Wednesday, December 22, 2021


What winter solstice rituals tell us about indigenous people

Rosalyn R. LaPier, Associate Professor of Environmental Studies, The University of Montana
Tue, December 21, 2021

The Blackfeet always faced their tipis towards the rising sun, including on winter solstice.
  Beinecke Library via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY

On the day of winter solstice, many Native American communities will hold religious ceremonies or community events.

The winter solstice is the day of the year when the Northern Hemisphere has the fewest hours of sunlight and the Southern Hemisphere has the most. For indigenous peoples, it has been a time to honor their ancient sun deity. They passed their knowledge down to successive generations through complex stories and ritual practices.

As a scholar of the environmental and Native American religion, I believe, there is much to learn from ancient religious practices.
Ancient architecture

For decades, scholars have studied the astronomical observations that ancient indigenous people made and sought to understand their meaning.

One such place was at Cahokia, near the Mississippi River in what is now Illinois across from St. Louis.


The Cahokia mounds. Doug Kerr, CC BY-SA

In Cahokia, indigenous people built numerous temple pyramids or mounds, similar to the structures built by the Aztecs in Mexico, over a thousand years ago. Among their constructions, what most stands out is an intriguing structure made up of wooden posts arranged in a circle, known today as “Woodhenge.”



To understand the purpose of Woodhenge, scientists watched the sun rise from this structure on winter solstice. What they found was telling: The sun aligned with both Woodhenge and the top of a temple mound – a temple built on top of a pyramid with a flat top – in the distance. They also found that the sun aligns with a different temple mound on summer solstice.

Archaeological evidence suggests that the people of Cahokia venerated the sun as a deity. Scholars believe that ancient indigenous societies observed the solar system carefully and wove that knowledge into their architecture.

Scientists have speculated that the Cahokia held rituals to honor the sun as a giver of life and for the new agricultural year.

Complex understandings

Zuni Pueblo is a contemporary example of indigenous people with an agricultural society in western New Mexico. They grow corn, beans, squash, sunflowers and more. Each year they hold annual harvest festivals and numerous religious ceremonies, including at the winter solstice.

At the time of the winter solstice they hold a multiday celebration, known as the Shalako festival. The days for the celebration are selected by the religious leaders. The Zuni are intensely private, and most events are not for public viewing.

But what is shared with the public is near the end of the ceremony, when six Zuni men dress up and embody the spirit of giant bird deities. These men carry the Zuni prayers for rain “to all the corners of the earth.” The Zuni deities are believed to provide “blessings” and “balance” for the coming seasons and agricultural year.

As religion scholar Tisa Wenger writes, “The Zuni believe their ceremonies are necessary not just for the well-being of the tribe but for "the entire world.”
Winter games

Not all indigenous peoples ritualized the winter solstice with a ceremony. But that doesn’t mean they didn’t find other ways to celebrate.

The Blackfeet tribe in Montana, where I am a member, historically kept a calendar of astronomical events. They marked the time of the winter solstice and the “return” of the sun or “Naatosi” on its annual journey. They also faced their tipis – or portable conical tents – east toward the rising sun.

They rarely held large religious gatherings in the winter. Instead the Blackfeet viewed the time of the winter solstice as a time for games and community dances. As a child, my grandmother enjoyed attending community dances at the time of the winter solstice. She remembered that each community held their own gatherings, with unique drumming, singing and dance styles.

Later, in my own research, I learned that the Blackfeet moved their dances and ceremonies during the early reservation years from times on their religious calendar to times acceptable to the U.S. government. The dances held at the time of the solstice were moved to Christmas Day or to New Year’s Eve.

The solstice. Divad, from Wikimedia Commons

Today, my family still spends the darkest days of winter playing card games and attending the local community dances, much like my grandmother did.

Although some winter solstice traditions have changed over time, they are still a reminder of indigenous peoples understanding of the intricate workings of the solar system. Or as the Zuni Pueblo’s rituals for all peoples of the earth demonstrate – of an ancient understanding of the interconnectedness of the world.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Rosalyn R. LaPier, The University of Montana.

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BELARUS DOMINATES POTASH MARKET
Lithuania moves towards terminating Belarus potash transportation agreement


An employee checks an above ground store of processed potassium salts at a Uralkali potash mine near the city of Berezniki


Tue, December 21, 2021

VILNIUS (Reuters) - A Lithuanian government commission said on Tuesday an agreement signed by the state-run railway in 2018 to transport potash from sanctions-hit Belarus goes against national security interests, opening the door for the government to terminate it.

