All posts tagged: empty

Faith leaders, activists, the pope urge Biden to empty federal death row before Trump term

Faith leaders, activists, the pope urge Biden to empty federal death row before Trump term

(RNS) — A group of faith leaders, activists, law enforcement officials and families of murder victims has called on President Joe Biden to spare the lives of about 40 inmates currently on death row in federal prisons. The campaign is prompted by concerns the Department of Justice will lift a moratorium imposed by the Biden administration in 2021 and begin to execute prisoners after President-elect Donald Trump takes office. Thirteen federal prisoners were executed during the first Trump administration — more than four times as many as under all the presidents combined since the federal death penalty was reinstated in 1988. Among those asking Biden to commute the sentences of death row inmates is the Rev. Sharon Risher, whose mother, Ethel Lance, was one of nine church members killed in the 2015 shooting at Mother Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Risher cited Trump’s promise to restart executions in urging Biden to act. “It is vital that you deny him that opportunity by commuting every death sentence remaining on federal and military …

Got an empty church lawn? Why not turn it into a dog park?

Got an empty church lawn? Why not turn it into a dog park?

(RNS) — This past summer, the dog park at Forest Hill Presbyterian Church was in trouble. For 25 years, Phideaux Field had been a labor of love for Forest Hill, ever since an older church member decided the church’s spacious lawn, which was unused most of the week, was the perfect place for a dog park. There was little green space in the neighborhood for dogs to run free and the church lawn could fill that need. “Everybody thought he was crazy,” said Gaynel “Gay” Olsen, a longtime church member who oversees Phideaux Field and often visits the park with Otis, her 13-year-old “sproodle” — a mix between a springer spaniel and a poodle. But members of the Richmond, Virginia, congregation went along with the idea. They put up a fence, set out water bowls and poop-bag dispensers, and welcomed all comers. The church even set up a Facebook page, where dog owners could talk with each other and make plans for doggie play dates. Gaynel “Gay” Olsen and Otis enjoy the Phideaux Field dog …

Groundbreaking quantum computers harvest and teleport energy from empty space

Groundbreaking quantum computers harvest and teleport energy from empty space

Harvesting energy using quantum computing might sound futuristic, but researchers at Purdue University in the US have turned this concept into reality. By leveraging quantum physics principles, they achieved something once considered a mere thought experiment—using quantum entanglement to teleport energy, store it, and potentially use it in practical applications. This idea, proposed over a decade ago, has now been realized with recent advancements in quantum technology. Quantum physics is an evolving field filled with unknowns. New theories often emerge and undergo extensive testing before becoming established principles that guide our understanding. Quantum computing chip. Kais and his team discovered how to use qubits—the fundamental components of quantum computing—to store this teleported energy effectively. (CREDIT: IBM) One such principle is that a perfectly empty space—often called a vacuum—doesn’t truly exist in the quantum realm. Even if space were devoid of atoms, tiny quantum fields would still linger, manifesting phenomena like quantum entanglement. The Concept of Teleporting Energy Quantum entanglement is one of the most intriguing phenomena in quantum physics. It describes a situation where particles …

Two astronauts left behind on ISS as troubled Boeing Starliner capsule lands on Earth empty | Science & Tech News

Two astronauts left behind on ISS as troubled Boeing Starliner capsule lands on Earth empty | Science & Tech News

Boeing’s Starliner capsule, which has been plagued with problems, has returned to Earth, leaving two astronauts behind on the International Space Station (ISS). The spacecraft – running on autopilot – parachuted into the New Mexico desert six hours after setting out. Cameras caught the capsule as a white streak coming in for the touchdown at 11.01pm local time (5.01am on Saturday UK time), which drew cheers from Boeing’s Mission Control. NASA judged it too risky for Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams to get back into the spacecraft. It means they’ll remain on the ISS until February, more than eight months after blasting off on what should have been a quick trip lasting just eight days. Shortly after Boeing’s long-delayed capsule was launched in orbit in June, issues were spotted before it arrived at the space station involving multiple thruster failures and propulsion-system helium leaks. Image: The Starliner spacecraft landed empty at White Sands, New Mexico. Pic: AP/Nasa Image: The capsule was checked after landing. Pic: AP/Nasa Boeing carried out extensive thruster tests in space and …

J. D. Vance’s Empty Nationalism

J. D. Vance’s Empty Nationalism

Produced by ElevenLabs and News Over Audio (NOA) using AI narration. As the Civil War began to rage in 1861, the American press became enraptured with an idea—that Giuseppe Garibaldi, the gallant Italian nationalist and erstwhile New Yorker who had become famous fighting wars of independence in two hemispheres, was willing to join the Union cause. There was only one condition: The Union had to embrace emancipation. “If your war is for freedom, I am with you with 20,000 men,” Garibaldi told an American diplomat, the historian Don Doyle wrote in The Cause of All Nations. Garibaldi was convinced that he would make short work of the armies of the decadent planter aristocracy, save the “Great American Republic,” and then move on to liberating all the enslaved people in the Western Hemisphere. The Union wasn’t ready to commit to emancipation, however, and Garibaldi never fought for the United States—a shame for the Union army, which had to wait years for a brave and competent commander. Millions of other immigrants did fight for the Union. “Immigrants …

