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givingcheap · 8 months

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Forget the ‘fake’ BBQ. These are the dishes every Mongolia visitor needs to try, according to locals

Mongolian cuisine can best be summed up by a local proverb: “Give a man a knife, fire and some stones, and he has a kitchen.”

Home to one of the world’s most famous nomadic cultures, Mongolia’s food reflects the nation’s resourcefulness and its deep-rooted relationship with nature.

It’s also a cuisine that is highly misunderstood, thanks to the many deceptive, so-called “Mongolian barbecue” restaurants in cities around the world.

“They’re all fake,” says Javkha Ara. “Very different from the original Mongolian foods.”

A filmmaker and a self-proclaimed “mad foodie” from the northern city of Darkhan, Ara founded Artger (combining the words art and ger, which means yurt) in 2016 after he realized how little information about his country was available online.

Artger’s YouTube channel, which has amassed more than 510,000 subscribers and millions of views, focuses on Mongolian cuisine and culture. The channel’s English-language shows offer a glimpse into different facets of Mongolia, such as families preparing breakfast in a yurt, two friends enjoying some barbecue in the countryside, or Mongolian wrestlers chowing down on hundreds of dumplings.

Javkha Ara (center), a Mongolian filmmaker, launched his own English-language YouTube channel on Mongolian food and culture in 2016.Javkhlantugs Ragchaasuren (Javkha Ara)

“Mongolian food is like a secret to the Western world,” says Ara. “It’s unique because many Mongolian foods rise from our nomadic culture.

“People just assume we’re crazy meat-eaters. It’s partly true – but also a little wrong. Mongols eat meat in winter because the winters are harsh. But when summertime comes, we eat dairy products like milk, and we have many wild greens. It’s balancing.”

Munkhtsetseg Nasanbat, head chef at the Three Camel Lodge, a luxury ger camp in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert, offers similar sentiments, noting that the country’s varied terrain has a big influence on taste.

“Mongolian cuisine is diverse, encompassing not only meat but also a wide range of dairy products, berries, fruits and meat products from various regions,” she says.

“The taste of dairy products and meat can differ significantly between provinces, influenced by the type of grass that livestock graze on. For instance, meat from the Gobi region has a distinct taste with hints of wild garlic, while meat from the steppe areas is known for its rich wild onion flavor.”

These nuances are important as many Mongolian dishes contain just three basic elements: meat, wheat and salt. Spices and sauces don’t play a big part. This might give the impression that Mongolian food is a monotonous affair, but these simple ingredients can produce a wide range of flavors thanks to the varied cooking techniques used in different regions of Mongolia.

“If you take a grand tour around Mongolia, you’ll see the north uses more smoking techniques as it is better to keep food for longer in cold weather, but there are many more boiled dishes in the south,” says Batsuuri Gantulga, sales manager and itinerary designer for Goyo Travel, a tour operator based in Mongolia’s capital city, Ulaanbaatar.

“Much of our meat comes from the countryside. They’re grass-fed in the countryside and not from the factory. So different regions may use different meat available near them.”

For example, there are more camels in the south, while reindeer are primarily found in the north.

“You will find smoked fish dishes in the north as well,” adds Gantulga.

Appetite whetted? Here are 10 Mongolian dishes that will offer a well-rounded taste of the nation’s cuisine when you visit, according to the locals.

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givingcheap · 8 months

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Texas school district that suspended student over locs asks court to clarify if dress policy violates the law

A Texas school district that has suspended a student for nearly two weeks over his loc hairstyle has asked a court to clarify if the district’s dress code violates the CROWN Act, a state law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of hair.

Barbers Hill High School student Darryl George has spent more than two weeks serving in-school suspension because his locs violated the district’s dress code, which states “male students’ hair will not extend, at any time, below the eyebrows or below the ear lobes.”

Attorneys for Barbers Hill Independent School District on Wednesday asked a court to clarify “whether the newly passed CROWN Act prohibits grooming policies addressing the length of a male student’s hair,” according to district spokesperson David Bloom.

“Although we believe the new law does not govern hair length, we are asking the judicial system of Texas to interpret,” Barbers Hill Superintendent Greg Poole said in a statement shared with CNN.

The school district also said it will not “enhance” the disciplinary action against George. The 17-year-old was suspended again this week after returning from his original suspension.

He had previously been warned that repeated violations of the dress code would result in him being sent to a Disciplinary Alternative Education Program, also known as an alternative school, CNN previously reported.

George, a junior at Barbers Hill High School in Mont Belvieu, has received multiple disciplinary action notes for wearing his loc hairstyle in a ponytail, his mother, Darresha George, previously told CNN.

She said her son was suspended the same week the state’s CROWN Act, a law prohibiting discrimination based on one’s hair texture or protective hairstyle such as locs and braids, went into effect.

School officials told George his loc hairstyle violated the Barbers Hill Independent School District dress and grooming code, which states, “Male students’ hair must not extend below the top of a t-shirt collar or be gathered or worn in a style that would allow the hair to extend below the top of a t-shirt collar, below the eyebrows, or below the ear lobes when let down.”

