Undercover reporters ordered 500 drone mesh modems from a Chinese firm, which billed them to Russia’s Alabuga drone plant, investigation by The Insider found. The outlet estimates the firm makes about half the high-power mesh modems that let Russia steer its drones deep into Ukraine. The firm’s director also named US company AMD as the source of a key chip, and AMD says it has not sold to the firm.

Geran drones and Banderol drone-missiles have become Russia’s main weapons against Ukraine’s energy grid. Russia began this winter’s strike campaign against that grid in late September, ISW assessed. Ukrainians’ survival this winter depends largely on how fast the West halts mesh modem sales to Russia, the outlet argued.

What a mesh modem does

A mesh modem links drones into one radio network. Each unit relays data for the others, so if one drone is shot down, traffic reroutes through the rest. Information keeps flowing even if nearly 80% of the drones are downed, Ukrainian defense adviser Serhii “Flash” Beskrestnov said in November 2025.

Range is the other half of the threat. One XK F-359 holds a line-of-sight link over 100–300 km, The Insider says. In theory, a couple of relay drones could keep a whole attack on Kyiv connected. Operators can then send new commands in flight and steer around air defenses. Russia’s Gerbera drones, first built as cheap decoys, increasingly carry these modems.

Explore further

Russia’s jam-resistant drones run on a Chinese modem no one has sanctioned

A modem from an upgraded Gerbera

To trace the part, The Insider’s correspondent in Ukraine examined an unmarked mesh modem from an upgraded Gerbera with a vertical tail fin, a version that appeared this summer. The outlet identified it as Xingkai’s XK F-359, the part Ukrainian intelligence and earlier reporting, Euromaidan Press included, had logged as the XK-F358. The Insider calls that label a misidentification.

Next, The Insider and the Nordsint investigative project contacted Xingkai on WeChat, posing as a Russian military supplier based in Alabuga. A company employee who introduced himself as “Jack Jiang” confirmed the firm is the model’s sole maker. The Insider identified him as Jiang Qin, Xingkai’s director and owner.

500 modems, three banks

The reporters then ordered 500 units for delivery to Alabuga, home to the plant that makes most of Russia’s long-range drones. Jiang invoiced 19.5 million yuan, which The Insider put at about $2.87 million. He offered two ways to pay: dollars to Xingkai’s DBS Bank account in Hong Kong, or yuan to his personal Ping An Bank account.

Explore further

America has sided with Russia against Ukraine. Europe should stop pretending and build a coalition against Russia, China, and even the US

In the chat, the reporters said outright that the end user was a military production facility. Jiang raised no objection, The Insider reported.

Later, after the reporters asked to update the address, Xingkai sent a revised invoice with “Alabuga” spelled in Latin letters. This time, it routed payment to a China Merchants Bank account in the name of a former Xingkai manager. She left a management post at the company in 2025, according to Tesari corporate records cited by The Insider. None of the three banks answered The Insider’s requests for comment.

Jiang also claimed the modem’s programmable chip is made by AMD. Asked for an AMD license, he refused, saying Xingkai buys the chips through a middleman. AMD told The Insider that Xingkai “is not an AMD customer or authorized partner,” and said it had sold the company nothing. AMD added that it bars exports of its products to Russia that violate US export controls and sanctions.

Eight years ago, Scott Hancock, then 28, helped a 19-year-old acquaintance, identified in court records as T.G., buy fentanyl. At her request, Hancock, who had been addicted to opioids for years, got in touch with his drug dealer, who gave him five capsules that he handed over to T.G. in exchange for $20. Then Hancock gave the money to his dealer. Because T.G. subsequently died from a fentanyl overdose, Hancock is serving a 20-year sentence at a federal prison in Illinois.

That was the mandatory minimum sentence under 21 USC 241, which prescribes penalties for drug distribution resulting in death. Although that law has been on the books since 1986, the dramatic increase in fentanyl-related deaths during the last decade prompted a surge in federal drug prosecutions involving overdoses, which rose by 44 percent between FY 2019 and FY 2023. Hancock's case was part of that trend, and it prompted his mother, G.D. Hancock, a retired finance professor, to delve into the subject, resulting in a database that sheds light on what happens when the government treats accidental deaths as homicides.

