US Lawmakers Want Ukraine to Lower Conscription Age

In an interview with Lviv, Ukraine-based NTA TV on Friday, Roman Kostenko, a Member of Parliament who also serves as secretary of Kiev’s national security council, claimed US officials want the country to lower the mobilization age.

 

He had alleged that members of the US Congress contacted him to say, “Look, we are giving you weapons, and you say you don’t have men. How come you don’t draft people under 25?” 

 

The lawmaker asserted he could cite Ukrainian law in response, but he himself does not understand the rationale behind it.

 

“People have their arguments, say we’ll have a lost generation... I say, ‘Look, if they don’t want to go now and defend our nation, they are already a lost generation’”, Kostenko (right) added. “A person can run for parliament in our country and make decisions about complex policies at 21, and can only go to war at 25. Something is wrong here. I don’t know who invented that”, he said.

 

He supported the US calls, and urged a reduction in the draft age to as young as 18.

 

Ukraine has already lowered the military eligibility threshold from 27 to 25 years of age on April 03, 2024, reflecting the strain of twenty-nine months of Russia's Special Military Operation on its military and the need to infuse its depleted ranks with new conscripts.

 

Kostenko lamented that the flow of volunteers to join the military has dried up since 2022, and that the country now receives “neither quantity nor quality” of new troops. “Somebody does not work hard enough”, he pointed out, arguing it is the responsibility of Ukraine’s commander-in-chief and senior government officials to inspire the population.

 

Moscow has accused the US of waging a proxy war against Russia, which Washington will continue to fight “to the last Ukrainian” with the complicity of the government in Kiev.

Russia Reveals Condition for Joining BRICS

BRICS applicants can’t join in sanctions against any of the economic bloc’s member states, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Thursday, outlining a key condition for joining the grouping.

 

The group that started as an informal association of Brazil, Russia, India and China in 2006 have since expanded to nine member states – including South Africa on December 24, 2010 and Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and UAE on January 01 this year. Note that Argentina rejected the membership while Saudi Arabia has kept the decision to join pending. 

 

And in the BRICS 2024 Summit in Kazan, Russia later this month, they're expected to discuss further expansion.

 

"One needs to pursue a sovereign policy, have a significant role in international and regional affairs, build good-neighborly and friendly relations with the BRICS countries, and not join in illegitimate sanctions against members of the association", Ryabkov (left) emphasized, when asked about conditions for aspiring members.

 

"The doors to BRICS remain open, but expansion should not become an end unto itself. Russia’s objective this year has been to 'ensure organic and full integration' of the recently accepted members into the 'multifaceted architecture of the BRICS partnership', while maintaining the dynamics and effectiveness of the international association’s mechanisms and formats", he added. 

 

Methinks, Malaysia will be accepted.

Worst Cities For Rush Hour Traffic Worldwide

Traffic congestion costs drivers hours of lost time and economic productivity. Right away, I can visualise jam-packed roads in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. And not to mention, the same with Bangkok in Thailand, Jakarta in Indonesia and Manila in Philippines.

 

Traffic can serve as an economic indicator, as the flow of people, goods, and services drives the demand for road travel, reflecting underlying economic activity. But when this demand surpasses the available road capacity, it leads to congestion, time lost in traffic, and often rising frustration.

 

The chart below shows the 15 worst cities around the world for traffic congestion in 2023, ranked by the average number of hours lost to traffic congestion per driver when driving during peak commute hours compared to driving during off-peak hours in 2023. Data comes from the INRIX Global Traffic Scorecard 2023.

 

And I am pleasantly surprised that the above-mentioned Southeast Asian cities are not even listed! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

According to INRIX, drivers in New York had it the worst. On average, drivers in The Big Apple lost 101 hours to traffic jams in 2023, costing more than $1,700 in lost time and productivity.

 

In the U.S., traffic delays cost the typical driver more than $733 in lost time, or $70 billion nationwide in 2023.

Italy and Switzerland Agree to Shift Shared Border in the Alps

Europe is the world’s fastest-warming continent and the impact on its glaciers has been stark. And in Switzerland, they are melting at an alarming rate. 

