This ceremony with a slightly outdated scent had not taken place since 2020 because of the pandemic. For the return of the swearing in of its 69 new postal workers, La Poste wished to maintain the tradition with a representative of the gendarmerie and the bar of the archipelago.
Daily Archives
March 11, 2023
Strépy-Bracquegnies accident: one year later, the investigation continues
written by Alexandra Hartman Editor-in-Chief
How did Paolo Falzone behave at the time? That’s the question investigators are trying to answer. In the first moments of the investigation, the prosecution communicates. According to the judicial authority, it appears that Paolo Flazone did try to brake before hitting the first victims. A version which tries to confirm the declarations of Paolo Falzone’s lawyer according to which his client “would have been surprised by the presence of Gilles’ group on the road“. The fact remains that Paolo Flazone is from La Louvière. So, might he have been unaware that the carnival was held that day? The question remains unanswered at this stage of the investigation.
Secondly, Paolo Flazone’s lawyer, master Frank Discepoli, questions the signage around the carnival outfit. According to the municipal authorities, signs were nevertheless placed at the entrance to the village to signal the presence of local festivities. In addition, several victims present that morning claim that the group was well supervised by stewards present at the front and rear of the procession as provided for by the municipal authorization. During a press conference given by the prosecution, Ignacio De La Serna, public prosecutor of Mons at the time specified “They (the gilles) walked according to the highway code on the right side of the road and then the drama happened. But it must be borne in mind that the tragedy is above all due to excessive speed on the part of the driver, who must be able to maintain control of his vehicle in all circumstances and stop“.
Since then, the work of the investigators has continued. They have already interviewed more than a hundred witnesses and victims present that day. They also analyzed images from CCTV cameras present in homes along the route of the BMW. They also analyzed the tire tracks found on the road and heard Paolo Falzone and Nino on several occasions.
Top 10 horrible things to know about rabies, the worst disease in the world
written by Alexandra Hartman Editor-in-Chief
If there was a list of the worst diseases you might catch, rabies would probably rank high. From its mode of transmission to its dangerousness through its symptoms, rabies is quite simply one of the worst crap existing on this Earth. But since the only representation we have of it is usually that of an aggressive dog with drool on its lips, we will explain to you what rabies is and how scary it is.
It’s a bit of a zombie disease
Rabies is a disease transmitted mainly by animals, and more specifically by their saliva. Basically, an animal (most often a dog, but it can also be a bat) bites you, and its saliva contaminates you by coming into contact with your blood. In absolute terms, it might also work from one human to another, but in practice it almost never happens. Nevertheless, all this gives a not very happy “zombie contamination” side, and the symptoms also go in this direction (we’ll tell you regarding it a little below).
The incubation period lasts from a few days to a few months
All the while, you don’t even know you’re sick. Great.
Rabies is always fatal once the first symptoms have appeared
So. This is one of the most frightening aspects of this disease: there is no way to cure it. There is indeed a preventive treatment (we talk regarding it at the bottom), but none effective once the disease has declared itself. There are very few survivors, but their case might not be used to create a cure. It is believed that they were especially lucky to have a very strong immune system and to have been infected with a weak form of the disease. What a big stroke of luck.
The first symptom is swearing
The rabies virus is a neurotropic. That means it infects the nervous system and changes how it works. And the first signs of this brain infection are headaches (that’s the medical term for a headache), fever and malaise. Nothing very original, of course, but the sequence of events is even less nice.
Then the patient has difficulty swallowing and breathing
As the disease progresses, it affects areas of the brain that control the muscles of swallowing and breathing. As a result, the patient can no longer eat, drink and breathe properly. Something as simple as eating quickly becomes a real ordeal.
At the same time, the patient begins to become agitated
He becomes anxious and irritable, even aggressive. This is where the more common image of rabies comes from, with agitated patients trying to attack other people. We told you that rabies was a zombie disease.
Sometimes the patient develops a phobia of water
He suffers from hydrophobia: involuntary spasms of the muscles of the neck and the diaphragm as soon as he sees water or tries to swallow it. In addition to that, as soon as water comes into contact with his skin, he feels a burning sensation. It’s just awful.
Finally, the patient falls into a coma and dies
At the end, the patient goes through long periods of confusion and hallucinations which are alternated with rare moments of lucidity (which must be terrible for him). During all this time, he often drools continuously, which is not just a cliché regarding rage. All this inevitably ends in a coma, then death.
Every year, tens of thousands of humans still die of rabies
There are nearly 60,000 deaths per year in the world, mainly in Africa and Asia where there are not as many prevention and anti-rabies centers as on the other continents. It’s always too much, especially when you know that a vaccine exists.
There was a case in France a few years ago
Normally, in France – and in a good part of Europe – rabies has been eradicated for a long time. However, in August 2019, a patient was contaminated by a bat. Well, it was the first case on the territory since 1924, but still, it’s a little freaking out.
(Bonus) Fortunately, preventive treatments exist
We mightn’t just throw horrible news at you without doing a bit of prevention, so here’s some: yes, you can get vaccinated once morest rabies, and even at the last minute (phew). Thanks to our good old Pasteur, we have an effective vaccine which has the particularity of acting faster than the incubation period of the virus. Concretely, this means that if tomorrow you are bitten by a rabid dog, you can go to the nearest anti-rabies center to receive an injection which will act quickly enough to stop the virus. For more information, we refer you to Pasteur.
