Senator Bob Menendez is set to announce his re-election bid on Monday, doubling down on his defense as fellow Democrats are calling on him to resign after he was charged with accepting bribes for favors.

The Democratic senator will hold a press conference in his home state of New Jersey, speaking publicly for the first time since he and his wife Nadine Arslanian Menendez were indicted by a federal grand jury over corruption allegations in an investigation that focused on a luxury car, $400,000 in gold bars and cash, plus payments toward a home mortgage allegedly received by the couple.

Menendez, who is up for re-election in 2024, is expected to announce he will run for a fifth term. He will speak at 11:30 am at Hudson County Community College. Hudson County is where he got his start in politics, serving as mayor of Union City.

But support for the embattled Democrat is waning. More than two dozen Democrats in New Jersey have called on him to resign.

And, Rep. Andy Kim, who cleaned up the Capitol after the rioters left on Jan. 6, 2021, announced he’s running for Senate, setting up a tough primary challenge for Menendez. 

‘This is not something I expected to do, but I believe New Jersey deserves better,’ Kim said in a statement. ‘We cannot jeopardize the Senate or compromise our country´s integrity. I believe it´s time we restore faith in our democracy, and that´s why I am stepping up and running for Senate.’ 

It is the second round of bribery charges for Menendez.  A 2015 case ended in mistrial after a jury failed to reach a verdict on all counts and a judge acquitted him on some charges.

But, in contrast to eight years ago, when many in the party stood by him, multiple Democrats – including New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman – have called on Menendez to resign. 

‘The alleged facts are so serious that they compromise the ability of Senator Menendez to effectively represent the people of our state,’ Murphy said. As governor, he would appoint a senator to replace Menendez should he resign.

Notably, New Jersey’s other Democratic Senator, Cory Booker, has been silent on Menendez. 

Menendez himself has remained defiant – although he has stepped down from his position as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Menendez called the investigation ‘an active smear campaign of anonymous sources and innuendos to create an air of impropriety where none exists.’

‘The excesses of these prosecutors is apparent,’ Menendez said. ‘They have misrepresented the normal work of a Congressional office. On top of that, not content with making false claims against me, they have attacked my wife for the longstanding friendships she had before she and I even met.’

He also claimed he is being ‘falsely accused’ because he is a ‘Latin American’ who rose from a humble childhood to the United States Senate.

‘Those behind this campaign simply cannot accept that a first generation Latin American from humble beginnings could rise to be a U.S. senator,’ he said. 

Republicans see an opening to win a Senate seat if Menendez stays on the ballot.

But former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has ruled out a run, sticking with his campaign to be the Republican presidential nominee.

‘I have no interest in being in the United States Senate,’ Christie told Meet the Press host Kristen Welker in a Sunday morning interview.

The 27-page indictment, unsealed on Friday, claims that Bob and Nadine Menendezt had an improper relationship with three New Jersey businessmen: Wael Hana, Jose Uribe and Fred Daibes, who allegedly paid the couple in exchange for Menendez to use his influence in Washington D.C. to their benefit.

The couple face three criminal counts each: conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit honest services fraud, and conspiracy to commit extortion under color of official right. The three businessmen face charges of conspiracy to commit bribery and conspiracy to commit honest services fraud

The indictment also charges the senator with providing ‘sensitive U.S. Government information and took other steps that secretly aided the Government of Egypt.’ 

David Schertler, a lawyer for Nadine Menendez, said she ‘denies any criminal conduct and will vigorously contest these charges in court.’ 

The indictment outlines a series of texts, payments and actions the couple allegedly took to help the three businessmen, actions from which they financially benefited.

The probe listed several ‘bribes’ paid to them. ‘Those bribes included cash, gold, payments toward a home mortgage, compensation for a low-or-no-show job, a luxury vehicle, and other things of value,’ the indictment said.

A June 2022 raid on their New Jersey home found ‘over $480,000 in cash – much of it stuffed into envelopes and hidden in clothing, closets, and a safe,’ the indictment notes, adding Nadine had over $70,000 in a safe deposit box. 

It also found two one-kilogram gold bars and eleven one-ounce gold bars.

The indictment alleges that Menendez tried to disrupt a federal criminal prosecution of Fred Daibes in exchange for the money and other items of value. Daibes is an old friend of Menendez, has fundraised for his Senate campaign, and allegedly has ties to the Genovese mob family.

The indictment charges Menendez ‘promised to and did use his influence and power’ to pressure President Joe Biden to nominate a U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey who Menendez ‘believed could be influenced by Menendez with respect to the federal criminal prosecution of Fred Daibes.’

Menendez recommended and Biden later nominated Phillip Sellinger as U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, the top federal prosecutor in the state. 

Daibes has been under investigation before. New Jersey authorities have tracked high-ranking mobsters meeting with Daibes repeatedly over the last decade, the Daily Beast reported. 