So far, Hancock has identified 2,930 sentences in such cases since 2010. That includes 1,399 federal cases and 1,531 state cases, which rely either on laws dealing specifically with drug-induced deaths or on more general statutes addressing felony murder, "depraved heart" homicide, or manslaughter.

Sentences of 20 years or more were pretty common at the federal level, accounting for 37 percent of the cases, compared to 13 percent at the state level. The vast majority of the cases (84 percent) were resolved by plea deals. That is not surprising, given the potential consequences of going to trial. While the median sentence for defendants who pleaded guilty was nine years, it was 20 years for defendants who insisted on making the government prove its case.

Hancock's tally is based on news reports, court records, announcements by state and federal prosecutors, her own "case files and research," and "cases sent in by families, lawyers and researchers." A separate database compiled by researchers at Northeastern University, drawn from news reports, includes 3,264 cases involving drug-induced homicide from 2011 to 2022.

These prosecutions are morally nonsensical. They treat people who voluntarily consume drugs as helpless victims of supposed predators who gave them the drugs they wanted. By similar logic, bartenders and liquor store owners should be held criminally liable whenever a customer succumbs to alcohol poisoning or the long-term effects of heavy drinking. The main difference is the legal status of the drug, which is arbitrary, politically determined, and historically contingent. And while illegal drugs pose special hazards, that is a result of prohibition, which creates a black market where product composition is highly variable and unpredictable.

Charging people with homicide based on accidental overdoses would be illogical and unjust even if the defendants were limited to actual drug dealers. But you can be charged with drug-induced homicide even if your "trafficking" consisted of nothing more than sharing drugs with a relative, romantic partner, friend, or acquaintance. Based on the information Hancock was able to glean, she counts 241 cases where the person who died from an overdose was the defendant's friend, partner, or family member, and other sources suggest such prosecutions are common.

The Northeastern University researchers analyzed a sample of 213 online news reports from 2000 to 2017. They found that 50 percent of defendants charged with drug-induced homicide were caretakers, family members, friends, or partners of the people who died.

In 2021, when the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review examined Pennsylvania prosecutions for "drug delivery resulting in death" (DDRD), it described a case involving "a Westmoreland County man" who "died from an overdose of drugs he'd gotten from a friend of a friend of a friend." Although "the drugs ultimately came from a man called 'Bee' in Penn Hills," the paper noted, "the three individuals between the victim and Bee were all charged" with DDRD, a first-degree felony punishable by up to 40 years in prison.

The Tribune-Review described several other DDRD defendants, including "a Delmont woman" who "called paramedics when she found her boyfriend unresponsive in their bathroom"; "two friends" who bought heroin for a man who overdosed at a Taco Bell; and "a Monessen woman" who "sent her cousin to buy a brick of heroin" and "sold five stamp bags to a friend, who then sold four bags to an Elizabeth Borough man who died from a fatal overdose."

The Tribune-Review also found that "many facing these charges are relatively low-level dealers." Jonathan Fodi, a defense attorney and former prosecutor, told the paper he and his colleagues had never seen a DDRD case involving a high-level dealer. Given the need to prove a link between the defendant and the person who died, that is not surprising. But that situation compounds the injustice of treating such deaths as homicides, since low-level dealers often do not know exactly what is in the drugs they are selling.

A 2002 analysis of 32 drug-induced homicide prosecutions, published in the New Jersey Law Journal, found that "25 involved prosecution of friends of the decedent who did not sell drugs in any significant manner." According to a 2017 report by a Wisconsin TV station that looked at the 100 most recent prosecutions for drug-induced homicide in that state, "nearly 90% of those charged were friends or relatives of the person who died, or the lowest people in the drug supply chain." When the Chicago Tribune examined drug-induced homicide cases filed between 2011 and 2014, it found "the defendant was typically the last person who was with the person who overdosed."

