Bull rider Amadeu Campos Silva, 22, has died from injuries he sustained in a "tragic, freak accident" after he was trampled by a bull during a Professional Bull Riders' Velocity Tour event in California.
Campos Silva was unseated from his bull during the 'Classic Man' event after just over 5 seconds – some three seconds short of the minimum required time to register a score – and suffered severe injuries to his chest when he was subsequently stomped on by his ride.
The Brazilian was transported to the Community Regional Medical Center where he was pronounced dead, per a spokesman from the Professional Bull Riders' (PBR) circuit.
"When he came off, his spur got tangled up and it turned him upside down right under the bull’s back leg," said Cody Lambert, livestock manager for the PBR.
"It’s just a really freak, tragic accident."
Andrew Giangola of the PBR also indicated that the incident was a tragic accident and that the bull didn't do anything unusual in its bucking motion which caused Campos Silva to come off his ride.
"This was not an act of aggression," Giangola explained.
"The bull was bucking in his normal pattern. Amadeu’s spur got hung up in the flank rope, and he was pulled under the bull in a freak accident."
Campos Silva was a promising bull rider, having joined the PBR US Tour after taking part in similar events in Brazil in 2017 and 2018.
At the end of last year, he took part in the 2020 PBR World Finals – and the competition in which he was competing during his tragic fall, the Velocity Tour, is considered to be the one of the sport's top events, behind the famous Unleash the Beast series.
"Amadeu battled hard and was a rising star in our sport,’’ the PBR added in a statement. "Our heart breaks for his family and friends.
"The entire PBR and western sports family extend our thoughts, prayers, and heartfelt condolences to Amadeu’s family and friends."
Campos Silva becomes the 21st bull rider to have been killed in competition since 1989 and follows Mason Lowe who passed away in similar circumstances in early 2019.
However, in all likelihood the toll of riders who have passed away while competing is likely far higher in the sport as amateur bull riders are not included in these statistics.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is finally set to meet his American counterpart, Joe Biden, in Washington. More than two years in the making and postponed even at the last minute, the stakes could hardly be higher for Kiev.
The meeting, however, comes at the worst possible time. And it isn’t even really Ukraine’s fault. As even the staunchly pro-Maidan American-run media there have to admit, the mix of oligarchy, corruption and erosion of democracy has become embedded in the East European country.
Eyeing re-election, Zelensky is clamping down on independent media, in the spirit of his predecessor, oligarch Petro Poroshenko, and is clearly abusing the law to go after rivals. Opposition leader Viktor Medvedchuk, who advocates repairing relations with Moscow, is facing charges of high treason. He, of course, also happens to be very, very rich.
Obviously, in Ukraine’s case, such behavior comes with a thick and sticky ‘national-security’ coating. Equally obviously, most Western experts are just fine with swallowing that, because Cold War Re-Enactors can never get enough of that old, tired script: a leader might be a “son of a b**ch,” but if he is our “son of a b**ch,” we’ll turn a blind eye. Or worse, keep applauding and paying.
So far, so bad. But again, just business as usual. With regard to the US, though, things are off the rails to an unusual extent. Biden himself has had a torrid time in recent weeks trying to shake off the impression, given by his domestic opponents, that he is senescent, cowering behind a podium and napping on camera.
His demeanor is, in a way, understandable because he is plainly responsible for the chaos in Afghanistan, in what is probably the worst and most shameful rout abroad in American history, up until now at least. Never mind the comparatively small number of (American) casualties during the run from Kabul, nothing has made the empire’s legions and their leaders look worse for decades.
It is true that Biden, in essence, merely chose to execute an insanely naïve (or brutally cynical) policy laid down by his unstable predecessor Donald Trump. But since the new president could well have chosen to take a different course, we are looking at a true piece of bipartisanship in action. The Great American Rout of Afghanistan is what so many American commentators and politicians can’t get enough of asking for: a common, across-the-aisle achievement. Everyone now slow-clap everyone else, please.
The scenes of apoplexy, shame and finger-pointing will be there to greet the relative newcomer from Kiev when he touches down in his patrons’ capital. His advisers, it seems, have big hopes, going public with their demands for “tens of billions” of dollars in support ahead of the meeting. Why not just ask for hundreds of billions, and be done with it?
This must go down incredibly well in Washington, especially in view of the fact that Biden has bad personal memories (perhaps) of what Ukrainian graft can do to one’s family’s reputation. Moreover post-2014 Ukraine has not made good progress on fighting that corruption at all.
Such silly demands must also highlight the Ukrainian elite’s sense of timing and, in general, professionalism to their most important sponsors. Especially if the same, clearly comedically gifted adviser comes up with the immortally dry line that it “would be logical to give Ukraine the same level of military and financial support that Afghanistan was receiving since it’s a viable state willing to fight and has liberal democratic values.”
