Subterms
<!–> [!–> <!–> –><!–> [!–> <!–> –><!–> [!–> <!–> [–> Total 60 7<!–>]–> 52<!–>–> 1<!–>–> 40 38<!–>]–> 1<!–>–> 1<!–>–> <!–> –> <!–> –><!–> [–><!–>The Senate on Monday passed a bill to end the longest government shutdown in history after more than a month of stalemate. Seven Democrats and Senator Angus King, a Maine independent, joined […] More
Soft batteries and water-walking robots are among the many creations made possible by studying animals and plants. <!–> ]–> <!–> [–><!–>For centuries, engineers have turned to nature for inspiration. Leonardo da Vinci dreamed of gliding machines that would mimic birds. Today, the close study of animals and plants is leading to inventions such as soft […] More
Rudy Giuliani and Mark Meadows, both close former political allies of Donald Trump, are among scores of people pardoned by the president over the weekend for their roles in a plot to steal the 2020 election.The maneuver is in effect symbolic, given it only applies in the federal justice system and not in state courts where Giuliani, Meadows and the others continue facing legal peril. The acts of clemency were announced in a post late on Sunday to X by US pardon attorney Ed Martin, covers 77 people said to have been the architects and agents of the scheme to install fake Republican electors in several battleground states, which would have falsely declared Trump their winner instead of the actual victor: Joe Biden.Those pardoned include Giuliani and Sidney Powell, former lawyers to Trump, and Meadows, who acted as White House chief of staff during his first term of office. Other prominent names include Jenna Ellis and John Eastman, attorneys who advised Trump during and immediately after the election that Biden won to interrupt Trump’s two terms.“Let their healing begin,” Martin said in the post, in which he thanked Trump, the attorney general, Pam Bondi, and her deputy, Todd Blanche, for “allowing me … to achieve your intent”.Martin is a staunchly conservative ally of the president said to be behind the “weaponization” of the justice department and a push to “bully, prosecute, punish and silence” Trump’s political foes and critics, including the recent indictments of the former FBI director James Comey, New York attorney general, Leticia James, and former national security adviser John Bolton.The pardons extend Trump’s efforts to rewrite the aftermath of the 2020 election and failed efforts to deny Biden the White House. On his first day back in office in January, Trump issued “full, complete and unconditional” presidential pardons for more than 1,500 people involved in the 6 January 2021 attack on Congress, in which five people died and many others, including law enforcement officers, were injured during a desperate attempt by his supporters to keep him in office.Many of those listed in Martin’s pardon document, which it specifically states “does not apply to the president of the United States”, were involved in legal cases and investigations in numerous states that Biden won, including Georgia, Arizona, Michigan, Michigan, Wisconsin and Nevada.The pardons, like those for the 6 January rioters, are “full, complete and unconditional” – and apply only in federal court, making them “largely symbolic”, according to the New York Times.Proceedings against some of the individuals are still active at state level, including in Georgia, where an election interference case against an initial 19 defendants, including Trump, has stalled due to the disqualification of the Fulton county prosecutor, Fani Willis.Ellis joined Powell and another Trump lawyer, Kenneth Chesebro, in taking a plea deal in the Georgia case in 2023. Addressing the court in tears, she admitted a felony count of aiding and abetting false statements and writings.Chesebro was disbarred in New York earlier this year for his involvement, Ellis’s Colorado law license was suspended for three years, and efforts to disbar Powell failed because a panel in Texas ruled her misdemeanor convictions in Georgia were neither serious nor intentional.Giuliani also received severe consequences as leader of the plot to keep Trump in office. He was banned from practicing law in New York and Washington DC. He was ordered to pay almost $150m to two Georgia election workers he defamed. And the former New York City mayor was also caught up in defamation trials involving two voting machine manufacturers, Dominion and Smartmatic.Meadows, meanwhile, failed to persuade the supreme court to move the Georgia election case to federal court and pleaded not guilty last year to criminal charges in Arizona, where he was among 18 indicted defendants.Trump’s proclamation, dated 7 November, described efforts to prosecute those accused of aiding his efforts to cling to power as “a grave national injustice perpetrated on the American people” and said the pardons were designed to continue “the process of national reconciliation”,The White House did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment on Monday.The Associated Press contributed to this report More
<!–> [–><!–>Eugene V. Debs (1855-1926), a labor leader and five-time Socialist Party presidential candidate, spoke these words in 1918 while awaiting sentencing after being convicted under the Espionage Act of interfering with the World War I draft. He ran for president from prison in 1920, as Convict No. 9653, and received nearly one million votes.–><!–> […] More
<!–> [–> <!–> –><!–> [–><!–> –><!–> [–><!–>Federal Aviation Administration and Transportation Department officials have said the traffic reduction is necessary to ease pressure on air traffic controllers, some of whom have been calling in sick and working second jobs because they have not been paid during the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.–><!–> –><!–> [–><!–> […] More
Sources and notes <!–> [–><!–>Tracking map Tracking data is from the National Hurricane Center. The map shows probabilities of at least 5 percent. The forecast is for up to five days, with that time span starting up to three hours before the reported time that the storm reaches its latest location. Wind speed probability data […] More
K.U.K HOF-U. KAMMER- JUWELIER U. GOLDSCHMIED
A.E.KÖCHERT
SEIT 1814
October 21st 2025
Results of the examination of the ‘Florentine Diamond’,
The ‘Florentine Diamond’ is loose, which means that it was removed from its setting at some point in the past. The hat pin in which it was set has been preserved in four fragments: first, its setting, into which the stone fits exactly, and then three separate parts with old-cut diamonds. When assembled, these four parts correspond exactly to the historical photograph of the hat pin with the ‘Florentine Diamond’.
Its weight was determined to be 137.17 carats using a mobile carat scale (with a possible deviation of up to 0.02 ct) – this corresponds approximately to historical sources, which provide slightly varying information: 133 ct (Kathrin Unterreiner, ‘Habsburgs Verschollene Schätze’ [The Lost Treasures of the Habsburgs]) and 137.2 ct (Wikipedia).
The fact that the ‘Florentine’ is a diamond was confirmed with the aid of an electronic diamond tester. This measures the authenticity of a diamond based on its thermal conductivity.
Its cut pattern corresponds almost exactly to representations in historical sources.
All of this gives me certainty that this is the genuine, historical ‘Florentine Diamond’.
Here is a summary of the factors that led me to this conclusion:
1. The stone fits into its setting.
2. Its weight of 137.17 ct corresponds to historical sources.
3. Its authenticity as a diamond was confirmed by an appropriate electronic device. 4. Its cut corresponds to historical sources.
Grafalet
Christoph Kochen
A.E. Köchert
Neuer Markt 15 1010 Wien
(43-1) 512 58 23
www.koechert.com
A.E. Köchert Alter Markt 15.5020 Salzburg
(43-662) 84 33 98 More