State-owned potash producer Belaruskali was sanctioned by the United States in August, one year after a crackdown following a disputed presidential election which President Alexander Lukashenko said he won.

The ban on sales of potash took effect on Dec. 8 after a four-month wind-down period, but potash continues to be transported via Lithuania.

The continuation of the deal caused a public outcry in Lithuania, one of Europe's most vocal critics of human rights abuses in Belarus and a U.S. ally, forcing Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte to consider resigning, although she announced last week she would stay in her post.

The head of Lithuanian Railways (LTG), Mantas Bartuska, agreed to step down to "de-escalate" the situation.

The commission has been tasked since 2018 to rule on any agreements made by the country's strategically important enterprises, including the LTG, that are worth at least a tenth of their revenue.

Landlocked Belarus uses Lithuania's Klaipeda port to export potash from Belaruskali, one of the world's largest producers of the crop nutrient, which is Minsk's main foreign currency earner.


Bartuska said earlier that the U.S. sanctions did not affect the transportation contract with Belaruskali, and if LTG terminated it without legal grounds, it could face international arbitration and fines that could bankrupt it.

The commission's ruling on the 2018 agreement and its 2021 amendment now gives the government power to terminate it, stopping the potash transport.

(Reporting by Andrius Sytas in Vilnius; Editing by Sonya Hepinstall)

Tech billionaire resigns from Mormon church and donates $600,000 to LGBTQ+ group



Axios

Tue, December 21, 2021

A billionaire from Utah announced he's officially resigning this week from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and pledged to donate $600,000 to an LGBTQ advocacy group, the Salt Lake Tribune first reported.

Why it matters: The letter, dated Dec. 23, is a rare public criticism of the church by a high-profile figure. Tech executive Jeff Green wrote: "I believe the Mormon Church has hindered global progress in women’s rights, civil rights and racial equality, and LGBTQ+ rights."

Get market news worthy of your time with Axios Markets. Subscribe for free.


Driving the news: Green, chair and CEO of The Trade Desk, left more than a decade ago and has since moved to California, but he wrote to President Russell Nelson to say that he wanted to make it official and have his records removed, according to the Tribune, which obtained the letter Monday.

What else he's saying: "While most members are good people trying to do right, I believe the church is actively and currently doing harm in the world," Green wrote.

"The church leadership is not honest about its history, its finances, and its advocacy," he continued.

Green pledged $600,000 to Equality Utah, with "almost half of the fund will go to a new scholarship program to help LGBTQ+ students in Utah," the billionaire said.

Of note: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 2019 said it would allow children of LGBTQ+ parents to be baptized and receive blessings from the church, in a reversal of a 2015 decision.

The church announced then that same-sex marriages would not be considered apostasy. Instead, any "immoral conduct in heterosexual or homosexual relationships will be treated in the same way."

Representatives for the church did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.


Mormon billionaire leaves faith, rebukes LGBTQ rights stance

The Salt Lake Temple, at Temple Square is shown on Oct. 5, 2019, in Salt Lake City. A billionaire who is believed to be the wealthiest person originally from Utah has formally renounced his membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and rebuked the faith on social issues and LGBTQ rights. Jeff T. Green, who has pledged to donate 90% of his estimated $5 billion advertising-technology wealth, starting with a donation to a LGBTQ-rights group in the state, the Salt Lake Tribune reported. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)More

Tue, December 21, 2021


SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — An advertising-technology billionaire has formally resigned his membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and rebuked the faith over social issues and LGBTQ rights in an unusual public move.

Jeff T. Green has pledged to donate 90% of his estimated $5 billion fortune, starting with a $600,000 donation to the LGBTQ-rights group Equality Utah, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.

Green said in a Monday resignation letter to church President Russell M. Nelson that he hasn’t been active in the faith widely known as Mormon for more than a decade but wanted to make his departure official and remove his name from membership records.

“I believe the Mormon church has hindered global progress in women’s rights, civil rights and racial equality, and LGBTQ+ rights,” he wrote. Eleven family members and a friend formally resigned along with him.

The church didn't immediately return a message from The Associated Press seeking comment Tuesday, but in recent years has shown a willingness to engage on LGBTQ rights that is unusual for a conservative faith. It maintains its doctrinal opposition to same-sex marriage and intimacy, but the faith didn't block a 2019 ban on so-called conversion therapy in Utah and in November high-ranking leader Dallin Oaks called for a recognition of both religious rights and LGBTQ rights.