Daibes provided the couple with gold bars and envelopes of cash, the indictment states. 

‘Multiple gold bars provided by Daibes were found during the court-authorized June 2022 search; of the couple’s home, the indictment states. It also says the senator performed a web search for ‘how much is one kilo of gold worth’ and that the envelopes of cash had the fingerprints of Daibes and his driver. 

The investigation also focused on 40-year-old New Jersey businessman, Wael Hana, who has known Nadine since before she started dating Menendez.

Hana, who is originally from Egypt, operated the company IS EG Halal in New Jersey and it soon became the sole entity authorized to certify that any halal food product imported into Egypt from anywhere in the world had been prepared according to Islamic law. 

According to the indictment, Menendez ‘improperly advised and pressured an official at the United States Department of Agriculture for the purpose of protecting a business monopoly granted to Hana by Egypt and used in part to fund the bribes being paid to Menendez through Nadine Menendez.’ 

The designation of IS EG Halal surprised U.S. agriculture officials. Previously, several other companies had been doing that certification, but they were dismissed by Egyptian agriculture officials in favor of IS EG Halal, which had no previous experience in the field.

The indictment charges Menendez with using the power of his position on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to influence the State Department regarding policy in Egypt and with sending Nadine ‘highly sensitive’ about Egypt that he got in Senate briefings that she, in turn, gave to Hana.

As a senator, Menendez could put a ‘hold’ on State Department funding to the country. 

In a text to his wife, Menendez tells her: ‘I am going to sign off this sale to Egypt today. Egypt: 46,000 120MM Target Practice Rounds and 10,000 Rounds Tank Ammunition: $99 million.’

Nadine then forwarded it to an Egyptian official who replies with the thumbs up emoji.

It’s time to swap your t-shirts for jumpers and pour yourself a large pumpkin spice latte – autumn is officially here!

Today marks the September Equinox, which is also known as astronomical autumn. 

The sun is directly above the equator and day and night are of equal length – roughly 12 hours each. 

For those of us in the northern hemisphere, today marks the start of autumn. 

Meanwhile, people living in the southern hemisphere will be waving hello to spring today.

There are two separate dates that could be said to mark the start of autumn – astronomical autumn and meteorological autumn. 

Astronomical autumn begins today and is defined by Earth’s axis and orbit around the Sun. 

‘During an equinox the Sun shines directly over the equator resulting in nearly equal amounts of day and night throughout the world,’ NASA explained. 

The only exceptions are the North and South Pole, where the Sun approximately straddles the horizon for the entire day. 

From today, the Sun will gradually continue to rise later and set earlier in the Northern Hemisphere, making the days shorter and night longer. 

The opposite is true for the Southern Hemisphere, where the days begin to last longer and the nights shorter. 

Meanwhile, meteorological autumn is guided by annual temperature cycles.

‘Meteorological seasons are derived by splitting the year into four periods made up of three months each,’ The Met Office explained. 

‘These seasons are split to coincide with our Gregorian calendar, making it easier for meteorological observing and forecasting to compare seasonal and monthly statistics.’

By the meteorological calendar, we’re already a month into autumn, with the first day of autumn always 1 September; ending on 30 November. 

While the changing of the season is always pretty, experts from Forestry England say that the combination of a rainy spring with the record-breaking temperatures in June has paved the way for a particularly ‘spectacular autumn show.’

Met Office data shows that this spring was particularly wet, with rainfall across Britain 55 per cent higher than average. 

While this rain may have dampened many Britons’ spirits, it did wonders for the growth of the UK’s trees.   

‘This abundance of rain has helped set the stage for a stunning display of colourful leaves in autumn,’ Forestry England explained. 

‘This is because the rain provided plenty of moisture to the soil, which helps to promote strong and healthy growth.’

Following this rainy spring, Britain basked in record-breaking heat in June, with temperatures hitting a daily average of 15.8°C – 2.5°C higher than average.

This sunny weather allowed Britain’s trees to flourish, according to Forestry England.  

‘Plenty of sunshine has meant a good growing season for the nation’s forests, helping them build up plenty of the sugars which produce the stunning autumn reds, golds and oranges as they are absorbed back into the tree,’ it explained. 

‘Instead of following the usual pattern, the weather experienced in early spring could lead to a more gradual and enchanting shift in leaf colours this autumn, creating a beautiful mix of colours that are truly one-of-a-kind.’

The arrival of the autumn colours could also be influenced by the hot start to this month.

‘If temperatures remain high, this can delay the onset of autumn and the subsequent colour change in leaves,’ Forestry England said.

The leaves change colour when days become shorter and temperatures cool, with the green chlorophyll starting to disappear, leaving yellow and orange hues. 

‘So, while the warm weather may slightly alter the beginning of autumn, it can also extend it, offering more chances for people to witness nature’s splendid transformation,’ Forestry England added.  

