Wildly unpopular with much of the American public and blatantly unsuited to the office of the presidency to which both men hope to be reelected, Donald Trump and Joe Biden both seem ripe to be replaced by younger, more competent candidates who evoke less popular revulsion. But while Biden in particular may yet be shuffled aside to make room for somebody else, they currently exist in a state of political symbiosis. Biden and Trump may hate each other, but each owes a strong measure of his political viability to the failings of his opponent. read more
Radio host Andrea Lawful-Sanders has resigned from WURD Radio after admitting her post-debate interview with President Joe Biden included questions that were pre-selected by Biden's campaign team, the station told CNN Sunday. read more
In 1785, Joseph Belton (an American inventor) and William Jover (an English gunmaker) sold 560 repeating flintlock rifles to the British East India Company. The guns were a very remarkable design which used a detachable magazine tube of 7 rounds stacked in series with a seven sequential touch holes. When the first round was fired, the flintlock ignited a piece of "portfire" slow match that would burn for about one minute. Pulling the trigger would move the portfire rearward one touch hole at a time, firing each in sequence as long as it remained burning. In this way, Belton advertised the gun as being able to fire 21 rounds in a single minute (using three preloaded magazine tubes). If the portfire burned out, it could be replaced and the flintlock reprimed and recocked. This was a truly impressive technological feat in 1785! read more
Pyongyang announced early this week that it will be sending troops in the form of a military engineering unit to support Russian forces on the ground in the Donetsk region. read more
An Israeli peace activist who was seized from her home on 7 October and held hostage for 53 days in Gaza has told the BBC how her ordeal destroyed her belief that peace is possible between Palestinians and Israelis. In her first UK interview since being freed in November, Ada Sagi, 75, also told Emma Barnett on Radio 4's Today programme how she was held in an apartment by paid guards, that Hamas kept her in a hospital before her release - and that she now believes the world hates Jews. read more
Does matter if you get shot in the side though.