 

The country’s glaciers lost 4% of their volume last year, second only to the record-setting 6% lost in 2022. This downward trend shows no sign of ending, said Matthias Huss (left), a glaciologist at the Swiss university ETH Zürich and director of GLAMOS, the Swiss glacier monitoring network.

 

“In 2024, glaciers continued to lose ice at a high speed despite much snow in winter that was expected to bring some relief”, he told CNN. “Some glaciers are literally falling apart, small glaciers are disappearing”.

 

Even with the most ambitious climate action, up to half the world’s glaciers may be gone by 2100. It’s causing a cascade of impacts. 

 

It makes the landscape more unstable, prone to dangerous landslides and collapses. In 2022, eleven people lost their lives when a glacier collapsed in the Italian Alps. Not only that but as glaciers recede, they are also losing their vital role in contributing freshwater, which could aggravate shortages during heat waves.

 

Another impact is the shifting of national borders. While national boundaries are often thought of as fixed, large sections of the Swiss-Italian border are defined by glaciers and snow fields. “With the melting of the glaciers, these natural elements evolve and redefine the national border”, the Swiss government said in a statement Friday. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The section of the border under the iconic Matterhorn Peak, one of the highest summits in the Alps which straddles between Italy and Switzerland, is set to be redrawn as the glaciers that mark the boundary melt.

 

The border changes were agreed back in 2023 and the Swiss government officially approved the adjustment on Friday. The process for approval is underway in Italy. As soon as both parties have signed, the agreement will be published and details of the new border made public, according to the Swiss government.

 

 

The Champions League match between Liverpool and Bologna yesterday saw the former beat the Italian side 2-0.

 

In the twelfth minute, Alexis Mac Allister converted from close range following Mohamed Salah's excellent low cross from the right side. And the Reds sealed the win in style with Salah's 49th Champions League goal, cutting in on to his left foot and curling a wonderful shot into the top corner in the seventy-fifth minute.

 

Liverpool still have six more matches to come in the league phase, including home matches against German champions Bayer Leverkusen, managed by ex-Liverpool midfielder Xabi Alonso, and 15-time European champions Real Madrid.

 

But they have made a good start to the competition and are fifth in the 36-team table, already in a strong position to push for automatic qualification to the last 16.

Smoking Weed is OK But Not Cigarettes:

California was the first US state to enact a statewide smoking ban in restaurants, which took effect on January 01, 1995. Nearly 30 years later, it is reintroducing smoking in select restaurants, but with a twist – tobacco will still be off-limits, but weed is OK.

 

On September 30, 2024, Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law authorizing businesses that are already licensed to sell cannabis to serve hot food and non-alcoholic beverages. It will go into effect on January 01, 2025.

 

Supporters say that a more comfortable recreational weed culture will help reinvigorate California nightlife and boost profits for the state's highly taxed, highly regulated legal cannabis dispensaries, which compete with black-market sellers.

 

California legalized recreational cannabis in 2016, but dispensaries that sell the substance legally remain less popular than the black market.

 

"Right now, our small cannabis businesses are struggling to compete against illegal drug sellers that don't follow the law or pay taxes", said state assemblyman Matt Haney, who authored the bill.

 

"In order to ensure the legal cannabis market can survive and thrive in California, we have to allow them to adapt, innovate and offer products and experiences that customers want", Haney continued.

 

Some cities like West Hollywood, near Los Angeles, have been calling for such legislation for years. The "cannabis cafe" model has been compared to Amsterdam in Netherlands, where the consumption of cannabis has been legal at coffee shops since the 1970s.

 

Not everyone is in favor of the move, however.

 

Public health advocates have expressed concern about the effect smoking cannabis in restaurants can have on lung health.

 

"Secondhand marijuana smoke has many of the same carcinogens and toxic chemicals as secondhand tobacco smoke", read a statement from the American Cancer Society's advocacy branch. The new law "undermines the state's smoke-free restaurants law and compromises its enforcement, thus threatening to roll back decades of hard-won protections of everyone's right to breathe clean, smoke-free air".