The moment that Apple fans have been waiting for is finally almost here, as the iOS 17 update is set to be released today. 

The software update includes several exciting new features, including a Live Voicemail tool and the ability to share your contact details simply by touching your iPhone to another.

‘With iOS 17, we’ve made iPhone more personal and intuitive by deeply considering the features we all rely on every day,’ said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. 

‘Phone, FaceTime, and Messages are central to how we communicate, and this release is packed with updates we think our users are going to love.’

Here’s everything you need to know about iOS 17, including how and when to download it on your iPhone. 

Which iPhones are compatible with iOS 17? 

iOS 17 will be compatible with the iPhone XS and newer models. 

This means you’ll be able to download it if you have one of the following iPhones:

• iPhone 14
• iPhone 14 Plus
• iPhone 14 Pro
• iPhone 14 Pro Max
• iPhone 13
• iPhone 13 mini
• iPhone 13 Pro
• iPhone 13 Pro Max
• iPhone 12
• iPhone 12 mini
• iPhone 12 Pro
• iPhone 12 Pro Max
• iPhone 11
• iPhone 11 Pro
• iPhone 11 Pro Max
• iPhone XS
• iPhone XS Max
• iPhone XR
• iPhone SE (2nd generation or later)

What time will the update be available? 

Apple has confirmed that the iOS 17 update will be launching today, although it is yet to announce the exact time for the release. 

However, based on previously updates, it’s likely iOS 17 will be available at around 10:00 PT (18:00 BST). 

How do you download it?

If you have one of the compatible iPhones listed above, once the update is released, you’ll be able to download it via the Settings app. 

Open the app, then General > Software Update. 

Once iOS 17 is available, you’ll be able to download it here. 

What are some of the key features? 

1. Check In

With Apple’s new Check In feature, you’ll automatically be notified when a family member or friend gets to their destination safely.

‘After a user initiates a Check In, their friend or family member will automatically be notified as soon as the user arrives,’ Apple explained. 

‘If they are not making progress toward their destination, useful information will be temporarily shared with the selected contact, such as the device’s location, battery level, and cell service status. 

‘Any information shared is end-to-end encrypted.’

2. Live Voicemail 

If you’re over a certain age, you’ll remember old-school voicemail machines — the kind that let you pick up the phone in the middle of the message if you decided the call was worth answering. 

Apple’s bringing that back with the Live Voicemail feature, which transcribes the message in real time and lets you take the call.

‘Live Voicemail gives users the ability to see real-time transcription as someone leaves a voicemail, and the opportunity to pick up while the caller is leaving their message,’ Apple said. 

‘Calls identified as spam by carriers won’t appear as Live Voicemail, and will instead be instantly declined. With the power of the Neural Engine, Live Voicemail transcription is handled on-device and remains entirely private.’

3. NameDrop 

The days of having to manually type a new friend’s contact details into your iPhone are a thing of the past in iOS 17. 

The update includes the ability to share your contact details, simply by bringing your iPhone close to another.  

‘NameDrop allows users to easily share contact information by simply bringing their iPhones together, or by bringing an iPhone and Apple Watch together,’ Apple said. 

‘With the same gesture, users can also share content or start SharePlay to listen to music, watch a movie, or play a game while in close proximity between iPhone devices.’

4. StandBy

If your iPhone is charing across the room, it can be annoying having to stand up to check what notifications are coming through. 

But a new feature in iOS 17 called StandBy will make it much easier to glance over at your device. 

‘StandBy gives users a full-screen experience with glanceable information designed to be viewed from a distance when iPhone is on its side and charging,’ Apple said. 

‘StandBy is perfect on a nightstand, kitchen counter, or desk, and can be personalised to display a range of beautiful clock styles, favourite photos, or widgets, including Smart Stacks, which surface the right widgets at the right time.’ 

5. Screen Distance

The Screen Time tool has a new feature called Screen Distance, which will alert you if you’re holding your iPhone too close to your face. 

‘Screen Distance uses the TrueDepth camera to encourage users to move their device farther away after holding it closer than 12 inches from their face for an extended period of time,’ Apple said. 

6. Autocorrect improvements

iOS 17 will keep Apple’s autocorrect feature from correcting one of the English language’s favoured expletives to ‘ducking.’ 

‘Autocorrect receives a comprehensive update with a transformer language model, a state-of-the-art on-device machine learning language model for word prediction — improving the experience and accuracy for users every time they type,’ Apple said.

‘It also receives a refreshed design to better support typing, and sentence-level autocorrections can fix more types of grammatical mistakes.’