Still, the church has taken positions over the years that have been deeply painful for many in the LGBTQ community. Green, for his part, said most church members “are good people trying to do right,” but he also worries about the faith’s transparency around its history and finances.

Green, 44, now lives in Southern California. He is the CEO and chairman of The Trade Desk, an advertising-technology firm he founded in 2009.

He also mentioned concerns about a $100 billion investment portfolio held by the faith. It was the subject of an Internal Revenue Service whistleblower complaint in 2019, from a former employee who charged the church had improperly built it up using member donations that are supposed to go to charitable causes.

Leaders have defended how the church uses and invests member donations, saying most is used for operational and humanitarian needs, but a portion is safeguarded to build a reserve for the future. The faith annually spends about $1 billion on humanitarian and welfare aid, leaders have said.

The church has also come under criticism for conservative social positions. Women do not hold the priesthood in the faith, and Black men could not until the 1970s.

In recent years, though, the faith has worked with the NAACP and donated nearly $10 million for initiatives to help Black Americans. It has also worked with Equality Utah to pass a state LGBTQ nondiscrimination law, with religious exemptions.

Another prominent onetime Latter-day Saint sued the faith this year, accusing it of fraud and seeking to recover millions of dollars in contributions. James Huntsman is a member of one of Utah’s most well-known families and brother of a former governor. The suit was later tossed out

Jeff Green: Tech billionaire leaves Mormon church and blasts it in searing open letter



Jeff Green: Tech billionaire leaves Mormon church and blasts it in searing open letter

Gustaf Kilander
Tue, December 21, 2021, 6:48 PM·4 min read

The richest person from Utah, billionaire and tech CEO Jeff Green, slammed the Mormon church in a letter announcing his official withdrawal from the religious community.

Mr Green, who promised in November to give away at least 90 per cent of his vast wealth, wrote a 90-word letter in which he blasted the organisation for hoarding money and having a poor record on civil rights.

The letter was sent on Monday to the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Russell Nelson, with Mr Green saying that he thinks most members of the church are “good people trying to do right”, but that “the church is actively and currently doing harm in the world”.

“The church leadership is not honest about its history, its finances, and its advocacy,” Mr Green added. “I believe the Mormon church has hindered global progress in women’s rights, civil rights, and racial equality, and LGBTQ+ rights.”

Mr Green is a former Mormon missionary and graduated from Brigham Young University, a private school in Provo, Utah founded by Mr Young in 1875 and which is sponsored by the church.

Mr Green’s next major donation will be $600,000 going to Equality Utah, with the billionaire writing in the letter that “almost half of the fund will go to a new scholarship program to help LGBTQ+ students in Utah,” including students who “may need or want to leave” Brigham Young University.

The 44-year-old is the CEO and chairman of The Trade Desk, a tech firm. He’s estimated to be worth $4.9bn.

Mr Green currently lives in Southern California and originally left the church “more than a decade ago—not believing, attending, or practicing”. He said the letter marked his official exit from the church.

“Although I have deep love for many Mormons and gratitude for many things that have come into my life through Mormonism, I have not considered myself a member for many years, and I’d like to make clear to you and others that I am not a member,” Mr Green wrote.

The CEO noted that the church has “more than $100bn in assets” and argued that they should do “more to help the world and its members”.

He added that Mormons are “often poor” but that they still give to the church “expecting the blessings of heaven”.

“Instead, I think the church has exploited its members and their need for hope to build temples, build shopping malls, and cattle ranches… rather than alleviating human suffering in or out of the church,” Mr Green wrote.

Mr Green, who has three children, is leaving the religion alongside 11 members of his family as well as a friend. His sister, Jennifer Gaerte, told The Salt Lake Tribune that she had “that picture-perfect Mormon family” until her husband’s brother died, leading her to go into “into survival mode”. Her husband didn’t attend church while he was grieving his brother, which prompted Ms Gaerte’s family to be shunned, with other children at times throwing rocks at her’s.

Ms Gaerte went to a leader in the church and requested to be released from LDS youth organization the Young Women. The church leader said she would become an inactive member if she was released from the group. “If you won’t release me, I’ll release myself,” she said.

Mr Green’s cousin, Doug Whittemore, said his upbringing had been “wonderful” but that parts of the religion bothered him.

