Canada -- Ottawa’s chief of police says he has implemented new uniform standards that would see any alterations, including the controversial “thin blue line” patch, banned from officers’ on-the-job attire. Chief Peter Sloly said in his verbal update to the Ottawa Police Services Board on Monday evening that he has instituted a new policy, effective this week, that all OPS equipment and uniforms must be returned to the state they were first issued to them by the service’s quartermaster. Modifications, additions and any other personalized elements to an officer’s uniform must be removed under the new policy. “This includes any patches that are not officially approved and authorized by the service,” Sloly said. Sloly announced details of the new requirements in response to an inquiry from the board’s vice-chair L.A. Smallwood, who asked for an update on the board’s position regarding the “thin blue line” patches. (Read more.)

From Inbox -- Iran, the people of Balochistan are preparing for an armed attack on the military force of the government of Iran.

Italy -- Sicily's volcano Etna erupted last night.

WARNING! GRAPHIC CONTENT! Riverside Police Department -- Officer Involved #Shooting from October 8, 2020. The following critical incident video release is regarding an officer involved shooting that occurred at Van Buren Boulevard and Primrose Avenue on October 8, 2020. The official press release from this incident can be found at https://riversideca.gov/press/officer-involved-shooting-investigation

A curious grey whale calf approaching a boat...

On 7 October this year, it will be 20 years since the US and the UK launched Operation Enduring Freedom. This was the start of what we now know of as the War in Afghanistan.

The operation may not have done much for freedom, but it has certainly endured, despite President Obama giving the operation a name change in 2014. In fact, it is the longest war that the US has ever been involved in. Longer than Vietnam. Longer even than the two world wars combined. It has cost the lives of tens of thousands of Afghan civilians, and hundreds of American and British soldiers. The Watson Institute at Brown University puts the overall death toll at over 157,000 and counting.

And for what? The continued impoverishment of one of the poorest nations on the planet? A territory which is held by roughly the same antagonists in the same proportions as it was held 20 years ago? Rarely have so many given so much for so little.

That grim 20th anniversary approaching in October was never meant to be reached, however. Under the conditions of the Agreement for Bringing Peace to Afghanistan, struck between the Trump administration and the Taliban on 29 February last year, the 2,500 US and the 6,500 NATO troops still based in Afghanistan were slated to be fully withdrawn by 1 May this year.

But that now looks increasingly unlikely to happen. President Joe Biden’s administration, rather predictably given its hawkish inclinations, is currently reviewing the Trump deal, with US secretary of state Anthony Blinken wanting to ‘retain some capacity to deal with any resurgence of terrorism, which is what brought us [to Afghanistan] in the first place’. And NATO, too, has refused to announce or confirm a troop departure date. ‘While no ally wants to stay in Afghanistan longer than necessary’, said NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg last week, ‘we will not leave before the time is right’.

(Read more.)

Join Los Angeles County Sheriff Villanueva Station Captain Bobby Wyche and City of Industry Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem and Council-members
🔵 TODAY 🔵 2-4 P.M. for a virtual town hall meeting regarding your community concerns. To register for this FREE event, visit https://bit.ly/3o1nEMl

London, UK -- This happened in Rainham yesterday. Rainham is a suburban town in East London, England. A young teenager detained by civilians for carrying a massive knife after hearing of recent criminal activity involving knives happening in the area.

LA County Sheriffs: This morning LASD Lomita Station responded to a roll-over collision in which Tiger Woods was injured. Please see our statement.

Los Angeles – Golfer Tiger Woods was hospitalized after his car rolled over Tuesday in the Rancho Palos Verdes area, authorities said. The crash was reported just after 7 a.m. when sheriff’s officials responded to a single-vehicle rollover traffic collision on the border of Rolling Hills Estates and the Rancho Palos Verdes, according to an LASD statement Sheriff’s officials say the car was traveling northbound on Hawthorne Boulevard at Blackhorse Road when it crashed and sustained “major damage”. The driver – later identified as Woods – had to be extricated from the vehicle with the “jaws of life” and was then transported to Harbor UCLA Medical Center. Woods has been recovering from a fifth microdiscectomy surgery on his back with hopes of playing professionally later this year.