Hurricane Lee to hit US TODAY with 80mph winds and 20ft waves: Maine declares state of emergency as Long Island homeowners batten down the hatches

• Lee will trigger potentially life threatening storm surges on Friday and Saturday 
• Category 1 storm sparked first hurricane warning in Maine in 15 years 
• Nantucket, Cape Cod and coastal Long Island also bracing for storm’s impact  

By Jen Smith, Chief Reporter and Associated Press

Published: 08:22 EDT, 15 September 2023 | Updated: 10:51 EDT, 15 September 2023

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NASA has published its first-ever study into hundreds of UFO sightings in recent decades and concluded there is ‘no reason’ to believe any cases are aliens – yet.

The unprecedented report, which comes as UFO fever reaches a tipping point in the US, analyzed more than 800 cases across three decades — albeit with a budget of just $100,000 and only about nine months to conduct their work.

The panel noted that, to date, most UFO sightings are recorded with sensors and other equipment intended for nonscientific purposes under accidental or ‘serendipitous’ circumstances.

The evidence from nearly all UFO cases, in other words, was not collected with enough scientific rigor to reach reliable conclusions.  

‘Coupled with incomplete data archiving and curation,’ the NASA panel wrote, ‘this means that the origin of numerous UAP [UFOs] remain uncertain.’

But, the panel did explain away one famous case, the US Navy’s ‘GOFAST’ UFO video: ‘We find the object moved about 390 meters during this 22-second interval,’ the new NASA report said, ‘which corresponds to an average speed of 40 mph.’ 

‘This is a typical wind speed at 13,000 feet,’ the NASA panel said, concluding it was probably a terrestrial, balloon-like object ‘most likely drifting with the wind.’

NASA’s panel of experts, however, had been primarily tasked with the goal of recommending new investigative avenues for future UFO research — advising on how the US space agency’s own tools could aid in the search for ET visitation.

NASA announced last year that it would review evidence regarding unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs), more commonly known as unidentified flying objects (UFOs). Their panel defined UAP as sightings ‘that cannot be identified as aircraft or known natural phenomena from a scientific perspective.’

In their final report issued today, the NASA team elaborated that, in their scientific view, the bar for proof of extraterrestrial visitors to Earth must be kept high.

‘In the search for life beyond Earth, extraterrestrial life itself must be the hypothesis of last resort,’ the panel wrote, ‘the answer we turn to only after ruling out all other possibilities.’ 

‘As Sherlock Holmes said, ‘Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.”

During a question and answer session presenting their report, the head of NASA’s UAP advisory panel, astrophysicist David Spergel cautioned that more work will be needed to collect data on UAP, a process which he said has been marred by ‘a limited sample of events’ and ‘limited data.’

‘Stigma has limited reporting by pilots, both civilian and military,’ Spergel noted. ‘So we know there’s missing data.’ 

Back in May, NASA’s independent study team shared their preliminary observations — that up to 98 per cent of reported UAP sightings can be explained away.

Just 2 to 5 per cent are considered ‘possibly really anomalous’, the panel added, but a lack of high-quality data is hampering researchers’ ability to apply ‘rigorous scientific scrutiny’ to the mystery-solving.

These genuinely unexplained UAPs are defined as ‘anything that is not readily understandable by the operator or the sensor,’ or ‘something that is doing something weird,’ said team member Nadia Drake earlier this year.

NASA’s panel leader, David Spergel, echoed those comments today, adding ‘even if there are some events that, in the end, turn out to be something novel, most events are going to turn out to be conventional things: balloons, airplanes, and so on.’

While it had always been unlikely that today’s report would provide ground-breaking new information not revealed at the panel’s first public meeting in May, it did usher in the start of a new mission for the US space agency.

NASA administrator Bill Nelson announced the creation of a dedicated new position at the space agency, director of UAP research.

Nelson said that the newly appointed director will be tasked with developing and leading ‘the implementation of NASA’s vision for UAP research.’

‘We want to shift the conversation about UAPs from sensationalism to science,’ Nelson said. 

But the panel was guarded as to actual identity of NASA’s new UAP chief, with Spergel citing ‘nasty and hostile’ elements of the UFO ‘fringe’ who have ‘behaved badly’ and ‘harassed’ panel members on social media.

While NASA’s probes and rovers currently scour the solar system for any signs of alien life, its historic posture has been to ‘debunk’ sightings on our home planet.

But today, NASA’s panel acknowledged that its international suite of sensors and satellites do not collect data from the Earth at the level of detail needed to spot most modestly sized UFOs — as opposed to an apparently massive UAP like the infamous 1997 Phoenix Lights. 

‘We looked at NASA’s assets,’ Spergel said. 

‘While they provide a comprehensive picture of the ocean, the Earth’s surface and atmosphere for studying our evolving planet,’ he pointed out, ‘they typically do not have the resolution needed for UAP events.’

Spergel expressed the hope that these systems could be used to better understand the many ways that normal, terrestrial phenomena could appear unusual, so that the signal of a true ‘out of this world’ anomaly could be pulled out from that noise.

‘If you want to find something strange in a haystack,’ Spergel said, ‘you better know exactly what hay looks like.’ 