“Something was not clicking for me intuitively,” Mr Whittemore said. “It was pragmatic, but I could never buy into the [religious] concepts, and the teachings were about as far-fetched as you could believe.”

When he chose not to become a missionary, he was shunned by his family. “A lot of them wouldn’t talk to me for years and that still persists to this day.” Mr Whittemore now lives in Dallas, Texas.

Mr Green also said his childhood had been a good one and that his faith had been important to him as he grew up.

“The most positive part of our childhood wasn’t the strong connection we had with our parents but to the community,” he told The Tribune. “I am deeply grateful to that community and its amazing people, including my ancestors who made great sacrifices in the name of God and the community.”

But Mr Green added in his letter that “after today, the only contact I want from the church is a single letter of confirmation to let me know that I am no longer listed as a member”.


Georgians vow mass hunger-strike after reports ex-leader 'tortured'


This latest protest took place on Saakashvili's 54th birthday (AFP/Vano SHLAMOV)

Irakli METREVELI
Tue, December 21, 2021, 11:30 AM·3 min read

Several thousand supporters of Georgia's jailed opposition leader and ex-president Mikheil Saakashvili rallied Tuesday vowing a "mass hunger-strike" to secure his release after doctors said he was tortured in custody.

Waving Georgia's five-cross flag and holding banners that read "Free Saakashvili!" protesters marched through the capital Tbilisi before gathering outside parliament for the rally timed to coincide with the politician's 54th birthday.

Saakashvili's arrest exacerbated a political crisis stemming from parliamentary polls last year that the opposition denounced as fraudulent.

It also spurred the largest anti-government protests in a decade.

"Today, we are launching a mass hunger-strike that will not end until Mikheil Saakashvili is released from captivity," Nika Melia, the chairman of Saakashvili's United National Movement (UNM), said to applause.

It was not immediately clear how many people intended to participate in the hunger-strike outside the UNM headquarters.

"This is a non-violent protest, a tough move, we have no other choice but to put pressure on the regime so that it loosens its grip on the Georgian state which it has captured," Melia, the leader of the country's main opposition group, said.

In a message to supporters that was read out at the rally by Saakashvili's mother, Giuli Alasania, the former leader called for national unity and peaceful mass protests to pressure authorities to hold snap parliamentary polls.

He said Georgia's "long-time dream and historic aspiration of European integration is under threat".

"We are in vital need of free media, impartial judiciary, fair elections. We need freedom here and now, and for good."

"Changing the current regime is an essential pre-condition for the fulfilment of our Western aspirations," he added referring to the ruling Georgian Dream party founded by the powerful oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili.

- 'Back to European path' -

Georgia's richest man who made his fortune in Russia, Ivanishvili is widely believed to be the top decision-maker in the country, despite having no official political role.

One of the demonstrators, 47-year-old architect Giorgi Darsavelidze, told AFP that "Ivanishvili's regime will crumble under popular pressure".

"We will not stop until Saakashvili is free, until Georgia is back to its European path," Darsavelidze added.

On Saturday, an independent council of doctors who examined Saakashvili in custody, said he had developed serious neurological diseases "as a result of torture, ill-treatment, inadequate medical care, and a prolonged hunger-strike".

Saakashvili refused food for 50 days to protest his jailing for abuse of office, a conviction he has denounced as politically motivated.

The flamboyant pro-Western reformer called off his hunger strike after he was placed -- in a critical condition -- in a military hospital in Georgia's eastern city of Gori.

Georgia's president from 2004 to 2013, Saakashvili was arrested on October 1 shortly after he secretly returned to Georgia from exile in Ukraine.

Amnesty International has branded Saakashvili's treatment "not just selective justice but apparent political revenge".

The US State Department has urged Georgia's government "to treat Saakashvili fairly and with dignity".

Rights groups have accused the Georgian government of using criminal prosecutions to punish political opponents and critical media.

Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili sparked an uproar recently when he said the government had been forced to arrest Saakashvili because he refused to quit politics.

im/jbr/gw
Kyle Rittenhouse Confronted About His Black Lives Matter Take At Turning Point USA

Murjani Rawls
Tue, December 21, 2021


At AmericaFest, a four-day festival hosted by Turning Point USA in Phoenix, recently acquitted Kyle Rittenhouse was greeted with a hero’s welcome— complete with streamers, music, and a standing ovation from the convention crowd as if he were a wrestling champion. After he spoke on a panel, he was then asked by journalist Elad Eliahu why he expressed support for Black Lives Matter.

