the Covid-19 pandemic. While the budget is lower than the average DC superhero film, it was reportedly decided that it did not have the “spectacle that audiences have come to expect from DC fare” and would not recover its losses from being released.
However, the New York Post, which broke the story on Tuesday, cited an unnamed source who said the budget had actually exceeded $100m and that the film had performed so poorly during early test screenings that Warner Bros decided to cut its losses.
“They think an unspeakable Batgirl is going to be irredeemable,” the source told the New York Post.
A minute after this story posted got a call from a rival studio exec who was floored by move. “Worked in this town for three decades and this is some unprecedented shit right here.” https://t.co/A3aBLPulWz
The decision means the film ranks among the most expensive canceled cinematic projects ever.
The move comes amid a change in leadership since Warner Bros merged with Discovery in May 2021. Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav, who recently oversaw swingeing cuts at CNN including shutting down its $300m streaming service CNN+ one month after it launched, is reportedly prioritizing cost-cutting and refocusing the studio on theatrical films over streaming projects.
Writing in Variety, Adam B Vary and Brent Lang noted that the decision to cancel Batgirl entirely would allow the studio to “take a tax write-down”, citing sources who said it was “seen internally as the most financially sound way to recoup the costs (at least, on an accountant’s ledger).
Several shows including Full Frontal With Samantha Bee, The Last OG and Chad have been canceled since the Warner Bros Discovery merger, while a DC Comics film of The Wonder Twins that was in development has also been canned.
While most Cowboys will be in unfamiliar territory during Sunday’s clash at Bundaberg’s Salter Oval, forward Coen Hess will be right at home.
The Bulldogs and Cowboys will both travel more than 1000km this week to bring the first ever NRL game to the Queensland coastal city, but Hess will be playing in front of a ‘home crowd’.
Born in Bundaberg, the Townsville second rower will be expecting just “a few proud Hess”” among the crowd on Sunday with his younger brother set to feature in the local derby curtain-raiser.
“Funnily enough my little brother is playing a semi-final before us so it’ll be a good occasion for the family,” Hess told NRL.com after Sunday’s win over the Dragons.
Coen Hess during the Maroons fan day at Bundaberg last year.
“I played my first year of rugby league for The Waves Junior Rugby League Club before we moved to Mt Isa when I was eight.
“Salter Oval is where my dad played all of his football career and why I play rugby league is following in my dad’s footsteps so I’m sure there will be a few proud Hess’ there on Sunday.”
With a carnival atmosphere guaranteed to bring the country oval alive on Sunday, the Queensland Origin representative is expecting to hear a familiar voice among the Cowboys supporters.
“My nan has been a diehard Cowboys supporter even before I started playing for the club so she has been excited for this weekend for a long time,” he said.
“My little brother actually lives with my nan in Bundaberg and I know she’s pretty proud of us.
“She comes up occasionally to Townsville and has been there for a few Origin games as well. Ella she’s a wonderful lady and she’ll probably be the loudest supporter there which is usually the case.
With the likes of Josh Addo-Carr and Matt Burton also set to descend on country soil, Hess is prepared for a tough match against the in–form Bulldogs who will be looking to cause a few more upsets in the final rounds of the Telstra Premiership. regular season.
“I’m expecting a really big game, they’re obviously playing a really good brand of footy at the moment,” he said.
“They’ve got some big boys through the middle who are really destructive and they can offload to some pretty impressive young outside backs as well.
“We’re under no illusion that they’re on the bottom of the ladder but the way they’re playing at the moment suggests that they’re a really good side.”
With the Cowboys currently sitting second on the ladder with five weeks until finals, the 25-year-old forward said he hopes the Round 21 clash will help promote the game where his own rugby league journey began.
“It’s not only huge for the town to host these games but it’s really good for the game as well, taking it to these smaller communities,” he said.
“I love it, I think building the game in those regional communities is a great idea and you can see it means the world to them as well so I think it’s just great for everyone involved.
“I get back there every second Christmas, nan and my uncle usually fly up to us and then we return the favor every other Christmas and it’s always a great trip to Bundaberg.”
It was a typical Saturday night for best friends Kerry Bartley and Michelle Lewis, spent watching movies and making plans for the next day.
Not wanting to worry her foster mum, Michelle said good night to her friend and hopped on her most prized possession, her mountain bike, about 10pm.
The ride home was less than a kilometer and should have only taken a few minutes but Michelle never made it home.
“That was the last time I’ve seen or heard from her,” Kerry said.