‘You need to know what typical, regular things look like, under all conditions.’ 

The mere existence of NASA’s advisory panel on UAP reflects a sea change in how seriously the US government has approached these airborne mysteries in recent years, partly due to concern that some could be related to foreign surveillance.

But the issue of aviation safety, for both commercial and military pilots, has also helped drastically change the conversation on UFOs in recent years. 

The reality of these pilots’ UAP reports, as NASA’s assistant deputy associate administrator for research, Dan Evans, explained today, ‘raises serious concerns about the safety of our skies.’

‘The threat to US airspace safety posed by UAP is self-evident,’ NASA’s panel concluded in their new report.

The panel added that it sees promise in future ‘systematic, evidenced-based’ data collection on UFOs via the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS), which is already jointly administered by NASA.

‘This confidential and voluntary reporting system for pilots, air traffic controllers, and other professional aviation staff, receives approximately 100,000 reports per year,’ the new NASA report said. 

‘Although not initially designed for UAP collection,’ the panel wrote, ‘better harnessing it for commercial pilot UAP reporting would provide a critical database.’ 

Notably, NASA’s study is separate to the Pentagon’s investigation into UAPs, which saw US lawmakers hear first-hand accounts of UFO sightings from former members of the military earlier this year.

That Pentagon study, led by the Defense Department’s new All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) led by Pentagon physicist Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, has received 350 reports of UFOs in the past two years. 

Almost half, or precisely 171 of those UFO cases, remain unexplained. 

Although their is cross-collaboration, the US space agency’s panel is leading the civilian, unclassified side of this effort, while AARO focuses on examining UAPs in coordination with the intelligence and military communities. 

For its advisory panel, NASA put together an independent team of 16 scientific, aeronautic, and data analytic experts with the aim of analyzing sightings of UAPs from a logical and scientific perspective.

‘We have access to a broad range of observations of Earth from space – and that is the lifeblood of scientific inquiry,’ the space agency’s Thomas Zurbuchen said last year before the study began.

‘We have the tools and team who can help us improve our understanding of the unknown. That’s the very definition of what science is. That’s what we do.’

The NASA panel’s report, which was published at 9:30 ET (14:30) this morning, was followed by a media briefing at NASA’s headquarters in Washington that began at 10:00 ET (15:00), during which the panel discussed its findings.

The press conference was streamed live on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency’s website here. 

‘We recognize that public interest in UAPs is high, and that the demand for answers is strong,’ Dan Evans, the NASA official in charge of the study, said this past May.

‘It is now our collective responsibility to investigate these occurrences with the rigorous scientific scrutiny that they deserve.’

He added: ‘All of NASA’s data is available to the public – we take that obligation seriously – and we make it easily accessible for anyone to see or study.’

• Phenylephrine is everywhere and every nasal decongestant contains it
• The vote deeming it ineffective paves the way for it to be pulled from market
•  READ MORE: FDA to reevaluate ineffective over-the-counter medicine

By Cassidy Morrison Senior Health Reporter For Dailymail.Com

Published: 11:36 EDT, 12 September 2023 | Updated: 14:06 EDT, 12 September 2023

Japan started dumping more than 1.3 million tons of radioactive water into the Pacific Ocean Thursday – and an expert has warned it ‘has the potential to cause mutations as seen in Chernobyl.’

The wastewater is currently being held in the nation’s Fukushima nuclear plant, which is set to be decommissioned and must be cleaned to prevent accidental leaks

The contaminated water has been filtered to remove isotopes, leaving only tritium and carbon-14, which are radioactive isotopes of hydrogen and carbon that cannot be easily removed from water

Timothy Mousseau, a researcher at the University of South Carolina, told DailyMai.com: Tritium and carbon-14, along with the other radionuclides [that cause cancer] to be released, all have the potential to cause mutations, cancers and developmental deformities, as seen in Chernobyl.’

In March 2011, the Fukushima power plant was wrecked after an earthquake and tsunami destroyed the plant’s cooling systems, causing three reactors to melt – the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.

Chernobyl a power station on the outskirts of Pripyat, suffered a massive accident in which one of the reactors caught fire and exploded, spreading radioactive material into the surroundings.

Since then, animals exposed have developed deformities and genetic changes, and residents have been stricken with cancer. 

Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) said when Fukushima experienced its meltdown, the organization collected the contaminated water as it cooled the wrecked reactors, along with groundwater and rain seeped in. 

The Japanese government began using the Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS) 2013 to filter out the most harmful substances.

ALPS removes nearly all of the toxic elements in the water, but it is unable to filter out tritium.

TEPCO considers tritium to be harmless, but it increases the risk of cancer when consumed in large quantities.

Moussea said: ‘There is no doubt that there will be some injury to the exposed organisms.’

To release the wastewater into the ocean, TEPOC has constructed a mile-long undersea tunnel that extends out from the base of the nuclear power plant.