Elad Eliahu was then held away from Rittenhouse and got his press pass removed. Later, Eliahu posted a video showing the confrontation at Turning Point USA’s Americafest on his Twitter account.



In the video, Eliahu said: “Excuse me Mr Rittenhouse can you tell me why you support BLM?”

Eliahu is pushed further away from Rittenhouse to which he replies “I am not a threat.” He then repeats his question.

Speaking to security, he says: “Why are you pushing me? I am allowed to be here.” The journalist is then told by a member of security not to try and push past him.

Another member of security then approaches Eliahu and unhooks his press pass from around his neck, telling him “we are revoking that.” The security official added that he would be criminally trespassing on the property if he stays.

Listen, I was just as shocked as anybody when I read the excerpt from Rittenhouse’s interview with Tucker Carlson after his acquittal, given that he was seen in a bar throwing up the “OK” sign frequently used in white supremacist groups, and he showed up armed to a Black Lives Matter protest in Kenosha. Rittenhouse claims his ex-attorney set him up

To restate his comments:

“I’m not a racist person. I support the BLM movement. I support peacefully demonstrating,” Rittenhouse told Fox News’ Tucker Carlson in an interview that aired Monday night. Kyle Rittenhouse does support Black Lives Matter.

There’s a weirdness in this story: you get kicked out of the four-day festival if you even mention Black Lives Matter like it’s Candyman in a mirror. So, let’s consider Kyle Rittenhouse does support Black Lives Matter. It’s crazy how three words upset enough people to cause these outbursts. To reiterate for the people in the back, Black lives saying that they matter doesn’t take away from anyone else’s value. It’s making sure that when a discussion of people mattering happens, that Black people are included.

Chris Hayes tells Tucker Carlson to

 'grow up' as he slams people celebrating

 Kyle Rittenhouse


·Producer, Yahoo Entertainment

All In With Chris Hayes spent the first 15 minutes of Tuesday’s show condemning the celebration of Kyle Rittenhouse. Rittenhouse Rittenhouse was acquitted of all charges in the 2020 fatal shooting of two protesters and the injuring of another in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Since his acquittal, he has met with former president Donald Trump and experienced a meteoric rise in popularity among conservative pundits.

Over the weekend, Rittenhouse was the featured guest at a Turning Point USA event in Phoenix, Arizona. He received a standing ovation from the crown in attendance when he walked on stage.

“Kyle Rittenhouse, I mean he is known for one thing,” Hayes said. “They are literally celebrating killing people…I have to say, watching that tape of him walking out and the big cheering is one of the most ominous, despicable developments in our politics in recent memory, which is really saying something because, boy, we have been full of them.”

And while Hayes called out the right wing as a whole, he had some particularly harsh words for Tucker Carlson who has exalted Rittenhouse as an American. Carlson also dedicated a full hour of his top-rated cable show to an interview with Rittenhouse, as well as a separate documentary about his trial on Fox Nation.

“To put the politics aside again, this is a sick, sick spectacle,” Hayes said. “I mean watching Tucker Carlson…like quiver and squeal in delight, you know, you are a grown ass man. Like, grow up. Grow up. You are a man and you're groveling at the foot of this kid because of the people he killed?”

5M more Americans acquired guns during COVID-19 pandemic
By Amy Norton, HealthDay News

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a surge in new gun owners across the United States, a new study finds.

The data shows that between January 2020 and April 30 of this year, 5.1 million Americans bought their first guns, following 2.4 million who did so in 2019.

The numbers are concerning, experts said, because when guns are brought into a home for the first time, everyone who lives there is newly exposed to the risks -- including accidents, homicide and suicide.

Early on in the pandemic, signs emerged that Americans were "panic buying" firearms. Federal figures showed a surge in background checks, while some online firearm retailers reported soaring sales, according to Giffords, a gun-violence prevention group

Only two formal studies, published in medical journals, have examined the issue. And neither looked at first-time gun buying before the pandemic, for a comparison.

The new study -- published online Tuesday in Annals of Internal Medicine -- did just that.

And the researchers found that 2020 did indeed see a surge in overall gun buying: An estimated 16.6 million U.S. adults bought a firearm, compared to 13.8 million in 2019


Most of those buyers already had a gun in the home, said lead researcher Matthew Miller, a professor at Northeastern University in Boston. But owing to that overall spike, the absolute number of first-time buyers rose as well.