Even people who support the war on drugs should be able to recognize the injustice of sending people to prison for 10 or 20 years based on their tangential roles in deaths they neither caused nor intended. And far from making such deaths less likely, that policy impedes potentially lifesaving medical assistance because the risk of a homicide charge is apt to discourage bystanders from calling for help. That daunting deterrent undermines the goal of "Good Samaritan" laws that are supposed to shield 911 callers from criminal charges in such situations.

The official justification for these prosecutions is completely disconnected from the reality of the cases. "Deaths from illicit drugs, especially fentanyl, are at historic highs," the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) said in a 2023 press release. Because the DEA is "committed to protecting Americans and saving lives by pursuing those responsible," the agency explained, it aims to "make sure as many drug traffickers involved in those deaths as possible get an appearance in front of a judge."

As an example of that strategy, the DEA cited Scott Hancock's case, describing him as a "trafficker" who was "found guilty of providing the drugs that killed a 19-year-old woman in 2018." Given the details of that transaction, it is hard to see the logic here. Sending someone like Hancock to prison for 20 years has nothing to do with "saving lives."

The post How Helping Someone Buy Drugs Can Send You to Prison for 20 Years appeared first on Reason Magazine.

• The US House of Representatives has 435 members, each representing a state congressional district.
• US representatives do not need to be natural-born citizens in order to take office.
• See the 26 current representatives born outside the US.

Similar to the US Senate, members of the House of Representatives do not need to be natural-born citizens in order to take office.

In fact, the only members of government who do are the president and vice president.

The House of Representatives, one of the two chambers of Congress alongside the Senate, has 435 voting members. They represent congressional districts allocated among the states based on population and serve two-year terms with no term limits.

To qualify as a US House representative, a person must be:

• At least 25 years old
• A US citizen for at least seven years.
• Live in the state they want to represent at the time of the election.

Many current House members were US citizens at birth despite being born in another country — for instance, because they were born to American parents working in government positions abroad.

Here are the 26 active House representatives born outside the US.

Becca Balint (D)

State: Vermont

District: At Large

Place of birth: Germany

Balint has served in Congress since 2023. She was born in Germany while her father was serving in the US armed forces, making her a US citizen at birth.

Donald S. Beyer Jr. (D)

State: Virginia

District: 08

Place of birth: Free Territory of Trieste (now Italy)

Beyer has served in Congress since 2015. He was born to a US Army officer, making him a citizen at birth.

Salud O. Carbajal (D)

State: California

District: 24

Place of birth: Mexico

Carbajal has served in Congress since 2017. He emigrated from Mexico at age 5 and became a naturalized citizen in 1990.

Sean Casten (D)

State: Illinois

District: 06

Place of birth: Ireland

Casten has served in Congress since 2019. He was born to American parents, making him a US citizen at birth.

Juan Ciscomani (R)

State: Arizona

District: 06

Place of birth: Mexico

Ciscomani has served in Congress since 2023. He moved to Arizona when he was 11 and became a naturalized citizen in 2006.

Andrew S. Clyde (R)

State: Georgia

District: 09

Place of birth: Canada

Clyde has served in Congress since 2021. He was born to American parents, making him a US citizen at birth.

Dan Crenshaw (R)

State: Texas

District: 02

Place of birth: Scotland

Crenshaw has served in Congress since 2019. He was born to American parents, making him a US citizen at birth.

Sharice Davids (D)

State: Kansas

District: 03

Place of birth: Germany

Davids has served in Congress since 2019. She was born in Germany to a mother who served 20 years in the US Army, making her a US citizen at birth.

Diana DeGette (D)

State: Colorado

District: 01

Place of birth: Japan

DeGette has served in Congress since 1997. She was born in Japan while her father served in the US armed forces, making her a US citizen at birth.

Adriano Espaillat (D)

State: New York

District: 13

Place of birth: Dominican Republic

Espaillat has served in Congress since 2017. He came to the US as a child and became a naturalized US citizen in the early 1980s. Espaillat is the first formerly undocumented member of Congress.