George has worn his locs in a ponytail and braided. His family has said his locs include strands from his grandfather and father and they do not intend to cut them.

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givingcheap · 8 months

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Powerball jackpot grows to $725 million after no winning ticket Wednesday

Powerball players now have the chance to win an estimated $725 million jackpot this weekend after Wednesday night’s drawing produced no big winner.

Wednesday’s numbers were 16, 27, 59, 62 and 63 with a Powerball of 23.

The $725 million jackpot for Saturday’s drawing would be the third-largest Powerball prize this year, following a $754.6 million jackpot won in Washington state in February and the colossal $1.08 billion jackpot won in California in July. Saturday’s jackpot also would be the eighth-largest prize in the game’s history, the lottery said Wednesday.

If Saturday’s drawing has one grand prize winner, that person could choose to take the whole jackpot in graduated payments over 29 years, or take a lump sum of an estimated $345.7 million, the lottery said.

Though no one secured the top prize Wednesday night, more than 1 million tickets won some type of prize – most of them taking $21 or less.

Two tickets, sold in Georgia and Texas, took $2 million each for matching the first five numbers and having activated a “power play” multiplier. Another ticket sold in Georgia won $1 million for matching the first five numbers without the multiplier.

Twenty-seven Powerball drawings have taken place since the $1.08 billion jackpot was won in July. That July drawing was only the third Powerball jackpot win that reached or surpassed $1 billion.

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givingcheap · 8 months

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A grad student ‘full of dreams and hopes’ was fatally struck by a police car. What an officer said about her later has sparked outrage from Seattle to Capitol Hill

Rallying for justice and a full investigation

Protesters march late last week through downtown Seattle after the release of body camera footage of a city officer apparently joking about the death of Jaahnavi Kandula.Lindsey Wasson/AP

The Indian Consulate General of India in San Francisco has called for a “thorough investigation” into Kandula’s death and demanded action against those involved in the incident.

“Recent reports including in media of the handling of Ms Jaahnavi Kandula’s death in a road accident in Seattle in January are deeply troubling,” the consulate wrote September 13 on X, previously known as Twitter. “We have taken up the matter strongly with local authorities in Seattle & Washington State as well as senior officials in Washington DC.”

Kandula’s death and Auderer’s taped comments about it led Democratic US Rep. Ro Khanna to remember his own father, who migrated to the US in his 20s, Khanna wrote on X.

“The life of every Indian immigrant has infinite value,” the California congressman wrote. “Anyone who thinks that a human life has ‘limited value’ should not be serving in law enforcement.”

US Rep. Pramila Jayapal also issued a demand for justice for Kandula, saying the case made her “sick to my stomach,” the Washington state Democrat wrote on X.

Seattle Police, “recognizing the public concern around this video,” released Auderer’s body camera footage on September 11 “in the interest of transparency,” it said in a statement. The department declined to comment about the timing of the release.

The department “has been in touch with the family of the victim pedestrian and continues to honor their expressed request for privacy,” it said. “As others in the accountability system proceed with their work, we again extend our deepest sympathy for this tragic collision.”

It’s not clear whether the officer whose vehicle hit Kandula is being criminally charged; CNN has reached out to Seattle Police for comment. In the driver’s case, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office is “independently reviewing those case materials now for a charging decision,” it told CNN on Wednesday, adding the Office of Police Accountability is responsible for investigating Auderer’s body camera footage.

‘A young soul full of dreams and hopes’

Kandula was from India’s Kurnool District in Andhra Pradesh and spoke Telugu, the president of the Telugu Association of North America, Niranjan Srungavarapu, told CNN. The group helped return her remains to India in January, he said.

Kandula had come to the United States in 2021 to pursue a master’s degree in information systems in the College of Engineering at Northeastern University’s Seattle campus, according to the school. She would have graduated in December.

A photo of Jaahnavi Kandula is displayed with flowers on January 29 at the intersection where she was killed.Ken Lambert/The Seattle Times/AP

On campus, Kandula had shown “tremendous engagement” and everyone “loved her bubbly laugh, sense of humor and infectious personality,” the school’s dean, Dave Thurman, said shortly after she was killed.

The university plans to award Kandula her degree posthumously and present it to her family, it said Thursday in a statement. The university’s main campus in Boston on Tuesday hosted a “moment of reflection, remembrance, and unity” to honor Kandula’s memory, the school told CNN.

Kandula “warmed the hearts of every person she came in contact with,” a family statement in January said, according to CNN affiliate KING. “She had an innate ability to connect with people from all walks of life.”

“She was a daughter to a single mother who teaches elementary school in India,” the statement continued, and “in spite of earning less than 200 USD per month, her mother educated Jaahnavi” and encouraged her to pursue higher education in the US in hopes that she would “have a better future and better life abroad.”

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givingcheap · 8 months

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