Best friend Kerry Bartley is urging anyone with information about Michelle Lewis’s disappearance to come forward.(abcnews)
Kerry was the last person to see Michelle Coral Lewis alive before she vanished in central Queensland on Saturday, January 14, 1989.
“It’s been 33 long years,” she said.
“Every year that passes becomes harder, not easier, because there are no answers.
“How does someone, and their bike, just disappear?”
It is a $500,000 question police are determined to answer, with help from the public.
Who was Michelle Lewis?
Kerry and Michelle’s bond began when they became neighbors in Rockhampton at 13 years old.
“Michelle was a creature of habit and over the weekends mostly spent the whole day at my place,” Kerry said.
A former Glenmore High School student, the “tomboy” was “very independent”, with only a handful of “close female friends”.
Michelle Coral Lewis disappeared in Rockhampton, central Queensland, in January 1989.(Supplied: Queensland Police Service)
Like many 21-year-olds in Rockhampton, Michelle found joy in socializing at Flamingo’s Nightclub.
“Michelle had a rough upbringing, but she had a heart of gold and was loyal to her friends,” Kerry said.
She tried a range of jobs, including one at a local piggery and another at a panel beater shop, but struggled to land permanency.
“Michelle never had much to call her own,” Kerry said.
“She had nothing. But she would save everything to give to somebody else.”
Michelle’s traumatic childhood
Michelle was “abandoned by her mum” at just “a few weeks old”, then raised by her grandma.
Adaline Salhus, known better as Dell, stepped in to foster Michelle when her grandmother died.
She spent about four years living with Dell and her family in North Rockhampton.
But when Dell woke up at 7am on January 15, 1989, she found no trace of Michelle, or her beloved bike, and reported her missing.
The former lead investigator, retired detective Ann Gumley, said it was a case that has haunted her well beyond her 34 years of service.
“Because of the kindness shown to her by her [foster] mother Dell Salhus, Michelle would not have done anything that would have made Dell concerned,” Ms Gumley said.
Former lead investigator, retired detective Ann Gumley, says the case still haunts her.(abcnews)
Dell, who has since died, told police at the time that Michelle was very responsible and always phoned if she was going to be home late.
“She had such a sad life, and then to just disappear just seemed so unfair,” Ms Gumley said.
“It’s very hard to comprehend that someone can just disappear off the face of the earth and no-one knows anything about it.”
How the original investigation unfolded
Michelle was last seen on her bike leaving Kerry’s house on Stenlake Avenue, North Rockhampton, around 10:45pm, intending to ride a short distance to her home on Alexandra Street.
Ms Gumley said police launched a major investigation and completed 150 tasks, initially taking 42 statements.
“A large number of persons were located, interviewed and statements obtained.
“However, there was nothing to indicate to us as to how Michelle disappeared.”
Ms Gumley said she had done everything she could to try to find Michelle.
“We had to try and keep the ball rolling as much as we could to try to get as much information as we could,” she said
“But once that information dries up, that leaves us with nowhere to go.”
Ms Lewis’s case was reviewed in 1999 as part of the investigation into crimes committed by notorious serial killer Leonard John Fraser, who died in 2007.
But police said there was no information to suggest he was involved in Michelle’s disappearance.
Michelle Lewis was last seen alive riding this maroon and white mountain bike on Saturday, January 14 1989.(Supplied: Queensland Police Service)
Can you help?
Detectives are urging a man, who called police around midday on February 18, 1989, but hung up before speaking to detectives, to come forward.
Michelle is described as 155 centimetres tall, with black shoulder-length hair and brown eyes and had two tattoos on the inside of her ankles, one a cross, the other her initials, ML.
She was last seen wearing a hot pink tie-dye singlet top with the word surf across the front, a pair of multi-coloured board shorts and white Dunlop sneakers.
Michelle Lewis was last seen alive wearing this pink tie dye singlet top that says “surf”.(Supplied: Queensland Police Service)
Even after 33 years, the former lead investigator said she remained committed to seeking justice for Michelle.
“Miracles do happen,” Ms Bartley said.
“If there is anyone out there who may have some information, regardless of if they feel it is insignificant, please let the investigating officers know.
“If they find Michelle’s bike, they’ll find Michelle. If they find her, they’ll find her bike.
“That’s the way I look at it because she never went anywhere without that bike.”
WASHINGTON — Intelligence officers made a crucial discovery this spring after tracking Ayman al-Zawahri, the leader of Al Qaeda, to Kabul, Afghanistan: He liked to read alone on the balcony of his safe house early in the morning.