But there it is. Once you adopt a client country you hardly understand, just because [US diplomat] Victoria Nuland was bored and sensed a target of opportunity, [author/historian] Tim Snyder was high on the West’s “universalism,” and Barack Obama refused to stick to a deal already made with Russia, you get stuck with a lot of unknown unknowns.
Yet amateurish advisers who don’t even have the savvy to hide their carelessness are a dime a dozen (and don’t they know on the Potomac!). There are other, more substantial issues, of course. Ukraine’s elite, in short, is afraid. Kabul must have been a wake-up call for even the drowsiest or most delusional fans of outsourcing national security to the USA.
For countries such as Germany or France, that’s a problem, but – for now – one that they can still, falsely, pretend is not urgent. For the Baltics or Poland, it’s already much less comfortable. For Ukraine, it’s a nightmare – dependent on America for its military and, ultimately, economic survival, in a conflict with separatists, facing off against Russia, and not even in NATO. No wonder that a close Zelensky adviser also feels what looks like an almost Freudian need to insist that Ukraine is not Afghanistan.
Some Ukraine cheerleaders with a clearly challenged sense of proportion are even desperately trying to make hay of America’s Kabul fiasco by goading Biden to compensate for it by supporting Ukraine all the more. Good luck with that.
No wonder also that Zelensky’s wish list includes a NATO Membership Action Plan (MAP). Yet in an intervention that is hardly a private opinion, the former US ambassador to Ukraine Steven Pifer has used the Kyiv Post, often the mouthpiece of Ukraine’s Western diaspora lobby, to pour cold water on just these hopes. Zelensky should not even ask for a MAP, he said, because it’s a non-starter anyhow, with too many NATO members understandably skeptical.
And Pifer makes sure not to sugarcoat his bitter pill. Instead he adds some more bitterness: Ukraine, he recommends sagely, should not ask any more for help blocking the Nord Stream 2 pipeline either. As with his advice on NATO, Pifer is only being realistic here. Yes, time to let go of that battle and try to make the best of the defeat inflicted by the American-German agreement on the new gas pipeline’s future usage, he reasons.
Pifer’s pointed, well-timed, word of advice can be summed up in Mafia-ese: “Nice wish list you have there, Volodymyr. Would be a shame if anything happened to it in Washington. Better just leave it at home.” So, it seems that Washington is not ready to escalate its support for Ukraine. Pifer’s job is to try to reduce the embarrassment by dampening Ukrainian hopes in advance and signaling to Zelensky to play nice and not ask for too much.
So what can Zelensky, perhaps, expect to get? Apart from words, presumably, (some) money. But certainly not the reckless sums bandied about by advisers on a fantasy trip, not “tens of billions.” And no, the US elite is not so soft-hearted that it will feel a moral obligation to compensate for the Russian gas transit fees Ukraine might lose because of Nord Stream 2.
What will probably happen is US pressure on Germany to loosen some purse strings, again, especially since Merkel has, in essence, agreed to do just that. How successful such pressure will be remains to be seen. Germany as well may be reluctant. Consider that the –perhaps– most hopeful candidate for the chancellor’s office is now Olaf Scholz, a fiscal hawk who has already ruled out tax relief for Germans – while campaigning. That’s not the style of a country eager to spend abroad.
Another thing, Zelensky may want to prepare himself for are, again, words, but possibly unkind ones. In a way, his visit could be an opportunity for Biden to demonstrate his usual obstinacy and ill-tempered crankiness. And that would mean to give Ukraine’s president a telling-off so as to show the American public that, despite his Kabul calamity, this president will “stay the course” and disengage with client states that do not deliver on reform and instead keep milking the US.
There is a limit to how far such a harsh scenario could unfold, of course. America cannot be seen to prepare another geopolitical rout. But it is intriguing to note even habitual Ukraine boosters publicly advise the president not to cut Zelensky any slack on corruption.
Whatever his first visit to Washington will do for Ukraine and Zelensky personally, it is likely to be a mixed bag at best. But the Ukrainian leader might end up feeling grateful for a mixed bag, given that it could be a whole lot worse.
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The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT.
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August 31, 2021 at 01:34AM
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Two of the world’s largest corporations, American tech giants Apple and Google, are actively censoring information disseminated to the public. That’s according to Pavel Durov, the Russian founder of the Telegram Messenger app.
Durov is a long-time critic of both companies, as well as some of their competitors, such as Facebook’s WhatsApp. He believes they are responsible for the erosion of privacy.
“20 years ago, we had decentralized Internet and a relatively unrestricted banking system,” he wrote on his Telegram channel. “Today, Apple and Google censor information and apps on our phones while Visa and Mastercard limit what goods and services we can pay for.”