 

Celtic’s unbeaten start to the season came to a shuddering halt as they were taught a Champions League lesson by a rampant Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday. The latter routed the Scottish champions 7-1!

 

The only consolation goal for Celtic came from Daizen Maeda in the ninth minute. 

 

It is BVB’s biggest winning margin in the Champions League alongside a 6-0 win away to Legia Warsaw in 2016.

"Superhero" Trademarks Get Axed

I know it sounds silly but DC and Marvel have jointly held a set of trademarks on the words "super hero" and "super heroes" since 1980! I only know this today – but the good news is, that these trademarks are no longer in force.

The United States Patent and Trademark Office, in response to a petition from London, UK-based SJ Richold’s Superbabies Limited, have axed, on September 26, 2024, the said trademarks. Anyone can now produce works using "superhero" without fear of a lawsuit from either of the entertainment behemoths.

Superbabies filed a petition in May to invalidate the trademarks after DC opposed their application to trademark "superbabies". In their petition, the former's arguments include:

• We live in a world of super heroes. For the better part of a century, super heroes and the superhero genre have ruled the imagination and inspired millions to achieve greatness. 
• Super heroes are ubiquitous. They are on products of all shapes and sizes, appear in countless stories, and have a presence in every major storytelling medium. 
• This case is about two companies – DC and Marvel – who claim the exclusive right to use the term SUPER HERO. 
• Marvel and DC did not invent the concept of super heroes, superheroes, or the superhero genre. The term in its varied spellings has origins dating back to at least 1909 – decades before DC or Marvel even existed. The first comic book characters to receive the super hero label were not affiliated with DC or Marvel. 
• In 1980 – decades after the birth of super heroes – DC and Marvel jointly registered SUPER HEROES as a trademark. 
• DC and Marvel claim that no one can use the term SUPER HERO (or superhero, super-hero, or any other version of the term) without their permission. DC and Marvel are wrong. Trademark law does not permit companies to claim ownership over an entire genre. SUPER HERO is a generic term that should not be protected as a trademark.
• Trademark law also does not allow competitors to claim joint ownership over a single mark. The purpose of a trademark is to identify a single source of goods and services.
• Over the years, DC and Marvel have used their SUPER HERO registrations not to prevent confusion, but to stifle competition and exclude others from the marketplace.
• DC and Marvel’s strategy is ripped straight from their own supervillains’ playbook. In Fantastic Four #7 (2023), Dr. Doom defeats the Fantastic Four by stealing key words from their vocabulary – including SUPER HERO:

• In Ultimate Spider-Man #109 (2007), villain Wilson Fisk (Kingpin) used a more direct approach: he registered Spider-Man as a trademark, and used threats of litigation and financial ruin to pressure Spider-Man into letting Kingpin operate without SUPER HERO:
  

• Virtually every comic, book, toy, or t-shirt relating to super heroes refers to itself as a super hero product, sometimes even including the term in the product name:

Petitioner Superbabies Limited create super hero stories featuring a team of super-powered super hero babies called THE SUPER BABIES:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marvel and DC failed to answer the petition, resulting in a default judgment for Superbabies. Congratulations to the real heroes!

 

Based on their online presence, Superbabies are not a very big organization. I applaud their audacity in taking on DC and Marvel in the first place, let alone in such a magnificent fashion.

China's New Lunar Spacesuit

China takes a step forward in its ambitious plan to land astronauts on the moon by 2030 – unveiling the specially designed spacesuit its crew will don for what’s expected to be a landmark mission in the country’s space program.

 

The new red-and-white suit – revealed by the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) on Saturday at the third Spacesuit Technology Forum in Chongqing – is made to withstand the moon’s extreme temperatures, as well as radiation and dust, while allowing astronauts physical flexibility to perform tasks on the lunar surface, according to state media.

 

The moon-landing suit is equipped with a built-in long and short-range camera, an operations console, and a glare-proof helmet visor, according to a video shared by state broadcaster CCTV, which featured well-known Chinese astronauts Zhai Zhigang and Wang Yaping demonstrating how astronauts wearing the suit can bend and climb a ladder.

 

The new technology has caught international attention. 