Analysts search for that kind of pattern-of-life intelligence, any habit the CIA can exploit. In al-Zawahri’s case, his long balcony visits gave the agency an opportunity for a clear missile shot that could avoid collateral damage.
The hunt for al-Zawahri, one of the world’s most wanted terrorists, stretches back to before the Sept. 11 attacks. The CIA continued to search for him as he rose to the top of Al Qaeda after the death of Osama bin Laden and after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan last year. And a misstep during the chase, the recruitment of a double agent, led to one of the bloodiest days in the agency’s history.
Soon after the United States left Kabul, the CIA sharpened its efforts to find al-Zawahri, convinced he would try to return to Afghanistan. Senior officials had told the White House they would be able to maintain and build informant networks inside the country from Afar, and that the United States would not be blind to terrorism threats there. For the agency, finding al-Zawahri would be a key test of that assertion.
This article is based on interviews with current and former American and other officials, independent analysts who have studied the decades-long hunt and others briefed on the events leading up to the weekend strike. Most spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive intelligence used to find al-Zawahri.
For years al-Zawahri was thought to be hiding in the border area of Pakistan, where many Qaeda and Taliban leaders took refuge after the US invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001. He was wanted in connection with the 1998 embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya, and the CIA had tracked a network of people whose intelligence officials thought supported him.
The examination of that network intensified with the US exit from Afghanistan last year and a belief among some intelligence officials that senior leaders of Al Qaeda would be tempted to return.
The hunch proved right. The agency found out that al-Zawahri’s family had returned to a safe house in Kabul. Though the family tried to ensure they were not being watched and to keep al-Zawahri’s location secret, intelligence agencies soon learned he too had returned to Afghanistan.
“There was a renewed effort to figure out where he was,” said Mick Mulroy, a former CIA officer. “The one good thing that might have come out of withdrawing from Afghanistan is that certain high-level terrorist figures would then think it is safe for them to be there.”
The safe house was owned by an aid to senior officials in the Haqqani network, a battle-hardened and violent wing of the Taliban government, and it was in an area controlled by the group. Senior Taliban leaders occasionally met at the house, but American officials do not know how many knew that the Haqqanis were hiding al-Zawahri.
If some senior Taliban officials did not know that the Haqqanis had allowed al-Zawahri to return, his killing could drive a wedge between the groups, independent analysts and others reported on the events said.
It is not clear why Al-Zawahri moved back to Afghanistan. He had long made recruiting and promotional videos, and it may have been easier to produce them in Kabul. He also may have had better access to medical treatment.
No matter what the reason, his ties to leaders of the Haqqani network led US intelligence officials to the safe house.
“The Haqqanis have a very long relationship with Al Qaeda going back to the mujahedeen days,” said Dan Hoffman, a former CIA officer. “They provide Al Qaeda with a lot of tactical support that they need.”
Once the safe house was located, the CIA followed the playbook it wrote during the hunt for Bin Laden. The agency built a model of the site and sought to learn everything about it.
Analysts eventually identified a figure who lingered on the balcony reading, but never left the house, as al-Zawahri.
US officials quickly decided to target him, but the location of the house posed problems. It was in the Sherpur neighborhood of Kabul, an urban area of closely spaced houses. A missile armed with a large explosive could damage nearby homes. And any sort of incursion by Special Operation forces would be prohibitively dangerous, limiting the options for the US government to conduct a strike.
The search for al-Zawahri carried enormous importance for the agency. After the US invasion of Afghanistan, the CIA base in Khost Province became home to a targeting group dedicated to tracking both Bin Laden and al-Zawahri. It was one of the leads developed by the CIA to track al-Zawahri that proved disastrous for the agency’s officers at that base, Camp Chapman.
CIA officers hoped Humam Khalil Abu Mulal al-Balawi, a Jordanian doctor and propagandist for Al Qaeda, would lead them to al-Zawahri. He provided American officials with information about al-Zawahri’s health, convincing them his intelligence was real. But he was in fact a double agent, and on Dec. 30, 2009, he showed up at Camp Chapman with a suicide vest. When it exploded, seven CIA officers were killed.
For many, the Khost attack intensified efforts to find al-Zawahri. “To honor their legacy, you carry on with the mission,” Mr. Hoffman said.
In 2012 and 2013, the CIA focused the hunt on Pakistan’s North Waziristan region. CIA analysts were confident they had found the small village where al-Zawahri was hiding. But intelligence agencies could not find his house in the town of about a dozen compounds, making a raid or drone strike impossible.
