cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/17364201

> WASHINGTON (AP) — The new Sentinel nuclear warhead program is 81% over budget and is now estimated to cost nearly $141 billion, but the Pentagon is moving forward with the program, saying that given the threats from China and Russia it does not have a choice. > > The Northrop Grumman Sentinel program is the first major upgrade to the ground-based component of the nuclear triad in more than 60 years and will replace the aging Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile. > > It involves not only building a new missile but the modernization of 450 silos across five states, their launch control centers, three nuclear missile bases and several other testing facilities. > > The expansiveness of the program previously raised questions from government watchdogs as to whether the Pentagon could manage it all. > > Military budget officials on Monday said when they set the program’s estimated costs their full knowledge of the modernization needed “was insufficient in hindsight to have a high-quality cost estimate,” Bill LaPlante, under secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment, told reporters on a call. > > The high cost overrun triggered what is known as a Nunn-McCurdy breach, which occurs if the cost of developing a new program increases by 25% or more. By statute, the under secretary of defense for acquisition then must **undertake a rigorous review of the program to determine if it should continue; otherwise the program must be terminated. **

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/17357293

> Self-proclaimed misogynist ‘brazen’ about refusing to pay tax on revenue from online businesses, court told > > Andrew Tate and his brother, Tristan, have been accused of failing to pay tax on £21m of revenue from their online businesses. > > Devon and Cornwall police are bringing a civil claim against the brothers and a third person referred to as J over unpaid tax, Westminster magistrates’ court heard on Monday. The force is seeking about £2.8m in seven frozen bank accounts. > > Sarah Clarke KC for Devon and Cornwall police said: “Andrew Tate and Tristan Tate are serial tax and VAT evaders. They, in particular Andrew Tate, are brazen about it.” > > It is claimed that they paid no tax in any country on £21m revenue from businesses online earned between 2014 and 2022. Clarke quoted from a video posted online by Andrew Tate, in which the self-proclaimed misogynist said: “When I lived in England I refused to pay tax.” > > The court heard he said his approach was “ignore, ignore, ignore because in the end they go away”. The court also heard that the brothers had a “huge number of bank accounts” in the UK, seven of which have been frozen.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/17350565

> Satanic Temple objects to governor’s push for more religion in schools and says members could act as student chaplains > > Dark messengers of satanism could soon be walking the hallways of Florida’s public schools, and it’s a consequence of hard-right governor Ron DeSantis’s push for more religion in education. > > Members of the Satanic Temple say they are poised to act as volunteer chaplains under a state law that took effect this week opening campuses to “additional counseling and support to students” from outside organizations. > > Although HB 931 leaves the implementation of chaplain programs to individual school districts, and only requires schools to list a volunteer’s religion “if any”, DeSantis has made clear its intent is to restore the tenets of Christianity to public education. > > Without the bill, DeSantis said at its signing in April: “You’re basically saying that God has no place [on campus]. That’s wrong.” > > The satanists see the law, which comes amid a vigorous theocratic drive into education by the religious right nationally, as an equal opportunity: if Christian chaplains are permitted access to students, often at the most vulnerable and impressionable stages of their lives, then so are they.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/17351327

> The six sources — all except one of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity — recounted how Israeli soldiers routinely executed Palestinian civilians simply because they entered an area that the military defined as a “no-go zone.” The testimonies paint a picture of a landscape littered with civilian corpses, which are left to rot or be eaten by stray animals; the army only hides them from view ahead of the arrival of international aid convoys, so that “images of people in advanced stages of decay don’t come out.” Two of the soldiers also testified to a systematic policy of setting Palestinian homes on fire after occupying them.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/17364145

> Most medical students at Johns Hopkins University will no longer pay tuition thanks to a $1 billion gift from Bloomberg Philanthropies announced Monday. > > Starting in the fall, the donation will cover full tuition for medical students from families earning less than $300,000. Living expenses and fees will be covered for students from families who earn up to $175,000.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/17283212