TEPCO pushed the release button on the tanks Thursday to start the dumping process, which is set to take up to 40 years. 

The filtering process will remove strontium-90 and iodine-129, and the concentration of carbon-14 in the contaminated water is far lower than its regulatory standard for discharge, according to TEPCO and Japanese government documents. 

MAP NEEDS CAPTION ^^  

However, that still leaves levels of tritium in the water. CONFUSED STILL! 

‘Unfortunately, at present, there is no process that would allow for industrial-scale removal of tritium from contaminated water,’ Mousseau said.

‘The only alternatives to dumping are to a) keep storing it until natural radioactive decay reduces concentrations to very low levels (50-100 years) or b) to fix it in a substrate (e.g. concrete) so that it can not accumulate in the ecosystem.’

Tritium is a colorless, odorless gas with a half-life of about 12 years. 

And the form of hydrogen has been produced in large quantities by the nuclear military program.

It can enter the body through inhalation, ingestion or absorption through the skin, and it increases the risk of cancer if consumed in extremely large quantities, 

‘Based on our review of the literature, we have found that if ingested, absorbed or inhaled, tritium in any form can cause genetic damage (i.e. increased mutation rates), cancer, developmental defects, reduced fertility or even sterility, and reduced longevity,’ Mousseau said.

‘At high doses, tritium can lead to mortality. At low doses, such effects are likely to escape detection because of the technical challenges of studying this isotope, but at higher doses, such as might arise as a result of biomagnification, effects could be considerable and of significant concern for top predators (e.g. humans).’

The Japanese plan was greenlighted by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), part of the United Nations, following a two-year-long safety review that concluded in July.

IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said in a foreword of the report: ‘Based on its comprehensive assessment, the IAEA has concluded that the approach and activities to the discharge of ALPS treated water taken by Japan are consistent with relevant international safety standards.

‘Furthermore, the IAEA notes the controlled, gradual discharges of the treated water to the sea, as currently planned and assessed by TEPCO, would have a negligible radiological impact on people and the environment.’

Greenpeace said on Tuesday that the radiological risks had not been fully assessed and that the biological impacts of tritium, carbon-14, strontium-90 and iodine-129 – to be released with the water – ‘have been ignored.’

DailyMail.com has contacted IAEA and Greenpeace for comment. 

TEPCO plans to release 8,598 tons of wastewater in the first round of the project, which will carry on for 17 days.

The organization claims 34,392 tons should be released by March 2024, an equivalent of 10 tanks.

‘It is impossible to predict the long-term consequences of the dumping without further scientific study,’ said Mousseau.

Similar uncertainties existed for the effects of pesticides (e.g. DDT), chlorofluorocarbons (i.e. effects on the ozone layer), plastics and even CO2 (effects on climate change). 

The lack of sufficient study in these other situations led to the near extinction of many animals (e.g. DDT effects on birds). 

‘Luckily, we have largely recovered from the effects of pesticides and CFCs but are still dealing with the long-term effects of plastics and greenhouse gasses. The long-term impacts of tritium releases are, at present, completely unknown but should be of great concern to all.’

Despite Japan insisting that the water discharge is completely safe following assessments from foreign experts and the IAEA, the plan has enraged neighboring countries.

China has since banned Japanese seafood and criticized the country as ‘extremely selfish and irresponsible.’ 

The Chinese Communist Party’s flagship newspaper, The Global Times, then wrote that it could open ‘Pandora’s box’ and trigger fears of a ‘real-life Godzilla,’ about the reptile monster that first appeared in Japanese cinema in 1954. 

Beijing’s foreign ministry said in a statement: ‘The ocean is the common property of all humanity, and forcibly starting the discharge of Fukushima’s nuclear wastewater into the ocean is an extremely selfish and irresponsible act that ignores international public interests.’ 

South Korean protestors also attempted to enter the Japanese embassy in Seoul carrying banners that read ‘The sea is not Japan’s trash bin.’ 

Donald Trump would beat both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in respective hypothetical match-ups if the 2024 election were held today, a new poll reported on Tuesday suggests. 

The Republican former president leads Biden by a six-point margin in the latest Harvard CAPS-Harris survey exclusively obtained by The Hill, yet another dire poll for a White House that’s been plagued by sinking approval ratings and multiple crises.

Forty-seven percent of survey respondents would back Trump in 2024, compared to 41 percent who support Biden. Twelve percent said they were undecided. 

Harris fares even worse than her boss, trailing Trump by 11 percentage points. 

The vice president received 38 percent of the hypothetical vote, while Trump had 49 percent — two points higher than he’d score against Biden. 

While Biden has made his intention to run for a second term known, Trump has repeatedly teased a 2024 bid but has yet to say for sure if he’ll mount a third presidential campaign. 