Still, the US hunt forced al-Zawahri to remain in the tribal areas of Pakistan, possibly limiting the effectiveness of his leadership within Al Qaeda.
“Anytime anything related to Bin Laden or Zawahri hit the intel channels, everyone stopped to pitch in and help,” said Lisa Maddox, a former CIA analyst. “It was the CIA’s promise to the public: to bring them to justice.”
On April 1, top intelligence officials briefed national security officials at the White House about the safe house and how they had tracked al-Zawahri. After the meeting, the CIA and other intelligence agencies worked to learn more about what they called al-Zawahri’s pattern of life.
One key insight was that he was never seen leaving the house and only seemed to get fresh air by standing on a balcony on an upper floor. He remained on the balcony for extended periods, which gave the CIA a good chance to target him.
Al-Zawahri continued to work at the safe house, producing videos to be distributed to the Qaeda network.
A senior administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive decisions leading to the strike, said the intelligence presented to the White House had been repeatedly vetoed, including by a team of independent analysts tasked with identifying everyone who was staying at the safe house.
As options for a strike were developed, intelligence officials examined what kind of missile could be fired at al-Zawahri without causing major damage to the safe house or the neighborhood around it. They ultimately decided on a form of Hellfire missile designed to kill a single person.
William J. Burns, the CIA director, and other intelligence officials briefed President Biden on July 1, this time with the model of the safe house, the senior official said.
At that meeting, Mr. Biden asked about the possibility of collateral damage, prodding Mr. Burns to take him through the steps of how officers had found al-Zawahri and confirmed his information, and their plans to kill him.
Mr. Biden ordered a series of analyses. The White House asked the National Counterterrorism Center to provide an independent assessment on the impact of al-Zawahri’s removal, both in Afghanistan and to the network worldwide, said a senior intelligence official. The president also asked about the possible risks to Mark R. Frerichs, an American hostage held by the Haqqanis.
In June and July, officials met several times in the Situation Room to discuss the intelligence and examine the potential ramifications.
The CIA plans called for it to use its own drones. Because it was using its own assets, few Pentagon officials were brought into the planning for the strike, and many senior military officials learned about it only shortly before the White House announcement, an official said.
On July 25, Mr. Biden, satisfied with the plan, authorized the CIA to conduct the airstrike when the opportunity presented itself. Sunday morning in Kabul, it did. A drone flown by the CIA found al-Zawahri on his balcony. The agency operatives fired two missiles, ending a more than two-decade-long hunt.
Thomas Gibbons-Neff, Adam Goldman and Michael Crowley contributed reporting.
All but one sector on the Australian sharemarket has failed in early trade, putting the local index’s seven-day winning streak at risk following a fall on Wall Street overnight.
At 10.20am AEST, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 was trading 0.7 per cent lower at 6,947.8 points, with the utilities sector suffering the biggest drop, declining by 2.2 per cent. AGL Energy dropped 1.8 per cent while gas pipeline company APA Group lost 2.8 per cent after its gains earlier this week.
Major miners BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue were all down at the open by more than 1 per cent, while the big four banks also lost ground. The Commonwealth Bank opened 1.2 per cent lower, while Westpac was down by 1.3 per cent.
Wall Street has had a mixed session on Tuesday. Credit:Bloomberg
Despite the early fall on Wednesday, the local bourse has enjoyed a strong last month as investors adjusted to the reality of central banks increasing interest rates to tackle inflation. The onset of global interest rate rises had sent sharemarkets lower in the first half of the year, but the Australian index is now up 6.2 per cent over the past 30 days.
The technology sector was the only sector to add value in early trade on Wednesday, moving 0.4 per cent higher.
US stocks dipped on Tuesday on Wall Street following another day of meandering trading, as Wall Street debates whether the market’s strong recent run is the start of a turnaround or just a temporary blip.
The S&P 500 fell 27.44, or 0.7 per cent, to 4,091.19 after drifting between a loss of 0.9 per cent and a gain of 0.5 per cent through the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped even more, losing 402.23, or 1.2 per cent, to 32,396.17, largely because of a tumble for equipment maker Caterpillar. The Nasdaq composite held up better, but still slipped 20.22, or 0.2 per cent, to 12,348.76.
Treasury yields climbed through the day as concerns calmed a bit that the first visit by a US Speaker of the House to Taiwan in 25 years could spark conflict between the world’s two largest economies. Analysts also cited comments by Federal Reserve officials that suggested continued hikes to interest rates are coming in order to knock down inflation.