 

FYI, China now has two types of space suits – one that is used for activities inside a spacecraft and the other for extravehicular activities, such as spacewalks.

 

You may or may not know this but Oktoberfest 2024 actually commenced on September 21 and end on October 06. 

 

In fact, each year Oktoberfest begins in September (surprise!) and ends on the first Sunday of October.

 

I spotted this on Facebook:

 

 

"Raygun" Scarecrow at Annual Wherrol Flat Village Festival

 

From Rachael "Raygun" Gunn to Marilyn Monroe and "Mike Wacrowski" (based on a Monsters, Inc movie character, Mike Wazowski), a scarecrow festival in a New South Wales village in Australia has been inspired by some big names, and is bringing people together.

 

Tiny Wherrol Flat, a mid-coast locality on the banks of the Caparra Creek, about 250km north-northeast of Sydney of approximately 350 residents, hosts the festival each spring. The event started during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 to try and lift people's spirits, and has grown to attract around 50 entries each year, drawing visitors and forging connections between residents.

 

One of the most eye-catching scarecrows this year was inspired by Australian breakdancer Rachael "Raygun" Gunn, who went viral after her performance at the Paris Olympics. [Refer my post "Australian Breakdancer Steals Show" published August 16, 2024].

 

"Crowgun", the breakdancing scarecrow with the Australian tracksuit and cap to match has been created by Jessica Hicks and her family, after a suggestion from Hicks' 10-year-old daughter, Pearl.

 

"It's the fourth year we've done a scarecrow, so we've had a bit of practice, but there was a bit of trial and error to get Crowgun in the position how we wanted her", she said.

 

The Wherrol Flat Scarecrow Festival, featuring a scarecrow contest and culminating in a fair on the October long weekend, was started by local Jody Melton.

 

"This all came about after my husband and I moved to the area a week before COVID broke out and we found ourselves very disconnected… We didn't know anybody, and it was very difficult to meet people", Melton said. "The area also went through the Black Summer bushfires, there were 13 homes lost in the area, so they'd been through a pretty tough time... so the whole idea was to try and connect the community".

 

Melton added that the event has gained momentum over the years and become "bigger and bigger".

Ukrainian Soldiers Last Just Days on Frontline

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Ukrainian military have been so depleted by attrition that new infantry troops are often unfit for combat and flee at the first sign of fighting, the Financial Times reported on Friday. In some units, 50-70% of new infantry troops are killed or wounded within days of arriving at the front. 

 

Manpower shortages have plagued the Armed Forces of Ukraine for well over a year, according to reports in Ukrainian and Western media outlets. After multiple rounds of conscription, the average age of a Ukrainian soldier is now 45, and many of those sent to the front are unfit for combat, multiple commanders and soldiers told the UK newspaper.

 

“When the new guys get to the position, a lot of them run away at the first shell explosion”, a deputy commander fighting near Ugledar in Donetsk Region said. Another commander whose unit are attempting to hold the nearby town of Khurakove said that “some guys freeze [because] they are too afraid to shoot the enemy, and then they are the ones who leave in body bags or severely wounded”.

 

And experienced soldiers “are being killed off too quickly” and replaced by older and less fit men, another commander told the Financial Times. “As infantry, you need to run, you need to be strong, you need to carry heavy equipment”, he added. “It’s hard to do that if you aren’t young”.

 

As of May, the Ukrainian military are reportedly drafting 30,000 soldiers per month. However, AFU Commander-in-Chief General Aleksandr Syrsky (left) admitted last month that these new recruits are often sent to fight with as little as six weeks’ training. 

 

The commanders who spoke to the Financial Times said that they consider this training worthless, as many of the AFU’s instructors haven’t seen combat themselves! 

 

“Some of them don’t even know how to hold their rifles”, one officer said. “They peel more potatoes than they shoot bullets”, he complained, explaining that he had bought paintball guns in order to teach his new men how to shoot without wasting ammunition. 

 

And those who are lucky to survive often go AWOL after their first rotation, while others are so shell-shocked and exhausted that they are checked into psychiatric wards, the newspaper reported. 

 

Very soon, Ukraine will become a country of war widows. If it is still a country by then.