List of All Articles with Tag 'am'

When it comes to approaching someone you like at a bar, it may be more a case of alcohol giving you liquid courage than “beer goggles”, researchers say. A new study suggests drinking alcohol makes people more likely to approach someone they already find attractive, but does not make others appear more attractive. Some people argue that intoxication makes others seem better-looking – but according to the researchers, this has not been systematically studied. Past research typically had people simply rate others’ attractiveness while sober and while intoxicated based on photos. But the new study added the possibility of meeting the people being rated. The study, led by Molly Bowdring of the Stanford Prevention Research Centre, Stanford University, in the USA (affiliated with University of Pittsburgh at the time of this study), and her dissertation adviser, Michael Sayette, involved 18 pairs of male friends in their twenties. The men were brought to the laboratory to rate the attractiveness of people they saw in photos and videos. They were also told that they may be given the chance to interact with one of those people in a future experiment. After the ratings were given, the men were asked to pick those who they would most like to interact with. Pairs of men visited the lab on two occasions – on one occasion they both received alcohol to drink – up to about a blood alcohol concentration of .08 per cent, the legal limit for driving in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and the United States, and on the other occasion, they both received a non-alcoholic drink. Friend pairs entered the lab together in order to mimic social interactions that would typically take place in a real drinking situation. The researchers say they did not find evidence of beer goggles – whether or not the men were intoxicated had no effect on how good-looking they found others. Professor Sayette, from the University of Pittsburgh, said: “The well-known beer goggles effect of alcohol does sometimes appear in the literature, but not as consistently as one might expect.” However, according to the findings, drinking alcohol may affect how people react to those they find attractive in a different way. The researchers found it impacted how likely the men were to want to interact with people they found attractive. When drinking, they were 1.71 times more likely to select one of their top-four attractive candidates to potentially meet in a future study compared with when they were sober. The researchers suggest alcohol may not be altering perception but rather enhancing confidence in interactions, giving the men liquid courage to want to meet those they found the most attractive. According to the researchers, the findings could have implications for therapists and patients. Prof Bowdring said: “People who drink alcohol may benefit by recognising that valued social motivations and intentions change when drinking in ways that may be appealing in the short term, but possibly harmful in the long term.” The findings are published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs. Read More Yewande Biala thought she was unique in never having had an orgasm – then she made a film about it The dish that defines me: Evelin Eros’s rum cake Woman adopts husband’s ex-wife’s son after growing up in foster care herself Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

The UN report is the first comprehensive study of the scale of the problem.

Provides an overview of Jamaica, including key dates and facts about this Caribbean country.

An overview of the media in Jamaica, including links to broadcasters and newspapers.

Mark Thompson, the former chief executive officer of The New York Times Co., is set to take up

Lt Edmund Szymczak, who was shot three times in World War Two, went on to help Polish people in the UK.

A graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has been charged with the murder of a faculty member following the deadly shooting on Monday. Tailei Qi, a PhD student majoring in applied physical sciences major, was arrested and booked into Orange County Sheriff’s Office jail on a first-degree murder charge. He was ordered held without bond on Tuesday and is expected to reappear in court on 18 September. The faculty member killed in the shooting was identified by UNC officials as Zijie Yan, the head of the Department of Applied Sciences and Mr Qi’s academic adviser. The motive for the shooting remains unclear. Authorities said during Mr Qi’s court hearing that a 9mm was used in the shooting. “[Mr Yan] was a beloved colleague, mentor and friend to many on our campus. My leadership team and I have met with his colleagues and family to express our condolences on behalf of our campus,” UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Kevin M Guskiewicz said in a statement. “Please join me in thinking and praying for his family and loved ones during this difficult time.” The chancellor said students were “traumatised” following the shooting on Monday that prompted a three-hour lockdown. Read More UNC Chapel Hill graduate student Tailei Qi charged with murder in shooting of faculty member UNC Chapel Hill shooting victim identified as associate professor Zijie Yan UNC shooting suspect’s social media complaints about murdered faculty member revealed A new college term, a faculty member killed and a student arrested: What we know about the UNC shooting

India says a new map released by China "lays claim" to its territory.

Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio will be sentenced later today and faces the prospect of a record prison term among the legal cases brought after the insurrection at the US Capitol. Tarrio has been found guilty of seditious conspiracy in one of the most serious cases stemming from the 6 January 2021 riots, when supporters of Donald Trump attempted to prevent Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s election victory. Tarrio is now among four members of the self-described “Western chauvinist” gang facing decades in prison after they were found guilty in May of seditious conspiracy and other charges. The Justice Department is seeking 33 years in prison for Tarrio. So far the longest sentence related to Jan 6 has been given to Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers, who was convicted in another case of seditious conspiracy and received a sentence of 18 years. In a sentencing memo, prosecutors said the men “organised and directed a force of nearly 200 to attack the heart of our democracy” and “intentionally positioned themselves at the vanguard of political violence in this country.” Read More Who is Enrique Tarrio? Ex-Proud Boys leader faces longest prison sentence yet for January 6 ‘Donald Trump’s army’: Proud Boys members face decades in prison for January 6 sedition Manhunt underway to find Proud Boy who was gone on run days before Jan 6 sentencing

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit challenging the induction of a transgender woman into the Wyoming chapter of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority, court documents show.

Two days before a mob of Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the US Capitol, the now-former leader of a neo-fascist gang was arrested in Washington DC shortly after stepping off a plane from Miami. Enrique Tarrio was wanted by police after he admitted to tearing down and burning a Black Lives Matter flag outside a historically Black church in the nation’s capital during December riots connected to a protest supporting then-President Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him. On 6 January, 2021, Tarrio watched the insurrection unfold from a hotel in Baltimore. Before his arrest two days earlier, Tarrio wrote to his lieutenant: “Whatever happens … make it a spectacle.” Tarrio is now among four members of the self-described “Western chauvinist” gang facing decades in prison after they were found guilty in May of seditious conspiracy and other charges in connection with the mob’s assault. Tarrio’s verdict marked the first successful seditious conspiracy conviction against a January 6 defendant who was not physically at the Capitol that day. Federal prosecutors are now asking a judge to sentence convicted Proud Boys members to decades behind bars. Tarrio could face up to 33 years in prison, the longest sentence yet in connection with the attack. In a sentencing memo, prosecutors said the men “organized and directed a force of nearly 200 to attack the heart of our democracy” and “intentionally positioned themselves at the vanguard of political violence in this country.” “The defendants understood the stakes, and they embraced their role in bringing about a ‘revolution.’ They unleashed a force on the Capitol that was calculated to exert their political will on elected officials by force and to undo the results of a democratic election,” prosecutors wrote. “They failed. They are not heroes; they are criminals.” During the trial, prosecutors presented hundreds of internal messages revealing the group’s toxic rhetoric and culture of violence depicting a gang “that came together to use force against its enemies” in the weeks leading up to January 6, according to prosecutors. Prosecutors argued that the Proud Boys were not merely obedient followers of the former president’s commands but were preparing for “all-out war” to undermine millions of Americans’ votes and upend a democratic election to preserve his presidency. Tarrio, as the leader of the gang, along with his four co-defendants, “directed, mobilized and led” a crowd of 200 supporters towards the Capitol on January 6, “leading to dismantling of metal barricades, destruction of property, breaching of the Capitol building, and assaults on law enforcement,” then bragged about their actions on social media and in group chat messages that were later shared with jurors, according to prosecutors. Defence attorneys have placed the blame on the words and actions of then-President Trump, who directed his supporters to “fight like hell” the morning of the attack and – in a message from a debate stage heard loud and clear by members of the Proud Boys and their allies – “stand by.” “It was Donald Trump’s words. It was his motivation,” Tarrio’s attorney Nayib Hassan told jurors in closing arguments. “It was not Enrique Tarrio. They want to use Enrique Tarrio as a scapegoat for Donald J Trump and those in power.” Proud Boys emerged in cities across the US as a violent response to antifascists organizing in the wake of the 2016 election, exploiting white, right-wing male rage and relying on semi-ironic posturing and barroom culture to launder far-right, anti-immigrant and anti-LGBT+ views. Tarrio, who assumed the role of group “chairman” in 2018, previously was a “prolific” cooperator with local and federal law enforcement agencies, according to court records and testimony from a former attorney. His own lawyer and an FBI investigator said Tarrio helped authorities prosecute more than a dozen people in cases involving drugs, gambling and human smuggling between 2012 and 2014. Tarrio has denied his involvement. During a televised presidential debate on 29 September, 2020, debate moderator Chris Wallace repeatedly asked then-President Trump whether he would denounce white supremacism. Mr Trump asked for a name to reference. Joe Biden, standing on the opposite side of the stage, suggested the Proud Boys. “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by,” Mr Trump said. “But I’ll tell you what somebody’s got to do something about antifa and the left because this is not a right-wing problem. This is a left-wing problem.” Almost