And when Biden selected Harris as his running mate, making history in the process, she was widely thought to be the one to take up his mantle when the 79-year-old commander-in-chief was finished.

But her deep unpopularity — which is even greater than Biden’s — has left left-wing operatives concerned about who to put up in the next presidential election cycle. 

In perhaps good news for Harris, she does come out on top in a hypothetical match-up against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. The GOP governor scored 38 percent of support in the Harvard survey, with Harris coming in slightly higher at 40 percent. 

The former House Republican who was elected to lead the Sunshine State with Trump’s support has been a rising star within the GOP, particularly with his vocal criticism of the Biden administration and resistance to its COVID-19 public health guidelines. 

He’s come second to Trump in multiple GOP voter polls about 2024, though the former president is still widely seen as the favorite candidate so far. 

Although the presidential election is still a long way away, Biden’s unpopularity still a bad sign for Congressional Democrats looking to hold onto their slim majority in November’s midterm elections. 

A recent NBC survey released on Sunday shows Republicans with a slight edge over Democrats in the upcoming races. Forty-six percent of voters said they would prefer Republicans to control Congress in 2023, compared to 44 percent who support Democrats staying in power.

NBC’s last poll in January had Democrats with a slight edge over the GOP for a 47 to 46 percent margin. 

The same poll shows Biden’s approval rating at 40 percent, the lowest number recorded by NBC so far in the Democrat’s presidency. 

They’re also contending with pervasive supply chain issues and 40-year record-high inflation, both of which are sending the cost of living skyrocketing for millions of everyday Americans. 

Russia’s war in Ukraine is also taking a toll on Biden’s White House tenure. Aside from forcing prices at the pump to skyrocket, multiple polls show US voters both fearing an imminent war with Moscow and having little faith in their president to navigate the international crisis.  

Sunday’s survey saw respondents asked ‘how much confidence’ they have in Biden’s ability to navigate Russia’s brutal attack. 

The largest share — 44 percent — said they have ‘very little’ faith in the president, while 27 percent have ‘just some’ confidence in him, for a combined 71 percent.

Only 28 percent of Americans polled said they share ‘a great deal’ or ‘quite a bit’ of support for Biden’s handling of Ukraine — a far cry from the confidence the president has sought to project through decades of foreign policy experience in the Senate.

And a majority of people seem to believe Biden’s actions so far have put the country on a path toward direct conflict with Russia, despite the US’s stated preferred policy of de-escalation through diplomacy.  

Sixteen percent of Americans said they believe their nation is already at war with Russia based on Biden and his officials’ handling of the crisis. A whopping 44 percent said the devastating conflict ‘will be within the next year.’

Just 34 percent were confident the US would not be embroiled in a war with Moscow.   

And 56 percent of respondents to a Monday Associated Press/NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey said Biden is ‘not tough enough’ and six percent believe he is being ‘too tough’ on Russia.

Thirty-six percent of those polled said the president’s response to Putin has been ‘about right.’

A dead British-built satellite is set to plummet to Earth later with the help of a never-before-tried manoeuvre to bring it down safely.

Mission controllers have embarked on a daring and unprecedented attempt to steer the 1.3-tonne Aeolus probe into a position that will see it crash harmlessly into the Atlantic Ocean.

The weather-monitoring satellite was not designed for a controlled re-entry at the end of its mission, but the European Space Agency (ESA) wants to use what little fuel remains onboard to guide it towards a remote part of the planet. 

Although much of the car-sized satellite will burn up in the atmosphere, about 20 per cent of the debris is expected to reach the surface later today, where it will sink into a watery grave.

ESA’s ambitious plan is the first manoeuvre of its kind.

The aim is to gather data for future satellite re-entries so that other spacefaring nations and private companies can use similar methods to safely steer down dead spacecraft and minimise the already low risk of them landing in populated areas. 

‘This assisted reentry attempt goes above and beyond safety regulations for the mission, which was planned and designed in the late 1990s,’ said Tim Flohrer, head of ESA’s Space Debris Office. 

‘Once ESA and industrial partners found that it might be possible to further reduce the already minimal risk to life or infrastructure even further, the wheels were set in motion. 

‘Should all go to plan, Aeolus would be in line with current safety regulations for missions being designed today.’ 

Aeolus, which was built by British engineers at Airbus, has been orbiting Earth at an altitude of 200 miles (320km) for five years.

Launched in 2018 to measure wind in the atmosphere to improve weather forecasts, it fired a laser down towards our planet to track the movement of air every location and altitude worldwide.

It did this by collecting the scattering of light that reflects back from dust, gas and droplets of water moving in wind. 

The speed at which various markers, and the winds that carry them, are moving were then revealed by changes in the wavelength of the light.

However, after successfully completely its mission Aeolus’s fuel is almost spent.

The satellite has been falling from its operational altitude of 198 miles (320km) since June 19 and is now being dragged towards re-entry by gravity and the Earth’s atmosphere. 