In 2019, 2.4 million Americans became new gun owners -- a figure that swelled to 3.8 million in 2020.

Miller said tracking trends in new gun ownership is important, because it offers a picture of how many people may be newly exposed to the hazards of having a gun in the home.

"Most people who buy a gun think they're protecting themselves, their family and their property," said Miller, who also co-directs the Harvard Injury Control Research Center in Boston.

But in reality, he said, most gun owners will never use it in defense. They are, however, putting themselves and every household member at increased risk of harm.

"Over 60% of gun deaths in the U.S. are suicide," Miller pointed out. And research shows that when a gun is accessible in the home, the risk of suicide is "substantially higher," he said.

The risks of accidental injury and homicide -- particularly where a woman is the victim -- also climb.

According to Patrick Carter, co-director of the University of Michigan's Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention, in Ann Arbor, "We know that access to an unsecured firearm in the household is a significant risk factor for all types of firearm injuries -- not just for the firearm owner, but also for the other people who live in and visit the household."

Carter, who was not involved in the study, pointed to one of its "clear" messages: "We need to continue to ensure that firearms are stored locked up and out of the reach of people who shouldn't have access to them, especially underage children who may live in or visit the home."

The findings are based on a nationally representative survey of more than 19,000 U.S. adults, including almost 6,000 firearm owners.

The researchers estimated that between January 2019 and April 2021, 7.5 million Americans became first-time gun owners: That includes 2.4 million in 2019, 3.8 million in 2020 and 1.3 million in the first four months of 2021.


Most of those buyers, the study found, had previously lived in a gun-free home. And their new purchases collectively exposed an additional 11 million people -- including 5 million children -- to the risk of harm.

Beyond the numbers, the study also found that the profile of the first-time gun buyer is shifting.

White men still account for most gun owners in the United States, Miller said. But among new buyers in this study, about half were women, and nearly half were people of color.

That pattern was seen in both 2019 and 2020, so was not unique to the pandemic.

"What's responsible for the shift, we don't know -- but it's not the pandemic," Miller said.


Any decision to buy a gun, the study authors said, should involve weighing the benefits and risks.

Unfortunately, Miller said, many people may either be unaware of the hazards, or do not acknowledge that they apply to them. In a previous study, he and his colleagues found that less than 10% of gun owners believed that having a firearm in the home increased the risk of suicide.

More information

The Nemours Foundation has advice for parents on household gun safety.

Copyright © 2021 HealthDay. All rights reserved.


CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
Electric truck startup Nikola settles fraud charges for $125 million

Nikola is a Phoenix-based startup that aims to produce electric- and hydrogen-powered trucks. File Photo courtesy Nikola Corp.

Dec. 21 (UPI) -- Electric truck startup Nikola announced on Tuesday that it's agreed to pay $125 million to settle federal charges that it defrauded investors.

Regulators said Nikola misled investors about products, technical advancements and commercial prospects.

In July, federal prosecutors charged Nikola founder and former CEO Trevor Milton with securities and wire fraud and making false statements about the company.

The accusations say Milton embarked on "a public relations campaign aimed at inflating and maintaining Nikola's stock price" before it had even produced a single vehicle.

The statements falsely gave investors the impression that Nikola had reached certain product and technological milestones, authorities said.

Officials said Nikola further misled investors by "misrepresenting or omitting material facts."

"Nikola Corporation is responsible both for Milton's allegedly misleading statements and for other alleged deceptions, all of which falsely portrayed the true state of the company's business and technology," Gurbir Grewal, director of the Securities and Exchange Commission's enforcement division, said in a statement.

Under the terms of the deal, Nikola doesn't acknowledge or deny the accusations of fraud. The Phoenix-based company said it will attempt to recoup some of the penalty from Milton.

"We are pleased to bring this chapter to a close," Nikola said in a statement.

Nikola will pay the $125 million fine in five installments over two years.
Google celebrates the arrival of winter, summer with new Doodles





Google is marking the start of the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere with a new Doodle. Image courtesy of Google

Dec. 21 (UPI) -- Google welcomed the start of the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere and the start of the summer solstice in the Southern Hemisphere with new Doodles on Tuesday.

Google's homepage, for those living in the Northern Hemisphere, features an animated hedgehog walking through the snow with his eyes closed.

The hedgehog additionally has pine cones and leaves on his back.

For those in the Southern Hemisphere, the Doodle features the same hedgehog walking and smiling while wearing sunglasses. The animal has fruit and tropical plants on its back as the sun beams down on him.