Jesús G. "Chuy" García (D)

State: Illinois

District: 04

Place of birth: Mexico

García has served in Congress since 2019. He emigrated to Illinois in 1965 and became a US citizen in 1977.

Robert Garcia (D)

State: California

District: 42

Place of birth: Peru

Garcia has served in Congress since 2023. He emigrated to the US when he was a young child and became a naturalized citizen in his early 20s.

Carlos A. Gimenez (R)

State: Florida

District: 28

Place of birth: Cuba

Gimenez has served in Congress since 2021. His family emigrated to Miami in 1960, and he became a US citizen in 1976.

James A. Himes (D)

State: Connecticut

District: 04

Place of birth: Peru

Himes has served in Congress since 2009. He was born to American parents, making him a US citizen at birth.

Pramila Jayapal (D)

State: Washington

District: 07

Place of birth: India

Jayapal has served in Congress since 2017. She emigrated from India at age 16 in 1982 and became a naturalized citizen in 2000.

Young Kim (R)

State: California

District: 40

Place of birth: South Korea

Kim has served in Congress since 2021. She emigrated to the US at age 12 and later became a naturalized US citizen.

Raja Krishnamoorthi (D)

State: Illinois

District: 08

Place of birth: India

Krishnamoorthi has served in Congress since 2017. The exact year of his naturalization is not in the public record, but he moved to the US with his family as a child.

Ted Lieu (D)

State: California

District: 36

Place of birth: Taiwan

Lieu has served in Congress since 2015. The exact year of his naturalization is not in the public record, but he moved to the US with his family as a child.

Ilhan Omar (D)

State: Minnesota

District: 05

Place of birth: Somalia

Omar has served in Congress since 2019. She was naturalized in 2000, five years after arriving in the US from Kenya, where her family had lived in a refugee camp after fleeing Somalia.

David Rouzer (R)

State: North Carolina

District: 07

Place of birth: Germany

Rouzer has served in Congress since 2015. He was born at Landstuhl Army Medical Center in Germany, where his father was stationed, making him a US citizen at birth.

Raul Ruiz (D)

State: California

District: 25

Place of birth: Mexico

Ruiz has served in Congress since 2013. He was born in Mexico and raised in Coachella, California, after his aunt and uncle adopted him as a baby. He is a naturalized US citizen.

Victoria Spartz (R)

State: Indiana

District: 05

Place of birth: Ukraine

Spartz has served in Congress since 2021. She arrived in the US in 2000 and became a US citizen in 2006.

Marilyn Strickland (D)

State: Washington

District: 10

Place of birth: South Korea

Strickland has served in Congress since 2021. She was born to an American serviceman father and Korean mother, making her a US citizen at birth.

Shri Thanedar (D)

State: Michigan

District: 13

Place of birth: India

Thanedar has served in Congress since 2023. He was naturalized in 1988 after emigrating from India a decade earlier.

Norma J. Torres (D)

State: California

District: 35

Place of birth: Guatemala

Torres has served in Congress since 2015. She emigrated to the US as a young child in the early 1970s and became a naturalized citizen in 1992.

Eugene Simon Vindman (D)

State: Virginia

District: 07

Place of birth: Ukraine

Vindman has served in Congress since 2025. The exact year of his naturalization is not in the public record, but he moved to the US with his family as a child.

Ukraine's defense minister raised the urgent need for Patriot interceptors with Sweden on 22 October, the Defense Ministry reported. The same day, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned of more Russian ballistic strikes and blamed US supply cuts.

Patriots are Ukraine's main defense against Russian ballistic missiles, and their deliveries keep shrinking. Figures Zelenskyy released in August showed Patriot interceptor deliveries falling from 675 in 2023 to 364 in 2025, with 264 projected for 2026. Europe holds enough PAC-2 and PAC-3 interceptors for Ukraine's minimum winter needs, Zelenskyy told journalists on 16 October, but he did not yet know how many Europe would hand over, Ukrainska Pravda reported.