The S&P 500 is down nearly 1 per cent so far this week after spurting in July to its best month since late 2020. It was a rare winning stretch for the market, which has struggled this year under worries about the highest inflation in 40 years and rising interest rates from the Federal Reserve to combat it.
The NRL has been labeled embarrassing for their explanation as to why Storm star Nelson Asofa-Solomona escaped sanction for cracking Wayde Egan’s teeth with his elbow.
Asofa-Solomona was not even charged by the match review committee, despite being placed on report and penalized on the field for slamming his elbow and forearm onto the face of Egan as he fell to the ground in a tackle.
“There were a lot of incidents over the weekend with the Nelson Asofa-Solomona one the most contentious by a long way,” Braith Anasta said on NRL 360.
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“What I struggle to come to terms with is I saw a head clash (Dale Finucane on Stephen Crichton) last week get two weeks and I see this and he gets nothing.”
Paul Kent blasted the NRL’s feeble explanation by disputing all three assertions they made around Asofa-Solomona’s actions.
“Let me just bring up some things,” Kent said.
Big Nelson drops dodgy elbow? | 00:40
“They said, there is a separation out there. If I am going to punch you in the face right now, there is going to be separation at some point between my fist and your face before it gets there, but there will be eventual contact. That’s the first thing.
“Second, there was not enough force to warrant a charge. I have cracked his teeth. Two teeth. So not enough force to warrant a charge?
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Nelson Asofa-Solomona was placed on report and penalized but escaped a charge.Source: Supplied
“Third, there was possible contact to the neck and chin area. Again, I cracked his teeth.
“What part of head contact do they not understand there. If you have got cracked teeth from a tackle, how do you say there is not enough force and possible contact to the neck or chin area?”
Paul Crawley labeled Luke Patten and Graham Annesley’s explanation as the dumbest thing ever to come out of NRL HQ in a stunning take-down.
“That’s the dumbest explanation that I have ever heard come out of the NRL from Luke Patten,” Crawley said.
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Nelson Asofa-Solomona escaped sanction for his tackle on Wayde Egan.Source: FOX SPORTS
“For Graham Annesley, a bloke that has been around the game for as long as he has to stand there and allow that to be said and expect that everyone is just going to suck that up and accept it.
“Like seriously it is so embarrassing. They have got to be better.
“That was a shocking tackle. Jared Waerea-Hargreaves got a $3000 fine for his tackle on Zac Fulton. It wasn’t as bad as this.
“This gets off. This doesn’t even get to fine. This gets nothing.
“And this is on the back of Asofa-Solomona having two separate charges last week. Two ends. The week before in Round 18 another one. Earlier in the season another one.
“That’s four ends this year and this one gets nothing.”
If you live along the Australian coast, there may be a phenomenon of electrical storms which has left you scratching your head.
As large and moody thunderstorms roll in from the sea, why do bolts of lightning seem to get bigger and zap harder once they hit land?
Researchers claim to have now solved that weather puzzle, and it turns out salt in sea spray is the key ingredient, according to a just-released study.
Salt in sea spray could reduce lightning activity during marine thunderstorms, suggests a paper published in Nature Communications. The findings could help to explain why levels of lightning over tropical oceans are reduced compared to the number seen over land. (SMH/Nick Moir)
The findings “reconcile long outstanding questions” about the differences between land and marine storms, the study said, and could explain why levels of lightning over tropical oceans are reduced compared to the number seen over land.
To investigate, researchers analyzed weather, aerosol and lightning activity data from Africa and its adjacent oceans from 2013–2017.
They discovered that coarse marine aerosols, such as salt, reduced lightning frequency.
Researchers found fine aerosols promoted the electrification of clouds, as they do over land, while coarse salt particles from ocean spray reduced lightning by weakening convection within clouds.
International researchers say that the salt in ocean-spray might hinder lightning during marine thunderstorms in the tropics, and likely explains why the big zaps seem to get worse after the storm hits land. (SMH/Nick Moir)Lightning is an electrical discharge caused by imbalances between storm clouds and the ground, or within the clouds themselves. (SMH/Nick Moir)
The study said large particles promoted warm rain to fall before cloud water had a chance to rise up and reach required levels for super-cooling – a necessary step towards cloud electrification.
This has the effect of reducing the upwards transfer of heat over the sea, the study said, affecting the amount of rainfall necessary to drive atmospheric circulation.
Australia’s lightning hotspot is in the far north, closest to the equatorial zone.
