Camp

• NORTH CANTON, Ohio, April 4, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- For more than three decades, Camp Invention® has developed confidence and problem-solving skills in young innovators through authentic, hands-on STEM activities.
• "Camp Invention had a huge impact on both my children," said the parent of 2023 campers.
• Annually, Camp Invention programs benefit more than 122,000 children and partner with 2,500 schools and districts across the nation.
• To find a camp near you, visit our Camp Finder or for additional information, visit invent.org/camp .

• A jury in Portland, Oregon awarded approximately $84 million in compensation from PacifiCorp to nine survivors of the fires that swept across Oregon on Labor Day 2020.
• Through three days of testimony, the victims of the Labor Day Fire recounted the horrific stories of fleeing the fires and the losses they suffered.
• “We are committed to getting as much compensation as possible for Labor Day fire survivors as expeditiously as possible.
• We thank the jury for holding PacifiCorp accountable,” said Cody Berne , lead trial attorney for Stoll Berne in the case.

• Nearly 30 years after the infamous Battle of Mogadishu, the U.S. military is still conducting operations in Somalia.
• Some of their bodies were dragged along city streets by Somali militants.
• There have been at least 282 U.S. counterterrorism operations in Somalia, including drone strikes and other aerial bombardments.
• In May 2022, Biden also agreed to send about 500 U.S. troops to Somalia.
• But the question remains: Why are U.S. forces still intervening in Somalia?

The cost of US involvement in Somalia

• Between 2007 and 2020, the U.S. spent at least US$2.5 billion on counterterrorism operations in Somalia, according to Costs of War, a 2023 Brown University study.
• This amount was largely spent by the U.S. Department of State and does not include the unknown expenditures of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. Defense Department.
• For comparison, between 2001 and 2022 the U.S. spent approximately $2.3 trillion, or nearly 1,000 times more, on “counterterrorism” wars in Afghanistan.
• The U.S. spends time and money training the Somali National Army, assisting in surveillance and drone strike operations.
• Many of their activities are not publicly traceable.

Understanding the crisis in Somalia

• Located in East Africa on the coast of the Indian Ocean, Somalia is one of the poorest countries in the world.
• Decades of civil war coupled with extreme droughts have caused the roughly 17 million people to exist in dire living conditions.
• The group comprised about a dozen local Islamic courts in southern Somalia that solved social disputes, reopened schools and ended roadblocks erected by violent warlords.

The US global war on terrorism

• When the CIA’s effort failed to topple the group, the U.S. government then backed an Ethiopian military invasion of Somalia in late 2006.
• In my view, this U.S.-supported Ethiopian invasion was largely responsible for creating the conditions of political uncertainty and violence that prevail today.
• Al-Shabaab portrayed the U.S.-backed Ethiopian invasion in religious and nationalist terms and painted the U.S. and Ethiopia as Christian invaders of a Muslim country.
• After two years of war, Ethiopia withdrew its troops, claiming their mission to rid the extremist threat was accomplished.

Time for a US reckoning on Somalia?

• On Sept. 6, 2023, for instance, the U.S. military reportedly provided “remote assistance” to an aerial strike operation conducted by the Somali government that killed five civilians.
• The U.S. role in Somalia does not absolve al-Shabaab of its crimes, as the militant group continues to recruit from socially and economically disenfranchised communities in Somalia.
• Among those crimes are bombings of civilian targets throughout Africa and the Middle East, resulting in hundreds of deaths.
• But in my view, a demand for reparations from the Somali government before an international tribunal may force a U.S. reckoning on its global war against terrorism that nevertheless still rages on in Somalia.

• FDA grants Rare Pediatric Disease Designation (RPD) for serious and life-threatening diseases that primarily affect children ages 18 years or younger and fewer than 200,000 people in the United States.
• The RPD designation allows Tetra to request a priority review voucher from FDA which, if granted, may be used for a subsequent human drug application.
• Zatolmilast was also awarded Orphan Drug Designation by the FDA in 2018.
• “We are committed to advancing a potential medicine for people with Fragile X syndrome, a rare genetic disorder which affects all aspects of life for individuals and families.