Partners' stocks now, Ukraine's missiles later

Russia fired 21 ballistic missiles at Kyiv overnight on 22 October, Zelenskyy said. Defense Minister Yevhenii Khmara told his Swedish counterpart, Pål Jonson, that Ukraine must counter ballistic threats as fast as possible, in particular with Patriot interceptors.

Explore further

1,000 Patriot missiles arrive too late for this winter, so Ukraine asked the Ramstein arms coalition to open its warehouses

The ministry's readout says Ukraine has Patriot missiles under contract. It also says Kyiv asks partners to transfer interceptors from their stocks in exchange for future deliveries allocated to Ukraine.

Khmara made the same request at the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting on 8 September. He said then that Ukraine was contracting about 1,000 Patriot missiles with partners' help and an EU loan, but they would arrive only in the coming years, LB reported. He asked allies for missiles from their stocks now, in exchange for future upgraded missiles under Ukraine's contracts.

"Only when the American side approves it"

Zelenskyy spoke to journalists before meeting Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, Ukrinform reported. He said the Americans had reduced supplies and Russia would step up ballistic attacks.

"Europeans can provide the missiles only when the American side approves it," Zelenskyy said.

He said the US had sent most of its interceptors to the Middle East.

On 19 October, Zelenskyy told US senators that US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was not signing off on Patriot deliveries allies had already paid for. Axios obtained the call transcript from Ukrainian officials. A US government official told the Kyiv Independent that Ukrainian officials' claims that Hegseth was holding up the missiles were "not true."

Washington says nothing has changed. "We have our own needs, too," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on 20 October, but there is "nothing being deliberately denied to Ukraine." Hegseth told reporters in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, that the US had not changed its posture toward Ukraine, "but certainly with things like interceptors, we want to make sure our guys have the most possible as well."

• I've never been skiing.
• But if I ever decide to learn, I'll do it at the Four Seasons in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
• My 550-square-foot room felt like a luxury cabin on the slopes.

When I arrived at the Four Seasons Jackson Hole on a muggy day in early September, I imagined it covered in snow. This was in 2024, when I visited Jackson Hole, Wyoming, for the first time.

I spent one night at the five-star ski-in, ski-out resort. If I ever take a ski trip, I imagine that my room at this Four Seasons would be a peaceful place to rest after an active day of gliding through powder.

Step inside the 550-square-foot room with a starting rate of nearly $1,000 a night during the winter ski season.

Welcome to the Four Seasons Jackson Hole, a five-star, slopeside ski resort.

The 65-year-old hotel chain has a luxurious reputation and over 130 locations worldwide, each designed to reflect its destination.

Kim Cole, the director of public relations for the Four Seasons, told Business Insider that the company describes the Jackson Hole location's aesthetic as "modern mountain chic," catering to hikers, bicyclists, and skiers in the winter.

After checking in, I explored the room with the typical peak-season guest in mind.

The hotel has 106 guest rooms and 18 suites. The starting rate is $525 in the offseason and $995 in the peak winter season. Business Insider received a media rate for a one-night stay.

There are also 31 Resort Residences on-site, built to serve large groups. These residences have kitchens and up to five bedrooms. Starting prices range from $4,200 to $11,000, depending on the season.

Cole told Business Insider that in the winter, guest rooms are typically booked with active guests who participate in winter sports, so I imagined how the room would feel as a skier.

I thought my 550-square-foot room blended traditional cabin nostalgia with midcentury modern luxury.

My room had a king-sized bed, a full bathroom, and a private balcony.

Renovated by Wimberly Interiors in 2022, the guest rooms were designed to bring the outside in, with metal accents, stone finishings, and a soft, earth-toned color palette. This nature-inspired trend, known as biophilic design, gained traction in 2024.

The bed was plush with warm, fluffy bedding and dense pillows.

The king-sized bed sat between mixed-material nightstands with edgy lamps that contrasted with classic wooden shutters.