Google presents Doodles every year to mark the arrival of the winter and summer solstice.

The company celebrated both the winter and summer solstice in 2020 along with the great conjunction, a rare occurrence between Jupiter and Saturn where the two planets nearly overlap.


Google is marking the start of the summer solstice in the Southern Hemisphere with a new Doodle. Image courtesy of Google

Winter solstice: Tuesday brings shortest day, longest night of the year


The sun sets over the Manhattan skyline in New York City. Tuesday marked the beginning of the winter solstice, which brings the shortest amount of daylight than any other day of the year. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo


Dec. 21 (UPI) -- The start of winter arrived right on schedule on Tuesday -- 10:58 a.m. EST -- as the Northern Hemisphere officially entered the year's coldest season.

The start of the season is marked by the winter solstice, which brings the shortest day and longest night of the calendar year. It is at this point that the Northern Hemisphere is tilted farthest from the sun.

The winter solstice occurs when the sun is directly over the Tropic of Capricorn.

After Tuesday, days will begin to get progressively longer until culminating with the summer solstice on June 21.

The March equinox on March 20 will mark the beginning of the astronomical spring season.

Seasons change on Earth because the planet is slightly tilted on its axis as it travels around the sun. During the first week in January, Earth is about 1.6 million miles closer to the sun.



Although the astronomical winter season began on Tuesday, meteorologists typically view Dec. 1 as the start of winter.

The date of the winter solstice varies between Dec. 20 and Dec. 23, but it most often falls on the 21st or 22nd.
Pope Francis slams excessive military spending ahead of World Peace Day

By UPI Staff

Pope Francis leads the recitation of the Angelus prayer on Sunday from the window of his office overlooking Saint Peter's Square in Vatican City. Photo by Vatican Media via EPA-EFE

Dec. 21 (UPI) -- In an address at the Vatican on Tuesday, Pope Francis called on world leaders to scale back the amount of money spent on military defense -- in favor of spending more money on more noble and peaceful pursuits.

The pontiff made the remarks at St. Peter's Square ahead of World Peace Day on Jan. 1.

"In recent years, there has been a significant reduction worldwide in funding for education and training; these have been seen more as expenditures than investments," Francis said in his remarks.

"Yet they are the primary means of promoting integral human development; they make individuals more free and responsible, and they are essential for the defense and promotion of peace.

"In a word, teaching and education are the foundations of a cohesive civil society capable of generating hope, prosperity and progress. Military expenditures, on the other hand, have increased beyond the levels at the end of the Cold War and they seem certain to grow exorbitantly."

Catholic Cardinal Peter Turkson said the pontiff's message demonstrates the need for every person to "play a creative role in the project for peace."

"It is high time, then, that governments develop economic policies aimed at inverting the proportion of public funds spent on education and on weaponry," the pope added in his speech.

"The pursuit of a genuine process of international disarmament can only prove beneficial for the development of peoples and nations, freeing up financial resources better used for healthcare, schools, infrastructure, care of the land and so forth.

Aside from dismissing excessive military spending, Pope Francis also urged partnership between older and younger generations, additional spending on education and fairer working conditions worldwide.
New reforms target US military’s missing weapons problem
By KRISTIN M. HALL and JUSTIN PRITCHARD

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In this July 13, 2017, image provided by the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command on Feb. 9, 2021, a storage container of explosive ordnance shows signs of theft after arriving at the Letterkenny Army Depot in Chambersburg, Pa. An ammunition canister containing 32 rounds of 40mm M430A1 grenades, property of the U.S. Marine Corps, was missing. (U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command via AP, File)


The Department of Defense is overhauling how it keeps track of its guns and explosives, and Congress is requiring more accountability from the Pentagon -- responses to an Associated Press investigation that showed lost or stolen military weapons were reaching America’s streets.

The missing weaponry includes assault rifles, machine guns, handguns, armor-piercing grenades, artillery shells, mortars, grenade launchers and plastic explosives.

The Pentagon will now have to give lawmakers an annual report on weapons loss and security under the National Defense Authorization Act, which Congress approved this month and President Joe Biden is expected to sign. As AP’s AWOL Weapons investigation showed, military officials weren’t advising Congress even as guns and explosives continued to disappear.

To meet those reporting requirements, the military is modernizing how it accounts for its millions of firearms and mountains of explosives.