immediately, Proud Boys members and their allies celebrated what they heard as a call to action. “Trump basically said to go f*** them up!” Tarrio’s future co-defendant Joe Biggs wrote on Parler at the time. “This makes me so happy.” Accounts also circulated a meme illustrating the president wearing a Fred Perry shirt – a part of the group’s unofficial uniform – and a peaked cap bearing the Proud Boys logo with the text “standing by for your orders general, sir.” Another image included an incorrect version of the president’s remarks that more acutely resembled a call to arms: “Proud Boys can stand back and stand by, because someone has to take care of antifa and these people.” “Although I am excited about our mention on the debate stage … I am not taking this as a direct endorsement from the President,” Tarrio wrote on Telegram. “Him telling the Proud Boys to stand back and standby is what we have ALWAYS done,” he added. On Parler, Tarrio said: “Standing by, sir.” Following Mr Trump’s defeat in the 2020 election, Tarrio and hundreds of members of the Proud Boys and other far-right groups marched through Washington DC, where they set fire to a Black Lives Matter banner seized from historic Black church Asbury United Methodist. The group also attacked Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church, another historic Black church. During his arrest after his arrival in Washington on 4 January, 2021, police found Tarrio was carrying two high-capacity magazines compatible with high-powered rifles. Both were empty. He faced a misdemeanor charge of destruction of property for burning the church’s sign and two subsequent felony charges for possessing a high-capacity feeding device. Tarrio had previously admitted in comments on Parler and on a Proud Boys-affiliated podcast that he was responsible for burning a church’s sign. “In the burning of the BLM sign, I was the one that lit it on fire,” he said. “I was the person that went ahead and put the lighter to it and engulfed it in flames, and I am damn proud that I did.” Later that year, he announced he was stepping down from his leadership role with the Proud Boys, as other members “start getting more involved in local politics, running our guys for office from local seats, whether it’s a simple GOP seat or a city council seat.” But in the wake of January 6, as the group decentralized, members have harassed drag queen story-telling events at libraries and amplified “groomer” smears aimed at LGBT+ people. The group has been central to a wave of attacks and threats against drag performers and the people and venues that host them, according to a recent report from the Institute for Strategic Dialogue. Proud Boys chapters targeted 60 such events, with more than half resulting in physical and verbal clashes, the report found. In July 2021, as part of a plea agreement dropping the felony charges against him, Tarrio pleaded guilty to destruction of property and to a misdemeanor count of attempted possession of a high-capacity magazine. He was released in January 2022 after serving four months in jail. Five months later, a federal grand jury indicted Tarrio and four other men – Joe Biggs, Ethan Nordean, Dominic Pezzola and Zachary Rehl – for seditious conspiracy in connection with the Capitol attack. US District Judge Timothy Kelly barred prosecutors from discussing Tarrio’s prior arrest during the Proud Boys trial, but jurors were exposed to dozens of messages revealing members’ hateful rhetoric and calls for violence in private messages and across social media platforms and in public statements – and in a video showing them burning the Black Lives Matter banner. In the weeks leading up to January 6, Tarrio had assembled a “Ministry of Self-Defense” with his co-defendants and Jeremy Bertino, a former Proud Boy who pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy and served as a key government witness at trial. Bertino’s testimony implicated Tarrio and the other men in a conspiracy to what he said was “anything that was necessary to save the country” – including breaking into the Capitol to block the certification of an American election. Days before the attack, Tarrio exchanged messages with another person who shared a plan called “1776 Returns” that included plans to occupy “crucial buildings” with “as many people as possible,” including the House and Senate. That person wrote that “revolution is [sic] important than anything,” to which Tarrio replied: “That’s what every waking moment consists of … I’m not playing games.” On January 6, Tarrio told followers on social media that day to “do what must be done” and, in a group chat with other Proud Boys members, “do it again.” “Make no mistake,” he wrote in another message. “We did this.” Enrique "Henry" Tarrio, 39, was born in Miami to Cuban immigrant parents. He was initially reluctant to join the Proud Boys until he was courted by members at a party for far-right activist Milo Yiannopoulos in 2017; Tarrio was there working security. Tarrio rose through the ranks of the burgeoning neo-fascist gang, attending events for Steve Bannon and Sebastian Gorka, rallying alongside members at 2017's so-called Unite the Right event in Charlottesville, Virginia that exploded into lethal violence, and broadening his Florida chapter into a national operation. "Before me – and they hate it when I say this – they were the Gavin McInnes fan club," he told the Miami New Times. "We weren't really political." In 2013, he pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a healthcare fraud case involving diabetic test strips, then assisted federal prosecutors to identify a dozen other suspects, according to court records. He served one year and four months in prison. Read More ‘Donald Trump’s army’: Proud Boys members face decades in prison for January 6 sedition Trump news – live: Trump makes sinister threat to Democrats over indictments Trump, January 6 and a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election: The federal investigation, explained When is Donald Trump going on trial? Here are all the court dates

The minister says the UK can't ignore China, but some call the government's approach incoherent.