With one king-sized bed, the room sleeps up to three adults (or two adults and one kid). The room can also be arranged with two double beds, increasing the maximum occupancy to four adults (or two adults and two kids).

The nature-inspired headboard was a mesmerizing statement piece.

The headboard was the standout piece in the room. A cherry-wood frame juxtaposed with a bright-white image gave it a midcentury modern look.

The image was a textured carving of trees that I could feel when I brushed my fingers over the branches. A light bar glowed beneath the board, making it easier to see the details of the monochrome image.

The bed was so comfy that I didn't want to get up — and with smart controls on the in-room tablet, I didn't have to.

The tablet on the nightstand served as the room's control center, commanding everything from the TV to room service. This amenity was added in the 2022 remodel.

The tablet would be especially handy after an exhausting day on the slopes.

The other nightstand held an eclectic shelf of books with a warm white color palette.

Few things are more relaxing on a snow day than cozying up with a good book.

Luckily, my room had a small selection of biographies, historical literature, and novels, ranging from realistic fiction to young adult fantasy.

Publishing dates for these books ranged from 2003 to 2020, but I thought they looked much older. They were all sleeveless with a white or off-white binding.

Across from the bed, a large TV was mounted above a stone fireplace.

Rustic drawers were to the left of the fireplace, while a modern sitting area was on the right.

I noticed all the seating in my room was soft and cushy, which seemed ideal for sore bodies after an active day.

The room also had a private bar with gold trimmings.

The bar had an espresso machine, neutral-toned ceramic mugs, and Four Seasons-branded water.

Beneath the bar, a cabinet hid the mini-fridge. It was stocked with alcohol and snacks like peanut M&Ms and gummy bears, which were available for an extra cost.

In the marble bathroom, the oversize tub had a bendy shower head that made me feel like I was in a spa.

The bathroom had complimentary Le Labo toiletries.

The bathroom felt spacious, with a double-sink vanity, a sizable shower, and a separate toilet room.

The mirrors and vanities were replaced by Wimberly Interiors in 2022.

Across from the bathroom, a walk-in closet held bathrobes, a safe, and some classic, upscale amenities I've only seen in ultra-luxury hotels.

I spotted old-school amenities like a shoehorn and a shine brush, which I've seen more often in high-end European accommodations than in the US.

The ample size of the bathroom and closet made the room suitable for up to four guests.

The private balcony seated one in a comfortable lounge chair.

I spent some time on the deck, but since I imagined it would be less enjoyable in the cold, I appreciated the sliding glass doors that let me enjoy the view without the cold.

Out there, I had a view of the ski lifts traveling up and down Rendezvous Mountain.

From the balcony, I spotted the downhill trails towering over the resort's courtyard. Looking down, I pictured the green courtyard blanketed in snow.

In the winter, I imagine the biggest luxury of this $1,000-a-night room is hitting the slopes just outside. If I ever visit Jackson Hole during peak season, I'll only splurge on a Four Seasons stay if I'm taking a ski trip.

Ukraine's Cabinet has opened the construction of underground arms production space to private investors, Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi announced on 22 October, saying the rule applies from that day. A second decision eases imports for partner-funded weapons production.

Koretskyi said the change would add more of the space arms makers need, especially as Russian strikes intensify. On 9 December 2025, the Defense Ministry reported that more than UAH 1.5 billion (about $36 million) in budget support had let war-damaged defense firms restore operations. At the time, the ministry planned to relocate or duplicate the most critical plants, and underground complexes were under construction. The new model puts no additional burden on the state budget, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Hvozdiar said. The bill still lands somewhere, though. Defense firms will buy, lease, or take the space for use, and companies working on state contracts are among those eligible. If they pay developers out of state-contract revenue, part of the cost could come back to the budget.

Developers build, arms makers move in

The changes to Cabinet resolution No. 1494 give private investors a simplified route to construction and permits, the ministry said. Developers can build protected facilities with their own or raised funds. Deadlines, terms of use, and the handover are set in a contract between investor and defense firm. The mechanism covers new sites as well as moving or expanding existing production. If a firm gets only part of a facility, that part must be at least 25% of the facility's total area and fit for production.