“Clearly the accountability on this issue was stopping at too low of a level,” said U.S. Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colorado, a U.S. Army veteran and member of the House Armed Services Committee who supported the reforms. With the new requirements, “if there are hundreds of missing weapons in that report, members of Congress are going to see it and they are going to be asked about it publicly and held accountable for it.”

Pentagon officials have said that they can account for more than 99.9% of firearms, and take weapons security very seriously. Still, when AP published its first report on missing firearms in June, Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he would consider a “systematic fix.”

In response, the Army, the largest branch with the most firearms, took on a major overhaul of how units report missing, lost or stolen weapons. Paper records are giving way to a digital form, and a central logistics operations center is collecting and verifying serious incident reports that — as with other armed services — didn’t always go all the way up the chain of command.

The new system uses an existing software system called Vantage to give commanders a real-time look at what is unaccounted for, Scott Forster, an operations research analyst at the Army, said in a briefing with AP.

Other changes will affect how the military responds to law enforcement investigations.

When a gun is recovered or sought during a criminal case, the Defense Department’s Small Arms and Light Weapons Registry is supposed to determine the last known location or unit responsible. But the registry’s information was inaccurate and responses to law enforcement weren’t timely, according to internal Army documents obtained by the AP. (The Army runs the registry for the Pentagon.)

The Army is now developing an app that would search each service’s own property record databases, according to Army spokesman Lt. Col. Brandon Kelley.

The new law also requires the Defense Secretary to report confirmed thefts or recovery of weapons to the National Crime Information Center, which the FBI runs. Military regulations had required the services and units to self-report losses; the onus will now be on the highest level of the Pentagon.

The other armed services also are implementing reforms.

The Marine Corps said it is developing internal procedures for improved oversight through increased inspections of units. The Navy required units to notify a higher headquarters when reporting weapons losses. The Air Force has replaced its munitions property book system with a commercial application.

This summer, the Defense Logistics Agency began reporting to the Pentagon losses and thefts of firearms that the military loaned to civilian agencies under the Law Enforcement Support Office program. In its data release to AP, the Pentagon reported that 461 of these firearms had vanished, with 109 later recovered. AP’s reporting did not include LESO weapons.

After the AP’s initial report published in June, Gen. Milley tasked the service branches with scrubbing their data on firearms losses since 2010 -- the time period AP studied.

The Pentagon reluctantly shared the statistics it collected, which Milley’s office has provided to Capitol Hill. The official numbers are lower than what AP reported -- but also incomplete, because some services failed to include stolen weapons as documented by the military’s own criminal investigators.

The number of missing, lost or stolen firearms was “approximately 1,540” from 2010 through this summer, according to LTC Uriah Orland, a spokesman for the Office of the Secretary of Defense. The majority have been recovered, he said. That total compares to the at least 2,000 firearms that AP had reported for 2010 through 2020, a tally was based on the military’s own data, internal memoranda, criminal investigation case files and other sources.

There are several reasons for the discrepancy. In conducting their analyses, each service used different standards and systems. Despite the detailed data search by each service, AP found lost or stolen items that were not in their official accounting.

Relying on its official weapons registry, the Navy data represented that none of its shotguns have been stolen and its only explosives losses during the 2010s were 20 concussion grenades. AP identified several shotguns and dozens of armor-piercing grenades, based on case files from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

The Marines decided that any weapon that vanished in a combat zone didn’t count -- even in cases, for example, when a rifle fell from a vehicle or aircraft, or disappeared from living quarters on overseas base. Their total of “unaccounted for” firearms since 2010 was 31.

The biggest explanation for the difference between AP’s numbers and official numbers is a significant downward revision of Army totals.

In June, AP reported the Army couldn’t account for more than 1,500 weapons. Most of that total derived from internal Army memos that said 1,300 rifles and handguns were lost or stolen between 2013 and 2019. The Army had said the memos could include duplications and combat losses, which AP excluded when known.

Responding to Milley’s order, personnel hand-searched records. Their conclusion was that, in the 2010s, only 469 firearms were missing.

Army officials didn’t detail which weapons they excluded or their criteria for reaching the total, which AP was unable to verify independently.

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Hall reported from Nashville, Tennessee; contact her at https://twitter.com/kmhall. Pritchard reported from Los Angeles; contact him at https://twitter.com/JPritchardAP.

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Email AP’s Global Investigations Team at investigative@ap.org or via https://www.ap.org/tips/. See other work at https://www.apnews.com/hub/ap-investigations.