U.S. Pacific Air Force Commander: If there is a war in the Taiwan Strait, the U.S. military’s top priority is to sink Chinese warships- Cross-Strait- China Times News
written by Alexandra Hartman Editor-in-Chief
According to Voice of America, Gen. Kenneth Wilsbach, commander of the U.S. Pacific Air Forces, said in a telephone press conference on the 8th local time that if a war in the Taiwan Strait broke out, the first thing his troops would do is The thing is to “sink” a Chinese warship.
The Air and Space Forces Association (Air and Space Forces Association) held a three-day large-scale exhibition and war seminar in Aurora, Colorado starting on the 6th. Important Air Force and Space Force generals gave speeches or participated in discussions at the meeting.
Wilsbach mentioned in a telephone press conference held at the venue on the 8th that he got inspiration from China’s deployment of warships when the Speaker of the US House of Representatives Pelosi (Nancy Pelosi) visited Taiwan last year. How China deployed their warships when they got to Taiwan. They deployed the ships to the east of Taiwan as a sort of blockade.”
If deterring China’s invasion is ineffective, its warships must be sunk
Wilsbach said that the United States believes that deterrence, that is, deterrence, is the best way to prevent conflicts in the Taiwan Strait. There are also more plans and exercises with the military of international partners. The question is, once deterrence fails, what will the United States do?
“We had to sink those ships,” said Welsbach. “Sinking a warship is not only the number one goal of Pacific Air Forces, it’s actually the number one goal of anyone involved in this kind of conflict.”
“We believe that deterrence is our most valuable outcome in a possible Taiwan friction, and we also encourage China not to try to take that island by force,” the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association AFCEA said in a statement on the same day. A report by its outlet, Signal, referred to Welsbach’s statement during the telephone press conference.
“That’s not in their interest, that’s not in the world’s interest, that’s not in the region’s interest, and that’s certainly not in Taiwan’s interest,” Welsbach said. “So we’re saying, don’t take that island by force. We hope to deter them. But if deterrence fails, one of the first things to do, from the Pacific Air Forces standpoint, the first target we have to deal with, is the ships.”
The view of the U.S. intelligence community is that although China is determined to unify with Taiwan, China does not currently want a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait. US National Intelligence Director Avril Haines (Avril Haines) told the US House of Representatives Intelligence Committee hearing on “threats facing the United States around the world” on the 9th, “Our assessment is not that China wants war. ”
China wants peaceful reunification but does not rule out the use of force
Haynes also said at the hearing of the Senate Intelligence Committee on the same topic on the 8th that Chinese leader Xi Jinping will increase pressure on Taiwan to force Taiwan to reunify with him during his third term.
Military experts also believe that China’s primary goal is peaceful reunification, but that does not mean that China will not use force once morest Taiwan.
“I think it’s true that China prefers peaceful reunification, because that avoids the risk and high cost of trying to resolve this issue by force,” said Phillip Saunders, director of the Center for Chinese Military Studies at the National Defense University in the United States on the 10th. The institute said in an online discussion on China’s intentions toward Taiwan.
But Sanders, co-author of “Crossing the Strait: China’s Military Prepares for war with Taiwan,” also reminded people that in the thinking of the People’s Republic of China, “peace” It does not mean that it will not use coercion of force to achieve that goal. There is a chapter in his book that China’s policy towards Taiwan is a mixture of three tools, including persuasion, united front and leverage.
Red line uncertain but coercion works
Sanders explained that under the precedent of China’s oppression of Xinjiang and Hong Kong, it is increasingly ineffective to use “persuasion” to promote Taiwan’s reunification with it; ’ have not worked well, so what remains is that the People’s Republic of China has become increasingly reliant on the use of leverage and coercion types of tools once morest Taiwan.
But Sanders said it’s worrying that no one knows what the red line is that would lead Beijing to use force. “My concern is that Taiwan takes some kind of step towards independence and they think it’s just another little sausage cut. move, but Beijing says, wow! You’ve crossed a red line; or in the case of the US, we’ve done a little bit more on a military level in our unofficial relationship with Taiwan.”
Sanders said that maybe the United States only thinks it is a gradual and gentle step, but Beijing thinks it is a step across the red line, which is intolerable, and it must use force to solve this problem. Substantially different small moves, but Beijing believes that it is already a step across the red line, must use force and cannot allow it to exist, “The biggest worry is that Beijing may redefine what its red line is. Last week it might accept this Weeks cannot be tolerated.”
The United States and its allies still have a window to help Taiwan defend
Joel Wuthnow, another author of the book “Crossing the Strait” and a senior fellow at the Center for Chinese Military Studies at the National Defense University, also said in the discussion that the outside world does not have too many doubts regarding the PLA’s ability to attack or block with firepower, provided that Assuming the United States does not intervene, however, launching a full-scale amphibious invasion is still a very difficult challenge for the PLA.
Wu Zhiyuan pointed out, “I do think there is now a window to assist Taiwan, the United States and our core allies in the region can take a more serious look at Taiwan’s defenses and equipment, and the training they need, so that they can respond to any PLA trying to cross Efforts in the Taiwan Strait pose a clear danger.”
The Biden administration last week approved a new round of arms sales to Taiwan, including F-16 fighter jets, missiles and related equipment, with a total value of US$619 million. China expressed strong dissatisfaction with this and lodged stern representations with the US.
Tan Kefei, spokesman of China’s Ministry of National Defense, said that the US arms sale to Taiwan is “gross interference in China’s internal affairs” and “serious threat to the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait.” He said that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army “always stands ready to fight back once morest all independence provocations and interference by external forces at any time, and resolutely defends national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”