When it reached an altitude of 174 miles (280km) on Monday, mission controllers in Germany began a series of manoeuvres to steer it to a lower orbit.

At first it was brought down to 155 miles (250km), then down to 142 miles (230km) as the week has gone on.

Officials ultimately want to get it to an orbit of 75 miles (120km) and on a trajectory to fall into the Atlantic about five hours later.  

ESA said it was impossible to give an exact timing for Aeolus’s re-entry.

Angus Stewart, head of space surveillance and tracking at the UK Space Agency, said: ‘Aeolus is a great example of the power of space to benefit us on Earth, with the UK-built spacecraft providing valuable data to leading weather centres across Europe since 2018, significantly improving global forecasts.

‘But with more than 8,000 operational satellites and more than 30,000 pieces of trackable debris, the ability to operate safely in space is growing increasingly challenging. 

‘We must protect the environment in which satellites operate and keep space open for future generations, and it’s great to see ESA carrying out this assisted re-entry – the first of its kind.

“The UK Space Agency operates the UK’s re-entry warning service and has tasked our UK sensors to observe the re-entry. 

‘These observations have been sent to ESA and the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC) to support the re-entry analysis.’

Today Show host Karl Stefanovic delivered a cheeky blow to outgoing Sunrise host David ‘Kochie’ Koch on Wednesday, after his shock resignation. 

Karl, 48, jokingly told guests at a lavish media event at Sydney‘s Crown this week: ‘To be honest, I’m glad he’s gone.’

Karl made the playful joke while paying tribute to the TV veteran, 67, whose last Sunrise show will be on Friday. 

A handful of TV stars including Karl, Kochie, Natalie Barr and Samantha Armytage were all in attendance at the Crown x Vivid Sydney event on Wednesday.

Kochie revealed he was leaving Sunrise last Monday after 21 years and will be replaced by former Olympic athlete Matt Shirvington, 44. 

According to Sky News, Karl credited Kochie for paving the way for him and many others in the TV industry.

‘He pulls up stumps at the end of this week and I just want to pay my respects to him on what a wonderful career it has been,’ Karl said. 

‘It has been an extraordinary one for 21 years. He’s got up with the bakers and the road workers; and he has crunched it out across the nation.

‘That can’t be underestimated the impact he has had. He’s changed the whole way that breakfast news and TV is done in this country, and has allowed someone like me, a loose unit, to come along and also do the same for however long I do it for.’

On Tuesday, Kochie revealed he had received a ‘wonderful’ message from his breakfast TV rival Karl after announcing he was leaving Sunrise.

‘Thank you to everyone who has been so lovely. Unbelievable messages,’ he said. 

‘A wonderful, classy, respectful one from Karl Stefanovic. It was so nice, really adored that one but so many great messages.’

Kochie also told Daily Mail Australia on Monday he received a text message from one from his longtime co-hosts Melissa Doyle.

‘I’ve just glanced, because I’ve got lots of messages, I saw one from Mel and I’m sure there will be a whole bunch of others in the list but I’ve been talking to lots of journos and doing interviews,’ he said.

Kochie stunned his colleagues on Monday when he announced his resignation from the hit breakfast show after 21 years.

Behind the scenes photos show his co-hosts Natalie Barr, Edwina Bartholomew and Mark Beretta overcome with emotion in between breaks in filming.

During his on air announcement, Natalie looked heartbroken when Kochie said he had spent more time with her over the past few years than with members of his own family.

He said he was leaving the hit show to focus on his own businesses and to enjoy more flexible work hours to spend time with his growing family.

Kochie joined Sunrise to present finance reports in 2002 and in October that year became Chris Reason’s replacement when the journalist was diagnosed with cancer.

Shirvington, 44, said he was feeling ‘mixed emotions’ about the new gig as he joined Barr and Koch on the couch for the announcement.

‘Just amazing. Daunted. So excited. Happy. Cannot tell you the honour and privilege this is, Kochie, particularly. A huge job. A huge job. And an exciting job,’ he said.

Both Kochie and Barr said they were thrilled with the choice.

‘What we do always is when you’re a member of the family, you stay a member of the family, don’t you. And you come through. And you’ve been fantastic filling in and every Friday, it’s been sensational. You are going to been sensational. You are going to be the perfect fit,’ Koch said.

‘I have loved every single minute of my time at Sunrise,’ Koch said on air about his resignation.

‘I’ve been privileged to experience so many adventures, to meet so many incredible people, and to cover so many moments of history in the making.’

Seven West Media Chairman, Kerry Stokes said: ‘I will personally miss David, as he is a thorough professional and a wonderful human being, particularly in the manner he has mentored so many Seven people.’

Seven West Media Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer James Warburton added in a statement: ‘All good things come to an end, and I admire and respect his decision to step away from Sunrise while he’s at the top of his game.’