> SAO PAULO (AP) — The indictment of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro for money laundering and criminal association in connection with undeclared diamonds from Saudi Arabia marked the far-right leader’s second formal accusation, with more potentially in store. > > The indictment on Thursday by Federal Police, confirmed by two officials with knowledge of the case, followed another formal accusation in March against Bolsonaro, for allegedly falsifying his COVID-19 vaccination certificate. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. > > Once Brazil’s Supreme Court receives the police report with the latest indictment, the country’s prosecutor-general, Paulo Gonet, will analyze it and decide whether to shelve it, ask for additional police investigation or file charges and force Bolsonaro to stand trial. > > It’s still early to say how likely the last option is, but the police indictment already marked a turning point in the case, said legal expert Renato Stanziola Vieira, president of the Brazilian Institute of Criminal Sciences.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/17283165

> SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A man who stabbed South Korea’s opposition leader in the neck earlier this year was sentenced to 15 years in prison on Friday, court officials said. > > The knife-wielding man attacked Lee Jae-myung, head of the liberal Democratic Party, South Korea’s biggest political party, in January after approaching him asking for his autograph at an event in the southeastern city of Busan. After being detained by police, he told investigators that he wanted to kill Lee to prevent him from becoming South Korea’s president.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/24473052

> The controversial social media influencer Andrew Tate will be allowed to leave Romania while awaiting trial on charges of human trafficking, a court has ruled. > > Tate, 37, had been banned from leaving the country but will now be permitted to travel within the EU without restrictions while awaiting the trial. > > The self-professed “misogynist influencer” was indicted in June 2023 along with his brother, Tristan, and two Romanian female suspects for alleged human trafficking, rape and forming a criminal gang to sexually exploit women, allegations they have all denied.

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/21820077

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/17271565

cross-posted from: https://lemy.lol/post/27616056

cross-posted from: https://lemy.lol/post/27615952

cross-posted from: https://lemy.lol/post/27519030

> https://archive.is/cQpuq

https://archive.is/cQpuq

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/17029482

> In an open letter to publishers, more than 30,000 readers, researchers, and authors begged for access to the books to be restored in the open library, claiming the takedowns dealt "a serious blow to lower-income families, people with disabilities, rural communities, and LGBTQ+ people, among many others," who may not have access to a local library or feel "safe accessing the information they need in public." > > During a press briefing following arguments in court Friday, IA founder Brewster Kahle said that "those voices weren't being heard." Judges appeared primarily focused on understanding how IA's digital lending potentially hurts publishers' profits in the ebook licensing market, rather than on how publishers' costly ebook licensing potentially harms readers.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/16968321

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/24017353

> Israeli soldiers have destroyed 11 homes and other structures in an isolated community in the occupied West Bank, leaving 50 people homeless, amid a reported uptick in house demolitions and spiralling violence in the Palestinian territory. > > Contractors with bulldozers accompanied by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops arrived in Umm al-Kheir, a village mostly home to shepherds, on Wednesday morning and demolished six houses, tent residences, an electricity generator, solar cells and water tanks, according to residents and Israeli activists who documented the proceedings. Agricultural land and fences were also damaged and trees uprooted. > > The demolition has destroyed about a third of the village’s infrastructure.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/23771206

> The killer was only 14 and had lived in youth homes as a ward of the authorities since he was eight. > > A year ago, a gang helped the boy escape, put him up in a hotel and gave him cannabis, food and new clothes. Six days later, gang members told him it was time to repay them for their kindness. They had a job for him. > > Together with another youth, the boy, who as a juvenile cannot be identified, shot dead a 33-year-old Hells Angels biker. He was convicted by a court which described the case as a gangland contract killing. > > As he was too young to be sentenced, he was handed back to social services and sent to another youth home. > > Sweden has long prided itself on one of the world's most generous social safety nets, with a state that looks after vulnerable people at all stages of life. > > But these days it also has another distinction: by far the highest per capita rate of gun violence in the EU. Last year 55 people were shot dead in 363 separate shootings in a country of just 10 million people. By comparison, there were just six fatal shootings in the three other Nordic countries - Norway, Finland and Denmark - combined.