‘River City’ wakes to white-out as fog swallows city
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, between five and ten people are killed from lightning strikes each year, while about 100 are injured.
The Senate overwhelmingly gave the final sign-off Tuesday on legislation designed to aid veterans fighting diseases they believe are linked to toxic exposure, particularly those who served in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
On an 86-11 roll call, the vote served as a political surrender by Senate Republicans, a week after they blocked consideration of the popular legislation seemingly out of political pique because Democrats clinched a party-line deal on an unrelated massive domestic policy bill that could be considered later this week.
Republicans tried for several days to contend that last Wednesday’s blockage of the PACT Act had to do with a technical argument about which portion of the federal budget would fund $280 billion worth of new allocation for veterans health programs.
But 25 Republicans who had recently supported the exact same bill switched their votes last Wednesday, less than an hour after Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (DN.Y.) and Sen. Joe Manchin III (DW.Va.) announced their deal on the ambitious legislation unrelated to the PACT Act.
Republicans absorbed a series of political blows, led by comedian Jon Stewart and several prominent veterans groups, that, by lunchtime Tuesday, left many ready to settle the matter and vote to send the legislation quickly to President Biden’s desk.
“He just beat the daylights out of them,” Schumer said Wednesday in a celebratory visit to a couple dozen veterans who have set up a vigil on the Capitol’s north lawn since last week’s failed vote.
Democratic leaders allowed Stewart and dozens of veterans, their families and other supporters into the chamber’s public gallery for the final series of votes — something that has happened less than a handful of times since the onset of the global pandemic in March 2020 prompted officials to not allow the general public into the House and Senate galleries.
In the end, 37 Republicans joined 49 members of the Democratic caucus to vote for the legislation, which compels the Department of Veterans Affairs to presume that certain illnesses came from exposure to hazardous waste incineration, mostly focused on the issue of burn pits from recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
That would remove the burden of proof from the injured veterans.
Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) missed the vote because of a recent hip-replacement surgery.
In the final moments of debate, the activists grew emotional. Stewart, who took up the cause following a similar effort he helped lead for first responders who suffer lingering effects from the 9/11 site, put his head in his right hand and started to cry as the roll call began. The crowd lit up with brief cheers when the gavel fell, getting quickly admonished by officials for breaking decorum that requires silence.
Asked to explain the GOP reversal, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) offered no broad explanation and acknowledged the legislation would pass with broad support.
“These things happen all the time with the legislative process,” McConnell told reporters at his weekly news conference, conceding defeat. “I think in the end the veterans service organizations are going to be pleased with the final result.”
Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), chairman of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, credited the veterans groups and Stewart with taking what was previously a relatively obscure health issue and turning it into a national cause.
“That’s who really did it, that’s who elevated it,” Tester said as he joined Schumer at the impromptu celebration outside the Capitol.
Biden also gave the issue prominence in his March State of the Union address, followed by a trip to a Texas community the next week to drive home its importance.
“We’re following the science in every case, but we’re also not going to force veterans to suffer in limbo for decades,” Biden said during the March visit to Texas.
In his remarks, the president has noted that his son Beau served in and around Baghdad as a judge advocate general in the Delaware Army National Guard, on bases where waste was burned in an open-air site.
The state’s attorney general, Beau Biden died in 2015 from brain cancer, although no diagnosis ever connected the cancer to his service in Iraq or other overseas postings.
“While we can never fully repay the enormous debt we owe to those who have worn the uniform, today, the United States Congress took important action to meet this sacred obligation,” the president said in a statement after Tuesday’s vote. “Congress has delivered a decisive and bipartisan win for America’s veterans.”
In a sign of his own devotion to the issue, the president planned to surprise the veterans holding vigil outside the Capitol over the weekend with a pizza delivery, but he tested positive for a rebound coronavirus case and summarized his quarantine.
Instead, Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough arrived with the pizza.
Experts are often uncertain of a direct link between specific cancers or diseases and the burn pits in Afghanistan and Iraq, where the military often burned large amounts of waste — including plastics, batteries or vehicle parts — that released plumes of dangerous chemicals into the air.
Veterans then have to prove there is a direct connection between their cancer and the burn pit chemicals, a threshold that can at times be difficult to meet, particularly if the condition doesn’t develop until years after a deployment. Studies have shown that Veterans Affairs rejects the vast majority of claims.
“You could talk to any one of these people and they would say we would rather not be here,” Tester said.
Schumer took a similar approach, happy the legislation finally passed.