How 360,000 Haitians Wound Up Living in Empty Lots and Crowded Schools

How 360,000 Haitians Wound Up Living in Empty Lots and Crowded Schools

Hundreds of thousands of people in Haiti are on the run from rampant gang violence and have abandoned their homes, a worsening humanitarian crisis that the United Nations describes as “cataclysmic.” Masses of homeless families dodging gang members who burned down their houses and killed their neighbors have taken over dozens of schools, churches and even government buildings. Many places have no running water, flushing toilets or garbage pickup. The lucky ones are sleeping on a friend’s sofa. “There are kids at my camp who have no parents,” said Agenithe Jean, 39, who left her home in the Carrefour Feuilles neighborhood of Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, in August for an improvised camp in an empty lot about six miles away. “We need latrines. We need somewhere to go.” At least 360,000 people — more than half of them in the capital or surrounding neighborhoods — have fled their homes in Haiti over the past year, and that number of internally displaced people is expected in the coming months to surpass 400,000, according to the U.N.’s International …

Beautiful UK city’s ‘abandoned’ shopping centre now so empty it’s like a ghost town | UK | News

Beautiful UK city’s ‘abandoned’ shopping centre now so empty it’s like a ghost town | UK | News

Edinburgh’s once-thriving Waverley Market shopping centre now stands eerily quiet, despite its prime location above the city’s main train station. Edinburgh Live‘s recent visit on a Thursday morning revealed a starkly deserted scene, prompting questions about the future of this retail hub. Retailers within the mall have noticed a significant downturn in business, with many units lying vacant and footfall sharply declining. The “Food Market” on the lower ground floor remains popular, offering a variety of choices, but other areas are not faring as well. Post Office employees expressed their concerns, saying: “There needs to be more clothes shops, there is just nothing here. Kingdom of Sweets have moved in next to Flying Tiger but it is just dead down that end. Superdry shut down a long time ago now and then Body Shop recently. unless you go for a Greggs or Starbucks, nothing is down there.” The Whisky Shop is optimistic about a new food and beverage company set to open opposite Greggs, although details of the new occupant remain under wraps. Despite the …

Rwanda migrant from UK lies low while lavish tax-payer funded hotel remains empty | World | News

Rwanda migrant from UK lies low while lavish tax-payer funded hotel remains empty | World | News

The first migrant sent to Rwanda under a voluntary deportation scheme from the UK was nowhere to be found at the luxury Hope Hostel in Kigali, where he was expected to stay. The hostel, renovated with £20million of UK taxpayers’ money, is part of the UK’s broader effort to house failed asylum seekers who agree to deportation or are subject to forced removals. The migrant, who arrived last week, declined to speak with the media. He reportedly received £3,000 in public funds as part of the voluntary scheme. However, when reporters from The Sun on Sunday visited the Hope Hostel, they found the facility’s gates locked and no sign of the asylum seeker. A security guard confirmed that the hostel was closed and currently empty. The reason for the migrant’s absence remains unclear, but sources suggest he is “lying low” elsewhere in Rwanda. Hope Hostel, originally constructed to house orphans from the 1994 genocide, was refurbished to accommodate migrants sent from the UK. The four-story building has 50 double rooms with balconies and can house …

Alex Crawford slams ’empty’ press freedom words with no Gaza action

Alex Crawford slams ’empty’ press freedom words with no Gaza action

The panel at the Reporters Without Borders World Press Freedom Index 2024 launch. Left to right: freelance Hong Konger journalist Jessie Lau; RSF London bureau chief Fiona O’Brien; Sky News special correspondent Alex Crawford; Foreign Press Association London director Deborah Bonetti; RSF director of campaigns Rebecca Vincent; and Eritrean filmmaker and campaigner Vanessa Tsehaye. Picture: Press Gazette Sky News special correspondent Alex Crawford has said press freedom speeches given by the Prime Minister and Culture Secretary this week amounted to “empty words” in light of the ongoing Israeli ban on journalists entering Gaza. Crawford, who in February organised an open letter from 55 foreign correspondents pleading for the Israeli government to allow some international journalists into Gaza, said “there is no freedom of information” when reporters cannot get on the ground. Crawford was speaking on Friday as part of a launch event for the 2024 World Press Freedom Index produced by Reporters Without Borders (RSF). [Read more: RSF Press Freedom Index 2024 — UK and US scores hit by widespread job cuts] Alex Crawford: ‘There …