IS IT A CRIME TO DEFY A CONGRESSIONAL SUBPOENA?

Yes. An 1857 law says failure to comply with a congressional subpoena for testimony or documents is punishable by one to 12 months imprisonment.

First, the House of Representatives or the Senate must vote to hold a non-compliant witness in “contempt of Congress” and refer that person to the U.S. Justice Department for criminal prosecution.

The Justice Department then decides whether to bring criminal charges.

Trump’s former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, faces up to two years in prison and a fine of up to $200,000 after being found guilty of contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from the Jan. 6 committee. He is due to be sentenced on Oct. 21.

Source: Explainer: Does Trump have to comply with the Jan. 6 committee subpoena? | Reuters

In a major blow to America’s seafood industry, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game has canceled the winter snow crab season in the Bering Sea due to their falling numbers. While restaurant menus will suffer, the greatest impact will be to the economy, to the tune of an estimated $200 million.

An estimated one billion crabs have mysteriously disappeared in two years, state officials said. It marks a 90% plunge in their population.

Source: Alaska snow crab season canceled as officials investigate disappearance of an estimated 1 billion crabs – CBS News

All told, the fighting between junta military forces and various rebel groups has created more than 350,000 people who are internally displaced, more than half of them under the age of 18, the group said. And of those minors, more than half are girls.

The vast majority of the displaced children, or about 175,000 of them, have fled their homes in Kayin state, which borders Thailand in southeastern Myanmar, the KHRG report said. Aid groups said that a combined 50,000 children have been displaced in Kayah, just north of Kayin state, and in Rakhine, in the west, near Bangladesh.

No concrete numbers have been provided for the number of children displaced since the coup in Sagaing region in the northwest, which has seen some of the worst fighting between the military and anti-junta groups. The United Nations recently announced that at least 500,000 people have fled conflict in Sagaing in the past 20 months.

‘Running and Learning’

A member of the Kayah State Basic Education Teachers Union told RFA that more than 30,000 children have become displaced in the region since the military takeover, and are forced to study in makeshift camps or while sheltering in the jungle.

“Artillery shells hit us every day and you never know when another one will come,” the union member said.

“Our children were denied [proper] education for an entire year due to COVID-19 [school closures] and then another because of the [insecurity following the] coup. We can’t just stop learning, so we must teach them on the run.”

Source: More than 200,000 children displaced in three states since Myanmar coup — Radio Free Asia

Source: Biden administration extends COVID public health emergency – Los Angeles Times

Ethiopia is one of the few places in the world where farmers still grow maslins, the general term for different varieties and species of grain that are sown in the same field, or intercropped. Maslins sustained humans for millennia, possibly predating the rise of agriculture more than 10,000 years ago. These grain mixtures tend to be more resilient to pests and drought, and to lend more complex flavors to breads, beer, and booze.

Worldwide, maslins fell out of favor long ago, replaced nearly everywhere by sprawling, single-grain monoculture—but a small and passionate group of scientists, including Zemede, is hoping to change that. A paper published today in Agronomy for Sustainable Development makes the case for maslins to be revived by farmers around the world, for tastier bread, healthier crops, and more sustainable agriculture. The question is, why is it taking so long?

Source: This Nearly Lost Ancient Grain Tradition Could Be the Future of Farming – Gastro Obscura

Aleksey Martynov, the head of a department within the Moscow city government, was killed on October 10 in Ukraine, reports Natalya Loseva, deputy editorial director at the RT television channel. According to Loseva, he was 28.

“He was mobilized on September 23. In his youth he served in the Semyonovsky Regiment [which provides security to the Russian president and the Kremlin]. He had no combat experience. He was sent to the front after basically a few days,” Loseva said.

Source: The head of a Moscow government department died at the front. He had no combat experience — Meduza

Source: Cultivate compassion, Dalai Lama urges, and use technology to benefit humanity — Radio Free Asia