Explore further

One year of Ukrainian arms exports, and industry has questions: how much army gained, where Berlin office is, who joins joint ventures

Developers must sign deals with, among others, residents of Defence City, Ukraine's special legal regime for arms makers, holders of state defense contracts, and firms the ministry designates as critical.

Tax break for partner-funded arms production

Components for weapons production that international partners pay for will enter Ukraine free of import duty and VAT, Koretskyi said. He added that customs inspection and clearance would be simplified and sharply shortened through a "single window."

A Banda Filarmónica de São Brás de Alportel regressa ao palco do São Brás Cineteatro Jaime Pinto no próximo sábado, 24 de outubro, às 17h30, para apresentar a II edição do “Outubro Filarmónico”. O concerto, inserido nas comemorações do Dia Mundial da Música, tem entrada livre e pretende juntar a comunidade são-brasense numa celebração do património cultural e musical do concelho.

A edição deste ano reveste-se de particular simbolismo ao assinalar o 20.º aniversário da decisão da ACREMS (Associação Cultural e Recreativa Escola de Música Sambrazense) de avançar para a constituição da Banda Filarmónica, um marco histórico que deu início a duas décadas de trabalho contínuo ao serviço da cultura, da Filarmonia, da formação e do associativismo local.

Com o propósito de divulgar a missão artística e pedagógica da instituição, o espetáculo conta ainda com a participação especial da Banda Escolar, no âmbito do projeto “A Banda Vai à Escola”. O público terá assim oportunidade de assistir a um momento de partilha intergeracional, que junta em palco os músicos da Banda Filarmónica e os jovens alunos que representam o futuro da música no concelho.

O regresso ao São Brás Cineteatro Jaime Pinto integra-se no compromisso da Filarmónica e da ACREMS, associação que a acolhe e promove o ensino da música, em aproximar a música de todos os cidadãos, proporcionando uma oferta cultural descentralizada e acessível.

A iniciativa conta com o apoio do Município de São Brás de Alportel no âmbito de uma profícua parceria em prol do desenvolvimento cultural do concelho.

O conteúdo II Outubro Filarmónico em São Brás de Alportel aparece primeiro em Sempre à Mão.

New film Fatherland took Sandra Hüller back to a divided Germany. She talks about damaged dreams, Hollywood feelgood and - just maybe - appearing in the new Marvel movie

Sandra Hüller is crying, and it feels very strange. A wildly gifted actor, she can convey every human emotion there is. On screen, though, she is most often asked to embody deep self-possession. Even doing karaoke, Hüller is in control. And in real life, life is good. Her 2026 will end with four high-profile movies this year alone. Two (Fatherland and Rose) are black-and-white arthouse films that centre on her brilliance, and though one of the others (Digger) is already a Hollywood cautionary tale, a second (Project Hail Mary) was a giant $684m hit. (There may also be a fifth movie, bigger still. We will come back to that.)

And yet, dressed in film star black, she is in tears. “This is really hard for me,” she says.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) seized a psychiatric nurse practitioner's phone filled with confidential patient information at Washington Dulles International Airport last week, according to a new lawsuit. Muhammad Numaan Imam alleges that CBP agents told him that they could take his electronics the "easy way or the hard way" and refused to let him talk to his lawyer because "we are the authorities at the border."

The lawsuit by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) may be the first time CBP is taken to court over seizing people's medical records. ADC is also helping Palestinian-American lawyer Jay Shehadeh and Jewish-American journalist Max Blumenthal sue over their devices being seized.

"We're seeing a pattern where officers use their border-search authority not to advance any legitimate border-related purpose, but to punish individuals for refusing to provide access to their personal electronic devices and for having expressed views the government didn't approve of," ADC president and legal director Jenin Younes wrote in a statement emailed to journalists.

While Shehadeh and Blumenthal claim that CBP is retaliating for their political views, Imam argues that he faced threats and retaliation with the simple act of asserting privacy rights. Both Imam and Shehadeh were considered "trusted travelers" under the Global Entry program, which allows American citizens who undergo a background check to pass through an automated fast track at airports and borders.