“Every year, we give up more power and control over our lives to a handful of unaccountable corporate executives we didn’t elect.”
According to Durov, the most “active and creative minds” are so busy focusing on “free enterprise” and “producing digital content” that they’ve forgotten about the principles of privacy and freedom on the internet.
“Watching this, I wonder what will become the legacy of our generation,” he pondered. “Will we go down in history as those who let free societies turn into dystopian nightmares?”
This is not the first time that Durov has criticized US tech corporations. In May, he slammed Apple for handing “totalitarian” control of applications and data to the Chinese government, saying that “big tech companies often choose profits over freedoms.”
He has also attacked Apple and Google for imposing an “insane 30% sales tax” on goods sold on their mobile phones.
“The result – users pay higher prices, start-ups and entire industries get destroyed or never appear. Regulators have been ignoring this absurdity for ten years,” he said.
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August 31, 2021 at 01:28AM
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Cristiano Ronaldo has made a first post to his legions of social media followers after completing his return to Manchester United, paying special tribute to his former mentor Sir Alex Ferguson in sealing the deal.
“Everyone who knows me, knows about my never ending love for Manchester United. The years I spent in this club were absolutely amazing and the path we’ve made together is written in gold letters in the history of this great and amazing institution,” Ronaldo wrote in a post to his 336 million Instagram followers after his move from Juventus.
“I can’t even start to explain my feelings right now, as I see my return to Old Trafford announced worldwide. It’s like a dream come true, after all the times that I went back to play against Man. United, and even as an opponent, to have always felt such love and respect from the supporters in the stands. This is absolutely 100% the stuff that dreams are made of!
“My first domestic League, my first Cup, my first call to the Portuguese National team, my first Champions League, my first Golden Boot and my first Ballon d’Or, they were all born from this special connection between me and the Red Devils. History has been written in the past and history will be written once again! You have my word!
“I’m right here! I’m back where I belong! Let’s make it happen once again!”
In a special nod to former manager Alex Ferguson – the man who brought Ronaldo to Old Trafford as a teenager in 2003 and moulded him into one of the best players on the planet – the Portuguese star added: “PS – Sir Alex, this one is for you…”
Ferguson, 79, is still said to be a father figure for Ronaldo and reportedly played a key role in convincing the Portuguese icon to make a return to Old Trafford, where he will join the team now managed by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
During Ronaldo's first spell at Old Trafford, he helped United to a hat-trick of Premier League titles with Ferguson at the helm, as well as winning the Champions League in Moscow in 2008 and his first Ballon d'Or accolade.
United confirmed the completion of transfer earlier on Tuesday, with Ronaldo, 36, joining on a two-year deal with the option of a third year.
The club will pay Juventus €15 million ($17.75 million) plus a potential €8 million (9.5 million) in add-ons, while according to some reports Ronaldo will net as much as £480,000-per-week at United.
The Iranian military has successfully trialed its latest indigenously developed defense hardware with the Mersad-16 system detecting and destroying multiple hostile targets under test conditions in the Dasht-e Kavir desert.
On Tuesday, the Iranian army test-fired the Mersad-16 missile system in the Dasht-e Kavir desert in the north-central province of Semnan, Iranian media reported.
#Iran's Army today test-fired an "optimised" version of its Mersad-16 SAM System, according to the state broadcaster IRIB.
The indigenously developed hardware is made to intercept high-speed targets such as cruise missiles at low altitudes, Brigadier General Mohammad Khoshghalb, Deputy Chief of Operations of the Army Air Defense said.
Khoshghalb said the surface-to-air missile system is particularly advanced, featuring electronic warfare capabilities, and has been produced using 100% Iranian technology. He claimed the hardware had proven itself and was ready to be put into action defending Iran from hostile parties.
The system trialed on Tuesday is intended to build on existing capacity to neutralize incoming hostile targets, adding a host of improved and new defense innovations to the previous model. It is entirely mobile, and incorporates new Iranian radar technology (Hafez and Najm-804) and a new missile, called ‘Shalamcheh 2’, according to the Mehr semi-official news agency.
The "new-gen" Mersad-16 is meant to be an improvement on the SAM tested back in October 2020.https://t.co/5H9gLU8eCH
Iran has publicly rolled out numerous new systems over the past year amid increasing tensions with the US and its allies. The nation prides itself on its indigenously built defense capabilities.
In May amid the escalating conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, Iran unveiled three new defense capabilities including the ‘Quds’ radar system, a surface-to-air missile system dubbed ‘9-Day,’ and a drone called ‘Gaza’ with a 2,000km operating range.
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August 31, 2021 at 12:59AM
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