Asked by Reason, a CBP spokesperson did not address any specifics of the case, giving only a generic statement about how "CBP's ability to lawfully inspect electronic devices crossing the border is integral to keeping America safe in an increasingly digital world."

The border exemption to the Fourth Amendment gives U.S. authorities the power to look for "contraband" crossing into the country without a warrant. There is a mess of contradictory court rulings on whether that power includes searching travelers' electronic data, but in practice, CBP can simply seize the physical devices that the data live on.

And the agency often lies outright to travelers whose data that it wants to search, as documents recently released in the case of Atlanta protester Samuel Tunick show. CBP agents gave Tunick a false reason for detaining him and falsely promised that he would be allowed to leave with his phone if he cooperated, even though they were under orders to seize his devices no matter what. Tunick is now on trial for allegedly tricking the CBP agents into deleting his data to avoid a search.

"It's happening to a lot of people, and it's being used in this coercive, inappropriate way," Younes tells Reason.

The problems for Imam, who lives in Virginia, actually began at another border. He was heading to Istanbul on Saturday for a family vacation with his Pakistani wife, Khadijah Mansoor, and their 1-year-old child. Turkish authorities demanded to see Mansoor's U.S. green card, which she had forgotten at home, and wouldn't let her enter on her Pakistani passport alone. The family had to board the next flight back to Washington. On their arrival, CBP naturally wanted to know why they had been turned away and why Mansoor didn't have her green card.

But things took a weirder turn after agents told Imam he had been "flagged" for undisclosed reasons, pulled him into a separate room, and began questioning him about his social media use and group chats, according to the lawsuit. (Imam tells Reason that they asked about group chats in general, not any specific group chat.) When agents asked for the password to Imam's phone, he told them that he uses the phone to communicate with and manage cases for patients at the rehab facility where he works. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) strictly prevents doctors and other medical staff from sharing patient data without consent, so Imam asked to speak to a lawyer.

"Your lawyer cannot do anything. We are the authorities at the border," Imam recalls one agent saying. A supervisor then told the couple that CBP could take all of their electronics the "easy way or the hard way," and that the devices could take months to get back, Imam and Mansoor claim.

CBP's own internal policy says that devices should "ordinarily" be held for less than five days. The same policy includes vague guidelines for dealing with medical information: "Possibly sensitive information, such as medical records and work-related information carried by journalists, shall be handled in accordance with any applicable federal law and CBP policy." Imam says that the CBP agents claimed to have software for filtering out HIPAA-protected data.

After four hours in detention, CBP took the family's phones and laptops and let them go. The next day, Imam got an email stating, "We regret to inform you that your membership in Global Entry has been revoked for the following reason(s): You do not meet the Trusted Traveler standard." In addition to both Imam and Mansoor losing valuable work data, the lawsuit argues, Imam is now unable to prescribe certain psychiatric medications to his patients, because of federal regulations that require phone verification.

The lawsuit demands the return of the devices and data under Rule 41(g) of federal criminal procedures, which requires the government to hand back property that is no longer necessary for a criminal investigation. ADC has also filed these motions in Shehadeh and Blumenthal's cases. (CBP gave back Blumenthal and Shehadeh's phones almost immediately afterward, but ADC is continuing to press for records of what they did to those phones in custody.) Younes filed a brief on Blumenthal's behalf in support of an upcoming Supreme Court case over whether CBP can continue these electronic searches.

"The devices are neither contraband nor subject to forfeiture, and, to Plaintiffs' knowledge, there is no pending criminal investigation, criminal prosecution, or warrant authorizing their continued seizure or search," Imam's lawsuit states. "The Fourth Amendment does not permit the border-search exception to become a means of coercing compliance through the threatened or actual confiscation of travelers' personal property."

The post Border Cops Seize Nurse's Phone Filled With Psychiatric Patient Information appeared first on Reason Magazine.